A Little Mommy/Daughter Project

Way back in February Taylor got her ears pierced.  Up until right around August...she refused to change them.  The only time they would get changed was when one accidentally fell out and I had to pin her down to put a new pair in.

Finally one day I convinced her that she could do it herself.  I helped guide her hand and voila...she did it!!  This led to an earring change every 8-10 hours.  She was obsessed!!  We bought LOTS of earrings.  So many that I should be posting a DIY earring holder.  Soon...Soon...I will tackle that, but for now something else.

We went to a craft show on Saturday and a lady was selling really cute, inexpensive earrings.  Mostly dangle ones that were a little too big for Taylor, but after lots of looking we found a pair that were just right.  She was very excited!!  Snowflake earrings for the Christmas season!

Fast forward to yesterday morning when she wanted to put said earrings in and UH-OH....mom had accidentally thrown them in the garbage.  To avoid a complete meltdown I told her to browse through the ETSY app and we would see what was out there.  She found some she really liked, but I was not impressed with the cost. 

Enter BIG idea!!

We would make our own!!

Off to Michael's...$30 later...VOILA

This project actually could have been WAY cheaper had I planned ahead.  I only used one coupon and nothing was on sale, but seriously??  We've already made 13 pair...and still have tons of supplies left.  So losing those $3 earrings from the craft show turned out not to be such a bad thing.

Supplies used:
Buttons (backs removed and flattened down)
Stud Earrings
Fishhook Earrings
E6000 Glue

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Our Halloween DIY Costumes

The last four years my wonderful mother made the kids' Halloween costumes.  Although I am 99% positive she still would have made them this year I decided to try and tackle most of it on my own.

This years theme...Cat In The Hat!!

I purchased plain CHEAP t-shirts, puffy fabric paint and a black fabric marker at Hobby Lobby for my Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes.

As with most projects these days I found an image on the web and used it in my CAMEO software to make my stencils for the shirts.  Thankfully Thing 1 and Thing 2 logos are not perfect, so the puffy paint worked great.  After it had dried I went around it with my black fabric marker.

My only real expense with these two costumes was the wig.  I planned to spend the bulk of my money on these wigs...$20 each, but SO WORTH IT!!

My cute little Cat In The Hat costume was comprised of Carter's black turtleneck onesie and black leggings.  I loosely sewed on the felt belly, so if I wanted I could take it off and reuse the clothes.  My wonderful mom made the bow tie and hat headband.  Both made using felt. 

I whipped up a simple tutu and used leg warmers we already had to "girlie" up my Thing 2!!

Seriously super simple costumes this year!!

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Kids' Bathroom

Since my kids share a bathroom I have kept it neutral.  I had hoped in this house I would get one more bathroom, so the girls could have their own and Thomas would have his own.  No luck though!! 

Since this will not be our house for the long-term I decided to keep most of what was in their old bathroom and just try and add a few new pieces.  Just because it is the bathroom doesn't mean it doesn't need decor!!

Yellow and Blue were my colors and Rubber Duckies were the theme. 

I'm sorry, but Rubber Duckies will always be cute in my book.

I kept the hand towel, the shower curtain, the toothbrush holder and the soap dispenser (it quacks, so I had too)!!

I added the tissue holder and the cup.  I found them at Ross for $2.99 and $1.99.  Seriously?!  For glass bathroom decor...that's a steal!!

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my Cameo?!  Well...I do!  I an extra frame just calling for a picture...my first thought was a picture of MY kids in the bath...but I don't have any.  Well, I don't have any with all three of them.  So...my next thought was to look for a cute phrase!

Silhouette Online Shop to the rescue!!

I created this 8x10 print using my Cameo and...

VOILA!!

I was going to hang it above the toilet, but was afraid that any time my kids forgot to turn on the fan moisture might get into the frame.  Turns out...I like it better here anyway!

 
I did not paint that wall...it came like that, but actually matched, so no need to paint!

How cute is that tissue holder?  I needed a little more color!

Got Bows?!  Just a few of Taylor and Tatum's bows!  

If only it had better lighting!! 

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Two More

I have been pretty productive the last few days.  It feels good to be back to it.  I have decided that when I can't think of anything to do OR I get stuck on projects...I need to just sit down and work on the kids' scrapbooks.  I really have NO excuse not too.

I have more paper than most people could imagine AND I have ALL of my photos printed in hand (I have spent a small fortune at Costco for said photos).

So yesterday when it was WAY too windy to spray paint (like I had planned), rather than turning on the TV (which is what I started to do)...I sat down in my craft room and pulled out some photos.

And YAY for me....

I finished two more pages for Thomas' book!!

I absolutely LOVE looking at the kids' scrapbooks and for now so do they.  He was pretty excited when he saw me working on his book. 

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Summer is coming to an end

School officially starts on Aug. 12, but in preparation for that official day we are going to have a week long run-through starting on Sunday!

HeHe...I haven't told the kids yet.

Because it stays light out so much later in CO AND the kids are allowed to play out front, their bedtime has pretty much been non existent.  It varies from 6-10 depending on night, behavior or just how nice I am feeling.

Sunday night will be the start of their new official bedtime and all the responsibilities that will come with this new school year.

I decided to make a little responsibility chart for each of them to hang on their doors.  My kids are motivated by money of course, but like me they also like to "mark" things off!  I get sick of repeating myself to do the simple things they SHOULDN'T have to be told to do.

They do not know this yet, but if each task is completed EACH day of the week they earn $1.00.  So potentially they can earn $6.00 each week for just doing simple things like brushing their teeth and making their bed.  How hard is that??  With my kids...you'd be surprised.

As with most projects these days I used my CAMEO to make my little charts.  AND I used my new Purple Cow Laminating Machine!!!

All I need now are a couple dry-erase markers and a little Velcro.   When I hang them I will post a pic!!

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Tatum's Room

I thought I would share how I turned the tiniest space in our house to a perfect little room for Tatum.

Before we found this house things were looking a little grim in the way of bedrooms.  I made the mistake of promising Taylor that she would no longer have to share a room with her little sister when we moved to CO.  I spoke entirely too soon and was beginning to think I would have to bribe her with something HUGE to back out of my promise.

Thankfully though...the last house Tom looked at would work for us AND it would give Taylor her own room.  Without even seeing the house in person I had already decided Thomas would have the basement and the girls would each have their own rooms and I would have a craft room!!  YAY!!

Fast forward to the day we moved in and I had a major freak out at the thought of Thomas all the way in the basement by himself.

SO....

The tiny space that would have been my craft room was now going to be Tatum's room.  It didn't even have a closet AND it had laminate floors.  I knew though...I could make it work.  It's not like she has that much stuff.

I forgot to take a picture of the entire room empty, but I did take these two of the space that I would convert into her "closet".

My laundry room is in the basement and had no place for me to hang clothes as I pulled them out of the dryer.  Thanks to my sometimes genius hubby...we bought a nice shower curtain rod (at ROSS for $6.99...bargain) and placed it between the soffet.  It solved my problem perfectly.   So of course this idea was also the PERFECT solution for Tatum's room.

I found this adorable canvas while I was shopping with the girls at ROSS ($9.99) and instantly knew it had to be in Tatum's room.  It's a little too small for the wall I have it on, so stay tuned for the project I am doing to make it work.  For now it hangs alone.

I found this adorable mattress sheet to go with the elephant theme I was trying to achieve in the Target baby section.  How cute is this elephant theme??

I can't bring myself to take this little birthday decoration apart, so I hung it in her room.  I have taken so many pictures of my kids and I would say 99.9% of them bring a smile to my face.  All of these pictures were from her first year and I love it!  Maybe I can just keep converting it to the age she is and add more pictures?! It's a $1.00 project that is priceless.

The CAMEO to the rescue.  This was NOT easy, but I am so glad I stuck with it.  Big blank walls are the worst.  I had to come up with something that would be cute, bold and BIG!!  I bought this image for $0.99 at the Silhouette online store and enlarged it to almost 72"x48", used the knife tool, cut it in 6 separate pieces and hung it.  Easy peesy...no not really, but I will spare you the blood, sweat and tears.

A little panorama of her room.

I bought a large oval rug on clearance at Target for the floor to eliminate a bit of the echo.  I am pretty happy with the end result and it turned out to be the perfect little space for Tatum.  I have a little lamp I am working on and the room will be complete!!

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Everything's Coming Together

To say I am my mother's daughter is true in SO many ways.  But in no way is that a bad thing!!  Of course I love my mom, but she is THE most talented woman I know, so if I can accomplish a fraction of what she does...I feel pretty good!

Anyhoo...

When we moved to Colorado we knew there was a good chance we would only be in our house for a short period of time...long story, but we MAY have to move again in the near future...anyway, short-term or not it was VERY important to me to unpack and get settled.

I have NO DESIRE to live out of boxes no matter how short-term it may be.  It took a few weeks to get rid of all the boxes and find a home for everything...bigger house, smaller spaces if that makes sense.  Once I was done with all the boxes I could start "Making it my own".

I thought I would use my crafty blog to show you just how I have done that!!  I will start with a little piece of Taylor's room.

I have been hitting up TONS of thrift stores since I have been here and the garage sales...plenty!!  It's too hot in AZ for garage sales, so this is a HUGE bonus.  While my mom was in town I found this little Utensil caddy at the Goodwill.  I thought the price was OK since it still had the original tags attached.  And best of all...I knew exactly what I would use it for.

The color was perfect, so all I needed was a little Goo Gone to remove the sticker.  This was my second (I will show you my first later) project back in my craft room.  It felt good to be crafting again.  I used my Cameo to create a cute vinyl phrase and added a few supplies...

And VOILA...

Whatcha think?  Frankly it makes ME want to color!!

Here are a few pics of the whole desk!!

The piggy bank that she got for her first Christmas was in a million pieces when I opened the moving box, so my mom told me about this cute OWL bank she saw at Target.  It's small, but so CUTE!!

My MOST favorite part about her desk...this stack of Dr. Seuss.  Three of these books were gifts and the rest...THRIFT STORE FINDS!!  The most I paid for any of them...$2.00, but most where $0.99.  Seriously people...if you know anything about books that is a HUGE score!!

One last look at the coloring caddy!!  I used pint mason jars to hold the pencils and markers.  I made little cardboard platforms to raise them up.  She was so excited to use it this morning!!

Stay tuned for the full bedroom reveal!!

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Catching Up

I am not quite sure what is happening with me...

I started making cards again...and as if that wasn't gasp worthy...

Now I am starting to play catch-up on the kids' scrapbooks.  WHAAAAATTTT??

I know...a little part of me thought I would never get back to this life project, but I have and it is great.  I took out Thomas and Taylor's books and they just made me smile.  Well...what I have done that is.  And then of course they both stop abruptly and Tatum didn't even have a book.

Well now she does and now pages are getting done.

Here are a few that I did for Taylor's book!!  Both Thomas and Taylor love seeing old pictures and wow how flies.  I am currently working on pages for ages 2 and 4.  Hilarious right??  Wait until I show pics of the pages I did for Thomas.  My little man has changed A LOT!!

 

I am movin' right along!!  Tatum's nap time is proving to be the perfect time for me to be productive!!!   3 quiet hours I can spend in my craft room!!

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