Guess Who Got A Cricut?

THIS GIRL!

O, how in the world have I lived without this? My awesome friends & family pitched in and got me a Cricut Expression for my *ugh* 34th Birthday last month. Two of my girls have one already and we used them for our big PTO door decorating project at the end of school last year. That's when I realized that yes, I probably needed one. Of course I just keep talking about it though! So their awesome idea has made me so happy and here is project #1:

A happy birthday sign for Ms. Kloe who turned 1 yesterday! O, the fun that we had making stuff for this owl themed party. So, let's see.... big owl, some letters, little owls, cute saying - perfect!

Wait! Gotta add a cute border!

O, of course I must stickle like crazy. (Seriously, like crazy, my hand was sore for days)

The glittery goodness of a birthday sign!!

In all it's glory at the party...paired up with my little felt owls that I made like 2 years ago, wow was I planning ahead or what?!!

Some PTO Projects

So, I'm very involved with PTO at Riley's school... not news, I know. This summer we decided to remodel the teacher's lounge as a 'welcome back' gift for our hardworking teachers. I will do a full post on that soon, when all of our finishing touches are done and I get pics. But for now I wanted to share the canvas I made for the lounge.

We wanted to do a nice quote to hang on the entry wall, but on a small budget. I picked the quote: "Learning is a treasure that will follow it's owner everywhere." Don't you just love it? It makes me tear up :) So, I took a big canvas that was laying around my house waiting for inspiration and painted it a dark red color (This is the main wall color in the lounge). I could of cut out some vinyl letters but wanted something more swirly, I had a specific font in mind. It was a little trial and error but what I finally came up with is this:

1. Print your saying out in the size you want it on cheap, thin printer paper.

2. Cut up your words and get your placement right.

3. Now trace the words on the back of the paper with chalk.

4. Place the words back on the canvas and trace each letter on the front of the paper.

5. Voila! When you lift the paper you will see a pretty clear chalk outline of your quote in the specific font you've chosen!

6. I then painted my quote with one of the trim colors we used in the room so it would be all matchy-matchy.

This project only took about 2 hours start to finish (including dry time for the 1st coat). Pretty quick if you ask me! We have plans for 2 more canvases that I will tackle this week.

Also for PTO, I'm in charge of the teacher treats this year (can you think of a better position for me?!!) I made this huge bag of tiny Chinese takeout boxes to distribute. They say 'we are fortunate to have you as a teacher' and they are filled with fortune cookies.

We have about 90 teachers and staff that we like to pass out treats to and this project was perfect - quick and fun. I got the inspiration for the tag online but can't find the blog again! I'll look some more and post as soon as I find it.

It's That Time Of Year..

Back to ....

Can you believe that the summer is almost over?! It has flown by. We didn't get to do half the stuff I was hoping this summer. My kids don't go to school for a few weeks but we are already in full swing of shopping.

...for supplies...and clothes...and all the other items a Sophomore and 2nd Grader need.

I've also been spending way too much time trying to come up with lunch ideas for the pickiest 7 year old ever - ugh! My PTO duties have already started. We've spent days at the school doing top secret projects and I have several little cute-sies made up for gifts. So, once school actually starts I can share!

A Cool Treat for Hot Days

This is the quickest, easiest little treat and the kids love it... even the teenager kids!

Just get some vanilla ice cream and divide it up like above. Letting it get a little melty is good.

Get a helper to add some food coloring to the ice cream. If you have a super strong helper they can stir for you too - it might be more of an adult job though.

Assemble some containers to freeze ice cream in and some sticks.

Layer the ice cream colors in the cups and place in the freezer.

Voila! Rainbow ice cream pops :)

This was a fun activity for Riley and I to put together. Kolbi didn't want to help make them but she was sure willing to help eat them!

The Longest Post Ever

That's because it has been forever since I've updated! What can I say, it's summer and I'm a busy lady. Lots of stuff to re-cap. Since pics uploaded in reverse I am explaining in revers too. One of my favorite little girls just had a birthday and I helped a little for her party. Like this super cute-sy banner. She is all about peace signs so the peace shape on my Slice machine was perfect! I also made itty, bitty peace signs to put on the cupcakes. So cute!

I also made birthday buttons with my Imaginisce I-top tool, they just came out with a button backer so I can do more than just custom brads - I gotta say, this thing R.O.C.K.S. How fun to make my own buttons?! Way cheaper than buying a button machine.

And here are two of my favorite girlies posing at Tori's party. (Tori on the right)

I've been making some hair clips too. They are so fun to put together and even more fun to shop for the pieces! I probably have a million things in my craft room that I can use but I just love to go looking for something new and inspiring.

A set all ready to give :)

Some bobby pin versions

Super cute button clips - these when to my Fogle girls, waiting for pics of them in action ;)

I just had to post this pic of me & my crazy friends. We decided that we couldn't let our hubbies think that Twilight's Edward and Jacob were the only boys in our hearts. We unveiled these on UFC fight night, the boys were like...um, what are you girls doing?!

And going back to the 4th of July...

Kolbi spent the 4th in California with her friend Savanna so it was a weird, family shot of 3 for us this holiday. We had a blast at the parade downtown and then an awesome BBQ hosted by friends.

Here's the kids posing on Justin's hot rod for the 4th :)

There's no way this post would be complete without a few shots of our Eclipse premier preparations! Yeah, that's the button maker in action again...

Since Team Edward is the only way to be in my opinion, the only other option I gave was Team Jakeward (for those who can't choose).

We made bottle cap necklaces with Edward's sparkling face. Also, dangled little Fimo apples and a silver leaf from the red velvet ribbon. I'm pretty sure our necklaces were the best in the theater!

Finally, 'you brought a snack?' care packages for the flick!

Now, what about Father's day??? We made a little 'our Dad is a Hero' care package for Justin with all his favorite snacks in it.

Then spent the weekend at car shows cause that's one of Justin's favorite things to do.

Not just looking at cars this year, the Hot Rod was IN the show!

My brother came to visit from Phoenix and we went rafting. This was my 3rd time out with Cascade Raft & Kayak, seriously, this is the fun-nest thing to do. I don't even like water that much but the river is just beautiful and it is a blast.

Here's our group shot after we got off the river.

And here is me & my long, lost brother in front of the McCall lake. He stayed with us for a week and it was awesome getting to know him :)

Check out Kolbi's blue hair! Nichole snapped this pic and it turned out awesome! Her hair is already back to blond because as cute as the blue was it did not hold it's bright-ness for long.

The LEGO Birthday Party

I have to say that this might have been my favorite birthday party to prepare for. The LEGO theme is just so fun - primary, bright colors, fun crafts and a built in project - a recipe for success. The party turned out awesome. This first pic is just the set up (before anything got messed up! ha ha)

I did a ballon wreath that was so fun and turned out awesome. I got the directions from here.

My wreath was complimented by a welcome to the LEGO party sign that has the tiny-est banner hanging one it! I just love the little banner, it's a Maya Road set if anyone is interested. I am so lucky because my friend, Angel, sent me a huge box of LEGO party stuff to use and the contest sign came out of that box. So did the big LEGO Pinata - that was a hit and held a ton of candy. Riley's grandma, Carol, made the cake for us - the little LEGO guys are 'building' a 7. We had a make your own LEGO ring station, that was a hit! I ordered the ring bases from Artchix Studio and then ordered the little flat red pieces to glue to the top from Lego.com. Then we had a 'guess how many LEGO's' game, the answer was 377 ;). The most popular guess was 50 but the winning little girl, Tori, guessed 300 - good job Tori! I set up the table with mini water bottles covered with strips of LEGO paper that I bought from my work, collectedmemories.com. I also used that paper to make the little LEGO guy thank you's. Months ago, I let Riley 'design' a lego guy and we ordered enough pieces to make 30 of them. I turned these into the party favors. We ordered all the little guy parts from the pick-a-brick section of the Lego website. I put my cool old suitcase to use holding the favors. I ordered paper straws from etsy and built a little LEGO holder for them. Finally I put together a Happy Birthday Riley banner with the lego paper and some crepe paper. I also made some super easy LEGO banners that you can only see in some of the photo's below - just some squares, circles and a little ink on the edges - voila!

We had a great turn out for it being almost a month after school was out. The LEGO contest table was the most popular spot. I had the kids build creations and then gave out little certificates for what was most unique about each one. The boys & girls hung out at this table just building and building and building. The rings were a hit too - at one point Preston had a ring on every finger of both hands! It was so cute and I can't believe we didn't take a picture of it :( So it was just an awesome day - my Riley had a great 7th birthday and I'm so happy!

I have lots to post about, including an Oscar Mayer sponsored BBQ from this past weekend. But I do have a busy schedule the next few weeks. My brother is coming in to town this week so hopefully I get my other posts up first otherwise it will be a while!!

Take A Guess...

...at what I'm up to...

It requires lots of cutting of squares and rectangles and punching out circles. It might look like a rainbow but if you look closely, it is pretty much just the primary colors.

This should give it away! Preparations for Riley's LEGO birthday party. The big day is this Saturday so I'm winding down all the crafting and getting in the mood to do actual decorating.

I 're-did' this old suitcase to match the theme...best $2 I ever spent!! (I don't really have to count the money I paid for fabric or ribbon, right?)

Now, this is a sneak peak for a little later...

I've got some plans for these ladies. Those plans include some of the favorite little girlies in my life :)