Ellie Jane, Age 8 (Colorful Karaoke Party Reveal)

It's that time of year.....my sweet Ellie rings in her birthday at the very start of the Christmas season, which always leaves me feeling nostalgic, a bit chaotic, and like time is moving entirely too fast. This girl never ceases to amaze me. So aware, so alive, and so determined. There is so much I could say, but mostly I am so very proud to call her mine and have the privilege of learning from her and watching her grow.

For the invitation I had the wild idea of hand stitching a design on to each one. I soon realized that was insane, but not before falling in love with it and so I soldiered on and completed 15 of these bad boys. It was totally worth it. I have been so in love with the Japanese stitching technique called sashiko (more on that later), and this design was very much inspired by that!

I offered to do her party at the gymnastics place like the rest of her class, but she told me she still wanted a party at home (high-five!). Not just any party though, a karaoke party with lots of balloons. If you know my family and how much most of us love to hear ourselves sing, you would know how great of an idea this was! I twisted by Dad's arm and convinced him to DJ (he also ended up throwing down a little Hall & Oates and Steely Dan on the mic).

The decor was simple-green garlands with pops of color in the form of balloons and honeycomb balls, and lots of confetti on the tables and lots of balloons on the floor. We made some fun tassel necklaces and covered our bodies in flash tattoos (not pictured!) while the girls took turns singing tunes at the TOP of their lungs. This party was not for the faint of heart (or for those who are easily-over stimulated)!

Dad came through once again with an awesome cake that was WAY better than what I would have made. The treat bags were made by adding a strip of copper tape to small brown bags and I used this tutorial to make a million tassels while Netflix binging the night before the party (I modified it to make the tiny tassels even tinier and added a ring to the top of each one to make it easy to string on a necklace).

I also painted hot pink stripes onto butcher paper for easy table runners for the table and dessert table. My Mom came through with an amazing array of kid food, straight from my childhood-biscuit pizzas, mini hot dogs, sandwiches in fun shapes and cups of veggies and fruits. Seriously, that woman is the best.

Happy Birthday Ellie-we could not love you more!

Color By Number Valentine's Poster

Last year we made some giant coloring posters to bring to a class Valentine's party and had so much fun doing it that we decided to do it again this year!

I saw a kilim rug recently featuring a fantastic pixel-y floral design. I spent the last few nights making the image above, and then thought it would make for the perfect color by number page or poster for kids (and adults too!)

So I removed the color added numbers in and had it printed at my local Staples for only $1.99 (this is an 18x24 size-bigger sizes available too).

I colored one as an example and it reminded me of buying those velvet posters and coloring them as a kid back in the '90's, remember those? If I could find a way to add some fuzzy black velvet to this guy, I totally would.

We plan to give a letter-sized version away as valentine's with a little bundle of colored pencils and a color guide at school this week! I also made a folded card out of the original colored design to use for other friends and family.

If you would like to make one of you own, here you go (click on links below to download):

-Color by Number Valentine Coloring Sheet*
-Color Guide
-Pixel Flowers Valentine's Card

*This is in a standard letter size to be printed at home, or you can go to the Staples website and select "Engineer Prints" and upload this file to be printed in multiple large sizes starting at $1.99. I was able to order mine online and pick it up a few hours later.

Also, a note on coloring...the larger areas to be colored have a numbered border around them and everything within that border is meant to be that color. Color the border first and it will be clear what goes inside it :)

DIY Woven Chair Seat

Now that we're finally in our house, I have been in some sort of creative overdrive mode. Finding a way to make our stuff fit into a new space well always puts me into a problem solving state, which, of course, leads to a long list of projects.

This rocking chair is a great example...I still love the shape of this Ikea gem, but honestly it hasn't gotten much use since our apartment days in California. I hated the print of the cushions, but they're still in great shape. I will probably update the covers someday soon using this site, but for now I wanted a quick way to update the chair so it could be functional as a reading chair in Jack's room instead of being banished to the garage.

I love the look of wooden furniture with the contrast of a neutral woven fabric seat. I found this great tutorial from one of my fave DIY-ers, Matt from Wood & Faulk and remembered that I had two rolls of industrial grade felt sitting in a box just waiting to be used! If I had leather strips on hand I would definitely be using those, but I love the soft look and feel of the felt too (and, hey, free!).

The process was very simple and the whole project took less than two hours. The only thing I did differently than the tutorial was to use a staple gun instead of upholstery tacks to attach the strips of felt to the frame. I wasn't having a lot of success in nailing the tacks in, and the staple gun ended up being a quick solution. This would be an amazing update or fix for any furniture that has a wood frame and a variety of materials could be used. I don't think I'll look at broken garage sale chairs the same now!

I can't wait to snap a pic of Jack's room and show the chair in its new home!

Have you made anything to update your home lately? I would love to hear about it!

DIY Printable Springtime Masks

Remember our fun printable bunny masks from last year? We decided to make them again this year, but thought Mr. Bunny might want a little friend too!

Find the templates for this simple springtime craft over at playful learning today...

Happy paper crafting!

Whip Up Wednesday: Cheery Gift Tags for Spring

Raise your hand if you're ready for spring! Things are still cold here, but trees are blooming anyway. Despite Seattle's best attempt otherwise, I am all about jumping into spring and leaving winter behind as quick as I can. It's in that hopeful spirit that I offer these sweet little gift tags.

Attach them to treats, gifts, or my favorite-potted plants, and spread the spring cheer!

Download springy gift tags here.

A no-sew circle garland

If you're anything like me, you love yourself a pretty garland.  I can always find an occasion to use one.

I've been admiring the simple sewn circle garlands that seem to be everywhere for quite some time now.  The problem?  My sewing machine is a dinosaur and I'm a little bit lazy.  Enter in super-easy, no-sew garland.

Want to make one too?

Step One: Gather your materials

You'll need some circles of either paper or fabric, a small hole punch and some twine.

I had some fabric left over from making cupcake toppers for this party.  My fabric was treated with a fabric stiffener, which gives it similar properties to paper, but you can try it with regular fabric too.

Step Two: Punch holes

Punch two holes near the center of each circle with your hole punch.

Step Three: Thread it

Thread your twine through the holes.  I used a thick string that easily went through the holes, but you may need to use a needle depending on the thread used.

 

Happy garland making my friends!

Fun with tape.

Thanks to a lot of actual work coming in, I've been feeling pretty uninspired when it comes to making things for my home.  In an effort to jump start some creativity I was playing around with some Japanese Washi tape (how can you not love this stuff?).

I ended up making this chevron inspired art and letter "e" to brighten up my desk for a while.  They will probably be replaced before long, perhaps when I get out of this rut? 

In the meantime, here are some fun things you can do with this amazing tape:

Decorate a vase.
Spruce up inexpensive clothespins
Make plain gift wrap more awesome
Add some flair to wire hangers (perfect for kids rooms!)
Quick, but cute bunting
And my favorite: Make your own twist ties!  I'm so doing this.

A festive doily garland.

I, my dears, have entered a contest.  The whole idea behind the contest is to come up with a DIY party idea on a budget.

Truth be told, this garland was already on my list of things to make for another project, but why not put it in a contest too?  You can see all the details of the contest here.  Fingers crossed!

Anyway, contest or not, I would love to share this project with you:

 Materials:

A variety of crocheted doilies (I found some great vintage ones for about 1.50-2.00 each)
Jute twine
Fabric stiffener (I used a bottle and a half for four large and two small doilies)
Nylon fishing line
Lobster clasps (found in jewelry section)
Waxed paper
Sponge applicator
Small bowl
Scissors

Step One:

Lay down some waxed paper on a hard surface and place a doily on top.  Pour some of your fabric stiffener in a small bowl.  Using your sponge applicator, brush stiffener on to the doily until it is saturated (follow directions on back of bottle).  It might take a lot!  Lay down some more waxed paper and move wet doily on to it to dry.  Repeat process with all doilies.  Allow to dry until completely stiff.

Step Two:

Once all of your doilies are dry, lay them out to decide how you want them to hang.  I chose a high, low pattern. 

Step Three:

Cut a piece of fishing line according to how low you want your doily to hang, leaving extra on each end for tying.  Tie one end to top of doily and double knot.  Tie the other end to a lobster clasp and double knot as well.  Continue with each doily.  String some jute twine up and fasten each lobster clasp to it until the desired arrangement is achieved.

 

I think this would look great over a table at a party or hung outdoors at a rustic wedding.  

 Wish me luck!

Easter Garland (plus free download)

I've never been one to decorate for every holiday.  Don't get me wrong, I celebrate them all, and usually end up buying my kids some kind of gift too.  I don't know what it is this year, but I felt like our house could use a little bit of Easter cheer.

Could your house use some as well? 

You can download the banner here: Easter garland. 

Hang it with clothespins like I did or punch two holes in the top of each card and string some pretty ribbon through. 

Happy Easter to you!

Made at home: Ice cream sandwiches

I ran across this amazing photo via Pinterest a while back and have been wishing we had an awesome Coolhaus truck in our town!

Nope, all we have here is an ice cream truck with Dora painted on the side.  Yes Dora.  You can't tell your kids no when they see it.  Evil.

Anyway,  yesterday I ran to the store and picked up some smaller sized chocolate chip cookies from the bakery, and strawberry and vanilla ice cream (FIVE is the best!).  I figured we deserved a little treat since we kinda worked up a sweat in the backyard.

 

What do you think? Definitely scaled back quite a bit.  Just slop some ice cream between two cookies and there you have it.  We wrapped ours in wax paper and put them back in the freezer for a couple of minutes so the cookies would be nice and cold too.  Yum!

P.S. The winner of Thursday's giveaway is Tara!

Dip-dyeing + Giveaway

Recently, I decided to try my hand at a little dip-dyeing.  I'm happy to report it was super easy.  Want to know how?

Supplies:  Bucket, RIT dye of your choice, absorbent paper (I used watercolor), clothesline/pins.

Step One: Pour hot tap water in your bucket (at least 6 inches) and add a little bit of dye (I used about half of a "fuchsia" powder dye packet) and stir.  Let cool slightly.

Step Two: Holding paper as straight as possible, dip in dye to desired line.  Leave in until you are satisfied with the color.  If you aren't, you can dip it right back in.

To achieve the ombre look I did, hold the first dip for the longest amount of time, then move the paper down into the dye slightly and hold for a little less time.  Continue the process until you have the look you want (I did four. The first dip was 1 min, the second line was 45 sec, 30 sec, 15 sec, 5 sec).

Step Three:  Gently hang your paper using a clothespin to dry.  You might want to put an old towel underneath as the paper will drip a little as it dries.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I've been trying to come up with a little something to give away over here.  I'm so grateful for the new things in my life this past year, including this blog, and including you.

I decided I would give away a set of four dip-dyed cards with envelopes.  All you have to do is comment on this post between now and Monday.  Random.org will choose a winner on Monday.

The original tutorial I followed can be found here.