About Me

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Kentucky
I am not going to lie ... most days we are hot mess here at this little three ring circus I am apart of! I have a great husband, a darling doodlebug of a daughter, two, yes two, boston terriers and a cat ... that is a lot of feet running around!! I love all things creative! I am not the best at anything, but I love to see what other great creative things people do and try to incorporate them into my life! I will warn you, with all this creativity comes the high probability of the following: miss spelling, ranting, random shinanagans! Consider yourself warned.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Little Girl Nursery

This fall my best friend will have her first little baby! A boy!! So excited!!
My family is hosting a shower for her next week and I have been working on all kinds of projects that I will have to share at a later date. I don't want to ruin the surprises!

It made me remember doing Doodlebug's nursery and how much work and thought went in to it, and how much I loved it! We lived in an old 1950's cape cod and had a little room of the dormer that was the nursery.

For those of you who may have been reading along and/or know me - I prayed like crazy for a girl! Nothing against boys - I just wanted a girl!

I wanted a nursery that felt like you were in a little person's magical place when you walked in. I wanted her to ooohhh and ahhhh when she woke up or got her diapers changed. I wanted her to smile and laugh and know that this little place was all hers to explore!

It all started with a book I found ...


I knew I wanted to recreate these little guys in the nursery. I figured if by chance I did have a little boy - then we were covered! If I had a little girl, I would just play up the pinks!

So it started! I do not know what normal pregnant women do - but I was on a mission. We lived in Chicago at the time and I had the world of shopping in my back yard! I was determined to have some unique items in my nursery and for it to look child like, but not typical.

So I shopped, and then I shopped, and then just when Husband thought there was really nothing else that could fit into our living storyboard, I shopped some more (this was all followed by a lot of returning!)  I scored huge one day when I was leaving our enormous TJ Max Home and I saw a lady with fabric boxes that had my characters on it! I think I may have actually ran, literally ran, back in the store! Don't worry I was that crazy pregnant lady in 3" heels!


The items gathered for this nursery all over our 1200 sq foot house. Husband just kept asking, were exactly do you think all of this is going to go - the room is literally 9'x10' ... oh silly man were there is a will there is a way!

I enlisted my sisters and mom to help! They traveled to Chicago the October before Doodlebug came along! Husband and I prepped the room and had it all painted ... well Husband did a lot of painting, I did the picking of the colors and napping ... I was pregnant for the love.  And once the girls got there we did not stop for almost 3 days straight. No napping was allowed.

Outside the Nursery. Bottle Feeding time, book reading and snuggling before bed!





Friendly Greeter: Mr. Alligator

We used shimmer paint on him for a second coat, to give him a little sheen.



Crib: Pottery Barn Kids. Furniture: Land of Nod. Bedding & Drapes: Custom Made



Honestly if I never paint another leaf it will be to long!



Our Friendly Lion was actually flocked. When you touched his face it was wonderful and fuzzy. My sister and I researched how to apply it to the walls. We contacted the seller and she gave us some more tips. It was really not difficult and cleaned up pretty well. LOVE HIM! (see site here)




This may be a little over the top for some people ... but I just think children's room should be a wonderful place. And it is all paint - so they don't like it in a few years - paint over! It was better than buying a bunch of framed pictures I would have nothing to do with. We have since moved from this little house and it is now a palace for a little boy ... although my sister did ask if we cut the drywall and take it with :)









Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Canvas Sign Ideas!

This winter I made my sister a funny sign to hang in her office ... it was a standing joke we'd say "oker doeker that's what we'll dueker". 

We had made some cute Halloween Canvas signs using paint & paper and created some custom spooky sign. So I went with the same idea.

Supplies:
Canvas Board - any size you want
Spray Paint
Folk art "extreme glitter" paint (Check it out here)
Mod Podge
Paper
Embellishments


I spray painted the canvas purple - Yes in December on the driveway in the cold! I do try and keep my spray paint projects for warmer weather! The bonus - spray paint gets on your gloves and not your fingers!

Once that was good and dry I applied the Extreme Glitter Paint - this you can use a regular old paint brush - inside were it is nice and warm! I added a few layers so that it was good and glittery - the paint I used was purple so it matched the spray paint.

I let that dry for a day - then used my cricut to cut out the letters and the arrows were chipboard art I had from another project! I used spray adhesive to stick them to the board and then mod podged the entire thing! I am not going to lie - I am not a huge mod podge fan - we just don't get along, I don't think it is anything personal ... we are working on our relationship.

What made me think of this was the darling fabric covered canvas over at maryjanesandgaloshes.com - check it out it is darling!

The best part of this project was I didn't have to worry about spelling errors ... because really none of these are in dictionary - take that Webster!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Party Day

Today was finally the big day! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Party had arrived. I am not going to lie - I spent all day Friday sewing what feels like 1,000 sashes for our party gifts! Instead of a treat to take home the birthday moma and I decided we would make little bags for each of the guest to "use" at the party.

They got:
Face Mask (orange, red, blue or purple
Ninja Belt (matching the mask)
TNMT ring (because, why not?)

The bags were so cute - they had little toppers I just created in illustrator and printed out.

My sewing machine was out to get me, and I am pretty sure I used about $350 curse jar words! HA But all is well that ends well.

Enjoy some pics from the big day.

Custom Cakes
TMNT Bouncey
Banner #1
Baby Ninjas
Door Hangers! Double door - so cute!
that looks like a 1,000, right?
some cute guest - and a cute banner way in the background







Saturday, May 7, 2011

Off to the races!

Moving to Louisville, Kentucky definitely has some advantages and one of the biggest is the first weekend in May. DERBY WEEKEND. For weeks now the city has been full of great activities offered for locals and visitors. Last weekend we strolled through the wonderful art show hosted by 200-300  talented local artisans.(We walked away with an awesome print from Madpixel.com)  The city hosted a hot air balloon glow and a launch. They have their own parade with floats and balloons! Wine tastings, cocktail parties, dinner bashes, you name it and they have it for Derby week.

This is our first official Derby Weekend in Louisville. We are attending a house party today. Our lovely hostess for the day has worked her poor tail off during Derby week. Her job is in the Bourbon world it has been a constant mad dash since the Derby festivities started. She is a bit like wonder woman ... I am not sure how she is even standing, let alone hosting a party today.

So as good friends do - we ascended on her house last night. A few cocktails in tow ... a few dishes from our own house, and began chopping, boiling, grating, slicing, mixing and assembling. We played the never ending refrigerator shuffle to get everything in.

In honor of the Derby I made her two banners for her party today:

Banner #1: For the Horses!




Banner #2  for the ladies! Derby Hats & Mint Julep's






The food item I am most excited about is my Mint Julep Derby Cake! I found a few recipes on line and mixed and matched what I thought would work out best. This is going to be a close second to my Margarita Cake.


Cake:
  • 1 box White Cake Mix
  • 1 box Dry Vanilla Pudding Mix
  • 5 whole Egg Whites
  • ½ cups Cold Water
  • ½ cups Canola Oil
  • ½ teaspoons Mint Julep Mix (Mint Extract or Mint Liquor)
  • ½ cups Bourbon
  Butter Sauce:
  • 1-½ stick Butter
  • ¼ cups Cold Water
  • 1-½ cup White Sugar
  • ¼ cups Bourbon
  • Cup Coarsely Chopped Fresh Mint
  Frosting:
·         1½ cups confectioners’ sugar

·         1-2 tablespoon milk

·         1 tablespoon Mint Julep Mix
Preheat oven to 325.
Beat the first 7 ingredients (through 1st round of bourbon) in a bowl with an electric mixer. Pour into a tube pan that you sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for an hour.(40mins in a convection oven)
Sauce: melt the butter, water, mint, bourbon and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and let roll for just a minute or two. Remove from heat - cover with lid and let sit for 20 mins. Strain Mint. Put back on stove on low prior to cake being pulled out if butter starts to harden.

Pull the cake out of the oven, and while it’s still hot, take a kabob skewer and poke it all over. Slowly pour all of the sauce over the top and around the sides. Allow the cake and sauce to cool completely in the pan. Invert on a pretty plate. Mix Frosting ingredients and pour over.

So off we go! My money is on Uncle Mo today. I am ready for an afternoon filled of good food, good friends, and great hats!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Party Continues ...

Wrapping it up here in Ninja'ville! I have some minor sewing left to do (ok half of it) and a few treat bags to stuff (ok half of those two ... jeez ease up :)

I finished up all the banners/garland. I had to throw in some "birthday" in with all the turtles ... ribbon and glitter will normally do the trick! These guys are going to be so excited, along with 35 of their closest friends and parents (good grief charlie brown).


Yep that is black tulle




The last little piece I did was some Ninja Garland to hang ... I love this stuff and it super quick to make.

1. Cut out different sized/colors circles (I used a machine, because my two year old cuts better than I do)
2. Get some invisible thread for your sewing machine
3. Just start sewing - feed circles one at time - as close or as far apart as you like - no real skill involved at all! Which normally plays to my advantage.
4. Glue on your characters - or leave it blank







So next up: finish sewing. argh. I hate the "doing" sometimes.
After that: two toned crepe paper streamers! Another no skill required sewing project!

The artwork was purchased from Etsy - check here for some of her other great stuff .




Monday, May 2, 2011

Two is better than one ...

For the last couple weeks I have been all consumed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ... Little Green Dudes in a half shell! The P-twins party is next Saturday and to say I am all done with their stuff, would be, well a total lie. 

But what I do have done are two awesome wreathes for the birthday boy's front doors. Good thing they have double doors for this double trouble birthday party.

You can find the "how to" over at How Does She! These are really simple to do and the balloon part I did while watching two How I Met Your Mothers ... while Husband fast forwarded through the commercials. We have three Tivo boxes in our house and  are slightly obsessed with TV ... but that is for another day!








Couple things I learned:
1. Each of these wreathes have 225 balloon - really could have used 300 NO PROBLEM!
2. Nothing sticks to balloons - not hot glue, stick dots, double sided tape ... the letters have fallen off onto the floor a million time this week ... stapler here I come
3. The letters and numbers I cut out with the Cricut
4. The Turtles I printed off the Internet onto card stock - cut them out, glittered them and taped them onto a skewer and stuck them right in!


These are beyond cute in person! Such a fun idea for about $30 each. Look around the internet to find big bulk bags of balloons pretty cheap.

St. Patrick's Day Spoiler ... hmm wonder if I can hang some shamrocks on these! HA