Easter treats with peeps!

I made these super cute nests for my preschooler's little Easter party.

It was something he enjoyed helping with as well!

How to make your own:

Grab some Peeps, robin eggs, edible grass (Easter isle at Walmart, or you could color some coconut) and

the original Rice Krispies treat recipe.

Make the rice krispies according to the original recipe and press into muffin pans.

Hollow out the middle a bit and add edible grass, eggs and Peeps!

Easy as that!

A&J

Burlap wreath

 So I saw this darling wreath at Where The Heart Is.

Check it out, isn't awesome?!

She also has a great tutorial which you can find here.

I gave it a go, and it was super, super easy to make!

Perfect touch for my dining room hutch!

A&J

Burlap Bunnies!

HELLO!!

Take a look at these little burlap bunnies over at The Little Green Bean.

Adorable right?

So I happened to have all the stuff to make make these cute bunnies.

Talk about easy!

Here's our version.....

So cute!!

A&J

Book Page Wreath and Eggs

So I saw this awesome wreath on tatertots and jello.

Gotta have one!

 And she actually has an awesome tutorial on exactly how to do it.

Yea!

So I grabbed a book from the dollar store, a circle for the wreath, and some old plastic Easter eggs we had and started modge-podging (yes I used that word that I made up again).

Got the first one finished and was thinking how cool this is going to look.

But it was taking a little longer than I expected.

I figured it would go faster as I go along.

By the 3rd egg I had been sitting there for about 45 minutes.

And I'm thinking, how in the world did this lady seriously do all 50 or so she needed for the wreath. It must have taken her a week. Either that or I'm in serious need of some modge podging skills.

Needless to say, I ended up with 6 eggs completed in total.

They are awesome and I love them, but I still didn't get the wreath I wanted. :(
So, I put them in a jar...
Still cute, but certainly not a wreath.

 

Then I saw this idea here.

 Love it!!

Ok, I can surely roll up paper and glue it on right?

Surely I can!

And I'm off to work on my wreath.....

A&J

Pink and Black Girlie Girls Room

Every wonder what in the world you to do when you lower your crib mattress to the lowest level and you find that your crib skirt that you paid a fortune for is now way too long.  Here's a very cute solution.  Tulle.  Here, I used two spools of tulle that I bought at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 each.  Added some black and white polka dot ribbon, also found 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby and simple tied it to the metal bars of the crib. Since I'm a super over protective mother, I have also never used the bumper that I also paid a fortune for, so I added cute accent pillows in the back of the crib that you can remove at night for safety.  So instead of paying another however much for new bedding, I simply converted to this oh so cheap version for less than $100.  I actually love this more than the original bedding I paid much, much more than $100 for.

Please ignore the non matching rocking chair. It's a family heirloom that I can't bring myself to ask if I can refinish.

Can't resist showing an up close pic of this.  This was also done with all 1/2 Hobby Lobby items.  Metal accent, coordinating ribbon, and added matching tulle that I used for the skirt of the crib.   

A&J

Hoe-Down Birthday Bash

Head on over for an Old Fashion Hoe-Down

My daughter loves horses, so we decided on a hoe-down theme for her 6th birthday.  This was so fun to put together.  Not only can you find western themed party supplies everywhere, but everyday accessories such as burlap, denim, sunflowers, daisies, cowboy boots, cowoy hats and even toy horses can also be found.

You just have to google parties and you will find these glass jars everywhere filled with candy.  I added my own twist by using beef jerky sticks, and trail mix.

The cake.

The buffet.  We served BBQ sandwhiches, chips, potato salad, a veggies tray, and served Orange Crush & Root Beer for drinks. 

For party favors, I found a horse puzzle for $1 at the Dollar Tree, then added some m&s and other cute items and tied them in a bundle with bandanas and twine. Then I added a cute tag that I created in photoshop that says "Thanks Partner for makin' it to my party.  Sure hope you had a Rootin Tootin good time!

For activities we hired a pony service that brought out two ponies for the kids to ride.  For games we did a three legged race that was huge hit.  A grape spitten contest.  Pin the tail on the Horse.  And of course we had a horse pinata.  We did set out bales of Hay in the back yard as well for additional outdoor seating.  It was also the perfect prop for a group picture.

This was such a fun party that both kids and adults thoroughly enjoyed it.

A&J

Digital Scrapbooking

We have been busy little girls working feverishly on our family's 2009 photo books.  Each year we both create a scrapbook of the year's highlights.  This year we taught ourselves Photoshop and vowed to do all of our scrapbooking digitally.  Wow, how addictive can one program really be.  It's insane! 

Just like the old fashion way of scrapbooking, it's so hard to come up with ideas for pages. 

My partner in crime is so darn creative.  I love all her stuff and even bring my attempted pages to her to fix.  Here is my favorite one and a few others to get your own creative juices flowing.

To get started on your own addiction here are a few sites that we have gotten all our kits from:  Several on Shabby Princess are actually free too!
Shabby Princess
Designer Digitals

Shabby Princess also has a very handy photo shop tutorial that is extremely helpful that will show you step by simple step how to create your pages.

For printing, we have had several books printed with Shutterfly and have been very pleased with how they turn out. It's so easy to just drop your pages into a book and order.

A&J

Canvas Art

I was cleaning up my craft area last week and ran across some little 6x6 inch blank canvases. They've been there for a few years now, just waiting for the right spark of creativity to hit my brain. I have seen how other crafters doll them up with paint and paper and I always think how easy that would be to do. So I started painting, and modge-podging (yes, that's a word I just made up) and came up with these.

Not too shabby for my first attempt.
Good thing you can't see up real close,
cause there are definitely flaws.
Not too hard to do though.
And kinda fun.

I may just have to try a few more...

A&J