Back To School Teacher Gift

We thought it would be a nice gesture to start the school year off with a gift for the teacher. Unfortunately, I started thinking about what it would be a little too late, so I didn’t do what I really wanted to. We did buy a bottle of hand sanitizer and decided to add the teacher’s initial and Little Monkey picked out a flower to add to it. A little bit of cutting on the Cricut and the gift was done. Nice and quick and we know it will get used! The teacher was grateful for the gift and surprised at the personal touch.

Personalized bottle of hand sanitizer

Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciation Day 2012

Every year I think, we should really dress up and get free food at Chick-fil-a for Cow Appreciation Day. And then it comes along every year and we don’t go. This year I decided we were going to make it happen! I printed the first page of Chick-fil-a’s costume kit which included ears and noses/mouths. I taped the ears to hair clips for easy use. Next we cut out black spots from construction paper. We taped those onto white shirts. I also made Little Monkey and Little Monkette each a sign similar to the Chick-fil-a cow’s sign.

Eat Mor Chikin or Frys and Frut!

Since Little Monkey can’t eat chicken, I made him a special PKU friendly sign for fries and fruit. Who knows, maybe we’ll help Chick-fil-a start a new PKU friendly marketing campaign!

They were very excited to meet the cow!

Shortly after we sat down to eat our food, the Chick-fil-a cow came out. The kids were SO excited. They hopped right up from the table to meet him. They got hugs, high fives and a photo op! The cow hung around for awhile, greeting people outside, going through the drive thru line, sneaking up on people eating or waiting in line, taking orders, handing out orders in the drive thru and sitting with other people who were eating. Every time Little Monkette saw the cow she would wave and often he would wave back (except when he was outside and she swore he did see her though!)

There were a few people eating in the restaurant (we got there about 4:15 to avoid the dinner crowd-turned out to be a great idea!) that were not aware of Cow Appreciation Day. One guy even asked me if something special was happening today. I told him about the event and assured him that we didn’t regularly dress like cows (Yes I was dressed like a cow too! Hello! It was FREE food!)

I would say dressing up for Cow Appreciation Day is worth it. We had fun and got to have great food for free. We didn’t spend any money on our costumes. Everything we used was stuff we had on hand. I’ve entered the kids picture into Chick-fil-a’s Cow Appreciation Day photo contest. Once I know the link of where to vote, I’ll post it here so you can go vote for them!

Update! I got the link to vote for the kids!! Please go give them your vote! Click Here! Thanks.

My Take: T-shirt to Workout Tank

Another idea I saw floating around on Pinterest and finally tried out myself: The T-shirt to Workout Tank

DIY Tank Top T-shirt Makeover

This morning I was trying to find something to wear to the gym and I decided to try this out real quick. It was quick too! Just a few cuts with the scissors and I turned an oversized t-shirt of Big Monkey’s into a workout tank for me. This project was FREE thanks to using a t-shirt from our stash of shirts! Since it was so quick and I was needing to finish getting the littles ready to go, I didn’t take any before or during photos. And the after photos were done on my phone by Little Monkey, after working out.

My Workout Tank

Back of the workout tank. The only problem I found with this workout tank was the knot in the back. It is fine, until you try and do sit ups!

Want to make your own? Check out Dollar, Sense & More for the tutorial!

My Take: Where We’re From

You’ve probably seen plenty of map crafts floating around the blogosphere and of course on Pinterest. I had spotted a few ideas I liked but hadn’t made any until a couple of weeks ago. My mom had a big birthday coming up and although she didn’t ask for any gifts, I wanted to make her something I knew she would love. How could I decide on the perfect gift you ask? I stalked her Pinterest boards and found a few ideas I really liked and thought I could make. I narrowed it down finally to the “Where We’re From” map people idea.

I took a look at a few blogs that had already made their own versions and decided the best way would be to get my hands on some real maps. I needed some Florida maps and a Massachusetts map. Seeing that we live in Florida, I figured those would be easy to come by. I was wrong.

I ended up first finding a Massachusetts map at a thrift store for 15cents. Next I found an old road atlas at another thrift store for 50cents. Since I needed multiple cities in Florida, I needed to get at least one more Florida map. I found out that our local driver’s license office has a AAA guy who gives out maps. Perfect! We stopped in there and were able to grab two Florida maps for free!

I hunted around the internet trying to find a template for cutting the little people out but kept coming up empty. I’m not much of an artist but I managed to draw some little people up and used them to trace out spots on the map to cut out. Each little person represents a different member of our family and the area of the map they are made up of includes the city that they were born in.

After lining the people up on a spare canvas I had on hand, I decided to paint the white canvas black so that the people would stand out better. Once the paint dried (two coats), I set up my people and used some Mod Podge to glue them into place. I decided to add our family’s name to the top and thanks to my Dad’s suggestion, the year we were established (Mom and Dad’s Anniversary Year). I used some vinyl and the Cricut to cut the letters and numbers out. Once they were applied to the canvas I added another layer of Mod Podge to fully seal the project.

My Take: Where We’re From

I love how it turned out and the birthday girl loved it too! It is a great personalized gift that you can make for many different occasions. I have another version swirling around in my head but I need to find some maps that are closer to street level to really make it work well. (I know I could just print the maps but I really love the idea of using the old maps and all the different colors and textures they come with.)

Our Take: Sponge Balls

I’d seen this idea on Pinterest and thought it could be fun to make with Little Monkey. This weekend he will be having two friends spend the night so I thought it would be the perfect time to try it out. We decided a test run was in order to make sure we had it figured out. I looked at two different tutorials and then we did what worked best for us. I did find 12 packs of sponges at Walgreens for $2.99. The scissors and twine we had on hand. I’m also thinking fishing line might work well but I couldn’t find any tonight.

Supplies for Sponge Balls

First we cut the sponges in half long ways and then in half again, making four pieces out of each sponge. One blog had used 16 pieces of sponge to make their ball and the other used just 8. I thought we’d try with 12 to start.

First try…..

When we went to tie the twine around them, it didn’t really work out very well. So we decided to back down to 8 pieces.

Second try…..

The next step is to take a little bit of twine and tie a super tight knot right around the center of the stack. Make a double knot (or heck even a triple knot if you want) and then check out your new sponge ball.

Finished and ready for testing!

You can move the sponge pieces around a little bit to make the ball shape a little better. We took the sponge ball out to the pool and filled it up with water. To show Little Monkey how it worked, we tossed it over to the deck where water came gushing out. Little Monkey thought it was great! I can’t wait to make more when the boys come over this weekend. I think we’ll play with them in the pool and see if we can make up some crazy games to play too!

Teacher Appreciation Week-Day 2

Tuesday’s Teacher Appreciation idea was to send in flowers, either real or fake. Little Monkey and I decided to make his teacher some flower pens. I was able to get the supplies I needed at the Dollar Tree. We picked out some pretty lilies, Little Monkey’s teacher’s favorite flower. A little bit of floral tape and wrapping around the pens and they were ready for a pot of soil, or in our case, pinto beans.

Flower pens in flower pot

We added a little circle printable to the front of the flower pot. I found the printable (FREE!) at Skip To My Lou. She has it so that you can change the name to your student and then print it out! It says, ‘Thank you for helping XXXX grow.’

Resurrection Garden

Our Resurrection Garden

When Big Monkey was growing up, they had a Resurrection Garden for Easter. I had not heard of a Resurrection Garden until recently seeing them pop up on Pinterest.

GrandMom came to stay with the littles the other weekend and they planted a Resurrection Garden. Last night we had a lesson about it, added the crosses, put Jesus in the tomb and rolled the stone in front of the tomb. We asked the kids a few questions and I was impressed with what Little Monkette knew. Big Monkey asked if they knew what Jesus did on the cross. Little Monkette popped right up with, “died!” We talked more about what Jesus did for us and why it was important. Then we let them know that on Sunday they could roll the stone away and Jesus shouldn’t be in the tomb anymore because that is when he was raised from the dead. Tomorrow, we will find Jesus is gone and talk again about the real meaning of Easter.

 

Ready to Meet Little Brother!

When a friend of mine found out that she was having a little boy this time around, she called me and asked if I could make new shirts for the girls. You may recall this set of onesies I made for her girls before baby girl two came along. Of course I accepted and we talked about what she wanted. We found the blue shirts at Wal-mart and then she picked out the fabric to go with it.

Little boy tried to come early on her and she posted on her Facebook page about being in the hospital with contractions. I told him that he wasn’t allowed to come yet because I hadn’t finished the shirts yet and I was out of town!! Lucky for me, he listened! It was probably a good thing too because he was going to be a bit early. When I got back home, I got to work on the shirts for his big sisters and the onesie for him.

Big Sister Shirts and Little Brother Onesie

They all turned out great and their momma loves them. So now baby boy can feel free to show up anytime. And by now I’m sure his mom would be thrilled! Can’t wait to meet the new little addition and see everybody in their matching shirts!

 

I’ve Been Crafting

I haven’t been posting a whole lot lately….mostly because I just haven’t taken the time to sit down and really write anything. Part of that could be do to some of the projects I have been working on. I have made many projects over the past few months and I haven’t been able to share them all with you. I thought I’d share them in one big picture post instead of a bunch of smaller ones, so here goes!

First up is the Lobster Bow Tie and matching Lobster Headband that you may have seen posted on the Lobster Love post.

Lobster Bow Tie

Lobster Headband

Next up was the Cupcake Birthday style headband I also gave K and her daughter H.

Cupcake Headband

This elephant onesie was a special order. We have made some before and even have it available in our shop to order.

Special Order Elephant

This ‘m’ onesie was another special order. I love making initials and picking out the fabrics for these types of orders. I imagine the recipients also love these gifts. I know I liked getting personalized gifts for my littles!

Special Order 'm'

Someone requested this special order of A House Divided onesie. They even ordered two, maybe to have one to grow into? I am ready for football season to start back up, but of course we have all summer to wait!

Special Order A House Divided Football

This is the pillowcase style Rock n Roll dress I made for K’s daughter H. When I saw the bandanas at Wal-mart, the fabric just spoke to me that it would be perfect for her!

Rock n Roll Pillowcase Style Dress

I have a few more projects hanging around and hopefully I’ll get those done, photographed and uploaded for you to see!

Lobster Love!

I have this friend….and he has this sister….who is now also my friend. Funny, I’ve known her, at least of her, for a long time, but we’ve never really hung out or chatted. She lives clear across the country, but thanks to blogs and a few (just a few) similarities, we are now real life friends too. She has this great husband and amazing little girl. They came to visit their family and invited us to come hang out with them while they were here. They took us with them to Animal Kingdom. The littles loved it. My Little Monkey and Little Monkette became fast friends with her little one. Little Monkey has asked if we can go to her house (I showed him a map and told him, maybe one day.).

I had planned to make her little one a dress earlier in the year and mail it, but it never got done…so I made it my mission to have it done by the time they got here for their visit. I also wanted to make something for her Momma K, which meant I couldn’t leave her Daddy C out either! But what on earth do you sew for a grown man?!?! I decided on a bowtie. K and C are eclectic and it is so fun (I hope you know I do mean this in a good way!). I thought Daddy C would love a fun bowtie. (Thankfully I was right, though he did have to learn how to tie it!) I made a matching headband for Momma K.

Sweet Love!

I made the little one a pillowcase dress and a headband to share with Momma K. I love how everything turned out and that they loved the gifts as well. (In fact, Momma K has asked for more headbands! I better get on that!)

Thanks to Momma K and Daddy C and little one for letting us hang out with you while you were here! I wish you lived here so we could hang out more often!!

Little Monkey, Goofy and Little Monkette