a little bit of me.

{There's Easter in the Air}

Easter has officially started at our house, with preschool and Kindy parties happening this past week...  & I wanted to share a bit of it here.  :)

This year I updated a little Easter treat that I first made (and blogged!) a couple of years ago...

Updated "Cracker Carrots":

...this was never my original idea, I just saw someone else do it (through pinterest i'm sure) with goldfish (which I first used two years ago) and then updated to Noah's beloved Cheddar Bunnies this year (THEY ARE SO GOOD! #getinmybelly)...

These little guys are so simple to make and beyond cute.

I bought the cone shaped cello bags at Hobby Lobby this year.  These bags would easily work just as well - or these!

You can put as much or as little as you like in them - and then tie with any type of green ribbon, trim, twine, or rick-rack that you have.

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I also assembled some last minute decor for Ev's class party with leftover decorative Queen & Co paper straws and PEEPS!!!  :)

Mason Jars (taken from my stash/mantle) + jelly beans as filler to hold + peeps stuck on straws (tip: trim a few straws down for varying height!) = instant Easter decor.  EASY PEASY.  (that's as much as i can handle these days!)

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And now that the parties have wrapped, along with Evan's third year sporting the same - yet updated yearly! - Easter hat for the school Easter parade...

...we are officially on Spring Break.  and i love that.

here's to hopefully at least one sunny & warm beach day next week and a break from the chilly weather!

{Noah's Dino-ROAR 2nd Birthday!}

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOA-RRRR!

is what Mr Noahpants has been telling us for the past 4 months or so anytime he sees a dinosaur.

((And really up until a few weeks ago when his "Mick-MEE" (read: Mickey) obsession took over, he wasn't into any one thing so much to make it party-worthy.))

...& so his second birthday party theme - Dino-ROAR - was decided, by me - the official party planner at our house.  ;)

The "ROAR" letters are chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby that I spray painted with gloss paint - super simple.  The blue frame is by Organic Bloom - these spunky frames (lots of styles and colors) are sold through photographers, & I am in love with them (& lucky to be able to offer them to my photo clients!).

We made sure to do lots of balloons (OR "bah-ooooohs" as Noah says), bc he LOVES them right now.  I went through two of the take-home helium tanks at target - but it was so nice not to have to go out and get them done.

I am so lucky that my sister was here to help me with the party prep - AND fluff all of the poms the night before.  :)  xo to kimmie for that.

I framed the invitation on the party table as well as an 8x10 of Noah with all of his "loves" printed on it right now - quick, easy, & cheap extra decor!

The pennant banners were all made by me - since my fabric stash is slowly taking over my office, I figured I'd put it to good use.  ;)

Another reason I'm glad my sister was here - we got cute family shots from the day! 

And an extra photographer on hand to snap during the party.  Woot.

I ordered N's "Roar" tee from Amy - She's amazing, and it's seriously like she lives inside my brain for a minute when I tell her what I have in mind - this was perfect!  (there's also a big "2" on the back, not sure if it's visible in any of these shots...)

There was a bounce house set up in our backyard - that i wasn't sure Noah would like or not - SILLY ME, he LOOOOOOVED it - including attempting to let himself back out of house on his own(!) so that he could climb back in while we were taking a break.  :)

There were pretty much dinos EVERYWHERE...

(...including the guacamole)

(and the cupcakes...) - Rex from Toy Story topped N's.

...which he enjoyed sans clothes at that point in the party.  :)

I found this cute jumbo dino balloon to hang out with our treat bags.

Which I broke out my Silhouette machine and paper scraps to add a little "Dino-ROAR" too.

After Noah's party wrapped, (and we all ate another cupcake!) - we headed to N's favorite - the "Beeeeeaaaa-ch" for a picnic dinner and playing.

& I somehow still can't wrap my head around the fact that my BABY is now TWO!

xoxo, birthday boy.

:)

{My Boys.}

ETA: WINNER --- (email me with your contact info!)

Love the profiles! So, so adorable! Thanks for the chance.

Posted by: Jen B. | July 19, 2011 at 09:54 PM

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Right Now.  At (almost) 4 years and 13 months old... & In silhouette form...

...this little crafty project and tutorial from my friend Nisa ended up being the perfect addition to my mantle re-do this week.

Following along with Nisa's step by step guide, it took me less than an hour to take pics of both the boys - make my silhouette brush "stamp" in photoshop, and then create this 5x7 print with the templates that are included in her silhouette digi kit (note: i did customize the colors in the templates to fit my decor!).

I had my 5x7 prints printed at costco this morning - grabbed a cheapy, glossy turquiose frame at target to pair with an ikea silver frame that i already had...

...and voila.  I'm loving a little something new to look at around here!

If you want to give it a try yourself - you can grab Nisa's kit HERE (it's on sale for the rest of today for 32% off as is the ENTIRE REST OF HER DIGI COLLECTION! -- a birthday promo, happy 32nd Nisa!)...

OR you can leave me a comment on this post, and I'll draw a winner at the end of the week to recieve the kit.

:)

{Hippity Hop}

The Easter Post Edition!

We've had a busy, BUSY week full of easter fun-tivities.  And i have lots to post since I've slacked on blogging all week.  ;)

To kick it all off, I coaxed Noah into modeling bunny ears for me last weekend...

Because we all know that i have an affinity for holiday headbands.  ;)

...and then Evan had an adorable little Easter top hat/bonnet parade at school this week - for which we I crafted his hat...

I'm not going to lie - I'm kinda thrilled that he actually wore it for the parade(!!!) -- we've come so far on things like that in the past year.

...and we also put together these goldfish "carrots" for his class party (I found this idea via pinterest - LOVE all the creativity that I've found linked up on pinterest) - the original idea & directions are posted HERE - i'm really not clever enough to come up with this on my own!!!  :)

...another pinterest-found idea (notice a theme here?!) are THESE handprint chickies (original idea and instructions in link) that I decided to put a new spin on.

I absolutely ADORE the idea of handprint holiday keepsake crafts.  Last November, I had really, REALLY wanted to do handprint turkeys with the boys - and just ran out of time.  SO when I saw this chickie craft, I knew that I needed to try it this week.

And because I want to keep these crafty chickies around for many MANY easters - i decided to do ours on stretched canvases (that I picked up at Joanns for 1/2 off) and with fabric pieced chicks.  I sprayed white canvases with a matte robins egg blue spraypaint and let dry.  Then sketched out my chick shape & pieces on scrap paper to use as a pattern template.  I selected my fabric and packed it with Pelon interfacing, and then trimmed out the chick parts.  Evan helped me assemble and glue both chicks together (with FabriTac).  And then we did the fun handprint part using DecoArt Acrylic Paint.

...I added a fabric initial to each chick (and the date to the back) - and now they're hanging out on our Easter mantel.

Along with all of the easter fun we also managed to squeeze in our Passover celebration this week (as we're a dual-holiday-celebrating family!).  We gave Noah his own piece of matzoh and he didn't waste ANY time at all RIPPING into it.  That's my foodie-baby.  ;)

And now we're just wrapping it all up & waiting on the easter bunny to visit on Sunday morning.

(((hop. hop. hop.)))

Happy Easter Everyone.

:)

{Stubby Pencil Studio Give-A-Way!}

ETA - WINNER INFO (comments now closed - thanks everyone!) >>>

Crafting with my niece and nephew is a great way for us to bond. The special moments and laughter during arts and crafts time with their "not-so-artsy-but-tries-to-be" auntie are memories I hold dear in my heart. My favorite thing to do is trace an outline of our hands, note the date, and watch how their hands grow each month. I can't wait to do this with smencils!!! I'm a huge fan of eco-friendly products and just became a fan of Stubby Pencil Studio. Arts & crafts time is going to be much more fun with these cool products.

Posted by: Julie

(ENJOY Julie!!!)

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I was recently introduced to the cutest little eco-friendly website for crafty kids (& mommas!) >>> Stubby Pencil Studio!

This family-run small business stocks a whole range of "green" art supplies, toys, books, and more.  The owner, Kate, was sweet enough to send Evan and I a few products to "test" out.  ;)  And I'm so glad that she did, bc I've now discovered what I'll be gifting all of ev's friends with for upcoming birthdays!

My favorite from our artsy little box of goodies were the vibrant colored baby pencils.  ((we all know that i'm a sucker for color!))

We've been working on writing letters and writing evan's name here at home - and these pencils were perfect for me to first draw the letters of his name, and then have him trace over them with various other colors.  And when that was done we drew some of evan's current favorite coloring subject matter -- "Spaceships & Bugs"!

Evan's favorite was the super-cute little package of crayon rocks.  Perfect for him to hold, and totally fun bc he kept telling me that "it's a rock, momma!".  ;)  Plus they're made from non-toxic soy wax.  BONUS!

We also spent some time painting during our artsy-crafty afternoon using these preschool watercolors along with our little table-top easel.  I love that the brush that came with this set is more of a REAL paint brush than the flimsy ones that kids inevitably get accustomed to.

And finally we broke out these beeswax crayons to draw some more "spaceships" with ;) - i was SO impressed by how incredibly colorful and smooth these crayons were to color with. 

Kate was kind enough to not leave baby Noah out of the mix - and sent him the cutest little wooden clicking fish toy (made by plan toys).  We LOVE wooden toys in our house.  Noah loved it too - as proven by the fact that it went straight into his mouth.  ;)

and now to the give-a-way part...  woohoo!  :)

Kate put together this AMAZING give-a-way for one of my blog readers... an eco-friendly Easter Basket...

Filled with: Felt Flower Garden Basket: 6x9 Ecojot Sketchbook, E-color-gy Washable markers, Set of 10 Smencils, Soy Crayons, Mary's Softdough Rainbow Tub, Softdough Tool set, Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops, Color 'n Kids Garden Pals cards, Double Pencil Sharpener. Spring Top Pencil, Color Blackboard chalk, and more… (Approx value $100).

....JUST LEAVE ME A COMMENT and tell me either what your favorite crafty activity is to do with your kids OR what your favorite product is from Stubby Pencil Studio - and you'll be entered to win.

You can grab extra chances at winning by following Stubby Pencil Studio on Twitter HERE - or by tweeting yourself about this give-a-way - or by "liking" Stubby Pencil Studio on facebook HERE.  Just leave me a comment for each ;)

I'll leave the give-a-way open until Friday night - good luck & happy crafting with your kiddos!  :)

{Felt Food How-To}

I have a little recent craftiness to share today.  :)

Evan has always LOVED play food.  We had a big bin of second-hand plastic food that Eric's mom gave us when Evan was still a baby.  And then one day at a friend's house, I discovered her "felt food" and instantly fell in love with the idea.

Hand-crafted (with love!) play food made of soft felt.  Perfection.  What could be better???

Making it myself, of course.  :)

There are TONS of ideas for felt food on crafty sites like Etsy - and even patterns for purchase, too.  Honestly, I just like to just come up with my own way to put something together - and thus a project for the Fiskars Craft site was born. 

You can see my entire HOW-TO article HERE.  It covers a few basics to create and start your own play felt food collection with.

Breakfast!

Pizza and Pasta!

and Cookies!

Evan particularly loved the "pizza"...

I'm thinking of turning this into a regular periodic blog feature.  Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing more how-to's on other felt-food yummies, right here on the blog.  If there's enough interest I'll do my best to throw it into the rotation.

;)