Celebrate You Glitter Dahlia Card

I wish I had the photography skills to share this card in its true glory.  How does one photograph glitter?  Teach us how, Lauren and Jamie!!

At any rate, this was my first time playing with Silhouette's double sided adhesive and I'm in love!  I used this shape and the font is Amatic!

Getting My Stripe On :: DIY Striped Magazine Boxes

So.

You know when there's a giveaway that you REEEEAALLY want to win, so you jump through all the hoops and like all 700 people on instagram, facebook, pinterest, etc. etc. etc.? 

I entered one of those once.

I don't do it often, because I'm kind of a streamlining freak, and I get all OCD when my instagram feed gets all cluttered with people and companies I don't really care about. But I thought to myself, "Maybe I'll really like one of these new people/companies/brands--who knows!?" Well, I ended up un-following most after the giveaway ended, but there was one who's posts I enjoy, and I loved THESE from her site. 

Only problem?

I love navy.

That's not the problem.

The problem is that navy (and gold, for that matter) and my color scheme don't hang out all that much right now.

So I decided to hack it. I was walking around IKEA and found these magazine file boxes and knew I had to try. At 2/$5 it wasn't much of a financial risk. I picked up some cheap acrylic paint at Michael's (it was on sale for 6/$2) and some painters tape and totally winged it.

Tip: look closely when buying the file boxes. Sometimes the silver strip across the top isn't perfectly straight, and it will make your stripes look a bit crooked.

I slapped some paint on there--two coats of the coral, three of the robins egg blue.

Tip: Make sure to be slow and careful taking the tape off around the corners where the top coat of cardboard is thinner, or you'll rip it off.

Once the paint is dry, assemble. Which, basically amounts to un-flattening it and putting the corner trim on. 

 Now I just need to label them. I'm still deciding which magazines to put where. 

 I love how they turned out! They're not perfect, but they were fast, cheap, and they give me that extra pop of pattern and color that I wanted.

So tell me--what color will you try?

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Party

We threw this birthday party for my son who is a big fan of Jake, Izzy, Cubby, Scully, and Bucky. It was very simple, but after all, a five year old doesn't care as long as he gets to eat cake and open presents!

What pirate party would be complete without a treasure hunt?  The kids swung through jungle vines, conquered the Never-Peak, slid down the Never-Falls, and collected coconuts, following instructions "from Jake himself!"  I printed up some treasure maps from the Handmade Home and placed them before each activity. Notice the low-key "coconuts" and the buckets we threw them in.  If you wanted to dress things up, you could cover the buckets with wrapping or butcher paper.  Make sure you say "Oh coconuts!" Cubby-style if you miss the buckets!!

I thought the final treasure was rather clever: the kids got to decorate their own treasure chests and fill them with gold (chocolate) coins and ring pops!!  They had a blast gluing jewels on and covering everything with markers.

They did turn out rather marvelously, don't you think?

If you'd like to play along at home, I've uploaded the Silhouette files:
Box Bottom
Box Top
Simply cut them out attach the top pieces with gold or silver brads--very piratey indeed!

We ate "X Marks the Spot Rice Crispy Treats, Pirates Treasure (popcorn, chocolate and M&Ms), "Scully Want Some Cheese and Crackers" and Jello and orange slice sailboats.

And of course, the exquisite Jake cake!  Perfect it is not, all I cared about as a kid were the plastic characters on top.  Check and check, my friends!  Add to that the delicious chocolate frosting covered rice crispy ship and island?  This was quite tasty!  I have to shout out to my friend who shared her Jake cake on Facebook--she was actually the inspiration for this whole party!

I've made you a Bucky sail, if you would like to build your own Jake cake. It is slightly different than what I have--it has a Happy Birthday medallion on it!
Bucky Sail Download

What other games or food would you have at a Pirate Party?  Do tell!

Free Printable: Lunch Box Love Notes

It's that time again, and we are up to our necks in the back to school frenzy!  New teachers, new schedules, and blessedly, a return to routine.  I'm hoping one of these days I'll be able to keep up with it all...

Last year, I started sending little love notes in my oldest's lunch box.  At one point he told me how "embarrassing" it was, but I didn't stop because I kind of like to annoy him...When I volunteered in his classroom, I started leaving them at his desk as well.  His teacher let me know how much he loved them, and when he brought home his pencil case this summer, I found a bunch of them that he'd saved.

Can I get an Awwwwww?

Sadly, I got out of the habit of sending the lunch notes.  I was pregnant and tired and my husband started taking care of the morning routine while I...dealt with my morning sickness.

Excuses, excuses...

This year, I am determined that I will send a note every day and see how much I can "embarrass" the child.  And to make it easier, I made a few to print out.  I can fill out a couple ahead of time and if I am busy with the baby in the morning, it will be easy for the husby to slip one in the lunch box.

It occurred to me that perhaps you might like to make your littles feel special too, so feel free to snag the download and print away!

Click here for the Printable
 
Click here for a borderless version of the Printable