Dr. Suess Cupcake Stand

Everyone has Valentines day in mind and all I can think about is Cindy's party..... Guess that is what happens when you have a baby in February.

Anywhoo, as I mentioned in the previous post, I am so inspired by the party thrown by the ladies on Hostess blog.   Like the banner, once I saw the cupcake stand I wanted to make one of my own!  So, I made my very own version of it.  I love how Suess-y it came out!

I looked up how much these cardboard cupcake stands cost online but they were expensive.  Yikes you might as well get a real one.  Then, as I was browsing through Joann's I saw that they were selling them for $6 and that is enough of a deal for me.  With a 50% off coupon I bought it.

 

It comes in a kit like this, plain-boring-dull and ready for some imagination!  It is actually pretty easy to put together as long as you read the directions.

 I used some left over paper from the banner I made, and a roll of wired ribbon I got at Michaels for $1!!!!  It is Christmas ribbon, 10 yards $8 bucks, and was on clearance for $1!! It made my day.  I made one of these cute bows.... and then I couldn't stop.

I at first only attached one row of bows going top to bottom but I went a little wild and just put them everywhere.  It just didn't look Suess-y enough with only three bows.  I can't wait to see how the cupcake stands hold up and if it performs well, I will be decorating more in the future.  It was so much fun. 

Dr. Suess Banner

We are two weeks away from the big day and oh mee goodness I think I am going to hyperventilate.  I have this vision in my mind on how everything should look, all the food, the outfits, the games, blah blah blah but it is just putting it together that is the hard part.  And the harder part is carefully choosing which do it yourself project to attempt because, lets face it, I can't do everything.
 

One of my biggest inspirations is the party from Hostess.  Simple and stunning!!  If I could hire a bunch of different people to create this I would but I can't so I am going to try to replicate it.  You will see a ton of inspiration come from this blog.  One of the big things I wanted to make was the gorgeous banner.  I love it and with my slice I was able to cut out all the little pieces.

It came out adorable and I love it!  I thought about selling it after the party is over but when my grandma asked if she could have the pom poms that we made I thought of her.  I just know she  will want this too so I guess this will not be for sale and it will go to my Nanay. 

I figure I would only show half for now, the.... the happy half.  And what makes me happy?!  This cutie pie, the one I am doing all of this for!  And what makes her happy?!  Cookies of course!

Stickers from Address Labels

This Christmas,  I got a sticker maker {hehehe} and it is awesome for making a few stickers but not all that great for mass production.  I really wanted to make envelope seals for Cindy's invites but didn't want to waste the adhesive paper.

So here is what I came up with instead....  I already needed to buy a pack of address labels [and thanks to Wal-Mart's mistake I got them for $1 instead of $10] and I realized this would be the perfect size. I found an image online of the two fish, copy, and pasted it onto the label.  Printed and got my paper punch ready. 

I have to take a second to show you this because these are a huge favorite of mine.  I bought this awesome paper punch from Joann's using a 50% off coupon making it a really reasonable price.  Out of all the paper punchers these are my favorite because they are so sleek.  It is thin, then you push the lever up and it pops up and is ready to go.  Whoever came up with these are genius! 

 After a few minutes I had about sixty of these stickers.  I know it isn't necessary but I love the little details. 

If you have little kiddos, they are really fun to decorate and punch out.  You can even get the super large sticky labels so that the stickers come out bigger.  When I was at my house, I was drawing on them with my God daughter who is 7.  We were having so much fun my little sister came and joined and we made a ton of stickers for her to stick on her notebook. 

Supercuts

Sometimes I feel bllaaaahhh.  It usually happens to me when my hair gets wild and crazy and the bangs are so beastly I just don't know what to do with them anymore.  I start to feel all frumpy and I just throw my  hair up in a pony tail and don't even try to pick out clothes that match.  Yea it happens... Thank God for hair stylist because a nice cut usually makes me feel so much better. 

Seems that life can get that way too.  The past few days I have been feeling all blaaahh emotionally and spiritually.  I am homesick, I miss my hubby, have way too much on my plate, and the list goes on.  For me I learned that I need one day to just let it out.  One day to get away on a retreat.  One day to be negative and icky.  One day to just complain to God about how sucky things are and how much I miss my "real" life.  To cry if I want, scream if I want, or just to be silent.  Once the day has passed I move on and find a new perspective.

It's just like getting a hair cut.  When I take the day to cut out all the icky-ness out of my life I feel all refreshed and brand new.  I call on God, my spiritual hair stylist to trim away at all those split ends.  He does a nice job too! 

It sounds silly but when I finally got my hair cut I felt so much better.... and I realized, hey I need to do that spiritually too and cut out all the things that are bringing me down.   Who would have thunk a simple thing like going to Supercuts would give me this revelation.

New hair cut, new attitude, and hey even a new blog template (thanks to the cutest blog on the block).

Adding the Special Touch: Dr. Seuss Invitations

Remember eons and eons [yes this is actually a real word] ago when I first started the design of the Dr. Suess birthday invitations here and then I finished the digital copy here.  Well, I actually printed them and they are signed, sealed, and delivered.  Woo Hoo!

I know we are in the ago of digital invitations but my heart just oozes for the old school, traditional, card stock, snail mail party invites.  I love them!

  They came out beautifully!!

Now the printed version is cute, but it still needed some pizazz, so a yellow bow was the perfect touch.  [Heed my warning, if you are sending out more than 25 invites, this takes time.]  Thank God I had cousin Krista to help.  We did them on New Years Eve and finding that yellow ribbon was the most pain staking!  We went to three stores to find the yellow with white polka dots, in the perfect size!! You can use the head band tutorial as a reference to creating this bow (but instead of sewing I used my glue gun).

 

Any who, here is how to attach it.

You cut two slits where the arrows are using an exacto knife.

Take your thin ribbon and bring it through the slit (1.) from the back side.

Create a half a loop, then bring it through the bottom slit ( 2).

Slide your bow through.

Place a drop of glue from your glue gun under the bow to hold it in place.  Pull on the thin ribbon until it is tight in the front and then tie a double knot in the back. 

Easy peasy right?!  Now crazy me just couldn't stop there!  I ended up also creating direction cards and mainly because the club house is gated and guest will need the code.  So I designed one up real quick and WALA direction cards. 

 But the madness doesn't even stop there!! I had to get cute envelops and thanks to coupons I was able to get them for a dollar per pack of ten.  I created Thing 1 and Thing 2 address labels.... and a Dr. Suess fish bowl sticker seals the deal [tutorial for the fish sticker coming soon].

I know I am crazy but I just love invitations, parties, and all the little itty bitty details.  I can't help myself!!!  If I had Adobe Photoshop I would probably be designing all sorts of invitations...

Paper Pom Pom Tutorial

Aaahhhhh  I have so so so many things to finishing prepping for Cindy's birthday party I sometimes wonder why I am throwing such a big extravaganza.  If you could see my planning notebook you would understand.

Anywhoo, there are these wooden post thingys at the venue where the party will be held that are perfect to hang these pom poms on so I knew they were a must!  Martha Stewart of course sells them in "kits" that cost about $10-$14 for a pack of 8-10 but I think it's a rip off.  You still have to assemble everything yourself!  I can get  8 gigantic poms for $1.99 using a pack of Ikea napkins, plus I get to customize the colors to the party.  Aren't they adorable?!

 I used the tutorial found on the Martha Stewart website, but after making two I came upon a problem.  The poms just looked a little pathetic no matter how much paper I used.  It didn't look like a full circle and it looked... just blah.  Can you see the difference?!

So the mathematical side of me thought, they do it in halves but I can make it fuller if the the pom was broken up into fourths.  And guess what, it worked so much better!

  I first made a holder for the string by using some left over card stock from the bridal shower invitations.  This is optional.

1.  Cut the paper in squares.

2. Cut little notches on each end [to prevent the string from sliding off the card stock].

3. Place a dot of hot glue onto the card stock and glue one of the string.

4.  When the glue dries, start wrapping it around.  

Instead of string you can also use fishing line.

Ikea Wishlist

Who doesn't love to go to Ikea?! Well, one random day, my two compadres and I decided to get in the car and go. Just like that, spur of the moment sorta trip.  We had a blast!

We got inspired by the layouts and I hugged just about everything I wanted.  Yes, I literally hugged everything I wanted.  Linh liked this pillow so we hugged it and gave it the squishy test.

More Bridal Shower Ideas

 Anyone else having a crazy week like me?!  I don't even know what to think of this week but it has been a tough one!!  So, instead of complaining I figure I would talk about the bridal shower from this past weekend.  It was for my dear college friend Kathryn whom I sent the wedding organizing binder to many moons ago.

There is nothing like a party to get the creative juices flowing.  It was a blast getting everything ready and we had a blast at the party.  The bride was showered, the food was awesome, and it went perfectly.

I first have to mention what a great job Lu [the hostess] did on setting up the beautiful buffet table.  It was so crazy because we both didn't even talk about color schemes, but somehow managed to match everything perfectly!  The table runner was just gorgeous and it had this super duper cute ruffled trim.  I also fell in love with those candle sticks!  She got them at Anthropology.

 In the next room there was another table that I used to put all the candy tin favors, name tags, these cute flowers I got at the dollar store, and the guest book pages.

A Little Looksie

After having such a busy busy week [that is still very busy busy], I got to stop and sit in the house yesterday.  NO driving here, no going there, or doing this and that.... just working on the things I need to do and spending some quality time with my Boo.  I don't know about you but I love just staying home, being a mommy and when the hubby is around a wifey.

So yesterday during her nap I got to play with my Slice.  I have seriously been dreaming about creating something since the day I got it.  It isn't finished yet but here is a little looksie of what I am brewing up.  It is something for the bridal shower.
 
 I might as well give you a mini review of the machine now that I have actually used it.  The machine can cut through card stock great and as long as it is a full 4 by 4 sheet of paper, it doesn't need the glue.  I love that!  When I first started playing with it and using the regular paper, I had tons of trouble.  It was so frustrating because the glue was kind of hard to work with [at first], my paper kept tearing, getting stuck to the mat, and on and on and on.  I finally stepped aside, watched a few youtube videos [which are really helpful] and jumped back in.  After watching, I got the hang of it and was cutting like a semi-pro.  It was a BLAST!!  I cut so much I even had to change my blade [blade change after 90-120 pieces].  I was a cutting machine and only because I didn't want to waste paper. Just look at all these I made from scraps.

 

The pieces look big on he picture but they are actually really tiny.   SO, overall the machine is like any new gadget that takes some time and patience.  If you don't want to take the time to learn how to use it then don't bother getting this one.  I also think it isn't worth the $100 they are selling it on amazon for.  The most I would probably want to pay is $40, but then again I am a cheap person.  Can't wait to show you the finished product!

Bridal Shower Favors

So I have been staying overly busy these days and yes, missing the good ol day's of staying home in Germany living the slow small town life.  This week has been so hectic I just can't wait for it to be over!  Thinking about my to do's just makes me tired so I won't even go there.


But on a happier note, my dear friend Kathryn's bridal shower is this weekend [yeay] so I have been working hard getting things ready.  This isn't a small shindig either, there will be about 40 ladies there so there is much to do.  One of my to do's is getting the party favors together.  So, off I went to Michael's to look with my 50% off coupon on hand.  I ended up getting these small round candy tins and chose them mainly because they already come with the printable stickers.

 

Now the idea of printable labels is great, except you have to be some sort of guru to print them out to fit perfectly in those circles!!!!  NOTE:  Buy the square ones, the labels will be easier to make.  Twenty  minutes and two test sheets later, I gave up and thought of a different idea.  I got my white card stock and printed out the title on there.  I figured I would just use my fancy schmancy paper punch and handy dandy glue gun.   

[And I have to add that these are my all time favorite punches!!!!  With a 50% off coupon they are pretty reasonably priced.  You hold it down and press the lever and it collapses into this thin heavy square thing.  I love that it is so compact and perfect for a little traveler like me.  EK is the brand in case you were wondering. ]

Now this would have been so nice except my scallop punch is centimeters too big!  Aghh.  But there is a solution and here is a way to get the most out of your paper punchers.  I had to make them smaller, so I turned the little tags into clouds.  Here is how...

1. Slip in the paper and punch.  

2. There is the first side.  

3.  Now the tricky-er part.  Slip it in again and this time line up the curves of the paper to the punch where the arrows are pointing.  

4.  Punch again and repeat a million times.

My Slice

I am so excited for you to me my little Slice.  It was the deal of a lifetime, let me tell you!!!  So I have been a frequent shopper at Michaels recently because of all the parties I am prepping for and because you can only use one coupon at a time I am there often.  I saw this die cutter on sale and it was $40 and it is cute but still way more than what I would ever want to spend.

Then on Sunday, I was thinking that I would really like it.  I called Michaels as soon as they opened on Monday to see if they had any and I would consider it, but when the lady told me it was marked down to $19.99 I right away said HOLD IT FOR ME PLEASE.  It is originally 149.99 and that is a 85% off discount folks!   The cheapest one you can find is on ebay and it is selling for $85.  I just knew it was a gift from God especially for me hehe.  I was beyond excited.  And then when I got there, they had the cartridges marked down from $39.99 to $4.99!  I was so excited I could have peed in my pants.

I asked why they were selling it for so cheap and the lady told me because Michaels is discontinuing this brand at their store but I can still get stuff for it at Joann's and other craft stores.  As soon as I got home, I took it for a test run and it is perfect.  It is cordless, light, and super de super user friendly.  I was cutting and testing it out in no time! Oh the possibilities....


I love that it cuts any kind of paper, vellum, thin vinyl, pictures, and even fabric that has fusible web.  It cuts through FABRIC!  I can't wait to  start applique-ing hehe.  I love that the cutting mat is glass so it won't need to be replaced.  I love that you can press a few buttons and you are all set and ready to go.  I love that it has a charger.  I love that I can bring it wherever I need go.  I LOVE that I got it for 20 bucks!!  I just LOVE IT.

But with all good things there are some downsides.  I wish it was bigger because it only cuts up to 4 inches but it was designed to cut little things.  I also hate that you need this adhesive stuff when you are cutting paper that is thin or fabric.  With the card stock it isn't really necessary.  The only good thing is that this stuff is pretty cheap [like $1 a tube on amazon].  I have yet to try using the glue since I did the practice run on the card stock.   I don't really like that it only cuts one shape at a time so you can't really use it for projects where you need a large number of one shape or letter.  I also don't like that you need cartridges [even though it keeps it easy, pop it in the back and wala, shapes to cut]. I guess I can't really complain because I got mine for $5.  And well, I can set these petty complaints aside because I only paid $20!!!!

And hey, even Boo Boo is getting the hang of it!  Oh the possibilities.  I can't wait to cut fabric to applique onto her clothes, to cut vellum to label her toy bins, paper to make magnets, art project, and the list goes on.

 

So if you are a crafter, don't miss this deal of a lifetime.  Call Michaels up and see if they still have this little puppy and lets start cutting and creating!

11 Months Old

It feels like it was just last week that I was taking her ten month pictures!  Zoinks!!  Now that she is full on walking and even trying to run, it is a very good workout taking her picture..  I have come to the conclusion not to expect the sit here and smile [because it is impossible with her] and instead I have tried to capture who she is.... 

My curious little adventurer. 

Wondering how she got under this bench?  Well,  I was trying to get a good shot, she managed to turn around, swing both legs through the opening and wiggle out behind the bench. 

She is a wiggly worm who cannot sit still and loves loves loves to explore.  She walks everywhere she can, and she seriously think she can run only to discover she can't yet... but like a champ she gets back up and goes for it again.

It amazes me how she can take the most mundane item and study it and study it and study it.  I wonder what is running through that little mind of hers. 

And not only curious but she loves carrying things both big and small.  

With each month I get to discover a little more about the personality that God has given her.  Cautious about new surrounding, she tests the waters with little baby steps.

And as soon as she knows it is ok, she hits the ground running.

But not without asking mommy first. And with the okay, she off running again!  I have been teaching her how to signal for a "touch down" so that is why her hands are up.  Something she can show daddy when they watch football next sesaon.

I just love my little munchkin!!  Her little personality reminds me so much of her daddy.  She even sucks in her lip the way he use to when he was little. I am so blessed to have spent yet another wonderful month with you.  So Happy 11 month birthday my little monster.  We love you so much.

[And if you are wondering how I got all these wonderful pictures...  HUGE thanks to cousin Krista for helping me.  You are so awesome!!!

A Birthday Cake for my Airman

Yesterday was my lovely hubby's birthday and unfortunately we are not able to be there with him to celebrate.  Every year for as long as we have been together I have baked him a cake or some form of birthday-ee dessert.  For months I have been thinking,  how am I going to send a cake to the Middle East?!  There has to be some way to mail him a cake so he can really feel like it is his birthday... something that taste like cake, something that he can share with his buddies, and something that would make him feel like it his birthday.

Here is what I finally came up with... Hostess Cupcakes!  I thought about mailing one of those cakes from the bakery thinking it lasts about a week or so but due to weather, sometimes it takes three weeks for him to get a package.  Nothing would be worse than getting a cake that is rotten on your birthday.

But throwing a bunch of cupcakes in a box is not really birthday-ee enough for me so to spice it up and make it feel like a real birthday cake I added letters by cutting white card stock circles and gluing silver scrap book letters to them.

I am just hoping it is a little something to make him smile and make his day a little brighter.

When the cakes come together, they will tell him that we just want to wish him a very very very Happy Birthday.  Plus, he can go ahead and feel like he as a real cake to "cut" and share with others.

It is the best way I could think of sending my airman a cake that can be packaged up nice and tight.