April 26, 2012

The giant UFO that lives in my basement


As a co-host of the UFO Challenge, my biggest challenge was deciding which "unfinished object" I should tackle. My entire basement is a UFO. Oh, it's a finished basement alright, but the space is far from what I'd like it to be.

There are two rooms down there, a large bathroom/laundry room, and a decent sized "bonus room." Both of which are an absolute mess. Once called the "junk pit" by the hubs and I, the situation has now escalated to the point where the entire basement is now referred to as the "pit of despair."
Here's a quick look at the laundry room and bonus room. Yuck. I can't believe I'm even showing you this. I'm not even going to bother putting my blog watermark on these images - I'm so embarrassed! Sadly, the bonus room looks even worse today. This photo was taken over a year ago when we first began this project. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

Obviously, there is a lot of work to be done. 

For the UFO Challenge, I decided to tackle two problems at once: the ugly sink vanity in the laundry room photo above, and the kitty litter box that is all too tempting to play in.

Reason number 37 why you should never trust a quiet toddler.....

Here's how I'd like my litter box to be - hidden and contained. (source) I'd like to replace my existing sink and vanity with something new, and then use the old cabinet to build something like this:

Let's put my rookie DIY skills to the test and get this project started! Check back next week, starting May 1st - May 7th to see my completed project and share your own.

~Mischele
















April 25, 2012

UFO Challenge: Completing Those "Unfinished Objects"




The Bean Sprout Notes
Hi Friends,
Today I have a fun challenge to share with you. A challenge to kick start our engines and complete our UFOs - unfinished objects. Four other great bloggers have invited me to join their team for this one time link party beginning May 1st and reflecting the theme unfinished objects.


The co-hosts for this party are,

So what's your UFO? Maybe it's an item that has been on your to-do list for months. Maybe you've purchased special supplies for a particular project and then shoved them to the back of the closet. Or maybe it's a half-finished project that's long been abandoned.

Whatever your UFO, here's the challenge: complete that unfinished object within the next week, blog about it, and then come back to show off your project at our link party open from May1st through May 7th. This is a one time party reflecting the UFO theme.

If you still need more encouragement, here are the top three reasons why you should take on our challenge, and participate in our link party.
1) Link submission(s) entered on one site will automatically be displayed on all five of the co-hosts' blogs.
2) As a smaller party, your chances of being featured are fairly great.
3) Completing items off a to-do list is extremely satisfying :-)

Good luck everyone!





April 23, 2012

A Very Hungry Caterpillar 2nd Birthday Party


On Saturday, we celebrated our daughter's second birthday with an Eric Carle, Very Hungry Caterpillar themed birthday party. Our little girl is turning two, but most of the Very Hungry Caterpillar invites I found online were specifically for a first birthday, so I decided to make the invitations myself. It was my first experience designing invitations and I'm pleased with how they turned out. I like the rhythmic wording. I printed them two to a page -4x6 size- at the UPS store for under $3.





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Guest were guided to our house by this little guy (old wicker paper plate holders, spray painted green) who stood at the corner of our street pointing the way. Party guests included two sets of grandparents and six of her little playmates. 

Our party activities loosely resembled an organized playgroup that most of the guests regularly attend. Upon arrival, did a brief circle time in which I read the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and sang a few favorite songs, such as Wheels on the Bus, If Your Happy and You Know It, etc. We also did a few rounds of Ring-Around-the-Rosie.

I love that my toaster is hidden from view.
Food labels displayed in champagne flutes of orange jello held by plastic forks.
We also ate "Caterpillar Krispies," which were quite a hit with the children.
After snacks, we opened presents and enjoyed free play with bubbles in the back yard.

The next activity was a caterpillar scavenger hunt. I gave each child a plastic container with an egg inside. (Containers were a dollar store multi-pack find) The egg contained a "very tiny and very hungry" caterpillar. The children, and their parents, were sent into the front yard in search of plastic eggs containing miniature toy fruit from one of the centerpieces. The kids were also encouraged to find additional items for their caterpillars, such as twigs, leaves, and grass.
The final activity was a parachute and balloon activity. This is another playgroup activity that the kids all love. First we played "balloon popcorn" bouncing the balloons on the bed sheet. The second parachute activity involves floating the sheet up and down while the children giggle and laugh underneath.

The party was such a fun event. Our daughter had a blast - grinning from ear to ear the entire time. 


Here are a few more pictures from the weekend:
Centerpiece with scrapbook paper table runner underneath. 
Balloon Valance

Fruit Puff Candle Centerpiece
Balloon Clusters

Caterpillar Icecream Cake

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Most of the decor was made by me. See links in photo captions above for more info.
Special thanks to Puppies and Polka Dots for her help and inspiration, and of course, Eric Carle for writing this classic children's story.
(You can view my inspiration pinboard here)


April 21, 2012

A Comfortable Birthday Hat

Seven toddlers filled our home and yard this morning as we celebrated our daughter's second birthday. We danced, we sang, we giggled - and our daughter had a blast at her Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party.

Here is pic of our sweet gal in her birthday hat. (A comfortable birthday hat she actually enjoyed wearing). I'll share more party details in a subsequent post.





April 18, 2012

Generic Fruit Puffs: A Centerpiece and Caterpillar Krispies

I pinned this project several weeks ago because I loved the bright yellow "pop" of her mini Easter topiaries. I tweaked the technique slightly, combined it with the birthday candle idea that is wildly popular right now, and came up with this:

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The jar is a Classico brand spaghetti sauce jar. I like that the Classico brand jars are square - the candle is flush with the glass. The filler is Generic Fruit Puff cereal. I used this cereal because a) it is cheap, and b) it reminds me of the opening page of Eric Carl's Very Hungry Caterpillar book, which our party theme.

























The yellow flower on top was made by tracing the bottom of a water glass to cut several circular pieces of fleece. I folded some in thirds and some in fourths (I like variety) and used a simple hand stitch through the points of the folded piece. I waited to use glue until attaching to the lid to give me a little more fluidity when positioning the flower petals.

Here is a pic of a third folded petals.
Caterpillar Krispies
With the remaining cereal, I made what I'm going to present as "Caterpillar Krispies". (Your basic Rice Krispie Bar recipe except with fruit puffs). Don't the cut edges look pretty?

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For optimal presentation, I recommend lining your pan with a wax paper and a light coat of cooking spray to prevent sticking. I took a second piece of wax paper (also with a light coating of spray) to gently press the top of the bars for a more level appearance.

April 17, 2012

Balloon and Corker Ribbon Birthday Wreath

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Until I started blogging, I had never seen a balloon wreath (or even heard of it for that matter). But the online world is full of these festive wreaths. Every time I see one, my reaction is the same - I just love the bright colors and the fun spunkiness of it all. It was the one item I was most anxious to make and add to my birthday box this year.

Before I began, I collected my supplies:
Pipe insulator from the hardware store ($0.97)
2" Grosgain ribbon ($2)
Latex balloons (2@ $1.99)
Korker Ribbons ($2.99)


To minimize costs, I made my own wreath form by duct taping a 97 cent pipe insulator. I didn't realize it at the time, but using a pipe insulator was a double bonus because its narrow width meant I needed less balloons to fill the wreath.
 
Update 2014: Two years later, this pipe insulator wreath form is beginning to loose its round shape. If you want to reuse your wreath year after year, spend the extra money and purchase a real wreath form.

Originally, I was planning on using balloons with spiral pipe cleaners, but then I stumbled across these corker ribbon napkin holders ... on clearance.... in bright festive colors... and so the plan changed :)  
(Removing the ribbon from the metal napkin holder was super easy, only a twist tie attached the two.)


When buying balloons, I specifically avoided the large balloon variety, because I wanted my wreath to have a tight and tidy appearance. (In my humble opinion, the big floppy balloons tend to look droopy when used on a birthday wreath). 



After covering the pipe insulator with ribbon, I began to experiment with my supplies. It became quickly apparent that the two bags of balloons were more than enough. This was great because I allowed me to be picky about which colors to include. 

Hot glue was my attachment method of choice. But take my advice and bandage, or use a thimble, or do something to protect your fingertips. Even the toughest hands get tender after repeated exposure from this project. (Trust me.)

To add variety and texture, some of the balloons were hot glued into a folded position before attaching to the wreath.


I used my toilet paper wreath cuff technique to personalize the wreath for this year's party theme. I love using TP tube wreath cuffs, because you easily swap it out and update it to correlate with the event. (Simply cut a slit down the TP tube, decorate, a wrap around wreath.)

Here is a close up of the wreath cuff. I designed the "happy birthday" logo myself and printed at home. Let me know if anyone wants a digital copy; I can email it to you. They would also make great cupcake toppers for a very hungry caterpillar party.


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Until next time,
Mischele



April 13, 2012

April is Birthday Month

I can hardly believe that my little baby is almost two! I know every mom says this, but they really do grow up sooo fast. With her birthday right around the corner, I've declared the remainder of this month as birthday month, at least in terms of blogging. Most of my posts for the next few weeks will likely reflect that theme. Between her birthday present and party decor, I've been one busy (and crafty) mama.

We have chosen Eric Carl's Very Hungry Caterpillar as our party theme. I have been having fun designing her invites, planning the children's activities, and crafting the decor. I'll have much more to share on this later. For now, here is a sneak peak at her birthday invites:



Linking up at, Positively Splendid

April 9, 2012

Upcycling UPwords: Toddler Activity


Have you ever played UPwords? It's a fun 3D version of Scrabble, but not a game you need two copies of  (like we do). I'm not sure how a duplicate copy found its way into our home, but it was cluttering up our tightly packed game shelf. I had plucked it off the cabinet and set it in a pile on the floor with other donation items, when the Bean Sprout found it.

She opened the box, and began collecting (and relocating) the lettered tiles into her own special little stash. She played quietly with those tiles for what felt like forever as I continued tidying up the house. When the house was picked up and she was still playing with those little letters, I knew there was no way I could give away that game. 

I'm sure part of her prolonged interest was due to the novelty of playing with those tiles for the very first time. But I'm hoping that if I keep them up most of the time and only bring them out periodically, the specialness will remain. What a great quiet activity this will be for entertaining herself when I am preoccupied with evening meal preparation - a time of day that is sometimes difficult for us. 

I repurposed a leftover Christmas amaryllis pot, as the new home for these alphabet tiles. I lined the interior with wrapping paper because the inside of the bucket was a little dirt-stained from it's previous use. (Tip: to cut a perfectly fitting paper liner for a tapered object, roll the bucket while simultaneously tracing its path onto paper.)




Until next time,
Mischele

linking to: Sugar Bee Crafts, Sew Much Ado, Sugar and Spice, Positively Splendid