I loved the idea so much that I made one for use with Baby O’s St. Patty’s Day photos in March (Click here to see those photos).

Lately, however, I’ve been interested in the little things…With baby on the way (about four weeks to go!), I like finding simple, sweet little touches I can add around the house…You know, little things that I hope will make me smile several weeks from now when I’m up late feeding the New Guy and am running on little sleep. I decided to try out a mini-version of the flag sculptures, perfect for potted plants.

Once you have your fabric pieces cut out, dip them in your bowl of glue and generously coat both sides with glue. Then, wrap them around a wooden skewer (Note: Skewers are often in the meat-section of the grocery store, near the butcher’s counter, at least in the places I shop).  Use your fingers to gently pull off any excess glue. You’ll want the flag to be covered in glue, but not excessively dripping. Lay it to dry so that it can drip any remaining bits right into your bowl. 

I think you could easily get carried away with various fabrics, ribbons, and even heavy-weight paper…

Here is my festive potted plant…I think it will indeed make me smile everytime I see it…

On Pinterest, I recently saw something similar, for use in a Birthday Cake, and I love that idea too! I might try that out for O’s Birthday party!

Hope you’re having a great week!

Costume “Ingredients”:

1.) Plain White Onesie (I got a 3 pack of longsleeve “Gerber” ones at Target for under $10.) and a Plain White T-Shirt you don’t need anymore (Raid your husband’s drawer of white undershirts!)

2.) Fabric Dye in color of your choice (I use “Rit” dye and I like to do the method where I dye the clothing in my washer/dryer rather than in a pan. It is much neater this way, in my opinion.)

3.) 4 pairs of Adult Size Socks in the color of your choice (Note: it’s ideal if your socks are close in color to your fabric dye of course.)

4.) Two sheets of Felt (the kind that are under a dollar each, at the fabric or craft store) in Black and White

5.) 1/4″-thick Black Elastic from the fabric store

6.) Stuffing from the fabric store

7.) Scissors, Pins, Needle & Thread or Sewing Machine, Fabric Glue (optional)

Costume Directions:

1.) Dye white onesie and an old t-shirt in Rit dye.

2.) Use a tutorial like this one to make a “beanie” hat using the t-shirt you just dyed.

3.) Use white and black felt sheets to make two big Octopus eyes. Adhere to hat with needle and thread or fabric glue.

4.) Choose one pair of socks from your collection and cut off the foot at the ankle. Fold the cut part under 1/4-1/2″ and use pins to temporarily hold in place (See Figures A & B.) Use a needle and thread or sewing machine to stitch the hem in place (use similarly-colored thread if possible). These are your baby’s leg warmers.

5.) Use stuffing from the fabric store (you can buy a bag of it – it’s the same kind one might use to stuff a pillow, for instance) to fill the remaining 6 socks. Make them pretty full, but leave about 1.5″ at the top. I used pins to temporarily hold in place (See Figure C. Also please see note on Figure C - Actually best to pin and sew closed when your sock is laying flat, with front (toes) facing you.). Sew top of sock closed in a straight line (See Figure D.).

6.) Fold top part of sock down and stitch it, in a straight line (See Figure E.), forming a “loop” through which your elastic can be threaded.

7.) Chase your baby/toddler around to measure his/her waist. Cut your elastic to a suitable length, according to waist size. Thread it through the top of your 6 socks and secure with several stitches in the back, forming a pull-up “belt” for your baby (Added benefit…Diaper changes are easy in this costume!). Note that you can then adjust the placement of the 6 socks around your baby’s waist, once the belt is on.

Have any questions, comments, or want to link to some cool handmade baby/child costumes you’ve made recently? I’d love to see! I hope your week is off to a great start, and that you too are getting excited for the changing of Seasons. XX

The theme was fun because it didn’t constrict us to any one movie or book in terms of characters and imagination.

Above: 1.) I got a pack of 12 cheap-o alien headbands on amazon.com. These were fun for people to wear if they didn’t feel like wearing a full blown costume.  2.) My daughter and I colored alien signs with crayons one day – okay, I did them, but she supervised and added a little here and there.  3.) I picked the color scheme of blue and green (streamers from Target and a few sheets of blue and green craft paper from the craft store helped to jazz up the entry way).

Below: A basket full of silly accessories for guests to play with. Light sabers, headbands & Spock ears are from Amazon.com. The “hypnotic glasses” are from Party City. The Stormtrooper mask is from Target, in the kids’ toy aisle ($8! I thought that was a fun find.).

Below: I made this cake to look as similar as possible (with my limited cake-decorating skills) to one my Mother-in-Law made for Aaron’s 7th Birthday…

Below: And, she sent me some adorable photos of him when he was also about that age, as Robot Man, Space Man and with his siblings as the “Spacemen Family”. My favorite is the one below/far-right where it looks like he’s playing behind the couch with some really cool toy, totally lost in his own world…Above: This is the snack table (before all of the silver star confetti was added). The star confetti helped to make it look a bit more like outer-space. The black is just a set of two black disposable table cloths from Target. Since the material is so lightweight it was easily adhered to the wall with “removable mounting putty” (you know, that white tacky stuff you can buy just about anywhere).

 Above & Below: More labels, for the beer coolers (with references to Star Trek & Star Wars), drink tub, and pizza (“Papa Won’s” instead of “Papa John’s”, referencing Obi Won).

Below: Close-ups of some of the food we served. I’ll put a complete list towards the bottom, should you be planning a similar party, and wanting food ideas…And, what about costumes? Well, we had this fun idea to dress as the Conehead Family (my husband loved the SNL skits). We ordered these silly coneheads from Amazon.com and I tried to make capes like they wore, using $5 fabric from JoAnn’s. BUT, I sort of lost track of time (errr, I was putting it off because I didn’t trust my sewing skills) and I never made the pointy collars. Turns out, they kind of look like aprons you wear at the hairdressers’! But, that’s okay…they worked just fine… So, here we are, the Conehead Couple…

Hey, can you see “Mr. Bump” above? Eeek…can’t wait to meet this guy! Above: My Sister-in-Law and Aaron’s college friend who came in town for the party. My Grandparents…the cutest alien couple EVER!!

Below: My Grandfather…He just turned 90 a few weeks ago! Isn’t he a handsome alien?… Below: Just some fun party photos!…

So, there it is! If you are interested in the food ideas, let me list them here (and note – these are in no way unique…I found most of these online and then just added my own little ideas as needed! I LOOOVE the internet!)…

Beverages:

Beer = Romulan Ale & Spock Bock

Soda = Yoda Soda

(Wine and Water also served, but without clever names)

Snack Bar:

Black Hole Dip = Bean dip (dash of paprika on top), served with carrots & celery

Thermal Detonators = Malt Balls (I saw this, and several other great ideas here.)

Alien Heads = Green Grapes

Rocket Parts = Bowl of fruit…Note, I wanted these to be kabobs and to be labeled “Asteroid Kabobs”, but that didn’t work out, so I went with Rocket Parts. Asteroid Soup could work too…or something silly like that.

Milky Way Dip = Vanilla Yogurt (dash of cinnamon on top), for fruit

Leia’s Buns = Individually-Packaged Cinnamon Rolls

Galaxy Gorp = Kettle Corn (Yum!…These look like asteroids too…probably more than the fruit actually.)

Endor Trail Mix = Chex Mix

Light Sabers = My pride & joy of the party ! Original source is here. I did these in red & green. I first tried it with melted white chocolate and food coloring, but the liquid food coloring ruins the melted chocolate (apparently you need powdered food coloring for this job). Instead, I purchased red and green Wilton brand “Candy Melts” (I found them at Party City). I melted them on the stove top and then poured each color into a tall glass and dipped a pretzel rod in to coat. I laid them on wax paper and kept them in the fridge until the party (they were made a day or two in advance). Big hit!

Galactic Goodies = Mini Cupcakes from the grocery store’s bakery. Half of them had alien toppers from Party City and the other half had Star Wars rings pressed into them (purchased on Amazon). This was so fun because the kids enjoyed wearing the rings around after eating the cupcakes.

Wookie Cookies = Cookies (Yum!). I love this funny space-ship in the center of the cookie tray. I found it at Target the day before the party – It is a sippy cup…seriously. How funny is that? I just took the straw out for the party…voila!

Like I said, these were mostly found on the internet…I’m in no way trying to claim ownership of these fun ideas, but I think it’s nice to detail them all here, should you be searching for Sci-Fi party ideas yourself. I know I always enjoy crafty party ideas!

A very HAPPY HAPPY Birthday to my Best Friend/Miss O’s Amazing Dad. { You’re Out-of-this-World! }

So, I’ve decided to cut myself some slack…I love posting three times a week but, for now, and through the rest of this pregnancy, I’ll continue to post a bit less often. I may also take longer to post photos from my Photography Sessions. With that said, want to see what I’m working on today?…

I’m trying my hand at my first “Granny Square” crochet project…Using a great, free pattern I found here. I hope to make a pillow cover, to spruce up (i.e. girlie-up) our manly-looking couch. In case you’re not sure what I’m talking about, here is a great example of a granny-square pillow cover.

Aren’t they cute? I really like the peachy color paired with the light blue. The yarn is all “Sugar’n Cream”, sold for $1.99/spool at our local Michael’s Craft Store. I intend to make a pillow cover that is 4 squares by 4 squares. I can update the post later to let you know how many spools that takes. (I suspect no more than 6-8 spools total.) A pillow like the one linked to, above, sells for about $45. I figure this craft project (once you factor in cotton fabric for the back of the pillow and the pillow insert) should be more like $20 max to complete. But, we’ll see!

Whenever Miss O gets her hands on a newly finished square she happily squeals and lays her naked baby dolls’ heads gently on the granny squares…So, hey, I guess this makes a good toddler toy as well. Double duty…

In other fun news, some of my photographs were just featured in this really cool blog, “Great with Kids” (translated via Google Translate), here, here & here. It is a Dutch blog, though you should be able to easily translate it in your browser if needed. It features fun craft ideas for the kids and photo tips for parents. I was really excited to be featured here, as I’m a fan of some of the photographers I was featured with, and it’s a great blog all around. You should check it out!

P.S…HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my amazingly talented Mother-in-Law!! I sure was lucky to inherit such a great MIL when I married Aaron.

Her awesome post inspired me to finally try making a fabric “O” charm for myself. I’ve had this little metal piece just laying around (I ordered it online when I first had this notion, months ago). Not that it’s unique – I know I’ve seen this kind of thing around before. But, I love the idea and I thought I would post the photos here, in the event that you would also like to try it out for yourself. Note that the piece itself took only days to arrive in the mail. And the whole assembly here took less than an hour. So, still time for a last minute gift. I’ll include all of my resources at the bottom of the post…

And some pictures along the way…

Perhaps best of all, I already had Baby O’s Birthstone, which happens to be this exact shade of pink (part of why I love this color). I paired my Initial Charm with her Birthstone and strung them on an 18″ chain. Kind of cute…

Resources: 

1. Metal Jewelry Casing is from here.

2. Fabric is by Lecien, but you can obviously use any ‘ole scrap of fabric that tickles your fancy.

3. Embroidery thread is from Michael’s.

4. Instructions on Embroidery Stitches (yep, I needed it!) can be found here.

5. Birthstone & Chain are from Stella & Dot. (Note: Enter our quick May Giveaway for a chance to easily win $25 credit toward Stella & Dot jewelry. The drawing is next Monday!)

And, lastly, do check out Shwin & Shwin’s crafty blog if you’re looking for some more inspiration! It’s also just a fun read in general. Thanks for checking in & hope you’re having a great week.

A had a friend in Middle School whose Mom would make these for us when she had friends over. I’ve never seen them done since, so I somehow credit this to her. Who knows, it may be widely popular already. Just in case you’ve yet to try it, let me show you a wonderful way to use those grocery-store Ready-to-Bake Crescent Rolls (any brand will do of course!)…Just follow the directions below…

…And bake according to the package directions…

Seriously, so good…so simple. You should try them.

Well, we popped right back in the pool after breakfast and I grabbed a few photos for the ‘ole Family Album. She sure does loove to splash…Her sheer excitement with it makes me laugh…

And I’m pretty sure the caption of this last picture should read, “Yep, this is my Daddy. I’ve got him wrapped around my little finger….”

Hope you had a great weekend. Check out the Stella & Dot Giveaway…Last week to enter & great odds of winning!

…Now, to be honest, I just used Bisquick for this. I usually love making things from scratch, but, for the purpose of experimenting, I wanted something quick and easy to whip up. I just dropped a spoonful of the batter in each hole and waited for 3-4 minutes for each batch to cook.

(Above) She lent me those tiny tongs to help get the goodies out of the pan and they were helpful indeed! (Below) This is what happened when I started to pour too much batter into the holes…the lid wouldn’t even shut…

…But, the result was kind of funny…They looked like little mini-Saturns!…

…Time to eat!…

Curious what our Picky Eater thought of this breakfast?…
…Yep, that’s a Happy Customer! Success!!! Thanks, Carolyn, for lending me your machine!!

Speaking of Carolyn, check out her Stella & Dot Jewelry Giveaway, if you haven’t already. And have an awesome week. Thanks for reading!!

She asks that guests bring a gift donation for children at Star of Hope. Since I have been on a craft-supply binge lately, I thought I’d put together a few little craft-packages. I think something like this would also be a nice care package for children in a hospital, or even for guests at a kids’ party. Each just contains a coloring book, a rub-away drawing tablet, and a box of crayons. Nothing fancy. I later thought I could have added stickers for a nice touch. I really liked this donation/cause because it got me thinking of other kids in need, and contemplating other ways to help.

Last week I asked if anyone had any safe craft ideas for young toddlers and I got some great feedback! I ran out and got several of the “My First Crayola” products, sidewalk chalk, etc. However, I think Baby O isn’t quite ready for crafts…She still wants to eat all of the crayons and markers! My Mother-in-Law had the great idea of having her “paint” with icing…So, we tried that out and she was quite enthralled…

This craft project was a success! And the finished product is going in her Daddy’s lunch tomorrow…what a surprise! Hope you’re having a great week & thank you for reading!

Quite a good price, in my book! Baby O grabbed one out of my hands and proceeded to lavish it with squeezes and a few slimy “puckers”. Seeing as how we do love dinosaurs in this household, I figured I would get one for her Easter basket…perfect! But, wait…her two boy cousins would like one too! I searched for a different color or variety of dinosaur but, at least at this Target, there were only three lonely green ones. So, I scooped them all up, figuring I could do something cute to personalize them.

Yesterday, while Baby O was watching “Yo Gabba Gabba” (kind of an interesting show…I actually had a dream that I was on it last night, and I had to teach kids how to line dance! I was using a terrible fake country accent in my dream…but, that’s off topic)…I got out my little box of fabric scraps and found this thin (1/8″ thick elastic as well). Perfect for making little bow-ties for the Dinosaurs! I had some 4″ square pieces, so I started with those. I ended up cutting them in half, so they were 2″ x 4″ (See Figure 1 below). I used pinking shears to zig zag the edges (since I wasn’t in the mood to whip out the sewing machine for this one).

Figure 2: I basically pinched the fabric together in the middle and made a few stitches with white thread. Figure 3: I sewed 3 rings of elastic, made to fit the dino’s necks perfectly. A few little stitches was all it took. I made a few more stitches to secure the bow to the elastic and then used the thin strip of fabric (seen in figure 2) to wrap around the center for a completed look. I just attached that with a drop of fabric glue in the back.

All in all, it took about 30 minutes, or one episode of Tony Hawk showing kids how to skate board, while Baby O bounced up and down with excitement.

Meet the cute little Dino Family…

Okay, so the green tie matched a little too well – it almost blends in, but that’s okay! Also, I ended up making O’s dinosaur wear the bow on her head, though Baby O can always change that later…I’m quite sure she will!

What are you up to this week? I would love to hear about any simple crafty projects you’ve done, particularly for the kids or home. You can always leave a link to them in the comments section.

And thank you for all of the sweet emails and comments about the “Birth Photography” post on Monday. They really made me smile! I hope you’re getting ready for a great, relaxing weekend! XOXO

Better early than late, right?…Wishing you a very Happy St. Patty’s Day, filled with fun (and maybe even some green beer, or yummy Irish fare). I’ve had the idea for these photos for several weeks now, but Baby O hasn’t been in a posing mood (mainly because it is much more fun to run around and play when you’re outside, which I fully understand & encourage!). Then today it dawned on me…now or never! So, I grabbed some felt and whipped up the truly funny-looking clovers for her headband and we were off to the park!…

I kind of had to chase her around for some of these, but I love her expressions! She really makes me laugh…

Such the little explorer…Some of my favorite photos of her are ones where she is deep in thought, trying to figure something out…

And then we have her recent phone conversations with an Imaginary Friend. She uses our phones (when she gets her hands on them), cardboard, really anything roughly that size, and she’ll walk around at length, babbling and then pausing and laughing hysterically for a moment, as if her friend just said something hilarious. She always throws her head back when she does this…kind of silly! The next photo is as if she’s a teenager saying, “Mom, quit watching me, I’m just catching up with my friends!”…

My husband says she looks like a little martian in these photos and I have to agree! A cute little martian, texting her martian buddies…

Scooped up and in Daddy’s arms…Lucky Girl!…

Keep your eyes peeled for 4 leaf clovers and have a Great Weekend! XOXO