Say “cheese”…

I love taking pictures- I have been recently trying to take more artistic photographs. I am sure that professional photogs are laughing at my attempts to imitate them, the budget doesn’t allow for all of the professional photo sessions I would love! I recently came across this article in my Facebook TimeHop and it really reminded me that as much as I love taking photos, I have to get better with printing and displaying them. Since Molly hasn’t developed the ability to roll her eyes at me or ignore my pleas to stay still for a photo (yet) she has become my most recent model (or victim!).

Here are my three most favorite shots of her to date:

The first one (in which you can see the flower I made for an infant hat) was actually used on her birth announcement. The one in the hat features a hat from my friend Kelly, who owns Loopsy Daisy Gifts. My kids have a ton of her hats – I especially love the Saint Patrick’s Day hats- it’s always cold here for the parades & we always wear them! I even got adventurous and used PicMonkey to play with the color.

In Molly’s bedroom, I have been slowly building a gallery wall of canvas prints. It’s a hybrid of some of the professional photos from Kateigh and Ben (when Molly went rogue, refused to sleep and cried the ENTIRE time) and photos I took. I have been hoarding vouchers from sites like Groupon and Living Social. They offer great canvas deals on regular basis, which has made this ongoing project totally affordable.

 

I also have been taking her monthly photos, in which I intend on using 4″ square prints to create a collage in a large frame. Since she’s only three months, I clearly have awhile to go to get the photos needed for this project 🙂

My older girls share a room and I have been working on their photo wall, too. I am using white frames for their room- and have used some of these photos on Delaney’s wall. We had a inpromtu shoot one day when she asked to wear my wedding dress. I just started snapping away & loved the result. She was my “helper” when I took Molly’s Easter Photo and hopped in for some ear-wearing, too!

My son’s photo wall is also in progress.. Collecting frames & adding photos to them as we go. Now that I am printing and displaying photos, my next goal is to actually get into some of these pics!

A swimmingly good 7th birthday!

My daughter Caileigh wanted a Mermaid party for her seventh birthday, so I obviously started checking out local pools. I don’t love having parties outside of our home because they tend to be extremely costly and commercial spaces don’t always allow you the creative freedom that I crave for parties. My husband works at his school’s pool often and he let me know they allow parties during open swim on the weekends for an extremely reasonable price. They allow you to use the tables in the spectator area for food and drinks, too. This seemed like the ideal location for our party.

Since open swim is 10 AM-12 PM, we decided we would serve brunch. We enlisted my dad and a griddle and had him make pancakes. Additionally we served fruit, yogurt,  crossaints and salads and a veggie tray. The kids seemed to enjoy the spread and it was totally doable on a budget.

I personally loved my pepper octopus with olive eyes-  even though everyone thought it was a crab!

I created a scalloped tablecloth for that food table and then used sparkly card stock to cut out mermaids and shells to give it some extra dimension. The tablecloth took FOREVER. Sewing, turning and iron each layer was nothing compared to sewing each scallop together so it laid right… and then one of my drink dispensers leaked ALL over it while I was setting up. Oh well, it dried and nobody but me seemed to notice!

This kid’s got Mermaid Tail Cupcakes made from sugar cones and tails that I cut with my Silhouette Cameo. I also made chocolate shell and seahorse lollipops and used floral foam to hold them all- the front was again decorated with Silhouette shapes of fish and coral.

Besides swimming, the guests got to take photos in our “photobooth” using a background I created in PicMonkey and some props I made. I enjoy taking photos of the guests to include in our thank you cards.

Favors were simply- sand buckets with vinyl names and bubbles. I don’t believe in giving candy in goody bags and I try to give things that can be used and enjoyed after the party ends. These seemed like the perfect parting gift!

I created the tags in PicMonkey with a saying I found on Pinterest.

Hope you enjoyed checking this party out!

Until next time!!!

Time to celebrate with donuts…

My twins recently turned four… I went back and forth on a theme for their celebration – I was going to go with “Tools & Tulle” but I decided to go with a donut themed party after they pointed out their initials are the same as a the donut chain which may *may or may not* have frequented several times during my pregnancy with this “munchkin”

We rented a gymnasium at the local playground- the kids got to run, play basketball and just be kids in addition to the organized activities I had planned. Each kid got a plain donut with a cup of icing (I decided to portion the icing to avoid a giant mess). Each icing cup had a cool wooden spoon that I found at the craft store.

Additionally, each kid got an apron to wear during the decorating. I used my beloved Silhouette Machine to cut the heat transfer names. My friend lovingly pressed each apron with her heat press machine (which has currently bummed itself to the top of my wish list). The kids also decorated their own travel mug- I had made custom inserts for the mugs (which were purchased at the Dollar Tree), however I left them at home (face palm!)

The parents got to pick their dessert from our donut stand, which was covered in a donut fabric that I scored at Joann Fabrics.

 

In addition to their apron, each kid got to take some of the extra donuts home in a “to -go” bag. Each guest also got to take home an inflatable donut that had their name in vinyl on it!

 

While I feel like this was on of my simpler parties, I think the kids had a blast!!

 

Menu Planning & “Moommmmmm there’s nothing to eat!”

I used to be meticulous with planning our menu, couponing, and cooking from scratch. Since I left my full time job and began working from home part-time, my schedule isn’t as fixed & I have been throwing most of our meals together, ordering way too much pizza and spending too much money. So, for the next few weeks, I’m going to keep track of what we’re eating here.

So, I’ve set four goals (baby steps!) to achieve.

1. Menu Plan

2. Cut our grocery bill to $100 a week (2 adults, 3 kids)

3. Too cut out even more processed food 🙂

4. To reduce wasted food (I cleaned out our fridge today and had a whole garbage can of rotting, spoiled or stale food!)

So, here is our dinner menu plan for the upcoming week:

Saturday: Crock Pot Chicken Soft Tacos

Sunday: Greek Chicken Skewers

Monday: Salmon Cakes

Tuesday: Giada’s Chicken Meatballs with Orchiette Pasta

Wednesday: Lasagna

Thursday: chicken drumsticks on the grill

Friday: Homemade Pizza

Stay tuned to see how the week goes!

Farm Fresh Third Birthday..

Hi! I’m back. I have sworn for the past few months I was going to get back into blogging- but time just kept getting away from! I am excited to get back into sharing stories, photos, recipes and the general chaos that life brings us!

We recently celebrated the twin’s third birthday- time has gone by so quickly! It feels like yesterday that they were born. DJ has an obsession with John Deere Tractors & Delaney loves farm animals (and singing endless rounds of “e-i-e-i-oooooo), so a “Farm Fresh” party seemed to be the most natural way to go!.

We held the party at Ms. Claire’s Music Cupboard where the kids were entertained with some farm themed songs, play and instruments. I truly just had to bring in the food (they would have ordered pizza for us, if I wanted them too!) and decor.

Without further ado, here’s the pics and details of the party.

I made each of the twins a custom shirt for their big celebration! Delaney’s shirt had a horse applique on it and I also made a matching skirt. I saw the Riley Blake fabric on Pinterest, but it wasn’t a current collection. I was lucky enough to find a yard of the farm animal print and the coordinating gingham on Ebay. DJ got an appliqued tractor, in John Deere green!

  

(Obviously, someone wasn’t as thrilled with mom being in their face with a camera as their sister was!)

My kids love balloons. Honestly, I rarely use balloons in my party decor, because I feel they are a waste of money. I splurged on these GIANT farm themed balloons and I am very glad I did! One week later & my kids are still playing with them. On the table, you can see the John Deere sippy cups that I stocked up on at Tractor Supply. I used my Silhouette machine and outdoor vinyl to put each kid’s name on the cup. I love doing this- it helps reduce waste, is a fun table accessory & is part of the kid’s favor! I also made a table runner using all of the scraps of “farm” fabric that I had. It was over 12 feet long and a great addition to the table! I’m trying to figure out how to repurpose it, but I loved the pop of color if gave to my table!

For lunch, we served “farm” food- the adults feasted on homemade pulled pork, delicious rolls from Wholeshare, fresh veggies, pretzels and hot dogs. I served the raw veggies (which I’m proud to say went over BIG with the kids!) in berry baskets. I used a picnic basket for the rolls, the pork and hot dogs were served directly from the crock pot.

For goody bags, the kids got to visit “The Farm Market”

 

I got these Farm Animal bags  from Oriental trading. Each kid got a coloring book, a recycled egg crayon, “carrot” playdough and a homemade chocolate lollipop.

The recycled crayon’s were truly a labor of love! It took FOREVER to round up enough broken crayons to melt down into the egg shape.

We peeled crayon wrappers and made them in batches of 6 for the past few months. I displayed them in my vintage egg basket. I also made the playdough using orange koolaid and a recipe I found on google. I packaged it in carrot shaped eggs from my beloved Dollar Tree. The lollipops were in the shapes of tractors, farm animals and barns- I found those awesome molds on Etsy!

For dessert, the kids got to pick from the dessert buffet…

Dj’s tractors were used to “haul” in some chocolate coconut oatmeal cookies. Our Little People farm was used to corral “hay bale” rice krispy treats. Cupcakes were topped with hand decorated cookies made by Jen at Elemental Cookies. (She’s amazing!! Check her out & let her know I sent you!)

She also made these awesome cake toppers, which I had made mini three tiered cakes for. My tiered cakes were pathetic!! Cake decorating is NOT my forte and I have learned that I just need to order them from somewhere:

I kept hoping Jen’s beautiful cookies would negate by lopsided cakes, luckily her sturdy sticks helped my cakes stay standing!!

Dj and Delaney had a wonderful time celebrating with their friends and family. I was completely exhausted by the end.. and barely had enough energy to walk to the mailbox to put the invitations for Caileigh’s 6th birthday into the mailbox! No rest for the weary, huh!?

If you would like custom decor, apparel, or gifts, remember to contact Create, by Carrie ! Be sure to follow me on Facebook.