DIY Pom Pom Garland
I’ve totally jumped on the Pom Pom band wagon even though I think the wagon is pretty much on it’s way out of town. I don’t care. I just got my first Pom Pom makers and made my first Pom Pom project. A Pom Pom garland.
I loved having the valentines garland in February but after I took it down the window was looking dull like it needed an accessory, the modern grey Pom Poms do the job.
Pom Poms aren’t just for garlands they can be necklaces, hair pieces even napkin rings. Pom Poms are a great busy project for a fidgety person while watching tv or on a road trip. Even kids can make pom poms. I made mine super full but they are just as fun made a bit more airy.
you can get your own pom pom maker here.
Here are some other great uses for pom poms that I found on pinterest, the possibilities are endless.
DIY Vintage Ruler Height Chart
I’m big on tradition and memorabilia. I have fond memories of hunting though boxes in the basement looking for relics of the past. Toys from my Dad’s childhood, pictures from when my parents first met, a 1970′s Pyrex juice craft, crochet baby blankets that could have belonged to any one of my sisters or me. Sometimes I save things just so that my girls can find it one day, I call it organized hording. They probably won’t remember being a part of this project, but it’s one that when they are grown and it has been put away for a decade or so. I’ll pull it out and we will look at the dates and the tiny numbers, they’ll laugh at the though that they were ever under two feet tall and I’ll blink back the tears thinking how I couldn’t always tell them apart by only seeing the tops of their heads.
I discovered this DIY Vintage Ruler Height Chart project on Pinterest about a year ago, added it to my Kid Stuff board and hoped that one day I would create it before they outgrew it.
I did, and here’s how. I went to home depot and bought a pre – cut 6′ tall and 10″ wide board, a 220 grit sanding block, Minwax wood stain in Honey and a spray polyurethane top coat. At Micheal’s I got a large black paint pen.
I put a drop cloth under the board in case the stain dripped
After brushing on the stain with the paint brush, wipe it quickly with a clean cloth to even out the stain
Once i was done I realized there was an x in the wood, so I had to stain the other side
It took me three evenings to complete it, about two hours each evening. You can read a full tutorial on the project from the blogger who created it first here.
I love how it turned out.
I must say, this is one that I wish I had finished before they learn to stand on their own. According to their 9 month appointment they were 27 1/2inches, I could mark the chart but that would be lying and I would remember that I cheated every time I looked at it. So the first mark is from January 17th, 2012. the girls were 15 months old and 30 1/2 inches tall. Getting them to stand thier long enough to make the mark was quite a challenge, getting them to stand there long enough to take a picture in front of the chart, impossible. Heance the lack of the picture.
Happy Purim – Chag Sameach
Happy Valentines Day
I hope that today is special for you, however you want to make it special. If you like a dozen long stem roses I hope you get them, if you like diamonds, I hope you get those, if you like Chocolate (like me) I hope you eat some and if you like heart shaped candy with cute sayings I hope you get lots. I like valentines day because it’s another reason to tell the people in our lives how lucky we are that they are in our lives.
I love my husband, he is my cool dude. We may have our not so loving moments but I never stop loving him. He is so good at little surprises. One of my favorite things he does is set up my coffee mug in the morning, so sweet. Thanks Baby.
Then there are those sweet little people that make us smile and laugh every single day. It seams almost impossible to love them as much as we do, but we do, every day more and more.The Girls helped me with our very simple but very festive Valentines decoration this year, paper hearts garland.
And is it really Valentines day without a heart shaped food, I think not.
I made it, well actually my husband did, using a heart shaped cookie cutter, please note you must spray the inside of the cookie cutter with non stick for this to work, cooking tip is also thanks to my sweetheart. Thanks Babe.
There are a few people that we want to send a big loving hug to today…Nana, Grandaddy, Safta, Saba, Doda Cilla, Dod Ben, Aunt Tracey, Uncle Sammy, Aunt Mindy, Uncle Bryan, Liliah, Elizabeth, Jacob, heather, Baxter, Colby, Guage, all of our aunts, uncles and cousins and all of our dear friends who are always there when we need their support and friendship and who always amaze us with their generosity and loyalty.
Here’s our virtual Valentine for you!
Happy Valentines Day We Love you.
Favorite Find – DIY Clothes for Kids
A quick background, I am a designer for Carters, the baby clothes company. Which means I draw tops and bottoms then I color them in. Specifically little boys swim trunks and matching rash guards, the coordinating hats, sunglasses and flip flops.
Then for the winter season I do the same with coats and cold weather accessories and shoes.
Yes, I have a really fun job. I color all day. Ok, it’s a little more complicated than that, but only a little. I’m sure you are imagining me like this…
but no, I do all my drawing and coloring on the computer.
Part of my job is to research new ideas and inspirations, in magazines, in stores, but mostly on line. Sometime I stumble across things that I love not just for inspiration for work but for being a great idea! The designer in me is always looking for fun ways to get my girls to think creatively and to create on their own.
I love getting ideas from two of my favorite bloggers who I follow Ashley Ann, who has five kids and created a whole studio just for creating and crafting with her kids.
And Joel, who has two kids and creates fun craft projects for his kids from items found mostly around the home.
Today I stumbled upon Gio Kit. It’s DIY clothes for kids. A garment with an outlined drawing and fabric markers. How fun!
It will be a little while before my girls are old enough to tackle this art project, but in the mean time they can practice on plain white t-shirts.
I’m ordering these markers and shirts from amazon today and will share their masterpieces with you soon
Don’t forget there is always a carters coupon link on the right side bar for you to print and use. If it is ever not updated please send me a message and I will update it or send you a coupon asap.
here are two current ones
20% off $40 or more
15% off everything
Please vote today and once everyday on Top Baby Blogs. The more votes I get the higher my ranking stays, help us be #1!
Thank you
Busy Toddlers
Some include coloring, finger painting (with paints or pudding), tracing, flash cards, stacking and sorting are a popular one. But five activities is about 20 minutes of playing, then what? Sit and watch TV, nope, don’t think so. Even that only lasts about five minutes. This is where Pinterest comes in. Enter “keep toddlers busy” into the Pinterest search bar or click here, and walla dozens of ideas for keeping toddlers busy. Here are some of my favorites I have come across recently and as these activities become appropriate for the girls we will do each one. And I will keep checking Pintrest and and my Toddler Busy Book for new ideas.
This next activity was created by one of my favorite bloggers Young House love for their three year old. This can easily be homemade for about $20, just requires a trip to the hardware store. I do really like the neon touch they added to this one.
And while you are at the hardware store grab a few sets of paint swatches to create this fun matching game. The clothespins can be purchased at any craft store or Walmart for about $2.
Have fun playing!
Please remember to vote for us for Top Baby Blogs, Thank you!
Finger painting with pudding
Toddlers are busy little people, they move from activity to activity in a blink of an eye and then back again. They get bored and fussy quickly so having a pocket full of activities to do on a moments notice is a must.
There are great go to activities like stacking blocks or the shape sorter that hold their interest for a few minutes, but to keep them occupied for a little longer try a yummy and fun new activity like finger painting with chocolate pudding.
This activity was introduced to me by my good friend who also has a one year old little girl.
I like to have the girls do really messy activities like this one in their highchair a, it helps to keep the mess contained.
Mix the pudding according to the package directions. Remove all clothing from your baby or toddler or clothe them in stuff that can get dirty. This is a very messy project. Tape a large piece of construction paper to the highchair tray.
!
Demonstrate with a small amount of pudding, how to use your finger to color the paper. Don’t lick your finger! Let them figure tht out on their own.
Happy painting
Thanksgiving Day
I love Thanksgiving, it’s probably my favorite holiday. 
I love it for several reasons, since its not a religious holiday there are no services to attend. It’s not that I mind the services, it’s just nice to get to spend the whole day off enjoying free time with family. And it’s a great excuse to dress babies up in their fancy dresses from Safta. They are from Zara (similar here).
Another reason Thanksgiving is a favorite of mine is because we spend it out in the country at my sister lake house, which is beautiful and relaxing and always one of my favorite places to be. OK, its not exactly out in the country, its more like a country club, but the town is far away from a big city. 
Then there is the fact that Thanksgiving is always within a week of my birthday, so I always get to celebrate my birthday with my family.
And last is the deserts! 
I love pumpkin and pecan pie, whip cream in anything is perfect and there is always enough chocolate left over to last for days. The actual meal is always tasty too, but it’s the deserts that keep bringing me back each year.
So that’s a wrap for thanksgiving 2012, let the games be watched.
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and spent it in company that you enjoyed. I hope you ate enough gravy to last you until next year and I hope that each day you remember that you can be thankful for the people who make your life special.
Happy Thanksgiving.
A Birthday Party Favor
Thinking of a birthday party favor for one year olds is not an easy task. It’s not like you can give them a bag of candy and send them on their way. I wanted to give the kids who came to Talia and Jordan’s first birthday something they could and would use, in some form now and to play with for years to come. My goal was to give the birthday party a vintage shabby chic theme I thought chalk boards, like the ones kids use to use in schools way back when would be a cute, fun, useful and theme appropriate gift. I found these really nice wood framed 5×7 chalk boards on Walmarts website,
but they were unavailable for order and I couldn’t find a Walmart in town that carried them. I’m sure if I had actually gone to Walmart to find them I could have eventually, but with early fall being my busy time at work I had no time to be diving around running errands of any kind. I made it an absolute goal in planing this party to order as much as possible online and have it delivered to my door.
Eventually I found these, faux (plastic)wood framed chalkboard sets complete with two piece of non-toxic chalk and an eraser from Oriental Trading, a dozen for under $10, perfect.
When they arrived, I understood why they were so, um, inexpensive. The faux wood was orange, very orange, it looked nothing like wood. But the party was in two days so I made due. I unpackaged the little chalkboards.
Used some twine and a handy glue gun to give them a rustic feel. I cut a piece of string about 10 inches long and glued each end to “back” of the top edge of the chalk board frame. These chalkboards are double sided so either side can be the back.
Then a friend helped me write all the kids names on the chalkboard signs. Thanks Teresa!
I created some cute little tags and tied them on with the chalk and the little sponge eraser.
I love how they came out. For an inexpensive but fun party favor I think they were perfect.
If I had had more time I would have like to have painted the wood frames with the same heirloom white paint I did the dresser in. Next time.
DIY shabby chic refinished dresser
I worked really hard to plan and organize the girls first birthday party.
The planning started in my head when they were about three months old and really reved up after I got home from celebrating my best friends bridal shower a little more than a month ago. I started by creating a Pinterest board with ideas I liked. At night after the babies went to bed I worked on small craft projects that would add to the over all of the party.
But my big project that I had no idea how long it would take got started only two weeks before the big day. The shabby chic chest of drawers that was used for the desert buffet.
I purchased the dresser just after we moved into our current home, the plan was to refinish it and convert it into a bathroom vanity for either our master suite or the guest suite downstairs. But I wasn’t in any condition back then to be refinishing furniture and I wasn’t about to let anyone else touch my $75 Craig’s list treasure.
So in the basement it sat and collected dust while it awaited its new fate.
Fast forward a year and half, I found this inspiration. And knew that the dresser would be the perfect fixture for a shabby chic/vintage birthday party.
It wasn’t the best Craigslist find ever. $75 was kind of a lot to pay for this piece. It had several layers of paint on it and no drawer pulls,
Some of the front panels of the drawers were separated from the edges and a few of the drawers don’t close completely.
All the rails need to be replaced. And now I am thinking to myself, why did I buy this piece?
This is why! It was begging for a new life as a pretty little thing that would hold lots of other pretty things!
Getting it to look like it does now was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.
First I sanded the surfaces. I used an electric sander with 80 grit paper on all the flat areas
And an 80 grit sanding block, which is more like a sanding sponge, on the curved and detailed parts. When I was finish sanding I decided to use the gas powered blower to get all the dust out of the garage. Don’t do this, it just made a bigger mess. The dust just blew around the garage and the fumes got really thick and even went inside the house. Letting the sanding dust settle then sweeping the next day would have been much more effective. Although using a blower is a lot of fun.
The next step was to paint it. I chose To use spray paint because it is quick and easy. And since it may get repainted another color one day there was no reason to spend a lot of time on a heavy paint. I chose Rustoleum Satin heirloom white.
i used a total of four and a half cans for the dresser and all the drawers, inside and out.
I got this handy little attachment as well, it’s a comfort grip esiecially for spray painting.
It attaches easily to the spray can and makes dispensing the paint like pulling a trigger rather than pressing a button.
No more cramped fingers, no more paint stained fingers. For a project like this its well worth it’s $9.50 price tag.
I waited a full day for the paint to dry really well then used the same 80 grit sanding sponge to sand the corners and edges to give it the old shabby worn look. Because of the many layers of color that were already on this piece, this little effect worked better than I even imagined. I found these pretty glass drawer pulls online for just over $5 each, it was the absolute least expensive I could find fancy drawer pulls. I’m really happy with the pink.
there were already holes in the drawers but they weren’t spaced correctly for the drawer pulls that I got so I had to fill the old holes and drill new ones. I did this even before I sanded the piece using Elmer’s wood filler.
But as you can see my wood filling skills could use some improvement, luckily the imperfectness just adds to the shabbiness of the look!
In order to drill the holes in the exact right place I needed to mark where the holes would go. These pulls made it relatively easy to do because the bolt that attaches them goes all the way through. I just needed a pen or pencil that would fit all the way into the hole. My solution- an over extended piece of lead in a mechanical pencil.
I just had to be careful, but it worked perfectly.
drilling the 12 holes and attaching the 6 pulls was finished in about 20 minutes.
Over all I am really happy with how the piece turned out.
it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I originally thought it would be.
I learned a lot from the process and now I have the confidence to tackle another piece, maybe one that will have a little more permanence in our home.
My advice is if you are intersted in refinishing furniture find the least expensive piece on Craig’s list that will give you the look you want and “practice” them there is no stress about wasting lots of money when something doesn’t turn out as planned.
I have a bunch of chairs stashed away that I have collected over the past few years, yes, I have a chair addiction. I hope to repaint, refinish and reupholster them in the months to come.
Ill keep you posted!
