LEGO Birthday Banner

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Jennifer

My daughter turned 6 awhile ago and for the first time ever we were able to have a family party. My siblings and parents as well as my husband’s sister and parents all live in different parts of the US and Canada so we rarely have family at parties.

When my sister gifted our family a sking trip to Canada over spring break I knew it was my opportunity to have family members at Caroline’s party. We were lucky to have my sister, her boyfriend, my husband’s sister, her husband, and their two sons at the party. What? COUSINS at a party? Yippee!

Caroline wanted a LEGO party so that’s what we had in the hotel room.

Caroline and I worked to make this banner a few weeks before the party.

We used felt we already had and cut out squares and circles that we then glued into LEGO pieces.

I then made the girl lego head out of more felt.

We glued the whole thing together and had a banner for the party – our only decorations.

For the party we had LEGo bingo, a LEGO scavenger hunt, an awesome LEGO cake (made by her aunt and uncle), a race to build LEGO sets, and we took a dip in the pool. It was about 25 degrees outside when we jumped into the heated pool – it was great….until we had to get out and run for the door absolutely freezing our tails off.

Happy 6th Sweet Girl!

Elvis is in the Building – A Kid Costume

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Jennifer

When I gave my kids the unofficial “What do you want to be for Halloween” survey back in September, my 9 year old said, “Elvis.”

Naturally.

So if that’s what he wanted that’s what we were going to figure out.

I thought, great, that should be easy – jeans, white t-shirt, and leather jacket.

“No mom, I want the other Elvis.”

We started looking at pictures and he kept choosing the jumpsuit Elvis.

“You want a jumpsuit for your costume?

“Yes.”

“That might be hard to find.”

“You can make it.”

For the record, no I can’t. My sewing skills are terrible but I can make my way through pillow construction. Jumpsuits? No.

So I looked online but there were no 9 year old Elvis costumes. I could find baby Elvis, adult Elvis, and even dog Elvis but no kid Elvis.

So then I went on the hunt for jumpsuits at consignment stores and at my 6th store BINGO – A WHITE JUMPSUIT!

The jumpsuit was all white with red material flared at the bottom and came with a red scarf. You have no idea how excited I was – I gave them my $6 and practically ran out the store to go show my son.

A month passed.

And what to little boys do in a month’s time? They grow. The jumpsuit that I thought was perfect for Elvis was looking a little tight and more ABBA like. Stink. What was I going to do?

And then I remembered that my neighbor sews. My beautiful, wonderful, sewing neighbor.

A day before Andrew’s Halloween piano recital (where the kids dress up in costume) I knocked on my neighbor’s door and said, “Please please help me.”

My neighbor came over, snipped the whole jumpsuit in half, sewed the red scarf around the middle and gave our little Elvis enough dancing room.

My neighbor accomplished all of that in under 5 minutes. I sat there amazed but oh so thankful.

My son was adamant that the costume needed a larger collar so I took hard felt and covered it in white fabric. I then made a gold edge for the collar using some leftover Wonder Woman fabric. The belt buckle was made the same way. I then used puffy paints (about $6) and created an eagle on both sides of the collar and a design on the belt.

We found a pair of gold sunglasses ($7 at the party store) and painted on some mighty fine side burns if you ask me.

To complete the look, Elvis put on his “blue suede” Converse and was ready to roll.

I now present to you…THE KING!

I was literally sewing the belt buckle on to the costume in between stoplights driving to his piano recital. All in the day of a music legends manager I guess.

A white jumpsuit – $6

Gold sunglasses – $7

Neighbor who sews – Priceless!

Can’t wait to see what he picks for his costume this year.

A Colorful Bedroom Wreath

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Jennifer

My name is Jennifer and I am a craft materials hoarder.

When you are a craft materials hoarder it’s easy to say, “This project didn’t cost me anything.”

At least that’s what I tell my husband.

He is well aware that at some point in the past five years we’ve paid for these materials but he chooses to go along with my “free projects.”

I’m pretty sure we’ve found the key to a successful marriage.

Not sure where I accumulated all of these materials from but I’m thankful I did.

Wrap a wreath in fabric strips and secure with glue gun.

Make rosette flowers with fabric scraps.

Make felt flowers with felt leftovers.

Have a few extra buttons lying around?

Go crazy and glue them on.

Arrange and rearrange until you get it just right.

Then use that glue gun very liberally.

Free decorative wreath for my daughter’s bedroom.

Score one for craft material hoarders everywhere!

Chicken Wire Frame in the Ol’Bedroomo

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Jennifer

Isn’t the title funny?

No? Well as I’m watching this football game I’m finding that I need something to entertain myself.

Actually, truth be told, I’m not even watching the game.

Gotta grab those quiet moments in front of the computer when I can.

A few months ago I spray painted an old frame that I picked up at a garage sale for $1.

I first spray painted it white and then did little spirts of silver.

Before the silver dried I dragged a cloth over them to move the silver around a bit.

My husband, the world’s best, then added chicken wire to the frame.

I love seeing these picture of us up every time I walk by in my bedroom.

Makes me ridiculously happy.

My 4 year old thought having a picture of Princess Elsa would make me happy as well.

And while that does make me smile, she has got to go.

Princess Elsa that is, not my daughter.

(The best thing to hold onto in life is each other print found here.)

Winter Bingo – New on Etsy!

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Jennifer

I’ve been working for the last few weeks on a new Winter Bingo game and it’s finally ready!

Winter Bingo is perfect for those school winter parties you are planning!

(There are no religious images used in this game)

Winter Bingo is perfect as a a cold afternoon activity!

A sample of the call cards…

Winter Bingo is perfect for all ages during the Christmas break!

Boards come in 5 x 5 boards , 3 x 3 boards, and 1 x 4 boards.

That’s 54 different boards!

All proceeds from our etsy sales go to help fund our adoption so we thank you so much!

Go on over and check out this Winter Bingo at Big D & Me Etsy.

A Weekend Project

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Jennifer

Why do weekend projects always end up taking until the following Thursday to complete?

Maybe it’s just us but we can never seem to complete a project in the estimated time.

Our family began collecting magnets several years ago as a keepsake from the all the places we visited.

After putting on the most recent magnets from Rome, London, and Berlin our collection looked like this…

A big jumble of not cuteness.

It hasn’t been displayed in our new house (which we’ve been in for 3 years) so the mess was never really a problem before.

That is, until I decided that WE. MUST. COMPLETE. a weekend project and so… a new magnet board it was!

I took a 36 x 24 inch picture I bought at Goodwill for $5 and popped out the picture.

Next we bought a sheet of metal ($20) at Home Depot and my husband cut it down to size.

He then nailed the metal into place.

And voila! 6 days later our weekend project was complete!

Looks like we are going to have to travel a lot more to fill this up.

Actually, I’ve got a list going of the places I, We, Us, and/or & Them have gone but forgotten to buy magnets for: Fayetteville, AR, Seattle, WA, Calloway Gardens in Georgia, Ann Arbor, MI, Gulf Shores, AL, New Mexico, Virginia, and many more.

But here’s a few of what we do have:

Las Vegas, Fort Worth, Chicago, New Orleans

Louisville, Graceland, Scotland, the USS Alabama

Mammoth Caves, Toronto, San Francisco, Water Color, FL

Here’s the before (the picture just got moved to the dining room)

And the after:

Can’t wait to figure out our next 6 day project!

Saving Money & In the Red

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Jennifer

Like many of you, our family is trying to save as much money as we can.

So one of the ways we are saving money is by using our library.

Of course, I’m always skeptical about how much we are saving when I have to fork over the cash for late fines but nontheless, we are using the library.

After spending about an hour perusing books last Saturday, we decided it was time to go.

After all, we had to get home to start making our homemade calzones…saving money everywhere people!

As we all gathered around the automatic checkout machine my husband bent down to pick up some books that had fallen to the ground.

As he did, his glasses fell off.

I turned when I heard, “No, don’t step back! No! No! No!”

Crunch.

And then I might have heard a few curse words.

In the library.

My husbands glasses were crushed.

We tried not to be angry at the child who stepped on the glasses (the 11 year old!) but as we were driving to the mall that night to order new glasses, driving past our neighborhood, we might have said something along the lines of, “Well, Dad needs new glasses because you stepped on his and completely broke them.”

Probably not our best parenting moment.

But after a few of us, who do not need glasses, proceeded to try on every pair on the store, we felt a little better.

That and dinner at the mall.

42 Pains in the Arse

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Jennifer

I’ve mentioned a few times about a project my husband and I were working on, one that nearly drove us over the edge.

This was the sneak peak.

Now here’s the story.

My daughter’s preschool had a school auction to raise money for an outdoor cover on the playground so I decided to donate a gift certificate to my etsy shop.

I tried to think of a way to make an eye catching display and settled on a picture frame with chicken wire.

I found a large detailed frame, spray painted it black, and had my husband add chicken wire to the back. I then spray painted some clothespins and hung up information about my shop.

It looked something like this (I, of course, forgot to take pictures of the actual frame):

I also had a book of products with the frame:

After dropping off my donation, which I valued at just under $7,000 (or slightly less), I received an email from the school director asking if I could make 40 of the chicken wire frames for her staff for their end of the year gift.

“Jackpot!”

“Yippe!”

“Who needs Powerball?!”

We do, that’s who.

My husband and I jumped at the opportunity to make a little cash. Boy were we fools.

After saying “yes,” to the job, I scowered area Goodwill, thrift store, resale shop, and garage sale for about 3 weeks. I’m fairly sure there are no more 8 x 10 inch frames left in the DFW area.

After sanding down and spray painting about 9 of the frames, we decided to add the chicken wire. That’s where we ran into TROUBLE.

Out of the 9 frames, only 2 didn’t break.

At this point, we were a week out from the delivery date and freaking out a bit.

We were using a hand stapler and it just was not working.

So I decided to buy an automatic staple gun from Home Depot for $59 and hope that would help.

Thankfully, it worked (most of the time) and we were back on track.

Each frame also had glued on ribbon on the back so that the chicken wire scratch anyone.

Texas received quite a bit of rain during this time which under different circumstances would have been wonderful, though when you are trying to spray paint 40 frames, it really is awful.

Mix that with room mom meetings, field days at two schools, and a soccer tournament weekend and we were sprinting to get the frames completed.

A lot of the spray painting occurred in our garage (with the door up) but we are fairly sure we were high for two thirds of this project. Complex math was not our friend at this time.

In the end we finished on time (even providing an extra 2 frames, hence the 42 pains in the arse title), although I was drying clothespins with a hair dryer 30 minutes before the drop off.

Turned in, done!

A little money was made and a lot of learning too.

You would think I’m done with renovating frames but I’ve actually got some bigger frames just waiting in my garage. I’m going to start spray painting those soon.

Maybe next week.

On second thought, maybe next month.

A Huge Chalkboard to Celebrate With

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Jennifer

Just popping in to share what you might have noticed is my latest creative tool

The Over Sized Chalkboard

Good for birthdays

and holidays

Get a large piece of wood, paint it with chalkboard paint, and your done!

Cardboard Boxes – So Much Fun!

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Jennifer

The last time I talked about Caroline’s super hero party it was concerning the scavenger hunt, bean bag toss, and the chest letters they received.

Today it’s, “Exploring the City!”

When I looked on pinterest for Caroline’s super hero party I came across party decor which had buildings with it. I thought, wouldn’t it be fun for the girls to be able to play in the buildings?

Otherwise known as, “Cardboard Boxes are so Much Fun!”

One of the missions the kids had to complete was, “Explore the City.” This simply meant, bring out some cardboard boxes and let the kids have fun.

A week before the party, the kids and I drove around gathering big boxes that had been discarded in the new subdivision they are building near us.

We then set up a painting station on our driveway and got to work painting the boxes.

I used regular house paint that we already had so the cost for this project was $0.

Caroline wore her painting outfit – yellow pants, old white shirt, and a pair of the boys’ old water shoes – always looks like she’s a retired Floridean 🙂