Masterbath trim

Finally making some progress on the master bath.  It's been functional for over a year, but those last todo items just keep getting put on the back burner.

We are going with a craftsman style.

next up, getting the hardwood sanded and stained, and a closet organizer installed.  

Easter: egg coloring

Pinned it and did it!

Have you seen the pins on using kool-aid?  I heard about it last year after we'd already used the traditional dye from the packet.  But I pinned it and we did it!

 I found these bunny egg scoops at the dollar store a few years ago.  Everyone has fun with this tradition.

 The masterpieces on display!

 org pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/70157706667073644/

Easter: trimmings

Easter Trimmings

We tried a few new things this year.  We always try to have a new centerpiece and something at each place setting.  This year, thanks to Pinterest, we had loads of ideas!

This pin I found was just wrapping a napping that had been rolled to make bunny ears.  The org pin is below.  I googled bunny faces and took what my boys liked best, make a bunch of copies of it on a word doc and printed them out.  They each decorated 10 bunny faces and we attached to a paper ring and make bunny napkins.  The examples below are each of their masterpieces.

 Easter is the only holiday I host.  And I love it.  It gives me a chance to use my grandmas china and have that formal sit down dinner that we otherwise never have for any other holiday anymore.  No buffet, no eating out, and no self serve.  We pass all the dishes, so I can use all my dishes :)  I know, I'm a little crazy like that.  And this year, I actually washed a china plate ahead of time in the dishwasher to make it would be ok, and it was!  So, we didnt even hand wash dishes this year!  No one's favorite, but it does allow for multiple conversations to occur and convo over dishes is a good one, really is.

http://pinterest.com/pin/70157706667296837/org bunny napkin pin:

 These center pieces were donated from a church event on Easter Eve, called the Easter Vigil for my non-catholic readers.  A friend of mine cheerfully manages the hospitality after mass with wonderful finger foods (I'm just there to server and clean up).  There is always beautiful center pieces.  I'm lucky enough to bring home for more to enjoy on Easter.  They actually got the inspiration from Marianos!  It's a mason jar with the ring lid only.  It's full of carrots and then flowers of all sorts.  I had one for each table :)

Here's our table set up.  We had 30 adults this year, and 8 kids.  We have realized the kids take 5 minutes to eat a few years ago, so they are now in living room for dinner.  They love freedom.  They eat without supervision, then bolt for the backyard!

 We have a few seniors needing help getting around, so we went the extra step and borrowed a few armed rolling chairs from my SIL.  It was perfect.  Sometimes, it's the littlest things that make it run smooth!

 And the last on my list today is the cheep cheep eggs.  I wanted to make these so bad.  Well, I had a whole board of pins that I wanted to complete, but this one didnt make it.  Then, my cousin showed up with them, I was so excited.  They are perfect!

Easter: Watermelon Bunny

Pinned it and Did it!  It's a watermelon bunny fruit basket for Easter.

 Cut the bottom to have a flat surface.  Using a sharpie, draw the bunny ears and back area for fruit basket.

 dont forget the tail.  as you can see, I changed my markings a few times to make the fruit basket bigger.


I used the watermelon pieces to make the face elements, but pinterest has other ideas for them that look cuter.  Have a look first.

I forgot to take a picture of it in it's serving space.  Oh well.  Give it a try for your event or party.  If you search on watermelon art there a tons of ideas, not just animals!

Org Pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/75998312433983834/

The Game of Love

Pinned it and Did it!

I saw this on Pinterest, and since I'm in my pinned it and did it -- and blog it-- I had to share. 

It's tasteful, I promise.

The GAME of LOVE

This game is for you and your partner to play, alone :)  There are game squares that have things to do in them to keep the "game" moving without any thought.  Since you make the game yourself, you get to make those game square say whatever you want to happen too :)  You can have a die to play with (that has a 1 or 2) but we just played them in order from top to bottom, otherwise it just goes to fast.

I purchased a sheet on clearance at BBBeyond.  The pin said fitted, but flat was all they had, so I made it work.  The pinner also put it on her mattress and did all the work, even stood the mattress up.  No thankyou.  I wanted to do this, but that was way too much work.  Thankfully my dining room table is large enough to complete the project.  

This is the materials used.

ruler for straight edge
red and black thick sharpie
tape (to keep the sheet in place)
greeting card with fun curves

I did some planning ahead of time.  Using the org pinners sheet as inspiration and copied a few items, I drew out boxes/lines on paper.  It worked to have 7 rows with 7 columns.  We have a thing about 7s.  I merged this idea with all the valentine ideas that use food as a way to express feelings.  ie, Hot Tamale candy, and gave it to him as I told him he was my "hot tamale".  I did 10 of these, so I spaced out 10 "presents" on the sheet.  Then filled in the rest.  Sorry I had to heart some out :)  Use your OWN imagination to do your own.

I wrote out the words The Game of Love.  I did chunky letters for the T G and L all in black.

Then drew in little red hearts in those chunky T G and L letters.

Made a little red dash line under THE GAME OF LOVE before starting on the boxes below.  I made all the game squares in red and wrote the words in black.  Using the greeting card with the fun curves on it, I created the top and the bottom of the square, and drew a line to connect the top and bottoms, see below.

fyi.. x are kisses and o is hugs...renew me is actually "lotion me up".. renew is the brand we use.

We each did each thing to each other, unless of course it's something that requires 2 :)

Something fun I added too was I "heart" you b/c (because) and we shared something we loved about each other.  I did this several times.  Also, there are hearts you can see in the photo below connecting to a square, this was a lead to show how to move through the squares.  We didnt start each row over, it was left to right, right to left, and so on.. with 7 rows, the end is at the bottom right.

So, when our date night was over, it was folded up and can be used again whenever we want.  Next time he gets to pick the presents for ME!!!  Enjoy!

org pin idea: http://pinterest.com/pin/70157706667080753/

It's super capes!

A friend asked me to make capes for her kids.  She thought it was time to upgrade them from the knotted blanket around their necks.  This is what I came up with after a night at the machine.  Personalized with a B and M.  I don't know that I'll go into the cape making business, but for special requests, it was fun.  My boys didn't seem that interested, they modeled them here, but that was the end of their interest.  For now anyway.

Noodle Marble Run

Pinned it and Did it!

My boys love marbles.  What boys don't?  What kids don't?  For Christmas they got the blocks that you arrange to make a marble run.  It was a little harder to put together then I was expecting.  Even with the 11y helping, they became frustrated.   Then, I saw the noodle run!  I went to the garage and got moving.  I didnt read much on how to cut it, I just started cutting it in half with a knife.  Which turns out to be something to look into first.  When I cut it, it was off center.. oopps.  Perhaps marking with a pen first or something? Anyway, I cut the one half that works in half again.  They love it.  You can see below.  Since this day, they have tried from the couch, to the table, down to the box.  Which I'll note the box is very important.. We had marbles everywhere (the family room has carpet, but it's connected to the kitchen, which is not.. ha.. so fun!)

Since this marble run is the favorite these days.. it was the perfect Home Care Package while we had a short stay in the hospital.  He was in heaven and got his mind off the IV for a bit.

Org pin inpired: http://pinterest.com/pin/88453580151393965/  but there are SO many ideas.  do a search in pinterest for "noodle marble ruen" and go for it!

Be My Valentine

I know it's a bit after Valentine's Day.. but they worked so hard on these and decided on their own.  Everyone was different.  We had a sick little boy in the house that week.. so this went to the back burner.

Pinned it and Did it.

(search pinterest for valentine ideas for any ideas.  there's too many to list.)

We are a crafty household and when I saw the plethora of ideas on Pinterest for Vday, I knew we'd have some fun.  We ended up creating a heart on the computer with words for everyone, and they wrote their to and from on the back.  For the 3y, that's enough work for him anyway.  We did this over 2 weeks time to allow for "I'm tired of doing this".  The 6 and 11y were also charged with cutting and taping theirs out too.

Here's what we came up with (trinkets from Oriental Trading Co.)

 This Valentine was a pin wheel with hearts on it, perfect for the prek kid.  His tag said, "You blow my mind.  Thanks for being a good friend.  Happy Valentine's Day."  He then wrote his name on the back of all of them.  Such a good boy.

 This one is all photos... He did it all himself.

Turns out I didnt take any of the 11y.. She didnt even finish till the 13th!  The boys were done a whole week early.  She did sticky hands that stretch and stick to walls and windows.  

Her heart said "I'm giving you a hand on Valentine's Day".  As it turns out, 5th graders really dont want to do this anymore, it was sad.  She had 6 other students that brought in Valentines.  

Oh my, what does junior high do?  Nothing?  Valentine grams at school?  

or is that in high school...ugh, just stay in grade school!!

Did you make your own?  I was talking to a few moms after school and they were looking for this character and that one.. so I ended up making them too.. they were printed on 11x17 sheets of paper at Staples and there was 10-12 cards per sheet.