Life in Pictures.

Let's Celebrate: St. Patrick's Day

Going green takes on a whole new meaning this month!  I didn't grow up with St. Patrick's day being a huge holiday..(don't tell John's Irish relatives that live on the south side of Chicago!!) ;)  but now that we have a birthday to celebrate that day it has taken on a new life! :)

Why not celebrate with a few festive details.  The kids will love everything green...especially if it's their food! :)

The classic I think is green eggs and ham for breakfast.  A few drops of food coloring turn normal eggs into a fun breakfast.  Here are a few other ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

I always find a TON of inspriation from wedding idea books and magazines.  While the kids are at school have a green brunch with some friends so you can put some of these more elegant ideas into use. 

 

For dinner how about some Irish Blue Cheese Fondue?  The kids might even eat their veggies if they can dip them in something yummy!

   

Some Leprachaun Lemonade will wash it down...

   

Have a great St. Patty's Day!

-t

Friday Favorites-- The Spoon Sisters

We have entered "Birthday Season" around here as I like to call it.  Between my immediate family and my mom/dad/brothers/sisters we have 9 birthdays in the span of about 13 weeks...YIKES!!!  Out of the four in my immediate family 3 of those happen in two and half weeks.  As you can imagine by the middle of April I'm pretty "birthdayed out" ;)  I found something the other day that I think might make my life a little easier and it's super hip which makes me like it even more! :)

 

This cake mold creates the words "happy birthday" in a raised font ON your cake.  All you have to do is pour the mix into the mold and bake.  Pretty soon you'll be looking like the ace of cakes. ;)

Find them here for a mere $32 at The Spoon Sisters.   And don't forget to tell them I sent ya! :)

Have a great day!

-t

Plan a Party: Movie Night

Did you watch the Oscar's on Sunday??  I'll admit it...I did.  I never see most of the movies...maybe the one voted best animated feature like Wall E this year ;)... but I DO love movies.  The problem for us is usually GETTING to the movie theater.   SO, that got me thinking.  We need to start hosting movie night at our house.  With money a little tighter these days and everyone hanging around the house more we can still have fun and save some cash at the same time!!  (and, that way, even if John has to work late, at least I know I can make the party!!)  If you make it a monthly event you can save on the party supplies too.  If it's a recurring theme you can resuse many of the items for each party.  If you want to add a little WOW factor you can just change up one thing each time.

Here are a few ideas to get your movie night started..

these cute evites fit with your theme and are FREE!!

 

They've got many more fun ones that work for a movie/TV night here.

You could create a ticket stub for each of your guests that has a box for categories such as:

COMEDY

DRAMA

ACTION/ADVENTURE

FOREIGN

Have the guests bring their tickets to the movies and punch the ticket for each movie they attend.

For food you can change it up each time.  Make homemade pizzas and assign toppings to each guest.  Have hot dogs and nachos (true movie food) another time. 

You can always create a fabulous candy bar...

 

I found these cute popcorn containers...

   

at World Market (Cost Plus) for under $5 for 20 of them. 

And my favorite tip is for the movies.  Have you met RED BOX???  For only $1 you can rent any new release movie that you can find at Blockbuster.  They are at your local grocery store, Walmart, McDonalds...all over.  You can return them at ANY redbox location, not just where you rented it AND you can rent them online, so when you run out to do your errands you know the movie you want will be there waiting for you to pick it up!  Fantastic!!

I hope you're feeling inspired to throw a little shindig at your place this weekend!!  And if you are...can I get an invite?? ;)

Have a great day!

-t

Friday Favorites-- Inklore

I found this little shop on etsy the other day and I am in love!!  Especially with the growth chart.  SO cute for your kids room!!

 

chech them out at Inklore and tell them I sent ya!!

Have a great day!!

-t 

i {heart} fabric

you all know that i love paper...well i've found a new love.  FABRIC!!  Oh!  The colors are enough to send me over the edge!  i took a trip to joanns the other night and i spent 2 hours browsing through bolts and bolts of fabric.  yum!  you know a little had to follow me home. ;)

 

so..here's what i wanted to try....my hand at making custom appliqued tshirts.  i see them all the time in fancy boutiques for a small fortune...AND i can never find the exact thing i'm looking for.  so, i thought i'd give it a whirl. :)  i started with a more basic shape to get the hang of it and i LOVE the way it tuned out.  i have big plans for this new little hobby of mine.  here's how my guinea pig of a t turned out....

 

i made 5 shirts today because i was so excited.  i know...i'm crazy!!!  needess to say we had pancakes for dinner! lol!!  i'm sure i'll slow down soon, i just have so many ideas in my head i need to get them all out before i explode!! lol!!  i'm laughing at myself reading this....you all must think i have a screw loose! :)  if you have something custom you'd like email me and let's see if we can create it for you.  i can so any size, any color, and hopefully any shape before too long! :)

anyways, this one is in my etsy shop Pink Peppermint Design and there will be more to follow as soon as i can get some pictures taken!! :)

have a great day!

-t 

President's Day

Are you home with the kiddos tomorrow and wondering what to do to keep them busy???  Have no fear!  Here are a few fun ideas for you!  Grab a couple of kids from the neighborhood and throw an impromptu president's day party!  It can be educational and fun!!

Study a little about George Washington and make these cute wigs for them to act it out...

 

thy are SO easy!!!  Here are the instructions.

How about these cute hats while you learn a little about Honest Abe...

   

and some instructions.

Finally, how about these log cabins...TOO cute!!!

   

The day will be over and the kids will be back in school before you know it!! :)

Have a great day!

-t

Friday Favorites-- Last Minute Valentine Ideas

Well, the day is almost here!!  I LOVE valentine's day.  Not so much for the mushy stuff...more for the cute, fun stuff and for all the red and pink!!!  I found a few more cute ideas I thought I'd share just in case you suddenly have the urge to do something festive before the weekend is through! :)

If you're having a dinner party or making somthing special for your loved ones and looking for a fun centerpiece idea I LOVED this one from Martha...

 

I know it looks complicated, but the best part about it is that they are all one or two blossoms in small vases just arranged on the table in the shape of a heart.  You DON'T have to be a flower magician to create some awesome arrangement.  Thanks Martha!!

This pillow from flax and spindle is SO cute!!  I need one for next year! 

 

If you're looking for fun last minute gift ideas remember the homemade idea book from this post???

 

Or how about making your own "tower of treats"?  I love this from martha...making several different types of cookies and treats and wrapping them up in different sized boxes that are all wrapped up in fun papers and ribbons...too cute!!

 

And for the kids...I made this last night and it was a big hit...

 

I was too lazy to make homemade crust...so I bought  a pre-made one and just cut it into the best heart shape I could.  I cut up a few pieces of pepperoni to make the I love u and that was it.  They LOVED it!!

If you don't want to do pizza how about heart pancakes, punch their sandwiches into hearts using a cookie cutter, heart cookies...you name it you can make it into a heart shape!! ;) 

Have a wonderful valentines day!!

-t

Lovebug

I just got Andy off to school today with his valentines only to see an email reminder pop up this morning in my inbox about a neighborhood get together for the kiddos tomorrow morning.   Oops!   Looks like I get to make some of those girly valentines after all. :)   I threw this together just a few minutes ago..SO easy and I think they turned out pretty cute.  I call them lovebugs. :)

 

Seriously, no fancy equipment needed to make these!!  I am so old school I used a cup to trace out the circles, cut out a little free-hand half circle for the head, a couple of free hand strips for the antennae, and used a heart punch, a brad and some black rhinestones. 

Glue the head and antennae to theblack part of the body.  cut the pink cirlce in half.  attach the pink circle to the black cirlce at the top with a small brad.  that way the wings will open like this...

 

and they can reveal your message. :)  I printed the message on white cardstock, used a smaller cup to cut around it, then glued it on to the black body.  Decorate your wings and curl your antennae and you're done!

 

I just used a pencil to wrap the antennae around to curl it and give it some dimension. 

Do you want a pattern for this??  Let me know and I can make one up really quickly for you. :)

Have a great day!
-t

Cupcakes

I've been trying to do something fun for my kids each day this week to say "i love you" as a fun little valentine.  today we made cupcakes. :)  but...you probably know by now that i can't "just make cupcakes."  I had to put my own little touch on them. :)  Are you familiar with fancy flours??  They have all these cute little cupcake wrappers like this and this SO fun!!  I have all this cute crush paper lying around just begging to be used, so I made some cupcake wrappers for them out of this fun paper.  :)

 

All I did was cut up a cupcake liner that I had, traced it on to the paper, cut it out with pinking shears to give them a fun edge, and then folded it like an accordian so that it would bend in a circle. Ta-da!!

I think it makes them look totally cute.  I ALMOST didn't want to eat them.  Notice I said almost. ;) 

 

Do something sweet for your loved ones today! :)

Have a great day!

-t

Boy Valentines

I really wanted to MAKE valentines this year for Andy's class.  I wanted to last year, but with 35 kids in the class I thought FORGET IT!!  This year there is a MUCH more manageable number so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Boy valentines are HARD!!  I came up with a million fun girly pink and red ideas.  For boys...not so much! :)  I finally came up with something I think will suffice.  I was happy when Andy walked in and saw them sitting on the counter and said "cool, mom! Rockets!"  That made it TOTALLY worth it! :)

I simply drew out the idea on a sheet of paper, then cut the individual pieces out of some paper I've had lying around for ages that I still love.  :)

 

They each measure about 4x6

 

For the back I printed out the message on a white sheet of cardstock.  I used the free skater dude font from this site. 

   

glued it all together, stuck a sucker on it and called it a day! ;)

They aren't anything fancy, but if you're in a bind and want to make some yourself, you can Download the Rocket Pattern that I made for you. :)

Have a great day!

-t