Sesame Street Party Decor

 

Happy Wednesday . . . . 

Today's Wordless Wednesday is not so wordless cause I'm uploading the party decorations along with a how to. . .. but alas.... so it goes :o) 

Little man is turning TWO this weekend and we are having a Pirate Elmo Birthday...

 I know random right. 

But the kid is in love with Sesame Street and Pirates... so ... 

Pirate Elmo it is :o) 

While trying to come up with some fun and fugal party ideas I hit up my favorite party supply place... THE DOLLAR STORE !!!! 

We did Yellow and Red plates, cups, napkins along with streamers,  balloons all for a dollar... you just can't beat that!!!! 

My favorite part of the whole day  is our Sesame Street Tissue Paper Characters... 

I'm planning on hanging them in his room after the party... 

and for what they cost, even if they only make it through the day ... I'll be happy. 

 

They had 25 sheets of tissue paper for .... yup $1.00 

I got two just to be safe.... so $2.00 and we were out the door... 

Supplies You'll need..... 

Tissue Paper (red, yellow, blue, green) 

Yarn or string

Scissors

white printer paper

Markers or crayons

I started with Elmo but all are made the exact same way. 

(for Elmo and Cookie Monster I used 8 sheets of tissue paper,

 for Bird and Oscar I only used 4, I'd say use at least 8 so that they are nice and fluffy) 

1. I gathered up all of the red tissue and made sure it was all neatly stacked. 

2. Make sure all of your edges line up and then begin to fold it accordion style. 

3. Then I folded it in half  to see where the middle would be and tied yarn tightly around the stacked tissue. 

4. I then cut each end to be rounded. 

(Big Birds I cut to a point and Oscar's and Cookie Monster's  I left straight.)

5. Then you just start to pull apart the layers. 

6. once it was all opened up they look like giant puffy balls. 

 I hung them so I could see how they looked. They were pretty great.  but some needed to be a little extra fluffed. You wanna make sure they are puffed and even now, or it's harder once you tape on the faces.

7. Next your just going to draw out the eyes, noses, and mouths. 

(some people are asking for a pattern to print... I'll work on it)

8. Color them in and Cut them out and I used double sided tape to attach them to the tissue paper.

Voila 

Adios Mis Amigos,

Makes my Monday- Handpainted signs

 Makes my Monday is a day late..... but it's because I've been so busy painting :o) 

I may be the crazy sign lady. . . . You know that lady... the one who's every surface is covered in some sort of quote, funny saying, or just plain ramblings. I don't know what it is, but lately, but I'm obsessed. Perhaps it's the idea of having a whole new place to decorate (we are moving in two weeks). My head is overflowing with ideas and I finally got some of them finished.

I mean, come on, what about that doesn't inspire you to be a better person, be thankful for all that God's blessed you with . . . It HAS to be hung in your house RIIIIGHT????? 


Below are the ones I have made over the course of the last few days/weeks.

"you are my sunshine" was painted on a scrap piece of wood I had laying around.  It's the song we sing every night before bed, and it's going above his bed in his new big boy room.

To the right is his birth announcement that I blew up and painted onto some scrap piece of foam board. I have a bright stark white frame that is going around that baby!

"home" sign is going to go into our new place, not sure where yet, but it's just symbolic to us, since we have rented homes and it doesn't really matter where we live, so as long as we are together.

And finally the "thankful" sign was also hand painted onto another piece of board I had laying around.  Still working on the frame and matting for that puppy.

If you can scrounge up some scraps , it's a super inexpensive way to get a great finished project. 

Now how to do it. . . .. I used to be terrified of hand painting text.

I could never figure out a quick and easy way to get the text onto the material and have it all lined up and looking exactly how I planned it.

Until Pinterest came along. I have searched high and low for the original inspiration. But can't find it.

Basically it was a quote that she loved and wanted hand painted onto a board for her bedroom.

Step one: find the quote that you love.

Step two: type it up on your computer. Pick the font, size and shape you want.

Step three: Print the text

Step four: trace the text onto the material your using. Press really hard depending on the wood/material.

Step five: Follow the tracings with your paint and your good to go....

Seriously, it's that easy, it takes a pretty steady hand so go light on the coffee and make sure your in good lighting.

now what kind of quotes are you going to think up!




Adios Mis Amigos,

Thankful Thursday - The Pinterest Project

 Today is Thursday. For that reason alone. . .  I am thankful. It seems like the weeks of Winter are growing longer and longer. I can not wait for spring, to open the windows, and have fresh air blowing through the house. But today, with the outside temp currently at 37 degrees, I am left to the endless projects I have going on.  That brings me to Pinterest. If you haven't heard about or been on Pinterest, be WARNED. It's highly addictive, inspirational, and very very time consuming. I find myself browsing at night. Which leads to inspiration, and a sudden burst of creativity. It's caused many sleep deprived nights but resulted in some pretty great projects for our new home.


Today I'm sharing my Giant Prints Project. I first studied  Sugar Bee Crafts and followed her step by step for the first one. (it's the close up of little man's face)Her's was great, had some good tips, and I'm including it here, with my changes, to avoid some of the issues that came up while I was doing my own.

Supplies you'll need.
1.) one digital copy of a picture you absolutely adore (the higher the resolution the better print quality)
2.) A flash drive (some stores allow you to upload from the web, I brought mine in on a floppy)
3.) Foam board. The kind you find at Walmart, Michaels, or Staples for kids science projects or book reports. I chose black, so that the trimmed print would look "matted" but choose any color you want, great way to accent the print.
4.) Spray adhesive, I used Krylon Super Extra Strength :o)
5.) A clear top coat sealer, Again I used Krylon HiGloss Clear finish. (I used gloss, so the pictures would have a nice shine, but you could use matte also.)
6.) Scissors, Ruler, exacto blade if you plan to trim the board.

Steps.
1.) First I went to Staples (you can go anywhere that they print Engineers Prints) They will tell you that it's not meant for pictures, it's meant to print lines and blueprints. Smile and say "okay but please print this for me"

2.) Bring it home, roll it out and admire the awesomeness. I put it down on top of a tarp and did several coats of the clear gloss finish.( Light and thin coats) I did 5 coats, you can do more or less depending on how rich you want the coat to be. The KEY is not too thick of a coat. (too much spray makes the paper wrinkle) You need to do it before you attach it to the board or again the paper will wrinkle.

3.) Once you've reached your desired finish and it's completely 100% dry. Lay it out on top of the foam board and see where you want it placed. I trimmed both my pictures, to size, and then trimmed the board to fit. Roll the picture up and set it aside.

4.) Spray the board with a good ammount of spray adhesive. You want to make sure the foam board is coated evenly or the paper will lift as it dries. You want the adhesive to sit for about 30 seconds so it starts to dry and gets Tacky.

YOU NEED SOMEONE TO HELP YOU WITH THIS NEXT STEP

5.) One person holds the rolled up print and One person follows behind with a ruler. Line up the corners and the first edge to make sure that as you unroll the print, it will go on the board straight. Next you will lay the ruler flat on the print as you unroll the print, gently slide the ruler behind the print to ensure the print is attaching evenly to the board.

6.) IF all went well, your picture will be awesome! (my first one was crooked) I just trimmed the paper and board once it was dry to make it look like it was straight :o)

Display it proudly .... you ROCK!!!
Adios Mis Amigos,

Makes My Monday . . . NAP TIME ROCKS!!!

 

Well it's 10:30 on Monday night, which is still technically Monday :o) Today has been one of those days, but mainly it was an eye opening view into what is to come. . .. my son will be two in February . . . yes two . Today I saw the infamous "terrible two" in black and white. 

 My son is amazing, he is the sweetest, most gentle loving little boy I know. His instinct is to hug and kiss and love on people. He has never hit, bit, or be "ugly" to anyone. Today was a first. 

It was nap time. We have a routine, we have a schedule and he has always thrived on it. For 22 months or 93 weeks or 654 days he has thrived. Today it threw him into a full blown, yelling kicking screaming hitting tantrum!!!! 

Never in his lifetime have we had a "oh my gosh is this my son moment?!?!?!" 

today was our day 

today . . . nap time makes my monday 

it's a chance for this mama to recharge and take a deep breath

only to start it all over again in two short hours

Adios Mis Amigos,

Thankful Thursday. . . my Husband

 Today . . . my love . . . I am thankful for you. !!! (see if he really does read this after all). This past week,  September 1st, we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. 4 years really isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things. Our grandparents just celebrated 56 years (we'll be lucky to touch that) ((love you baby)) But it's amazing to think of the past four years and all that has happened. Moved to Texas, Moved 3 times in 3.5 years, Met amazing people, lost a few amazing people,made some pretty incredible memories together,  got knocked up, carried the little bambino to 38 weeks, delivered the most amazing precious little boy, moved back to NJ, of course these are just the highlights. But through it all, no matter the good, bad, or ugly. He has been by my side. Making me laugh when I'm sad, making me laugh when I'm angry. Hugging me when I need it, and even when I didn't. And now for the past 22 months he has been our sole provider. 3 Months on bedrest he did everything he could to make sure that our little family was secure, and when the thought of going back to work and leaving our little guy sent me into a full blown depression, he picked up overtime and never looked back. Now for the last 19 months of little man's life he has given me the greatest priviledge of staying home full time! He works tirelessly (sometimes over 60 hour weeks), 6 days a week, making sure that this family has everything we need, and then some. I know that I rarely praise you and thank you like I should. . . but today. . . .today is your day mi amor.... I am thankful for you!!! and now it's posted on the world wide web... so whenever you are feeling ignored, underappreciated, or upset.... re-read it baby!!!!  Love you. . . to the moon and back!!!!

Adios Mis Amigos,