Ahoy Mateys!

My cousins birthday just passed.  Yes I have a lot of cousins!  We have at least 3 birthdays a month, I guess I should be posting more cards then : /  Anyway, she is a pirate fan, so I did my best at a pirate card.

I found some chipboard like material that already had this pattern so I thought it was perfect.  I cut it using the My Community Cricut Cartridge.  I downloaded the best pirate font I could find and used my best pirate accent.  I ripped the paper and used some brown ink to try and give it that pirate map look.  I tried burning the edges for the real look but almost set my house on fire...lol!

I cut out a sinister hook from the Disney Classics cartridge and now I can't remember where I got the treasure chest.  I think it was Spongebob, maybe it was My Community again.  There were several to choose from.  I'm a regular at MyCutSearch. com to try and find what I need quicker. I actually did 2 layers of the chest and cut the top in half and just glued the edges so that I could squeeze the gift card in the treasure chest.  I need to stop being lazy and start buying some real presents!  She liked the card and the gift though  : )

Dessert Stand

Ok, I have seen these things all over Pinterest.  In so many different variations.  I decided to give it a shot.  I found the platters at Michael's in their clearance section.  I paid maybe $3 for the 3 of them.  The candlestick holders I got at Dollar Tree and Target.  Another $3.  I mixed mod podge with some blue food coloring to try and get the sea glass effect.  I think I used to much blue.  I was trying to go with the top plate.  Again I'm just preparing for my daughter's Ariel themed birthday.  You can never be too prepared : )  Then I just super glued the platters to the candlesticks. I also added a lazy susan mechanism on the bottom so it gave it some lift off the table and it spins.  Since the lazy susan mechanism was metal I added some felt circles so it wouldn't scratch my table.

I know the candlesticks look crooked, but I think it's just the angle that I took the picture.  Once I finished it, I realized I had no where to put it.  All my cabinets were full, so it sat on my table for like a week, but it looked good as a center piece on my table, even without sweets ; ) So many more variations I need to try!

Happy Birthday To Me : )

Last Thursday was my birthday.  My husband took the day off and we took a ferry from downtown SD to Coronado, had lunch with my oldest son and his girlfriend, my Dad and my stepmom, then my Mom was waiting for me at home with some presents and my little ones : )  I'm waiting to celebrate big for my 45th bday in 2 years.  I want a Willy Wonka party.  My husband has strict instructions to make it fabulous! It's my bar of chocolate!

Anyway I was too full from lunch so I didn't want cake. I decided to make a cheesecake parfait.  I've been wanting to try it because my daughter is going to have an Ariel party and I wanted to mimic an ocean type of dessert. Graham cracker crust for the sand, no bake cheesecake with blue food gel as the water, and homemade whipped cream as the waves.  Green licorice as a decor to signify seaweed (the licorice got eaten pretty fast so not pictured.) I need to work on presentation still, but my oldest couldn't stop eating them and asked me not to make them anymore because they were to good...success!

The pictures came out better too as my oldest took the pics using Instagram.

Princess Hair

My youngest child is 4 and she is my only girl.  Yes she is very, very spoiled...but that's another story.  I've never been much of a girlie girl.  I was a tomboy as I grew up and kind of stayed that way, with 4 boys I kind of had to be. When I had my daughter it all changed.  I'm forever buying dresses, I learned how to make hair accessories, I actually tolerate shopping now, and I'm always on the look out for a good hairstyle for my daughter.

We were doing our normal french braid down the side when my daughter said she wanted it to circle her head.  At 4 she is very decisive and won't hesitate to tell you what she wants, or what you want ; )  I remember seeing a similar type of hairstyle on yes Pinterest.  I gave it a go from memory.

I basically french braided it all around her head.  Then I made a normal braid in the middle and made it into a bun.  It's a little messy as it is quite difficult to get a 4 year old to sit for very long and her hair isn't even everywhere yet.  She has a lot of baby hair still..  After seeing her in that style all day I decided I wouldn't do it again.  A little too mature for a 4 year old I think, but it turned out ok though.  What do you think?

Halloween Decorations

In my attempt to avoid cleaning house : )  I've seemed to find more time to craft.  And with my addiction to Pinterest I have found the coolest things.

Now I've seen light bulb crafts all over Pinterest and we have a huge collection of blown out light bulbs since we have no idea where to recycle those in Chula Vista.  So if you know where please share : )  The problem is we don't have the normal size light bulbs. We have flood bulbs, which are kind of shaped like a beaker.  Not very many crafts out there for those, at least that I can find...again sharing is always welcomed.  I did manage to find this cool Halloween decoration though.  http://www.oureverydayearth.com/creative-homemade-halloween-potions/  I made just a couple of changes to them.  I spray painted some of the bulbs, and instead of printing on them, I cut out vinyl on the Cricut...I love using vinyl!  I really like the way they turned out.  My son helped me come up with some names and of course loving Harry Potter the way I do I had to use some of his potions : )

Here they are.  (I'm still working on the art of product photography.)

Coasters

Yes I am a procrastinator!  I do everything the last minute and may even be late often.  I have been since college...writing my papers the morning they are due : )  With this in mind, as I prepared to go to Bunco yesterday I realized it was not only my birthday month but one of the other ladies birthday month as well.  As she and I are the youngest on the Bunco Babes (average age is 50 something...that's being kind, lol...and I'm 42 and she's 32) we have what I like to think of as a bond. I didn't want to show up empty handed, so there was a craft that I've been dying to try.  I even had all the supplies to make them...tile coasters.

She is a huge Disney fan.  Visits Disneyland practically every week, so I dipped into my Disney scrapbook paper and made these coasters.

They are all over Pinterest, but I chose this site to work from http://blog.hwtm.com/2010/07/diy-tutorial-mod-podge-tile-coasters/ . Their tutorial was really easy, glossy white tiles from Home Depot, cut the paper to size, apply paper with mod podge, a layer of mod podge over the paper, finished it with lacquer, then felt on the bottom. I managed to do them in 30 minutes.

I really liked them and someone in the family is going to get some coasters for Christmas : )

Here are some closer shots of the coasters.

(I should have centered this last one, oh well, next time.)