Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Oh what fun.  A week of Dr. Seuss at school.  On my volunteer day, we made truffula trees out of licorice and cotton candy...yummy, sticky goodness.  The kindergarteners made them all by themselves--very cute.  To commemorate the day, I made these little cards to go with their edible craft.  

Dr. Seuss- The Lorax

 When I get a moment, I will upload the pdf for the quote.  I used tear apart post card sheets.  It's what I had on hand.  Each card is 4"x5.5". The truffula stem is cut out of printed scrapbook paper and the fluffy tree is ripped from mulberry paper.  If your unfamiliar with this kind of paper, you can normally find it at craft stores in the scrapbooking aisle.  

I hot glued a clear pocket and put 4-6 flower seeds inside.  Now, clear pockets can be a little pricey, especially if you need 31 like I did.  My solution--I have oodles of baseball card pockets so I just cut one of the sides in half, made a little flap of the other side, folded and tucked it inside and voilá, instant clear pocket. 

Thank you Dr. Seuss!  Because just sometimes, double meanings can be wonderful!

Baseball Banners

Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowds, make me a banner with all my team's names, that I can hang up for all of my games...

Last year, I was team mom for my son's baseball team, the Yankees and made a banner for them

My inspiration for my first ever banner came from http://bluesusanmakes.blogspot.com/2011/03/team-banner-tutorial.html
She gives a wonderful tutorial on how she made it. With the extra felt, I made the team individual pennants with their names on them using Avery iron-on ink jet printer paper--I so love this stuff!

This year, I was asked to make a banner and since I just love the coach who asked, I couldn't say "no."  I always start in Photoshop and make a quick design until I get something I like:

With my fingers crossed, off to Joanns for supplies.  Yay, felt was on sale- $2.99 a yard and with my coupon, even better!

Materials: 3.5 yards total of felt, glue gun, Avery iron-on paper, and extra large eyelets. That's all.  Measure out 3'x5' and cut and cut and cut and cut.  I ended up making the banner slightly larger so I could use a rotary cutter and carpenter's square to make my edges nice and straight.

 For the thread, I used photoshop and my printer again to make the template.  Since the felt will conform to whatever shape you choose, it doesn't matter if the pieces are cut in straight lines. I chose to snip the corners to make the edges rounded.

 For the oversized name: search the internet for a logo that you like, then using photo editing software keep just the outline.  

I put the size that I wanted into posterazor (microsoft office will do this too) tape the sheets of paper together and cut it out of the felt.  Link for posterazor, if you need it:  http://posterazor.sourceforge.net/.

I printed out all pertinent alphabets, again using outlines only in photoshop so as not to use up all my ink and glued them in the LA dodger logo shape.  The coaches names were ironed on using the Avery paper andthe eyelets were punched out in the corners. 

diy-baseball banner

I did add a vinyl liner to the back to accommodate for a bar and to add extra weight to the felt.  Found this at Wal-Mart for $1.50 a yard!  This also helped for padding the area where the eyelets are going so as not to rip the felt.  I cut the liner 2 inches longer than the top and bottom.  Glued it on all sides. I cut out  extra pieces of vinyl 1.5"x3" to glue to the inside flap of each corner. Cut out the slits inside of this extra piece for added durability.  Glue the edges of the rod pocket down.  When you get to the openings for the rod, completely glue down the corner surface area where the eyelets are going. 

All in all, it was easy to make, just time consuming with all the cutting and gluing  You could simplify it by not lining it and sew on ribbon ties instead of eyelets.   I do have extra felt...player pennants coming up!

Valentine's Day Minecraft T-shirt

Hubby and I decided to take the boys to Disneyland for Valentine's Day.
And...to commemorate the day, I made them Minecraft t-shirts.  Oh the joys of being a mom when you get the biggest smiles and hugs for something that was so easy to make. 

                        

The pdf file was printed on 8.5 x 11 iron-on inkjet printer sheets.  I found it easier to use an exacto knife to trim on the inside of the outline of the images.  Iron on and wait for the hugs!

                                  

8.5 x 5.0

You may download the pdf file here http://www.4shared.com/office/_3DBx5qtba/bemine.html

XOXO


                                     

                                 

Valentine Candy Cards

Hearts, hearts and more hearts.  Everywhere you look there are hearts, flowers and my favorite, chocolate.  The telltale sign that Valentine's Day is upon us.  With only a week to go, my children have chosen their classroom valentine's to pass out.  And the winners are:  

                              

This adorable printable minion valentine is courtesy of Emily from The Benson Street blog.  Cute and simple and perfect for kindergarten.  When I asked Dylan if he wanted to pass these out to his classmates he said, "no, I want one for me!"

Dustin chose this gum filled heart for his 3rd grade class.  It will take a little more gluing but definitely do-able.

The printable and tutorial are easy to follow.  I made a few of these for my kiddo's lunches using m&m's and skittles with a heart on a string tag since they aren't allowed to have gum (they tend to spit it out where ever they are!) Drag and drop if you like.  I also have it 4 to a sheet in red, black and pink.

 

My last little munchkin chose the butterfly lollipop from Chester County Moms. She has a wonderful print out and tutorial for these little guys.

 Now, I didn't have small eyes so I use pipe cleaners instead:

 Happy Valentine Making!

Applesauce Anyone?

Another little lunch box treat for my cutie patooties.  Love these little applesauce squeezers.  Sure I could design my own tag, but why when there are so many out there.  The tag I used is actually a 5x7 card from pretty please.  I will try to enclose the link because it is an absolutely awesome set of 4 cards in a bright happy color scheme.  I had to crop the card and add the "my main squeeze" but, the rest is her design--true digital genius!  

Valentine's Day Robot

Valentine Robot

It's Valentine's Day already??!!  Oh, who am I kidding?  I just love, love, love the holidays.  So glad I have children to gush and smother with my quirky and sometimes outlandish self.  What will I do when my sweet little boys turn into teenagers and no longer love all the little lunch box surprises?
 
But I digress...back to Valentine's Day treats.  First, many thanks to those ubertalented people from those of us who are not so creative.  Just love this little robot snack pack I found on pinterest.  She had a cute little bow on the bot's head--but I have boys so no cute little head bows for me, but the heart wants what the heart wants so I added a bow-tie and a little heart nose.  Such a cute idea!  Can't wait to see their little faces...