Easiest Star Wars Cupcake Toppers

What is it about Star Wars that makes little boys (and girls) go nuts?  My eight year old knows more about Star Wars than anyone I know.  So for his birthday last week, of course he wanted Star Wars cupcakes.  At first he requested that I use frosting to create Yoda, Obi, etc. on the top of each cupcake.  That was quickly vetoed (not only am I on bed rest for this pregnancy, but there's no way on earth I was going to do that!).  This is what I came up with:

Blue for the good guys

Red for the bad guys

Seriously, these were so easy to make!  I grabbed two packs of Star Wars stickers from Target (24 stickers in each pack), then stuck two matching stickers together with a toothpick in the middle.  The kids loved them and they only took a few minutes to make!

I'm linking up to:
Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party

St. Patty's Day Centerpiece Tutorial (Kid-Friendly!)

This is one of the cheapest and easiest projects I've ever done.  I am a leader for my daughter's Frontier Girls troop--We have six girls ages 4-6.  I did this project with all the girls on Monday afternoon and it went fabulously.  I was a little worried about Mod Podging with six wee ones, but they did a fantastic job, which emphasized to me how simple this project really is.

Want to know the best part?  Each centerpiece costs under $2!  All of the supplies (except for the Mod Podge) were purchased at our local Dollar Tree.

SUPPLIES

-Small square candle holder

-Scented tea candle

-Green decorative glass

-St. Patrick's Day Napkins

-Mod Podge  (Not pictured)

-Foam brushes (Not pictured, but available at the Dollar Store)

-Scissors (Not pictured)

Unfold a napkin.  Use your scissors to cut out two of the green squares with clovers inside.

Mod Podge a clover square to two opposite sides of the candle holder.

Fill the candle holder with the green class about 2/3 full.  Place the tea candle into the center of the candle holder.  (You can kind of twist it down into the green glass a little bit.)

Enjoy!

I'm currently working on a Home/Life Organization Binder.  It's nearing completion, so I hope to have photos up soon.

Also coming soon... A Spring Wreath! 

Valentine's Day Tic Tac Toe

I have to say that I'm really quite pleased with how this turned out.  It was inspired by my daughter's love for Tic Tac Toe.  Actually, it was mostly her idea.  I just took care of the details.  This is a fantastic craft for kids, as my daughter (5 years old) was able to share in the work and do a lot by herself.

This was so easy to make.  I simply cut a heart template out of construction paper, then used it to cut 10 red hearts and 10 white hearts.  (Even though there are only 9 hearts on the board at a time, you want to be sure that each color has enough to win!)  I put two hearts together, used a hot glue gun to glue almost all the way around the inside edge, filled the hearts (through the unglued opening) with pinto beans (my daughter did all of the filling), then used the glue gun to seal the hearts.  Voila!

Next I cut a big heart out of pink fleece.  I chose fleece because it doesn't fray and I wanted to create a no-sew project.  Before you cut the heart, lay your bean bag hearts on top of the fabric to ensure that your game board heart will be big enough.  I cut four pieces of ribbon, pinned them to the heart in the shape of a Tic Tac Toe grid, then used the hot glue gun to glue them in place.  That's it!

The best part?  The game board ties up around the bean bags, creating its own storage space.  What more could you ask for?

Triplet Train Bunting

A friend of mine has triplet boys--Can you even imagine?  She is a complete saint and one of the best moms I know.  With three infants, though, she has people in and out of her house (helping) day and night...Lots of people.  I've been going over every Thursday night; in the beginning, I had trouble remembering which baby slept in which crib, as they are all three in one room.  I wanted to make something special for her boys and thought of a name bunting to hang over each crib, a way to make sure that all of her helpers know which boy sleeps where.  Here they are:

What do you think?

Articles of Faith Book

A while ago, I came across a huge poster with the 13 Articles of Faith (from the LDS Church) in a closet.  I didn't really have anywhere to hang it, but decided that it would make a fantastic book.  My five year old daughter has already memorized the first three Articles, but would really like to know the rest.  The only problem is that she can't read fluently yet, and thus needs photos to help.  I had a book from Bare Books in my supplies that was perfect for the project.  The book was so easy to make!  I simply cut up the poster, put an Article of Faith on the left page, and cut up pictures to match each Article for the right page.  My daughter is ecstatic about the book.  I'm excited to have a wonderful addition to our Sacrament Meeting bag for Sundays!

FRONT COVER

 INSIDE FRONT COVER

 PAGE EXAMPLES

 INSIDE BACK COVER

 BACK COVER

***Don't forget to enter the wingflash designs giveaway by Sunday!***

Princess Tea Party

My daughter turned five years old yesterday, so we celebrated with a Princess Tea Party!  Because she's still so young, we only wanted to do something small.  We had six girls, for just an hour and fifteen minutes.  It was perfect... Any longer and I think it might have lost its magic.  Let me show you what we did!

Decorating was the main event.  Luckily, we were able to dig around our house and find just about everything that we needed.  I had purchased the giant rose wreath months ago at Goodwill--I was going  to pull the roses off and use the frame, but it was perfect for our tea party.  The lamp is from my kids' bedroom.  Then we just filled every glass jar we could find with pretty candies.  I picked up the china cupcake stand for a couple of bucks at Goodwill, as well.  We really only bought candy and balloons!

The cupcakes were a cinch to decorate.  I whipped up a batch of buttercream frosting, dropped a dollop of white onto each mini-cupcake, refrigerated them until set, then dropped another dollop of either pink or purple on top.  I topped them with a tiny pearl candy.

The cake is a two layer chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting between the layers and on the outside.  I then used giant confetti sprinkles to polka-dot the whole thing.  I used the mini candy pearls (like on the cupcakes) to make a "5," and to outline the rose.  I created the rose from marzipan, then used edible pearl dust to color it pink.

To begin our tea party, we rang this beautiful bell.  It was my grandma's.

My daughter found this fancy hat candle holder at Goodwill, too, for only $2.  I always think of big hats when I think of tea parties, don't you?

To set the table, I purchased a cup and saucer for each girl, from Goodwill.  Each cup and saucer only cost about $.30, so to say that it was cost effective is an understatement!  We sent them each home with their own teacup and saucer, in lieu of goodie bags.

We began the party by decorating the crowns you see at each place setting (12 for $2.50 at JoAnn's).  The girls could color their crowns or glue tiny jewels onto the front.  (We already had the jewels, as they were actually the dragon scales that we used in the wand cores for my son's Harry Potter birthday party in April.)  This was a good opening activity, as it gave the kids something to do when they arrived, and while they waited for the actual tea party to begin.

After crown decorating, we painted their fingernails.  I just grabbed a few dollar varieties, plus some cheap decals that we put on once their nails were dry.  This was a big hit; all the girls talked about how excited their moms would be to see their pretty nails.

While the girls had their nails painted and waited to dry, my husband did face-painting.  We didn't do anything crazy, just whatever little thing the girls wanted.  It was mostly balloons, butterflies, hearts, etc.  I do think he did a castle with a moon in the middle and a red Christmas tree, though...

After the nails were dry and faces were painted, we served pink hot chocolate.  We don't drink real tea, plus I figured the girls would prefer hot chocolate to tea any day.  I simply heated eight cups of milk on the stove, poured in a bag of white chocolate chips (once the milk was steaming), added a touch of vanilla, then some pink food coloring.  Voila!

We also served the cupcakes, candy, cookies, etc. that were being used as decorations during this time.  This was the actual tea party!

Once the hot chocolate was poured, we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake.  Did I serve way too much sugar?  Yes.  Was it worth it, though?  Definitely!

Then we opened presents and time was up!  Short and sweet describes our Princess Tea Party perfectly.  My daughter loved it, the other girls had fun, and it was so very simple to do.  What more can you ask for?

I'm linking up to:

Disobedience Dimes

I know that it must appear that my children are little heathens, based upon all of the chore charts and discipline crafts I come up with.  It's not true (all the time), they just need a little help along the way.  My newest creation is Disobedience Dimes.  Each time that they are disobedient, rude, whiny, etc., they have to pay a dime to the Disobedience Dimes jar.  Don't worry--I have to pay into it, too, if I'm rude.  They are earning money by doing their chores, but know that if they want to keep all of that money, they need to be on good behavior.  I'm not a horribly mean mom; I do give warnings and freebies sometimes.  So far, the results have been promising!

This was my first try at rosettes.  So simple!  This rosette covers the words on the back of the jar.

I couldn't find the metal cover for the jar, so I just used paper coated in Mod Podge, then cut a slit into it.

Allowance Chart

Remember our cookie sheet chore chart?  My husband and I decided that it needed something to go along with it, a chart to keep track of chores on a weekly basis.  The cookie sheet chart is perfect for assigning chores, serving as a visual reminder for what needs to be done, and keeping track of which chores have/have not been completed.  It lacks a long term record, though, for what has been done throughout the week.  We are going to be instituting an allowance for our children, something that they can earn for completing all of their daily chores for an entire week.  So I created a new chart that will record when all of the chores from the cookie sheet chart are finished each day, allowing us to know if all chores have been done every day of the week.

I snagged this sign from my son's school rummage sale last spring.  I just covered it with paper and Mod Podge, then used a set of hooks and clips that I had lying around from Ikea.  The two little bees and beehive are stamps from Stampin' Up.

When they reach "HIVE SWEET HIVE, " they get their allowance!

I'm linking up to:

Ribbon and Brad Flower Headband Tutorial

I only had time to get the headband done tonight, but I'll try to get the bracelet finished soon.  Here you go!

Supplies
6" Ribbon
1 Large Brad
1 Headband
Needle and Thread (matched to the color of the ribbon)
Glue Gun

Cut a piece of ribbon to 6"

Fold over one end of ribbon and insert the needle through both layers.  (This creates a clean end.)

Use a running stitch to sew along one side of the ribbon from one end to the other.

When you reach the other end of the ribbon, fold it over just like you did on the first end.  Place your last stitch through both layers of ribbon.

Gather the ribbon by pulling on one end of thread, while holding the other.  

Once your ribbon is gathered into a circle, tie off your thread with a knot.

Place your brad through the center of your ribbon circle.

Open the brad across the back of the ribbon circle.

Adhere the ribbon and brad to a headband using a glue gun.  I glued the brad to the headband because I didn't want it to poke my daughter in the head or catch her hair.

DONE!