"Hoppy" First Day of Spring Handprint & Footprint Art

Yay! Spring is finally here! 

To celebrate the start of the new season, we wanted to do a craft. So, of course, we checked out everyone's favorite go-to place for ideas, Pinterest. There were so many cute ideas for spring arts and crafts, so we just decided to combine a couple ideas together into one. And this is what we ended up making:

I couldn't find a printable like this anywhere, so I made one myself. If you would like to use it, you can find it HERE.

Blushing Bunny

My latest sewing project:

 

The adorable Blushing Bunny!

I used the Blushing Bunny 18" Doll Pattern from Violette Field Threads, and I love how it turned out. I think Riley is going to adore her!

Halloween Mantel

Decorating our house for different holidays and seasons is something that I have always loved to do, especially Halloween (and Christmas). Last year, with Riley just a newborn though, my priorities were clearly not on decorating at all - I simply did not have the time.

So, this year, I just had to decorate for this fun holiday and get my home into the Halloween spirit!!!

Here's a photo of my festive mantel:

The cute "BOO!" Halloween banner was something I was able to put together and make pretty quickly thanks to a free printable Halloween banner kit from Chickabug that I found via Pinterest. I love that once Halloween is over, I'll be able to simply take down the banner and it will still look great for the Fall season or I can easily just make a new banner for Thanksgiving, as well.

Have you decorated for Halloween yet?

Ghost Tutu Costume

Check out the Halloween costume I made for Riley:

I used a Carter's onesie and cut up an old t-shirt of mine to make the face. To complete the look, I made a white tutu and a matching tulle headband (not pictured).

Riley looks so cute wearing it! :)

Picture Frame Makeover

I picked up two sweet little picture frames for about $4 each from Big Lots (what a steal!) thinking they would be perfect to "makeover" to use at Riley's birthday party. Of course, I thought they were absolutely adorable on their own -- only problem is that they were light blue and said, "little prince." (If they were pink and said princess instead, they would have been perfect, and I probably wouldn't want to do a thing to them.) But I really loved the style of the frame and the price was right, so I bought them!

Here's a "before" photo:

 I painted both of them a gorgeous shade of pink to match Riley's birthday party colors.

And this is how it turned out:

4th of July Headband

Riley has a couple of cute outfits for the 4th of July, so I wanted to make her a headband to match. And it resulted in the above photo! It looks adorable, and it'll be perfect to wear on the 4th! She's also going to be in a baby contest at a local Independence Day celebration, so she'll be able to wear it then, too. 

Rufflebutt Sunsuit

This weekend, I was busy sewing and finishing up a project that I'd been meaning to get done forever. I had started working on it about a month or so ago, but then life has just been busy and I hadn't really had much time to work on it. But I finally finished it!!! The pattern that I had wasn't too helpful, so I bought one that I had been admiring for a while and it helped me finish it up easily.

What was I working on?

An adorable rufflebutt sunsuit/romper for Riley, that's what! :)

Check out the photos below:

Spring Table Setting

My mom and sister have been so helpful with Riley, so we decided to put together a little lunch for them as a way to say thank you.

I decorated the table with a color scheme of pink, blue, and white - perfect for spring! I even used the tissue paper flowers that I made which I had left over from my birthday party.

I think it turned out really cute! And they thought it was a lovely surprise.

Wrapping Paper Photography Backdrop

I'm sure many of you are in the same boat - I've become utterly obsessed with Pinterest! Its definitely a time-stealer, thats for sure, but there are always so many great ideas from organiztion to crafts and more! I love it! There are so many things I want to try or do after seeing them on Pinterest, but there seems never enough time to do all things I'd like.

One thing I really wanted to try was wrapping paper as a backdrop for photography.

I had some green gift wrap in my stash that I thought would look gorgeous as a background (I've also bought some cute and girlie patterned ones recently from Hallmark, but I have yet to try them out). I taped the wrapping paper to the wall in the corner of our living room.

Here's a peak at how one of the many photos I took turned out with the wrapping paper backdrop:

Easter Basket

I love Pottery Barn and looking through their catalogs is always something I enjoy. I wish I could decorate my entire home with their products (and, you know, have my house filled with beautifully decorated rooms like you see in the catalog, too). I've always been happy with the items that we have bought from PB, so when I saw their adorable Easter baskets featured in a recent catalog, I fell in love with them and knew I had to get one for Riley for her first Easter. The only problem was deciding which one to get because they were all so cute! Of course, once I finally decided which one I liked best and went online to order it, it was already sold out. (This somehow always seems to happen to me. I like something online, go to order it, and its completely gone. Does this always happen to you, too?)

Anyway, since I couldn't get the PB Easter basket, I decided to just make one myself. I knew mine would be really cute (perhaps even cuter!) because I'd be choosing the fabric that I'd be using. Plus, it would end up costing less (saving money is always nice), and it gives me a reason to have some fun crafty time!

I found a fabric basket tutorial online (hopefully, I'll update this post with a link to it later on...) and it made this project easy peasy! The toughest part was probably selecting which fabric to use! I just couldn't find what I was hoping to get at the fabric store because our local JoAnn's store was closing (this was a complete surprise, but we later learned that they're opening up a new store in a different part of town) and they didn't have much of a selection left. I ended up going with a pink patterned fabric that I already had in my fabric stash at home and a green patterned fabric that I purchased from Hobby Lobby.

I thought it'd be cute to have Riley's name embroidered on the basket, but I don't own an embroidery machine. However, my aunt happens to have one (a really cool one that I'm completely jealous of) and was kind enough to embroider Riley's name on the fabric for me (Thanks, Aunt Vickie!!!).

A little bit of work...

And the final result...an adorable basket!

I love it and think it turned out really nicely! Plus, I love that after Easter, it will look super cute in Riley's room and be great for a bit more storage for her small toys, teethers, etc.

What do you think? You like it? Will you be making (or have you alerady made) any special Easter or spring projects?

Crocheted Kitty Hat

My sister crocheted this adorable little kitty hat for Riley. It is so cute, and she looks absolutely precious wearing it. Riley just loves her new hat!

Baby Closet Dividers

After looking online at various shops for closet dividers to help organize baby's wardrobe, I simply couldn't find anything that I liked. So, I discovered a few great tutorials and decided to make them myself!

I selected a few sheets of scrapbooking paper from my stash of scrapbooking supplies, making sure to choose colors/patterns that complemented each other well and would look really cute together. Pink and green will be two of the colors featured in our baby's nursery, and they happen to be two of my favorite colors, as well.

After making them, I had them laminated at a local print shop, which only cost me $2!

The front side

The back side

What do you think? Aren't they cute?!

Look at this awesome crafty gadget I won!

This is the Xyron Creatopia.
And it's all mine!!! :D
I won it awhile ago from a giveaway over at Ascending Butterfly.
It recently arrived at my home, and I can not wait to start playing with it to see what all I am able to create (just need to find the time though...).
If I get the chance, hopefully, sometime in the future, I'll do a review of it and share a few things I've made you guys.

A Mini Diaper Cake!

I had some diapers left over from the other diaper cake I made, so I decided to make this mini diaper cake for my SIL's baby shower. I think it turned out really cute!

"A Star is Born" Diaper Cake - I Made It!

As I had mentioned in a previous post, the theme for Bina's baby shower is "A Star is Born" and I had planned on making a diaper cake for the shower...and I ACTUALLY DID IT! It took a lot of work and I put quite a bit of time/money into it, but the result was totally worth it! It's all decked out with toys and baby essentials (shampoo, lotion, etc.)! I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I've gotten a few compliments on it already! I hope Bina loves it!

Creepy, Crawly Creations

Happy Halloween! Carving pumpkins has become a Halloween tradition for B and I. I usually carve cutesy pumpkins; however, this year I wanted to do something a little bit more Halloween-ish and went with a skull. I think it turned out okay, but it certainly isn't my best pumpkin carving creation.

Do you and your family enjoy carving pumpkins for Halloween?

I also did some decorating around the house. As you can see in the photo below, I decorated my mantle with some fall decor.

Ghosts of Halloween Past

For Halloween last year, I was an adorable Skelanimal.

This costume was a creation from a combination of items that were either store bought, handmade, or already owned. It was partially handmade by yours truly!!! Yeah, thats right - ME! In my spare time, I love making crafty things, sewing, scrapbooking, etc. The tutu you see in the photo above is one that I made! The actual Skelanimal costume accessories were store bought. I picked them up at one of my favorite stores ever, Target, for a SUPER good price! :)

While I've had several great costumes in the past, I hadn't dressed up in awhile, so last year's costume was special. It ended up being one of my favorite costumes because I made part of the it and I love Skelanimals!

FREE Printable Martha Stewart Halloween Pumpkin-Carving Patterns and Pumpkin Templates

Looking for some unique decorating or carving ideas for your pumpkin this year? No, you don't have to go out and buy another pumpkin carving template book, just check out Martha Stewart's FREE Printable Halloween Pumpkin-Carving Patterns and Pumpkin Templates.

You can also check out the Halloween Central section of the Martha Stewart website for even more Halloween decorating, craft, costume, party, and recipe ideas.

Birthday Tees...I made these... :)

I am a self proclaimed craftoholic…and my husband/sister/mom/friends would all agree. I am obsessed with making things for them.

When I heard my friend’s twin grandsons were going to be having their 1^st birthday bash this month, the crafty wheels in my head starting turning with the idea of making birthday shirts for the twins to wear for their party and photos. I was overjoyed to learn my friend was right on board. :) I knew I wanted incorporate Halloween into the Birthday mix, but I didn’t want to do the traditional black and orange. While looking through my fabric at home, I came across this blue and white skull print flannel that I purchased last year ago at JoAnn Fabric. It was perfect!

My sister and I made a trip to Old Navy to find some tees that I could appliqué on. As you can probably already tell, I am a HUGE clearance rack fan, so that is the first place I started looking. I found two 4^th of July tees in the sizes I needed (12-18 months and 2T…yes, 2T already!). I thought I was getting an awesome deal since Old Navy was having a 50% off clearance sale, which meant I could pick up each 4^th of July shirt for only $1.00 (each shirt was clearance to $1.99). However, I was shocked at the register when the shirts were coming up for $0.32 each. I quickly sent my sister back to see if she could find more but I guess I had picked up the last two. Oh well, I guess it couldn’t have worked out better than to find two shirts in the perfect size for less than $1. What an awesome deal!!

Okay, okay…enough with my story! I know you probably want to see the finished tees. Well, here you go...

I think they turned out super cute! I really enjoyed this project. But the best part for me was that my friend absolutely loved them...and so did her DIL (who loves skulls)! :)

What do you think?