Happy Father's Day

We were travelling on Father's Day so we didn't do anything elaborate.  But I found these free printable Dad glasses and thought they were great!  I printed them on black cardstock, cut them out, and taped them together.  All done!
Printable Glasses for Father's Day from Mr. Printables

My boys with their daddy

My brother and I with our dad

My brother with his two girls

So blessed to be with family on Father's Day!

End of the School Year Card

The end of the school year arrived in a flurry of field trips and soccer games so I didn't have time to make fancy teacher gifts this year.  Hooray for finding free printables on Pinterest.

Our PTO bought iPads for each classroom this year, so I bought iTunes gift cards for my boys' teachers and made a tag similar to this one from eighteen25.

My diabetic son has an aide who helps keep an eye on him at school.  I bought her a gift card from the gas station and made this card to go with it.

I've had the stamp sets forever from StampinUp.  The truck is from the "Loads of Love" set.  The "thanks a melon" sentiment was from the "Little Phrases" set and the watermelon was from "Mini Icons".

Black and White Graduation Card

June means graduation parties and I was invited to seven of them this year!   Here is the card I made for my friends in the Class of 2013.

Since I was making seven cards for grads from several area high schools, I decided to make them all black and white instead of using the grad's school colors.  

The patterned papers are from Close To My Heart (For Always Paper Packet from the Spring/Summer 2013 Idea Book) The stamps are also from Close To My Heart.  I bought the 2013 silver charms from Oriental Trading.

May The Fourth Be With You

Star Wars was a big part of my childhood.  Same with my husband.  So, of course, we've passed that quirk on to our kids and we like to celebrate Star Wars Day every Spring.  Star Wars Day is celebrated annually on May 4 -- as in  "May the Fourth be with you".  Nerdy, I know.  But fun.

It was a busy day, but I managed to pull together a few touches to make our evening more Star Wars related. I  made "regular" food, but presented it in a different way to make it feel more festive.  Hamburgers became "HanBurgers" and grapes stuck on skewers became "FruitSabers".  I added blue food coloring to our milk to make it look like the stuff they drink in the movies.  

The cupcakes were the only menu item that took extra time, but I've been wanting to make Leia cupcakes ever since I saw a picture of them online.  I'm a (gluten-free) box mix girl, so they came together quickly. The mouths are heart-shaped sprinkles and I purchased the candy eyes in the baking aisle at Michael's.  The side hair buns are (gluten-free) oreo cookies stuck on with frosting.

 It's always a treat for the boys to eat dinner in the family room in front of the TV.  I told them to put out a few of their Star Wars toys to decorate the family room.  They were very enthusiastic about that project.

We watched Revenge of the Sith - which the boys had never seen - while we ate.  (We skipped the part where Anakin gets burned because I didn't want them to have nightmares!)

With  just a few easy modifications to our normal routine, I turned a normal day into a family fun day.  It just goes to show you don't have to create an elaborate party to make a memory.

Caution: Wet Paint

Something about the arrival of Spring makes me want to refresh my home.  This year, I decided that my bedroom walls had been blue long enough (12 years!) and it was time for a change.

We had remodeled the master bathroom during 2010 and had painted those walls a nice toasty beige.  The color is called Roman Plaster and it's by Behr.  The online picture makes it look more "greige" but it's actually warmer in real life. I decided to paint the bedroom walls that same color.

Good-bye, blue.  Hello, beige!

Here are a couple "before and after" shots for you.  Just a warning, even the "after" shots show my room in "everyday mode".  I didn't fancy them all up for the internet.

In addition to the paint, we rearranged the furniture and even bought some new pieces.  The two white bedside tables and the lamps are from IKEA.  And that's my dog, Carl.  He's the reason I don't have fancy bed linens.

The old chair was thrown out (it was older than I am) and I moved a different chair into my bedroom from the living room.  The cedar chest is a family heirloom refinished by my mom and my grandpa.

I put up the same blue curtains and kept the same sheets and throw pillows.  And nothing is on the walls yet. So this is still a work in progress.  I'm keeping my eyes open for some art and some linens!  What should I get?  Should I change up the color?  Decisions, decisions.

Banner for Retirement Party

My dad recently retired so I made him this banner.

 

 

The scalloped squares were cut from kraft cardstock, the lacy squares were cut from a beige cardstock and the letters were cut from a chocolate brown cardstock.  All the shapes and letters were cut on my Cricut using my Art Philosophy and Artiste cartridges from Close to My Heart.

 

I sponged brown ink onto the lacy squares to give them more dimension.  And I sponged brown ink on the edges of the letters.  I attached the letters with dimensional adhesive to make them stand out more.

 

For the two end pieces of the banner, I chose to use hearts because my dad's last day of work happened to be Valentine's Day.

 

 

The beige hearts were cut using my Cricut and then sponged with brown ink.  The smaller items on the end pieces were stamped into beige cardstock, cut out with scissors, and attached.

 

Red & White Valentine Lace Heart Cookies

Ever since I saw a tutorial on the Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, I knew I wanted to try making lace cookies.

 

 

I can't believe how easy it is!  I did an image search for "lace cookies" and found plenty of inspiration.  So I tried a bunch of different patterns.

 

I tried to make each cookie a little bit different, but I repeated a couple of my favorite designs.  It was so much fun to doodle with frosting!  I will definitely use this technique again.