Christmas Craft: Salt Dough Ornaments

Alright, so it's starting to get a little more Christmas-y in the Duckie household.  We finally got a tree on Friday night and Aniyah and I got to put it up on Saturday.  Note: Joey got the tree Friday night and he and my brother put it in the tree stand, but apparently the two of them think that just because the tree isn't touching the ground it's okay if it's crooked - it was pretty much at a 45° angle, hanging on for dear life against the front windows.  No joke.

Once the tree was set up properly, we pulled out the ornaments and decorations but the kids started griping about it.  "Why do we have to use the same stuff as last year?", and "Ooh, can we go buy new decorations?  Pleeeeeeease??", to which I sweetly replied, "Okay, let's just spend all our money on new decorations and ornaments and lights and everything else so that we don't have any money left to buy presents!!"  They changed their minds.

But since I'm not a total bitch, I agreed to put away last year's ornaments and asked them what kind of "theme" they'd want for our Christmas tree this year.  After an hour of deliberation, the three of them finally agreed that they wanted a "Colorful Crafty Christmas Tree" and we all started brainstorming!  And in case you didn't know, my kind of brainstorming is also called scouring Pinterest for ideas.

I came across a pin of a handprint embedded in salt dough and thought it would be a great way for the kids to display their doodles and drawings on the tree without having to waste my paper.  Plus, they thought it was cool that they would be able to use cookie cutters to make different shapes.  Obviously we don't make many cookies around here...

See how simple it is?  I made three batches and we still have a ball of dough left to make more.  We used Crayola markers to decorate ours (because I couldn't find the paint) and they turned out just fine.  I think paint would have made them look more ornament-y rather than cookie-ish, but the kids like the cookie look so it's all gooooood.

I've got a couple more Christmas Craft posts up my sleeve since we made a bunch of different decorations/ornaments so be on the lookout for them in the days to come.

Have you done any Christmas crafts this year?  Got any good pins to share?  Let me know!

Oh, and P.S., DON'T EAT THEM!  I mean, it won't kill you, it just doesn't taste very good.  Ask my brother, he knows.  ; )

Ice Cream Party Time!

So last week Aniyah, our eldest child, turned 10!  I'm honestly still trying to cope with the fact that she's getting older - I woke up in the middle of the night because I had a dream where she told me she wanted to sell her clothes so she could buy new ones because she wanted a boyfriend.  Talk about a nightmare!

Anyway, the last time she had a real party for her birthday was when she was 4 - the year before she started school.  Since then we've just been having small celebrations (Chuck-E-Cheese's, family dinners, etc.) because I told her that her next "party" won't be until she turns 10, so she was really excited for her birthday this year.

As you may have seen in my last post, she chose to go with an Ice Cream theme.  It kinda took a while for her to make up her mind about it, but in the end it was a really great choice - so much more original than a character themed birthday.

I found some free Ice Cream party printables on Pinterest and customized them on Pixlr.

I also ordered some Ice Cream themed goodies from Oriental Trading Co. to use for party favors and decorations.

These pink and blue lollipops were from Oriental Trading Co. and I just printed the cupcake toppers from the printable pack on sticker paper to stick on the lollipops.

 Aniyah and some of her friends before all the fun and craziness started.  The weather had been horrible all week and places of the island were flooded due to heavy rains so she was very excited when some of her classmates were able to make it.

 I saw this image on Pinterest and decided to recreate it.  But instead of using real ice cream cones (which may have gone to waste), I used these cute polka dot paper cones that I got from Oriental Trading Co.

Simple pink and blue paper bags are so much easier and cheaper than using those favor boxes.  I just attached the customized printable treat topper and they looked awesome!

Our menu was simple, with our Mongolian grill station being the main food item.  Guests were able to pick out their own vegetables, meats, and seasonings and watch it while it was being cooked by our awesome family chefs!

 Another Pinterest idea was put to use in our 10-foot ice cream sundae.  The original pin was a 10-foot banana split which used a carpet tube and some handmade stands for it to be lifted off the ground but we put our own twist on it.

Instead of a carpet tube, I just cut, folded, and taped the cardboard box from our Oriental Trading Co. order and created a trough which I then covered in tinfoil.  Instead of lifting it off of the ground, we put it on a tarp and had an ice cream eating contest!

 They all had to kneel down with their hands behind their backs and finish all the ice cream in their section as quickly as possible.  The winner got to choose a prize from the prize box.

It was so much fun for the kids and their families because we were all cheering them on and everyone got a kick out of it.  And thankfully the rainy weather was on our side because it helped to wash away all the stickiness!

 After the ice cream eating contest and the ice cream war, the kids rinsed off and sang happy birthday to Aniyah.  She not really a cake person - she prefers cookie cake instead.

Afterwards we continued with the rest of the games and I'm so glad that the kids weren't "too cool" to participate because they all had a blast.

They played musical chairs, had an egg toss, water balloon relay roll, and a water balloon toss as well.  It was really so fun just to watch them all enjoy themselves.  Some of the adults even got involved by throwing water balloons with the kids.

In the end, it was a very messy, very sticky, but very AWESOME 10th birthday party!  I'm so glad that the stormy weather didn't put such a damper on everyone's spirits and that they were able to celebrate Aniyah's birthday with us.

Thank you to everyone for all your birthday wishes in comments and shout-outs!  She was really surprised to find out how much love and support she has from all of you!

And I know I've been absent from the blog world for most of the month but October starts tomorrow and I'm really excited to share some of my DIY costume ideas with you again this year.  Last year's costume posts were such a hit that I figured I'd try to put together some requested costumes this month - so comment below with a request!

I scream for some ice cream inspiration!

Okay so before we get into the good stuff, I just want you to know how much I am FREAKING OUT about my daughter Aniyah's upcoming birthday. She'll be turning 10 - that's double digits, people! Holy frikken moly!  So for such an important day, you know that a party is bound to happen around here!

This year she asked for an ice cream themed birthday so I've been scouring the internet for some ideas and inspiration.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed the abundance of ice cream pins lately.

Ice cream cone cupcakes!  They just look soooo delicious!

Colored popcorn in an ice cream cone - great way to incorporate the "ice cream" theme without going overboard with all the dairy and sugar.

So easy and inexpensive!

How epic would this be!?  A 10-foot banana split for a 10th birthday!!

And these ice cream scoop letters would be great to spell out her name!

Aren't those just awesome ideas?!  And that's just the things I found online - I haven't even gotten started on what I came up with in my head.

I plan on having a full ice cream bar spread - cups, sugar cones, sugar-free cones, sprinkles, almonds, macadamia nuts, Oreos, M&Ms, peanut butter cups, gummy bears, fruits, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, etc.  We're also going to have a fried ice cream station and I've already got a cotton candy machine ready too.

And if you think that's exciting, guess what I'm hoping to have as well... (I say hoping because I haven't cleared it with the hubby yet - fingers crossed!)

Have you guessed?  Oh alright, I'll just tell you:  An Ice Cream War!!!  (Not to be confused with the William Boyd novel)

Okay, you may be thinking that it's a little extreme, but close your eyes and pretend you're 10 years old again.  A tarp on the ground, a bunch of your friends, and some squishy ice cream - you know you'd want to dive right in and slide all over that.  AND before you turn back into an adult and start to lecture me about wasting food, I'll be using whatever left over ice cream had not been eaten from the 10-foot banana split.

See, you can have your ice cream and play with it too!

*Oh yeah, and if you've seen my recent pins of outdoor showers, now you know the reason for my needing one soon!

Well, that's my party plan for this month.  What do you think?  Like I said, I'm still in the "planning" phase right now but I'll be ordering the party favors and some other decorations soon so I'll share those with you later!

DIY No-Sew Lace Skirt

Okay, so I hope you're really excited about this post because I am SO excited for this!  Maybe it's because I've been wanting to do this project for months now, or maybe because I just downed a large chocolate chip frappe, but whatever!  I'm PUMPED!  Whooo!

Alright, now before we get started let me show you where my inspiration for this came from...the same place where we get most of our ideas nowadays:  Pinterest.  I saw this photo months ago (I thought I had pinned it but I didn't so I found it again today) and I just KNEW that I needed to recreate the look.  I mean, how can you not be inspired by this?

You're dying, right?  White lace, chambray, gold, tan - it looks so sophisticated yet so simple.  It's not too girly, not too casual.  Definitely perfect for shopping, running errands, and meeting friends for brunch/lunch.

Okay, now that I know you're pumped about this too, let's move on to the project!  Yeahhhhhhhh!!!!!

The supplies are pretty basic.  You'll need a plain white skirt, some lace trim, scissors, and a bottle of permanent fabric glue. 

Notes:

*For this skirt I bought 20 yards of trim and still have a couple yards leftover. 

*When working with trim, it is best to sew it on rather than glue, but for those of us who aren't so handy or patient with a sewing machine, I find that this fabric glue works fine.  You may have to do some touch ups after you try it on, but its easy enough.

Step One.  If your skirt is made to stretch and hug your body, use a box to stretch it out, otherwise it will not fit on you when you try to put it on.  If your skirt is a little loose and not a bodycon type of skirt, you can just lay it flat.

Step Two.  Use the lace trim and measure from one side of the skirt to the other (seam to seam) and cut several pieces of trim to the same length.

Step Three.  Starting from the bottom (now we're here!), lay out the pieces of trim to figure out your placement and then glue.  Wait for the glue to dry completely (about a day), flip it over, and repeat the same process on the other side.

And that's it.  You've got a brand new lace skirt to wear this spring/summer!  I'll be following up with a "Styling the DIY Lace Skirt" post soon so you can see how versatile this skirt really is.

Well, I hope this inspired you to create something!  Be sure to pin this project and share with others!  Til' next time!

♥ Duckie.

Just a Little DIY Wall Art...

When my sister was visiting a couple months ago, we went on a little craft spree.  My sister and I are both very creative with very vivid imaginations so when we have an idea, we tend to go nuts.

I had pinned this project a while ago and wanted to do something similar.

Source: abeautifulmess.typepad.com via Jessica on Pinterest

It seemed simple enough so my sister and I headed out and picked up a frame from the local discount store.  Then we headed over to Home Depot and grabbed tons of paint swatches.  Seriously though, our stack was thicker than a composition notebook.  Maybe its just me, but I was totally feeling like a shoplifter taking all those swatches.  My sister and I even tried to play it off like, "Oh, I really like this color for the living room walls" (proceed to grab four sheets of the same color), "Yeah, but this color would look great in the girls' room" (grab five sheets of another color)  We played it pretty cool, with our swatch stack partially hidden by my son riding in the seat of the cart.

But then - and there's always a "but then" in our family - Trace accidentally moved the swatch stack and all the sheets scattered all over the cart as well as the floor.  Total fail.

Anyway, once we got home I tried to start on recreating the Pinterest image but didn't know what colors I wanted to use and how I wanted to place everything.  I was getting frustrated and then I remembered this image:

Source: etsy.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I had pinned this because I love the yellows and greys on white and want my living room to have the same color scheme.  Plus giraffes are one of my favorite animals.  Win/win.  Then I had the most brilliant idea:  Use the paint swatches to recreate the giraffes!

I traced and cut the outline of the giraffes from the paint swatches, glued them onto the paper, and BOOM!

Instant wall art.  Okay, now obviously it's not as fancy as the Pinterest print, but do you seriously think I'm going to cut all those patterns out?  I think not.  It would be cooler if I had scrapbook paper with different patterns...but since I don't, swatches are the next best thing.  Correction - the best free thing.

My sister also did a more tedious project.

She's a big flower freak.  Well, flowers and other nature stuff.  She's a freak of nature.  And like me, she collects shells so she created this little piece too.

Basically all she did was copy a tribal tattoo turtle image from the computer and use shells for the shell.  Shells for the shell?  You know what I mean.

So whaddaya think of our creations?  I hope it inspires you to create something!  And when I finally figure out a color scheme and pattern for that Pinterest project, I will definitely post it up!

Till next time, stay inspired!  And if you have a cool DIY that you think I should try, let me know!  I'd be happy to get my craft on!

♥ Duckie.

Tasty Tuesday: Coffee remix

Just so you know, this is my version of a lazy post.  Okay, pretty much all of my recent posts have been lazy and/or nonexistant.  And I know I'm not the only blogger in a blogging funk right now because I've been seeing a lack of posts in my blog feed lately.

But because I feel obligated to myself and to my lovely readers (you, darlings), I decided to post a lazy recipe today.  Okay, not so much as a recipe than a cool thing to try, but you get the point.

Ingredients:

- Coffee
- Almond milk

Directions:

1.  Brew and freeze coffee in an ice cube tray.

2.  Serve with almond milk.



See, told ya.  Lazy post.  I actually found this "recipe" on Pinterest and thought it was such a cool idea.  Granted, I haven't actually tried it yet (along with all the other things on my pin boards) but I don't think you can go wrong with coffee and almond milk, right?

So if you've tried this, or plan on trying it before I do (which is highly likely), please let me know your thoughts!  I think I'll give this a try over the weekend because I've got to stock up on groceries anyway.

Peace out homies.


♥ Duckie.

Tasty Tuesday: Caprese Grilled Cheese

Yay for Tuesday!  Well, not really because my bills are due today.  BOO!

So today I've got an awesome sandwich recipe for you that I found on Pinterest.  I've only been an active pinner for a little while now (see post about losing my Pinterest virginity HERE) but I absolutely love it!

The original recipe came from Yammie's Noshery and the photos posted here are also credited to her.  Her blog is full of wonderful treats and recipes so you can bet I'll be pinning them all soon!

Ingredients

2 slices of Sourdough bread
Butter
Garlic powder
1/2 cup of shredded Mozarella Cheese
Tomato slices
Fresh Basil, chopped


Directions

1.  Butter the bread and sprinkle with garlic powder.
2.  Layer cheese, tomato slices, and basil on bread.
3.  Pop it in your oven/toaster oven or heat on a skillet until both sides are brown and cheese is melted.

Doesn't that just look AMAZING!?  As stated in Friday's post I am a cheese-oholic and this will definitely satisfy my addiction! 

And as a little update on my fitness progress (don't forget to link up on Friday) my body is HURTING!  Going HAM (yeah I totally said that) over the weekend and speed walking (I'm not running yet) 2 miles last night has got me sore all over today.  But that means its working, right?  I'm mostly feeling it in my booty and thighs (damn you squats and touchdowns!) and I can't wait to get my 18-year-old booty back!  But honestly it hurts to sit down and I'm practically yelling when I try to sit on the toilet seat - perhaps its a good idea to get one of those cushioned ones now.  Lol.

Oh, and I'll be working out a lot harder now since (and I don't want to get my hopes up just yet) Joey may be joining the National Guard soon.  He's been wanting to get back into the military for quite some time now but kept getting the run around because nobody could get him in (long story - email me if you wanna hear it).  So finally yesterday they gave him the go ahead so long as his case gets wrapped up soon (crossing fingers!!) and we're excited!  Praying that all goes well and if it does, this year will be amazing!

Have a terrific Tuesday!  I've got to get back to work and finish those homework assignments (yeah, I still haven't finished them)!  And stay tuned tomorrow to see my new favorite dress - it has been hanging on the wall of my living room since I got it. 

I've got an idea!

Lots of them actually. They've been oozing out of me all day. That sounded disgusting, didn't it?

Once again I've been pinning and craft idea hunting all day. I did manage to get a lot of work done though. But I also managed to forget about my class. If my Managerial Accounting class had some craft idea discussions, I would have totally been on there.

I'm planning on getting some craft things tonight so I can craft this weekend. Most likely starting on this Seahorse pillow first:

I can totally take this with me to the beach tomorrow to finish up the details.

Also going to try and get some paint swatches at Home Depot tonight to make this awesome project:

Which reminds me that I need to get some picture frames somewhere. Cheap.

And I'll also need to remind myself to pick up some acrylic paint and unsanded grout to do this:

It would be good to put in the house, especially for a chore list.

And I need to make an apron like this one:

And what a perfect gift idea it would be for Mother's Day, right?

I know, this post kinda sucks. I'm just going through a blogging block right now. I think I just need the weekend to be here already. Maybe then I'll get some post inspirations.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! And I'll be doing another tutorial for Makeup Monday so get your makeup stash together to follow along!