I haven't abandoned this blog!

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I'm sorry! I've been working on some projects that have taken longer than expected, but once I have a few things done, I will be able to tell you all about it! 

Ghost Toes!

After my failed salt dough pumpkins, I still wanted something Halloween-themed involving Peyton. I found some extra paint and stuck her foot on some paper. Voila lol. 

Salt Dough Pumpkin Imprints

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and I had to try it!!

Things You Will Need:

-salt dough (recipe below)

-acrylic paint

-small child, preferably your own

Salt Dough Recipe:

-1/2 cup salt

-1/2 cup flour

-1/4 cup water

 Knead until dough forms; you'll want it on the dry side. Add more flour if needed.

What We Did:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. I mixed up the dough and made two pumpkin-shaped blobs on a foil-lined baking sheet. Then, I stuck her foot in each pumpkin. 

Put in the oven and bake for 3 hours. 

(These didn't turn out well- the dough was too wet! I tried them again, but stuck her hands in them instead of her feet.)

Once they dried, I painted them with the acrylic paint. 

They look like ornaments instead of pumpkins; oh well! Haha, we had fun :)

Autumn Leaf Handprints

After going on a Pinteret frenzy for two days and occasionally going outside for some fresh air, I came up with an easy autumn craft I thought would be fun to do every year. 

What we used:

-leaves (autumn colors, but still flexible; don't use crunchy, brown ones)

-mod podge 

-non-toxic paint 

-scissors

Optional supplies:

-glitter

After walking my dog this morning, I noticed my neighbor has a big tree in his back yard with very pretty leaves.

Peyton and I knocked on his door and I asked if I could steal some of the leaves off of the tree. He said I was silly and I could have as many leaves as I wants. He even helped me reach the extra pretty ones on higher branches! 

Once I found the leaves I liked the best, I grabbed some mod podge and pasted the leaves to some paper. 

I wanted them to be as flat as possible, but I didn't want them to accidentally get glued to the pages of a book or anything, so I found the areas of the leaves that I wanted flatter, set tea light candles on them, and then set a notebook on top. 

After about 15 minutes, I took the notebooks and candles off, just to make sure they didn't get stuck. 

Choose a bunch of leaves. It's safe to assume they won't all be perfect and a few of them will get messed up. 

Once the paste dries, choose a paint color you think would look nice. I chose orange to stick with the autumn theme. 

Now, this was the tricky part for me. You might want another person to help you, depending on how old your child is. I did this by myself because I was trying to surprise people with these little gifts.  Take your non-toxic paint, choose either a hand or foot, and brush on a thin layer. Once the paint is on, gently press on the leaf. 

I chose Peyton's hand and she didn't really want to open her hand once I put paint on it! Her handprints kind of smudged all over the leaves haha. 

 

I outlined her handprints with a little bit of mod podge and added some glitter to highlight them. 

Then I painted a generous amount of mod podge on top of the leaves to seal in the glitter and to preserve the leaves. 

It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it made me happy. The next time I go to the craft store, I'm going to get one of those wire trees so that every year, we can add a new leaf to it. 

Twine Pumpkins

My mother in-law, Teri, called me the other day and said, "Come over. We're crafting."

Anyone who knows me knows I can't turn down something like that! When we got to her house, I saw we were going to be making twine/string pumpkins while the boys played with Peyton and watched football.

Here's what we used:

-Orange string (twine, yarn, whatever you prefer)

-balloons

-mod podge

-wax paper

-plastic (or paper) bowls

-plastic cups (solo cups)

-various decorations (lights, ribbon, Halloween ornaments, etc.)

-hot glue gun

Teri had taken the string from its original shape/wrapping and wrapped it into smaller balls, so we each had one, and had them sitting in a bowl of mod podge.

Then we blew up balloons to the size we wanted our pumpkins to be. I ended up having three; small, medium, and large. Baby, mommy, and daddy pumpkins. I know, I'm cheesy. Set some wax paper under the bowls and on the counter. If you're anything like us, you also might want to put wax paper on the floor and wear an apron...

Take the end of the yarn not in the glue and tie it around the end of your balloon. 

Get ready to get messy. Start wrapping the glue covered strong around your balloon. 

 

Wrap and wrap and wrap and wrap...

I started just spinning the balloon in my hands and letting the strings stick where they landed. There's no pattern to this. Go crazy.

Once you think there is enough string wrapped around your balloon, set it on a plastic cup over some wax paper to let it dry. This step take a few days and you'll want to occasionally rotate your pumpkins so they don't glue themselves to the cup. 

When they're completely dry, take a pin and poke the balloon. It'll make a funny crackling sound as it separates from the pumpkin form. (If the balloon gets stuck inside, cut a small hole in the bottom and fish it out.)

Even when dry  the pumpkins are very flexible, so you can push in the tops and bottoms to make them take on a more pumpkin-esque shape. 

Here's the tedious part: Lighting. 

On the smaller pumpkins, I found the biggest gaps between the strings on the bottom and fed a string of lights through it. 

 

On the larger pumpkin, I had cut a hole in the bottom because the balloon got stuck. 

I wanted the lights throughout the pumpkin and not just sitting at the bottom, so I looped the first light through string gaps at the top of each pumpkin:

Then I used thin wire and "went fishing" for more sections of the lights on various areas of the pumpkins. Peyton helped me test the lights: 

Once the lights were done, I took wired brown ribbon to form stems, green ribbon for the greenery, and used the hot glue gun to glue them to the pumpkins.

(We found green ribbon we liked that wasn't wired, but I made it wired. Take two pieces of ribbon and glue a thin piece of wire between them.)

Finally, add any other little decorations you like! I found a glittery spider! 

(The spider has a clip so I can use the pumpkins throughout autumn, not just Halloween.)

Tah-dah!

Finally Auntumn

When we woke up the other day, it was 45 degrees. For Florida, that's cold! We were all very excited, though. It meant autumn was officially here! Sweaters! Pumpkin spiced everything! Pants! 

(It has since warmed up considerably, but dangit we had fun that day)

I put my daughter, Peyton, in her little fur vest, we picked up Grandma Susie, and headed down to St. Augustine for a day outside. 

After walking around for a few minutes, we found a cute little garden cafe and grabbed some lunch. I had fried green tomatoes!

Peyton's favorite part of the day was people watching! 

St. Augustine definitely has some interesting folks to watch... We even saw a woman carrying a dog (who was wearing a hat...) in one of those expensive baby carriers you wear on your chest. 

Hand-Painted Football Cooler

My husband and I have season tickets to the Jacksonville Jaguar games. This season, I decided to take a year off to stay home with our baby, but I still wanted to be there! I thought "well maybe I could just make him a cooler!"

Here's how I did it:

Materials:

-cooler

-acrylic spray paint for plastic (white-base color)

-acrylic paint

-pencil

-painters tape

-mod podge 

-acrylic sealer clear spray paint (uv resistant)

First, find a plastic cooler that fits your needs. If you have the time and materials, I suggest sanding down the surface a little. Tape off the wheels and borders of the cooler, if necessary. Spray the cooler with the acrylic spray paint. 

Let dry. Take your pencil and sketch what you want to paint (or use transfer/carbon/graphite paper to transfer patterns or whatever image you want on the cooler).

Start painting! I became best friends with my DVR while painting this thing... I suggest finding a show to watch on Netflix or Hulu while you paint to help keep you entertained.

(THIS IS WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE BUT DIDNT)::

While the paint is still wet, remove the painters tape. I waited until everything was dry and the tape peeled the paint right off. 

Once everything is dry, coat the cooler with mod podge. Do a few layers! Then when that dries, spray the cooler with the uv resistant acrylic sealer. 

Ta-dah! You're all set! I suggest not leaving it all day in a hot car with no ice in it lol. That could lead to some of the paint bubbling off... 

Daddy's Diaper Changing Toolbox!

When one of my baby showers came around, I realized that I was getting a lot of attention because I was pregnant and my husband wasn't getting any. It seemed like he was left out, so I decided to make him a gift and give it to him at the baby shower!

(Let this be known- I'm not a huge fan of men at baby showers. They don't want to be there and I don't want to listen to them complain about how they don't want to be there haha)

I decided to make him a Daddy Diaper Changing Toolbox! 

Here's what I used:

-Toolbox

-Paint Pens

-Diapers (size newborn)

-Mini wipes pack

-Receiving blankets

-Small toys (stuffed animal, rattle, etc)

-Pacifiers

-Travel sized baby powder, lotion, oil.

-Latex gloves

-Safety goggles

-Face mask

-Mini vodka bottles 

-Lots of ribbon

I wrapped almost everything in ribbon and hid the vodka bottles throughout the box. I got everything I needed from Target, Home Depot, and a drive-thru liquor store and putting it together took maybe an hour. So easy! Everyone at the party loved it and he got a new toolbox and vodka out of it haha. 

After starting this blog a few years ago, I figure it's time to start actually using it! I will be posting about things I make (gifts, crafts, food, etc) and about being a mom. I hope I don't bore you too much.