Autumn Crafting for kids

There is about two whole things that I love about Autumn, #1 Boots! and #2 the falling leaves/changing colors. That being said, when fall starts to fall I start to stay "in" more often... drink hot cocoa, and have movie nights as well as crafting time.

I am very blessed to have two kids that love to do crafts with me. My oldest is so in tune with crafts, as you saw last week, so I know she is going to enjoy this one once she sees it!

I found it over at Pinterest, of course.

I'm so in love with these and can not trace back the link :/

However, I found this one too, and it is just as adorable! This blog is where this links too.

Can't wait! When we are done you shall be sure we will share our end result ;)

Baby Shower for my newest lil niece

As you can imagine we wanted to spend as much time possible with family before going West. Luckily for us, we had loads of things to do to accomplish this feat. Amongst all the fun last minute things we did, I got to plan a shower for my newest arrival to my extended family. I was getting (now have) a little niece. My sister and I landed on an owl themed shower, and being the good sibling I am I got to "pinning". Like everyone on Pinterest, we found more than we could accomplish, but over all I think it turned out great given the shoestring budget.

If you have been around my blog much, you know that I use to work for a label company, thus always including water bottle designs into every party I plan.

I found something very similar to this on Pinterest, and had to "steal" the idea to make it my own. I like to give credit where credit is due, but when I opened the link to find it, the image was just cache. I put animal crackers inside these and made them our table centerpieces. They did double duty, make the place look pretty, and keep the kids calm and quite while we played games.

Ultrasound pictures were provided by the mother to be, and I made the banner to match our overall color scheme. The lights were a Target dollar spot find! I got them for a dollar and they matched perfectly!

I created this sign in to be very much like the wedding ones I've seen around a lot, but I decided to make the tree more like a storybook theme so that we could hang it in baby's room. I really like how it turned out with the fingerprints as the leaves.

This I can not take credit for, however I wish I could, it turned out perfect! I found one similar on (you guessed it) Pinterest and handed the project over to the mother in law. She did such an awesome job. Definitely competes with the one I found over here.

One more thing that I can not claim as my own, but was amazing! One of the guests brought this awesome diaper cake that just put the final touch on our decor. Is it not lovely?

Over all we had a nice time, delicious food/cake, and great conversation. 

That is what showers are for right?!

Fall is Falling into my life

Loads of changes are happening in my life, more on that later. These changes, however, are accompanied by vibrant & beautiful Fall. While we have changed states, we will still be having a four season year, so I can not wait to see the vibrance here! In the meantime, lets take a look backward for a picture shall we?

We take a hayride every year with my grandparents, aunts & uncles, as well as cousins. This year we will not be able to attend, but looking at this picture will take the place this year. I just adore that this road will be forever etched into my mind, going back to my seven year old self. <3 i="">

Yes to this dress?

Here  is a sneek peak of my new dress that I did actually buy, and did not walk away from. I would like to say that I generally will not buy horizontal stripes… do to watching entirely too many “What Not to Wear” episodes. I spotted this one in the window, and luckily had my husband with me to give his opinion.

I say lucky, because my husband will give his honest opinion, sometimes he regrets it. I am truly appreciative that he still does, despite the wrath he receives from time to time. He approved of this one, and chose it above another that I had already bought. So I said yes to the dress.

Opinions? What do you think?

Naturally Perfect Eggs

I talked the other week about “natural dyeing” our Easter eggs this year… ironically, a week later I stumbled upon an event at the St. Patrick’s Park locally. I was so ecstatic, I invited everyone I knew who had kids my kid’s age. Lucky for me one of my best friends & her son were able to go with us.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but at $5 per kid, it was nearly fee entertainment. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the teacher had things planned out for the kids to do. There were color pages, and she had strips of pastel paper to make rings for the eggs to set on.

We got to make 6 different colors, so 6 different techniques. Here, all of them are pictured together. From top left: the first was dipped twice; turmeric & then red cabbage (gave us a greenish hue); the second was of course drawn with an amazing sun, then dipped in mashed blueberries; the third was colored quite literally with beets. Next row from left; soaked in grape juice (which left the egg quite sticky); the second on bottom row was boiled in turmeric water; the final egg, boiled in onion skins, was such a pretty brown, no really! The speckles were created from rice.

 

It was overall a long process, but we five had a lovely time. Like I said before the teacher was kind enough to have extra things for the kids to do, so they wouldn’t get bored. My girls loved showing their eggs off to their dad, and I was just as excited with the little carton as the kids were. Too Cute!

Arts & Crafts per my 6 Year Old

It is really starting to look like Easter around my house! My Alisa has been hard at work making us all necklaces to celebrate. So what do you guys think? Are they not so craft-cute for an imagination of a 6 year old? I love mine (the purple one).

<3

Hopping down the bunny trail…

It’s almost that time again! Who else it super excited to color eggs with the children? I don’t know what I love more, their joy or my joy of playing in the pretty colors.

I have been thinking to do the natural dying from veggies & herbs this year. Any opinions or experiences from this you’d like to share?