Howdy Folks! Smile!!!

Hello Friends and Fellow Party Perfectionists,

I had the pleasure of making party decorations and a photobooth backdrop for a Western Theme party.  This little cowboy was turning 5 years old.  His birthday was celebrated at the Zoological Wildlife Foundation.  I had never heard of it until now.  The place is fabulous!  Lots of unique animals to see.

I must say I was super excited for this.  I started with the invitations.  They were hand-made.  Whenever I design the inviation from scratch it always gets my creative juices flowing.   From Invitations to ordering hay…I did it all.

The most exciting part of it for me was the photobooth backdrop I created.  I won't take full credit for th e idea but I did make it my own.  My DH first built a free-standing 8' long fence for me.  I then decorated it with cowboy hats and bandanas.  I added some bales of hay, a couple saddles,  horse on a stick, and some fun props and word bubbles.

I won't keep you anymore.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  Have fun!!

Have a great day!!!

It's a Halloween FREEBIE

Hello Friends!

I'm so happy!  This is my favorite time of year!  From the food to the decorations.  I love it all!

In the spirit of the season I've created these adorable tags for all my followers.  They are great for Halloween favors and treats.  I love making goody bags for my kiddos classes and these will look great with whatever I decide to make this year.  ENJOY!!!

Click on the image below to download the pdf file.
















Stay tuned for a great post on a Western Theme party I recently worked on!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Liz

Most of the time I hate ironing

Hello Crafty friends,


It's been a couple of weeks since my last post.  We are well into summer and I've been experimenting quite a bit.  The days of beach and pool have been few and far between.  It's rained everyday so we've been indoors a lot.

For my latest experiment I had to use my iron.  I HATE TO IRON!!!!
I don't say that lightly either.  When my DH and I first moved out together I use to iron his work polos and shirts on a daily basis.  He was grateful but never demanded that I do it.  Not sure what came over me.  I was ironed out!!!  It's been 12 years since then.  The dry cleaner became our iron of choice and these days I will reluctantly take out the iron and use it on a few things here or there.  Most times I'll throw it in the dryer and hope it does the trick.  :)  If you're a mom, I'm sure you're familiar with that method.  You know you've done it!!

On to my experiement.  I had to use my iron for this one.  I decided to experiment with Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV).  I belong to quite a few Silhouette groups and that seems to be all the rage.  So I ordered a Silhouette sample kit. I was very excited when I got in the mail last week.  I threw the box on my table and did nothing with it.  We were all sick with a virus and I was being mom full-time.  In between throwing up kids I checked out tons of videos on how to do it.  I finally worked on it this afternoon.  I opened the box and there was a nifty weeding tool and quite a few sheets of the HTV.  There was also a card that included a code to get exclusive Silhouette heat transfer designs.  Woohoo!!  I opened up my software and downloaded my free images.  One of them was a football helmet.   Just then I knew what I was going to make.

So here's a step by step on what I did.

Materials:
Silhouette Machine (pictured below) (you can use scissors but this is way cooler) :)
Weeding tool (picture below)
Heat Transfer Vinyl (picture below)
Iron
T-shirt
piece of fabric

After I gathered my materials.  I opened up my Silhouette software on my computer.  I first checked my images and looked for the football helmet I had downloaded minutes before.  I placed it on my mat and sized it to what I thought would fit appropriateley on a t-shirt.  I then added my kids jersey on top of the helmet.  Here's a picture of what it looked like.  

Since I'm putting this on a T-shirt my next step was to flip my image before using the Silhouette to cut it out.

I then put my HTV on my cutting mat glossy side down.  (that's not actually vinyl, it's a plastic transfer sheet)  I don't have a picture of this but if you ever use this you'll know what I'm talking about.  I loaded the mat onto the machine and adjusted my blade to the appropriate setting.  This part was tricky.  According to my software my blade should be at 2.  Not every machine is the same.  It may look the same but the standard settings may not always be the standard for your machine.  I had to cut this image out several times before it actually cut.  My final blade setting was 7.  Not even close to 2!!  This also has to do with how much you've used your blade. Newer blades cut better than used blades.  Time to get a new blade!!!  

Once I cut it out I had to "weed" out the negative parts of the vinyl.  That's the part that is not going to be on the t-shirt. That's where you use that nifty weeding tool.  It really does help.  You'll notice you will be left with your image and plastic backing. 

After weeding you turn your image over and place it on the t-shirt.  Then place a fabric over making sure to cover the entire image.

Next step, grab your iron (I know you can!!!)  The result will be well worth it.  Iron your image for about 45 seconds.  You don't have to move it around just place it there and lift and place.  

Remove your fabric, peel off the backing and voila!!!  Put the fabric back on and iron it for a few more seconds and it will really set it.  

Here's the final product.  See the wrinkled shirts!!! 

I made them pose for that picture.  It took me longer to take that picture than to complete this project.  

The possibilites are now endless.  My family and I will now have a shirt for every vacation!!  

Have a great night!!!

Liz

There's something about glitter and mason jar

A few months ago one of my very loyal customers tells me she is having a baby and wants me to help her with the decorations.  Specifically the centerpieces.  She sends me a picture of a jar covered with glitter asking me if I can make something similar to the picture.  Of course I can!  I can do ANYTHING!!  If it involves paper or DIY I never say NO.  My creative mind starts going into a frenzy.  When this happens I start asking myself all kinds of questions.  What kind of glue do I use?  What kind of glitter? What jar?  How many layers?  How do I seal it so there isn't glitter everywhere?
I did what I always do.  I researched!  I checked YouTube videos and google.  After researching for a day or two I finally figured out what to do.

I made 10 reusable gold jars and have since made quite a few more for other customers.

I promise the next time I make these I'll have a tutorial for you.

These jars make excellent centerpieces and accent decorations for any home or party.  You can put anything from flowers to pens in them.

This was my test.  It's not that pretty but I knew I'd be able to get a much better result with the right materials.

This is my result.  I was so happy with it and my customer was too. :)  

Have a great night!!
Liz

Craft Room Make-Over

Have you ever browsed pinterest and wished your room or special space can look anything like the ones you see.  I browse and browse and wish and wish.  oooo, aaaaaa, so pretty, I wish I had this, I wish I had that….

I'm lucky enough that I have my own room for all of my crafting adventures.  My own space.  Untouched by little hands.  It's my own little retreat.

I started out in a small little corner of my dinning room.  As my kids got older and my crafting needs got more serious I moved from my dinning room to my kids playroom.  Half Playroom/Half Craft Room.  Heck no!  My own little retreat surrounded by legos, video games….etc  NOISE!!

Eventually, I pushed them out and Liz's craft room was formed.  It's a work in progress.  I started with bins and a table.  Not long after there were bins, carts and several mismatched tables.  It was a hodgepodge of stuff.  Then I got the mother of all crafting armoires.  A SCRAPBOX!!  Google it and you'll see what I mean.  I was in heaven.  It's been quite a few years since then.  I've been very happy with my space but my room is always a work in progress.  As my work changes my needs change.  I've outgrown my beautiful box and my closet looks like a tornado has hit.  I don't even like to open it.  The last couple of times I've opened it I have THROWN stuff in there.  (That's awful!)   I have piles in every corner of my room.  Party stuff, Kids stuff, scrapbooking stuff….It's become a catch all for everything that doesn't have a place in my house and we don't want in the garage.  

I'M GOING MAD IN HERE!  The only uncluttered space is the small desk I have my computer on.  My desktop, a small unused lamp, a notepad and the occasional cup of coffee.

As luck would have it my hubby and I were discussing ways for me to work more efficiently and have decided to revamp my craft space.  YAY ME!!!  I'm one happy girl!  I can't wait to show you pictures of the before, during, and after…

In the meantime I've been browsing around Pinterest and found a few pictures of things I like.  Do you have your own special place at home?  A reading area, crafting space, sewing room…etc.  

Have a great night!
Liz

A little "Frozen" in South Florida

Hello Friends!  I wanted to share with you my most recent work.  If you follow me on Facebook you've probably already seen some of the stuff I've made.  "Frozen" - currently every little girls (and some big girls) favorite movie.  I'm one of the big girls included in that statement.  I can watch this movie over and over.  Alas, I've only seen it once.  My 2 boys are completely against me watching this movie again.  Being the only female in my home I am deprived of all things girly.  I get my fix from the occasional mani/pedi and by doing girl parties.  I truly enjoyed working on all these adorable "Frozen" themed party goodies.  The pictures come from 2 different parties.  Amazing how the same theme can be so different.

 Liz

  

Routines

Hello Again!

I can't believe I'm writing two posts in a row.  It's definitely summer!  Today I wanted to show you a pdf file I created.  It's called "Mad Dash Morning Routine"  In my household we are not morning people. We're nocturnal.  Mornings are not fun for us.  I decided to create this to help both of my kids be more functional in the morning.  It's a morning routine checklist.  It can be customized for each child.  I know it will help them (me) get through the mornings without having to repeat myself 100 times.

Hhhmmm….just a thought, "Mad-Dash" line of custom checklists….

It still needs a few tweaks.

Have a great day!!
Liz

I'm Still Here

How do I begin?  It's been over a year since I wrote on this blog.  I've been wanting to get back to writing on here for quite some time.  So what motivated me?  I've had two friends start up new blogs and I've enjoyed reading their first few posts so much that I'm motivated to start again.

Mommy duties and work have prevented me from getting back to you.  However, summer is here and I have more time to focus on my blog and catch up on some of my reading.  My boys are a little older now and can fend for themselves (for the most part).  I'm not the center of their attention (not sure I'm entirely happy about that).  I've been replaced by video games, our pool, and our basketball hoop.

What have I been doing all this time?  If you read my post from last year things haven't changed much. 

Professionally - Surprise!!!! I still have my party business.  I'm very happy with how it's going.  I also work part time during the school year.  I'm the "Science Lab Coordinator"  (that's what I call myself)  In other words, if a teacher wants to do an experiment I set it up and assist.  Never thought I'd be doing anything related to science but I've come to love what I do.  Along with my Science Lab duties I help out here and there around the school.

Personally - Still a mommy and loving wife. :)  I'm very busy making sure my kiddos are on the right track.  We're involved in every sport imaginable.  Most of the time my DH is coaching and I'm a "team mom"  It gets tiring sometimes and I feel like quitting, but I firmly believe that children need extracurricular activities.  My kids love it, so I make the sacrifice.  We eat dinner out A LOT and laundry is like the monster under my bed that I never want to look at.  (My summer goal is to face that ugly monster.)  

What direction am I taking this blog in?  

I've been thinking about it for a few days and finally decided to just write a post and see where it goes.  I'm still going to showcase all the party things I make but I want to include other things…..perhaps share techniques and tips of my craft, ideas, tutorials, inspirational things,….etc.  I would love to include some of the cool experiments I do in my lab.  I would also like to invite other fellow bloggers to introduce themselves, have giveaways and do some challenges.  There's a lot for me to think about.  

For now I leave you with this motivational pic and a couple of my recent party decorations… 

(I found this online somewhere and posted it on my personal fb page)  

Have a great night!!

Liz