Adventures of a Craft-a-holic

Crazy Carnival

2009-04-20T08:49:00.006-05:00

The Carnival was a success!!! (for the most part) Other than a downpour of icky rain that dampened our spirits just a bit and forced us under a pavilion instead of out in the field we had a great time! The turnout was great, we enlisted the neighbor kids to help run carnival game booths and we had a blast!

By far the most popular game was the "Cookie Walk" My Mother and I made cookies (she made PB&J and Snicker doodles and I made chocolate chip cookies!) My Sister In Law ran the booth which involved playing Disney music while the kids walked around numbered plates. When the music stopped a number was drawn at random and the kid who was standing on that number got a bag of 3 cookies! I'm tellin ya, some kids left there with several bags of cookies, THEY RACKED UP!!!

Next we had face painting, My Mother ran that booth and did an AWESOME JOB!. The kids loved it. We even had sparkles to put on for the little girls.

My Oldest Daughter Alaina ran the tattoo parlor, kids love tattoos so that was another big hit at the party!

The oldest of the neighbor kids ran the popcorn booth because what is a carnival party without POPCORN!!!

The youngest neighbor ran the bean bag toss.

PJ (Hubby) had the task of running the ladder ball game! This game of course involved throwing balls attached by rope over ladder rungs so we needed a competent adult for that one lol.

We also had a ping pong ball toss which my Mother In Law ran!

I think that is it! .... no Wait you may be wondering what I did? Well I was the "clown" for the day! I did balloon animals. That was another big hit! I was not able to do WHATEVER they wanted but I was able to do a handful of things including: crazy hats, flowers, dogs, cats, monkeys, swords and butterflies. I will have to learn how to do more next time but the kids loved it and that is all that mattered. I had a steady stream of kids the whole time and managed to "kill" (pop) like 5 animals as I was making them (R.I.P. little guys, you never had a chance!)

Lastly was the cake! I made their carnival cakes and stacked them on top of balloons to fit the theme. They were a big hit! Each cake had a layer of chocolate chip fudge cake and moist white cake and in between that was Oreo cookie buttercream filling. Everyone loved the cake, and Ethan's top tier was left over and I actually had one parent want to take the whole thing home with him YAY! I hate taking cake home because I WILL EAT IT!!! So when A parent requests a slice of cake (or better yet THE WHOLE THING ..... THEY CAN HAVE IT!)

On a more serious note before I let you stop reading I want to ask for prayers for a sweet little girl. Kylie's friend Sydney has been in and out of the hospital for a month with a temporary form of Lupus (not sure the name) and has been on lots of steroids and just feeling crappy all together. After her 3rd hospital stay lasting a week she got to go home on Saturday (the day before the party) Because her birthday was that Monday (2 days later) we told her that if she was feeling up to it she could share the party because she is not able to have one of her own right now. I made her a cake only to find out that after she got home she caught a NASTY stomach virus and had been throwing up all night Saturday and all morning Sunday. The poor girl just got home from the hospital and then got sick AGAIN making her miss the party. We delivered her cake to her to try and cheer her up and hopefully she will feel good enough to eat the cake in a couple days. With that being said PLEASE pray for her healing and that she recovers quickly and does not have to go back to the hospital for a 4th stay.

Bring on the FUN!

2009-04-16T01:20:00.002-05:00

As the much anticipated carnival birthday party gets closer I am scrambling to get things in order and to finish making these games! I FINALLY got off my rear and made the first of many games, that one is the turtle bean bag toss! I think it turned out pretty cute myself! I got the awesome colored bean bag turtles from The Oriental Trading Company and I made a toss game with them as the inspiration. I still have to make the signs and the fish pond. Then I am making cookies for a cookie walk and lastly is the cake. So since it is 1:25am and I am TIRED I think I will skip on trying to elaborate any more. I will update as more of my carnival projects are finished!

Easter Eggs and Tornadoes!

2009-04-14T21:54:00.003-05:00

Well This has been a very eventful weekend! It started with Good Friday tornadoes here in Murfreesboro. I am used to hearing tornado sirens go off because of growing up in Nebraska so severe weather really does not scare me, it more like excites me. I love storms. But this storm hit way too close to home. The tornado lasted 26 minutes and traveled 15 miles destroying about 100 of homes and damaging hundreds more. It claimed the life of a mother and her 9 week old baby and severely injured at least 30 people. The damage is just devastating. I have to admit. I get excited I the thought of tornadoes, I love to see them and they just amaze me. But when they get this close to home it just makes me sick. The devastation is right in the path to Ethan's preschool and I catch myself tearing up the entire ride there just thinking of what our city is going through right now and what those who were affected have to go through.

I heard the most AMAZING survival story though today when I dropped Ethan off a preschool. One of the little girls in his class was with her mother driving through the neighborhood where the tornado formed. The tornado formed almost right over their van. She told of how she drove and drove trying to get away until the wind was just too much and she decided it would be better just to stop the van and take cover. She unbuckled her little girl from her car seat, threw her over her lap and ducked on top of her to keep any flying projectile from crashing through the car window and killing her daughter. As she looked out her window she could see the tornado directly above her, debris flying EVERYWHERE. She saw an AC unit literally 25 feet from her car sucked up and thrown and a truck was overturned in the lawn to her right. Her car rocked so violently that she prepared to roll at any moment. Then it was all over! They were ok. Amazingly that tornado ripped up AC units, flipped over cars just FEET away from her yet she and her daughter were spared with only a bumpy ride. A tree had also fallen just feet behind their car just missing them. I thank God that their lives were spared and they walked away without a scratch. What a horrific experience to have to go through.

Here are some photos of just a TINY bit of the devastation that took place here in Murfreesboro on the afternoon of April 10, 2009. These are just the photos that I took while driving. I am also attaching a YouTube photo montage of the devastation and photos of the actual tornado. It is just heart wrenching to watch this and know what hundreds of people are having to overcome at this time. See the YouTube video HERE.

WELL On a happier note. The day after that We decorated eggs and tried to get back to a normal life. We know that other families were not as fortunate as us to be able to have a normal Easter though. We did show the kids the damage and remind them of those who need our support right now but tried to keep our life as normal s possible. We also invited one of Kylie's friends over who has never decorated eggs before because her Mother is from Mexico and has never celebrated an "American" Easter. It was a great/fun experience for the kids.

A Lot To Update! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!! 5 Years Today!

2009-04-09T11:12:00.004-05:00

Boy it has been CRAZY around here ... I mean just NUTS! The kids have been out of school for spring break for 2 weeks. I have been in and out of the doctors for an ongoing issue (no worries it is getting better) and our fridge broke down last week!!!

With that being said, I did have some extra time to craft. After all what is life without art? Art/Crafts=my sanity! I got my first PAID leotard Order for a girl that does gymnastics with Kylie. She LOVES it and wears it often. And now I am getting MORE orders from parents because the kids get to see how other girls have customized their OWN leotards and they want that too. YAY!

Lets see... Then I am planning Ethan and Kylie's birthday parties. They want a carnival party filled with games and prizes. My first order of business was making invitations which you can see below. In the next week to come I will have updates of the games I am making and then will come photos of the event! I will be making balloon animals and my bestest will doing the face painting!

Now comes the not so fun part. Our Fridge broke down a week ago and we had to shop around for a new one (well not new, but new to us) and have had to store our food in the neighbor's fridge which has put a strain on EVERYTHING around here. BUT the good news is that we got a fridge yesterday!!! YAY! So things are getting back to normal ... well except for the fact that my old broken down unrepairable fridge is STILL IN MY KITCHEN!!! Why you may ask? .... Well .... my husband seems to have some crazy "emotional attachment" to this fridge ... his words, not mine! He doesn't want to let the thing go and wants to try and repair it (which the repair was so expensive that is the reason we got a different one in the first place!) So not to go on a rant, if the thing isn't gone in 2 weeks he doesn't get a choice, I am placing it on craigslist for FREE and the first one to come get it can HAVE IT! In the below Photo, the fridge on the right is our "new" working on, the left fridge is the one that is just so amazing it has made my husband form an emotional attachment to it.

Last order of business for the day. TODAY IS ETHAN'S BIRTHDAY!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG MAN! He i 5 years old and for his class I have made root beer float cupcakes YUM!

"Home Work"

2009-03-22T22:12:00.003-05:00

Yes, you see it right. The craft-a-holic was in the news paper! Thanks to Nancy Degennaro for interviewing me for an article she was to write about moms who work at home! I think it is awesome that the word about work at home moms is getting out. We work harder than I think most people will ever realize!

Nancy also decided that she was going to use me for the photo to go along with the article and it turned out great! Ethan was so stinkin excited that he was going to be in the paper! The photographer came over to take a photo of what a normal (actually very busy and hectic) day at my house looks like and that involves Ethan! He has been waiting all week for the paper to be printed. When we picked up a copy we were very surprised to see we were on the FRONT PAGE of the Lifestyles section and the photo was HUGE! It was exciting to see though in print! Oh and not only is it a HUGE photo but my face is covered in flour from baking which Ethan also thought was the funniest thing ever!

Above is a scanned copy of the paper and you can read the full article HERE!

A Future Craft-Aholic???? I think so!!!!!

2009-03-18T12:27:00.003-05:00

So my BESTEST came over this morning to learn how to sew! I have to say, I was ALMOST as proud of her as I was of my own children when they want to learn my crafty ways!! We have done many crafty things together in the past like scrapbooking and jewelry making but sewing was new to her, and I have to say ... for a first timer (heck even not for a first timer) she did GREAT! The curtains she made for her baby's nursery turned out amazing and I can't wait to see what they look like when they are hung up! She is also an AWEWOME painter too and maybe one day she can teach me her tricks as well. You can see her work HERE.

HORRAY FOR BABIES AND NEW NURSERY CRAFTS!!!!

Spring Art At It's Finest!

2009-03-18T11:25:00.005-05:00

Ah yes, I am a proud mother of one of the artsiest kids around! My little boy Ethan spent weeks at preschool preparing for their annual spring art show! Parents, grandparents, siblings and friends get to walk through the colorful hallways filled with paintings, photos, sculptures and other various works of art made by 1-5 year olds! It is such a joy to see what these kids can do.

Ethan was proud as a peacock to show us what he made and I was one proud mama seeing everything he has done! Here are just a few of the amazing pieces of Art that we got to view!

Aren't his creations Wonderful?!?! Here are some photo of the wall displays as you walk through the preschool. All the kids worked so hard on this and we just loved being able to be there so that the kids could show off to everyone all their hard work and creativity!

Rainbow Cuppies!

2009-03-17T00:53:00.004-05:00

Well tomorrow is my birthday (well technically today since it is after midnight) and since I am the cake baker around these parts I normally don't get a cake unless I make it myself. Instead of making myself a cake this year I decided to treat my kids classes to rainbow cuppies with green frosting! The kids got to help decorate as well which they always enjoy doing! Normally I am an all natural no artificial colors sort of girl but seeing that tomorrow is a special day (my birthday and St. Patrick's Day) I decided to go all out with a rainbow (literally) of colors added to cake batter and baked up into adorable multi-colored cuppies to celebrate my favorite day of the year DUH!

After tomorrow is over there will be about 50 kids with artificial colors running through their veins. Kids bouncing off the walls and giggling from the sugar high. So right now I just want to say "sorry" to the teachers that have to deal with these little monsters after they eat these cupcakes!

On a side note a good friend of mine (Mandy-Bona Fide Mama) had a friend contact me about an article in the local paper about work at home moms which I will be featured. I am super excited about it and get to do a fun photo shoot on wednesday for the paper! I will update on that as it happens. Hopefully we will get a cute photo out of it and educate everyone out there on the trend of work at home moms that has been catching on quickly!

March = National Craft Month!

2009-03-04T18:15:00.004-06:00

Wow how awesome is that! Not only is March the month of my birthday, but my birthday is also St. Patrick's Day (which I have to say is a pretty awesome birthday!!!) and the best part of that is that March is ALSO NATIONAL CRAFT MONTH! I am seriously the luckiest girl EVER! My favorite color is green and EVERYONE gets me something green for my birthday (hmmm ... wonder why) and crafting is my passion and I happen to be born in the month that every craft supply ever known to man (or woman) is featured and put on sale at some point throughout the month!

On that note I just took the order for a leotard today and the little girl picked out her colors (orange with silver straps) it is going to look so cute! Hopefully I can start on it tonight when the kids get into bed! Then I have cupcakes to make for St. Patty's day for Ethan's preschool class. They will be rainbow cake with green frosting and a rainbow sticking out of the frosting. I am insanely excited to make these because I have never made the rainbow cake batter before and am excited to see how they will turn out, and excited to see the kids reaction when they bite into a cupcake and it is 6 different colors!

So for now I leave you with a cute craft you can do with your kids for national craft month.

This pretty rainbow is so easy even little ones can make it. It’s perfect for teaching kids about colors and improving dexterity.

What you'll need:

1 brick of styrofoam
1 each purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red chenille stems
15 purple pony beads
18 blue pony beads
23 green pony beads
27 yellow pony beads
32 orange pony beads
36 red pony beads
Bag of cotton balls

How to make it:

String pony beads onto chenille stems, matching the colors. (i.e. string green pony beads on green chenille, purple pony beads on purple chenille, etc)
Start with the purple beaded stem. Center the beads on the stem and trim the ends of the stem leaving about 2” on each end.
Find the center of the Styrofoam block and insert the two chenille ends into the brick, forming an arch. Hint: use one of the pieces of chenille that you cut off to create the holes first, pull them out then insert the beaded chenille into the hole.
Repeat step 3 for each beaded stem, in the rainbow sequence (next is blue, green, yellow, orange, and red).
Glue cotton balls all around the bottom of the rainbow to form clouds. Cover the Styrofoam brick with cotton balls.
When cotton balls and glue are dry, stretch and gently pull the cotton balls to cover any exposed Styrofoam edges.

Tips:

If making several of these (i.e. class or preschool project), cut the bricks in half. This will give you twice the supplies as a full brick is not necessarily needed.
Find large bags of pony beads in multicolored value packages at craft supply stores.
Show small children the ends of the chenille stems so that they know there are pointy edges.

So It's Been a Week

2009-02-28T15:52:00.002-06:00

It has been a week since my last blog and I must say I have totally slacked in the craft department! After my interview (which I STILL have not heard back form the company!) I ended up getting sick with some sort of stomach virus and now I have a sinus infection so aside from working I have been sleeping pretty much all day! I am going through craft withdrawl. The closest I have gotten to crafting this week is sketching out a few designs for my best friend's baby shower cake I will be making. I have so many ideas it will be hard to pick the perfect cake for her!

On that note I am so tired I feel like I am going to pass out so no more blogging for me today! But on my agenda for next week is another leotard, and making a shadow box for my Daughter's competition leotard.

Wish Me Luck!

2009-02-19T12:52:00.003-06:00

In about 5 minutes I am off to my interview! I already have butterflies in my stomach! I know I shouldn't be nervous, I just can't help it! To break the ice a little bit I printed photo of my cakes I have already made and I also took a little time to make a little elephant out of fondant to bring with me just in case we don't work with fondant at the interview today!

Here he is, my good luck elephant. What should I name him?

Going On An Interview! ... and I'm kinda feakin out!!

2009-02-16T21:47:00.007-06:00

So as if I didn't have enough going on in my life already I decided I needed to weigh myself down more! I sent a local bakery some photos of my cakes and asked if they would be interested in a part time decorator. I love to decorate but doing so in my home can be stressful. You know with the dogs that I have to lock in the kennel for hours so they don't get in the kitchen, the kids coming in wanting to see the progress or taste the icing, the husband wanting all the cake tops I shave off to level the cake and of course the endless amount of time I have to get out and put away supplies because of other things I have to do in the kitchen, like make meals and feed my family something other than cake scraps.

With that being said the bakery promptly gave me a call saying that they were impressed with my work and would like me to come in for an interview. They know I have a full time job already and a family yet they still seem willing to give me the opportunity to try and work out some sort of part time thing that could benefit us both.

So now I sit here, with an interview scheduled for Thursday afternoon, wondering ..... "what did I just get myself into?" Between the morning school routine, morning work shift, afternoon school routine, making dinners, shuttling to and from after school activities, evening work shift and billions of OTHER crafts I want to dig my hands into ... oh and the leotards that the moms from my daughter's gym are asking me to make that they will PAY me for .... I go and get an interview to be a decorator at a bakery. Am I insane? Wait don't answer that!

On the up side, IF I decide that the schedule will somehow work out for me, I will be PAID to craft! How freakin awesome is that. and MY house won't be the house getting messy while I craft.

So keep your fingers crossed for me! I have not been on a real job interview in quite some time, and definitely never been on one where I have to put on an apron and play with frosting for my potential boss. It will be a test of skills I am sure ... you know .... to make sure those cakes I emailed them were indeed made by me. I could either end up loving the fact that I finally have a reason to get out of the house and not feel guilty about not being here to take care of my motherly and household duties or I could add so much more responsibility and stress to my life that I have a mental breakdown ...... Only time will tell.

PhotoShop Is My Friend!

2009-02-15T10:46:00.003-06:00

Did you ever wonder how all those models look so perfect! with the help of a good makeup artist and a great photo editing software ANYONE can look great! I by no means am perfect or even have a great complexion. After having kids I have struggled with adult acne. I find that the camera often is not my friend. I have tried very hard to become friends with my little pocket size image capturing device but it seems that no matter how much makeup I pack onto my face (and I HATE makeup) that little device seems to pick up on every flaw!

That is when I realized that I too can look like I have a flawless complexion. I often get those comments from people wanting to know what kind of makeup I use because my skin looks great in my photos. My response "photoshop" lol. I am not to proud to admit that I am digitally enhanced in about 75% of the photos I post on the internet. After all, I am the crafting queen! I want everything else in my life to look all cute and pretty, why wouldn't I want my own photos to look that way too? Who wants to open up a photo book 50 years from now and look back with the grandkids about all the fun stuff you did with their mommy or daddy when THEY were kids and all they can see is that big red dot on your nose? All of you with kids who what I am talking about when I say kids are brutally honest! "eew mom, what happened to your forehead?? there is a big red bump on it!" I don't like hearing it now I definitely don't want to hear it when I am 70 years old and going through my memories with a brand new generation of munchkins who are full of uncensored questions.

So since most people don't get to see my before photos I figure I will post one today.

BEFORE PHOTOSHOP

AFTER PHOTOSHOP
AFTER MORE PHOTOSHOP

A Very Valentine Sleepover.

2009-02-14T21:30:00.008-06:00

Tonight is Valentine's night. We traded in a romantic evening with steak, candle light, flowers and a movie for a house full of screaming, giggling and down right crazy 6 year olds! Kylie has a reward sleepover for trying her hardest and making a couple of required elements for her gymnastics that she has has a rough time with. Along with my 3 kids we had 3 MORE 6 year old girls over. And what is a Valentine sleepover without a Valentine craft!

Tonight was filled with building tents for a living room camp out, heart shaped personal pizzas and chocolate and fruit fondue! It is now 9:30 and Horton hears a who just ended. We are one down already! While 3 of the hyperactive munchkins dance around to the movie credits one of the rugrats lays on the floor fast asleep! Pizza and chocolate obviously has different effects on different people. It puts some to sleeps, hypes others up and puts others on the toilet for hours (ok that last one only applies to a certain family member ... some of you know who I am talking about!)

And what is another blog post without more photos.

Bumble Bee Leotard

2009-02-14T21:17:00.004-06:00

So I tried my hand at not only sewing another leotard (and using my brand new serger YAY!!!!) but I also decided to design the leotard myself too! up until now I have been using patterns but I wanted Kylie to have one of those cool strappy leotards and I am not going to pay $45 for it! So the next best option is to MAKE ONE! After choosing the colors I get to sewing and pretty much winging it! and to my surprise .... it worked! and I didn't even have to rip out seams and start over which I thought for sure I would have to! The leo was a HUGE hit when she went to practice and I really think that I could make a business of this! All her friends want their one custom leotards and want to be able to pick the colors and design them, and the parents offered to PAY me to make it! How awesome is that? I get to craft and get paid for it! Since I cannot legally sell my cakes (you have to have a licensed home kitchen which would cost a lot of money in renovations) which would be my first choice for a "crafting job" my second choice would be sewing and I think I found it!

So here it is. Kylie new leotard. I think she looks like a little bumble bee, so cute!!

Late Night Cookie Decorating.

2009-02-12T22:55:00.005-06:00

With Valentine's Day just around the corner all the kids classes are having parties. That means decorating boxes, making Valentine's cards for classmates and endless amounts of goodies for the kids.

I signed up to Make cookies for my 4 year old's preschool class and offered to put their name's on the cookies so that each child could have their own cookie. That was ass fine and good until my 6 year old came home Wednesday (the day before their Valentine's party) and told me that she told the teacher that I would make cookies for their class party! Being the "town baker" has its perks (like everyone wanting to be your friend so they can be my new recipe testers) but it also has it's downfalls, like being expected to bring in goodies for EVERY SINGLE FUNCTION under the sun (and some of these obviously last minute requests ... or rather demands lol)

So because I was a slacker this week I didn't even make the cookie dough until 4pm had to make dinner and let the dough chill then work my REAL job from 7pm to midnight! On my break making the fondant to decorate those cookies! At midnight I promptly signed off work turned on my oven and got to baking the cookies. baking finished by 1am and by 2am I had successfully baked and decorated 17 large heart cookies for my sons class and about 36 small heart cookies for my daughter's class. Had I not been such a slacker they would have been WAY cuter ... but at 1:30am all I could think about was getting that fondant on those suckers and crashing in my bed!

So here they are .... the finished product from my late night (or early morning) cookie session. they are sugar cookie cutouts colored red and decorated with home made fondant. The small cookies are dusted with edible shimmer powder (in the world of cake decorating it is called luster dust)

Nobody Should Be Without One.

2009-02-11T11:18:00.004-06:00

A GLUE GUN OF COURSE! I truly believe that the answer to all the worlds problems is a hot glue gun! As you can see my glue gun is not pretty, and it doesn't have to be, though they do make them in pretty pinks and blues and greens now! Based on the amount of use this baby gets it wouldn't stay pretty very long anyway! If your glue gun does not look like the above photo then you are not using it enough!

Below is the super cool valentine's hair bow made with my glue gun! not only is it cute but will last forever because once that glue dries ... good luck getting it off!

What else can you do with a glue gun????

glue back those broken toys our kids cried for weeks over.
add non slip bottom to any item under the sun
make hair bows
quick hem job for those who are needle challenged
school solar system projects
sole coming off your shoe ???? glue it back on!

and the list goes on .....

If you use your glue gun for anything fun/funky/creative then reply to this and let me know!

A crafter's Dream ..... Or Maybe Just Mine.

2009-02-10T00:29:00.003-06:00

All my friends are doing blogs so WHY NOT ME? Right? But thinking long and hard ... what could I possibly blog about? I love to bake cakes. But right now don't get to make enough to actually hold down a decent blog. I also do cupcakes and cookies and stuffed strawberries and just about any decorative, pretty or YUMMY foods. Again still not enough to hold down a decent blog. Then I think, I like to sew ... no ... I LOVE to sew! but once again, not enough to hold down a decent blog.

Then it hit me! I am not a baker, or a seamstress, or a painter ........ I am a crafter .... no .... I am a CRAFT-A-HOLIC! If it can be created, I will create it! So why not blog about crafts. Aside from my kids it really is my love!

Today after much anticipation and waiting I received my serger! Now whenever I tell my friends that I am getting a serger they look at me like I have a third eye growing in the middle of my forehead! That is when I realize that my craftyness has hit a new level, when I have a contraption that is unknown to the general public. But that has been my whole life! Always being the one to be different, and try new things and start a movement! And that is just the way I like it!

So for those of you who may be wondering just what is this crazy serging thingy-ma-bobber. It is just a fancy sewing machine that gives you a more professional finish. and this is what it looks like ...

And this is what I am hoping to make with the serger!

That, would be the leotard I made my daughter! Now to the naked eye it looks great, but it was done with a sewing machine. The serger will allow me to not only shave an hour off sewing time, but just make it more professional overall. Hopefully allowing me to sell some of these babies to pay for that fancy new serger I just bought!

Enough about sewing and more about my other crafts. Since this is my first post I will attach a few photos of my recent cake works. (wow that was hard to pick just a few to attach, I have become quite proud of all my yummy goodies I made!! and yes the following photos are of 100% edible goodness!) MORE CRAFTYNESS TO COME LATER .... PROMISE!!!!