FREEBIE: Weekly Menu Planner

As a working mom, I should probably be more organized with my menu planning.  I don't do a weekly menu, but have realized that's really the only way to force myself to plan.  I have been wanting to do this for a while, but didn't realize until this past week when we had some sort of Italian food just about everyday for dinner., that this is now necessary.  Boy do I love Italian, but I am so tired of it now!  The only way for me really to be diligent about planning is to use this weekly menu planner I created. Feel free to download for your personal use.  I made two versions - one that lists the days Sunday through Saturday and another that lists the days Monday through Sunday.  Happy planning!

Birthday Tree - Part II

One of my previous posts discussed the Birthday Tree, which was a tradition I started for my daughter, whom was born around the holidays.  Her second birthday took place January 2, so on New Year's Day night I took down all of the Christmas decorations and decorated her tree.  When my daughter woke up in the morning, we went and looked at all of the pictures on her tree.  She had more appreciation for it than I thought a two year old would, which was very rewarding.  I kept all of the pictures from last year's Birthday Tree, so it was interesting that she thought those pictures were of her little sister!  

My husband and I have discussed what we are going to do for our second daughter, whose birthday is in July, to make her birthday just as special.  My husband came up with the idea of just making the Birthday Tree a New Year's Tree.  Perhaps we could make it a tradition to decorate it on New Year's Eve Day as a way to say farewell to the year and reminisce about all of the memories that went along with it. 

No-Sew Fabric Flower Hair Accessories

I subscribe to the Prudent Baby website, as they offer a wealth of tutorials and creative ideas.  The other day they posted a tutorial for a no-sew fabric flower headband.  With my first daughter, I made a bunch of headbands with big, ostentatious flowers.  I always got compliments on the cute headbands, but with baby girl #2, I seem to be over them.  I still love the headband idea for babies, but think the flowers could be saved for 'occasion' wear.  When Prudent Baby posted the subject tutorial, I figured I'd give it a try... I love the look, as it seems a little more 'casual.'

We've had several girls born into our group of friends in recent months.  For the first baby, I decided to make a headband to match the collegiate onesies I had purchased, as both parents are huge fans of University of Florida.  I did the center of the 'flower' using orange fabric, then attached the blue fabric as the outer rim.  In order to keep the headband and flower versatile, I adhered the flower to a clip so they can use different accessories on the headband and so the little munchkin can wear the flower as a hair clip when she gets older.  

For the second baby, I did a simple pink and white motif.  I used a button for the center to jazz up the plain white flower.  I finished the flower as stated above...adhering it to a flower clip.  By doing this, you could also make a matching hair clip or hairband for an older sibling, or even a cute flower pin for mom!  

Ikea Chair Finishing

I am definitely way overdue in posting.  I considered not posting anymore, since I am busy with our newborn, her older sister, work, etc.  What the heck...I will continue to post here until I have absolutely no time or desire to do so anymore.  I was shocked to see how many hits my blog has gotten, with little to no promotion or recent posts...it was kind of encouraging.  

Anyway, I have worked on a lot of things since JUNE!  One of my projects was to finish my daughter's chair that I purchased about a year ago at IKEA.  

THE BEFORE . . . plain, bland, boring, but still kind of cute. 

THE AFTER . . . chic, stylish, and FINALLY matches our decor!

I first stained the chair to a darker color, to match our brown leather couches and chocolate brown tables.  Once it finally dried (a week later - I think it slapped it on a little thick), I drew a pattern to create a cushion for the chair, cut out the fabric (same fabric as our curtains) and busted out the sewing machine to finish the look.  It was actually quite easy, so it won't be a big deal to make another one for my second daughter.  If you are interested in a pattern/tutorial for this chair cushion, please post a comment. 

Birthday Tree

I subscribe to the Tip Junkie website, where today they discussed birthday traditions.  I loved this post because traditions give everyone in the family something to look forward to for any given holiday...including the parents!  Our daughter was born on January 2, 2009, so while this year she didn't really even know what was going on for her birthday, future years could bring some heartache due to how close to the holidays her birthday falls. 

To try to prevent this and make her day remain extra special, I started a tradition called her "Birthday Tree."  We kept our Christmas tree up through the Christmas and New Year's celebrations.  On the eve of her birthday, we took down all of the Christmas decorations and re-decorated it for her birthday, with pink crepe paper and pictures of her.  I printed out small pictures (about 2"x2"), punched a hole in the top, and tied a ribbon through in order to attach it to the tree.  I really wish I would have taken more and better pictures of her birthday tree, but there was so much going on and I was grossly under-prepared the morning of her shin dig.  Below is a sample of what we hung on the tree.  I dated the photos, as I plan to keep them each year and re-use them...could be really cool in 15 years, or maybe she'll be over it by then.  My hope is that each year she will look forward to waking up on her birthday to see what her "Birthday Tree" looks like (which means I will have to come up with something new and creative each year).   

 
Everyone who attended her party enjoyed looking at the Birthday Tree, as it was something they could do at their leisure (as opposed to having to watch a timed slide show on TV with everyone huddled around). 

Baby Girl II is due around July 4th this year...another holiday baby...I will have to come up with something fun to incorporate the holiday into her birthday as well! 

FREEBIE: Simply Word Art

It's been a while since I've created any digital scrapbooking freebies to post.  Since I've got babies on the mind, here is one that might be useful for baby books!  Enjoy and feel free to post links to your layouts.  To download, click here or on the image below.   

Homemade Play Dough

It's been a long while since I've posted anything.  However, I've been keeping up with my obsession of browsing other crafting blogs and my list of crafts to try is getting forever long.  With a second baby on the way in five weeks, I better get my butt in gear because I don't foresee myself having a ton of time with two little munchkins just eighteen months apart! 

I subscribe to Skip To My Lou, as she always has a lot of great postings.  Today she posted a recipe from Homemade By Jill for homemade play dough.  I was so excited because over the weekend I brought out the play dough for my seventeen month old for the first time ever.  She seemed to like it, but it tends to crumble a bit.  My mother-in-law claims that homemade play dough has a much better consistency and does not crumble.  Not to mention...it's completely edible!  My daughter would probably love to help make the play dough and it could make a good little gift for the kids in her class at school!  Click on the image below to link to the homemade play dough tutorial!