Hall Passes!

Since my first spray paint project was so successful I decided to try another one! I got the inspiration for this project from this blog. I thought I could complete this project quickly and inexpensively and I was right! I got my ribbon and letters from JoAnn Fabrics and the spray paint from Home Depot (and my husband already had sand paper). Here are some pictures of my supplies....

 Hudson wanted to help mommy....

The project was really, really simple. I started by sanding the letters to make sure all sides were smooth and then I took them outside and gave each letter 2 coats. Next I used a drill press (added bonus of having an awesome wood worker dad) to drill 2 holes in each letter for the ribbon. I threaded the ribbon through the holes leaving the ribbon long enough to hang around my neck. Lastly I used a thin sharpie paint marker and stickers that I already had to decorate my hall passes. I put my last name on them and used the phrase "pase de permiso" for hall pass. Here are the finished passes.

That's all! Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy! And cheap enough that if I get sick of them I won't feel bad about making new ones! :)

My First Spray Paint Project

This weekend I set a goal to paint and re-cover a stool my dad gave me for my classroom. Surprisingly, I actually did it, and with a whole day to spare! Here is what the stool looked like before...

It was just a regular old, ugly work chair, but I knew a little spray paint could go a long way! I wanted something really bright and colorful since I am going to be a Spanish teacher and everything else in my class will be full of color so I went with pink spray paint. My next task was finding fabric to make the cushions more interesting. I went to Hobby Lobby and found a lot of ones that would have looked great, but ended up with what I thought would look a little more Mexican-ish. Here is the finished product....

I'm really happy with how it turned out and with how easy and cheap it was too! BTW I think the two different fabrics look better on the chair when you see it in person, but the mixing of patterns just isn't for everyone!

Tomorrow I'll show you how my hall passes turned out :)

Stuffed Animal Storage

The latest issue of Parenting (the early years) that I subscribe to gave me a few great ideas on how to decorate Hudson's room. I know he is 13 months and there shouldn't be anything I need to do to his room, but I have never been really happy with the decor so I have constantly been looking for things to do in his room.

The first idea I really liked was this over the door shoe organizer from Bed Bath and Beyond. It only costs $20 and they usually have a 20% off or $5 off coupon you could use towards it. You may be thinking, why would your 13 month old need a shoe organizer, right? Well in the magazine they used it as storage for stuffed animals! To understand how it works you should look at the link I put above (or here). Still, this isn't the best picture, but the organizer has 24 elastic bands that are made to hold a pair of shoes so you know they would be strong enough to hold a stuffed animal! I ordered this last week and it should be in sometime this week. I can't wait to get it!!

Fun Little Saturday

Ever since I moved back to Springfield from Athens I've wondered why they got rid of the Market Place (where the Heritage Center is now). I know they still have the Farmer's Market outside, but it just isn't the same. Four years later (oh wow I can't believe it's been that long already) my mom found out about a market in Dayton and we checked it out this past weekend. It's called the 2nd Street Public Market and they sell a variety of homemade foods (jelly, bread, bagels, maple syrup, etc.), homemade goods (candles, jewelry, etc.) fresh vegetables and eggs that are locally grown, flowers, and then of course there are food vendors. The day we went The Flower Man shop had a fantastic sale....10 bunches of flowers for $10!!! Of course my mom and I took advantage of the deal and here are the flowers I ended up with....

So the moral of the story is, if you are looking for something fun and different to do on a Saturday, check out the 2nd Street Public Market in Dayton!

There's a First Time for Everything

Last week I hosted my first grown up party in the form of a baby shower for my biff. It was a lot of work but I enjoyed all of it. I think the most important thing I learned was to RSVP to parties. I used to think no one did that and only sent in my RSVP to weddings, but after being a hostess I will be sure to RSVP to every party I'm invited to in the future (and I recommend you do the same!).

Since I like doing crafty things I experimented with many firsts while getting ready for the baby shower. Below are some pictures of the things I made for the shower (all for the first time).

 The Invitations

It was impossible for me to decide what color elephant I liked better so I did both! I cut everything out using my cricut and then used black marker and white pen for the eyes and some chalk for the rosy cheeks.

The Banner

In case you are having a hard time reading the banner, it says "Welcome Baby." Hands down this was the easiest thing I made. Again, I used my cricut to cut the elephants, peanut, and letters. Then I used a tool made by Martha Stewart to cut the circles. Next I used really thin ribbon and a hole punch to connect everything and prettied it up with some sparkly tule and colored ribbon (which I don't think you can see from this picture).

The Diaper Cake

 I made my diaper cake a little different from others I have seen before. I didn't like the thought of spending so much time rolling diapers just for the recipient of the cake to have to spend time unrolling them. So I used my favorite search engine and looked for alternative ways to make a diaper cake. I eventually found a video that gave instructions I could actually follow.

The Cake Pops

The cake pops were a big hit at the shower. The inside is filled with cake and icing and the outside is made chocolate candy. I saw a recipe book that had directions on how to make all sorts of fun cake pops and I bought it with the intention of making the "Baby Faces" but I was a little over ambitious for my first time. Making the actual cake ball was easy, it was the dipping part that was difficult. The book gives tips on different techniques to use to get the excess candy coating off after the initial dip, but it takes practice! After I was half way finished I decided it would be easier to make them upside down (the white ones). I'll be making them again in about 2 weeks and hopefully my dipping and tapping technique improves.