Tinkerbell!

Megan's birthday will be here soon, and I'm at a total loss as to what to get her for a present. This is one of the (few) things I've come up with so far. I'd been wanting to play around with polymer clay for awhile, but had never gotten around to it. On one of my last visits to Michaels, I saw that it was on sale. If you know me, "sale" is my language!

Megan is really into Tinkerbell, and lately has gotten very interested in baubles and dress up. So, making a Tinkerbell necklace was a natural choice for my first clay project. The clay is really easy to work with - I was actually pleasantly surprised.

I knew I wanted to make her a bead, and so it was 2peas to the rescue! I posted a question there about doing the hole before baking, or after baking and the talented ladies there told me before baking would be easiest. So, I poked a hole in her and put her in the oven. Then, it was another trip to Michaels for the beads. I put it on elastic jewelry cord because I know Megan will want to take it on and off herself, and if the necklace has a clasp, I know it'll get broken sooner or later.

I'm pleased with how she turned out, especially for my first try at polymer clay. I did just realize that I forgot to put tiny beads in the holes I made for her eyes, so I'll have to add those. Megan will love this necklace, I'm sure!

Birthday Countdown Calendar!

Megan's birthday is coming up rather quickly, so we're officially in the countdown mode now! This is a fun way for her to watch her birthday get closer! The concept is the same as my Christmas Countdown Calendar, just tailored with a birthday theme. It comes together fairly quickly - in about an hour or so.

I found this cute metal serving tray at Dollar Tree (I love that store!). Besides the tray, I used 3 sheets of matching scrapbook paper, 1 sheet of solid cardstock, chipboard scrapbook letters ("days" and "til"), Scrabble game tiles ("my") and a rhinestone word ("birthday", found in scrapbook sections of craft stores or at scrapbook stores), ribbon, magnets, Modge Podge, and various scrapbook supplies (inks, pens).

First, I cut the background paper to the size of the bottom of the tray and glued it down with Modge Podge.

Next, cut I cut the two accent papers (the pinkish color at the bottom and the "wavy" stripe) and glued them down with Modge Podge.

I used my Cricut machine to cut out little party hats and the numbers on the solid color cardstock. If you don't have a Cricut, you could simply cut out circles by hand or use pre-made tags or embellishments you can find in the scrapbook section and stickers for the numbers. You'll need numbers 1-9, 0, and an extra 1 and 2. I glued the numbers on the party hats and inked around the edges for a little extra pizazz. I cut pieces off of a roll of self-adhesive magnets and adhered them to the back of each party hat.

Now I glued down my words "days til my birthday" on top of my background paper.

Finally, I punched holes in the tray with my Crop-o-dile and tied ribbon through the holes to hang it. If you don't have a Crop-o-dile, simply hot glue the ends of the ribbon to the back.

Happy Easter!

I spent quite a bit of time cleaning this week (well overdue, I may add!) and while I was at it, I got out my Easter decorations. I've been in cupcake mode for Megan's upcoming birthday, and had made a couple of banners that say "Happy Birthday" when I decided I'd go through my paper stash and find some Easter papers for an Easter banner.

I've got a Cricut machine, so that made creating this a snap! I used it to cut out the squares with the scalloped edges (they are 5 1/2" inches). The patterned paper squares I cut out myself with a paper trimmer while the background squares were being cut on the Cricut. The patterned paper squares are 4 1/2", and I used a corner rounder on the corners. The letters are 2 1/2" and are the "Mickey Font" cartridge. I used 3-m foam tape to adhere the letters and chalked around the edges to give it some dimension.

To hang the banner, I put eyelets in the corner so the paper wouldn't tear. Then, I used a long piece of tulle to string them all together. (Look for spools of tulle at the dollar store or in the wedding sections of craft stores). Finally, I tied pieces of ribbon in between the letters for a fun touch.

To hang it on my mantle, I used 3-M command hooks (I have a love affair with these things - they are fantastic!). I love how cute and Spring-y it looks!

I'll post the "Happy Birthday" versions soon!

Rhinestone Iron On Transfers - Part 2

I posted a while ago with pictures of the rhinestone iron-on transfers I made for the girls to wear to Disneyland. Here is a picture of the girls in the finished product. The blue shirt is the Ariel transfer and the white shirt has the Tinkerbell.

It's a good thing the girls loved them, because I had so much fun making them there is quite a few more in their future!

New Use for Dryer Sheets

I swear I learn just about everything on 2Peas, and this is one of them!

We've got a glass shower - with clear glass, no less. I'll squeegee, but nobody else does, so we end up with water spots all over the glass. Cleaning that glass is one of my very least favorite things to do, so I'll admit that I let it go so long our clear glass looked etched at the bottom! Anyway, one day on 2Peas there was a cleaning thread, and this was one of the tips there. I was skeptical, but I tried it. I was AMAZED at how well it worked! My glass was so bad I had to go over it a couple of times, but darned if it didn't clean it well. Want to know how? It really is this simple:
-Save your dryer sheets after you do laundry (yup, you'll reuse them) Wait until you have a good sized pile before cleaning (you'll use a lot)
-When your shower is wet, take a dryer sheet and rub it on the glass in a circular motion and rub off the hard water spots
-Rinse
Seriously, that's it and you'll be surprised how well it works!

Art Station

We're big on arts and crafts in our house. We've got easels set up in our living room, there's a desk dedicated to drawing and crafts in our kitchen, and my kitchen counters have glitter permanently adhered to them. (It's purple glitter and stuck in my grout, in case you were curious). So, we've got an endless supply of colored pencils, markers, chalk and crayons to contain.

I've found lots of pretty or inventive containers to corral such things, but they require too much effort on the part of my little ones (porcupine with crayon "quills", anyone?). So, I need something cute, but easy.

I found this set up when I was trolling the isles of Ikea one day (with no kiddos in tow, thanks to their fabulous play area!). It's from the kitchen section and is designed to hold cutlery. It wasn't expensive - about $3 for the rail and about $3 for each bucket. It hangs above their little table and makes cleanup quite simple and looks cute, to boot!

Hooray for Senator Jon Kyl!

Like many of you who make handmade items for babies and children, I've spent a lot of time contacting politicians regarding the changes made to the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSIA) that regard required lead testing for all items that can be used on or by children under 12. It's a law that will put thousands of small businesses out of business.

I contacted and received responses regarding this law from my two Senators - John McCain and Jon Kyl. The response from Senator McCain was not worth the paper it was printed on. As for the response from Jon Kyl - it was short, sweet and to the point. Not only that, but Senator Kyl was one of three (yes, 3!) Senators who voted AGAINST the changes to the law. I'm saddened that so many of our lawmakers voted for something that will hurt so many small businesses in America and that doesn't really accomplish what it intended to do, but happy that there are at least 3 voices of reason that were willing to stand out in this whole mess.

So, Senator Kyl - Kudos!