Tea Party part two

I organized Zoe's party down to the last minute. My house was not big enough to have 7 girls running willy nilly through the halls! When each girl arrived I had her pick out a party hat and "pearl" necklace. I strung the beads together myself with a box of beads I found at Micheal's. I used a 40% off coupon making this a really inexpensive favor for the girls to take home. About $0.80 per girl...or so. I also added a pretty pink satin ribbon to each one. For the party hats I went to the dollar store and bought a package of shiny metallic looking hats and recovered them in the paper I was using for the party. The paper? I bought a pack of scrapbook paper, and once again using a 40% off coupon I got 160 sheets of coordinating paper for around $12. You will be seeing this paper on everything! I also added a crepe paper fringe around the bottom of each girls hat, and for Zoe I added a fancy "6" and pom pom on the top. After the girls had their hat and pearls on I had them sit in front of a giant teacup made of foam board and scrapbook paper and took their picture! I had Steven get the pictures developed within an hour so each girl could take it home at the end of the party! This was his one and only job! The pictures turned out SO great! This was a favorite of the Mom's too ;)

Valentine Box

I couldn't find a box to buy to make Zoe's Valentine box for school. I didn't have a shoe box we could use either. So, I am standing in the kitchen thinking to myself, "what on earth can we use???hmmmm" And it hit me...the ginormous goldfish cracker box. Sweet! Here's what I did...

Completely open the top and clean out crumbs with something damp...I use a cleaning wipe...

Wrap the box with wrapping paper...Neatly fold the paper on the bottom so that it still sits flat...On the top be sure to carefully fold paper over and tape down...Gently fold box top back together...Staple top back together...Using an exacto knife carefully cut square into paper only and fold down...Next carefully cut into box to form flap...be sure to leave the bottom uncut...Tape paper onto flap...Decorate until your hearts content...Done!

The Anytime Bunting Pattern

I made a PDF of the shapes I used to create my Valentine's Day bunting and added it here for those who, like me, do not own a do it all expensive cutting machine. Geez I would love to get my crafty little hands on one though! I based the size for this bunting on Vintage Indie's free printable for Valentine's Day and for Christmas, but it can certainly be used anytime! Embellishing these is endless! Not to mention the paper choices out there! Just print the image on 8 1/2 by 11 card stock and cut out the patterns. I made two versions. One has a single point and the other has a double point. Use one or the other or both. If you have any questions feel free to ask! And please note that this is not a fancy schmancy pattern. Nope, just hand drawn.

Anytime Bunting Pattern

And if you would rather just spell out a word you can skip printing the images. Again, endless possibilities! Enjoy!

Valentine Bunting

I have been seeing a wide variety of banners or buntings all over blogland for such a long time now I figured it was time I jumped on the bandwagon. I had started a Halloween one back in October but couldn't get it finished with everything else I had to make back then. But right now it seemed like perfect timing since I have pretty much nothing on my plate. I found the images of these sweet little vintage valentines on Vintage Indie.After I made up my pattern for all the papers they went together really easily. I added some black glitter around the Valentines and added a little red jewel towards the point at the bottom. I tied it all together with some tiny black ribbon and added the lacy ribbon on the ends for stringing up. I think I love it.

Anytime Bunting Pattern posted here.

Handyman Hayden is Two!

For Hayden's 2nd birthday we celebrated together as a family and threw a slightly bigger party for extended family the following week. I decided on a Handyman/construction sort of theme. Here are a few of the handmade items I threw together for his big day.

Invitations- original idea from here. I couldn't get the files to work so I just drafted my own patterns for everything. The paint brush was a favorite of min e because of the "bristles".

Happy Birthday banner-just paint chips with cut out letters, double sticked taped on, two holes punched and attached with string. Easy.

Door sign. I sketched it out from images of constructions signs I found on a google image search, and just added a party hat. This gave pleanty of chuckles to the adults at the party.Tool box party favors. That hold animal crackers just right. I will work up an animal box favor box pattern...soon...hopefully :)

Hayden's "2" shirt and hard hat

The cakes-cupcakes for his actual birthday and a cake for his party. I used Wilton's candy clay recipe for the yellow and green details on his tape measure cake. I also used this Cake Boss frosting recipe...Best. Frosting. I. Have. Ever. Made...yummmm.

I also tied balloons to some cones I found at the party supply store.

All in all I would say this was my favorite birthday party we have hosted. Simple and inexpensive.

My SUPER big long project

I started this Christmas gift way back in July.
I was so very proud of myself.
Everything but a simple bag to put it is was finished!
THEN, sometime around October I went to show it off and for whatever reason the modge podge decided to adhere everything together. I had waited a week before packing it up being sure to let everything dry and not be sticky anymore.
This had never happened before!
I think I had a bad batch of modge podge.
So, after doing some sanding, exacto knifing, re papering, paint touching up, and modge podging it all over again- I still loved it.
It was ten times more work and took ten time longer to finish than it should have, but I think the Mom and Dad to the little 10 month old were pleased. Especially when they saw the little Super Hero personalized for their little "A".
I found inspiration for this project from all different places. Here and here. The word blocks was my idea- if it's already out there I have no clue.
I bought the wooden blocks and little people here and used this pad of scrapbook paper.
I tried to keep the blocks super-hero-esk (yep that is totally a word). All in all this was my favorite project to gift this year.

phew! After looking back through this post I think I should have titled it My SUPER big long post!- I just loved how all the pictures turned out and wanted to share them all :)

Happy New...

...Blog

If your coming from My Zoe Bug, then you might already know me. If your just finding me then let me fill you in a bit. My name is Amy. I am a stay at home mom to my 2 kids, Zoe-age 5, and Hayden-age 2. I create, I cook, simply put, I make. One day I might go back to painting or textile arts, but for now I live my creative endeavors through sewing, knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking, etc...mostly what some would call crafts. My mind pretty much never shuts off and I am always thinking of new things to create. My former blog (My Zoe Bug) became more disorganized than I would like. It became more like a junk drawer filled up with an assortment of ideas and thoughts and not so coherent for me anymore. So, in a nut shell, here I am at my attempt to better organize my thoughts and my creative mind.

...Year

This year I make no resolutions. I never do actually. I simply "do". I always find it interesting to proclaim you will do something when you simply can do something. Actions speak louder is all I'm saying. Not to mention the pressure of it all! What I will be doing here on my little blog is sharing my creative adventures both old and new. I plan to introduce some of my old posts... freshen them up a bit. This will hopefully keep everything in order all nice and tidy. I'm not very organized in other areas of my life but if a list can be made then I am all over it!

...Etsy

I plan to reopen Zoe Bug, my etsy shop sometime in the next few months. I was able to do one craft show this past December and it made my creative juices start flowing once more in an embroidered felt sort of way :). I have some new ideas and poissibly will be sharing a tutorial or two along the way.

So, there you have it. A new blog (which still needs a ton of work), a new year, and a new (or should I say back to) etsy shop. I will leave with the view of my kitchen window. Paper snowflakes. Zoe and I spent the afternoon cutting pasting and stickering so we could have a snowy January. It helps take the edge off the Holiday let down :)