Thursday, May 24, 2012

School is out!!!

My school is out.  My two oldest kids are still in so me and my little buddy are hanging out.  I'm starting to recover from the craziness that is the end of school and so crafting is about to resume.  Hopefully, blogging will follow!! 

I'm working on some 4th of July stuff, teacher gifts, and a big wood sign for my dining room.  Hopefully I can finish these up and share them soon!!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Complaining Post

Gonna complain a little bit...sorry.  But it's been a bad bad week or so. 

I hurt my foot last Wednesday while doing Jazzercise.  I felt a searing pain through my ankle and then in my heel. I didn't have to stop my class but as the day went on it hurt worse and worse.  It woke me up all that night because it hurt so bad.  The next day I didn't know what to do about work.  I move from classroom to classroom, go up and down stairs, and am on my feet most of the time I am in each classroom. I was determined that I would NOT call in sick because my foot hurt!  That seemed awfully silly.  But by the time I walked across the parking lot and got into the building I was in tears.  I knew I wouldn't make it.  So I gave the teachers the lesson I was going to do with the kids and went home to rest my foot.  Friday I went to the doctor and he said some of the fibers in the ligament in my foot had torn.  He wrapped my foot, gave me a prescription for Naproxen and sent me home to rest my foot and ice it.  The tape helps a lot.  I was actually supposed to take it off yesterday but I was scared it would hurt at work this morning so I left it on.  Then I was going to take it off after work...but I've been home an hour and a half and it's still on!  I have to go back to pick up my son and then I found out I'm getting some sort of award at the PTA meeting at my older kids school tonight and I don't want to limp up there so I think I'll leave the tape on tonight.  I go back to the doctor tomorrow - we'll see what he says!

And if constant foot pain isn't enough, yesterday my husband and I BOTH had some sort of weird stomach virus.  I spent almost 24 hours feeling like I was going to...you know...get sick - I never actually did but just constantly felt like I was on the verge.  Torture.  Plus, it's really hard when both mom AND dad are sick.  The kids didn't mind getting to watch videos all afternoon and having Happy Meals for dinner though.

I'm trying to recover today but I still feel pretty yucky. 

Sorry to complain.  I do have some good stuff to share about my daughter's First Communion that she celebrated last Saturday.  I made her a cute shirt for the after party with my Silhouette Cameo that I need to share.  I'll get some pics of it and get that put up soon!!

Hope your week is going better than mine!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Popcorn and Candy Party

I teased you the other day with this post and then I disappeared! Sorry about that. To say it's been insanely crazy busy around here is the understatement of the year!  I will try to do better.  Although...I have to say, there are not a WHOLE lot of projects being done around here lately with end of the year school stuff going on.   But I do want to share something I put a lot of time into last month that turned out so cute.  I was extremely proud.

I found this on a blog one day and instantly fell in love.  I knew I wanted to do something similar as a decoration for my daughter's first communion party.



The tutorial said that I should be able to find at any home improvement store.  I also found this...

which also said that she got the boards at Home Depot.  Guess what I couldn't find...anywhere??  Not at Home Depot, Lowes, a local lumber store - no where.  I was SO frustrated and disappointed.  But then I thought about this bench that has been sitting on my front porch for many many years.

Bench that needs to be re-done
Old bench that I've been meaning to fix up

It has definitely seen better MUCH better days!  I have been wanting to fix it up and repaint it but then I decided it had a new purpose in life!  So I got to work...taking it all apart, sanding and putting it back together in it's new form.

Here I am using a power sander!!

Me using a power tool!

and here is is after I nailed it all together.  But...I got it a little crooked so hubby had to re-do it for me.

Spacing a little off
My first attempt at a little fence - spacing a little off

Then I painted it yellow and VOILA!  I think it turned out so cute!  Here it is decorated for a party that I'll tell you about in a minute.
Finished product - little fence with fabric flowers

The no sew fabric flowers were SUPER easy to make. Here's a link to the tutorial.

I did end up using the flowers and fence for my daughter's first Communion party (which I'll post about soon), but another event came up a few weeks ago that was perfect for this cute little fence and flowers.  I had the opportunity to decorate the teacher's lounge in my kids' school for a popcorn and candy party for teacher appreciation week.  I had more fun with this than anything I've done in a while.  I shopped around for apothecary jars, pretty bowls, and made fun decorations with my Silhouette Cameo.  Here are some pics of the teacher's lounge all decorated for the party.

Candy and popcorn party - fabric flowers, big lollipops.

I used this Pinterest find for the giant lollipops and the hard candy on the wall.

Source: parents.com via Stevie on Pinterest


The candy table...

Popcorn and candy party
Popcorn and candy party
I ordered the cute candy cups and two of the cute little apothecary jars from TomKat Studios Party Shop.  They have ADORABLE stuff - very affordable and they shipped to me lightening fast.

Popcorn table...

Popcorn and candy party
Popcorn and candy party





I made these little banners with my Cameo - the one over the popcorn says salty and the one on the fence on the candy table says sweet.

"Salty" banner
I also had a fun candy bar game.  I passed out clues to the teachers.  For example - Famous swashbuckling trio of old.  Then they had to guess what type of candy the clue referred to -  in this case, 3 Musketeers.  They had to fill it out and turn it in and at the end of the day I drew one out and that person got all the candy that were the answers.  I put the candy on a tray in the teacher's lounge so they could get help when they got stuck.


Candy bar game


All in all, it turned out really cute.  The teachers had a great time with the game and raved about the decorations.  And the jalapeno ranch flavored popcorn I got was a HUGE hit.  It was all gone before lunch!


I just hope it made them feel appreciated because they do such wonderful work!!