Just Jen

I know it's the 6th, but HAPPY 4TH!!

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday besides Christmas. I love the hot dogs, the fireworks, the patriotism, the fireworks... :)

I am usually the one out there with a lighter right there in the middle of it, but this year, I had to sit with this little booger who wasn't much of a fan of the firecrackers.

Once it got dark, though and she could see them all lit up, she decided she didn't mind the noise so much. That's my girl. :)

I did make sure I fired off a few of these - well, only 1 of the 3 I bought actually worked, but that's why I buy 3... This little $1.50 firework makes my whole 4th of July. There's only one stand around that stocks them, so we hit them every year. It's just not the same without it... Watch this and you'll see why:

Wood bead t-shirt necklace

Jack has a few special friends that we made (ok, I made...) these cute necklaces for as Valentines. It's never to early to start training him that girls love to get jewelry on Valentine's Day...right?

Here's how to do it:

Paint wooden beads with acrylic craft paints and spray them with a clear acrylic sealer when dry.

Cut a 1.5" wide strip horizontally (so it will have some stretch) across the bottom of a white t-shirt. (You'll want to cut off the bottom hem of the tee first and then cut your strip. ) You'll end up with a big loop.

Cut into the loop so you end up with one long strip.

Center the first bead in the middle of the strip. Knot the fabric on each side to hold it in place.

Add the remaining beads to each side, knotting as you go.

Tie a simple double knot at the top to close it, and done!

Of course, we had to make one for little sister, too!

Jack's Valentines

For the kiddos in Jack's class, I made these owls with paper lunch sacks and filled them with popcorn. I was inspired by these, but wanted to "man" them up a little. I thought they looked a little more mean and tough...

And his teacher got a jar of my salted caramel sauce. I was a little distracted while making this batch, so I am afraid it was a little grainy...but it still eats good anyway!

Christmas ornament making with Jack

This year as a little gift for family and neighbors, Jack and I made these swirly paint ornaments. He loved making them - about 18 in all. They're super easy. Just squirt in some acrylic craft paint into clear glass or plastic ornaments and swirl like crazy. We did 2 colors in each, and let the first color dry for a bit before adding the 2nd one. A word of warning: these take FOREVER to dry, so don't wait until the last minute to start. It's a good idea to turn them upside down to let the excess paint drain out to help them dry faster. Once they were mostly dry, I put the tops back on, tied a little ribbon to the top and wrote on the outside with a white fine tipped paint pen. Everybody loved them, and Jack and I had fun making them together - and well, that was the best part of all.

I'm back.

I knew it had been a while since I had posted, but I didn't realize it had been almost 2 months. Yikes. I promise it's not a case of blog abandonment, but more a of "shove it to the back burner" type thing. We have been some busy little bees! This will be the first in a short series of "catch up" posts. I know we've all moved on from Halloween to Thanksgiving and Christmas, but bear with me while I revisit it for a minute. Because the costumes were awesome and worth the look back - mostly because I worked so hard to make them, and I'm not willing to skip posting about it.

Meet Luke and his sister, Princess Leia.

Luke Skywalker
Jack had no idea who Luke was when we decided on their costumes, but he was a total Star Wars fan by the time Halloween arrived. I figure this is the last year I get to pick his costume, so I wanted to make it count. I sewed his shirt and glued torn strips of fabric to a cheap pair of Target khakis (while he was wearing them – he was SO nice and patient!) and also onto his shoes to make the boots (the shoes were disgusting from playing all summer and he was about to outgrow them anyway). I made his belt from upholstery vinyl and a silvery vinyl fabric. Light saber was from Toys R Us. FYI – this is the BEST fabric glue I have used EVER.

Leia
I had seen a couple of versions of the crocheted hat with buns online and decided to make up my own. I LOVE the way it came out, and the fact that she did not mind it being on her head. I've decided it will be her winter hat since it has built in ear muffs and all. And I'd love to get some more use out if it! Her dress was a simple peasant dress pattern using a white knit. I lengthened the sleeves some, but wish I had lengthened them a bit more, along with increasing the overall length of the dress. But by the time I figured that out it was done, and I was over it. I made her belt following this awesome tutorial. Simple white tights and shoes, and she was complete.

It's sort of tradition that the kids come up for a visit to my office so I can show them off in their costumes. They drew quite a crowd - notice my zombie friends lurking behind the wall of the cube. They were so nice to keep their distance so as not to scare them. :)

Yip Yips

I work at a place where Halloween is a BIG deal and people really get into it. My group worked together to make 10 of these Yip Yip costumes. And we totally blew away the competition in the group costume contest. It almost wasn't fair. We followed this tutorial to make them but substituted 4 yds of regular fleece for the blanket and left an opening in the black mesh in the mouth so we could expose our heads without having to take the whole thing off. I will say the anonymity was the best part. We interrupted every meeting we came across that day! In case you are interested, I am the dark purple Yip. Self portrait, and current facebook profie pic, below:

Valentine's Surprise

Just received these, hand-delivered to my office by my little guy, along with dad and sister. What a great Valentine's Day afternoon surprise!

Valentine Pretzel Buttons

I whipped up these super-cute and super-fast (not to mention super-yummy) Valentine treats from g*rated for my co-workers today. They're that perfect combo of salty/sweet/crunchy. The diet can wait one more day, right? :)

Happy Heart Day to ya!

Crayon Heart Valentines

Jack's Valentine party at school is on Monday, so this weekend I figured I better buckle down and knock out the Valentines for his class. I wanted to make them myself (becuase it's just more fun that way!), and after scouring Pinterest for ideas, these crayon hearts from WhipperBerry caught my eye. I remembered my mom helping us make big, mixed up crayons in muffin cups from all our broken crayons when we were little, so I thought these would be fun for a group of 2-3 yr olds. We haven't been using crayons long enough to have the vast collection of nubs that we would need to make enough of them, so I went ahead and bought some new ones. I followed WhipperBerry's instructions using the same silicone heart mold and baking temp/time, and they came out perfect. I haven't yet decided how I'm going to package them up, though. I've got to leave a little fun for the last minute, right?

I couldn't resist taking this pic after I peeled off all the wrappers. Something about new crayons arranged like this makes the artist in me very happy. :)

Rethinking Ribbon

What a great alternative to expensive ribbon! Martha suggests finishing off wrapped gifts with inexpensive crepe paper streamers. Love this idea! How-to here.

Free Printable Gift Labels

Check out these free printable gift labels from BHG.com! Super cute and a time-saver to boot.