Gift Bags with Coordinating Cards and Tags

Every 3 years, the youth at our church go to a nationwide event.  They do fundraisers throughout the 3 years to pay their way and the final fundraiser is a Basket Auction.  Members of the church are asked to donate a basket filled with various things to be auctioned off...a movie night basket, a pedicure basket, a chocolate lovers basket, etc... It's always a fun event!  I have been using every excuse possible to use my craft stuff lately, so I put together an "Everything but the Gifts" basket.  I picked up 4 gift bags and a pack of tissue paper, then I made cards and tags to go with each one.  So the recipient of my basket will have everything they need to give a gift, except the gift.

(Sorry for the crazy lighting in the pictures.  It was late by the time I was finished!)

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

~Anika

Party Pics!

Just enough time to upload a few party pics...

Singing Happy Birthday

Cake Smashing! (I think they ate mostly frosting, by the time they got to the cake, they were done!)

Post-Cake Smashing Bath in the sinks! (Ashton was loving it, apparently!)

They napped for quite awhile after the party, but when they woke up, the first thing they did was ride their new 4-wheelers! Here's Ezra showing Ashton where his favorite button (the one that plays a song) is!

And here is our family picture from the Photo Booth at the party.

There's a taste, more to come!

~Anika

Week 1 & Week 52

After seeing this from the creative John and Sherry of Young House Love, I really wanted to try it with my boys. So for the past 52 weeks, I have put the boys in white onesies and found a blanket or a piece of fabric to take their picture on. Sometimes it only took 5 minutes, other times it took several Takes over the course of a couple days. But, I did it! All 52 weeks of their first year! I also took monthly pictures with a Tigger Stuffed Animal; I plan to continue that photo project for at least another year.

While I won't be posting all 52 pictures here on the blog (they are in my facebook albums, however), I did want to share Week 1 & Week 52.

Ezra Steven

(He wouldn't stop kicking his legs around!)

and...

Ashton Jay

Amazing how much they grow in a year!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Anika

1st Birthday Party: Dr. Seuss Theme

Today was party day!! My boys are officially 1! Their party was a blast. I'll be posting more pictures soon, but here are some of the decorations I was working on in my last few posts...

The Boys' Table: Tissue Paper Pom Pom background, Party hats, Newborn pictures, Happy Birthday Balloons. I hadn't attached their caddies to the table yet in this picture. We also had a plastic table cloth on the floor to catch the frosting and cake!

Table Centerpieces: Dr. Seuss book and plush character on a square of Dr. Seuss fabric. I have collected the characters and books for my classroom over the past several years from the Kohl's Cares for Kids program at Kohl's stores. I ordered a Fat Quarter Stack of Dr. Seuss fabric from thefatquartershop.com. I'm planning to make the boys pillows out of it now that the party is over.

Welcome Table: Happy Birthday to You books and a poem directing people to leave the boys a birthday message, Truffula Trees, Dr. Seuss Books, a picture of the boys and the Lunch Box party favors for the kiddos. (The party was at our church, which explains the picture of The Last Supper.)

Photo Booth!!: This was what I was most excited for! I made this background using inspiration from Horton Hears a Who...

...and there was a table next to the background of various props for guests to use in their pictures. They included a couple kittywampus frames painted red and blue, party hats that I covered in Dr. Seuss patterned paper that I purchased on etsy, green Sneetches stars, a feather boa, a white puff (Horton's clover), Thing 1 and Thing 2 circles, Dr. Seuss's ABC Book, and a platter of Green Eggs and Ham.

I'm working on editing the rest of the pictures from the party so check back soon for them!

Thanks for visiting!

~Anika

Birthday Decor: Truffula Trees

I mentioned in my last post that some of the Tissue Paper Pom Poms I made were going to be Truffula Trees. All I had to do was figure out how to attach them to the branches that we had painted yellow to look like the tree trunks.

(Yes, that's my husband watching The Masters in the background.)

It ended up being way easier than I imagined. All it took was a large paperclip to hold the pom pom onto the branch! I just pushed the branch through the middle of the pom pom and secured the paperclip on to one of the accordion folds on either side. Easy peasy! I now have 4 trees. Not exactly sure which area of the party room they will end up in, but possible around the food or cake table. I'm going to use a terra cotta flower pot flipped upside down to hold them up. (The branches will fit through the drainage hole.) The tall ones will be in pot and the short ones in another. Then I'll drape some fabric around the pot to hide it. Here are some close ups...

Only 4 days until Party Day and I need to go tend to the "Roast Beast" in my crock pot! Have a great day!

~Anika

More Party Projects

I've been working on some more things for the party.

First up are bunches of Tissue Paper Pom Poms. These red, white & blue ones will hang behind the boys' chairs so the background of the cake smashing pictures will be cute!

These ones will be attached to sticks that we painted making them into Truffula Trees that will decorate other areas of the room.

These last 2 pictures are sneak peaks at the thing I am most excited for at the party, but you will have to wait until the party is over to find out exactly what that is!

The ham is made from a circle of cardboard and some balled up tissue paper. The eggs are made from white caulk and ping pong balls. We spray painted the ham and ping pong balls green, then I used a circle of white paper and Sharpie to add the details to the ham. (Still need to add the fork to the ham.)

Any guesses as to what this stuff is for??

Time for me to get back to working on more projects! Hope you enjoy your Easter weekend!

~Anika

Birthday Onesies

With about 2 weeks until the party, I am getting a little nervous about getting all the projects done, but I don't have to worry about what they are going to wear anymore!! Yesterday I found time to make these onesies.

I can't take credit for the design; I got the idea from searching around on etsy. Then, I found a Dr. Seuss font and printed out a big number one to use as a pattern then I just used some HeatnBond UltraHold to adhere the 1 and the suspenders to the onesie. I had planned to stitch around it for extra hold, but the instructions on the HeatnBond said not to (they recommended using HeatnBond Light for that). Definitely saved me some time, so that's a plus! Ezra gets the blue #1 and Ashton will wear the red #1. They will probably wear them with black pants, but if they grow a bit in the next two weeks the new jeans I bought them might fit.

Well, the boys are both napping so I'm going to try to get to some more projects! Have a great day!

~Anika