Halloween eyeball lollipops class treats!

Matty is in 3rd grade now and so I wanted to find a treat he could give out that was a little more grown up but still cute! I found this idea and made my spin on it.  I bought a bunch of tootsie pops because I liked the size of them.  

The I cut out pieces of white tissue paper. No art to this. Just figure out how much will cover it and make sure you double up to cover the color of the tootsie pop wrappers.  To keep the tissue on I tied bakers twine around them and attached little tags that said "Eye hope you have a Happy Halloween! From, Matthew" 

 I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out a strip of green vinyl circle for the pupil. They measured .35 inches. 

I placed one green dot in the center of each white pop.

Then I drew a black dot in the center of them with a sharpie.

The last step is drawing on the red "blood shot" squiggly lines. Again I used a sharpie. And then I was done!!! How cute are these?! I hope his friends love them as much as we do! 

Chalkboard homework table tutorial

This is a great idea for a back to school project!

Let me start out by saying that I bought this little side table at Ikea a few years back for $7.  It was cheap and I really had no specific perpose for it at the time but over the years it has become where my little ones eat, craft and play games.  It's safe to say it has taken a beating and up close it looks pretty bad.  But hey! It was $7!!!! 

I cleaned the table up then sanded down any rough edges.  In hindsight I should have probably sanded the entire top because it was a shiny white laquar.  Once it was clean. I removed the links from the top.

  I took the top outside and using chalkboard spray paint I did 2 thick coats.  Once it was dry I put the legs back on and it was done!

Now it's ready to be scribbled all over!! My son can use it when he does his homework and we can save on scratch paper because he can do his math problems right on the table!! It's also going to come in handy on game nights as we can use it to keep score!!

There you have it...within hours a perfectly new looking homework station/game table completely redone!!

DIY bat signal tutorial

In honor of Batman's 75th anniversary and we decided to make a DIY homemade bat signal! All you need is:

*1 container with a plastic clear lid.  Any size will do.  In this case we used a small 6oz container of peanuts we bought at the dollar store.

*1 piece of black cardstock or construction paper

*scissors

*1 battery operated tea light.  I also purchased this at the dollar store in a 2 pack.

Step 1: empty and clean the canister and remove the label. 

Step 2: draw out your bat symbol onto the black paper.  It's kind of hard to see but we used pencil.

Step 3: then we cut it out and taped it to our lid. 

The last step is to put the light inside the canister turned on.  There you have it! Your DIY batsignal! It makes a perfect personal nightlight too!!

Pop can teacher gifts tutorial

I saw this idea a few years back and I don't remember where but I absolutely LOVE this idea!! It's always a teacher favorite and a wow moment as the recipient tries to figure out how you got the goodies into the can. It's actually pretty simple.  You start out by purchasing any 15oz can with a pull top. In my case, I bought fruit cocktails, peaches and madarin oranges because I figured it would be easiest to go through those but it really doesn't matter what the contents are.  We're only going to use the cans.

Step 1: To empty them, open the cans from the bottom instead of using the pop tops.  We want to preserve those.  I use an old fashion can opener and try to keep it attached at the very end just a little.  The newer can openers that cut the lids off on the outside are harder to glue back together. They don't quite fit back in.

Step 2: once your cans are empty, make sure you carefully clean them out and dry them.  Just remember there will be sharp edges. Also, pull the label off at this point.

Step 3: fill the cans about half way with whatever candy you choose.  I used hershey kisses and starbursts.  Then to add some pretty, stuff a little tissue paper to fill the other half.  

Step 4: once your cans are filled, push the can bottom back down and hot glue them shut.  This part won't look pretty but that's ok! No one will even see it!  

Step 4:  use the label from the can as a guide and cut some scrapbook paper the same size.  Wrap the paper around the can.  I hot glued them since I already had the gun warmed up but you could also use tape or gluedots. For the label, I just typed up the cute little saying and added each of my children's names.  I glued that to the paper before gluing the paper to the can just to make sure I centered the arrow with the tab.

Step 5: add some colorful ribbon to the tab just to give it a little more flair.  I tried to use ribbon that matched the papers.  

And then your done!! Your final products sure to wow your child's teacher! Total cost is around $1-2 a can depending on what kind of candy you use and whether you already have ribbon laying around.  I already had most of the supplies in my craft drawers.

Hollywood Baby Shower Wrap-Up!

I hacked into Veronica's blog so I could tell you more about the shower! This was such a fun party to put together! I absolutely loved how it all came together...and more importantly Mommy-to-be loved it too!

PARTY DETAILS...
Morgan, the Mommy-to-be loves hollywood so the shower theme was obvious! She's expecting a boy so we rolled out the blue carpet...literally! Adding blue to the glitzy gold, red, and black made for a perfect glam blend.

DECOR
I have to admit...I'm addicted to Pinterest. So some of the party decorations may look familiar. I did find some of the ideas there...but I created some of them myself! And, I bought most of the supplies at the dollar store!

1. Backdrop: A DIY Photo booth & Backdrop made out of PVC pipes! My dear friend Gina at Thrift Town created this a few months back for Good Day Sacramento. It's super easy to put together. I've used it for so many parties!
  To cover it up--plastic tablecloths from the dollar store, taped to the pipes...blue ribbon to gather the red "curtains"...the gold tassles were a fun and cheap embellishment I picked up -- for less than $2 each -- at Joann's.

2. Hollywood Star: this is one of my favorite pieces! I wanted this to be BIG...really BIG so I used the cricut to cut 5 different triangles -- in shiny blue and gold -- then put them together to create the star. I used an extra piece of blue to fill in the middle. The letters and baby image came from the cricut too. I glued the star to black poster board from the dollar store then tied it to the PVC pipe using ribbon.

3. Red Ropes: I wanted red sanctions to line my blue carpet, but they are so expensive! For weeks I searched for a way to do it myself and found nothing. Then one day as I'm walking through the patio I glance over and see a pool noodle on the table -- BAM! It hit me -- pool noodles covered with red table clothes!

I bought noodles and table cloths at the dollar store. I threaded gold string (joann's) through the noodle to hang to tie to the PVC pipe. For the ropes outside -- I randomly found shepherd hooks on clearance at Joann's for $1.80!! I bought 4 and used those on the front walkway. Blue carpet = felt...$2/yd at Joann's.

MAIN TABLE DECOR

This table turned out FABULOUS!! I was so happy with it! My dear friends Lisa and Lori did such an awesome job putting it all together! I made all the pieces...but they put the puzzle together!

1. DIRECTOR SLATE: this was super easy -- black poster board from the dollar store and white duct tape! I used the cricut to cut out the letters and chalk for the written details.

2. MOVIE CAMERA: I taped black scrapbook paper to a wipes box and spray-painted a styrofoam piece from the dollar store for the lens. For the the movie reels -- 2 styrofoam wreaths from the dollar store,  covered with blue and black scrapbook paper, blue duct tape around the wreath . I used the cricut to cut the circles in black paper and make a gold star for the side.

3. MARQUEE LETTER 'C'...IN HONOR OF BABY CRUZ: I saw this all over pinterest! I really wanted to use lights, but opted for the less expensive DIY from Fiskars.

4. DIAPER REELS: Instead of a cake...a diaper reel! I rolled up the diapers and held them together with a rubberband. I used 2 bags of newborn diapers for all 3 reels. I wrapped blue duct tape around the diapers...then taped blue and black scrapbook paper to the top and bottom. Again, I used my cricut to make all the circles.

5. CHANDELIER: Loved how this turned out! Super easy and cheap! Dollar store hula hoop spray painted gold and hung stars with string! I bought some of the stars at the dollar store...I also made some using the cricut ...just to give it a little variety! I strung the stars like garland...I hole punched the top and bottom of the stars ...threaded the gold string and tied it to the hula hoop.

6. BABY BOTTLE OSCARS: Veronica actually saw this on pinterest! I love it!! Super cute and easy!
My daughter is past the bottle so I found 4 old bottles, spray-painted them gold then hot-glued them to a small circular styrofoam...spray-painted black.

PRINTABLES...
I do all my printable shopping at Lil' Party Animals . Veronica did such an awesome job with all the labels and signage! I love the glitzy SWAG sign!

FOOD...
This was a summer shower and on this particular day temperatures hit 100+ degrees so we wanted food to be easy but fun and filling! My friend Lori suggested salads -- brilliant! We made 5 different salads and put them in jars -- as seen on Pinterest -- and it was a total hit!

I think that's it! This shower was a success because of my awesomely creative team -- Team Cray Cray. Thank you!

Thank you for letting me share!

Julissa