Princess Baby Gift

 One of my good friends just had baby #4...and it was a girl.  She has three adorable boys, so we are all pretty excited they get a sister.  She also happens to be a Disney fan.  I went on a hunt for Disney themed gifts, and then made a few crafts to go with them.  I found this romper on eBay.  Her favorite movie is Snow White.  Then I made a little felt bow using this tutorial.  I also bought some elastic baby headbands from eBay.

 She named her baby Aurora Rose after Sleeping beauty, so I had to do a pink theme.  I made this name banner and a onsie with her name on it using my embroidery machine.

 I found a mirror rattle on Amazon and a little crown clip at Hobby Lobby.

I made a few other bows and sent this off.  Incidentally, this was the second package I've sent in less than three weeks...I'm all about the spoiling.  

Pinwheel Princess Bow

 I've made many a bow in the last few years as my friends started producing baby girls.  I decided to explore the cheerleaderish type bow.  This little pink mess is a pinwheel bow.  For the center I used these little crown buttons I found at Hobby Lobby.
All you need is ribbon (I used some that is about 3/4 inch thing), a thinner/matching piece for the center (if you aren't using a button, you tie a little knot and either glue it down or sew it down).  Wire/thread or glue for the middle to hold it together, and a match or fire to heat the edges of the ribbon so it won't fray, scissors, and glue.

 I decided on the side I wanted it to be and just took my ribbon, left a tail the size of the loop, and went back...

 ...and forth (to loops here)...

 ...and back and forth again so you now have two loops on each side, and two tails.  I overlapped it by about 2/3 of the ribbon so my pinwheel wouldn't be too wide.  You are actually looking at what is going to be the back of the bow here (the tails will be on the front).

 Pinch it in the middle (the tails should still be facing the back)....

 ...then accordion fold each side back up towards the pinched center.

 At this point you can tie it with wire, sew it (like I did), or glue it.

 I sewed the crown onto the front.  You could tie a knot in your thinner piece of ribbon, then glue it to the front, and wrap the ends around the back, overlapping your clip.

 Since I did a different center, I used my ribbon, slide it between the back of my alligator clip, glued it down, and wrapped it up to meet my crown at the front...

 Glued down...

 ...glued over the top towards the crown...

 ...ready to clip...

 I used the flame to sheer the edges of the ribbon tails so they won't fray....ready for a princess' head.

DIY Lace Princess Crown

 I've been seeing little lace crowns around the net for awhile, and I finally had a reason to make my own (no....not for my personal use...more to come on that later), but I think these are such cute, AND easy projects for parties/Halloween.  I've seen a lot of tutorials with different styled lace, some sprayed gold or silver. I found this roll of pink lace at Hobby Lobby.  It was half off, so...2 bucks...and I can make enough crowns for all my friends.  All you need is lace and mod podge (a glue paste that's basically 2 parts glue and 1 part water mixed).

 I glued my lace together to the side I wanted it, then covered it with mod podge and I let it dry over a jar to hold the shape. It just took a few hours for the glue to dry clear.  

 I sewed it onto a head band at a crooked angle for fun.

 Ready for royalty.

Fairy Play Tent

 I was eating at a tea room in a high end department store last Christmas.  I looked over and I saw this fairy tent that I fell in love with....right up until I looked at the price tag.  340 dollars....about 320 more than I was willing to spend.  It had a few window cut outs, a few more flowers, but these were the basic colors that I used to build this tent.  You see....I'd run across and tried this tutorial out a few years ago for my niece Blythe.  The instructions for making this tent (and I promise it's soooooo much easier than you can imagine) are here.  Basically, I bought two 4 dollar flat twin sheets from Walmart and went to work.  One goes around to create the curtains, and the other you cut into six triangles with a base of 22 inches and the sides are all 24.  You sew the 6 pieces together, then you sew the sheet to the base of those six triangles.  I add a ribbon to the top to hang, and I've added doodads to jazz it up (pennants, b/c I'm obsessed, and flowers in this case....because every pixie hangs out in the posies).
I made rose buds by cutting out petal shapes, and just folding them around each other, sewing the base, then I added ric rac to hang them from the top, and a little piece of green felt to cove up my mess....

 This is what they look like from the inside, I folded over a piece of scrap for the center...

 I just made four of these, mostly b/c I got bored and wanted to move on with my life...

 I also added these little posies on the side...again, I just stitched them together, then sewed them onto the tent.  Here is a pattern for these super duper high end posies.  Free to a good home.

 I found this cuuuute ruffled ribbon for 2 bucks (half off at Hobby Lobby) and added some trim in another fun color.

 ...notice I didn't even bother ironing the sheet.  I have to send this through the mail (I'm just going to tell mama to buy her own hula hoop and pretend like the packaging is what caused the wrinkles).

 I also added some tulle to the entry way...

 A cute little reading nook for inside or outside...add some pillows....a small being, and books...

 I created ties on the inside (instructions on the original post) and you can tie it to a hula hoop and untie it for washing.  Hula hoops come in all sizes....this particular one I put on a smaller hula hoop, but it stretches and shrinks as needed.  Now I'm off to make a pirate's paradise for my buddy Donovan...stay tuned.

Subway Art Thrifty Style

My buddy, Kelly, shared this idea with me from the blog ABeautifulMess.  I knew I had to add it to my to do list, yesterday.  I made one little adjustment to the project based on the materials I had at hand, but otherwise.....so easy, so fun.....can't wait to jazz this up next year with some more fairy tale-ish projects to join it and bring out the sparkle. 
I found a short quote I liked via pinterest and this fake canvas print in my friend's garage sale pile (I looked at thrift stores prior to this, but they were all pricey at the few I had visited, so the hardest part was just finding a good backdrop).  The more colorful the better because the colors will peak through....no need to find an 'attractive' painting, so...perfect thrift store or garage sale shopping.  You can use vinyl letters (like the tutorial shows), but I just cut some out on poster board using my cricut.

 I laid them out, and then I used adhesive spray to get them to 'stick' to the canvas.  Once I painted over them I had no problem pulling them up without any residue.

 I took some white paint, squirted it all over the canvas and then just brushed it around all the letters.

 I decided to peel the letters off while it was still a little damp so I could use a q-tip and go back and clean up any edges.  Not much was needed, the letters stayed pretty true to form. 

I painted the edges with gold paint b/c this little guy is going to get some gold/bedazzled friends this fall in my classroom.

Princess: Princess Party

 Princess Blythe came to visit at the end of May.  We spent the week spending time with the whole family, but I had her over with my cousin, mom, and myself to eat a special dinner while her Nana and Dad spent some time eating their own dinner together.  Blythe loves everything princess, and this seemed like an easy enough thing to throw together on a weeknight.  I bought enough pink and tiarras to make my house look a little bit like the inside of a pepto bismol bottle.  I had her Mom pack her a special dress, and we all 'dressed the part. 

I strung beads from my chandelier and covered the table with paper we could color on top of with princess crayons.

I served food appropriate for a three year old-yogurt parfair, applesauce with sprinkles, fairy bread, tiara shaped pb and jelly sandwich, fruit snacks, sugar cookie wands we decorated, and cupcakes with mini crowns.  I had asked her a few days prior to the party if she wanted to know what we were going to do at the party and she said, "Eat cupcakes."  Whoops, I hadn't planned that, so....I quickly added them to the menu.

I wrapped the silverwar and wands up with a candy bracelet.

Crystal light with star ice and wands, I blogged about all the sources yesterday for the food.

Party activities.

Wand making station.

Cookie decorating pro.

Cookie eating pro too.

We decorated a frame with stickers so she can 'remember' out fun night together.