DIY Balloons

 At the end of the week, my family will be celebrating my aunt's 60th birthday.  There, I said it.  She doesn't read my blog anyway.  So, I'm putting together a whole flamingo themed party, and I wanted some fun number balloons to throw into the mix.  I'm sure this has been done before, but I decided instead of ordering balloons in a shiny color, I wanted this specific ballet slipper pink balloon, so....I snagged some numbers....

 I actually got them on clearance, but have since seen this size at the dollar tree, but the nice thing about the clearance aisle is it didn't matter what color they were.

I blew them up and then sprayed them down.  It only took one coat and so far the spray is holding strong!  I'm going to try to add details next go 'round, but in the meantime, I'm excited for the possibilities of personalizing these balloons!

Flamingo Dictionary Page

I'm a little obsessed with dictionary page prints.  I've seen a few of these at stores over the last few years.  I've been making my own in floating frames this past year.  I like to buy frames at thrift stores and take off the back.  Here is my tutorial.  AND here is my...hello, spring...hurry up summer version of the dictionary page.  ;o)

Flamingo Cookies

 A few weeks ago the teachers headed back to school.  Last week, the students headed back. I made some water bottles for our new teachers, but for a few of the 'old' teachers (that understand my sense of humor)-I made these cookies.

I attached a little note on day one....with the number of days until summer vacation...JUST in case.  Keep your eye on the prize, teachers, keep your eye on the prize.  I love teaching...I do....I'm just really good at the summer thing too!  I used this recipe for the sugar cookies, and a flamingo cookie cutter.  For the black, I bought a tube of decorators icing and added about a tablespoon of karo syrup so it would harden.  I have a lot of problem with the colors red and black...so I usually just buy it if I need it premade instead of fighting with dye.

Flamingo Water Bottle

I bought this water bottle at the dollar tree.  Iv'e been playing with my Cricut.  I had a scrap of white vinyl and a current obsession with flamingos, so I blended those.
-If you don't own a Cricut, there are still tons of fun outlines you can search online to use to cut out shapes from vinyl (sold at craft stores-use a coupon).
-If you own a cricut, here are the steps I used:  I found a free flamingo on the Cricut and I "ungrouped it" and deleted everything but the back outline.  I then typed a M for the monogram and set it over the flamingo.  I highlighted the whole thing and hit "slice" so it took the M out of the middle of the flamingo.  I'll do a video tutorial sometime....I'm just figuring all these things out!

Flamingo Cards

 Lately, I've been obsessed with flamingos.  Not to be confused with my unicorn obsession.  On another note, my Mom has also started scrapbooking, which is really exciting for me b/c that means that any vacation we go on together.....she will now scrapbook, which leaves more time for me to think about flamingos.  It's also nice to share a hobby with her.  Growing up I remember she sewed and painted and did all kinds of little crafts.  I think I wore her out about the time I turned 10....and so she stopped doing anything other than surviving motherhood until about a year ago.  We've been traveling to scrapbook shows together (something I've never done) and I found this little flamingo stamp/saying at one of those shows last winter.  I decided to use it to make a few birthday cards.

Nothing fancy, but it was a fun way to use up some scraps....and now....I have two fewer cards to purchase at the store.  On the first card-I used some blank white cards and glued down scrapbook paper, on this second card, with the stripes, I used a card from a big pack I got for five bucks at Hobby Lobby.  My stamping skills are primitive compared to the rest of the world, but....I guess this post is just really to say-I was an exhausting child...and my Mom somehow survived to live and tell the stories....and find some hobbies again now that I'm a fully functioning (and even graying) adult...hobbies we can enjoy together.  There is hope if your child is difficult.  And....there are also some pretty cute flamingo stamps available if you want to make your own cards.  The two really don't have much to do with anything...but....it's my blog and I don't have to have a clear reason for posting.