Ladybug Headbands

When the kids came in we handed them each a set of Antenna.
I bought the very cute, silver and pink, glittery headbands in sets of 2 in the dollar spot at Target. I had been looking for a while, and these were PERFECT!

The kids LOVED them!
I twisted two pipe cleaners, separately, around the top of the headband 3 times...

I twisted pipe cleaners around a glue stick in order to make uniform spirals,

Here is what it looked like when I pulled them off the glue stick...

so then I stretched them out a little.

Then I hot glued black pom-poms (3/4 inch) to the top.

The grown-ups liked them too! :)


Raelyn

Pink Ladybug Barette Holder Favor

Today I was working on something that is going to go in the favor boxes at Little's party.
I have kind of gone with what I can find in ladybug shapes, and tried to figure out what I can do with them. So while I was out at Joanns the other day I found these wood pink ladybugs with funky green spots. I thought they were pretty ugly...but I figured I could do something with them.

Here is what I did...


First, I used black gloss puff paints to RE-paint all of the green spots.

Then, I tried to figure out a way to have them hang on the wall...I wanted ONE piece of ribbon to be the barrette holder and the wall hanging...does that make sense?????
so I took my ribbon, cut it long (I would guess about 20 inches), and put an eyelet through it, about 2 1/2 to 3 inches down.

Then I looped the ribbon over keeping the eyelet near the top (so as to hang it on a nail) and used a standard stapler to hold it down. **the stapling took patience...they didn't always want to go through the wood. **(I did try hot glue, but on my test one...it tended to easily lift, so I figured in time of taking barrettes off and putting them on, that it would just fall apart....which I didn't want.)**

Then at the bottom, as an anchor weight, I put on a wood bead that I spray painted pink,

and tied a knot to keep it in place.

Finally, on the back, I wrote a thank you message and the date, to each of her friends, and added 6 barrettes per holder.


I love how they came out!
Raelyn

Pink Ladybug Cake

Running with the party theme, I needed to master the cake.

Now, I have baked a lot of cakes in my time, but never had I attempted one in a bowl. So, I felt I should do a trial run. I am glad I did.

The hubby's birthday happens to be right before Little's, so he was wonderful enough to let me practice for his.

I simply used a boxed mix that Little picked out.
I almost always substitute applesauce for oil in cakes and brownies, with GREAT results, so I did just that.
I put the prepared cake mix in an ovensafe Pyrex bowl.
I used a little extra in a tiny pyrex bowl to make a "cupcake" size...(for the head)
As I learned, because of the depth, it really has to OVERcook. It cooked for 1 hour and 5 minutes.

In the meantime, I made the frosting. Pink buttercream, and Chocolate buttercream for the "black". I used a grass tip for the pink body, and a dot tip for the head.

I needed to play with how to put the cake together as well as how to I wanted to frost it.


Here is the finished product.

Those are smarties for the eyes...
Pipecleaners for the antenna,**(I wrapped the bottom in masking tape, so as NOT to get any fuzzies inside the cake.)

It turned out GREAT!
However, what I learned is that I don't think a cake that has to be cooked that long, can hold up to the applesauce substitution...it turned out very dry. I think it was going to be dry either way...but with applesauce it was almost too dry. Beautiful, but dense and dry!

After the experiment, Little decided she wanted cupcakes instead...hmmmmmm...
Back to square one. :)

He is such a good daddy!


Raelyn

Pink Ladybug Birthday Invitation

So we are getting ready for Little's 4th birthday party. It is her first party where friends will be invited, as she is now in preschool.

So we thought long and hard about the "theme". Every time we came to an agreement, and I started working out the process in my head, she would want to change it.

One day, as we were sitting at the coffee stand that I frequent, which is called Ladybug Latte, she asked my friend who works there, "what would your birthday party be?" in her adorable little tiny voice...My friend DeEtte responded, "probably ladybugs"....and so ended our search. However, she wanted them to be pink. So, from that moment on...PINK ladybugs it was!

I really couldn't find much online for PINK ladybugs, so I was kind of on my own.
On the Family fun website, I found a craft, to make with kids, of a ladybug with moveable wings...so I altered that some and made it into an invitation.

My first endeavor was to make the INVITATION!


You need,
~black cardstock scrapbook paper,
~pink (or red) cardstock scrapbook paper.
~2 brads for each bug (preferably black)
~2 cuts of pipe cleaner (about 3 inches long) for each bug.
** How much you actually need, depends on how many invites you are making...

Beforehand...
*I used a black background circle, cut with my Cricut in a 5 1/2 inch circle
*The "wings", in pink, are cut at 5 1/4 and then cut in half, so as to open when complete.
*Then I cut multiple black small circles, for the spots in various sizes, from 3/4 inch to 1 1/4 inch.
*The head is also a cicle cut at 2 3/4
*Each 3" pipe cleaner was spun around my finger to curl them.
*I printed the information for the party on the computer, sized it to where it looked good, and cut them in squares (just to make it easier, it would look great in a circle as well).

To put it together...
~I centered the square information sheet on the large black circle.
~I laid the pink half-circles, centered on the large black circle and poked holes where I wanted to put the brads.
~Pop the brads through.
~Glue the head to the back of the large black circle.
~Glue the small spots on the wings.
~Finally, glue the pipe cleaners to the back of the head. (Hot glue works best, but craft glue works fine as long as you leave it to dry!)

They turned out AMAZINGLY cute!
They got MANY compliments!

Raelyn

A little introduction...

This blog has been in the works of my mind for a LONG time.
I have a family blog that has taken a serious backseat to the creation of this blog, and I am so excited that it has finally taken shape!



So...
I am a wife and a stay at home mommy to three amazing kids.
My head is always overflowing with ideas wrapped in and dripping with the inspiration I have gotten from the many blogs that I frequent. I don't have as much time as I would like, to create...which means that there are always things to do, and projects to finish!

I am in a constant act of motion with the grind of routine...with kids, and school, pets, and projects, husband, and home...LIFE...it seems there is so much chaos sometimes. I try my hardest to create a soft place for my family...their safe place...their happy place. They are my inspiration, they make me strive to be better at everything.
In the midst of my amazing, everyday chaos...the chaos I long for, and dream about...I get to add my sprinkles...my cooking, my crafting, my creating.

This blog will be just that. I will put up some of my favorite recipes, some of my favorite craft projects...maybe some birthday parties...crafts I do with the kids...my twist on ideas I get from the other AMAZING crafters out there...
Anything....

I hope you will come along!


Raelyn