day 238: valentines subway art

i love subway art :)

day 238 and i have just realised valentines day is right around the corner ... it's not a massive holiday in new zealand but it is growing every year.  i decided i would add some valentines décor to our home this year to get us all in the mood of love whether it be as friends, family, or one true loves ;)

i am starting with subway art ... always a good way to start!  this free printable comes from the girls at eighteen25 and you get two colour choices :)  i went with the pinks and reds, if you are going to decorate for valentines, you may as well go all the way.  i pinned the idea to my holiday goodness board on pinterest and liked the white frame it was it so much, i decided to copy that as well ... why mess with perfection!~

step one: print free subway art

step two: buy a cheap but nice frame

step three: put in the frame and display :)

outcome:  COOL, love how simple and quick subway art is to make!  one for every holiday coming up ;)

my thanks to the the sisters from eighteen25, they always have such great ideas, not to mention the best, freshest looking subway art that's always free to download ... love that :)

day 212: a bunting for valentines day

LAST DAY FOR COMMENTING TO WIN THE MY MEMORIES SOFTWARE

so get busy my friends and i will have a winner late tomorrow nz time :)

ready to hang at valentines :)

day 212 and the weather outside is dreadful, it's our wettest summer, bar three, on record ... the up side is there is plenty of time to be creative inside and today i am making a banner in preparation for valentines day :)  i loved this one from the girl creative, especially the fact she used denim as the basis for her flags.  while i won't be using that part for inspiration today, i definitely will use the denim for an easter bunting as it will fit in nicely with the autumn decor i am planning .... planning, she says hopefully ;)

for today's creation i am using a kit from the my memories range called my funny valentine.  i bought it yesterday and downloaded it for making today's bunting.  i thought i would print it out on something different today, i am using canvas sheets that are pre-gessoed and normally used by artists for painting with.  i figured it would have the same look as fabric hanging but, because of the gesso, would still be able to go through the printer ... here's hoping anyway!

the bias binding and canvas i printed on :)

making the flags using the my memories software

i started with the triangles then added some of the embellishments to each triangle before printing them onto the canvas.

the finished flags, printed on canvas :)

then i used the bias binding, pinned all the flags in place and used fabric adhesive to adhere them all together.

the finished bunting for valentines

a close up of the bunting :)

outcome:  happily stoked with the outcome of this little project (especially after an afternoon of painting the new school room).  it was really easy to create on my memories and the printing on canvas is so COOL!  didn't expect that part to work so well and am already busy thinking of all sorts of different projects i can use this new found printing knowledge on ... heehee :)

my sincere thanks to the girl creative, i loved her bunting for valentines day and her instructions about how to create one without sewing will definitely come in handy for those who don't have access to a machine, for example, when your machine is covered in paint drop cloths ;)

day 205: happy new years eve, the perfect night for a midnight treat :)

happy new year goodies :)

day 205 and i am so looking forward to the new year ... but am also happy to celebrate a wonderful year and reflect today on all the goings on for 2011.  we have had a great year with highs and lows and all the in betweens  that count just as much if not more.

we have a lot going on today so i wanted something easy but new years related to do today.  these midnight treats from angela at secrets of a super mommy fit the bill perfectly :)  they are pinned to my holiday goodness board at pinterest.

i used some piping bags and filled them with sweet treats including a hot chocolate mix.  as i am typing, i just thought this would have been the perfect place to use the cocoa spoons i made on day 197 next time :)  the ones i made for adults had a coffee mix and a mini baileys in them instead of the cocoa items ;)  then i made a VERY simple tag using word, printed them out and attached them to my cones of goodies.

the kids version goodies :)

the adult version :)

the finished midnight snacks for adults and peeps :)

outcome: we shall wait and see at midnight, but judging by this little face she looks pretty pleased!  a really special little gift to welcome in the new year and would be fantastic to gift to people if you were having a new years party for ALL ages :)

one of the happy recipients

my thanks to angela at secrets of a super mommy for this inspirational idea for new years, i definitely think this will become a tradition in our house :)

day 144: halloween cheeseburgers

wishing everyone a very happy and safe halloween 

i love home-made burgers, especially with a halloween twist

after such an exciting day yesterday enjoying all that halloween has to offer i wanted to give the kids one final 'taste' of halloween today given it is hallow's eve!  i thought halloween cheeseburgers would be a perfect way to end our halloweening this year.  

i was completely inspired by these jack'o'lantern burgers created by vicki schlechter and showcased on all recipes and loved the idea of family making their own halloween hamburger ... nothing is better to the peeps than personalising their food :)

we set to work with our smoky cheese slices (i never buy these so the peeps thought it was special anyway!) and some paring knives to cut out our own cheese for the burgers. 

granny hard at work creating a masterpiece
jack'o'lantern with her cheese!

a couple of the jack'o'lanterns pre-burger!

the grilling halloween cheeseburgers

the finished product with the hidden halloween lantern
... these were so good, especially after a game of netball!

outcome:  i love home-made burgers (probably my favourite meal) but these were especially fun because everyone felt ownership of their burger and passionate about the design they created.  my sweet husband couldn't just do a cheese face though ... no he had to go the extra mile and attach onion ring glasses to his! it was definitely a fun way for us to finish off our halloween festivities for 2011 :)

 special thanks to vicki schlechter for posting such a great idea on all recipes, they really were a great way to finish off a fun month.

day 143: its halloween party time :)

party at our place ... a pinterest halloween :)

day 143 brings us our much anticipated halloween party .. we are all SO excited for today and the weather has played its part!  i could easily call this my pinterest halloween party because almost everything at the party whether it was decorations, beverages, food, or games it was inspired by the great finds on pinterest. today, for example, i made:

 chocolate covered strawberry ghosts inspired by the ones from taste of home

these were a huge hit with everybody :)

the mummy game from all free crafts

this was HILARIOUS!

the popping pumpkin was a huge success with the kids and was inspired from martha stewart's website

thank you to my sweet husband who huge this game up :)

as were the felt pumpkin canvases with the littlest peeps i made yesterday :)

finished canvas to be proud of!

i had lots of little allergens at this party so pinterest was incredibly awesome for finding gluten free, nut free, and egg free recipes, such as:

egg free chocolate cupcakes from simply recipes, egg free vanilla cupcakes from sweet rosie, and egg free double chocolate chip cookies from art of dessert

the food at the party was a HUGE hit!

outcome:  i LOVED the party and so did my family.  the food was amazing for being egg free, the games were fun, and the people were exceptional. it was wonderful bringing families together and sharing heaps of fun with our kids who thought it was better than a birthday party (and i'm no slouch with their birthdays!) which was the best compliment i could have been given today.  hopefully everybody who was their also had a great time.  below are a couple of photos that i wanted to share :)

its a shoot out at 275 :0

my little pollyanna or casper's girlfriend as we like to
call her ;)

chillin between games :)

the start of the eyeball race!

polly in the scarecrow game :)

some of the weirdest scarecrows i have EVER seen!

i'm off to sit and relax with a cuppa and my newest treat, a mug rug given to me by one of the sweetest people i know AND its a halloween one ... thank you dee i LOVE it :)

day 142: felt pumpkin party game

maybe what it will look like when it's finished!

day 129 and i am inspired to make a game for the littlest peeps coming to the party.  we have 4 little peeps under 4 coming to our halloween party and i wanted to make sure i had a range of games that everyone from the grandies to the littlies could participate in.  i also wanted a couple of age specific games that the peeps could participate in and the rest of us could stand and cheer them along.  today's creation is for the 4 littlest only.

i was inspired for this "game" from the felt pumpkins i saw on kim's blog life of a modern mom.  she is a very talented crafter and has made MANY things i have pinned to my boards, especially crafty halloween stuff!  i pinned the felt pumpkins to my holiday goodness board on pinterest knowing i would use this cool idea in some way!

i grabbed 4 12 x 12" canvases for a local store when they were half price. these canvases the little peeps will attach their pumpkin faces to and i am going to put their names on them so them can bring them out as wall art for future halloweens ... love memory keeping!  unfortunately my little country appears to be going through an orange felt crisis - their is none :(  so for the actual pumpkins i used foam and attached them to the canvases with their names as the peeps starting point for the game.  then i cut out four lots of noses, eyes, and mouths from black sticky back felt.  i plan to put these at one end of the lawn along with some green "hair" (also from sticky back felt) that the peeps will race to get and then come back to their starting point canvas to create a halloween pumpkin face.

the base plate

the attachments :)

outcome: we shall see tomorrow!

my thanks to kim from the blog life of a modern mom for the inspiring idea to have kids making their own pumpkin faces with felt ... much safer than trying to get little peeps to carve out pumpkins!

day 141: lollipop spiders

this is one cute spider :)

day 141 and we are back to food again today, lollipop spiders to be precise.  i found these on pinterest and thought they would look so cute all over the food tables walking inbetween the platters of food so pinned them to my holiday goodness board.

these little spiders were made by philippa of house of baby piranha for her kids as a treat for their learning about spiders and they are also a perfect treat (or table decoration!) for halloween.  philippa has heaps of halloween ideas that are really cute, simple, and kid friendly for halloween and you can take a glimpse of these here :)

you need lollipops, 2 googly eyes, glue (i used the hot glue gun), and 2 pipe cleaners for each spider ... it always amazes me how really useful and adaptable pipe cleaners are!  once you have every thing you simply cut the pipe cleaners in half and wrap each pipe cleaner around the lolly stick so its even on each side and then bend at some point to create a knee joint.  repeat for each of the 4 pipe cleaner halves and then hot glue the eyes onto the black pipe cleaner body you have just created ... photographic description below :)

cut two pipe cleaners in half

wrap the pipe cleaner half around the stick
of the lollipop and bend some knees :)

do the same thing with all four half pipe cleaners

they babies need some eyes!

attach eyes and you have a posse/heard/flock/school
of very cute looking spiders :) 

outcome: so cool, easy, FUN to make and because the legs are so different on each spider they all take on their own personality ... the one at the very front of the picture looks very much like he takes after clumsy the smurf!  any way these were a delight to make and i will definitely be making them again for next year's halloween :)


my sincere thanks to philippa of house of baby piranha these were really fun to make and would actually make a fun craft for the kids ... shame i was having so much fun making them i didn't ask the kids to get involved ;)

day 140: halloween games

filling of the balloons for pop goes the pumpkin game

day 140 and we are giving halloween food a rest for today!  instead i put together a treasure hunt and a pumpkin balloon game for the party on sunday.  both of today's games are pinned to my holiday goodness board on pinterest.

the treasure hunt is an idea i got from the website party game ideas.  this website has games for EVERY occasion and its a site i have never visited before i found them on pinterest.  they have the most fantastic ideas and what i love most about this website is that all their ideas are age appropriate and categorised.  if you need games for a party look no further than party game ideas.

for my halloween treasure hunt i have given each child a list of things they need to find and each child's list is a little different according to their age.  if i had been having children that were all the same age to the party i would have done away with the list and just given everybody a certain number of things to find.  as the age range of sunday's party is from 2 to 10 i wanted to make sure the littlest peeps didn't miss out on anything. i figured if everybody had their own list then i could hide the littlest peeps stuff more openly than the older kids which i can hide far more discretely!

the goodies and treasure hunt cards

each child will be given their own treasure to find

the other game i found on pinterest for halloween (which i have had pinned for ages and was desperate to make) was the pop goes the pumpkin game from martha stewart.  you put prizes in each of the orange balloons then blow them up and attach to a wall in the shape of a pumpkin.  the kids then pop the balloons to win the different prizes .. how cool is that, it's like a balloon piñata! as we have an open home before the party i couldn't blow the balloons up and attach them to the wall today but i did insert prizes into all the balloons ready to go for sunday.

filling of 42 orange balloons!

outcome:  totally pending for now, results with be pictured and blogged about on sunday evening!  i am very hopeful though, that both these games will go well as they look like so much fun!

thanks to party game ideas for providing the ultimate in party games websites where there are so many games its hard to choose!  and also thanks to martha stewart's team for providing another awesome idea for halloween fun :)

day 139: halloween kebabs

halloween kebabs

day 139 and we are serving up yet more food today and while yesterdays was in the healthy food basket today's definitely isn't.  halloween sweet kebabs are inspired by the ones found on the flickr site of your home based mom. hers looked so festive i couldn't help myself for not trying these out and immediately pinned them to my holiday goodness board when i saw them on pinterest!

all you need is a huge amount of halloween looking sweets and some kebab sticks ... then start skewering them on with gusto :)

the requirements

a finished kebab

jars of kebabs

severed finger anyone?

outcome:  how yum do these look!  i think the peeps at the party will make a beeline for these beauties.  they look really festive and as a bonus will look awesome on the table with their added height!  nothing makes me happier than aesthetically pleasing looking food for a party.

my thanks to the photos your home based mom loaded onto her flickr site, they were very inspiration and something i am definitely pleased to have made :)