List Yourself #7-Remembering your innocence.

Well...we took the summer of from "listing" ourselves, but it's time to jump back in! 

I thought we could start with a SUPER fun list that will take us each back to those times of innocence when life was about fun and Saturday morning cartoons.  

So...

Here is my list: 

The Shirt Tails

The Snorks

Jem

Full House (who remembers T.G.I.F?!?!)

Family Matters 

My little Ponies

The Hogan Family 

Gummie Bears

Care Bears

Rainbow Bright

America's Funniest Home Videos (with Bob Saget!)

How about you?!? I would LOVE to hear about your favorite childhood show!

Leave me a comment...it might even spark me to remember "hey...I watched that too!!"

Until next time my creative friends...stay fun and stay you!

So Glad for a sense of structure!

School started! Yay...and this has nothing to do with wanting to be away from my children (even though there are moments! LOL!) I am just so happy to be back to a time of structure in our schedule. This summer was just crazy!

I have not been in my studio as much as I would like this summer, but I have been able to make a few things...wanna see?!

My amazing friend, Becky Shaffer, (who I have talked about before) had a birthday a few weeks ago and since she has HUGE love and crush on Melody Ross and the whole Brave Girls Club, I thought I would make her a little something to remind her that she, too, is a brave girl.

It's an 8x10 mixed media canvas using Fancy Pants Design's Park Bench line. I, of course, used my Tattered Angels sprays along with some acrylics and my FAVORITE wood grain roller stamp by glitz design. 

Here are a few close ups! My favorite part is the wings. :)

Also this summer....

I didn't get to take a lot of pictures and I will do a FULL CHA post later, BUT I had the awesome privilege  of making a few projects for Marion Smith Design's  new line "Mad Tea Party" for the trade show. 

I LOVED the Alice in Wonderland influences so much that for the Printer's Tray (by 7 Gypsies) I actually used a vintage Golden Book copy of Disney's Alice in Wonderland and each section tells a different piece of the story.

Here are a couple of closeups!

The framed piece was actually my use of scraps. I found a cheap black plastic frame used my bits and piece of leftover paper to make my background and then hand-rolled some (umm...a lot!) of roses. The quote is one of my favorites from the classic Alice in Wonderland.

A good resource for quotes is a website called Goodreads. It has everything from literature to famous quotes and all sorts of other goodies.

Sorry this is so short...I've got some great things in the works that I know you will all be as excited as I am about!

Until then my friends...stay you...and stay creative!

Throwing a Perfect Themed Birthday Party

I LOVE to throw parties. I don't care if it's a kid's party...adult party...baby shower...whatever!

We were so blessed 2 years ago to be able upgrade from our LITTLE 3 bedroom/1 bath house (for 5 people and a dog!) to a substantially larger house that allows my husband and I to have more than 1 family at a time over for fun (a feat that was totally NOT doable at our other house.)

My favorite kind of party to throw is a themed party, where I can just go crazy overboard with imagination and think of fun ways to incorporate theme into EVERYTHING!

Today...I want to share with you some of my FAVORITE things I've done at a couple of my son's last birthday parties and I hope they inspire you to go OVERBOARD with the fun for your next party!

LEGO STAR WARS

This was the theme of my son's 9th birthday last year. 

My favorite way to "go with the theme" is to name all of our snacks after show/theme.

For our Star Wars theme, I made these little bursts in Word and added the names of our treats. I found the Star Wars font here for free: Star Wars font for DaFont.com

Here's a list of a few of our snacks:

Wookie Cookies: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Space Rocks: Chocolate Candy Rocks

Yoda Soda: Green Party Punch (Lime Sherbet and Sprite)

Jaba Jelly Beans: Green Pear Flavored Jelly Beans

Light Sabers: Multi-Colored Twizzlers

Senator Pop-a-Teen: Pop Corn

Chocolate Space Balls: Silver Chocolate Balls

Lunar Legos: Candy Building Blocks

I went old school to make a Death Star Pinata.

 I used a large "punching" balloon and covered it with a paper towels (because once I started this I realized I didn't have any newspaper-Fail! LOL) dipped in a flour a water mixture (see....old school!) 

Once it dried I popped the balloon, made dent for the dent in the Death Star (this also hid the slit I made to shove candy in), spray painted it silver and added a few black accents with a marker. My hubby rigged a hook in it so we could hang it.

Our "light sabers" were just pool noodles cut in half an decorated with duct tape and electrical tape to resemble the handles of real light sabers.

We couldn't find a blind fold, so of course...we used a Santa Hat!!! 

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

This year my son wanted an Avengers Party, but since we were having it in the middle of our CRAZY summer, I didn't have as much "planning time" as usual. BUT...we made the best of it and this is what we came up with!

Can you tell I like coming up with themed snacks!? LOL. My favorite this time was the "Thor-e-os." They were even "blonde" just like every one's favorite viking!

I found these cute masks at Walmart, so everyone got to pick their favorite character. My only problem? No Black Widow! BBOO!

Even super heroes gotta eat!

My favorite part of this party was this....

HULK SNOT!!!

We made Gak and dyed it VERY green, just like every one's favorite grumpy green guy.

I highly recommend doing this outside (we're on our driveway) because it can get a little messy. Plus, using disposable stuff helps with clean up because...let's be honest...you probably won't have any help.

Here is the recipe I used for Gak: 

GAK Recipe

It was perfect timing because back to school supplies were plentiful and on sale. :)

We also had a Avengers Water Balloon war, but I was too busy trying not to get wet to take pictures!

7 Perfect Party Tips to Remember:

1) Let your child be involved! You might not like the theme, but they (and their friends) will. My daughter last year for her 5th birthday wanted a Power Ranger's Samurai Party. Did we have a Power Rangers Samurai Party? Yup...complete with a viewing party of her favorite episode.

2) Naming snacks after your theme is the easiest (and funniest!) way to have your theme everywhere!

3) There is no need to go crazy with themed decorations. I pick 2-3 items that support my theme, like the table covering and the cake, and then all my other decorations support the color scheme. This is MUCH cheaper, plus you can save decorations to use again (have you noticed A LOT of boy themes are red and blue?)

4) Don't think you're creative? Google...Pinterest...that CRAZY creative friend...use your resources! BUT...

5) Remember...you don't have to have a crazy, ridiculous expensive party for your child to enjoy it and have the memories. Set a reasonable budget and work your plans around that. Feeding everyone not your budget? Have your party mid-to-late afternoon. No one will expect anything other than cake and a drink because they would have just eaten lunch or would be getting ready for dinner. Don't have money for a craft and a goodie bag? Have kids decorate a canvas bag with fabric markers or paint...it's their craft and their "thank you" present.

6) You will be too busy playing hostess with the mostest...ask a friend or another parent to play paparazzi for you so that you don't miss the memories while you're trying to keep the party going.

7) That being said...ENJOY Yourself!!! Take a minute to marvel at your hard work and the smiles on your party-goer's faces. Take a minute to hug your birthday boy or girl and tell how blessed you are to have them. (And get a picture of it! LOL!) Take a minute to remember why you did all this hard work and be proud of yourself.

So what do you think? Are you inspired to go a little overboard-crazy at your next birthday party?

I can't wait to see what you are inspired to do. Leave me a comment with a link to YOUR crazy-overboard fun party!

Until next time friends...keep being creative. 

XOXO-KERI

Making a Treasured Childhood Keepsake

It has been a CRAZY few weeks!

 Between CHA Prep, CHA in Vegas, Family vacation to Florida and our Internet being down for almost a week when we got back, I feel like I've been cut off from the world!

I'm happy to be back, sharing my creative life with you!

Today, I want to share a little project I did just yesterday.

For those of you who follow me, you know I seriously don't like to sew...it's even right over there in the "about me section." 

But my daughter, Kylee, is in love with Power Ranger's Samurai and did not want to give up her Power Ranger's T-Shirt that has grown far too small.

So I came up with the idea to turn her favorite shirt in to a pillow (then I wouldn't have to argue with her about NOT wearing it! LOL!!) 

Here's what I did:

I turned the shirt inside out and made a straight stitch just under the neckline from shoulder seam to shoulder seam.

Next I made a straight stitch just inside of both arm seams.

I chose the wait to cut the neck and arms off until I double checked to make sure that my pillow form would would fit. Since, I am not the best seamstress in the world, I figured this was a safer option in case I messed up! 

Lastly, I flipped the pillow/shirt right side out and machine stitched half the bottom seam to it would be extra sturdy. 

After stuffing my pillow form in, I hand stitched the bottom seam to finish my project!

It might not be "perfect," but she's perfectly happy. :) 

So for those who say they can't sew...the answer is...YES YOU CAN!!! Trust me...if I can do it...you can do it!

Until next time...get caught being creative!!