Pinned It, Did It - Party Pins

My sweet niece turned one this weekend and we, of course, used Pintrest for all kinds of ideas to help make thing easier and cuter!! :)   The theme was bunnies in pinks and greens and I gotta say, Pintrest did help us - and impressed some of our guests.

BALL PIT!!!!
What kid doesn't want their own ball pit? We took a sandbox (which was Sweet Niece's gift from her parents) and filled it with balls from Toys R Us.  We spread out a quilt to out to cover the grass and kept it down with "baby jail."  I think they call them play yards but whatever. It's baby jail. The kids loved this area and spent most of their time hanging in this area.

RABBIT FOOD!!!
Who wants Ranch dressing all over their bunny cookies? Not me. So these cups of ranch and rabbit food worked out great. All the yummy goodness is contained without any of the mess. Worked great!

ICE CREAM MUFFIN LINERS!!!
Another great idea.  No pictures, but it was very cool.  We let the ice cream soften, scooped and stored the night before.  When it was time to serve, we literally walked around with the muffin tins and let people pick them up.  Folks loved it.


CUPCAKE LINER WREATH!!!
Super cute idea and it was SO easy to make. You can check out the entire tutorial here.  We used it at the end of the cupcake table with bunnies around the base of the wreath holder. SO CUTE!


This is the one I created for the party and pinned. The wreath in use is pictured below!

GIFT GIVEAWAYS!!!
So I didn't totally copy this one, but it did give me ideas for what to do at our party. We found these tins at the dollar store and I used Sharpie markers to write everyone's names on a tin. We found bunny bags on clearance after Easter and put all kinds of small items in each one - age appropriate for the child, of course.  I thought they turned out cute!

So, what do you think? Was this one heck of a Pintrest inspired party or what? hahaha.  It was a great time and I'm really glad we used the ideas found here because it did make life easier for us at the actual event!  :)  I'm linking up today and heading to check out other's people's cool ideas!

{Tutorial} Baby's Feet Print - Priceless Treasures!

I usually cross-post items with my personal page, Whiskey Tango Hello, but this one didn't make it over here to Pressed Clovers.  So let me change that right now!

As you may know, Sweet Niece #2 is turning one tomorrow. So this Pintrest project involves her sweet little feet!

Here is the Inspiration Pin:


And here is my creation - a gift for my mom (the grandma of Sweet Niece):

This was so easy to do and turned out so stinkin' cute. My mom loved it! She still has it on display at her house.

Here is how to make your own -

Needed Items:
8 x 10 picture frame
1 piece of printed scrapbook paper (I used Susan Branch paper - click her name for a visit!)
1 red piece of paper
1 white piece of paper
Three buttons
adhesive (glue stick, double sided tape, whatever)
Ink/markers/paint - for the feet print
One adorable baby

I'm not going to write a step-by-step because it's pretty obvious what to do. But I will give you a few words of advice.

1) You'll need two people, one to hold the baby's foot and one to guide it into the V formation you need for this.  And be prepared because you'll have to deal with the icky foot before you move on to the next footprint because they will want to put the icky foot down on the paper again.

2) We used washable red marker instead of an ink pad or paint because that's what I had on hand.  I'm not so sure I'd do it again because you can really see the marker lines on the print. See how it looks a little streaky?  Not that my mom cared... but you know about wanting things perfect!

3) The buttons are glued to the outside of the picture frame, to the glass. :)  Just in case you didn't realize it.

So, what do you think?  It's not PERFECT but I was happy with it.  Now go visit other people's Pinned It Did It projects by clicking the button below! :)

Birthday Scrapbook for Sweet Niece #2!

My baby niece is turning one this week! She's so a precious baby girl and I'm tickled to be so close to her.  I see her EVERY day and it's such a blessing.  She is such a blessing!

**** Special - for Sweet Niece's Birthday, ya'll get 20% off in my Etsy Store! ****

**** Use Coupon Code SWEET20 for your discount!  Shop Here! ****

Coupon ends on Monday, June 17, so act fast!

Of course I have her birthday presents, but here is the scrapbook part of the present that is made just for her.  I gave my sister a scrapbook at a baby shower to cover the time from pregnancy to the day before her first birthday.  This one will cover her first birthday to the day before her second birthday! Obviously, I'll be continuing this theme.

Her birthday party is in pinks and greens with a bunny theme! :) 

And we leave for the beach shortly after the party.  So we have a page ready for those pictures!

Ya'll know I don't usually work in 12" x 12" books, so it was a little tough for me to wrap my head around how to decorate all that space (mine are usually 8" x 8" that I sell in my Etsy shop.)

Sweet niece is a cutie blonde with curls - I loved these fairies that look like her. 

Also cool fact - the 5" x 5" mats will work great with 4" x 4" Instagram pics. YEAH!

A daddy themed page 

And a mama themed page. :)

My coworker had a great idea to add "Cute as a Button" to this page, so I might do that tonight.

Chevron is all the rage right now - let's hope it's still popular in the middle of 2014! :) 

So now you have a sneak peek at my gift for Sweet Niece #2.  Hopefully, I'll have pictures of completed scrapbooks of the first year of Sweet Niece #2 and the cool preteen scrapbook for Sweet Niece #1 (who is 11-years-old).  We are taking them to the beach to work on during the rainy afternoons we usually get at least once or twice while on vacation.  

Let me know what you think - feedback is always welcome! :)

{Tutorial} Photo Flower Pots

Pinned it, Did it!

Here is the pinned item:



And here is my item! :)

Ya'll know I don't usually do tutorials, but this project came out so stinkin' cute, I had to share it. I found the original idea on Pintrest (Pinned It, Did It!) but never found great directions. Here are the directions for an adorable photo flower pot.

What you will need (or what I used):
Newspaper or something to avoid a major mess
Terracotta Flower Pots
Mod Podge
White Acrylic Paint
Foam Brushes
Access to a laser printer or copier - NO INK JET
Flower

Optional:
Ribbon, Buttons - your choice of stuff for the lip
Oil Diffuser Ring
Hot Glue
Super Glue

Ok, I think that will get you ready for cuteness. I did this at work it's so easy, so pretend like you don't see my work desk in these pictures, ok?

I first painted the clay pots white. You don't have to, I just liked the look of it better.  I used a foam brush and wasn't careful because it will mostly be covered up with pictures and ribbon. It dried super quick. 

I didn't paint all the way inside because you'll be adding a flower later.  I chose to include the base of the flower pots, too, but that is optional. 

I used Publisher to make up plenty of pictures for the pots. I think my pots were 6" and it took 15 pictures to cover pretty well. I did use two different sizes - a smaller (2" x 2") and larger size (2.4" x 2.4"). I also learned to leave a bit of "dead space" in the pictures and not fill the frames up with faces BECAUSE you'll need to overlap a bit.

I printed on a laser printer with regular copy paper and worried they would streak when I applied the glue, but they didn't.  I do not believe an ink jet printer will work on this.

I also learned by the second one to lay out the design to see if you'll be covering up people's faces or not. Or to make sure the kids are scattered all the way around and not just in one spot.

Grab your Mod Podge and smear some on the pot with another foam brush. Take a photo and press it into the glue, smoothing it out as you go with your fingers. Keep doing this until everything is covered.  I did have some white gaps showing the painted pot at the top, no biggie. Just keep smoothing as you go. I did end up with a few wrinkles, but it wasn't very noticable. The copy paper is very thin, but I think anything thicker might not adhere as easily?? Thoughts on this - please share.

Once you are totally covered, smear Mod Podge all over the outside using your foam brush.  It dries clear so no worries! (I had never used it and it was SO EASY!) I do recommend keeping it going in one direction because you will see brush strokes in certain lights.

See, it's clear! I must have done 4 coats or more, letting each one dry before adding another to it. I wanted a good solid coating before I gifted it. 

After they dried I used super glue to adhere ribbon around the top lip for decor. Hot glue seems to leave ridges and super glue doesn't.  Understand, it will NOT lay flat all the way around because the edges are tapered. To get bubbles at the bottom edge of the ribbon out, I made a little snip with scissors right in the middle of the bubble, overlapped and glued down the two sides and it removed the bubbles. I hot glued buttons and bows to add some color to all this black/white scheme! And thankfully, I found flowers that fit perfect into the pots with liners!!

Optional addition:  because I was planning to use live flowers that would require water, I decided to add an oil diffuser ring to the bottom so the bottom of the pots wouldn't be standing in water.  I hot glue those on, too. Anything would work - like a shower ring, I would think. But those only added a dollar to the overall cost. I thought they turned out so cute - the diffusers are almost like a little pedestal for the pots. :)

Tell me what you think! I'm sharing this on Pintrest, too. And please share your pictures if you decide to do it!! I'd love to see how yours turn out. It's awesome to see everyone's take on it, you know? So please share!! :) 

Mom with her gift

My sister with her gift

Oops. after seeing everyone else's, I think I misunderstood. :) I'll do better next time!