My First Pinterest Party

This past weekend, a couple of friends and I hosted our first annual Pinterest Party. It was such a hit that the guests were already asking us to plan one for Valentine's Day! No one wants to wait a whole year before doing another one.

Here were the details of the invitation: everyone pre-paid $25 to cover the cost of the craft supplies, then my two friends and I each chose a craft. We didn't do a very good job staying within our budget, but it was a tough balance because we didn't want to pick something cheap and chinsy, or something that took too much time to complete. Even though we went over budget, we were really happy with the projects!

This was a two-sided Christmas/Birthday countdown.

(the birthday side - more neutral colors)

We also did a wooden painted JOY craft (it's supposed to hang - I haven't bought the Paper Tak stuff yet) and Martha Stewart's White Christmas Mason Jar Luminaries. 

As for food, we asked the party guests to each bring their own Pinterest dish. I set up the table with pre-made candy cane food labels and had the girls fill in the name of their recipe when they arrived.

I also put together a hot cocoa bar complete with mini marshmallows, toffee bits, mini chocolate chips, whipped cream, Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka and chocolate peppermint dipped spoons. 

I used an easy and surprisingly delicious crock pot cocoa recipe: 1/2 cup dry baking cocoa, 12 oz. can sweetened condensed milk, 1/8 tsp salt, 7 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla. It's perfect for a crowd. Try it! You'll thank me.

I also made chocolate peppermint marshmallow stir sticks with some red and white striped paper straws that I found at Target.

One last thing I added to the tablescape were these adorable meant-for-Valentine's Day candy cane hearts. Such a fun idea to do with leftover mini candy canes! Place the two candy canes with the top of the crook touching the top of the popsicle stick, bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet at 350* for 3 minute until the candy canes are moldable, pinch the ends together (top and bottom) to adhere to the stick and "fill" the center with melted white chocolate or almond bark. (I used a very fancy Ziplock with the corner snipped off)

Curious what the other guests brought for their Pinterest dishes? It was a complete sugar fest. Let's just say I regretted skipping dinner.

Caramel Apple Pops (contest winner for best presentation!)

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies (not the most "Pinterest pretty" presentati, but Oh. My. Yum.)

Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites (contest winner for best tasting!)

Reindeer Donuts

Snowman Donuts and Santa Hat Pretzels

Everyone arrived at 6:00, we ate and voted on the best recipes, chatted for about an hour, then we finally got started on our crafting around 7:30. 

The kids came home toward the end of the party and had fun with the fondue fountain.

It's safe to say that we all had a blast. The weekend we chose was horrible for attendance (everyone had office parties and other commitments 10 days before Christmas!) so next year, we'll schedule our Pinterest Party before the craziness of Christmas is in full swing. Which will probably have to be before Thanksgiving.

25 Days of Christmas, 2012 Edition

Christmas Camping is already checked off the list! Ryan couldn't wait until December.

Thanks to Pinterest, most of my 25 Days of Christmas activities are NEW for a change! (for more ideas, check out my schedule from 2009, 2010 and 2011)  Here is our advent calendar of events for this year...

Dec 1 - Make a "Countdown to Santa" calendar
Dec 2 - Roast marshmallows by the firepit in the backyard
Dec 3 - Make paper crafts: paper snowflakes, Paper Christmas Trees and Santa craft
Dec 4 - Bake and decorate Reindeer Cookies and eat Reindeer Sandwiches for lunch
Dec 5 - Family Movie Night
Dec 6 - Handprint Nativity Animals
Dec 7 - Make Time Capsule Ornaments
Dec 8 - Snow Day at Desert Ridge
Dec 9 - McCormick Railroad Park Christmas Lights
Dec 10 - Ice Cream Cone Christmas Tree craft
Dec 11 - Popsicle Stick Nativity Craft
Dec 12 - Pick 3 "angels" off the tree at the mall (each child's age and gender) and buy gifts for them
Dec 13 - Make Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
Dec 14 - Bake Chocolate Crackle Cookies for cookie exchange
Dec 15 - Marshmallow Snowmen craft
Dec 16 - Deliver Christmas gifts to kids at Phoenix Children's Hospital
Dec 17 - Santa Belt Flower Pot craft
Dec 18 - Snow What Fun at Desert Ridge
Dec 19 - Create Cotton Ball Christmas doorway
Dec 20 - Dessert: Build-Your-Own Ice Cream Snowmen sundaes
Dec 21 - Family Movie Night
Dec 22 - SNOW DAY in Flagstaff
Dec 23 - Drive around in PJs looking at Christmas lights with cookies and cocoa
Dec 24 - Bake a birthday cake for Jesus
Dec 25 - Read the Nativity Story from the Bible
 

Firecracker Painting for Kids

I saw this idea on Pinterest and the kids had a blast creating this morning!  We put some pipe cleaners together to create the "firecrackers", dipped them in paint on paper plates and stamped them onto blue paper.  They turned out so cute that I might frame a couple and keep them with my summer decorations!  Happy Independence Day!!!

Painted Sticker Canvas - Scripture Art

While reviewing our "perseverance" virtue card the yesterday, this scripture jumped out at me:"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." ~ Philippians 4:13

I thought it would be a great thought to hang in our school room, since often sometimes we run across new concepts that seem impossible.

I remembered seeing this project on Pinterest and made up my own version, using scrapbook letters and supplies that I had on hand. After linking back up to the original blog post, I realize now that the writer cut her letters out of contact paper, which is a better idea than using the wooden letters that I used for "things" (the paint slipped through underneath the edges). I ran out of stickers and tried to make do.

I actually could have left the canvas like this...it's so much cleaner than the way mine turned out! And the colors actually weren't too obnoxious together.

I painted over the letters with yellow, blue and gold. I would use all dark colors next time.

Then I peeled off the letters and realized the issue with the word "things"

I repainted the t-h-i-n-g-s letters pink (Kaylin's pick) and replaced them to see if it looked better than the white. 

Just to be real for a second, I was having a rough day yesterday (totally blaming it on PMS) and so were the kids. While I was pulling letters together and placing them on the canvas, the kids were having trouble focusing on their school work. At one point, I was so frustrated that I banged my hand on the table to get Ryan's attention (we currently use a folding table in the school room) and the whole thing shook, bouncing the not-yet-stuck-down letters all over the place. As I put them back carefully, my eyes focused on the words: "I can do all things through Christ..." and I was so incredibly convicted of my impatience. Oh, the irony...

Enough about that. I think I like the white "things" better. What do you think? I need some feedback, please...I'm being indecisive.

A School Room is Born!

I have really been struggling with the after-school rush lately.  The kids have trouble focusing on homework at the kitchen table, Jason is rarely captivated by distractions, time is was short due to football practices and games 3 days/week (no more football for him, now that his arm is broken!) - all combined with the already crazy dinner hour.  Every evening is stressful in our home and I'm really just OVER IT. 

While in Kansas City last week, I began getting the itch again to homeschool. The after school issue is one of a dozen reasons homeschooling makes sense at this stage of our lives.  A dear friend gave me a ton of books and resources and so much time alone left me tons of space to think about the logistics.  Nothing's set in stone, but this very well could be the kids' last year in public school for a while. Mike and I are really praying that we'd both have peace about the decision one way or the other.

But I'm not ripping them out of school right now. So we still have an after school problem! In the meantime, I was desperate for a solution to the 3-5pm witching hour.

The answer finally came to me: if/when I homeschool, I'll need a space dedicated to our school day.  So I decided to convert half of my craft room into a school/homework room! I got the bug Friday night to pull everything apart and rearrange, got everything in the room organized on Saturday and the closet finished on Sunday.  When I'm motivated, I'm like a machine!  And Mike was thrilled that I didn't spend a penny on the transformation...I just repurposed a bunch of stuff we had hiding around the house.

Before: from the doorway

After: from the doorway

Before: reverse view

After: reverse view

Before: attempt at a kid's art station

After: new school station
(the desk on the left will hold the hand-me-down computer as soon as we get our new Mac)

Before: scrapbook area
(I haven't scrapbooked in months...my desk had become a dumping ground)

After: scrapbook area
PLUS a new art station and reading corner (they're small, but they're intentional!)

Before: closet

During: empty closet

During: contents of closet on the floor (can you see where I sat in the middle?)

During: 5 minutes later...the contents of the boxes were EVERYWHERE

After: closet

All of the bins are labeled and organized - and not a dime was spent!!!

Jason kept himself busy stacking Dixie cups while Mike helped me rearrange furniture on Friday night

the new "art station"

the new "reading station"
with a book box for each child (under the easel)

Jason's corner
I'll rotate toys up from the playroom to keep him distracted while I help with homework

Mommy's corner/scrapbook station

Now that the clutter is gone, I was so inspired to create that I got caught up on the kids' birthday scrapbooks.  I was 2 years behind on Ryan, 3 years behind on Kaylin and Jason's wasn't even started.  I kind of like that my scrapbook area is now a corner of the room instead of the whole space.  Hopefully, it will keep me accountable to keeping it neat!