A Flower for You!

My friends are the best! I am super lucky to have such an awesome circle of friends…love you girls! 

When one of my friends is sad, I am sad.   So, you know what I do?  I make them something.  Nothing says I am thinking of you better than a homemade gift.  Now, I am NOT trying to toot my own horn, but I think that it is super important to be a great friend.  To have great friends you have to be a great friend!

This week one of my friends was feeling blue, so I decided she needed something to cheer her up!  I saw a super cute felt flower tutorial that I decided to try.  Since my flower turned out so great I decided it would be the perfect little gift to cheer her up.  And you know what?  It worked!

Isn’t that felt flower just the cutest?  Wish I could say that I came up with the design, but I did not.   I found it on Pinterest (where else?).  You can find the easy to follow picture instructions for the felt flower on the fickle pickle blog!  What is great about these flowers is that you can make them any size you want.  All you need is felt and super glue to make the flower…oh, and something round to trace circles on your felt.  Unless you can make perfect circles without tracing.  Whatever…you so cannot!

Now for the middle of your flower.

         

I really wanted to use fabric buttons but only found a few at JoAnn’s and they were not cheap!  So instead, I purchased a button making kit at Walmart for less than $2.00!  Sweetness (in a high pitched voice)!!!  Luckily I had some really cute fabric scraps at home to use with my new kit.  It is really easy and fun to make. There are directions on the back of the kit.

            

I love the fact that you can chose whatever fabric you want to make your button!  You will probably notice that the fabric button on my flower to my friend is different than the above picture.  That is because I decided to keep my first flower and make her a more perfected one!

After my flower was complete I broke off a dead branch from my backyard and super glued my flower onto it.  Then I put the branch in a cute little glass vase with some turquoise glass chunks (or whatever they are called?), and tied a bow around the vase!

Would this make you smile? 

My friend has it on her desk and she told me that every time she sees it, she smiles!  What more could I ask for? 

So…I encourage all of you, when one of your friends is down, brighten her day by making her a flower or something else special!  Remember: To have a great friend, you have to be a great friend!

Planter Box!

Hey all, I am so excited to share with you my project I just completed!  I LOVE how it turned out and I know you will too!  My version of a DIY planter box.

One blog that I check daily without fail is Shanty 2 Chic.  They always amaze me with their simple yet awesome projects that they do!  Their DIY planter box has been all over Pinterest, so of course I had to (yes, HAD too) pin it and give it a try, changing it up a little, to make it my own.

You can find their instructions at Shanty 2 Chic.  Gorgeous isn’t it?  But who would expect any less?

Moving on to my DIY planter box.

After a quick trip to Home Depot to buy wood, 1x6 and 1x4, I rushed home to cut my wood with my awesome saw!  Is it weird that I think a saw is awesome?  Hmmm…well maybe, but if you have a good saw, then you know what I mean!  The great thing about this planter box is that you can make it any length you want.

I only needed a few things to make this project, most of which I had on hand.

• 1x6 cut into two 30” pieces
• 1x4 cut at 30”
• 1x4 cut into two 4.5” for the ends
• Stain
• Spray paint (or not, if you just want the stained look)
• Nails
• Rope

             

Once I had all the wood cut, I proceeded to build my box.  I tried using Wood Glue like many people do, but it did not work for me…probably because I am not impatient to wait for it to dry.  So, instead of using the glue I used nails, which worked great, until I had to nail into some knotty parts of the wood.  Who knew that it is impossible to nail into knotty parts?  Well…you probably did, but I certainly did not!

I thought that I wanted the stained look like the Shanty girls did so I stained the box. But then after thinking about it, realized I wanted in on my dining table, which is wood, so I thought that it would look way better painted. 

           

I pulled out my Heirloom White spray paint and went to town.  Next, I sanded the heck out of it and especially sanded the nail heads that turned white after painting them.  I wanted the metal look to show through. Then I had to stain the sanded edges and the box again for that shabby look.

Since I wanted rope handles on each end, I pulled out my Dremel Trio, which is another tool I think is awesome, and drilled 2 holes for my handle.  I am really liking how the rope looks!

So, there you have it.  Not to difficult, huh?  The hardest part was cleaning off my dining table to make room for my new planter box and making the table presentable for pictures!  I know you use the dining table for a catch all too!!!  Don’t try to deny it.

 

 

 

 

Do you love it as much as I do?  Well, you should! 

By the way, as I am sitting here doing this blog, I have killed a couple of ants on my planter box!  I must have brought them in on my flowers from outside!  At least they had an awesome home…well, until I smashed them.

Linking up to:

            

          

    

Start Your Engines!

Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Let’s Go Racing Boys! 

My son’s 5th birthday party was awesome!  At the time he was a HUGE Nascar fan and really wanted a Nascar themed party.  I love throwing birthday parties, especially themed ones,  so when he said he wanted a Nascar party, I immediately started picturing kids racing around a race track.  How stinking fun is that for 5 year olds? 

After talking with my dad about how I wanted a race track with race cars for the party, he came up with the design for these amazing Nascars made from cardboard boxes!  My dad, mom and I cut the designs out of cardboard, painted them, assembled them and printed all the decals and logos on label paper from our printer.  The tires are made from small black paper plates with CDs on them for the rims.  The best part of the tires is that they have Velcro on them so the kids can get new tires at the Pit Stops!  How totally cool is that?

 

        

                           #18 Kyle Busch                                                                    #14 Tony Stewart

        

                        #55 Michael Waltrip                                                                 #11 Denny Hamlin

        

                          #16 Greg Biffle                                                                      #20 Joey Logano

This was a special, smaller car made for younger kids at the party.  The name Manas on the side of the car is what my son calls my mom.  What language is that?  It isn’t one!!!  My son made it up when he started talking and it has stuck.  We think it’s cute.

Gentlemen(boys), Start Your Engines!

               

Zooming around the track they go!  Left turns only!

Pit Stop time – getting tires changed by their pit crew of one!  Time is of the essence!

Yes, that is me in the number #14 car!  I totally could have beat those kids (notice I am last), but I didn’t think that would be too cool of me, so I ran slow!  :)  No, seriously, I would have won!

After the racing all the kids were given trophies and medals for doing such a great job.  Then it was cake time!  The Nascar candle in the top left of the cupcake cake played the Nascar theme music. 

Everyone had a great time, even the parents raced around the track! And I am happy to report, there were no crashes!  Each kid took home a checkered flag gift bag filled with Nascar goodies! 

        

And of course…you can’t get into a Nascar race without a ticket!

The birthday boy with his grandparents(the Nascar engineers)!  Please pay no attention to the my dead lawn behind them, it has been fixed and now looks great!

You want to know what it so great about those Nascars?  You know you do! We have gotten SO much use out of them: a Halloween costume, a Halloween party, a what you want to be when you grow up school spirit day, playing with them at  home and wearing it to an actual Nascar race! 

All in all it was a very memorable 5th birthday party for my awesome son!

Linking up at: