DIY Snow Globes

Oh how I love snow globes!! And mason jars!! And combining the two is pretty much the best idea ever.  These little guys are sold for astronomical prices at Anthropologie:

FORTY DOLLARS EACH?! ARE YOU INSANE?!?!

I came across some DIY replicas over at Whipperberry and decided to give them a whirl.  They took all of five minutes to put together.

Supplies:
Trees
Jars
Glue dots or glue gun
Buffalo Snow

I found the trees and most of the jars at garage sales.  The buffalo snow and the tall mason jar I picked up at Michael's.  I needed one more teeny tiny jar so my friend Lindsey found one for me :)

I had some glue dots on hand to secure the trees to the lids. These rock, especially if you don't want to bust out the glue gun. 

 

I like a lot of snow so I filled 'em on up.

 

 

I needed some of the trees to be taller so I glued them on various caps, this one is from a cooking spray:

My out of pocket price was about six dollars total and I'm pretty darn pleased with the way they turned out!!

Happy Holidays!

Linking to: I Heart Nap Time, Nifty Thrifty Things, Not Just a Housewife, Kammy's Korner, The DIY Showoff, The Tidy Mom, The 36th Avenue, Tatertots & Jello, A Diamond in the Stuff, Whipperberry, A Lived In Home, Polkadots on Parade
 

Diaper Cakes & Baby Showers

Just a couple of diaper cakes for some showers....

This ultra girly one for my friend Karyss:

And this fire fighter diaper cake for my friend Holly's baby shower. 

I also strung together a little garland of firefighter onesies. Her husband and her dad are both firemen so it was the theme of the party.  I helped host with two of her other good friends and everything turned out super cute!  Check out these sweet favors and amazing cake my co hosts made:



Pocket Change Findings

While garage saling, The Wombat and I scored this HUGE Mega Bloks Truck for ONE DOLLAR:

And we also found these amazing vintage suitecases! I about peed my pants when the lady quoted me a dollar each for them! I so have big plans for these!!

Then we headed over to Bath & Body Works so I could pick up some small dollar items to send to my little sister.  She is working at a summer camp with no cell reception and sketchy internet so she looooves snail mail.  We are always on the lookout for little things to stick in packages.  Landon was content in the stoller so after hitting B&BW we wandered over to Pier One.  I was pleasantly surprised to find some glow in the dark rubber band bracelets (apparently these are all the rage at camp) on sale for .36 and a sassy little "Paper Pickup" for .96.

Our perfect Saturday morning always includes a good deal and a trip to the park :)

Packing & Wedding Day Emergency Kit

Tonight I am packing for my sister's wedding on SATURDAY!  Holy crap that went by quickly! Well for me it did, I'm sure it didn't fly by for the bride and groom :)  I remember thinking my 10 month engagement felt more like 10 years.

Anyways, Landon gets to be a little ring bearer so I'm praying he actually walks down the aisle without stopping to pick up some rocks or socialize with guests.  His little outfit is SO cute!  Also, I'm super stoked about my new dress for the rehearsal dinner from Banana Republic.  I love, love, LOVE their outlet sales!!!!

And I made a little Wedding Day Emergency Kit for my sis including the following:
Mini first aid kit
Tissues
Instant stain remover
Deodorant
Ibuprofen
Altoid mints
Make up remover
Bounce lint remover
Tums
Snack (I found these little chocolate filled pandas that we used to eat when we were little...except I think the ones we used to eat were koalas, hmmm)

I think I got the basics covered! Time to let the festivities begin!

Diaper Cake: Lost & Found

Do you ever lose pictures only to find them MONTHS later in the most random files?  Well, I do.  It's why I hardly ever delete anything off my camera.  These photos have been missing since September!!! And they have been recently uncovered in the file "Raymond Lake 2011."  Really, I don't know how it happens. 

So hooray for lost and FOUND!  And here is a tutorial for a diaper cake that I made for my dear friend Lindsey.

Here are my supplies for this particular cake:

For the Base:

• Cardboard
• Wrapping Paper
• Tape

For the Cake:

• Roughly 30 diapers (so hang on to those ones your kiddos grow out of!)

• Rubber bands

• Ribbon
• Flowers/Toys/Decorations of your choosing

• Bottle (I just used a plastic water bottle)
• Push Pins (or hot glue works too)

For the base,  cut a circle out of some cardboard (I used one of my many MANY Amazon boxes) and cover it with wrapping paper of your choosing.

For the cake, start by rolling up your diapers and rubber banding them.  Once you have them all made you can start playing around with your layers. 

The ratio I used for this cake:

• Base Layer  - 20 Diapers
• Middle Layer - 7 Diapers
• Top Layer - 3 Diapers.

Replace (or cover) your rubber bands with ribbons on the outer layer diapers.

I garnished the cake with some fake flowers to go with the colors of the shower, but I've also used small baby toys, rattles, pacifiers, etc. 

And now you have a gift and a decoration all rolled (literally) into one!!

Crepe Paper Flowers

So I have a couple showers to go to and since my last crepe paper flower was a bit of a hit, I've pretty much been making them for every present I wrap.  The more I make the easier and faster it gets.  I made these ones during Sesame Street:

All of my wrapping paper is from the dollar store...they have crepe paper there too!  If you would like to see my tutorial you can head on back to my original yellow crepe paper flower post :)

Linking Up:

A Turtle's Life For Me
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy
The 36th Avenue
Whipperberry

Gift Wrapping with Crepe Paper

I've been gift wrapping for my sissy's shower  :)

I still had ample amount of crepe paper left over from the chalkboards so I made a flower to decorate the top of her present. It was inspired by a previous craft night project over at my friend and fellow blogger Melissa's house.

 Cut the crepe paper into small sections and cut one side into a top of a heart shape.

Then just glue around in circles, scrunch together and overlap them to get a more flowery look. Do not be discouraged about how sad looking the first layer is, I promise it will look better by the end.

Ta-Da! Happy present wrapping!!!

Linking to:
The 36th Avenue
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy
Marriage From Scratch
Whipperberry
One Artsy Mama
At Home With K
A Diamond in the Stuff
A Turtle's Life For Me
Tatertots and Jello
I Heart Nap Time

Bath & Body Savings

Most days being a play at home mom to my nine month old is a dream  We have so much fun hanging out with each other, going to the park, having play dates, taking walks with The Puppy.  Other days are not so fun, when his little teeth are coming through, when nap time only lasts 15 minutes, or when I haven't had an ADULT to converse with for a while and start to go a little crazy.  Those days, there's nothing that rejuvenates me more than a long, hot, QUIET bubble bath.

And so I love Bath & Body Works. 

I do NOT love their obscene prices.

However, twice a year, in January and in June, they have amazing sales with up to 75% off. Did you know that every other receipt prints out a survey that gets you $10 off a $30 purchase?  Want to know the best part?  IT. DOESN'T. EXPIRE.  You can hang on to your receipt for a year and they will still honor the coupon (in store only).

So twice a year I head on over to Bath & Body and fill up my bag with exactly enough sale items to equal around $30 before tax.  I use these items for myself, gifts, shower game prizes, or as fun stuff to send to my sisters while they work at Hume Lake for the summer.

This time around I got 14 items for a grand total of $22.07.  Do I care if my bubble bath or soap is from the Christmas line? Nope. I only care that it cost me about a dollar or two.  The most expensive items were the body wash for $2.15.  The cheapest were the hand soaps at .94. I am sort of in love with the Christmas tea light holders ($1.63) and may have to go back for more to pack away for next year :)

Now I'll just tuck away my reciept until June.

Memory Keepers

Lately I have been in love with Paper Coterie because they have great quality products and A-M-A-Z-I-N-G coupon codes.  I’m especially impressed with their Memory Keepers, which are 9.75 x 13 and great for storing all sorts of meaningful knick knacks.

I made this one for Landon.  It contains all of his baby cards, his hospital bracelet and some newborn pictures.

And this box has replaced the old Nike shoe box that was housing cards Ben and I have written to each other over the years.

Hurry and order some super cute Christmas presents!  And don’t forget your promocodes!  Hold out for a good one, all I had to pay was around $10 shipping for each of these!

PS. Landon's newborn pictures were taken by the talented Christina Harrison.