Friday, March 30, 2012

Orange cushions

The last 2 weeks we have been spending a ton of time outside.  These orange cushions are from our old patio set.  I have been using them to have a cushy seat to sit on the driveway while I craft and PB rides his car.  I have my work in progress bin in use on the driveway in this pic. I am so glad all the baby fabric is out of them and I can use them to hold the thing I am working on right now.  It is so handy and keeps everything together.  

Can you see that fun brightly colored felt in my bin?  I will share what I made soon!  Happy Weekend!!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Kermit party: the food

Oh the food, my favorite part about throwing a party.  If it were up to me, I would make everything under the sun.  Luckily my Mom and Hubby bring me back to reality and make me focus.  
Here is a cupcake tease... I'll get back to these in a minute :)

 I decided on a Mexican theme. It is definitely our favorite food. We set up an appetizer table. Here is some bean dip, guacamole, taco dip and taco chips.  This taco dip is the one with sour cream, cream cheese and a taco packet.  It is topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese and black olives.  I substituted greek yogurt for the sour cream and could taste no difference!  The bean dip is just 2 cans of black beans with some garlic powder, chipotle powder, mexican oregano, and a little cheddar cheese blended together until mostly smooth.  

We had the regular drinks, soda, ice tea, lime water, beer and juice boxes for the kiddos.  We also made some sangria and it was very yummy!

We served a taco bar! There is nothing more fun than making your own tacos.  If it were up to me, I would eat tacos everyday!!  I got a rotisserie chicken from the store, cleaned it, shredded it and made it mexican with one of those McCormick taco packets.  Just follow the directions on the packet. Then I made Beef Barbacoa.  Hubby shared this recipe with me from The Kitchn last month.  It was delicious! I will definitely be making this again!! Under the orange napkins are corn and flour tortillas.  Hubby made up some cheese quesadillas for the kiddos.

Then we served all the taco toppings with it.  Tomato, greek yogurt (instead of sour cream), salsa, tomato, guacamole, onion, cilantro, cheese, limes and salsa verde.  

And now for the cupcakes...
YUM!!!!
I made Dark Chocolate cupcakes and Coconut cupcakes.  They are the same cupcakes I made last year.  The dark chocolate cupcakes were such a hit last year.  A few people asked me if I was making them again so I had to.  They are simply amazing!  The recipes are here.

PB of course chose dark chocolate.  He was thrilled that his cupcake looked like Kermit. 

Here is a quick look at how I did it:
I made blobs for eyes and then shaped them with a wet spatula.
I bought black icing in the icing display at the store for the eyes. Here is how I drew them all on.  

I drew all the eyes at once.
Then I added the mouths.  I bought red icing for this too.  But I made the green and the white icing.  

I had so much fun doing this party, thanks so much for letting me share this with you!

i linked up:

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Kermit party: decor, games and craft

PB chose a Kermit party for his birthday this year!!  
This kid is Kermit crazy! I was even lucky enough to find this Kermit hoodie at Target on clearance a few weeks before the party.  He was so excited and so surprised at all the decorations. 
Confession, I went a little Kermit crazy.  My Mom got me a circle cutter for Christmas and I just couldn't wait to make a Kermit garland.  (link at end of post to print your own kermit garland)

I hung it under the mantle and put some balloons around that I decorated to look like...

Kermit! I just couldn't resist. (links at end of post for printable)

I put some Kermits on the favor bags. (links at end of post for printables.)

Some of the extra loose Kermits were taped around the house.  
 
I found some printables online and printed out this Kermit.  Here is a closer look at the single Kermits I made.

One of the games we played was pin the cowl on Kermit. PB keeps calling his neck thing a cowl.  
I did an image search on google and found this Kermit and used that as a reference when I drew it on large green paper from Joanns.  The yellow cowls each have the kids names on them and were taped on the door, ready for the game.  

I took some extra Kermit eyes that I made and taped them to PB's sunglasses to use as the blindfold for the game.

And now for my favorite thing I made for his party...
I followed this tutorial from alicia policia to make this pull string piñata.  I will say that just the front of the piñata took at least 5 hours to glue on.  The back and sides probably took about 3 nights of TV watching.  It was not an easy project but I started it a few weeks before and worked on it while watching TV.  I love that it is pull string, not just because 3 year olds should not be given bats, but because it didn't get destroyed.

I hung it nice and high in our foyer.  

Here are our party guests pulling the strings all at once.  I stuffed it full of little toys, plastic necklaces, chocolate and lollipops.  The kiddos collected their loot in their favor bags.  

We did one quick craft...
I printed off these free puppet printables from Disney and only printed the Kermit.  

This was such a fun party to throw.  Family.go.com made it easy with their whole page dedicated to The Muppets.  There are recipes, games, crafts, printables and lots of Muppet fun.  I had a blast looking at everything.  I printed off the chain, Muppet car and the globe and had them around the house too.  At the end of the party my Mom had the idea to pack everything from the party into the piñata.  Now everything is stored and ready to go if I ever need it.  

I have a few fun things to share with you. I made some templates so you can make your own Kermit garland, favor bags and pieces for the balloons.  For personal use only, please!  Enjoy!!

For the banner, print off these 3 pdf files.
Kermit's eyes- print on white
Kermit's mouth- print on pink
I colored in the black of the eyes and the red of the tongue.

For the favor bags (6 bags), print off these 2 pdf files:
Kermit's mouths- print on pink
Kermit's eyes- print on white
I made the cowls free hand on yellow paper.
I colored in the black of the eyes and the red of the tongue.

For the balloons print off these 2 pdf files:
Kermit's eyes- print on white
Kermit's mouths- print on pink
I colored in the black of the eyes and the red of the tongue.

Tomorrow I'll share the food!

i linked up:


Cast Party Wednesday

Monday, March 26, 2012

Reorganize 2012: DONE!!! tips from the Cluttershark

Well... PB's Birthday has come and gone and that was my deadline for completing my list. (party pics will be up later this week) I did not finish before his birthday, I needed an extra week. The Cluttershark (Mom) helped me complete my list and really lit the fire under my butt to finish those last few things I was dragging my feet on.

Here are a few things I have learned from The Cluttershark:

1. Put it away NOW. Instead of just putting that thing you are holding in your hand right now on the counter or on the floor, spend the extra 30 seconds putting it away. It will add up in the long run.
2. Constantly purge. I always wait until once a year to get rid of things and make decisions. I now have a donate bag hanging in my coat closet and things that I don't need anymore can go right in there to be donated.
3. Don't wait for a man to get the job done. She has been telling me this my whole life. She has always done the heavy lifting in the house and if there is a job to be tackled, she always takes it on and has taught me that we don't need a man to do the jobs that require power tools. We took care of a few things while my Hubby was away that he just didn't get to and wanted to help me with. (Sorry Hubby, you are a wonderful husband and father and I know you can do those jobs because you are super manly. You work so hard to provide for our family and you deserve to have some of the jobs done for you.) We put up some shelves that seriously took 5 minutes. I don't know what I was waiting for!
4. Don't leave today's mess for tomorrow. This is a hard one for me because sometimes I am very tired at the end of the day. But the cluttershark says that when you leave work for tomorrow, you are constantly trying to catch up and dig yourself out of the hole instead of getting ahead and digging a new hole. Sounds smart to me, I am really going to try to do this.

I think I shared more pics last year. Sorry I didn't take you through the process more. I think that with this list, and working on invitations for my BFF's wedding and just the general craziness of life, I just didn't get the pics taken. I did show you the biggest messes but I didn't really share how reorganizing a few things really helped my system and kept me organized. I'll do better next year!!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Orange IKEA storage boxes

When I went to pick my mom up at the airport I made a stop at IKEA.  My fav storage boxes went on clearance for 1.99 for 2 smaller boxes and 2.99 for 2 big boxes.  I couldn't resist and picked up 4 of each.  Yes that does total 16 boxes, but it's 16 ORANGE boxes :) AND they were on clearance so you know they are getting rid of their orange inventory.  I wish I could have taken them all and given them a good home :)

That brings me to the last place in my house that was Cluttersharked before my Mom left... My Craft Area.

I know you are thinking, "But Kris, you claimed that it was done on Monday this week!" Well I was done, and then the cluttershark saw these boxes and said that space needs some help.  

Here is the before...
My scrap bins were over flowing.  and those silver boxes never held their labels and were stuffed.  

Now with the new bins everything fits much nicer.  I actually have room for a few more scraps and can access them much easier.  It definitely looks much nicer.

Before...
the baby fabric and onesies were in the bins that I wanted to use as work in progress bins to keep everything organized.

After...

Now they fit in these nice boxes.  I am excited that all my baby fabric is together and I can't wait to start busting my stash and making things to sell!

It feels good to have my in progress bins back.  The right one is holding everything for PB's i-spy quilt.

The Cluttershark also pushed me to go through my yarn.  Now it all fits in one bin and I only kept the yarn I know I will knit with.  My Mom is the best! I am so lucky I have her come visit and light the fire under my butt that I need to get my life back together.  It felt good to get things accomplished and cross some things off my list.  Most of the things only took 10 minutes.  We spent an hour and a half dong my craft area, entertaining closet and table in the basement.  Pretty awesome!

I know I promised to share PB's party this week.  Pics will be up next week.  Stay tuned for Monday when I share tips from the Cluttershark herself :) Happy weekend! maybe cross something off your list that you have been putting off!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Reorganize 2012: I've been Cluttersharked!

If you are new to this blog then I should tell you that I call my mom Cluttershark.  She got this nickname because she was circling the downstairs of my house and attacking piles of clutter.  No clutter can hide from her and as long as she is awake in my house, she is thinking about the clutter she can shark away.  Well she has been visiting for the last 12 days today she leaves :( and the spaces I thought were complete, were actually not good enough and she cluttersharked them.  

Area #1- the table in the basement.  
I love to just bring things to the basement and instead of putting them away I drop them on this table.  I know you are thinking, "what table?" 
ahhh so much better!!  This needs to stay almost clear so when Hubby's co-worker comes over to work, we don't have last minute cleaning to do.

Area #2- the basement stairs landing.
This was actually really dangerous.  Hubby was walking past this gauntlet with his hot tea several times a day.  
I had some Trones from IKEA in the basement and decided to put them to use holding some craft stuff I had under my coffee table.

  I am also going to try really hard to not put things on the steps and leave them there.

I decided it probably wasn't safe to keep my scissors where PB could reach them. He has never gone in that basket and probably didn't know it was there, but I feel much safe now knowing he won't be able to reach them until he is my height.  
The bottom one is holding the project I am currently working on.  Now I don't have a pile on the side table by the couch.  Feels much cleaner in my living room.  

Area #3 the entertaining closet.
I wish I remembered to take a before picture.  She started cluttersharking so quickly in this closet that I didn't even think to take one.  But trust me, it was bad.  If i thought it was bad then it must have been bad. 
 I had no idea I had a million napkins.  I officially never have to buy another entertaining napkin for the rest of my life.  Now everything has a place and I purged things I haven't used in years.  
Here is my stockpile of plates and napkins.  Now I am ready to host MOMS Club breakfasts and I don't have to get anything!

There was one more area that was cluttersharked, but I'll share that tomorrow!! Thanks for reading!!! 

Monday, March 19, 2012

Reorganize 2012: Craft Area

I know I shared this before, but I know you want to see this mess again!
WOW!! It was a huge mess of fabric, but I still had no trouble working or finding things I needed.  But Hubby could barely walk to his desk.  
This is what hubby could see from his desk.  

This is the worst part.  My pile looks like it goes from the shelf to the floor.  YIKES!

ahhhh... the after.  So much better.  Oh look there is a table next to my desk! I do have a few things on there that are on my immediate make list.  

Now this is what Hubby sees when he turns around.  He can walk to his desk without tripping on anything.  It still looks like organized chaos. My pile of batting and stuffing is out of control, but that will go down when I finish the 2 quilts I want to make.  I did not go through my yarn, which I desperately need to do and get rid of things I am not going to use.  It is starting to not fit in my yarn bin, so it's time.  I wanted to get to it, but there just wasn't enough time.  

I sorted all my fabric and put it away except for these 2 containers.  One is all baby fabric and the other is plain white onesies in sizes 3m-24m.  I think I am going to make as many things as I can with the baby fabric and sell the items.  Not sure when I am going to get to do that, but hopefully soon. I wanted those bins to be my in-progress bins to help me keep focused on what I am working on.  So I might get a container to hold the baby fabric so I can use those.  

I did not go through my shelves and bins and get rid of things as planned.  The system I put in last year really is working.  If you look at last year's after picture it looks way better than it does now, but I did get more stuff and have a big to do list. I am hoping to get through that list this summer.  I also made 14 sets of baby gifts last year. So I do have some leftovers from those projects.  I am disappointed that I didn't get to make more progress down here, there just wasn't enough time.  
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...