Fill your mind printable

This is a slightly edited version of a quote I have always loved. I saw the original quote again on pinterest tonight and realized I needed a more visual, regular reminder of it!  I'm getting ready to make a photo ledge in my dining area and plan to include in the display.

Sized 8 1/2 x 11 with a white border. 

Up, up and away: 3 year old boy Airplane Themed Birthday Party

My little guy turns three in just a few days and it was time for a party.  For a number of reasons this was his first real party.  Dad, an airplane nut, who has been indoctrinating him suggested airplanes and little guy thought that was a great idea.

His requests were simple - airplanes, cupcakes and balloons.  

I designed the invitation and created a Garcia Airlines logo that I used  on all the printables. 

The party was at a local park.  I was surprised to find there weren't a lot of good ideas for me to steal be inspired by on pinterest and other sites. I decided to have the food match the theme and did "in flight snacks", "meal service", "beverage service". For the snacks I made up small cellophane bags of goldfish (one of my son's favorites), pretzels and found prepackaged small mixed nuts.  I added little toppers to the bags that used the Garcia Airlines logo.  I added some small tangerines, again a favorite of my son and small pb&j sandwiches cut with an airplane cookie cutter.  For the adults I made hoagie sandwiches, cut and wrapped them reminiscent of food you used to get on the airplane. We had cloud cupcakes decorated with marshmallow fluff (do not use... trust me on this one) and cotton candy.  The biggest hit of the menu was the cloud jello cups made with layered blue jello and cool whip. 

 

The party favor also doubled as the activity, a small inexpensive kite for each child. I picked them up for about $1 each and they were a huge hit.  We had about 30 people from 1-50 and almost everyone took part in the kite flying.  I would highly recommend and might use again for another child.  It was a very windy day which helped.  The park also overlooks the local Air Force base flight line which added to the "plane" atmosphere.    

The wind did kill a few of my decorations.  Although I bought helium balloons at the little guys request most did not survive very long nor could they be on the tables as planned.  Also my banner backdrop for the table became airborne! That will teach me to ever bring glass anything to a park no matter how much weight I put in the jar.  All and all it was a very fun birthday.  When I asked sweet little Sam for his favorite parts he said cupcakes, balloons, airplanes and fishes.  A success!

One of my goals for the year is to complete things.  In that light I actually did thank you notes!  If you know me, you know that is a big thing for me... I know baby steps.

Sharing over at:

The time for love and Valentines! Kids Valentine Photo Idea

I have a confession... not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I guess you could say I have a independent streak but I'm not a fan of days I'm supposed to feel or do something purely because it is a "special" day... That being said the mass amounts of cool ideas related to Valentine's Day have made me much more excited about the holiday this year.

I thought I would share with you the Valentines my boys will be bringing to an upcoming party.  I created these with recent photos and edited in picnik.  Side note: aren't you sad picnik is closing... sniff... sniff... 

Sam will be giving a small bag of popcorn with his Valentine. I found prepackaged for kids popcorn at Fresh and Easy.  I like to give something other than candy to help balance out all the sugar.

Noah's going to be giving Kool Aid drinks with his Valentine.  I know, not really healthy, but at least something different than candy.

Walgreen's is offering a deal through Feb. 11th that you can get 25 free prints when you order 25 prints. (CODE: share25)  So for 50 prints it was less than $6 bucks!  Better than a lot of store bought Valentine's and much more unique.

For Noah's preK class next week he is doing a bouncy ball valentine using this great printable I found via pinterest.  The Crafting Chicks have some wonderful designs and love that they share for those of us not nearly as talented.

And for my hubby (sshhh... don't tell) I'm doing this idea.  Since we live and met in Vegas I love the playing card tie in!

Halloween Cakes - Cake Pop Eyeballs and Spiderwebs

I really can't Halloween is just around the corner. And then it always seems like it is down hill from there with Thanksgiving and Christmas so close after!

I have a confession...

I don't really like Halloween. Yep, I said it.

I know it is a lot of people's favorite holiday but for me I've never quite liked all creepy, crawly, freaky stuff.  Just never understood the draw of fake blood, spider, snakes, vampires and the like.  Don't get me wrong, I love Autumn with pumpkins, leaves and apples but Halloween, not so much.

Well I had to change my view a little when I was recently asked to do a Halloween themed birthday cake.  It was for 18 year old twins (girl and boy).  Thanks to pinterest (yep, definitely my current addiction) I found some fabulous ideas.

This is what I ended up with...

And I happen to have a dear friend who also had a birthday and LOVES Halloween so decided to make a little arrangement of the eyeballs for her birthday. 

 

My favorite part by far was the eyeballs on forks. I made red velvet with cream cheese frosting cake balls covered in white chocolate melted candy.  I used gummy lifesavers for the eyes with green gel for the centers and then red to make the blood shot effect. 

All the little eyeballs lined up in rows.... 

Monday Messages {free printable} - Starfish, Made a Difference to One

I have always loved the legend of the starfish... Often what we do may not matter to the world, but it does matter to one soul.

Monday Messages {free printable} - Seeds you plant

So I often struggle with Mondays, back to real life after a little weekend break!  I find that quotes give me some motivation and inspiration to start my week off right so I will try to share a new quote and printable each Monday.  Hope you enjoy!

To print the image, just click on the picture, save as a image and then choose your print options. It is set up for a full size sheet (8 1/2 x 11). 

Home ReDo: Alphabet Wall Art

So I think I have mentioned that my home is in need of a major redo.... well one of the places that needs some serious attention is my kids room.  It is currently shared by my 2 and 4 year old and in the next few months the baby will be joining them.

There are many things that need to be addressed in their room but one of the biggest challenges is that there is lots of stuff that needs to go in the room and that leaves not much room for decorating.


Except this one big empty wall...

I had grand plans to decorate the room in a sports theme (not original I know but my boys love sports) but then I discovered I was having a girl and re-evaluated.  In the end I decided to go with an alphabet theme but due to a difficult pregnancy didn't get anything done before she arrived.

So back to the wall... I have this big wall that I need to fill (oh... and not spend a lot of money).  Pinterest to the rescue. I found some cute ideas to use flash cards as wall hangings and thought that would be perfect.

Due to the size of the wall I did an Internet search and found these great large {free} printable alphabet flash cards.  I printed them on card stock on a laser color printer and they turned out great.  I cut off the excess paper, hole punched, strung onto some inexpensive ribbon and for under $5 have a great piece of wall art that adds color to the space and is educational!

I had to hang it higher than I would like to ensure little hands don't rip it down (my boys have bunk beds) so I think I am going to get some vinyl that says, "Now I know my ABC's..." for just above the glider.

Now it makes me want to tackle the rest of the room!

Here is a close up, I used over-sized push pins and tied on extra pieces of ribbon to give it some extra interest.

And my son admiring the new "letters wall". He just started preK so I think it was extra cool to him!