Showing posts with label semi-homemade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label semi-homemade. Show all posts

Sunday, August 21, 2011

School starts TOMORROW!

Gasp!  How did this happen?  Sissy starts KINDERGARTEN tomorrow!  She went to bed tonight, like a kid on Christmas Eve - she can't wait!  And that makes me so happy...

Friday night was Meet the Teacher, and I was in my typical mode... I didn't want us to show up empty handed, but I've been even more swamped (overwhelmed?) than ever.  So... mr. fix-it was on popcorn duty (that guy is THE sweetest... ran out last second and got the cutest popcorn gifts in these little teacher gift boxes - I was so crazy I didn't even get a picture, but they were super cute.  Way to go, dad!!)

Anyway, the night before, I had Sissy write both her teachers (her English teacher and Spanish teacher - she's in the Dual Language program!) notes about how excited she is for the school year.  I found these from Cut & Create and they were PERFECT!



Gotta run - my chocolate chip cookies are done in the oven and I'm writing more thank yous to the little kids' teachers.  This is their LAST WEEK at the school we've been at for 4 years - and the only school the little kids have ever known!  We're moving them to the same town where Sissy's elementary school is (and where we moved in December).  I've got alot of love to put into these cards!

Happy Back-to-School, y'all!!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

iphone Valentines - THE cutest Semi-Homemade Valentine's anywhere!


How stinkin' cute are these?!  And let me tell you how easy!  Amy at Living Locurto has these FREE printables on her site.  All you need is a printer, paper, scissors, tape, and a bunch of boxes of Brach's hearts (after testing 3 kinds, Sissy's fav is the Sassy (tart) ones!!!)  


All you do is print, cut, tape.  They fit perfectly over the boxes of hearts.  Sissy wrote her name on hers and helped me cut some out.  EASY!  And so cute - I can't wait for their party on Monday!  We made 20-something of these for the kids and some for teachers, too!  (Who won't love 'em?)


Just 2 days until Valentine's day - hard to believe!  You should also check out some of the yummy Vday ideas on Amy's blog like this super cute cake:



xoxo,

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Semi-Homemade Teacher Gifts - Snowman Snacks & Suds

Okay, so this year was way more SEMI than HOMEMADE.  But....get ready for this, don't fall outta your chair.... I got them delivered to teachers last week!  Yep, ME!  Mainly because I knew if I didn't get them out, they would get lost in the shuffle of the move, and y'all know how much we love our teachers!

Both kiddos have new teachers that I haven't yet appreciated (Gman moved up after school started... and Sissy recently moved into a new class, which is a story all it's own - more on that later!)  In other words, I could resort to a tried and true idea and not worry about it!

So.... fancy gourmet popcorn from our favorite nostalgic shop downtown (total plus that I had purchased a Groupon from them!) and some foaming holiday soap from Bath & Body Works (had a fab coupon for that AND a giftcard, so these gifts were super cheap!)



Threw them all in bags... added some tulle and this tag:


This week is THE MOVE!  I'm so excited I can barely stand it.  And so overwhelmed that at any moment I think I could puke (nice, right?)  Mainly, I've got to figure out how, in the next 6 days, I can:

*  work about 50 hrs, possibly more
*  attend an ornament exchange party at Mrs. Everything's house
*  finish Christmas cards and mail them before they get lost
*  get my hair did (just covering the greys might ease some of this anxiety!) ;)
*  finish packing this entire apartment
*  try to get the major move check list started - mainly getting tv/internet and our mail!
 *  squeeze in 2 more runs for c25k wk 7 (got the first one in today - woo hoo!)
*  MOVE into our new dream house!

But Sissy's 5th birthday party went off without a hitch and was THE easiest birthday party I've ever even thought about throwing.  I'd recommend this semi-homemade party to anyone and will fill y'all in soon!  New house pics soon, too!

xoxo,

Monday, September 6, 2010

The "Summer House" List

Remember that super cute idea I saw on eighteen25 about making a "summer list" of all the fun things you wanted to do over the summer?  Remember that it was back in June when I blogged about it?  And remember that I was so excited to get started, that we sat down as a family that very day and pulled together our list?


Well..... this summer has gone anything but according to plan.... So, I decided to make ours a "Summer HOUSE" list - a list of all the super fun things we're going to do before we move out of the Summer house.  A list that will keep our minds OFF the fact that we're still IN the Summer house (and will be thru Oct... Nov... parts of Dec...)  So our list now includes items like:

Carve pumpkins
Go to a football game
Eat turkey
Walkaround
Make a recipe with pumpkin in it


Mr. Fix-It is gonna hang my masterpiece next to the giant calendar/countdown in the dining room.  (Ohmigosh, I won't be sad to say goodbye to the horrible lighting in this place either!)  We should be getting our permit back tomorrow (from what appears to be THE slowest small town in TX!) and then watch out!  You'll finally be getting progress updates on the 2010 Semi-Homemade House!

Enjoy the last day of summer!  We sure have - we went swimmin' and then crashed at The Everythings for some yummy grillin'! 

xoxo,

Friday, September 3, 2010

Back to the basics - it's SCHOOL time!

The kids have been back to school for 2 whole weeks... so I'm finally getting a chance to show you the big day!  We started the year with appreciating our new teachers (y'all know how much we love teachers!)

$3 fun clipboard from Walmart
+ oh.so.yummy popcorn from our local shoppe
+ a handwritten note (I used the apple notes from The TomKat Studio!) 
+ tulle
= several happy lead teachers!



And we love assistant teachers, too!  For them:  a bag of savory popcorn with a candied popcorn ball and a note about how much we appreciate them.   Big Sis and G-man loved picking out the flavors!



Here's Big Sis on her first day of Pre-K - I can't believe it!  She's so grown up... when I picked her up after the first day, she showed me her pencil case and composition notebook and everything!  (When did she get so grown up?!?)


Big Sis with her onery brother on their first day of school



I'm surprised to say... but I just love my pretty girl in a UNIFORM!  Being the girly girl that she is, we didn't waste time with shorts/pants/skorts... so nothing but jumpers Mon-Thurs!


But watch out for Fridays - when her true style comes out.  ;)
Happy back to school, y'all!


Monday, June 21, 2010

Birthday Parties!

Looking for birthday party ideas?  Tip Junkie has been featuring all kinds of fun party themes and today the theme was PIRATES!  Well... you know.... we might be known for our pirate obssession. ;)

G-man's 1st birthday, the Pirate Birthday Bash is featured as #5 (but pictured as #6 - they work too hard over there, so I don't blame 'em for having a hard time keeping it all straight!)


Be sure to visit Tip Junkie for ideas on parties for boys, girls, tweens and teens!


xoxo,

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A Semi-Homemade Summer List for the Summer House

When I saw this cute project on eighteen25, I knew I had to take the girls' inspiration.... and make it a little easier more semi-homemade....

We started immediately, at dinner one night last week.  We've got a list of 25 things we want to do this summer (which might be a little ambitious, because - last time I checked - I'm still working full time!)  A few things we included were:

Go to the zoo
Make homemade ice cream
Meet Baby Caiden
Watch fireworks
Fly on an airplane

I probably have scrapbook paper in storage that would be great for this project. ;)  But as soon as I can get to the Motherland (aka Hobby Lobby) for a frame and paper, I'm sooo finishing this project.  It'll go great with the Summer House Countdown I'm going to hang on the walls of our Dining Room.

Stay tuned and I'll show you the finished project and how I attempted to make it easier!  (I'm thinking some photoshop, a paper cutter and tape...) 

Happy Summer, y'all!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

A Semi-Homemade Birthday Party Brainstorm - the TRUCKER party!

I know, I know, I've been MIA.  We moved into the Summer House!  There's lots of things I should be doing.... brainstorming ideas for Big Sis and G-man's new bedrooms... unpacking... figuring out WHERE my pizza cutter is....

But there's one way I deal with anxiety.  Party planning.  So, instead I'm daydreaming brainstorming G's 2nd birthday party. 

The inspiration:  I knew the time would come when he would move on from pirates (boo hoo!)  His current obsession?  TRUCKS!  So here's my take on a "Trucker Party."  I initially started dreaming up ideas for this party a month ago.... At that point in time, I hadn't narrowed it down to a certain TRUCK type...  There's so many options - construction trucks, fire trucks, etc!  I have since decided on VINTAGE TRUCKS (which of course, is much harder to find - just means I have get to be more creative!)  But I'm hoping most these ideas can be adapted to vintage trucks!  In my mind, I've been picturing light blue and lime green... then I came across this print on ebay.  THIS is exactly what I'm working towards!



The invitations:  Not sure if I'll whip something up or go to Etsy to find something... but how cute are these  invites from Mr. Bean Cakes?!  Perfect (except the price!)



The location:  If we still lived in a house, we'd have it there, i.e. The Truck Stop  (okay, this is gonna take some thinking now...Maybe a pool or clubhouse?)
The activities will be low key - we do 2nd birthday parties with family and closest friends only (just The Everythings!), so it's more about G-man and his birthday... and less about planning lots of party activities.  We'll have food, drinks, and presents!
G-man's party attire:  Okay, with boys I'm a little iffy on the whole matchy-matchy with party attire.  BUT.  Then I saw this shirt.  Too cute to pass up!  And only $15?  How can I not?!  It's from Etsy (duh) from a seller called Elle's Attic. 


Now that I'm going with the Vintage Truck theme, I'm thinking I'll order this shirt from Gymbo while it's 30% off (and I have a 20% off coupon, too!)
And if we rent the clubhouse at the pool,  how perfect would this swimsuit be?

There's also this cute shirt from makrista baby on Etsy:


Favors:  Trucker hats, of course!  From this fun site called Zazzle!  They have a dozen or so colors of trucker hats... you pick the color, the design, the text - totally custom (squeal!)  Since we do low key birthdays for 2 and 3 (translation: small head count!), this could work, because I'd only have to buy a few hats.

Of course, I love this one for the birthday boy (I know, I said the pirate thing was coming to a close... but doesn't mean we can't still have an occasional pirate, right?):
And this one says Big Sis all over it... literally. ;)
I can see her wanting something PINK (even though I think it would be cute to get boys blue hats and girls green hats!)

I think Mr. fix-it would love it if I got G-man this one.



Need a cheaper idea?  Painters caps can be purchased at a hardware store for less than $1.00 - and you can use fabric paint pens to write the names, doodle designs, etc!

Wouldn't these tags be cute to use on favor bags?  Vintage truck tags from Lazy Day Cottage.

And I could totally do something like this cute truck goodie bag:


Mmmm... chocolate truck lollipops from Bryts Angels!


All kids love to color!  Check out these dump truck crayons from Lil Boo and Co!



Party decor and supplies:  I picked up this fun tent a few weeks ago at JCPenney and it's turning out to be perfect!  (Doesn't hurt that I had some coupons and got it for CHEAP!)  I bet I can personalize it a bit, too.....


Y'all know how much I love printable party stuff.  My sister used Parties by Hardie for her daughter's monkey party and it turned out so cute!  I'm thinking I could use some of the Truck Party supplies to set the stage at The Truck Stop!


Do you remember those cute pink, red and green nutcrackers from Paper Quick that I used to decorate for Big Sis's 4th birthday party?  (If you don't, check it out here.)  Well, she's all over it again this time!  Here's some fun vintage trucks she's working on for me to use decorating - I'm thinking I could put these on glass containers, balloons, tablecloths - the possibilities are endless!


I can totally see myself using these vintage tags to decorate (Maybe I add brown to the lt blue/lime theme with vintage trucks!)  I convo'ed her to see if she can do a vintage truck on here - that would rock!


And I could frame these with lime and lt blue mats to use on the cake and sweets table!  Vintage Vehicle cards from Medley Designs



The cake:
Y'all know I love cupcake toppers because cupcakes are easy and you can be so cusom!  Here's some cute ones from Design Favors.


Or these vintage cupcake toppers! Maybe 1/2 of them in solid lt blue, half in lime green.  I've contacted her, and already heard back.  She's reworking these toppers in the right colors for me.  :)


I've never tried fondant cupcake toppers - how cute are these from Two Sugar Babies?


And what better to eat cake on than your very own special birthday plate?  This one isn't "trucker" themed, but I am in love with it (esp because it would grow with him)!  From the Sillhouette Portrait Collection at Aedriel Originals.



The food: I'm thinking Truck Stop food... right? Maybe a build-your-own hot dog bar?? Concession stand nachos? ;) Popcorn in fun cones or bags? (If you have ideas, send them to me!)  I found these fun bags from Etsy seller Hey Yo Yo (they have the cutest vintage stuff - check 'em out!)



I could cover a table with white butcher paper.... Make a road down the center of the table with black construction paper and yellow lines with paint or paper. Then I could add a few toy vehicles on the road.  Like these:



truck from Etsy seller Marc's Woodworking

Here is some inspiration for the food table from Pizzazzerie.  Love it!

......sigh........perfection



More to come on G-man's 2nd birthday as we get closer!  Happy weekend, y'all.... and Welcome Summer! :)

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