thirteen shmirteen

my sweetest (and 1st) nephew is turning 13 this week! i told him he wasn't allowed to but he seems to be doing it anyhow. 

i can't believe how quickly the time goes! our guy at 13 is quick as a whip and the funniest kid on the block... i'm a forever proud aunt!

 amy and nate are throwing austin a party tonight! i made him weird masks, like party nosferatu, party lemonhead from adventure time, party sloth in a suit, and party mr. meowgi (austin's cat), so all his favorite friends could come along. 

i've always wanted to try making a surprise ball for someone after seeing it on heidi's blog a few years ago...this seemed like the perfect occasion! lots of sweets and funny odds and ends and some money rolled up into a crate paper ball.

oh to be 13 again! 

ugh...or maybe not. haha. 

hoping your weekend is going real swell! 

xoxo

in a pinch party hats

i love making these funny, tall, elf-like party hats...they're the perfect way to make a party a tad more special or silly and they stash away well...making it great for when you're in a pinch. i use lots of different patterns and colors and reuse mine over and over...because almost every occasion calls for a party hat! 

here's how i make them!

supplies: you need a square of scrap booking paper, a hot glue gun or tacky glue, pom poms (found at the craft store), scissors, and ribbon or twine or elastic.

start by turning the paper over, pattern-side down. taking the right corner, start curling it in toward the center...

keep rolling, keeping the top at a point, and making sure the bottom is staying wide open. keep your hands on the left hand corner and get ready to glue!

put a little dab of hot glue or tacky glue on the inside of the left corner tab and press it to the hat...hold until it's set.

next you'll need your scissors...

trim off the bottom of the hat however you'd like...you can make the hats short or tall depending on how much you cut off!

to finish off the top, lay a line of glue along the top of the hat and squeeze the pom pom over the glue, hold until set!

hot glue any sort of ribbon or twine (cut into two pieces and long enough to tie around the head...or one piece if using elastic) on two opposite sides of the hat. if you're using thin twine or elastic, i usually take a small piece of paper to lay over the glue and twine to keep it sturdy and sealed and from burning my fingers. ack!

and that's it!

hooray for funny party hats!

xoxo

tis the season

happy happy happy december, friends!

this year has been a good one to us.

we're going to live it up these next few weeks...sending the year out in style!

today is devoted to all things make paper snow flakes. 

and i have the scissor marks on my hand and white paper bits covering the floor to prove it!

xoxo

birthday suit

max's baseball birthday party was a real hit!

(ugh. no pun intended..haha)

it was a perfect summer night with good food (hot dogs and shish kabobs grilled by matt and his dad//bags of popcorn and caramel corn//and a table full of sweets), funny music (thank you andrews sisters...i'll never get tired of seeing little ones run around to old music), and amazing friends and family.
we sat around and watched the kids scoot about, playing backyard baseball, and dodging stray balls until the sun went down.

did you see jackie robinson hit that ball?- buddy johnson

i love planning max's birthday parties.

and this one was my most favorite!

{here are a few details for those of you who are into this sort of stuff:}
we made a little concession stand awning out of ikea fabric and tent poles that we had laying around // a photo cut out board from this image //cherry vanilla, peanut butter, and dark chocolate old timey mustaches on a stick// felt pennants on dowel rods and white paper pennant banners (ran through my sewing machine with red thread) to hang outside// i found vintage baseball card images online that i printed off on a thick cardstock for max's friends...and made little canvas drawstring bags for them to stuff with a baseball and sweets to take home.

it was a perfect party for our baseball-loving little guy.

thank you all so much for such sweet birthday loving for him on friday! i can't wait for when he's grown and able to go back to this blog and see how many wonderful people were apart of his childhood.

i have a few more party pictures on my facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1947474284177.2102360.1162141043&l=5941c26aaf

(p.s. a few credits from my shopping list: cupcake liners, popcorn bags and paper straws are from hey yo yo //birthday invitations by spaceships and laser beams // bullseye ball toss game from hobby lobby// mason jar juice box idea from pinterest via a little sussy // cake pops from sweets by jenny edwards )

max's teepee

friday night me and max hunkered down, ordered in, and hid ourselves away from the world for a night in our teepee. 

max has never been a co-sleeper, but ever since our move has had a harder time detaching at night. one extra goodnight hug or kiss becomes a death-grip head lock with refusal to let go. with this guy it's a slippery slope...i slept with him the first few nights living here to get him acclimated and it set up a pretty cushy standard. long story short, he got a taste for sleeping with mama and asks for it pretty regularly now.

(which is beyond tempting for me, considering during the day he wants way more guy time then me-time)

 

to tide him over, i've been promising him we'd set up a special mama/max sleep over but wanted to do it up right. i found this online tutorial to build a teepee...it seemed the most feasible for me to do, only i used wood closet rods and rope instead.

and so we teepeed! and, because i am who i am, i forced us to make feather headdresses and read cowboy and indian books. max isn't much for themes, but humored me anyway.

we started downstairs then decided to migrate our tribe up to his room...which you can imagine how silly i looked trying to take an assembled teepee up a flight of stairs. there was no way i was taking that thing down after it took me forever and a day to get it to sit up straight. plus i wrapped at least 500 feet of rope around the top.

when it came time for bed, max told me he would rather sleep alone but asked if i could lay outside his teepee for a little while. i guess there is just as much peace in knowing you have the option as there is in actually acting on it. 

so i laid there and slipped my hand under the tent and he held it tight for a few hours. i didn't dare fall asleep.

  i would build and wrangle up a thousand more teepees for a little bit more of that.

nothing but big ol' hearts dancing in our eyes

 i've been plotting and scheming and valentining around here...and no one is safe!

there is something about rolls of candy-colored ribbon and bits and trims of paper that make my heart thump thump thump.

my body has been gravitating toward the sunshiny corners of the house these days, like a little lazy house pet.

although, i prefer a side of productiveness with my morning sun. i've been hauling my crafting goodies around, tailing the sun from room to room.

we've got our weekend trip destination narrowed down to a few choices (thank you so much for the help...west virginia is looking pretty promising!).

it may come down to towns written on strips of paper and tossed into a hat tonight. wherever the wind takes us, i'm just looking forward to getting to hold matt's hand for a few hours and seeing ohio from the rear view mirror. just for a bit.

although, our fool-proof  back up plan is seeing jerry seinfield and the hot dog bun museum in toledo. so...

win. win.

xxoo

merry and bright

 wrapping up gifts is one of my favorite things to do. 

i surround myself with ribbons and papers and buttons and all sorts of odds and ends...using found objects instead of christmas bows.

and a secret from me to you: i like to wrap the majority of my presents in the brown parcel or craft paper/newsprint. it's timeless and looks great with a patterned ribbon and next to the louder colored packages. also, scrap booking paper and fabric work wonders to wrap with, especially for smaller gifts. spools of everyday ribbon, not christmas ribbon, will get more use year round. not to mention the selection is endless.

all of my paper this year is from ikea, target, and hobby lobby sheets of patterned papers (like the wood pattern below) and fabric ribbons.

matt and i are fond of it's a wonderful life...especially the scene where george offers to lasso the moon for mary. i fall for it every time!

i found a picture of the two of them from that scene for one of matt's gifts this year.

color and scents and warmth is bursting from this christmas house. 

(and you can't escape the front room without running into mistletoe...even in all of this cheap/plastic glory, i can't get past how sweet and simple mistletoe looks)

 

i hope everyone is having a fine weekend. tonight is our 2nd annual fancy christmas! this year is indian food, party crackers, $1 gift exchange, and dancing.
i should hide some mistletoe in my purse for later....