Surprise 30th Birthday

This May I will turn 30. But we aren't going to talk about that right now. 

Fortunately, many other friends are at the same time!

One of my girlfriend's (Kristin) birthday was this month and her husband had a surprise 30th birthday for her on New Years Eve! It was such a fun party! Kristin's sister, Cassie, pulled together a ton of creative ideas! Cassie and I talked on the phone and she said, "We know Kristin likes chalkboard, mason jars, photos, and printables." I went to work on Pinterest! YAY for the new secret boards! (I just made the board public.)

It was such a fun night to celebrate Kristin who is one of the most thoughtful people you will ever meet. She always thinks of everyone else first and it was fun to do something for her!

Personalized Subway art I made for her.

It is only $6 to print a 16x20 in color at Costco! $10 cheaper than a drugstore!

If you misspell "birthday", it will cost $12 though, because you will get home and realize you spelled it wrong, and then made a new one and send your husband back to get it!

Cassie made little cookie treat bags

Cassie blew up huge photos using the engineering prints (I think $4 each!) from Staples and put them on ledge around the room.

Photo tree!

Confetti wasn't allowed in the room, so we decided to make Hershey Kiss confetti! I designed them in the Silhouette software with K's and 30's. I bought Avery "White Internet Shipping Labels". They are half sheet adhesive labels. I couldn't find the full sheet labels. I used the Silhouette print and cut feature to make them. Honestly, my Silhouette was making me INSANE, but I finally got it working!

Cake table

Cassie blew up a lot of the printables we found and mounted them on foam board. Love this one! Her friend made the pretty cake!

Cassie cut out brackets on chalkboard vinyl on her Cricut so people could write their name on their wine glasses!

Fancy photobooth printable

Cassie put together this super awesome fancy photobooth! Shiny streamers hung from the back, and there was a board to write why people heart Kristin!

I cut out the props on my Silhouette. I learned to NOT EVER AGAIN use glitter paper. Thank goodness I got a new cutting mat for Christmas because I cut right through mine! We hot glued the props on dowels.

The birthday girl and me

Cassie made beautiful centerpieces with Christmas sale ornaments! She filled up big mason jars and put them over silver table runners with photos underneath. We put black circles under them that people could write on with chalk!

The New Years prop table. Cassie also put together a wish tree for people to write wishes for Kristin in the new year and then tie to the tree.

  

Kristin blowing out her candles! Happy Birthday!

We are royalty! 

Happy new year to my hubby!

DIY Photo Coasters

One of my favorite gifts this year was the photo coasters I made for a couple people. I saw this idea on Pinterest from this blog originally. 

The tiles I found at Mendards. I believe it was about $3.50 for a set of 9 tiles!

I stalked Facebook (like every good friend does) and copied some of my favorite pictures. One of the sets I made for Erin with photos of her little girls. another for a co-worker with pictures of her grandkids, and another friend with friend and family photos. 

I cropped the photos to 4x4 size. (Next time I would crop them to 3.75 x 3.75). 

I printed them on tissue paper by cutting an 8.5 x 11 piece of tissue paper, taping the edges to a piece of 8.5x 11 cardstock, and then running through the printer. Make sure the tape is just on the edges and your photos don't print on the tape. Then I cut out the photos. 

Then I applied a thin coat of Mod Podge and carefully laid the photos on top.

**Next time I do this, I will use a sanding block to roughen up the edges so it doesn't look so straight cut on the sides. The tissue paper gives it a bit of a worn look and then edges looked too straight when it was all done.

After it dried for about 20-30 minutes, I applied another coat. I applied a total of 4 coats, letting it dry completely in between.

After the last coat was completely dry, I sprayed it with two coats of an aerosol sealer (don't remember right now which one). I made sure to get the sides too so condensation on a glass wouldn't mess it up.

On the back I put those little plastic foot things from the hardware store. I read that you can put felt on the back, but I liked these little things to avoid slipping, especially with little kiddos around! They come in packages of 16, so one package is enough for 1 set of 4 coasters. Felt is definitely a doable option and more cost effective if you choose to do that!

And the final gift!

I will DEFINITELY be making more of these!

DIY Ornament

Erin showed me this adorable idea she was making as Christmas gifts. 

I decided to copy her and make some as gifts for the people I work with in the Religious Ed Department at church, some of the staff and the people I volunteer with. 

I got the ornaments from Michaels when they were on sale after Thanksgiving. I printed off the words and cut them out in little strips. Then I wrapped each one around a pencil and then stuck it inside the ornament. When I was done, I put the top back on, tied a red bow around the top and made a ribbon hanger. 

I cut out the names of the recipients with my Silhouette and the year.

Thanks for the idea Erin!

The words I used inside:

Jesus

God

Nativity

Christ’s Birth

Advent

Mary and Joseph

Christmas

Oh! Come let us adore him!

Away In a Manger

Bethlehem

Our Savior is Born

Angels We Have Heard on High

Holy Family

Christ our Savior

Tie Onesies

When we went to California for Christmas, we were so lucky to be able to visit my friend Meghan and her brand new little guy, Felix. 

I had pinned this website a while back and used her pattern as my template.

I actually made one tie onesie a couple months ago for my nephew, so these were my second and third. 

I made one with a cute snowflake pattern for the winter months (but still short sleeved since they live in LA) and another with an Illini pattern because she is an alum and a huge supporter!

I ironed Heat 'N Bond onto the fabric, traced the pattern, and cut out the tie. Then I ironed the tie onto the onesie. I used a zig zag stitch a little squished together (I'm still a newbie at sewing and don't know the technical words!). I didn't do so hot on the Illini one, so I had to go over it twice. The snowflake one was a little better sewing!

This was a simple project that I was so excited to make!

I can't wait to see a photo of the little wearing his fan wear!

Chalkboard Beer Glasses

In October, I made chalkboard beer glasses as a gift. 

Round one: 

I cut out 4 different "bracket" stencils on my Silhouette. I love brackets.

Then I put them on the glasses. 

Then I made a huge mess of them trying to put them on nicely and had to start over. 

At first I thought I was going to paint chalkboard acrylic paint on the glasses. Then I learned that acrylic paint won't stick to glass when it was peeling right off. So I peeled all the paint right off the glasses.

Round two:

I recut out the stencils and applied them to the glass. It was a bit (very) cold outside, so I used an old bin in our backroom and started spray painting. 

Well....first I taped paper towels all around the glass and across the top. It was definitely worth taking the time to do that well because it left no mess. I sprayed them 3 times and let it dry in between.

They made a great gift with a 6 pack of beer!

Chalkboard Cake

Well hello there 2013!

Long time no see!

I thought I'd start off the new year easy....with an old post!

I made this project last spring as a birthday gift for Layla's 4th birthday. I thought she would enjoy playing cake decorator! I first saw it here at this website from  a pin from Pinterest.

I found the hatboxes at Hobby Lobby and Michaels. It took a little while to find the sizes I wanted because there wasn't a huge selection at either store. 

I used E-6000 glue because it is strong, but can wiped away. It also gives a little more time than hot glue. Hot glue would be hard to wipe away from around the edges. Also, I had E-6000 glue. I'm sure another glue would work well too!

After I glued the pieces together, I let it dry (probably not long enough though, be more patient than me!). Next I spray painted the whole thing with primer to help the chalkboard paint stick to the hat boxes better.

After that, I forgot to keep taking pictures. I think because my nice and nephew came over and caught me spray painting the grass with chalkboard paint. I was doing it behind the house so Adam wouldn't notice since I couldn't find my tarp. I sprayed the whole thing with 3 coats just to be safe. 

After it was all dry, I brought it inside and primed it with chalk. Priming chalkboard includes rubbing a piece of chalk on its side in all different directions (vertical, horizontal, diagonal both ways). Then I wiped it all off and decorated it for the first time for her! After I did this project, I read that you can wipe it off with a damp cloth, and then a dry cloth.

In with the birthday gift, I included a children's book about cake decorating, cupcake rings, and a spatula from The Dollar Tree. 

P.S. I hate my handwriting. I'm proud of the chalkboard cake. NOT proud of my decorating job. I'm sure Layla's work was much prettier!