Lot Sold Picture!

So the girls didn't know about until we got our official loan approval! My oldest probably thought I was having an affair after the countless "appointments" I had over the past 2 weeks where she has been left to babysit her sister lol. Anyway, I thought it would be cute to take them to the homesite and having them flip over these signs (that I made) would be a nice way to break the news to them. picture!

I created these posters using Word! I used a black chalkboard background and various fonts on Pinterest. I sent the images to Staples and ordered  16x20 colored engineering prints. Then I backed them onto black foam board. Lastly, I took regular white chalk and smudge it over the front to give it more of a chalkboard effect.

The memory of the picture will last a life time though. I just wish my husband was here to be in the

Simply Lemonade Teacher Appreciation Gift

As I mentioned in my previous post I am doing a little gift each day for my girls' teachers this year. Tuesday's gift is a little thank you that just may quench the thirst of any over worked and underpaid teacher. It's not much, but I thought the idea was super cute. I was able to get the lemonades for $1 at the commissary and I found the cute tags already made on Pinterest. I've seen others add a cute paper straw for a nice finishing touch!! 

Extra Gum Teacher Appreciation Tag

This year I decided on doing small thoughtful gifts each day for Teacher Appreciation Week. I saw the extra gum idea on Pinterest. I decided to go with the fruity flavor instead which required me to make my own tags to keep the color scheme thing going. I made two different versions: one ideal for teachers of younger students and the other geared more for older students!!!

Extra School Teacher Template

Extra Daycare Teacher Template

Safari Diaper Cake

 

I made this super cute 3 tier safari themed diaper cake for my cousin's shower. Of course I scored the Huggies diapers at a good deal using coupons and CVS extrabucks etc. I picked up the ribbon and wooden animals from JoAnn's and Micheal's. I think this one is my favorite :-)

 

Deployment Wall

So my husband left on August 8, 2015 for a 12 month tour in Korea. After 2 months I finally finished the wall dedicated to him. I ordered the poster from an Etsy shop and then used a Groupon for PrinterPix to have it printed. I purchased the two clocks from Target and ended up painting the blue one bc it was originally teal. The AM and PM tags will be swapped daily as they are on hooks! Although my 11 year old loves it, I think my 2 year old needed a constant visual of her daddy :)

4 Tier DIY Diaper Cakes

So I made these cute diaper cakes for a set of twins. Their nusery will be grey and purple. It is important to be rather strategic with making these creative masterpieces. I recieved two diaper cakes with my youngest daughter. One was at my friend/family shower and the other was at a work shower. Fortunately, they did not consist of the same sized diapers. One cake was made of size 1 & 2 diapers and the other were size 3s. This was perfect!! The size 1/2 cake was displayed in her nursery for the first 2 months of her little life.....then I busted into that bad boy when diapers were running low lol. After that I was able to pull out the size 3 diaper cake and display it in her nursery for about 2 more months until she was a little bigger. So diaper cakes serve two purposes: decoration AND well you know......diapers lol.

Diapers
Always ask the recipent what type of diapers they are using for their baby. People get really picky about this. I started off as strictly a Pampers/Huggies girl.....but one time Luvs were on sale for pennies and I bought those suckers lol. I will say that Pampers Swaddlers are the best for making these cakes, because you don't have to worry about those annoying patterns showing once your cake is finished. For the twins' cakes I made a size 2 (pictured above) cake using Pampers Swaddlers and a size 3 cake (pictured to the right) using Pampers Baby Dry. I scored a really good deal on the pampers from CVS.


CVS
purchased: (4) Pampers Jumbo Pack of Swaddlers on sale for $8.99
used: (4) Pampers $2.00 off coupons (coupons.com)
recieved: $10 CVS extra bucks (diapers qualified for a spend $30 get $10 ECB)

oop: $29.91

*second transaction
purchased: (4) Pampers Jumbo Pack of Baby Dry on sale for $8.99
used: (4) Pampers $2.00 off coupons (coupons.com)
used: $10 CVS extra bucks (from previous transaction)
recieved: $10 CVS extra bucks  (diapers qualified for a spend $30 get $10 ECB)

oop: $19.91

So I scored 256 diapers for $40! (a box of 148 Swaddlers go for $34.99)

*I only actually needed 3 packs of diapers per cake.

Other Materials

The base of the cakes are the cake thingys people used to sit edible cakes on. You can pick them up from any craft store. I used about 8 different grey and purple ribbons for this cake. I got a few different ideas online and thought mixing diffeernet patterns would be cute. I also used the shredded colored paper to cover the visable diapers for each layer. Lastly, I found two purple flower pins that I used as toppers. I was very happy with how these turn out and I hope the mommy to be loves them as well :)

Teachers Paint Bright Futures

This year I found this cute idea on Pinterest. I picked up some OPI from Marshall's (they were in two packs for $5.99), found some ribbon in my craft box, and created these easy gift tags. I ended up with a super cute, inexpensive, and thoughtful Teacher Appreciation gift! What teacher would't want a pretty shade of OPI for spring and summer? Below is a PDF file for the labels. I made two different color schemes. Enjoy :)

Teachers Like You Paint Bright Futures.pdf