krisha

Baking Cup Party Lights…

August 21, 2013 by krisha

Like many of my ideas, this one has been swimming around in my head for quite a while. I don’t know what has taken me so long to do up this post, because the whole idea is super easy! It literally took me 5 minutes to do. You know those really cute baking cups? I had some mismatched ones just sitting in my cabinet. There were too few to use for a party, so I embellished a string of indoor lights and created this fun party accessory!

What you’ll need:

Baking cups
Indoor mini string lights
Awl or other pointy object of similar diameter.

Instructions:

Using the awl, poke a hole in the center of all the baking cups.
Do not make the hole too big, or the baking cup will fall off.
Insert lights into baking cups.
Plug in and party on!

Obviously, these are a little off center, but they still got the job done.

I love these for a patio party or how fun would these be to take on a camping trip?

God’s Eye Cake Topper…

August 16, 2013 by krisha

When I was pulling ideas for Jackson’s living room camp out party, I scoured Pinterest for cake inspiration. Almost every camp out party had the same campfire cake. It was really cute, but I wanted something different. Then I remembered these God’s eyes I used to make when I was kid. Do you remember making these? I made mine at Vacation Bible School, but I know others that made them at camp. The story goes that the four points represent earth, fire, water, and air. Traditionally, they are created to mark a celebration or a blessing. I think that’s a perfect fit for camp out birthday cake!

If you’ve never made a God’s eye, watch this tutorial. It’s been a while since I made one and this helped as a refresher. It’s a just a series of over and under weaving. You can get as intricate as you like, but I kept it simple.

You will need:

Variegated yarn
Bamboo skewers
Scissors

Instructions:

Watch the video tutorial.
Cut skewers to desired lengths. Leave one short, one long.
Tie the two skewers together and knot.
Begin weaving over and under.
When finished, wrap yarn around your stopping point about 4-5 times.
Thread tail of yarn through one of the wraps you just made.
Secure with a knot and trim excess yarn.

Cooler Heads Prevail…

August 14, 2013 by krisha

My Mom always told me, You get more bees with honey. She also turned my elementary school upside down, when she found out I had been paddled in the first grade. I’m a lot like my mom. I am not at all a confrontational person, but when I feel threatened, I have been known to lash out. Verbally. Ooops. My bad.

Here’s the deal. I’m just a Mom, who struggles everyday to keep it together. Some days are better than others, but most are not A + days. What you see here, is filtered. It’s bits and pieces. I am not the ever shining example of what I want my kids to be…at least not in every moment.

Today started in a rush. I hate when I feel rushed! The kids were dragging, because they wouldn’t go to sleep. That’s a whole other post. We had to be at Savannah’s tennis lesson at 9:00. Of course, I hit the mother load of bridge traffic today. I really, really don’t like being stuck on a bridge. All sorts of scenarios race through my head and I have to rehearse my plan of action should one actually happen. Anyway, we were about 10 minutes late. Her instructor was completely understanding…so no problem there.

As with all the tennis lessons before this one, the whole crew was there. Jacks and Annie kind of just chill. They’ll gather the balls and put them back in the basket. I guess Annie worked up a sweat, so she stripped naked on the courts. Bless it! I cannot keep that girl clothed!! She normally just walks around the house naked, eats dinner naked, plays in the backyard naked, but now she’s escalated to public nudity. Sweet. I got her redressed, only for her to pay me back by peeing all over the courts. Of course, I didn’t bring an extra change of clothes, because honestly, I’m over bringing an extra change of clothes. I ditched the diaper bag a couple of months ago. I’m not hauling gear anymore. I mean, you’re potty trained! There are no takesies backsies. Luckily, she didn’t wet too much of her clothes, but she had to go commando the remainder of the lesson.

The plans were to take them to see Turbo after the lesson. But, Annapeeonthecourtsbelle cramped my style. I didn’t want to go all the way home for a change of clothes, so I did the most reasonable thing and stopped in Target to buy some new undies and whatever shorts were on clearance. I also let them pick out some $1 candy, because I’m not paying those outrageous movie concession prices. We were on are way back to the front, Savannah wasn’t paying attention to where she was going {which I always correct}…when I hear a very loud and mean voice say the following as she pummeled through the store on her scooter:

YOOHOO!!! STOP LOOKING AT THE FLOOR!! GET YOUR HEAD UP AND PAY ATTENTION!! YOU ALMOST RAN INTO ME!!!

You see my brain only had a split second to try and stop myself for what was about to happen. I mean, this lady was yelling at my child. MY CHILD!! Fortunately, Savannah was still in lala land and Annie was too into her candy to care. There were unpleasantries exchanged or better yet, doled out…as I was the only speaking. She was definitely taken back. Good! You just can’t go around talking to people like that. Especially, MY children. Then, Jacks called me out. You shouldn’t have said those things to her. He was right and I acknowledged that. I could and should have handled it better. Proud that my boy knew better than me! Cooler heads prevail.

We made it to the movies. I got there 30 minutes early. With three kids…that might as well be 24 hours early. Shoot me now! Cute movie, what I saw of it. I made FOUR bathroom trips. Shoot me again! Savannah had a meltdown because I threw the rest of her king size Nerds in the trash. Did I mention Annie peed on the floor at the movies? After the FOUR bathroom trips?? It’s a good thing scooter lady and myself crossed paths before the movie. She got off lucky!

Trail Mix Party…

August 13, 2013 by krisha

For Jackson’s 6th birthday, I set up a trail mix station for his living room camp out party. The kid’s had so much fun making their little trail mix bags. You don’t need a special occasion, I think this would make an adorable afternoon party with friends!

The set up was so easy! A few kraft bags or lunch bags filled to the brim. Print and attach labels, then let the wild animals loose to mix up their own bags.

The wild berries were the favorite! I have seen these many times before, but never had a reason to buy them. They were so good!

You can find a lot of these specialty candies at World Market, like the mushrooms {chocolate biscuits}, the mossy rocks {chewy apple candy}, and the wood chips {fortune cookie wafers.} Everything else, I picked up at my local grocery store.

And there you have it…a legit camper’s trail mix!

Camper’s Trail Mix Printable

A New Adventure…

August 12, 2013 by krisha

I have had a busy couple of days around here. We celebrated Jackson’s 6th birthday yesterday. I know it’s so cliché, but where does the time go? It seems just like yesterday it was just the three of us. Anyway, I opted out of a full blown birthday party this year. Instead we set up a tent in the living room and had a birthday camp out.

Part of my decorations were these fairy dusted stars. I had Chris hang them from the ceiling and if you’ve ever worked with glittered anything, you know it gets everywhere. His entire face was sparkling and was looking a little like David Bowie á la Labryinth.

Today, I was an organizing mad woman. For the last three months, I’ve been working on Jackson’s room makeover…adding pieces here and there. I found this adorable bull the other day at Homegoods. Has anyone ever actually called a bull adorable? I can’t wait to get it hung on the wall!

With the new haul of birthday toys, it was time to purge some older ones! First to go, was hole in the head mermaid. If you know me, you know I have a strong aversion to stuffed animals. And though she’s technically not an animal, but a mythical creature…she is stuffed. More importantly, she has a gaping hole in her head, so she’s cooked.

Savannah did her usual bug/creature hunting today. It’s something new everyday. Today, it was this nice juicy slug she dug out of the garden. It was pretty nasty the way it was all writhing around through her fingers. Do slugs writhe?

So, I haven’t made this public knowledge on my blog yet, but a new adventure awaits me. I decided to homeschool Jacks and Savannah this year. It’s been on my heart for a long time. I finally took the plunge this summer when I notified our district that I intended to homeschool. Up until that point, I was still on the fence and wasn’t sure I could make the jump. In the end, I did and I feel better for it. Jacks will be in 1st grade and Savannah will be Pre Kindergarten. What you’re looking at here, is a stack of some curriculum I’ll be using. Oh…and another a bull. Yeah, it’s just kind of piled there. I’ve peeked and it’s really overwhelming. Not the actual content, but the lesson planning.

Which brings me to this. My August lesson plans. Notice the blank page. Yep. We officially start next week. I’ve got to break this down…cause yeah…it’s happening.

I found this really cool knit fabric today. It reminded me of a mermaid, with the scallop detail. Maybe I’ll make Savannah a new mermaid. I swear, I’m such an enabler.

I have some busy days ahead, especially with my new homeschool adventure. I’m excited to get started and see where this lead us. I would love to hear from any other homeschoolers out there. Do you use lesson plans? Do you plan yearly or weekly?

Mini Pencil Piñatas…

August 8, 2013 by krisha

It’s back to school time and you know what that means? Mini pencil piñatas of course! I am just obsessed with piñata making. I especially love making mini piñatas. There is something so fun about giving someone a piñata! Maybe it’s the unexpectedness? Like…Hi!…Oh and here’s a piñata for you! Or the surprise of what’s inside? I don’t know…but you should definitely try it at least once. Now that I feel like I’ve mastered my technique, I have plans for many more! The mini-er the better!

You will need:

Cardboard tubes (I used paper towel tubes, cut in half)
Tissue or crepe paper in pencil colors
Glue stick
Scissors
Black Sharpie
White cardstock
Masking tape
Treats for stuffing

Instructions:

Cut tissue paper in strips and make fringe (see here or here for folding and cutting tutorial).
Draw and cut a circle out larger than the cardboard tube.
Fold circle in half, then in half again.
Unfold. Then using fold marks as a guide, cut out 1 piece of the circle.
Fold into a cone shape and secure with masking tape.
Cut tabs around the bottom of the cone, about 1/8 in apart (this helps to manipulate the cone to fit on cardboard tube).
Attach cone to cardboard tube with masking tape.
Add glue to the bottom of the cone and begin wrapping the tissue paper. Make sure the fringe is pointing down.
Continue adding glue and tissue paper, changing colors when needed until finished.
Stuff with small school supplies or candy. I added Hershey’s Hugs & Kisses with a little note.
Glue 2 squares of the eraser color tissue paper on the end to seal the piñata.
Trim into a circle, leaving 1/8 inch overlap.
Glue and fold down overlap.
Add a final piece of eraser color fringe to cover the overlap.

To “bust” the piñata, just punch through the top of the eraser with your finger!

These are going to make sweet, little back to school treats!

Leaf Garland…

August 4, 2013 by krisha

So, I’ve been missing from the scene for a couple of weeks. I went on a much needed vacay with the fam to the Smoky Mountains! It was fantastic…I’ll write more about that later. For now, I wanted to share this leaf garland I whipped up today.

Do you remember the woodland fairy wings I made last year for Halloween? Well, it seems I had a surplus of the leaves, because maybe, just maybe I hoarded them all from the Dollar Tree. Stop judging me!! Seriously though, I love these leaves. They come 10 to a pack and are made of crepe paper and wire. If you buy anything from the Dollar Tree, buy these leaves! Who cares if you have no reason for them now, except to make this cool leaf garland? Hoard them, hoard them all!

For the woodland fairy wings, I painted them with a mottled paint technique. I opted out on doing that this time and just phoned it in. I actually plan on using this for Jackson’s living room campout birthday, then it will be recycled into fall decor. So, straight up Dollar Tree leaves will do just fine.

You’ll need:

Dollar Tree leaves
Twine
Scissors
Large needle

Instructions:

Using your scissors, remove all the stems.
Carefully bunch up and shape leaves individually. These are made of paper and will rip if you’re not careful.
Cut desired length of twine (allow for extra on both ends for hanging) and thread through needle.
With 3-4 leaves at a time, insert needle into center of leaf and pull twine through.
Repeat until finished.

This is going to be great for the living room campout, but for now, nothing says fall like a tiffany blue bull, a jar of rocks, and a paper leaf garland!

Yarn Tassel Garland…

July 16, 2013 by krisha

Here’s a recent textversation I had with my Mom:

Mom: I want to crochet the girls each a poncho. Skate’s {her nickname for Savannah Kate} colors are pink & what for Annie’s?
Me: Cute…whatever you like.
Mom: I’ll see if I can find a poncho pattern, like Clint Eastwood wore in The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly for Jacks.
Me: Um…ok??

Well that settles it…I have to learn crochet! I’m obsessing over the many cool things I could make. Oddly, Clint Eastwood’s poncho never came to mind. I really want to make an afghan, but not sure if that would be too ambitious for a beginner. I absolutely fell in love with this rad yarn when I spotted it at Michaels. I can’t crochet {yet}, but I knew I had to do something with this yarn! So, I made this yarn tassel garland instead.

Supplies I used:

Variegated yarn
Index card or piece of cardboard
Scissors
Twine

To make a tassel:

Begin wrapping your yarn around the short side of an index card.
Continue wrapping until you have desired amount.
End with yarn at the bottom, then cut.
Thread a small piece of yarn through the top and loosely tie it.
Slide scissors through the bottom and cut through the yarn.

Fold out yarn and center the loose tie.
Once centered, tie tighter and in a knot.
Fold yarn in half and tie tightly with twine or same yarn.
Trim up bottom of tassel to even out.

Once all the tassels are tied, thread them through a long piece of twine to make a garland.

Scattered Hexagon Pillow…

July 12, 2013 by krisha

For years I avoided learning how to sew in a zipper. I wanted to make wristlets for my Etsy shop, but was completely intimidated at the thought of sewing a zipper. Until one day, with a tutorial in hand, I just buckled down at my sewing machine and schooled myself on zippers. To my surprise…there was nothing remotely difficult about it at all. Fast forward to last week when I started working on this pillow. Initially, I was just going to make two flaps on the back that overlap and hold the pillow in place. I didn’t want to do a zipper, because I thought it would be too bulky of a look for my pillow. Then, I stumbled onto the invisible zipper. I had seen them before, but always assumed they were difficult. I mean they’re invisible? There has to be some degree of difficulty to invisible-ness. I was wrong. So wrong.

Anyway, I’m in the middle of a room re-do. A while back, I had posted about redoing Annabelle’s old room for Jacks. I was going to give him a room to himself and put the two girls in a room together. They were to have bunk beds and Jacks was gonna have this really cool spindle bed I’ve been storing in my garage. Well, as soon as Jacks heard the girls were gonna have bunk beds, he wanted one too. Of course. So, my plans were altered and Mr. Jacks & Kate built the bunk bed for Jacks and Savannah. I’m now in the process of outfitting their beds with pillows.

I found this invisible zipper tutorial here. I read it through a few times, then I did my thing. Way easy! In fact, I like it better than a regular zipper install. Though, you can sew these with a regular zipper foot, I opted to buy the invisible zipper foot for my machine.

After reading up on the invisible zipper, I pulled out my poor man’s linen {Osnaburg} and whipped up this little cutie. You may have noticed one of the latest design trends is the hexagon. I asked myself, Why the hexagon? I don’t know. It just works…six sides and all that. I wanted to implement it into an appliqué design on a pillow. However, I didn’t want to just slap on one giant hex…because that would be weird. Instead, I thought maybe a bunch of small ones, sporadically placed. And so, this scattered hexagon pillow was born.

Materials I used:

Invisible zipper
Osnaburg fabric
Scrap pieces of fabric
Scissors
Appliqué supplies {found here}
18 x 18 pillow insert

Refer to my appliqué tutorials found here and here.
Cut pillow fabric to required size.
Make a hexagon template.
Using the template, trace desired amounts of hexagons onto Heat n’ Bond.
Iron together interfacing, fabric, and Heat n’ Bond.
Cut out hexagons.
Arrange hexagons in a scattered design, leaving a small space between them.
Iron down and appliqué using a zig zag stitch on the front piece of the pillow fabric.
Sew pillow cover with invisible zipper.

I love the end result! It’s exactly how I had envisioned!

Addabelle Wheeze Tickle…

July 9, 2013 by krisha

When picking out names for my kids, I had one major criteria. It had to be easy to pronounce. For reasons unknown to me, a lot of people struggle with my name, Krisha. It’s pronounced like Trisha. Over the years, I’ve been called Kristy, Patricia, Krishna, Kristina, and my personal fave, Kareem. Really? Recently, I had a lady ask me if “Krisha” was my real name or was it short for something? Sigh. Growing up, I always knew I would change my name when I was old enough. Why did my sister get the cool, normal name, Melissa? You know those cool vanity plates everyone had for their bicycle? Yeah, not me. Still to this day, I will search racks of personalized whatevers, looking for Krisha.

Though most people think Jackson and Savannah were named after cities, they were not. Jackson {Jacks} was named from a character in Steel Magnolias. My husband wanted to talk names, but I could not be persuaded. His name was picked out long before the name was ever popular. Savannah was a compromise. My husband was whining because I named Jacks, so he wanted to pick out the name for Savannah. I reluctantly agreed. I was in love with the name Georgia Kate. He, not so much. We would call her Georgie for short. Squeal!!! He was unmoved. So, I examined his list of circa 1970 names and only one was acceptable. Savannah. Only because, one of my favorite movies growing up was, Savannah Smiles. And so she was named, Savannah Kate {Silla}…

When I found out I was pregnant with a 2nd girl, only two names were contenders. Austin or Annabelle. Austin, for obvious reasons {even though they weren’t named for cities} and Annabelle, because it fit perfectly with Jackson and Savannah. Also, it’s one of my favorite names next to Georgia and Clementine. If I were to ever have another baby, which I’m not, and it was a girl, Clementine would be her name. I guess, I’ll have to settle for a dog. Oh, I do love a southern name. When it came down to it, I chose Annabelle Louise {Annie, Lulu, Lou, Lupita,} after my great-grandmother Annabelle, and my grandma, Louise. Perfect.

So…for the past week, I’ve been asking Annie to say her name. Her full name, Annabelle Louise Hinkle. It’s a bit of a mouthful for a two year old.

Me to Annie: What’s your name?
Annie: Addabelle Wheeze Tickle

Gasp! I just love her.

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