No Sew Kitchen Stool Covers

I'm not waisting any time on my 2011 to do list!  I've already got a big ol' check mark next to cover my kitchen stools. 

I'm showing you all my dirty little secrets lately... first my messy bento cabinet and now my grungy kitchen stools (promise not to like me less!):

Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the good stuff. I flipped the stools over and unscrewed the 4 screws that attached the cushions to the stool frame.  I found a fabric scrap (that was just barely big enough) in my stash that matches our kitchen decor and cut two pieces several inches bigger than the stool cushions.

I was prepared to tell you all that depending on the materials your cushion is made from, you'll likely need a heavy duty staple gun.  However, half way through stapling one of the covers, this happened:

Okay, my Doug didn't really take the staple gun apart half way through the project... it jammed.  Since I'm married to a man who adores me and does everything in his power to make/keep me happy, he set out on a mission to disassemble and reassemble my broken staple gun.  Oh how I love this man, lucky for him it's for so many reasons other than his ability to fix broken things! He wrestled with it for almost an hour before he admitted defeat. 

So I moved on to plan B, a plain old office stapler.  I couldn't believe it worked!  I did have to take out a few not so perfect staples, but more times than not, it did just fine. 

Drum roll please... introducing, my first ever vlog!  That's right, I took a video for you of how to staple the cover on and make a neat corner.  Disclaimer: I took this on my precious (a.k.a. iPhone) by myself so I'm holding my phone in one hand and trying to fold the corner with my other... just sayin'!

We're all just gonna ignore the fact that it's upside down... K??

So after you staple the fabric on and make neat folds at the corners, just screw the cushion back onto the frame and waaalaaa:

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Bento Supplies & Organization

I've been meaning to post about my bento supplies for ages now... but the cabinet I store it all in was a total disaster.  Enter A Bowl Full of Lemons and her Messy Tupperware Cabinets challenge.  So it's not exactly Tupperware, but still...

I think we can all agree it was time for a little organization!  Before we get to the "after" shot, I want to show you the supplies I've been working with.  I don't get terribly creative with Elle's bentos (I considered adding 2 creative bentos per month to my 2011 to do list, but decided that was a lot of pressure for 6am in the morning and that I could get creative with things like lunch box notes & new foods instead... for now anyway) but these supplies have been more than sufficient to pull together a bento 3 days a week for the entire first semester of school.

Here they all are: 

1 - sandwich and cheese/fruit leather/whatever other sliced thing I can think of to cut cutters 

2 - adorable little picks I absolutely love and use to dress up whatever boring or new weird food I have to sneak into Elle's bento.  I got these from Daiso Japan which has some really great cheap bento supplies... I think it may be just wholesale though... if you do a Google search for Bento supplies you'll find lots though.

3 - I have entirely too many silicone cupcake cups!  I do like having a variety of shapes, although I almost always just use the square ones, but you definitely don't need the quantity I have.  You can pick these up at Michaels or Jo-Anne's in the cake decorating section or even at Target in the dollar bin section sometimes.

4 - I've picked up bento boxes at various places - the Disney store, Sanrio, the pink oval one is the Sassy brand box from the baby section at Target, and the green one is a box I picked up at Old Navy in the check out line (it's pretty big, so I mostly just send that one with my Doug).  The insulated fuel mug is a new addition that I found at Publix for $5.  It's nice to have a variety of sizes so you have a size that will fit the stuff you have on hand to send that day.

5 - Oh I love the little monkey containers!  I found those on Etsy at a shop that doesn't currently have any bento supplies listed, but if you do a supplies search for bento, lots of fun things come up on Etsy.

6 - silicone dividers are a nice little thing to have in your bento stash!

7 - lastly, I have plastic forks & spoons.  These came with a picnic set I had, but a lot of the bentos come with them (especially if you buy them at Disney or Sanrio) or you can find kids utensils pretty much anywhere.

Are you ready for the AFTER picture?  Here it is:

I moved the coffee supplies to a cabinet next to where the coffee maker is & filled the shelves with boxes of glass wear & sushi sets instead.  I also pared down a set of stacking bowls that I only ever use 3 of anyway & more neatly arranged some serving dishes we very rarely use.  The bottom shelf is all those supplies I showed above.  The white box holds all the cutters, the silicone cupcake cups are stacked neatly in their original packaging, a little metal pail corrals the picks and all the other little bits, and the bento boxes are stacked neatly in the corner.

Organizing this cabinet should make making Elle bentos during her second semester even easier on me!

2011 To Do

I don't really do new years resolutions, but I'm convinced that to do lists are essential to my existence... and what better time to make a to do list than the start of a new year?!  My sewing/crafting/party/bento to do list for 2011 in no particular order:

Learn Illustrator - I've had my eye on this Illustrator class from Nicole's Classes for a few months now.  Oh the printables I'll make! My "now that I know Illustrator" to do list is lengthy, so I'll save that for when I actually cross that bridge.

Cover Kitchen Stools - Compared to learning Illustrator, this one seems pretty easy, but I have two ugly kitchen stools that have needed to be recovered for at least a year and a half, so I'm committing to it right now!

Host a non-birthday party - Every year we have a big celebration for each of my girls' birthdays, this year, we're going to celebrate something non-birthday related too. Will you help me decide on a theme?  There's a poll in the right margin with a few of my ideas... vote for your fave or leave me a comment with an idea of your own!

Make something for me to wear - The girls get lots of handmade goodies, but I rarely make anything for myself.  I got Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing for Christmas this year and the Dressing Up or Down chapter has lots of cute dresses and separates to choose from... one of them will be mine this year! 

Bind Elle's I Spy Quilt - this is another one of those "long time coming" projects.  I really like piecing quilts, and I don't mind the quilting part, but I despise binding them!  The first quilt I ever made was an I Spy quilt for Elle on her 2nd birthday (she's 5 now).  I've never even posted about it on this blog though because it's not finished... the binding is just fused on & needs to be stitched

Make Liv's Baby Album - I didn't finish Elle's baby book until 2 weeks before Liv was born, I need to do Liv's album before I blink and she's 5 yrs old. This year I'm going to scrapbook her first year, that's only 24 layouts... it's not that much, I can do it (can you tell I'm psyching myself up for this one?!). 

So that's it... just 6 things to cross off my list before 12/31/11. What creative things are you going to be doing this year?

http://vintagepollyanna.blogspot.com/

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Teacher or Coworker Gifts

 It's not too late to make this quick handmade gift for the wonderful teachers in your child's life or the coworkers that make your day-to-day a little easier.  I hope personalized coffee cup sleeves, a handwritten note, and a Starbucks gift card where on Elle's teachers wish list this year :)

All you need to get started is some fusable fleece, a pretty print, a button, a hair tie, and one of those cardboard coffee cup sleeves from your neighborhood Starbucks (just the thought of someone reading this blog not having a neighborhood Starbucks makes me shutter!  What ever would I do?!?!).

Okay so once you've gathered your supplies, just un-stick the cardboard sleeve so you can use it as a template to cut the print and fusable fleece.  Fuse the fleece and print fabric together and top stitch all the way around, catching the hair tie at one end (I back stitched over the hair tie just to make sure it was secure). Fit the sleeve around a coffee cup and mark the placement for a button.  Sew your button on and embroider an initial if you'd like.

 

When I bought the Starbucks gift cards I asked them for iced coffee tall cups.  I put the gift card & a little tag with a note in the cup and put the sleeve on the cup.

  

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Atomic Holiday Bazaar

 

Oh you lucky lucky Floridians, Atomic is coming!  Atomic Holiday Bazaar is the best thing going for unique handmade goodness and it's this weekend in Sarasota!  I'll be at the Saturday day show, so come by to say hello and pick up an Elle Belle sling (I'm debuting new embroidery designs!) for the new Mommy or Mommy-to-be on your Christmas list!  If you let me know you follow my blog and can tell me what my last post was about I'll have a sweet treat for you. 

 

There'll be so many amazing crafters and artists at the show... I'm looking forward to seeing some of my favorites from our local crowd:

 

I'm thinking pocket peeper stockings are on my girl's Christmas list's this year!

 

The Crafty Hag's mini notes would be the perfect addition to gifts this year!



I always drool over the Sew It's For You sushi embroidery designs!



Boogie Bead has so much more than just beads... you can check out her Boogie Baby goodies at Atomic!



You'll find great stuff even for the guys on your list, like Patrick's amazing wooden pens!
Don't miss Atomic, it's the best place to finish up your Christmas shopping!

Fruit Sushi

The parents at Elle's school take turns bringing in snacks for the kids for the week.  So a couple times during the school year, we have to come up with a little snack to pack for 18 kids.  This week was Elle's first snack week.  
I thought it would be fun to make our snacks sort of interactive/hands on... that is the Montessori way after all.  We did a couple simple things like applesauce with a few toppings to choose from and ants on a log (celery with almond butter... sheesh what's up with kids and peanut alergies?!?... and raisens) but we ended the week with Elle's favorite - SUSHI!  Let me just take this second to say how happy it makes me that Elle loves sushi as much as I do.  
Okay so, clearly I could not send "real" sushi to school for Elle's classmates... I think the teachers already have an idea about how crazy I am, but that would erase any doubt!  We opted for fruit sushi.  I saw this idea on a bento blog and I would love to give credit to the genius Mom who thought of this... if it was you, please speak up.    
A marshmallow "rice", with a mandarin orange "shrimp" on top, wrapped in fruit leather "seaweed" (I shop the health food section at Sweet Bay to get all natural made from fruit puree fruit leather) has got to be the cutest snack ever.  Dontcha think?!   

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It's Christmas Card Time!

Have you gotten your Christmas cards together yet?  Your family and friends want to stick your happy face to their refrigerator... it's time to order your Christmas cards! 

The very talented Erin of Foosie Design made ours this year.  I LOVE her simple understated style and I'm super excited about the postcard format!  I always appreciate when a friend takes the time to write a little personal note on their cards & a postcard is the perfect way to say something sweet without having to drone on about your entire year just to fill the space.  Not only will your card stand out from the sea of same 'ol same 'ol Christmas cards, but you'll also save money by not having to spring for the envelopes and paying a little less in postage!


I'm really happy with the cards we picked this year but it was a tough decision!  Check out these other cards that were in the running:

How seriously cute is this snowglobe card by Trinity St Studio?!  If you have a full length picture of you and yours standing, this fun card could be the one!

 If you had a really awesome & exciting year this year, Shutterfly's top ten moments card is a great way to share!

 For me, Christmas cards are the signal that the holiday season is upon us... let the games begin!

Red & the Wolf

I lied... Ginger's Halloween Birthday party wasn't the last of the Halloweenyness here on my blog... this is,  my kiddos' Halloween costumes.  Elle was Little Red Riding Hood and Liv was the big bad wolf... or the little good wolf depending on who you ask.

 

I used McCall's Pattern 6187 to make Red's hood.  I was deciding whether I wanted to use the rest of the pattern to make the dress... I hate sewing clothes from a commercial pattern, they NEVER come out the size you think they should... so I came up with an idea I think I'm gonna use every year from now on.  I made the "dress" part of the costume as an apron and Elle wore it over a simple white t-shirt and white tutu.  Two sweet braids tied with red satin ribbon, black mary janes, and a little picnic basket with a bit of left over red gingham finished the costume.

Liv's costume was more of a craft than a sewing project.  I just picked up some "furry" fabric, sewed it into a long tube and cut it into 3 parts, one for the tail and two for cuffs.  I sewed the tail to a loop of elastic that she wore around her waist & sewed a bit of elastic into each of the short tubes so she could wear them as cuffs around her wrists.  I picked the ears up at a costume store... they were kitty ears on hair clips that I hot-glued the fur fabric to and sewed little ribbon loops on her hoodie to clip the ears to.  I also sewed a bigger tube of the "fur" fabric and hot glued it to the sole of a pair of cheap tennis shoes she was about to grow out of.  Daddy finished the costume up by drawing a little black nose and a few wiskers.

All night everyone told Elle how cute her little brother looked... I think next year Liv will have to be something other than Elle's prop.

 

Halloween + Birthday = This Awesome Party!

I love planning holiday parties because everywhere you go there's inspiration for your theme and party supplies galore! I worked with Dawn (my fabulous photographer!) on this awesome Halloween birthday party for her 4 year old, Ginger. We combined lots of fun Halloween goodies with even more creative ideas.

There were so many fun elements and special details to this party, but this is my blog, so we're gonna start with the make-your-own caramel apple bar I put together ;) There were 4 "stations" on the table... first the kids picked an apple from the stand, then I helped them dip it in the caramel (super easy recipe for crock pot caramel here... just be sure to watch it when it gets near the end & stir as necessary), then they chose one of four toppings to roll their apple in: crushed peanuts, heath bar bits, sprinkles, & mini chocolate chips, lastly we put it on wax paper to dry. Once they were dry we placed them in Halloweeny cello bags and the kids got to take them home. It was fun & entertaining for the kids and doubled as a yummy take home treat!

Putting the table together was so easy using the Halloween Glam printables collection from Tom Kat Studio! I just used double sided tape to attach the flags to the apple sticks and a little spider web stretched over some candle sticks trapped the "dip" "roll" & "dry" signs. The candle sticks held funkins I picked up at Michaels and spray painted spooky black. The hall where the party was held had historic photos and memorabilia on the walls that we couldn't take down or really alter... so adding some spider webs and spiders provided a fun backdrop that fit the theme.

Check out this amazing dessert table! There were so many treats to choose from - sugar rolled marshmallows, chocolate dipped pretzel "witch wands", chocolate covered jack-o-lantern Oreos, cupcakes with adorable Ginger in a witch hat cupcake picks, chocolate dipped rice crispy treats, & a cutesy ghost sucker tree. A stone head with black glittery twigs and ominous crows pulled it all together.

Can't forget the poison! Water bottle labels are so easy and a really fun detail. Dawn took them to the next level with these bigger labels for the bottles of soda! And while we're at it, I may as well mention that no guests' taste was left uncatored to... there was salsa, fresh guacamole & chips, Sangria, beer, jello shots, cookies & pizza from a tasty local shop.

The hall was decorated with so much Halloween fun! Ghosts that flew across the ceiling, rats that raced along the floor, spider webs, candelabras, & steaming caldrons. The table that greeted you at the front of the hall was the centerpiece. Bedecked in cheesecloth, it showcased beautiful photos of the birthday girl (the handiwork of her very talented Mommy of course!)

Last but not least was a handmade life... or is it death??... sized coffin that served as the gift spot. Throw a fun party and you're sure to make out like this!

Oh and I have to show you my Halloweeny hair accessory!! Clearly I'm exhausted in this picture... but that's justifiable after dipping 40 caramel apples for 40 screaming, costumed, sugar filled children right?! I had to post this though because I reconnected with a friend I went to high school with on Facebook and she just opened her own Etsy shop, Pinks Parlor. I love the unique style of her pieces and she did a great job putting this one together! I found 4 excuses to wear it during the past week & got a ridiculous number of compliments!

Okay, that's it for this Halloween. I hope you got some good ideas for your parties next year... may as well start planning now!

{Photos by Elemental Image}

The Week... err weeks... in Bentos

I've been slackin' on the bento posts... so here you go, a few weeks worth all at once:

 

 

 

The first time foods in this stack of pics are extra firm tofu cubes coated in graham cracker crumbs (Elle wasn't a big fan, but Liv LOVES them!  They're perfect for baby snacks!), some goldfish crackers left over from her pool party, apple chips, kiwi, and celery sticks with peanut butter to dip in.

 

You won't want to miss tomorrow's Halloween party post!