Fun Personalized Water Bottles

It's not even summer yet and we are having LOTS of beautiful days playing outside! This means LOTS of water to be drunk! =) I found these cute bottles at Walmart for a dollar and my head filled with ideas of how I can make them more desirable! I love the cute handle and so do my kids!

I recently saw this CUTE Muno, from one of my daughters favorite TV shows (Yo Gabba Gabba), water bottle on Amazon. Yo Gabba Gabba things are hard to find so I thought about buying it for her. It was only $2.69 but shipping was $4.02 making this water bottle $6.71 plus tax! I could do better than that!!!

I came up with a fun character that both of my kids would love which matched the color of their water bottle! The blue was a perfect to put the Captain America shield on and, of course, the red for Muno!  I first drew it on the bottle....It's ok if you mess up a little because the paint will cover your mistakes! You could see I messed up on the drawing of Muno's eye at first but you can't tell after I painted it!

   

I wanted to stop here but my kids took control after that! THEY wanted to paint their water bottles TOO! Since I didn't want them to paint into my work...I taped off half the bottle for them to go crazy!

If you aren't very crafty to paint a symbol on the water bottle you can go right to this step..... I printed the character of my child's choice along with their name. After all the paint is dry and you have cut out anything printed from computer or cut from a magazine.... you bust out the Mod Podge! This will seal your paint and also work as glue for the other stuff you want to add!

   

Here is what the bottle will look like with the Mod Podge painted on it!

Just simply let it dry for a few hours and here you have it!!! A Muno and Captain America Water Bottle, PERSONALIZED by my children! See what you and your kids can come up with! =) If you have problems getting them to drink more water....this might help!

I just added a recent picture of another water bottle I did for the little guy I watch! He LOVED Brenden and Keaten's bottles so much and he kept asking for his own. I painted the Wolverine face and Mod Podged the printed out character to the bottle! 

   

Tissue Pom Poms

I am getting ready for our Tiger theme BBQ Baby Shower or "B a B y Q"! These Tissue Pom Poms are so easy to make and really add to the decor of any type of party.... Here is the simple instructions!

All you need is 8 sheets of tissue paper in a stack. The length should be longer than the width, but there is really no exact size or color scheme.... I wanted the pom poms all different sizes for my decorations!

You just fold your tissue paper stack like an accordion... about 1 1/2 inches.

After you fold the tissue, round off or give pointed edges with scissors.

   

 I then tied ribbon to middle of the flooded tissue! Then gently pull the layers apart.

    

 Here is a finished Pom Pom!

 I got this cute idea from Martha Stewart! If you follow the link she also tells you how to make Pom Pom napkin rings. 

 For my party decorations, I just tacked the string to the ceiling and then curled the rest of the ribbon. I made the lengths different sizes and also added in some balloons to the mix. Add some crepe paper for the finishing touch! I've seen other people tie everything together and make somewhat of a chandelier decoration to hang in one spot. Some people even hang these in their  along with paper lanterns. 

 I will do another Blog post after the Baby Shower is over but for now enjoy this sneak peak!

Baby Onesie: Present From Older Siblings

Here is a fun project YOU can do for your new little one OR you can have older siblings help and make their own onesie for the new baby! If baby isn't born yet they can bring it to the hospital the first time they meet! (This is what we are going to do)

What child wouldn't want to give something to their new sibling that they can actually use, see on, and be PROUD of! =) 

All you need is a pack of Steam-A-Seam 2, scraps of cute fabric(in my case I had my kids pic out what they liked at the store), fabric markers, an iron, and something you are going to put your design on (like a onesie in this case). 

You find a cute idea and draw out the outline on a white piece of paper. You flip it over to get the mirror image. With this tie shape the mirror image is the same.

One side of the Steam-A-Seam is designed to peal away VERY easily. So you are going to draw your mirror image on the opposite side!

Then you peel away the easy side and stick your design to the back side of your fabric. Cut on the line with SHARP scissors!

 When you turn fabric over, you will see what it will look like when it's ironed on to the onesie!

Here is where I had the kids color in their tie designs with fabric markers! This was such a fun process! We talked about our babies and how cute they would look and why they were drawing what they were drawing for their sibling!

NEXT step before ironing onto the onesie..... Don't forget to peel the backing off before you lay it on your fabric! It will be sticky so it will hold to the fabric when you place it down!

 Then you simply iron for a few seconds and it is DONE!!!!

 Here are my kids with their finished onesie! Doing this project got us SO EXCITED to see our new little one wearing them! Brenden couldn't stop talking about how much fun it's going to be to have a new baby in the house!

  

 We were lucky to do this special craft on the day that I watch Gage (I am his nanny). His mommy just had his baby brother Hogan almost three weeks ago. Here is the CUTEST example of Gage's artwork in use! Such a fun present to give to your little sibling!

Brenden wanted to match his baby so he clipped a tie on his tank top.

I also wanted to show you something else I did with this same idea! My Mother In Law made a baby blanket, for my baby on the way, out of fabric I picked out! She did a BEAUTIFUL job and I LOVE the blanket!!!! I can't thank her enough for all of her hard work! I wanted to add a G to the blanket, Might be the new babies first initial! =) So here is the EASY process!

Unlike the tie, the G shows you how I drew it out and just flipped it over to trace the mirror image! 

  

 Here is my Cute fabric G!!!!

 After ironing it onto the blanket.... Here it is! So cute and so simple!!!! My kids are already coming up with other ideas of where we can iron on designs...not for the baby but for THEM! =) 

Get Creative! 

Easter Egg Jello

Here is a cute idea that your child will LOVE!!! We got some plastic eggs from the Dollar Store that open  the length of the egg. Use these for your molds!

 Place a hand towel on a plate and lay the half eggs on top. The towel will help the plastic eggs stay in place while the jello is cooling. Now, either follow the directions on a box jello or make your own with 100% juice!!! It's so simple, Click here for the Recipe! I used Organic Apple Juice this time around. My kids LOVE cherries and asked to add them to the jello so we added Morello Cherries from Trader Joes. These are a great substitute for Maraschino Cherries which are chemically colored with Red 40!!! You could also use frozen or fresh cherries!

 I had my daughter put one cherry in each mold while I was making the jello! To change the color of the jello to a pretty reddish/purple, I simply added a little Beet and purple carrot juice. I don't know about you but I don't think the color of murky apple juice is that pretty! =)

  

 Pour your warm jello mixture in the plastic egg molds!

 After a few hours in the fridge, you will have a nice YUMMY Easter treat to share! You could take them out of the plastic egg but I think it's easier and a lot more fun to keep it in!

Another thing we are going to be doing on Saturday evening is Resurrection Cookies. I found a GREAT blog post about how to do it and the verses you read to your child. Click here to see what to do! It's a great way to share the Easter story with a child!

My Baby Room Project

 I can't wait to show you guys what I did in the baby room!

I have had so much fun with this! 

First of all, I went to a garage sale and found three small frames for 75 cents! I repainted them, first in black and then in white. I sanded away some of the white to reveal some black once the paint was dry!

 They turned out so cute! Then I printed the first letter of each of my children's names in fun fonts on the computer and added them with a pretty cream backing to the frames. After that I hot glued some ribbon to the backs of the frames and here is my finished product! =) 

 Now this is where my idea gets really fun! I found this tree decal on Pinterest! This website has some other cool decals that you can put on the wall of a nursery or other places in your home. It's cool to get ideas or if you don't want to spend the time, just buy one! Check it out HERE!

I Drew and painted this tree in the corner of the room. 

Then I hung the little frames up like they are hanging off of the branches!

It's getting more and more exciting as I finish up these fun projects! Let's see what else I can accomplish in the next 11 weeks before his arrival! =)

   

Here are a few pictures of the room with the crib all finished! My mother in law made the sheets and crib skirt in fabric I chose, "White Tiger".  Also, you might notice that there is an added branch on the right side of the tree. I made his baby plaque and wanted it to hang on that side of the tree so I simply added another branch! =) That's the beauty of painting it yourself.... You can make the changes you want to fit your space!