Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Life lately...

Whew...it's been crazy around here lately!  We've been on the go it seems for the whole month of July...where has it gone?!  Here is what we've been up to lately...

A few weeks ago, we met up with my brother & Ashley, Mom, and Grandpa for supper and racing.  We first started off the day shopping, went and saw Ted the movie (totally hilarious, btw!), and then supper.  After supper we headed out to the racetrack to watch mainly the Sprint Cars & School Bus races (those were too funny!).  We sat at the south end of track, thinking that would be the best since it was windy and the track was dry.  It worked for awhile, and then the wind switched.  By the time the races were over, we were filthy!  We had a blast though!

Me and Ash

a little hard to see....Sprint Cars

School buses racing

The 23rd was my 26th birthday, which turned out to be not too bad after all.  However, it didn't start off the greatest, because when I woke up, I could barely move my neck.  I felt really crippled!  About a week before the wedding I had the same issues, and it appeared again the morning of my birthday.  So I have been going to the chiropractor a few times last week, and once this week to try and get it worked out.  I am hoping that I won't need to get an MRI (I've already had an xray, and they found out that my neck is way to straight) or shots for the pain.  So far the pain has subsided on it's own, so I'm thinking it's getting better.  Anyways, back to my birthday...my sweet hubby sent me a dozen orangish red roses and box of chocolates!  I was really surprised when they delivered them, and made my day better.  My inlaws also cooked me my favorite birthday supper: ham & beans with fried noodles...so good! 


This last weekend we went back to my {small} hometown for our family reunion.  Friday night we were out at the farm with my grandpa's family, played games, ate way too much home cooked food, drove golf carts around, and shot the breeze.  Saturday morning was the golf tournament out at the farm, and Ashley & I drove around with beer, water, and Gatorade.  We donated the money made towards the golf course, which my brother Brett takes care of.  D's team (D, brother Jerrod, cousin Tom, and Uncle Danny) ended up taking first with a score of 4 under.  They were pretty stoked about that!  Saturday afternoon is when all of the whole family got together (decedents of the original 5 brothers).  Saturday night we met back out at farm and redid Friday night all over.  It was so much fun, and so good to see all of our family, some of which we hadn't seen since the wedding 3 months ago, and some for at least 3+ years.  Sunday we were exhausted and didn't do much after we got home.

Me, Bernie & Ashley on the drink cart!
 
Decedents of the original 5 brothers
(cousins & siblings..not everyone present)

 
This is my Great Grandpa's family, who was 1 of the 5 original brothers (passed away when my dad was little).
A little fact about him...he was 16 when he came over from Russia, and he hid on the boat all by himself.
They found him, but since he was such a big kid, they put him to work instead of throwing him overboard.
What a brave young man he was, but that was his only option if he wanted to escape Russia alive.
 
Front: Grandpa, Grandma, Dad
Back: Jerrod, Kelli, D, Me, Brett, Ashley

The next couple of weekends we don't have a whole lot planned, but I have a lot I need to get done at our house/shed...it's a disaster!!  It's just been too hot to do much after work, so hopefully I can get things done soon.

How has your summer been?  Has life been busy lately, and do you feel as if the summer has completely flew by?  I know I do, the only thing I'm not liking about summer this year is the heat.

Friday, July 13, 2012

DIY Tulle Pom Poms

The next project that I did for Maycee's 1st birthday party was tulle pom poms!  I had my mom's friend make a bunch of them for our wedding in our colors (Navy, Fuchsia, and Lime Green) and they were so fun to decorate with!  Anyways, I had to learn how to make them, and I found a great and easy tutorial over at 320 Days of Sunshine.  I didn't use the tulle that came on a roll, I bought 3 yard of each brown & light pink tulle at Hobby Lobby.  Using this type of tulle made 1 more step, but I wanted those particular colors and I didn't have time to look for the roll.  So either way works, really.


To make tulle pom-poms, you will need:
  • Light Pink & Brown Tulle (3 yards each will make (3) 8inch-ish tulle poms)
  • Scissors
  • a book (this will make a difference on how big you want them)
  • Cute 1/4 inch ribbon
Before you get started, you will need to make sure your tulle is folded in half vertically, then again, and 1 last time.  So you will fold it 3 times.

First, you will take your book and lay it on the tulle the long way.  Your tulle might hang off the edges of the book, that is ok.  Our marriage prep book came in handy after the wedding!! :)

Second, wrap the book in the tulle at least 3 times so your poms will be full (that is what I did and got (3) 8" poms out of each color).

Once you have your book wrapped in tulle, remove the book and cut the tulle on both sides.  You will have a stack, but you will need to cut the sides again so all of your tulle will be separated.


Make sure your stack is nice & neat, take your ribbon and tightly tie a knot in the center of the tulle.  It will "gather" it together.  If you are going to hang these from above, make sure your ribbon is long enough.

Last all you need to do is peel back each layer to fluff the tulle until it forms a ball!


Danielle kept the poms to hang up in Maycee's room for decoration!  These are so cute and easy to make for party decorations, room decor, and you can even use smaller ones to add to cute packaging (I added a smaller one to Maycee's Gift Bag and taped it on!).


Want to see more about this party? Click here for the party, and here to see how to make a scalloped birthday banner!

Six Sisters Stuff
Not So Homemade

Thursday, July 12, 2012

DIY Scalloped Birthday Banner

The next project Danielle asked me to help her for Maycee's Party with was a fun banner! Now, seriously, how could I turn that down?  I love to create cute things, especially when I get to pull out my Cricut!  So I started browsing online, I even made Maycee her own 1st Birthday Party inspiration board on Pinterest.  Her theme was Pink & Brown Polka Dots, which I found a lot of cute idea's for it.  Now I just had to put everything into action.


This Scalloped Banner that I made was inspired by this cute banner here (sorry I'm not sure of the source, someone uploaded it via iPhone).  I went to Hobby Lobby and gathered some fun 12x12 scrapbook paper, a couple different kinds of ribbon, and got to work.  I already had the vinyl, which is from Expressions Vinyl, so I was good to go there.  Here is everything you will need to make this fun Scalloped Banner:
  • 6-8 sheets of patterned scrapbook paper (I used 3 of each pattern)
  • 4 sheets total of plain card stock (2 light pink & 2 brown)
  • 2 rolls of 1/2" pattern ribbon (1 brown with light pink polka dots & 1 pink with brown polka dots)
  • Light Pink & Brown vinyl
  • Cricut, & Sophisticated cartridge
  • Glue Stick
  • Hole punch
I didn't take pictures of the process of using my Cricut to cut out the shapes & letters, but I will kind of tell you how I did it.  I used the Sophisticated Cartridge for all of the shapes & letters.  First I cut out 12 scalloped circles in the light pink w/ brown glitter circle paper.  Then I cut out 8 scalloped circles using the brown paper with large pink polka dots.  I then cut out 20 normal circles smaller than the scalloped circles since I would be layering them, 12 brown scrapbook paper & 8 light pink.  Next it was time to cut out the vinyl: "Happy 1st" & "Maycee" were done in light pink, and "Birthday" was done in Brown.  The vinyl is from Expressions Vinyl, which is one of the cheapest places I've found to get my Cricut Vinyl


Ok, now that all of the shapes & letters are cut out, I can show you the rest of the process to create the scalloped banner with pictures.

First you will lay out all of your scalloped circles, and normal circles, and then take your glue stick and glue the circles on to the scalloped circles (brown circle will be glued onto the light pink with glitter scalloped circle, etc). Next you will find the coordinating letter (ie: light pink scalloped, topped with brown circle, and finished with light pink vinyl) and apply the letter by peeling off the vinyl backing.

Now you're ready to take your hole punch and poke 2 holes in the top of each scalloped circle.  Leave a little bit of space between each hole, maybe like 1/2"-1". Feed the ribbon thru the holes of the scalloped circles.  You will repeat that until each letter is where it's supposed to be.  Be sure to leave enough ribbon on the ends of each "line" so you can hang the banner nicely.

Last thing you will need to do hang your banner where you'd like it to be displayed.  This is such a great decoration for birthday parties, and/or showers!!  We hung this banner behind the cake table set up, with paper streamers as the background!  It turned out really cute and received a lot of compliments on it.

Please let a comment if you have any questions!  I will do my best to answer them.

Click here to see pictures from the party & set up, and here if you'd like to see the DIY Tulle Pom Poms!


PS - Expressions Vinyl currently has a promo code that is good for 10% your entire purchase until Tuesday July 17th. Just enter BECOOL when you check out!  And they offer FREE shipping on orders over $75!!


Six Sisters Stuff
Not So Homemade

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Maycee's 1st Birthday Party

I promised that I would share Maycee's 1st Birthday Party pictures, so here you go!!  I was in charge of making a banner, pom poms, and a few labels.  Her theme was Pink & Brown Polka Dots.

I didn't get a family picture of Maycee with her parents, because she wasn't feeling very good.  She had a fever the night before and was pretty fussy by the end of her party, I think she might be teething, poor girl!

Snacky Table


Water & Pink Lemonade for the drinks!
Cute labels were made by yours truly!

Pink & Brown Tulle Pom-Poms hung over the snacky & gift tables!
Also made by yours truly!

Gift Table!

Cake Table Setup: Paper Streamer Backdrop, Scalloped Banner,
Polka Dot Balloons, Cake & Smash Cake, Cupcakes,
and Spray painted Vases with flowers

Scalloped Birthday Banner made by yours truly!

Spray Painted Dollar Store Vases, with ribbon,
and Brown & Pink Gerber Daisies (made by Danielle)


Birthday Girl!



Opening her gifts!



Loving her new pony!! That's all she wanted to do!



Mom & Birthday Girl...she was tired and cranky by this point!


I will have a tutorial up soon for the banner, tulle poms, and the labels.

Leave a comment if you have any questions!!


Six Sisters Stuff
Not So Homemade

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Random update

Hey all!! Sorry I haven't posted this week, it's a short week for me, so I've been busy trying to things done at work. We were off yesterday for the 4th, which we had so much fun ay the pool, and I'm taking off tomorrow to head back to the {big city}. I'm going there to hang out with Aimee and help her with wedding planning!! I'm excited, BM dress shopping and whatever else she wants to accomplish!! D is going the opposition direction to his friends house in Denver just for the heck of it. So its been a busy week for a fun weekend!!

Next week I will show you maycee's party pics, and a couple of tutorials. Stay tuned!!! Have a fabulous weekend!!