DIY Disney Shirts for Girls

As soon as I finished making Halloween costumes last week, I got started on these cute {and oh so girly} diy Disney shirts for a friend's little girl who is going to Disney World for the first time! If you've been around here long, you know that I don't often have the opportunity to make cute/pink/girly things since I live in a house full of boys....so I may have gone a little overboard with the pink! I don't think Taylor will be complaining though, specially since this trip to Disney is a surprise and she isn't going to find out until they are getting ready to head to Orlando! Anyway, I had a ton of fun coming up with some fun color combos and different girly things to make for her. I probably could have gone a lot girlier with more ribbon and ruffles, but that just doesn't seem to come natural to me after 8 years of nothing but boy stuff!

This first shirt is just a plain pink shirt with a Mickey head appliqued from some cute fabric left over from a Valentine's craft a few years ago.

This shirt is my favorite for sure! It is a pink felt Mickey head with a gray and white chevron Mickey head on top with a lower case pink felt "t" appliqued on top of that.

The color on this one didn't show up great in the picture, but it is a black shirt with Taylor's name appliqued on from some cute red and white heart fabric {again left over from a Valentine craft}. My favorite part of this shirt is the Mickey head instead of the "O" in her name:)

And you just can't make girly Disney shirts without including Tinkerbell. I made this one with some Silhouette heat transfer material. I found the Tinkerbell shape online and used my Silhouette to cut out Tink. I also cut Taylor's name using the font Waltograph. Then all I did was iron it all onto the shirt! 

This was my last shirt to make, because I really wanted to include a Minnie in the mix but for some reason none of the other shirts seemed very Minnie-ish to me. The black and white chevron on this shirt is from a dishtowel that I picked up at Target a few months ago and I bet you can't guess where the pink and white polka dot fabric is from {yep, it's leftover Valentine's material}:)

All of these shirts were really easy to make. For the most part I printed out my template, cut the fabric out, and then used a zigzag stitch to applique the fabric to the shirts. I didn't include any step by step instructions because I've done that quite a few times {and I was kind of in a hurry to make these before their big trip}, but if you need help shoot me an email {kellibwilson@gmail.com} and I'll be happy to help out any way I can. You can also click HERE to see all the other crafty shirts I've made...I'm pretty sure there are a few step by step posts in the mix somewhere!

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Monster Initial T-shirt for Halloween

I love making crafty shirts for my boys for the holidays. The only problem is that when I make their crafty shirts they're usually very holiday specific, which means once Halloween {or Valentine/St. Patrick's Day/Thanksgiving/Christmas} is over, they really don't wear their shirts again. So this year for Halloween I decided to try and make a shirt that was a little more generic so the boys could wear them longer...but the shirts still needed to be a little scary with some fun fall colors just to make use it really looked like a Halloween shirt too:)

I came up with these fun Monster Initial T-shirts and I think they are the perfect Halloween {but works the rest of the year} shirts...

 ...and I think Eli agrees:)

 Here is a close up of the shirt so you can kind of see what all I did to make it:

I started by printing out a big E in a bold font. Then I use it as a pattern to cut out a piece of black felt. After I had my felt E, I used the paper E to cut out the {SUPER cute} chevron fabric...but I made sure to cut the chevron E a little smaller so you can see the black felt E underneath it {I was going for a layered look}. Then I cut out some fun monster features {teeth, horns, spikes, and eyes|} using felt and other fun fabrics. I attached each feature to the big felt E with spray adhesive, then I sewed on the chevron E, then I finally attached the whole thing to the t-shirt with a little spray adhesive and a stitch around the outside edge.

And just in case you think that I forgot about my bigger monsters, here are Henry and Grant's Monster Initial T-shirts too:)

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Pallet and Hay Fall Display

So I've been a little absent from the blog world lately, mostly because things have been really busy around here...but also because I feel like I've lost a little bit of my creativity. I thought when Eli started preschool two days a week, that I would have a ton of time to do some crafting, creating, and decorating. But so far that hasn't happened. Instead my house is a wreck, my craft room is still nonexistent, and I can not for the life of me keep up with the laundry! Despite all of that {and sorry for my whining, but surely I'm not the only one feeling like this right now!?!}, I did manage to get a few fall decorations put up last week. I created this fun outdoor display from a few things leftover from Eli's Barnyard Brunch birthday party along with some of my usual fall decorations and a some things from a local nursery. 

 I think my favorite part of this whole display is the fun pallet with the vinyl saying. This is the same pallet that was the backdrop for the food table at Eli's party. I had already added the whitewash effect, which I thought was very fun and fallish. But it needed something a little more, so I broke out my Silhouette and cute out the cute Happy Fall, Y'all saying. I think it adds a ton of whimsy to the display! The best thing about it is that if I want to use this pallet again for something else, all I have to do is peel off the vinyl!

I also love the look of the funky pumpkins stacked together. I originally had a triple stack of pumpkins and another cute orange one, but the Mississippi heat was too much for the pumpkins and I ended up with some gross rotten pumpkin soup. I managed to salvage the two in the picture, but I don't think they are going to last much longer either....I'm starting to see the beauty of the fake, crafty pumpkins:) I threw in a couple of mums to complete the whole fall look, and I think it turned out pretty cute! 

Do you put any fall decorations outside?

{And do your pumpkins still look perfect, or do you have rotten pumpkin soup like me?!?}

Eli's Barnyard Brunch Birthday Party

My baby turned four a few weeks ago. Thinking about it almost makes me cry...because really four is not a baby anymore...it's also not a toddler either. Four is officially a preschooler which means I will soon have a 'schooler' and I will be left all alone with no kiddos at home!

Despite the tears {that I almost shed}, we had a SUPER fun Barnyard Brunch birthday party for Eli.

******

Here's a quick look at the party:

I bought a little over a yard of black and white gingham to use as a table cloth. I wanted to have a more elegant, less kiddie look to the table for this party and black and white with pops of color seemed like the way to go. Jason brought home an old pallet for work for me to use as the backdrop of the table. I slapped on a little bit of white paint and added a cute bunting to it. I think it gave the table the perfect barnyard feel! 

 I found some cute cow print napkins and I bought red plastic-ware for a little more color. The cute chalkboard came from Hobby Lobby and I added some colorful washi tape to the frame.

We had a fun and yummy cereal bar set up with five different kinds of cereal and milk in a big drink dispenser. It was fun {plus SUPER easy} and what kiddo doesn't like cereal!

 I also fixed small mason jars filled with chocolate milk for the kiddos. I added a white cupcake wrapper to the top as a lid to hold the cute orange and white paper straws in place.

 We had Chicken Feed aka Chex Mix...

 ...Pigs in a Blanket {that I bought premade because I knew I wouldn't have time to make them the morning of the party}...

 ...and fun licorice Wagon Wheels:)

 I also set up a table with a couple of sodas and some yummy orange juice, along with the birthday boy's cake and some cute cow print plates.

 This is the same cake design that Henry had for his 3rd birthday. Eli saw it a couple of weeks ago and decided that he wanted one just like it:)

 Farmer Eli in his overalls and his straw hat had a SUPER fun time at his Barnyard Brunch Birthday Party!

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A Craft of Olympic Proportions

We love watching sports on tv. My boys could sit and watch ESPN for hours regardless of what sport is on. I love that for the most part {minus some of the commercials} sports on tv are family friendly entertainment for all of us to enjoy. The Olympics are always fun and exciting for me, and this year all of my boys are old enough to really appreciate the idea of the Olympics. So I decided we would turn the Olympics into a bit of a learning experience by making a few flags from some of the nations participating in the Olympics.

 We started with a pack of cardboard flags that I picked up at Michaels. They have a ton of different cutouts available and I just happened to notice these the last time we were browsing. I got a pack of 12 flag cutouts for around $3. You could also just use sheets of cardstock or recycle some other white cardboard that you have on hand. Then I printed out a clip art sheet with some national flags on it. I chose 12 flags for the boys to color making sure to include the U.S.A and the U.K. {because they are the host country}. I mostly just picked the ones that I thought would be easiest for the boys to color.

 I gave each kiddo a blank flag, a box of crayons, and a small clip art picture of the flag they were going to make. I let Henry and Grant figure their flags out on their own, but I gave Eli a little guidance by drawing a couple lines or the shape {like the circle on the Japanese flag} and then let him color the flag in.

 After the boys were finished coloring, we hung the flags up in our living room. We happen to have these two {still unpainted going on two years} canvases hanging in our living room that were the perfect spot for our flags, but you could hang them on your fireplace or string them together to make a banner to hang on an entertainment center.

We worked on learning which country goes with which flag, and Henry already has all 10 of our flags memorized! Knowing the nation's flags is going to make watching the Olympics so much more fun and educational for the boys. I think we are going to take our Olympic craft one step further once the games start and keep track of the medal count on our canvases as well! I guess we need to get busy making some gold, silver, and bronze medals:)

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Roadtrip Ready Round-Up

First I want to say THANK YOU to all my amazing blog friends who helped out with this series! You all shared some amazing ideas! I hope that everyone enjoyed all of the posts in my Roadtrip Ready series. I can honestly say that we used a ton of these ideas on our roadtrip and they really did make the trip better! My boys LOVED the Travel Snack Boxes and the Roadtrip Countdown:) I got a ton of complements on their cute Roadtrip T-shirts, and my camera managed to make it home safely thanks to my Padded Camera Bag! Anyway, I thought it would be fun to do a little round up with all the posts from the series so that the next time you are planning a roadtrip, it will be easy to find all these great ideas in one place!

Travel Snack Boxes

Map Covered Cookie Tube

Two Cookie Recipes from Paula at Sweet Pea

Let the Kids Research

Roadtrip Behavior Clips

I Spy Book from Kate at Embracing Life's Journey

Kid Sized Travel Neck Pillow

Roadtrip Countdown

10 Tips to Survive Disney with Small Kids from Jill at Barnes Yard 

Roadtrip T-shirts

Elastic Bookmarks from Kelli at Outside My Kitchen Window

Make a Padded Camera Bag

Altoids Souvenir Tins

Travel Bingo from Amy at Positively Splendid

Keep Them Busy Baskets from Staci at Lizard and Ladybug

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Roadtrip Ready: Altoids Souvenir Tin

Souvenirs are a big part of any trip...but they can get expensive. That is especially true if you are on a roadtrip with stops at a lot of different places. Plus if you anything like me, your vehicle {and/or camper} is probably already packed pretty tight, so there isn't a lot of space for a bunch of big souvenirs. I saw this idea for Mint Tins Collection {the blog post has quite a few ideas for using Altoids tins, but this was by far by favorite} a few months ago, and I decided it would be the perfect way for my boys to take a little bit of each place home with us...without breaking the bank or overloading the car:)

I started with a couple empty Altoids tins, some white cardstock, and a variety of letter stickers.

Simple turn your tin upside down on a piece of cardstock and trace around the lid. Cut it out and hot glue it onto the lid of your tin.

Then use your stickers to decorate the lid. I chose to just use letters and spell out the places we are visiting on our trip, but any fun stickers would work. Maps, brochures, and postcards would also be great to use for covering the lid of your Altoids tin.

When you are on your roadtrip, simple collect small things that fit into your tin and will remind you of your trip. You can also add a piece of paper with the date of you visit along with any other information you may want to remember. Pictures from each of your stops would also be a really fun addition {I'm thinking some great Instagram shots would be perfect in these}! There are a million and one ways that you can personalize these for your vacation, the main idea here is to take a small memento from each place without spend a ton of money or taking up value leg room in the car:)

Does your family collect anything special when you are on a roadtrip?