Vegas, Baby!

First, I want to say that I am so sad about the events that happened in Vegas this weekend.  It is so sad that there are sickos in the world that hurt innocent people based on their own head issues.  I am trying really not let this be the bad experience to my trip, but it made the trip end on a sad note. I received lots of calls and texts from friends and family that knew I was there this weekend and who wanted to make sure I was OK. I flew out at 8 PM, Vegas time, and the events didn't happen til 10:00ish.  There were two women in our group (out of 7) who stayed that night and we couldn't get a hold of them, but luckily they were just sleeping and had no idea what had happened.

This is as close to a national tragedy that I have ever been, or ever hope to be.  I can't keep from watching all the news broadcasts and internet stories because I was almost in the general area.  I know if I would have stayed another night there (like two girls from our group did), I would have made my way to the Mirage Casino to watch the volcano explode, then head to the Bellagio to watch the fountains and go further down the strip towards that direction. I know this because I was thinking that on Sunday afternoon when I was getting ready to leave the strip to head to the airport.  It was, "If my plane wasn't leaving until late I would..." sort of thoughts and I know I would have been in the general area, not necessarily at the concert though.  I don't know, but this has really gotten into my brain and makes me not want to go anywhere in large crowds or take my niece/nephews there either.  I know that is letting the enemy win, but I can't help it.
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On Friday I woke up bright and early to get dressed and head to the Hobby Airport for my Southwest Airlines flight (I love Southwest!).  I made it to Vegas about 9:30 AM and met Clarissa in baggage claim. We couldn't check in until 1 PM so we dropped off our bag, ate a nice Brunch at Hexx and walked the Strip.

This was basically Clarissa to get us free Chippendale's tickets. LMAO.

We checked in and were walking to the elevators and a guy at a desk stopped us what we were there for and we told him a bachelorette party.  He asked if we wanted free show tickets and my mind instantly flew to timeshares.  Yep, it was a timeshare presentation but there were free Chippendale's tickets on the line...we quickly signed up!  Haha.  Actually Clarissa is the only one who went because we were running out of time and had to get the room decorated.  She didn't want to go by herself but since it was a 2 hour presentation, we didn't have time for us both to go. I just told her what the standard procedure was and how to say no.  If you can stay strong and keep repeating the no, you will get your "reward" of whatever you choose.  It turns out the presentation lasted about 3 hours and she got there about 30 minutes before everyone else did.  If you ask Clarissa, she will tell you that three hours was worth it!

Meanwhile, I decorated the room with all the crafts that we made.  I waited to do the streamers because Clarissa wanted to help decorate too.  I blew up balloons, set out the shirts and the rest of hte crafts for each person in their own pile.  It turned out super cute!!

Amber had her own little chair for her stuff.

I made a door sign for both doors and throughout the weekend you could hear people talking about our sign and our bachelorette party.  One day we were all in the hallway when another group came by and said, "Hey it's Amber's bachelorette party crew.  Which one of you is Amber?"  haha.  I'm glad the whole floor new us. :)

That night one of the girls in our group was able to get us free club entrance with a table and bottle service.  Now, I had NO IDEA how expensive that was but let me tell you, WOW!  To get it in was about $50-$100 each person and the table itself was $5,000.  Yes, you read the number of zeros correctly.  The club was a beautiful spot on the rooftop of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Casino.  You had to go up stairs through a big room and up an elevator to get to the nightclub.  It was so pretty being that high up and seeing all the Strip lights.

The table came with a free bottle of Vodka + mixers so we all had a few drinks.  We inquired how much another bottle was, but it turns out bottle service is VERY pricey.  I'm talking about $495 for a bottle of Tito's Vodka.  I couldn't believe it and wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen the menu.  Here's a pic if you don't believe me.  WTF?!?!?!?!

We danced for a while and then left to go back to the hotel to change shoes.  Some people went back out and others (like me!) fell asleep.  I figured I made my appearance (and even danced) at a club so I did my bachelorette party duties.

Part Two is coming up including all of the Saturday festivities!  Saturday was SO FUN!!

Bachelorette Weekend Crafts

Guess where I'm going this weekend?!?!?!?!  VEGAS, BABY!!  So my friend from college, Amber, asked me to be a bridesmaid for her December wedding.  When I went to her engagment party in February, we discussed going to Vegas for the party but that seemed SO FAR away.  Well, the time has come and I'm heading out on Friday morning.  Whoo hooo.

We made shirts, a pink cup, and a bachelorette sash for Amber to wear.  Even though what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, I will at least post pics of everyone using these fun items! :)

Also, these items ARE available for purchase if you want us (me and my sis) to make one for you or someone you know. We don't have an Etsy store (yet), but we can at least accept PayPal.

The Sash
Have you ever seen the fugly bachelorette party sashes at the party store? They are all of fringe and scratchy fabric!  I looked on Etsy but they are are all $20+ (for the cute ones), so we just decided to make them ourselves.  I bought ribbon from Hobby Lobby for $3.99 and used my sisters Silhouette to make the "Bride to Be" and diamond cutouts.  Easy peasy.  We chose white lace ribbon so that she can also wear it at her bridal shower.  Also, there weren't too many options of lace ribbon that are wide enough to be used for a sash, at Hobby Lobby that is.  If I had had more time to order the lace ribbon online, I'm sure I could have found other colors.

The letters look red, but they are actually hot pink and glitter.  

I didn't want to lug my sewing machine out just to stitch three inches of fabric, so I just got a big safety pin and added these cute rhinestone letters to it that I also found at Hobby Lobby.  I pushed the safety pin in, added a letter, re-pushed the safety pin and added the other two letters so they would be two separate words.  Simple!

The Shirts
We voted on some shirts that we liked via ideas on Pinterest and other sources and chose "I got the Hubby" for Amber and "We got the bubbly" for everyone else.  The shirts online didn't use glitter vinyl, but, it's Vegas, so we had to go all out with the glitter.

My sister designed the shirts and did awesome on them!  I love the cursive font that she used.  Super cute.  Laura has a really good eye for design and I'm so glad she is able to help me so I can  make cute things on a budget.

The Cups
The cups were just a fun extra that we made for everyone.  I found these cute pink cups at the Dollar Tree that were there for pink cancer awareness.  They had the toughest sticker on them that I had to use goo gone to actually get it off the cup.

I had originally wanted everyone's monogram, but honestly monograms are a pain in the rear to make!  I made an executive decision to just have the first initial instead.  There are two "S" people in the group so I just made two different "S" font shapes and the other S can choose which one she wants.  I like both so it doesn't matter to me which cup I get.

I liked the pink but didn't want the cup just to be used for the weekend, I wanted it to be used all the time, so I made it with floral paper. I added the leftover lace fabric for an extra touch, even though that won't stay on all weekend.  The cups aren't super fancy cups (since they came from the Dollar store), but I figured they are a cute touch that we can use to pre-game before we go out on the town.

I know that we will be short on time so I tried to get everything done before we go!  Clarissa and I get there at 10 AM on Friday and everyone else gets there between 5-9 PM. We can't get into the hotel rooms until 1 PM, so we only have a few hours to get everything decorated before she gets there.

Another craft that we will have to see if it works:  HOTEL ROOM JELL-O SHOTS. haha.  I will let you know if that works out. :)

Vinyl Machine Crafts

My sister recently purchased a Silhouette vinyl cutting machine and has been making shirts like crazy.  She was using a regular iron but the vinyl didn’t always stick long term so I invested in a heat press.  Our agreement is we buy our own vinyl but we can both use each other’s equipment anytime (well, it stays at my sisters).

We started an Etsy store but we don’t have anything in it (I will make a post when we do).  She wants to focus on whatever she feels like making at the time and I want to focus on plus size athletic shirts.  I know that when I was running a lot, there weren’t a lot of shirts for bigger girls.  Yes, running made me lose a lot of weight, but I still had trouble with the fit.  I could always find shirts with cute sayings on them in smaller sizes, but I couldn’t find any in the sizes that I needed.  Hence, what I want to focus on.  We will still sell other items (my sister is creative) and custom items, but I want to focus on those types of shirts.

Thigh Gaps are for Flamingos

Laptop decorations

Anyway, if you need any shirts/water tumblers/other projects made for whatever occasion, let me know and we can make for you!

What I’ve Been Up To Lately Volume 13

I have so many posts I need to write and catch up on!  Look for a few over the next few days.

I needed new black flats because my sparkly Toms were dying and I found these cute rhinestone ones at Kohl’s.  I could not decide between the gray ones and the black ones, even though I came for black ones.  Decisions, decisions. I chose the black ones but I have a very strong feeling that Santa will be bringing the gray pair to me for Christmas.

My friend Tracy invited me at the last minute to a Rockets game against the Utah Jazz.  Rockets won!

A vendor at gave me these super cute Christmas tree earrings!

We went on a walk in my parent’s neighborhood one night and saw lots of lights.  Kali loved the Paw Patrol Lights.  

I loved the flamingo lights the best.  That’s my kind of house!

I found a new natural deodorant that I love and wanted to share it with you.  My grandma has Alzheimer’s and they have found a connection between it and aluminum (also it is a link to breast cancer too).  So, throw away all of your aluminum deodorant!  It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Chandelier Bird Feeder

At the river house there is an old brass chandelier that has been hanging in the tree for a while now.  The grandkids decided one day that they wanted to hang it in the tree, so they did and it has been there ever since.

Well,  I wanted to make a craft project out of it.  I got permission before we went (my phone doesn’t work up there) and got all the supplies that I needed.  I decided to make it into a bird feeder using some plastic plates. 

I went to Wal-Mart to buy supplies thinking that I would buy purple spray paint, but when I got there the blue caught my eye.  I still wanted to add purple (axe ‘em jacks), so I got that color for the plates.  I couldn’t find plates small enough, so I went with ash trays! 

 I put gray primer first and then spray painted the chandelier.

And the ash trays.

I added Gorilla Glue to hold them in place.

Finished product!!

Military Care Packages-Round 3

Every so often I try to send care packages to our military that are deployed throughout the world.  There might not be a current war that the US is participating in (thank goodness!), but there are still troops deployed all over that deserve our thanks.  I have sent two (here and here) and I wanted to send more this year.  I found the addresses on AnySoldier.com if you are interested in sending a care package yourself.

This year I decided to decorate the box a little bit!  I had two boxes so I used two sets of scrap book paper that were cut in half to decorate the lid flaps on the box.  I used a space theme (because they are “out of this world”) and a polka dot/diamond theme (just because).  It just adds something pretty to the boxes!   I used the large flat rate shipping boxes from USPS for $15.90 each box. 

I also had friends from work write letters to the soldiers to add to the boxes.  I wanted the boxes to be filled with lots of letters so they can read that we really appreciate them. 

This round we included these items in the boxes:

·         Clif Bars

·         Tooth paste

·         Tooth brushes

·         Laundry soap pods

·         Candy

·         Water bottles (reusable-empty)

·         Shaving razors

·         Mixed Nuts/Pistachios

·         Chapstick

·         Lotion

·         Nutella to-go packs

·         Band-aids

·         Wet wipes-travel size

·         Tissues

·         Assorted puzzles

·         Suckers

·         Assorted samples

·         Thank you cards

·         Mechanical pencils

·         And more that I can’t remember right this second….

I wanted to keep adding more and more stuff, but I was on a small budget and I still had to pay for shipping.  It’s the thought that counts, right?!

Currently the boxes are in Miami waiting to be shipped to their locations, per USPS tracking.  Hopefully they will write back and tell me they got them!  I would love to hear from them.  I am friends with one of the soldiers I sent a box to a while ago.  Fun stuff!

Valentine's Day Cards

Oh, Valentine's Day or Singles Awareness Day, whichever is the correct term that fits your holiday this year.  Do you remember Valentine's Day from when you were in school?  I remember making 'mailboxes' out of cereal boxes and having heart themed parties, but one Valentine's Day card experience scarred me for life!

We usually had Valentine's from a company called Lillian Vernon (that I think since has closed) and we would order check Valentine's from them.  The valentine's would look like checks and you would make them out to everyone in your class.  They were a huge hit.  Well, one year my mom had forgotten to order them (or they were late being delivered) and we had to go to the store the night before and sift through the valentine's boxes that were left to the last minute.  Choices were slim and we were down to one small bin at the grocery store.  I had VERY few choices and had to get Beetle Juice valentine's cards. :(  I was SO embarrassed to take Beetle Juice cards to school the next morning, but it was either them or nothing.  I'm sure it was all in my head, but I felt like everyone was looking at me funny.  It scarred me for life.

So naturally, to this day, I like to make cute Valentine' Day cards, well in advance.  Here are my Valentine’s Day cards I made this year for my coworkers and friends!  They say “Sip-Sip” Hooray, It’s Valentine’s Day with a crazy straw attached.  I love them!

Use this free editable Sip-Sip Horray Valentine's Day Template!

Here’s a simple way to make them.

Materials Needed:

Crazy straws (available 6-$1 at the Dollar Tree)

Tape

Scissors (decorative or plain)

Printer with colored ink

Free Cut-out template 

Directions:

Print out the printable with your name on it and cut with plain scissors or decorative scissors.

Cut a slit at the top for the straw to go through.

Stick the straw in the slit and tape it to the back so it will not slide off.

Repeat!

Handmade Earring Holder

I have been meaning to get an earring holder for awhile now.  I was just going to buy one and I googled "earring holder" and saw a whole bunch of handmade ones.  I said to myself, "self, you can totally make one of those" and I did!  My PawPaw helped me make it (he cut the wire and stapled it to the back of the frame).

The entire project cost about $10 for the frame, wire, and spray paint.

Directions for How to Make an 

Easy Handmade Earring Holder

Materials Needed:
Frame (thrift shop, baby!)
Spray paint
Wire (available outside in lawn section of most hardware stores by the chicken wire)
Staple Gun
Staples
Sandpaper (optional)


Directions:
1.  Take glass and art out of frame
2.  Use spray paint to paint frame in whatever color you wish.  Let dry.
3.  Cut wire to appropriate size of frame
4.  Staple wire to the back of the frame
5.  Use sandpaper to 'rough up' the paint to make a rustic feel (optional)
6.  Hang on the frame on the wall and add earrings

Use spray paint that adheres to the type of material you are using.  This one adheres to wood, plastic and metal.

With staples

Finished!

Halloween Silly Straws

For Halloween this year I decided to give out silly straws instead of candy this year. The main reason I did this was because I didn't want any leftover candy to be at my house for me to eat!  I meant to upload these pics awhile ago, but I forgot they were on my phone!  I took these with my phone's camera so they aren't the best, but they will get the point across!

I already had the silly straws at my house that were unopened (long story but I have 50+ of them) in their packaging so I just printed out some Halloween images (my printer is out of colored ink) in black and white to attach with scotch tape to the straws.  I made these last minute, so please excuse How sloppy they are cut out!

Then I added them to a bowl to keep the upright while waiting for the kids to come trick or treating!

However, we did not have any trick-or-treaters at my house (apartments) so I have some random silly straws with Halloween stickers on them! :)  Oh well, I love silly straws and will drink out of them anytime.

File Folder Games

Countdown to Kenya Post #4

In addition to the other stuff that I am bringing on my trip, I also made a ton of file folder games for the kids.  I figured that they probably played a lot outside and people who volunteered probably brought balls and stuff all of the time.  I decided to bring educational toys as well as ‘fun’ stuff for them to do.  Plus, it’s colder outside now and they need indoor games as well.  Enter file folder games.

File folder games are a bunch of educational games, that teach a skill, that are housed in a file folder for easy storage.  I have loved the idea of file folder games forever!  When I worked at a childcare center in high school and college they had them for the kids, but I would always have to color them with crayons or markers which got very annoying.  I was about to go to the teacher supply store down the street when my sister told me to look on Pinterest or the internet.  I did and I found a ton of free printables that were already in color that I didn’t have to worry about coloring myself.  What a timesaver!   There were several other sites my teacher friends told me about also, but my favorite was www.FileFolderFun.com

I got a ton of free file folder games from that site and they have all been great.  You have to watch the spelling on that site though, some of the files have spelling mistakes.  I printed out the games and went to work cutting them out.  I over estimated how long they would take me to cut them all out!  My hand started cramping with all of the cutting I was doing.  I bought a bunch of glue sticks and file folders at Target to create them with.  I think the pack of 100 file folders was only $6 at Target.

I had no idea what reading and math levels the kids were on, so I printed out a variety of games for different levels and ages.  I stuck with the basics of addition, subtraction, and multiplication as far as math goes.  For the younger kids I printed out counting games, color matching, and animal matching games.  There were others on the site that had decimals, noun/verb distinction, rhyming, etc but since I didn’t know if they were learning that in school I didn’t want to confuse them, especially if I am not there to play the game with them.  Also, they are learning more of a European curriculum, so some of the American curriculum might not be the way they are learning it or spelling the words.

My nephew was over when I was cutting them out and I had a few of them put together.  He loved playing with them and didn’t realize they were actually reinforcing what he learned at school.  He thought they were fun games.  So if he likes them, then I am hoping they will like them too. 

This is a multiplication game, all the multiplication ones have an answer key on the back of the folder.  This one has a little space ship as the pieces to the game.  

This one is a color matching game.  They match the colors of cake icing together.

MawMaw’s Birthday Book

My grandmothers 70^th birthday is April 15^th, which is also the day that I leave for Kenya.  A few months ago my sister Laura and I started to think about what we could give her as a birthday gift.  I came up with the idea of making a photo book of all the kids, grand kids, and great grand kids so she can have current pictures of all of us in one place.

Thus, the nagging began.  I was in charge of gathering all the pictures from everyone and Laura was in charge of designing the book.  I sent a text and email two months before I needed the pictures in, hoping that someone would send their pictures in early.  No such luck.  After a few month nagging phone calls and texts, I finally sent (when we only had two weeks to get it designed, printed, mailed, and signed) a final text that said “I need the pictures by XXX, if I don’t receive them by XXX we will put a big square that says ‘this child was too busy to send in pictures for your book MawMaw’’  I wasn’t kidding and my family knew it. ;)  You could say that I am very persistent and I get what I want.  

Finally the pictures started rolling in and we could design the book.  We were specific that we wanted current pictures and pictures that we didn’t have to crop random people out of.  We wanted single pictures and family pictures so the book would be special for her.  Laura created each page for each child reflecting their personality.   Notice a flamingo on my page?  Imagine that!

The front cover was a collage of pictures of all of us that we had left over.  Also, there is a big 70 on the front.  Laura found this sweet passage and put it on the front page.

Each child got their own page, along with each grand kid and great grand kid.

The back page was where everyone signed it in gold and silver paint pens.  We had to mail it all over the country New Jersey and Texas to have everyone sign it. 

My Aunt Tracy and her husband Ken had come down from New Jersey for Easter, so all of the kids and grand kids were in town (minus 3 grand kids) so we decided to give her the book then.  We wrapped it all up and presented it to her after lunch by the pool.

We figured she would cry when she opened it, but she didn’t.  Everyone else cried though as she was all “Oh, this is so special”  and “Oh, I just love this” in her super soft voice that means she really did like it. :)

Now we need to come up with something for Paw-Paw’s birthday too!  Any ideas?!