Category: For the Kiddos

Fun for the kids, too.

Balloon Animal Birthday

Published on by Our Humble Abode26 Comments

E will turn two soon, which means I’m in party planning mode.  The boy loves balloons, but I didn’t want to duplicate V’s rainbow birthday.  So I thought of ways we could have tons of balloons but make it different.  Then I realized, balloon animals!

I like to start with the invitation and let things flow from there.  So, here’s the invitation we’re sending out.

Now I’ve got to figure out the rest of the party.  And learn how to make balloon animals.  Any ideas for a balloon animal themed party?  Food suggestions?

Valentine’s Folding Cards

Published on by Our Humble Abode15 Comments

Want another Valentine’s free printable?  Sure you do!  This time, we’re sharing fold over cards.  If your kids have a Valentine’s party to attend, we’ve got you covered with a few cute (though I’m biased) tag printables.

If you’re looking to dish out candy, Nuts About You! tags are perfect.

Click the link, print, cut along the tick marks, and fold along the dotted line.  Grab a bag of cellophane bags from the craft store (mine are 3 1/4 inches square when closed).  Fill with peanut M&Ms (or another nutty treat), close, and staple the card over.  There’s plenty of room for your little one to write a message to their friends.

If you don’t want your kids hopped up on sugar, give stickers instead.  If your kids are anything like mine, they love three simple things: balloons, bubbles, and stickers.  Any stickers.

Here’s Sticking With You, the girly version:

Or, we’ve got blue for a more boyish look.

Same routine.  Print, cut, fold, staple to the package.

I couldn’t find stickers I liked, so I designed and printed my own.

But I had a problem.  I printed the stickers on full label sheets.  So I cut the designs out.  Now I had to package them.  A piece of wax paper cut to fit inside the same cellophane bags became a perfect backing for the home-made stickers.  Just peel the label backing off, stick and seal.

I happened to have a mini stapler with orange staples, so I used that.  Seriously, mini + office supplies = adorably irresistible.

You can make your own stickers to go with, too.

Print on full label sheets, then use a ruler and utility knife to cut apart, keeping centered between designs.  Or, buy a big package at the store and divide up on wax paper sheets for a quick and sugar-free gift.

What Valentine’s cards have you given?  Store bought?  Hand made?  Candyless?

P.S.  This is the last Valentine’s project we’ll share.  Pinkie swear.

Wear Your Heart on Your Garland

Published on by Our Humble Abode11 Comments

When E takes his afternoon nap, I try to do a fun project with V.  Sometimes we make a puzzle.  Other times we color and practice our letters.  With Valentine’s day coming up, we did a special project involving crayons.  Before V could get started, I used a utility knife to cut crayon shavings.  I looked for a pencil sharpener, but we don’t have one because really, who uses anything but a mechanical pencil now days?

Of course a little help is always nice, especially when the help is a cheesy-grinned four year old.

 

After shaving four different colored crayons (red, orange red, red violet, and flamingo to be exact), we finally got to the good part.  We spread out a few sheets of kraft paper and one sheet of wax paper.  V and I sprinkled the crayon over the wax sheet, trying to keep it as even as possible.

Cover it up with another sheet of wax paper.

And two more sheets of kraft paper.

Warm your iron to a medium setting and run it over the paper, melting the crayons.

Check as you’re going and keep ironing until the wax is completely melted.

Make a heart template, I recycled a flyer from the mail.  Trace as many hearts as possible and start cutting.

To string our hearts, I used a needle to poke holes on both sides of each heart.  Thread a small needle without cutting the other end from the spool.  String the hearts on until you’ve reached the desired garland length.

I hung our garland in front of the living room window by making small loops on either end of the thread.  Brackets are the perfect hangers.

And Dexter would have liked some of our red hearts, like this one that reminds me of his infamous blood slides.

What fun projects do you do with your kids?  Do you remember making ‘stained glass’ as a kid?  If I were crazy and needed another DIY light fixture in my house, I would most definitely make a faux capiz pendant using this same process.  Just sub the hearts for a circle punch and sew the circles together.  A wire wreath form would make a perfect multi-tiered base to hang the strands from.  Can you tell I’ve considered this?!?  Haha.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

Published on by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

This past Friday we, er Ben, installed the kitchen sink and adjoining cabinets.  Then he called it a night.   First order of business on Saturday: install the stove cabinets and range.  So, Ben hauled out our old clunker and brought in the box with the shiny new stove.  We carefully unwrapped the packaging to discover this:

Yep, a dent on the right side.  Fortunately, this will be hidden behind the cabinet.  Speaking of cabinets, here’s the new beauty sandwiched between two drawer large bays.

Isn’t she pretty?!?  I love the sleek stainless, the industrial style handles, and the huge top.  But installing this baby wasn’t a snap.  The old gas line came out of the floor right behind the left back leg, so the range couldn’t tuck tightly against the wall.  And we encountered another issue because we’re planning on two-inch thick countertops.  Our counters will make the cabinets 1 inch taller than average counters.  The adjustable range legs only go up to one inch.

As a temporary solution until we install the counters, Ben placed the range on wooden blocks.  After the counters are installed, we’ll search out a better solution.  We’re thinking of buying furniture legs for a less trashy custom look.  But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Now let me brag a little.  First, I love the front left burner.  It’s three-tiered and gigantic.  And the grates cover the entire top to maximize the space.  Oh, and if we ever want to get fancy, we can flip the grate insert for easy wok cooking.  But, the best part is something I didn’t even know about.  Smarties at KitchenAid designed the range to sit just above the counters for a seamless surface.

No more junk falling down the crack.  Wait, that sounded bad.

And here’s what everything looks like right now from the back door.

We’ve got cabinets, but only one drawer installed so far.  But, everything is functional, so we’re a okay.  Now I’m itching to get the rest of the drawers in so I can get everything out of the guest bedroom and start organizing.  Nerd alert.

We’re chugging along, but we still have so much to do.  How about a list to show what’s left to do:

  • Install the new dishwasher, which we’re hoping to get on Thursday
  • Sand the ceiling and walls smooth
  • Build the five remaining drawers we’ve waited on (we needed to see how things were in place before we could build one drawer in the dining room, the trash can pull out, and the under the sink drawer)
  • Fill, sand, prime and paint said drawers
  • Install every drawer, 16 total
  • Buy the wood for the counters which should be in tomorrow
  • Haul the wood slabs to a cabinet shop to have them sand both sides smooth
  • Cut the wood to fit and install the counters
  • Hang the upper cabinets
  • Add decorative face trim to all cabinets for a smooth, pretty, even front
  • Fill, sand, prime, and paint all cabinet faces
  • Build the drawer and cabinet fronts, including two glass front doors
  • More filling, sanding, priming, and painting of the cabinet fronts
  • Install the drawer fronts and hardware pulls
  • Prime and paint the kitchen and living room.  Probably the dining room too.
  • Add lights: sconces, recessed light halos, and the rope lighting
  • Trim out the posts and door frames
  • Add crown molding to the top of the cabinets
  • Decide whether we want to add decorative trim to the vent hood or paint it to match the wall color
  • Install the pretty new marble tile backsplash
  • Put everything back in place and enjoy

Miss a step in our renovation progress?  Read through these posts to get up to date.  

In addition to the kitchen updates, we thought we’d share our Halloween fun.  How ’bout a peek at our pumpkins first?

The eye on this guy popped out while carving, so we made it look intentional with some pumpkin guts hanging out.  Kinda looks like a pig in Angry Birds, no?

He’s just happy.

And this guy’s up to no good.

While we went Trick-or-Treating, Ben was busy installing a few drawers.  We’ll share as we finish more.

The Big 0-4

Published on by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

Yesterday marked Vincent’s four years on this earth, outside of the womb.  Of course, we had a party to celebrate our little man’s big day.  Vincent decided he wanted a colored balloon party, so I made invitations to fit the theme and searched Pinterest for inspiration.

First, we jazzed up the front porch with a balloon wreath, a number four, and a planter of red mums.

I thought I’d tie balloons to the number, like the inspiration, but it couldn’t stand upright.  So, I improvised by hanging the painted paper mache letter from the light.  The only problem?  The four turned in the wind, sometimes making a backwards four.  Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Five bags of balloons from the Dollar Tree plus a foam wreath form I already had plus a box of straight pins equals an adorably cheap, festive wreath, perfect for a birthday party.

Just a tip, I found the Dollar Tree’s balloons to be the best deal.  Twenty five large balloons for only a buck.  Target and Wal-Mart charged one dollar for only 15 balloons.  I cheaped out because I wanted to save some balloons for other party decorations.  The back is completely bare and some areas of the wreath form are visible from the side, but only if you’re completely smooshed up against the door.

We used the saved balloons to make a chandelier to hang in the living room, over a folding table for additional seating.

I didn’t want a cheapo plastic table-cloth, but I didn’t want to shell out the dough for a cloth cover.  Luckily, our boys don’t use flat sheets on their beds, so an extra twin-sized flat sheet covered us.  Pun intended.

We focused our decorating energy on the dining room, covering the ceiling with a rainbow of paper zig zag streamers.  A mix of construction paper and card stock from Vincent’s craft bin.

Construction paper weight worked better to make the streamers.  The thinner the paper, the better it hangs.  A small piece of Scotch tape held the streamers nicely.

On the plate wall, we hung a banner my sisters made for Vincent’s first birthday.  We’ve used it every birthday since.

I’ve learned to keep food as simple as possible when entertaining a larger group.  Brie cheese on roasted garlic bread (from Costco) and Caprese salad skewers as appetizers.  Spaghetti and meatballs is a crowd pleasing meal, and it’s easy to make in one large batch.  My mom made meatballs two days before and froze until the day of the party.  I made a large batch of home-made spaghetti sauce and put it in a crock pot to simmer all day.  Yesterday morning, we thawed out the meat balls.  A few hours before the party started, we added the meatballs to the sauce to warm up.  We rounded out the meal with a simple spinach and romaine salad and rainbow fruit skewers.

The fruit skewers consisted of one strawberry, two peach slices, two pineapple chunks, one large piece of kiwi, and two grapes.  We forgot to get blueberries.  Oops.

For dessert, I made Oreo pops and a chocolate cake.  For the Oreo pops, we used Oreo Triple Double cookies.  I had small wooden spoons left over from another craft project, so I used those for the sticks.  A quick dip in almond bark and a shake of sprinkles later, we had a cute dessert.

I don’t bake, so I decided to buy a box of cake mix (Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge, to be exact).  I poured the batter in 9 inch spring for pan, and it barely covered the bottom.  So, I mixed up another box to make two layers.  To assemble the cake, I cut the tops off for a flat surface.  Then, I melted Nutella to spread as a layer between the two cakes.  My sister frosted the cake with cream cheese frosting.  To decorate, we added stripes of M & M’s.  First, we made lines using the back of a knife, just to keep everything straight and even.

Then, we placed 6 M & M’s on each stripe, until we’d covered the entire cake.

For a non-baker, this was an easy solution to avoid frosting.

We sprinkled a few glasses, just for chocolate milk drinkers.

 

Overall, the party was a huge success, even if every guest did bring him a gift, despite the no gift request.

What is your favorite part?  Have you ever made spaghetti for a party?  Do you make cakes from scratch, or a box?  Have you ever had Brie on roasted garlic bread?  If you haven’t, you should.  It’s fantastic, and easy.