Decorating Flip Flops with Ribbon

Items you need:

2-3 different 1/4" - 5/8" coordinating ribbons or pieces of fabric

Flip flops

Scissors

Hot glue gun

Directions for tied ribbon flip flops:

Get your ribbon and flip flops. Decide which color you want to start with and tie it around the strap near the bottom. (I didn't pre-cut the ribbon.) I cut the ribbons at an angle to reduce the fraying. I only used 2 ribbons so I did every other one. Keep going until the straps are covered.

Covered straps: (Showing children's shoes. Adult flip flops coming soon.)

Choose your ribbon. If there's enough give, push down through the hole, fill it with hot glue and the end of the ribbon. If there's not enough give then just place a dot of glue at the very bottom of the strap, near where you foot goes. Start wrapping, and continue wrapping until the entire strap is wrapped on both sides. Place more hot glue at the end- the way you did when you started. Put a bow or flower in the middle where your toe goes.

Bejeweled flip flops:

Get ribbon with sequins or crystals and hot glue it on the straps. I added a satin flower with a jewel, but you can add whatever fits your style.

Retro Fabric Headbands

For my daughter's birthday party everyone got a custom-fit headband.

Supplies:

22" x 4" cotton fabric

2" of 3/8" elastic

thread

sewing machine

scissors

large safety pin

iron and ironing board

Directions:

Cut your fabric. (I tapered it a bit on the end so it would fit under the head a little better.)

Fold material in half, wrong side out and iron flat.

Open up the material and sew 1/4" seam at the ends. Fold material back in half and sew (wrong side out) all the way down one side, back stitching on both ends. Make sure you don't sew the ends shut! (TIP- If you don't want to sew the ends shut you can use fray stop to prevent fraying.)

Put the safety pin on the end of one side. Push that down through the hole.

Sew the material flat again.

Get your elastic. Stick the elastic in one end and straight stitch in place, going over it several times to make sure it holds. Measure your head and sew the elastic in place. It should be snug, but not too tight. You may need to cut your material a bit shorter if your head is smaller or if you're making the headband for a child.

Homemade Pillowcases

A few years ago for Christmas my mother made all of the grand kids pillowcases. My youngest son loved his so much that he carried it around everywhere. I mended it several times, but it was literally falling apart because it was threadbare from overuse. I got 3 coordinating fabrics and got started. The finished size of a standard size pillowcase is 20" x 30". Cut the first material to 20.5" x 24.5". I cut the second material, which is the small strip in the middle, to 20.5" x 4". I cut the third material to 20.5" x 8.5". (This allows about 1/2" extra for the seams.)

Items needed:

1. 3 pieces of coordinating material: Piece A: 20.5" x 30.5", Piece B: 20.5" x 4", Piece C: 20.5" x 8.5"
2. Coordinating thread
3. Iron and ironing board
4. Scissors, cutting mat, ruler, rotating cutting blade

Directions:

1. Cut your material to size. Iron everything flat.
2. Fold Pieces 2 and 3 in half lengthwise and iron them flat. Iron a 1/4" seam on Piece A on the top piece.
3. Sew a seam along the ironed seam of Piece A.
4. Place Pieces 2 and 3 together and sew them together.
5. Sew that piece to the ironed seam on Piece A. Reinforce the corners with back stitching.
6. Iron everything flat then sew the pieces together.
7. Wash and dry and you're good to go!

70's Retro Birthday Party

I'm in the planning process for this party still. My daughter is turning 7, and trying to come up with a theme that we agreed on was not so easy. She's at the stage where she does not like princesses anymore, but she's still a bit too young for a party where we go someplace for the party. We compromised on a 1970's theme. She is really into tie dye, hearts and peace signs so it seemed like a good fit. For the invitations I got standard size white cards and envelopes, 8 1/2" x 11" tie dye paper that I cut into 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" pieces. I had a stamp that said, "It's party time!" that I stamped with a rainbow colored ink pad on white cardstock. I rubbed the edges of that paper with a red ink pad, then cut out ribbon, charms and assembled the card. This is what the card looks like on the outside. On the inside it says,
"Far out! It's a birthday party! We're boogieing on down for (name)'s birthday (date and time) at the (last name) crib. We're flashing back to the 70's to celebrate (name)'s special day. We're making groovy crafts like tie dye t-shirts. Your threads might get dirty so dress accordingly. RSVP right away so we can get the right size shirt. Call (name and number). Can you dig it? Be there or be square!"
As the girls (aged 6-9) arrived I gave each girl a blank page from a sketch pad and had markers in the center of the table. I let the girls draw pictures, and it kept them busy for at least 20 minutes as everyone streamed in. Then we had lunch. I served homemade sliders, chips and Capri Sun drinks. When we were done eating we divided the girls into two groups and had 2 stations. The first station was with me and my husband. We were in charge of the tie dye shirts. My good friend Jennifer came to the party and she was in charge of station 2. I bought white t-shirts in varying sizes from Joann and Michael's. I let the girls choose from 2 different designs that came with the tie dye kit. I gave each girl a gallon size baggie, had them write their name on it and also on the tag of the shirt. I washed the shirts in the sink, wrung them out and arranged them according to design instructions. I had my husband as the dye assistant.
The second station was really fun. I got small canvas bags, iron on appliques, a peace sign stencil (it came with 1 large and 1 small), fabric paint and felt peace sign buttons. Each girl wrote her name with a Sharpie marker on the inside of the bag, then chose one applique, one felt button and started painting the peace signs.
As everyone was finishing I got out the headbands that I had started the night before. I custom fit a retro style headband on each girl and sewed the elastic to the other end.
I made a tie dye cake and when we were done with the stations we had cake and ice cream. Every single kid had cake (which never happened at any of our previous parties). After everyone was done eating my daughter opened gifts. Everyone had a great time, and my daughter told me it was the best party she's ever had. Yay!

End of year teacher gift ideas

As the end of the school year approaches I am filled with a sense of dread. I've been so busy that I haven't come up with teacher gifts this year! As a room mother for one of my children I have been working on a group gift with the other moms. I can't post it yet because her teacher visits my site occasionally. (I will post a picture on Thursday- after she gets her gift.) That gift is taken care of, but I have 3 other children with teachers. I try to give something homemade to each teacher because I think those gifts mean the most. I try to find something that is inexpensive because buying for several teachers can get pricey.
Here is the list of ideas that I have come up with tonight. Hopefully this will help spark your imagination and help you come up with something for the teachers in your lives.
A mini scrapbook- You don't have to buy an album from the store. You can use paper bags folded in half. They can have pictures, sayings and gift cards inside the pockets.
An inexpensive pitcher with several fresh lemons
Personalized stationary
Etched glass vase with fresh flowers
Potted flowers in a painted terra cotta pot A personalized calendar
A personalized tote bag
A homemade cook book
Homemade goodies (recipe included)
A tote bag filled with sunscreen, a towel, a water bottle and a book (or a gift certificate to a local bookstore)
An apron with the teacher's name embroidered on the front. If you can't embroider use fabric paint.
Garden gloves with packets of seeds, mini shovel and trowel
Classroom supplies- teachers run out of tissues during cold season, hand sanitizer, hand soap, pencils, reams of white copy paper, dry erase markers or chalk, pink erasers, stickers or stamps with ink for younger grades, craft supplies
Magazine subscriptions
Children's books for the classroom
Rainy day activity boxes for the classroom- ideas include coloring pages, crossword puzzles, sudoku puzzles, pencils, crayons, etc. or a craft with the necessary supplies included
Extra fruits and veggies from your garden in a basket tied with a cute ribbon
Floor pillows or bean bags for the reading area in your teacher's classroom
A night at the movies- gift certificate for local video store, movie candy, microwave popcorn, bottled soda
A paper floral arrangement with gift cardsDinner in a box- Don't throw away those drink carriers from the drive-through! Fill one side with the pasta, the other side with a jarred pasta sauce. If it comes with 4 slots, put a loaf of bread in one and a drink in the other. You can decorate the box easily with stamps and stickers.
Personalized post-it notes- stamp the sides of a stack of post-it notes.
Decorated notebook with a matching clipboard.

Remember the packaging can make a difference. If you have something small enough use an empty, clean and dry 2-liter bottle. Cut a flap out and insert the gift. Tape it up with packaging tape, cover with decorative paper, add ribbon and you have a great gift.
I hope these ideas have helped you. Please comment if you have any more ideas!

Rainbow Cupcakes

I got this idea from one of my girlfriends who did this for her daughter's birthday. First make a white cake mix as directed. You may want to use two boxes. One only yielded 15 cupcakes for me. Divide the mix evenly to bowls. Drop in food coloring. About 6 drops per bowl. It looks best the brighter it is in my opinion.

Teaspoon the different colors into the baking cups. Fill only to about 2/3 full. And cook in oven as directed from cake box.

Frost the completely cooled cupcakes.

Pour sprinkles into bowl and after frosting each cupcakes, turn over cupcakes to collect sprinkles.
Voila - end product

Here is what the cupcakes that I made looked like inside. The kindergartners who had these said they were the best cupcakes ever.

Note - you can do this as a cake as well

Little Girls Luau Birthday Party

Food:

Pigs in a blanket with ketchup and mustard

Mangoes

Pineapple

Kiwi

Strawberries

Cake- 1 9" round white cake with white frosting. We frosted the entire thing white, then dyed some of the frosting pink to make a flower. Then instead of making it a double layer cake we made a dozen cupcakes. We used vanilla frosting dyed green to frost the tops. Then we used a kitchen knife to make the veins like a leaf with yellow sprinkles to make it shine a little.

Drink- punch made with pineapple sherbet and Sierra Mist. Water with lemon slices.

Even though these were all 5-7 year old girls, they ate almost everything. It was relatively healthy too.

Decorations:

Glass stem vases with bright silk flowers

Large glass jars with sand and seashells
Palm trees (in our yard) and plastic blow-up trees

Cut-outs of flowers and tropical birds

Activities:

I cut out hundreds of flowers with bright colored cardstock with my Cricut machine. Then I got straws and cut them in 1" sections. I cut yard, and the girls made their own leis.

Painting pineapples. My daughter LOVES crafts and painting so the girls painted little wooden pineapple ornaments.

Slip-n-slide.

Pinata... a recurring theme, I know. My kids love them.

Coloring the driveway with sidewalk chalks... a big hit with the girls.
Photo shoot. After the girls made their leis, we had them put them on, put on a grass skirt and stand by the little palm trees. They got a copy of the picture with their thank you card.The last thing was flower hair barrettes that I made for everyone to take home. I made about 25 in just an hour and a half.