Pilgrim Cuffs Courtesy of Starbucks

Just look at these lovely pilgrim cuffs 

Monster and I whipped up tonight.

They are finished just in time for the 

Thanksgiving Festivities on Thursday.

Wanna know how we made them?

Okay,

well first I saved some Starbuck's coffee sleeves.

Yep! That's right.

Coffee sleeves.

I was driving with the Cuban Cowboy a few weeks back when 

I slipped the sleeve over my wrist like a bracelet 

and an idea was born.

My initial thought was super hero cuffs, 

which I am sure will be a project in the near future,

but then I thought of Thanksgiving 

and knew that they'd be perfect for a pilgrim outfit.

So here is what we did.

We gathered our supplies:

* 2 Starbuck's coffee sleeves

* White paint and a paint brush

* black paper

* Small circle punch

* glue

Ignore the square punch.
I was going to put buckles,
 and then I realized that cuffs have buttons not buckles.

First we painted the coffee sleeves white. 

Monster enjoyed this part,
 and he really did a decent job of not making a mess.
Well, until I decided 
it would be funny if I painted his palms white.

Then we let the cuffs dry.

Once they were dry Monster punched the circle, 
with my help of course.
Card stock can be difficult to punch through.

Finally, with some Elmer's glue he adhered the circle where buttons would go on cuffs.

The "seam" of the sleeve is perfect because it makes them look even more like cuffs.

This one even got a little wet and bent so it looks more like fabric.

I LOVE THEM!!!!

I am going to make Pottery Barn copy cat felt pilgrim hats tonight now that the boys are in bed.

They will be perfectly festive on Thursday.


Oh yes, and after our fun photo shoot Monster decided 
that his little brother needed to participate too.
So, he put Roly Poly in the middle of the pumpkins,
 and I let him take some photos.

He is always trying to eat things

Okay, so go and try this with your little one.

It is easy.

Cheap.

Fun.

Super Simple STAR Spangled Pizza

Let me just be up front with you,

this idea was STOLEN!

Well, at least modified.

For Valentine's Day the oh so adorable Kate from 

See Kate Sew

made this heart pizza.

I copied her then too.

The Cuban Cowboy loved showing off his left overs. 

You know those construction guys are easily impressed.

I thought that I should bless him with lovely leftovers again,

so I grabbed out my star cookie cutter.

Picked up my Costco Pizza

and  together

they went to work.

Costco pepperoni is RIDICULOUS.

Really, does anyone need that much pepperoni?

This is a great way to get rid of some,

plus it cuts back on the calories.

Woo hoo for that.

I cut each star out,

since Costco pepperoni is super thin it is easier to cut if you stack multiple pieces.

Easier and faster.

Then I began to place them in the pizza

'til it looked all pretty like this.

Bake that bad boy.

Sizzlin' goodness awaits only minutes later.

If you feel bad about tossing all of that excess pepperoni,

you can do as I did and save it for an antipasti salad the next day.

Muah hahahahaha 

GENIUS.

Okay, not really.

Just cheap.

Lots of love.

Go be festive for your kidlets 

and leave the hubby some left overs

 so that he can show off how much his wifey cares.

A Birthday/ Fourth of July Countdown

Okay, so count downs aren't really anything new under the sun.

This is just the QUICKEST countdown I could make.

We haven't really counted down before

because Monster never really understood the concept before.

However, he keeps wanting things that he KNOWS

are for his birthday and pirate party.

So I knew it was time to start the count down tradition.

I waited until this week

because I didn't think that he could handle counting down for more than a week.

That is

FOREVER AND EVER

in almost three-year-old time.

I just hung it on a little wall between living rooms

at a height he could reach.

I used a push pin that I glued a felt star to.

Each morning he can take a number of

until he sees this on next Monday.

Do you countdown with your kiddos?

What tricks are helpful?

What age did you start?

Born On The Fourth of JULY Mantel

I have mentioned to some of you out there that my oldest son,

MONSTER,

was born on the Fourth of July.

This makes celebrating both fun and, well, complicated.

Since it is a week until his birthday,

I have decided to bombard you all with festive Fourth of July 

and Birthday posts.

Look for things like:

• a glimpse at his past birthdays
• decor
• a birthday/100 followers (yeah, I'm late on that) giveaway(s)
• Mommy party attire

Hopefully, this will be both a fun and productive week for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so on to the first post of this week.

My newly, festively decorated mantel.

This idea originated from Eighteen25

around Easter time when they posted this pom garland.

When I saw it I instantly knew that
I was going to make one for Fourth of July 

because I had all of these poms 
left over from Monster's First birthday party.

I just knew that they would be perfect.

So on Saturday night

I got out the red Gutermann thread, a needle, 
and this jar full of left over goodies.

After some untangling of thread and about an hour of designing,

I ended up with this.

After the garland was complete,

I took some festive fabric that I also had left over from the first birthday 

and wrapped a canvas that I am actually in the midst of redoing.

I stapled the fabric to itself 

so that it wouldn't ruin the canvas.

I then added some ribbon, photos from Monster's birth,

and a little sign that says, 

"Born on the Fourth of July."

The blue frame and candle holders are always on the mantel

(except holidays).

I am quite pleased with the outcome.

Do you decorate for the Fourth?

Mother's Day Review

Okay, so I thought that this would be up last night, 

but I have been more tired lately and trying to catch up on some 

MUCH NEEDED cleaning.

This means I haven't really brought my camera in to upload my photos, 

and I haven't had time to check my favorite blogs, 

or to really write a post.

I have been saying this a lot lately, I know.

Things are settled now. 

They should be less hectic as of today.

Yippee!!!

So, how was your Mother's Day?

Mine was pretty darn good.

I came home from San Diego on Saturday

to find these lovelies from the Cuban Cowboy.

 

He is a man after all, so Home Depot it was. 

I love these sorts of gifts though.

They are so genuine. 

Plus he knows I like to sit outside with the boys 

and do my computer stuff while they play in the morning.

Isn't this fairy to die for?

When he does buy gifts, he always does well.

Then Sunday we went to Mimi's Cafe with his extended family;

it is a tradition.

This was NOT my favortie part of the day.

It was a bad time, 1:30, which caused Roly Poly to miss his nap.

It took an hour before our food came, so he wanted to nurse

 and to be OUT of the high chair.

So, I had to leave when the food arrived.

This was only a speed bump in the overall day though.

After, we went to Tia Lula's for dessert and gifts.

This was super fun.

Here are some shots of the festivities.

I love the dress my mother-in-law bought me. That's her with the Roly Poly.

Dress: Thrifted Vintage, Mint Cardigan: Nordstrom BP (old), Flats: Target Clearance, Headband: Vintage Wannabee

I think this is a better one, but the laughing one is fun too.

A happy Mommy with the boys she LOVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that you too had a ROCKIN' Mother's Day!!!