Dancing with the Lily Bean.

If this summer keeps up the hectic pace it's been going so far, I am going to need a coma to recover by the end of it. One thing after another, I tell you! I would rather stay busy than sit around doing nothing, but at this point, I could stand a day or two of nothing. 

Lily is super excited to start her tumbling and ballet/jazz classes this week. Going leotard shopping was an exercise in patience and the whirlwind of excitement that is my girl. We tried on several different leotards and she wanted me to snap phone pictures of every one. As if that wasn't enough, she wanted me to text them to her grandma and her aunt so they could provide feedback on their favorite. She was so dazzled by all the colors, she had to touch everything. 

"Look! Mom! This one is in America's colors with stars!" 

"Mom! This one has a HAIR THING that matches!"

"Mom, these zebra shorts would be totally perfect with the pink one!"

I was as frazzled as I was amused by the end of it. 

We finally settled on this one. It's velvety, has rhinestones on the collar, and sort of has its own shorts. I tried to get her to just stand there for the picture, but it wouldn't do for Lily to be boring. She had to pose. I have to admit, it's very easy to notice how grown up she looks in her leotard. She's got a mile of leg already. We are going to have to designate a boy-beating stick some day much sooner than I care to acknowledge.

Feeling left out of the fun, grandma had to take her shopping for a second leotard since she is in two different classes. That one is much more sedate and classic. Simple black with pink tights. She'll wear that one for dance and I'll have to add a picture when I get her all ready tomorrow. That shopping experience was no less boring than the first.

I can't describe how much I have been anticipating and worrying over these classes for Lily. She so needs help in the grace and bodily control department. There is a video on grandma's phone that the family has lovingly dubbed the "Lily's Got No Rhythm" video. LOL. However, she is a child that is in her own little world and has had difficulties in regular classroom settings. Her mind is fascinatingly unique and I think that's often why she forgets things like self control and watching where she's walking. She has been counting down the days. I'm afraid she'll have trouble falling in line and directions, but I'm hoping it works out in the long run. We'll see!

Inspiration Station

So after a wonderful weekend with the mother-in-law (who was kind enough to buy us a shiny, new air conditioner!!!!) and my sister, and my other sister's baby shower (new baby!!!!!) .... I am exhausted.

At least my sunburn is from actual sunshine this time.

I haven't had much crafty creative time, but I sure found some great ideas to try! So I am going to annoy you with commentary on each idea. :)

I have been working on this post for two days and I keep getting sidetracked. The internet had too many arty crafty fun blogs and ideas! My brain wants to implode!

So welcome to Inspiration Station... I'll be your tour guide through some happy fun today!

First up, we have a fun kiddo craft that is happening at my house as soon as the Idaho weather decides to cooperate. Key words there are "Idaho weather" so it could be August. It's Bubble Prints!

Side note: this is hands down one of the best kid art blogs I have ever seen. The blog is run by a K-6 art teacher and there are HUNDREDS of ideas. If you need something to do with your kiddo, go here. I spent an hour looking around and still didn't get bored. I want to try about 15 other things with Lily including a summer memory quilt idea that was inspired by this blog.

Next up, we have pure genius. If you are on pinterest, chances are you've seen this, but it is so amazing that I have to share it. Addicted 2 Decorating has made this amazing mirror out of.... SPOONS!

I love everything about this. It's from spoons. It has a gorgeous color fade. It's pretty. I have seen other spoon mirrors out there, but this one takes the cake. It is full of win and I can only hope some nice family member will take my children for a day sometime in the future so I can make this. It would look awesome in yellow or maybe purple.

Moving on... is an adorable headband from Love Stitched. I actually made a bracelet using this knot the other day, but I want to do a headband for each of us three girls in the house. It took five minutes to learn the knot. Plus, t-shirt recycling, always a favorite of mine. 

If you're more attached to your glue gun than your sewing machine, this is a crafty must do for you! I think I personally would sew the ends together, but that's just cause I want to use my sewing machine as often as I can get my sticky, grubby mom hands on it. I love the two-tone bands she has done as well.

And finally, for the knock-off win of the century, Besserina takes home the gold. I fell in LOVE with the Georgina duvet cover from Anthropologie.  I tried for several months to figure out how to afford a duvet that was worth as much as several months rent. I still have the picture of it. This is the original:

Isn't it stunning? Gah! Love love love it. Well, Besserina has a wonderful tutorial on how to make my own. It might take me a few years to get all the flowers done, but I am DOING this some day. She does her's for a toddler bed size...so very adorable.

It may say something about me, but I think a good knock off is even better than the original. It takes some pretty fine talent to create something from a picture and make it as good (or better) than the original. I love this in white, but it would last about 2.5 seconds at my house before getting stained, so I would have to make it colorful. 

Well, this was super fun, so I'll have to do it again. Hope you find some time to get lost in Blog land and find some lovely adventures to undertake!

TP Teacher Cards

Hurray! I got the thank you cards for Lily's teachers done. It took until 3:39 AM, but whew. Deadline met. If you have seen any of the toilet paper roll craftiness going on, you'll recognize the inspiration for these cards.

It took me about two and a half toilet paper rolls to do this. My husband suffers silently and just smiles and nods when I ask him to do random things like not throw empty tp rolls away. I'm a lucky gal.  I decided to make four cards, one for each of the teachers who have been fantastic in working with Lily this year. I did one flower with five and the rest with six petals. Six looked better to me and fuller.

I folded the roll flat and tried to cut the strips evenly, but it was late and I was working around a baby who wouldn't sleep. So  then I just tried to match skinny and not so skinny strips. I ran a glue stick along the edges of the side I was gluing down to attach them to the pretty paper I had picked out. Still with me? That sounds kind of confusing so if you look at the next picture, it will hopefully make more sense. I coyldn't get a clear picture of where I was putting glue on the tp pieces.

The petals were by no means even. Deadline, remember? So I let the flowers dry to the paper and cut them out. This was actually the tedious part because it can get a bit awkward. Best advice I can give you is go slow and prepare to bend your scissor hand funny.

If you look in the picture, you can see the ragged edges of the paper. I trimmed these as best I could. It was about 1:30 AM at this point, so my eyes were probably not the best. I really wish the paper would show up better, it's really quite pretty. I have this neat glitter spray that I sprayed the back of each card and the center of each flower. The spray was something I found on clearance at Michael's, and have never found again, which is kind of a bummer.

I glued the flowers to the cards I had on hand. They were not folded cards, more like post cards. To cover up my uneven centers and to make the flowers look more finished, I spent half an hour looking for buttons. When that didn't work, I looked for flat beads. After striking out with that as well, I had an idea that ended up working out.

I took my roll of never-ending hemp and coiled it, making a perfect center. I closed the coils with a dab of glue and then used as much glue as needed to glue them down to the center of the flower. To keep in with the hemp theme, I glued a hemp stem and leaf on each card too. I feel pretty proud of myself that my crafty skills were still working on so little brain power. I wish I would have had more time to tint the edges of the card or sewn borders, but there's always a next time!

After another mad dash search for my brown marker to write the message, I gave up and settled for a turquoise crayola marker. Again, not my best work, but the space was small and I didn't have enough stickers for four cards. I really, really need to invest in some alphabet stamps. (Note to self, don't let Lily use them and I might actually keep the whole alphabet intact.) I wrote a personalized note to each of the four teachers, stuffed the cards into their envelopes and then realized I wanted a gift for Lily's main teacher.

I found a huckleberry soy candle in a mason jar that I wrapped with ribbon and called it good. Just as I settled down, the baby woke up again. Haha, the life of a mother who has a crafty obsession. Now I'm off to make my living room NOT look like a bunch of drunken elves had a paper cutting party in it last night. I love that these cards are made from something that would just end up trash. I can always get behind using household items to make something pretty. 

T-minus two hours and forty-five minutes until school's out....I wonder how long before I hear, "I'm BORED Mom!!"

I have linked this post to...