Old shirt, new shirt

When you just really need a summer top (because it is that hot), but you simply don't want to spend the money, plus there's plenty of T-shirts not in use in the drawers... what's a mother to do? Cut them out into cute, fresh new tops. This is another idea that I saw in a Facebook post, and it works. Just cut the sleeves, a strip in the bottom, and the neckline. Sew the neckline to pass the "string" (that was the cut strip from the bottom), and tie it in the shoulder. I was able to make a few of them in one afternoon.

Fun food

I love Facebook because I can have people sharing the same interests, no matter where they are. My friend Suemy Toyoshima lives in Brazil, is a super talented paintor, teaches art, and went to vet school with me. She often shows cute craft ideas found on the Internet, and this was one of them. It had double purpose, serving as afternoon craft with the kids, and dinner later on. You simply stick the pasta pieces through the cut up hot dog, and cook according to pasta instructions. We used turkey hot dogs and whole wheat pasta.The strange look made mealtime more fun, and they ate them all

My friend Afua celebrated her birthday yesterday, and since she has been so good for the past 6 months on her Weight Watchers lifestyle, I decided not to sabotage her diet. Looking at fruit arrangements, I saw one that suited very well for the occasion. I was able to make at work in about 15 minutes, using a knife, a melon baller and a heart shaped cookie cutter. It is an easy, healthy cake that won't make you feel guilty.

The ugly, old litter box.

As I decorate my basement for my new craft room, everything looks colorful and pretty, except for the cat litter box. I thought about buying a new one, but if my whole purpose in life is reuse, recycle and save money... why not try to blend it into the rest of the room? So with enamel spray, I covered old paint, paper and drops of wall paint covering that old top. After dry, I used whatever paint I had in my bag, some acrylic paint, some fabric paint and craft paint. Once I chose the theme, more according to the colors I had available, I researched some images on the Internet. And I am no painter, don't know how to maneuver the paintbrush correctly, but did the best I could, mixing color and trying to paint those fishies. They do not look like any of the original pictures, but at least made that litter box a tiny more attractive, at least for me. Can't tell you about my cat.

New Baby!!! (Don't worry, not mine)

My sister-in-law will have a baby and it is a girl!! So happy for her, after years trying, she is finally pregnant! So sad I won't be around, because they live in Brazil, but we are all excited. She planned her baby shower (you do your own baby shower there), and she was looking at different thank you gifts. So me and my husband decided to give her a hand. I drew in paper different babies, then after she chose one, I scanned and colored in Illustrator. Then my husband found this company that sells lip balms for advertisement, wedding favors or anything you want to print. Then we sent the image and they printed in the plastic cover.

Since in Brazil, when you have a baby, every single person you know will visit the baby, we ordered 200 lip balms. And she liked the image so much, that it was used for the baby shower invitations, and also printed them to wrap chocolate, as a baby shower favor. And finally they found a bakery the printed the baby for her, and placed in the cake. A new baby makes everyone happy.

Board Game Recycling Style

I needed to send a board game to school, but we don't own any. Since I am too lazy and cheap to go to Target and buy one, I decided to make it, using what I had at home. The first thing was choosing the theme, and I remembered those penguins I made for the boys birthday party.They would serve well as pieces to move on the game. The board needed to be a big piece and easy to carry. So what I did was use a big old birthday bag, cut the sides to open it flat to make the board, and still had handles to carry. So I painted the background, which would be water and ice for the penguins, using whatever paint I had in my supplies. Then I cut squares using different colors of construction paper to make a path. Then I started adding items to make it fun, cutting a shark with paper, a whale, a hot air balloon and an angry bird. To make it more tri dimensional, I put a couple of origami boats, creatures called puffles made before too, with a flag in the middle (those I glued on the bottom of the bag, so it is more secure to transport), and a bridge with popsicle sticks. The dices were prizes they got from a carnival, and to make it more visually appealing, I painted more things related to the theme. The kids were very excited to play. One more mission accomplished.

End of the year in June

I still get surprised by school calendar and never get prepared ahead. See, in my mind, June is close to winter, school ends in December, and then you have 3 months of Summer vacation. Since my choice was to live in a different country, I had to accept loosing control sometimes, or a lot. So when I saw a note from yesterday, that tomorrow will be last day of school for Anderson, I forced my mind to come up with a plan for gifts for the teacher, assistant teacher, school administrator, and school staff. Thinking that it is a lot of people, eating goods seemed to be the best choice. Having about 10 hours free, I really wouldn't have time to make cupcakes or cookies, so I thought there were nothing shameful by buying those items. But to make it a tiny more special, with a hint of homemade, I wrapped a box with pretty paper and made cards drawing with crayons. And a nice bright ribbon made it even better. Adding everyone's favorite junk foods: chips, chocolate, donuts, and pop corn. Does not sound very healthy, but one way or the other, it is always good to say thank you to people that you appreciate. In my case, the staff at Carrousel take care of my kids very well, and that is a peace of mind for me and my husband. But the next surprise I had was a note from the teacher,and the kids would have a silly party the next day. I took off to Michaels and wondered around the aisles looking for some ideas. Home with a couple of supplies, I got busy. I used a cool spray paint and sprayed Anderson's old t-shirt (it dries faster than tie- dye or brush paint), and glued appliques with silly faces. Then I saw some supplies that gave me some ideas to send his little friends a little gift. So with big pompoms, I tied elastic band around to make a bracelet, used a glue gun to stick big googly eyes. And last I tied one little jingle bell to the bracelets. I think the kids will have fun. Wish I could be there.