Mod Monkey Attire

I wanted Ian to have a special birthday outfit, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I thought about appliqués and I saw some really sweet personalized Onesies online. I figured that would probably be the way to go. So I did some designing and made some Onesies. I had to test it out before I made the official shirt, so I made these.

I think they turned out darling! And here is the OFFICIAL BABY BIRTHDAY SHIRT:

Can I just say I am loving the whole Mod Monkey theme?! I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to keep my house decorated with it for awhile…okay maybe not. But it’s still cute!

I also decided that I wanted to fit in with the whole monkey movement, so I whipped up a little something for myself.

I know, it’s been a year and there’s still baby chub on there. Pay no attention to that!

I used a pattern I got at JoAnn’s for a buck. It’s not my favorite, but all the other apron patterns were gone. Are you kidding?! At $.99 I’m lucky I got one at all! Still, I think it turned out pretty cute and I love the fabric. Come on! Does it get more Camie than this?!

I think not!

And sibling rivalry doesn’t exist in this house. Nope. Not one bit! My oldest child was not super dooper jealous of all the attention and preparations being made for his baby brother’s party. No. He didn’t try to squeeze his way into one of the Onesies I made. Not a chance.

Okay, can you sense the sarcasm here?

So I made him a shirt of his very own.

Birthday Banner Tutorial

You know those cheap “Happy Birthday” banners? You know the ones They are made of paper and each letter is connected to one other with a brad? And they rip and tear as you take them out of the little plastic wrapping and you have to tape them before you even have the chance to hang them up?

Yeah. I’m through with those.

I saw an adorable idea here and just had to make one for myself!

Here’s how I did it:

I bought a bunch of fat quarters, twelve to be exact. (5 girly prints, 7 manly-ish ones) I really could have done it with fewer, but I wanted to have more of a variety of fabric.

Then I cut a pattern… or template. Whatever you want to call it. I just folded a piece of plain white paper in half lengthwise. Then I used a straight edge and drew a line from the upper edge to the fold.

Then I cut it and unfolded it and I had myself a pattern!

I then went to work cutting out triangles. I think I cut 28 out of the boy colors and 18 out of the girl colors.

I then went to my computer and found a font I liked. I enlarged it and printed out all the letters I would need. The font I used was Elephants in Cherry Trees which you can download for FREE here. Then I went to work. I traced them onto brown felt and cut out each letter. It really took about 2 hours, but it seemed like forever!

Then I used a roll of Heat and Bond and secured those bad boys on each triangle. The felt did really well. I only melted one piece when the iron got too hot!

Then I used my sewing machine and stitched around each letter. I just used a quick running stitch, nothing fancy. Then I matched each triangle with a back. I made it reversible, see, so it can be blue for a boy birthday and then pink for a girl birthday. (Seeing as I am currently the only female in the house, I get the pink side all to myself!) Anyway, to make it reversible, I matched the blue H with the pink Y, the blue A with the pink P, and so forth. I then, with right sides together, sewed the two side seams and left the top open.

Then I turned them all and pressed the crap out of them! I didn’t topstitch the edges or anything, although I think it might look nice as well.

Then I opened up some double fold bias tape and stitched the length, making sure to get each open end enclosed.

Tada! I love how it turned out! There is a banner for each family member, and I also have enough matching fabric leftover that when we add more babies, I can make more banners! Hopefully someday I’ll be able to share the pink side! :)

I’ve probably spent more on those lame banners in my lifetime than I spent making this one! And it’s gonna last a LONG time!!!

Thanks to See Mommy Sew for the fabulous idea! Ian’s birthday is gonna ROCK!!

Bad Day For Diets

I made such a delicious and nutritious dinner tonight!

Okay, maybe not so nutritious, but oh so delicious!

Bubble Pizza

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 jar pizza sauce
• 2 tubes refrigerator biscuits
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Brown beef and drain. Stir in pizza sauce and let it simmer. Cut the biscuits into quarters and place in a greased 13”x9” baking dish. Top with beef mixture and bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 400 F. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 5-10 minutes more until cheese is bubbly.

How do you say YUMMY?! The answer is Bubble Pizza. It really is so good and I’m sure you could add different toppings along with the beef, but we’re purists here.

I only made a half batch, since hubster is at work tonight. And as we were enjoying the deliciousness, a thought occurred to me.

What if I made the same thing only with cinnamon and sugar.

AND Cee Cee’s version of Monkey bread was born.

(Did I just sound like a Windows 7 commercial?)

Here is what I did.

Took the extra can of refrigerator biscuits and cut them into quarters, just like before. Then I rolled them in about 1/3 cup sugar and 1 TBSP cinnamon. I greased a 8”x8” pan and placed them in, much like the pizza. Then I took about 2 TBSP butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, some of my cinnamon/sugar mixture from before and a teaspoon or so of water and boiled it in the microwave. Then I poured it over the biscuits and bakes at 400 F for 18 minutes.

(How do I get the heavenly angel music to play?)

AHHHHHHH! So good. I know you want some. Come on over, hope there’s still some when you get here!

Cargo Bag

I saw a couple adorable tutorials here and here and decided I just HAD to try it. And it turned out beautifully! I loves it!

I love you easy it was to put together. I love that it took less than an hour, start to finish. I love that it’s big enough to hold magazines and basically whatever I need.

Super sweet! Thanks to Anna at Noodleheads and Steffany at Out Of Chaos for the awesome tutorials and for inspiring me! Yay for fun stuff, right?!

Mod Monkey Envelopes: How To

So I have the invites, now I need a clever way to mail them.
Have you price checked envelopes lately?
Yeah, a little ridiculous.
I thought about it and decided I could probably make my own.

I went to my friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart and bought a package of card stock for $3.95.

I pulled out the colors I wanted.
I folded them.I pressed them.I cropped them.I folded them again.
I cropped them again.I glued them.I stuffed them.I folded once more.I glued once more.I made a cute little seal to match.And Viola! I only used half of the package and looky! Awesome.
And cheap.
Which, as you know, is the best kind of awesome.

Mod Monkey Birthday Invitations

My babe is turning one! The countdown has officially begun!

I found a theme that I simply adore called Mod Monkey.
You can find it here.

Since I am trying to be thrifty and stay on a budget, I tried my hand at graphic design. I used a brand new (to me) program to make some invitations and announcments. I think they turned out darling and were much cheaper than purchasing them already made.

For this one, I just Googled "Mod Monkey" and the invitation came up. I copied the design, but I have no idea who to credit it to! Sorry!

New Beginnings 2010

Yeah, I know.  New Beginnings is supposed to happen at the beginning of the year.  But our stake had a giant reorganization so after things settled down a little, we had ours on April 6th.

The mutual theme for this year is  "Be Strong and of Good Courage" (Joshua 1:9) and I found an amazing program idea here.  She has it all planned out, lined up and ready to go.  I have to give her mad props because she helped us out so so much!  THANK YOU, MELANIE,  FOR SHARING YOUR AMAZING IDEAS!!!!

The theme was sort of Olympic centered.  We had the Olympic theme song playing and all the girls came in wearing each value color.  Our ward has very few Young Women, so we used each and every one who came and even a visitor!

I made a torch using a flashlight and can light gels, although I’m sure you could use anything.  On the blog, she suggests using tissue paper.  Then I took a piece of brownish 12x12 paper and rolled it to make a casing.  I dropped the flashlight into it and there we had a torch!  I didn’t get a really good picture of it, but here I am holding it… I think it turned out well.  I also think I am a giant dork.

For the metals, I wanted them to look nice but my resources here were very limited.  So I did what I could and it was a lot of work, but I am very happy with how they came out!

I went to the hardware store and bought some big washers.  Then I measured them and added a little extra around the edges so I could wrap the paper over the washer.  So I cut all the paper.

Then I wrinkled all the circles up so the paper was a little more manageable and pliable.

Then I centered the washer on the paper circle

And hot glued the paper down all the way around the washer.

Then I printed “Be strong and of a good courage” onto the same paper and cut out those circles.  I Mod Podged those babies on there and it gave them a little sheen.

 

Then I took my dollar store metals, took the ribbon off (they came with red, white, and blue ribbon) and glued them onto the back of the washers.  It gave them a little more weight and also a place for me to thread all the ribbons through.

  Then I took a ribbon from each value and threaded it through the hole, along with the original ribbon that came with the metals.  It worked out well that I didn’t have to buy red, white or blue ribbon because it was already on there!

They were a lot of work and I’m sure there is an easier way!  But I think they worked and looked quite nice.

I also made fruit pizza and it was so so so yummy!  I didn’t get a picture before it was devoured, but take my word for it!  It was beautiful!

Fruit Pizza Recipe

Crust: (I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe, found here.)

Blend together until smooth:
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Cup melted Butter
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 eggs
1 Cup Sour Cream
Combined in separate bowl:
5 Cups Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until combined.  Make a ball out of the dough and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in the fridge 2-3 hours or until firm. I made mine the night before.  Roll it out to fit pan size, not too thick.  I was able to make 2 pizzas, one on a cookie sheet and one on a pizza pan.  Bake @ 375 for 15-20 min.  You want them just slightly golden brown to make sure the middle is done.  Let cool.

topping:

1 package cream cheese

1 12 oz package Cool Whip

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Blend until smooth.  Spread over pizzas when cool.  Then arrange fruit on top.  I used strawberries, mandarin oranges, bananas, pineapple, blueberries and apples.  Mmmm.

All in all, it was a successful evening!  Thanks again to Melanie over at her blog!  You are a lifesaver!