Cool or Weird?? Either way, it's free art!

Art is subjective, we all know this...so, this piece of art will be no different.  Some of you will look at it and say, "WTH?"  And, I am hoping there will be others that will say something along the lines of, "Nice abstract...it's colorful and funky."

Today, I decided I was an artist.  This piece was hanging in my great room for years...formerly known as this, my $7.99 purchase from KMart.
It was OK, but I was over it.  We recently painted the whole great room and I used it as a chance to do some things differently.  So, since this was only $7.99 to start, I decided I would go all "creative" on this!  I first painted the inner part with two coats of white.  Then it sat in my garage for about two months...until today!

I started by just throwing on some paint willy-nilly...I am not going to lie to you, I had absolutely NO idea where I was going with this!
I didn't like the direction this was going, so I resorted to something that I saw on the HGTV show Color Splash...have you seen it, with that cutie pie David Bromstad?  Just love his design and he's such a talented artist.  Anyway, I have seen him paint and then use a spray bottle many times on the show.  I don't know exactly what's in the bottle, but I decided my liquid of choice would be good old H2O.  I figured I couldn't get into too much trouble with that. :)  So, I got started, painted and sprayed, painted and sprayed...
Until I had something...I think it resembles a woman.  Can you see it?
Now, to convince my husband that we should hang this in our great room!  Like I said...subjective. :)

A Spa Birthday Party

While this isn't a new idea, I do think that I added a little somethin'-somethin' to my daughter's 4th birthday spa party.  I started planning this in February and I think I may have been a little over-anxious for it...I am happy to say, the party met all of my high expectations and my little diva and her friends had an excellent time!

First, the invitations, you can see them here..  I got the idea a while back from another blog...cute sleep masks.  I added my own little poem and sent them out a month in advance.

For months, I have been frequenting the Dollar Tree and Target to see what kind of goodies I could add to the "Spa Shop" for the girlies to pick from.  I found the bags/purses there around Easter time, aren't they cute? I added little tags with the girls' names on them, so there would be no fighting over color.




Most of the items were super cheap, I found the lip glosses, nail polishes and silly bands for 25 cents a piece, the lotions and pedicure kits were $1 each, the loofahs were 50 cents each.  The biggest splurge were the lollipop soaps that I found on Etsy.  I think they were about $1.50 each, but they were too stinkin' cute to pass by.  I got mini emry boards and picture frame magnet kits at oriental trading.  You'll see later that the frames will serve a purpose.

We covered our garage with plastic table cloths, so you couldn't see the unsightly tools and other crap that lurks in garages.  I added duct tape to the ends by just folding it over and then my husband hung each one from the dry walled ceiling with thumb tacks.  Really rather easy and it looked so much better!

I put the food in there, along with the "Spa Shop" and the "Decorate Your Cup" station.  I bought travel cups at the Dollar Tree and each girl decorated her own cup, then filled it up with a beverage to take to the spa to enjoy while they got their manis and pedis.  :)


Oh, and my awesome friend, Natalie over at A Turtle's Life For Me bought those cute sign frames at IKEA for $1...I added the rosettes and just stuck them on with sticky tac for the party to fancy them up.  She's uber talented...go check her out.  She made the delicious chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream icing for the party...YUMMY!
Once the girls were done with their cups and had a little something to eat, it was time to enter the spa...aka my former dining room.  :)  We took a group of five, then a group of four.  They first picked their colors and then soaked their feet in a salt bath, got some lotion, then onto the painting.  Thank heavens for other mothers there to help with that...this party was only two hours long. 


After their fingers and toes were done, they went to dry them in the living room, where we showed "Never Say Never" the Justin Beiber Documentary!  SWOON! :)
Time for a little makeup...
And each girl got a headband that I bought at the dollar store, five for $1...and I added little rosettes to them.
When the girls were all fabulous, I took them back out to the garage where we had a mini photo shoot...I took my portable studio out there and had all the girls pose together.  I will be using this as a "Thank You" card.
And each girl posed with Emma, and then by herself.  I'll be sending the individuals along with the thank you picture.  They can put one of these in the frames they made (part of the Spa Shop from earlier). 
And, that about wrapped it up...she opened gifts, they ate their cupcakes and with that my little baby turned four!  What a fun party...and super fun to plan, too

Oh, one last thing.  I bought this frame at Christmas Tree Shops and repainted it, added the number "4" and had the girls sign it.  I plan to put a picture from the party in it and hang it in her room. 


Blogger "Follow" Frustration!!

Having a problem following awesome blogs??  ME TOO!  I recently found out from a friend that there is another way that you can follow blogs and here it is...

Even if you can't click on the sidebar to follow me, you can still be my friend and see all the upcoming posts!  Just click on the "Follow" button at the top left of my screen on the navigation bar!  Up by that Google search box.

You know... way up there at the top left where nobody ever looks!

Yep, just click up there and then we can be friends!

Great, right???  But, here's the kicker...I can't see the "Follow" button up there!  If anyone out there is having the same issue or knows how to remedy it, I would love to know.  There are some way cool blogs that I am dying to follow! 

But, my friend tells me that she can, in fact, see the follow button when she clicks on my blog.  So, if you are so inclined (and, I would love it if you are), please click the follow button and let's be friends!  :)

Getting Ready for the PARTY!

Emma's 4th birthday party is this SATURDAY!  I can't wait...like, seriously, can't WAIT!  I have been planning this shindig since February...February.  Yes, I have acknowledged the problem.  :)

Anyway, I will be busy this week with finishing touches and there will be all kinds of pics by early next week to share.  It's a SPA Birthday Party, complete with manis, pedis and makeup for nine little divas.  Did I mention I am just a little excited?

Here are the sleep mask invitations (these were inspired by other spa party invitations - I did come up with the poem)...



Flip Flop Dress-Up

Once I saw someone in a pair of flip flops like this, I knew I HAD to give it a try myself!  If you have seen previous blog entries of mine, you know that I LOVE the rosettes.  And, what a cute way to dress up a pair of run-of-the-mill plastic flip flops!  I have three pair on the way from Old Navy, that I got for $2.50 a pair, so when I get those and pick the right fabric, I will have some of my own to show off, but for now, I made a pair for my little fashionista.  We got these at Target today for $2...

Bring on some cuteness!  I used a shirt that I was getting rid of, in turquoise and made my rosettes.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere them to the flip flop, then I cut strips of the t-shirt and glued (fabric to fabric) underneath to reinforce them. 
While I think they are cute as a button just like this, I decided to rummage through my fashion jewelry and I found an old rhinestone bracelet that I never wear.  I took it apart and added some bling to the middle.  Aren't they just so darn cute??
She digs 'em!  :-)


 
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