Guest Posting Today Over At I Heart Naptime

Hey all! 

So can you believe it's November already!?!? Holy Molie!!

Well, computers 'round these parts are getting fixed (hear that hubby?), but in the meantime.....head right on over to I Heart Naptime and check out Jamielyn's awesome blog,......where I'm guest posting today (recognize this cutie, from awhile back?)!!

She has a great Crazy Christmas Crafters Series with SO many talented crafters featured......you can get started on your Christmas list today, Yipee!

Well, what are you still doing here......GO CHECK IT OUT!!

Have fun!

Kindergarten T-Shirts That Are Cuter Than Apples Pie

 So.....our Super Saturday was awesome, as it always is every year!! Very crazy & busy....but AWESOME!! The ladies who arranged it all did wonderfully, and all the teachers did great! 

I taught my Halloween & Christmas countdown blocks and everyone who made them did a smashing job (trying to be a little British here :) Thanks all!!

Anyhoo, I promised to show you all the cute Kindergarten field trip t-shirts I made for my daughter's school.....so here they are!!

(and thanks a million bazillion to all the moms who came equipped with irons so we were able to get these done in 1 morning!)

Anyone wanna take a stab at guessing where they went for their first trip? Anyone......?

I've made these (in one form or another) for my older daughter's kinder class and then again 1st grade and they are so fun for the kiddos!! We will add a picture for each place they visit through the year & they get to have a fun keepsake.

Well, this year it was for allllllllll 4 kinder classes, so I looked for a slightly easier method to use than paint and stencil. So I decided it was time to try my hand at some iron-on vinyl. And, even though it was a bit more costly.......it saved so much time! 

Make sure to heat up your iron to 300 degrees or cotton setting....this may be different depending on what brand you use, so be sure to check! Also, pre-wash them in cold and hang to dry.....or if you want to pre-shrink, now is the time to do it (no dryer afterwards)

I started out by cutting the words and images mirror image on my vinyl cutter......all 80 of each baby!

The vinyl looks a little lighter on the outside, so don't worry.

Peel away the negative space and the image/words stay on the clear carrier sheet (which is tacky as well).

Then turn that puppy over and place it where you want it on the shirt. The clear sheet will be on top.

Grab your handy-dandy parchment paper and put a sheet over your image and iron it on while using medium pressure (ie. press down as you iron ;) for about 20-30 seconds. 

Then, while it's still hot (again, check to see if yours need to peel while it's hot or cold), peel away the clear sheet  and then lay down the parchment again and iron for another 15-20 seconds-ish (just to make double sure it's stuck). 

That's all!! Now you have your super-duper cute t-shirt aaannnnnddddd it was easy peasy!

The shirts they got turned out to be pretty big.....so I had her throw on a cute pair 'o leggings and she was adorable and SO ready to go on her 1st field trip ;)

I got my vinyl from Signwarehouse.com (as always) and made sure to get the iron-on stuff (EnduraTex Iron-On)....the other kinds, I was told, need to be used with a t-shirt press. 

It says you can dry these on low, but.....to be safe I would wash, inside out, in cold water and hang up to dry. The heat may shrink the shirt around the decal and make it pucker. Especially if they are 100% cotton, like these cuties.

Stay tuned for a new segment I want to try out.....

Have fun!!

Yummy Fall-ish Brownie Pops

So, I survived our CRAZY, busy weekend (with a whole bunch of fun complications.....like our EZ-up was blown over while I were setting up at the Fall Festival and broke.....in 2 places!!)

 Now that we've recuperated a little, I really want to post these super-cute, yummy brownie pops I made last week!!!

Check these lovelys out!!! Don'cha wish the internet was interactive??

Anyhoo, I found this awesome square pan at Wally World awhile back and HAD to get it!! I knew it would be fantastic to use for fun treats.

Well, I whipped up a batch of yummy chocolate fudge brownies, and baked 'em up in this pan. Make sure to grease it and maybe a light dusting of flour too.......it makes it much easier to get these puppies out!

Once they are baked, cooled, and out of the pan......melt down some creamy choc. chips or candy melts. I like to use a double-boiler, since I can keep the chocolate melted the whole time.....but the microwave will work great too. You will just need to re-melt a few times. 

Now, pop some wooden popsicle sticks in the brownie squares (I like to dip the ends of the sticks in chocolate first to help weld them to the inside of the brownie) and dip your brownies into the melty chocolate of your choosing (I like milk choc with brownies, yum!)

While it's still wet, sprinkle on the adorable sprinkles you (or your kiddos) picked out and place on a piece of parchment paper to dry. You can also speed up the process by throwing them in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

As you can see, my kids hated them.......

These are also great to wrap up and give as little treats to your VT sisters.....or neighbor gifts!!

Have fun!

It's My Own Fault, Really

Ok, so if you're here to see a super-cute craft.......Sadly, you'll have to come back later.
This is an: I'm-so-busy-but-don't-wanna-neglect-my-blog post.

 As well as an: I'm-gonna-complain-a-little-about-how-busy-I-am-but-I-really-brought-it-on-myself post. I love helping out, and sometimes don't realize how many things I've volunteered for...... until it's too late! (like right now)

Anyhoo, I thought I would have a few more weeks before things started to get crazy for the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas season. But, I was gravely mistaken. I'm sitting here thinking of all I have to do in the next few weeks......so I thought I'd share. Whether you like it or not.

October 7th: The super-cool Fall Festival fundraiser that our school does every year.....It's a blast, but since I now have 2 kiddos in school......and want to help in both classes.......I signed up to help set up the booths for both AND run them for an interval of time during the festivities.

 Hubby has no sympathy and just smiled and said: "good luck with that!"
But they will both be super-cool!!

October 8th: Huge garage sale that my community does twice a year and draws TONS of crowds!! We have about 6 years worth of crap stuff that still needs to be sorted and priced......and then set up bright & early @7 the morning after the BIG event mentioned above......Goody!

October 11th: My sweet kindergartner's very 1st field trip to the apple orchard near us. I happily volunteered to head up the t-shirt making for over 80 cute kiddos so they can all match and it'll easy to spot them all. I did it for my oldest here.....but only did 1 class of 20-ish. And last year I made shirts for two 1st grade classes of around 40, so I'm a little worried this time......but it looks like the awesome room moms have rallied plenty 'o volunteers so hopefully we can get it done fast!

I need to cut all the vinyl for the apples, the names on the front, annnnnnd the class names for the backs......For 80 kids!!!!!

Luckily, it's all iron-on stuff this year.....(don't worry, I'll post it afterwards.....it gonna be cool)

October 15th: Super Saturday!!! Yay!! I am heading up the Halloween & Christmas countdown blocks, and need to get all the supplies ready for that......but, on the upside, I also get to chat and have fun without the kids saying "mommy, mommy, mommy" every 3 minutes.

Soooooooo, as you can see.......I'm freaking out a bit right now, but will be able to post soon!! I made some really yummy treats and just need to get hubby to fix the office computer, so I can post them.

We currently have 3 computers!! The PC in our office is on it's last legs, so we got a new one.....but are still transferring all the files/pics/programs/etc.

So, until then, I'm working on all 3......

Awesome.

Plus, #3 is waddling around like she has a load in her shorts.....so I better go take care of that. She's so small that we don't want her to fall over from the extra weight.....hee hee ;)

Until next time....Have fun!!

How To Share In Kindergarten

Well, I'm so proud of my sweet kindergartner, Aislyn......and how well she shares. So I thought I'd brag a little to you all.

So, this is what her typical snack might look like.....

....or.....like this if daddy is in charge that morning (he tries to buy their loves with treats).

Anyways, I digress......

So, Aislyn came to me one day after school last week and told me "Guess what mom!? My friend shared her Cheez-it's with me today!..........She gave me the whole bag, even!"

For some reason, Cheez-it's are a prized delicacy in my house.

So, of course I replied "Wow, that was so nice of her to share her yummy snack with you!"

Not to be outdone by her friend, she went on with :

"Then, I let her take a turn with my toothbrush......"

Ummmmmmm, what???

It took me a minute to process this info while my sweet 5 year-old was patiently waited for the loads of praise surely coming her way....

...with a great big expectant smile on her face.....

So, I pulled her close to me and hugged her and gently explained "honey, that was SO nice of you to share with your friend.....but, remember we aren't supposed to share things like toothbrushes with other people....."

Apparently, she didn't like the way this conversation was headed, so she backpedaled a bit and said very seriously, "Actually mom, I was just kidding.....I didn't really share my toothbrush."

Awesome.
Add fibbing to her list of skills too.......

Don't you just LOVE kindergarten?

Have fun!!