DIY Who-ville Christmas Tree

A year ago I found inspiration from a craft project a friend had done. It was a cute little christmas tree that could have been plucked right out of Who-ville from a Dr. Suess book. This year I decided to recreate this absolutely adorable project. I looked to my usual inspiration spot, Pinterest, but did not find much in the way of DIY instructions. So as we set out to make our who-ville tree last night, in a sort of trial and error way, I decided I would document my approach. 

And so here it is, my attempt at the Who-ville Christmas Tree, Grinch Tree, Dr. Seuss Tree or whatever you want to call it! 

Materials Needed

Cedar Branches (available at any local green house)
Styrofoam cones
floral wire
** a base of some sort for the trees (which I will go into detail about later)
glue gun and glue
scissors
one christmas ball ornament
and any sort of crazy fun decorations you wish to decorate with 
Including but not limited to :
- pipe cleaners
- pom poms
- bows
- bells
- garland
- feathers
the sky is the limit so pick your wackiest decorations and have fun with it.

** for a base we used small christmas boxes, wrapped in yarn. You could also use jars, cans or planter pots. Again use some creativity and create a cute base for your tree. 

Step 1
Making Your Tree
Gather your materials for the tree; cedar branches, styrofoam cone & floral wire.

Trim your branches so that you are using the part with the thickest amount of leaves. At the bottom of the branch the leaves are more sparse and the branch is thicker and harder to work with so trim that part off. Cut one piece of floral wire that will fit around the base of your cone. Next wrap your branches around the cone. and secure with the floral wire. (This part is definitely a two person job)

As you can see the leaves are quite sparse at the bottom of the cone so you may want to cut a few leaves from another branch and place them on the naked spots of the cone and wrap another piece of floral wire around to secure them.  Depending on how big the base is that you are using to put your tree into, you may or may not need to add extra leaves. If the base it tall enough you won't see the bottom of your tree thus eliminating the need to add extra leaves. 

Next you will want to start wrapping your floral wire around and around the tree. Starting at the bottom of the cone and securing one end of the wire, work your way up the tree, around and around, until you get to the tip. You want the wire to flatten all of the leaves making it look like a bundled christmas tree that you would buy from the grocery store. Make sure that you have several wire wraps where you want to create the bend in your tree as the wire is what will help you to shape the tree. 

Step 2

Making Your Base

Making your base. We opted to use square christmas boxes that we covered in yarn and garnished with a bow. But like I mentioned above you can most definitely get creative and use any sort of a base. Planters pots, vases, jars, cans, you name it!
Here is a link to a blogger that created truffula trees (from The Lorax) and I absolutely LOVED the base they used. I think it would make the perfect base for our who-ville trees and fits so well with the Dr. Suess theme.

Next you need to insert your tree in your base and secure it so the tree does not tip over. DISCLAIMER, the trees are very top heavy so make sure you have something to weigh your base down with or you will have a toppling tree. We opted to use rocks but I'm sure anything would work as long as it is heavy enough. 

Step 3
Decorating your Tree
This is the most exciting part. My kids loved picking out their feathers and pom poms and gluing them on! We used a hot glue gun to attach all of our trinkets (so I guess adult supervision required). Once you are finished don't forget to add your one dangling christmas ball ornament from the tip of the tree to give it that authentic Dr. Seuss feel!

We love how our trees turned out, they were so much fun to make and they are a wonderful Christmas decoration in our house. We have no idea how long they will last but I will update you once they have "served their purpose". We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas while we made our lovely little trees and it was a perfect holiday tradition born into our family this year!

Here's to hoping I've inspired you to attempt and little tree of your own, and if you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment below!

Another Picnic Table Redo

Hey, remember back in August of 2012 I got the idea from Pinterest to refurb a children's picnic table?  Well it has been a staple piece of furniture in our home. We seriously use that thing everyday, all day!

As you can see it gets a lot of love. So we decided to make one for my nephew for Christmas! I have had so many ideas about how I would do another one, so I finally got to put those ideas to use! I decided I wanted to make him one that was a children's version of a real picnic table. I used white and red checkered fabric for the table top to resemble a table cloth. I then used a brown "wood grain" fabric for the seats to resemble the wood of a picnic table. The rest we did black as thats the paint we had on hand. I think it turned out great!

Now that I did the project a second time I decided to take note of the fabric measurements I used to help with the original tutorial. So for the table top purchased 1 meter of fabric and had a little left over. I also used 1 meter of fabric for the seats of the table, again with some left over. If you were using the same fabric for both I think you could get away with closer to 1.5 meters of total fabric but that also depends on the size of your table.  For the plastic vinyl covering I used 1.2 meters which also came in a taller measurement meaning I didn't need as much length. Depending how it comes at your fabric store you may need anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 or even 2 meters to cover your table and bench seats. Idea: measure your table before you head to the fabric sore ;)

For the painting part, if you want a good quality paint job try vinyl automotive paint, sold at NAPA auto parts. It sticks much better to the plastic and doesn't chip off like a spray paint would. We have been generously using our table for over a year now and have not had any paint chip off. You might want to also consider using felt bottoms for the underside of the table depending on the type of surface your table will sit on. We push our table around a lot on our laminate flooring and haven't had any issues but always better to be safe than sorry! 

For this project I found our table on Kijiji for $15 (although Im sure you could find a used table cheaper as my first time doing this I found the table for $10). My fabric cost me $26 and then of course the vinyl paint and staples for the staple gun. All in all its a super cheap project and ends up being very useful with toddlers! 

I hope my nephew loves his table as much as my son loves his!

Halloween Projects

I haven't had time to work on many crafts lately but I did make time over the weekend to create a super cute halloween wreath. I went a bit overboard on the halloween decor last year but the one thing I didn't get was a halloween wreath. So this year I wanted to make one. Much like my Easter wreath I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. I stumbled upon many cute ideas but ultimately chose a yarn, spider wreath to create. I usually just look for an idea and then copy it, and make it up as I go. This particular wreath that I decided to recreate is actually one from an Etsy shop, so to make sure I'm not stealing any ideas and for those who are not into crafting, here is the link to whimsysworkshop, the original creator of this wreath. If you think you might want one and don't want to brave the glue gun and yarn yourself, head on over to their shop on Etsy!

Anyway like I mentioned earlier I didn't follow any blog tutorial for this, I just saw a picture and went for it! First step was supplies. I was in a bit of a rush so I went to Michaels (and for once I remembered a coupon! Go me) but hindsight it would have been much cheaper to hit up Walmart and Dollorama. Sigh, next time.

I obtained the following supplies for my wreath:

A foam wreath (is it foam? It's the stuff that floral people use, it was white)

Varying sizes of styrofoam balls (Depending on the size of wreath you are making you will either need more or less balls)

Black tape (OR black spray paint)

Varying colors and textures of yarn

I already had:

googley eyes

pipe cleaners

glue gun and glue

ribbon for hanging the wreath

You could probably get the balls, googley eyes and pipe cleaner at dollorama and everything else at walmart but again I always think of these things AFTER the fact. 

Next step, prep the wreath. So I decided to tape all the way around the wreath so that it was solid black, you could probably spray paint it instead but that was just my idea. You'll have to let me know how other attempts go! 

Following that you will need to create your spider web. Using yarn I created a star pattern with six pieces of yarn inside the wreath. Start by cutting 6 equal length pieces of yarn. Tie them all together with one single knot. Use that knot as your centre point of your web and tape (or glue) each leg of the web to the back of the wreath. Next cut a substantially long piece of yarn and tie the end of it to the centre of your web. from there continue to attach it to each leg of the web by tying a knot, gradually working your way around the circle. Continue to do this until you reach the outside of the web, AKA the wreath. Tie it and cut off any excess yarn. voila web is done. 

From there its time to yarn your balls (Ha!). I had a friend ask if they came premade. Sadly, no. I yarned each one of those dang things, spiders included. So alternating colours start wrapping those balls with yarn. Start by gluing the end of your yarn to the ball and wrap away until you can see any part of the ball, just yarn! Use a dab of hot glue to finish it off. Once you've covered all your balls you can make a few spiders as well. I used furry black yarn for the spiders, I covered the balls in the yarn and then glued on two googley eyes. To finish off the spiders I cut 6 pipe cleaner legs (your choice of length), stabbed them into the styrofoam balls and bent them into little zig zags.

Before you start adding the balls, cut a piece of ribbon to wrap around the top of the wreath (the top is wherever you choose to make it). Glue the ribbon together so it makes a nice little hook for the wreath to hang from. You can even add a bow for decoration if you want!

Lastly it's glue time! Mix and match the balls and spiders and glue them all around your wreath! As you glue, hold them in place until the glue sets so that your yarn balls don't slide all over the place! 

And thats it! There is your halloween wreath! I have a nice silver wreath hanger that sits over top of the door so that I don't have to wreck my door with a drilled or glued hook. I found that little bad boy at the Dollar store!

Halloween Mason Jar Lanterns

More Halloween crafts! As promised here are the instructions for the halloween mason jar lanterns. This is not my own original idea, so as usual I will post a link to the original source and you can either follow my guidelines or use theirs.

Painted Mason Jars

Supplies:

Mason Jars
Spray Paint
Black Sharpies
Ribbon
Glue Gun
Tea lights

Directions:

Step one Spray paint your mason jars and allow time to dry.
Step Two Draw your designs on each mason jar with your sharpie and fill in. I found the sharpie wasn't black enough so I ended up painting a coat of black acrylic paint over top.** 
Step Three Glue Ribbon around top of mason jar to jazz them up
Step Four Insert tea light and enjoy!

Super easy halloween craft, and super cute!

Completed Mason Jar Lanterns

*When I was finished painting over the sharpie I thought I would like to do a coat of clear finish but DO NOT do this. It will make your sharpie run and ruin your mason jar! Yes, I figured this out by trial and error :(

Halloween Crafts

Now that the weather has cooled off and we are home from Vancouver I have started working on Halloween Crafts. I just love crafting and why not make some of my own halloween decorations! My First Craft was the eyeball frame.

Supplies needed:

Cheap Frame ( I bought mine at Dollarama)
Green Paint (acrylic paint from Michaels)
Various sizes of googley eyes (Michaels)

How to Make:

Step 1  paint the outside of the frame green and allow time to dry
Step 2 Glue gun various sizes of eyes all over the frame
Step 3 print a picture or caption for inside your frame

My Inspiration 

My Halloween Frame

My inspiration came from this blog, which I of course found on pinterest. You can check out the blog for alternative instructions as well. I opted to do mine slightly differently, but I think both styles are cute!

My next craft project was potion bottles. I searched high and low for bottles that looked like potion bottles but didnt have much luck. Fortunately I remembered pinning something a long while back, about a site to order mason jars from. I decided to take a look at the site and sure enough there were all kinds of bottles you could order. I ended up getting 3 different shaped bottles and 3 viles. The total cost was $30.00 and beleive it or not 2/3 of the cost was shipping. Meaning the bottles were darn cheap! Anyway then I printed off free potion labels, again from pinterest found sites and used modge podge to adhesive them to the bottles. My last step is to fill the bottles with "potion" AKA colored water. Cute little halloween decor for super cheap! 

You can find the site to order bottles here: Potion Bottles

oh and I forgot to mention my order arrived super quick

You can find Potion labels here:

Drink labels

Harry Potter labels

My potion bottles

Harry Potter Potion labels
please visit the link above for
a free printable template

The minimal supplies you will need

The bottle with label
modge podge is dry

The completed potion bottles

Mud Hero

Mud Hero Obstacle Course Run

6 km course

15 natural and man made obstacles

Clean and beautiful before the race

Some muddy best buddies

Our Mud Hero team

Dedication

We had a very busy weekend last weekend! On Saturday Alexander had his Child Dedication at church. The philosophy at our church is that when a person is old enough, they will make the decision about what role religion will play in their life. As children, the church performs something called a dedication which is basically the parents committing to raising their child in a Christian home. When the child is old enough to make his own decision to be baptized (or not), he or she will do so. Anyhow we had a little celebration with our families ahead of time and then attended the Saturday night service where we had our Child Dedication ceremony. It was a very special day indeed. We have asked Aunty Chantelle to be Alexander's Godmother, and she has accepted. It was a great Saturday and a very special day that will be remembered for a long time.

Our family photo 

The next day (Sunday) was my very first Mother's Day and it was just perfect. The weather was beautiful! I played a round of 9 holes with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and then had a BBQ dinner at my moms. Nothing too elaborate just a nice day with the mothers in my life! 

Finish Line

Today I started, and finished, my first race. It was a 10km run which I completed in 1 hour and 1 minute.  I was definitely not first but certainly not last and I am pleased with the time and effort I put in. I think the most important accomplishment of the race is that I started something and finished it. I have only been running since September so for me this is a huge achievement. I was the student in Junior and Senior High that couldn't run a 100 meter dash to save my life. I HATED running. Even as a light jog to warm up. HATED. But strangely enough I got into it because of Alexander and have stuck with it thanks to my friends. We run three times a week and keep each other motivated. Today was all three of our first run and I am so proud that we even took the step to enter, show up (and on time despite daylight savings) pin our bibs to our jackets and manage to stay on our feet the entire run (there was a lot of ice). Time and distance don't matter as much as the physical discipline we have taken on to train ourselves and stick to a plan! Of course it sounds easy coming from my mouth as I am happy with the outcome of my run but in all honesty it doesn't matter if we would have all three walked across the finish line dead last, as long as we finish what we start it is a huge feat! Of course winning things is always nice too but that is not the purpose of what we do in life. We must see the bigger picture and enjoy the journeys we take as much as the destinations we arrive at! I hope that I can teach my son that as he grows up and partakes in his own interests and hobbies. Cross your fingers that I won't fail at a super important step in parenting! Anyway here are some photo's of our race. It is off to bed for this gal, I am achy and pooped and have a babbling baby who refuses to go to sleep because his internal clock is telling him "you still have an hour before bedtime". Thanks a lot daylight savings "spring forward". 

Ready to Run

Some homemade 4-leaf clover gloves! For the St Patricks Run

Post Run with my cheerleaders

It's been a while since I have posted much about Alexander and what he has been up to lately! He is getting very independent, playing with his toys by himself and keeping himself occupied while mommy does things like wash dishes, cook dinner, all the fun stuff. It's nice to have my hands free a bit more, but it comes at the expense of his dependance and cuddles. He doesn't like anyone to have too much control over him so most of the time the affection we get from him is a slap in the face or a push to the chest. We take what we can get. But in all seriousness I have really started to notice how much I am forgetting the hard days and nights of a newborn and am focusing more on missing the snuggles and cuddles. I have been doing a lot of thinking and I think it is safe to say we would like another! Not tomorrow or even next month but I think in the a few more months (just before Alexander has his first birthday) we will start trying for another. It is a huge decision and trying to figure out how to space your kids is a toughy! On top of that I had to consider what time of year (and climate) I would be in my third trimester, and have a newborn. It's a lot to consider but I think we have made the right decision in terms of our hopeful plans. 


Alexander is keeping busy with discovering the world of course. Still no crawling and still no teeth but I am ok with that. I guess he just doesn't have the motivation to move his little self around yet! No rush big man, because once you start you don't get to stop! He is onto a wide variety of foods, often eating the same thing as mom and dad for dinner, just a little more...pureed. He has his food for breakfast lunch and dinner, and we are now full time permanently switched to a bottle. Don't even get me started on that transition, it was harder for me than it was for him! He has a pretty solid nap routine during the day and he sleeps like an angel at night (usually). I have registered us for swimming lessons and a baby song and rhyme class, both starting in April. He is tipping the scales at just about 19 pounds these days (18 lbs 14 oz) and has discovered the words dada and mama. He also loves to shake his head no. We are having quite a few playdates as of late, and he is adjusting pretty well to the socializing aspect. We had a few tears when other babes made noises but we are pushing past the shyness. 


As for me, always keeping busy! I registered for another photography class for 4 weeks in April, a class in July teaching me how to use my Lightroom photo editing program and a 2-day golf class in May (gotta keep up to the McLarens) Still running lots as I am training for races and I am starting to lift weights a bit more (bikini season is coming people). We are anticipating the arrival of our new trailer late this month or early next month and have already booked a campsite for may long weekend. Now to start preparing to stock the trailer. Im also working on The Hunger Games, which is awesome!! I have a hard time putting it down but unfortunately I don't get a lot of spare time to read. I try to get in at least one chapter a night and I am on a bit of a time crunch as the movie comes out right away and I have already committed to seeing it on opening weekend with the girls. Yikes!


Grandpa (Sr.) is home for 5 days from Phoenix so we had a great visit with him tonight! Alexander sure loves his Grandpa. It is so cute to see them together. Despite his cranky disposition this evening, he was certainly all smiles for Grandpa. Amanda is off to Phoenix next week and I wish so badly Al and I could be going with her! We are hoping to take a trip down there next fall with our boys to visit Grandma and Grandpa.


Other things we have been busy with include a long list of DIY projects and new recipes. This week alone I managed to master gourmet mac and cheese, smoky chicken fettucini, muddy buddies, double chocolate banana bread and hassleback potatoes. Some of the DIY projects I've been working on include home made clothing labels, "under a rock" key hiding container and rubberized hangers (to avoid clothes slipping off). I also managed to get all of my fabric for my rice heating pad owls today and will hopefully start on them next week! I just love sewing, crafts and DIY projects. I am really hoping to start working on our master bedroom. Designing, decorating and making it feel super comfy-cozy. Anyway that will have to be it for today, I am off to read some Hunger Games and hit the hay!

Resolution and Goals Update

Back in December I blogged about some of my resolutions and goals for 2012. I figure the only way to stay on track is to revisit those goals and check on our progress. 

2012 Goals:

125 pounds

Run a 5km race

Run a 10 km race (Entered in one on March 11th) 

Run a half marathon

Run leg 1 of the Sinister 7

Do 3 consecutive chin ups

Meet my Baker family in Toronto

Donate Blood (along with a list of other good deeds)

Take more photography courses and start a small photography business (Finished my first course)

Update my AFLCA certification 

Take another AFLCA course

Start a mom group/ play date group

Take a trip to Vegas (without baby)

Start an RESP for Alexander

Save minimum $5000

Go for a psychic reading

Attend Church

Get Rid of my GDL
Learn more about investments

2012 Resolutions:

Floss my teeth everyday 

Brush Bensons teeth everyday

Cuss less

Walk Chevy more than once a week (really working on this one)

The purple is my progress and the cross-outs are my accomplishments. With only 2 months of 2012 under my belt I'd say we are progressing nicely!

The list of "good deeds" mentioned above with donate blood should probably be started as well:

Donate Blood

Pay for someone behind me at a drive thru

Deliver Coffee and Donuts to a working crew

Take baking to a fire department

Donate Formula to Mothers in need

Play with dogs at humane society and donate food

...

If you don't follow me on pinterest, you really should! One of the great things about putting your babe down for a nap is an hour of alone time! And what do I do with my alone time other than cook, clean, plan, write lists, fold laundry... I craft! I love all of the things I find on interest and with my newest addition, the sewing mating, I'm hoping to work on a few new projects. Around Christmas time I posted about some of the DIY projects I had completed, inspired by pinterest. My midline photo wall, glitter shoes, christmas decorations, tons of baking recipes and the list goes on. Well in last few months I have worked on a few more and am inspired to start a few new projects in the coming months!

Post-Christmas a few things I have accomplished include:

tried out the no-bake energy bites, and I must say be careful they are truly addicting

baked some no-bake cookies (seems like an oxymoron)

whipped up a batch of slow-cooker baked potato soup!

decorated my own Toms

made my own scrapbook paper iPhone case

Made candy apples

New Pinterest-Inspired Projects:

Sew some hooded towels (with my own labels)

Sew an apron

Bleach Pen Art Onesie

Try a muffin tin recipe

Try the vanilla microwave cleaner recipe

Make a shelf frame for my bathroom

(post bathtub photo's in the bathroom)

Create a laundry station

I'd like to make something like this but
with a shelf instead of a blackboard
Where do I find a shelf?

I'd like to set up a laundry station just like this, outside our
laundry room for the when the kids (well Kid right now) are
older they can take their baskets with their clean clothes
and put them away. Simply Brilliant!

I am Sam, Sam I am

As mentioned in a previous post  I took part in a Tom's Style Your Sole Party. Although we had a bit of a rough start to the party (shoes didn't arrive in time so we had to postpone) we made things work the best we could! A couple of us had to break off from the party and do it on a separate night but it all worked out great! And here is a look at our finished creations!

My Dr. Seuss Toms

Elyse's Harry Potter, Mauraders Map Tom's

Gryffindor Tom's

Chantelle's Feather Tom's

We had lots of fun decorating but it was a lot of pressure putting the permanent ink to your crisp white new shoes! I think they turned out great and I can't wait to wear mine out and about!

I am also excited to see how everyone else's shoes turned out, since we weren't able to attend the party I will be watching for the Party Host's blog update! 

Anyway that will be all for tonight! We have a cupcake party coming up this weekend so I will share more soon!

Pre-Ink Toms