Valentine's Day Party with a Purpose: Sharing the Love

I happen to love Valentines Day.  I LOVE love and love the reminder to set time aside to show those we love the most. Of course, it's easy to show our children how much we love them, but are we teaching them how to love others?  There are two things that 3-5 year olds totally understand: 1) Superheros and 2) wanting to feel loved. I'm a sucker for the children in children's hospitals and their parents, and it was easy to explain that there are children in hospitals that have real battles that they bravely fight every day, which makes them REAL Superheroes... and we want them to know they're not alone & they are loved.  We're so thankful to Henri's Bakery for hosting us and their ah-maz-ing treats.  Keep scrolling to find out what they were and see all the love-ly details.

Don't tell anyone... I pulled this off in 4 days... largely in part due to Paperless Post, which is my go-to for beautifully designed, customizable online invitations.  Pretty sure this step (which is pretty crucial - there's no party without guests) took a total of 10 minutes.

To be sure everyone was in the spirit, we started out with fun place settings for each child and of course just a little sugar. 

The good thing about children is that sometimes the simplest things are the best things, so I didn't overthink it with the drinks - the juice boxes were huge crowd pleasers.

Yes, those are candy bracelets holding the napkins!

These shortbread cookies were the perfect treat for the occasion because they're not messy like traditionally having cupcakes & I knew we didn't need sticky fingers for our craft we were about to make.  Did I mention how good they were?! We literally had to go buy an extra dozen.

The only thing I pre-made were the backs of the badges, which you can just print on cardstock, cut out with a 3.5" circle punch, and glue a pin to the top. 

Oh, and I pre-cut the strips of ribbon as well, easy-peasy.

Cupcake liners in order from large to small to keep it easy for the little ones to just go down the line and choose one color at a time.

We have the exclusive download for this version of the Love Never Fails print here!

This is the original print and was given to all the moms who took the time to bring their children to our little get together.  à la Sparke has the free download, along with a couple Valentine cards too!

You might wonder how it went when I told these 10 children (a few not pictured) what we were about to make was for other little boys and girls and not them, that we would have some push back... not a single one. All we heard were lots of questions about these little heroes & how they hoped the children would love what they made for them.

* "Love Never Fails print design: LovedBabyDesigns

Mommy-Made Easter

At almost 18 months, The Kraze had their first Easter Egg Hunt today and we have a Sunrise Breakfast at our church Saturday morning, so of course they need Easter baskets and something festive to wear for all these activities!  Being the person that I am, loving any excuse to celebrate and believing that the day-of is the most important, we are saving their Easter dresses for Easter Day...

I know it's a little last minute, but with all of the 30th birthday festivities for Zach last week... who am I kidding - I'm a procrastinator, I'll admit it now - you'd find out sooner or later any way, so don't expect any great projects a month in advance, but if you're a last-minute person like me, we'll be great DIY friends!!

Also something to note, I am not a seamstress.  At best, I can sew ribbon & elastic onto a pair of point shoes, so you can always count on easy peasy projects from me.

No-Sew DIY Onesies

Having twin girls, I love to be playful and creative anytime I can (anyone who knows us, knows that my girls always coordinate but never match).  So one will wear the bunny & one will wear 'hop' - get it?!  I don't really care which one wears which, they like to choose themselves - it's true!
*I also think it would be cute to have Easter eggs on one & a silhouette of a chick on the other or if you have a singleton, your options are endless!

What you'll need...

• Onesie(s) or shirt  - I grabbed two out of their closet that they're close to outgrowing anyway
• I am loving the trend of mixing patterns, so I chose different patterns in the same color family to create a cohesive but fun look!
• Fabric - I had leftovers from fabric squares I bought for a DIY for their birthday party
• Hancock Fabrics has an unlimited selection for about $0.29 a piece & they're BIG
• Fabric Paint
• Stitch witchery (what I had already) or any type of heat & bond adhesive
• Iron
• Pencil - an old fashioned wooden #2 will work (not mechanical)
• Scissors
• Computer & Printer - unless you can freehand way better than I can

1. Choose and find your image.  I googled 'bunny silhouette', then went to word and typed out 'hop' in a fun font. (again, unless you are better equipped with Photoshop than I am)
2. Print out your image(s) to the size you want & cut it/them out.
3. Trace the image face down onto the back of your fabric & cut it out.
4. Cut your adhesive to the shape of your applique.
5. Iron your applique onto the garment.
   
6. Trace the edges with fabric paint - the fabric's edges will be unfinished and possibly lift (again I don't sew) , so I did this to give it a more finished look, prevent it from lifting and it adds to the cuteness!

My cost: $0 & they were the cutest ones there (as they need the outfits for that to be so)!

No-Sew DIY Tutu Easter Baskets

Pretty much any mom of girls loves to find any excuse to incorporate tutus in their little girls' lives, especially this former ballerina! Now, I love PBK as much as the next mom and their Easter baskets are too cute, BUT the liners alone are $14-$25 a piece - that's $28-$50 on LINERS for this mom of two, not including the baskets or anything to put in them... don't think so.

What you'll need...

• The cheapest basket you can find - I believe we got ours from ToysRUs for under $3
• 1/4" elastic
• Spool of precut tulle in your color of choice
• Needle & thread - I know I said I don't sew, but it's about the same as sewing a pair of point shoes - you can do it, I promise!
• Ribbon
• Hot glue gun

Just We Moms has a great tutorial on how I always make my tutus for the Kraze, so I'll let them do this part for me.

Once you have your tutu completed...

• Hot glue the corners to the basket so it won't fall off when your little one is swinging her basket around
• (optional) Cut your ribbon about 6"-12" longer than you need to go around your tutu, so you have enough to tie a bow and hot glue it to the tutu

Disclaimer: in case you noticed the baskets are different in the main photo, it's because I ran out of time (I already admitted I'm a procrastinator!), but I was happy with the second one as well, so here's the quick run down (using the same materials from above).

• I hot glued two rows of thick (1-1.5") pink grosgrain ribbon around the basket 
• Draped the tulle over the top row, gathering & hot glueing the corners
• Tied a big four-sided bow

Curious what I put IN their Easter baskets?

• Hooded towels
• White denim jackets
• Sunglasses
• Sun hats
• Bilingual books: Colors and Animals
• Wind-up cars - out of all the toys in a store & they carry these throughout and scream when you try to take them away... that's a good indicator :)