More Naughty Spots!

Hi all!! How was your weekend? Sorry for all these sporadic posts! I've got quite a few lined up to be posted starting at the end of this week but I had to pop on here and share my news:
I entered a 'design your own' vinyl contest over on If Your Walls Could Talk blog (the blog for SayItOntheWall.com) and my 'naughty spot' design is in the top 10!

Colors and font that would be used if I won! I'm sure it's customizable for colors!

Now I need YOUR help! Could you go and vote for me? I would get the first cut of the design and also I believe it will be available in her shop for you to buy too if I win!! How fun!



So please spread the word and go vote!!
Have a Happy day,

Pirate Birthday Party

So after sending out the pirate party invitations I got to work on creating some pirate decorations for the party!
I use Martha’s instructions for tissue paper pom poms (as you’ve seen at the tea & cupcakes baby shower & the Dr. Seuss baby shower) but I’ve noticed some confusion as to how exactly they are made so I wanted to show you a little visual as to how they look before you ‘fluff’ them.

I use twist ties (those freebie ones in with your trash bags- I just tie the bag closed I never use a twist tie so I have lots!) and monofilament thread but fishing line would be cheaper, you’d get a lot more (A whole reel!), and it works just as well!
Just layer (6+ layers works the best) your tissue paper on top of each other (you can alternate colors to get a multi-colored pom) and accordion fold on the ‘short’ side. When you reach the end of the tissue paper twist a twist tie around the center and then tie a length of clear thread (monofilament or fishing line) around that center also. This is how you want to transport them if you need to bring them somewhere other than you made them. If you fluff before travel you will have smooshed sides on your poms.  Also make sure you cut the ends before you fluff- into the shapes you want- I do either curved edges (seen on the tea & cupcake party poms) or pointy ones like these.
Ok on to where these poms ended up for the party!
In the playroom corner:

Over the food/cake table:

I also used vinyl cut from my silhouette machine to decorate a few places
The play room window:

The kitchen mirror as you walked in had a vinyl pirate ship & a banner:

Those pirate banners were super easy! They were pirate boy foam crafts that came 6 in a kit ($1 a kit at JoAnn’s)- I bought 2 kits and put them together. The pennant was a freebie from the Cottage Industrialist (also got the pirate hats and eye patches there) and printed them on cardstock.
Here is the pirate dress up station you saw the sign for before:
 
Those parrots are printed on cardstock after being colored in Photoshop (you could just use markers after printing) with a clothespin on the tail to clip on your shoulder. I got the parrots from Family Fun.  Besides the pirate hats and parrots there are eye patches, red & back sashes (just plain bandanas) and tiny ‘party favor’ telescopes.
I made pirate themed food signs which you can sort of see in this picture of the food table:

I kept the food simple this time and did a ranch veggie dip with veggies and a really yummy fruit dip with cut up fruit (not pictured) as well as cheese and cracker platters (also not pictured). For drinks I did raspberry iced tea from a mix and a super yummy lemonade.
I also bought two ($2 each at JoAnn’s) pirate ship foam activity kits and put them together- one was on the buffet with the drinks:

Outside I buried pirates treasure (some of which is scattered on the food table above) in Little Man’s sandbox for the kiddos to search for and we also tied a piece of wood to two cement blocks for a ‘plank’ to walk. I did buy some ‘water bomb’ balloons that were shaped like- you guessed it- cannonballs but we didn’t do those. All of this is not pictured because I didn’t take pictures of it without kids in the pictures and I don’t share pictures of my kids or other’s kids on the blog…sorry!
Last but not least was the pirate ship cake I made for Little Man:

The sails & waves are paper and the pirate and treasure chest came from a toy Little Man had.
Here is a list of pirate party ideas I used to help me come up with all the fun ideas!
Pirate Ship Cake & This cake also
Buried Treasure & Invite Ideas
Pirate hats and eye patches
Steph’s Pirate Party blew. me. away. (walking the plank idea came from here)
Every pirate needs “dress-up” station came from here.

So thanks to all these people for sharing their ideas online and for Google for bringing you to me so I could throw a cheap & fun pirate party for my Little Man!!
I hope you all enjoyed this ‘walk’ through my Little Man’s 3rd birthday!
Have a happy day,

I am linking this post up to:



Pssst! I'm trying to reach 100 followers (see over there on the right sidebar?) so I've decided to try a little giveaway. 
If I reach 100 followers by Tuesday August 10, 2010 (one week) I will giveaway the pirate banners, pirate 'coins', little party favor telescopes, the un-opened package of cannonball 'water bomb' balloons, a small package of pirate themed foam stickers (opened but I didn't use them), and possibly the 2 foam pirate ships if I can figure out how to ship them without breaking them. I will choose one winner randomly from the comments on Wednesday Aug. 11, 2010.
You would have an almost complete decorating kit for YOUR pirate party if you win...just by following me and leaving a comment here. Make sure you tell your friends because I have to be at 100 followers in one week or the giveaway doesn't happen :) (see? incentive!) This is open to USA readers only but if you are from outside the US feel free to follow anyway you'll be helping out!

Chic Click Carnival

I’ve decided to participate in the SITS Girls “Chic Click Carnival” this week!
If you are new here let me tell you a little about me. I am 26 years old, married to my first boyfriend (we dated for a year at the age of 14 & then went our separate ways for nearly 10 years before meeting again & getting married) who is in the military- I refer to him as Military Man, Handsome Hubby, Hubs, etc. We have two beautiful children: Little Man who will be 3 at the end of this month & Miss E who will is 5 weeks old this week. We all live in Maine with our black lab, Lady.
I started this blog in 2008 as a way to keep myself busy while Military Man was deployed & since then it has become a hobby for me and I love it. I have been referred to as a “little Martha” (as in Martha Stewart) my whole life because I was always making something, always coming up with new ideas, etc. I just decided to start sharing my crafts, renovations & frugal ways with whoever wanted to read about them because honestly…sometimes my family just doesn’t get the utter excitement I have about fabric or finding an awesome new craft tool!
I know you all do or you wouldn’t be here! ;)
So my favorite post so far is the 2nd one I wrote about painting my countertops…so far this has been the wildest thing I’ve done in the name of frugality & craftiness. I think my husband is a keeper because he didn’t bat an eye when I told him I was painting the countertops!
So since this is the Chic Click Carnival I’m supposed to share with you a new peep I found using their widget below. I found an amazing Etsy shop called Copper Creek Design and she has some amazing jewelry that I think is so beautiful….like these earrings for example.
Anyway that’s a little about me & my family and what I do here at Creative Kristi.
Thanks for stopping by and please go find a new peep for yourself by clicking the widget below!



Happy Monday to you all,

A big week for me!

Tomorrow I’ll share with you how I turned an unused original built-in into my new pantry but today I have things to share!
First of all my blog was named one of the Top 52 Home Decorating Blogs (number 46 to be exact!) Thank you very much I am honored!
Secondly I actually won a giveaway! I have never in my life won something! I won a $25 gift certificate from Burlap & Blue! I entered the giveaway over at The Shabby Nest & won! Now to make up my mind on what I want……I have a feeling I’ll end up spending way more than $25!


Ok and the last thing I wanted to mention is that I was featured over at Under the Table & Dreaming! Thanks so much Stephanie!


Ok so that’s all my big news this week! I am like a kid in a candy shop! Jumping & shrieking may or may not have occurred upon learning of each of these things. I’ll never tell.
Have a happy day!

Papertrey, Ink Challenge- Emboss Resist!

Ooooo! Have you heard?! Papertrey Ink is turning 3 and are celebrating in a BIG way! Prizes & Challenges galore! Head on over to Nichole's Blog to get the day to day updates and surprises!

Today she announced that starting in the spring they will be having "Make It Mondays" featuring a new technique video every Monday! So exciting! To start off she posted a video of a technique I actually had never heard of: Emboss Resist. I watched the video and thought it was the coolest thing! So I went and dug out all my old embossing stuff and tried it out. LOVE! L-O-V-E! So fun!

This is my VERY first time posting a card and linking it to anyone associated with Papertrey, Ink (always intimidating!) but there is $200 of emboss resist goodies up for grabs! I had to at LEAST take a deep breath and hit the 'publish' button for this one!

So without further a-do here is my very first emboss resist card!

 

The bottom half of the card showcases the emboss resist. It is the Background Basics: Spots & Dots stamp set embosses on Sweet Blush cardstock then rubbed with Berry Sorbet ink.

Let me know what you think!
-Kristi

Supplies:
All supplies are Papertrey, Ink unless noted.
Paper: White cardstock, sweet blush cardstock, vellum 
Ink: Berry Sorbet, Summer Sunrise, Clear Emboss it (manufacturer: Ranger)
Embossing powder: Antiquities Frosted Crystal (manufacturer: Ranger)
Stamp sets: Background Basics: Spots & Dots, Heart Prints
Other: Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder, corner rounder, Scor-pal, adhesive,dimensional pop dot,  scissors 
 

A neat little Giveaway!

So since Hubby & I are still toying with the idea of homeschooling (well he's toying, I'm sold haha) I follow/subscribe to many homeschooling blogs & LOVE them. Well today one of my favorites posted about a giveaway & in all honesty one of the ways to get an entry is to blog about it. BUT I will say I'm blogging about it to give all YOU the chance to enter too!

I really like what is being given away: they are 'feelings' dolls/toys by this company called Kimochis. Go check them out & see what all the fuss is about. But really they are an amazing idea that combines toddlers love of stuffed animals with their confusion about how to express their feelings. Smart!

Ok so go HERE & enter yourself if you want!

Happy Labor Day!