My Favorite Facebook Pages

We all have issues with facebook. From getting too many of the vaguebooking friends’ statuses to missing posts from pages you actually went of your way to like for a reason, the world’s most popular social media platform does have flaws. Enough about that.

Let’s talk about the good stuff. There are some really great pages out there and facebook can be an awesome way to bring all your favorite sites, blogs and shops into one place. Hint: if you like a page well enough to want it in your newsfeed, don’t just like the page, like at least 10 of their posts to show the facebook gods you mean business. The more you interact with a page (or person), the more facebook will show you from said page or person.

With that in mind, here are my top 6 most followable facebook pages in no particular order. These pages have good info, an appropriate amount of posts and shareable images.

1. A Mighty Girl

The ultimate site for raising and being a mighty girl.

2. Birth Without Fear

Beautiful and inspiring. Everything everyone needs to birth and parent without fear.

3. Upworthy

News that matters.

4. The Artful Parent

Creative projects for parents and children.

5. Design Love Fest

Beautiful designs in fashion, home, food and even typography.

6. I am Not a Grammar Cop. I am an English Language Enthusiast

The “I Fucking Love Science” for grammar nerds. With that in mind, honorable mention goes to:

I Fucking Love Science

All images link right to the facebook pages. Enjoy.

Cheers!

Easy, Cheap, Custom Birthday Cake!

Having a baby on a holiday is cute in theory. Every time anyone hears that Miss S’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day, the response is always, “Awww! How sweet!” or something to that effect. I get that. It is precious. My regular, mild panic attacks that occur sometime between dear husband’s birthday (February 3rd) and Miss S’s aren’t as cute. And when I have a major school project (the kind graduation depends on) on February 15, S’s birthday and birthday party, two Valentine’s Day parties (and their requested treats) on top of the usual chaos that is my life, I inevitably end up cutting corners or ditching all my carefully created plans altogether. This year I did all my usual. I overshot it on plans and ideas, failed at and/or neglected half of my grand schemes, and then ended up with a pleasant party and happy birthday babe anyway. This year I stumbled upon a few corner-cutting tricks that I feel are worth sharing. Top trick: Cheap-o, grocery store cake turned fun custom creation.

I suppose the primary benefit of a holiday birthday is all the goodies that come along with said birthday. For Valentine’s Day that includes lots of baked goods. Not really sure why as I have never given nor received an entire friggin’ cake for ANY holiday. But apparently that’s a thing, ‘cuz my local Albertson’s had tons. Including great little “smash cake” sized ones for $6. I think this size is just perfect for the actual birthday when you have the party on a different date. I finally found a cake that was yellow with pink and white piping and pink and yellow flowers on top. Kinda cheesy looking but kinda cute too. It’s would do and S would love it. I tried to place it safely in my car and of course knocked it on it’s side in the process. Awesome. Once home I pulled out a smooth knife and attempted to resolve my little mishap. I must say, the semi-lame piping was incredibly better than the sloppy, smeary, tie-dyed look I invented. After a little effort I did manage to get the sides smooth and mostly yellow again. The top was ugly at best. Before I pulled out my novice-level cake decorating skills, the cake looked like a pretty cute, standard grocery store bakery cake.  When I got done with it it looked like a shitty homemade cake. Which is really sad since it wasn’t even homemade. What would you do in this situation? Dump and full bottle of sprinkles on the damn thing? No? Oh. Well that’s what I did. And then I super loved the cake a again. It makes me think in a pinch (or on purpose) you can buy any cheap cake you’d like with a cake flavor, and base frosting color that you like. Then just smooth out the top a bit and dump sprinkles on it. People like sprinkles. Actually, they don’t LIKE sprinkles, but they like the look, and they don’t usually hate the flavor so that’s sort of the same. But yeah, sprinkles are cool. And they come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors!

I didn’t take an actual before shot, but you get the idea. Something like this:

And here is my not-so-’90s-bridal-shower-remake:

And BTW, S loved it!

Super easy, DIY, custom cake decorating on a dime.

Cheers!

Merry Christmas.

I won’t go overboard, but I do hope you each had a pleasant holiday. The joy of my young children d made my day one of the best Christmases ever.

Here are slightly-edited-for-privacy copies of our holiday mail-outs this year. I created each completely and rather like the way they turned out. Merry Christmas, all!

The Card

The Family “Letter”

Diaper Trike Tutorial

My husband’s cousin recently had a baby shower with a gift theme rather than a registry or wish list. The theme was diapers. The invitation had a little note enclosed asking that each attendee bring the expectant mother diaper-associated gifts: diapers, wipes, diaper bag, diaper disposal, cloth diapers for burp cloths and so on. I couldn’t bring myself to just toss a package of diapers in a gift bag and call it a day. I’ve made a few diaper cakes in the past, but this time I went for a diaper trike. I think it turned out well. Here is the tutorial for my version of a diaper tricycle.

Materials:

1+ Package of Diapers (I used size 3)

Toilet Paper Roll(s)

3 Rubber Bands

Ribbon

2 Receiving Blankets

2 Bibs

1 Bottle (optional)

Stuffed Animal/Doll (optional)

To begin, wrap a diaper around a toilet paper roll. Wrap the next diaper around the first diaper so the layers begin to fan. Continue wrapping until the desired size is reached—roughly 8-12 diapers. Place the rubber band around the diaper wheel. If you are having a tough time holding the diapers in place, put the rubber band on earlier and tuck the diapers inside the rubber band.

Slide the toilet paper roll out and repeat the diaper wheel making process using the exact same amount of diapers.

Next take one of the receiving blankets and lay it flat. Carefully roll it up until you have a “rope”. Push the blanket rope though the large, front wheel until it has an even amount of blanket on either side.

Pull each of the blanket ends through the small, back wheels.

Tie the ends of the blanket tightly. Work the wheels into place until you have the base of the trike looking like the three tricycle wheels.

If necessary, use some ribbon through the back wheels to hold everything in place.

Roll the second receiving blanket up and put it through the front wheel.

You may notice that I used some leftover newborn diapers for a seat cushion.

Take one bib for the front wheel mud flap and place it over the front wheel with the bottom of the bib facing out. Tuck the strap of the bib in between the back wheels and front one. Place the other bib over the center of the back wheels for the seat area. Again leave the bottom of the bib facing out and tuck the strap part into the center where all the wheels meet.

Pull the front receiving blanket “handles” up over the top of the trike and tie. You should be able to fit a toilet paper roll between the top of the front wheel and the tie around the blanket. A baby bottle goes nicely in this spot at the end.

Fold the top of each of those “bunny ears” down to the base where the ribbon is tied around the blanket. Secure the handles with Scotch tape. Other tapes would work fine. It won’t show anyway. The thickness of the folded blanket should make it pretty easy to pose so go ahead and push the now shorter “bunny ears” down to look like handles.

Cover the taped handle bars and any other unattractive areas with coordinating ribbon.

Go ahead and gently remove the t.p. roll and squeeze the baby bottle into the opening. You could put the bottle in place right from the get-go, but I like everything to be snug and secure. Using the toilet paper roll that is a little smaller keeps the opening tight so it all stays in place at the end.

Congrats! You are done. Get the bottle in place, toss on a stuffy or other accessories (hairbows look great if it’s for a girl!), and you are g2g. 

Pinterest Pressure

You know I have massive amounts of Pinterest love, but holy hell, it has really upped the ante for women! Pinterest has really introduced some time-saving techniques and other helpful pointers. But for every minute or so I have learned to shave I now feel obligated to spend 10x that amount of time on something I wouldn’t have normally done in my pre-Pinterest days. Seriously.

There was a time that good mamas sent their little lovies to school on Valentine’s Day with a box of Valentines that the two bought together and then carefully inscribed with the names of each classmate and teacher. Total time spent: maybe 15 minutes and you got a nice little memory of mother and child working on something together. If you saved one Valentine each year and you’d have a nice keepsake of whatever the kiddo was into that year. Easy-peasy. Now such behavior is for the slacker mom. Between my two children, we probably received 25 valentines. I would say 5 were of the store bought variety. I am not saying that I don’t admire your little snack-sized package of Teddy-Grams with personalized printables reading, “You are beary cute” or some such cheesy nonsense. I do. I think it is darling. And I love that you gave cookies to my 6 month old—you have to know I jacked them out of his bag and stuffed them down my face like I had never eaten a cookie before. That said, I felt like a total delinquent for handing out something I let my daughter pick out for her friends. How dare I?!

This is the kind of thing I am referring to. I am all for crafting. But when we get to the point that our efforts are no longer labors of love—they’re stressful acts to prove we are just as Martha as so-and-so’s mama—haven’t we lost most of the charm of “homemade”?

I am not hating, just pointing out that good old fashioned balloons are nice too. We shouldn’t feel obligated to spend 4 hours creating masses of tissue pompoms, just to throw them out the day after the birthday party.

I could have tied a few balloons to her chair. Or I could have filled the ceiling with these lovelies.  Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not. Feel free to use your time as you see fit. That is all.

If you decide to make pompoms, here’s the tutorial I use. :)

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/226101/pom-poms-and-luminarias

Cheers!

Embellished Letters

Making embellished wooden letters is easy and fun. I do letters for my children’s rooms, shower/birthday gifts, for wreaths, hair bow holders and anything else I can think of. It’s great. I usually get my plain wooden letters from my local scrapbook/craft store, Crop Paper Scissors. Here is a resource if you don’t have a supplier already http://www.wholesalewoodenletters.com.

Supplies you will need:

Wooden letter(s)

Scrapbook Paper of Choice

Scissors

Pen/Pencil

Modge Podge

Glue (paper glue works best)

Embellishments (buttons, stickers, ribbon, rolled fabric flowers, etc.)

Hot Glue Gun

To begin, trace the letter onto the scrapbook paper. It works best if you trace the letter backwards onto the backside of the paper. That way no pencil marks show. Use you scissors and cut out the letter shape.  Place it on the letter to verify size accuracy. Trim the letter if necessary.

Once the paper fits correctly, glue it on. I like Zip Dry glue, but any paper glue works nicely. Paper glue eliminates pesky little bubbles and warps in the paper that regular glue makes.

Modge Podge your letter to seal and protect it. If you only want a basic letter, you are all done. Depending on the base letter you chose, it is ready to stand on a shelf or hang on the wall. Continue on if you like things a little more flashy.  J

Scrapbook specialty shops are great for your embellishments. Use whatever you like- 3D stickers, Scrabble letters, buttons, bottle caps, ribbon, bits of lace, bows, paper flowers, fabric flowers—whatever. REALLY! Grab the hot glue gun and decorate your letters. Depending on what you chose to embellish with, Modge Podge again. Hint: paper type goodies need Modge Podge protection, while sturdier goods like buttons do not.

If you have solid letters with no wall-hanging hardware (like the ones I buy), you can create little ribbon hangers with bits of ribbon looped (twisted the same way as awareness ribbons) and hot glued into place.

   

I made this P for a sweet little girl due to arrive at the beginning of June. Her mama bought bedding decor in a gender neutral jungle animal theme. I liked that these colors matched just perfectly, complete with leaves and flowers, but still added a touch of girly to the look. I used the same navy polka dot ribbon at the bottom for Miss Penelope  to have a place to store all her hair pretties.

Variations: Use old book pages (words or illustrations), newspaper, sheet music, wall paper or other interesting papers rather than scrapbook paper.  Paint the letters before papering or skip the paper all together and just paint prior to embellishing. After adding a hanging loop, use matching ribbon (about a yard or so) and glue it to the bottom for a customized hair bow holder.

As always, enjoy!