Thanksgiving Creative

I don't know about you, but I big puffy heart LOVE Thanksgiving! It entails an extended weekend with lots of food, family and shopping. What's not to love, right?

This Thanksgiving I actually thought about the food waaaaaaaaay in advance (you know, on Monday) and called to see what I could offer to the cornucopia of good eating. I think by the list I was given, the blaring deficiency I possess in the kitchen is obvious.

I was told to bring kid's table crafts and ice.

Wow. Thanks.

It all turned out to be a blessing though, because here's what we were dealing with on Thanksgiving Eve.




HIVES. *insert shudder here*

It was pretty nasty. Whit broke out into the worst case of hives and was miserable on Tuesday and Wednesday. We ended up in the pediatrician's office and double dosing Benedryl and Zyrtec to bring that mess under control. Poor guy. He was pitiful.

Needless to say, Mommy wasn't doing any kids' crafting up until MIDNIGHT the night before Turkey Day.

Here's what we ended up with:

Felt Turkey Finger Puppets (yes - I stitched them together; they also doubled as a face for this).


Turkey Centerpiece (Thanks to KayK for helping with this one! Oh, and to E-Cole for helping me get the hot glue up off the floor!)



Olivia and Whit glued together all the pieces for our turkey placecards on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, we never got around to actually writing the names on the cards. Oh well.



Even without the placecards being perfect, the meal was awesome.



After the meal, everyone headed outside...


to blow leaves...


and have a leaf-jumping party!


Just to prove my usefulness, I also brought some disposable take-home containers to put all the leftovers in. I packaged them all up and labeled them nice and neat. Then we sent them on their way.


Yay for usefulness and creativity.

Hope your Turkey Day was awesome, too!

Wanna Know Who's SIX?!?

This girl:



I'm still not quite sure how it happened, but apparently someone stole my sweet baby girl and replaced her with this snaggle-tooth, sassy, Justice-loving, Beiber-fevered six year old!

WHAT? I'm not ready for this. I'm not. I can assure you.

In keeping with the resolution of the year, we stuck to *NOT* having a birthday party this year (despite some subtle pleas and nudges to the contrary).

Yes. Every year I plan these wonderful fetes and my sweet little precious children end up being not-so-thrilled by the time the party actually rolls around. Call me crazy, but I'm not planning a party for myself, so the parties were put on hold. I told the kids they could each pick a fun place to go and take a friend this year for their birthdays.

Does anyone see where this is going? Anyone?

Whit chose Chuck E. Cheese.

Olivia chose The American Girl Doll Boutique and Bistro in Atlanta, Georgia.

Wow. Really?

Who does that?

Apparently Olivia.

So last weekend, we took a trip to Atlanta. I can't lie. It was awesome. Seriously, any little girl's dream come true. And, apparently, a mommy's, too. :)

On Saturday morning, the girls arrived at our house. Kit was waiting for them with their matching birthday outfits.

(Click on any picture to make it bigger!)




For all my scrappy friends, I used Bring on the Cake: Doodles by Kate Hadfield to create the iron-on transfer for their shirts. I bought the little outfits at Michael's and they were perfect! They saved me from having to buy clothes at the AG store (looooove that!!).




They all changed their dolls into their new outfits and we were ready to roll!



We arrived at the Bistro early. Our reservation was for 1:30pm, but we rolled in around 12:30. Lucky for us, we were seated right away and did not have to wait. Keep in mind this is the one and only time I have ever {EVER} been early for ANYTHING in my ENTIRE LIFE. Mommy was a little excited. Just sayin'.

The girls were exciiiiiiiiiiiited, too.



And they couldn't get enough of the little tea sets with REAL water!! {gasp!}





After we ate, the staff sang Happy Birthday to Olivia with a sweet little ice cream, candle and note. She was happy.




Once our lunch was over, we headed into the store to shop and make hair appointments for the dolls.

Yes. They have to have appointments. The DOLLS have to have appointments.

What kind of place do you think this is, people? Apparently walk-ins are NOT welcome. Appointments only.

Who knew?

So, while we waited, we shopped, looked, oogled, shopped and oogled some more. We headed out into the mall to do some site-seeing and ride the huge merry-go-round. The girls had a ball.




Once we were finished with the hair appointments and all the purchases were complete, we headed to the hotel for the night.

The Marriott Atlanta (Alpharetta) totally caters to the American Girl guests and even has an American Girl Doll Weekend Package. We did not choose to do that package, and we still had an awesome time in the pink dining room for breakfast!

Upon arriving at the hotel, the girls promptly decided it was time for presents.

Olivia got some great stuff and looked like this a lot:





When she finished up, she decided it was time for the girls to open their goody bags, too.


They each got a towel wrap.





And matching pajamas for their dolls and themselves (THANKS TO LEXI'S GRANDMOTHER FOR THOSE)!!



Although I have nothing really to say about this picture, it was by far one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip! How cute are these piggies?



I made sure to find a hotel with an indoor pool to keep us busy. I'm not quite sure why I was worried...we also painted nails, colored pictures, snacked, made bead bracelets, wrote notes to each other, snacked, played in the magic mirror closet, took nice long bubble baths and snacked while we were there. There was NO downtime. Did I mention I was TOTALLY happy I packed a cooler with drinks and a bag of snacks for these little divas?!? They were hungry ALL. THE. TIME. Srsly.

After dinner and swimming (around 10pm) the girls crashed on a palette in the floor! Thank you, Jesus! I was WORN. OUT.

The next morning, we got up, got dressed and headed down to the American Girl dining room. We enjoyed a nice breakfast surrounded by the most Pepto-flavored decor of any place I've ever seen. All the while, the girls lamented leaving and schemed up ways to come back. They were smitten, for sure.

I mean, HELLO? Any restaurant that let's a group of 5 and 6 year olds drink out of glasses like these, deserves a gold star in their book.




Once breakfast was finished, we packed up our things...



stopped for one last picture...



and headed for home.

Thanks to my awesome friend (and next door neighbor - oh, and Lexi's mom) for braving this trip with me, for helping me navigate my stupid GPS, for enduring a 3 hour trip with multiple art tools and AG dolls under your legs and for encouraging me to try a new Mexican place that I would've driven right by if you hadn't been with me! I was sooooooo glad to have you along for the adventure!



That's all for now!

Love and hugs,
Leigh

Who loves travel mugs?? (*I do* I do*)

I seriously love coffee travel mugs.

So much so, I started drinking coffee just to be able to carry one around with me in the morning! (Well, that and the fact that I like to, you know, wake up once the alarm goes off.)

I created this little duo for one of my awesome creative teams. Who knew paper could be so cute?!



I used this kit by Sahlin Studio and made an insert for a travel mug like the Starbucks Memory Tumblers. I love it!



Then I thought how cute it would be to give this as a gift. But...it needs a little something else, so I designed this little take out box to go along with it.



CUTE, NO?!?

What a perfect gift for a favorite teacher or that "hard to buy for" aunt who looooooooves, coffee!? (Ahem, not that have one of those.)

So, if you want to make one of these sets for yourself, just click on over and grab it now! You have to scroll down a bit to get to my portion of the post.

Have fun and send me a picture if you whip one up!



Happy coffee-ing!

Tooth Fairy FAIL

Just in case any of you are wondering, I need you to know that things aren't always peachy keen in the Theo house.

Take, for example, yesterday morning.

Wait. Back up.

Let's go back to here. Remember our fantastic Tooth Fairy escapades?

Yes?

It was a sparkling, grand idea wasn't it?!?

Any little girl's dream!

To wake up after losing a tooth and find a different colored dazzling glitter and water combo each time? All left by a tiny flittering fairy who wandered around your room dipping herself into the water and spilling her wonderful fairy dust all over your chest of drawers?

Yes. Grand, indeed.

Olivia has become quite fascinated with the beautiful colors that she's found so far (pink, turquoise, and green). Her sweet little imagination runs WILD wondering which color dress the tooth fairy will wear next. She even leaves a note each time pleading for the tooth fairy to take a dip in the water and turn it a new color.

In fact, she is *waaaaaaaaaay* more interested in the water/glitter color than the money the tooth fairy leaves in the tooth tin (which, by the way, is also sprinkled with the night's chosen color). We even leave the glass of tinted water and glitter sprinkles out for days (sometimes weeks) after the visit.

So, when she lost her FOURTH tooth two mornings ago, she immediately started wondering (out loud) what color she would end up with this time. She promptly asked me for the little cup we use and went about making the preparations for that night's Tooth Fairy adventure.

Unfortunately for Olivia, something like FOURTEEN HOURS passed between 7 a.m. when she lost the tooth and 9 p.m. when the "Tooth Fairy" fell sound asleep on the couch for the night.

Unfortunate, indeed.

When I stepped out of my shower yesterday morning, I was immediately greeted with the saddest, most heart-wrenching pitiful eyes of any 5 year old girl you've ever seen.

No tears.

Just utter sadness.

Upon questioning, I learned the root from which the sadness came.

The STUPID, TIRED Tooth Fairy FORGOT TO COME TO OUR HOUSE!

Isn't that just swell?

OH, the PAIN!

I quickly reassured her that the Tooth Fairy must've been confused by the light being on in her room all night (that's a whole 'nother post all in itself). I mean seriously, a Tooth Fairy can NEVER come in your house if they think you might possibly still be awake!!??! No way. And, even though she left the tooth lying on the nightstand, I was POSITIVE that the Tooth Fairy must've been looking for the tooth tin that we usually leave it in. Since it wasn't in there AND the light was still on, we got NO TOOTH FAIRY.

After some consoling, Olivia picked herself up and brushed herself off. I calmly encouraged her to go through the setup process one more time. I told her I was *sure* it was all a mistake and that I was *sure* it would be okay.

Tonight, we did things differently.

The Tooth Fairy has already come. She left some extra money and a little note apologizing for the confusion.

She tinted the water, sprinkled the fairy dust and left an extra dollar for the trouble. She kissed Olivia on the way out the door and promised to do better next time.

All this time I thought I would spare my children the glory of needing adult therapy.

I guess not.

In all honesty, we have plenty of other daily troubles and worries, just like every other family in America. It's hard to come here and post about those, though. No one wants to join in on that misery. So, instead, I come here and post about our not-so-traumatic worries. Just thought you should know.

Oh! And tonight, the Tooth Fairy wore a nice sunny shade of yellow.

It's been a looooong time...

since I posted some crafty projects!

I made these treat bag tags for a birthday party in July. For a list of credits, click here.



Then I dolled up these cute soaps for my 4K co-workers. Just a simple gift to say "Welcome Back!!" Teachers of little kids can NEVER have enough hand soap or sanitizer! :)



I made these goody boxes for the kids' teachers during Back to School this year. They turned out cute and the teachers really liked them (I think). For credits, click here. I have another post lined up with more details on this project soon. :)




Then, we had a back to school party for all the kids in Whit and Olivia's class. We joined forces with our neighbors and hosted a fun swim party for all their classes. Here are some of the printables I used for the party. For credits, click here.




I made these sugar cookies for the party. They were shaped like swim trunks and flip flops and they were sooooo cute! I tied them up in little baggies, but the heat and a baggies were not so great for the icing...it all slid off on the bags. :( The kids loved them, though, so I guess it was a success!




I finally made a new boy version of my tooth fairy tin. I looooooove how it turned out! For credits, click here.




And, I updated the girl version, too! You know what to do for the credits.





And, finally...I got back to my painting "roots" and made this tote bag for a friend before school started. I think it turned out really cute! I don't do much painting anymore because I am just so critical of myself and I get so nervous before starting. But, this one turned out cute!



So, that's it. Or at least, that's *MOST* of it. I've been doing lots of crafting, but I struggle when it comes to taking the pictures and posting them here! :( Sorry about that!

Anyway, hope you all have a happy Saturday!