Removing Stains From American Girl Dolls

My husband bought an American Girl doll off of craigslist for our daughters 5th birthday. It was a GREAT deal!
The hair on this doll was perfect but  there were a few marks on the limbs. I used a magic eraser on most of the dirt and marks then I found this TUTORIAL.  I had the Proactive Repairing Treatment on hand so that is what I used on the one big stain still on the leg. I couldn't put her outside because the doll was a surprise so I just popped her in a cabinet in the laundry room. It took several days (most likely because there was no sunlight) but it worked perfectly otherwise. This doll is like new now. Couldn't be happier!

Rapunzel Pinata Tutorial (Ribbon Pull)

Last year we discovered the ribbon pull pinatas. (I don't know the official name for these, but that's what I call them.) The first one we used I bought at Target on sale. We simply don't have a place to hang a traditional pinata and I think our kids are too small to be swinging around a bat in a circle of people.
The way you play is each kid takes turns pulling a ribbon. All but one will pop off easily. Whoever pulls the ribbon attached to the trap door will open up the pinata and let all the candy out. Simple, easy, and SAFE!
Here's how I made our Rapunzel Ribbon Pull Pinata (inspired by a traditional pinata on this blog ).

Pregnancy Announcement!!!!!!

When our eleven year anniversary rolled  around, my hubby had no idea what a surprise I had for him. I told him the kids and I were preparing a special breakfast and to stay in bed until we told him it was ready. He obviously had a bigger gift than breakfast awaiting him. I put up this little clothes line of onesies then the kids and I all held numbers. My daughter held a 1, my son a 2 and I had a 3 with an arrow pointing to my belly. Since I'm pretty sure this will be the last kid in the family, I wanted to put together a fun and creative pregnancy announcement for my man.
This little bun in the oven was a complete surprise to me as well. We weren't expecting to get pregnant with a third. I always wanted another baby though. It was a constant on my mind and God seemed to think now was as good a time as any to add to the family.
So here we go with another sweet baby coming next year. I can't wait to meet my little one!

This is the photo Brett took of us as our Facebook pregnancy announcement.

Inexpensive Hand-Tied Wedding Bouquet {DIY}

A friend of mine was recently married, but being the talented makeup artist that she is, she did everyone's makeup and ran out of time for her photographer to take bridal portraits. So I recommended my husband take post-wedding pictures of the two of them. This turned out to be such a fun solution to a very common problem. So many weddings are rushed and there is often little time to shoot those crazy romantic and fun portraits of the special couple.
The night of our shoot she did her makeup,  had her hair done up all over again, he rented a tux, and I made up this sweet little bouquet for her to carry. Everyone knows Trader Joe's has fabulous, inexpensive flowers, so I just picked up $10 purple flowers with red roses and whipped up a simple hand-tied bouquet. If you've never made one, give it a try. They are so beautiful and easy to make.

How To Make A Hand-Tied Bride Or Bridesmaid Bouquet

1.  Start by gathering up the flowers in your hand one stem at a time. Be sure to alternate the different colors so all the flowers are evenly dispersed throughout. Since roses were the fanciest flower in this bouquet, I made sure they didn't get lost among the others. As you gather all the flowers together try to create a dome shape. Use stronger stems around the outside perimeter to give strength to the overall design.

2. Take a skinny rubber band, wrap it around the middle of the flower stems and tie it in a knot. If you use a really thick rubber band you will end up with a lumpy "handle".

3. Trim all the stems to an even length.

4. Wrap green florist tape around the stems, covering up the rubber band and extending down the length of the stems a couple inches.

5. Use wide ribbon to cover up the florist tape. Tie a knot or bow and use hot glue to tack the ribbon in place wherever you see a weak spot which may slip. 

You can buy all kinds of gorgeous ornaments to cover the stems at craft stores. For our purposes, we kept it simple with purple ribbon.

Flowers are beautiful, but the bride and groom will always be the shinning stars in a wedding.

Creative Family Portraits

     Like any other art form, photographers develop their own styles. Some have the soft vintage look, others decorate their images with artistic flourishes in Photoshop, and then there's my husbands. His style emerged immediately. My guy knows what he likes and does it well. I like to describe it as classic dramatic because his images are clean with a high contrast in color, light and dark. He doesn't go too trendy which is great if you want your pictures to have a timeless look to them. He also loves to be creative and fun, especially with family portraits.
    I love how this image shows the personality of each of us. I will admit, I'm probably too relaxed in my parenting. My son is crazy and lives dangerously. Our little princess is 100% girl and can easily spend the entire day in her dress up attire. Our little dog just tags along and is a constant companion for all of us.
   I think it's great when you can capture the silliness of kids to always remember the fun of being little.

Starting Over - Again

     The last month has been CRAZY.  I made a big job change and switched to a new salon. It has been stressful trying to notify my clients, order product, try new products, make sure I have all my supplies on hand, buy supplies I'm lacking, (so far there has been more cash out than in), get a business license, and adjust to being an independent contractor. Right in the middle of all this I also got into a hit-and-run car accident. Madness! But at some point, you just shrug your shoulders and press on. I'm hoping this change will simplify my life in the long run. Since I will no longer be an employee, I can go home early on a slow day and pointless meetings will be a thing of the past.
     I may be stressed out and tired, but this brings us one step closer to achieving our long term goals of owning our own little salon/photography studio. Hooray for that!
   
   

Feather Headband Tutorial

It's been a long time since I've done anything crafty so I made a point to make SOMETHING for my daughters Easter outfit. Joann's finally has this really fun netting and I bought a couple yards just to have on hand a few months ago. Everything else was already in my craft stash so I  used whatever looked appealing to me and hot glued it all together. I hope you like it!

I hope you all have a blessed Easter!

An Afternoon At The Park

We took the kiddos to the "park" the other day. Actually, it was just an empty field and gravel path near our house. Our kids didn't care, as long as we played together as a family. This was also the golden hour for picture taking so I dressed the kids up as well. Kill two birds with one stone. My hubby wanted to play with the dramatic lighting of the setting sun and so he used an off camera flash placed to the side of our adorable subjects to be sure they wouldn't be lost in the growing shadows. Here are the best shots of the day:

Inexpesive Pirate / Neverland Party

My original thought was to have a pirate party for my little guy; however, I ended up officially calling it a Neverland party. I love to encourage guests to dress up and I thought mermaids, pirates, fairies, lost boys, etc. would be fun costume ideas. The birthday boy himself wore a costume which loosely resembles that of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I made the vest out of felt (which I bought for around $2) and I used the trim and buttons I found in my sewing supplies. His shirt was a 25 cent yard sale find, and everything else we already had on hand.

The hanging pirate decorations I bought at a yard sale for a quarter as well. It was a brand new three pack and they were so long, I cut them up into shorter pieces.
The banner was made from paper we had in the kids craft stash and all the other table decor was from around the house.
The plates, napkins and cups I found on clearance for 75 cents each at  Target last summer.
I made the cake myself and the favors were just treat bags with Pirate Booty and extra gold coins.
Everything turned out pretty cute and wasn't too elaborate or complicated. It was perfect for my little pirate!

Keeping Kids Still

My brother and his wife just loaned us this cool little bench for taking pictures. I couldn't wait to try it out as a prop. So I  dressed up the kids and prepped snacks to keep them in place. The last time I tried to take pictures of my little guy by myself was a joke. Not one picture turned out right. So you might see him with his mouth full, but at least he's where I want him to be!