HSB Goes...Blog Hoppin'

Hey there! Just wanted to stop in and let you know that I am guest posting today on Ashley's blog The Domestic Wannabe...I'm sharing a typical day for me on her "a day in the life" series. Click here to check it out!

Thanks so much for having me over Ashley! :)

Organizing Hair Accessories

It seems that as my daughter gets older, she accumulates more and more hair accessories. Over the weekend, she was helping me clean her room when I realized that the old headband storage system that I made by covering an oatmeal container with scrapbook paper was no longer large enough to hold all of her headbands. I still had ribbon left over from when I converted an old frame to a hair bow holder, so I pulled out the ribbon and my glue gun and got to work.

I honestly cannot explain how easy this was to make! It took me about 10 minutes total to create storage for multiple headbands. You will want to use a thick, wide ribbon as the base of the holder and use a smaller width ribbon to create the hanging portion of the holder. I simply used the glue gun to create loops using the smaller ribbon, as you can see in the pictures below. You can create as many loops as you need by making your base ribbon longer or shorter. My finished holder allows storage for a total of eight headbands.

Once I was finished gluing my loops, I used the small ribbon to attach a loop to the top back portion of the hanger...this will allow you to hang the headband holder on the wall. I ended up hanging the holder next to the hair bow organizer that I created (click here for the details on the hair bow organizer) to allow my daughter to choose her own accessories each day.

I love this project, it was easy, fast, completely free (since I already had all of the supplies on hand) and helped to bring some organization to Felicity's room. As always, thanks for visiting! :)

Pirate Party! Argh!!!

Ahoy there! When I asked Bug a few months ago what kind of birthday party she wanted, I was surprised to hear her say a pirate party. And honestly I was hoping she'd change her mind.  But she stood her ground and after some assurance from Hooch and B that a girly pirate party was possible I was on board with it too. I had a few ideas rolling around in my head already so it was time to start planning!

First I decided on a color scheme for the party: pink, black and white.

I had tables set up with pirate gear for all the kids to get dressed up as pirates.  On the tables were eye patches, bandannas, tattoos and moustaches.

(The water bottles were just to keep all the gear from blowing away. It was super windy that day!)

And bug got her own special "Captain Hook" hat.

There was also a treasure hunt (which the bigger kids found about 5 minutes into the party!).  I bedazzled a black treasure chest and filled it with tons of pirate booty (beads, plastic bracelets, stickers, candy, gold coins, ect.).

 

 

Each kid got their own little treasure chest to fill up with their goodies.

 

 

 

And I have to say the kids loved this! They took off running and grabbed as much stuff as they could as fast as they could....like real pirates!

 

Then it was time for all the little pirates to walk the plank!







For the cupcakes I owe Hooch and her cutting machine all the credit.  She found these cute pirate ship and hat cupcake holders and cut them for me.

I also had a cake...because you can never have too much dessert! I ordered it from my local Shop-n-Save and really didn't expect too much of it.  But I have to say they did a fantastic job! I was so surprised when I saw how cute it turned out.

 

 

Oh and I also want to show our Pirate Pasta Salad made from a red pepper skull and cucumber crossbones!

 

 

 

Thank you to everyone who came and helped with this party! It was a swashbuklin good time!



Summer Thyme

It's that time of year...the weather is getting warm (actually, it has been downright HOT in the 'burgh this past week) and school is ending for Summer. My daughter is finishing up her first year of preschool, which means it is the first time that we have had to think about end of year teacher gifts. We have been blessed with four awesome teachers this year and we wanted to do something nice for them before school ended. I wanted the gift to be special but also useful, so armed with a 50% off coupon, I headed to JoAnn Fabrics and bought four small terra cotta clay pots. They were priced at $1.99 and with the coupon, I was able to get all four for around four dollars.

I painted part of each pot with chalkboard paint and wrote each teacher's name on their pot. I then purchased Thyme to plant in the pot, since I figured Thyme is an herb that most people use at least once in a while!


(Ignore the mess that is going on in the background of this picture, painting the pots took priority over the dishes...just keepin it real!)

So here is where things got a little difficult...I had cut little banners with my Silhouette machine that I had planned on attaching to two pencils and placing in each pot with a message of thanks. As I was finishing up this project, I went to grab the cute shabby chic pencils that I had previously purchased and I couldn't find the bag or the pencils anywhere! I HATE when that happens! So, I had to improvise, which meant using some jute twine that I had and attaching a simple paper tag with the message. I actually think that I may like this look better! The tag on each pot reads "I had the best "thyme" in school this year!"

I love how they turned out! And now, picture overload...







This project only cost me about $5.00 per gift, which is great when you have to make for multiple people. I hope the teachers love them! What are you doing for teacher gifts this year? Considering I still have 13 years of teacher gifts to think about, I would love to hear your ideas! Have a great week!!

Sharing with:
The DIY Showoff
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The Dedicated House
Jennifer Rizzo

Individual Party Pinatas

When I found out my niece was celebrating her birthday on Cinco de Mayo this year (and that we would be indulging on some wonderful Mexican food by Moe's), I thought it would be cute to make little, individual pinatas for all of the kids.  I took the idea from Pinterest, but used what I had on hand to make them. **Note: Maybe if I had made them as they were on Pinterest, they would have worked.  Unfortunately, when the kids pulled the ribbons, nothing happened.  BUT, instead, they got to throw them on the ground and watch them explode...which happened to be more fun for them!

Here's what you need:
empty toilet paper rolls (I used paper towel rolls that I cut into thirds)
streamers (I used blue and red)
tissue paper
glue or Mod Podge
sponge brush
ribbon
small candy or toys

I started by attaching a piece of ribbon to either side of the top of the toilet paper rolls. This is the ribbon the pinatas will be hanging from, so cut it to the length that you would want them.

I then cut small squares (big enough to cover the bottom of the roll), and cut a tiny slit in the middle for the ribbon.

I put the end of a piece of ribbon through the slit, and taped it on the inside. (Possibly if I had taped on both sides or just on the outside the ribbon would have worked when pulled?)

I then glued the square to the opposite end of the roll from where the ribbon was glued.

With the streamers, I cut them to the length of fitting around the tube.  I then cut the edges to make it fringed.

Then, I glued each piece of streamer to the roll, alternating colors. 

When the glue dried, I filled the rolls with small pieces of candy (tootsie rolls, lollipops, etc) making sure to not add too much weight that would break the tissue paper.

To finish them off, I glued another solid square of tissue paper to cover the top of the roll.

And that is all!  Although they did not work as they were intended to, my niece told me she enjoyed throwing it on the ground, and all the kids certainly enjoyed the candy that spilled out!  And I thought they made for a cute decoration!

Hooch Turns 30!!

Its hard to believe but HSB is turning 30 this year! Hooch was the first of us, but B and I aren't far behind her.  Hooch's birthday was this past Saturday, and I just wanted to share with you some of the festivities that took place.  First I wanted to mention that the week before her birthday Hooch found out that she had to have surgery only a few days before her birthday . Her surgery went well and besides being sore she is ok! Only Hooch!!

So for months B and I planned on decorating Hooch's house all in black...balloons, streamers, the works.  But since she had just had surgery she was off work and home so that plan was foiled. But we improvised! We filled up her car with black balloons.

B added some black flowers and a 30 sign on the steering wheel for good measure.

 

Since she was  home while we were doing this we had to settle for decorating the porch...we also had to be sneaky! (That's why we're dressed all in black)

 

 

Surprise!

 

B got some white roses and incorporated black feathers and sprayed them with gold glitter.  (She'll be taking orders for prom flowers too now!)

 

I made some cupcakes.

 

 



 

She really is fabulous! How good does she look for just having surgery 3 days ago?!?

 

The next day was her actual birthday and Hooch's wonderful husband, George, planned a surprise party for her.  So not only was the party almost cancelled due to her surgery (and not being sure if she'd be able to go anywhere that day), but it started off with George almost giving away the surprise.  He sent a Facebook message about the party to all the guests....from Hooch's account!! Luckily he deleted the message before she saw it, but it was a close call! Despite her being sore and tired, she was a sport and showed up to the party and was totally surprised!

 



 

The gorgeous cake was from a local bakery, One Sweet Cookie and was de-lish!!

 

The color scheme for the party was pink and gold and the decorations were kept simple and tasteful.

 



Wine and Michael Buble...sounds like a good night at home for Hooch!

 

 

Another HSB approved party!!

 

 

And now a mushy birthday message:

Hooch, I hope you had a wonderful birthday! We have been friends for over 15 years now, and you have been by my side through the best times and also the worst times (B, you've been on my other side!).  I am truly grateful to have a friend like you.  I wish you all the joy and happiness in the world! Here's to our 30s...let's make them the best times of our lives! XOXOXO

 

 



Powder Room Makeover Complete!

Finally.....maybe.....

Back in November I decided to re-do my small powder room; here is that post in case you need a refresher: Bathroom Makeover.  I wasn't completely satisfied with the way it turned out, so I had in my head that when the weather got nicer I would re-finish my cabinets.  Well the weather never got nicer and I got impatient.  Truthfully, I started this project over 2 weeks ago and I just finished it now.  Go ahead call me a slacker! I have never done anything like this before, and I wasn't sure where to start so I turned to the Internet. Everything I read about painting cabinets said pretty much the same thing: clean, remove doors, fill in holes, sand, prime, and paint. So that's what I did. Ok, well, I skipped the filling in the holes part...I was just going to put those hinges back on the doors anyways, so why would I fill them in!? And I use the term "sand" VERY loosely!

Here is what my bathroom looked like before:

 

 

To get started I cleaned off all the cabinets and removed the doors. I found some old sandpaper in my basement and tried my best to sand everything.  I found a can of primer in my basement too...jackpot!  They sell paint for cabinets; I'm not sure if its different than regular paint, but I bought it anyway.

 

 



 

Without a doubt the most time consuming (and most annoying) part was taking off the doors to paint them because you have to wait for one side to dry before you can paint the other and it really just ends up slowing you down.  If  I had more space in there I probably would have just left them on and painted around everything.

 

Here are all three finished cabinets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally, I think it makes a huge difference and I am really pleased with how they turned out. Next, I would love to replace that old tile and get a new counter top for the sink. 

 

I still might paint that wood frame around the window...what do you all think?