Celebrate the Boy Pirate-Style

Since it's Celebrate the Boy month at MADE, I thought I'd show off a few boy rooms over the next few days. Here is my son's room when he was really into pirates.

Unfortunately, he decided he wasn't "into pirates" soon after I finished decorating his room.

(So now it's more of a UGA/sports theme. I'll post it tomorrow).

The lighting in the picture below is terrible. But one of my favorite things in his room was this row of wooden pirates that lined the window sill. They were each one dollar from the Dollar Tree!

I miss this room!! And I miss him being "into pirates"! He had a pirate-themed birthday party three years in a row! I was a pro by the time third pirate party rolled around.

Happy Looking!

Easter Buckets!

Make this little cutie:

From these:



Other ideas:


The sheep dog may be my very favorite!




So easy to make! And relatively inexpensive, as well, if you have most of the items on hand.

You will need:
-metal pails (Home Depot and Lowe's have them in their paint section. You can also try a local hardware store)
-spray paint
-paint pens
-boas (these were from Hobby Lobby and Michaels)
-hot glue gun and glue sticks
-felt (optional)

I simply sprayed the cans with whatever spray paint I had. The slicker, shinier pails were harder to spray paint, as the paint seemed to drip. If you are patient and spray just a light coat and wait until the paint is dry before beginning your next coat, you will have better luck. I probably sprayed 5 or 6 light coats on these pails.

When the pails/buckets were dry, I glued the boas to the upper rim of the pail.

I then added eyes, nose whiskers using paint pens and felt. I am NOT an artist - anyone can do this.

You can have fun with this. Let me know if you come up with something else. I was trying to think of more "boyish" ideas. I tried making a clown with red trim and a red pom-pom for a nose, but it was U-G-L-Y.

Have fun and Happy Easter!

I first posted this post in my family blog. You can find it here.

I'm linking to Between Naps on the Porch (Metamorphosis Monday)

and Make Your Monday at The Twice Remembered Cottage

and It's So Very Cheri

and Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts

and Making the World Cuter.

and Simply Sweet Home.

More Owls!

I walked by this the other day at the thrift store and thought, "How ugly." It's thin brown plastic. It weighs about the same as a paper plate. The price was $3.99. I walked away.

As I was browsing the lamps, I couldn't get those owls out of my mind. I thought, "I bet with a coat of spray paint, they'd be cute."

I think I was right.

I pried off the orange eyeballs. I thought about keeping them, but then I replaced them with mirrored disks and they look a lot cuter in my 9 year old's room. Obviously I need to wipe the smudges off of Daddy owl's eyes. But not bad for $4.00.

Valentine Marshmallow Pops

These aren't that original, but they sure are cute, yummy, quick, easy, and inexpensive! I purchased Wal-Mart brand regular and strawberry marshmallows, pushed them on a lollipop stick, melted some white chocolate, stuck the tip of the the top marshmallow in the melted chocolate, then dipped the tip in a small bowl of sprinkles. Ta Da!!

These are so easy that the kids can do them without you! My 9 year old even melted the chocolate by herself (in the microwave). Easy peasy! The only problem is this - my kids don't like sprinkles. Neither do I. They sure are cute, but they sure are yucky. And crunchy. And the red ones are the worst. They basically just taste like red dye.

But we really hope their friends like them! :)

Owl Be Your Valentine!

I wish these were pink! If you are lucky enough to find strawberry Moon Pies, then lucky you!! The yellow ones make me think of Tweetie Bird and/or Big Bird. But hopefully if you attach a note to them saying, "Owl Be Your Valentine", then it is self explanatory. Regardless of their color, I still think they're adorable!

I used banana Moon Pies made by Little Debbie. (But if I had a choice, I'd use pink ones!)

I used Necco wafers with M & Ms for the eyes. I attached them with basic Duncan Hines frosting in the tub.

The tricky part was finding Valentine candy corn. I finally found it at our local Hallmark store. Super cheap, by the way.

Then I inserted a lollipop stick (can be found at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or even Wal-Mart) into the bottom end, stuck it in a cellophane bag, and tied a coordinating ribbon around the bag to secure it.

I think it's a "hoot" (no pun intended!). :)

Linking to Frugal Fridays at The Shabby Nest

Valentine Jigglers

Last year I was asked to bring a snack of some type to one of the kid's Valentine party at school. So I decided to make Jell-O Jigglers. I wanted to use cookie cutters and cut them out in the shape of hearts. But of course I waited til the last minute to make these, and I could not find my heart-shaped cookie cutter anywhere. So I just cut the jello into small squares. I was disappointed in how boring they looked. Then I remembered that I had some cute picks that I could poke into them. However, the jigglers slip off the wooden skewer. So I decided to try straws and it worked! I cut the straws in half then cut 3 or 4 tiny slits into the end of each straw. The slits kind of "gripped" the jello and kept it from just sliding off the jello. It was actually cute with just the straws, but then I remembered these heart-shaped stickers and I stuck them on the tops of the straws. Then I really loved them, even more so than the original heart-shaped jigglers that I had in mind.

So last night when I decided to post this, I thought it would be fun to try different colors that could be used at times other than Valentine's Day.

I used colorful straws, cut them in half, cut slits in the end, then stuck them in the more colorful jigglers (I added green this time). I had these wooden skewers with windmills on the ends that I had purchased at World Market last year. I simply put the wooden skewer into the straw.

Here's an idea: Use them for a Girls Night out, if you know what I mean. How cute would that be?!

Here's another idea I just had. I can't wait til July! Make red and blue jigglers, put McDonald's straws in them (white straws with red striped), then insert those flag toothpicks into the straws! That sounds so cute to me! You could even add some whipped cream (in a can) to each jiggler, just to add some white to the red and blue (you patriot, you!).

If you do this for something, please let me know. I'd love to see what you come up with!

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

I've had this idea in my head for quite a while. I always thought this would be cute to use as a favor for an ice cream party. But, alas, none of my children want an ice cream party! So...I decided to turn this idea into a Valentine's gift.

It's a ball of cotton candy on a sugar cone.

I bought the cotton candy from the Dollar Tree. You could probably make 6 balls of cotton candy from one bag.

The sugar cones were from Kroger. You could also use larger waffle cones with a larger "scoop" of cotton candy. It would probably be even cuter than the ones in the regular sugar cones.

The cone-shaped bags were from Hobby Lobby. They were 1.99 for 26. Not bad!

I printed out a little saying on the computer and tied it to the ribbon around the cellophane bag.

I thought of another cheesy saying, "Valentine, My heart is like ICE CREAM. It MELTS for you."

More Valentine's Ideas to come. And most of them were inspired by findings from the Dollar Tree.

I'm linking to Frugal Fridays at The Shabby Nest