Rendi-licious

This past November I attended a vendor event at my friend Laura's house. As I was meandering through her house I came upon some fantastic frames and home décor. I started to talk to the consultant and left with the intention of having my own catalog party. Once I came home and had more time to rifle through the catalog, I realized this was just what I needed to fulfill a part of myself and fill my walls. What is this fabulous company you might ask?? RENDI!

Rendi is this fun new company that helps you take a few of those photos, combine them with words, like a quote or an expression, and turn them into customizable frames and signs. You use them to give your walls a personality and show off the people who have filled your life with love and laughter.  Rendi makes it easy to update your walls or create a perfect gift. It all starts with just one picture of a best friend or a photo of your son or daughter.
 

~Use Rendi to promote your business~ 

R5107

 

R5101

 

~In your classroom, office, or school.~

 

R5107 and R5104

 

~To celebrate a special person or event~

R3046

R3043

 

~Or to tell your family story~

This is where ours began....

 

R5601

 

I can't wait to help you tell your story.

 

Click on the links below to visit my website and Facebook fan page to see some pictures of the amazing things you can Rendi. I know you will love it just as much as I do.

www.makeitpersonal.rendistyle.com

 Pinability Fan Page

 

Michelle :)

 

Party Time

Each year, I try to create the best birthday party I can for my son Camden. I figure I can never get these precious days back so why not go out with a bang. I guess you could say I like planning parties too. For his first birthday, the theme was, The Hungry Caterpillar. We had two parties, one in PA and one in MD for all of our family and friends. The first pictures are from our church social hall in Pennsylvania.

 This is a picture of the birthday sign I created. I have never cut out so many circles in my life.

 

 

These cakes and cupcakes were created at Giant in Meadville, PA and were super delicious!

 My mom made her famous sugar cookies.

 

I created our own caterpillar with red and green balloons.

 I also created a caterpillar photo timeline of Camden's first year.

 

 

I purchased a personalized t-shirt on etsy.

 

 I also made a highchair sign that was made to look like The Hungry Caterpillar.

 

Each child received a cute visor that I made with red foam visors from Michael's. I just added eyes and a nose.

The second party was a little easier because it was at a local restaurant and I was able to use many of the decorations for a second time. The table cloths I was able to purchase at Target which was great! I had plates and placemats that matched each jelly bean color on each table as centerpieces.

Guests were asked to sign a copy of Eric Carle's book, The Hungry Caterpillar as a keepsake for Camden. My mom and I created the cake and the cupcakes after I had ordered one from a local grocery store that did not look pleasing at all! I think we did a great job!

Yes, I sorted all of those Jelly Belly jelly beans too! I am a little OCD when it comes to party planning.



Last year, for Camden's second birthday our theme was Elmo and Sesame Street. I found so many great ideas on the internet. Below are just a few photos from the party.

My friend Bobbi created this Elmo out of baby tomatoes, black olives, and carrots.

 

My mom and I created the cake and the cupcakes. I purchased the cake pan and the candy eyes at JoAnn's, with my coupons of course. 

 

The tradition continued with guests signing a book with the party theme so that Camden would have another keepsake as he grows up.

The goody bags had crayons and gold fish in them of course. I also wanted something personal and educational that the kids could have so I created shakers. The shakers you see in the background have colored rice in them. There are also letters in each one that spelled the child's name. The tags were color coordinated with the beads inside so the kids knew what color beads to look for. They were a big hit. I had to drink a lot of orange juice and dye a lot of rice but it was well worth it. 

 

One of the things that I saw online and knew that I had to create were these adorable character heads out of tissue paper. Once I created the faces out of cardstock, the rest was easy.  I think I used about 8-12 sheets of tissue paper in each color.

 

My husband and I created this great Camden Street sign after seeing a similar one online. Ryan, my husband wanted ours to actually work so he used an led light under the globe that turns on and off. Camden and all of his guests had a great time.

 

 

I know Camden is looking forward to his Cars party this year as am I. Stay tuned, the party planning has commenced....

 

Michelle :)

Valentine's Day handouts

This year I had prepared well in advance for my class valentines. I had the perfect idea...well until I lost part of my idea in a pile of mail. I still think they turned out cute but I know they could've been so much more. Ha!!! What is missing are the cute inch worms that I purchased to go on the pencils. Oh well....I don't think the kids will know what they are missing.

I purchased rulers, eraser grippers, and pencils all from the dollar store.

The rulers came in a 3 pack for $1.00 so I was able to keep the cost down.

10 eraser grips for $1.00
 

I purchased the pencils at Wal-Mart 12 for $0.97
I created a sheet of tags in Microsoft Word. I was able to fit 6 on a sheet. The clip art I used is from www.thistlegirldesigns.com where I have a lifetime membership.

 

Here is the final product. They were a big hit today!! 

 

What fun valentine crafts did you make at your house this year?

Valentine's Day Mantle

I am so excited about my Valentine's Day mantle. My husband just rolls his eyes when I start preparing for a new holiday, but this one is always a favorite of mine. I think it stresses him out because he not only has to prepare for Valentine's Day but also my birthday. I just get to enjoy the week of celebrations!

After making the big move in July it was fun to pull together things that were no longer being used. I started by pinning a few mantles on Pinterest that I liked. I then searched high and low for anything around the house or that was boxed up that might work for my final product. Then it was off to a few of my favorite stores to find some cheap accessories.

At the dollar store I found these, as well as, the heart wreath and heart sticks:

I purchased two packages of the garland and the heart shaped scatter. I used the heart shaped scatter inside the glass block. I bought the glass block at Christmas time at Lowe's and did not have time to use it. The block also was filled with other scatter shapes that I already had as well as some little LED lights.

The garland was long enough to put around the mantle and I was able to use part of the second one to decorate the tree branches that I bought at Michael's.  Instead of decorating with rose petals that are a little cliché, I scattered some balloons that I had left from Camden's balloon wreath last year.

Probably my favorite thing is the frame that I created using a 12 x 12 white frame,  a piece of scrapbook paper, and the metal word "love" that was hanging in my old kitchen. Live and Laugh might make their way into my St. Patrick's Day or Easter mantle.

 

I am also happy that I was able to unearth the "10 things I Love about Us" gift that I had made for Ryan before we were married. It was funny to look at the things that I had written on each page of the little books and to see the ones that had yet to been written. 

 



 

 

So maybe I lied about my favorite thing on the mantle. This little creation was given to my on my first Mother's Day three years ago. It will always have a special place in my heart, not only because of the photo, but because my husband glued each letter on all by himself.  

 

 

Here is the final product...well at least until I hit Hobby Lobby or JoAnn Fabric. :)

 

 



Holiday Decor

Well....it has been some time since I have had a moment to sit down and document all of the great things going on in my life and my house. But, I am here to tell you that I have a problem....a decorating addiction. I knew it was bad when I pulled out some red stocking from the back of my closet to create a valentine mantle display. Oh, just wait! I don't have any photos yet as that one is still in progress, but, trust me it will blow your socks off....no pun intended. ;)

While you are waiting, I want to share with you what I created this year to display my Christmas cards. I think it turned out great and it was so easy.

I used some red yarn that I already had and wrapped it around the door in my kitchen that leads to my basement. I then created several reindeer clothespins using glue dots, red pom poms, google eyes, and brown pipe cleaners. I think the most difficult thing was each time I would go to the mailbox and realize I had to come in and make more reindeer in order to hang all of my cards. I guess that isn't a bad thing. What do you think?

Monogram Door

One of my favorite things, like I had mentioned in a previous post is decorating my new front door. I have even created a pinboard on Pinterest. One of the coolest things I had found while searching for things to beautify my new door was a personalized monogram. I am sure if you are a Pin-a-holic like me, you have seen some of them on Pinterest. I purchased mine from Southern Proper Monograms. I love how it turned out however I thought it came already painted. It did not, but that was not a problem because I had some Kilz left over from my chandelier make over.

Check it out~

Before

After and it looks fantastic on my door.

Penn State Wreath

I've recently been inspired to create art for the front door of our new house. What can say more about a person's home than how they care for their yard? I think it is how they decorate their door/front porch, but thanks to my wonderful husband, the yard looks great too! I have been busy creating things for Halloween but I wanted to create a wreath for football season. I saw a great one that had a large football on it but I wanted to use things I already had around the house.

One of my favorite places to visit is the ribbon outlet in Hagerstown. I like to refer to it as "ribbon heaven." I could spend hours in there searching for ribbon that I don't even have a current use for at the moment. If you live in the DC metro area and are a crafter you must check it out, Berwick Ribbon Outlet.  Anyway, last summer I spent many hours looking through the ribbon bins to find ribbon. I had purchased this ribbon very cheap. Of course I told my husband I had plans for the ribbon when I bought it. :)

Some of my inspiration ribbon for this project had a paw print pattern and the other was blue and white polka-dot. They were just screaming to be made into something Penn State. The spools that you can purchase at the ribbon outlet are much larger and more economical than what you get at the local craft store. I think I paid $3.00 for the paw print and $10.00 for the polka dot. This is what I still have left after the wreath and a few other projects.

I used a hay wreath because I wanted the wreath to have some depth. I left the plastic on so that there would not be hay all over the floor. I also had created a balloon wreath for my son's birthday with the same material and I liked how it turned out. I took the ribbon and wrapped it around and I was able to use push pins to hold the last piece. Then I created a large bow from some ribbon that had wire in it. Finally, I stole (I mean borrowed) my son Camden's mini football that he had in his room.

I am so happy with the final product. I have a feeling that I might need that left over ribbon to make a few more of these after our friends and family see how cute it turned out. We might need a few more mini footballs though.