Who said FROGS are for boys only??

I fell in LOVE with this Rainbow frog fabirc when I found it and thought it would be SUPER cute for a boy or a girl! The ANNA style dress can be worn as a top on older girls or as a dress and is SUPER twirly!

It's a FUN dress for little girls and is practical as well. Easy wash dry 100% cotton. This style can be found on my website http://www.frogsandflowersboutique.com/  in a few fabrics but can be made with ANY fabric!

More of these to come!!

Retail $45

Elmer's #canyoutopthis challenge...& it was a TON OF FUN!!

While scrolling through a list of Blog giveaways a few days ago I found a giveaway/challenge that I thought would be TONS of fun. The goal was to make ANYTHING using an Elmer's tri-fold display board .........OH THE POSSIBILITIES! While sitting trying to figure out WHAT I wanted to make, my 9 year old asked what I was doing, so I told him all about the giveaway. After hearing the post he said, 'MOM, I have an idea, what about a new years eve ball we can drop, YOU KNOW like the one in NY city?" IF he hadn't been so excited with the thought of it, I think I would have laughed, but I could tell he was EXCITED about the thought of dropping a ball on new years. You see we just moved from the NY/CT area to Arizona and I think he sees the ball dropping in time square as a little piece of "home."

Anyone who knows me knows I am CRAFTY person. I design childrens clothing, and accessories. I LOVE to work on projects, I do NOT like help, and when the boys are doing art projects I HAVE to line things up and add to them. (I know it's bad)  I need things to be symmetrical, I NEED a plan, I need organization...and a BALL DROP just didn't fit into this picture!!!

If you know anything else about me you ALSO KNOWS there isn't anything I wouldn't do for my boys, and  so today after going to Wal-mart we made a dropping ball, and the CUTEST new YEARS banner EVER MADE ;)! I can't even begin to explain to you how much fun we had making it. 6 hours later we are READY for the new year and my 9 & 6 year old AGAIN thinks I am THE COOLEST MOM IN THE WORLD...(I think they are right ;)

Elmer's tri-fold board...CHECK
Elmer's Glue
Elmer's Construction paper
a shoe box
markers
a ruler if you can't eyeball like a pro ;) (we didn't have one but like I said above I am crafty...I used a CD)
tape
scissors
ribbon
silver tinsel
inside tube from wrapping paper
glitter glue
hot glue gun


To start it off, we NEEDED a plan! The banner came first so that while I was trying to figure out HOW to make a BALL from construction paper & a tri-fold board, THE BOYS had something to do!

We cut out 16 triangles (this is where the CD came in handy for drawing the lines. I made a template from the construction paper and then drew the triangle one right side up one upside down. We needed all the board for what we were making and being a fabric cutter I wanted to make sure I was cutting less and that I was not going to loose material we needed.

after all the triangles were cut out I wrote one letter on each triangle and then handed them over to the boys.....

While they were working on the letters...I started working on the BALL that had to DROP! I cut a stripe from the board top to bottom cut off about 4 inches and rolled the pieces around to make a circle. The ends were taped together, and this formed the body of the "ball". for each end I made another circle like this but small. REMEMBER the ball has to DROP so this is where the LITTLE circles came into play, and the wrapping paper tube!!

NOW to put the "ball" together.... I cut out 4 3 inch wide and about 12 inch long strips. i cut the ends of each into points. The center of each was taped to the large wring and the ends each to one of the small pictures...see picture for example. This isn't an easy thing to explain but the picture shows it well i think.

I ROCK!!!!!!! Sorry I had to say that, because at this point I was THRILLED WITH MYSELF!

I cut 8 pieces of construction paper out the SAME way I did the cardboard piece. We folded the paper in half longways and then cut them with a bubble center and narrow tips. 4 pieces were glued with a hot glue gun on top of the cardboard pieces. The other four pieces i cut slits at the center on either side so that they would form and ark when the paper overlapped. I used a small piece of tape to tape each side...

once all the paper was on the ball we lined it with silver tinsel, the NYC ball is after all silver and we needed it to be SHINY!

 

 The boys finished the letters and I cut out 3 inch rectangles from the construction paper to add to the top so we could string the letters for the banner. We used Elmer's Glue to glue the front and back the the tri-fold board triangles, and set them all to the side to dry...

I wrapped the shoebox and the cardboard tube with blue construction paper (it's the boys FAVORITE color). Cut a hole in the top of the box and Glued the tube to the inside of the box so it wouldn't go anywhere. Now HOW to make the ball DROP... we decided to let it drop about 2 inches every minute starting at 11:55 so we tied white grosgrain ribbon the post each having a time on them so the boys would know when to untie the bow.

The ball sits at the top resting on the first ribbon, and once the ribbon is taken off, the ball drops about 2 inches and rests on the next ribbon.....

We added a sign to the top that has each persons name on it and the boys decorated it with glitter glue, and pictures.

At this point the triangle letters were dry so we strung them up on white grosgrain ribbon and tacked them up on the wall........

 This would also be a great banner for happy birthday and it's easy for kids to make!!

The boys had SOOOOO much fun making these items, and the dinning room is all ready for a little family Party. We can't wait to "RING IN THE NEW YEAR" with out very own ball drop, and my 9 year old is delighted that his idea came to life.

We are entering our creations in the Elmer's CAN YOU TOP THIS giveaway for a chance to win $100 Wal-mart gift card. We hope to be a lucky winner!

Thank you to ourcrazyboys blog for hosting such a FUN giveaway, and for inspiring a family art project that everyone could be a part of...

OH did I mention that hubby helped hang the banner! (HAHAHAH)

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our friends and Family

SWAGG & info on a giveaway

You have to Check out this new app!

You can grab it for the iPhone and DROID it allows you to give gift cards on the go as well as organize your rewards and gift cards called SWAGG (very convenient)! When you hit the stores you just hold your iPhone out for the cashier to scan. I just downloaded this app tonight after finding a giveaway on GO Graham GO





Make sure you check it out for a chance to win!

Support Cancer Research



The best part about the FREE SWAGG download is that from now until December 31st SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) for every app download. SU2C is a non-profit that launched in 2008 to fund cancer research. Their goal is to reach 125K downloads by the 31st.







The Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes



You also have a chance to win a fun trip! Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a lucky pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! The prize includes:







* 2 night/3 day stay at Yarrow Hotel in Park City Utah (Jan 21 - Jan 23, 2011)



* Ground transportation to and from hotel to airport in Park City, Utah



* Dinner for two at Tao Lounge, including 2 nightclub passes



* All access to The House of SWAGG Gifting Suite



* 2 tickets to a movie premiere on Saturday, January 22nd -- movie tbd



* $4,000 value

Handmade mommy Blog giveaway

Handmade mommy blog Giveaway Since our move my fun thing right now has been checking out blogs and entering blog giveaways! I have actualy won a few great gifts and have found a TON of great blogs in the process!!.

handmade mommy has a GREAT giveaway on her blog right now. Enter for a chance to win an $80 gift card to CSN....but hurry because this giveaway will end ....SOON!!!!

The True Meaning of Gift Giving

So I haven't been on in a WHILE to blog, but my goal is to get back into blogging with the new year. We moved from CT to Arizona in November due to an ilness my oldest son has. he needed the warmer weather and WOW did we ever get it! Christmas morning we were outsidw in flip flops soaking in the sun!

Due to the move right before Christmas money was tighter than EVER this year. Not only did we spend $1000's on the move, we also had a few $1000 stole in the move by the movers. Needless to say the boys were a bit worried about 'BUYING" Christmas for family members to send in the mail. This prompted "having the talk" with the boys to explain to them about true gift giving.

WE decided to MAKE gifts for family members. Fun braclets for nana, and my sister in law. The boy LOVED picking the beads for each person! We also made fun little cards for Nana since she likes to write letters. Each boy picked 6 fabrics and we covered the fronts of the blank cards to make a CUTe set of stationary for her.

I want my boys to realize that gift giving is from the heart. It isn't about how much you spent, but about the love and time you put into the gift and to us making handmade gifts was the best way to show them this.




The iVillage #HaveTheTalk campaign is super important especially during the holidays.
Right now if you have ‘the TALK’ and share it via the iVillage Facebook App:

iVillage will donate $1 to Junior Achievement for every Facebook Share! With the goal of raising $5,000!