Another Crafty Blog Find

I just had to quickly post about an awesome blog I just found (because she left me a great idea on my last post). Stacie over at The Creative Crate is so crafty!! I love her ideas and all the creative things she makes. LOVE it!! Look at this amazing American flag window she did!! I have a few old windows to do something creative with, so I think I just found something! Go check out her stuff!!

You Can Make This Too

Have you ever been to YouCanMakeThis.com? It's one of my fave places to browse online. They have the cutest eBook patterns that you can purchase online and download right then!! I have made some cute things from the YCMT eBook patterns. Here are my latest...

This is the Boutique Dress Top and Bottom from SewSensible...

(The back view) It's a halter top, so I prefer my daughter wearing it with a layer shirt underneath.

This one is actually not from one of their patterns, but I grabbed the idea from a picture on the YCMT website (the one on my left sidebar actually) and improvising a pattern I already had (from JoAnn's) for the top.

Also I cut off a pair of each of my girls' jeans for the bottoms and made some ruffles to sew onto each of them.

These turned out really cute, but took me forever! If you want to make this outfit, I highly recommend just getting it from YCMT for the step-by-step instructions!

My cousin, Sherrie is one of my fave YCMT authors! She offers a FREE headband pattern that you must go download!! (That will be my next project when I get a chance, to match the red/blue outfits I just made my girls.) I will show more of hers that I've made another time! Here are the rest of their FREEBIES!!

Birthday Party Time!

I love birthdays! Birthdays are a perfect time to boost a child's self esteem and let them know how special they are.

My daughter just had a birthday, and my son will have one in a couple of weeks. What do you do for your kids' birthdays? I've noticed a huge variety in what everyone else does. Some throw big parties with friends every year, others every other; some elaborate, others more simple. There is no right or wrong to birthdays, except that every child needs and deserves to feel like a million bucks on their birthday!!

Personally, I start giving my kids "friend" parties on their 6th birthday, then every other year from then on. They seem satisfied with that, because every year we have a family/relative party for them, so the cousins still get to come!

I am the more simple, homemade, themed birthday party kind of mom. I like to be creative and frugal. And I love to make fun cakes of the child's choosing! Soon I will post pics of the cakes [and parties] I have done.

I do not do slumber parties, nor will we let our children slumber elsewhere. Last fall I did do a "pretend sleepover" party for my daughter turning 6, and it was a lot of fun! Party guests got to where their jammies over, bring their pillow, and I had them decorate a birthday pillow case for the birthday girl (that she still sleeps on every night!). (Got the ideas from the FamilyFun website.)

I have established some little traditions for birthdays with my family over the years, like taking the birthday child on a "date night with mom and dad" on (or near) their big day, consisting of dinner (usually at Red Robin) and whatever they choose to do afterward. We usually end our date with a trip to Walmart or Build-a-Bear or somewhere they can pick out something special from mom and dad.

The most important things I make sure to do on birthdays are:
1. Decorate the house! The night before, after kids go down I put up the Happy Birthday banner, the birthday wreath on the front door, the birthday table cloth and special chair cover (equiped with a pocket on the back for love letters and cards from family members), the "You are Special" red charger plate, and the picture frame centerpeice with the birthday child's picture in it. (Dollar store banner, fabric store, some homemade stuff)
2. The birthday pillowcase that covers the birthday child's pillow for the week of their birthday. (Homemade. Birthday fabric found at Joann's)
3. The "I'm the Birthday Girl/Boy" badge that the special child gets to wear to let everyone know it's their day. (Found at Walmart or Zurchers for cheap!)
4. The birthday questionaire which the child (or mom for the little ones) fills out and goes in the child's special binder.

...I know, a lot of work, but a lot of fun! (I got lots of these ideas several years ago from Carleen Tanner's parenting class on "Traditions" as well as from my own childhood, etc.)

The Stomp Shop at Other Mothers

My fave store, Other Mothers in Boise has a new, exciting addition that starts on Wednesday June 17 at 10:00 AM! It's called the "Stomp Shop", and it's a resale "juniors" department- fun! I will definately be there tomorrow checking things out.

Xpressions Dance Academy

I'm really excited about a dance studio I recently learned about! It's called Xpressions Dance Academy, located in Nampa off the Franklin Rd. exit. I met the "mom-prunuer" owner last week, who is my neighbor Alexis. She is such a darling mom of 3 with an incredible passion for dance. I hear she is also an extremely talented dancer who has been dancing her whole life. Anyway, Xpressions is run by Alexis and her mother (whom I also met last week)- two very neat ladies!

What I am really excited about are her summer dance camps, like the "Princess Camp" for little girls between ages 3-6, and also "Hannah Camp" (you know- Hannah Montana) for age 7-9. Round one of Princess camp was this week, but she will be doing another one in July! The Hannah camp is next week. I think she is still taking sign-ups, so hurry on over to check it out!

I'm Thinkin' Arby's this Summer!

Check out FabulessyFrugal, my fave couponing blog, for the scoop on Wednesday Summertime Arby's Freebies!! Thanks FabFrug gals, via PYP!!

Summertime Boredom Busters

My fave website, Sugardoodle.net has a page called Boredom Busters. I thought I'd share that with you!

Marne over at Making Life Sweet has got a bunch of local, inexpensive ideas to do over the summer, HERE and HERE!

Here are some other links to fun family activities- great for summer break!
TipJunkie and HERE
FamilyFun

Going to Disneyland? Some good tips are found here:
TipJunkie
Just Spotted
This blog

I've had lots of readers email me for my local Summer Fun word.doc and it's been such a privilage sharing it with you all. The offer is still good all summer. Just send me an email.

New Website for my Fave Store

Other Mothers in Boise, ID finally has a website. It's about time! They are also adding a really cool new section in the store- The Stomp Shop, for tweens and teens (aka- a "juniors" department). How fun is that? And the prices will be un-beatable!! More info to come on that!

Shade $5 Sale in My Town!

I just recieved this email from my friend, Angela R. who is the sister of the owner/founder of Shade Clothing...

"Just a quick note to let you know about another Shade Clothing $5.00 sale that will be happening this weekend! We will have lots of shirts, dresses, shorts, and some swimwear. Really good stuff again this time. You can print this e-mail off and bring it in to be put into a drawing for one of Shades new BRIGHT SIDE TEES. (Or just copy/paste & print this post from my blog.)

To check these out, as well as everything else that Shade has to offer- check out their website at http://www.shadeclothing.com/. PLEASE PASS THIS INFO ON TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE THAT YOU THINK MIGHT BE INTERESTED!!!! (the youth group that is using this as a way to earn money for a girls camp will appreciate it). Hope to see you there!"
Below is the info:

RAIN OR SHINE!!!

Date: Sat June 13th, 2009
Time: 9-3
Where: Lowell Scott Middle School (parking lot)
13600 W McMillan Rd Boise, ID 83713
Contact number for questions: 861-3281

Birthday Party Ideas on Tip Junkie

(Clipart from Webweaver)

Laurie with TipJunkie is doing her 13-Day Birthday Bash and is posting a bunch of cute ideas for birthday parties right now! Today is Day-2 of 13, so if you need fun ideas for your kids' birthdays TipJunkie is one of my fave places to check for inspiration! I also love Family Fun for birthday inspiration. When I get a chance, I will post some of my own birthday ideas and show off some fun, easy cakes I've made for my kids' parties.

Neat Video!

"What you want to do, and what you can do, is limited only by what you can dream."
-Mike Melville



My husband got this YouTube video today in an email from a friend. He had me come in and watch it. SO profound, and it brought tears to my eyes. I just had to share it on my blog.
Here's the explaination that came with it:

"This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old. The contest was titled "u @ 50", by the AARP. This video won second place.
When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch."

My Town- Summer Fun Activities

I created a word.doc a couple years ago for an enrichment lesson (church activity for moms). I just updated everything (except pricing on some of the pools, etc). The word.doc includes tons of links, ideas, and even some yummy summer recipes. If you live in my area (Boise, Meridian, Nampa and surrounding) and would like a copy of this, just email me at thecreativehomemaker@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send it to you as an appreciation for reading my blog!