Easter Crafts!

I was just about to email my wonderful friend Wendalish about some of the crafts we've been working on lately, and I thought, heck!  I might as well post 'em on here - what's it gonna hurt, right?

Well, we've had a few of my nieces around the last week, along with some of my other amazing nieces and nephews here in Utah and they always force me to dig deep in the crafty department!  This spring I've seen so many great ideas on different blogs, so we decided to try a few out!  Here's how we're doing so far :)

First off, 

this http://www.howdoesshe.com/decorating-with-peeps and this http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/tutorial-quick-and-easy-easter-wreath/peep-wreath-ii/ inspired this:

 

My mom took over and wouldn't let me touch it (even though it's going to hang at my house :) and went wild!  It actually looks even better in person - I wasn't sure what I would think, but I actually really like it :)

A dessert we're half way through with can be found here:

http://www.howdoesshe.com/easter-tradition So far they look like this:

But we're having some problems peeling the balloons out - next time I think we should cover the balloons with powdered sugar (shaking off all of the excess) before we dip them - No one wants laytex in their Easter Mousse!  (oh, we're just doing bottoms, not tops - 20+ people are just too many to do tops and bottoms for! :D  We're calling them baskets instead of eggs :)  Oh!  We're going to fill them with mousse made from this recipe: 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Death-by-Chocolate-Mousse/Detail.aspx  Death by Chocolate sounds alright by me! :D

We also made these:

http://picky-palate.com/2010/12/06/brownie-covered-oreos/

But for some reason they all stuck to the pan this time!  We used the spring oreos with yellow centers this time - so fun!  Last time, we just used the regular ones and used colored frosting (on top of powdered sugar) to decorate them like eggs!  I'll have to see if I can find a picture!  It was fun for the kids (figers dipped in brownie mix.... broken oreos... you get the idea ;)

The kids really had a fun time painting and working on THESE:

As you can see, our flock is only half done - most still need eyes and wings!  We found our inspiration here:

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crafts-by-type/animal-bug-crafts/animal-themed-crafts/bird-crafts/easter-eggs-easter-dove-661708/

After they got painted my sister had the great idea to spray them with sealant - Genius!  Here's a few P did a few weeks ago (sans flight -perhaps they're related to penguins more than doves)  We've consitered doing some Angry Birds, but for now this is what we've got ;)

Well, there are a few other things in the works, but I think this is will do for now!  I'm exausted and half of them aren't finished but hopefully we can make it!  Tonight we're going to dye eggs!  I REALLY hope we can try Silk Tye Dyed Eggs, but you probably shouldn't eat them and I don't know how many my hubby has to sacrifice (though I'm sure I can find a few... ;-)  If you want to know how, you can check them out here:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/silk-dyed-eggs-aka-tie-dyed/

and here:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/04/06/silk-tie-dyed-eggs-tutorial/

Don't worry - we haven't forgotten the REASON for Easter - we found this little 7 day guide to the week before Easter here: 

http://beinglds.blogspot.com/2011/04/three-awesome-easter-activities-for.htmlhttp:  

Though I had a hard time printing the pages

This sweet neighbor is going to have Easter dinner with us and will be making Ressurection Rolls found on that page as well! (or something like that)  This looks like a nice guide as well:

//www.sugardoodle.info/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4281&Itemid=5

Well that'll do us for now, folks!  Love you and hope you're having a wonderful 'Holy Week'!

Some YW Valentines and Personal Progress tags

Here are a few hand outs I made for Valentine's Day in our ward - We're passing them out with chocolate heart suckers - yum!  I'm not quite sure how to make it so when you click on the picture it's a high enough quality to print, but if you're interested, just let me know.  I know there's not much time to use them - I'm kind of last minute here! :D

The Valentines were designed with tags and elements from Summer Driggs's Dance with me kit.  I've also attached some Personal Progress tags we're attaching to heart suckers.  They were inspired by Carol at ldsywpersonalprogress.blogspot.com (specifically this post: http://ldsywpersonalprogress.blogspot.com/2009/01/put-your-heart-into-personal-progress.html) and designed again with Summer Drigg's Dance with me kit found here: http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/01/dance-with-me-kit.html
Anyway, enjoy!  I enjoyed making them and hope the girls like them too :)

Quick! Watch it before he deletes it! :D

Dru's Christmas gift to his girlfriend :)  No, he doesn't propose-even better!

What we've been up to...

Hey Everyone!  Wondering what we've been up to lately?  Check out http://operationcompassiondonations.blogspot.com for photos and more! :)  Thanks and Merry Christmas Season!

Thanksgiving Project!

After being inspired by blogs like Impress Your Kids and so many Thanksgiving Ideas, including those at Craftily Ever After, I thought my daughter and I would try making a Thanksgiving sign to help us get in the mood and make our home a bit more festive for the big day!
So today (yes, the day before Thanksgiving) I pulled out the canvas and paint and we went to work!

To begin, I gave Priya a paint brush, some orange paint and let her go to town on the canvas!

Notice the intensity! :D  Please ignore the 'bareness' of it all - we were in a hurry and that seemed to be the easiest way to keep paint off her clothes for the moment - I know, I'm a nut.

While that dried, I hit the computer and, with a little design advice from Joe (a shocker, I know ;) we came up with this baby!  Unfortunately, the first time around, I miss calculated and we make it a little too big - but with a quick adjustment, Joe had it ready to go and had the vinyl printed!  I quickly weeded it (probably the easiest I've ever weeded! Most of the time I hate that part!) and attempted to stick it to the canvas - no luck!  After MUCH impatient patience, I finally got it down!  This is how it looked:

This might be ok... IF you are a Denver Broncos fan, which I am CERTAINLY NOT (sorry Wend, but nothing new in that statement! ;)  So we moved on to the next phase:

 

Originally the plan was for me to paint around the edges of the letters and let it dry so Priya wouldn't accidentally peal up the letters as she painted, but after I started I realized letting the paint dry completely without pulling up the letters could pose a problem!  So, I made Joe get my rouse my recently put to bed Non-sleeping Beauty and I put her to work!

 

We finally put the princess to bed after she did a thorough paint job!  About 30 minutes later I carefully removed the vinyl and WALA!  It's not perfect, but it's a new Thanksgiving treasure!  Hopefully someday we'll add some ribbon to the edges, and I wish I'd thought to put the kids hand prints on it or something, but there's always tomorrow (and if not then, next year! :)

 

Here's wishing YOU a HAPPY THANKS Giving! :D

a picture for you

My big 7 month old :)

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It's True...

My Baby is a CRAWLER!!!  HOORAY!  And (in the words of Joe) oh Crap! :)  We're in for it now!  He did his first official forward moving crawl last night at 11:30, 30 minutes before he turned 7 months old!  What a big boy!!  And thank you to Grandpa H. for suggesting the plastic chicken as motivation - haha!  Who would have thought - but it worked!  I just can't believe how he's gone from needing us to sit him up 2 weeks ago, to totally able to move wherever/however he wants!  It may not be pretty, but that boy can get just about anywhere he wants to go!

Also, he cut a tooth back on Oct 6th, I think!  Late birthday present to me I guess :) 

What a big, smiley, happy boy!  I love you tons, my little man!  And I'm so glad Grandma & Grandpa Heaton, Jon & Rainah, Robert & Beth were all there too!  Now I have witnesses ;)

PS - what a great few days with family!  We just feel so blessed to have spent so much time the last few days with so many of Joe's siblings, their spouses and his parents - really, what a great group!  My heart is just so full right now with gratitude for each of you, not to mention all of the fabulous family and friends that we didn't see this weekend... We truly are rich - thank you!