Bleach painted tank

Going off of my last post about my Hunger Games kick, I decided to do another fun craft! I made my own tank using bleach and a simple, black tank I got at Forever 21 for $5. I used 100% bleach, no watering down necessary. Make sure you put a piece of cardboard between the front and back to prevent bleeding through. A cheap paint brush from Walmart will due. You can free-hand it, which I have done with another tank, or use stencils like I did. White chalk is a great way to practice your design too. Now all you need is a design. I decided to use a famous quote from Mockingjay, the third book in the series, "You love me. Real or not real?" The back side of the tank says, "Real." This is such a fun, easy and totally inexpensive craft. It's great because you can literally draw whatever you want. It doesn't have to be a quote, but I'm no artist, so I stuck with something easy. When the shirt is dry, which only takes about 30 minutes, but you can let it sit longer, you are free to wash it. Here are a couple fun pictures, I still have a little bit of chalk left on mine, that'll go away once you wash it.

Peeta Mellark inspired nails.

I've been on a huge Hunger Games kick the past few days, and since today I decided to get my nails done, I thought why not get something to reflect my current obsession? I had 2 colors picked out and sitting on the table as she did my nails, trying to decide. I had chosen out a light pink/purple that reminded me of Primrose, and an orange, or should I say sunset orange, that reminded me of Peeta. I finally decided to go with Peeta since my nails were pink to begin with, and on my way home had the greatest idea! You will find out in Catching Fire that Peeta gives Katniss a pearl, something very special to her that carries through the rest of the series. I had some extra pearls from when I made my deco cell phone case, so decided to glue them onto my thumbs. Simple, pretty, and symbolic of the story. I love them! Even though to 99.9% of the population will only see them as orange nails with pearls, I see them as something much more amazing.

DIY Decorative Vase

Last night I found a great idea to paint the inside of a clear vase. I decided this morning that I was going to test it out but with a twist of my own. I wanted to do one for Brylie's room in our new house. Her room colors are from the Disney Behr collection. Her accent colors are Pretty in Pink and Tink Pink, which is the color of her toy box. I decided to paint her a little decorative vase in Pretty in Pink. The twist I added was charms! Since her theme is "Princess" I went to Hobby Lobby and found a little crown charm and a "B" initial charm to hang around the neck of the vase. It turned out amazing and it only took me 10 minutes tops to finish. I'm seriously going to be doing many more of these for the new house in all sorts of fun colors!





I apologize for the not-so-great photo quality, I was trying to work with horrible lighting. The color is a light baby pink.

Best Spill-Proof Cup Ever!

Brylie has been through the rounds of sippy cups. We've tried about 3 different brands and styles. The short cups, the silicone cups, the cups with straws, etc, and I always seem to have the same problems. A) Brylie is a chewer. The silicone cups do not last against her little jaws, and B) they are NOT spill proof and/or leak proof! They may say they are but they always end up leaking. I hate leaking sippy cups. We had the same problem with bottles. We started out with Dr. Browns and finished with the Playtex Drop-Ins. I had bought about 10 different Dr. Browns bottles and they ALL ended up leaking. I tried a few others and finally tried the Playtex. Couldn't be happier! They lasted forever and never once leaked! I should have put two and two together- If I loved the Playtex bottles I should have gone straight for the Playtex sippies. The thing is, Walmart is 5 minutes away and Babies-R-Us is 15 minutes away. Yes, I'm just that lazy. It seemed ridiculous to drive that far to look for a sippy cup, but tonight I did! Staring at me on display in the center of the aisle was a Playtex set of 2 sippy cups. Advertised as follows: 12m+, #1 Spill-Proof Cup, 100% Spill-Proof, Leak-Proof, Break-Proof Guarantee, Insulated to keep drinks cool longer, Twist 'n Click Leak-Proof Seal. I was sold, so I bought them for a little over 8 bucks. I took them home and immediately tested them out on the professional. Brylie took to them right away. They are very bright and cheerful so I can see why. She was able to easily drink out of them and when the cup was shook and held up-side down there was no leaking whatsoever. The final test? Throwing it on the floor from the high chair, of course. It held up just fine. I'm so happy I finally found a great cup for Brylie and next time I'm sticking with Playtex!

Using Utensils

I had bought Brylie some plastic utensils a while ago so she could start practicing using them. At the time I thought they would be perfect for her. She was showing interest, but she would give up after a couple tries. I noticed they were a little bulky and made it difficult to actually pick up food. Last night we went out for dinner and since I didn't have her baby utensils with me I let her use a "grown up" fork. To my surprise she did great! She used her fork the whole time and any time I tried to help her she would say "No!" She is little miss independent. So of course I had to test my theory that in fact it was the plastic fork that was limiting her abilities, not her own stubborn-ness. So, for lunch today I cooked her some carrots and gave her a normal fork. Once again she did great! I'm so glad she is getting the hang of it!



When did your kids get the hang of using utensils? Did you use "baby" ones like I tried, or skip straight to the grown up stuff?

Trip to the Park

After work today Brylie and I took a little trip to Greenfield park. She had way too much fun and spent most of the time in the baby swing. I'm so glad I brought my camera because she was beyond adorable walking around with her play jewelry on. Thanks again Grandma Sue!







I love our little trips!

Spring Cookies!

It's been warming up the past couple of days, and with Easter right around the corner I thought it was a great day to make some festive sugar cookies. I used an entire bottle of pink sprinkles and it was so worth it!

Now my precious daughter needs to wake up from her nap so I can find out if they are any good or not!