My new toy

So guess what? I got a new toy.

Isn't it beautiful?? Thanks to my husband, and donations from my parents for an early Christmas and birthday gift, my new Canon Rebel T1i and I are having a good old time taking lots of amazing pictures.

Like this one of the Oreo Truffle Pops I made for Haley's birthday party this past weekend...

I can't get over how good the quality is compared to my wimpy Nikon Coolpix point and shoot. I think I'm addicted to the macro mode.

Pictures from Haley's Fresh Beat Band party should be up tonight!

Two

Two years ago yesterday morning I went in for a prenatal check up and found out I was 7 cm dilated at 35 weeks. I called Daddy at work and told him it was finally happening, we were going to get to meet you that very day. We were nervous because we still had 5 weeks left until your due date, but we were ready for you. And you were ready to meet us. You have been a fighter from the day I first felt you kick.

Daddy met me at the hospital and we watched movies until it was time for me to push. A short 30 minutes later you were here, my little 6 pound 2 oz baby girl. So tiny and perfect, no complications despite being 5 weeks early. And now, here you are 2 years later. You never sit still. You talk nonstop about the colors in everything you see. You can count to 10, even if you skip a number here and there. You love your baby brother and your kitty. You still do everything your way.

Happy 2nd birthday, sweet girl. I'm so glad God chose us to be your parents.

Tutorial: Easy way to turn your photos into coloring pages

For my daughter's Fresh Beat Band birthday, I used images I found on the web to make coloring pages as part of the kids' goody bags. It's such an easy process, and I want to show you how to do it too! That way, you can make your own personalized coloring pages for your kids, or maybe to give as gifts.

Step 1: select an image. You want to choose a picture that isn't very detailed or busy so it's easier to color. You also want to make sure the picture is a good-quality one. If you choose an image from the internet for example, it may be too small so when you try to enlarge it the picture will be grainy. I chose a picture of my daughter when she was younger.

Step 2: create a free account on Picnik.com. Picnik is a free photo editing site that allows members to upload and edit their pictures with options like adding stickers and text, to using different effects on a photo, like we're going to be doing with your picture. Best of all, Picnik is great for beginners, advanced photo editors or anyone who doesn't understand all of the complexities of Photoshop (me!).

Step 3: upload your photo, and begin to edit. On the Home page, you'll see the option to upload your photo. Once you upload, click on the tab at the top of the screen marked "Create". From there, you'll see more options on the subtabs below that one. You want to click on "Effects". Scroll down the list of effects until you find "Pencil Sketch". When you click on Pencil Sketch, your image should look something like this.

Step 4: adjust your levels. You'll notice options for radius, strength, and fade within the Pencil Sketch effect. Play around with them until you're satisfied with the look of your image. To make your image look as close to a coloring page as you can, you want to make strong, crisp lines and enough white space to color in.

Step 5: Adjust your sharpness. Click on the tab marked "Edit" and then go to "Sharpen" on the subtabs. From here, you can increase the sharpness which will help reduce any fuzziness in your photo and give the details in the image more definition.

Step 6: save and print! You can save your image by going to the "Save and Share" tab. Now, you have your very own personalized coloring pages!

Fresh Beat Band Birthday: Goody Bags and Giveaways

Besides the food, the giveaways are probably the second most fun thing about birthday parties. Well, to me anyway. Maybe I'm a little bitter that adult birthday parties don't involve goody bags ;) I guess that's half the fun of having kids though, I get to relive my childhood through my kids again.

I'm not gonna lie. After blog browsing around for a few days, I'm pretty intimidated by all of the amazing themed birthdays I've found out there like this Unicorn and Rainbows party, or this Nutcracker Suite Ballet party. I realize that this is for a child who is turning 2, and who probably won't remember the party anyway, but I still want to make it the best that I can with what I can find on a budget. And it became totally worth it when I showed my daughter the Fresh Beat Band invitations I made and she got a big smile on her face and said, "my Ba Beats?" We're working on saying the word "fresh," which she can say by itself, but not when combined with "Beat" for some reason.

After I found the decorations and partyware at WalMart, I decided to look around for some ideas on things to put in the goody bags for Haley's little friends coming to the party. Since the Fresh Beat Band is music-themed, I wanted to include items that fit the show. I think the WalMart gods were reading my mind.

How perfect are these?? In the party aisle, I found little assorted plastic instruments and bubbles in the shape of guitars! I also picked up some clear plastic bags to put everything in and blue curling ribbon to tie the bags closed. As much as I would like to create individualized little goody boxes, I'm not crazy. Birthday on a budget? Check. I know my house is going to be full of noise on Saturday, but I think I can handle it for a couple hours.

Aside from the plastic instruments and bubbles, I wanted to also include coloring pages for the kids. Since there isn't any Fresh Beat Band themed ANYthing out there yet, I had to (again) get creative. I know I've mentioned how cool Picnik.com is before, but seriously, I can't say enough good stuff about it. It's a free photo editing site that's perfect for those of us who aren't pros at Photoshop. I used Picnik to make my banner and edit most of my photos. And for the birthday party, I also used it to make these coloring pages:

They turned out a little grainy since they were small images so they distorted some when I stretched them, but I'm still pretty happy with the outcome. It's so easy to turn any picture you have into a coloring page. How cute would it be to give your child a book of coloring pages full of photos of themselves? Come back tomorrow, and I'll post a tutorial on how to turn your pictures into coloring pages!

I used 1 of each coloring page per child, and rolled them up into scrolls. I also bought a pack of Crayola crayons and tied 4 of them together with the curling ribbon to add to the goody bags.

The crayons went into the goody bags, and I tied them each with the blue curling ribbon. To finish off the bags, I went to the NickJr.com website and printed off some of their Fresh Beat Band Memory Match printables. These made perfect tags for each bag.

And finally, it wouldn't be a true Fresh Beat Band birthday without backstage passes, would it? I got these off of of NickJr.com as well. That website has been a lifesaver since I don't have anything else to work with.

I just printed them up, folded them and added some tacky glue to hold the front and back together. Add some yarn, and instant backstage passes for your little VIP! I think the kids are going to love them. And if not, I'll make the adults wear them :)

Saturday is the big day when my baby turns 2! I'll be posting a blog next week about how everything turned out. I just can't believe another year has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday she was blowing out her first candle...

Fresh Beat Band Birthday: Partyware and Decorations

As I scoured the world for Fresh Beat Band decorations, I was sadly disappointed. The few resources I found pointed me in the direction of the Bright Dots party theme, which would have been perfect.....if they had more than just the cups available. Unfortunately, cups alone do not a party make.

I searched my local party store, and nothing was perfect. There were plenty of other themes available, but nothing that screamed "Fresh Beat Band". After searching for awhile, I decided to check my friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart. While they didn't have Fresh Beat Band-themed supplies, I did find lots of colorful partyware that fit the theme perfectly. They even had square plates, which goes along well with the colorful squares that show up in the show and materials constantly.
 

Rather than picking up a single color for the partyware, I chose to get each piece in a different color. I think this will actually turn out better anyway because by mixing all the colors, they match all the colors in the show. We also bought balloons in a variety of colors as well.

I also plan on taking advantage of the free printables Nick Jr. has available on their website. They provide printable posters for each character along with a printable memory game that I'm planning on using as tags for the goody bags I'm giving to the kids who come. I also decided to make my life a little harder and make my own hanging musical notes out of cardboard.

We recently bought a new treadmill which came in a HUGE cardboard box. It seemed like such a waste to just throw the box away, so I thought, why not use it to make some free decorations rather than spending lots of money on flimsy ones? The cardboard papercuts aside, prepare to put some time into this one if you decide to make your own cardboard notes. And whatever you do, use a box cutter, not an X-Acto knife. Not like I tried that or anything..... If you suck at free-hand drawing most things like me, just ask a talented friend to draw them for you. I'm planning on painting them black and hanging them from some fishing wire.

My daughter seems to think all the decorations we bought for her party are supposed to be new toys for her. Maybe we should have gotten her cups and plates instead of toys for her birthday?

Note the band-aid on her left knee. She fell and scraped her knee a over a week ago, and ever since then, every time you mention her scab she'll begin to whine and hold her knee. She's working on perfecting the art of manipulation.

I can't believe my baby girl will be 2 in 4 days. Is it too early to start crying?

Happy Friday and National Reading Month

Happy Friday everyone!

Thank you to everyone who has visited my page to check out my 2-part Baby Glam series! If you missed it, you can find the tutorials for the Rockin' Necklace Tee and Rockin' Tie Tee in the "Tutorials" tab above.

A special thanks to Craft Gossip, One Pretty Thing, and Tatertots and Jello for featuring me on their sites. Go check them out and leave some love!

I've been loving your versions of the Baby Glam projects! Lauren shared this version she did for her little girl, She also made a onesie for a friend!

Cute cute cute! Keep your submissions coming!

For those of you who recently started following my blog, thanks for visiting! If you like what you see, please suggest My Own Road to your friends! I have a bunch of new tutorials upcoming, including some projects for the home, kids and *gasp* some for adults as well. I love to re-fashion thriftstore finds, and I have a drawer full of stuff waiting to be worked on.

Here's a peek of some upcoming tutorials I'll be posting:

Bubble Magnets, Placemats, Kids Dress to Toddler Dress, Scrunchy Flower Tank

I'll also be posting more on the details of my daughter's upcoming Fresh Beat Band-themed 2nd birthday. I already made and passed out the invitations, but that was the easy part. I'll show you what I did for decorations and goody bags, and then the final outcome (which hopefully is a success!)

March is National Reading Month!

 

Helping Little Hands is hosting a Read Along, which I plan to participate in. Head over here for more details on how you can participate too!

 

Baby Glam: the Rockin' Tie Tee

The Rockin' Tie Tee Tutorial

I know what you're thinking, "Fnally! A project for little boys." I know I know, I can't believe it took me this long either. I'm going to be posting more little boy projects in the near future, I just have to go out and buy some fabric that's actually boy-themed!

Anyways, on with the show. As with the Rockin' Necklace Tee, this project is quick and sewing-optional, and uses fabric paint as the primary medium.

Supplies:

• A plain onesie or t-shirt
• Fabric paint and paint brush
• Disappearing ink fabric marker
• Freezer paper or wax paper
• An iron
• Fabric scraps (optional)
• Fusible web like Heat N Bond or Stitch Witchery (optional)
• Embroidery floss and embroidery needle (optional)

First, turn the onesie inside out and iron on some freezer paper, shiny side down, to the inside front of the shirt. This is to make sure none of the fabric paint leaks through and gets on the back of the shirt (and it will if you're not careful!) If you don't have any freezer paper, insert a piece of wax paper, cardboard, or other protective material inside of the shirt before painting.

Next, use your disappearing ink fabric marker to sketch out a tie design on your onesie or shirt. I wanted mine to be a little messy, so I drew mine with the tail of the tie sticking out. If you don't have a lot of faith in your ability to draw free-hand, you can check out this post for a tutorial on how to fabric paint on a shirt using your own stencil. You can always find an image of a tie on Google.

Next, use your paint brush to apply your fabric paint to your shirt inside the design you drew. Don't goop the paint on, make sure it goes on smoothly and evenly otherwise you'll be able to see spots when your paint dries. Let dry overnight, or for however long the bottle says. If you're using a onesie for this project you may want to apply a couple of coats of paint because the fabric is so stretchy that it has a tendency to stretch apart, exposing white areas. Let the first coat dry for a couple of hours before applying a second coat.

At this point, you are done if you like the shirt as it is, or you can apply other colors of fabric paint to add some extra design if you like (maybe stripes or polka dots?). If you want to make the tie even cooler by adding scraps of fabric and thread to make an argyle tie, follow the steps below.

Take your scrap of fabric and use your iron to iron on the fusible webbing scratchy side down onto the wrong side of your fabric (the side that doesn't have any print on it). Don't skip this step! You can find fusible webbing in any craft store; it helps applique stick to shirts. After the webbing is fused to your fabric, draw 4 diamonds onto the paper side of the webbing and cut out. Remove the paper backing and iron the diamonds onto your shirt.

I didn't take a picture of this step, but you can find more information here about how to properly use fusible webbing and applique. Usually any webbing you buy will give you instructions as well.

Next, you want to mark x's through your diamonds to give you a guide for where you will be sewing with your embroidery floss. Mark a dot in the center of each diamond, then draw your x's in each diamond, meeting at the dot in the middle. Thread your embroidery floss through your embroidery needle, and make a knot in the end. Come up through the middle of one of your x's, and sew several backstitches to form x's in each diamond, extending outside of the diamonds by a stitch or two.

And that's it! Now all you need is a cute baby to put the shirt on. Luckily, I happen to have one of those.

Thanks for stopping by! If you missed it, GO HERE and check out the tutorial for the Rockin' Necklace Tee for girls.

I am linking to these sites: Someday Crafts, Craft Gossip, One Pretty Thing, Tatertots and Jello