Monday Made It {6/29/15}

Hey friends!  I'm off to my daughter's Freshman Orientation for the University of South Carolina today and we are super excited about what is in store.  I just can't believe the time has come for this major event in her life.  #wheredidthetimego?  If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably seen that hashtag a lot this year.  Before we take off, I'm linking up with one of my VEGAS roommates, Tara!  Are you headed to Vegas this year?  This will be my first time and I can't wait!

Last week, I posted a ton of pictures from Sarah's graduation party and promised to share one of the coolest features of her party this week.  

We had a photo booth set up in the back yard and it was a hit!

 This is my friend, Stacy, who is going to be starting her own teaching blog soon!  Isn't she adorable?

I made the frame.  It's made out of foam board from the Dollar Tree. Below is a little tutorial of how I created it.
Buy two cheap foam boards from the Dollar Tree.

I wanted the rounded edges, so I just found something round to create the curves.

 I had to make several attempts until I found the curve that made me happy.  :)

Then, the fun began.  I bought and FELL IN LOVE WITH a Hot Knife from Hobby Lobby!  Where in the world has this awesome crafting tool been all of my life?  So, let me break this down for you.  That tip gets like super, dooper hot.  Once it does, it cuts through this foam board like butta (you know, butter, but pronounced "butta").

Once all of the corners were cut, I used the first board to line up the second board to create the curve to match the larger board.  You can see in the picture below that I had to make several traced lines to get what I wanted...but that's OK.   You'll see later why it's fine...

Once the two boards are cut, the center has to be removed.  We actually used the center pieces for a display on the front porch.

 Ta-Da!  But, do you see that white?  Yuck.  Have no fear, spray paint is always near!!

Once spray painted, it was perfect!

Originally, I had planned on hanging it from the tree, but because it was foam board, it swayed quite a bit in the breeze.  I think it worked out just fine to have people hold it.  

Now, run...I mean RUN to your nearest craft store and get yourself a Hot Knife! 

You will be glad you did!

My daughter's birthday was this week and we baked this beautiful cake together.  My husband laughed because she helped bake her own cake.  That's what happens when you are a grown up. She wanted a strawberry cake.  And not one of those "fake" strawberry cakes that uses strawberry Jello.  She would have no part of that!

We started with some fresh strawberries.

Then pureed them.

We added the puree to both the cake mix and the frosting.

It was delicious!
Want to make one of your own?  Here's a recipe:

Sadly, only two Made It's this week.  Next week should be a little better, I hope :)

Have you checked out this week's Monday Made It posts yet? 

Monday Made It {6/23/15}

Hello from my poor, neglected blog!  It's been over a month since I've posted.  You might say I've been busy...but you could also say that I've been enjoying my summer.  It's a little of both, really. I'm here to share some of the fun things that I created for my daughter's graduation party for Tara's Monday Made It!

Sarah's theme was "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" and we had maps hanging around the house.  We created them using embroidery hoops and old maps.  I love the way they turned out.  You can see them in these two pictures:

 We also took those drink dispensers above and attached them to some wooden logs.  I love the rustic look.  The drink dispensers and tags came from Crate and Barrel and I love them!

Here are some more of the maps near the cake table.  That gorgeous cake was made by a teacher friend (thanks, Julie!) who used to make Sarah's birthday cakes when she was little.  Life is truly full circle sometimes.  Here is a closer look at that cake:

One of my favorite decorations (which is actually still hanging) was the feature wall.

Did you know that you can print black and white pictures from Staples Copy for CHEAP using the Blueprint paper?  You need to print the "Engineering Prints" and you can get an 18"x24" print for around $1.99.  With a few discounts, I got this whole wall printed for about $30.  You can't get a banner printed for that cost and this had such a stronger impact than a much smaller banner would have gotten.

One more decoration was the "Polaroid Picture" banner.

I just printed those on my printer to make them look like Polaroid pictures.  Simple. Cheap.

Finally, this display was in the foyer.  

I spray painted an old suitcase my mother-in-law found at the Habitat Thrift shop.  We decorated it and guests dropped cards in it.  The display on the right was full of treats for our guests to take away. I bought chocolates that looked like globes.  

Next week, I'll show you our photo booth.  Stay tuned!

Have you checked out this week's Monday Made It posts yet?