Enchanted Forest Sign Making

So you may or may not know that we are having an enchanted forest party for our daughters second birthday and to save some money I have been making most of the decorations myself.

Yesterdays project was sign making...

 I thought this was going to be really hard to do but as it turns out it was actually one of the easiest projects so far.

I found the wood in our local park? (Not sure why it was there but no one was using it so we had it).

The next stage was to find the font I wanted to use online and print out the words I wanted to use in the right size. I used the website cool text which has a great selection of fonts and logos that are free for you to use. For this project I chose the font 'Outline'.

 The next stage is to place the text over the wood, where you want it to be and just stick the paper down with cellotape so that it doesn't move.

Then using a pencil, pressing firmly, trace around the outline of the letters and when you lift up the paper you should be left with a very faint indent in the wood.

You now have an outline for your paint. I used black wood paint for this which we just happened to have in the shed but you could probably use any kind of paint.

Here's a picture of what it looked like when I'd finished all of the text.

The last step was to add the glitter. For this I used PVA glue in a wiggly line and then just covered it with gold glitter. I found the glitter in one of those Christmas stores for about 99p but any good craft store should sell it.

and volia an easy and cheap to make enchanted forest sign...

I'm linking up this week with Faith, Hope & Charity Shopping's Ta Dah Tuesday!

Silent Sunday

All change!

So you may have noticed my serious lack of post over the last couple of weeks, sorry about that but I have a good excuse or actually a few excuses.

Firstly I'm currently training to become a OFSTED registered childminder and most of my evenings are now spent doing coursework, doing research or business planning. I'm hoping to be up and running by the new year though, yey. It's all very exciting.

The second is that we are currently redecorating our house. So far we have done the kitchen, the bathroom, Lj's bedroom and the downstairs loo. I want to get it all done before Christmas, when we have 14 people staying with us! Arrgh.

And the last is the start of our new business Caskbox. 
Which has finally gone live, another Yey.

 So as you can see we have been a little busy in our house at the moment and lots of change coming our way. Bring it on x

Cute in Yellow

We seem to have so much going on at the moment that I just can't find any spare time to blog :-( but I have managed to snatch some time to join in with this weeks Gallery.

This weeks theme is ... YELLOW.

This is my all time favourite picture of our son. It was taken when he was 5 months old, which now feels like a life time ago. I just love his expression in it.

To see other entries into this weeks Gallery then click here.

Silent Sunday

What happens at 8pm?

So this weeks theme for the Gallery is 8pm. 

You see the light brown sofa in this picture, that is where I am at 8pm. Usually with a glass of vino in hand and more often than not a big bar of chocolate. 

This room is a child free zone, there are no plastic things that sing the same annoying song over and over again. There are no sticky finger marks all up the patio door. There are no bits of lego to step on in bare feet. This is an adult room, the only adult room in the house and I love it!

This is my little haven at the end of the day where I can sit for more than 5 minutes without having to get up and change a pooey nappy, get someone a drink or referee the latest fight that has broken out over some toy that neither of them have played with in months but now that the other one has it they simple must play with it.

This is 8pm and it's adult time!  

So what happens in your household at 8pm? To check out what happens in others go to Taras blog at Sticky Fingers.

Making Mini Toadstools

I am organising an Enchanted Forest Party for our daughters 2nd birthday next month and to try and save some money on it I have been making a lot of the decorations myself.

The first thing I've been working on are toadstools for the tables and I thought I'd share with you how I made them.

For the tops I used little plastic pots that originally had jelly and fruit in for the kids (you can get them in most big supermarkets).

Then I ripped up some newspaper and started to paper mache on the pots. I used 3/4 pva glue to 1/4 water. 

                                                   

Don't forget to do the last layer in white paper, so that when you paint it the newspaper pattern doesn't show through.

When the pots are dry (I waited until the following evening) the next step is to paint your pots red, you may need two coats. 
After this get a toilet roll and stick white paper to it, this will be your base. (I used prit stick for this)

Then glue your base to your pot (I used PVA for this). The final stage left is to add your spots. I cut out circles from white paper and just glued them on with prit stick. 

and voila... mini toadstools.

Next job is to make a lollipop tree x

I'm linking up with Faith, Hope and Charity Shopping's Ta Dah Tuesday