the camp out party!

No need to grab your bug spray, we didn't invite the bugs.  It's party day.  Lou's camp out birthday party was this past weekend and we had a blast.

Here's the invitations I showed last week:

We put this on the door for all the campers as they arrived:

Birthday Trail was to the right side of the house.  They followed it to the party.

We didn't want any lost campers.

Lou loved the "Don't Feed the Bears Sign."  He showed it to everybody.  I made up the bunting by roughly sewing camping looking fabrics onto brown felt and then stitched those to the red and white twine that was pretty much everywhere.

The trail led you right to his campsite.  Welcome to Camp Luke.

Hubby and I made the tent after seeing the one Ruby Ellen made at Cakies.  It came together very quickly and was a perfect last minute make.  The tepee was made by my super crafty friend Melissa.  It was on my to-do list, but when she said it was available, I was all over it.

The neighbors lost a tree a month ago or so (which landed on our fence) so we cut the stumps for the kids to sit on and has supplied us with plenty of firewood.  I stuffed colored tissue paper for fire and the kids had a safe fire pit.

These kids aren't even party guest.  These are neighbor kids that saw the interesting things in the yard and came on over.

Lou tested out all the stools and made sure they were level.

I wanted to make sure the kids had plenty of time to just play, but also wanted one or two simple games.  One was a fishin' hole. I threw a large piece of blue fabric over the pool deck and hid behind the water.

I tied a clothes pin to the end of the line on lou's fishing pole.

I was hiding on the other side to clip on some funny items.  We had a sock, a diaper, a hat, toy snake, toy spider, etc.  Then, after each child threw back that item, I clipped on a piece of candy. 

Some wanted to keep playing afterwards to keep getting the funny items.  I had another parent take over then.  Gotta delegate.

I let Bee invite a guest, which was a great idea and I will remember to have the kids do that for other parties.  Bee and her friend could participate when they wanted or go off and do some girl things if they wanted. Bee did not complain about not having anyone to play it.  It was great.  Plus this friend is a good buddy to Lou too.

Memorial Day weekend ended up being a hard weekend to get our guests there, many were out of town or at their own cookouts.  We ended up with a small but happy group of campers. It was a good mix of school and church friends.

After the fishing game, it was time to eat.  We had trail mix out.  These tags were printed on some sticker paper that I bought at a garage sale last summer.

We had sweet tea, bug juice (juicy juice fruit punch), and spring water. 

Gummy worms were out as bait.  And sour bait of course.

Hubby grilled hot dogs (Lou's favorite food).  Lou also requested chips and dip, although I think Hubby prompted him.  We had watermelon, campfire (baked) beans, and macaroni salad too.

The tables were decorated with campish fabrics, burlap, acorns, pinecones and cuts of wood.  Hubby even cut me some thin slices of large logs to use as 'platters.'

It was really very hot and sunny, but not bad in the shade.  I asked the parents to help carry the tables and chairs to the shaded pool deck.  It was sort of gross eating by the unopend pool, but it was like eating by a pond.  Tadpoles and all.

After dinner, we had another game.  We had an animal scavenger hunt. 

While we were eating, my sister hid stuffed animals around 'camp'.  The kids had laminated cards and they crossed them off with dry erase marker when they found them. 

Here's raccoon hiding in the play house.  The girls thought maybe they were supposed to gather them as they found them, but once we got that situated, the game went really well. 

I had only 4 copies of this sheet, but it worked out fine.  The kiddos went around in groups of 2 or 3.  When one group finished, they helped the other groups. I'll be keeping this game for school next year and maybe the nature center.

While the kids were searching, the smore bar was set up.  We were only working with two card tables, so we just switched food around as needed.  This actually ended up working out well.  The food didn't sit out in the heat too long and the chocolate couldn't have gone out any earlier or it would have been a mess.

I had thought we would just smoosh the candle in a marshmallow, but it wasn't working.  My sister and I Magiver-ed up a candle melted to a graham cracker.  Nobody said anything about there not being cake.  No one needed two desserts and smores were a given for a camp out.

The kids cooked their marshmallows in our fire pit.  Four seems to be an OK age to be able to responsibly cook their own marshmallow.  None of the kids really needed help and they were all pretty good around the fire.

Happy Birthday buddy!

My sister was my photographer and when I loaded the pictures to my computer there were  so many of this sweet guest's sister. Who can blame her!

I have issues with opening gifts in front of groups.  My issue.  I put on the invitation 'Your presence is present enough' so no one would feel obligated to bring a gift.  I've done this the past several years and it's about half and half then that do.  Lou had every friend bring a gift, so I thought he should open them in front of the group.  The kids love seeing what others give, so I guess I just need to get over my issue.

There was plenty of time for playing after the food and games.  The party was in the evening so I wanted to get all the 'stuff' done early so if people needed to leave to get to bed, they could feel free.  We all actually ended up playing and chatting a good while.

For favors, we sent home these flashlights.  The tags read, "Thanks for making my day a bright one!"  I made them in word and printed out on card stock.

We also sent home these extra smore parts with a tag that said, "Enjoy smore at home."  I shared them a few days ago too.

 Thanks for coming to my little man's birthday party!

Edited to add:  Here are the thankyou notes that I made up

And here are some other camp out related games and activities, ones we just didn't end up using.

Thanks for the love!

Hope Studios:

Sun Scholars:

I'm linking up at some of these fine parties:

Made by You Mondays @ Skip to my Lou,


Tutorial Tuesdays @ Hope Studios,   Anti-procrastination Tuesdays @ New Nostalgia, Talented Tuesdays @ My Frugal Family,  Get Your Craft on Tuesday @ Life as Lori,


Tooth Your Horn Wednesdays@ Silly Little Sparrow,  Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts,  Show and Tell Wednesday @ Blue Cricket Design, We did it Wednesday @ Sew Much Ado,
Wow Me Wednesday @ Ginger Snaps.


Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple,   Look at me, I'm so crafty @ It's fun to craft, Show off your Stuff @ Fireflies and Jellybeans, Catch a Glimpse Thursday @ A Glimpse Inside, Open House Party Thursdays @ No Minimalist Here,


Feature Yourself Fridays @ Fingerprints on the fridge,  Fantabulous Fridays @ Momma's kinda crafty,  Fridays I'm crafty Party @ So You Think You're Crafty,  Fibers on Friday @ Visions of Sugar Plums,  Christmas in July Fridays @ Just Another day in Paradise,  Fabric Fun Fridays @ Cheap Chic Home,  Creative Girl fridays @ The Girl Creative,


Wednesday's A story + art = A Great stART  @ A Mommy's adventures,   Made by Little Hands Mondays @ delicate CONSTRUCTION Wednesday's Kids Get Crafty @ Red Teg Art's Blog, Tuesday's Show and Tell blog hop ad ABC and 123,  Tot Tuesdays at Delicious Ambiguity,  For the Kids Fridays @ Sun Scholars

Funny kids

I'm working away on pictures from Lou's big camp out party, so here's a short for you today. 

Bee's last day of school was Wednesday.  Hubby's parents came into town on Thursday for Lou's party.  

Grandma:  Bee, do you have school today?

Bee:  No, I already quit kindergarten. 

This picture is the last day of kindergarten, right before she 'quit'.  She said she wanted to look 'grown up' this day.  She wore her church shoes to school, that's very grown up.

First day of school... I'm not going to let her grow up anymore. 

Lou and I were playing this game we call the kissing game.  It's basically wrestling and the pin for the win is a kiss on the cheek.   He accidentally touched me right in the chest.  He started laughing and said, "I just touched your overalls."   I guess he doesn't know what overalls are.


I was cutting up watermelon for lunch and giving him cut pieces.  He was getting mad about the way I was cutting.  He said, "I want to eat it like regular kids!"  Apparently 'regular kids' eat it like a big slice where you get in in your hair.

I won't let him grow up anymore either.

more yard sales

Here are last Saturday's sale finds.  First up are Bee's finds.  I'm struggling with finding a balance between letting her spend her money however she wants and telling her what not to buy.  I usually try to gently guide and influence her spending, but often when we are discussing an item, the seller just gives it to her for marks it down to pennies.  I have decided I'll just get to resell the junk purchases.  

She bought the barbie for $1, the snake for 25 cents, the basket for 10 cents, the teapot for 25 cents (that's one of the purchases I was telling her not to spend $2 on and suddenly it was only 25 cents.  the little fabric box was also the same story and ended up being 50 cents.  Then she was out of money.

Here are my purchases.  Basket for 50 cents, iron on transfer paper for 50 cents, two pattern for 10 cents each, a zipper for a nickel and a hoop for 50 cents. Big spender.

Here are Lou's purchases:  two transformers fresh from their Mickey D's wrappers for 50 cents a piece.  The seller was collecting them and they were all numbered and labeled.  He ripped the plastic right off after buying.  The football and velcro glove was 25 cents courtesy of a nice grandmotherly type lady who wanted to give it to him. I insisted on him purchasing it.

Here's hubby purchase:  an old Nintendo 64, just for messing around  for $20.   He got some counter top pieces for free.  He installed them before I could even take a picture.

We ended up stopping by a friends yard sale and she gave us a bag of goodies, just for being us. That, or she was tired of sitting outside and wanted things gone.  Anyway, two dressed and two tops and one pair of shoes for Bee.  We tried the black and red dress on when we got home and I realized that it was going to bee too short this winter.  I shortened the sleeve and now she can wear it right away.  The top is velvet, so maybe we'll save it for the days when it's not crazy hot.

I love seeing the good deals that others are getting at yard sales.  Here's another blog that I follow where she shares her finds each week:  Jess at The Preschool Experiment has a good eye for the same kinds of things I'm searching for.  She also shares some really fun preschool ideas on her blog that she uses at home with her little people.  I don't know where she lives, but I'm pretty sure we'd rock some sale if we could shop together.  Plus, she's a reader here, so that makes her extra cool.

simple fix=happy mama

My sweet hubby had a great find a yard sale this past weekend.  For free, he picked up two pieces of pretty counter top.  Right after we got home, he went right to work installing them in the garage.  He'd be really wanting to set up some kind of work bench in the garage and now he had a one, a pretty one.  That freed up a piece of good size piece of wood that I also had be eying for a project for me.  He had planned on using a scrap from this kids stage project for his work bench, but I was all too happy to get my hands on it. 

Here's my sewing space with my new fix.  I now have a great space for laying projects out and big enough for my cutting mat.   The sink area (while great when the kids and I paint) was a wasted top space.  I didn't want to pull out the sink, but I wanted it more usable for sure.

The big piece of wood was cut to fit the top plus hang out a few inches to accommodate my cutting mat.  Hubby cut out a notch for the sink faucets and this simple project was done leaving one happy mama. 

I also finally hung something on the wall behind the sink (although you can still see through this current fabric- leftover from Bee's dress)  See what's back there?  It's the fuse box.  The curtain hangs out an inch and a half or so, so the fabric isn't laying right on the box.  It's probably still a fire hazard...

I've been doing a lot of cutting lately for a new project (my ADD kicking in again).  Happily, I will not be cutting on the floor anymore!  Here are four blocks done of a spider web and star pattern.  Maybe for a quilt, probably for a smaller project.  I do love using us these small pieces of favorite fabrics from other projects. 

Hubby has been asking me every day if I've shown his new work bench here.  I guess I'll have to take some pictures and show off his free counter top find.

eye candy and camp out party part 2

I can't wait to break into this!  I ordered this twisted bakers twine from Hobbies From the Heart on etsy.  She was super fast and has the cutest things in her shop- all major eye candy.   She even had cards and tags and cupcake toppers- all kinds of goodies.   I'm going to be using lots of this twine at Lou's birthday party.  

I've gotten into it now.  I used it to attach tags to take home smores bags.   I just made these tags up in Word, because I still don't know how to use photo shop.

Inside are the fixens for more smores to make at home.

And there's that fun twine!

I also made some stickers up for the trail mix. I found the camo sandwich bags at Target in the dollar section.  I'll just set these out on the treat table. 

There are a lot of last minute projects going on here at Camp Luke.  Some cleaning to be done and lots of last minute shopping.  What a fun week.

bags to africa

Some of our friends from Florida sold everything and moved to Africa.  They started a school for orphan children in Kenya called Springs of Hope.  It was clear for them.  It was what they had to do.   Awesome.  I don't think there are any other words for that than that, awesome.

I was ready to show you what I mailed to them, but I want to show you some of these beautiful children first (these photos are from my friend Molly's face book page, I assume she took all the photos herself).

Is this child not beautiful?  

Here are several children from the school.  Judging from the photos, they have lots of little guys all the way up through big ol' teenagers.

These little ones are precious. 

Someday, I'd love to go in person and love on the little ones.  I'm pretty content though, that right now that's not what I'm able to do.  But, I wanted to do something.  

"Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others."  1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

So, I emailed my friend and asked what I could make.  What could I sew for the kids, what could I craft or make that they would appreciate?  Molly said 'bags!'  The kids need school bags.  She said the kiddos are rough on their bags and they need replaced.  Ok, I could work with that.  She described the perfect bag; over the shoulder, sturdy material, pockets, big enough to hold books and supplies.  I was all set to work on these bags (slightly fearing the 'sturdy material' I'd be working with as that is what messed up my machine a year ago).  

At a race a few weeks ago I saw the exact bag I needed sitting on a table for sale.  I decided I should buy one to help me make my bag pattern.  When I got talking with the man at the table, he agreed to give me all the bags he had left for free.  FOR FREE.  For the children of course.  The bags were perfect; over the shoulder, sturdy, pockets, big enough, 19 bags for some little bitty people  in Africa.   I did see two drawbacks; they had a cancer logo across the front and they were all the same.  As a mama and teacher, I know that identical bags were not going to work.  I also didn't want the logo;  I didn't want it to feel like a surplus donation.

The bags were easily made unique and logo free by sewing a strip of fabric across the front. 

I picked out fabric for boys and girls and covered all the logos.

A large stack that didn't seem to end finally got finished.

 

I think they meet the requirements and turned out pretty cute. (10 points for my sister if she recognized the fabric in the top right corner of the picture under this.)

Yeah, pretty cute... did I say 19 bags?  No, I did send them all.  I can't wait to see pictures of the recipients with their new school bags.  Or just the recipients, I think I look at pictures of the children all day.

Ok, This is not bag related, but this is the photo of one of the kiddos that I saw on Molly's facebook page that made me start thinking I needed to do something.  I can't make shoes, I wish I could make shoes.  I want to put this on this precious child's feet.  It's one of those pictures that makes you stop.  and think.  and feel bad that you have a dozen pairs of shoes in your closet.  This sweet little guy has a new pair of shoes.  Wouldn't it have been cool to be there and give him the new shoes?  Someday!

edited to add:  One of my favorite blogs, Stuff Christians Like, has a nice post today about serving where you are.

jacket remake

I feel silly posting pictures of myself like this, but I was really love how this jacket came out, so I'll do it. I was totally inspired by Meridith at Yours Mine and Ours (Here's her jacket fix). She's a freepiler and thrift store shopper who loves to remake and re-purpose outfits like crazy.  I wouldn't be able to pull off some of her cute pieced together outfits, but I love seeing what she comes up with .

In true Meridith style, this jacket was freepiled.  It was in a pile of clothes at work that someone just wanted to give away.  free.  from a pile.  freepiled.   It's a nicer brand than I normally buy (all of the clothes were- it was wonderful!) but I loved the fabric and buttons and thought I'd do something to make it fit better.

I chopped off the sleeves and kept the cuff part.  The buttoned cuffs were too cute to discard.  I took in the sides and sleeves and reattached the cuff at midarm.  I toyed with shorting it, but I wanted the length so it would work at school.   I used the scrap from the sleeve fix to make a belt and two belt loops.

I added a little fabric flower brooch. I made it on Sunday before church while I was supposed to be eating breakfast.  I had glue on red beads in the middle, but ripped them off on the way to church.  I like it better plain.

Bee agreed to be my camera gal.

The sleeve length was nice but the belt was my favorite change.

Alright, give me back the camera silly Bee.

The jacket that sat on the floor of my closet for 2 months has finally been remade and I love it!  It's time to celebrate.

(Bee loves picking all the petals off my roses.)

Celebrate!  (Oh my goodness, isn't she sweet!)