teacher gifts

these were probably my favorite DIY gifts that i've made to date! 

they weren't hard to assemble and fairly inexpensive! 

i picked up a few pots from walmar - along with soil and succulents. 

using my silhouette and vinyl - i put the teachers name on the front of the pot and 'thanks for helping me grow' on the backside! 

then i traced kullens hand and had him write his name. 

his teachers seemed to really like them and kullen, of course, enjoyed helping and giving them to his teachers on the last day of pre-k!

DIY photobooth

if you know me - you know I am a [earmuffs nana] 'photo whore'!  I love to be in pictures anytime I can so whenever there is an opportunity for a photobooth, you know I'm all over it! 
I first did the photobooth at Rhys' first birthday party and it was a huge success! I couldn't wait to do it again, so when it was time for our annual secret Santa party - I knew a photobooth was a must! I kept the props very simple (mainly because my silhouette decided to not work halfway through - UGH) and because usually by the end of the night, nobody uses them! 

so here's how I do my DIY photobooth for free! 
find a corner/nook in your house for the booth. I use the little nook/entryway to my garage as the seating area. I hang a white sheet so you can't see the door or walls around. 
place the iPad on a stand in front of the seating area (I use bench!) 
download your favorite free photobooth app (picibooth or popbooth are both good and have been used by me)!
I find it easier to set the app up to post all pictures to Facebook - it's easier than having 100 emails and plus Facebook puts them all into one photo album! it's also easier because guests/friends can easily tag themselves once picture is uploaded! 
use a silhouette/cricut/scissors to cut some props - hats, glasses, mustaches are essentials here but you can get as creative as you want! 
and voila! insta-photobooth!!! 

we had a blast with ours over the weekend!!! even the littles had fun! kullen definitely takes after his mama because he was in the booth more than anyone else!!! 

poag soap!

you've seen them all over pinterest

DIY laundry soap!

well ever since i saw them, i knew i wanted to try it out!

when i first mentioned to the hub, he said 'no thanks - i'd rather dish out the extra money for good smelling clothes'

but now that i'm not working, i think his mind has changed ;)

so, one afternoon while the kids were napping

i got to work!
[this is the PIN i used, btw]

grated my bar of soap - ivory

[that i paid .49cents for with a coupon]

put it in a pot with a gallon of water and brought to a boil

added 1cup borax and 1cup washing soda

removed from heat

[aka - poured into paint bucket]

added a gallon of cold water

mixed well 

poured/funneled into my two 1gallon containers

i also added a few drops of lavender essential oil

of course made vinyl decals using my silhouette machine to make it pretty :)

it doesn't bubble up like normal laundry soap but it definitely works!

and it cost me less than $10.00 for 2 gallons of laundry soap. 

[and i still have enough leftover for 4 more gallons!]
you definitely can't beat that!! 
thanks pinterest!