Today I’m sharing how I made my own DIY custom cookie cutter, for my daughter’s Peppa Pig birthday party, for less than $1.
I’m planning a Peppa Pig birthday party for my youngest, and knew she would get a kick out of themed cookies. There are some great Peppa cookie cutters online, but I didn’t want to pay for a cookie cutter I planned to use just one time. Instead, I decided to make my own DIY custom cookie cutter.
I absolutely love the look of these tinsel tassel banners for party decor. Even better? They’re super easy and inexpensive to make – just in time to decorate in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day!
I’m so excited to share the final reveal in my vintage dollhouse series today.This has been such a fun project, but I’m so ready to turn it over to my girls who have been impatiently waiting for me to complete it.
The last room in this project is the dollhouse play room. I left this room for last because it was the most awkward space – narrow with no windows. And since I knew I would finish it last, I knew there was a chance I’d run low on budget. I designated it the play room because I felt it was the least important room, and I wouldn’t need to make many purchases.
As it turned out, I was out of budget, so my original ideas for this room fell by the wayside as I found ways to make it work.
My daughter sacrificed her Shopkins ice cream truck sign to make an art easel, and of course you can tell I used Scrabble tiles to decorate the wall.
Today I’m sharing the vintage dollhouse kitchen remodel for my vintage dollhouse makeover project.
This week we’re moving the vintage dollhouse remodel to the main floor living room.
Do you love the look of those great pallet signs on Pinterest (my own version here!), but not the time and labor that goes into them? You’re in luck! Today I’m going to share with you how to make a faux pallet sign in just 10 minutes using inexpensive wood print paper.
See the Complete Vintage Dollhouse Makeover Series: Part I Vintage Dollhouse, Part II Exterior, Part III Boy’s Room, Part IV Girl’s Room, Part V Laundry / Bathroom, Part VI Living Room, Part VII Kitchen, Part VIII Play Room + Final Reveal
This week in my vintage dollhouse makeover series I bring you the remodeled bath and laundry room: two rooms that normally don’t get a lot of love in a dollhouse! I was determined to take on the challenge though – my girls’ dolls use this room quite a bit…
Are you a fan of the Soda Shoppe Valentine’s Day printables I shared earlier this week? I have one more soda-themed valentine for you. My son loved the idea of giving candy wax bottles to his buddies at school, but he was kind of hoping for a more cola inspired theme and wanted it to read “soda great” instead of “soda sweet.” You don’t want to send the wrong message in 2nd grade, apparently.
I whipped up this very basic tag that he’s a big fan of, so I’m sharing this Soda Great Valentine’s Printable here for my subscribers today!
You can download this free Valentine’s Day printable by subscribing here.
I’m so excited to share my vintage dollhouse girl room remodel with you! It has been such a vicariously fun exercise to decorate an entire girl’s room for less than $10.
When I scoured the internet for inspiration, I was drawn to the darling sets by Daisylane, Lundby and Hape. However, I was working with a minimal budget, so I set to work creating the look for less.
Need s’more (sorry) Valentine’s Day ideas? Just grab a box of graham crackers, a bag of mini Hershey’s chocolate bars and some heart-shaped Peeps or marshmallows, print out one of the free printables below, and you’re in business!
Love you S’More!
I’m excited to share the first finished room in my vintage dollhouse makeover series today!
I started with the boy room, because just like in my own home, it’s where inspiration struck me first.
Today I’m bringing you Part II of my vintage dollhouse makeover.
I think that you’re supposed to leave the exterior for the final “big reveal”, but I’m a rule breaker that way. That, and it happened to be the one part I could tackle while I waited for the interior furnishings to appear in the mail.
As I mentioned in my introductory post, I put myself on a budget for this project, so I needed to DIY it as much as possible, using supplies I already had on hand. Still, this portion of the makeover was the most costly, since all the paint used in the house is accounted for in this portion.
Years ago I hand sewed a Christmas Tree Advent Calendar, which has become such a sweet tradition for our family. Ever since I was a young child, I absolutely loved Advent Calendars – usually the perforated paper variety in our home – to count down the days until Christmas. The anticipation was overwhelming each year.
I wanted to have that same tradition in our family – and I wanted to create something we could use year after year. I stumbled across this sweet calendar by Stitch Craft Creations. I fell madly in love with this idea and got to work, using her calendar as my guide. 
This summer I picked up this vintage doll house from the thrift store for a few dollars. I can’t explain why I picked it up, but I was thrilled with the find. So, what to do with a 1940’s era doll house in disrepair? I originally had delusions of restoring it, because it certainly had charm. However, once I started trying to do some touch ups I was faced with the reality that this baby needed a complete overhaul.
Here’s how it looked when I brought it home.
This is one of my favorite projects to date – also the easiest and least expensive: the children’s artwork display located in our Family Command Center – otherwise known as the mud room.
I wanted plenty of space where the children could hang their artwork and good grades with pride, without that messy cluttered look on the fridge. It also needed to be really flat to the wall, since the area I’d designated is in a space the width of a hallway.
Here’s how I did it:
As for the rest of our family mud room command center, it’s still a work in progress. I have dreams for this space!
I found that sign at the thrift store. I think it was from a hotel long ago. I just love it!
What do you think of my low-tech art center for the kids?
Sources:
Earlier this year, I gave a small tour of ‘Belle’s nursery that is slowly transitioning to a big girl room. SLOWLY. Recently, I tried my hand at creating a DIY Canvas for Baby Nursery.
After making Eve’s wall art project I was inspired to make another one for ‘Belle’s room to fill a blank wall. 
I recently posted an Instagram photo of a “rose” I’d created out of fall leaves. I had several of you message me to ask how I’d done it. It’s easy! However, I can’t take credit for this idea – I saw this in my Facebook feed one day and decided to follow it:
Collect around 10-15 of the prettiest fall leaves you can find, ranging from small to large. I put the kids in charge of this. Starting with one of the smallest leaves, fold the “points” or tips of the leaves down, making sure the colorful side is on the outside.
Then, roll it from left to right into a tight tube, with the stem pointing down. Take your next leaf and do the same, but this time wrapping it around the first leaf. Repeat this over and over, wrapping looser with each leaf.
With your final 3-6 leaves, leave the points up and wrap them around the outside. Doesn’t it resemble a beautiful rose?
In addition to the fab blogs in the right sidebar, this was also linked up at Tatertots and Jello,Savvy Southern Style, Live, Laugh Rowe, Nap Time Creations The Turquoise Home.and The Scoop.
Looking for a last-minute Halloween costume, on a budget? Shop your closet and go as Liz Lemon of 30 Rock! Who cares that the show ended two years ago? Tina Fey is always in style. Plus, there are cheese puffs involved.
This one came a little naturally to me – I often get comments that I remind people of Tina Fey when I wear my glasses. Having spent half my life in corporate, I pretty much already have all the makings of a Liz Lemon wardrobe (for better or worse), but you can shop the look below.
Shop the look:
Looking for more last minute and free Halloween Costumes? Check out my round-ups, here and here.
My baby girl absolutely loves puppies, so the idea to dress her as a puppy for Halloween this year was a no brainer. However, I quickly realized that there are very few options out there for “girly” puppies, which for Belle is also a prerequisite. I found this adorable costume by Pottery Barn Kids, but I just couldn’t justify the price – especially since I already had most of the outfit at home: a pink tee, tights, tulle tutu pettiskirt and ballet slippers.
So with this adorable inspiration in mind, I concepted a DIY version of this pink poodle Halloween costume.
I went to my local JoAnn’s, which happened to be having amazing sales due to a move in location, so I bought 1/4 yard of curly white fur fabric for around $2.
I simply cut large rectangle strips, tall enough to fold over once (for bulk), and wide enough to fit around her wrists and ankles.
I made a simple template for the ears.
I cut them out and also backed them with white craft felt I had on hand, using adhesive spray, for a little structure. I then took a large square of the fabric and tucked all the corners until they met in the middle, forming a little ball. I filled that ball with a few of my fur fabric scraps for a little bulk. I affixed the ears to the sides of a headband we had on hand by tying grosgrain ribbon around it and fastening it into a bow. Using a needle and thread, I tacked the ball closed, and then threaded it to the headband. I then fastened a pink grosgrain hair bow to the front. Now, you could totally do this without sewing. You could just staple the fabric to form the ball, and hot glue it to the top of the headband. The only reason I sewed it was because I knew this headband would get lots of dress up play use, before and after Halloween.
Next, I found a novelty dress up tail at JoAnn’s (for $0.66!). I fashioned a fur ball in the same way as the top of the headband, and tacked it to the end of the tail with a needle and thread. Again, I was tempted just to tie a grosgrain ribbon around this tightly to affix it to the tail, because I can be that lazy, but I stitched it knowing that it would get use after Halloween and would hold up better this way.
Here is Belle all dressed up and loving life.
Shop this look: Pink top or leotard, tights, tutu pettiskirt, ballet slippers
I told her to shake her booty to get a tail shot.
Thanks for reading my pink poodle costume tutorial! I hope you like this copycat chic costume.
I think it would be super easy to make this a lamb, or even a kitty costume, just by replacing the poodle headband with some cute cat ears or lamb ears and adjusting the face paint. What do you think of my pink poodle Halloween costume?
At our home, we don’t really “do” spooky Halloween. We do fun, dress-up, eat lots of sweets Halloween. So this year, I thought it would be fun to make a pumpkin representing each member of our family that we could bring back out year after year – in addition to carving Jack-O-Lanterns in real pumpkins, of course.
My local JoAnn’s store is moving, so they are having some crazy sales right now! That allowed me to buy these carvable foam pumpkins and supplies for a steal!
For ‘Belle, we chose to do a Frozen themed pumpkin because she’s straight-up obsessed. I didn’t have any craft snowflakes on hand, so I’m thinking it ended up a bit more Cinderella, right?
Regardless, it’s perfect for this little girl who loves to dress up and play princess every. single. day.
To make it, I used Krylon aqua matte spray paint to pain a white craft pumpkin.
I then layered Krylon opulent opal glitter spray paint on top. I was super bummed with this though. It was gorgeous going on, but within moments it stopped working. I figured the glitter was clogging the nozzle and I tried multiple solutions to no avail. What a waste!
I went back and purchased Krylon glitter blast diamond dust spray paint. It was also beautiful and the can worked much better.
How pretty this would have been combined with more of the opal glitter spray! I topped it with self-stick rhinestone gems and one of the girls’ princess tiaras.
For Eve, we went the Hello Kitty route. I don’t know what it is about this cat. She’s never seen a Hello Kitty cartoon, but she loves it.
For this pumpkin, I just printed a Hello Kitty on my printer and placed it over clear contact paper to use as a stencil.
Then, I simply painted the face with black and pink acrylic paint and topped with one of the girls’ hair bows.
For Dub, I had to go the Minecraft route. I bought a black craft pumpkin, carved out a square hole and painted the inside green with Krylon emerald green spray paint. I then printed out a Creeper face on the printer, placed it on clear contact paper and cut it out to use as a stencil. I then placed it inside the dry pumpkin and painted the Creeeper face with black acrylic paint.
For my pumpkin, I just picked up this black studded pumpkin from JoAnn’s I just love it!
For my husband, well…
He’s a long-suffering Chicago Bears fan (as am I). Da Bears!
What do you think of our no-carve Family Halloween Pumpkins? Looking for more easy Halloween ideas? Check out my Lazy Mom’s Guide to a Halloween theme dinner.
Then, check out my free printable Halloween emoji nail decals here.
