Make a tooth pillow for the Tooth Fairy using upcycled baby clothes | www.fivemarigolds.com

Tooth Fairy Pillow Using Upcycled Baby Clothing

Looking for a  way to upcycle those baby clothes you can’t part with? When Dub lost his first loose tooth, I decided to use his baby clothes to create a tooth pillow – a tradition my parents started with me. The concept is that the tooth pillow makes it easy for the Tooth Fairy to find baby teeth and deposit money (I’ve heard she hates to loose those first baby teeth!).

To make the pillow, I combined a chambray shirt and a little plaid shirt, with snap button pockets, that Dub wore as a baby. He actually helped me dig through his baby clothes to find just the right combo.

Tooth Fairy Pillow Using Upcycled Baby Clothing | Five Marigolds

Here he is at just 3 months old sporting one of the shirts.

Tooth Fairy Pillow Using Upcycled Baby Clothing | Five Marigolds

My mom used her fancy sewing machine to embroider some letters and voila! An easy, free tooth pillow that he absolutely loves.

Do you have any Tooth Fairy traditions?

 

Princess Party Favors: Candy Necklace Cards

Planning Eve’s birthday party each year is always so much fun coming up with new themes. And this year we’re doing a Princess Birthday Party. Making adorable decorations and favor bags has been a blast. Get all the details on how to make these Princess party favor candy necklace cards for your next party!

Princess Party Ideas

There are so many princess birthday party ideas flooding the internet. After wading through endless princess stuff, I decided to use more of a traditional princess theme rather than a Disney princess party. I knew I wanted some custom party favors, but I didn’t really find anything out there I loved for purchase, so I decided I needed to create my own.

First up was the princess crown Candy Button favors. I love the nostalgic feel of the old-fashion candy combined with ultimate princess accessory.

Next up, candy necklace cards. These cute candy cards were the hit of the party. The girls just couldn’t love them more. Who wouldn’t love candy jewelry, right?

Princess Candy Necklace Party Favors | Five Marigolds

Continue reading

Sweet Treat: Easy Homemade Candy Buttons

There’s just something about Candy Buttons. These nostalgic candies are surprisingly easy to make, and are perfect for birthdays, party favors, or just a fun sweet treat.

To make Candy Buttons, all you need to do is prepare a simple royal icing recipe. You can use the recipe listed on the can of Meringue Powder, but I used the following recipe, inspired by Sweet Sugarbelle:

What you’ll need:

  • 1 lb. confectioner’s sugar (4 3/4 cups)
  • Meringue powder (about 1/4 cup)
  • 1/3-1/2 cup water
  • 1-2 tablespoons flavored extract (I used almond extract because it’s what I had on hand, but there are tons of fruity flavors at the craft store that would be fun to try!)
  • Food coloring
  • Electric mixer
  • Freezer paper
  • Icing bag and small round tip (or a resealable bag with a tiny corner cut off would work in a pinch)supplies

To prepare:

  1. Whisk the dry ingredients together.
  2. In a separate measuring cup, mix the flavored extract into the water.
  3. Slowly begin pouring the liquid mixture into the powder mixture while it mixes.
  4. Mix the frosting on medium-high speed until the frosting forms stiff peaks (around 7 minutes)
  5. Add food coloring to achieve desired color. (I first made pink frosting, and later added a few drops of blue to make purple to get two colors out of one batch.)

Next, tear off a sheet of freezer paper – large enough that you can fit a large batch of buttons on (you won’t cut the paper until these are dry).

Fill your pastry bag (I used my Pampered Chef Decorator Bottle Set*) with frosting and twist the top, removing excess air. Now, simply pipe evenly sized dots across the paper. If possible, print a template in advance and place it below the freezer paper. Be sure that the design will fit into your final packaging. If you’re using pretzel bags for your packaging, your design will need to be approximately 2.15 x 5″ to fit the pretzel bags I would be placing them in.Candy Button Crown Template | Five Marigolds

Candy Button Heart Crown Party Favors _ Five Marigolds_45mLet the Buttons sit overnight to dry. Any excess frosting will keep in a resealable bag refrigerated for two weeks.

Now for the fun! Once the Buttons have set up overnight, you can begin cutting the freezer paper to your desired shapes.Candy Button Heart Crown Party Favors _ Five Marigolds_35m

Package your Candy Buttons for the occasion. I placed them in Wilton pretzel bags that I got at JoAnn’s for $1.37 using my 40% off coupon. Think of the possibilities! Birthday party favors, Valentines, and more!Candy Button Heart Crown Party Favors _ Five Marigolds_15m

Valentine's Candy Button Hearts _ Five Marigolds5m

Valentine Candy Buttons

 

In addition to being featured on the fab blogs listed on the right of this blog, this post was also featured on Huckleberry Love.


Inexpensive, Easy Chore Chart for Kids

This summer is the first summer I’ll be at home most days with the kids since I started my freelance adventure last fall. My 6 and 4 year old are bright, exuberant kids and I knew I’d have to add structure their days if I wanted any sanity. However, with my freelance work I don’t have the ability to be there every moment to guide their day (and who would want to?). It’s also great for fostering their independence as well.

I went to work trying to find chore charts, but none of them were quite right. My 4 year old can’t read the text chore charts, and many of the picture charts were geared toward very little children, or had unattractive graphics.

After doing some research I landed on four requirements:

  • I wanted a photo chart that my four year old could understand and interact with on her own;
  • I didn’t want to spend much money;
  • I wanted the flexibility to change their days up, but I also didn’t want to have to print a new one each week; and
  • I needed something I could mount to the fridge somehow – I didn’t want a chart that required wall space.

I landed on the concept of a magnetic chart with two categories: “Doing” and “Done.” I saw a few examples that I liked and got to work emulating those based on my needs. However, I needed clip art. It was SO hard to find cute clip art that would work for this! That’s when I stumbled upon Audrey Schilaty‘s blog. She had the exact chart I wanted – for free! Really, it’s the nicest free resource I’ve found. She offers both personal care and chore images, and I used a small combination of both (sad but true: I forget to have my children brush their teeth all to often).

I made it my own with a few modifications:

  • I drafted my own simple “Doing” and “Done” text document and used just the images I needed from her selection, so it would all print on one page, saving me money.
  • I printed it on a glossy sheet of photo paper that I had on hand, and then just placed it on an 8.5×11 sheet of adhesive magnet. You can buy packages of adhesive magnet sheets at office supply stores, but I found the most inexpensive option for heavy sheets – I got mine for just $3.59. I cut the small pieces to size, added them to the fridge, and voila – a clean, easy and inexpensive chart.

Magnetic Chore Chart | Five Marigolds

The kids woke up the first day and had moved two magnets over before I had a chance to remind them about it! So far, it’s been a great success.

DIY Magnetic Chore Chart | Five Marigolds

I encourage everyone to check out Audrey’s great blog. And, if you’d like a copy of the 1-page version of the printable I used to create my chart using her images, just click the image below!

Chore chart printable | Five MarigoldsThere you have it – a chore chart for just $3.59. What are your tips for keeping the kids structured in the summer? Let me know in the comments below.

 

*This post contains affiliate links. Please read my full disclaimer on the right sidebar. Thank you for your support!


Star Wars Birthday Party – Invites And Thank You Postcards

My final post in the Star Wars birthday party series is to share the custom invitations and thank you cards I designed.

Each year, I’ve been lucky that my children have chosen Halloween costumes that match their birthday party themes for the following year. Dub chose to be Darth Vader, so I used his Halloween costume for the front of the invitation. I created a simple background in PhotoShop, and used the free Star Jedi font.

Custom Star Wars Birthday Party Darth Vader Invitation | www.fivemarigolds.com

I used the same background on the back, added the party details, and created a Darth Vader silhouette.

Custom Star Wars Birthday Party Custom Thank You Postcard | www.fivemarigolds.com

During the birthday party, I made sure to get one shot of all of the kids in the photo booth, wearing their jedi robes and using photo booth props. I used this image for a custom thank you postcard. On the back, I created a simple template that Dub could fill in himself. I love the idea of the postcard because it helps him learn the proper etiquette of showing thankfulness.  Sincere, personal, and to the point! And, it’s a little less expensive to mail 🙂

Finally, just to prove how much I utilize those Halloween photos, I also used it for Dub’s Valentine’s card. I wonder if he’ll be sick of Darth Vader by this Halloween?

Star Wars Darth Vader Valentine | www.fivemarigolds.com

Star Wars Darth Vader Valentine | Five Marigolds

See also:

R2D2 Star Wars Cake | Five Marigolds

Star Wars Birthday Party, Part I

Star Wars Storm Trooper Favor Bags | Five Marigolds

Baby Girl Bow Birthday Party

My baby girl just turned one and because her birthday is exactly a week after Dub’s, I’ll admit I ran out of steam on the party planning. However, I wanted to do something special and celebrate as a family, and was able to put together a cute Bow Birthday theme really inexpensively.Baby Girl Bow Birthday Party | Five Marigolds

To keep birthday party planning expenses manageable, we buy a few essentials that we reuse year after year.

These include:

  • Bunting (similar here and here)
  • Centerpieces
  • My Special Day chair covers that we reuse for birthdays, first days of school, and any day we want to recognize and celebrate each child individually.

Baby Girl Bow Birthday Party Chair Cover | Five Marigolds

Additionally, we always save leftover party supplies such as napkins, plates and plastic cutlery and every few years we find we don’t have to buy these supplies at all because of that stash. That was the case for baby ‘Belle’s party.

For the cupcakes, I whipped up a batch of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and frosted them in pink and white buttercream frosting. I wanted them to carry out the bow theme, but because I’m lacking in fondant skills I purchased these toppers. You can find similar fondant bows here and here.

Baby Girl Bow Birthday Party Pink Cupcakes | Five Marigolds

Baby Girl Bow Birthday Party Pink Bow Cupcakes | Five Marigolds

We served homemade vanilla ice cream and a simple punch using 7-Up and raspberry sherbet.

With just two inexpensive plastic tablecloths from the dollar store, I made this impressive table centerpiece by using one tablecloth as usual, and using the other as a decorative sash by draping it across the front and simply pinching it in the middle. I actually unfolded some of the party napkins and fashioned a bow out of them – one napkin for each side of the bow, and two for the tails. Surprisingly beautiful, easy and inexpensive!

Baby Girl Bow Birthday Party | Five Marigolds

Next, I made bow napkin rings – I love how these turned out! I bought rectangle shaped napkins, but you could also do this by folding traditional napkins in half. Simply pinch them in the middle, place them on top of your cutlery and wrap a small band of paper around the bow, secured with tape.

Baby Girl Bow Birthday Party Napkin Ring

Baby Girl Bow Birthday Party Napkin Rings

As I mentioned earlier, I used leftover napkins to make the bow you see on the front of the table to carry the theme through.

I took a little photo shoot of baby ‘Belle sporting her birthday bow. I’d say the cupcakes were a hit!5m bow birthday cake smash

Like the ideas you see here? Be sure to follow my birthday party inspiration board and subscribe below to keep partying with me!

Looking for more inspiration? You might like these parties:

DIY Peppa Pig Birthday Party | Five Marigolds

Peppa Pig Party

Malibu Barbie Pool Party Birthday Infographic.2 | Five Marigolds

Malibu Barbie Party

Princess Birthday for $20

Princess Birthday for $20

https://fivemarigolds.wpenginepowered.com/2014/08/04/eves-princess-party/

Shop your own closet for these 5 DIY Halloween Costumes

DIY CLassic HALLOWEEN LOOKS FOR FREE

Looking for last-minute Halloween costume ideas?  Here are 5 inexpensive DIY Halloween costumes you can shop your own closet for.  Or, follow the links to shop these exact looks for yourself!

Where’s Waldo

waldo

Bank Robber

robber

Holly Golightly – Breakfast at Tiffany’s

breakfastattiffanys

Mary Poppins

marypoppins

Sheldon and Amy from The Big Bang Theory

bigbang

I think my favorite is the “Shamy” couple costume from one of my favorite shows, “The Big Bang Theory.” Which is your favorite?

LOOKING FOR MORE LAST-MINUTE HALLOWEEN COSTUME INSPIRATION? FIND MORE IDEAS FOR SHOPPING YOUR OWN CLOSET HERE AND HERE.

Halloween Costume: Where’s Waldo (for her)

Last-minute Halloween party? The dreaded “costume required” work day? Or, headed to a social event where you’re not quite sure everyone will actually dress up? Never fear. I’ve come up with whole list of costumes that are totally festive, but not in that “Hey everybody, look at me!” kind of way. You know what I mean.
Introverts unite.

Where’s Waldo Costume

Where’s Waldo is perfect for any of those awkward Halloween social events. Just normal enough that you’ll be totally comfortable, but recognizable enough that you get full points for dressing up.
Better yet? Most people can find most of these things right in their own closet.
waldo
However, if you don’t happen to own a red stripe shirt or beanie, I’ve got you covered there, too. It’s super cheap to pull this outfit together online, and have it delivered to you in two days or less.

Shop your own closet for this Where’s Waldo Halloween costume! Or, you can shop the look here:

Or, just go out and buy a Where’s Waldo costume – they’re pretty inexpensive!

Looking for more costume ideas like this? Head over to my round-up, here:

Shop your own closet for free and fabulous costumes this Halloween! Love this bank robber costume idea.

And here:

Shop Your Closet: 5 Free and Fabulous Halloween Costumes Pokemon Ash Ketchum, Suicide Squad Harley Quinn, Game of Thrones Shae and Khaleesi, Happy Love Cat Emoji | Five Marigolds


Free Halloween Costume: Bank Robber

DIY Costumes that don’t suck

Shop your closet for this free Halloween Costume idea – an old school bank robber. I love that this costume is totally cute and could be pulled together with items you probably already own, especially if you’re a mom. Or, keep reading to find out how you can shop this look.

diy bank robber costume

This bank robber costume is perfect for any of those awkward Halloween social events. You know the ones – dressing up at work, the costume party where you don’t really believe anyone will show up…
This costume is just normal enough that you’ll be totally comfortable, but recognizable enough that you get full points for dressing up.
Better yet? Most people can find most of these things right in their own closet.

Shop your own closet for free and fabulous costumes this Halloween! Love this bank robber costume idea.

Continue reading

DIY Advent Calendar – the beginning

advent calendar

DIY Felt Advent Calendar | Five Marigolds

 

As a kid, I absolutely loved Advent Calendars.  You know, the little paper calendars with the perforated doors.  Sometimes there was a Christmas picture behind the little paper door and sometimes a bible verse.  It didn’t matter, I loved the process of opening on each day.  I wanted to create an Advent Calendar tradition with my own children, but I wanted to create a keepsake – something they would look forward to getting out each year.

So, I went to the interwebs to find something to inspire me – and the pickings were slim. This was in 2008, a pre-Pinterest era, and there just wasn’t a lot out there I loved.  Enter Stitchcraft Creations with her super cute felt calendar.  With her pretty version as my guide, I embarked on “adventures in Advent Calendars.”


Activity/quiet book

For Dub’s first Christmas years ago, I decided I wanted to start the tradition of making something homemade for my kids for each Christmas. I ambitiously took on an activity book project to kick off the tradition, knowing I could add pages to it each year.

I drew inspiration from the interwebs and used a few patterns  But mostly, I just winged it.  Ididn’t want it to look perfect, I wanted it to look inviting and fun!

  1. I did a lot of web surfing for inspiration.  I used a few patterns from one of my favorite bloggers, Homemade by Jill.
  2. From there, I narrowed down the pages and activities I wanted tobe in the book and madea list of the supplies I needed.  I was patient with this and used 40% off coupons at Michael’sand JoAnn’s for several weeks to avoid paying full price on the more expensive supplies.  Pre-planning is the most important step to any project, because having allthesupplies on hand means fewer half-finished projects laying around that were never picked back up after the inspiration left!
  3. As a working mom, I made it my goal to complete at least two pages every weekend.  This made the project much more manageable for me to take on.  Looking face-on at a full weekend of sewing probably would have killed my motivation to start!
  4. After all of the pages were complete, I paired pages two-by-two and sewed twosheetstogether back-to-back.
  5. I then punched three grommets into each set of pages, like you would if you were going to add them to a binder.
  6. Finally, I used loose leaf rings to secure them together.  I chose to do it this way so I couldrepair pages or continue to add pages as I had kids.

Materials used:

  • White felt pages from the craft store (around 25 cents each)
  • Additional felt pages in various colors
  • Scrap fabric and notions, like a zipper and ricrac,
  • Assorted buttons I had saved over the years
  • Metal snaps (these are easier for little hands to use vs. the plastic snaps)
  • Chalk Cloth fabric
  • Loose leaf rings
  • Grommets
  • Finger puppets from Ikea for the Noah’s Ark page (pictured below).  These are no longer available through Ikea but they pop up on ebay all the time!

Number Counting Duck Pond Quiet Activity book | Five Marigolds Activity Quiet Book Inspiration Rocket Outer Space | Five Marigoldsbird laces

Activity Quiet Book Inspiration Noah's Ark Finger Puppets | Five Marigolds 69998_PE185334_S3

Activity Quiet Book Inspiration | Five MarigoldsActivity Quiet Book Inspiration with Chalk Cloth | Five Marigolds

Activity Quiet Book Inspiration Art Pages | Five Marigolds road

Activity Quiet Book Barn Animals Finger Puppets | Five Marigolds Activity Quiet Book Inspiration | Five Marigolds

Activity Quiet Book Inspiration | Five MarigoldsActivity Quiet Book Barn Animals Finger Puppets | Five MarigoldsI’m happy to say that 4 years later, this book still gets used by Dub and now Eve, too.  It’s held up and only needed 1 small repair.

In retrospect, I wish I had more carefully documented the sewing process and made patterns for each page. It took me a long time pull this book together and it would have been so much easier if all the patterns had been in one place. I often wonder if I should go back and make the patterns to share for the next person. If you would like to see that in the future, please be sure to tell me in the comments below!


Perfect Pink Lemonade Birthday Party

I was so excited for Eve’s first birthday and I knew exactly what the theme would be – Pink Lemonade, for my sweet and sour little girl 🙂

Well, then there was an out of state family wedding the weekend of her birthday which meant significantly toning down the birthday plans. Which was hard for me, because I just love a good themed party. Side note: do you know what else is hard? Accidentally deleting all the photos in my camera from said party, and then racing to take just a couple to prove my baby had a party. Ugh!

So to plan the un-party, I started with the basics.  One of the things I’ve done for all of my kids is purchase just a few birthday items that we bring out every year, including a pendant banner, centerpieces with photos of them over the years, and a “My special day” seat cover.

lemonadebirthday_5wm

We also use this seat cover for all special occasions, from birthdays to the first day of school and other milestones.  It’s a tradition that has become very meaningful to us – when the kids come downstairs in the morning and see their seat cover, they know we’re celebrating them that day.

lemonadebirthday_3wm

Next, I added some cute polka-dot napkins, cups and cute paper straws from Target.  I served a basic lemonade some frozen strawberries. Yum!

lemonadebirthday_2wm

I made these adorable cupcakes.  I’d scoured the interwebs for the best pink lemonade recipe and landed on this one.  Unfortunately, they were just a bit too tart for us!  No problemo – that just left more room for the homemade ice cream we made (and Mmmm does our family love homemade ice cream!).

lemonadebirthday_1wm

So there you have it – a very simple, sweet Pink Lemonade birthday.  Check out my Pink Lemonade Pinterest board for more ideas for our next Pink Lemonade birthday. Enjoy!

lemonadebirthday_8wm lemonadebirthday_10wm


Chugga Chugga Choo Choo! Our Little Boy Turned Two

It was really clear that for Dub’s second birthday it needed to be all about trains.  So off we went – chugga, chugga choo choo! Dub was about to be two!

I searched the internet for train birthday cakes I thought I could pull off. I didn’t find anything especially helpful in terms of tutorials, so I had to eyeball it using carved pound cake (slightly frozen works best) and various garnishments to make it look like a train. We used my favorite almond-flavored pound cake from Tastefully simple since we’re not otherwise big pound cake fans. Frosting this sucker was the worst part – I found the cake to be crumbly, even when slightly frozen, so we had to cake the frosting on to disguise them.cake

Notice the chair cover in the background. I had my mother make covers like this for each of our kids to use on special days: birthdays, first days of school and other celebrations. Since all of our family lives out of state, this travels with us for out-of-town celebrations, and the kids know that when they wake up and see this on their chair in the morning – that we’ll be celebrating them that day. It’s become such a fun tradition for all of us!

2nd birthday cake


Puppy Dog First Birthday Party

For Dub’s first birthday, I knew I wanted to do a puppy dog theme.  Now, I just love a good themed birthday, but really we don’t go overboard for parties. This was especially true for his first – we just invited a few family members and held at his grandma and grandpa’s home, near where most of our family lives.

We made puppycakes using this tutorial from Family Fun magazine. My photography at that time leaves very little to be desired, but you get the idea.

puppycakes

And, of course, gave puppy chow as party favors with hangtags that read, “It’s been dog-gone fun!”

its been doggone fun IMG_4091