We had so much fun planting flowers in our garden last month, and decided we should have some fun with them.  We made flower presses, and had a May Day Bunco Party!!

Here is how I did it:

For the flower press, we used 2 pieces of press board, (Home Depot)  My husband drilled 4 holes in them,  (make sure to drill through 2 pieces at the same time so the hole line up and mark the front and back corner of one side so you always know how to line it up later)  Add some nuts, bolts, and washers.  I had him cut 2 big sheets so each of my Girl Scouts could take home their own flower press to keep.  They cost about $2.50 each when finished.    I also have a big one, with about 16 bolts in it my Dad made for me years ago.  Love it.  I have used it so many times.  Thanks again Dad for always helping me with all my projects.  (I have him working on another project right now) 

Adding Flowers:

Open the press, and lay a piece of white typing paper in the press over the bolts. add flowers.  Be sure to lay them face down as flat as possible:

Put a 2nd sheet of white paper on top of that.  Put the top of the flower press back on, and tighten down all the bolts.

Tighten them again every few days.  Wait about a month, and open your press.  Beautiful dried flowers!!

To laminate, I used laminator pockets from Wal-Mart, and a laminating machine, (also bought at Wal-Mart) and added all of my flowers and numbers (cut out on my Gazelle) and ran it through once.

Cut out and your done!

For the Bunco party, I hand painted flowers on each score sheets.  I did these in about 30 minutes, so excuse my not so perfect flowers:

I think this one was my favorite:

My Mom did the cutest little May Pole with mini Wine bottles for favors:

This May Pole was done with a styrofoam ball on a stick stuck in a bucket filled with cement.  Hot Glue, Hot Glue, Hot Glue!!

I made quick little cupcakes and added edible glitter for some sparkle.  Cute cups from Michael’s.

Here is the prize table/ Dessert Table:

Here is the dining table, love love love the twinkle lights and candles.  It was so cute:

Hope you as inspired to press some flowers in your garden.  I have been pressing flowers for years, and have made all kinds of fun things, and saved flowers from important events in my life.  Love all my little keepsakes.   My Girl Scouts made really cute book markers out of theirs.  Wish I had pics to show you.

I designed this kit for my Girl Scout troop, who are earning their Geocaching badge, and thought I would share.  It’s great family fun, and the best part, it’s free!

For those of you that don’t know what it is, it’s a worldwide treasure hunt with about 2 million of them hidden. You find them with a GPS.  When you find it, you sign the log book, and some of them have Swag, (treasures) you can trade with.  You probably have them right around the corner from where you are right now.  Go to Geocaching.com to see what is around you.  You can download a free ap on your phone too.  I bought the $9.99 version for my iPhone, and it’s worth every penny.   We go Geocaching all the time.  It’s so fun!!

I took my Girl scouts on a Geocaching bike ride, we feed ducks, played in a park, and hunted for Cache. It was so much fun!!  You must try it!

They found the 1st one!!  Yay!!

Here are my Girl Scouts Looking for Cache at the duck pond:

This little box is a First Aid box found at Wal-Mart for $1.00.  Which we used what was inside on our First Aid Badge. (Will post that one later)

A little Log Book.  Just Print the cover on Card Stock, and print a few more pages on regular paper, staple in the middle and fold.  Easy Peasy!  Love my little pink pencil to go with.  {{Squeal}} The back says “God Bless You”

The inside lid has the Girl Scout Law glued in so you can see it when you open it.  Then our Swag.  Love to find swag!!  Swag is treasure you find/ exchange while out Geocaching.  We got out our bling, and Mod Podge, and had ourselves a little Swag party!!  For the clear rocks, with the pics under them, I printed things on picture paper, and then Mod Podged to the bottoms.  For the Hello, and Bless You, I just wrote on scrapbook paper with a pen, and MP it with a thin coat.  The Hearts are actually fabric scraps, MP on.  The little flowers were cut with a tiny hole punch, and some bling was added.  Now we have a whole box of swag to trade!!

Here is the SWAG necklace Lexi wears when we hunt.  She keeps pieces of swag to trade and a pen inside.  She has it on a long necklace so she can wear it.  It is the perfect swag necklace.  Hands are free to hunt for Geocache and she has the things she needs handy.

It’s done in the hoop, click on the pic to get to the link

Hope you are inspired to go Geocaching.  Trust me, you’ll love it!!

Here are some printables for you.  Open them in a Paint Program

Geocaching Set ItsaYummyLifecom

We are so blessed to have great teachers.  To show appreciation, we made a few things for them this week.  A cup that says “Mrs. *** Rocks (I did with vinyl letters on my Gazelle), a Starbucks gift card inside, a Key chain with their name embroidered on them, Berries, Chicken Soup for the Teachers Soul, flowers, and my favorite part, a notebook paper bag.  I had the kids tell me all the things they love about their teachers, and I printed it on notebook paper, and turned it into a bag.  Jack cracked me up, he added “Donut Sharing”  He thought that was important to thank her for them.  Love it!

Here is how I did it:

Here si Jack’s Bag after I ironed it:

and some berries.  Have I mentioned my love of bakers twine??  It’s so fun. 

I hope all of you teachers out there are having a great week.  Thank you for all you do!

Have been wanting to make in the hoop headbands for my girls for a year now.  Finally did it.  Really happy with how they turned out.  They stay on really well.  Done in the 6×10 hoop and the 6×14 hoop.

This font is my latest favorite font.  I just can’t seem to get enough of it.   I had so many requests for the 4×4 hoop, here they are!!

Done in 3 sections and attaching with a quick zig zag stitch.  You can personalize them all kinds of ways.

I hosted Bunco last night and I had a Bling Theme {{Squeal}}  I had a license to bling everything!  Sadly I was so busy socializing I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked.  Take a peek at the ones I did take:

My invitations were little purses.  I am a firm believer the invitation sets the tone for any event.  I did these on my Gazelle.  I am still new to using it, but love the results:

Inside the purse:

As the Ladies arrived, I blinged everyone eyes with sticky rhinestones I bought at Michael’s.   It was fun.  (again, too busy gabbing to take pics!)

I Mod Podged the rims of the glasses and added glitter.  The pic doesn’t show it, but these were really sparkly!

Everyone was handed a glass of wine right after we blinged their faces.   I added a few stones to all the bottles, even the water bottles.  These are to 2 we started with, ahem…

For dinner we served a spread of yummy goodness.  I did a bake potato bar with chicken, brocoli, sour cream, cheese, green onions, smothered in creamy Alfredo.  The biggest hit of the night was my fruit salsa.  Everyone couldn’t stop talking about it!!  Some when back for 4ths!

1 box   strawberries

1 box raspberries

2 kiwis

2 apples ( I used Gala)

sugar to taste

Chop fine, mix and chill for 20 minutes

For the Chips, my friend Nicole (who gave me the idea) uses Cinnamon Pita Chips.  I couldn’t find them at my store, so I made them out of flour tortillas. They were AWESOME!

Flour tortillas cut into strips, dip in melted butter, dip in cinnamon and sugar and bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

I will be making this again and again.  It’s my new favorite yummy!

I blinged the silverware, the serving trays, the soap dispensers… The people.  Everything had some bling bling!!

We have 16 girls in our Bunco group with 4 tables.  Each table had a little sign with the table number.  3 dice, one with a wild side, (covered with glitter of course), a bell at the head table, (which I should have blinged) Pencils I decorated, and score cards with my bling font and rhinestones glued on the rings.  For our spoons we passed around a giant pink stone.  I sprinkled gems on every table along with blinged candy bowls

 I searched and searched for a Bling font. Nothing! Sooo I created one!! I used it all over the place.  Here is a close up of what I printed:

My pencils..  I had Hubby cut the eraser ends off of new No.2 pencils in the garage.  I painted them pink, sprayed with acrylic spray, and glued a rhinestone on the end you would normally sharpen.  Then I sharpened the end that the eraser was cut off.  Love how they turned out.

I always have a little side game going.  Every time someone rolls a bunco, they get to visit the magnet board hanging next to the head table and pick a bling magnet to keep.  On the bottom of some of them it said “win”  If the picked a winning bling magnet, they won another blinged out prize.

For this I used a $1 cookie sheet, painted it pink and white, Mod Podged, glittered and blinged.  Hubby drilled 2 holes in one end so I could hang with a ribbon.

For dessert we had an Ice cream bar with all the fixings.  Yummy!

Here is a pic of Me with one of my BFF’s Debbie I’ve known since high school.  We had so much fun doing our make-up together before the party. .  This pic was taken on a iPhone, so it’s not easy to see all the glitter on our eyes.  A couple of Hoochy Mamas!!

Hope you enjoyed all the sparkle.    My floors look like the glittery streets in Hollywood.  Where are those mice to help clean up this mess?

]]> http://www.itsayummylife.com/bling-party-for-bunco/feed/ 0 http://www.itsayummylife.com/summer-gift-idea-personalized-towel-and-sand-bucket/ http://www.itsayummylife.com/summer-gift-idea-personalized-towel-and-sand-bucket/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:07:49 +0000 Holly http://www.itsayummylife.com/?p=1978

Summer is right around the corner!  How I love summer birthdays.  (Jack, Ella, and I are all in June a week a part from each other, so for 3 weeks, its birthday season!!)   One of my favorite gifts to give is a beach towel with a name embroidered on it, and a Blinged out sand bucket!! I use a low temperature glue gun to hot glue Ice Cream gift cards on the shovel, and a sharpie to write our birthday message on the bucket. I hot glued the stones on too!  Fill Bucket with sand toys, sunglasses, and a new bathing suit.  The birthday boy or girl will be all set for a fun day at the beach!

Here are a few towels I’ve done.  So easy to sew out, and it’s something they love to use!!

New little in the Hoop Freebie for you!!

Little Bunny Foo Foo!  You can download him for Free on my Facebook page for a limited time:

As you some of you know, I am a Girl Scout leader.  I am soooo proud of my girls!!  We just had our International Fair, (which is a HUGE GS event, 40 troops and about 600 people) Our troop took 1st place in the performance competition!!!  The excitement level of my girls was off the charts!!!  They rocked it!!  Lexi is 2nd from the end, standing next to Megan, far right, who has sold over 1200 boxes of cookies this season!! These girls have worked so hard, all selling 300+ boxes each.  Woo Hoo!!  Catalina Island here we come!!!   3 days of snorkeling, kayaking, shopping, and soaking up the sun. Can’t wait!

We represented the country of Spain this year.  In our booth girls visiting our country could come make a flower hair clip with a big rhinestone in the middle, (see the one in Michelle’s hair?)  For food we served Sangerias,(virgin ones) and Churros.  (Official yummies of Spain)  Thank you to Lesley for making ALL those yummy Churros!!  Our little swaps were red mini fans, with bling!

We had a game to win a trip to the treasure box.  See Columbus’ ship in there?

 Each booth has to have a decorated trash can, Ours was a Bull:

For our booth, we made a Spanish Castle, as the Queen of Spain helps Columbus in his discovery of America, sooo, we went Royal!  We made it from a 10 x 10 easy up.  We cut out cardboard, painted them gray, sponged on white to add accents, and attached with zip ties.  Oh, and hot glue.  Lots of hot glue!!

We cut out stone shapes from cardboard, painted them, and hot glued them on. Big thanks to Michelle and Diana.  You guys have some nice mansonry skills.    The sides of the castle were made from the tri-fold display boards, which worked out perfect.  They wrapped around the easy-up poles.  Roses hot glued on too.  What would I do without my hot glue gun!!  I think I own 7 of them.  Love!

Some of the other booths there were so cute, here are a few of my favorites.  The country of France had the cutest trash can.  Just look at this poodle!!   I wanted to steal him!!

The country of Greece made a trash can out of recycled cookie case boxes.  This Trojan horse was Genius!! Love love love the creativity!

After all the festivities over the last few weeks: Lexi’s Birthday, Jack’s Blue and Gold Cub Scout dinner, International fair, and a ton of other things, I finally snuck out with hubby for some Mommy-Daddy time.  I don’t know what I would do without this amazing man who puts up with all my projects! (He even did a cookie booth with Lexi while I was sick with the flu.)

This little project has been fun.  It all started with Lexi and I making bookmarks with charms for all the readers in the family.  Then we decided we needed to give books with them.  Then we thought about how all the girls in the family are always borrowing books from each other, and then one day… The Library was born.

The kids have has so much fun with this, and I did it with things around the house.

I covered a paper box with wrapping paper for our “Library” and printed a sign for the front of the box on colored cardstock.  We cut strips of cardstock and the kids glued cupcakes they made with a craft punch on them.  I found a date stamper in the desk drawer. (Perfect!  We needed that!)   I made library cards, library book slips and envelopes that we glued into each book.  Scroll down to download my slips, cards and envelope template.  I also made little pockets for the inside of the box to hold library cards and book markers.  The little yellow flower I cut out with a flower punch after I printed their Library name on it.  Last but not least, we added a bucket of pens so everyone can sign their new library cards.

Ah, customers!!  Each client is issued a Library card, which they have to fill out and sign.  They pick out a book, the slip gets filled out and stamped, and they are told a due date.  Lexi, being the little entrepeneur that she is, has strict late fees.  $.25 a day!!  So get to reading those books!!  Jack happily gives each person a book marker, and thanks them for visiting their library.

You can download my Library Card and Book Slips here:

Library Cards    Book slips

Here is the Pocket:

This little traveling library has been great!  I hope you have fun making one of your own.

Happy Reading!!

]]> http://www.itsayummylife.com/our-little-home-made-library/feed/ 0 http://www.itsayummylife.com/beanie-boo-birthday-party/ http://www.itsayummylife.com/beanie-boo-birthday-party/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:01:46 +0000 Holly http://www.itsayummylife.com/?p=1869

It’s time to Celebrate!

Let’s throw a Party!!

1st, we need to pick out a cake at the Bakery:

(Cakes done in the hoop to fit a tea light candle)

Then we need to make some cookies and appetizers:

We need some party hats and decorations:

We need to set the table:

We need to invited some friends:

Have some yummy appetizers girls!!

OK, everyone sit down at the table, we are going to sing Happy Birthday to the Birthday Girl:

Turn off the lights so the candle on the cake can light up the room:

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Lexi,

Happy Birthday to you!

Cake for everyone!!

The animals used in this set are 6″ Beanie Boos, made by TY.  They can be found at Justice for Girls, and many other retail stores.  The Cakes are done with teal light candles, and would be so cute given as a little gift to a co-worker or a friend.

Almost every little girl I know is collecting them.  I can’t wait to give this set to Lexi for her 11th birthday.  She is going to love it!!!

This set will also work with dolls, hats fit nicely on an 18″ doll, (American Girl Dolls)

Thank You for coming to our party!!  We loved having you over.

Love,

TheYummyFactory.com

Let me first start by saying, it kills me to throw out fabric.  I know even the tiniest piece can eventually turn into something wonderful.  With that being said, I have a stash… Yes, I keep all those extra pieces in a clear plastic zipper bag, a set of sheets once came it.  I love it, because I can turn it all around, and see all the scraps, and zip it when I’m done.  Not only that, the kids know they can get into that stash when they want to, and make anything they dream up!  I love it!!  They have created some really awesome things!!

Here is my Stash:

Lexi and I made Washi Fabric Tape with our scraps for our scrap books.  It was a fun little afternoon.  See tutorial below.

Lexi made a crown out of scraps for her little Beanie Boo.  The Beanie Boo is now a Princess!  She glued a piece from the stash onto a piece of paper, let it dry, cut it out, added some bling, and Volia!  She has a beautiful crown. She even made a necklace from the bead scrap stash.

Here is how we did it:

You will need:  Fabric scraps, Double stick tape, wax paper, and scissors

1st, wash your hands.  (You don’t want to lose your sticky on your tape.) Iron your fabric.  Lay a piece of tape on the wrong side of your fabric.  Turn over, and press onto a piece of wax paper with your finger tips.  Trim along the sides of the tape as close as you can.  Trim the ends with Pinking sheers.  Store on wax paper until you are ready to use.