School Auction ideas

Last night was the big Mystery Dinner Theater and Auction for my kids school. I was on the planning committee and I was also fortunate enough to be on stage for the Mystery Theater itself.  What a blast! It was truly an incredible night. I feel like I missed most of it because I was backstage throughout 90% of the evening but everyone seemed to have a great time. Months of planning went into this auction and countless hours of time and many volunteers made the night successful. I feel blessed to have been a small part of something so great. I have no idea how much money was raised yet but I'm sure it was incredible. The school where my kids attend is an amazing school and we feel so blessed to have found it and for our kids to attend there. The teachers are so amazing, caring, and fun to be with. The curriculum is incredible and the things my kids are learning blow my mind...I never knew as much math in Kindergarten as Naomi does! And she learned how to read in just months! Incredible. Anyway, on to the reason for the post.

I know that school held auctions are pretty popular and sometimes you run out of ideas for what to put in the auction as classroom items. Well, I'm just going to share two with you here because they are the two that I helped with. The kindergartners were so kind to let me come on two different occasions to take their pictures. The second time I came was because I messed up the first time on the letters...(I'll say it again...jack of all trades master of none). Anyway, we had them form letters with their bodies and then spelled two words to be framed "FAITH" and "LOVE". I also took each kids silhouette photo, made them colorful and had this 16x20 canvas printed at my favorite canvas place Canvas on Demand. The idea for the silhouettes came from Judith at Judith Fernstrom Photography, she also sent me detailed instructions on how she did the silhouettes and I'm sure she'd be willing to send them to you also!! This piece actually did really well at the auction and had two moms bidding against each other getting top dollar for the piece. I'm actually going to get a second one printed so both moms can have one and the school gets more money ;)

Here are some more photos from the auction!

 Here's a photo of the Mystery Theater cast with our amazing director. He not only directed the play but he wrote it! If you're looking for a good short mystery play for an auction or something similar maybe he'd be willing to sell his great play!!

 If you have an auction coming up and are looking for ideas pinterest is a great place to start. I have a board for auction ideas that you can check out and I know there are MANY more ideas that I didn't even pin.
There was no link for the source of the "FAITH" and "LOVE" photos but here's the pin for it. And no I wasn't paid by canvas on demand to tell you how awesome they are. They are just that awesome. GREAT customer service and GREAT products. Hope you have a great weekend! I'm looking forward to not having to go to play practice or plan for the auction...but it was a LOT of fun!!!
 

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freezer paper stenciled shirts, and other random goodies!

We've had a busy week around here...how are the rest of you doing?! Monday we celebrated our oldest daughters sixth birthday! She had an awesome day...Dunkin Donuts for breakfast with dad, school, lunch at Red Lobster with the family (including grammy and papa), presents, cake and a classmates birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese! She had a great day and declared "I'm a grown up now".

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary! Can't believe it's been ten years already!! We were able to have lunch at my parents house and then they watched the kiddos so we could go out for dinner and a movie! It's been almost a YEAR since we've been in a theatre! Crazy! We saw "Trouble with the Curve" and I thought it was a pretty good movie! 

No baby yet...but I've been nesting that's for sure. Thursday night I spent a few hours cleaning up the MESS in my bedroom...my craft area. I blogged about the craft area clean up on my blog because I'm joining a couple of others with the great October Overhaul....it's not too late to join if you need a craft area overhaul too!! I can't wait to share my after photos!! My daughter came into my room the next morning and did a double take...and my mom was wondering if she was in the right house when she stepped foot into my bedroom last night! So I guess that means that my cleaning has an impact. It does on me as well because now I know where my supplies are! I have also cleaned things that have probably only been cleaned once or twice since we moved into this house! My house thanks me for nesting ;)

Next Friday my little girl turns 2!! It's a crazy, busy, fun month for all of us here...well, except for Micah, he can't understand why everyone else gets presents and he gets none!

I made an outfit for Naomi's birthday, and I also made shirts for her classmate and Micah's whose birthday party we went to on Monday. Freezer paper stenciling is amazing and I love doing it. The six die on Naomi's shirt was all my husbands idea!! He's pretty creative too ;)

Well, I'm going to go and think baby thoughts and see what we can do to get things moving along!! And it's not too late to enter the giveaway (by guessing baby's birthDAY and other stats) that I posted about last week!!!! I will keep you posted on her arrival!!

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Patriotic T-shirts

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law came down to visit over Memorial Day weekend. We put my handy brother-in-law to work...he wired our surround sound speakers, hung three ceiling fans and a chandelier! Yay for crossing things off the list!

Since it was Memorial Day and my niece and nephew are crafty (like my kids) I figured it would be a fun time to make a little project with all the kids. I had seen this t-shirt idea somewhere but now for the life of me can't remember where it was. I think it may have been Family Fun magazine but I'm not sure. If you know where it came from can you please let me know so I can give the proper credit!!?? Thanks!

These hand-print flag shirts were super easy to make! Just paint their LEFT hand to look like the flag. The bottom right corner is blue and then paint the stripes on the rest of their hand. Then put your kids hand down on the shirt with their fingers facing the right side of the shirt.

The blue paint dried too fast on Naomi's shirt so we made sure to get LOTS of paint on everyone else's hands. The white and red did mix on the few of their hands but that's the beauty of homemade shirts!







Hannah watched all the big kids do their hand prints and then she did a REALLY good job of letting me paint and print her shirt!!




Here they are on Memorial Day with their patriotic shirts! The great thing about these shirts is they can be worn for at least 3 holidays and are just a great shirt to show your support of America!


Um...someone did NOT want their picture taken!

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T-Shirt Headbands

Thought I'd change it up this week! I have been sharing T-Shirt Scarves for the past 4 weeks. Here they are...Scarf 1, Scarf 2, Scarf 3 and Scarf 4, if you want to check them out!

Well this week I thought I would share a t-shirt headband. As I was making one of my scarves with my mom (@Pine Creek Style), we thought it would be cute to use the same method on a small t-shirt for a kids headband.

I used the same method as the no sew scarf. See Scarf 2 for directions. Just used one of their old shirts. The size of the shirt was a 2T. It will be a little big, so I recommend a smaller shirt because after you stretch it out, well you know, it gets bigger. ;) I would say a 12 mo. shirt would be great.

...Look at how cute it turned out...

She really is happy to be wearing this. LOL I just thought it was a cute pic. Here is one of her smiling and showing that you can wear a clip with this too!

I love it and made a few of them for the girls. They even look cute with pony tails. The one below is another color I made.

And my oldest loved wearing hers too! Perfect for all ages. Mommy's too!

Cute! Cute! Will you make one? Have you made one?

These t-shirt headbands are awesome and a quick way to turn a simple hairdo into a fancy one!

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Christmas Shirt Applique's & Giveaway

First, don't forget to go by and enter our {Brassy Apple} giveaway
2 winners will get to choose from 2 different scarf pattern ebooks.


Giveaway for Applique's below Post... Don't forget to enter


This Christmas I decided to make applique shirts for our family's christmas photo. I waited in line for an hour to get my fabric. Seems like everyone is sewing projects for gifts this year. I didn't mind waiting because I had the perfect fabric and I loved hearing everyone talk about what they were making. I also loved the suggestions I got for the other fabrics I got. 

When I started planning I decided of course that the boys would get ties. Yes! HUBBY said he would wear an applique shirt. He even said the shirt looked cool! YEAH! So their shirts were easy and done quickly. I originally was going to make the girls matching but I already had matching fabrics, that was good enough. I wanted to make them all different but with the same fabric.

So here is what we ended up with. Love them all.

I chose black shirts on all of these because I really wanted the fabric to stand out. I like how these turned out. I really love that Santa is in different places on each tie. That way the boys don't feel too identical. Ha! Ha! So the one on the right is hubby's and the left is my sons. Both love them and look so handsome in them. 

Here are all the girls shirts. I can't say which is my favorite because they are all so cute! 

 The reindeer of course was fun to make. I made sure I added a lil bow on one of the antlers to make this a girl reindeer. This applique required a bit more time than the others because there were so many little parts. But that's what makes it so unique. I also did not change the thread when sewing around the eyes because I had little hands helping and she wanted red. It is also not the best sew job, but my lil girl will always remember getting to help me make it. Thats all that counts to me!

The stocking is adorable. I am loving this one and actually am making another one tonight for a friends daughter. This particular applique will be quick and easy for those of you who want to whip out some last minute shirts for Christmas this year. Only 4 things to sew, then simply add a bow and loop. Very quick.

Next I made the word JOY but used an ornament as the letter O. It turned out very cute too and is another quick applique to do on short notice. I love the lil white bow on this one. Gives it a little dimension. The letters are a little tricky to maneuver around with your sewing machine, but just take your time and make sure when you lift and turn, that you keep your needle down in the fabric. That way you are messing up your line of thread too much. Mine again aren't perfect, so I am not a good example. No the best seamstress. Hee! Hee! That's my flaw.

Then there's my shirt. I decided to make Christmas trees on mine, but I didn't want them to be solid in color so I cut strips out to make my trees. This took some time sewing but what a beautiful reward. I love it and can't wait to wear it around. I also added bows on my trees. Thought they were pretty cute.

I wanted to point out that when I stitched these on, I used a type of zig zag pattern instead of just a straight stitch. Using a straight stitch could have made this project much quicker, but I liked the zig zag look.

One more thing...

I made headbands for the girls to wear with their shirts. Cute! Cute!

Hope you enjoyed our family Christmas shirts. Please share with us your holiday projects with us Wednesday during our Creative Share Link Party.

You can also link up every Wednesday with any of your projects, recipes, ideas ect. It's a fun creative day for us here at Trendy Treehouse! If you are interested in learning more about this link party as well as our others, you can stop by HERE to read more. 

A big THANKS to {The Girl Creative} for letting me stop by today to share my Christmas Shirts.

{GIVEAWAY}

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

WINNERS...

DIANA Won randomly twice! 

Winners will be contacted by email. I can't wait to send you your applique's!

Please Read Below Before Entering....

You will have until December 19th @ 9:00 p.m. Pacific Standard time to enter this giveaway. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced here. If the winner has provided an email address I will contact you. If you don't provide your email, you will want to check back here and see if you are the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to those living in US, CANADA & AUSTRALIA. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Thanks for entering at Trendy Treehouse. Good Luck and Have Fun!!

The featured product {s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. By entering this giveaway you agree to Trendy Treehouse Disclaimer/Terms of use

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Colored Sand Tutorial

I recently went through my childhood trunk and found all my treasures. LOL One of which was a puppy dog colored with sand. I am not sure what grade I was in but I do remember making it. We drew a picture, added glue and then colored sand. It was so fun and I loved how it looked. I wanted to do it with my kids. So I started looking for ways to make my own sand. To buy already colored sand was too expensive. 

I have to give a shout out to some Trendy Treehouse Facebook fans (Tina & Lisa). Thanks for helping me find out what to use. They suggested Powdered Tempera and/or Powdered Pigment. Unfortunately I could only find a couple colors at Michael's. So I ended up getting Tempura Paint. I saw in another tutorial that you could do that instead of the powder. 

Get the above set of 12 Powdered Tempera at S&S Worldwide

Use Coupon Code E2963 to get $10 off your order. Not sure when it expires. I found this coupon on Coupon Chief

I haven't made it yet, but here are the directions anyway. I bought all the goodies yesterday and today when the kids get home we will be coloring the sand. Then this weekend we are going to have fun using it. 

What you will need....

• Tempera Paint or Powder
• Water if you are using the Powder
• Playground Sand - you can get this at your local home improvement store
• Bowls and mixing utensils
• Wax paper, pan, paper plate - for drying
• Funnel
• Containers to hold the colored sand - I am going to use Wilton candy containers. They come with a squirt top. This would be perfect to adding sand to your artwork

How to make this....

1. Start with 2 cups of sand in a clean bowl. Mix in desired color of tempera paint. Add this in small amounts, you don't want the sand to clump up. Add water if you need to thin out the paint. But very little. If you are using the tempera powder, mix in 1 tsp. at a time to your sand mixture. Add lil amounts of water as you mix in to get desired color. Add more powder if you don't get the right color on the first try.
2. After your done mixing the sand and have the right color, spread your sand out on a piece of wax paper, pan or paper plates to dry.
3. Once the sand is done drying you can transfer it into your containers with your funnel for less mess. Keep some in ready to use bottles and left over sand in easy to store containers.

Now you are ready to use your sand....

• Have your kids draw a photo and use glue and sand to color it. Makes beautiful pieces of art.

• Get out a dinner tray and let your kids draw pictures with the sand. No glue. You can use one color or mix colors. Just know that mixing will cause the colors to blend and you will not be able to add back to the solid colors. But take this opportunity to teach your kids how to mix colors.

• Make a giant colored sand area outside for your kids to play in. Who said it had to be brown sand. LOL

• Mix colors together to make new colors. Make a color chart by gluing sand in color circles. A great pre-K project.

• Treasure Sand Box - Get a container and add in some of your colored sand as well as prizes. It can be a good behavior prize box. It makes getting a prize fun. Digging for a cool prize.

• Add layers of sand in a bottle to make a beautiful sand masterpiece. Remember making these at the fair? I do. It was so fun! I made a pink flamingo with google eyes and a big pink feather. Loved it.

• Make it a game - In two containers add sand and like the prize box, add in items. Make sure they are the same in each box. Give your kids a list of the items and let them go hunting. First one to find all the items gets a prize.

• Look and find - take a plastic bottle and add in sand and items. Glue the top closed. Your kids can roll it around and find all the items inside. Give them a checklist so they can mark off what they have found. A great car game too!

I know there is a lot more I could mention, but have fun with it and please share your sand ideas with us too!

I wish I could find mine to show you a picture of. I put it in a safe place and you know how that goes. LOL When I find it I will add it to this post.

Pictures thanks to Google Images!

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Freezer Paper Shirt Ideas & Tutorial

Jamie had a wonderful tutorial a few weeks ago about freezer paper stenciling. You can see it here. Well I took her tutorial and made some fun shirts for my kids. This was my first attempt at freezer paper  stenciling. Thank you Jamie for making this so easy and fun.

lil poser had to get in there. What a cutie. Hence the shirt idea. LOL

So here is what we did.... First I wrote down ideas of what each of my kids favorite things are. Then I searched online for clipart ( I am not the best artist ) that matched the ideas. Printed them out and traced them onto the freezer paper. I took a utility knife for the smaller areas that needed to be cut and then scissors for the rest. 

Before Ironing the Freezer Paper on, I had started with 3 pink shirts for the girls and 2 blue shirt for my son. I hung them up on hangers and took them outside and gave them a spray bleach bath. LOL That sounds weird. Let them dry and gave them a quick bath (as the kids would say) in the washer. Dried them and they were ready to go. I am glad I did that because it gave them a kind of unique look.

Back to the Freezer Paper Fun.... we then ironed the freezer paper (shiny side down) to the shirts. 

Now comes the fun part of decorating with paints!

We bought a sponge and cut it into a bunch of small pieces. These were our little paint sponges. I found some fabric paint on sale at JoAnn's. Grabbed a paper plate to squeeze the paint onto and started sponging away. Let the paint try and then just peel off your freezer paper. You can either do another quick wash (which I recommend) or let the kiddos try them on for a bit before the wash. You know, because they are going to be anxious to put on their favorite things shirt!

~ So here are their shirts ~

My sons is pretty cool. He has a bmx stunt shirt. It starts on the back of the shirt and then comes around to the front. What's cool is the stunt stencil starts out riding then going up on the bike, back down again and finally the arms up in the air screaming "I DID IT" Well it doesn't say that, but I like to think it. LOL We loved the saying "I DO MY OWN STUNTS" So that had to go on there as well. He loves it.

My oldest daughter is our reader. She loves to read anything and mommy is loving that she loves to read craft and sewing books. Hint! Hint! Someone to create with. So her shirt was easy. We found a tree and placed a girl reading under the tree. Then of course it had to say love (we made a heart as you can see) to READ. 

My middle daughter is our little bashful cutie. She loves to be a princess but is very sporty too. So she chose a princess wearing a crown with the saying "LIL CUTIE" princess was too long. Eeeeek. My favorite part of her shirt is the back. We added the same princess only larger and she is blowing a kiss with her high heals on. Too Cute.

Last but not least my youngest daughter is in love with elephants so I had to use them someone. But I found this adorable image of a girl blowing bubbles and loved that too. So here is what we did.... we have the girl blowing bubbles and her imagination (wink) turns her bubbles into her favorite things. So we have the elephant, butterflies, hearts and bubbles. Added "LOVE" and we were done.

These were so much fun to make with the kids. They thought they were the best because they were what they picked out, colors and all. I would love to see what you come up with. So please share.

Hope you enjoyed our fun lil project.

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