It’s hard to believe how fast time flies. When I was pregnant with Sis, I was having a hard time choosing colors for her nursery (our daughter was our second child, after my son so I was switching things up a bit).  I was decidedly against pink. There are so many beautiful colors in the world, why settle for plain ‘ol pastel pink? 

When The Boy was born, I found an adorable album for him. It had some pre-printed pages and spaces to record memories, firsts and other things. The search to find a cute non-pink feminine album with ready-made pages proved rather difficult. After searching for weeks and coming up empty handed, I decided to make my own! I chose bright, happy colors and it definitely works with her bright, happy disposition. 

The empty D-ring album I found to use is made by Kaisercraft.  You can find their albums on Amazon or on Blitsy. They are beautiful, durable albums  and I definitely recommend them for your baby album project. 

EASY BABY ALBUM PRINTABLE- FREE PRINTABLE

What you need: 
– Large D-ring album (Amazon or Blitsy)
– Coordinating Scrapbook Paper (Amazon or Blitsy)
– Scissors
– Glue

The PDF printable includes 6 pages, with space for firsts, footprints, height and weight, and favorites. I also included a 7th page with a bunch of cute color-coordinating embellishments. 

Get the PDF here:Baby Album Printables

This baby album was also incredibly easy to put together once the pages are printed. I usually take my print jobs to an office supply store. You can get yours printed on standard paper, but I recommend getting them printed larger for the 12 x 12 album. The store I went to didn’t have a 12×12 option, but they had a 11 x 11 (11 x 17, but you just cut it down), and it turned out great. I used white cardstock and everything was easy to cut out and glue together. 

After your pieces are cut out, you simply glue them on top of any pretty paper than you choose! Then you can place them in the plastic sleeves that come with your album. 
Super easy! 

Now I have the beginning of a baby album! Of course I will need to actually print off photos to add to it…

Thanks for reading, and happy crafting! 

The post Easy Baby Album Printable – Free Printable! appeared first on Whistle and Lively.

The look for this hot air balloon hoop art is achieved by using iron-on webbing. This easily and quickly attaches the fabric pieces together before you begin embroidering, so it’s very easy.  I used the back stitch for all the stitching on this piece, except for the small ties (lazy daisies) for the bunting (click here for photo tutorial for the lazy daisy and back stitch). My version is quite a bit simpler than the original, but it still turned out very cute. 

I got a bit off when doing the letters. I should have unstitched it right after I got off track, but I think it turned out okay. I love that Bev used a cute font that looks like hand lettering because it really hides any small mistakes that may occur. In my case, quite a few mistakes occurred (betcha can’t tell!). 

I gave it to my mother-in-law and she loved it! And I certainly love the instant-gratification of this cute balloon hoop art because it took less than an hour from start to finish.  
I hope I can convince you to give it a try! Bev has  the pattern and tutorial FREE on her blog.

Get the free hot air ballon hoop art pattern HERE at Flamingo Toes.

Enjoy!

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How to make running easier 

1. Breathe right.

I ran cross-country in high school. It was fun, but training still sucked(see above). My coach kept stressing to take deep breaths. I could never really figure it out. When I concentrated on taking deep breaths, I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air, does that even make sense? Well, I have found a way that help.
When I am running,  I let my breaths mimic my quick heart-rate, but when I feel my lungs getting tight, like they aren’t filling up all the way, I force my lungs to take one huge deep breath, and most of the time, my lungs will open up and receive the air. I usually take this breath about once a minute, and it makes all the difference. Sometimes, my lungs feel ready for that deep breath, but they don’t open up and receive the air, so I have to try again in a few seconds. This sounds strange, but it has helped my running time and distance greatly. Make sure to also exhale completely and force out the stagnant air.

2. Run for at least 30 minutes

This is especially important if you are just starting out. There is no better time to start jogging than right now! I won’t sugar-coat it, your first jog after a mainly sedentary lifestyle is going to be hell, but it will get better! Always shoot for 30 minutes. There is something magical about that number. I used to jog regularly for 20 minutes, and it was always hard and really horrible, but once I started jogging for 30 minutes, my lungs, muscles, and heart really strengthened, and it made my jogs much easier. You DON’T have to run the entire 30 minutes. Just run as long as you can, then walk until you catch your breathe. The key is to keep moving for 30 minutes. You will be surprised how much longer you can run even on the next run you take.

3.  Empty Stomach

I am not saying to fast the whole day before your jog, just don’t go right after dinner or after a huge breakfast. Your body will be using all of its energy digesting your meal, and you won’t have any left for your run. For me, 2-3 hours after a meal works really great. I also avoid chugging lots of fluid before my run as well. It usually sits in my belly and gives me a nasty side ache.

4. Good Shoes

I mostly ran with cheap shoes, until I broke down and bought good ones (and my husband finally convinced me to be less cheap!).  Let me tell you, it is definitely worth it. Be on the lookout for good deals, you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg. Running sucks enough, you don’t want to worry about aching ankles or knees afterward (or during).

5. Music

This might be a no-brainer, but bring your music! I have a tutorial HEREon how to make a custom running armband for your ipod or phone. It’s easier to run if your mind is distracted a little bit.

6. Be Consistent

If you stop running, you will lose all your hard work. Your heart, lungs and legs will lose the endurance and strength that they have built, and your running will go back to sucking! Shoot for 3 times a week. That’s not so bad, right?

This is  not a complete list, but these are few things that have helped make running easier for me (so I don’t completely despise ever second of it). 

Do you have any tips on how to make running easier? (or even just bemoan how horrible it is?)
Let me know in the comments! 

The post How to make Running Suck Less appeared first on Whistle and Lively.

Last year I totally failed Valentine’s Day. The Boy was going to a tiny preschool taught out of the teacher’s basement. I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t receive a note about bringing Valentines. I should have been proactive because The Boy came home with a bag full of candy and I didn’t give him anything to give away [face palm].  This year I will be on top of it. These cute little bunny-shaped crackers are an exciting treat in my house, due to my sugar dictatorship, and they make a very cute Valentine!  They are also nice because of the easy and free Valentine’s Day printable to do go with it. 

BUNNY FREE VALENTINE’S  DAY PRINTABLE 

What you need: 
– FREE Printable
– Snack Bags
– Bunny-shaped crackers
– Stapler

STEP ONE: 

Print this printable. I prefer using a thinner card stock, instead of regular printer paper.  

STEP TWO: 

Cut them out, taking care to not cut along the dotted line. A paper cutter is very useful here.

STEP THREE: 

Fold the paper down the dotted lined. 

STEP FOUR: 

Fill baggies with bunny crackers.

STEP FIVE:

Staple the printable to the baggies, taking care you staple all the way through and it goes through the baggie. 

(Be sure to fill out the TO and FROM on the printables.)

Super easy right? I LOVE easy and these are super easy. 

Now…what to get Dallas? 

Happy crafting, 

The post You Make My Heart Hop – FREE Bunny Valentine’s Day Printable appeared first on Whistle and Lively.

 

WASHI TAPE NECKLACE

WHAT YOU NEED: 

(affiliate links)
–various rolls of Washi Tape
– glass beads 
–jewelry findings
– thin plastic cord (or thin metal chain)

STEP ONE:

Begin by stringing your necklace with beads. These pretty turquoise ones really caught my eye, and I loved how the color popped together with the red heart tape. Finish the ends with your jewelry findings. 

STEP TWO: 

After making a simple bead necklace, wrap your washi tape around the beads. I found it was easiest to lay a strip under the necklace, then pick it up and fold it over. Don’t worry if you don’t get it lined up perfectly the first try! Washi tape is easy to reposition, which is one of the reason that I love working with it. 

STEP THREE: 

After you get all of them taped (they don’t need to have equal lengths), cut a “template” banner and line it up with each of the banners on your necklace. Cut around it so that each banner looks uniform.

I also quickly made one using a thin chain instead of a line of beads, and it turned out adorable! It looks so cute on my neice.

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I hope you are all getting in the Halloween spirit! It’s one of my very favorite holidays so I get excited quite early. My husband laughs when I get the decor out in September. Plus, we recently moved to a house in a children-filled neighborhood, so I think we might have trick-or-treaters this year (that will be a new change for us!). I know, it’s a bit early BUT these DIY Carnivorous Plants are so easy to make and are a cute addition to your Halloween porch decor. So if you aren’t doing Halloween yet, put them on your to-make list!   

DIY CARNIVOROUS PLANTS

What you  need: (affiliate links)

• Assorted Foam Balls
• Precision Knife
• Medium Grit Sand Paper
• Needle-nosed Pliers
• Apple Barrel Multi-Surface Acrylic Paint
• Mod Podge
• Foam Brush
• Hot Glue
• 20 Gauge Floral Wire Stems
• Tooth Picks
• Existing potted house plant (or this one) 

I enjoyed making these biting heads so much! It was so fun to see them “come alive”, and they turned out better than I had expected, which is not something that happens too often (winning!). 

Start with your foam balls. Any size will work, but I got a pack of 6 with assorted sizes, and I like how the differences look. You will need a precision knife to carve them out.

Begin by carving the mouth. It’s not super precise and you don’t need a pattern. Shoot for a Pac-Man look and you will be fine. 
Once you have a smile line for the mouth, carve it out with your knife to make it larger and deeper. The more you carve out, the wider open the mouth will look. Be sure not to carve it out so much that it will be hard to insert the toothpicks later. 

Next, sand a bit off the top and the bottom to flatten the ball out a bit. You can leave them perfectly round it you prefer the shape. 

Before painting, cover the foam balls with a layer of Mod Podge. Using your foam brush, dab Mod Podge all over the surface.  It seals the foam before painting, so it doesn’t drink up the paint. 

Once it’s dry, you can start painting!
Apple Barrel has some super fun Halloween colors, I went with Clover Fields, Wild Grape and Black Apple Barrel Multi-Surface Acrylic Paint. This paint is perfect especially if you plan on putting your plant on the porch, it works great for outdoor use. 

Begin by dabbing on a full coat of paint with your foam brush. Once it’s dry completely, I mixed some Clover Fields with a drop or two of Black. Dab on the darker paint in a spotty coat, giving the color some depth and texture. You can dab on other colors for a more exotic look, I dabbed a bit of purple inside the mouths. Set them aside to dry completely. 

Next, heat up your glue gun and get ready to attach the toothpick teeth. You will need needle-nosed pliers.

Clip the ends off the tooth pick, leaving about 1/2″. Using your pliers, push the flat end of the toothpick in the mouth with the sharp end pointing out. If you find they aren’t staying well on their own, you can put a dab of hot glue on the end, and push it back into the hole you already made. Insert the teeth in an off-set pattern. 

Once the teeth are finished, you can attach the wire stem in the back. I put in right behind the mouth, instead of up from the bottom. Since the head is a bit heavy for the width of the wire stem, you will need to push it in to make a hole, then put a dab of hot glue on the end and glue it inside the hole. 
Repeat for each head. 

If you have an existing house plant, I think the heads will work for anything you have. A large broad-leaf plant will have an exotic jungle look, an aloe vera will be spikey and forbidding, a spider plant would look devilishly creepy… go with what you have! If you must go out and buy a plant, I suggest this wild-looking one. I picked up this tentacle-looking grass plant called a Corkscrew Rush. It was marked down to $3 at my local garden center, so it worked out perfectly. 

Next, if you would like to make a Beware sign, I took the liberty of making a graphic. I am not great at making them, I will not even tell you how long it took me to choose the fonts. Yikes. But if you want to use it, you can find it here. 
 
I made a simple wood sign with a few popsicle sticks. I clipped the ends with wire cutters for a rough-cut look, and hot glued two pieces on the back to hold it all together.

Mod podge the printable on the top by applying glue to both the paper and the wood. Be sure NOT to modpodge over the printable, the printer ink will smudge. 

Stick the heads and the sign in your plant, and you are done!

You now have a fabulously creepy carnivorous plant ready to bite anyone who dares come near! 
Mwahaha!

Happy crafting,

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Halloween is so awesome. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. It’s not just the Halloween-themed candy (which is super fun, obviously), but the spirit of trickery and the costumes, and the macabre decorations, which would be completely unacceptable and weird any other time of year. Although I love a bit of everything, candy corn is one of my favorite treats each year. Some of you may scoff, and some may cheer with me (it seems you either love it or hate it), but I promise this buttery, sweet and salty white chocolate candy corn popcorn will please nearly everyone. The two ultimate Halloween treats–candy corn and popcorn–come together so perfectly I swear it was meant to be.
 

The best thing about this popcorn (other than the fact that it’s so delicious) is how easy it is. You can literally make it in 5 minutes. The special ingredient is the limited edition Hershey’s Candy Corn bars. Amazing.  If you love candy corn, you will love these. If you don’t, they might turn you into a candy corn lover.

Start by popping one bag of microwave popcorn. Any kind will do, but if you don’t want the yellow color, buy a natural variety of popcorn.  While the popcorn is popping, unwrap about 14 Hershey’s Candy Corn bars and break them into pieces in a microwave-safe bowl. 

Once the popcorn is popped, dump it into an oversized mixing bowl and set aside.  Melting the Hershey’s Candy Corn bars will vary depending on your specific microwave and power settings, but you want to melt it slowly. I melted mine in 15-second increments, making sure to stir well each time. My candy corn bars melted in only four 15-minute increments (one minute).  Stir it one last time, making sure the chunks are melted, then pour it over your popcorn and stir well to coat each kernel. To avoid large chunks, you can spread the warm popcorn on a cookie sheet to cool, or you can let it cool in the bowl and break it up with your fingers afterward. You can use more Hershey’s Candy Corn bars, but 14 seems to create the perfect salty-to-sweet ratio for me. 

SO delicious. 

[yumprint-recipe id=’4′]So what do you think, are you a candy corn lover? If not, are you willing the become one?

Enjoy!

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When I was a kid and I was experiencing  a hard time, I would think of some future event in time to help me get through it.

By the time this test if over, track season will have started. I can make it. 
When this paper is due, it will be Thanksgiving break. I can do this. 

I lay in the PICU, staring at my bloody knee. When my knee stops bleeding, my son will be awake.
When my knee scabs over, my son will be out of the PICU and will be able to open his swollen eyes. 
When my scab gets dry, my son will get his feeding tube out. 
It sounds weird (and super gross), but it helped. 

We watched him fight. We watched him work so hard in physical therapy, even though he was scared and it hurt his body to move. It was the worst thing I had experienced. I would take the pain. I would take everything. It was torture. 
He showed me what it was to be brave. To do something when you don’t want to or think you can’t.  You do it anyway. 

And now.

He is perfect. He was alway perfect, of course. All the bones are healed. All the cracks, bruises and scrapes are repaired. The human body is even more marvelous that I realized. He jumps higher, laughs louder and tells even more silly jokes than before. I asked him last night if he remembers his stay at the hospital.
Not really, he tells me.
The remaining mark of his accident is his right front tooth is slight lower the left one.
To celebrate today, we took him to his favorite restaurant. We got him his favorite dessert, cheesecake (good choice!). We bought him a Paw Patrol toy he has been eyeing and doing extra chores to earn. Labor Day will forever be a special day for us. Not to remember the tragedy of the accident, but to remember how blessed we are, that family is the most important thing, and that THIS KID IS AWESOME. 

Happy Labor Day, 

The post One Year Later appeared first on Whistle and Lively.

What you need: (affiliate links)
–New or thrifted shadowbox 
-Old Map
–Pins
–Cork Board
-Paper Swallows (I cut mine on a cutting machine)

I found this cool old shadowbox at a thrift store a while back and have been hanging onto it for the perfect project idea. I haven’t found very many shadowboxes for $1!

For FREE local maps, hit up your city hall. You should be able to find some near the tourism pamphlets. Mine had quiet a few to choose from and I came home with more than I needed.

I’m not a hoarder, guys. I promise.

Begin by dismantling your frame. The back of mine was quite soft,  but a new one won’t be, so you will need to get a piece of cork board so your pins can stick into it easily.

Using your back as a guide, trace a line on your map.

From here, glue the map onto your cork board using some slightly watered-down school glue and a paint brush.

Next, get your swallows. I cut mine using this and this file on my Silhouette, and black cardstock.

Next, using your pins, push the swallows onto the ends and push the pins into your map cork board in a migration pattern. 

Once I pushed the swallows onto the pins,  they mostly stayed up near the head, but a few of them starting sliding down a bit.  I simply put a dab of white school glue at the top, under the head of the pin and glued the swallows up.

After all your pins are added, you can put your cork and backing in place on your frame.  

Isn’t it pretty?

Enjoy your new shadowbox
Happy crafting, friend!

originally posted at  PinkWhen

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of I Love To Create, Tulip Paints and Blueprint Social.  All opinions are 100% my own.

 Last month for our church girl’s camp, we tie-dyed bandanas for the girls to wear. We probably should have crocheted mittens because it snowed on us! Regardless, we have fun camping and we had fun tie-dyeing! I had completed forgotten how fun it is to tie dye. It’s also fun to try the dye on other mediums, besides shirts. At our house, we seem to have an extreme collection of random t-shirts, so I cut one of up and made this cute ombre tie-dye headband. 

This bright and fun project is simple and would be a great project for older kids.
It’s also a recycling project, which I love.  This mini tie-dye kit is perfect for little projects like this!

Start with a white, size L men’s t-shirt. You are just using the bottom, so it doesn’t need to be all white.
Cut off the hem, then cut a 4” strip. Don’t cut up the side, just cut straight across the bottom of your shirt.

Then, cut the end of your strip into smaller strips, about 1” apart. Don’t cut it all the way across, leave  a few inches, which will be where you sew on your buttons later.

Now comes the fun part: color!
Lay your head wrap on a piece of tarp or plastic. Make sure you are prepared for a mess (especially if you are crafting with little ones). I twisted each of my strands, because that is how I wanted to wear it when it was done.
Prepare a small bowl of water, a foam brush and your dye. Utilize the gloves that come with the kit.

To make the ombre coloring, start by dripping dye at the end of one of your strands.

Moisten your brush, then dab it on the painted part of your fabric, then moving up, continue to dab it to get the level of saturation that you would like.

Continue this technique for your other strands. I used turquoise for two, and lime green for the other two.

When you are done coloring, wrap up your project in plastic and let the dye set for about 8 hours.
Then, throw it in the washer (with like colors or by itself). I also machine dried it and it came out perfect. 

To finished up, fold the edges over the sew on two buttons (a bit lazy, I know! Feel free to machine sew your edge to give it a cleaner look).

For more creative inspiration, follow I Love To Create on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and on their Blog. 

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Happy crafting!

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