Category Archives: DIY

DIY // Mary Poppins Costume from your Closet …

October 13, 2015

DIY Mary Poppins Halloween Costume
I’m back sharing a little bit more about my costume for the Ghouls Night Out Party I shared on my blog last week!
I decided to dress up as Mary Poppins, mainly because I happen to have each of these items in my closet already.  So, I’m not sure what that says about me!  Ha!
How to make a Mary Poppins costume from your Closet
My absolute favorite costumes for me or my kids are the costumes you can put together from items you already own.  I love seeing what we can throw together with regular clothes and transforming them into a costume!  So, here are a few little tips on how to put together a Mary Poppins costume for Halloween!
DIY Mary Poppins Halloween Costume
DIY Mary Poppins Halloween Costume
Step by Step Mary Poppins Costume Tutorial
DIY Mary Poppins Halloween Costume
DIY Mary Poppins Halloween Costume
For a DIY Mary Poppins Costume, you will need:
  • Black Hat
  • Floral Headband
  • Flower Pin
  • Red Bow Tie-  I made one out of felt for a hair bow for my daughter, and used it as a bow tie
  • Red Belt
  • White Button up Collared shirt
  • Pearl Earrings
  • Black Tights
  • Black Booties 
  • Umbrella
  • Black Midi Skirt
  • Red Lipstick
I still can’t believe I owned all of these items, and was able to pull an entire Mary Poppins Costume out of my closet!  Well, I did borrow the umbrella, but most of us can pull a black umbrella out of our closets, and that works great too!

So, there you go!  Easy than a downing a spoonful of sugar too!

All of my costume photos are by Diana Putnum Photography.

Be sure to check out the other ladies I collaborated with on this fun Halloween Party!
See more of their costumes, crafts, Halloween Decor, DIY’s, and recipes that they prepared for the party on their blogs!  We will all be posting over the next little while!
Housewife 2 Hostess
Sandy A la Mode
Gentri Lee
Confetti Sunshine
I recreated the look below with items available in stores online now to make it easy for you!  Click on each picture for individual links!  (affiliate links used)

!function(doc,s,id){ var e, p; if(!doc.getElementById(id)) { e = doc.createElement(s); e.id = id; p = ‘//shopsensewidget.shopstyle.com/widget-script.js’; var cb = new Date().getTime(); p += ‘?cb=’ + cb; e.src = p; doc.body.appendChild(e); } if(typeof window.ss_shopsense === ‘object’){ if(doc.readyState === ‘complete’){ window.ss_shopsense.init(); } } }(document, ‘script’, ‘shopsensewidget-script’);

Parties // Panda Party Invitations

June 4, 2015

Panda Party Panda Invitations Birthday Inviations
My little Thomas turned 4 in March, and I just can’t hardly believe it!
He’s quite the Panda lover, so I decided to throw him a little Panda Party for his big day.
All he wanted to do is invited his little neighborhood friends over for a little party.  He was so excited!
Affiliate links used in this post
I always love to set the tone of a party by sending out a fun invitation that goes along with the theme.
I used some fun printable tags by Avery Number 22802.  They worked really well, and I printed out the party info on the tags.
I thought it would be fun to include a real bamboo stick, “sticking” with the Panda theme.
After I printed out the tags, I got a piece of wet paper towel, and wrapped it around the bottom of the bamboo stick, then wrapped it up in plastic wrap.  Then added a little layer of paper, then wrapped it up with some colorful embroidery floss, then tied on the invitation tag.
Armelle Blog Panda Birthday Party Invitations
My little Panda was so excited to run around the neighborhood delivery invitations to his little friends.
More pictures of Tommy’s Panda Party to come!
See more of the Panda Party here!
{all photos by me}

Holidays // Favorite easter basket fillers

April 2, 2015

I love a good Easter basket!
Over the years of “helping” our Easter bunny put together baskets for my children, I have found that we have some favorites in our household. 
Before you check them out, be sure to check some of our past easter basket fillers, and ideas here, here and here, !
First up, I wanted to share Norah’s Easter basket.
It is fun for me to look for fun items for their Easter basket’s!  I’ve been known to grab things months and months ahead if I come across something that is just perfect!  I usually put my items in a bin as I gather them up over the weeks or months before Easter.  Holidays tend to sneak up on you, so it’s always nice to be prepared!
One of my favorite things to put in their baskets are Annie’s Bunnies Snacks.  The Cheddar bunnies snacks and fruit snacks are a great alternative to candy, and the bunny shape is perfect for easter!  See what else I’ve done with cheddar bunny snacks here! 
Another favorite Easter Basket filler in our house is Lindt Chocolates.  The tiny carrots, bunnies, lambs, chicks, bee’s, lady bugs, frogs.  So So cute!!  And, I’m a fan of high quality chocolates, none of that yucky chocolate, even for my kids!
Like I said, I love browsing stores for cute little items.  The Dollar Tree is a great place as well, I find some cute little items there!  
Another favorite Easter Basket filler are these darling 2 inch size photo books that you can print directly from your Instagram feed.  I print one for each of my children, and put in into an Easter Egg.  My kids think it’s amazing that the Easter bunny was around to see them doing all these activities they were doing in the photos!
Easter Basket Girl Edition Sources:
Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies
Annie’s Animal Cookies
Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snacks
Bunny Tights- Target
Sandals– Gap
Social PS Tiny 2 inch photo books that fit perfectly in Easter Eggs
Bunny Headband– Hello Shiso
Kid Made Modern Colored Pencils- Target
Carrot Pen– Oriental Trading
Jelly Bellies
Flashlight/pen- Dollar Tree
Strawberry wind-up toy- Dollar Tree
Lindt Chocolates– bunny, lamb, chick, bee, lady bug
Colorful easter eggs- Target
Little baby chicks– Oriental Trading
Toy filled egg- Walmart
Hopping bunny- Oriental Trading
Natural Easter basket- Bushel Basket– Hobby Lobby
Now, I wanted to share our favorite Easter basket fillers for my boys!
Much of the fillers are the same as the girl basket, with the exception of a few things.
My favorite Easter baskets for my kids are these plain natural wooden bushel baskets I find at Hobby Lobby.  I love them, they are classic, and fit lots of items for Easter Egg hunts, and for Easter morning!
We LOVE the Melissa and Doug Triangular Crayons

My boys, especially my youngest Thomas just loves little tiny things.  Tiny animals, tiny people, you name it.  
We just love the Schleich toys.  They are such high quality when it comes to little plastic toys, and they stay looking nice for a while!  We have a big collection!  I love putting the teeny tiny animals, especially bunnies in some of the plastic easter eggs!
I love the classic toy cars.  This red truck is a favorite!
My kids are really into Kendama’s lately.  They fit perfectly in an Easter basket.  And, the tiny mini keychain novelty kendama’s fit perfectly in an Easter egg!
Easter Basket Boy Edition Sources:
Schleich Animal Toys- Bunny, Crocodile
Little Red Toy Truck– Land of Nod
Melissa and Doug Triangular Crayons
Lindt Chocolates
Annie’s Bunny Snacks
Social PS Tiny 2 inch Photo books
Carrot Pen– Oriental Trading
Mini Orange Kendama Wooden Toy– Black Rhino Toys
Keychain/Novelty tiny Kendama– Black Rhino Toys
Wind-up eyeball toy- Dollar Tree
Spiderman Flashlight/Pen- Dollar Tree
Jelly Bellies
Hoppy Bunny Toy– Oriental Trading
Sticker and Toy filled Eggs- Walmart
Natural Easter Basket/ Bushel Basket– Hobby Lobby
Hope this helps with your Bunny Shopping!!  Or for any of you last minuters who need a few ideas.
Happy Easter!
While, Easter is so fun, and so is the Easter bunny.  This is a lot of fun for our kids for Easter, but we also teach our children our belief’s on the real meaning of Easter.  
Check out this amazing video here!
{disclosure: affiliate links are used in this post.  all photos by me}