10(plus) Years Later

Last Saturday I had a message on my phone from a girlfriend from high school, whom I hadn't really seen or spoken to since we graduated, telling me she tracked down my dad, got my number, was in town for a conference, and asked if I wanted to meet for lunch on Sunday?!

Then my next message was from my dad saying that Cori just called him, asked for my number, said that she was in town for a conference and wanted to get together for lunch, and that if I see a weird number on my phone, I should answer it, because it is probably her! HA! Thanks dad!

We played phone tag throughout the day, finally resulting in the great power of text messaging and arranged our plans for Sunday, where we met at The Keg for a wonderful lunch (even Lola was wonderful sitting for about 2 1/2 hours) and great conversation! It was so nice to see Cori and hear all about life after high school! I had no idea what she has been up to, so it was really neat to hang with her! I think we could have talked for several more hours, but she had business to attend to and I had Lola who kept begging to have me take her shopping (she kinda says "shopping" with this little British accent, it is to-die-for)!

Needless to say, I do not plan to let another 10+ years go by, we exchanged emails/phone numbers/business cards (which reminds me...I need to order more)! I had a great lunch Cori, thank you for tracking me down!

Busy Mommies...

I, along with several other mommies, teamed up on Friday to finish decorating Mrs. Revord's windows of her Preschool classroom, for teacher appreciation week. A few moms met on Wednesday and got a nice start, but Friday was crunch time and we had to get everything finished, as judges come around Monday morning! Plus, what a nice surprise to walk up to come Monday morning as a teacher! We know she is going to LOVE IT!

These are some of Kyan's besties at school, I sprung them from extended day to get pictures of them for their teachers, as part of the gift they are giving them!!!

Remember to thank a teacher this week!
We know we love ours!

A Proud Mama

So I wrote a little note to Kyan's teacher today, he told me the sweetest story about releasing their butterflies yesterday that I thought she would want to hear! I also needed some paperwork from her to help with Kindergarten registration and I wanted to let her know that Kyan adores her and Mrs. Arthur as teachers! Being a teacher, sometimes when you touch a kids heart, it is nice to hear from a parent, and both of his teachers have a special place in Kyan's heart, so I thought they should know!

She wrote me the sweetest message back, here is just a part of it:
"We have SO enjoyed Kyan this year - along with our whole class. Mrs Arthur keeps saying that when she finally has a baby, she hopes its a boy like Kyan, super smart and so cute!"

I felt honored for her to say that to me. Kyan is one of the best kiddos I know and of course we think he is awesome, but to have someone else say that they want their future son to be like him, brought tears to my eyes! He is a keeper for sure!

We are going to miss Preschool and his amazing teachers (can't believe it is almost over) - all of them (he has Mrs. Revord as his main teacher, Mrs. Arthur as next in command in the classroom, Ms. Murphy, the student teacher, Ms. Kristen, his extended day teacher, and a few more from extended day) They have all had an impact in making Kyan's first year at Preschool fantastic!

Next week is teacher appreciation week - if you have a child that goes to school and they have a wonderful teacher...THANK THEM! It is hard work! We have a special treat for the special ladies in Kyan's life - massages! A few of us pooled our money to go in on a little nicer gift! I know they are going to LOVE it! Tomorrow we are decorating the door/window, so that Monday they will have a BIG surprise waiting for them (plus it is part of the door/window decorating contest that the school does for teacher appreciation week)!

Thank you Mrs. Revord and Mrs. Arthur for the part that you play in shaping my son's future in education!
WE LOVE YOU!

How To: Flower Hair Clips

Ok, so while I was teaching some of the gals to make these, I forget to take pictures (OOPS) of some of the steps, so I will try to explain the best I can!
Get your glue guns ready!

First, I created a pattern (just by hand, nothing fancy) so that I could use it to trace over and over again! The S you see on that pattern stands for small - as in the small clips go inside these leaves! When tracing, make sure to flip over the pattern (one time the S will face up, the next face it down).

Here is where I forgot to take a few pictures, but when you cut out the leaves, make sure to cut on the inside of your trace marks, otherwise when gluing together, they will be seen (and that looks yucky).

Below are the types of clips that you are going to need to put in between the two pieces of felt leaves. They had two sizes, so I made patterns of a leaf for both! Guess I like variety?!

Again, picture is missing, but you will unclip the clip (sounds weird, I know) and poke the bottom of the clip through one of the pieces of felt. Once it is through you can clip it back again. You will want to hot glue the other unused piece of felt on top of it, I try to get as close to the edge as possible (make sure to match them up before you start poking and gluing)! It is ok if glue comes out the sides of the felt, in fact, I kinda like it! I know for sure my ends of the leaves are nice and glued! You just cut off any excess glue and unevenness that your leaf pieces might have, as the glue makes it move just a little. I am a perfectionist, so I like them to be exact. Set that aside and let it dry.

Next, cut out fabric into circles at desirable size. The fabric needs to be something of a silk, polyester, satin, chiffon, etc (it has to be shiny - I knew when I felt it), so that the edges will burn. I wouldn't recommend cotton unless you would like a trip from the fire department! You can add as many layers to your flower as you want and don't worry that the circles aren't cut perfectly, they don't have to be. In fact, I would recommend eye balling it, it gives them better character!

Hold one circle at a time over a candle (I found that to be the most efficient way) and watch the edges curl. Use cation, do not get to close or it will light your material on fire!!! You just find a spot where the heat bends the fabric. It gets a little hot on your fingers, so just be careful. I haven't figured out how to hold it over the flame without using my fingers and still have control. I think that I saw on someone's blog where they used a close pin - I might have to try it (if you do, let me know how it works)!

Hot glue each later on top of each other one by one. You just need a dab of hot glue per layer, it doesn't take much to hold it. Hot glue is my new best friend!

Once you have the flower layered, you can add a middle. I chose to use little beads (but you can use whatever - buttons, rhinestones, etc.). You make a hot glue blob in the middle of the flower as big as you want the middle part to be and sprinkle the beads on top. Shake off excess beads into a bowl, that way none go to waste and you can use them again! That and you don't have a giant mess to clean up!

Finally, you want to go back to your flower leaves and glue on the petals and the leaves. More hot glue! Place the flower where you think it looks best (some like lots of leaves showing, some do not, you are the best judge)! I always make sure that the edge right at the front is hot glued down, as I want the flower part to show for Lola, not the green leaf part!

Here is my favorite flower of the day! I didn't add leaves to this one, thought it looked pretty enough to stand alone!

And there you have it ~ The Roseland Family's First Crafty Tutorial!
Hope it was helpful and I hope that I have inspired some of you to make your own!

I Got It From My Mama

Kyan gets his craftiness from his mama alright!

He LOVES to make things and has been working so hard on getting his stickers at school so that we could take a trip to JoAnn Fabric Store for some beads to make necklaces! He earned his four stickers in a row, so after I picked him up from school, we headed straight there to pick out which ever kind of beads he wanted! He went with alphabet beads and colorful underwater animal beads this time around (I steered him away from the little beads we used before, too much work for me, not enough for him)!

After dinner he sat down and made himself a necklace with his name on it and a turtle on each side! Lola was watching what he was doing, so he told her to pick out tow beads that she liked and he made her a necklace with what he had left over! He is so sweet to her and he was just as proud of her necklace as he was his!

Great Job on your necklace makin' skills Kyan! I can't wait to see what we are going to work on next week, when you get 5 stickers on your chart at school! I love you!

And the Winner Is...

When I plugged into RANDOM.ORG this morning, I couldn't get the darn thing to copy, so sorry, no pretty picture ladies, but we do have a winner!!! I didn't believe it when I counted down to who the person was, as this lady must have some fabulous luck winning on my blog because #11 is Mande over at Harrison Lane! She won the MAC Makeup too two weeks ago! Must be some of my blog luck rubbing off on her! Congratulations Mande! The turquoise (which is more of a bright blue), hot pink, and creme flower clips are headed your way! Just goes to show that it never hurts to enter to giveaways in a row, you can still win!

**If you know how to get that pretty little generator box copied from random.org, please help a sista out! It looks so much more legit when you have that to show!

***Also, for those who didn't win, but find themselves on the craftier side, I plan on TRYING to make a tutorial on how to make these bad boys! I have a few friends from school (teacher friends) coming over this Sunday so I am going to bust out the camera and we'll see what I can put together! For those who are in AZ and what to come and make them with me, a bow party is requested after the 10th of May! Stay tuned!

****Last thing, this was a fun way to get to know a few new blogger ladies, one I just want to tell about is Ana Paula over at Get Craftin. She is super crafty and offers tutorials and suggestions on how to DIY for way less money! Just one more reason why I love to blog! I am going to try one of her ruffly headbands this weekend! If you are in the mood to get creative, check her out! Plus, she has a giveaway going on right now too! Who doesn't love free?!

Flower Clips for Lola and YOU!

Lola has been in need of some new hair accessories for quite some time and I can't seem to snag any from Mia Joie lately, but I did use some of her clips that she sent me as my inspiration this weekend! I keep putting off having a bow making party because I wanted to learn how to make something new before I had people over again! This weekend, what started off as just testing out a technique, turned into a teeny, tiny obsession...
...ok, it became all I did for hours and hours this weekend. I couldn't stop at one color! I had to make them in every color that I knew Lola had clothes for (no, I didn't get through them all, so there will still be a party! When? I don't know, but soon). They were so easy to make and I can't wait to make more!

Until then, I say another giveaway! My lucky streak for winning giveaways via the blog world hasn't stopped, so I want to grace someone else's mailbox with the same love that mine has recently received (or should I say will be receiving, as both prizes are being shipped soon)!

One lucky person will win THREE clips! Winner can choose their colors from the following: hot pink, light pink, light blue, turquoise blue, dark blue, cream, or purple!

HOW TO WIN~
Pretty easy. You can do one of the following or all of them for extra chances at winning!

1. Make a comment on which colors you would choose if you won the flower hair accessories! -1 entry

2. Become a public follower of this blog using Google Friend Connect (you might need to scroll down a little bit, but it is there on the right hand side if you aren't a follower already!) -1 entry
*If you already have your pretty little picture there (or name) you get an extra entry, just let me know you are already a follower! Make sure that you leave an extra comment! (You should have two that say "already a follower" or something like that!) -*extra entry for the 19 that already follow, should you choose to enter this giveaway!

3. Mention this giveaway on your own blog and include the collage photo of the clips and a link back to this giveaway! -3 entries (Again, for this to count, make sure that you are writing blog three different times in separate comments).

For those of you who have not ever done a giveaway via the blog world and are wondering why you have to comment so many times separately, let me fill you in! It is because I will use the number of comments left and plug them into the random number generator. Whichever number it spits back out will be matched up with the person behind the comment of that number! So the more comments you leave, the better your chances! Hope that makes sense.

The giveaway will close this Friday, April 23rd at 11:59pm and the winner will be announced sometime Saturday! Good Luck!