Family Update: Finally Forever!

This year has been full of excitement for our family and it seems like forever since I've posted on the blog, but for a very good reason. On March 28th, we finalized our much-awaited adoption of our third child- the 13 month old baby boy we've had with us since birth! It was a happy, happy day for our family, baby "L" is so sweet and brings a lot of joy to our lives. 

I am thankful that his little life was rescued and humbled that we get the privilege of raising him. This makes us officially a house full of three wild boys, never a dull moment for sure, but we are blessed.(If you're just tuning in, you can read all about how our adventure of this unexpected gift started here).

 So, we've done a lot of celebrating around here, last weekend was busy with open houses and family parties, including his first birthday party. Of course, I was busy making some homemade decorations for the events. This garland was made by folding half circles of paper and taking a glue stick to seal them together and attached them to a line of string. 

This was our happy adoption day! Here I am with the handsome men in my life. It meant a lot to us to be surrounded by friends and family there to support us.

Here is the adorable birthday boy! I made him this hat (of course) from a repurposing a cereal box covered in felt, pom poms and craft foam. He enjoyed the game of ripping it off of his head every time I tried to keep it on him. 

It's been a fun season of celebrating and welcoming in our baby! I am amazed at the story God wrote and how he built our family-each adoption has been an amazing journey-a labor of the heart. I am still winding down from all the hard work it takes to throw a great party, but I can't wait to show you our nursery I worked on a few weeks before we adopted.

I was able to turn a bland room into something so inviting and fresh, complete with homemade artwork and painted floors, walls and doors. Here is a little sneak peek into the room: I think baby boy loves his room as much as I do, he squealed every time we took someone in for a room tour.

Stay tuned for my entire nursery reveal! I can't wait to show it to you....and thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple!

Kristina

I link up at these parties. 

Simple Greenery Display

Who loves Hostas? I know we do! My husband is the big landscaper around here while I pretty much take care of the inside, but while he was transplanting some Hostas, a few branches fell off. Because the leaves were so pretty I didn't want to just leave them laying outside, so I grabbed a jar, tied some lace around it, filled it with water and added the Hosta branches. 

I love having fresh plants around the house and they look just as pretty as a bunch of flowers to me and cost nothing. Wouldn't these be an easy and frugal table decoration for a summer party? Ferns would be another easy and pretty plant to add to water-filled jars. 

 By the way, if you noticed my chalkboard framed sign in the picture and want to know how I made this interchangeable photo/chalkboard frame,  click HERE for the tutorial. 

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple! I hope you enjoyed your time here and come back on Friday for the reveal of my Martha Stewart Mother's Day Campaign project! 

Linking up with these parties.

Homemade Birthday Celebration

So, in my last few posts I've been bragging about my cute little men and that my youngest son just celebrated his second birthday. (We almost had to cancel the party because I got sick, but I was able to rest up the next day while my sweet husband made all the food and tidied up the house.)

And we all survived and had a great time-luckily I was the only one to get sick and it was short-lived...

So, I wanted to show you a few photos of his birthday bash with some homemade decorations I made for his "choo-choo train" themed party.

Believe it or not, I am not good at decorating cakes (I tried to make a baseball hat cake for my older son's birthday last year and it turned out looking like an igloo...)

So to simplify, I decided to hand draw some trains for cupcake toppers. A friend of mine owns a frame shop and she gave me some mat board circles that were perfect for this. I hot glued dowels I had cut in half to the backs and pushed them into the cupcakes.

 I completed my little display by circling the cupcakes with a wooden train set.

I also hung this cheerful happy birthday sign.

(A few posts ago,  I explained how I made this cute reusable felt birthday pennant.)

the birthday boy blowing out his candles

He was so cute staring at everyone in amazement while they sang to him-and, for the second year in a row-didn't touch his birthday cake! Silly boy...I love this kid!

Thanks for tuning in today! I've been working hard this week on some knock-off decor projects that are just about done. Can't wait to share with all of you! 

DIY Birthday Pennant

This weekend we celebrated my youngest son's second birthday! Where has time gone?

It really is crazy to think that my little baby, who I thought at one time would never sleep through the night is now a big boy, running around, talking, laughing, getting into trouble every day!  

Anyway,  I've been working hard on an idea I thought up for a cloth birthday pennant that would last a lot longer (and look a lot cooler) than your typical paper store-bought decoration, for only a few dollars to make. 

I used a lot of different colors and textures to make it cheerful and interesting to look at, with yarn letters just for fun. 

And, here at ReMadeSimple I try to do most things with a "re"in there--so here you have a "reusable, recycled" no-sew birthday pennant! 

To make this you'll need:

several pieces of felt (I like Eco-fi because it's made from 100%recycled plastic bottles)

scrap pieces of fabric (I used a woven burlap type of fabric)

permanent marker or pen

yarn

glue gun

scissors

Here's how I made this pennant:

You'll basically cut out your triangles (13) as large as you want them to be. 

I measured and cut one, then traced the shape with permanent marker onto all of the other pieces of felt and cut those out.

Then, arrange them right next to each other on a table or floor and use their length to see how long you'll need your yarn to be. (I allowed for about two feet of extra yarn on each side).

Use your hot glue gun to glue the edge of each triangle to the yarn.

Next, trace and cut out 13 circles out of felt or fabric in whatever color you want.

Hot glue each one to the center of the triangle.

Finally, cut small strips of yarn and shape them into letters, glueing small pieces at a time.

 (It might help to shape the whole letter first to make sure it looks right.)

The finished pennant hanging in a window, so bright and cheery!

Making this pennant took me a few hours, but it now makes decorating for birthdays

and tearing down so much easier and quicker.

The pennant will just fold up and could be stored in a small pouch for next time. 

(Maybe I'll have to fashion one of those next!)

I purposefully used colors and style that I can use for our whole family for years to come,

 and I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

(It's so fun to see something you imagine turn out exactly how you want it to be.)

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting today! I hope you leave feeling inspired and took some time to snoop around at the rest of my projects and tutorials!

In my next post, I'll be bragging more about how cute my two-year old is with some photos of his birthday bash and the fun theme I chose for him.

Until next time, 

I regularly link up with these parties and this party.