Dollar Store Magnet Board

I don't usually blog about crafts and projects that I do, but this one is so adorable and easy, I couldn't resist blogging about it!

A few months ago, I was at the Dollar Tree when I found some metal serving trays. I got the great idea to spray paint them and turn them into a play serving tray!

The one I did at the beginning of the summer is used to hold Emmy's play cupcakes:

So I got another idea . . . why not use one for a magnet board? It is my niece's birthday this week. She's turning eight and so this is right down her alley. I thought I would make one for her for the big day.

Here's how I made it:

1) I started with a rectangular serving tray (I found it in the wedding section)

2) I primed the edges (when I did the first serving tray, I didn't prime it and the spray paint didn't go on very evenly . . . it could have been a faulty nozzle, but I thought I'd prime it this time just to be safe)

3) Next, I spray painted the tray. I had already picked out my scrapbook paper that I was going to mod podge onto the tray, so I used a coordinating color.

4) I cut out the paper to fit the center of the tray. Then I mod podged it on.

5) I got these clear glass oval rocks at the dollar store, too. These are what I made the magnets out of.

6) I cut my paper to fit on the glass rocks and glued it on. Then I glued on my magnets.

{This is what it will look like from the front. I also used some rub-on letters to spell her name on the magnets}

Add a small easel (I had one already, but you could get one at the thrift store and spray paint it any color you want), some tulle or ribbon and - Voila! An adorable magnet board!!!

My niece loved it! I will definitely be making more of these. The one I made for my niece cost me a total of $2.00! I bought the tray and the glass rocks - everything else I had on hand!

I love me a fast, easy, budget friendly project - especially when it is for a birthday!

I'm linking up with:

Tatertots & Jello - Subway Art

Jen over at Tatertots & Jello had a giveaway a few weeks ago for a free custom subway art piece - and I won!

I was so excited - Jen is very crafty and talented. If you don't read her blog, you should!

I got my subway art last week and it is so adorable, don't you think?:

Emmy was so excited to put it in her room!

And I love the flower embellishment she put on it:

Thanks, Jen, for the giveaway! We love our custom subway art!

First Day of School

Emmy started preschool again last week!

Of course, she loves it and she especially LOVES riding the bus to school everyday!

Em and Kate waiting for the bus . . .

Em, still waiting for the bus . . .

Yahoo! The bus finally came! Doesn't she look adorable?

My big girl, all buckled up and ready to go!
(Kids who are still in car seats have to be buckled in the bus to go to school)

As for Kate and I, we are enjoying a little mommy-Kate time in the mornings and we love it! :)

Going on a bear hunt

Jake and I decided to head up to Cedar Breaks a couple Saturdays ago. We wanted to do a little hiking and have a picnic.

When we got up there is was freezing and raining! We decided not to go hiking there, after all!

But I did get a pic before we left:

{Doesn't Emmy look cold?)

Instead, we decided to drive home through Brian Head. As we were heading down Parowan Canyon, we found a little place to stop and explore. It turned out to be a great hiking trail. It had stopped raining so we headed out for an adventure!

{I can never resist taking pics of the beautiful things around me!}

Emmy has a book called "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and that's what we decided to do - go on our very own bear hunt!

{There was this cute little bridge so that we could cross the river}

Emmy was so excited to find a bear! We kept going and exploring . . .

. . . and luckily we didn't find a bear :)

{These leaves were so cool! And I love that they had water drops on them!}

{Me and my girls! I love Emmy's pose here}

{Kate and her crazy curly hair}

We ended our bear hunt with a picnic on the back of the car. The girls loved it :)

I had big plans to do lots of hiking this summer . . . it didn't happen! But there's still time this year, right? We just need to get a hiking backpack to carry Kate in. Then we will be hiking fools!

TARZAN!

Last week, my brother's wife, Sony, came down with the kids for a few days of fun in the sun! {And dentist appointments with my bro-in-law}

We decided it would be fun to take the kids out to Tuacahn to see Tarzan.

It didn't disappoint!

{The kids before the show - they all match. The girls even have matching hair-do's}

{At Tuacahn before the show}

Sony made these adorable skirts for the girls, just for the show! She is amazing! Of course, I had to make matching flowers for the girls, too - see below for a pic :)

Me and my little peach!

Cats: starring Maddy and Emmy!
Tarzan: starring Ella, Grey and Dylan!

In the show, the monkeys and Tarzan fly over the audience. Emmy LOVED that! She would yell up to whoever was above us and say hi to them. She loved the show so much, she still talks about it and pretends that she's Tarzan and that I'm Kala all the time.


After the show - Emmy wouldn't get down so I had to be in the pic if I wanted Emmy in it - it was past all of our bedtimes so I agreed :)


The flowers that I made to match - aren't they cute?


The next day we decided to go to the lake. Do you think we have enough people on the tube???


The girls! Me, Linds and Sony {and Kate, of course!}

We {LOVE} spending time with the family and especially love it when they come to visit! And I love that we live so close to so many awesome things, like Tuacahn and the Utah Shakespearean Festival. There are a couple of shows I want to see at the Festival - I better hurry before it's too late!


P.S. Watch a great video on parenting HERE

P.P.S. Tonight, after Emmy went to bed, she started coughing. I went in there to check on her and she told me that her "throat was gonna come out". I love all the things that come out of her mouth. I have the BEST video to show of Emmy singing if I can ever get it to download. I've tried a few times and it never works. Maybe it's too big??? Not sure . . .

The lake, a parade, and other randomness!

WOW! This summer has seriously flown by. We have had so much fun this summer! One things I haven't been doing so much is blogging. Can you tell?

But I can't fall too far behind because I plan on printing my blog into a book and I need to make sure I add everything that I want to remember!

One highlight of the summer is that Grammy and Papa got a new boat! We call it the Bumble Bee because it is yellow. We love it!

Here are some pics from some of our boating expeditions:

Man, how I love this girl!!!

Kate LOVES being on the boat. And not only on the boat, but on the tube! She was smiling the whole time she was on there! And when we went to the lake this week, I took her out again on the tube and she was laughing and grinning from ear to ear.

Loving life on the water!

Man, how I love this girl, too!
She gets serious wind-blown boat hair. I love it!

Jake broke out the old wake board and had a blast . . .

. . . until he totally ate it! Gotta love getting pictures at the perfect moment - I just wish I could have gotten his face . . .

On the 24th of July, we went to our annual ward breakfast at 6:45 - yeah right, we weren't there that early! Our kids don't know what 6:45 am means. They speak the language of 8:00 or 8:30! But we were there by 7:15, I promise . . .

After breakfast, we headed down the block for the parade on Main Street. We live in Festival City USA, which means we have parades ALL the time!

We had our niece, Ellie, for the weekend and Emmy had a blast with her! And Ellie is such a sweetie, it was fun having her with us!

Ellie, Emmy and Skye enjoying the parade from the princess and Dora chairs

Emmy and Skye were totally getting down! Skye had some serious dance moves!

We pulled out the pool and Emmy and Ellie had fun in the ice-cold water

They would take turns jumping and making big splashes

Sweet Kate!

At the Green Show at the Utah Shakespearean Festival

A few weeks ago we went up to the Chili Cook-Off at Duck Creek Village. It was fun, there were a ton of booths and lots of chili! Emmy and Ella got their faces painted. Emmy decided on a HUGE dragon that covered one whole side of her face. She looked so cute!

We cooled off that afternoon at the park. There is a little creek that runs through one of the parks in town and the girls love to go and play in it.

Kate playing in the creek

Emmy's beautiful dragon. She named it Moo-Shoo.

Notice the rock in Kate's hand? She was probably eating it right before I took this picture . . .

I have more things to blog about, but for now I am going to eat some zucchini bread and probably watch some tv :)

I Straightened Emmy's Hair!

I finally tried it - I straightened Emmy's hair! Doesn't it look beautiful?

The only downer? When she woke up this morning . . . it was curly!!! All my hard work gone!

I guess we'll stick to the curls from now on.

P.S. Go HERE for a fabulous giveaway for a Silhouette cutter!