My Favorite Digital Art

Today, on Studio 5, I'm dishing on my favorite floral digital art.

Floral art adds a bit of, "happy," to every space. I have been displaying these in my home, and giving them out to friends as gifts. They are always warmly received. 

I didn't mention it in my segment, but wanted to provide a link to the etsy shop where I purchased my digital art here. The name of the shop, is Kathy Panton Art. You can see what she's got by clicking HERE. You can also follow her on Instagram @KathyPantonArt

These are a few of my favorites from her shop!

Check her shop out. It is so beautiful and so happy! 

I also shared two tips for displaying printed art in your home:

1) Use a professional print shop for your printing needs. It will look way better and more saturated than anything you can do at home, and the paper will be higher quality.

I know not all my readers live by me, but the local print shop I recommend and love, is 

Print & Main 

here in Davis County, Utah. They are so easy to work with, and their prints are very high quality. Their prices are very reasonable, and I think I actually save money by using them, and not burning through ink cartridges on my printer.

2) Mount your print on top of the glass, so you don't have to look through the glass to see the art. This will help you maintain that handmade feel that we all know and love, and I think it actually makes it look more professional and expensive.

Florals are the perfect addition to any decor in the winter.  Add some to your home today!

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Little Hunny Gift Tags

You know when someone is having a baby that is not their first, and you want to bring them a gift, but they don't necessarily need more clothes or baby supplies? This gift idea is perfect! Give them a loaf of bread, and a honey bear, or just a honey bear, and attach one of my cute free printable tags!

These, Little Hunny, gift tags are the sweetest!

 I have include pre birth tags, and tags for after the baby is born, in both boy and girl.

  Little Hunny Gift Tags PDF

I created the printable using bear clipart from HERE, and flower clipart from HERE.

You can create your own, by following instructions in THIS POST.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

DIY Floral Halo

I have a serious crush on floral halos!

The thing that is so awesome about floral halos, is they add such a feminine touch to every photo, and seem casual, yet formal. You can customize them to any color preference, and bring a little whimsy, and an unexpected pop! When you are wearing a floral halo, it is all about the persons face, and the flowers, not so much about the outfit, so try to stick to neutrals, and even white, is so beautiful with a halo. This is my screen saver on my phone. Perfection!

My preference for a more casual photo, is to only have flowers on one half the halo. Put the crown of your hair in a clip, while you put the halo in place, and then let your hair fall over the back of the halo, covering the wire. I prefer fuller hair with this look as well, and this placement technique helps you achieve that, because it doesn't squish the hair down.

Each Halo needs flowers of varying size and texture. I like using around three different colors. I prefer wearing the halo to the side, or it tends to look like a headlight, especially if your main flower is large.

This is what you need: 

To make a floral halo you need wire. I prefer bendy from dollar store, because it is so moldable when you put it on your head.

Wire cutters 

floral tape - dollar store

Flowers - spend a little more on these, if you are doing this for photographs. If you are just doing a craft day, dollar store is fine.

Cut the flowers from the bunch, leaving a long enough stem to wrap with floral tape. Lay the stems on the wire, and wrap with tape to keep them in place. 

I like having a bigger flower in the middle, and tapering to smaller on the sides.

The main flower on this arrangement ended up being a little larger than the look I was hoping for. I whipped another one together (photos at the top of the post), and by trial and error, figured out that its best to have flowers that are a little more flat, unless you are photographing mainly from the front.

A little tip: For the purple flower halo, I left the stems long, and wrapped them in floral tape. For the colorful halo at the top of the post, I cut the stems shorter, and left the wire exposed. I even left it cut open in the back, so that it could be sized to different head sizes. We have large heads in our family, haha. I liked the exposed wire better because it was less heavy and bulky. It was easier to bend and mold to the head, and hid so well under her hair. 

These would make the perfect craft night for girlfriends and teens! My daughter LOVED being photographed in this, and she felt so pretty, cause she looked so pretty. So, if you are looking for a fun photo prop, or a craft night activity for teen girls, floral halos are an excellent option!

I'll be sharing these and more beautiful flower ideas on Studio 5 on Friday, along with a few additional tips and tricks, so be sure and watch!

Thanks for stopping by.

Caveman Party and Studio 5

The day before the Caveman Party, I shared all my ideas and party prep on Studio 5. You can watch the clip here:

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Caveman Peg Doll

My son requests peg dolls for every birthday, and the Caveman Birthday was no exception! They make perfect cake toppers, but have also been so fun for him to play with. 

I put them in a tray with black sand and rocks from the dollar store. He is in Heaven every time he plays with them.

I am not a pro at painting peg dolls, I just think they are cute.

I hot glue small wooden balls and eggs for the hair buns. I think it adds so much! I paint the main clothing and hair colors with a paintbrush, and add the rest of the details with a toothpick.

I had to make two family sets, because they are too darn cute!

I used the cave I made from the gnome play set I made him a few years ago (which he still plays with), and some thrifted wooden trees.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Happy and Creative Day

Risa

Caveman Cake

After deciding on the caveman theme, my son told me he wanted a caveman cake, with a real cave, made out of cake. Crickets chirped. How on earth was I going to do this? I saw exactly two cave cakes on Pinterest, and  they were not the most helpful, but one recommended using a bundt pan. What a great idea!!! I used 2 cake mixes. I added an extra two eggs per cake mix, to make sure the baked cake would not be too fluffy or crumble. I put 1 plus a little more in the bundt pan, and then filed 4 other pans with the rest of the batter. The other pans I used were the kind you use if you want to bake your tortillas in the oven for taco bowls, rather than fry them. Random, I know, but they were just the right size! I cut a piece out of the bundt cake for the cave opening, and put it upside down on an upside-down cookie sheet. I then topped it with a mini cake, and cut up two of the other mini cakes, and places around the bundt cake, to make it look like a real cave. I almost forgot to grab a picture, but snapped this last minute, right before covering it with frosting.

I used 3 cans of dark fudge frosting, and a can of salted caramel frosting to give the varying colors of, "dirt."

I decorated with malt balls, and sprinkles that I had in my cupboard.

I hadn't really envisioned how this would turn out, and I was pleasantly surprised when the finished product was so adorable, and was an actual cave! I put my foam board up to snap a few pictures. My awesome mom, who came dressed from head to toe for the party a few hours earlier, helped hold it for me. She really knows how to make things fun and funny!

My son requested caveman peg dolls, and I topped it with those, making for a perfect caveman cake!

More on the caveman peg dolls next!

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

DIY Caveman Costume

These caveman costumes were perfect for the caveman party, and once I got the idea of how to do it, and how easy and inexpensive it would be, I just had to go with it!

You need fleece throws from Walmart. They are $2.88 each. Every throw makes 4 kiddie costumes.

Scissors

Sewing machine and thread.

Unwrap your blanket. It will be folded in half hamburger style (short way). Unfold it, and fold it in half hot dog style (long way). 

Then, cut 4 equal pieces, as if you were cutting a hotdog in half, then in half again. That's how I did it. I folded it to make the cuts. This is not very scientific, haha.

After you have your four equal pieces cut, you'll need to make a cut for the one shoulder style. 

Cut just a small triangle off, leaving the top fold to go over the one shoulder. Believe me, you want it small, so it doesn't hang too low on your child. Leaving the folded portion will save you time, and having to sew the pieces together for the shoulder.

Then, simply sew a seam up each side, ending at the top on the shorter side, and about 4 inches from the top on the long side. I chain sewed mine, which made it go so fast! I think I finished all 16 of them in about an hour. I also left the stitching that came on the blanket showing. I thought it was extra cute. That's it. You are finished!Believe me when I say, that kids LOVED wearing these! 

I made some for the entire family. This is a bathroom selfie that I snapped right before the party started. I found this cute pick animal print the day before the party. The belt made it look better for a woman.

Next up... the adorable caveman cake!

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

CAVEMAN Party!

I try to come up with unique party ideas for my kids parties, and this caveman party was no exception! I think this was one of my very favorite parties I have ever hosted. The costumes were fun! The ambiance was great, the activities were unique, and the kids had a blast!

This was how it looked before the chaos ensued.

One of the things I like to do with my parties, is while kids arrive, I have themed music playing, and let the kids run around in character. This usually lasts for about 20-30 minutes. The kids love getting to act crazy, and I love them getting their wiggles out!

My husband created this playlist in Apple Music. Dinosaur Stomp was one of our favorites. The kids loved dancing and freezing to the song.

Lets talk ambience. I made a cave out of old boxes, and packaging paper. It was free. I got $3 worth of butcher paper from the craft store, to create a place for the kids to do some cave drawings. I used the fire I made for my son years ago. I created a dinosaur nest out of packaging paper and balloons stuffed with shredded paper and plastic dinosaurs. I brought in animal print and helium balloons, because kids love playing with them!

The cave was a huge hit! At one point I was worried that a few kids had gone upstairs, but they were hanging out in the cave! They had a blast!

The first activity we did after caveman dancing, was to make bear claw necklaces. I had the beads already bagged for each child. They poured them out into a styrofoam bowl. It probably took 10-15 minutes for them to complete. We ended up tying a bead on the end of the string, cause multiple kids dumped their necklaces. They really liked making the necklace, and loved wearing it when they finished!

The next thing did was a relay. They each got an egg with a dinosaur in to. I got the eggs at Walmart. They are 4 for $2, and grow when you put them in water. They walked while balancing the egg on a spoon. I thought  this would be fun for them, and it was pretty fun, except that one kid had to go potty, then another then another. it was a chain reaction, and hard to have a competition, with multiple kids missing at a time. Thats the way it is with five year olds! They had to walk, place their egg softly on the pillow, pick it up and walk back. 

Next, they got to pretend to be real cave men, and draw petroglyphs on the, "cave wall." They totally loved this! I got butcher paper, 2 yards for $1 from a local craft store. I think I got 6 yards, and it was more than enough. The kids had a blast drawing on the wall!

They are pretty talented, and more into it than I expected. We didn't even have any slip ups that ended up with crayon on the wall! My husband was worried.

Next was present time. The kids sat around the campfire in a circle, while the birthday boy opened gifts. It was such a fun setting!

After the gifts were all open, the kids each went to the dinosaur nest and picked out an egg to open. They opened them by popping the ballon.

 Inside each balloon, was paper shred from the dollar store, and a plastic dinosaur.

 It was hilarious to watch them. Some stomped on them. Some sat on them. They had a riot, and giggled a lot!

My awesome mom came all dressed up, caveman hair and all, and helped my nephews pop some balloons.

It was such a blast, and I don't feel like the kids ever got bored!

We had the cutest little cave people around!

These parties are a family affair, and we all got dressed up! 

Be sure and check back tomorrow to see how I mad all 16 costumes for under $12! After that, I'll be sharing the caveman peg dolls I made, and the awesome cave cake!

Thanks for stoping by.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa