DIY Poof Ball/Lantern Decor {Thoughtful Thursday}

Back in August I had the privilege of helping host a shower from my life long friend how is growing a miracle, Amelia! In the next couple weeks I wanna show you how I crafted up a few of the decorations to pull off our own "Pinterest inspired Sugar & Spice Baby Shower. Today...The Poof Ball ;o)

I've seen these lots of places and think they are super cute. I searched and searched Pinterest looking for a simple tutorial. It was actually hard to find. In true Jules fashion, after finding one I kinda did it like them and of course tweaked it a little. I hope to be a simple (pic)tutorial for you to follow or tweak!

Here are the materials I used {you can of course switch it up!}:

  • Tissue paper
  • Scissors
  • Wire

I used 2 sheets of white tissue paper. Yeah, just 2 sheets. Crazy, ehh? You can of course use more for a thicker poof or a different color. Our shower was already going to have orange and pink lanterns so I went with white.

Stretch out the paper flat then cut strips about 1-2 inches wide. I did Not measure. I just cut on the crease and in between each crease. Then cut the long strips in 1/2 or simply cut down the middle crease.

Here comes the complicated part. Gently twist each strip. hehe Grab each individual strip toward the center and twist just once or twice. There is no wrong way to really do this part. Make sure to be gentle or the paper will tare. This is time-consuming but I tried it without twisting and they don't quit flair out the right way.

There are two options for wire cutting: Cut your wire the length of how long you want the poof ball to hang or shorter and use something cuter to attach to the wire later for hanging.You can also use almost any kind of string. I tried thread but I was too rough with it so it kept snapping but curling ribbon could work and be better for cutesy hanging.

After all the pieces are twisted, begin gathering them. I just pinched them between my pointer finger and thumb as tight as I could. There were so few strips I gathered them all and then wrapped the wire around the center and knotted it. The next one I did, I wrapped the wire a little at a time. There was really no difference. If you can hold them all without dropping them, just wrap the wire at the end and save the wire.

Last step- fluff. You can just grab the wire and shack. For Real. This poofed the strips out pretty easily. Then I went back and pulled  a few pieces out where I wanted to fill in.

We used these at a shower but they could be cute in a bedroom or any party. Have fun!



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Mystery Trip {dates with your kids}

Matt has always been a romantic! I can remember all kinds of fun dates he's planned for me! So creative and thoughtful! Now that we have kids, the dating hasn't stopped, it just included the kids some times! LOVE IT!

Here's how the Mystery Trip went down the other night.

Close to bed time, Matt got all the kids in their PJs. While the kids were cleaing up the last of their toys, Matt and I snuck all our pillows into our van. {We leave the middle seat out all the time...long story} After that Matt loaded all 3 kids into the car and told them he had a surprise. They were so pumped but a little confused.

Why is Mommy not coming?
Where are we going?
Why do we have on our PJs already?

I jumped in the van with mild cups and as soon as I saw them pull out of the driveway I opened the garage door and headed out to grab my part of the surprise.

1st I hit up the local grocery store who cares Krispy Kreams and snatched up simple glazed doughnuts and doughnut holes.

Then I headed to the McDs around the corner and grabbed a movie, the Lorax, with our FREE coupon code, and ran through the drive thru to get my sweety a Diet Coke.

Finally I shot over to the local high school parking lot, and text Matt to tell him I was "in place". He had been driving a big loop to give me time to get there and through the kids for a loop. I began laying out the pillows over the entire floor and loaded the DVD in our super cool car DVD player.

Matt came into the parking lots and parked a spot over from the van where I was sitting in the back seat. Our oldest said, "Hey, that looks like Our van..." When I saw Matt about to get out of the car I slung open the back door and they cheered, "It's Mommy! She's the surprise!" Too funny! I liked being the surprise.

We unloaded the carseats and piled everyone into the van to watch our Red Box...but the disc was messed up. Oh well, we had a couple cartoons already in the car to choose from and it didn't really matter to them. We ate doughnut holes and sipped milk while snuggling, wrestling, laughing, and cuddling. I think there was a movie playing in the background but I don't remember what it was ;o)

I know thisi s blurry but you can see he's yelling "Juuuuuuice!" trying to hand out cups. hehe

Do you have an creative dates you've done with your hubs or kids?

 

 My Husband Rocks posts are sponsored by

My Husband Rocks Tees & more @ Union28.net!

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Sense of Humor

{free Printable (coming soon) to the "Only for Likers" section on the asJulesisgoing Facebook fan page}

Some times motherhood is hard!
But God knows, that's why He's also made motherhood just plan funny!

Last night, after the tsunami went through and the moat had formed in our yard to protect us from our neighbors behind us and we'd been trapped inside all day and Matt had formed a terrible headache, my sweet hubs headed outside to dig the...muck out from under the playhouse to relieve the neighborhood's newly formed private pool that was growing rapidly higher and higher in our backyard. Good thing, we don't know how to insure for that kind of property. The kids were NOT having fun just watching daddy from the back door...then the back deck, so I began stripping down my children to nothing but undies/diaper and rain boots.I'd planned to let them splash around now that the dangerous current had been taken care of. During this escapade, I discovered one of my poor Izzie's bug bites had gotten crazy infected! Now she had very sensitive skin and always had long lasting sores from any kind of bite, but This was NASTY!

My poor baby had to endure the pain as I popped the pimple-esk sore on her shoulder. There was a large, hard, red circle around the giant white head. The sore oozed and oozed puss and blood. It was swollen at least 1/2 an inch off her shoulder blade. She screamed, I cried, she cried, I hugged. It was AWFUL! We immediately ran inside for an early bath and hot compresses on the sore. She couldn't handle anymore. I snatched her up in a towel and rocked her in the living room. Within 5 minutes she passed out. Exhausted from screaming. Matt emerged with the other two kids to find me pouting as I rocked my curly toe head snuggled in a giant bath towel. I wanted to bawl but didn't want to wake my injured snorer. It SUCKED!

Why did our night have to end like this? Me and the Iz had just enjoyed a mommie-daughter date to the infamous wally world to snag some items for a care package. Goofing off in an untamed car seat. Checking out "spiders". Slurping back happy hour drinks. After long text and phone conversations with two sweet nurse friends, we were pretty sure Izzie, my newly potty trained toddler with bad hand washing skills who scratches incessantly had staph.

Today has been an eternal day. I woke at 6:45am to an my hubs saying, "Honey, that's your alarm." Ugg. I rolled out of bed only to sleep a little while longer while I showered. I finally climbed out, running late, and asked Matt to go grab my Izzie. With my hair 1/2 dried, only mascara on, and wearing what looked like a workout outfit {but we all know I don't workout}, I scooped my little Iz up and headed to the car. We were on our way to the Saturday clinic in Little Rock at our pediatrician by 7:15am.

Long story/morning short: they were closed for the 'holiday weekend'. Rrrrr, we drove in circles locating another clinic only to end up wondering the big fancy-dancey Wal-Mart until the newly found WM clinic opened. at 10am As annoying as this may sound, Isabella and I actually enjoyed out morning one-on-one! We chatted it up in the car with the windows and sunroof open, held hands while we walked around, tested out yard swings, and I got to watch my big girl pretend to be mama while she 'drove' a big wheel in the aisle at wally world. She did fabulous in the doctor's office, didn't scream when the doc had to touch her boo boo, and even scored a sucker on the way out! After grabbing the prescribed antibiotics, topical cream, and new bandages for her sensitive skin, we had a "chick Alay" lunch date and "crewzed" home with the windows open again around 1pm!

After all had napped long and hard we all piled in the living room {including our visiting adopted little brother, Mooney} for an afternoon movie... Here's where God redeemed the morning even more than he already had.

Leave it to little brother J to bump up the movie party a notch. Our fun snack for the Veggie Tale viewing was sliced, chocolate covered, bananas! Needless to say, EVERYone loved them!

How's your weekend going? hehe

 

 

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My Husband ROCKS! {planter, runner, handyman}

So a blogger friend acquaintance of mine {she's got a bazillion readers of which I'm just 1} is starting this really cool link-up series called "My Husband is Awesome" over at the Bohemian Bowmans. I love this because I LOVE my husband and don't get to praise him enough {via the net or in person}. Recently I noticed when reading other blogs {since 2-5 minute blurps are what I read if and when I read} that there are several women talking about marriage stuff/bettering their marriage or their husbands in general. I talk a big game and know that my husband is my best friend, my confidant, my biggest fan, and the person who treats me the most like Jesus. Many days I wish I could write about how-to better your marriage, love your hubs better etc...but I don't. Because...I don't. I'm aweful at 'working on' my marriage. Loveing my hubs in his 'language'. I get stuck in that same rut of kids, house, and my self-involved blogging business. I've always been bad about not trying unless I knew I was going to be successful at something. Even right now, I've been struggling with not trying in a couple areas for fear of failure.Thanks Jess for kicking me off the couch on this. Here's to trying!

Today I'm going to begin posting {at least} weekly updates just about my handsome hubs, Matthew Ray Rothacher!

WARNING: This man has been claimed til death does us part, so no creepers look'n to snag him up. He's mine. Not sure why God blessed me so abundantly, but he did. Sorry Ladies! ;o)

This week kicked off with an 'interview' at 1Church so our new church family can begin getting to know us and our vision for The Valley church plant. Matt rocked this out the house! God's refining him into such an amazing communicator! Just listening to him Sunday reignited the fire to jump on board with what God is planning to do in Vilonia!

Monday morning, we had our normal routine of me and the kids going grocery shopping and Matt heading off to his office {aka the local McDonald's}. He even coordinated a Nanna Day for lil J {since he could do his normal awesomeness in taking him to the office with him for the morning} so shopping would be that much easier. When I returned home we informed me he had good news. SWEET! I like good news! "People are coming to view our house at 6!" Even SWEETER!!! As I began my plan of attack on the house in my head Matt quickly grinned and said, "Well, there goes my afternoon." I love this man! He whooped tail going rabid on the garage. He moved all his boxes from his old church office who had found a temporary home in the garage down to the basement. DANG! Such a hoss! Only breaking for the potty and give me smoochies, he was non-stop until it was amazingly organized.

Did I mention he's looking hotter and hotter every day because he's doing this fun 'couch to 5K' thing and is committed to training/running at least every other day. Oh, and he always plans his runs early in the morning or late at night as to not miss family time.

After the peeps that came to see our house didn't jump on making an offer, I did what every rash person does in my situation... I email the realtor that showed our house. hehe I just let her know I would love some feed back: likes, dislikes, concerns, etc. Sadly, she responded that they liked our house but were concerned with the flat roofed patio above the garage and the old water damage in the garage. When I let Matt know she'd actually responded to my insane plea to sell my house completely normal email correspondence with those concerns his pour face sunk. We both had high hopes of these being the ones! Then, he disappeared.

My man has installed a new drainage system in the floor of our patio! He is also planning to fix the quirks in his amazingly designed system before re-sheet-rocking the ceiling in the garage. Take that dis-satisfied potential home buyers! Oh, and I forgot to mention, he bought me 'new-to-me' patio furniture from Craig's List! 1st patio furniture Every AND I get to pick out new cushions!

These are just the new ways he's found to love me this week, added to the doing breakfast duty so I can shower, helping with my babes, changing ridiculous amounts of poopy diapers {ya know, since he can't smell. For Real}, and doing nightly bath/bed so I can do my 'chores'. I love my man!!!!

I know yours isn't ever gonna be as cool as mine but if ya wanna share anyways, comment below or hit up Jessica's link-up to share with many others!

 This series is sponsored by:My Husband Rocks Tees & more @ Union28.net!

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Marshmallow Sticks {Thoughtful Thursday}

Today is thoughtful Thursday!

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Feel free share ANY thoughtfulness in the comment section or even add a link to a thoughtful post on your blog!

Today's thoughtfulness come from my 4-year-old. For snack one afternoon, we got a little creative. This was all her doing. Maggie wanted to make a snack using her new-found popsicle sticks...as she searched the top shelf of the pantry where we keep our "snack" items she discovered the mini marshmallows!

If you would like to create this...snack, you'll need the following items:

  • Wooden craft popsicle sticks
  • mini marshmallows

Here's are the directions. Make sure you pay close attention, you don't wanna mess this up ;o)

  1. Pock the mini marshmallows on the popsicle sticks {as many as you'd like}
  2. Place sticks on a microwave-safe dish & Microwave for ~5 seconds
  3. Place dish with sticks into the refrigerator for a few seconds to cool quickly
  4. EAT and Repeat!

Do you have any thoughtfulness to share today?!?



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