Fab Five 2012 Olympic Gymnastics Gold Medal Winning Team

I, like the majority of American women & girls, have fallen in love with the Fab Five - Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber, Kyla Ross, & McKayla Maroney.  I was feeling especially inspired a few nights ago, and I thought I could make a doll leotard inspired by their red team leos with the crystals.  At first, it was just for me - just for fun.  Then, I realized that with my job - a gymnastics coach - the little girls would LOVE leotards like these for their dolls, and heck, why not dolls make in the likeness of each of the 5 team members? 

I made a prototype leotard that turned out pretty well, then after a few tweaks, I made 5 little matching leos - about the size for an American Girl Doll or similar 18" doll.  I made a crystal template with my Silouhette digital cutter.  I also made matching scrunchies.  I was having WAY to much fun!  I found dolls that looked like each of the girls, and got them all dressed up :)

Today, I got boxes for all of them, but it is taking a little longer than I expected to get them all put together.  I made each of them a mini gold medal, mini Sports Illustrated magazine, and mini bouquet of flowers.  I got Gabby done - maybe I'll finish the others tomorrow :)

 Front View

 Close Up

USAG Bio on the Back of the Box

So, I challenge a toy company to produce dolls like these - I guarantee they will sell!

couldn't resist

Transformers Little Boys' Bedroom

We moved into a new house in January, and my 5-year-old son kept telling me that the old house was so much nicer (it wasn't) and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about.  He then told me that he missed the murals I had painted on his bedroom walls in the old house (I did it to make the 17-year-old manufactured home that we had completely gutted and started remodeling seem more bearable for my little boys).  

The Old Bedroom

I asked him what would make the new house seem better (because it is, in fact, a LOT better!), and he informed me that he wanted a Transformers themed bedroom.  He wanted me to paint Bumblebee on his wall:

The Transformers edition of the Chevy Camaro

 I had to think about it for a long time, and I looked up some stuff on Google.  I didn't find any transformers themed room that I particularly liked, and I thought Bumblebee would be too hard to paint realistically, so I had to go conceptual.  I had an idea to do racing stripes - first I thought horizontal with one color on top and another on the bottom, but as I looked at pictures of Camaros online, I wanted it to look more like the hood of the car - here was my mock-up on the computer:

I had to match the Camaro yellow - not a paint color that covers very well - even the Glidden paint needed 3 or 4 coats to not look streaky.

I got to work sketching the Autobot emblem on the wall:

Then I taped off the racing stripes:

It was starting to look really cool, but I thought it was missing one thing . . .

 . . . the pin-striping on the sides of the racing stripes!

I finally finished it all up today - yay!

And most importantly, my boys love it :)

Las Vegas Boneyard

We went to Vegas for my In-Law's 40th Anniversary, and the one thing I really wanted to see was the Neon Museum's Boneyard. They have a lot of the old light-up signs from Fremont Street & The Strip, and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of them. I made these images with the photos I took :)

Nails

I wish I had taken a picture of these before they started to chip a little. So, I LOVE OPI topcoat - it is great, and I will never do my nails again without it! I had my nails painted neon green for St. Paddy's Day, and I got a little sick of the solid bright green by the end of the day, so the next morning I got creative with scotch tape, glitter & purple. I masked off parts of my nails using regular clear scotch tape and painted the glitter on. I took the tape off while my nails were still wet. I did my right hand first (harder for me to paint because I am right-handed), then after I took the tape off I did my left hand. A few hours later, after it was thoroughly dry, I masked my nails off again to paint the purple & removed the tape while my nails were still wet again. The design is so early 90s it kinds freaks me out. HA! I just think the masking idea is cool - sue whatever colors and pattern you want :) And don't forget to put on an OPI Topcoat!

Rivals Jamba Juice

So I just "accidentally" made the best smoothie ever! I have tried to make Jamba-inspired smoothies before, and they were horrible, but his time I ended up with a happy accident. I was eating lime sherbet with the boys, and I decided I wanted berries on mine, so I went to the freezer and pulled out the frozen mixed berries. As I was eating, I realized I had scooped up way too much sherbet for myself, and I thought, "this would be better in a smoothie." I dumped my leftover lime sherbet & blackberries in the blender, then added orange juice, strawberry yogurt, a bit more lime sherbet, more frozen mixed berries, and some frozen tropical fruit blend that my grandma got from the Schwann's man. As it all blended up it turned a wonderful magenta, and I got excited that it might have actually turned out good, and it was! I don't know exact amounts of what I put in, but just about equal parts of everything. It filled up my handy ASU insulated, reusable cold drink cup and I had a bit leftover. Maybe about 1/4 cup of each??? I used to always get a Strawberry Tsunami (now Strawberry Surfrider) with orange juice instead of lemonade, and I would say that this one I came up with almost tastes the same as that always did. Mr. C also approves! H doesn't want to give me my cup back.

ASU Cupcakes!

Here is my attempt at the layered cupcakes and the "rainbow" frosting techniques I saw on Pinterest. I went with maroon & gold for an ASU theme. Then printed out the mini pennants and used white glue to glue them to toothpicks to stick on top of each cupcake. The layering of the colored cake mix took FOREVER - I probably won't ever do it again, but it was fun. The frosting was easy and a really cool effect - I'll do that again.