Painting with a Twist - Date Night

Right before Joe left for Afghanistan, we went on a date to Painting with a Twist! Painting with a twist is a group painting studio where you are given step by step instructions on "the painting of the night". The twists is the Wine and Beer that they sell.

I think Joe was a little bit thrown off when he first walked in. Out of 40 people in the room he was 1 of 4 men. That didn't stop his excitement. We found our seats, got our bottle of wine, and began to paint. I guess I should have started this post with letting you know that neither Joe or I have any artistic bone in our bodies. Our sisters both got those genes. I am crafty, but I can't draw at all. I was slightly nervous.

Our group of women people were all in good spirits. Everyone was ready to have a good time. We were given our blank canvas and instructed to paint our "Tree of Light". The first step was easy, just up and down, not much to it. Then the blending of colors came. The back ground was suppose to be a nice blend of blues, greens, and black. But mine looked like a blue background. I just went with it.

Next, we were given instructions on how to draw the body of the tree. This was nice because the instructor gave us line by line instructions, while still allowing us to make it our own.  This is were things got funny. Joe, did exactly what the instructor said, he did not vary and it he did not make it his own. The instructor would give us 10-15 minutes to make it how we wanted it and Joe would be done in less then 30 seconds. I am not sure what that was all about. We were given the instructions on how to make the light and all the finishing touches.

Finally, our trees were completed and our wine bottle was empty. We let our painting dry and then took them home. Our paintings are currently at my parents house hanging in my room. I can't wait to go again when Joe is home, so that we can make some paintings for our home. I found it so funny that our paintings looked so different, even though we were given the exact same instructions.

I have to ask, which painting do you like better?

What was your favorite date night activity?
Have you ever tried a place similar to Painting with a Twist?

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Disneyland - Care Package

I am so excited to finally have another care package post. I have been totally slacking in the care package department. When Joe first deployed, I was sending a care package once every two weeks. But, after the move and starting a new job, I think it has been almost a month. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to at least once every three weeks. I made sure to make this care package a good one. I have a bunch of really awesome things in my mind of what a great care package should be, but most of my ideas really take some time and planning. I knew from the moment that I got my Joe Doll, that I needed to take him to Disneyland! It is my favorite place in California and it gave me an excuse to take a picture with all of the characters (not that I needed one).

The finished box!

My main idea for this box as to go to the park and get as many signatures in an autograph book and get a picture with me, Joe Doll, and the character. It was so much fun and everyone was so thankful for what Joe is doing. My sister and I were able to get the book filled up by noon! Later this week I will share with you another secret of Disneyland and how I got to meet all of the characters. But for now, here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Back to the box,  I went to Michaels and found some really cute paper and stickers. I decided that I would put Disney quotes on the main flaps of the box and I even put some on the outside of the box (there were way to many good ones that I couldn't leave out). 

Inside of this box I put the following items:

• An autograph book with signatures and pictures
• Chocolate and caramel popcorn from the park
• Mickey Mouse rice crispy treat
• Chip and Dale Pretzels
• Mickey Mouse head shaped "gold fishes" (Joe loves Gold Fish)
• Candy from the Candy Shop at Disneyland (Joe's favorite, Candy Corn) 
• Cookies, Crackers, and all kinds of snacks
• More water enhancers, Mio
• More wipes 

The autograph book couldn't have came out any better. I loved that the characters where all very excited about the Joe Doll and some even left personalized "thank you" notes to him. 

This is one of my favorite boxes that I have done. Disneyland is my favorite place to go and I am so happy I was able to share that with Joe. We will be going to Disney World early January and I am planning on getting an autograph book there and getting pictures with all of the characters with me and the real Joe! 

Check out my other Boxes:

• Favorite Sports Team
• Oh the places we will go
• Honey, I Shrunk the Care Package
• Zombies are Coming
• 4th of July
• Hello Summer

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Hello Summer - Care Package

Another Care Package sent and received, means that I am two more weeks closer to seeing my soldier! I must admit, I try to think out side of the box when it comes to care packages, rather then just going with the normal holidays, for very selfish reasons. I am the worse person when it comes to shipping things. I can't seem to get anything in the mail at a reasonable time. So rather then meeting a deadline for a holiday, I just do random care packages. 

This time around I was very all over the place when it came to the theme. I really wanted to do a Hawaii themed box with all of the goodies that I brought home from my awesome trip to Hawaii in May (see I told you I am horrible at shipping things in a timely manor). But for some strange reason, I couldn't find any Hawaii themed scrapbook paper. You would have thought that all of the time off I had for my surgery that this package would have been amazing! But I must say, it was just mediocre.

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For this package I sent all of my Hawaii stuff along with photos from my photo shoot! I think that was the saving grace, because Joe seemed to LOVE it!

I included the following:

• Photo book made with all of my photos from Hawaii - I made it with MixBook
• Photos in magnetic frames - his walls in his room are metal so they are perfect to hang up the photos
• Stephanie Doll - He was very excited to get this. You can get one of yourself or your soldier at www.daddydolls.com
• A Nike Running Watch - We are running our first full marathon in Jan 2014! So he needs to start paying more attention to how long his runs are. I was a bit nervous to send the watch (it is the highest price item that I have sent) but everything arrived safely!
• Mauna Loa Chocolate - This is from Hawaii and so yummy. I am sure that my days of sending chocolate are over. This batch got to him melted, but he ate it anyways. 
• Gourmet Pineapple Bits- Also from Hawaii
• Loofah Soap - From Hawaii, it has some stuff in it that repeals bugs.
• A hula girl for his desk- From Hawaii
• Ghirardelli Squares - Melted...
• Jif To Go- Chocolate dip, this looked so good. He loves chocolate, if you haven't been able to tell. I may be able to send this to him because it is suppose to be melted.
• Other snacks - Gold Fish, Graham Crackers, Gum, Chocolate!
• Baby Wipes- Sometimes I will send him things he needs. I am not completely sure what he uses the wipes for, but I have sent them a few times. 
• Air Fresheners - for his room and office.

Although this box had no real theme, I am happy with the result. It's always nice to send things he needs with the things I want to send to him.

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Zombies are Coming!! - Care Package

I am so excited for Joe to get this care package! I have been wanting to make it for a while now, but every time I go to make it I get another genius idea. I have a few more ideas brewing, however I decided to make this care package. I got the idea of sending a zombie themed package because Joe was reading World War Z. To be honest, I am not even sure if he liked the book. I was a bit nervous that this wasn't going to come out as planned. I have seen many zombie boxes on instagram and they don't look clean (which I guess could be the look that you can go for). I am very happy with the outcome of the box.

Inside of the box I included the following:

• Walking Dead Season 1
• 10 Zombie Movies
• The Zombie Survival Guide 
• Nerf Gun - To shoot Zombies
• Nerf Ammo 
• Zombie Targets - these were given to me from a shooting range 
• Zombie Repellent - Sunscreen
• Smelly Shoe Balls - To keep his shoes smelling good, Zombies can smell feet from miles away
• Gushers, Fruit Roll Ups, Fruit by the foot - I like to send him these sugary snacks because I don't eat them and they will not be in our house. Hopefully he enjoys them while it lasts.
• Popcorn- to eat while he watches the movies

I also included a little note addressed to him letting him know that Zombies are coming!! Hopefully he enjoys this care package as much as I enjoyed making it!

Deployment Wreath

I saw this wreath on Pinterest a while ago and I have wanted to make it ever since. I have decided that it would be a great gift for Joe's Family!

Here is what you need:

• 3 yards of camo fabric - I bought mine from Joann's. If I was to do this again, I might consider fleece 
• 1 wire wreath - The one I choose was 18", it didn't seem that big when I bought it, but I think 12" would have done just fine
• 1 roll of yellow ribbon
• 1 roll of American flag ribbon
• Name Tape - I found a random site online that was able to make it in any color. I am sure that it would have been much easier to just get it on post somewhere
• Craft wire - to attached everything to the wreath

Steps to making the wreath:

1. Cut your fabric into 3/4"-1" x 8" strips. 
2. Tie all of your strips onto the wire wreath - This will take up most of your time. I first started with 2 yards and the wreath didn't look as full as I liked. Keep tying the strips until you have reached your desired fullness. It may have took less fabric is I used fleece, but I believe fleece is more expensive. One pro to fleece is that it won't fray. 
3. Make bows with the ribbon. 
4. Use the craft wire to secure all of the pieces. 

Here is what my finished wreath looks like!

Overall this project was bigger then I thought it would be, but well worth the outcome. I think that may have been because I had no idea what I was doing. Now that I know what I need and how much material I need it will be easy to duplicate it. The overall cost of the project was around $30. I can't wait to try some more Military inspired crafts! Let me know if you have any questions!