All Things G&D

FREE Sesame Street Birthday Party Printables

May 22, 2013 By Dusty @All Things G&D 1 Comment

I’ve received probably hundreds of requests for copies of the print materials I made for Kate’s Sesame Street Themed 2nd birthday party, and now that I’ve switched my blog over to WordPress I can easily share them with you all!

These links will open a pdf document for you to print from your computer:

Sesame Street Welcome Sign

Sesame Street Favor Bag Topper

Kid’s Cup Labels

First up is the Sesame Street Welcome Sign I made for our front door:

You can use the “Welcome” sign on its own, or recreate the door display I made for Kate’s party, by printing out the Sesame Street Welcome Sign in color on white cardstock, and cutting around the outer line. The personalized signs below the welcome sign are easily made in Microsoft Word or Publisher using a Comic Sans font. I cut the large “K” and “2″ out of foam and covered them in wrapping paper, and then pieced it all together using ribbon taped in back.

Next, is the “Thank You!” favor bag topper I made in the shape of the Sesame Street sign:

To recreate, print them off my Sesame Street Favor Bag Topper in color on white cardstock. Cut around the sides and bottom of the rounded rectangle with scissors, and then use an exacto knife to trim around just the oval line on top. Next, fold the rest of the paper at the top of the rectangle, so that the label is like a little tent that goes over the bag, with the oval top standing up. I closed the favor bags with one staple in the center and secured the tent on top of the bag using double-stick tape, one piece on each side.

I made these name tags for the kids’ cups so we could easily keep track of which one was theirs. Using crayons and Sesame Street stickers added to our theme, but really these practical cup labels could be used for any party!

To use this Kid’s Cup Labels printable, simply print this pdf out in color on self-adhesive 2×4″ shipping labels, peel them off and apply to your party cups. Add stickers to each one for an additional way to help kids to recognize their cups.

These free party printables are for personal use only. Please credit All Things G&D and link back to this post if you use them. Thank you!

Interested in seeing more of Kate’s Sesame Street Themed Birthday Party? Click on the images below!

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Filed Under: Do It Yourself Damn It, Holidays + Entertaining

Kate’s New Playroom & A Mohawk Rug Giveaway!

May 13, 2013 By Dusty @All Things G&D 158 Comments

After moving Kate down the hall to her new “big girl” room, and with no plans for Baby #2 in sight, we decided to turn Kate’s nursery into an upstairs playroom!

After all the work I put into creating Kate’s colorful tree on the wall, I wasn’t ready to take it down – which also meant I’d be keeping the room’s magenta wall color. In addition to keeping the tree, I also knew I wanted to work Kate’s activity table into the space. We originally bought it for our downstairs family room (table seen here), and at the time red chairs looked the best.

I’m no expert on the color wheel, but the way I see it red and magenta aren’t exactly best friends.

With plans to incorporate plenty of other fun colors into the space (orange, purple, lime green, and teal), I had a feeling I could make it all work without having to repaint the chairs…as long as I could find the perfect rug.

Enter Mohawk Flooring.

One look at their gorgeous Mixed Chevrons area rug and I knew I found my winner! This bright beauty has all the colors I’ll be using in the space and then some! Best of all – it features red and magenta zig-zagging together in cute and colorful harmony:

Mohawk Home’s Mixed Chevrons Area Rug

Looks are important, but I also need my area rugs to be soft and durable. We’ve been living with this rug (and playing on it) for almost two months so far and it looks and feels fabulous. It’s nice and soft under our bare feet, low-pile so Kate’s tiniest toy pieces don’t get lost in it, and it vacuums up beautifully. The best part? Mohawk rugs are still made in America!

So far Kate’s new playroom includes our gorgeous new chevron rug, Kate’s activity table, a new IKEA Expedit shelving unit which will soon be filled with toys and crafts, and her play kitchen set (not seen in the picture above). I still have a loooong way to go in here, but I’m so excited with how it’s starting out!

Interested in snagging a new Mohawk area rug to begin transforming a room in your house? You’ve come to the right blog!

One lucky All Things G&D reader will win a Mohawk Home rug (up to 5×8 in size and under $150) of their choice! To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter up to ten times between now and the end of May for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received this Mohawk rug to review at no cost to me. All opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Home Decor, Our Daughter Kate, Our Home

Mother’s Day

May 12, 2013 By Dusty @All Things G&D Leave a Comment

Grateful every day for this amazing little girl who made me a mom:

Mother’s Day 2013

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

Filed Under: Holidays + Entertaining, Our Daughter Kate

My Kitchen’s In Magazines!

May 10, 2013 By Dusty @All Things G&D 8 Comments

I recently had the thrill of a life to walk into a store, open up a magazine and see a picture of my kitchen inside!

It’s all thanks to my recent partnership with The Tile Shop!

A few months ago Megan and Brian (two hotties from The Tile Shop’s corporate office) made the trip to Madison for our house’s first photo shoot! Pictures from the shoot along with a recap of our DIY tile backsplash project were showcased on The Tile Shop’s website during the month of March in their Blogger Spotlight.

On top of that, the pictures are also currently being used in The Tile’s Shop’s nationwide magazine ad campaign!

I still can’t believe it.

A week ago I walked into my favorite little grocery co-op on my city’s east side, opened up Madison Magazine, and saw this:

Seeing my kitchen in The Tile Shop’s ad in Madison Magazine for the first time!

A Tile Shop ad featuring our kitchen, my words, my face, and my blog.

Talk about surreal!

I bought 3 copies (how do you decide what’s a good number for something like this?!) and giddily (albeit nervously!) showed the page to my check-out lady when she inquired, “Why three?”

Then, to add to my thrill, yesterday I received a copy of Cincinnati Magazine – sent to me by my incredibly thoughtful friend Jenna who lives in Ohio, featuring my kitchen in a FULL PAGE Tile Shop magazine ad!

WHA?!

Megan (the hottie from corporate) informed me the ads are running in regional magazines in all of their target markets across the country…which basically means – if you have a Tile Shop in your area, pick up a copy of your city’s magazine and you’ll see it!

The Tile Shop’s largest markets, which will be featuring their full-page magazine ad, are:

Chicago Magazine
Chicago Home and Garden
Washingtonian
Philadelphia Magazine
Pittsburgh Magazine
Cincinnati Magazine
Atlanta Magazine
Milwaukee Magazine
St. Louis Magazine
Indianapolis Magazine
Charlotte Magazine

Smaller ads (as seen in the second picture above) can be found in their smaller markets like Madison, Kansas City, Nashville, Long Island, and Buffalo.

It’s such an incredible experience, and I’m so excited to represent The Tile Shop like this!

You can check out other bloggers featured in The Tile Shop’s Blogger Spotlight, including House*Tweaking, Young House Love, and more to come! Thank you so much, Tile Shop, for showcasing real people and real DIY projects – as a blogger and a consumer it’s such a thrill to see!

Filed Under: Do It Yourself Damn It, Our Home

Appreciation Jar Gift Idea

May 8, 2013 By Dusty @All Things G&D 4 Comments

Looking for a unique gift for your coworker, boss, neighbor, friend, family member – anyone?

Consider making them an Appreciation Jar!

At my office we believe in taking a “strengths-based” approach to our work, recognizing positives in the children and families we work with – and each other – as often as we can. One way we do this is by beginning our monthly “all staff” meetings with appreciations and acknowledgements any of us have for our coworkers who’ve helped us out over the past month, gone above and beyond in their jobs, and have made the office a positive and supportive place to work. I’ve noticed through the years that we’re very good at acknowledging efforts of our peers and anyone “below” us (for lack of a better term), but we’re not as apt to recognize our supervisors and managers (those “above” us) for a job well done…which led me to the recent realization that my boss Scott (our Executive Director) is probably the least appreciated person in our office!

I decided it was time to remedy that.

Scott celebrated his 50th birthday recently, and in honor of the occasion our Leadership Team planned a variety of fun ideas to mark the milestone. My contribution was this Appreciation Jar. My goal was to gather “50 appreciations in honor of Scott turning 50″ so I emailed all of our staff and board members asking if anyone had an appreciation for Scott that they’d like to share, and in the end I collected more than 50! Some were serious, some were funny, and all were incredibly thoughtful and sincere.

I typed up each appreciation and printed it out on cardstock:

(More than) 50 Appreciations from staff in honor of our boss turning 50.

Then I folded them up and put them in a little jar, complete with a label:

I was so pleased this idea worked out and we were able to gift this to Scott on his 50th birthday! For less than $5, I was able to create a unique, appealing, affirming, and lasting gift for someone who truly deserves it.

Of course the “Appreciation Jar” idea isn’t just for bosses – anyone would love to be on the receiving end of something like this! Who do you know in your life who deserves to some acknowledgement thrown his or her way?

What are you waiting for?!

Do it!

Filed Under: Do It Yourself Damn It

Things Loved in March & April

May 6, 2013 By Dusty @All Things G&D 18 Comments

1. Ello’s new glass water bottle:

Ello Syndicate Glass Water Bottle

Last spring I blogged about my favorite new ($10!) glass water bottles from Ello, and then a horrible, awful thing happened.

One broke.

No…not the glass bottle part, as you might’ve thought – it was the cap!

I was so bummed to be short one precious water bottle that I quickly went back to Target to snag myself another one wrapped in its colorful silicone shell.

But they were sold out.

Over the next (notevenkiddinghere) six months, EVERY SINGLE TIME I walked into Target I looked at the empty shelf above the “Ello Glass Water Bottle” barcode, waiting for these damn things to be back in stock.

One day in April, they were!

Only, they’d had a little bit of a makeover. The new Ello glass water bottles (pictured above) now have a fun and convenient flip top lid (instead of a screw top) with a little woven loop for carrying.

Totally worth the wait, Ello – thank you!

The only crack in my Ello review is that they’re selling for $15 now, which is quite the hike from their original price, but still a great deal considering most glass water bottles flirt with a $30 price tag. I’ve also recently discovered (for anyone else suffering from Cracked Ello Lid Syndrome) that they sell replacement lids on Amazon! You can get the original lids HERE or the new flip top lids HERE. (Both lid styles fit either bottle.)

2. This Citrus Squeezer:

OXO Citrus Squeezer

I attended my first freezer meals party last month, and while I’ve yet to taste-test most of the freezer meals I’ve prepared, I have to say one of my favorite take-aways from the night was discovering the citrus juicer tool! This handy little gadget squeezes the juice from half a lime or half a lemon much faster than you can do in a jar juicer, and much more efficiently than you can do by hand squeezing! You simply cut your citrus in half, place one half of the lemon or lime in the juicer (cut side facing the holes), squeeze, and you’re done – you’ve just juiced half a lemon or half a lime into your salad, pan, or recipe with one quick squeeze. I love this thing!

3. My new $5 ear buds!

Panasonic $5 In-Ear Headphones

A couple of years ago I blogged about my frustrations with wearing headphones – the damn things always fall out of my ears when I run! I thought I’d found the perfect solution with Yurbuds at the time, but I have to say – two years later there’s some love lost. They’re even starting to fall out of my ears when I run, and supposedly that’s not supposed to happen. Ever. For $20-30 a pop I’m not exactly keen on the idea of buying another pair. In all fairness, I think they were starting to fail me after 2 years because I sweat so damn much, but STILL! $20 for a tiny little piece of rubber?!

(You and I both know that kind of markup’s only worth it if it’s bar time and the drugstore’s closed.)

I thought I could do better.

I searched around Amazon and found these cute little Panasonic In-Ear Headphones for about $5 a pop – at that price I can afford to replace them if they don’t last me forever! They come in a variety of colors, and each pair comes with 3 sets of soft earpad attachments (small, medium and large) so you can be assured that one of them will fit comfortably – and stay put! – in your ear. I’ve been running with these for the past couple of weeks, and so far so good!

4. Showtime’s Homeland

Showtime’s Homeland

G and I just started watching this series via Netflix, and we’re HOOKED! Claire Danes is phenomenal, that red-headed guy is seriously eff-ed up (okay, fine, she is too) and we cannot get enough of it. We just completed the first season, and it’s without question our favorite thing to watch right now!

What TV shows are you loving this spring?

5. This parenting infographic from The Child Whisperer (click to enlarge):

How to Raise a Happy, Successful, Cooperative Child, by The Child Whisperer

I have to confess – I know nothing about “The Child Whisperer” but I came across this infographic on Pinterest and it totally struck a chord. I’ve spent my entire life taking care of, and therefore trying to understand, children. My siblings, nieces and nephews, neighborhood kids whose parents needed a night out, full-time babysitting gigs in the summer, etc. When I went to college I devoured courses like Child Developmental Psychology, and after college this Criminal Justice Major spent the first decade (plus, and still going) of her career dedicated to helping children. Now I’m a mom, and I have the benefit of applying everything I’ve learned over 30 years of studying to my daughter.

All behavior has a function, and behavior is communication.

Those are the two biggest lesson I’ve learned so far when it comes to supporting children, and they’ve been proven true to me over and over again.

“What is the function of his or her behavior?”

“What do you think he or she is trying to communicate?”

These are the questions my colleagues and I debated daily during the five years I did direct care with children with significant mental health issues, and viewing child behavior through this lens is now so ingrained in me that I can read my daughter like a book.

This infographic is one of my “Things Loved” this month because in all my years of study and practice I’ve never seen my beliefs regarding child behavior broken down so clearly and succinctly. If you have a little one, I urge to click enough to enlarge this picture or visit the site, think about your child, and consider this process. I can’t guarantee understanding and implementing this will help you ward off all temper tantrums, but I can assure you that when they happen you’ll understand why, and that will help you parent through a lens of understanding and compassion versus coming from a place of frustration and helplessness.

My daughter is a combination of 2 and 4. What’s your child’s nature?

6. This Muse song:

It’s only fitting that this song is called “Madness” because I’m crazy about it!

What are some of your things loved so far this spring?

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Filed Under: All Things Loved..., Baby Things, I Am Not A Chef, Parenting, Running My Ass Off, TV/Movies/Entertainment

Kate: 34 Months

May 4, 2013 By Dusty @All Things G&D 3 Comments

Kate: 34 Months

Kate has really been into running lately! It’s been slowly coming on as she often sees me lacing up my shoes to go for a run, but ever since she was part of the cheering section for mine and Jill’s half marathon, she’s been all about it. She runs circles around the main floor of our house and asks us to cheer her on. Or she’ll say she’s “going for a run” when we’re outside as she runs up and down the block. It’s so much fun to see! If she’s not running, she’s galloping (another favorite of hers) everywhere she goes!

At Kate’s 2 year check-up (nearly a year ago) the doctor told us it was time to transition Kate from her sippy cup to a regular cup. We offered her a regular cup here and there but she just wasn’t interested (remember her “put a lid on it, Grandma” comment? It still cracks us up!). G and I weren’t too concerned about her learning this skill, so we didn’t push it; we knew she’d figure it out eventually. Well, Kate’s “eventually” turned out to be at 34 months old. She finally decided she was interested in drinking from a cup and mastered it in no time. (These are the trainer cups we used if anyone’s interested – they’re still Kate’s favorite.)

Something else we’re working with Kate on starting this month is not interrupting when adults are talking. G and I have recently noticed that Kate doesn’t seem to like it when he and I are talking to each other (when she’s not involved in the conversation). Our knee-jerk reaction is to stop whatever we’re doing or saying the second Kate opens her mouth, and jump to meet her needs, but let’s be honest – nobody likes the kid whose parents did that.

Instead, G and I talk (after Kate goes to bed, haha) about how to teach Kate that the world doesn’t revolve around her (even though G and I will both confess that our worlds do!). Since Kate is an only child, I think this is an especially important concept to focus on with her. We want her to learn that she is an equal part of our family – she is not in charge of it. So far we’re working on her not interrupting when G and I are talking to each other or to other adults. I’ve taught her to say, “Excuse me, Mommy” if she does choose to interrupt, and then I can either assist or redirect her as needed. We’ve also set the expectation that when we eat together as a family, even when she says she’s “all done,” she still needs to sit at the table until all of us have finished our meals. Those are two of the things we’re currently targeting, but as a whole we’re also being careful to notice if she seems to be getting bossy or ordering people around and we redirect her and/or offer up more appropriate language for her to use to get her needs met (asking vs. telling).

Kate may need some coaching with limits and boundaries at home, but she’s doing great at daycare! We had our very first Parent-Teacher Conference with the two teachers in Kate’s daycare room this month and they had nothing but wonderful things to say about Kate. She even got her first report card, with all high scores!

Of course, the biggest news in Kate’s life this month was our family trip to Seattle (and her first plane ride!) for her Aunt Lesley’s (and now Uncle Ben’s) wedding!

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Filed Under: Our Daughter Kate, Parenting