LENNON'S SECOND BIRTHDAY

A few weeks ago we celebrated Lennon's second birthday along with his cousins Isla (5) and Brynn (7). We decided to go with a camping themed cake b/c all the Buell kids love to camp and what is cuter than little vintage campers?! :)

I have had several people ask about the cake. Here are the details:

Cake: Costco Chocolate Cake. They have vanilla as well and both are amazing! You can get an entire sheet cake for $19! I usually make the cake, but this time around I took the Costco short-cut and it was fabulous and sure as heck saved me a few hours! I just ordered it PLAIN with no decorations. I made my own green and blue buttercream frosting to decorate with. The sand under the campers is brown sugar.
Cars: Flea market find when I was decorating Lennon's room. 
Campers: Little kits that you can put together and paint that I found on Etsy.
White chair and little inner tubes are from Consumer Crafts.
Trees: Vanilla Bean  

CUSTOM FRAMED ART FROM MINTED: The Perfect Holiday Gift

few of you over-achievers out there probably have your holiday shopping all done; presents beautifully wrapped and placed neatly under your sparkling Christmas tree. If you are like me with only the growing anxiety of buying the perfect gift and not a single present actually bought, then listen up my friends!

I am a HUGE fan of personalized gifts. One of my go-tos for kids' birthday gifts are monogrammed beach towels. I suppose I find happiness in knowing it isn't a plastic truck that they will outgrow in a few months. It is something made just for them that they will have for years to come. Who knows, they may even pass it down to their kids some day. Being a graphic artist, I naturally love a great piece of framed art.

I have teamed up with Minted to bring you the best of both worlds, personalization and art, for all of your 2015 gift giving. You can't go wrong with custom framed art. These will hang on the walls of your loved one's homes for years to come. Here are a few of my favorites from Minted.

S I D E  N O T E: Did you know about the "lock in your deal now" option?!!! 
This is something new that Minted is now offering. Obviously custom anything takes a little more time and thought than just clicking the checkout button, so this option is perfect for taking advantage of a sale even if you are unsure of how you want to personalize it at the moment. Simply pick your design, skip personalization, and check out with "buy now, personalize later" engaged. On the topic of sales, Minted just extended it's Cyber Monday deal through today - 20% of holiday cards & 25% off everything else! (Use code CM2015)

1. house portrait art  //  2. custom map art  // 3. your drawing as an art print  //  4. custom silhouette art

5. foil-pressed letter art  //  6. constellation/zodiac art  //  7. birthstone art

8. custom nursery/kid's room art: two peas // guitar //  adventure typography  //  books  // cursive

RICE KRISPIE PUMPKIN TREATS

I usually have no time for special treats like this, but there is just something about the holidays that makes me want to make themed treats, plus Ellis LOVES to help me cook and bake, so I figured we would give these a go on a Friday that I am home with the kids. She is taking them to her preschool class on Monday and she gets pretty darn jazzed about bringing treats to school. They are pretty much your every day rice krispie treat with orange food coloring -- easy peasy. ;)

INGREDIENTS
3 Tbsp. butter
½ tsp. vanilla extract
red & yellow food coloring or orange gel coloring
5-1/2 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups crispy rice cereal
mini tootsie rolls
green frosting

RECIPE:
In a large saucepan, melt and slightly brown butter on medium heat. Add vanilla extract and marshmallows. Stir until marshmallows are completely melted. Add food coloring until desired orange color is reached. Add cereal and stir until completely combined. Turn off heat and let sit for a few minutes, until cool enough to handle. When mixture has cooled enough, spray your hands with cooking spray and mold cereal mix into circles. Unwrap about 14 tootsie rolls and pop them in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Cut them in half lengthwise and shape into stems. Once they are shaped how you want them, pop them in to the freezer for a few minutes so they get hard again. Once they are hard, push them into the top of the pumpkins to make stems. Make some green frosting and use a leaf tip to make leaves.

I made my pumpkins rather small, so the recipe make about 28 mini pumpkin treats.

SPACEBALLS THE MOTORHOME: COMPLETED

Spaceballs is D-O-N-E. This renovation was the hardest project we have ever completed. It was three solid months of Logan working on the camper every weekend and until 2am on many week nights and me watching our kids by myself while sewing curtains, working with talented individuals to get parts of the camper done that we felt we could not DIY, and working with wonderful sponsors to get this project completed. Let’s just say we love it, it is OUR hard work, we learned a heck of a lot about old vehicles, and we are OH SO HAPPY it is done. ;)

When we first bought Spaceballs, we knew it would be a job to renovate her, but we didn’t really understand how big of a job it would actually be. So, if you are thinking about doing something like this, let me tell you – it isn’t easy. At least it wasn’t for us. Spaceballs is 43 years old and every time you are working on something that old, you are going to run into issues. As soon as you start peeling back the layers, you find more and more work that needs to be done. I am not going to lie, there were times when we wanted to set her on fire, throw in the towel, and just be done. I am so incredibly proud of Logan for sticking to it. We are both relatively handy, but know little about trucks or campers. Let’s just say there was a whole lot of googling, youtube video watching, a few life-lines to more experienced individuals, and swearing along the way. ;)

But, WE DID IT and we are so excited for the memories we are going to create in it with our family. We had a neighborhood camping trip planned for the end of July and we really wanted to use it. Looking back now, I am so happy we had a deadline because I am pretty sure we would still be working on her if it weren’t for that. At the time of the camping trip she was about 95% done and since then, we have completely finished her up. The camping trip was so much fun and everything on the camper worked! I remember pulling away from our house, kids all bucked in the dinette seat thinking, “I can’t believe we did it and it is actually working!” Since then Logan has taken it four hours up north on an ATV trip and it ran great. (Thank God!)

So here it is! Make sure to look back at the BEFORE pictures. It is so fun to see how it has changed.

The bed is stored tight to the ceiling when driving and then lowers down when it needs to be used.

LINKS:

FLOORING: Sawcut Colorado Resilient Vinyl PlankFlooring - We debated on what flooring to use and finally landed on this stuff. It is relatively easy to install, super durable, and waterproof. 

PAINT: Behr Marquee Exterior Paint – We had to use exterior paint since it will stored in an unheated storage shed in cold Wisconsin winters. 

HARDWARE (handles and pulls): eBay - No longer available.

HINGES AND MAGNETIC DOOR LATCHES for all drawers and cabinets (eliminates noise and movement of the drawers and cabinets while moving)

BODY REPAIR: We used Marine Tex Mighty Repair Kit to repair parts of the fiberglass body around the stairs.

BUTCHER BLOCK COUNTERTOP - Wood from Menards - Made and installed by Logan and our awesome neighbor, Kevin.    

DINETTE TABLE TOP -  Map for the tabletop - I edited the map file in photoshop and altered the ocean color to perfectly match the dinette cushion upholstery. I LOVE it so much. The Funks Sign Company in Dodgeville, WI turned it into a vinyl sticker and coated it to be food safe. We had the dinnete table remade out of better wood (it was cheap particle board) by a local woodworker and we got the metal edging from Heffrons. Heffrons is THE place to go for all things retro. They have this amazing retro boomerang laminate that I would love to someday put in a kitchen!

DINETTE CUSHIONS: Cindy's Custom Interiors - Cindy is AMAZING to work with. I came into her shop with a vision and she made the cushions exactly how I had envisioned them. It was so much fun! See more about the making of the cushions HERE. 

CURTAINS: Fabric - JoAnn Fabrics / Teal Ric Rac - Simply Love Fabrics Etsy Shop 

WALLPAPER: Custom made by Livettes. I took a picture of the ceiling design and she matched the olive green. It i basically like sticking a giant sticker to your wall. 

LET'S GO ON AN ADVENTURE CROSS STITCH

RECLAIMED WOOD SHELF in entrance: Refurbarista

BUNK BED: Through Facebook, we found a family in Northern Wisconsin that has a 1974 Starcraft Starcruiser. They had different plans for theirs that involved removing the back bunk to create a different sleeping arrangement and ours was missing the bunk. They were going through Madison on their way to see family and stopped by our house so we could trade their bunk bed for our rear couch cushions. The original design of our model was to have bench seating in the back that then pulled out into a bed. We decided to put in a double mattress to create a permanent sleeping area, so we no longer needed the cushions. They used the vinyl from our old cushions to patch areas of vinyl in their camper. It all worked out great!
* The bed is stored tight to the ceiling when driving and then lowers down when it needs to be used.

The bunk was not a standard size, so finding a mattress and sheets for it was a bit of a challenge. We finally found what we needed on Amazon. Mattress / Sheets 

ENGINE COVER: We hired a local woodworker to remake the engine cover. It used to just be a plywood hump covered with carpet. We had him remake it to match the butcher block countertop and include two cup holders. It might as well be functional, right?! We used Noise and Heat Resistant Insulation Padding to line the Engine Cover.