Fantasy Football Trophies (The winner and loser trophies)

*Before I start this post I wanted to say thank you so much to Brittany from Confessions of a PinAholic! She nominated me for the  Versatile Blogger award. I got nominated for this award and wrote a post about it a couple months ago. I also nominated some great blogs for the award also. You can read all of that here. I just updated to add that Brittany also nominated me for it. Thank you so much Brittany!*

So I already told you about the party we had for my hubby's fantasy football draft party. It was a party we threw together on really short notice and on a tight budget. You can read all about those details here. 

One of our favorite parts of the whole party were the trophies. Yes trophies. I never thought we would make trophies but we did. We made them for fun. My man and his friends love trash talking each other about their teams and who will win and so on and so on. 

So every winner deserves a good trophy right? Ok well at least a temporary-home-made-one-until-they-all-pitch-in-to-buy-one trophy. So with lots of brainstorming between me and my husband. We came up with this:

Can't you just hear Queen's song "We are the champions" in your head?

We are the champions, my friends 

And we'll keep on fighting, till the end  

We are the champions 

We are the champions 

No time for loooosers 

'Cause we are the champions......of the world 

Oh yeah I totally just sang some Queen while I was typing this post. Ok anyways back to the trophy. Pretty sweet right? I know it's not some fancy-smancy trophy but for doing it in ONE day and using what we had to make it, I thought it turned out pretty cool. 

For the details on making it. The base is so easy. I made us a big block of wood by screwing little cut off pieces of a 2x4 together. Then we covered it with some of the astro turf rug that I used for the table cover. We then took one of my husband's old toy football dolls action figures. And I spray painted that baby chrome. I wish I would have taken a before picture of the toy first. But here is the paint and primer I used. I loved the stuff. It made it so shiny!

And we can't forget the losers right?? We also made "the loser" a trophy. 

He was super easy to make too. They named him "The Tebow Toilet Bowl." No offense to Tebow fans out there! It just rhymed and sounded funny. Plus it's my husband's best friend's favorite player and they love teasing him about it.

To make this guy, I just spray painted another figure my husband didn't care about "messing up". And I found an empty oatmeal cantainer for the base. I painted it chrome, put a styrofoam block inside, stuck a wooden dowel in the center for the toilet paper to sit on. I then glued the figure to the top. 

They had a lot of fun passing around the trophies and taking pictures with them. And of course there was the trash talk about who is going to be taking that trophy home this year. It was a super fun and easy project that we enjoyed doing a lot.

So is any of your husband's like mine and have boxes of toys collectible figures at home? My husband has so many sports figures its crazy!

Decorating for a Football Party (really fast and on a budget)

Hey ya'll! I am so happy to be starting a new week. Last week was just crazy, I wrote a short post about all that was going on here if you wanna catch up. I am so glad I'm doing 100 percent better after my food poisoning. My husband is still having a whole lot of trouble with his MS tho. We have been doing a lot of research and calling different doctors to help him. I really love how good he handles it all. He stays really upbeat and loves to joke around a lot still. And I know it's gotta stink not being able to get around very well.

Which brings me to the topic of my post today. Last weekend he was planning on going to his brother's house for a fantasy football draft party. He was having so much trouble walking tho, so we decided it would be easier to have everyone come to our house for it. I found out about the switch the day before the party. So my annoying "perfectionist" side got to work on cleaning the house. I even got out our carpet shampooer and went crazy cleaning the carpets. 

And then once the house was clean, I started thinking about how we could decorate for it. I'm a complete dork when it comes to throwing parties. Even if it's a group of 12 guys who could care less about it, I still wanted to do it. It's fun. Plus I wanted to make my hubby's party special for him. He's gone through a lot lately and he needed something fun to do. 

I must confess first tho. I was a bad blogger. My pictures are really horrible and taken really fast. I almost didn't want to blog about this because the picture I took drove me crazy. I still cringe when I see it. This was taken before I straightened up everything on the table. And I didn't even get to take a picture with the food on the table. This was taken before it was really "complete".

(I filled those small cups with french fries and I had boneless buffalo style chicken for those plates)

I was planning on taking better pictures of it "complete" but I was running out of time. I barely got everything ready when all the guys showed up. 

So here is what I did on really short notice and a small budget. I went to my favoritest place ever to get started. PINTEREST of course! And after searching Pinterest for some "pinspiration" I came up with a plan and ran to Lowe's, a craft store, and the grocery store to make it happen.

I found an astro turf type rug at Lowe's. I first went to their garden center because I've heard before that they have big rolls of fake grass there that they can cut off as many yards as you need. But ours didn't. The lady at the garden center was really nice tho and once I told her what I needed she suggested I get a rug from the flooring department and cut it. 

So I found a pretty good size area rug for about $18 that I cut in half. I figured it would be a good investment for all our football type parties we will be throwing in the future. It was my "splurge" for the party but also my favorite part. I found some white electrical tape for a couple dollars that I bought to my make "yard lines". 

For our centerpiece for the food table, I grabbed a picture frame I was already using in our living room and added a printout of my husband's league logo (yes he made it's own logo, they are really into this stuff!) and under the logo the leagues divisions and teams. 

For the goal posts, I bought some wooden dowels at the craft store. I cut them into the right sizes and glued them together. To be extra safe (I really didn't want them falling apart in front of my husband's friends) I went over the joints with the electrical tape I used for the stripes. I just wanted to hold it together as well as I could. 

I then painted them yellow and stuck them in two little round boxes with styrofoam balls in each. I found the little round boxes at the craft store for a couple bucks but you could also use little vases or cups of some sort. I covered the top of them with green felt and painted the boxes white.

I filled 12 small orange cups with french fries so each guy could grab one. We also had buffalo style chicken bites to snack on. I used what we already had when it came to forks, plates, cups, and napkins. I bought some cheap football themed scrapbook paper to add to the table to dress it up a bit more.

I also made a banner, that I forgot to take a picture of! It was just a simple easy banner with the league name LFFL hanging above where we had the trophies.

Yes I said trophies. We are that dorky. We made some trophies for the winner and the loser. And I will fill ya'll in with all the details tomorrow!

So are any of your husbands into the whole fantasy football thing? My hubby takes his pretty seriously. But I do have to admit, it was fun throwing a party for it lol

Sharing with these Awesome Parties:

Wednesday
Uncommonly Yours  @ Uncommon Designs 
Sizzle into Summer @ DIY By Design
Share It Link Party @ The winthropchronicles chronicles 

Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
We Did It! Wednesday @ Sew much ado
Well Crafted Wednesday @ The Well Crafted Home
Whatever goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts

Thursday
Transformation Thursdays @ The Shabby Creek Cottage
Thursdays are your days @ 52 Mantels
Show me extraordinary @ The 36th Avenue
Pin'Inspirational Thursdays @ The Artsy Girl Connection
Live, Laugh, {Linky} Thursday @ Live Laugh Rowe
Creative Inspirations @ Embracing Change
Taylor House Thursday @ The Taylor House

My thoughts on: HGTV Design Star All Stars Episode with The Facts of Life Set

So I thought it would be fun to write another post about the show Design Star like I did a few weeks back here. *Please note this post has spoilers so if you aren't wanting to know who got voted off this week than don't read this.* And I also want to clarify that I'm not affiliated with this show in any way, I just really like the show. 

So anyways now that I got all that clear! This season of HGTV's Design Star show is the All Stars. The four left in this episodes were Hilari from last season, Leslie from season 6, Tom from season 5 and Dan from season 4. I think it's been a lot of fun watching this season so far because I remember all the contestants from their seasons. If you can't already tell I really do love watching this show. 

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 This week's challenge was to redo the set of "The Facts of Life". They were told to design the set as if the show were in 2012. I personally have only seen a couple episodes of the show because it was a little bit before my time. I was born in 1986. But even tho I haven't really watched the show much I know the theme song. I think it may be one everyone knows! 

You take the good, you take the bad, 
you take them both and there you have 
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life. 

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Hilari and Dan were on a team together. Their room was really modern and young. But also very, very, um VERY bright. Dan chose this neon green for painting the paneling and blue curtains. I was really not a fan. The green wall he chose was what got him voted off this week. 

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 Some interesting parts of the room was the bookshelf. How fun is the ladder! I always love to see how people style their bookcases. Hilari did this and you can see all the books are facing the wrong direction with the inside pages showing. I've noticed this being done in a lot of places lately. It would be hard to find the book you want to read but it really does look interesting on the shelf like that. 

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 I also thought the poufs were neat too. On tv they looked so much redder to me than these pictures tho. Maybe my tv needs some color adjusting! I don't think I could get an orange pouf, but I really want a pouf in a more muted color for my house!

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The other room was designed by Tom and Leslie. This was my favorite of the two. I love the blue and yellow color palette. 

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I really like the wallpaper Leslie chose for the room too. The judges didn't seem to like it because they said it would be hard to see on tv because it's so muted. But looking at it close I thought it was really pretty. 

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This coffee table was really interesting too. Quite a conversation piece. 

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 Tom did the painted paneling, and I really liked the colors a lot. I'm not really a fan of all the accessories here though. It feels a little cluttered to me. 

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 At the end of the show it came down to Hilari and Dan. The judges voted Dan off because of that neon crazy green wall. I'm not sure who I am rooting for this season. I'm leaning more towards Hilari. She has a really fun personality and decorating taste. I think a show with her would be fun to watch. 

Oh and I also wanted to share something exciting. The season 3 winner Jennifer Bertrand is following me on twitter! Crazy right? It really made my day. I am so thrilled about that! 

So did any of y'all watch this weeks show? I think I will now have The Facts of Life theme song stuck in my head all week! I would love to hear what you thought about this week's show...

Guest post: Natalie from NorthShore Days

Hey ya'll! I am soooo excited to introduce my first guest post writer here at This Yellow House. Her name is Natalie and her blog is NorthShore Days. She is a very sweet person with a wonderful blog! She has amazing tutorials on making jewelry and making creative things for the house. She also shares precious moments of her three adorable kids. I love reading her blog and I know you will too! 

Hi Everyone,

My name is Natalie and I blog over at NorthShore Days. 

I am the lucky mum of 3 fantastic, adorable, mischievous and sometimes downright naughty kiddos. I've been married to my Sean for nearly 14 years and we live on the beautiful NorthShore in Auckland, New Zealand.

 

 

I'm so excited to be here today. Allie has become a lovely bloggy friend in the short time she has been blogging and its so great seeing her go from strength to strength....

Today I'm going to share my Beach Inspired Wire Ring.
My passion is the beach and ocean - It is reflected in all my creations and makeovers, and I love making simple, wearable jewelry

 

About 2 months ago I made the matching bracelet to this ring and I also created a shell ring, just recently.

To make this ring you need a largish bead with a fairly big hole  , 18-20 gauge jewelry wire, long nose pliers, and something to use as a measure for your finger size (ideally you would use a ring mandrel, but the lid of my nail polish bottle worked perfectly)

I've taken photos of each step and they are so easy to follow.

First measure your finger with the wire and loop around the nail polish bottle lid.

Thread your bead through 4-5 coils of wire and make sure you leave at least a coil over on each side.

Take one of the leftover coils and wrap it around the bead.

Then wrap the wire end on either side of the bead as in pics 5 thru 8.

Use your pliers and tighten and neaten the wrapping on each side of the bead.

And you have a ring!!

  

Seriously how easy was that? I love this ring and am on the hunt for similar sized beads to make a few more.

I took about a million photos of my new favourite accessory... 

 

 I hope you enjoyed my post today and that you are inspired to try make your own ring.

Thank you so much for having me Allie.

Take care

xxx

How to make silhouette photos {The easy way}

I have an obsession. I am in love with silhouettes. When I see them on pinterest it's like they call out to me. There's something so enticing about them. They feel so classic and traditional yet so modern at the same time. Yeah I pretty much love them.

And you know I'm a sucker for sentimental art like you can see from this post a couple months ago when my kids helped me make a cool art piece for the house. So this week I decided to make their silhouettes.

It was so much fun too! They were my cute little models. I had them stand very still and let me take a profile picture of them.  I took the picture in front of a window when the sun was shining in. I wanted to see details on their profile really well.

It's funny even tho they are identical twins, they still look so different to me. 

My older boys were so easy. My six month old boy, not as much. I don't think he ever stops moving! And he kept looking at me when I tried taking the picture. So I decided I'm gonna have to wait until a time my hubby is home to help me hold him. So baby silhouette project coming later!

So after you get your profile pictures, you upload them to computer. I used the free photo editor Fotoflexer because I don't have photoshop. I would love to get a photoshop program one of these days. But for now Fotoflexer works really well for me. 

Fotoflexer has some nice effects you can apply to your photo. To do this project I decided to apply the sketch effect. It made a very obvious outline of the boys. 

Next you print it out on cardstock paper, carefully cut them out and then paint them.

I put a plain white card stock paper in the background of them and framed them.

The end result is some cool looking silhouettes. They are fun and stylish yet soooo sentimental to me at the same time. It melts my heart every time I look at them. I can't believe my babies are little boys now.

Oh I also wanted to tell ya'll I just made a Facebook page for This Yellow House! You can check that out here. 

So are any of ya'll as obsessed with silhouettes as much as I am? If we had any pets I would so do their silhouettes too!

Sharing with these awesome parties:

Tuesday
The Inspiration Board Link Party @ Carolyn's Homework
Wednesday
Sizzle into Summer @ DIY By Design

Share It Link Party @ The winthropchronicles chronicles 
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
We Did It! Wednesday @ Sew much ado
Well Crafted Wednesday @ The Well Crafted Home
Thursday
Taylor House Thursday @ The Taylor House
Thursdays are your days @ 52 Mantels
Pin'Inspirational Thursdays @ The Artsy Girl Connection
Live, Laugh, {Linky} Thursday @ Live Laugh Rowe

Transformation Thursdays @ The Shabby Creek Cottage
Show me extraordinary @ The 36th Avenue
Creative Inspirations @ Embracing Change

Would you like to be my guest this Summer?

Hey ya'll! How has summer been treating you? Ours has been really good so far...

Just. Super. Busy. 

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I'm not exaggerating either! It's been a crazy last couple of weeks. I feel like since my foot has healed I have been going non-stop. We went out of town last weekend to visit my BFF and her hubby. They just bought a new house and it was my first time seeing it. It was really nice! Their house has super cute curb appeal and a big spacious living room opened up to the kitchen. I loved it. We have been friends since we were 11 so it's so funny seeing us as homeowners with husbands and everything. We are just so grown up! hehe

I really wish I would have taken more pictures of our whole trip. (*insert pouty sad face here*) 

We are about to have another SUPER BUSY week coming up. I feel so bad like I am neglecting my blog tho! Once we get to the middle of August I know things will slow waaaay down and I can focus more on the house and projects again. 

But as of right now, I'm enjoying summer with the kiddos.

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Which brings me to my next question, would anyone like to write a guest post for This Yellow House? I have never done a guest post here before but I think I could figure it out. I would love to have posts on here about home design, crafts, decor and the like. But, if you have a really great recipe or something like that you would want to share, that would be cool too! 

If you think you might be interested, please e-mail me at allie@thisyellowhouse.com . 

Oh and I never got a chance to write a post about this, but what did you guys think of the Design Star finale?

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 I figured Danielle would win and I thought she did a much better job at the camera challenge than Britnay did. Her whole concept for a show seemed to make more sense. Although again I liked Britnay's room much better. I just saw on twitter tho that Britnay was voted the fan favorite so she is now getting her show on HGTV's website. 

So is that who you thought should win? And are ya'll gonna watch their new shows? I know I will be tuning in to see if I like them or not. 

The Liebster Award! Whoohoo!

Hey ya'll! I am sooo excited and honored to have been nominated for the Liebster around by another fellow blogger JoAnn at Sweet Pepper Rose. Thank you sooo much for this award JoAnn!

JoAnn is a sweet person with a wonderful blog about decorating, crafts, recipes and more! Please go check out her site!

Liebster is German for "dearest."

The purpose of the Liebster Award is to help

"newbie" blogs with less that 200 followers get noticed

with a sort of sweet "Shout Out" of attention, and likewise,

a sort of "Pay It Forward" is included,

to help other blogs get due notice and attention.

How it works:

To receive the award, the following is in order:
(1)Make a Post about your win putting the award button in your post.
(2)Link back to (& follow)the blogger who nominated you the award.
(3)Pick five blogs with less than 200 followers that you feel deserving of the Liebster Award, and leave them a comment on their blog to let them know you've nominated them. 
(4) Tell the 5 blogs you've chosen to 'Pay It Forward' and 'Share some Blog Love' by following the instructions for 5 more newbie blogs. 
(5) Share five random facts about ourselves.

Ok so five random facts....hmmm
1- My hair color is naturally a dirty blonde color. I miss my childhood blonde hair so I got highlights and I haven't got a chance to get back to the salon lately so my roots are showing so bad! 
2- My favorite tv show growing up was Saved By the Bell. I had a huuuuge crush on Zack Morris!
3- I love to dance while I clean the house :-)
4- Right now as I am typing this, I'm playing with my 6 month old son and his favorite toy, a blue giraffe. That's pretty random right?
5- I feel naked when my toenails aren't painted.

Ok so now I pick 5 blogs that I love. 
(Side note: I also picked some other really great blogs for the versatile award a couple months ago, so please check them out too!)
1- The Blissful Bee - Her home is gorgeous! She has great taste!
2- Making Pinterest My Reality - Her goal is to accomplish a pin a day. So inspiring and fun to see her do it!
3- The Well Crafted Home - She does a lot of really neat crafts with great tutorials! 
4- House Pretty Blog - She is making her home beautiful and has just revealed her adorable nursery!
5-Jarrah Jungle - She is doing a big renovation on her home and her blog is a lot of fun to read!

So please go check out these wonderful blogs that I love to read!And thank you JoAnn again for nominating for this award!