First Day - Fashion and DIY

Up, up and away!  It's the second day of school around these parts, Islanders!  I received a lot of positive feedback on our post yesterday and thought I'd share some deets and a quick tutorial with my favorite people today!

The Outfit



We're open and honest 'round these parts so you know there's no shame when I say Grandma Lisa bought it from Goodwill.  I know, I know.  It's *like* a rule somewhere that you have to spend buckets of money on the FIRST DAY outfit.  With Munch growing like a weed and spending her summer weekdays with Grandma Lisa, I couldn't get the outfit.  I've explained my approach to school shopping here.  While I reviewed her closet to pull what fits, what's age/school appropriate, and what we had left to buy, I was pleasantly surprised to find a cute dress hanging in the closet that had never been worn... with the tags still on it.  Goodwill tags.

Yep. Grandma Lisa bought the dress on one of their summer shopping trips and I love the colors.  Executive decision made!  Munch would wear the Goodwill dress.  It's new [to us] and just too cute!  We bought new shoes (like these here) and checked the fabulous first day outfit off our list!  I'll talk more about our affordable fashion soon but, just know, I can't tell you where the dress is from because it was a thrifty find!

The Balloon

Every year, we have a first day sign.  Well, last year we didn't and decided to substitute our traditional sign for an interview.

I really liked that our signage was different last year.  I love to see the first day pics and noticed a lot of parents have started to use signs with their little ones.  I think it's super adorable.  I just wanted to do something different.  I wanted to make something and, when I saw a post on the queen of balloon crafts' blog, I used it as inspiration!

Source

Here's how I made our balloon and what we did slightly different from her design.

Most of the supplies were found at our Dollar Tree!  Those letters are pretty pricey at craft stores so, as you can imagine, I was ecstatic to find the stickers at our neighborhood Dollar Tree!!! I decided to use them for the project.  

1.  For the balloon stick, I took two paper straws and glued a dowel inside for stability.  I covered the piece in the center between the straws with some glitter tape and cut the tape to look like pennant flags.

2.  Blow up your balloon to your desired size.  

3.  Place the stickers on the balloon.  If your placement is off, you can gently peel them off to adjust placement without popping the balloon.

4.  Use a permanent marker to add the suffix after the number.  I also used permanent markers I had in my craft stash to draw metallic polka dots.

5.  EMBELLISH!  I used my glue gun and poms to jazz up the balloon.  Place a dab of hot glue on each pom and allow it to cool for a few seconds before placing on the balloon.

I was already super excited with the results!

6.  Dab hot glue inside the excess balloon piece under the 'knot' area.  Place on top of the straw and hold firmly in place.  I added some scrap ribbon to reinforce this area.

7.  Enjoy the fabulous and DIFFERENT first day signage!

No tears allowed.  Just smile and go with it.

You can see in the photo above, it's best to hold the balloon where the knot and handle meet to ensure it doesn't blow away during photos.  I made this in about 5 minutes while Munch was at school.  She hopped off the school bus and immediately started to give Nuke and me a full rundown of her day.  She was super excited to find her after school surprise candy and was happy to take the balloon pics; she gave me lots of fun poses with her balloon.  Then, this happened:

I know.  I see it.  Sometimes, I look at the kid and see the teenage years are right on my heels.  She made that face right after saying, "Mom, were you sad? Were you nervous?  You shouldn't be.  I told you I had fourth grade." *face*

Yep.  You got it, boo.  You got it.  Islanders, the sky's the limit.  Up, up and away!