I'm on an ornament kick!

I have mentioned before just how much I love Chloe (my Silhouette).  I never get tired of playing around and learning new things to make with her.  We recently became addicted to glass bulb ornaments.  I made them for my kids' teachers for their Christmas gifts as well as the people I visit teach (for church) and a gift exchange party I went to.  Of course, I couldn't leave my kiddos out, they got one too.  I took an ornament tutorial I found on pinterest and changed it up a little.  I used vinyl on transparency paper instead of paper like the original did.  I then added some of the glittery, fake snow from the craft store.  My favorite was the baby Jesus in his manger.  I also loved the snowman, and felt like he really wanted to be on my tree, but I let him go to his new home ;). I also discovered that it is impossible for me to take a good picture with clear ornaments!  I did add ribbon to the tops of the other ornaments, but forgot to take pictures of them that way before they were given away.  Oops

Photo boards

     Wow, I have been MIA lately!  I am here, I promise!  The Christmas season always leaves me so busy, just like everyone else.  I did get some crafting in there thank goodness!  My sanity needed it! 

   I adore these boards that I made for the sibling gift exchange for my hubby and my side of the family.  I found the tutorial here.  They were so stinkin easy!

The boards really are straight, but for some reason every time I took a picture they looked crooked.  I am so far from being a professional photographer that it is sad really lol.

I fell in love with them and almost didn't want to send them, but decided that I will definitely be making some for myself very very soon!

It was super inexpensive to make, and I learned how to make the felt rolled flowers for it too.  I really couldn't believe just how simple these were to make and just how beautiful they turned out.  Although, as I am typing this I just realized I forgot to attach the ribbon before mailing them.  Oh man!  That is the story of my life though, lol.  I guess I should go call some siblings and explain that.

Homemade Gift Exchange gifts

I love the gift exchange over at Craftaholics Anonymous that Linda does twice a year.  I have participated three times now, and love making something for someone that I don't know.  It makes you try a little harder to do your best I think.  This year my partner's name was Kelly.  I couldn't decide what to make her and finally decided to try making an ornament.  Her favorite color is purple and she loves to crochet.  Now, I know knitting and crocheting are different, but I had no idea how to make a crochet hook. 

What do you think?  I personally think it is adorable.  I took a plain ornament.  I had some that were not glass that I used since I was shipping it.

I then got my trusty glue gun and began to wind some purple yarn until all the red was covered.  I did leave the gold piece uncovered so that it would hang, kind of a no brainer, but you don't want to accidentally forget to do it!

I tried a few different things for the knitting needles, but liked this one best.  I simply took a couple of toothpicks and some beads I had from another project.  I glued the beads on (with E6000) and then gave a nice coat of paint.  As I was painting them I realized I didn't know how I was going to dry them.  Toothpicks are a little tricky and I was not going to hold it the whole time lol!  Luckily for me I hadn't cleaned up lunch yet and so there were still saltines on the counter next to me.  I thought it was sort of brilliant! ;)

It actually did work perfectly.  After they were dry I clipped off the end and touched up the paint.  Then slip them where you think they look best into your ornament and you are done! 

I also made her some Christmas magnets just for fun.  I am sure we have all seen these a ton before.  Glass jewels with scrapbook paper glued on and then a strong magnet.  They may be unoriginal, but I still love them!

I think Kelly and I were meant to be friends, we had a lot in common and even sent our packages off on the same day without communicating it until afterwards.  One thing I do not have in common with her however is her talent!  The girl can crochet!  She made the cutest jewlery set.  I had never seen crocheted braclets before, but they are too cute.  It is so hard to pick a fav part.  The gorgeous, delicate rings and earrings, the bold braclets, or the adorable little jewlery case and bag.  Seriously, I had no idea you could crochet a ring box!  It is so stinkin cute!  Thank you so much Kelly!

If you haven't been to Craftaholics Anonymous yet you have to go check it out and watch her blog so that you can be part of the next gift exchange.  It really is great!

Can a girl have too much Bling?

Who doesn't love jewlery? I have always loved looking at it, but stuck to my basics; earrings, wedding ring, and maybe a small necklace. Nothing big or fancy. A friend of mine started selling Premier Jewlery. I am sure we have all been to a home sales party at some point. My sister hosted a party, and I wanted some goodies! I don't have a lot of extra, just like most of us right now, so I hosted my own show and ended up getting a lot of good stuff! I got several long necklaces which I have been wanting for a while. Score for me! Only problem was I didn't have anywhere to put them. They were so long that the just tangled together.

I sprayed a couple of quick coats of trusty spray paint on a board I found for 50 cents at DI (a thrift store I love) and had been saving for just the right project. Sanded it down, and wiped a thin coat of stain to age it a little. Then, thanks to Chloe (my trusty Silhouette) I cut the word "bling" out in vinyl and added it to the top. All I could find were gold cup hooks, I would've preferred silver. Thanks to my amazing Hubby for putting those on (they would've been a disaster if I had tried) and it was done. Doesn't get much more simple then that!

  Now I have a place to hang my pretty new bling without it being a mess!  Sorry about the bad picture, cell phone, dark closet is a bad combo!

My fall wreath

What a week I have had! I have been uber busy, aren't we all? Somehow, in the midst of all the chaos and confusion, I had the chance to do a little crafting, which seemed to add a little sanity where it was much needed. I can't take credit for the idea for this craft, which is usually the case for me! I get inspiration from all the wonderful blogs out there just like anyone else! I have been in love with this one since last year from Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick. Sarah is one of the very first blogs I found a few years ago and I read her faithfully almost daily. 

This is Sarah's door and wreath, her house is so beautiful inside and out!

Isn't it beautiful? She has a great tutorial on her blog, but I used different leaves (which I purchased at the Dollar Tree just as she did last year) I also used foam board from the Dollar Tree. I am cheap frugal what can I say! I ended up using 4 packages of leaves, my daughter had given me a couple of packages for my birthday in September. (She is so cute! She knew I wanted to make a wreath and that I am cheap frugal. So my Hubby took her to the dollar store where she got me some crafty goodies. I have trained them well!) ;) Anywho, that isn't my point! There were 50 in a bag and pretty thin material. One bag was green and red, and the other bag was yellow and red. I had intended to only use those two bags, but it ended up looking too one dimensional. It just didn't feel right. So I went back today and grabbed two more packages to complete it. I think I could've gotten away with three packages, but I like the fullness with the four.

Here it is in its one dimensional glory.  Unfortunatley all I had was a cell phone camera, but I wanted a close up of the leaves

The pictures don't do it justice, it is so pretty!

No more looking for a towel!

I get so tired of never being able to find a towel! Anyone with me on this one? I hang them on my oven door, and find them on the floor (which sicks me out bad) or else my neverending source of energy -otherwise known as a 3 year old- walks off with them. It never fails! I wanted to make some towels like the old crocheted ones my mom used to have that just buttoned right on. Well, I wanted them, but I can't crochet and they are a little outdated for my taste. You will never guess where I found an idea... oh, were you going to say Pinterest? Ok, maybe you will guess! ;)

Source: kleiosbelly.wordpress.com via Tami on Pinterest

So simple, yet so smart! I copied her pattern, and created my own towels. I changed a few things, I didn't put anything in between my layers of fabric, I was lazy in a hurry and thought I would give this a go first. Also, I have never sewn button holes before. I am sure they are super simple, but since I have three kiddos, I thought I had a better chance of getting the towels reattached if they were as easy as possible. I used velcro. I have the hardest time sewing straight lines! So don't look too closely, but they are done, functional and pretty cute so the uneven lines really don't bother me too much!

Baby Gift

I don't know what it is, but I have the hardest time picking baby gifts!  Is it just me?  Well, my cute, little, sister in law just had a baby, and I was so excited!  I knew I wouldn't have a whole lot of time (the nine months I had to prepare wasn't sufficent apparently) to get something really great done because I was also trying to get ready for surgery. (I had my thyroid removed, but good news, it wasn't cancer!) and besides that, this girl is perfect.  She can make anything, do anything, so I really didn't want to make something that she would laugh at   not like.  Thank goodness for Pinterest!  I mentioned before my obsession with that site, and it did not disappoint!  I found this little lovely.  I can't get it to show the picture, so here is the link Love sweet love.  Sorry, I am new to this! I also have seen these travel wipe cases everywhere, honestly I don't even know where to link it because I have seen so many. 

 Anyway, I am addicted to pink and black, and thought that my sil would like something a little more edgy, a little less baby.  So I went to Joann's got some fabric, came home and whipped these babies up in an afternoon. The green wipe case was mine, I was mailing just the band without the wipes (she is a couponer and I am sure she had plenty) so I just wanted to show what it was for. So easy, and so cute! She told me she hadn't seen the wipe band before so it was def a gift that she didn't get from anyone else, and that I like.  

Love this saying!

Hi there, All! Hope you are having a great weekend. I spent my Saturday in bed with a lovely migraine. I hate headaches! Oh well, I was able to at least move around and clean up my kitchen today, so that was an improvement.
I don't know about you, but I am addicted hardcore to Pinterest. Don't know what that is? It is a great new free site that allows you to pin anything from all over the wonderful web. See a recipe and want to try it? Just pin it! A cute craft? A great organization tip or even a place you would love to take a vaca? You guessed it, pin it! It is so fun, and I have been spending way too much time pinning instead of creating!

I found this quote on Pinterest, but when I went back to put a link discovered that I never actually pinned it. Weird. Anyway, I had a black frame sitting around (another saved from the DI bag where the hubby tried to stick it when he thought I wasn't paying attention). It was really heavy duty, for an award he won years ago. I can still be proud of him right?;) He didn't want it anymore, so I swooped in to save the poor thing! A little vinyl, some scrapbook paper and we are good as new!

Courtni's desk

Sometimes the hardest part of being a parent is relinquishing control. You know like when you are thinking pink and black for your daughters room and she chooses lilac instead. Or, when you find this perfect little school desk at the DI for next to nothing, plan on painting it for said child with dark purple paint to compliment lilac walls and she picks a clashing shade of lavender. (Wow, run on sentence much?)
Oh well, I can't really claim this project, my hubs did most of the work, he is a perfectionist and wanted it to turn out just right. I just wish I had gotten the before pictures taken! :( Oh well, a couple of weeks, several coats of paint, and then you have a cute little school desk. She loves it! She swore she wasnt going to use it when she saw the rust and general yuckiness, but she LOVES it!

Genius media closet!

Ok, this isn't a craft I know but it is my home and I love it! When we bought our home 2yrs ago, we were desperatley searching and had looked at hundereds dozens of homes. We fell in love with this one, it was perfect for us and fit the price too. Then we started moving in. Yeah, the living room was tiny. I mean teeny tiny. We had no place for our entertainment center (which my hubs had when we got married and I hated anyway!) so we had to come up with a plan B. When we got our tax returns we got a nice, new flat screen tv and decided to mount it on the wall.

But what were we going to do with all the cords? This is where the genius comes in: we mounted it on the only wall that the rest of our dumb wonderful furniture would allow which was by a coat closet. My hubby cut a hole in the wall, pushed the cords thru, and mounted a power strip to the bottom of the top shelf.

Then we built a small shelf to set our accessories on. The dvd, dish reciever and wii fit great, the xbox went up above on the closet shelf (hubby wanted to keep little fingers far from his baby!)

We were going to build a shelf for movies, wii games and such, but in the interest of $ we used a clear plastic organizer we already had.

all of the annoying wii accessories are in a rubbermaid container that was also on hand, but I can't get the lid back on anyway, so I am still working on another option.
What do you think? I love it and even with our entertainment center before the cords and clutter drove me mad! Really, really crazy! Look at all those cords, now I don't have to see them!! I am so glad we don't have to look at any of it now!

Sidenote: Hubby just pointed out that he had to install an outlet in the bottom of the closet as well. Kind of important to know if you are going to try it!

My version of the book page wreath

I had a vision in my head of how I wanted this little beauty to turn out, and I think I got it pretty close!  We have all seen the book page wreath, they are everywhere, but they all seem to be pretty much the same.  I wanted mine to be different.  So I made it that way. 
You will need:  A book you dont mind tearing apart (rip the cover off and then tear each page out)
                        Hot glue, and gun
                       A wreath form, all I had on hand was a wicker one, but I think a foam one would've been
                        easier
                        Patience!

I started out by wrinkling up the pages of my book.  Just have at it! I then sort of wrinkled it into a fan shape and twisted the bottom together.  Maybe this is a "duh" for you, but I did find that if I glued the layers of paper together as I fanned it, they stayed really well.  If I didn't not so much.  I then glued them around the outer edge of my wreath.  Then flip over.  If it doesn't set flat lay something heavy on it for a while.

Then I just did the same step on the front going around the wreath starting on the outside and working my way in.  The ends where you have it glued to the wreath don't have to be super pretty, until your final layer they won't even show.  You also don't have to glue them super close together,  it fills up rather nicely and quickly. 

If you are using a wicker wreath, you will need patience because you have to hold each piece of paper on to make sure it holds well. 

For some reason my close up shot isn't coming in.  Sorry.  This is as good as I can get of a close up of how it looked.  I tried hanging it with a ribbon, but it just didn't look right.  To get it hanging in the spot I intended it, I just took a piece of fishing line and tied it.  Easy peasy!  So, what do you think?  I really like it. 

linking up here

Gift exchange gift

I am sure many of you have heard of Craftaholics Anonymous right?  Linda hosts a handmade gift exchange twice a year.  I participated in the Christmas one last year, so I was uber excited about this one too!  I had a great partner named Jen who has a blog called cook sew love and is so talented!  I was running a little late so I am just now getting my pics up because I didn't want to ruin the surprise if she happened to take a peak at my blog.  Oops.  If you haven't done this gift exchange before, you really should.  It is a blast!  The next one will be sometime around Christmas.  So first I will show you the super cute box I got from Jen.  It is adorable.

The flowers are so cute and made of fabric, which is hard to tell.  The stems are ribbon and they have little buttons in the middle.  Thanks again Jen!

I made her a cross stitch that admittedly, I had already started just never got done.  I love the saying on it and thought she might too.

I had it folded and was going to frame it for her, but everyone has their own taste and so I left it so she could put it in a frame she liked.  I really enjoy cross stitching and had forgotten how much!  Thanks Jen, for helping me remember!

Good ol Daddy's day

I went simple and cheap frugal for Father's day this year.  I was having a difficult time getting my brain in the mood to celebrate after our horrendous mother's day, but I wanted to do something.  I have the worlds best hubby and we both have pretty great dads too, so I had to let them know how thankful we are that we have them in our lives.  I found the tags for the Padre's mugs on a linky over at Tatertots and Jello on a weekend wrap up party, but can't seem to find them again.  If anyone finds them please let me know so I can give credit where it is due!  They were too cute! 

This was my first time trying glass etching, so it was a new experience that I now am addicted to.  (The hubby thanks you Michael's for supplying us with yet another addiction!) ;)

The mugs I got at the dollar store, they are super strong and sturdy.  Try saying that 3 times fast!  It is hard to see the writing, so I will tell you what it says.  For Clayton's dad I put "Grandpa" with a picture of an elk since he is an avid hunter.  For my dad it says "K7BSU" with a heart since he is an avid Ham radio guy.  I am sure that is the technical term for that too lol. Also my dad is right handed, and the father in law is left, so I tried to put the vinyl on accordingly.  Of course, the vinyl was cut using my Silhouette to make the stencil. I filled them up with Reese's pieces to go with the tags of course.  I think they turned out pretty stinkin cute!

Putting the kidlets to work!

Ok, parents, its that time of year again!  Summer break... sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating, and all to often a little bit boring!  At least it gets that way at my house.  I don't know why they are so bored, but I am tired of hearing those dreaded words: "there is nothing to do!"  So in comes my summer plan to beat the boredom and make my kids my slaves have a clean house doing it!
My hubby came up with the idea of a chore chart with a small incentive.  I have never been one to believe that kids should be paid an allowance for doing chores.  They live here too, so why should they get paid is my philosophy.  It was time to cave give in and give it a try at least.  It isn't much, just a quarter a day for getting their chores done, and if they do it on all 6 mandatory days a whopping $2!  (they are still young so it works for us).  Clayton suggested something simple, something easy, something boring.  But I had big plans and was going to put Chloe to work to make it happen.  Chloe is what I named my Silhouette by the way, so she was going to get it done!  I wish I could say that I stuck with the extravagant, adorable ideas I came up with, but I didn't.  I went easy and cheap because I already had everything on hand for this one!  I love when that happens!  So, it may be simple, but I am loving it!

I took a piece of foamboard I bought months ago at the dollar store, some ribbon, hot glue, vinyl, clothes pins, scrapbook paper, mod podge, distressing ink (which I may or may not have gone a little crazy with) and most important, Chloe.

The foam board was huge and since I only have 3 kidlets, I cut a piece off.  I would say it was about a third. 

Its pretty self explanatory by the pics, but I have to point out that everything was cut using my Silhouette.  I measured my clothes pins, and created a sheet of rectangles that size for the cover for them and them just mod podged them on.  So simple! The circles were also cut by the Silhouette.  I  just put the sheet of them through the Silhouette with the ink pen in and my chosen font because my hand writing is not so cute.  I have to say that I love it.  It is simple, but gets the job done and is easy for the kids to understand also.  Now lets hope that their enthusiasm lasts longer than a couple days!