B is for...

Whew!  What a day.  Actually... What a weekend!

I have been busy crafting, crafting and more crafting.

This weekend I finished 2 homemade Christmas gifts, worked on another one as well (just have a few finishing touches to add), started on some holiday decorations but ran out of supplies before I could finish.  I also made a cute gift for my daughter's teacher... which I will get to in a minute, and some scrabble artwork.

I still have to make Riley's Ariel outfit for her party and an outfit for Thanksgiving, plus one more Christmas gift.

My favorite project from the weekend (well actually I did it today) was the Crayon Art.



This project is super easy, fun, quick and it doesn't cost much!

My daughter's Kindergarten teacher is getting married and her name is changing to Mrs. Brown.  I thought that this would be a cute "wedding gift".

I started by finding a B on the net that I liked.  It needs to be something bulking.  Then I started cutting my crayons to make them fit on the letter.  It took me 6 (8pack) boxes of crayons (.78 cents each from Walmart).

Once I had them all glued down, which took me less than an hour, I then put them in this frame.

I got the red mat from Hobby Lobby for $2.99 and the frame was $20 BUT I scored and got it for ONLY $6.

CLEARANCE RACK!!!!

It was on clearance because it had no glass... which I didn't need anyways!  It was also banged up pretty bad.  Quick fix!!!! I just glued the extra crayon bits to any part of the frame that had visible damage!

So for less than $15, I got a wonderful piece of art and a nice gift.

Does anyone else do gifts for their children's teachers.  I remember as a child, everyone gave the teachers presents for Christmas.  I want to do that for my kids' teachers but I am not sure if they still do that!

Paint Choices

Happy Friday Everyone!!!!

As I said yesterday... I am planing on painting my entryway sometime soon.

I was going to go with a burnt orange color but decided against it.  Then I thought about going with a nice deep rich green.  My entryway does not get much sun light so I realized that I better go with a lighter color.

I went to the store today and picked up some paint samples.  There are 3 that I really like but one I am leaning towards.

I would like a little bit of help choosing.

The first color which is my favorite is called Soothing Green Tea



The second... which I also like a lot and is very similar to the first but just a tad bit darker, is called Extended Olive Branch



And finally is Shadow Green.  I worry that this one will be too bright.  I don't want "Lime Green" walls...



Ohhhh I am so excited about the paint colors and I just can't make up my mind.

I also went to Hobby Lobby today and found some nice little things for when I paint the kids' bathroom... but that is a story for another day!

Well I will leave you to your night now.  Have a good weekend!

A little inspiration

Hello!!!

I have decided that it was time I do a little decorating in my entryway.

What am I talking about?  It isn't an entryway.  It is a small little hallway that just so happens to have the front door at one end.

Right now it is sort of a beige color.  I am pretty sure that it was painted with flat paint because it picks up every little sign of dirt and is just about impossible to clean off.

With 3 young kids, the walls are dirt magnets!!!

There is no current "design" or order/organization to this entry way at all!

The light fixture (chandelier) is over 10 years old.  It is full of dust, dirt, and it is gold.  I am not a fan of gold.... besides part of it is broken! It drives me crazy every time I look at it....

I found a few "replacement" fixtures that I like.

I think my favorite (in both looks and price) is this beauty.

I wish they had one with 4 lights instead of 3.  There is a similar one that has 5 lights but it looks like a bit much for our small entry way.  It would probably go better in a dinning room.

As far as design goes, I am torn between 3 ideas.  Keep in mind that I don't have much room to work with.

The first is this...

I like that there is a lot of storage.  You can even store your shoes under the bench.  Everything has its place and it looks so nice a neat!

Second...

I would love to have a small table in the entryway that  I can decorate as I please and change when ever I wanted.

And third...

This one is a bit boring.  I would have to do something different... I mainly like the amount of hooks and that they are low enough that the kids would be able to hang their own backpacks and coats.

The first thing I would like to do is paint the entryway.  I just really can not pick a color.

I would like a nice warm shade of green or burnt orange.  Any ideas???

I can't wait to get started.... 

Every little girls dream

I am in disbelief!!!! My oldest child is turning 6!

My oh my, how does the time fly.

Every year I usually start planning a month or two in advance.  About 6 months ago she told me that she wanted an Ariel Birthday party this year.  This is the first year we are not having it at the house but I still plan on doing the cake (well hopefully... our oven just stopped working).

I made the invitations about 2 weeks ago.  They were the basic "What, When, Where?" invitations.  I added a few pictures of Ariel and her friends.

(sorry about the bad pictures. I am having problems with my camera so I have had to resort to using my phone which does not take the best pictures.)

They really weren't that spectacular!  Until.... I had the best idea ever.  Ok maybe it wasn't the best but I thought it was pretty darn good and so did my daughter. 

I remembered that we had one of those autograph books from our trip to Disney world last year.  I scanned Ariel's signature and then changed the color to red (which is my daughter's favorite color... plus it matches Ariel's hair).

I put it at the bottom of the invitations and that way it looks as though Ariel signed them herself.  

I mean what little girl wouldn't want a Princess to help plan their birthday party!

Next I have to plan my son's party.  His is 2 weeks after Christmas so I usually like to plan it early otherwise I get caught up in the holidays and then it is last minute.  This year he wants a pirate theme.

What kind of parties do your kids like?

Halloween goodness

I hope everyone had a great Halloween.  I know my kids had a good time!

This weekend was extremely busy in our household.  Friday night I took the kids to the zoo for trick or treating.

Then Sunday we went to the local amusement park for the costume contest.  Our "Jack Sparrow" took 3rd place.

At one point this weekend I realized I haven't done many Halloween crafts this year with the kiddos.  I looked through my cabinets to see what I had.  I had everything to make spooky brownies.

I made my brownies in cupcake pans.  They were super easy and I didn't have to cut them or deal with any big mess.

Ours didn't turn out as "neat" looking.  They still tasted just as good and were a big hit.  Considering my kids are 2, 3, and 5, they lost interest before we got to making the ghost.

I think if I do these again next year, I am going to dip the marshmallows in the melted frosting instead of pouring the frosting over the marshmallows.  It was just to messy and didn't turn out nice and smooth.

I put a few in little Halloween goody bags, printed off some gift tags and let the kids give them to their teachers.

Now that Halloween is over, I need to start getting some ideas for Thanksgiving crafts.

What kind of kid friendly crafts do you all do for the holidays?

Letter Art project

Yesterday I stumbled across an absolutely wonderful idea called letter art.  There are many different sites that do this just using generic photos.

Pretty much what it is, is you tell them what word you want to spell (usually a name) and then they find photos of buildings, playground equipment, trees, or ANYTHING that looks like a letter.  They put all the photos together to make it look like it spells that word and then frame it.

I thought it would be a good idea as a Christmas present.  Only problem.... the cheapest I could find it done was for $150.  Um no thanks!!!

So I took to searching the web.  I found some great shots that were not copy righted.  I printed them off.

Here were a couple I liked that I did not print off...

I found a frame on amazon.com with the number of openings I need for only $15. I have got to get it!

Last night when I was laying in bed I kept thinking about the pictures I had.  Then I had the wonderful idea of going downtown and taking my own pictures so that way it is more personalized for the people it is intended for.

I live in a historic town that is known for their old bath houses and can not wait to see what "letters" I can find out there!

I am also super excited about getting such a nice gift for only $15.  I am also using a last name since I am giving it to a couple.  So for two people... you can't beat that price!!!

Homemade Christmas

This year I have been inspired to make most of the people on my list gift for the holidays.  I plan on making the adults cupcakes as one gift.  I heart Hobby Lobby's cup cake boxes.  They always have the cutest designs and they hold 6 cupcakes each which is perfect for a couple.

I have been looking up different recipes and I think I have it narrowed down to 3 different kinds I am going to make.  The first is a chocolate peppermint.  The second one is a cinnamon flavor cupcake and last is an eggnog cupcake using brandy!  They all sound so yummy I can't wait to make them!

For my nieces, I want to make them an outfit.  I haven't decided on which one yet but I still have time.  

Last year I made all the men BBQ rub.   This year I am going to focus more on the women.  I am not sure if I am going to do the same thing for each person but I do know 1 person I am going to make these for....

My idea is to make a vintage memo board.

I have started stalking ebay and other sites for the most perfect antique wooden picture frame.  I really like the look of an oval frame.

I am wanting something similar to this

I like how it is nice and big but not to bulky.  I also like how it has just a little bit of detail but it is just enough.
I plan on taking which ever frame I end up with, sanding it down and spray painting it white.

Once that is all done, then I will add a cork board to the back of it.  I am going to cover the cork with a nice piece of vintage looking fabric.

I have it narrowed down to 4 different fabrics.

Then finally I will buy some cute push pins from the office store and there you go.... a wonderfully homemade Christmas present.

Past projects

With 3 small children, I find myself busy all the time.  However, I love to be as creative as possible so I am always creating new project to do.  It pretty much all started 2 years ago.

My parents had bought me a sewing machine for Christmas.  I wanted to learn how to make something that was quick and easy.  I researched and researched but could not decide upon one thing.  While doing all my research I stumbled across "How to make a hair bow."  It was all over after that.

I spent several months spending every dime I had on ribbons, buttons, clips and any other "neat" looking thing that would be cute on a bow.

Here is the most recent hair bow I made.

Over the past few years, I have made countless hair bows.  I have sold some, given some as gifts but mostly made them for my girls.  

I still make them occasionally.  Once I had to many bows to know what to do with them, I figured it was time for a new craft.

Since I have 3 kids, I have lots of birthday parties through out the year.  I got sick of buying cakes from the store.  So once again.... I researched and researched until I felt like I could make a cake all on my own.  I took a basic cake design class but really didn't learn anything in it.  I felt like I learned more on my own then I did in the class.

Just like before, I spent every dime I had on cake supplies.  I have a whole closet full of cake stuff.  The good thing about cake supplies is that they are always coming out with new items.  I think that I will enjoy making cakes for the rest of my life because it is never the same.  There are always new and improved techniques.

I figured I would start easy with a bridal shower cake for my sister

A few weeks later a friend of mine asked if I could make a cake for her son who was turning 8.

It was a bit more complicated but I felt like I could pull it off...

A few weeks after that was my daughter's birthday.  She was turning 2!  She is the biggest girly girl I know.  We had a "Tea Party" birthday party for her.  I had planned her cake for weeks on end until I finally came up with the perfect design.  

This was only my 3rd cake but I loved how it turned out.

Between the months of April and November, I have no birthdays to make cakes for.  I have gotten bored over the months.  Last week I decided it was time I start a new project.

I FINALLY broke out the sewing machine my parents had gotten for me.  It took a few days to be inspired.  Then my youngest got a note in her bag that her preschool were having fall pictures that week.  I had 2 days to prepare but I was set.... I WAS GOING TO MAKE HER AN OUTFIT!!!

I went to hobby lobby and found the perfect fabric and even got some ribbon to match.  

I also bought a plain white shirt and pants.

After a couple of hours at the sewing machine, this was the final product...

I also had enough material left over to make a dress for my niece for her birthday.  She loved it just as much as I did (sorry it isn't the best picture).

So now I have been searching for the perfect fabric for my next project(s).