WannabeCrafter- Katie's Blog

Pink and Black and Yellow!

2011-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

I love having some kind of direction when I'm tyring to make something, and when I saw this Tuesday Trigger Challenge image on the Moxie Fab World I was excited to make a card:

The challenge was to make something inspired by that picture, I loved the colors, the flowers and the crystals, perfect for a card! Here's mine:

Tomorrow there will be a new challenge up, go check it out as well as all the other interpretations!

I just had to share...

2011-08-25T20:34:00.001-07:00

I've been skimming through my never-ending back-logged google reader feeds and am seeing so many awesome ideas! I have been a bit lazy and found it's so easy to click that little "share to Facebook" button and feel like I've done my duty to share, but really I don't think many (if any!) of my Facebook friends care, but you do right? Here's some favorite ideas out there:

Make these adorable Little Card Pocket Fans from Cathe Holden:

Or make this self zipping coin pouch from a ribbon: (from How About Orange)

And I think this would be a great DIY gift for those hard-to-shop-for tweens- Friendship Bracelet kits!

Finally, I found a really awsesome designer blog called Sissy Print and it's loaded with gorgeous {free} printables! She's got a ton of fun back to school things including bookplates and lunch bag tags, and I really love her "quotable Monday" prints, like this one:

Hmm that's what I'm most excited about today anyways, hope you have fun with this stuff too! Now my head is swirling with ideas, I think I am going to go DO something...? Good night, if you still read this blog, you're the best!

Fanatical About Botanical Card

2011-08-08T14:27:00.001-07:00

Long time no blog! It's summer, and too hot to even breathe really, and I don't have much time when I'm not surrounded by children! Real quick I wanted to share a card I made for the Fanatical About Botanical Challenge in the Moxie Fab World! Really simple, but I think it turned out pretty too.

For a ton of inspiration go check out what everyone else made!

Who's Your Hero?

2011-06-30T13:57:00.001-07:00

Looking forward to the 4th of July weekend, these posters have been on my mind. I want to teach my children about their country and what makes it great, where it came from and why it is different. (and know better myself) I love what the artist Steve Nethercott had to say about them: "In a world full of fantasy heroes and pop-stars, we should never forget the real heroes, with real courage, real strength, and real stories," I'm still trying to figure out where I would hang them, but I really want to getting some! Along with the American Hero posters, he has a set of Bible hero posters and Book of Mormon hero posters that are really awesome. You can see them all HERE.
A few of my other favorites:

Hannah's Promise

Mother's of the Stripling Warriors

David and Goliath

Samuel the Lamanite

People are so good!

2011-06-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

I just had to send a big thank you out to the strangers that came to our rescue yesterday! Miss B is celebrating the big 1-0 this weekend and we have a little craft project planned for her party and I decided that I had just enough time before dinner to run to Hobby Lobby for supplies. We were doing good for time until we got to the car to go home and I realized that I had locked my keys in the car! And it was like one hundred and a million degrees outside! And it turned out to be a really great experience. I had left my windows cracked, so we headed back into the store to find some kind of wire to make a door-unlocking tool. A long stemmed sunflower seemed perfect, but once back out in the (aforementioned) heat I was not having much luck. After a few minutes a man came over and offered to help and he seemed to have some good ideas so I let him have a go at it and within a few minutes he did it! He confessed to having a lot of experience- not because he steals cars- but because he was a police officer! I was so thankful to him and his wife/girlfriend who asked or at leasted allowed him to help us! As I was buckleing everyone in a woman drove up and handed me a bag full of ice cold water bottles and snacks she had picked up for us while we were out there and insisted I still take them. My kids were so grateful and so happy that we had been so blessed by kind strangers. I can't wait to pay it forward next time I see someone in a similar situation. Thanks to our mystery heros!

Oh and happy birthday to my first born! She is such a great kid, I just wish she would stop growing up!

Finally! Pretty Forever Stamps!

2011-05-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

I like the idea of buying stamps that will work forever, but I confess I can't stand the original "bell" design so when I saw these I was so excited! They're so pretty! I don't know how long they've been out, but you can get them here. There are a bunch of other fun, new forever designs as well, including these:

Blossoms of Blue

2011-05-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

image from Raceytay on etsy

Morning started out well- made it (almost) on time for church, heard some wonderful stories from a couple that just returned home from a mission in Zimbabwe, kids sang mother songs, made me some cute cards, and presented me with flowers, came home, had lunch and even got a little nap. Woke up from my nap and started going through e-mails, when my hard drive started acting up, restarted my computer and found no files or programs showing up anywhere. Sick computer. (I'm on the backup now) Then one by one kids got really whiny, and HOT. 3 sick kids with fevers and various aches- (all in bed now) So no mother's day dinner at my mom's now darn it! (happy Mother's Day mom!) Frozen pizza for us. Any hope of everyone sleeping all night? Luckily the oldest 2 seem to be fine, so far. Sam's out of town this week and assuming everyone is well I'll be joining him Thursday night for the weekend- yippee! Sunday is usually TV free at our house, but I always make exceptions when someone is sick- I'm thinking maybe that means I get to watch some shows tonight too? On to season 3 of Veronica Mars :-)
(PS- what's a good TV series that I can start on Netflix when I'm done with this one??)

Teacher Appreciation Time!

2011-05-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share these little matchbook chocolate holders I did for all the teachers at the kids school. I used the Ghiradelli Chocolate squares (currently come in bags of 50 at Costco) and they were pretty quick and simple to make.

I finally got some good use out of my MS scoring board and it made these go pretty quickly. I cut a strip of patterned cardstock (American Crafts) 6 1/2" long by 2" wide, and scored it at 3/4", 3 1/2", and 3 7/8", then stuck in the note, folded it up, and stapled in the chocolate.

I also had to share that I won one of the random drawings at Moxie Fab World for a copy of 350 Cards & Gifts! It arrived today and I am so excited- so many GREAT ideas, I knew I would probably have to go buy it if I didn't win it, but it was pretty exciting to win. :-) There are also lots of great ideas on the site that can be used for teacher appreciation, Mother's Day and any other occasion you might want to make a little something for!

Tuesday Trigger Challenge- and I'm out!

2011-04-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

I saw the Tuesday Trigger challenge over at Moxie Fab World and knew I had to do something with those colors for Charlie's overdue birthday thank you cards! He had a Buzz Lightyear party so the colors were perfect and I had this polka dot paper that worked too! Click HERE to play along!

Here's the "trigger" picture:

And in other news I'm heading out of town tomorrow for a couple days with a friend (and her mom!) to Utah and I'm excited! I'm also nervous, not so much that things will fall apart here without me, but more that they'll go so smoothly no one will want me back! (though that might not be so bad after all...)

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a good Easter, full of fun and also some peaceful reflection. We had a fun family party yesterday and got to attend a very different, but wonderful stake conference this weekend. A speaker encouraged us to ask questions in our hearts as we attend our church meetings, and to listen for God's personal answers to us through His spirit. I discovered that even surrounded by 5 wiggly and irreverent children, learning can happen! How thankful I am today that God keeps His promises, and that Jesus Christ lives! He truly is the Savior of the world, and He is my Savior, and I know through Him I can change and be a little better every day.

Card set and gift bag challenge

2011-04-21T20:00:00.001-07:00

Moxie Fab World has had 6 challenges going on to celebrate the release of Paper Crafts magazines "350 Cards and Gifts" edition and I finally finished a couple things to enter! I hoped to do a lot more but you know how that goes! I especially love these because they are picking the winners at random, and that means I actually have some kind of chance :-)
First I made this fun little card set to give someone for the card set challenge:

And they get bundled up and tied up in this little bag:

And then for the gift wrap challenge I wanted to share this simple baby gift bag:

The onesie is a card just clipped to twine strung across the front of the bag- so simple and if I may say so, so cute too!
You have a few hours left to enter- maybe I can get the kids to bed and do one more?
Check out the Moxie Fab blog for tons of inspiration HERE.

Wedding Card

2011-04-08T13:27:00.001-07:00

Finally actually linking up to a couple card challenges today! I used the CPS sketch this week, and I made it a gift card holder so I'm also linking to the Moxie Fab World gift card holder challenge.

My brain works so much better on cards than full scrapbook layouts for some reason- this one is really simple and easy with the help of a triangle punch!
Next up, take of "Merry Christmas" from my blog header! Yikes, I have been away a while haven't I?

In Short- the holidays happened!

2011-01-20T15:03:00.002-07:00

And I'm back! Hopefully much more frequently with fun & interresting things to share!

Mr C got potty trained, Mr H learned to walk, and got an ADORABLE haircut, pictures to come.

Christmas came and everyone was happy! Even me, after I put a bunch of things on my "to don't" list. What a relief to let go of so many "fun" things I wanted to cram into our December! (though maybe next year I'll be more organized and we'll do a few)

I just had to share my little bare chested cherub- he reacted with the appropriate oooo's for each of his presents! We call that face "Cheerio mouth"
And our greatest holiday challenge was created by an elf named Holly- I would like to have a chat with her! Miss G apparently wrote a letter to Santa and asked for a "wishing star" What is a wishing star? Well it's a star that gives you whatever you wish for of course!

She was taking requests from friends and making lists of what she was going to wish for when Santa brought it. I couldn't say anything that would gently convince her that Santa might not be able to bring a wishing star. (after all, Santa's favorite elf was going to ask him to pick one up for her!)

Luckily Santa is very wise and came up with this sweet letter to give her along with a pretty little star ornament- because I was stumped!

And Christmas turned out perfect!

New Years Resolution: Procrastinate less!

I think that would cover a lot of other goals that I could set...

Slow cooker favorite

2010-12-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

On busy days, I like to throw something in the crock pot all day. Yum...

Disclaimer: I do not cook my children, nor would I encourage it. He likes to climb into small spaces and hang out there- I did not put him there. Yes I did make sure no one plugged it in.

What does it say about me...

2010-12-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

Is it bad that I put my Christmas wreath inside my door, instead of facing outside? I just love my wreath, and my front door is not very attractive with that metal security screen door thing, it just wouldn't look nice out there, and who would see it anyways? So it's inside this year, and I love it!

But I did start to feel a little sad for my bare unattractive front door so I gathered up some old big outdoor ornaments that I didn't quite know what to do with and hung them under a big bow (I'm not a bow maker) but I think it turned out alright! Better than nothing anyways, something festive to greet any visitors, and then they can come in and enjoy my wreath too.

Today I'm spending a little time crafting! Hopefully finished products will be worth sharing soon...

Time for Christmas Cards!

2010-12-05T21:43:00.001-07:00

I LOVE getting and giving Christmas cards- it's really one of my favorite things about Christmas time. Getting the mail is even more exciting than normal! My favorite place for photo cards is Shutterfly. Their selection gets bigger and better every year and I love the way their stationary cards feel compared to a basic photo. Here are a few of my favorite designs this year:

I love that you can search for certain colors, or how many pictures you want to use, or by designer. Plus if you like to do digital scrapbooking or design your own, you can upload and print your own creation on their cards HERE.
Shutterfly has the best products and there's always sales if you get on their mailing list. I've gotten cards, calendars, photo books (TONS of them!) mugs and of course prints from them and always been thrilled with them. I always make calendars for my parents Christmas gift with pictures of all of their grandkids and order them from Shutterfly- my mom requests it now. I think I'm going to make Sam a desk calendar this year. Right now they have a promotion for bloggers to get 50 free cards and you can read about that HERE. (thanks for letting me do this- I am hopefully getting free cards for it but I honestly LOVE Shutterfly products!) So have you ordered your cards yet??

Celebrations

2010-11-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

Is it possible for a 5th child to really believe that they are loved every bit as much as the 1st child, even though their 1st birthday was celebrated with cake 5 minutes before bedtime, as opposed to big, extravagant party that baby #1 had on their 1st birthday? I hope so, because I sure love this little guy! How is it possible that he is 1?

Miss G celebrated her birthday too- this took all my party planning energy, I really wanted to make up for the lack of celebrating last year when I was in that new baby fog! (see, last year his birthday was all about baby H!) We did a pirate party complete with a treasure hunt, pin the patch on the pirate, cannon ball blast, (that was popping black balloons to retrieve treasure- thanks Sam for blowing up 50 balloons!) and decorating paper mache treasure chests. I used some of the free printables from HERE as well as the cute pirate clip art I showed in the last post for decorations and to turn the hot dogs into little pirate ships- that might have been my favorite part! I never take enough pictures!

We have also been potty training, Thanksgiving, losing teeth, and working through mounds and mounds of laundry and dishes as usual! I miss blogging and reading your blogs though! Thanks for hanging around, I really appreciate those who take the time to read and comment, you're the best! Miss G left this letter for the tooth fairy and I loved it.

I couldn't bring myself to check the "no" box with that frowny face beside it so I had to leave a note explaining that I didn't have any real pictures of myself- she cut that part off and kept it somewhere safe...

If you want to be cute about it...

2010-11-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

The talented ladies from eighteen25 made this so cute and functional Christmas Notebook that puts mine to shame!

If you want a fun project and a really cute notebook, check out their instructions and free printables HERE. I want one!

Found some cute gift tags

2010-11-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

You can download and print these adorable little gift tags for free from CocoaMint HERE. She's got some other cute gift tags on her blog as well and lots of cute things in her etsy store HERE. (Including the adorable pink pirate clip art I am using for Miss G's birthday party this month!)

Start Your Christmas Notebook

2010-11-02T14:11:00.003-07:00

I don't even pretend to be organized, but I have found one thing that makes my Christmas shopping so much better- the Christmas notebook. I went to do a "quick" Costco run this morning and was sidetracked by all the great new things they have out for the holidays and ended up getting a couple gifts, so I knew it was time to pull out my notebook. I got it a few years ago from the Michaels $1 bins and pull it out each year when I start shopping. It's very basic, I make a page for each of the kids, and then list any other people I will be shopping for on another page. When I buy something for Christmas, I write it down and put a check next to it. If I hear them mention wanting something, or have a great idea, I will write it down to remind me later when I'm shopping. It's also great to keep track of what you're spending on everything. I stash gifts in a big box up in my closet and when I got it down today I discovered 3 puffer jackets I bought on clearance last year, 2 cute sweaters, and a Halloween T I got for Mr. C - whoops. But I was excited that I'm that much closer to being done shopping for this year! (and glad I didn't pick up another jacket at Costco) I have a tendency to buy and forget, and then buy more, and then I don't return things, and it's money wasted. This notebook has been a lifesaver for me during the holidays, hopefully it can help you too!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T17:48:00.000-07:00

Duck Tape Halloween Costume

2010-10-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

I'm posting near the Happiest Place on Earth tonight! We are all totally worn out from 2 days of rides, characters, churros and lots of walking. Continuing with duck-tape crafting, I made my boys race car driver costumes out of $4 Walmart clothes and blue, silver and white duck tape! I need some help, if you have a quick second click HERE and rate our entry! (yes I like contests) It's not solely how they choose the winners but it does help. While you're there browse the other entries and get some great inspiration for quick, cheap Halloween costumes! Thanks so much!

Halloween Monster Finger Cookies

2010-10-16T00:07:00.001-07:00

I wanted to make witch finger cookies, but my sugar cookie dough puffs up too much and they looked more like monster fingers to me after baking! They were a huge hit though, and very easy!

Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe and mix in some green food coloring. Scoop dough and roll into "fingers" and press an almond into the tip before baking. Gross and yummy :)

Halloween Countdown block calendar

2010-10-11T21:58:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I got together with my sister-in-laws and we made these block calendars to countdown to Halloween and mine's finally finished! You can find the instructions HERE. My sister-in-law Jackie did hers a little different and I love them too:

I've started one for Christmas, and I can't wait to make a birthday one too! Though that one might need 3 blocks because kids start counting down to their birthdays months in advance...

Duck Tape Pumpkin Pop Yard Stakes

2010-10-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

That title was a mouthful! I was trying to think of an idea to enter this contest, and I came up with these giant pumpkin pops! They were really easy, and using black and white Duck Tape, it was pretty much instant crafty gratification. I started by wrapping each of the wooden dowels with white tape. Then I put a glob of glue onto the end of the stick and poked it into the bottom of a fake pumpkin. (I punched holes in the bottom with scissors.) Once the glue dried, I used black tape to create the stripes on the pumpkins, and then wrapped the whole top with clear cellophane and tied it with a ribbon- done! They look almost good enough to eat!

Keep Calm-o-matic Poster Generator

2010-10-07T16:28:00.002-07:00

This website is fun, create your own "KEEP CALM" poster spoof. I say this too much, I think I need to put the poster in my kitchen and just point to it!

Halloween is coming!

2010-10-06T00:21:00.001-07:00

So if I haven't posted anything in a month, can I still be called a blogger? I can't believe it's been so long, and if you're still with me you are awesome! I used to wonder why people always seemed so busy, and why I wasn't, and I'm trying to figure out what changed that, and when, but time is flying!
Things are good though- we brought out the Halloween decorations and that always puts me in a good mood! I tried my hand at canning pears over the weekend, and also canned some hot pickled green beans that I'm really excited about. I got together with my sister-in-laws for a craft night and made some of those countdown block calendar things that you've seen all over, mine aren't quite finished but that's up next on the agenda- I'll post pictures soon! I have snuck some time for reading blogs of course, and here's a couple links for you to check out: Urban Comfort has some really great decorating ideas- including this awesome (dog) bone garland!

and after you go see all her great Halloween ideas, make sure you stop by Better Homes and Gardens to vote for the mask she created for them! (click here) Besides being totally amazingly talented, she is also one of the sweetest people I've "met" through blogging!

I'm totally in LOVE with these fabric pumpkins from the Cottage Home . She MADE these and you can see her simple tutorial HERE.
Tip Junkie has compiled a list of 32 Creative Ways to Decorate a Pumpkin and there are some really pretty and unique ones.
Tatertots and Jello rounded up 20 free Halloween printables- and you know how I love free printables!
It's well past my bedtime, so that's all for now but I have a lot of things I'm exicted to share soon so I will be much better this month than last!

Cancel your cable- Watch Penelope

2010-09-08T23:26:00.000-07:00

That's what I've been doing tonight- watching Penelope and thinking everyone should see it.

I admit that I totally miss the days of having digital cable with DVR, but those days are long gone, and we finally cancelled even our basic cable, and signed up for Netflix and it's great! $9 a month and you get as many DVDs as you want, one at a time, and they are fast. Plus there is a ton of stuff available to watch instantly online, including Penelope, which may be my all time favorite movie. Plus all the "My Name is Earl" episodes are there too, and lots of other shows, commercial free, what more can you ask for?

Madame Alexander dolls are back!

2010-09-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

The McDonalds Happy Meals have some new adorable little Madame Alexander dolls in them. I'm obsessed with these! The are the only Happy Meal toys I can never get rid of.

Yo yo yo!

2010-09-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

I finally tried making yo-yo's! And they are really easy, fun and cute! I used the tutorial from Heather Bailey HERE to make mine with some fabric scraps, then added some felt flowers and buttons and glued them to clips for the girls. Instant (cute) gratification! And this is my favorite picture of the day- I had to share:

Sometimes I really love Sesame Street!

2010-08-27T09:20:00.002-07:00

Free Photo book!

2010-08-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

If you haven't tried Picaboo yet, now's the time! They are offereing a free large photo book to new customers and after watching the short video demonstration, I can't wait to make one! They have so many options for customizing the pages- you can do a lot more than on other photo book sites. Click HERE to get going on yours! The offer expires on 8/31 so hurry!

First Day of School Action

2010-08-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

The girls started back to school this week- it started as a pretty typically exciting day, everyone woke up early and got ready super fast. I was an extra nice mom and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and just as my house started to fill with the heavenly scent of warm cinnamon, we heard a quick knock at the door and everyone went running yelling "daddy!" and when they threw open the front door Sam was there, with a towel over his hand and in a quick, nervous voice he asked me to get his brother to take him to the hospital because he had cut his hand! (I later found out it was actually stomped on by a horse) I pushed the kids back inside and ran next door (where his brother lives) and while he was getting ready I ran back home and asked him how bad it was, and then he showed me, and said "could you get a bag for the rest of my finger." (I won't show you that picture!) When I came back with the baggie he was laying on the garage floor and not answering my questions or really responding in any way, so I decided we needed an ambulance. (in an emergency, dialing 9-1-1 is all I'm good for anyways) He was either going into shock or a heat stroke, so I sent my brother in law back home, and then the next thing I know, Sam's in the shower, ignoring me telling him that the 911 operator wants him to get out of the shower and lay down immediately.

Anyways, he was feeling a lot better by the time they arrived but we let them take him away and after a long day in the ER, and some time with a great plastic surgeon, I got my husband back (well 99% of him anyways) and he's on the road to recovery.

The kids did get to school only a few minutes late and had a great day. My fabulous sister in law came over after school so I could go be with Sam for the rest of the day, and we came home that night to discover that somehow with all of my kids, plus hers, she had managed to do some serious cleaning and decluttering, fix everyone dinner, make my kitchen shine, give the boys baths, fold laundry, and probably like 10 other things I haven't noticed yet! I'm looking forward to finding a new routine now that school is in and making more time for being creative and blogging!

Print your own decals!

2010-08-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

I love this idea! Cathe Holden from Just Something I Made created some great vintage style decals for various containers and printed them onto Injet Printable Decal pages! I don't think I knew there was such a thing! My mind is excited about all the possibilities... check out her post HERE. She's got some great free downloads for you to label all kinds of things around the kitchen.
PS- the kids started back to school today! Some fun stories for another time... I have some mixed emotions about that but the good news is I will probably be blogging more!

Ok one more for the moms

2010-08-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

Ok another good one for all the moms! Watched it tonight while looking for FHE helps and just had to share!

For all the mothers

2010-08-02T15:33:00.001-07:00

I've told you of my admiration for Hannah Keeley before, she's so awesome! You've got to sneak over there real quick and read her "5 Lies of Motherhood." I won't do it justice if I try to summarize it, but it's not long and I think every mom should read it! It's so easy to buy into those lies, I think sometimes we all believe at least one or another on some level. I know that for me, being a mom is it for me right now- this is what I am meant to be doing, and not out earning a paycheck. I also know that being here at home, with my children, doesn't mean there are not plentiful opportunities for fun, joy, fulfillment or creativity so I am working to find them! A favorite quote of mine from who knows where, is "Every woman is an artist, and her home is her canvas" And to me, it's not just about home decorating, it's about creating a beautiful life inside your home. We discussed this at church yesterday and I found out a woman in Relief Society with me is building a sail boat! I think that's so awesome and inspiring! Finally, I'm sure you've seen this but I can watch it over and over again and it's on topic so watch it again!

Everyone loves babies...

2010-07-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

So I know Mila is going to become wildly famous while she sleeps. Her mom creates photo shoots during her naps (she tries to imagine her dreams and capture them) and puts them on her blog, Mila's Daydreams. I'm hooked!

I love the beautiful things some people create! Click HERE to see the rest.

*just another great thing I found on Design Mom.

2010-07-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

I saw this cute menu planner idea on How About Orange from Ollibird and I love it! You can get it free by clicking HERE. She suggests framing it under glass and then writing on it each week with a dry erase marker- so cute I might actually do it!

Kids Wall Art with the Cricut

2010-07-14T17:23:00.002-07:00

I've been wanting to do this post for a long time- it's so simple to do and turns out really cute!

I made this little guy for the boys room by cutting out the silhouette from the A Childs Year Cricut Cartridge and stuck it on some paisley paper and framed it. Today I got out the Storybook Cricut Cartridge and cut out the owl and butterfly from some floral paper and stuck it on the solid purple and put them in Ribba frames from Ikea.

Very simple and satisfying, and I can change out the shapes and papers at any time for the cost of the paper! I think it would be cute to do a big monogram too. The girls were so excited when I hung them in their room.

If you don't have a Cricut, (or even if you do!) head over to Little Birdie Secrets to get in the running for their Silhouette machine giveaway! The Silhouette is like the Cricut except BETTER (gasp!) because you don't have to buy cartridges, it can cut any true type font on your computer, including all the fun shaped ones! So if that interests you, hurry and click HERE because today is the last day to enter!

The tea party: Mrs. B turns 9

2010-07-11T16:40:00.002-07:00

I never posted pictures from the tea party! It was cute if I do say so myself, Miss B and I had a lot of fun planning, cooking and setting it all up but to be honest, the real hit with the kids was the swimming! It probably had something to do with the 100+ degree heat...

We shopped around places like Home Goods, Marshalls and Tuesday Morning for some cute tea towels and I made tea towel aprons for each of the girls. They served two purposes, they helped to decorate the table and then went into their take home bags. Mine were simply wide grossgrain ribbon sewed across the front of the towels, but if you wanted to be a little fancier, you could add pockets, buttons and trim or stitch or iron on a monogram.

B. is a *bit* like me when it comes to food- she wanted all of her favorite foods there! Every day she thought of something else we should serve, but we eventually narrowed it down to cinnamon rolls, little fower and butterfly sandwiches, chocolate strawberries, cream wafers, and mini muffins. To drink she insisted on hot chocolate (remember the heat?) and orange juice.

For the sandwiches, we did cucumbers with chive cream cheese on flowers (cut from white bread of course!) and then turkey with cheddar cheese in butterfly shapes. The little pink and orange flags were a clearance Martha Stewart find and since they matched our colors we just had to use them! We grabbed a bunch of mixed roses from the grocery store at the last minute, cut them short and put them in some little empty jars I had and tied them off with hot pink ribbon.

One other idea I had that would have been really cute, would be to use a vinyl cutter (Cricut, Silhouette etc.) to decorate or personalize the tea cups! I didn't have a collection of mis-matched pretty china patterns, and didn't want to buy more for the party so we just used my wedding china which was plain and simple, but could have been adorable with some added pink and orange flowers or something! Oh and one tip, chocloate covered strawberries are best served on cooler days- the first one that was taken slid right out of the chocolate!

PS- Did I mention I have a 9 year old?? How and when did that happen? I can't possibly be that old! SHE can't possibly be that old! 9 more years and she'll be a woman. Going to college. That cannot be possible...

Sweet Baby Gifts

2010-07-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Having everyone home for summer has been keeping me busy- and now that my little baby doesn't sit still for his bottle feedings anymore I don't have an excuse to sit and get caught up on all my favorite blogs as much as I used to! Let alone take time to update mine. I spent most of the last two days in bed with a miserable fever, but when the meds would kick in and I felt well enough to get up, I hobbled over to my computer and did some catching up!

I just had to share this sweet baby gift idea from Suzonne at Urban Comfort- one of my favorite creative bloggers. She's sharing the design for the iron-on free on her blog if you want to grab it and customize some gifts for someone.

I love the little hangers and felt slippers too! My 5 year old was looking on with me and begged me to make her a pair!

Twilight Saga- B.Y.O.T.P.

2010-06-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

When New Moon came out I was giving birth so I had to wait a few days to see it but when Eclipse came out, I really wanted the marathon experience! I went to the movies with some sisters at 6 and laughed, sighed and swooned through Twilight, (it gets better every time!) New Moon and finally Eclipse before falling into bed this morning around 3- and it was so fun!!! I highly reccommend it, I hope they do it again when the 4th one is released. One suggestion, bring your own TP- with that many women in the theater at one time, they were running out by midnight. They even converted one of the Men's rooms into a Women's room! I don't think I could have sat in line all night, but getting all caught up was the best!
Oh Edward,

Oh Jacob,

Oh complicated, painful, monster love triangle...

I can't wait to see it again!

Tea Party Invites and kids crafting

2010-06-19T23:12:00.002-07:00

Miss B is having a tea and swim party this year so we got to make some invitations today! I cut the tea cup from the A Child's Year Cricut cartridge and then we stuck them to solid cardstock leaving the middle of the cup open so we could slide the "tea bag" card with the information inside. I didn't want to make a trip to the scrapbook store so we used what I had, so they are all a little different but we love them!

It's way too hot to do anything outside except swim, so the kids have been getting creative- I went through my paper stash and collected scraps for them. Miss B wanted me to show the cards she made:

I especially like the "Be Happy" cards, how true, "be happy and you will have a better life!" And the pop-ups too!

Miss G created some masterpieces on the Doodle Pro to share:

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

2010-06-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

Addicted

2010-06-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

My husband would say that I'm addicted to Dr. Pepper, but I think worse is my mild fixation with the scrapbooking deal a day sites! I really have to go check these sites first thing in the morning almost every day!
Peachy Cheap
Flowers to Flourishes
Crafty Steals
Scrapbook Steals
Crop Chocolate
I have ordered from a few things from them too. I love getting a deal and I just have to check once a day and I'm good- Crop Chocolate however is a little different because they change deals throughout the day, randomly! Plus, you can add something to your "LaCarte" and keep it there for a couple weeks before checking out, and add to it, and if you get up to $60, you get free shipping!! So it's awesome, and dangerous. All the other ones you have to buy it or it's gone. I've had some good luck at Big Lots and Tuesday Morning finding great deals on supplies too.

A movie to rent & watch this weekend

2010-06-03T15:15:00.001-07:00

For you: Ewan McGregor and a little love story, for your husband, a lot of action and a little violence. I had never heard of it but really liked it.
I didn't think I would like it, I was trying to ignore it on the TV behind me last night, and at one point informed Sam that he should be glad I wasn't watching because I would have a million questions, but about 10 minutes later I found myself totally into it. And then I went to watch the beginning that I missed today, and finished the whole thing again! So go rent The Island.
(I did get some laundry folded in case you're thinking I'm totally lazy!)

At a post office near you...

2010-06-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Or order from USPS: here.

Food Storage Friday: no excuses #3

2010-05-30T00:20:00.000-07:00

The last big excuse I hear is "we don't like (or don't eat) food storage." I get it- you don't eat flour, tuna and dried beans. I don't blame you- yuck! Food storage needs to be about storing the foods you do eat! You only eat fresh fruits and vegetables? Good for you, learn to grow those fruits and vegetables yourself. It could be a lifesaver someday. Learn to dry, can, and freeze to preserve fresh foods, and then find ways to work them into your diet. We've been able to live confident that we can go out and buy whatever we want whenever we want, and hopefully it will always be so, but you can't rely on that. My pathetic attemepts at gardening have made me realize just how delicate of a process growing food can be- it's hard work, and there are no guarantees. Store 3 months of food that your family eats regularly- and rotate it. Once you have that, start to store plenty of the long lasting save-you-from-starvation kind of food, maybe start with rice, beans, and wheat. You don't have to eat a ton of those things on a regular basis to keep a good rotation because they can be stored for so long. One reminder about grains, be sure you freeze them at least 24-36 hours before storing them because they almost certainly have tiny weevil eggs in them, and freezing kills them so they don't hatch and totally gross you out. This includes pasta, baking mixes, flour, etc.

Glitz Layouts from NSD

2010-05-19T19:11:00.000-07:00

I made these fun pages at a class on National Scrapbook Day a few weeks ago and finally put my pictures in- they were so fun!

They all use the Glitz Vintage Love stuff- my favorite are the little accent cards and tiny alpha stickers!

Check out my new header!

2010-05-16T00:42:00.000-07:00

My blog is ready for summer now, but I on the other hand, am not ready at all! Come what may and love it right? My header finally fits across the page- hooray! Thanks for looking :)

Food Storage Friday: No More Excuses 2

2010-05-15T08:04:00.001-07:00

I know I'm late- I don't know when exactly, but life just got really busy! We're wrapping up the school year and even the days are even flying by- but oh yea, no excuses! Moving on to the next common excuse for not having a good food storage, and I can relate, NO MONEY. My mom made it pretty much impossible for me to use this excuse though, because she lived on practically nothing for several years and stuck to a very strict budget but she always made sure to pick up at least an extra can or 2 of food to set aside. That is do-able for anyone. If you don't already have a working budget then you almost certainly are spending money without realizing it, so for a month keep track of every penny you spend, write it down, and see where you can sacrifice. (For tips on saving money on groceries, see my "supermom" post HERE.) See if you can take just $5-$10 a week to start and stock up on a good sale. One week it might be canned beans, the next toothbrushes or spaghetti sauce etc. When you get a little chunk of extra money, like a birthday, bonus or tax return, consider spending some of that on your year supply. Start with water, then gather 72 hours of food and supplies, then 2 weeks and so on, you can do it! If you are consistent, it will start to add up and you won't even think about it, buying extra will just be something you do. So what other excuses do you have?

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T23:50:00.001-07:00

It took a few years, but finally I've lowered my expectations of Mother's day, and it's good now! I got some cute cards with sweet notes from the girls, Miss B made me a beaded bracelet and a Dr. Pepper pin (missing at the moment- picture soon). Sam gave me flowers and cooked breakfast. I was able to go to church and hear about amazing mothers without comparing myself to them too much, I watched Stephanie Nielson's video again, and I spent the evening with my own mom- while Sam stayed home with the boys because Mr. C was a bit under the weather. We watched the latest episode of "The Middle" which was hilarious- you've got to watch that show! (ABC Wednesdays at 8) And I really liked her idea of celebrating "The Day After Mother's Day." I just wanted to share this recently found picture of my mom and I- she was only 20 years old in this picture and so beautiful- she is so talented too, I bet she made the clothes both of us were wearing then! Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I love Nie

2010-05-04T09:15:00.002-07:00

Just in case you haven't seen this video yet, watch it! Sometimes I get frustrated and think "this isn't fun" but then I remind myself that life isn't about having fun- and I think about other people, everyone has challenges and struggles, I think about Stephanie- life is good! And God is good.

Food Storage Friday: No More Excuses!

2010-04-30T20:41:00.002-07:00

We all like to make excuses for the things we don't want to do (it's not just me right?) I've heard a lot of them from people who haven't started on their food storage but I know it can seem overwhelming and there are legitimate concerns, so for the next couple of weeks I wanted to focus on getting rid of the excuses. Without further ado, excuse Numero Uno:
"I don't have anywhere to put it."
Ah yes, a nice large pantry or food storage room is ideal, but not a necessity. I grew up with food storage under my bed, in my closet, and even made into a desk at one time! Look at this awesome craft and sewing desk made with food storage HERE by LucyH:

a new blog to me but one I think I need to explore! You could cover the boxes with some pretty fabric if you wanted to hide it more. You can buy table tops at Ikea too. Start thinking "out of the pantry" (ha!) and see what you can come up with. I have designated Miss B's bed to hide wheat, Miss G's pinto beans, and Miss E's rice. You can fit a lot of those big cans down under one bed. If yours are too low you can get some bed risers like these:

I've even seen someone who installed a large, strong shelf over their toilet and stacked that to the ceiling! So no more excuses, go make some space and start building a 2 week/3 month/1 year or more supply of food and necessities!

For Mother's Day, or any day...

2010-04-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

Anna Maria Horner has a new book out and it sounds lovely! If you are shopping this Mother's Day for a new or expectant mom, or even a grandma who likes to make things for little babes, "Handmade Beginnings" would make a great gift! I'm a huge fan of Anna Maria Horner and even though I am most likely done with the "welcoming baby" stage of my life (snif, snif!) it's sitting on my Amazon wish list! I know it will be full of beautiful pictures and darling patterns. She is one of my "hero moms." You can order a signed copy from her shop HERE.

WOW

2010-04-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen or read something and thought "I need to tell everyone about this!" Food Inc. did that to me. I came home last night and my husband was watching this on PBS and my initial reaction was to cringe- "now he's going to be telling me how I'm poisoning our kids with Mac N Cheese or fruit snacks..." but quickly I was sucked in and it was really interesting, and a little sad! (and a little sickening) You've got to see it, you will really think about what you're eating and feeding your family, and hopefully make some changes! (I am) I don't know if it's going to be on again, I missed the beginning and want to see it all.

Free Books? No more late fees? Awesome vintage ads?

2010-04-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Were you aware that Google has scanned over TEN MILLION books, available to read online for FREE? I wasn't. Go HERE to check it out! If they are still in print you will probably only see a preview, but there are a ton that are there in their entirety. You can also look at old magazines, I found my favorite VW ad from a 1964 LIFE.

"You can conveniently replace anything she uses to stop the car- even the brakes" Ha!

Or this one is awesome, from the same magazine, "Sugar's got what it takes... and it's all energy."

Of course if kids today got as much excersize as "Tommy" it wouldn't be so bad...

For more free books, check out your library's website, ours has a section for kids where they can click on a book and it will be read to them, complete with pictures, some of them even animated a bit! I may never have to go back and pay those late fees. :-)

A birthday- plain and simple

2010-04-13T23:29:00.001-07:00

If anyone out there still reads my L-A-M-E, lame-o blog I am sorry I've been absent. I've decided that maybe 4 kids was my limit, but we just love Harrison too much to send him back, so I'm trying to figure out how to manage things with 5 kids. (and not doing it very well yet) Blogging is a little low on the priority list, though as long as I have to sit to feed Harrison several hours a day, reading blogs will still get done!
My sweet/sour Mr. C turned 2 today! I can hardly believe it!

It's not fair how fast time flies when they are little. I went back and forth about having a party, he's so into "choo-choo's" right now, I had a grand vision of a "Choo-Choo I'm 2!" party, with cute invitations, matching t-shirt, fun train-ish favors, train wheel pasta salad and "choo-choo chewy" popcorn balls all at a fun train park this weekend, (styled after THIS adorable party.) But I was really nervous about actually getting it together, yesterday I decided to go for it, but after spending nearly 2 hours trying to make/find the perfect train graphic for the invitation, I abandoned that idea, and decided dinner at home tonight, with a cake and presents was just fine! So this morning we went shopping for gifts, and this afternoon I baked a cake, stuck a train on top and at 8:30pm, when dad got home from his church meeting, we had a little party!

He got some fun new toys, his sisters all gave their usual "find something around the house and wrap it in toilet paper" gifts,

and I think the real hit was some hand-me-down Thomas the Train toys from his cousins- he was seriously into that.

And sometimes he does wear pants, but they were long gone by the time our "party" rolled around and I was too tired to go find them! Hopefully I'll have something more interesting next time...

Wedding Card- CPS Sketch 160

2010-03-28T15:15:00.002-07:00

Staying home from church today with some little sickies so I decided to ignore my messy kitchen [whole house] for a bit and make a card for the CPS sketch challenge #160. I like it- I think simple cards are just my thing, I love looking at the fancy ones other people make but I tend to ruin cards when I try to put more than a couple things on them! You can see the sketch and a bunch of other people's cards over on the CPS blog HERE.

For all the crafty people and scrapbookers...

2010-03-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about the new Little Black Dress Kit Club? March is their first kit and it looks great. I've never joined a kit club before but it sounds really cool, especially if you don't have time to spend hunting around the scrapbook store for papers, embellishments and other supplies that "go" together! I often buy things I love but then they sit in drawers and shelves because I don't quite know what to pair them with! Kits solve that problem, and joining a club gets you a bunch of stuff delivered straight to your door and all for a discount!

This is a picture of the stuff in the current kit, and you can check out the blog HERE for lots of great ideas, including this altered book that I am IN LOVE with!

One of my good friends is involved in this club and she is crazy talented so I know they are going to have great kits every month, go check it out ASAP- Little Black Dress Kit Club.

Food Storage Friday: Learn to make bread

2010-03-26T10:03:00.001-07:00

I've wanted to post this for a long time but couldn't do it until I actually learned to make bread myself. I've got a bunch of hard white wheat stored (and you should too- it stores forever!) but up until a few weeks ago it was almost completely useless to me, the best I could do with it was cook it up for cereal or make some Chili Wheat with it. I finally found a whole wheat bread recipe that was simple enough for me! (and I have tried and failed with several recipes) And it's very good, even for sandwiches, but especially for toast and grilled cheese. 100% Whole wheat bread, with just a little honey and oil- try it, you will be able to do it if I can! This recipe came from The Essential Food Storage Cookbook by Tami Girsberger and Carol Peterson and it is awesome. (the whole cookbook is great too if you are looking for a good one!) The original has this doubled to make 4 loaves, but my KitchenAide can only handle 2 loaves at a time, so here's my "half" version:

Whole Wheat Bread
3 cups hot water
1/3 cup oil (olive or canola)
1/3 cup honey
1 TB Vital Wheat Gluten (look in the health food section, or by specialty flours)
1/4 cup powdered milk (optional)
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 TB yeast
1 TB salt
5 cups whole wheat flour

Mix hot water, oil, honey, Vital Wheat Gluten, powdered milk, and 3 cups flour. At this point the batter should be lukewarm so it won't kill the yeast. Add yeast.
Gently mix to blend and then let it sit to sponge about 10 minutes. Add salt.
While stirring, gradually add additional flour until the dough begins to "clean" the bowl. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, continue to add flour. You can test for enough flour by gently touching dough with your finger. If dough sticks to your finger, add flour and keep kneading. When dough barely does not stick to finger, stop adding flour.
Knead on low speed for 8 minutes. Turn dough onto an oiled surface (do not use flour). Turn dough a coulple of times to coat with oil. Cut dough into 2 equal pieces (you can weigh them to be sure, 32oz each) Shape each piece into a loaf and place in a bread pan that has been sprayed with oil. Cover and let dough rise 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. A good place for bread to rise is under the lights on your range.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake 26-28 minutes or until interal internal temp reaches 190 degrees F. Remove from oven and brush tops with butter. Let loaves sit 5-10 minutes before gently removing from pans, cool on a wire rack.

And that's it- I couldn't believe it actually worked, and that even my kids will eat it!

Splitting Harry's

2010-03-25T10:52:00.001-07:00

My biggest concern with naming this sweetie Harrison was that he might someday be called "Harry".

And that "someday" happened like the day he came home from the hospital, and many many times since, even by me (gasp!) The girls started it, and looking at that sweet little face and hearing him called Harry suddenly it wasn't such a horrible thing, I didn't think about this guy,

or this guy,

or this "hairy" image.

It was good enough of a name for Princess Diana to use right?

And one of our favorite characters over here is Harry Potter, are there any other "good" Harry's out there? Or do I really need to be strict about sticking to Harrison?

And why can't I make my pictures go where I want them to go anymore???? I'm going to scream.

This is so cool!

2010-03-21T08:58:00.002-07:00

Lunch Box Love Notes

2010-03-16T09:28:00.004-07:00

I remember sometimes getting little notes in my lunch box from my mom when I was little and loving it. It seems like our mornings now are always rush rush rush with me (not so cheerfully) telling them what to do over and over and over. I often feel bad dropping my kids off at school after one of those stressful mornings with me, they're going out into the "world" where people don't necessarily care about them or their feelings, they shouldn't leave feeling like mom thinks they're anything less than wonderful too! I try to throw a note in their lunches when I can, just to remind them I love them and let them know I care and think about them when they are gone, but if I wait until we are rushing to get out the door it's not going to happen. A week or so ago I was up at night and too tired to be really creative, but not too tired to go to bed so I busted out a little "mat stack" of cardstock and went to work cutting each sheet in half, then folding it and adding some kind of little embellishment to make some "special" lunch box love notes. They turned out kind of cute and were super easy and the girls LOVE them.I put them all in a shoe box with a pen in the pantry and now I just pull one out and write a quick note before dropping it in their lunches. It's quick and easy and they always tell me how happy they were when they saw it.

Food Storage Friday: Papa's Beans

2010-03-13T00:58:00.004-07:00

Today I'm sharing my father in law's "recipe" for beans! Dried beans can be stored for years easily and are cheap so go get a big bag or 2! My whole family loves these, they are often served when we get together with my husbands entire family! Slice some french bread and sprinkle in some cheese and fresh onions if you like and enjoy.

Papa's Beans

2 lbs dried pinto beans (about 4 cups)

6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (can substitute garlic powder)

3 large onions, diced (can substitute dried onions)

1 TB salt

1 TB pepper

Cayenne Pepper sprinkle to taste

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

1/2 lb chopped bacon or ham hock (you can leave the meat out, but my family prefers them this way)

Sort, rinse and soak beans overnight in a large pot.

In the morning, drain, rinse and fill pot with new water and bring to a boil on high heat while stirring in all other ingredients.

Reduce heat to medium, but keep it boiling. You can further reduce the heat after 2 hours or so, when the beans begin to soften, keeping it at a low boil.

Stir throughout the day every 20 minutes or so, adding water when needed so they don't stick to the pot.

The longer they cook, the softer and yummier they get.

You can also combine all ingredients in the crock pot and let them cook all day as well. Enjoy with a salad and some bread and you have dinner, and good leftovers too!

It's Back- Food Storage Friday!

2010-03-05T14:53:00.007-07:00

I don't know why I stopped doing it in the first place, probably because there are so many blogs out there already dedicated to it that are much more thorough, (or maybe I gave up when my kids destroyed my inventory list before it was finished!) but I got a lot of good feedback from you when I was doing it, so here we go again! Come back on Fridays for a simple tip, recipe or idea to help you on your way to self sufficiency with your family's food storage! For past FSF posts, click HERE.

I've told you how simple it is to bottle your own meat and today I wanted to share some sources for recipes to use that canned meat. Chicken is easy because it can be used in pretty much any of those many recipes calling for "cooked shredded chicken" but Campbells has several written spcifically for Swansons canned chicken HERE. Hereford Foods has canned meat products and they have some yummy looking recipes for canned beef and pork HERE. (To download instructions for canning your own meat click HERE.) My in-laws were in Maui last weekend when the tsunami threat was going on and Costco was limiting SPAM purchases to 2 per customer- HA! So just think about what you want to have on hand in case of an emergency or longer term food shortage!

Is it just me?

2010-02-27T23:18:00.002-07:00

Is it just me or is this little guy just growing up WAY too fast?

Card Challenge

2010-02-27T22:34:00.003-07:00

This week I found a few challenges online and started planning the cards I was going to make, I'm late on a few weddings and thank you's, but here it is Saturday night and the only one I actually managed to finish is this one for the "Tuesday Trigger" challenge from Moxie Fab World:

Oh well, maybe I'll accomplish a little more this week! (Click the picture to go see the "trigger" and all the other cards people linked up!)

Must Read- seriously, you must read this now

2010-02-24T19:29:00.002-07:00

Nella Cordelia: A Birth Story. Well actually, don't read it right now if you are leaving somewhere soon, or in a hurry, because it is not short, and you will cry. And cry and cry, but it is a beautiful story. One of my favorite bloggers, Gabby of Design Mom is pregnant and on Wednesdays she shares birth stories and today she linked over to this one, this beautiful mother who had hoped and planned for this birth for so long. She seriously had every detail planned, it was to be an event- a beautiful party in her hospital room with all her friends, and it went perfectly. Right up to the moment she realized that her precious baby had down syndrome, something no one had suspected before. Go read it right now HERE. You will be glad, it will change you a little.

Cricut fans- act quickly!

2010-02-20T12:53:00.002-07:00

Cricutmachine.com is having a SUPER "gold medal sale" that ends today I think, but all cartridges are $29.99! I usually try to buy them on e-bay and for the big complete ones (with shapes and alphabets) that's just about the cheapest you can get them if you are lucky, and stalk the auctions for a while! I wish I had more Christmas money left, there are a few I've been eyeing! If you've been thinking about buying a machine, they have the Cricut Create for $75 right now too.

Lovely Love

2010-02-14T20:46:00.006-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day to you! My cookie exchange party was fun but I forgot to take pictures darn it! Besides spending time with girlfriends I don't get to see much, my favorite part was making the invitations and stuff for the party! I did snag a picture of the water bottle labels before the kids confiscated them the next morning- they matched the invites and little cards to label the cookies- I loved them.I had a lot of fun making this Valentine banner too, I will keep it and pull it out next year. I just printed the letters out from my computer, 2 to a page, then trimmed them and used a scalloped punch on the bottom and tied them together with tulle ribbon.I also had to share these cute things my friend Ashley made for me- she used American Crafts papers and embellishments and stuck them on painted blocks cut from a 2x4 and then attached some hot pink vinyl letters to spell "love". The candy topiary was just made with a painted dowel and styrofoam ball stuck into a pot. It gets surprisingly top heavy with all those valentine candy hearts so make sure you weigh the pot down well with plaster and rocks or something if you make one!

By today I was a little Valentined out but luckily my kids reminded me that Valentine's Day wasn't over when my party was, and they expected some celebrating! So we kept the red tablecloth out in the dining room and ate heart shaped french toast this morning in there. (FYI- heart shaped french toast is WAY easier than heart shaped pancakes and really cute with powdered sugar and strawberries if you have them- pretend I took a picture for you!)

Mainly for me...

2010-02-09T19:47:00.006-07:00

Because my "Favorites" folder is stuffed to the brim and I'd never find these links again, I am posting some really cool things found online that I need to revisit- and I think you might want to check them out too!

Tutorial and pattern for these darling felt rose hair clips from Purl Bee HERE.

Rolled Fabric Flower tutorial from House of Three HERE.

30 Printable valentines (free downloads!) from The Long Thread HERE.

Trinket Keepers (really great little bag things) Tutorial from Amazing Mae HERE.

Celebrate the Boy- tons of CUTE things to make for *gasp* BOYS! on Made HERE.

And finally, easy handmade card ideas from Better Homes & Gardens HERE.

I did something brave for me, I planned a little party for this weekend, a Valentine cookie exchange (inspired by Blonde Designs.) I realized I need to host a get-together of sorts every few months so I can kick my booty to get things done around here! I nearly had a panic attack when I dropped the invites off at the post office- no backing out now! Since Mr. H arrived lots of things have been getting overlooked around here. So back to work- I can dig into those links next week! Enjoy!

Favorite Simple Valentines for kids

2010-02-05T08:48:00.006-07:00

I love all the great ideas that pop up on blogs around the holidays! My kids will be giving mini bags of microwave popcorn if I can come up with a cute label or something for them but I love these 2 ideas!
Blonde Designs has templates for lips and moustashes that can be slid on the bottom of a lollipop to make these cute treats:

I also think these 3-D lollipop valentines are so clever and simple, found on 24-7-365:

You could use the same idea and stick a flower or something in there too.

(click on the pictures to go to the original blog post for instructions and more pictures.)

Valentine Wreath Calendar

2010-02-02T16:05:00.004-07:00

You can download and print this pretty February calendar and then hang it over your desk to make you smile all month! Created by Lisa Rupp- click picture to go to her blog for the free download.

Throwaways

2010-01-31T21:12:00.005-07:00

When I download pictures from my camera to my computer there are usually a good 20 or so shots taken by one of the kids, usually Miss E. Popular subjects include baby H and Mr. C of course, lots of over exposed self portraits, random objects around the house, and in the last batch, about 12 different shots of dirty laundry. Every once in a while there are a couple gems I can't bear to delete- like these chunks of my chubby guy.Have you ever seen such fat little feet? And to think he's thinned out over the past 6 months or so.

Pretty Little Desk (on the cheap)

2010-01-27T09:42:00.005-07:00

Miss B needed a desk to do her homework in her room, so we got this simple shelf from Ikea. It's just a solid piece of wood and some wooden wall brackets. I first painted it white but since it had a slick surface it quickly started peeling and looking really ugly. Then I really wanted to cover it with contact paper, but if only there existed pretty contact paper! I looked EVERYWHERE. Don't you think Ikea should carry some? Anyways, I FINALLY stumbled on something online where they had used wrapping paper, and then covered that with clear contact paper- genius! So here's the new and improved desktop!

Terrible 2s

2010-01-17T21:29:00.003-07:00

I forget that the "terrible two's" start a few months before they're two. My sweet little defenseless angel quickly has learned to defend himself, and moved right on to being a little tyrant! I've watched him go into attack mode over and over this week and it's driving me crazy! (so sorry to his poor little cousins!!) At home it seems like he moves from one gigantic mess to the next without hesitation. Thank goodness when he's sleeping I can look at that beautiful, giant baby and see my sweet boy because during the waking hours it's hard to see him that way. (Sam dressed him this night- he has no respect for matching pj sets, in fact I think he secretly picks out the worst matched pair in the stack but how can I complain?) I have C.Jane on my blog list and sometimes her posts are too long and wordy for me, and sometimes they are too embarrassing, but last week there was one I can totally relate to right now, about her naughty little boy, about the same age as my Mr. C.

Check out my new header!

2010-01-07T00:17:00.003-07:00

If you read me in Google Reader or something, click over and see my pretty new header! I had plenty of other things I should have been doing instead but I'm so glad it's done- I think it's been the same for the past year.

Nearly 7 weeks later!

2010-01-06T21:53:00.002-07:00

Isn't he a doll? Full of smiles and still so sleepy! I'm still not getting enough done around here but he is an angel and I already can't remember what it was like without him in our family!

Sunday was his first day of church and he got a special blessing from his daddy- aren't they handsome?

And doesn't this guy look so innocent? Well he's not, and I found that out yesterday when some woman yelled at me on her way out of the children's museum that she was leaving because she doesn't appreciate my child hitting her child. (What? Huh? I didn't see it! I'm sorry! I'm watching 3 small kids here and holding a newborn, let me come move or distract him before you storm out of here yelling at me in front of everyone, sheesh!) He's ONE, and he's not an only child so sometimes he hits! Oh well, I'm almost over it...

But he is generally a sweetheart and he really loves his baby brother.

I'm should be back posting more often now- I got some fun supplies with gift card money, including this new Cricut cartridge that I am really anxious to use so hopefully I'll be posting some projects soon! Scrapbooking and crafting more are on my 2010 to do list!

If you need some gift tags...

2009-12-22T11:38:00.006-07:00

There are some great ones available online for FREE! Like these from Jessica Sprague: Or these from Design.Wash.Rinse.Repeat:

And these from Inside a Black Apple:

These ones from Creature Comforts have matching envelopes too: (lots of other great printables on her blog if you look around)

Click the pictures to go to the free printable downloads.

Stockings

2009-12-14T13:55:00.002-07:00

If I ever make stockings for my family, (and I would like to someday) I think I will go with wool felt styled after these ones from Hable Constuction. I love the simple whimsical designs, and I think I could manage something similar. (and for much less than the asking price at Hable!)

Babies

2009-12-10T11:01:00.003-07:00

Trailer for a movie coming out in April about 4 babies in different parts of the world- from birth through the first year. I dare you to just watch it once!

A couple things to get you ready for Christmas!

2009-12-08T17:34:00.004-07:00

Time is flying with the holidays coming, and especially with a new baby and I'm giving myself permission to not do a lot of the things I want to do so I don't get stressed! I'm way behind on my blog reading (so forgive me if I haven't left any comments lately!) but I have come across a couple of things I really wanted to share- first, a list of 30 great ideas for neighbor gifts from How Does She HERE. Lots of really unique ones there, also, Little Birdie Secrets has a bunch of cute ones HERE. Next, Shabby Princess has a free download for some ADORABLE Christmas recipe cards! You can get them HERE.And finally, Creating Keepsakes has a great set of Christmas quotes you can use for cards, gift tags, place cards or whatever and you can get those HERE.

One of my super talented friends has FINALLY opened up her etsy shop and has really cute, unique holiday photo cards, so go check out Lilly Mae Designs HERE.

Among other things...

2009-11-26T10:16:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful he's finally here! Harrison joined our family officially last Friday morning after a long night of labor- a healthy 7lbs 12oz and we're all doing well! More pictures soon, I've got lots of things to catch up on, number one, sleep!

So are you going tonight??

2009-11-19T10:36:00.005-07:00

If so I'm jealous! I am planning on being in the hospital having a baby, and if I'm not, I'm going to be REALLY jealous! This baby is taking his time and already giving me trouble- PAINFUL contractions every night since Monday, but not enough of them to send me to the hospital. (just enough to have me waking up miserable all night) And so the happy pregnant lady is no more, my family is stuck with the tired, irritable version of me. I found the New Moon version of Sweethearts yesterday at Walmart and they make me smile. I can justify buying them (even thought he candy is disgusting) since I can't get lifesize Cardboard Cutout Edward, or my own little Pocket Edward. (term coined by BusyBeeLauren )

So if you are going, enjoy yourself! I wish I had tickets now!

2 New Things I'm Doing For my Baby

2009-11-18T13:20:00.007-07:00

I'm not exactly an "all natural" type of mother, I love disposable diapers, I sometimes buy organic, sometimes not, I have no issue using chemical cleaners etc, but there are a couple of things that do concern me, first, the BPA in baby bottles, and second, the fire retardant chemicals used in crib mattresses. (all mattresses in the US actually) I first heard about BPA before Mr C. was born but when I saw the price tag on the "BPA free" version of my bottles there was no way I was going to replace them. This time I'm a little more concerned, and discovered Evenflo glass baby bottles have really good reviews, and they are really affordable! I ordered a box of 6 4oz from Amazon for $12 and thought that was a deal, but today I stumbled on a box of 6 8oz bottles at Big Lots for only $6! (I like wandering around Big Lots from time to time, they get some good stuff!) Anyways, I'm excited to see if they live up to my expectations, and hopefully they don't all break. I am going to nurse this guy as long as I can but in my experience, that is only a couple months before we have to use formula.

NEXT- this one was new to me just a couple months ago. My sister started sending me information about a Dr. in New Zealand who has done extensive research on SIDS and concluded that the cause is toxic gasses emitted from crib mattresses. At first I didn't take it very seriously, but the more I thought about it and the more I read the more I am convinced that it makes sense that it could responsible for a lot of unexplained crib deaths. The solution isn't a new mattress, it's simply wrapping your crib mattress with the right grade of plastic to keep the chemicals from seeping out into the crib where they can collect and create a toxic environment. You can buy BabeSafe mattress bags from several stores online, and read more about it HERE. I got one and it does make me feel a little less worried- if you have a baby or are planning on having one, it really is worth taking a minute to read the information.

Sunburst Mirrors

2009-11-13T16:06:00.003-07:00

I love all the super creative designers out there who share their cute projects with the rest of us! I think these sunburst mirrors are really cool, and perfect for the holidays with some glitter and stuff! Click HERE to see the simple instructions for these cheap decorations on Full House.
PS- have you been in a Target store lately? They have huge hanging paper ornaments decorating the store, I want some!
PPS- if you were impressed by my list of accomplishments in the last post, go back and notice how many things are still "in the process" and not finished yet, not so impressive really!

Still here- nesting, don't give up on me

2009-11-12T23:15:00.002-07:00

I was listening to my favorite radio guy, Dennis Prager, the other day and he spoke about a friend who found out he was dying of cancer. His friend something about how it's interresting that we all are walking around living our lives like we aren't going to die tomorrow, until we find out we are going to die tomorrow, and suddenly everything changes, our focus, what we do, and how we look at things is different. That struck a chord with me (on a not-so-deep level) because I've been pregnant for 9 months, and for the majority of that time I've ignored the fact- I've been living my life as if I wasn't going to be having a new baby, and suddenly it's hit that I'm going to have another baby! Probably in the next week or so! So I've been busy. Painting is done, I still have a few small room accents to finish up, hopefully tomorrow. My hospital bag is almost packed, Christmas cards are being designed, birthday (Miss G's is coming up) and Christmas shopping is well underway, tiny onesies, pj's and blankets are clean and folded and the carseat is installed! I finally packed up Halloween decorations yesterday, and accepted that the cute plate display I started but didn't finish,(picture and instructions on Design Mom HERE) and my Halloween album will have to wait till next year to be finished, and that's ok!

I'll have finished room photos soon, the pink turned out pretty I think, I got confirmation from my talented sister in law and her sister that it's a good color, and they gave me some other good tips- it's coming together! I found a darling toddler bed on Craigslist, the first good thing within my price range I've ever found there actually, and though Mr. C isn't sleeping in it yet, he thinks it's the coolest ever. Now I need to sleep, because that's something else I won't be able to do much of once this new baby joins us!

Painting

2009-11-05T17:28:00.006-07:00

One room done, (being painted anyways) One more to go...

Does that pink scare you?

It scares me a little, but I really liked these rooms from Serena and Lilly:

I have some cute white eyelet paper lanterns to hang above the bed, and am going to put some white vinyl decals on the wall to help break up the pink.

Wish me luck!

Halloween '09

2009-11-03T16:21:00.005-07:00

Can you see the resemblance?

The only thing I had to buy for Halloween this year were her Ruby Slippers.

Posing for the camera, of course! And you know I love my printable, iron on transfers, I found the picture online and ironed it to a stained shirt! (that's cream soda in my hand in case you were concerned)

I'm not generally a fan of my "mantle" in the first place, but it just wasn't looking right this year so I had no problem letting the kids put up their creations! During our long week and a half of everyone being sick, we found these "face parts" on Family Fun and the kids cut them out and glued them on paper pumpkins, then they went crazy making ghosts and other stuff. I liked them!

Confessions

2009-10-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

So a while ago I made a goal to not spend a penny on clothes for the rest of 2009, and to not get a drink from Sonic more than once a week. I meant it, I really was committed. But I cheated. On both. I meant to confess, I was going to, just putting it off, but I heard from a friend who said she's been feeling guilty every time she bought clothes, thinking of me NOT buying clothes so I had to come clean! I really have been doing pretty good, first we decided to do family pictures, so a couple purchases HAD to be made (right?) then I got my $10 Gap card rewards coupon, and I decided it would be silly for me to NOT buy that purple dress, since I only had 1 dress that still fit me and a good 6-8 Sundays left. Then I was buying a baby gift for a friend and realised Harrison NEEDED to have a few new cold weather basics since Charlie was a summer baby, and then today I really blew it at Old Navy, just going to "peek" if they had anything left in their Halloween $2 sale,

and then I saw they were doing 50% of kids clearance, PLUS 30% off Stuff & Save and well, I don't even need to justify that! So there you go, I hope I didn't make anyone else feel bad for buying clothes! Or going to Sonic. Sometimes you just need a Route 44 Dr. Pepper more than once a week, especially when you go and they give you a receipt with a coupon for a FREE one you know?

Covered Clipboard Organizer instructions

2009-10-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Since a few people have asked, here are my basic directions- get a clipboard. Cover surface with Mod Podge and smooth on a sheet of pretty scrapbook paper. (measure and trim around the clip at the top,) Add a layer or 2 of Mod Podge on top of the paper if you want. For the pocket, I just got a piece of white cardstock and trimmed it to be the width of my clipboard, which was about 9" and 8 1/2" long, and then folded down 4" on the top and bottom and that left me with about 1/2" in the middle to hold stuff. Then I made little accordian folded strips out of colored cardstock for the sides, and I attached it together with double stick tape. Then I put some patterned paper on the front of the pocket, and cut a scalloped circle and initial on the Cricut and stuck those on top of the pocket. If I did them again, I would either use double sided patterned or colored cardstock for the pocket, or line the inside of the pocket too. I got the pocket idea from a blog called OurBigEarth and you can see their detailed tutorial HERE. I think I first saw these simple modern looking ones on Martha Stewart:

But you could get really crafty with ribbon and chipboard etc too.

Clip it up- getting more organized

2009-10-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

As much as I try to be laid back, relaxed, anything goes, etc. I have realized that as my kids get older, and I get more of them, I need to have systems and routines and be more organized. These clipboards are hopefully going to help. I've been wanting to do them for a while, originally they were just going to be covered in a pretty paper with our first initials, but then I saw one that had a pocket and I knew mine needed to have pockets. I finally finished them yesterday and I don't want to put stuff in them because I think they are so pretty! (but I will use them, and it will help clear off all the junk on my desk!)

Time out is exhausting...

2009-10-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

More Family Pics

2009-10-25T23:07:00.002-07:00

I mentioned earlier that we had our family pictures taken, they turned out great despite me being very pregnant and anemic, and a certain almost-six-year-old trying to ruin every picture by pulling some goofy face, and a certain 1 year old trying to run wild the entire time! Our photographer was Troy Brinkerhoff and he just does an amazing job. He somehow always manages to catch the kids looking beautiful and photogenic! If you book soon he's running a great fall special for families, go check out his website HERE. (he does weddings and babies and everything else, too.)

It's hard to choose favorites, I could show you tons of them!

Recipe Cards- another free download

2009-10-25T22:03:00.002-07:00

*reposted 5/29 with updated download link- thanks!

I'm not entirely finished yet, but I got my first batch of recipe cards typed up, laminated and punched and I love them! It's hit me that I only have 3 weeks give or take a few days before my life gets turned upside down and inside out with a new baby and I have several projects hanging out there unfinished, time to get busy! Anyways, I really love my new recipe cards, I'm going to put my top 30 or so easy dinners on one ring, (idea I got from Nanny Goat forever ago) cookies and deserts on another ring, and then the rest just in my recipe box. If you like my recipe cards I put them in PDF file and you can download and print them by clicking HERE.

(yes, I am having fun making my own free downloads)

Exciting!

2009-10-20T11:50:00.003-07:00

Tip Junkie featured my little spider web candle shades! It's one of my favorite websites because they always have tons of "tips" for everything from all over the blog world. You can see the other Halloween ideas they featured today HERE.

Creepy Vellum Spider Web Candle Shades- free download

2009-10-17T20:25:00.009-07:00

Edit: 9/10 download link updated! Let me know if you have any problems opening it! Thanks!

I played around with a spider web template from Martha Stewart's website and came up with these printable candle shades! I printed mine on vellum, but it would work just as well printed on regular paper. You basically just have to cut the sheet in half lengthwise and trim edges, secure each wrap in a circle with double stick tape and then set your little "lantern" over a tealight in glass. (or if you are like me and have little hands around that won't leave them alone, get those little battery votives and drop one in the middle.) You can download the spider web sheet by clicking HERE. They are my favorite Halloween decoration at the moment! I have big plans for the wall above them, stay tuned...

If you use these, I have one tip, I put the printed side on the inside of mine, so it's hard to see the spider and web in daylight, but when it gets dark they look really cool, and you can see the design inside when you look down at them.

Make your own PB Pirate Pumpkins

2009-10-16T10:33:00.003-07:00

We are on round 2 of the fever bug, 2 kids on the mend and the other 2 down now- today I told them we'd make some Halloween decorations. I can't get out to buy the felt but I love this idea from Living with Lindsey: She made her own patterns to make the Pirate Pumpkin kits she saw in the PB catalog. You can see hers and get the patterns HERE.

Feeling a little like this guy...

2009-10-14T10:13:00.003-07:00

My mom has one of these and I was thinking of him last night as I went to bed, thinking about how our week off from school is not looking so fun now that we've got 2 sick kids over here. I think we all feel a little bit like this guy today.
PS Mr C thinks it is the scariest thing ever (besides the skull head who's eyeballs and teeth pop out while he screams) and Miss E thinks he is the funniest thing ever because she is sure he just needs to go potty.