Duck Tape Halloween Costume

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 Countdown block calendar

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

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!

Yo yo yo!

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:

Print your own decals!

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! 

Kids Wall Art with the Cricut

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!

Pretty Little Desk (on the cheap)

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!

Covered Clipboard Organizer instructions

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

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!)

Creepy Vellum Spider Web Candle Shades- free download

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.

Tonight's Project...

EDIT: *If you want to see the whole group of entries, click this link HERE. I'm new to Flickr and for some reason my picture doesn't always show up in there, I think maybe only when I'm signed in? Maybe you'll see it though, it's fun to see all the other creations people came up with!

I actually started this a while ago and wanted to tell you to enter, but due to my severe procrastination problem I just finished it tonight- and it's the last day to enter. The Crafty Chica was having a fun contest to embellish a beach tote and I really wanted to do it. I've had this simple denim bag for a few years (Bath & Body Works gift) I scanned a vintage style Hawaiian postcard and enlarged it a bit and printed it on inkjet fabric from the Vintage Workshop. Then I wandered around my sewing room and craft stash till I found the ribbons and beaded trim and that gold flower from one of the girls old sandals and got busy sewing and glueing. I added some glitter around the image too, though you can't really tell in the picture. The girls were ooooo-ing and ahhh-ing over it before bed and asking when they could have a turn using it. After looking at the other entries in the contest I don't have much hope of winning a prize but it was fun having a challenge to make me do something!

I'm not completely useless...

And neither is my blog! I've found some great free downloads to share (via other favorite blogs- keep reading) I am almost done inventorying my food storage, the "system" will be in place THIS week and I will post about it- by Friday for sure! I started with a clip board and some sheets of lined paper and started writing everything down, and counting cans. If you are anxious to start, start doing that, it will take you longer than you expect.

Now for the fun stuff:

These free gift tags from Whisker Graphics are so cute! Click HERE to get your own.

Also found from her website this free funny "To Do" list from Vale Design HERE.

Design Mom always points me in fun directions, and I was thrilled to find this site, Vintage Printables with free, high resolution, vintage images.

She also posted a link to Design Dazzle's "scratch off" Father's Day card- I love that idea! See how to make your own HERE.

And finally, my crafty project for the week, THIS Father's Day envelope card (or some version of it) from Pine is Here.

Stamper?

I confess, when I think about stamps I usually think of little old ladies stampin' up their old lady crafts, especially "rubber stamps" but since all the cute clear stamps started coming out I started getting a little excited about them, and have even picked up a few. Exploring Etsy tonight I found this amazing, talented artist who sells her hand carved stamps- and they are so cute, perfect for making your own stationary, or stamping little recipe cards, invitations or something fun! Check out Corrabelle's shop HERE and look how cute these are!

Oh Martha!

I ran to Walmart over the weekend for "a couple" things and found myself over in the crafts department (I don't know how that always happens...) but they had several of the Martha Stewart crafts kits on clearance and I picked up some fun puppet kits for the kids, and this awesome "Honeycomb Birthday Card Kit." I love being able to put cards together without using too much of my brain! I also put together this cute card below-

It was from my card class last month. I especially love the little elephants, they came from a Martha Stewart craft punch- can you tell the little ears stick up? SO cute.

I did it

I won't tell you all my issues with it, but it is much cuter than my current key rack and fits in the same tiny spot next to the garage where I need it. I love projects like this that can be done in no time, very gratifying! I used a cupboard door because that's what I had.

My Teacher Appreciation gifts: hand sanitizer

Today is National Scrapbooking Day and I thought I would actually do some but then I remembered that Monday begins Teacher Appreciation Week (I think?) so I decided to decorate some hand sanitzer for the girls teachers and it was so fun! I used Glitz rub-ons, except for the Orange "C is for Curious" one, which is Cosmo Cricket "Jack's World." I am really excited about how they turned out and can't wait for the girls to give them to their teachers. I bet they are using a little more of the stuff than usual! Target was completely out, and the Walgreens I went to only had these 2 colors of the store brand- crazy.

Super Cute Valentines

I've been spending WAY too much time searching craft blogs but I love it! It makes my head spin when I see all the creative beauty out there! I'm loving all the valentine stuff I'm coming across, here are some things put on my mental "to do someday" list.

First, this adorable valentine box and wrappers for Hershey's nuggets:

from the blog design, wash, rinse, repeat, then these darling paper fortune cookies from her as well. Click on the pictures to go to her free downloads and instructions. I saw some made with felt somewhere too. Next, this really cute way to make regular paper clips into heart paper clips from How About Orange:

I love how simple and cute these stitched cards from The Purl Bee are, also the little stuffed felt hearts!

Done!

I really should post projects I want to do more often because it really made me make the time to do it! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out- I used Stickles glitter glue for the antennas because I couldn't make them look right with buttons, and I used Elmers Tacky glue, but I'm thinking pretty much anything that dries clear would work. Very easy and fun little project to do! For another (much more creative) go at it check out THIS BLOG. You can tell that Ginger is an artist, she used different sized circle punches instead of buttons and then made a couple little friends for it! So cute, I could only imagine doing it (almost) exactly like I saw it in the catalog!

Shower Pretties

I can't believe my baby sister is having a baby! (congratulations Diana!) We had her shower this weekend and Becky T. did a great job on the decorations. I wanted to show my favorite things, those big pink puff balls hanging from the ceiling in the right hand corner:Somehow I didn't get a good picture of them though. They are so cute, I think I need to go get some for my girl's bedrooms! They were just at Walmart in the Martha Stewart crafts kit section- here's the picture from the website:I got to do the favors and filled these boxes with pink M&M's and Strawberry Whoppers. I got the white boxes from Michael's and wrapped a strip of Glitz Hot Mama Damask paper around them and then made the stickers on my computer with the Glitz Create-a-Card CD (vol 2) and printed them on sticker paper sheets and then used a circle punch to cut them out.Sounds pretty simple, but it took me hours of staring at them to figure it out, especially how to make the ribbon work, (fyi- I wrapped the black ribbon around the box lid, and then stuck a couple pink ones in the knot) but I liked them in the end. There were a few left over and I left them out last night and the kids woke up and helped themselves to candy for breakfast today! At least I got to sleep a little longer before anyone needed me for anything.

Time to go green?

I got an e-mail the other day that illuminated the evils of the plastic grocery bag and I thought I might look into getting some re-useable grocery bags. And if I'm going to jump on the oh so trendy "go green" wagon, I need some pretty shopping bags! The HP website has these butterfly/nature images you can download and print onto iron on transfers for your cloth shopping bags. (click picture to go to website.) I don't know the best source for canvas shopping bags, but Amazon has a ton of choices, I liked THIS ONE.