Keep Calm-o-matic Poster Generator

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!

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! 

Lovely Love

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...

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

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

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.

Recipe Cards- another free download

*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)

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.

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!

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.

Printables

I love to make things with my computer, and I recently heard about these sheets you can use to print your own rub-ons, then the other day on the news they were showing these sheets you can print your own (temporary) tattoos on, and I got to thinking, what else is out there? Besides the usual magnets, t-shirt transfers, stickers, and transparencies etc, here's what I found:
Gold or Silver
Shrink Art (print your own Shrinky-Dinks!!)
Pearlescent
Window Clings
Fabric Sheets
Puzzles
I'm trying to decide what I "need" to try first...