Sometimes Creative

Christmas Card 2011

2012-02-01T13:22:00.000-06:00

I love Christmas cards. I love sending them. I love receiving them. Love everything about them. If you've followed along for a while you'll remember my cards I drew for 2010, and my cards from 2009 and 2008.

Each year mid-summer I start to come up with ideas for our family's card. I come up with all these ideas and tell myself that I'm going to do them in October so they'll be ready to go come December 1st. And each year, I wait until the VERY LAST MINUTE. But, I get them out. In the end, that's all that matters, right? Right.

This year I had this idea to do silly photo booth type poses with props. I gathered a few silly props, bought a table cloth and a fleece blanket for back drops and recruited a friend, Tony, to take our photos. I had plans (again, I'm great at making them, not always at executing them) to come up with a cute layout and print them myself. But, I waited too long, was leaving town the next day for a month, and didn't have time to mess with them. So, I uploaded the pictures to Shutterfly and found a layout that worked. I love how it turned out.

The best part this year was that we didn't even try to get a group shot. No taking 200 shots to get everyone looking/smiling/not blinking/not wigging. It was perfect for our two year and and four year old.

Here they are all ready to send. I find myself thinking I'm going to cut back on my list each year but we seem to keep adding to it. We sent out 128 cards this year. I know, crazy. But, again, I love them and I love keeping in touch with friends and family. I also send out a monthly recap of our year with our cards each year. It gives people a glimpse of our year without being too wordy.

Do you send out cards? How many do you send? Do you love getting them as much as me?

Breakfast With Santa Party

2012-01-25T15:00:00.000-06:00

I spent December in Texas with family and friends and decided to throw a fun party for the kids while there. Since my dad has played Santa for years for different functions I knew a Breakfast With Santa party was the way to go.

Between my siblings and siblings-in-law there were 18 kids so I kept it simple and send out an evite. I know, blasphemy, right? But, I was busy, didn't have access to my printer or computer and am trying a new mantra of keeping it simple. We'll see how that goes.

I asked each family member to bring a breakfast item so we ended up with a potluck of pancakes, bacon, breakfast casserole, donuts, juice, chocolate milk and all sorts of yummy hot cocoa flavors. Breakfast food is my favorite so I was more than happy that morning! Some came in their jammies and some were dressed for the day. I opted jammies for sure.

My parents generously opened their house for the event and I did a little decorating. I found these great foam like snowflakes as Dollar Tree six for $1.00. Score! I strung them up on fishing line and my mom and mother-in-law helped me hang them through the entry way and hall with 3M hooks. I didn't do much else decor wise since it wasn't my house and we were leaving after the party to visit Sea World for a couple of days! (Love Sea World!)

I put my father-in-law and brother-in-law to work with my son mixing reindeer food to give out for the kids to sprinkle on their lawn Christmas Eve night. They mixed together oatmeal and glitter and poured it into Wilton's pretzel bags. They were the perfect size and shape for the little ones. I printed this poem (found all over the net) and tied them on with a ribbon:

Sprinkle this reindeer food outside tonight.

The moon will make it sparkle bright.

As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,

This will lead them to your home.

I've seen reindeer food packaged up much cuter in container and shakers and jars. After considering most of the kids were 3-6 and would be chunking the container after one dump in the yard, I saved my pennies and the Wilton bags worked out perfectly.

My friend had Santa hat chair covers that we borrowed for the party. Thanks again, Heather! So cute!

Here's Santa with a few of the kids. He said his hat was too hot...we were in Texas, after all.

He read The Night Before Christmas to the kids while we cleared the table and got a craft ready.

While taking turns getting their picture with Santa, the kids all made a pine cone Christmas tree ornament to take home. I spray painted some pine cones green earlier in the week then I set out glue, pom poms, jingle bells and pipe cleaners.

My niece, Jessica, was our photographer and took pictures of everyone on Santa's lap.

These two got my vote for "Cutest" at the party.

Santa gave out candy treats to the kids who were more excited about that than any other part of the party.

It was a fun morning and I'd love to do it again here. Now I just need to convince Santa to come visit early next December!

Baby Stocking Caps

2012-01-23T20:31:00.000-06:00

While visiting Texas for Christmas my friend, who works in the NICU, asked me if I'd crochet some striped stocking caps for the babies they had as a surprise for the parents for Christmas. I'd never crocheted hats but looked up a couple of patterns, combined them for simplicity and got to work. They were FAR from perfect but they weren't actually wearing them anywhere except for a picture. They were so tiny that they were pretty quick once I got the hang of it. My mom and I crocheted one afternoon and whipped up 11 of them. My nieces made the braids and pom-poms. I used Simply Soft yarn by Caron (my new fav) and don't think I'll go back. It's SO soft and stays soft. My mom crocheted my son a baby blanket out of it and, five years later, yep...still soft. Michael's doesn't carry it but Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart do.

Don't ask me what pattern I used. Like I said, I tried two different ones and kind of ended up doing my own thing in the end. The ones I tried never would have tapered like this or fit a preemie.

Quick Christmas Wreath

2012-01-23T20:21:00.000-06:00

I left town for the entire month of December but didn't want my house to look totally deserted for fear of getting robbed. I strung a couple of strands of Christmas lights on the porch and threw together this wreath in thirty mintues to hang on the door. I had a wire frame on hand, some wide mesh ribbon and a few picks. I looped the mesh, wired it on and hung it on the door. I'd like to add more to it next year but for this year, when no one came over, it worked. And I didn't get robbed. Mission accomplished!

Popcorn Afghan...two years late

2012-01-23T20:16:00.000-06:00

Here is an afghan I crocheted for our family's White Elephant gift exchange. I started it a couple of years ago, (long story) and delivered it this year. Next time, I'll be much quicker. Short story is that I put it away, unfinished, and it was out of sight, out of mind. I used Lion Brand's Homespun yarn in Rococo color and doubled it up so it would nice and thick. I crocheted a popcorn stitch and love the finished product. It's big and heavy but perfect for cold days snuggled up on the couch.

Handmade Christmas Gifts

2012-01-23T20:08:00.000-06:00

Last year I read on Design Mom's blog her tradition of having her children make Christmas gifts for each other. And I looooooved the idea. I'm always thinking of ways to scale back at Christmas time and not make it about more toys and more toys and more toys. My children are two and four so they needed help but they made their gifts for each other this year. Not only were they so excited to keep their secret, they each have really enjoying using their gift.
My daughter is two so I let her pick out some fabric to make a pillow case for my son. He's often asking for character sheets and bedding and I'm just not interested in that. At. All. But, I can deal with a pillowcase. We used flannel and made a tube pillow case. Just google it. Quick, easy and all the seams are enclosed and don't need to be finished. I sewed the sides and back up with french seams and called it good. So, okay, I made this one but she's pretty young.

My son is four and when I told him we were starting a new tradition he knew exactly what he wanted to make her. A bag. A "Tinkerbell" bag to put things in. I took him shopping to pick out fabric and he came home and helped me cut and sew the bag together. He loves to sew. I let him work the foot pedal while I sewed the bag then gave him scraps to sew on while I ironed.

The most exciting part was seeing both faces as they opened their gifts. They were just as excited to give their gift as they were to receive their gift. And that's what it's all about. (You thought it was the Hokey-Pokey, didn't you?) We just found a new Christmas tradition. Thank you, Design Mom.

In that spirit, they also made some hand made ornaments and bracelets for their cousins out of puzzle pieces and I crocheted little doll blankets for them.

Kids Christmas Trees

2011-11-28T21:43:00.000-06:00

I was inspired by my neighbor last year to put a little tree in each of my kid's bedrooms this year for Christmas. I found these 4 foot pre-lit trees at Garden Ridge and knew they'd be perfect for their rooms.

I looked online for ornament sets and lots on eBay and wasn't having much luck. I wasn't interested in paying high prices for ornamnents for kids and I didn't want breakable ones in their bedrooms. I mean, seriously, look at these Target prices. The individual ones were glass. No thanks to glass and no thanks to $8.00 each.

Then I an idea. I gathered up several Happy Meal toys* from the basement, added in a few things I found at the dollar store and garage sales and made my own ornaments.

I started by adding little eye hooks to the tops of the toys. Some of the harder plastic ones I poked at with a needle thing but I didn't even need to pull out the drill. Twisting them in was doing a number on my fingers though so I did use needle nose pliers for that. Sorry, little pony. This will only hurt for a minute.

Then I added thin ribbon to hang them on the tree. I didn't want hooks in their rooms.

The trees were so user friendly I literally took them out of the box, fluffed a few branches and plugged them in. That's my kind of tree. Here's the pink one full of Hello Kitty (I did find a few recently in the dollar spot at Target), Strawberry Shortcake, Sesame Street figures, My Little Ponies and Disney Princesses.

And here's the blue one full of superheros, Star Wars figures, and Transformers.

I surprised the kids with them the night before we went to the downtown Christmas lighting parade. They have played with them daily since and I'm glad we have a new tradition for their rooms each year.

*Before you go all "mother-of-the-year" on me for the amount of toys I have just know that my neighbor works for McDonald's and hooks us up often with sets of Happy Meal toys. And then I scored at a garage sale because this is all the crap no one wants. I got an entire bag of boys toys for $1.00.

Homemade Trophy

2011-11-28T20:31:00.000-06:00

I cut an idea out of my Family Fun magazine this summer for a home made trophy and saved it for just the right occasion. And, what do you know? One came along.

My friend was turning 40 and I knew it would be the perfect gag gift for her since she loves trophies. I collected some things that related to her, a few things that are inside jokes, along with some random toys/crap, a plastic cup, a plastic bowl and a tiara.

Then I spray painted everything gold.

Last I glued it all together. I used hot glue and nothing melted. Quick and easy.

And you know what? She loved it. My son is asking for his own and wants to know what kind I'm going to make him.

Halloween Party

2011-11-28T19:07:00.000-06:00

I threw another kids Halloween party this year but I simplified it from last year. No stress is my new motto (we'll see how long that lasts;)

My neighbors came over one afternoon and helped us make up invitations. I printed up the invites then had them tear out paper for hair and eye brows. Then the kids ran around and passed them out by hand. My son loved that he got to make the invitations.

I kept the food and decor super simple. After all of the fun/fancy food last year, the kids didn't eat much so I didn't put much out. I was going to have a sugar cookie station and let them decorate cookies but when I walked into Sam's Club the day before the party and saw Halloween cupcakes already decorated, with rings on top for $12 I was sold. Again, it was all about simple this year. I did make up some fun green foamy punch though. Big hit.

I put out some toilet paper tubes, google eyes, markers, glue, pipe cleaners and other small things and let the kids create something while we waited for everyone to arrive.

We played a few new games and I recycled some from last year. We played "witch, witch, ghost" instead of "duck, duck, goose." Then we played hot potato with a spider.

I made a witch's hat ring toss.

I bought some ingredients to toss into my cauldron for "witch's brew."

We did the pin the nose on the witch that I made last year.

I filled some recycled jars with candy and had them guess how many there were.

And did a little mummy bowling with our recycled bowling pins. I taped gauze and google eyes onto them and used a black foam pumpkin for the bowling ball.

I tried to get a group shot. It was like hearding cats.

I had prizes for the games and sent everyone home with a Halloween ring pop. I didn't even do goodie bags this time. And no one cared. They just like to get together, play games and have a good time. I need to remember tha more often and not be so worried about creating things "just right" so I have good pictures to blog about! Lesson learned this year: people just want to have fun. They don't need you to stress yourself out for that to happen.

Toddler Activity Bags

2011-11-28T15:54:00.001-06:00

I found a post via Pinterest about a gal who made some activity bags for her toddler and then did a swap and I thought it was a fab idea. You can read all about hers (and get ideas) here.

I sent out an evite to friends with little ones and we had eight people participate in the swap. We followed the guidelines Jen used such as having the activities in zip lock bags so they were self contained and ready to grab when you need an activity to keep your little ones busy. Some could even be taken in the car, on a plane or into waiting rooms. My kids were very excited as they peeked in that the table was full of activities just for them!

I made a color and shape sorting board. I colored two sides of a poster board: one with colors and one with shapes. Then I cut out little shapes out of colored foam for the little ones to sort. I made a larger version when my son was two and he would spent many evenings sorting shapes and colors while I made dinner.

Julie made little stick puzzles. Easy and simple. I threw those in my purse to take on the go. I may even make a few more holiday related ones.

Amy brought magnetic dry erase boards complete with a magnetic alphabet. There are many possibilities with these items: letter recognition, colors, spelling, tracing, phonics, etc...

Rebecca brought little bugs, a magnifying glass, tweezers, a bug catcher and bug grabber all found at Oriental Trading. What kid wouldn't love this?

Samantha brought a little wooden box with jeweled shapes inside. My girl has already claimed this as her jewelry box and loves transferring the jewels in and out of the box. I think I'll let her paint the box one afternoon when it gets cold and we need an inside activity.

Dana colored some pasta and threw in some pipe cleaners and cucpake liners with numbers inside for sorting and counting.

Mary made everyone a button activity. The button is sewn onto a ribbon so they can practice buttoning through each piece of felt.

Liz made a pipe cleaner and bead activity. I added a few more colors and shapes to my bag of beads and keep this in my purse for restaurants. Perfect for fine motor skills and color matching!

I made a clothes line one for my kids the week before. I cut out clothing shapes from felt and bought some clothes line at the craft store. I had to explain the concept of a clothes line to them and had to laugh at some of the things my kids will never know existed. (Not that I've ever lived without a dryer! HA!) We tied clothes line to two chairs and they worked on their fine motor skills pinning the clothes onto the line with spring clothes pins and old school clothes pins my mom gave us.

Have you made toddler bags? What did you make?

Eggers Cartoon Contest

2011-10-23T20:45:00.003-06:00

Do you remember the Eggers Cartoon Contest from the Sunday newspaper funnies? They used to run in the Sunday paper each week. Basically, you drew something that was in the shape of an egg and used the word, "egg" in the title and they'd publish it.

My mom recently mailed me a box of old school work, report cards, and other childhood things she'd filed away. Included in the package were two copies of my winning Eggers cartoon from the 1990 local Sunday paper. Yep, that's right. My creative side goes waaaaay back. Here's my copy of "The Little Mermegg." I was so famous that Sunday they even showed my cartoon in church!

I enjoyed my five minutes of fame. Do you remember those? Did you ever enter?

Caramel Apples

2011-10-18T20:04:00.000-06:00

To celebrate the first week of fall we made caramel apples last month. We ate a couple of them but gave the rest out to neighbors and friends.

I started with large Gala apples I found at Sam's Club. I bought wooden round sticks in the craft department from Michael's. And I melted wrapped caramels in my small crock pot. It was perfect for dipping.

After I dipped the apples I drizzled them in white chocolate and dark chocolate. Then they all took a roll in another topping: Snickers, Heath Bar or Nuts. They are a little messy but they passed quality inspection from my little taste testers.

I wrapped them up and added a tag I made with Shabby Princess free graphics.

We delivered them to friends, neighbors and the ladies I visit at church. They were yummy but they sure were messy to make so I won't be making them again any time soon. I'll just hit up Rocky Mtn Chocolate Factory next time I need my fix. They've perfected these babies.

Ruler Growth Chart

2011-10-16T20:23:00.001-06:00

My parents moved out of their house of twenty-nine years this summer. And they left their growth chart on the wall. Painted over. Never to be seen again.* So sad. I was measured on that wall at four years old and many times more into adulthood. My siblings, nieces, nephews, and even a few neighborhood friends were on that wall. So many memories. Seeing that I knew I had to make a growth chart that I could take with me when I move. I've wanted to make a movable growth chart for four years and just now got around to actually executing it. I've seen cute ones all over online and found the ruler like ones on Pinterest so copied one of those. You can see the one I copied from 517 Creations here.

I purchased a pine board that was 1 x 6 x 6. I stained it (well, my dad did a coat as well since he was hanging around) with a few coats of Minwax. I like the stain & polyurethane combo for projects like this - it makes for one easy step. I measured every inch and drew the lines with a paint pen. I drew the lines one inch long and every fourth line two inches long. I printed off a font of numbers I liked, traced them on and colored them in with paint pen as well. I started, like she did, with the first number six inches up and hung it with the bottom of the board six inches from the floor so that "1" hit 12 inches from the floor. I wanted it to measure more than six feet since I have some tall brothers...you never know! Lastly, my dad sprayed it with another couple layers of clear polyurethane to protect that paint.

I took the kids' measurements I've been saving up and wrote my sons in one color sharpie and my daughters in another. I added my husband and I and hung it on the wall with 3M picture hangers. I wanted it pretty flush with the wall so didn't want it hanging on a nail or screw. Now I've got a chart that can move with us through the years and we can watch how the kiddos grow.

*To my mom's credit, she did copy over all of the measurements onto a long strip of paper to take with her.

Hanging Ghosts

2011-10-16T19:38:00.001-06:00

I saw some hanging ghosts in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and figured I'd just make my own. I bought some cheesecloth and went to buy styrofoam spheres and changed my idea just a little. Did you know those spheres are $15-20 EACH??? I wanted 8 and 10 inch ones so I just bought the disc size instead for a more reasonable $5-8 each. I started out with the foam discs, white cotton, cheesecloth, hot glue, fishing line and black foam.

My mom and I sat down one afternoon and created four ghosts to hang on our front porch. I covered the discs in white cotton, then a layer or two of cheesecloth. My mom strung them on fishing line then we cut strips into the fabrics to have them sway in the breeze. I cut shapes out for eyes and mouths and glued them on. The kids were ever so helpful in cutting the black foam scraps into little tiny pieces. They love to practice cutting! The ghosts were quick, easy and much cheaper than the $59 Pottery Barn version. Okay, so theirs lit up. Big deal! Still not worth the price in my book.

Here they are hanging on the porch. They sway great but twist quite a bit so I need to add faces to the other sides as well. Now that they've been outside a week, the hanging strips are weathered and they look great!

Sand table into waterworks

2011-10-16T19:14:00.000-06:00

My parents were in town last week and we made all sorts of fun things with the kids. One of my favs was this fun water feature for outside.

We have a Step 2 sand and water table that has a hole for an umbrella in it. We bought it on Craigslist a couple of years ago sans umbrella so we've always just had a hole in the middle. We fill it with sand in the spring and when the sand is all gone we just let the kids play with water in it for the remainder of the summer. I had a an idea to build some sort of hose attachment that would come up through the hole and then fit different pvc pipes and connectors onto similar to the one at the children's museum we frequent.

On top of being an all around handyman who can build or fix anything, my dad builds fountains and was the perfect expert to build this for us. After a trip to Home Depot and an hour cutting pvc and assembling pieces, the kids were set with a nozzle to change up all sorts of ways. From the base you can interchange any pvc pipes and fittings to make the water go wherever you want. I'll probably add a simple pump in a bucket next summer to replenish the water as it fills up pretty fast.

He screwed some holes in some end caps to create a sprinkler effect as well.

It's been oddly warm here the last week so they had a few chances to play with it. The neighbor kids all came over one afternoon and spent two hours playing in the water, filling buckets, and splashing around.

Thanks again, Pop Pop! Best. Idea. Ever.

Fall Bucket List

2011-09-26T15:23:00.001-06:00

We had such good success with our Summer Bucket List (click here to see it) that we decided to make a fall one as well. It really got us out the door and we did things we'd wanted to do but didn't always think about doing.

Here's our fall bucket list poster. I filled in each shape and letter with things on our list that we want to do this fall and when we do them, the kids get to color in that shape or letter. It's perfect for my little ones who don't quite read yet.

A few items on our fall list are:

rake leaves and jump in them
bake bread
visit a pumpkin patch
go apple picking
bake a pie
make applesauce
go trick-or-treating
throw a fall party
throw a Halloween party
go camping
nature scavenger hunt
leaf rubbings
apple painting/printing
collect acorns
make apple cider donuts
go for a bike ride
perform a secret service
Thanksgiving thankful tree
plant spring bulbs
check out fall books from library
make caramel apples
go to a fall festival
make a scarecrow
carve pumpkins
toast pumpkin seeds
make popcorn balls
go to a farmer's market

I also listed several local, specific museums and places we want to visit. Can't wait to get it all colored in!

Shark Party

2011-08-10T00:42:00.000-06:00

We watched some of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel last week and we hit up the library to stock up on books about sharks. We talked about making shark cupcakes and I figure if you're going to make cupcakes, you may as well have a party. It was very last minute and very casual but the kids all had fun celebrating all things shark.

I printed a sign for the front door and cut a "bite" in a surf board from a luau I threw years ago.

My niece dressed up in my neighbor's man eating shark costume. Love it.

She also headed up the games. The kids played pin the fin on the shark. I drew the shark and my son colored the water.

They played a fish toss game and threw inflatable fish into a shark's mouth. I thought about making a shark's mouth on a board to throw them into but, considering I planned it two days before the party, I blew that off and just bought a blue trashcan at the dollar store and added teeth and eyes. Found the fish at Party City with the summer clearance.

They played a shark version of hot potato and fish, fish, shark instead of duck, duck, goose.

I made them all shark fin hats to wear and fed them gummy sharks, fin cupcakes and Nemo fruit snacks.

Afterwards we all headed to play in the water with their new shark prizes.

Did you do anything fun for Shark Week?

Kiddie Car Wash

2011-08-10T00:12:00.002-06:00

I saw the idea for the kiddie car wash in Family Fun Magazine and since their website had all the plans I knew it would be easy to make.

And it was.

For my husband.

I emailed him the plans one afternoon and asked him to stop by Home Depot on his way home and get the supplies. I half expected him to laugh at me and tell me I was crazy but he came home with the supplies and built it that night. Yep, that's why I love him. Best. Dad. Ever.

Anyhoo, I did the decorating and instead of lawn chair strips like they suggested, I just bought plastic table cloths and cut them into strips. Then, I embellished it with a couple of pool noodles. And this thing has been the hit of the summer. The kids all went nuts for this basically glorified sprinkler. We've pulled it out several times since and they always have a blast. He glued a couple of pieces and opted for a brass connector for the hose but otherwise, we can break it down pretty easily for next year. Now, go build one.

Rainbow Party

2011-08-08T15:26:00.000-06:00

My kiddos got invited to a rainbow birthday party a few weeks ago and I had to share the cake with you. My friend made seven layers and stacked them to make a rainbow cake. LOVED IT! Everyone oohed and ahhed as they cut it and revealed all those fun layers. Well done, Samantha!

I love a good theme party so to go along with it I put rainbow colored pony tail holders in my daughter's hair and we painted her tootsies with rainbow colors as well.

I foresee a rainbow party in my future now!

Gnome Fun

2011-08-08T15:05:00.000-06:00

I saw these little resin gnomes on clearance for $0.99 at Michael's a few weeks ago and bought them up.

I don't know anything about resin but since I have tons of acrylics, I painted them with those. Then I sprayed a clear polyurethane layer on them to make them shiny. Again, I used what I had on hand and have no idea how they'll hold up but it worked for me. Since their faces were already painted on, it didn't take long to finish them. Aren't they cute?

I printed up a little poem with a picture of the gnome and placed it in each of our neighbor's mailboxes.

Then, my son and I snuck around that night and hid a gnome in each yard. The neighbor kids all had fun finding their gnomes over the next few days. A few of them knew it was us but a few of them didn't figure it out. I'd love to wake up and find a little hiding gnome in my yard, wouldn't you?

Missionary Packages

2011-08-02T16:12:00.000-06:00

I have a nephew who just left on a mission for my church. He spent July 4th in a missionary training center and they probably didn't really celebrate so I sent him a fun patriotic care package.

After the training he headed to Boise, Idaho where he'll teach people about our church for two years. When missionaries are new to the mission they call them "Greenies" so I send him a green package when he arrived in Idaho. I can't just send a plain box to I wrote "greenie" all over the outside of his with different green permanent markers.

If you're looking for other missionary care package ideas check out my Fun Mail & Packages link for past ones.

Rockets

2011-08-02T16:04:00.000-06:00

I saw these hanging rockets on Alphamom via Pinterest. I just copied the picture but read after the fact that they actually filled theirs with confetti and pulled the string to "pop" them open. We just hung ours up for holiday decor. We covered toilet paper rolls with cute paper and taped the ribbon on for streamers.

All of the neighbor kids came over to make their own.

I made a few for table decor one Sunday when we had dinner guests and did fill those for the kids to open.

Summer Bucket List

2011-05-23T20:43:00.004-06:00

I've seen all sorts of bucket lists and summer lists in blogland and on pinterest so I thought we'd make one of our own.

My kids are young so I kept it simple. I drew a picture of the sun and the beach on a white poster board. I asked my son what he wanted to do this summer and added some of my ideas as well. His idea to "dig for dinosaur bones" didn't make the cut since he does that daily in the yard. I listed our items in each section of the picture and inside the letters and as we do them, he'll color in that section. He's already colored in going to a baseball game and running through the sprinkler. We did some simple, easy ones and some of specific museums and places I want to go check out this summer.

Here are a few of the things we listed:

go camping
make homemade popsicles
go on a nature scavenger hunt
find a new park
have a water balloon fight
go to the beach
go to the zoo
slurpee run at 7-11
make homemade ice cream
watch fireworks
go to a parade
go to a festival
check out a local farmers market
grow vegetables in our garden
try a new restaurant
go out for breakfast (we rarely do that but I LOVE breakfast out)
outdoor movie / block party
stay up late and run around with glow sticks outside
catch fireflies
blow giant bubbles
make frozen hot chocolate
fly a kite
go to the spray park
build a sand castle
go to the pool
visit the children's museum
go on a picnic
family bike ride
check out a nature preserve
go to the arboretum
roast s'mores
go to an outdoor concert
do the library summer reading program

I also listed some specific museums and places to visit around here. Are you making a bucket list for summer? What's on your list?

Edited: September 26th We completed our summer bucket list with the exception of one thing! I'd call that success. Here's our colored in poster:

Trader Joe's Gift Basket

2011-05-23T20:23:00.003-06:00

I sent my parents a package with some of my favorite (mailable) Trader Joe's items to thank them for having us stay at their house last month. They don't have Trader Joe's where they are and so I thought they'd enjoy it.

Here are a few things it included:

Dark chocolate caramel wedges

Dark chocolate mint cremes (we opened them to try a few)

Sun dried tomatoes

Meyer lemon cookie thins

Orange dried cranberries

Cinnamon almonds

Apple bread mix

Treats for their dog

A TJ shopping bag

Do you have Trader Joe's where you live? Do you love it? What's your favorite item?

Best Kiss Party + Contest

2011-05-14T22:34:00.007-06:00

I had a Best Kiss Party before I moved but I don't think I blogged about it on here. So, I'll blog about my latest one here.

The kisses are some of the most anticipated and celebrated scenes of many movies. I asked everyone to bring a dvd with their favorite kiss scene and we'd spend an evening in watching the best parts of movies...the long awaited kisses. Last time I did this party in the fall but this time I planned accordingly and bought up "kiss" prizes from the Valentine's Day clearance.

I served popcorn and drinks and asked everyone to bring their favorite movie candy or snack.
We started with some kiss quote trivia. They read quotes about kissing from movies and had to guess what movie they were from.

I had prizes lined up to give away in categories like most romantic, sloppiest, best all around, hottest guy, cutest, etc. In the end we really didn't all agree on the votes and I've since forgotten which movie won which award so I'll just show you the gals with their prizes and tell you which movie they brought.
Melissa brought Sixteen Candles and picked the kiss at the end between Sam & Jake sitting on table (I'm reading the novel If You Were Here right now about a gal who buys "Jake Ryan's" house in the Chicago burbs. If you love John Hughes movies, read it! It is by Jen Lancaster.)
Nikki picked the wedding kiss from Braveheart. Very romantic.
Julie picked the Notebook kiss in the rain. "It wasn't over for me. It STILL isn't over!"
Rachel brought Some Kind of Wonderful where Keith and Watts practice kissing. Love it. Bought the soundtrack just for the song playing when they kiss.
Emily brought Sweet Home Alabama and picked the kiss at the end with the lightning. Loved that movie, too.
Samantha picked Moulin Rouge and we looked all over for a kiss but never found a specific one, but I know they kiss, I've seen it plenty.
I showed several kisses because there are just so many good ones. My top picks were Maid of Honor (where they kiss at her bachelorette party in the bar) and Practical Magic (the kiss at the beginning is so great!) We also watched some kissing montages from Youtube.

My son was so excited when he woke up the next morning and there were prizes left. He picked the lips lollipop which was pretty humorous.
I have a couple of other prizes left and I'm going to mail one of them to you! Leave a comment with your favorite movie kiss and I'll pick a winner on Wednesday the 18th and mail you a prize.

Mother's Day Corsage

2011-05-14T22:27:00.003-06:00

I copied my girlfriend, Julie's, valentines (remember the party?) and made fabric corsages for Mother's Day gifts.

There are a ton of tutorials on how to singe fabric and make flowers so I didn't do one. I'll just show you my end products. Basically, they are singed layers of fabric, sewn on beads, a little bling on the back and a pin hot glued on. These are the two I made for my mother and mother-in-law.
Then I made a couple for myself while I was at it. They'd be cute on a hair clip as well.

Plantable Paper Cards

2011-05-14T22:17:00.005-06:00

I saw this idea few years ago in Family Fun Magazine to make home made paper cards with flower seeds in them to plant. This year we carried out the idea.

First my son cut up paper. He loves to cut so this was a perfect job for him.
We soaked it all day in water to soften it.
I blended it up then he poured it in.
My neighbor had a paper making kit we borrowed to do all of the steps but there are plenty of tutorials and videos out there on how to make it with just a screen.
I added perennial seeds to the wet paper and then we let it dry.
When all was dry he drew on them and we mailed them off to his grandmas for Mother's Day.

Pretend Makeup

2011-05-04T23:34:00.006-06:00

I found the idea for this play makeup through Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday post a while back. The idea came from here and when I saw it I knew that was my solution to my two year old little girl getting into my makeup. I'm not a fan of pushing them to play with things that are older than they should be playing with but she's constantly in my makeup. Since I've made her her own though, she's left mine alone. Winning! Here she is putting on her makeup in my bathroom while I put on mine.
Basically, you empty out old makeup containers and fill them with nail polish. I went ahead and hit up the dollar store for compacts and bought enough to make some to give as gifts to a couple of their little friends last month. I also bought the nail polish at the dollar store so I didn't have a big variety of colors but it works. I let mine harden in an undisturbed room for a couple of weeks.
I packaged up the ones for gifts with a little cosmetic bag and a set of free brushes I got from Ulta.

Easter Carrots

2011-04-26T14:20:00.004-06:00

I saw these on pinterest.com (my new addiction...are you on there?) and wanted to make them. They made the perfect hostess gift for our friends who invited us to Easter dinner. I cut out several to make for myself and others but only whipped up five this weekend and threw them in a basket I found at Goodwill. I saw the pattern and tutorial here. I blew off making those "leaves" and just cut strips of the green fabric with pinking shears and sewed them on like that. Then I tied green ribbon around each one. They were simple but kind of tedious to make.

Cascarones: confetti eggs

2011-04-26T14:06:00.005-06:00

For our annual family Easter egg hunt I made some cascarones this year. After I'd made them I found a dozen at Wal-Mart for $1.99 so while they were fun to make, it's really pretty cheap to buy them already done.

First I cracked a small hole in the eggs, emptied the insides and let them dry out for a day. Then the kids and grandpa colored them. You have to hold them down into the dye as they are hollow and float!
I filled them with confetti I found for $1.00 at Wal-Mart with the Easter stuff.
Then I glued on little tissue paper squares.
When you found one in the Easter egg hunt, you got to crack it on someone's head. The kids loved them. They mostly cracked them on their dad's heads and grandpa.

Birthday Shirts

2011-04-26T13:55:00.005-06:00

Both of my children had birthdays a few weeks ago and I made them shirts to wear on their special days. My son is into superheros so I made him a Superman-looking logo and my daughter turned two so "2-Two" seems perfectly appropriate with a tutu to wear. I printed out the graphics onto iron-on paper then transferred them to some inexpensive t-shirts I found.

Rainbow Birthday Package

2011-03-29T22:40:00.003-06:00

We have a little friend who turned five on St. Patrick's Day so we decided to send her a rainbow package this year. Who wouldn't love a rainbow package??? We included a rainbow My Little Pony, rainbow colored candies, rainbow sunglasses and socks from the Target dollar spot, rainbow colored hair bows, rainbow silly dough, and other fun rainbow finds.
Then I drew her a rainbow label and shipped it off.

Moss Wreath

2011-03-29T22:19:00.005-06:00

In thinking about making a green wreath for St. Patrick's Day I decided to just make a spring wreath to cover me until summer. And a green moss one just happened to look good for St. Patrick's Day and into spring so that's what I went with.

I used a grapevine wreath but if I did it again I'd go with straw or foam since mine is a little misshaped.

Step 1. Lay down a dollar store tablecloth. You'll be glad you did.
Step 2. Glue on your foam. I mixed and matched and looking at it now, I'd probably just go with one kind if I did it again. I used hot glue to adhere to the grapevine but you could certainly use something a little simpler on a foam or straw form.

Step 3. Relish in your good decision to lie down that tablecloth so you can wrap it up and throw it away. That moss is messy stuff!
Step 4. Glue on a nest and some eggs.
Step 5. Step back and enjoy your spring wreath until summer...or fall, depending on how ambitious you get.
My end result has mixed emotions from me. It looks very splotchy. I'd potentially rip it apart and start again but I don't even think I'll use the same wreath so I may just start over from scratch next year. But, this works for now.

Rainbow Rice

2011-03-20T18:22:00.005-06:00

We've had a small rice box that my kids have used for playing in, finding little things in with tongs, pouring and measuring. But, with two playing I wanted a bigger box and more rice. And why not make it colorful? When I saw this rainbow rice on Pink and Green Mama's blog I knew it was for us.

I used the same technique I used on our colored pasta.

We put the rice in gallon sized ziplock bags with rubbing alcohol and food coloring.

Here it is drying out on the table. I LOVE the colors.
It looked like this for about thirty seconds.
He couldn't wait to mix it up.
And I still love it. And, more importantly, they love it.

Leprechaun House

2011-03-20T18:13:00.004-06:00

When Wal-Mart marked the Wilton Gingerbread House kits down to $1.50 I bought up several. It's an easy, quick thing to make for the holidays and the kids love decorating them. The best part? The ones I bought were assembled (no waiting for wall icing to dry) and the icing was in a bag, ready to use (no mixing!). Could it get any easier?

I saved Halloween colorful candy and other random candy in a big ziplock and pull it out for these moments. This time around we divided up the green and red candy it came with and just used the green.
Then we added some green of our own and some rainbow candy we found as well. We even made a pot of gold out of a mini Reese's and some nerds.
I don't claim to be talented enough with icing tips to make this fancy or beautiful AT. ALL. But, it sure is a fun way to fill an afternoon and have some decor for the holidays. And we never eat ours so I don't care that the candy and the house are old.

Valentines

2011-02-14T12:45:00.005-06:00

I like to write heart-felt messages in my Valentine cards to let my family and friends know just how much they mean to me. This year I decided to tell them all ten things I love about them. I printed up these cards then hand wrote in ten things on each of their valentines. I kept the front of the card simple with a heart punched out and mailed them off last week.

My son made dinosaur valentines to mail off this year since he's been into dinosaurs lately. He cut out the little hearts and I cut out the dinosaur bodies. Then he glued all the pieces on and wrote his name on the back.

Did you send valentines? Don't you love getting them (or anything hand written) in the mail? I do.

Ladies Valentine Exchange

2011-02-11T15:35:00.016-06:00

This party was totally inspired by the ever creative Stephanie and her annual valentine exchanges. She does one for her girlfriends each year and I've thought about it for the last couple of years. Two years ago I was super pregnant and busy getting a nursery ready. Last year my house was on the market and it's next to impossible to host a party while your house is listed (with two little ones, no less). So, this was the year. I love making and passing out Valentines and do it every year anyway so why not make a party out of it?

I sent out 18 invites thinking I'd get 10-12 attendees and that was a decent number of valentines to bring to exchange. I asked everyone to RSVP by a certain date so we'd know how many valentines to have ready. I ended up with 15 total and was surprised to get that many but it turned out well. I used Shabby Princess digital designs for the invitations then mailed them off in red envelopes.
A few weren't able to come last night so they dropped off their valentines throughout the day. I was beyond impressed and so excited about all of them as they piled up on the table.

Melissa made chap stick for everyone.
Jodie made everyone a little wooden decor piece with vinyl letters and hearts.
Mary made heart shaped chocolate chip cookies.
Kelli made everyone this cute tile to display.
Michelle picked up super soft sugar cookies from a local bakery.
Samantha brought little Bath & Body Works hand sanitizers.
Tina made everyone a ribbon bookmark with little charms.
Julie made fabric flower pins.
Sally made bath salts.
Rebecca made little hanging hearts filled with candy.
Susan sewed valentine ruffles onto dish towels.
Kim made heart shaped crayons.
Emily made pink sprinkled sugar cookies.
Stacy made pink heart shaped rice krispy treats.
And I made apple cinnamon jelly. I've made this for Christmas and Valentine gifts in the past because it's made with red hot candies and is a beautiful bright red color. I used 4 oz jelly jars and then created a label for the top punched out with my scallop punch.
I tried to keep the food simple and simplified it even more after my little girl had a fever all week. Luckily, Julie and Stacy came early and helped out. Thanks again, ladies!

I made two kinds of mini trifles: strawberry lemon and chocolate. Stacy skewered up the caprese skewers of mozzarella, basil and grape tomatoes then we drizzled them in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Julie dipped strawberries in chocolate and white chocolate. Then I made a hot crab dip and served it with a toasted baguette. My heart garland was compliments of my three year old. He learned how to cut hearts a few weeks ago when I folded a paper and drew the shape on and he couldn't stop. He wanted to cut more and more so I gave him the right colored paper and drew the sizes I wanted and he cut away. Then we sewed (I fed hearts while he did the foot pedal) them into garland and hung them around the house.

We played a game because a party isn't a party without a game and prizes, right??? I printed off pictures of couples from films and numbered them. Then I asked everyone to guess the movie and gave bonus points if they could name the characters. I'm surprised at how many hadn't seen the BBC Pride and Prejudice. Blasphemy!

I gave everyone Valentine gift bags and then we went around the table and filled them up!
Everyone had fun and I think this is going to be an annual tradition for me. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with next year.

Valentine Sun Catchers

2011-02-11T15:20:00.004-06:00

I saw this idea for ice sun catchers in my Family Fun magazine last year and decided to make them this week.

First we froze ice cubes with food coloring in them. If you live somewhere crazy like we do, you don't even have to use the freezer. You can use the back porch (or back snow pile in our case).
We dumped the ice cubes into heart shaped cake pans. They used round cake pans in the magazine but I figured hearts were perfect for this week. Add a cup full of water so you have a hole in it when it's frozen. Pour tap water into the pan until it's almost full then pop the pan in the freezer.
Here are our hearts hanging in our trees. It's been in the single digits and negatives this week so they're lasting out there just fine.

Recycled Postcards

2011-02-11T14:57:00.003-06:00

I mail letters and postcards to family and friends often. Several a week. So I started cutting out postcards to send from boxes of things we use. Easy and free.

What fun things have you made postcards out of?

Valentine Snowflakes

2011-02-11T14:48:00.004-06:00

After putting a few months on hold, we're back to making our Snowflakes for All Seasons. Here are the Valentine ones I cut for this month. I do miss my spacious kitchen window in my last house that I hung them on.

Photo Tile

2011-01-24T17:52:00.004-06:00

I had some left over transfer paper and mud from a Tilano Fresco Kit so I used a piece of wood I had, covered it with mud, stained it then transfered on a photo of my niece and her boyfriend. I used this as her Christmas gift and it only cost me the cost of a color copy at Office Depot. I love giving hand made gifts that people actually like.

Photo Monogram Letter

2011-01-24T17:46:00.004-06:00

I found this wooden letter on clearance for $3 a few months ago and thought it'd make the perfect base for a collage of some type. In an effort to economize my Christmas gifts and make something special for my nieces, it became a Christmas gift. It already had a wall hanger on the back and being wood, I knew it would hold up nicely. It was red so I spray painted it black. Then I printed off black and white pictures of my niece growing up, including several of us together, and used mod podge to glue them on. It turned out looking better than I thought considering I used regular copy paper. She loved it.

Illustrated Christmas Cards

2010-12-16T15:39:00.003-06:00

We moved to a new city this year and had plans to take a picture of our family with the new skyline but it never happened. So instead of a photograph this year I drew our Christmas card. I included several recognizable buildings and tried to get simple characteristics in each of us. I drew the final version with a Sharpie pen then copied them onto cardstock and had them cut to 10 x 7 size. I printed, "Merry Christmas from the Windy Cindy" on the inside. Then I colored a few details of each card with red pencil. I mailed them off in red envelopes.

White Christmas

2010-12-16T15:34:00.003-06:00

While there's plenty of snow outside, my favorite snowflakes are the ones hanging over our kitchen table. They are sparkly, pretty and don't make me wet or cold! I think I'll leave them up through January.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

2010-12-16T14:59:00.009-06:00

I saw this post last year on Design Mom's blog and thought, "What a great gift idea." But, you really have to plan ahead so it didn't happen last year. I put a reminder on my calender for August to start working on it for this Christmas and my timing paid off. I researched several sites online about making homemade vanilla and took advice from several different sites. The best tips came from the Instructables site. I bought all of my supplies in August. I bought my vanilla beans off eBay. They had better prices than many of the vanilla sites I looked at and even Amazon. Madagasgar, Grade B seemed to be the fav among extract makers as their moisture content is low thus giving a stronger flavor. I bought 8 ounce amber bottles from www.sks-bottle.com and I bought Smirnoff vodka at Sam's club.

Ingredients: vanilla beans, vodka...so simple!
Slice your beans lengthwise then scrape out the pulp with a dull knife.
You can just add the pulp but I decided to chop up the remains of the beans and throw them in as well.
I mixed them up in quart sized jars as everything I read noted that "brewing" smaller batches yielded more flavorful results. It would make more sense just to dump the beans into the vodka bottle but I didn't want to take any chances. I saw many, many different "recipes" for vanilla to vodka ratios. I used about 18 beans per quart jar and that worked for me.
After a good shake. I shook them every day for two weeks then I tapered it off to about once a week and then about once every two weeks. They need to be stored in a cool, dark place and my basement was perfect for that.
Three months later. I read that you can let it brew anywhere from six weeks on but these sat for fifteen.
I strained mine before I poured it into the bottles. You can leave the pieces but it's a little nicer to have a "clean" product when giving it as a gift. For myself, I'd just leave the bits in there to continue extracting the flavor. Don't forget to sterilize your jars or bottles before you fill them!
I designed labels on the computer then had them printed on label paper so I could cut them the size I wanted.
The final product. I'll definitely be doing this again. It's so much less stressful than baking for a week since most of the work is done early and I like to give something a little more original. And it's much yummier than store bought extract!
I gave them out to my neighbors, a few friends and my family. The out-of-town family and friends missed out since they're fragile, liquid and flammable. The USPS wouldn't be too happy with me trying to mail these.

Snowman Ornaments

2010-12-16T14:55:00.003-06:00

My creative neighbor invited us over this week to make these cute snowman ornaments. We painted the kids' hands with white acrylic paint then have them wrap their hand around the bottom of a shatterproof ornament. Their fingers end up making the snowmen bodies. I decorated my snowmen with sharpies but I think paint pens would have shown up better. We made one for each set of grandparents and one for our tree.

A few of my favorite things

2010-12-06T21:24:00.004-06:00

My bff has a birthday tomorrow so, after watching Oprah a few weeks ago, I thought I'd send her a box of my favorite things. I didn't quite have the budget to give her a car, an iPad and a diamond watch but her package arrived today and she loved it anyway. I added a little tag on each thing telling her why it was my favorite brand, type, etc...of that item. Here are a few things I included:

My fav lip gloss: Victoria's Secret...always glossy and stays "sticky"
My fav M&M's: peanut butter ones...so good!
My fav candybar: Twix
My fav candy: Haribo gummy bears. I won't eat other brands.
My fav snacks: Flipz, pistachios and circus peanuts. She says she's never had circus peanuts!
My fav color: purple, thus the purple scarf
My fav pen: the new Sharpie pens...try them out!
My fav nail polish: OPI...I threw in a good Christmas red
My fav purse must: Burt's Bees Cuticle Cream.

I love Mary Engelbreight so I threw in some of her Christmas cards. I love to make lists so I threw in a list pad from the Michael's $1.00 spot. I love hot chocolate so I threw in some flavored ones. And I love having lotion on hand so I threw in a purse size Nivea hand cream.

What would you include? What are some of your favorite things?

Christmas Packages

2010-12-06T20:47:00.003-06:00

I sent off my Christmas packages last week to two missionaries serving for our church, my nephew and my brother in law. I decided to go with red and green packages this year since I did the 12 Days of Christmas last year. I bought anything red or green I thought they'd like and packaged them up with red and green shredded paper.
As always, I decorated the boxes as well. My three year old helped on one of them.

Thanksgiving Table

2010-12-03T01:10:00.004-06:00

I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner this year now that we don't live close to family. I found out that we were going to do it at our house about a week before so I threw together what I had. I had this wicker cornucopia from last year so I bought a couple of glittery picks and arranged the inside. Then I spray painted my mini pumpkins left from Halloween, some large acorns and some pinecones from the yard gold and added them to it. I added some gold votives and called it good.

Thankful Tree

2010-12-03T01:04:00.004-06:00

I've seen many versions of this all over the blogsphere and I made my own this year. I cut off some branches from a tree outside, stuck them into floral foam, put them into a vase I had leftover from an old flower delivery and covered the foam up with pinto beans. Then I dug into my scrap paper box and pulled out fall colors. We spent and evening cutting out leaves and punching holes in them. Then each night, starting November 1st, we each wrote down what we are thankful for on a leaf and tied it to the tree with twine. At the end of the month we took them all off and re-read them and talked about how many blessings we have in our lives. I put it away for next year but think it will be a wonderful tradition to do each November. Some of the things that got written down included Elmo, our Savior, food, employment, self-healing bodies, toys, tortilla soup, our family and many more. Here is our tree after the first week. It ended up much more full but I forgot to take a final picture. The best part about this project, I didn't spend a dime. I had everything on hand already. Those are the best kinds of crafts!

Thanksgiving Crafts

2010-12-03T00:26:00.005-06:00

My son and I did several thanksgiving crafts in November. We gathered leaves and glued them on paper and made turkeys.
One day we made handprint turkeys.
Another day we gathered leaves and did leaf rubbings.
Last we made more handprint turkeys on cards to send out to our family. On some that were sent to just kids, all I wrote was "Gobble, gobble gobble" over and over and filled the card up with gobbles. I'm sure they got a few laughs out of those ones. He loved painting his hand.
He made this turkey headband in our co-op preschool group.

Snowman Kit

2010-12-01T14:03:00.004-06:00

We had a "Super Saturday" craft day at church last month and I signed up to make a snowman kit. They supplied an example and I don't know if the woman came up with this design herself or copied it but I thought it was very cute. We sculpted eyes, coal (for the mouth), a carrot nose and three buttons out of sculpey clay. Then we attached dowls to the back of each piece and baked them in the oven. I'll just add a scarf and hat and we'll be set when snowman season comes. It's snowing today but there's not enough on the ground for playing the in the snow just yet. Here are my finished pieces stuck into cardboard. When we build our snowman, I'll post an updated picture.

Added December 12th: We've had a few weeks of snow so here's our snowman put together. Now I just need to find a good hat.

Eye see you!

2010-11-29T22:57:00.004-06:00

I saw this on Martha and knew it would be perfect for our Monster's Inc themed costumes (assuming we actually wore them this year). It's just google eyes glued on a bracelet. I bought the plastic bracelet at Wal-Mart for $4 then raided the kid's craft cupboard for their dollar store google eyes. Easy, quick, cute and cheap. I wore it all Halloween weekend and even to church on Sunday with black and white. I got more compliments on that than most jewelry I wear on a regular basis!

Halloween Party

2010-11-29T21:54:00.012-06:00

I hosted a Halloween party for the kiddos in my neighborhood this year and loved it. We ended up with fifteen kids and it was crazy but fun. I ended up burning my fingers right before the party so I didn't get pictures of everything I wanted (I was somewhat distracted) but here are a few pics.

Every good party starts with a good invitation. Since we only invited our neighbors we made three dimensional invitations and hand delivered them. I printed them on purple card stock then attached little popping figures with ribbon.

I decorated the mantle with my painting, a few Sandra Magsamen witches, some great glittered bats I found at Pier 1, and some cobwebs.

I painted this cobweb on a foam pumpkin with black fabric paint. I usually do one on a real pumpkin but figured since I do this every year, I should just do a foam one I can keep.

I drew a witch profile and put it in one of my frames on a bookshelf and I drew bats for another frame. I found the little Frankenstein and witch busts at Michael's on clearance for $1.00 each.

I hung glittered bats all over the house, from light fixtures, chandeliers, doorways, etc... I think this is the only picture we got of them.

I filled four plastic jars (old peanut butter jars) with candy and had them guess how many were in them.

We played lots of games and I ordered all sorts of prizes from Oriental Trading Company so I wrote their names on blank bags to grab before the games began. Everyone got a prize for each game and the winner got a bigger prize.
I drew this witch on a poster board for a "Pin the Nose on the Witch" game.
I blew up black and purple balloons with prizes and confetti inside and taped them to the wall for another game.
We played "mummy wrap" with toilet paper. The little ones didn't quite get the concept.
We played "hot pumpkin" instead of "hot potato." Then we played "musical ghosts" instead of "musical chairs."
I cut up little Halloween shapes and they had to get them all into a bowl with a straw. Saw this in Family Fun last year.
We also played a Halloween bingo game I bought from Oriental Trading then we turned on the fog machine and strobe light in the basement and the kids danced. We didn't get a good picture of it but they had a blast.
The table was centered with a Halloween gingerbread house we made with my in-laws in September. I made mini-caramel apples (the caramel was REALLY hot, I know from experience), purple and green jello jigglers, and my dear neighbor ended up making some melted ham & cheese sliders for me after I burned my fingers. I also had my three year old put pumpkin and ghost shaped Peeps on lolli-sticks and we put those out. I served green punch and everyone else brought other appetizers and desserts.
My awesome neighbor who finished off the food and dishes.
My other neighbors were awesome as well and headed up the games and controlled the chaos. I just snagged her pic because I loved her apron!

This little guy showed up as the solar system. Totally his idea. How creative is that?
And how cute are my neighbor and her son as The Incredibles. Everyone in the family went as a character.
It was a fun kick-off to Halloween weekend and if my son had actually worn his costume (and I didn't burn my fingers) it would have been darn near perfect! Since we moved this year and his Sulley costume from last year still fit, we just did Monster's Inc again. So, I wasn't too disappointed that he boycotted the costume all weekend. I got cute pictures last year. On Halloween night, I did put the costume on my one year old for a few minutes. It was too big but she sure looked cute!

Halloween Painting

2010-10-11T21:36:00.003-06:00

I wanted something on my mantle to go with my Halloween decor but didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. So, I googled Halloween pictures, copied an image I found on google with a few changes and painted it on a 24 x 30 canvas. I've never painted with acrylics on canvas before and I definately could use some pointers and a better variety of brushes but I think I'll try another painting in the future. I enjoyed it. While I'm not in love with the painting, it works for something that's only going to be up for a month at a time and I did it in a couple of hours.
When I get the rest of my decor up I'll post pictures of the house.

Photo Magnets

2010-10-08T10:32:00.002-06:00

For my sister's birthday I wanted to make her some photo magnets of her boys. I tried two methods and wasn't super pleased with either but here they are:

I mounted the picture onto a round magnet for these ones and covered them with Stampin' Up Crystal Effects. It added a high gloss three dimensional look to them. I didn't love them though.
Then I tried just gluing glass beads onto the pictures for these ones. There's a glare in the picture but you get the idea.
She liked them and that's all that mattered. I don't think I'll make them again, though, until I figure out a better way that has a more finished look. The curly ribbon was used as I had only been in my house a month and hadn't unpacked my real ribbon or craft things so I used what I could find.

Recycled Wrapping

2010-10-08T10:28:00.002-06:00

With a plethera of packing paper around here we've been making our own wrapping paper for birthday gifts. The kids love to color it and I love that it's quick and cheap. Here are a few fun ways we've wrapped gifts lately with the name or age of the recipient.

Big, Giant Bubbles!

2010-09-07T20:56:00.005-06:00

I've seen these on several sites lately and knew we had to do them. It was fun, easy and my kids (along with the neighbor kids) loved them. Try them! The best "recipe" I found was here at Tator Tots & Jello's site.

All you need are two dowels, some eye rings, cotton string, washers, dish soap and glycerin. I had most of this on hand except the glycerin (which is found in the medical supplies near the witch hazel for all of you non-glycerin experts out there). We made two sets and have had lots of fun with them. We did them without glycerin the first time, just mixing dish soap and water, and it still worked but the bubbles last longer with the glycerin.
Here are a few shots of our bubbles over the last month.

365

2010-09-01T23:16:00.004-06:00

My friend, Melanie, has set a new goal to create something every day for the next 365 days. Crazy, right? Maybe not. She's getting to her creative side every day and I love that. I have a million and one ideas in my head that I'll "get around to" as I'm sure you do. She's inspired me to get off my butt and get some things done instead of waiting until I have time to do them. Anyway, if you want to follow along click here.

Sidewalk Art

2010-08-25T23:18:00.005-06:00

My neighbors and I threw a "block party" on Friday and we spent the afternoon outside with lots of kids, shaving cream on the slip & slides, water balloons, obstacle courses and arts and crafts. We did the crafts in my driveway and sidewalk.

First we painted. I got this idea last week from Pink & Green Mama's blog and knew they'd love it. And they did. They were already in their swimsuits so I rolled out some white paper down the sidewalk, put out some tempera paint in plastic bowls, gave them sponge brushes and they went crazy. They painted their hands, feet, bellies. They wrote their names, painted pictures, made footprints. In the end they had one big blog and they tried to turn it into another version of the slip and slide so we rolled it up, hosed them off and moved onto the next activity.

Like MaryLea, I always mix in a little liquid dish soap when I let the kids use tempera (even if it is washable) and acrylic paints. Then is washes off them so much easier.

Thanks for the fun idea MaryLea! I'll definately be doing that again. It was easy and the kids loved it.

Kids Crafts

2010-08-18T08:15:00.010-06:00

We moved into our new house in May and the only boxes I have yet to unpack are my craft supplies. I lost the closet space I had for them at my last house so I need to get a new cabinet to put them in. Until then we'll keep doing fun kids crafts with what we have out.

My ten year old niece, Madison, came to stay with us for the summer so we did all sorts of fun kids crafts.

We made bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed. We buy the "colorful bird" assortment at Wal-Mart and do get a fun variety of birds showing up in our yard.
We made these "foamerators" I saw last summer in my Family Fun Magazine. They were easy and all the neighbor kids loved them.
We decorated sugar cookies for July 4th.
Then we invited the neighbor girls over to do cute finger and toe nails in red, white and blue.

We watched YouTube videos and learned how to make friendship bracelets.
Then we invited our neighbor over to teach us another version.
We made homemade ice cream with this insulated bag I bought on the Michael's clearance rack for $1.00. I was glad that's all I paid because the seams busted as we were shaking it. We've made it before in just a canvas bag or insulated lunch bag (something to shake it up without having to touch the cold bags inside) and they worked just fine.
We mixed up this cornstarch sidewalk paint I saw over at Pink and Green Mama's site. It worked great on my ugly blacktop driveway.
We made crafts in this craft recycling bus we found at one of the festivals. It was an old school bus full of every recylced piece of plastic, craft materials, glue, scissors, strings, stickers...anything you can think of. You could stay as long as you wanted and make whatever you wanted.

We decorated ocean cakes with graham cracker sand, gummy sharks and fish and candy seaweed after seeing dolphins, seals and stingrays at the zoo.
We celebrated Christmas in July with paper Christmas trees, cutting snowflakes, watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music and making quick, simple gingerbread houses out of graham crackers.
We also took advantage of stores around here who offer free kids crafts. We hit up Home Depot
Lowes (we got there a couple of hours late but asked if there were extra kits and they gave them to us to do at home)
and Michael's
They made these Home Depot boats at a local festival.
Then we brought them home and painted them.

What fun crafts did you do with your kids this summer?

Personalized Note Pad

2010-06-22T07:58:00.005-06:00

For Father's Day this year I ordered a few blank note pad blocks. My son colored the sides of one for his dad to take to work. The possibilities for a blank note pad are endless...coloring, stamping, you name it. Since he's three I just told him not to leave any white showing.

Then he colored some "wrapping paper" i.e. packing paper to wrap it up in.

He used these Crayola True To Life markers I found on the clearance rack a few months ago for $0.75. They are tri-tip markers and have three colors on each one. Looking back, I should have bought several more packages at that price. They are fun if you haven't tried them out yet.

Moving Announcement

2010-06-08T13:15:00.005-06:00

I created a moving announcement and wanted to share the concept with you. I can't share the actual announcement because it has WAY too much personal info on it. I basically created a "flyer" for a Bed & Breakfast with our name and info on it. I printed them on 8 1/2 x 11 glossy paper and had them tri-folded then mailed them out like they were a flyer for a bed and breakfast. It had a picture of our new home, some info on our town then these three pictures and captions in the middle section:

Hot Breakfast Served Daily

Complimentary Wake Up Calls

Jacuzzi Tubs

I then listed that there are "Winter Discounts Available" since we moved to the cold and everyone has said they'll come visit, but only in the summer. I included a map of the city with a star on our town and then our new contact information.

They were so quick and easy compared to the ones I sent last time I moved. I created them on the computer. Kinkos printed and folded them and then I mailed them out. I even found green envelopes with a matching shaped address area that matched after I'd had them printed.

I've gotten many compliments on them and I'm glad I sent them out.

Summer Care Packages

2010-06-08T13:01:00.003-06:00

Haven't done much crafting as I'm still unpacking, organizing, painting, and getting settled from moving across the country. I am walking distance to Michael's in my new house though...so there's much to come!

In the mean time, we've received all sorts of fun mail and packages from the cousins back in Texas and wanted to send them something in return. I sent off a couple of these packages to the bigger kids who just finished off the school year. I included water balloons, glow sticks, silly bands, squirt guns, freezer pops, candy, punching balloons, sidewalk chalk and other small things I found in the dollar spots at the stores.
I topped them off with this note and some colorful shredded paper. I spray painted the insides of the boxes as well.
Doodled up the outsides of the boxes and mailed them off.
I sent this smaller package of nail polish to some younger nieces to enjoy. The polishes were all $1.00 so I didn't spend much. Packages can be inexpensive these days and don't you just love getting something fun in the mail?

Superhero Cape

2010-04-09T12:04:00.004-06:00

I'm in between homes right now and in the process of moving to a new state. Most of my craft things have been packed, loaded on a truck and are awaiting my arrival in my new home town. However, I did have a birthday to celebrate this week so I picked up a few things at JoAnns and made my son a superhero cape. Here I am sewing at my mother's dining room table.
He's just getting into more imaginative play and he has a cheap Superman cape that was left over from an old dog costume but I wanted a generic cape for him to make up whoever he wants to be. I didn't use a pattern, just cut a semicircle and a smaller one for the neck. I made a "J" out of felt and a lightning bolt for the other side. I used fabric glue to glue them on then zig-zag stitched around them. I lazied out and used quilt binding for the tie. It came together quickly and easily and I'm happy with how it turned out.

And it makes him fly really fast!

Other than this and a crochet project I kept out, my things are all packed and my creative juices are all just floating around in my brain until my life get settled.

Spring Snowflakes

2010-03-11T09:09:00.003-06:00

So sorry I skipped out on the last few months of Snowflakes for All Seasons. We were getting our house ready to list, listing it, travelling to find a new home and now we're back with nothing to do but wait for the movers (HA! I wish). So, we decided to make St. Patrick's day snowflakes and a few spring ones.

Here's a kite, rainbows and pots of gold (I colored this one) and some shamrocks.
Here's another shamrock and some butterflies and tulips.

Kids Crafts

2010-03-10T11:33:00.008-06:00

My niece and her friend spent the night with us this weekend and they always want to do some sort of craft when they come over. They wanted to cover clipboards so they could play school so we headed off to Target. We didn't find your standard clipboards but we did find these:How great is that? 64 different colors of markers in one box???? We had to buy a set. Have you seen these? Is this news to only me? Are they new or did I not get the memo?

We found pink plastic clipboards so I doodled their names and other things for them on each one. I love to doodle with Sharpies.

Then they covered notebooks with scrapbook paper and modpodged over the top.

Crayon Heart Valentines

2010-02-14T22:53:00.005-06:00

I remember melting down my old crayons as a kid and making new crayons/shapes/blobs to color with and I've seen these all over lately and even on Martha. So, when I saw these heart ice cube trays in the dollar spot at Target I snagged a set. They had a silicone heart pan but it was $8.00. This one didn't say it was heat proof but I figured if it melted I was only down a buck.
Then I peeled a few crayons. I had some left-over, fairly new ones from a holiday party in the 24 colors so they were perfect. I figured the fastest way to peel them was with an exacto knife and I was right. The peels came right off.Then I broke them into little pieces with a mallet in plastic bags. This was WAY easier than breaking them up by hand. Crayons are harder than you'd think.
Then I put all the pieces into the mold. I tried to group colors so I didn't end up with brown blah like I did as a kid.
Then I threw them in the oven (and crossed my fingers that these cheap ice cube trays didn't melt) at 200* and waited. They took about 12 minutes in my oven. My second batch I pulled a little earlier so they colors didn't meld as much. I even threw all of the leftover crumbs in one and got a great multicolored one.
Here are my hands after peeling them out of the molds. Pretty.
My favs are the ones with white on them. I love the marbled look. You can see the multi-colored one waaaay up there in the corner.
Then we packaged them up to hand out for Valentines day to the cousins and friends today.
And we kept a few for ourselves, of course.
While purple is my favorite color, I'd say that this blue green by Crayola is one of my favorite crayon colors. And I even have all 96 colors.
What's your favorite color crayon?

Texas Valentines

2010-02-14T22:33:00.003-06:00

I sent out my last holiday cards from Texas this week. We are in the process of relocating and, sadly, we're leaving the great Lone Star State. So I made up these simples Valetines to send to our out of town family and friends. I had to keep them simple as my craft supplies are all nicely put away and organized and I need them to stay that way so I didn't pull much out.

Mother Goose Baby Shower

2010-02-08T07:31:00.007-06:00

My sisters and I threw a baby shower for our sister-in-law a few years ago and I thought I'd share what we did with you. She was having twins, a boy and girl. We needed a gender neutral theme so we picked Mother Goose and I designed these invitations to fit. We printed them front and back and cut them out with a circle cutter and mailed them in a square envelope. I've blurred the last name but it did rhyme with our poem. We referenced several Mother Goose rhymes.

We decorated with books, stuffed animals, little figurines and jack-in-the-boxes with Mother Goose on them.

We typed up parts of rhymes and placed them around the table. We served tarts, chicken salad, fruit, petit fours and quiches. We had the baker mark the petit fours with a "B" and pipe the words to Pat-A-Cake around the edge of the platter.

We gave little candles as party favors and typed up "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick..." on the labels.
Mother Goose was a pretty easy theme as there are tons of ideas, books and toys out there to fit with it.

Recycled Bowling Pins

2010-01-28T11:54:00.007-06:00

I have a nine month old so I buy these Gerber puffs in six packs at Sam's Club. The wrapper sometimes peels off when I open them and when I saw that the bare containers looked like little bowling pins I knew what I had to do. See how they have a perfect little rim that make them look like pins?
Today my baby finished off her tenth container so I pulled them out of the cabinet and we colored the little stripes with colored sharpies.
Then I showed him a couple of Youtube videos of bowling since he had no clue what bowling was. He loved the bowling scene from Grease 2. What's not to love...bowling, singing and dancing??? Then I set up the pins.
And he bowled.
I enjoyed reusing containers I already have and he enjoyed "making" bowling pins and spent a good part of the morning knocking them over with different balls. If he were a litter stronger or used a heavier ball I could easily add sand or rice to give the pins a little weight but, for now, he's just working on his aim.

Dr. Seuss Birthday Party

2010-01-17T15:21:00.004-06:00

I just realized that I never posted the great Dr. Seuss Birthday party my sister hosted in October when her twins turned one.

For the party, she requested a picture board with cutouts so I painted this one on some foam board for the kids to pose with.

She served "green eggs" and ham.

Red fish and blue fish jigglers.

And she made these cute cupcakes with blue cotton candy on the top.

My creative sis-in-law, April, made these tissue pom-poms to hang over the gift table.

She also made this cute birthday banner.

The kids played "Pin the Wocket on the Pocket" with little wockets they had to get onto the boy's pockets.They played another game where they had to relay with a fishbowl outside and then she had a jar of colorful candies we had to guess the quantity of.

She decorated with lots of whimsical and bright colors, Dr. Seuss books and stuffed animals and balloons. It was a fun party and an easy theme to find things to go along with. She found plenty of cut outs and party favors around town.

Mail for a good cause

2010-01-13T21:54:00.004-06:00

If you've read this blog, you know I love to send (and receive *wink wink*) mail. So, when I read on other people's blogs about sending letters or cards to kids, I'm on it.

A few days before Christmas I received and email from Kristi, organizer of the Pink Christmas gift exchanges of the past and "Pink" of the 2CleverBlog (links to your right), asking people to send stars to her niece, Claire. She's almost five years old and has had countless medical problems and they wanted the stars to align so she could be at home for Christmas. So, Kristi, being creative and being a great Aunt, requested people to send her a paper star in an envelope. I couldn't send just one so my son* and I pulled out my scrap box and spent Christmas Eve morning cutting up tons of stars and mailed them off to her.

Then I colored stars all over the envelope.

It was the perfect project to do with my son and explain why we were doing it.

Earlier this year I sent of a card for a similar situation. Lisa Bearnson, former editor of Creating Keepsakes Magazine, posts about sick people or someone who's had a recent struggle on her blog often and asks people to send cards to them or include them in your prayers. I've sent off several "happy" and "cheer up" cards. Here's one I made to send to Spencer, a little terminally ill boy who wanted to get a letter from all fifty states before he died. She suggested that everyone throw in a dollar as a nice surprise as well. So, of course, I had to make him a Texas flag card.

Fortunately, I'm not close to anyone who is need of mail like this currently but I do love sharing the joy of getting good mail with others.

*He's two but he LOVES to cut. So, I cut stars, he cut bits of paper but he'll do it for hours if I let him.

Thank You Cards

2010-01-13T21:43:00.003-06:00

I had this great idea in my head to have my kids hold papers that said "Thank" and "You" and then use that picture to send Christmas thank you cards this year. My kids had other plans. They were all over the place, the words weren't always visible and my baby girl started screaming when my two year old tried to hold her on his lap. Then he started giving that cheesy smile he gives when I ask him to smile. So, I made a collage of several of the pictures, printed them, mounted them on red card stock and wrote, "So much for the perfect shot" on the front. Then I used them as thank you notes for all of our Christmas gifts and goodies we received this year. Even though I didn't get a perfect shot, I got a pretty good one for my family Christmas cards and thought these were a good reflection of what it's like trying to get them both to hold still and smile for a pose!

Bookmarks

2010-01-13T21:33:00.004-06:00

I made these magnetic bookmarks for my book club this Christmas. I cut them out of different patterns of Basic Grey card stock, layered two pieces, inked the edges and added the flat peel and stick magnets.
Do you love Basic Grey as much as I do? I love that it is patterned on both sides.

Snowflakes for All Seasons

2009-12-31T00:43:00.001-06:00

We skipped November and December but will cut them out and post pictures next year just for your viewing pleasure. So stay tuned!

Christmas Card

2009-12-31T00:37:00.001-06:00

Here is my Christmas card I sent this year. Again, Christmas was about simple this year so I took a pic of my kids in front of the tree, added some text and printed them 5 x 7 in matte finish. I include a monthly recap of the year with our cards and it's a nice way to update people without a long, lengthy letter to read. Don't get me wrong, I like reading other people's but have a hard time writing my own without feeling like I'm braggin about how great my life is. Is it just me?

Baby Afghan

2009-12-31T00:32:00.003-06:00

My girlfriend, Erin, had her first baby girl this month and I made her this black and white afghan for her nursery.
Several people commented on what a bad idea a black blanket was so I took a picture of it with her bedding to prove to everyone that it looks just perfect.
I love her colors she used in the nursery and I was happy to contribute to the cuteness of her room. I used a popcorn stitch and did a shell around the edge in white. I couldn't find any baby soft yarn in black so I used Hobby Lobby's Love This Yarn brand. It crocheted well, it is reasonably priced and I think I'll use it again. Try it out.

Christmas Goodies

2009-12-31T00:22:00.003-06:00

To thank everyone who helped out with our church Christmas party, I whipped up several batches of those cookie dough truffles I can't get enough of. I packaged them up with the snowflake tags I made last year and delivered them a week after the party.

As far as other Christmas baking went, it didn't. The last few years I've spent a week in the kitchen making all different things, timing them so they'll be fresh when I or my husband are ready to deliver them, making tags, tying ribbons and having my table covered with plastic wrap & cellophane bags and I just wasn't up for that this year. I have a million other things on my mind (more on that later) so I simplified. I made several batches of "Puppy Chow" (aka Chex covered in chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar...call it what you will) and threw them in bags with these toppers I bought at Hobby Lobby. It was quick, easy and didn't need to be "fresh daily."

Church Christmas Party

2009-12-31T00:11:00.004-06:00

I am the head of the Activities Committee at my church which means I organized our Christmas party this year. Luckily, I had a great committee who all stepped up so I didn't have to do everything myself.

Since we live in Texas, we picked a "White Christmas" theme thinking we don't ever have one (but we actually did this year!). Anyway, we cut out lots of these tissue paper "snowballs" and hung them from the ceiling.
A gal at my church threw together 18 of these snowflakes from cutting them out of felt then spraying them with stiffy and glitter. Then we set them on fake snow with white lights underneath.
The inspiration for the hanging snowballs came from a party we threw several years ago with a "Candyland" theme. We cut (and recruited many others to cut) out hundreds of snowflakes and strung them from the ceiling.
We cut out large paper shapes to line the walls.
Even a wall of lollipops.
Then I created an activity/coloring place mat for the tables and we supplied them all with crayons.
It was a fun party theme and the kids loved it but, it was a LOT of work. So, we simplified it with our White Christmas theme this year and it was just as nice.

Giveaway Winners

2009-12-07T10:26:00.002-06:00

Well, it must be a busy time of year or you really don't like Texas music. Either way, thanks to the two sweet ladies to left comments. I'll send you both a cd.

Texas Care Package & a Giveaway

2009-12-02T13:42:00.001-06:00

I had a friend recently move to another state so I sent her a "Texas Care Package." I included some Texas themed playing cards, a keychain, stickers, a magnet, a Christmas ornament, a flag, some peanut brittle from Braum's (For all you non-Texans, Braum's has awesome ice cream but I couldn't send her that so I opted for something from there), and a cd of songs about Texas. She and her husband are Ohio State fans so I'm sure they LOVED the UT Pez dispenser.
I topped it with a card that said, "Texas Misses Y'all."
Then I put my standard Texas flag on the top and wrote their address in the white part. I do this on many out of state packages going to fellow Texans.
Do you love Texas, too? Do you want a copy of that awesome cd with great songs about Texas? Leave a comment by Saturday, December 5th and I'll pick a winner and send you one of your very own!

Missionary Cards

2009-12-02T13:39:00.000-06:00

We had a service gift exchange at church and the woman who opened (actually stole in a white elephant style game) my gift got her choice of some hand made cards. She asked for "Thank you" cards to send to her son who is serving a mission for our church in New York. The missionaries for our church dress like this six days a week:
White shirt. Tie. Black tag with their name and our church logo. (My bro-in-law and another missionary)

So, I made up the cards to look like white shirts and wrote "Thank you" in a white marker on the tags.

I'm making more to send to my bro-in-law and my nephew for Christmas.

Skinny Scarf

2009-12-02T13:32:00.003-06:00

I crocheted this scarf for a friend last month. I used a basic shell pattern and Vanna's choice yarn. Not a big fan of that yarn so I probably won't use it again.

Taylor Swift Glitter Guitar

2009-11-01T20:36:00.005-06:00

My niece, Greta, dressed up as Taylor Swift for Halloween this year so I helped make her a glitter guitar just like this one.
I cut it out of cardboard, painted it and she came over and helped glue the sequins on. I considered glitter but decided her mom wouldn't be too happy with glitter ALL OVER everything. We added some strings and a ribbon and she was set. So I didn't measure and my circle in the middle wasn't quite centered but she didn't care. I mean, come on, she's five!
Here she is with her glitter guitar and her Taylor wig. She made a great Taylor Swift!

Mike Wazowski

2009-10-31T19:27:00.002-06:00

My son LOVES Monster's Inc so we went with that theme for our costumes this year. He dressed up as Sulley. I found the costume on eBay as well as blue Monster's Inc construction hats for my husband and I. I whipped up this Mike Wazowski treat bag this morning out of colored flannel.
Here he is trick-or-treating with it.
Here he is with his Mike Wazowski pumpkin.
Here I am with my Monster's Inc. hat on and a shirt I added iron ons to. My husband and I wore the construction hats and a white t-shirts with jeans. I printed the Monster's Inc logo for the fronts of the shirts and this saying for the back then I ironed them on. Oh, and my baby girl was "Boo."

Halloween Card

2009-10-28T13:21:00.005-06:00

Here is the Halloween card I sent out to relatives and a few friends this year. I try to send one each year but don't always get to it. This is my six month old pudge of a daughter. I made her a little tutu out of toile ribbon and sewed a purple boa on a little witch's hat. I found the hat in the dollar spot at Target and the purple boa at the dollar store. We took about 100 pictures in this photo shoot at my sister's house since she has a black kitten. As it works with pets and babies, we didn't get a good one where they were both holding still so we ended up using the one of just her. I printed the pictures 3 1/2 x 5 and mounted them on colored card stock. Then I wrote, "Witching You a Happy Halloween" on the inside.
Did you send Halloween cards this year?

Since she's not actually going to be this witch for Halloween, I threw the tutu under our pumpkin and put them up with some of my Halloween decor.

Cookie Dough Truffles

2009-10-28T13:10:00.003-06:00

I saw Paula Deen make these cookie dough truffles on her show once (not her recipe) and knew I had to make them. I made them about six months ago and can't stop. They are SO yummy and SO easy to make. I whipped up some this week and dipped them in dark and orange Wilton candy melts. Then I packaged them up for the ladys I visit teach at my church. Then I packaged up the rest and gave them away too for fear of eating them all myself.
Make them. You won't be sorry. Oh, and it's not "real" cookie dough. There are no eggs but they use other ingredients so they are the consistency of cookie dough.

Halloween Snowflakes

2009-10-11T09:05:00.004-06:00

We cut out Halloween snowflakes this weekend from our Snowflakes for All Seasons book. I didn't have any black paper on hand so we cut them out of orange, green and purple and hung them in our kitchen window.

Frankenstein, spiders and pumpkins
Bats, pumpkins & cats, and a spider web

Binky Chain Winner

2009-10-11T09:02:00.003-06:00

Here's the girly binky chain I made for my giveaway winner, Kristi.

Christmas Package

2009-10-07T13:57:00.003-06:00

I FINALLY sent off Ashley's prize for guessing where those Christmas goblets I used at my Christmas in July Party were from. I totally slacked but picked up some Christmas goodies for her this week including a little Mary Engelbreit notebook and notepad she can use to start making lists for the holidays. I love Mary Engelbreit.

Halloween Package

2009-10-07T13:46:00.003-06:00

I thought I'd send orange and black care packages for Halloween to my nephew and brother-in-law who are both serving missions for our church. I filled little boxes with deodorant, chapstick, gum, candy, a few Halloween trinkets and a little pumpkin. Then I taped up the boxes and spray painted them black and drew spider webs on with a white paint marker.

Best Movie Kiss Party

2009-10-07T12:45:00.005-06:00

There's always a reason to have a party, right? I hosted a "Best Movie Kiss Party" last week and it was lots of fun. I had everyone send me the YouTube link to their picks or bring the dvd of their favorite movie kiss. Then we watched the kiss scenes of our favorite movies and watched a few YouTube montages as well. We then voted on the categories I had prizes for. I found several "lip" shaped prizes including key chains, lip gloss and magnets.

I printed and cut up little strips of movie quotes that were about kissing and we took turns guessing what movie they were from.

I filled a jar with Hershey Kisses and gave it to the person who guessed how many were in it. (She boycotted taking it home so I had to eat them myself. Seriously, though they're still in the jar and I'm scared to open it for fear of eating them all.)

I served nachos and popcorn and had everyone bring their favorite movie candy to share. Easy and cheap.

Here's my dog and I sporting the wax lips I handed out.

My friend, Stacy, won "Wettest Kiss" for Sweet Home Alabama and "Sweetest Kiss" for a Princess Bride montage she found on YouTube.

My friend, Jeni, won "Hottest Kiss" for Ghost (the clay scene...you know the one).

My sister, Ginger, won "Best Overall Kiss" for Wicker Park.

Some of the other movies we enjoyed kisses from were: Cold Mountain, 16 Candles, Titanic, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Baby Boom, Sand Lot, Princess Bride, Never Been Kissed, Some Kind of Wonderful, Made of Honor, Wedding Singer, North & South, Hope Floats and Practical Magic. We also found all sorts of cute kiss scene montages on YouTube that we watched.

This would be best to do around Valentine's day as you could find decorations and prizes a little easier.

Binky Chain Winner

2009-09-21T11:16:00.003-06:00

So sorry I didn't post a winner over the weekend. I got sick on Thursday night and spent the weekend in bed.

Anywho...the winner of this drawing is....

Kristi Clinger!

Kristi, email me your address and color preference and I'll make you a chain this week!

Binky Chain Giveaway!

2009-09-14T21:23:00.007-06:00

At the request of a few mothers, I made binky chains last week for some new baby boys in my family. Since they were all for boys I kept them pretty simple and used primary colors. They are a quick and easy gift. I strung them on nylon coated stainless steel bead wire and I bought it and the clips at my local craft store, Hobby Lobby. I checked Michael's for the clips but didn't find them there. I've seen plastic ones online that I like better but it was easy to grab a package of the metal ones at the store.

Since they are so easy and lightweight (thus easy to mail), I'm going to giveaway one! Have a new baby or know someone who does? Leave me a comment by Friday, Sept 18th and I'll choose a winner on Saturday morning. I'll make the winner a custom binky chain with the colors of their choice. If you want a girl one, I'll make it nice and pretty...not like these plain boy colors!

Birthday Cards

2009-09-13T20:59:00.007-06:00

I have been crafting lately, I just haven't been blogging. I'll take some pics this week and try to post some new things. One thing I did about a month ago, while I had card supplies out and my dining room table was covered with stuff, was make a stock pile of birthday cards. It's so much easier to do an assembly line and make twenty of one card than to pull out supplies and make one at a time. I used a Stampin' Up Word Search stamp for these ones and made them pretty generic. I did a few with more embellishments but then I did a stack of simple ones. The simple ones are perfect for kids or men who don't care much about a handmade card but they're cheaper to make than buying birthday cards.
So let me tell you about this stamp. It's one of my favs. It is a word search and you circle the words you want to apply to that recipient and you can make cards, tags, whatever with it. The words you can circle include all twelve months, brother, sister, dad, mom, baby, sweet, son, daughter, boy, girl, marriages, kisses, love, yes, always, good, times, friends, think of you, welcome, happy, birthday, wishes, party, holidays, thanksgiving, new year, seasons greetings, joy, one, two, first, shop, hello, life, home, talk, you, hot, cold, water, now and fun. SO versatile. For the birthday cards I circled happy, birthday, wishes, good times and fun.

Stubby Pencil Studio Package

2009-08-27T12:13:00.003-06:00

My package of goodies that I won from Stubby Pencil Studio came yesterday! How fun is it to get a package full of art supplies, toys and other goodies?

Everything came in this canvas tote.

Here are my winnings.

Here's my son wearing his new apron playing with shaving cream.

I packaged back up some of the toys for Christmas time. Stocking Stuffers...check. Now on to the rest of my list!

First Day of School Card

2009-08-19T09:08:00.005-06:00

Here's a card I made and sent out to my nieces and nephews who start back to school next week. I created it on the computer and printed them on white cardstock. The crayons pull out the top of the box and I wrote messages on the back of them. I even created a little "UPC" on the back with the date I made them.
A few years ago I used this picture of my dog with a backpack on and had it made into postcards to send.
Another year I used this clipart and mounted it on red cards and sent them out.