Back at it!

Well obviously I'd fallen off the face of blog world.  With the surgery and the complications and almost the school year behind me, I'm ready to blog again! I've been quite busy down in my little craft world, so to get back on pace I thought I'd just share some of the things I've been working on! Lots of scrapping! So let's start with that!

I do a decent amount of custom scrapbookin (although I wish I did more - sometimes! :) I just finished an order for a baby boy first year album.  I use ONLY Creative Memories Scrapbooks, pages, and protectors.  I personally had to learn the hard way, despite  being told, not all proudcts are created equal.  When it comes to albums, you get what you pay for.  Since I believe so strongly in the products, I became a consultant also!  This soft cloth baby boy album has the birth pages attached to the first few pages, but the rest of the year pages I put in a sleeve and tie it all together with a ribbon.  I do this because each baby and story is different.  They might not get their first tooth until 6 months, instead of 5.  This allows the mother to put the pages in cronolgical order or whatever order she likes!

When you open up the cover, this is the first page you see.  When I do custom orders, I like to keep them simple, yet complete.  I scrap my own albums in this manor too.  I like the photos to be what you look at, not all the othe stuff on the page.  So I pick a few things to add to the page to make it "full" but not overwhelming.  In doing custom pages, I like to make a finished page so you could just go in and attach your photos, but if you wanted to add something more, you could. 

Not every page will have room for added things after purchase.  But with a big busy page like this, I don't feel that anything else is needed.  When I made this page I imagined being home to a photo of an adorable baby boy close up or maybe a photo of his parents kissing his chubby cheeks.  :)

Some pages I leave a lot of room.  These pages are great for adding your own touches after purchase, but also to add photos where you want.  You would also then have the option to do some journaling.  I think it's important to write in your own handwriting at least some of the time, no matter how much you hate it.  Now that my grandma is gone, I treasure the few notes I have from her and so wish I had more.  It's such a powerful connection to her and your family will feel the same way about your albums!

*LOVE* these stickers!

Mommy pages are my favorite for doing in boy albums.  It's the one place that everything girly is ok.  The page is about mom, but the photos are about the child.  A page like this is a perfect meeting of those two things!

Bath time photos and pages are one of my favorites.  The pages are so fun to do as there are so many possibilites to me.  Most kids LOVE the bath, so its an awesome time for some great photo ops! (Don't worry, with a little practice, you'll figure out how to shoot the pic without anything showing you don't want!)

This is another example of a page to add as many or as few photos or even more embellishment as you like.  This teddy bear is actually fuzzy and so cute! He was an obvious choice for this simple page.

Again something simple, but so easy! This is a great example of the type of page you'd see looking through my personal albums.

So there's a few peeks into what I've been creating lately.  I'm currently working on finishing up a few of the projects I've started (I have extreme crafter ADD) I am so guilty of starting something but not totally finishing it! Things like dry time annoy me.  I get so excited about what I'm making, I hate waiting for things, so to cure it, I'll start somethings else! ;)

If you want to see more of my scrap pages, you can check out my fan page or my website and of course there are a few in my etsy shop.

I'd love to see what you've been working on! Leave your link in the comments and I'll stop by!

Please excuse my absence...

I didn't have time to say so beforehand because my to do list was long, and did not get finished.  I had lung surgery towards the end of March.  The surgery went fine, but there have been some unforeseen complications/delays after.  I am home now, sore and sleepy, with a chest tube still in.  I will have to keep it in until the lobe that had surgery done stops the air leak.  I've been told it can take weeks.  "everyone is different". ugh.

So in the mean time, I will do the blog to the best of my ability.  They forgot to mention that a main side effect of the pain meds I have to take is narcolepsy.  Seriously! Well not really, but I do randomly fall asleep in the middle of everything.  It comes out of no where and before you know it I am out cold.  When I wake up My book is closed without the bookmark, I'm watching some weird show I've never even heard of, or I have like 289 "0"s on my page! :)

While I try to get my thoughts back in crafty blog mode, here's a site I've come upon while looking through the world wide web.  I have a pile of palettes out in the driveway from the fire/moves.  So I've been looking for projects.  This site is one of the coolest I've seen.  Lots of unique designs and different ideas.

I'm sure you'll like what you see.  If you don't have palettes already, I'm looking into where you can get them from.  If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!

Tutorial tuesday - jellyfish!

Sorry for nothing yesterday - it was my baby's birthday.  They are so bittersweet for me.  I LOVE the birthday and the day and the event.  And of course I always reflect back on the day and the events of the birth itself.  But I can't help but realize each year it just gets faster and faster.  Every birthday is another year closer to no babies here anymore.  And that makes me one sad momma.

We were at Mall of America in Bloomington MN this weekend for the girl scouts 100 year anniversary birthday celebration.  (WOW!!) We went to the sea life aquarium.  And much to my surprise the jellyfish were a HUGE hit with the kiddos, as well as myself! They had a very large display of many different jellyfish. So I thought this tutorial about making your own jellyfish bottle was fitting! I don't know if I could accurately reproduce her project, but its definitely worth a try - now just to find some clear shopping bags!!!


Click the picture to get to her awesome tutorial!

Let me know if you make one and how it goes for you!

Freebie Friday - Magazines!

I love getting magazines and/or catalogs in the mail.  A lot of people just toss them, labeling it as the dreaded junk mail.  But I love to look at them.  Even the catalogs.  It might seem silly, but I've learned a lot about different techniques and ideas from just browsing through catalogs.  You never know when inspiration will strike. 














Fill out the order form for Met Kids.  I haven't gotten this one before.  But it looks fun! And its free, so thats even better!

If you are reading this blog, then I'm nearly positive you love Martha Stewart.  And if you don't love her, I bet you still wouldn't mind getting her magazine for one year for free! Unlike the one above, you do have to take a short breakfast survey.  It took me less than 5 minutes.  I was enrolled in some reward point program (for answering the questions) but I don't plan on using that so I did nothing further besides hit delete. Here's the link I used.












I love spring and fall for many reasons.  Especially because of the nursery catalogs.  I get a lot from Spring Hill nursery.  I have bought quite a few plants from them (they have good specials) In addition to their main catalogs, they also do a ton of mailers.  I know this too would be junk mail to most, but the pictures they use are so beautiful I just know I will think of something awesome to make with them some day.  So down to the craft room upcycle shelf they go.  And in the mean time the kiddos make some pretty beautiful collages! :)
http://springhillnursery.com/catalog_request_qas.asp?splid=SPLID02

My nephew (and now my daughters - thanks to the new "girl" line) are getting really "in-to" legos.  I had no idea there was a magazine, but why not! It makes sense.  Because Lord help me, I can never think of anything to create when challenged.  And if I'm lucky enough to get an idea, I can never figure out which piece I am missing to complete my vision.  I had to fill out a form and then confirm from an email.  There are different age magazines, which I though was nice - hopefully the JR addition is filled with Duplo ideas!


I scrolled down until I saw the image above.  If you click the magazines tab it'll take you to the digital eddition that shows up on your computer using your flash player.  So I hope by doing it the other way it'll actually send one in the mail and not just enroll the kids in the club. (just click the picture for the link)

**Update** We are receiving the Lego Magazine in the mail! :)
I love free magazines, but I am willing to pay for a good mag I really like too.  If you are the same way, I urge you to check out http://www.valuemags.com/home/index.asp They have several different titles with reduced subscriptions.  If you click on their free tab, you will see a list of freebies.  In my searching for today's post I have come across links from them for free Disney Family Fun and Better Homes and Gardens.  They are since expired, but at least its nice to know they put popular ones on the free list also!

Tutorial Tuesday - St. Pats Day

Since it's really late, and my husband is shutting lights off on me... I will keep this really short!
I stumbled upon this cute tutorial for a St. Patty's Day shirt.  Her tutorial is great, but I think I have another way.

Here's her completed project:


ADORABLE! And her blog post shows how to do it using the freezer paper stencil and cricut technique that has been all over pinterest and the like.  If you have a cricut and are confident in your skills to do this, excellent! If not, you could easily reproduce this shirt without.

My idea is use felt or scrap fabric to cut out your clover and then use a disappearing fabric pen (in the sewing section for a few few bucks - then the ink will "erase" during the first wash) to hand write your own letters and then fill them in with paint.  This idea is much quicker and while you may not think your handwriting is cute now, your kids will love it when they don't have you anymore.  My grandma's handwritten notes, cards and recipes are some of my most treasured belongings. Happy Creating!

Free Friday - St Patrick's Day & Free CRAFT Samples!!!

Finally Found a Free Friday Craft Sample! You have to have facebook, (but who doesn't!) and like them, and then you get a free tape measure.  I easily lose these bad boys for some reason!
http://www.indochino.com/tapemeasure

I'm not Irish, so I sometimes forget about St. Patrick's Day.  And I've had a hard time coming up with crafts for the kids or myself that I enjoy for the holiday.  So, today, I'm going to try to change that!  Here is a cute website, with several St. Pat's crafts.  Some kid related, some not.  But all cute none the less.
My favorite (because bright colors are always fun) are these rainbow bean bags!

If you follow me on Pintrest, I also pinned this image this morning!

Before our house fire, I did monthly kid craft classes.  And for St. Patrick's Day we made this adorable "pot of gold".  I had stopped at the dollar store and picked up some butterscotch candies for the gold.  And just asked some new moms I knew for enough jars.  Otherwise it was super easy - I had 3 year olds doing it (with some help obviously)

Note on these: Glue dots did not work for us! We had to use the glue gun.  And the Curly Ribbon is a cute touch, but didn't seem to be "kid friendly" for the end project - they were very excited about it.  I would recommend simple fabric ribbon instead.  The online instructions if you need them are here: http://www.familycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/pot_of_gold.shtml

The picture editing is not working for some reason...

I'm not a huge artist.  I am much more comfortable crafting things.  But I do like to play around with new things.  And this paper sample pack should be a lot of fun.  This was super easy! Fill in the bare bones basic info, click submit and with in 24 hours my request will be processed!  Sure beats the usual 4 - 6 weeks jazz!

http://fineartamerica.com/fineartprintondemandsamplekits.html

If you craft with your kids, you should be using glue dots.  They are simply freaking marvelous!! I don't use anything but if I can help it.  This request is a little different.  Send them a self addressed stamp envelope and the reason you are requesting the product and they'll send it off.  Really easy! And old fashion! :)

http://www.buygluedots.com/free_glue_dot_samples.html

Not sure about this one, but figured I'd let you be the judge.  The claim is 50 sheets of orgami paper.  But once I filled out the request, it said, you may be selected for a free sample.  So I don't know.  But still worth 5 seconds of my time I guess.  Good Luck!

http://www.everythinginpapercrafting.com/paper_promotion.html

Happy Freebie Friday!

Egg Carton Creations 2

In January I did a post on what to do with Egg Cartons.  I couldn't help but to add a part 2.  Since then I've found so many more fun things to do with them!

This really fun article from one of my favorite kid idea sites, Family Fun, has some really great ideas. 


Although only 3 of them are listed, I think number 2 is pretty cute!  And of course it could be adapted to any holiday or event, not just Easter.

After I did my post, I got inspired to use them for something I'd made.  It took a lot of tweaking, but I finally was able to crank out enough flowers to finish my first yarn wreath. 

Once I finally figured out how to do them (I couldn't just cut and paint - they were way to big) it didn't take long at all and I'm already brainstorming ideas to use the "flowers" for something else.  You can purchase this specific wreath on my etsy. :)

Another adorable idea (followed by another "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" moments) from this blogger.  She used the lids to make buttons out of.  Which I think would be fabulous on some scrapbook pages.  She showed you exactly how she did it on her post.  Very nice job!!


I also really liked this idea, which again, can't believe I didn't think of doing!  Used Egg Cartons as little gift packages.  Depending on the gift, the dividers inside may be in the way.  You could possibly cut them out? Not sure on that one, I'll have to try it myself! At any rate, this one looks really great! (PS - this image came from flickr, and there wasn't a blog or anything attached to it, so no instructions or credit to give here sadly!)



Another idea I've seen is to use them as centerpieces.  I found one on Etsy.



I think you would probably not burn the candles however though.  I know from our house fire, silk flowers aren't even kindling! They melt down to nothing, faster than you even know they're burning. So this one is just to look at in my opinion.  Nevertheless, I love the dyed carton as the base.

I remember from my daycare days there was a toy from Fisher Price (in the 80s I think??) that used an egg carton and eggs as sorting. I don't remember exactly what you had to do anymore.  But you could do something similar with your own.  Paint the insides of the cups and then use plastic Easter eggs in the same colors to help your child learn colors and matching.  Of course, you could get even craftier and sew felted ones.

My last idea for today would be to use beans and an egg carton as your own mancala game.  I played mancala a lot as a kid.  You would need a dice too (if I remember right) and two different colored playing tokens. (like two different kinds of bean or marbles) If you have no idea what mancala is, you can look it up online. 

Enjoy even more egg carton uses! :)