Diaper Bag

This past summer I made my sister in law a beautiful diaper bag but never took pictures (or tried to take pictures) any of the pictures I had were sort of EH, and didn't really show the beauty of this bag. 

I love the modern bold colors. I used my actual diaper pad as a "pattern" for size and shape-I added iron-on vinyl on the inside in case of accidents. I also made her two bags to help organize, one to hold wipes and a few diapers and one larger one for snacks and treats when the little guy gets bigger. 

The bag in all it's glory after a few months of use:

I used the Amy Butler pattern but took out the center divider...and in the future will make the straps longer because it's difficult to squeeze it over her should while carrying a baby and other goodies.

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Valentine's Day Decor: I heart U frames

Yesterday I shared with you these amazing Valentine's Frames made by Eighteen25:

(Thank you to the fabulous ladies at Eighteen25 for this amazing idea!) 

During our considerable snow storm I decided to break out my glitter {to be honest, the kindergarten teacher in me cringed so I used glitter glue instead!}

This is what it looked like all day on Wednesday-I needed something with some sparkle!

In the original Eighteen25 post, they used chip board letters. I didn't have any on hand, and was not going to venture out into the snow, so I decided to use what I had on hand. 

I started by printing the letters I & U out and cutting them out of an old box from the recycling bin. 

I had purchased some red frames at the Dollar Tree recently, and had three leftover that I figured would be perfect for this project. 

My helper was close by as I painted the letters red with acrylic craft paint, and then covered them in a layer of Stickles (I think it's called) red glitter.

It took quite a while for the glitter to dry, so I had them sit overnight. I then hot glued them down to the frames, onto scrapbook paper {pink, of course!}

At first I tried the frames inside my china hutch. Which I thought might look nice.

But, when I closed the doors, it blocked most of the beauty. Bummer.

They found a home on top of the hutch with other cherished family photos, for now anyway.

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Valentine's Decor: Things I Really WANT to Make!

I've come across so many awesome Valentine's ideas that I want to make. 

These are on my To Do List: 

Valentine's Frames by Eighteen25:

(Not necessarily a Valentine's Day Project -maybe a longterm piece of art)
A Few of My Favorite Things (Kit) by Makia Creations:

Valentine Button Art Collage by I Really Should Be Sleeping (found through UCreate)

Family Photo Wreath-Valentine's Day Style by The Crafting Chicks:

Valentine Wreath & Frame by Lil' Luna through UCreate:


Tissue Rosette Kissing Balls by The Idea Room:

*I should add that I have started these, but not finished with a few other colors. Mine don't look as nice either...

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Valentine's Decor: LOVE Banner {Thanks to the genius who created this...}

I like giving credit where credit is due, but I have mom brain & pregnancy brain (I would honestly wonder if there are any brain waves happening up there!) One of the 20 or so blogs I followed shared these printable letters. I thought they were so sweet, and so I printed them out! So easy, great decoration. I trimmed them, added some glitter, and hung them on our bannister. Now I have no idea where I found them.

False alarm. I figured out the mystery. The were posted at At Second Street  and you too can print them! 

Aren't they great?

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Little Boys

Little boys....eh, they can be exhausting. But man, already this morning my son has had me laughing.

He's a funny guy:
He loves spray bottles.
He refuses to speak.
He loves the telephone!
He screams at the top of his lungs happily (for no reason.)
He loves on his puppies.
He eats his banana in one bite-well without taking it out of his mouth (it's hysterical!)
He loves to wear crocs, and would wear them 24 hours a day if he could.

Yesterday, he watched a train video for the first time. He has never had ANY interest in TV. Like any good mother, I was thrilled to be able to clean the kitchen without my helper!

He lost a croc. He really would wear them ALL the time.

This morning I was trying to pull it together to start the day and I found  him like THIS. Of course, I grabbed my camera. He wanted beads that I put on the top shelf to keep away from  him.

I obviously have some organizing to do in the near future:

The kid can't keep his finger out of his nose. No matter how many times I tell him....

Happy he has his beads (and two non-working cell phones!)

Figuring the phone out. I swear this kid is going to be a mechanical engineer or a cashier or a typist (or any job requiring LOTS of buttons!)

I was trying to catch up on my favorite blogs only to find him in the living room, ON THE PHONE. Oh, and did I mention he refuses to speak. {Sorry to anyone he called!}

I'm shocked he only has two phones. One of these days I'm going to apply velcro to the phone and to the wall (out of his reach) so I am not always searching for a phone.

OH, and little man got a haircut last night. The pictures from yesterday prove how long and raggedy it was looking.

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Forever Isn't Free

I've been featured on my friend's blog. She and I worked together to create one of a kind, really unique invites for her upcoming wedding. See my friend is paying for her wedding in NYC and only has a budget of $10,000. When she told me about it, I immediately volunteered to give her a hand however I could. I'm so glad that she took me up on my offer. Aside from having a wonderful weekend visit, I was able to teach her how to use a rotary cutter & yield a hot glue gun!!!

Here are a few pictures of our work:

This is the map we made, my friend lives in NY, her fiance is from England,  they met in South Africa. 

front

map

This is the reply card, I a little graffiti to perfect the NYC/England vibe. 

I ordered the Keep Calm and Marry On postcards from 123print.com for I think $20-30 for $100. The invites were printed on white cardstock that we trimmed down (all done by my trusty HP printer!) We used craft paper (maybe $5 for the ROLL!) It was a lot of printing, but not more than the color & black cartridges that were already in my printer!

Oh, and did I mention, it cost almost NOTHING to make these. For $100 invites it was easily under $1.00 (maybe slightly over with postage!)

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Why, Blogger, WHY?

You might have noticed I've been missing in action....I'm having a fight right now with my blogger. I have a bunch of pictures to share with you, but for some reason Blogger isn't letting me upload them. I'm probably doing something wrong....I tried restarting my computer today and I HOPE everything will be working when I start to write some posts...

I have so much to show you,  I just need to get to the pictures!

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Valentine's Day Decor: Topiary

I've been seeing all of these amazing topiaries for Valentine's Day. I figured I'd take a stab at one too, but then I decided one wasn't enough, and then thought maybe I should create an adorable pennant using my new Silhouette tool.

It took a little time, but overall I think it looks adorable:

What do you think?

I used:
-little tin buckets from Michaels (I thought they were $1, but they were actually $1.99)
-balls made from tissue paper from a purchase at TJMaxx, I purchased half spheres from the Dollar Tree (2 halves for $1) and clumped the tissue paper on top, adjoining the paper to the half sphere with packing tape
-red streamers from Dollar Tree (two spools for $1 at the Dollar Tree)
-dowel from Walmart cut in half (maybe $1.50 or $2)
-foam (from Dollar tree, it was two round pieces, I trimmed them down with a pocketknife, and covered with candy)
-candy (might end up costing the most because I keep catching my son helping himself to a "treat!")

Here is how to make one yourself:

I made the topiary "balls" using the technique described on the blog I'm Sharing the Wealth. I will say they are slightly time consuming, but perfect to complete while watching TV. I had the half sphere balls from the Dollar Tree already, but it looks like using all paper would work well too!

I painted the dowels with acrylic craft paint (off white) and trimmed my dowels with a pocketknife-long story-but the pocketknife might be the #1 tool for this project! I think each dowel is about 12" long.

#1 Project Tool! 

I speared the balls with sharp scissors, being sure to hit the side of the ball with the foam (not the tissue paper!) 

I inserted the dowel into foam to help it stand in the buckets. I also hot glued the foam, my 2 year old "helper" was playing a lot with the dowels/foam and they were a little wonky after he was done.

I tied bows under the ball on the dowels.

almost done!

I used my Silhouette SD to create the pennant "Happy Valentine's Day" banner. How cute is that. If you need more instruction or detail, please comment and I can try to assist :) I'm new to the Silhouette, so I do have a thing or two to learn, but I think for a first "project" this came out well.

"happy"

"valentine's"

"day"

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Valentine's Day Decor: Burlap Heart Wreath

I've been inspired by all of the amazing Valentine's Day decor appearing on my favorite blogs. I had to jump on the bandwagon. Since I'm sick & tired of snow, I've put away all the snowmen, and now all the hearts and red and pink are making an appearance.

I'd seen a few examples of Burlap Heart Wreaths on U-Create, and used the tutorial from Craftaholics Anonymous to make my own. My looks a little pathetic & sad. I used the only wire hanger in my house, maybe mine is just too small, it took nearly a yard of burlap, I hate to say this project is a craft fail, but this is certainly not my favorite project. What do you think?

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Valentine's Day {husbands-sheesh}

When I was sick last week, aside from asking me to clean the house, my husband also laid on me a MAJOR guilt trip that I hadn't gotten him a Valentine's Day OR Birthday card last year, and asked me if I was going to get him one this year. I honestly would not have put it past myself to have forgotten, but I suppose it's unlike me to be that thoughtless. I decided I would really have to make it up to him (since he said it really hurt his feelings) but then, alas, he is a liar completely forgot about the Valentine's Day card that I MADE him last year. I found it when I was taking out my decor. Sheesh, I get no credit!

After sending him an email reminding him that he's a jerk {kind of kidding there} I thought I'd share with the world this adorable card from last year:

Since he doesn't follow my blog, I'll tell you that I've already made him a special card...although now I'm questioning if I should give it to him.

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