Organized Holiday Season

It is approaching fast...it sneaks up on us every year and before you know it the holiday season is in full swing and I am usually the one trying to play catch up. But I am vowing ( ok just really trying) not to have that happen this year. I already have been asking my children about halloween costumes and I will (as soon as I am done blogging) put going to pick pumpkins on the calendar ( the fancy google calendar my husband is trying so hard to get us all to use together so updates go to everyone).

That being said I am proud to say I just finished my Holiday Planner. I saw one on another blog which was nice and got me thinking...so i headed to the local office supply store and raided my paper stash and came up with this one....

 I titled it "Have yourself a merry little christmas" but really it contains calendars and to do lists for November 1st through December 24th

Here is what you will need:

1 Binder- I used an Avery mini durable view binder. It holds the 5 1/2"x 8 1/2" pages.

1 Package of  lined 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" paper

1 Package of the same size sheet protectors ( I only used 5 out of the 15 pack so you could split them with a friend or two)

3 sheets 12x12 patterned paper - heavyweight works the best

6 sheets solid 12x12 colored cardstock

3 sheets 81/2" x11" white cardstock

Label maker- or you can print your own labels for the tabs

Fiskars lg. flower punch for the tabs

Adhesive-  i used a wet glue because I thought it would hold up better with all the use this book will get

Brown in to ink the edges of the pages if you like that look

I made 7 sections for my planner and added a tab and a cute saying to each section page

#1 Tab- Calendar            Page title- Merry days & silent nights

This section includes full month calendar for Nov & Dec

#2 Tab-  To Do                  Page Title- Jingle all the Day

includes a sheet of lined paper labeled for each of the days Nov 1st through Dec 24th to use as to do lists each day. (note I use a paperclip to keep track of which day I am on in the book) 

    

#3  Tab-  Gifts                    Page Title- No Peeking

self expanitory- all those gift lists using the line paper

#4   Tab-Card Lists            Page Title- Joy to the World

also self explanitory

#5    Tab- Food/baking       Page Title- Home for the Holiday's

I will use one of the sheet protectors to hold all those recipes i need or want to try for the holiday's and paper for shopping lists

#6   Tab- Parties                   Page Title- Celebrate the Magic

more lined paper

#7  Tab- Misc                      Page Title- Be Jolly By Golly

I have added a couple more of the sheet protectors in the back one for coupons, one for receipts and one for returns.

These are all the things that will hopefully help keep me organized and able to ENJOY the holiday's this year.

A Girly Gift

Sarah had to go to a party recently and I wanted to come up with something different for her friend so I came up with the following wood hanging to hold jewelry

It is an 8"x12" wood sign painted black

then I added the vinyl words put some sparkle in your day

next I added some cue glass looking knobs I found at Home Depot.

we then picked out some cute neclaces at Forever 21 and packaged them up

Voila...a cute jewelry hanger every girl would love!

So it's been a while...

Thought I would join the blogging world once again (new years resolution thing). So i thought I would share these Ribbon Smoothies I made for our card swap Christmas get together over the holidays. I saw a smaller version of these at a scrapbook show and kept the idea tucked away in my brain waiting for the perfect time.
It took 2 trips to in & out to get the drink holders and the rest of the supplies I purchased at our local Smart and Final store that sells restaurant supplies. I ordered the ribbon from this amazing (cheap) site I found called Always Underpay. These could have been made way cuter if I had not been in the middle of my big craft show for December but they are still worthy of a post.

Glad to be back
Hope to see here again soon...I have more to share already :)

What's Happening

So here we are already April...where does time go? Here is an update on some things we have been doing and some projects I have completed.
I made this cute Rag Purse fro my friend Kadee's Birthday. I LOVE the way it turned out. I have big plans to make more of these for friends for birthday's. You can check out how to make it here.

My assignment for card swap for March was Adult Birthday. We are doing something new this year in my card swap group where we each have an assignment so we go home with a stack of different themed card each month. You can check out all our card swap cards at The Rowdy Rooster
I saw these on a blog somewhere and decided it would be a quick fun journal to make. It sits on my desk and I like to keep track of all the projects I would love to do....if only there was more time in the day.


These were some fun Valentine cards I made with just 3 sheets of paper. I was playing around with the technique of wetting down paper with a squirt bottle and folding and twisting it... I saw a lot of this at the craft and hobby show.

For our February Card swap we had a baby shower for our fellow card swapper Amber who was having a boy. We each brought her a set of thank you cards she could use to send thank you's after her shower. These were mine...you can see more at The Rowdy Rooster.
I love this Baby gift Jar. It is my favorite gift to give right now. I usually fill it with cute ribbon burb cloths , an outfit, and or toys. Everyone loves a gift that includes cute storage right? :)
In March my kids preformed "Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat" with Arts off Broadway. They had a blast! The Uncle Jon was the Director and their cousins and Aunt were also in the production. It was a lot of work but they had a grea time. Emily played one of Joseph's brothers, Sarah was an adoring girl and one of the wives, and Adam was evil corn.

Nothing says spring like a little boy ( ok not so little but still little to me) hunting for easter eggs in his baseball uniform. Easter and Baseball it is certainly spring!



Ok so the girls think they are too big to hunt for easter eggs but I did convince (and it took a lot of convincing and eye rolling) them to pose for these cute pictures.



We have just returned from the land of cold and snow in Park City Utah. We spent spring break sledding, skiing, shopping , seeing new things, reading books, hanging out and just plain Family fun. I will post mor fun pics once I get them organized. Here is part of the clan heading to the sledding tow to take them back up the hill for another thrilling ride.

Fun Finds

My daughter Sarah and I were at out local Michaels the other day and came across a great new section the have. It contains a ton of packaged paper shapes (they are called paper but are really kind of thick like chip board). They had all kinds and my mind was going wild with ideas. We decided to purchase the Boomarks(only .99 for 12) for a fun starter project as well as the package of alphabet letters ( the best deal $1.99 for 130 letters).
On the way home we decided that these would be a fun Valentine gift for her to make for her class ( no candy allowed at her school :( ). We will make a book mark for each student in the class with there initial on it....so fun right! Here are a couple quick starter samples I made. We will post the class ones closer to Valentines.

Have a Great day!

Holiday Creations

So here is a rundown of some great Holiday stuff I made this year...maybe next year I will get them done and on the blog BEFORE the holiday's are over :)

These were gifts for my Cardswap girls, I also gave one to Sarah's teacher for his family.
Cookies for santa plates (see at A wishful Thought) Take out box with fresh cookie dough inside
Plate- Tai Pan $2.97 Take out- Container- Michaels $1.00 Initial striped tag- $1.00 Homemade Cookie dough

Ribbon- Costco $6.98 for 50 yds.

Gifts do not have to be expensive to show someone you care it's all in the packaging!

This Christmas for Cardswap we each made two ornaments to swap..we made 10 of each style and swapped them so we each got a whole set of new ornaments for our trees. We used the extras for another tree we decorated and gave to a family in need. Here are my two I designed this year. I did a wood block and a Metal star. Click the Cardswap link above if you would like to see all the ornaments we created.
I made of few of these Christmas gifts for friends I visit at church. I absolutely love how they turned out..too bad i gave them away I still need to make one for myself. They will be on my website next holiday season.

It's almost countdown time

For Card Swap this month we created altered items. I got this great idea from a friend and had tons of fun creating these countdown block sets. I made one reversible base and 2 sets of blocks for each person. One set is a Christmas countdown and the other is a Countdown to Card Swap. The Christmas set alone would make a great gift for friends, familly, teachers etc. for the holidays. I will be selling the kit on my website . The kit includes the blocks and the vinyl lettering and numbers. all you need is paper and modge podge. Check out all the fun designs I came up with....

I am in Love...with Fabric

I am in Love with this fabric.....i need to get it !!! Hmmm what do do with it, maybe a fall apron :)
click here to see where you can get them.

3 Fav's from scapbook Expo

I have been meaning to post these for a while, here are the top the finds i got at the Scrapbook show in Del Mar.

1) I have been looking FOREVER for some good storage for ribbon...this is it! All these timy holes hold all your ribbon in place and visible. I think I need to get a few more of these to be able to wrangle in all my ribbons!

2) I decided I wanted to learn one new techniques at the show and I found these fabulous Glimmer Mist spray inks by Tattered Angels and I love them! I did there make and take demo and created the card you see in the picture. I can't wait to use these for card swap!

3) I got the cutest bag!!! I have since turned it into my "church" bag to tote all of those important things for YW as well as church mag , crayons, cars, paper etc for the kids...you might think at ages 7,10,14 you would not need to take things to church to keep them busy, appartently this is not true with my children. Good thing for me because now I have an excuse to use this really cute adorable bag once a week!! Here is where you can get it K&Company

I thought I was clever

My mother-in-law being out of town on Mother's day gave me an additional week to come up with a gift..Now I do have a thing for coming up with creative original gifts- if I do say so myself. So I set out on this task last week and thought myself so clever! A basket filled with new summer kitchen towels, a pretty new table cloth and some fabulous cooking magazines. I decided to top it all off by making her a cute half apron.Perfect! I thought. I then arrived at the in-laws for a fabulous Mother's day dinner yesterday and to my surprise found my Mother in law in the middle of making an APRON for her mom for Mother's day...she then proceeded to tell me how she made a half apron for her friend last week....Great minds think alike!

BTW meet Melinda my daughter(Sarah's) new decorative dress form I found at Ross. She has affectionately named her Model Melinda and she hangs her outfit for the next day on her. Adorable!

Jar Re-filled

I ran out of tags for my celebrate jar so i thought i would share a few new ones with you. The one pictured by itself is my favorite alothough it is hard to see how great the green rub on design looks. I can't tell you how much I love having these on hand.

stay tuned i have some great ideas i will be working on this week.

Quick gift idea

I had to put together a quick gift for some card swap girls and so i picked up some cute great ribbon at costco ( they have those great big rolls), I cut some cute paper and modge podged it to the front tied a quick ribbon and attached a cute metal monograms to the front.
Happy Birthday Card swap fiends.

I took the challenge

My friend Kadee posted a challenge on her blog Kadee Morrison Creations. The Challenge was to create a card that was pink and green and used ribbon and buttons in the layout. This is my take on the challenge.

Fall Fabulous

I was inspired at a craft fair to make this cute pumpkin from round fence posts. We made them with our church craft group this month. I love how it turned out. I love decorating for fall!! Too bad it is 100 degrees today:(

A fun Mother Daughter Project

A couple weekends ago my sister in law and her girls came over and we made these cute coasters using white tiles, scrapbook paper, modge podge, and a clear sealer. We had so much fun. Mine are the black and white ones tied up with ribbon ( they make a cute gift) and the colored ones my daughter sarah made. The girls had so much fun picking their papers and modge podging them.

A quick Project

I was at my friends house the other day and she had the cutest broom in her kitchen. I happen to see a similar one at TJ max. I had a red broom at home and not wanting to spend the $ I decided to make it myself. Using some vinyl dots and some cute ribbion I created a cute enough broom to leave out in the open.

I hate laundry!!

Okay I hate the process of doing laundry, you wash dry and fold the same clothes week after week..and that makes me nuts. But what are you going to do. A few months back we got a fancy new washer and dryer set so we updated the laundry room with fresh paint cabinets etc. I FINALLY put some cute lettering up on the walls and thought I would share the pics.