Where have I been…?

During the second week of school, the high school-er was asked to the Homecoming dance. She seems to be adjusting fairly well to the bigger crowds, more homework, but she mostly loves the later bedtime!

At the start of the school year we learned that the school our kindergartner attends had a vacancy on the PTA board for the VP of Special events.  Without a person in this position, there was fear that many things the PTA wanted to accomplish this year would not happen.  So I got to thinking, and decided it was something I wanted to do.

Once I was voted onto the board, I was tasked with pulling off the first Donuts with Dads this school ever held.  With no previous event to take numbers from, I was kinda out on a limb.  It turned out to be a smashing success! (Whew!)  But me being me, I had to do a little thank you for the adults (there were some grandpa's there) who decided to show up that morning and make their Cool Spring ‘Penguin’ feel special.

Just a simple bag with a few golf tee’s (I know cliché, but…) and some candy.  Since out mascot is a Penguin, I pulled out the only penguin stamp set I have and fell in love with it!  I knew from the second I looked at it, this was perfect!  I loved the child penguin riding the (in my opinion!) Daddy penguin.  It embodied the bonding that this event gave our kids.

Enjoy <3

A Little Thanks for a Big Job

 

I have discovered that I am a ‘repurposing upcycler’ when it come to my crafty gifts.  I love to take ordinary things and make them unique and special. 

Unique and special are a the exact words I use to describe the 4 people I made these gifts for recently. The teachers at the preschool that my now kindergartener had for the last 2 years, and her little sister and brother will have for the next few years, have gone above and beyond for us, and I wanted to say ‘Thank You’.

Now, we all know I can’t just say ‘thank you’ and call it a day. Oh no way!  I had to get cutesy with it. So I decided to make some “Preschool Teacher First Day Emergency Kits”.

I know, I know, you’re thinking, “What the heck in the world?” is in a kit like that.  Here’s a list of the few goodies I was able to fit in the tins I had on hand. (To be honest, I could have filled a container at least 3 times the size of these tins with all the different ideas of things I wanted to include, but you deal with what you have I guess.)

• 1 package of 20 anti-bacterial hand wipes
• 1 ‘package’ of 6 crayons
• 3 pieces of Hershey’s chocolate
• 1 tea bag
• 1 ‘package’ of Band-Aids with Neosporin

These tins were incredibly easy to put together, and yet look so stunning.

I am going to put some more together over the weekend, and I will put a quick tutorial together.

Until then…

 

Enjoy!

Getting ready already!

The kids will be returning to school in a few days (insert the Mommy happy dance here!) and you know what that means.  Yep, time to start thinking about the impending holiday season.  Now, everyone of us will say “This is the crazy time of year for the family.” For our house it is a very true statement, what with back to school, countless birthdays (we celebrate 3 in a month and a half, and that’s just out of the 6 of us in this house!) from now until December, not to mention Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  It can get overwhelming to say the least.

Here is a picture holder I put together recently.  I know, I skipped a few holidays, but I love red and green so much more than orange!

It’s going to be hard to gift this one as I have really started to fall in love with it!

The great thing about this picture holder is the fact that you can decorate it for any of the holidays.  I’m currently working on a way to have interchangeable embellishments so you can keep the base, but change out a few little do-dads and decorate in minutes for any holiday!

 

Enjoy!

35 SUCKS!

What woman likes a birthday?  I mean, sure we like to hear the ‘you don’t look a day over…’ and of course the presents, and a day to eat cake without having to count calories. But no woman enjoys facing the fact that we are another year older.

My best friend just celebrated her 35th, and leave it to me to bring my unique sense of humor to the occasion.

I love word play.  Yes, turning 35 might ‘suck’ to some, but I say celebrate instead with 35 loli-pops to ‘suck’ on!

Can you imagine this sitting on a desk at work?  Yeah, I got to thinking about that too…possibly offensive to some.  So then you just turn it around to see another birthday greeting.

I painted a small box white, stuffed it with floral foam and added some paper.  I used the Fanfare paper from CTMH since Sunny’s special day is the 5th of July, the red white and blue of it all just fit her.

I decorated the top as well with some paper, then added red white and blue buttons with some string to create a handle.  So once the treats are gone, the box can hold things like paper clips on your desk, or potpourri around the house.

 

Give it a whirl, it’s fun quick and easy. But it also lends a little humor to a touchy subject for women.

 

Enjoy

LOVE

Such a simple word that holds much depth and complexity.  Here is a little photo holder that I added a few things to.

(So just imagine some of your favorite pictures where I have business cards.)

You can see a couple of different ribbons have been tied into bows, I punched out a scalloped heart and also added three paper roses.

(Item available in my etsy shop.)

 

Enjoy!

For my friend, mentor, partner in ‘crime’, inspiration…my Mom

This Mother’s Day present was a year in the making.  Last year I made a 3 panel wall hanging for my Mother-In-Law.  My Mom has been hearing for the past year about all the ‘wall art’ with pictures I have made for family members.  This year for Mother’s Day, I hope she will be surprised to be getting one of her own.  By using a 20x20 canvas I was able to get an 8x10 group shot of my four kids, four individual 5x7’s of my kids, and a 5x7 of my brother’s two kids, so that all six grandkids were together (even if we couldn’t be together for picture taking). 

All products are CTMH unless otherwise stated.

20x20 canvas (local craft store)

Deckle edge scissors by Fiskars (craft store)

Glimmer thread (Sulky metallic thread found with the sewing notions in my local craft store)

Matte Mod Podge (craft store)

Scotch Advanced Tape Glider adhesive (craft store)

Paper retired Veranda paper pack

Sunflower and Daisy White cardstock

Edge Distresser (Z1090)

Stamp sets Bohemian Alphabet (E1019) and Simple Blossoms (C1247)

Colonial White buttons (from the mini medley Z1276)

Two sizes Bitty Sparkles (Z1104)

Black and Sunflower Exclusive Inks

Liquid Glass (Z1313)

 

I took a nontraditional approach to putting this together.  Most people would dive right in from the beginning using Mod Podge.  I however decided to play it a little bit safe because, let’s face it, a canvas this size is not cheap!  So I adhered the paper with my tape gun first, then put some matte Mod Podge on top to seal it.  I then used the tape gun again to adhere the pictures.

For the title I used the Boho alphabet and Sunflower ink, used my edge distresser then added some sunflower ink for a little ‘pop’.  It was still looking a little naked, so I decided to add some of the smallest Sparkles to the center of any flower in the Boho stamping.  I then stamped the bunch of three flowers, cut them out using my deckle edge scissors and again distressed with Sunflower ink.  I had to add a little bling and it fit perfectly where the stem and the flower meet.

I next moved onto the paper rose. (Compliments of Michelle Auten)  BACKSTORY ALERT!  My moms dad had the most beautiful peace roses I had ever seen.    I struggled to get the shading just as I had remembered, but in the end had to settle for more subtle shading.

I have found myself addicted to adding this thread to any and all buttons I use on my projects.  It’s very fine and almost hard to see, but gives the buttons that little touch of attitude.  But they too still looked a little naked, and when in doubt I turn to bling, in this case Sparkles.

I attached the paper rose and the buttons using Liquid Glass, and finished the whole thing with more Matte Mod Podge.

Happy Mother’s Day to the woman who showed me: how to be soft and strong at the same time; how to love with all my heart; and to this day inspires me to be better than the day before.

I love you Mom.

2010                               2011

Enjoy!    

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

Since it is customary to give teachers flowers for Teacher Appreciation week, I thought “How can we do something that won’t die in a week?”.  One of my CTMH team mates Michelle Auten (our resident paper princess) shared some fantastic paper flowers with us at the last team meeting.

I decided to go with small painted terracotta pots instead, I like to have the kids have their hands in on gifts that are to be from them.  This project was perfect in my mind for the teachers because now they keep their flowers forever with no digging, planting, or watering to worry about.

I have to say that the one thing I did forget was to put the year and my daughters name on them…oops! And just like at Christmas time, Jilly reminded me “Mommy I have four teachers.  I may not see Mrs. Cohrs and Mrs. Monarch everyday, but I do still see them.”  So again we made them for her current teachers and her teachers from last year.

Enjoy!