Peace

I love a good peace sign.

Found here.

They're super popular right now, but the majority are also super tacky.

Found here.

I got my love of peace signs from my Mom. And, actually, my sister shares it as well. Lately, anytime we find something fun that is peace related we tend to go ahead and buy three or at least let the others know about it... otherwise it might get "borrowed" the next time one of us visits the other. This is especially true if the peace sign in question belongs to my Mom.

Moms are pretty generous, aren't they? Mine always has been. And because of that I wanted to create a little something special for her to hang in her office. She just happened to be in the process of redecorating when I came up with this idea, so the timing was perfect. Clearly, it was a "sign"!

I got the idea from constantly coming across all of the fabulous DIY wreaths on the various craft blogs I subscribe to. This was what originally inspired me:

Found here.

Those felt flowers are literally the easiest thing in the world. I believe that link shows you how to do it and the instructions have been so overdone that I won't even bother going over them again. As for the wooden peace sign, I asked my stepdad to make it for me. He's got all the tools and I knew he'd be just the guy for the job. And together, this is what we created:

I love it! My Mom loves it! Heck, even my husband loves it. And he is pretty hard to impress, you guys!

She Believed She Could... So She Did

Hi, people! I recently created a little something for a new friend of mine who is undergoing chemo and radiation therapy. I knew that I wanted to make her an inspiring print that she could hang on her wall or prop up on a table somewhere in her home. I'm not a big quote person though, only because I tend to forget them like ten minutes after I've exclaimed how much I love them! Still using the ol' mommy brain excuse for that one. It's a medical phenomena, no?

Anyways, this is what I came up with after spending a few minutes with my friend, Google:



And here's a shot of it framed in my home. Please excuse the quality. Hubby is the photographer in the family, not me. Also, I live in a dungeon. It's dark in here.


And because I think all of us sometimes need this reminder, I want to share the 8x10 print with you, too! Enjoy!
http://www.box.net/shared/b72ocmeuqc

Linked to:

Photoshop & Subway Art

Oh, the things you can do with Photoshop! Confession... I have absolutely no idea how to edit a picture I've taken using Photoshop. Sure, I'd like to eventually learn but for now I just leave those tasks up to the Hubby.

Recently I have been really interested in the subway art I've been seeing everywhere. During the holiday season I downloaded a free print from eighteen25. Check it out! LOVE IT!

They have one for Valentines Day, too.

These are so great that they inspired me to create one that I could leave up throughout the year. I've seen a lot of "family rules" subway art, but we don't have a whole lot of that in our family with a toddler and two part-timers. Instead, I came up with the idea to just have the print reflect us as a family; as in what we like to do (or eat) together and where we've been. Whatdya think?!

Craftastic Weekend

Last weekend was not very exciting. In fact, for the most part, it was downright boring. I had hoped to get out of the house and maybe go to the zoo, but it was wasn’t ideal weather and my older stepson was playing catch up all weekend with his school work. I’m not kidding, he pretty much ate, slept, showered and did homework. It wasn’t fun for any of us

The only good thing about such an uneventful weekend is that, Mama? she gets stuff done. I did the usual weekend cleaning, a little extra organizing and even had time for crafting! Since Haeden is pretty much constantly all up in my grill, I can only craft when he is sleeping. I made the most of that time this weekend and finally finished up my first cross-stitch project. I am in love with these and can’t wait to get to the craft store sometime this week to stock up on more thread so that I can get on with the next project.

I also broke out the felt and tried out a couple of new flower designs. The flatter flower is so darn quick and easy that I made three of them. I had seen a similar design on etsy and figured I could make it myself with my stepson’s trusty circle template. These flowers are pretty much self-explanatory. The second flower I made into a pin and am wearing it today. I’ve already gotten several compliments and I have to confess, I love being able to tell people that I made it myself!

For the second type, I'm including directions (sorry, no photos).

1. Cut out 6 flower shapes approx 3 inches in diameter. You will also need to cut out circular piece for the back and two leaves (optional).

2. Take each flower and place a dot of glue in the middle and fold over. Then place another dot of glue in the middle and fold over once more.

3.Arrange four of these on the felt circle so that the straight edges are touching. Then you will glue the remaining two in the middle so that they are sticking straight up/ one resting on each side of the flower. This makes sense when you are actually in the moment, I promise.

4. If you decide to use a flimsier type of fabric you could push the two top layers down and glue a pretty bead or button to the middle to give it a little extra flair. You can then either glue to a pin back, alligator clip or headband.

And lastly, I finally found the time to create the subway art inspired print all about our little family. It was simple and fun and I promise to post a picture of it later this week! Also, still to come is last week’s Project 365 photos!

Last Minute Gift - DIY Sugar Scrub

I like to think that homemade gifts are always cherished and even add a personal touch to this season of giving. I learned a long time ago that if you have to get a gift for a woman, and you have no idea which direction to go in, you really can't go wrong with some kind of fancy bath gift. Oh, but you can't afford to send them for a day at the spa? Well, how about you bring the spa to them with their very own peppermint sugar scrub! Ehhhh? Ehhhhh?

These are so easy and quick that I spent about an hour last weekend (nothing like the last minute) preparing these for each of my co-workers and Haeden's teachers. They seem to have been a hit so far and while I ran out of ingredients before I got to make one for myself, my hands definitely reaped the benefit during clean up.

Here's what you need:
1 cup sugar ( I used raw, but I read granulated is fine)
1/2 cup almond, sesame or olive oil ( I went with extra virgin olive oil since it was cheaper than the other two and I was making 10 of these bad boys)
1 tsp vitamin E oil (optional, but acts as a preservative to make your scrub last up to 6 months)
1 tsp essential oil of your choice (I used peppermint. Perfect for the season, energizing, clears those sinuses!)
1 tsp coconut oil
7 - 10oz container (Mine is from Dollar Tree!)

Directions:
Mix sugar, olive oil and coconut oil. Then add in vitamin E and peppermint oils. Stir. Pour into jar. Fancy it up with a bow, ribbon, gift tag, or whatever you like and give someone the gift of skin as soft as a baby's bottom!

Yarn Wreath - Revisited

Remember my fall yarn wreath from a few weeks ago?  Well, friends, it is back. And dare I say better than ever?! I also used the same technique to decorate some simple foam Christmas trees. I pretty much love them all... and even Hubby is impressed! I think I deserve a cookie, don't you?

Oh, and pay no attention to the placement of the wreath. I haven't decided where to put it yet and this spot just happened to have the best lighting. Instead, check out that pretty felt poinsettia! I'm totally going to make some pins and possibly use them as gift toppers this year! Oh joy!

What do you guys think!? I'm pretty sure we are going to have a version of this wreath for every season! And one last thing.... I must share a little of Hubby's handywork as well! Gotta love our Florida Christmas (palm) tree!

Flower Power

You guys! I am totally obsessed with the plethora of tutorials that can be found on the blogosphere. Lately, I have been printing them off and sticking them in a binder at home. It is already overflowing with all the projects I'd love to someday try, and yet I find myself printing off probably two or three more each week. I need to stop printing and start crafting! This would be so much easier if they'd let me do this at work...

At the moment I am addicted to all the flower-related tuts, whether it be felt/organza hair clips, pins or just plain (but still gorgeous) ol' paper flowers. So far, the tissue paper carnations have been an epic FAIL, however, I am hoping it might just be the fact that I had super cheap (super thin) tissue. Mine came out looking more like a wrinkled up ball of tissue paper rather than an actual carnation.

What does seem to be working for me are the felt/organza hair clips and pins. I can usually churn out three or four of these in an hour's time. They aren't perfect by any means (homemade isn't supposed to be, right? riiiight?!), but I've already got a few friends asking me to make them some, so I'm pretty proud! I must warn you though, although I didn't singe my bangs with the lighter, I did burn the crap out of my fingers with the glue gun. I'm not sure I have much of a fingerprint left on my right index finger. Oh, and I may or may not have accidentally punched myself in the eye at one point. Don't ask. Just be careful!

Here are the results! And please excuse the craptastic photos. My house is basically a cave.

The off-white and pink flowers are pins. I sent one to my Chemo Angel last week. The rest are all hair clips. I can't wait to try my hand at a headband for my sweet little niece. What do you guys think?

Fall Wreath

So, I really felt the yarn wreath was lacking a little something. Since it is the first thing I see when I come home each day (normally it is on the door), I knew I was going to have to do something about it. I decided to create a few more paper flowers and combined those with some felt flowers I had laying around.  I also made a little lunchtime trip to Hobby Lobby on Friday and picked up some deeply discounted... thingy. Garland? I don't actually know what these things are called, but it sure did add some much needed flair.

I'm pretty happy with it at the moment and look forward to trying my hand at another color scheme for Christmas. I'm going to have to order some wool felt for the flowers not only because it's much nicer to work with, but it comes in colors that aren't quite so in your face bright!  Can't wait!

Sorta, Kinda Fall

Fall is officially upon us! Well, technically speaking anyway. It was still a balmy eighty degrees this weekend, but there was a breeze! Saturday we actually had the door open all day long and no AC and it was glooorious! I always look forward to this time of the year, and I hope it lasts a while. Around these parts, fall is like a game of cat and mouse. I excitedly prepare for it as soon as the end of September rolls around; decorate the house and pull out the knee-high boots, thick tights and sweaters. But just as quickly as a cool day comes, it is gone in an instant. A chilly morning is replaced by a sweltering afternoon. You just never really know what you're going to get!

But no matter what the weather is like, decorating for fall is a must. Okay, well, it is from now on. Admittedly I haven't done a whole lot of it in the past, but as soon as I entered motherhood my inner wannabe-crafter was awakened. I'm still a beginner though, so when you compare what I've made to the pictures from the link with directions, try to stifle your laughter, please.

Behold! My fall yarn wreath. I first saw this on a blog I frequent and couldn't wait to make one of my own. Here's what I learned in the process:

1. Yarn is more expensive than I thought. Bummer.

2. Foam wreaths are kind of hard to find this time of the year. Apparently everyone and their mother wants to make their own?

3. This requires some patience. Patience is no virtue of mine. Might be why it pales in comparison to Amy's.

All of the stores are having 50% and more sales on all of their fall accessories. It's almost Halloween and clearly that means they have to make room for their Christmas decor. It's insane and a little irritating to walk down an aisle of stockings and ornaments the first week of October, but hey, if that means that I am getting this adorable pumpkin for less than ten bucks?! I'm all for it. 

We usually have a cute bowl sitting in the middle of the dining room table. I like it, but usually you cannot even see it because it has become the inevitable catch-all of mail, receipts, pens, etc. The only time it ever really gets moved is during the Christmas season, or when Dan buys me flowers. So, basically two or three times a year (just kidding, babe!). I originally wanted to find some ceramic pumpkins and gourds and just spray paint them a glossy white, a la Young House Love style, but I don't really have the time to go on a bargain hunt for them. What I did have time for was picking up the real thing, along with a good sized pumpkin, while grocery shopping. I do love to be efficient!  And I'm all about bringing the outdoors in with natural elements. We spruced up the arrangement with some faux fall leaves we scored for a dollar on a recent trip to JoAnn's Fabrics. Woot!

We had some extra leaves left over and went ahead and decorated the shelf behind the dining room table. I especially like the way they look in the vintage hurricane lamps. I also broke out the cricut and made the "Autumn" sign. The crappy picture doesn't do it justice, but I love it. The letters are cut out of a brown paper with little orange and yellow flowers. Anytime I can work some girlie flowers into the decor, I'm a happy girl! 

Well, other than the pumpkin pillow on the couch and Haeden's skeleton jammies, that about does it for us! Now to just sit back and wait for Mother Nature to tease us with some more autumn-ish weather...

Lookey what I made!

About a month or so ago I bought a clever little machine called a Cricut. It basically cuts out shapes, letters, animals, and pretty much anything you can think of as long as you have the cash to throw down for their cool, but expensive, cartridges. I had been coveting one of these since I saw the invitations and banner that a friend of mine made for her granddaughter's birthday. So, when it went on sale ($100 off!), I couldn't resist!

And holy WOW! This thing is pretty awesome once you figure it out. I may or may not have wasted a ridiculous amount of paper before the light bulb went on and I realized that although this thing doesn't come with nearly enough directions, I had the entire interweb at my disposal! There is a plethora of information on these things, of course. Even pictures of and instructions on how to create amazing cards. I don't really have the time (or patience) to sift through all of that though. I only have maybe an hour and a half increments to play with the darn thing, since anytime I try to do this when Haeden is around, he becomes obsessed with the electrical cord.*

A couple of weekends ago I came up with the idea to make a mobile using the Create-A-Critter cartridge. I ordered up a clip mobile that is meant for photographs or flash cards (also very cute idea) and spent Saturday night after Haeden went to bed and nap time on Sunday creating this:

Please excuse the crooked picture frame. Haeden can juuuuust about reach that now. But as for the mobile, I'm fairly proud! I could never have created this with scissors. I probably would have tried and then stabbed myself in the hand about halfway through from sheer (pun intended!) frustration. There are just so many things you could do with this machine. I'm thinking these little guys would look adorable framed, too! Maybe even print off the first letter of the animal name and make your own flashcard-inspired art!

* Will this child ever learn "NO!"?