Valentine's Day Wreath

I found this idea and decided I had to copy it. I went with colors to match my table runner and kitchen towels.

But I am not sure how much I like the way it turned out:
It does look much better in person though!!!! I am thinking about taking it all apart and mixing the hot pink and light pink colors together and getting rid of the teal. I thought it would look great! Uh! And just in case you were worried... I fixed the little whole yo you might have noticed on the upper left hand side of the wreath!
To see more heart wreaths go here.

Diet Coke

Usually fixes everything, but not today. Why is life SO HARD sometimes?

Homemade Christmas Gift = Nightmare!

But it actually turned out great and I hope my mother in law enjoys it and finds a place for this massive bad boy!!! If you notice how the letters are not perfectly aligned just tilt your head a little to the right and left or up and down for that matter and it will look great. And remember it is Sam's fault not mine! :) Sorry the picture is a little dark and there is a terrible glare!



Want to make your own? Click here for the tutorial. I mean did you seriously think I came up with this one on my own.... Ha! The only difference is I used black vinyl and my Blessings block is actually 26 inches long. Not to mention hers is much cuter I know!!! Now I am on to make one for my own mom. I just didn't have enough time to make 2 before Christmas and my mom wanted a new bedspread for Christmas. But since my mom only has one grandchild you just might see my face along with a face for each of their other children and children-in-law on these bad boys! haha. We are blessings right??????? FYI: I used the Alphalicious cartridge for the letters and the Sweethearts Amoureux Cartridge to make the scrolly.

P.S. Do you know what it is like to take pictures of an 8 yr old, 6 yr old (Ethan you are 6 right?), 4 yr old (Logan 4???? I know I am a terrible aunt!), 2 yr old, 1 yr old (nearly 2), 11 month old, and a 3 month old!!! A crazy time! Can you even imagine a group shot... I bet you are picturing crying, some silly faces, and maybe even some hitting???? You are right!!!! Here is "the good one" just for kicks!


Happy crafting to all and to all a good night!!!

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!

And this cute boy can't wait!!! He loved Santa! I will post more pictures as soon as I receive the jpeg file! Here is just one that I caught with my own camera!

JOY Wood Letters

I finished these this morning... Now I just need to hang them. Normally I put the letters on a little shelf in my "dining area" (definitely not a room), but the J won't stay up... thinking about taking a wood saw and cutting of the bottom to make it straight! Lately I have been having issues with Mod Podge!!! But I learned a great trick when using it: brush on a little bit of water onto your paper! Worked like a champ! I used the same paper line as my countdown calendar (see post below). And now I am working on a paper wreath using the rest of the paper. So fun! All of the supplies were found at Michael's!!!!

Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar

Once I uploaded the picture above I realized I never put the border on the bottom! So I went back and added it on. But this picture was the clearest so I wanted to make sure to keep it on!




I am FINALLY done with this project, and I am pretty darn excited about it! ha! It was challenging at times to come up with embellishments to use but it is done! I do need to replace the red star because it is to heavy and won't stay on when hanging on the wall! I am just going to go buy a cheap wood star from Joann's paint it and attach that for #24 instead! I wish I would have taken step by step pictures so if any of you wanted to make your own you could! But here is a blog that kind of helped me. I did do mine a little different but you can get the general idea there. If you google Christmas Cookie Sheet Advent Calendar you find a ton of other blogs that offer tutorials. Also, one of my favorite craft blogs, tatertots and jello, has a tutorial here. The materials I used were:
- cookie sheet (I got mine at Target for 4 bucks but the dollar tree has a mini one. I feel however that the mini one would be very difficult to fit all 25 pieces on it, so splurge on a more expensive, larger cookie sheet ;). And make sure it is magentic!!!)
-spray paint. I think mine was creamish?
-magnets (I bought the thick, round, black ones because the magnet strips you can buy and cut to size just weren't strong enough)
- 4 pieces of scrapbook paper (3 must be 12x12) one of the peices (the striped one is just for a border so you don't need much. I cut the Christmas tree paper down to 8.5x11 and printed a 5x5 table from word onto the it. The top piece with the snowflakes is just cut in half and glued onto the top and bottom of the cookie sheet. I also rounded the top and bottom corner of the paper with my little "rounder tool thingy". The red dot paper was 12x12 but I cut of the sides to fit into the cookie sheet and maybe a little of the top and the bottom so there was enough room for the title! Then I glued the striped border on to the top and bottom of the red dot paper. You also could use ribbon here instead of paper. Finally, I glued the Christmas tree paper onto the red dot paper. Hopefully this makes sense)
-embellishments galore -- Buttons, ribbons, scrapbook Christmas embellishments, mini cookie cutters, jingle bell, oranment, etc. !!!
-spray glue -- I used elmers's
- cricut for the 25 days of Christmas or pre-made chipboard letters (if you want them glittered spray the elmer's glue on each letter and pour the glitter... Lesson Learned by Yours Truly: DO NOT HOLD THE LETTER IN YOUR HAND WHILE SPRAYING THE GLUE!!! ;)
-glitter (I love Martha Stewart Glitter) I used the colors blue topaz and garnet.
-Apigator or other tool that can punch a hole through metal
- jewelry wire
-ribbon to tie a bow at the top (wired ribbon is best and is 60% off at Michael's right now--Christmas ribbon that is)
-and stickers for the numbers! I also saw people who spelled the number out but I just used the numbers.
I think that is everything!!!!! If you do make one send me a picture. I would love to see it! And if you have any other questions just ask!!! More crafts to come later tonight or in the morning!!! And if you have made some things do share!!!

The Elves

"The elves" came to visit us today. They left us cookies, a poinsettia, and a reindeer stuffed animal for Jackson. It is so funny how just yesterday I was saying I needed a poinsettia for a gift my sisters in law gave us. How perfect! Now to explain the whole "elves" thing.... Sam's family has a tradition where during Christmas time the elves mysteriously stop by and leave some kind of gift and usually a treat. The elves always leave some kind of note. Our note this morning said that we really need to enjoy the holidays. And that Jackson needed to sleep through the entire night!!! (Wishful thinking!) The elves always sign the note sincerely, the elves. They also visited us last week. We were all over Sam's parents house of Friday and "the elves" brought all of the grand kids a Christmas movie. The elves just simply ring the doorbell and run away. Maybe you can start this in your family. Maybe you can "elf" a friend or another family member! It really is a lot of fun because you just never know when the elves might drop by!!! Do you have a family tradition that you just love? Let me know! P.S. I know the elf in the picture above looks kinda creepy... sorry!