Happy Valentines Day!!

Good morning! Hope it's a good one so far. For me it was a little hectic... but the worst is over, got all the goodies to school (2 of them) and to work without any issues. Big accomplishment! I'm not a big supporter of V-Day, but I am enjoying it from the kids' perspective (and the crafty perspective!). A few years ago I did jump onto the "it's just a Hallmark Holiday" bandwagon, but it's all good. I remember when I was a little girl, coming home from school and pouring my bag of Valentines out and oogling at all my goodies!! So, I thought it should be just as fun for my kiddies! As you know, I got majorly Valentine crafty this year. I made the kids' class Valentines, Valentines gifts for our parents, my hubby's card, and treat bags for the teachers/my office. Whew. Kinda happy it's over.

So, yesterday, I got up bright and early to start baking cookies (12 dozen - of different cookie all variations/flavors!!) to fill the goodie bags. Here's a look at the finished products all sprawled out on my couch ;): Alivia's teacher asked that I make goodie bags (for the class party), so kept it simple and went to Target and picked up these cute (purple polka dot gift bags for $1.99 (for 20) and filled them with the Valentines I made and a mini bag of M&Ms (they're only 2 year olds - didn't want to go crazy). I punched a 2" circle and made little "From: Alivia" tags using Lawn Fawn's "Just My Type II" & "Jessie's ABCs". Came out cute!: Then these are out parent's gifts - little photo-holders, all finished up with a sweet card for each of them using Lawn Fawn's "Harold's ABCs", "Bannerific", and "Silly Valentine":
I was so happy (around 1pm) when all the Valentines goodness was complete and I could move on to other stuff. Sigh. I'm sure someday I'll be over making craft projects for these holidays (who knows maybe that'll be next year!). My husband is all like "why are you going crazy"... but all I could tell him was... "BECAUSE IT MAKES ME HAPPY" :D. it makes the kids happy! And there you have it. I liked making all of these things. Plus, I spaced them all out so that I wasn't completely overwhelmed with anything (I started the bags in January). I took my time and enjoyed every minute of every project. This is what I do when the rest of the world is asleep ;). And that's A-OK with me.

Putting those stocking ornaments to GOOD use!

Good morning ;). Thanks so much for all the love on my Box O’ Fun post!! It really means alot to me!

I meant to bring my son’s box today to take photos and share on the blog... but he got all nervous when he saw me packing it up “MOMMY, WHY DO YOU NEED MY BOX AT WORK???”. So I’ll try again tomorrow... and be sneakier this time.

I did have something to share today though, remember the mini stocking ornaments I made for my mom? Well, she had my kiddies over this weekend to decorate her tree and hung them all up. Here’s a picture of her finished tree. Came out SUPER cute if you ask me! Next year, I’m totally making more of these as gifts!!
Another picture to share, this is my mom and my 9 year old niece, Paige. Paige lives with my mom (mentioned that on here before). Obviously the pic of Paige & my mom was taken before the decorating began ;). Lookin good ladies! MUAH!
Well, that’s all I have to share for today. Thanks for peeking at my blog!! I love getting inspiration out here in blog-land, and love it that maybe, once in a while, I inspire one of you AWESOME ladies as well!! Have a fabulous day!!

Its ornament time!!!

Morning!! Today I wanted to share a spin off of my (Scrapbooks Etc.) paper stocking adventure.

Ok, back story. My mom has a boyfriend, Mike. They're been together almost 3 years now and live together. Mike has 3 kids of his own. Their 1st Christmas living together. which was 2 years ago, they started a "tradition" that the kids all get them ornaments for Christmas for "their" tree. Cool idea, last year we got them some pretty cool ornaments too ;)... Well, I was so inspired by those little stockings, that I decided to make a set for my mom. It includes mini stockings for my mom, mike, his 3 kids (Michael, Chris, and Ashlee) for my brother, my hubby, and myself. Then I shrunk the template just a teensy bit and made one for my son, daughter, and niece (I didn't make one for my sister - sorry, but when you leave your daughter and never come back, except through random facebook comments, you're not getting an ornament on my momma's tree).


I used the Basic Grey's Jovial paper again, October Afternoon Mini Market letter stickers, bakers twine form The Twinery, and Papertrey Ink buttons. I love them, oh, how I love them. My mom LOVED them too - which is what's MOST important!!

I have another little share. My friend Danna and her hubby Justin, who are both in the Navy and stationed in Virginia (although he is currently serving overseas), have a sweet little baby boy named Harper Phoenix (he's 5 months old - YOU KNOW HE'S GUNNA BE A COOL KID WITH A NAME LIKE THAT!!). Anyway, this will be his 1st Christmas and they'll be spending it without Justin :(. Anywho, I made them an Christmas ornament for their family using recycled Bo Bunny button/bling packaging, a page from a (house) chipboard book ($1 from Michaels), October Afternoon paper, Hero Arts (owl) Stamps, Copics, and Martha Stewart glitter. So this is their "Family of Three- 1st Christmas" ornament that I made them ;).


Thanks for peeking!! Have a great weekend.

Crafty for a Cure!!!!

Hi there. Hope everyone had a nice weekend. As for me, I was in full-on panic/craft mode!! With the Bargain Hunt this coming weekend, there was just no time to waste. I've made SO many goodies and will have much to share this week :D.

So, I've been wanting to make a banner for my crafty space (which is essentially my kitchen table and a giant bookshelf packed with goodies) for a while now, but...eh, didn't know where to begin, and I just always have so much I want to play with, try, or do; so, the idea of it has basically been sitting backseat for a while. Then, on my Birthday - of all days, I get an email from Maya Road that they had some "Creating Art - A Banner Process" kits left over from CHA. It was just too good of a deal to pass up - and I had just gotten some birthday cash - WOO HOO!! - needless to say, I snached of those babies up right away! Oooooooh-weeee, it came jam-packed with Maya Road goodies - WAY more than enough to make the banner (which was supposed say "ART").

Anyway, when it came in, I just put it aside because, with all this Bargain Hunt maddness, I didn't want to take time out for goodies for me... Well, yesterday, I finished all of my Bargain Hunt crafts, and then it came to me, yes, I wanted the banner for my crafty space, but I was thinking, it would be perfectly awesome to go further and use it as a decoration for my table at the Bargain Hunt!! So this is what I came up with:




I absolutely love how it came out. The kit was awesome - just packed full of goodness - with EXTRAS!!! Almost everything (and oh, so much more!!) I needed to make this entire (extended) banner was included in the kit! I added sparkly Evergreen Glimmer Mist for the Chipboard scallops. I also added a page from a Fancy Pants Bracket Mini Book I've had stashed away, along with my own October Afternoon Thrift Shop goodies to complete that. As you can see, I played around with my Cosmo Cricket flower again & made a smaller version of it annnnd I actually got it perfect this time!!!! I also used Crackle Accents on the letters of the bracket page - love the effect.

After the Bargain Hunt, I will take off the bracket (will use that for something else later) and hang my "crafty" banner up on my scrappy shelf, looking like this:
So, best of luck to me this week - to tie up all of my loose ends - and for a successful Bargain Hunt. I've got lots of craftiness that I've made to sell, and will share most of those goodies with you through out this week. I hope I do well, all of the $$ I make from this Bargain Hunt will go directly to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, which I'll be walking in March. Thinking happy thoughts. Wish me luck!!! Have a blessed day!!

Mother's Day Crafts ;)

Well this Mother’s Day my mother-in-law put in a special request for a scrapbook. Since I regularly print pictures and give them to her, I used our most recent Disney world pics. which I hadn’t even printed for myself yet ;). I bought a Bo Bunny “kit” from Cherry Blossom Studio last time I was there and decided the papers & embellies would be perfect for her. I love the way it turned out and she LOVED it as well. I also made their cards ;).

Teacher Appreciation Door Cover

On another note, it was also, it was Teacher Appreciation Week. I saw a door cover someone online (I’m sorry I do not remember where) made. It said “Thank you {teacher} for helping us Bloom and Soar. In the one I saw online, they had smaller flowers and kites with the kids’ pictures pasted into them. I decided to use my handy-dandy Cricut Expressions and cut out a sun (super cute!!), heart balloons, flowers and the teachers names. I took pics of the kids smiling (for the flowers) and making silly faces (for the balloons). Then, I snuck into the school on Sunday after church and put it on their door. Needless to say, they were both super happy which made me happy. They’ve really helped me this year with Christian. So thankful for you Miss Tina and Mrs. Hill!!