I BELIEVE I've gotten a little behind!

Wow! It's been a LONG time since I've posted. Sickness, travel, holidays, you name it... Life has definitely put a damper on my holidays. Add that to a sweet baby girl that doesn't want to sleep more than about an hour without eating between 8pm and 1am... and there goes my productive window of time! 


Last year was different. I made things... created things... crafted things. So, I'm going to blog about some of those things tonight :)

Ok, so I've got to tell you that I'm pretty proud of this BELIEVE project. Not that it turned out so wonderful or anything, but for another very special reason. This was an original creative idea... straight from my brain! Woohoo! I didn't see it or copy it from anyone else! (This is a pretty huge accomplishment for me.) So, how did I do it?

I bought the wood plaques from the Wal-Mart craft department and painted them with acrylic paint. Then I cut the letters out of adhesive vinyl with my Silhouette. I discarded the actual vinyl letters and used the negative space as a stencil, and painted the letters in gold. Then I hot glued some cute wire ribbon to the backs, and there you have it!

Here it is hanging on my wall.
Sorry... this is probably just about the crappiest pic ever,
 but I'm afraid if I take the time to go take another,
my precious window of time might pass by :)

Another project I made last year, for a gift, was kind of a hybrid of my own creative genius (haha) and a few other ideas I had seen floating around blogland...

Simple wood block (scrap left over from another project), sand papered edges, Mod Podged scrapbook paper, drilled holes the size of sucker sticks, Merry Christmas cut out in vinyl, and attached a bow. The suckers are oreos dipped in white chocolate and decorated with sprinkles. The secret to making these Oreo pops is to dip the end of the sucker stick into the melted chocolate before putting it inside the cookie so it will all stick together before dipping! The amazing thing about this project is that I threw it together with only things I had lying around the house! Score!

I'm hoping to get a few more of my Christmas projects posted before Christmas passes, but time seems to be moving in hyper drive lately! I mean seriously? It's already mid-December? Phew... Where did my November go? :)

Headband/Hair Bow Holder

I had very little time or energy for crafting by the time I found out I was having a girl when I was pregnant with Ada. The little energy I had on the days I didn't feel like death was spent chasing Isaac around. Needless to say, I'm not one of those women who love being pregnant. In fact, I pretty much despise it. If the end products weren't so perfect and miraculous, I would never have done it a 2nd time or consider any more!


Sorry. I got a little sidetracked there. The point is that my poor little Ada hardly got anything made for her by her mommy... and I'm still waiting for the day that I can take the time to do some things for her. However, I did get just a couple things done and I want to share one of those today!


When I realized all the ruffles and frills and bows that having a baby girl entailed, I also realized I needed somewhere to put these cute, mostly pink, items :)  That's when I decided I needed some type of hair accessory holder. 


Of course I consulted with Etsy, and got a few ideas. This is what I came up with:

I got a wood plaque from the craft department at Wal-Mart and painted it with acrylic craft paint. Then I cut Ada and the dots out of vinyl with my Silhouette. I discarded the vinyl name and dots and used what was left as a stencil and painted. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't have used 2 shades of pink paint. I'm not sure what I was thinking making the name a different color... I'm going to blame the pregnancy hormones :)


Moving on... I just hot glued the ribbons and screwed in hooks (that I also got at Wal-Mart in the... ummm.. section where all the screws and hooks are). I also would have used bigger hooks if I were to do it again. Obviously, I had no idea just how many headbands my baby girl would need :)


And here it is doing the job it was meant for! Of course I didn't have any bows to attach to the ribbons at the time this picture was taken, and now my hooks are so overloaded with headbands, the bows won't really fit behind or beside them.

If nothing else, this post has told you what not to do if you want to make an effective hair accessory holder! I think sometimes showing our mistakes and trial and error process can be just as helpful as a flawless tutorial. Overall, I'm pretty happy with my little project and I love the personalized touch in Ada's room!

Candy Cakes

Yes, it's yet another post involving candy. I just can't help myself! I made my first candy cake for Halloween last year (2010).

These cakes are so easy to do! For this one, I made a plain yellow cake mix with chocolate frosting, then stuck Kit Kat bars to the frosting on the outside to form a sort of chocolate bowl or barrel, then covered the top with Reese's pieces:

The peanut butter and chocolate was super rich and so yummy! One of the best things about these cakes is that it doesn't matter what the cake looks like on the inside. I mean, I'm sure your cakes always turn out perfectly shaped with no cracks or anything... but I'm just saying... In case by some freak chance something did happen ;)


My husband liked this cake so much, he requested one for his birthday this year.

He wanted Twix and peanut butter M&M's. I decided to go with the mini Twix because I thought the full sized ones would be too big (not to mention cost a fortune to get enough to go around the whole cake!)

As you can see, they weren't quite tall enough, so I did a row of M&M's around the bottom to boost them up to the top of the cake.


Here's the finished cake with candles and all:

These cakes are so much fun and would be great for kid's (or kid at heart, right Ryan?) party!

Language Card Magnets

This is a project I started several months ago for Isaac. He had gotten to the point where he could understand about 90% of what I said to him, but he just didn't have the vocabulary to communicate with me the way he wanted to. That's when I decided to make these language cards to help him out. 

We started with food because I thought it would be something easy that I could expose him to multiple times each day so he could get the hang of it. Basically, the idea is that he can choose the card to tell me what he would like to eat. This cuts down on the process of him pointing in a general direction and me guessing until I pick what he's pointing at. I am also hoping this will help with word recognition as he gets older and starts learning to read.


This was another quick and easy project. I created the cards in Microsoft Word, using mostly Google images. I have taken a few pictures of the actual food that we have on hand a few times so they will be more realistic or authentic for him. 

This is what my Word document file looks like for my first set.

Then I printed, cut, laminated, and put a magnet on the back. This makes them durable and convenient for him to reach.

I tried to get him to show me the card he had, but he didn't want to cooperate and turn it around.

Recently he has really started using them regularly, and it has been great! He loves taking the cards to the high chair and matching them with his food. Now I just need to take the time and effort to make some more :)

Super Simple Halloween Decor: Candy Corn Candle

This year I decided that I wanted to do a better job of decorating for Halloween. It's such a fun holiday! Being so busy and all, I decided to start early... in late September to be exact. I thought if I could just gradually work on a few things each week, the house would look super fabulous in time for Halloween and trick-or-treating. 


Well, it turned out like many many things I attempt (sadly enough)... I started out GREAT... then... sort of... lost steam... I'm pretty sure I haven't done a single Halloween-related thing since before Isaac's birthday party. This makes me so sad because I had SO many great ideas! 


Ahhh... maybe next year. 


Enough of that though. I'm going to share a simple project I DID get accomplished.

Seriously, this has got to be the easiest thing ever. But I LOVE it! Aaaannd, the best part of all: Everything pictured above came from Dollar Tree, which makes it super CHEAP and EASY!! I couldn't ask for anything more! 

So, as you can see I put a candle in the glass jar, poured in some candy corn, and there you have it! It's also versatile. Change out the candy for other holidays, or just take out the candy corn and it's still a cute little candle to display. I liked this one so much, I made another to match and put them on each side of my entertainment center.


The only problem I've had is trying to keep my boys from eating all the candy corn ;)

Saving Greeting Cards for the Kids

I really try not to be a pack rat. I do a decent job of keeping clutter to a minimum for the most part, but I have my weaknesses. Some things are so hard for me to throw away. 


I was reminded of one of these things after Isaac's birthday. I was cleaning up, putting away his new toys and clothes, and there they were... the birthday cards! 


For some reason, I have the hardest time ever throwing cards away that we've gotten from anyone for any reason. Last Christmas, I threw away about 5 years worth of Christmas cards that we had received... I guess I never missed them. (Of course, why would I? They had been in a box in a closet somewhere!)


It's even harder when it comes to my kids. I hate to think that I'm throwing away sweet thoughts and sentiments meant for my children that they have never had the privilege of reading for themselves or really understanding. So I decided I had to find some clever way to keep them. (The stacks in Isaac's closet just wouldn't do any more!) I think I've intended in the past to bind them into a book of some sort, but let's face it: Life is busy. That's probably just not gonna happen! So, I took about 5 minutes and did this:

Super quick and easy! I punched a hole in the corner of each card and slipped them on a ring clasp. I only had 1" diameter rings on hand, so that's what I used. I'm sure I'll have to upgrade before too many years pass. 

Isaac couldn't wait to get his hands on them! (He also had a great time with the "confetti" I made doing all the hole punching!) By the way, that's a pretty big stack for a 2 year old, huh? I hesitate to tell you why... but here goes: I actually saved ALL of the cards I got from baby showers for him! Yep... every. single. one... and considering I had 3 showers, there was quite a stack :) Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this! ;)

I didn't have any showers for Ada, so of course her stack is starting out much smaller. 


It was so much fun going back through and reading these cards as I did this. I really do hope they enjoy looking through these cards and reading the sweet messages as they get older!

Cookie Monster Birthday: Misc. Decor

Ok, so this should be my last post about the Cookie Monster birthday party! I just wanted to share some of the other various details. This post will be short on words. I think the pictures are pretty much self-explanatory :)

The goodie spread... with lots of COOOOOKIES!

Of course, we had to have a cookie cake. For one thing, it IS a Cookie Monster party. Also, Isaac prefers cookies to cake or cupcakes any day. He usually only eats the frosting from cakes :)

We got the cookie cake from Wal-Mart, and I ordered the Cookie Monster car here from Amazon.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm a sucker for candy and decorating with candy, so I had to use blue candy on the goodie table! Above are 2 vases (from Dollar Tree), blue ribbon, and 2" circles I made up in Photoshop, filled with Lindor truffles.. YUM!! I also had other candy dishes with some blue kisses and Dove chocolates. I don't think I got any pictures of them though.

Again, this WAS a Cookie Monster party, so we had 5 different kinds of cookies. Thanks to my mom and my friend Allie for helping me bake the cookies! They were fantastic!! The labels on the cookies were, again, 2" circles I designed in Photoshop and hot glued onto toothpicks.

The last detail was the balloons. Isaac loves balloons! We figured out that it was cheaper (and really more convenient) to buy balloons ourselves and one of the $20 party helium tanks from Wal-Mart.

 I got the big Cookie Monster balloon here from Amazon. It's incredible! By the way, he's still floating around our house :)


I hope you've enjoyed my Cookie Monster party posts! It really was soooo much fun to do!

Cookie Monster Birthday: Pennant Banner (and another FREE printable!)

It's time for another post from our Cookie Monster birthday party! 

See how happy my little Cookie Monster is? :)

I have decided that I just LOVE banners! I made my first printable banner for Isaac's 1st birthday party last year...

I used the same basic design this year, but played around with colors, fonts, etc. and came up with this:

I printed  and cut these out on cardstock using my Silhouette's print and cut feature. I am probably, by far, the worst adult scissor user ever! Seriously, I couldn't cut a straight line to save my life, let alone cut out the cute little scalloped edges of these banners! Of course, if you don't have a craft cutter, you could easily just cut straight lines and forget the scalloped edges. I am partial to the unnecessary cuteness though ;)




Oh yeah, one more thing... Click HERE to download your very own Cookie Monster birthday banner! (Printables for personal use only!)

Cookie Monster Birthday: Water Bottle Labels (and a FREE printable!)

Today was Isaac's 2nd birthday! We had his party last Saturday while we had family in town for Ada's blessing. Since we're on a tight budget, I DIYed most of the party decor for his Cookie Monster party. He had such a great time! It made all of my time spent planning so worth it! There's nothing better than seeing my kiddos smile. 


Since my time available for blogging is usually short, I'm going to break up each of my projects from the party into separate posts. Today, I'm starting with the personalized water bottle labels.

Yes, I know... I know... This is COMPLETELY unnecessary, as are most of the other things I did :) But, as you've probably already picked up on-- I have a REALLY hard time resisting cute ideas I see, especially when it comes to my kids! These labels are no exception.


I designed the label in Photoshop and printed them out (5 to a page) on regular copier paper and cut them out. Then came the slightly tricky part. I used packing tape that was just barely wider than the label itself, and put the label right side down on the tape, then wrapped it around the bottle. Side note, I used Great Value water bottles and removed the labels. 

I had lots of help doing this. The tiny helping hand in this photo is proof :)

I'm pretty sure these aren't too waterproof. I'm not sure how they would withstand being put in ice in a cooler. But, I do know you can buy waterproof printable labels, or you could even laminate the labels if you wanted to take the time to do so. In my case, I didn't want to spend the extra money to buy special labels and I didn't want to use the extra time (or effort) to laminate. I kept them in the fridge and they looked great for our party!


I'm in a sharing mood tonight, so I decided I need to SHARE a free printable of these labels with YOU! Click HERE to download this file with the name "Isaac," or HERE to get the same label with the name area blank. (These files are in .png format.)


Since Photoshop is one of the things I can point and click and work on while feeding and rocking Ada at night after Isaac goes to bed, you'll probably see a lot of printable-type projects for a while. Enjoy!

Halloween Candy Wreath

I'm going to let you in on a little info about my husband and I. We love to have candy in the house. We love to decorate with candy. Sometimes, we even love to eat candy :)


Needless to say, when I saw an idea to make a candy wreath I was all over it. I made one last year for Halloween and loved it so much that I had to redo it this year, with slight modification of course.


I started out with a foam wreath from Dollar Tree. Let me tell you something about Dollar Tree. Three words: Cheap craft heaven!! Always check there first. Especially when it comes to vases, glassware, etc. Where else could you get a foam wreath and grosgrain ribbon for $1?!?


Back to the wreath... I tied the ribbon around the wreath, then started with Tootsie Pops. I cut off the sucker sticks at an angle so they were easy to stick into the wreath. I then filled in the rest of the wreath by using hot glue to attach the rest of the candy. 

Halloween 2010

We loved that wreath. Even so, like I said, I decided to "tweak" it a bit this year. Same concept, only this time I began by wrapping Halloween (black with orange pumpkins) around the wreath, securing it with hot glue every other time around. I spaced it out to leave plenty of room for the candy. This not only made it easier because I didn't have to put nearly as much candy, but it also made the wreath so much lighter! (My 2010 version was HEAVY!)

Halloween 2011

So that's my super cute, cheap, easy Halloween candy wreath! It's definitely going to be a must for every Halloween in the Green house!

Black & White Newborn Photos

With both of our kids, we ordered photo packages from the photographer that does newborn photos at the hospital. It's been convenient, we can get the birth announcements ordered and sent out quickly, and we've been happy with the pictures themselves.

With Ada's photos, we got a free black and white 10x13 print. I didn't think much of it at the time, and honestly didn't think I'd probably ever do anything with it.

When the pictures came in the mail, we fell in love with that print! We just had to frame it up! Of course, that meant we had to go back and get a print made of Isaac to match! This was a bit more complicated, and I'm not going to go into the details of the hassle we went through. 

Here's the finished project on our wall: 

(By the way, it's really hard to take a decent picture of framed photos with cheap glass and poor lighting!)

We bought the frames and mats at Hobby Lobby, and my very helpful husband framed them up. He used to work at a custom framing shop, so he's kind of good at it ;) I do give him a hard time for always making me make all of the decisions when it comes to choosing frames, mats, etc. I mean, come on! He's the professional! In the end, the pictures turned out GREAT!! I just love seeing my babies' sweet newborn faces!

Family Memory Jar

I saw the idea on Pinterest a few weeks ago of making a memory jar. The idea is that you jot down memories as they happen and put them in a jar. Then read them at the end of the year.


I instantly decided I *had* to do this! But, of course, it wasn't good enough to just have a plain ole mason jar hanging out with paper strips in it. It's gotta be cute! Cute enough to display as home decor, of course :)

I printed up this label on cardstock I had and attached it to the jar, but that just didn't seem like enough. I had some old hemp string from some other craft endeavor from years ago, so I punched a few holes and strung it through the label. On the lid, I printed out a smaller version of the label, cutting off memories, and cutting out a slit in the middle for the paper slips to be put in. Then I tied a bow with the string and glued it on top!


Here's a glimpse of the final project:

I apologize for the terrible picture quality. I snapped it with my phone as I was finishing up and haven't had the time to go back and take a better one.


The plan is to randomly add memorable moments, especially the ones that you'd otherwise forget, for enjoyment later. In our case, it will become a New Years Eve tradition. I'm so excited to read them at the end of the year! The kids are always doing things that will be fun to read about. 


I also plan to make a new jar each year so we can save them as a type of family journal. Hopefully, this will become a tradition that we will all look forward to each year.