With and Without Creative Inspiration

Help!

2009-07-27T18:18:00.004-04:00

OK, I know I am nuts, no need to point that out. Normaly by now my Christmas cards have been done for months. This year.. nothing is grabbing me, and when I do sit down to get crafty I am alone and all my husband can say.. "yeah, thats nice". So I am turning to the internet. Please leave me a comment about which of these cards you like the best, or how I can change something to make one of them really "pop".
Do it quickly.. I have a goal to have these done this week!

Card #1
Card #2

Card #3

Card #4.

Thank you!!!

Monthly Cards

2009-04-18T20:48:00.003-04:00

My mother in law has all but given up on recognising family events and holidays. In effort to help with that I made these monthly folders, gathered all names, addresses and dates, got cards, labeled them and put them in the correct month. Now at the first of each month, I take the cards out, put on a stamp and leave them to be signed.

Valentines Day Birthday Party.

2009-02-15T00:45:00.002-05:00

Check out the awesome party I did for my 11 year old. Remember these invites.. check this link to see the party!

It's SWAP time!!!

2009-01-14T21:44:00.004-05:00

So it's been a while... We're itching for a swap! Join us for the "All things Love" swap. Just in time for Valentine's day, let's swap the reds and the pinks and the hearts and all the love stuff you can find!
There are a few simple steps, "rules" if you will, to play along:
1. Send an email to withandwithout AT gmail DOT com, indicating you want to join this swap. Include:Your NameYour AddressYour blog address (if you have one) and any clues as to what kind of stuff you like.
2. Send the email no later than January 26. Swap partners will be sent out by the morning of January 27. You MUST mail all your swaps by February 8.
3. Have fun!!Feel free to invite anyone you'd like. We don't have a cut-off and would love to have as many participants as possible.
We have created a Flickr group that we would love for you to join. This will enable us to share pictures of all the great things we receive through the swap and have discussions about the group.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email or leave a comment! We look forward to swapping with you!

The stockings were hung..

2008-12-14T22:38:00.003-05:00

This is my fireplace, the stocking I made a few years ago and the plaque I made last week. I feel like it needs "something" but no I idea what.

Christmas Projects

2008-12-03T23:01:00.004-05:00

Today was sewing day. I sewed/worked with fabric.. for 6 hours. Here are two of the projects I finished.

Arn't they cute? They are kids aprons made from ribbon and hand towels.

I am wrapping them with a cookie cutter and a bag of cookie mix.
This was a beast... I am good at baby blankets.. crib size, but my baby (who is 10) wanted her mom to hand make her a blanket for Christmas.. so how could I say no? It was big, and hard, but made with a lot of love!

Christmas Tea

2008-12-03T22:58:00.003-05:00

Monday was our yearly Christmas Tea. This year Laurel and I went with red and green ornaments as our theme. As always it was a wonderful time and yummy food!

Its Halloween!

2008-10-10T23:51:00.002-04:00

I know it seams like forever since there has been a post here. School started and PTA took over my life.. with the holidays fast approaching I hope that will change. Here is a little banner I made for Halloween.

Valentine Birthday Invites

2008-07-30T16:02:00.004-04:00

Yes, I know its 6 months to soon, but I have been really bored! I normally start planning my kids party's about 6 months before, but my youngest and I got an idea and have been running with it for a few months. I am sure by the time the party gets here I will be very sick of it, but so far this party is going to rock! Today I finished the invitations.

I figured out last night that I just love how my girls respond to the planning of the parties. Its like they know that I am using my creative talent and even more, my time, to create a special day just for them. That I am willing to think about what will make them happy and they get to share in the planning and creation. Especially for my younger daughter this is important, and I having a ball! Thing 2 (as I refer to her in the blog world as) was born 4 days after Valentines and this is the first time we have ever thought about a Valentines Party.. its going to be awesome!

Breaking Dawn is out Saturday!

2008-07-29T20:14:00.004-04:00

We had to do a craft and what better craft when you are standing in line for the latest addicting teen vegetarian vampire book.. than a custom made T-shirt and book mark. Here are our crafts!

New Year Teacher gifts

2008-07-29T20:10:00.004-04:00

Small bins, pencils, pens, colored pencils, blue sticks, chocolate, handmade magnets, state cards, shirt, erasers and of course, hand made card! So excited for school to start!

Jewelry Box

2008-07-22T10:57:00.005-04:00

I posted the story behind it over at my other home.

Basically, it was just a wood jewelry box that I painted and used rub-on transfers on. Easy peasy, yes but it will serve it's purpose for now. It didn't turn out as perfectly as I had hoped (does anything?) but it did turn out a lot better than I had expected. It's cute. It functions. It was fun. I want to do more.

Spare time

2008-07-16T15:01:00.004-04:00

I have had a lot of time to get crafty over the last few days.. things I needed to do. Here are some glimpses of what I have been working on.

Half Birthday party!

2008-07-07T19:46:00.003-04:00

It was tine for our annual half birthday party! This year we used an Explorer theme. We sent the kids the train schedule mapping out their day as their invitation. We got on the train and then trax up to the U of U Museum of Natural History. The kids broke into two groups and did 4 worksheets (one of each area) scavenger hunt. They loved it!
After we finished at the museum we went out on the lawn for lunch and of course cheep birthday gifts! The kids loved the 3 ft gummy snake, magnifying glass, gold coins, compass and rock candy!
We took the train back down to the gateway and played in the water and checked out build a bear. Then our adventure ended with taking the train back home.
The kids loved it! Once again a great success!

Getting ready for school

2008-07-07T19:39:00.006-04:00

As a welcome back to the teachers and staff I put together these water bottles.

The holder says "We have the "kool"-ist teachers! Thank you quenching the "thirst" of knowledge.

Twins?

2008-07-03T19:02:00.004-04:00

Two wonderful teachers at our school are having babies. Recently they both found out the sex of their children and I finally got to go shopping. While I was at Joann's waiting in line at the cutting counter a nice, talkative lady next me asked if I was having twins.. one of each. Yeah, I am going to start living at the gym!

Anyhow.. Joann's had these amazing panels I just could not pass up, and the cutest appliques that match, of which I had to make pillows with. I know its a pig, not a bunny, buts its the right color and adorable! The pillows took longer to make than the blankets, in all about 4 hours and totally worth it!

Summer crafts

2008-06-29T01:22:00.002-04:00

Our local Ben Franklin's offers a kids craft program each summer. This week my girls went and these adorable magnet/cork boards. Took about 45 min, easy and cute!!

Happy Everything!

2008-06-25T13:58:00.005-04:00

Kim and I had such a wonderful time with our card swap and got such wonderful cards we decided to do it again!!! You will be agreeing to make and send 5 cards (all the same or different, your choice) for each person that plays with us. So if 5 people play, you need to make 20 cards, and will get 20 new cards! See how great this is!! And this time we have a theme (we love themes!) Holiday cards.. you pick the holiday(s), they just have to be holiday cards!

There are a few simple steps, "rules" if you will, to play along:

1. Send an email to withandwithout AT gmail DOT com, indicating you want to join this swap. Include:

Your Name

Your Address

Your blog address (if you have one)
Any special holiday notes (ie:You celebrate Hanukkah, not Christmas)

2. Send the email no later than July 7. Swap partners will be sent out by July 9. You MUST mail all your swaps by August 8.

3. Have fun!!Feel free to invite anyone you'd like. We don't have a cut-off and would love to have as many participants as possible.

We have created a Flickr group that we would love for you to join. This will enable us to share pictures of all the great cards we receive through the swap and have discussions about the group.If you have any questions, please feel free to email or leave a comment! We look forward to swapping with you!

Altered t's revisited.

2008-05-30T10:27:00.003-04:00

Our summer projects have started! My daughters HAD to have the free Camp Rock shirt transfers from Disney.com, and Michael's has 3.99 t-shirts, so we did the transfer and I handed them a pair of scissors.
I guess I need to find a book on trashing t-shirts, they loved doing this!

Many thanks

2008-05-22T18:12:00.003-04:00

As I have talked about before I am the PTA president for our school. With that title comes the honor of saying thank you to all of our volunteers! These are the people who donated over 3400 hours of their time, so I wanted to make it nice! We invited over 200 people and had a good turn out. Here are some of the photos of stuff I put together.

Mothers Day Gift.

2008-05-22T18:02:00.003-04:00

For my MIL's gift this year, I put together this portrait wall. She has 6 kids (hers, his and theirs), and they all have families of their own. I got tiered of seeing all the random 4x6's laying around that she gets so I thought this was something she would like. I mean after 81 years of birthdays, christmas', and 60 mothers days its hard to find something unique!

The saying at the top says "Family link to our past, bridge to our future" there is an 8x10 of each child with their families and a 5x7 for each grandchild and their families. Right now there are a lot of names showing, but hopefully in the coming months we can get these blank spots filled in!

2008-05-05T14:28:00.004-04:00

We are trying something new! A Card Swap!!
You will be agreeing to make and send 5 cards (all the same or different, your choice) for each person that plays with us. So if 5 people play, you need to make 20 cards, and will get 20 new cards! See how great this is!!

There are a few simple steps, "rules" if you will, to play along:

1. Send an email to withandwithout AT gmail DOT com, indicating you want to join this swap. Include:Your Name
Your Address
Your blog address (if you have one)

2. Send the email no later than May 15. Swap partners will be sent out by May 18. You MUST mail all your swaps by June 13.

3. Have fun!!Feel free to invite anyone you'd like. We don't have a cut-off and would love to have as many participants as possible. We have created a Flickr group that we would love for you to join. This will enable us to share pictures of all the great cards we receive through the swap and have discussions about the group.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email or leave a comment! We look forward to swapping with you!

More Teacher stuff

2008-05-05T11:46:00.011-04:00

As PTA president for our school, I get to help with the week long fun for the teachers! Here is our lay out.

Monday: Continental breakfast.
Tuesday: Gift Card to Walmart and these adorable paper clips.
Wednesday: Dinner in bag for them to take home.
Thursday: Hand lotion for the taking and a seated message in the library.
Friday: A 10x13 matte signed by all their students, with a class picture in the middle.

Teacher appreciation gifts.

2008-05-03T18:01:00.007-04:00

We started with fortune cookies, sprinkles, white and milk chocolate.

Dip the fortune cookies in chocolate.

Sprinkle and drizzle till your hearts content.
Aren't they pretty?!

Put in cute $1 Chinese take out container, with custom made gift card that says something about how fortunate we are to have them as a teacher (wrapped in plastic so the chocolate doesn't get on it), tie cute school color ribbons around the handle, attach handmade card with letter from parents AND child saying how grateful we are, and WHALA.. home made, with cutisie side, much love, teacher gifts. :)

Stop me before I make more!

2008-05-03T17:57:00.003-04:00

I love these! I love them! I have made 5 so far, I have plans for 2 more. They are so much fun and SO easy! I am getting better as I go, I think!

Brown swap.

2008-04-11T09:35:00.004-04:00

For my swap I had Kim so it was easy to make personalized stuff. So I wanted to share what I did.

The jar was simple, left over vinyl I had with a rub on decal filled with only the best chocolate from See's.

The picture board was a kit I got from Ben Franklin's, I ordered part of the name in vinyl and the M is wood. This was fun and easy to make. The last I just loved the material so I made a baby doll blanket. Now that she has all the stuff I just had to share!

Thank yous.

2008-03-14T23:42:00.004-04:00

I am always looking for great ways to say thank you. As President of our PTA I have a few people I wanted to do a special thanks for jobs they have endured all year long. I ordered a custom made Visa gift card for my daughter for her birthday and used a photo I had, and while brainstorming with myself (yes I do that a lot) I got the idea of creating an image to go on the cards myself.. So there it was. 2 hours later I made something I liked and ordered the cards. I think they turned out fantastic! I can't wait till April to pass them out. (yes, I do a lot of pre-planning!)

Clothes Pin Holders

2008-03-05T11:02:00.003-05:00

Hi. I still exist. Really. I know I've been MIA for quite some time. But really - when life is upside down and you have a demon-toddler to raise, who has time for cutesy, fun, crafty things? Well, not me. I'm working on that. So digging way back from well before Christmas, I figured I'd start maybe sharing a few of the things I have done. These are clothes pins I made as gifts. Way easy. Way cute. I didn't want to give them away. And someday, whenever I get off my lazy butt and get my etsy store up and running, they will be available for purchase (well, not these exact ones, obviously, but I think you get the picture). They're so much fun to make, I'm sure to get carried away and have way too many to be taken off my hands.

Shoebox Swap - BROWN!

2008-03-04T16:50:00.003-05:00

We're hosting another swap. This time the theme is simply “brown.” Anything brown goes!

There are a few simple steps, "rules" if you will, to play along:

1. Send an email to withandwithout AT gmail DOT com, indicating you want to join this swap. Include:

Your Name
Your Address
Your blog address (if you have one)
A description of likes/dislikes to give your swap partner some direction
(This information will only be sent to your swap buddy)

2. Send the email no later than March 13. Swap partners will be assigned by March 15. You MUST ship your swap by April 5.

3. Swap items must fit in an average sized shoe box. We don’t want people going too crazy but want to have enough room to fit some cool loot.

4. This is a Brown swap. Everything you send needs to somehow tie in to the theme. It can certainly include additional colors but make sure overall the items have a “brown” vibe goin’!

5. Again, cut-off to sign up is March 13. Please send us an email before then.

6. Please read #2 again. It’s important you stick to the ship date to not ruin the fun for your swap partner.

7. Have fun!!Feel free to invite anyone you’d like. We don’t have a cut-off and would love to have as many participants as possible. We have created a Flickr group that we would love for you to join. This will enable us to share pictures of all the great things we receive through the swap and have discussions about the group.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email or leave a comment! We look forward to swapping with you!

I love this site!

2008-02-26T17:13:00.003-05:00

I found Tip Junkie, through another site, and I love it.. its so crafty, its everything I want this site to be, but better. Go check it out!

Small makeover pt 2

2008-01-22T00:21:00.000-05:00

As is the story of my life, my kids and husband have taken over "my" spaces. I noticed on Christmas day the place I had been calling my desk, had not been my desk for a VERY long time, and that needed to change. So, I moved my crap to the thing next to the fridge that I pile paper and junk on and was determined to make it my desk. Here it is!

Ohh and of course I needed to make something to go on my new desk. I saw this idea in a Close to My Heart idea book and had to make it. It was the final touch for my desk!

I love it when things work out!

2007-12-27T22:10:00.000-05:00

Remember this gloating post? Well, after I checked at my local craft store and a 4 inch circle.. just a circle was $3.49!!!! Here is the finished product. It was a fun time for my daughter and I and really let her feel like she had control of her bathroom.

Christmas Tea

2007-12-14T00:10:00.000-05:00

Remember these adorable invites? Well the party has come and it was wonderful! This is the third year Laurel and I have done Christmas Tea and is such a great tradition. Here are some of the details.

Decor... Red and White, swirls and mints everywhere.. felt minty just looking at it.

The sweets... chocolate dip, divinity, mint bark, brownies, cookies, stuff to dip, and a way cute cake Laurel slaved over.
Sandwiches.. cucumber, pb&j, bacon apple, and egg salad.. Ohh and some veggies to help with all the guilt!
Home made hot coco and we had an amazing party! And one last close up of the adorable cake.

Fun Vinyl

2007-12-03T23:07:00.000-05:00

For Christmas Santa is bringing my girls new bathroom stuff. Its been a long time coming and took a while to decide on what to do. With each of them having their own bathroom now, I wanted something the same, but not identical. I found the shower curtain, supplies, towels and that left the walls. Normally I would get everything all set up Christmas Eve, but this year we decided to let them have the fun of it themselves, so the hunt was on for easy wall decor. I wanted vinyl but it can be costly. To my surprise I found 12x12 full sheets of vinyl for sale at my local craft store, for $1, and with a circle cutter I now have a ton of circles in fun variations to do 2 bathrooms. The best part.. it was $5. I am really excited to watch the girls decorate their bathrooms on Christmas!

Side note: thinks of the possibilities! I want to try these sheets in a die cut machine.. How much fun is this.. and how cheep!!

Home made gifts

2007-11-19T11:46:00.000-05:00

Due to peer pressure I am going to post these. I have been working on making my gifts for a while and they are finally all done. So here are some simple ideas that are very budget friendly.

This is a "build your own snowman kit". I saw his last Christmas and loved it. Started making it in May and got the bag and things done in October. It includes bag, scarf, pipe, heart, 3 buttons, and nose. I am also adding hot co-co and a box of girl scout cookies to make it a total family event. All the pieces were from the wood cuts and I had to drill a few holes to add the dowel rods, really easy and fun.

This was one I fell in love with. Magnet Boards they were cheep, cute and by adding a few small items a wonderful gift! I ordered the metal as the unfinished kit, painted and put them together myself, ordered boxes that fit the board (a friend and I ordered 50 and split the costs of the boards and the boxes). I got an easy recipe that I could include all the ingredients in the box and stamped the box. It was fun to make and so easy. I got a couple for my girls to give their friends and will include a photo in a bag that the girls can stamp and make themselves.

Christmas Cards

2007-11-18T03:31:00.001-05:00

Happy to say the cards are all made, addressed, and waiting with stamps for December 1. I have found a pattern in myself when it comes to my card making. I see something I just love this season, get the stuff have all the cards made by May and then wait. So far its worked out pretty good and I am on top of my Christmas cards.

It's SWAP time again!

2007-11-08T12:55:00.000-05:00

With the Holidays right around the corner and all the cute Christmas/Winter things hitting the shelves we thought now was a great time to do a swap! Wanna play with us??

There are a few simple steps, "rules" if you will, to play along:

1. Send an email to withandwithout AT gmail DOT com, indicating you want to join this swap. Include:
Your Name
Your Address
Your blog address (if you have one)
A description of likes/dislikes to give your swap partner some direction(This information will only be sent to your swap buddy)

2. Send the email no later than November 16. Swap partners will be assigned by November 17. You MUST ship your swap by December 17.

3. Swap items must fit in an average sized shoe box. We don’t want people going too crazy but want to have enough room to fit some cool loot.

4. This is a Christmas/Winter swap. Everything you send needs to somehow tie in to the theme. Whether it be colors, actual Christmas items, whatever, just make sure they tie together somehow.

5. Again, cut-off to sign up is November 16. Please send us an email before then.

6. Please read #2 again. It’s important you stick to the ship date to not ruin the fun for your swap partner. Please let your partner know when you ship your package. If your partner doesn't get their swap due to being lost, that is one thing, but if you fail to ship and you receive yours, you will banned from playing again.

7. Have fun!! Feel free to invite anyone you’d like. We don’t have a cut-off and would love to have as many participants as possible.

We have created a Flickr group that we would love for you to join. This will enable us to share pictures of all the great things we receive through the swap, check out our past swap and have discussions about the group.If you have any questions, please feel free to email or leave a comment! We look forward to swapping with you!

11/16 UPDATE:: Buddys have been sent, have fun shopping!

Very small makeover

2007-11-07T23:01:00.001-05:00

When I moved into our home it was me and the girls, 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2 family rooms, game room and more space than we knew what to do with. That was 7 years ago. Moving forward in time, we added a man to the house, the kids grew, their junk takes more room, the man needed a cave, on and on. My point is I started out with a whole basement and office area to myself and now I have a closet.. the coat closet in the main hallway. The person who does all the planning, the crafts, the volunteering, gets a closet filled with coats. I couldn't take it any more, I had to request.. nay.. demand a space of my own! While at Ikea the other day I found a shelving unit that would fit in the space and live happily with my scrap bag.. hark.. life is good! For less than $30, the space is mine (well there are 2 coats, but those will come out as soon as it snows). I am happy, I am organized and feeling very functional.. yippee for me!

Mummy and Me Tea

2007-10-13T18:17:00.000-04:00

Each year Laurel and I do a Christmas Tea. Last year she got a bug to do a summer tea and we did a flower/lady bug theme, it was loads of fun and really cute! This year I wanted to do a Halloween party. So here are some of the details of our party.
The invites:
I custom made them from a design I saw online that cost a ton. I did splurge a little and the lettering is vinyl.

The Food:
We did hot hogs wrapped in croissant rolls (mummy's), chicken salad with eyes (grapes) on croissants, fruit cups, veggie tray, decorate your own cookies, popcorn, and we each decorated our own Carmel apple. For drink we did root beer with dry ice.

The take away:
Laurel picked up cute plates, I made pumpkins out of orange table cloth and wrapped the tops with floral tape and pipe cleaner (filled with candy of course). We added spider rings and little stencils along with sugar sticks and they got to take their glow in the dark drinking cups too. All this in a cute bag to go.

The rest:
After the eating, chatting and talking about our costumes, the girls watched Witches and the Moms cleaned up and hung out. Overall, a spook-tacular party!

My halloween pieces

2007-10-13T00:31:00.000-04:00

For my costume I wanted really nice jewelry but was unwilling to pay for it, so for about 1/6 the cost, I made these.

Hotel Bordom

2007-09-28T22:38:00.000-04:00

While traveling for work sometimes I get organized enough to bring projects with me. Sadly its day two and I am out of projects... well I can do my taxes :(
Here are a couple of photos of what I made.

These are the tags to go with the mummies I made over the weekend.

I have spent a lot of time working on my younger daughters Halloween costume. I brought it with and did the finally beading that I needed to add, I had enough goods to make some matching earrings and a necklace to go with. I will get photos of the girls costumes (ohh and mine! made stuff for it too) soon.

Weekend get away

2007-09-25T23:28:00.001-04:00

Ohhh how great it is to get out and focus on what crafts and projects need to be done. I am going to list a few of the photos, I have more that was done, but it goes with gifts, swapps, costumes and stuff that I want to keep wraps on for a little while.

Bags. I was going to make them reversible. I was going to send one to my swap buddy, and then realized I could make 4 and give one to each of us at the overnight scrap this last weekend.. oh and scrap buddy don't worry.. it wouldn't fit in the box. They were pretty easy.. esp since I can't sew.. it was a first for me, but the material was so cute I had to do something with it.

Want your mummy? I got the idea for these a couple of years ago from Family Fun, this year I am making about 80 of them, the girls classes and my PTA board will love them! They hold 2 pieces of candy and are just adorable!

Yes.. I know.. don't hate me! My Christmas cards were done in February, so I had time to get these mind blowing, cute as hell Christmas Tea for Mom and Me invites made. Custom design, cant wait for the party to show you the whole theme!

That's it for now.. I will have more promise.

Not limited to monkeys

2007-09-12T20:33:00.000-04:00

I love holidays and birthdays and any excuse to create something fun and wonderful. I take painstaking details to create most things I do cuz' I am a freak like that. So in creating my oldest daughters birthday this year I have not disappointed. She wants a Limited Too party and LT2 does not have their own birthday line so that left it wide open for me! We are still working through the details but here is stage one.. the invite.. and the work put into this "masterpiece".
First task, find an image of the Monkey and the Flowers (the images for LT2). I did this by purchasing a luggage tag of the monkey and scanning him, then my daughter got a new backpack I scanned the flowers so I got these images.

Once I had these I needed to clean them up and create line art. (this took hours)

At this point I shipped the images off to the local stamp store and in a couple of days I had stamps. With much pondering and letting my daughter choose colors and ideas I went with it. I love the way it turned it and not only am I making the invites, and the thank yous, we will use them for the craft at the party too.

The party is in December, so I will have a full update later of the party.

Shoe box Swaps - Halloween Swap

2007-08-22T11:02:00.000-04:00

We're going to be hosting swaps from time to time. We thought we'd kick it off with Halloween since it's just around the corner and the goodies will be needing to be shipped at the perfect time for Halloween. There are a few simple steps, "rules" if you will, to play along:

1. Send an email to withandwithout AT gmail DOT com, indicating you want to join this swap. Include:

Your Name
Your Address
Your blog address (if you have one)
A description of likes/dislikes to give your swap partner some direction

(This information will only be sent to your swap buddy)

2. Send the email no later than September 9. Swap partners will be assigned by September 10. You MUST ship your swap by October 10.

3. Swap items must fit in an average sized shoe box. We don’t want people going too crazy but want to have enough room to fit some cool loot.

4. This is a Halloween swap. Everything you send needs to somehow tie in to the theme. Whether it be colors, actual Halloween items, whatever, just make sure they tie together somehow.

5. Again, cut-off to sign up is September 9. Please send us an email before then.

6. Please read #2 again. It’s important you stick to the ship date to not ruin the fun for your swap partner.

7. Have fun!!

Feel free to invite anyone you’d like. We don’t have a cut-off and would love to have as many participants as possible. We have created a Flickr group that we would love for you to join. This will enable us to share pictures of all the great things we receive through the swap and have discussions about the group.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email or leave a comment! We look forward to swapping with you!

Back to School

2007-08-19T19:17:00.000-04:00

I substitute at my daughters school, and have found I have an amazing amount of respect for the job that teaching professionals do day in and day out. For the start of each school year I check the list required for school and buy extras when I find them on sale. I also add a disposable camera, gift card to develop the film and a sweet treat. Here is what I did this year.

A Roaring Good time!

2007-08-09T21:37:00.000-04:00

Each year Laurel and I do a half birthday for our kids. We both gave birth to winter babies and like the chance of seeing how the other half the year celebrate. This is the fourth year we have done this.
We planned a Dino Party. The invites jaw even moved! We had cupcakes, Dino Snacks, bug wings, dino scales, and swamp water. We went and saw Ice Age 2 at the dollar theater, had lunch and then went to the Dino Park. For activities we did volcano's, dug a dino out of an egg, build habitats for the dinos in the eggs, and built our own dino's.
It was a great day and a quick easy party to put together!

Fall Themed Dinner Party

2007-08-08T12:56:00.000-04:00

Summer will soon be coming to an end, giving way to crisper, cooler air, shorter days and richer scenery. Which also means the end of BBQ season is well upon us. This month we’ve put together some ideas to throw a warm, elegant dinner party focused around the new season. Fall, to me, just begs for a dinner party. The warm colors that lend to beautiful, regal decorations, the chilling air that allows for cozy sweaters, warm drinks and comfy home temperatures, the crisp smells of autumn and the food – the fall food – the perfect mix to get together with a group of friends and spend an evening mingling, cooking and enjoying delicious, hearty food.

Below are our ideas to help anyone throw a successful party.

A tip for any successful party:
If this is the first party and your guests are neighbors or business associates, keep it a little more low-key. If you are having fun and your company knows you’re a party-throwing freak, feel free to go all out!

Invitations:
Of course they’ll have to be hand delivered, but tie an invitation to a caramel apple or attach it to a stick and put it in a gourd or small pumpkin.

You could wrap the invitation around an apple or wrap it in leaves and tie them off with raffia.

For traditional, paper invitations (the kind you could even send through the mail), fall colors and the things that represent autumn (scarecrows, pumpkins, leaves, etc.) are easy to get on paper to make simple, cute invitations.

If you preferring buying invitations, following are some sites that have numerous options (or ideas if you do want to make your own):

Announcingit.com

Myexpression.com

Eleganthandmadecreations.com

Food:
Mulled Cider or Hot Cider would be a great before or after dinner drink

Use the cooling weather as an excuse to serve a favorite soup instead of the traditional salad before dinner.

Autumn is the perfect time to serve a hearty stew or pasta as a main course.

A tart or crème brûlée would be a perfect dessert

Wine and cheese are a great pairing for before or after dinner while guests visit and relax

Other great food ideas, as well as fall party tips can be found at the following sites:

Mormonchic.com

Digsmagazine.com

Gildedfork.com

Decor:
Deep, regal shades of color will create an ambience of fall throughout your house and tie your decorations right into your party. Gold, burgundy, chocolate brown (even a tan depending on your other choices), eggplant, forest green, burnt orange, mustard are all excellent fall shades.

A centerpiece of a cornucopia with real or plastic colorful vegetables on top of a deep colored table cloth or runner

Ceramic dish with a variety of gourds or apples as small table decorations (whether on the dinner table or the areas surrounding the table), or on the serving table if you have one

Sunflowers are always a nice touch for fall floral arrangements

Handmade or printed place cards rested on top of small gourds or apples at each setting

Small pumpkins and gourds in bunches in a line down the center of the table keep it simple and don’t take much room

Party Favors:
Instead of sending your guests home with just leftovers, consider a simple, understated gift as they head for the door.
Carmel or candied apples (decorate the stick with a fall-colored ribbon)
Leaf wine glass charms

Patriotic Party

2007-08-05T20:03:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's always party, party, party around my house!!
This week it was a patriotic themed party for our city's local Roy Days. I sent out cute easy to make envelope pocket slide cards, made easy cupcakes with sprinkles and flags, colored table clothes, cute bowls with homemade salsa and chips, handmade apple pie (cuz whats more America than that?) Hot dogs, Hamburgers, Chicken, and made my favorite baked beans. Yup.. party, party, party.

Lemon & Lime Swap (pt 2).

2007-08-05T19:45:00.001-04:00

I am telling you.. if you have found our blog you need to get in on this! The swap Kim sent me was great! I will definatily use all the stuff I got and it was a lot of fun shopping for stuff to send her!!

Lemon & Lime Swap

2007-08-02T23:13:00.000-04:00

We decided to do a friendly, little swap this past month. Something to just keep in touch and have some fun. This is all the awesome loot that Kim sent to me. She did way awesome and made me feel like a schmuck because she did such great stuff. She was very creative and thoughtful with the items she sent. I look very forward to using all of them. Yes, even the Jello even though I'm no longer a Utahn.

If you're out there and interested and joining us the next time we do one of these, to have some fun and get & give some cool stuff, drop us an email and we'll make sure you get included. Because really, what's more fun than getting awesome stuff in the mail??

Beach memories

2007-07-26T19:48:00.000-04:00

Last year we went to Florida and spent one day at the beach. It was the first time the girls had gotten to spend any really time at the beach and they collected a bunch of sea shells. When I got home I had to find something to do with them and came up with an idea.

By using a paper frame, some sandstone paint, and hot glue, we have a perfect long term use of the treasures. I chose my favorite photo and bam! A perfect memory saved! This year we didn't find as many shells in Mexico so I am adding the wording in vinyl of where we were. I am sure just about anything would work with this easy project!

Fun photo holder

2007-07-26T19:40:00.000-04:00

The girls went to a local craft store today and made these. They are too easy and really cute, only $5 each.

Reunion Luau

2007-07-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

We were in charge of the family reunion this year. I planned a Luau themed pot luck lunch. Each branch of the family was assigned food and we proved the main dish and drinks. Being me, I also had to do decor and toys for the kids (of all ages!). We held it at Willow Park in Logan (half way between SLC/Ogden and Idaho), the park was great with a little zoo right next to us and a great playground.

These are the save the date post card, the invite (front and back) and the reminder post card.

These were a last minute idea I HAD to do, cupcakes with the beach, sand and an umbrella. They should have been a lot better looking, but I decorated them at the park and the the girls helped.. they were a hit regardless!

Not the best photo, but I found this great drink holder from OTC. It was inflatable and held our drinks cold.

My girls of course with all the swag we had available for every to play with, also from OTC.

And lastly the food. I feel pretty good, I used real pineapple to hold napkins down and got all the paper supplies from Dilly Dallies.. a discount store here, for $1 a pack.

Sushi

2007-07-18T21:59:00.001-04:00

For April Fools I made this "sushi" for T1's soccer team. They were so convincing, and really easy to make.
Green fruit roll ups, gummy worms and warm rice crispy treats. The girls had a great time with them, too bad I can't use this one on them again!

Beach Party

2007-07-05T23:13:00.000-04:00

One of our goals with this site is to give ideas for parties, so each month we are going to pick a theme and plan a party.

For July we are planning a Beach Party!

Invitations:

* Write on a cheap pair of flip flops... or stuff the invite in a beach ball.

* Create a message in a bottle.

* You can order this or make something similar for a more refined look.

* Or this is another idea starter for something to make. And of course you could just go all out and get this one!

Food:
* Skewer pieces of fruit, cheese, and meat with fancy toothpicks and arrange them on a pu pu platter (that's Hawaiian for appetizer!).

* Hot dogs/hamburgers, you know.. BBQ food!

* These yummy party cups.

* Of course s'mores if your party goes into the evening hours!

* This pail cake looks fun!

* Any cake can be made and with some crushed graham crackers or brown sugar you have a beach! Cover with paper unbrellas or add some water by using blue icing, this party cake is limitless!

Decor:
* Ya gotta play the Beach Boys!

* Make your place look like a tropical paradise by decorating it with exotic paper or silk flowers, colored holiday lights, and paper lanterns.

* Set up a beach umbrella to create a shady spot where kids can get out of the sun. Have plenty of sunscreen on hand!

* Use a surf board for all the food to go on, if you don't have one - make it!

* There is this beach ball set you can purchase.

* If indoors is your party place, lay out towels on the floor, umbrellas, fish and starfish hanging from the ceiling, beach balls all over and of course the Beach Boys singing loudly.

* Serve food buffet style, filling beach pails (line with plastic) & giant plastic clam shells with chicken, potato salad, etc. Guests can use shovels to put the food on their plates.

Games/Activites:
* Water balloon volleyball

* Use the Hawaiian alphabet (a, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, u, w) to come up with fun new nicknames to go by.

* Make animals out of sea shells

* Limbo

* Swim

* If the party is for a birthday, have the attendees sign/decorate a beach ball for the birthday person.

Party Favors:
* Add stuff like sunglasses, gummy sharks, bags of goldfish crackers, bubbles, plastic shovels, gold coin chocolates, and small beach balls in a sand bucket.

If we haven't given you enough... Family Fun has a whole page we could steal ideas from but we thought we could just give you the link instead.

What ideas do you have to add??

Happy 4th of July

2007-07-04T13:52:00.001-04:00

We didn't do much for the 4th this year, but my girls did make these table center peices. I have a BBQ coming up and I am using a patritic theme, so my modivation was for that.. but they fit the craft for today!

Gift Card holders

2007-07-02T02:28:00.000-04:00

For my girls birthdays I have stopped trying to guess what they want. Honestly, they scare me! We have taken to giving them gift cards to their favorite places and then they get a shopping trip including lunch with me alone. I made these multiple gift card holders this year.

This one for my oldest was harder to make and held 2 on each "page".

This one for my younger daughter was easier and just as effective. I got the template for the card holders from a Claire's gift card holder I tore apart.

Altered Shirts

2007-06-30T13:05:00.000-04:00

At Twilight Camp for Girl Scouts we always have matching shirts that we need to wear for all 3 days. The second my oldest saw the shirt she said she would never be wearing it again.. she is too cool for everyday T-shirts. As part of the badge the Juniors are working on they needed to alter a piece of clothing. After observing what a lot of the older girls had done to their shirts, this was the design they wanted.
Split the shirt up the sides, cut about 1 inch strips and tie them in double knots. We also cut off the sleeves and cut V's in the neckline. A shirt now must be worn under the modified T, but to hear the picky 10 year old say that she would now wear this shirt over and over is very worth it!

Hair Bows

2007-06-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

So on the baby theme today...

I made these hair bows as my first attempt at hair accessories. They're by no means perfect, or even something I really think will get used much- if at all. I made the cupcake one to go along with the theme for Madeleine's first birthday party. I made the other one for my sister's baby. Yes, it's huge. No, the pinks don't match perfectly. But, like I said, first attempt for someone who had no idea what she was actually doing. Maybe some day I'll give in and do them right. But for now, these will do. Madeleine's served its purpose prefectly. It was for the one day and it worked just fine. I figure from here, and with the one for Monica they'll be fine for silly dress up. They'll work as barrettes or clip to a headband to work that way as well. Now that I have a small idea what I'm doing, I'm collecting ribbon and planning on making lots and lots more. I am in no hurry yet... my kid doesn't have enough hair to use them yet!

CD Holders

2007-06-29T21:36:00.000-04:00

I found this idea a while back and never got around to using it. About a month ago, I made a music cd for my sister's baby and Madeleine and wanted a cute cover for them. I remembered this idea and thought I'd try it out. Now I can't quit making them. I joined a swap group and for each one I've included one of these. When I have to send pictures to my sister, I make one for the cd. I find myself looking for reasons to make them. It's kind of pathetic. I have Madeleine's pictures divided by month and if I can get each month down to fit on one cd, I'll make an envelope for each month. Instead of looking at paper for scrapbooking anymore, I look at it in terms of cd envelopes. Yes, pathetic.

Spring Cupcakes

2007-06-29T15:52:00.000-04:00

I love cupcakes! They are so versatile and each one a little masterpiece. These were easy to make, cut marshmallows, colored sugar and M&M's.

Two Tutus

2007-06-29T15:21:00.001-04:00

I made these two tutus for my sister (the sunflowers) and sister-in-law (the yellow) for their baby showers. Once all the tulle was cut, they were really pretty easy to do. The trick is making sure the knots all match. That part took some trial and error. Now I have a friend trying to convince me to sell them in her baby boutique. If my house ever sells so I have a place to actually do them, I just might cave. Someday.

Baby Shower

2007-06-27T16:28:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this shower was over a year ago, but I am still so tickled with how everything turned out I thought I would share!

Tights headband

2007-06-27T01:34:00.000-04:00

Wow.. the first post.. better make it good!
I don't have any little ones in my home anymore, but I bought a cute little dress for Miss M.'s birthday and I couldn't find anything I liked to go with it, I had seen this headband at a local scrap store and decided I could make it.. it was sooooo easy! So I am sharing!

Materials:
One leg of a pair of tights
One flower (or other bobble)
Ribbon

Step 1:
Fold tights so that the toe fits into the cut leg end and stitch it closed with a gather.

Step 2:
Fold over the ribbon so it creates loops on the ends, as many folds as you would like, mine have 5 on each side. Sew or hot glue the ribbon together so it doesn't fall apart.

Step 3:
Attach ribbon to flower. I have done this by sewing and with hot glue, I don't know what holds better yet.

Step 4:
Attach the flower and ribbon to the seam you made on the tights. I have sewn this and hot glued it, I don't know yet what holds up better. Make sure everything looks secure and then test it on your baby.. or in my case.. what ever poor animal is closest. (poor Tori!)