Valentine's Day Decor

I think Valentine's Day is one of my least favorite holidays to decorate for.  Not because I hate love or lack a significant other but because Valentine's Day comes up so fast.  I feel like I get all my Christmas decorations taken down, put up some winter/snow decorations and then next thing I know it is February.  I end up with only two week to get something up and it usually takes me two weeks to even get around to it.  

But not this year...

 We've had a Scrabble game sitting in our stack of games for years now and you want to know how many times we've played it...big fat ZERO!  So I figured, no one would mind if a few letters were missing!  I've seen these Scrabble Crossword pictures around. I took a couple different combinations I've seen and put them together.

  

This was just a normal 8x10 frame with a mat that is actually green turned backwards.  I hot glued the letters onto a piece of scrapbook paper and then put it inside the frame.  The original glass for the frame is in the back.  

With this frame I decided to add a little bit of wide ribbon.  I think it really helped the outcome. I think next time I'm not going to use shiny white paper as the back.  Maybe a plain pink?

Be sure to go to my Linky Parties Button at the top and see the different sites I've linked up too throughout the week!

Family Photo Magnets

My in-laws live far away and it is always tricky when I'm trying to come up with Christmas gifts for them.  I'm too cheap to spend a lot of money on shipping but I want a good gift.  One day I was walking down a craft aisle and saw the magnetic sheets and I knew exactly what I wanted to make.....Family Photo Magnets!

   Walmart Photo has this cool program where you make colleges out of regular 4x6 photos  Click HERE for the exact location.  I uploaded every photo I could get my hands on.  Since each little photo is so small I could use pictures from Facebook.  

   I first cut the picture down a little and then peeled the backing off the magnet and put the two together.  I could fit one photo college on one magnetic sheet. Then I just cut the extra magnet away with an razor knife. I now have a lot of leftover magnet scrap and my next project will be to do this again but cut each picture out to make a lot of small magnets.  

Cost of this project: $6 for magnetic sheets at Walmart (they come in packs of two.)

$1.20 for 6 photo colleges (one hour at Walmart)

$2 for shipping since we already had a small package

EQUALS =

1 Personalized Christmas gift for under $10

Don't you think Walmart should give me something for all this free advertising?  Then I could MAKE money on this gift :)!

Smurf Turf Giveaway

My cousin is super skilled at making crocheted cuteness and she's doing a giveaway. Go check her out here and enter to win! http://www.kshammond.blogspot.com/

Shutterfly!!!

Every year I plan to put together Christmas cards and get them sent out but it never seems to happen.  I don’t even go and buy the ugly cards that you find at the dollar store to send out!  That is every year until now! Because this year I'm sending everyone a Shutterfly Holiday Card!

I was first introduced to Shutterfly a couple years ago after another blogger commented on their products.  I was hooked after seeing the price of the pictures prints, the photo books, the Christmas Photo Cards and all the other wonderful products from Shutterfly.

I’ve ordered pictures from them multiple times and have always been so impressed by the quality of each picture.  I am currently working on a photo book right now that I actually got for FREE!  Shutterfly is always sending out Promo codes for free items, free shipping, or reduced prices.  I’m all about shopping the sales!!

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the collage Christmas Cards.  Like this one:

And this one:

I might have to throw Alex a New Years Birthday just so I can use these Invitations!

 Wouldn't these Holiday Gift Tags be ADORABLE on a plate of cookies?

The Grandparents will probably be getting a Personalized Gift or Calendar from Shutterfly this year. 

Now, if all you bloggers want 50 free shutterfly cards just click here to get the details.

Toddler Jean Skirts

My adorable little niece, Allie, just turned 2 years old the other day so I whipped up a couple skirts for her.  I started by finding these perfectly girly pair of pants with pockets that have bows and little flowers and slits at the bottom.  The best thing about these particular pants is that they didn't have a zipper which helped a lot when I was turning it into a skirt.  

 I did make the mistake of cutting the pants too long.  Luckily, they are a size too big, so hopefully, my little niece will be able to grow into it more when she gets a little older.

I decided to leave a little slit in the back which allows a little more movement when walking.  It also helps it flare out a little more too.  I used parts of the tutorial found at Crap I've Made to attach the fabric onto the bottom of the skirt.  

I took what remained of the bottom of the pants and turned them into another skirt.  Since I had cut the other skirt too long, this skirt was way to short.  It will have to be worn with tights or stretch pants.  For the top I just used white knit fabric.  I used parts of a tutorial found at A Jennuine Life for this skirt.

I wasn't originally planning on making the bottom of the pants into a skirt but I couldn't pass up the little flowers, bows, and the slit.  

Sir Alexander

This year we chose to make my son into a Knight!  He pretty much hated the costume until we were outside getting candy.  Don't you love the look of glee on his face?

 For his bag I just sewed up a simple bag (tutorials all over the internet) with some fabric from my stash and then just attached a dollar store shield to the outside.  For the rest of the costume I used the pattern, Simplicity 5520 with a few modifications.

  As you can see, the hat didn't fit my son's large head so I had to make an additional strap in the front with some elastic in it.  You can't really see it in these pictures but the gray has a shine that makes it look like chain mail.  

  I also didn't like the insignia that came with the pattern so I picked my own to use as the template.  (The pattern has some funky Dragon/Frankenstein thing!)

 I think we might have to save the gold boots for next year and make him into someone from the 70's OR into Richard Simmons!  Maybe use the gold belt as his head band!  hehe

As well as this one turned out, I don't think I can ever surpass last years costume!  

Candy Corn Pumpkin!

Don't you just love decorating for Autumn?  I certainly do!  The other day I got some (by some I mean WAY TOO MUCH) candy corn thinking I was going to make an autumn trail mix. Since I didn't have 80% of the other ingredients for it, I decided to use it to decorate with instead.  Especially, after I had gained a few pounds from munching on it for a week!  

For this project I used everything I had on hand.  In the spring and summer this picture frame holds a picture of one of my outings with my husband and my dear friend Mandy and her family.  We have this beautiful waterfall background behind us which goes perfect with my spring/summer decor but not so well with my Autumn decorations.

I got some card stock from my stash and glued the smaller, tan card stock on the dark brown.  I hot glued my candy corn in the shape that I wanted with a little twig sticking out the top.  Then I used the same mat and frame from the original picture to frame my candy corn pumpkin.  Super simple, quick and cheap and has saved me from eating at least 140 calories!  Crafting is my new diet!!

fyi...my talented mother is responsible for the cute toll painted in the background.

Ribbon Organizer and Dry Erase Frame

A while ago, when I started making bows for my niece,  I purchased most of my ribbon online in bulk.  The prices and variety were great online but unfortunately most of them didn't come with the spools.  I've seen so many great ideas online on how to store ribbon but most of them use the spool.  I didn't come up with this idea until I started cleaning out my craft room and came across a shelf I had purchased several years ago

The shelf was in desperate need of some new paint.  It was painted a teal color but it was missing a few coats so the dark (black I think) color wasn't covered completely.  It needed a little sanding and paint and was ready to go.  

I just picked a color from my stash and then I put some antiquing glaze on it.  I found my glaze at Lowe's for around $8. I've used it on several projects and haven't put a dent in it.  A little goes a VERY long ways.  This glaze is so simple to use and adds character to painted pieces. 

I then picked up a few wooden dowels to wrap the ribbon around.  The top one as you can see, has the towel sticking out both sides.  I can easily remove ribbon spools or add new ones in.  For the middle dowel, I drilled a hole partially through both sides of the shelf with one side deeper than the other.  It isn't one that I want to remover very frequently but it has enough give on it that I can.  The final dowel is held up by ribbon that is attached to the back of the shelf.  The ribbon is looped around the dowel instead of glued so I can easily remove it.

The four dowels on top are permanent.  I just drilled partially down into the shelf and then glued the dowels down.  I have them spaced far enough apart that I can put spools on later or I can add more vertical dowels.    

The final thing I did was make a dry erase frame to go next to my ribbon holder.  I often have so many ideas in my head that I forget about most of them.  I wanted somewhere I could write down things that need done, reminders, and future projects.   

 

All I did was paint it and use the antiquing glaze on it.  I then cut some scrap fabric that fit just behind the glass and then closed it up.  Finally, I just looped some ribbon at the bottom to store the marker.

Tomato Parmesan Crostini

This is just one of those recipes you have to share!  Mouth Watering DELICIOUS!!  The recipe calls for bread, unfortunately, I didn't take a picture when I made this recipe with the baguette.  The mushrooms and Triscuits were a good substitute but they couldn't match up to the flavor of the baguette!  I also used fresh basil and dried basil and the fresh was much better. ENJOY!!!!


Tomato Parmesan Crostini

4-5 plum, roma, or campari tomatoes
2-3 garlic cloves minced, or 2-3 tsp. minced garlic from jar
2 T. chopped fresh basil (or 2 tsp. dried)
1/4 c. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 c. grated fresh Parmesan1/2 c. mayonnaise
 bread of choice: I use a french baguette, sliced 1/2 " rounds

Combine tomatoes, garlic, basil, oil and salt & pepper in bowl and mix well. Set aside

Mix parmesan cheese and mayo in a small bowl and spread on each bread round.

Place rounds on baking sheet and top each with spoonful of tomato mixture.  

Bake at 400*F for 10 minutes or until bubbly.  


Thanks Leslie for sharing with me!

College Name Board

This is another one of those projects that I've had 95% done for a few years and I finally put the finishing touches on it!  I found these letters at Michael but it wasn't until after I bought them that I realized they would be hard to cover because the edges are rounded.  After getting some advice from friends, I settled on doing a college on each letter.  

I first painted each letter and than I glued each little paper on with mod podge.  I finished up by putting several coats mod podge on top.  Very simple!  I did the airplane and car the same way except it was a little harder to paint before putting the paper on top.  They were already painted a really ugly blue and red so I spent the effort to repaint them before covering them.  

The unfortunately thing about his project is that I'm going away from these colors in my son's room now that he isn't a baby anymore.  Oh well!  I guess it will teach me to not procrastinate finishing projects!  

I think that the letters were each $1 and the airplane and car were on clearance at Michaels for .25 cents each. I'm not sure how much the board was but you can find things like that at thrift stores that either need to be repainted or sanded and stained again.