More Blog Candy & A Game Tin Craft

One of my design team ladies had this candy shared on her blog…I couldn’t believe how massive it was. If I win, I am planning on sharing it all with my kiddos…especially Brooke, she loves to craft. :-)

This is just one picture of the candy, you really need to check out the blog to see it all!

AND…

I ran across a very creative site called Dabbled.org. This game box tin idea is so cute. I think I will make one for the kids – but maybe with my little stamp characters instead. I haven’t decided yet!

 
(Visit the site to read more about the craft!)

I have a little tin with Prima flowers that I bought from Etsy a little while back. I think I’ll use that. The flowers will be safe elsewhere! *wink*

I’ll share pictures if/when I start working on it!

Exploding Box (finished)

This is the exploding box I worked on. I have another mostly finished…was supposed to complete a few more, but I have been severely behind.

I gave this to Grandma and Grandpa Smith on Sunday. Grandma cried when she opened it. The tag on the lid says ‘I Love You This Much’ and I told her that when she lifts the lid it and it falls open, it’s like a hug from dad.

I hope to make one of these for us, too.

A few more shots of the box…

This box is unique from any other boxes I may make, as I had to cut the rounded corners by hand and used a mix of watercolor and marker to ‘age’ the edges (that was crazy, lemme’ tell ya!). I now have a corner punch and a distressing ink pad.

I chose pictures that showed dad’s personality, and ‘aged’ him from the center of the box outward. I also chose background paper to match the era (or tried to, lol!).

Here’s closer pics of the lid:

There ya go! These are fun to make. I have to openly thank dad for teaching me how to make something out of nothing. This box ended up being made from scraps and creative means of sprucing it up!

Alrighty, talk to you next time! Have a happy holiday!

Give love to your family and those in need!

Oh What Fun… !

Christmas FLEW by! I can’t believe it’s already over. As a parent, I have the sensation of cooking an exquisite meal and then having it gone in minutes.

BUT, those few minutes are the most joyous minutes we could ever ask for, and I look forward to them every year.

Looks like Santa came!

*Gasp* Are those puppets I see?

…and of course here are the kids opening everything!

Jaycen with his AT-AT walker. Trust me, it’s larger than it looks. (hm…either that or Jaycen is a giant…)

 
Nothing like a 5-year-old and his daddy playing with legos and Star Wars toys!

Here are the kids testing out their puppets and theater curtain! (found the perfect tier curtain and tension rod at Wal-Mart!)

And here’s some more holiday fun that we had…

We made a gingerbread house…

Mommy and the kids made Santa’s sleigh with mommy’s stamps…

Mommy made pumpkin bread (this was before the icing was added!)…

And here are 2 more dashes of cuteness before I go!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Fickle Creativity! (and something shiny)

I am like a mad scientist.

I love coming up with a hundred-million-kagillion ideas. Most of those ideas never get past my notepad…and the ones that do don’t always last long.

I am so grateful that I have my stamp design that I do…I LOVE it and it brings a lot of joy to me and our little family. I have definitely caught a very itchy craft bug, however. I will never let it replace my love for artwork, but I have been collecting paper and rhinestones and glue to make paper flowers and butterflies.

…here’s an example:

I hand-punch these, which is ridiculously fun. Maybe I like destroying paper. Who knew? *wink* …but then I add a rhinestone, and hand-drawn stitches and whatnot on the top petals. It’s sorta my style. I love stitches.

…not the hospital kind. The craft kind. :-)

(This one is a bit bright – lighting is tricky!)

I have always loved the idea of making ‘supplies’ to help others with their creativity. It’s a huge part of why I love making digital stamps. I am just not sure if this paper embellishment venture is going to get far with me…I suppose I should take a step and see what happens!

Enough ranting about paper. Oh, no wait, one more thing. If you love patterned paper, check out Paper Peddler’s shop at Etsy. She is amazing. I get almost all of my paper there.

Here’s some awesomeness from her shop:

Okay. NOW, enough about paper. :-)

This is random. But look at this shiny-ness:

 
Mmmmm. Yummy light cycle.

Yep. I have two very distinct sides. I love cuteness and fluffy, sparkly things…and then computers and ‘cool’ stuff. Like Tron. I was hesitant to see the new one, as most movies nowadays are all CGI backwash from one to another, but this movie was spectacular. We saw it this morning as a family, and the kids are just as hooked as mommy and daddy. I’ve said it elsewhere, but this film was a delightful mix of the original Tron and something as innovative and futuristic as Bladerunner.

Not to mention the music was hypnotic.

Alright, now that the tomboy side has been let out, I wish you all a lovely weekend and I will write again soon!

Blog Candy at Real Reasonable Ribbon

I stumbled across a neat blog candy giveaway (come on, you have to love giveaways that are called ‘candy’ anything! haha) …and I had to try for it. I haven’t entered for one of these in a long time. :-)

This one is at the Real Reasonable Ribbon blog:

 
This looks like LOTS of fun to win, and I couldn’t resist since I’ve apparently caught the crafty bug again…even though I can’t seem to craft my home into cleanliness! *sigh*

Wish me luck…and I hope some of you enter, too!
(in that case, good luck to you too!)

I have more to share, I will be back again soon. Some shrinky-dinks came in the mail today, I can’t wait to start making charms…AND I’ve been making some paper flowers and butterflies, too! :-)

Talk with you again soon!

Gifts and Craft Ideas

(Listening to 106.9 FM Christmas music right now, woo hoo!)

First off…I have had much better luck the past two days with the kids. In our tiny apartment, with all of this rain, one of the few things I can find to give them time apart is watching Sesame Street early in the morning (while mommy and daddy are still sleeping) and letting them play some of their computer games. It may sound like a waste of time, but as long as they’re having fun and not fighting, I am happy for now!

So, I have a few ideas, and I am excited for Christmas to come. I have some fun gifts planned. One for a family member, and it’s called an ‘exploding box’.

No, it doesn’t involve TNT.

It looks something like this:

With the help of one of my lovely Design Team ladies, I was linked to an easy tutorial. You can check it out {HERE} if you want to. I want to fill mine with photos. I’m not telling who I’m giving it to!

As for other gifts, I showed you the puppets for the kids in my last post. Jaycen is getting some cool Star Wars stuff and Brooke is getting Barbie stuff. How do I know? I have connections with the big man in red! *wink*

Oh and I have a gift planned for hubby. I ordered it last night. It can take up to several months to make…but I will show you a picture when it arrives!

Some tips for gift-giving…

Think of what your friend or loved one really  likes. What’s their favorite food? Color? Movie? What do they love to do? For example, one year I got my father a fish-shaped oven mitt and stuffed it with Hot Tamale candy, because he loved cooking, fishing, and Hot Tamales. :-)

If they love movies and popcorn, why not buy their favorite movie, and stuff it in a little metal bucket with some bags of popcorn? Or get a theatre gift card? You don’t have to go all out, just think of something simple and creative that you could put together…after all, if it comes from the heart, that’s all that matters!

Okay, enough of my gushy ranting, haha.

Here’s another idea I have…I mentioned it yesterday.

Shrinky Dinks!

Do you remember those? (click HERE to see their website) I had some ‘Pound Puppy’ ones in the 80’s. An idea popped into my head the other day to make shrinky charms from my digital stamps.

Something like this…

 
(This is from the Missbluebirdandoscar Etsy Shop)

I would probably do single charms, and maybe some phone charms and bookmarks or something. Maybe just charms. Who knows! But I also want to get some Shrinky Dink kits for the kids too. I think that would be a fun craft!

Anyway, I will write again soon. Have a lovely day! :-)

Time is Fun when your Having Flies…

Okay so I had mojo going with my posts and then it went POPCRUNCHFIZZzzzzzzzZZzzzz…

I blinked and a month went by! Hmm…a review of some things that have happened since I last wrote.

The kids did a trunk-or-treat and dressed as Nintendo classics for Halloween

 
We saw lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) at the Point Defiance Zoo…well okay, no lions, but there were sharks. DUN-DUN…DUN-DUN….

 
It snowed… (hoping for more!)

 
…and we got a new, itty-bitty Christmas Tree. Trying to start fresh this year.

 
A few other updates, in no particular order (though I numbered them because numbers look fancy!)…

1. We made a gingerbread house last night
2. We had to get a Feliway for the cats (they’re crazy)
3. We got a bird feeder for the Juncos and Chickadees
4. I have been doing artwork like a mad-woman
5. We got the kids their first Legos
6. We finished homeschooling for this term
   (Brooke is becoming a great narrator…though her copywork seems to be lost when she writes for fun)

A few things I am wanting to work on…
(more numbers, yay!)

1. Getting our house more de-cluttered
   (the front room is looking tons better)
2. Actually participating in The Toy Society
3. Putting out some Operation Nice cards
   (I keep forgetting…haven’t done it yet!)
4. Blogging and uploading family pictures more!!

…and of course, being as manic as I am, I have a ton of ideas for things to make. I still need to finish Jaycen’s crochet teddy bear, and I am still considering making a little shop for those. I am also considering making little ‘charms’ with Shrinkie-Dinks out of my stamp designs. …Why? Because Shrinkie-Dinks are fun!

Now for a cool spirit-of-giving story…

 
Here are some puppets. I mentioned wanting to get puppets together for the kids for Christmas. I don’t have time (or the sneakiness factor) to make them by hand, so I ordered this cute set from Oriental Trading.

They came…and they are just as cute as they look (my hand can fit in them too, which is a big deal)…but got no lion…and 2 giraffes! This made me sad, as Lions are Brooke’s favorite animal. So I called Oriental Trading. Guess what they did? They didn’t ask for pictures or any other kind of proof…the gal on the phone apologized and they’re sending out a WHOLE NEW SET for free, saying that we can keep them all. Isn’t that amazing?

I know this might not seem a big deal to you, but in this day and age with everything so big and instant (and electronic) it was so nice to experience such trust and kindness in the spirit of the holidays.

I will write again soon! (hugs to you all)

Owls, Bears and Bunnies (oh my!)

So, I’d been gabbing about the little owl from Think Geek that' I’d been eyeing. I finally got one. I’m trying to upload the video of it on Facebook, but Facebook is being silly so we’ll see.

I love hooking it up to my laptop. It’s the cutest little thing, and it keeps me company as I work on the computer. :-)

 
(I got the white one. *smiles*)

I’ve been working on crocheting Brooke’s pink bear from the Planet June pattern I told you about recently. It’s turning out really well. I’ve been brushing the pieces as I make them, and having ‘real’ stuffed animal eyes and noses makes it so much more fun to make it! :-)

 
I can’t wait to work on Jaycen’s. His will be yellow.

As for homeschooling, it’s going better and better. Brooke is paying attention, she still gets distracted sometimes depending on what we’re reading about, but she was able to recount two stories we read last week just as well as she did right after reading them. She also sat down and taught Jaycen some math this morning…and picked out a Beethoven song on the Classical Music station this morning, comparing it to ‘Eroica’.

(Brooke’s last pencil study of ‘A Young Hare’ by Albrecht Durer) 

In case you’re wondering, we went without the schedule today. I’m getting a sore throat and have been really ‘heady’ today. It’s hard to teach, or have patience to teach, when your head feels like it’s under water. I hope I feel better tomorrow! :-)

I hope you’re all doing well with fall in full swing. It’s starting to feel nippy here…winter is on its way! I hope it snows this year. :-)

(hugs to you)

Some Crafty Fun :-)

I sat down and made some ‘Nice Cards’ that I printed off from Operation Nice. I wrote some little messages on them. I haven’t put them in my purse yet…I’m not sure where I’m going to leave them, but we’ll see! I hope to use them soon. :-)

 
Speaking of Operation Nice, she has an assignment to give thanks to someone this week! Check out her post, she has a printable Gratitude card if you don’t have one to send. :-)

A little update in homeschooling…it has been going really well. Brooke’s handwriting is improving and so is her reading. Her narration is improving, too!

Along with reading and writing, some of our favorite activities are art and music. Here is Brooke’s and my art study from Friday…Albrecht Durer’s ‘A Young Hare’.

Brooke’s drawing:

 
She got a bit distracted, but had fun. She’s been waiting to draw the bunny ever since she saw me print the picture out!

Here’s my drawing:

 
I went a little nuts, I love drawing animals. :-)

Talk to you all again soon!

Felt Cuteness :-)

I haven’t sewn for a while. I made the kids’ little quilts for them when they were very little, and a queen-sized jeans quilt for hubby about a year or so ago, but since then…not a lot!

To side-track a bit, our Library has a little puppet theater that the kids can play with. It’s the first thing our kids navigate to when we go there (forget looking at the books, they want the puppets!) so I have been dying to get them one of their own.

I searched today for a theater and some puppets. Most options are expensive…it’s crazy! But I finally found the CUTEST little free pattern at ‘Sweetie Pie Bakery’…check out this picture…

Like I said this is a free pattern (click here to see it). It just uses felt for the puppets, fabric for the curtains, and a little tension rod that you put in a doorway close to the floor. How cute and simple is that?? I hope to be able to find & collect the felt I need to make this for the kids for Christmas!

The gal that made this pattern also has an Etsy shop, and I am horribly addicted to Etsy so I went to check it out. She sells the cutest little felt patterns there, and some pre-made cuteness (like the candies below!).

 
I wish I was creative enough to think up something like this! I might be, I don’t know, haven’t tried it for a while. :-) My next project with it will hopefully be the kids’ puppets, and then someday the sock monkeys I never finished.

(those should be cute…I bought stripey tube-socks to make them with! *smiles*)

Anyway I hope you all had a lovely weekend. :-) Talk with you again soon!