It's Done & I Love It!

With the help of my good friend, Jennifer, I was able to put the picture in my Mother's necklace this afternoon. She has the Photoshop program, which I do not have, and was able to downsize my girls' picture to 1 1/2 x 1 1/2. My husband had made a prior attempt, using our photo program, to do the same thing but with no luck. Jennifer gave me two mini-photos this morning and while I had a few minutes to myself, I cut one out and put the entire thing together. You may remember my previous post showing you the entire necklace minus the photo...well, this is a photo of me wearing the finished necklace - it just happened to match the shirt I had on today. :) I love it! I can't wait to make a few more!

Fast, Faster & Fastest

I worked on a few design concepts today for a set of sneaker tags and a pair of shoelaces. The vice principal at my daughter's school asked me to help her out. She is so sweet I could never tell her "no." Anyways, the sour cream containers are new to me. It took me several tries, 4 to be exact, to figure out that it's WAY easier to use text-weight paper vs. cardstock. The cardstock is just too heavy and doesn't form the puff in the middle that you need to give it that look of an actual sour cream container. Who ever thought of putting sour cream in such an odd-shaped container? I'm so glad they did!! Anyways, because she is a little craft-challenged and definitely time-challenged, I thought I would give her the option of having something really easy and some thing a little bit more involved. The sneaker card is the fast version, the sour cream container is the faster version and the lollipop bag with the scalloped tag is the fastest version. Which one is your favorite? Mine is the sour cream container...it's just so darn cute.

Happy & Organized

I have a new organizational piece to add to my "cropping" collection. My "cropping" collection includes pieces I use to pack and travel with when I go to crops. I decided a few months ago that I would look for specific pieces to have and use only for crops, thus eliminating the need for all that packing of EVERYTHING every time I go to a crop. For instance, I have a drink holder at my computer desk and the last time I went to a crop I was feeling lazy and I didn't want to have to unscrew it to take it with me. At the last scrapbook garage sale I went to I found another cup holder for the cheap price of $3 - they retail for $19 - so I knew this was a good bargain. Now I have one specifically for cropping and it stays stored in my cropping tote. Well, Thursday, I went to a friend's house to look over her garage sale stuff and I found this glorious embellishment bag for the rock bottom price of $3!!! I'm so excited. I love how the boxes all fit so snuggly inside the black storage case. I've already organized my buttons, gems, brads and safety pins and can't wait to use it at the next crop.

More Teacher Goodies

I am almost "officially" finished with all of the preparation of the teacher goodies for the week of May 5th. Although it was a long process getting all of this done by myself, I just found that it was easier to do when I had 30 minutes to spare here and 30 minutes to spare there....I did have offers of help, but it was less stressful to work at my own pace. I can't wait to pass everything out. Right now, everything has found a "crowded" home on top of my dining room table. These pictures show the Peppermint Pattie flowers and the wrapped silverware with an attached poem that announces our "gift" to them of a free lunch card. I hope they appreciate everything during Teacher Appreciation Week.

Magical M&Ms

Well, now that the baby shower is officially over - it was this past Saturday - I am moving forward (at a fast pace) with my next big "project" which is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week at my daughters' school. It is the week of May 5th. My position on the Parent Faculty Board is Hospitality, and with it comes the responsibility of planning the entire event. I have already begun putting many pieces together to celebrate the teachers and the faculty. We have 84 total. Hopefully, in the next few days, I can put the final touches on everything. This picture shows one of the goodies we will place in their teacher cubbies - Magical M&Ms. I found the idea on-line and thought it would something cute and inexpensive. The only problem was that the original idea used a plastic test tube (going from the bottom line of the poem) that was just darling....well, I couldn't find anything local that was less than $1/each and I didn't want to order from a bar supply catalog. Eventually, I got my hands on a cellophane bag catalog and found these clear poster bags that worked perfectly. We filled each bag with 2 ounces of candy, tied a ribbon and attached the poem. What do you think?

Almost Done

Back in the Fall I went to a really charming outdoor festival of booths consisting of arts and crafts and local schools trying to raise money for various events. One of the booths I visited was a woman who hand-crafted the most beautiful mother's necklaces and bracelets. They immediately caught my attention and I began asking questions. Her designs were gorgeous and I especially liked the necklaces with the natural beads in a variety of colors. Attached to each necklace were sterling silver pendants which included the picture of your choice. I have thought about those necklaces ever since I saw them. (I did visit her web page and the prices, although reasonable, were a little high for my "necklace budget.") What I have always done and one of my philosophies is, "When you like it and can't afford it, make it yourself." So, this is my version, although incomplete at the moment. And all for a grand total of $10. I am waiting on my dear husband to help me download a 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch photograph, which is the size of the pendant I chose. These natural beads are from Michael's and I thought they would look just "fancy" with a nice pair of dark jeans, and a cute cotton top. I can't wait to wear it when it's done. I'll be sure to share a picture with you!

I Can See All the Colors of the Rainbow

O.K.....after moving my craft room around only to find out the paper rack I purchased yesterday fit exactly where I wanted it to go originally, I can now see all the colors of the rainbow....my solid-colored cardstock papers are so nicely displayed in 30 different colors. What a mess I created, but it was well worth it. My husband is now thinking about building me a custom cubby-like unit to fit across the entire wall space directly opposite of my crafting desk. This will eliminate the need for the bookshelves and a large cabinet that I have sitting on the floor right now. Hmmmm...we are going to think on it for a little while to make sure if/when it's ready it goes in the exact perfect space because it will be something that doesn't come down for quite a while. Isn't it funny how a $5 find can turn into such an expensive re-do? I have had it happen with a $3 rug and a $2 lamp, etc. The joys of being a homeowner!

Fabulous $5 Find

Garage sales are one of my passions and this morning I was able to go to a neighborhood sale, and, as a bonus, I walked the entire way - a nice way to sneak in some exercise time. My fabulous $5 find, and the only money I spent, except for buying 3 magazines for 25 cents, was a 12x12 paper rack. It holds 30 different colors of paper! I have been wanting one of these for a long time, but I couldn't find one at a decent price. When I saw this one today, the lady said, "Oh, I don't know, what do you want to give me for it?" I said, "How about $5?" and she said, "That sounds good." Yippee!! I am going to spend some time this morning c-a-r-v-i-n-g out some space in the craft room so it will have a perfect position among all my other scrappin' goodies! I will post an updated picture one I have it filled up and looking pretty.

Corsage Challenge

I decided that I would make a corsage to be worn by my niece at her baby shower in two weeks. What better time to tackle the "chore" but now while we are home on break from school. I have gotten soooo much done in the past few days. I made a pacifier corsage for my sister-in-law's shower a few years ago, but I wanted to do something different this time. This morning, I found a really neat picture of a mom-to-be corsage made from two baby socks. I thought, "hmmm, that looks easy," so off to Target I went to buy a pair of socks. I was in luck, they had an end cap with socks of all colors on sale for $1 a pair. I chose this really pretty purple pair in size 0-6 mos. In the picture, the socks are supposed to look like small rose buds, they are held together by the cuff of the socks and backed up by two green flowers. Well, I twisted and turned and pinned and pulled but I could not get those things to look like anything other than two skinny weird pieces of knitted cloth sticking up like fingers in a glove. I gave up and thought about trying plan "B" - but I didn't know what that was. This picture shows what I ultimately came up with. I dragged out a plastic tub of silk flowers that I have from a leftover project and found this really pretty yellow flower that I took apart. I also rolled the socks up (although I only used one for this project) and stuck a cotton ball in the center to give them a "flower" look. I pinned them together at the end to hold them from coming undone. I also used polka dot cardstock to make leaves. Who says leaves have to be green? I also tied a piece of white ribbon around the sock for an extra detail. She can pin it on by using the sticky-back pin I attached to the opposite side. I hope she likes [and appreciates] it....I don't even want to discuss how much time I spent coming up with the idea.

Artist in the Making

Well, Abby surprised me tonight with this adorable picture of myself. I wish it would have been on canvas and ready to hang. But, from experience, I know that most of the time the best art work from either one of my girls has come from spur-of-the-moment scribbling and not when I "set them up" ready to create a masterpiece. I was just thinking this morning that instead of buying some art for Abby's new bedroom that perhaps I should let her create something on her own that we could frame. After seeing this cute pic I think I will definitely pursue that idea. Do you think anyone would notice if I traded this picture out for the one in my profile? P.S. I didn't have the heart to tell her that "Joe" should have been spelled "Jo." Shhh!

Pin One On for Size

Another detail I am adding to my niece's baby shower are these really cute diaper pins. They are one of our doorprize games. The guests will arrive at the shower and we will welcome them with a smile (of course) and a baby diaper pin. Each guest will have a pin to wear during the shower. At the end of the shower, the guests will remove their pins and look inside each one for the "prize" which is actually a mini-chocolate chip to resemble the familiar "prize" all new Moms love - poo poo!! It's a fun game because no one ever realizes that the entire time they were wearing the pin that there was something inside it. I made these today using a soft fleece material I purchased from JoAnn's yesterday for $1.00. I chose this really sweet green and white striped pattern because we do not know if Thara is carrying a boy or girl. I can't believe she waited to find out - that almost never happens anymore. I had a pattern that I created for another relative's baby shower and simply cut the fabric out today while watching Martha on tv. I also picked up (at 40% off) a set of the cutest pastel-colored safety pins to decorate the front of the diapers.

Candy Filled Booties

Previously, I posted a picture of one of 20 baby booties my sister and I made using small styrofoam cups. Well, now that the baby shower is getting closer I decided to spend a little bit of time today filling the baby booties. I used small round pastel-colored tulle circles to hold milk chocolate M&Ms (on sale after Easter) that also had the same pastel-colored theme. I stuffed the bottom of the each cup with a small strip of tissue paper so that the candy didn't sink to the bottom, but rather, stayed up at the top nice and pretty. I think these are going to look so cute on the food table.