My 1st Giveaway!!!

Become a follower of my blog! I want to know that people are reading so become a follower of my blog, start making comments on things you like, and tell me what you think! Once I get 25 followers, I will post a giveaway of something I will make just for the lucky winner.

So click on follow (over on the right, scroll down some) and tell your friends!

Beautiful Bows

So you might be asking yourself, "What is a mom of 3 boys doing making bows?" I too, for quite sometime was NOT interested in making bows. Call me bitter for not having a sweet little girl with beautiful hair to put them in, but I just didn't want to start making bows when I had no use for them. Then suddenly, just before a friend's baby shower, I realized that I KNOW a lot of little girls so I could just make bows for them!

Off to Michael's I went in search of the perfect ribbon! I was going to make a bow board and a few bows for my friend Chelsey who was due to have her first sweet baby girl in March. Well, I succeeded in finding ribbon (I confess, I have a bit of a ribbon obsession) and about $60 later I set about making bows.

I started with some simple "Classic bows" that I found directions for making. On that site I also found directions for making korker bows (the super cute curly ones!!!) and made a few of those as well. So long story short (too late), my passion for bow making was ignited!

Here are a few of my creations:

Red, White and Blue Korker Bows

Daisy Clip, perfect for attaching to a headband

Tri-Loop Bow with Button Accent

Butterfly Clippies (I can't make the antenna, they just catch on fire!!!)

Classic Bows, LOVE this ribbon!!!

Double Layered, Tails Down Bow

Disney Tails Down Bow with Bottle Cap Accent

3-in-1 Pink Polka Dot bow, Minnie Clip can be removed

Minnie Clip (from the above bow)

Bow boards I made for my dear little Emma, my friend Tracey's daughter

Mother's Day Gift with Tutorial!

For my mom and mother-in-law I decided to create these adorable linked hanging frames that I saw on HowDoesShe? I LOVE this blog! The ideas are so cute and I am storing a bunch of them for future use! So here is what I did to make this project my own :)

While we were in San Diego on our anniversary trip, my hubby took me to IKEA! He sure knows the way to his woman's heart. Anyway... I saw these frames and knew they would be perfect for some kind of craft project, so we grabbed 3 packs (that is 9 frames). At the time I just wasn't sure what. Fast forward a few weeks and now it is time for Mother's Day crafting. These frames turned out to be just the perfect project. I had exactly the amount I needed since my mom has 4 grandbabies and my mother-in-law has 5.

I began by having my sweet hubby drill small holes in each of the corners. This is where the eye screws would be placed to link the frames. His drill was already out since he was hanging all my shelves and rods in the SCOR.

I painted the frames with a cream colored paint to go with the papers I had selected for use.
I traced the frames onto the back of my paper (I had taken the plastic from the center where the picture would sit).
My paper choices. My boys have "colors" that I have assigned to them so I used those. The purple was for my niece and the yellow was for my nephew (because that is his favorite color!).
Here are the cut out frames for my mother-in-law's gift.
Using Mod Podge (which I LOVE) I glued the paper to the frame. I also cut out each grandchild's name on white paper using my Cricut. Those were then applied to the corresponding frame. This one was for my newest nephew!
Next, I screwed the eye screws into the predrilled holes. I did that on all four corners.

Using cream colored ribbon, I tied the eye hooks together to link the frames. Lowe's didn't have any eye hooks or I would have used those (although the ribbon junkie in me LOVES how the ribbon looks).
To hang the frames, I just tied another long ribbon. Wish I had a nice metal handle like the one on HowDoesShe? but no biggie!
There you have it! You can totally add to these as well (although 5 was pretty heavy so I might would just start another one!). Since only 2 of the 6 kiddos on my hubby's side have had kids, I am sure I will be making another one of these somewhere down the road!

Washer Necklace For Teacher Appreciation Week

I saw this idea a while ago and have been saving this project for teacher appreciation week. These washer necklaces were SUPER easy to make (and fast - only took about 10 minutes). To finish them off I sewed each end of the ribbon through an extra washer. I didn't like the idea of tying a knot since I felt that would be irritating against the wearers neck. I used all ONE size washer but the tutorial called for various sizes. Either way, it is super cute!
My Cricut was chirping as it cut out these school building and letter for the teacher's card. Not my favorite card creation, but it was pretty cute.
*Sorry for the bad photography. Eventually I will figure out where to take pics of my creations so the pictures come out better! I had forgotten to take a pic of the necklaces so I was doing this at a light on the way to my son's school! LOL*

Little Teacher Appreciation Baskets

I saw this idea here and made it my own using all the baby food containers I have been saving! I didn't use all the sayings but I did fill the containers with paper clips, mints, change (for a soda), a post-it notepad, and cute magnets from the dollar bin at Michaels. To bundle them all together I put them in baskets I found in the Dollar Spot at Target.

Teacher Appreciation Treats

The preschool asked for parents to help with making their staff feel appreciated during Teacher Appreciation week. I asked what was involved and was told that for Wednesday the "theme" was yellow & lemons. So in true Allison fashion, I took that and ran with it.

I made these milk carton treat boxes for Christmas cookies and figured they would be perfect. I saw the idea here and figured out how to make them. (see tutorial below) Inside of the carton, I made cake mix cookies from lemon cake mix - box of cake mix, 1/2 c. oil, and 2 eggs. The teachers LOVED them. Really, they were so easy! To top it off I added in a water bottle, embellished with the scrap paper from the treat boxes, and a packet of Crystal Light.

Milk Carton Treat Box Tutorial

Maybe one day I can get this on video or do a better job of explaining this but for now this is all I got :)

1. Using a 12x12 sheet of sturdy cardstock, you will cut to size and score lines for the fold. These treat boxes were 4 inches tall so I cut the paper down to 8.5 inches tall by 12 inches wide.

2. Score paper 2 inches from the bottom.

3. Next, score paper 2.5 inches from the top.

4. Score paper 1 inch from the right side. This will make the flap for assembling the box

5. Continue vertical scoring lines measuring each one 2.75 inches from the last. (2.75 x 4 = 11 inches) This will make the sides of the carton.

6. Fold paper along all scored lines. Cut the the 2 inch lines on the bottom. Fold the 2nd and 4th flaps into triangles.

7. Glue box sides together. Fold bottom flaps in to create the bottom of the box. Then fold the triangle flaps up and glue it all down. You now have the bottom of the carton created.

8. Bring the front and back top edges toward the center, folding the sides in (like a milk carton top).

9. Hole punch the top and tie closed with a ribbon (after filling with some treats, of course)

I know this isn't the best tutorial :( I will try to post pictures that go along with each step soon. Might even try a Flip video if I can find a camera person.

Teacher Appreciation Treats coming soon!

The gifts for Chris's teachers are done and I am hoping to post pics and a tutorial for the milk cartons tomorrow. I am just WAY too tired tonight since I was up until 1:30am last night getting them done. Who is the crazy lady that signed up to make treats for the Preschool staff?!?! Oh, yeah, that would be me!

It was all worth it seeing how it brightened their day today. Chris and Cameron paraded around the school passing out the milk cartons (full of lemon cookies) and water bottles complete with Crystal Light Lemonade attached. They were blessed so all my hard work paid off! Teachers work hard and they deserve to be pampered a bit!!!

Check back soon for the treats and the tutorial!