Carnival Birthday Party

Back in August my little guy turned 2.  We had a carnival themed birthday party complete with game booths, a prize table and LOADS of fun.  I recently realized that I never posted the pictures on my blog. So here you go, a glimpse at some of the things I made.  

First the carnival booth banners - I used felt and (with the help from an amazing friend) cut the lettering out on my Cricut, traced them, and cut them out.  

I love the way they turned out.  And did you notice the bunting along the booths.  So cute and so much fun!  I used an adorable Debbie Mum polka dot fabric that will now be pulled out for all birthdays in our house.  

Here is the bunting right after I finished it.  They were simple but took quite a bit of time to make.  Using some cardboard I made a triangle template.   Using my rotary cutter I cut out TONS of triangles.  Then I matched them up and sewed up right sides together.  After turning them I topstitched - I used a zig zag stitch to dress it up a bit.  Then I used bias tape to connect all the triangles.  

Next, the birthday boy's shirt.  I LOVE iron-on vinyl!  Using some scraps I had left over from the boys brother shirts I tried out a double layered design.  

Here is another item that will become part of birthday traditions around here.  Can you imagine getting your own special chair decoration on your special day!  Well here is ours.  Ideally I would have liked the lettering a bit larger but I was working with scrap vinyl so this is what I have.  Might just have to make another one and applique the lettering on!  

Finally my addiction gets funded!

Now that Christmas is over and the new year has come, I finally have some down time. Time to sew what I want! Sew something for ME!  I have long been wanting to make some curtains for underneath my crafting desks in order to hid all the junk storage I have underneath. While that means hours in the fabric store searching for the perfect fabric, it also means LOTS of money (I measured my desk and it will take about 8 yards of fabric to make the curtains! YIKES

So while on a quick trip to the fabric store, I decided to finally listen to my husband (the businessman and entrepreneur's advice) and test the waters in making and then selling my creations to others. Since Valentine's Day is approaching I thought about what I was doing this time last year. I was sewing Valentine Chair bags for my boys with my new machine!  When I made them there were lots of Facebook Ohhs and Ahhs and I even had a few "orders" for bags. So off I went, happily sewing the bags.

Keep in mind a year ago there was no Pinterest in my world so I found the tutorial for these the "old fashioned" way - AKA - my Google reader. 

Quickly, while leaving said fabric store, I typed up a quick Facebook post to test the interest level for Valentine Chair bags. Within a couple hours I had 5 bag orders!  Not too shabby.  A couple days later I was back at the store picking out felt, Valentine fabric, and the assorted notions I would need to fulfill my orders. Fabric was cut, piled, organized and prepped for sewing. Having a bit more sewing experience than I did a year ago and NOT wanting to fight with the bag like I did previously, I made a few changes to the original design making the bottom of the bag SO much easier to sew! Thanks to Pinterest and the amazing Copy Cat Bag tutorial (which is sadly no longer online - so glad I printed the tutorial out!) I saved myself hours of frustration and thus streamlined my assembly process.

Just a little over a week later and my bags are being delivered to customers and received with great joy (YAY- for customer satisfaction). After posting finished product pics on Facebook, I received another order for 2 bags as well as a order from a friend that wanted a purse like mine (again, the Copy Cat Bag!).

Not sure where this will lead as I do have 4 small children, homeschooling to accomplish, a house to manage, and the need for some down time, but I do know that very soon I should have my under desk curtains as well as a few other nice touches to make my crafting space a bit more friendly on the eyes.

Summer Activity Jar

Here is the finished product! Our Summer Activity Fun Jar is complete and full of fun ideas to entertain my little men all summer. Cards are color coded - blue is for easy to complete activities, green activities are outside fun, and orange are trips that involve money or a bit of notice (like a SeaWorld trip).

The boys are enjoying choosing a card each day and seeing what they get to do! My oldest is dying to pull the "silly string war" card. It will happen soon enough but for now we are enjoying doing things together.

Download the Summer Activity Fun Cards.

Mother's Day Gifts 2011

It was that time of year again. Time to create presents for the mom's in my life. This year TWO of my sister in laws were mommies so I made these frames for them. 

I didn't take pictures of the presents I made for my mom and my mother in law. They actually aren't fully finished yet for a couple of reasons. 1. Bryan needs to drill holes in the frames and 2. they are just adding on to the picture frames of all their grandkids from this post. My mom had one new grandson born this past year and my mother in law gained 2 new grandsons. Needless to say, they needed more frames added to their gift from last year :)

Christmas Crafting

So I made all the gifts we gave away for Christmas, however, I didn't take pictures of ANY of them :(  So horrible!  I guess I need to get back into blogging so I am in the habit of taking pictures of my creations.

Coming Soon...

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the ladies over at How Does She?  Their blog has given me LOTS of inspiration for projects.  I am in love with all the 2x4 crafts they create and have been wanting to try some of my own.

I have an idea up my sleeve for an adorable 4th of July decoration, so check back soon!  I am hoping to get a bit of crafting in this afternoon.  I will try to take some pics.  Waiting on vinyl from Expressions Vinyl to arrive so I can do lots of cute projects!

End of the Year Gifts

My oldest son just finished his second and final year of preschool. It is both exciting and sad at the same time. Exciting because that mean we are heading into school years and I will be embarking on the roller coaster that is homeschooling. Will it be challenging, yes. But will the rewards outweigh the challenges, definitely. I can do all things in Christ. He has led us to the decision to homeschool our children, and He will equip me (yes, a credentialed teacher needs to be equipped! Teaching YOUR OWN kid is VERY different from teaching a room of 35 sixth graders).

Above is the adorable card I made using my Cricut (have I told you lately how much I LOVE that little machine!). CB (my oldest son) was certainly blessed with TWO #1 teachers this year! What a blessing they were.

For the gift, I had saved this one for just this occasion! As some of you know I have a large list of blogs that I read on a regular basis. When I see an idea that I love I save it in my Delicious list (an online bookmarking list, so your bookmarks are available anywhere that has Internet.) Anyway, a few months ago while I was peeking at Nap Time Crafts I saw this beautiful idea! You can't get much more simple than that: crayons, some Tacky glue, and a shadow box frame.
I cut out each teacher's first initial in a very large font so I would have a guide for where to place the crayons. I backed that paper with black so the letters would stand out. I love the All Mixed Up font cartridge! Such a cute font!!!
They loved them!!! I was so happy with how they turned out and even the wrapping was super cute. I had found bags that were covered in apples in the Dollar Spot at Target a LONG time ago and had put them away for teacher gifts. When I started planning on making these, I thought the bags would be too small since I was going to get 12x12 shadow boxes. However, when I was at Michael's I didn't see any I liked so I grabbed these 8x10 frames. They fit just right in the bags!!! With the addition of a bit of yellow and green tissue paper and a cute bow, they were the perfect way to say thank you for all CB's teachers had done this year!

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!

Craft Room Reveal

It's done! My craft room is finally done! Almost a year ago (for Mother's Day) Bryan told me the home office could become my craft room. He no longer needed a home office since he has his business office now. With the boys being so curious, crafting in the dining room wasn't working. Leave anything out for a bit and they were getting into it. So now a year later, the room is done! As you can see from previous posts, this has been a long time in the making. I moved things around several times, we got new furniture, I purchased cabinets and drawers to put it all away, and the last step was to paint!

Here is the finished product!!!

SCHOOL AREA

This is what you see when you stand in doorway. The left side of the wall is the school area. Bryan and I are calling the office the SCOR, school-craft-office-room. I am homeschooling Christopher next year so I wanted a space to work for him that is away from the distractions of the other boys. Cameron also has a desk for future schooling. He can work on some preschool type activities while Chris does his school work.

Chris's desk is on the left and Cameron's desk is on the right.

CRAFT AREA

View from the doorway looking at the right side of the room, my crafting space!

Lots of cabinet space for supplies - stamps, adhesives, embellishments (eyelets, brads, tools), etc. The clear boxes at the bottom are for pages that are being worked on for the boys' scrapbooks. Hoping to get scrapping very soon and get closer to being caught up on their albums.

This cute buckets are from my wedding! They were the centerpieces on the tables in the reception. Now they are repurposed for craft supplies. These have chipboard, stickers, and rub ons. More are in the cabinet underneath that hold small letter stickers, various scissors, and more.

This is my main workspace.

From top to bottom:

top shelf - paint & CM cutting system

long shelf - various sizes of ribbon (the boxes are FULL!!!)

hanging rods - flowers, buttons, pens, tools

underneath - Cricut machine & drawers for bow stuff, cards, and ongoing projects

This is more workspace!

More storage on the walls!

The tall cabinets hold scrapbooks that are in progress, idea binders and tear files, more paper pads and scraps, Cricut mats, 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and TONS of alphabet stickers.

Notice all the pictures I need to scrap on the left. They are FULL of pics from Jan of 2008 - February 2009! I need to get busy.

Close up of the wall storage over the work area.

Small trash can for little pieces of trash and a bin for little scraps.

Lots of stickers - now I can actually SEE what I have!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!!!

Thanks to my wonderful husband for 1) giving me the space to be creative (and relax!!!), 2) for painting the room for me on Monday and Tuesday nights after working ALL day, and 3) for putting up all the shelves and rods all afternoon today.

Bryan, I love you so very much. You are always willing to go above and beyond to make me happy. Thank you so much for loving me!