Magic Boxes

My Google Reader gave me a pleasant surprise the other day!  One Pretty Thing is a recent addition to my blog roll and I LOVE it.  If you don't know, it is a site that many crafty and creative people send in their projects and then they are shared with the world!  This project from Skip to my Lou caught my eye.  These magic boxes seemed like another amazing gift for teacher appreciation week.  I am not yet sure what I am going to fill each compartment with but I think I might do something like this.  

Magic box: What is so magical you ask???

Remove the lid and four compartments unfold!

Lid off

Top view

Still need to add some ribbon and embellishments, but I think they turned out pretty cute!

Teacher Appreciation Day Gifts!!!

Teacher appreciation day is coming up so I decided to start working on gifts for CB's teachers.  File folder organizers seemed like a cute idea for a teacher so I headed to Michael's for some adorable paper!  To personalize them a bit I added their first initial on the front.  In order to make them a bit more durable, the entire organizer in Mod Podge.  It added a nice sheen to them too!  

Wedding Card

Some friends of ours got married at the end of March.  Here is the card I made for them.  I used the Opposites Attract Cricut cartridge.  

Top: envelope 

Bottom: card

Rainy Day Art

It was a very rainy weekend this past weekend and Chris wasn't feeling all that great when he woke up Sunday, so we ended up not going to church. Since it was raining I took advantage of a cute craft idea I had seen on a blog.  First, you have the children color a picture using markers and be sure they cover most of the paper with color.  I think Cameron had more marker on his hands than he got on the paper, but he had fun!  That is what matters.  
Next, you hold the paper out in the rain for a minute or two until the drops start to spread the marker.  It gives it a watercolor look. The harder it is raining the less time it will take for your art to take shape!
Finally, let it dry and enjoy!  The boys made several pictures.  It is hard to see exactly how they turned out from the pictures but we had fun and made some cool pictures!

File Folder Menu Planner

For my sister-in-law's bridal shower, I decided to put together a "basket" of cooking items.  She got dish towels, pot holders, a cookie cookbook, and it was all put into a cute lime green colander that I found at Marshalls.  She really likes to cook and so that got me thinking.  A file folder organizer doesn't just need to be used for a Christmas Planner or an organizer.  I decided to make it into a menu planner.  The four pockets became holders for various recipes: appetizers, main dish, side dish, and dessert.  The look on her face when she opened it was great!  She loved it.  This is something I can continue to add to for her as well by typing up more recipes and giving them to her!  

Girlie Birthday Cards

One of my dear friends has twin girls that turned one at the end of December.  It was wonderful to get to make some very girlie cards.  There are lots of pinks and purples in my paper collection, since they don't get used in the boys' scrapbooks.  I used the Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge to make the tags on the envelopes and to cut out the flowers.  

Christmas Crafting

This year I found a wonderful website to help you get organized for Christmas.  If you know me then you will know that I LOVE anything organizational, so I was excited about getting all organized for Christmas.  Anyway, part of getting organized is to make a planner.  I used a binder but I saw the idea for making a planner using a file folder.  My initial thought was, "That looks like it would take WAY too much time!"  

Fast forward about 2 months...  My SIL is getting married in February and I am thinking about her shower gift.  I wanted to give her a few recipes but in a cute way.  So again, I was drawn to the file folder pocket file.  I decided yesterday to try it out.  I was amazed to find it only took a couple of hours.  The first 30 minutes was just trying to get the measurements right for the folding.  Today I made another one and was able to do it in just an hour.  These are very versatile and fun.  I am already imagining the different ways I can create these for people as gifts.  

Here are the directions: 

1. Take a regular file folder and score it so that it will create 4 sections.  From the middle you measure 4 1/8" to the left and score it.  For the right you measure 4 1/4".  

2. Score the folder 3" from the bottom and fold up to create the "pockets".

3. You have now created the basic shape.  Next comes the fun part... adding color!

4. Using decorative paper, cut out the papers to fit the outside of the file.  (Note:  I discovered that the "tabs" can be cut on once and used on the front and back.  This saves you a step and extra cutting.  I just use the same paper for the front and back.)

5. Glue the paper to the outside leaving the "pocket" part unglued for now.  

6. Glue the papers to the front of the pockets.

7. Add coordinating papers to the inside of the files.

8. Fold and your book is almost done!  Here is the finished inside.

Here is the outside.

9. Finish with two eyelet holes on the front and back covers and lace with a ribbon.  I have not yet done this step since I don't have an eyelet punch or ribbon that coordinates with this paper.  Stay tuned for more!

I can't wait to make these as gifts.  This one is for a special friend.  She knows who she is and she knows why this one is for her!!!