Turtle Taylor

Goodbye Old Friend, Hello New Friend!

2011-06-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

When I got married, I borrowed my mom's sewing machine to make curtains and pillows for our new home. That's about when I got hooked on sewing. My sweet husband bought me a sewing machine for Christmas the year we got married so I could return my borrowed machine to my mom. I loved that machine! It was a mid-range Kenmore. Soon after I had my first daughter, I started Turtle Taylor and started sewing pretty much every day. That machine was a workhorse! My Kenmore machine kept up with me for 10 years. I finally wore it out this year. The cost to fix it was far more expensive than the machine was originally, so it was time to go shopping for a new machine.

I did quite a bit of research before finally picking a new machine. For the amount that I sew, I knew I needed a good quality machine that would be able to match my pace. Since my sewing skills have significantly improved over the last 12 years, I wanted a machine with more features. I looked at all the machines: Janome, Elna, Pfaff, BabyLock, Husqvarna Viking and Bernina. After looking at the machines online, reading online reviews and talking to people in quilt shops, I had pretty much decided I was going to buy a Husqvarna Viking Sapphire. Then, I met them in person. It wasn't love at first sight as I thought it would be. I had convinced myself that was what I was going to buy it, but test driving it in the store I knew this wasn't the machine for me. We didn't "click". It wasn't love at first sight. I was so disappointed!

During my online research I'd seen good reviews for Bernina's, but didn't think that it was the type of machine that I wanted. I went to a local quilt shop that sells them, looked at a couple myself, and then walked out. I sat in my car for a couple of minutes arguing with myself and finally decided to go back in and have someone talk to me about them. I fell in love! I took home the B380 and had a blast sewing with it for about 6 weeks.

Isn't it cute? It was such a different experience sewing with a computerized machine. I loved my mechanical Kenmore, but sewing with this Bernina was a totally different experience! When I was taking my machine mastery classes, the instructor mentioned that if we wanted to upgrade our machine, we'd get the full purchase price back if we traded in our machines for a higher model. She had my attention! While I loved this machine, I did wish that I could add the embroidery module to it, or use the Bernina Stitch Regulator with it. (The Bernina Stitch Regulator is a genius invention that lets you free motion quilt with ease. The stitch regulator keeps all stitches uniform, regardless of the speed in which you sew!)

So, a couple of weeks later Bernina had a trade in event. You got very nice credit toward a new machine if you traded in an old machine (that didn't even have to work!). So back to the store I went with my old Kenmore and my new 380. I came home with the Bernina 440 Quilters Edition. It's got many more stitches and features, has the stitch regulator and eventually I can add embroidery! Even though I was sad to say goodbye to my old friend, I was anxious to get started on all kinds of fabulous new projects with my new sewing buddy!

If you are looking for a new machine and want a great place to find sewing machine reviews, head to Sewing Pattern Review. It's a great site that has the reviews categorized by manufacturer and model. Of course, if you have any questions about my machines, I'd be happy to answer them!

Quick and Easy T-Shirt Embellisment Tutorial

2011-06-06T12:36:00.001-07:00

It's the first week of summer vacation here and that means Vacation Bible School! We always get a t-shirt as part of our VBS. They're cute, but plain. Because I'm one of those annoying people that can't leave things plain, I always jazz them up a bit. They turned out really cute, and I'm considering making one with a plain tee for myself. Plus, it was quick and easy (it took about 20 minutes per shirt!) Here's how I made this year's version:

Supplies:
t-shirt
scissors
fabric scraps that are long enough to go around the front neckline of your shirt (I used a white muslin)
rotary cutter and mat (optional)
sewing machine
beads (optional)
needle and thread (optional)

First, take your scissors and cut off the neck of the t-shirt. You'll end up with something that looks like this:

I cut 1/2" strips of my muslin and pinned them around the neck of the shirt. I started and stopped each muslin strip at the shoulder seam. Then, I sewed straight down the middle of each strip. I did a total of 3 strips around the neckline. (I have a thing for odd numbers)

Once I had the strips sewn on, I added some beads. I sewed these on by hand. I did a total of three groups of beads. One between the first and second strip on the left side, one between the first and second strip on the right side and one between the second and third strip smack in the center. Here's a close up that shows the beads:

Once I was done with the neckline, I decided to use my scraps and do the sleeves, too. (Seriously, I can't leave well enough alone!) So, I folded the edges of the sleeves up one time (so the underside showed) and sewed my fabric strip right over the top of the stitching.

There you have it: a quick and easy way to dress up a t-shirt!

Embellished Hat Tutorial

2011-05-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

I like hats. But, not just any hat. You won't find me pulling on one of my husbands ball caps on a bad hair day. They've got to be cute hats! These fit the bill (ha!) and are super duper easy to make. You can make both of them in less than an hour!

The Fabric Flower Hat

This hat I adore! I love, love fabric (if I were ever to become a hoarder, that's what I'd hoard. Yards and yards of bright, colorful quilt fabric!). There's a home decor store near me where I first saw a hat like this and I fell in love. Until I saw the price tag, that is. They sell hats like this for $50! Insanity. Seriously. The hat is adorable, but there is no way I can justify spending $50 on a hat. I decided to turn to my fabric stash to make my own. But first, I needed a hat.

Voila! Joann's to the rescue! They had these cute army hats in the fabric arts section. I'd been through that section many times but had never seen these. Turns out, they were hiding in these bins that they have on one of the aisles. They have a picture of the product on the front and you open the bin to get one. Not the greatest idea for merchandising, in my opinion, because I'd never once noticed those bins until a friend pointed them out. So if you don't see them in your Joann's, look for the bins!

To make the fabric flower hat you'll need:

Hat
Fabric scraps (you don't need much; a fat quarter or scraps will work just fine. I used 4 different
prints)
Fabric glue or a hot glue gun
Rhinestones, if you like a little sparkle

First, you're going to cut flower shapes out of your fabric, with the flowers decreasing in size. I drew out a flower shape on a scrap piece of cardstock and then traced it onto my flower with a fabric marking pencil. If you aren't comfortable drawing it by hand, you could use a Cricut machine or find a flower shape online to use as your template.

After you've cut out each flower, I used my fingernails to pull some threads around the edges of each flower to give it a frayed look.

I cut a total of 8 flowers: 2 from each fabric. Now, you'll just stack them on top of each other with the largest on the bottom, smallest on the top. I glued the entire flower together then glued it to my hat using hot glue.

I like rhinestones, so I glued some rhinestones in various locations on the hat. I did a group of rhinestones smack in the center. Or, you could put a button or a large rhinestone flower in the center.

With all the adorable fabrics that are on the market, the possibilities are endless! You could easily make one that would match any outfit. Or, wouldn't this be cute in the colors of your favorite sport team?

The Applique Hat

This hat was the brainstorm of one my BFF's, Carie. She's got a super fabulous blog full of fun things to win, so go visit her at 3 Crazie Monkeys. It's full of fantastic giveaways!

For this hat you need:
Hat
Applique
Hot glue or fabric glue
Rhinestones (optional)

This little gem is what embellishes this hat. The fabric art section of craft stores are full of beauties like this that are intended to spruce up t-shirts. They come in lots of different shapes and colors.

Play around with it to determine placement on the hat. Once you've decided how you want it, simply glue it down. I added a few rhinestones for sparkle because I like to channel my inner Liberace at times.

That's it. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Take that, bad hair days!

Do you appreciate a teacher that has a sweet tooth?

2011-04-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

If so, this might be the teacher appreciation gift for you! Back when I was in Junior High and High School, I made the super popular candy bar notes. You know what I'm talking about, right? You'd take a piece of poster board and write out a note, inserting candy bars for certain words. Like "you make me "Snicker" and "Rolo"ver with laughter when you tell me a joke." Yes, I was (am) that lame!

Here's a new (less lame) twist on it!

We did this for Turtle's teacher last year. Looking at the photos, I realize that I didn't really decorate the paint can. I'm surprised at myself - I usually never miss an opportunity to embellish. Oh, well. This year!

I got the clear paint can at Michael's. Love them! It's a cute way to package up a gift. Inside were the following candies:
Jolly Ranchers
Smarties (I found a jumbo Smarties at Joann's)
Almond Joy
Pop Rocks
Skor
Mounds
Snickers
Nerds
Andes Mints
Reeses Pieces

It's easy to whip one of these up for Teacher Appreciation Day. Print out the cute poem (that I found on the web, so I can't take credit for it), embellish it a bit and glue it on the can. You can put tissue paper or paper shreds inside the can for color before adding all the candy goodness.

If you have a Cricut, it'd be cute to cut out vinyl polka dots and put them on the can. Ribbon or fabric scraps look adorable tied to the handle.

What a fun and yummy way to tell a teacher thanks!

The Note:

I SKORed big when I got you for a teacher. Don't SNICKER, but I think you're great! You are MOUNDS of fun and you have brought me so much JOY! I think you ROCK! Thank you for always being so JOLLY and for helping me become a SMARTIE. Teachers like you are worth a MINT. I'd be a NERD if I didn't thank you for helping me put the PIECES of the knowledge puzzle together. Thanks for a great year!

Birthday Wreaths

2011-04-05T09:40:00.001-07:00

I love birthdays! I really, really love them. Especially, when we're celebrating my girls birthdays. I get a kick out of planning the parties and am always looking for new ways to make their birthday special. Miss Monkey is celebrating her 5th birthday this month so we've officially started our new tradition of birthday wreaths!

I always have some kind of wreath on my front doors and have been wanting something birthday related for awhile now. I'd purchased this plastic netting at a local home decor store a year or two ago and didn't have any idea what I'd use it for until I found these awesome plastic balloons at Hobby Lobby. The birthday wreath idea was born!

Aren't the balloons just neat? I love them so much I'm trying to figure out what else I can use them for!

When I was telling a good friend about my plan to make birthday wreaths, she suggested that I put the girls age on the wreath. Genius! I bought a plain number 5 at Hobby Lobby and Modge Podged scrapbook paper on it to make it pretty. I'll switch out the number accordingly as each birthday comes.

I'm going to make a smaller version of the wreath for my side door and post a tutorial soon. Hooray for birthdays!

Interchangable Fabric Flower Headband Tutorial!

2011-03-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

Seriously, how cute is this headband?! (As an aside, I learned that it's incredibly difficult to take a picture of your own head and that when you make multiple attempts to get a good picture while sitting in the school pick up line, the other parents look at you funny as they try to figure out what it is that you are up to!)

I found wire headbands in the jewelry making section of Hobby Lobby. They had black and silver. Bonus! These headbands are actually fairly comfortable and won't make your head feel like the headband is trying to squeeze your brains out of your ears after wearing them for a couple of hours.

To make the headbands you'll need:

headbands
fabric scraps (for the red and white headband I used a jersey knit and for the orange and turquoise headband I used a calico)
velcro
felt
hot glue gun
beads or buttons and needle and thread (optional)

First, cut your fabric into strips. I make mine about 1 1/2 inches wide. The strips don't have to be cut straight - you won't be able to tell once you've made them into a flower. Make the strips long (like length of the fabric long). Once you're happy with the size of the flower, you can cut the excess off.

Fold the strip in half and make a knot at one end.

Hold the knot in your hand (the short end of the fabric facing down). Put a dab of hot glue on the side of the knot and attach the long part of your tail to it. This is the start of your flower.

Now, give the fabric a half twist. (The fold of the fabric strip will be facing down and the two cut ends will be facing up). Glue to the knot/flower. Give the fabric strip another half twist (now the fold will be facing up and the two cut ends will be facing down). Glue. Continue to twist and glue until the flower is a size you are happy with.

Tip: If you put the dab of hot glue toward the bottom of the flower, you'll be less likely to see the glue on the top of the flower. Don't use a lot of glue. A small dab is all you'll need and will prevent it from oozing up to the top of the flower.

You should end up with something that looks like this. Tuck the end underneath the flower and secure with a little bit of hot glue.

Once you've made all your flowers, cut the tail of the knot off. Now you can embellish with beads and buttons if you'd like. I use seed beads and hand sew them on. A thimble comes in handy for this part! Now, play around with the flowers to find an arrangement that you like.

Cut a piece of felt in a rough oval shape that is slightly smaller than the arrangement of flowers that you've decided on. Glue the flowers to your felt oval.

Now that your flowers are glued to your felt oval, cut a small piece of velcro and glue it on the back of the felt. I like to put the soft side of the velcro on the flowers, but it doesn't really matter.

The other side of the velcro gets hot glued to the headband.

Cut a small piece of felt the same size as the velcro piece and glue it to the back of the velcro. Your headband will be sandwiched between the velcro and the felt.

Now you can attach your fabric flowers to your headband!

Voila! A cute, interchangeable fabric flower headband!

(That's my mini me in the background. She wanted to be in the picture, too!)

Valentine Lollipop Bouquet!

2011-02-03T13:20:00.000-08:00

Isn't it the cutest?! Forget roses that die. I want my flowers made out of sugary sweetness!

Want to make your own bouquet for your Valentine? Here's what you need:

Lollipops (you can get boxes of Tootsie Pops or Blow Pops at Wal-Mart in the Valentine section)

Floral foam (mine came in a pack of 4 from Dollar Tree. These were the perfect size)

Cupcake liners (mine came from Hobby Lobby)

Flower Pot (from the garden section at Wal-Mart)

Paper shreds (Dollar Tree)

Green Duck Tape (Hobby Lobby)

Wire (I used 24 gage beading wire from Wal-Mart)

Hole punch

You need 1 lollipop and 6 cupcake liners per flower. First, take your cupcake liners and fold them all in half.

On two cupcake liners, you're going to use your hole punch and punch a hole on the fold.

On the remaining 4 liners, punch a hole slightly above the fold (approx. 1/4 inch):

Keeping these 4 cupcake liners folded in half, insert the lollipop stick into the hole. Offset each liner from the one before to create a circle around the candy portion of the lollipop.

Open the 2 remaining cupcake liners and insert them onto the lollipop stick. I like to put the wrong (non-printed) sides together. If you do this then you see the pretty printed side on the top and the bottom.

Now, we're ready for the leaves. Take a length of the duct tape (approx. 6-8") and lay it sticky side up on the table. Place a length of wire on top of the duct tape.

With another piece of tape, place the sticky sides together, sandwiching the wire between the two pieces of tape. Using scissors, cut the tape into an hourglass shape with pointed ends.

Once the leaf is cut out, you can wrap it around the lollipop stick and give it a twist to hold it tight.

Once I had a pile of 5 flowers, I was ready to move on to the flower pot.

I took some of my craft paint and painted the rim of my flowerpot. In hindsight, I should have painted the whole pot. Once I put the flowers in, you couldn't really see the rim.
Once the paint dried, I used a black Sharpie to write "Be Mine" and draw some hearts.

My floral foam bricks were pretty small, so I stuck some crumpled newspaper in the bottom of my pot first to take up some space.

Then I put in my floral foam. My brick was exactly the right size, except that it was square instead of round. No worries - the edges got shaved off as I shoved the brick in. I just brushed off the floral foam dust and was ready to continue!

To cover the ugly green floral foam I used a handful of paper shreds. I put a couple of spots of hot glue on the foam first to hold the paper shreds in place. Next came the flowers. The first one I put smack in the center. The next two went to the left and the right; the final two went in front and back.

I love the way it turned out! I'm going to have to make a couple more. Wouldn't this be a cute teacher gift?!

Valentine "XO" Letters

2011-02-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

I'm sorely lacking in Valentine's Day decorations. After making my initial letter magnets, I thought it would be fun to make large "XOXO" letters to place on my mantle. So, off to Hobby Lobby I went.

I was initially going to buy some large chipboard letters, until I found these white letters in the "wall decor" section. They were already white, so no painting needed (bonus!) and were 50% off (double bonus!). Their regular price was $2.99

I wanted two "X" and two "O" letters. The problem was, they only had one letter "X". How is that possible? Who buys the letter "X"? (same with the chipboard letters, only one "X"). So, my "XOXO" became "XO". No extra hug and kiss for you!

Here's what you need:

letters
Modge Podge (the nectar of crafting Gods)
paintbrush
scrapbook paper
scissors
pencil

First, lay your letter on the back side of your paper, wrong side up.

Trace around the letter with your pencil.

Once you've traced your letters, cut them out with your scissors.

Put a layer of Modge Podge on the front side of your letter and then place the patterned paper on the top, smoothing out any bubbles as you go.

Once you've got the patterned paper stuck to the front of the letter, let it dry for a couple of minutes and then give the top a coat of Modge Podge.

Once the Modge Podge had dried, I took a piece of sandpaper and roughed up the edges a bit. I did this for two different reasons - it helped get rid of any paper that was hanging over the edge of the letter and it gives it a bit of character.

After I'd wiped off the dust from the sandpaper, I distressed the edges of the letter with some chalk from my scrapbook stash. You could easily do this with a bit of brown craft paint, too. (You could also have fun dressing up the letters with things like rhinestones and ribbon.)

Once that had dried, up on my mantle they went! The "O" kept wanting to roll off, so I got a bit of HandiTak to stick it on. (HandiTack is made by the same people who make Super Glue. It's a yellow putty that you can use to hang stuff up with and it removes easily leaving no residue behind. My favorite use for this stuff is to put it on the backside of pictures on the wall to keep them level)

Now, I've got a little bit of Valentine cuteness in my house!

Initial Magnets

2011-01-27T14:47:00.000-08:00

When we bought this house, it came with white appliances. While they worked fine, they really don't do anything for my kitchen. So, we're slowly replacing them with stainless steel. When Black Friday rolled around this year, we discovered that Lowe's had a smoking deal on our "dream" fridge - a stainless steel beauty with french doors and a water and ice dispenser in door. *Swoon* (yes, I am that easily excited!). So, my dear, brave husband made his first foray in the world of Black Friday to purchase our new refrigerator. (I was busy braving the likes of Wal-Mart, Kohl's and Target!).

It's so pretty that I didn't want it to get junked up with the endless magnets advertising real estate agents, fast food joints and fix-it guys that seem to multiply like rabbits and whose sole purpose is holding the glorious artwork the girls make on the front of the fridge. My solution? New fridge, new rule: only cute magnets can be placed on the front of my fridge.

Problem is, this new rule required me to actually make the cute magnets! I limited it to two per girl and made them in their initials, so there will be no squabbling over who has more magnets. I'm hoping the limit of two will keep the front of the fridge cute and organized. That's the plan, anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.

I headed to Hobby Lobby and picked up super cute chipboard letters (at a whopping $0.99 each!) and some cute scrapbook paper that matches my decor. The spray paint came from Lowe's, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend this type. I was unimpressed with the quality. The self adhesive magnet sheets came from Wal-Mart. I also used my Modge Podge.

The first thing I did was spray paint the chipboard. You won't really see the front because the paper will cover it, but I wanted to make sure the sides looked nice.

Once the spray paint had dried, I took them inside and put them right side down on the back of my paper. I used a pencil to trace around the letter.

Then, I cut them out and used Modge Podge to stick them to the front of the letter. I also applied Modge Podge to the front to seal them.

I did the same thing with the magnet sheets. I traced the shape on the self-adhesive magnet sheet and cut it out. Then, I peeled off the paper backing and placed the magnet on the back of the letter.

Now, I have cute magnets to display fun artwork on the front of my fridge!

Need help with Christmas? Try Shutterfly!

2010-12-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

I’m a scrapbooker. I love the craft and have even been published. I have a dedicated scrapbook space in my house. Yet, I find I rarely have the time to scrapbook anymore. I’ve got mounds and mounds of photos that were neglected and weren’t enjoyed. Until, that is, I discovered Shutterfly photo books! The quality is incredible and their background choices are plentiful enough to make any scrapbooker happy! The upside is that I can get my photos in a book that my family can enjoy immediately and scrapbook at my leisure, without guilt. Plus, what a fantastic gift idea!

I’ve recently fallen in love with the cards that Shutterfly offers, too. I just placed an order for these cards: Portrait Cards . I put my favorite picture of my two girls on the front and I’m going to use them as my thank you cards for all the wonderful Christmas gifts my family receives this year. How fun is that?

Every year I struggle with what to get my grandparents for Christmas. They have all they need and say they don’t want anything, but I feel horrible showing up empty handed on Christmas. I usually give them an updated photo of my girls for Christmas, but that gets old. This year, I’m making them a wall calendar. That way, they get the updated photos of the girls and can enjoy them year round. Want to make one for someone you love? Check them out here.

Next on my list are my family Christmas cards. Last year, the season got away from me and I didn’t send any cards out. This year, I want my cards to be fabulous to make up for it. Thanks to Shutterfly, I’m getting 50 cards to mail to family and friends. With so many designs to pick from, my dilemma is picking out the card I like best! See all the great designs here! Already got your Christmas cards in the mail? What about Mother's Day Cards? I’m loving this idea!

Hooray for Shutterfly for making gift giving easy!

Well, that was quite the hiatus!

2010-12-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's been more than a year. In that time, we celebrated a couple of birthdays in my family (4 to be exact), went on a vacation and I went back to school. It got crazy for me for a bit, and I needed a break. The break was good while I was adjusting to my new schedule, but I'm ready to get back in the swing of things!

I've got a couple of tutorials that I promised you all that I haven't forgotten about. Plus, we had a couple of fantastic birthday parties this year and another great one in the works that I'm planning on sharing with you!

Giveaway time!

2009-10-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I haven't been here in awhile. I've been in a bit of a funk. I haven't been crafting much and haven't had much to say (hubby is stunned with that last one, I must say!). But, I'm back and have super fantastic news! I've teamed up with The Creative Junkie for a giveaway! If you haven't visited her blog before, you're in for a treat! You'll love her blog, I promise! Best of all, you can ENTER for a chance to win $25 worth of goodies from the Etsy store of yours truly!

Pumpkin Pillows!

2009-09-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

Last year at one of my favorite home decor boutiques I bought the most adorable pumpkin pillow. I loved it! This year, I wanted more than the one, but the $25 price tag (for the small one) stopped me short! Mine turned out just as cute, and I did the whole bunch for about $15.

What you need:

Fabric for the body of the pumpkin - I used home decor fabric remnants that I got for super cheap at the fabric and craft store. I used a half yard cut for the largest pumpkin, the smallest was about a quarter yard.
Fabric for the pumpkin stem - small scraps work great for this
Fiber-fill
Fabric scraps for bean bag - color doesn't matter
Rice or beans - for the bean bag
Coordinating fabric or ribbon for the bows around the stem

Here's what you do:

Cut two squares out of your body fabric roughly the size you'll want your finished pillow to be. The sides don't have to be straight, so just make a rough square shape.
To create the pleat, find the center of your square by folding it in half and marking it with a straight pin. Now, make an accordion fold on the left side, making sure the folded edge hits your center. Pin in place.

Do the same on the right side. You'll end up with something that looks like this:

Stitch over the pleat to hold it in place. Repeat the process on the second square of body fabric. Set aside.

Out of a coordinating fabric, create your stem. I cut my stems approximately 3" wide by 4" long. With the right sides together, sew around three sides of the stem, leaving the bottom open.

Turn the stem right side out and stuff with fiber-fill.
Take one square of your body fabric and place it on your work area, right side up. Pin your stem to the body fabric and then place the second body piece and place it on top (right sides together). Pin in place.

Leaving an opening at the bottom, sew the 3 pieces together. Stitch in a rough pumpkin (oval or circular shape). You'll have something that looks like this:

Trim the excess fabric:

Turn your pumpkin right side out. Stuff with fiber-fill and set aside.
To help the pumpkins stand, you'll need to create a bean bag. Taking your fabric scraps, cut a rectangle or a square that is slightly smaller than the length of your finished pumpkin. Leaving an opening to fill it, sew around the edges.

Fill with rice or beans and then sew the opening shut.
Place bean bag inside the pumpkin and hand stitch the opening shut.
For the bows around the stems I took a length of fabric about 3" wide and sewed down the long end. Once sewn, I turned it inside out and then sewed the two ends closed, making a long ribbon out of the fabric. Of course, a cute ribbon would work just as well!

Enjoy creating your very own pumpkin patch!

Potty Prizes!

2009-09-28T12:41:00.001-07:00

We've been potty training again, which is why I've been noticeably absent from the blog lately. Potty training has been consuming a lot of my time. OK, maybe it's not all potty training, but the moping of the floors (yup, we've had accidents - thank goodness for tile!) and the inevitable loads of laundry that goes with the potty training. Thankfully, it looks like we've got the hang of it and that it's going to stick!

I freely admit that I bribe her to potty on the potty. I figure it's a short term loss, long term gain thing. Plus, a little sugar is a fantastic motivator! Pixy Stix are a favorite of hers, but carrying them in my purse doesn't work (purse full of sugar powder, anyone?). I had a stroke of genius at the Dollar Store the other day (oh, how I love you Dollar Tree!).

This little plastic pencil case is the perfect Pixy Stix holder! It's rigid enough that they won't get bent and broken in my purse, it's the right size, and it's light enough that it doesn't add too much weight to my already stuffed purse.

Perfect for our potty prizes on the go!

Yummy Cheese Soup!

2009-09-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

It's officially fall! Even though we've still got a couple of weeks here before it'll finally start to cool off a bit, I figured I'd post one of my very favorite soup recipes in the hopes that I'll be in the mood to make it here soon!

Easy Cheddar Cheese Soup

1/4 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
3 cups milk
1 pound shredded Cheddar Cheese
Fresh Broccoli, chopped (optional, about 2 cups worth)
1/2 cup shredded carrots (optional)

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until tender (about 5 minutes). Stir in flour and cook until the flower and the onion mixture are thoroughly blended.

Add chicken broth and cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens slightly. Add milk, broccoli and carrots (if used) and heat just to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and stir in cheese. Once cheese is melted, remove from heat.

It's such a yummy soup recipe, and really easy, too! It's good as just a cheese soup, but I like it best with the broccoli and carrots. Enjoy!

A Birthday Present

2009-09-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

This birthday present was inspired by a post I saw in the gallery at 2 peas. I love it, so I had to try my hand at it!

I bought the frame at the model home sale I went to a couple of weeks ago (loved it!) with the intention of using it for this project. I cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit inside the mat. I made a heart template out of a piece of cardstock and then positioned it on the paper and traced around it with a fine point felt tip pen.

The chipboard dots and jewels are "Rock On Chip Plates" from Prima (they came from the craft store). They are self adhesive, so I just started sticking them down to fill in the heart outline. I added a couple of yellow buttons, too.

Once the heart was filled in, I stamped the name and est. date on a scrap piece of cardstock, added a bit of trim and popped it into the frame.

I'm wishing I bought enough to make one for me now!

Cricut and Today's Mama Great Escape Meme Contest

2009-09-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

Do you have a Cricut machine and love it (and want more cartridges)? Do you want one for your very own? If so, this is the contest for you!

I have a Cricut machine and use it for lots of things. I'm seriously in love with the thing! I use it for paper crafting, scrapbooking, homeschooling, sewing, decorating - you get the idea. Today's Mama has teamed up with the folks at Cricut again and are giving away a choice of fantastic prizes - either a Cricut machine or all 4 of the new cartridges. How's that for a prize!? You can see all of the details here on the Today's Mama site or go check out the Cricut site here. Basically, to enter, you copy and paste the Great Escape Meme from the link above, create a blog post about it and then send an email to the folks at Today's Mama with a link to it. Easy, peasy.

Here goes:

Great Escape Meme

This is a contest entry for those crazy folks at TodaysMama and Cricut. Be sure to check out Cricut's cool new cartridges and the chance at $30,000 in travel for you and your friends at the Great Gypsy Escape site!

1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be?
I'd head to the UK. I love England and have always wanted to go to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. I'd love to spend about a month exploring!

2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car?
Viva La Vida by Coldplay and Cowboy by Kid Rock are my favorites!

3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do?
I'm easy - I'd go to the movies and see a chick flick. (the 8 or so movies I saw in the theatre were rated "G")

4. What is your guilty pleasure?
Fountain soda and quilt fabric. I can't get enough of either!

5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home?
Europe

6. Last book that you couldn't put down?
Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer. It's not a literary classic, but it is a
fun and entertaining read!

7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch?
I really enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl and The Duchess. Fantastic sets and costumes!

8. What is your favorite local escape?
We are loving the community pool just down the road that is like a mini water park! It's great
fun and we can all get in to play all day for less than $5!

9. How do you escape on a budget?
We stay at places that have a mini fridge and bring our breakfast and lunch stuff (like bagels
and sandwich fixings) and snacks. Doing this vs eating out saves us a bunch!

10. Best food you've ever had while on vacation.
Hands down, Paella in Spain. I ate it for practically every meal when I was there and have yet
to find any in the States that tastes as good!

So, there you go. If you decide to play along, leave a comment with a linky. I'd love to read yours!

I love coupons!

2009-09-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

Shopping with coupons is so much fun! No, really - it is! I got a coupon high after grocery shopping today, so I figured I'd share!

I used to do the Grocery Game, but then I figured it was silly to spend money on a program that's supposed to save money, so now I do it all myself. On Wednesday when the new grocery ads come out I sit down with them and my coupon binder and make my shopping list. I have a pretty good idea of what's a great sale price for most items, so that helps a bunch.

This week I spent the bulk of my shopping money at Fry's. They are doing quadruple coupons (up to $0.25, so that coupon for $0.25 off is now worth $1.00) and they are accepting store coupons from other stores. That's a great thing! Today, I got a cart full of groceries and my total before sale prices and coupons was $121.40. What I actually paid was $43.26, so I had a savings of $78.14 after sales and coupons. That's 65%! For our family of four, I usually spend about $150 every two weeks. That includes everything - food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, cleaning stuff and health and beauty stuff.

When something is cheap, I buy a bunch of it so it will last us until it goes on sale for super cheap again. This obviously requires lots of storage space. I'm pretty lucky in that I've got a really big pantry, a big laundry room where I've got an extra fridge and a freezer in the garage!

Here's what my pantry looks like:

It's big and I love it! I've got everything in here from food, extra health and beauty stuff (in the baskets) and big kitchen gadgets. It's pretty well organized (most of the time anyway!). I make sure to rotate my stuff when I go shopping, so I've never got old stuff hanging out in my pantry. FIFO - first in, first out.

I have a love/hate relationship with my coupon binder. I love it when I'm shopping and see my total going down on the register, but when it's time to clip the coupons and file it away, I hate it.
My binder is pretty well trashed, so it's time for a new one. I'm thinking this time around I'll make it pretty with my scrapbook supplies.

The inside is filled with trading card and photo pages that came from Wal-Mart. The trading card pages are for the small coupons, the photo pages are for the enormous ones!

Want to learn more about shopping with coupons (and not have to subscribe to a paid service)? Check out Hot Coupon World. Tons of info there!

Trick or Treat Bags

2009-08-31T05:49:00.001-07:00

I had lots of fun making trick or treat bags this weekend, can you tell? I dug through my craft closet and found some stuff I'd forgotten about (since it was way in the back under a pile of stuff it's easy to understand why) I started out making the witch feet for the girls and it spiraled from there! Knowing myself, if I didn't get these now, they'd get lost in the black hole that is my "to do" pile and the girls would be collecting candy with nekkid bags. I love the satisfaction with adding a big fat check next to a line on the to do list!

Megan is in love with her bag and wants it now. Actually, now that I think about it, she might be wanting the candy now, not necessarily the bag. Can't say I blame her there. Since I've only got two kids and have way more treat bags than that, go check out my Etsy shop. I'll be adding these there in the coming days.

One eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater (yes, that song goes through my head every time I look at this guy)

Taylor's purple witch feet. Her request was for purple stockings and flowers.

Jack 'O Lantern

Ghost

Tip Junkie Trade Secrets

2009-08-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

I love getting packages in the mail, so when I got an email from Tip Junkie about this swap that they are hosting, I was hooked! Fun, fun!

What it is is this: You make or purchase 3 things that you love and then mail it to your person by November 1st. The dollar limit is $25. The deadline to sign up is October 1st.

Easy, right?! I'm so looking forward to seeing what neat things come my way!

Come play along! (click on the button for the details on the Tip Junkie site)

Camera Strap!

2009-08-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

I adore my camera! I have a Canon Digital Rebel XTi and it's fantastic (I have a 35mm Rebel that I love, too). I don't love the camera strap that came with it, though. I've seen those super cute camera straps on Etsy, but that darn cheap bone keeps me from buying them. I made one, but wasn't happy with the webbing on it (the part that attaches to the camera). I've searched and searched online and could only find tutorials for the sleeves that go over your existing camera strap. That's not what I want. Plus, I wanted minky on the inside (because it's oh, so soft!)

I got a tip from TankTop @2peas about what to use as the webbing, and it's perfect! So, I made two camera straps - one for me, and one as a gift. Now that I've got the how-to's figured out, I'm going to make some more (because a girl can never have too many!) and do a tutorial.

Watch for it (and the Mommy Necklace) coming soon!

Make Your Own Sewing Labels!

2009-08-25T06:33:00.001-07:00

I bought my first batch of labels for the stuff I sew off of Etsy. Why? I'm too cheap (at this point) to pay to have woven labels made for Turtle Taylor, and I had no idea how to do it myself. So when it came time to re-order, my cheap bone kicked in and I did some research on the internet. I came across the most fabulous idea for making your own labels - Iron-on transfer paper! Seriously, it's a brilliant idea, but I don't remember where it came from (I need to start writing this down). Anywhoo, I learned a couple of very important things while I was making my own that I'm going to share. Ready?

Here's what you need:

twill tape (I wanted 100% cotton by the yard, but couldn't find any, so I had to get 100% polyester in a package)
Iron-On transfer paper made for computer printers (mine is by Tulip and came from the t-shirt decorating part of the craft store)
A computer and printer

Here's what you do:

Find the width of your twill tape, and figure out what length you'd like your labels to be.
In whatever program you like to use best, you'll need to arrange how you want your label to look. I used my Print Shop program, but Word would work, too. Make a table using the length and width dimensions for your labels. Once you've got the table set up, fill it in with your label text/logo.
Once you are happy with it (and checked for typos) print it out, following the directions on the package of your iron-on transfer paper. *IMPORTANT* If you want the label to look exactly like it does on your computer screen, you need to go to your printer settings and set it to print as a "mirror image" before you print. If you don't do this, everything will be backwards once you iron on the label.
Once it's printed out - be careful! The ink never fully dried on my transfer paper and smeared when I touched it (and I didn't realize that until I'd smeared several!)
Now, you need to cut apart each label image (be careful not to smudge)
Once you've got your images cut out, you'll need to cut your twill tape to the correct length. Don't forget to leave enough to fold under on each end so you'll have a nice, finished look when your label is sewn on.

Once you've got the individual labels cut from your twill tape, center your iron-on image on the tape and iron it on (follow package directions for this one)
Voila! Cheap, custom sewing labels.

OK, here are a couple of helpful hints:

I took the time to fold over each edge of my twill tape and iron it down, so I'd have labels that were totally ready to sew on. It was a complete waste of time because those little flaps were undone when I ironed-on my image. Don't waste your time, or do it after the image is ironed on!
Remember to set your printer settings to "mirror image" before you print, or your text will read backwards on your finished label.
If you are going to iron over the label when it's sewn on to something (or to iron the ends under), save the backer paper that you peeled off once the image was ironed on. Put that over the top of your label when you iron over it again and you'll prevent the iron from sticking to the image or mussing it up.
If you don't want sew on labels, just iron those puppies right on to your finished product!
The most time consuming part of this whole project was setting up the table so I could fill it in with my label info (and therefore print a sheet of labels in one shot). So, save often. It would stink to have that hard work go down in a blaze of glory!

Mommy Necklace

2009-08-21T15:28:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be the craft person for my MOPS group this year, so I've been hunting down ideas for crafts that are cheap, easy and fantastic! This is one of them. I've been wanting a Mommy necklace for awhile now, but have been way too cheap to buy one. So, I made it myself!

It's made out of washers from the Home Depot (cool and cheap all wrapped into one) that I stamped with my girls names. I put them together with wire from my scrapbooking stash because I found the cute angel charm that I wanted to put with them. If I didn't want to use the charm, I probably would have just run the ball chain through the holes of the washers.

Guess what the grandmas are going to get for Christmas?

Redesign - Hall Table

2009-08-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

Another post with yucky photos. Yippee! I tried to get better photos, really I did. Three times I took photos and edited, and they were all about the same. This table is located in my hallway and there aren't any windows that are super close. Add that to the fact that we've got the typical, small hall light and sunscreens on our windows (which is an absolute necessity here) and you've got a recipe for poor photos (even with my big flash). Alas, I tried. You'll still get the idea, though!

So, I've been wanting to do small updates around here (though hubby and I differ on what would constitute "small"), so this is one of the simple updates I started with. This table gets largely ignored - because it's in the hall. What was on the table worked, but not well.

The before:

The after:

The after is just some small, simple changes. We've got tall ceilings here and there is a large barn star hanging above this table. So, the items that were on it before were a little small in scale for that large star (you can see part of the star in the last photo). This new grouping is much better in scale.

The only thing I didn't have in my house prior to this weekend was the lamp. Everything else came from somewhere within my house. That came from a model home sale I went to this weekend. I'd seen signs for them before, but had never stopped. I didn't know what I was missing! Anyway, the lamp I bought for the living room but didn't like it once I got it in there. It works great in the hallway, however! Since the lamp is so tall, I needed something tall to balance it out. So, down came the chicken from atop my laundry room cabinets. A small, gold photo frame from my bedroom and two hardcover books to elevate the other frame and I was done!

The end result is much better and doesn't make the table look as if it were an afterthought. I've wanted to put a different piece of furniture in this niche for awhile (like maybe a small armoire), but I've not been able to find the right piece. I had it in my mind that this would make a cute potting bench for my garden. Now that I've updated the accessories on the table, I'm liking it so much more. If the table ends up sticking around, I think I might finally give it a new coat of paint.

(Want to know a little secret? There is no electrical outlet anywhere near this table, so the lamp is purely decorative. One day I'll get an electrician out here to fix that! In the meantime, the lamp will just have to look fabulous off) :)

Giveaway!

2009-08-14T18:09:00.001-07:00

A while back I told you that I'd partnered with a couple of fantastic sites for giveaways, and the first one is here!

When Susana at Our Homeschool Fun contacted me and asked me if I'd sponsor a giveaway on her site, I was intrigued. I've been toying with the idea of homeschooling our girls for a couple of months now, so it was another push from the cosmos in that direction, it seemed. When I visited her site, I fell in love. First, she's got super adorable kiddos! Seriously, wait until you see the pictures of them. Cuteness overload. Second, the stuff she does with her kids looks like so much fun!

So, go pay her a visit and enter to win a chance to win an Owl print crayon wallet handmade by Moi! You can see all the contest details here. I just checked out the comments and got warm fuzzies. *Smooch* to all of you for the love!

I'm still weighing my options regarding schooling, but I'm now following her site because of all the super cute ideas she's got. I can't wait to try some of the crafts she's got. Her recipe for banana bars is something the girls and I are going to make this week. Yummy!

The Rock Star Cake!

2009-08-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

I'm big on tiered cakes. First, I like the way they look. Second, we always have a ton of people at birthday parties around here, so we need the cake! I just think that tiered cakes are more fun than a regular sheet cake.

I'd never worked with fondant before and was a little nervous about it. See, I had this vision of Taylor's cake in my head and if the fondant part didn't turn out, I'd have to go to Plan B. I didn't have a Plan B! Luckily, it was incredibly easy to work with.

I like the way fondant looks, but I'm no fan of the taste. I know there are versions out there that supposedly taste better (Satin Ice I've heard is good), but I love me some buttercream. Seriously, that's the best part of the cake! So, I frosted it with buttercream and then used the fondant for the decorations.

It was a pretty simple cake to construct - fondant balls, fondant stars on wire and fondant ribbons. The top layer was a vanilla cake with cheesecake filling; the bottom was chocolate with a chocolate mousse filling. Yummy! I've got to work on my stacking skills - you can see a that it's a tad bit lopsided. Something to work on next time. It was still a cute cake!

How to Make Tissue Paper Pom Poms

2009-08-11T13:24:00.001-07:00

I'm always looking for inspiration for easy, cheap ways to decorate for parties (or for holidays). When I was on one of my many browsing trips at Michael's I saw this Martha Stewart Kit to make tissue paper pom poms. Cute idea, but the kit was $19.99! Say wha?! I love me some Martha, but she had to have been smoking some funny stuff when she came up with the price of that kit! So, if you love these and want to make some, save yourself the $20 smackers and read on!

What you'll need:

a package of tissue paper
tulle strips (pipe cleaners would work, too)
something to hang the finished pom poms with (I used tulle, but curling ribbon or regular ribbon would work, too)
a pair of scissors

I wanted to hang my pom poms from the chandelier above my dining room table, so I made mine half sized (I cut the sheets of tissue paper in half). If you want big, full pom poms, use the full sheet of tissue paper.

Here's what you do:

Separate a handful of tissue paper sheets from the bunch (I used as many as 8 and as few as 5 in one pom pom. Use more if you want a dense, full pom pom, but don't go too crazy and use the full package for one!)

Fold the tissue paper like an accordion. My folds were about 2 1/2 " wide.

Keep folding in the same manner until you've folded all of the tissue paper. You should have something that looks like this:

Now, you're going to take scissors and cut each edge. You can round the ends, or make it a point, whichever you prefer.
Now, tie the folded tissue paper in the middle. You want it to be snug, but not too tight. It's harder to puff it out if it's tied really tight.

Once it's tied, you're ready to poof! One piece at a time, separate the tissue paper from the bunch. You have go be gentle so it doesn't tear. Once you've got all the layers separated you'll have something that looks like this:

Tie a piece of ribbon or a tulle strip around the center tie and you're ready to hang them. The look so cute hanging from my chandelier that they are still there (and the party was over a week ago!). Take that, Martha! :)

Hannah Montana Rock Star Party Decorations

2009-08-11T13:12:00.001-07:00

We've got a fairly large dining room table, which I love. But, because of it's size, the plastic tablecloths you can buy are too small for it. One isn't long enough and it isn't wide enough to hang over the sides. So, this time around I got smart and bought 3 tablecloths for the table! I folded about 1/3 of the purple tablecloths underneath (it was too long if I didn't do that) and then put one on each half of the table, with them meeting together in the middle. Since I now had an ugly seam, I placed a pink tablecloth over the seam as a table runner. Problem solved!

I love the Dollar Spot at Target! They usually have some kind of metal pails in that section in various colors and those are one of my favorite things to buy there. I've got a bunch of these pails in several different colors and they make an appearance in my holiday decor fairly often.

This time around they were for the (last minute) centerpieces. I got so tied up in the cake and favors that I forgot I needed something for the table! I pulled out my pails and covered the Styrofoam inside with crumpled up tissue paper. Then it was my trusty Cricut machine to the rescue! Using my scrapbook paper stash I cut out stars in various sizes, a couple of the number "6" and the phrase "You rock". I hot glued them onto bamboo skewers and stuck them in the pail. Next year I'm going to make myself a checklist. Nevertheless, they turned out cute for about a 20 minute project!

Hannah Montana Rock Star Party Favors

2009-08-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

The favors for Taylor's party consisted of the body glitter and the microphones, but we needed something cute to put them in. I'd been having a hard time finding something that was cute, would go with the theme of the party and were inexpensive. When I saw these little totes, I knew they fit the bill! I got them at Michael's and they came in a bunch of different colors. The best part? They were only a dollar!

When I set up the favor table I debated on putting the other goodies in the totes, but I decided against it because I thought the kiddos would have fun picking out what color tote and body glitter they wanted. If I stuffed the totes, it would have been luck of the draw. Plus, by leaving the totes empty, they could use them to hold their pinata candy and then grab the glitter, microphones and plastic heart bracelets on the way out the door.

I LOVE creating the favors for birthday parties, can you tell? Seriously, it's my favorite part!

Rock Star Microphones!

2009-08-10T13:37:00.001-07:00

What rock star doesn't have a microphone? Our Hannah Montana Rock Star birthday party wouldn't have been complete without sparkly microphones, so I made some for the party favors. I had backup favors for the boys because I wasn't sure 6 year old boys would like a glittery microphone, but how wrong I was! All the kiddos at the party loved them! (I've got a feeling a couple of the adults secretly wished for one, too!) They were relatively simple to make, and incredibly inexpensive. Make a bunch or a couple. Here's how you can make your own!

You'll need:

Styrofoam eggs
PVC pipe
Silver paint
Black spray paint for plastic
White glue
Bamboo skewers
Steak Knife
Disposable foam brush
Silver glitter
Hot Glue Gun

First, you want to take your steak knife and cut off the very tip of the Styrofoam eggs. Just saw through it like you would a steak until you've got one flat end. Discard the part you cut off.

Next, you'll want to cut your PVC pipe into shorter pieces. I enlisted Hubby for this task, but it's not hard. He measured and marked the PVC pipe and then cut using a small hand saw. At first we cut 12" pieces, but they seemed too long to me. 8" lengths of the PVC pipe seemed to be perfect.

Now you're ready to paint! These are the paints I used:

They came from Lowe's and were about $4 a can. I made 14 microphones and still have about half of each can left.

You'll want to spray the PVC pipes so that they are black and you can't see the black print that's on them. I did 3 coats, but I'm typically an overachiever. Two coats would have probably been plenty! Make sure you get at least one of the ends painted (the other doesn't matter since it will be inside the egg when all is said and done).

To paint the eggs, I stuck a bamboo skewer in each one and then twirled it between my fingers as I sprayed so that I could get coverage on the whole thing. Don't forget to get the bottom! I did two coats on the eggs.

Once the eggs were dry, I took them inside and used a disposable foam brush and covered them with white glue (I was pretty liberal with it). While the glue was still wet I covered it with silver glitter. Let them dry overnight. Tip: If you fill a sand pail with sand (or rice or beans) you can stick the skewers in it to hold the eggs upright while the glue dries.

When the eggs were dry and the PVC pipe was dry, I was ready to put the microphone together. In one hand hold the egg. Hold the PVC pipe in the other. Gently push and twist the PVC pipe into the flat part of the egg to make a hole the size of the PVC pipe. It isn't hard, but go slowly so that you don't damage the egg. Once you've got an indentation that is about 1 1/2-2" deep, put hot glue inside and then insert the PVC pipe.

I left mine plain, but if you wanted to you could put a Hannah Montana sticker on the handle or tie a ribbon to it.

I put all my finished microphones in a bucket on the party favor table. Cute!

There you have it - one fabulous rock star microphone . We (yes, we) have had a lot of fun with them in our house. Thank goodness there's no video evidence (yet!). Make some and you'll be a craft Rock Star!

Rock Star Body Glitter

2009-08-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that girls love things that sparkle. My two girls would roll around nekkid in a pool filled with glitter if it meant that they would be sparkly! So, one of the the things that I included in the goodie bags at the Hannah Montana birthday party was body glitter.

Being the crafty soul that I am, I couldn't go out and purchase it for a party favor, I had to make it. It's surprisingly easy, so if you want to make your own, read on!

You'll need:

very fine glitter (I purchased a multi pack for $3.99 at Michael's that had lots of colors for you indecisive types like me)
empty bottles (I got mine at Joann's in a pack of 6 for $2.99)
Aloe Vera Gel (mine came from Wal-Mart and was about $4)

I made about 14 or so bottles of glitter from one big bottle of aloe vera gel. That will vary depending on the size bottle you use. Each of the little packets of glitter that came in my multi pack made two bottles (I went heavy on the glitter; see above re: my girls and their love affair with glitter)

Here's what you do:

Pour a little bit of glitter into the bottom of the empty jar.
Put a couple of squirts of aloe vera gel into the bottle
Repeat with glitter and aloe vera gel until you are close to the top, but the bottle isn't all the way full
Put the cap on
Shake well to mix (You can also use something long and skinny to stir if you'd want, but shaking mixed it really well for me)

I added labels to my bottles (I used Avery address labels for ink jet printers for my labels), but you could use stickers or rub on's, too.

Easy, isn't it? It lasts a long time when you've got it on, too. How do I know this, you ask? Yup, I slathered myself with the stuff. Somebody had to test it, right? Go forth and shimmer!

Hannah Montana Birthday Party Invitations

2009-08-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

Taylor had two choices for her birthday party invitation this year: a concert ticket or a guitar. The concert ticket would have been easier for me to mass produce, so I wasn't surprised at all when she picked the guitar! So, I got out my craft stuff and got to work.

To make this invitation, I found a picture of a guitar I liked on the internet. I used that as a guide to free hand draw my shapes, but if that's out of your realm, print out several copies that are the right size (mine fit in a regular, legal envelope). Then, cut out one piece from each printout (like the body, the white accent piece, the neck, etc). You can then use those for your templates. I used 5 different pieces of paper for this guitar (one plain purple for the printed part, polka dot purple for the body and the top, white for the accent, tan for the neck and silver for the little squares). I cut out one piece for each guitar I needed and then used scrapbook adhesive to put everything together. The guitar strings I drew on with a felt tipped pen and a t-square.

To print on the invitations, I used the same technique I always do. I arrange the text so that I think it will fit in Word and print it out. I then hold the print out up to the light with the cut piece of invitation that I want to print on and see if it'll work. If it doesn't, I'll make adjustments and then re-print. If it works, I'll put a piece of removable adhesive on the printer paper on top of the text. Then, I put the invitation piece on the adhesive and run it through the printer as usual. There might be other ways to do this that I haven't thought of, but this way works well for me! I attached the printed part of the invitation to the embellished front of the invitation with a brad.

To glam it up a bit, I added some self-adhesive metal hearts and some rhinestones at the bottom and some purple rhinestones on the top part (where the strings would attach on a real guitar. I have no idea what that part is called!). I think they turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself, and the birthday girl LOVED them!

I'm Back!

2009-08-05T06:45:00.000-07:00

I'd made a resolution to myself that I was going to post her at least 3 times a week. How well do you think that's working out for me? I got sucked into the birthday and back to school abyss, unfortunately. Taylor's birthday is always going to fall the first week of school it seems, which makes for a really stressful week for me!

This last week, I made not one, but two birthday cakes (one for the actual day, one for the party), made a handful of rock star microphones, made body glitter, cleaned my house from top to bottom and decorated. Add that to packing lunches, helping with homework and going through the mound of papers that come home from school the first week of school and I'm tired!

The good news is that I've got lots of new stuff to show you!

2009-07-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I posed about a menu board I'd made for my kitchen using a tile, some adhesive vinyl and my Cricut machine. You can see that post here. Since I'm not one to just leave things be, especially when I get the craft bug, I made another one! Seriously, I will never be done tweaking my home decor stuff.

This one is even easier than the last. I found this super cute frame and loved it, so I decided that it would be perfect. It's a 5x7 frame. I found a piece of scrapbook paper that I loved and cut it to 5x7. In MS Word, I typed out the word "Menu" and the days of the week in a font I liked and printed it out on a piece of regular paper. Then, using removable adhesive (Hermafix Tabs work great for this!), I attached the scrapbook paper over the printed words and ran it through the printer again. Then I popped it into the frame. The glass works just like a white board, so you write on it with a dry erase marker and wipe off to clean.

Happy menu planning!

The Painted Crown

2009-07-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

Taylor is a princess! She'd been wanting more things that were "princessey" (is that a word?) to decorate her room, so a crown above her bed seemed to be just the thing.

First, I went the route of those metal canopy things that the green checkered fabric (you can see it above) would hang from. Then I saw the price of those things in the children/home decor boutiques! My stars, those suckers are expensive! Seriously, I don't think I saw one cheaper than $300!

Above her headboard were the words "follow your dreams" that I cut out on my Cricut machine. It was cute, but the pink on her apple green walls became a shocking pink and I was never really happy with it. So, since the crown canopy thing was out, I decided to take down the vinyl letters and paint a crown.

(I'm going to take a break now and apologize for the photos. We've got a sunscreen on Taylor's window so it's always a bit dark since it faces North. It's screwed on, or I would have taken it off for the photos. Though they don't look it, her walls are a light green color. Continuing on...)

I love the way it turned out:

Want to make one yourself? You can! (Really, it just takes a bit of time). There are two ways to go about it. The first is to free-hand draw the crown on the wall.

You're freaking out now, aren't you?

That's what I did, but I totally get that not every one can do that. If you are one of those people, you'll need an overhead machine. I think that you can check those out from the library.

You'll trace the outline of the crown (or draw it for those of you artsy fartsy types) on the wall using chalk. Why chalk? Because if you mess up, it's really easy to remove it without a trace. Just make sure that you work from left to right if you are right handed, or from right to left if you are left handed, so you don't smudge what you drew.

Once you've got the chalk outline the way you like you can outline it with paint. I love those little paint sample cans that stores are offering now. You know, the tiny one's that let you try the paint on the wall before you buy it. Those little cans of paint are perfect for projects like this!

Don't worry if you can still see a bit of the chalk outline after you've outlined it with paint. Once the whole thing is done and dry, you can use a damp cloth to remove any chalk remnants.

As you're tracing the chalk outline with the paint, you should have something that looks like what is in the photos.

This is what it will look like when it's completely outlined with the paint:

Once you've got it outlined, fill it in!

If you are feeling particularly creative, you can use paint to give it dimension. How, you say? You'll need 2 colors - a light color and a dark color. You can use white and brown (or black), or you can use two different shades of the color you made the main crown in. Since my crown was pink, I used a light pink (it was almost white), and a mauve color.

The general rule of thumb is that if the sun was shining on it, you'll add the light color to the areas that the sun would touch. You'll add the darker color to areas where there would be a shadow.

Confused? You'll add the light color to the top parts, dark colors to the bottom.

You can see how I added the light and dark colors in the photo below.

Since it's a crown, and crowns should have jewels, I used a regular hot glue gun to attach rhinestones to the crown. I'm thinking now it needs more because you can never have too much bling, right? :)

I think I might add Taylor's name in the main section of the crown, too. What do you think?

Thanks for the love, Rookie!

2009-07-17T09:10:00.001-07:00

Today is a sad day around our house. Hubby was waiting outside for a golf buddy to pick him up this morning and called for our 10 year old German Shepherd, Rookie. When Rookie didn't come (Rookie *always* comes), he went looking for him. Last night, our sweet dog laid down to sleep and then crossed the rainbow bridge and went to Heaven.

Rookie was such a funny guy! We got him just a couple of months before we got married and he was such a cute puppy. He was all ears and feet and we would crack up watching him walk because he was always tripping over those huge paws. Watching him learn to perk up his ears in the traditional Shepherd fashion was just as funny. They never seemed to work right.

He was a frustrating dog, too! As a puppy and a young dog, he destroyed many a thing in our house. Two lemon trees (he chewed on the trunks), a set of patio cushions (the stuffing looked like snow in our yard), an air conditioner (yes, our air conditioner. After the second time of him killing the a/c in the summer, it got a nice picket fence around it), carpet, numerous toys and tennis balls and our house fell prey to his chompers. Wait, you say. The house? Yes, the house. He'd find a corner that looked tasty, lay down and chow down. We had to use stucco patch to fix the holes!

He was a non-stop bundle of energy. In the house, he'd follow you where ever you went. He just didn't lay down. You could throw a tennis ball for hours and he'd never grow tired of chasing it. He loved swimming in the ditch. He loved the girls. And, he was Hubby's dog. Not too long ago, he was in the house and the girls were napping. Hubby left to go run an errand, and Rookie laid down in front of the garage door - so close that if Hubby were to come back in, the door would hit him. Never mind where I went in the house that day, he didn't follow me. There in front of the door Rookie stayed until Hubby came home. He was waiting for him.

Hubby and I called him the "Bird Man". For some reason, birds and he got along. I'd look out the back window and he'd be laying in the grass, surrounded by birds. They'd be all around him hanging out, and a couple would even sit on him. I wish I had a picture of him with his birds.

He was a good, sweet dog who was so loyal and who loved us to death. All he wanted in return was a couple of scratches, a hand to throw a tennis ball and to be loved. And we did.

Rookie, you were a great friend. We're really going to miss you.

Facelift!

2009-07-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

No, not for me. Though, it's a possibility sometime in the future. The distant future. The really distant future. The really, really distant future. Let's leave it at that, mkay? :)

I liked the last template that I was using, and apparently lots of other bloggers like it, too! In my blog browsing I came across that particular template a lot. Free stuff is good because it's free, but it's bad because it's free, know what I mean? I'd been wanting to make some updates here, so when I came across the old template for the 364th time, I finally got motivated.

I've still got a free background (because, well, I'm cheap - err, frugal), from a super cute site that has some great tutorials for the technically un-savvy like moi. Check it out - linky on the way upper left corner. The new header and buttons I bought as a kit and then customized. So there you have it, a new, fabulous blog! You like?

2009-07-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

I'm in party planning stages since Taylor's birthday is right around the corner. Her invitations are done and in the mail. I'm currently working on party favors and decorations. That just leaves the cake. The party is soon enough that I need to start getting my game plan together. As I was searching for inspiration, I came across the cake I made for Taylor's 4th birthday.

The theme she picked for her 4th birthday was Princesses, so we had a princess cake (in Cinderella blue, no less). I was fresh out of my very first cake decorating class and decided that I'd make her cake myself. It's not too bad, considering, but I'm much better at cake decorating now. (No, really! :)

I can see the flaws in it, but then, I'm a total perfectionist. All that matters in the end, though, is that Taylor thought it was perfect!

Giveaways Coming Soon!

2009-07-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

We've partnered with not one, but two (!) fabulous blogs for fun giveaways featuring Turtle Taylor goodies that are coming soon! The details will be posted here when the giveaways are running, so you can get in on the fun. Watch for more info in the next couple of weeks!

Super Cute Onesie!

2009-07-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, I bought a package of plain white onesies, intending on making something cute out of them to add to my pile of goodies that I take to craft shows. It's now years later (seriously, years!) and I was cleaning out my craft closet and came across the onesies. I found out about a gathering foot for my sewing machine on a sewing blog I stumbled across (and can't remember what it is!), so off to Joann's I went thinking this package of onesies would be perfect to try it out on.

I get my gathering foot home and attach it to my machine. I'm thinking that it will "ruffle" the fabric as I sew it. That didn't happen. It just created a stitch down the middle of the fabric strip. Hmmm. Not what I thought I'd get when I read about it and read the instructions that came with the foot. I tugged on one of the threads and it created a gather, so I just went with that. I'm thinking a trip to Joann's is in my near future so I can get one of the gals in the sewing machine department to demonstrate how this foot is actually supposed to work, because I'm fairly certain I didn't do something right (not like that would be a first, or anything!).

Now that I've got my cute ruffles in red and white polka dots and black and white polka dots, I sewed them to the fanny of the onesie. Cute!

The front was obviously too plain and I debated about doing an applique on this one, but decided a bit of bling was in order. So, I used my Minnie Mouse pattern that I used for the T-shirts I made for our Disneyland trip for a cute rhinestone Minnie design.

I think this turned out so cute! Makes me (almost) wish I had one small enough to fit into onesies again! Hubby won't go for that, so maybe I can just finagle another Disneyland trip out of him, instead. Wishful thinking and all that. :)

Since I've still got a handful of onesies left, I'm going to keep experimenting with my gathering foot and see what else I can come up with. I think I will try an applique on the next one. Maybe I'll go for broke and do an applique with rhinestones!

Taylor's First Big Girl Room

2009-07-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

I was going through pictures the other day, looking for a picture of a particular wipe case when I came across these photos of Taylor's first big girl room. We don't like in this house anymore, so while her current room has the same feel as this one, it's still a bit different. For some reason, I've never liked her current room as much as I do this one. I'm not sure why, but I think in some way it's because I wasn't quite ready to move out of our old house and have never felt that same connection with this house as I did with the old house. Who knows?

The dresser I found at an "antique" store. I put antique in quotes because that's what they called themselves, but I don't think anything in that store was old enough to be called antique. It wasn't the dresser that I wanted - they started a sale that day and someone got there minutes before I did and bought *the* dresser. I still mourn the loss of that dresser - it had cabriole legs and such a pretty shape. This dresser was option number two. I purchased it with the intent on painting it. You can't really see the detail in these pictures, so I'll do another post on it soon.

The hat lamp I adore, and it came from Ebay. I added the ribbon. The hat came adorned with some kind of tulle and fake flower atrocity. Blech!

The purses that are hanging on the wall in the first picture that are holding, well, purses were a collaboration between me and my dad. I drew the shapes, he cut and sanded the wood, and I painted. I adore these little purses - they just scream Taylor to me (she is such a purse girl!). One of these days I'll put some of these in my store.

The bookcase in the picture below runs the entire wall. It turns into a window seat and then goes back to a tall bookcase on the other side of the window. It's all one unit and all built in. I designed it, and then had a company build it for us. I love the functionality of it - it has an incredible amount of storage, but the footprint is small (it's about 14" wide), so it doesn't make the room feel smaller. I liked it so much that when we moved, it was the first thing I contracted to have done.

I spent a good deal of the day yesterday cleaning and organizing Taylor's current bedroom, and Megan's is on tap today. Once they are somewhat presentable, I'll photograph them and post them soon.

Farm Party Invitation

2009-07-08T10:00:00.001-07:00

For Megan's 2nd Birthday, we had a Farm Party. What's better for a farm party invitation than a barn?! On this invitation, I debated about making the barn doors open to reveal the invitation detail, but thought that would be way too much work! So, I just added a brad to the top so that the front piece would swing away, so you could see the invitation details on the back.

If you missed the cute farm cake I made for this party, you can see that post here.

I Won!

2009-07-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Today's Mama has teamed up with Cricut and they are running a design contest for projects created using the Cricut machine. People who submit a winning project win 4 of the new Cricut cartridges. I got an email today that my "Go Fish" game won! I'm so excited! You can see the original post here.

Do you have some awesome projects that you've made using your Cricut? The contest is still going on, so get the info on how to enter from Today's Mama!

A Birthday Present for Grandma

2009-07-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

I admit that I'm totally into handmade gifts lately. It's so much more fun for me to make something for my MIL than it is for me to go to the store and pick out another shirt or something for her. This is what I came up with for her birthday this year and just put it in the mail yesterday (about a month late - yikes!) This was an easy thing to make and turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Here's what you need:

Wooden plaque (available in craft stores)
Paint
A piece of metal (available at home improvement stores. Tip - make sure a magnet will stick to it!)
Magnets
Something to glue on top of the magnets (buttons, glass pebbles, scrabble board pieces, etc)
Strong glue (I used E6000 available at craft stores)
Letters (I used my Cricut machine, vinyl and the Alphalicious cartridge. You could use scrapbook letters, rub ons, or even small wooden letters)
Sawtooth hanger

Here's what you do:

Paint the board. Once the paint was dry, I lightly sanded the edges to give it a distressed look.
Adhere your letters. I used a T-square as I was sticking the letters down to make sure my lines were straight. Make sure you space your letters so that you leave enough room for the metal piece.
Place glue on the back of your metal piece and then glue it onto the board. I used clamps to hold it down until it dried, but you could also stack books on top of it to make sure that it adheres well.
Glue the magnets onto the decorative pieces (buttons, glass pebbles, etc.)
Turn the board over and attach the sawtooth hanger to the back so it can be hung. If you'd prefer, you could just set it on an easel.

Margarita Cake

2009-06-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

My contribution for our Father's Day BBQ/pool party was dessert. We've got a lot of chocolate eaters in my family, but I wanted to do something different this time. I found this recipe in the local newspaper a couple of months ago and decided to try it. I modified it a bit, but it was *GOOD*! Plus, it was my first totally from scratch cake. I felt like a baking rockstar! Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it. Oh, well. I'll just have to make it again! :)

Margarita Cake
1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 lime, rind grated and juiced to make 1 tablespoon
Dickenson Lime Curd for topping (available at grocery stores). (I didn't use this)

For Lime Glaze
1/2 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons triple sec (I omitted since we were feeding kiddos, too)
1 teaspoon tequila (again, I omitted)
1 cup confectioners' sugar

For Lime Buttercream Frosting
1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup shortening
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Lime glaze (recipe above)
2 tablespoons grated lime rind
Green sugar crystals for embellishment (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat. In a second bowl, sift flower, baking powder and salt together. Alternately add the flour mixture and cream into the egg mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Mix in the lime rind and the lime juice. Pour batter into 2 greased 8 inch cake pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Put on cake rack to cool completely.

To make the glaze: Mix the lime juice, triple sec, tequila and confectioners' sugar until smooth. (If not using triple sec and tequila, just mix lime juice and confectioners' sugar together) Set aside half to make the frosting. While the cake is still warm, slowly spoon glaze over the top so that all the liquid is absorbed.

To make the frosting: Cream butter and shortening in a large mixing bowl. Add confectioners' sugar and heavy cream. Add the remaining lime glaze. Mix well. Sprinkle in grated lime peel. Frost cake and top with lime curd (optional).

Father's Day Gift

2009-06-23T09:58:00.001-07:00

I do such a good job of coming up with thoughtful, handmade gifts for my Mom, MIL and Grandmother, but I'm sorely lacking when it comes to doing the same for my Dad, FIL and Grandfather. So, this is what I came up with for my grandfather for Father's Day. I knew he'd love to have a picture of the girls on his desk, but wanted to do something different than just a framed picture. So off I went to Home Depot for a tile.

You'll need:

A tile (I used a tumbled marble 6 x 6 tile)
Modge Podge (NOT the kind made for paper)
Cricut Vinyl and a Cricut machine
Or, rub ons (If you don't have a Cricut machine)
a small easel to display it

Here's how I did it:

I purchased a tumbled marble 6 x 6 tile from Home Depot
In Paint, I opened the photograph I wanted and re sized it down to approx. 3 x 5 or so. Then I printed it on regular paper to double check the size of the photo against the size of my tile to make sure it fit the way I wanted.
Next, I taped a piece of white tissue paper over the printed image. I then ran the sheet of paper with the tissue paper overlay back through the printer, printing the photograph onto the tissue paper.

I carefully peeled the tissue paper off of the printer paper, being careful not to tear it. Then, using scissors, I cut it to the size I wanted to adhere to the tile.
Using a foam brush, paint a thin layer of Modge Podge directly onto the tile
Put the tissue paper with the image right side up onto the tile. You'll have to be careful about placement as you lay the image down, because the tissue paper is so thin that you won't get a chance to reposition it without tearing it.
Smooth down the tissue paper.
Using the foam brush, paint a thin layer of Modge Podge over the tissue paper to seal it.
Wait for it to dry.
For the lettering and the embellishment, I used my Cricut machine and Cricut Vinyl. The lettering was done with the "Plantin Schoolbook" cartridge and the embellishment was done with the "Accent Essentials" cartridge. If you don't have a Cricut machine, then rub on letters that are found in the scrapbook section of your local craft store would also work.
Place it on an easel to display. You could also glue ribbons to the back of the tile that you could use to hang it.

Voila! An easy and cute gift!

Father's Day Treat Jar

2009-06-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

We had the Father's Day gift for Poppy (my dad) all ready to go, but we still needed a little something to round it out. We were cruising the bulk section of our local Sprouts when Hubby noticed the chocolate covered macadamia nuts. These are one of Poppy's favorite treats, so we loaded up a plastic bag full of the chocolate goodness. Since a plastic grocery bag just isn't all that gift like, I went and found a cute (but plain) jar to put them in.

Then, my trusty Cricut machine came to the rescue. I got out my vinyl and cut out the "P" for the front and then "Poppy's treats" for the back. I debated putting "If you aren't Poppy, Keep Out!", but kept it pretty simple (even though I knew Poppy would appreciate the "keep out!").

It was a cute, easy addition to a gift!

I love coupons!

2009-06-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

When I was younger, I thought coupons were silly. Embarrassing, too. Because if you had to use them, then you must be poor. How wrong I was!

I started clipping coupons a couple of years ago and was intimidated at first. You see, you can clip and use and save a little bit, or you can learn the system and save a lot. There is a bit of a learning curve to learning how the sales/coupon/double coupon system works, but fortunately, it's not a difficult thing to learn.

I started using The Grocery Game but soon realized I didn't need to pay to get the information, that it's at quite a few places for free. My favorite coupon place is Hot Coupon World.

Back to the reason for this post - I had such a shopping high last week. I went to a couple of stores armed with my coupons and sale circulars and got a ton of food for very little money. The best store of the day was Albertson's. I don't go there often because they don't double coupons, but it didn't matter too much this time. I got 20 name brand items for $20.97 after the sale and the coupons! The best part is that it's all stuff we'll use. Here are some of the things I got:
2 frozen pizzas (I keep these on hand for those "emergency" dinners)
5 boxes of Capri Sun/Kool Aid Jammers
Country Crock butter
Velveeta Shells and Cheese
Popsicles
2 bottles of Kraft Salad Dressing
Kraft BBQ Sauce
Ritz Crackers
Cheerios Snack Mix
Kraft Shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 Boxes of Betty Crocker Brownie Mix

Obviously, they had lots of Kraft stuff on sale. If they offered double coupons at Albertsons, my total would have been in the $12 range. But still, I'm pretty happy with the result. So, if you aren't a coupon convert yet, head on over to Hot Coupon World and spend some time on the message boards. Those coupon pros might just convince you!

We're birthday party bound again!

2009-06-16T09:27:00.001-07:00

Taylor has a birthday coming up soon, so I'm getting ready to go into birthday mode again. Now, if I could just get her to decide what kind of party she wants, I'll be set! She's narrowed her choices down to three: Hannah Montana, High School Musical and The Wizard of Oz. I think I'll have the most fun planning the Wizard of Oz party, but I know I can come up with some good ideas for all three of them.

I've told her that she has to decide by the end of the week which one she wants so I can get the invitations going, so stay tuned for the big party reveal!

New Wipe Case Design

2009-06-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

I've been working on some new wipe case designs lately, mainly because I'm getting tired of painting the same things over and over! I've still got more in the works, but this is my favorite of what I've got done so far. It's just so cheerful!

I made one for myself (like I do with most of my designs, it seems!). I don't know what I'm going to do when the monkey is out of diapers and I don't have to carry diaper wipes anymore!

Little Potty Woes

2009-06-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

This little potty has been a source of excitement and a source of disappointment! Megan was oh, so thrilled about getting this potty of her own. At first, she used it as a chair and sat on it (fully clothed) to watch TV. A couple of months later she was using it for it's intended purpose. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy! She'd refuse to go on a big potty - she just wanted her potty. She was doing so well - and enjoying her picks from our "potty prize basket". And then it all stopped.

Now the little potty has a layer of dust on it. Potty training has come to a screeching halt. Until yesterday, that is. Usually, Megan will tell me she's gone potty on the potty because she gets enjoyment out of mom jumping up and down, hollering "yea!" and doing the "potty in the potty dance". (Thankfully, there is no video or photographic evidence of this). Yesterday, she went potty in the potty (yea!), but didn't say a word.

Now you are asking "How do you know she went potty in the potty?", right? Funny story, that. See, the little potty is directly in front of the big potty. I had to go, so I walked over to the big potty and stepped right in a large puddle. Not totally unusual - the girls like to play in the bathroom sinks (I don't condone this, BTW). I had a bad feeling about this puddle. Still, Megan knows that we rinse out the little potty holder after we use it, so she could have just spilled a bit of the clean(er) water when she was putting the holder back. I was holding onto that belief until I noticed that the puddle wasn't really clear.

Apparently, she went potty on the potty and wanted to dump the holder herself. But she spilled it. She didn't want to get into trouble, so she didn't tell me she went potty on the potty and left the little potty sitting in a puddle. A puddle that I would step in with my bare feet later that day.

Potty training - fun times, fun times!

Baby Shower Invitation

2009-06-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

When my sister was pregnant last year, I was placed in charge of invitations for the baby shower. I had just done a ton of birthday invitations for the monkey's birthday, so I wanted something that was cute, but quick and easy. These are it!

I started out with a plain cardstock (the brown) and cut it into a square shape that would fit inside my envelopes. Then, I put a patterned paper (blue stripe) in a slightly smaller square on tip. I finished with a lighter brown paper that had all of the invitation details on it.

For a little more detail, I used a pen to draw a line around the edge of each different layer and I used some brown ink on the smallest square (the one with the printing on it) to help it stand out a bit. Then, I glued a bunch of cute buttons on the bottom.

For the ribbon on the top, I used an Exacto knife to cut two small slits on the top and then pulled the ribbon through.

I really like these invitations and they could be modified for just about any event, depending on what patterned paper you use. Plus, you can't beat quick and easy for something this cute!

Knife Block Re-do!

2009-05-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

Since I've got the itch to redecorate, I started in the kitchen. Nothing major so far, but I've updated the merchandising on my counters a bit and I'm much happier with what I've got going on now. (another post on that to come!).

Once I got everything placed where I wanted it on the counters, I knew I had to do something about my knife block. It's pretty necessary - I cook every night, so it gets a lot of use. That said, it has to stay on my counters, but I'm not digging the look of it. There's nothing really wrong with it, but it could be so much better! So out came the paint.

Here is the before:

And, here is the after:

So much cuter, isn't it? It took a couple of steps to get it to this point, but it was still a quick and easy process. Here's how I did it:
1. Sand the entire block to get the old varnish off. Wipe dust off with a damp cloth. Let dry.
2. Once it's dry, paint with a base coat. I used white on mine. Let dry.
3. Once dry, paint with a crackle medium, following the instructions on the can. I used a crackle medium by Behr that I got for around $10 at the Home Depot. Let dry.
4. Paint with a top coat, following the instructions on the crackle medium can. For my top coat, I used an off white/light tan color. Let dry. (are you seeing a trend here?)
5. Apply an antiquing glaze around the edges to give it an aged look (I used American Accents Distressed Ivory Antiquing Top Coat)
6. To get the monogram I used MS Word. I printed out the letter in the size I wanted on regular paper. I then went to a window and put the paper up with the printed size against the glass. Then I used a pencil to trace the image onto the back side of the paper. I then taped the letter onto my block, printed side out and traced around it. This will create a pencil version of the letter on the block. Then, I painted in the letter with craft paint.
7. Apply clear coat to seal it.

Now, I should say that since the knifes will be used on food that you should use paint that is non-toxic. I didn't check that (though I know I should have), but I didn't paint the inside of the knife slots - just the exterior of the block. But still - check just to be safe.

I just love the finished product!

Little Blue Rocking Chair

2009-05-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

My nephew just turned one. I think it's hard to do gifts for kiddos so little since it seems like so many of the toys are virtually the same thing (at least in my eyes). I wanted to do something other than just a toy, anyway.

My girls both have little rocking chairs and they are quite fond of them. Most of the time, anyway. They get drug out for TV watching, have blankets thrown over the top for a little makeshift fort, and are used for time-outs (this would be the time that they don't like them so much!)

Since they enjoy their chairs so much, I figured I'd make one for Dillon, too. Taylor got her chair as a gift and I made Megan's to match. (Actually, I tried to buy her one from the same store that Taylor's came from, but it was defunct, so I was forced to be crafty!). So, off to Michael's I headed. They always have these little rocking chairs in their unfinished wood section, and with a 40% off coupon it's a good deal!

I sanded it so it was smooth, and then painted it with paint from those little sample paint pods home improvement stores carry now. (You know, the little containers that let you test the color on the wall before you commit to a gallon. Those little 4 oz containers are perfect for projects like this and are only about $4!) Once the paint was dry, I sanded the edges again to give it a distressed look. A quick coat of sealer gave it a bit of a shine. The vinyl letters I cut out on my Cricut machine (oh, how I love it!).

Voila! One cute chair!

Go Fish!

2009-05-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

Taylor's elementary school had their Spring Carnival a couple of weeks ago. It was your typical school carnival - bouncers, snow cones, pony rides and the obligatory carnival games. Some of the games were pretty lame (aren't there always a couple of lame games?), but the fishing game was a hit with my girls! We spent lots of tickets playing this game (it was easy enough for Miss Megan to win) and walked away with a handful of giant Pixie Sticks for our winning efforts.

Because the girls had so much fun fishing at the carnival, I decided to see if I could come up with my own version we could play at home. My version is pretty much like what they had at the carnival, but my fish are fabric instead of plastic. I found the super cute bucket and thought it would be perfect to store our catch in!

The best part? Except for the bucket, I already had everything I needed to make this. Woot! I love it when that happens! (Though, I'm always slightly disappointed that I don't get to fawn over all the pretty fabrics at the quilt store. I also had to raid hubby's tool chest for the "bobber". Shhh - don't tell!)

I made three fishing games in about 2 hours. My first official version of our fishing game was a birthday present for a friend of ours. The second, Turtle and Monkey get to keep. The third I've got in my store, so head on over! If you want to make your own, keep reading.

Here's what you'll need:

Fabric fat quarters in a couple of different colors
button magnets
wooden dowel
metal washer
eye hook
shell, fish and seahorse templates (I used my Cricut machine and the Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge for my shapes)

Here's what you do:

Trace around your templates on the wrong side of your fabric (so the marks don't show). You'll need 2 pieces per fish. Trace one with "side A" of the template facing up, then flip it over and trace the second piece with "side B" facing up. Cut both pieces out (I cut mine with pinking shears for added detail)
Sew the pieces together, right sides out, leaving about a 1/4" seam allowance. Leave a small opening so that you can put the button magnet in. Once you've added the magnet, sew it closed.
Too keep the magnet in one general area, push it up where you want it to be inside the fish, then add a seam behind it to "trap" it. (if you look at the picture above, the seam is visible on the head of the blue fish"
To make the fishing pole, screw the eye hook into one end of the dowel. Tie a ribbon or string to the eye hook. On the other end of the string, tie the metal washer.

Luau Birthday Party Invitation

2009-05-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Summertime is almost here! (For most of you, that is. It's pretty much already here in my neck of the woods). Seems like Luau parties are pretty popular this time of year, for good reason! Taylor wanted a luau party for her birthday a couple of years ago, and this is the invitation I made for it. Want to recreate it for your own bash? It's pretty simple. Really!

You'll need:
cardstock
envelopes
ribbon for waistband
silk flowers
raffia
scissors
hot glue gun
rhinestones or buttons

1. On a scrap piece of paper, use a pencil to sketch out the main part of the invitation. Once you are happy with the shape and are sure it will fit in the envelopes, trace it onto the back side of your cardstock (so pencil lines won't show), and cut them out.

My invitation is approx. 5 1/4" tall, 3 1/2" wide at the top and 5 7/8" wide at the bottom.

2. Now, we're going to print on the invitations. I use MS Word. I put all the information on a blank document, using the "return" key and the "tab" key to keep the shape of the text roughly to the shape of the invitation. When I think I've got it right, I'll print it out and then hold the print out and the cut out invitation to the light to make sure it fits correctly. It usually takes a couple of tries to get it perfect. Once I'm satisfied with the text, I'll use re positional adhesive to attach the invitation to the print out and then run it through the printer.

I do this instead of printing out the text and then cutting out the invitations for a couple of reasons. One is that my invitations are often oddly shaped and it would be much more difficult to cut the invitations out after the fact if I've already got them printed. The second is that I waste less of my cardstock. I can twist and turn my invitation pattern on my paper to use as much of my expensive cardstock as I can. If my info was already printed on my cardstock, I wouldn't be able to do this. And last, because I'm not putting my cardstock through the printer as a whole sheet, I can buy 12" x 12" cardstock (which is about the same price as 8 1/2" x 11") and get more invitations per sheet.

3. Now that the invitation is printed, we're ready to decorate it! Cut pieces of raffia the same length as your invitation and attach with hot glue. (liquid glue doesn't dry fast enough, so the raffia slips and slides).

4. Cut the ribbon for the waistband. I made my ribbon long enough so that it wrapped completely around the back. You don't necessarily have to do that, but you do need to make sure that your ribbon is long enough to wrap around the back slightly (it looks more finished if you can't see raw ribbon edges on the front side). I couldn't find a wide ribbon that I liked, so I just used two rows of a smaller ribbon instead. Here are some ideas for the waistband:

use two rows of smaller ribbon
use a wider ribbon
use a wide ribbon and place a smaller ribbon on top

You just want to make sure the raffia gets covered. Use hot glue to attach it.

5. Attach the flowers. Mine are small silk flowers that I got from the dollar store. I pulled them off the stems and separated the petals. Craft stores usually sell paper flowers (in the scrapbook section) that would work just as well. I glued a rhinestone in the center of my flowers for a little bit of bling!

Crayon Caddy Part 2

2009-05-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

I made a handful of these and posted about them awhile back. I quickly realized that using a tie to hold them closed was no good. Why, you ask? Because I have two little girls and only one has acquired the skill of tying bows (and this is a fairly recent accomplishment).

Since I am the designated shoe tier, I decided that I needed to revamp my crayon holders a bit.. I'm pretty happy with this new version made from a pattern I purchased on Etsy. So happy that I made seven last week! I've got to get a jump on inventory for fall craft shows and my Etsy store. Look for them in my store soon!

Cook Yourself Thin!

2009-05-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

I have a new favorite show! It's on Lifetime and it's not your ordinary cooking show. They make yummy things to eat (like cupcakes!), they just show you how to make them with less fat and calories.

I like to cook and bake (well, most days!) so I went out and bought the cookbook. 'Cuz let's face it - my metabolism isn't like it was when I was in my 20's. Gone are the days when I could eat a McDonald's two cheeseburger meal super sized and it wouldn't super size *me*! Oh, early 20's how I miss you! I'm not a Hamburger Helper kind of gal, so making these recipes weren't a stretch for me - I'm already a from scratch cook. Lots of the baked goods require zucchini in place of butter and oil and I can grow zucchini like a champ, so I see lots of muffins in my future!

So far, I've made about 9 recipes out of the cookbook and they are all really yummy! They've got the recipes online, so go forth and cook!

http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/cook-yourself-thin

Baby Gift

2009-05-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

A childhood friend of my husband's is expecting his first child and we are so excited for them! The daddy to be is a big football guy. He played football in his (ahem) younger years and even coached high school football for a couple of years. When he found he and his wife were expecting, he was hoping for a future football player. Turns out, he's got to stock up on ribbons and bows!

When I was making their gift for the baby shower, I knew I had to figure out a way to get some football in there and still keep it girly. So, daddy to be got his own diaper wipe case and diaper clutch. Now he has no excuse to not help with diaper changes, right?

And, of course every little girl needs those girly hair bows!

I'm getting the itch to redecorate!

2009-05-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

We've lived in this house a little over three years now. Seems like during our marriage, we moved every three years or so to a new home. This is our "forever" home, so we're not going anywhere! Problem is, it's been 3 years, so I'm ready for a change!

My husband is not overly thrilled that I'm ready to redecorate. He's good with things staying the same. I'm not! There are plenty of things in this house that I've not been satisfied with for quite awhile, so I'm going to focus there first. I went to school for a degree in Interior Design, so I know exactly what I want. Problem is getting my wallet to agree to it! But, I'm a bargain shopper at heart, so I'm up for the frugal challenge.

The first three rooms on my list (and, they are biggies!) are the Master Bedroom, the Kitchen (it's begging me for new back splashes!) and the Den.

I was going to take pictures of these rooms to post today, but then I realized that I'd better pick up a bit first. So, watch for the before pictures soon!

Cupcake Bath Bomb Tutorial

2009-04-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

I made these yummy looking (but not yummy tasting) cupcakes for birthday party goodie bags. They were so easy and fun to make. Best of all, you should be able to find everything you need at the grocery store and at the craft store.

Here's what you need:
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup citric acid (usually found in the bulk section of stores like Sprouts and Whole Foods)
2 1/2 tablespoons grape seed oil (I used this, but any nut oil will work)
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon borax (found in the laundry aisle)
1 teaspoon fragrance oil for soaps
8-10 drops of soap coloring
Witch Hazel (put in a spray bottle)
Silicone cupcake liners

Here's how you make the cupcakes:
1. In a bowl, stir together the baking soda, citric acid and cornstarch.
2. In a small bowl, combine the grape seed oil, water, soap fragrance, soap coloring and borax. Mix together well.
3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and blend together well. The mixture should feel like wet sand. If it's too dry, spray lightly with witch hazel (using too much can cause the mixture to foam, so don't apply witch hazel liberally)
4. Pack the mixture tightly into a silicone cupcake liner and place upside down on a lined cookie sheet.
5. Wait about 10 minutes and then remove the cupcake liner
6. Leave the bath bomb to dry overnight.

Frosting Instructions

3 tablespoons meringue powder (found in the baking section of craft stores)
6 tablespoons water
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon of soap fragrance oil
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon soap coloring
Sprinkles (optional)
Plastic cake decorating bag and cake decorating tip (or Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off)

Here's how to make the frosting:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the meringue powder, powdered sugar, cream of tartar, soap fragrance oil, soap coloring, and water using a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.

2. Put the mixture into the cake decorating bag (or Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, and pipe the frosting onto the base as you would a real cupcake.

3. Add sprinkles if desired.

4. Let dry overnight, or until frosting hardens.

5. Package and enjoy!

Tips:
-go lightly with the witch hazel. Sometimes you won't need to use it at all
-to make round bath bombs, use the top recipe (don't make the frosting), and pack the mixture into round, plastic Christmas ornaments (found in craft stores)
-to make shaped bath bombs, use the top recipe (no frosting), and pack the mixture into candy or soap molds
-to give as a gift, put them into little cellophane treat bags, add a tag and tie with a ribbon
-these may look and smell yummy, but they are not edible!

To use: Toss into the tub and enjoy!

This is what happens when you give a Moron a driver's license

2009-04-24T12:32:00.001-07:00

Said moron? Yup, that would be me. My friends are all laughing at me, so I figured I might as well let my cyber friends join in on the laughs!

Yesterday, Hubby gets home and the girls are asleep. I've got a couple of errands to run (sans kids - wheee!), so out the door I go. I get into the car, turn it on, put it in reverse and my car beeps at me. It then tells me that the right rear passenger door is ajar. Check. Megan got into the car earlier, so that makes sense. (Pay attention now, because this is the part where it gets tricky, apparently) I put the car in park and get out, leaving the door open because I'm getting right back in. I make it all the way to the back of the car and am almost rounding the corner on the passenger side when I think $^%&*^!!! the car is moving! (remember that bit about putting the car in park? Apparently, you really have to do that step!). So, I put both hands on the car to use my super-hero strength to stop it. I don't have super-hero strength. I'm thinking it's because I lack the proper attire; the strength must all be in the cape. Note to self: Get cape. Now my brain starts clicking, so I start to run towards my open door (cue Chariots of Fire soundtrack). As I round the corner on the drivers side I thinking "the door!", "the ditch!" (we've got a ditch somewhat close to our garage). And, then it happens. In slow motion as I'm yelling "NNNNOOOOOO!". My car picks up speed. And then CCCCCCRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH! Finally, I get in the car and stop it before it actually makes it into the ditch. And, then (and only then), I put the car in park.

So, time to survey the damage. One garage door track - Check. Wooden frame around garage door ripped off - check. Deep gouges in my stucco (so deep you can see the chicken wire underneath) - check. Potted plant - check. Drivers side door - check.

Hubby hears the crash and comes running out thinking I had driven through the garage door. Wrongo, bucko. Garage door was firmly up. HA!

RIP drivers side door. I shall miss you.

So, now, the drivers side door isn't gone, per say. It's merely bent so far forward it's almost flush with my fender. Hubby walks over to the car, pulls on the door and says "Hmmm. I don't think I can fix this". Alrightly then, Captain Obvious!

So, now I'm thinking I can just rock the 3 door SUV look. All Joker like from Batman. One side normal. One side screwed up. 'Cuz except for the door (and a teeny tiny part of the front fender), all's good. Hubby doesn't go for it.

So, he bends the door back around to the normal position (girls must need the capes; boys apparently don't) and the door won't close. In fact, it doesn't even get close to closing. So, he gets out a ratchet strap and uses that to tie the door closed. He then has to get in the passenger side, go over the console to get to the drivers side so he can take it to the body shop. On the way there, he gets stopped by a police officer. Apparently, there's a law on the books that says your door can't stick out farther than your wheel well. Huh.

I am so never going to live this one down!

I'm Officially Kreativ!

2009-04-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Jennifer for awarding me this! Jennifer is a friend from MOMS Club whom I adore, but don't get to see very often anymore (I was hoping I'd run into her at the Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony last week to no avail) . You can visit Jen at http://yearofobsessiveliving.blogspot.com/. I've seen several blogs that have received this award, so I'm super excited to be included in this group!

So, here's what you have to do when you get the Kreativ Blogger award:

1. Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.
4. Link to those sites on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominate.

Here are my nominees for the Kreativ Blogger Award:

The Personalized Touch. She's always got fun projects. I swear she's going to be the reason I buy an embroidery machine! http://personalizedtouch.blogspot.com
The Empty Envelope. I love looking at her photographs! http://www.theemptyenvelope.blogspot.com/
The Smith Girls' Spot. If you are a scrapbooker, this is a great place for inspiration! http://thesmithgirlsspot.blogspot.com/
The Polka Dot Pixie. She has great tutorials for the cutest little figures. I SO want to make one! http://thepolkadotpixie.blogspot.com/
Princess Laserton. She makes the most amazing felt and button flowers! http://www.princesslasertron.com/
Sweet Paper Treats. Cute, cute, cute paper crafts! http://sweetpapertreats.wordpress.com/
Make it and Love it. The cutest things and tons of tutorials for them! http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/

So, there they are. Seven of my favorite creative blogs. Enjoy!

Megan's New Favorite Blanket

2009-04-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I posted about the quilt that I had made for Taylor to replace the lovie she'd left at a hotel. While I was making hers, I came across this fabric that just screamed Megan to me, so I made her one, too. See, ladybugs were on the bag that they gave me at the hospital just after I had Megan, so I always associate ladybugs with her. Plus, the blue and the red were just too cute and cheerful!

I cut out a large heart to stitch on the front with a big letter "M" made out of Minky, so she'll always know how much I love Megan! The front is all cotton quilt fabric, the back is red Minky fabric that is so soft and cuddly!

Cupcakes, Cupcakes and more cupcakes!

2009-04-18T18:13:00.001-07:00

This is my last cupcake post today, I promise! I'll save the bath bombs for tomorrow. These are the super cute cupcake hair bows I made for the little girls who came to Megan's birthday party.

To start, I cut a piece of felt into a rough cupcake shape. I hot glued a piece of brown grosgrain ribbon to the bottom for the cup. For the frosting, I used one long, continous piece of ribbon. I made a loop and secured it with hot glue. Then I'd twist it a bit, make another loop and glue that one down. I just continued on that fashion until the top was covered.

To finish it off, I added a small red button with hot glue for the cherry. Too cute!

Cupcake Party Goodie Bag Goodies!

2009-04-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

The cute cupcake bag was part of the favor, but it wouldn't have been as fun if it went home empty. So, I filled it with more cupcake goodness! A jar of sprinkles, a cupcake bath bomb, a cupcake hair bow for the girls (more on these to come), and a lollipop filled the bags.

Cupcake Party Goodie Bags

2009-04-18T17:38:00.001-07:00

I'm knee deep in cupcakes here! These are the bags I made to hold the party favors for Megan's birthday party. I made them in several different colors (light pink, dark pink, fuchsia, green, blue, orange and purple) so that everyone could pick their favorite colors. They are made out of felt and have rhinestone sprinkles and a button cherry on top. I'll post again soon with the goodies that are going into these yummy bags.

I've got them listed in my Etsty store, too!

Cupcake Invitations

2009-04-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

Megan just turned 3! I picked the theme this year, but I'm pretty sure this is the last time I'll get to do that. I'm sure she'll have definate opinions from here on out. So, for my final birthday theme I picked cupcakes. Why cupcakes, you ask? Honestly, I'm not really sure! They're cute and oh, so yummy, so that is reason enough, I suppose!

I'm one of "those" moms who makes pretty much everything - from invitations to decorations. Yes, I could buy them, but what's the fun in that? So, with cupcakes on my mind I headed to the scrapbook store.

I picked out brown cardstock to make the bottom of the cupcake. It's actually a pocket, that the pink part slides into. Pink cardstock makes up the cake part of the cupcake, and pink polka dot paper is the frosting.

Using plain white paper, I made my patterns - one for the cup, one for the cake, one for the frosting. Then, I traced them onto the colored papers and began cutting. This part takes quite awhile, but it's a good thing to do when you are watching TV and don't want to be interrupted (Honey - can you get that? I'm making invitations!)

Once everything is cut out, I print the party details on the body of the invitation. To do this I get the text the way I want it and in a shape that will work with the shape of my invitation. Then, I print the text on white paper. Once I've got that and I'm sure the text is what I want, then I put some re-positional adhesive on the white paper, line up the colored paper and press it down. Then, I just load the white paper (with the invitation stuck on top of it) back in my printer and print as usual. Works like a charm!

I added a pink tulle bow and some rhinestone sprinkles and the cute little cupcakes were done!

I admit it - I'm lame

2009-04-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

If you look at my last post (the Tinkerbell necklace) you'll see that it's been almost exactly one month since I've posted anything to this blog.

I've been in birthday land, getting ready for Megan's party, but that's no excuse. But, the good news is that I've got lots of new crafty goodness to share!

Tinkerbell!

2009-03-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

Megan's birthday will be here soon, and I'm at a total loss as to what to get her for a present. This is one of the (few) things I've come up with so far. I'd been wanting to play around with polymer clay for awhile, but had never gotten around to it. On one of my last visits to Michaels, I saw that it was on sale. If you know me, "sale" is my language!

Megan is really into Tinkerbell, and lately has gotten very interested in baubles and dress up. So, making a Tinkerbell necklace was a natural choice for my first clay project. The clay is really easy to work with - I was actually pleasantly surprised.

I knew I wanted to make her a bead, and so it was 2peas to the rescue! I posted a question there about doing the hole before baking, or after baking and the talented ladies there told me before baking would be easiest. So, I poked a hole in her and put her in the oven. Then, it was another trip to Michaels for the beads. I put it on elastic jewelry cord because I know Megan will want to take it on and off herself, and if the necklace has a clasp, I know it'll get broken sooner or later.

I'm pleased with how she turned out, especially for my first try at polymer clay. I did just realize that I forgot to put tiny beads in the holes I made for her eyes, so I'll have to add those. Megan will love this necklace, I'm sure!

Birthday Countdown Calendar!

2009-03-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Megan's birthday is coming up rather quickly, so we're officially in the countdown mode now! This is a fun way for her to watch her birthday get closer! The concept is the same as my Christmas Countdown Calendar, just tailored with a birthday theme. It comes together fairly quickly - in about an hour or so.

I found this cute metal serving tray at Dollar Tree (I love that store!). Besides the tray, I used 3 sheets of matching scrapbook paper, 1 sheet of solid cardstock, chipboard scrapbook letters ("days" and "til"), Scrabble game tiles ("my") and a rhinestone word ("birthday", found in scrapbook sections of craft stores or at scrapbook stores), ribbon, magnets, Modge Podge, and various scrapbook supplies (inks, pens).

First, I cut the background paper to the size of the bottom of the tray and glued it down with Modge Podge.

Next, cut I cut the two accent papers (the pinkish color at the bottom and the "wavy" stripe) and glued them down with Modge Podge.

I used my Cricut machine to cut out little party hats and the numbers on the solid color cardstock. If you don't have a Cricut, you could simply cut out circles by hand or use pre-made tags or embellishments you can find in the scrapbook section and stickers for the numbers. You'll need numbers 1-9, 0, and an extra 1 and 2. I glued the numbers on the party hats and inked around the edges for a little extra pizazz. I cut pieces off of a roll of self-adhesive magnets and adhered them to the back of each party hat.

Now I glued down my words "days til my birthday" on top of my background paper.

Finally, I punched holes in the tray with my Crop-o-dile and tied ribbon through the holes to hang it. If you don't have a Crop-o-dile, simply hot glue the ends of the ribbon to the back.

Happy Easter!

2009-03-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

I spent quite a bit of time cleaning this week (well overdue, I may add!) and while I was at it, I got out my Easter decorations. I've been in cupcake mode for Megan's upcoming birthday, and had made a couple of banners that say "Happy Birthday" when I decided I'd go through my paper stash and find some Easter papers for an Easter banner.

I've got a Cricut machine, so that made creating this a snap! I used it to cut out the squares with the scalloped edges (they are 5 1/2" inches). The patterned paper squares I cut out myself with a paper trimmer while the background squares were being cut on the Cricut. The patterned paper squares are 4 1/2", and I used a corner rounder on the corners. The letters are 2 1/2" and are the "Mickey Font" cartridge. I used 3-m foam tape to adhere the letters and chalked around the edges to give it some dimension.

To hang the banner, I put eyelets in the corner so the paper wouldn't tear. Then, I used a long piece of tulle to string them all together. (Look for spools of tulle at the dollar store or in the wedding sections of craft stores). Finally, I tied pieces of ribbon in between the letters for a fun touch.

To hang it on my mantle, I used 3-M command hooks (I have a love affair with these things - they are fantastic!). I love how cute and Spring-y it looks!

I'll post the "Happy Birthday" versions soon!

Rhinestone Iron On Transfers - Part 2

2009-03-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

I posted a while ago with pictures of the rhinestone iron-on transfers I made for the girls to wear to Disneyland. Here is a picture of the girls in the finished product. The blue shirt is the Ariel transfer and the white shirt has the Tinkerbell.

It's a good thing the girls loved them, because I had so much fun making them there is quite a few more in their future!

New Use for Dryer Sheets

2009-03-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

I swear I learn just about everything on 2Peas, and this is one of them!

We've got a glass shower - with clear glass, no less. I'll squeegee, but nobody else does, so we end up with water spots all over the glass. Cleaning that glass is one of my very least favorite things to do, so I'll admit that I let it go so long our clear glass looked etched at the bottom! Anyway, one day on 2Peas there was a cleaning thread, and this was one of the tips there. I was skeptical, but I tried it. I was AMAZED at how well it worked! My glass was so bad I had to go over it a couple of times, but darned if it didn't clean it well. Want to know how? It really is this simple:
-Save your dryer sheets after you do laundry (yup, you'll reuse them) Wait until you have a good sized pile before cleaning (you'll use a lot)
-When your shower is wet, take a dryer sheet and rub it on the glass in a circular motion and rub off the hard water spots
-Rinse
Seriously, that's it and you'll be surprised how well it works!

Art Station

2009-02-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

We're big on arts and crafts in our house. We've got easels set up in our living room, there's a desk dedicated to drawing and crafts in our kitchen, and my kitchen counters have glitter permanently adhered to them. (It's purple glitter and stuck in my grout, in case you were curious). So, we've got an endless supply of colored pencils, markers, chalk and crayons to contain.

I've found lots of pretty or inventive containers to corral such things, but they require too much effort on the part of my little ones (porcupine with crayon "quills", anyone?). So, I need something cute, but easy.

I found this set up when I was trolling the isles of Ikea one day (with no kiddos in tow, thanks to their fabulous play area!). It's from the kitchen section and is designed to hold cutlery. It wasn't expensive - about $3 for the rail and about $3 for each bucket. It hangs above their little table and makes cleanup quite simple and looks cute, to boot!

Hooray for Senator Jon Kyl!

2009-02-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

Like many of you who make handmade items for babies and children, I've spent a lot of time contacting politicians regarding the changes made to the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSIA) that regard required lead testing for all items that can be used on or by children under 12. It's a law that will put thousands of small businesses out of business.

I contacted and received responses regarding this law from my two Senators - John McCain and Jon Kyl. The response from Senator McCain was not worth the paper it was printed on. As for the response from Jon Kyl - it was short, sweet and to the point. Not only that, but Senator Kyl was one of three (yes, 3!) Senators who voted AGAINST the changes to the law. I'm saddened that so many of our lawmakers voted for something that will hurt so many small businesses in America and that doesn't really accomplish what it intended to do, but happy that there are at least 3 voices of reason that were willing to stand out in this whole mess.

So, Senator Kyl - Kudos!

Taylor's (new) Favorite Blanket

2009-02-23T11:24:00.000-08:00

Taylor had this fleece blanket that she called her "favorite blanket". It wasn't anything special, just this fleece square that looked off white, but if you looked closely, it was really a pale blue checked print. It held no special meaning - she wasn't wrapped up in it as a baby, it wasn't a gift from anyone (it was actually left behind at our 1st house and we never figured out who had left it), it was just a fleece blanket that became quite loved.

Until, that is, our trip to The Polar Express this year. Favorite blanket was packed for the overnight trip and made it into the car. I think it may have even made it into the hotel. Where it is now, I have no idea. I don't know if it got left behind in the hotel room (even though I checked the room before we checked out and calls to housekeeping turned up nothing), or if it fell out of the car during one of our pit stops, or if Taylor took it with her into a restaurant and it got left behind. At any rate, favorite blanket didn't make it home from that trip.

To ease the sting a little, I took Taylor to the quilt store with the promise that she could pick out the fabric she liked and I'd make her a new favorite blanket. She's loving the purple right now, so that's what she went with. I got the idea for adding the initial from a friend who also makes quilts, and I think it's adorable! I used my Cricut machine to cut out a heart and the letter "T" that I used for templates. The front is cotton quilt fabric, the letter "T" and the backing is made our of Minky fabric. It didn't take me more than 2 hours, and now she's got a new blanket to love!

Menu Board

2009-02-11T09:49:00.001-08:00

I have good intentions when I grocery shop. Really, I do! I go through my cooking magazines, plan the menu for the next 2 weeks and then head to the store, grocery list in hand. I get what I need and put it all away, feeling quite happy with myself in the process. Then, it's dinner time. I've lost my list (or, more accurately, it's been turned into a beautiful piece of children's art!). And, I can't remember what I had planned to make so we end up with something like sandwiches. I finally came up with a way to remember (and it's easy to do!).

To make this, I headed to the local home improvement store and went to the tile section. I found this particular one in the bathroom tile section (it's totally smooth. You don't want a tile with texture). It measures about 6"x9". The cost? A whopping 62 cents! When I got home, I used my Cricut machine to cut the days of the week and the word "Menu" out of the Cricut Vinyl. But, you could just as easily use letter stickers from a craft store. Once the stickers are stuck on, you're good to go! Use a dry erase marker to write on it, and it easily wipes off. I put mine on a mini easel and have it sitting on my counter.

Yummy, yummy cookies!

2009-02-10T11:59:00.000-08:00

I've never thought of using cake mix for anything other than, well, making cakes. So, when I saw this recipe in the Spring 2008 Kraft Food and Family magazine, I was intrigued. The recipe was quick and easy. Best of all? I was not disappointed!

Soft & Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
1 pkg. devil's food cake mix
4 oz (1/2 of an 8 oz package) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place all ingredients in large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed 2 minutes. Beat on medium speed for an additional 2 minutes.

Shape into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten each ball, in a criss-cross pattern, with tines of fork dipped in sugar.

Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges of cookies are set. Cool 2 min. on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen or 21 servings, 2 cookies each.

CELBRATING OUR 5th YEAR!!

2009-02-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that Turtle Taylor has been in business for 5 years now! I started Turtle Taylor shortly after my daughter was born, and we've been off and running ever since. We've run the gamut - from craft shows, Internet sales, word of mouth, wholesale to boutiques and now Etsy. As a thank you to all of our customers, we're giving away one of our most popular items - our painted diaper wipe case. The winner will get to pick their favorite design from our whole list of designs. To enter, leave a comment by Saturday, February 28th, midnight (MST). One winner will be chosen at random. Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!

Princess Shirts for Disneyland

2009-02-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a week at Disneyland! It was the first time the girls had been and needless to say, they loved it! Since it was their first trip, I wanted it to be super special for them. We're into bling at our house - anything that sparkles is fabulous! So, I made some iron-on rhinestone transfers using the Disney Princesses so the girls would have some fun, unique shirts to wear while we were at Disneyland. Ariel mentioned to Taylor how she loved her Ariel shirt and how she'd never seen anything like it. The compliment from Ariel made her day! These pictures show the finished iron-on transfers. I'll post photos soon of the girls wearing their adorable t-shirts!

Tinkerbell:

Cinderella:

Minnie Mouse:

Is This a Coincidence or What?

2009-01-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

I'm a scrapbooker, and while I don't keep up with it as often as I should, I've been on a scrapbooking kick lately. Right after we got married, Creating Keepsakes Magazine had a call for wedding pages for a wedding idea book they were publishing (The Big Idea Book of Wedding Memories). I submitted a couple of pages, and one got picked for publication. I got a copy of the book, but hadn't pulled it out and looked at it in years. Tonight I got the urge to look at it, so I dug it out of the closet. While I was looking at the picture of my layout, I noticed something I'd never paid attention to before. My husband and I met on a blind date. Our first date was on July 28th. Exactly 5 years later, on July 28th, our first child was born. Pretty darn cool!

Help Save Handmade!

2009-01-24T18:09:00.000-08:00

Do you remember all of the toy recalls that happened not too long ago because they contained high levels of lead? In response to those recalls, Congress passed a law last August called the CPSIA. The CPSIA is a law making it tougher to sell toys and other children's items that contain lead. The basic idea behind the law is a good thing. However, as a result of this law any crafter or stay-at-home artisan who makes items for kids under 12-- from clothing to toys to school supplies - must have their items tested to the tune of $400-$4000 per item. Since most crafters cannot afford those kinds of fees, this means tens of thousands of stay-at-home moms and small home-based businesses may be forced out of business come February 10, the official "mandatory compliance" date set by the law.

There have been some changes to the original law that are a step in the right direction and that help keep re-sale stores and crafters that use natural items in their original form in business. However, the law still needs more changes to clarify and further protect crafters and artisans.

Want to help? Visit the Handmade Toy Alliance to find a letter you can send to your Congressmen and Senators and more information about the original law, the changes that have been made, and the changes that still need to be made. Sign a petition to save handmade here. Visit the Etsy Forum for discussion between crafters regarding the law and compliance.

Look what's new in our Etsy store!

2009-01-12T08:24:00.001-08:00

I made Megan a quilt and a diaper clutch out of this adorable fabric. I had some small pieces of fabric leftover from those two projects and it seemed like a shame to throw them out, so I created this little lovey with them! The front is pieced together, then I used a decorative stitch to top stitch where the blocks are joined together. The back is a red minky fabric and oh, so soft!

New Wipe Case Design

2009-01-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

I've got a handful of new designs, and this one is one of my favorites. So much so, I made the first one for Megan! She's definately my little princess, so it's more than appropriate. Now, I've got to make a new diaper clutch for my purse to go with it. Want one of your own? Go check out my Etsy Store!

Little Ladybug

2009-01-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

We went across town to visit some friends just before Christmas. It had been awhile since I'd been back to that side of town, so I decided that I'd make a visit to my favorite quilt store that was just down the road from our old house. I was sad to discover that they were going out of business. The good thing was that everything was 40% off! If you frequent quilt stores you'll know this is an unusual occurrence and a very enabling thing! When I found this fabric, I had to have it because it was so adorable! I love the fun daisies and the cute little ladybugs - plus the colors are just fantastic. I've had lots of fun creating things with this fabric! This diaper clutch and wipe case set is going into my Etsy store tonight. I've also made a quilt for Megan and a little security blanket with it. I'll post those soon!

Happy Feet!

2009-01-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

When Taylor was about 6 weeks old I took her to a paint your own pottery place and created a plate that had her footprints on it. I love it so much that I kept going back and making more. It made for easy presents for my husband - he just had to give me a gift certificate and I was thrilled! Taylor's feet are getting too big to fit on the plates, so now we've moved on to her hands. Since Megan's feet still fit, I'm adding to her foot plate collection. I've got them displayed on a soffit in my dining room and I love seeing them all lined up. It's such a fun way to see how much the girls have grown and looking at them never fails to make me smile! I've officially run out of room here, but I'm not done with my feet plates yet! I've got a new row started in my bedroom. I just adore my rows of little feet!

My favorite Christmas Decorations from this year

2009-01-10T20:53:00.000-08:00

This was my favorite part of my Christmas decorations this year. It was easily seen from my living room and was directly over the doorway to my den. It was a new decoration this year and I loved it! Two of the wreaths are candle rings, the other is a small wreath. They are hanging from 3M Command Hooks (one of the most wonderful inventions!). The words I made on my Cricut machine using brown Cricut vinyl. I know it's late for Christmas decorations, but I figured if I posted it here, I'd be able to find it to recreate it next year!

The Painted Garden

2009-01-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

Not that long ago it was time to change the nursery to a big girl room for my youngest daughter. When the transition was complete, I was happy with the result, but one of the walls needed some pizazz. A store here had some flowers painted all over their walls, complete with rhinestones, and I thought the idea was fabulous. So, I adapted it a bit and painted a border on the wall. I used the little paint samples that they sell so you can test out a color before buying a gallon to paint the flowers. I did the flowers free-hand, but you could certainly use templates or stencils. I got rhinestones in several different colors and shapes and attached them with hot glue. Right now they are stuck fast to the wall, so hopefully, I won't need to remove them anytime soon!

It turned out really cute (though, I think I'm going to go back and add some more detail with a small pen) and Megan loves it! The wall is directly across from the window, so when the sun hits the wall just right, her room sparkles!

Scrabble Tile Necklaces

2008-12-30T10:46:00.000-08:00

I found an awesome tutorial on how to make necklaces out of Scrabble tiles recently, and have had lots of fun making them. I've made several for myself and the girls decided that they'd like one, too. So, they each found one waiting for them under the Christmas tree. I found pictures of Tinkerbell that I liked and then sized them down to fit. I wear my Scrabble tiles on chains, but since the girls are so little they can't fasten the hooks. So, I got some elastic jewelry cord and some necklace kits with the beads in the Michaels dollar section and strung the Scrabble tile on the beaded necklace. It looks super cute, and the girls can get them on and off easily. My girls love jewelry as much as I do, so I have the feeling I'll be making more for them in the future!

Angel Wipe Case

2008-12-28T10:27:00.000-08:00

I had a request on my Etsy store for a wipe case and matching diaper clutch. The request was that the clutch be in some kind of gingham and that the wipe case have an angel on it. This is the finished product. I'm loving the wipe case design and I had lots of fun finding the perfect gender-neutral gingham print!

The best dip ever!

2008-12-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe not the best dip ever, but it's pretty darn good. I got this recipe on the 2 peas message board (I don't remember who posted it, though) and made it at Christmas. It was a hit!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
2 - 10 oz cans chunk chicken, drained
2 - 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch dressing
1 small bottle Franks Red Hot sauce (I used their Buffalo Wing sauce)
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and Ranch dressing. Stir and cook until well blended. Transfer to ovenware. Add in the Cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips, crackers and celery.

Oh, Christmas Tree!

2008-12-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

Taylor had to decorate a Christmas Tree for homework and one can't make something without the other making one, too. So, using Taylor's tree as a guide, I drew a similar tree for Megan. Then, we went to the local craft store for goodies to decorate them with. The laundry list of stuff we got was huge - and most of it involved glitter or sparkles of some kind. The resulting trees are quite fabulous and oh, so sparkly!

Cup of Water

2008-12-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

As I was taking pictures of things for my Etsy store and my blog, my youngest became quite interested. She wanted me to take a picture of something of hers. The closest thing she had on hand? Her cup of water. So, as requested, here is her glass of water!

Farm Birthday Cake

2008-12-28T09:55:00.000-08:00

My youngest had a Farm themed party for her 2nd birthday. I searched online and found a cake I liked and used that to make her birthday cake. It turned out really well, except for the fact that it leans a bit. I've since learned that dowels inserted inside 2 tiered cakes are a good thing! I used gum paste to make the animals on top and treated it just like play-doh. A couple of well placed toothpicks helped keep the animals together.

Salt Dough Ornaments

2008-12-28T09:41:00.001-08:00

Every year the girls make ornaments for granparents for Christmas. This year's offering was salt dough ornaments. The girls had lots of fun creating this year. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups salt
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon alum
1 1/2 cups water

Mix dry ingredients. Add water gradually. Knead dough well. Dough is correct consistency when it forms a ball around spoon. Add additional water if the dough is too crumbly. Air dry until hard or bake at 300 degrees 30-40 minutes until hard.

The dough is thick, so you'll get a workout if you mix by hand. If you have a heavy duty stand mixer, use that! I added liquid food coloring to the dough to make it more fun. It takes quite a bit of food coloring to get darker colors. I used parchment paper when baking them. Don't forget to put a hook in the top before they harden if you are planning on making ornaments out of them.

My Favorite Sweet Potato Recipe

2008-11-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

Since it's almost Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share my recipe for candied sweet potatoes. It's rich and yummy, and like all good things in life , probably has a million calories. But, who's counting?! The praline pecans on top are oh, so yummy and I always throw in some marshmallows for good measure. Delicious!

I found this recipe online years ago and I don't remember where, but it's yummy goodness, I promise!

INGREDIENTS
4 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/4 pound butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
2 cups mini marshmallows, if desired

DIRECTIONS
Butter one 2 quart casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a mixing bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs and cream. Blend well, and spread evenly in casserole dish.
Prepare the topping by combining the butter, brown sugar, flour and pecans. Mix until crumbly, and sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven
If mini marshmallows are used, they can be mixed into the sweet potato mixture before baking, or can be added to the top when 3-5 minutes are left on the bake time.

The Crayon Caddy

2008-11-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

My sister asked me if I could make one of these, so here it is. Most of the crayon holders I've seen just hold crayons, but I thought it would be more useful if it held paper, too. So, I adapted the patterns for the crayon only holder and came up with this. Each one holds 12 crayons and a refillable pad of paper. They roll up and tie closed so they can be put in a backpack, purse or diaper bag. Cute way to take a craft on the go!

My next batch I'll have to fancy up a bit for my two fancy girls. They are each getting one in their stocking!

Aren't they fabulous?!

2008-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

I've caught the green cleaning bug and now I've got a new cleaning obsession - the show "How Clean is your House?" The show is on BBC America and comes on a couple of times a day. If you haven't watched it before, I'll warn you now. You'll be blown away that people actually live in that filth. You will gag. You might even throw up a bit in your mouth. Even so, I love this show! First, there's those fabulous British accents. Second, the ladies that host the show (Kim and Agie) are a hoot. Thirdly, they have fantastic cleaning tips (did you know that sour milk will make brass shine?). But the best part of the show are the gloves! They never clean a house without wearing the most fabulous rubber gloves.

Since I decided that I had to have some and am way too cheap to buy them, I made my own. They turned out quite fabulous, if I do say so myself. Now, it's time to get cleaning!

Blue Bird

2008-11-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

This is another one of our new wipe case designs, and I'm loving it! The little blue bird is so cheerful looking to me that I might just have to make myself one.