Catching The Waves

I just got done with the cutest digital scrapbook page so I thought I'd share! Digital scrapping is the only way I've been able to keep up this year and I'm still a little behind.  But I really love how this page turned out so here you go!

I don't know where you all get your digital scrapping supplies, but this is a combination of elements I got over on The Lilypad.  I'm really in love with the artists there! Go check it out. 

That's it for today but be sure to come back because later this week I have an awesome DIY baby taggie blanket to share!

Pictures On My Pillow!

Today I wanted to do a review of a photo pillow case I made on the York Photo website. I had a coupon code to make a pillowcase for $5 and I hadn't heard of York Photo before so I wanted to given them a shot.

So this is the pillowcase I made and I have to say I was really excited to see it when I opened the package!  The pillowcase itself is a really soft jersey cotton fabric which my daughter loves.  And all of the printed elements look great!

A princess crown with my princess's name!

A Mommy, Daddy and baby owl :)

As far as the process of designing the pillowcase on the York Photo website, I thought it was really easy.  You pick a design template or you can start from scratch.  I picked a template and then I was able to change the background, add text and clip art and drop in my photos.  It really took no time at all and I thought it was really user-friendly.  I was also impressed by the amount of options you had to pick from for backgrounds and clip art.  I've been on other site where the selection is quite limited and I'm happy this was not the case here.

So with my coupon code for $5 and shipping of $5.99 this project cost $10.99 to my door.  I thought the shipping was a little high but overall I am quite pleased and would definitely order another! The shipping was also really fast.  I didn't have to wait long at all for this to arrive.

I did want to mention that this pillow case is pretty large.  I have a standard queen size pillow and you can see there's still room so you could probably use this on a king sized pillow.  My daughter loves seeing her face on the pillow, it's so funny to watch her touch the pictures.

York Photo has a deals section on there website and while they don't have a code for the pillow case right now, there are codes for lots of other products including a blanket!  I might have to try that!  Keep in mind photo gifts like these make awesome Christmas gifts. Oh and as a new customer you also get some free prints which is always nice!

If you'd like to try out York Photo you can create a free account here. (Yup, that's my referral link!)

DIY Cell Phone Case

Ba-bling!  I'm not a terribly flashy person.  But there are some things that I just feel should be over the top.  For some reason, cell phone cases are one of those things.

If you have a phone other than an iPhone, sometimes it's hard to find a cool case for your phone.  In my case I have a Motorola Photon.  So what's the next best thing?  To make one yourself of course!

I got everything I needed for this project off Amazon.  I'm sure you could find the stuff elsewhere, but I love Amazon so I order everything off there.  You will need three things.  A clear case for your phone, some E6000 glue and a deco set.

There are a ton of cool deco sets out there in lots of color combinations.  And believe me you will get more than enough bling.  I have plenty leftover for another project! 

There are a ton of kits to choose from.  Here's some of my favorites: a black and red Betty Boop theme, an all pink Eiffel Tower theme, a pink and black Hello Kitty one, and finally a blue and pink Hello Kitty one. 

This is the process I suggest you use to make your case.  First before you start working on your project, make sure that the case fits your phone!  It would be really awful to finish it and then it doesn't quite fit right.  Next I did a dry run of the big pieces.  I didn't lay out all the little rhinestones but I wanted to get an idea of where I wanted the big bling and how much I could fit on the case.  Then I glued down the bigger items first.  And last I spread the glue on the case in small sections and applied the little rhinestones with tweezers.  I found this far more effective than putting the glue on the rhinestones and then putting them on the case (I tried that first).  It's much easier to glue the case and then apply the stone to that.  Plus this glue dries clear so no one will see it.  Then just let your case dry for 48 hours and it's set for use!

I get a lot of compliments on this case. It is super fun and way over the top.  Oh and it does make my phone weigh like double what it should, but it's totally worth it.

Green Stack Cards

The DCWV Green Stack has to be one of my favorite paper stacks.  It's so versatile and simple.  It can be cute or classic.  I just love using it.  So I recently made a set of cards for a friend using it.  Here's what I came up with.

 I used a pack of cute little felties for these cards and some 3D saying embellishments.  The cardstock was just kraft paper cardstock, plain and simple.

 The papers in this collection are just so great!  I didn't really need to do much to these cards.

 A paper punch added a little bit of style to this card. 

 Another favorite paper, those cute little birdies. 

This final card I used strips from each of the patterned papers I used on the other cards.  I love how it turned out.  Still simple but totally fun too.

Thanks for stopping by!

One Day at a Time

I don't know how many people are still checking my blog, but if you are then thanks for being patient with me this year.  Crafting hasn't had much of a place in my life recently but I'm slowly starting to yearn to create things again.  I have a beautiful new daughter that I've been spending most of my time with this year and she is amazing and makes me so, so happy.  But we've also been going through a lot of emotional changes because my Father passed away suddenly in March and my Mother moved in with us.  It's been really hard for me to grieve so needless to say this blog has been the last thing on my mind.

I have started back to working on my digital scrapbook pages for the year and I'm almost caught up.  I'll post those soon.  I just wanted to say I'm here, I haven't forgotten, I will be back soon.  I miss creating beautiful things and seeing all the wonderful creations out there in the blogosphere!

Did I mention I have this super cute kid?  She is incredible.  9 months tomorrow and crawling around, calling me "mum mum"  I love it.

Happy Scrappin' ladies.  Make beautiful memories and keep track of it all.  Remember that every day might not be good, but there is something good in everyday.

February Digital Pages

I finally got my digital scrapbooking pages done for February.  They are off to the printers now.  Here's my recap page:

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 Next I did a page for Valentine's day with my little cutie.  She looked super cute in her little outfit.

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The last page I did was a page for my birthday.  My husband spoiled me with a cute cake made at a local bakery.  

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That's it for me right now.  It might be a little while before my next blog post.  I'm dealing with some family stuff right now.

Be Mine!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you're all having a wonderful day with your sweeties. I have a sick husband and a 3 month old so needless to say I don't have exciting plans, but I do have two valentines that I love more than anything.

For Valentine's day I created a couple sets of 3 x 3 mini cards. I basically just used supplies from my stash on these and they turned out super cute.

My next little project is a Rapunzel birthday card. I recently bought a whole stack of Disney papers and embellies and I'm so excited to use them. I love everything Disney, but Tangled is my favorite. So there will be more Rapunzel projects, you have not seen the last of her!

  

The card was made with DCWV Mariposa cardstock, Disney princess patterned paper, Tangled 3D stickers and some Stickles. The white glitter paper under Rapunzel is from the Mariposa cardstock stack and I just used a punch on the bottom. This card is large too! It's 5.5 x 5.5 so it definitely makes a statement.

 

Here's my little valentine. She looked so adorable today in her special little outfit. And apparently the dress tasted good because she kept trying to eat it. Ha ha.

Some Cute Kid Quotes

A while ago I got this super cute stamp set with adorable quotes from kids. I've been wanting to use them on something so I paired them up with some googly eyed animals and made cards!

These came together great. I stamped onto some flocked tags and use some Authentique patterned paper for the background.
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 Then for accents I used gems and Stickles. The animals are 3D too to give the cards dimension.

I love the color palette on these and how cute the sayings are. These would be perfect for lots of occasions - birthdays, baby showers, etc.

January Digital Scrapping

 This year I've decided to do a few things to document my year that I should be able to keep up with.  It's hard for me to commit to traditionally scrap each month.  So I've decided to venture into the world of digital scrapbooking.  So each month I plan to do a monthly recap page that will have a collage of photos and some bullet points from the month and then 1-2 digital scrapbook pages of my favorite photos from that month.

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In addition to that I'm also doing One Little Word this year. If you haven't heard of this before, One Little Word is a class that lasts the entire year.  Each month you get prompts and a project to complete to help you focus on the word you've chosen for the year. Your word is supposed to help you focus on what you want to accomplish this year.  I have a list of goals in my home management binder, but I liked the idea of having a word to center myself on as well.  My word for this year is "content".  Stay tuned, I'll share my January One Little Word project soon.

So for each month I will have 3-4 pages and I'm keeping them in a We R Memory Keepers 8.5x11 leather album. I love this album for this because they make them in so many different colors so I can easily pick a new color each year. I think this will be a great, easy way for me to document each month and not take too much time.  With the little one at home now, I don't have a ton of time but I want to make sure that I have albums done for her, so this is a great way to accomplish that without being stressful.

My Recap page is above and then here are two digital scrapbook pages I made for the month.  I love this! Now I just have to decide where to get these pages printed.

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Do you enjoy digital scrapbooking or do you prefer to stick to the traditional method?  How do you keep track of your year? I'd love to hear everyone else's methods!

A Rorschach Test!

 Today I have a really neat little project for the babies out there.  My little one goes through onesies like they are going out of style.  I'm sure all you moms out there are familiar with this! So I decided to get crafty and make her some really cute onesies to wear.

 The process to make these is pretty simple.  You will need: your onesies (prewashed), some fabric paint, and some cardboard.

To start cut your cardboard so it fits snugly inside the onesies. You don't want to stretch them out too much but you want them snug so the design adheres evenly. Fit the cardboard inside your onesies.  This will prevent the paint from getting on the other side.

Now, prefold your onesie over so that you get your cardboard creased perfectly in half.  This way you're not fighting to get the onesie perfectly in half when you have your paint distributed.

Next is the fun part. Pick your paint color or colors.  Spread the paint on in drips and lines.  Be creative! Don't goop the paint on though or your design might get too blotchy. Once you're happy with the paint, carefully fold the onesie in half.  I try to keep my onesie stretched taunt when folding to make sure the design doesn't smudge.  Press down to evenly distribute the paint and then slowly peel it back open.

There you have it! You'll need to let the paint dry for 72 hours before you can wash the onesie and make sure to turn it inside out when you do.

For those that are interested in buying these instead of making them, I'm going to be selling these soon on my facebook page!  I'll post a link here when the page is up. I'll also probably sell some cards and such as well. So be on the look out for some awesome stuff!

EDIT: Here's a link to my facebook page where you can buy these onesies! Come by and check it out!

Uh Oh, More Hobbies!

Thank you cards.  I have written a lot so far but I have many more to go.  I did a set of cards and that covered the people who attended my baby shower, but it didn't cover the house warming party we had or the other random baby gifts we have received.  So I'll be working on another round of cards soon. This is the card that I had made as a thank you:

I know it's not your typical thank you card, but I wanted something simple and different. And it does say thank you on the inside with a handwritten note!

The stamp I used was Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous and I used a few different distress inks.  Then I used some Stickles over the design to give it some sparkle.  For just a touch of contrast I added a nice piece of DCWV patterned paper to the left side of the card.  I have to say, I love this stamp.  It's so simple and elegant.

In other news, I had Christmas money to spend!  So I decided to try something new and I bought some jewelry making supplies. Another crafty hobby!  I am totally new to this and have no idea what I'm doing, but this was sparked when last month I won a book on jewelry making and there were so many cool project I decided that I had to try it out.

I figure I need tools.  So I got a starter kit and a tool kit (used two different 50% off coupons for them). Also some hemp cord and some stretchy cord. Sure I can use those somehow!

Can I just say there are SO many pretty beads out there?  I mean come on.  I could spend so much money on them. I limited myself to a few here.

Okay I love steampunk and this collection was on clearance at A.C. Moore so I picked up a few items.  This is pretty simple to "make" but I just love these pieces.

For a beginner I thought these little kits were awesome.  They are already color coded and give you a nice variety of beads.  And just the right amount for one project.

Decorative magnetic clasps!  Need I say more?  These are just too cool.  I thought the little ball ones would work great for bracelets and the flower ones for necklaces.  Love these.

A few strands of beads that A.C. Moore had in their dollar bin.  I figure these will come in handy at some point. So there's my jewelry making supplies for now.  Did I miss anything?  Is there something I can't live without?

I've been pretty impressed with A.C. Moore's clearance items.  All these were also $1.  You can't beat that.

Did I mention that my baby girl is 3 months old today?  Oh my gosh I can't believe it.  She is just growing so quickly!

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, whether you're crafting or not! I have so many crafty projects to work on, I don't know where I'll start!  So until next time, Happy Scrappin!

My Home Management Binder

For 2013 I figure I need to be really organized if I'm going to accomplish my goals with the little one here. I've always been big on list and calendars and such but I really needed to get it all in one place so I can easily keep track of things and manage my week.  So this year I made a home management binder!

I used a few different sources for the printables and thanks to Money Saving Mom for sharing these resources. By the way, Money Saving Mom is one of my favorite blogs to visit.  She always has great posts and shares the best deals, go check her out!

For the printables I used two different sources because they both had pages I wanted to incorporate into my binder. I loved the pages for goals, chores, menu planning and creative ideas at Motherhood on a Dime so I grabbed those there.  Then for the binder cover, some inspirational quotes, contact info and weekly to do's, I went to The Harmonized House Project on the WorldLabel blog. I printed everything out I needed and got started.  Note that the rest of this post is very picture heavy!

For my supplies I have a 3-ring binder, some page protectors, a set of dividers and a hole punch. Pretty simple stuff that you probably already have laying around the house.

Here's my stack of printables after I was done.  With my laser printer this went pretty quickly.  I imagine if you have a simple inkjet you could probably eat a meal while the pages were printing.

To save some paper and to make my binder less thick and easy to manage, I printed my weekly menu plan on the back of my weekly to do list.  This way I can even take the page out of the binder and have my whole week on one page if I need to.

My little assistant slept through this whole project.  I guess she was bored with all the organization.

Here's the binder with the cover in and my stack of papers once they had been punch and organized. I labeled my dividers and put them in the order I wanted: 2013 Goals, Weekly, Contacts, Household and Creative.

I wanted this inspirational quote right at the beginning of the binder so I would always see it when I opened the book up. It's a good reminder.

First under 2013 Goals is my goal checklist.  I have this written on a separate sheet of paper right now so I just need to fill it in. Also under this tab I have a time schedule page that I'll use to try to manage my time with the baby and work and such.  That will help me figure out what I need to adjust in order to keep the family/work balance I want.

The next section is for my weekly pages. Here's my first one filled out.  I love that I can easily cross things out as I go, there's room to add more items or appointments and at the bottom there's a notes section where I can put reminders.  And there's also another great quote on this page.

On the back is my weekly menu plan.  Right now I'm only doing dinners but later I may decide to add in some lunch ideas.  Since Mike and I do breakfast separately and I don't yet have to plan meals for Natty, there's not much reason for me to plan for the other meals.

I put a page protector after this page to hold any recipes I plan on making this week so I have easy access to them. When I go to plan the next week, I can move the page protector to the next weekly page (which also makes it my book mark) and then put in the next week's recipes.  This makes it so easy for me and I think it will also inspire me to try more new recipes and go back to old ones. If the recipe is in a book, I can just write the book and page number on my menu plan.  Super easy.

The next section is Contacts.  The first page that I have is an emergency contact information sheet.  I figure this is really important now that the little one is here.

Next I have several pages for addresses.  I'm going to take my multiple address books and emails that have contact info and combine it all here.  When I did Christmas cards this year I had to look in 4 different places for addresses and that's just crazy.  So I need to combine it all in one spot so it's simple and easy.

The next section is Household.  I'm not entirely sure what this section is going to look like so I figure it's going to evolve throughout the year. I added the chore chart here just so I can get an idea of things I regularly want to do.  I also added some page protectors so I can maybe put things like home decor or improvement ideas or business cards for contractors and such.

The last section is Creative.  I printed out a few of these idea lists to put in this section.  I can use one page for my blog ideas, one for scrapbook and crafty ideas, and maybe one for ideas on games and activities to do with the baby.  I also put page protectors in this section for anything I might want to keep here.

So that's my binder.  I'm sure I'll add stuff and it will evolve as the year goes along. I also have a separate little book that I keep my coupons in. I use The Couponizer to organize all those and I love it. So when I'm getting ready for the week I just need my binder and my Couponizer and I'm good to go!  Gotta love the organization of it all!

Oh I also wanted to share this awesome calendar I had made at Shutterfly. I wouldn't normally get a calendar printed but I had a coupon for a free one so I gave it a shot.  I have to say that I am in love with it!  The print quality is excellent and I love how much you can personalize it.  I will definitely be making one again next year.

I hope you all enjoyed seeing how OCD I am about organization!  Those of you who know me know how much I enjoy planning. Have you made a home management binder? What do your sections look like? What's worked to keep your family organized   I would love to hear your stories!  And thanks for stopping by and reading mine!