Being creative to keep my sanity

St. Patrick's Play Dough

2012-03-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

My girls and I decided to make some super sparkly play dough for St. Patrick's.

It is really easy to make and they had lots of fun playing with it.

Here are a few fun ideas I found for St. Patrick's

You can pick up the unfinished wood for this project at

The Wood Connection in Salt Lake City or American Fork.

I think this one is at The Wood Connection also.

I thought this was a fun little treat for St. Patrick's

Christmas Crafts

2011-12-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't these little pillow boxes make an awesome advent calendar?? Of course! Time consuming though. I found them on Creative Journey of a Everyday Crafter.

More awesomeness from Creative Journey of a Everyday Crafter

I thought this was pretty stinkin cute too. I found this cute little box at

The Queen's Scene.

This would be fun to make with my girls. Check out

There She Goes Clear Stamps

for directions.

If I had not already made my Christmas gifts for the year this would so totally be what I would make for everyone, maybe next year. You can find the directions at Gluesticks.

If my darn printer would work once in a while I would have already printed these out for my kids. I guess I am headed to Office Max to make some color copies.

You can find this lovely print out right here at Being Creative to Keep My Sanity.

I am loving these bottle caps. You can find the directions at Whatever.

If I can get my hands on an unfinished shutter I am so going to

make one of these for my dining room.

Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour

came up with this awesome idea. Stop by her blog and check it out.

How many day's do we have left until Christmas??

Not enough to get all of the crafting in that I need to. I think I am going to

start Christmas crafting in like July next year.

Btw I just wanted all of you to know I did not steal all of these ideas from Pinterest. I know you are thinking it, shame, shame. I did however add the links to my Pinterest boards, so if you want to pin them for yourself you can find them there.

I wish you all Happy Holiday's

(and hope you avoid all the winter sickness going on, I am however not so lucky)

Nichole Van Photography

2011-11-18T21:20:00.003-07:00

If you have never used any of Nicole Van's products you are missing out. Her website is called Flourish. The flourish web site has action packages, textures, borders and templates for Photo Shop, Light Room and PS Elements. Flourish even offers work shops which I have been dying to go to.

My personal favorite is the Color Pop Action for PS, it works wonders. It brings out the color in dull photos, it even work wonders on perfectly fine photos. The action adds that wow effect. You will find that all of her products come with very helpful instructions on how to use them, which is nice for all of those newbies like me. I had pretty much no experience using Photo Shop when I bought my first actions but with her how to videos and instructions you would never have known I started out clueless.

So if you have any sort of photographer in you you should check out Nicole Van and her actions at Flourish.

If that was not enough convincing let me show you some photos to get you pointed in the right direction. Just click on the image and you will be redirected to the Flourish website for that action.

My personal favorite the color pop

Textures

Sunshine

Boarders

Black and white with a chocolate tone

So if you like what you see check out Flourish for even more awesomeness!!
Check out Nicole's blog too.

Liebster Award!!

2011-11-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Guess what I got.... The Liebster Award!! I was lucky enough to have Hand Made Fuzzy choose me for this awesome award.

For those of you who are not familiar with the word Liebster it means favorite or dearest in German.

The Leibster Award aims to spot light up-and-coming bloggers with less than 200 followers.

Upon receiving this Liebster Award, there are a few rules:

**1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

**2. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

**3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

**4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers. Here’s to hoping we can all at least win this lottery!

Here are Being Creative to keep my Sanity's 5 pick's:

            1. The Happy Scraps

            2. Remarkable Home

            3. Between U and Me

            4. Burton Avenue

            5. Not Home Alone

Thanks to all you lovely bloggers for the inspiration!!

Halloween {Bat Plates} !!

2011-10-17T11:04:00.001-06:00

I saw these on..... wait for it....... Pinterest.

I'm sorta addicted these days, and I'm not the only one.

So here is my version of Better Homes and Gardens {bat plates}.

Supplies:

Clear plates, 2 per bat

(I got mine at Zurchers, I also purchased extra plates so that I could use my

{bat plates} again without trying to find matching plates in the future.)

Black paper for wings

(I got this super sparkly paper from Joann's, for a good price too!)

An assortment of card stock for body, eyes and mouth

Black stamping ink

Tape/glue dots

Pattern from BHG

Print 3 bat face patterns and 1 bat wing pattern

(You do have to sign into BHG before you can download the pattern)

When you print out the pattern from BHG print out 3 bat bodies so that you can cut out the mouth on one, the eyes on another and the body shape from the last. Heads up, on mine I reshaped the bat so that both of their ears were the same. BHG's just seamed a little off, so it's up to you if you want to reshape or not.

For mine I did not bother cutting out the eyes, I just played around with my Cricut to make all of the layers for the eyes. I ended up using a variety of sizes and shapes. If you have a Cricut just play around a bit. If not you can always follow the pattern.

I did however use the pattern for the mouth and fangs.

Rub the ink pad around the edges of all the layers of the eyes and mouth. Make sure to do the bats body too. I used glue dots to put all the layers of eyes on my bat, just make sure to NOT use pop up glue dots. Just a side not: I made every one of my plates with different patterns and paper, I even place the mouths going the opposite direction on a couple of them.

Cut out the wing pattern, make sure to cut out one wing with the pattern right side up and then flip it over and cut out a reverse wing so that you have a wing for each side of the plate. I don't really think you are dumb I just want to be super clear on all the details.

After your wings are cut out and your bats are assembled grab your clear plates. Tape the bat wings directly to the plate and shape them to the bends in the plate. Next set your bat on the plate, I did not tape my bat to the plate because they stayed in the bottom nicely. You can always tape them if you want, whatever works.

Next place another clear plate over your bat and tadaah you have a very cute {bat plate}. After you eat on them you can just throw away the top plate and replace it with a new one then you will be able to use them again.

On the BHG directions they put brads all around the plate so that everything would stay together. I wanted to be able to use them again so I chose not to do this step. If you are a one time kinda gal then brad away!

Here are all of my different bats!!

I made 6 total for my family.

I am thinking of having a fun Halloween dinner and serve festive food's.

Maybe I will make it a new family tradition, Halloween Dinner.

I will have to share another idea with you soon that I picked up from a friend. She did a spooky dinner for her family were she made up menu's with funky items for instance: if someone orders worms you would serve them spaghetti or if they order a devils pitch fork they would get a fork. It's kinda fun. I will have to dig out my old menu and do a post on it.

And now for my inspiration....

Better Homes and Garden {bat plates}

Check out some of my other Halloween projects.

Glittered Pumpkins

2011-10-15T21:19:00.002-06:00

Around our house we glitter our pumpkins instead of carving them. I live in a house full of girly girls that love glitter and so do I. Besides they last forever this way. Last year my mother-in-law had hers for over a year, I don't recommend this, just sayin.

They are super easy to make but do be prepared for a bit of a mess. You may end up looking like the pumpkin when your done :)

Supplies: Pumpkins/squash, newspaper, adhesive spray/modge podge, glitter.

Pick a place outside on your lawn that you don't mind getting some glitter on. Spread some news paper on the ground. Place your pumpkin or squash in the center. Spray the entire thing with spray adhesive (just a warning this stuff can be toxic so make sure your kids stand back and don't breath any in if you can help it). Last year I used modge podge instead of spray adhesive. It worked out great. This year I went with spray adhesive because it was quicker. Both ways worked out great in the end so you choose your method.

After you spray or paint your adhesive on sprinkle glitter evenly over the pumpkin/squash. Just a heads up it takes a lot of glitter, a little tube wont do. I picked up a big containers at Micheal's and was able to do 1 large and 1 small pumpkin before I ran out. I think next year I will order a huge amount online, we'll see.
If you do use spray adhesive just a heads up, double spraying does not really work out well so make sure you get a good amount of adhesive on the first time around.

After you cover your pumpkin, and yourself :) with glitter let it dry. Once dry place wherever you like and enjoy.

Check out some of my other Halloween projects!!

Halloween Banner

{ Bat Plates }

Halloween Bats

Starched Fabric Flower Tutorial

2011-10-06T15:50:00.003-06:00

Yet again another flower tutorial, I'm sorry I cant help myself I have 3 girls and they are super girly. Accessorize, accessorizes, accessorize. I have been wanting to do a fabric flower in a tea cup shape but did not really know how to go about it. I wanted to use cotton fabric so melting the edges was out and I did not want to sew it. So I decide to use starch and see If I could give a flat piece of fabric some dimension. And here is what I got.

Here's the how to:

Start out by choosing coordinating fabrics, I used cotton fabric, really stiff tulle, 1 layer of that silky fabric. I know I really suck, I have no clue what it is called. You know the silk type fabric that you can melt the edges. Moving on....

Start cutting circles making each circle just a little bit smaller than the last.

For my back layer I did 3 circles. The purpose of the back layer is that I did not want my entire flower to look like a tea cup and stick off my girls head so I added a floppy layer that will lay against their heads. I just prefer it that way. If you want you could starch this layer to.

Stack them up and you have the "back" layer.

Now for the front layer. I used 5 circles, one of them in the lets just call it the "silky layer". I made 3 of them quite a bit larger, these are going to get starched into a tea cup shape so I wanted them to be a little larger. Heat the edges of the "silky layer" with a lighter melting all of the edges. Make sure you cut it out a little bigger than you want it to end up because when you melt the edges it will shrink down.

Here are the front and back layers.

Time to play with the starch! Pick up some heavy starch at the grocery store. Lay out a cloth on your counter so that you don't cover it in starch. I used bowls that I did not care about ruining. Place your fabric circles into the bowl and cover them with starch spray. Starch all of the front layers except the "silky layer".

After you have sprayed the fabric with starch blow dry it on a low setting until it is dry. I did do a second starch to a few of my layers becasue they were not as curved as I wanted them to be. **Remember** I did not starch my back layer, but again its up to you.

By the way the starch washed out of the bowls just fine.
Here are the starched layers.

Now stack all the layers up. Note: this picture is showing 2 flowers.

Notice the flat layers on the bottom.

Choose an emblishment for your center. I like to use brads. They are the easiest and hold the whole flower firmly together. Poke a hole in the center of the flower making sure to go through all the layers. Insert a brad through all layers, easy. If you want to use a gem or button center you will have to glue all the layers together one at a time.

I love to add feathers to my flowers. It gives it that finishing touch. Hot glue a feather in between one of the back layers

Wrap the feather back around and glue the end of the feather to the same layer.
I did 2 feathers on my flower, one on each side.I don't let the feathers stick out very much either. Just a little fluff is all you need. I wish the same could be said for me :)

The last step is to flip the flower over and glue your clip or headband on.

Now you have a cute flower.

I am so lucky to have such a cute model too!

This is what it looks like when I craft. Messy huh!

Halloween Bats

2011-09-26T20:17:00.003-06:00

I keep seeing bats all over the web and I am loving this idea. So my sister and I got out the Cricut and cut out bats in all sizes using the Wild Card cartridge. Bend the bats wings forward to give them dimension and then tape them to the wall, I used scotch tape on mine. I placed all the bats flying in the same direction and slightly upward. The Happy Halloween sticker is from last years Halloween clearance at Wal-Mart. I bet they have something similar this year. My sister put her bats going all the way across her living room wall. I know that there are some templates out there for bats if you do not have a Cricut handy.

You just cant go wrong with these bats!

Happy Halloween Crafting!!

Check out some of my other Halloween projects!!

Halloween Banner

Glittered Pumpkins

{ Bat Plates }
http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-bat-plates.html

Halloween Banner

2011-09-24T22:26:00.005-06:00

My very first Halloween project of the year!!

I made this cute banner to go in my living room for Hall0ween. My inspiration was from Tater Tots & Jello. She made a cute banner with chevrons using her silhouette machine. Jealous much, yep. I had wanted to do something with dangling fabric so when I came across hers I was sold.

It was really easy to make and is a great addition to your Halloween decor. In fact I am already contemplating making a Christmas one too!

Here are the supplies you need:

fabric and tulle

Sewing machine & thread

Scissors and/or a rottery cutter and mat

Ribbon

First I cut my fabric into triangle shapes. I used a pattern that I made a while ago when I made a birthday banner for my daughter. Each triangle measures about 7 1/4" tall by 7 1/2" long. You can make it in any size you want. Experiment a little with a piece of paper before you start cutting fabric. Once you figure out what size you want start cutting triangles. I used 7 different fabrics on mine. I think I purchased 1/3 yard of each fabric which was plenty. I went with 1/3 instead of 1/4 because I wanted a little extra fabric to make the strips out of. I only ended up needing 3 triangles from each fabric. My banner is about 20 feet long and I used 16 triangles total. I was so excited to get started that I got right to it and cut out way to many triangles. I guess I might have to make another banner for my dining room because I still have tons of triangles left over.

Next cut out your strips to knot between every triangle. I cut 1" strips of fabric, ribbon and tulle. I used 3 pieces in between every triangle. So you may have to do some math here depending on how many triangles and how long your banner is going to be.

Choose a main ribbon to sew the triangles to. I used a small black with white polka dot ribbon that I had a ton of. I used about 25 feet of it. I would measure the room that you are putting it in and cut your ribbon accordingly. Make sure to add a few extra feet on both side to be able to tie the banner with. Sew your triangles to the ribbon. I chose to sew the ribbon down about 1/2" from the top of the triangle becasue that was the look that I was after. Leave approx. 1 1/2" between each triangle for tying your ribbon knots. Also make sure to sew your ribbon on the front of your fabric triangle.

After you sew all your triangles on tie 3 strips of fabric, ribbon or tulle in between every triangle. I tried to knot them so that the right sides of fabric would be facing up on all the strips. I found it easiest to tie the banner in the middle of the room then tie the fabric strips on.

Last but knot :) least hang your banner in your home and try to not stare at it all day long like I do. I am a total nerd, it's just so cute I cannot help myself.

Check out some of my other Halloween projects!!

Glittered Pumpkins

{ bat plates }

Halloween Bats

Birthday Present Decor

2011-08-10T16:12:00.001-06:00

I made these cute presents and I am so excited to show them off but our next birthday in the family is not until the end of December, dang it. I picked up the unfinished wooden blocks at The Wood Connection in SLC. The have all these presents already cut out and ready to paint. I wish I would have taken a picture of them before I started painting and embellishing. They are sold individually for a couple of dollars each. I had a very hard time in their store because I wanted EVERYTHING. I also picked up the word wicked for Halloween, I will post pictures once its done. Read on to see the steps I took to make them.

I started out by sanding my wood a little, they don't need much. Then I painted them with a paint that coordinated with the paper I chose. After letting it dry I used modge podge to add a thin layer to the area that the paper will be covering. I used a brayer to roll it out nice and flat, make sure to press down the edges really well. I sanded the edges of my blocks after I glued the paper down which made all my edges turn white. You can also use shadow ink to distress your edges. Next I added modge podge to the areas that I wanted glittered, sprinkle or press glitter on. You can use a spray sealer to help the glitter stay put. Embellish with wire and ribbon and your done, super cute!

Large Present

Medium Present

Small Present

I guess this is good bye until December cute little wooden presents.

Dresser Refinish

2011-07-10T18:27:00.006-06:00

I have been wanting to refinish a dresser for awhile now. My sister gave this one to me since they were moving and did not have the space for it.

FREE, wahoo!!

6 hours later it looked like this, that was a ton of sanding. My arms felt like they were still vibrating, all night long. As you can see in the top photo it was a nice afternoon when I started,

and in the bottom photo the sun had hit the road and was long gone.

I thought that it looked pretty this way with maybe a white wash to seal it. But oh no, I was going for something crazy and bold, PINK!! The dresser is going in my daughters room so what the heck pink it is.

After several layers of pink paint, some black glazing and 20 new drawer knobs I ended up with this! I cannot say that the pink is my favorite shade but it is growing on me. I purchased the zebra print knobs at Hobby Lobby. They have dozens of different and unique knobs there.
I figure when my girls grow out of pink I will put a couple of coats of black over it and keep it around, assuming it makes it that long with my very helpful little girls using it.

If you want more info on glazing go to my magnetic board post and there are more details on that.

Is it too pink? Let me know what you think.

Firework Centerpeice Tutorial

2011-06-24T18:26:00.007-06:00

I came up with these cute fireworks after being inspired by Martha Stewart.
I made quite a few changes of my own but you've got to give credit where credit is due.

Tools needed:

I choose to use 12x 12 glittered card stock for my fireworks, you can use whatever makes you happy.

I picked up red, blue and teal from Hobby Lobby. 1 12x12 sheet will make you 4 fireworks.

Start by cutting the card stock in half making 2-12x6 pieces.

I used a rotary cutter instead of scissors to make my cuts, either would work. Make 1/4 inch cuts leaving around and inch at the top uncut.

I slid my stick between a few layers just to show you what the cuts look like.

Here is the back side, its a little easier to see whats going on here without all that glitter.

Now cut that piece in half again, making 2- 6x6 pieces.

Pre-curl your paper before you glue it on the stick, very helpful step!

Use a shish kabob stick and super glue the paper around your stick. Just glue and roll as tight as you can.

Here is what it looks like when it's all rolled up.

I left some of my fireworks straight and I make some of them curl. Use a pencil or a pen and wrap the paper strips around it to make the curled effect.

Fireworks!!

Next I put my fireworks into canning jars, I liked the effect but you could use any jar or container you want.

Next I filled my jars 3/4 full of sand, again anything you want to use will work. I like that sand is heavy and my fireworks ,hopefully, wont fall over.

I ordered these cool 4th of July straws from Isakay Boutique on Etsy.

I choose red & blue stars and red & blue stiped straws.

Take a straw and slide it onto your stick before you put the firework into the jar.

I put 5 fireworks into each of my jars.

Now to embellish your jar. I cut 2 circles out with my sizzix.

I ran the white circle through my crimper. I also cut out a star with one of

my little star punches. All this can be done by hand if you don't have the right tools,

well except the crimping.

I used hot glue to glue the ribbon around the jar.

Just glue the backside not all the way around because it will look funny.

You can use tape if you want to reuse your jars later.

I did not want the ribbon to come off while being moved so I used hot glue.

Now you're done!! What an awesome 4th of July center piece.

I sure am excited to use mine. I actually made 5 jars for

the party we are having next weekend.

Here is where my inspiration came from Martha Stewart.

They used vellum on theirs. I was after super sparkly that's why I choose

to use sparkly card stock. Like I've said before "whatever makes you happy".

I hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July. I will be living it up because

it is my last year to be in my twenty's, that's right

I will be 29 on the 4th of July, {sad sigh}.

I think I would like to be 20 forever, who wouldn't. Okay enough with the pitty party.

Happy 4th!

Petso Chicken Packets

2011-06-11T16:32:00.003-06:00

I love, love, love this recipe. It has really good flavors and is good for you. It makes a good summer recipe with all the fresh veggis in it. You could also make it to take on a trip to the mountains to be cooked on a camp fire. I learned how to make pesto in order to create this recipe, pesto is super easy and could be used on so many things, so even if the recipe does not suite you try the pesto in your own cooking, it's good. BTW- make sure you proses the pesto, not posses it even though you may want to:) Sorry about the typo.

I also included the nutritional information for those of you who care, I wish I didn't but I do.

Just right click images and save them on your computer and then you can print them off. Enjoy!

Linked at:

Summer Scrapbook Page

2011-06-08T15:53:00.002-06:00

This is the page that my friend and I whipped up. We used the Sizzix to cut out flowers from paper and fabric. Some pop up dots for dimension and stamps.

Linked to:

Jello Cake

2011-06-01T20:16:00.001-06:00

A friend of mine gave me this recipe. It's really good and super easy! Feel free to save this image and print it off.
Just be forewarned it's very addictive.

Apple Soap Teacher's Gift

2011-05-25T23:17:00.010-06:00

The end of the school year is here all ready and it's time to make teachers gift's. If you are like me this is a very hard thing to do. I never know what to make or buy. My good friend came up with a brilliant idea to make apple soaps as gifts. She is brilliant I tell ya, brilliant. Of course we should make cute little apple soap to spoil my kids teachers. Okay so I think you get the point, I am very excited about this idea. So we got to it and came up with these cute little soap's. They even smell like apples!

Here is how you can make your own.

Supplies:

Glycerin Soap

Apple Soap Scent

Red & Green Soap Colors

Leaf Cookie Cutter

Small Round Containers

I picked up the bag of glycerin soap cubes from Hobby Lobby for $6.99, actually I used a 40% off so it was even cheaper than that. In the soap making isle at Hobby Lobby they also have scents and colors made especially for making soap. I picked up the leaf cookie cutter at Walmart. While I was there I also grabbed some zip-lock containers, pick containers that are the size you want your finished soaps to be.

Start out by melting a few glycerin cubes in a large plastic measuring cup. Microwave in small increments. I usually start with 30 seconds and if that is not enough to melt the cubes I microwave them for another 10-20 seconds. This step should never take longer than 1 minute in the microwave. Once your cubes are melted add apple scent and red coloring. I had this square soap mold from one of my other projects, you can use square containers or whatever you have hanging around that is square. Pour the melted soap into your mold. Fill the mold as full as you want your apples to be tall. I hope that makes sense. These are going to end up being your apples in the center of your soap so if you want skinny bars of soap pour your molds really shallow. Let the bars cool until they become solid. If you want to speed up this proses you can put the whole thing into the freezer for a few minutes. Just a heads up I made 4 red bars and only ended up using 1 1/2 bars to make apples for my 6 bars of soap.

Once your soap is solid turn your mold over and pop your bars out. Slice the bars lengthwise and curl them into circles. If you do this step while the bars are still a little warm they are easier to curl.

Next make some green soap. I used one of my kids small Ikea bowls to make a small green bar to cut leaves out of. Remove it from the bowl as soon as you can so that you will be able to easily cut through it with a cookie cutter.

The soap got stuck in the cookie cutter so I used a Q-tip to help push it out.

Place the leaves and apples into the bottom of your containers.

Next microwave more glycerin soap. This batch you are going to leave clear, do not color it. Do however add your apple scent to it. After you have melted more glycerin blocks in the microwave let them cool down for awhile before you pour it over your apples. I learned this lesson the hard way. The first apple I poured hot soap over and it melted my apple and made a mess. So let it cool down a little before you pour it over the soap and pour it slowly too. If you have a lot of bubbles in your soap take a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and spray the top of the soap and the bubbles will pop. Once you have filled your mold place it into the freezer, this will help to not melt your apple. I only fill my molds full enough to cover my apple, you can fill yours as full as you like. Once the soap is set pop it out of its mold and voila cute little apple soap.

I put my soap into zip bags then I whipped out some apple tags to tie onto them. You can also wrap your soap in plastic wrap instead of putting them into bags.

I sure hope my kids teachers enjoy them.

I made these a few months ago. Click here if you want to see how I made them.

Have fun making soap!

I linked this project to:
craftomaniac sistersstuff
homemakeronadime
pinkapotamus
thecreativecrate
runwithglitter
todayscreativeblog
serenitynow4amanda
pollywantacrafter

Fabric Flower Tutorial

2011-05-23T14:50:00.016-06:00

I made up this cute flower pattern for headbands to match my girls Easter dresses. They turned out so cute that as promised I thought I would share them with you!

Start out by cutting your material into 2 inch strips, they need to be about 20 inches long. (you will need 1 strip per flower)

fold your material in half lengthwise placing wrong sides together and iron.

This flower is basically made by shaping your fabric into triangles.

Start out by folding the top over to make a dog ear out of the fabric then iron in place.

Fold fabric over to create a triangle shape and press with iron.

Next you are going to loop your fabric back

and tuck it in between your triangle.

Snug the fabric up into a triangle and press.

Again you are going to loop your fabric back around

this time tuck the fabric behind the triangle

Fold your fabric down and tuck under triangle.

Snug up triangle and press (sorry for the blurry picture)

Continue folding and pressing to make a triangle shape until you run out of fabric.

When you are done it should look something like this.

Take a needle and thread in a similar color to fabric and sew threw the center of the flower catching all the layers to secure them together.

Next take a small piece of felt and a clip and hot glue them to the underside of flower.

I always turn the clip upside down when gluing because when you turn the flower over it will be right side up.

Embellish your flower however you choose. For this flower I chose flat back gems and hot glued them into place.

Now you are done!

This flower has pearl beads sewn into it center.

For this headband I made 3 flower that were the same size. Then I glued them to a fabric headband that I had made. I also used a piece of feather boa behind the flowers to give it that finishing touch.

I hope that was not to confusing. Just think "triangles" and you will be fine. Thanks for stopping by and happy folding!

I linked this project to:
craftomaniac
homemakeronadime
makingtheworldcuter
thecreativecrate
runwithglitter
todayscreativeblog
pollywantacrafter
diybydesign
sweetpeasandbb
sistersstuff
fingerprintsonthefridge
sugaranddots

Light Box

2011-05-16T10:39:00.000-06:00

I saw this light box at ??? who the heck knows, I just spent the last hour trying to figure that out with no luck. I liked it so much I decided to make one of my own. Just a helpful hint before you get started, make sure you have somewhere to store a very large and very fragile box, if you breath on the thing it breaks. Just a fore warning. Moving on, mine works like a charm. It's not very hard to put together and is cheap to make. If you are like me who has a bright "wash out every picture" flash on your camera this will really help.

It looks like a worthless cardboard box, however this thing is pretty handy.

Take a large cardboard box and cut wholes in both sides of the box. Then cut off the entire top of the box. Next line the sides and the top with tissue paper. Be super careful not to rip the tissue because you do not want any cracks or rips that the sun light can shine through. Last line the bottom of the box with a white poster board, I did not even tape mine in I just set it inside. Now you are set to take awesome pictures.

I put my light box in direct sun light and here are the shots that I got. You can also use a lamp if you are going to be taking indoor pictures.

I made these headbands for my daughter's Easter dresses. I will have to make a tutorial on them soon because they turned out super cute.

I hope this is helpful to all you picture takers. Good luck.

Magnetic Board

2011-05-09T16:11:00.013-06:00

I finally painted my magnetic board. I have had it for a couple years now and could never decide what color to paint it. After much debating I painted it a magenta pink! And I LOVE it! This was also my first ever glazing project.

I picked up some wood accessories from Home Depot and used wood glue to glue them to my board. Before I painted it I used a hammer and a screw driver to beat the frame up a little bit. This step is if you are going to glaze your project then you want some dings in it to distress. Then I primed the entire board with some white paint that I had hangin around. I applied 2 coats.

After letting it dry really well I applied 2 coats of my pink paint. I chose a color from Home Depot's paint samples and had them mix me a small container of sample paint. It was plenty of paint to do the job and only cost $2.99. Sorry I have no picture of this step. Next I picked up a can of faux finish glaze, yes back to home depot yet again. The paint counter let me know that in order to tint your glaze its 3 parts glaze and

1 part color. When I got home I mixed a small amount with black and began to brush it all over my frame, making sure to get it in all of the cracks. I found with glaze that there is a perfect time to wipe it back off, usually a couple of minutes is long enough. Use a damp washcloth and wipe all of the glaze back off. This step leaves black in all the cracks and dings. Make sure not to get too far ahead of yourself with the glaze because when it does dry it is really hard to get it back off. If you are not satisfied with how it looks apply another coat. I ended up doing 2 coats on mine and the last coat almost kicked my butt, almost, I was scrubbing it off pretty hard. I am glad I started out with a small project for my first time just to get the hang of it.

Then I stuck all of my crap back on the board and I was done!

I linked this project to:
craftomaniac
homemakeronadime
thecreativecrate
runwithglitter
todayscreativeblog
serenitynow4amanda
pollywantacrafter
madincrafts
sweetpeasandbb
sistersstuff
fingerprintsonthefridge
sugaranddots

Fun Easter Idea's

2011-04-18T21:53:00.000-06:00

Shaving cream egg decorations. You can find the instructions Here.

These look so yummy. I think they would be a great Easter treat.

I am getting hungry posting these idea's. They all look so good. You can find the directions here.

Easter Wreaths

Cute little Easter gifts, find the instructions here.

I love these colorful candle sticks. Find out how they made them here.

These would make a fun Easter project to do with kids. Sorry I don't have a link for this craft, I don't know where I got it from.

Happy Easter everyone!

Search and Find Clip Boards

2011-03-25T10:47:00.002-06:00

I have been on the hunt for summer activities for my kids this year. I have a feeling I am going to need all the help that I can get to keep them busy. I decided to design some Search & Find games. My kids are not old enough to read yet so I decided to do Search & Find picture games of things around the house and outside that they could find. If you would like to print some off for your kids just right click and save image and then you will be able to print them from your computer. I printed 2 per page so that they would fit on the cute little clip boards that I made to go along with them.

I had 2 small clip boards laying around so I decided to decorate them and then my girls could use them with the look and find game. I used adhesive spray and paper on the boards. Then I used hot glue to embellished with flowers, ribbon, gems and buttons. I also tied a pen to the board so they would not lose them. They turned out so cute that I am almost afraid to let my kids use them.

I used a fabric flower from my fabric flower tutorial to top off the layered daisy flowers.

Hopefully these will keep my kids busy for a little while.

Summer, where are you????

2011-03-12T21:48:00.004-07:00

Anyone else dying for summer? I am. I just need to hang

on a few more months. Here are a few cute summer idea's

I came across while visiting my fellow bloggers.

Isn't this lemonade stand stinkin cute? I want one for my kids. The only problem is that I don't really want them selling lemonade in our neighborhood, we don't live in one of the best neighborhood's around. Is it even safe for my kids anywhere out side our house anymore? The times have defiantly changed from when I grew up.

I thought this was a cute summer gift idea from eighteen25

I love this summer wreath, very clever and time consuming. I think I might just make one for my front porch this summer. Visit ourbestbites to see how they made it.

Dear summer, hurry up and get here my kids are going stir crazy which means I am going crazy.

I really need you. XOXO

How to curl your hair with a flat iron!!!

2011-02-18T10:18:00.003-07:00

I can't tell you how much I love, love my flat iron! I just came across this you-tube video on how to curl your hair with your flat iron, awesome! This post is for all you ladies with super long hair, yes I am jealous of your super long hair! I love this look and hope you will too. Enjoy!

While we are on the subject of flat irons I own a must have flat iron comb. It helps you to comb your hair strait as you are flat ironing, very handy. I picked one up at Sally's Beauty for around $10.

Valentine Cupcake Birthday Party

2011-02-15T09:40:00.009-07:00

My Daughter turned 5 last week and we celebrated her birthday by having a cupcake party. We had 12 little girls and loads of sprinkles, it was chaotic but we had fun. Sorry for the lack of valentines posts, this party was keeping me pretty busy planning. I thought you might like to see some pictures from the party.

Happy late Valentines!

Valentines Rice Krispie Treats!!

2011-02-05T17:18:00.006-07:00

My Daughters and I made delicious valentines rice krispie treats yesterday. We used strawberry marshmallows, sprinkles and a heart shaped cookies cutter for the valentine effect. We were planning to take them to the neighbors but ended up eating all of them instead, they were so good!

Fabric Flower Tutorial

2011-01-31T11:13:00.028-07:00

Fabric flowers are really fun and easy to make. They make great head bands or cute accessories to any of your projects.

Start out by choosing your favorite fabric and cutting it into 2 inch strips. To make a small 2 inch flower you need a strip or several strips that add up to be about 3 feet.

You need a base to make your flower on, I used felt for this flower but you can also use heavy card stock. Cut whatever you decide to use into a circle that is the size you want your finished flower to be. For mine I used a 2 inch felt circle.

When I am using felt I like to use hot glue for my adhesive and tacky glue when I am using card stock.

Next fold your fabric in half so that the pattern is showing on both sides and then tie the end of your fabric into a knot. Glue it to the center of your circle.

Start twisting your fabric, if you do not want any fray to show make sure as you are twisting that you tuck them in. I like a little frayed look so I let them do whatever they want. Once your fabric is twisted start gluing and wrapping it around your knot. Put the glue directly on the felt and then press the fabric to it.

Keep wrapping the fabric around until it is the size you would like it to be. If you decide you want the flower to be a little smaller than your felt circle you can trim off the excess felt.

Once the flower is the size you want it to be take the tale, tuck and glue it under the flower.

Voila!! Now you have a fabric flower. For different variations you can twist your fabric more loosely or even tighter. You can also use wider fabric strips.

I chose to make an accessory for a jar I have in my scrapbook room by adding ribbon and a gem to the center of the flower and then attaching it to my jar. This would have made a super cute head band too!

Linked to:

runwithglitter
fabricbowsandmore

Dishwasher Detergent

2011-01-25T19:12:00.024-07:00

Here is another one of my "sick of spending so much money on soap?", "tired of loading the dishwasher after dinner and finding you are out of dishwasher soap, again?". Save money and grocery store trips and make your own. It's really easy and last's forever!

Here is what you need.

Dishwasher Detergent ingredients:
1 box Borax (4lbs 12 oz or 76 oz ) (2.15 kg) found in the detergent isle
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55 oz or 3 lbs 7 oz) found in the detergent isle
24 packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix, like kool-aid. (**Note: lemonade will stain soap dispenser yellow, another option would be to use citric acid instead of lemonade. You can usually find citric acid in the canning isle )
3 cups Epsom Salt
Lemi Shine rinse aid (this recipe does not work very well without it) You can find Lemi Shine in the dishwasher detergent isle at just about any store. You can also use vinegar as a rinse aid. If your dishes are coming out with spots on them that means you do need a rinse aid.

Use Lemi Shine as a rinse aid. It works wonders. Just sprinkle about a tablespoon in the bottom of your dishwasher before you start it. This stuff is awesome!!

If you want you could cut this recipe in half or even smaller to just try it out. You will still have to buy large boxes of Borax and Washing Soda which you can store for later use.
Mix Borax, washing soda, salt and lemonade together in a large, very large, bowl. When ingredients are mixed together well put soap in a container of your choice. I picked up a container at Walmart in the kitchen center with a pouring spout for $5.00 and it is big enough to hold an entire batch of dishwasher soap. The soap does get hard spots in it after a while so do be prepared for some hardening, I have not been able to get around that no matter what I do.

It even has a pouring spout to make things easy.

Use 1 tablespoon per wash cycle. It has no fillers so you do not have to use nearly as much to get the job done! This recipe is for hard water users, if you have soft water you may want to browse the internet for a better recipe for soft water.

Are you ready for the breakdown??
1 box of borax $4.69
1 box A & H washing soda $3.19
24 packages of lemonade $2.80
3 cups of salt $2.00, this one is a guess because I already had salt in my storage and who knows how much I payed for it.

Total= $12.68

1 tablespoon at a time........you tell me how long that's going to last.

To top off my project me and my Cricut got together :) and cut out letters from vinyl to label the container. Yes I know they are a little crooked but I am to cheap to buy transfer paper for all my vinyl needs, besides I am storing it in the cupboard under my sink. I tried my first load yesterday and was quiet impressed with how clean my dishes were. I hope it works well for you too!

Valentine Heart Garland

2011-01-22T14:16:00.005-07:00

Just thought I would share pictures of the Valentine garland I made last week! Very festive.

Letter's To Santa

2010-12-09T19:06:00.006-07:00

It's that time of year to write your letters to the big man! And of course Santa sends your letters back after he reads them so that they can be scrapbooked. Here are 2 letters that I came up with, feel free to print and use them. Happy Holiday's!

Homemade Laundry Soap!!

2010-11-03T15:17:00.039-06:00

Sick of buying laundry soap?? Me too. This stuff is awesome because it is way stronger then the store bought laundry soap. You only have to use 1 Tablespoon per load. This recipe makes a huge cookie jar full of soap and is going to last a life time, well maybe not quit that long. I originally made mine in July and I still have a ton and I do at least 8 loads of laundry ever week. So I am thinking it will last me almost a year. 1 year of laundry soap for less than $20, have I got you sold yet? I love not having to buy laundry soap all the time anymore. This laundry soap also works just fine in HE washers. Update: **I just ran out of laundry soap and it is March. So July to March that's 9 months of laundry soap for $20 bucks. I am pretty happy about that.**

Here is what you need:

1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the cooking isle

1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle

3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, found in the detergent isle

2 small containers of Oxy Clean or store brand Oxy Clean (try to get about 3.5 lbs total (1.58 kg)) found in the detergent isle.

(this is optional, I added it into mine because I have pretty messy kids and the cleaner the better)

(you can also use pink Zote soap instead of Fels-Naptha. I had really wanted to but could not find it anywhere) **Update: My sister found pink Zote soap at Home Depot**

You should be able to find all of these items at your grocery store.

**Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load. I know that does not seem like enough but this recipe does not have fillers like the store bought detergent so you only need 1-2 Tablespoons.**

This detergent is fairly mild smelling, it is not over powering. If you love a strong scent you may have to add a fabric softener to each load.

Start out by grating your Fels-Naptha soap just like cheese. You can use a food processor or just use your hand held grater, what ever you have.
**Don't worry the Fels-Naptha will dissolve in your washer even if you only use cold water like me.**

Toss all ingredients in a 5 gallon bucket lined with a garbage bag. This part makes your whole house smell great. Once everything is mixed store soap however you like.

I chose a jar that my sister gave me a few years ago from a little home good store. Then used my Cricut to cut out the word Laundry to put on the front of the jar. I keep it above my washing machine, I also got a little scoop to keep inside. Wasn't that easy? Sure was! Enjoy your soap.

**Update** I have had a lot of repeat questions so I though I would answer a few here.

-This detergent is safe for HE washers and should be added to the barrel instead of the dispenser.
-This detergent is safe to use on sensitive skin.
-It does not have a strong scent, you can add laundry crystals to the batch to add fragrance.
-Some of my followers have used other bar soap instead of Zote or Fels-Naptha. I have personally not tried it but from the feed back I get it sounds like any bar will work.
-Use 1-2 Tablespoon per load.
-WalMart has nice big glass jars in the kitchen department!

Linked to:

runwithglitter
todayscreativeblog

Disclaimer: Please use at your own risk.

Fun Kids Soap

2010-11-02T18:50:00.024-06:00

I had a great time making these and I think they turned out pretty cute!! Each soap has a fun little surprise in the center, my kids go nuts over these and they will be getting them as stocking suffers this Christmas.

I got this great idea from: http://capcreations.blogspot.com/2010/10/diy-halloweenfall-soap-favors-and.html .

I picked up my supplies at Hobby Lobby. I used a 40% off coupon for the soap, I choose the 5 lb bag and was able to make 30 soaps with it. I also picked up coloring and a scent (peppermint for Christmas). If you are going to use glitter choose the fines glitter you can because larger fleck glitter will all sink to the bottom of your mold (which will end up being the top of the soap when you are done). I got the bracelets and rings at good old Walmart in the party section. I also got small frogs, fish, and bouncy balls. You will also need a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol.

I also picked up a mold at Hobby Lobby. I used this mold to make my colored soaps that will become the cubes to sprinkle in toy soaps.

As soon as you can pop them out chop them into little cubes.

I kind of got carried away and had to make every color I could!

To make the hearts I cut long strips of my pink soap and molded them into hearts. Place whatever "surprise" you want into each cup of a muffin pan.

Using a microwave safe measuring cup microwave glycerin soap as package directs. I only microwave two small blocks at a time and for 30 second increments. When I tried to do more than that I had to microwave it for longer (I am only talking 1 1/2 minutes) to get all the soap to melt and then the soap ended up to hot and it acted weird when I pored it into my molds. It melted all my colored blocks and sent them to the bottom of the mold and made a mess out of them. Also the soap dried very hazy. So only microwave 45 seconds tops. Before you pour the soap into your molds add glitter and fragrance. Stir to combine and then pour into molds making sure to fill each mold, don't do half full and then add more later. That does not really work very well either. Learn from my mistakes!! After you pour the soap into the mold immediately spray the soap with rubbing alcohol to pop all the bubbles, don't pass up this step it really works.

Don't move them while they are setting up. Allow them to set up completely (this only takes like 20 minutes or less) then pop them into the freezer for a few minutes (trust me this works). After a few minutes they pop right out. If you are having a hard time put them back into the freezer for a few more minutes and try again. I gently tapped on the back of each muffin cup to loosen the soap. BTW this did not ruin my muffin pan, its just soap it washes right out.

Cover each soap with plastic wrap and voila. Hand made soap. Stinking cute too. I might make stickers to go onto each soap or maybe put them into a cute cellophane bag to finish them up, they also fit nicely into a canning jar. Have fun, I sure did!

Wall Clip Holder

2010-05-04T13:12:00.005-06:00

This turned out way better than I thought it would. It looks really cute in my girls room. I took a piece of plywood and covered it with fabric and stapled the fabric to the back side. Then I cut my chicken wire to be big enough to wrap around to the back. I spray painted my chicken wire with a metal spray paint (which I don't recommend because it is not holding up). Then I wrapped the chicken wire around the fabric and stapled it to the back. Last I wound a ribbon in and out of the chicken wire on the top and around the back where I knotted it a couple of time around several places (that will be the point with all the stress on it). Then I hung it on the wall on a hook. Sorry I don't have pictures all through the proses. I am still getting a hang of this blogging business.

I am giving it a go!

2010-05-01T11:31:00.001-06:00

I will try to keep up with this but no grantee's. The life of a mother can get kind of hectic sometimes. I love to be creative and do as many project's as I have time for. I also love to browse through blogs and get great idea's. I figured it was time to contribute to the blogging world instead of always taking. I hope you enjoy my blog and hopefully it will inspire you.