Anniversary Subway Art

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My hubby and I are celebrating 11 years today - YEAH for us!!!  My hubby and I wish that our anniversary was on a different date because our special day seems to get lost in all the holiday celebrations.  So over the years it seems our anniversary slides by almost unnoticed.  This morning was no exception.  At least I remembered to tell him Happy Anniversary just as he was walking out the door for work. 

Even though we always tell each other "NO GIFTS,"  I felt a little bad about not even getting a babysitter so we could enjoy a nice dinner together.  SO I got my thinking cap on and started to plan a special dinner at home.    I started my planning by making our Anniversary Subway Art and was so please with how it turned out.  Then the kids and I went shopping to get some Sparkling Apple Cider (my hubby's fav) and Nothing Bundt Cakes for dessert.  I came home, set the table (table cloth and all) made dinner and waited for my hubby's surprised look when he walked in the door from work.  The best part of dinner - Bread Stick Twists.  You can see how to make them HERE in Pintrest. 

Interested in having your own custom Anniversary Subway Art - click HERE to visit my Etsy Shop!

Witching you a Haunting Halloween! - Printable

Halloween is in full swing at my house.  Costumes have been picked out and purchased, candy has been bought and stashed away so we don't eat it all before Halloween, decorations are up and we are counting down the last 13 days until the big day.   

Every year, I put together a big themed Halloween Dinner for my family and go all out on food and decorations.  I can't wait.  Since most of my dinner plans are already coming together, I decided to add to the celebrations by making  a Halloween themed lunch for them to take to school.  Nothing big, just a PB&J ghost sandwiches (using a cookie cutter with make these a breeze), orange yogurt with candy corn sprinkles and orange cheese balls -  a huge treat for my kids since we usually leave them on the shelves at the store.  I made a cute Halloween Treat Topper to finish off their surprise.

These treat topper can be used to top any treat.  However, I am partial to the orange cheese balls, they kind of look like small pumpkins to me. 

Click HERE to download your FREE Halloween Treat Toppers!

Linking up at:  The Idea Room, 

My Halloween Star

Not everything I make is digital.  In fact for this craft, I found myself browsing through a traditional scrapbook store, drooling at all the fun paper to choose from. 

I originally saw this idea on Pintrest and knew that I needed to make this star ASAP.  While my mom was in town for a visit, we went searching for the perfect star and Halloween paper.  It was a fun afternoon shopping with her.  We then came home and made it in an afternoon.  It was one of the easiest crafty projects I have done.  In fact, it was so easy, I finished my Christmas Star on the same day.  

All you need for this craft is . . .

• 1 Rustic Star (I found mine at Hobby Lobby)
• 9-12 coordinating scrap booking papers
• Modge Podge
• Spray Glitter (my new love)
• Coordinating Ribbon

Start off by making a template of your star sides - one for the right side and one for the left side.  I just used a piece of white card stock to do this.  Then start cutting out the pieces of scrapbook paper to glue on.  Tape the cut pieces of paper to the star to make sure you have picked the right place for each piece of paper.  Remove the tape, and modge podge the paper to the star.  Then modge podge on top on the paper to add a protective layer.  Once the modge podge has dried, take outside and spray the star with the glitter.  Let it dry for a few hours.  Add your cute ribbon and voila, you're done.  Easy Peesy Lemon Squeezey!!!

Back To School Dinner

My Back To School Dinner was a huge success.  I love planning and executing these themed dinners for my family.  The smiles on their faces during dinner are priceless to me.  As an added bonus, I really enjoy making all the food and decorations to coordinate with my theme. 

When I first started planning my dinner, I went to Pintrest for inspiration.  It seemed like apples were everywhere so I used them as my main decorations and color scheme.  I then stared making everything - the fun part.  After the kids went to bed the night before, I decorated the table and got everything ready for the day.  The easiest part about this dinner was the dinner itself.  I made sack lunches with a hoggie sandwich, chips and strawberries.  I mean you can't get any easier when it comes to dinner. 

I hope that I can inspire you all to throw a themed dinner for your family. They may seem like a lot of time and effort for just a dinner, but the results are so satisfying to me and my family.   It has truly become a passion of mine. 

Smartie Pants Printable

I was searching the blogsphere for a cute and fun treat to put in my kids lunch bag on the first day of school.  When I found this idea HERE, my search ended.   I had to remake the tags to better suit my needs as I needed more than just Kindergarten tags. 

I printed, cut the circles out with a 2" circle cutter, taped some ribbon to the back and then glued the circles to some extra scrap book paper.  I like that I turned the tags into more a a treat topper to give my kids more Smarties.  After it was the first day of school and they had earned an extra treat. 

Click HERE to download your FREEBIE Smartie Pants Tags!

Here's to Another Awesome Year - PRINTABLE

I needed to make a gift for a large group of young girls to give as a back to school gift.  I got the inspiration for this gift HERE and adapted it for my needs.  I just printed, trimmed and attached the tag with a large grade twine.  They came together fast and I was under budget - even better. 

I think that I am going to double duty this gift and use it as my drink for my upcoming family Back to School dinner.

Click HERE to download your FREEBIE tags! 

FHE Conducting Chart - FREEBIE

I recently attended a class at my church that talked about spending more quality time with your family.  I came home reenergized and refocused my priorities in a few areas that needed some fine tuning.  One area that I have been working hard at is Family Home Evening.  "Family home evening is a special time set aside each week that brings family members together and strengthens their love for each other, helps them draw closer to Heavenly Father, and encourages them to live righteously."  (credit HERE)  My efforts in the past have been minimal to say the least.  So after attending my class, I came home a set a new goal about holding FHE regularly in my home.  To help me with planning, I made this chart.  I have found that I am more prepared and it helps me keep things moving smoothly - a huge must with little ones involved.  The chart has also become the kids conducting chart.  I let the kids conduct get them more involved.

I printed the chart on white card stock, trimmed the edges, mounted on black card stock and finally laminated.  Since I laminated my chart, it becomes reusable every week.  Just make sure you have a dry erase marker around.  I hang it on my fridge after FHE is over to give me a daily reminder of my new family goal.

Click HERE to download your FREEBIE!

I have a small favor to ask in return if you download the FHE chart {wink wink} - become a follower!   I told you the favor was small :) 

I used Just So Scrappy Happy Days kit to create this file!

INSPIRE - TEACHER APPRECIATION GIFT

Even though I am a digital girl, I still enjoy an occasional crafting day that does not involve my computer.  Today was that kind of crafting day.  I needed to make my daughter's gift for Teacher Appreciation Week.  I am grateful for our Kindergarten teacher this year and definitely wanted to thank her for all that she has done for my daughter.  I hope that this gift will keep her inspiration going in years to come as she continues to teach and inspire her little "Kinder Kids."

This gift was simple and fast to make, and cost me under $5.00 since all I had to buy was the glass block.  Yeah!!! 

Items Needed

• Rectangle Glass Block (got mine at Lowe's for $4.29)
• Cricut (or similar type cutting machine)
• Vinyl (cut letters at 1 1/2 inches high)
• Ribbon (pick 2 coordinating pieces, each with a different widths .)

To assemble, simply cut out the lettering and attach to the glass block.  Then tie the coordinating ribbons around the edge of the block.  That's it - Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezey!!! 

Easter Game Bundle - NEW RELEASE

My thoughts have turned to Easter this week.  If you follow my blog regularly, then you know that Holidays are BIG in my family.  I am a little behind in my celebration planning, but I am not too concerned.  I like to keep my family celebrations simple. 

I just finished creating some fun family Easter themed games that would be a great addition to any Easter Egg hunt you may already have planned.  This game bundle includes 2 games and BONUS coloring page. 

The first game in this bundle is the Easter version of Don't Eat Pete.  This game is one of my family's favorite.  It is fun for any age.  If you have never played before, the rules are simple.  First you need to have a bowl of candy.  We usually use M&M's, but for Easter we will use Starburst Jelly Beans.  Place one candy in each square of the game board. Send the first child (or adult) away from the game board, then have the remaining children choose which candy will be "Pete" for the round. Have the first child come back and begin picking candy from the game board. As soon as the child tries to pick "Pete" everyone yells "Don't Eat Pete!"  The child keeps all the candy picked up before trying to get Pete. Refill the game board and play again.

This bundle also includes a Pin the Tail on Peter Cottontail.  I decided that I wanted to make my tails look fluffy so I glued some cotton balls on them.  I think the fluffy version of the tails is SO CUTE.  

This game is comes in an 8x10 for easy printing at home or a 16x20 for printing on a poster at Staples or Office Max. 

Here is how I made my fluffy tails.  First I printed, trimmed and laminated my tails.  Then it only took about 10 minutes to finish adding the fluff.   I took cotton balls and cut them into fourths.  Then I used the glue shown in the picture and covered the whole surface area.  Finally, I started placing the cotton ball quarters onto the glue.  I used about 7 per tail. 

TO PURCHASE THIS FILE - CLICK HERE

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Tatertots and Jello

I Heart Digital Scrap Booking

I started scrapbooking when I was 12 years old.  Back in the day, I scraped 8.5 x 11 pages and and used bright neon paper.  I get a good laugh at myself when I looked through my first scrapbook.  I continued scraping until I graduated from high school, but fell a few months short of finishing my senior year scrapbook :(  The main reasons I stopped scraping was time, money and creative burn out.  As I got married and started having kids, I really wanted to get back into the habit of scrapbooking, but time and money were still an issue.

In 2008 a friend introduced me to Photoshop Elements (PSE).  I saw the layouts that she was creating and I knew I wanted to start using the program.  My hubby gave me the program for Mother's Day that year and I was so excited to get started.  I loaded the program, downloaded my first digital kit and was ready to create.  I sat down at my computer but had no idea where to start.  After many failed attempts, I gave up. 

After a few months, I was ready to try again.  I watched what seemed like hundreds of PSE YouTube tutorials and slowly I started to get the hang of it.  Then I recruited my friend to show me the ropes and watched her create a layout.  Finally, I knew just enough to start creating. 

Here is the very first layout I created.  I started out small with each page until I learned and more. 

Now, my pages look more like this.  Here is my most recent layout for my little guy to help celebrate his first year of life.

To make sure that I utilize my time and creative juices more effectively, I limit my scrapbooking.  I scrap one 2-page layout that highlights our year as a family and one 2-page layout for each of my 3 kids for their birthday.  By the time my kids grow up and leave for college, they will have have fun family and self history to take with them along their journeys.   Well, that's my goal anyways!!!

I want to be able to "pay it forward" what I have learned.  I can remember feeling lost and overwhelmed when I wanted to get started.  So you will start seeing more posts of my scrapbook layouts that include tips that I have learned over the years to help you all get started.

The Golden Ticket Reward System - NEW RELEASE

My sister in law called me about a month ago with this great idea for a new "rewards system."   She wanted to be able to give her kids a  reward for good behavior.  She asked me if I would create some kind of "coupon" to give to her kids and wanted one that was a little more special, "like a golden ticket."   What a PERFECT idea!!!  I couldn't wait to get started for her sake and mine.  I wanted to use this system in my house as well.  This system's concept is easy:  the kids do something good or kind for someone in the family and they get a reward ticket in return.

I created 4 different color designs so each child in the family could choose their own tickets, in addition to the GOLDEN TICKET. 

This system is easy.  Once you have printed, trimmed and laminated the tickets, simply use a Sharpie marker to write the reward.  When the ticket has been cashed in, simply wipe clean with some window cleaner and be on the look out for some more good behavior. 

My hubby and I have decided to keep the rewards simple.  Here are a few we are using

• Stay up 15 minutes late
• 1 extra dessert
• 1 more book to read at bedtime
• Manicure
• 15 minutes of Mommy/Daddy play
• Date to the Movie Theater - Golden Ticket
• Dinner Date with Mommy/Daddy - Golden Ticket

The ideas are endless and can be adapted to each child's likes and needs. 

To get your GOLDEN TICKET REWARD SYSTEM - click HERE

A special THANKS to Just So Scrappy and her digital kits!!!

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Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We celebrated our Valentine's Day a little early by having our Family Valentine's Dinner last night.  My hubby works late on Mondays and we didn't want him to miss out on all the fun.  It was so awesome to see my kids eyes light up when they saw the table.  Just a few simple embellishments went along way to make my table look so festive. 

I used the hearts from my "Heart Attach" game, along with silk rose petals and blue Sweet Tart candies.  I loved having the pop of blue on the table.

We finished off the night playing, Don't Eat Val, Valentine Tic Tac Toe and Find the Heart Attach.  I was the big loser for the night.  I got schooled in Don't Eat Val and got beat a time or two by my 4 year old in Tic Tac Toe.  However, unlike my kids, winning was not the most important thing to me last night - it was seeing the smiles on my family's faces.

Want to have the same fun my family did?  - click HERE

Valentine Gift Tag - You Melt My Heart

 Valentine's Day is fast approaching, but I have one more gift idea for you.  This gift tag can go with so many ideas, but here are a few I came up with this afternoon.

Give a container full of chocolate candies.  Who wouldn't love chocolate on Valentine's Day and chocolate "Melts" 

I also made some heart shaped Rice Krispy treats.  After I molded the hearts using the Wilton 6-Cavity Silicone Heart Mold Pan, I sprinkled colored Wilton Candy Melts over the top with a fork and topped with Valentine colored sprinkles. 

Finally, using Wilton Candy Melts, I made free form hearts shaped suckers.  After I melted the candy melts, using a large spoon, I made a heart shapes over small sucker sticks.  And once again sprinkled with Valentine colored sprinkles. 

I went with something different today and used toile to attach the tag to all my gifts. 

Click HERE to download this FREEBIE

Tatertots and Jello

YW Manual 3 Lesson 7 Handout

Here is the handout I created for my lesson at church on Sunday.  I love spending time preparing the lessons to give to these young girls, but I also love creating something from the lesson for the girls to take home.  My hope with my handouts is that my Young Women will look at them throughout the week and be remember the keys points to what they were taught. 

Click HERE to download!

Included in this download: 
Handout
Quotes from the lesson
Scripture used in the lesson

Thanks to Just So Scrappy!  I used her "Summer Breeze" kit to created this handouts

Chase Birth Annoucement - NEW RELEASE

My baby turned 1 today!  My precious baby has turned into a busy little guy that loves push buttons, pull out all my sandwich baggies onto the floor, crawl under the table and play with with sister and brother.  He yells at me all day long and his yell means many different things - change my bum, I need a drink, I'm stuck, snack time and so on.  The hard part is trying to decide what he exaclty means.  He has been a complete joy in our family and it is hard to say which one of us loves him more. 

To celebrate his big day, I am releasing his custom birth announcement in my Etsy Shop for purchase. 

Tatertots and Jello

Valentine Gift Tag - You Knock My Socks Off!

My kids love "crazy socks" as they like to call them so I decided it would be a fun gift for Valentine's Day.  I picked these socks up at the Target $1 Spot.  I had to go Batman for my little dude, no girly socks for him.  As for my daughter's there were too many cute ones to choose from so I closed my eyes and grabbed.  Then I printed, trimmed and attached the tag below with red raffia.  I think that I am in love with red raffia as I have used it quite a lot this Valentine season.  Embellishments have always been a weakness of mine.  I can't get enough of them. 

Click HERE to download your FREE printable tags!

I used Just So Scrappy for this digital creation!

Tip Junkie, 

Valentine Tag FREEBIE - I Was Soapin

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, I have been working on my kids Valentine gift to their teachers.  I think that teachers deserve more than just a piece of candy on Valentine's - don't you?!?!  Here is a quick, easy and inexpensive gift for teachers, friends or neighbors. 

I went to my local Dollar Store to purchase my soap.  Then I printed, trimmed and attached the tags to the soap with red raffia.  Voila!  Simple to make and one more thing crossed off my check list. 

Click HERE to download this FREEBIE!

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YW Manual 3 Lesson 5 handouts

I worked on my lesson for next week today and got it done.  I feel so on top of things right now!!!  I have created a few handouts for this lesson that I want to share with you. 

1. A worksheet for the girls to fill out that ask questions from the lesson.
2. An invite sheet to give to the YW sometime this week to bring an object from home.
3. And a handout for the end of class with a quote from the lesson. 

Click HERE to download all my handouts!!!

Thanks to Just So Scrappy!  I used her "Winter's Frost" kit to created these handouts

Bookmark - LDS YW's

I teach a group of girls for my church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I like to give them something at the end of the lesson to help them remember what we talked about.  Here is my handout for this week.  We are talking about Living The Gospel Daily.  (For my fellow LDS Young Women teachers, this handout goes along with Manual 3 Lesson 3.)  I am planning on attaching some ribbon to the top to finish the bookmarks off.  I can't wait to give them to my girls!!!

Click HERE to download the bookmark.  The download includes 7 bookmarks on one page. 

I use Just So Scrappy Kit - Madeline Kate to make this project!

First Digital Project of 2011

First on my list for digital projects every year is a custom family calendar.  I order mine from Vista Print. 

I started this project many years ago with a request from my hubby.  He wanted to be surrounded by more family pictures at work, but shared his office with others.  I thought a personalized calendar would do the trick and he agreed on one condition, it was "basic and NOT full of frills."  WHAT - no frills!!!  What was a scrappy girl supposed to do?

Vista Prints offers a variety of different options when it comes to calendars so I was able to give my hubby what he wanted.   This calendar could use a few more embellishments and it could DEFINITELY use a better font.  However, it is functional, I am missing fewer family birthdays, and as an added bonus my kids enjoy seeing past family pictures that would not normally have been displayed.

Yeah, my first digital project of the year is done.  Now, what should I work on next?!?!