Storage

I'm a saver. I'm not compulsive about it but I really like to reuse containers. Recently I reused an oatmeal container and a bread crumb container to make some cute containers for my kitchen. One is covered in scrapbook paper, the other in burlap with a ribbon. For the burlap I used spray glue (which I have a love-hate relationship with) and the scrapbook paper is just taped in.

Also, along the same lines, I wanted to shove into this post a little picture of my kids' activity storage.  I store everything in sterilite-type plastic containers.  Here we have random craft supplies, puzzles, paint, beads, play-doh (the huge one), water color books, crayons, and a few other activities.  I like to store everything in tubs so I can see what is there but it's all organized.  I also like to store this out of sight so we can GO get an activity but then put it away.  We do one thing at a time and it helps me stay sane.

Printables by Kelly

I've been getting into printables. I made a few for my daughters' wall (temple and Child of God) and then the other two for myself. It's simple to make them. I have used persnickety prints freebies for all but the Mom Anthem.

Naughty Chair

Months back - I think last November? - Ted made a time out chair for Gwenna. Meredith uses it now too, at 18 months. Back when she was a year there was very little hope that her stubby legs could get her in it or get her down - nor did she understand the concept of time out.

For the longest time, it looked like this:


Do you see it there in the background? I don't know that I ever took a picture of just the chair. It was made out of scraps and just as he went along. No plans really, just thrown together. But it works great and I wanted it to last longer and be more ... visually appealing. Not that pencil on bare wood doesn't have it own "appeal".

Ted and Gwenna painted it the colors of the girls' room. Then Gwenna and I went back and selected letters to mod podge on. I love the color combo.


If I was into vinyl, I'd have done that I imagine but I love how it looks, just the way it is. And luckily, it's back where it belongs and there's a bottom on it about a dozen times a day. We're in serious need of our naughty chair these days.

Let Freedom Ring

I love doing crafts with my kids but I needed to do something on my own this time.

Remember this post about holiday art? Well, I made a new print for the summer - this will last us basically from May until August.

Hand Art

Since we moved, 9 months ago, I have had a bare wall above my bed. It has plagued me and I came up with several idea but nothing seemed right. Until I thought of this.



This is our framed hand art. Each hand is the traced hand of a member of our family. They overlap and my wedding band (which I don't think you get a great shot of) is actually made of paper from my husband's hand. Cute, eh?

All we did was find a nice frame we liked. This frame had a mat for 4 4x6 pictures and the dimensions of the frame were 8x20 in. If our family grows to be larger than 5 people someday, we'll need a larger frame. I think it's becuase my husband's hand is HUGE.

We took 2 pieces of double sided 12x12 patterned scrapbook paper. Then we traced 1 hand on each side and cut. Pretty simple. I used butcher block style paper for the background, cut to size, and glued the hands on, slightly overlapping. It would be smart to keep the mat to be able to trace the background the first time and any time you may want to re-make it. Just sandwich it all in the frame.

The whole time I was arranging the hands my 2 year old kept saying, "Too-ged-uh for-eber, wite Mommy?" (Together forever, right Mommy) And I said yes, of course!

You could also do this with a super cute wrapping paper as the background and then use either a coordinating pattern for the hands or - probably better - solid colors for the hands. Each member of the family could even decorate their own hand. Some sort of writing might be cute, like the family name and year or maybe "Together Forever" - inspired by a 2 year old.

Then you just have to hang it somewhere it will stand out, because it's super cute!

And don't forget to let your kiddos jump on your bed while you hang it because, probably, if your bed is like mine, they don't get to play in it often. It'll be extra special for Toogeduh foreber.

Birthday Banners

Back in July 2010 I started a post on birthday banners. My little girly turned 2 and I wanted to share the banner I made for her. Since then I have made two more but only have pictures of 1 more. My husband's birthday if Christmas Eve so while he got a banner, I didn't take pictures, sadly.

I'm going to give an in depth tutorial but here are the supplies you need:


And here is how Gwenna's turned out.


Her center banner:


For Meredith's banner, 4 months later, I used the same pom-pom string and just changed everything else out. Simple enough.


Her flags and center piece:


Here is the digital copy of the center piece I created for Mer's banner with elements from Summer Driggs.
It's so super simple and really makes the birthday boy or girl feel so special. Give it a try the next time a loved one's birthday rolls around!

Paper Crafts for every Holiday

This post is frustrating me.

Every once in a while I have a picture issue with blogger.

When I upload a picture, it's oriented correctly. Then, it uploads sideways, rotated some amount - either 90 or 180 degrees. SO annoying. Even if I delete it, it won't upload right. Some files and blogger are NOT friends.

But I'm going to move on.

I wanted to share a small decoration we do for each holiday.

Gwenna LOVES "projects" and for her that's anything from coloring to stamps to paper craft and beyond. She just loves hands on crafty projects. I don't know WHERE she gets it! So I figured out a way to let Gwenna help decorate for every holiday. This is good because I only really decorate for Christmas and birthdays so now our house has something up year round.

All I do if pick a shape for Gwenna to decorate. She LOVES glitter glue/paint so I let her do that becuase I also love sparkles. So Gwenna decorates a shape and we mount it on pretty paper with some holiday saying. Then we trim and frame. See? SO simple and really cute. You can, of course, tell Gwenna did it. I love that! She's always so proud of the finished product when she makes projects.

I have two example to share. The first TERRIBLE picture you will just have to cock your hear to the right to take in properly.

Of course there are little hands involved.

Here is our Valentines Decoration I took out of the frame as we rotated a new one in
.
And here is our St. Patrick's Day Decoration. It was a lot of fun to make. I did the bottom right leaf of the clover and most of the stem. Gwenna did the rest.


Pop it in a frame and you're good to go, glare and all! :)

Make sure the previous holiday's Decoration gets put behind the current so you can rotate properly.

Easter is coming next and I'm really looking forward to that one. I figure, some Christmas or even Thanksgiving, Meredith will get a turn!

Wodden Letters

I made these wooden letters for my little girls, each when they were in my belly and one still is. It's a lot of fun to decorate with letters and words and it's even more fun if you decorate the actual letters before you put them up.

It's a very simple process to make these letters and doesn't take very much time or talent. Here's a list of things you need:

A wooden letter, any size but preferably larger than 6 in.
Patterned craft paper
Mod Podge
A medium sized craft paint brush
A pencil
Scissors
Embellishments that may include:

• Tag board cut outs
• Ribbon
• Buttons
• Stickers
• Craft pens
• Glitter
• Sequins

Hot glue gun with glue OR heavy duty craft glue

The first step, which isn't hard, just difficult to explain, is the hardest part. Begin by laying the wooden letter face down on the back of the paper. Let me clarify: lay your paper down on the table so the side you want glued to the letter is face up. Now put your wooden letter down so that you see the back part that will be touching the wall. (I may have overdone it but it's important to have this right.) With your pencil, trace, as close as possible, the outline of your letter onto the paper.

Remove your letter. Cut out the backwards letter from your piece of paper.

At this point, if you want two papers on the letter trace the letter again in like fashion and cut it out. The second picture (above, the G) was done like this. I actually even did a cute little torn edge on the left hand side but ended up covering it up because it also happened to be right where I wanted the nametag to go. Go figure!

Turn your letter over so that the front is now facing your. Place your paper on, right side up so that you see the pattern on the letter as you want to in the finished product. Make any cutting adjustments needed. Once you have it just the way you want it, brush a good layer of Mod Podge over the wooden letter. Carefully place the paper on top of the Mod Podge, making sure not to wrinkle it or trap very much air. You have some flexibility once it's on there but not much.

At this point, if you are doing two papers (or more, it's your letter!) paint a full coat of Mod Podge over the letter and get your second layer in place. Once the second layer of Mod Podge is dry, do another coat over the entire front of the letter so that any exposed paper is sealed. If you were doing only one paper, after you have put that in place, seal it in with Mod Podge as well.

Once that last coat of Mod Podge has dried, you're ready to decorate. This is the fun part! Do a dry run with all your embellishments. Try moving things about and putting things where you might not imagine. Clumps of things such as stickers and ribbon can compliment each other very well and even if you'd imagine a crowded look, it might end up looking cute.

Now, I haven't done one of these for a boy yet but I would really like to. I have so many cute idea dealing with little sports memorbelia, littler wooden cutouts, and the like. I would love to see one of these done for a little boy.

I hope you have fun making a wooden letter. I've done this a couple times now so I may have left something out. If you have any questions on the process, please let me know!