My New Cave

You know how sometimes you just want to go find a cave to get away to sometimes?  Well, I think I've found my version of my cave....scrapbooking.:)  I love, love, love it.  My mom-in-law got me a Michael's gift card for Christmas, and I instantly knew what I wanted; I'd been eyeing it for two years; it was the Martha Stewart Essential Colors Glitter Set.  

While I haven't been able to bring myself to open it yet (it's just too beautiful), I'm waiting for just the right project, like maybe our wedding scrapbook.  

BUT as long as it took me to do this first layout this weekend (my first real layout, even though I've attempted to come up with others on my own), it could be a while before I get to the wedding album.:)LOL

I've decided to start using my Michael's coupons to just get stuff here and there when I can to feed my new "cave" hobby.:)  There are so many layouts to look at online and get ideas from.  That's exactly how I did this layout, by looking at another similar one.  No, I really don't know what I'm doing, but I guess I'll learn as I go.

I'm just so excited!  I love my Xacto knife (well, my generic Xacto knife), and I love layering designs....it's just too much fun!  I'm thinking with as much fun as I had just cutting designs out, maybe I should have been a surgeon.:)  Seriously, I had to make some of the stuff on this design, since I didn't have a ton of supplies....so much fun, though!  (By the way, anyone got any great ideas of where all to get affordable scrapbooking supplies online?  I'm new to this, so I'd love your advice.) 

Sentimental Ornaments

The boys and I set to work on Christmas gifts for the grandparents last week.  We got the idea for the Christmas tree pictures from Jenn's Advent Box and the ideas for the ornaments from The Fifth Street Palace, as well as Home Grown Hearts.

We made handprint Christmas trees with thumbprint ornaments, 

and then we made handprint snowmen on ornaments; I ended up doing the detail work on the snowmen, but that little chubby handprint is just precious.  

At first, I wasn't so sure how our projects were turning out; we had lots of smears, and I had to keep washrags handy to wipe off the ornaments and try again....plus Jacob couldn't quite get the hang of handprints at first.  I was beginning to wonder how these ladies can make it look so easy.:)  Crafting with kids is just not that easy for me....oh, it's fun, but halfway through a big project, I sometimes end up wanting to say words Mommies should just not say....LOL (just keepin' it real here).  But, we ended up having a lot of fun, once we got through the initial practice sessions, and the boys ended up with some really cute, sentimental gifts for the grandparents.  I also used the tag idea to make it even more special.  We were supposed to use clear ornaments, and I wish that we could have, but we were trying to use what we had, plus the ornaments we had gotten at the dollar store.  All in all, though, they still turned out ok.

Some day, those little handprints are going to be big handprints....I just can't imagine that day, and I don't really like to think about it.  That's why these memories are just too precious not to write down. 

Merry Christmas!  Get craftin'!:)

Join in with 'Tis the Season Thursday with The Fifth Street Palace.

Things I Love Thursday: Christmas Crafts

Lately, the boys and I have been celebrating Advent, thanks to the wonders of Jenn's Advent Idea Box.  We've done so many arts and crafts, and we're set to do much more.  Last night I went to the dollar store and the craft store to get more supplies.  We are stocked up!:)  Anyway, we've done a couple of fun things so far that the boys and I just loved.

First we made ice cream cone Christmas trees out of sugar cones, green icing, and little candies or sprinkles.  

We used mini M&M's for ours.  They were so much fun to make....

and even better to snack on afterwards.:)  At least it was bathtime after.:)  Totally worth the mess, though.

Then one night we made popsicle stick snowflakes with popsicle sticks, glitter glue (our Dollar Tree here had huge packs of glitter glue for $1 (just an fyi)), and other little buttons, jewels, and beads that we glued on for decoration.  

 

Daddy even got in on this one with us, using the hot glue gun to glue the popsicle sticks together for our snowflakes, since regular glue just wasn't cutting it too well.  He also got a little sidetracked and made his name.:)LOL (Guys and popsicle sticks....)  

Of course, Jaden thought it was more fun to try to eat the glitter glue this time; he usually does really well with it and loves it, but he was kinda cranky this night anyway.  Still, we had a lot of fun and made quite a few beautiful snowflakes to hang in our windows or wherever else we might want them.  

We love Christmas crafts; I have plenty more up my sleeve, and I'll be sharing some more of our finished products with you over the next couple of weeks.  For more Things I Love Thursday, visit The Diaper Diaries.

Our Advent Calendar- Cute & Frugal Project

Yesterday, I delved into Jenn's Advent Idea Box.  We had so much fun with it.  We did some regular school but incorporated this into our Bible time and Art time.  We made our Jesse tree and hung it on the door; pics will come later after all the ornaments are put on.  Our art project was especially fun, though.  In fact, Jacob said it was the "best art project" he's ever done....he and Jaden both had so much fun.  I did too, actually.  We all got in on the fun.  

We made our very first ever Advent calendar.  We used an idea from 4 Crazy Kings, using envelopes, only I had no envelopes for this.  So, I got out my handy dandy roll of brown paper, which has been such a life saver, ever since I bought it.  I cut out strips of the paper to fold and staple into envelopes.  I did all this beforehand and stapled the envelopes while the boys were decorating them.  I even got into decorating a few of them.  Jacob thought it was really fun to learn how to overlap the big stamp we had to make cool designs around the edges of his envelope.  He couldn't believe I was stamping the newspaper at first, until he saw what I was actually doing.:)  Jaden thought it so much fun to tear apart my ink pad at first, getting ink all over his little fingers, but it all went back together, and he wasn't any worse for the ink all over him.  Soap and water, right?  We dove into our stash of Christmas stickers and stamps, as well as markers to help decorate our envelopes.  

 

When we had all of them decorated, I used plain old twine and paper clips to hang them, as that's what we had on hand.  It actually turned out really cute.  

Now I just have to fill the envelopes with a treat for each day....seeing as today's the first day, I'd better get on that.:)  

Fun Halloween Craft- Ghostwriter

Jacob and I had a fun art project this week.  We made Halloween cards for all the Grams and Gramps, and we made the Ghostwriter.  We actually got the craft idea from Disney Family Fun.  We didn't have Crayola Model Magic, so we improvised with Crayola Air Dry Clay, and it worked ok; a little bulky, but it was fun, nevertheless.:)  That green is supposed to be a fingernail; we didn't have a plastic fingernail either, so we just made one out of clay.  That's what being a homeschool Mommy is all about; improvising....finding creative ways to get the job done.  Most importantly, Jacob thought it was great, having a pen that looks like a ghostly finger....:)  Have a happy day!

Fun Fall Window Silhouettes

We just love fall in our house; it's such a fun time of year. It's starting to cool down outside, and it's getting cozy inside. With fall comes all the fun holidays, like Halloween and Thanksgiving.

I'd been promising Jacob for a while now that we'd make some fun silhouettes for our windows for Halloween. With needing to do art, we decided today was the day. I logged onto Martha Stewart's website today and found some great templates and printed them out. Then I cut the shapes out with my craft knife. We took the template and traced around the edges with a white crayon onto black construction paper. After that, I let Jacob cut with his scissors (since I'm just not ready to place such a sharp, razor-blade knife in his hands yet....yikes!), and I cut with my handy dandy craft knife. Voila, we had really cute silhouettes for our windows: bats, cats, and witches. We have some more templates to try out, like pumpkins and a slightly larger bat. We used double-sided, transparent scrapbooking tape to stick them up on the windows. The best part is that now we have the templates for next time. He's already wanting to do more, and since we are about out of construction paper, I think a trip to the dollar store is in order, so we can make more projects like this. Oh, and I think my artistic talent is finally looking up just a bit....:)LOL. Maybe papercrafts is my niche!

Next stop: the Silhouette Candle Creatures.:)

Show And Tell Saturdays- Handmade Things

There are a couple of things that I can put on here for handmade things by yours truly. I love making and creating things; writing and creating are such outlets for me. It just brings a calm to my soul. Anyway, here are a couple of things:

The first cake was made for Jacob's kindergarten graduation last year....Dan helped me a little bit with the fondant; it was the first time I had actually used it, and I'd really like to figure out how to work with it better.

The second cake was made for the highschoolers at the school, as well, for graduation. One side a basketball, the other a volleyball.

Lastly, I created these two scrapbook creations for last Christmas as Christmas presents, and I ended up giving them to my mom. They are pictures of my grandma and grandpa; I plan on making more for myself.:)

For more Show and Tell Saturdays, link up with Homesteaders Heart.

Yea!!!!

I got my first page done in Jacob's baby book. Yea!!!! It is possible! (Especially when you have half a snow day). Hopefully, I can get Jaden's started too and actually finish these two projects. I'm making some of the text for the books in Microsoft Word and then using old cards and things I pick up here and there. Jacob's will be dinosaur themed, and Jaden's will be jungle animals. I'm hoping that some day I can give these to the boys as keepsakes that they can find many memories in and even interesting tidbits of history from when they were born and from their growing up years. It's just so much fun!

Things I'd Like To Do

Ok, so every day at the end of that day, I always tell myself that tomorrow I will do something that I love that does not include cleaning or cooking or homeschooling. I will make time for one of the many hobbies that I enjoy. Since I never seem to find the time or other things just keep coming up (for instance, possibly having shingles right now)(Ouch! If it's not shingles, then something else is definitely going on; only, it took me a week to finally admit that something was wrong), I'm going to make a list and hopefully, I can pick something and "get to it" this week. So, here goes:
1) Finish my bedroom curtains, for goodness' sake.
2) Pick out pictures for my mirror that I got for Christmas, and get them to Snapfish, so I can finish my mirror.
3) Start my boys' baby books (scrapbooked baby books); I know, right?! They're 6 years old and 14 months old! Now, that's pathetic!
4) Finish reading The Well-Trained Mind (even though that has to do with homeschooling) and The Greatest Generation.
5) Get my cross stitch out, and get that project I've been working on for about 3-4 years finished. (Ok, so that's pathetic too!)
6) Get to the Y with Jenn and exercise! (Although, if this is really shingles, that may have to wait until Thursday or next week because it hurts just to raise my arm right now).
7) Start working on finding antiques here and there and making pictures for my wall to kinda give my home a fresh redo (obviously, this will have to be done over time), which also includes dreaming up a better crafting area (some day for when we have a slightly bigger house).
8) Get my book series started! Get to my Grandma's house to look at her pictures and letters for ideas and inspiration and research, research, research! (This isn't really a hobby but a goal for this year to at least get one book out of my head and written down)
9) Research online writing jobs, and apply for them instead of putting it off in fear that I don't qualify. (Ok, so this should be #1!)
10) Get busy looking into seeds and plants that I could easily start on my own.
11) Do more things to my blog to make it better, and get to know more of my fellow bloggers!
12) Just take a bubble bath, and relax!
So, that's my list so far.....oh, there's so much more I'd like to do, but that's just what I have for now....what's on your list?:) Maybe if we write it down, we can see it, visualize it, and "get to it!"

Ready for Christmas?

Christmas is almost here, and it's that time of year again with all the hustle and bustle of the shopping world. There are so many people spending money on all kinds of different things out there, but the key to this season is frugality. Why spend so much money, when you can come up with more meaningful and thoughtful ideas on your own? So, I thought I'd share some of my own gift ideas here, and if you'd like to add to the list, go ahead; the more, the merrier, truly.:)

One thing that I had read about and have kind of tweaked to fit my own style is scrapbooking pictures and framing them. I'm taking old pictures of family (wedding pics of my mom and dad and an old picture of my grandma and grandpa when they were very young) and scrappin them into frames. I'm also taking pics of our boys and making them black and white or antiqueing them and scrappin them also. Now, before you go on about how expensive scrapbooking supplies are or how you just don't know how to scrapbook, I want you to think outside the box. It just takes a little creativity and thought. I don't really know how to scrapbook either; I'm just winging it. As for supplies, there is a dollar shop here where everything is $1, and they are starting to stock all kinds of supplies, all unique and really beautiful actually. I was even able to buy a big scrapbook for $1. Your local craft store will also sometimes put the paper on sale at a really good deal, like 4/$1 or a similar price. Also, get out old greeting cards, buttons, ribbon, etc. You can also get pretty cool frames at the dollar shop or even in the cheapie frame section at Walmart (in the outside aisles).:) Use what you have; you can come up with some pretty unique creations. Here are a couple pictures of what I have so far.

Another thing you might try is homemade candy or cookies, etc. I'm actually making truffles this year, and I got the recipe from the free Kraft Food & Family magazine that comes in my mailbox. Then you can take that candy and put it in a cute little box you get at the dollar shop. You can find the recipe for the truffles at this website: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/simply-sensational-truffles-107529.aspx.

Another idea is to get onto Craigslist or Ebay and just look; keep searching for things you're interested in purchasing, and don't let yourself be "taken" with high shipping costs. On Craigslist, you can find things in your local area, so you don't even have to pay shipping. It's pretty cool. Also, Amazon.com and Half.com have all kinds of books, cds, movies, games, etc. for really decent prices. Check out your local thrift store too; what may seem like junk can actually be turned into a treasure for someone. Think outside the box!:)

So, this Christmas, don't get caught spending all that money you've saved up; think outside the box, and save!:)