Birthday Swap

I found this quite entertaining blog the other day called Seriously Shawn, and let me tell ya, Shawn is a hoot. She blogs about her everyday ~ like how she is going to have her last birthday this year....no she is not dying...she just doesn't want to have any more birthdays - she wants to remain 39... so she won't get wrinkles, fart in public, etc... Read it...it will make you giggle.
Anyhoo, she is doing a "birthday swap" in honor of her birthday. It sounded like a lot of fun, so of course I had to sign up! All you have to do is go to her blog to sign up - then she picks who you will send a gift to, you find cool items to send to your swap mate according to their likes and dislikes, pack them all up, mail it and, then wait for your goodies to arrive. I love it! Who doesn't like to open a box of goodies!

Back to School

A friend of mine has a wall in her home that is just for showing off everything her kiddos do at school ~ they call it the "Wall of Fame". From the ceiling to the floor...it is covered with her kids artwork, school papers, and photos. It is so cool that my family had to start our own "Wall of Fame" at our house. The kids are always excited to see their new works of art go up on the wall and everyone loves to show off their hard work and photos.

So, as school is starting back up again, I am looking for new and exciting ways to show off my little ones art work and school photos ~So, as came across this great blog called My Plum Pudding ~I was so excited when I saw the absolutely fab idea she had with re-purposed alphabet blocks for showing off photos! Take a look...


She has a free tutorial for making these super cute photo holders ~ Check it out at ~ http://myplumpudding.blogspot.com/2009/07/alphabet-block-magnets.html

Mod Podge Snow White Magical Wand

I am currently in my mod podge craft phase.... look there's a squirrel.... next week I am sure I will be onto another craft obsession ~ but for right now ~ here is some of my decoupage craftiness.

At our house my children, ages 6 and almost 4, are now working on a rewards system. Each child earns a ticket if they are exceptionally good, have great manners, help with some kind of chore around the house, etc. After earning a ticket, they put the ticket in the ticket can. Once they have earned 10 tickets, they get to pick a small prize ~ a sucker, a balloon, a new jar of bubbles ~ nothing big ... but something that they wouldn't normally get everyday. As my daughter, 4, was about halfway to her prize ~ I asked her what she would like to get. She said a Snow White princess wand. Well, first of all, she already has 2 Cinderella wands (not really sure how that happened), so does she really need a third magic wand?.... but of course my daughter believes she does.

Well ~me being the cheapie mom that I am - I wasn't going to buy another princess wand for $5 at WallyWorld - then in a week come to find out Snow White isn't cool any more - Ariel is the her favorite. So, as I do with most things, I try to figure out how I can make one myself. This is what I came up with....

First, I started with a dowel rod, cut it down to approximate magic wand size, then I took my handy dandy Mr. Dremel and cut a notch in the top.Next I made the star for the top of the wand. I cut 6 stars out of poster board and then decoupaged them all together to make one big thick star (yes, you can go to your local craft store and buy a small wooden star and use that - but I was trying to only use items that a had laying around my house). Then I decoupaged the dowel rod and the star with yellow construction paper. Next I glued a small wooden circle to the star and added a Snow White sticker to the center. I also decoupaged some shiny blue ribbon to the dowel rod.Then it was time to add the bling...every princess needs some glitter, so I added blue glitter all around the sticker. Next I used my fancy scissors to cut out some triangles to accent the points on the star ~ then decoupaged them down.After that... more glitter!!! I added a large ring of yellow glitter all around the center - for extra bling - but also to hid the bottom of the triangles. The only thing left to do is attach the dowel rod to the star. I put a little of my heavy duty industrial glue to the inside of the notch in the dowel rod - just for some extra security...I would hate for my little princess to be casting a magic spell and the star fall off... My daughter loves her new magical wand...and I do too - I saved $5!!!

Sew Easy....Apron Dress Tutorial

I love Matilda Jane clothes. I have bought several items ~ even had my own show. But now as our family is having to tighten the spending belt more than ever before...I have decided to try to make my own Matilda Jane-ish clothing for my little Tan-bug.

I found this great blog http://www.bridgetbaxter.blogspot.com/ (Everyday Chaos) with a free - yes ma'am - I did say FREE - tutorial for an apron dress. I wasn't sure how it was all going to turn out - I can sew ~ but I am not a "sewer"....so I used material that I already had in my craft room - just in case I couldn't pull this off. BOOYAH! It was soooo rockin' easy, this might have been one of the best items I have ever sewn. I can't say thank you enough to Bridget for posting this tutorial ~ you must check out her blog!

Mod Podge....

A while back I went through a decoupage phase in my life... I was decoupaging everything that didn't move. I literally had a friend of mine tell me that I was going a little overboard with the decoupage (yeah- like that could happen!) - so between that and my short craft attention span...look there's a squirrel....a few weeks later I was onto a new favorite type of craft.

However, yesterday I found a great blog called Mod Podge Rocks ~ check it out! http://www.modpodgerocks.blogspot.com The ideas on there truly rock!... I am in love with the decoupaged pink rabbit! I think today I am going to break out the paper and the Mod Podge... I'll post some pics of my craftiness later...

How to Make Recycled Paper Beads

I love making craft projects out of materials that I would normally just throw away....makes me feel warm and fuzzy ~ my little contribution to saving the world.

Lately my focus has been on jewelery. I have been making lots of recycled paper beads to add to my handmade necklaces and bracelets. It is simple and cheap...my two favorite things! You can use any type of paper you have lying at home ~ I like to use junk mail, scraps of construction paper from my kiddos crafts, used wrapping paper, and newspaper.



When you start your recycled bead project you will want to tear up your paper into small pieces. I have used scraps of construction paper here. Your bead color is dependant on what color of paper you choose...so keep that in mind as you are finding scraps. You may want to tear and sort into piles so that the colors are consistent. I have added several colors to mine, although the predominant paper color is red ~ so my beads will turn out to be a reddish color with some hints of other colors mixed through out.

Next you will want to soak your paper in hot water. I like to put my paper into a microwave-safe container with some water and microwave it until it comes to a boil. Then I stir the mixture up a bit and put it in my blender. (If you don't want to use your good blender...'cause you need it for your Mommy Margarita Nights...go to your local Goodwill store ~ you can usually find one there for a couple of bucks) I like to puree it for about 20 seconds. You have now successfully turned your paper scraps into a paper pulp mixture!

(And yes, just in case you are wondering...that is my kitchen...I prefer to cook at that one...I tend burn less in that oven.)

Now you will want to pour your paper pulp mixture into a mesh strainer. Take your fingers and push the paper pulp against the strainer to get all the water completely out.

Now put your paper pulp into a clean bowl and add some glue. I use cheap white school glue. Use your hands and mash the pulp and the glue together... reminds me of making meatloaf :o) The amount of glue you will need is dependant on the amount of paper pulp you have. You will need to experiment with this. You want glue throughout the paper pulp mixture, so it all feels a little sticky ~ it should not be soupy!!!

After your paper pulp has been thoroughly mixed with glue, you are ready to make your beads. All you need to do is get a small amount of the mixture and roll it into a ball ~ you can make small or large beads depending on how much you roll.

I prefer large chunky beads!!! If it ain't chunky ~ it ain't funky! :o)

After you have all your beads rolled out you will want to let them dry on some wax paper. Depending on the size of the beads you made the drying process could take anywhere from a couple days to a week.

After the beads are completely dried you can drill a hole in them. After the hole has been drilled all the way through you are ready to put your beads on some string!!!

Hope you have fun making your recycled paper beads!!!

Good luck!!!!

I don't think I am a complete idiot...

I don't think of myself as the smartest person in the world...however I don't think that I am a complete idiot either. SO ~ why is it I can't figure out this whole blog thing. I have been trying to figure out how to make changes to my background, text, banner, ect. ~ even found a great little website that has free blog backgrounds ~ CUTEST BLOG ON THE BLOCK ~ followed the directions ~ and yes I did save the changes (again - I am not a complete idiot) but for some unknown reason everything keeps reverting back to the original format... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Perhaps it is time for me to call in the experts....my 3 and 6 year old seem to be pretty computer savvy....maybe they can fix it for me....