Easy Baby "Onesie" Cards

 

These cards are so fun and easy to make!  Besides, I am in great need of baby cards...there are babies popping up everywhere right now!  I quickly grabbed some patterned paper, stickers and my circle and scallop punch and made 12 of these today.  Special thanks to Lauren Meeder for this design idea.  I have to apologize for my photo quality...my color and lighting are both off today...grrr.  

Go run and grab some white card stock for the base of your card...you will need to cut your card stock in half to make two 4 1/4" x 11" strips.  Fold those in half so that their finished size is now 4 1/4" x 5.5".  Below I took some photos to show you how to cut the scallops and also how to measure and cut the card into a onesie.  Enjoy!

Select your patterened paper (I use K&Co, Basic Grey and SEI)

These are the stickers I used along w/ the patterned paper I selected.

Use your 1 3/8" circle punch and punch the top along the fold and the 2 bottom corners.

From the top fold, measure down 1 1/2" and cut inward 1/2" from the side.  Connect the bottom right corner to the inside of the sleeve.  Repeat for both sides.

Using a 1 3/8" circle punch.  Punch a half circle through patterned paper

Place your scallop punch over the circle you just punched.

This is the scallop that will fit on the neck and also the corner of the card...so cute!

Preserving Christmas Memories

Christmas....seriously?  I realize it's March, I know, I know, Christmas stuff should be put away by now!  I've had this particular project sitting next to my desk for quite some time now (2 years to be exact). 

My family loves getting cards, letters and pictures over Christmas and New Years from both family and friends.  There are so many wonderful stories and memories that it just wouldn't be right to throw them away.  I used to create scrapbook pages for all my pictures and letters, but that filled up fast...and not to mention... took a lot more time and effort to create.  Now I just simply punch and bind these treasures into mini-books by year.

Both books were bound using the Zutter binding system.  The cover and back of the book are made with heavyweight chipboard that I covered with patterned paper, stickers and die cuts.  This is so easy and extremely affordable and note, we only keep letters and pictures unless the cards are homemade (hint hint).   We enjoy looking back at years past....oh how quickly the years go by!

Maybe this project will inspire you to create a book of something special and dear to your heart!

Candy Airplanes

Candy Airplane - Ingredients:  2 sticks of gum, 2 life savers, 1 smartie, 1 sillyband

 Over Christmas the boys really wanted to give something to their classmates at school.  I remember when I was younger, we gave a variety of things like:  Jumbo Candy Canes, Lollipop Reindeer, Candy Cane Reindeer, Candy Trains, etc.  I started looking for any "NEW" candy type projects online and stumbled upon these.  Aren't they the COOLEST!   I know, I should have posted this earlier, but just thought  it's a GREAT idea not only as an inexpensive gift for the holidays, but also for a birthday or other celebration.  ...they were so much fun for us to create and not to mention EASY and extremely KID FRIENDLY! 

Packaged and ready to go.

This is how we packaged the planes....I'm not gonna lie, I LOVE cello bags!   Add a beautiful topper to any cello bag filled with goodies and you've created a beautiful and simple masterpiece!  

Homemade Valentine Boxes

Happy Valentines Day Everyone! 
I thought I would share a little creative fun we had at our house this past weekend!  The boys got together and dreamed up their perfect valentine box.  In the true spirit of the holiday, they built their valentine boxes out of a standard shoe box.  Although I helped cut some of the cardboard, tape the paper to the box and cut the holes for the valentines to fit into, the boys did ALL the rest!  These boxes are constructed with a lot of love and creativity, a shoebox, cardboard, tape, construction paper, acrylic paint, markers and stickers.  Enjoy.  

 

 

KK and his dinosaur - when you open the mouth, the dinosaur eats the valentines -  YUM!

Chan and his Tank - pull up on the gun and the slot opens for the valentines.

Cole and his C17 Bomber - the back of the plane opens for the valentines

Jake and his baseball Mitt - astonishing hand-painted mitt that lifts to expose the hole for the valentines.

Observations - A journal to treasure

As I've grown I realize the importance of time, and the importance of recording treasured moments. 

I started my "Observation Journals" for both my boys after having the sudden realization that my beautiful stepdaughter went from being this young, vibrant 10 year old little girl to a now grown adult, full of wisdom and experience living on her own.  There are so many things I thought I would remember only to find I've simply forgotten.   If only I had kept a journal back then.

I write freely in these journals, there is no rhyme or reason to the order of the pages, but each book contains thoughts, insight, memories, feelings, funny stories, emotional moments and some pages even have pictures or scrapbook embellishments.   I record things as simple as how words were enunciated, or statements the boys made, accomplishments and milestones.  I know when they are older, these will be cherished.  I love the size of the books, their small and portable.  I keep them right next to my desk where they are very accessible.  I write in them as often as I remember.

This is a great tool whether or not you have time to scrapbook.  I personally don't always have time to make a scrapbook pages but I do have time to jot down some notes.

Time does not stand still.  Nor does it discriminate or play favorites.  It's the same for each and every one of us...each moment ticks away, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day and year by year. 

Dust off those cobwebs

Wow, where has all the time gone (again).  Apparently I've lacked a good dose of discipline to blog.  I've stayed so busy since my last post and I'd love to share some of the things I've been working on throughout the months.  Time to dust off those cobwebs and get to some blogging!   Stay tuned for more =)