The Girls' Christmas Tree

It took a lot of "girl craft nights", but we've finally finished up the ornaments for the tree! I'd like to do more with it (like a felt ball garland), but right now I'm out of time to finish a LOT of other projects for Christmas gifts, so this is going to have to be it for now ... except for the tree skirt which I'll post tomorrow. :) Because that thing has been an insane amount of time for a such a small circle that goes under a tree, that NO ONE will see ...She painted each bird house, and then cut & mod podged on the scrapbook paper. I helped with some measurements & hot glued clothespins onto the bottom of each house to help hang them up with. The star was actually green before for a previous project, but we just covered it in TONS of pink paint & I think it looks pretty on top of the tree ... it doesn't feel complete, but I guess we'll leave some of those other projects for next year. :) She was pretty excited about it all though!

Ruffled Table Runner

So I saw this picture & idea via pinterest. And it was *LOVE*. Only, the burlap warnings of never get this wet or it will stink scared me off. Then I saw some yummy linen like colored fabric at Jo-Ann's and I was able to get this table runner out of it (and also used the remaining fabric for some of my pillow forms)! For $9.47 I was able to get three projects out of the fabric, and I have to say I LOVE the look this adds to the room. Of course having to place & clean the table three times a day can be annoying (so the kids who *always* spill something each meal don't ruin it). But so far, it's a GREAT addition to the room! :)

Black Ruffle Pillows & a Giveaway!

I saw a similar set of pillows on Dear Lillie and absolutely loved them! I actually used a red pillowcase (picked up a set of sheets -queen- on cleanance for only a few bucks last year for the trim, and the fabric was on sale last weekend for $1.99 a yard at Jo-Ann's. They are going to go on some white chairs I picked up for $2.50 (for the set!). I'm planning on re-covering them as soon as I find some cheap upholstery fabric, but they are a nice anchor for the entertainment center. But for now they seem like a nice splash of christmas-y color ... Pillows #5 & #6 done and now I have absolutely no idea what I want to do for the rest ... ALSO ... remember those little flowers? Well, I have the facebook page up & running and since I had my first big sale this week, I thought I would celebrate with another giveaway this weekend! Go here to check it out if you'd like to win some flowers! :)

I'm linking up to these parties: Freckled Laundry

Boys Room - Jax's Pillow -

So I saw this pillow and LOVED it. And since Jax was the only boy still without a pillow for his bed, I used a $1 pillow form from the thrift store (obviously pre-hot washed and sterilized). I love the way it came out, and he was pretty excited to have it on his bed too! Pillow #4 done!

(Pillowcase blogged here, jean blanket blogged here)

Santa Christmas Pillows

The next set of pillows were actually purchased for $2.99 each at Ikea. I want to put them in the toy room, but the bench is currently being touched up for paint, so I guess my front room couch will have to do for now. I bought this fabric years ago, and I really love it, I'd love to be able to make some accent pillows to go with it, but I've never found anything that really fits. Easy pockets on the back (using some leftover fabric from my front room curtains) ... and I love the festive colors it brings into the room! :) Pillows #2 & #3 done ... now to finish Jax's car pillow! :)

The Patience of Job ...

So you know that day ... the day when you realize you have let your to-do pile get out of control? The day when you realize you have TEN pillow forms (most from the goodwill ... but still) laying all around your craft room/homeschool room/daughter's-taken-over the room with her crafts room ... and your sweet husband makes absolutely no mention of that when you tell him that you want to start on a new project tonight? Yeah ... seriously patient guy. So ... I am making the goal to finish up those pillows this week! It's 9:30, but after this I am going to go stitch up the next set before bed ... a little less sleep, but two more finished pillows would DEFINITELY make him happy.

The first one up for show is this cute little unicorn pillow. I had stitched up the unicorn FOREVER ago (beginning of October) during the first weekend while watching General Conference. I picked up the pillow form in September, nothing really wrong with the pillow, just not the right colors for the girls room re-do. Savannah loved the unicorn stitchery (a freebie found online), so I enlarged it 125% and just worked on it during the weekend. Love it, and it only cost me $0.50 for the pillow, everything else I already had on hand! :)

Super Saturday Cuteness

This last weekend was our church's Super Saturday Craft Day. There were lots of cute things to make and I was REALLY excited about it all ... so of course my husband had to work unexpectedly. Which wouldn't have been a problem (they were offering free child care), except my children also got nasty colds. Which quickly ended my fun day of crafts and self-indulgence. So, I finished up one of the crafts last night & had to show this cuteness! It's just simple wood, painted with craft paint, add the vinyl & paint mod podge all over ... wah-lah! SUPER CUTE! :) I've ordered four more now for gifts for next year ... LOVE IT! :)

What to do with 150 flowers???

So my friend was going to do a craft fair, and she was being gracious enough to let me mail her something to sell at it. So, I came up with my own version of the silk satin flowers with singed edges ... and I made about 150 flowers ... I worked on it like crazy for a week and a half, using up supplies I already had on-hand. A cute little pearl in each center, nothing over the top or dramatic, just a nice accent to any outfit (although at 25 minutes to make each one ... they are a VERY time consuming little hair accent) ... and then something came up and that friend can't do the booth anymore ... so what do I do with all these FLOWERS??? Well, I listed a few on etsy ... and am working on taking better pictures of those ones and the rest to list as well! LOL.So ... anyone interested, the flowers can be found listed here.

Still Kickin'

Tonight a friend mentioned that I keep getting sick because I'm not sleeping and resting at all the last month or so ... she may be right. After losing my voice for almost a week, being healthy for four days and then catching the next cold from the boys ... I've realized I have to slow down a bit. And it's been nice ... not much to report because of it ... but nice. :) I did however finally make a use for the random Christmas ornaments I picked up in January 2010 ... I was inspired by this Pottery Barn wreath. And for $5 (the cost of the wreath form from Hobby Lobby), I was able to hot glue the ornaments onto the wreath ... and I absolutely LOVE IT! :) I actually had enough ornaments to make three more wreaths (and cleared out a box and a half of my closet in the process!) ... So, I made a fun afternoon craft project of it with a gal from church and another gal is planning on coming over (as soon as she has "free time") to make hers as well ... I know I shouldn't skip over Thanksgiving, but the twinkle lights and Christmas colors are so much more fun!
Think about how easy it would be to make this wreath with the random ornaments you already have at home???Admit it, you want one too now! :)

Boys Room - Pennant Banners -

I love these pennants at PBKids. And then came across several tutorials on-line and realized just how easy it would be! I just sized letters on my photoshop, using he font collegiate outline and then printed out the outlines of each letter to save on ink. I used iron-on adhesive, but it never sticks very well to felt, so I just sewed around each individual letter. LOVE THEM! It was the last project from my $4.67 Jo-Ann's trip (I had enough left over felt to give some to two different friends to make their own too!). Jaxson loved his so much that he has actually overly stretched it out a bit and has demanded that I put it above his bed. I love making things for my kids. :)

Halloween Wreath

After putting up the other wreath, I realized I really wanted a Halloween one. Nothing over the top gross or overdone, and I remember this wreath and it was lovely. So that was the other fabric I got (meaning to make it sometime in the future ... but now works just as well!). Not as cute as the original, but no one besides I will ever know that. LOL. Both fabrics were bought at Jo-Ann's (and are a perfect match, but with the clouds & lighting, the orange keeps showing up funny), with my $10 gift card, so it only cost $1 for the black crow, the wreath I already had on-hand as well. :) I put the burlap wreath aside until the first of November. I LOVE wreaths! :)

Pinwheel Blanket

My sister had a baby back in December & I'd been meaning to make & send her a blanket ... but it wasn't until last week when my husband needed to go to Austin unexpectedly when I suddenly found myself trying to make an entire blanket in less than two days. I actually finished the binding on the way to the airport (not so much fun with the car sickness thing) and Ryan quickly held it up for me on his way to catch his flight, lol. It was using Mary Englebriet fabric (a charm pack) that I had on-hand and I love what a bright cheery fabric it is. What I don't love is the over the top thickness of that yellow underneath fabric, it would NOT feed thru the machine and was a complete & total pain in the rear to quilt. The quilting (thank heavens you can't see it) was completely wonky & too tight & too loose in other spots. But hopefully little Emma won't notice the bad quilt job anytime soon. ;)

First Big Snow

So this Saturday we had our first big snow storm. We got 6 inches in our backyard, and it completely destroyed half of a tree with the weight of the snow.The kids were in hog heaven though (Hunter is wearing his "Harry Potter" scarf from last Halloween ... love it!), it was the first time they've built a real snowman, and all without any help from Mommy.I hurt my back this past weekend, but today I finally got the photos uploaded from that and a few finished projects! We had a Jo-Ann's FINALLY open up here in town, and they were giving away gift cards to the first 100 people each morning ... so I picked up all these goodies for only $4.67! The first project on the list was a cute burlap wreath for our front door. I've become a bit obsessed with front door wreaths (I have a huge board on pinterest full of inspiration) and I can't believe what a difference it makes (in my mind at least) to have one up now! :)

Busy, Busy Days

So on Monday, after a very full day of school, my husband surprised the kids by getting off work an hour early. We quickly packed up and went to a local state park, where we fished , roasted hot dogs & made smores and the kids were in heaven. To say we all slept well after such a busy day on Monday would be an understatement. I keep thinking the days will slow down a bit now that school is going, but they seem to be even busier than ever. So I have finished nothing in almost a week now ... and most of the projects require next to nothing to finish either ... maybe I should start drinking soda again, it would certainly help me finish more on my to-do list, lol. I realized I never posted pictures of the things finished in Savannah's room, so here's the first project for her room. I cut out a TON of circles with my cricut to make some bunting for the room. When you can't paint, you gotta make more pops of color wherever you can! Then I saved all the little scraps for another project I'll take some pics & post tomorrow. :)

Mindless Crafting ...

My husband has been working a LOT of overtime lately (which would be awesome ... except he's salary ... and at this moment I would like to repeat our family mantra - "we're so lucky he has a job in this economy"). So there are weeks like this week, where he has put in 50 hours by last night ... and I need something to take my mind off of everything ... so I look to my new favorite "mindless craft". These amazingly cute & simple burned edges flowers (I made some for the 4th of july here).

I love the fact that I can get 5 for $1 (four smaller ones & a large one for myself), and that with very little effort I get a beautiful result! Here are some I've made lately. I actually made and gave a total of ten of these flowers to a friend in Vegas and am in the process of now making hot pink, white, blue, red and gold. And the best part is it's 20 minutes from start to finish ... and look at how darling they look on my baby girl! LOVE IT! :)

Hopefully I'll have something exciting to share (and completed!) by Monday ... wish my luck!

Boys Room - Framed Artwork -

For the other dresser/window spot, I picked up some dollar store frames and used this idea I saw posted on pinterest. I already had the red spray paint, and a Rand McNally road map we picked up at the thrift store.

*The frames are straight ... unfortunately, the photograph isn't.*

For $5 we have framed travel artwork of places we've been with the kids! Idaho & Nevada, then Utah & Wyoming on the other end. Here's a full shot of it ...and the AWESOME plants that completely block the view & lighting thru the window ... now I am off to work on my birthday girls' finishing touches on her cake and special day! :)

Boys Room -Postcard Frame-

I love it when we can use one thing to cross off many goals on a list. :) Hunter needed to start a collection of some sort for a cub scout goal ... and since there are so many places we can travel here within an hour, and he already had a fun postcard from San Fransisco & Japan (from my Mom's travels) ... it seemed like the perfect idea! We picked up this AWESOME frame at the Goodwill for less $4 ... than Hunter sanded, and I showed him how to use spray paint primer. We picked up cork from Hobby Lobby for 40% off and used some extra batting I already had and some fabric I saw at Hobby Lobby as well. We decided that using ribbon along the board would make it more friendly for the younger boys ... and wah-lah! This is actually the most expensive thing I have done so far ... but still less than $20, and it passed off a cub scout goal for Hunter too! Double woo-hoo!

Boys Room Clocks

So eventually I want to frame in this map for the boys' room, but on a non-existent decorating budget, this works for now. :) I actually used my birthday money from Ryan's parents to buy the clocks. We decided to use Moscow, New York, Cheyenne (where we live now) and Hawaii for the time zones. **Sorry for the photos, they are in the basement which has two HUGE bushes in front of it, even during the middle of a bright summer day it looks like a dungeon ... fun times!**Hunter wanted to cut the letters & stick them up himself ... just used scrapbook paper ... not as polished as I would hope for, but it's done, it's cute and it was such a thrill to cross one more thing off my list! :) I made a little inspiration board a year and a half ago, and forgot about it ... fun to see how it's finally coming together like I had envisioned! Although now I'm thinking I'd like to add a little saying on an orange board right above it ... hmmmmmm ... I also added some little fun hooks right next to the bedroom door for their hats. Nice & organized ... they were on clearance at Hobby Lobby and only $2 each ... a little bit of a splurge, but it's fun! :)

Finishing the Boys' Room -Go Letters-

So I have been trying to decorate my room, my girls' room, my boys' room and my front room/kitchen area ... as a result, nothing ever looks close to put together. But I have a few ideas now for the boys' room and so I am working on a bunch of projects to finish up the wall space and wall decorations! :) So this is my goal this month ... to finish their room!

First on the list ... is a set of "GO" letters ... I made Hunter scrapbook the letters himself (which I think he loves being REALLY involved in his room decorating/decision making process) ... we used map pages from an McNally Atlas we got at the thrift store ($0.50 on 50% off day ... perfect!) ... and then I had him paint the edges of each letter side. :) The perfect less-than-$5-craft ... and I REALLY like the way they look on his little shelves in his room!

Our new sitting area

So right after Lizzie was born, a double seater bench came up for bid at the local auction, and Ryan was sweet enough to go get it for me. $40 was a pretty high price for something at this auction (especially if you had seen it before we painted it!), but he knew how much I wanted it and was sweet enough to get it for me. :) I finally got around to painting it, and now I just have a few spots to touch up ... but I love it! I made a slip covered pillow cover with some yummy fabric my friend gave and I think it looks fantastic right at the top of the stairs ... a lot less cluttered then it was before! :) And just wait until you see the new curtains I made out of the same checkered fabric ... that is ... if ny husband ever is home long enough to hang them up for me, lol.