Valentine's Day Crafting

Here are just a few of our Valentine's Day crafting projects ... I found some cute stamp sets at Papertrey Ink and I stamped the two cards featured here. The one above was just a test run for a card for my niece and nephew in Florida. All during Thanksgiving, my adorable 2 year old nephew would call Lexi "Foxy". I think it had to do with the fact that she kept singing the song "What Does the Fox Say" - over and over to my 1 year old niece. 

Pictured below is the card I stamped for my husband. With all the winter weather we have had plenty of time to work on crafting! And, I have really enjoyed stamping again.

Pictured below is the Valentine's Day "card" for Lexi's classmates at CC. Owls are so in right now and we found this adorable idea on Pinterest. It is just a cardboard toilet paper tube - covered in scrapbook paper and dressed up to look like an owl. We stuffed them with treats and sealed them up at the bottom with Washi tape. Unfortunately, school was called off due to inclement weather ... so we will look forward to distributing these next week at school.

Art Birthday Party {Painted Initial Canvas}

When Ava Mae decided on an Art Birthday Party I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration ...

We decided painted canvases and jewelry boxes would be good projects for this age group. I covered our dining room table in butcher paper. And, each girl had supplies at their spot - canvas, paint brushes, paint tray.

We had several color schemes to pick from for the canvases but, it seemed all the girls either wanted blue or purple. We began the project by taping each child's initial on the canvas. Then we had the girls paint a stripe of dark and a stripe of light colored paint down the canvas - one after another. It was not easy as I thought it would be - the pin I had did not mention that the tape might easily pull up. We had to have the girls constantly go over the tape with their fingers to get a tight seal before they started painting.

When the paint dried we pulled up the painter's tape.  Some edges still pulled up and paint got underneath during the process.Thankfully, I had purchased white paint and it was easy to touch up the canvases. Here was my daughter's finished canvas - 

Food for the party was simple ... we had lots of colorful things to pick from - fruit, veggies, crackers, and various dips. For the cake ... we did cupcakes. All were frosted in different colors  and we added breadsticks which resembled paintbrushes stuck in a pot of paint.

A bonus for this type of party is that you already have a nice favor ... we also gave the girls some art supplies in their favor bags to take home. 

Linking this up over at See Jamie Blog and her Pinterest Challenge for November. Hop on over and see what others have been working on ...

"Orange You Glad ..." Teacher Gift Idea

I saw the cutest idea ever on Pinterest for an End of Year gift for teachers - featuring the saying "Orange You Glad it's Almost Summer".  The original idea can be found over on Shaken Together . Here is what I came up with ...

I found the travel cups at Target, along with the Izze drink and Trident Tropical Fruit Gum. Of course, everything had to be orange themed! It was a cute idea that could be easily duplicated, for multiple teachers, for our Wednesday night church activities.

Photo Pendant {Tutorial}

Recently, Shutterfly ran a special where you received 101 prints for free. I jumped at that offer as I have almost 300 Disney pictures from our 2012 trip to scrapbook.

The bonus with Shutterfly orders is that you receive the index print sheets. My daughter suggested we use our new Epiphany cutter to make pendant necklaces with photographs from Disney. The index photos are the perfect size for this craft!

It was super simple ... we just chose the photograph each of my girls and myself wanted to use in our project

This little cutting machine is so super easy to use ... just pop the photo or scrapbook paper you want to use in the window. Add a clear sticker {also made by Epiphany} and press down hard.

Next, just place the finished product into a pendant. {These pendants are also made by Epiphany - though we have made these necklaces before without the holder. Just use lots of glaze on the back of your photo or scrapbook paper.}

This next step is important ... we glued our picture into the pendant using Glossy Accents. Then I went around the photo with a line of glaze to seal it up.

Here are our three pendants drying ... the girls each chose a picture from Bippity Boppity Boutique and I went with a picture of all three kids in front of the castle with their mouse ears on.

And, our finished necklaces. I used Disney themed ribbon to string our pendants but, you could use a silver chain or whatever strikes your fancy.

So glad to finally get all of our Disney photographs scrapbooked and what a great bonus ... fun new necklaces!

Sharing on ...

 

Pinterest Project : Chalkboard Dresser

This dresser has a story behind it ... many years ago my good friend, Christi, and I were yard saling when we came across this dresser. My friend saw it first and got the dresser for a great price. She had plans for new paint and cute knobs to update it but, it did not happen. Fast forward several years, and the dresser needed to find a new home. I was more than happy to help, especially because I had recently pinned this cute project below on Pinterest - involving a dresser and chalkboard paint.

Source: hgtv.com via Alicia on Pinterest

I was so excited to get started on this project I had to convince my husband to join me on a fun trip to Home Depot for the supplies. Yes, that was our date night a week ago - so fun. :)

My girls could not wait to be a part of the redo - so I put them to work on painting drawers while I worked on the main dresser. One coat of Rustoleum's Black Chalkboard Paint was all we needed. I followed the directions on the paint can to wipe down the dresser with a damp cloth and let dry before starting. I bought a roller brush for the best coverage and we used small sponge brushes for detailed areas.

I am so happy with the finished project {and the cost, just $15 for all supplies}. A new piece of furniture for our entry way that I can decorate seasonally both on top, and with cute sayings with chalk. I already have several ideas for the Thanksgiving and Advent for what I can write on the dresser.

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It's That Time of Year ...

... time to finish packing away all remnants of last year's schooling and begin reorganizing our shelves with new school books, supplies, and lesson plans.

This year I had a little more planning to do as I was recently asked to take over leadership of our homeschool support group at our church, along with my friend Rena. {So glad to have her along for the ride on this journey!} We have been frantically planning out meetings, speakers, filling out our leadership committee, and planning the retreat in January. Whew ... who knew how much work and thought went into our group. I did not appreciate our previous leader's enough!! Really looking forward to our first meeting in August and getting our school year off to a great start!

Yesterday, I was lucky to have 3 uninterrupted hours of planning time for our school year ... my daughter was back at her summer dance intensive studio for a 3 hour ballet class. So while my other two children took advantage of an indoor play area at McDonald's and with my iPad, laptop, and teacher's planning book - I worked on planning out the first half of our school year. Our first official day back is August 27th! Two days after we return from a week long beach vacation. Hopefully, I will have everything in place to make it a smooth transition back. Hard to believe but, even with the late start back we will be just a few days shy of 1/2 our year done before Christmas. {Love homeschooling calendars!} Lots to do in the coming weeks but, two of my children are in an all day camp next week and Lexi will dance for a few days - so more quiet time.

Have you started the planning process yet or are you still enjoying the lazy days of summer?

Camp Crafty Girls {2012} ~ Day 3

Last day of Camp Crafty Girls 2012 ... what another super fun day! Our theme for today was "Team Spirit".  As we prepare for the Olympics to begin in a few weeks I thought it would be fun to make a few crafts to show our support for team USA. Little did I know how the girls would take this theme and run with it. :)

 

After finishing our scrapbooks, we then began work on our Red, White, and Blue Skirts for our American Girl Dolls {and a few stuffed animals}.

With the leftover scraps the girls crafted headbands, bracelets, and belts for their dolls. So creative!

Next, we were on to our "Crafting in the Kitchen" portion of camp. Today it was White Trash Candy - pretzels, m&m's, marshmallows, and melted white chocolate.

Our last craft ... Patriotic Bracelets.

{Pictured above is the youngest camper this year, at 4 1/2 years old, she kept up with the big girls. Abby is one talented little crafter!}

We wrapped camp up today with some singing ... courtesy of Ava Mae on her guitar. Then the girls had a fun gab session about their American Girl dolls and craft camp. I asked for everyone to share their favorite craft but, it seemed like it was hard to choose as most of the girls said "everything".

I am always exhausted at the end of Camp Crafty Girls but, it is so rewarding. Love hanging out with these girls for a few days and sharing with them my love of crafting. They are all so creative and so sweet!!

Camp Crafty Girls {2012} ~ Day 2

Another great day at Camp Crafty Girls!! Just love all these girls ... such sweet hearts and they all get along so well. I am having just as much fun as they are! {Pictured above: One of the creative Camp Crafty Girl tshirts we made yesterday with bleach pens. Pictured below: A quick group shot at the end of camp today.}

Our craftiness today ...

{Canvases with Paper Piecing Flowers}

{Glass Pendant Necklaces}

{Frosting Roses on Cupcakes}

The girls continued to work on their Mini Books.

When we weren't crafting ... there was always some sort of ballet dancing going on probably because almost all of the girls in camp are also in ballet.

At lunch break the campers watch a fun 20 minute program called "Cake TV" it is about three girls who have their own craft television show. They love it!