December Daily Update

As usual, this month has flown by and totally gotten away from me.  I think my goal for 2013 is going to be better time management. I need it! 

I am still trucking along with my December Daily album but I will have to play catch up after Christmas.  I am going to work on it more today.  I am halfway through the month though so at least I am not starting at the beginning.

I took these photos over a week ago and haven’t had any time to get them added to the blog.  I changed my format after a week of feeling uninspired.  I picked up a Snap! album from Archivers and I love the everything about these albums.  So far I have left the cover plain.  I don’t think I will be adding anything to it.

My title page is simple:

Days 1 & 2:

My December Daily albums tend to be repetitive.  I always end up putting the photo in the same place and then adding simple journaling.

Day 3:

This year I am adding quotes and song lyrics to my album.  This idea for the Elf quote came from the Write.Click.Scrapbook. blog and I loved it.  My mom is letting me borrow her Silhouette so this projects is easy. 

I will share some more pages, eventually.  I need to make a list of things to do and stick with it.  I really am terrible with time management these days.  I have let so many things slide that I normally wouldn’t and I end up being angry with myself.  Grrr!  It is such a terrible cycle to be stuck in.

Merry Christmas!

Halloween Décor Project

I love Halloween and for some reason I make more Halloween décor crafts than any other holiday.  Last week my mom and I were in Pier One and saw an adorable witches hat wall decoration and we were inspired to make our own. 

We went to Michael’s where we found paper mache witches hats.  We split it in half with a craft knife so it would hang flat against the wall.  We painted the hat purple and then covered it on Mod Podge before dumping a lot of Martha Stewart glitter all over it.  After the purple glitter had set a bit we tapped off the rest of the loose glitter and used a one inch foam brush dipped in Mod Podge and added a strip of glue around the base.  I had some fabulous green glitter from Stampin’ Up! in my stash and poured it on the glue. We did this carefully and with the hat on its side to keep the green from sticking in the purple. 
After it dried we added some bling swirls rather than try to freehand a web design.  This has been the most difficult part as I have had to add craft Glue Dots to the back to keep it stuck as the adhesive on the swirls didn’t stick once it was covered with the glitter.  I had a DUH moment here and I should have added a finishing spray of some sorts over the glitter but I didn’t have one on hand and decided to skip it.  So, if you are inspired to give this project a try, I would seal the glitter somehow.
We picked up a plain pine board from Michael’s for the signs and painted them black.  The Martha Stewart black paint is pretty nice and covered well with just one coat!  I had the great green, glittery alpha stickers from Doodlebug Designs in my stash and they were a near perfect match in color.  I went over the board with the Sparkle Mod Podge to seal it. 
We used black wire we found in the jewelry section at Michael’s to attach the sign after I drilled small holes in the wood and the hat.  It is hard to see in the photo but I also picked up some pretty purple diamond shaped beads and added them to the bottom corners of the sign. I wrapped the wire around a plastic spider before attaching it to the hat.  Finally, I used some green glitter ribbon I also picked up at Michael’s to make the loop for hanging it.
This was really a quick project and I love the finished product so much.  I cannot wait to hang it on my front door in a few weeks.  If you are interested in checking out some more of my Halloween projects you can look here for a cute upcycled jar, here for a easy, sparkly framed print, and here for a paper wreath.
Do you have a holiday that you love crafting for? 

I’m sharing my idea on The Celebration Shoppe’s What I Made Wednesday link party and Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I will be celebrating Valentine's Day with JG and our girls today.  We generally don't plan anything over the top for Valentine's Day and this year is no exception.  I made JG and the girls Valentine's cards weeks ago last night.  Since I planned ahead waited until the last minute to finish them they are simple and went together quickly.  Here is the one I made for JG....

I used the Create A Critter cartridge for the Cricut to make the adorable sheep.  I love this cartridge and have been using it constantly since I received it.  The background paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Pixie-Licious line and the pink letter stickers are Cosmo Cricket's Tiny Type letters.  I am sure you all know of my undying love for all things Cosmo!  I punched the heart from a scrap of purple paper and then covered it in Stickles.  The twill ribbon is from Martha Stewart Crafts.  The card took me 10 minutes to make and I actually like it!  I don't think I have ever had a project come together so fast before.  I guess sometimes it pays to procrastinate.

I promised the girls a midday bubble bath for Valentine's Day.  I can appreciate that they enjoy the simple things still.  Then I am making ribeye steaks for dinner with garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed zucchini.  A little pound cake with fresh strawberries for dessert to top it all off and that is what I consider to be a perfect day.

Do you have any plans?  So many people dislike this day but I think it is a great day to shower those you love with a bit of extra love and treats. 

P.S. Make sure you come back tomorrow as I will be having a giveaway to celebrate my 2 year blogiversary! 

Where Did December Go?

December just flew by for me!  We were super busy trying to visit as many Christmas markets as possible since James will be deployed again for the holidays in 2011.  So we made the most of the time we had and spent as much time together as we could possibly stand :-)  We went to Esslingen and Ludwigsburg, both near Stuttgart, at the beginning of the month.  Followed by a weekend trip to Oberkirch, a small town near the French border, so we could drive to the Strasbourg, France to see the city and their Noel market.  Finally we returned to Prague to check out the  market there as well.  Prague still remains one of my favorite cities even though the market was smaller than we expected it to be.  The city itself is romantic, has gorgeous architecture and easy to get around, either by foot or by using public transporation.

Esslingen, Germany

Ludwigsburg, Germany

Strasbourg, France

Prague, Czech Republic

The weather was cold and snowy all month with a record 32 inches of snow in Ansbach in just December!  I generally don't mind the snow too much because I don't have to drive in it every day but 32 inches is a crazy amount of snow.  The snow banks at the end of our driveway are insanely high and James and I were concerned that we were running out of places to put all the snow as we shoveled the driveway. 

Our Christmas was perfect this year because James was home!  Aubrey loved all things Christmas and especially the music with Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer being her favorites.  Lolo was excited but she most loved making cookies for Santa and sprinkling some reindeer "food" in the snow on Christmas Eve. 



That is our December in a nutshell.  Today will be spent packing up Christmas until next December and getting my house back in order.  I had plans to take it all down this weekend but the pleas of Aubrey convinced me to wait.  I told her it was time to pack up the tree and she said "but I'll be sad" and it just broke this mommy's heart!  I am such a sucker!  She seems to be ready for it to be packed away now so off I go. 

Happy New Year and best wishes for a happy, safe and prosperous 2011! 

Another DIY Halloween Project

I made a red, white and blue version of this decoration back in June after seeing the instructions over on Martha Stewarts website.  I looked so I could share the directions here but now can't seem to find the project so I will tell you how I made mine.  I want to add that the one I completed in June looks different because it only had 12 cones and this one has 16.  To be honest I like the fuller version better.

You will need: 

4 sheets of 12x12 double sided scrapbook paper

Paper Trimmer

White Craft Glue (I used Martha Stewarts glue and really liked it for this project)

8 inch cardboard circle (an empty cereal box works great for this)

Hot Glue Gun and glue sticks

6 inch piece of ribbon

Some type of embellishment to cover the center

First you will need to cut your papers into 6x6 inch squares.  Once your papers are cut roll each square into a cone shape and run a thin bead of glue down the edge of paper and press it together.  I generally hold the seam with my fingers for a minute until the glue takes hold.  Do this for all the squares of paper until you have 16 cones.

Take your cardboard circle and a cone and run a line of glue from the center of the circle to the edge and then press the cone down into it.  Repeat until you have all the cones glued down.  Hot glue your embellishment over the center of the circle to cover the tips of the cones.  I always have a difficult time getting the center to stick using regular glue.  This time around I actually used some dimensional glue dots to hold the center on so if you have that on hand go ahead and use it.  Finally, fold your ribbon in half and hot glue it onto the back so you can hang the decoration up.

It takes less than an hour to complete this project and I love how easy it is to make a cute and fairly inexpensive decoration.  Here are a few things I learned this time around.  First, when working with a patterned paper that has stripes (or words) make sure you fold the cones so the design goes in the same direction (you will notice that this did not happen for me but I was not going to start over).  Second, it is much easier to use hot glue when putting the paper onto the cardboard. 

I do not have an abundance of Halloween themed papers so I used Photoshop Elements 7 and digital papers to create my project.  The papers are from Echo Park's Apothecary Paper Pack #2 that you can purchase and download from here. 

I hope you feel inspired to give this a try.  I plan on making another one for Christmas!

DIY Halloween Decoration

With Halloween just 38 days away I have been in full on decorating mode!  Not that we have one of those extremely decorated houses, it is just the opposite, but I do not have an abundance of decorations and decided that this year I would make as much as I could.  Now that I have kids I want each holiday to be fun for them so I find myself wanting to go a little overboard with our decorating.  Unfortunately for me (but better for JG's checking account) the Germans do not really celebrate Halloween so heading out to purchase decorations on the economy is impossible.  The Post Exchange is not any better as they carry a very small amount of decorations and costumes.  So if I want anything I need to order it online.  And I do but it is generally limited to costumes and party supplies. 

So now that I have rambled on let's talk about the cute BOO frame I made after seeing this idea on the eighteen25 blog.  I loved the idea but instead of creating 3 5x7 frames I went with 1 since I was using supplies that I had on hand.  Digging through my stash of scrapbooking supplies I found some chipboard letters that were covered in a design that I no longer liked so I carefully peeled off the top layer and coated the bare surface with a layer of Mod Podge before completely covering the letters with glitter.  Since this was a messy project I used a sheet of wax paper to cover the work surface and a toothpick to help get the glitter onto the sides of the letters. 

The background paper is a digital paper from the Echo Park Trick or Treat collection that you can find here.  I don't have any Halloween papers in my stash so I am glad that I could use digi papers to make this a hybrid project.  I used Photoshop Elements 7 to create a clipping mask sized slightly larger than my 5x7 frame and moved the paper around until I was happy with the placement of the spider and webs.  Then I printed out the paper and trimmed it to fit the opening of my frame.  I removed the glass from the frame and saved it so after Halloween I can use the it for something else.  Finally, I added the letters using glue dots once they were dry.

This was a simple project that adds some glitter to my book shelf and I love it so much.  I am thinking of ways to use this idea for other holidays. 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway below.  I am leaving the comments open until this Saturday.