Five for Friday

I haven’t shared a Five for Friday post in for.ever so I have browsed my sewing board on Pinterest to share the 5 projects on my to do list.

1.  Cute fabric luggage tags!  What a fun way to identify your bags quickly and use up a bunch of scraps in the process.  Tutorial is here.

2.  Another travel item on my list is this cute little travel document pouch.  I have something that works now to hold our passports but it is plain and not attractive at all.  Tutorial can be found here.

 

3.  A cute little tote for my girls to carry while we travel, especially since we won’t always have the DVD player in the car with us.  Tutorial can be found here.

 

4.  This toilet paper holder is cute and looks easy.  No tutorial since it was for sale on Etsy but looks easy enough to figure out.  And since this one costs $45 it can stay there (no offense meant to the seller here as I am sure she is lovely and that hand embroidery took her a long time) because I can make it with fabric I have on hand.

 

5.  This one should be first on the list since it is the first project I plan on making ASAP for my new camera.  I hope to find some cute new fabric for this tomorrow  but if I don’t I will pull some from my stash.  You can find a tutorial here.  I have made one before and I learned that a darker fabric is better than a light blue and pink one since it won’t show dirt as quickly.  I am thinking maybe a black or gray base with a bright, feminine ruffle! 

 

Do you have any projects on your to do list?  I would love to hear about them.  Stay tuned next week for a fun Valentine blog hop and since February is my blog anniversary I will have a giveaway or two!

Have a great weekend!

Crochet Projects

Pinterest gave me a renewed interest in crochet and I have had at least one crochet project in the works constantly since I started back at it in the late summer.  Thanks to fabulous projects on Pinterest, some great videos on You Tube and free patterns from bloggers and Red Heart I have been busy. 

My most recently completed project was a crib sized (lap sized) blanket that I will be sending to my mom to add to our donation stash for the local cancer center there.  It was an easy project and I love ripples!  I need to find some great colors so I can make one for me.  I used the Windsor Ripple throw pattern from Red Heart this one.

Since this one is now finished I started a baby blanket for a friend.  Good thing her due date isn’t until April so I have a little bit of time to finish it.  I haven’t really worked on it much lately because I have been busy scrapbooking/card making instead.  I need to get back at it though.  I am using the Rickrack Rainbow Baby Blanket pattern, also from Red Heart, for it.  The colors are a little bit off…the pink looks kind of salmon colored but it is really a soft pink. 

Have you recently fell in love with a new hobby or picked up a renewed interest in an old favorite?  I would love to hear about it!

Where has January Gone?

So it is 24 days into 2012 and things are moving along for us!  We have been busy finalizing our last few trips here in Europe before we move back to the USA in July, squeezing in a quick trip to Prague, looking at lots of dates for shipping our household goods and vehicle back, checking into local schools for the starting dates and vacations....the list just goes on and on. 

JG received his assignment notification about 2 weeks ago and we will be heading to Kentucky!  I am rather excited as I haven't lived on the eastern side of the US since I left home in 1998!  A few years in Idaho, then a few more in Washington State and 4 years in Germany and I miss being close to my family.  Now we can drive to visit them rather than fly.  Of course, that means we have to fly to see JG's parents in California but we can deal with that.  It is hard having family all over the US though as someone always feels slighted when we plan our vacations.  We cannot possibly visit everyone so maybe now people will actually come visit us.  I love my family but it sure would be nice if we were not the only ones expected to make the trips to vist as airfare for 4 is expensive and since my oldest starts school this fall we have to plan around the school vacations as well. 

I have had a few minutes to get my craft on this month and have been working on layouts, cards and crocheting a baby blanket.  I have a ton of photos to get scrapped or at the very least into albums and that is one project I need to attack before we move!  I am looking into picking up some of Becky Higgins' Project Life products just for this purpose because it should make for quick photo organization...however, that is a whole separate subject.

I made this layout for a recent Club CK 1-Hour Challenge where we were to bust out our scoring boards and use it to make something for the layout.  The papers and most of the embellishments are by October Afternoon for this one.  The ribbon isn't quite as uneven as it looks in the photo because I cannot take a straight close up photo of a layout!  Grrr.  I need to slow down a bit. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I am going to make an honest effort to blog regularly again.

A Little Trip....

We packed our bags for a quick 2 night stay to Garmish-Partenkirchen.  JG is taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and snowboarding while the girlies and I relax at the hotel.  We love being here and with stunning views of the German Alps right out our window, who wouldn't?

We’ve Been A Little Busy!

Whoa!  I have slacked off on blogging but I have continued with my December Daily album.  It is so much fun to work on this project through out the month.

Last week we had a surprise from JG!  He called me last Wednesday at dinner time and told me he was going to try and catch a plane home that night.  Well, he did and we headed to Ramstein early Thursday morning to pick him up! 

I didn’t tell them we were going to pick up JG because I wanted to surprise them and they were beyond excited to see him!  They really, really missed their Daddy this time around and it is so nice to have him home safe and a bit early, too!

The Beginnings of My December Daily Album…

***If you are here following along with the blog hop please scroll down to the next post.***

December has rolled in a bit quicker than I thought it would!  I will admit that while I don’t have all of my December Daily foundation pages complete I am about halfway through the month.  I hope to get the rest squared away this week.

This year I will not be printing my photos daily or even weekly but will wait until the end of the month and place my order through Shutterfly.  I love their print quality and the quick turn around.  Since I will have my pages ready and journaling complete I will just have to add the photos once they arrive.

My photo for December 1st is of the girls opening their Haribo advent calendar.  This year is a little bittersweet as it is our last year here in Germany.  There are some things we will miss and the Haribo calendars have become a tradition for us. 

This was about take 5 and the reindeer antlers were their idea!  I rarely get a photo with them both looking at the camera and this was just not my day.

Here is the foundation page for the photo:

Because I didn’t leave any room for journaling I will be adding a journaler by Ali Edwards that I purchased from Designer Digitals last year.  I like to add these when I am feeling long winded or want some extra space for photos. 

My December 2nd photo is of my favorite mug filled with glühwein in front of the Christmas tree.  I like Christmas tree bokeh! 

And my foundation page for the day is this:

The colors are off a bit in this one as the background is more of a pinkish color.  I am using Crate Papers Peppermint Collection for most of my album this year and I was having a bit of a hard time with it but have come to love the feel of it all.  The snowflakes are from the Peppermint Collection as well.  I had a hard time photographing the first set of pages as it has been super foggy here nearly every day and that means no morning sun for my photos. 

That’s all I have for now.  I hope to continue my December Daily updates every few days.  I always have good intentions of sharing my pages but never get around to doing so but will make a honest effort at posting them  here.

Handmade Holiday Blog Hop

Hello there!  Today I am joining many fabulous ladies who have created a little bit of holiday magic using our paper crafting suppliesto share with you. If you are following along with the blog hop you should have arrived here from Jennifer’s blog.  If you are just checking in on my blog or are a little bit lost and want to start from the beginning of the blog hop, visit Amanda’s blog to get back on track.

I made a small little 4x5 inch canvas board into a small bit of décor.  This is an idea that I originally picked up from the Crap I’ve Made blog.  Here is a quick run down of how I put this together.

You’ll need a canvas or other background of choice, scraps of papers, Mod Podge, acrylic paint and a piece of contact paper.
I cut all my pieces of paper into 1”x1” squares and used a layer of Mod Podge to adhere them to the canvas.  Once you have your canvas covered with the scraps rub over it with a brayer or something similar to make sure the papers are firmly adhered.  Let it dry for a few minutes while you cut your desired shape.  I have found that a piece of contact paper makes a fantastic little stencil and it cuts nicely when I use my Cricut.  I cut a tree from the Winter Frolic cartridge for this project.  Add the cut shape to the papers and smooth out any wrinkles and ensure you have the contact paper adhered completely.  Add a thin layer of acrylic paint and let it dry.  If you want to add another for better coverage go ahead.  I like to see the other papers peeking through a bit.  While the paint is just a little tacky carefully lift the contact paper off the papers and let the paint dry completely.
I added some Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type stickers at the bottom and outlined the tree with a Sharpie to help it stand out.  I then added a thin coat of Mod Podge to seal it.  While it was still wet I added some gems to finish it off.  Now since my edges were all uneven I added some fantastic tinsel ribbon with some hot glue to cover them up.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  The next stop on the blog hop is Adele’s blog.