Thrifting and Scrapbooking

I promised the kids I would take them to Chic-fil-A for lunch today, so since they were on their best behavior I made a quick stop at Savers on the way. 

My sister repinned this on Pinterest the other day courtesy of One Artsy Mama!!  So stinkin' cute huh??  Can you tell what it was before it was this awesome jewelry organizer??  A coffee mug holder!! 

Such a great idea and a re-do I can totally handle...if only I had an old coffee mug holder.

Well...look what I found today!

Can't decide whether it should be for me or for Taylor.  I thought $2.99 was a bargain.  Just need a fun color of paint!

After we shopped and had lunch we came home...the kids played with their friends and I finished more pages for their scrapbooks.

 

I hope the kids appreciate these some day!!  

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Two More

I have been pretty productive the last few days.  It feels good to be back to it.  I have decided that when I can't think of anything to do OR I get stuck on projects...I need to just sit down and work on the kids' scrapbooks.  I really have NO excuse not too.

I have more paper than most people could imagine AND I have ALL of my photos printed in hand (I have spent a small fortune at Costco for said photos).

So yesterday when it was WAY too windy to spray paint (like I had planned), rather than turning on the TV (which is what I started to do)...I sat down in my craft room and pulled out some photos.

And YAY for me....

I finished two more pages for Thomas' book!!

I absolutely LOVE looking at the kids' scrapbooks and for now so do they.  He was pretty excited when he saw me working on his book. 

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Summer is coming to an end

School officially starts on Aug. 12, but in preparation for that official day we are going to have a week long run-through starting on Sunday!

HeHe...I haven't told the kids yet.

Because it stays light out so much later in CO AND the kids are allowed to play out front, their bedtime has pretty much been non existent.  It varies from 6-10 depending on night, behavior or just how nice I am feeling.

Sunday night will be the start of their new official bedtime and all the responsibilities that will come with this new school year.

I decided to make a little responsibility chart for each of them to hang on their doors.  My kids are motivated by money of course, but like me they also like to "mark" things off!  I get sick of repeating myself to do the simple things they SHOULDN'T have to be told to do.

They do not know this yet, but if each task is completed EACH day of the week they earn $1.00.  So potentially they can earn $6.00 each week for just doing simple things like brushing their teeth and making their bed.  How hard is that??  With my kids...you'd be surprised.

As with most projects these days I used my CAMEO to make my little charts.  AND I used my new Purple Cow Laminating Machine!!!

All I need now are a couple dry-erase markers and a little Velcro.   When I hang them I will post a pic!!

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Tatum's Room

I thought I would share how I turned the tiniest space in our house to a perfect little room for Tatum.

Before we found this house things were looking a little grim in the way of bedrooms.  I made the mistake of promising Taylor that she would no longer have to share a room with her little sister when we moved to CO.  I spoke entirely too soon and was beginning to think I would have to bribe her with something HUGE to back out of my promise.

Thankfully though...the last house Tom looked at would work for us AND it would give Taylor her own room.  Without even seeing the house in person I had already decided Thomas would have the basement and the girls would each have their own rooms and I would have a craft room!!  YAY!!

Fast forward to the day we moved in and I had a major freak out at the thought of Thomas all the way in the basement by himself.

SO....

The tiny space that would have been my craft room was now going to be Tatum's room.  It didn't even have a closet AND it had laminate floors.  I knew though...I could make it work.  It's not like she has that much stuff.

I forgot to take a picture of the entire room empty, but I did take these two of the space that I would convert into her "closet".

My laundry room is in the basement and had no place for me to hang clothes as I pulled them out of the dryer.  Thanks to my sometimes genius hubby...we bought a nice shower curtain rod (at ROSS for $6.99...bargain) and placed it between the soffet.  It solved my problem perfectly.   So of course this idea was also the PERFECT solution for Tatum's room.

I found this adorable canvas while I was shopping with the girls at ROSS ($9.99) and instantly knew it had to be in Tatum's room.  It's a little too small for the wall I have it on, so stay tuned for the project I am doing to make it work.  For now it hangs alone.

I found this adorable mattress sheet to go with the elephant theme I was trying to achieve in the Target baby section.  How cute is this elephant theme??

I can't bring myself to take this little birthday decoration apart, so I hung it in her room.  I have taken so many pictures of my kids and I would say 99.9% of them bring a smile to my face.  All of these pictures were from her first year and I love it!  Maybe I can just keep converting it to the age she is and add more pictures?! It's a $1.00 project that is priceless.

The CAMEO to the rescue.  This was NOT easy, but I am so glad I stuck with it.  Big blank walls are the worst.  I had to come up with something that would be cute, bold and BIG!!  I bought this image for $0.99 at the Silhouette online store and enlarged it to almost 72"x48", used the knife tool, cut it in 6 separate pieces and hung it.  Easy peesy...no not really, but I will spare you the blood, sweat and tears.

A little panorama of her room.

I bought a large oval rug on clearance at Target for the floor to eliminate a bit of the echo.  I am pretty happy with the end result and it turned out to be the perfect little space for Tatum.  I have a little lamp I am working on and the room will be complete!!

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Everything's Coming Together

To say I am my mother's daughter is true in SO many ways.  But in no way is that a bad thing!!  Of course I love my mom, but she is THE most talented woman I know, so if I can accomplish a fraction of what she does...I feel pretty good!

Anyhoo...

When we moved to Colorado we knew there was a good chance we would only be in our house for a short period of time...long story, but we MAY have to move again in the near future...anyway, short-term or not it was VERY important to me to unpack and get settled.

I have NO DESIRE to live out of boxes no matter how short-term it may be.  It took a few weeks to get rid of all the boxes and find a home for everything...bigger house, smaller spaces if that makes sense.  Once I was done with all the boxes I could start "Making it my own".

I thought I would use my crafty blog to show you just how I have done that!!  I will start with a little piece of Taylor's room.

I have been hitting up TONS of thrift stores since I have been here and the garage sales...plenty!!  It's too hot in AZ for garage sales, so this is a HUGE bonus.  While my mom was in town I found this little Utensil caddy at the Goodwill.  I thought the price was OK since it still had the original tags attached.  And best of all...I knew exactly what I would use it for.

The color was perfect, so all I needed was a little Goo Gone to remove the sticker.  This was my second (I will show you my first later) project back in my craft room.  It felt good to be crafting again.  I used my Cameo to create a cute vinyl phrase and added a few supplies...

And VOILA...

Whatcha think?  Frankly it makes ME want to color!!

Here are a few pics of the whole desk!!

The piggy bank that she got for her first Christmas was in a million pieces when I opened the moving box, so my mom told me about this cute OWL bank she saw at Target.  It's small, but so CUTE!!

My MOST favorite part about her desk...this stack of Dr. Seuss.  Three of these books were gifts and the rest...THRIFT STORE FINDS!!  The most I paid for any of them...$2.00, but most where $0.99.  Seriously people...if you know anything about books that is a HUGE score!!

One last look at the coloring caddy!!  I used pint mason jars to hold the pencils and markers.  I made little cardboard platforms to raise them up.  She was so excited to use it this morning!!

Stay tuned for the full bedroom reveal!!

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Catching Up

I am not quite sure what is happening with me...

I started making cards again...and as if that wasn't gasp worthy...

Now I am starting to play catch-up on the kids' scrapbooks.  WHAAAAATTTT??

I know...a little part of me thought I would never get back to this life project, but I have and it is great.  I took out Thomas and Taylor's books and they just made me smile.  Well...what I have done that is.  And then of course they both stop abruptly and Tatum didn't even have a book.

Well now she does and now pages are getting done.

Here are a few that I did for Taylor's book!!  Both Thomas and Taylor love seeing old pictures and wow how flies.  I am currently working on pages for ages 2 and 4.  Hilarious right??  Wait until I show pics of the pages I did for Thomas.  My little man has changed A LOT!!

 

I am movin' right along!!  Tatum's nap time is proving to be the perfect time for me to be productive!!!   3 quiet hours I can spend in my craft room!!

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Good Luck

First of all I want to thank all of the lovely ladies that left comments on my very first challenge card.  Each and every one of them made me smile from ear to ear.  And as if that wasn't great enough...my card earned Honorable Mention!!!  How sweet is that??

Well...it is sweet enough to make me whip up another. 

Here is the CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge #18

  

And even though I am pretty sure there isn't much Irish running through my veins...I am loving everything green right now!!

Here is my card...

If I keep up with these challenges I shouldn't need to BUY a card anytime soon!!

Supplies:

Paper: Bazzill

Embellishments: Glitter Shamrock and Impress Bakers Twine

Sentiment: Taylored Expressions 

Ink: Stampin' Up Glorious Green 

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12 For 1

While I was going through all of my paper crafting supplies I came across some paper that coordinated with the months of the year.  I decided it would be perfect for a little gift I wanted to give to a friend.

12 Cards...

I for each month of the year!!

Now that I have started making cards again I am reminded how nice it is to send a card "Just Because" and if you just happen to have cards on hand...it is a whole lot easier.

The sentiment on or in each card is simple because the paper is pretty busy.  I thought they turned out cute though and hopefully the person that receives  them will as well.

Happy crafting!!

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