Snips & Spice Subway Art

I’ve been blog hopping quite a bit the past 2 weeks… I am completely AMAZED at the serious talent out there.  I fell in love with this Mark Twain quote years ago and my heart did a little flutter when I saw what Malory over at Snips & Spice did with it:

As soon as I saw Malory’s subway art, I knew it HAD to go in my house somewhere.  I printed it out to an 8x10 size, bought a 15 dollar frame at Michaels, and voila:

I think it’s EXACTLY what my hutch needed.  There are three different color schemes that you can download for free!

Thanks Malory… you rock!

My Heart, My Love

 

I think Cupid has FINALLY visited this crafty mommy! 

 

My mom always made Valentine’s Day a very special holiday when I was growing up.  It was almost as exciting as my birthday!  I was perusing the aisles of Michaels this weekend, ALONE, (I know, right? I NEVER get to do that) when a package of  little wooden hearts landed into my cart (literally, fell from the shelf and landed in my cart).  I started to put them back, but then visions of my little stink bug’s hand popped into my head.

I have a thing with my kids’ handprints and footprints.  Can’t help it… I have them in all forms of media randomly strewn throughout my house.  It genuinely amazes me at how quickly these tiny little body parts grow.  I haven’t captured Finley’s hand mug in a while and pounced on this opportunity.  He was such a sweet little boy and surprised me with his cooperation.

 

UNTIL I was stenciling and painting… he decided to unroll a 100 yd roll of tulle throughout my dining room and kitchen.  I knew the sheer pleasure in those giggles could only be that of mischief!

I had to laugh after I fussed at him.  Any who, when he’s a grumpy hormonal teenager, and I want to lock him in his room until he’s 25, I can look back and remember when he held my love in the palm of his hand…

Linking up HERE

Star Wars Birthday

 

We had Jack’s family birthday party yesterday while he celebrated at school with classmates on his actual birthday.  He is a complete Star Wars fanatic and just had to have a Star Wars kind of day!  I used Felt So Cute’s tutorial as a guideline to make his party hat and then stitched out the same design on another piece of felt for his shirt.  I used Steam a Seam to attach the felt to the shirt and then stitched around the border with a simple straight stitch using red thread.  He was so proud of his shirt!!  Poor guy has been asking me to make him a shirt for quite some time now.

Then we HAD to have Star Wars cupcake toppers, juice box stickers, and stickers for everyone to wear.  I found some fabulous Star Wars clip art and party ideas online.  Here’s my very FIRST tutorial on how I made this happen:

Supplies needed:

Avery Label of your choice (I used round label 5294 and shipping label 5163)

Party store confetti or clip art of your choice

Craft sticks

Glue

Card Stock

Paper cutter

Print ship program (if possible) or Microsoft Word

I used a print shop program to design my labels, but you can also use Word.  Print out the round labels (mine say “Happy 5th Birthday Jack”)  and grab your confetti (A). 

Glue one piece of confetti on each label (B and C).

Grab your paper cutter and card stock.  I used the label sheet as a guideline on how small to cut my cardstock squares.  Each square should be large enough for one sticker (D and E).

Time for the craft sticks…  the ones I had were too long for my liking, so I cut them in half.  Take a sticker and place the craft stick on the sticky part approximately 1/3 of the way up from the bottom (F).

Stick the sticker on your cardstock square (G).

Voila!  Super easy and personalized cupcake toppers (H and I).  You can doll these up with layers of cardstock or with the use of craft scissors to decorate the edges.  I opted for a very simple boy look, however.

Here are the juice box labels and the stickers for friends’ to help celebrate!  Jack’s sticker said, “It’s my 5th birthday.” 

I had fun making these for my little guy.  I can’t wait to make some for Valentine’s Day. :)

Linky Party Love:

Under the Table and Dreaming

Get Your Coffee ON!

I’ve been buying embroidery designs again….  I just can’t help it!!  One of my favorite sites is Urban Threads … definitely not your grandmother’s designs.  I LURVE their uniqueness.  When this design came out, I KNEW it would be perfect for a cozy!!  (It is backwards in the pic as I’ve been ahem… taking self portraits in the mirror again ahem…)

Here are my latest two cozies!!  You can check them out in my etsy store.  I’m offering my first ever coupon in my Liberty Original Etsy Shop exclusively for my blog readers.  Enter NEW25 at checkout and you will receive 25% off your ENTIRE purchase!!  I will even honor this coupon for custom orders. 

What are you still doing here?

PS  These cozies are linked up at the following parties:

Happy 5th Birthday Jack

 

My Jack Jack is 5 today….. FIVE!!  He was supposed to be my baby, my last, my finale.  We tried for over a year to get pregnant with him.  I remember month after month after month of frustration and meltdowns.  People would say, “At least you have a boy and a girl already,” “why tempt fate when you have two healthy children,” blah, blah, blah.  I wanted needed another baby to complete my family.  I was going to get to stay home with him (I worked 2,3, sometimes 4 jobs when Max and Emily were little) and experience every milestone that I  missed with the others.  My baby….

Now he’s five…. and he’s not my baby, my last as I had planned.  I cannot and do not want to ever fathom my life without Finley, but I feel that I have let my Jack down by not having enough time, energy, or emotion for him when he needs it.  He is my most demanding child and I become frustrated with him easily at times…. GUILT!!  I can’t help but think that I wouldn’t get so frustrated if he would have been the baby.  I know God’s plan is perfect and my family of six is the way it is supposed to be!!

Please don’t misunderstand this post… I LOVE EVERY ONE OF MY CHILDREN irrevocably, unconditionally, and enduringly (just to name a few).  Sometimes, as a mom, I just feel inadequate to meet their needs, wants, and dreams in life.  Sigh….

Pom Pom Bib Necklace Part 2

 

I think I have a recurring theme here lately… breaking my posts into part 1 and part 2…  Hmmmmm.  Anyways, here is the rest of my “Ode to Little Miss Momma…”   my completed necklace!!  I really really LURVE how it turned out… I want to make one with burlap and pearls next.  I have it all planned out in my head, but my projects don’t always turn out exactly the way I think they should.  Maybe karma will be nice to me on the day I undertake the burlap project though. :)

 

I made this headband as well (using Ashley’s tutorial of course) and I love it!  I don’t even really wear headbands, but this one is so darn cute. (Maybe I think it’s cute because I made it, who knows?)  It’s a bit loud and gaudy, but we all need that from time to time, don’t we?

So, if you haven’t tried one of these tutorials yet, DO IT!!  I’m telling you, they are both easy peasy with fabulous results…. way high impact.  Don’t forget to give me some comment love or shoot me an email when you do so I can celebrate with you.

Pom Pom Bib Necklace from Little Miss Momma!

I’ve been wanting to try this tutorial from Little Miss Momma since I first saw it!!  It’s super cute and the possibilities are truly limitless.  I had to wait for the ice to melt so I could get out to the store for supplies though…. :(  Right now, Ashley is hosting a Linkey Party for all of us who have tried her Pom Pom Bib Necklace tutorial (there’s a link to this tutorial under my “helpful links” badge to the right).  She also offers a tutorial for making awesome pom pom headbands.

 

Emily really needed some mommy time this afternoon, so we made pom pom bib necklaces together!  I helped her with her first pom pom, gluing the completed poms to the felt, and cutting the chain.  She did everything else… and I must say, I really think she ROCKED it!

Here she is hard at work.  She is 8 and this project was perfect for her.  I really think the next time she makes one, she will be able to do it all on her own.  She already wants to make a pom pom hair scrunchie to match her new necklace.

I just love that kid!!

Here’s a little sneak peak of my bib necklace…. more to follow in my next post!!

So, WHAT are you waiting for??  Get started on your own bib necklace, link up your finished project on LMM, and drop me a comment or email so I can check it out!

Scarves Part 2 (as promised!)

Now, back to business…

This scarf is my favorite by far!!  It was a bit more time consuming than the straight out embroidered/monogrammed ones, but oh so fun to make. :)

Here’s a sampling of the scarves I made mostly for teachers…

Here are the scarves I made for my mom, aunt, and grandmother so they can all match!

Here are Em and Jack sport their Christmas presents in the snow. :)

I’m thinking of making a tutorial on how to make these pretties.  They are SUPER easy to make and quick to whip up when you need them!

Scarves and Jewelry

I had planned on blogging about my craftiness leading up to the holiday season due to the fact that I haven’t done a whole heck of a lot of crafty posts as of late….  I became a wee bit sidetracked, however, and had a TON of fun taking pics in the process!!  I ended up making scarves, scarves, and more scarves for just about everyone on my gift list this year… I even made one for myself!

Here is the peace sign scarf I made for Emily and another shot of the green one I did for myself.  I even tagged each one with my Liberty Original label for that “professional look.”

While I was playing with my camera (um I mean taking pictures for this post), the USPS brought a loverly pkg to my front door… My Stella and Dot jewelry arrived!! 

  And as you can probably tell, I really enjoyed playing dress up with my new goods. :))  Aren’t these necklaces just to die for?  I want to wear the cascading chain necklace with every outfit!  I really like the way you can layer their pieces to create your own look.

I learned how to make these really fabulous collages with my Photobucket account…

 

Aren’t they great?!?  Since I got sidetracked, I will have to make a “Scarves Part 2” post so I can actually show you the rest of my sweet little prizes that I made.  I don’t know that I will ever be able to write another post without organizing my pics into one of these beauties!!

Stylish Blogger Award

 

Many thanks to Jen over at Petite Hermine for giving me the Stylish Blogger Award!!  I recently found her blog via Blog Frog and absolute LOVE her style and her etsy shop!

So, I shall follow the rules and tell you 7 things about my self while awarding this to 15 other newly discovered blogs.  I must not forget to link everybody so you can check them out.

7 THINGS ABOUT ME:

~ I love my children more than I love life itself… I realize this sounds a little twisted, but I’m just being honest here

~ I think black nail polish is pretty and the fact that I like to wear black nail polish doesn’t mean that I’ve gone over to the dark side

~My absolute favorite candy is Laffy Taffy… seriously, if there is any in my house, I have to eat it immediately.  This includes confiscating it from Halloween candy!!

~ Love, Love, LOVE to sew and embroider…. I wish I could do it everyday and avoid other time wasters (ie paying bills, cleaning my house, taking the time to eat properly)

~ I wish my sister and I lived in the same city… heck I would settle for the same state!

~ I put on a tough act sometimes, but I’m a true romantic at heart

~ I like to say a little prayer whenever I’m making something… I pray that God will watch over the person who receives my Liberty Original and will grant them peace in their heart

10 STYLISH BLOGS:

Little Miss Momma

Carried Through Grief

Sandbox Gems

Riding the Rollercoaster

Miss Val’s Creations

Mothering Mayhem

The Mad White Woman

Speaking Thru Me

Deep Thoughts By Cynthia

Sparkles and Fairytales

Soooooo, I fully realize that I only listed 10 blogs instead of 15…  In keeping with my NYR to Make The Effort even if things are not perfect, I’m meeting my personal deadline and publishing this post!!  How do you like THOSE apples? :)

Make the Effort

 

So, it may seem sort of mundane, but I’ve decided on one resolution for 2011:

Make the Effort

So often I don’t even try something because I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it perfectly.  I don’t let the kids have friends over because the house isn’t clean or I’m afraid the other child won’t have a good time.  I don’t start a project for fear of messing it up.  I tend to stick with what is comfortable to me… what I know that I can complete successfully. 

So, I promise to make the effort this year and break out of my box… for my children, for my friends,  for me. 

Clipart in the post courtesy of The Graphics Fairy