Stephanie is Home

If you have been following the Nie Nie story the great news is she is home with her family. What a great thing to hear on the last day of 2008....

Read more here.

http://blog.cjanerun.com/2008/12/be-forgot.html

Happy New Year!

To Share

Well Christmas has come and gone and I find myself thinking about all those things I need to do for the rest of my non-Christmas life. You see I was thinking only about getting to all the Christmas things I needed to do prepare for that one big day of the year. Well we have opened presents, ate and ate more, played, watched all the new movies, had family sleepovers in front of the tv...and now with a few important phone calls I am thinking about what happens with the rest of our lives this year.

And then I remembered our little niece who is being baptized a member of our Church (we are LDS) this weekend and I haven't made her remembrance book yet....I do this for all our little nieces and nephews and her birthday is during the Christmas season so she is up next in our family line.

Here are some glimpses of her book. Since I have 2 boys it is a treat for me to play with girly colors. And sometimes I even find it a challenge, because I am naturally drawn to the blues and browns as it is.....so I'll stop talking and show you what I did last night.

TIme's UP

I figure if it isn't done now..it's not getting done.

presents are wrapped

gifts are delivered

food is bought to make for tomorrow

cards are sent

music is playing

everyone is happy

and now we are just waiting for Santa to show up

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas

and remember to give someone else the camera to take a few pictures of you with all the fun too!

What Holiday Cookie Am I?

You Are a Gingerbread Cookie

You are an organized, responsible person. You value success, and you're likely to get an early start on the day. You are good with both planning and numbers. You have ambitious life goals, and you're well on your way to achieving them.

What Holiday Cookie Are You?

What Holiday Drink Am I?

You Are Hot Chocolate

Your holiday personality is generous. The holidays are your favorite time to practice the art of giving. You enjoy picking out presents, sharing treats, and making everyone's day a little brighter. And you don't even notice if you don't get anything in return.

What Holiday Drink Are You?

Guess What?!

The teacher boxes in the post below...are one of the projects shown on the blog

Cardoftheweek.com

I have never been on someone Else's site for something I have created and shown here!

How fun!

Thanks for visiting if you have come here from there!!

Quick Last Minute Cards

Somehow I found myself without any extra Christmas cards to put on presents for the boys teachers so at 1230 last night I whipped these up.

Just thought I'd share. All the stamps and ribbon are from the dollar spot at Micheal's, but from last year.

Ignore the mess all around the cards. It was late.

Teacher Gifts

My kids go to a Christian based school so this year I used this poem for the gift for all the teachers from the PTA

Snowflake Blessings

Although a simple snowflake is all I seem to be, Please take me home and hang me upon your Christmas tree. I’ll remind you of the blessings that come from Heaven’s way, Just like the little snowflakes upon a winter’s day. Each snowflake is unique in shape, design and size, Just as our blessings differ to fit our needs and lives. One solitary snowflake would hardly make a mound. but when they fall in millions they cover all the ground. One solitary blessing might seem rather small. But God sends down so many, it’s hard to count them all.

We count each of you as one of our “snowflakes” in our lives & the lives of our children. Thank you for all you do for us!
Merry Christmas! from the AHAPA

On the front is attached a snowflake for their trees and inside is chocolate covered pretzels with m&ms. I think I will make these for my primary teachers too!

It turned out really cute. If you want to make these boxes yourself go to

http://inkingaddict.blogspot.com/2008/07/easy-box-tutorial.html

She has a great tutorial and it is so easy just like it says!

Trying to Check Things off the List

Well it has been a good 10 tens since I was here....so sorry!

But I am trying to get Christmas ready over here and then throw in a little bit of the flu (for me) and a snow day (yes snow day=no school even here in VEGAS) so the boys were home unexpectedly and I am just trying to stay on top of it all.

So I will quickly post some things I have finished up around here and some things I wish I could do!

Checked off
teacher gifts for ALL the school teachers at since I am the Committee for teacher
appreciation for the PTA.
teacher gifts for the teachers that actually teach my boys.
Christmas cards sent
most of the shopping for the boys done
gifts sent and finished for my parents, and the brother whose name we had this year.
gifts sent up with my mil for her and my brother in laws family who we had names for this
year

To still finish
making sweets for neighbors and ward members
small gifts to finish for people who teach in our primary
shopping for husband....yes still have to get that done
shop for food for the big dinner on Christmas day
some last minute cards to make
make thank you cards to send out after the holiday (yes i make the boys do them too)
work on my 25 days book.

That's all I can think of for now. So I hope nothing else pops into my head.

They ARE DONE!

I can finally check "Christmas Cards" off the list....well they aren't officially in the mail seeing as I still need to buy Christmas stamps but they are finished, envelopes are addressed and waiting for that one last thing before they go into the mailbox.

I forced myself to decide on a card last night. The funny thing is that when I was thinking about how our card would look this year I was set on kraft paper (again) and wanted to use this huge snowflake punch I got.

Well I couldn't get it to "look right" so i gave up and made two different cards. One red, gold and a bit of tan with a family picture on the front which I think is great...until I tried adding a "happy holidays" or any other sentiment on it and than the card was a disaster. The other card was cute but I didn't love it. SO it was out too. This process took up a week.

Than last night I sat down and was back to my kraft paper and snowflake and it just all came together. Pocket card with pull out family letter that has pictures on it with some traditional holiday colors (red and green) and no traditional (kraft, pink, lime green) and I love them. At first I added some sparkle to the middle of the snowflakes too pictures and called it good. But as I addresses the envies I couldn't stand the plain look so I did add a silver brad to the middle of the snowflakes.

So onto the next Christmas project!!

New York City

You Belong in New York City

You're the energetic, ambitious type. And only NYC is fast enough for you. Maybe you'll set yourself up with a killer career Or simply take in all the city has to offer.

What City Do You Belong In?

That was fun and too funny b/c I have ALWAYS wanted to live there!!

A Christmas Gift

So once again another blog inspired this craft. I saw out in the blog world someone else make a whiteboard out of a frame. And of course this was weeks ago and I can't find it again, but I knew right when I saw it I was going to be making these for Christmas gifts out there. So I know a few of my close friends read this blog so just close your eyes or just don't be shocked if you get one of these from me this year.

I made 4 of these already and this is the only one I took a picture of. It is a love notes one and the other 3 were Christmas wishes themed.

I love them all. But that's why I made them.

They are simply a picture frame with some items "scrapbooked" inside of it and then buy yourself a pack of whiteboard markers. The ones I gave away I literally wrote "this is a whiteboard for your love notes /Christmas wishes to one another" with the marker than packaged it up.

So I hope they get what it is when they open it.

Anyways here's another Christmas idea for you.

Now I am off to try to get a Christmas card designed for my family's Christmas card. I can't seem to make one I really like this year. I hope to have one finalized tonight so I can mass produce this week!!

a Big "W"

So my husband laughed at me the day I walked in with a huge "W"

But I saw this great wreath made on another blog and had to have one with our initial.

So today with staple gun in hand, and all the garland I got for 90% off about three Christmases ago I created this....

See it does pay off to save those great bargain finds (the garland) for years until you have the greatest craft to make with it. And I totally loved using the staple gun....I forgot how easy and fun it can be.

I totally just kept winding the garland around the "w" and stapling whenever I felt like it. In the end I stapled down more areas to give it more of a "W" shape. It was easy and fun.

The "W" is from Joanns and with a 40% off doupon it was only 5 dollars or so.

I am loving this newest decoration. And yes we already have the inside of the house all decked out for the holidays. Not the outside yet though.

Get the Tissues out

I was checkin gin at one of my favoirte blogs http://blog.cjanerun.com/ and she posted a like to Nie Nie....and said to check it out...so off I went to

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving.html

and found a wonderful thank you....you'll need the tissues....

The glass ornament

So this is the post to try to explain how to make those glass ornaments that I showed in the "I can make that Party" post.

I cannot find the template I used and I am still trying to dig out the box that my Christmas ornament crafty stuff is in but I will explain so that you organized people out there can get some kind of idea of what I did.



You will need:

a round glass ornament

a picture

a circle template,

a patterned paper

a pencil with an eraser on the end

ribbon

and a paint marker



Okay so after trial and error I found that one of my dinner glasses was the same size as the ornament I was using. This means that when you insert the paper in to the ornament the paper will unroll and be the same dimension as the inside of the glass ornament.

So I cut out that size circle from my picture and the patterned paper. Adhered the paper to the back of the picture.

Than really carefully pull the metal hanger top thing off the ornament.

You will roll very gently the circle of paper and photo into a tube and put it inside the ornament.

This is where the pencil with eraser comes in handy. I used the eraser end to open up the edges of the rolled paper (the paper should bounce open when it is completely inside the ornament). The eraser end allows for some grip on the the paper and you can move the paper around in the glass to get it to be correctly positioned (so that people are laying sideways in the ornament).

This is the HARDEST part. And I broke a few tyring to get the photo the right way....so don't get frustrated just keep trying.



When you have the picture positioned put the hanger metal part back on and tie a cute ribbon on top. Then on the back I wrote the year and where we were. Some aren't a place but a few words like "Ethan's first toe in the pacific ocean" I kept it really short and sweet though.



I hope that helps some of you....it doesn't seem to do much without pictures though so I will get on that. I thought we'd be out of town for the holiday but we are here so I am hoping to find some time to work on this for you!



Happy ornament making!!

A Nie Nie update

Stephanie is in Utah with her husband and family but still in a hospital for rehab. Christian has moved into the home that the children are living in with their aunt and uncle. Here is the story from a Utah paper.....

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/289626/17/

Hopefully you can get more detail and learn more there.

I just wanted to let you know more of the story.

A List

I saw this on another blog and thought I would copy it and share some random things with you about me...

If you want to play along, just copy the list and highlight all the things you've done. and now i am italizing all the things I want to do.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35.Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67.Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77.Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

25 Days

Well if you are a follower of Ali Edwards as I am you will know all about that blog title.

Ali does a 25 days of December book. The idea is to make the book in NOvemebr than fill with memories and pictures as it is happening. It is fun to make a book without having the pictures and journaling becuase for me I can think more outside of the box. It will interesting to see who it comes together in the end. This way I think I can spend more time makingmemories instead of scrapping them and working on that side of it. I'll let you know how that plays out in the end.

The hardest part for me was deciding on an album size. I wanted something similar to Ali's size and finally decided to make an album with a cardboard back and acrylic front. It measures about 6X9.

So I am going to get picture heavy on this post and let you see every page as they look now. I am hoping to show it again after the new year when the journaling and pictures have been inserted and it takes on a different look.

And if you want to see Ali's hers it is at

http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2008/10/creating-a-dece.html

Here is my page by page. Most papers are either making memories, basic gray, or bazzill for the cardstock. the snowflakes are heidi swapp, I don't know who the numbers are by...sorry.

If you notice you can see one page under the next. This is on purpose. I love the layered look. Ali does this alot and this will be my 3rd album this way. It looks really neat in real life and I think adds more visual interest. Plus I always can't wait to turn to the next page becuase I can see one peeking out form underneath.

Page 7 is a pull out envelope. I just added the extra paper on the inside of the envelope for some pictures

Page 10 is a transparency. So it looks like nothing now, but will have a totally different look with pictures and writing on it.

Page 17 is also a tranparency, and The T in "together" got lost when I punched through the paper so that I am still looking for...I hope I can find it!!

page 22 is another transpancey page.

I hope you got some great ideas for your own book! and This has to be my longest blog entry EVER!!

Happy Monday!!

Tip Junkie Shop a thon

Tip Junkie is having a mom preneur shop a thon.

She is trying to promote online Christmas shopping from other mom's business. IT is a great idea. And to promote it she is doing a 12 day give away. So pop on over and look at what is going on!

Metal Board How To

Okay lets see if I can describe this well enough for you to understand....

1. I found the sheet metal at Home Depot, I looked for it again this year and couldn't find it but found it at Lowe's....it is REALLY big, like bigger than a sheet of poster board.

2. the wood is a 1 X 8 board that my husband cut to a length that is the same as the metal. (does that make sense?)

3. I painted the board black with leftover high gloss interior paint that we had.

4. I didn't not cut down the metal.....this means that I laid the metal so it was horizontal (for instance if you took an 8 X 11 sheet and laid it so the 11 went across horizontally.) Than I drew with Permanent Marker and a straight edge a line making the line at 7 inches. This makes a long strip of metal 7 inches wide. I cut them with normal scissors...nothing special...it was actually very easy to cut but the edges turn out very sharp so be CAREFUL!

5. I used super glue to glue metal too the board.

6. Hubby than drilled two hole in the top of the metal and board to sting cute ribbon through for a faux hanger. (we also put a picture hanger on the back of the board. So when you hang it you can put it on the wall with the picture hook, that make it look like the ribbon is holding it up but taping the ribbon to the wall....yes i tape my faux ribbon hangers to the wall.

OR you can skip that whole step and just give an easel to hold up the board.

Yes I made the marble magnets...there are better tutorials all over the web for the but here is my basic instruction.

I got the marbles at Target in the vase section, they actually are called vase filler. There are all different sizes, I got the biggest roundest ones.

I use perfect glue #1 by liquid nail.

I simply rub the glue on smoothly to the back of the magnet...than lay it on a scrap piece of paper. I do a whole bunch at at time covering my scrap table with them. I let them dry over night.

Than I cut out around the marble...none of the marbles are perfectly round so do NOT cut the paper first b/c yo will still be trimming it later. It is very easy to cut around and is surprisingly fast.

I use the think round magnets that come maybe 30 to a package for 6 dollars.

I glue the magnet onto the paperbacked marble, using the same glue and I let it dry overnight.

And you have a simple very cute magnet.

Now here is the catch....I tried other glues and it wasn't successful. The magnets either slowly fell apart crashing onto my floor off the fridge or would soak the paper so much it was just a huge gloppy mess. Also you have to use strong magnets or you get a magnet stuck to the fridge and the paper and marble just fall off of it b/c it is too heavy for the magnet.

So you might want to experiment a bit first.

Let me know if this doesn't make sense, or if you need more direction.

Happy Crafting!!

Metal boards and Ornaments

Okay so a few of you have asked for directions on how to make these...

I will get back on tonight with a step by step for the metal boards.....but not with pictures since I didn't take nay last year when I made this....but I'll try to explain it as best I can....it has literally been a year since I made them and I don't have one to measure so that will be the biggest challenge for all of us!

Oh and I have never done a step by step via blog...so this will be a first....I guess there is a first for everything though.

Then I will try to get hubby to dig out the Christmas box, because I packed away my pattern for the inside of the ornaments with the ornaments so I wouldn't lose them, and I need that to give you a step by step. So that will have to come this weekend or sooner.

See you tonight!

I could make that PARTY!!

So one of the greatest blogs is hosting a "I could make that PARTY!!"

Her blog is at http://j-a-girl.blogspot.com/2008/11/welcome-to-party.html

There are already a ton of great Ideas there and I thought I would add a few of my own. Some I shared last year and one is a brand new one I haven't shared here before. I'll start with this one.

About 2 years ago I decided to start making family memories into ornaments., so after a lot of broken glass ornaments I was able to get about 32 of these type of ornaments done. Each one has a picture of something memorable from our family in it, not necessarily Christmas memories. This one is my hubby and 2nd child about 5 years ago. And he is getting his tows dipped into the water off the North shore of Hawaii! Great fun Memories!!!

Now each year I make about 10 more to add to our collection. On the backside I write who when and where...sometime just when and where but I love these!!

This next one I made last year for Christmas gifts for close friends....they are magnetic boards, made with sheet metal from home depot, leftover wood from the garage, leftover black paint from another home project, and marble magnets too. I also used rubons to make each board personalized.

The last one are blocks that have letters on 5 sides and have 15 blocks. I have a "key" that tells you which way to set it out so you can get over 20 different sayings out for the 15 blocks! I love these and sold them at a craft fair last year!

Thanks for looking and hope you got some great ideas!!

A new Class

So I have never taken a class online for ANYTHING! I have always heard great things about the scrapbook classes you can take online but have never tried one...until today.

I am taking the "Stories in Hand" class at JessicaSprague.com and

so far I am loving all her ideas!

Tonight I have printed off all the first day and second day work. And it gave my printer a workout! But all the pages and the colors are beautiful.

Now I need to find the 6X6 album that will hold all of this work.

I am sure I will be looking forward to each day and finding out some new ways to express myself through scrap booking. But I am most anxious to tell the stories, ones I haven't even thought of as being an important part of who I am.

Cupcake Fun

Well this week two of my friends had birthdays and I couldn't resist making them each a super huge cupcake. You use a mold of course and and hour later you have a huge cupcake.

I put the sprinkle container in the picture so you could get the idea of how big the cupcake really is. And the messy table is just becuase I was rushing to get them done to get them delivered...so I was just happy to remember to take the picture.

Fun isn't it???