Isn't She Crafty

Best Find Ever

2013-04-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this? Have you tried this? If not, you are missing out. It works. It works.....and it's FREE and LEGAL. I was so excited I had to share!

Another room remodeled

2013-04-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

So this remodel project is what has taken me away from blogging and other various activites for the last little while. I decided I had to change the paint color of my basement family room to a color that was a little more me. For years I have seen my friend's cute house and it was painted this beautiful yellow color that I was absolutely in love with. I got the name of the color and instantly bought 5 gallons to paint our newly finished basement familiy room. I got it on my walls, and new right away that I didn't love it. I tried to decorate differently, add accent walls, you name it I did it. But I could not get over how much I hated the color on MY walls. I got to dislike it so much, that I didn't even enjoy going down there anymore unless we were going to watch a movie and the lights were off so I didn't have to look at it. I hve learned through this ordeal, that things you like in other's houses, will not always look good in your house. I still love her house color, but it is just not me and it is certainly not the color for my house.

So, after the holidays, I decided to change the color to something I liked more. My upstairs main rooms were painted a beautiful Camino Gray (Ralph Lauren color) and I loved how calm they made me feel and how neutral they were to decorate with. So, I took that color downstairs as well. And then combined it with what I like to think is my signature color, Fire Engine Red!! I want to share a few tips with you about buying gray paint. There are a million different grays out there and I have learned (the hard way) that you have to be careful how you choose the perfect gray.

Gray paint has three different base tints. You can get it with a base color of purple, blue and green. The purple and blue may look pretty together, but once you get them on the wall and the walls start reflecting off each other, you will see that they will look lavendar. But, gray with a green base tends to give you a true gray color. Just FYI.

I decided to make a focal wall as a faux board and batten square pattern. I did that in my little boy's room and you can find that tutorial here.

I then found some great fabric at a local home fabirc store who sells fabric at wholesale prices. It took 10yds to do make 4 - 84" panels. I paid $40 total for the fabric. I feel like I practically stole it!! The window cornices were featured in a tutorial way back when and you can find that here if you like that look.

And then those super cute frames, I made them. I have no tutorial on them as it took me forever to get from start to finsih becasue lately I have a serious problem with starting 5 or 6 projects and finishing 0 of them. Because of that, I have no insructions for how I made them, but I did find instructions here, so you can make your own.

And I did another faux board and batten square pattern at the end of the hallway. One day I will get around to hanging some really cool and colorful pictures but again....I have become the crafter who doesn't know how to finish a job. So that will have to be for another day.

All in all.....I think the room turned out amazing!!! And it was a remodel that with a little time and effort, cost very little to do.

It's all about being a litte daring.....and a little crafty.

Pass the Pig

2013-04-01T15:47:00.003-07:00

Holy Cow it's been a long time since I have been on here. I took a little break to do some painting/remodeling, and then just needed time to debrief from the holidays. But now I am back and have some fun new ideas and projects to share with all of my friends.

Since the beginning of the new year, my husband and I decided our kids were in need of some training in how to have better manners at the dinner table. They have always been pretty good and respectful, but there were some things we were trying to stop and we were having a hard time getting through to them. One day, I was browsing Pinterest, and saw this idea that someone had posted. We decided to give it a try at our house, and to our surprise, it worked better than anything else ever had. With such good results, I could not keep quiet about this much longer.

We found this little toy pig which we placed on the dinner table each time we sat down to eat. Whoever did something that we considered "bad manners" they were passed the pig. If, by the end of the meal, you were left holding the pig, you would be in charge of doing the dishes from the meal the whole family had just finished. Because I have a 4 year old who is a bit young still to load the dishwasher, we made him clear the table by himself. I have come to realize that kids are okay doing chores if they can do them with others. But if you make them do those same chores alone, they seem to grumble more and more. That turned out to be a good thing for us. The table manners in our house have never been so good. One day, we will ween the pig from our dinner, but for now, it looks like the pig may be a permanent guest.

A permanent snowball

2013-01-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

So here we are...in the days past the festivities of Christmas. Where all houses have taken the lights down, put the wreaths away and we are left with the doldrums of winter. But just because there's not a great holiday to really decorate for until next month, does not mean that our porches should lack some character. Am I right? So here's a crafty little thing that I did to help spruce up the blah, lifeless porch on my house.

I made permanent snowballs.

It couldn't have been easier. All over the place, at every store you enter in right now, Christmas ornaments are clearanced to next to nothing. So for $1.00 per package, I picked up 4 packages of various sizes of non-breakable plastic ornaments.

And a visit to the Dollar Store provided me with 2 lbs of Epsom salt.

I took a little craft glue and added water to it until it was thin enough to spread around my ornaments but not too runny so that it would slide right off.

I rolled the ornament in the glue solution

and then rolled it in a bowl full of salt.

Let them dry overnight, and there you have it. A snowball guaranteed not to melt.

Stick them in a cool bucket, an empty flower pot, or whatever you choose. And now you have added a bit of "winter" personality to an otherwise bland porch.

I'm thinkin' that it's all pretty crafty! Don't you?

What to do with all those cards

2012-12-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

I LOVE getting Christmas cards from all of my friends and family. It's always good to hear from those who we love and see the cute pictures of their family's that are growing and changing from year to year. But what do you do with those cards when they come? Unlike some, I don't have room to stand them up in display, or I don't care to hang them on the wall or on the back of the door. Nope, instead, I use them as a decorating accent in my very plain and super un-festive garland that adorns my stair railing.

Tie a bit of string, ribbon, whatever you have lying around, and add those cards to that boring old garland. There, the cards are out of the way, but not thrown out as soon as you read them.

Remember those who have remembered you this holiday season, and enjoy the cards and sentiments all season long.

Christmas Countdown

2012-12-02T16:31:00.000-08:00

So we are all ready to start counting down to the most magical day of the year. In years past, we have done this in many different ways. One year, we did count down blocks. They were cute and reminded us of how much longer we had to wait, but they weren't really fun. Then we tried one with candy and that was super fun, but really, do we need more treats at this time of year? So, this year we are trying one that's a bit more interactive.

For each day we count down, there is a card we pull off of the advent that gives us an activity to participate in.

To make the advent calendar itself, I just found a large frame at the local thrift store for $0.50. I sprayed it red and added string across it to hang the cards from.

I secured the string with staples and then covered those with hot glue just as a reinforcement.

I went to Kmart and found these cute gift tags to use.

And on each one we wrote an activity that we would like to do this Holiday season. Examples are: drink hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows, watch a Christmas movie, have a family sleepover under the Christmas tree and make Christmas cookies. We also have some fun ones like take a drive to see the Christmas lights, do a Christmas service project for someone in need, attend a Christmas concert, and wrap gifts for others. Think of activities that are age appropriate for your family and repeat specific activities as desired.

Now we are all ready to select our activity and get ourselves in the Holiday spirit as we countdown to Christmas!

Bring on the Elf

2012-11-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

By now most of us are gearing up for the holiday season. I know I have been searching for ideas. I came across this idea during the summer (when I went back to the source it was no longer available. Please message me if this is your idea and I will give credit where it is due).

Most of us know the story of Eli the elf… Little elf that creates fun messes at night while you are sleeping to keep kids on track for the Christmas season. Great idea but… Christmas needs to be about Jesus. As we all know he is the reason for the season.

So here is the letter to go along with the Eli the elf. (However, our elf is named Harris....so if yours is named something other than Eli, substitute the new name in.

Dear ...................................,

First off, I have to tell you that I think you are all very special children. I know you are filled with love for each other, your parents, but most importantly, you are filled with love for Jesus, and I know that He lives in your hearts. He lives in mine too, that makes us all especially special!

I have to let you know something important. You know that whole naughty and nice list that you hear everyone talking about? Well… truth is, that’s not really true. I don’t have a naughty and nice list. Because I know Jesus, I also know a lot about grace and getting what we don’t deserve. I know you know all about that! Like when you make the wrong choice and when you choose to sin, Jesus gives you grace and loves you still! And sometimes I know that your parents even give you grace too… like when you deserve to be disciplined, but they give you another chance!

I know that kids are not perfect. I know that you guys are not perfect. But I know that Jesus loves you all the time, and I do too. So you don’t need to worry about being on my naughty or nice list. If you believe that I will come to your house on Christmas Eve and leave you some special surprises, then I will come!!! That’s all you need … is to believe!

To help you remember about grace and about love even when you don’t deserve it, I wanted to send you a very special treat for this Christmas season. Since it’s the first day of December, the month that we celebrate Jesus coming to earth to be our Rescuer, I thought you might enjoy a little visit from a very special friend of mine.

This is Eli the Elf......

He is a dear old friend of mine, but he tends to be a bit naughty. I have explained grace to him many many times, when he chooses to sin and be a stinker. I have told him that is why Jesus had to come… to rescue him. Because he has sin in his heart. He is beginning to learn, but I thought that if he stayed with you for the Christmas season, then you might be able to teach him some more about the way Jesus loves us even when we sin. I know that you both are learning that you get to obey and love God because He first loves you so very much. I love Eli so much and I want him to understand and believe Jesus and know that his heart can make good choices too because Jesus loves him so very much!!

One important thing about Eli… he is an Elf, and elves are not the same as humans. Eli stays still all during the day, but he comes alive at night. You can talk to him; play with him just like your other toys. Eli is quiet during the day, but loves to play at night once everyone else is sleeping. That’s usually when he can get into some trouble, so you’ll have to watch him carefully!

When I told Eli that he was going to stay with you guys, he jumped up and down in excitement! He really things you guys are so fun.

Have fun! I’ll be back to pick up Eli on Christmas Eve when I come to drop off some surprises for you!

I love you guys so very much!

Santa

And Santa has his very own stationary for this!

We are having the letter delivered to us in the mail and that day, Harris will show up to spend the season in our household. I can't wait!!

An Indoor Snowball Fight

2012-11-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love a snowball fight? Being outside in the freezing cold, getting pummeled with icy cold "rock" like objects that always seem to hit you in the face? Well, I love a good snowball fight; when I am the one that stays warm and out of target range, but I especially love the idea of having one indoors. So, since my kids and I love to have these snowball fights, but aren't too fond of the icy cold either, we decided to bring the snow indoors.

I found these little metal buckets at the dollar store

and with a paint pen, added some embellishments to the front.

I then went over to JoAnn's and found me some fluffy white fabric....on the clearance rack of course. When I got home, I cut the fabric into various sized circles, and with right sides together, sewed them up leaving small hole so I could turn them right side out and add stuffing. When they were stuffed to my liking, I simply hand stitched the small hole together. And that's it, a homemade, fluffy warm snowball.

I decided to take it one step further and add faces to these snowballs. Perhaps it would make getting hit with them a little more fun. So, I embroidered little black eyes, an orange carrot nose, and a mouth with cold rosy cheeks to make them look fun.

Put a bunch (my buckets held 6) together in a bucket and then, you are super well equipped for the best snowball fight ever.

Now isn't that crafty?

The Christ Book

2012-11-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas is such a busy time of year for everyone. Making sure the decorations are up and just so, baking all sorts of goodies and treats to share with others, making sure we have enough gifts for everyone as to not start a fight over who got more, and scheduling every activity to help get us in the "mood". And as busy as we are making sure everything is perfect, we forget the most important of all Christmas to-do's. And that is taking time to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

While purusing Pinterest, I came across a blog called Sew Dang Cute that had a great idea of making a book of scriptures, songs and pictures to read and share each day during the month that will help keep the "true" meaning of Christmas with us this season. It's called the Christ Book. I wanted to re-direct you to this blog in hopes that you too will make one and share the true meaning of Christmas with your family and bring His Spirit into your home this season.

Here is how mine turned out.......

Check out the blog Sew Dang Cute Crafts to get started on your own. Merry Christmas!!

A bathroom makeover

2012-11-18T20:58:00.001-08:00

My new bathroom.....is pretty crazy. But I have to admit that I am TOTALLY in love with how it turned out. I am not one who likes to do things simply. When I do something, I want it to be bold and crazy. I have always heard that your house decor should represent your personality. That a person should be able to tell what kind of a person you are by the way your house is decorated. For me, I have to agree. This to me screams loud, crazy, daring and original- me to a T.

I started out with my cute black bathroom which I have had this way for years and have loved it. I have loved the black......and the fact that no one else I knew had a black bathroom made me love it even more.

But as time goes by, the need for change rears it's head......and then the fun begins.

I knew I wanted to stick with my main color being black, and I new I wanted something super abstract.....so instantly I thought of a harlequin design. I looked for wallpaper and couldn't find anything that met the expectations I had envisioned. So, I had to do it myself.

I went to the Home Depot and purchased a 6" by 6" tile to use as a template for my design. With the use of a level, I was able to sketch out a few diamond shapes

and then to make work a bit easier and quicker, used a ruler to continue drawing the lines.

After about 3 hours, I was able to sketch out the entire bathroom. Now begins the longest part of the process.......the taping.

I decided to tape up and paint just one wall to make sure that it was what I wanted it to look like before I kept on with the grueling task at hand. I painted it, took the tape off and found I didn't love it. My lines weren't super straight, and there was paint bleed from my not-so-good tape job. So, I took it upon myself to go to plan B. Now don't judge me for this. Just think of it as my creative, cheap mind trying to make it work.

I was at Hobby Lobby purchasing my Christmas wrapping paper for the season, and then I saw it and an idea was born. The exact harlequin pattern I was looking for that I wanted on the wall. Now I realize wrapping paper and wallpaper are totally different things, but I thought "why not". And for $7 for a roll of wrapping paper I loved, vs. $82 for a roll of wallpaper I just kind of liked, there was no question in my mind. Now this particular wrapping paper was a bit heavier duty than most. So I bought myself 3 rolls and headed to the aisle where I could find super strength spray adhesive, made my purchases and headed home.

I sprayed the wall with the adhesive and followed the instructions carefully on the can. I then cut my wrapping paper and hung it on the wall, until the whole room was covered. I tried super careful to match up the pattern so it would look as seamless as possible. To finish it all off, instead of using modge-podge which I used on a similar project before in my master bathroom, I used a polyurethane and lightly painted it over the paper to make it a bit more waterproof. I don't know if I would recommend this in an area where the walls would be getting wet a lot, but because the majority of my room is covered in a bead board, I felt the paper would be a safe choice.

So that's it. And with the help of one of the best home consignment stores ever, Consign & Design furniture and home decor in Farmington, Utah, I found a darling mirror and cute rod iron stand that added the fun little touches to this room that I was looking for.

As crazy as this may look and sound to most of you out there, I feel like I got what I wanted, spent a total of $65 on the entire project and made it work for me. It just took a little thinking outside of the box, and a little bit of an adventurous spirit.

But isn't that what being crafty is all about.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

2012-11-18T19:54:00.001-08:00

My husband and I have just celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary. Let's face it, the man's a Saint putting up with all of my craziness and am sure at times what he would define as my "multiple personalities." Nonetheless, we have made it this far, with many more years to look forward to.

We don't typically exchange gifts with one another. We are already so blessed to have all that we need, but we do love to exchange romantic gestures. This year was no different. My husband is quite sentimental so for me this year was easy.

I bought 12 balloons. One for each year we have been married. And at the end of each balloon, I attached a picture of a fond memory and shared with him reasons that I love him.

Example.... I love that no matter how old we are, traditions (like dying Easter eggs) still mean the world to him and he participates in them with excitement and sincere enthusiasm.

When he arrived home from work, my sweet 4 year old spoiled the surprise a bit by informing him of the "tons of balloons" on the bed. But the real surprise was what they all meant.

Here's to the best 12 years of my life....with the absolute love of my life. And this is only the beginning!

Halloween treats

2012-10-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

For my kids to take treats to school, I kind of like to do something more than just handing them a piece of candy. Don't get me wrong, I do not hand them something bigger or larger than candy, but I just like to spruce up the candy so it doesn't look so generic or boring.

This year for my little guy's preschool class, we decided to give "Tootsie Pops" since those are his favorite. But just a sucker would be kind of blah. So we dressed it up like a ghost.

This probably seems lame to some of you. But back in the day when I would go trick-or-treating, it was so fun to get these suckers that looked like ghosts. All you need is tissue, ribbon, suckers and a marker.

Wrap the sucker in the tissue

and tie a ribbon around the bottom of the sucker.

Use the marker to make two little dots for the eyes, and there you have it. A little something more than just an ordinary old sucker.

"Witch" legs are those

2012-10-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

There's something that makes me smile at the sight of striped stockings and witches boots at Halloween time. But how I could I incorporate that into my Halloween decorating? And then I was inspired by these pictures I keep seeing of witches legs hanging out from under a house as if the house had fallen on her. Why couldn't a witch get caught in the fireplace while trying to get into a person's house for the holiday. Lucky for me I have a fireplace (an electric one mind you) that would be the perfect location for such a holiday delight.

I took some old striped socks and stuffed them with cotton batting. I then found some cheap fabric and totally made the shoe pattern as I went, and then sewed the stuffed shoes to the socks. I added a bit of tulle to the top of the legs to resemble the bottom of my witch's skirt.

Make sure to sew a strip of fabric to the top of the socks so you have something to hang them by, and then with a quick addition of magnet strips, she was ready to hang to the inside of my fireplace.

And there you have it. A sneaky witch, caught in the act of breaking and entering.

Happy Halloween!!!

Ghoulish Portraits

2012-10-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

I am in love with this website called picmonkey.com Here, you can edit and transform some of your favorite photos to create even better images. Well, as if that's not enough, they have this creepy and fantastic Halloween app that allows you to upload your very own photos and make yourselves as ghoulish and scary as possible. There is an app to make them cute too, but who wants to be cute for Halloween.

Check us out

I actually am getting these printed out so we can hang them for Halloween....

Pretty Scary Looking Group!!

Creepy skulls

2012-10-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

I bought this skull at Michael's Crafts. It's made of plaster of paris and only cost me $12.99, but actually less when I used the 40% off coupon. What a steal right. But skulls like this can't just be painted white and left at that. Skulls are never that nice. Especially spooky Halloween skulls. So something else needed to be done to add drama to this piece.

The best solution.....antiquing or color washing it. Now, you can pick up antiquing paint at the craft store as well, or the color wash I used I had purchased at the art store not long ago.

This process is so easy.....anyone can do it. There is no skill needed. First thing you need to do is paint the skull white with just a generic acrylic paint purchased at the craft store for $0.69.

Then, pour the color wash on top of the skull (you will want to work in small areas at a time) and use your paint brush to make sure it gets in all of the cracks. Immediately after that.....DO NOT LET IT DRY.....you want take a damp cloth....

and wipe off the excess paint, leaving paint only in the cracks and dents of the skull.

Around the teeth, you want to make sure to use a lot of color wash so it looks extra gross.

Here's the good news, if you mess up and don't get the wash off quick enough or leave more than you want on the skull, just paint over it with the white paint and try it again.

I then painted the entire inside of the skull black just to finish it off.

And there you have it. A skull that looks authentic, creepy and perfect for Halloween.

"Boo" to you

2012-10-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

I am dying with excitement that Halloween is coming up so quickly. My house is already decorated and ready to go. But, one thing I have learned over the years, is that no matter how many decorations you have, there's always room for one more thing. For example, I needed something to sit on top of my microwave so when you looked towards my kitchen you could see the decorations didn't just stop at the family room.

I found some letters from the craft store and modge podged Halloween paper onto them. You could decorate them however you want. Then, while perusing through the aisles of the local Dolllar Tree, found these perfect bat cutouts. Already that saves me a ton of work of having to cut things out.

I drilled a few small holes in the letters, added a bit of stiff wire, and then glued those little bats on.

It is a rare occasion that I actually use the cupboard above the microwave, but when I do it is annoying to have to keep taking each letter down and placing it back up. So my solution......screw those letters together.

Now they have a little more character being overlapped and all. And you can twist them any way you want.

Now Isn't that crafty!!

The countdown has begun

2012-09-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

My cute little family is preparing for a trip to the most wonderful place on Earth. DISNEYLAND!! We can hardly stand it and my kids are practically ready to die with anticipation. It seems like time is moving at a glacial pace. It moves even slower every time the kids ask me "how many more days until we go." So, to help us all out with the reality of time, I made this cute Mickey Mouse countdown chain. I started with 14 days left to go....

and each day, they take turns tearing a piece off the chain. It's been a fun way to keep the excitement and anticipation alive without the never ending irritation that comes with the question "is it time to go yet".

only 13 more days to go.....We can make it.

furniture to fit your needs

2012-09-14T14:14:00.003-07:00

Years ago I bought these unique and gorgeous end tables from a storage unit sale. The bottom of the table is a huge, heavy iron tree branch and the top a beautiful piece of black marble. I saw them and instantly fell in love and had to have them. As fabulous as they were to look at, they weren't super functional as the top was only 12" in diameter, and because of the marble, the table was incredibly top heavy and fell over easily.

After living with these tables in my family room for about 18 months, I decided that they needed to be replaced with something a little more useful in this particular room. But, I was so in love with them, I just couldn't bear the thought of getting rid of them. So, I had to come up with something different.

I was at Home Depot buying some lawn fertilizer the other afternoon and found myself in the wood section. I honestly don't know how I ended up there. It's like my internal compass just sets this section as it's favorite destination. So, while I was wondering the wood aisle, I looked over and saw the pre-cut wooden cirlces. And they just happened to be 24" inches in diameter, and thick enough to make a lovely new table top.

THAT's IT!! I had to have these wood cirlces and could use them to replace the table tops on my favorite end tables of all time and I wouldn't have to get rid of them after all.

So, I took them home and removed the old marble table top, and put these new ones on. Then I headed out to the garage and stained them with an ebony colored wood stain.

I loved the knots in the wood on top of the table surface. It made it look so much more "tree" like and went perfectly with the base of the table.

And once they dried, they were moved back into my house and ready to be used. Although I replaced marble with wood which is a bit of a downgrade, I think, these tables are now more stable and definitely more usable. And quite honestly, from a distance, they look just as stunning.

Perhaps in your own homes, you have furniture items that you wish were more useful. With a little creative thought, perhaps you can find a way to revamp it and make it piece of furniture that you can use and enjoy.

Command Center

2012-08-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

It's always nice to have one central place to run a home and your lives smoothly. Until now, we have had no reason to really need one other than a personal calendar to remind myself of crazy work schedules. But now with kids in school (year round school with crazy breaks and holidays), piano and tumbling lessons, soccer and birthday parties, we can no longer get ourselves by with just a little pocketbook calendar. And I am NO good at all this electronic updating and such. So, I was inspired to create our very own "command" center where my husband and I could stay up to the minute with the crazy thing we call LIFE.

I took a wall in my kitchen (the only available wall really) and posted important things on it. My kid's school schedule so we are aware of when we are on break and when we need to go back.

A to do list so that I can solicit help from others once in a while....and a great idea from a fantastic friend of mine, a shout out to Launie, a menu. This way we can write down our planned out meals for the week and shop accordingly. Hopefully this will prevent fruit and veggie rot and help with budgeting too. We just update weekly or as needed using a dry erase marker. When we have accomplished our task, simply grab a paper towel and wipe it off.

After living with this for 7 days now, I can see an improvement in how things function around here. No more rescheduling, forgetting or guessing.

And that provides me with a little more time for enjoying!

First day of school memories

2012-08-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

For those of you just getting ready to start school....I have discovered this fantastic idea from the most addicting website ever aka. Pinterest, that I just had to pass along with you.

Admit it, you are one who likes to take multiple photos of your soon-to-be student and document and memorialize those moments and firsts of each year. Well, why not take it one step further and add what your kids want to be when they grow up. I remember when I was little how much I dreamed of becoming a beautician, going to Harvard and then becoming a Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Well, none of those dreams came true, but what a funny thing to remember and laugh at as you reflect on where life really leads.

My little girl Ella is just starting 2nd grade and right now has ambitions of being a Veterinarian. Last year all she talked about was becoming a Doctor. My how one's mind can change in a short 12 months. So here's how I documented this in the year 2012.

I found a great FREE website called Picmonkey.com where you can edit and write on almost any photo.

You simply upload a photo of your choice....

and following the easy to follow directions...you too can document some of those precious memories from you kid's childhood.

For me...... a memory and photo to cherish forever!!

Angry Bird Pizza

2012-08-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

I decided to be a crafty mom for my kids tonight and made a " themed" dinner. On tonight's menu, ANGRY BIRD PIZZA eaten picnic style while enjoying the ongoing 2012 Olympics.

If a character face is required to get the kids excited bout dinner, then a character we will build. My boy is in LOVE with angry birds so this was made with him in mind. I had to use whatever ingredients I had on hand so that it could be a quick easy meal. I am not an artist so don't judge the look....just enjoy the creativity. It was as simple as a pizza crust with sauce and cheese. Topped off with Canadian bacon (my kids despise pepperoni) a little extra dough for the eyes and olives for the pupils and eyebrows. Shredded mozzarella would have made a better lower half of this bird's face, but all I had were slices, so they had to do. Add a little Colby jack for the beak and VOILA!!! Your very own angry bird pizza.

Tonight, I was the best mom EVER!!

Scary Spider

2012-08-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since I have posted on this blog....but as you may relate, summer is quite crazy. And, my little girl has started school so early this year, that I am still trying to figure out what month it really is, and what has happened to this thing called time. But, I have been busy creating and crafting away and have so much to catch up with and share with you.

I am starting on Halloween early this year. I am in desperate need of cool, fall weather and by focusing on Halloween in August, I am hoping my pleas for an early fall are heard. I love super cheap and super easy crafts that add fun and excitement to my holiday decor. This one couldn't have been any easier or any cheaper.

I was at the local thrift store and found these cute metal spiders. What are people thinking giving away such treasures as metal spiders? Well, whatever they may or may not be thinking, I am grateful for my fortunate finds. You too could be so lucky as to find durable metal spiders at your local thrift store or even craft store, or perhaps just the plastic spider rings at your local dollar tree will work just fine too.

I then glued the tiniest magnet I could find at Michael's Craft Store to the bottom side of the spider ......

and then attached them to my front door. Most exterior doors are metal, so this is easily done on most doors.

How fun is this?!?! I am loving it and am so ready to delve into more easy Halloween crafts. This one was just to get you all excited.

Fancy Glassware

2012-08-06T12:20:00.003-07:00

Sometimes it's fun to drink from a fancy glass, am I right? And although I may not fill these glasses with wine or champagne, when I drink Diet Pepsi (my beverage of choice) I like to be/feel fancy too.

I was at Ross the other day and found this cute black and white sparkly glass. I had to buy it. Upon closer look at it, I was so happy to find out that it was made of nothing more than rhinestone stickers attached to a plain old wine glass. How easy to replicate!!!!

So replicate I did. I found some super cheap wine glasses and then headed to Michael's Crafts to find some stickers. Lucky for me, they came in strips and all I had to do was make one easy peel and stick it on the glass.

Although they are not dishwasher safe......it's worth a bit of a hand wash to have a glass that makes yo feel super fancy, no matter what beverage you chose to put in it!

Drink Holder Anyone?

2012-07-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

How many times have you found yourself enjoying the great outdoors and not having a firm solid ground to put your beverage on? Perhaps not many, but me, it happens all of the time. I love to sit out in the back yard watching my kids laugh and run and play, and while sitting there, I like to enjoy the icy cold taste of my favorite Diet Pepsi beverage and the grass is never a suitable place to put it down.

So a solution had to be found. And here it is.

Using a progressive soup can (they have a nice wide can that will fit a soda can perfectly), I drilled a small hole in it large enough to put a threaded dowel through it.

A simple bolt and washer will help hold the can in place...one on the bottom

and one on the inside of the can.

So now here you are and here you can stop if you want.

But I like to decorate so I took some leftover vinyl from a previous project or two, and glued it to the outside of the can.

And then with the help of my son, branded it with his favorite angry bird. Now I have a place to place my beverage while outdoors with no worry of it tipping over and spilling precious liquid onto the ground.

Pretty crafty if you ask me.

The Olympic Torch

2012-07-27T09:30:00.001-07:00

The Olympic Torch has been made and is ready to make it's run down our street this evening to light our very own Olympic Flame. In the past we have just fun with a butane lighter, but this seems to be more fun. And as we go to light it, we will hide a lighter underneath this cool looking torch to light our flame and then the games can officially begin.

Now this literally took 5 minutes to make. I did it while I was working at the Hospital in between patients so pardon the background of these pictures.

Take a piece of cardstock paper or a part of a posterboard (which is what I used) and roll it up into the shape of a cone and tape it so it is secure.

Then just start stuffing tissue paper in it until you are satisfied with the way the "flame" looks.

That's it!

Doesn't get much easier than that. And now you have a essential part to your own Olympic opening ceremonies.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!