Snickety Things

Mississippi Tornado Damage

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:46:00 +0000

We live in Petal, MS. Sunday afternoon I was working on a post of how I made the zebra cake for Boo's birthday. My husband wasn't feeling well so we did not go to church so we wouldn't spread germs (we thought he had the flu) to the other members. It was raining on and off during the day and we were under a sever thunderstorm alert. The weather app on our phones went off telling us we were under a tornado watch. We turned on our TV and saw that it was almost immediately upgraded to a warning and it was just one town over from us. We gathered our girls and dogs and put them in the closet (I should note they were not afraid and were quietly playing their DS games, this was not the first time they had to go in the closet for weather). We continued to watch the TV to see where it was headed, when the cable and then power went out. We had no idea where the tornado was headed but towards our town. I went out the front of the house and Jeff went out the back to keep an eye out, and so we could head to the closet if needed.

I could see very dark clouds in the distance, but there are a lot of trees around so it was a little difficult to see. Our neighbors were doing the same thing we were. Here is a shot of the dark cloud rolling in.

Just a few seconds later we saw the tornado going by a little over a mile from our homes.

Can you see the edges? Here is a shot that shows where they are in relation to this picture.

Then, relieved, we watched it move off.

You can see the back edge just between the farthermost houses.

Having no power, cable or internet, we did not know what happened. I immediately called my parents who live a bit closer into town and found they were okay. My sister and her family had gone to church and I was relieved when they pulled into our driveway.

We were without power until late into Sunday night and did not get cable or internet until last night. Monday Jeff wanted to go buy his work because he had a meeting so we went with him, hoping to connect to the internet there to get a little info. On the way we found out just how bad the storm was (our info so far was through Facebook on our phones and texts from people outside our area).

Late in the night we got called by the school district telling us no school for Monday.

This is what we started to find as we drove.

Trees were just twisted right off and put down farther away (the trunk is on the right and the tree is by the road). This is smaller tree, but the larger ones were not any better, just sheared a bit farther up the trunks. We live in an are with a lot of the tall pine trees like the ones you see in the above photo. Many along the path are now missing tops. What I have not posted are pictures of destroyed homes through here. This pictures is just a little less than half a mile from my parents' home.

We started seeing a lot of debris in the trees.

We were even more heartbroken as the damage continued to get we got closer to town. This used to be a hardware store on Main Street. This is about 1000 ft from our church (our church was not damaged). Many houses around here were destroyed or heavily damaged.

Here are the stores across the street.

Going into Hattiesburg we found more damage. It was not easy to find a way to get where we were going.

We could not even get on to one of the main roads in Hattiesburg. We had to make our way around. It was sad to see the Alumni House at The University of Southern Mississippi had been heavily damaged.

Other buildings on campus were damaged badly also.

After getting to Jeff's work, his meeting was cancelled so we just gathered the info we could and headed back home. We took a quick drive by our girls' school to see how it fared as it was in the path. Houses across the street from and behind the school were damaged, but the school itself looked intact. Only debris and downed trees on the playgrounds.

What we saw at homes everywhere we went were people coming together to clean up even though our rain has not yet ended. I watched my friend's daughter so she and her son could go help with clean up efforts in the afternoon.

Here is a video taken by storm chasers in the area. The video shows the same stretch of road twice, with two different cameras. The damage they stop at is the University where the road is now closed. This is taken in Hattiesburg.

Thankfully, there have been no deaths reported.

Please pray for the families here who have been affected. Go to the Mississippi Red Cross site and donate to the relief efforts in Forrest and Lamar counties. Our local Red Cross office was destroyed along with their recovery trucks, but they are still helping people.

January 365 pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 05:52:00 +0000

A few years ago a friend of mine did a 365 photo project, the project where you take a picture every day of the year. She is a wonderful photographer and always took great pictures. She encouraged me to try, but I never did. Now that I have a camera on my phone I thought I would try again and post the pictures to Instagram. So far I have remembered to take a picture every day.

All of my pictures are taken with my phone's camera and then I choose one from the day to import to Instagram. Some of the pictures are not great, but I am just taking snapshots of my day and those moments aren't always the best so it works out.

Here are my January shots:

Day 1: My favorite sneakers, bright green Converse All Stars.

Day 2: My husband ordered me a ukulele for Christmas but it didn't arrive until January 2nd.

Day 3: Boo ate a whole lemon for the first time. She claimed she loved it but her eyes were watering.

Day 4: Not far in to the year my agitator quit spinning on my washing machine. I looked it up on the internet and found that my agitator dogs could be broken. When I took it apart, I found that was the cause. All those small little pieces on the bottom left should be four slightly larger pieces. I was able to replace them myself easily and save a repair bill. Oh, and I cleaned all that gunk up on the other parts before I put it back together.

Day 5: Just before bed I helped Boo pull her first tooth. She was very brave and extremely happy that she would get a visit from the tooth fairy.

Day 6: The start of Downton Abby season 3. We got to watch the first episode on PBS but have missed all the following ones.

Day 7: Beryl and Turbo fight over who will get to sit next to me. Beryl rarely lets Trbo touch her when they are laying down so this was rare.

Day 8: I had a hard time recovering from bought with the flu because of my asthma. This was a common sight next to my bed for a couple of weeks.

Day 9: I got to have lunch with my big girl at school.

Day 10: Beryl one this battle of the dogs. Turbo climbed up on the back of the sofa so he could still be near me.

Day 11: I love Texas toast. I could eat it all the time.

Day 12: Turbo won battle of the dogs this night. He slept right next to me all night.

Day 13: I used these rainbow swirl suckers as part of Boo's birthday goodie bags.

Day 14: Boo's birthday, she now has to use two hands to show her age.

Day 15: I was folding laundry when Turbo decided he was not getting enough attention. He was actually pushing things off with his nose as I folded.

Day 16: Got to enjoy the third in a series of books.

Day 17: It doesn't happen very often in south Mississippi, but it snowed here. The girls were very disappointed they had to go to school because they wanted to play in it. It only lasted an hour and was completely melted a half hour after it ended. This was a spectacular end to nearly two weeks of solid rain.

Day 18: I made cupcakes for Boo's birthday party.

Day 19: Boo's rainbow zebra birthday cake.

Day 20: Our church was lucky enough to have a great gospel singing group called The Dartts come sing for us (l to r: BJ Speer, Sharon Dartt, Stone Mountain Dartt and Tracy Dartt). Their daughter used to attend our church and I became good friends with her during that time. Even though she has moved, I'm glad when her family comes back to sing for us. If you want to check out their music go to their website. BJ tours and performs with the group but also does solo albums so you can check his out here.

Day 21: Boo just left all of her gift bags in the middle of her floor. It was a little girl birthday explosion.

Day 22: In December I was supposed to have an appointment for my leg but couldn't make it because i had the flu then. I finally got my follow up and my x-ray showed the break was healed. I won't have to see this exam room again.

Day 23: I found Beryl fast asleep in my spot on the bed.

Day 24: I was practicing my ukulele. I'm not very good, in fact this is my first ever musical instrument. I'm trying though.

Day 25: Folding clothes again, I had stacks of little girl clothes everywhere and nothing of mine.

Day 26: Checking on the girls before I went to bed I discovered this little bunny outside Boo's door. No idea why she put it out there.

Day 27: We went to visit Jeff's mom and the girls were looking out over the lake by her house. They are almost always holding hands. Unfortunately our altenator went out on us while were there and we had to use her car to get home.

Day 28a: Usually Jeff takes the girls to school on his way to work. He had to go back to his mom's to get our car fixed so I took them this morning. It was already 70 degrees out and very humid and very foggy. I snapped this picture of a field while at a stop sign. You could barely see the trees.

Day 28b: The only double picture day so far. Just a shot of the same field when I went to pick the girls up from school.

Day 29: Our two coffee pots. Both were gifts from my mother-in-law. We use them both, but K-cups are expensive so we are looking for a good cup to use in it for our regular coffee. We tend to use the Keurig on the weekends and the other maker during the week.

Day 30: Just a few days before the alternator went out I had a flat tire. Jeff put the spare on and we intended on getting the bad tires replaced. This day it was pouring rain and I was nearly out of gas when the low tire light came on. We had just paid for the alternator and I was praying that it wasn't another flat. Tires weren't flat and new tires have been ordered for us.

Day 31: Boo was putting the finishing touches on her school project telling about how a Canada Goose spends winter.

Up until February 1st my Instagram was public, but there was a comment left on this picture with extremely vulgar language and innuendo. I went to that person's profile only to find it was a fake. I have decided to make my Instagram feed private now so if you want to follow my 365 there just request me to add you. Look for @renondab.

Rainbow Zebra birthday party

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:24:00 +0000

Do you know what today is? It is my one year blogiversary. One year ago I posted for the first time on Snickety Things with how I made a tutu for a cake board. It is only fitting that today I am once again talking about a rainbow party. Or make that a rainbow-zebra party.

Boo gives me such challenging party themes. I had grand ideas on how this theme would play out. Life, once again, had its own ideas. My mother-in-law received a pace maker just after Christmas and had a heart attack just a few days before Boo's birthday. We weren't even sure we would be having a party. Thankfully, she is recovering and our party was able to go on, just not quite as originally planned.

First, the party was moved from our house to our church's fellowship hall. This was a tremendous help to us since we barely got our Christmas decorations put away and the house is still in disarray. Fortunately, our church is next to a city park and playground so we were able to allow the kids to play there during the party. This was great because we had just come off of two weeks of rain followed by a snow storm. Of course this being south Mississippi, the snow lasted an hour and was completely melted an hour after that. And being two days after the snow it was already 60 degrees out. The kids need the time to run.

Our invitations asked that everyone dress in zebra stripes or their favorite color. Boo chose to dress in the rainbow skirt she used for her birthday party last year, zebra leggins, a green shirt (her favorite color), a zebra tank and rainbow striped socks. I was even able to find a headband that had a rainbow background and zebra stripes.

I put out blank pictures of a zebra for the kids to color to help wind down from running before we had the cake.

This actually turned out to be very popular with the kids (and some of the adults). They spent about twenty minutes coloring quietly before their attention started drifting towards the cake. Here is Boo with her finished zebra.

It was actually easier than I thought to find plates that had a rainbow zebra theme. A local party supply store had some on clearance (score!). They are actually part of a rock-n-roll party set.

Here is the set up for the cake. I only made a six inch cake for Boo and cupcakes for everyone else. My intention had been a more elaborate cake, but I scaled it down.

The cupcakes are in a zebra liner and topped with a sour patch strip.

If you do this, put the strips on just before the party starts. Any longer than a couple of hours and the strips will sag down and flatten, not giving the great arch.

The six inch cake was topped with an icing rainbow.

Topped with zebra candles I found at Walmart and the birthday girl was very happy.

Her real surprise came when I cut the cake. I had made the inside zebra striped.

I'll be making a post soon on how I made the cake and why the stripes aren't as pronounced as I hoped they would be. Boo still liked it though.

I want to thank everyone for following Snickety Things this past year. I love hearing your comments. Don't forget to follow Snickety Things over on Facebook to learn when new posts go up or get sneak peeks of projects. I'm also 21 days into my photo 365 project on Instagram. I'll be posting January's at the end of the month or you can see them as they go up in my Instagram feed. Look for RenondaB on Instagram.

Linked to: New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Skip to My Lou, Lil Luna, Creations by Kara, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Polkadots on Parade, A Creative Princess, Yesterday on Tuesday, Live Laugh Rowe, House of Hepworths, Katie's Nesting Spot, One Artsy Mama, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The Grant Life, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The 36th Avenue, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, Delightful Order, Somewhat Simple, Happy Go Lucky, Lovely Crafty Home, Tatertots and Jello

2012 wrap up and 2013 goals

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year! 2012 went by so fast, it is hard to believe it is already 2013.

Here is a quick look at some of the big things that happened over the last year:

In January we celebrated Boo turning five. We threw a rainbow party and it was a lot of fun. Here is the cake I made. In a way, this cake was also the inspiration for the blog, stemming from requests on how I made my cakes.

You can find the post about the cake here, how I made the tutu on the cake board here and the rest of the party decor here. Also making appearances at the party were a rainbow scarf,

My husband turned 40 in March and the girls and I did something special for him. That was followed in May with the Princess turning 7 and my 40th birthday (I'm pretending the latter didn't happen).

In July we made the decision that I turn in my notice to the library I worked for so I can do more things at home. We had paid off all but one debt (not counting our house) and could afford to loose the extra income, it wasn't a huge addition to us. My last day there was July 31st. I miss it, but I really enjoy being around my kids more. We had really big plans for August, but August had its own plans. We were going to register the girls for school and take a few days to have a big family outing. Boo was starting kindergarten and everyone was excited, the Princess was making plans to walk her to class on her first day. I was going to use my new found free time to give my house a good overhaul and then have a garage sale. Instead, I fell and broke my leg just five days into the month. With the help of a very patient husband who had just taken time off work for what he thought would be a fun filled week, and some friends who scrambled to help us with some things (like borrowing a wheel chair on very short notice) we made it through the month without too much trouble. The only downside was creating a new debt to pay off with my leg. It set us back a bit in that area, but

By early September I was able to walk with a boot and by the middle of the month I was walking cast free. Overall not to bad for having broke my leg. Unfortunately, it put quite the damper on getting projects completed. I was, however, able to start volunteering at the girl's school by the end of the month. November rolled around and it brought the flu. Boo got sick just a week before Thanksgiving so we stayed home and just spent time as a family so we wouldn't spread it. After a couple of weeks being illness free, the flu hit again in December this time taking me out followed by my husband so things were slow around here and on the blog. It looks like we are all on the mend now. Even with setbacks, this was a great year for our family. We paid off our car notes, both girls are doing very well in school, and I'm getting to spend time with my girls at school when I volunteer.

That brings us to now and the look ahead to 2013. I don't set resolutions anymore, I never seemed to keep them. I do set goals that are obtainable and aim to complete them. I don't just do it at the beginning of the year, but all year long. I have long term (as far as five years out) goals and short term goals (ending in January) I am setting.

I am looking for a way to keep my house organized a bit better. We have the problem most people have where horizontal surfaces become catch-alls for anything we put down. I also have a mountain of school work the girls have brought home that I need to go through. I still want to do a garage sale, but I'm aiming for spring now. I plan to get rid of a lot of things we have that we no longer use and no longer need.

Where the blog is concerned, I may not be able to post three times a week. I would much rather put up fewer quality post rather than a lot of sub-par ones. I mentioned earlier in the year my obsession with Instagram, then promptly quit taking as may pictures. A friend has urged me to try doing a 365 photo project (taking a picture every day of a year) but I found it difficult to carry my camera around all the time. I have a goal this year to do a 365 with Instagram since I have my phone with me all the time now. You can follow me on Instagram if you want to see how it turns out, look for user renondab in your Instagram app. I also have a button at the side of the blog and at the bottom of each post you can use to see the pictures.

Here are a few pictures I've done on Instagram in the past, I will try to post at least once a month with the pictures I've taken.

Yep they are from Easter last year, before I got my domain name.

I also want to remind people of my disclosure, TOU and to please not pin or share pictures of my children.

Let me know what you are planning for this year.

Happy birthday Jesus cake

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I wasn't sure if I would get a post up this week. Last week I was so busy with a new business I launched from my Facebook page I wasn't able to post. This week I planned to show the teacher's gifts my girls' teachers are getting for Christmas this year. I came down with the flu instead so I have postponed making them until I am not contagious. I didn't want to leave you without anything this week so I went through my files and found this picture of a cake I made for Christmas last year.

I was very lucky to find a preschool close to me in a local church. The Christmas party they do for the kids is a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party and they asked if I could make a cake to feed around 40 people. I told them sure and started brainstorming. I didn't have much time as the cake was need just a few days out.

I decided on something simple. The entire cake was iced in white and I made a very thick border around it using a large star tip. You can see on the right it buckled the icing on the side a bit and made a slight bulge, but it didn't fall and I knew the kids weren't going to be inspecting it for mistakes. After all, they were all four year olds and more interested in the fact they would be getting cake.

I love making poinsettias out of icing, they are super easy to make. All you need is a leaf tip. I use two different sizes, one of them one size larger than the other. Start by laying out some leaves in green with the larger tip then lay layers of red leaves on top. A round tip will let you easily apply the centers of the flowers.

I always add one flower to the side of my cakes to bring the color down.

I never enjoy having to write on a cake. It never seems to go on straight and this cake was no exception. I am going to refer back to the fact that four year olds don't really care.

To make it look like it had ice on it I sprinkled some clear sugar crystals.

I know this isn't as elaborate as some of the cakes I have posted in the past, but it was still fun to make.

Linked to: Lovely Crafty Home, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity You, Nifty Thrifty Things, Flamingo Toes, DIY Showoff, C.R.A.F.T., Sew Can Do, Craft-O-Maniac, Piggy in Polka Dots, New Nostalgia, Not Just a Housewife, Skip to My Lou, Lil Luna, Delightful Order

Christmas tree forest

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:00:00 +0000

This year we had to do something different for Christmas. We decided to have a Christmas tree forest. Well, we didn't decide, it was decided for us. Keep reading to find out why.

Every year the weekend after Thanksgiving we pull out our Christmas tree and put it up. This year we knew we might be in for a little trouble. Last year we had to use zip ties to keep some of the branches on when we put it up. We bought that tree seventeen years ago and have used it for at least fourteen years (we didn't put it up the years before we had kids and we knew we would not be home for Christmas). When we pulled out the tree this year we knew it just wasn't going to go up. We just didn't have enough zip ties. Since I broke my leg back in August, getting a new tree this year just isn't in the budget. Broken legs are quite expensive even when you have insurance.

Here is our tree from last year.

You can tell it was already leaning and one of the light strands I put on it was out.

I really didn't want to tell the girls we weren't going to have a tree this year so I sat and stared at the blank spot the tree was supposed to go.

Over the years I have been buying small trees on clearance after Christmas. My goal was to have a little tree in all the rooms of our house, and last year I was able to do that. I talked the girls into sacrificing a tree in their room so we could do something special. I explained the tree was just too old to go up this year and I needed to use theirs. They reluctantly agreed so I set to work building a set for the trees.

I placed some boxes between the windows to try and give different heights to the trees. This wasn't their final arrangement.

I put some white sheets over them. A fitted sheet helped pull the boxes together then the flat sheet was spread over that.

I put the trees on the boxes to see how they would look before adding lights. The two medium trees were the girls' and the smallest tree was in our room. The bigger trees were for our front porch, but they had not been used. Most of the lights I pulled off the old tree were out so I ended up using some boxes I bought after Christmas one year. I'm always buying a couple of boxes of lights after Christmas on clearance.

I rearranged the trees, putting one of the taller trees on the tallest box to give more height. I put a few strands of snowflake lights around the trees, but they didn't stay.

I then let the girls decorate the lower trees by themselves.

When it was finished it we thought it looked pretty good. We just may be doing this again next year until we can afford to get a new tree. Or maybe we can get a few more small trees to expand the forest next year. All five trees and the lights on them were less than $50 after Christmas clearance prices, but they were all purchased over several years.

The picture is a bit blurry, but here is how it looks with the lights out.

The trees give off a very nice glow.

The girls are loving it, too.

What does your tree look like?

Linked to: Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Beyond the Picket Fence, A Creative Princess, Live Laugh Rowe, House of Hepworths, Simply Kierste, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Delightful Order, The 36th Avenue, The Grant Life, The Shabby Nest, At the Picket Fence, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity You, Craft-O-Maniac, Making the World Cuter, DIY Showoff, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sew Can Do, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping it Simple, Christmas Tree Contest

More favorite Christmas fonts

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:41:00 +0000

Monday I posted my favorite Christmas fonts and today I have more Christmas fonts for you. These are a little more whimsical than the other set I posted.

Christmas Snow, Christmas Lights, Kringle, Flakes, Bonnet, CHRISTMAS, White Christmas, Kingthings Christmas, Candy Cane, Bodie MF Holly

These are fonts I really like using for less formal occasions. Hope you enjoy them!

Linked to: Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Creations by Kara, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Beyond the Picket Fence, A Creative Princess, Live Laugh Rowe, House of Hepworths, Simply Kierste, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity You

My favorite Christmas fonts

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Last week I told you about my favorite Thanksgiving fonts and even shared some free printables I made with them. I know Thanksgiving hasn't passed, but I thought some might be taking advantage of the holiday weekend to get some work done towards Christmas. I thought I would share some of my favorite Christmas fonts with you (and I do know some of these were in my Thanksgiving list, I really love them!).

39 Smooth, Cardinal, Santa's Sleigh, Brock Script, Krystal, Christmas Card, Enchanted Prairie Dog, St. Nicholas, Shardee, Mountains of Christmas, Leftovers, Almonte Snow, Harrington, Saginaw, Frosty and Goudy Old Style

I hope you find my list helpful! What is your favorite font for Christmas?

For more Christmas fonts go here.

Linked to: Skip to My Lou, New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Creations by Kara, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Beyond the Picket Fence, A Creative Princess, Live Laugh Rowe, House of Hepworths, Simply Kierste, She Cooks She Crafts She Runs, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity You

Dealing with the Flu

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:15:00 +0000

Sorry there haven't been posts this week. The flu has hit our home and is keeping me pretty busy disinfecting and cleaning. I will try to have a post for you guys on Monday and Wednesday, but I will be out shopping on Friday (as long as no one else is sick).

Let me know what you are doing to prepare for Thanksgiving.

Free Thanksgiving printables

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:34:00 +0000

Monday I shared some fonts for Thanksgiving. I decided to try my hand at creating a little word art with them for you.

Here is my take on Psalms 100.

Here is a simple Give Thanks.

And here is my attempt at Subway Art.

You can get the PDF version in 8x10 size by clicking the links below.

Psalms 100

Thanksgiving Subway Art

Give Thanks Word Art

I am hosting these files on Dropbox. If you haven't heard of them it is a great online storage you can connect to using any computer. I love it because you don't have to carry a jump drive with you and you can even access files from your smart phone. Best of all, it is free! If you follow this link you can get bonus space, too! Try them out.

I can only guarantee links will be up until November 30, 2012 before using that space for new freebies. Hope you are able to use them!

This post featured at

Linked to: A Creative Princess, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, The Shabby Creek Cottage, House of Hepworths, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Somewhat Simple, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, Delightful Order, At the Picket Fence, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, One Artsy Mama/Happy-Go Lucky, The Shabby Nest, Lovely Crafty Home, Whipperberry, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Craft envy, Serenity You, I Heart Nap Time, Nifty Thrifty Things, Flamingo Toes, C.R.A.F.T., Sew Can Do, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Under the Table and Dreaming, Keeping it Simple

My favorite Thanksgiving fonts

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I always have a hard time choosing a font to use at Thanksgiving. I mean, fonts don't just scream Thankful like Halloween fonts scream scary. I like to go for a mix of elegant and simple. It usually works very well.

Brock Script, Centaur, Poor Richard, Tempus Sans, BudEasy, Scriptina, Garamond, Lainie Day SH, Slumber Party, Saginaw

All of the fonts are available for free download except Garamond. It came with an Adobe product I purchased years ago, so check and see if you might already have it on your computer. There is also a very similar font called Apple Garamond that may work for you.

Be sure to let me know how your projects turn out if you use these fonts.

Linked to: Flamingo Toes, Skip to My Lou, New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Lil' Luna, Sew Much Ado, Creations by Kara, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, A Creative Princess, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, The Shabby Creek Cottage, House of Hepworths, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Somewhat Simple, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, Delightful Order, At the Picket Fence, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, One Artsy Mama/Happy-Go Lucky, The Shabby Nest, Lovely Crafty Home, Whipperberry, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Craft envy, Serenity You, I Heart Nap Time, Nifty Thrifty Things, C.R.A.F.T., Sew Can Do, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Under the Table and Dreaming, Keeping it Simple

October wrapup and features

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:54:00 +0000

This has been a really busy month! I bet it has for you, too. Today is Halloween and my girls are looking forward to collecting candy tonight. Today is also Boo's field trip to a pumpkin farm. I was not able to go, but Jeff went with the class. It was too much walking for me and my leg isn't quite healed yet.

This past month I had a couple of features on other websites. If I missed someone, please let me know.

My Batman themed Macbook was featured at

My Jessie costume was featured at

My My Little Pony costumes were featured at

Christmas crafts will be coming over the next couple of months!

Time for reading fair

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 22:58:00 +0000

Monday both of my girls turned in reading fair projects. They had a lot of fun making them. This is the third year the Princess has submitted a project and Boo's first year. Over the past three years I have learned that the more interested the girls are in doing something, the more involved they want to be.

This year the Princess picked the book Nancy Clancy Super Sleuth by Jane O'Connor. If you have been reading the blog, this book choice may not surprise you. If you haven't been following, her kindergarten (she won 3rd place) and first grade (2nd place) projects were both based on Fancy Nancy books. Nancy Clancy is the next step of Fancy Nancy. Nancy is a little older and starring in her very own chapter books now.

Here is how her board turned out.

After her other projects, she was able to do this one almost completely on her own. She was really proud with how her magnifying glass turned out. She used two of my pizza pans to trace circles. I just printed out the ruled paper for her and peeled jewels off of some backing paper (they were really stubborn). Here she is with it. She was so happy with how it turned out.

Boo chose to do her board on Splat the Cat Sings Flat based on the Rob Scotton character. The story was actually written by Chris Strathhern.

Being younger, Boo had a little more help with her board. We printed up her category titles but she hand wrote all of the information. I also cut her title letters for her with my Cameo and I had to use big people scissors to cut the fabric pieces on it. She cut the other stuff out, can you tell? I just had to ignore my OCD tendencies to just go behind her and fix the jagged edges.

Here she is showing it off.

If you are wondering how they did, take a look.

Both of them won third place for their grade. That means the Princess has placed all three years and it looks like Boo might be well on her way.

Does your child's school do reading fair projects?

Linked to: Lovely Crafty Weekend, Tatertots and Jello, Craft Envy, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity You, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Flamingo Toes, Sew Can Do, Craft-O-Maniac

Becoming a Pony, My Little Pony costumes

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Usually I am way ahead on costumes for the girls, but this year I fell behind. Two weeks ago I double checked what they wanted to be, then started buying what I didn't already have. I thought it would be easy since the Princess wanted to be Rapunzel and she had got a wig and dress for her birthday. Easy, except she changed her mind the second her sister proclaimed what she intended to be. Enter My Little Pony.

This photo may be pinned or featured.

You remember Boo's obsession with rainbows? When she saw Rainbow Dash on My Little Pony she fell in love. That was what she decided to be and of course the Princess wanted to be Pinkie Pie. That left me with two weeks to make the costume before our first Halloween party. With the events of last week, I was a little behind and a large majority was completed on Saturday before the party. Jeff was a big help. Really, he was.

I immediately thought of all the tulle I had left over from Boo's cake tutu so I thought that would be great for the mane, I just needed to get some rolls of pink for Pinkie Pie.

I used one entire roll to make the mane and cut strips from the rainbow colors of tulle I had. I had bought some of the foam sheets at Hobby Lobby in pink and blue, so I cut a two inch strip from the side of each and used a hole punch to make holes.

Both pieces ended up with the hole pattern the pink piece shows. I am also going to mention that putting holes too close together will cause it to tear when pulling the tulle through. You will have to start over (twice!). I cut the strips of tulle to length by using a sheet of card stock because ~~it was what I had sitting close to me~~ I'm resourceful. That gave me a bunch of strips that were 6" by 11". Using a crochet hook, I pulled the strips through the holes. I put three strips through the part that would end up on top of the head for fullness, then only used two going down the rest. You can see how it looked from the bottom here.

You can see in the pictures I had attached them to the ears I made. Those are just foam hats from a pack at Hobby Lobby.

I just turned them backwards and cut the ear shapes out. I left a strip in the middle of the ears to attach the mane. I used staples for this turning them so the ends were away from their heads. The mane slipped on like a headband, with the back of it going around the back of their head, under their hair.

Here are how they looked from the front.

The ears just kind of peek through the mane. These turned out to be really light and stayed on their heads well.

While I was running all of that tulle through the manes, Jeff was making wings for Rainbow Dash. I gave him two pieces of foam and one of Boo's Rainbow Dash toys.

He cut the wing shape out of each piece, one a little smaller than the other. I stuck them together with double stick tape. I didn't take a picture, but I punched two holes between the layers and ran a ribbon through them. The ribbon went over Boos shoulders and under arms, then tied in a bow behind her back under the wings.

Their tails were just long strips of the tulle tied with a ribbon around their waists (another thing Jeff helped with).

Rainbow Dash was finished off with a blue t-shirt, tights and a skirt that matched (her favorite color so we had them already).

The cutie mark was printed on sticker paper and cut out. I just stuck it to the bottom of the shirt.

They peel off pretty easily so I will have to print a new one each time they wear the costume.

Pinkie Pie was just finished off with pink tights, shirt and skirt. Again, the Princess' favorite colors, so things we already had.

I bought almost everything on sale at Hobby Lobby so I spent around $10 on supplies (the foam, hats and the pink tulle). Everything else I had.

If you are interested, have a look at the girls' past costumes. There are some made with tutus, Jessie from Toy Story, Pinkalicious, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Tell me what your costumes will be this year.

This was featured at:

Linked to: Sugar bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, The NY Melrose Family, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Polkadots on Parade, Creations By Kara, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, A Creative Princess, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, The Shabby Creek Cottage, House of Hepworths, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The 36th Avenue, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, Somewhat Simple, At the Picket Fence, The Grant Life, One Artsy Mama/Happy Go Lucky, The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring, Whipperberry, Lovely Crafty Weekend, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Craft Envy, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity You, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Flamingo Toes, Piggy in Polka Dots, Sew Can Do, Craft-O-Maniac

Be a hero

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Over the last week there have been other things on my mind besides the blog. I apologize for not being as vigilant as I should be. Today I want to tell you a story.

A friend of mine grew up with juvenile diabetes. She received her first kidney transplant from her dad. That kidney added years to her life, but it too eventually failed. She was lucky enough to receive a second kidney along with a pancreas a few years ago. Although the pancreas failed, the kidney worked hard for her. This was not the end of her battle. Just a few months ago she finally gave in and had her leg amputated due to complications from her diabetes. Two weeks ago she started learning to walk on her prosthetic leg. Just a little over a week ago she was admitted into the hospital again with complication from her diabetes. While in the hospital she coded, and even though she had coded other times while in the hospital this time she was without oxygen for too long. She was a spunky and a fighter. Her mother, who never left ICU waiting room over the last week, held strong convictions and belief that God would comfort her and placed her faith in Him. I was lucky enough to witness her convictions while I sat with her in the ICU.

My friend was pulled from life support on Sunday and she passed away shortly after. She was only on this Earth for 34 years, but left a large impact on all those who knew her. She was an adamant Christian and shared her faith freely. She gave glory to Him for all she had.

Every day others sit in ICUs around the world, waiting for loved ones to come back to them or watch as they pass away. It can't be an easy thing for any of them. Others wait for organs that may never come because the choice was made not to donate. Those on organ waiting lists can be helped. Please choose to donate your organs and make sure your family knows your wishes. It can make a huge difference in the lives of those who need them. Imagine life without your son, daughter, mother, father or friend and realize that somewhere someone is facing that eventuality now while waiting for a transplant. You can make a difference. Be a hero.

My favorite Halloween fonts

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 21:48:00 +0000

I have over 3000 fonts on my computer. I am ~~obsessed~~ quite fond of them. I can spend more time on picking a font for something I make that I do actually making it. I thought I would start sharing some of my favorite fonts for Halloween since it is October.

Biblioteque, Respective, Walkiria, Meltdown MF, Barbecue, Parseltongue, Plain Black, Blood Of Dracula, Stonehenge, Frankendork, JackOLantern, The Alchemist, Black Castle MF

I find I go to these fonts more than others depending on the type of Halloween project I am doing. Remember to read the rules for using the fonts if you download them.

I will post more favorite fonts before Christmas and check back next week for this year's Halloween costumes.

Linked to: Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity You, Craft Envy, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Flamingo Toes, DIY Showoff, C.R.A.F.T., Craft-O-Maniac, Keeping It Simple, Sew Can Do, Mad in Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, Under the Table and Dreaming, Making the World Cuter, New Nostolgia, Sugar bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, The NY Melrose Family, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Polkadots on Parade, Creations By Kara, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, A Creative Princess, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, The Shabby Creek Cottage, House of Hepworths, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The 36th Avenue, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, Somewhat Simple, At the Picket Fence, The Grant Life, One Artsy Mama/Happy Go Lucky, The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring, Whipperberry

Batman themed Macbook

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:31:00 +0000

You may have been wondering where I've been this last week. I've been trying to catch up on things around my house since I'm starting to get around a lot better. I have so many things I had planned to do in the month of August and none of it got done. I had all day while my girls were at school to work in peace, but that didn't work out. I had my appointment with the ortho doc on Monday and found out my leg is still very broken. I was really hoping that it would be healed or nearly healed by now, but it was quickly pointed out that I'm 40 and don't heal as quickly as younger people (boo!). I'm still supposed to take it a little easy, but I can walk without a brace (and have been for three weeks now). It is sore, but nothing that can hold me back. The only downside is two months of physical therapy, most of which I ~~have~~ get to do at home.

Now that I am moving better, I started volunteering at my girls' school. I work for a few hours two days a week between four teachers. I'm mostly just stapling papers and making copies, but I hope I'm helping the teachers out a little. That leaves me only a couple of days a week that I can get things done and I'm afraid the blog got a little neglected.

That doesn't mean I haven't done anything fun. Remember when we celebrated my hubby's 40th birthday with a little Batman stuff? Well, he requested I use my Silhouette to decorate his Macbook with a Batman theme. I'm sorry for this bad picture, but here is how it turned out.

The city, the Batman and the Bat signal are all from fonts (Little City 2000, Batman, and Hall of Heroes). That means you can print them on clear labels and put them on if you don't have a way to cut vinyl. I just cut two long strips of white for the beacon.

I've made some other things, too. I'm working on my girls' Halloween costumes and I will post them as soon as I finish. Until then, you can check out Jessie, Mickey & Minnie, Pinkalicious and tutus if you need some costume ideas.

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Linked to: A Creative Princess, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Live Laugh Rowe, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, House of Hepworths, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Delightful Order, Somewhat Simple, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, The Grant Life, One Artsy Mama/Happy Go Lucky, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Shabby Nest, Lovely Crafty Home, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Flamingo Toes, Be Different Act Normal, Craft-O-Maniac, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sew Can Do, Keeping it Simple, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Mad in Crafts, Making the World Cuter, C.R.A.F.T., Skip to My Lou, Sugar Bee Crafts, New Nostalgia, Lil Luna

Tutu costumes

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:30:00 +0000

My girls love tutus. On two separate Halloweens they asked me to make costumes with tutus so of course I had to oblige.

The first tutus I made for them were for princess costumes. The Princess went as Aurora and Boo went as Cinderella.

At this young age they were so easy to please. I used foam visors I bought at Hobby Lobby and cut the crown shapes out. Then I just turned them around on their heads. The tutus are not the knotted kind, I sewed a pocket in each strip of tulle before running the elastic through. I used two colors of pink and white on Aurora and two colors of blue and white on Cinderella. They were made from the rolls of tulle you can buy at Hobby Lobby. Their shirts were just what was already in their closets and they are wore matching shorts under the tutu.

Here they are on their candy gathering rounds.

It was a bit cooler by this time and we put leggings on the girls to keep them warm.

The very next Halloween they requested tutus again. This time they wanted something a little more elaborate. The Princess wanted to be Fancy Nancy and Boo wanted to be Tinkerbell.

The Princess was really happy with how Fancy Nancy turned out.

She is wearing a Fancy Nancy crown she got for her birthday that year. The beads are from their dress up box. It is hard to see in the picture, but she is wearing leggings under her tutu. The bag is something I picked up at a children's consignment sale and it worked great to collect candy in. She is wearing a pair of cowboy boots that light up when she walks. The shirt is one she had in her closet. The tutu is made the same way as the ones above, but I alternated strips of lavender and white. The above picture is from our church festival so her hair was just pulled back.

This is the back of her hair on Halloween night. She wanted her hair in dog ears and just put all of her fancies barrettes in.

This is how she looked from the back.

Boo's Tinkerbell costume was fun to do.

She is wearing a green tank top from her closet along with more of the dress up box beads. She has on a pair of leggings and is wearing green Crocs. Her tutu is made with alternating strips of green and white. That is one of her buckets that she used to collect candy.

I bought these wings at a local thrift store for a dime. They had holes all over them, but I was really more interested in the frame. I took the material that was on them off and replaced it with an iridescent fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby in the scraps bin. I just glued it along the edge of the frame with fabric glue. Three years later and they still hold up well. You can also see I pulled her hair up in a bun like Tinkerbell's hair.

After a lot of walking, our little Tinkerbell started to fly. Okay, so her daddy just started carrying her, but she said she was flying.

Have you made in costumes using tutus?

If you want to see more Halloween costumes I've made, check out Toy story Jessie, Pinkalicous and Mickey & Minnie Mouse. You can also see some Halloween Jack-O-Lantern nail art here.

Linked to: Skip to My Lou, New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Polkadots on Parade, Creations by Kara, Handy Man Crafty Woman, A Creative Princess, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Fireflies and Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Delightful Order, Somewhat Simple, At the Picket Fence, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Grant Life, One Artsy Mama/Happy Go Lucky, The Shabby Nest, Lovely Crafty Weekend, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Craft Envy, Serenity You, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Flamingo Toes, DIY Showoff, Eighteen25, C.R.A.F.T., Sew Can Do, Craft-O-Maniac, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping it Simple, Making the World Cuter, Under the Table and Dreaming, Piggy in Polka Dots

Box Top challenge and September wrap-up

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:15:00 +0000

In August I challenged everyone to collect as many Box Tops as they could and send them in to their child's school, then come back to the blog and let me know how many you were able to do. I turned in fifty for September thanks to the help of my mom. She gave me half of what I turned in.

Today was the last school day of the month so it is time to see how you did. Let me know in the comments what you were able to turn in.

Now for something really off topic for me. I want to give a shout-out to Petal High School. Football is big here, after all this is the South. They played against Oak Grove, a rival team that is currently being coached in part by Brett Favre (yes, that Brett Favre). The score was 21-17 in OGHs favor and were making an attempt for a touch down in the last two minutes of the game. Here are those last few minutes (you may want to turn down the volume a bit and if you are getting this in RSS you might have to click through).

This game was also featured last night on Fox Sports South, although this footage and announcing is from the high school's cameras and radio announcers. Being an alum you can't help but be happy with the outcome. I think it is an exciting play to watch even if you aren't a Petal fan. Great job Panthers! #panthernation

Don't worry Brett, we are still your fans too.

I was supposed to move into an air cast for my leg, and I did, but gave up on it and just started going without. That's right, I can finally walk on my leg just six weeks after I broke it at the beginning of August. I don't go back for my final appointment until next week, but it seems to be doing well. Right now I only have a bit of a limp and move pretty slowly. I hope to be able to walk well soon. I feel pretty lucky that I didn't require surgery and things are going well with it.

I was also happy to learn that my Jessie costume was featured at two sites this past month.

Hope everyone has had a fabulous September. Don't forget to stop by and like Snickety Things on Facebook. There will be some new things showing up there soon.

Linked to: Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, I Heart Nap Time, Nifty Thrifty Things, Flamingo Toes, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Under the Table and Dreaming, C.R.A.F.T., Keeping it Simple, Sew Can Do, Mad in Crafts, Craft-O-Maniac, Skip to My Lou, New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado

Custom zipper pulls

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:55:00 +0000

If your kids are attending school, you know their belongings may look just like some of the other kids belongings. To give my girls' things look a little different, I thought I might make them special tags to hang from the zipper.

A few weeks ago I picked up a package of Ideaology Fragments. I didn't know what I would use them for, but I picked them up for around $4 and couldn't resist the price.

I was really excited because there were 16 different shapes in all kinds of sizes. I was disappointed after opening them because they were scratched up more than I would have hoped from hitting each other in the package. For use on the girls' stuff they would still work.

I plan to use several of these in different ways. The first thing I decided on was using the vinyl have. I started with a one inch circle and a one inch square.

On the back, I put a pink crown for the Princess on the circle and a Mickey Mouse silhouette on the square for Boo using my Cameo to cut them out.

On the front I put their initials. It is hard to tell, but Boo's initials are red to stay with the Mickey theme. I used black on the Princess' for a strong contrast.

I like how you can see all the way through to the design on the back.

I was hoping to surprise them in the morning by hanging them on their lunch bags, but I am going to have to find a way to attach them. I will post a picture in a future post of how I attached them when I do.

I will post more ideas using the Fragments soon. Why don't you tell me what you would make with them in the comments.

Linked to: A Creative Princess, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, Polkadots on Parade, The 36th Avenue, Yesterday on Tuesday, House of Hepworths, Delightful Order, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, Fireflies and Jellybeans, At the Picket Fence, The Grant Life, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, One Artsy Mama/Happy Go Lucky, The Shabby Nest, Lovely Crafty Home, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, I Heart Nap Time, Nifty Thrifty Things, Flamingo Toes, DIY Showoff, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Under the Table and Dreaming, C.R.A.F.T., Keeping it Simple, Sew Can Do, Mad in Crafts, Craft-O-Maniac, Skip to My Lou, New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado

What I've been reading

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:01:00 +0000

I know it has been a while since I've done a book review. It doesn't mean I haven't been reading, just that I haven't had a chance to do the reviews. Click on any of the pictures to take you to the book on Amazon.

First, I've been reading more zombie books. The first is a trilogy called "As the World Dies". The first book is The First Days, followed by Fighting to Survive and finally Siege all by Rhiannon Frater.

I am going to say that I almost couldn't get through the first bit of the first book. It is by far the most creepy zombie scenario I've read. As a whole the series isn't too bad. This series differed in the ones I've read in that there is a group of people who dig in instead of trying to move around to survive. It touches on other broad topics when it delves into the personalities of the characters. Some of the characters were portrayed well and some seemed cliches of what you would think a character to be.

The Snickety Things rating is

The next book is also a zombie book called Zone One by Colson Whitehead.

I didn't much care for this book. It was slow to start and never seemed to get anywhere. There was not much zombie action (the reason I read a zombie book) and I was honestly surprised that I managed to finish it.

The Snickety Things rating is

I've been reading some other books but I will save those for another day.

This post contains affiliate links.

Professional looking supplies

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:58:00 +0000

I'm kind of excited because I got some new craft supplies in. I can't wait to play with them, but in order to do that I need to organize my work area. Right now it consists of everything sitting around me in a circle so it is within reach because of my leg. That isn't working for much longer though. I'm able to get around better and the hubs has decided that things can't stay the way they are so I have been ~~working to get things in order~~ procrastinating on starting. One of things I did was put my blog logo on some office supplies so they would look more professional.

Remember when I showed you how I made my own logo? If you don't, go check it out here, I'll wait. I thought it would be pretty neat to see my logo on some office supplies that I picked up on clearance at Walmart. I just cut it out of white vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo.

Here it is on an accordion file folder that only cost me 50 cents.

Of course I picked the apple green color.

Here it is on an index card holder that cost 10 cents.

I use the accordion file to keep up with orders I get when I make things for people and I haven't decided what I will use the card holder for yet. I will say that I may make the flower a little more thick next time I make something. It was very thin and they eyes in the flower didn't want to cooperate,

Notice anything about the second picture? It wasn't taken in my photo light box like the file folder. That is because my girls got a little overzealous in playing and knocked it over, tearing all three sheets of tissue paper.

I may have to cover the sides with some fabric so it is a bit more sturdy. I may also try to figure out if I can make the box collapsible so it isn't in the way where it can be knocked off.

I'll try to take pictures of my craft area when I get it set up. It might take me a few weeks to get it done.

Linked to: Creations by Kara, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Polkadots on Parade, A Creative Princess, Live Laugh Rowe, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Yesterday on Tuesday, Beyond the Pickett Fence, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, Delightful Order, Somewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, At the Picket Fence, One Artsy Mama/Happy Go Lucky, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Shabby Nest, Lovely Crafty Home, Tatertots and Jello, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Flamingo Toes, Craft Envy, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity You, DIY Showoff, C.R.A.F.T., Craft-O-Maniac, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping it Simple, Sew Can Do, Skip to My Lou, Making the World Cuter, Mad in Crafts, New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Lil' Luna, Sew Much Ado,

Dress up your light swtiches

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:08:00 +0000

I totally spaced on my post yesterday. I slept until 9am when I finally rolled out of bed. Sounds awesome, right? Not so much. It seems I have caught the first cold of the school year from my girls. It was sleep I desperately needed, I promise. To pay the girls back for sharing with me, I had a little fun with them.

I used my Silhouette to cut out removable vinyl pieces in the shape of eyes and a mouth and applied them to the girls light switch for their closet. I then let them find it on their own.

Here is the one in the Princess' room.

And here is Boo's room.

I know this shot is a little blurry, but I have a good reason. This morning my power went out for a while. I decided to take pictures in the dark and used my flash. I didn't know this was blurry until I loaded it onto the computer a little while ago and ~~I'm too lazy~~ I still can't walk well enough to go back and take another.

They absolutely loved them as much as they liked the toilet monster. I can't wait to surprise them with more in the future. I can't take credit for this idea, I got it from a group I'm in from a lovely woman named Alison who was planning to surprise a family member with something similar.

How have you surprised your kids lately?

Linked to: Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sit Com, Somewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, At the Picket Fence, The Grant Life, Chic on a Shoestring, One Artsy Mama/Happy Go Lucky, The Shabby Nest, Lovely Crafty Home, Whipperberry, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different, Act Normal, Serenity You, I Heart Naptime, Nifty Thrift Things, Flamingo Toes, C.R.A.F.T., Sew Can Do, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping It Simple, Under the Table and Dreaming, Making the World Cuter, Craftaholics Anonymous, Skip to My Lou, Mad in Crafts, New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Creations by Kara, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Polkadots on Parade, A Creative Princess, Live Laugh Rowe, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Yesterday on Tuesday, Beyond the Pickett Fence, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Delightful Order, Silhouette blog

Inexpensive birthday gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:17:00 +0000

One of my best friend's daughter just had a birthday. She asked me not to spend a lot on gifts, so I decided to give her something that would be just for her, and fit into a budget. Since her mom was with me that day (she graciously helped me go shopping since I still couldn't get around well on my own) she helped me pick some things her daughter would like.

I chose a color scheme and set out to find things that I could use as gifts. Lindsey really likes this color blue. My first stop was Michael's where I found some inexpensive items in the summer collection (which means clearance!).

I found this key case. It had a sticker on it, but I pulled it off and added something just for Lindsey using my Silhouette Cameo and some vinyl.

I also found this water bottle at Michael's. It already had the print on it so I just put her name in vinyl over the design.

My next stop was Dollar General where I found this nice acrylic tumbler. It just begged to have a design put on it, too.

Over at Dollar Tree I found this great basket. I put her name on the side of it.

Here is everything in the basket. I didn't have a separate picture, but I also put a pair of white flip flops in.

I wrapped everything in the basket with white tissue paper and used the basket as the gift bag. I spent less than $5 on everything you see there, except the vinyl. If you don't have a cutter and vinyl, you can always buy sticker letters and designs in the scrapbook section. It makes a great personalized gift.

I didn't stop just making the gift for Lindsey, I also quickly cut some letters for water bottles for my girls. Now that school has started it was requested that we send bottles of water labeled with their names for use at recess and snack time. We didn't want to keep buying bottled water, so we went with this much cuter way of sending water with them to school. I picked school colors to let them show a little school spirit.

Do you have creative, inexpensive gifts you have made?

Linked to: Skip to My Lou, Making the World Cuter, New Nostalgia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Lil Luna, Sew Much Ado, Creations by Kara, A Creative Princess, Beyond the Picket Fence, Delightful Order, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Live Laugh Rowe, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The 36th Avenue, Yesterday on Tuesday/Katie's Nesting Spot, Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sit Com, Somewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, At the Picket Fence, The Grant Life, Chic on a Shoestring, One Artsy Mama/Happy Go Lucky, The Shabby Nest, Lovely Crafty Home, Whipperberry, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different, Act Normal, Serenity You, I Heart Naptime, Nifty Thrift Things, Flamingo Toes, DIY Showoff, C.R.A.F.T., Sew Can Do, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping It Simple, Under the Table and Dreaming

Pinkalicious {costumes}

noreply@blogger.com (Renonda) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:09:00 +0000

One of Boo's favorite characters is Pinkalicious. She loves all the books so much that she asked to be Pinkalicious for Halloween last year. Of course I tried to get her to think outside the box on having a costume exactly like the outfit in the book. Luckily she is easy to please so we ended up with our own version of Pinkalicious.

This photo may be pinned or featured.

The biggest thing about Pinkalicious is that everything she wears is pink. We went all through her closet to find anything we could use for her costume.

What we found:
A pink turtleneck that she thought was perfect.
Pink shiny tennis shoes
Pink socks
Pink wings
A crown (not pink but she insisted) that was from a previous costume

What I had to make:
I had a bit of pink fabric left over from a project I made several years ago. I sewed it into a tube and ran elastic through to make a skirt.

Total cost of this costume: $0

That's right, it was free. I didn't have to buy anything for it. Not only did that make me happy, but Boo was happy too.

She didn't give up her love of rainbows for the day. Nope, she just got one painted onto her cheek.

Here are both girls in their costumes. The Princess went as Jessie from Toy Story. I told how I made her costume a few weeks ago.

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