The Scrap Shoppe

Pinterest Feature Friday - PFF #16

2012-01-27T07:00:00.003-06:00

We're super excited to have our very first guest post for Pinterest Feature Friday!

It is something new we're trying once a month.

And we have the perfect person to share with you today! I think she's nearly as addicted to Pinterest as we are!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Hello Everyone!

My name is Bev and I blog over at Flamingo Toes -

And my Pinterest Boards are here - Pinterest is definitely one of my favorite new ways to get inspiration, pass the time, and avoid doing things I'm actually supposed to be doing.

I'm so excited to be here as a guest post today as part of Pinterest Feature Friday! I enjoy seeing the features that Michele, Tammy and Malia do - I feel like I find something new every week!

This week is no exception! I found so many great pins in the boards of this week's Feature!

I'd like to introduce you to Macey from Olivia Renn!

Macey has 23 Boards and 891 Pins! Lots of inspiration there!

Here are a few of her boards that caught my eye!

She has a great board for Gifts - lots of ideas for things to make and cute wrapping too!

Lots of tempting recipes on her Yumm Board!

She also has a great Photography board with tips and ideas for cute family photos!

She has some great pins too of course!!

I love this Colander Light Pendant:

Source: shelterness.com via Macey on Pinterest

This Scalloped Felt Wreath is Adorable!

Source: rebekahgough.blogspot.com via Macey on Pinterest

How clever is this necktie turned wristlet?!

Source: greenisuniversal-reuse.com via Macey on Pinterest

These Strawberry Cupcakes look perfect for Valentine's Day!!

Source: apronofgrace.com via Macey on Pinterest

Lots of Inspiration right?? Make sure you pop over and start following Macey's boards to keep up with all the great ideas she finds!

Macey, make sure you grab the Featured Button!

If you haven't linked up to the Pinterest Master List - head right over! It's a great source of Pinterest inspiration!

Michele, Tammy,or Malia will feature someone from the party each Friday!

Thanks girls for having me guest post!! It was such a blast to find all these great pins!

3 Framed Valentine's Day Projects

2012-01-25T08:08:00.000-06:00

I have 3 relatively quick and simple Valentine's Day art projects for you today!

Since I don't decorate much for this lovey dovey holiday, I thought some framed artwork would dress the place up a bit without too much effort.

Let's get started with some quick tutorials so you can make your own, shall we?

1. DIY Love Birds Printable

This Love Birds printable is easy peasy for you to design and print with your Silhouette software. It requires 3 images and two backgrounds from the Silhouette Image Library. Or you can use your own clipart! I've listed the files you need below.

backgrounds: halloween_diamonds_C01159_20509 and newspaper_grunge_C02981_1

images: chair_C00034_24406, 1_bird_cage_C00868_20509, & Bird_0678

background: pinkhexagon.png (comes with the Silhouette software)

font: Fontaniolo Beveled

Note: there are many chairs, birdcages, and birds to choose from in the software.

You don't have to use the same ones I did!

- Start by drawing an 8x10 rectangle in your Silhouette software and fill it in with the diamond background. You can adjust the scaling to your liking.

- Open the chair and birdcage images then position and size them as you see fit. Fill each one with the newspaper background, again scaling to your liking.

- Finally, open the bird image and fill it with the pink hexagon background (hint: if you hover your mouse over a background pattern it will tell you the name of the pattern). Position the bird in the birdcage then copy and paste the second bird into the file. Right click on your mouse to flip the 2nd bird image horizontally.

- After lining the birds up in the birdcage, click on the birdcage to highlight it, click the right mouse button and select Bring to Front.

- Type the words "Love Birds" and change the font to the Fontaniolo. Select a color to fill in the letters (I chose one of the gradients). Change the line color to something that will help make the letters stand out against the diamond background, then increase the line thickness to your liking.

Print, trim, and put it in a frame!

I really love how this turned out!! Its kind of a backwards take on the decorating on newsprint or book pages. I added one of my stuffed paper hearts as an extra accent to the frame.

And I love being able to make printables with my Silhouette! ;)

2. 3D Glitter Heart

I picked up these little glitter hearts at JoAnn's last year on clearance. I recently found this fabulous silver frame at Home Goods and knew these glitter hearts would look super cute in it!

The first thing I did was remove the ribbon from the hearts. It pulled off very easily... along with some of the glitter, but you could only tell from one side of the hearts.

I dug through my scrap paper and found this fun notebook paper. After trimming the paper down to size, I put it in the frame and arranged my hearts in the shape of a heart. Once I was satisfied with their placement, I glued them down with Beacon's 3-in-1.

And done! Couldn't be easier right?

I love how the hearts and the frame catch in the light!

Believe it or not, the next project is even simpler!

3. FREE Wuv Printable

The Princess Bride is one of my all time favorite movies. Its a classic in so many ways!

And I think this "wuv" quote is perfect for Valentine's Day!

I think this is going to be one of those printables that you either love it or not. :)

I made a little felt flower to decorate my frame, which I also dressed up with a little gold paint.

You can download the 8x10 print here at Google Docs

or by clicking on the image of the printable above.

So if you're looking for some quick and easy Valentine decor, I think one or two or all three of these can help you out!

I link up to these fun parties.

Craft Your Stash | Monthly Challenge

2012-01-22T07:15:00.003-06:00

My girlfriends and I were shopping for craft/scrapbook supplies over the weekend that we don't know when/if we'll ever use. They have a hard time finding the time to craft/scrapbook in their busy lives, and I'm so busy crafting for the blog that I forget to craft for me.

We've decided to hold one another accountable for using our craft/scrapbook supplies by issuing a challenge to one another each month.

So we are starting a

Craft Your Stash

monthly challenge!

And YOU are welcome to join us!

Each month a different type of project will be issued such as

finish a kit
make something from a recycled item

a two page scrapbook layout

a mini album

And since we don't all craft with the same media, some months the challenge will be very generic and other months there may two challenges to choose from.

January's challenge is to organize our supplies!

Mostly because there isn't that much left to the month, and we only just came up with this plan this weekend. But also because we need to know what we have on hand to be able to use it in the following challenges!

I've created a Flickr group to upload photos of your projects.

And of course if you have a blog you are welcome to share there also.

Grab a button and help spread the word!

But this monthly challenge is for everyone, bloggers and non-bloggers alike! Anyone who feels like they need to be held more accountable for the craft stash they have created! Feel free to participate every month or just every month that you feel you can. The more you do, the better you will feel!

This month you will need a before AND after photo to show how you've organized your crafting space.

If you want to join in and have already organized your space, just upload an after photo!

The schedule: challenges for the next month will be issued on the last Tuesday of the month

and previous challenges will be highlighted the first Tuesday of the month.

Upload your photos by Feb. 4th, and I will select some to share on the blog Tuesday, Feb. 7th.

February's challenge will be issued on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

I do hope you'll join us! I think it will be a lot of fun! :)

Social Saturday - Vacation, Girlfriends, and No Kids Allowed!

2012-01-21T19:14:00.000-06:00

Every Saturday I like to get a little personal with my readers and share what's going on in my world, my head, and/or my heart! I hope you'll play along with me as I share a little about myself each week!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I'm on a little mini vacation at the moment!

The hubs and I packed up the boys and headed east last Thursday.

We dropped the boys off with my parents then continued on to Gatlinburg to meet up with some of our friends from college that we get together with at a chalet in the mountains once per year.

Its something we always look forward to!

And this is what I woke up to Friday morning!

I love the Smoky Mountains.

We have 5-6 other couples we've been friends with since our college days.

Its 4 days of laughter, shopping, relaxing, and catching up.

And no kids allowed! :)

The girls started Friday off with some shopping.

I bought Crocs for the first time! A pair each for my boys for the summer.

The Crocs outlet had this bin of Crocs on clearance for $10 each. And the 2nd pair was half off!!

Look at these girls diving in! Don't worry, I was right there with them. :)

A stop at The Scrapbook Superstore (and its clearance outlet right next door) is always a must when we get together. Not that any of us need to replenish our craft stash, but its fun to anyway!!

We managed to stop at a few more places before heading back to the chalet for dinner.

I think we all came back with quite a few new items!

I think I was most excited about my2 new pair of Clarks. :)

We tried something new when picking out our chalet this year. We chose one with a media room!

It is completely and utterly FANTASTIC!

Its seats all 12 of us and really gives the feel of being in a movie theater.

And I can not tell you the last time I was in a movie theater!

Friday night the girls took over the room to watch I Don't Know How She Does It.

Fabulous movie! I highly recommend any working mother to watch it.

And your husband. :)

Today, after our traditional breakfast at The Pancake Pantry (mmmmm... sweet potato pancakes!), we girls decided to do an old time photo. We've done it a couple of times on past get togethers and always have a lot of fun with it.

My girls turned on me though. Everyone decided to take aim at me!

Needless to say, we're having a great time.

And though I am looking forward to seeing my boys tomorrow,

I don't want to go home! :)

I hope you're all having a fun a weekend as I am!

Pinterest Feature Friday - PFF #15

2012-01-20T07:00:00.004-06:00

Welcome to the Pinterest Party!

Malia from Yesterday on Tuesday here. I am thrilled to be sharing some beautiful boards with you. The Pinterest Master List link is always open. And on Fridays, we (Michele from The Scrap Shoppe, Tammy from Not Just Paper and Glue and yours truly) feature one of our amazing party-goers.

I am pleased as punch to be featuring a fabulous Pinterest-ster.

Our special pinner this week is... (drum roll please):

Jen Marie from Embellishing Life Everyday!

You can find Jen Marie's boards here.

She currently has 47 Boards, 2260 Pins and 14 Likes

Look at all the fun on Jen Marie's Valentine Board:

Paper Crafts ideas:

And tons of great ideas on her DIY Crafts Board:

Now for some close-up action:

Source: Yellow Heart Art via Jen Marie on Pinterest

Source: Little Miss Momma via Jen Marie on Pinterest

Source: Kalyn via Jen Marie on Pinterest

Beautiful ideas, right?!? Follow Jen Marie's Pinterest Boards for oodles more.

Jen Marie please grab the Pinterest Master List "I was featured!" button:

Stuffed Paper Hearts

2012-01-18T07:38:00.000-06:00

I did it. I decorated for Valentine's Day!

I usually let this holiday go by and stick to my winter decor.

But I've seen so many cute projects in blogland this year that I had to jump in, too!

As a result, I have several projects to share with you in the next couple weeks.

Let's kick things off with these fun

Stuffed Paper Hearts!

Did I mention how super duper simple these are to make?

I made 9 of these hearts during nap time!

I was completely inspired by these stunning hearts at Vintage Fairy Tales that I discovered via Pinterest. And since there is no tutorial for them and mine are a little different, I thought I would show you how to make them!

1. Start with a lunch sack-sized paper bag.

2. Fold the base flap back down over itself.

3. Cut off the bottom flap with a pair of scissors.

4. With the bottom flap cut off you can now open the bottom of the bag to see the sides folded inwards.

5. Pull open the sides and smooth them flat so you now have a large square of paper bag rather than the original rectangle.

6. I made a heart template from a piece of cardstock, but you can draw them freehand if you so desire. I draw terrible unsymmetrical hearts so I need a template!

7. Draw as many hearts as you can on the back of the bag (the side with the seam). I was able to fit 9 hearts (mine are ~3 inches wide).

8. Decorate the paper as you see fit. I whipped out several acrylic stamp sets and got my ink on.

9. As I used each stamp on the back of the bag, I also used it on the front of the bag in roughly the same area so that the hearts would look the same on the front and back.

10. Using a paper piercer or thick needle, poke evenly spaced holes around the inside of your heart. Don't get to close to the edge or the paper may rip later when we stitch it together.

11. After piercing holes in all of the hearts, cut them out (front & back together) with a pair of scissors or Xacto knife.

12. Start stitching (from the back) from the bottom of the heart and work your way around.

I'm using 3 pieces of thread.

13. Stop about 3/4 of the way around the heart and find something to stuff the heart with.

Batting, grocery bags, etc.

I like the crunchy sound the grocery bag makes. ;)

14. Gently stuff the heart. If you're too rough it may tear. Use a pair of scissors to help push the stuffing into the corners.

15. Finish stitching and tie the two ends together in the back of the heart.

Continue on with all of the hearts!

By the way, remember that piece of the bag we cut off in step 3?

It makes for an excellent trash receptacle!

Now the hard part is deciding what to do with them.

Put them in a hurricane? Scatter them on the dining room table? Put them in a wire basket?

I went with turning them into some Valentine's garland!

And, to keep up with my winter decor, I paired them with some snowflakes.

I strung up some lace (if you follow me on Facebook you know I just came in to a LOT of lace) and grabbed some mini clothespins and went to work hanging the hearts and snowflakes.

In the photo directly above you can see another variation I made of the stuffed paper hearts. I love the addition of the lace! Basically follow the same directions as above, but stitch the lace as you go between the two pieces of paper bag.

These would also make for some adorable Valentine gifts if stuffed with small pieces of candy!
Though I'm not sure I could allow anyone to actually take it apart... :)

I link to these fun parties!

Fabric Storage for $1.50!

2012-01-16T06:47:00.003-06:00

I am self-confessed fabric hoarder.

I do limit myself to remnants, but my obsession has seriously gotten out of hand. So much so that one of my goals for 2012 is to NOT buy any fabric. At all!

In the meantime, I needed to find a good way to store/display my stash.

Over Christmas break I decided it was time to tackle this problem.

And I found a way to do it for $1.50!

1. I found a large moving box at Walmart for $1.50.

2. Cut down one of the seams (very carefully!) with a box cutter so that...

3. ...you can open the box out flat!

4. Decide what size is suitable for you to cut the box down in to and mark it with a ruler and pencil.

Mine are 6"x7" to fit in my shelving.

5. Carefully cut along the lines you drew with a box cutter.

6. You should now have a fairly large stack of cardboard!

I had roughly 65 pieces.

Any smaller pieces of cardboard left over can be used for smaller scraps.

The good thing about remnant fabric is that it already arrives home all wrapped up.

But when it gets used, it needs to find a good home.

Enter my new cardboard pieces!

I took all my used fabric that had been stashed away in bags until it could be properly stored and started wrapping it around the cardboard. I used straight pins to make sure the ends would not come unfurled.

Its neat. Its tidy. Its cheap!

How do you store your fabric?

I would love to hear your ideas!

I link to these great parties.

Social Saturday - 8 Goals for 2012

2012-01-14T07:55:00.000-06:00

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

There are some things I want to accomplish in 2012; some goals I want to meet.

I feel if I write them out, then maybe I will hold myself accountable to them!

1. I want to eat more fruit. Not just for me, but for my boys as well. I want to set a good example. I'm not a big banana eater (strings! ugh!) or orange eater (strings! ugh!), but I want to start eating them. I love apples, pears, grapes, and kiwis. I need to add them to my diet more.

(By the by, what do you think about my tangerine storage above? Cute, right??? Its an old drawer I purchased from Wuslu!)

2. I, for reals, need to get my exercise on. My new frenemy Jillian is going to help me. I may hate her for months, but I'm sure I will learn to love her one day. I just started her 30 Day Shred this last week.

I hate her.

But as a super busy working mommy, and I need something that I can do at home and doesn't take an hour to get through!

3. I need to date my husband. We've literally gone one ~2-3 dates/year since our family has grown from just the two of us. I've challenged my husband to date me at least once per month. "Santa" dropped some hints in his stocking with these adorable date night gift card envelopes I downloaded and printed from my friend Bev. My other challenge to him was that after these gift cards were used, he had to refill the envelopes and give them back to me. :)

4. I want to more of a "yes" mom. NOT an "I'm too busy doing housework/blogging" mom.

Who could say no to these adorable faces anyway?

5. I want to go to a blogger conference! I want to experience what its like to be in a room crammed FULL of like-minded crafty peeps like myself. I love getting together with my local TN bloggers, and I'm ready to put that on a bigger scale!

You may or may not have noticed the little button I added at the bottom of my sidebar, BUT...

I am going to the SNAP! Conference in April! I am beside myself giddy with excitement. I've been saving my Etsy money and have already purchased my conference ticket and hotel room. *squeal!*

6. No.More.Fabric. I don't even sew (yet), but I have amassed a surprisingly large supply of remnant fabric. I didn't even realize how much until I recently started organizing it (more on that on Monday). I'm challenging myself to not buy any fabric in 2012. Its going to be so hard! But I think I can do it.

7. This sewing machine must come out of the box this year! I asked for a very simple sewing machine for Christmas of 2010, and I was lucky enough to get one. Learning a new hobby is a little daunting right now. But I'm determined to learn to thread the thing! I have a very simple first project lined up.

Must.Make.It.

8. I need to take more time for me. My husband is good about taking the boys somewhere for a couple of hours on the weekend to give me some time to myself, but I'm always spending that time on laundry, blogging, crafting for the blog, organizing toys... you get the idea. I need to sit down. Read more books. Drink some chai tea. Soak in the tub.

I'm off to a good start though. I treated myself to a pedicure last weekend! I haven't had one since, oh I don't know, last March before my newest little man was born!

So what are your goals for the year?
Any similar to mine?
Let's hold each other accountable! :)

Pinterest Feature Friday - PFF #14

2012-01-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

Tammy has PFF #14 for us today!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
This week our “Featured Pinterest Party Participant” is none other than….

Aimee, please grab a featured button! Thank you for linking up!

Rustic Snowflake

2012-01-11T07:00:00.001-06:00

Confession #1: I become terribly sad when my Christmas decor comes down. I refuse to take it down until the new year. It makes the house feel so cozy when its up and so empty when its gone. So to help me feel better I like to decorate for winter! The snowmen and anything "snow" related get to stick around for another couple of months!

And in my pursuit to add to my winter collection I made this

Rustic Snowflake!

Confession #2: I totally did not think this project was going to turn out well when I started it but luckily after walking away from it for a day and coming back I had a new vision, and I'm happy to say I love how it turned out in the end! That's mainly why I'm showing it to you. Ha!

So let us get on with the tutorial...

I have a lovely collection of pine cones thanks to friend Deneen. She rescued an entire grocery bag full of them for me from her backyard after I admired a project she had done with them.

To make this rustic snowflake, we need several pine cone bracts (I totally looked that up) of varying sizes. The bottom of the pine cones have the smallest cone bracts (see the arrows). Carefully pry off several of these, working your way up until you have a nice little collection of bracts.

For the center of the snowflake, we're going to use a new pine cone. Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut off the bottom of the pine cone about half an inch from the base. It may take a little twisting action to completely separate the two pieces.

Trim off any of the larger bracts that you think may look too big to be on the center of your snowflake. Its entirely up to you how it looks!

Remove the stem protruding from the end.

I'm using the same frame I used for my book page pumpkins. I trimmed some fun blue iridescent scrapbook paper down to size and went ahead and placed it in the frame.

I found a thin twig in the yard, and trimmed it down to size to be the arms of my snowflake. By placing the center of the snowflake on the paper, I had a rough idea of how long the twig pieces needed to be.

Once everything was cut, I removed the center and glued down the twig pieces using a very thin line of my Beacon's 3-in-1. Then I glued down the center.

Now you get to be creative and decide where you want your pine cone bracts to go!

Lay them all out before gluing them down.

I used some medium sized pieces for each end of my twigs and glued them directly on top of the twigs. Then glued some smaller bracts to the sides on the left and right ends. The largest bracts I glued in between the arms of the snowflakes and let them stick out away from the paper for the 3D effect.

This is when I walked away not completely feeling the project. It was late. I was tired.

Luckily when I came back the next day, I was surprised to discover that it looked pretty good!

It just needed a little something more...

Like glitter!!

I used a couple of different glitter glues and applied them in various places on the snowflake to look like snow had fallen on it.

Yep, I think that's exactly what this project needed!

Incidently, I store my glitter glues upside down via some Velcro under a shelf so that 1) They are always ready to be used at any time. No waiting for the glue to fall to the tip! and 2) They are clear of the desktop leaving me space to clutter it with other items. :)

And I'm officially in love!

Not only was this super inexpensive to make (frame on hand, pine cones and twigs from the yard, scrapbook paper from my massive stash...)

Yet another gratuitous shot because I had a hard time narrowing down which photos to use...

You understand. :)

I think it looks pretty darn cute on my hutch surrounded by my little snowman figurine collection!

Not bad for what I was convinced was going to become a complete project fail. ;)

I link to these fun parties!

Why Isn't Anyone Replying to You?

2012-01-09T06:40:00.000-06:00

Have you ever left a comment or question on a blog post
and wondered why the blogger never responded to you?

Has it happened multiple times?

You may not have your email account set up with your blog account!

You see, most bloggers have their blog comments sent to them via email. Then they can respond to a comment directly back to you so long as your email account is set up.

If its not, then you are a dreaded noreply-comment@blogger.com! :)
In other words, a response email goes absolutely nowhere.

A posted a tutorial waaaaaaay back in September of 2010 to show you how to add your email account to your Blogger account (sorry, I can't help you if you have a blog other than Blogger!), but that was a long time ago, and it definitely begs repeating!

I refer you back to my original post.
Its a step-by-step visual tutorial, and I promise its super duper easy to do.

source
One of the best ways for a blogger to connect with her readers is via the comments left on her blog. Make sure we can connect with you!

{ I also keep a link to the tutorial in my sidebar (right there near the top!) so its easy to find.
Please feel free to share it with others! The more we spread the word, the more we can interact with one another! }

If you're unsure whether your email account is set up with your blog account, leave me a comment! I will respond to all comments on this post. If you don't hear from me, well, then you better check out the tutorial. ;)

Social Saturday - About Me

2012-01-07T09:06:00.005-06:00

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Welcome to the first Social Saturday of 2012!

Source: revlie.typepad.com via Revlie on Pinterest

With the start of the new year, I took the opportunity to update my About Me page as I realized it has been awhile since it was tended to. Some of the goals of the blog have changed, and I have changed as a result of the blog! All in positive ways, I'm happy to say!

I don't know how many of you ever read my About Me page (the link is under my blog banner at the top of the page) so I thought it would fun to start the year off with a little introduction about myself and the blog. Please have a read. You might learn something about me you didn't already know!

So, other than needing to update my photo, here's the new and improved "Me." ;)

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Hello! My name is Michele, and I own and run The Scrap Shoppe.

I'm a mom to a brilliant toddler (you can be brilliant at 3 years old, right?) and an adorable 9 month old, wife to a great man, and puppy mom to our 2 wonderful dogs.

I work full time as a research scientist at a university in Nashville, TN studying the misfolded proteins that cause diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

In my spare time:

Other than playing with my boys, I love to craft. I grew up in a home with a very creative mother, so I definitely have an "I can make that!" attitude, and tend to give things a try on my own instead of purchasing the things I see.

You'll find an eclectic collection of projects here on my blog since I enjoy dabbling in all sorts of different media. From paper crafting to scrapbooking, from jewelry making to

home decor, there's a little bit of everything around here!

Except sewing.

My goal is to get the sewing machine I received for Christmas in 2010 out of the box in 2012!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Graphic design is also something I've always been interested in, and I run two online t-shirt stores. You can read more about them here.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Using this blog, I want to share with you the craft projects that catch my eye, interesting craft techniques, and give you some fun freebies that you can download and use in your own crafting.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

You can (literally) find me all over the web!

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

ETSY

The Scrap Shoppe T-SHIRT STORE

MM CUSTOM CREATIONS

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Thank you for stopping by to find out more about me! Feel free to leave me comments on the blog. I love your comments and getting a chance to connect with you!

Feel free to send me an email!

mmcustomcreations{at}dmaks.com

Pinterest Feature Friday - PFF #13

2012-01-06T07:00:00.001-06:00

Hello, friends! Michele here to kick of our first PFF of 2012!
Welcome back to our regular Pinterest Feature Friday!

Tammy and I are pleased to welcome Malia and her readers to the party!

As much fun as our holiday parties were,
I'm excited to go back to our Master List for our weekly features.
Do you realize we've haven't pulled a feature from the Master List since last September?
Wow!

And since we're on PFF #13,
I thought it would be fun to feature lucky number 13 from the link up:

Simone at Doberman's by the Sea!

Handmade Gifts from Christmas 2011

2012-01-04T07:08:00.005-06:00

I was mad rushing to get some handmade gifts finished for Christmas and never got a chance to share them with you all. Not to mention that some of my recipients read the blog, and I didn't want them to know ahead of time what they were getting!

A lot of my handmade gifts were inspired by Pinterest. This thumbprint tree was no exception! This original pin was meant to act as a wedding guestbook, but I thought it would a lot of fun as a family tree! All the parents, kids, and grandkids can add their thumbprints. And, of course, there is always room for the family to grow!

These plaques for the grandmothers were a huge hit!

It was my first time making this kind of signage, and I think I might be hooked!

Its was a lot of fun to create!

Sources are here and here.

This may be my absolute FAVORITE project, but it took a LOT of work. This video made the process look very simple. Its not! It took about 3 attempts to finally get the hang of what I was doing. But the end result is AWESOME! BIG hit the the family, too!

The hubs *loved* his new daddy shirt!

So much so that he immediately put it on when he opened it. :)

Inspired by this pin, I made it my own by adding the old truck, but my favorite part is the est. 2008. LOVE that! I also made one for my brother-in-law who became a dad in 2011.

I love my little nephew to pieces! He's about 5 weeks older than my littlest guy. Inspired by this pin, I made him this fun shirt to remind who he has the most fun with. ;) It was my first time cutting fabric with my Silhouette... Its definitely a learning curve!

Do you know those photo books you can get from Walmart (or any other photo store for that matter)? Well I made an album full of my boys' first year together to give to the grandparents and decided the outside of the book was way too boring for my taste. A little more fabric cut with my Silhouette and ironed on dressed them up nicely!

~.~.~.~

So, completely unlike me, no tutorials today!

Eventually I will share how I went about some of these projects, but they will be scattered over the next few months. I have way too many other fun things to share with you in the meantime! :)

Stay tuned!

Pinterest Party in 2012 Welcomes a New Face!

2012-01-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

Pinterest made a big splash in the crafting community this past year and we are looking forward to another great year of featuring fabulous projects found on Pinterest!

We want to thank all of you that helped to make the party a success by linking up to the Master Pinterest List and helping to spread the word.

With over 700 party participants (and climbing), Tammy and I asked Malia, from Yesterday on Tuesday, to help co-host the party each Friday!

Please help us make welcome Malia!

If you have not met Malia, you might want to take a moment and visit her blog. It is packed with fun craft projects, recipes, and so much more! We are also going to have a guest-Host each month as well. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

If you are new to the Pinterest Party, let me tell you what it is all about…

The goal for this party is to create a Master List of Pinterest accounts for crafty folks like yourselves.

This is a one time link party that will remain open indefinitely.
In true blog hop fashion, you can link up here, on Tammy’s blog, or Malia’s blog. All links go to the same place so there is no need to link up more than once.

Each Friday, Tammy, Malia or I will randomly select a Pinterest account to feature and highlight pin boards.

We have a button you are welcome to grab and put on your blog. Feel free to blog about the party and/or spread the word by Facebook or Twitter (use #PinterestParty). The more the merrier! Actually the more that join, the more inspiration!

All creative minds are invited to join the Master List including craft bloggers, foodies, and mom blogs, too!

Rules:

Link to your main Pinterest page
example: http://pinterest.com/yourusername
Leave your name and/or blog/website in the text box when you link up
example: Michele @ The Scrap Shoppe
If you don't have a blog, but want to link up your Pinterest account, please feel free to do so! If you do have a blog, be sure that your website is linked in your Pinterest profile so when you are featured we can include it in the write up and give you a proper shout out! (Click on the Edit Profile button under your profile picture to add your blog address to your Pinterest account.)

So let's link up!

Guest Post at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

2011-12-30T07:59:00.000-06:00

Hello, friends!

You can find me at Sumo's Sweet Stuff today

guesting while Summer takes a little bloggy maternity leave.

I have a fun New Year's printable for you!
Perfect for a last minute decoration. ;)

See you there!

Recap of 2011

2011-12-28T07:42:00.001-06:00

Its that time of year again!

A time to remember some of my favorite projects on the blog over the past year.

I've picked my top 25.

Yes, I narrowed it down to a whopping 25. I hate picking and choosing!! :)

1. Diaper & Washcloth Cupcake Tutorials 2. Baby Shower Projects 3. Natural Wood Statement Necklace 4. Knob Makeover with Vinyl 5. Digital Photo Frame Makeover

6. Hutch Makeover with Vinyl 7. Monogram Sign 8. Chic Pincushion 9. Mod Podged Shelves 10. 1 Month Scrapbook Layout

11. Exploding Barn Box 12. Burlap & Denim Ruffled Wreath 13. Photo Collage & Seuss Quote Printable 14. Succulent Holder

15. Eclectic Braided Bracelet 16. Framed Book Page Pumpkins 17. Thomas the Train Birthday Ticket Invitations 18. Meal Plan {Part 3 - Putting It All Together} 19. DIY Letterpress Stamp

Update on #18: The meal plan is ROCKING.MY.WORLD!! It is absolutely fabulous and still working strong. We wouldn't be eating well without it!

20. Footprint Turkey Shirts 21. Framed Advent Calendar 22. A Book of Mental Hugs 23. Christmas Bingo 24. Candy Cane Trifle 25. Santa's Belt Hurricane Glass

These 25 projects are definitely some of my faves of 2011, but there are many more I didn't share! I would love for you to peruse around and see what you can find. :)

And, of course, my absolute favorite project of 2011

I cannot believe this little guy is 9 months old TODAY!!

A huge thank you to all of my guest bloggers in April and May who helped me take some much needed time away from the blog to spend with the newest addition of our little family.

One last thing...

I want to share my most popular blog post ~~of 2011~~ ever!

This picture frame hanging tip taken off across the interwebs. If you've somehow missed it, click here. It will change your life, I promise!

Thank you so much for spending 2011 with me, and I look forward to what 2012 brings!

I'm linking up to the Top Projects party at Southern Hospitality!

2011 Teacher Treats

2011-12-21T15:00:00.001-06:00

The past couple of years I have shared the sweet treats I have made at Christmas for the wonderful teachers at my sons' daycare to show my gratitude towards the care they provide in my absence.

2010

2009

Half the fun of sending off my teacher treats is the packaging!

I had the absolute most fun this year decorating these small square Ball jars!

The best/worst part: I didn't have a clue starting out how I was going to decorate the jars. I had an idea in mind, but when I went to my fabric stash I didn't have any fun Christmas-y fabric! Gah!

But I did find this fabulous polka dot fabric that would be cute for mod-ish Christmas decorating. And I had recently picked up some mini ornaments of similar colors in the dollar spot at Target. Digging through some more of my craft stash, I found this fun turquoise and silver cording as well as a massive pile of silver pipe cleaners.

I could make this work!

I cut the fabric into circles about an inch wider than the lid, set it on the jar, and tightened the lid.

I wrapped the cording around the lid and tied it into a knot.

I pushed one of the pipe cleaners between the cording and the lid then threaded an ornament through each end. I wrapped the pipe cleaner around itself a couple of times (like you would a twist tie) then manipulated it around to look like a bow.

Done. Easy. Adorable!

Incidentally, two of the jars are filled with mint Hershey Kisses and the other two are filled with a sugar-free hot cocoa mix. One of our teachers this year is a diabetic and, while I know she'll sneak some of the candy treats, I wanted to have something for her to indulge in, too! The cocoa mix seemed like the perfect thing. I could tell when I gave it to her this morning that she was both surprised and delighted that I remembered her condition. Its the little things! :)

Also included in the treats was this tasty mint fudge that is the easiest fudge you will ever make!

When Vanessa shared this concoction at V and Co. last weekend, I knew I was going to try it! I mean, with a name like 3 Minute 3 Ingredient Fudge how can you go wrong?? You can't!

I'm definitely making this again, and will try different flavor combinations, too.

Its my new go to recipe!

The line up of tasty treats:

Shaped Peppermint Bark

3 Minute 3 Ingredient Fudge

Sugar Free Hot Cocoa Mix

Mint Hershey Kisses (not shown)

Funfetti Brownie Bites

For the brownies, I bought the Funfetti mix from Pillsbury

and made the brownies in a mini muffin tin.

Easy peasy!

The brownies, bark, and fudge were bagged individually...

Then everything was placed into these fun gift boxes that I found

for $1 each at a craft show last month.

Its always fun to drop them off with the teachers!

And to see what, if anything, is left by the end of the day.

These ladies need to keep their energy up to keep up with all those little ones!

***

And that, my friends, is my final post before Christmas!

I'm taking some time to spend with family, wrap gifts, finish making gifts... :)

I'll be back next week with a 2011 "best of" post and back to regular blogging in January.

Until then...

Shaped Peppermint Bark

2011-12-21T12:24:00.001-06:00

I've been wanting to try my hand at peppermint bark for a while so I decided to give it a go this year as part of the Christmas treats I send to daycare to thank all of the teachers for taking such great care of my boys.

And because I like to ~~make things hard~~ try different things, I decided to make some of my bark inside mini Christmas cookie cutters I had purchased on sale at Hobby Lobby.

And thus Shaped Peppermint Bark was born!

I covered a large baking sheet (that isn't warped and lays perfectly flat) with wax paper then spread out my mini cookie cutters on one side of the sheet.

I melted one 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate morsels in the microwave (cook for 1 minute, stir, cook for 30 more seconds). Using a spoon and toothpick, I drizzled the chocolate into the cookie cutters and made sure to push it into all the nooks and crannies. This is were its really important to have a nice flat baking sheet! You don't want chocolate oozing out from under your cookie cutters.

I aimed to have my layer of chocolate ~1/4 inch thick.

Spread the remaining chocolate in a thin layer on the other half of the baking sheet.

I was able to do all of this before the chocolate started to harden, but if it starts to get too thick, nuke it in the microwave for another 30 seconds.

Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for ~20-30 minutes to allow the chocolate to harden.

Melt a 12 oz bag of white chocolate morsels following the same steps you did with the semi-sweets. Again, use a spoon and toothpick to spread the chocolate into the cookie cutters. And again, aim for ~1/4 inch thickness of chocolate.

Spread the leftover white chocolate on top of the layer of semi-sweets off to the side of the dish.

While your semi-sweet chocolate is hardening in the fridge, chop up some candy canes. I put mine in a Ziploc bag and took a hammer to them.

Before putting your white chocolate into the refrigerator to harden, sprinkle it with the crushed candy canes.

Now you can put the baking sheet back into the fridge!

My husband posed the question of how to get the chocolate out of the cookie cutters...

~~With sheer willpower.~~

I actually had thought of this ahead of time, but wasn't sure exactly what to do.

Notice I did not tell you to grease the cookie cutters...

I didn't want that to effect the taste of the chocolate.

Here's what I did:

After the white chocolate had hardened (~20-30 minutes in the refrigerator), I pulled it out and set it on the kitchen counter for 20 minutes. After that, the chocolate had softened just enough for me to push it through the bottom of the cookie cutters. Perfecto!

Break the large piece of chocolate bark into smaller pieces.

The chocolate did great at keeping the shape of the cookie cutters!

And I love the layers of the different chocolates.

They are almost too cute to eat!

Almost!

I'll be back soon to share the rest of the treats I made our teacher's this year. :)

I link to these great parties!

Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments

2011-12-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

Today I want to share a fun Christmas craft you can do with your kids and use in your holiday decor or give away as gifts come Christmas.

Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments!

There's still plenty of time to get them made!

So let's get started on a tutorial...

I invited some of my girlfriends over for fun ornament making party so we could all experience this process together. It was a lot of fun to share this with them!

I gathered as many supplies as I thought we could possibly need

for cutting and decorating our ornaments.

cookie cutters of all shapes and sizes

rubber and foam stamps

paint brushes

acrylic paint

I also set out baking pins, mats with parchment paper, and flour (for rolling).

To make the dough you will need

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

1.5 cups water

Start by mixing all three ingredients together with a large spoon. As it starts to thicken, start mixing with your hands. When it start to form the dough, knead it thoroughly for about 5-10 minutes. Add more water or flour in small amounts as necessary to get the right consistency (not sticky, but not too dry). You should be able to tell when you get there!

Roll your dough out until it is about 1/4" thick.

With small children (think under the age of 1!) it will probably take two people to get a good handprint in the dough. One to hold the child and the other to keep the baby's fingers straight and press into the dough. Older children will only need someone to help press their hands into the dough evenly.

If you have a cookie cutter (or cup or bowl) that is large enough to cut out the handprint, do so. If not, find a tool to use to cut a rough circle around the handprint. You certainly do not have to stick to round cookie cutters. Try a Christmas tree or Santa face for a more fun shape!

BE SURE TO POKE A HOLE IN THE TOP OF YOUR DOUGH IF YOU'RE GOING TO USE YOUR CUT OUTS FOR ORNAMENTS! You need to be sure you have somewhere to put the wire or ribbon so they can hang on the tree.

The dough can be a bit fragile before it is cooked so I would recommend taking the parchment paper you just cut the ornaments out on and placing it directly onto a baking sheet. You definitely need to use parchment paper as a buffer between the dough and the pan or there will be a lot of sticking.

You can see in the photo above that I tried out a lot of different shapes not even using the handprints. I thought while the dough was there I would try a few other things, too. ;)

Once you have all of the dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, pop it into a 350F oven for about 20 minutes.

Note: Your ornaments should feel fairly solid once you pull them out of the oven and let them cool for 20 minutes or so. If they don't feel firm, put them back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.

The baked handprint ornament looks pretty much just like raw version!

Now its time to get even more creative!

Decorate the ornaments!

My girlfriends were super crafty and made Santa faces with some of their ornaments.

I was little more lame and stuck to coloring the hands one color and the backgrounds another.

I also made a Christmas tree with everyone's thumbprint.

Note: Some of my paint looks bubbled up because I actually stuck my ornaments back in the oven after I had painted them to harden them up some more. Learn from my mistake! Make sure they are hard before you paint them. ;)

You can label the back of the ornaments with a Sharpie marker.

Once all of the paint is dry, varnish the ornaments to seal the paint and further harden the ornaments.

Thread wire or ribbon through the hole in the ornament so you can hang them!

I love how our thumbprint tree turned out! This will be such a fun ornament for us to hang on our tree this year. This is actually two cookie cutter cutouts stacked on top of one another.

I'm going to use these little handprints as decoration on the grandparent gifts this year.

I think they'll be a big hit!

And, of course, a pair are going to stay at my house as keepsakes. :)

I link to these fun parties!

Christmas Bingo

2011-12-18T08:00:00.001-06:00

As a mom of two little boys, I enjoy coming up with new and fun ways to interact with them. Especially around the holidays! I want Christmas to feel just as special to them as it always has to me. And that means finding lots of things to do together as a family!

Today I would love to share a Christmas Bingo

game that includes some free printables for you so you can play at home, too!

Let's get started on the tutorial...

I printed my bingo cards on fabric because I thought, over the years as we play, it would hold up pretty well. But of course you can print these bingo sheets on cardstock if you so choose.

To run fabric through your printer, you need 2 things:

fabric and freezer paper

1. Cut your freezer paper into 8.5x11" sheets.

2. Also cut your fabric into 8.5x11" sheets. I'm using unbleached muslin.

3. Line up your fabric with the shiny side of the freezer paper.

4. Iron the two pieces together.

5. The shiny side of the freezer paper with fuse to the fabric.

6. Feed your freezer paper/fabric into your printer. You shouldn't have to tell your printer any special commands to print on fabric, but you may want to change the print quality to high for the best results.

(The free Christmas bingo printables can be found for download at the end of this post.)

7. Out should come your printed fabric!

Now that you have printed your bingo cards on the fabric we want to thicken them up...

8. Peel your fabric off of the freezer paper.

9. Take some fusible webbing and attach the sticky side to the back of your bingo sheets.

10. Trim some felt (or similar backing) to 8.5x11" and iron the fusible webbing-backed fabric on top of the felt. The webbing will fuse the two pieces of material together.

11. Cut out you bingo cards.

The fabric bingo cards can now easily be handled by little hands and aren't too floppy with the extra weight of the felt behind them.

I also have a sheet of bingo images to use to play the game.

Print and cut out.

We need little tokens to put on our bingo sheets so I cut up little squares of felt.

To keep up with the felt tokens, I dressed up an old baby food jar with scrapbook paper, scrap muslin, and ric-rac to store them in. The bingo image cards are small enough to store in there, too!

Though I only printed 4 bingo cards (we're only a family of four!), there are 8 total available for download. I promise they are all different! The star is always in the center though and can be used as a free space if you so choose.

The 4 bingo sheets and images cards can be downloaded via

the following links in Google Documents.

Santa Bingo, Snowman Bingo, Ornament Bingo, Boots Bingo, Bingo Cards

Play the game as you would any bingo game.

First one to 5 in a row (horizontal or vertical) or diagonal wins.

It will be a fun matching game for the little ones as well!

This post was originally shared as part of the 100 Ideas of Christmas Wonderful at Design Dazzle!

I link to these fun parties!

Homemade Christmas Recipes Recap & FEATURES!

2011-12-17T20:30:00.000-06:00

I'm a little sad. Our Homemade Christmas Recipes week has come to an end, which means the party has come to an end! I hope you've enjoyed the past three weeks as much as I have!

I want to issue another HUGE thank you to all of

my fabulous guests who shared a plethora of amazing ideas with us!

Here's a quick recap of the past week...

OMG Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie from Allie's New Day

Candy Cane Cheesecake from Through the Eyes of the Mrs.

Candy Cane Trifle from me!

White Christmas Mix from Tennessee Sugar

Mini Triple Chocolate Cheesecakes from Inside BruCrew Life

Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip from Oopsey Daisy

Don't they look yummy? Be sure to check out any you may have missed!

Now on to the party features!

Snowflakes Pretzels from Mom Endeavors

Pecan Balls from Vintage Finds

Apple Cinnamon Party Mix from Raising 4 Princesses

Sugar Cookies from Kitty Cats and Airplanes

Christmas Candy from Sew Fantastic

Such scrumptious ideas, you all!

Please feel free to grab a featured button!

<a href="http://mmscrapshoppe.blogspot.com"><img src="http://www.mmscrapshoppe.com/blog/christmasfeature2011.jpg"></a>

I'm sad to see our party come to an end, but what a blast its been!

Thank you everyone who participated! :)

Pick Your Plum Winner!

2011-12-17T08:27:00.000-06:00

We have a winner of the $25 Plum Box

from Pick Your Plum!

Congratulations...

Brandice who said...

"Already a follower of PYP (and a happy customer!)"

Yay! Congratulations, Brandice! You will be receiving an email from me shortly.

You can still link up to the 3 parties through Christmas!

I'll be back in a bit with a recap of our shared recipes and link up features, too!

Christmas PFF #4

2011-12-16T14:00:00.000-06:00

Tammy has our 4th Christmas PFF!
***
Today I am bringing you our Final Christmas feature!

Anyone besides me having a hard time realizing that Christmas is only days away?

I think I have found enough ideas on Pinterest to last me the next 50 Christmases...

but, if you haven't, then Mary Sara Pipia, our final Christmas feature, is sure to help you out!

Mary has 18 followers and 41 pins on her Christmas Crafts Projects board

Let's take a closer look at some of Mary's inspiration...

You know I love glitter....

Source: preparednotscared.blogspot.com via Mary Sara on Pinterest

I think these would make lovely neighborhood gifts or stocking stuffers...

Source: bhg.com via Mary Sara on Pinterest

This could come in handy during the holidays...

Source: rebeccacooper.blogspot.com via Mary Sara on Pinterest

What a beautiful keepsake book to capture holiday memories...

Source: Uploaded by user via Mary Sara on Pinterest

Thanks so much for linking up, Mary!

Please feel free to grab a featured button.

Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip {Homemade Christmas Recipes}

2011-12-16T08:00:00.012-06:00

Our final guest for Homemade Christmas Recipes week is going to allow your sweet tooth to take a much needed break! My friend Alison is here to share a savory appetizer with us!

***

Hello my friends!

My name is Alison, and my little blogging home is called Oopsey Daisy.

I blog about all things creative for home and family. I love to craft, teach Mommy School to my 2-year-old, and take plenty of pictures along the way!

I am thrilled to be here at one of my favorite places (LOVE The Scrap Shoppe!), celebrating 2 of my favorite things: Christmas and Food!

Today I have a truly mouthwatering recipe to share with you!

Just a few weeks ago, my sweet friend Sara brought this dip to our dinner party. It was so delicious that I begged her for the recipe! My mouth has been watering all day just thinking about this yummyness!

(By the way, if you like this recipe, you can download it at the end of the post, so no need to copy this down!)

Ingredients

1 10-oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 14-oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

1 c. shredded parmesan-romano cheese mix

1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

10 oz. prepared alfredo sauce

1 tsp. minced garlic

4 oz. softened cream cheese

Pepper (optional)

I loved this recipe because it was so easy!

The only ingredient that needed any work was the artichokes.

They just needed a little chopping!

Then dump in all of the other ingredients and mix them up thoroughly.

Spread in an 8x8" dish. Then bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until cheese are bubbling and melted.

YUM!!

I could make an entire meal out of this dip....

I love to eat this with bread, chips, and my favorite veggies!

And because it's the holiday season, I have a gift for you:

This recipe is 100% calorie-free! :)

If you would like to download and print a copy of this recipe, just click here.

Thanks so much, Michele, for hosting so much inspiration this Christmas season!

I hope you will join me over at Oopsey Daisy... you are welcome any time!

Have a truly happy holiday season!

***

Thank you, Alison! I love spinach artichoke dip, and this recipe sounds divine! And 0 calories definitely sweetens the deal. I can't wait to whip some up this holiday season!