Embellishing Life

Link up #73

2012-04-15T20:48:00.000-05:00

Please remember to...

~Link to the post you are featuring.~

~ no giveaways, shops, or linky parties ~

~Do not link up something you already linked here before~

~Visit some of your fellow party goers~

~Link back here somehow.~

Grab the Link Party button or add a text link somewhere on your blog.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Minion Eggs

2012-04-10T16:33:00.000-05:00

What else can we do with those left over plastic Easter eggs?

So far we've made teacups and a basket of strawberry eggs.

The little guy loves the movie Despicable Me. He thinks the minions are so funny.

Who am I kidding...I think they're funny, too.

Let's make some Minions.

I used half a blue egg, half a yellow egg, googly eyes, and black vinyl.

Easy and fun. :)

Link up #72

2012-04-08T20:01:00.001-05:00

Please remember to...

~Link to the post you are featuring.~

~ no giveaways, shops, or linky parties ~

~Do not link up something you already linked here before~

~Visit some of your fellow party goers~

~Link back here somehow.~

Grab the Link Party button or add a text link somewhere on your blog.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Features {Link up #71}

2012-04-07T06:00:00.001-05:00

These lovely projects were shared at last week's link up.

Egg Carton Chicks from The House of Whimsy

Paint Chip Eggs from A Little Something in the Meantime

Written with Love Card from Becca Nelson

Lemonade Sugar Cookies from Shaken Together and these

lemon cookie white chocolate truffles

Headboard Tutorial from Visual Eye Candy

Cupcake Topper at Ashley's Dandelion Wishes

Coin Covered Cross from Mom on Timeout

Dresser Redo at Young and Crafty

Alphabet Printable from Vixen Made

I'm looking forward to finding more inspiration tomorrow night!

Easter Preparations

2012-04-05T19:35:00.000-05:00

The ladybug is quick to remind me that the Easter bunny will be here in just a few days. Funny how she can remember that, but forgets to put her pj's in the hamper after getting dressed.

Just sayin'.

So did you know you can mail plastic eggs? Well I didn't until I saw it on Making Memories with Your Kids.

Last week we sent some to out of state cousins. How fun would it be to see an Easter egg in your mail box?

The Easter bunny kindly sent some to our kiddos too.

Don't get me wrong, we love the bunnies, eggs hunts, and baskets full of candy at Easter, but as the ladybug gets a little older I want to put more meaning into it. Real meaning.

She's at the perfect age for this cross craft we did with oil pastels. When she saw what the colors did when she rubbed her finger across them, she thought it was the coolest thing!

You can find out how to make one at Housing a Forrest.

I had never heard of an Easter garden until about a week ago, but I think it's the best idea for an indoor Spring garden ever! Next year we'll plant it sooner so that the grass will hopefully grow in by Easter.

Even without the grass, I think it looks pretty.

You can find directions for making your own at We are That Family

Another thing I had never heard of until a couple weeks ago was Resurrection eggs. As you read the story of Easter, you open these eggs that have items inside that relate to the story. The ladybug LOVED this. She was even able to tell me the whole story herself just by opening each egg and recalling what the item meant in the story.

This egg set you can find HERE.

And Easter prep just would not be complete without eating ~~one~~ ~~two~~ three green pastel chocolate buttercream eggs.

An absolute favorite of mine since I was a kid.

What are you preparing for Easter?

Sweet Little Blue Birds

2012-04-04T08:00:00.003-05:00

So on Pinterest I saw these super crazy cute blue candy birds from Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle.

Unfortunately, because of food allergies, having certain candy in our house can be a little tricky.

But I HAD to make something like those cute little blue birds.

Instead of tasty candies I used river rocks, which I already had anyway.

A little cantalina blue paint, a black sharpie, and dab of orange paint later we had our own little birds.

I think they look sweet nestled in the tiny nest.

tweet.

Sharing here:
http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/
http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/
http://www.katiesnestingspot.com/
http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/
http://www.somewhatsimple.com/
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/

Easter Tea Cups

2012-04-03T06:00:00.006-05:00

Care for a spot of tea?

Sunghee over at Creativity in Progress made lovely little tea cups out of plastic eggs and I fell in love with them.

Which, of course, means I must make them.

These little cuties are embellished with washi tape and other lovely embellishments.

A card stock butterfly folded in half creates the handle, and a large button is hot glued to the bottom.

I think we will have to have an Easter day tea party.

Fancy hats and all :)

Come Party Here:

http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/

http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/

http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/

http://lilluna.com/

Link Up no.71

2012-04-01T18:00:00.002-05:00

Please remember to...

Link to the post you are featuring.

~ no giveaways, shops, or linky parties ~

Do not link up something you already linked here before,

Visit some of your fellow party goers,

Link back here somehow.

Grab the Link Party button or add a text link somewhere on your blog.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Planting Donuts?

2012-04-01T09:09:00.002-05:00

Happy April Fool's Day!

What tricks do you have up your sleeve today?

My little ladybug girl is so excited that today is "joke day."

This is one we found on Family Fun complete with printable!

We love free printables! :)

ladybug can not wait to hand these out...

Fill these printable seed packets with frosted cheerios and you are ready to fool your favorite somebodies!

We used white card stock for printing.

Time to ~~bake~~ plant the donuts!

*Come back tonight to link up what you've been working on this week*

Linking here:
http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Strawberry Easter Egg Basket

2012-03-28T16:00:00.003-05:00

I love this Easter basket.

There's just something about strawberry baskets that's so sweet and girly!

I drew the "seeds" on the strawberries with a black sharpie.

For the leaves I traced and cut out a star on green card stock.

The stem is a segments of a chenille stem poked through the center of the star,

and all hot glued to the top of the egg.

I found this idea in the April Family Fun Magazine.

Edited: berry baskets found at Sweet Lulu

After Easter the ladybug can use this in her play kitchen.

Now I'm wondering what else we can turn plastic eggs into :)

Linking here:
http://www.bystephanielynn.com/
http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

Spring Jars

2012-03-27T13:32:00.010-05:00

Well hello, Spring. We have anxiously awaited your arrival. What better way to welcome it than with a garden fairy and gnome?

What we used to make these:

~pictures of your cute little munchkins

~styrofoam

~bamboo skewers

~embellishments for the clothing and wings (scrapbook paper, twine, ribbon, paper flowers...)

~adhesives

~jar

~moss

~any other spring goodness you'd like to add to your jar

Here's what we did:

~Cut out a full body picture of your little munchkin.

~Use glue dots or other adhesive to add embellishments as cute fairy or gnome clothes

~Use a glue gun to attach part of a toothpick or bamboo skewer to the back of your fairy/gnome

~Stick your skewer into a small piece of styrofoam (I cut a large block of styrofoam into small pieces)

~Hot glue the styrofoam to the bottom of a jar

~Fill bottom of jar with moss and be sure to cover the styrofoam (helps if the styrofoam is already green!)

They would make sweet cupcake toppers in celebration of the first day of Spring, too. Hmmm...will have to remember that one for next year!

I'm linking up with:
Sugar Bee Crafts
A Diamond in the Stuff
http://todayscreativeblog.net/
http://www.tipjunkie.com/
http://shoprubyjean.com/
http://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/
http://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com//
http://www.freeprettythingsforyou.com/
http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.yesterdayontuesday.typepad.com/
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/sundae-scoop-link-party-23/
http://www.flamingotoes.com/
http://www.bystephanielynn.com/
http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/

Craft Catwalk no.70 & A Brief Break

2012-02-26T16:00:00.000-06:00

I am taking a bit of a break. I need to get reorganized.

Lately my posting has gotten sparse, and I need some time to reevaluate how to balance between the blog, the shop, the kids activities, and my other commitments.

So....

This link party will be open for exactly one month, the amount of time I'm taking off. Come back each week to check out the new links and add your new projects! On March 26th, when the linky closes I will be back with a blog update.

In the meantime you'll still find me pinning away on Pinterest,

sharing shop updates on Facebook,

and in my Shop.

See you in one month lovelies!

Please remember to...

Link to the post you are featuring.

~ no giveaways, shops, or linky parties ~

Do not link up something you already linked here before,

Visit some of your fellow party goers, &

Link back here somehow.

Grab the Craft Catwalk button or add a text link somewhere on your blog.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Craft Catwalk no.69

2012-02-19T18:06:00.000-06:00

Inspiration from last week...

Lovely Nursery at Simcoe Street

Sweet treat bags at Michelle Paige

Pretty wall decor at Pajama Crafters

Reading nook at Creatively Living

Shelf tutorial at At Home in the NorthWest

Adorable treat bags at Nifty Thrifty Things

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe at Loopy Loop Creations

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please remember to...

Link to the post you are featuring.

~ no giveaways, shops, or linky parties ~

Do not link up something you already linked here before,

Visit some of your fellow party goers, &

Link back here somehow.

Grab the Craft Catwalk button or add a text link somewhere on your blog.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Boxwood Topiary

2012-02-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

I love the look of a boxwood topiary. I wanted to make a couple, but I wanted to make them for cheap.

After a while of keeping a look out for good deals I found a couple cute spring pots at Michaels for 40% off, and boxwood balls in the spring section at Hobby Lobby for 30% off.

In the pot I put Styrofoam and moss (which I already had). The munchkins helped me find the straight sticks.

Total cost for 2 topiary's was under $10. Yay for being thrifty!

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-14T06:00:00.001-06:00

I haven't posted anything really Valentines related yet this year. Talk about waiting until the last minute!

So here we go...

Our Valentine tree is very simple and I love it. Wood hearts painted red hand on branches the kids helped me collect. Twine holds a doily heart on the tin jug.

The kids made these cards for the grandparents. On Pinterest I found something similar and I thought it was too sweet not to make! I cut the tree trunk from cork paper, and the kids used their fingerprints to make the heart leaves.

Don't you love the dollar section at Michael's?! This little frame came from that fun filled section. I painted the frame white and added scrapbook paper and numbers. Inexpensive and simple.

These sweet little candies have been all over Pinterest, too. Since I had the stuff I gave it a shot. They look cute, hopefully they taste as sweet! Find out how to make them HERE.

Valentines Day morning the munchkins will wake up to a special Valentine breakfast.

They get so excited when we make the holidays a little extra fun. It's nothing fancy, but it's enough to make their day, and that's good enough for me :)

Craft Catwalk no.68

2012-02-12T17:00:00.001-06:00

Lovely things from last week...

At Home in the NorthWest

Polkadots on Parade

The Sewing Loft

Sew Can Do

The Crafty Scientist

Sew Fantastic

Jellyfish Jelly

DIY Kinda Girl

Please remember to...

Link to the post you are featuring.
no giveaways, shops, or linky parties
Visit some of your fellow party goers
Link back here somehow.
Grab the Craft Catwalk button or add a text link somewhere on your blog.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Map Art (with a heart)

2012-02-11T20:02:00.002-06:00

Yay! Our computer is up and running again! Thank goodness, too. I love my iphone, but my eyes couldn't take one more day of using that little screen to check in on my etsy shop and emails.

Any way, with Valentines day just a few days off I thought I'd share a project with a heart. :) I know you've seen heart map art like THIS one and THIS one, too. Love them. I thought it was a such a sweet idea.

I made my own version by printing a free map I found online. If you do a google image search for the map of your state you'll get loads of results.
I cut the word "home" from card stock and then stitched (to the best of my very limited ability) a heart with red thread around our home.

The frame was one of those fabulous $5 frames from Walmart. I love those frames! Perfect price for crafting.

Find me participating at:
Craft-O-Maniac
Pinkapotamus
Sugar Bee Crafts
A Diamond in the Stuff

Craft Catwalk no.67

2012-02-05T16:49:00.000-06:00

(Sorry all...there aren't any features this week...I'm having computer issues. Not fun!)

Please remember to...

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Heart Cake

2012-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00

I am so making this for Valentine's Day this year.

I'm just hoping it comes out as pretty looking as hers did!

Sprinkle Bakes

What's on your Valentine's Day menu?

Craft Catwalk no {66}

2012-01-29T19:20:00.000-06:00

First, some eye-catching projects from last week...

What a pretty Valentine Tree from Alderberry Hill

Lots of little details went into this Circus Party from Vixen Made

I LOVE these pretty dishes! Beautiful teal dishes at Raising Oranges

Large scrabble tile wall art at 4 Growing Boys

Lovely evolution of a living room at Tattered and Inked

Hot Chocolate Dippers at The Moody Fashionista

I love the look of this Pie Shelf at Pondered Primed Perfected

Homemade Guacamole at Five Days...5 Ways

On to the Link Up!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please remember to...

Link to the post you are featuring.
no giveaways, shops, or linky parties

Visit some of your fellow party goers
Link back here somehow.
Grab the Craft Catwalk button or add a text link somewhere on your blog.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Big Truck Construction Party

2012-01-26T15:38:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago I shared the little guy's birthday invitation. Well, this last weekend we celebrated his 3rd birthday. Today I'm sharing some of the party details.

A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party with a fun craft table for the kids.

They liked it so much that we set one up.

The ladybug and little guy had fun making these signs. I hot glued a paper straw to a wood block I had, and they painted it black. Then I taped the paper sign to the top. They like helping make party decorations. I seriously think the party prep is one of their favorite parts!

Now this is some seriously fun road tape! They got it in their stockings this Christmas, and it fit in well with our party theme. This stuff can go on floors, walls, where ever, and does not leave marks when you remove it. Serious fun. I found it at Perpetual kid.

*Please disregard those horrible and uneven curtain rods...that's next on the to do list.* I made the paper banner will the clipart set from THIS post.

I found these construction cups HERE.

I used a chalkboard label from HERE and wrote the name on with a silver sharpie marker.

Everything tastes better with a straw. Honest truth.
(edited: gray straws found HERE)

I labeled the jar with one of THESE chalkboard labels and a chalk marker.

Loved these construction utensils!

Maybe they will inspire the little guy to actually eat ALL his veggies?

I found this idea on Pinterest. I found an image of a fuel gauge, printed it, and taped it to the container we were going to use for juice.

"I'm three, Mama!"

I made the cupcake toppers using the same clipart from HERE

His number three birthday shirt was from THIS Etsy shop. Last year we got him THIS number two shirt, and it was just so stinkin' cute we had to get one again this year.

Find me linking up here:
Yesterday on Tuesday
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Hookin up with HoH
What's Allie Making Now

Fingerprints on the Fridge
At the Picket Fence
504 Main
The Shabby Nest

Craft Catwalk no. {65}

2012-01-22T19:48:00.001-06:00

Beautiful projects from last week..

Kid's Pallet Table from Shabby Love

Numbered Shelf from Kensington Cottage

Family Art from Creatively Living

Snow Gear Organizer from Burton Avenue

Frosty Faces from The Seven Year Cottage

Lemon Bark from Moments with the Montano's

On to the Link Up!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please remember to...

Link to the post you are featuring.
no giveaways, shops, or linky parties

Visit some of your fellow party goers
Link back here. Grab the Craft Catwalk button or add a text link.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~

Adorable Kids Valentines

2012-01-20T21:12:00.000-06:00

I love these Valentine ideas found on Pinterest!

I'm sure we'll be making some of these in the coming weeks!

armommy

While looking around there I also came across adorable free printables for the kids from mommy.

They include sweet messages like, "I love being your mom."

Such a sweet idea!

find them HERE

Simply J Studio

Friskars

Living with Three Moon Babies

(includes free printable)

Then She Made

Family Fun

Skip to My Lou

Valentine Inspiration

2012-01-17T21:13:00.000-06:00

I've been busily working on plans for the little guy's birthday (will soon share) and some larger orders for the shop. Since I've had several requests for large quantities of chalkboard labels I made special listings for anyone looking for large amounts. You can find those here.

Soooo, Valentine's day crafts are going to hold off for about another week. Today I'm sharing some of the things I made last year. I've some across so many lovely ideas from other people that I'll be featuring soon too.

Click on the titles below for more details :-)...

Valentine Wreath

Framed Heart

Valentine Burlap Banner

"Thumb"body Special Valentine

Valentine Lollipops

Paint Chip Valentines

Valentine Matchbooks

Have you been crafting some lovely Valentine goodies?

Link them up at the Craft Catwalk

Craft Catwalk no. {64}

2012-01-15T19:12:00.001-06:00

Yay! It's time to get inspired and check out what everyone else have been creating!
First, check out these great ideas from last week...

Best Chocolate Cake Ever at The Mommy Diaries
mmmmmm...chocolate....

A Baking Themed Party at At Home in the Northwest

Gallery Wall at Newlyweds on a Budget

Homemade Baileys (in seriously cute bottles) at Nifty Thrifty Things

Winter Vignette at Shabby Love
I love those white gloves hanging across the mirror!

Paint Chip Quartrefoil Art at the Crafty Scientist

Cupcake Liner Lights at Happy Looks Good on You

On to the Link Up!
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please remember to...

Link to the post you are featuring.
no giveaways, shops, or linky parties

Visit some of your fellow party goers
Link back here. Grab the Craft Catwalk button or add a text link.

~ By submitting your work you grant me permission to use your pictures in a feature post. I always link back giving you proper credit~