halloween blocks

I don't have many Halloween decorations. So, today I decided to make some B-O-O Blocks. I used scrapbook paper and cut the letters with my cricut. I love them.

New card

Our card group took a little break this summer. We are all anxious and excited to get starred again. Our first swap is in October. The theme is Halloween or Thank-you. I figured more people would use Thank-you, so that is what I made. It is similar to my last Thank-you card. I like the way it turned out.

More teacher gift ideas

I made these yesterday for my daughters preschool teachers. I thought they would be a good gift for a teacher because they can hang art work from the clothes pins. Of course I used my cricut to cut out the letters and the Thanks. I mod podged them on and then did a coat of mod podge over the whole board. I used a glue gun to stick the clothes pins on. OH--the paper on the clothes pins is just glue stick. I roughed up my edged with a nail file and inked the edged. I love how they turned out.

Teacher appreciation

This is a little thank-you I made for Riley's teacher. I just covered an empty container with paper and the fun stars I cut out with my cricut. I found some stamps that I thought worked perfect--the one says Thanks so much.

Birthday party invitations

I made these purse invitations for my daughters 5th birthday party. She wanted a tutu party and I wasn't sure how to do a tutu invitation SO...purses!! They open up and have the info in the inside. They were really fun to make and pretty easy once I had the pattern right.

Jean dress

My friend made my daughter this amazing dress. She made it out of a pair of teen size jeans. I wish I knew how she made it BUT she just thought of it as she went. You can see under the arms where the pockets were. She is so talented. We love it.

Room make-over part 2

So I put these up today. I made the tile with vinyl from my cricut. I need to get some fun candles for the holders. It is a work in progress. I think I like it. We will see what my husband thinks:-)

Room make-over

My bedroom needs a make-over. I have this wonderful plant shelf above my bed with NOTHING on it. This is a start--what do you think??

Super cute paper flowers

These are so fun to make. All you need is a scrap piece of paper 12 in. x 1 3/4 in. and 2-1 inch circles. Score your paper every 1/2 inch. Fold it like an accordian. Glue the ends together and make it a circle. Then hold the top ends together and push down. Hot glue one of the circles to the back and the other to the front to hold it in place. You can put a magnant on the back or put them on a picture frame. It's a great way to use your scrap peices of paper. Have fun!!

More cards

Baby girl shower

I did a baby shower for my good friend Becca. It was a lot of fun. I found these cute trees at the dollar store. I knew I had to do something with them. I painted them pink and brown and put a cute bow on them then decorated them with baby items. I put moss in the bottoms--TA-DA!!! Super cute. We made the suckers out of oreos dipped in chocolate. Yummy. Becca's mom made the cute cakes. Those are marshmallows on top with a Mike and Ike in the center. My favorite thing is the banner. I love it. I cut out the letters on my cricut.

Magic

Have you used these?

They're a little touch of Magic.

We had an old hand-me-down leather couch that was D.I.R.T.Y. I whipped out my Magic Eraser and went to town. See the difference? I left the middle dirty to show you.

Well, a nice scrub down later we were looking a whole lot better. But the creases were very noticeable. So I pulled out some shoe polish and filled them in.

Then, I gave it another good wash down with water to fix the "whiteness."

Now that nasty couch almost looks brand new.

Just incase you didn't know, you can use the Magic Eraser on shoes, walls, leather coats, crayon/sharpie marks, etc. It's pretty amazing. Trust me, you need one if you don't have one, and you HAVE TO GO GET ONE if you've never used one!

Valentine's Day Fun With Leftover Candy Canes

Got a few extra candy canes left over from Christmas?
Here's the VALENTINE'S solution: break them, bake them on some parchment paper (imperative!) and add some sucker sticks.
With the broken pieces from that, make some stained glass by putting the pieces in a metal cookie cutter and adding a hole to put thread through.I didn't have metal cookie cutters but just cut them down with a knife directly after removing them from the oven.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Sorry the pics are so crappy; I'm still using my phone as my camera.

Valentine's Cards

Changed things up.

Got out of the gloom.
Here's our new Blog Design.

Any Valentine's Decor??? I'm at a loss. Decorating in January has me stumped...
Chell

From a 10 Dollar Entertainment Center to a FANTASTIC Play Kitchen

This old piece of junk was nice and heavy, but only $10 at an indoor yard sale!
Some before pictures of the PLAY KITCHEN while it was still an entertainment center. We (and by WE I mean my lovely dad) took off the cardboard backing and reinforced it with a stronger wood. On the right was a glass door. We took that down! That will be the new fridge.
All of the holes were drilled and ready for hardware (thanks to DAD), after painting, of course.
Here she is all finished (minus the curtains I'm sewing out of flour sack dishtowels and the mounting of baskets on the fridge door):
Some features and the price breakdown:
Entertainment Center $10
2 pushbutton PRINCESS lights (from grandpa)
2 motion sensor lights in the fridge and oven, the coolest part (from GPA)
Children's IKEA pots and pans 9.99
IKEA ATTEST handles (on fridge and oven doors) 6.99
Clipboard, from Grandma, don't tell her boss.... j/k
IKEA BYGEL rail (holding the pots) 1.99
IKEA BYGEL S-hook .99/10
Hooks holding Chef Attire .75/4 (actually window pulls)
Fridge door is sheet metal on plywood $12 (plus the drill bit I broke drilling holes in it [darn it!])
18x18 picture frame .50 at DI with free printed backyard scene I printed myself w/ photoshoped windowpanes
The STOVE TOP elements are just CD shaped circles of SHELF LINER. MUCH CHEAPER THAN VINYL. I lucked out, mine was .50 at DI
The knobs for the cabinet doors and stovetop were the most expensive; they came in a 10 pack for $18. I used four on my CHILD-SIZE CHINA HUTCH I posted here
The fridge magnets are from the dollar store
Real faucet from DI (Thrift Store) $3
GRAND TOTAL: about $ 75 with EVERYTHING you see... Toys and all...

I used a NO-SANDING (high covering) primer called Bullseye by Rustoleum. A quart was plenty of paint and about $10. I love it. It will stick to anything, but it rubs off SUPER EASY, so hurry and paint over it the next day! I used my trusty 2-coats of poly to make sure it withstands the weathering of children and moving... [hopefully soon]

(On top of the kitchen is a table runner and my slow-growing winter flowers)

I kept the inside of the cabinet its original color, and I'm glad I did. I like it. (Good thing, too because my left over gallon of paint ran out!) The items inside are a few of many empty boxes I completely taped over with masking tape...
The SINK is my large SALAD BOWL. It's really nice, so I didn't glue it in and since it has a lip around the edge, I didn't need to. Now, when I need it, I can just take it out and use it and there's just a big hole left there.
I added a shelf from my pantry to the oven. Also, a strong chain is holding the oven door to prevent injury. The middle of the cabinet door was cut out and a CLEAR CLIPBOARD was screwed in behind it. Using a clipboard helped with having the necessary strength and already finished edges. Ours had measurements on the side, but when positioned right they weren't visible:
The oven and fridge both have MOTION SENSOR LIGHTS; which the kids think is SUPER COOL! (They also have an "OFF" setting)
Under the sink houses the cleaning necessities courtesy of Nana and Boppo for Christmas. The vacuum is missing... hmmm...
The fridge houses some of our Melissa & Doug PLAY FRUIT that SANTA brought:
Sheet Metal was cut to size and attached with GORILLA GLUE. I put 2 25lb and 2 35lb weights on it until it dried...
I took out the guts to my not-so-lasting hand mixer that broke (my 4th time using it) and glued it back together for the kids to play with it.
Side note, I spraypainted all of the brass and dark hardware with my silver spray paint so it would be uniform...
Now it matches perfectly with the China Hutch!
I got the PLAY KITCHEN FROM AN ENTERTAINMENT CENTER IDEA from the BLOG SUTTON GRACE... What an amazingly talented woman she is! I'm super pleased with how things turned out; thanks for the great idea, Erin!
PS my camera died on me so these pictures are from my cell phone. Hope they are okay!
PPS THANKS DAD FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP, you rock. I would have done a less-than-perfect job without you!