Family, Adventures, and Gadgets Collide

Today I have a simple Saturday craft created using materials I had on hand. The entire project took less than an hour!  A wooden plaque Acrylic paint and scrapbook paper - I cut the letters out with my Cricut. I used Mod Podge to adhere the letters to the sign.   I plan to create a family photo montage on a hallway wall. I think this sign will be perfect to include. I'm linking this up to: Crafts in Bloom - 1st Craft Club Project Finesse Your Nest - Shop the House Sunday !

Decorating for every holiday or season is beyond my domestic abilities. However, I've seen lots and lots of FaBuLoUs ideas for Valentine's decor, even a Valentine's Linky Party hosted by Craftaholics Anonymous . In fact, I've been absorbed by my computer, yet again! I can't stop lurking! There are far too many fun crafts to make for this LoVeLy holiday! So, instead of attempting to decorate my house for this holiday, I dedicated a display case at work. Can you figure out what my day job is? I'm a school librarian by day, and a blog lurker by night. I made the little heart banner with my Cricut! "Books We Love" Do you decorate for Valentine's Day?

Since we just had our final Christmas gift exchange on Sunday, I decided it's not too late to share the gifts I whipped up on a whim. I always have the hardest time trying to figure out Christmas gifts for all of my cousins' children (without breaking the bank of course!). So the last two years I decided to make them something small and pair it with a small ($10) gift card to Target. This year I made each of them a simple monogram picture frame. (Please pardon the quality of the pictures. I forgot to take them with my camera, and the lighting didn't go well with my phone.)   The two "K"s went to a set of sisters (10 and 7) and the three black and red coordinating frames went to my favorite cousin, for her kids of course. (Okay, so I intentionally used colors that I knew my cousin would like and figured that all three of her kids' frames would end up in her room anyways. Is that wrong?) ;-) I bought the frames in a set of 13 various sized frames for $...

I often come up with some grand ideas for little craft projects, but just as often those grand ideas become just that ... IDEAS. However, I do occasionally have a spark of an idea and come out with a grand result. (Or at least I think it's grand.) And then, there's other moments. The moments when my life is a whirlwhind but I have to create a little something for a specific something or sometime. So tonight I thought I'd share with you a couple of lil' somethings. First up, these fun little lovelies that I created for each of my daughter's 16 soccer teammates. Frontal view Backside The pictures really don't do these fun little keepsake ornaments justice. It was the end of the "Wildthangs" soccer season and time for their team hurrah. So, amidst all the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the Christmas holidays, I decided that I would make each of the girls a little something to remember their season. I started off with the clear craft or...

I love this time of year: baking yummy goodies, spending time with family, listening to holiday music, giving presents, and one of my all time faves is to "pretty up" the gifts before giving them to others. You have to admit, handing out pretty packages makes the giver feel proud and the receiver feel SpEcIaL. I especially enjoyed fancying ( I know, not a real word) up the gifts this year using my Cricut! The possibilities are endless!!! Enjoy this mini-video from Animoto  that I created with the pics of my specially wrapped presents! MeRrY CHRISTmas!!!

I m ade these fun festive ornaments today while staying home with my poor sick daughter. Two years ago I bought these fun silver photo ornament frames at Target knowing that I could come up with something cute to put inside. Well now that I have my Cricut (see my Black Friday post) I can create all sorts of little lovelies. They will make great gifts or fun decor on a beautifully wrapped present. You can make some too! See my simple how-to steps below. (My apologies for the poor photo quality, but I'm a bit too lazy to transfer pics from my digital camera. Instead, I used my precious iPhone and emailed myself the pics. :-)   First, I started with these supplies: I used the Cricut Designer's Calendar Cartridge to cut the snowflakes from the blue textured scrapbook paper. Traced and cut out the ornament shapes from the pink cardstock, and then brushed on the silver paint. Next, I layered the snowflake on the sparkly pink paper and then I slapped on one of my cute e...

I love this time of year! Christmas music, decorations, hot cocoa, shopping, wrapping presents, gift giving, and everything else that goes with the holidays brings me so much JOY. And even more, it's Secret Santa time at school! We drew names and are expected to bring a Secret Santa surprise every Tuesday and Thursday for the next three weeks. Here is my first gift. I have had these three mini picture frames in my gift closet for the past several years. They were just waiting for their perfect debut. I used my new Cricut to cut out the J-O-Y letters from coordinating scrapbook papers, traced the frame sizes onto coordinating background paper, and then glued the letters onto the background paper. Snapped each shape with a letter into the frames and Voila! I've got J-O-Y! Hopefully my Secret Santa recipient will enJOY this special holiday gift.

There is definitely a lot to be thankful for this season! I have a wonderful husband and daughter, supportive parents, a perky puppy, and most importantly a forgiving and loving God. I am also blessed with a generous network of friends and a great job. Yes, I have a lot to give thanks for in my life! And today, on this Black Friday, I am thankful for something else a little more, should we say, materialistic. I bought myself a little something, something. One of the many bargains purchased today during our bright and early shop-athon! I am the new proud owner of this precious baby: Oh yeah, baby! I've got a Cricut Expression and I'm not afraid to use it. =) I can't wait to start crafting with this little gadget!