Thanks for the Ideas!

Between here and a Yahoo group that I am in, I got plenty of ideas on what to get her.

Some mentioned to get her paper and a cartridge and let her make her own. The thing is, she lives with her dad, 3 hours away, so the time I see her is limited. Getting her a cricut of her own is out of the budget too right now, and I have mentioned this and the cuttlebug/cuddle kids to her and her father and well, he doesn't seem interested in the "upkeep" of it as he looks at it. And he tells me that like most 7 year olds, right now she doesn't really "take care" of her stuff, so he was afraid that if he wasn't around when she would be using it, that she might break it. (I don't see it, she's very careful with mine, but maybe cuz she knows its mine?) And I have asked her if she wanted her own, and she said "why? I can use yours when you come up" I think that if she had her own, maybe it won't be as "special" to her when I bring mine up and we create things, as it would be something that she could do whenever she wanted to at her dads.

So, if I did paper dolls in magnetic material, does this come in different colors? or would I have to color it in? What kinds of markers would be more permanent? (besides copic.. I have some BIC ones, perhaps they would work?)

Some other ideas that I got were Cookie mixes in jars, Nifty knitter, card kit, village for her to decorate, Word book (using her name),. Gift basket with travel sized items, Dress up clothes, etc.

I did find the other night while cleaning, a small heart-shaped locket in my jewelry box. It hold likes 8 pictures, so I will find some {family} pictures and give it to her also. I believe I got it many years ago (I wanna say I was in 10th grade? I think it was a confirmation gift...)

I'll be sure to post pictures as I get things together.. atleast I have a month to get things ready, and still not even sure yet if her dad will let her come to my parents house for christmas, or if she'll be at their place the weekend after..

Christmas Gifts for a 7 year old?

So, I've been racking my brain for something to get my 7 year old daughter for Christmas, without blowing my entire "Christmas bonus" ($178, that is an instore credit for Menards, we have a toy section for the holidays..)

She likes it when I bring my cricut up and we cut things out and make "pages" with it. She can run the cricut herself, and when I brought my G up last time, she was able to figure that out too and cut things. She likes picking out the colors, and the princess and wedding girl are the ones that she makes every time...

Would it look like I was "cheap" if I made her a bunch of paper dolls that she could assemble? Along with like Hello kitties, or Hannah montanas and other things? And then I'd put them in a special folder of some sort so she could mix and match them as she wanted.. Maybe use baseball card holders or something..

Anyone else have any other hand made items for a 7 year old? I'm also thinking of a tied fleece blanket, and perhaps a pillow to match.. I just feel horrible cause I've been able to go "all out" the last few years, but this year I won't be able to do anything "big" until her birthday (which I'm buying right away when I get taxes back, since her birthday is in May)

Please comment with any ideas :) Thanks!!

Weekend at the Farm

Went up to MN this last weekend to visit Lilly, and our first stop was JoAnn's :)

This ghost ended up following us home, and now sits in Grandpa's yard...

We went to Nelson's Farm, a family owned farm about 20 minutes from my parents that has animals and games and stuff for kids to do. Here's just a few random pictures from the weekend!

Family Days

Hey Look! A blog post! Been feeling pretty guilty about not posting a thing.. but then I haven't really been crafting either :(
But here's a few pictures of my latest trip to MN. It was my Brother's 23rd, so I got to hang out with him and his wife, my parents, and of course Lilly ♥

Here is Lilly and I next to my brother's sunflowers. They are over the roof now. My SIL says that he waters them with rain water that he stores, and sings to them at night. She's hoping that this is a sign that he will make a great dad one day :)

Here's my not-so-baby-baby-brother

Miss Lilly. Gotta love the faces she makes. I think I caught her in the middle of telling a story but it was way too cute not to keep!

And here's the two of us again :)

Unicorn Shields and Wooden Spoons

While at Rennaissance Festival last year, I picked up these two adorable wooden shields. My first intent was to decorate them myself, and then give them to Lilly and her sister Joslyn. Well, I never got around to decorating them, so I decided that it may be fun for them to decorate them instead! So I brought them with me up to MN this last weekend, and Lilly and Joslyn went to town decorating them! And then.. Grandma gave the girl wooden spoons for their "swords". Video Below is a clip of them "fighting" :)

Valentines From Lilly!

I'm still uploading pictures from this weekend - and then.. BLOG CANDY TIME!! WHAHOOO!

But First...
Here are TWO adorable Valentine Cards that My Little Miss Lilly gave me! She's already a scrapper, and does fantastic work!!!




Inside of card reads :: Happy Velentine's Day I hope you hav a good day to day

And this one reads :: Dear mom i whish you a happy valentine's day I hope you hav a good day to day

These will be treasured forever!!

Lilly's Valentine Box

Here are pictures of the box that I decorated for Lilly to take to school and collect her valentines in.
The "My Valentine" was in my swap stash, I actually made it about 3 years ago (had the Xyron PCS then to cut the letters!)

"LILLY" letters are from A Child's Year, along with the side view of the girl on one of the sides.

Valentines - Completed!

Well... even tho the Vikes didn't win the game on Sunday night.. they played one heck of a game! And... thankfully... Lilly still wants Packer / Viking Valentines even after that! That's my girl!

So.. without further ado... Here they are completed..

EDPD to make Favre and Rodgers
Football Embossed with Tiny Mesh (? I think..)
Heart cut from Gypsy Wanderings and stamped with a Studio G Dollar Stamp Set.
Background paper is Bazzill Bling
Punch is Martha Stewart Arch Lattice

More Christmas Photos :)

This is another Just too cute not to post picture! (ok, well pictures :)
Here is Uncle Eric (my Brother) as "KEN" playing Barbies :)

And here's another of Miss Lilly!

Pictures From The Weekend

Here's a few pictures from my weekend with Lilly, these were taken on our walk. Me, Mom and Lilly (dad was taking the pictures)
Thanks for looking!

Happy Halloween!

First, I'd love to share with you Lilly's 1st Grade picture! Look at all those missing teeth!! LOL :)

And here she is, as a Fairy. She said she was Tinkerbell. We talked on the phone yesterday and she was in a parade at the mall and won the cake walk at the local fair grounds Halloween Party.
I am heading back to MN for the weekened on November 6th, so I am trying to get as many paper dolls made before then.. I'm also in the market for Hannah Montana, I think she would have a blast cutting those out! I'm going to bring my cuttlebug this time, and see how she likes it. If it's something that she'll easily be able to use all by herself, then I'll be looking for one of those too!

Layouts from a Future Scrapper

As promised, here is the wonderful art work that Lilly and I created this weekend! She did 99% of the work - from choosing the images, Choosing the papers, putting the paper on the mat (which she thought was SO COOL that it was sticky.. and surprisingly, with the amount of times that she put her hands on it, "Look Mom, it's sticking to my hands" *giggle* the mat DID NOT loose its stickyness thoughout the day! We did a ton of cuts too!) Anyways, she pressed the buttons, scraped the images off the mat. All I did was cut the paper in half (or pieces when we used a few scraps up)



Here are the paper doll creations that Lilly made this weekend! She is the Mermaid and her sister is the princess. Notice where the waves are? The mermaid (Lilly) is happy looking at the princess (her sister) knowing that even they are in different 'worlds' (Lilly is moving to California at the end of the month.... While her sister will stay in MN) they can still see each other and are close by and they are friends. - Amazing (can't think of the word! - not logic, not theory, not tale.. C'mon help me out!) from a 6 year old

Fun Filled Weekend!

This past weekend, I went up to my parents house. I am actually there right now as I type this! Lilly and I have been having a blast - we made tons of paper dolls, and she is an expert on the cricut now too! I told her to tell her Dad that's what she wants for christmas LOL :) We cut out the Princess, Bride and Groom, Pixy, Mermaid and Genie. Those pictures are still on my camera, and will post them once I get home. We also made pumpkins, spiders, Cats, skeletons and Ghosts and decorated Grandma's (my mom) house! So glad that I decided to bring my cricut! We have been having so much fun! Below is Lilly showing off her Cricuting skills. She was VERY good with the machine, and could figure out which buttons to press that matched the handbook. She is 6 1/2. (and she loves glitter glue.. used that on EVERYTHING. LOL)

Had dinner with my brother and his wife too tonight. And My dad decided that now was a good time to take some family pictures. (of course he could have told me that BEFORE I washed my hair LOL, it looks really flat in the pictures)

Below is Me, my dad, My mom, my brother Eric and his Wife Katie, and Lilly is in the middle.

And here is me and Lilly.

Little Miss Lilly

If these don't make ya smile... then I don't know what will!

My parents and Lilly went to Duluth and Brainard back in June :)
Here's some pictures!

Lilly and Grandma Olson (My Mom)

Lilly With Grandpa Olson (My Dad)

Lilly on the Boats