Craft Day - Best of My Days Notepad

This next project from Craft Day was one of my favorites...and I'm super excited to do this each day next year.  It is straight from one of my favorite blogs - Under the Sycamore. Ashley is so creative and comes up with the best ideas.  It's a notepad that you put together where you can record the best of your day at the end of each day.  I love this, because I feel like I always need a way to reflect back what happened and memories that were made, but in a "nugget" sort of way.  I don't always have a long time to journal, so this is a great way to get a snapshot of something great that happened or that I want to remember.  

To get started...

Head to Under the Sycamore and get one of Ashley's 2 free printables for this project.  It includes January through December 2012 with all the dates for each month.  There are 3 months per page; cut them into even "pages."

Stack the months together and punch a hole through the top left corner.  I put a metal ring through so the pages can turn easily.  

I copied Ashley's cute way of wrapping with a Starbucks cup sleeve (can never have too many of these!).  I turned it inside-out and wrapped around the cards, then wrapped some baker's twine around it all.

This makes a super cute gift for family, friends, or teachers.  I can't wait to use mine this next year to help remember all the great stuff that God has blessed us with and help record some great memories.

Santa-Time

Since Brayden was little, we've always taken him to go see Santa at the mall.  However, I've never been able to fork out the money that they charge for the pictures.  This year, I decided we needed to get an official picture with Santa while Brayden is still young, so we headed to the mall to get his picture made.  He loved seeing Santa, yet when it came time, he gave a "courtesy smile," as in, "Yes, Mom, fine...I'll take this picture for you."  It's cute, but he doesn't look himself.  Oh well...we had to get a "Santa picture"...so $23 later, we had his picture.  Ugh, I hate spending money like that on one picture.  Nonetheless, had to get the Santa pic.

Later that night, we went to our church's BIIIIG Christmas show, and it was amazing.  We had a fun family night out and on the way home went through one of the ritziest neighborhoods in Houston to see some awesome Christmas lights.  One of the houses hires a real, live Santa Clause to sit outside their house for people that drive by.  Awesome.  We had to stop.  Brayden got out, and we took his picture with Santa.  And guess what...an awesome picture.  More importantly, a FREE picture.  Oh, why did I just spend $23 on a so-so picture!?  Gotta love it.

Merry Christmas!!!

Craft Day - Santa's Magic Key

Another project that we did at Craft Day was Santa's Magic Key.  This was a great idea that I found here (free printable too!).  It's something fun to hang on your doorknob for the kids to get excited about Santa coming. 

The card says: "It's the night before Christmas, and we're excited as can be.  We're leaving this out for you...it's a very special key.  You can shimmy down the chimney or tiptoe through the door.  Just use this key we left for you to find cookies, milk, & more!" 

Gather your supplies: 

   Keys (found at Michael's and Hobby Lobby)

   Red cardstock

   White cardstock

   Ribbon

   Distress Ink Pad

   Sponge (a makeup sponge will work great)

Print the Santa's Key printable on white cardstock and cut out. Using a small makeup sponge (can be picked up for $1 for a pack of them at most drugstores), stamp ink from the Distress Ink pad around the edges of the white cardstock.  This gives it an aged look.

Place your white cardstock onto red cardstock and adhere using a gluestick or ModPodge. Cut out red cardstock a little larger than the white cardstock.  

Punch a hole in the end of your Santa's Key card.  Take your key and string the ribbon through it and the hole in the Santa's Key card.  Tie a knot to secure the key, then tie a bow at the end to sit above your doorknob.

Hang on your doorknob and get ready for Santa to come!

Craft Day - Paperclip Earrings

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and we just had to make them.  They are paperclip earrings - yes, earrings made from a single paperclip.  Amazing.  Evie S. blog created a great tutorial for them on her blog.

To make these, gather your supplies:

Paperclips, big or small

Embroidery floss or cotton string

Earring hooks

Jump rings

Liquid Stitch - helps the string stay on the paperclip

To begin, unfold your paperclips into the triangle shape.  There will be a part of them overlapping on one side.  Then begin winding the string to cover the entire paperclip.  As you go, put a little Liquid Stitch on the string, which allows for it to stay in place much better.  Once it's covered, you'll randomly make a "web" of string.

Another option instead of the web design 

is to wrap the entire paperclip horizontally in string.

One package of embroidery floss will cover 2 earrings.

For the big earrings, use 2 jump rings to connect it to the earring hook.

For the small paperclip earrings, it looks great just connected straight to the earring hook.

And there you have it...earrings from a paperclip!

Craft Day - Lace Coasters

Our next project for Craft Day was lace spray painted coasters.

For these coasters, here's what you need:

4.25" square white coasters - I got mine at Lowe's for a whopping 10 cents/tile!

Lace - scrap lace or ribbon - I found lace ribbon at Hobby Lobby

Spray adhesive

Spray paint

Clear Acrylic Gloss Coating (waterproof spray varnish)

Adhesive felt circles for "feet" on the coasters

Take your lace and cut it a little longer than the coaster.  Spray the lace with spray adhesive, and then press down on your coaster.  In steady sweeping motion, spray paint over entire coaster.  You can pull the lace off immediately, and it will reveal an amazing lace pattern.

Voila!

Here was our project in motion...

Once dry, you can spray Acrylic Spray Gloss on top

to seal the paint and make sure it doesn't chip off.

Then put small felt adhesive circles on the bottom side

of the tile in each corner as "feet" for the coaster.

And you're done!

Craft Day - Chalkboard Mugs

For awhile now, I've been wanting to have a Craft Day with some girls inspired by Meg's Craft Weekends.  I love being creative, and it was especially fun getting to put together some fun crafts for me and 13 of my good friends to get to do together.  We had such a fun day where we did seven different projects together.  I'll be sharing each of our crafts over the next few days.

I set up tables in my living room with all the supplies we needed to do each craft.  Each girl had a bag to load up her goodies in after the day was over.  

Today, we're going to start with an easy one - Chalkboard Mugs.  It's a simple one, and it doesn't cost a lot of money.  It's great for gifts - put a couple packets of hot chocolate and a candy cane...wrap it up in cellophane, and it's a perfect gift for a neighbor or teacher!

First, gather all your supplies: 

Mug - These were $0.99 at IKEA.  The Dollar Store also has white mugs you can use.

Chalkboard paint - You can get this at any local hardware store, Michael's (Martha 

   Stewart brand is there) or Hobby Lobby

1" foam brush

Chalk

Ribbon to tie on chalk

Each person received their own mug to paint.  

Using a 1" foam brush, you can brush on the rectangle

shape.  It may take 2 coats to fully cover.

All the mugs drying...
Note: use painter's tape if you need a little guide to help you paint.

Tie on 3 pieces of chalk, and now your mug can be personalized! 

Thanksgiving in Salt Lake City

For Thanksgiving this year, we headed to Salt Lake City, Utah to spend time with Jonathan's entire family.  We had such a great time.  On our last day there, we decided to drive up into the mountains so we could all experience some good sledding.  

Walking up to go sledding

Harrison and Brayden

Erin and Brayden

 Jared got some air on this jump!

 Me and my boy

 Harrison found a hole in the snow and kept diving

head first into the snow.  Hilarious.  Go figure.

Michael

Harrison

Harrison and Michael

Jonathan

Graydaddy and Brayden

 Jared and Emsleigh

 Graydaddy's wipeout

Jared was on one of the big sleds with the two little guys.  As the 3 of them headed down the hill, some other kids decided to walk right up the center of the sled path.  We were all yelling for them to move to the side, but alas, it was too late.  The 3 boys came barreling down the hill toward the kids and knocked one kid over.  Oh man.  Luckily, all were okay!

Emsleigh all bundled up!

On Thanksgiving morning, we all went out to the Thanksgiving Day 5K run.  6 of us ran/walked the 5K.  It was a fun thing to do together...even though we were all DYING after it was over.  The thin air and hills that are SO different from good ole Texas.  The young boys waited with Graydaddy on the side of the race to cheer us on.

FINISH LINE!

 AJ, Philip, Jonathan, me, Erin, and Jared after the race

 Brayden and Graydaddy

 Harrison and Emsleigh

Sweet cousins in their matching PJs