11 in 2011

Happy New Year! I normally don't do this but since this was a pretty big year for our family I thought I'd share some of my favorite layouts/projects of 2011. 

So, in no particular order...

A big hug for Pooh - Noel Mignon {love} the photos 
in this layout

 

Sweet Anticipation - Noel Mignon

Pure Sweetness - Noel Mignon

 Addie at 2 months - Noel Mignon

 

Glimpses of You - Noel Mignon

First Snow - 3 Scrappy Boys

You Two

 My girls - Noel Mignon

Nostalgia - Noel Mignon

 Let's Paint - Noel Mignon

Thankful - 3 Scrappy Boys

And an 'honorable mention'

Little Did I Know - I just love this layout because this photo was taken just 2 days before Addie was born :) I still remember the day like it was yesterday.

And a couple of my other favorite projects this year:

 Baby Gift from a drink container

 

Altered frame for Addie's nursery

Travel mini

Whenever I go back & look at the layouts & projects I've done, I realize just how much I love this hobby & how much I cherish that our family memories are recorded. I love looking back and reliving the memories. And I love that my children love looking through them just as much as I do!

holiday journal

Are you a list maker? I am. I love lists. I'm very much a visual person so if I need to get anything done I need to put it in a list or I will always forget.

Now I know there's a lot of fun toys out there that you can put your lists on. But I don't have any of those. No iphone yet :(

But even if I had one of these I still probably wouldn't use them. I love to jot things down on paper and cross them out when I've completed a task. There's something very gratifying about that to me. Makes me feel like I've accomplished something!

So I created a quick and easy little holiday journal that I can shove in my purse or diaper bag when I'm out holiday shopping and see something that I want to remember.

I simply took some kraft paper, grid paper, ledger paper, and a page out of a Christmas book and sewed the book down the middle. I decorated the front with some white paint and embellishments/paper and that's it! 

Tis the Season!!

Papers - December Add-On kit

Alphas - November Trio Kit

Baker's twine - etsy

chicken wire - it's not just for chickens

This is a project I've had on the back burner for a while now. I've had the idea & frames was just waiting for a space to put it.

After a few battles with my husband's staple gun (and maybe a few expletives while the kids were in the house) I managed to finish my project :)

I used a frame I bought several years ago in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby for 5 bucks & painted it Bahama Breeze (Krylon). Love this color...not too light, not too dark. The frame is a little banged up but I love that.

After painting it I added the chicken wire...and discovered that I really need to buy a new staple gun. Ugh that thing!!! 


I went back & forth on what kind of banner to make. I really love the banner/pennant look right now. I knew that I wanted 5 pennants & figured since we have 5 in our family now that I'd do everyone's initials.

I simply cut burlap, some patterned paper, and accented with the alphas & other simple touches. Then I dressed up a couple mini clothespins & hung it by some more burlap. I love how the burlap frays when it's cut :) And there you have it! 

I'll be linking this project up to Jen's Weekend Wrap-Up Party.

for Addie's room

I've been working on try to get Addie's nursery done. It's sloooowly coming together. The painting is done (after making my poor husband paint 2 different colors cause the 1st one just wasn't right) but I still need to hem the curtains, hang the curtains, put up most of the wall art, set up her crib & clean out the closet a bit for her clothes. 

I also have a cute little wooden chair that I picked up at a thrift shop about a year ago that I'm thinking of painting turquoise (of course!) for her room. 

Trying to get this done before we have company for her baptism in less than 3 weeks.

Oh, and I'm still trying to get the rest of the house together. It's getting there. Like I said....sloooowly!

So anyway, I was playing around the other day & made this cute little altered frame for her dresser.

Supplies used: 

papers - Doodlebug, Echo Park

mini jewels - Doodlebug

baker's twine - the Twinery

thickers - American Crafts

 

I just took a plain shipping tag, added a handmade accordion flower & accented with an 'a'. The letter didn't pop enough so I outlined it with a black pen & added some stickles. Oh, and my fave, pink baker's twine.

I think baby Pluto likes it :)

Oh, and that white lampshade...yep, it's probably going to get a minor makeover as well.

baby gift from a drink container

A friend of mine had a baby last month & I have yet to see him since I've been sick off and on for the last month. But I did manage to put together a little gift for her. Hopefully she's not reading my blog right now!

Anyway, I saw this cute idea & since I've altered these containers before I thought it would make a cute baby gift but wanted to use some of the new Jillibean Soup papers I'd just gotten in the mail. The blues & greens worked perfectly since my friend had a boy.

I started off with this container:

My kids were happy they got to enjoy some yummy bottled root beer...see, my crafting pays off for you guys every once in a while! Anyway, I measured & cute all the papers to fit on the container.

For the handle I actually cut one piece of paper & wrapped it around the top. I thought it would look nicer that way.

And I simply added some embellishments & baby goodies and that's it!

 

Supplies used:

patterned papers, alphas - Jillibean Soup Spotted Owl

Fiskars Upper Crest border punch

Ribbon - Stampin' Up!

Valentine Wreath

I have a thread over at the Noel Mignon Valentine's Crop with a new project using the fabulous Truly Scrumptious kit. 

I wanted to make a new wreath to hang in my house. I made a Valentine burlap wreath last year but I wanted to change things up a little.

I started with a Styrofoam wreath that I had & wrapped some red yard all the way around. I will tell you...it's a bit of a pain but worth it when you're done! I found that it's easiest to work in sections rather than trying to wrap the whole thing at once. I used a hot glue gun to hold the yarn in place.

Then I made some accordion flowers like the ones Britt & Virginia have done blog posts on.

Again, I used some hot glue to hold those in place on my wreath & added a few white Martha Stewart doily tags for a little accent. Instead of putting the flowers right on top of each other I thought it'd be fun to have them a little staggered. I also added that pretty rose button in the center (sorry can't remember what that is technically called!)

Then I strung some yarn on the back of the wreath so I could hang some cute little hearts that I punched out of the patterned papers.

I added some ribbon and that's it! Super simple, super easy! I have a few more projects I'm working on for teacher gifts that I'm hoping to share tomorrow :)

 

new in the shop!

It's been a while since I've added some new items to my etsy shop. It's not that I haven't been working on things. But the craft show a few weeks ago kept me pretty busy. I do have some goodies left from that along with some new items that I'll be adding next week.

Christmas Clipboards - these are my favorite. I have a non-seasonal one that I have hanging in my kitchen all year. Then I switch it out for a holiday one in November. The notepads are on magnets so you can easily grab one off to jot down things.

I have 3 of these left:

 

 

All of my holiday towels with the exception of these sold out at the craft fair I did. But I'm working on some more and should have them in the shop soon. I added a cute ruffle at the bottom of the towels :)

I also have one of my Christmas 'What-Not' Bags left using this fun fabric which I just *love*

Flower Rosette Notebooks - these are fun little notebooks with a pretty flower added to the front. Great for teachers!

I'm working on a few more holiday items that will be in the shop by next week. Also, I have an awesome sale going on on Black Friday. Be sure to head back here to find out the details!!