Snapshot Saturday.

Each Saturday I post a picture from

my week that makes me smile.

Granted I wasn't smiling at the time,

but these attempts at getting

my wild & crazy kiddos to take a

"good" Easter picture make me smile now!

I love, love, love being their mom!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Fab Friday: Kitty, whoopdwhoop & a family wall

Meet Kitty.

She is fab.u.lous.

She blogs over here

at A Law Student's Journey.

 She is smart, funny & creatively crafty.How cool is that? I met Kitty through whoopdwhoop.She contacted me about doing a giveaway over on her blog.
  Since then I've started my own etsy shop& now have my own craft blog. Thanks for the inspiration, Kitty! Yesterday I saw this over onSweet Peas & Bumble Bees.(My newest sponsor!)(Interested in a sponsor swap, too?)Click here.

Isn't that wall beautiful?

Notice the FAMILY frame

where there are different

pictures for each letter.

(Love that!)

Update:

That totally does not say family!

Either I need my eyes checked or I can't read! ;)

It says Corney

which is their last name!

Thanks, Sarah! :)

But, hey, it still gave me the idea for "family". :)

(For more pictures & details

of this lovely family wall

visit Sarah at The Bird's Papaya here!)

So how does Kitty, whoopdwhoop
& this family wall go together?

(Besides all of them being so fab.u.lous!?!?)

Well, I'll tell ya!  :)

When I saw that fab.u.lous wall,
I remembered that Kitty had letters

similar to those listed over on whoopdwhoop.

So I ran over there & found this listing.

How fab.u.lous. is that?

(For only 1 whoop, too!)

What a steal!

(If you haven't signed up for
whoopdwhoop yet,
what are you waiting for?)

Now off to find the perfect frame! :)

(I'll update when I have my own family wall!)

take a look {easy mother's day craft}

Mother's Day is right around the corner,so I thought I'd share this cute & easy Mother's Day gift idea that the kiddos could definitely help out with.These could also be used for Teacher Appreciation gifts, Get Well Wishes,Birthdays....use your imagination. :) 

You will need:

tissue paper

a clean tin can

scissors

photo stickers

jumbo popsicle sticks

green paint

paint brush

ribbon

green Easter grass

You will also need some pictures of flowers & leaves.

(You could just as easily free hand these, too.)

I got my clip art from DJInkers.

(Love them!)

Paint your popsicle sticks green,

and set them aside to dry.

Color your flowers.

(This is the part the kids

really like to help out on!)

Then cut out your flowers & leaves.

I printed out a message to put on the flowers,

or have your kiddos write a personalized note on each one.

(Grandma, would love that!) :)

Assemble your flowers.

I used these photo stickers

to assemble my flowers.

Love them.

Quick & easy and

no mess!

Yay! :)

Next, stuff your tin can

with left over Easter grass.

Stick your flowers into the can.

Arrange them how you want them.

Cut a piece of

tissue paper in half,

then set your can in the middle.

Gather the tissue

around the can &

tie with a piece of ribbon.

Cut about 5 strands of ribbon

using ribbon that matches

your tissue paper & flowers.

Tie a knot around your can

& curl your ribbon with a pair of scissors.

You're done!

Enjoy! :)

whoop it up wednesday: Andria from the McGreen Experience

A couple of weeks ago I was surprised to get a whoopdwhoop request from Andria who lives in the United Kingdom...yes, I sent something all the way across the ocean!  Isn't that cool?  Andria describes herself like this:

I'm a craftaholic mother of two lovely young girls.
I have become the domestic goddess I never knew I wanted to be.

Andria also has a blog, the McGreen Experience, that is filled with yummy recipes, craft projects, money saving ideas, patterns...a little of everything.  So, go check it out, & I'm sure you will find something you enjoy.  :)  Andria was kind of enough to let me post this necklace board tutorial she did of the one she made for her little girls & all their jewelry.  Enjoy!

Necklace Board

I love being organized.  I love to organize other people.  I love to blog hop and look at how other people organize.  I am just that kind of person.
Now I don't know about you guys, but when I was little I didn't have much jewellery, real or otherwise.  I had a gold locket from my Grandma that I still have, but nothing else until I was well into my teens. My kids have LOADS of jewellery (not including all the costume stuff I've been hoarding that was my Grandma's).  They got loads more this past birthday.  Bracelets, necklaces, even watches, though they can't tell time.  Before we had it in a plastic box, to keep it all together, but of course that just made a huge mess out of.  I got tired to untangling things every time they wanted something. Then we got creative!



We call this the "dress up box" but really it is just a mess.

We bought a cork board at the shop for £2.20, and then used what we had at home to prettify it.  Since it is going in the girls room, I let them pick the fabric and ribbon. 

 

Then I just glued some fabric straight onto the cork with craft glue, and when that was dry, I hot glued the ribbon around the edge.

After that I got hubby to hang it up for me (I was looking at the hanging pack like it was an alien, and I swear I'm not clueless) and I stuck in a bunch of push pins I had in the drawer.  Viola!

And the whole thing only cost £2.20, the rest was already in the craft cupboard.  Yippee!!

Thank you so much, Andria.

Go check her out here on whoopdwhoop.com

or click below to visit the McGreen Experience.

Don't forget to say hello!

Teach Me Tuesday: Katie from Eye Spy DIY

Today our guest blogger is

Katie from over at Eye Spy DIY.

Hi there, my name is Katie and I'm from Boise, Idaho.
When I'm not wrangling around my husband or puppy, I'm creating.
Whether it's sewing, crocheting,
or any other type of craft under the sun, I've probably tried it.

I was wanting a small little wallet that I could easily
put my drivers license
and card in and put in my pocket
without having to carry around a big purse all the time,
and so decided to make one, or two...and will probably make more.

Below is my tutorial on how to make these yourself!

What you'll need:

2 inch piece of stretch cord
Fabric rosette (optional, see my DIY Rosette Hair Pin tutorial on how to make these)
Glue gun if you choose to add a rosette
What you'll need:
Fabric cut to 8"by5" (you'll need one piece of outer fabric, one piece of inner fabric and one piece of fusible interfacing
Fabric cut to 2.5" by 4" (you'll need two pieces outer fabric, two pieces inner fabric and two pieces of fusible interfacing)
Iron

1.)  Following the instructions for your fusible interfacing, iron your interfacing onto the front colors of fabric.  For the purposes of my tutorial, this is the blue fabric.

2.) Sew together two of the small pieces of fabric, right sides together on three sides (the two long sides and one short side).  Do the same for the other two small pieces of fabric.

3.) Clip the corners and turn right side out.

4.)  Press with an iron, ensuring to fold in the open seam.

5.)  Sew the small pieces of fabric onto the inside piece of fabric.  I got out a couple of credit cards to find where I should place the two pockets.

6.) On the outer piece of fabric sew a button about two and a half inches from the bottom of the fabric.  I usually eyeball this.

7.)  Now place the two big pieces of fabric right sides together.  At the top of the fabric sandwich place the stretch cord with the loop going inward so when you turn right side out it will be on the outside.  Sew an eighth of an inch around the edge, leaving a two inch hole at the bottom (I usually sew a couple times over the spot where you are sewing over the stretch cord).  Clip the corners.

8.)  Turn right side out and press, ensuring fabric is folded in at the open seam.
9.)  Sew an eighth of an inch around the entire outside of the wallet.
10.) If you want to add a rosette now is the time to hot glue it to you wallet, you can either add it directly to the fabric or glue it on top of your button.  I iron mine again at this point just to get out any wrinkles and to press down where the folds are.  And you're done!

I hope you find this tutorial useful. 

As always, I would love to find out how your project turns out!

Don't forget to check out

Katie's blog,

Eye Spy DIY

for more fun do-it-yourself projects.

Thanks,

Katie!

Make Over Monday: Windows

Happy Monday!

Well, this past week we have been

doing some home improvements.

Nothing major.

New paint & new floor

in the living room (Love it!)

We are so close to being done, too!

Yippee!!

Last week I was

painting my living room.

So I had all the blinds

taken down off the windows,

and I realized that I loved it! :)

It makes the space look bigger,

lets in the sun,

you get to see the flowers

(I just put window boxes

under my front room windows!).

Best of all, you don't

have to dust the blinds anymore! :)

I asked my husband what he thought

about leaving the blinds off,

& as usual, he said "If you like it, I like it!"

No help. :(

So, what do you think?

Blinds or no blinds?

Vote on my sidebar

or don't be shy,

leave a comment. :)

Before

After

Notice my new paint color?

It reminds me of a hershey kiss. :)

Snapshot Saturday.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Teach Me Thursday: Using Vinyl Negatives

Last week I posted this over at Capital B,

(If you haven't checked out Sky at Capital B yet...

go now..... she just posted

the cutest bow ties ever! 

(Oh...how I wish I could sew because I

would totally be copying her right now

...I'm slightly behind on

my Easter shopping!  Yikes!)

Anyways, I thought I'd post this

fun spring block tutorial again over here

on my blog because guess what???

Whoopdwhoop is featuring this

same tutorial on their blog TODAY, too!

Go here to check it out!

I am so excited!!! :)

Spring is finally in the air!

(It was a very, very long winter for us!  How about you?)

Time to get out the fun spring decor. :)

I just recently added this fun spring block

to my etsy shop, Ginger Snaps.

(You can buy it finished or as a kit & make your own!)

Here's how I made it:

(Easy!)

1. First cut a 2 x 4 into a block that measure 3 1/2 inches by 7 inches long.

2.  Slightly sand your block, paying special attention to the edges.

3.  Choose a paint color.  I chose a bright purple. :)

4.  Paint your block.  It took me about 2 coats.  Let it dry.

5. You will use the vinyl negative (the part you usually throw away) as a stencil.
You can cut your own vinyl negative using a Cricut or Silhouette.
I used the elise font. (My favorite!)
(You can also buy one from my esty shop!)

Apply your vinyl lettering to your block of wood.

Make sure you press down firmly with your hand or a credit card. 

(You don't want any air pockets or loose areas.)
 

6.  Using bright spring-like colors carefully paint each letter a different color.
(Let them dry between coats.)

7.  After your paint has dried completely.

(I let mine dry over night, just to be sure!)

Carefully peel back your vinyl negative.

8.  Touch up any areas you might need to.

(You'll be amazed on how good a job vinyl can be when used as a stencil! :) )

9.  Tie a matching bow around your block.

10. Enjoy!