Motivate me Monday #4

Thanks to everyone that linked up last week, it was really fun to look at everyone's crafts. Seriously, you all are SO talented! You really got me motivated last week! :)

Alyssa at Persnickety Peacock made these awesome burlap curtains, they look so and I absolutely love the color of the turquoise on the burlap.

Tiffany from On Tulip Trail made this pillow out of a place mat. It's so simple but cute and someone with little sewing experience is really thinking about making one!

Charity at A Scrap Of Time decorated her mileage log to look like this. What a great way to make something that is a chore not seem to bad because it's so cute!

The 2 rules:

1)Link to post not blog

2)Grab my button or link back to my blog

Tip Thursday

I have come to realize that me getting a Cricut anytime soon isn't going to happen. So I have to work with what I have. I have always traced my chipboard letters like a stencil and cut out the letters. It takes a little longer time wise, but I'm fine with that. I just love the 3D feel of cut out letters. Anyway, I have ton of fun fonts on my computer, so I decided that I need to take advantage of those. For some reason, I really don't care for my titles to be printed. So I just printed out large letters on printer paper and traced them and then cut them out of cardstock. I'm sure several of you are thinking, "well duh" but I was excited about my new discovery :). So here is the two page layout that I did for this week.

Whatever Wednesday: Clips, headband and bracelets

My good friend just had her first little girl on Monday, so I decided that I wanted to try to make her some bows and headbands. My wonderful sister gave me ribbon about 6 months ago and I was planning on using it on cards and scrapbooking, but I definitely found a better use for it! So here are a few clips and bracelets that I made. This is my first time ever doing this, so they aren't that great.As I was looking at blogs, I came upon this idea and just loved it but had no clue how she did it. I wanted to do it, but wanted to use what I have. So I just decided to use some satin ribbon that I have left over from my wedding (which was 6 years ago, I knew I was saving the ribbon for something) and just make smaller ones. So here's a little baby headband and some little clips. My flowers are around only about 1 1/2 inch in diameter for the head band and 1 inch for the clips.

Since I don't have any girls to put these on, I have decided that if I get 100 followers, I will do a giveaway for both of these, the headband and the clips (two winners). So follow me if you want to win these :)!! Go here for giveaway

I'm linking this post to:

We are that family

The thrifty home

My Frugal Family

A soft place to land

Blue Cricket Design

Somewhat Simple

Treasure for Tots

Tutorial Tuesday: Gift box decorations

One thing I don't like about decorating for holidays is that I feel like I am constantly putting it up and then taking it down and putting new holes in the walls. Sometimes I just get lazy and don't decorate for holidays. Well I saw this idea to use gift boxes for holiday decor, so after Christmas this year, I got a package of gift boxes for $.75.

As I was thinking about it, I decided that I wanted to do this for every holiday and just switch the front of the box. So I don't have to redo everything, just put the front of the box onto the wall. I did a set of boxes that go with my home decor for the time that there isn't a holiday. Since these are in between my boys' rooms, I'm going to have them help me make them with me too.

Here's what I did:

1)Took a normal gift box, this size is the lingerie size

2) Decorated the lids of the boxes

3) Nailed the bottom of the box directly to the wall. I actually put a thumb tack on the bottom too, just for extra support.

4) Put the boxes together and added pictures

Here are the ones that I did for Valentine's day. Remember that my boys helped me, so they aren't the cutest. They got to do the glitter on the hearts.

They is a really easy and really cheap way to have some holiday decor. I'm excited to actually have something to put up each holiday and something to do with my boys!

Motivate me Monday #3

Thanks to everyone that posted last week! I enjoyed looking at all of them and seeing all the fun creative things you came up with. Here are a few of the things that were posted last week:

Colleen painted these amazing doors, if I wish I could paint like that, amazing!

Melissa made super cute flowers out of demin, so creative! Now I know what to do with all the holey jeans from my boys!

Michelle took goodwill frames and turned them into super cute home decor. I never thought to print on my scrapbook paper, now I'm just going to have to!

I'm so excited to see what everyone is coming up with!

The two rules:

1)Enter the link to the post not to your blog

2)Grab my button or add a link to you post

I'm linking this post to:

Cottage Instincts The Persimmon Perch It's so Very Cheri

The Girl Creative The Shade of Pink

Tip Thursday

Here is a two page spread that I did this week. This was one of those times that it didn't look as cute as I thought it would in my head. I just had to finish it, put in it his scrapbook and go back and look at it. Although not my best page, I like it and I'm just glad that it is done :)
I love decorative paper but sometimes I don't have paper that matches enough for my liking, so I make my own. I cut out the letters out of white card stock and then added the stripes for color and then inked the edges to have it stand out. I love doing this because I can choose my color scheme.

Whatever Wednesday: Rocking Chair Makeover

This is the rocking chair that I bought from a garage sale for my baby's nursery. It is very comfortable and big, but doesn't really match the decor in his room. So I painted the chair white and put blue fabric all over it. I then painted some wooden buttons brown and sewed those on. Lastly, I used a 1 inch grosgrain ribbon and sewed that onto the front for some more color. I love the results and how it looks in his nursery.

Before:

After:

I'm linking this post to:

Domestically Speaking The Thrifty Home Making the World Cuter Sumo's Sweet Stufff

We Are That Family My Frugal Family It's so very Cheri

Blue Cricket Design Somewhat Simple Cottage Instincts

Tutorial Tuesday: Child's Tie

Does your husband have any ties that he doesn't wear, that are ruined in the front or just not his style. Then reuse them and make a little baby tie! These are so cute and super easy to make. If you can tie a tie, then you can make this. I love all of boy stuff to make, plus my boys love it when I make them things to wear.

I got this tie at a dollar store a long time ago, it's a nice tie but not really my husband's style or color. So here are is how you make them:

1) Take a regular tie and tie the back side to the desired length. Once you have the desired length of the tie, measure the size of the child's neck (with a shirt on) and make the loop that length. I always like to go an inch bigger, just in case.

2) Next cut off the long end of the tie right at the knot. Also, put a couple of stitches in the knot so that it will not fall apart, I always do more than necessary just in case.

3) Cut the loop in the middle

4) Attach velcro to the ends of the loop. I stitched the ends of the tie so they wouldn't far apart and then added the velcro.

These work great for babies and toddlers, but I even made on for my 4 year old. I just made it longer. It just looks like a nice skinny tie. My boys are always excited for something new!

Motivate me Monday

Hello everyone! I have been noticing lots of Valentine's Day things going around all the blogs, too bad I'm a scrooge when it comes to that holiday. So I need some cute ideas that will help motivate me and get into the mood of Valentine's Day. Of course any cute craft will work too!

Here's a preview of tomorrow tutorial, a child's tie made out of a regular tie.

Rules:

1)Link to the post, not your blog

2)Post my button or link to my blog

Home Tour with It's So Very Cheri

Hello everyone. I'm excited to let you know that Cheri from It's So Very Cheri has let me do a home tour with her today. So if you want to see the before and after pictures of my home, go head over there right now!

It's So Very Cheri

Tip Thursday

I thought that once a week I would either give a scrapbooking tip or idea. I have been scrapbooking for about eight years now and have some things that make it a lot easier for me. So I thought that I would start with my number one tip:

Remember it is about the photos! I think with all of the new stuff coming out we tend to forget the whole reason to scrapbook. It's not to use as many things as you can, the layout of the page or the paper that you use, it is the photos. I know that I get so overwhelmed because I want to make the page look adorable, stressed about it and not do it. Sometimes I won't like a page, but I put it in anyway and then I'll go back to it and I'll just be glad that it is done and that my children can look back at it.

One of my pet peeves is when I'm looking at magazines for ideas and they have a 12x12 page and there is only ONE (4x6) photo on it and a ton of other stuff. If I only had one photo per page, I would have a 400 or so pages for a year! I usually average about 4 to 5 photo per page (I admit, I take too many pictures).

Whatever Wednesday: Thank You Cards

Today is the day that will change from week to week. I may not even post at all, depending on the week. Wednesdays are for projects and crafts that I do that are cute ideas but really don't need much explaining, or maybe I'll post pictures of crafts that I want to do from other blogs. Who knows, that's why it's called Whatever Wednesday :).

For baby showers I'm the person that gives the "weird" and not standard baby gifts. I give a photo box, a mini scrapbook and then a package of thank you cards. I usually make about 20 of the same card, but for one of my good friends that is having a baby soon, I decided to change it up a little bit and make several different cards for her. So here they are:

Tip: If you want to save on money but not lose color, use cheap white card stock (I get mine from Sam's Club) as the outside and then put a 4"x5 1/4" piece of colored paper over it. That way you can get four pieces out of one sheet of paper instead of just two, plus you get a layered look too!

Tutorial Tuesday: Ribbon Bow Tie

One of the hardest things about having three boys is that I can't make them things to wear. Even if I did sew, a shirt for a boy is not nearly as cute as a dress for a little girl. I love all the headbands that everyone makes but I think that it would be frowned upon if I put them in my boys' hair :). Anyway, when I saw how easy it is to make bow ties out of ribbon, I was SUPER excited. I made three in one night! This is perfect because I have a ton of ribbon that I never use, so it was just great. It took a matter of minutes to make them.

Here are the directions to make a ribbon bow tie.

1) Using a thicker ribbon, mine is 1 1/2", cut two pieces, one 8 inches, one 2 inches. You can adjust the length if you want to make one for an infant or an older boy

2) Fold the longer ribbon, so that the end meet in the middle. Over lap the ribbon about 1/4" and then sew through all three layers with a needle and thread. You will be using the needle and thread through out the whole process.

3) Take the shorter piece and fold the sides in and overlap them in the back.

4) Making sure the overlap of the ribbon is facing the bow tie, wrap around larger piece and sew the two end together.

5) Using a smaller piece of ribbon 1" or less, measure the neck (with the collar) . I sewed the ribbon onto the bow tie. Sew or hot glue velcro on both sides of the ribbon.

My boys LOVE them. My oldest two have been wearing them non stop. They like to put them on and pretend that they are going to work. They even put them on while they were wearing Star Wars costumes (they are silly boys!).

Like what you see? Then follow along!