Frozen Inspired Chipboard Scrapbook Album

I crafted!  Funny how a little motivation will get you to do just about anything including making time!  But it feels so good to create.

I made two Frozen inspired chipboard albums.  I LOVE how they came out!  Super cute and fun.  I used lots of glitter.  It was hard to create this because there isn't any Frozen scrapbook materials on the market.  I found a few sheets of scrapbook paper and stickers, but they were sold by a store in England.  So I bought digital files from Etsy and printed the paper on my own.  I scoured the internet for images and printed them myself.  I did buy a few stickers off Ebay that I was able to use. So all in all, I am happy with the end product.

Here it is!

6 pages of fun!

The Ice Princess

Sweet Princess Anna

Hugs from Olaf and a little bit of everyone's favorite reindeer and Christoff

The gang

Sisters!

I have 10 more of these babies planned.  They will be very similar to this one with some variation.  I made two of these and they are currently for sale on Etsy.  Here is the link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/190813874/frozen-inspired-premade-chipboard?

Blessings!

Beth

Princess Valentine's Box

We were asked to provide a decorated Valentine's box for Grace's preschool.  They are doing a Valentine's card exchange.

I went around and around with different ideas for a box and couldn't decide.  Finally, it dawned on me to ask her what she wanted.

And of course she said she wanted a princess box.  Should have guessed!

So here is what I made for her.



I couldn't find a shoebox that I felt was the right size so I ended up buying a plain white craft storage box at Michael's.  I also envisioned Disney princess style scrapbook paper to decorate the box with, but they don't sell it at Michael's anymore.  Just the stickers and embellishments.  So I found this glitter paper.  I like it better!  I also added felt glittered crowns to each corner.  The heart stickers are also felt with glitter.  I used the Hello Kitty Font cartridge to cut out her name using my Cricut.

The crown was an extra she had from her dress up clothes.  She has plenty so I am sure she won't miss this one.  The princess stickers I bought at Michael's.  I spent a little more that I had planned to, but I love how her box came out.

 

Poor little Caleb...he doesn't need one, but I have decided to make him a Thomas the Train box.  More to come...

Blessings,

Beth

1st Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange Luncheon

I hosted my first Christmas Cookie Exchange party!  It was so much fun!!  I invited ladies from work.  It was a small gathering, but it was perfect.  I didn't have the ladies tell me what cookies they would bring to ensure there were no duplicates, but it worked out because no one brought the same cookies.

I made White Chocolate Peppermint cookies.  I found the recipe here: http://www.galonamission.com/peppermint-white-chocolate-chip-cookies/.

The cookies were yummy and festive.

I made Lasagna, salad, garlic bread, hot chocolate and apple cider.  It was a simple lunch, but yummy.  Afterwards, we test tasted the cookies.  All yummy!  I was planning on saving them for Christmas, but not sure if they will make it that long...

The kids were so good!  They played with block and Legos.  They let us ladies have girl time.  Oh and that little guy Caleb, he's a tall one!  He had his 2 year doctor's appointment this morning. He's 36 inches tall.

Here we are with our cookies.  Thank you ladies for a wonderful afternoon.

I made these Christmas card holders for the ladies as party gifts.  They loved them.  They are like the one I made for myself.

Christmas is next week!  I can't believe how quickly it has come upon me.  I'm ready!!

Blessings,

Beth

I Crafted!

I wish I had been the person who had won the Mega Millions today!  It would have helped if I had bought a ticket...

One day into my Christmas vacation I had the inspiration to craft and I did!  I wanted something cute to display Christmas cards.  In our old home, I taped cards to a wall in the hallway.  Not the coolest, but it worked.

I googled Christmas card holders and I found this on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/199002877258086181/

This is my version.

I love how it looks.  I have it hanging in the kitchen.  I might need to redo the ribbons.  They might need to be longer.  Plus I didn't realize that I had bought two ribbons that are wired (that's what happens when you shop with a 2 and a 3 year old).  As you can see they sort of curl up.  I am debating whether to leave it as is or replace them.  I went to Michael's today.  Their selection of Christmas ribbon is minimal.  It's the 70% to 50% off all their Christmas stuff!

So I am completely done Christmas shopping.  Now I need to stay out of the stores!  

I am enjoying being with the kids.  Although, there is some adjustment for them and me being together all day.  I know you working moms know what I'm talking about.

Shopping can be hard with both kids in tow.  So this is what I did this morning and it was smooth sailing at Target...

Thank God for Icees!  Not a peep of fussiness.

Blessings!

Beth

Dora Hair Bow

I hope I am finally coming out of my crafting and scrapbooking slump.  It's been a while now that I have not had any motivation or energy to do either.  I have a scapbook layout on my table waiting for me to finish it. It's been sitting there for over a month now!

I finally made something off a pin I saved on Pinterest.  It's directions on how to make a hair bow. See directions here: http://www.twentythreeohone.com/2011/04/hair-bow.html.  This blogger made it  sound so easy to make these bows that I decided to give it a try.  Here's my bow.

Grace absolutely loves Dora.  And she loves this bow.  It fits perfectly on her head and it's a great size too.  It wasn't too hard to make the bow following the directions.

My sweet little model.  I had to bribe her with a Popsicle.  She stayed put long enough for me to get pictures of her with the hair bow.  It helps that she has inherited her daddy's gorgeous hair.

Of course I had a lot of extra ribbon and of course I made extra bows!  I have four of them for sale on my Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/123948769/dora-hair-bow.  I have decided to give them away instead.  I am giving them away off of my Facebook page.

Blessings!

Beth

Happy Birthday Caleb!

 And just like that, Caleb is one!  His first year went by so fast.  He's such a big boy that he literally was only a small little baby for a minute!  He's such a joy to us.  So charming and so joyful all the time.  Well, except when he's tired and it's past his bedtime...

We had a farm themed birthday party for him.  I promised myself to make it easy and buy everything.  Well I got so excited that I couldn't help myself and starting making things.  The theme was so cute and so fun to make things for. 

I made a "corral" for the cupcakes.  I made lemon and strawberry cupcakes and added farm animals as toppers.

 I saw this idea for a barn backdrop on pinterest and just had to make one.  I bought a red display board, cut out the shape and added the detailing.  It looked really cute.  The cake was made by my friend's mom.  So cute and so yummy!

The little guy being sang to.

Trying to get him to blow out the candle.

 His first cupcake!

It's very anti-Mexican, but I do enjoy these pull strings pinatas.

The bounce house was a hit.  Grace has a blast in it.

 The kids had so much fun!  And that blessed my heart.  It was a lot of work and I was so tired by the end of the day, but it was all worth it to hear them laugh and see them having a great time.

And now, time to gear up for Christmas.  That will be a little easier now that I am on vacation.

Blessings!

Beth

Caleb's Room

The little man finally has his room to himself.  Before Caleb came along, his room was my scrapbooking space.  I took all my stuff out and he now has a proper nursery.  I have been crafting away to make decor for what were bare walls. 

I made these from scrapbook paper, 12x12 canvases, and used my new favorite cricut cartridge, Noah's ABC's Animals.  I orginally planned to use frames, but I couldn't find blue ones that fit within my budget.  You think crafting will save you money, but sometimes it doesn't.  So I cut corners and bought the canvases.  Joann's had a sale on canvases so it ended up being cost effective.

This is my favorite and I love how it came out.  I also used the Noah's cartridge for the letters and the corresponding animals.  I did buy a frame for this one.  It's 16x20".  I wish I had gotten a bigger one, but this works well too.

This is the name banner I made for Caleb before he was born.  It hangs over his crib.

The canvas art is over his dresser.

The ABC frame fit perfectly behind this chair.  This chair used to be in our bedroom.  I am loving it in Caleb's room and love sitting in it to feed him his bottle at night.  The throw is a blanket that a co-worker's mother knit for Caleb.

I have these oversized animals by the changing table.  I also have a few on the closet doors.  Caleb loves looking at them and always tries grabbing them.  I made these from the Cricut Aminals cartridge.

And here is my little guy hanging out in his room.  I love his pudgy cheeks and his darling smiles.  He is such a little charmer!!

And his sister! Grace recently had her two year doctor's appointment. She is 38 inches tall! She's a big girl. I signed her up for preschool today. She will start after Labor day. Huge milestone!! She is growing too fast!!

Blessings,

Beth

Travel Centerpieces

I recently created four of these bad boys for a retirement party.  It was a travel themed party, the retiree plans on visiting places she never was able to while she worked.  Sounds great, right?  Can't wait to retire and do the the same.  I have a long ways to go till then...boo!

 I used my Cricut to make the centerpieces.  I used the My World, Going Places and the Alphalicous cartridges.  I cut out black silhouettes of the various locations.

 I had left over embellishments from travel scrapbooking supplies that I adhered to each of the suitcases.  I wanted it to give the impression of stamps on a well worn suitcase.

Not too bad, huh?  They were pretty large and they looked great at the party.

Blessings,

Beth

Ballerina Tutu Hairbow Holders

Don't ask how, but somehow I managed to craft. I decided to make a Ballerina Tutu hairbow holder for a friend who is having a baby girl. I hesitate to work with fabric because I can't sew, but I was able to make this without touching needle or thread.

I had enough materials to make three additional tutu hairbow holders. I posted them on Facebook and just like that two of them sold. I also had orders for two purple ones.

I had enough materials to make two additional purple ones. So now I have one pink and two purple ones for sale on my Etsy store. I love how they came out. I am going to make a few more pink ones to update the one in Grace's room and for friends as gifts. I love how these turned out. I've seen these on Etsy and I didn't like them because I felt that the combination of fabric and colors being used were not very girly. Hot pink and zebra stripes?? Not what I picture in a girl's room. I purposely chose colors and a pattern that I thought was girly and fun. And these hold a lot of hairbows and clips.

Aside from these hairbow holders, I haven't had much time to craft. With two little ones and work, life has been busy and crazy. I come home, try to spend time with the munchkins, make dinner, get them ready for bed, get every thing ready for the next day, try to spend some time relaxing, and then off to bed. Doesn't leave much time to craft. But it's my therapy, so I am glad when I'm able to carve out some time to create. It makes me happy!

Speaking of things that make me happy...

Easter Sunday was great. We had wonderful weather, a great church service, and a yummy lunch at Claim Jumper's. It was fun getting the kids dressed up. We took them the day before to get their pictures taken. Caleb did great, but Grace kept having meltdowns. So we didn't get the greatest picture of the both of them, but we'll have a story to tell with that picture.

Also, on Easter, Jonas and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary! Wow!! It's been a great 6 years and I am looking forward to many, many more.

As a pre-anniversary celebration, Jonas and I drove up to Big Bear for a zip line adventure. It was great! I was a little nervous, but it ended up being an awesome adventure. Jonas loved it! He was a monkey on those zip lines!

I have about two months left before summer vacation! The count down begins...

Blessings!

Beth

And more crafting!

I survived my first day back to work! I was so tired and I only worked a half day! I sure did miss little Miss Grace. She was so happy and smiley when I got home. We spent the rest of the afternoon together and I let her stay up a little past her bedtime.

I have been inspired to create! Over the weekend I made two baby boy themed chipboard albums. They are both for sale in my Etsy store. I picked up this paper at Michael's from Recollections. When I saw the paper, I immediately thought, "baby boy album!" It's perfectly sweet. The album spells out BABY.

The first pages has room for two pictures plus I added a journaling tag to include name and birth information.

I used K and Company embellishments. Really cute embellishments.

I love the trucks, train and cute little animal images.

I am going to have to make a third for baby Caleb. I actually never made one for Grace...guess I'll have to make two! One for Grace and one to welcome Caleb. I am also in the process of making two baby girl themed albums.

In all my free time, I also made a banner for my friend Tamara's new baby girl. I used this really cute scrapbook paper from Die Cuts With A View that is perfect for a fun and bright banner. The paper has glittered and embossed elements.

I also love this bright pink ribbon. I decided to give it a different spin by tying bows between each letter.

I'm inspired to make a banner for Caleb's room. The theme to his room will be Noah's Ark. I have found the perfect bedding set at Babies R Us from Lambs and Ivy. I'm now 21 weeks! A little more than half way there. Can't wait to meet this little guy!!

Blessings,

Beth