Family Scrabble

My cousin got married last week & I always try to find/come up with a cool idea for a gift.  I don't have a lot of money to spend but want to give something that is unique, fun & memorable without having to break the bank.  So...I came up with this idea.  I think it is unique, at least I think so because I haven't seen it before.
When I first started trying to think of a gift I looked on-line, as I often do for ideas.  The first thing that came up is all the signs that are made for couples that have their last name on it & "est. 2011" date on them.  Then I found how a few people had put up saying on their walls using over sized Scrabble tiles.  So I thought why couldn't I come up with something to put the two ideas together.  Over the next week of playing with different variations I came up with this idea.  A Family Scrabble board w/ the "est." date in the middle of the board.  Then add their first names & as their family grew they could add the names of their children as they came along.  Cool, eh?  At least I thought so.
I started out with a 13x13 T-shirt display frame, you could use any size frame as long as it was some kind of a display frame for the depth & that would be big enough to fit all the names into it.   I got mine at Micheal's who had a great sale so they only cost me $4 each.  I then pulled out a 12x12 white piece of card stock, and drew lines to mimic the squares on the Scrabble board, spacing them 3/4 of an inch apart.  One thing I did wrong was make the squares, exactly square.  Scrabble tiles are 3/4" wide, but 3/4 & a tick high.  Does that make sense? I found this out after I had already glued the titles to the board & couldn't start over.
I got on line & looked up the happy couples wedding registry as well as the colors that where used on their invitation to pick out the color pallet.  I used a brown marker to draw the lines, then used pencil crayons to color in the squares to mimic the pattern on the Scrabble board.
Then I got on my computer and made up the "est." date to put on the middle of the board, playing with colors & fonts until I found the one I liked the best.  I used MicroSoft Power Point, but I'm sure you could use whatever program you are most comfortable with.  After printing it out on my color printer using regular paper & cutting it out, I glued the "est. 2011" in the center of the board. I just used a regular glue stick to do this.
I found I didn't like the way strokes in the pencil crayon looked, so I carefully erased each colored square until I could no longer see the strokes but still had the color.  It gave it a softer look, I think.  I then colored the inside of the frame backing with black marker as the 12x12 card stock didn't fit perfectly into the frame.  Once the marker was dried I glued the card stock to the frame backing, being careful to center it.
I didn't have time to order the scrabble tiles right from Hasbro so I just picked up a basic Scrabble game at Wal*mart, but if you have time you can order 3 different color tiles directly from Hasbro for around $6.50 (+shipping) per 100 tiles.  The trick is that this takes 8 to10 weeks, but this is by far the best way to go as it's more cost effective & the boxed game only has 1 "H" tile.  If you have need of more than one you're in trouble.  Luckily I didn't need more than one.

I then started playing with how to best put all the names together.  As I did I found the blank title & found that it solved the problem I was having to get their last name & "family" together.  I then went through all my stickers a & found a clear sticker of a heart that would fit nicely on the blank tile, which I put in between their last name & "family".  This made it come together to look so cute.  Then I used their full names to put into the game as I had a hard time building from the main line w/ just the names they went by, plus it would give them more to build off of latter.
After I had the tiles set the way I wanted I very carefully hot glued each title to the card stock game board.  Make sure that is where you want them, because once they are glued there is no getting them off.  This is when I found out that I made the squares too small, but I know for next time.
I cleaned the inside glass of the frame & dumped the extra titles into the frame.  That way as their family grows they can add the names of their children without having to find where they had put the extra titles, keeping everything together nicely.   I put the back on the frame and look over my work and really like the way the extra tiles looked at the bottom.
This idea would also be a great idea for your own home or as any kind of a gift.  It would be fun to work at fitting all the family members names in.  I think I might just have to do that with my own family.  I really like the way it turned out.  What do you think?  Let me know because I would love feed back on this idea.

Computer Desk Tops

I have found the cutest computer desk tops, as well as some very cool blog stuff.  Go check out Leelou-Blogs.  She has the cutest blog stuff, blog advice & tips.  I just downloaded Augusts Desktop background, which is free.  She has other free stuff or she will design a blog theme for you, which I can't afford but I really enjoy her free stuff.  Go check it out...

Long Time....

It has been FOREVER, I know.  My life has been crazy to say the least & I was just so busy trying to keep up that other things fell by the way side. 
So today I want to tell you about a new site I am trying out called "My Fitness Pal".  It helps you track the food you are eating, your exercise, water intake, etc. and the best part is that it is FREE!!  Plus it has a social side to it as well, kind of like Facebook for people who need support in their healthy life style changes. 
I just signed up as I have about 120 lbs. to loose and I need all the help I can get but can't afford to pay to join something like Weight Watchers. 
Check it out and tell me what you think.

The New Age of Scrapbooking

Once upon a time I scrapbooked.  Then I had children and tried but failed to continue to scrapbook.  I just couldn't accomplish anything because I always had little "helping hands" every time I tried.  So I put things away for the day that I could have some time to myself and/or my kids would be old enough to work on their own projects without getting into too much of a mess.  Needless to say I haven't found the time or space yet but time and technology has marched on.  Now they have all kinds of digital scrapbooking, which I LOVE by the way.  I find I can still be creative without all the cutting, pasting, embossing and sticking.  I mean you take all your pictures digitally why not scrapbook?  Then you can put them all together in a book to have printed and bound in a real book for less than it would cost you to buy all the embellishments, papers and cool toys they have for "old fashioned" scrapbooking.

There are millions of websites out there where you can buy all kinds of digital scrapbook embellishments, papers and alphabets.  I myself like free best but there are some great sets you can buy for just a couple of bucks.  That said I still like free and I just found two really cool websites with just that.

First is Shabby Princess.com.  They are all free downloads which come in kits or you can download just one part of the kits if you wish.  I download the whole thing because you never know when you might want something.  There are also free tutorials to help you get started as well.  Once there just click on downloads for the kits or tutorials for helps.

The next site I love is Jessica Sprague.com.  She has lots of kits to buy but she also has some free kits you can down load.  Just click on free stuff, then you can either pick free downloads or free tutorials.
This site is a verturial school for learning how to keep memories.  If there is anything you want to know how to do from photography to family history it's there.  Awsome site...go check it out as it is SO worth it.

Another thing I love is fonts.  My favorite site is 1001freefonts.com.  You can find any font you could ever want there all for free!! 

To put it all together I use Photoshop Elements 8, which I am still learning to use by the way, but I also use Microsoft Power Point.  I find it simpler to use sometimes I just need to remember to save my file both as a presentation so I can still make changes and as a .jpg file for printing or use on my blog. If anyone out there has any suggestions of another software they use that is both easy and fun to use please let me know.  I'm always interested in hearing of new and fun ways to scrapbook digitally.

Have fun and I hope you enjoy the new age of scrapbooking as much as I do.

My Favorite Time of Year

October is my favorite time of year!!  The temperatures get cooler, the fall colors are coming out and Halloween is just around the corner.  I love Halloween, I have always loved it.  I don't know why but it is just the most fun out of all the other holidays, at least it is to me.  So in honor of All Hallows Eve here are some fun project that I've found and am dying to try.  Dying, get it....(bad joke)
 Anyway, over at Oopsy-daisy they have this fun Halloween Matching Game.  I'm always trying to find things to keep my kids busy and entertained and this is a fun way to get them into the Halloween spirit.  I love the artwork that she found and am going to explore the website she got it from further for other holiday artwork.
 Next is the AWESOME Skull Candlesticks over at Sawdust and Paper Scraps.  This lady is SO talented and has some of the best ideas around.  I am so envious of all of her tools too.  Her website is definitely worth bookmarking and revisiting often.  Just look at how cool these candle sticks turned out.  It makes me want to run to my nearest thrift store right now. 
 Also on Sawdust and Paper Scraps she has her version of Halloween Subway Art.  I have a link in a past post for the Subway Art for Halloween from a different blog, but I really like this one.  It is not as bright (I don't do bright that well) and I love the little spiders she added.  Very cute!
Finally, over at Tatertots and Jello they have Creepy Specimen Art.  I have seen the Butterfly Art that is like it but I love the Halloween spin that she took.  I also like her instructions, very detailed and easy to follow.  I have always wondered where to find the right kind of frame for such projects and now I know.  Go check them out.  Tatertots and Jello is also a very cool blog worth bookmarking. 
After looking at all the fun stuff out there I am getting SO excited for Halloween to come.  I think I will get started decorating today as well as starting to gather stuff for these fun projects.  Happy Haunting!!

Getting into a Routine

It has been almost 2 weeks since my last post, I know I'm a slacker, but I have been trying to get organized.  Each school year causes change with trying to get into a routine to include homework, chores, bedtimes...the whole enchilada.  Each year is different because with it comes new teachers with different ways of doing things.  For example last year my son's homework was due every Friday, this year a BIG packet of homework is sent home at the 1st of the month and due at end of the month.  So I have been trying to find a way get into a good routine so we can accomplish everything and I found a great help from Abby at A Feathered Nest.  She has Job Jars for chores with pom poms, or puffys as she calls them, that can be earned and then cashed in for rewards.
So I took her idea and made it work for own family, which meant expanding it into daily, weekly and "as needed" chores that were appropriate for different age levels.  I took her idea of "other" ways to earn different colored puffys as Abby calls them (we adopted her terminology).  Different chores earn different colored puffys which can be collected to cash in for different rewards according to the color.  Does that make sense?  If not click on the image to get a up-close look at our Puffy Job Chart and it might make more sense.
Once I made up the chart I put it into a sheet protector, cut off the holes on the side and stick some magnets on the back so I could put it on our fridge.
Each child gets a jar (mason) to collect their puffys and then one big "bank" jar, that I bought at our local Wal*mart to keep all of those puffys to be earned.  I bought two 100 count packages of multicolored pom poms but am finding I need another package to have enough. I also found that I had to keep all jars on top of the fridge so as not to have little colored balls all over my house and to keep children from fighting over who's was who's.
I also needed help setting up a weekday routine but found so many ideas out there that I was almost overwhelmed with them all so... I took a little inspiration from about 20 different blogs and came up with an idea of my own.  A visual reminder of what our routine is, also posted on my fridge the same way as the puffy job chart.  It has helped to keep my kids on task and the pictures are a nice help for my kindergartner who is just learning to read.
The last thing that I needed was a way to discipline, without taking away rewards earned.  I've tried that...doesn't work and ends up backfiring on you.  After lots of thought and searching again I came up with my own idea.
My kids LOVE baseball and understand the concept of 3 strikes = your out.  So I applied that concept to a new discipline plan.  I will ask nicely once, ask again more firmly and finely they get a "strike", in the form of a special magnet on a very simple chart.  Once they get 3 strikes in one day, they get grounded to the house for one day, with no TV, video games or computer of any kind.  With this I've also added the option on their rewards chart of cashing in 20 puffys to earn a free pass, which let's them become un-grounded for one day, but they have to do A LOT of chores to earn enough for that.  At the end of each day the slate is wiped clean and we start anew.

My Fridge

So far, so good.  It has just taken a couple of weeks to implement, but of course we continue to adjust as needed for those things that don't work out.  Luckily I made room for those little adjustment under my "other ideas" list, for example they can earn puffy's under "doing the right thing" when they do something kind for someone else.  We will continue to learn and grow and I'm sure that future tweaks will be needed.  For now my kids know what is expected of them, the consequences of making wrong choices and how to redeem themselves.    I love when I can put in little hidden lessons that they don't know they are learning, and let me tell you, this has saved me so many days of stress/frustration from fighting with my kids.
Good luck with your own journey of trying to figure out what works best for your family and I hope that this gives you some inspiration.

Art Projects

So it's been a busy couple of weeks for me and my family with school starting, so I haven't had one moment to get to my self.  I love when school starts, just because I'm one of those people who likes the routine of it all. 
But today I wanted to post about some really cool art projects that I have found and would LOVE to try out.  I just don't know if I have enough wall space in my house for them all.

The first one is from Tatertots and Jello. She has so many wonderful examples of Subway art on her blog, but her latest is for Halloween.  Here is a picture of what it looks like along with the tutorial. (click here)  There are just so many different things you could do with Subway Art, I just know if I started I wouldn't be able to stop.

The next one is from The Pleated Poppy, a "Family Rules" canvas.  It's such a good idea to make something for the whole family to see and be reminded of what your family is all about.  I guess like making a family mantra while also having something pretty to put up on your wall. She also has links / examples of a whole bunch of other people that have taken the idea and made it their own here.  It's fun to see so many other takes on the same idea. To see how to make your own, clink here.

The 3rd one is from Lil' Luna, that she calls "All Good Things" but is a tutorial (click here) on a way to dress up silhouettes of your kids.  I think it is such a cute idea and pulls everything together so wonderfully.  This one I might actually get to do because I know just where I would put it in my home. 

And finally from Under the table & Dreaming, for some super cool Word/Wall Art.  It's a guest post from Amy at My 3 Monsters but I found the tutorial (click here)  is easier to follow here than on Amy's blog (sorry).  I thought this would be a wonderful idea for a wedding gift as well as wanting to do it myself.  Again I have a spot picked out I just have to get to it. 
If your like me you don't get it at first but if you look closely it's their last names with their "est." date.  Great conversational piece for any home.  Amy also points you toward a great photo stream on Flickr by Leo Reynolds where you can use the images for free with some restrictions. I will add the link to my side bar to make it easier for those who are interested. 
So four great ideas to add to my "I'll get to it someday" list.  Let me know if anyone tries any of them out and how it went. 

My Take on Temple Blocks

For those of you who might read this blog, I am LDS or a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (for more info go to lds.org).  So for me this idea was just awesome, which I found at Lil' Luna.  It's for Temple blocks, that she made for her Young Women group and I thought it had such a great thought to it, by using some of the words to the Primary song "I Love to see the Temple". The great thing is she has several different temples to choose from and she notes on her blog that they are not copyrighted pictures so to feel free to download for personal use.  (click HERE for the tutorial) 
I wanted to make one for my daughters room but realized that I really didn't have a place to put it, so I came up with my own take on this great idea.  My daughters room is white and pink striped all the way around except for this one wall where there is a kind of shelf built into the wall.  I left the top of that wall white because I thought it was the perfect frame for something special to be put up.  The problem being that I have been having the hardest time trying to figure out what that something "special" was.  I've thought of "word art" and tried to find some kind of picture(s) to put up there but nothing ever seemed right for the space.  I finally found a couple of metal flowers but they were not enough to fill the wall, so....I thought that since these pictures where not copy righted I would just have one printed off in a larger size and frame it.  I had to make the file bigger giving it more pixels in Photshop so that it would print off clear but it worked out so great.  It just completes her room so wonderfully and gives her a reminder of a goal that she can achieve.  She loves it especially since I let her pick out the temple.   She picked the Salt Lake Temple since that is where "Mommy and Daddy" were married although she almost picked the Alberta Temple (I'm originally from Southern Alberta). 

Thank you so much Lil" Luna for such a great idea, you made my day and my little girls year!

Back to School

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything.  It's been a little crazy at my house trying to figure out things for school, which for my kids starts a week from today.  Boy, did summer go fast...
So in honor of "Back to School" here are a couple of really cool ideas I can across.

The 1st is a School Lunch Kit for Mom at Moments to Live By.  I don't know about anyone else but I remember when I was I kid and I always envious those kids that had a fun lunch packed by their Mom.  This little kit makes it so easy to BE that cool Mom so that maybe my kids can be "that kid" I wanted to be. 
Some of the fun things that she suggests stocking it up with are party napkins, sandwich cutters, stickers, fun sandwich bags, prizes, preprinted notes/jokes and markers, both paper & food.  You can put all your fun stuff in a neat tote to keep it all together.  For the full tutorial click here.
I have also seen those cool Keebler snacks that have a spot on them just for writing notes on (I'm sure you've seen the commercial).  I will me adding paper bags to my kit as my 7 3/4 year old has told me it's a big pain to take a lunch box because he always forgets it and with paper bags he can just throw it away.  If anyone else has any ideas of other neat stuff,  let me know. 
The 2nd thing I found are these adorable cupcakes I found at Kara's Cupcakes.  You can make them for a fun after school surprise, dessert for after dinner on the first day of school or whatever. I just thought they were such a cute idea.  For the full tutorial on how to make them click here.  
I hope that everyone has great fun getting ready for school and getting your kids excited for school because all I know is that I am not only ready for them to go back but SO VERY excited too!

Killer Deals

I have a few websites that I check almost everyday that I love because of the deals I can find there.
My first one is Woot.com.  There are 4 new deals every day that starts at 11 pm each night.  I found my sons Leap Frog "Star Wars" Didj with game for 29.99 last Christmas.  The trick to this site is that it is $5 shipping no matter the item, which is good for big things, not so good for small things.
Next is PinchingYourPennies.com.  I "like" them on Facebook so I don't have to check their site constantly for great deals because they are always posted to Facebook.  They let me know of the deal that buy.com was having on the new Harry Potter Lego Wii game ($32.99 + free shipping) which I jumped on because even Wal*mart had it for $49.99.  Awesome, eh?
Then if you want some GREAT deals on name brand shoes check out 6pm.com.  Some of their shoes are 75% to 85% off.  With school coming up that is the first place I go before heading to my local shoe store because I can often find good quality shoes for less even with shipping.
And lastly, for those who like to fix thing up/ redo/ reuse/ refurbish, whatever you want to call it you have GOT to go to publicsurplus.com.  It is where public schools "auction" off old items that they don't use anymore.  Most auctions start at $1 an item.  You just have to be sure to click on your region, and then be willing to go pick it up if you win the auction.  I got an overhead projector that I use to paint my "wall art" for just $2. Love it!!!  (so much cheaper than those sticky decals that start at $50, but that is for another post).  Right now in the Utah area were I am they have full wooden cabinets for $1.00! With a little love these could be turned into such great things.  I want them bad but they are too big for my mini van, but I'm sure they will find a good home. 
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome deals everywhere.  I will also put the links on my side bar for quick access, so go check them out and if you have any websites you like let me know because I am always on the look out for a great deal!

Messenger Bag

With school fast approaching (at least for my kids) I thought this was the cutest thing, especially for little girls.  A messenger bag instead of a back pack.  I found it on a blog called "Diary of a Quilter" (their picture of the completed project to the left), although it is not quilted. All the kids have a back pack and something different is always nice, at least while kids are still little.  For the full tutorial click here.
My daughter is starting kindergarten this fall and hasn't gotten into the whole "I have to be just like my friends" yet so I thought it would be the perfect "special" thing for her to start her elementary school experience.   I am going to try it out this week I think, I'm on my way to the store today and will let my daughter pick out her favorite material, Tinkerbell no doubt but she might surprise me.  I am also thinking of adding a pocket on the front or maybe doing a couple of things a little differently but I will let you know how and if it works out.

Hand Trees

So for the 1st thing to write about on this blog I thought I would start with a project I actually tried...Mod Podged Hand Tress, (their picture of the completed project is to the right). I found this project on the blog Mod Podge Rocks, which linked me to the full tutorial on At Second Street:a creative blog which you can find here. As you can see they are these really cool trees you make out of your kids hand prints, and they can help you make them which is a big plus.  They look cool and they also preserve a moment in time with my kids hand prints. My kids are always putting their hands up agaist them to see how much their hands have grown even though they only did them a few months ago. 
Here are pictures of how our project went:

Here are all my supplies out and ready to start.  I did one thing differently then what she did at, At Second Street.  I went to Lowes' and got one long 12 inch wide board and then cut it into 3 pieces, then painted them with black acrylic paint. I followed her instructions from there.  Another tip is that I wanted all the greens in the leafs to not clash with any of the other greens in my great room ( I have a lot of green) so I went to JoAnn's Fabrics where they were nice enough to group the "like" greens together. ;)

My kids had a blast using the Mod Podge.  As it dried on their hands you could peel it off like dried white glue.  Does anyone else remember LOVE putting white glue on your hands as a kid and letting it dry just so you could peel it off? I know I sure did which I told my kids all about (bounding moment).
Then the finished project, which hangs proudly on the wall behind my kitchen table.  It was the perfect place for it as I have a great room (living/kitchen/dinning room all together) of which I have a HUGE wall.
I just love how they turned out and they are such a conversation piece as well.  The best thing of all is that my kids and I made a great memory that they will always remember.