Angel...are you out there? :)

Angel S. you're the drawing winner of the autographed book, but your profile says your email is unavailable, so please contact me or I will unfortunatly have to draw another name :(

The author is mailing out books to all the winners next week, so if I don't hear from you within the next day or so, I'll draw another name-sorry! Hope to hear from you! Thanks!

Drawing Winner!

***Update: Angel, I cannot seem to access your email address, so please contact me! Thanks!

Congratulations, Angel S.! You're the winner of the autographed book, Blacklisted from the PTA by Lela Davidson! I'll contact you through email with the details!

Angel S. said...

Love the canvas tips! Thanks for the chance~

July 10, 2012 10:50 PM

Don't forget to check out the book on paperback or Kindle and the rest of the party that's still going on on Lela's blog, After the Bubbly!

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DIY: Card Album

I'm the sentimental type, so I have saved each and every card my 2 children have ever received.  My storage system is simple; I file the cards in a XL sized photo box in chronological order. (They are both still young so each child just has 1 box so far.) Occasionally I'll take them out of the closet and flip through them or show my kids the cards they got for their first birthday or Halloween and many other occasions. We all enjoy looking through them, so I wanted a way to get them out of the box. Here's what I do with all the Christmas cards we receive each year.

I decided that I'd group them by occasion and put them in small albums, starting with my daughter's birth. We received lots of cards for her baby shower and after she was born, so there were enough to support an entire album.

I pulled this old Covey 3-ring binder out of the closet & decided to repurpose it! It's the perfect size to hold cards. I Mod Podged patterned scrapbook paper to the front, back, and binding to hide the printing that was on it. Here's what the inside looked like...It's solid grey, so I didn't have to cover anything on the inside:

I then had fun embellishing the front cover with more paper, stickers, chipboard, glitter paint, and bling! I tied some tulle around it also.

I then got busy punching holes in all the cards. I used The Cinch Bindery Tool-Version II to punch all the holes. (Got it for Christmas--highly recommend it!) If you don't own one, you can always punch your holes with a 3 hole punch. It was a little challenging since each card is a different size, shape & thickness and I even messed a few cards up a little...but it was my first time to try it and I made it work! :)

 I added a typed sentiment to the inside cover of the album (matted on patterned scrapbook paper) that says:

Madelyn Reese McGarity

My Sweet Little Baby Girl,

These special cards are from our dearest family and friends.

Most were given along with a gift for you at your baby shower

or soon after your birth to welcome you into the world!

Love, Mommy

I'm glad I can easily flip through my daughter's cards now and I plan on displaying the album at her birthday party to share them with our family. Of course one of my next projects is to tackle my son's baby cards by making a similar album. I've already made an entire album out of his Halloween & Thanksgiving cards from over the last 5 years, which I'll share with you this Fall. If your family is the card-giving type like mine is, this is a great way to store them and honor them.

Since I've got a baby theme going on...Here's an article I wrote a while back with a step-by-step guide to creating a pregnancy scrapbook.

Scrapbook Mini Album: My Top Tens

It's been a while since I've shared anything about scrapbooking...mainly because I haven't been scrapbooking! :( I plan to have another one of my "Scrapbook Frenzy Weeks" very soon to get myself motivated and on the slow journey to getting caught up.

But that's a whole other post...this post is about a mini album. One that I happened to make back in 2004 before I had 2 kids. Don't worry-it's not outdated and is actually something great to make and look back on in say...eight years or so when you've changed a bit.

This album consists of lists of my top ten favorites in many different categories, so of course they have changed over time. And that's the fun part! Back in 2004, I chose to make a "Top Ten" album because, well, I actually used to have time before I had kids to think about something other than kids! LOL! Don't get me wrong--I LOVE my kiddos and I love to scrapbook about them, but I do miss those days of getting my photos developed and immediately scrapping them and then anxiously awaiting the next round! Now I'm about 5 years behind. Literally.

I haven't made many mini scrapbooks over the years. I usually prefer to work with 12x12 and document the everyday happenings of my family as well as birthdays & holidays--you know, the usual. However, I found that creating a mini album is a great way to contain one subject matter and keep a continuous theme going throughout to unify it.
But enough babbling--Here's the album! I hope you can gather some inspiration and go make your own. Or if you've already made a top ten favorites album, please leave me a link in the comments so I can go check yours out.


The front cover: I added the stickers for the title. The album is a retro shabby chic style. Or if you know of a better way to describe it, let me know. :) This style was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I'm glad I tried it. Oh, and it's a 6x6 album.

(Click on the photos to see them a little bit bigger...)

Page 1: An explanation of what the album is. I also included the year and my age at the time for posterity.

My Top Ten Favorite...

Pages 2 & 3: Movies

Page 4: Books
Page 5: TV Shows

Page 6: Stores
Page7: Clothes & Shoes (A true sign of the times! Try to imagine if your great grandmother would have made a page like this...Priceless!)

Page 8: Singers & Bands

Page 9: Restaurants

Page 10: Drinks
Page 11: Food

Page 12: Songs I listen to when I'm Sad
Page 13: Songs I listen to when I'm Happy

Page 14: Smells
Page 15: Sounds
Notice we're using all of our senses? :)

Page 16: Things I Like To Do in My Free Time
Page 17: Colors

Page 18: Holidays
Page 19: Places

Page 20: Actors
Page 21 Actresses

Page 22: Things That Make Me Cry
Page 23: Things That Make Me Laugh

Page 24: Sports

Page 25: Things I Can't Live Without

And for some reason, I stopped there & left the last back page blank. Weird.

Anyway, I'm sure you can come up with some other great categories...What about Top Ten Fave:

Vacation Spots, Things I love to do with my kids/husband/friends/mom, Scrapbook Supplies...So many fun things to document!

Mason's Annual Handprint Canvas~Year 6!

Yes, we're still making a handprint canvas every year on the kids' birthdays..and yes, I'm Sooooo thankful we started this tradition when Mason turned one! We already have a nice little collage wall of handprints in his room (6 to be exact) and I just hope he lets me keep doing it until he's 18! :) Ok...I may have to stop before then, but a Mama can dream, right?

This year, I let Mason choose what colors he wanted the canvas & his handprint to be. He chose royal blue & orange. Bright--but it turned out nice, I think!

Hung in a random order...may have to rotate them before next year's handprint.

Here's the big 6 year old!

Here's a link to the past 5 years of handprint art!

Kids' Canvas Name Art

This is a fun art project that your child gets to help make! My son and I made this last Fall but I'm just now getting around to sharing it.

My son always wants to paint while I'm painting and I thought this would be a cute sign for him to make for his bedroom.

Step 1:

Paint canvas a solid color. This is the color your child's name will be. It also helps in case he/she doesn't get the canvas completely covered with paint and so white won't show through.

Step 2:

After the paint has dried, spell your child's name out in removable stickers.

You can use:

A. Painters tape (good if your child's name is short and doesn't have many curvy letters) or

B. Large letter stickers or

C. Cut out adhesive vinyl letters from a Cricut or other cutting system. (This is what I did.)

Step 3: Let your child go wild painting on the canvas--assuring that the letters get covered really well.

Step 4: Let it dry, then peel the letter stickers off to reveal your child's name!

I used a staple gun to attach a ribbon to the back of the canvas...

Then I attached 2 removable Command hooks to his bedroom door and hooked the painting on.

Here are my kids' bedroom doors! I made the ribbon wreath for my daughter's door and I have since added a large painted wooden letter in the center. I love having their names/initials on their bedroom doors!

If you'd like to see another kids canvas art idea, check out our Annual Handprint Art. 

DIY Cell Phone Charger Organizer

When I first saw this cell phone holder on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one! THIS is the tutorial I used. And here is mine...

Supplies needed are:

 1 baby lotion or baby bath plastic bottle

Scrap fabric

Mod Podge

Foam brush

Scissors

I cut the bottle to the shape shown in the tutorial that I linked to above. (Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of this stage in the process for some reason.) Then I traced the cut bottle onto my fabric & cut it out. I used a generous amount of Mod Podge glue to adhere the fabric to the bottle, then gave it another good coating on the outside.   

I let it dry, & since I can't leave well enough alone, I decided to use some puff fabric paint to make a cursive "L" on the front~for Lindsay. Not sure I like the "L" that much, but oh well!

I've really been enjoying having a place for my cell phone while it's charging and not having that cord hanging down getting my way. Although my husband made fun of me for making this geeky project, I couldn't be happier! :)

I had a little fabric left over, so I made these rosettes & added some buttons for the centers. I think one would look cute on the front of my holder if I decide I want to cover up that "L"!

Let me know if you give it a try! (...and what your husband thinks :) )

Don't forget~there's still time to throw your name in the hat to win an autographed paperback of Lela Davidson's hilarious book, Blacklisted from the PTA! See the post below to enter! Drawing is July 22nd!

Celebrate Blacklisted & Make a Photo Canvas!

I'm honored to be celebrating the one-year anniversary of the launch of Lela Davidson's charming book, Blacklisted from the PTA! Lela is not only a witty author, but also a friend of mine and fellow blogger. Her book is such a fun read about motherhood and marriage in suburbia. I'll admit I laughed out loud in the car-rider line many times while enjoying this book!

So what's in it for you? First let's learn a little DIY trick, then you can see how to win a FREE copy of Lela's book...

Instead of framing your favorite family photo, have you ever considered mounting it on canvas to display in your home? It's very inexpensive and even the crafting disabled could pull this one off.
There are a few different ways to mount a photo, but this is the way I did it...quick & easy!

First, decide what size you want your photo canvas to be. If you have no idea, think about where you want to display it and go from there. Print your photo...or have it professionally printed.

Supplies needed:

(All are available at hobby supply stores like Hobby Lobby)

Wrapped Canvas

Photo

Paint (Inexpensive acrylic paint will do the trick.)

Paint brush or foam brush

Foam roller brush (optional-but it helps!)

Mod Podge (For those newbies out there, that's the brand name of decoupage glue)

Step 1: Paint the top edges and sides of your canvas. It's doesn't need to be straight or perfect because the photo will cover most of it.

Step 2: While the paint is drying on your canvas, trim your photo down so that it's just slightly smaller than your canvas. This will prevent overhang.

Step 3: Use your foam roller brush (or paintbrush or regular foam brush) to roll on a even layer of Mod Podge onto the canvas, making sure to cover the whole surface area and the corners and edges. You don't want it to be too thin or your photo might not stick well--but you don't want it to be so thick that it buckles your photo. Just use your best judgement.

Step 4: Lay your photo on the canvas. If you don't get it lined up perfectly the first time, don't worry-just peel it up and center it. Make sure you don't have any Mod Podge on your hands, then smooth out the photo, eliminating any small air pockets.

There you have it! Just let it dry overnight then hang it up for all to see your clever craftiness. (And your cute family.)
Note: I used a coupon from Snapfish.com & got this 16x20 print for almost nothing. Keep your eye out for deals like that. I had it printed Sepia to match the browns in my living room. I'm enjoying looking at those cute faces every day!

Now that you know how to make your own photo canvas, it's time to join in on the celebration!
It's a giveaway!

Leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered to WIN a personalized, autographed paperback of

Blacklisted from the PTA!

It's also available on Kindle, if you prefer.

I'll pick one lucky winner via randomizer. Contest ends on Sunday, July 22nd at midnight CST.

I'd appreciate it if you'd "follow" this blog...the button is in the upper right hand column. :)

You can also check out Lela's website and blog, After the Bubbly. For every day this month, she is featuring a different blogger to help her celebrate! Go check it out & good luck!