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Short Scrap

    

Sadly I don't have any finished work to share today. In fact I didn't sit down to scrap, journal, organize or finish anything in my albums this week. I did make two cards {identical} for Michael's teacher & teacher's aide. He finished up kindergarten and summer vacation began.

 Ta-da!:

These were a quick put together the morning before school. I wrote a note for each of them on top of the inside and Michael wrote a note of his own on the yellow. The front says "You're A Blast" and the inside says "to wonderful you from thankful me", Lydia added the little piece of yellow paper that was punched and I helped her write her name on it. She enjoyed days that we went to Michael's class and his class was very sweet to her. She cried on the last day and I managed to hold back the tears {until I hid out in the bathroom}. The paper I used is red but for some reason my camera thought it should be more of an orange.

Ta-do:

• Journal Lydia's pages
• Finish Lydia's pages {some need photos added, embellishments, titles}
• Finish Lydia's album to-do list {shouldn't be many pages left}
• Transfer Michael's pages to new albums
• Journal family pages

That's pretty much the same to-do list I've had for a few weeks now. Fingers crossed this week I get some of it done and by done I mean complete. Thanks for visiting! To share your own scrap or be inspired by other scrappers click the button at the top of this post.

How I Started My Summer Vacation

Today was the first day of summer vacation! Yesterday I was a little sad that my kindergartner was now a first grader, that already 6 years ago I was pregnant with him and wondering just where my little boy went. Today I was over it and excited for what lies ahead. Then I got a little nervous when the "I'm hungry" {right after breakfast} and "I'm bored, what can I do?!?" {at 8:00am} started. I had a thought a few weeks ago that I should plan out some activities to avoid such situations and apparently the thought was a fleeting one. After my morning coffee I attempted to make a simple chart with time displayed on a clock & written out, then put an activity in word and picture - so Lydia can understand too. For some reason my word and publisher programs decided they would freeze up at the mention of clip art. Pansies.

Fortunately a search on google images led me to this fabulous site -  Executive Homemaker  where they have lists and organizational tools galore! I found this particular section very helpful with my clip art issues. More searching on google images led me to a blank clock face with numbers that I printed multiples of and wrote/drew in the times myself. 

So I cut up all my printables, laminated them and arranged them on some scrapbook paper. It turned out to be much larger than I originally had planned but it works. So far. I can make adjustments as needed. Of course this is a general guideline for the day when we're home and the kids have been informed that momma trumps the chart. ;)

I did some more looking around at Executive Homemaker and found an idea for another quick project. This post and this post were my inspiration.

 I used my publisher program (any kind of word program would work just the same) and google images to make my own toy tags. Then I cut, laminated (leaving extra to one side for the ribbon), punched a hole and added some ribbon from my scraps bag. The bottom two labels are on tubs so they didn't need a ribbon.

Now the kids' toy cubbies are labeled with a word & photo making clean up easier for them & their friends that come over to play. I realized after they were up that I really would be okay if everything in my house had a label on it. That's a scary thought.

I suppose the title of this post is misleading. Most would assume there would be pictures of fun at a pool, park or beach {I wish!} but here I am with my print outs, labels and routines. Sigh...there's no denying who I am is there? To top that off I spent more time on publisher {love it second to excel} and have two color coded calendars {June & July} full of fun activities for the kids and our families. I don't have every day scheduled out but there are options for us. Some things like free  morning movie, dollar bowling night and story time at the library are repeated through the week/month so each week I can figure out which day works best. I also put appointments, birthdays and Shawn's days off to make for easy planning. At the top of the calendars I have a list of places to take the kids as a reminder. Though we've lived here 3 years there are lots of places we still haven't been and I'd love to check some off our list.

While I enjoy the slowness of a summer morning I don't want to have a summer overrun with lazy days. I think the calendars with researched activities will help me avoid this. And in fewer weeks than I'm ready to face we'll have a new little member of the family that will throw things off for a bit of time, before she does I want the kids to enjoy summer break.

And now I may be rambling. I started this post when it was still Friday and it's now Saturday and I should get some sleep. Thanks for visiting!

Scrappy Decor

One of my favorite stores to shop at is Hobby Lobby. If you don't know the goodness of that store I am truly sorry. There was a time I didn't know it's goodness either. Luckily for you they now have an online shopping option {you can use their weekly coupon} but sadly they don't have everything in the store available online. Part of the fun for me is looking at all of their home decor items. Not everything is my style but there's a lot of items to "ooh & ahh" over, plenty of 'oh shiny!' moments lol. Lately I've been working on decorating my kids' rooms {you can read about that here, here, here & here if you're interested} and am happy to say there's been more progress made. Last Sunday we had {another} rainy day. On rainy days I'm usually in the mood to clean or craft - or just be completely lazy ;) and that day it was craft!

Ta-da!:

I finally did something with Michael's shadow box! It's been well over a year {at least} since I got the three shadow boxes - Lydia's was done and then done again...but I was having trouble finding something to put in Michael's box. Sunday morning I was looking at something on google images {no idea what now} and Michael asked to see something with Transformers. The wheels started turning. I came across an allspark cube printout - made one for him and the wheels kept turning. I ended up with the Transformers logos & an allspark cube on a black background - he was happy. Then he wanted to do something with the extra sheet of black paper and I found another printout, downloaded the Transformers font to my computer for the text and he added his own drawing of the allspark. I added some black & white ribbon to the back of the paper to hang it in his room. I think I'm just about finished with his room. :D

Then I started on a project I shopped for a week or so ago. When at Hobby Lobby I saw cute wall plaques with doorknobs - but they were nearly $10 and I knew I could make one for less and have it go with the decor for the girls' room. {Photo tutorial below} So I walked to the crafty aisles and gathered supplies. I love when I'm right.

I also was also inspired to paint bird houses. So I gathered the supplies and Sunday {it was a long day of ignoring housework} they were painted. I made them similar but different....and totally understand why my mom often did the same with my sister and I. Now it's up to the hubs to figure out how to hang them from the wall. I'm going to let Lydia choose her house and paint an 'L' above the hole, baby girl's initial will be added after she's born.


Last night I cleaned up picture frames that have been sitting on my bookshelf for months. I really want to get frames hung in the next week or two & order prints to fill/update those frames. I also chose two papers for shadow boxes I have, still need to decide what to put in them. I also chose some papers for a project I have lined up for the girls' room.

Turned out not to be a very productive scrappy week but I was checking things off one list!

Altered plaque tutorial:

I started out with this plain wooden plaque{$1} and covered it with Mod Podge {already had} then wrapped a piece of paper {about 50 cents} around the front, it folds over the back and lightly sanded the edges and some on the face.

Then I cut another piece of paper {about 50 cents} to slightly smaller than the face, mod podged it {yes, that's a verb} & sanded the edges, also lightly sanded the face. The doorknob {$2} wasn't fixed yet but for photo's sake I took off the hardware and set it up. Total cost is about $4 plus tax and took about 30 min time, and I still have some paper left for the scrapbook.

Ta-do:

• Complete unfinished pages in Lydia's album - journaling, embellishments, some pictures.
• Do the same for the family album.
• Thank you cards {friends have gifted us baby items}.
• Scrap!

Thanks for visiting! Join us at www.sundayscrappin.blogspot.com to share your own scrappy projects or check out what others are doing.

Sunday Scrappin

Time to share scrap again! It's been a few weeks since I've had something to share. I've been distracted busy obsessing over checking things off of my before baby comes list & crafting with my sewing machine. You can check out what I've been up to here {tutorialish} and here if you're interested. Still plenty of household projects to work on but they're mostly smaller projects so I should have more time to focus on my scrappy list again. Plus I need the hubby to put the crib together before I can start making her bedding. Less than 60 days until baby's estimated due date!

Ta-da!:

• So no picture to show for it but I caught up on some of my journaling this week - 16 layouts, sixteen!
• Again, no picture but two or three weeks ago Lydia's second album came in the mail and I got all of her pages into a page protector. Almost all of the pages are organized chronologically too!

To-do:

• Complete more journaling in Lydia's album.
• Make list of topics left to scrap for Lydia's album - I lost the list I had :( but with her albums organized it shouldn't be hard to figure out. My guess is there are less than half a dozen topics left.
• Start to catch up on journaling in family album - esp older pictures before I was blogging, this blog will pay off big time when I'm journaling events from 2 years ago!
• Scrap!

I did find a list of topics for Lydia's album I wrote up about 18 months ago. I can happily say that several are now crossed off my list. Even more happily I can say that I've done several more topics that aren't even listed - crawling, first steps, mommy and me (a few layouts), everyone loves lydia pages, first pony, swinging @ park, first smiles, pb&j, blue eyes, several hospital layouts....ahhh feels GOOD!

• 3 month photos (only professional ones taken TO DATE)
• 6 month photos
• 9 month photos (LOVED the ones I took but they've been in computer jail)
• 12 month photos (camera was on the FRITZ and I never scheduled that appt. - here's hoping!) and I don't have any '12 month' photos, just what was taken on & around her birthday...maybe I'll find some cute ones from the next month or two?
• 1st birthday{s}, I had a little celebration at home then a party at my dad's house
• first baby food/real food (I may not do both)
• baths in the sink (I have some that I just LOVE so I must - she was a sink baby for a LONG time)
• first Christmas (I have one Christmas event scrapped but nothing else)
• summer time/outdoor pics (I *think* I have pictures jailed up that I really liked) these may be done?
• pictures with Shawn in Class A's not sure...
• d-day pictures (she was 11 months when he deployed and I think we're in the Army for the long haul so it will hold some significance for her later) Not doing these, going to leave that for family album.
• Below are pages off hand I know will need to be done.
• Opening page
• Closing page
• Daddy love page(s) - I've done several with mom and daughter pics, those two definitely need their own.

To get inspired by other scrappers or share your own projects visit the Sunday Scrappin blog!

Since I don't have any scrappy photos I wanted to share a picture of my kids at the strawberry farm yesterday. They had fun, the strawberries are really good and I want to make strawberry jam today.

Making Room for {B}aby

Another Tackle It Tuesday! This is a fun meme to participate in because it means I'm getting stuff DONE! :D

Last Wednesday I had some 'nesting' motivation and energy so I took advantage. I started with the kids' closets sorting out clothes they've outgrown and organizing clothes they have to grow into. While working in Lydia's room I rearranged her dresser clearing out two drawers for the baby, plus half of the top drawer. Then I moved onto my room, cleaning up hubby's side of the bed {messy!}, under the bed and my half of the closet. I also took out two boxes of things I had set aside to donate for quite some time now.

At the end of the day I had this on the kitchen table. Clothes to pass along, bags & scarves I haven't used/worn in the last year or more and toys I had gone through with the kids some time ago....we could probably sort through Michael's again soon. Plus there's a bag of maternity clothes I have to return to a friend.

That night I sorted through baby clothes that friends gave me and set up the baby's drawers, one for newborn sizes and one for 0-3 months. I also added a bag of baby clothes to the giveaway pile because they were too warm for summer.

Then on Saturday I finally finished Lydia's duvet. You can see Michael's here from last Tuesday. I had hers sewn for a few days but got the ribbon ties on so now it's complete.

It feels so good to check things off of my to-do list and seeing progress around the house. There's still plenty to go through - hubby's closet, large filing cabinet, entry closet, bookcases, armoire....and more decorating projects for the kids' rooms and living room as well. I'll be marking off the Tuesdays until baby's impending arrival!

But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy {Jill a dull girl?} so we've got to have some fun around here too.

Easy Peasy Duvet

A couple months ago we got the kids' rooms swapped and I started to give them each a mini makeover. After that weekend not much more was accomplished - until now!

Both kids have down comforters {Target clearance for $15/ea} and I wanted a duvet {fancy for cover} for them both but couldn't find quite what I wanted and couldn't keep it under budget. I did some searching on the internet and found that people have used flat sheets to make a duvet. So I started looking for flat sheets. The other day at wally world I {finally!} found flat sheets sold separately for $4 a piece! {Much less than buying enough fabric to make one plus you don't have to hem!} I had found cute sheet sets I wanted before but didn't want to fuss with a fitted sheet and have no need for extra pillow cases - as it is the kids each have 2.

And this is what $8 sheets and some buttons from a previous project turned into. Including the $15 spent on the down comforter that's $23 (plus tax) total! I call that a bargain. The red buttons actually keep the top closed, the blue are there just for looks since they look better then a mess of thread behind the buttons.

I also made one for my daughter but hers isn't finished yet. I need to get ribbon to close the opening. My sewing machine or thread {not sure} was giving me some trouble so I had to hand sew buttonholes {not fun btw} so I'm avoiding buttons on hers. Plus ribbons are more girly anyway right?

If you want to make your own easy peasy duvet it's really simple! I'll try to break it down into a simple tutorial {steps I took} and I'm sure you'll find shortcuts of your own. Also, I wasn't going for perfection. I wanted it to serve it's purpose {look cute} and be done, so I didn't iron or measure.

• Sweep/Vacuum floor
• Lay out one sheet right side down
• Lay comforter on top of sheet to see how much seem allowance you have on either side & how much you'll need to fold under at the bottom.

• Move comforter to couch, your children and/or dogs may try to 'help' btw.
• Lay second sheet on top of first sheet, line up starting at top and fold bottom to line up with the first.
• Fix bottom folds {right side out and facing each other}and pin. Double check that will come out right, I had to think it through a couple times.
• Sew with a 1/2" or so seem - I just used a line on my machine to keep myself straight.
• Line up & pin long sides of sheets {right sides facing each other} and sew. I kept the excess fabric at the ends, lining up with the rest and sewing shut. Less cutting & hemming - nothing will fray in the wash.
• Enclose top as you choose - buttons, ribbon, velcro - you could even get fancy & use a zipper.

 After doing two for my kids I just might make another for our bed.