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Christmas Week: Disney Reveal

Posted by Nat on Dec 16, 2011 | Comments Off on Christmas Week: Disney Reveal

Michael and I decided to take the kids to Disneyland!  We’ll take them in January while the crowds are thinner.  While they will get some gifts this year (okay, I’ve had a hard time holding back, but they aren’t getting anything huge), we are failing trying to keep things simple.  I wanted to have something to give them when we tell them we are taking them to the Happiest Place on Earth because none of them have been yet, and we are really, really excited to take them.

I rounded up some supplies, including some Disney paper I found at Michael’s Crafts.  I also downloaded the Waltograph font from Dafont.com.

I typed up a message to the kids from Mickey and got to cutting and pasting.

I am so pleased with how it turned out!

Here’s the cover:

Don’t you just love a good, layered sticker?

And here’s the inside:

(sorry it’s so blurry)

This is my favorite part- the message from Mickey underneath the black.  Anna loves Minnie right now, so I had to include her, too. 🙂

I’m not sure what we’ll do with it after-the-fact other than put it in a keepsake box, but it sure is cute.  Would you like a tutorial?  I was thinking this might be something to sell or share the process of how I made it, though it really is self-explanatory.  If you’re interested in either, please leave a comment and let me know!

And so, dear readers, I leave you until after the holidays.  We are excited to see family and friends for the holidays, and this mommy needs a break from technology for a while.  I’ll be planning lots of posts for the new year, including a closet update, fun with felt, and more!

Happy Holidays to you and yours, and may you have a safe and fun New Year!  See you in 2012!

Christmas Week: Some Decorations {and a FAIL}

Posted by Nat on Dec 15, 2011 | 1 comment

Today I thought I’d share with you a few random things I am loving.  I will also show you a Crafting Crazy fail.  Woo hoo!

Let’s start with the cute stuff.

Have you seen these at Target?

 If you missed them this year, and you have a pre-K kid, be sure to get them next year.  I snatched some up and somehow got them home without Anna seeing them.  Everyone once in a while over the last few weeks when I need to keep her occupied, I have pulled out one of these.  Next year I will grab every single one- at $2 each, they are a deal.  They really work fine motor skills, but are also fun.  And the pictures make it easy for the kids- they just refer to it to see what to do.  Here’s Anna’s handiwork:

We also did snowmen and penguins.  They are super cute.  Anna insists that they be together on the tree so they don’t get lonely.  Cuteness.

Do you have any favorite Christmas decorations?  I asked Michael what his favorite was, and he told me this story of a paper mache nativity scene that he loved growing up because you could take the gifts out of the three wise men’s hands and put them back.  You had to be there, but it was super funny.

My aunt sent me this little guy several years ago and I still look forward to finding him a spot every year.  This year he’s on our shelf in the kitchen.  I love that his little legs dangle, all the buttons…

…but I especially love his little painted face.  So cute!

And just in case you think my house is spotless or perfect, check out what’s keeping him company.  This shelf is almost always a mess.

And here we are at the Craft Fail. Get ready to laugh…

So, Anna loves crafts.  She loves to draw.  She loves to make stuff.  It’s hard to keep up with her sometimes.  I bought her these fuzz balls for her birthday.  Her birthday is in May.  Whoops.  I’ve been putting her off since then because I wasn’t really sure what to do with the fuzz balls.  I decided to give this a shot, and while I think the concept could work, I need to rethink my supplies and technique a huge tad.  Not a wee tad- a HUGE tad.

Here’s how it went:

Gather fuzz balls and a four-year-old.  Be sure you shove your hand in a basket full of fuzz balls- it’s so nice!  (Heh.)  No really, they are soooo soft.

As you can see above, I had Anna find all the green, red and white ones.  There were a lot.

Below you can see our progress.  We selected the largest styrofoam tree form- probably my biggest mistake.  I painted the glue on and then Anna would stick them on.  We set it on wax paper to keep the glue off the table, and I was hoping once all was dry it would just peel off.

Here’s the problem:  we ran out of Christmas colors.  So instead of a cute, fuzzy Christmas tree we have a psychedelic fuzz ball mess.  I also need to look into getting one size.  This thing is a nightmare to look at.  I kind of want to cry looking at it.  The real kicker, though, is that Anna LOVES it.  I don’t have the heart to get rid of it.  I’m tempted to take all the fuzz balls off and start over.  Who knows.  At least Anna likes it.  🙂

Tomorrow I have one more thing to share before the holidays and then I’m taking a 2-week break from blogland.  Can’t wait to come back with more fun stuff!

Christmas Week: Our DIY Christmas Card

Posted by Nat on Dec 14, 2011 | 1 comment

I had this rosy picture in my head of how our Christmas card photos were going to look this year.  I would put my plan into action, the kids would perform for us, we’d get some stellar pics, and hooray!  Cute Christmas pics!  Ahem.  Well, even if things weren’t in our favor, it still turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

We decided not to get professional photos done in order to save some money.  So I went and found some cute Christmas pjs (something I would have done anyway), some white sheets at Wal-Mart (I have a love-hate relationship with that place), and also a few props.  Remember my glitter letters I shared with you a few weeks ago?  I tried to use them.  Didn’t work out.  Turns out 4- and 2-year-olds do not work well with props (for the most part).

Timing was difficult.  My husband, who dutifully knew he was needed to help, was sick.  Thanksgiving came and went and I was getting desperate to get it done.  The weather was also a factor- it was either raining or super cloudy, and I wanted outside light.  Finally the stars aligned…  Not really- I just saw the sunshine and started setting up even though my husband was still sick.  Sorry, honey.

My big take-away from this:  I have SO MUCH to learn about photography, and I REALLY REALLY REALLY want a *real* camera.

I used two sheets to set up a sort of outdoor staging area.  I hung one from a tree branch, and another I laid on the ground.  I covered our Bumbo with white for Miss Em.  I got the props, set the ISO on my camera to “high,” and started clicking.  Here’s an outtake so you can see what the set up was kind of like.

My wedding photographer said to me at some point, “All you want is one great shot.  If you get one great shot, you have accomplished your mission.”  It was slim pickins, but we got some good ones.  I started editing in Photoshop and created our card.  Many thanks to Rita at the Coffeeshop Blog– her green freebie is my background.  I found it here.

Here’s what it looked like as a digital file.

The little props we used I found here via Pinterest.  Where else, right?  Coincidentally, the best shots of the kids were when I had them lay down on the sheet rather than sit or stand.  Go figure.

The next part I wanted was an insert.  I saw this on Pinterest and wanted something similar, but knew I could never find something online that would put it together, so I started looking at fonts.  I decided on Budmo and Honey Script.  I made a list of our top 10 for the year, and this is what I came up with.  I. Love. It.

The last phase was printing.  I didn’t want a flimsy photo this year.  I wanted a nice thick print.  My friend Amy over at 10:02 told me that I should try Mixbook. They turned out so nicely and are exactly what I wanted.  The best part?  Mixbook sends you EXTRA ENVELOPES.  And not just 2 or 3- there were at least 10 extra.  Awesome!

For the “Top 10” insert, I went to Office Depot and had them cut down a bunch of cardstock.  I think I had 125 cards made.  Guess how much it cost to have them cut for me?  Including the cardstock, it was less than $8.  Super cheap.  I am so, so happy with this.  It will probably be a new thing for us.  It was honestly easier than a letter and so much more fun to do.

Christmas Week! An Easy Wreath

Posted by Nat on Dec 12, 2011 | 1 comment

I hereby declare this Christmas Week and Crafting Crazy.  Woo hoo!  I am not going to post anything revolutionary.  My crafts and thoughts will be simple.  I like to keep it simple during the holidays because it’s hard to get everything done in terms of gifts, cards, and more- why throw in a totally-involved project to add to the stress?

So project #1:  an easy wreath.  This really happened by accident.  I was shopping with my 3 kids at Michael’s.  Anna, my 4-year-old, said, “Mommy!  Sparkle balls!”  Done.  We found a fake wreath just the right size for our door for $6.  Two little packets of various styrofoam balls of silver, white and red, and we were set to go.

It was super easy and Anna loves it.  Anna would hand me a ball, and I just used my hot-glue gun to stick them in place.  I’m also very proud to say that I did NOT burn myself this time.  I almost did, but I didn’t.

I do plan on making some of those fancy yarn wreaths after the new year- you know, the ones that are flying all over Pinterest.  But for now, our sparkle balls will do just fine. 🙂

How do you use Pinterest?

Posted by Nat on Dec 6, 2011 | 1 comment

“Hello, my name is Natalie, and I’m addicted to Pinterest.”

Are you hooked yet?  Do you just love it?  If you haven’t gotten on the Pinterest bandwagon, shoot me an email and I’ll send you an invitation.  Pinterest is the place to be these days.  I’ve abandoned so many other tools, and I am now a fully-fledged, self-proclaimed Pinterest ADDICT.

In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the definition I give my friends.  The conversation usually goes like this:

Me: “…so when I pinned that to my Pinterest boards…”

Friend:  “I’m sorry, when you what?”

Me:  “Pinned.  You know, Pinterest?”

Friend:  “What’s Pinterest?”

Me: {insert inner squee here} “It’s like visual bookmarking!  It’s life changing!  It’s the best thing ever!”

If you want to check it out, you can watch a great tutorial on how to get started here.

I think some people are under the impression that Pinterest is only for women.  Or that Pinterest is only for bloggers and people who are online 24/7.  But in fact, Pinterest is a valuable tool that can help you in so many ways.  Aside from the addictive, eye-candy experience that I simply must have on a nearly-daily basis, here are a few other things I’ve started using Pinterest for.

#1:  I’m done with “bookmarking”

This is my favorite one.

Ah, good ol’ bookmarks.  Go on- check your bookmarks in your browser.  Give ’em a click and hover through them.  Are they organized?  Do you have category upon category of bookmarks?  Or all they all just lumped together in one ginormous list, waiting for you to sort them out on a day when you have nothing to do?  Mine were a mess.  I tried to keep them organized, and then I’d go back through them from time to time and ask myself, “Whaaa?  Am I supposed to remember these?”

So here’s what I did.  I had so many bookmarks that this probably took me an afternoon or two (but it was totally worth it).  I sat down and made myself open all of those bookmarks, one by one.  I pinned the ones to my boards that I still liked- projects I want to do, places I want to go, recipes I want to remember or try.  Other links I realized were no longer active, so they were just taking up virtual space in my browser. Then, when I had gone through everything, I deleted them.  Forever.  Now, my bookmarks look like this:

Everything is neat and tidy, and really there are hardly any links in those folders- nearly all of them were moved to Pinterest or deleted.

It is so much nicer to have a picture associated with a link.  Visual, people, visual!

#2:  Organizing and Planning Projects

How many projects does any person have on their to-do list that take planning?  Everyone does at some point.  Pinterest is such a great place to get ideas for anything you want to do.  Parties, revamping a lamp, dinner menus- the possibilities are endless.

For example, I am planning on giving our kitchen chairs a major overhaul.  Paint, new fabric, etc.  Not only can I search Pinterest for ideas, but I can also pin different fabrics I’m considering so that I can see them all at once.  I can also show them to my husband all at once so that he can say, “Yes to the stripes.  Hell no to the elephants.”  See what I mean by visiting my Kitchen Chair Project board.

So what now?

Are you convinced yet?  It didn’t take me long to get hooked.  A few other things to know:

– Pinterest sometimes gets wonky.  You may check your boards and it will look like pins are missing.  Usually they fix it within a few hours, so don’t freak out.

– You can’t pin everything.  Some sites don’t have the right kind of graphics (or any graphics at all), and some sites somehow block it. For example, I’m a Ravelry user (a site for knitters & crocheters) and usually you cannot pin projects from Ravelry onto your boards.

– You can get totally addicted in two seconds flat.  It is the best time-suck ever.  I will be posting in the next week or so some other things I’ve done inspired by Pinterest, so it’s not a complete time-waster.  Sometimes you will see an idea for something that will change your day-to-day life.   It’s awesome!

And I will restate:  if you’re not on board yet, email me!  I’ll shoot you an invitation to join!

What have you done with Pinterest?  Tell me!

Inspired by Erma

Posted by Nat on Oct 27, 2011 | Comments Off on Inspired by Erma

Did you grow up reading Erma Bombeck?  I did.  I kind of miss her.  There’s no one like her, really.

When I was old enough to read, and wanted to impress my parents and grandparents, I knew I couldn’t *just* read the comics anymore.  I think I was probably 12 or so.  And conveniently, in our newspaper, Erma’s column was near the comics, so it was an easy migration.  I started with that, and then I think my mom may have read some of her books, so I read them, too.  I love her sense of humor, and her healthy grip on the reality of motherhood and all that it entails.

Pretty soon I’m going to whip my laundry room into shape.  It’s getting there, and I’ve already done a few things, but have so much more to do.  In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for this sneak peek.  There was a little spot over our washer that I stare at a lot.  I decided that it would be nice to have something to look at instead of a blank wall, and I’ve always liked this quote from Erma.  So I fiddled around in Photoshop and here’s what I came up with:

I’ve had this panoramic, 12×4 photo frame for years.  Nearly a century, I think.  So I spray-painted it a creamy white, added some twine, and voila- this is much nicer to stare at!  And this was all free- my husband likes free.  So do I.

I also figured that you might not want one in 12×4, just in case you aren’t a frame-hoarder like myself.  So I also made it in 8×10 format.  Hope you enjoy! You should be able to right-click on either to download to your own computer, but let me know if that doesn’t work.

I can’t wait to show you more of our laundry room, but I have a pretty big project for it before I can show it to you.  🙂