A Few of my Favorite Things...

Have you seen these? I love the idea and when I sat down to make some for a friend; I decided that I wanted a set for myself. 

I planned to add the photo holder wires, in fact they are cut and shaped already. But I couldn't find the proper drill bit. I tied a large grosgrain ribbon around the blocks, and decided that I liked it just like that.

I will probably add the wires at some point but right now, they are fine. I think that I like the more subtle designs better with the pictures, my papers are so busy...I love the designs but I think that is why I like them better without photos...

Do you want a set for yourself or possibly a gift? I would be happy to cut the vinyl for you for a minimal cost. Just send me an e-mail.

Birthday Gifts-fun take on Magnet Boards

I hope you are not tired of Magnet Boards. I find a use for them all over my house. We have such a tiny little space, everything has to have a purpose; looking cute is just not enough. These are the latest that I created, although they don't get to stay at our house. (Chan paid the ultimate kid-compliment, he is DYING to have one in his room...but with a "C" he was careful to request).

These are some boards that we made for a birthday party that Cort and Chan were invited to. (These are not the best pictures ever, we were late, of course, and were racing to the party.)  They are great friends with the birthday boy as well as being second cousins. I love it when you can call and talk to the mom a little about the gift first. Since she is one of my best friends, I knew that she was in the process of re-doing her boys' room.

Cort and Chan requested a magnet board as a gift, so I called to find out colors, and whether she wanted 3 small boards or 1 large. I love the way these turned out, even though the boys ended up carrying them like pizzas on the way to the party because the sealer that I used still wasn't dry.

Chandler specifically requested matching magnets. Technically, only two of them are birthday gifts, the J is for his brother (since they share a room, we didn't want to leave him out).

The frames were really simple, although we realized that we should have cut the dado a little deeper; there were little gaps; but at that point we were LATE! so it didn't get adjusted.

I am linking to: 

My life is "sort of" mine again.

My kids and husband went back to school today. Back to our regular schedule. I loved having my husband home for the Christmas break, I loved the time with my kids and I was very sad to see them all go back this morning. My little ones were lost without the "big kids".

I want to share a couple of projects that I put together during the break (but didn't have time to share).

First off, after about 5 million ideas, this is what we finally put together for neighbor gifts. Monogram Plaques. I love them. Simple and pretty classic. Black and cream is one of my favorite color combinations. Now I need to make one for myself. I am also planning to make some for upcoming weddings. I think they would be great in the center of a family picture collage or in an easel.

(As a note, you can remove sharpie marker from the vinyl with a tiny bit of nail polish remover, Thank you Addy! our little marker girl for initiating this little experiment.)

Linking to:

Second project, have you seen these snowflakes? Who knew that paper snowflakes could be so cool? Check out this tutorial. We made some for my sister's 20 something foot tree, I love them with glitter and double sided scrapbook paper. My sister-in-law, Keli suggests cutting the strips very narrow, they are gorgeous.

Just a note, use scotch tape instead of staples, it works so much better for the center section and is prettier over all.

Third project, chargers. This is what I made for the favors for my husband's family Christmas party. It is just vinyl on the plate, and I love it. Inexpensive with just a little glitz. Try a piece of metal glued on the back and it becomes mini magnet board.

What do you think? What was your favorite project this Christmas break?

The monogram plaques and vinyl only options are in my etsy shop.

Teacher Gifts Courtesy of Blogland

Tomorrow is the last day of school before Christmas. I am excited to have my children and husband home with me. I have seen some great ideas all over blogland for teacher gifts. This is what I chose to do.
Obviously, the "M" jar holds pencils (this will be given along with a bag of cookies to my older kids' teacher), the "H" jar is filled with cookies (this is for our principal), and the "W" is filled with lifesavers for my husband. Since high-school teachers rarely receive gifts from their students, I figured that I would take care of that.

The jar ideas are courtesy of My Mix of Six (her pictures are MUCH better than mine).

I can't remember where I saw the recipe for these cookies...if you recognize it, let me know. I would love to link to it and give her credit; she has a great tutorial with pictures.

I only have the recipe and a couple of notes, bear with me it is long but not actually difficult:

Perfect Chocolate Mint Cookies

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 T water
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp. salt
36 Andes Mints

Melt butter, brown sugar, water over low heat, add chocolate chips and stir. When partially melted, remove pan from heat and continue to stir until the mixture is smooth. Let cool for 10 minutes (15 for a double batch). Pour into a mixing bowl and mix in eggs, and then dry ingredients.

Refrigerate cookie dough for 1 hour (the original poster said that she doesn't refrigerate hers, mine was a little soft to roll into balls; I think that it would work well to refrigerate it for about 20 minutes.) Roll the cookie dough into balls (I used my cookie scoop from Pampered Chef). Place on un-greased cookie sheet (I used my stoneware pan) about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350.

While the cookies are baking, unwrap your mints and cut them in half. (I couldn't find the mints so I tried the Andes mint chips, although they taste great, I wouldn't recommend them. It was a hassle!!) Place one mint on each cookie immediately after removing them from the oven, let sit for 5 minutes and then gently spread the mint/chocolate mixture to form an "icing".

Yum, Yum, Yummy!

Quick and Easy Neighbor Gift

The credit for this idea has to go to my friend, Karla. I made the tags; she thought of dressing them up in a frame to make a quick and easy gift for neighbors, teachers or friends.

I stamped the ornaments on cardstock and mounted them on thin chipboard (for stability), backed them with cute scrapbook paper and framed them in a rustic pine frame. Of course, they need a cute ribbon. I think they will be lots of fun to give.

I also love the idea of framing a handmade card.

Quick, easy and cheap. My idea of a perfect gift to give.

If you don't have time to make one (or several) on your own. This design is available in my etsy shop.

My new favorite addiction.

I received a Silhouette Craft Cutter for Mother's Day this year, I was super excited to get it; but then it sat for a couple of weeks. Now that I have really learned to use it, I can't imagine a week without using it. ;)

I used it to create freezer paper stencils for these blocks. I am having a blast with stenciling. I think these blocks would make great neighbor gifts...very quick and inexpensive. Just combine some duck cloth, acrylic paint, upholstery tacks, scrap 2x4's, freezer paper and whatever ribbon you have laying around. Have fun with this.

(these are also available in my etsy shop)