Snowman Kits!

Happy Monday! And we're officially in the Christmas season! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.



I find the best way to enjoy the Holidays is to get all my shopping and gifts done as early as possible. So, this weekend I've been working on gifts for some of our neighbors and friends. I'm not making these for everyone. But, for some families that we know and love that have kids the right age at home, I decided it would be fun to make Snowman kits! I live in an area that has long, cold winters with plenty of snow. Perfect for lots of snowmen!



I bought a bag full of little black, glass gems at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off....two pounds of them for under a dollar. I also had some bigger, multicolored gems I got at the dollar store a long time ago. I used the black stones for eyes and mouth and the colored for buttons.

My one problem with snowmen, is that the rocks we typically stick on for the face never stay in place. Do other people have that issue? Anyway, I thought of a way to remedy that and make sure these rocks are easy to place and super secure....golf tees! I used E6000 to glue a golf tee to the back of every rock. I just got a bag of golf tees at Walmart. I think it was $4 for way more than I'll need.


I also bought a remnant piece of red fleece from Joann's to cut out scarves. I just cut a strip off and cut notches at each end.

I used #10 tin cans that I've been saving as we empty them for the containers. There are a million different ways to decorate these...scrapbook paper, die cuts, stamps, ribbons...you name it. I decided to go super simple and easy and just use wrapping paper. The wrapping paper I had leftover from last year happened to be covered in snowmen. Perfect! I used double sided tape to hold it on.

Added a ribbon for some embellishment (which I got after Christmas at Hobby Lobby last year for like a quarter a roll) and this poem...

"There's nothing like a snowman
to make a person smile,
His charcoal eyes and happy mouth
and scarf with so much style.
Here's a little gift from us
to get your snowman going.
Just add a hat, some arms, a nose
and, most important....
Snow!"
Contents: 7 black rocks for eyes and mouth,
3 large rocks for buttons, 1 scarf

I could have put in a plastic carrot for the nose, but I'm trying to keep this cheap and haven't been able to find any at a good enough price. I thought about just chopping up a dowel rod and spraying it orange...still considering it. Any ideas? As it stands, there is no nose. But, the kids need to use their imagination too, right? (We usually end up with an orange crayon or marker for our nose).

And, voila (do i say that in every post?)! Ready to deliver...

~Hannah~

Creative Cats Black Friday!!!

Happy Black Friday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Are you heading out shopping this morning??

Before you do...you may want to consider making gifts this season!

Here are some fabulous ideas that won't cost you an arm and a leg!!

First off we have a wonderful coupon caddy tutorial from

Blue Cricket Design.

Perfect for the coupon lovers in your life.

Heck, it may just be nice to have a place to put my keys and a bink for the babe.

Next we have a fabulous tutorial from

Miss Mustard Seed

on how to recycle an old cereal box into a beautiful banner.

You can't tell it's a cereal box can you?

And finally pop over and check out another great tutorial by

Fireflies and Jellybeans.

This monogrammed plate would be such a great hostess gift!!

Thank you to all of you amazing Creative Cats out there that link up and share all of these wonderful ideas!! Especially during the holidays it's really helpful to have such an incredible network of talent to be able to get inspired by. I know I'll be making a lot of gifts this year and I've already used some of your great blogging minds for ideas!! Keep them coming!!!

Link a specific blog post

Link back to Creative Cats

Grab yourself a CC button

Check back next week to see if you've been featured as a favorite!

Happy Black Friday!

think about it Thursday...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Today I am thinking about YOU...

Today I am thinking about how thankful I am that I get to share my creations with you lovely peeps. What a fun blog this is!!! I get so inspired by you all!

Here is a little project that I worked on this week...

Each year we get each of our children a new ornament for our tree. This tradition was something that the Mr's family did growing up. The first Christmas after we were married a package arrived on our doorstep. My mother in law had sent us all of Travis' ornaments for our first tree! I LOVED this idea!

So each year I try and find the perfect ornament. I usually try to get an ornament that represents that child and what they did that year. We have had school buses, and soccer playing snowman, princesses, the hulk...each one brings back a memory of each child at a specific age. This year with the help of a little on line searching I found some great ornaments. My oldest is obsessed with Legos this year...seriously...he is in love with them. On the Lego website they have ornaments that you put and glue together...Perfect! Next was my 61/2 year old son...this one was easy...this year he has been obsessed with Pokemon. I don't think he even realizes that it is a game that you play...he just LOVES the thrill of buying the packs and trading the cards. So his was pretty easy too! Next comes my one and only girl! I knew exactly the perfect ornament. She LOVES the Fancy Nancy books! If you haven't read them you must! They are super duper cute! Well...you would think that with books so popular an ornament would be easy to find...WRONG!! Not a Fancy Nancy ornament to be found...so I got to thinking...surely I could make one....hmmmm!!

I scanned in a picture from one of the books (actually her latest one which just happens to be a Christmas one...perfect!):



Next I opened it up in Photoshop Elements:
I created a circle shape about 3x3inches. I did a little clone stamping to take away the edges of the picture and add more snowflakes onto the whole thing instead of just at the top...I LOVE Photoshop! Seriously the possibilities are endless...


Then I printed my finished circle onto some vellum:


I bought a package of 4 clear empty ornaments at Michaels for about $2:
They aren't perfectly round...they are round from top to bottom, but kinda flat front to back! This helps the picture stay up in the ornament.


I used my handy dandy circle cutter to cut out my picture:


Finally I just rolled up my picture and slipped it into the empty ornament. I also added some glitter and a few confetti stars. I plan on adding some cute rickrack and ribbon too!


And there you have it! Seriously super easy! It took about 30 minutes....well it would have taken less time if I wasn't so picky with the photoshopping, but I am who I am...!! ; )

What kind of ornament can you make?

Think about it....

Changin' it up.

Happy Monday....I mean, Wednesday! I'm sneaking this post in here midweek. We're back from Europe....it was AWESOME! We saw so many amazing places. While I was there, taking pictures and trying to capture the look and feel of some of them, I was thinking of a way to display some of it. I wanted to be able to put some of the beauty and history we were seeing in my home. So, I got back on Monday and started working on a way to do that.

I took this old picture. I got this at Ross for $20 a few years ago. It's nice...I like it. But, I'm sick of it. And I've been trying to lighten up my front room and these colors were just not working anymore. I had it leaning against the wall for a while trying to figure out something to do with it. Well, I came up with a way to keep it (I really love the wide frame!), but make it work for me.

I chose a few pictures that we took on our trip. Three of them are from a medieval village we went to called Eze, France. The door is one I saw just walking around the street in Italy. I got them printed into 8x10s at Sam's Club.

Then, I just primed and painted the frame a nice white, spray painted over the picture (my favorite) steel blue. A little sanding on the frame.

Then, I just glued the pictures right on....put some books on top of them while they dried and then Mod Podge over the top. And, viola! An old frame that works with my new room and displays some of the European character we saw on our trip.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

~Hannah

Chopped door...

I was walking thru Robert's last week and saw a mustard colored buffet and suddenly inherited a large desire to paint something

yellow

I went and bought some paint from the back of the store and then hopped over to D.I. I couldn't find any furniture that was very exciting so I went to take a peak at the doors. I often see doors that I really like, but rarely buy them because I don't have room to carry them home. I happened to find a door that was

chopped down and only $4.

The perfect subject for my mustard desires. I painted, sanded and rubbed with gel stain.

I ran to Hobby Lobby and found an antique doorknob as well as a wooden "P".

I used E6000 to glue the door knob on the front of the painted door.

{{sigh}} I love old doorknobs.

I used spray adhesive to add a little colored paper flavor to the "P" and hung it on the knob. It still needed a little something so I printed some vinyl lettering for the front and also a number"3" for a red tin I picked up for a buck. 3 is my favorite number because brother and I are having a contest to see who can say it the most times before we die. We started when we were about 8. I think it's fun to try and throw it into my decorating whenever I can.

Well, what do you think??

Does it make you want to paint something yellow??

hmmm...still on the fence??

Perhaps these can be a little more persuasive:

image via Jason Loucas

image via Apartment Therapy

image via Country Living

origin unknown via Oliveaux

image via Country Living

Happy Tuesday!

~Andy

Creative Cats Friday!!!

Welcome back Cats!

Hopefully things are better for you than they are here in the Porter household!

We're all battling the CRUD.

If you're like me you need a

PICK-ME-UP

a

GET-ME-UP

an idea that makes you scream

HOOK-ME-UP!!

Alright, so that was pretty cheesy. You'll have to forgive me. I'll blame it on being sick.

Although I do get pretty excited when I see links such as these on our Creative Cats:

If you are anything like me you love wreaths and love finding ways to make them inexpensively. Check out this fun idea on

Craftaholics Anonymous

Lyndsey

makes these cute tile words for gifts. Don't you want Lyndsey to be your new bff??

Find out how to turn two chairs into a bench with

Room Remix

Yep, that's what I'm talking about.

Now it's your turn to share some of your SHA-ZAZZLE{{I wish I could make that glittery}} with the rest of us.

Everyone is invited and welcome!!!

Here's how to play:

• Uno: Link a specific post.
• Dos: Grab yourself a Creative Cat's button to display on your blog(if you so desire).
• Tres:Link back to this post so everyone can come and play.
• Cuatro: Check back next week to see if you're project has been featured!

think about it Thursday...

Today I am thinking about blessings...

Next week is Thanksgiving and I thought I would share my Thankful Jar with ya'll!
Every year when I pull out my Thanksgiving decorations I also pull out my Thankful Jar. It is a simple jar filled with questions. We pass it around the table on Thanksgiving and take turns answering. Sometimes it is hard to get the "what are you thankful for..." ball rolling, or your family has little kids and they need ideas. This little jar of questions helps...trust me!

Supplies:

• Clear jar (I used a squarish mason jar)
• fun Autumn colored ribbons
• a "Thankful Jar" tag (I printed mine out on tanish/brown cardstock...if you would like mine just shoot me an email and I will send it to you!)
  
• cream paper (one jar used 4 pieces...I like cream instead of white because it looked prettier in the jar)
• questions (mine supplied below)

What are you thankful for?

Think about it...


Questions:
(print them out and then cut them into strips...make sure to leave plenty of room above and below each question so that you can cut them apart)

Which of God’s creations are you most thankful for?

Name and tell about someone in your life you are grateful for.

Describe a part of the gospel, or part of being a member of the church you are grateful for.

Tell what part of living in a free country you are most grateful for.

Tell about an experience that has made you grateful for your health? (or body)

What is something in your home that you are grateful for?

Why are you grateful for your mom?

Why are you grateful for your dad?

Why are you grateful for you grandma?

Why are you grateful for you grandpa?

Pick a favorite food you are thankful for and explain why.

Name someone in your life that makes you feel special and explain how.

What modern convenience are you most thankful for?

What would life on earth be like without the feeling of gratitude?

Name someone who has passed away who you are thankful for.

Name one of the Young Women's values you are thankful for and tell why. Yes... do this even if you are a guy!

Name an ordinance of the Priesthood you are thankful for and tell why.

Which President of the United States are you most thankful for?

Which product that you use to get ready in the morning are you most thankful for?

Which food in your 72 hour kit are you most thankful for?

Which product in your food storage are you most thankful for?

Which store are you most thankful for?

Name an ancestor you are thankful for that is further back than your grandparents and tell why.

Name a founding father that you are grateful for and tell why.

Name an inventor in modern history, 1700 A.D. on up, that you are thankful for and tell why.

Which breakfast food are you most thankful for?

Which city are you most thankful for?

Which month of the year are you the most thankful for?

Name a positive learning experience you had as a child that you are thankful for.

Which of your Primary teachers were you most thankful for and why?

Which Prophet in Modern times are you most thankful for and why?

Name a woman in the Bible that you are thankful for and tell why.

Name a woman in the Book of Mormon that you are thankful for and tell why.

Name a place anywhere in the entire world that you are thankful you don’t live.

Give 3 reasons why you are thankful for your Chemistry or Biology teacher.

Which are you more thankful for… gas or electricity and why?

Which paper product are you most thankful for?

Which beatitude in the Bible are you most thankful for and why?

Name a parable in the New Testament that you are thankful for and tell why.

Which are you more grateful for… pens or pencils? Chalk boards or White Boards? Why?

YW Trophies

We are having an "Oscar Night" for the young women in our church. We filmed each girl showing a project that they have done this past year or that they are currently working on. Something that will help them to improve themselves. I'm really excited! I love working with the girls and I'm really looking forward to being able to help showcase all of their amazing talents!! I got to make the trophies for the event. I've heard of some fun things that people have done for this sort of night like spray painting Mrs. Butterworth's bottles or dollar store dolls. I was trying to think of something that I could also display the eight values that we focus on. I found some glass candleholders at the dollar store along with candlesticks.

I printed the values onto vinyl and stuck them onto the glass.

I used E6000 to glue the candlesticks onto the jars to make them look{{hopefully}}a little more trophy-ish,

stuck a little silver tissue paper on the inside and filled them with candy.

My only hang-up was when I discovered that I had spelled "integrity" incorrectly and had to go and do vinyl surgery on each of the jars {{grrrr}}. Other than that they were fun and fairly simple to do. It got me thinking that these might make cute placeholders for a dinner party. Put a candle inside with names cut out of vinyl. Anyhoo, have an enjoyable day!! I'll be off to the Oscars this evening!!

~Andy

Creative Cats Friday!!!

Welcome to Creative Cats!!!

Can I just be the first to say

I'm so happy it's finally Friday!!!

And how exciting that it's Friday the 13th!

People are way more creative on Friday the 13th.

Don't believe me?? Just check out today's links!!

Here are the highlights from last week:

Melissa

gives a stripy lampshade a totally fantastic facelift.

The Continental Calliope

shares how they saw a picture of a bathroom that they adored and recreated it for their own bathroom. I'm so in love with those big shelves!! That's just so cool!

Speaking of cool shelves, check out this gorgeous set on

Bobbypins Boardwalk.

She took Wal-Mart type shelves and made this amazing face frame for under $300. Aren't they amazing?? What a great idea!

And last but not least we have this adorable fleece jumper by

Smashed Peas and Carrots.

I want to make these for all four of my little princesses.

Alrighty, now it's your turn!!

Link up a creative project that you have done so we can

"OOH and AHH"

at your amazing-ness

Grab yourself a Creative Cats button and have a wonderful weekend!!

think about it Thursday...

Today I have been thinking about time! Especially my beloved sleep time.

I have 4 kids...they all pretty much sleep though the night now. There is always the occasional bad dream or illness that disrupts this pattern, but they do sleep through the night.

Throw in a little daylight savings time change and my kids have been getting up at the crack of dawn. NO.... they get up at the cracks crack of dawn!

So this morning I thought to myself, "Time to pull out the clock again!" A few years ago when we were having a problem with the kiddlets getting out of bed to early I made this clock. At the time my two boys couldn't read a face clock too well so I used color and a little fun sticker to help them out.

Supplies:

• clock
• fun sticker
• colored pencils
• ruler
  

I bought a really cheap clock at Wal-Mart for $3. It has a plastic cover on the front that pops off. I took a ruler and drew out lines from the center to the hours that I wanted. In my case it was 5, 7 and 8! I colored red in between 5 and 7 to show them the times that were unacceptable to be out of bed. Then I colored green inbetween 7 and 8 to show them when it was okay to get out of bed. Place the sticker on the hour hand.

If the frog was in the red it was time to get back into bed. If it was in the green then they could get out of bed without awaking a crazy momma bear!

This worked wonders! If they started to wander out of bed I would ask, "Is the frog in the red or green?" Pretty soon they didn't even peek out of their room because they got the hang of reading the clock on their own. (we also set their clock about 10 minutes slower...hahaha...mean I know!)


What time is precious to you?

Think about it...


P.S. Check out this awesome blog I stumbled across this morning...She has some great ideas for homemade Christmas decorations and gifts.

the long thread