Showing posts with label blog guest posts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog guest posts. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

DIY Disney Autograph and Memory Books

 For our recent Disney trip, I put together little memory books for my kids. These were so fun, and really added to the trip- especially after we got home.

 To make my little books, I used some plastic photo 4 by6 books, you can purchase at Walmart. They cost $1. I used washi tape to decorate the covers, with some stickers. The Mickey Mouse shape is an old paint chip card from Home Depot, that I just cut out. I don't know if Home Depot carries the Mickey Mouse paint chip cards anymore, but we have some from past years. {You can see my Disney Count Down calendar I made several years ago using them here.}
 For the back of the books, I used stickers I already had, and washi tape. All the pages in the book are just white card stock that I cut down to size.
 When we saw a character, we pulled out our books, and took one page out of the book. The pages inside also had random Disney stickers on them. I left about 1/2 of the pages empty for adding photos and other memories.
 To make signing the book easier for the character, we used little office clips to hold the page onto the book. I also brought a baggie of different colored sharpies for signing the books. My children really loved picking out a sharpie that was the same color as the character. (black-Mickey, orange-Tigger, etc.)

 When we got home we put our books all together. We added photos of the characters, to go next to the autograph pages. Since we did not spend all our time seeking character autographs, we had many extra pages in our books. These little books can hold about 25 pages. I had the kids write about their memories. For my younger children, I had them tell me what they liked and I wrote it down just like them said it. My three year old, (above) mentioned that he loved the Radiator Springs Racers, but they did not get trophies. It was fun to hear his perspective on the ride, and record it.

You can also add postcards, and other photos to the book. The postcards fit almost perfectly. We put postcards inside the back and front covers.

Now you have a nice little memory book for your kids! These are great- because you can throw them in your diaper bag or purse, and take them to church, doctors offices, or anywhere else you may need your child to do something quiet for a few minutes.
 
Happy Summer and Thanks for Reading!

post signature

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Crafting with Kids: Puffy Ghost {using shaving cream paint}

 I know Halloween is in a few days, but I'm going to attempt to finish posting the fun Halloween stuff we have done this month...in a few days. These ghosts were so much fun! We made these using paint we made mixing shaving cream and Elmer's Glue.
 PUFFY PAINT GHOST USING SHAVING CREAM:
You need:
Heavy paper (we used grocery bags)
3 parts shaving cream to one part Elmer's school glue (just regular glue)
**or measure 3/4 cup shaving cream and 1/4 cup glue - I did not measure- just looked at it and judged the amount and it worked fine.
Sponge brushes
Mix the glue and shaving cream. Apply to ghost shape. You can add eyes and mouth at that time and most of them will stick. A few will not stick and will need to be glued on later.
Allow to dry all the way. Your ghosts will be smooth and velvety soft!

 
 
This was so fun- a little messy- but it is mostly shaving cream-so it washes up very easily. When these are dry they are so so soft!  Have Fun!
post signature

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Guest Post & Give-a-way: Mercy River

I have an exciting post for you today! Thanks to Deseret Book and Shadow Mountain Records, for introducing me to a wonderful group, Mercy River. This month they are on a blog tour.  Mercy River is 3 trendy, talented, and cute moms (Brooke, Whitney, and Soni)  who are doing what many of us do everyday- juggling the tasks of motherhood. These women also sing together and have recently recorded a beautiful new CD, titled Higher. They have 13 children between the three of them, and still manage to live their dreams as recording artists.



 So I wanted to know...like many of you may want to know, How do they balance it all? How do you balance family, and music? Here is what Brooke had to say:


When we asked Sharla what she thought we should blog about, her answer was actually a rather common question: “How do you do it? How do you balance music and family”?


That question may be retracted if you saw my house in its current state. My laundry pile is practically breeding. My 1-year-old baby still has 3-6 month clothes in her drawers. My daughter is heading to school wearing the same hairstyle as she did yesterday. My 3 year old son has syrup on his face. There is a massive amount of hand prints on our stainless steel dishwasher. (OK, that one I leave on purpose. I’m sorry, but they’re slightly adorable.)

 And I am currently in my sweatshirt and yoga pants. We may or may not have PBJ for lunch.

AND dinner. Don’t put it past me--it’s happened before. So maybe our answer to that question should be “Not very well.”
 

But I think that’s normal mommyhood. We all have moments in our lives when our plates are filled with more than our kiddos’ demands.
 

The truth is we have had to find a way to balance family and music. Although the three of us are on essentially the same “Mercy River journey”, our coping skills are all very different. As a group, we have a set of rules we follow; we stick to 3 performances a month, we take our kids to every possible thing we can, (rehearsals, firesides, concerts), etc. But then we each have our own set of rules.

My personal numero uno rule- my marriage comes first. Always.
 First off, I need to share a piece of info with you.



Marriage is a lot of work.
What do you mean you already knew that?
A few years ago, I noticed my marriage wasn’t where I wanted it to be. School, work, kids, callings, and yes, Mercy River, were all very present in our lives and all of a sudden I discovered that my husband and I had been practically reduced to roommates. We decided we needed to refocus our priorities. I wanted to find ways I could make my husband feel loved, but he’s not one to open up about his feelings, (aka he’s a guy). I thought I would do some experimenting. I read that fabulous “Love Language” book, and started my own analysis to see if I could find HIS love language. And much to my surprise, I realized quality time was his thing. So now, we have a regular date night each week. And we’re religious about it-we don’t skip our dates. I’m RARELY gone more than 2 nights a week, and even that is pretty sporadic. We play board games every Sunday night when the kiddos are in bed. I’ve even learned to sit through a golf game or an episode of “Gold Rush”. (Granted, he usually rubs my feet while doing so. It makes it less painful.)


In return he has been my biggest support with Mercy River. He encourages me to rehearse, he loves coming to our concerts, and he talks about our group to a point where it can be a bit embarrassing. He is a fantastic dad, and gets excited to spend one-on-one time with the kids while I’m away.


Marriage is not easy. Keeping it at the forefront of my priorities isn’t easy. But I’ve seen so many blessings from working hard at it, and it’s allowed me to be a part of Mercy River without destroying my family.  Mercy River is not forever. My marriage is.

Thanks Sharla, for letting us share! xoxo

Thanks to Mercy River for including this blog in their blog tour! I can relate to a lot of what Brooke said- especially the endless fingerprints....and staying in your workout clothes for a large chunk of your day.

If you want to read more from Mercy River, they are currently doing a blog tour. You can find a list of the blogs here. 


Their new CD, HIGHER is inspiring and beautiful. I have been listening to it for days and singing along. Let's just say, it is a good one.

 Would you like a copy of their new CD, HIGHER?
Leave a comment, and a winner will be picked and announced on Monday March 19th!

post signature

Monday, April 25, 2011

Spring Sign Tutorial {using juice can lids}

In case you missed the tutorial at Creation Corner, here it is! Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter weekend!
Enjoy!

Today I'm going to show you how to reuse those frozen juice can lids to make something fun and springy! Earth Day is this month, and this project is all about recycling and using up materials that you might already have on hand.
Supplies:
 6 Juice Lids from frozen juice cans
Fabric Scraps
Scrapbook paper scraps
Small piece of twine
A board {I recycled a wooden sign I had that I wasn't using by painting it}
Spray Paint
Chipboard lettering, vinyl letters or stickers will work too
Hot Glue/ glue gun
Modge Podge (but glue will work)
Scissors

 Spray paint your juice can lids and piece of wood. The spray paint does not stick really well to the juice can lids, but you only need it on the edges. Let dry for a few hours.( If you don't have a board, you could use a long piece of fabric, such as burlap. That would work also.) The board I had was black, and had a saying on it. I was tired of it, so I just painted it and reused it. 
While that is drying, cut your fabric for the ruffles. You need a strip of fabric about 2- 2 1/2 inches wide for each ruffle. I cut my fabric about 24 inches long, and ended up having a few inches left over that I cut off at the end.
 Fold your fabric strips in 1/2 lengthwise and iron.

Set your stitch length to 4, and run a long stitch for gathering along the raw edges of each ruffle piece. Leave the threads long on each end.  To make your ruffle, you are going to pull one thread from the end and the fabric will start to gather. {If you don't have a sewing machine, you could do this with a needle and thread.}

 Next attach the scrapbook paper to the juice lids. If you have a fancy machine, you could probably cut your circles out with that. However, I used scissors and traced the lids on the paper and cut them out. I used scalloped scissors to make the edge more interesting. I attached the paper using Mod Podge, but glue would work too. I hot glued the chipboard letters on afterwards. You could also distress the letters with ink or paint if desired. (If you don't have chipboard letters, stickers, vinyl lettering, or even printing letters off of your computer would work.)

Decide which way you want your sign to go. I wanted to hang mine on the front door, so I went with
vertical, but horizontal would work too.


Lay out your ruffles, deciding which fabric you want to go with which letter. Don't worry about the messy threads just yet. ;) Now you are ready to glue the ruffles onto back of the juice lids.

 Carefully, apply hot glue to the lid, and place the ruffle around the edge. Fold the raw edges under so they do not show.
 Once that is done, hot glue the pieces onto the board. It is easiest to apply the hot glue to the fabric, instead of the lid, when doing this. Now trim the threads and glue strings.
To hang the sign- I made a tassel and attached it to some twine.
To make a tassel, cut fabric into very small strips so it looks like ribbon. Tie it together in the middle, and attach to the twine. {You could use ribbon or wire to hang this up also.}
Hot glue the twine to the back of the sign, making sure it is even on both sides.

Hang your sign up and admire your pretty craft creation! ☺☺☺
 The best part of this is, it cost next to nothing! If you have a "stash" like me, you can just use it up to make this. AND no one will know you used juice can lids to make this. :) I'm off to start something similar for summer!
                                                           Happy Spring Everyone!



post signature

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Spring Tutorial & Guest Blogging

I'm participating in SPRING FEVER over at CREATION CORNER. I'm sharing a tutorial on how I made the above little SPRING sign. Go check it out!
Happy Spring and Happy Easter tomorrow!
Thanks for Reading!
oxoxo
monogram


p.s. I have two tutes to share with you next week...and in case you miss this one- I'll be posting it too :)
post signature

Friday, September 10, 2010

Feature Friday: Blog Swap with Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Well finally... I get to feature Summer from Sumo's Sweet Stuff! I think I have had this scheduled and cancelled before, and she is in high demand when it comes to being featured or swapping! Well- it is no wonder- she has some fabulously sweet stuff on her blog- and I'm not just talking about all the delicious desserts and treats she has....so take a look and see :)


Hello everyone!

I'm so excited to be blog swapping with Sharla today! Isn't she fantastic???

I'm Sumo, from Sumo's Sweet Stuff!



Sumo's Sweet Stuff

My real name is Summer, but my husband nicknamed me Sumo when we were dating. (Should I be offended?) Now he's got all of my family, as well as lots of our friends, calling me Sumo. I think Aunt Sumo sounds pretty great, don't you? I live in Utah with my husband, and our two beautiful daughters - Reece & Remi!



Growing up, I never used to be all that domestic or crafty, so I think no one is more surprised than my mom at how I've ended up where I am today! I started Sumo's Sweet Stuff last May as a place to keep some of my crafting projects so that my personal blog wasn't overrun with them. Somehow, that developed into a place to host giveaways, share tutorials, share recipes, and feature fellow bloggers' ideas and blogs! I also use my blog to promote my etsy shop, so if you're ever in the market for some baby girl accessories, come on over! Every Monday is Market Yourself Monday, where you can link up your latest projects, and visit other blogs to get some inspiration!
Sumo Sweet Stuff


Here's a little peek at some of the things you can find on my blog:



















You can find something every day of the week at Sumo's Sweet Stuff:

Market Yourself Monday
Tutorial Tuesday
Mouth-Watering Wednesday
Things to Try Thursday
Feature Friday
Showcase Saturday
Sponsor Sunday

I also am involved in a joint blogging venture -
Win, Lose or Blog. If you aren't following already, you should get on over there and do so! We have a lot of great sponsors, and not all of the prizes donated are going to the contestants - they are also going to people who comment! Plus it's just nice to cheer for those lovely ladies. We're also starting to do some giveaways, so what's not to love? Season 2 is underway, which means you better get over there and get involved!

Coming up is The Creative Chick Parade September 13th-17th! Go here to find out all of the details and see how you can get involved! I'll be hosting lots of fun giveaways during that week on my blog, so come on over!

Thanks again for having me! I hope to see you all over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff soon!


Doesn't she have some fun things? And all in one place! Everyday you can find something new too! I love the Win Lose or Blog site too! Take a look there also. Thanks Summer! I love what you have to offer to the blog world!

If you would like to be a guest or swap blogs with My Little Gems, please contact me at  little gems crafts (all one word) at gmail dot com.
post signature