~beautiful giveaway

Head on over to Just Simply Southern (here) to enter this awesome giveaway! I'll be honest... I've been drooling over several of these pieces for a long time now!

~picture block 2

When I found the 1st picture of the boys on the beach (here), I came across this one, too. One of my most favorite pictures... I found this wooden block at Joann's and thought it would be perfect. Still, I wanted to try something a little different than before. So... I cut out "Love" at the bottom using my cricut (Storybook cartridge). I was totally happy with the outcome! (I followed all the same steps like the first picture block found at the link above.)

*I used the center point feature on the cricut to center the letters. I hadn't played with that feature much, so I was very pleasantly suprised!

~giveaway time!

Hey everyone! Between Naps on the Porch is having a tassel giveaway! To check it out, click here...

~my blooming boys

For Valentine's Day, my sweet husband bought me a new toy. (He knows me so well... No chocolates, no flowers... crafting supplies!) Anyway, my gift was an itop brad maker. Oh, the possibilities! So, I found these beauties at the Dollar Tree. Don't get me wrong! They are nice... but I saw something more...

Ahh... my new flowers for my desk! But take a closer look...


My little angels! Ok... are they cute or what?! I removed the yellow bloom, which left the green leaves on the back. I bought the variety pack of paper flowers at Michael's. To make the brads, I simply printed a black and white picture of each boy and used the itop pattern maker for this size brad.

Ethan... my loverboy. Can't you see the twinkle in his eyes?! I never know what this child is going to say!

Creed... my sensitive, sweet little man. He is my constant show... always thinking of his next movie character to portray!

I am totally thinking about having my students make these as Mother's Day gifts for their moms. What do you think?

~DIY magnet board

My sweet sister in law @ Therapy for Roses made me the most adorable magnet board several months ago. So I had to try one for myself! (She is so talented!)

I started with this metal picture from the Dollar Tree. Hmm... can this fantastic picture be improved???

Bye, bye cow! I started by giving Bessy a thick coat of Mod Podge.

I covered the front with my choice of scrapbook paper and wrapped the edges around back for a clean look. I sealed these edges with more Mod Podge.

I distressed the edges with my new favorite color, frayed burlap. It comes out as a light brown. (no red here!)

Then I added a coordinating strip to the bottom (using Mod podge) and distressed the strip.

I covered the entire board with the 1st coat of Mod Podge.

Using my storybook cartridge, I cut out my letters and ran them through my Xyron sticker maker. (LOVE that little thing!)

I placed the letters at the bottom and added a 2nd coat of Mod Podge. I also punched holes in the top. (I used a Crop A Dile for this)

I found a blue ribbon I had left over from another projects. This ribbon matched perfectly! I ran it through the sticker maker.

I placed the ribbon between the main board and the stip to act as a border. I glued a button on with twine tied to it. No purpose here... I just thought it might be cute! Then I went over the name one last time.

Here is the finished board! This is going to my son's 1st Grade teacher. I hope she likes it! I tied some cute burlap-like ribbon to the top to had the magnet board from.

These magnets were super easy! I took plastic tiles and printed off some cute pictures of his teacher (facebook is wonderful on many levels!). I used Mod Podge to glue the picture to the tile, added another coat to the back to seal, then placed a stickable magnet to the back. Done!

Originally, my plan was to have these ready for my kids' teachers for Valentine's Day. Oops! Well, I guess these will be gifts for "Just Because" Day. (Those are the best gifts anyway, right?)

~new giveaway @ the girl creative

Hey! There's another great giveaway @ The Girl Creative. Click here to check it out!

~personalized mini hand sanitizers

A couple of months ago, I saw the cutest project at brown paper packages (click here). Basically, you personalize bottles of hand sanitizer by using transparency film and a lazer ink printer. I loved this! So, the other day I saw these adorable pink mini hand sanitizers at the Dollar Tree. I knew what I had to do...

I took the paper off the front and back of each bottle. Most came off easily, but I did have to use a little Goo Gone. I grabbed some extra ribbon... you'll see where it ends up! (I bet you can guess!)

I found the fonts I liked that I thought represented each friend perfectly. I printed onto transparency film and cut the letters into a square sheet. I rolled the square, pushed it into the bottle, and it unrolled perfectly! To finish off the look, I added the ribbon.

Here is a close-up. You can't see the film! It really looks like the images are just floating!

Total cost for 2 personalized mini hand sanitizers: $1!