Cartwheels In My Mind

Halloween Garland.

Happy October! YAY! I'm so excited for trick or treating & dressing the kids up in their costumes. Such a fun time of year. So excited!

And it is also that time of year to change up the decor. Have you started decorating your home for Autumn or Halloween yet? In all honesty, I'm still waiting for my Fall box to be brought down from the attic, so I can start decorating my house. So, I am just not getting started.

Today, I want to share with you a simple Halloween garland. This was pretty easy, everything cut out for me and all I had to do was add the letters to the ribbon and that was it (the banner is a Martha Stewart product that I've had for a few years & figured it was time to use it). But, I wanted to give the banner a little color to spruce it up a bit. So, I used some embellishments I've been hanging onto for a while.

Then cut out the spider & web design using my Silhouette die-cut machine. Took me no time to complete this project. Pretty simple!

Now, I am ready to add a little more spookiness to the rest of the house. Please share some of your Autumn or Halloween decor with us at our Flickr gallery. Would love to see!

Happy Weekend, Cheers :)

Digikit "Maddie Embellishments" by Erica Hernandez

Brighten it up!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE COLOR!  I don't have any windows in my upstairs bathroom so I've tried to bring in some brightness with accessories and decor.  And one little project I love is my memory verse banner.

 

 I created with a couple of those little suction cup hooks and some thin jewelry wire and attached it near the top of my mirror.  Then I printed out some cool printable tags and used some EyeCandy overlays, SEI patterned paper, some Jenni Bowlin goodies, paper clips and mini clips. 

Once I had my tags designed, I sat down and wrote some of my favorite Bible verses on each one.  One of my friends and I used to memorize verses together each week so I added a few of my favorites from that along with some others.  I love that as I'm getting ready in the morning, I can read over my memory verses.  Not only is it an encouragement but it's also a fun little decor item to add a bit of color.

   

 
Vintage frames from Kitschy Digitals.

Turning Frames Into Magnets

  Hi everyone!  So, remember the playroom 'move'/makeover?  Well, I am still at it!  Hoping to have it all finished up to share for this month's 'Update Your Room' article!  But in the meantime, there are a few little projects within the bigger project that I would love to share with you!

This one, is turning frames into magnets.  My husband and I installed a sheet of metal (that my husband painted with chalkboard paint) onto a side wall beside the computer desk in the playroom.  Since it is metal as well as a large chalkboard, I envisioned fun drawing and lots of magents holding up art work!

 

I picked up these frames a few weeks ago, and they are meant to be stuck directly on the wall.  They are like super large stickers.. very very light weight!  I bought them to go in my daughter's room originally.. but when I got them home, I decided to put them in the playroom instead.. in the form of magnets!  

 

 

I *thought* each frame was individually backed, with a layer to pull off and then it would become sticky.. so the plan was to just glue the magnet onto that backing.  BUT, they weren't individually backed.. they were all placed on one backing sheet.. just like a sheet of stickers would be.  So, if I peeled it off, it was very very sticky on the back.. which would become a pain for the kids and their art work I am sure!  So, I decided to use my scissors and cut around the frame.. leaving the clear plastic backing in place.  Then, I just hot glued on some magnets that I picked up at the dollar store, and voila (!!!)..

 

Cheryl sent me that super cute owl card.. it was just begging to be hung on the wall somewhere in the house!! Adorable!  ..and the cute drawing by my girl.. a girl on her way to school she says!  I love that there is a spot in the playroom to be creative!  

 

Loving how these frames look against the chalkboard.. a little bit of glam!  So easy.. total cost of the frames + magnets was under $10!  The kids can also use the frames to actually 'frame' little pictures that they draw on the wall!  

So excited to share the final room with you!  If you are wanting to see more peeks, you can check out the inspiration/beginning of project (here), the paper flower mobile (here), and the beginning of an art wall (here)!  So much handmade love going into this room.. loooooving the process! :)

 

An Apple for the Teacher

   In just two short days my kids will be heading back to school.  It also means back to school for my husband and I since we are both teachers.  I can't believe my son will be in 7th grade (which means he's way too old for cute teacher gifts) and my daughter will be in 3rd grade this year!  She is so excited to start school and even more excited about the teacher she has this year.  Together we came up with an idea for a back to school gift for her teacher.

I bought a bright red ceramic flower pot (our school colors are red and grey - so it had to be red!) to use for the container.  I then used my Cricut to cut her teacher's name from black vinyl and adhered it to the pot.  I also used the Cricut to cut a cute little smiling apple to attach to a notepad.  I put some shredded white gift basket filler in the bottom, tied a ribbon around the pencils (pawprints for our school mascot), added the apple notepad, and a quick tag I made using cursive alphabet paper (October Afternoon).  Overall it was a quick project, but I love how it turned out and know that her teacher will love it too!

Best wishes to all your kiddos as they head back to school....and don't forget to give those teachers a little love too.  ♥

 

Addicted To Patterns.

Hi my name is Nora, and I am addicted to wrapping paper. So I kind of hoard my very favorite patterns, but I thought I'd share a way I use every last inch of it.

 

When I wrapped one gift in this cute sock monkey paper I had a useless strip leftover. So I took the next box, wrapped in kraft colored paper and used the leftover strip to decorate the box.

 

I also am addicted to patterned paper...good thing I have an obscene amount so I could make this tag. :)
 

 

Free For All

I have always had a hard time getting rid of items that hold memories for me.  I used to have shoe boxes filled with notes from my friends in jr high and high school, cards from my grandparents, and souvenirs I had collected on family vacations.  Scrapbooking became a way for me to collect and save a lot of memories...but there is not enough time or scrapbook supplies for me to include every memory into our family scrapbooks.  Several years ago I came across a great idea on another blog and made it my own.  I started a family memory jar.  In this jar we put all the ticket stubs and small pieces of paper that are connected to family memories - everything from NY Yankees game tickets to my daughters dance recital tickets to movie tickets at our local theater.  It takes 2 seconds to come home and put a memory into the jar...and it's so fun to dump out the contents and look back at everything we have done together.  Until recently the jar has been in one of our cupboards, but I pulled out, made a quick tag, and now have it on display in our family room.

 

Happy memory making!!