Passionate About Crafting

Start Your Scrap Booking Engines With The New Cricut Expression 2

2012-01-25T07:38:00.002-05:00

Start Your Scrap Booking Engines With The New Cricut Expression 2
By Gregory Fish and Susan Bravero

Being a crafty person has never been simpler with the Cricut Expression 2. This handy-dandy piece of equipment has made it easy and fun to make your personal craft projects unique and personal to your vision. Being as though the Cricut Expression 2 is not the first of its kind (hence the 2) the new sleek design and the full color LCD touch screen display with stylus shows its growth with the times. Let's be honest, we don't just like things to work well we also all secretly want it to look good too.

Scrap booking can become more of a creative outlet than a hobby with the many features that the Cricut Expression 2 has to offer. But don't make the mistake of thinking that you are just limited to scrap booking because you can use this for any creative project you are doing or even add to ones that you have already done. With the Cricut the possibilities are limitless!

Unlike most new purchases you make this tool comes with two already loaded cartridges one being the Alphabet cartridge and the other being the Essentials cartridge. The Alphabet cartridge is what you will use for numbers, designs and letters giving life to anything you write. No more plain Jane letters and numbers because with the Cricut Expression 2 plain is never an option.

Now let's talk about the Essential cartridge. "Why?" you might ask? Well let me tell you, this multipurpose cartridge is really where the creative fun begins! With this cartridge you will be able to access a ton of designs, shapes and artwork that will open your mind and get those creative juices flowing so that projects can become the masterpieces you intended them to be. Features like mat preview to allow you to see before you commit. There are also material settings so that you can have your work to perfection accordingly. Also you'll have a cutting area light to help with the precise cuts you need done. There is definitely someone in the Cricut development office that is looking to please the consumer!

It always means much more when you or someone you love makes something from scratch for you because they have to put a lot of thought and energy behind it to actually sit down and create it. The Cricut Expression 2 allows anyone to open up a new way of creation. Even if you have never have tapped into your inner craftiness you can use the Expression 2 to expand your mind to what possibilities there are. And the beauty in this is the freedom you have while having the option to express yourself without the help of Hallmark or any other major manufacture.

Imagine how refreshing it is to let yourself be who you are and being able to show that self in an artistic way using the Cricut Expression 2. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our everyday lives that we don't take the time to step out of the daily routine and do something that we can truly enjoy. So stop limiting yourself and start expressing yourself --have some fun!

Susan Bravero is a power house when it comes to writing about her favorite subjects. If it can be used in your home, and give more help and fun to your life, then Susan will research it and write about it. From appliances to sewing machines and anything else domestic oriented, Susan Bravero will be finding out what its about. If you would like to learn more about the Cricut expression 2 and its many fine features, just go to the Cricut Expression 2 Website. If you want to do some scrap booking, make some greeting cards or anything artsy, then you need to check out the Cricut Expression 2.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregory_Fish

Scrapbooking | Fun Family Vacation to the Beach Scrapbook Layout

2012-01-20T09:27:00.000-05:00

Today's featured free scrapbooking layout is for all of you who love quick, easy and cheap layout ideas! This 12x12 layout took less than 30 minutes to make and cost around $1.25 if that! The 2 photos were taken down at the Jersey Shore and were from a family vacation back in October 2011. They were matted on navy blue cardstock and we left a 3/16" border.

The background is a solid white sheet of cardstock and we used a scrap of striped (blues and greens) scrapbooking paper along the bottom, it measures 5 1/2" by 12" in size. We picked it as it reminds us of moving water due to the uneven stripe pattern.

We used epoxy stickers for our title "Fun Family Vacation" and we took a family vacation sentiment that was printed on white cardstock and matted it onto navy blue cardstock and used it for our journaling block. To finish it up we used 2 "water splat" stickers and placed one on one corner of each of the two photos. Some journaling was done with a gel pen above the top photo and below the bottom photo.

For all of you who enjoy quick, easy and frugal layout ideas...this one is for you! Enjoy!

Making some special frames for gifts

2012-01-20T05:44:00.000-05:00

Guest post written by Amanda Lawson

I really love to personalize gifts whenever I can. I kept that in mind when I started thinking about all the things that I was looking at to consider to give my bridesmaids as thank you gifts. I'm going to have a photographer take all kinds of pictures of us on my big day, during the rehearsal and all the events surrounding it too, so I thought it would be neat to make a special picture frame for each of them.

I looked online to get some ideas for some DIY picture frame projects. While I was searching for that, I ran across some info on New Sears windows. Our home that we're moving into after we get married could use some fixing up and I think we're going to use the service to replace the home's windows.

I did find some really adorable DIY frame ideas and I think that I'm going to do a different one for each of my bridesmaids to make them a little more special. I think I'm also going to make a few to keep around our new house, too!

Scrapbooking | Repurposing Holiday Greeting Cards Into Your Scrapbook Layouts

2012-01-18T16:05:00.001-05:00

My mother is a very frugal scrapbooker and she made this scrapbook layout a few days ago and I wanted to show it to all of you because she simply used scrapbooking paper, cardstock, holiday stickers and she used some old holiday greeting cards as accents on her scrapbook layout.

She cuts out accents from various greeting cards she receives and saves them for her paper crafting projects. She does "mist" them all with some archival mist to make them safe to use in scrapbooking and lets them dry before using them.

The stickers she used in the layout above only cost her .50 (they were on clearance and she got 3 holiday stickers for that price) and the 3 cardstock images (right side of the layout) were all cut from holiday greeting cards! (cost her nothing). To save even more money she did all of her journaling in her own handwriting and did it under each greeting cardstock embellishment that she added to the page. She used scraps of white scrapbooking paper to frame out her photos and to she used a border punch to make "paper lace" that runs down the sides of her big red colored strip. Instead of using expensive glue dots she used 2-sided tape that she got at the dollar store.

Because she used scraps and inexpensive supplies the layout cost her ONLY $1.28 to put together! Wow...now that is frugal for sure! Just goes to show you that you can enjoy the scrapbooking hobby and not shell out a lot of money to do it! Enjoy & thanks for sharing your layout with us mom!

Walgreens Prescription Savings Club Information

2012-01-18T16:01:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you heard all of the news lately about Walgreens and Express Scripts? If not, let me tell you a little bit about it. For the past year Walgreens has tried to negotiate a new contract with Express Scripts but the negotiations failed. As of January 1st, 2012, Express Scripts clients have to go elsewhere to get their prescriptions filled, often times this means commuting across town or to another town to get the medications that they need.

Walgreens is doing the right thing by offering the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens to help ease the "pain" from the failed negotiations. Walgreens is offering a special discount where a family can join the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens for only $10.00 for the year or an individual can join for only $5.00 for the year. Wow, what a great savings! Thank you Walgreens!

By joining you can received discounts on your family's prescription medications, flu shots, pet medications, diabetic supplies & medications and even asthma & breathing supplies and medications. Wow, you can really save yourself and your family some money by joining the Prescription Savings Club! This discount plan is on over 8,000 brand name and generic drugs which is really important!

If you are an Express Scripts client you really need to know all of this information and how the failed negotiations affects you! I would like to invite you to follow Walgreens on Facebook and/or Walgreens on Twitter so that you can be kept up-to-date and so you can learn more information.

Thank you Walgreens for caring about your customers!

Scrapbooking | Gia - The Bubble Blowing Little Girl - Scrapbook Layout Idea

2012-01-15T07:54:00.003-05:00

My little granddaughter absolutely loves bubbles and last October I purchased her a big tub of bubbles with some speciality bubble blowing wands so her and her Pappy spent some time outdoors blowing lots of bubbles for me to catch! I just had to take a few photos & then scrapbook them.

This scrapbook layout is done in the 12x12 format. My background paper is made up of several pieces of scrapbooking paper. I used a sheet of solid medium pink cardstock paper as the base and then used a sheet of pink polka dot paper that measured 7" by 12" and run that across the middle but slightly off-center so that more space was at the top than what was at the bottom. I then cut 2 strips of paper with each one measuring 1" by 12" from lime green paper with pink polka dots and use that as paper ribbon to finish off each long edge of the pink polka dot paper. Finally I cut a strip of dark pink scrapbooking paper that measured 4 1/4" by 12" and ran that strip down the right side of the page.

I had 4 photos that I wanted to use so I cropped down 3 of them to fit onto the dark pink strip and placed them onto the layout with glue dots. I then framed them up with dark pink photo corners that had polka dots printed onto them. They blend in really nicely so it is hard to see in my photo. I cropped down my larger photo just slightly and matted it onto lime green and dark pink scrapbooking paper...left a 1/8" edge with the lime green paper and a 3/16" edge with the dark pink paper and placed it onto my layout with glue dots.

I had a cardstock title that says "Such a Beautiful Girl" that I matted onto dark pink scrapbooking paper and then trimmed around it leaving a 1/4" border and placed it at the top of my page to serve as my title block. I accented the little flower on it with a tiny dark pink rhinestone jewel.

To finish up the layout I used lime green cardstock letters to spell out her knickname of GIA and I chalked around their edges with dark pink chalk. I glued a tiny dark pink rhinestone on the dot of the I and then used glue dots to affix them under the larger photo.

I didn't do any journaling as you can clearly see what the photos are about. I did sign & date the layout in the bottom right corner of the page. I think this layout came out great and it only took me about 40 minutes to do! The colors are really vibrant but my camera flash made them look pale...but trust...they look great together!

Scrapbooking | "ZooTastic Fun" Zebra and Zoo 12x12 Scrapbook Layout Idea

2012-01-09T18:15:00.001-05:00

Back in September 2011...My hubby and I visited the Cape May Zoo in Cape May, N.J. so I have been busy scrapbooking some of our Zoo photos for my scrapbook. Today's layout is done in the 12x12 format/size and done in all black and white! The layout features one photo of two Zebra feeding. Aren't they beautiful?

I took a piece of zebra print scrapbooking paper and trimmed it down to measure 5 1/2" by 12" in size and glued it across the center of my solid white cardstock background page. I had 2 self-adhesive zebra print boarder stickers and I ran one of those across the top and one across the bottom of the page. From black cardstock I cut two strips with each one measuring 1/4" by 12" in size and glued them along the top and bottom edges of the zebra print paper. I think that gives it a nice finished look.

I slightly cropped down my photo of the zebra to measure 3 3/4" by 5 1/2" in size and matted that onto zebra print paper and then onto black cardstock. I leaft an 1/8" border around each mat. I then used glue dots to attach the matted photo to my background page. I cut a rectangular shaped block from white scrapbooking paper and inked around the edges with black ink. I then double matted that onto zebra print paper and black cardstock. I used self-adhesive stickers to spell out the word ZEBRA and attached it to my page. (see photo for placement).

I had a large cardstock sticker of a zebra and I placed it onto white scrapbooking paper and then trimmed it into a square size. I inked around the edges with black ink and then double matted it onto zebra print paper and black cardstock. (see photo for placement). To accent that block I simply used a black and white printed paperclip and paperclipped it to the block along the right edge of my paper.

To finish up I used my Cricut on the 1 1/4" size setting and the shadow letter effect to cut out the ZOOTASTIC and FUN! letters from black cardstock. I then ran those letters through my sticker maker machine and placed the ZOOTASTIC at the top of the page and the FUN! on the bottom left of my page. I took a fine point black marker and wrote the zoo name, date, etc. under the Zebra Block Sticker that I had made.

Overall...I love this layout! I think it came out beautiful and I only used BLACK and WHITE in the entire design of the Zoo (Zebra) page. Isn't it cute? LOL

Shopping for New Custom-Made Stamps to Use in My Crafting Projects

2012-01-09T14:34:00.005-05:00

If you have been following my blog for awhile now you will have already figured out that I am a big paper crafts type of person. I am very passionate about scrapbooking and making homemade greeting cards so I go through a lot of stamps and inking products.

One of the things I have been wanting to purchase has been a few custom stamps for some of my paper craft projects! I would love to have a new custom stamp that says "Handmade by Shelly" made up so that is probably first on my list of stamps to get this year.

Since my daughter and I both scrapbook and often scrapbook together I would like to get us some signature stamps as I think they are totally cool! I think they would be fabulous to use on our scrapbook layouts, handmade greeting cards or even on a few of our ATC trading cards. I love that you can get these in a self-inking style so you don't even have to mess with separate ink pads to use them.

I went to a few offline retail stores here in my area to search for these two styles of custom stamps and none of our local stores had any for sale. Geesh, go figure! I then decided to get online and look on the internet for custom discount stamps and I found several nice places online that sell them for an affordable price. Yeah me, I love shopping online & finding exactly what I want!

I think when I order my custom stamps that I will also go ahead and order a new address stamp and a new banking stamp "for deposit only" as both of those will help me out with my home-based business. I love the various styles and types you can get with those these days!

So...if you are a crafter like me and can't find any custom stamps in your local area...you really should check out the retailers online because they have a bigger selection of stamps and frankly, they are so much cheaper than our local craft supply stores!

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Scrapbooking | Visit to Hershey Chocolate World Scrapbook Layout

2012-01-07T10:36:00.001-05:00

Back in October 2011 we were celebrating my husband's 50th Birthday so we decided to take our 26 yr. old daughter and our 2 1/2 year old grand daughter to Hershey Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania for the afternoon. I wanted to capture that fabulous afternoon so that we would always remember it so I decided to scrapbook a photo that was taken that afternoon while we visited Chocolate World.

I used a piece of 12x12 scrapbooking paper for my background that was done in a neutral tone with beiges and browns. I purchased a pack of stickers at the local Hershey Scrapbooking store and used them to accent my layout (the Hershey's chocolate bar, Hershey's Kisses, Hershey's Hugs and even the title of my page came from that pack).

I took our large photo (slightly larger than a standard 4x6 photo) and framed it out in a dark chocolate brown frame and attached it to the page with glue dots.

This was a super quick, easy and frugal layout to do and I love how clean looking it is. In a few days I will post the matching page which has my journaling and the rest of the photos on it.

Cafe Well: The Social Network to help you get fit and to stay healthy

2012-01-07T00:00:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cafe Well for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Normally I do not discuss health topics here on my craft blog but since it is a new year and I know many of my readers make New Year's Eve resolutions to get more active, fit and to loose weight so today I am making an exception and going to talk to you about the social networking site called Cafe Well. This wonderful social network offers corporate wellness programs that really work and both companies and participants are loving it!

Cafe Well is sponsored by HealthAmerica and Race to the Moon represents a wellness program that is both fun and rewarding to participants. Each member is offered a free wireless pedometer which tracks their steps and rewards them for those steps and milestones! We all love rewards because that is what motivates us to get up off the sofa and to move around!

Race to the Moon works and in just under 1 month the program participants walked over 50 million steps, wow, what an accomplishment that is! You can find all of the information over at Cafe Well so that you can participate and I think this program is so successful because you can interact with other participants over on their site to get some additional support and tips. Social networking online is where folks are and where folks get their support these days and you can get support there too!

If I was to create a challenge it would be to eat more healthy foods as both my husband and I like to indulge way too much in unhealthy foods which is packing the pounds onto us. I am already an avid walker so where I need to make a change is in my eating.

I hope you head on over to Cafe Well and check out the program information as I think you will really like what you see. Good Luck!

Scrapbooking | Romantic 50th Wedding Anniversary Scrapbook Layout Idea

2012-01-05T07:56:00.007-05:00

A few months ago my great aunt handed me a box full of photos and asked me to scrapbook them for her and I am just now getting around to it. My great aunt has very simple tastes (she is now 86 years old) so I am keeping the layouts pretty streamlined and clean looking as I know she would like that more than me really cluttering up the pages. The layout above was done in the 12x12 format and took about 35 minutes to make.

The background is a piece of 12x12 printed scrapbooking paper done in offwhite with multi-shades of blue in an all-over rose print. I made 2 border strips from solid dusty blue cardstock paper that each measure 3/4" by 12" in size and used a fancy decorative edge on my paper trimmer to pretty up one edge on each strip and glued one to the top and to the bottom of the page.

I had 3 photos that were taken of them about 18 years ago so I cropped them down and matted them onto white cardstock and then onto dusty blue cardstock leaving a 3/16" around each mat. I placed them onto the page as seen in the photo above. I had a 4" diameter paper lacy edge doily that I cut in half and placed each half under the top and under the bottom of the photo of the two of them together on the right side of the page using tiny glue dots. I then accented each end with a 3-dimensional dusty blue flower.

I took a clear-adhesive sticker that says "Two People, One Heart" and matted that onto white and onto dusty blue cardstock and cropped it down for my title block. I then had my aunt write "Mr. and Mrs. Alvin ____" onto white cardstock in her own handwriting and matted that with dusty blue cardstock, leaving a 3/16" edge.

I think I accomplished a clean, simple and uncluttered look with the layout. Auntie loves roses and her favorite color is blue...hence my choice for the print paper and the solid cardstock.

Scrapbooking | Aged to Perfection 50th Birthday Party Scrapbook Layout

2012-01-01T15:40:00.004-05:00

Happy 50th Birthday to my Husband! Back in October 2011 we held a surprise 50th Birthday Party for my hubby at our local Olive Garden and had almost 30 guests. We had a fantastic time with a lot of great food! I wanted to do a scrapbook page of the Birthday Boy but I wanted it to be "manly" looking and this is what I came up with.

I used a piece of 12x12 scrapbooking paper with a black, dark burgundy and light yellow striped pattern. I then cut two strips that measure 1" by 12" from solid black cardstock and glued them along the top and bottom of the page. I used burgundy stickers to spell out "Ove The Hill Sam!" across the top and "The Birthday Boy" across the bottom.

I had 2 photos that I cropped down and matted them onto pale yellow and then black cardstock leaving an 1/8" border with the yellow and a 3/16" border with the black. I made a 1" by 2 1/2" size tab from yellow cardstock and matted that onto black cardstock and used a glue dot to place a round black button onto it. I slid the tab behind the #2 photo with about 1" of it sticking out. (see photo for pic placements & the tab).

I had 2 clear adhesive back stickers that I wanted to use...one that said "Aged to Perfection" and one that said "Make a Wish" and I put them onto pale yellow cardstock, inked around the edges in black and then matted the blocks onto black cardstock. I trimmed it down so that only 3/16" border remained. I used adhesive foam dots on the back of each one and placed them onto my page. To finish up the layout I used two chipboard numbers 5 and 0 and used glue dots to attach them to the upper right corner of the "Aged to Perfection" block.

I really like the clean (not cluttered) look of this layout and it is certainly manly looking! The layout took me about 35 minutes to make since I used stickers for my lettering and title blocks.

How to Make a Candle: Creating That Warm Glow From Scratch

2011-12-28T07:50:00.000-05:00

How to Make a Candle: Creating That Warm Glow From Scratch
By Jason Kinech

I love having candles around the house. Not only are they great for power outages (which is virtually all the unscented ones are used for), but they also create a relaxing and peaceful energy in a room. There is only one problem: they can be pricey. Now I know that every grocery store or convenience shop has them on the cheap, but this is a case where you get what you pay for. How?

The cheap candles tend to be grainy, burn unevenly, and have a very artificial smell to them. None of this is relaxing. Of course, one solution is to simply buy the more expensive, possibly name brand candles, but where's the fun in that? Instead, spend that some amount of money in a few cheap supplies and you can make dozens of candles for yourself. Plus, you can make completely personal and unique candles that aren't available anywhere else. Pretty fun, right?

Obviously, you're going to need to buy a few supplies. However, these supplies will cost as much as (or possibly less than) one of the brand name jar candles. In fact, this simple shopping trip will allow you to make more than enough candles for yourself. Here is your shopping list:

1 candle pitcher
1 block of soy wax (container)
as many jars as you'd like
Pre set wicks (long enough for the height of the jar)
Candle dyes
Candle scents

While all of this might cost $50 or so upfront, there are two things to keep in mind. Firstly, the candle pitcher is optional; you don't have to buy one (it just makes things a little easier). Secondly, the dyes and scents will lost an extremely long time, and you can actually make your own if you want to go really on the cheap. For the sake of simplicity though, I'm going to assume that you purchased everything. Not only will this make this guide easier to follow, but it won't change if you do make your own scents or dyes.

The first thing that you need to need is make sure that your candle jars don't need to be preheated. Most don't that are made for this, but if you aren't sure just put them into your oven and set it to warm. One you're clear on your containers you're ready to start melting wax.

This is pretty simple. Just put a few cups of water into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, then add your candle pitcher. If you opted to pass on the candle pitcher, just make a double boiler with another pan. I won't judge; don't worry (I have way too many pans, so this was my way to go for a long time). Add some wax to the pitcher/double boiler and grab a candy thermometer.

Alright, I admit it. I forgot to tell you that you'd need a candy thermometer. But it's such a little thing, and no one ever thinks of it being involved with candles! Besides, chances are good that your grandmother has 1 (or 7) anyway, so you shouldn't have to buy one. If you do, they're only a few bucks.

So now that you have a candy thermometer, just clip it onto your pitcher or double boiler so that the metal tip is in the liquid wax. It is really important that you keep an eye on your wax temperature while it is on the heat! Why? Nothing ruins a candle like a large kitchen fire. It may be funny in the movies, but they're a real day ruiner in reality. To avoid dealing with a massive wax fire, watch your wax the entire time it is on the heat!

When your wax reaches the proper temperature (around 160 to 180 degrees, read your wax packaging to be sure) it's time to add the color and scent. We'll go with the color first. This is where the personalization really begins: you can make it any color that you want to! Don't just say pink either; take a page from the big companies' book. Instead of pink, your candle is 'summer love'. It's not green, it's 'spring oak leaf'. The more ridiculous the color, the more impressive it sounds to friends and family. Refuse to tell them how you 'mixed it', it will add to the mystery of your newfound skills.

After the color has been added and mixed the scent is next to go in. While it is much easier to just buy scents (as I assumed you did for this guide), once you are a little more comfortable with the process it's worth it to make your own scents. Don't worry; it's very easy, but for right now just add your store-bought scent. Very important: as soon as the scent is mixed into the wax, pour the candle. Why?

If you leave the scented wax on the heat to long it can burn the fragrance, which results in a very artificial and cooked smell. Not magical, not relaxing, and not something you can show off to friends and family. So just add the scent and stir a few times to incorporate, then pour the wax into your container.

While the wax is still hot, carefully lower your pinned wick to the bottom. If you don't like doing it this way, dip the pin in hot wax and immediately stick to the bottom of your container before pouring the wax. Though it can come up, this method is slightly easier.

Now that your new, unique, and personal candle is poured; you are at the worst part (for most anyway): the waiting. There is really no way to speed this up without negatively affecting the candle, so just be patient. If at all possible, let them cool overnight to ensure that there are no warm pockets or soft spots, as this can create awkward setting and uneven burning if it is lit too soon.

So now your candle is finally cooled off, ready to go, and waiting. Light that thing! Enjoy the fragrance it gives up, and give yourself a firm pat on the back. You've earned it!

If you need more simple steps for candle making just check out our free guide on candle making, and remember to have fun.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Kinech

Win Subway Gift Cards During Gift Card Weekend!

2011-12-28T01:00:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gift Card Weekend for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you heard of Gift Card Weekend? It is a once-a-year event where participating retail stores and online retailers give featured offers for gift cards purchased during the Holiday season and redeemed from January 6 - January 8, 2012. I know I have personally never heard of it until now, but I am excited for Gift Card Weekend to get here so I can check it out for myself!

During this very cool event, you can enter to win some amazing gift cards yourself! "Gilbert the Gift Card Machine" is giving away more than 100 gift cards a week leading up to Gift Card Weekend! All you have to do to be entered is like Gift Card Weekend on Facebook and share it with friends. For every friend that you influence to come over and like the page and enter too, you get an extra entry! Wow, how fun is that? Totally fun and I am excited about participating!

And the $10 Subway gift cards that I mentioned? You can look for those to be given away daily to Facebook fans from December 23rd through December 31st. There are tons of giveaways all month long! So check the page and your emails several times a day to see if you have won and to participate!

Remember to redeem your gift cards from your Holiday Gift Giving on Jan 6-8th on the Gift Card Weekend Site and join the cool sponsors for extra bonuses and fun! There are several nice sponsors participating and here is a list of those:

-JCPenny
-Regal Cinema
-Subway
-Sephora
-Applebee's
-Bass Pro Shops
-Adidas
-Buca di Beppo
-Lowe's
-Spa Finder
-Marriot
-Giant Eagle

Doesn't all of this sound like a lot of fun? Yes it does! I hope you will take a few minutes out of your busy day today and head on over there and check it all out! You never know, you could end up being a big winner!

How To Make Homemade Edible Play Dough with Recipe

2011-12-26T08:03:00.001-05:00

We love this frugal recipe for making homemade edible play dough and it only takes about 3 minutes to make! You don't have to worry about your kid's eating this one as it is totally edible! So they can create some fun things with their play dough and then when they are finished they can have a little snack. I do recommend that you have them WASH their hands before playing with this so that they don't "germ" up their dough snack!

Edible Play Dough Recipe

Mix 1 jar of peanut butter (18 ounce)
6 Tbsp. of honey
non-fat dry milk powder (until the correct consistency)

In a large mixing bowl you will want to mix up the creamy smooth peanut butter with the honey. Then start stirring in the dry powdered milk until you get a dough consistency. I recommend doing a tablespoon at a time. Once it is ready...let the kids play with it and then when done they can enjoy a snack!

Additional Tips: If you want colored play dough you can break off balls of the dough and then mix in some cocoa powder for brown chocolate dough or try mixing in some kool-aid drink powder. The cherry flavor makes a nice red or reddish pink dough but you ONLY want to use just a tad of the Kool-aid powder...just a tad to tint the dough. We have also added drops of juice into the mixture and decreased the honey a tad to get tinted dough...like a few drops of grape juice (purple grape juice) will help to tint the dough blue.

You do NOT want to store this dough as there is no preservatives in it and it will go bad...so let them eat it or dispose of it when they are done.

Scrapbooking | Shell Collecting at the Sea Shore Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-12-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

Today's featured layout was done in the 12x12 scrapbooking format and is a really easy layout to do. This layout features Dazzles (peel & stick embellishments) that I purchased from PaperWishes.com. The 2 photos are of myself & hubby down at the Jersey Shore on vacation back in September while we were on the beach collecting shells.

I had 2 verticle photos which I slightly cropped down and matted them onto chocolate brown cardstock, leaving 3/16" border around the edge. The background is a piece of 12x12 scrapbooking paper from a vacation pack done in a sandy beach color. In the top right corner you will see stamped in black ink a blank POSTAGE STAMP box. I then used four tiled numbers to mark the year of 2011 and these tile numbers are in the form of postage stamps. I just simply glued them onto my page (top right).

I purchased a package of beach theme'd Dazzles from PaperWishes.com and I used the SeaShore Dazzle under the left photo. I then took 2 large sea shell Dazzles and mounted them onto aqua colored vellum and trimmed around the outer edge. I used glue dots to adhere them to my page. I did the same thing for the smaller sea shell and the bubbles that surround them. I used a little chalk to add a rosy color to some of the bubbles.
I used the Palm Tree from the Dazzles pack on the left side of my page. I cut it apart so that I could mount the trunk onto light brown colored vellum and the leaves onto light green vellum and then trimmed around the outer edges. I then pieced them back together and placed them under the right photo using glue dots. I love how easy the Dazzles are to use and I personally like placing colored vellum underneath them instead of scrapbooking paper.

This is a very easy layout but it did take me an hour to make because of all of the trimming of the Dazzles.

Too many shows to count

2011-12-20T08:10:00.001-05:00

Guest post of the week by Deangelo Spencer

I got DirecTV Mississippi when first moved in and boy do I watch a lot of TV. Jeopardy comes on when I’m eating dinner each night (which I don’t mind admitting I watch because I think it makes me sound smarter) and then during the days I watch a combination of stuff on TLC like Say Yes to the Dress and 19 Kids and Counting as well as Criminal Minds. I work from home which means I’ve just got too much time on my hands to sit around here so when I need a break I head into the living room and turn on the TV to pass the time. There’s something to be said for having a dog – if I didn’t have him here I think I would go crazy – but the TV also helps keep me company. I mean, let’s be real, what it actually keeps me is “from working” but what’s a little lost productivity when it means I’m having better days being home alone all the time?

Tips for Putting Together a Baby Shower

2011-12-15T08:00:00.001-05:00

Tips for Putting Together a Baby Shower by O Quinn

More well liked than bridal showers baby showers are almost a necessity as baby’s needs can break the bank.

Here’s how to make it fun for all guests.

It is considered in bad taste for the pregnant mother or any of her relatives to throw the shower. Ask a close friend to throw one instead.

Let your guests know if the baby’s gender is already known. If it’s not known let the guests know in the shower invitation so they can shop accordingly (if they would be so kind).

Decorate the baby shower with baby accessories which are then presented to the expectant mother or couple at the end of the baby shower.

Diaper cakes, while ever so popular, are also practical because they are made from cloth diapers and decorated with baby accessories. These items will become well used once the baby is born.

Do include the father in the baby shower if at all possible. Many men turn their noses up at the word “baby shower” but this can be made fun so they are not upset they came. Also if the father is part of the shower invite other males so he is not left out.

Don’t overwhelm your baby shower guests with games. More than five and it’s overkill. These are not toddlers who need you to direct their day. Some other ideas can be let the guests mingle with each other and the guest of honor. Have an activity where the guests each write out a lovely piece of baby wisdom on decorative cards to give the mom-to-be. She can read them aloud once they are done and keep them in a decorative tin for future reminiscing.

Some fun baby shower games include...

Word scramble: Scramble up words of baby items and give your guests a few minutes to figure out what they are. Make them hard words too. Don’t let them off easy with words such as crib or bottle.

Guess the baby accessory: Find some not so common baby items and have people guess what they are used for.

Ask questions from common childhood stories. Such as “What was the second pig’s house made out of in the Three Little Pigs?” or “Who were the three lazy characters in The Little Red Hen?”.
Baby’s are precious. Visit Infant and Baby Needs for great tips on shopping for gear and caring for these tiny precious lives.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Scrapbooking | Pretty As A Princess Toddler Girl Scrapbook Layout

2011-12-10T07:57:00.000-05:00

Today I am sharing with you another layout that I made in the 12x12 format mostly using supplies that I received from Scrapbuck.com. If you have never purchased scrapbooking supplies from them I would like to suggest that you check them out. They have all of the name brands you love and they have them all at affordable prices!

For this layout I used a pink piece of scrapbooking paper that has "Princess" wording all over it from my own paper stash as the background for the layout. I had 3 photos of my little grand daughter wearing a pink princess costume that I wanted to use in the layout. I cropped 2 of them down just a little bit and then I cropped down the third one so that it measures 3" square. I then used 2 sheets of the pink textured cardstock and 1 sheet of the white textured cardstock from the Colorbok Deluxed Textured Cardstock pad that has 50 sheets in it from Scrapbuck and it only costs $6.00 to triple mat all three photos. The inner mat is pink, the middle one is white and the outer one is pink and I left an 1/8" border around each mat. I used double sided tape to mat them all and to apply them to my scrapbooking page.

I had a sheet of pink vellum in my stash and I cut the vellum on the diagonal and then placed the triangle of vellum onto my layout running from the top right down to the bottom left. I used their double sided tap to attach the vellum to my page and was pleasantly surprised that you can't see the tape underneath the vellum, yeah!!! I then cut six squares from the pink vellum that was leftover and each square measures 2 1/2" and then I cut each little square on the diagonal to make vellum photo corners for each of the three photos. Again, I used their double sided tape to adhere them onto the corners of each photo. I then took the tiny self-adhesive pink rhinestones and placed one in each corner on each photo to add a little Princess "bling" to the layout.
For my page title I simply used my Cricut on the #1 size setting and cut out the letters CUTIE from medium pink textured cardstock and then did the shadow setting and cut the same letters out of white textured cardstock (cardstock from the Colorbok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pad). I ran all the letters through my Xyron sticker maker to apply adhesive to the backsides and layered them together. I used my glue pen to glue them onto my layout.

I will admit, this layout took me an hour to make which is usually more time than what I usually like to spend on making one page. The reason it took so long was the triple matting of each photo along with cutting down vellum for photo corners. If you want a quicker page then just single mat or double mat your photos. This page costs about $3.00 to make if you purchase your supplies on sale and check out Scrapbuck.com for scrapbooking deals!

Disclosure: I was given free products by the company mentioned in this blog post to try out in my own home for all of my blog readers. My opinions, thoughts and ideas on those products are 100% unbiased and honest. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this post nor did I receive monetary compensation from the company. Your thoughts & opinions may differ from my own. Please read my Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy here on my blog for further information. All information on this blog is copyright 2009-2011, all rights reserved.

Kid's Craft Project | A Christmas Angel Your Own Little Angel Can Make

2011-12-07T08:00:00.002-05:00

A Christmas Angel Your Own Little Angel Can Make by Denise Willms

Here is an easy Christmas craft your preschooler can make with a little help and supervision. Even if your preschooler isn’t always an angel, she can still help you decorate a Christmas tree with beautiful paper angels.

What you need:

Construction paper (any color)
Scissors
Pencil
Cotton ball
Items to make large and small circle patterns (plate, coin, lid)
White paper
Glue

What you do:

First, use a large circle pattern and draw a large circle on the construction paper. Cut out the circle and fold it in half. Then cut the circle in half, along the fold. Bend the half circle into a cone. Staple or glue the cone together. This will be the angel’s body.

Fold the sheet of white paper in half. Place a small circle pattern on the paper so that the edge of the circle is touching the fold. Trace the circle and cut it out. Do not cut across the fold. When you unfold the paper, you want to have two attached circles. This will be the angel’s face.

One of the small circles, draw a face. Glue a cotton ball on the other small circle for the angel’s hair. Glue the bottom of each circle to the top of the angel’s body (the cone).

Now fold another piece of construction paper in half. Draw a wing that touches the fold, so that when it’s cut out you will have two wings joined together. Cut it out, unfold and glue the wings across the angel’s back. A stapler might work better.

Decorate your angel with paper doilies, glitter, or anything else you have on hand. You can put it on top of the Christmas tree, or attach a string to the angel’s head and hang it from a branch on the Christmas tree.

Denise Willms is a homeschooling mom of two, and owner of WAHM-Articles.com. You can find more information on homeschooling at http://www.learnhowtohomeschool.com

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Purchase Your Handmade Gifts From Etsy.com

2011-12-05T14:36:00.006-05:00

Last year I did a lot of my holiday gift shopping from Etsy and found some very nice items to give as gifts and several nice handmade items to decorate my home with. If you have never shopped on Etsy before...you are really missing out!

When you shop at Etsy you can shop from thousands of artisans and crafters from all over the world. You can buy jewelry, handmade bags, wooden toys, holiday decor, holiday ornaments, knitted sweaters, stained glass accessories, crochet afghans and just about anything else that is handmade.

I firmly believe that we all should be doing more to support the small mom and pop businesses in the world and by purchasing your holiday gifts and holiday home decor items from Etsy sellers is a great way to support them. So, head on over to Etsy today and take a look around, I am sure you will find the perfect gift for someone on your holiday list!

Pipe Cleaner Candy Cane Ornament – An Easy Preschool Christmas Craft

2011-12-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

Pipe Cleaner Candy Cane Ornament – An Easy Preschool Christmas Craft by Denise Willms

No Christmas tree is complete without those red and white Christmas confectionary delights – candy canes. But if you’d rather keep the extra sugar out of the house and away from your preschoolers, here’s an easy and fun Christmas ornament your children can make.

What you need:

Red crepe paper or red ribbon
A white pipe cleaner
Scissors
Glue

What you do:

First, bend the pipe cleaner into a candy cane shape. Then cut a thin strip of the paper. Wrap the strip of paper around the pipe cleaner, leaving enough space so some of the pipe cleaner shows.
Glue the ends of the paper or ribbon to the pipe cleaner. When your candy cane is complete, you can hang it on the Christmas tree or attach it to your wrapped presents. Experiment with different colors to make your Christmas tree festive.

Denise Willms is a homeschooling mom of two, and owner of WAHM-Articles.com. You can find more information on homeschooling at http://www.learnhowtohomeschool.com
Article Source: WAHM Articles

Kids Crafts | How To Make A Pinecone Birdfeeder

2011-11-30T00:15:00.002-05:00

Preschool Winter Craft: Pinecone Birdfeeder by Rachel Paxton

Cold weather often keeps preschoolers inside, looking to you to find them something fun to do. This winter you and your preschool-aged child can feed the winter birds by making pinecone bird feeders. You probably already have everything you need for this craft project laying around your house, and your child will have a great time hanging out with you and trying something new.

Supplies Needed:

Pinecones
Yarn or twine
Creamy peanut butter
Bird seed
Knife
Plate

*Note: If you don't have any pinecones in your yard, try a local park. Some craft stores also carry pinecones.

Place a large spoonful of peanut butter on a plate and give your child a knife to spread the peanut butter all over the pinecone. Repeat for however many pinecone bird feeders your child is going to make.

To avoid getting bird seed all over the place, it's a good idea to do the next step outside.

Have your child take the peanut butter-covered pinecones outside. Pour some wild bird seed onto a plate and have your child roll the pinecones in the bird seed.

Help your child tie an approximately 24-in. piece of yarn or twine around the top portion of each pinecone. Sprinkle some more bird seed on the pinecones to make sure they are completely covered.

Let your child choose where he or she wants to hang the completed pinecone bird feeders and then tie the bird feeders in place.

Sit indoors with your child and watch for visiting birds!

This craft project is a big hit with preschoolers. My boys ate as much peanut butter as they put on their pinecones! Make sure to take pictures.

Photos of finished birdfeeders: http://www.christian-parent.com/preschool/pinecone-birdfeeders.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and
more, visit http://www.christian-parent.com/

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Scrapbooking | Sweet Escape Sandy Beach Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-11-25T08:12:00.003-05:00

Today I am featuring a 12x12 scrapbook layout that I made a few weeks ago with photos I took while hubby and I were on vacation down to the Jersey Shore back in early September. This page was pretty easy to make but it did take me about an hour. I titled this layout "Sweet Escape" as it was definitely a sweet escape to hit the Jersey Shore for week!

I made the 12x12 background using 3 sheets of cardstock that I got from Scrapbuck.com. The background was built on a piece of sandy/tan colored cardstock and then I ripped a piece of white card stock into a strip that measures 3" by 12" (approximate) and then I ripped a piece of blue cardstock to measure about 6" by 12" (approximate). My edges are uneven as I wanted the appearance of water, foam and the sandy beach. I glued the white and blue together and then glued those onto the sandy/tan colored piece of cardstock.

The 2 photos on the right measure 3" by 4" and I matted them both onto one piece of light blue cardstock and left an 1/8" border. I then tore a piece of blue vellum to use as the mat underneath the framed photos. I only tore the top & bottom edges and then used glue dots to put the entire thing onto my page. (cardstock from Scrapbuck.com).

My photo on the left measures 3 1/2" by 5 1/2" and I did the same thing with that photo as I did to the other two photos. (see layout for placement). I had a Soft Spoken (tm) embellishment pack from Scrapbuck.com and I used the "Sweet Escape" and the "To Do" tag from that pack to accent my layout.

On the bottom left corner I used Beach Theme'd Dazzles (from PaperWishes.com) to make a beach scene. I used some dark chocolate brown chalk to add some accent around the chairs to make it look like they were sitting in the sand and to make it look like the umbrella was giving off a shadow from the hot sun.

Like I said, a very easy layout in the 12x12 format which it took me 1 hour to complete but I am very pleased with how this page/layout turned out.

Super Quick and Easy 12x12 Thanksgiving Scrapbook Layout

2011-11-20T15:17:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share with all of you today a super quick and easy page that my daughter made. Last year we all went to her house for Thanksgiving dinner so these pictures are from that holiday. My daughter likes simple and quick scrapbooking pages and this page is no exception...super easy! Plus, it is extremely frugal because it cost her less than $1.00 to make!

She used a piece of 12x12 white cardstock for her background. She had a cardstock sticker with a Thanksgiving design on it and mounted that near the top right. She used the colors on that sticker as her inspiration and decided to tear a piece of striped paper (same color hues) and mount that toward the bottom of the page. It takes up 1/3 of her page space. She also trimmed it out with some dark purple cardstock near the top torn edge. She mounted both photo's onto matching striped paper and rounded the corners leaving a 1/8" edge border. She made her own title block near the bottom right that simply says Thanksgiving Day. She made her own orange frame for the smaller picture of her daughter and did a little journaling on the top and bottom of that frame.

This page took her less than 20 minutes to make...like I said, super quick!

Kids Crafts | How To Make A Fall Leaf Collage Craft Project

2011-11-15T07:03:00.003-05:00

Fall Leaf Collage by Rachel Paxton

Fall is a great time for kids to do fall crafts. Leaf collages are easy to make and can provide hours of fall fun. Kids enjoy looking for the leaves as well as using the leaves to create their creative collages.

Here's what you need for this fun fall craft project:

Fall leaves
Ornamental grasses
Flower petals
Waxed paper
Old crayons
Old cheese grater
Newspaper
Iron

This project can be done on two different days. One afternoon can be spent outside looking for different colored leaves, pretty ornamental grasses, and interesting flower petals. After the kids have a good collection, have them lay everything out on some newspapers to dry.

On a rainy day when there's nothing else to do or maybe on Thanksgiving Day while you're waiting for dinner to be ready, bring out the dried leaves and grasses to create the leaf collage.

Start by choosing the size of the collage. Tear off two pieces of waxed paper to the desired size. You will be pressing the leaves between the sheets of waxed paper.

You will be using crayon shavings to get the sheets of waxed paper to stick together. This also adds some color to the collages. Choose some old crayons in a variety of fall colors and use the old cheese grater to get some shavings from the crayons.

Working on a piece of newspaper, lay one sheet of waxed paper down and arrange the leaves, grasses, and flowers as desired. Sprinkle crayon shavings all over the sheet of waxed paper, so that when you iron the sheets together, they will completely stick together.

Next use the iron to press the two sheets of waxed paper together. Unless you're using an old iron, you should use a thin cloth between the waxed paper and the iron, or you might get crayon shavings on your iron, which will transfer onto the next thing you iron...believe me, I know!

That's it! These leaf collages look great hanging in a window as a pretty fall decoration. You could also hang them on the refrigerator, frame them, or even use them as placemats.

Photo of fall leaf collage: http://www.crafty-moms.com/fall-leaf-collage.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com/.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Thanksgiving Theme'd Diaper Cakes and Table Centerpieces

2011-11-12T08:00:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving is just around the corner; can’t you just smell the crisp brisk air, pumpkin pies, apple cider and more? This holiday means turkey, stuffing, gravy and huge holiday feast. Football kicks off the winter season for me and the start of holiday baking. This holiday towel cake is perfect to give as a early housewarming gift, or prepping for the huge feast. From seasoned cooks to newbies it's a gift they will all enjoy.

This cake has all the right ingredients to help make a fabulous turkey feast...

Ingredients for this cake as follows:

- Fall kitchen hand towel set for the outside layers
- Six extra hand towels for inside cake
- Four napkins for inside top layer
- Four napkin rings
- Turkey baster
- Injector for adding you favorite spices, or flavoring
- A wire whip
- Gravy ladle
- Nut cracker
- Sliver spoon and fork for salad serving
- Measuring spoon and a spatula
- Raffia and fall floral sprays
- Fall silk leaves
- Fall plastic pumpkins and gourds
- Glue sticks and gun

To make, use my instructions on making the towel template here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXPeJaRraog Fill bottom layers inside with the six hand towels. For second layer fill top template with the four napkins.. Leaving a hole to put baster through. Fold dish rag lengthwise and insert into top layer with the other end hanging down to second layer.

Take the rest of items and insert around cake placing wire whip into top layer and place fall flowers with fall spray behind wire whip. Fill in holes with raffia. Place cake on a square cake board .Glue silk leaves on to bottom layer and top. Take fake fall pumpkins and gourds and glue onto cake board around cake place some raffia there as well. Another idea for someone who loves to bake for turkey day; fill cake with either apple or pumpkin pie supplies. Or fill cake with baking supplies for the go-getter that starts their holiday cookie baking right after Thanksgiving day.

That’s it. A perfect Turkey Day cake can now be made for your family and friends
Barb Ireland is the founder of Make A Diaper Cake Biz, http://www.makeadiapercake.biz Articles are free to be reprinted as long as author’s bio remains intact.
Barb Ireland

http://www.makeadiapercaketoday.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/makeadiapercake

Quilting Tips | Baby Quilt Safety - Using Buttons and Bows in Baby Quilts

2011-11-10T08:00:00.004-05:00

Baby Quilt Safety - Buttons and Bows By Sharon Camp

Little girls and their baby quilt just go hand in hand with buttons and bows - right? Think again.

Those pink and lacy decorations create a baby quilt with the little girl or princess touch. A bow here or a few small buttons there are lovely adornments. How could these few, simple additions, which dress up the baby quilt, become such a hazard to a baby or a young child?

A child loves to play with anything they can touch and pull on. No matter how securely you place and sew on the buttons with good quilting thread. Over time they will wear with the constant everyday child's play and eventually be pulled off. The buttons can be easily be swallowed by the child.

Ribbons and bows can also become a problem but they do not have to be detached to become a hazard. Babies can twist their little fingers in and around the ribbon cutting off the circulation to their small hands or even the toes. During sleep these small fingers and toes can be caught in the bow causing the same loss of blood flow to the extremity. Even though, as in a button, the quilter might securely attach the bow to the baby quilt, over time these bows and ribbons will also become loose and break from overuse. Depending on the length of the ribbon, strangulation could result if the child were to put the ribbon around their neck.

If you plan to have the quilt as wall hanging with all the buttons, bows, and other attachments that would bring out the best of your work because little fingers will not have access to these tiny little parts, think carefully. As you secure these attachments to the baby quilt, do so with quilting thread and be sure you have knotted them tightly in place. Many families place a wall quilt over the baby's crib or cradle and having any of these attachment falls off would be dangerous to the child. If the quilt hangs low enough for a toddler to crib and those ribbons are within their grasp, these become a source of enticement to pull and play with them. Hence, the problems that result in cutting off the circulation or possible strangulation are still within the baby's reach.

Little girls with their buttons and bows are probably best left to story books until they are older. Safety should be first when designing your baby quilts.

Come and choose one our handmade children's quilts, a lasting keepsake, a unique birthday gift, or Christening gift, for that special "little one." Visit my website: http://www.uniquebabyquiltboutique.com/ and chose of one unique handmade children's quilt from my collection for your child's birthday or other special event.Sharon Camp, The "BabyQuiltLady," has been quilting for over 30 years.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharon_Camp
http://EzineArticles.com/?Baby-Quilt-Safety---Buttons-and-Bows&id=6629519

Baby Shower Tips for a Fabulous Baby Shower by: Barb Ireland

2011-11-08T22:04:00.007-05:00

Baby Shower Tips for a Fabulous Baby Shower - by Barb Ireland

A baby shower is a day full of joy and anticipation for the mom-to-be and all her family and
friends. It’s a time to get together and share in the happiness of a new baby coming and to
show how much the mom means to you. It’s also an opportunity to help prepare for the arrival
of their new bundle of joy. But how can you make the shower memorable and something that
will be long remembered?

One of the growing trends you find at more and more showers are diaper cakes. Diaper cakes
are baby shower gifts that are shaped like a “real” three-layer cake, but made from diapers,
blankets and other useful items. A diaper cake is a fun and rewarding hot new product for baby
showers, baby gifts, and also other celebrations. You can make your own or order one at http:
//www.makeadiapercake.biz

In addition to the diaper cake, you also want to have a party that is fun and memorable. Here
are some other ways you can “wow” your guests at a baby shower.

Make candle favors ~ Buy scented votive from your favorite craft store, tulle circles and ribbon.
Take the votive center. Put this in middle of tulle circle and then bring all ends up and secure
with ribbon. Make a nice bow and you have great gifts for guests.

Make bath salts~ Buy muslin bags, Epsom salt, and fragrance oils. Most items you can buy
from craft stores. Salt can be bought at your local supermarkets. Combine salt and fragrances
and stir good and place in the muslin bags. Beautiful way to say, “thanks for coming.”

Make Specialty Cupcakes~ These aren’t the kind you eat, but instead made from a washcloth.
You then fill with candies, coffees, teas, or more small bath items. Everyone will remember
this one and be talking about it for a long time after the shower.

Spoons — In center of tulle circle, place kisses on spoon part and wrap up the tulle over spoon
and secure and handle with ribbon. Place these at table for guests.

Make your own soap favors. Your craft stores sell complete kits. You then simply buy some
tulle circles and place favors in middle and then tie up with ribbon.

Most of all have fun and create your own style your mom to be and guests will remember for
forever. Everyone will love the personalized attention you gave to the party.

Barb Ireland is the founder of Make A Diapercake biz, MAKE A DIAPER CAKE. Articles are free to be reprinted as long as author’s bio remains intact. For free instructions go to http://www.youtube.com/user/makeadiapercake

Kids Crafts | Thanksgiving Hand Print Turkey Craft Project

2011-11-05T07:49:00.004-04:00

Thanksgiving Hand Print Turkey Craft by Rachel Paxton

These hand print turkeys are an easy craft for your kids to make for Thanksgiving. They are easy enough for toddlers and preschoolers to help make, but even older children will enjoy tracing around their hands to make this fun turkey craft.

Supplies needed:

Brown felt
Colorful craft feathers
Google eye
Red pipe cleaner
Scissors
Black permanent marker
Rubber cement or craft glue

We chose to make our turkeys out of brown felt. This is just one of many options, you could also use brown craft foam or brown construction paper.

First, use the black permanent marker to trace around your child's hand on the brown felt. Next cut out the hand tracing. For younger children, you will have to do these steps for them.

Next turn over the piece of the felt so any permanent marker markings are on the backside of the felt.

The thumb of the handprint will be the turkey's neck and head, so have your child use a little glue to attach a google eye where the eye should go.

Cut a small piece of red pipe cleaner for the turkey's beak, approximately 1/2 inch long. Fold the cut piece in half and have your child glue it beneath the turkey's eye.

Next have your child brush some glue on each of the other fingers, and then have him press down one feather on each finger.

That's it! A quick, easy Thanksgiving craft that will be sure to please your child. It's also a great way to preserve your child's small, adorable hand that will be bigger next year.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com/.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Kids Crafts | How To Make A Thanksgiving Garland

2011-10-30T11:31:00.000-04:00

Kids' Craft: How to Make a Thanksgiving Garland by Rachel Paxton

If your kids get bored this Thanksgiving, put them to work making a colorful Thanksgiving garland to help decorate your home for the holidays. It is easy to make, and your kids will love tracing, cutting it out, and putting it together. You may even already have the supplies you need laying around the house!

This craft is suitable for ages approximately four and up. Your child will need to be able to trace and cut out shapes with scissors.

Supplies needed:

Orange, yellow, red, brown construction paper
Fall-themed cookie cutters
Pencil
Scissors
Hole punch
Yarn

Get out your baking supplies and see what you have for fall-themed cookie cutters. We had a pumpkin and a fall leaf. Craft stores usually have a good selection of holiday cookie cutters to choose from.

All your children need to do is use a pencil to trace the cookie cutter shapes onto the construction paper and then cut them out with the scissors. If your child wants to, he or she can layer several pieces of construction paper on top of each other and cut out more than one of the same shape at once.

Next have them use the hole punch to punch a hole into the top of each shape.

They will then cut a length of yarn, tie a knot on one end and then string the shapes onto the yarn. Their Thanksgiving garland is now ready to hang!

This craft project is suitable for any holiday! Use your cookie cutters to make holiday garlands for any occasion.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com/.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Looking for a New Crafting Chair was Easy Using MyReviewsNow.net | Enter Their Giveaway

2011-10-29T04:02:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of MyReviewsNow.net for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I really need a new chair for my crafting table. The one I have is not the right height and it is very uncomfortable to boot. When I am doing my crafting I am in my chair for hours at a time, especially when I have a big project I am working on. You know how that goes!

I was having a tough time deciding on the right chair. I couldn't find anything locally so I started hitting the internet. But with all of the different sites, it was crazy trying to find and read reviews on the product until I found myreviewsnow.net

This site is pretty cool. It lists out categories and you can browse the category and look at the reviews on particular products. It made finding a good chair pretty easy. I liked that there are a lot of different items there. Shopping online just got a bit easier!

Oh and I got to enter their giveaway that they are holding on their Facebook page. It is super simple to enter. All you have to do is like their facebook page and tweet out "I love to #shopathome online!" for your chance to win a $350 Kohl's card. Now I know I could sure use that for my craft projects. Couldn't you? Make sure you see their official rules before entering.

Now that I founf my perfect chair, I am getting back to my crafting table a lot more often!

Candle Molds For Your Candle Making Hobby

2011-10-28T08:00:00.001-04:00

Molds For Your Candle Making Hobby
By Carmen Lake

Candles are becoming more popular today. They can be used as a decoration, that's why candle making is becoming a hobby by many these days. It is very easy and fun because there are many candle molds available in the market and they come in different shapes, sizes and designs to suit your taste.

In making beautiful candles, you should need a wax and a mold. There are different types of molds to choose from and they come in different shapes, sizes and designs. Because of its durability, versatility and ability to resist the heat, aluminum is the most commonly used molds by the candle makers. Having aluminum as the mold for your candles, you will be able to have a smooth and perfect finish candles. Cleaning the molds is not a challenge, you just have to put the molds in the oven upside down and place a baking paper underneath it so when the wax melted it will directly go on the baking paper. You also need a releasing agent for candles to be removed from the mold.

If you want a flexible one for your molds, you can select from silicone, polyurethane or latex. Polyurethane molds have limitations in terms of stretching and it can also give your candle a certain smell and you also need a special agent to remove your candle out of the mold. Those flexible molds are used in making taper or pillar candles. Silicone on the other hand is expensive but very versatile and it could give you the best candles. You don't need to worry about removing the candles out of the molds because you can stretch it to the limits and they do not leave parting lines too. Latex molds were popular until other much better molds have been introduced. If you want to make your own special design molds, you just have to paint it with coats of liquid latex.

Cheaper molds are generally made from plastics, that's why they can easily become brittle after some use. But on the bright side, they are more affordable and can be cleaned easily with just soap and warm water. Just remember, before using it, to keep it dry to avoid forming water bubbles on the candles. For beginners, cheap plastic molds are good to practice on. But for those who want to improve their skills and making it a business, buying better candle molds is recommended.

The author of this article is interested in candle making. For more information about candle making molds try visiting the site on candle making.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carmen_Lake

Scrapbooking | Beach Lovers 12x12 Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-10-25T11:58:00.000-04:00

Back in early September my husband and I went down to the Jersey Shore and spent a week in our Ocean Front Condo. As usual...we had a fabulous time! I made this 12x12 scrapbook layout using one of those Page Kits that I purchased at PaperWishes.com and wow...it was super easy and super quick to make this layout. I rarely purchase page kits so I thought I would try one out.

I used a 12x12 background sheet that is done in a tropical island paradise theme. The page has a tone on tone tropical print and then down the right side it has small tropical postcards for the border. The page kit also came with some embellishments and alphabet tiles but I didn't use the embellishments but did use the alphabet tiles after I matted them onto chocolate brown cardstock and trimmed them down so that each alpha-tile had an 1/8" brown border. I used them to spell out BEACH LOVERS which is the title of my page. (see photo for placement).

I then had 2 photos of hubby and I sitting on the beach so I cropped them both down...photo of hubby is half the size of the one of me and I matted them onto light blue and chocolate brown cardstock, leaving an 1/8" border around each mat. I then put them onto the layout with the photo of hubby overlapping the photo of me. I had some beach theme'd Dazzles (purchased from Paper Wishes) and used the 2 tropical floral Dazzles after I placed them onto teal blue vellum and trimmed around the outer edge of the Dazzle. I used glue dots to put them onto the layout.

I didn't do any journaling as the page was busy enough with the postcard border down the right side. I did take a fine point brown scrapbooking marker and wrote the date & place inside one of the little postcards. Overall, I was pleased with the quickness and ease of use of this scrapbooking page kit from PaperWishes.com.

Book Review | The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Natural Soaps

2011-10-23T18:00:00.003-04:00

Today I am doing a book review for you and the book I am reviewing is called "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Natural Soap" by Sally W. Trew and Zonella B. Gould. The soft-cover book is ISBN 978-1-61564-022-5 and the book retails for $14.95.

Synopsis: Lather up! The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Natural Soaps spells out everything new soap-makers need to know to create all kinds of natural soaps. In this helpful guide you get a rundown of the ingredients, safety equipment, molds, and other must-haves for creating your own soaps. Step-by-step instructions for creating cold and hot process soap, liquid soap, shower gel, laundry soaps, shampoos, and more! There is an explanation of SoapCalc and how it can help you formulate soap recipes. The book explains to you ways to color your soaps with liquid colorants, micas and other natural colorants. There are tips for taking your soaps to the next level with swirls, layers, embeds and other fun ideas. There are over 35 recipes for making natural soaps, plus tips on creating your own unique combinations.

My Review: This soft-cover soap making book contains 194 black and white pages. The book starts out with explaining to you the basics of natural soap-making and then goes into the oils, butters, fragrances and essential oils. In chapter 4 they explain to you what SoapCalc is which is very important to know so that your soaps come out properly. Then the books goes on about how to build a soap mold or how to use pre-purchased soap molds and then explains to you all of the important stuff you need to know about Cold Process Soaps. In chapter 7 they go into what hot process soaps are and how to make them. Chapter 8 has numerous cold and hot processed soap recipes which look really easy to use. The rest of the book covers goat milk soap, liquid soap and then goes into some creative ideas on how to make some fancy bars of soap! The back of the book has a nice Glossary and explains to you how you need to have your soaps labeled due to FDA regulations.

The book is a nice comprehensive book that is jammed pack with information that all beginner soap makers need to know. I think even an experienced soap maker would enjoy reading this book and having it in their collection. I found the book to be an easy read and had easy to understand directions throughout it. I am really excited to have this book and in a few weeks I am going to try my hand at some soap making!!!

I would like to thank the PR Company that I am working with for sending me the soap making book to review for all of you! It is a great book!

Disclaimer: Shelly Hill has personally reviewed the product listed above. Shelly has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Shelly did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ. The Passionate About Crafting Blog is not responsible for delivery/shipping of giveaway items won from this blog nor are we responsible for mis-use or injury caused by items won from this blog.

Quick and Easy | Halloween Pooh Bear Scrapbooking 12x12 Layout Idea

2011-10-22T20:56:00.001-04:00

This ia great beginners layout for someone who is just learning to do scrapbooking or for someone who likes quick and easy pages. This layout was made a few months ago by my daughter and it features my little grand daughter in her Monarch Butterfly Costume.

She did the layout in the 12x12 format and the background is a simple sheet of white cardstock. Using wavy edge scissors, she cut out a strip that measures 1" wide by 12" long and ran that at the top of her page to add interest. She used a Trick or Treat page title at the top and centered it on her black cardstock strip.

I hand drew some black bats and cut them out and she used 2 of those on her layout. We used a glow in the dark gel pen and gave them glowing orange eyes. She used one photo in the layout and cropped it down to the size she wanted. She mounted it onto black and orange cardstock leaving an 1/8" edge and rounded all of the corners. She used my Cricut machine to cut out her BOO letters from orange cardstock. She also used my Cricut to cut out a dark green leaf and she used that as her exclaimation point along with a dark green circle that use obtained by using a hole punch.

I gave my little grand daughter a Halloween card that featured Winnie The Pooh so we cut him out and sprayed him with archival mist. She then mounted it to her page on the right side. She used a ghost cardstock sticker in the bottom right corner.

Happy Scrapbooking!

Best Golfer Ever

2011-10-22T20:54:00.001-04:00

This guest post from Lenny Mcknight

Brian is the best golfer I’ve ever seen, period, and it’s really lucky for him that we live on a golf course. I feel like all the time he just leaves (and sometimes leaves the door open which is why we got a Home alarm sensor and heads out to the green to practice putting or chipping or something and that dedication is what makes him so good. I mean, clearly he’s got some natural talent or he wouldn’t be where he is but with three scholarship offers from great golf schools and the likelihood of going pro when he graduates? How many 18 year olds can say that for themselves? Brian is a great kid outside the links, too, and he’s always getting good grades and being respectful to his friends and his teachers. I don’t know how we got so lucky having one child and it turning out like him but if I had it all to do over again I’d do it exactly the same way! Brian is the best son we could ask for!

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Kids Crafts | How To Make Fall Leaf Placemats

2011-10-20T14:56:00.000-04:00

Fall Leaf Placemats by Rachel Paxton

Making placemats from fall leaves is a fun activity for kids of all ages. Even toddlers will have fun collecting leaves and creating their own placemat. For this craft you will need:

Roll of contact paper
Fall leaves
Scissors

This activity is very inexpensive. The only item you will have to buy is the contact paper, and you can pick this up for about $5 a roll. One roll will make many placemats.

Have your kids go out in the yard and collect some fall leaves. Have them look for a variety of colors and shapes. If the leaves are dry you can use them right away. If they are wet, let them set on a piece of newspaper to dry before you start the craft project.

Before you sit the kids down cut some pieces of contact paper into the shape of placemats. I used the width of the contact paper for the width of the placemat so I would only have to make one cut for each placemat. You will need two pieces of contact paper for each placemat. You can make the placemats any size you choose.

After the contact paper is ready, sit your kids down at a table and have them spread out the leaves in the center of the table. Give them a piece of contact paper with the backing paper removed. Let them arrange their leaves on the sticky side of the paper. After they are happy with the arrangement of their leaves, take another piece of contact paper and carefully lay it on top of the leaves so that the sticky sides of both pieces of contact paper are together. Carefully use your hands to smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles. You won't be able to get them all out, but don't worry, a few wrinkles will not be noticeable when you are done.

When you are finished you can use the scissors to trim around the edges to make sure they are all even and straight. This is an easy project that can be completed in about an hour. Remember the younger the child, the shorter their attention span, so if you are making very many you may end up finishing them yourself! My toddler boys spent about 15 minutes on theirs and they had a great time.

Don't forget to proudly display your fall leaf placemats on your Thanksgiving table!

Photos of finished fall leaf placemats: http://www.crafty-moms.com/fall-leaf-placemat.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com/.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

How to Crochet a Purse for Fashion Dolls and Barbies

2011-10-19T15:00:00.001-04:00

Today I would like to share with all of you how I make little fashion doll purses for my grand daughter to use with her Barbie dolls. You only need a little bit of scrap yarn, a pair of scissors and a size F crochet hook. (or smaller crochet hook). We used 4-play acrylic yarn to make the one shown above.

You will simply chain 10-12 stitches to obtain the width guage that you want your purse to be. You will then single crochet in the second chain from the hook and in each chain across. Chain 1, turn and single crochet in each chain across. We did this for 5 rows, fasten off, hide ends and then we made a second matching piece. Both pieces will be in the shape of a rectangle. We then placed both pieces together and single crocheted 3 sides together and chain stitched 20-22 stitches for the purse carrying handle.
You can use this same technique to make square shaped purses, round purses, rectangular purses and even oval shaped purses and you do it all for about .04 cents (if that) per purse by using scrap yarn. I made 8 of these in less than 90 minutes for my grand daughter in a variety of shapes and colors and she loves using them with her fashion dolls.

Quick and Easy | Baby Shower Party Favor Ideas

2011-10-16T07:18:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I attended one of my nieces baby showers and her mother had made these adorable little girl theme'd baby shower favors so I wanted to share them with all of my craft blog readers.

For the pink plastic baby shoe party favor she purchased those at her local craft store and then used a perm. marker to write the baby girl's name on the bottom of the shoe. In the center is a piece of mesh tulle and she wrapped up silver and pink colored Hershey Kisses in that and tied it shut with a pink satin ribbon bow. The final item is a pink plastic umbrella that is filled with small candies and she simply printed out a tag that says "Thank You" and tied that onto the umbrella with pink satin ribbon.

These are excellent ideas for baby shower party favors...especially for those who are not too crafty or don't have a lot of time to invest into making other types of party favors.

Kids Crafts | Paper Plate Scarecrow Craft Project Idea

2011-10-12T23:11:00.000-04:00

Paper Plate Scarecrow Craft by Rachel Paxton

Kids love scarecrows, and fall is a great time to do scarecrow crafts with your preschool aged child. With a paper plate and some other items you may already have laying around your house, you and your child can create this scarecrow craft in no time.

Supplies needed:

Paper plates
Google eyes
Brown construction paper
Orange construction paper
Raffia
Red pipe cleaner
Craft feathers
Scissors
Rubber cement
Glue gun (optional)

Note: Many of the above items can be substituted with things you might already have. For instance, you can use felt or craft foam instead of construction paper, or straw or shredded paper instead of raffia. Your child could also draw the face with markers instead of gluing it on.

To get started, cut several pieces of raffia about 3-4 inches long. This will be the scarecrow's hair. Next glue the raffia to each side edge of the plate, toward the top. The hat will cover the top edge of the hair. I chose to use hot glue for this step and did the gluing for my children. The hot glue works the best to get the raffia stuck on there quickly.

Next use the scissors to cut a hat out of brown construction paper. You can make any shaped hat your child would like. If your child is old enough to cut out a shape, draw the hat on the paper for him and let him cut it out himself. Then have your child brush some rubber cement on the back of the hat and glue it on top of the scarecrow's hair.

After you have the hair and hat in place, have your child brush glue where the eyes will go and have him stick the eyes on. Next cut a small triangle from the orange construction paper and have your child glue the nose on the scarecrow's face.

Next cut a red pipe cleaner in half, have your child shape half of it into a mouth, and then have him glue it on the scarecrow. Last but not least, have your child place some glue on the end of a feather and have him slide it under a corner of the scarecrow's hat.

That's it! Your preschooler will be so proud of his scarecrow, he won't be able to wait to show it to everyone!

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com/.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Fabulous Kid's Craft Kits From Klutz ~ Product Review

2011-10-10T12:46:00.004-04:00

Today I would like to talk to you about a company and their products which I think are absolutely fantastic and these craft products and kits are perfect for kid's birthdays, school crafts, scouting crafts, holiday gifts, party favors, you name it...these children's craft kits are fabulous!
The craft kits are made by a company called Klutz and they make a large variety of kid's craft kits like jewelry-making kits, rubber stamping kits, face painting kits, needle craft kits, painting kits, drawing kits, window art kits and so much more. Trust me...they have hundreds of craft kits that they sell and most of them are really unique ideas! One of the things I appreciate in regards to these kits is that you can purchase "refill supplies" after your children use up the supplies that are included in each kit.

My Review: Today I am reviewing 3 great craft kits by Klutz. First up...the Stamp Art craft kit that contains the spiral bound book, 1 clear stamping block, 64 clear stamps, black ink pad and 3 double-sides colored pencils (six total colors). This kit's clear stamps are done in a variety of shapes and the book & instructions teach you how to put the shapes together to create pretty flowers, various animals, sea life, aliens & planets, foods, zoo animals, etc. The directions are very easy to follow and it teaches you step by step how to do this. I sat down to do this with my 10 year old nephew and we had a blast! Check out this cute sea life CRAB that we made together? Isn't he cute? It took us less than 10 minutes to stamp him and color him in.We also got to review the Pom-Pom Monster Salon craft kit which includes yarn, pom-pom maker, wiggle eyes, foam facial features, ribbon bows, tube of liquid glue, various card stock cut-outs to accent your pom-pom creatures and more! I spent about 10-15 minutes reading all the directions in the book and then got busy making this adorable purple pom-pom creature. I named her "Purple Peter Eater" LOL and check out those shoes! I made the purple pom-pom first, glued on the wiggle eyes and pink tongue and then finished up gluing on the purple sneakers and lime green hair bow. Super cute and so easy to make! You can make several pom-pom animals, creatures, etc. just with this one kit and everything is included but the scissors!
Finally...we got to review the new Twisted Critters craft kit which is super fun! The kit comes with over 70 different types of pipe cleaners in a variety of colors along with the spiral bound instruction book. The book teaches you step by step how to make various creatures & animals using the included pipe cleaners and rolling them, twisting and attaching them to one another to create these special designs. We had a blast with this kit with my 10 year old nephew and 11 year old god son!

Overall Impression: We love the craft kits from Klutz! I love that almost (if not everything) that you need is included with the kit. Each kit has a large instruction book that is spiral bounds and is really easy to read & understand. These kits are great for kids of all ages and I think even adults will enjoy them. As a crafter myself, I really appreciate the ease of use and the cute things you can make with the Klutz kits!

CLOSED We will be posting this & hosting the giveaway over on Two Classy Chics!

Giveaway: One lucky winner is going to win all 3 of the Klutz craft kits that I got to review! Wow! These would make excellent holiday gifts this year!!!

Giveaway Details: This giveaway is open to residents of the USA only who are age 18 and over. Please read our Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy before entering. This giveaway will close on October 28th, 2011 at midnight EST time.

Mandatory Entry - Earns 2 Entries: Follow this blog via Google Friend Connect as a public follower

Mandatory Entry#2 - Earns 2 Entries: Please visit the Klutz web site and take a look around. Come back here and tell me the name of your 2 favorite Klutz craft kits!!! (besides the 3 that I reviewed!)

Bonus Entries: You may complete these after fulfilling the mandatory entry above. Please leave a separate comment for each one that you complete. All Bonus Entries will be verified once the giveaway closes!

Earns 2 Entries: If you win this giveaway who will receive the craft kits? (or) Which crafting medium is your favorite? Personally, I love scrapbooking but also enjoy sewing & cross stitch.
Earns 2 Entries: Follow Shelly over on Facebook.
Earns 2 Entries: Follow Shelly over on Twitter.
Earns 5 Entries: Write up your own post about this giveaway along with live links, post it on your blog (leave link)
Earns 1 Entry Each: Enter any of the giveaways on the SNB Blog or TCC Blog and earn an additional entry into this giveaway for each one you entered. (ex. enter 3 giveaways earns 3 bonuses).
Earns 1 Entry Daily: You can copy and paste the following Tweet over on Twitter twice per day. (leave status link and tweets must be 4 hours a part)

Copy & Paste Tweet:

Win 3 Fabulous Kid's Craft Kits by Klutz on Passionate About Crafting Blog! @Ravish30 Ends 10-28 http://bit.ly/p3qLcx #Giveaways #Crafts

I would personally like to thank Klutz for allowing me to do a product review for their company and for hosting a giveaway here on the Passionate About Crafting Blog.

Disclaimer: Shelly Hill has personally reviewed the product listed above. Shelly has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Shelly did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ. The Passionate About Crafting Blog is not responsible for delivery/shipping of giveaway items won from this blog nor are we responsible for mis-use or injury caused by items won from this blog.

Scrapbooking | Quick and Easy Halloween 12x12 Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-10-10T09:47:00.000-04:00

I love scrapbooking for various holidays and scrapbooking for Halloween is no exception. A few months ago I finally got around to scrapbooking this layout which features my little grand daughter dressed up in her Monarch Butterfly Halloween Costume.

I used a preprinted Halloween background paper that I purchased at Joann's in the 12x12 size. It had these cute pumpkins running down the left border of the page. I cropped down my one photo, rounded the corners and mounted it onto black cardstock, rounded the corners and mounted it onto orange cardstock. I left 1/8" border on all photo mounts. I then used glue dots to attach it to the top of my page.

I used my Cricut machine to cut out my BOO letters from orange cardstock on the #2 setting. I then did the shadow effect and cut them out again from black cardstock and then glued them together. I mounted my letters near the upper right of the page using a fine tip glue pen.

I purchased a premade file folder that had FALL LEAVES printed on it and used that to hold my journaling. It was really plain looking so I added my own black and white check pattern ribbon across it along with a hand drawn black bat that I hand cut out. I gave my bat glow in the dark orange eyes. I did my journaling and tucked it inside the file folder.

I purchased a few Halloween 3-D embellishments of ghosts, bats and a moon that had glittery sparkles on them and mounted those onto my page near the bottom left.

I think this page turned out great!

Happy Scrapbooking!
Shelly

Dig, Drop, Done Flower Bulbs Presents Curbside Chaos Contest!

2011-10-06T19:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Bulbs. Dig, Drop, Done. for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love planting flowers all around both of the properties that we own. We own a large older home that we rent out and then we have our townhouse that we live in. Both of our homes have nice sized back yards that are beautifully landscaped. At the large rental home we have 4 flower gardens and 1 large vegetable garden and now we want to add a 5th flower garden in the home's front yard.

I was browsing around online and found Dig, Drop, Done and you can visit their site right now to learn more about them. What I love about their flower bulbs is that they are simple to use: simply dig a hole, drop the bulb into the hole and you are done! You can walk away and do the next one! Easy! They have a "meet the ladies" section on their web site and you can meet Marcy the Super mom, Juliana the Fashionista and Evelyn the Empty Nester. Since I have no small children at home, I identified with Evelyn.

The site has a Garden Guru Tool on the bottom left of the page where you can enter your location, pick the type of bulb you want to grow and then check out their handy dandy planting guide which gives you further instructions on how to plant the bulb in your own location. I love that tool!

These bulbs are not just for gardeners, anyone can use them and you can even grow them inside if you want! (great for apartment dwellers!). My sister actually has a centerpiece on her large wooden farmhouse style table that consists of a large crystal glass vase filled with several unplanted flower bulbs. It looks so pretty and definitely gives her home some country charm!

How would you like to win a $5,000 yard makeover? Sure you would! One lucky winner is going to get some one on one time with Taniya Nayak and a yard makeover! Check out the Curbside Chaos contest and then please visit www.digdropdone.com to learn more about this fabulous contest going on right now! It is really easy to enter, just upload a photo of your yard that needs some beautiful attention and fill out the contest entry form today!

Plus if you share on Twitter about the contest @TaniyaNayak for every Twitter Tweet/Share Dig, Drop, Done will donate $1.00 to Rebuilding Together, a great non-profit agency that helps preserve affordable home ownership! yeah!

Good Luck and I hope you win!

3 Fantastic Kid's Craft Kits by KLUTZ | Review

2011-10-05T22:03:00.004-04:00

Halloween Candle Making: 3 Fun Projects for the Holiday

2011-10-05T15:43:00.002-04:00

Halloween Candle Making: 3 Fun Projects for the Holiday
By Jason Kinech

Halloween is like almost all of the holidays: it makes people start to get crafty. Those that never touch construction paper are all of the sudden instant Martha Stewarts, desperately trying to out-craft their neighbors. Unfortunately, this usually results in excellent attempts, but with sometimes pitiful results. So how do you ensure that your spooky candles turn out well? Start simple!

Instead of immediately going for the bleeding skull candle, start with much simpler candle making projects that are just as appropriate for Halloween. To make it easy, here are 3 dead simple projects that you can do:

The Mini Pumpkin Tea Light

Alright, I'll be honest. There is actually no candle making involved in this particular project. However, it costs less than 2 dollars and you can make as many as you want to. All you need is a mini pumpkin (3-4 inches), a tea candle, and either a candle carver or a biscuit cutter. You could also just use a knife or screwdriver.

First we need to pick out a good mini pumpkin. No need for perfection here, we just need something that is going to be level and easy to work with. Next, choose your weapon! Whether you choose the candle carver, knife, or screwdriver, the goal is the same: cut out a circle the same size as a tea light candle.

If you aren't exactly sure on size, just cut a little bit off of the pumpkin so that it is level, then rest the tea light on top and trace around it. This will give you a good indication of the exact size area that you need to cut. Cut straight down then just chisel out inside the circle with a screwdriver, butter knife, or an actual chisel. Remember: safety first! Please be careful whenever using anything sharp. Once you have the area chiseled out for the tea light, drop it in and light. These make great gifts of the neighbors, or you can set up out along your driveway on trick or treat night.

Pumpkin Pie Floating Candles

This project is very easy and goes quickly. Even better, you'll actually be doing some candle making! We're going to make 3 scents: cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin. When all 3 are lit it will smell almost identical to a fresh pumpkin pie. Of course if you don't feel like making 3 different candles, you could easily just blend the scents together.

As with most candle making projects, we're going to start by finding and preparing the mold. To make floating candles I usually just use a heat proof bowl and only pour the wax about.5 to 1 inch thick. This makes for a candle guaranteed to float without any problems. Just rub your heatproof bowls with some vegetable oil to make sure that the candle releases easily.

After your molds are prepped you're ready to focus on the scents. For the cinnamon and nutmeg candles you'll just add the fresh spices to the wax, so those are easy. The only scent that we need to make is the pumpkin, and it is much easier than you'd think.

Simply warm about a cub of vegetable oil in a saucepan to about 100 to 150 degrees, it shouldn't be hot. Next, wash and peel the skin from a pumpkin then add it to the oil, you want about a cup of peelings. Let it steep for about 10 minutes, and then remove from the heat. If possible, let it sit for a week at room temperature (optional, but will result in a much stronger scent). If you don't do a whole week at least let it sit overnight. Then just strain out the solid pieces and you're left with your own pumpkin oil.

To make your floating candles just melt enough wax for all 3 candles, then sprinkle cinnamon into one mold and nutmeg in another. Shake them around to let the spices coat evenly in the mold, then dump out any extra. Just pour in the wax, then set your wick in the center (using pinned wicks with a tab). This little cheat means that you don't have to actually mix the scents in with the wax, saving you a step.

After the cinnamon and nutmeg candles are poured, add about a tablespoon of your pumpkin oil to the wax and mix thoroughly, then pour into your third mold. Let these all cool then float in water and light. Since you didn't add color this can really confuse your friends (everyone is used to pumpkin candles being brown), enjoy!

The Bleeding Candle

This Halloween candle making classic isn't as difficult as you'd think, and we're going to stick with our trusty bowl molds. Ideally, we want molds that have a smooth bottom as well; you'll see why in just a moment. But first:

Prepare your molds! I know; big surprise. Rub a little vegetable oil on the inside of one of the bowls and on the outside of another. Melt some white wax to the proper temperature and pour it into the first bowl, then insert the second bowl until there is only a 1 inch gap between them, and let cool. After it has cooled, remove the inner bowl; this will leave you with a white shell.

Melt and pour red wax until it us.5 inch below the top of the shell, then let cool again. Last step! Pour a final layer of white to cap the red (the wick should have been placed into the red pour), and let cool a final time. For a real bleeding effect drill holes up through the sides of the candle so that the melting red wax can escape.

These are just a few basic Halloween candle making ideas, but you can do almost anything you can think of. Get creative! Make a snowman from pumpkins, made a bleeding pumpkin, or even experiment with cookie cutters to make fun Halloween tarts. Once you've made a few that you're proud of, light them and show them off!

If you need specific candle making instructions just check out our free guide on how to make candles, and have fun!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Kinech

Scrapbooking | Stay Cool At The Pool Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-10-05T08:00:00.007-04:00

Hubby and I spent a week down at the Jersey Shore last month and these photos are of us enjoying the afternoon in the hotel's outdoor pool which is beachside! I wanted a clean and uncluttered layout and I think I accomplished that. This layout is in the 12x12 format.

My background sheet is a piece of light blue textured cardstock from Scrapbuck.com I then took a piece of light blue print scrapbooking paper (yellow & blue tiny blocks) and trimmed it down by removing 2" off the top and 2" off one side. I then took a piece of textured yellow cardstock that I got from Scrapbuck.com and used that as my mat around the printed blue paper. I left a 3/16" border around the printed paper so that the yellow cardstock frames it. I used double-sided tape (also from Scrapbuck.com) to apply that on top of my solid blue textured cardstock background sheet and I off-centered it (more of a gap on the left side than the right side).

I had 3 photos that I wanted to use and I cropped them down, matted them onto the textured yellow cardstock and then onto solid light blue textured cardstock (all from Scrapbuck.com) and left 3/16" of border around all mats. I printed out the words STAY COOL onto yellow textured cardstock using my computer in a fancy font and them matted that with the light blue textured cardstock for my title block. I had a pack of Phrase Cafe Epoxy Vacation Stickers that I also got from Scrapbuck.com and I placed the blue water splat on top of the O in the STAY COOL title. From that same epoxy sticker pack I put the green water splat on the left-side of my layout over-lapping both the photo of myself & of hubby in the pool. There was a epoxy sticker in that pack that said IN THE SUN which I placed on the bottom edge of the photo of hubby in the pool to add some accent.
I had a cardstock sticker in light blue that said FLOATING so I mounted that onto yellow cardstock and then light blue cardstock (all from Scrapbuck.com) and put that title under the photo on the right side of the layout. Finally, I took the round epoxy sticker that says RELAX on it and put that under the FLOATING title/tag.

Note: I did use adhesive foam dots to attach my title block (STAY COOL), the photo on the right and the FLOATING title block as I wanted to add some definition and dimension to my layout but you can certainly just use 2-sided tape or scrapbooking glue.

I then signed and dated my layout in the bottom right corner. I decided to do my journaling about our afternoon in the pool on the backside of the page. (yes...if you like clean looking layouts you can certainly journal on the back of the page!).

This layout took me approximately 35 minutes to make and I saved a lot of time by using my paper trimmer to cut down my photos and photo mats.

Scrapbooking | Wild Thing 12x12 Zoo Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-10-02T16:12:00.003-04:00

If you love inexpensive and quick 12x12 scrapbook layout ideas then I think you will appreciate this one because it took me less than 40 minutes to make because I used a pre-made photo frame, self-adhesive stickers, cardstock and a zoo theme'd cardstock tag.

I first started out with a sheet of 12x12 leopard print scrapbooking paper which I used for my background. I purchased a "Wild Thing" cardstock frame for .50 cents to frame my 4x6" photo of my hubby standing with black bear. I then matted that with some solid black cardstock, trimmed it so that an 1/8" border remained. I used 2-sided tape and stuck it onto my layout.

I purchased a pack of self-adhesive zoo animal stickers on clearance for $1.00 and used the bear and the tiger stickers from the pack and mounted each one onto white cardstock. I trimmed them down into block shapes, used black ink to ink around the edges and then matted them onto dark olive green and solid black cardstock, leaving an 1/8" edge around each one. To add some dimension to my page I used self-adhesive foam dots to apply them to my page. (see photo for placement).

I cropped down a photo I had of the CAPE MAY ZOO sign and matted that onto block cardstock, trimmed it so that only an 1/8" edge remained and stuck that under the photo of hubby and made sure it over-lapped the photo frame.

To finish up I took a zoo themed tag that says "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!" from a Tagalongs (tm) pack and added some fiber through the top of the tag and placed it onto my page. I then dated my layout in the bottom right corner. I did my journaling on the matching page to this one which you can find in the scrapbooking section here on my blog.

Scrapbooking | Pedal to the Metal Toddler Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-10-01T11:53:00.000-04:00

Today's scrapbook layout is a quick and easy one which is great for beginners or for those who just enjoy quick & easy layouts. This scrapbooking layout was done in the 12x12 format and took less than 30 minutes to make and cost about $1.25 to make it.

The background is a printed sheet of scrapbooking paper done in primary colors. We had one photo that we cropped down slightly and matted it onto yellow and blue cardstock leaving an 1/8" border on each mat. We took a cardstock preprinted block that says Dream A Little Dream on it and matted that onto yellow and blue cardstock. We then attached it to the right of our photo using foam dots to give it some dimension. We accented the block with a little yellow plastic clothes pin at the top that we simply just clipped onto the block.

The title block for the page measures about 3" by 7" in length and is made up of light blue, medium blue, yellow and dark blue scrapbooking papers layered together. We used letter stickers to make our title "Pedal To The Metal" and placed them onto the title block. Accenting the title block is a small square shaped brad that has a star on it. Journaling for the page was done in handwriting on the backside (yes...you can journal on the backsides of your layouts).

I like my daughter's layout but if it would of been my layout I would of sized-up on the letters on the title block to make them more visible.

Camping and Collecting Items From Nature to Use in Crafting

2011-10-01T07:28:00.003-04:00

As you all know...I am a big time crafter and I love to make a variety of crafts using various different crafting supplies. With that said...I also have another love which is going out camping with my husband. He is a big outdoors person and loves to hunt, fish, hike and camp in the great outdoors...especially here in the North East.

Just recently we have been discussing purchasing a few canvas tents for the family so that when we go out hunting, fishing and camping our families can go along with us. These types of tents are fabulous for those who enjoy the outdoors sports as they are large tents that can be set up quickly and easily. They are also very easy to take down once you are done using them.

When we go out camping in the woods or near a lake I like to take some canvas bags along with me so that I can collect acorns, pinecones, dried wildflowers, wheat stalks, smooth river rocks, moss, seed pods and other goodies from nature so that I can use them in my crafting projects once I return home. It is amazing the things you can make from found objects in nature!

So the next time you are heading out to go camping...take along an empty canvas sack and collect some of the things you find outdoors while hiking, fishing and camping! Once you return home with your goodies you want to set them outside for a few days in sunshine so that they can totally dry out before you bring them indoors to use.

Have fun on your next outdoor camping trip!

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Need Some Great Stamps? Check Out XStamper Online!

2011-09-30T17:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Xstamper Online for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I use a lot of stamps when I craft and you often see me using them when I make homemade greeting cards, bookmarks, scrapbooking pages and a variety of other paper crafts that I create. I just love using stamps on the projects that I make as they always add a nice detail to the finished project and often times it is quicker for me to use a stamp then writing it out in my yucky handwriting.

I found a really cool store online called XStamper online where you can purchase high-quality pre inked stamps at an affordable price and they have a nice large selection of them in various designs and styles. You can use these stamps with your craft projects and then turn around and use them for when you are paying bills or doing other household financial tasks. If you have your own craft business that you are operating from home these stamps surely would come in handy for that too!

Besides having pre inked stamps they also have notary stamps for those of you who need them. I have a friend who operates a notary business out of her home alongside her craft business just to make some additional income during the winter months when her craft show business is slower.

XStamper Online has FREE shipping when you place an order of $10.00 or more and most orders ship the same day you place them, which means you get your order pretty quickly! They also offer a lifetime guarantee for all XStamper brand products which is a fabulous thing!

If you need some affordable, high-quality ink stamps I would like to invite you to check out XStamper Online today as I think you will be pleased with their prices and their variety of products!

Halloween Party Cakes | Holiday Fun For All

2011-09-28T12:20:00.003-04:00

Halloween Party Cakes - Holiday Fun For All
by: Barb Ireland

Halloween will be here soon. Goblins, ghosts and ghoulish fun too. Halloween also brings with it the start of the Holiday Season, pumpkin patches, and that warm fuzzy feeling that winter is on the way. Many families celebrate with a huge bash for friends and family and even the neighborhood kids. Bobbing for apples, yummy goodies, and dressing up in costumes are just some of the fun to be had.

On my Youtube channel, I like sharing how to make my creations, guaranteed to make any party a success. You can makeyour own Halloween Cake, not the sugary kind with those extra calories we don't want, but one with all your kids favorite goodies (and yours too). You can make a cake for any age, putting their favorite surprises in it. Plus, why limit it to only a party at home? Why not, make a cake and surprise your office or even send one to your nieces and nephews?

This unique design can be customized for any size party and with your imagination you can design it for any holiday event. In fact, why not also bring a Halloween Cake to the office and spice up the day or surprise your favorite nieces and nephews. You're be their favorite aunt for sure after this.

Here are just some of the ideas for your cake:

1. Put your favorite games, stickers, Halloween-themed popcorn, and other party ideas for all to enjoy. Then they can take right from the cake and it makes a great centerpiece.

2. If you know of someone with a new baby or even a toddler, put a cute costume in your design and include a Halloween bib, and other special baby items.

3. For the office - Use the template available on our site and shred for a good base. Then add in Halloween themed coffees, candy, notepads, pens, popcorn and more for your next party cake at the office.

4. Safety cake - All kids need to be extra special careful at Halloween. You can design a cake with Halloween safety items, such as flashlights, light sticks, Halloween Trick-Or-Treat bags, etc. Tuck in little gifts, games, candy or toys for the kids too. It's Halloween; you want it to be loads of fun.

5. You can welcome a new puppy or kitten by using kitten or puppy Halloween outfits and then include a disposable camera to take pictures of them in their cute little outfits. Halloween themed chew toys and other items new pet owners will need for their kitten or puppy.

Whichever you choose, you'll be delighted you made this cake and put a smile on their faces young and old.

For F.R.E.E information on making our holiday cakes, a diaper cake, or any other specialty cake, stop by my Youtube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/makeadiapercake

About The Author

Barb Ireland is the founder of Make A Diaper Cake Biz, www.makeadiapercake.biz Barb has been designing diaper and towel cakes for the last ten years,and taught others for the period of five years.To purchase one of her new creations, please visit http://www.lilbabyshowercakes.com

How To Make Homemade Blowing Bubbles for Kids!

2011-09-27T22:56:00.004-04:00

Today I am sharing with you the frugal recipe we use to make blowing bubbles for our little grand daughter who absolutely loves playing outside and blowing the bubbles and then running after them to try to catch them. You don't need to buy bubble solution at the toy store because you can make them at home and it only takes about 3 minutes to make a big bottle of bubbles! Here is the recipe we use!

Homemade Blowing Bubbles for Kids!

1/2 cup of handwashing dish detergent (purchase a cheap generic brand that is mild)
5 cups of tap water
1 container with lid
1 bubble blowing wand

Pour the mild liquid dishwashing detergent into a large plastic container and then gently add the tap water. Take an old spoon and stir it gently and place the lid onto the container until you are read to use them. Please keep this OUT OF REACH of children and please supervise them as you don't want them drinking this mixture.

You will need a few plastic bubble blowing wands from your old bubble blowing sets.

Preval's vFan Portable Airbrush System for Do-It-Yourself Projects

2011-09-27T21:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Preval for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Back in Spring of 2010 my husband and I purchased a large home that was built in the 1960's and the original previous owners did very little to the home to modernize it or upgrade it over the years. For the past 1 1/2 years my husband and I have been gutting the home and remodeling it all by ourselves, so we are always on the lookout for great products that would help us with our home remodeling projects.

Today I am going to tell you a little bit about the Preval vFan airbrush System and how you can use it around your home to help with your remodeling projects. This system is totally portable so you can use it around your house, business office and even use it outdoors for working around the farm, boating docks, play grounds, etc.

The patent-pending vFan airbrush is the best on the market offering hairline detail with the spray gun with a range of spray up to 3" tall. This system is whisper quiet so it will not disturb others around you. It can make fan and/or hairline patterns to suit all of your different needs. It sprays with just about anything, like latex, water-based, clear coat, solvent based paints and more! It really is a great system to have!

This is a nice system for DIY newbies or for professionals in the housing, marine, farming, automotive and painting industries and it is super affordably priced! The system comes with a 6 foot rubber hose so you really can go all over with it without feeling restrictive. Like I said, it can be used indoors and/or outdoors with absolutely no problems at all.

I think this is the perfect vFan Portable Airbrush system for just about everyone! I know my hubby would love to own this system to help with our remodeling projects and he is also a licensed HVAC tech so he would love something like this to use at work.

I hope you will visit their site and take a look around so that you can learn more about this fantastic system!

Scrapbooking | Our Flock Baby Birds Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-09-25T07:34:00.003-04:00

Back in early August we had a mommy finch bird make a nest in one of my hanging flower baskets and she laid 4 beautiful eggs. After 10 days later 2 of those 4 eggs hatched and we watched 2 baby birds (twins) mature and fledge the nest. From the time they hatched until the time they left the nest it was ONLY an 18 day time period. Wow! I documented the nest, eggs, 1 day old birth photo and the day before they left the nest I was able to capture another shot. I decided to scrapbook these 3 photos so that I could remember this special event.

I did this in the 12x12 scrapbook format and my background sheet of paper is a muted lighted sage green paper with a tone on tone floral print. I used a olive green ink and inked around all 4 of the edges with a dauber. I then took a coordinating sheet of scrapbooking paper that has vines and vertical strips on it and trimmed off 4 1/2" of it and inked around all 4 of the edges and then glued it down onto my background sheet as shown in the above photo.

I cropped 2 of the photos into a rectangle shape and 1 of the photos into a square shape and matted them onto dark olive green textured cardstock. I left an 1/8" border around the mat. I then used glue dots to attach them to my layout as shown. I used my Cricut to cut out a heart shape on the #3 size setting on light sand color cardstock which I then inked around the edges of the heart with olive green ink. I then took an olive green scrapbooking marker and did a little journaling on the heart and used foam dots to stick it onto my page. I used my Cricut to cut out the letters OUR FLOCK TWINS from light olive green cardstock and from dark olive green cardstock on the #1 size setting. I used my Xyron sticker maker to adhere them together and then placed them onto my page.

To finish up I took a tiny lady bug sticker and a tiny bumble bee sticker and placed them onto the page just to add a little accent to the layout. This is a quick, easy and very clean layout for those of you who don't like a lot of clutter on your pages. It took me less than 35 minutes to make this page.

Great Ideas For Crafting A Rustic Wedding Look For Your Upcoming Wedding!

2011-09-21T22:15:00.001-04:00

Attend nearly any wedding these days and you're bound to see some rustic, country touches. A full 44-percent of brides plan at least some rustic elements in their weddings, according to The Wedding Report. And some go full-bore.

Here are several ways to incorporate the rustic look into your wedding while making it personal and within budget.

1. Barns
Rustic barns are the quintessential location for a rustic wedding. Dress it up with sweeping curtains (sew together fabric drop clothes from a home improvement store) and hanging lights (borrowed white Christmas lights work, too). A farm, open field, country church or plantation home can also provide the perfect backdrop to your themed wedding.

2. Painted Wood Signs
Add some personality to the big day with whimsical or romantic painted signs that signal to your guests what's happening where. Look locally for free reclaimed or salvaged wood to add rustic charm and eco-friendliness. For inspiration, check out this Etsy artisan's sign work.

3. Burlap
Nothing says rustic like burlap and this versatile fabric can be used in a number of ways. Use it as table coverings, then top with smaller borrowed vintage tablecloths. Use it as a background to frame table numbers for your reception. Use it as an aisle runner or atop haystacks for extra casual seating.

4. Mason Jars
Mason jars are perhaps the most-seen wedding accessory these days -- and for good cause. They ooze charm, they're economical, they come in a variety of sizes and they go with just about anything. Throw a handful of wildflowers into a mason jar and you've got an instant centerpiece. You can also use them to hold utensils or candy at the reception. Fill them with something sweet and top with burlap and ribbon for wedding favors.

5. Chalkboards
Like painted signs, chalkboards add a fun element to wedding day signage. They make perfect menus, Mr. & Mrs. signs on the back of the couple's chairs, seating charts and directional signs. Paint a vintage frame the color of your wedding, then paint over the glass with chalkboard paint for an instant showpiece.

6. Homemade
A rustic wedding is not complete without something homemade. And there's no better place to feature homemade than the reception. Pies are a big trend in weddings this year, and local vendors are making it easier to find baked goods and more with that down-home taste. Decorate the dessert table with bowls of eggs, flour and honey for that extra home-made feeling. Handwrite favorite family recipes on index cards to use as wedding favors.

7. Registry
Guests can contribute to the rustic theme through gift-giving. Register for gift cards at CardAvenue.com for retailers who specialize in rustic products, like J.Crew, Timberland, Restoration Hardware and Bass Pro Shops.

8. Music
More than decorations, music tells the story of the rustic wedding and instantly sets the mood. Whether it's country, bluegrass, folk or a combination, your choice or musicians, deejay or soundtrack will complete your theme and leave your guests tapping their feet for days to come.

###

Weddings expert Cara Davis is the author of Cheap Ways to Tie the Knot and blogs from her home in Orlando, FL, about cheap ways to spend and save at CheapWaysTo.com.

Using My Cell Phone With My Craft Business

2011-09-21T22:00:00.003-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of the home businesses that I have happens to be my craft business called Mullberry Hill Crafts and since I travel around the Middle Atlantic States participating in craft shows and exhibits I need to have a good reliable and affordable cellular service. My contract is finally up with my old company so I have been on the hunt for a new cell phone carrier and I looked online and found Straight Talk. Have you ever heard of them?

I thought today I would share with all of my readers some great info I found out about Straight Talk. This company has no long term contracts, no credit checks, no hidden fees and no surprise charges! Wow! This company doesn't rope you in Hook, line and sinker like other companies do!

This company has an unlimited monthly plan were you get unlimited calls, texts and web data for only $45.00 a month! Wow, I can save a lot of money with that! They have a All You Need Plan which gives you 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of web data which is for heavy phone users which I think would be great for my mother. You can get Android on Straight Talk too! If you need a new phone they have reconditioned phones starting at just $10.00.

Oh and get this, 411 calls are free! There are no activation, reactivation or cancelation fees at all! Nope, not at all! If you have friends and family who live overseas they have an International Calling Plan too and it's one of the most affordable ones I have seen. With plans like these you will be able to Call a friend whenever you want and talk to them however long you want to talke to them.

You have got to check out this video from a real life Straight Talk customer, I think you will be impressed with what you hear! By switching to Straight Talk I will be able to save a slew of money and hopefully go on a nice vacation next year to Mexico.

Winner of the $25 GC to Scrapbuck.com Giveaway!

2011-09-21T11:02:00.004-04:00

Last night our giveaway for the $25 GC to Scrapbuck.com closed so we have a winner to announce this morning! I would like to thank Scrapbuck for sponsoring the review & giveaway here on the Passionate About Crafting Blog! Since doing this review I have become a customer of Scrapbuck.com and I love their products and I love their affordable prices! They are my new favorite go-to scrapbooking store!

I validated all entries and then used Random.org to select our winner. Our winner is:

Mari said...
http://twitter.com/#!/LuckyDuckyToo/status/111979422655066113
runningmatey at hotmail dot com
September 8, 2011 9:50 PM

Congrats to Mari! I am sending you an email so you can claim your prize!

Planning My Niece's Upcoming Birthday Party

2011-09-21T08:18:00.002-04:00

My Niece will be turning 8 years old in late October so I have been busy helping my sister-in-law plan out her Birthday party. We decided to make some of the items we need ourselves and we will be purchasing the other birthday party supplies we need online.

This year we are doing a "princess" party them in the pretty pink, light purple and white color scheme so we have been shopping for "princess" theme'd party supplies like Pinatas, paper goods for the table, birthday games, party loot bags, streamers & balloons and all those other things you need for a little girl's birthday party.

We are holding her party in at a ballet dance studio and all 11 of the little girl's who will be there will be getting a free 1 hour dance lesson and then we are holding the party in the back room of the dance studio. For the party favors we are making homemade tutu's and princess crowns for the girls so that they can take them home with them after the party. It will be fun to see them wear the tutus & crowns during the free dance lesson & then afterwards to the party.

I think my niece is totally going to be surprised once her Birthday Party arrives and to be honest, my sister-in-law and I are pretty dang-gone excited about it too! Do any of you have any crafty suggestions for us that would fit into our "princess" party theme?

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Scrapbooking | Cool Ocean Breezes Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-09-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

Today I am sharing with all of you a 12x12 scrapbook layout that I did a few days ago that features photos of hubby and I down at the Jersey Shore. Sorry the photo isn't too clear as my camera has been acting up again! This page took me about 45 minutes to make because I tore a lot of my scrap paper and did a paper collage for my background.

My background is made up of 4 different pieces of blue or blue with print scrapbooking paper. Three of the papers are solid light blues but slightly different shades and one is a light blue with ocean & beach words printed all over it. I just simply tore up my scraps into a pleasing pattern and glued them all down on a white piece of cardstock...covering that piece of cardstock entirely.

I had 3 photos which I cropped down and matted onto medium blue cardstock and trimmed them so that 3/16" border remained. I took a piece of frosty white vellum and tore it into an uneven rectangle and chalked around the edges of it in blue. This rectangle of vellum is larger than the photo of the beach & water as I wanted to use it as a mat. I put the vellum down on the center right of the layout with glue dots. I then mounted my ocean photo on top. I used a blue brad to add accent and placed it onto the vellum at the top and I did a little journaling under the photo and wrote directly on the vellum. I then placed a fabric sticker underneath that which says cool ocean breezes.

I placed the photos of hubby and I on the left side of the layout. I had to clear with black lettering word stickers so I placed the SUNSHINE one above hubby and the AT THE BEACH is under the photo of myself.

I wish my camera was acting better as the collage of torn paper along with the torn vellum looks beautiful and definitely beachy and ocean-like. I am really pleased with how this layout turned out.

Staying in Shape

2011-09-19T07:07:00.001-04:00

Guest post of the week by Val Flores

It’s tough trying to stay in shape sometimes, what with a 40 hour a week job and taking care of my family of 5? But I do my best and I know my husband likes me to stay slim and I feel so much better when I’m taking care of my body. What I’ve actually found works best for me is if I can wake up before anyone else in the house and get to working out before I go to work – I have more energy then and I seem to fare better when it comes to actually working out hard. My husband is so sweet and got me a little TV in front of my elliptical and I usually watch TV Cable Packages or news or something trashy in the morning to keep my pace steady. I know it won’t be forever but this waking up at 5:00am thing is hard! I know it’s worth it though when I see myself in the mirror or in a swimsuit after having three kids.

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Scrapbooking | Just Beachy Jersey Shore Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-09-17T19:13:00.004-04:00

Hubby and I just got back from a 8 day vacation down to the Jersey Shore...North Wildwood to be exact and we had a fabulous time! We love the Wildwood, Stone Harbor and Cape May area and go down a few times every year to our condo. My scrapbooking layout today was done in the 12x12 size and features a beach scene aka us walking the beach & collecting shells.

My background paper is a piece of 12x12 scrapbooking paper that is a textured sand print. I had 3 photos of us walking the beach which I cropped down and matted them onto chocolate brown cardstock, leaving a 3/16" border around the photo. I purchased a pack of Beach theme'd Dazzles (tm) from Paper Wishes (tm) and used the "Just Beachy" Dazzle for my page title. I also used the sea horse border strip along the right side of the page. The Dazzles are peel & stick and I love using the Dazzles in my scrapbooking layouts. I took the sand castle Dazzle and put it onto light beige scrapbooking paper and then trimmed around the outer edges to make my own embellishment. I used markers to add windows and texture to the sand castle. I used 3 adhesive back foam dots on the backside of it and stuck in onto my page (bottom left). I finished up my layout by adding 2 tiny star fish around the sides of the castle to just add some accent. Again, those are Dazzles too!

This layout took me about 35 minutes to make. I wanted a neutral toned layout that wasn't too busy or cluttered and I think I accomplished that with this design.

Scrapbooking | Life's A Beach 12x12 Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-09-14T23:00:00.001-04:00

My husband and I took a vacation down to the Jersey Shore (North Wildwood, New Jersey) last week and once we returned I got busy making some scrapbook pages. Today's layout was done in the 12x12 format and features photos of me walking the beach in Wildwood.

My background is a piece of 12x12 scrapbooking paper that is done in a muted blue, light green and light olive green pattern (small ripples). My bottom border is a piece of scrapbooking paper that has ocean and beach sayings on it that I trimmed down to measure 2" by 12" in size. I then took olive green ink and inked around all 4 edges of that strip before gluing it down onto my background paper.

I had 3 photos I wanted to use in this layout so I cropped 2 of them down into rectangular shapes and matted them onto olive green cardstock. I trimmed my cardstock down so that 3/8" of an edge remained. I then used glue dots to attach them to my page. For the third photo of my feet in the sand I simply trimmed around my feet so that I had a cut-out of my feet and used glue dots to attach that to the top right of my page.I had some beach theme'd Dazzles that I purchased from Paper Wishes in a brown color that say "Life's A Beach" that I used for my page title and stuck those words under my photo of my feet. I then took 4 small Dazzles (one of flip-flops, 2 sea shells and 1 crab) and mounted them onto pale blue vellum and then trimmed around the outter edge of the Dazzle and used them as accent stickers on my layout. (see photo for placement).

I made my own journaling tag from light blue scrapbooking paper (olive green ink around the edges of the tag) and then matted that onto olive green cardstock. I put some dark brown fiber trim through the hole of the tag to add accent. I did the journaling in my own handwriting.

I love how clean and uncluttered this layout is as I really wanted to focus on the photos and not on embellishments. This layout took me 35 minutes to make and the layout cost me less than $1.35 to make.

Just Got Back From A Jersey Shore Beach Vacation

2011-09-13T13:24:00.003-04:00

Hubby and I took off all of last week and went down to the Jersey Shore to stay in our condo for a week and it was absolutely beautiful! We had wonderful weather down in North Wildwood for most of the week so it was really nice to get out onto the beach and to enjoy some great activities.

The first day we just lazed around the condo, hit the pool and then took a nice long walk down the beach. The second day we decided to get up early and ride bikes on the boardwalk and then we went to the Cape May County Zoo, hit the pool again and then later that evening took a beach walk after dinner. The third day we took a drive down to Cape May and toured some victorian style homes, victorian Bed & Breakfasts and did some shopping in downtown Cape May. Later that night we went out to dinner and took another walk on the beach.

The fifth day we went bike riding again and then laid out by the pool for a few hours. We then went shopping up on the boardwalk & out for dinner...gosh that seafood in Jersey is delicious! The sixth day we went bike riding on the boardwalk, out to lunch, played on the beach and went mini golfing. We really had a great time & we totally deserved this vacation.

Now that we are back home...I have about 500 photos that I took of all of the various things that we did that I will need to scrapbook. I absolutely love scrapbooking so I always make sure that I stock up on scrapbooking supplies so that I am all ready to go once I return. I am really looking forward to doing some scrapbooking this weekend.

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

3 Reasons Adoptive Moms Should Scrapbook

2011-09-13T07:13:00.000-04:00

3 Reasons Adoptive Moms Should Scrapbook by Lisa Copen

I'll confess, I thought scrapbooking was a waste of time. Sure, I saw some scrapbooks of friends that were cute. But the idea of taking scissors to my beautiful photographs and then spending money on stickers that cost four dollars because they were labeled "embellishments?" It just didn't turn me on. I wasn't a sticker kind of gal and didn't have the time to invest in such silly hobbies.

Then we adopted a baby. I couldn't find a baby book or adoption book that had my son's story and I kept hearing the phrase "life books." Every child's story is unique.

So I made my way to the craft store and tried to find some "embellishments" that didn't include pregnancy quotations or storks. I held my breath as I cut into my photographs. Eventually, not finding any adoption items, I put my graphic design skills to use and created my own transparency overlays about adoption, so I could record those memories from "the wait" to Adoption Day. Now I cannot conceive of having let the idea of a scrapbook of my son's life pass by me. I would have missed great joy.

Why did I think it was vital to scrapbook about my child's adoption?

1. We all know how unique our own story is about deciding to adopt and waiting. Our kid's stories or no less special. Don't be tempted to use a book where you just fill in the blanks, because it's nearly impossible to since you don't have all of the answers, nor do they all apply. And what child wants to see blanks in his book? For example, even adoption books may or may not have a place for information about the birthfather or if the adoption was international or domestic.

A bonus is that when you scrapbook the album, it can be perfectly timed for your child's understanding of his or her story, depending on the age and what you have shared. As your child gets older, he will ask more questions. You can easily add a page that answers this right into the book. Recently my son has asked, "What would you have done if God had sent you a different little boy? Would you have loved him as much as me?" This is an ideal chance for me to make a new page for his album, relating how God picked him out just for us.

2. It's always fun to look back at photos, but I am often amazed that the memories attached to them can fade so quickly. If I didn't take the time to journal about the moment or even put a sticky note on my calendar about I've forgotten the specifics already. What exactly was the funny thing my son said that made us all giggle for fifteen minutes when that photo was taken? Photos bring back some memories, but it's usually about the event and not the story about our child who did or said something that we want to remember forever. Besides, every child loves to hear about the cute things she said when she was young!

3. Adoption is a special gift and I want my son to know that we acknowledge it as such. Just him seeing me spend the time to putting together an album, lets him know it's important to me. Whatever I share about his birth family, how he came to be a part of our family, visits we may have with the birth family (or if you adopted internationally, then special trips to your child's country of origin) lets him know just how special his story is. It's important that our kids know that we are never threatened by their story. We need to make sure they know that their whole life is precious to us, and not just the time that they have been a part of our family.

As an adoptive mom, I have grown to see scrap booking not as a frivolous hobby, but a significant way to record a miracle that God gave us--the honor of being our long-awaited child's parents.

Whether you call your adoption scrapbook album an international adoption lifebook or just an adoption book, it's much more than just a photo album or a "brag book." It's a chronicle of memories and photos, a personalized story book of your child's life, and a reminder to him that he is treasured. Though as parents, we may always have some concerns about how adoption affects a child, an adoption scrapbook is a way to remind him that we embrace and rejoice about the way he helped us become a family--through the gift of adoption.

Make a amazing adoption lifebook quickly with essentials from Scrapbook My Adoption. Complete books using overlay transparencies, digital scrapbooking adoption files and embellishments, make it easy to have an personalized lifebook your child will treasure.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Scrapbooking | Beautiful Scrapbook Pages On The Cheap!

2011-09-09T08:06:00.000-04:00

When I talk to people about scrapbooking many of them tell me that it's too expensive of a hobby and I am here to prove them wrong! Yes...You can spend $5.00+ dollars to make just one 12x12 scrapbook page...however, you can spend just $1.00 to make one too! Just because you scrapbook on the "cheap" doesn't mean you can't make nice layouts for your scrapbooks.

The above 12x12 layout cost exactly $1.03 to make and we didn't use up all of the paper or stickers that we purchase to make it. If you really want to scrapbook cheaply look for those clearance sales at your local scrapbooking or crafts store where you can purchase 12x12 scrapbooking papers for .10 cents a piece! You don't need to spend $3.00 to $4.00 per package of embellishments when you can buy a $1.00 pack of stickers that will do numerous pages!

On the page above we used 2 sheets of 12x12 scrapbooking paper...the light pink one is the background and then we trimmed a piece from the medium pink paper that measures 12" by 4" in size and ran that down the left side of the page to act as our border. We then used the same paper that was left-over to frame our photograph which we then attached to the page. From a scrap of white paper we cut an oval and then framed it with a piece of the left-over medium pink paper and used that as our journaling block and we journaled in our own handwriting to keep costs down. We purchase 1 pack of floral and butterfly glitter stickers that were on sale for $1.00 and only used 1/3 of that pack on this page. We purchase a large roll of pink rick rack ribbon that was on clearance for .75 cents and used a 12" piece of that to trim out the border paper on the left-side. Other than that...some double-sided stick tape to attach everything and it was done.

As you can see...you can do nice looking scrapbook pages on the cheap! You don't have to get caught up in fancy dancy pages that cost over $5.00 per page! What are your thoughts? Got any frugal scrapbooking tips to share with my readers? If so, leave them in a comment please!

How To Make Homemade Finger Paints For The Kids

2011-09-05T08:00:00.003-04:00

Here at our home we do not purchase finger paints...we do it the frugal and safe way by making our own homemade finger paints which is really easy to do. Besides the supplies listed below you will need some old small plastic containers with lids...we like to use old plastic butter/margerine containers for this project.

Homemade Finger Paints Recipe

2 cups of plastic liquid starch
1 cup of Ivory Snow detergent flakes
food coloring (we like the primary colors)
finger painting paper, watercolor paper or freezer paper

Combine liquid starch and Ivory Snow in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer until the volume is tripled. Divide, add in food coloring as desired. Store in covered containers in the refrigerator.

You will want to lay down some old newspapers or an old plastic cheap tablecloth before you put the paints and paper out for the kid's to paint. (this can get messy!)

Affordable Scrapbooking Craft Supplies From Scrapbuck.com and $25 GC Giveaway

2011-08-31T16:54:00.005-04:00

Today I get to introduce all of you crafter's to a wonderful company called Scrapbuck which is a paper crafter's paradise! As a big time scrapbooker and cardmaker...I love this company!

Here is a little bit about them - Scrapbuck.com is the premier online store and community for the value-conscious Scrapbooker and Cardmaker. Scrapbuck sells all of its merchandise at 50-75% less than other scrapbooking stores. We carry between 2,500 to 3,000 products and sell over 750 items for only $1. Any purchase $20.00 or more in the continental US ships for free and leaves our warehouse within one business day! This store sells all of the name brand items that you love!

My Review: The generous folks over at Scrapbuck.com sent me a box full of craft supplies to review for all of you. Today I am going tell you about those supplies and how I used them for this review. First let me tell you a little bit about what I received. I got a huge pad of ColorBok Deluxe Textured Cardstock which contains 50 sheets of pastel colored cardstock, 2 of each color and the colors range from beige up to lilac and several colors in between. This 50 sheet pad of cardstock sells for ONLY $6.00. I also got a 6 sheet paper pack (12x12 size) in a beach vacation theme by Forever in Time (tm). This 6 sheet vacation paper pack sells for ONLY $1.00.

The next several items are a bunch of high quality scrapbooking embellishments! From Phrase Cafe I got a pack of epoxy stickers in a vacation theme that sells for $1.75, a pack of Soft Spoken "toddler" theme embellishments that sell for $1.80, a Jolee's Boutique 21 pc. "Princess" page title or embellishments that cost $2.00, a pack of 3D White Pearl Halves that costs $1.25, a Making Memories Glitter Die-Cuts 76 pc. "Just Chillin" design for $2.50 a pack, a package of Pop-Dots that sells for $1.00 and a large package of Chipboard Embellishments in the Starfish Design that sells for $2.65.

The third group of items I received is a sheet of Embossed Cardstock Stickers in a beach/vacation theme that sells for $1.00, a set of 8 clear stamps in the "Life at the Beach" theme that sells for $3.50, a large roll of Double-Sided Tape that sells for $1.00, a black Ink It Up! stamp pad that sells for $1.00, a 4 piece Sparkle Glitter Gel Pens set that sells for $1.00 and finally a Clear Stamp Tool (to use with the clear stamp set) that sells for $1.00. Wow!!! I got a lot of great stuff!

Here is a 12x12 scrapbooking layout that I made using supplies from Scrapbuck.com. For this layout I used a pink piece of scrapbooking paper that has "Princess" wording all over it from my own paper stash as the background for the layout. I had 3 photos of my little grand daughter wearing a pink princess costume that I wanted to use in the layout. I cropped 2 of them down just a little bit and then I cropped down the third one so that it measures 3" square. I then used 2 sheets of the pink textured cardstock and 1 sheet of the white textured cardstock from the Colorbok Deluxed Textured Cardstock pad that has 50 sheets in it from Scrapbuck and it only costs $6.00 to triple mat all three photos. The inner mat is pink, the middle one is white and the outer one is pink and I left an 1/8" border around each mat. I used double sided tape to mat them all and to apply them to my scrapbooking page.

I had a sheet of pink vellum in my stash and I cut the vellum on the diagonal and then placed the triangle of vellum onto my layout running from the top right down to the bottom left. I used their double sided tap to attach the vellum to my page and was pleasantly surprised that you can't see the tape underneath the vellum, yeah!!! I then cut six squares from the pink vellum that was leftover and each square measures 2 1/2" and then I cut each little square on the diagonal to make vellum photo corners for each of the three photos. Again, I used their double sided tape to adhere them onto the corners of each photo. I then took the tiny self-adhesive pink rhinestones and placed one in each corner on each photo to add a little Princess "bling" to the layout.
For my page title I simply used my Cricut on the #1 size setting and cut out the letters CUTIE from medium pink textured cardstock and then did the shadow setting and cut the same letters out of white textured cardstock (cardstock from the Colorbok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pad). I ran all the letters through my Xyron sticker maker to apply adhesive to the backsides and layered them together. I used my glue pen to glue them onto my layout.

Giveaway: One lucky winner is going to win a $25.00 E-Gift Certificate to Scrapbuck.com where you can pick up oodles of craft supplies with that gift certificate!

Giveaway Details: This giveaway is open to residents of the USA only who are age 18 and over. Please read our Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy before entering. This giveaway will close on September 20th, 2011 at midnight EST time.

Mandatory Entry - Earns 2 Entries: Follow this blog via Google Friend Connect as a public follower

Mandatory Entry#2 - Earns 2 Entries: Please follow Scrapbuck.com over on Facebook. (leave first name & last initial).

Bonus Entries: You may complete these after fulfilling the mandatory entry above. Please leave a separate comment for each one that you complete. All Bonus Entries will be verified once the giveaway closes!

Earns 2 Entries: Visit the Scrapbuck.com site & come back & tell me the name of at least one product you would love to own.
Earns 2 Entries: Sign up for the Scrapbuck.com email newsletter.
Earns 2 Entries: Follow Shelly over on Facebook.
Earns 2 Entries: Follow Shelly over on Twitter.
Earns 5 Entries: Write up your own post about this giveaway along with live links, post it on your blog (leave link)
Earns 1 Entry Daily: You can copy and paste the following Tweet over on Twitter twice per day. (leave status link and tweets must be 4 hours a part)

Copy & Paste Tweet:

Win $25 GC to the Wonderful Scrapbooking & Crafting Store called Scrapbuck.com on @Ravish30 http://bit.ly/oeIlMf Ends 9-20 #Giveaways

I would personally like to thank Scrapbuck for allowing me to do a product review for their company and for hosting a giveaway here on the Passionate About Crafting Blog.

Disclaimer: Shelly Hill has personally reviewed the product listed above. Shelly has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Shelly did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ. The Passionate About Crafting Blog is not responsible for delivery/shipping of giveaway items won from this blog nor are we responsible for mis-use or injury caused by items won from this blog.

PandaHall.com Has Great Glass Beads for Jewelry Making

2011-08-31T06:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of jewelrybeads for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love to craft and I have been dabbling into jewelry making for the past year or so and at times I get very frustrated with the selection of glass beads that are available at my local craft supply store so I have had to resort to shopping online for all of the jewelry beads that I need. I used to spend hours scouring our local craft store and then I would come home and be disappointed that I couldn't find pretty beads and things that I needed to make my jewelry with.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a site called PandaHall.com and was very impressed with their selection of jewelry making supplies, especially their large selection of glass beads. They have jewelry beads in every shape, size and color imaginable and they are all affordably priced. I really like working with cat eye beads and I love those the best! (but they have all kinds of beads that you will fall in love with).

In addition to glass jewelry beads they also have a large variety of chains, jump rings and jewelry making tools that you can purchase too! And if you sell your jewelry that you make at local craft shows, art galleries or at trade shows they have jewelry boxes and jewelry packaging/storage products that you can purchase too!

PandaHall.com is an excellent store for buying all of your jewelry making supplies and make sure you check out their FREE shipping offer as they offer that to over 18 different countries! yeah! If you want to be kept up to date on new product offerings or product specials, you can subscribe to their email newsletter. So the next time you are looking for jewelry making supplies head on over to PandHall and check out their nice selection.

Scrapbooking | Taking A Walk With My Grand Daughter Scrapbook Layout

2011-08-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

Today I am featuring another 12x12 layout I made using supplies that I received from Scrapbuck.com. If you have never shopped at Scrapbuck you really should! You can get name brand scrapbooking supplies at an affordable price! Every item (except for the printed background paper) came from Scrapbuck and here is what I used and how I used it!

My background paper is a muted floral colorblock 12x12 piece of scrapbooking paper from my own stash. I used 2 photos in this layout which feature me walking my grand daughter and my mother walking my grand daughter a few weeks ago one one of our weekly walks with her. I wanted to document that "her grandma's" have been taking her out for walks once a week all summer long so decided to scrapbook a page about it. I used a piece of the light sage green, medium sage green and yellow cardstock papers from the Colorbok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pack that contains 50 sheets of cardstock. I matted each photo first with the light sage green cardstock and then with the yellow cardstock and trimmed them down so that only an 1/8" border remained. I then attached those photos to the darker green cardstock using double sided tape. I then used my paper trimmer and trimmed down that sheet so that it was rectangular in size and offset the two photos on it so that space remained under the left photo and so that space remained above and below the right photo.
I used the "Stop" "Slow" and "Go" embellishments from the Soft Spoken 'Toddler" embellishment pack under the right photo. I used the green glitter corner mounts from the Glitter Die-Cuts 76pc. "Just Chillin" Pack in each corner of my layout. I then used one of the green glitter rectangular journal blocks under the left photo and a green "Dream" tag with flower above the right photo...again, all of them are from the "Just Chillin" Glitter Die-Cuts Pack. I used the green Glitter Gel Pens to do my journaling under each photo on the yellow mat and on the glitter green journal block under the left photo.

I am really happy with how this layout came out. I wasn't sure what to do with one vertical photo and one horizontal photo so I solved that by mounting both on one big sage green cardstock photo mat.

If you are looking for name brand, quality and affordable scrapbooking supplies you need to head on over to Scrapbuck and check out their selection...they have hundreds and hundreds of scrapbooking supplies that everyone can afford!

Disclosure: I was given free products by the company mentioned in this blog post to try out in my own home for all of my blog readers. My opinions, thoughts and ideas on those products are 100% unbiased and honest. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this post nor did I receive monetary compensation from the company. Your thoughts & opinions may differ from my own. Please read my Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy here on my blog for further information. All information on this blog is copyright 2009-2011, all rights reserved.

NET10 Has Affordable Cell Phone Plans For You and Your Family!

2011-08-29T11:20:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Net10 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I started this crafting blog over 2 years ago and I have met hundreds of great blogging friends and craft companies since I started this blog. Over the years I have had to call many of them to discuss business or to just chat about upcoming craft shows, crafting events and new product releases which means I had to get an affordable cellular carrier so that I could afford to make my calls as often as I needed and one that I could call people any time of the day from any where that I wanted.

Today I thought I would share some info with you about the company called NET10 and their fabulous cell phone plans. When you join NET10 there are NO credit checks, no contracts, no hidden fees and no stress! You can get their unlimited monthly plan which includes unlimited calls, unlimited texts and web data for ONLY $50.00 a month. If you are a light cell phone user you can get 200 minutes a month for only $15.00 and any unused minutes are carried over to the following month with NO penalties or fees.

I can see why Real NET10 customer love this service as it is totally affordable! If you need a new phone they have simple basic phones for $15 and if you need a phone that has a camera and mobile web you can get those for $40. If you are like me and want a QWERTY phone with keyboard you can get those for $60. NET10 only uses trusted phone manufacturers like Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung.

Check out this Cute NET10 commercial which I think is totally adorable but yet informative! I know I am beginning to See the Light at the end of the cell phone tunnel as I am tired of dealing with over-priced cell phone companies! If you need international service they have international plans too and these plans are just as affordable as their domestic plans. They have international coverage to over 75 countries so now you will be able to keep in touch with family and friends who live overseas.

Check out this YouTube video by real NET10 customer Hector, it is cute, fun and you can hear what a real NET10 customer has to say.

Scrapbooking | Look At Me Toddler Girl | Quick and Easy Scrapbook Layout

2011-08-27T17:53:00.006-04:00

Today I am sharing with you another layout I did in the 12x12 format using scrapbooking supplies that I received from Scrapbuck.com. If you have never shopped at Scrapbuck you are really missing out! They have name brand supplies at affordable prices!

This layout is for those of you who love quick, easy and inexpensive designs and want them to look cute and organized. My background paper is a mint green color and is from the ColorBok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pad which contains 50 sheets of textured cardstock. I then used the embellishments from the Making Memories Glitter Die-Cut Pack to accent my page. I used the 4 corner mounts that come in that package in each of the corners on my layout. Also in the pack is a glitter die-cut that says "heartbreaker" on it which I placed to the left of my photo using a self-adhesive pop dot and to the right of my photo I used 2 glitter stars and 2 round glitter frame circles from the pack to accent that side of my page.

My focal point is a 4x6 photo of my grand-wee-one which I matted with mint green textured cardstock from the ColorBok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pad and left an 1/8" border around my photo. I then matted it again on dark burgundy cardstock from my scrap pile. Right above the photo is a piece from the Soft Spoken "Toddler" theme embellishment pack that says LOOK AT ME applied with a few pop dots. You can purchase Soft Spoken embellishments from Scrapbuck.com for ONLY $1.80 per pack! wow!

Then from my scrapbox I grabbed 3 oval shaped stickers with one of them saying "Chic", one saying "Vogue" and one saying "Fashion" and matted them with scraps of dark burgundy cardstock and applied them to the bottom of the layout (under the photo) using more pop dots.
I used the green Glitter Gel Pens in the bottom right corner to date my layout as I didn't want to journal on this page at all.

This layout is super easy to make and really quick, it took me about 20-25 minutes to make it and you make this layout for about $1.30 if that...when you buy your supplies from scrapbuck.com.

I will be posting all of my layouts that I make from supplies I received from Scrapbuck in a special section here on my blog called Scrapbuck Scrapbook Layouts so check that section to see more!

Disclosure: I was given free products by the company mentioned in this blog post to try out in my own home for all of my blog readers. My opinions, thoughts and ideas on those products are 100% unbiased and honest. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this post nor did I receive monetary compensation from the company. Your thoughts & opinions may differ from my own. Please read my Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy here on my blog for further information. All information on this blog is copyright 2009-2011, all rights reserved.

Scrapbooking | Toddler Girl Messy Chocolate Donuts Scrapbook Layout

2011-08-24T11:00:00.000-04:00

Today's featured layout is one that my daughter made of my little 2 year old grand daughter. My hubby took the wee one on a car ride and bought her chocolate glazed donuts and when they finally came back...she was covered in chocolate donut glaze from her chin to her nose! I just had to get a photo of it! (gotta love those toddler moments).

This was done in the 12x12 scrapbooking format. Daughter used a piece of muted lavendar solid scrapbooking paper for her background. She took a coordinating piece of striped lavendar scrapbooking paper and trimmed it down to measure 7" by 12" in size and glued it down the center of the background paper. The wee one is wearing a striped purple shirt so she wanted to incorporate stripes into her background. She took braided self-adhesive stitching (fibers) and ran those down along each edge of the striped paper. She then took another piece of the braided fibers that measures 7" long and ran that across the bottom section, just across the striped paper.

She used a 4x6" photo as her focal point and framed in in lavendar scrapbooking paper and glued that onto the page using glue dots. She did her journaling in her own handwriting on the bottom edge of the photo frame. Along the sides of the background she took purple self-adhesive letters and spelled out GIANNA on one side and DONUTS on the other side.

She had a punch out plaque that has the words MEMORABLE MOMENTS printed on it and she matted that onto lavendar paper and trimmed it so that only an 1/8" border remained. She then used a glue pen to glue it onto the braided fiber trim (under her photo). She finished up the layout by taking a heart shaped cardstock cutout and placing adhesive foam dots on the back. She wrote MESSY onto the heart using a purple marker and placed the heart near the top right of the photograph.

It is Important To Backup Your Computer - Consider Using Carbonite

2011-08-22T03:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carbonite for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have been working from home for over 20 year now and for the past 14 years I have been working my home businesses online so I understand the importance of having my computer backed up at all times. Today I would like to talk to you about Carbonite which was founded in 2005 and Carbonite has safely recovered over 7 billion files that otherwise might have been lost in cyber space forever.

Carbonite is easy, fast and hassle-free and is a must have for computer backup. It works automatically and continually in the background backing up your files while your computer is connected to the internet. You can access those backed up files anytime from any place which is a huge bonus when considering Carbonite. With the free Carbonite App you can even access your backed up files via your Smartphone or iPad.

Unlimited backup for your PC or MAC with anytime and anywhere access is only $59 a year. You even get to try it for FREE for 15 days to see if you like it before you sign up and you don't need a credit card. If you decide to buy you can get 2 months FREE by entering coupon code BLOGAD during checkout.

I know as a home business owner backing up my computer is a must and having Carbonite is the answer for me and my business. I hope you head on over to the site and check it out today!

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Scrapbooking Layout Idea | Using Rub-on Transfers In Scrapbooking Layouts

2011-08-20T08:22:00.000-04:00

A few months ago we took our little grand daughter out to eat at our local chili's restaurant. Our little Gia loves to go out to eat and at times...she gets really silly! During this particular outing she finally learned to say "cheese" because we kept saying to her "Say Cheese Gia" and she finally said it and wouldn't stop saying it LOL She then was busy making funny faces and trying to get us to laugh. Oh yeah...she had her favorite meal too...Macaroni & Cheese! (more cheese).

For this particular layout I wanted to use up some sage green rub-on transfers that I purchased at my local scrapbooking store for only .50 cents (yes, a deal). I did this scrapbooking page in the 12 x 12 format and my color scheme was sage green and peach. My background is a tone on tone piece of peach scrapbooking paper with a floral and vine pattern. It's hard to see in this photo. I had the coordinating sheet of paper in sage green with the same pattern so I cut it into a semi-circle and glued it at the bottom of my page after I chalked the edges in sage green. I then went around the peach paper and chalked those edges too.
My rub-on transfers are vines and flowers in sage green and I rubbed them on across the top of the layout. I had 2 photos that I cropped, rounded their corners and mounted onto sage green cardstock leaving an 1/8" border and mounted those onto the bottom. (see photo for placement). I used my Cricut on the 1 1/2 size setting and cut the letters SAY CHEESE GIA from dark sage green cardstock and used my glue pen to glue the letters onto the page around the edge of the semi-circle. I made my own journaling block out of matching sage green floral paper and dark sage green cardstock and journaled onto the block & then mounted it onto the page under the left photo. I had a few more rub-on flowers and butterflies left so I just randomly rubbed them onto the layout where-ever I wanted them.

This layout took me about an hour to make but over all I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Great Supplier of Jewelry Findings for Your Jewelry Making Projects

2011-08-18T10:02:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of jewelrybeads for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you make jewelry as part of a jewelry making business or just as a hobby? If so, you know how important it is to find high quality, affordable jewelry findings to use in all of your jewelry crafting projects. I know that when I shop here locally for my supplies my choices are limited so I usually buy my supplies online because I can find a larger selection and I can find them at better prices.

I found a really cool store today called PandaHall.com where you can find various types of beads, jewelry findings, gems, tools of the trade and various other supplies that one would need if they are making jewelry. PandaHall.com has a very nice selection of products at prices you can afford.

Shopping their site is quick & easy and you can shop by the Best Sellers, New Arrivals, Mixed Products or PH Categories. I think you will really like this jewelry supply site so I hope you will check them out the next time you are looking for some supplies.

Scrapbooking | Playtime With Grandpa Scrapbooking Layout

2011-08-16T20:51:00.000-04:00

Well...My hubby has finally made his first scrapbooking layout! yeah!!! He told me he actually enjoyed it and would scrapbook with me again! Since this was his first time I decided to show him a really simple layout which is great for beginners but I wanted to teach him a few scrapbooking techniques with it (easy ones) so I think this page accomplished that. He didn't want a "girly" page so he wanted something masculine with just a "hint" of girl.

Hubby had a play date with the wee one and they had made me some new refrigerator art. (coloring). So I showed him how to crop down their refrigerator art along with how to crop and matt his photo. He matted the artwork onto black cardstock and he matted the photo onto black cardstock and medium pink cardstock. (he picked pink since wee one had a pink outfit on).
He then used one of my templates and made himself a library pocket and library card and I showed him how to ink the edges which he did in black. He did his own journaling on the card and stuck it inside the pocket. He used a Soft Spoken (tm) tag that simply says GRANDPA on it and placed that onto his page and he used my Cricut (tm) to make a black flower with a mini yellow flower and glued them together and placed them onto his page.

Now this page did take him an hour but that was because he was learning (his first attempt at scrapbooking) but I think anyone else could probably do this in less than 30 minutes. It's a nice clean uncluttered page and I think he did a great job!

Straight Talk 2 Offers Fabulous Cell Phone Plans To Fit In Your Budget!

2011-08-16T20:01:00.003-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I work from home as a writer, blogger and professional crafter so when it comes to cellular service I need a reliable and affordable service to fit in my household's budget. I recently discovered Straight Talk and it has everything you need all rolled up in one nice cellular package with no surprise bills, no long term contracts and no credit checks!

I am a heavy cell phone user since I use my phone for my craft business and for personal use. Straight Talk has a All You Need Plan which comes with 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of web data. The unlimited plan costs $45 a month and includes calls, text and web. Wow, can you imagine getting your cell phone service for around $499 a year? With all of the money I will be saving, I can reinvest that savings back into my craft business or take my family on a vacation.

Straight Talk only uses reliable phone manufacturers like LG, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung and you get nationwide, reliable coverage. All 411 calls are included for no extra charge. Like I said, no surprise charges with this company! I like being able to call a friend, a family member or fellow crafter whenever I want without paying a slew of money to do it.

There are no activation, reactivation or cancelation fees with this company and that also impressed me. My mom knows best and she told me to never lock myself into any long term contracts and this company doesn't have that! Like I said, this company has everything you are looking for in a cell phone carrier. If you need international service they have a plan for those of you who have family and friends who live outside of the USA.

If you need a new cell phone they have reconditioned phones for $10 and those phones include cameras, MP3 players, mobile web access and more! Wow, thats a nice price! I would like to invite you to watch the video at this link to hear what a real customer has to say about Straight Talk and how to get everything you need .

If you have a home business like me and need affordable and reliable cellular service then I hope you will consider checking out Straight Talk.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/kx4K5aY9Wlk

Scrapbooking | You Are My Princess Toddler Girl Scrapbook Layout

2011-08-14T23:17:00.008-04:00

Today's featured 12x12 scrapbooking layout was made with supplies received from Scrapbuck.com which is one of my favorite scrapbooking supply stores. If you have never shopped at Scrapbuck.com I highly recommend it. They have affordable scrapbooking supplies and over 700+ of their items are $1.00 and trust me...they are high-quality name brand supplies!

This "Your Are My Princess" scrapbooking layout features my 2 year old grand daughter and was done in the 12x12 format. This layout will take 30-45 minutes to make and will cost less than $5.00 if you purchase your supplies at Scrapbuck.com. (if you have the basics of adhesive, inks, etc. this layout will cost you about $3.50).

I started with a piece of 12x12 scrapbooking paper that is purple with pink dots (from my own stash). The rest of the supplies that I used in this layout came from Scrapbuck.com I used Colorbok textured pink and purple cardstock to mat and frame my 5x7 photo. I trimmed my mats down so that they had an 1/8" border around them. I used self-adhesive faux 1/4" diameter half pearls and attached one in each corner of my photo mats. I then used their double-sided tape to attach the framed photo to the top of my page, centering it in the middle.
I used their "Princess" 3-D embellishment pack to make the title block for my page. I took all of the embellishments in the pack and placed them onto the textured purple cardstock and then trimmed it into a rectangle. I then used their black ink pad to "lightly" ink my edges just to frame it a little bit more. I then matted this onto the textured pink cardstock and trimmed it down so that an 1/8" border remained. I took 3 more of their faux pearls and added one of them to the princess wand and 1 on each princess shoe just to carry my "pearl" decorations down to the bottom of the page. I love all the "bling". I did use a piece of scrap sheer 1 1/2" wide by 13" long ribbon in a dark pink color frame out the title and attached the ribbon and title block to the bottom of my page. I used their pink gel pens to sign and date my layout.

I decided to not do any journaling on this layout as I wanted a nice, clean & stream-lined layout with my little grand daughter as the focus point and I think I accomplished that. I absolutely LOVE the high-quality and affordable scrapbooking supplies that I got from Scrapbuck.com!

Disclosure: I was given free products by the company mentioned in this blog post to try out in my own home for all of my blog readers. My opinions, thoughts and ideas on those products are 100% unbiased and honest. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this post nor did I receive monetary compensation from the company. Your thoughts & opinions may differ from my own. Please read my Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy here on my blog for further information. All information on this blog is copyright 2009-2011, all rights reserved.

How To Make Homemade Bath Soap Crayons For Kids

2011-08-14T11:05:00.004-04:00

You can make your own bathtub soap crayons for the little ones quickly and easily by following the recipe below and making them yourself which is so much cheaper than buying them in a speciality bath store.

We use the following recipe all of the time and our grandkids, nieces and nephews just love it when I hand them a pile of homemade bath soap crayons for them to enjoy while getting a bath.

Homemade Bath Soap Crayons For Kids Recipe

You will Need:

1 cup grated Ivory Soap
1/4 cup warm water
Food Coloring
Plastic Cookie cutters

How to: Mix water, soap & food coloring together in med. size bowl. Stir the crayon mixture until it begins to stiffen. Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead until it is the consistency of a very thick dough. Spoon Crayon Mixture into plastic cookie cutters or other plastic molds (playdough molds work great too!). Press down firmly. Place the plastic cookie cutters in your freezer for 10 mins or in your refrigerator for 30 mins. When firm, Pop the bath crayons out of the cookie cutters (or other molds) and allow them to air dry overnight or until hard.

Molds: Ice Cube Trays, Playdough Molds, & Cutters Tupperware Cookie Cutters, Plastic Cookie Cutters, Plastic Guest Soap Molds (buy at local craft store), The Plastic divided tray that comes in choc. candy boxes and so forth! Inexpensive Fun!

Sprucing Up Your Home With Fresh Flowers

2011-08-12T11:07:00.004-04:00

When you walk into a person's home you want to feel like that home is comfy, clean, organized and you want it to look good. When it comes to decorating...adding fresh floral arrangements to several areas of your home can provide your home with the perfect decorator's touch.

I like to buy flowers online because I am get some great deals and have them delivered straight to my front door. I like to purchase my floral arrangements from Serenata Flowers because they are a large selection of beautiful arrangements that are affordably priced. These arrangements are perfect for your own home or if you need a Birthday, Anniversary, Sympathy or Holiday gift...this fabulous flower shop can help you out!

Need a floral arrangment tomorrow? Well, if you order before 8pm the day before they will get your flowers to you (or to whomever you are shipping them to) the very next day and it's free delivery!

If you are looking to keep your fresh flowers looking nice for weeks then you can find information about Additives For Freshly Cut Flowers by clicking on the link. I know when I purchase or receive fresh flowers I like them to last as long as possible.

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

DIY: Make Your Own Outdoor Candle Holders For Summer

2011-08-10T08:02:00.002-04:00

I love recycling and upcycling everyday trash that I would normally throw away and this project is a great Trash to Treasure project because you are using all of those glass condiment jars that you normally would toss away and then they end up in our landfills. This project will save that from happening and in turn you will be making yourself some beautiful outdoor candle holders for summertime use!

DIY: Make Your Own Outdoor Candle Holders For Summer

Supplies Needed:

Empty Glass Jars (clear or you can used colored glass jars)
Colored 20-22 Wire, Needle Nose Pliers and Wire Cutters
Jar Filling: Sand, Small Pebbles, Tiny Seashells, Aquarium Gravel or Smooth River Stones
Votive Candles and/or tealight candles
Optional: Metal Charms

* All of the supplies mentioned above can be purchased at your local craft supply store.

For the next week or two save all of your condiment jars and wash them out and remove their labels. Take your wire cutters and cut off approximately 2 feet of colored wire and wrap that wire around the neck of the jar (tightly) and bring the two ends up to the top and twist the two ends together to form a hanger. Fill your jar with 2-4" of sand, pebbles or small river stones and nestle a small votive candle down inside the jar.

Optional: If desired, thread purchased metal summer-theme'd charms onto the wire as you wrap it around the neck of the jar to add decoration.

You are now ready to hang your newly made summer jar candle holders on garden hooks, tree limbs, etc. As always, never leave a burning candle unattended and that includes outdoor candles.

Scrapbooking | Abstract and Floral Mommy & Me Scrapbook Layout Design

2011-08-05T10:44:00.001-04:00

This scrapbook layout is so much prettier in person and my camera did a horrible job at trying to capture how pretty this layout really is. It was done in the 12x12 scrapbooking format and the little wee one in the photo picked the papers that she wanted me to use...since I am the one making her a scrapbook of her life. I wasn't too sure how pale green and dark purple would look together but I think it actually looks nice.

We took an all-over floral print piece of paper and used that as our background. We then ripped a sheet of dark purple textured cardstock paper and glued two sections of that onto the printed paper to get our layout base.

We framed the 4x6 photo with a pre-purchased cardstock frame and then matted that on dark purple and pale green, trimmed the mats so that only an 1/8" border remained around them. We placed this at the top of the page but off-center and more onto the left-side of the page. We matted a preprinted journaling block that talks about a mother's love onto dark purple cardstock and trimmed it so that only an 1/8" border remained and put that under the photo. We then took a clear adhesive word sticker that says YOU ARE A PART OF ME and put it on pale green paper and matted it with dark purple cardstock...again...trimming it so that only an 1/8" border remained. We then took 3 self-adhesive foam dots and mounted it onto the journaling block, over-lapping the block on the right side.

To finish up the layout we took a punch-out word that says FOREVER and placed that onto the bottom right of the page. We took a clear adhesive word sticker that says SPECIAL and matted that on pale green and dark purple papers and used a foam dot on the back to stick it on the page (to the right) of the top photo.

Upromise Celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a $20,000 Giveaway!

2011-08-05T10:01:00.005-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of UPromise for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was a little girl I had always dreamed about some day owning my own craft boutique and touring around the United States participating in various judged craft shows. As time went on I was able to live my dream and have traveled to many places in the US and displayed my craft items for the world to see. I fell in love with crafting over 25 years ago thanks to my lovely grandmother who was an expert crafter and seamstress who taught me everything I know about sewing. She was so patient with me and would sit for hours with me teaching me all about that crafting medium.

Upromise has been helping our kids realize their dreams for 10 years through their Upromise program and now they are hosting a $20,000 giveaway where 10 people will each win $1,000 and the grand prize winner will win $20,000 and I invite you to check out their web site at http://app.socialspark.com/clicks?lid=14102&oid=4715992 to get all of the information!

You can easily enter by writing your own dream story and posting it on the Upromise Dream Wall and/or you can vote on the dreams that are already posted there by "liking" them to earn entries into the giveaway. You can get all of the dream wall official rules right on their web site!

As parents and adults who have lived our own dreams it is our job to help the next generation realize their dreams. I would love for you to share with me your dream and let me know who influenced you or mentored you on achieving your dream. I hope you take time today out of your busy schedule to check out the Upromise Giveaway!

Kidzmet Offers More Tools for Teachers and Students

2011-08-05T00:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Kidzmet for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Kidzmet is a great online tool that helps match students and their teachers by providing the student qualities and needed areas of teaching to the teacher. This a superb tool for both because the parents and students can rest easy knowing that the child needs are available and coachable.

Now there is even more tools available for the teacher. The Kidzmet Classroom Account provides a Student Snapshot of their students. You can find information on personality types, multiple intelligence preferences, major likes/dislikes, and primary cognitive styles. There is also recommended teaching approaches/tactics. The best part is that is all available for just $9.99 per year.

Plus there is a 45-day full money back guarantee, so if teachers DON'T love it for any reason, they can always get a full refund. That is a sweet deal!

Now Available for parents, the Student Snapshot can turn homework nightmares into a success for an amazing $0.99. Fill out the snapshot and send it to your child's new teacher or tutor. You can choose to send it to yourself to make sure homework is tackled in a way that's going to be most engaging and effective for your child. Check out this Sample Snapshot for more information.

Get a handle on your students work early this year and take advantage of these great new additions and fabulous pricing at Kidzmet!

Bath & Body Works and Slatkin & Co. Giveaway Ends August 9th, 2011

2011-08-04T14:40:00.001-04:00

Bath & Body Works and Slatkin & Co. Present My Candle Recipe Winners & The Final Challenge!

The home fragrance authorities, Bath & Body Works and Slatkin & Co. are pleased to announce the three lucky winners of the MyCandleRecipe contest, selected by Harry Slatkin, Creator of Slatkin & Co., Erica Tucker, owner of Sweet E’s Mini Bakeshop in Los Angeles, and Givaudan Fragrance Expert, Jeanine Guerrero during a live cooking event held in New York City.

Tim Ong of Houston, Texas with Strawberry Pistachio Delight
Mary Shivers of Ada, Oklahoma with Tropical Tangerine Cake
Naylet La Rochelle of Miami, Florida with Maple Sticky Toffee Pudding

The Giveaway Prizes: Now the expert judges are turning the decision over to you to select the winner who deserves the ultimate grand prize – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join Harry Slatkin in New York City to watch as his or her dessert turned into a gourmand candle. Simply log on to MyCandleRecipe.com to view exclusive cooking event footage and vote for your favorite contestant. FIVE lucky voters will also win a year’s supply of Slatkin & Co. candles!

Details: Head on over to MyCandleRecipe.com and take a look at the 3 finalists creations. You will see each of the 3 finalists listed and you simply vote for the one you would like to see win. (click on the vote button). A new window will pop up where you enter your email address and cast your vote. Please enter your correct email address as you will be sent an email with a link it that you will need to click to validate your vote which enters you into the giveaway.

What's In It For You? Well, FIVE lucky voters will also win a year's supply of Slatkin & Co. candles! Voting started on Wednesday, August 3rd and will close at midnight on Tuesday, August 9th, 2011. So head on over to MyCandleRecipe.com and cast your vote today!!!

I decided to post the info here for all of my blog readers as I know some of you are candlemaker's yourself and you all love a great giveaway! Good Luck!

~ Shelly ~

Scrapbooking | Toddler Girl's 2nd Birthday Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-08-02T14:50:00.000-04:00

Today I am sharing a layout I did from my grand daughter's 2nd Birthday party back in May of 2011. This layout is a LOT prettier in person since my camera didn't pick up all of the glitter and rhinestones used in the layout. This page was made on 12x12 scrapbooking paper.

I had a pack of chipboard theme'd 3-dimensional embellishments that cost me ONLY $1.00 that I used on the layout. For my title...I ran a sheer piece of dark pink ribbon across the top of my page and then glued the Happy Birthday chipboard title piece on top of the ribbon. I had 3 photos for my page that I cropped down into square shapes and I matted them onto a bubble textured piece of handmade paper in a dark pink color. I trimmed my mats down so that only 1/4" remained around the photos. I love that handmade paper...it has a raised bumpy texture to it!

I then took 3 pieces from that same chipboard pack and placed one of the birthday candles between the two top photos and then one chipboard piece on each side of the bottom photo. I didn't journal on this page because the matching page has a pocket and that is where my journaling is. You can see that page by looking in my scrapbooking section here on my blog.

Each of those chipboard pieces of tiny little rhinestones on them along with a slew of clear glitter. I love the clean and uncluttered look of this page.

Scrapbooking | Toddler Girl's 2nd Birthday Party Scrapbook Layout

2011-07-27T08:20:00.000-04:00

Back in May 2011 we celebrated our little grand daughter's 2nd Birthday with a big party outdoors at our local park and playground. The party was done in 3 different shades of pink and white and in a Dora the Explorer theme. Over the next 2 weeks I will share some little girls Birthday Party layouts here on my blog for my blog readers. The layout above was done in the 12" by 12" format.

My background is a light pink piece of scrapbooking paper with a tiny pink polka dot print. I had a piece of scrapbooking paper that has birthday phrases all over it so I trimmed that paper down into a 1 1/2" by 11 1/2" strip and matted that onto dark pink cardstock. I then glued that at the bottom of my layout to serve as a bottom border.

The title of my page is "Birthday Girl" which I used a 3-dimensional chipboard piece that is done in pinks and white and has cupcakes all over it in the top left corner. It's a big piece that measures about 4" wide by 3 1/2" high and is adorable in person as it has glitter on it too. I used 3 photos in this layout which I cropped down, rounded their corners and matted them onto dark pink scrapbooking paper leaving a 1/4" border. See photo for placement.

I printed out the words Happy Birthday onto white paper in dark pink ink (it measures just shy of 3/4" by 3 1/4" in size) and matted that onto dark pink paper leaving an 1/8" border. I attached that under the top right photo. I then had 2 mini chipboard cupcake embellishments that I mounted on each side of that Happy Birthday name tag.

Overall I think this layout came out pretty good and I absolutely LOVE that chipboard Birthday Girl title piece! Happy 2nd Birthday to our little wee one!

Slow PC Killing You? Check out KillSlow

2011-07-27T02:01:00.002-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of iYogi for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Nothing irritates me more than when I am working on my computer searching for crafting patterns or downloading some great ideas and crafting tips and I encounter Slow PC syndrome. When all I want to do is get through my work as quickly as possible and move on to crafting is when I get frustrated as heck.

I have been looking for PC optimization help lately and I was lucky to run across a new antivirus protection company called KillSlow What is awesome about this company is that you can get a free diagnosis of your slow running PC. They have a Tech Support team that will help your sad PC get moving again.

I hate antivirus protection software that hogs so much of your memory and just kills your speed. I have work to do and the last thing I want is to wait while a large program runs in the background. I am going to get my free diagnosis from KillSlow and get my slow PC running fast again so I can get back to my crafting. I have so many new projects that I am working on for you. I can't wait.

I think someone should start a free the world from computer viruses protest. Don't you?

Scrapbooking | Toddler Girl "Messy Eaters" Scrapbooking Layout Idea

2011-07-25T10:48:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I made this scrapbook layout in the 12x12 format and it features my little grand daughter along with her messy chocolate face from eating a chocolate donut that her pappy bought for her. She looked so adorable with her messy chocolate face that I just had to snap a photo and scrapbook it.

My background is a solid piece of purple scrapbooking paper. I took a coordinating sheet of scrapbook paper with light lavendar polka dots and tore a piece off it that measures approximately 4" by 12" in length. I then inked the torn edge with dark purple ink and left it dry. I then attached it down the right side of my paper to serve as a border.

I decided to frame out 3 words using white plastic slide mounts so I cut 3 squares from light lavendar scrapbooking paper each measuring 2 1/2" square and placed one word sticker onto each one. I then placed each one into the plastic slide mount. I took some self-adhesive braided lavendar fibers that I had and ran those around the edge of each slide mount. I then used glue dots and placed the slide mounts onto the page (running down the left-hand side of the page).

I used a 4X6" photo of the wee one & her chocolate face as my focal point and framed in in a purple frame and then matted that onto white scrapbooking paper and trimmed it down so that only an 1/8" edge remained. I glued the framed photo onto the upper section of my layout. I then made my own journaling box out of light purple, medium purple and dark purple scrapbooking papers and layered all 3 together using white eyelets in each corner and attached that under the photograph. I did my journaling on that block in my own handwriting.
I had some floral white rub-ons and used a big spray of those near the bottom right corner of the page and then a smaller spray of them near the top left over-lapping onto my photo's frame. I then applied just one white flower on the top right corner of the photo and glued a purple gemstone onto the center of the flower. I used little white rub-on words under the photo (on the purple photo mat) that say YOU MAKE ME HAPPY as the wee one was soooo HAPPY to have that chocolate donut that pappy got for her!

This page did take me some time to make...I am guessing an hour or so...but I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Scrapbooking | Pappy's Girl Pink Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-07-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

My hubby and I absolutely love spending time with our precious 2 year old grand daughter and when we have our little play dates with her I am always snapping a few photos for my scrapbook. The layout shown above is quick, easy, inexpensive and only takes about 30 minutes to make. I did this in the 12" by 12" format.

My background is made up of 2 different sheets of 12x12 scrapbook paper. The main background is a solid light pink and the accent is a light pink with dark pink flowers which I cut down to measure 5 1/2" by 12" in size and glued it vertically down the left hand side of my page. I had 2 photos I wanted to use of the wee one and I cropped them down, rounded their corners and mounted them onto dark pink solid scrapbooking paper. I left 3/16" border around all sides except for the bigger photo which I left a 1/2" border on the bottom edge of that one so I could journal under it. I used glue dots to attach them to my page as shown in the photo.

My 4 accent pieces are all chipboard pieces. I attached the flower above the right photo, the princess crown with ribbon bow above the left photo, the word "spoiled" under the left photo and an oval chipboard piece that says "The Sweet, Silent Type" near the bottom right of the page. I accented the chipboard pieces with little pink self-adhesive rhinestones and light pink and dark pink sheer ribbons to "bling" them up a bit.

I used my Cricut machine set on the 1 1/4 size setting to cut out the letters to spell Pappy's Girl from dark pink paper and then did the shadow effect and cut them out again from yellow paper. I then stacked them together and glued them onto my page as a title.

Day off!

2011-07-20T09:26:00.004-04:00

Thanks for the post from Sylvester Campbell

What I wouldn’t give to have another day off. I love July 4th and though I usually spend the day with my parents or some other family grilling out and watching the fireworks, this year we didn’t have anything planned so we just stayed at home. It was the most relaxing way I’ve ever spent a holiday! My boyfriend and I slept in and immediately turned on the TV (thank goodness I got that http://www.direct.tv/!) and watched some movies until I looked down and it was 4pm. We then turned on the cooking shows and found us a great Pad Thai dish to make for dinner and after a quick run to the store, we were all set! It was just really relaxing and quiet and I liked how we didn’t have to make small talk with relatives or cook a big dish and take it over to someone’s house. From now on, this is definitely how I’m going to spend at least one holiday a year just so I can get some R&R!

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Scrapbooking | Quick & Easy Birthday Girl Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-07-16T11:06:00.000-04:00

When you do your scrapbook layouts you can do quick and easy ones that don't cost a lot of money or involve a lot of time...just like the layout above! This layout was done in the 12x12 format and features my little 2 year old grand daughter and my 63 year old mother at my little grand daughter's 2nd Birthday party. For this layout...I wanted to do one that utilized items from my scrap box as my scrap pile is growing larger and I really need to use up those scraps that were left-over from other projects.

My background is a solid sheet of light pink scrapbooking paper. I made a top and bottom border by using up scraps of Happy Birthday printed paper which I matted on lime green paper and trimmed it so that the lime colored border only peeked out about 1/8 of an inch. I then chalked the edges with a dark pink chalk and glued one strip to the bottom and one to the top of my page. I had 2 rectangular shaped scraps of medium pink vellum leftover from another project and decided to use those under my photos that were matted onto lime green scrapbooking paper. I left an 1/8" edge around the lime mat and then used glue dots to attach them to the top of the vellum and then attached them to my page.

I had 3 letter stickers (round shape) that I spelled out GIA and placed above the photo on the right. I had 3 word stickers that said HAPPy, PARTY and MOMENTS and I matted each one onto the medium pink vellum and trimmed them down so that only 1/8" of the vellum framed them. I then glued each one above the photo on the right. I had a fourth word sticker that said "Cherish the Moment" which I stuck onto a pink scrapbooking tag, added some pink ribbon to the tag pull and then placed it under the photo on the left.

Overall...this page took me about 30 minutes to make and I basically used leftover supplies from other scrapbooking projects. It's a great layout to use up some of those scraps you have lying around your craft room.

Go Camping To Collect Your Natural Crafting Supplies

2011-07-15T07:04:00.002-04:00

As you all know, I absolutely love to craft and dabble in many different crafting mediums. When I am not crafting, you will often find me spending time outdoors and one of the things I like to do outdoors is to go camping!

When my family and I go camping...often times we head up into the mountains here in Pennsylvania or we will head down to the Southern Jersey Shore and camp out there in one of the many beautiful campgrounds that are located in the area.

When we go camping we like to spend a lot of time hiking and exploring the surrounding area and we hike on marked and unmarked trails. When we go camping and hiking we always make sure we have the necessary supplies before we even head out.

One of the things I like to do when we are hiking is to take a netted bag along with me and collect various items from nature that I can use in my crafting. I look for pinecones, acorns, moss, driftwood, sea glass, sea shells, etc. There are many "natural" things you can pick up while camping and/or hiking that you can later use in the crafts you create once you are back home.

So, the next time you and your family goes out camping make sure you take a netted bag along with you so that you can collect some "outdoorsy" items to use in your next craft project.

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Scrapbooking | Wildwood New Jersey Beach Scrapbook Layout Idea #2

2011-07-14T11:50:00.000-04:00

Today I thought I would share another beach theme'd scrapbooking layout that I did a few weeks ago featuring beach photos from Wildwood, New Jersey. Hubby and I absolutely love vacationing down at the Jersey Shore and these 2 photos were taken during a recent trip that we took.

My background is a piece of 12x12 scrapbooking paper that looks like sand and has a sandy texture to it. I matted my two photos onto white cardstock and then onto blue cardstock leaving a 3/16" of an edge around each mat. The title of my page is "Life's a Beach" which is a Jolee's 3-Dimensional sticker title that I purchased. I matted it onto blue cardstock and then white cardstock and stuck it at the bottom of my page. Accenting that is a sand dollar sticker on each side. The Jolee's package came with 2 small 3-Dimensional accents which I attached to the bottom of each photo to add some accent to each.

I had 2 clear adhesive "beach" theme'd stickers that I mounted onto white scrapbooking paper and then mounted them onto blue cardstock leaving a 3/16" border and attached those to my page. I added a Pelican (sea bird) sticker above the one on the right top to make it look like he is perched on top of it.

I think this layout turned out pretty nice and the photo's themselves are just gorgeous scenes of the Atlantic Ocean and Wildwood Beach.

Product Review | Ultimate Craft and Hobby Table Top Lamp By DayLight Company

2011-07-12T11:51:00.006-04:00

Today I would like to introduce you to the company called Daylight™ who makes and sells a variety of lighting products that all feature their special Daylight™ technology. With full spectrum Daylight™ technology, your eyes will still be fresh at the end of the day! No headaches, no red-eyes, working under Daylight™ becomes as relaxing and natural as a walk in the park

Here is a little bit about the company from their site: In 1990, Patrick Jacquelin discovered the daylight bulb on a trip abroad. Recognizing that natural daylight is the healthiest and more comfortable light for our eyes, he realized that this 'daylight simulation effect' could benefit thousands of individuals who need natural light lamps for everyday tasks, or more specifically, for hobbies that involved intricate detail and color matching. From this The Daylight Company was created. Since then, the company has steadily grown and today we are the market-leading brand of speciality lighting technology for the hobby industry across Europe and we are well on our way to making Daylight the No.1 brand for Craft Lighting.

My Review: I received the Ultimate Table Top Lamp for my product review. This stylish table lamp goes with just about any style of home decor and makes the perfect lamp for sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, cross-stitching, jewelry making and for reading. The lamp features a 20 watt low-heat Daylight (tm) bulb which is equivalent to a 100 watt bulb so that you are always working in optimal comfort. The lamp comes with an extendable arm for extra reach and comes with three removable accessories so that you can customize it to your own needs. The extendable arms gives you 21 1/2" reach. The three removable accessories include:

1. a removable divided tray that has 7 sections so that you can store and sort your small crafting or sewing supplies.
2. a removable chart holder clip that is mounted on a flexible arm. You can insert the arm into the base and use it or totally remove it if you don't need it.
3. a removable magnifier that is mounted on a flexible arm. Again...you can insert the arm into the base and use it or totally remove it if you don't need it. Magnification 1.75.

The lamp has a cone shaped shade and an easy to use on/off switch that is located on the head of the lamp and features a UL listed cord. What is also cool about the lamp is that the head will pivot in any direction that you need.

I am a big time crafter and scrapbooker so once the lamp was assembled I was eager to try it out. The first thing I noticed was how bright and natural the light looked throughout my craft room when the lamp was on. (huge difference). As I sat down to do some scrapbooking I realized how valuable this lamp is! I could easy tell the difference between items that were black, dark brown or dark navy blue whereas in the past...I had issues telling those colors a part due to the poor lighting in my craft room. I loved using the flexible arms on the lamp because I could easily put them in the position I needed them to be in. That magnifier glass is absolutely fabulous and now I can read the fine print on packages and instruction sheets with no problem. I love using that clip...it is great for holding embellishments that I just assembled and having them air dry out of my way. This is the ULTIMATE craft lamp! Seriously, I have been using the lamp for several days now and I don't know how I lived without it!

Overall Impression: This Daylight lamp is made of high quality materials. They thought of everything in regards to this lamp and besides being functional it is beautiful to look at! You can purchase this lamp for only $159.99 which I think is a very affordable price for a high quality craft lamp like this one. I give this lamp and this company 10 stars out of 10 stars on my rating scale! Fabulous!!!

How Would You Like To Win This Lamp? of course you would! Just head on over to my other blog called Two Classy Chics ~ Product Reviews & Giveaways and enter our giveaway for this fabulous lamp!!!

Once you are over on the site, you will see the giveaway listed in the right side bar. The giveaway is open to residents age 18 & over who live in the United States. The giveaway will close at midnight EST on August 5th, 2011.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over there right now & enter this giveaway!

Disclaimer: Shelly Hill has personally reviewed the product listed above. Shelly has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Shelly did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ. Passionate About Crafting Blog is not responsible for delivery of any giveaway items won from this blog. We are not responsible for injury or mis-use of any products won from the Passionate About Crafting Blog. Please read our Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy before entering our giveaways. Thanks!

Scrapbooking | Quick and Easy Beach Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-07-09T11:30:00.000-04:00

Back in May of 2011 my hubby and I took our annual May vacation down to the Jersey Shore just like we have done so for the past 15+ years. We love visiting the Stone Harbor, North Wildwood and the Cape May, New Jersey area...matter of fact, North Wildwood is our FAVORITE beach in New Jersey.

Today I am sharing a beach theme'd layout that I did in the 12x12 scrapbooking format. This layout did take me 1 hour to make so there is some time involved in it.

I took a sand "printed" piece of scrapbooking paper and used that as my background and then I built some accents on top of that piece of paper. I had a sheet of paper that had an all-over sand dollar print and I ripped 1/3 of that off and glued that to the bottom 1/3 of my background page. I then had some pretty ocean blue textured cardstock that I cut three strips from using my wavy edge scissors. Two of the strips measures approximately 2" by 12" and the third strip measures about 3 1/2" by 12" in length and the third strip has a wavy edge along one side of it (used decorative edge scissors) and the other long edge on that strip I hand cut into a wider bigger wave pattern to represent the water washing up on the shoreline. I took a dauber and some silver metallic ink and inked all of my wave edges to give the appearance of seafoam from the wave action. I didn't want to use white ink because nothing on my page is white so I used the silver and I am very pleased with that choice.

I then glued the 3 strips together with a little bit of each one over-lapping the previous one and then glued them all onto my background paper to represent the ocean water. My title of the page is a Jolene's 3-D Title and it says "Vacation Bliss" and I matted that title onto sand colored cardstock and ocean blue cardstock and hand trimmed it so that an 1/8" remained around the borders. I then used glue dots to attach it to the top of my page.

I had 2 photos that I cropped down and matted them onto sand colored cardstock and ocean blue cardstock leaving 1/8" border around each mat. I then used glue dots and put them onto the page. I purchased a wooden cut-out of a large sail boat at the craft store for .35 cents and it measures about 4" tall by 3" wide and used glue dots to attach that to the page so that it looks like it is in the water.

I had a clear "This is Paradise" sticker that I mounted onto sand colored paper and then matted that with ocean blue cardstock leaving an 1/8" border and attached that to the bottom of the layout (bottom left).

I further accented the layout with 3 rub-ons (top right corner, top left corner and right corner of the photo of my hubby).

I absolutely LOVE how this layout came out. It did take me an hour to make but I am very pleased with it! These 2 photos are of myself and hubby and he was looking through one of those big telescopes at all of the ships out in the Atlantic Ocean.

Scrapbooking | Toddler Girl Mommy and Me Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-07-05T08:03:00.003-04:00

On July 4th our daughter and our little grand daughter came up to have breakfast with us at our house. The two of them were sitting on one of our bean bag chairs looking at the wee one's new Barbie sticker book that I just gave to her. It was the perfect opportunity for me to snap a new photo of them together and to scrapbook that memory. I did this layout in the 12x12 format.

My background is a bubble gum pink textured piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper. I took a coordinating sheet of printed scrapbooking paper and tore a section off of it on the diagonal. I then chalked the torn edge in a dark bubble gum pink and glued the piece of paper down the right side of my layout. I then chalked 2 hearts onto the printed section along the right edge as I wanted those hearts to signify the love between mother and child.

I double matted a 4x6 photo first onto yellow cardstock (leaving an 1/8" border) and then onto dark bubblegum pink cardstock (leaving a 1/4" border) and mounted that on the layout but not in the center, more off-center and to the right. I cut eight squares from peach colored scrapbooking paper and each square measures 2 1/2". I used my Cricut machine on the #1 size setting and cut the MOMMY & ME letters from dark bubble gum pink paper. I then applied adhesive and stuck the letters onto each square. I wanted to soften the edges of my letter tiles so I chalked the edges of each square with dark pink chalk and then glued them onto the page near the bottom.

To finish up my layout...I had a word sticker that said THE GIRLS on it which I matted it on peach scrapbooking paper and dark bubble gum pink scrapbooking paper and trimmed the mats so that they only had an 1/8" edge around them. I then used foam adhesive dots and stuck it onto the layout...over-lapping the left edge of the photo. I had some floral print paper which I cut out the flower that you see on the layout and matted that onto peach scrapbooking paper and hand-trimmed it so that only an 1/8" border remained. I used adhesive foam dots and stuck that in the left corner of the photo. I then used a glue dot and stuck a dark pink shiny gem into the center of the flower.

This scrapbooking layout is simple to do...but it is a little time consuming. I spent almost a full hour making it but I do like it's uncluttered look.

Scrapbooking | Loved By All Baby Girl Scrapbook Layout Idea

2011-07-03T10:05:00.000-04:00

I made this layout a couple of weeks ago in the 12x12 scrapbooking format and I wanted to do something a little different with this one. These 3 photos are of my grand daughter and she was 1 month old and it was her first Professional Photos that were taken of her.

I had a piece of medium orange scrapbooking paper that had a large pink flower in the top right corner but wasn't sure what to do with it. I decided to take some white puffy paint and outline the flower and while the flower was still wet I sprinkled on irredescent fine glitter and I really covered all of the white puffy paint so it really shimmers when the light hits it. I placed a metal framed round flower disc into the center of the outlined flower. My pictures really don't do this any justice but it's beautiful how it turned out.

I had 3 photos of the wee one which were all wallet sized so I matted them onto black cardstock and cropped them down so that 3/16" of a border remained. I decided to stagger them diagonally across the page. I used my Cricut to cut out LOVED BY ALL from black cardstock on the #1 size setting for the title of my page and placed them near the bottom left of the page using a glue pen.

I had 3 clear adhesive word stickers that I used...the Bottles, Bibs & Booties which I placed above photo #1, Little Diapers above photo #2 and Butterfly Kisses above photo #3. I then added 2 glittered cardstock & chipboard stickers to the layout...a baby buggy under photo #1 and New Born Baby under photo #3 and that one is accented with 2 tiny dark pink brads. To finish it all up...I had some gel alphabet stickers so I spelled out her name and placed that under photo #2 on the black cardstock border.Overall...I am very pleased with this layout and I am going to try using puffy paint and glitter on some other layouts I plan on making next week as I am pleased with how that flower turned out.

Scrapbooking | Quick and Easy Toddler Girl Play Date Scrapbook Layout

2011-06-30T07:14:00.006-04:00

Back in February 2011 I got some new wooden Melissa & Doug playfood toys for the wee one and then invited the wee one up for a play date with Nanny (me). I had a lot of fun that day playing "kitchen" with her and having her make me "play food" for lunch. I think I enjoyed the play date more than she did!

I did manage to get two photos from that play date so I decided to scrapbook both of them. My background base sheet is an all-over floral print and then I took a piece of muted orange paper and cut it down to measure 2 3/4" by 12" in size and glued that down the left side of the page. I then glued orange ribbon down along the edge (where solid and printed paper meet) to add interest to the layout. I layered some pale yellow paper flowers together and placed a dark pink flower brad in the center and placed those onto my layout as shown in the photo.

I had a pre-printed sentiments block that talks about everyday memories and I cropped it down and then matted it onto yellow and then orange scrapbooking paper leaving an 1/8" border around each mat. I placed that onto the layout between the two paper flowers. I cropped down two photos, mounted them onto yellow scrapbooking paper leaving an 1/8" border and then mounted them onto medium pink scrapbooking paper and left a 1/4" border around that mat.

I made a tab from printed cardstock and wrote the wee one's name on it and attached that to the right side of the top photo. I did my journaling on a cordinating tag and added some fiber to it for interest & texture. I had a gel sticker that says MEMORIES on it that I placed onto the page right above my journaling tag.

It took me about 35-40 minutes to make this layout and I usually don't use orange and pink together but I think the layout came out pretty cool looking and I used up some of my odds and ends that were left-over from other scrapbooking projects.