Memory Buttons

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted and since I have crafted!  I just have not had the time or energy, being a single mom of 4 is keeping me busy and honestly until recently I have not had the desire to craft.  I began running back in May and did my first 5K in September and that became my release, much like crafting used to be for me.  Now that it is cold and I do not like to run in the cold I may have to turn back to crafting :-)  I am sure the teachers miss it too as I have not done anything for a long time for them. Maybe I can do something for Christmas.

Anyway, my oldest son's football team went to the Super Bowl for their league last weekend.  Last year my late husband dragged himself to the game and the coach was so sweet and had him do the pregame speech and even gave him the game ball.  I know this was weighing a lot on my 12 year old (and me) as this year came up and they made it to the Super Bowl again.  I wanted to do something special for the game so I made buttons for myself, my girls and my mother-in-law to wear.  For my two sons I printed the same picture and laminated it and they put it in their shoes :) (my younger son is the team water boy).  This was all very last minute (Saturday around 11am for a 3pm game!) but I think they turned out cute.  Next year I would like to do one for the entire team for the moms but with just a picture of their son on it.

I used just punches for the buttons and strips of paper and ribbon for the bottom pieces.  Also, the football helmet and football are actual buttons I had bought as part of a sports pack on clearance and I just cut the back off and used glue dots to attach them.  Also, I had the stickers left from our Relay for Life campaign last Spring.  I was very proud to wear mine and was even asked several times who made it for me :)  Honestly I love this picture of those two, it is probably the last picture of just them two together that I have and they both look so handsome, even as sick as Ed was at that point.

Well the button and the picture in the show must have brought them some luck because the won again!  Here is a shot of all 4 of my kiddos celebrating big brothers win.  Love them all-more than cupcakes :)

My First Glass Etching Project: Bridal Shower

Hello everyone.  One of my closest friends is getting married in May and my girls are the flower girls :)  They are so excited to wear their wedding dresses (as they call them).

Her bridal shower was this past weekend and I have been wanting to try glass etching.  So I did a very simple glass etching on a glass baking dish as part of the gift.  I used Alpahlicious to cut the letters out of vinyl.  I was really impressed with how simple it is and can't wait to do more!

 I also made a very simply card using Artiste for the bow and Art Philosophy for the background.

Here are some pictures.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a crafty day!

PS: I am linking this up over at Sarah Hamer Designs so stop by and link up too!  http://www.pinkcricut.com/2013/04/link-tuesday-44/

Thank You!

I am so thankful for the beautiful thank you cards I have received from the different bloggers.  I have used them all up so I have to make myself some more (that is not a complaint because I have so many people to thank-I am blessed).  So tonight I had some time while the kids entertained themselves and had some scrap paper and ribbon laying around (from Valentines if you cannot tell) and a new Thank You stamp from Peachy Keen Stamps.  I also added a cute Peachy Keen face and some faux stitching to my heart :)

I was able to get 10 cards done tonight which I think with 4 kids running around is a success!

Thank you again for the nice notes on the blog and prayers.  I know they are helping give me the strength I need for each day.

Thanks for stopping by, have a crafty day!

PS:  I am linking this up over at Sarah Hamer designs, stop by and link up too!  http://www.pinkcricut.com/2013/03/link-tuesday-42/

Update: Loss of My Husband

Unfortunately my wonderful husband Ed, lost his battle with cancer on February 24, 2013.  He was an amazing husband, father, friend, son and brother.  It has been a tough week and half for our children but they are really hanging in there, going to school, keeping with their routine and making me proud.  My oldest son even did a reading at my husband's mass this past Monday.  I of course am trying to get things organized and handled before I go back to work next week-yikes :(

Here is Ed's obituary:

http://www.colefuneral.com/obituary/3360

I just wanted to post and share the news and also share two blog entries from some crafting ladies that I admire dearly and were so willing to do this request for me:

http://www.pinkcricut.com/2013/03/needed/

http://acaffeinatedcrafter.blogspot.com/2013/03/can-you-help.html

I hope you will stop by their blogs and show some love (comments) on how wonderfully generous they are.

I hope to get back to crafting and posting soon.

Hope you have a crafty day.

Valentine's Day 2013

Hello all.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  Unfortunately my husband has not been doing well and my cousin passed away unexpectedly the weekend before so it was not the best Valentine's Day for me but I still wanted to make it super special for the kids and those around us.

I had purchased some $1 note pads and pen packs back in January and knew I would make simple Valentine treats for the teachers.  I used the same idea I used back in December for the preschool teachers and just used one sheet of paper to make a cute little wrapping for the notepad, tied it with ribbon, added the pen and an easy tag I made on the computer and punch out with a circle punch.



Then for the boys I thought the You Rule idea found here was too cute to pass up (and it was super easy with the free printable).

Lastly, for the girls I wanted to use my Silhouette Cameo that I received for Christmas since I had not used it so I did the butterfly lollipop holders for them.  Very simple, I just let them put a couple stickers on each and they were done!  It was nothing fancy but I am glad they all got done (early) and saved my a little bit of stress the night before.

I also made the girls some more bleach pen shirts by just freehand drawing some hearts on.  Here is my MooMoo girl modeling hers :)

For my kids I just did small buckets with little a little candy, a few trinkets for the girls and some baseball cards for the boys.  The girls also received balloons because they LOVE them and Mady has been asking for a heart balloon for weeks.  The girls and I made these cute mailboxes for their American Girls a few nights before and so the AG's were SO lucky to find a card and a necklace in their mailboxes on Valentine's Day also.  This cute idea came from right here!  The only difference was I used a glass candle stick holder from the $ store versus a wood one to paint.  You have to stop by The Real Thing with the Coake Family, I am just loving her blog!

Sorry for such a long post but there was a lot for Valentine's Day!  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a CRAFTY day!

PS: I will be linking up over at Sarah Hamer Designs so stop by and link up too!  http://www.pinkcricut.com/2013/02/12329/

Teacher Appreciation 2013

Hello all.

The week before last was Catholic Schools Week for my 3 oldest children and the last day of the week is Teacher Appreciation Day and each year I try to make something for the teachers.  This year I decided to make a TEAcher appreciation gifts for each teacher (it has become more work since my oldest entered middle school there at the school (it goes from pre-k to 8th) because he has so many teachers but I do not want to leave anyone out.  I also do a gift for the Principal and the Admin. Assistant because they are so wonderful.  I found this idea online and LOVED it immediately so I began picking up the supplies back in January and actually got most of them done before the last minute :)  I put a tea bag, three packs of sugar and a spoon inside the cup.  I made the tags by hand cutting the pencil and it pieces so that took a lot more work than I expected, but I did not mind because they turned out so cute.  I used My Creative Time My Teacher Rocks sets for the sentiment stamps and I used a Peachy Keen set from their August kit for the pencil and face stamps.

I also wanted to do something for the other teachers so I decided to do this idea I had seen on Pinterest.  But I make one tag for each soda in the 6 pack, just so if the teacher wanted to keep the tag they could.  They were easy enough to print onto card stock (I made the from portion in word) and then I just punched out each piece and used adhesive to put them together with the ribbon in between the two pieces of the tag.  I put three 6 packs with the tags in the teachers lounge that morning.  I received multiple thank yous at pick-up last week.

Now I have to get to working on Valentine's Day!  Those will be finished up last minute probably.

Thanks for stopping by, have a CRAFTY day!

PS:  I am linking this up over at Sarah Hamer Designs so stop by and link up too!  http://www.pinkcricut.com/2013/02/link-tuesday-38/

Thank you SNOW much!

I need some more thank you cards recently to try to catch up on thanking people for being so generous at Christmas and for those folks who make us meals, etc.  I had a bunch of snowman left because when I made my Christmas cards I accidentally cut my first batch of snowmen  too small so I thought this would work out great.  I just used left over Christmas paper for the cards also.  Here is a peak at two of the cards.

I used Peachy Keen snowman stamp for the face and he was cut from Doodlecharms.  I did the Thank you SNOW much! on the computer and used a Close My Heart stamp for the There's snowman like you sentiment.  Now if I can just get them mailed out!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a CRAFTY day!

Happy 5th Birthday Princess Tea Party

My oldest daughter turned 5 in early January.  She wanted to have her birthday out at like BounceU or somewhere like that but I could not believe the prices of those places.  I decided to rent a little room at our local community center and do a girly Princess Tea Party.  We had make-up, dancing, finger foods, marshmallow pops and tea cup cupcakes!  I did not get to use my Cricut for anything, I wanted to make centerpieces but things with my husband have been tough and between him and the 4 kids I just ran out of time.  Luckily my super craft friend Stephannie (born2beach.blogspot.com) is always amazing!  She made the cutest birthday banner and the MOST adorable little purses that had a lip gloss and nail polish in them.  She is the BEST!



As you can tell from the pics pink was the theme :)  I tried to find or make candies/snacks with the pink theme in mind except for the actual food (mini sandwiches and hotdogs in crescent rolls).  The girls really seemed to enjoy the party, what can be better than make-up, dancing and lots of sugar!

The table was set for 12 princesses to have a nice tea

I found a cute idea online to use a necklace as the napkin ring.  So then I thought of course they need a ring and bracelet to go with it :)

Of course there was dancing (that mys girl in the pink-she takes her dancing very serious)

And time for make-up

And time for crafts, this is my youngest Moo Moo

Here are the cute tea cup cupcakes with little princess crowns on top,
on the right on some cute marshmallow pops I made, it was my first time
but they were easy and a big hit

My Princess had a special crown cupcake holder and princess candles

Here is my big girl giving me the candles and my little girl always helping

YUM!

We did a silly pic of Ally's friend "drinking" her cupcake :)

 Well now onto getting ready for teacher appreciation day!  I am going for simple this year but still need to get it done by the week of the 27th so I better get on it!

Thanks for stopping by, have a crafty day!

Hap'bee' Birthday

My youngest niece turned 4 this week and my children were invited to lunch and bowling at their Country Club for the afternoon.  I wanted to make here a cute card and love this set from The Stamps of Life.  I do not like hand cutting out images so instead of their bee stamp I used Create a Critter to cut a cute bee for the card!  I gave her a cute Peachy Keen Princess face and an action wobble to finish her off.  The card was quick and cute!  Just what I needed.  My girls love playing with her before we gave it away :)

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a craft day!

PS:  I am linking up over at Sarah Hamer Designs so stop by and link up too!  http://www.pinkcricut.com/2013/01/link-tuesday-33/