December Daily is Done!

My December Daily is finally done, only 30 days late.  And that’s not too bad for me.  I loved this project.  I just sat down and looked through the book again and kept reading funny things the girls did or said that I probably wouldn’t have remembered if I hadn’t written it down.  Writing things down is definitely something I’m working on this year.  I’ve always done it in the past, but it’s on little bits of paper scattered around the house, and I can never find it when I need it.

Here are a few of my favorite pages from my December Daily:

I also got my Project Life in the mail yesterday!  I was so excited I didn’t even change out of my cleaning clothes before I took a picture.  Hopefully this project will help me to write things down, keep everything in one place and stay on top of my scrapbooking.

Blog Critique Party

I came across a link party at My Repurposed Life and decided to join.  It's a blog critique, and since I've been making some changes over the past several weeks, it was perfect timing.  I've still got a lot of things I want to add/change, but let me know what you think so far.  Here's the blurb on Gail's post:

Please take a look around my blog, check out the layout, pages, buttons, sidebar and gadgets. I would love for you to gently critique my blog. I’m hoping you will leave me some positive feedback about my blog. It would be great if you could give me constructive criticism but be sure to tell me what you like about my blog too! Do you like my pictures? Does my blog load quickly for you? How about the font? All tips and tidbits welcome!

Scrapbooking with my Silhouette

A few months ago I got a new Silhouette machine for my anniversary.  Since it was so close to the holidays, I didn’t really get a chance to use it.  I pulled it out a few weeks ago and downloaded a few images from Donna Downey.  It is so fun.  Pretty much anything you can think of is in the Silhouette store.  Kind of like iTunes.  You search from their online database and save it to your library. 

Every few months I get focused on one craft and that is all I seem to want to do.  Right now it is obviously scrapbooking.  I know in a few months it will be knitting again, and then when the weather gets warmer it will be refinishing all the furniture I’ve stashed in the garage.  For now, I’m happy to be making a dent in all the pictures I’ve got laying around.

Two Year Scarf

I started this scarf two years ago.




Then I got pregnant, the morning sickness kicked in and I had no desire to do anything crafty.  By the time I was ready to start knitting again, I was too big to do it comfortably.  So it sat in my closet. After Sidney was born, I thought I’d have plenty of time to finish my scarf while she was napping.  Then I went back to work early, so it sat some more.  I finally picked it up again this fall determined to finish it while it was still cold.



I’m so happy with the way it turned out. It’s soft, light and very warm. You can never have too many scarves and I can’t wait until I start the next one.


Linking to:

Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, Today's Creative Blog, My Backyard Eden
Someday Crafts, Blue Cricket Design, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The Shabby Nest
Decor Mamma, Tidy Mom, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Kojo Designs, Plums Life
Fumky Junk, A Little Lovely, Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello

Runner's World Article

My sister (aka crazy person who runs 20 miles for fun) was featured in the February issue of Runner's World.  You can read the article here.

She helped to start a group called Run To Remember when her husband passed away in 2009.

Runner's World did a great job with the article and it gets me all teary eyed every time I read it.

I'll be joining her in July to run the San Francisco Marathon in honor of John.  It's time to start training.

Rose Wreath Tutorial

Thank you for all your wonderful comments about this wreath.  It is a bit time consuming, but totally worth it.
Supplies:
12 inch foam wreath
Cardstock – I used 8.5 x 11
scissors
hot glue gun
spray adhesive
glitter – I like Martha Stewart’s crystal fine glitter
1 1/2 yards sheer ribbon
1.  I made two different sized circles.  For the large circles, cut the cardstock into four pieces. 


2.  Cut each square into a circle.  Doesn’t have to be perfect.  Mine were ovalish, they both work.

3.  For the smaller circles, cut your cardstock into strips about 3 inches wide.  Then cut each strip into three squares.  Cut each square into a circle.

4.  Cut each circle into a spiral, trying to keep the thickness even throughout.  Mine definitely were not even, but it is helpful. 


5.  Once all the spirals are cut,  start rolling the flower starting with the outside.  Roll as tight as possible keeping the bottom edge aligned at all times.


6.  When it is completely rolled, pinch the flower together a little bit to help it hold it’s shape.

7.  When you let go of your flower, it will spring open into shape.

8.  Put a group of your flowers together on a sheet of newspaper and spray lightly with the spray adhesive.  Then sprinkle your glitter on top.  I was pretty generous with my glitter.  Let dry at least 1/2 hour.

9.  Hot glue the flower together by placing a little bit of glue on the bottom flap and then hold the flower in the shape you want while the glue dries.  I found that if I left the individual flowers unglued, they would start to unwind and lose some of their shape after a few days.


10.  Start gluing the large and small flowers on your foam wreath so that they are touching and showing as little of the foam as possible.  You will probably have some little bits of the foam peeking through where you couldn’t fit even the little flowers.  Continue with all your flowers and come back to that at the end.  Once all the flowers are in place you can go back and cover some of the areas where a lot of the foam is showing.  I took a left over glittered flower, pulled out a little bit of the middle, and tore it off from the rest of the paper.

11.  I curled it as tight as I could and stuck it into the little holes in my wreath.  If I needed more, I kept taking little bits from the left over flowers and wound them into little pieces.
12.  I bought one and a half yards of sheer ribbon and wrapped it through the wreath and tied a bow at the top.

Email me if you have any questions and please send me a link with your wreath.  I would love to see how it turns out!



Linking to:
Nesting Place

Scrapbooking and Punch Art

One of my goals this year is to get caught up scrapbooking all of my pictures.  I'm still working on a few from 2009, so I've got a lot of work to do.  I finished these pages this week, and I think they are some of my favorite layouts.

I'm also working on decorations for Sidney's first birthday party next weekend.  We're having an owl theme, with owl cookies, owl hats, owl shaped cheese ball and owl cupcakes.  I also made this punch art picture to hang on the wall.

I used foam squares behind all the pink owls so they would pop out a little bit.  

After the party I'll put the owls in Sidney's room since the poor girl has no decorations of her own.

Linking To:

Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, A Little Lovely, Fingerprints on The Fridge

Decor Mamma, Under The Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Embellishing Life

Just A Girl, Today's Creative Blog

Paper Rose Wreath

I have been working on this project for several weeks now.  I had hoped to finish this wreath before Christmas, but I didn't make it.  I think it will look great as part of my Valentine's Day decorations.  I got this idea from a red cone tree I saw a Target, and a picture I found online of paper rosettes. 

The roses are made from red cardstock.  I made all the flowers, then sprayed them with a spray adhesive and then covered them in glitter.  It's a little shiny in the pictures because of the adhesive, but it's not obvious on the actual wreath.

I used a 12 inch foam wreath and hot glued the rosettes to the foam.  I bought a 3 inch wide sheer ribbon from JoAnn's and wrapped it around the wreath.

This was so easy to do, although a bit time consuming.  I used my lunch breaks at work to make the roses and then would glue them on at night. 

When I first started making the roses, I put them in a little box thinking I would glitter them all at once.  I noticed that they started to unravel and didn't hold their shape very well if I waited too long. 

Tutorial found HERE.

Linking to:
A Little Lovely, Funky Junk Interious, Tidy Mom, Finding Fabulous, Simply Designing
My Romantic Home, The DIY Showoff, While He Was Napping, Chic on a Shoestring
Fun To Craft, I Heart Naptime, CRAFT, Making the World Cuter, Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Crafts Keep Me Sane, Craftomaniac, Embellishing Life, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle
Today's Creative Blog, Craft Edition, Little Eme

December

December went by in a blur, like usual.  Madison turned four:

We watched lots of Christmas movies:

We hung out at the park when it wasn't raining:

Tried to take pictures of Sidney, but could only get side views or the back of her head.

Opened a ton of presents:

And hung out with cousins:



I finished quite a few projects this month so I'll start showing you next week.  Hope you have a great New Year.

Wine Cork Christmas Trees

I am always on the look-out for wine cork projects.  As soon as I saw 4EyesandEars’ cork trees, I knew I had to make one.  The only problem?  It takes 72 corks plus 4 for the trunk.  I can’t drink that much wine in an entire year (I’m more of a tequila girl myself).  Luckily, my mom goes to art and wine shows all the time.  She has started collecting the left over corks from all the vendors.  It was one of her rare creative moments. 

I love how it turned out! 

Linking to:
Somewhat Simple, Fingerprints on the Fridge, My Romantic Home, The Girl Creative
House of Hepworths, Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming
CRAFT, Thrifty Decor Chick, I Heart Naptime, Dittle Dattle, Embellishing Life, Sew Chatty