Tis The Season...for another free printable

I'm kind of addicted to making things look like a chalkboard in Photoshop right now...so you may be seeing a few more of these popping up this week!

8x10

{for personal use only}

TIPS on DOWNLOADING:
 {in Firefox Browser} Click the image, then right click and "view image", click again to zoom to full size. (it should look pretty huge on the browser screen) Right click, select "save image as" and save it to your computer.

{In CHROME browser} you need to click "open image in a new tab" instead of "view image" all other instructions are the same.

If you are using Internet Explorer these instructions will not work. 
Use Firefox {which is what I use} or download Chrome.

50 Followers on Facebook Earring Giveaway

If you've found me on Facebook, then you know that I said when I reach 50 followers for the Smile Like You Mean It facebook page I would have a jewelry giveaway!

So, as promised, here it is!

These are my FAVORITE earrings!  I especially love them in the summer, but I have a bunch of pairs that I just made and will be putting in my {old} etsy shop soon {hopefully}.

But one of you lucky readers are going to win them!

The only rule is you have to follow my page on FB to enter--since this is a reward for those who have already "liked" the SLYMI facebook page!!

Thanks for Following!

Giveaway ends on Friday!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

I made the boys Turkey shirts to wear today!  Only Sam's had feathers on the back--too much work to applique stitch around all those feathers!  Lest you think it was warm outside when we were taking these pictures...it was not!  It was probably only 45 or 50 degrees outside, but Sam didn't seem to care--he was ecstatic to be outside! 

I think I pretty much told everyone--including myself--that after last years fiasco of making an entire Thanksgiving feast for just our small family of 3 that I would NOT be doing it again this year.  Last year I was super stressed out about getting everything done at the same time and spent all day in the kitchen cooking and felt like none of it even tasted great.  {Definitely not like mom's!} 

So when it was just us again this year...I wasn't going to put myself through that again.  But...I kinda did.  This year was much much better though!  I actually had really good recipes for mashed potatoes {in the crock pot--genius--by the way}and for rolls {LOVE Our Best Bites Dinner Rolls!!!}.  We opted for a rotisserie chicken that we picked up this morning at the grocery store, and then after that we just had green beans to steam...oh and a pie.  But pies are easy for me since I've made a lot of them!  Sam took amazing naps today and I wasn't stressed out at all!  SUCCESS!!

Another note about our pie...

It's been about 5 years since I've made a cherry pie!  Apple is my favorite so I tend to just stick to those. 

Here's my last cherry pie {and me} in 2007--our first Thanksgiving after we got married!

And my pie {after baking}  Even better with vanilla ice cream ;)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

My Branches--Custom Family Art Work

I don't talk about it a lot on this blog, but I have a little shop where I sell custom family tree art.  

 

 You may have seen my little button on the sidebar that looks like this:

 

If you click it, it will take you to my other blogsite that will tell you all the information you need to get started. There's two downloadable forms--one for customization {size, colors, etc} and a spreadsheet to enter your family names.  Fill them out and email them in!

There's tons of color options to choose from

This is a unique gift that the recipient will treasure!  We love our familys--what better way to celebrate this time of year than with a gift all about your family?!

Each one is unique and just a little bit different! {see more in the Gallery}

 Big or small; no two trees are quite alike:

    

 So if you are looking to give something meaningful for Christmas, this might be just the thing.

As a little incentive...If you put your order in by December 1st, I will give you the JPEG file of your family tree free with your order!  Go check it out!

Christmas Subway Art Revisited - Chalkboard Style

I’ve taken my ever-so-popular Christmas Subway Art,

{that I just so happened to created exactly 2 years ago today...}

and with a little bit of tweaking here and there 

I transformed it into the ever-so-trendy Chalkboard style!

And, I decided to keep this one free, too!

{11x14}

What do you think?

[for personal use only please!]

*To Download*

Click the image, then right click "view image", click again to zoom to full size. (it should look pretty huge on the browser screen) Right click, select "save image as" and save it to your computer.

{8x10}

Three Things About Today

Did you enter the  My Memories Suite V3 digital scrapbooking software giveaway yet?  Today is the last day!!

I don't have my normal computer today...it's out of commission.  So I'm on my hubby's laptop...but it's a Mac and I'm not a huge fan of unfamiliar buttons and such.  

Three Things About Today:

1.  I dyed my hair...Loreal #4 Natural.  It's darker and I like it.  Hubby said he can't tell a difference.
I wanted a change but didn't want anything too drastic or expensive.  

2.  Spent entirely too much time at JoAnn's today.  Doorbusters and 20% off my entire purchase lured me there today, but there was too much waiting.  Did get good deals...so I guess it was worth it!

3.  Dinner at Denny's today.  Our Denny's is kind of out of the way so it's not very busy.  We hate crowds, so it was perfect for a Saturday night out.  Plus we can always count on our boys to eat breakfast foods.  Added bonus...kids eat free from 4-10!  We had no idea and it was super nice to not have to pay for them.  

Just needed to pop in!  I should have some projects to put up here next week!
Go enter the giveaway!!

Cracked.

I wish I could say this is the first time this has happened.

Sadly it is not.

Paper

Give this kid a pile of paper or a stack of magazines and he is in heaven...and I get a little break!

My Memories Scrapbooking Software and a Giveaway!

I get a lot of questions on my scrapbooking pages and my Subway Art printables and how I made them.  I usually use Photoshop CS5 for creating all my printables, photo editing and digital scrapbooking.  I know that is not a viable option for a lot of people, since it is pretty expensive.

Some of my readers {as well as my family and friends} have asked me if I know of any good options for digital scrapbooking software they can use to start digital scrapbooking with, and until now, I didn’t really know of any to tell them about.

I think I’ve found the answer.  I was recently given the opportunity to try out the My Memories Suite V3 digital scrapbooking software.  I downloaded it and installed it onto my computer and then got to work making a couple pages:

This one I made using my own design

This one I used one of their built in templates with just a few tweaks of my own:

Here’s the best part…You don’t have to scrapbook with it at all!

I know there’s lots of people out there that want a program to make printables to giveaway and to make artwork and Subway Art and other artwork for your home or for gifts.  You can do that with this program!

All of the fonts on your computer are automatically loaded into the program for you, making it easy to create customized Subway art or Quote art for you and your friends!

I made this holiday card using elements from the Flakes and Fun Pack, and this quick birthday card using elements built into the program

You can make calendar pages, birthday cards, holiday cards, subway art, quote art, birth announcements, invitations…and of course scrapbook pages and photo books.

I think this software is a great affordable option for digital scrapbooking and other digital art. As with learning any new program, it takes some time and practice to learn where everything is, how things work, and get your first couple pages together, but I made all of the above artwork in just a couple hours!

You can use digital scrapbooking elements built into the software, elements from the My Memories store, or even elements that you have already on your computer! If you buy from the My Memories store, the prices are low and there is a lot of papers and elements that come with the software, as well as freebies that are offered in the store. 

If you’re interested in getting this great software to try it out yourself, I have good news!

Use this code STMMMS50196 to get $10 off My Memories Suite (you get it for $29.95 instead of $39.95) AND you also get a $10 gift certificate to use in their online store! 

But wait there’s more! {now I sound like an infomercial!}

I’ve got a FREE copy to give away to one of you! 

This giveaway will end on Saturday, November 17 at 10pm and the winner will be announced on Sunday!

TO ENTER:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

I guess Fall ended…

We’ve been braving frigid temperatures for a few days now. 

We seem to miss a lot of the snow dumps where we live, but we did wake up to enough snow on Saturday morning to play in it!  One thing is for sure…Luke loves the snow!  Baby was sleeping during this snow session, so we have yet to see what he thinks of this white stuff.  I’m sure we’ll get plenty of opportunities to test him out this winter!

Best Laid Plans

My hubby is MIA at meetings tonight, so I had totally planned on tackling this lovely mess...

Followed by possibly tackling and organizing THIS lovely closet...

yeah…scary.  This is what happens after a really busy summer and after several 1/2 done or failed projects…everything just gets shoved into the bottom of this closet! 

Anyway…

Instead of doing either of those things…

…after I got both boys down for bed, I watched one innocent little video about curling waves into your hair with a flat iron...and then I got sucked in to half a dozen MORE video tutorials on hair on YouTube!!  

This has happened to me one other time too...but that time it was make-up tutorials on YouTube!

So the kitchen remains a mess.  And the closet…HA.  no way.  It’s way too late to tackle that insanity tonight.  I'll just go watch TV instead.  The kitchen and closet will still be there tomorrow [obviously!]  Ha!

I still have to makeover this mess:

Followed by this scary corner closet:

I swear I clean out this corner closet at LEAST six times a year!  But, it’s where all the seasonal décor is, as well as all the wrapping paper and packaging supplies are, and the catch-all for things I need to stash out of sight quickly…so it just gets messy. 

*sigh*

Blocking the Stairs

Sam is growing up FAST.  He has been climbing UP the stairs every chance he gets! 

Unfortunately, he is still too little to figure out how to get back down safely.  He loves to hover at the top of the stairs and look down.  He will get up on his knees and get excited…which gives me a heart attack! 

So we built a stair blocker.  We have extra wide stairs, with one side being a wall and the other side being a railing, there aren’t many gates {that I’m willing to pay for and install} that will work.  So we came up with our own solution.

A piece of wood that is 2 feet high and 5 1/2 feet long—my dad was nice enough to go to Home Depot and pick it up {and get it cut} for me, then I just covered it in batting and then stapled fabric to it. 

We can slide it back and forth and take it out whenever we need to.  Or we can just step over it {even Luke.} So far it’s working pretty well!

“Now how do I get down there?”

“I guess I’ll just chew on this thing instead.”

When Luke was a baby we used a long piece of ugly cardboard, so this is a big improvement ;)

Our Halloween, Plus Superhero Costumes for the Whole Family

{ENTIRELY TOO LONG—but it’s ALL our Halloween and costume stuff in ONE giant post! I was going to do more than one post, but y’all are probably sick of Halloween and are ready to move onto the other holidays like me!!}
Ok, so the reason for the crickets on this blog this past week…I’ve been super busy making “super” costumes!
When we asked Luke what he wanted to be for Halloween this year, he replied “a superhero” so that is that. I decided to go buy lots of shiny fabric and get to work…a little later than I should have!  I was up to my eyeballs in silver and red fabric for days and days!  But the costumes came out looking awesome and Luke was SO EXCITED to finally get to wear it!!  Makes it all worth it.  Plus, Sam was like the CUTEST super-baby ever and I wish I could dress him up in little superhero capes every single day!
So get ready for LOTS of pictures because I got really carried away and took TONS!!

{playing around with the backgound…but it looks pretty fake.  Oh well! Fun to try!}

A real brick wall for this one!

First Trick or Treating at Daddy’s work… {well actually we had the church Trunk-or-Treat the night before…but anyway…}

then we went trick-or-treating on Main (to visit Uncle Al at his bike shop) and THEN Trick or Treating around the neighborhood! We got lots of candy for sure!  We couldn’t ask for a better night!  I can’t believe it was actually warm enough to just wear a t-shirt! 

This is not even the entire pile! 

We took the most awesome video of Sam playing with the candy!  He was seriously happy as a clam playing with all the wrapped candy for 30 minutes!
Luke actually dressed up for Preschool too! {it was a VERY busy day!}  These I snapped before we walked him to school. 

So there you go!  Homemade Super-Family costumes. 
I snapped some shots of the aftermath that some of you may have seen on instagram {@kdbsmiles} …and this doesn’t include the HUGE pile of laundry that was neglected, the dishes that were seriously everywhere, the dirty floors…bathrooms…bedrooms…the house was {and still is, but we’re making progress!} a disaster from being neglected for days and days as I finished these costumes!

For all the costumes, I found stretchy and super shiny red fabric ($4.97/yd) and stretchy silver fabric ($6.47/yd) (meant for dancer’s costumes) at Wal-mart.  I bought about 1 1/2 yards of the red fabric and 2 yards of the silver fabric.  I still have about 1/4 yard left of the red and almost a whole yard of the silver left.  Since we didn’t use a pattern for anything I bought plenty not knowing how much I would need or use (or screw up!!) 

LUKE’s COSTUME:

• White long sleeved tee $5, Target
• Red Pants $5, Target
• Cape—designed it myself, sewed on the starts at the shoulders.  The cape secures onto the shirt itself with Velcro.  Only did it that way because I ended up cutting it too small to clasp together at the neck…oops.  He liked it better this way because it didn’t poke him or choke him, but he just won’t be able to play with the cape until I figure out a better way to clasp it. 
• Cuff—used this pattern from See Kate Sew.  Sewed Silver fabric to thicker pleather-like fabric for stiffness & to maintain shape.  Sewed on stripes for flare. 
• Belt—used the pleather again for stiffness.  Sewed silver fabric onto it and then just layered the pieces of star in red and silver and used a lot of iron-on adhesive and fusible interfacing to maintain shape and secure all the pieces. 
• Mask—there’s lots of patterns online for masks.  I found one and then altered it a bit to make it a slightly different shape.  I made it a little too tight, so he only wore it for a little bit at the Trunk-or-Treat and we ditched it for all the other festivities. 
• I almost made him silver shoe covers and a matching trick-or-treat bag…but I was done.  So that was it for his costume. 

SAM’s COSTUME:

• Long sleeved onesies (pack of 3/$9), Target
• Cape-sewed onto onesie
• star and belt, cut out and iron-on adhesive to onesie. I zig-zag stitched around the belt for a little more stability.  
• boots—used this picture from Pinterest to make somewhat of a pattern and just tweaked it a bit (seams on the inside instead of the outside) I just wish I had made them red instead of silver. 
• Leggings--long grey socks ($2, Target) sewn together like this

Mom and Dad SHIRTS:

• Women’s t-shirt $5 Wal-Mart
• Men’s t-shirt $5 Wal-Mart
• Red lettering from red shiny fabric & iron-on adhesive

Let me know if I’m forgetting anything!  I love how these turned out!  We had a great Halloween this year—hope you all did too!!