Friday Favs

I’ve been on Pinterest for a long time now.  Before Pinterest I was an avid bookmark-er and it was hard to use the things I bookmarked on my browser because I couldn’t see them unless I clicked on them.  I often forgot about things that I really was interested in doing or recipes I really did want to try.  Pinterest is perfect for someone like me because I am able to visually see the ideas and go from there.  I’ve been really good about not just pinning but actually doing them too.  Tuesday I made washi tape magnets inspired by Little Lovelies, and the other day I made these yummy snickerdoodles from Our Best Bites. 

I’m gearing up for Spring despite the 4 inches that were dumped back on us today, so my boards are reflecting that.  I’m also planning some more home improvement projects because I’m going to be working on our Master Bedroom soon.  Here’s some of the things I’ve been pinning lately that have been inspiring me to get busy! 

If you are going to re-pin, please remember to pin from the original source and not from this post! Thanks!  With that, my favorite pins from this week:

I’m in love with the colors of this yarn wreath from Very Truly Me…don’t be surprised if you see me hanging something similar on my own front door very soon!

I love all the IKEA furniture hacks I’ve been finding lately, especially of these shelves.  Seen on Censational Girl would be perfect for our toy room loft and a fun bright color would be perfect!

I’m loving this dresser and I’m thinking I may duplicate the idea for some RAST nightstands in our bedroom.

An IKEA Rast hack would also look cute in the campaign style with a little color blocking…like this super cute dresser over at Oh Joy.  I might have to copy this idea for Luke’s room! 

My kids are fruit snack junkies, and I try not to think about the cringe-worthy junk that they really are.  I am determined to try this recipe from Thank Your Body for healthier version.  Here’s hoping my picky-eaters like these just as much! 

That’s it for this week!

You can follow me on Pinterest here. 

What are your favorite pins from this week?  

Tutorial Tuesday: Washi Tape Magnets {No Washi Tape Required!}

I don’t have any washi tape… I already have way too much trouble staying away from the remnant bin, the scrapbook paper, and the ribbon isles at the craft stores!  I can’t add washi tape to my list of “things to hoard.” at least not yet ;) 

I do, as previously mentioned, have a lot of scrapbook paper.  We are talking about a stack at least 2 feet tall!  That is a lot of paper for someone who does digital scrapbooking!  Maybe that’s not as bad as some of you, but I think it’s pretty bad.  And seriously unorganized…but that’s another story.

Good thing there a lots and lots of other projects that use cute scrapbook paper that I can justify my addiction with! 

This project is a great way to use up your scraps if you’ve got a lot of little scraps lying around.  This project is quick, too.  I whipped out more than a dozen of these magnets in less than half an hour.  Here’s just a few:

All you need is some cute scrapbook paper {or you can use washi tape if you are a washi-hoarder}, some adhesive magnets {sheets or roll}, and scissors. 

If you go with adhesive-backed magnet tape like i did, they will be a little curvy when you cut them to the size you want. 

Just bend them back the other way and then let them sit on the fridge for a little while to flatten out a bit.  If you skip this step your paper will wrinkle.  Much like the white adhesive-protective paper on the magnets here.

Next, cut your paper to size.

Remove the white protective paper and then stick on your cute paper.

Rub it on the table {cute paper side down} to help secure it to the magnet. 

Now cut some rugged edges and you’re done!  

You could modge-podge over the paper to give it a little more protection.  Me and modge-podge don’t always play nice, so I skipped that step this time. 

That’s it!  A quick little way to jazz up your fridge!      

More washi-tape magnet inspiration~  My favorite ones are here and I originally saw them here

Sunday Scrappin'

As you may know, one of my goals this year is to get working on my scrapbook pages again!  I figured I better start with Sam's First Year book since he just turned a year old...
Then I can start working on Family Yearbooks for the rest of our pictures.  I am pretty behind on that one, but at least most of the pictures are already edited and organized by year in our computer files.

This weeks pages:

I just want to say that if you're thinking about starting to digital scrapbook, stop thinking and start doing! Don't get overwhelmed by how many years behind you are.  I am five years behind on family yearbooks!  Start with last year and work your way back!  Or start with something more fun like your wedding or dating years.  The more you make pages, the faster you get.  Soon you will be able to bust out a few pages an hour!  Keep it simple--there's a ton of templates available to get you started.  Just drag and drop and scribble a little text and the date and you're done! 

If you are looking for a good program to get started, i'd suggest My Memories Suite.  It's only $39.97 which is a lot more affordable than Photoshop.  Or even better, use this code STMMMS50196 to get $10 off My Memories Suite (you get it for $29.97 instead of $39.97) AND you also get a $10 gift certificate to use in their online store! You don't have to be limited to scrapbook pages either.  The program can be used to make your own birthday cards, invitations or even all those cute printables you see online everywhere.

I plan to make Sunday Scrappin' a regular feature to make sure I get my pages done, but I'd love to see your pages too! Leave a link in the comments if you have pages you'd like to share with me!

{See all the pages I've ever posted here} 

Valentine’s Day Shirts for Boys

I love making shirts for my boys, so I couldn’t resist coming up with something for Luke to wear to his Preschool Party. 

It took a while to think of a good idea for the design, but I saw phrase “Loads of Love” on a stamp once with a pick-up  truck and hearts falling out.  {I think it was a Stampin’ Up stamp that my friend had.}  So I found a good picture of a truck for an example and drew it in Photoshop and then added little hearts in the back and falling off the truck.  I used the font Lemondrop for the wording. 



Sam’s shirt was a bit trickier.  I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do.  I thought about “Heart Breaker” or “stud muffin” but wasn’t in love with either.  Then I thought of Love Boat!  Perfect!  Drew up a little boat and added some hearts to it also!  Decided to nix the actual wording—figured the boat with hearts is pretty self explanatory.  I will have to snap a picture of Sam wearing his shirt tomorrow—he was way too grumpy to attempt it today! 

I got these red t-shirts at Walmart for $3.88/ea and then washed them.  It’s important to wash them since they may shrink a little after the first wash.  Unless you plan never to wash the stenciled …

I cut the stencils using my Sure-Cuts-A-Lot program and my Cricut and I used Freezer Paper for the stencils.  Be sure to cut out the right side.  The shiny side is what gets ironed onto the shirt, so make sure the picture isn’t reversed when that side goes down.


Then a couple coats of Tulip Fabric paint and let it dry overnight. 

In the morning I carefully pulled off the freezer paper—the most annoying part.

I need to remember next time to make any skinny lines much thicker.  Skinny lines have a bigger tendency to bleed and are a lot harder to remove after you’ve painted.  I had some trouble with bleeding and getting the freezer paper off because of my skinny lines.



I’ve made the skinnier lines thicker in the downloads, so if you attempt these I’m hoping I’ve fixed the problem.

That’s it!  Cute shirts for my cute boys!



Now my Valentine’s Day gift to you…my files for these stencils! Hopefully you can figure out how to load these into your various programs and cut them with your electronic cutters.  I used SCAL with my Cricut…so if you don’t have those, I won’t be able to help you with any questions {I don’t know anything about the Silhouette, for example, so I can’t help you there!} I’ve made the skinny lines a bit fatter, so hopefully you’ll have a little better luck and not have any bleeding like I did!

Loads of Love
Love Boat

These files are for PERSONAL USE ONLY! You can not sell these images or use them for anything being sold.  Happy Valentine’s Day!!

“You Make My Heart Bounce” Valentines

He had to bring 12 valentines to his Valentine’s Day Preschool Party this morning.  He had finished up his box this morning, and then we had to finish up his Valentines. 

I found a pack of bouncy balls at Walmart for $1.97…there just happened to be 12 in the package! Then I printed off two sheets of “Valentine You Make My Heart Bounce” printables from The Crafting Chicks

Luke had to write his name TWELVE times…he wasn’t too thrilled after about 4 or 5 times of writing it. We took a break after 6 and then he really hated finishing the last 6 cards. But he’s getting better with his K’s!

As he finished his names I bagged up the bouncy balls and stapled on the tags. Done and Done.

He was so excited to take them to school today!

He was excited to show me all of the ones he brought home, too:

Luke’s Valentine’s Day Mailbox for Preschool

Luke’s preschool teacher requested that parents help their children decorate a box to hold all their Valentines they will receive at their party today.  I had to remind myself that it was Luke’s box and not mine, but I got it started for him and let him decorate the rest ;)

Found the perfect box

Cut off the extra flaps

Covered it in Red duct tape and hot glued cute paper to the inside

Then I pulled out everything I could think of and helped Luke decorate his box. 

He was pretty excited!

Foam stickers are awesome for this kind of thing! 

To keep the top from flapping open too much, I hot glued a heart button onto another button {to help it stick out} and then glued it onto the box

Then I taped a ribbon loop for a closure and made Luke practice opening and closing the box…it took a few tries for him to figure out the best way to close it and get the loop off again. 

I think it turned out great!  I thought he needed some more “boy” stickers so I let him put on some more of those this morning:

I’ll show you what his Valentine’s looked like in a bit…I want to see what he brings home from everyone else before I post them! So look for that post later today!  I’m putting up all my Valentine’s Day posts today—nothing like waiting until the last minute!!

Clean Your Wedding Rings at Home

I have been saying that I need to take my rings in to get cleaned for about two years.  I used to use jewelry cleaner, but then that got gross so I tossed it.  After that I didn’t really do anything and my rings have gotten pretty grimy.

I decided that I should try to clean it at home since I might never actually take it in to get cleaned!

I wish you could see the gunk stuck in and around my diamond before I cleaned them.  The pictures do not quite grasp the disgustingness.

I mixed 3 parts hot water to one part dishwasher detergent {you don’t need very much} and gave it a good swirl.  Then I dropped in my rings and let them sit in there for at least an hour.  You can do it longer, I was just really impatient.  You can leave it in there overnight.

I took them out and used a soft bristled toothbrush to scrub them a bit, but I could tell as soon as I took them out they already looked a bazillion times better!  I scrubbed away a little bit more and then rinsed them off and let them dry. 
I can’t believe it actually worked!  I seriously thought I needed professional help to get these suckers clean!


In some of the pictures it’s hard to see the difference so I hope you can tell.  It’s totally worth the minimal effort that it takes to clean your rings this way!

Ta-Da!! I hope you’ll try it!  Let me know if you do!

Sticky Board Toddler Activity

I am getting to a point where I need to find new fun activities to keep my busy baby happy and occupied!

My mom came across this great idea on Make Do and Friend and shared it with me.  I thought it was perfect and had to make one to try out myself!

All you need to do it take some clear contact paper and tape it to any surface sticky side up.  I put some on a little table, but I found that Sam liked it better when it was vertical.  Looking around my stuff, I came across the cover for my sewing machine that I never ever use.  I taped the contact paper to it and set it somewhere that Sam could push on it and it wouldn’t knock it over. 

Then I went searching for items that might work and let him have a go at it!

Even Luke started to experiment with it to see which of his toys he could get to stay stuck on the board.

So if you are looking for a cheap and easy boredom buster for you little ones, this might be something you’d like to try.  It’s a little finicky getting the sticky paper onto your choice of surface, but still only takes five minutes.  You can buy a huge roll of clear contact paper for about $5. 

If you have any great simple, cheap ideas like this I’d love to hear them! Sam is my busy busy baby and I’m constantly trying to keep him interested in new things!