On a Contact High...

So the other day I showed you how I used Contact paper and my new Silhouette to decorate a window at my workplace...

oh so much more...

So here is the orginal window with more snowflakes

then I had to decorate up the door to my section - BE is I think Brittanic Bold?? and Merry is Two Peas Arizona font - I was able to weld the words so the "erry" cut as one piece

and our display case...I used an Ornament shape downloaded from Silhouette and flipped one before cutting. The "Joy to the World" is also a download.

and finally what I absolutely adore - our Ornament window - complete with all my co-workers names...I found faux stainless steal contact paper (made by Duck I found it at Lowes) - {swoon} - I used a Silhouette plain ornament shape to cut the ornaments out of the faux stainless steel and then used some Deliha Red and Olive Oracle vinyl to cut out the names in different fonts...

I simply ran ribbon (Micheals $1 bin) down the window at various lengths and put the ornament on - I then created corresponding bows and used my beloved Craft glue Dots (if you do not own Craft glue dots in the red box...you must get some - these can make anything stick) to adhere them to the top of the ornaments - here is a closeup of my ornament...

I used the "Mele Kalikimaka" download from the Silhouette digital store - mainly to try to be PC...around here gosh forbid you say "Merry Christmas"... and our orginal idea of "Happy/Merry Whatever" might have gotten us in a bit of trouble...so we used a roundabout way to say "Merry Christmas"

The snowmen on the bottom is also a digital download - I placed four on one page and flipped every other one so the ends would match up (one is slightly higher then the other) as I was putting it along the bottom of the window...I also had a few trees cut out from an earlier project - so those got added as well...

I adore, adore, adore, adore my new Silhouette....

Oh, before I forget you are probably wondering what became of the all the things in the sneak peek I gave you yesterday...

Well that turned into this..

Isn't it lovely...I used a simple Styrofoam Cone shape - some T-pins and a few bags of candy...along the way I did a very bad thing and introduced my daughters to Lindor truffles...now they are clamoring for Lindor...

This was very quick and easy to put together - the girls put the pins through the top of each piece of candy and I pinned them on. The star on top - I simply cut some nesting star shapes from my Silhouette (did I happen to mention I adore my new toy??) - used a toothpick and a Craft Glue Dot (did I mention I adore these as well??) to put them back to back and then sunk the toothpick on top.

This makes a wonderful gift - in fact this one is going to a neighbor this weekend - she holds an open house before the annual parade for our town (lucky us the parade goes right through our neighborhood - prime seats only a block away) - I figure this would make a nice little hostess gift that everyone at the Open House can enjoy...This would be great to place on a neighbors doorstep - just ring the bell and run...a much better treat than flaming dog poo, dontcha' think?

Channeling her inner Soprano

So with the start of December in our house the Santa Elf appears…

See isn’t he cute…

He was sent by Santa to keep an eye on PWG and TW and report back to Santa if they are being Naughty or Nice…

He is also in charge of our Advent Calendar – which hangs and has small mittens for each day leading up to Christmas – just big enough to slip 2 small pieces of candy in…

So if the girls behave they are awoken to the joy of being able to have a piece of candy first thing in the morning…

The other day PWG told me it doesn’t matter if she is good or not because there will be candy everyday…I called her bluff and said it was all up to the Elf – to which she informed me she had a contract with the Elf and showed me this…


Ummm yeah…more like an extortion letter than a contract…and see those numbers – when I asked what they were I was told “The Elf gave me his digits” . I told her that the Elf's handwritting looked alot like hers...her response "Prove it" - I asked why she signed it "ME" instead of her name...her response "The Elf knows who he is signing a contract with - no names needed"

Question is - if one day there aren’t any pieces of candy will the Elf find himself in the woods digging his own shallow grave?

And I leave you with a little taste

What to take a guess as to what I used these for????

You will just have to wait until tomorrow…

Oh So Easy...

So what did this become....

It became this

Simply Fabulous don'tcha think??

And so super simple and easy to do...

One day I was perusing the web and came across a great blog - We Are That Family - one of the things I love is the Do It Yourself Projects - simply divine and most of the items used come from the Dollar Store...so easy on the wallet as well...I came across THIS post (go down to about the 5th picture) - well...I HAD to do that so...

My wreath uses

1 white wreath shape - $1 @ Dollar Tree

1/2 roll of wire edged ribbon - $1 @ Dollar Tree

1 20 yard Snow Garland - $2.99 @ Target

I would have used Garland from the Dollar Tree but sadly this year it was a little lacking and quite frankly a bit too gaudy for me - and for me to say something is too gaudy - the woman who bought a holiday flying pig for her front yard - it must have been bad...


The 20 yards was just perfect for this wreath - I used a dab of hot glue to attach the garland to the wreath and then simply wrapped it all around and used another dab of hot glue to glue the end down. - tied 1/2 of the roll of ribbon in a loop and strung it through the wreath.


Simply beautiful and for $4.50 - a steal - would have been even cheaper had my Dollar Tree had some better Garland...but oh well...the Snow Garland is beautiful - hard to see in the picture but the Garland is mainly white with some sprinkles of silver and shimmer throughout...

And the season begins...

Well Turkey Day is over….

I got a chance to spend my holiday with my children, my parents, my sister and my brother-in-law. Third Child decided to head to his parents this holiday since his brother and sister-in-law were coming in for a visit (and only informed us of this plan about 10 days prior – hence why we separated for the holiday)

I have a lot to be thankful for – I have a roof over my head, a good job surrounded by some great people, my daughters are happy and healthy and flourishing in school, the puppy has stopped chewing everything she can get close to her mouth and at the end of the month the bills are paid and lo and behold there is even a bit left over…so for that in this day and age I am thankful.

Every holiday season we get a ton of mail from all sorts of charities – now I will say we are decent givers – I do like to sponsor friends and family when they do various fundraisers, walks, etc… and during the holiday season we pick a few names from our churches Angel Tree and {hopefully} bring a little joy for a little while to those children who make do with so much less.

This year I have decided to pick a different Charity each week of December that means something to me and hope that my gift this holiday season might make a small bit of difference.

This week I am donating to the VCU Massey Cancer Center . I have dealt with family and friends who have fought battles with cancer – Pancreatic, Breast, Colon, among others…some have won their battles…my parents among them – other family and friends were not as lucky as my parents. There are a variety of cancer charities out there – some deal directly with research, others deal with clinical trials, while others assist people living with cancer. I choose Massey because they do all the above and then some…the center is also right in my town – so the money I choose to donate may just help people I know and love.

OK on to CRAFTING…

A while ago I cam across a website that had a fantastic tutorial for making a half apron from one simple dish/tea towel…I thought I saved the link, but alas I did not…when I went back to try and GOOGLE it – well there are A LOT of different variations of a dish/tea towel apron…and I have yet to find it again (but on the upside I did find some more FABULOUS crafty sites…more to come on that later….)

So here I started with my raw materials…I failed to take step by step picture thinking I would be able to find that darn tutorial…when I do find it I will be sure to post it….

1 tea towel bought at Homegoods for about $4 (2 per pack)
20 inches of red gingham fabric (Four 5" strips)

Because I failed to find the Apron tutorial again after I first found it I had to wing it…

UPDATE - I found the blog again - here is the Tutorial from V and Co.

First thing I did was cut the red gingham fabric into 4 strips 5” wide (ok I didn’t cut this when I was at the fabric store I asked them to cut them into 5” strips for me…this worked out well since they have the nice big tables used for cutting – all the better to get straight lines) – I sewed 2 strips together to make one long strip….and then sewed the other 2 together to make another long strip – then placed then together (one good thing about the gigham fabric I used – no wrong side) and sewed at a 1/4 inch all the way around – leaving one end open…turn inside out – iron it and sew up the end…now you have your tie.

Next I took the tea towel – laid it out and folded it in half with the good sides facing each other – I then brought down one side so it was touching the fold and pinned and ironed it flat so the folds were nice and crisp.

Since my tea towel had red accents I choose to use red thread – starting at the top I sewed down each side and across the bottom – this left me with one big pocket on the front – I then used the fold lines in the towel and starting at the bottom sewed up to the fold to create 3 pockets out of the one big pocket.

Then I laid my tie out and placed the top edge of my towel in the middle of the tie and folded it over the top, pinned and then sewed the tie to the towel – I did sew both the bottom and the top of the tie…

And then I was done…

Here is PWG modeling the finished product – I will say the ties are long enough for a more slender woman than my pleasantly plump self to cross around back and tie in the front. You can also see TW holding up the basic tea towel before all the craftyness ensued.


Next project is inspired by the posts at Somewhat Simple on Sunday – I found a tutorial for a very simple wreath on another site (to be named when I show my completed project) – but for now I give you just a small taste…

and the angels sang...

When I got home yesterday there was a big package on my porch....

MY SILHOUETTE HAS ARRIVED....

I could not wait to open it up and begin playing...it was super simple to load up the software - plug it into my computer and begin playing...

I only had a bit of time to play with it last night - but play I did

Up first a good friend of mine repurposes items...takes an old chair and paints it all up bright and colorful...turns an old wooden table and chair set into a wonderful activity table for little kids...she does great wall murals, etc... Well a new store has opened in our town that specializes in selling repurposed items and my friend will be selling some of her items in the store. She had a small book made of murals she has done along with items she has sold in the past and asked me if I could help her put something on the front...of course I can...

Fonts: Susie's Hand & Ravie

Forgive my horrible camera work - and the glare of the flash - the book measures about 6x4 - I used pink Oracle vinyl. Looking at it now I think I would have tried to space the "Creations" a little bit futher apart - but not bad for the first thing I did...

Next up was something for my work...I thought of this idea a few weeks ago and I am VERY HAPPY this worked...

Starting off - while Vinyl is an awesome material to work with - there are some drawbacks - first it can be expensive, depending on where and what you buy - It isn't as if Vinyl is available everywhere - the Cricut Vinyl you can buy in the store is about $10 for a roll...you can find it much cheaper on-line - but by the time you pay for S&H - well...

Furthermore - while you can use vinyl it is not renewable - meaning once you take it off you can't reuse it...fine if you are creating a piece of artwork or putting something on your walls where it will be for a period of time - but for short term...not a moneywise way to go...

BUT...BUT...contact paper...YES - CONTACT PAPER - but the good stuff - the "REAL" Contact paper and not the cheesy $1 store knockoff...I managed to score a nice big roll of white contact paper from Walmart for under $6...

I know you are asking but what can you use Contact paper for...well let me show you...

This is the window leading into my section at work -

I need to cut more snowflakes out tonight - but you see the basics of it

Fonts: Happy Days & WWFlakes

...isn't it Fabulous and in Jan (or Feb) when we take it down - it all gets thrown away...and my cost (other than my valuable time) is less than $1 worth of white contact paper...

This is a great use fo contact paper for holidays - the drawback to contact paper is the fact that you are severly limited in colors and it is for indoor use - on a flat, smooth surface only...

My plan for my house is to spell out Happy Holidays for the windows in my bedroom that look out to the street...easy enough to do on the Silhouette...just have to remember to flip the letters before cutting them so that when I adhere them to the inside of my windows people can actually read the letters...

Oh Yeah - I'm Struttin' - Reindeer Style

So I have been putting together all these crafty projects – gearing up for craft sales and holiday gifts for family and friends…and all along I have been taking pictures…

Guess where those pictures are - still on my camera…

But I DO want to participate in the STRUT YOUR STUFF Thursdays (see the cute little button to the right I managed to post) hosted by Somewhat Simple - click on over and take a look at some of the wonderful things other stalkers crafty bloggers have done...

So I went to my photo archives and found this that I did last month for a Holiday Card Swap…

Isn’t it adorable…

All the supplies are from Stampin’ Up! (Contact me if you need a dealer )

Dasher Stamp in Chocolate...Old Olive Paper with shimmery white snowflakes stamped on it...BEAUTIFUL flocked paper...and of course it isn't a card without some form of extras - a little ribbon...a cute little punched flower and a small little brad....

I usually send out about 100 cards to friends and family and yes all of them are handmade. This is one of about 4 different designs I will be sending out this year.

Knitting - 1 Me - 0

So last night PWG pulls something from her backpack and asks all excited

"Can we do this?"

my first reaction was to say 'NO' without even seeing what it is...because saying 'NO' is a Mommies first reaction to anything...afterall if you eventually say yes - you can turn it around to your favor by explaining that you as a mommy are granting your children something special...I have learned never to say 'YES' to anything right away...and 'MAYBE' sometimes gets your ass in a sling...

Then I took a look - she was proudly holding up a book about beginning Knitting that she had taken out from the school library...what she really wanted to do was knit the Sassy Slippers that were featured in the book...

God I love that little girl...all cute and crafty like

But there was a problem - I have NEVER knitted before...I have bought and attempted those 'Knifty Knitter" plastic things...all that did was cause me to add a few new curse words to my vocabulary...

So she and I glanced through the book - the first half of the book showed step by step directions with illustrations on how to begin to knit...all dumb down well, since after all it was designed for 8 year olds...

I figured Ok I can do this - I have a book...I have illustrations - how hard could it be...

So off to Walmart I went to pick up some knitting needles...came home got the girls in bed and told PWG I would try to figure it out and then we could do it together....

Then spent the next hour contorting my hands into positions they have never been in...and dredging up those long forgotten curse words...

knitting kicked my arse...I threw up my hands in defeat...I couldn't even get a chain on the needle to even begin to knit...

This is not the first time a craft genre has won...and it probably won't be the last...