HaLLoWeEn BoTTLeS!

Somewhere around here I took some step by step pictures of how I made these bottles--but I don't know where they are--story of my life! I decided to make some cute Halloween bottles for fun. I have been trying to keep myself busy and relaxed about the upcoming move. (I 'm a little anxious) I went to the DI the other day and found these bottles. They cost me a total of $1.25. I went to a website and was able to print the labels for free!! (I am sorry, but I can't remember what website it was. I just googled 'Halloween Bottle Labels'.) I mod podged the labels on to the bottles and filled them with some floral gems. They were super easy and look adorable next to my candelabra! YAY for crafts!!

"Bow"-tiful Bow Holder

Check out how I made this cute little bow holder on the Mommy Blog! I was super excited to have it finished!!

Halloween DIY Candelabra

I blogged all about this on the Mommy Blog and put pictures on facebook. I am so excited to share so go check it out!! Halloween Candelabra.

Let me know what you think! I am super proud of it! :)

4th Of July Crafts

My friend and I had a good time a few weeks ago putting these together. We downloaded the prints from various websites. (They were free printables) Then we had fun decorating cheap dollar store frames. It really got me in the patriotic mood! If you want the websites I have them on my facebook page.

We ♥ Teachers!

I come from a LONNNNG line of teachers. Being one myself, even though it's for the little folks, I enjoy this week of the year. I always try to make a point to my children's teachers so they know how much we love and care for them. And how grateful we are for their service to our kids. This week for FHE we made cards for our teachers. The boys' turned out so sweet. I loved reading them. (Preston cheated and wrote Tyson's).
I also had to come up with a couple cute gifts. The first one I did was for a guy teacher. (I knew he wouldn't appreciate the cute girl teacher gift.) I bought a 6-pack of IBC Rootbeer and some Boston's Baked Bean candies. Then we tied it all up cute and said: "You make my day a "Rootin'-Tootin'" good time."
Then it was on to the rest of the gifts! All the girl teachers got this cute Subway Art. I made it in Picasa and Photo Shop. I had them printed off at Costco. Then we mated it (is that a word?). I spray painted all-a-dollar pictures frames. I thought black would look the best. Then I used a very strong craft bond and glued the ribbon to the back. After it was dried I tied it into a bow so it could hang. And TA-DA--a cute gift.

I only spent $24.00 to make gifts for the 7 different teachers. So less then $3.50/per teacher. That's pretty good--at least I think! :) And a big thank you to all of the teachers out there. Your hard work doesn't go unnoticed!

Easter Block Tutorial

My friend, Susan, requested that I explain how these are made. So this post is for her! They are very easy and fun to make! You will need a 2x4, craft paint, scrapbook paper, vinyl, sandpaper, mod podge, a hot glue gun and any embellishments you want. It all starts with the 2x4!! I had Clint cut mine so they were; 8 inches, 7 inches, 6.5 inches, 6 inches, and 5 inches tall. Then you paint them. Craft paint works the best. I decided white would be the best for this project. When your paint has dried, trace each block on it's piece of scrapbook paper. Cut the paper out. Lay a medium-thin coat of mod podge on the block and put it's paper on. After it has dried, sand the edges. (This also allows any extra paper hanging over to be sanded off.) I use my cricut machine to cut the vinyl lettering, but I know lots of people sell vinyl lettering now. You can always have someone cut the letters of what you want. Put the lettering on each block, then mod podge again. Once it has dried then you can embellish using your hot glue gun. I use buttons, ribbons, flowers, and other things. I always think that is the fun part. They really don't take more then 2 hours to complete. They're cute and cheap to make! I hope this helps. If you have any other questions let me know! :)

Our Week...

Wow! This week has been a doozie! I am not even sure where to begin.

Clint did work this week. Yay! However, he is not full time yet. They can't bring him on full time until all their certifications have come through. This has absolutely nothing to do with Clint, it's just how new businesses start. So things are still not normal around here. It's kind of frustrating. I am glad that he has a job, but I am so ready for him to work the 9 hour day then come home. You know...like a normal life?! Yes, normal. That would be nice. Since he isn't working full-time we still do not have a full-time income coming in, so I have been pulling crazy hours again at work. I am exhausted, more then usual. I think the stress of all of this is catching up with me. (But I guess I have been saying that for a while.)

We did have some fun this week, though.

Monday: We were busy! Work. School. An appointment. Then I found a killer deal on a dress at the Down East Outlet in Ogden. I am really starting to LOVE that store. It was on the clearance rack for $7.00. So I tried it on, loved it, checked out, and it was an additional 20% off. I only paid $5.98 for it! That was exciting.

Tuesday: Work. School. Cub Scouts. Babysitting. I hate loading all 6 kids in the car to take Preston to scouts. Just to come home and unload. Then turn around and do it all again in 45 minutes. It's really annoying! Since the weather is warming up (hopefully) I think we are going to make this our Tuesday routine; Take Preston to scouts, hang at the park! It's so close to his scout leader. It was so nice to get the kids out of the house too! We played tag--and even I had a blast!Wednesday: Oh, that day was fun! NOT!! One of my co-workers didn't show for work. Which meant they had to cover her. I spent all day at work--literally. I even had to pick Preston and Tyson up from school and take them back with me. Which never happens. Oh man! I was tired. After work, I had to help a friend pick some things out for a project, so I didn't get home until 9:30pm.

Thursday: Same thing...work. School. St. Patrick's Day! We had a little Leprechaun visit our house. He got green paint all over my floor. I haven't even mopped it up yet! He left the kids little pots of gold chocolate and green candies. The kids all got to wear green and have class parties. We had broccoli cheese soup and homemadeLee's made green oreo cookies. (Don't judge---please. I really wanted to do festive green food. I was even going to make it. It just wasn't happening this week!)

Friday: More work. School. Craft Night!! Okay, so that project I was helping my friend with...turned into craft night. Some co-workers came over and I was able to teach them how to make those cute blocks. The ones with scrapbook paper and vinyl. She was making them for a baby shower gift. They turned out adorable. With everything we made for the baby shower...we were up until 2 am. I am too old to stay up that late! It was a lot of fun. Her blocks turned out great and so did her other projects. I didn't have a chance to finish mine until Saturday, but I still loved the way they turned out. I am addicted to those things. I think I am going to be making more!!

Saturday: Relax. Well sort of. I had a huge mess to clean up from craft night. I babysat. Then we spent Saturday evening searching for white bunk beds for the girls. I hate how expensive furniture is. I just don't know what to do!! Spend a little more for better quality and cuter style VS. Cheaper and uglier. It shouldn't be that big of a debate...but in my head it is!

Sunday: Church. Babysitting. Catching up on this blog of mine. Can't wait to watch a movie and lay in bed!!

~Subway Art~

I hadn't ever really heard of Subway Art until my friend, Shannon, posted about it on our Mommy Blog. Then I started seeing it everywhere! I thought it was fun, different, cute, and that it couldn't be that hard to make--right?! So I sat down and attempted to make my own. With St. Patty's Day this week--I figured I would go with that theme. I read a TON of tutorials on how to do these. Some used vinyl while others used a program like Photoshop. After some quick advice from Shannon--I was able to create mine using Photoshop and Picasa. I had to use photoshop to create the background. I just did the background in white for the first attempt. There is a great tutorial on how to do that on this blog. Then I was able to create all the words, fonts, and sizes in Picasa. Since I created it in Picasa it saved as a picture and I was able to print it out. (I was out of photo paper--but that is the best way to print them.) I found a cute frame for $2.00 and some cute green ribbon for $2.00. For more Subway Art ideas check out this blog. There are some WAY creative people in this world!! :)

~Doll House~

We (Clint) put so much work into this doll house. That I had to give it—it’s own post. I found the Doll House on KSL. The guy selling it wanted $350, I think. It took a month, but we talked him down to a price that was realistic for us! After, the initial cost of the house itself, we only ended up spending about $20. Which included the supplies, and the flooring. Lowe’s gave us carpet remnants for free! Which totally Rocked! I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out!! I have ALWAYS, I mean it too, wanted to build her a Doll House. This was just what I was looking for… in budget, style, time, and make!

BEFORE…

AFTER…

Eileen’s Wedding

My Sister-in-law, Eileen, got married Saturday! We had a good time. Weddings are always hard with 4 small kids, and we had a big assignment, but we survived. Here are some things about our day.

Addy’s hair: Since she was a flower girl, I was going to take her to get her hair done, but I ran out of time, and had to do it myself. I think it turned out really pretty. I put it in a tight ponytail, then pulled pieces of the ponytail into Hot Sticks. I then clipped flowers up into it to create a fancy bun look. I think it turned out pretty cute. It stayed in most of the day—which was my goal.

This was the Canopy that Clint built: So talk about a  project!! I don’t think that either one of us realized what a pain this cute little canopy was going to be. Clint has amazing talent, and I have great shopping skills… the total for this was $50.00. Eileen asked Clint to make this for her, and I think it turned out really pretty. It did have a few complications, and now that we have done it once, we will know exactly what to do different next time. It really was a neat, and a pretty thing to get married under.                                    COUSINS: Really do I need to say more?! We love our cousins. The kids all have sooo much fun together. We couldn’t have asked for better cousins, and best friends. It makes us sad sometimes that we live so far from them. Such cute kids!!

My favorite picture of the whole wedding, is the “Silly Face Flower Girls”. These girls did a great job!! And I owe them ICE CREAM. (I didn’t forget, Aubree :]) Daddy-Daughter Dance: There is something about a “Daddy-Daughter Dance” That just gets my emotions flowing!! Um, probably the fact that I am 100% Daddy’s girl!! I love this picture. I love that my girls love their Daddy.                                     Tyson Catching The Garter: He said, “What do I do with this?” We told him it was just silly, and made him give it away. Wedding Photography: I will admit, I like to pretend that I am a professional photographer. Okay, really I know I’m not. I did however sneak in a few cute shots of my kiddos. I love taking pictures of my kids, and especially when they are all dressed up cute. So here are a few of my favorites!