Photo Organization

Cute photo of my daughter's tap shoes, isn't it?  Too bad it will never see the light of day. 

I have a confession to make.  I take tons of photos of every month and I NEVER print them out.  They just sit on my hard drive and rot.  At the end of every month, I promise myself that I'll organize the month's photos and print them out and I never do.  And that makes me feel really guilty.  I don't think I've printed out photos in four years!  It's the one area where I'm uncharacteristically disorganized and undisciplined.  (Which I find funny, because I LOVE to take to photos and consider myself and amateur photographer.) While I'm not a scrapbooker, I do wish I was printing out photos and putting them in albums or even printing out photo books, but I don't.  I'm so overwhelmed at this point that I just keep putting it off rather than dealing with it.

So I'm calling out for help.  How do you stay on top of your photos?  How do you organize them?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Create With Me

The big news around here lately is my recent publication in Create With Me magazine.  But it's not big news because of me....it's my daughter's first publication!  She's six and she already has artwork published!  It only took me 38 years to accomplish the same thing.  Seriously though, we both LOVE the magazine.  I think it's one of the best children's arts & crafts magazine out there because it has crafts you would actually like to create too. 

One thing I found really interesting about the magazine was the common theme in many of the articles about the need for patience when crafting with children.  It was relief to read that I'm not the only one who grits her teeth as paint flies and little beads are found on the floor for days (weeks even) after a day of crafting with my daughter.  I found out the frustration of taking an hour to set-up for a project, only to have it abandoned in five minutes, is not unique to me.  It was nice to know that I'm not the only one who bites her tongue as she watches her child make strange color choices. 

We do these things for our children because we want to nurture their creativity and we know the importance of being able to express ourselves through art.  And we might just learn a little something about color theory while we're at it.

Whoopie Pies

I keep hearing that whoopie pies are the "new cupcake".  I knew I was eventually going to have to try one.  I made them on Friday night and all I can say is..."Whoopie pies, where have you been my whole life?"  They are so good.  They are like inside out cupcakes.  If you aren't a huge frosting fan, but love cake, these are the dessert for you!

I used this recipe.  They were surprisingly easy to make.  Here's a tip: I don't usually have fancy "dutch processed" cocoa in my house.  Good old Hershey's is what I usually use, but I recently found out the Hershey's makes a Special Dark (like their candy bars) cocoa.  I've been using it in all my chocolate recipes and I think it definitely has a superior taste.  And the chocolate desserts look so dark.  Yum!

Supposedly they are called whoopie pies because, in the good old days, when women made these confections as a way to use up extra cake batter (who has extra cake batter?  anyway...) their children would yell, "whoopie!".  I told my daughter that story and she didn't understand "whoopie".  It's not a word we throw around here, but "yippee" is.  So she has renamed them "Yippie Pies".  Whatever you call them, make them tonight!

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Someone around here has a very loose tooth.  It's causing quite a stir and there is A LOT of talk and excitement over the loss of a first tooth. 

My daughter REALLY wants to lose her teeth.  A few months ago, we read the book, Silverlicious, and in it, Pinkalicious has a personal tooth fairy.  Of course, that led to a big discussion about who my daughter's personal tooth fairy is.  She wanted to meet her right away, but hadn't lost any teeth.  Being the creative person she is, my daughter proceeded to draw and cut-out a paper tooth and left it out to see if it would lure her personal tooth fairy to the house.  Off to school she went and I went to work figuring this whole personal tooth fairy thing out.  First step:  finding a name.  Did you know if you search "fairy name generator" online, you will actually find one?  Seriously the internet has everything.  The website I found was a bit strange (for adults who are into fairies I think), but I was able to get my daughter's fairy the excellent name of Chanter Willowflower.  I was even informed that Chanter Willowflower wears "silver skirts, white feather down and has delicate, green wings like a cicada". Not bad, huh?  So, before my daughter got home from school, good ole Chanter flew over, picked up the paper tooth, and left a letter of introduction behind with the promise that she will come back when the first real tooth falls out.

And now the first tooth is wiggling away and it is time for me to get to work on a tooth pillow.  When searching the web for inspiration, I came across this tutorial.  It was so cute I had to make it.  Although I usually create my own designs, I just couldn't resist this pillow. 

Ever since my success with the sock monkey, I've found myself to be a bit braver about making stuffies.  I'll admit that I was still nervous and worried that I would end up with tooth pillow disaster (a cavity if you will...ha!).  But I think I may actually have the hang of it.

I sure hope Chanter Willowflower likes it!

Click here to see more great projects!

Homemade English Muffins

In The Weekend Baker: Irresistible Recipes, Simple Techniques, and Stress-Free Strategies for Busy People, there is a recipe for English muffins.  I was fascinated by the idea of making them from scratch.  You know how you think some things are simply impossible to make from scratch?  Well, English muffins were one of those things for me.  But the recipe looked really good and I was up super early one morning, so I tried my hand it. They were delicious and so easy to make. I spent the time it took for the dough to rise reading the Sunday paper.  Now I've spoiled myself and my family and we will never be able to eat store-bought English muffins again. 

Next on my list of "impossible to make from scratch"?  Bagels. 

Lamp Makeovers

Thanks for all your nice words about my little girl's new room makeover!  One of the ways I saved on our budget was to fix up some lamps we already had laying around here.  I mean, do you know how pricey cute, boutique lamps can be?  Crazy!  The lamps we had were very circa 1990s.  Not exactly the look I was going for.  So, I got out my craft paint (I used Plaid's FolkArt®Acrylic Paint in Baby Pink and Soft Apple) and painted over the dark blue/green metal of the bases, added some embellishments, and I've got some lamps that look brand new!

My favorite transformation is the lamp shown above.

This is the before:

A little paint, some felt flowers I made with my Sizzix machine and embroidered, and a lampshade from Ikea ($12!) and I think it looks like a completely piece!

Then I tackeled this floor lamp:



This one was really simple to makeover. I just painted the base and glued fabric to the shade.

I'm very happy with how this cost saving project turned out.  I know it takes a little work to save money, but when you get results like this, I think the pride you feel is definately worth the effort.

Little Girl's Bedroom Makeover

It's finally done!  We've been working on switching my daughter's room and my studio and (redoing both rooms) since Memorial weekend.  I've been living in total chaos.  But it was all worth it!  My daughter's room is done! 

Here's a little reminder of what it looked like before (when it was my embarrassingly messy studio):

What a difference, huh?  I have to thank my husband for making all my great design ideas become a reality.  I'm on a mission to make our boring, cookie cutter, tract home look more unique, so he spent many hours putting up ornate chair rail and beautiful crown molding.  I'm very happy with how it looks and my daughter is over the moon.  We set a strict budget of $500 and we stayed pretty close to that.  Of course, by selling some old furniture, I was able to pad the budget a bit.  I'd like to get an all-white cottage style bed for her, but we ran out of budget, so the old bed will have to do for now.

Now we're set to begin working on my studio.  I'm so excited and already day dreaming about storage solutions that will hide my messes.  I'll be sure to share the results with you!



Happy 4th of July!

Need a last minute BBQ table idea?  Hop over to the Buttons Galore and More blog for the tutorial to make some quick and simple fireworks napkin rings.

Designer Blog Hop Special Edition: iLoveToCreate's Beads in a Bottle Challenge

This month, the designers have been asked by iLoveToCreate to design projects using their awesome Beads in a Bottle.  What a fun product to get to play with! 

I've had this cute laptop tote for awhile: 

It's cute, but when I knew I was going to be taking it to a craft retreat, I knew I had to give it my "designer" touch.  Using fabric scraps, buttons, Beads in a Bottle and some Tulip 3D Fabric Paint, I was able to give my tote some serious personality. 

And you are all very lucky as iLoveToCreate is celebrating our blog hop with an awesome giveaway.  Seriously, you are going to die when you see all the goodies you could win.  Check it out:

Who wouldn't want a prize package like that?  To get more information about the drawing and to enter, click here.

And don't forget to visit my fellow designers' blogs to see the projects they created using Beads in a Bottle!

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