Wedding Anniversary Gift -- Sneak Peek

Here is a little sneak peek of a gift I've made for my son and daughter-in-law...it is a late 1st anniversary gift.  I did a collage video of Dana and Kyle's lives growing up and as adults, that was shown at their wedding.  The typical kind of video shown at weddings.  I decided to take those photos used for the video and make into an album as a gift.  The cover shows them along with their son Nick with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop.  They had a beautiful ceremony overlooking the ocean in San Diego.  It was wonderful!  I hope they enjoy the gift.  We will see them soon and are looking forward to the trip!

Continue to Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Money Pizza -- Pinterest Idea

When gifting money for birthday presents for the grandkids and nieces and nephews, it is always a challenge to find creative ways to present the gift.  This year when our 2nd oldest grandson Nikeo turned 11, I wanted to try this idea I had seen on Pinterest.  I picked up a pizza box at the local Sam's Club, just walked up to the pizza counter and asked if I could buy one.  The manager happened to be there and just gave me one...a large one.  I don't think they normally do that, so I think I got lucky that day.  I picked up some cake rounds and covered one with some scrap booking paper.  I then took the money I was gifting in $1 bills and quarters and laid them out on the cake round to make it look like a pizza.  I then printed the sign on the computer and stuck it to the inside of the box.

I think it was a hit! Imagine, Create, and Enjoy.

Welcome Baby Laila!

It has occurred to me that I posted all of these craft projects related to my granddaughter's baby shower but have not shared with you the outcome.  My son Kyle and daughter-in-law Dana and big brother Nick welcomed Laila Olivia Vivian Elizabeth to the family on May 12.  She proudly shares two of her great-grandmother's names.  She is a beautiful little girl who we are anxious to meet in just a few short weeks.  The burlap wreath shown here holds a proud place on the wall of her bedroom.

She has also been seen sporting many of the headbands that guests made at the baby shower held for her.  I know we all really enjoyed making them for her and they certainly match many of her outfits.

Thanks for sharing our excitement!  Until next time, Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Note Board

One of my grandsons wanted to make a present for his mom's birthday.  I looked through my supplies and found an unpainted narrow wood frame, a few jewels, a flower, some heart stickers and some cork board.  Those supplies to start, along with a trip to Michael's for ribbon and silver jewels.  I used an idea from Pinterest which I no longer have a link to; and, I have modified the project slightly from its original design and came up with this idea. 

Nikeo painted the frame a nice black matte color and while he was doing that Grandma cut the cork board to fit the frame.  I double layered the cork board to make a thick base to stick pins and tacks through.  After the painting was done I took the roll of sparkles/jewels and cut the strips down to effectively fit around the edges of the frame and still allow enough room for items to be pinned to the board.  The row of jewels you see in the middle of the cork board hides a seam where I had to piece the cork board together.  Once that was hot-glued down, I took the ribbon and hot glued it to the edge of the frame.  The ribbon design is hard to see but it is a zebra stripe with silver and red, not pink as the pictures tend to show.

The ribbon was accented perfectly with the zebra print daisy that we affixed to the lower right corner with a little heart sticker on in the middle. After that I found some swooshies in black jewels and I added them to the board.  One looks like it is flowing out of the daisy on the bottom right half of the board and the other accents the lower left corner of the top of the board above the row of jewels.  A couple of more little red hearts to match the ribbon and the board itself was finished out. 

On the top I used more of the ribbon from the edges and made a hanger which I attached to the back of the board.  All in all it turned out really cute!  Nikeo's mom liked it and it holds a prime place on the wall in her bedroom!

Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Headbands

My daughter-in-law Dana found here an idea on Pinterest for an elastic headbands station to have at her shower.  She liked this idea because it allowed the guests to personalize something for baby Laila during the shower.  I set about figuring out how to get it done! After visits to JoAnn's, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby I found all the requisite supplies mostly on sale.  Luckily the main part, the stretchy headband materials was sold by the spool at Hobby Lobby and I caught it on a sale day.  I was able to pick up about six different colored spools and ended up getting about six headbands per roll.  I cut them in about 12-14" lengths and sewed the ends together.

In addition to the headbands I picked up matching colors of felt, fabric flowers, pre-made bows, jewels, small butterflies, and small button shapes. The flowers were different colors and patterns (polka dots), different styles (zebra print), mostly daisies, and some other flowers.  I took and pulled off or cut off the flowers from the stems and then hot glued them on the bottom to make sure the centers and the flower layers stayed together.  When I looked at putting them on to the headbands though I felt they weren't going to lay flat on the headbands and would be too heavy for the headbands.  I looked at the original idea and saw some felt circles in the example so went back and picked up some matching felt.  I took my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and cut the felt using the largest flower on the die.  I cut about 6-8 of each color so they could be used to glue the flowers on and then glue on to the headbands.

So we set up a separate area at the shower with hot glue guns and all of the different components laid out on the table and told everyone at the beginning of the shower where everything was located and invited them to make their way into the dining room to create their own special gift for baby Laila.

To make sure Dana and Kyle knew who had created each of the headbands, I cut tags with my Cricut and cut 12" lengths of thin ribbon (1/8" wide).  On each of the tags I stamped the word From: on one side and then asked each Guest Headband Designer to sign their creation and tie the tag to the headband they made. The guests were eager participants and enjoyed creating some really pretty headbands for Laila.  We can't wait to see her wearing each and everyone of the gifts.

Here is a group shot of all of the completed headbands.  They really turned out nicely. She will be quite the styling little girl!  Keep on Imagining, Creating, and Enjoying every day!

Mesh Wreath

Mesh wreaths have become all the rage as of late.  I decide my first try would be to make one for Laila's baby shower.  I spent a couple of different trips to Michael's, JoAnn's, and Hobby Lobby to check out the supplies, costs, ideas, and colors of mesh.  I spent some time reading through one of the books while standing in the aisle at the store.  After looking at the picture directions in the book I figured I could do this without spending the $10 on the book.  I'd rather spend the money on the supplies for the wreath.

Since I had already started the diaper cake with the bright pink colors, I followed through here.  I chose burlap looking mesh and then a hot pink mesh to coordinate with it choosing to alternate the burlap and pink mesh (I used the smaller 6" rolls versus the large 12" rolls). Once I had finished fixing the mesh to the wreath base (by using pipe cleaners in hot pink), I started adding flowers.  I took pretty Gerber daisy flowers in various shades of pink and white and glued them around the wreath with some pearl accents behind them. The pearl accents were a strand picked up from the floral section at the craft store.  I separated the different strands to maximize them as I wanted some behind all of the flowers. Additionally, I added some pretty butterflies from the floral section of the hobby store and the word Love across the bottom of the wreath. It was in the wood letters section at the craft store and already painted white, so I left it exactly as it came. The letters spell out Laila's full name: Laila Olivia Vivian Elizabeth. She will share names with two of her great grandmother's.  A beautiful tribute to both sides of the family!

Once I hot glued everything together I added a small butterfly on the corner of Love.  Kyle really liked the wreath...enough so he wants to put it in Laila's nursery.  Now I've gotta figure out how to ship it to them in Indiana!

Until next time...Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

More Butterflies!

My son Kyle's baby shower was held at his in-laws home out in Courtland on a Saturday afternoon.  The weather in March in Northern California (similar to most areas of the country) can range from cold, wet, rainy and 30 degrees to warm, sunny, dry and 75 degrees.  Lucky for us we got the warm, sunny, dry, close to 75 degree weather!  We were thrilled as we had decided to have the shower outside.  The in-laws home in Courtland sits on a large piece of property and there is a long driveway with shade trees and ample space in front of the garage area so we decided to utilize that area.  We rented round tables, tablecloths and even a EZ-Up cover.

Since the other decorations were leaning in more of a pink/brown theme, we carried that through to the rest of the decorations.  Chocolate brown table cloths, pink burlap chevron runners on the tables with strips of pink mesh in differing shades running down the middle.  Since we have tons of calla lilies in our yard, I volunteered to bring vases full of the lilies for table centerpieces.  Dana's sister Taylor worked some magic with bows on the vases and adding accents to the tables.  I followed through with the butterfly theme by cutting some more of the butterflies I had previously cut for the wands but in a  pearl pink instead of a glittery pink.  I cut them out of an old file folder and then covered with the pearl looking paper.  I had some leftover paper from my large rosette's on the other project as well and used my Tim Holtz rosette die to make some smaller rosettes.  I picked up some floral wire stems and attached them to the back of the butterfly with hot glue and a small round paper circle to cover up the end of the wire.

Back to the front of the butterfly.  I took the small rosette and hot glued it to the front of the butterfly.  Then I used some more of the pretty pink jeweled brads from the last project and added that on top of the rosette. When I cut the calla lilies for the centerpieces, I popped a couple of those butterflies in each of the vases to carry the theme through.

Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Chalkboard Hearts

It's A Girl! We were very excited when we found out that we were having a new granddaughter!  We found out back before Christmas and have been eagerly anticipating the coming of little Laila Olivia.

When we knew we were having a baby shower here, I went looking for some unconventional ways to display the news in the decorations. Everyone of course knew it was a girl, and I wanted a unique way to display that.  While in Michael's I found these cute little chalkboard hearts.

The hearts were plain chalkboard hearts with no embellishment.  I painted the dowels with the white frosty paint used on the butterfly wands.
I decided to use some pink glittery letters I had in my stash to spell out the sentiment.  I then added some hot pink glitter all around the edges of the heart and let them dry.  Finally I sealed them with a high gloss sealer and then to finish them up I decided to wrap the sticks attached to the hearts with some pretty pink flowery ribbon from my stash.  I glued it all the way down the sticks wrapping with a nice even spacing.

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to use them at the shower but when we decided to put the diaper cake on the gift table, it was natural to just pop them into the top of the diaper cake!  See you soon!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Butterfly Fairy Wands!

My late friend Jayne was a wonderfully creative person who was inspired by the most unusual things and made some really beautiful and unique paper pieces. One of the things she had made was a decorative item for her niece's baby shower, shown here.  It is a butterfly fairy wand!  She had a butterfly die she used to create the base for the wand using some chipboard which she then covered in scrapbook paper on both sides.  Once she did that she cut some rosettes with the Tim Holtz rosette die. This die has two sizes of rosettes, pre-scored so all you do is cut with your Sizzix or Vagabond and then crease and glue together.  The die even has a circle to cover your glued spot in the middle of the rosette.  She put one rosette on each side of the butterfly.  Before she affixed the larger of the rosettes, she painted the stick a silver color and then wrapped it in some ribbon we found in the dollar bin on one of our craft shopping lunches.  She also backed the larger rosette with some of the ribbon and added some ribbon tendrils.

I loved the idea and have used it as inspiration to create my own set of fairy wands for Laila Olivia's baby shower.  The butterfly die I have is a little different in that it is more solid with only a couple of cut outs on each wing.  I decided to go with a (what else) heavy, pink glitter card stock for my butterflies. Liking Jayne's original idea of rosettes I did a reverse to her design and made the rosettes larger than the butterfly by using my Cricut and the Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge and cut these large rosettes with a small heart border. I then cut the smaller rosettes with the Tim Holtz die and used the smaller one on the front of the butterfly.

For the wand portion I used pre-cut dowels in 12 inch lengths you can purchase at any craft store.  I then painted them in a pearly white paint I had leftover from my "Grandkids" project.  I then grabbed a number of different rolls of ribbon from my stash...mostly pinks and browns, some I had also picked up to match the polka dot theme we had going on the cake ribbon and started cutting different lengths.  I hot glued 5 of these differing lengths to a small 3" strip of ribbon and set aside.  Once the paint on the wands was dry I wrapped each wand from top to bottom in a variety of ribbon allowing some of the pearly paint to show through.  


Next I hot glued the ribbon band to the back of the butterfly and then hot glued the wand on the back as well.  Once dry, I hot glued this piece to the large rosette and let them set.  I had picked up some brads, a variety pack of approximately 3/4" size in two shades of pink.  I took the brads and snipped off the prongs on the back with my wire cutters and then hot glued the brad to the top of the small finished rosette.  The brad became the center of each rosette.  Finally I hot glued the rosettes on to the front of the butterflies.


Here is a close up of my finished "Fairy Wands."  I made enough to use as part of the decorations at the shower and once the shower was over my daughter-in-law kept some for Laila's nursery and the rest were given to their nieces who attended the shower.  I'm very proud of my little creation!  They were fun to make and share at the shower.

Go on, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Diaper Cake -- Round Two!

When I made my first diaper cake last year, an order was placed for the future from my then daughter-in-law to be, for a diaper cake whenever they decided to have a baby!  In fact she asked how I was going to be able to ship it out to them in Indiana!  Well, we didn't have to ship one out to them because they came to California to visit us before little Laila Olivia is born.  Dana, like many of us, loves to peruse Pinterest for ideas.  She had found this idea for a diaper cake and I set about trying my best to recreate it.

Here is a shot of the finished cake.  I changed the idea shown above in the following ways.  I chose to use some hot pink sparkly mesh ribbon as the base on each of the layers and then added the corresponding leopard print or brown and white polka dots ribbons.  I hot glued them on to the mesh and then wrapped that around each layer hot gluing it in the back to give it a finished look.  For the layers I used different sizes of diapers. For the top layer I used newborn diapers, for the middle layer I used size 2 diapers and for the bottom layer I used size 4.  I used the leftover newborn diapers in the center of the bottom layer to finish it out.  I took cake boards and cut circles out of some butterfly scrapbook papers from Susan Winget and KandCompany and covered the boards with that.

The little leopard print slippers I had found at Wal-Mart before I'd seen the cake idea, so they matched perfectly with the ribbon I was able to find at Hobby Lobby. I set those on the sides of the bottom layer.  In addition to the leopard slippers I also found a pair of pink sparkly shoes to set on top along with the pink butterfly headband shown here.  The original idea had a big bow on the top but I liked the idea of the shoes instead.  Can never have to much bling as far as I'm concerned.


I picked the scroll alphabet letter L for the front and thought briefly of painting it a different color but stuck with the white.  I tied it on to the second layer ribbon with a matching piece of thin ribbon threaded through the mesh.  Additionally, I found some soft baby spoons, some baby washcloths, some hair barrettes, some little girls socks, and a couple of pacifiers with little flowers on the buttons. All in different hues of pink!


It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  I thoroughly enjoyed all of the things I made for the shower, but I do think this cake turned out even better than what I had anticipated.  Of course any chance to buy pink girly things I'm totally on board with cuz there need to be more girls in my family!  Current count is 6 grand kids, 5 boys and 1 girl, so the upcoming birth of Laila is greatly anticipated!  Grandma and Grandpa need some more girls to spoil!

More fun projects to come, including how I dressed up the little hearts on top of the diaper cake shown here in this last picture.  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Another grandbaby!

We are expecting our seventh grandchild.  Yes, you read that right seventh!  Our oldest son and daughter-in-law are expecting their first child.

She is due in early May...I'm personally holding out for my birthday...other family and friends want her born on their birthday's, so we'll see if she accommodates any of us or just comes on her own terms!!! I'm inclined to think that is what will happen (smile)!  The kids decided they wanted to come home before their little bundle of joy arrives and so while they were home we (both families) hosted a baby shower for them.

In anticipation of the birth of our newest granddaughter, I wanted to make some pretty girly decorations for the shower.  Additionally, my daughter-in-law peruses Pinterest just like many of us and had found some cute ideas for different baby shower games and activities. I was able to gather the materials from the local craft stores and we were able to have a little hair band creation activity at the shower as well as the rest of the games and fun.

The day for the shower turned out to be a beautiful Northern California spring day with sunshine and warm weather, so the outdoor festivities went off without a hitch.  I'll be posting a few of the projects I did for the shower over the next few days.  Little Laila was well loved in advance of her upcoming birth.  Come back and check out some of the special things I made for her!

See you soon!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Recycled Baby Food Cups

I have frequently admired other crafter's ability to use recycled materials and the ingenuity they show in some of the projects they make.  While this little project is not extremely unique, it is a cute little use for those small plastic baby food containers.  They are the ones that have replaced the old-fashioned baby food jars we used when our children were small.  I had washed out a few from when my grandson was visiting and hung on to them for one of these type of projects.

I wanted to include some sweet treats in the Christmas packages I was mailing and these turned out to be the perfect size.  I also was able to use up some scraps of Christmas papers I had laying around.  Love it when I can upcycle and use up scraps from other projects.  I found enough matching scraps to create a band to go around the base of the container and the cut a smaller piece to go on the top of the lid.  I cut it to size and then rounded the corners to fit the lid perfectly.

I added the holiday M&M's to each and tucked them in with my other gifts and off they went. Another project checked off my list!

Once again, Imagine Create, Enjoy!!

Christmas Journal

I have a Christmas Journal that I either bought or received many years ago when my children were small.  The idea behind them...to write down your favorite family Christmas memories each year. Then you can look back each year and read the history of your family and see how things have progressed and changed. I wish I could say that I was one of those moms who religiously filled it out year after year; unfortunately, I never started the book.  I don't know why, the busyness of the holiday season, etc., etc., I really have no excuse! I thought though in my motherly wisdom that I might give one as a gift to my new daughter-in-law in hopes that as they start their new family, they will start writing in the journal each year to log how the years go by...the traditions they establish, the memories, the changes they go through, and that they are able to enjoy each year the journey back through the years to see where they've come from and look forward to where they are headed.  Maybe this year I'll start mine finally.

See you around!  Continue to Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Christmas Covered Clothes Pins

I have previously done this project and decided to do some more upcycling with standard clothes pins. My mom hung her wash on the clothesline in our back yard for her entire life.  It wasn't until she moved in with my sister that she started using a modern washer and dryer.  She still had the old-fashioned wringer washing machine and rinse tubs when she sold her home, so I grew with these clothes pins in the house. Granted as an adult I have always had the convenience of a washer and dryer, but I have continued to rely on these little gems for other household chores. Holding card stock I am embossing is one of my favorite uses.  Keeps my hands free from the direct heat generated by the embossing gun when I am adding an embossed look to my projects. They also save my fingers from hot glue burns when using the hot glue gun. In the kitchen we use these for chip clips for the bags of chips, crackers, and nuts.

I utilized scraps of Christmas papers left from some of my other holiday projects and decided to do up a few sets of these covered clothes pins.  I used round magnets you can pick up at any craft store and glued those to the back.  They are a nice little addition to your holiday decor in the kitchen on the refrigerator.  I had some leftover snow flake buttons and stickers from some other projects so added these as accents to the clothes pins.









To give them a finished look, I took white card stock and embossed it with a holiday words embossing folder, I added about a two (2) inch wide scrap of Christmas paper, folded it around the edges of the embossed white card stock and used this to anchor the clips on.  I then slid them into a clear 5 x 7 bag, took another piece of Christmas paper scraps and trimmed it down to use as a bag topper, folded it in half and stapled it to the the bag.  I added a seasonal dimensional sticker to finish it off.

These are a sweet little item to tuck in and complete any gift sets and can be made for any occasion and with any papers.  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

One Sheet Flat Storage Gift Boxes

I was looking for an easy to make small gift box for my small mirror baubles.  It is that jewelry box size that used to be a standard item you could buy at the stores but when I went looking this last Christmas season, none were to be found.  I really didn't want to use the standard take out box size...which was a little too big for my items.  So, I went in search on You Tube and found a short little video here for a small gift box that uses one sheet of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper.  Perfect.  Once you learn the folds in the box it is easy to replicate and because of the versatility of paper these days you can make one for virtually any occasion.  It is also a good idea to use double sided 12 x 12 paper, that way it gives you a nice pattern on the inside of the box as well as the outside.


Here are a couple of the ones I did.







As the video explained, to keep the box closed you will create a belly band to go around the box.  I also like the alternative of wrapping it with a piece of ribbon or bakers twine with some other little tag or trinket tied on the top.  The feature I like best is that the box will fold flat for storage so you could make these up in advance to have on hand and pull them out when you need them.  They would also be a great gift idea...put a half dozen of these and some birthday cards or other greeting cards together for that special friend or co-worker.

See you next time!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Hanging Mirror Baubles

I don't recall exactly where I saw or heard of this idea and I certainly can't find a pin on my Pinterest boards that is representative of it but likely I've seen it somewhere online.  I thought it was a cute idea so decided to make some for Christmas gifts. I bought small  mirror pieces that you can find at any craft store.  I chose small rounds, probably an inch in diameter.  I cut approximately 6 inch lengths of thin craft ribbon in holiday colors doubling them over to make a loop and hot glued them between two of the mirror rounds.

The idea for these little baubles is that you hang them between the branches of the Christmas tree and they reflect the sparkle of the Christmas lights and add more twinkle to your holiday decor. I packaged them in groups of six and they were a lovely little stocking stuffer and a little something to give to those individuals whom you want to remember in some small way at the holidays.


They were a quick, easy gift and one I would do again!  Great for your child's teacher, the mail deliverer, the paper boy or girl, babysitter, whomever.



 Keep on crafting!  Until next, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Shadow Jingle Boxes

I found the post for these Jingle boxes on Pinterest and when I clicked through it came from here.  I wanted to replicate the idea for Christmas gifts for family and friends.  I pretty much followed the picture as it appeared in the original post.  I made almost a dozen for various friends and family members.  They are a cute addition to Christmas decorations and can be specialized in color, background and the colors of the bells to coordinate with any decor.  When the original one was done the crafter utilized a smaller frame from IKEA.  Truth be told, I didn't really look at her directions until I started writing this.  I just took the picture and ran with it but on a larger scale. My frames were the 8x8 frames you can pick up at craft stores.  I picked these up at Joann's with a 70% off sale.  Around $4 to $5 I believe.  The original design just used a patterned piece of scrapbook paper and a pre-cut sentiment from Stampin Up!  I utilized my Cricut and ran the letters through my mini Xyron to apply adhesive to the back. I started with the same sentiment but after a couple decided I needed to change things up.  I used patterned paper with Christmas trees in the background and added snowflakes next to the words on this first one.  I also wanted to utilize the various colors of jingle bells available during the holidays, so opted for red and silver in the first box and some green gold and red in the second box.

Because the frames came in white, I left them that color.  My biggest challenge was finding ribbon the right width to go around the frame.  Well, there wasn't any.  I believe the frame is 1 1/4 inch wide, all of the ribbon I could find during the holidays was 1 1/2 inch wide, so I went with it.  It means there is a little bit of over hang around the edges but it looks good.  I also chose wire-edged ribbon as I wanted the bows to stand up and be able to be shaped and formed.

Once I got the first couple of boxes done I decided to go with some different sentiments, thus the boxes that follow.  I had some paper with sleighs on it so highlighted that image in the lower corner and tucked in some red, white and silver bells along with glittery red letters.

For this one the background paper is of candy canes and gingerbread men, sugarplums and all the associated words and images that go with that thought...thus the Visions of Sugarplums title for this box.  Once they were completed, I added a light spray of glitter to them to punch them up just a bit.  These pictures don't do them justice and it is difficult to see the bling...but it is there.

There are still a couple sitting in my closet to be delivered to some friends.  I hope they like them.

Until the next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Back in the Saddle!

Or on the blog in this particular case.  It's been awhile.  I didn't realize quite how long until I started updating with some new things I've been working on!  Clearly a long time!  Lots of things have happened in the last eight months!  A much awaited vacation to Hawaii in the fall, our first visit back in 31 years, the holidays, a move again (I'm thinking about just keeping the moving boxes at this point!), a new grand baby on the the way, a granddaughter, a new job for my spouse and more crafting.  So I'm going to be doing a bit of catching up... I always seem to be behind whatever the current holiday just a bit...but ideas are always relevant in the crafting world and hopefully good for inspiration!  Be patient as I catch-up with some holiday posts and then on to some of what I've been doing for the upcoming baby shower this weekend!

Hope you've all been well!  Keep on Crafting!

Imagine, Create, Enjoy!