Another fun family picture…

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It is definitely getting harder to craft the older I get and the more activities my kids get involved in. Not to mention the colds we have been passing around lately… :(   But Christmas is my FAVORITE time of the year and I had to get festive early!! Here is a family photo I had no trouble convincing my family to take. The kids had SOOO many suggestions of their own on how to make it “perfect”! :) I love it so much I think it will end up as our Christmas card! This might even become tradition, I wonder how crazy it will be when they are all teenagers… :)

For all my Photograher/Photo shop Friends out there…

Family Halloween pictures have become a tradition in our family… Me make it an event! :) We call it Breakfast with a Witch, me being the head witch of course. We have even started inviting extended family and friends. :)  We always make a big buffet style breakfast. Follow it up with some flying lessons, and family pictures. Here is our family picture from 2 years ago…
The kids really love it when they get their own flying pictures…
Halloween Flying Pic
a few of last years pictures…
I made these pictures by using photo shop. Easiest way to do it is to take a picture of the back drop without anyone in it. Then add your subject (mine are standing on a kitchen stool). Layer the back drop behind the subject and then you can erase or what I like to do is Mask the subject layer and paint the stool out. (black to erase, white to bring it back). Make sure you pay attention to your shadows. (Check out the 2nd picture, of my daughter flying, the shadow makes the picture more realistic!)
Be creative and HAVE FUN!!!!

Starting to Craft Again… :)

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OK, so I have taken a VERY long break because of Summer Vacation and a back injury… All is well and I am ready to start crafting again!!! :) Pinterest might have had something to do with it too! :)  If you don’t have an account, you really should get one. So many things so little time… For example let me show you what I have been up too…

I found this link on pinterest on how to make these awesome bracelets.

*Picture from Make Bracelets website
They are so easy and SO MUCH FUN!!! I finished mine a little different and added my own flair, but that’s what is so great about creating your own, you make it you! :)
Here is the link…

Hope Everyone had a Fabulous Valentines Day!!!

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Hoping Valentines Day was a fabulous day for everyone!!! My Daughter came home form school with only a handful of Valentines… At first she was worried no one liked  her until she she looked close at what she had. She had 1 hand made valentines that you could tell some serious thought went into. Made her day!! Not to mention The girls received an autographed picture from LaMarr Woodley (#56 for the Steelers). Long story short they made a video for him before the super bowl. He liked it and posted it on his facebook page… Then sent them an autograph for it. :) In the words of one of my daughters… “It was the BEST day EVER!!!” :)
As for me, I don’t need Valentines day to remind me how much I love my hubby!!! :) He is my best friend and my one and only! We took this picture a couple years ago. We went back to our old college campus and returned to the scene of our first kiss… We had to reenact it. :) After 12+ years of marriage and 4 kids I can honestly say he still melts my butter. :)
Enough with the gooey love stuff… On to the Crafting!!! :)

Pictures…

I love photography!!! I’ve taken classes at NYIP and loved what I studied. I continue to try to learn new things and develop my eye. I don’t know if I will ever make it into the professional world but I love the creative process that goes into it! :) Thought I would share a sneak peak at a family I photographed over the weekend! These kids were SOOOO stinking cute!!!

 

 

 

Bee My Valentine… :)

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Holy Smokes!! It’s been far to long since I’ve posted on here!! With the Holiday’s and visitor to my house it’s taken me a while to get my feet back underneath me! I’m going to post something I made last year for Valentines day. It was my Valentine to my one and only! :)
This is the finished project. Each note has 1 reason why I want him as my Valentine. He gets to read one each day, 10 days… 10 reasons!

Here are each of the steps in making my Valentine… You can also find the tutorial on
First I went and scavenged some scrap 2×4′s. Don’t you love the mud all over them… I cut it into 3 pieces
1. 3 inches,  4.5 inches, 6 inches.
Next is a fun part… POWER TOOLS!! Here is my fabulous sister demonstrating how to use the cute sander in the shape of an iron.. Funny story… On Saturday night I talked my husband into buying me my own sander for all my crafts. Lady’s tell your husband you WANT to go to Home Depot (or any other man store.) and buy a power tool. I’ve never been turned down. :) Anywho… when we got there I had NO idea there were that many types of sanders!! Needless to say I came home with the one shaped like an iron. :) figured it would be 2ndnature. :) Look how much better they look POWER SANDED… Next step, I stained them. Tasha ended up painting hers a beautiful brown. Either way works  AWESOME! Next step, cut out craft paper to fit on your blocks and mod podge them to it! Super Easy!

Then sand the edge of the paper. It gives it a super cool ripped effect. Truth be told I started out hand sanding it with that little piece of sand paper, but I had to much fun with the Power Tools!! I finished them up with my new fun toy.

What next… Wrap some wire around a stick to make your note holders… You will need 10 of these. I made my different sizes. Again my sister is doing a great job of demonstrating…

Then… MORE POWER TOOLS!! Crafting is SO much fun! You need to drill holes in your blocks. On your 2 biggest blocks drill 2 holes in each end. Then drill 2 holes in the top of the small block. This time its me demonstrating.

Add your vinyl letters, mod podge it all to seal it in, insert your fun wire, and top it off with your love notes. Voila… Home made Valentines. :) Tasha’s is on the left and mine is on the right.

My final project out for display!

Kids Fan Fingers…

I have to show you the coolest thing ANYONE has ever given me…
Kids Finger Poms
They are called Spirit Fingerz! :) My mother found them in Pittsburgh. For those of you that don’t  know, I bleed black and gold! I have past down this trait to my 4 girls and have given it to my husband as well. :) When I got my Spirit Fingerz my kids had a nasty habit of taking them… I wasn’t to happy about it. So with the big game (Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore) this weekend (Tomorrow) I decided to surprise my kids with their very own FAN FINGERS! :) I couldn’t find spirit fingerz in their size and the actual spirit fingerz are kind of $$$.
….
Here is what you need.
Items Required For Finger Poms
Yarn,
Knit Gloves,
Pom Pom Maker (mine is a 2.5 inch maker)
a yarn needle
scissors
You will need to make 10 poms. This is how my pom maker works. (this is pretty much so if I ever lose my package that has the instruction on them, I can remember how to make them.) :)   I’ve seen tutorials where you can make poms with cardboard. I bought my pom maker at Hobby Lobby for a couple bucks and LOVE IT!
Wrap the yarn around both sides…
Cut the yarn down the middle…
Tie it with yarn or string. Pull tight!
Ta Da… Poms! :)
Thread the tail of the pom, stitch it to the top of each finger.
15 min later… Kids Spirit Fan Fingers!
My daughter letting us know Steelers are #1!!!
 

More Stitching…. :)

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After the LOVE picture I made I was hooked and wanted to give it another go. I was thinking it would be fun to have a picture frame that changed with the seasons/holidays/months… :) Of course I had to make it harder by wanting to make a St. Patrick’s Day picture… I couldn’t find one so I made up my own pattern… what do you think?
What do I do next…? I decide to make one that would work for summer. Since I’m living in AZ I wanted to combine my 2 favorite aspects of this desert… Cactus and Sunsets! Seriously I don’t think there is a night that goes by that you don’t see the sun painted in pink, orange and yellow. It’s GORGEOUS!!
I’m thinking about selling my patterns? Would you rather buy a pattern and make it yourself, or the finished project? :)

Stag T-shirts and Hen T- shirt Design

A stag party or hen party is a great time to let loose and have a great deal of time and whether or not, you end up, in London, Las Vegas, Limerick you want to try out stand out from the crowd and the best way to do it is, promoted a star t shirts or hen t shirts for your group. Therefore, I will be hosted by seeking, creative, cost, and innovation the perfect t shirts run options. If cost is not a problem you can simply Google the stag or hen t shirt company. They typically have a large number of design, you can choose from and will allow you to change the text usually person and name of the destination. In addition, you can add to the back of the t shirts list of participants or what was becoming more and more popular add football number (obviously, each group member will get their own number). But what if you want to put your t shirt, you can, of course, a little more creativity to design your own. It doesn’t have to be too complicated you can group photos scan or if you have a friend (or in fact own) one of the Photoshop or Corel draw you can put things together, and sends it to a t shirt company. The best thing, however, is called t shirt company in advance and ask they do – as you decide you want to go to a more expensive, how many colors it will be more than one color. If you want to get a better deal, purchase, than to go with t shirt printing company, and then you can try and a little more work on your own. T shirt if you want to source obviously, for example, you will save yourself a lot of money. But how do you design? Well, this is where you will need to start looking into what is called the heat transfer . Heat transfer paper you will print design, and then put on t shirts and with some heat and pressure you will stamp assistance on the design to your t shirts. Although it is possible to use iron quality not great. But the star t shirts you need is something for the weekend so the quality doesn’t have to be so amazing. Use a white t shirt, make your own heat transfer will usually produce better results. If possible you may have to ask around and see if you can take hot news. Hot pressure large metal stamping can be heated to 350 400 degrees Fahrenheit, can also add to the General better adherence means transfers garment. Furthermore when printing to heat transfer you usually want to use ink jet printers, using so called pigment ink . So I hope this can give you some ideas on how to achieve a good price, great t shirts and hope that you will have a memorable weekend!

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