Goodbye 2011/ Hello 2012

The beginning of a new year refreshes me. It causes reflection and brings hope like no other time of year. I've been just giddy with excitement over starting this year. 2012.
What a beautiful year it's going to be!

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Okay.
So, I know we're already over Christmas and everything about it but I wanted to share one more post.
I made a couple of these albums for friends who welcomed their first child this year and therefor celebrating their first Christmas.

The front and back covers were made using stiff cardboard.

Baker's twine and pendents cut from scrap paper adorn the top.

The bingo card is from Jenni Bowlin Studio.

Enjoy tag from bananafishstudios.

Sorry, I can't remember where the Santa tag is from right now.

I made the inside pages from 6" x 6" page protectors and used my

sewing machine to stitch two separate pockets.

The large side fits 4 x 6 photos, the vertical strips of paper slide out for journaling.

There you have it.

I love them.

My friends did as well.

That's what matters to me.

Happy New Year!

I'm welcoming 2012 with arms wide open.

Oh, and a big smile on my face. : )



Emily

Gingerbread Houses (3 year old style)

The Christmas season of 2011 marks the beginning of a new tradition at the Kinsaul house.
Gingerbread houses.
Okay, they're really graham cracker houses but calling them gingerbread sounds more festive.
The four of us spent some time together yesterday afternoon decorating the houses.
The hubs and I mostly supervised the boys but it was so relaxing and enjoyable. I think David was surprised at how much fun it actually was.

To keep the stress of the houses falling apart while decorating at bay, I hot glued the graham crackers together before hand. This worked really well and as much as I'd like to take credit for the idea, I actually saw Ashley over at Under the Sycamore blog about it.(check out the rest of her blog, good stuff) Such a neat way to put them together and keeps tears from little ones away, who might otherwise be upset about their house falling down.
My boys had a great time spreading frosting and playing with the candy, plus, this was a good sensory activity for them.

F's house - he did some demolition work immediately. lol

B's house - : )

The perfect centerpiece for our table.

Hope you're all having the best week before Christmas!

Can you believe it's almost here?!!

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I almost forgot. This is my 100th blog post. Wow!

I wish I had a giveaway or something else fun to celebrate.

I'll have one for the 125th blog post instead. :o)

Thanks for reading!

Craft closet & DIY photo canvas

Organizing. It's something I love but still struggle to keep up with most of the time.

My craft closet is one of the best examples to the above statement. Things get stashed in there, thrown aside so they're simply out of my way. New supplies get center stage, though. I love opening the closet and seeing the new stuff right away. lol Anyway, as I work on being more organized and staying that way I thought I'd share with you a couple before and after shots of the closet. Why you ask? It's the same reason I love to browse other blogs. To get a glimpse inside someone else's world. To see how they live and work through their day. And let's face it, who doesn't love a good before and after photo shoot. Ha!

Before

After

Still not fabulous but better than it was before.

(I'm sorry to say that since these pictures were taken it's now somewhat messy again)

Like I said earlier, it's something I'm working on. A daily struggle that is sometimes overcome.

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I am posting a little late about our Father's day gift but alas here it is.

DIY photo print.

Canvas was purchased at Michael's. We used a 16"x20".

Varnish medium was also from Michael's, Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish

16"x20" photo print from Shutterfly

When I put this together I didn't take any tutorial photos but here is where I originally found instructions on how to put it together. I realized after the fact that I used a different varnish that she did but mine still came out great.

Putting this canvas print together was so easy, I already have plans to make more.

Have a great weekend!

Hand Print Canvases

One of the projects from our summer list is to make hand print canvases.

They turned out wonderfully.

I love them.

The idea was borrowed from Becky Higgin's blog. She's pretty amazing.

I wanted to the boys to do as much as they could in the painting process.

They did great.

Both worked on painting the canvas a solid color and all was going smoothly.

Until Brett ate some of the paint.

This caused him to throw up, leaving a stinky blue mess behind.

We also had friends over for this project.

 Thank you for not running from the puke.

She's a mom too and knows all about puking but still, thank you! 

I finished painting the background for them. After they dried we put the hand prints on.

Super cute! I love them!

Did I mention, super cute?

They're on display in our living room. They make me smile.

Here's what we used:

6"x6" canvases from Micheal's

acrylic paint

paint bushes

Action Shot

#14 on our summer list

Buckets with a Name

So, I found these super cute buckets at Target in their dollar section. (Gotta love the dollar section there)
I started thinking,........ personalized.......crayon buckets! These turned out to be perfect for just that and my two love them. The letter stickers I used are THICKERS from American Crafts in the Root Beer Float style.  They aren't strong enough to stay put when little fingers pick at them but with a bit of super glue or hot glue they stay where you want them.......on the bucket. lol

Have a great Wednesday!