Pretty + Practical = Perfect

I love paper. Ok it's out there, I LOVE PAPER! I'm very guilty of buying beautiful papers and sitting at home swooning over them, but fearful of using them. So they sit! Here are some of my pretties now for you to swoon over:

I know, right? (In my best Monica voice).
Here's a little secret, I love this kind of paper too, but hate this word, practical. On a side note, you're welcome Sam Walton, I hope your descents are enjoying the royalties that my household alone gives them. Anywhoo . . . .

I get these at Sam's for under $6, this is half the package. They also come in the large 8.5"x11" pads too, but these are the ones that I use the most. Now look at this beautiful union of pretty and practical paper.

I left a few of them in practical mode for The Hubs. He could care less if it's pretty or not, but practical . . . . have I told you the story about the headboard?

Baby, take a look at her now

I've gone absolutely crazy with my Cricut. It seems every time I go blog hopping I come away with another idea to use with my Cricut. This picnic basket was a cheapy from Target. When I looked at it in the store, I thought the basket part came off, because it has velcro straps around the top. I had all these visions of having my local embroidery shop add my monogram, or something equally as cute. Well, inside it is attachd with brads. Plan foiled! I decided to give it a run with my Cricut and some outdoor (really sticky) vinyl. Here is the before:

Cute, but nothing special. But baby, take a look at her now:



The Hubs swears it won't stay on. I promised him it will, I'll never tell him if it actually comes off.

This plate I made for my beautiful aunt/godmother for her birthday.

And lastly, this is my idea for teacher gifts this year. Both of my kids got male teachers, which is a bit more challenging. This is my first run at it, I think it still needs some tweaking.




Linking up here again this week. Go check it out, great stuff!

Goodwill Gold

A few weeks ago I made a trip into a Goodwill in Corydon that I had never been in before. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of good junk they had. I found this picture:

I know she was a beaut, but I just couldn't figure out how she could fit into our home in her present state. So here she is after some primer:

And here she is after a little Cricut magic and my favorite black matte paint.

Note: I'm not really happy with the shelf, I just stuck some things up there to take a quick picture.

I'm linking this up with Today's Creative Blog!!!


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Glitter Toes

Out thieving again

I've been out thieving again. I stole this idea from 320 Sycamore, and I think lots of us loved them because I've seen several people feature them. They were so easy to make. I got the frames in the $1 section at Target. They were silver. I painted them with my BFF, Rustoleum Heirloom White. Next I cut a piece of my other BFF, scrapbook paper (oh how I love pretty papers) and put it behind the glass. I then rummaged through my extra scrabble tiles that I buy on ebay. I glued the tiles directly to the glass. Easy, easy, lemon squeezy! I have some adorable Halloween paper and plan to make a "Boo" next. My daughter wants me to make a July 4th that says "Boom". Sounds like a great reason to go paper shopping.

Awesome give away . . .

If you love the power of a word, just like you know I do, this is a give-away you don't want to miss. Tracy at "Beneath My Heart" is offering a blogtabulous prize from The Red Lettered Word. You can reach Beneath My Heart by clicking on it under Blogs I Stalk to the right (would someone please tell me how to embed links in my posts!)

Merry Hallowgiving! (Yes, I'm that far behind).

I can't believe how far behind I have gotten. It's been a whirlwind Fall/Winter. I'm ready for the cold, quiet days of January and February that slide into a beautiful March and then April Spring. Who am I kidding, we have birthdays and basketball and numerous other things that will ultimately result in the same whirlwind that we call life. Regardless, here are a few things I worked on over the holidays and then gave as gifts.




First presents, oh yeah, I love to wrap. Can you tell?

Can you guess what was in this box?


You guess it, the much sought after, the most stressful $8 of my Christmas shopping: Zhu Zhu Hamsters. (Notice that Santa put tu-tu's on her Zhu Zhus).




Here is what I made for my mom and mother-in-law. I'm very pleased with the outcomes. I think they liked them too. Since my mom doesn't have as many kids/grandkids, I had asked her for a list of special "words" a while back. She said she had forgotten all about it. John's mom's was full of all of her kids/grandkids, I even added in the new baby that isn't born yet. She called the next morning to tell me she had already hung it up, that meant a lot to me.




Lastly, here are a few pics of God's greatest gifts to me. I thank him every day for this.