winner: personalized girls hair bow

and the random number generator says the winner is.......

Patty #6: Awww, ALL the hair clips are super cute! I especially love the personalized scallop oval and rectangle hair clips the best - the scalloped edges are adorable and the font is so pretty. What a great idea!

Thanks for the chance to win.

if you are patty... please email me your color/name choice... as you didn't leave your email address for me to contact you :(

(i will wait to hear from you until friday march 4th...then i will have to chose another winner at random)

life: why me?

why me?

that's what i'm thinking about tonight..

why me?

but not your typical 'oh woe is me' way..

no, not at all in that way.

in fact, i am feeling enormously blessed tonight. nothing in particular happened, or didn't happen. there was no close call this week, no tragedy. sure the dude was sick & our couch had an unfortunate meet with some violently propelled liquids... but even that turned out ok. (well better than ok as i'm eyeing the other two cushions & contemplating washing them as well)

i am healthy, as are my children, my brother & his wife, my parents & my in-laws. my husband & i laughed at each other & with each other tonight after a long week of the grumps resulting from his working long hours, and my lack of sleep. (it started out with us wondering why we were still watching the disney channel after the dude had gone to bed..... and even after pointing it out... continuing to watch hannah montana..)

the babe is like an old pro at teething. aside from the drool you wouldn't really have even known that he cut his first tooth. he really is such a good baby. no one believes me when i say that he goes to bed at 630pm & sleeps through the night, waking up at about 7am, & just laughing in his crib until i go get him out.

i could sit here & list things that aren't 'perfect'. but... can't everyone? i'm not going to complain about not being able to eat out more often... or having to evaluate every little dime & nickel we spend. i could, but i won't. i know we aren't the only ones facing a single income & a horrible economy. it was OUR choice. and losing out on that means that i get to spend every moment watching the babe through his first year.. and not having to send the dude to after school care everyday until 6pm.

when i think...'why me?' i think about all the things i'm lucky enough to have in my life (supportive family, a family that is very generous in giving of themselves, an aunt that goes WAY out of her way to do nice things for me & my boys, a wonderful small group of friends, a husband who has allowed me to stay home, beautiful & healthy children...etc) and wonder what it was i ever did to deserve them? i sure feel unworthy of such great gifts most days.

i don't say these things to brag. i say them because i know how many absolutely wonderful loving & giving people aren't as lucky, and NOT appreciating what i have, would be in a way disrespectful to them.

i know i won't always be as fortunate. i know i will have my share of sadness. i have had my share of it in the past. but, i will do my best to be thankful now. to be grateful for each & every day i am given with the people i love.. because in the end.. that's really the only thing i will ever regret not having.

hope you had a wonderful weekend :)
xo-k

diy: glam sippy cup + doll tutu

i'm sort of really excited about the little gift i made this week.

it came to me while shopping for gatorade with the dude post-illness.

(i love it when that happens)

i saw this set of purple & pink sippy cups..

and thought 'i can put glitter on those!'

so i bought them...

because my best friend's little girl, calla, has a birthday coming up...

and what's better than a glammed-up sippy cup?!

i'm not going to give you a full tutorial..

it's the same exact steps as it was for the glitter cup

(just click the link above if you need step by steps)

but here's what ya need:

supplies:

-smooth surface sippy cup (bumpy would work, but it'd be more difficult i'm sure)

-mod podge

-glitter

-paintbrush

-something to catch the glitter

-something to funnel the glitter back into the jar (i used paper)

-alphabet stickers (optional)

above is the first one, just covered in glitter.

below, i decided to get a little creative.

i put a letter sticker on the cup & then mod-podged & glittered over the top.

once i was COMPLETELY done with all the steps, i removed the sticker to expose the 'c'.

(if you take the sticker off after the first layer you'll have to try

& line your sticker back up to put your second coats on)
i really thought about putting rhinestones in the 'c' to dress it up a little..
but i worried about her plucking them off & putting them in her mouth..
so i left them off..

then, much like the glitter cup.. i wanted to dress it up for gift giving.

that's when the great idea hit me!

i grabbed some elastic beading thread & some leftover tulle from this tutu & another one i made..

and made a doll tutu for the cup!!!

(again, i just used this tutu method i posted here... only using beading thread as the elastic waistband proved to be too thick)

aren't they just the cutest?

little miss calla sure is lucky i don't have a daughter..

she gets to reap the benefits of my craftiness that result in 'girly' items!

(not that she wouldn't if i did :)

and just so you can see how cute this little tutu will be on her little dolls...

i put it on a moose.

(read like: i carried a watermelon)

look at how sad he looks.... like why me?

unfortunately, we are a little short on cute dolls around here & the tutu doesn't fit action figures so well..

(nor would the dude let me EVER put it on one.. :)

hope you are having a fabulous weekend, wherever you are, whatever you are doing..

we are off to spend some time with calla & the rest of her family..

we are having a 'michael jackson: the experience' visit..

'cause the bf really should not miss out on this :)

xo-k

ps-don't forget to enter the giveway up top.. only one day left :)

linking to:
whipperberry
tatertots & jello
be different act normal
i heart naptime
under the table & dreaming

life: babe vs. lion

 'hello LION, there has been talk of you bad-mouthing me on the play mat'

'what's that? you say my clothes smell of spit up & my diaper is saggy?..

well YOU look like a baby chewed you up & spit you out!'

'so what if you are the king of the play-mat, i can take you down!!'

'you can not silence me! i fight for all the babies unable to sit & crawl on their own!

you will bully us NO more!!'

'take that!!!!'

'ah ha! i've got you now!'

'say you'll stop bad-mouthing babies for drooling... we can't help it!!'

'mmmaaaaaaaaaammmmmaaaaa!!!!! he won't say he's sorry!!!'



oh ya...

he also wrestles gators..

buuuttt....

that's only in his sleep :)

the babe cuts his first tooth & thinks he can take on the world.. :)

hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xo-k

ps. no animals were harmed in the making of this blog post :)

diy: small idea notebooks

i'm very much a visual person.

i doodle ideas pretty much all the time.

i have a couple of sheets of printer paper that i've been randomly jotting ideas down on the last month.

partly because we didn't have any more printer paper.

(we can't be the only family that has a child who steals paper for drawing & cutting)

but my paper has been a jumble of ideas & drawings..

some of which are so mish-mashed with other ideas i can't remember what my words mean.

this morning i wanted to hurry up & jot down an idea i had yesterday in the shower

(because really, don't all our ideas come when we can't immediately write them down?)

before it went 'poof' from my head...

because ideas of mine have been known to do that.

and, because we have replenished our printer paper supply,

i thought that i'd be oh so clever to make myself a little notebook.

well, two actually.

want to know how to make one?

here's what you need:

supplies:

-several sheets of printer paper

-scrap sheets of scrapbook paper

-stapler

-paper trimmer

-hair elastic (or rubber band)

-optional embellishments: chinese fortune, colored masking tape, pens, paper punch

1. figure out the dimensions you want your book to be. i made my book dimensions based on how long a reach my stapler had. (my stapler could staple 4" in from the edge, so i made my book 3.5" x 5".) i started out by cutting the height of my book with the printer paper. i measured 5" from the top & made my cut.

2. next, cut your book the width it is going to be.

my book was going to be 3.5" when folded, so i doubled it to 7" & made my cut.

 3. repeat the same cutting process as you did for the insides on the scrapbook paper you choose for your cover. .

4. stack your papers together, putting the cover on the very top.

5. fold your book in half, using a pen or other straight object to make your fold crisp.

6. open your book back up, & line up the stapler to the crease. put staples in along spine. (i used two) you could staple from the inside, or for the outside spine. i chose to go from the inside. the choice is yours :)

7. with the last step your book is done. now it's time to embellish. i put a piece of tape along the edge on the front cover.

8. i know there is a fancy way to do your corners, but this works for me. cut the piece so it's flush with the cover & then fold down.

9. i had a piece of glitter paper that had a star previously die-cut out of it. i cut it out & trimmed it down.

10. i attached the star with some tiny staples (tim holtz tiny attacher) & then put an old chinese fortune on top with some scrapbook tape.

& i had my little book all done & ready for ideas.

now. if you are ANYTHING like me...

things usually don't go right the first time when there is cutting involved.

i typically start hacking away & then get stuck somewhere thinking..

what did i do wrong?

aaaaanndddddddd.....

this time was no different.

somehow (well obviously because i cut the wrong way) i ended up with a book far to long to staple.

it ended up being 4 1/4" inches long & 3.5" wide. 

(i bet you can guess why) 

and rather than cut off the ends & end up with a book smaller than i wanted....

 i came up with an alternate binding.  

see what i mean?

so i cut a cover to fit the paper size...

& then went in search of some rubber bands..

i came up short...

they have apparently run off..

(and i KNOW i had an entire bag left over when i made these flowers..)

never fear though..

i remembered some elastic hair ties i had that have been hiding underneath my bathroom sink for fear of having to actually hold up my thick head of hair.

so i slid it over the top & onto the spine...

put some tape & some stars punched out of glitter paper on it...

& saved the day.

(well not really.. but i saved the paper)

two simple bindings.

took all of 1/2 hour to make the two..

(even after messing it up once)

and now i have a home for my doodles & ideas :)

i plan on making a few more for the dude..

but they'll go along with another project for another day!

xo-k

ps- if you make some i'd love to see..

linking to:

somewhat simple

fireflies & jellybeans

house of hepworths

tales from bloggeritaville

seven thirty three

whipperberry

tatertots & jello



life: signs of sickness

so there is a craft project in sight.

cross my heart.

(came upon it today at walgreens, the idea that is)

we were there picking up gatorade for the dude.

he's been sick the last 48 hrs.

he's on the mend now, practically his old self.

but the last few days have looked like this.

multiple cans of lysol...

scattered around the house..

 in the living room & bathroom,

with one can migrating between the kitchen & the dudes room.

i have walked through many a 'cloud' of lysol in between caring for the babe & the dude.

(along with multiple hand washings & half a bottle of hand sanitizer)

the dude's cup equipped with a borrowed spoon from the babe's collection..

to combat his inability to SIP the water.

disassembled couch cushions.

i'm sure you can guess why.

i was skeptical at the hubs suggestion to actually WASH the micro suede covers..

but he was right.. the darn thing was on it's way out anyways, what could it hurt?

(*note to self: you now have THREE boys. no more beige couches!)

surprisingly, they came out just fine...

and honestly. i'm contemplating washing the other two!

thermometer hanging out on the computer desk....

when it's not in the bathroom, or the dude's room.

towel strategically placed by the dude's bedside..

along with the washcloth he had on his head last night

& the leftover bag of ice he had on his neck this morning.

& the boy...

quarantined to his own room for fear of spreading whatever he has to his brother..

(not that he made it off his bed, or out of his room much anyways)

so i'm sure you can understand why there's been no crafting the last few days..

keeping him home tomorrow to make sure he's seen the last of it..

hoping to have him back to normal so he can hang out with his bud cogan friday night..

(cause mama is really looking forward to hanging out &

laughing her butt off to mj the experience with his mama)

xo-k

ps-don't forget to comment below to enter the hairclip giveaway!

giveaway: detailsshop

****giveaway has now closed****

the dude's three day weekend has turned into a four day..

as he is home sick with a stomach bug.

no fun for us.

but i have something fun for you! :)

remember these totally adorable hairclips i featured in my st. patrick's day: etsy edition blog?

well....guess what..

when i contacted the owner to let them know i had featured them..

they offered to giveaway a clip to one of you!

the winner will receive one scalloped name hair clip...

in their choice of color...

PERSONALIZED!

they have a TON of different colors to choose from..

all equally adorable..

(i secretly want one, but i think the bff who opposes glitter

 on 30-somethings might have something to say about this as well!)



so here's what you need to do to enter to win:

1. ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PLEASE

(if you accidentally comment twice, as i know blogger freezes often, please be honest & delete one)

2. http://www.etsy.com/shop/detailsshop

3. LEAVE A COMMENT HERE, TELLING ME WHAT YOUR FAVORITE DETAILS ITEM IS.

and that's all it takes folks.

it's time for you to come out & let me know you are there :)

giveway will close sunday 2/27 & one winner will be drawn at random.

good luck!

xo-k

ps. please make sure that if you don't have an address saved in blogger/google that you leave yours in the comment section so i can get you your prize! :)

linking:
somewhat simple

president's day: etsy edition

i promise this blog isn't going to become an all etsy all the time blog. 

but.. i didn't think about the fact president's day was just a few days away when i posted

 the st. patrick's day etsy finds...

and i can't resist posting the president's day ones..

and.. let's be honest.

i kinda needed a craft battery recharge after valentine's day.

i've been jotting down ideas for st. patrick's day..

getting excited about classroom treats i can send in...

only to realize that some crazy school board person decided spring break

should be the week of st. patrick's day!

whatever happened to spring break being the week before easter?

anyways..

i promise to get my craft on & stop boring you soon..

in the meantime though,

i have some etsy finds for you

(because drooling over etsy items helps me not only to recharges my batteries..

but also makes it painfully obvious that our disposable income is NO more..)

and i realize that like, 3/4th's of this list is lincoln..

and i'm going to just tell you straight up..

i'm kinda a history buff.

a long time ago i wanted to be a history teacher

(then i realized teenagers scare me)

when my dad didn't have us watching nick@nite as kids..

we were stuck watching the history channel.

(secretly i was ok with it.. but you got to complain about something when you are 17 right?!)

when we went on vacation to six flags in georgia one year i requested a trip to andersonville.

i was one of those teenage civil war buffs.

i'm SUPER cool right?

but on the lincoln bit.

i sorta have a fascination that extends beyond the whole lincoln-kennedy oddities.

i probably shouldn't admit this, since i've already given you so much fuel for how lame i really am..

but i've read way more than one book about him.

it's ingrained in my brain he was born february 12th & died april 15th.

i'm certainly not an expert..

but i know more than i probably should about lincoln..

and less than what would seem normal about say, the real housewives or jersey shore.

(which by the way i don't get.)

so here it is.

president's day: etsy edition

 lincoln graphic tee @ phippsart

(you'll find out.. i'm kinda a graphic tee junkie)

 lincoln pop art portrait @ mediagraffitistudio

i love love this print.

media graffiti has SO many awesome prints.

from classic cars to movie icons..

(you should really check them out!)

 penny for your thoughts ring @ ninagibsondesigns

i thought i was the only one with a fascination for jewelry made of coins..

until i met my friend steph.. she shares the same love.

anytime i see coin jewelry i always think of her :)

i love this visualized saying!

 lincoln art book locket @ heartworksbylori

this shop has SO many lovely lockets.

along with lincoln they have some washington too... if that's your thing ;)

i have more than one of her items bookmarked as a favorite!

 lincoln canvas wrap @ shorthanded

i love this print.

it's like juno movie poster meets old world.

& i love it.

(along with the little tidbit of info off to the side)

 lincoln quote card @ rebeccards

i believe some of our most inspiring quotes come from presidents..

(or their wives. think eleanor roosevelt)

i LOVE this quote.

so very true.

lovely lincoln ring @ peapodtreasures 

it's traditional cameo ring meets lincoln.

hello genius!

very cool.

(ok. maybe just to us lincoln lovers :)

 president's day illustration @ mrd

perfect president's day decor.. and 4th of july as well!

and then there are multiple presidents items i just think are too cool:

 baby onesie presidential facial hair hall of fame @ elloh

i think this onesie is funny & adorable.

i love elloh's shop.

i'm not going to tell you how many of her items i have marked to my favorites.

she combines art with pop culture & just does it so well.

my favorite is a mary tyler moore print.

(yes. i'm 32 & i loved the mary tyler moore show. i told you dad made us watch nick@nite didn't i?)

one day. one day it'll be mine  :)

 hail to the chief letterpress print @ 1canoe2

another absolutely awesome shop with awesome hand drawn items.

check it out.

you WILL not be disappointed!

 the presidential bunch @ elloh

how much more fun would it be to learn the presidents THIS way!?

(told you i liked her stuff:)

and just because it's just too funny to not include:

i could use a change onesie @ bullydesignco

lots of fun & funky baby onesies here!

(like the 'copy' & 'paste' set for twins!!)

ok. i'm done.

now i have to go.

the natural disaster that happens every weekend when all my boys are home is awaiting me.

(tell me i'm not the only one who wonders if i missed the weekend twister

 that left such an aftermath every monday?)

happy president's day.

crafting will commence momentarily :)

xo-k

ps. in case you were wondering. i get no compensation from these shops. i truely believe in supporting artists of all shapes & sizes. i am making the effort to support the handmade movement the best i can. the artists are contacted to let them know i used their images in featuring their items. ( i just think it's the right thing to do :)