Pinterest a.k.a. my latest obsession

I love blogging.

I love reading blogs of people I know and love.

I love reading blogs of people I don't know, but still love.

I love reading blogs of people who do awesome crafty stuff.

I love reading blogs of people who take amazing pictures.

I love reading blogs of people who do super creative stuff with their kids.

I love reading blogs of people who enjoy life.

Since I started reading blogs, I have been keeping track of things I love in my favorites folder. I have dozens of folders that I sort with...crafty stuff, girly stuff, kids activities, parties, decor, etc. But the problem is...despite my best attempt to label the link...I can never quite remember exactly which flower tutorial is the one I am looking for.

Enter PINTEREST. If you haven't heard of it and you like to look for ideas/inspiration/fun stuff online, you seriously need to check it out! Now, from any site I am on, I can click a quick button and "pin" an image to one of my inspiration boards or make a new board. It saves the link for the site I am pinning from, so I can go back and read the tutorial or whatever, but it shows me the image, so I can find what I want literally at a glance! Then there is the whole community of pinterest and the ability to follow people and the things they are pinning and it can become a serious (but awesomely inspiring) time suck! You have to request an invite (or email me and I will send you one) and wait until you get one right now because it is still in its infant stages, but it is so fun! And then you have to make sure you let me know you are on there so I can follow you and gawk at the awesome stuff you find! If you want to check out my boards, you can do so here: http://pinterest.com/smileabunch/

 

And, if you are wondering why I have fallen off the face of the earth, it is because I am busy pinning!

Homemade Christmas

I had waaay too much fun making gifts this year for people and pictures have been requested, so I am going to indulge. I am not typically a homemade gift kind of person...unless there is some really good reason to do otherwise, I like to give gifts with gift receipts so people can get something they will use and enjoy if I pick something terrible, but most of these were things I would have bought for people if I weren't capable of making them just as cute!

So here are the homemade Christmas gifts we gave out...

there is more to come that the kids got, but that will be another post entirely!

Keeping Busy

As if the holidays weren't busy enough,

here are some fun crafts that have been keeping me busy.

In reality, the many handmade gifts

(which have not been given and thus will not be pictured yet)

I have been making lately, have been keeping me more busy,

but without pictures that isn't a very exciting post!Felt Mr. Potato Heads

(these are the basic ones for an under $3 gift exchange we have coming up, but there are some additional fun accessories that the kidlets will be getting with theirs for Christmas.)
One of the Advent Calendars I put together made from a cookie sheet and magnets.
We now have 3 advent calendars...so everyone gets a turn every day.
Inside the 25th container is a Star ornament to hang on the tree...
preferably BEFORE tearing into the goodies from Santa.

A Little Cuteness

I'm helping my cousin throw a shower for her sister (also my cousin) tonight and I am in charge of decor. Thus...

Diaper cake is Huggies diapers wrapped with a nursing cover and 4 burp cloths and of course a matching wipes case...'cause if you are going to be changing poop, you might as well do it in style.

Can you guess what his name is going to be?

Decor and Present in one...gotta' love multi-tasking!

I always thought

...that canning food saved you money. That is, until Seth planted 16 tomato plants in this year's garden and they all started producing at the same time and I had to start buying a dozen or two bottles a week, just to keep up (not to mention the time it takes to can). Nope...canning is not an inexpensive endeavor!

I bet next year when I am reusing bottles I will feel differently, and besides, stewed tomatoes sure look pretty in mason jars! Next project: cute jar labels!

Teacher Appreciation

I decided to whip up a little somethin' somethin' for Morgan's preschool teachers for Teacher Appreciation week since they have been SO amazing with him this year. I found this idea for felt flower broaches in my craft blog surfing the other day and decided it would be a cute thing to do. So, I had Morgan draw some cute flowers for me and I copied them in various sizes and stitched over his drawings onto the felt. I layered one, added the buttons and made a darling broach, and then I decided I wasn't sure the teachers would think it was as cute as I did, so I decided to keep that one and elaborated on the idea for the teacher gifts. Instead of broaches, we used the flower pattern Morgan had created for removeable felt embellishments for library totes and they turned out super cute!

And, being the proud mother I am, I L.O.V.E - LOVE the cute flowers Morgan drew all by himself. I love that he was so specific in picking the color of the flowers and ribbon he wanted to use for each of his teachers! He loves them so much! Mostly, I love that, start to finish, the whole project - idea, 3 bags, flowers, and guiding Morgan's card writing - took me less than 2 1/2 hours!