Getting Organized

New year, new ideas to help get organized!  Each week I sit down and try to plan out my meals for the week in hopes to make one big trip to the grocery store.  Although I had good intentions, I always ended up forgetting something, changing my mind on what to fix or even forgetting what I had planned for meals!!  I always ended up going back to the store numerous times for one or two things.  Each day I would wonder what I could fix for supper, and end up rushing at the last minute.  I decided I don't need to stress out over meals!  I found a free printable meal planner online through pinterest.  I printed it out and placed it in a frame behind glass.  Once a week I make my huge shopping list.  I write down what I'll make for meals for the week on the glass with a dry erase maker.  It's great!  I don't have to worry each day what I'm going to make.  I use what I buy at the store so there's less waste.  Since I plan out the meals for the week, I get all I need the first trip to the store.  I don't change my mind on what to fix because 1.  It's not on the meal planner and 2.  I don't have all the ingredients for it!  I'm loving my new meal planner.  It's such a simple idea that has helped me!  So glad I started using it!

Elf of the Shelf....my ideas!

Christmas is over, and I'm starting dreading putting all my decorations away!  Christmas is my favorite time of year, and I go overboard with the trees!  I think there is one in every room...yes, even the bathroom has  a tree!  

I'm sure most of you have heard of Elf of the Shelf.  We got our little elf last year.  My boys decided to name him Chester.  For those that don't know what it is...Chester is our "Elf on the Shelf". He comes once a year during the holidays and watches the kids during the day. At night, he flies to the North Pole and reports to Santa if you have been good or bad. Each morning he's in a new spot and kids have to find him! Sometime the elves can be pretty mischievous!

Last year, Chester was pretty boring!  He just hid in a different place each night.  This year, thanks to pinterest, Chester had A LOT more fun!  The boys loved waking up each morning to see what Chester did during the night! 

I wanted to put this post together before Christmas, but I wanted pictures to go with it.  So, here it is...after the holidays!  Just file or pin it for next year to help you with ideas for your Elf on the Shelf!  

 Get-r-done Chester!  Hope you had fu-un!

 Chester went camping...and enjoyed yummy roasted marshmallows!

 Chester cookin' up some "be good" sugar cookies

 Everyone looks good as Rudolph!

 All in a days work...

 Chester decided it would be fun to string all of my letter and number cookie cutters together to make a garland of the kitchen tree!

 Close up of Chester stringing the cookie cutters together for the tree!

 Chester played 'Jingle Bells', and made everyone jingle bracelets.  His only requests was that we sing to him throughout the day!

 St. Nicolas Eve!  Chester placed candy and an ornament in the boys shoes!

 We elves try to stick to the 4 main food groups:  candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup!"  from the movie Elf

 Too......much......syrup!

 Naughty list alert, naughty list alert!  Someone got a warning letter from Chester!

 Chester was feeling a bit home sick, and decided to hang out with my Santa collection

 Nothing like a good book and a nice, warm bubble bath!

 Chester wanted to make sure he could see well, so he climbed to the top of our tree!

 Mmmm....dark chocolate!  Chester got hungry again!

 Chester is certainly not camera shy!

 Hittin' the slopes!

 We heroes have to stick together!

 Sail away, sail away, sail away...

 The 4th Wiseman

 The Office Elf...

 Hanging with his kitties...

 An elf must always be prepared to fill in at any moment!

 Never, EVER get into a snowball fight with a snowman!

 Santa sent back an early (& big) Christmas present backwith Chester.  Since we are at my mom's for Christmas, Santa knew we wouldn't have room to bring the big wheels back.  Smart man!

"...and if I ever need any guidance, who's a better consiglieri than my father?"

Special delivery!  Brought in extra reindeer food.

Silhouette

We are in the process of moving to Oklahoma!  I'm going through crafting withdrawals!  We are in between houses for 3 weeks, and living temporarily in a small apartment.  I packed up all my crafting items, and can't wait to get settled into our new home!  I have  many ideas to get started on!


This past summer, I purchased a Silhouette cutting machine.  I have only done a few projects using it, but so far every project has been so fun!  I love watching the machine cut and do it's thing!  
I came across made.  There are a TON of tutorials on her site!  One in particular caught my eye, and I knew I wanted to try it...Recycled Grocery Totes!  The picture below are the ones Dana made and used for her tutorial.  Aren't they great?!

In the tutorial, Dana tells you how to melt a number of plastic sacks together to make a strong re-usable tote!  I saved up all my Target shopping bags until I had enough to make my tote.  Once I had enough bags hoarded I got started!  Melting the bags together was kind of fun, I have to admit!  Once I had the bags made, I used my Silhouette to cut the letters and design from some fabric I had laying around.  I think the bag came out great!  It's a bit smaller than my other re-usable grocery bags, but perfect for the quick trips to the store to pick up a few things.  

Where did summer go?

I can't believe summer has come and gone!  The tempertures are dropping, and fall is fast approaching!  I wanted to share a few things I have been busy with over the past few months.  Maybe some of them will inspire you to try something new for you, your kids or your home!

I purchases a vinyl saying from Uppercase Living a few years ago!  If you have a Silhouette cutting machine, you can make your own vinyl signs!  I recently purchased one, and LOVE it!  I got around to putting my vinyl sign on an artist canvas I painted.  I painted a base coat of a mustard yellow, adding a crackle finish and then gave it an antique finish.  I was always coming up with lonely socks, and didn't know what to do with them while hunting down their mates!  I decided to add small clothes pins onto the canvas so I would have a place to clip those lonely guys!  I found the small clothes pins in the stationary aisle at Wal-Mart.  I spray painted them brown then took some sandpaper and roughed them up a bit.  Once I had them spaced out on the canvas to my liking, I glued them down, and ta-da!  A cute sign for my laundry room and a place for those pesky lonely socks!

Free Fronts!

I love surfing the web and viewing other blog pages!  I have learned so much by what others have done, and I am SO very thankful that some have shared their knoweledge!  I am going to try to also share what I have learned! 
Today I came across Kevin and Amanda's blog while trying to figure out how to place a signature after each post in my blog.  It had helpful step-by-step instructions!  I got the signature created, and found some awesome free fronts from their site!  Double score!   The free fonts I downloaded are from their fonts for peas section.   I used one of them for the blog signature I created!  What do you think?!!  ;)
For all my scrappers, they also have free scrapbook fonts!  There are easy to download buttons to click on that will download all of the available free fonts.  Once downloaded, click open file.  The time consuming part is you have to click on each font and "install" it.  It's not hard, but does take some time to go through all of them!  Once installed they are ready for you to use in your program of choice!  Have fun downloading free fonts!  They are super addictive! 

Lil Blue Boo/Dharma Trading Design Challenge

I recently made one of my nephews a cute tee for summer.   Lil Blue Boo's and  Dharma Trading Company have created a design challenge.  Follow the link (design challenge) to see more information about the challenge.  I decided to enter after I made this shirt! Using a Carter's t-shirt, I removed the pocket to make room for the appliquéd tie.  I then screen printed stripes in black and silver ink from Dharma Trading Company onto a ribbed green cotton knit.  Using wonder under, I attached the tie to the shirt, and hemmed around the entire tie.  I think he looks adorable and so dapper in his tie!!

Pre-K Art Project!

I recently had to opportunity to work with my oldest son's pre-k class on an art project for a big fund raiser that benefits his school.  It's all organized by PTO.  It was so much fun!  I used a tutorial from Lil Blue Boo to start the project.  The kids were allowed to paint what ever they wanted to on the large canvas, then I antiqued it, and added the damask print.  I think it turned out great, and is something I would hang on my wall!  Hopefully it will bring big $$$ in the auction!