Calendar Blocks

I found the perfect blend of my love for paper crafting and wood-working! It was so fun to create this cute set of calendar blocks. The perfect addition to the new desk I made for Katelyn's birthday. 

Here's how I did it.  

Supplies:

• 1 piece of 3 x 3 pine, for about $5.00 
• craft paint
• paint brushes
• scrapbook paper
• letter & number sticker or vinyl 
• Or print numbers & months-so many cute FREE fonts from Kevin and Amanda)
• Velcro squares

I started by cutting my wood into 3" pieces, so you have three, 3 x 3 blocks.
And one 3 x 9 block. Like this:

 And this:

 Sand all the edges so they are nice and smooth.

 Paint the blocks on all sides. Only the edges are going to be showing, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

Next you want to cut paper for the number blocks and the month block. As I stated earlier, you can use sticker, vinyl or print out your numbers and months on the computer (that's what I did!)

For block #1 you will need a 0,1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 

For block #2 you will need 0,1, 2, 6 (make sure it can double as a 9 too), 7 and 8

For block #3 I add some little doodles just for fun!

I distressed the edges of the numbered paper, months and doodles by using a cosmetic sponge pad and some stamping ink (you could also use some watered down paint).

 Light run the sponge daubed with ink/paint around the edges of each piece.

 After that dries you are ready to adhere the paper to the block with Mod Podge.

 With a foam brush paint the block and the back of your paper with the Mod Podge. When that is mostly dry put a couple coats of the Mod Podge onto of the paper. Let it dry in between coats.
This will seal the whole block.

I Mod Podge'd both sides (a couple times) of the months 

and then added a little block of Velcro to the back of each month and the to the block. 

Like this:

 I intend to make a little envelope to adhere to the back of the block, a place where the months can be stored. Katelyn loves changing the numbers and the little doodle block too!

My inspiration came from Kierstie at Brown Paper Packages. Go here to see how she made hers.

Last minute Valentines

The most creative things happen after hours, right?! 

I made the girls t-shirt for their Valentine Parties at school... 

and I started on them at 10:00pm the night before.

The t-shirts were pretty simple. 

• cut strips of 1" of fabric
• sew a couple lengths together for a full heart
• gather the fabric strips by stitching along the center of the fabric 
• pull the gathers evenly together
• pin on the shirt in your desired pattern (in this case a heart)
• stitch over the gathers all the way around the design

For this shirt I just did a small heart with just one length of the fabric 

After I finished the t-shirts I realized I had to have a couple little treats for the bus driver, art teacher, etc...

so I wrapped valentine scrapbook around a Hershery bar:

 And around a raspberry Ghirardelli's added some ribbon and a valentine greeting.

The first grade class made these cute little mice as their craft at their valentine party today. 

I thought I'd share the idea with you:

The directions & tutorial can be found at Fly Through Our Window. 

Our Valentines

There are some super creative home made and printable valentine's out there. After browsing through many of the crafty and creative blogs I subscribe to, we decided to make these valentines:

It was really easy to do
and the red wall in my kitchen makes a nice back drop. 

We added some text,  Pixie-Stick or Tootsie Pop,

 punched a hole above and below their hands 

and we have our valentines!

 We originally saw the idea here.

Sidney chose to do something a little more involved.

White chocolate covered popcorn with valentine M&M's. 

Check out Make and Takes for the recipe. 

And the homemade popcorn in a bag by the Snack Girl.

Twin Two Year Olds

I get to hang out with two sweeties every week.

I've been watching them since they were wee-lil' ones and I have fond memories of trying to feed them both a bottle, at the same time! I am an experienced mother of three, but twins take the cake! It's been so fun to see them grow and change and say my name and follow me around the house (I didn't think that was so cute when my kids did that to me!)

This week they turned 2!
So of course I had to craft up something special just for them.

I was inspired by a shirt I saw at Target. 

Just simple tulle sewed along the bottom of the shirt. 

Little cupcake applique with the #2. Too cute!

Sidney and I decided it would be fun to have our own mini photo shoot.

 It was quite the challenge to get them together 

and then to get them to both look my way at the same time.

We had better luck with the individual photo's.

And then I tried to get them to hold up two fingers...