day 105: inspiration always comes from books!

happiness is in a book :)

day 105 and today we are back to loving books ... for those who don't ... i'm sorry, for those that do or have kids that inhale them, you will love these sentiments!  i couldn't decide which one i wanted to put up on ben's wall so while i was picking up a frame for a creation i intend to make next week, i decided the same frame format would be perfect for today!

the frame holds eight 6" x 4" photos ... for this creation it is holding the following seven sentiments:

i was the kid that got into trouble reading past my bedtime

sentiment pinned from bookfessions

KEEP CALM and READ A BOOK

pinned from marta writes

you are MY sunshine

sentiment pinned from jack cards

reading is cool

pinned from saying images

his books are some of his very best friends

sentiment pinned from cowboy boots and pearls

my favourite thing is to go where i've never been

pinned from fairy tale wishes and dreams

i can't clean my room because i get distracted by the cool stuff i find

sentiment pinned from we heart it

and a giraffe holding a pile of books pinned from we heart it. below are some photos up close of the finished product!

outcome:  i am really happy with this, some of the sentiments i wanted to use are from etsy shops, so those i will buy in canvas!  these ones i couldn't find owners for so figured they would be ok to use or typeset for my own needs ... the boy is VERY happy, well as happy as a boy who currently has a nose in a book and actually didn't notice the new artwork adorning his walls ... guess it was me that was VERY happy ... hehe :)

right, time to head back to the broken peep ... it's like caring for a baby again!  have a great day everyone :)

day 104: oh dear ... we have a break ... but not from the pinterest inspired creating!

a card for pollyanna (our mouse in the house!)

day 104 and the news for today is a little glum ... my little girl peep pollyanna has fractured her leg :( she tripped on a stair and struggled to walk yesterday afternoon.  i took her to the medical centre last evening and out we came with a leg plastered up to her knee.  after she went through the joyful stages of shock, she is now rather bummed she has a heavy plaster cast to lump around with her ... typically though she found the bright side, i didn't make her do any writing today, instead she watched beethoven lives upstairs movie (if you haven't seen it, do, it is amazing).

so today's sentiment is heading into a card for my little peep. the actual card was designed by sarah from the handmade card blog.  i have been itching to make this card because it's so cute, but it's one of those cards you really hope you don't need to make, let alone for your own little peep!  i pinned it to my paper crafts board and the following sentiment is found in my pinterest 'likes'

every.

single.

day.

i am grateful for you.

for the card you need to attach some plasters to a card, add googly eyes, and stamp or print your sentiment's inside and out!  then give to the little person who needs to know you care when skies are a little less blue.

the crafty bits and bobs you need

the card makes its destination!

the card has its desired effect!

outcome:  she has smiled through everything except when they had to put the plaster on and move her foot (that was more of a scream than a smile).  today it's fair to say her day has had it's share of glumness from excitement about having no school work to tiredness of the situation.  what made us both happy though was the card, she thought it was hilarious i had plasters stuck on a card for her :)  that made my day!

my thanks to sarah from the handmade cards, loved looking through her cards they are awesome, amazing techniques that i can only look in admiration at.

day 103: a thank you to my mum

just to let you know how much i love you mum
xxxxxx

day 103 and its time to say thanks to my sweet mum ... we live together and she is wonderful to me and my children, my children adore her. as we are so close both in a literal sense and as friends, i sometimes forget to take the time to tell her how wonderful she is, so today i am going to leave her a wee token on her bed so she knows.

this is the saying i found on pinterest and immediately added to my 'likes'

the only thing better than having you for a MOM

is my children having you for a GRANDMA

if you like this saying, you can buy it on etsy from piccadilly peddler who has it on a wooden plaque which looks really cute ... i'll have to see whether it comes with a 'mum' instead of a 'mom', would be a neat little gift for mother's day next year :)

today i am going to print it off on some lightly patterned paper, give it some bling, and wrap it around a chocolate bar, then leave it on her bed to find when she arrives home from work!  the only things i changed to personalise the saying for my mother was the mom to mum and the grandma to granny (what my kids call her).

buy chocolate, add a wrapper, and you are
good to go and make someone's day :)

happiness in acknowledging my mum today :)

outcome:  totally the desired effect! my mum loves it because it wasn't expected and she knows how much i appreciate and adore her ... awesome :)

thanks to piccadilly peddler for giving such a lovely saying a home on something permanent ... it's a fantastic idea!

day 102: roald dahl inspiration

the quote that is framed and now sits
next to her bed ... 

day 102 and today's quote comes from one of my favourite authors ... roald dahl ... love his books and so do my peeps, i mean, really, what's not to love about the bfg :)  i repinned the quote below onto my kids bedrooms board and the original pin was from jen fernie's blog.  the quote is from the minpins book written by roald dahl and published posthumously and i think it is so inspiring especially in today's world where we need to find a little more magic in the everyday given how fast we now live our lives.

the quote is:

And above all watch with glittering

eyes the whole world around you because

the greatest secrets are always 

hidden in the most unlikely places.

Those who don’t believe in magic

will never find it.

Roald Dahl

my daughter is as passionate about fairies as ben is about books.  for pollyanna the world is perfect, there are fairies and rainbows, sugared candy and ribbons, there are princes and princesses, and most definitely happily ever afters.  she sees the cup as always full, even when its full of air, and the world is most definitely full of fairies and elves doing wonderful things.  it could be her age, it could be her beliefs, it could be she sees things i don't see, but whatever it is i hope she never loses it.  so i have chosen to put this in her room to remind us all life doesn't have to be without magic, you just have to make the choice to believe in it and find it :)

i typeset the quote in powerpoint and printed it at home on photo paper ... i like the glossy look for something like this!  i then framed it and put it next to her bed.

i hope i spend more time with glittering eyes watching the
world's magic now ;)

outcome: my little girl peep has always inspired me to see things with open eyes and while this is in her bedroom i think it will do more for me seeing it each night when i tuck her in and kiss her goodnight than it will for her.  but if she ever needs reminding it will be there for her too :)

day 101: reading is dreaming with open eyes :)

for ben with love

day 101 and some of my favourite time spent on pinterest is reading the inspirational, challenging, fun, thought provoking, and/or endearing quotes and sayings pinned to peoples boards.  i have many that are pinned to my boards that resonate with me for one reason or another.  this week i am going to spend a whole week dedicated to these quotes and sayings and use them in different ways, shapes, and forms!

today's creation uses this saying:

reading is dreaming with open eyes

it can be found on my kids bedrooms board and was originally pinned from the piccsy website and i loved it as soon as i saw it because it reminds me of my son ... my son reads and that's an understatement. he reads with passion like no one i know.  his best friends are books, once he finished hockey practice yesterday his best friend was a famous five omnibus.  he reads really fast, faster than his mum or dad because he needs to know the story once it has started and i love that.  even though he reads fast he never misses the details because that's what best friends do.  i dream when i listen to sport, for him it is books.

for that reason this saying is being made into a pillow for his bed ... just in case anyone forgets what books mean to him and why they are so important to him ... like me when i find him sitting by his door with his pillow using the hall light to finish reading a book at 9pm ... his aunt was just the same and luckily she turned out awesome (i'm not biased at all)!

the actual creation is really easy, i typed it up in word and then printed it out on fabric, sewed it into a cushion, and threw it on his bed!  if you haven't printed on fabric before, YOU SHOULD ... it's just so cool and the tutorial i did on day 28 from the pickled pepper patch gives you all the info you need to do it yourself :)

the printed saying on fabric

it's resting place :)

outcome:  a neat pillow with something special on it that reminds me how ben sees the world through books ... now that's a cool creation and what's more he loves it too :)

day 100 ... we made it this far so lets make some halloween neighbour gift's :)

the halloween neighbour presents :)

day 100 and we have made it to the three digit milestone, only 265 days left in this adventure!  today we are making some quick and easy halloween gifts for the neighbours :)  halloween is always a busy time around here with birthday's and everything else that goes along with that time of the year.  i decided this year i would pop something in our neighbours letterboxes for fun for halloween.

i am going to use jen from a thousand words idea of giving gifts in wrapped pringles can's ... but instead of cookies i am going to give them pringles because it will mean they can be made and organised today :)  i pinned this jen's idea to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.  i would prefer to give them home baking but it can't be made in advance so that will have to wait for another occasion!

i am also using some free printables, happy halloween tags i found on eighteen25, and two halloween printables, this one from craftily ever after and this one from mrs. adventure.  all of these are pinned to my holiday goodness board :)

materials and printables needed

i went for the traditional colours of orange, black, and white for this creation.  i used scrapbooking paper to cover the cans and glued it down nice and firm.  the round halloween labels were stuck to the top and the other printables i used to adorn the sides of the canisters.  they were then wrapped in ribbon and ready to sneak into letter boxes later next month!

the covered pringles canister

the labelled and ribboned canisters

with happy halloween tags under the bows

outcome:  what's not to like, it's over a month away from halloween and i have gifts all ready to give.  actually these pringles cans are so easy to cover i will have to buy more just so i can wrap them ... they look so pretty when done :)

my thanks to a thousand words, eighteen25, craftily ever after, and mrs. adventure for all the wonderful inspiration and free printables that made my 100th creation possible :)

day ninety nine: reusable fabric wrapping sacks

present one wrapped and ready to send :)

day ninety nine and i took a second to wonder whether it was too early to think about christmas wrapping ... then realised NO it's never to early to think about christmas or the wrapping that will need to be done :)  if you are not a christmas addict, i am really sorry for bringing christmas into your year so early.

the other week my sweet mum and i went and did some early christmas shopping.  i try and spread mine christmas shopping out over the last half of the year to ease the financial pressure of my spending!  i thought i would also start my christmas wrapping early as well because i have found some much wonderful wrapping inspiration on pinterest and i want to make sure i have time to give lots of it a go.  i know if i leave it all until december the wrapping will take backstage due to time running out :)  all the wrapping ideas including today's are pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.

today's christmas wrapping idea comes from keana who was a guest writer on the kanu hawaii website.  keana is an eco graphic designer and has written about ways to use less paper and more reusable wrapping ideas when it comes to christmas.  if you like the sound on fabric wrapping and don't have access to a sewing machine you can buy ready made reusable wrapping from here at lucky crow.

if you do have a sewing machine, i think its worth a go and that's just what i did today!  first i gathered my material, you need two co-ordinating fabric's for each gift sack. the next step is to measure the height of the present and the circumference.  once you have these measurements add 4" to the circumference and 6" to the height of the present, these new measurements give you the dimensions you need to cut out for the main fabric of your sack.  the second fabric is to line the top of the bag with so it adds some interest to the wrapping sack!  this piece needs to be the same width of the first fabric but only 6" in depth. some simple steps for creating these bags are below with photos :)

the two pieces of fabric cut and ready to sew

with right sides facing each other, pin and sew along what
is the top of the sack

iron this seam flat

with wrong sides facing iron the seam flat from this side now

now moving to the side of the sack pin together the side
seam with the right sides facing out to you (we are going
to do a french seam :) ... then sew with a 1/4" seam

now turn the sack so it is inside out and iron it flat, then
sew down the same side seam but with a 1/2" seam. turn
sack so it is now right side out ... isn't that a cool seam,
i love how it hides all the mess!

now turn to the the bottom of your sack and pin the end
closed then sew along this seam with a 1/4" seam (we are
also going to close the bottom with a french seam!)
then turn the sack inside out and sew along the bottom
seam again this time with a 1/2" seam.

turn the sack in the right way and its ready..

fill with the presents you measured earlier ....

tie the top with a ribbon and you can consider the present
wrapped!

i just need one of jen's awesome cards to adorn my package now ... hint hint ;)

outcome:  such a great idea ... i absolutely love that one of my sister's children will receive this gift for christmas and she will be able to use the wrapping the following year!  i plan to do some for my peeps gifts and will just stash the reusable wrapping in with the xmas decorations for next year ... COOL! they are really easy to make and don't take that long to finish ... pleased that i have started this early with my wrapping though, as i can't imagine taking this much care on christmas eve with everything else going on!

my thanks today goes to keana who has enlightened me in terms of reusable packing, it doesn't just need to be newspaper to make wrapping environmentally friendly ... get the sewing machine out and start making some gift sacks that can carry on giving long after the gift has been exchanged :)