Personalized Fleece Tie Blanket + 'Chemo Survival Kit'

Wow. It is March already. It's cliche, but time really does fly. Seems like you plan to do something (aka blog) and then life gets in the way and you don't get it done. And honestly, since this little blog of mine is just for fun, it isn't even in my top five in terms of priorities, so it most often gets shoved to the back burner. And that is completely fine. 

In January, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She's already a more than 30-year survivor of Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph tissue.  Her prognosis is good, but if you are the praying type, prayers are MUCH appreciated. 

Me and my momma.  Isn't she beautiful?!

Most of you don't know me, but for those out there that do, you know that I am a 'do-er'. I never sit still and I am always multi-tasking.  Ask my hubby - I can't even watch TV without working on something else - which is why I can't keep up with what is going on in our favorite shows. I always have to keep busy, especially during times of stress. It is a control thing - when I am in 'control' of even the smallest things, I feel better. 

So, when my mom was diagnosed, I went into crazy 'do-er' mode, trying to help plan meals, rides, etc....anything I could do to make her life easier.  One of my good friends, Courtney, is also a breast cancer survivor, and I enlisted her help in thinking of all the things my mom might need as she started chemotherapy. She listed off some great ideas, but in the back of my mind, I just wanted to do something more, something personal.  

I really wanted to make her a blanket. Ever since I can remember, my mom has always been cold. It can be 90 degrees outside and my mom will want a blanket over her legs outside.  So, I thought she might enjoy a blanket she can take with her to chemo. 

Isn't it cute?  Definitely bright & cheery!

I just did the typical fleece tie blanket (if you don't know how - there are tons of tutorials online - just Google it). I've made literally dozens of these for my family and friends over the years.  

I like to make them really long (3 yards) so you have plenty of blanket at the bottom to tuck underneath your toes. :)

It is really long....it's folded several times in this photo.

It is bright and cheery, but also practical. But I still wanted it to be more.  

So...with my trusty Silhouette, I decided it would be neat to have the signatures of all of her immediate family members on the blanket so she would always have the six of us with her at all times during her treatment. 

I had each person sign a sheet of paper - my Dad, my brother, my hubby, and my daughter, who also signed my 18-month old son's name.  I scanned that sheet into the computer and traced it in the silhouette software. I thin printed it out on white heat transfer vinyl and adhered to the blanket. 

This is the result:

I put it at the top of the blanket so it would be closest to her heart. 

It might be cheesy - but I think my mom was pretty happy about it. 

In addition to the blanket, I made her a 'chemo survival kit', filled with items she might need during those visits.  I put these all in one of those awesome Thirty-One bags with all the pockets. 

• Chapstick
• Hard candy
• Cough drops
• Hand sanitizer
• Hand lotion
• Blank thank you notes
• Pen and paper
• Journal
• Photo of her family
• Bottled water
• Crackers

In the bag, she can also include a book and magazines, even her computer. 

No I am not endorsed by Thirty-One, I just really like their bags. :)

Any cancer survivors or caregivers out there?  What items were helpful to you during your treatment? Mom has just one chemo treatment down and many to go, so I'd love to hear what was important to you during that time!


Linking up to:  Sugar Bee Crafts: Take A Look Tuesday, A Bowl Full of Lemons: One Project At A Time, Skip to My Lou: Made By You Monday, Scattered Thoughts of A Crafty Mom:  Inspiration Monday, That's What Che Said: Monday Funday, Wait Til Your Father Gets Home: Creative Connection, Mama's Got It Together: Pin It Party.

Valentine LOVE Shirt

I love my Silhouette for many reasons, but one of the reasons I love it the most is being able to make something when I can't find exactly what I want in the store....which leads me to today's post.

My DIY Love Valentine shirt. 

I didn't like any of the Valentine's Day shirts for little girls at our local mass retailer.  But, they did have blank white shirts that would be perfectly paired with some red vinyl.  ;)

So, I literally took five minutes, a cute font and one of this week's free shapes from Miss Kate'sCuttables and came up with this:

Heat Transfer Vinyl is super easy to use.  Just make your design in Silhouette Studio. Be sure to place the heat transfer vinyl shiny side down on your cutting mat and then mirror your image before you print. Then weed the design once it is printed. 

Then center the design on the shirt, iron and you are done!  So simple!

And this 4-year-old LOVED IT!  :)

 Happy Valentine's Day!

'Blowing A Kiss Your Way' Valentine + Free Printable!

Well here we are already half-way through January!  2014 is already flying by!  February will be here before we know it, and soon it will be Valentine's Day!  

I always like to do a handmade Valentine for the kiddos to take to daycare. And since this is Hannah's first year of school (pre-K), I thought I would try and do something a little more fun!

We found these lip whistle things on clearance at Hobby Lobby the day after Christmas. They were originally $5.99, and I think I paid right at $2.00 for them.  There are 12 in there, so that's roughly 17 cents a piece - which I thought was pretty good.

They came with some weird Santa beard - didn't use those of course. 

I made up a cute little printable to go along with them.

And then cut them down to four pieces with my paper cutter. 

I used an exacto knife and scissors to cut a whole in the middle just big enough that the whistle would fit but also wouldn't fall out. 

Cute, huh?

Let's just say the parents at Hannah's school are going to love me... :)

You can download the file here.
(I've never shared a printable before, so let me know if you have trouble downloading the file. For personal use only.)

Now to decide what to do for the little man's Valentines...

Enjoy!

Linking up to:  Sugar Bee Craft's Take-A-Look Tuesday and the Weekend Block Party at Mama's Got It Together. 

Old Dresser Turned Dress Up Clothes Station

Like many other crafters, I tend to pick up random items and pieces of furniture at yard sales with the goal of refurbishing them into something spectacular and new.  And when I bring them home, my hubby usually gives me a supportive nod...but really inside he's probably really thinking "oh lord, not another piece of junk!"  

I think that was the case when I brought home a particular dresser one evening after I stopped by a friend's yard sale.  I think I paid like $7 bucks for it.  It had been stored in a barn and was pretty dirty and had a bunch of lovely mouse pellets inside of it.  It didn't look very good, but it was sturdy - and I had big plans for it.

Now, I forgot to take a before picture (actually I forgot to take a lot of pictures - bad blogger), so imagine this dresser without the piece of plywood on top of the spot for the last drawer.  It started out with four drawers and we kept just the bottom drawer to hold her accessories.  (And actually I kept the other drawers....any ideas on what I can do with them?) 

We cleaned it up well with soap and water and removed the rusty old wheels off of the bottom. Then, the hubby cut down a few pieces of plywood to put around the inside to make it flat (and so nothing could fall through the dresser). 

Now we get into the fun part....the five coats of paint it took to cover this thing.  Yes, I said five coats. 

I had read about Annie Sloan Chalk paint on many of my favorite blogs. A ton of people use it and love it, because you don't have to sand or prime it.  So, that was our plan - go the easy route and use a plain white chalk paint.  Well apparently we had chosen a special dresser with an extra special varnish on it, because we did two layers of chalk paint and it just kept bleeding through. 

So, we gave up on our idea and decided to use Kilz to prime it and then cover with just a plain white semi-gloss paint.  Because we didn't paint it with normal matte paint initially, there is a little bit of 'texture' to the dresser, but honestly, it looks great regardless. Plus, this is a 'play' piece, not meant to be some fancy refurbished dresser. 

So, we (and by we, I mean my awesome husband who did all the painting while I was sick for a week right after Thanksgiving) gave it a coat of Kilz and then two coats of paint. 

Then we covered the insides and lined the drawer with this cute polka dot wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby.  We were going to use contact paper, but it was going to be a lot more expensive. Plus, I liked the idea of being able to change the look of the inside when we re-do our daughter's room in a year or two.

The next step was to add the hardware. We added a rod on the inside to hold her dress up clothes on hangers.

We also added two of these satin nickel coat hooks to either side to hold her necklaces, purses, hairbands, etc. (the ones in the middle). 

Finally, we added a satin nickel pull to the front for easy access to her princess accessories!  

And wa-la!   The final product for Christmas morning!  

She was pretty happy about getting the biggest present of the group. :)

And at it's final spot in her room! We've been having lots of dress up parties in the past couple weeks! 

Linking up to:  Sugar Bee Crafts' Take a Look Tuesday and A Bowl Full of Lemons' One Project at a Time.

Happy New Year 2014!

(Source)

Happy New Year Y'all! 

Wow - can you believe it's 2014 already?  The last two months of the year flew by so fast! We had a bunch of the yucky stomach flu and respiratory stuff right after Thanksgiving, and that, combined with our goal of a 'handmade' Christmas (more to come on that later), kept us crazy busy over the last month!  So I've been a little absent from the blog, but I can't wait to get back and share some of my crafting adventures with you! 

In typical New Year fashion, I wanted to set a few 'goals' for the upcoming year.  And what better way to be held accountable than to share them all with you (my 7 followers...lol!  Hey - something is better than nothing, right?!)

Let me start off by saying there are quite a few, which is probably a bad idea, and if I only partial accomplish a few of these, I'll still be very satisfied. I think this list was just a great way for me to reflect on last year and think of the things I'd like to see differently in 2014, in order to be a better mother, wife, blogger, Christian, etc.  Acknowledging these things need to happen is the first step in the right direction! 

So...here we go (in no particular order):

2014 Goals:

• Become CPR Certified - I've had this in mind for several years and never completed it. Honestly, I am almost scared to do it. But for my children's safety, I need to get it done. 
• Grow my blog by 25 followers - My blog is still in its infancy, but I want to grow my followers from 7 to 32...or more! 
• Read 12 books - I used to read every day.  Then I had kids.  And I stopped with the exception of vacations and nights on the road for work. I think I am a happier person when I read - plus it is a great way to unwind at the end of the day instead of wasting time surfing Facebook.  I want to read an average of one book a month this year. 
• Spend one full girls' day with Hannah - Hannah's at such a fun age and I love spending one-on-one pampering time with her. I want to take a day, go shopping, get pedicures, eat ice cream and go to the movies with her.  Honestly, that would be a PERFECT day.  
• Have monthly date nights with the hubs - since Lucas was born, Joe and I just don't really go out to eat or movies very often. I want to do a monthly date night. It could even be a night in, but I want to plan something special each month.  
• Read more books to Lucas- my little man is a total cuddler and loves to read. And too often I rush through books or put off reading to him because I think whatever I am doing is more important. Well it isn't, and I need to cherish this time before he grows out of it! 
• Meal plan each week - I did this for most of 2013 but toward the end I got lazy, so hoping to keep it going throughout the whole year in 2014! 
• Have unplugged Sundays - I spend way too much time on my iPhone. When the kiddos are playing, I way-too-often whip out my phone and jump on social media. I am missing out on such special time with my kids. I am going to blink and they'll be grown and I will have wasted more time checking on what my friends ate last night and what my favorite celebrity is up to than I did watching them grow!  So - I want to unplug on Sundays and make sure I treasure every moment with them!  Now I just have to get Joe on board too!  :)
• Send out more birthday cards - I know this is vague, but I just want to send out more cards to my friends and family. I love getting cards in the mail, so I would love to make others' day! 
• Finally do a true Project Life - a photo per day and write down journaling in my planner.  I want to capture this time in our lives because it goes SO FAST!
• Print more photos - Shame Alert: I haven't printed photos for a family album since Hannah's first Christmas. See item above - I want to print weekly, monthly or at some set increment so I can complete a Project Life album and create something fro my family to look back at!  We had professional photos taken last year like 4 times (we do newborn, 3, 6, 9 and 12 with our kids, plus yearly after that) and I think I printed Luke's newborn, 3 month and that is IT!  I pay so much for great photos and they stay locked up in cyberspace and on my CD. Which leads me to my next item...
• Finish my living room gallery wall - long story short:  we put up photos and I hate the way they look, so I stopped and left it sort of in limbo. I want to finally finish it this year!
• Buy a new bible - I want to finally buy a 'study' type Bible so that I can do more than just read a chapter/verse, and instead truly understand what I am reading. 
• Complete a Will for Joe and I - this is pretty simple. We don't have one, and we need one, especially now that we have two kids. 

Wow - that is quite the list. Honestly, it is scary and intimidating to think about what I want to accomplish this year. But you know what?  You've gotta start somewhere!  So, I encourage you to make a list of your goals for 2014. Don't be afraid to put them out there for others to see - we can hold each other accountable!  

Wishing you and yours a Happy and Blessed 2014!

25 Days of Christmas Books

Recently, I guest posted over at Sugar Bee Crafts on my family's 25 Days of Christmas Books tradition. Thought I would go ahead and share here as well!  Enjoy!  :)

Looking for an easy and meaningful family tradition this Christmas?  Start the 25 Days of Christmas Books and enjoy time with your family during the busy holiday season.

I started this tradition three years ago after my daughter was born.  I did it for two reasons: 1) As my husband and I were starting our family, I wanted us to start our own traditions as well.  2) In the midst of the craziness of the holidays, I wanted to ensure that we had something that would bring us together as a family each and every night.

Plus, I liked that the books would give us a countdown to Christmas (like an Advent calendar), without my kids receiving candy or small trinkets. So, we decided to start the 25 Days of Christmas Books.  

Starting this tradition is really easy to do:  just find 25 Christmas/holiday books, wrap them up and open/read one each day from December 1st to December 25th. Easy right? :)

Finding 25 books might require a little bit of work, assuming you don't just want to buy 25 brand new books at your local bookstore or on Amazon. I picked ours up over the past four years at garage sales, local thrift shops, and from various retail stores. I try to pick up at least one new one each year. Several of them were given to our kiddos as Christmas presents as well. You could also ask your friends and and family if they have some gently-loved books that their children have outgrown. 

Some of our favorites include:

 The Classics

The Childhood Favorites
(so fun to read one of my old books to my kiddos!)

The Reason for the Season
(and another of my childhood favorites)

 Interactive Books

(these Jingle and Bell books are my daughter's FAVORITE! I was so happy to see they put out two new books this year because we read the others at least once a week, year round!)

 Modern Favorites

Books For Every Age

And our two new books for 2013...

If you have more than 25 books, as we do, you could begin on Thanksgiving evening and read a book every night until Christmas.

So just wrap up the books and throw them in a cute basket underneath the tree.  

Most of the time, the hubby, kiddos and I will sit down after the kids have gotten ready for bed and will enjoy a book over a bedtime snack.  Both of our children love to read, as do we, so it's such an effortless yet meaningful part of our night-time routine! 

So there ya go!  Hopefully this will inspire you to start your own holiday tradition! 

Thanks again to Mandy at Sugar Bee Crafts for the opportunity to guest post!