{Quote Printable}

Ok, so I made this in Publisher, but you can do it in any program that allows you to create text boxes.
I saw this Bible verse quoted on a friends Facebook page this week, and started singing the Hymn that goes along with it. I decided I needed to create a printable for it. To remind me of these promises.

{Feel Free to download this for yourself- personal use only}

It still makes my heart sing. I have sang this song and known this verse since I was a little girl.
Ok the basics on how to make it: 

~ Create 10 text boxes~ break the words up in the text boxes. I decided this based on which words I wanted to highlight.~ I chose a font size and then adjusted the box to fit the phrase tightly. This allowed me to move the box around for placement.~ Choose your fonts. I decided all the main phrases would be one font and color. The Highlighted words I wanted to pop, so a pretty but legible font and of course larger font size.~ Choose your colors. I played with different ones til I got them just right.~ I bolded the Bible reference and left it slightly smaller.~ I moved the text boxes around to where I liked the layout. Using the text boxes is the biggest help. It makes any subway art possible as well. ~ Choose a background. I didn't have many options here but went with a textured background that didn't take away from the actual words.
That's it! 
I hope you will give it a try. I loved all the printables I was seeing out on Pinterest and other blogs. I didn't realize how easy it was to create my own and change colors to match my decor better. It's one of those things the more you try and practice doing it, the better you will become.

Have a Great day!
Oh and if you want this printable, just right click and download or save it. It's all yours! Enjoy!

  

{Guest Post}

  Be Sure to check out my Guest Post over at Peace Love & Poop. It's all about my delivery and breastfeeding woes with my first-born.

Find it by clicking here.

{Freebie Friday}

Make sure you take advantage of this week's Freebie from Share the Memories:

This weeks freebie reminds me of renewal, peace, new life in the spring, and a little bit of St. Patricks Day!  This could also be very pretty for wedding or anniversary pages. Maybe even some heritage pages using those really old black and white family photos.

 You will have one week to download this freebie.

You can download this weeks freebie by clicking here.

This Freebie contains the 2 Quick Pages shown and all the pieces (papers and elements) used to create those Quick Pages!
(The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format.)

Remember, I will be sharing a new freebie every week.

If you have not purchased the software yet, you can do so here:

http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software

Use my code for a discount:

CODE: STMMMS72256
(I do get compensated if you use this)

They have a great social media presence and support group:

Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593

Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

Tutorials on how to use the software and tips can be found here.

{Canvas photo gift}

I wanted to make a special heart gift for my sister and brother-in-law for Christmas. What parent doesn't love a gift that shows off their child.

Here are the materials I used:

• one 8x10 canvas out of a 2-pack from Hobby Lobby
• black tempera paint
• sponge
• spray adhesive
• mod podge
• scissors
• and of course a picture of choice.

You may notice that the picture I used has been edited. I had asked my sister and brother-in-law to send me their current favorite picture of their daughter and some words, phrases, nicknames, or whatever that described her or meant something to them right now. Let me tell ya, that was such a neat thing to experience that relationship. So I just made the picture black and white and added these special words in various colors and fonts around her.

Next I put the black paint on my canvas and spread it around with the sponge. I wanted it to look a little rough and some white peek through. Then let it dry.

I trimmed the picture down and sprayed the back with Spray adhesive to figure out where to place it on the canvas and hold it while I added the mod podge.

So I spread the Mod Podge on in thin layers with a sponge. This gave it a matte finish. You have to let it dry and give it several layers of the mod podge to seal it well.

It turned out so good. I was very happy with how sweet it turned out and so were my sister and brother-in-law.

{Woohoo its the work week} :-)

Well it has been quite an odd week last week. I had several posts in the works, several projects I planned to work on, pictures being edited.......and I got sick. Not just sick, like really sick, as sick as a 9 months pregnant woman NEVER wants to be. Sick enough it scared my poor husband and kids. 

(source)

I was working like normal and I don't have issues being pregnant and working. I am mainly at a desk, but get up and about in the warehouse and production area and can jump in and help out to get moving and stay busy. This is my second pregnancy at this company and they are super supportive and a fun group to work with. I have never gone into labor, thank goodness, but did have my water break on its own with my daughter. So imagine my surprise when I started having contractions at lunchtime on Tuesday last week. Really other than being on pitocin and having some killer ones in the hospital with my first delivery, I have never felt contractions and wondered if I would know.......well trust me- YOU KNOW! It started feeling just like braxton hicks, tightening but not painful. Then every 5 minutes it got a little worse. After 10 of these painful ones I decided I should call the doctor and sure enough he said get to the hospital. I was 34 weeks and knew it was still early but didn't really feel like I was having this baby today. 
Work sends me out the door. I call the hubs who had to carpool because his car is in the shop and he had to beg a ride to the hospital. No taxis around here people. 
I talk to my sister while driving to the hospital to have someone to chatter with to keep my mind off things and get to the hospital where they are waiting for me. I get checked into triage and hooked up to monitors. Contractions continue to get worse. I end up throwing up from the pain. Hubby comes in right after that- nice one to miss too lol. They determine I am severely dehydrated- which surprises me because our company provides us free bottled water and I take advantage of that, and even add flavor packs to it to change things up. After drawing blood, urine test, and cervix check- I am Not dilated at all, baby is not coming, just gotta stop those pesky contractions. IV fluids it is. Thankfully that did stop them. I got to rest. All they can figure is that I have a virus that has not kicked into full gear yet. I found that hard to imagine since I felt fine other than the contractions. So I am a bit whiny. My IV line bothers me where it goes in. I toss and turn getting comfy, baby keeps moving so monitor keeps having to get moved lol. Hubby gives me a hard time for whining. So about an hour later after dozing and getting fluids we notice my forearm all swollen up. The IV has infiltrated my arm and the fluid is building up there LOL. I looked like popeye. 

(source)

See I told ya lol. I got home after a grocery stop for gatorade and orders to stay hydrated and rest. Wake up the next morning and feel miserable; hot then cold, chills, fever, achy worn out body. So yep definitely a virus. By dinner I was feeling better and had some soup and peanut butter crackers, and went to work the next day. Not feeling 100% but definitely 90% and just slow. I took a nap when I got home and went to bed early to get plenty of rest, but whadayaknow....woke up freezing cold shivering, teeth-chattering, can't move because my limbs are cramped up from the cold. Oh and did I tell ya I have an electric blanket on the bed that I ended up turning all the way up because it didn't feel like it was working! woke up the hubs to see if it was just me or did the heat go out. Just me. and he is now a little freaked with how hard my body is shaking. He tries holding me to warm me up- cause he is a furnace- but that doesn't help. Get some tylenol in me and check fever- yep 100.5, and the tylenol helped warm me up and calm down. So another day in bed for me with what feels like a different virus than the first. Yuck! 

At least it was short lived and by Friday evening I was sitting in the living room watching my kids play and eating pizza. Yep. weird I know.
So I hope you had a better week than me, and forgive me for the lapse of Freebie Friday post last week. I have a couple posts I worked on last night, so we have a few good ones coming up this week!    

Making a Banner

So I wanted to make a banner to use for my son's birthday party. I knew with all the craft stuff I have around the house I could make one without any extra costs. So here goes my little step by step guide for making it.  

I started with different colors of paper. Primary colors that worked well with our tractor themed party. Basic  sized 8.5x11 size and cut them in half.

Then I took one top corner edge and lined it up, ballparked it, to create a bottom point on one side.

This is what it looked like after the first cut.

Then it was easy to line up the other top edge to the bottom point I created with my first cut. Can you see where they are lined up down the cut line?

This is what it looked like after that second cut. See how simple that part was! No template needed.

Here is a picture of a few more colors cut.

So, now how to connect them.....I knew pretty quick I wanted to use eyelets. So I broke out my eyelet stash and tools. I ended up deciding I needed to do the eyelets on the ends so I could string ribbon through it to hang.

So then I switched to brads for the middle connections.

You just push them through both layers of papers.....

Then flatten it...

I used the Stampin' Up brads since it is what I had.

And well, here is the result. I know it doesn't look like much here or very big, but let me show you how it looks hanging up behind his high chair. It is twice as long as the photo above.

What do you think? 

{Girly party plans}

I am a planner. I may not finish all the details until the last minute, but I start planning well in advance. I have not always been this way. I became this way after having kids. I am 9 months pregnant with my 3rd. This is my 2nd daughter, and my poor son is stuck in between 2 girls. This little girl is due a month before my older daughter's 5th birthday. So I definitely need to get some planning underway for her upcoming birthday party.

I feel like 5 is such a big deal of a birthday! I mean, its a big step, you start Kindergarten, work on tying shoes, help more with chores, get an allowance, can ride a bus, are going somewhere with out your parents or some form of constant supervision. It kinda scares the bejeezus outta me!! My baby girl is growing up. 

And she is so grown up. The phrases she says, the way she dresses and carries herself. She wants to help us cook and is a HUGE help with her brother. Seeing her write her name and draw pictures (that look like what she says it is lol) just blow my mind. How can this even be possible, ya know!

So I figure we need to do some "grown-up girl" stuff. I am going to take her for her first mani/pedi. We are going to have a formal tea at a tea room, or if we can't find one that does what I am envisioning, we will wait to we visit my sister in Richmond and she and I will take my daughter to the Jefferson Hotel for High tea. In that case I will take her to the melting pot for a cheese/chocolate course- my husband doesn't want to miss that part. :-) Any other ideas for grown-up girl stuff I can do with her? I know to me, this already seems like a lot for our budget, but we are also going to Orlando in May and we will go to Disney for at least 1 day (she's gone every year, so we just want to hit the highlights) and that is what we are asking the rest of the family to contribute towards instead of buying toys and clothes that she doesn't need anymore of.

But you know, every child wants a party with their friends. So we will do something basic with just cake and ice cream and let the kids play. Well she wants a Princess Tea party. She has several boy "friends" so not sure how this is going to go over with inviting them to a girlie girly girl party, cause they are in the yuck girl stuff stage, so we may be adjusting it from a full on girly party and roll with it. SO as I was playing around with making cupcake topper images as I did for my son's tractor themed party (you just can't find Allis Chalmers and Farmall toppers like you can John Deere) I found this to be easy to make.

 I wanted to make them girly but not So fru fru pink. I am also thinking of doing some mustache style ones too for the boys. Her best friend is a boy and we just can't Not invite him.
A basic tutorial for these, and I apologize that it is short and not as detailed with pictures as I would like, but I wanted to share something. Please feel free to email me or comment with questions and I will be glad to help clear it up.
I started in Microsoft Publisher. I inserted a shape first, and just used a circle and eye-balled the size. These are approximately 1 inch circles. Then I googled around some free clipart to download, or you could insert images or pictures that you already have. I inserted the image, pattern, or color into the shape. In some cases I had to send it to the back. You can do that by right-clicking the mouse and it gives you that option. Sometimes I had to bring things forward or backwards to adjust the size to fit better. You can also add text to insert a number or letter or name or whatever you want. I then just copied the image over several times to create a line of them, and then down to make a full page. 
Then I decided I didn't want them all one image, and decided to change what image was inserted by row to change it up. Like I said, I know this is a really rough explanation, but it really was simple. I played around with publisher for the first time with just this project. What have you got to lose, its free after all. Oh and I also learned how to watermark something on publisher this time as well lol. 

2011 Top Posts

I have enjoyed seeing everyone's posts about what the top viewed posts they had done for the year. SO, I took a look at mine. It was very interesting to see which posts were the most popular. Looks like the very detailed posts with good step-by-step directions and pictures, especially the before and afters have been the most popular. What do you think? Why do you read this blog and what would you like to see more of? Book Birdhouse Sep 26, 2011, 4 comments 172 Pageviews

Saved from the yard sale May 17, 2011, 4 comments 137 Pageviews

{High-Five worthy Dinner} Sep 15, 2011, 4 comments 122 Pageviews

{Fall Topiary Decor} Oct 4, 2011, 5 comments   113 Pageviews

Make Your Mark Review/Giveaway May 2, 2011, 7 comments 88 Pageviews

Father's Day ideas Jun 10, 2011                    73 Pageviews

Coupon clipping service Apr 20, 2011, 2 comments 69 Pageviews

Applied Labels Review/Giveaway! Apr 30, 2011, 7 comments My Memories Suite Review 65 Pageviews  59 Pageviews

YAY!!! DIY Infant/Toddler Legwarmers Mar 1, 2011, 3 comments 58 Pageviews

Mason Jar wine glass.....

I had a quick fun gift to make for a Christmas party, and had seen these wine glasses at the Southern Christmas Show. I am already going to apologize for the poor pictures my phone took. I put it together quickly one night and took pics as I threw it together.

Here is the step by step:

These are the materials I used.

• medium sized mason jar (quart) already on hand
• cheap candlestick from thrift store .50
• DAP adhesive- already on hand.

just another view of it.

I flipped the jar over, centered where I wanted the candlestick to go.

Added the adhesive around it.

 

held it in place for a little while and let it sit overnight.

and this was the final product.

{Sale at Michael's this weekend}

I don't get compensated for this, just great deals I try to hit up when they have them, thought I would share.

we use yarn for lots of kid projects, and this makes it easy for me to consider trying to knit/crochet without worry of messing up lol.

Great deal on scrapbooking paper!

I always buy some of these flowers when they are this cheap. 

Great Frame price!! with matting!!

T-shirt deal! woohoo! I have several projects that use these.

Hope these deals help you with some of your projects!

{Freebie Friday}

I am going to start a weekly contest to go along with the freebies posted on Friday. I will have another free designer pack available each week that will go to the winner of each week's contest. I want you to share with me a page you have made using one of the freebie's given out on this blog. I want you to see how easy it is to use. Hoping soon to be able to add some extra monetary prize along with that as well, but that will depend on how successful this weekly contest is. Email entries to begintocraft@gmail.com.

I am hoping to post all entries and use the most viewed or some type of vote as the decision. 

Make sure you take advantage of this week's Freebie from Share the Memories:

This weeks freebie is bright and cheery. Makes me think of Spring being right around the corner. This is a stretch for me. It's not the typical colors I gravitate to as last weeks freebie was.

Well anyway, Be sure to grab it up while you can. You will have one week to download this freebie.

You can download this weeks freebie by clicking here.

This Freebie contains the 2 Quick Pages shown and all the pieces (papers and elements) used to create those Quick Pages!
(The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format.)

Remember, I will be sharing a new freebie every week.

If you have not purchased the software yet, you can do so here:

http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software

Use my code for a discount:

CODE: STMMMS72256
(I do get compensated if you use this)

They have a great social media presence and support group:

Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593

Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

Tutorials on how to use the software and tips can be found here.

I won an award!

I am tickled to death to win another award. This one is special because it is specific to what I blog about and comes from an online magazine. I am still so happy about this. It makes you feel like the time you put into sharing your steps pays off. I realize not everyone has time to comment, though it is highly appreciated.....hint hint. It is nice to get feedback as to what you are doing well. Encouraging to continue doing it. So Thank you to Be@Home and Become.com. I am so thankful for this award!

Be sure to show them some love!

The feedback I received was this:

 I like that you showcase so many different projects that give great tips and ideas. Your designs are creative and you give great tips for gifts and a wide variety of events and holidays!

I’m an editor at Be @ Home, which is part of Become.com’s blogging network, and thought your site was particularly exceptional. I wanted to give you a button for your site for being an “Editor’s Choice.”

Best Crafting Blog!

Quick kids project

Lil man is just too little to try this with yet, but Spencer and her friend H-man did great.

All I did was get those cheap wood Christmas decorations from Michaels. These are not the ornaments ones though they look like ones, they just don't have the hole in them. I add that with my dremmel tool.

I put paint in separate areas of egg carton. and let her have at it.

She has progressed so good in her design of them.

She gets really into it now. Love the designs she does. Her plastic cup that she rinses her brushes off in.

She even added glitter to them. She did so good. I am so proud and I love hanging these on my tree every year. 

Her and her buddy H-man have so much fun doing crafts. I have some to give his mommy too.

Now being Angels. They did so good.

H-man showing off his projects.

My sweet girl showing off her work too!

Well this was just a quick post about a quick project. I started this when my daughter was almost 2. We started with markers and these ornaments. I just put newspaper on the floor and let her go at it. So interesting to see how she has grown. We also use these for her to give as gifts to friends, grandparents, aunts/uncles. I like teaching her to give and to give homemade things. These are definite treasures.