Some Projects for the Fellas

This month's MemoryWorks Express Kit was called "Just the Boys" which I thought was appropriate since June is the same month as Father's Day. I just wanted to share a few more of the projects I made using this kit.

This is a little tag that I think I will attach to a birthday gift I'm giving soon. I love tags but I'm never 100% sure what to do with them so I made this with an upcoming birthday in mind.

I'm going to put pictures of my daughter and step son in this layout. There is an 8 year age difference between them but you would never know it. They love each other so much and have so much fun together.

So those are my projects for today. I'll be starting a series here soon about how I scrapbook for the SUPER cheap (and many times FREE). I have lots of ways I pay for my scrapbooking and crafting addiction without ever touching our family bank account! Want to know how I do it? Stay tuned . . . details coming very soon!

Lego Surprise Party

Several months ago, long before the moving chaos started, my step son decided he would like a Lego themed birthday party. 2 weeks before the party, he decided he wanted a surprise party. Now, normally a surprise party for him wouldn't be too hard to pull off because he only lives with us during school breaks but because it was so close to party time and I had planned to do a lot of work the first week he was here with us, this threw a little monkey wrench into my plans. We still managed to pull it off though and here is what it looked like.

Yes, that took as long as you think it did! But doesn't it make a nice backdrop? It was super cheap too! I have a love/hate relationship with streamers. They are a super cheap decoration (I got two rolls of each color for a $1 at the Dollar Store) but they can be such a pain to put up.

You might remember that banner (excuse the "R" that refused to stay straight) from my Memorial Day post. When I made that banner I made enough additional letters so that I could rearrange and add to make this banner. Love recycling! It saved me a ton of time!

So my first plan was to bake a bunch of mini loaf pan cakes, frost them, frost some Oreos and put them on top to make lots of little Legos. That wasn't possible for a surprise party so then I thought I'll bake two oblong cakes, stack them, frost them and then frost a couple of angel food cakes (the kind you use for strawberry shortcake) and put them on top to make one giant Lego. Well, as it turns out I'm no baker and the whole thing ended up in a enormous mess so I sent my step daughter to Walmart for a pre-made cake. The Lego bricks are leftovers I had and are made from chocolate wafers that I melted and put into this mold. 

I also made these chocolates for the treat bags and then afterwards I melted crayons in them to make Lego shaped crayons that I put into the goody bags.

The crayons were easier than I expected. When we began packing to move I went through all of the kids toys so that we didn't pack and move anything broken or unwanted. We had lots of broken crayons so I saved them for this very reason. I divided the crayons into baggies by color. Then I took all of the wrappers off and broke them and put them into the mold. The mold is silicone and oven safe up to 400 degrees so I put the crayons on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and heated them at 350 degrees until they were melted (or at least 85% melted). Let them cool then pop them out. A little lesson I learned, avoid pinks because that particular color (and red too a little) stained the mold. I have yet to get it off but I'll keep you posted if I do.

We didn't have a ton of food because the plan was just to do cake and ice cream but I wanted a few munchies so I picked up some chips and party mix. I also wanted some candy but red, black and yellow candy isn't the easiest thing to find so I did red and black Twizzlers and yellow packs of gum. Not the greatest but I was pushed for time.

I put this in our entry way. It was the first thing he saw when he came home. The Lego background on the sign is the same background I used for the invitations. I made it by putting Legos directly onto my scanner and  scanning them.

Each guest got to guess how many Legos were in the vase - just for guessing everyone got a goody bag. (There's 179 in case you are wondering)

These are the goody bags. I just layered and cut some cardstock and the "Thank You" I created on the computer and printed on photo paper. I used some stickers from my stash to put each of the kids names on their bags.

Sorry for the lousy pictures, I took these after the fact with my phone. This is what was inside each of the goody bags. A small bag of black, red, yellow and white Legos, two of the Lego chocolates (it takes 10 wafers to make one block so I figured if I gave more than two to each kid the parents would seriously hate me later) and the crayons. I put everything in it's own bag and labeled the contents. I realized afterwards that maybe the chocolates and crayons might get confused and while the crayons are all non-toxic I didn't want anyone getting a nasty little surprise.

So that's it for our Lego surprise party. All in all I would say it was a success but I don't know if I'll be doing any more surprise parties any time soon - they are A LOT of work!

A Card for Card Cupids

Today I wanted to share a card I made for Card Cupids. Each week a new challenge is issued and this weeks challenge is to create a card with a boy theme. The sponsor is Bugaboo Stamps who I love! Their images are just too cute so I am always thrilled when I get to work with them.

This little guy is named Decon and I think he is too adorable! The patterned paper is from October Afternoon (5 & Dime collection) and the blue cardstock is from Co'redinations (love them). I colored the image with Copics and used a black Spica pen (so sparkley) on his shoes and the ladybug. The "Thinking of You" stamp is a $1 stamp from AC Moore and I stamped it with some Stampin' Up ink.

Tomorrow I will be sharing some pictures and crafts I did for my step son's surprise birthday party from this past Saturday. If you have a Lego fanatic be sure to check back tomorrow!

A Card and Some Father's Day Goodies

I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day! It was a busy but fun day around here. I cooked breakfast for the hubs and family and then my dad came over and we all had dinner together. It's nice to have a day to celebrate and remember those wonderful men in our lives.

I wanted to share with you some things I made for Father's Day. First up, some cards. I made these cards using the June MemoryWorks Express Kit themed "Just the Boys". So appropriate for this time of year!

Next, I made this layout (also using the MemoryWorks Jun Express Kit) to put pictures from Father's Day on (just have to get them printed now).

Then I made these little jars to give to my dad. He loves peanut M&M's and roasted peanuts so I filled two jars I bought at Walmart with both and then decorated them.

The ribbon is a self adhesive ribbon I've had forever and the circles are a free printable I found at Paper Glitter. I didn't get a picture of it before I gave it to him but I also gave this adorable free printable from A Proffittable Life to my dad. I put it on a piece of pretty blue Co'ordinations paper and framed it. It looked so cute! Wish I had a picture for you.

Don't worry, DH wasn't left holding the bag. He has been wanting a Roku for the longest time so that's what we got him. He was very happy and spent all day playing with his new toy.

I also have a card to share with you today. I made this card for the current challenge over at Card Cupids. The challenge was to create a Summer Themed card. I used some paper from the Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer kit and an image from the challenge sponsor (Fresh Brewed Designs).

New Trend Essentials!

Nothing beats that feeling you get on Christmas morning when you finally get to open that present you have been eyeballing (and secretly shaking when no one was looking). That's exactly how I feel about Trend Essentials! I know it's coming and waiting just about kills me but once it arrives . . . . WHA HOO! 

Well, the new Trend Essentials is here and it does not disappoint! Just look at some of these goodies!

BoBunny Liberty Theme Set

Fancy Pants Baby Mine

My Mind's Eye Life of the Party

BoBunny Zoology

BoBunny Barefoot and Bliss

Cosmo Cricket Odds and Ends

BasicGrey Out of Print

BasicGrey Oxford

 And that's just a few of the things available! My wish list grows every time I look at the Trend Essentials PDF or the Trend Essentials page on MemoryWorks' website. I know you want some too, right? Well, email me your wish list and I'll take 10% off of any Trend Essentials item you order between now June 18th! But hurry, Trend Essentials are extremely limited and only available while supplies last so order now before all of these goodies disappear!

Card for Card Cupids Challenge

I wanted to show you the card I made for this weeks Card Cupid Challenge.

I apologize for the lousy picture - not sure what happened there. Clearly I was in a hurry though. Anyway, the challenge this week is to use more than three layers. A pretty simple challenge I thought since most of us use more than 3 layers any ways. The sponsor is Some Odd Girl stamps and can I tell you how much I love their images? They are just so cute and now they have rubber cling stamps for those of you who aren't interested in digital stamps! I like digital stamps but I'm considering picking up some of the cling stamps to add to my hoard supplies. The paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Upcycle collection and the image was colored with Copics (sorry, I don't have a list of colors at the moment). I am totally loving this Upcycle collection - retro but bright and fun. If you would like to order this Cosmo Cricket theme set, or any other MemoryWorks supplies, just email me (I always discount purchases to make ordering from me worth your time).

Bookmarks for Card Cupids

I love reading but I never get the chance to read "Grown Up" books any more. Most of the books I read these days have lots of pictures and rhyming words but thats OK. I'm hoping all of the reading Tinker and I do will instill a love of reading in her as well. I remember how much fun it was when I was little to go to the library and pick out an arm full of new books to take home. I'd usually have everything read the first day and be ready to go back the next! That's why I definitely wanted to participate in the Card Cupids Schools Out Summer Drive. Card Cupids has been collecting journals, pens/pencils, bookmarks and cards to provide an underprivileged school with materials for their kids to use over the summer. I wanted to do so much more but I just ran out of time. These are the bookmarks I put together to send.

I used the remaining scraps from my Crate Paper School Spirit Theme Set project to create these bookmarks. I thought this paper was perfect because it's good for a boy or a girl. I also used my Pink Paislee Daily Junque stamps (seriously in love with these, let me know if you would like to order a set - I promise you will not be disappointed) on the bottom just to give it a little more decoration. The quotes are from one of my favorite authors when I was a kid. If you have never read a Shel Silverstein book, you must run to the library this minute and get one! I recommend "Where the Sidewalk Ends" - it's my favorite!

Don't forget about my "Pay it Forward" post. I still have room for 4 more people to receive a RAK - no strings attached, just because I think you're special! :)