It's a crafty kinda day...

So it's been what... two months since my last post?? Sorry about that! I really do enjoy dabbling into the world of blogging, but as every one knows, Christmas is a crazy time of year, we had the flu and then we were trying to get back on some kind of schedule after the holidays were over. But I'm back now, so let's pretend there was no time between these posts {I can keep a secret if you can!} I can't promise it won't happen again, but I can say that I'm going to try to post an entry at least once a week. I have soooo many craft ideas, home reno projects and scrapbook pages to share with all of you!

Ok, so moving on.... it's a PA day today and that means no school for H and no daycare for J {which also means I'm home until the evening! Yahoo!} It also snowed today and I really don't feel like going outside so I decided to pull something off of my craft board on Pinterest. {If you haven't been to Pinterest, you MUST go!! It's be next best addiction to Facebook ever!}

Here's the original Pinterest pin that I saw. It's a pretty simple craft, but I had to figure out what size to cut the pictures and such, so I'm just going to add all that into my post today. Here's the finished puzzle we made...

Now for how I did it. Here's the materials you'll need:

Popsicle Sticks {more like the big tongue depressors}

4x6 pictures of your choice

Mod Podge

Sponge brush {or paint brush for mod podge}

Paper Trimmer {optional, can use scissors and a ruler instead.}

Here's my original picture before turning it into a puzzle. {It's actually our family Christmas card from this year! Photos were taken by Jennifer Hall, and she also designed our card too.}

First you're going to cut 1/4" to 1/2" off the width of your picture.In my case it was from the height because it was a portrait layout, not landscape. 

Next you cut the picture into 5/8" strips.

Brush a layer of Mod Podge onto the stick and then put your picture strip on top.

Continue that until all your strips are on the sticks.

Mod Podge creates a protective barrier on top of papers, pictures and the like. This is ideal for "little hands" to make it last longer... and less sticky. Just pour it on top of the picture, and brush it on.

Don't worry! It dries clear!!

Even H was in on the action! {Yes, it's THAT easy.}

Put it on some parchment or wax paper {or newspaper} and let it dry.

It was so easy, we actually made 4 puzzles today!

And the girls had fun putting them together after they were all dry. All in all it took me maybe 25 mins to do all 4 puzzles and for them to dry. Easy Peasy!!

Oh, and I had to throw this one in there... Doesn't J look like a doll today!? So cute!

Happy Crafting!! Hope to post again soon! {Like a week or earlier soon!}

~Chrissy~

Let Her Eat Cake!!

My little big girl is soon turning 5. FIVE years old!? Where has the time gone!?!?

H really wanted to choose her own cake this year and has landed on a princess castle cake. One problem... I don't make cakes and the one she wanted was like $150. YIKES!!

I had something like this in mind...

H wanted something more like this...

You all know me by now. Super cheap, but good quality {if you can get it super cheap} is the way to go. Soooooo... one of my BFF's sister lent me a castle cake kit she had. {HUGE thank you to NB for that!!} I know na-thing-a about cake making or decorating but another of my BFF's has made cakes for her kiddies in the past and agreed to help me! {WOOT, WOOT!} Here's the picture story of my cake making journey. {With a few comments here and there... Ok, ok maybe just a hint more than a few.}

Started out with 4 cakes.

Iced the bottom so it would hold still while on the board, then iced the bottom cake, and top cake.

I couldn't find a 6" round cake pan on such short notice {shout out to all the procrastinators!} so I used my juice jug to "trace" and out line and then cut it out with a butter knife. 

I have to be honest here and say the HARDEST part, was icing the cakes! I am {clearly} not talented when it comes to cake making, but H loves it all the same! {And it helps that this part of the cake is hidden behind turrets!} 

I used a Wilton Cake decorating kit and made the little stars around the tops.  Then I forgot to take pictures for a while!

Here's the towers coming together. They are part of the Wilton Romantic Cake kit. They are PLASTIC!! {Cut the work by 75% I'd say. And they look pretty impressive when it's done! }My friend JJ was my partner in crime helper! We melted white chocolate discs and dipped the towers in it and placed it on the cake base to hold it into place. {Worked GREAT!} Then I took the icing and outlined the windows and the door.

Time to add the tops of the towers! I used waffle ice cream cones and JJ iced them. Then we rolled them in decorators sugar! YUMMMM!

I put more white melted chocolate in the tops of the turrets to hold the cones in place. Worked just like glue once it dried! 

JJ did the grass and it looks awesome! Had NO clue you could get icing to do that!!

The finished product!! Not too shabby for a non-cake-maker eh!? {Yep, Canadian and PROUD of it!}

Here's a few other angles and shots of it.

Back

10 towers for 10 kiddies at her party! Yep, each kiddies gets to eat a cone! {insert evil sugar endued laugh here}

I hope you've enjoyed my journey! It wasn't all that hard, but a little time consuming. But with the right tools {and the right help!} you can pretty much accomplish anything!

Chrissy

Home Made Microwavable Popcorn! {Yes, you read that right!}

As you are likely all starting to realize, I'm pretty cheap economical. I try to save where I can as most mommas do. Here's a little tip on saving money on microwaved popcorn... Make your OWN! Yep, you DID read that right! Here's what you need:

Brown paper bag {like what you used to take your lunch to school in}
popcorn kernels {I buy the uber cheap no name kind.}
Microwave.

That's it! Pour a layer of kernels into the brown paper bag {while the bag is standing up covering the rectangular bottom} then fold up the end a couple of times. Pop it on it's side in the microwave on the popcorn setting and viola! Home made microwaved popcorn without all the mess and cost of Oriville.

Enjoy!!

Living Room... Thoughts?

As you all know, we're giving some love to our "power-of-sale-fixer-upper." We came up with ideas for the family room, bought flooring, picked fabrics for curtians and are finally going to buy our paint this weekend! Buuuut, I had no idea what to do for our living room. Noda. Nothing. Zilch. Like I mentioned in my previous post, the living room and family room are connected by a large double size doorway that used to have french doors once upon a time. Since I'm on a serious time crunch, I decided tonight after The Hubs was out and kidlets were in bed, it was time to get some ideas!

After viewing thousands about a hundred pictures on google images, I think I've come up with some inspiration for our living room!! {Squeal!} It's not really something I would have normally been drawn too, but I did want blue incorporated into the main floor and when I saw the colours, I knew these were the ones!

Wait for it.........

Ta da!! This was the original picture that I saw and I LOVE IT!!! {EEK!!}Ok, so not all the crazy patterns, but the colours are exactly what I want! Here's another picture:

I really like how the colours mix. We also have a dark wood entertainment unit so when I saw this picture, I knew it would go with our current furniture. {Well, the entertainment unit we're keeping, everything else is going!}  

Ok, one more picture....

These are a bit more muted, but I still love it!

So that's all for tonight! What are your thoughts? I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Now just to convince The Hubs.....

Family Room... Help!

So, over the past few weeks The Hubs and I have decided that it's time to tear out the nasty carpet in the living room {that we inherited when we moved in... we did have it professionally cleaned before we moved in so we know there's no lingering stuff under there... just looks gross.} Our family room is right next to the living room with a large doorway, which used to have french doors once upon a time, separating the two rooms. {See nasty, ugly, stained carpet pictured below. Oh, and my little H watching Aladdin. ;o)}

 

We finally found laminate flooring that we both liked and bought it today! {EEK!!} I had no idea what I wanted for the wall colours though and I had no thoughts on accent colours at all. Luckily Uppercase Living came to the rescue! They've recently featured some mustard & grey tones in their most recent catalogue and at first I thought it was terrible. Buuuut the more I browse the catty, the more I liked it! I found these pictures on google images and it has the colour scheme I'm looking to achieve, but the furniture isn't what I want.

After seeing these inspiring pictures, The Hubs, H, J and I went to fabricland to find some inspiration! Lo and behold, here's what I found:

The Hubs liked the fabric in the top picture, and I love the one on the bottom. So we took a sample of each to Rona and found some paint chips that will work. {Oh, and they are laying on top of our new flooring!!}

I have a few more that have some green tones and such in it, but you get the general idea. I have one more picture to show you before I move on to the "help" portion of this blog entry... Here's the sample fabric pieces with our current wall colour... {You can't really tell, but the current wall colour is a light yellow. Sort of a butter cup tone. It happens to go really well with the fabric sample that I like.}

My question is; Would you paint the walls yellow, grey or keep it the same?? We are thinking of painting the walls yellow because it will be really bright and warm. It also would be good with the kitchen for now since they family room is open directly to the kitchen and we are doing that room LAST!  I thought of painting the walls grey, but we both think it would bring a cold feeling into the room. {And we have two rooms that are already grey in the house - Hubs office and our bedroom is an earthy grey tone.}

Thoughts please!? Any and all suggestions welcome!!