{ fun projects }

I realized I haven't posted in months, so I thought I'd show you what I've been up to.... starting with the oldest down to the newest.

My favorite projects were the quote canvas I did for my grandmother-in-law's birthday that said, "where words fail, music speaks", the "Lemons" frame I made for my sister-in-law's birthday and the "...growing up is optional" frame I made for my friend's birthday.

It's funny because all of those projects have been gifts.... 

maybe after Christmas I'll work on some of those for my house! :)

I know all three are enjoying their gifts though, which is why creating them was so much fun!

{ collage wall and more... }

My latest project was creating a collage wall. I got this great idea and tutorial here and went to work. I was a little nervous because I didn't want to have a bunch of holes in the wall, but after I got it all ready it was really easy. John hung up the first frame in the middle and then I did the rest on my own. I love how it turned out- no more bare walls! The before and after pictures:

 

More cards....

 

And last but certainly not least, this beautiful temple picture....

 

John and I both worked on this project and FINALLY finished it! It was actually a Christmas present for my parents and this is the 2nd try and thankfully it turned out great! I ordered the kit online here and we had to do all the assembly. It was quite the project, we had to buy a board for the back, attach the picture and put texture over the picture to give it a canvas look. Then John assembled the frame, which is where the problems started. The angles were not cut correctly and when we put it together it had HUGE gaps! So after we had put it all together and painted it and everything, it just didn't look good. So we gave it to my parents for Christmas with a promise that we would redo the frame. We contacted the company and they sent us a new frame, but the angles were STILL not cut correctly, so John used his amazing skills and after a few hours of hard work it turned out perfect! We then painted the frame and attached the picture. So what was supposed to be a simple project turned out to be anything but simple, but very worth it! And most importantly, my parents LOVE it! It's pretty big too, 26 x 32 inches! Quite the masterpiece and it only took us until June to finish it! :) We kept forgetting about it until a couple of weeks ago and then John went to work and finished it within 2 days- he's quite the handy man! (It's his passion actually and he's amazing!) Now if I can just convince him to do another one for us someday!

*Note: If you're thinking about ordering one for yourself, know that you'll probably have to make adjustments to the frame (hopefully not and they are fixing the problem so that it's not such a hassle) and you'll need to use a nail gun plus other tools to assemble the frame. Also, attaching the picture with a staple gun as suggested on the instructions did not work- you need to nail it down. We had to buy the wood backing board, paint, glue and a couple of other things to finish this project- but it was still much cheaper than buying a temple picture at Deseret Book, just more work!

Enjoy!

{ Finally... New Creations! }

I realized the other day that I hadn't updated this blog in a looooong time! But I've have been busy..... don't think that I haven't done anything creative! :) That's not possible!  Here are the latest creations and projects that I've been meaning to share! Here they are starting with the most recent... As a thank you to my good friend Carolyn, I made this quote saying thingy (I'm not quite sure what to call it) for her wall. She chose the colors and the quote and I got to work and I love how it turned out! I love quotes!

 

Angie's birthday announcements were fun to put together until I got about halfway through and started wondering why I decided to do 50 of these!?!? It's fun to be able to send ones to all your family and close friends though! :) The funnest part about these invites was sewing them together! (with my machine of course!) As always, Lauren did a wonderful job on the photo! She really is amazing! Don't you just love cupcakes?

 

Some thank you cards for my cousin's baby shower... my Cricut cut it all out! It was such an easy way to make cards! I'm still figuring out all the things I can do with my Cricut! I love that all the paper coordinates! (It was the extras from Angie's birthday invites last year, which I just realized I never posted! Ha ha! Oh well, I'll post that later!)

Angie and I had fun covering one of her shoe boxes to use as a gift box for Grandma's birthday. She thoroughly enjoyed putting jewels and stickers all over it and making it extra special for Grandma!

I've had this paper heart box forever in my craft stash and never knew what do to with it. Then my friend, Lisa had her second baby and her first girl and so I thought.... "This would make a perfect tiny hair bow holder!" These bows are the little ribbon ones that you stick to their heads with Karo Syrup. It's so fun and feminine and perfect for those little bows! I definitely want to make more of those for baby shower gifts!

A couple of cards... a baby shower and princess birthday!

 These two hair clip holders have saved my life! Okay, not really, but they have saved a lot of time! I used to have all of Angie's hair clips in this cute container, but ever since Jenny has joined the family we have twice as many hair clips- obviously! I was spending way too long digging in the container to find the right clip every morning. Sometimes I would even dump the whole container on the floor if I was in a big hurry. So I finally found a solution! Framed hair clip boards... and they look so cute in the girl's rooms! If anyone is interested in a list of supplies or instructions let me know!

Lastly, a few things from Angie's party.... I learned how to make these super cute "Box Top" flowers (because it looks like the top of a cardboard box when you fold the top flaps together) that made a fun centerpiece for the table. And then I cut out these animals with my Cricut for a bean bag toss game. The game didn't work so well, I guess more of an indoor game, but they looked cute anyway! :)

So there you have it! Lots of fun projects! Hope everyone is enjoying creating new things as much as I am! Especially here in Washington since there hasn't been a whole lot of sun yet this summer! Hopefully that will change soon!

{ cards and holiday fun }

Thank you cards for all those who helped us out with our move- we couldn't have done it without our friends and family! Thanks Everyone!

 

 

A few fun crafts for the holidays that I'm just now getting around to posting! I found this cute hanging heart for Valentine's day that was super easy to make, but looked really cool because it had so much dimension! 

A few cards just to say "HI" and "I'm thinking of you" and a cute baby card for my friend Brandee who is having twins! Lastly I made these fun paper flowers out of my scalloped circle punch for St. Patrick's Day and made them into napkin holders! So nothing big, but definitely fun and quick projects that keep me creating, which makes me happy!! Enjoy! Let me know if you'd like the patterns or directions to the flower or heart, and I'd be happy to post them!

{ Crochet Flower Clips }

Oh! I almost forgot to tell everyone about the new crochet flower hair clips my Mom and I are making!

A month or so ago my Mom had knee surgery and had to stay off her feet for about a week. So she decided she had to keep herself busy while she was sitting there and started crocheting flowers. My Mom does the crocheting and sewing and I put the clips and cardstock backing together. 

We were so excited with how they turned out that we gave one to my friend, Bri for her baby shower and she loved them! 

Everyone said we should start selling them, so we're doing just that... they're in a consignment shop in Woodinville called Cruzin' Kidz  

so go check them out! Here is a picture of our clips in the store! (above) So exciting!

If you're not in the area and would like to purchase one, then email me at: amjlmp@gmail.com

These not only look cute as just hair clips, you can use them on a crochet beanie hat or with a crochet headband or scarf. Or you can clip it on a sweater or purse! They really work for any age! Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

{ Quilted Taggie Blanket }

I really need to work on this whole blogging thing because I've been totally slacking! I still have been doing crafty things, I just haven't found the time to blog about it!

Anyway.... my Mom made a very sweet, quilted taggie blanket for Jenny for Valentine's day and so I thought that it would be fun to make one for my friend, Lisa's baby shower. With my Mom's help, this was the final product! I absolutely love flowers, (as you all know) and polka dots so I just might have to make one for myself because I'm so in love with it!

You can see the back in this photo with the oh-so-soft minkie.... I just love it! And of course I had to make sure everything matched! I love baby showers, especially girls! Probably because I've got the whole girl thing figured out, I'll have to work on the boy stuff! There just aren't very many boy accessories like with girls, you know? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get more creative!

I just realized how many times I said "love" and how many exclamation points I use! See I did it again. Oh well, I guess that just shows you how much I enjoy crafting and creating and just life in general, why not put an exclamation point after everything if you're happy? That's what I do at least. I guess I love exclamation points too! Well, I've gotta run and get more packing done since Jenny is taking a nap and Angie is having fun at Nana's for a couple of hours. Oh how much I appreciate friends and family... I never would be able to pack and move within a week without their help! Thanks everyone!

{ Birth Announcement }

I'm so extremely excited to finally be able to share Jenny's birth announcements! They are finally completed and it only took me forever to get them done! :) I guess that's to be expected though since she's only 2 1/2 months old and that means not much time for doing anything extra at this point! I just sent these out last week and decided to include an updated picture with it since she's 3 days old in this one and has definitely changed since then! I had so much fun making these and my sister did a fabulous job on the photos didn't she? She's truly AMAZING! Thanks Lauren!




Here are some new hair clips I made too... I really liked how they turned out!