Making your Own Christmas Card

Every year, I would spend hundreds on family photos because I figured I'd get great pictures. After a few disappointments, I decided a couple of years ago I would start taking my own family portraits.  If they didn't turn out, I could always go find yet another photographer.  The last two years have been interesting using a tripod, timer and running back and forth, but we were able to actually get a lot of great pics, some of my all time favorites.

This year, I solicited my sister to snap the pictures for me since it is a lot easier than arranging everyone and trying to snap the pictures while being in it as well.  I generally scope out a location that I love, but this time, we winged it.  My husband suggested a local park I'd never been to and to my amazement, it had a secluded path that was completely private.

We had 1 hour of overcast (according to the internet) so we had to work quickly.  I decided this year, I wanted to have fun Christmas cards so I made A. wrap lights around us because he is the mischievous one in the family. I am so happy with the results. 

Then, I went home and added text using photoshop and voila I have my Christmas card.  I love it!

DIY Artwork

I wanted to add a piece of art above my desk so I went looking for something that had a punch of yellow since that was my accent color for the room.  Shopping for the last couple of weeks was a bust so I decided that I would try to make my own artwork.

One night, A. started to sing "you are my sunshine" to me and I thought the words to that song were perfect.  I thought, every time I see the words to that song, it will remind of me of the song I sing to my kids.  I typed out the lyrics, playing with the font using Fireworks and came up with some samples.

Since my screen color is always vastly different than the printed product, I decided to have it printed in various shades.  I narrowed down the selection to these.

The four got narrowed down to two.  I didn't know if I wanted a huge pop of color or just a subtle one.

I thought the dark grey on top of the grey walls looked better.  Enlarged, it will give me the subtle pops of yellow that I want without being over powering.

Once I made my decision, I made it into a 16x20 print. 

Total cost was only $5.99, the price of the enlargement.  I love how it turned out.  What do you think?

It makes me giddy every time I look at it, knowing my kids love that song as much as I do.  All I need to find is a silver or white frame for the print and then it will be complete. 

Halloween Decor

Here's my mantel for the summer. I'm not in love with the mirror, but I love the flowers and the colors.

To me, it's simple, bright and cheery.

I love Halloween, but I don't usually decorate too much for this holiday. However, I needed a break from all my studying so I decided to redecorate my mantel for the month of October. I shopped around and couldn't find anything that I was too excited about so after walking home with a single bag of candy corn, I decided to shop around my house instead.

I took some frames that were literally just laying around.

Next, I took some handmade scrapbook paper that I had on hand.

I needed some Halloween images, but my husband overtook my craft room which housed my laptop and printer so I found this pumpkin carving booklet and decided to use the images in the book.

The simpler the image, the better. I cut out the paper image and used it to cut out the image onto fabric.

I chose a cat and a haunted house (nothing too scary for my kiddos).

I placed the fabric image onto my scrapbook paper and framed it.

Since the frame is 11 x 14 and my paper is 12 x 12, I cut a piece of black fabric to fill in the empty space on the bottom. I used a green ribbon as a divider. I love the way it turned out.

And now for my mantel reveal.



From bright and cheery to....

a more goolish feel.

The total price tag for the change was $2.49, the price of a bag of candy corn. I want to also make a Halloween wreath, but I will need to muster up some more time to make another field trip to the craft store for that one. Until then, I am pretty happy with the way my mantel turned out.

Making Artwork from Your Computer

I am redoing J.'s room and needed some artwork for his walls. Since he loves playing video games. I decided to frame some of his favorite games on the wall.

I found a website that has wii box covers you can print out.

I cut off the back of the box cover using a paper cutter.

I took a frame that I bought at my company's surplus sale.

I think people thought I was nuts to buy this print. I wasn't looking at the print when I bought it. I was only looking at the nice silver frame that came with it. For only a buck, it was definitely a steal.

I pasted the prints on the back of the print.

I laid the images and then framed them.

I like it. I decided to make the second one with less images and I think it turned out better.

For only $2.00, I think this was a nice solution for some video game artwork.

Framing Jerseys

Since J. is really into basketball and his favorite team are the Lakers (thanks to Dad), I decided to frame some Lakers' jerseys for his room. It turned out really nice.

The thick silver frames against the gray wall was perfect. The little jersey was J.'s when he was little so it is over 12 years old. All four boys wore it, but it still looks brand new. I know the idea isn't new, but this is one of my favorite things that I have created for his room. What do you think?