Friday Finds

Happy Friday, Dawn here with this weeks find. Since next week is the 4th of July, I have started looking for creative ways to decorate our house to celebrate this fun holiday. So I turned to Pinterest as usual for creative ideas that I can make with the kids. There were so many cute paper wreaths for the 4th of July. Pinterest has so many idea’s from easy to really difficult. You can also use Sugar Moons cupcake toppers, on your patriotic cupcakes.

They got this idea from Family fun, and will be a fun project for our family.

Here is everything you need to get it done.

Materials

• Double-sided tape
• 4 (5- by 6-inch) pieces each of red, white, and blue card stock
• Cardboard, cut into a 10-inch circle, plus more for a star (we used a cereal box)
• Clear tape

• Tacky glue
• Aluminum foil
• String

Instructions

1. To make a paper cone, place a strip of double-sided tape along the shorter edge of a piece of card stock. Roll the paper as shown, then press to adhere. Repeat with the remaining sheets of card stock.
2. Place a strip of double-sided tape on the back of each cone. Lay the cones in alternating colors on the cardboard circle and press to adhere. Turn the wreath over and secure each cone to the back with a piece of clear tape.
3. Apply glue to a scrap of cardboard, about 3-1/2 inches wide, cover it with aluminum foil, and smooth out any wrinkles. Cut the covered cardboard into a star shape (download our template). Apply glue to the back and press it onto the center of the wreath, then let it dry.
4. To hang the wreath, make a loop from the string and tape it to the back of the cardboard.

Hoping that everyone has a wonderful and safe 4th of July.

 

Thursday Tidbits: Purse Cards

Hi, there, scrapbookers and crafters! This is Melissa T., once again after a two week hiatus, bringing you your weekly Thursday Tidbit. This week I am bringing you a tutorial offered by MyMemories on making purse cards. I can see many uses for these extremely cute cards: women’s birthday cards, baby showers, birth announcements, or even Sweet 16 party favors. However, I encourage you to play around with the templates first before printing of scads of invitations that look crooked or are not folded correctly. The template that you will see of mine is WRONG!!! However, sometimes it is better to see how something should not look as opposed to how it will look so that you will not make the same mistakes.

For the MyMemories Software compatible template, simply click on the link and download it into your program. http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3
I adjusted the template to use Sweet Neapolitan by Missy’s Bits which may be found at her MyMemories Store.

If you do not have the MyMemories Software, I encourage you to use either of the coupon codes to the right to get $10 off the price of the highest ranked digital scrapbooking software in the United States.

Now for the tutorial:

1. Download the template in the style necessary for your computer and software and install it on your computer.
2. Open MyMemories Suite on your computer and click on “Create Album From Designer Template” and find the project.
3. If you choose to use the template exactly as it is, print out the provided template on cardstock.
4. Cut out the templates, and glue the front of page 1 to the back of page 2.
5. Decorate with embellishments of your chosing and select a coordinating ribbon to attach to the inside top of the card as a purse handle.
6. If you wish to customize your template with backgrounds and embellishments and words of your choosing you will first want to right click on the white guide and lock it in place to keep
it from moving while you are working. Before printing, make sure that this is the top layer of your project.
7. Select the type of background paper you wish to use and insert it into the template. Then delete the paper already in the template. I found it easiest to move the paper down a little before double clicking on it to delete the object.
8. Use the desired kit to add embellishments as you see fit. However, be certain that all embellishments on Page 1 are ABOVE the TOP FOLD LINE and UPSIDE DOWN. If not, when you fold the card, the embellishments will be covered by the top flap.
9. If writing on the front of the card, turn the tags and words upside down below the 2nd fold line. If writing on the inside of the card (Page 2), write the words right-side-up between the fold lines. If you treat the inside and outside the
same way, the writing will appear upside-down as mine is in the picture.
10. Print out the first page on cardstock and flip the page to print on the 2nd page on the back of the 1st. If you glue two pages of cardstock together, the folds become too thick and the card will not close properly (see mine for an example of this.)
11. Cut out the card and fold each line toward the inside of the card.
12. Add ribbon, sequins, buttons, etc. to make a one-of-a-kind card for someone special.

Hopefully, you will learn from my mistakes and be certain that your craft looks more presentable than mine. Remember that few things ever turn out right the first time, and be patient with yourself if you choose to make these cards. They are very cute and will elicit Oooooo’s and Ahhhhhhh’s from all recipients.

Gather all of your supplies before assembling your purse card including scissors, glue, a ruler or bone folder, print outs, and ribbon.

Cut out each page of the purse card if using 2 pages before gluing the front of the card to the back.

Fold your card inward along the dotted lines and affix a braided ribbon handle to the card with glue or rubber cement.

Remember to write the message right-side-up when designing your card or it will look like this. And as always, lots of love sent from the ladies at www.scrappingartistry.com.

Be sure to make a memory today and have a camera on hand to capture it!

Tuesday Treasure~Template

Hello scrapping world! Sorry for being so late with my post today. The days have just sorta slipped away from me and I just litterally realized today was Tuesday lol. I have a template made for you today to match A Collab kit that both Sugarmoon Designs and Missys Bit’s Designs have parts in called The Best Summer which is the June Collab kit over at With Love Studio’s. This is such a great kit for summer pages~ The best part of this kit is that right now if you spend $10.00 in the store you will get this kit free! How great is that? So head on over to Missy’s Bits and Sugarmoons Shops and get yourself some great things and get this kit free if you spend $10.00!

{Download}

Enjoy the Template and hopefully it can come to use for you with the Summer Scrapbook Challenge that Shanna Posted last week for us

Happy Scrappin’

Monday’s Meal: Strawberry Soup

Good morning!  Cammi here for Monday’s meal.  I’m not sure how the weather is where you live, but it’s hot where I am!  I’m always looking for a new refreshing recipe for the summer time heat.  I came across this one last year when I was on the search for “cold soup”.  It’s a strawberry soup that’s so delicious!  I hope you enjoy!

Thanks to The Food Network for sharing this recipe!

Strawberry Soup

Ingredients

• 2 cups hulled and sliced fresh or (thawed) frozen strawberries
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Whipped topping, as needed
• Fresh mint sprigs, optional

Directions

Sunday Silly Summer Fun ~ Squash the Sharks

Hello, Christie here with your Silly Summer Fun Post for today. I found a fun game to play with the kids in Disney Family Fun Magazine. If you have kids this is a must have magazine or luckily you can look all the articles up online too. So today we are going to play Squash the Sharks. So much fun, my kids laughed the entire time.

Supplies:

• party size balloons
• kiddie pool
• permanent markers (optional)

Directions:

• Fill up pool

• Blow up balloons

• Draw shark faces on balloons (optional) My kids didn’t want to wait for the faces, but if you have ones that will wait or want to help it is a fun part you can do with them while you wait on the pool to fill up.
• Now the fun begins, give each child a balloon and let them sit on it in the water. Child who squashes the most sharks wins.

Remember there will be a lot of slipping and sliding, so don’t put to many kids in the same pool. It is hard to squash those sharks, but it is loads of fun.

Frame used in my photos is from Missy’s Bits Garden Whimsy kit. You can purchase it at her store at My Memories.

Tags: balloons, squash shark, summer, water

Friday Finds

Happy Friday, Dawn here with this weeks finds. Now that it is officially summer and the days are longer, keeping the kids entertained can be challenging. I have 4 kids and their favorite summer activity that they can not wait for is the splash park. They are free parks that have sprinklers that kids run through. Not your garden type of sprinklers but huge sprinklers, that kids run through like my boys are in this picture.

Another fun activity that my kids are enjoying this summer is free bowling. You can find a local bowling alley to go bowling at www.kidsbowlfree.com.

Another activity that we will be trying is Geocaching. It is like a free real-world treasure hunt using the GPS on your cell phone. It can be a ton of fun and it only costs you the plan on your cell phone. Check out www.geocaching.com and get in on the game. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Tags: free bowling, splash parks, summer fun for kids

Going Not-So Buggy!

Hey Everyone, its Missy with some tips on getting rid of those pesky summer skeeters the all natural way!

You may not know it, but I am a green kinda girl!  If I can avoid nasty chemicals, especially on my kiddos, I will take the extra couple of minutes to whip up my own concoction or spend a few more dollars.  In the long run, I know we will all be better off!  I recommend looking up the products you already use- you may be suprised at what’s in them!  The Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetics Database has tons of information on products we all use everyday.

There are tons of safe products available, but there are also some great recipes for natural bug repellant that you can make yourself.  Almost all of the ingredients in these recipes can also be used for household cleaning and freshening.  And many of these recipes are also very inexpensive- and who doesnt love to save money?

Natural Bug Spray

Citronella Essential oil

Lemongrass Essential Oil

Cedarwook Essential Oil

Put 20 drops of each into a spray bottle with 2 cups of water.  Shake well and spritz on body and clothes.  You will need to shake the bottle each time you use it.

Easy Peasy, right?  And you can use the lemongrass oil when house cleaning for that fresh lemony smell!

Natural “Skin-so-Soft”

Coconut Oil

Peppermint Oil

Combine 1 cup coconut oil and 2-3 drops peppermint oil.  Apply to skin.

Coconut oil is a wonderful moisturizer too.  Princess B has excema and the coconut oil works so well, we almost never have to resort to medication!  Apparently, those skeeters dont want minty fresh breath so they leave the peppermint oil alone.  Peppermint oil is potent stuff- so start light and add more if needed.

Here are some other articles I found on natural bug repellants:

Natural Insect Repellant

Aromatherapy Insect Repellant (I am totally trying this recipe ASAP!  I love lavender.  I am going to sub witch hazel for the alcohol)

Handmade Natural Bug Repellant Spray

Project Summer Scrapbook

Good Wednesday to you, Shanna here with a summer scrapbook challenge for you. Do you have a P365 or P52 scrapbook project you work on? Or have you ever wanted to do one of these projects and just couldn’t commit to it? I know I have, but I’ve always failed at keeping up with taking daily or weekly pictures. So I thought you know a summer journal would be fun especially for my daughter then the idea sparked hey why not a Project Summer Scrapbook. The idea is to make a layout once per week for every week of summer. I got started on week 2 of ours because like I said I fail easily at these projects so my week 1 well there are no pictures from it, at least not on my camera. I will probably just do a big journaling page and maybe add a few pictures from the books we checked out of the library (I still have those). Anyway, here is your challenge. Starting now take lots of pictures of your summer routine and include those fun times as well as just the days at home and scrap about them. They will make an awesome photobook to keep especially if you have a lot going on with children involved so they can remember their summer out of school.

Here is the layout for our Week 2 I put together today using Sugar Moon’s part of “The Best Summer Ever” XOXO Collab over at With Love Studio. It is an awesome collab with a lot of great summer themed stuff from a number of designers including Sugar Moon and Missy’s Bits. So go pick it up today for only $6.99.

Tags: Best Summer Ever, Challenge, missy's bits, sugar moon, Summer Scrap Project

Tuesday Treasure~ 4th of July Cupcake Toppers

Happy Tuesday Scrappers! I hope you had a great Father’s Day weekend with your families celebrating those wonderful fathers out there! I know my family did!

The 4th of July is right around the corner trying to sneak up on us! I can’t believe how close it is already! So today I have some Cupcake Toppers to share with you. I was browsing Pinterest as usualy looking for some party ideas for my sons upcoming birthday… His party is next Saturday.. and I am so far behind on planning! lol… But I found these…

and these

And these of course sparked my idea for 4th of July cupcake toppers. The directions I typed up and added with your download does say to use toothpicks but for better support you could use lollipop sticks. These can be found at walmart or your local craft store. I myself don’t have any images of these printed out and put together but the images above should give you a good idea of what they are supposed to look like. I thought you could also use these for cheese squares or pieces of fruit as well, to do this you should follow the directions using the toothpick.

You can also find the kit Stars and Stripes which I used for the cupcake holders HERE at Divine Digital.

Happy Scrappin’ hope you enjoy these

Link has expired, thank you

Monday’s Meal: Summer Berry Trifle

Hi everyone!  Cammi here for Monday’s Meal recipe.  I love trifle.  They are so pretty, and delicious.  Today I’m sharing a recipe for a Summer Berry Trifle.  Thank you Family Fun for sharing this delicious recipe!

Summer Berry Trifle

Ingredients

• 1 package (3.4-ounce) instant vanilla pudding
• 4 cups fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries), washed and hulled, plus extra for garnish
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 24 to 36 ladyfingers

Instructions

1. To make the fillings, prepare the pudding according to the package directions and chill it.
2. Slice the strawberries, if you’re using them, then toss all of the berries with the lemon juice and the 1/4 cup of sugar. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the berries to release their juices.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whip the cream, vanilla extract, and remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar until soft peaks form. Set aside.
4. To make the layers, set a layer of ladyfingers (around 7 or 8) on the bottom of a large, clear serving bowl (ours was 4 quarts). Top with the berries with half of the pudding.
5. Add another layer of ladyfingers, another third of the berries and juice, and the rest of the pudding. Add a final layer of ladyfingers and berries. Top with the whipped cream and a berry garnish.
6. Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. Serves 8 to 10.

Tags: berry, recipe, summer, trifle