A new blog!

Please visit me on my new blog, http://www.makeitsparklymama.blogspot.com/. I would love to see you over there.

An Inspiring Place to Be......

This is one of the many places in blogland that I go to for inspiration. And she is having an amazing give-away. I need to pick out the room that I would love to have a $200 giftcard to Homegoods to decorate with. Hmmmm.........lots of choices! So click on over and enter too! And then let me know!

http://theinspiredroom.net/

Fall Blocks

My friend Sarah and I had a crafting/scrapbooking day on Saturday that was just soo much fun! I decided to make up a batch of these decorating blocks for myself! Last year I made six sets of these for Christmas presents and never got around to making mine. I was a little burnt out after six sets. I think my set turned out the cutest though!

I started with 9, pieces of a 2x4 all cut in various lengths from 4" - 6".

I stagger them to look pleasing to the eye. And I right on them with a sharpie. That way in all of my creative process they don't get all jumbled up. The next part can be as simple or complex as you make it.

I cut scrapbook paper (cardstock) to cover the front of the block, I like to leave a little border. Cut out your letters to spell the word(s) that you want for the front of the block. There are many different ways to do this, I used a die-cutting machine, you could also use stencils to cut the letters, or use stencils to just paint the letters on.

After the letters are on there I embellish the letters with stickers, die cuts, stitching, staples, ribbon, etc. This is the part where you can go simple or really jazz them up. I have seen these blocks done both ways and they are all CUTE! This is as far as I got on Saturday. The kids were home and the hubby was not, so crafting was a ssssllllllooooooowwwww process!

Sunday morning dawned and all the big boys were gone so I decided to keep playing with my blocks. I headed outside and after bruising my arm getting the belt sander down, I got busy! I should mention that this is my first time using the belt sander and while it is easy as pie there is a learning curve. The first block I sanded did not come out right at all. It...did...not....even....look...like....a...block....anymore. yikes

Okay, got the hang of it, got the other 8 blocks sanded but wait....Mikey DOES NOT LIKE the sander running and he is letting me know about it. So I put him in the house to finish up. And Mikey DOES NOT LIKE being in the house without Mommy. Soooo.....he took the bath salts that I got for my birthday and gave the carpet a spa experience, and the wall, and the cabinets, and the sliding glass door, and himself..............

After that little lovely experience......I smoothed the sharp edges of the blocks with a sanding block. Yes! That is a manicure block. I love how these babies sand wood when I am crafting or tolepainting. I buy them at the beauty supply house really cheap too. And then I wiped them down with a tack cloth. You can use wet paper towels instead of a tack cloth too. If you don't have one. I want to mention to that you can sand these with 100 grit sandpaper instead of a belt sander.

Now it is time for my favorite part: Spray Paint! These are the blocks after they are painted. I purposely left some parts lighter than others and then distressed the edges with my little sanding block.

I lined them up to match up which block with went which letter. Then I hotglued them onto the blocks. As a note - last Christmas I tried all kinds of adhesive to glue these onto the blocks and nothing really worked all that great. The hotglue works fantastic.

All finished and looking pretty!

Getting the dirt out of the laundry (room)

This last week I have been working hard at catching completely up on my laundry. I emphasize catching up because laundry is a chore that just refuses to be done. completely. ever. Which okay I have heard that if you do a load or two a day, depending on your family size, you can stay caught up but I just don't have that kind of devotion. I have also heard that if you make your bed every day your bedroom will stay clean and I have been making my bed for two weeks now and that bed still hasn't cleaned my room. Huff. Yesterday I cleaned off the floor in my laundry room. It was beyond nasty. I can handle clutter but that floor was dirty! ewwww....... I was so proud of my accomplishment, those bags of give-away clothes actually made it to the church to be dropped off. Wow, two points for me. This morning Brandon slept in and I tackled the top of the washer and dryer. I should point out that my laundry room is also our utilty room and our garage. Since we have neither. That accounts for a lot of the clutter.

Here is the result of my hard work!

Free Food From Schwan's - Update

My free chicken nuggets arrived today. Actually free isn't quite the right word because I was charged a $1.00 delivery fee. I am pretty sure that that wasn't in the fine print but I didn't squabble because it is still a great deal. And the delivery guy was nice, not cute though. I love cute delivery guys they make deliveries that much better! I also received a catalog. A lot of their items are WAY overpriced. But their ice cream cones and bars look so yummy!

Free Food From Schwan's

I seen an offer in Better Homes and Gardens magazine today for free food from Schwann's. I am pretty skeptical about these kinds of offers but thought I would try it out. So I bumped over to www.schwan.com/free and now I have me some free Chicken Nuggets coming. Yes I did have to set up an account but no credit card is required. Of course they are doing this to get new customers but there is no obligation to ever purchase anything, I happen to like some of their things (think Icecream) so hooray, I will now be on their route.

It is free and it works! Go get yours!

Quick and Cute Cake Idea!

The celebration for my husband was a success! What a nice night we enjoyed. My husband felt spoiled and loved, which is the goal right? His cake was so cute and so easy.... I have never decorated such an easy cake before. I am thinking this would be perfect for cakewalks. The directions are pretty self explanatory.

Bake two round cakes and let cool.

Trim the tops so that they are flat.

Stack together and frost.

While the frosting is still wet push the candies into place.

* It helps to figure out your pattern before hand.

* Skittles or M&M's or any small candies would work. I used M&M's.

* Cupcakes would also be cute.

Enjoy!

(I forgot to take a good picture of the cake so sorry for poor picture quality!)