"Boy" Vinyl Wall Decal

I found this cute wall decal idea on pinterest and thought it was perfect for filling up a big, empty space over the boys' bed. I had found vinyl decals at Hobby Lobby that I liked, but they were more than I wanted to spend. Plus, they were limited in the phrases and fonts.

I wanted something fun for the kids.

Thank goodness for the Cricut! I had a friend that talked about cutting vinyl, and it could stick right onto the wall. I finally went on eBay and bought some sheets of vinyl to try this out. I love it!

Masterpieces, Kids' Art Display

I saw this idea on a friend's pinterest board and thought it was such a great idea to display the kids' art. Before, I was taping it up on the wall, and they would get ripped. I able to make these display rods from curtain rods we were donating to the Goodwill (a couple dollars I think from Lowe's). They were too thin for our heavy curtains, but just perfect for a wide spread of art work! The costly part is buying the curtain clips. I found them in the bath or curtain section, but they were like $7 for a pack of 7. And I wanted at least 2 packs. I will probably add more later...

 

I saw this "Masterpieces" wall decal on pinterest as well. I was able to cut vinyl with my Cricut and copied the style I pinned. It turned out great!

Valentine's Cards for Kids

I always call myself cheap, but my friends affectionately call me frugal. Whatever you want to call it, it's caused me to be very creative and crafty. I don't like to waste anything, and I especially dislike spedning money on things that are so disposible.

 

 Valentine's day was coming up, and we didn't have any big plans. The kids especially enjoy storytime at the library and they were having a Valentine's day party. Ms. Sherrie suggested bringing cards if we wanted. I thought, "no, I really don't want to go and buy cards for like 4 or 5 friends and throw the rest away". Plus, I didn't want to have to make a special trip to the store to buy them.  

 

Cricut to the rescue! I let the kids pick out their own characters to put on their Valentine's. I looked up some cute Valentine's day phrases and used scrap cardstock that I had in my stash. I have a thick pad of paper for my own scrapbooking endevors, plus all the paper for my etsy store (which can be found here).

 

 Ethan picked the zebra (which HAD to have the flower because that's the way it was in the picture!) And Euan picked the penguin :) 

Chick-fil-A Birthday Card

 

Happy 1st birthday to our local Chick-fil-A. Bring in a birthday card, get a free sandwich. Had the cutest cow image on the Cricut, and was able to use a bubble to make a cute saying. We all signed the back, and it's still hanging in the office at the store :) I guess they liked it too... But maybe they're biased! Ha!

Beachy Centerpieces

One of my mom groups was doing a kick-off with games and food. Our theme was "Plunge" so I made some beach-theme centerpieces.

 

It didn't cost me anything either! I already had the pails and shovels from the mom group. Got the sand from my boys' sandbox, used BBQ wooden skewers I had in the drawer, and paper from my scrapbook stash. Used the Cricut to make cute sea creatures. I thought they turned out adorable!

 

John Deere Themed Birthday Banner

I finally put my Cricut to good use! My sister-in-law always finds the cutest personalized things for her son. Last year, he had an Elmo birthday party. And when I saw the decorations, I thought to my crafty-self, "I could so make that!" She told me they were hand made and bought on etsy.com. I got a Cricut for my birthday (Yay!) and couldn't wait to make something. With only a few weeks until Euan's second birthday, I still hadn't thought of a theme! During a play date at the park, a lawn mower went by and Euan got so excited. He loves lawn mowers! He likes to ride on them with daddy, or have daddy hook up the trailer or wagon and ride around. And it clicked! John Deere birthday! I fould a cartridge for the Cricut on eBay, got themed paper and ribbon on sale at Hobby Lobby and I was ready. Everything turned out absolutely adorable! I think I am going to start my own esty.com business :)

 

(And I did! My Handmade Workshop. Find it here)

Happy Birthday Euan!

Shadow Puppets

The library has a monthly Born Learning event where families come and play. The theme this month was shadows. Luckily, we had just played in the dark with flashlights a few days before. So Ethan was very excited! One of the stations was a make your own shadow puppet. Ethan chose a train (pink!) and a dolphin. Euan got 2 different dinosaurs. Taped to popcicles, and we got some shadow puppets!

This inspired me to use my newest birthday gift, my Cricut! A part of me wants to use the Cricut as much as possible so I can justify how much it costed! I filtered through the templetes and found images that were easily recognizable by shadow only. And Voila! The first my Cricut creations!