Spring Mantel: He is Risen Banner

 My Mantel has been decorated for a few weeks now and I love it.  

I am super happy with my new addition this year: My HE IS RISEN pennant banner.

I made it from paper pennants, sticker letters and some yarn.  It fits perfectly on my picket fence.

 All of the other decorations are from years past.  

Fabric Bunnies, Wooden Blue Bird, Fabric Easter Eggs , Fabric Carrots

Yearly Family Journal: 2013 Edition

Happy New Year!

and with a new year comes my tradition of sharing with you my 

 Family Journal. 

Introducing the 2013 edition! 

 This is why I love sharing this project with all of you.......

 because it works.  I have been doing this journal since 2009.  

Here is a look inside:

every month has a title page.

 every month has a calendar that you fill in with the dates and things that happen on those days as well as a monthly summary that you use as the journal part.  After each summary I have left an empty page to add pictures of the events that month.  So not only is this a journal but works great as a mini scrapbook as well.

 At the end of the journal are these fun pages where you can write the funny things your kids say or other fun events that you want to remember.  The pages are a FREE printable from HERE.  I use the Stampin' Up Art Journals (that are no longer available.....boooo!) but I am sure any 5x7 notebook will work just as great.  I highly recommend using Elmer's Spray Adhesive to assemble your journals.  Glue sticks wrinkle your pages.  

 To see my other Yearly Journals you can click on the dates below:

2009,    2010,   2011,   2012

Happy Journal-ing!!

3 Gifts at Christmas: Reusable Gift Tags, A family tradition

I first introduced you to our family's Christmas Tradition a few years ago.

It's a tradition that I look forward to all year.  Christmas in our house is more special because of it.

Simply, we each receive just 3 gifts at Christmas time. The stocking is not included in the 3 gifts.

The gift of Wonder: something from Santa

The Gift of Usefulness: clothes, tools, anything we need or use

The Gift of Meaning: usually something homemade or a gift of extra meaning for the person

 To go along with this very special tradition I made these gift tags a few years ago for each member of my family.  We use them every year on our gifts.  They are very special to me.  If you want to know how I made them, see this post from a few years ago.

You can also read more about our tradition by going HERE.

May the true meaning of Christmas fill your home as you simplify things this year.

Make sure to follow my blog for I have started to reveal the gifts of my 

Homemade Christmas edition for 2012.

Wood 2x4 Witch's Hat

 I turned some left over wood scraps into a couple of cute wooden witch hats!

I painted the wood, mod podged paper to the front, glued the top and bottom of my wood scraps together and then added ribbon and spiders for detail.  Super fun, super easy and super inexpensive.

 Here is what I used to make them:

The tall hat is a 2x6 wood scrap and the small hat is a 2x4 wood scrap.  The rim of each hat is made from scraps of a 2x2.  I made some cute wood Candy Corns and you can look at those HERE.

 These cute little hats also make a fun costume for your pumpkins!!

Happy Halloween!

I love my Family Frame.....DIY

I have wanted a family frame like this for such a long time, but didn't want to spend a lot of money on one.  When I was hanging out in Hobby Lobby the other day (walking aisle by aisle that is) I came across a sheet of stickers that had a few of these people on it as well as the i love my family included.  PERFECT!  and for only $1.49 for 2 sheets I happily found myself in the frame section as well.  I found this frame 50% off at Hobby Lobby as well making this project less then $7.00

(the sheet of stickers also has grandparents, more children and pets as well)

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2012 Family Planner Journal

2012 is here and in full force.

And because of that it was time to make a new 

family planner.

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea.

I also know that it works great for me because this is the 4th year that I have done it.
(and because I am so far behind in my other scrap booking) 

You can check out my previous posts about these Family Planners HERE.

But go ahead and take a sneak peak into this one.

**All of the FREE printable's to put together one for you
are all available at McKay Designs.

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Photo Book.....Gift of meaning 2011

 Take a look inside my daughters Gift of Meaning for this year:

 What almost 5 year old would not love a picture book of pictures full of themselves with the people that they love the most?!  Believe me, mine will love this I am sure.  She not only is a lover of books, but loves pictures too.

 The hardest part of putting this together was going through 5 years of pictures.  whew, it was hard but I did it. I had this made at Wal Mart dot com and it only took 2 days to get here....delivered right to my front door.  Perfect!!

(I could not get this done any sooner for I wanted pictures of her with her new baby brother inside. So I appreciated how fast it came.)

 I also love how you can personalize it with fun notes inside too.  

Hurry up, you only have 11 days until Christmas.   

Are you ready? 

 I am!!

You can find my other Gifts of Meaning by searching them on my blog.

Valentine's Day Advent

Take a over the door shoe holder and turn it into a

Valentine's Day Advent Calendar!

I found the little cards at the scrapbook store, cut them out, added the numbers with stickers I already had and then I laminated them.

And there you have it, a fun countdown to Valentine's Day!

 My husband and I write a little note each day to each of our kids and then to each other and then everyday I will put a little treat or token with each note in the pocket for them to pull out!  Just a fun way to celebrate the love we have as a family and as a couple!

I used this same method for my Christmas Advent.

Check it out here.
Thank you to this blog for the inspiration!

2011 Family Journal

 For the 3rd year in a row I have kept a Family Journal. 

Here is my 2011 Family Journal!

 Here is a look inside:

 Each month has a calendar to write down the little important events that happen, then on the opposite side is a page to write a monthly summary.  Then I have left 2 pages after each month to add pictures.

I love how simple this journal is to keep up with all year long.  I am so far behind on all my other scrap booking but I have kept up with this with no stress!

 I have put mine together using these wonderful helps!

The calendars and journal pages are free to print out HERE.

I use this art journal and I use spray adhesive to adhere the pages and scrapbook paper to the journal.

I tie fun ribbon to the binding of the journal for a fun touch.

If you have any other questions check out

THIS post and THIS post

on my other Yearly Journals.