Good Food, Guest Bloggers, and a Giveaway

I hate to interrupt all of the Hip for the Holidays fun, but I wanted to fill you in on a couple of things.  

First off, I have really enjoyed celebrating holiday apparel, but sadly I am way behind on my crafted Christmas gift list.  I need a bit of down time to start (and finish) some projects before the big day.  I have decided to take a week off of sewing project posts, and share some of my favorite Holiday treats.  I know that all of you have certain foods, baked goods, and treats that put you in the Holiday spirit.  I thought that it would be appropriate to celebrate, and share, some of my favorite foods with you.  I'd love to know what your favorite recipes and treats are as well, and will be opening up a recipe link party come Monday.  So think of your favorite holiday treats, whip up a batch, post them on your blog, link them to my party, and then share them with your neighbors.

If there is anyone that is interested in taking a day to share their recipe on a guest post, please email me.  I have several of my own recipes that I'd love to share, but I'd be more than happy to have you participate as a guest blogger.

 Bella, from Bella Before and After, is celebrating her 100th follower with a huge giveaway celebration. There are several shops that are offering giveaway items, and my little etsy shop is one of them.  You can enter to win an 8x10 print from my shop, or one of the other fantastic prizes.  Hop on over to her blog and show her some love.

How to make a Mod Podged Puzzle

The puzzle pieces aren't laying flat in this picture, the pieces do fit together nicely normally.

We are kicking off Stashbusting September with this wonderful Mod Podged Puzzle.  I have several white backer boards that I use for mailing my prints, unfortunately I have several that are a bit beaten up.  I chose to make this simple little puzzle with my battered boards, and an irregularly formatted print of Meadow Moose.

I thought that it would be fun to have a few more simple puzzles in the house.  I chose to make an eight piece puzzle, but of course you could increase or decrease the number of pieces to fit your families needs.

Want to learn how to make it?  Buckle up and let's go. 

Giveaway & New Items

I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of my little Etsy Shop.  Meet Mama and baby Kangaroo. How about we call the little one Joey (original right?)?  This painting was actually done before many of the others in my shop, but it has taken me some time to get it ready for printing and formatted for the web.  My dear friend Natalie (who also has a little one in tote) likes this print and motivated me to add it to the shop.  I hope that you like it too.

If you are interested in winning an 8x10 inch print from my shop just hop on over to Char's giveaway party at Crapivemade.com.  She is having a week full of giveaways in celebration of her 1,000,000th hit.  I'm so excited to be a part of the celebration.  I would feel awful bad if no one participated.  Make me feel loved and stop by.  It is super easy to enter.   Feel free to enter all of the other wonderful giveaways when your there...I just might.  She has new giveaways posted throughout the day.  My giveaway is set to hit the party at 2:00 pm MST, so stop by after then.

My favorite of the Bunch

Check Out just how much you can fit inside.

You might notice that there are a few other new additions to the shop.  I've recently added some of this super cute and useful credit card (or business card) wallets.  I've been giving some of these wallets out to the girls that I work with at church.  They've been telling me just how useful they are.  They are great for carrying student ID's, drivers licenses, girly essentials, and of course a stash of cash.  Check out some of the fun fabric prints.

Meet Our New Cardboard Friends

A couple of days ago I was staring at a couple of cardboard boxes that I needed to clear out of my house, and I had what I thought to be a great idea. It was probably inspired by the great book index cards that I featured on Monday, but either way, I am super pleased with our fun little project.

I decided to involve my 20 month old in the material preparation process. We broke down our cardboard box, ripped the sides apart, and began painting. Clark really loves to paint. I think that it is a great way to expose him to colors. We painted both sides of our pieces of cardboard. I painted the tops shades of the primary and secondary colors (one greens, one purples, one reds, ect.) The back of those pieces of cardboard I painted a different color. You could combine any two colors that you wanted, but this is how I paired my top and bottom colors: yellow/green, red/orange, blue/purple. Clark really enjoyed painting and getting dirty. I really enjoy it when I can involve him in my arts and crafts. It seems like most of the time I am asking him not to touch this, or do that, so when I can ask him to do specific tasks and participate I really like it.

After the pieces were painted and dried I sketched out some basic shapes for animal body parts and cut them out. Next I cut small slits in my shapes to allow the pieces to slide onto one another. If you decide to try this take care not to make your slits too large or they won't stay securely in place.

I ended up making an elephant, a lion, and a giraffe (can you guess which is my favorite?). I am really thinking that the mama elephant needs a little baby by her side. These little cardboard figures aren't very refined, but they were a lot of fun to make. I enjoyed putting some texture in the Lion's mane. If anyone is interested in making these just let me know. I would be more than happy to draw up some quick little templates for you. We have some painted cardboard remaining; I might have to come up with a few more little friends.

This is a craft quickie, and a great way to reuse, repurpose, upcycle (whatever you want to call it) your old cardboard boxes.

Comments, suggestions, and questions are always welcome.

UPDATE: Get your templates here: Lion, Elephant, or Giraffe.