Subway art three variations

I sort of jumped hard onto the subway art bandwagon recently.

I made this

and this

and now my latest creation is this

I used the same technique as I did here with the layer of book pages mod podged on the canvas with vinyl letters on top.

Then I sanded it down to give it a cook vintage look to it

So what do you think?  Which one is your favorite?

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Bead Christmas Wreath

Last year, I featured this wreath from The Joy is At Home

I was inspired to make a silver bead wreath this year and kept my eyes peeled for the materials at garage sales this summer.

Suzy made hers a little different than mine, and she had an awesome mirror to put hers on.  I made mine to sell at a craft bazaar, however, I wasn't going to be sad if it didn't sell.

Here's how I did it. 

I spray painted a large foam wreath silver and took some of those long Christmas garland beads that I bought at a garage sale.  Mine were vintage and came in a box, but this is what they look like...just to give you an idea.

I started wrapping them around sort of at an angle and using hot glue to hold them in place.

Each string of beads was 9 yards and I used 7 boxes of them.  

I couldn't find any of that gorgeous blue ribbon so I stuck with silver.  I think it turned out amazing.  However, I wish I had a mirror like Suzy did to put it on.  

Keep your eyes peeled after Christmas for those 90% off sales on these beads.  

My grand total for making the wreath was less than $5 but it looks like a million bucks and it sold before the craft bazaar even started!

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Lunch wraps and reusable storage bags

I have three kids in school full time.
All three kids bring their lunch to school nearly every day.

A few years ago, I realized how much waste we were making just with our lunches alone, so I made some reusable lunch wraps and storage bags for the kids.

This was one of those proud mom moments I felt like I was saving the world with. It was an easy substitution that made an impact on the amount of waste our family created.

It's an easy tutorial even a novice seamstress can whip up. I loved making them so much, I set up a booth at my local school craft bazaar one year and sold these. I hope you like them as much as I do!

DIY Reusable Lunch Wraps 

I'm amazed at how well they hold up after being used nearly.every.day.

The kids have never accidentally thrown the bags away and since the bags come home, I can see what they ate and what they didn't.

I also love that I am not running to the store as often to pick up Ziploc bags and baggies.

Know what my favorite part is?

The sandwich wrap also acts as a placemat on those dirty cafeteria tables.

We used these lunch wraps and snack bags for years! It was one of the very first sewing tutorials that I ever offered. It also comes with some of the absolute worst images. 

Did I mention it was one of my first tutorials? 

The sewing tutorial is relatively easy {painful on the eyes} but easy enough to sew if you can stitch a line. It's made easier if you have a serger. 

Want the tutorial?  Go here. I'm warning you though, the images are pretty horrible!

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Thanksgiving turkey trot with custom t-shirts on the silhouette

Last month, I gave you a preview to show you what I was working on and gave you a sneak peek at this little onesie.

For the past five years, I have been starting my morning running in a local Turkey Trot 5k.  The kids started joining me the past few years, and thankfully, we have a very active family, so I thought it would be fun to start an annual Teodoro Turkey Trot fun run 5k.

I used the silhouette machine to bust out 24 t-shirts in various sizes from newborn to adults XL.  Because really, what's a race without a t-shirt?

This is the whole gang before the run.  We had a few out of town cousins, and several sickies, but I was pleased with the turnout and we had such a great time.  The rain even held off until literally minutes after the finish of the "race".

I was able to score some free racing bibs from a local race organization to make our run seem just a bit more official.

All lined up at the start line ready to run!

Most impressive participant of the day goes to this new family of three.  Just two weeks after having their first baby, Brett and Kate showed up with their sweet babe Trevi.

Isn't she sweet?!

Grandpa and Isabella ran their 2nd 5k together and it's fun to see them enjoy the sport of running together.

My oldest son finished first and was a bit exhausted after his efforts!

My youngest son ran almost a mile of it, before making the transition to his bike.  Here we are running towards the finish.

The winner!

Such a fun family tradition that I am excited to continue for years to come.  What are your Thanksgiving traditions?

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Be thankful today and every day.

 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus1 Thessalonians 5:18

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Book page wreath

Do you guys remember the bird book that I made a few months ago?

When I cut the circle out 

I was left with a ton of book page circles that looked like this.

I kept them because I knew I could use them one day.

Well, that day came, and I made this book page wreath with them.

I started out with a foam wreath and my circles and a lot of hot glue

I folded each of the circles into a triangle like this

Then I glued them on around the wreath

And this is the finished project.

I think it turned out pretty cute.  

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Book page wreaths

I love the few weeks leading up to Christmas and all of the local craft bazaars in the area.  I go to as many as I can and love finding new ideas and soaking in the creativity of other people.

I only do one craft bazaar a year and I split the booth with a friend.  I find that if I start doing numerous bazaars and crafting like it's my job, then it feels like just that, a job.  I like it to be fun.  One a year is my limit.

This year,  I made a few book page wreaths. 

I had two different variations.

The actual wreath base

and the foam circle base.  You can see that in the wreath below the insides are all filled in.

I like them both.

How about you?  Do you have a preference?

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Styrofoam twine Christmas tree

While I like to celebrate the holidays one at a time, I did break my rule and made a Christmas craft before Thanksgiving.  What can I say, my glue gun was on fire last week!

I started out with a Styrofoam tree that I bought at a garage sale for 50 cents. I bought the ball of twine (at where else?) for 50 cents too.  So the grand total of the project was around $1.  I used a couple of hot glue gun sticks, so that factored into the cost.

 

I put the tivo on to something mindless (probably The Biggest Loser) and glued away.  I wrapped the twine around twice.

This is what I ended up with.

I stuck it into a galvanized bucket and added a felt flower, but I'm not sold.  I think I like it better just plain.

 What do you think?

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Tips for your all inclusive vacation

I hope you guys have enjoyed the past few days of posts about our vacation. You can read more about day 1 and day 2 here. I love all inclusive resorts and have stayed at a few different places across Mexico. It's refreshing to come into a resort and not have to worry about a bar tab or the price of breakfast, lunch or dinner. Having just wrapped up my 5th stay at an all inclusive resort, I thought I would share some of the tips that I have learned.

bring your own insulated cup

The cups they give you at the bar are small and not insulated and in a warm climate the cold drinks get watery very quickly

research tours/activities before you go

You will want to make the most of your time on your vacation and if you are interested in taking a tour or an excursion do a little research before you go. I found that most tour companies give a discount when booked ahead of time. In a resort area, there are usually several companies offering the same sort of tour or excursion. Not all of them are equal, so make sure you know what you are getting ahead of time and go with the one with the best reputation.

read trip advisor

Some of the best tips we have gotten have been because we read trip advisor comments before our vacation. My husband knew to ask for the 8th floor suite when he booked our last vacation. While it was the same price as the other suites, it came with the upstairs balcony which made it more special than the other rooms. We also found a small strip of beach with it's own bar on our trip to Cancun which ended up making our trip so much more enjoyable. Be aware though, people love to talk about a great experience as much as they like to talk about a negative one. Don't let the negative comments affect how you feel about the property. Make your own judgement.

message boards are your friend

My husband and I took a cruise for our 10th wedding anniversary and I discovered vacation message boards then. They are a wealth of information. Most cruise ports are the same destination spots that your resort will be located at. The information found on the message boards are incredibly helpful for getting the most out of your time in a particular location.

tipping isn't expected but be prepared to tip occasionally

Tips are included in most all inclusive vacation packages. I find that we rarely tip on vacation and it isn't expected. However, when we have had great service we do tip to show our appreciation. The bar on the beach in a resort we stayed in Cancun was staffed by a bartender named Alejandro. He became our best friend the few days that we were at the resort. He treated us well, anticipated our needs and we tipped him accordingly during our time there.

if you are traveling out of the country know what things cost

Most all inclusive resorts aren't located stateside, so while traveling out of the country be prepared with the cost of the items you will be needing. For example, if you need to take a cab or shuttle from the airport to your hotel, know what the going rate is before you get there. Tourists can be gullible so make sure you aren't taken advantage of.

if you are bringing the kids, plan accordingly

We took an extended family trip last year to Club Med Ixtapa Pacific. We had 13 people in our group from 18 months to 60 years old. Club Med provided a wonderful family experience. The kids were able to do fun activities in kids club (trapeze anyone), and the adults were able to fill their days up with things like archery, sailing and Zumba. The main thing I liked about Club Med is the family friendly environment. Because the alcohol is free flowing at an all inclusive, there are some people who take full advantage of that, creating an environment that isn't all that family friendly. Those are just a few of my tips. Do you have any tips on how to make the most of your all inclusive vacation?

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