Halloween Countdown

One week until Halloween, and believe me we know.  I saw this adorable Halloween Countdown on Pinterest and decided it would be the perfect outdoor decoration.  My kids keep begging me to decorate the outside of our house for Halloween.  I decorate the inside (which is big for me), but the outside is asking a bit too much from me.  But this.. I can get behind.

My kids love to change the numbers and see how many days left we have until Halloween. It has been such a fun thing to have especially with my kids and their excitement for it all.  I love it so much I am going to be making one for Christmas too!

Here is the link to the instructions on how to make this bad boy.   It really was very simple and worth the big statement it makes at our front door!

PS - I decided to add a paper pennant flag banner to mine instead of paint it on.  I liked being able to use glitter and polkadots and have it not be permanent  (same with the spider :-)

Silhouette America "Super" Bundle Deals

I have to say as far as crafting goes, the best investment I ever made was in my Silhouette Machine.  I upgraded from the Cricut to the Silhouette and I am so glad I did :-)

In the past year or so, Silhouette America has been coming out with the greatest products.  Tons of creative things that make crafting so much fun and so much easier.

Here are just some of the fun products I have been using and why they are so great.

The first fun product is their Printable Magnet Paper.  I use this to make reminder of things that I need to remember on a daily or weekly basis.  I just stick them on my fridge where I can refer to them whenever I need to.

Simple things like what I am going to pack the kids for lunch each week and our carpool schedule.  I print a schedule out at the beginning of each school year and give them to everyone in the carpool.  The moms (and dads) appreciate it so much!  At least until it is memorized and becomes second nature :-)

Another fun project was using their Printable Foil Paper.  This might be one of my favorites!   Even though you can print on this cool paper, I decided to use it like I would vinyl.  I made these teacher gifts  for Halloween.  I decided to cut out their names using the foil paper and adhered them to the glass containers.  I loved the silver look, because it coordinated with the silver kisses.  Perfect!

I thought this paper would be super thin, but it is actually thicker than vinyl.  It is a sturdy and very nice paper.  Also, notice the cute rhinestone spiders inside the jars.  I got them at Target and LOVE them.  So, girly and cute :-)

My next project uses Silhouette's Printable Clear Sticker Paper.  I have started to try to remember to collect sand from different places we have visited.  (I wish I had done this decades ago, I would have a huge collection by now.)  So to label my sand containers, I used their clear sticker paper.  I just printed the name of our vacation spot and date and then cut them out in circles that fit the top of the jars.  And wa-laa!

Have you noticed that my projects are fairly simple, yet practical and add a little fun to everything :-)  That is the way I roll :-)

My last project uses their Double-sided Adhesive Paper.  I made this wall canvas for a craft night I am participating in.  I used a 16X20 canvas board.  I modge podged pages from a  Dr. Suess book that I had.  And then I cut out the letter "A" using their double-sided adhesive paper and sprinkled black glitter onto the paper.    I used to paint glue onto cardstock using a paintbrush and then sprinkle the glitter, but now all I have to do is cut, peel and glitter.  So much easier!

You may or may not know this about me by now, but i love glitter and add it anything whenever I can :-)

So, there you have it.  A lot of little crafts I have had so much fun making and working on.   All the products I used can be found here if you want to learn more about them.  

Okay, so here is the great thing:  Silhouette America is offering my readers bundles of these products (and more) at great prices.    In fact, there are three bundles to choose from!  Take a look at them.  They are available from now until October 24th!

Here are the details of each bundle, so you can see what is all included.  Really so many great things to play with!  And here is where you can go to take advantage of all these goodies!  CLICK HERE!  Be sure to enter promo code ANGELA to get the special pricing.

(1)  The following speciality media plus a Silhouette CAMEO® for $269.99 (savings over $120 from retail cost $383.90)

·         1 cardstock essentials pack (new product)

·         1 pack printable adhesive kraft paper (new product)

·         1 pack printable clear sticker paper

·         1 pack temporary tattoo paper

·         1 pack printable cotton canvas (new product)

·         1 pack chipboard

·         1 pack printable silver foil

·         1 pack printable magnet paper

·         1 pack double-sided adhesive

(2)  The following specialty media plus a Silhouette Portrait™ for $129.99 (savings over $110 from retail cost $263.90)

·         1 cardstock essentials pack (new product)

·         1 pack printable adhesive kraft paper (new product)

·         1 pack printable clear sticker paper

·         1 pack temporary tattoo paper

·         1 pack printable cotton canvas (new product)

·         1 pack chipboard

·         1 pack printable silver foil

·         1 pack printable magnet paper

·         1 pack double-sided adhesive

(3)  Or 30% off on all specialty media

There you have it... to be honest with you, i have never seen these much stuff being offered all at once.  So, if you don't have a Silhouette Machine by now... now is the time to get it with all these additional super products to really have some fun.  Enjoy!!!!

Kings Canyon National Park Day Trip

Chris has been wanting to go to the mountains for quite some time, so the weekend before soccer season started, we headed to King Canyon National Park.  It was such a fun day.  The ranger station gave the kids a Ranger for a Day booklet, that they were all about finishing.  He went on several different little hikes, but the best one was by for the hike around the stream.  We could have stayed there all day.  It was so nice and pleasant and just plain beautiful!  

I had to take a picture of each kid.  But look at that water.. so crystal clear and refreshing to play in.  The kids LOVED it!

One of the hikes took us to this nice waterfall.  

And look at this meadow.  So, so, so pretty.  I love God's beautiful creations!

And I love taking little day trips with our kids.  Family fun time is always good and even better in places like this.

P.S.  The kids had worked so hard to get their booklets done so they could get a ranger pin and by the time we got to the ranger station to turn it in... they had closed.  The kids were so sad and I felt so bad for them... they worked at it soo hard.  I told them their reward was learning all about their environment... not the same things as a pin :-)

First Day of School

Well, we have been in school for over a month now, but I had to get their first day of school pictures up.  I can't believe how old my kids are getting.  Hannah is in the upper grades and Ella is full time in 1st grade.  Seriously... Well, here they all are ready to start the school year.  The first day of school always brings so much excitement and renewal.  I wish it wasn't always 100 degrees, but nevertheless it is always a fun and exciting day!

This is the best I could do with this guy.  His smile is either this or a pirate smile.  

I love these kids.  They are so adorable to me!