Confession 44 - Wrap your Crap Christmas Caddy

Hi there! I can't believe I'm actually making a crafting post! Yay, things are settling in with life and I've had time to wrap my head around craft projects. Today I'm confessing about my "Wrap your Crap Caddy". My BFF and I saw a similar idea on Pineterest last year and I actually used a similar concept to house some fabric of mine... and whoa-la! the concept was born. Well it might have taken a little more than that, but basically that's how.

Last year, we strategically purchased items at the end of the holiday season at 70% off or more off to use for our caddy. This way, we could keep cost down and spread the wealth!  Interested in how we made it and what's exactly in it?  Ok, here we go, below is a picture of everything we put inside (some of the caddies we added gift tags, it was omitted from this pic somehow, but use your imagination).

So the container we used is actually a beverage container from In-N-Out, for those of you out of state in a state that does not have an In-N-Out, first off, I'm really sorry, but you can grab a beverage holder from another fast food restaurant.

Next up, we added some embellishments for the sides to jazz it up and make it festive. You could use stickers or even wrapping paper. I used cut outs from my Silhouette Cameo. We used a color scheme that went with the other items in the holder.

Next, tie ribbon to the handle part. This again just makes it festive and whimsical.

Now you can start filling your holder.  We placed items in the holder strategically so you can see all the items, using adhesive or double sided tape to hold things in place.  The scissors being so heavy, kept flopping forward so we actually tied them to the handle of the holder with some twine.

Our last step was to tie on our snarky tag, "Wrap Your Crap Christmas Caddy".  My BFF and I thought long and hard to find a good name, something unique but yet identified what it was... figures we came up with something snarky!  I don't know about you, but this time of year, I really need to lighten things up and laugh!

Our final cost of the caddy came to about $10, with most items being $1. The most expensive item was the scissors at $3, but the holiday themed ones we used from Lowes I'm sure will be getting cleared out at the end of the season, so look out and grab some up for next years gifts and caddies.

We gave these caddies to some of our friends that we thought would get some good use out of them.  I gave one of mine to a friend who had been sick and knew was probably behind in her wrapping.  What a great gift to have all your items in one convenient location!

I can see so many different uses for a beverage holder such as this. Present a baby gift, transport meeting items ... the possibilities are endless.  Leave a comment and let me know what some of your other ideas are!

Happy crafting! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 42 - Get your Painting On

Hi there! As promised, I'm bringing your more posts and trying to confess more these last couple months of 2013.  Today I'm confessing about one of my all time favorite whimsical self taught painters, Timree Gold.  I've been following stalking Timree for nearly 10 years now.  I first learned about her through a mutual friend and saw her amazing mural work, you can check it out here.   The pictures on her site are amazing, but seeing her murals in person are breathtaking.  So much detail and personal touches! She has painted for many celebrities and famous people and even had an appearance on the OC Housewives show.

This past Sunday, my good friend Diana and I visited her studio to paint.  This is the 3rd painting I have done at Timree's studio, and each time I'm amazed at how well I do. I start out nervous and unsure if I'm going to be able to complete the project, but in the end, I succeed with flying colors.  Painting at Timree's Studio offers me a creative outlet and let's me put something on the calendar that is just for me!

When you arrive at Tiimree's studio in Newport Beach there is a place setting of a palate of paint, a photo copy of the Timree "original" painting you will be painting and a blank white canvas on an easel.  She equips you with 4 brushes, in her technical Timree terms, 1. The Fatty 2. The Medium 3. The Tween and 4. The Baby.  It's her own vocabulary and made up terms for her painting technique that puts you at ease and allows you to relax to become creative and paint.

It's definitely a must for anyone to try once, twice or many times (some of my friends are addicts, I'm not mentioning any names).

Check out some of my pics...

London Calling Portrait

Easter Painting in the Spring

My First Class!  A Gift for my birthday from my BFF! 

Pretty professional looking huh? I know, she's a genius!   So hurry up and stop by Timree's site and sign up for a class and get your Painting On!  Make it a Mommy & Me session, a Girls Night Out or just a creative moment for yourself!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 41 - Repurposed Pill Box

Hi there! I can't believe it's been over 30 days since my last confession! Yowza! Life has really taken over my creative juices. Lately, I've been doing lots of crafting, so as long as I have time to write a post, you will be hearing a lot from me.  Today's confession is about a gift I put together for the girls.

A couple weeks ago I found out I would be gone the whole First Week of School for the girls. Ya, bad timing. We started school so late this year, normally the dates my company picked would not be a problem.  I was crushed to know that I wasn't going to be in town to pick them up after the first day and hear about their teachers, classrooms and friends. It was torture for me!  We talked nightly and texted, but it was still so hard!

So I saw this idea over on one of my favorite sites, Dating Divas, originally the post was put together for you to use with your hubby, but I altered the idea for my girlies.  It was so fun to put together and think about their little faces when they opened each box every night.

These came from Dollar Tree -
Yes I shop there occasionally, late at night -with hat - with a trenchcoat!

I altered the Hub notes, to kid notes.... email me if you want me to share them.

I couldn't find my normal 7 day Pill Box, but this ended up working out,
Candy/Surprise on one side and note on the other.

There are so many great applications for this idea. I would like to use it for the Hubs sometime, but he's not a candy lover... and well, the pill compartments are too small for anything else he likes... so on I will go, hunting for another solution.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 40 - My Favorite Summer Products

Today I'm confessing about the latest and greatest products I'm absolutely loving this summer. Like insane make out love! Like white on rice ... Peanut butter to jelly, Ernie to Bert love ... Ok that last one was weird  .... Anyhoo ... Here they are in no particular order:

1. Reef Sandals - I live in my flip flops being in SoCal and I had no idea when I bought these back in the spring these would be my favorite. I knew $30 was too much to spend ... But if they were comfortable and durable it would all be worth-it!  The glitter on the "Reef" part has not come off and the glitter on the band hasn't either. The black is really black and they are still oh so comfortable, looking very new!




 2.  Jergens Skin Firming Lotion - OMG, this is my all time favorite body product right now. I think the firming is working too.. maybe not, but it sure makes my skin feel silky soft. Anyone that has felt my skin recently has commented, on how soft my skin is. It's super cheep and a must have in my bag mix these days. I get mine on Amazon, it's half the cost.

3. Jergens Natural Glow Firming Medium - In love with this product too! Some of you may think I don't need to use this, but my legs don't see sun enough and get pretty white and pale. There is no orange streaking and weird blotches with this product. And it has the same firming lotion in it as the product above. So it makes your skin silky soft!




4.  Salty Caramel Chocolate Balls - Wholly Molly... I know I shouldn't add this as my favorite product when I'm trying to eat healthy and maintain my "summer figure" (what summer figure?), but these are to-die-for delicious. Try them with some wine, and OMG, so deadly. You will fight your 9 year old daughter for the last one (not that I would know about that or anything).




5. Fage 0% fat Greek Yogurt - I love this yogurt... yummy! I add nuts, fruit, cucumbers, peppers or just plain with a dash of salt.  It has 18g of protein! I couldn't believe it when I saw it! And all those great yogurt bacteria thingys for your belly.  A probiotic too!  The key is to mix it really well, then it doesn't appear "cheesy" and gets that creamy feel and look to it.



6. MAC BB Cream - I love this product. It has SPF of 35 and your moisturizer and foundation in one! I love that double dutying product! Saves time and brain cells for me!

 

I could go on with more, but I gotta go do something more productive than divulging all my long standing secrets! You'll have to wait for yet another confession to get more tips!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 20 - Goodies Box

I hope you all had a great weekend! Today I'm confessing about another box of the month club that I'm just {{crushing}} over.... The Goodies Box!  Have you heard of it? Not many people have. What's so great about it? Well for toppers, it's only $6.00! The cheapest of all the monthly ones I belong to, and it's owned by Wal-mart. That's not really a selling point for me, other than the fact that the feedback that I give on the products that are shipped to me could help in getting the products in store so I can easily purchase them.

Each month, I receive this cute box packaged nicely 5-7 snack items. Sometimes, super healthy ones and sometimes just something new,  fun or unique.  The thought behind the box is to expose me to new items, have me give feedback and then if I want to order more, I can go to the website to do that.

Some months the products are a good value and add up to $6 or more, and other months, not so much. But regardless, I love getting packages and trying new snack items, so for now, I'm sticking with it. I also recycle my "Goodie Box" and even recycle the crinkle paper (there's probably $2 worth in every box).  So, it ends up being a great overall value for me.

I love the beginning of every month when I get my goodies box. It's like Christmas!

Check out my box this past month:

**If you are interested in my reviews of some of the other box of the month clubs I belong to, check out my older posts below:

Dollar Shave Club
Julep Box of the Month
Birchbox

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 17 - DIY Keepsake Bracelets

Good afternoon! It's been a crazy week leading up to President's weekend and Valentine's Day. I'm looking forward to having some days off of school to get some R&R in on a little family vacay. Today I'm confessing about some cute Keepsake Bracelets I made for a dinner that I hosted for my friend's Sue's Memorial Dinner, I wrote about it here.  I'm making the dinner an annual tradition and with that, I love to give out a favor. Last year I did a cute plaque that had a beautiful saying on it :
                If I listen closely, I can hear the rustle of Angel wings, and I know Sue you are still with us.

This year, I decided to change up the favor with this really cute charm bracelet. Sue loved this look too, and I know it would remind us of her when we wore it.

All the items to make these I got at either Hobby Lobby or Walmart. These super cool bracelets that we added the beads to came from Hobby Lobby. Who knew these even existed.  I sent my BFF to scope out the supply section and when she came back with these, I was {{swooning}}.  How cool are these stretch bracelets! These would be great for a Girl Scout activity.

These are some of the beads I used. The Silkies stretch bracelets need a bead with a pretty large opening, that is the only thing that is tricky. [update: these are only found at Hobby Lobby] But there are many beads out there that work. You might have to do some trial and error.  Below are some of the ones I used:

The top beads I got at Hobby Lobby and the bottom at Walmart. Walmart prices are the bomb! and these beads can be rather pricey!

Here's the final favor and what it looked like in the box. I got these boxes off of Pick Your Plum a couple of months ago. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to use them for, it was a great way to display the bracelet.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked me latest confession!

Confession 16 - Movie Treat Boxes

I hope you all had a great weekend! I had a great Girls Day out for my BFF's birthday. It was simply amazing. More to come on that in the next couple of days. But today, I'm confessing to you about a creative party favor I put together for our weekend birthday movie. As everyone knows, buying drinks and candy at the movie theater is soooo expensive! So, to help with cost and also allow us to bring in some "contraband", I put together these cute boxes. I had these plain white card board boxes from another project I did. I bought them off of ebay. They came in a 50 pack and are super inexpensive when you buy in this bulk. My sign was printed on cardstock and I just printed with black ink, "Movie Treats for my Peeps".

Inside, I packaged the red vines in pretzel rod bags. They were a little squished, but I didn't want to cut them, the fun of eating licorice is having the long rope right? Then I had small cellophane bags that we put M&M's into. Our "contraband" was a mini Smirnoff Kissed Carmel flavored vodka {{complete Bliss if you have not had it}} and a small Ginger Ale bottle. I lined the bottom of the box with one piece of tissue paper and then added some red crinkle paper. These treats were so yummy to enjoy during our movie.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession Four - Guru's of Scrapbooking

I'm confessing about scrapbooking {{crushing}} and my favorite all time blogger today! I started scrapbooking back in the late 90's officially, but in my early teens as an old school scrapbooker. I've been at it for awhile. I'm in no means an expert, I just love doing it, I value it and I'm committed to it. My dear friend Sue and I would scrapbook together and scrapbooking, some could say, was the foundation of our friendship. You'll hear more about that later. Today I'd like to confess about my all time favorite "guru" of scrapbooking. I've followed  this super talented lady for years, meeting her over the years at CHA and at other local scrapbooking events. Ok, so who is she... ? Hold on there overachiever.... over the course of January, I'll be showcasing my top three! I encourage you to go to their websites and look around. I'll be featuring many of the things they do on their sites here on mine, so if you get overwhelmed (it's a lot to look at and digest) come back here and check out my ongoing features.

#1 Becky Higgins 

Why Becky? Well I have met her in person many times and she is very down to earth. I also relate to her the most. Most importantly because of her tagline above that she is so passionate and committed to. She has also started a whole new approach to scrapbooking called Project Life.
Check out this video below ... which takes me to another point! I love her use of still photos AND video through her site and blog. Seeing her very inspirational videos keeps reminding me what a deficit of videos I have of my kids. I need more!


Take a look at her site:

Then go and take a look at the 12 Christmas Videos she posted this year. Here's the first one. I guarantee you will laugh, smile, cry and giggle a lot! It's good therapy for the soul.

http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2012/12/12-videos-of-christmas-no-1-2/

Convinced yet? Ok, now go to the site and click under "Free Stuff" see all the cool rescources she has on her site! She even posts Holiday Card Templates every year!  You'll also find two very cool custom handwriting fonts (are you a font hoarder like me?).

I'm committed to doing some "Project Life" this year and actually completing some projects! It's a goal worth keeping for my family to show them how much I love and value them.

If you are still unsure how great Becky Higgins is, take a look at this video:




And then for your final assignment, if you are a DIE HARD and want to commit like me, carve out 30 minutes in your day and watch this. If you watch this video, please please post your comments on what you think?  I'm up for the challenge this year to get my "Kid's Stuff" organized once and for all!



Okay, I think that is all for today... phew, I'm tired from all that! It was more than I envisioned, but so inspiring!

Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Back to School - Post #1 - Back to School Gift for the Teachers

Ok, so I'm going to make a series of posts on how to make your life easier and better now that school is back in session! My first post, it's really about brown nosing. This is usually not how I roll, but I really like to to start out the school year being crafty. It makes me feel good, let's my daughters know I value their teachers and gives the teachers a little goody.

My first tip in doing these is to find a friend to do them with. It's always easier and more fun to craft with friends. I do many of my holiday crafts with my BFF. Only one of us has to shop for the items and then we get together for wine and assemble... sounds like a good deal right? Then, put a price tag to your craft or gift. This ensures you don't spend too much.  This gift probably cost less then $5 per box.

Here's the details on the craft:

Back to School Survival Kit items:
Tackle Box
Gum
Hand Sanitizer
Paper Clips
Advil
True Lemon
Twine
A Cute Sign

The Girls over at Eighteen 25 gave me inspiration.  Have you seen their blog? Check it out... I'm a true addict!

http://www.eighteen25.blogspot.com/

OCD Sign

I whipped this up for a client recently. I absolutely loved how it came out... and yes, I'm on the band wagon with the chevron's... I mean, how can you not right?

40 Blows

Seeing a pattern yet? I made this one for another one of my bootcamp friends.  I don't think these are part of our diet, but hey could be worse!

Hit me up if you want the printable, I'd be happy to send it!  Let me know who you want me to customize it to.