DIY Christmas Cork Board Card Holders

This past Thursday I had the privilege of attending The Meet and Make hosted by the ridiculously cute Sarah Hearts. 

And upon our arrival we were given swag bags and among they adorable items was some Christmas wrapping paper from HelloHeyYo

I immediately thought there was no way I was going to be able to cut it up, tape it, then sit back and watch someone tear it up and throw it to the ground.

Yes, I was that in love.

To set my heart palpations at ease, I came up with a little DIY ensure future use and viewing pleasure of the paper.

Ok side note:

When I started this I thought the tacky spray would be a good call, which much to my frustration it was not.  Do just pretend that is not even in the photo below.

Get you some awesome HelloHeyYo paper

Cork boards, I got a 4 pack from Target.

Mod Podge and foam brush

And a coordinating spray paint.

First thing I did was lay the boards on the paper to figure out the best layout.  Then traced them on the paper and trimmed.

The paper was going to be a little short so I spray painted the edges gold when I sprayed the other to boards.

Take a good amount of mod podge to the boards.  Then lay paper down and mod podge the tops.

Dry and hang with some 3m strips.

As you can see in the photo below, my top left one got some serious creasing.  This is the one I used the spray adhesive on. Insert my frustration. 

These boards are our new card holders.  

Just a little straight pin action to hold them in place.

The paper is seriously amazing.

And Rebecca has so generously offered a $5 off a $25 purchase.

Enter HELLOJELLYBEAN

And you have til Dec 13 for a Christmas delivery time.

PS:  This is totally not just a Christmas project.

Before I go, here is our fam bam card for this year.

ENJOY!

Elf on the Shelf Door on the Cheap, $3 to be exact.

Lenny our Elf does not make his official appearance until Dec 1.

But in prep for his arrival, he has requested a door for easy access to and from the North Pole.

See we are finding at 6.5 years of age Buggie has A LOT of questions about how things work, and if they are real.

And this Momma is NO WHERE near ready to give up the magic.

So I went to Joann's and came home with the workings of a Elf Door.

For $3 I came up with this.

- Picture frame $3.99 but after a 40% off coupon paid $1.80

- Bag of little knobs $1.99 but after my 40% off coupon paid $1.20

- paint which I had already

- bag of sticks which I had, but are around $2

- hot glue gun

After measureing the sticks to the back of the frame I was able to just cut them with regular scissors. 

Then painted everything and hot glued it together. 

And added a "Elf Only Entrance" to it. And I was done, yep that easy and that cheap.

When Lenny comes Saturday he will come with a little note explaining the door and that Santa felt it was a good addition for the Elves. 

Fingers crossed that this helps keep the magic alive and filling our house this Christmas!

Our Christmas...

A little peak at our Christmas Eve and Day through pictures...

Seriously I could take pictures of my kids all day long if they would let me.

My heart exploded when I saw this picture I snagged on my phone.

Oh Bean your little facial expression get me every time.

The table set at my parents house.

The meal I wait for ALL year long. Sour orange pork, black beans & rice, with homemade cranberry sauce.

Bean and my grandmothers dog {Wyland} got matching Christmas Eve jammers, BAHAHAHA!

Digging into their stockings.

She kept saying when she opened this "He knew! He knew! Santa knew!" I loved every second the fat guy got credit...

Her own camera, love how much she loved it.

Then there is this kid, he cracks me up. Lots of cars and trains made his day.

Hope you all had the most Merriest of Christmases!

It was necessary...

There other day I had had it.

The consistent whining.

Having to ask not once, not twice, not even three times, but more like 5 or 6 times to do something.

The lack of general courtesy and manners had reached it all time high.

Lenny was watching my frustration.

And the next morning we woke up to this hanging over our kitchen table.

Listen I get that the shelf Elf is fun, cute and likes to get into funny things.

But he has a J.O.B.

And that morning he had my back.

Tis the season to dangle the fear of no gifts over your kids head.

No shame.

Happy Wednesday.

______________________

Thank you for the prayers for my family.

Please keep them coming, as we need them.

My MIL had surgery on Saturday to remove {a thank God, not cancerous} brain tumor.

But now we are on the long road to recovery.

So the extra prayers are WELCOME and APPRECIATED!

The Blankie Cape {DIY}

This Christmas I decided to participate in a little gift exchange for my kiddies.

It was world wide, so its pretty exciting.

The budget was $10 a gift.

We were paired up with two boys.

One 2 and one 5.

So my mind raced to come up with a handmade goodie

{that was not a requirement, but for me always make it that much more special}.

Then I thought what little kid
superhero wouldn't like a cape, but not just a cape but a blankie cape!

What you will need to make 2 capes-

- 1 yrd a minkie fabric {which is normally $14.99 I got for 50% off}

- 2 yrd regular fabric washed for shrinkage {which was $4.99 a yrd on sale for 50% off}

- some ribbon {about 6 in}

- fabric paint and paint brush

- card stock

For my pattern I took Buggies cape and shaped it with pins into a smaller version. And then I traced it on wrapping paper and cut out for my pattern. You can easily freehand the shape, my pattern was 24 ins across at the widest point, 27 inches from the tip of the neck to the bottom and the neck was 8 ins at its widest point.

Then I cut the pattern out of the fabric and the minkie.

Taking a piece of card stock I made a letter template. Then traced it with an invisible pen.

Then painted with the fabric paint. You could use freeze paper to make a stencil or if you are super cool you can use a silhouette machine, which I clearly am not.

Once the letter is dried I added a little lighting bolt.

Before pinning the fabric inside out together, add a small piece of ribbon to one of the neck strips.

Then pin the fabric, and sewed. When you sew the ribbon part, lift it bit so it makes a loop before sewing both sides down, this is where the other neck piece will go through to hold the cape on. Leaving a small opening to pull the cape through the hole so its right side out. Then sew the hole up.

Now you will have a blankie cape!

The ribbon loop acts as the perfect way to hold the cape on, but easily pulled off.

My little model loved it.

{and yes she was dressed as strawberry shortcake, we went with it..}

It clearly will help the little kid superhero leap from a single bound...

Or twirl through their enemies...

And when they are done saving the city, they can snuggle up for some rest before the next villain comes to town...

***I apologize for the lack of pics during the pinning and sewing process, please feel free to ask any questions you may have!"***

On a serious side note:

Please send prayers and healthy thoughts our way, we need all we can get as our family

deals with a serious health concern. Thank you so much!

A house full of magic.

Wednesday after school something BIG happened.

One of those milestones, that for sure is sealing the fact that my little Buggie is growing up.

She lost her first tooth!!!

I may or may not have aided in the losing of the tooth by feeding her an apple.

I may or may not have done this because I wanted her to loose it at home.

I may or may not have been a little jealous if this were to have happen at school and I was not there to witness it.

Then Wednesday night she tucked her tooth under her pillow and went to sleep.

And when she woke she found this...

Lenny our scout Elf and the Tooth Fairy had a hot chocolate date.

The Tooth Fairy even left behind a little bit of pixie dust with bum prints.

You should have heard the giggles from my little girl.

These moments are what I cherish, making my daughters childhood memories filled with wonder and magic.

And guess what the tooth next to it is super loose too!

I keep telling her she will get to sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth."

Hum wonder what Lenny and the Tooth Fairy will get into next time she visits?!

Projects of Christmas Past

Just a look back on a few things I have done over the past two years...

Peppermint Marshmallows Stirs. {perfect gift topper}

Gift wrapping caddy

Doily Basket

Felt words to add a little Christmas flare.

Painted Ornaments

Happy crafting...

Santa's got your number.

Call me a wackado but I like some kind of order on Christmas morning.

So much so that I find myself shaking, holding up to the light, anything to remember what is in the box.

Opening gifts in some kind of order insures that once that certain gift

{you know the one, its topped EVERY single letter to Santa, its the one that

you hang over their head, "I am going to call Santa to tell him not to bother

bringing ______."}

will not bring the opening festivities to halt at its very presence.

When I saw Free Pretty Things For You's Reindeer Printables.

I knew what to do.

I opened the images up in photoshop {you can use word also} and added some numbers {I used marcell font}. Once I printed them I used my 2in circle punch to cut them out.

I am using red for Bugs and green for Bean.

Now come Christmas morning, Buggie's pile will be stacked in sequence.

{this is THAT gift, the list topper, the head hanger, the VERY last one to open from Santa}

Some if not most of you may be shaking you head at the shear OCD of this post. I told you WACKADO. But when you spend some much time thinking about what to get you little people and then they fly through the presents like the Tazmanian Devil, it can honestly be a little disheartening.

This post is NOT meant to imprint my OCD on others, BUT this is how I like it done on

Christmas morning. And BELIEVE me it is not me sucking the fun out of it, it is still a BLAST.

Happy wrapping or should I say UNwrapping!