Fridge Magnets DIY

I love what little time I get to myself to be crafty and creative. I love the look of hand-stamped jewelry (if you don't know what it is, just do a simple search on etsy) and I even gave out hand-stamped keychains before for Christmas gifts. I've been looking for other uses for my metal stamping kit (available in most hardstore stores, and even online) and I've found it!

I created these cute fridge magnets. I love the clean look of them (no more mis-matched and cluttery magnets) and the handmade look (they're by no means perfect since I stamped them myself).  To make your own you will need a set of alphabet metal stamps, a hard surface, a hammer, metal discs or washers, glue (I used LocTite superglue), and magnets.

First, find a clean, childfree workspace. I say this because when I got up from my workspace to answer the phone, I came back to find that my son had punched in extra letters on my finished designs! It's really important to have a hard surface to stamp against. This helps the stamp really penetrate your metal washer.

I recommend having an extra disc or two to try out the force with which you'll need to strike each alphabet. It also helps ensure that you have your letters lined up properly before you do it on your washer. You ideally want to hit the end of the alphabet stamp with a firm hand, just once. If you don't think you hit it hard enough, go ahead and do it again, but do not move the stamp. It's really hard to line it up again perfectly, in my experience, if you've moved it. I found that holding the hammer mid-way down the shaft also gives you greater control over the hammer. If you get comfortable with it, I'd suggest moving onto your real piece, but only after lining out your letters and figuring out your spacing. Sometimes it helps to start with the center of a word and work left and right from there, rather than going left to right.

After you're happy with the design, it might be a little uneven (ie: no longer flat). I find that if you give it some gentle taps it'll even out. I always do this on the backside of the design. Then since it's already flipped over, dab a little super glue onto your magnet (make sure you do it on the non-magnetized side) and then stick it to the back of your finished design. Once your design is dry, you can take a permanent pen with a really small tip and "color in" your letters to make them stand out more. Here's another one of my designs that I did today (they aren't photographing well):

There might be a giveaway in the future regarding some personalized fridge magnets since I have some leftover materials...stay tuned!

Linking up at: I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Porch

You Capture - Games

Around here, we play a lot of games. Games with trains:

Games with balls:

and games with art supplies:

Linking up to Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry for her weekly You Capture (this week's theme is games if you couldn't tell).

BOYS!

So I need some advice. What do I do with a two year old who is incredibly clumsy and accident-prone? My poor baby trips over his own two feet, crashes into walls, and is generally a menace to himself. It's really beginning to look like we don't take care of him. I'm honestly very surprised that we've never been asked how he got some of his bruises and bumps. Check out what he did today:

Everything else is older (one to two weeks ago) but that big laceration on top of his head he did earlier today. I was carting in groceries from outside. I left the Jeep's backdoor open while I took a load inside. I came back outside to hear Link squalling and glaring at the Jeep's backdoor. He had to have hit his head on it somehow, but I'm still figuring it out. He should have just gotten a bump and not a cut, but this child is TALENTED when it comes to hurting himself. See my beautiful new header up top? The beautiful photos? I love the one of Link on the right, but there's a problem with it. Check out his left temple...large bruise. Sigh.

So how do I protect this kid from himself? Most of his accidents are him tripping over his own two feet or not watching where he's going and then running into things (people, walls, couches, etc). I really just want to wrap him up in bubble wrap and stick a helmet on him but I figure that's probably not the best solution and he'd never go for it anyway. HELP! Anyone else out there have really clumsy children? Have any tips for a poor helpless mama who has to watch her son constantly hurt himself?

Also, just to ease your mind, his cut on top of his head isn't deep, it only bled for a minute (I timed it, I know I'm a worrier but better safe than sorry) and he calmed down and quit crying within a few minutes of me cuddling him outside. He hasn't been drowsy or vomiting or anything like that, so it's just another day for him.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Eight years ago today I married my best friend. It's hard to believe that eight years has already gone by, but we're looking forward to spending many, many more together. I can't wait to see what the future holds with my sweet husband by my side. I love you, James!

Terrible graininess from an iPhone photo but it's the most recent one I have

Anniversary Project

So it's my eight year anniversary coming up soon. It's amazing to think that we've been married for that long. It certainly doesn't feel that long. Here's a photo of us on our wedding day:

The crazy thing is we're sitting on the same bench in the church courtyard where we took our prom photos together. I'd post that photo, but it's somewhere in storage.

This year we decided that we aren't going to buy each other anything for our anniversary. Money's tight because we're saving for our vacation this summer (Venice and Rome!). We are counting our vacation as our anniversary gift to ourselves. I hate not giving him something other than a card though, so I crafted him something I knew he'd love and really use: a treat jar!

It's a recycled peaches pull-top can, some paper and tape, and treats we had around the house (m&ms) leftover from Link's party. Therefore, cost for this project: $0. I wish I could say I came up with this idea, but I didn't. You can check out the complete tutorial from Our Best Bites. This idea would make a great gift for teacher appreciations, graduations, birthdays, anything really.

Have a great Memorial Day!

Friday Musings

I love this photo. I managed to snap it while I was cleaning the spare bedroom in anticipation of my step-daughter's arrival. I was hanging photos, picking up clutter, and straightening out my bookshelves. They were pretending to sleep in the bed and generally messing up whatever I cleaned. Hard to be upset with that when they're this cute. Every time I look at this photo I can hear Drake saying, "muaahhh" as he kisses Link.

Then I moved to the bedroom, aka laundry central. I keep all our clean laundry here in the baskets until I get time to fold it. The boys love to play in the baskets. Drake in particular. He does this thing where he throws all the unmatched socks in the air over his head, an action akin to throwing leaves above your head in fall. It yields approximately the same mess for me to clean up.

I mentioned in my previous post Drake's love of the mirror. Today was no different. He was trying on all the random hats, gloves, and scarves that end up in the unmatched socks laundry basket.

Lincoln even got in on the escapade. He insisted on wearing this knit hat over his eyes. I kept trying to pull it up out of his eyes, but he wanted it that way. He honestly made me kind of nervous walking around like that.

I also came downstairs after cleaning up three rooms upstairs to find that they'd made new messes downstairs while I was preoccupied. I should have known better...This is what I found in my sink:

Ignore the dirt on the sink...tomorrow is downstairs cleaning day. Note the cute WASPS shirt my boy's in? Yeah, that's my t-shirt from my first baseball team that I was on. It's so cute that he wanted to wear it. Have a great Friday and weekend!

You Capture - Pretty

Yay! It's another week of You Capture. Have I mentioned before how much I really enjoy participating in this? Well, I do. This week's challenge by Beth is "pretty." Pretty is so subjective and so vague that I could literally shoot just about anything and call it pretty.


What's prettier than a rose?



Maybe hydrangeas?

 Nature certainly is plentiful when it comes to "pretty." But I found some pretty little things lurking about my house too. Like these eyelashes. On a little boy.


My youngest baby

I'm also having issues lately (who am I kidding....forever) with confidence. I know that my husband thinks I'm pretty and I'm sure there's others out there that might think so too. I have such a hard time though accepting compliments, even from myself. It used to be that the only part of myself that I liked and wouldn't change a thing about was my eyes and nose.

Every time I walk into my bedroom or the bathroom, I'm looking at myself in the mirror, scrutinizing, nitpicking, wishing away or wishing for. I know it's a bad habit and I hate it, but I'm having a hard time finding myself pretty. And I hate that because I'm supposed to be a role model for my children. I've found Drake running into my bedroom just so he can stand in front of the mirror, lift up his shirt, and look at his tummy. As cute as it is to see a toddler inspect his tummy, I'm just glad that he doesn't understand why I do it. I hope to kick the habit long before he understands. So here's to being pretty...



  Linking up to http://www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com/