Friday Favorite-Cutest Table Redo Ever!

My favorite post this week is a tutorial for this cute little table over at Maple and Magnolia-it just looks like Spring! It was $1 at the resale store, and she used scrap paper to make the banner. Kind of makes me want to go look for a table, but we don't have anywhere to put one! Anyway, this looks pretty easy and the basic idea could be applied to lots of different things.

Free Spring Subway Art Printable

Since Valentine's Day is over I have been looking for some fun Spring printables to swap into my frames, but I searched for a bit online and didn't have much luck. So, I made a Spring/Easter subway art printable for myself and I am sharing it with you! I made it in 3 different Spring colors, blue, green, and lavender-Easter egg colors. Click on each picture below and it will take you to Picassa where you can do a high-res download and then print. Happy Thursday!

Linked to:

Fun Photo Wednesday-Photoshop Storyboard

So more playing with photoshop. I downloaded this free storyboard template from Paint the Moon. I tried to used it once before, but had some issues, namely that when I copied the pictures in they were so large I continued to just see white and thought that it wasn't working. However, I figured that out when I made my birth announcement, so this time I knew to Transform and then just keep shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. I also had to readjust the edges of the template grids because they did not meet exactly and there were gaps between two of the pictures. I did a google search and found several more storyboard templates that were free to download from various photography sites. Yay for free templates!

These are from Saturday. Bailey has an ear infection, but a few doses of antibiotic got her feeling much better. She was having a great time climbing on the rocker and showing out. We have the most awesome rocker-it is doublewide and was a gift from all the lovely teachers at Maplewood after I had Bailey. I enjoy it so much, and of course, so does Bailey!

Tuesday Poetry-"i carry your heart"

i carry your heart

e.e. cummings

i carry your heart with me
(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it
(anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate
(for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world
(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Valentine's Day Treats

Happy Valentine's Day! Tomorrow is Bailey's Valentine's party at daycare, so I am showing how to make some cute little candy dispensers. She only has seven kids in her class, so I was able to make these up pretty quickly. Again, with her "help". I like that she comes and tries to help but it really does slow me down. I'm sure she'll be crafty before too long though and can help me for real. These were featured on the House of 3 webcast last week and a video tutorial is here. The basic dispenser is made out of 3 cups, one paper cup on the bottom and two clear 9oz. plastic cups on top. To make the dispenser take the two plastic cups and cut across about 2/3 of the way down from the top of the cup. Then, keeping the two cups together either use a circle punch or use sharp scissors to cut a half circle in both clear cups. Use adhesive (I used glue dots) to attach one of the clear cups to the base paper cup. The candy will go in here. Then place the second clear cup on top, but do not glue it. It will be free to turn. When both holes are aligned, the candy can come out. Turn the top cup so the holes are not aligned and the candy will stay in.

I then cut 3x8 strips of Valentine's paper and adhered them to my basic dispenser. I took the top clear cup off first, because it needs to be free to slide. It worked best for me to fold the strip in the middle. Apply adhesive, then lay the back of the dispenser on the center of the strip.

Then wrap the strip around to the front. It will meet at the top and gap at the bottom like this because the cup is not straight, but it's okay!

Almost finished! I added matching ribbon over the top of the paper strip.

Last step-I made tags for the dispensers that said "Happy Valentine's Day from Bailey" in Photoshop. I did this by saving a dotted background from the internet, then opening it up and using the cookie cutter tool to cut a circle. I reduced the opacity down to 50%, then added text on top. I wanted to use a 2" circle punch, so I sized my circle to 2.5" so I would have some wiggle room after I printed it. After I saved the tag as a JPEG I was able to print 4 to a sheet off on my printer, punch them out, and attach them to the front of the dispenser. This hides the paper gap.

Hope everyone has a day filled with love and treats tomorrow!

First Valentine's Scrapbook Layout

I got the Valentine's pictures from the park printed up and this is my first layout using those pictures. I have a whole set of papers and stamps of the Love Letters line from Little Yellow Bicycle. It is such pretty, sophisticated colors, grays, black, reds, and dark pinks and also came with some beautiful flocked papers. The top of this layout and the lettering are both actually flocked. I love black and white pictures and I thought the black and white pictures with these papers would be really pretty.


I used one of the January sketches from PageMaps for this layout. I have not used sketches very often in the past, and I'm not sure it helped me to go any faster, but it did give me ideas for using multiple pictures on the layout in a way that was out of the ordinary for me.

Post of the Week-Tiered Trays for Under $5

My favorite post this week is a group of ideas from Tatertots and Jello. Each of these super cute tiered trays cost less than $5 to make with items from the dollar store. I love the banner and colors on the first one-so cute!