My favorite photos of 2009

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. I know that I am excited to start off new and fresh for the new year. So many things to look forward to. I thought I would end the year with showing you guys my favorite photos from 2009. Yes they are of Luke, of course. Have fun and be safe if you are going out tonight. I think we are staying in!!

Can you tell Mommy is a Jeff Gordon fan???

This is Luke with his Papaw

These are just a hand full of my favorites!!!! ( yes I am a proud mamaratzi!!)

What to do with childrens artwork

My sons daycare has been sending home 2 to 3 pieces of artwork everyday. I love it and I usually hang it on the fridge for all to see. Well, after the fridge is covered and they continue to send things home, I needed a solution for all this art. I kinda feel bad about just throwing it all away. Well I kinda had this light bulb moment. I am going to take pictures of all the art and save in on the computer. After awhile, maybe once a year, I am going to make a photo book of his works of art. That way he can look back on it still and I don't have the clutter or the guilt.

Photo Coasters

I finally finished my 3 sets of Photo Coasters. These were supposed to be given to their recipients today, but because of the snow, they will have to wait until tomorrow. They look very pretty and I am very proud to have made them. They were inexpensive and pretty easy, except that I had a hard time getting the tissue paper taped onto the card stock just right. It may have been my printer, but the ink wanted to splatter if I didn't tape the tissue paper down tight enough. Has anyone else had this problem? Overall, I think they are going to make great gifts and I can't wait to give them out. I followed the tutorial located HERE.

Wishing You a Merry Christmas!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and show a picture that I took of my little Luke. He is the best Christmas gift a mother could ask for and makes the holidays soooo much more sweeter. I hope everyone can take some time to enjoy their family and spend some quality time together, enjoying each other and savoring this time of the year.

Photo Silhouettes

For my sister in law, I made some cute photo silhouettes of her daughters. I made these with Paint Shop Pro, but you can do this with any photo editing software. Quick and cute!!

Here is a copy of the finished product, framed and all. Sorry about the poor photo quality, did my best.

Step 1: Take picture of cute child from a side view.

Step 2: Open new canvas and size as 5x7

Step 3: Download a cute scrapbook paper that you like (I used www.deviantart.com) to find mine.

Step 4: Copy and paste scrapbook paper onto canvas and resize to fit.

Step 5: Open photo of cute child side view, select profile of child (I used the lasso tool) and fill with black.

Step 6: Copy and paste silhouette onto scrapbook paper. I used the smudge tool to clean up the edges of the silhouette so that it wasn't so choppy.

Step 7: Change blend mode to overlay and adjust opacity until you get the desired effect.

Step 8: Use text tool to type name in color of choice and add a slight drop shadow.

Step 9: Print and frame and wrap and give!!!!

JOY letter decoration!

Here is a wall hanging that I made. I really love these. They were initially meant to be used in Christmas photo's of my son, but he would not cooperate and hold the letters like I wanted him to so I stapled on some ribbon and hung them on the wall. Aren't they cute?
I just took some chipboard letters and scrapbook paper. Cut the paper into strips and mod podged the strips onto the letters. I wrapped the paper around to the backs and then filled in the holes on the back so that they are completely cover with paper. Stapled some Christmas ribbon to the backs and hung them on the wall. (I left out the part where I desperately tried to get my 17 month old son to hold the letter and smile all while looking at the camera...maybe next year...hehehe)

Things to work on in the new year....

1. The house does not need to be cleaned if I don't want to clean it. It's o.k. if it goes a week with out being thoroughly scrubbed and dubbed. My husband and son will not hate me for it, they don't care if the house is cleaned, they love me anyways. So, if I want to spend time with my family instead of cleaning that is what I am going to do. There is no reason for me to go tearing through the house on a rampage, slamming doors and such because I am cleaning and really don't want to be, just stop and spend time some quality time....the cleaning will always be there.

2. I will not throw a temper tantrum when I try something new and it doesn't go right the first time. I will not get mad and say "I can't do it" I will keep trying until I master whatever it is that I am doing. I will do this not only for myself but for my son. He does the same thing and I want to be a positive roll model for him.

3. I will not complain about friends and family (certain ones which will remain anonymous). I choose to speak to these people so I will not complain about them. '

4. I will play more often.

5. Be positive in everything that I do.

I hope this post doesn't make me sound like a horrible person but I am working on a little personal project right now and this was part of it.

Today is a good day!!!

I won two....yes, count them two giveaways today!!!!!
One was from WahooABargain....I won Steaz Organic Ice Tea. I can't wait to try these I love green tea and well any tea for that matter so I'm super excited to try these. You should check out her blog. She posts great deals....I have gotten some wonderful deals because of her. Thanks for the Ice Tea!!! (and the deals!!!)

The second on was from Making the World Cuter. I won some re-useful baby cloths from Cute Tickles. I can't wait to receive these either....they will be very useful in the bath tub when my 17 month old takes his bath.
Check out Making the World Cuter here
and
Check out Cute Tickles here

Such a good day....feeling really happy and I have to say, not just for the giveaways but for everything...just in a good mood in general. Hope everyone else is having a good day too!!!

Brick Paver Snowmen and Snow Women

Today we made Brick Paver Snowmen and Snow Women as gifts for my nieces and cousins to give to their parents. I also made a few for Luke's daycare teachers. I think they will love them. They were easy and quick to make and the kids were very proud of themselves. I got the idea for these on Family Fun, the link is here.
We did a few things different: We used the googley eyes for eyes, felt for noses, black beads for the mouth and larger beads for the buttons. We couldn't find Christmas fleece so we just used flannel fabric. I think ours turned out just as cute. Have fun!!!

 

Working on some gifts

I am currently working on several gifts to give and will post some pictures of them when I get them finished (hopefully no one will see them) Here is a list of posts to come:

Decoupaged JOY letters
Photo Coasters
Photo Silhouettes
Brick Paver Snowmen (and women)

I'll post these as I get them finished!!

Santa's Little Helpers

Sharing some christmas photo's of my son and my dog son. I have to confess that my dog was way more behaved and cooperative than Luke was. Which is why Luke is sitting in a box wrapped like a christmas present......to keep him in the shot!!! So, that can be your tip of the day.....to take picture of busy toddler....wrap a box and stick them in it!!!

Santa's Little Helpers themselves

Jake doesn't look too thrilled in this one

And one showing of the teeth (we all know how cute the teeth are!!)

Thanks for looking

Our Little Winter Wonderland

I wanted to share some pictures of our little winter wonderland. My husband decorates our outside every year like this and every year we try to add something new. He hates to do it but does it for me and our son....and well he loves the end result. I just wanted to share some pictures of it and of our tree. I love this season.

Our Christmas Tree

Our Little Winter Wonderland

Thanks for looking!!!

Fireflies and Jellybeans: Homemade Christmas - Photo gift ideas

http://lilbitofus.blogspot.com/2009/10/photo-suncatchers.html

Fireflies and Jellybeans: Homemade Christmas - Photo gift ideas

http://lilbitofus.blogspot.com/2009/10/photo-suncatchers.html

My photo suncatchers

http://lilbitofus.blogspot.com/2009/10/photo-suncatchers.html