*lyssa beth*: May 2011

tidy-up tuesdays.

Do you ever have one of those "zones" that just can not stay cleaned?!

I have too many of them in my house.

So i am dealing with one of them today...the dreaded "kids creative corner"

This is on a good day. Usually there are papers and markers, crayons and books everywhere.

I keep pulling my hair out trying to keep up with it!

So what I did was empty out those plastic bins. Completely. Everything out! I then went through the pile, decided whether to keep or trash. For the most part, I trashed because they have too much crap!

I then designated a drawer for each kid. I put their own crayon box and their own coloring books in it. They are now responsible for their drawer!

Grabbed a huge trash bag and threw the rest away, and sigh...all clean and organized.

I have realized that my kids don't need 1000 coloring books, 100's markers, crayons and scissors. I need to limit what they have so it doesn't over take me!

What supplies do you give your kids when creating?

scrapbook sundays #12

I'm over at Vintage Sheets blog with a GIVEAWAY!

Plus don't forget about the giveaway going on HERE!

Let's see who linked up last week!

Very Haute Housewife made this adorable mini album!

Daily Chrysalis made this memorable LO about her son's toys!

Love to Crop made this colorful LO! I love those flowers!

Thanks Ladies! Grab yourself a feature button!

Here's what I did this week:

I actually did this last week but I haven't had time to do anything. End of the school time is crazy!

This is a growth chart that I used with spray paints and yellow cardstock. I used the eCraft to cut out the numbers! I loved how it turned out!

I'm linking up to THESE parties!

Alrighty, your turn!

Link up anything scrapbooking related!

Please grab a button and add it to your post or blog.

If you have a feature button or link, i'll feature you!

Help Sweet Clara.

Before the move to Cashmere, where we reside now, we lived in the Tri-Cities area. It was a short residence for us but we made some wonderful friends. One of those was the Woodwards. They are the sweetest family. Their youngest little one, Clara, is such a beautiful little girl. We taught her in Nursery before we moved. It was such a delight to get to know this special child of God.

Some sad news came earlier this week. They found that Sweet Clara has Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer that has started to spread to other parts of her body. She is currently receiving radiation treatments two hours away from home and is expected to begin chemotherapy before the week is through.

This family needs your help. I hope that posting this can add that much more help and hope towards this wonderful family. Please pray for little Clara and her family. They needs lots of prayers for her & the doctors, that there hands can be guided to do what needs to be done and work some miracles!

There has been a fund set up in Clara's name. If you're able, I know her family would appreciate your donation.

You can read updates on Clara's progress from her faithful mother right here on her blog.

Thank you.

thrifty thursdays #13

Alrighty, it's so hard to pick features from all of your links!!

I am going to try something new...I'll feature the top 3 highest visited links and we'll go from there :)

The highest viewed link was Garden of Eden Goods and her flea market finds-turned necklace

#2, #3 & #4 (all tied for second place!) spot was

I heart my glue gun and her easy cheap roman shades!

and her adorable dining room table REDO!

and then lastly was My Reflections and $15 wash stand!

Thanks ladies for linking up and playing along!

I love your style!

Grab yourself a button :)

This week has gone by fast and I have been busy from what i'm used to. Having 3 small kids not in school yet, we usually don't have too much going on. However, my eldest graduated from Preschool. So there has been lots of parties, get-togethers and a graduation.

So that has pre-occupied my mind. And let me tell you, I didn't think this would affect me as much as it has. My little girl is getting so big! I'm having one of those "I can't believe how fast her life has gone by!" moments. But seriously, who is this huge girl going to Kindergarden next year?!

Do you guys want to see a picture? I know you do ;)

haa haa and this is what my husband and son were doing during part of it...boys!

Congrats honey! We are so proud of you :)

Now the fun part!

Link up any thrifty finds, redos, antiques, or just anything thrifty!

RULES:

Please grab a button and add it to the post or blog so that others can follow along too!

Link specific posts and not the main blog :)

I'll pick a few to feature who have a button or link back next week!

chevron growth chart.

I've been so excited to show you guys what I did over the weekend!

I was brainstorming on a gift to do for a 1 year old and thought this would be perfect.

and it doesn't hurt that i made this for free!

I had all the supplies on hand. I even found that piece of wood out of a "free wood" pile in town.

it's your lucky day because i'm going to show you how I made it :)

I started with a piece of wood, sanded down and ready to be painted.

I used "Smoke Gray" by Krylon.

Next I took an old Cricut cutting mat and taped on a chevron patterned that I got HERE.

I used my pink box cutter and cut out the design. I initially was going to cut out lots of rows but that sucker was a big fat pain to cut so I stuck with 1 row.

I then placed it on the board and sprayed some "White Primer" by Krylon on it.

I just eye balled it down the board until I covered the whole thing.

Of course, it started raining while I was doing this so I brought it inside to let it dry...

Next stage was cutting out numbers and marks for each inch. I used my eCraft to cut them out. You can see the demo I posted a few days ago on how I did that HERE.