Friday Five: 11 in 2011

I saw this idea on another blog and thought I'd try it- definitely a scrapbook page in the making. I encourage you to, too! Link your blog in the comments if you do!

11. Favorite Movie Watched in 2011: Uh...not sure. I didn't watch a whole lot of movies- mostly kids' stuff! I laughed a TON at "Bridesmaids" and "Horrible Bosses" and teared up at the end of "Harry Potter."

10. Favorite TV Series: Hard to say! I am a reality TV junkie and really like Project Runway and Top Chef (among others). My very favorite was Top Chef All-Stars...I joked with my husband that if it was on DVD I'd buy it. The winner was my absolute favorite chef from the show!

9. Favorite Restaurant: Hmm...we aren't big on eating out at fancy places. I think lately I've been craving Old Chicago pizza but I might have to say my brother-in-law's new restaurant called Clive's. It just opened on the 18th and seems to have very family-friendly food!

8. Favorite New Thing You Tried: Does Pinterest count?

7. Favorite Gift You Received: My Canon point-and-shoot...my other one ended up in the lake at the cabin!

6. Favorite Thing You Pinned: I pin so much this one was tricky. So I looked at my Scrapbooking board and found Ali Edward's Baby Album. I am using this type of format for J's baby album and I think this post will come in handy!

5. Favorite Blog Post: Can I choose a few? I wasn't sure if I should pick someone else's blog post or my own. So I chose Lisa Truesdell's Project Life posts- they are so inspiring! I also liked my blog post about the baby blocks my family made for my cousin's baby shower: Part 1: Directions, Part 2: My family's final product.

4. Favorite Accomplishment: Making it through an extra week of pregnancy, finally being induced and meeting Baby J! We are still finding our groove with two boys. :)

3. Favorite Picture:

2. Favorite Memory: T walking into the hospital room and seeing little brother J for the first time. Priceless. See above.

1. Goal for 2012: I'm doing it- I'm jumping in to Project Life...again. I tried the first year it came out and made it quite far but I think I'm going to do a week-in-review PL instead of a picture a day. I've signed up for a few classes online to get ideas of what to take pictures of and what to include. Becky's Blog has a design team that will share their ideas and I love Lisa Truesdell's PL ideas from her blog as well. 2012 will mark our baby's first year, T's end to preschool and entrance into kindergarten, my first summer with two boys in tow, and...who knows?! I will use an old kit that I have and piecemeal some other things into it. I also have chosen the Cobalt version for a baby book for J and will do a month-in-review for him. Wish me luck!

Holiday Leftovers: Cards

Each year I add to our Christmas scrapbook. I have a page for our annual Christmas card, two for an overview of fun events from December, some pages for family Christmas celebrations and one or two pages of our friends' and family's Christmas cards. Here's how I create my Christmas card page:

I punched out pieces of each card using a square punch. Some have photos, some have names, others are twice as long (I hand cut those), and some are just embellishments or designs from the cards themselves. I found this idea in Ali Edward's Life Artist book (which is no longer available- I bought it used on Amazon).

It is so fun to look back and see how much the families have changed over the years- but I don't have to use up a ton of space to save these memories.

How about you? How do you store your Christmas cards?

Holiday Leftovers: Wrapping Paper

If you have any extra wrapping paper lying around, check out what you can do with it! Makes you want to open your gifts carefully, doesn't it?

Homemade notebook covers from Cut Out and Keep

I've made these stars before- they are a lot easier than they look! Wouldn't they be fun for New Year's? From Family Fun

Love these paper beads from Mad Mim- then it doesn't matter what pattern is on the paper

Martha Stewart has a bunch of ideas like this pencil cup

How about some Origami with the kiddos? Wrapping paper makes it easy to fold!

Wouldn't one of these stars be great for writing wishes or goals on for the New Year?

From Extreme Cards

From Mocha Memories

Holiday Leftovers: Food

I know this is a crafty blog but I thought I'd share some yummy looking recipes using your Christmas dinner leftovers!

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup (scroll down)

Ham and Cheese Baked Potato

Apple Cranberry salad

Mashed Potato Frosted Meatloaf- a family favorite! You can make them into "cupcakes" too! 

Merry Christmas

May your weekend be filled with fun memories of family and friends (and lots of photos to scrap)!

Friday Five: Gift Card Packaging

I don't know about you but when it's this close to the holidays, I just start buying gift cards for those who are difficult to buy for. Here are five cute ways to package your cards.

Use a mini picture frame (I found some at Michaels) like this one from Better Homes and Gardens

Check out these cute tags from Martha Stewart

Cute idea for a coffee lover from Life in the Thrifty Lane

Gift card snow globes from One Charming Party...or use the jars to make something like this:

from Heavenly Homemakers

Or 16+ other ideas from Tip Junkie

I hope you have a fantastic holiday weekend! I have some fun posts lined up for next week on how to use your holiday "leftovers."

Friday Five: Gift Wrap

I love wrapping gifts! I buy at least one new roll of wrapping paper each year- usually something neutral that I can use on any occasion. Here are some cute ways to wrap your gifts for that someone special.

Monogram Gift Labels (and many more ideas!) from Martha Stewart

And here is a bonus link to another gift wrap area on her site

Grab that Washi tape and decorate! From The Sweetest Occasion

Family Fun shows you how to make eco-friendly gift wrap from fabric

Oh Party! has Oh confetti!

Use up your yarn like Ki Memories

I hope you are inspired to make your gifts look gorgeous!

Friday Five: Birthday

My oldest is turning 5 and I can't believe it! With our little one finally here, our first seems so big! Here are some fun birthday images and ideas for you this week.

Featured on A Little King and I

Birthday Binder idea from The Creative Homemaker

Cute and simple invite from Supergail

Birthday Photo Op from The Jobling Family

Birthday Tradition ideas from Modern Parents Messy Kids

Happy Birthday T-Monster!

Handmade Holiday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Handmade Holiday Blog Hop!
I hope you enjoyed Mandi's project or that you are able to start the hop at Amanda's blog join in the fun!

Today I have a simple project using up some of those holiday scraps from the cards I'm sure you are so diligently making with your stash. It's a Holiday Countdown Calendar.

Supplies:

Frame (mine is a 9x11 with a mat for 8x10)

Paper (I'd recommend double-sided)

Number stickers

Adhesive

1. Cut your paper into small 1.5x2" rectangles

2. Create a pattern on a piece of plain cardstock. I made mine a 5x5" grid. This is where the double-sided paper came in handy- I had a lot of options for how I wanted the grid to look. Adhere rectangles.

3. Place number stickers on each square.

4. Place inside the frame and use a chipboard piece or frame to move as you countdown. I just used plain tape on the back of this frame and taped it to the glass- it's much easier for my little guy to move!

I have a few alternatives if you are looking for other ways to create your Holiday Countdown.

For the countdown above, I used an old piece of Making Memories paper from their Fa La La collection. I cut apart the numbers and pieced them together to look like a tree. I also added some ribbon at the top and decorated the mat in the frame. This is actually the back of the previous countdown- I couldn't decide which I liked better!

I wanted to make this countdown more versatile so I found a 12x12" frame from Michaels. It was made of MDF so I sprayed it with chalkboard paint (3 coats). I added stickers that said "days until" and the rest my little guy and I decorated with chalk. It erases quite easily (he had his hands all over it and we had to do some touch-ups) so I am able to change the event and the photo that would be in it. My idea was that we could do countdowns to vacations, birthdays, holidays, or special events.

I hope you enjoyed my project! Next up is Heidi's blog and then Stacia's blog- Happy Holidays!