a simple thank-you

Have you ever wondered over to "I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar"?

If not, you really should...it's GREAT and full of many wonderful idea.

Every Wednedsay is Wake-Up Wednesday and Cheri extends a good deed 

challenge out to all of her readers 

I decided that as part of some of my goals for the year it would be to participate in 

Wake-up Wednesday as often as possible and to try to include my hubby and kids as well

This week the challenge was to write thank-you notes.

We had a handful of people we could write thank-you notes to for all the many wonderful Christmas presents we just recieved.....you know grandma & grandpa's, aunts & uncles, & a few friends.

I did not have any thank-you cards on hand and didn't want to spend lots of

money on purchasing any either so I decided to make some and to persoanlize them as well.

So I printed out through Cost-co (love that place) some 4x6's of our most recent family picture and

double sided sticky tabbed (cause I using glue-sticks) them to cards that I just made out of white card stock that I had on hand. The cards are just a regular size sheet of card stock cut in half (hotdog fold style) and then folded each piece in half to create a card.

Look at that simple, easy, & cute personalized thank-you cards.

So for me to make 10 cards it only cost me $1.30 plus a little tax to make these cards 

since I already had card stock, envelopes, & double sided sticky tabs.

Can't beat that!!

So if you too need to send out thank-you's here is great way

Birthday Book

Hello there!!
Today I want to share a gift I made for Mother Hen last month for her birthday.  As some of you know, Mother Hen travels a lot.  And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT!  She travels all over the country selling Texas Twisters at fairs, normally every weekend from June to October. So when it comes to kids and grandkids birthdays, she has to send cards for most of them.  More than once I've gotten a call from Mother Hen, asking what birthdays were coming up for the next couple weeks.  I really don't mind telling her, but I decided I could come up with something cute to help her keep track of the birthdays.
So I made her a birthday book!  What is a birthday book, you ask?  Well, here ya go!  Prepare for picture overload!

I'm sorry I don't have any before pictures, but I basically took an old photo album that I had, recovered it, and re bound it.  I was initially going to keep the same binding that the photo album had, but after decorating each of the pages, the book was too big.  So I punched holes in each page, attached eyelets, and bound it with fishing wire.  Not my first choice for binding, but it worked!

For the pages, I cut a piece of cardstock to the size of the cover. Then I used another piece of cardstock, cut it an inch shorter, and folded the edges over the back, making a pocket in the front on the right side.  For the left side, I just printed out a calendar for each month, wrote on the birthdays, and glued it on, which covered the folded edges from the pocket side (did that make sense??).

I wanted to have a pocket for each month so she could keep birthday cards in it.  I made a few of the birthday cards, and then bought the rest.  So not only does she have a calendar that she can take with her, but she has birthday cards ready for an entire year!  All she has to do is fill them out and mail them!  I also did the calendar this way so she can write in birthdays when needed.  Our last birthday calendars were missing quite a few grandkids that hadn't been around when the calendar was made. 

So here's how I decorated the pages for each month.  I owe a huge thanks to my awesome sister Jacki for helping me do some of the pages.  I'm pretty sure this would have ended up as a Christmas present for Mother Hen if Jacki hadn't helped me! :)  On the right side of each page, you can see I attached ribbon.  I was trying to figure out how to print on ribbon so I could type the month on each ribbon, but it just didn't happen.  So I just picked ribbon that coordinated with each page.

I finished off the book by adding some ribbon to tie it closed.  It was bound with fishing wire, but the ribbon helped keep it together.

I love how it turned out, and I know Mother Hen really appreciates it!  So what do you think? 
Thanks for reading!!
-Juli-

Linking to these great parties!

Wedding Season

A good friend got married last week and these are the cards I made for the occasion!
I used the coral color because of the invitation and thought that the soft brown worked well with it.  Hope you enjoy!

 Sorry to my sisters and those of you who follow us.  I have not posted in a couple of weeks.  I have had a rough couple of weeks.  But be sure to come back next week and see what my new favorite treat is!!!

Father's Day

We would like to dedicate this week to Father's.
They sure do a lot for us and I don't know what I would do with out all mine...
My husband, my Father-in-law, my Step-dad and my Dad.
They are all great men and I don't know what I would do without them.

This one is for my husband! The boys helped me.
They wanted tools on it because their daddy is always fixing something and
they love to help him.

This one is for my step dad. I know it may look a little girly but he loves to garden,
and when I made these pansies I thought of him.

This one is for my Dad. He lives in another state so I wanted to have all five
of us represented on it, so he would know how much all of us love him.

And these are my other cards, I love to make them have a theme.
Every year I do all my cards different but with the same stuff.
I love to see what I can come up with (like the Mother's day cards).

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy.
Remember to thank your Father's in your own special way on the 19th.

Teacher & Birthday Cards

It is the last week of school here so I made this card for my oldest's preschool teacher. He loves worms so I thought it was fitting.

He wrote her a cute note too.

It was also my other son's 3rd Birthday on Saturday and he looooves Emus. So I made him an Emu card. He loved it and carried it around with him for a while showing people. I think he is one of a kind!!!

So Thankful!

Last week my 4 1/2 yr old was in the hospital for asthma and pneumonia. I was so thankful for the nice nurses that tried so hard to make him comfortable and happy. So I wanted to make sure I left them a Thank You card. They all deserve a nice thank you. It just happened to be National Nurse week last week and I hope all of can thank your nurse the next time you see them for all the hard work they do.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Mother's Day Cards

I have a lot of family so I get to make a lot of Mother's day cards. I found these super cute rosettes and a bonus they are super easy to make. So here is a tutorial on how to make them.

Start with a circle and cut it in a spiral with some wavy lines. This gives them a petal look.

I used a 1 3/8 in. circle punch for the small rosettes and just about a 2 1/2 in. random circle.
I cut for the bigger single rosettes.

Then bend a paper clip to look like this.
They have special tools for this , but this works just as good.

Put the edge of paper through the loop
(making sure not to go too far, because then it is hard to get
it off the paper clip after you have rolled)
then start rolling

Keep it tight

You will end up with just the small circle left

Then place hot glue on the circle and hold down.
Hot glue is fastest and easiest, but other glues work.

Then put a little glue on ends and dip in sparkles

And there you go. Easy and beautiful rosettes!

Here are the other cards I made with these pretty rosettes.

Hope you enjoy! And wish all of you Moms a Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!

Texas Twister Cards

I got a new stamp set and thought it was a perfect match for my mom. Mama Hen does Texas Twisters (which are a sweet drink with Lemons, Limes, Oranges, and a Cherry on top.) They have a blast at Fairs making these delicious drinks and so I made her these cards! Hope you enjoy!