Too young to shovel snow?

DD Elizabeth, 22 months old, "helping" me shovel snow! She was so proud of herself for moving the snow around with that shovel.


Tuesday's Tutorial is coming soon! Been busy today, got a few inches of snow last night!

Tuesday's Tutorial #5

Ok, so it's not Tuesday anymore. Ugh! I still want to post this tutorial. This is continuing with the idea of using paper crafts around the home. This will work for office spaces too. In my quest to streamline my bill paying process, and make it prettier, I have come up with a bills organizer. I used a Tupperware container to hold it all. Each divider has a month of the year and there are paper clips with the days of the month. I will use the clips to remind me what dates upcoming bills are due. I figure as I pay the bill, mark the date paid and move it to the back . As they come around next year decide if I still need to keep them in a long term file or get rid of it. This could be used with index cards with birthdays/anniversaries written on them like a perpetual calendar. The container was too bright, but the perfect size for what I needed, so I colored it with alcohol inks from Ranger. So much fun!

Tutorial: Decorative Bills Organizer.

Ingredients:

• Container in a size that holds the papers you would like to sort/file.
• Cardstock-about six 12x12 pieces, your choice of color, I used 6 different colors from the extinct FFC Hostess Rewards Line.
• Scissors/paper trimmer.
• Pencil and eraser.
• Paper piercer and cork tile, corner rounder, bone folder (optional)
• Embellishments with numbers, scrap cardstock
• 31 large paper clips.
• CS glue
• Ruler
• Alcohol inks (optional)

Getting started: measure what size the inside of your container is to see what size to make your dividers. Consider if you want the dividers to stand up out of the container, or if you will need them to fit inside so you can put a lid on.

Mine are 10x6. I chose muter colors hoping it will help keep me calm while paying the bills, HA!





Trim your papers to the size you need and keep the scraps to use later for file tabs and paper clip tabs.








If you will be making your own tabs, here is a Mini Tutorial idea of how to make some. 1. Choose your size, I used 2x2 squares. 2. Score in the middle and fold in half. 3. Use a corner rounder on the corners of the crease.

Write, stamp , or adhere months of the year to the tabs. Apply to dividers with brads or glue.



I cheated and used my Cricut Fabulous Finds cartridge to cut my tabs out :) I ahdered them with brads, poking the holes first with my paper piercer. I did my writing with a Slick Writer in Denim.

I used my CS grid ruler to determine the placement of the tabs. Measure the width of the tab you are using and use a pencil to mark where you want them to go on the divider. Mine were 1 3/4" wide, so I marked 1 3/4" on the first card and then 1 3/4" from the first mark but on the next card. You can make them over lap by making the measurements smaller than the size of the tabs. If you dont want to mess with the numbers, just use the tab to measure the spacing ;)
Write months on the tabs before adhering them with glue or brads.



I wanted to use numbered paper clips to mark due dates of upcoming bills. I used number stickers from CS Jr. Kits and sandwiched the paper clip between the sticker and a scrap of cardstock. Make sure you attach them to the end of the clip that only has one loop. You could also use printed number cut out and glue to the cardstock.


This is the container after I applied the inks. I used the felt applicator, inks in Latte, Lettuce, and Caramel. They did not show up well so I went over that with Denim, Rasin and Butterscotch. I blotted them with the blending solution. Last I applied Wild Plum in a cicle in the middle of the pad and stamped it on top. In person it looks like impressionist flowers. I am very pleased with the toned down color.


As always I welcome your comments and links to posts of your edition of the tutorials. I would love to post you works here if you would like to share them.

Tuesday's Tutorial #4

This wonderful kids' game is a variation of one I saw on Donna's Day, on PBS, yesterday. These are great for hand/eye coordination! You can adjust the difficulty level based on the childs age. Great to tuck into the back seat pockets, plus no annoying noise like you get with the Gameboy, lol. This could be a great stocking stuffer, Valentine's gift, or quick to put together for an unexpected birthday invite. The decoration can be completely customized to the child's likes :) Let me know what you all think. I would love to post your editions on here after you make them.

Tutorial: CD Case Kids' Game.

Ingredients:

• Empty CD case, the wider cases, not the super slim ones. Remove the inside panel.
• 5 pieces of cardstock cut to fit the inside of your case (mine was 5 3/8 x 4 5/8). Any color but at least one contrasing color.
• Ruler
• Paper Trimmer
• CS Glue
• Anywhere hole punch or Crop-a-dile II (i have the pink one in the pic, but it didnt reach far enough)
• Some small round beads or ball bearings
• Embellishments/stamps

Cut your cardstock pieces to fit inside the CD case bottom. The side where the insert would have been.

Decorate one piece of the cardstock that will be showing out the other side if desired.

Glue the decorated piece of cardstock into the bottom of the CD case with the decor facing out.

Create a design/game board with stamps, on one of the pieces of cardstock. Choose images that have places you can punch a hole into them. I used the Sheriff's badge and some circles.

Next glue all of the remaining pieces of cardstock together with the game board on top.

Punch holes where you would like the beads to land for the game. I made two games on one board, "Pin the Sheriff" and "Bowling". I included 6 beads. The hole in the middle of the badge is 1/8" where all the others are 3/16". The beads I used fall into the larger holes easily and have to be balanced onto the smaller hole.

I added the "Good Luck" image, dropped in the beads and shut the case. There is a gap at the end of the case that the insert used to fill, my beads were large enough that they dont fall out but if yours do just fill it with glue or tape over it. Depending on who you are giving this to you may need to glue/tape the whole thing shut.

*another option would be to use a craft knife and cut a maze into the stack of cardstock.

Hope you all have fun with this, I'm going to go work on my hand/eye coordination now :)