And Summer starts at the Moes home…

                                    Waaa-hoo!! 

We {Love} our Teachers!

This week is Teacher Appreciation for my kids schools.  I have been a little MIA in my their classrooms since having Ady.  I decided to help my kids make something special for them so they know how much we (I) sincerely appreciate all that they do.

I think every teacher should be proud of their name.  Their name is everything.  They hear it all day long, just like we hear “mommy” all day long.  So we celebrated that by making them a monogram.

   

I picked up the 4x6 frames at Walmart one day.  I had the burlap at home.  I printed their monograms on white cardstalk in a kid friendly font.  Stuck that on the burlap with glue dots, then hot glued ribbon around the edges of the cardstalk.  The flowers are 3 circles cut out of felt and stitched in the center and put into place with a glue dot.  The kids asked their teachers what their favorite color was.  That is how we chose the colors for the felt.  I had them make each teacher a homemade card (they each have 2 teachers).  This was our Family Home Evening on Monday.  We came up with a silly little saying for each one, like…Mrs. J (we wrote her whole name, but since this is the internet I can’t do that :) Mrs. J – you are Just plain cool!  Mrs. M – You are the Merry best!  Mrs. D – You are Dynamite!  Mrs. K – you are Kickin’!  and others like that (the last one was Jake’s btw!)

We had a lot of fun putting them together.  If I was a teacher I would love to have something cute like this in my classroom, but I’m not a teacher so I don’t really know. :)  Either way, we want them to know how special we think they are and that they should be proud of all they do.    

All wrapped up and ready to go.

I am linking up to Just a Girls Show and Share Day.

Show and Tell (my awesome frame from Enrichment)

I have been wanting to do a post about the frame I made at Enrichment for weeks now.   I am in love with this frame.

 

It is a sweet reminder that Christ is the center of our family and in all of the  things we do. 

Before I even made the frame, I knew right where I was going to hang it. 

In my kids’ hallway upstairs.

I already had this vinyl quote on the wall with a different frame under it.  I just swapped them out.  To me, it’s the perfect spot.  Right by their bedrooms where they can see it and be reminded of Christ every time they walk up the stairs.  

Here is a closer look.

Project Rundown:

The photos are 2 inch squares glued onto 2 inch squared chipboard.  The photo of Christ in the center is a 4 x 4 square.  I bought the frame at Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon.  I knew I wanted a square frame.  It’s much easier to do this project within a square.  A 12 inch square frame would have been ideal, but this 13 x 13 one worked too.  I started out by gathering photos.  There are 16 squares with photos and 16 squares with scrapbook paper.  I am lucky because I have a 2 inch square punch.  That made trimming the photos and the paper a cinch.  Our Enrichment leader (Tove) had the chipboard squares already trimmed down when we got there.  That was nice not to have to cut those.  FYI - The chipboard comes in a 12 inch square at Hobby Lobby.  I tried my best to coordinate the paper so it went well together and so the colors matched the interior of my home.  Once everything was trimmed, I used a glue stick to attach the photos and paper to the chipboard.  Then I sanded the edges of each square and rounded the corners with a nail file.  Then I inked the edges with an ink pad.  I used brown.  I learned a new inking technique.  * Cut a corner of a sponge off and dip that in the ink pad and then rub it on the edges.  It was much easier to get the ink right where I wanted it to be.  Thanks Tove!  After the squares were sanded and inked it was time to glue them down.  When all of the squares were put together it came to a 12 x12. My  frame was a tad bigger than a 13 x 13 so I had to figure something out.  I ended up flipping the back cover of my frame over (the piece that holds your picture in place).  It was a pretty charcoal color so I glued my squares onto that and had a nice edge between the chipboard and the frame.  It worked for me.  Before I glued them down I played with the layout a little bit until I got it just right.  I had the photo squares and scrapbook squares layed out to be every other – the photos aren’t next to each other and the papers aren’t next to each other.  It was like putting together a puzzle.  Once I was satisfied with the layout I glued it down with Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive.  That stuff is amazing!!  You have to be quick and precise when you stick the squares down.  Once they are down, they aren’t moving!  Then it was time to embellish some of my paper squares.  This was a fun part.  I attached them with glue dots.  Here is a closer look at some of my embellishments.  

 

Flowers , buttons, charms, monogram letters, ribbon, tulle.  Pretty much anything goes.  The butterflies were fun.  It is a punch and then you just bend the wings up so they pop out more.  I didn’t embellish every paper square.  I think it would be too much.  I took the glass out of my frame so it could have more of a 3D affect.  I love it!

 

My head has been swimming with ideas.  I have been dreaming of chipboard.  Tove had this really cute one done on canvas.  I wish I had snapped a picture.  The possibilities are endless.  One of the girls was going to do a collage with her daughters school picture in the center and then everything that represents her around it.  There are so many different themes you can do and ways to display it.  It was such a fun creative outlet.

Supplies:

Frame

16 - 2 inch square photos

16 - 2 inch square scraps of paper

1 - 4 x 4 photo for the center

32 - 2 inch squares of chipboard

1 - 4 x 4 inch square chipboard

Embellishments

Nail file of soft sand paper

Ink pad and small sponge

Glue Stick

Glue Dots

Scotch Quick – Dry Adhesive

Let me know if any of you try this technique.  I would love to see what you come up with.  Thanks Tove for the wonderful Enrichment and inspiring me! 

Where have I been?

We’ve been having a party!

Grandma came for a visit.

 

She brought special cargo along with her.  The kids’ cousin, Cameron. 

To say they were excited would be putting it mildly.  Jake, especially was in Heaven.  Cam is his BFF cousin.  These two keep in touch even though they live states away.  They pace through the house and chat it up on the phone when they aren’t together.  Here is the run down of our weekend together:

    We celebrated birthdays.      

                       10 + 32 + 72 = 114

Our Birthdays are just days apart.  We felt privileged to have these two with us to celebrate.

We shopped.

Have I mentioned that I have been wanting to re-do my bedroom?  For Valentines, Casey gave me some money to get started.  Isn’t he the best?  I was lacking  inspiration for our room so I hadn’t done anything with the money yet, until earlier last week.  I was shopping at Target for misc. things when I just happened to walk past the clearance section and found the perfect chair for our room.  Here is the beauty:

It was on clearance for $44.00.  I couldn’t pass it up!  That was a steal since all the other chairs I had been eyeing were at least $150.00.  Now I finally had some inspiration.  Normally I would have started with the bedding and then matched everything else, but I knew I loved this chair right when I saw it.  Now I was on a roll and couldn’t get my bedroom out of my mind, so Carmen and I went shopping for my birthday.  We shopped and shopped and shopped and finally hit Marshall’s Home Goods and found my bedding and a table.  Here’s a little glimpse:

  

I have plans in here!  There is still work to do.  I can’t wait to really tackle it, but I am going to finally listen to my mom and do a little here and a little there.  I am keeping my eye out for new throw pillows and lighting in the corner.  Oh and something on top of the table.  I know the yellow flowers don’t match.  It was driving me crazy that I didn’t have anything on top of the table and we just happened to have some fresh flowers around so that’s where they went.  Thank you for my shopping trip Carmen.  I LOVE it!

Basketball.

We cheered on Jake and Daddy at their last Basketball game.  Now we have a couple of free weeknights and Saturdays before swim season starts.  It was a fun basketball season and a great opportunity for Jake and Casey.

Besides having his dad as a coach, I would say Jake’s favorite part was playing defense and of course making baskets. 

    

All in all it was a super fun and productive weekend.  I was happy to take some time off from our normal routine to enjoy some company!

*More posts to come.  I have lots of catching up to do.

Yesterday…

We used to have Superman living with us.  Now we have a Ninja Turtle/Darth Vador/ Batman. His very own creation.

Kaylee and Jake thought I lost my mind. 

Jake: “Mom, you know we are going inside the store.”

Kaylee: “ He is not going like that to the Open House tonight!” 

Yes, I knew we were going inside the store and no, he did not go like that to the school open house, but he did go like this to Sam’s Club and I really didn’t care.  I was on a mission and in my project mode.  I had Enrichment on my mind and this awesome frame we were going to make and I really needed my pictures…now.  So lucky for Drew I did not fight that battle.  I thought it was hilarious and refreshing instead.  Don’t you sometimes wish you could be a kid again and not have a care in the world?

I do. 

Yesterday we both won.  He was happy in his costume and I was happy to get my pictures.

The End.

Projects, Projects, Projects

I am bombarding you with project posts!  I have been a busy bee.  Do you remember my list?  I am tackling it one thing at a time and  making progress.  I am having a lot of fun too.  It’s giving me a break from all the mommy chores.  It’s taken me longer to do them all than I wanted, but what’s the rush, really?  I tell that to myself all the time these days!

I finished my families silhouette’s. 

They are on a wall in our office off of the entry way.  I’d been meaning to do these for a long time and I’m so glad I did.  It was another easy project to mark off the list.

 

I am in LOVE with my pantry door.  That sounds crazy doesn’t it…but it’s true!  This is why:

I get to look at this Vintage Book Wreath close to 100 times a day.  It is made from pages in an old book.  When I made this wreath, I wasn’t planning on hanging it on my pantry door, mostly because that doesn’t sound like a place worthy of such an awesome wreath.  But really…I loved it there. 

It made me happy. 

And I got to thinking…

I would get to enjoy it from the front entry

        

and every time I walk through my dining room. 

I would also get to enjoy it while I’m in the laundry room

and most importantly…

I would get to enjoy it while spending plenty of time in my kitchen.

So the pantry door is where it will stay

because I think it is worthy of such an awesome wreath!

Here is the link if you want to know how to make one.  wreath  :)

Happy Valentine’s

Yesterday, Drew and I spent time making Valentine’s for his preschool party today.

He worked really hard.

 

I traced the hearts for him onto the cardstalk and he, ever so patiently, cut the hearts out with decorative scissors of his choosing. 

He even helped me run them through the printer.

Then he chose the color of Starburst to attach, while I taped them on.  He went the extra mile with the crayons.  Everything has to have crayons!

He was pretty happy about the outcome and enjoyed a wonderful party at school today.

Happy Valentine’s!

Love,

        Drew