Pennies and Pics

For my brother's 21st birthday I wanted to either give him $21 or lotto tickets and also make a hangover kit. I started looking around my house for containers, I found a coffee and candy containers, ribbon, bows and printed some labels from my computer and was all set. I then went to purchase 21 lotto scratcher tickets and items for my hangover kit. Lotto pull bucket: 21 scratchers tape printable label tape ribbon bow I made a label using Mac's Pages application by inserting a rounded rectangle on the page and measuring it to cover the label from my coffee container. Then I added text that said "Happy Birthday Sam, 21 is a lucky number! ". I placed the tickets into 3 piles (I had 7 , 3 different kinds of tickets and placed them into piles so I can make a pattern and alternate the kinds of tickets: 777, Hot Chili, Gold, 777, Hot Chili, Gold, etc....) then place them scratcher side down and tape them all together long ways. Then I used a knife and carefully...

This slideshow made with Smilebox

I have the best husband ever! I am lucky he is so crafty and a hard worker. We have a laundry room with enough space for a desk, so I showed him some other craft rooms I've found on Pinterest and he got inspired! Here is my craft/wrapping/couponing space.                                                   BEFORE: Laundry Room Space Before Home Depot wood pegboard paint (white and "feldspar" Behr) I bought a whole gallon of the wall paint-half would have been plenty pegboard baskets (set of 3) + extra hooks     Other stores mason jars (purchased at grocery store) Photo stand (Michaels Craft store on clearance for $2) use to put iPad or books on "Imagine" wall decor (TJ Max) multi-plug outlet (already had, but you can find at a hardware store) Chalkboard Cookie sheet (used an old cookie sheet and sprayed it with chalkboard ...

Another great Pinterest find! I was browsing through DIY stuff to make for a classroom and came across a DIY wipe board. I followed the video and then decided to use it for my house since I still don't have a classroom of my own....yet... See the step by step video here:  DIY Dry Erase Boards Video Here is mine: I found a cute Morning Checklist Printable: childreninspiredesign.com This website uses a glass picture frame to hold the printable, I don't have space and would rather put mine on the fridge with a magnet- but the frame way is cute also... For the classroom I would use this printable for Pre-K-2 (find a cursive one for 3rd): printactivities.com This would go great in a "Writing Center" or as a "May Do" when students are done with work early...

I have always wanted to learn how to make a diaper cake for a baby shower. I decided to go to YouTube to find a good instructional video to get started. This is the one I watched that helped me learn how.. Diaper Cake Tutorial Here are some pictures of how I made mine. I used ribbon from Michaels dollar bin and got the ladybug plush animal/rattle from Kohl's (that was the most expensive thing I bought). You could just top it off with a bow if you wanted. I used all the diapers I had left over that my daughter never used. It was a bit more difficult because the cake wasn't level (some newborn diapers mixed with size 2 were an issue). So I recommend using the same size and brand for the whole cake if you can. Also double sided tape didn't really hold up the ribbon around the cake. I wish I could find my hot glue gun...so I improvised and used cute baby clothes pins (mini ones left over from a game I had at my shower) to hold them up. Good luck and have fun! The bottom ...

So my baby girl is teething and some days I get really stressed when she is inconsolable and fussy- some days she just wants me to hold her all day! This led me to create a Stress Relief Board on my Pinterest page. Check it out to see what helps a working mom of a teething baby relax...when she's asleep or her dad is holding her that is... Pinterest Stress Relief Board Currently Reading

Recently my husband has been collecting items for an emergency kit like water bottles, dry foods, flashlights, and batteries to name a few. This got me thinking of another important element we needed to add...a binder or folder that has all of our personal information in it. I started searching on Pinterest and found a lot of blogs that others have created. I will be using some of their FREE templates and redirecting you to their websites. I also found a few other resources and created some of my own for my binder. I hope this brings peace of mind to you and your family as it did with me...you can never  be too prepared! A good place to keep this binder is in a water proof/fire proof safe as all the materials in it can be used improperly if they got into the wrong hands...keep it safe! I found this blog that has a great article on an emergency kit: go here to read and print the templates for FREE! I created a FREE downloadable template for your binder cover: (in order t...