Family Brings Joy - Me Time Brings Joy

Framed With Love

July 11, 2012 By Shan 2 Comments

Here’s another simple anniversary gift:

Above DH is holding his 3:18 PM gift.

If you are just joining us, click here to find out what this is all about.

If you have been with us since Monday on this series you will notice I have a ‘stock’ of frames. Every avid photographer {me being an amateur} has a little stash of frames they’re saving for just the right photo {or at least this one does. } I usually don’t buy frames unless they are discounted, so when I find ones I like at a good price I buy them. I have a box full of them and was grateful to have them when I decided to do this project. The above aluminum frame was purchased from Wal-Mart for around $3 {I think at Christmas time.} I adore word frames, don’t you? I pulled out our digital photos we just received from our Blue Lily photo shoot {he hadn’t seen them yet} and printed one of us together. “I’m going to take this to work and display it in my office,” he said.

My handsome man…

Day 2: Couples Poster
Day 4: Music For Your Love
Day 5: Last 3 Gifts

Celebrate your love,

Filed Under: Me Time Brings Joy, MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Anniversary Gift: Couples Poster

July 10, 2012 By Shan 5 Comments

Welcome back to the Anniversary Gifts Made With Love series.

See yesterday’s post to understand today’s post.

Below is hubby with the 11:18 AM gift celebrating our 18 year anniversary.

Again from a previously pinned pin on Pinterest I was able to use this idea.

I call it the couples poster.

You can buy one of these made at Not On The High Street.com for a mere $50 or so.

Instead, I made mine using my scrapbook software on my computer. I also changed up the couples some. I decided to add names of couples my husband and I would like.

The 8 1/2 x 11 frame was previously purchased {Dollar Tree.}

Day 3: Framed With Love

Day 4: Music For Your Love

Day 5: Last 3 Gifts

Make your own couples poster,

Filed Under: Crafts Bring Joy, Me Time Brings Joy, MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Inspiration for Moms

June 21, 2012 By Shan 5 Comments

I am an avid user of Instagram. I love connecting with people through photographs.

Yesterday, I ran across one of Stephanie Nielson’s Instagram photos. {If you don’t know who she is watch the video below.}

Anyway, I noticed some of the comments written under her photo. Many people were referring to her blog post on Tuesday, June 19, 2012. I made a mental note to go check out her post later. This morning I woke up thinking about her and reading that post. Now, after doing a load of laundry, doing a wii dance workout with my youngest, showering, having lunch and making my bed…I was in the middle of making my bed when I was reminded of visiting her site to see what happened.

With tears streaming down my face I share with you this video. Stephanie is my hero.

I just ordered Heaven Is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph, and Everyday Joy and look forward to the spiritual strength Stephanie exudes.

Disclaimer: I am sharing this because Stephanie inspires me, not because she or anyone paid me to write this. Just to make that clear.

Find every day JOY,

Filed Under: Blogs Bring Joy, Me Time Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Confessions of an Organizationally Challenged Blogger

June 19, 2012 By Shan 4 Comments

I’m BACK! Vacation was filled with lazy days and adventurous days. I look forward to sharing more about that with you soon.

Where to begin…

I’ve spent the morning playing catch up to emails and trying to organize my posts for the week.

I printed this beautiful blog planner page via the talented Three Little Monkeys Studio.

Source: threelittlemonkeysstudio.com via Shan@ on Pinterest

Here’s what mine looks like:

Yep, nothing written on it yet.

I decided I needed to write down post ideas on a blank sheet of paper first before adding them to this pretty paper.

Done. Now I have a huge list of post content ideas based on what we’ve been doing and photos I’ve taken. So why haven’t I transferred them to the planner page? Why does it make my brain hurt to choose. It’s not a difficult task, yet I feel like it is.

You see, normally I decide what I’m going to write about either the day before or the same day I publish a post. It’s not always productive, but it’s how I roll {there are RARE occasions I plan ahead, not many.} This is why you didn’t see any posts last week while we were on vacation. This is why my posts have decreased since my kids have been home from school for summer vacation.

Maybe it’s just difficult transitioning from vacation mode? Maybe it’s because of my ADD {most definitely!} Maybe it’s because my left heel is hurting again and I’m icing it off and on {this makes me feel like an old hag}? Maybe it’s because every where I look there is clutter and I can’t think. I don’t know…sigh.

ENOUGH Shan! {sorry!}

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE…yes, I do have positive karma happening here on this little blog that could {You know like The Little Engine That Could, hope you get that one } Anyway, a certain post {AKA Family Laundry Room} has been receiving a lot of attention lately thanks to Pinterest. I’m as pleased as punch! {Ok, who came up with that saying?} In other words, I’m tickled pink! {that one too? lol} Thank you my fellow Pinterest lovers for sharing this space. HUGS!

It’s funny…I published the Family Laundry Room post back in October and had 4 comments about it. Remember, comments can be like money for a blogger. I don’t know about every blogger, but for me, I sometimes take the amount of comments I receive as a reflection of what people think of the post or in this case the space. Not sure I should have typed that. I have a funny feeling I might receive some strong feedback from people about it. Let me say this…no matter how many {encouraging & uplifting} comments I receive, what matters is 1. I documented a special room in my house 2. I completed a project 3. I like the space 4. It Might help inspire others.

BACK TO THE GOOD NEWS…

a well known blog I absolutely ADORE and frequent is featuring Family Brings Joy’s Family Laundry Room

tomorrow, June 19, 2012 on her site!

{squeal!}

I spent time answering questions for her this morning.

I am speaking of the organization extraordinaire Jennifer at I Heart Organizing!

Welcome to my new readers who found me via Pinterest. Welcome to all new readers via whatever way you happened upon this site. Make sure you join us on Family Brings Joy’s Facebook page. More importantly, THANK YOU to my tried and true readers/friends who visit me on a regular basis. Thank you for your support no matter how I go about blogging and who don’t stop visiting when I go on vacation. YOU’RE THE BEST!

Blogging Brings Me Joy,

Filed Under: Blogs Bring Joy, Friends Bring Joy, Home Brings Joy, Me Time Brings Joy, Other Emotions, Photography Brings Joy

Baby Girl Shower

June 5, 2012 By Shan 8 Comments

I’m excited to take you on a tour of a baby shower for one of my friends…

My friend, I’ll refer to her as D, has 3 boys. She was expecting a GIRL, so I wanted to make the theme of the shower very PINK & GIRLY.

I added 2 pink bottles {gift for D}, some pink & white curly ribbon and tulle to this wreath I already owned. {all supplies purchased at Dollar Tree} {Used a pink pipe cleaner to attach to wreath}

As you come into our home, the first room you see is on the right, our dining room. {I haven’t decided on a different paint color yet, for those of you who know I have been wanting to change the paint color in here.} I found the sign and thought it would be PERFECT for decor and to give as a gift. D can hang it up in the baby’s nursery.

These poms {my daughter likes to call them puffs} are easier bought than made. Believe me, it’s difficult to find tissue paper large enough in bright pink and lime to make them. Let alone, making them is way trickier than you think. {mine were a major flop!} I found these at Party City. They came in a package of 3: one pink, blue and green. I think they were around $6 a package…DH bought them for me. Be warned, however, you have to fluff them. These poms are popular and I know why. I believe they add a fun & wispy atmosphere to the decor.

The reason you DO NOT see my dining room table with the food we served…I forgot to insert my SD card in the camera. Please don’t make the same mistake I did. I went around snapping LOTS of photos of the spread without my SD card. I didn’t realize this until the food was gone. Sigh…see…keeping things real.

Menu:

Petite Quiches
Watermelon
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Wafer Cookies
Relish Tray – Black Olives, Green Olives & Pickles
Vegetable Tray with cut up Petite Cucumbers & Carrot Sticks
Pink Punch
Cake

I made this above banner to hang in the entry of the dining room with scrapbook paper. It’s as easy as cutting out triangles and hot gluing them to a ribbon. However, the banner adds another special touch, which again, D took home to hang in her girl’s new room.

This metal tree adorns my small semi circle console table in the foyer. I added these cute pink baby girl party favors.

I placed my vase into this small wicker baby bassinet for the floral center piece of the table. All flowers, except for the hydrangeas were given to me by DH for Mother’s Day. They still looked lovely so I added them with some hydrangea blooms I cut from my bush.

Do you see the pretty runner I used on my newly painted china cabinet? It is a wall panel folded up. It will be so cute hung in D’s nursery. I am loving the chalk board on dishes scenario I have been eying all over Pinterest & blog land. I bought a white plate at the dollar store, covered it with saran wrap, cut out a circle with a craft knife and spray painted some chalkboard paint {I already had} on the plate. The paint bled a little bit, so I would recommend the chalkboard paint you use a brush to paint on instead of the spray paint. {fortunately you can’t tell in this photo} I added the monogram of the baby’s name with chalk.

The rectangular plush ornament you see hanging is a cute door knob sign which states if the baby is asleep or awake. {another gift}

The cake was made by my talented friend, The Caker Baker. She has skills! So anyone local, look her up here. Bonnie has been my cake maker for the last several birthday parties. Not only are her cakes exquisitely decorated but they are magically delicious! The best cake I have ever tasted! Since I am a visual person, all I have to do is send her a photo of what cake I want and she will duplicate it! The other special aspect included was the ability to use my beautiful milk glass cake stand. It is a family heirloom {Thank You Aunt T.} and I was delighted to add the satin pink ribbon.

Pinterest was my friend in this baby shower endeavor. I was able to use many of the ideas I have pinned in the past including the above balloons. Take a needle and thread to sew the balloon ties for a lovely balloon garland without helium! Below you will see I hung them to the entry way of our living room.

This table was dedicated to Wisdom & Wishes for D & her baby girl. I gathered up some branches to add to a glass vase with white decorative rocks {$1}. I used the Cricut to cut out the birds from scrapbook paper. Guests wrote their wisdom & wishes on the birds which were attached to the branches using tiny wooden clothes pins. The tiny clothes pins were in the craft section of Wal-Mart. D took home the Wisdom & Wishes Birds.

On the above chalkboard paint plate you can see how the spray chalk board paint bled outside the saran wrap. I will eventually repair this plate by buying some brush on chalkboard paint. I meant to do it before the shower, but ran out of time. Hey, it’s not perfect, but it’s good enough. Fortunately, no guests pointed it out.

Above is D admiring the sweet, beautiful dresses for her baby girl. I can’t wait to see them on her at church.

I love the name D picked out for her baby girl, don’t you? Her name is Grace Joy, but they will call her Gracie.

The banner: in keeping with my love of chalkboard, I used some left over chalkboard labels for her first name, Gracie. {They were from my playroom closet organizing project} I didn’t peel and stick the labels. I just attached the label onto the ribbon using the small clothes pins. The pink and purple pieces of cloth behind the name are baby washcloths {gifts to D.} Since I didn’t have enough of the labels to do her middle name, I cut out some black card stock in the same size as the labels. I still used chalk to write the letters on the labels including the black card stock. Stencil letters helped me make the lettering for GRACIE accentuating her first name. I wrote her middle name JOY free hand.

I want to say a little bit about D. I admire her so much. She is a rock star {not literally} Mom. I appreciate her spiritual strength and dedication to her family. She has been a wonderful friend to me and I hoped this baby shower somehow displayed my love & gratitude for her.

I know sometimes people don’t hold baby showers for women who already have 3 kids. But let me remind you, a baby shower is not primarily for outfitting the family of baby items. A baby shower is a celebration. It is a party celebrating a new life coming into the world. Not only that, celebrating WITH the person with whom we care for.

After the shower was over D shared something with me. This was her first baby shower. She said her work held a luncheon for her before her first boy was born. Otherwise, there was not a baby shower with a cake, games, etc. held in her honor for her previous 3 children. When she told me this I was surprised, but grateful that a loving Heavenly Father inspired me to hold this special baby shower for her & Gracie. Everyone deserves to have a baby shower.

Many of the decorating ideas you see in this post are not original. This is important. There is nothing wrong with duplicating good ideas. If I see something I like, and think I can do it, I will do it. Sometimes I add my own twist on the idea, but it is not wrong. Ideas shared on blogs, Pinterest and other social media are there for this purpose. However, it is crucial and polite to give credit to the original source of the idea.

Sources: Leslie from Goodbye, House. Hello Home! Kara from Kara’s Party Ideas {Thank You Leslie & Kara }

Grace Joy was born Monday, June 4th at 8:03 AM. She was 7 lb. 2 oz.

Babies Bring Joy,

Filed Under: Blogs Bring Joy, Crafts Bring Joy, Friends Bring Joy, Home Brings Joy, Me Time Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Mixed Media Chipboard Album

May 14, 2012 By Shan 7 Comments

Forgot to take a photo of what it looked like in the beginning. This is similar to the one I used. Mine is a different font & was white instead of brown.

I have always wanted to do a mixed media scrapbook. I planned on making one of Paper Coterie’s Mother’s Albums but had difficulty with the site. I found this blank MOTHER chipboard album in a stash of supplies a friend gave me. I kept the title of the one I was going to make on the previous mentioned site: Because Of You.

Mixed media is a fancy term for using lots of different supplies and lots of layering. I will highlight the ones I used. I found my color scheme of blue, green and brown in a 12×12 piece of scrapbook paper. It had all the patterns you will see in the album on that one piece of 12×12 paper. I even had some paper left over.

Above {back of M} I used a stamp to make the background of squigglies with regular stamp ink. Next, I stamped the bird with acrylic paint. Here comes the fun part, I dabbed my finger in the green acrylic paint to make the border…smeared it some to make a smudgy look. The smudgy look is IN with mixed media…I LOVE that! Plus it is all about being creative…no right or wrong way. Later I decided I didn’t like the stark white background and added blue chalk with a cotton swab.

Above {front of O} I traced the O on the piece of scrapbook paper and adhered it with Mod Podge. That is how I adhered everything on this album, by using Mod Podge. Important tip: when using Mod Podge make sure you apply a somewhat even amount of it with a foam brush on the back of the media first. Then take a Popsicle stick, ruler or whatever you have handy to smooth out the bubbles. I found some blue acrylic paint with some shimmer and lightly dabbed it across the paper with my fingers to add some depth.

Below {back of O} I did the same as what I did on the back of the M but used brown chalk instead of blue. You will see that I ended up stamping the bird upside down, but it didn’t matter. I covered it up with photos.

Below {front of T} I used more of the scrapbook paper and a paint swatch. Again I added the shimmer blue with my fingers across the top of both.

Above {back of T} I used the paper, took the green acrylic paint and smudged it on the lines in between remember this and (note worthy) with my finger. I took a darker teal blue acrylic paint and finger painted over some of the lines in the paper’s pattern. Next, I added a little more depth with a border of blue chalk around the top edges.

Above {front of H} I adhered fabric (left over from an earlier project) and part of a map. Finger painted on top of both with a shimmery tan acrylic paint.

Above {back of H} Used a strip of paper for the top part, added blue paint to accentuate the line. Blue chalked the white part again and added green dots with my finger. Topped it all off with the shimmery tan acrylic paint.

Above {front of E} Used another strip of the same scrapbook paper to go down the middle. Accentuated the lines on the paper with coordinating paints to the stripes. Finger painted the top & bottom white areas with green and blue paint with a layer of shimmery blue paint all over the page.

Bottom {back of E} Had to use a book page. This page has significance to my Mom & I as it comes from New Moon. We share the love of the Twilight series. To the right of the book page is crumpled tissue paper with blue and green paint rubbed on top. {So much fun!}

Bottom {front of R} I used several different mediums here: burlap, part of paint swatch, fabric, map, scraps of same paper and a ticket from my scrapbook embellishment stash. Finger painted the green dots with the acrylic paint.

Above {back of R} Stamped on blue hearts with the same shimmery blue paint on top of a strip of the scrapbook paper.

The categories I began with were:

Because Of You

I am creative
I love crab legs
I love photography
I love to laugh
I appreciate beauty
I love
I love my family
My children have a Grandmother
I am

I used my label maker to print out the category labels for each page. Made things super simple for me instead of printing them out on the computer and cutting them all out. You’ll notice I changed the categories a little in the end.

I put all the photos I wanted to use on a jump drive. The nice man at Staples printed them all in wallet and contact sheet format {for the small size.} If I have a laser printer I could have printed these at home. Since I only have ink jet I needed to have them printed at Staples. WHY? Because when you brush the Mod Podge over a photo printed with an ink jet printer, the ink will run and ruin your photo. Everything in this album has a coat of Mod Podge on top of it. I like the matte finish Mod Podge. Another tip about using Mod Podge on top of your laser photos…I learned this the hard way. Don’t press too hard on the photo with your Popsicle stick to get the air bubbles off. It will take some of the color off.

After cutting out the photos I organized them by using post-it tags. This is how I figured out what photos to put on what page. For example, the least amount of photos per category were placed on the smaller pages.

Here is the finished album:

Above {back of M} I appreciate beauty: Added word stickers and a flower rub on.

Above {front of O} I am a Daughter: On the wedding photo of my Mom & I…you will see where I pressed too hard on the photo and it took some of the color off. I decided it didn’t look too bad. The main reason this happened is because I didn’t spread the Mod Podge evenly over the photo before adhering it. It left a lot of bubbles and I was trying to smooth them out. Anyway, I added the Here comes the bride sticker, some filigree cord and lightly dabbed the edge of the page with Annie Sloan’s Old White chalk paint. If I had the time I would have done this to every page. I like the dimension it brings.

Above {back of O} I am creative: Added word stickers and a vellum saying, “What one loves in childhood stays in the heart forever.” My Mom made the cute outfits for my Daughter’s Bitty Baby (American Girl) twins shown in the photo. I’m the little tap dancer which is 3rd from the right. I took dance from a little girl until high school.

Below {back of T} We love to play games: I found a scrap of the cross word paper in my scrap bin. Mom & I play Words With Friends.

Below {front of H} I love to laugh: I added the photo booth photo because my Mom and I laughed so hard playing with the photo booth software on her new laptop. The photo is from that laugh session. Makes me smile to think of it. I added a caption to the bottom left photo. It says, “Taken when we told you I was pregnant with K.” The words Laughter and Giggle are rub ons. Last but not least, I added the metal word smile.

Above {back of H} We love crab legs: Added one simple word sticker. It is because of my Mom that I love Crab legs. I have passed that love onto my own Daughters.

Above {front of E} My children have a Grandmother: I found photos of my Mom holding each of our kids after they were born & added their names using the label maker. Besides the photos, I added more word stickers and a cloth label saying bundle of JOY.

Below {back of E} I love my family: This category went for both pages, back of E and front of R. I made a label of “Where there is a will, there is a way.” I placed on the front of the R. It is the one saying my Mom said I have incorporated into my own life in a BIG WAY! It’s all about perseverance. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me this. Besides photos & word stickers I added flower stickers that have buttons in the middle.

Above {back of R} I am here: Found a cool newspaper article about my great grandpa in my baby book. I made a color copy of it and incorporated it as part of the background. {It’s not the whole article.} I added our family history beginning with me to my Mom then to grandparents and great grandparents with their information. {blurred the info for privacy} Added a special scripture at the top, “Her Children arise up, and call her blessed. Proverbs 31:28″ Attached ribbon & filigree cord to the bottom right with vellum My Family History over it. Last but not least, I took the front of a pretty note card {bird} my Mom sent me, cut it in strips and added it to the back ground.

Below {front of M} Because of you: Nothing is complete without ribbon…attached this soft, white, velvet ribbon on top of the burlap. Next came a blue felt flower and a metal C which is her initial. My Brother took the professional photo of her placed at the top. Don’t think I mentioned earlier how I added the blue shimmery paint to the front of the M as well.

I had so much fun making this album for my Mom for Mother’s Day. This would be a great gift for any occasion. Hope you enjoyed this, probably too thorough, tutorial. Let me know if you have any questions, though.

Joining:

Crafts bring JOY,