Friday Freebie: My Memories Party Bags {8/31}

Today's freebie from My Memories would be perfect for party favors, teacher appreciation or birthdays. I have two different party bags for you to download and customize. The download includes the party bags plus all the elements and papers used to create them. 

You will now need to create a My Memories account to receive your free downloads. You can also download a trial version of My Memories on the website! If you would like to purchase the My Memories software, see my special discount code at the end of this post. And as always, you can download these for use with any photo editing software, as well.

This week's kits:

Freebie Kit 1

Freebie Kit 3

Download your Freebie Kit 1 and Freebie Kit 3. Be sure to download this kit right away. It changes every few weeks and after that, this particular download will no longer be available for free.

Here is tutorial (from My Memories) using the above kit:

Party Bags Tutorial

1. Print your Purse Card templates on cardstock and gather supplies. 

Be sure to set your margins as close to 0 as possible.

(Recommended supplies: small craft scissors, bone folder, glue runner)

2. Using the scissors cut along inside of handles.

3. Fold bag at fold lines.

There should be a total of 6 folds.

TIP: Using a bone folder will help you get crisp edges on your project.

4. Using scissors, cut along outside edge.

5. Lay the bag flat, printed side down.

Fold up the tabs at the bottom of the bag, so that you can see the printing.

Apply Glue to the tabs on the printed side

6. Bring the side of the bag up and adhere the tab to the bottom of the bag.

7. Repeat on other side.

8. Lay the bag down, and apply glue to the last tab.

9. Attach the remaining side.

TIP: Insert your hand into the bag to ensure that all the tabs are securely attached.

10. Enjoy your Bag! You can fill it with all kinds of goodies or treats.

TIP: You can take the front and back and press them together to make side seams.

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DISCOUNT:

Enter code STMMMS30543 at checkout to receive $10 off the My Memories Suite v3 Software. You will also receive a $10 coupon to use in the My Memories store. (A $20 value!) 

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Enjoy your downloads. If you create anything with your My Memories software or these free downloads, I would love to see it. Please share a link in the comments!

Tension Rod Blackout Curtains

Imagine yourself, at the end of a long day, drifting peacefully off to sleep in your freshly made bed. You get eight, glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to start the day! Now, enter my reality . . .

Spend 30 minutes each night after lights out to tend to my two year old's never ending needs - "I need to go to the potty" (she still wears a diaper), "I lost my blanket" (she just threw it out of her crib), "I need another drink" (even though she already had two), "I need my jammies" (even though they were on when she went into her crib). Finally, I spend an hour of time with my husband, drag myself to bed, only to be woken up at least 2 to 4 times per night by the above mentioned two year old. I wake up groggy, cranky and definitely NOT ready to start my day.

So, in my quest to get everyone in this house some more shut eye, I knew I needed some black out shades for her window. They are at least $10 per panel (and I needed 2) plus the cost of a new curtain rod. I really didn't want to spend $20 on curtains when she already had perfectly good curtains and blinds in her room already!

While I was reading Martha Stewart magazine, I came across an article showing how to make a simple curtain and attach it to the window with tension rods. Brilliant! This would definitely work to make these black out shades. I wanted to be able to remove them easily during the day so we could actually play in there!

Please note - I am no seamstress. I am not even a great sewer and I usually find a short cut way to do things. There is probably a much more reliable way to make these, but this works and is quick and easy!

Tension Rod Curtains

Supplies Needed:

• Blackout Curtain Fabric
• Scissors or rotary trimmer (not shown)
• Pins 
• Sewing machine and matching thread (not shown)
• Tension rods (2)

Step One:

Measure your window's length and width inside the frame where the tension rods will go. Add 1 - 2" to each end's length (to create a rod pocket).

*I added 1 1/2" to each end of my length measurement to account for a 7/16" tension rod. (You may need to add more or less fabric depending on the size of your tension rod.)

Step Two:
Cut your fabric to size. Since we are using blackout curtain fabric, there is no need to stitch or seal the edges. It is a vinyl type material and the edges don't really fray. One more reason this project is so simple!

Step Three:
Fold your fabric over with wrong sides together at each end and pin. You will fold it over for whatever measurement you added in step one. So for example, I folded each end over 1 1/2". You do not need to fold under the raw edge - you will see why in the next step.

Step Four:
Set your machine to a zig zag stitch.

Place your fabric in the machine so the unfinished edge of fabric runs right down the middle of your presser foot. Sew down the length of each edge. 

Edge of fabric is shown with red dotted line as it didn't show up in picture

This will attach the fabric together and create your rod pocket. 

Finished zig zag stitch (see how the fabric is held together by the stitch?)

Step Five:

Remove pins and add your tension rods.

Step Six:

Hang in your window! I added my shade between the window and the wooden blinds. This makes the room the darkest and you can't see the blackout curtain with her blinds and curtains closed.

It is so hard to take pictures of a dark room, but here is a comparison of with and without the shade. The only light is coming from the hall. You can see on the right side how much darker her room is!

I am glad to report this has made it much easier for her to fall asleep at night while it is still light out and for her to sleep in a little in the morning.

Linking up here: 

The Shabby Nest, Tatertots and Jello, The Girl Creative, The Gunny Sack, Not Just a Houswife, Sugar Bee Crafts, Clean and Scentsible, Delightful Order, Sew Many Ways

Fake It Until You Make It

I originally started this blog as a way to stay connected with my family and friends and share my thoughts on mommyhood. Over time, this blog evolved into a craft blog. I realized I love to write, but also to share my creativity. I love to inspire others to realize you don't have to be super 'crafty' to be able to create beautiful things. I love to share tutorials with everyone, but I still want to be able to share snippets of my life with you. Since this is not at all a craft/DIY post, I won't have any hard feelings if you just skip past this post.

However, this has been weighing heavily on my mind. I have been debating whether or not to actually hit 'publish'. I am not sure if I should share something so personal with all of the blog world to see. But, I also realize that by sharing, I might be able to help someone else going through something similar. So despite all my reservations about writing something so personal, I am going to hit publish. Today.

I have to start off by giving a little background information. Two times in my past I have been diagnosed with clinical depression. Once, in high school and another time at the end of my college years in 2001. The first time in high school I was still mourning my mother's death. She passed away when I was 8 years old, and I don't think I had ever really processed my grief. After some serious counseling, I felt like myself again - actually even better than my old self.

 My last semester of college I was under immense stress to complete the two degrees I was working towards. I was completely burnt out from being a nearly straight A student all my life. I put a ton of pressure on myself to excel and the weight of it just came down on me like a ton of bricks. Needless to say, that was my worst semester I have ever had at school. That time around I was able to do cognitive behavioral therapy with a great therapist and it worked wonders! 

I have read studies showing that people who suffer depression once are much more susceptible to becoming depressed again. Since college, I have suffered some times of feeling not quite myself or a little sad, but nothing I couldn't pull myself out of. I used the techniques I learned in therapy to pull my mood around.

Fast forward to the past few months. I am sinking. There is no other way to describe it other than I feel like I am drowning. And I can't seem to pull myself out of it this time. I don't enjoy doing the things I once enjoyed doing. The responsibilities of being a mom and a wife all just seem to be too much to bear. Even the littlest things take the most amount of energy.

Let me preface this by saying there is a lot going on that is contributing to my not feeling so great. One of the biggest issues I have is a two and a half year old that still doesn't sleep through the night. That means more than 2 and a half years of not getting a good nights sleep. If you have ever missed a few nights sleep, you know how this can negatively affect your mood. Times this by almost 1,000 days and you could see how this wouldn't be great. For anyone.

I also am feeling very isolated lately. I have a lot of friends, but don't really have a 'best' friend (other than my husband). There is definitely something to be said for having a great girlfriend to talk to and share with. And right now in my life, there is not anyone that fits that void for me.

I am so grateful to have such a loving, supportive husband. He is my rock in hard times. And I am so grateful that he has supported me in talking about all this with him. I have been shutting him out and that is not fair at all. I feel so bad that right now I am not the wife he married. And I think by talking to him about it, sharing with some of my family (and now sharing it here) I am starting to feel like I can move forward.

Depression is a strange thing. As much as you need or want to talk about it, you sometimes just can't. Some of that stems from being worried about people judging you. Some of it comes from the lack of energy to do anything, let alone have an emotional talk about what you are feeling (that more than likely the other person isn't really going to understand). And some of it comes from not wanting to admit to yourself that you are anything other than happy.

But now that I have admitted to myself that I am heading down that road to depression again, which I so desperately want to avoid, I know what I need to do to move forward. Essentially, I have to 'fake it 'til I make it'. I have to just do those things that used to make me happy and I know eventually I will find some peace and happiness in those activities.

And that is exactly what I am going to do. I am going to move forward and try to enjoy all of life's blessings, because there truly are so so many.

I know this was an extremely heavy post. And I thank you to those of you who made it all the end with me. I hope my experience can someone help someone else out there, if by nothing else than to make you realize you are not alone! 

Please note, I am not a therapist and if you are feeling overly sad or not quite right you should definitely see your doctor. It is always okay to seek the help you need.

Linked up here:
Not Just a Housewife

Scrapbook Layout: Sweet Dreams

One of the sweetest pictures you can take of your little one is when they are sleeping. They look so peaceful and content.

This is a layout I did of just one of those moments. I thought he looked so cute with his arms way out to the side.

To create this layout I started with white cardstock. I layered a piece of textured light blue cardstock in the middle of the page. I used my son's favorite blanket (his 'baby') to create the color scheme for the page.

To add interest to the page I used circles to embellish the page. 

I created a fun circle shaker using cardstock, vellum, my sewing machine and a hole punch. I started off by cutting circles from white cardstock and the vellum. I wrote 'sweet dreams little one' in the middle of the white circle using a gel pen. I punched small circles using a standard whole punch from different shades of blue cardstock. I placed all the small circles in the center of the white paper, covered it with the vellum and carefully used my sewing machine to stitch around the circle to attach the vellum to the white cardstock.

I also added a smaller light blue circle from textured cardstock to add the date to my page.

To really define the border between the blue and white paper, I punched many circles out of navy and light blue textured cardstock using a small circle punch. To adhere them to the page, I first lightly glued them down with a glue stick. Once that was dry I stitched through the line with my sewing machine and blue thread.

Did/do you take many pictures of your little one sleeping?

My inspiration for this layout came from Fun with Photos, Memories & More by Creating Keepsakes (Ideas for Everyday, p. 70)

Linking up here:

Clean and Scentsible

Scrapbook Layout: All By Yourself

It was really exciting when my son was first able to eat all by himself. He concentrated so hard on picking up his cheerios. It was definitely a huge feat for him to accomplish!

For this layout, I started with turquoise textured cardstock for my base. I layered different size rectangles of patterned paper. I used turquoise blue paper to mat the photo. I used a coordinating orange paper to create a small tag with a hand written date.

Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye (Magnolia)

For the title, I used a vellum accent that was pre-printed with the words "all by yourself." I attached the vellum to the page using orange flower shaped brads.

I used a coordinating die cut embellishment to finish off the page. 

Die Cut: My Mind's Eye (Magnolia)

I love using these bright colors. I probably will not be able to get away with using floral paper too much in my son's big boy layouts. For his baby ones I think it works. I love to mix different patterns of paper to create interest on my pages.

What is your favorite item to use when you scrapbook?

Linking up here:
The Shabby Nest, Tatertots and Jello

Earrings and a Handmade Card

I have been going through my digital picture files on my computer and getting them all organized (finally). I have been coming across pictures of projects I had planned on blogging about, but haven't gotten around to yet. For the next few weeks you will be seeing some of these posts.  And at the end I will share a post with how I organize all those pictures on my computer. So a win, win for everyone, right? ;)

Last year for my sister-in-law's birthday, I handmade some earrings and a card for her birthday.

The earrings were made from silver findings and green glass beads. I really love the way they turned out. (And I am sure they look beautiful on her!)

If you have been scared to create earrings, don't be! These were very simple to make. To create each earring, I used a silver headpin, two green glass beads in two different sizes, a silver spacer bead and a silver fish hook earwire. 

Start by stringing your beads onto the headpin. You will create a simple loop at the top of your head pin. Then, just attach the loop you just made to the loop on the fish hook earwire. 

Here is a great online tutorial on how to make the simple loop: Making a Simple Loop

I got the idea for making this simple card from one of my favorite blogs, Little Lovelies.

To create the card, I cut a basic card shape from kraft card stock. Using my clear stamps, I stamped a birthday hat image three times onto the card as well as 'Happy Birthday'. I then stamped the birthday hat shape onto three different types of patterned paper. I cut out each hat shape and glued them over the stamped image on the card!

I hope this inspires you to make something handmade the next time you are giving a gift. I know, I always love to receive things someone took the time and care to make him/herself! Have you made any handmade gifts lately? 

Scrapbook Layout: My Boy

Have you ever taken a picture of your child and it just makes your heart happy to look at it? The picture in this layout is exactly one of those types of pictures. My son was giving me the biggest, happiest smile of all.

Striped Paper - My Mind's Eye: Signature Life, Playful

I really wanted the picture to be the highlight of the page. I found some great paper and tags from My Mind's Eye. I double matted the main photo with dark blue and light blue paper. Neither one was a completely solid color.

Tag - My Mind's Eye: Signature Life, Handsome One

'It is your wonderful smile that brightens up my life'

I added this great tag I found, which perfectly captured exactly the way I feel about my son in this picture (and in life)! I used small navy snaps to attach the tag to the page.

Small tags - My Mind's Eye: Signature Life, Handsome One

The small tags I also attached to the page using small navy snaps.

The muted colors in the papers and tag embellishments toned down his bright outfit a little bit so really his big smile was the star of the page.

Have you scrapped any pictures lately that make your heart happy?

Linked up here:
Pink Cricut, Not Just a Housewife, Clean and Scentsible

Friday Freebie: My Memories Bookmarks {8/17}

Just in time for back to school! Today I am sharing bookmarks for you to download for FREE! These are adorable. These would be perfect to customize and use for your child at school or even give with a teacher gift! The download includes the bookmarks plus all the elements and papers used to create them. 

You will now need to create a My Memories account to receive your free downloads. You can download a trial version of My Memories on the website! If you would like to purchase the My Memories software, see my special discount code at the end of this post. And as always, you can download these for use with any photo editing software, as well.

This week's kit:

Freebie Kit 2

Download your Freebie Kit 2. Be sure to download this kit right away. It changes every few weeks and after that, this particular download will no longer be available for free.

Here is a picture of finished projects (from My Memories) using the above kit:

Using MyMemories Software to Customize your Bookmarks

1. Download template file and install it into your software
2. Using MyMemories Suite, choose Create Album From Designer Template and find your project
3. Now you can print and enjoy the provided template, or customize it with your own papers and embellishments. 

TIP:
You can right-click on the white guide and lock it in place to keep it from moving while you are working. Make sure this is the top layer of your project before printing.

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DISCOUNT:

Do you want your own digital scrapbooking software? My Memories is offering a special deal for my readers. Enter code STMMMS30543 at checkout to receive $10 off the My Memories Suite v3 Software. You will also receive a $10 coupon to use in the My Memories store. (A $20 value!) {Copy and paste the code to avoid typos}

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Enjoy your downloads. If you create anything with your My Memories software or these free downloads, I would love to see it. Please share a link in the comments!

Scrapbook Layout: First Tooth

I had such a hard time capturing my son's first tooth on camera. I kept getting pictures of him, but none with his mouth open to actually see his little teeth! Finally, I was able to get some good pictures of his tooth and I of course had to do a scrapbook page about it. 

I used inspiration from his blue and red outfit for the color scheme for the layout. I started off with a dark turquoise blue textured cardstock. I created a color block in the middle of the page with a light blue patterned paper. It had small circles on it. I then used two thin strips of coordinating lighter, blue textured cardstock to make the middle piece stand out. For the picture, I wanted to focus on his sweet little teeth that had popped through. Keeping with the circle theme, I cut out a large circle from another patterned blue circle paper. I adhered the picture to the circle and trimmed it to fit.

To create the title, I used white chipboard to write the word 'first' on the page.

To add another element to the page, I used metal letters to spell out the word 'tooth'. I placed them around the rounded top of the circle to add more visual interest.

I typed up my journaling on the computer and printed it on vellum. I wanted the words on the page, but didn't want them, to distract from his picture. To tie in the red from his shirt I used a faux flower from the craft store in the bottom corner. This flower accent worked well with keeping the circle theme.

Tip: To make this work on your page without adding too much bulk, remove all of the plastic pieces from the back of the flower after you have removed it from the stem. Then adhere to your page using a strong adhesive.

All of the pages I have been sharing lately were done a few years ago (before I started blogging), but it is so fun to look through these pages. They each bring back such strong memories. And I think that is what scrapbooking is all about! 

What have you scrapped lately? I would love for you to share a link in the comments.

Linking up here:

Pink Cricut, The Shabby Nest

Handmade Gift from Pene

When going through my digital pictures and reorganizing everything on the computer, I realized I never posted about what I received for the Handmade Gift Exchange I participated in over at Craftaholics Anonymous!

I was truly spoiled by Pene. She sent me so many wonderful things.

I received a countdown to Christmas calendar. This will be a great addition to my holiday decor.

I also received a matching apron, potholder and kitchen linens. I love aprons and this fabric is so fun. I have used the apron so much already.

I received a handmade 'USA' banner. This came in handy for decorating for the 4th of July. I will pull it out again for Labor Day as well. 

I told Pene how much I loved butterflies and she sent me these beautiful butterfly embellishments.

I will definitely be participating again in November. It is so fun to give and receive craftiness in the mail!

Click below to see what I made for my previous partners:

• Handmade Gift Exchange June 2012
• Handmade Gift Exchange November 2011