Crayon Fun

OK, so what to do with all those broken crayons that seem to accumulate and end up all over the huse? Well, you can make some new crayons with them, of course! All you need is a bunch of crayons in all different colors and a metal pan/mold. Since my molds are not metal, I used my mini-muffin pan.

The first step is to break all those crayons into smaller pieces. Then you can place the crayons pieces into the molds. I try to get a bunch of different colors mixed together. Kids can certainly do this part by themselves, too. Then, place the pans/molds into the preheated oven set at 200 degrees. Wait a while until they completely melt. I just waych this so I'm not sure of the time this would take. Plus if you use smaller mold it will take less time. :)

Finally, carefully take them from the oven and allow them to harden. Be careful not to allow the wax to mix. When they are hard and cool, turn the pans/molds over and out pops your new crayons in your fun shapes.
Have fun!!!!

50 Years!

It's been a while since I last posted, but we've been kinda busy this summer. Mainly I've been working a lot, but we did take a long weekend to head to Andy's parents' house in Peachtree City, GA. They had a 50th Anniversary party celebration. Can you imagine? 50 years! How wonderful! And, even better, EVERYONE was able to attend the party. We had a great time and really enjoyed chatting with everyone. I'm looking forward to the next gathering with everyone.

Look how happy they are together. Still enjoying each others' company.

The Douds Family

Our family

The whole family

Andy looking quite handsome

Jake looking quite handsome

Clips and More Clips

Well, it has ben such a busy summer. Don't know anout you, but I am working more and more and more...I did find time to work on this LO using clips for Use Your Stash. This week's challenge was to use clips on your LO or project. I chose to use a lot of clips. Loved it! I might just have to use them again since it brought so much color and fun to my project.

This photo is of Jake at the National Zoo in DC. Andy and I both agree that it is one of both of our favorite shots of Jake. Such a cutie. Still is!

So hop on over to Use Your Stash and use some clips on your projects.

And the Winner Is.....

Thanks for all of the great comments about my new etsy shop. It really is so nice to hear!
Also, all of the wonderful things about Use Your Stash are so very true. I love using up all of my stuff before heading out to buy more. And, as a lot of you mentioned, I often forget what I do have and will either use something else or go buy it (again). And, the challenges are wonderful and very creative. Hopefully you will pop in often over the summer to see the changes Kimmie and Corey are bringing to the blog. Loads of fun!

Anyway, the winner of my earrings from my etsy shop is....

CrafyRia

"I love the challenges at Use Your Stash. They are very good for inspiration. I enjoyed looking at all of your earrings! My favorites are the purple and white swirl ones. They are so pretty!"

So, please email me with your address and which earrings you would like, and I will get them right out to you.

Thank you everyone who left comments.

Use Your Stash Blog Hop Party

Wow! Can you believe it has been a year for Use Your Stash? These gals have been super busy over the last year giving us fun challenges which not only challenge us to use what we have in our stash, but also our scraps. I know I've enjoyed them and I hope you have too.

Here are a few of my favorite projects that I've recently completed for Use Your Stash.

Also, leave me a comment about what your favorite thing about Use Your Stash is and you can win a pair of earrings from my new etsy shop. I plan on adding a few scrapbook embellishments in your package too...so check out my etsy shop and choose your favorite earring. Don't forget to leave me a comment. :)

Don't forget, in order to win the 2 packs of Coredinations, you must comment on all the blogs!

Next stop is Jingle's blog. Hop on over and see what she's been up to!

Jake's First Holy Communion

Jake had his First Holy Communion this Sunday which was also Mother's Day. What a fabulous day we had. My parents were down for the weekend and Andy's parents were here for a day. It was nice having everyone together for such an important day.

Sadly these are the only photos I have. Dad took some fortunately because my camera died. Can you imagine? Lame mommy, LOL. Anyway, because of the battery, most of my photos were blurry. But, these are pretty good. Such a handsome little guy. I'm so proud of him!

Spring Break and Easter Fun

Well, it has been a while since my last post. Jake has been off for spring break and we've been busy. All week, Jake had different friends come over for some fun. We did laser tag one day, worked in the yard, fished off the dock, and a few other things. I taught a class for a friend who works with adults who have traumatic brain injuries or iqs of less than 70. What a wonderful experience. The group was so positive and really enjoyed the activities. I was hugged a lot and told "I love you" so often. What an uplifting and wonderful day! I hope to do this again soon. Here are some pictures from the week and also from Easter.

I made the ham like my mom used to make. Wow, so delicious! Thanks Mom!
Here are the boys helping me in the yard. OMG the yard is a disaster...we will be working on that for some time! I think the people who lived here before didn't touch the yard. Look at the ohoto of our backyard. Gross! But, I'm planting some new flowers and some vegetables. So excited because I also have some strawberries and grapes. Andy wants watermelon and Jake wants a pumpkin. We'll see what grows. I'm also planting some tomatoes and cucumbers and thinking of maybe a few more. Who knows?!

The SavvynSassy Great Ribbon Rave ended. I didn't win, but wow! That was a fun and exciting contest. Here is my week 6 entry. This photo is from Jake's 4th birthday party. These girls had so much fun at the party and looked like they were having a blast on the jumping aparatus.

Easter Basket Cupcakes

Jake and I just love decorating these cute Easter Basket Cupcakes. They are so much fun for everyone and taste good too! If you have young children helping, I recommend that you make the cupcakes ahead of time. One year I was camping at Easter and didn't have an oven, so we bought un-iced cupcakes from the bakery section in the grocery store. The first step is to add green food coloring to both the icing and the coconut. I used two shades of green so it would look like it had more depth. I also like to keep the icing and coconut separate because I found that if you put the coconut on top of the icing it looks more realistic.
The next step is to bend a licorice stick so it looks like an upside down "u" and put it into the cupcake. This will make your handle. After that, add some jelly beans to look like eggs in the basket. I used Jelly Belly jelly beans because of the size. But, you could use regular jelly beans or even M&Ms.

Have fun making these little treats!

Tag Mini Album

Well, it is that time again. Use Your Stash has posted another challenge. This month's challenge is to use tags in your LO. The DT came up with some fantastic ideas fr your inspiration. You really should enter this one because the prize is a $10.00 gift certificate to Elle's Studios. But, we must have at least 7 participants to choose a winner. So go give it a try. This should be an easy one to do.

Here's what I did for the DT. I made a tag album using some of the photos from last year's visit to the Elizabethan Gardens. You can see the photos from the visit at this post here. I've had these tags forever and some were differnt sizes and colors, but similar. So, to tie them all into one another, I kept it simple by adding the same paper and embellishments on each. The PP had bothe the tan and green on it and the rub-on I put on each is also brown. (My fabulous scrap pal Chris sent it to me - check out her blog here because she just got published and is really just super talented!) I tied it all together again with coordinating ribbon.

Check back later this week because I am making my fun Easter Basket Cupcakes. They are fun and easy to make and children just love to help.

A Few New LOs

I was able to do a few new LOs. These are the lastest for the SavvynSassy Great Ribbon Rave Contest. Only 1 more week to go. I would love to win, but there is some great talent over there, so you never know. Go there and check out their gallery. There is some terrific LOs for inspiration.

This one was for week 4. The photo is of my sisters and me in 1975. The challenge was to make sure we made our LOs shabby. We also had to do the same treatment to our ribbons. We had to make these LOs more than just flat, the had to have dimension.

This one is for week 5. We were supposed to use 3 PPs, 3 flowers, 3 circles, and some chipboard. We also had to weave our ribbon on our LOs. The photo is of my family when I was 5.

Check back soon for a few new LOs. I've been working on a few more.

Welcome to the Jungle

Jake had his Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts last weekend. It was great. The theme was "jungle" and we really decorated his table well for the occasion. I'd say the wolf table was the best. :) No bias here, of course, LOL. We had snakes, monkeys, and tree frogs, and butterflies spattered about the jungle, too. So cute! They did a skit and Jake nailed his lines. He did such a great job! Here are a few pictures