Simple Ways to Improve Your “Elf on the Shelf”
12/02/2012 11:04:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
He’s everyone’s favorite guy of the month, next to Santa
Claus himself. He’s sly, tricky, playful, and usually, quite frankly-up to no
good! He’s the “Elf on the Shelf”. Ours is named Herbie, and unfortunately he
looks EXACTLY like a million other elves-or at least he did last year ;)
I’m not a big fan of blending in, especially when it
comes to little red elves that ooze mischief and are posted all over social
media and store shelves alike. My girls are only 3 and seeing what appears to
be “their” elf, EVERYWHERE else is downright confusing….and frustrating! So, I
decided to make a few little adjustments to Herbie to set him apart from the
pack (and make it easier for me to create
mayhem with him).
To hopefully end the “There’s Herbie!” cries, I simply
sewed a tiny silver jingle bell to the top of his hat. That’s it, for this year
anyway. I told the girls that the bell was a special gift to Herbie from Santa,
kind of like a Girl Scout badge. He must’ve been a very helpful elf to earn
such a big reward!
I’ve decided that if the trend of “elf personalizing”
catches on (which I’m sure it will because it’s brilliant, LOL) that I’ll add a
little something different each year. Like next year he may have a name tag,
new shoes, a cool stripe down his pants, a flashy silver belt…….who knows?!
But the main improvement I made, from a mommy perspective
anyway, was the floral wire to his limbs. I was fed up with trying to figure
out how to get this stiff little felt doll to stay where I put him, so I made
tiny slits in hidden places and ran doubled floral wire through his arms and
legs! A job well done, if I have to say so myself! The little booger is now
bendable and posable and I don’t have to fiddle for hours with string, putty,
or tape to make him stay put!
Go mommy! It’s your birthday! And now elf posing won’t
drive you cra-zay! *doing a little dance*
Have
you tweaked your elf in some way? If so, share your ideas in the comments
below!
Organizing Christmas Cards from Years Past
11/25/2012 06:07:00 PM Posted by mommy2twincesses
I like to tell myself that I’m not a pack rat, but there
are certain instances that it’s just not true. Pictures of family and friends
are some of the things that I can just NOT get rid of! But what to do with
them?!
For the past few years I’ve been displaying the cards we receive
in the mail for that season and then when I put away all the Christmas
decorations, I would stuff them the best I could manage in a photo album.
However, as with everything else on the planet, the “bigger is better” mentality
has begun to apply to Christmas cards and my ordinary photo album, with its
measly 4x6 openings, just wasn’t cutting it.
I tried trimming the gigantic ones down, but that just
hurt my heart because I was ruining the cards, sometimes even severing the
names and dates. Something had to give!
After mulling over possibilities, including just “round
filing” them, I finally settled on what I’ve deemed the perfect solution!
I separated the cards into piles for each family,
chronologically arranged them, punched holes in the upper corner, and then
thread them onto metal ring binders! I have a ring for my side of the family,
DH’s side, friends, and then simply our family cards.
I’m in love! I can easily flip through my cards now and watch
how families and children have grown and changed over the years! I’m just
tickled pink!
This little project was a tad time-consuming as I’ve been
saving cards for at least 6 years now, but the sacrifice of an hour or so seems
insignificant as the reward is well worth the time!
Do
you save photo Christmas cards? If so, what is your method of keeping them
organized?
Disney Cruise Door Décor
9/27/2012 08:11:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
While researching our upcoming Disney Cruise, I’ve found several interesting ideas I’d have otherwise been clueless about. One of these things is door decorating.
The doors to staterooms are metal, and apparently it’s a “thing” of seasoned cruisers to decorate their doors (Disney requires ALL door decorations to be magnetic ONLY). Supposedly it’s used as a way to show “family spirit”, Disney loyalty, and to just make it easier to spot your room. I’ve only been on one cruise, and I know that I decided to decorate our door to make it easier to find. Our 3 year olds know numbers 0-10 only and I don’t think they’d have much a chance of memorizing our 4 digit room number, but I have no doubt they’ll recognize our personalized door decorations!
I searched around and found several Etsy sites with personalized magnets for sale, but I’m cheap and just couldn’t see spending $10 and up for Mickey/Minnie magnets that I could easily make myself-because I’m just a do-it-yourselfer :o) Also, I read that the generic magnets that do not include a family name are often stolen-bummer!
So, because I am the dork that I am, I set out to make my own-personalized magnets!
First of all, I found the mother-load of FREE Disney images on the Disboards! There are amazing people there that will even edit/personalize images for you for FREE, but please realize that they are completely swamped with requests, so give them plenty of time!
Because I’m impatient and again, wanted to do-it-myself, I simply clicked on the light blue Mickey head in the first poster’s signature and spent WAY too much time browsing through her 4Shared files!
I saved the images I wanted to use and edited them using Picmonkey.com!
Once I got the images to look the way I wanted, I saved them to my computer, printed them off onto photo paper, and attached them to store bought magnetic sheets! Ta-da!
Here’s the one announcing our 9 year anniversary that we’ll be celebrating while on the cruise! Not too bad huh?!
If you know anyone else who may like to make magnets of their own, please share this post! And while you’re at it, share your creations with me-I’d love to see them :o)
P.S.-The images could be used to make ALL sorts of items, not just magnets! You could print off designs onto iron-on transfer paper for t-shirts and what not too!
P.S.-The images could be used to make ALL sorts of items, not just magnets! You could print off designs onto iron-on transfer paper for t-shirts and what not too!
Homemade Fish Extender a Disney Cruise Must-Have
8/31/2012 11:01:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
Since yesterday afternoon, when I discovered the whole “Fish Extender” program on Disney Cruises (check out that link to learn more about it!) I’ve been consumed with creating one for our family-because I’m way too cheap to pay $40 or more for the pre-made ones on eBay and Etsy.
I’m sewing challenged, so anything past basic hand stitching is out for me. Yes, I actually have a sewing machine but we don’t quite see eye to eye. I knew I had to figure something out that involved as little sewing (or none would be even better) as possible.
After browsing through others’ creations, I sucked it up and made a quick Wal-Mart run.
I was having a hard time deciding between using zippered pencil cases and an over the door shoe hanger. Because the pencil cases were already colored, already had grommets that I could use to connect them to each other, and finally because they seemed a little more roomy, they won. I grabbed 4 zippered pencil cases-one for each member of the family-and headed home to raid my craft closet and get busy decorating them!
I pulled out some ribbon, colored buttons, small wooden letters, paint for the letters, my trusty hot glue gun, some permanent no-sew seam adhesive, and a needle and thread (just in case).
I let my imagination run free and about two hours later (because I had NO idea what I wanted the finished product to look like)-here’s what I came up with:
It’s not so bad! Actually, I’m pretty darn pleased with it! (Especially since it basically cost me $4 and a random assortment of things already taking up space in my craft closet!) I envision adding a little something to it each time we use it-yeah, that will be fun! Seeing what the girls choose to add to it as they get older and watching it transform over the years……..SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it!
So, what do you think?! Let me know in the comments below :o)
Disney Cruise Insider Exclusive! Fish Extenders
8/29/2012 11:35:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly be more excited or learn anything new about our upcoming Disney Cruise, I find something else extraordinary to add to my list of “I can’t wait for........”!
Have you ever heard of a “fish extender” or just “FE” for short? Didn’t think so. But, no worries, neither had I until this morning. I’ll fill you in on everything you need to know!
On Disboards.com there are discussion forums filled with endless nuggets of treasured veteran cruiser information. While browsing through the various topics I noticed a couple about “fish extenders” or with the letters “FE” in them. So, if you know me at all, you know that I can’t stand not to know something so I had no choice but to check it out and see what on earth these people were talking about!
Turns out that once you’re registered for your Disney Cruise, you can go online and “meet” other passengers that will be on your ship, all on the Disboards. A perk of joining this online group is having the option to participate in the “fish extender” program!
Basically, it’s just a big “Secret Santa” type thing, where everyone who is participating hangs a pocketed “fish extender” outside their room and at random times other participants will drop off goodies and surprises during your cruise! And of course, you will reciprocate by also dropping a little surprise off in their “fish extenders” too!
There is no minimum or maximum as to what is acceptable in the “fish extender” game, and I’ve been searching for ideas and it seems that every single thing I thought of has already been done. But, I figure something is better than nothing, and any extra “pixie dust” sprinkled on our trip will be worth it!
There are adorable examples of “fish extenders” on Etsy. This is my favorite one so far, but I’m too crafty to pay for it when I can figure out a way to make one myself! Actually, I didn’t even have to put much thought into how to make one myself since I can’t sew, as PumpkinKate came up with this completely functional and no-sew option. Thanks for the idea Kate-but I’m also too crafty to just brainlessly steal someone else’s thunder……….I’ll be pondering this one for who knows how long! LOL
Anyway, when I figure out exactly how I’m going to go about this whole “fish extender” thing, I’ll let you know-and post pics too! I have officially added us to the FE roll, so I’ve got to get busy :o)
While you’re here, check out my other post for more Disney Cruise insider tips and secrets!
If you’ve been on a Disney Cruise and participated in the FE exchange, share some details! What did you give, what did you get, and what did you use as your actual fish extender?!
Monday Madness-Simple Halloween Craft Keepsakes
10/17/2011 05:09:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
You can learn to make both of these adorable crafts simply by clicking this link!
Homemade Spirit Gloves-Crafty Mom Copy Cat
9/22/2011 11:42:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
My tight streak along with my inner toddler (I can do it MYSELF) is what brought me to make the nifty little craft I'm about to share with you.
We were waiting to be seated in a Cracker Barrel restaurant when I spotted the cutest gloves ever mixed in with the Razorback merchandise. They were either $20 or $25 and that is a price I simply refused to pay when I knew without a shadow of a doubt I could make them myself! They were called Spirit Fingerz if you care to look them up yourself, and they come in a variety of colors to compliment whoever it is that you cheer for. Super cute idea and kudos to the original creator, but times are tough and I've got the crafty gene so I just had to make some of my own.
To make Homemade Spirit Gloves all you need is a pair of cheap stretchy gloves (I bought mine at Wal-Mart, $1.50 for two pair), colored yarn, a needle and thread, and a pair of scissors.
I simply cut 10 short pieces of yarn in two colors, for a total of 20 pieces, for each finger. Then I tied the individual bundles in the middle to create the "pom pom" for each finger. Lastly, I stitched one pom on the tip of each finger. And wa-la! You have yourself an absolutely adorable set of spirit gloves! (The next pair I do I will create bigger and slightly shorter bundles for a fuller look.)
I posted a picture of this on my Facebook page and have people offering to pay me to make them some :o)
