Christmas DIY: Traditions | 25-Books-in-December

Happy Holidays! Today I want to share a special project that our family started in 2012. Originally inspired by Pinterest, I added touches better suited to my style and our family. We loved it so much that it's definitely a tradition that we'll continue for years to come! It's such a simple project that any parent can put together... you and your child can share your love of reading together all month long! The best part... it's a great way to start a wonderful collection of books that your child can enjoy all year!

When it came to gathering books together for this project, and being the frugal mommy that I am, I tried to find the most inexpensive route. I rotate my daughter's book collection every six months, so I like to include some of those books for this project. They're almost like new to her, since it's been a while since she's seen that particular book.

I also frequent the local Goodwill often and make it a habit to scour the children's book section. You do have to thumb through each book to make sure the pages are all there, and that they aren't covered with crayon marks. But it's definitely worth the time and effort, because the prices of kids books are incredible! And on that rare occasion you may find something you weren't expecting!

Here is the stack of books that I'm using for this year's 25-Books-in-December...

When I mentioned earlier that sometimes you find something unexpected, this is what I was talking about! 90% of these books came from our local Goodwill. You can imagine how excited I was to find numerous Hawaiian books for $.50 a piece! It was a great way to build my daughter's Hawaiian book collection :) The other 10% of them are from family members and cousins that passed down their favorite books. They were put away until she was old enough to read them.

So don't think that you need to go out and buy ALL brand new books for this project! "Be Green" and buy secondhand, like I did :) If you're a book lover yourself, you'll find much joy in searching the thrift store's shelves for books to be treasured by your little ones. I absolutely love it!

Next comes another fun part...I don't know about you, but I love wrapping presents! It's one of my favorite things to do during Christmas time, so I treated this batch of books just like a stack of Christmas presents! I alternated between pretty printed wrapping paper and brown Kraft paper, and adorned each book with a handmade tag and white & gold twine.

My Silhouette Cameo named "Candy" [a gift from the hubs last Valentine's Day ;)] helped with the tags. Super simple... no cutting for me! I decorated each one with various washi tape and hand wrote the numbers with some of my favorite pens. Some gold and white twine wrapped around each book finishes my 25-Books-in-December.

Christmas DIY: Traditions | 25-Books-in-December

PROJECT IN ACTION: Here is a look at a favorite book from last week. This is such a fun tradition! We get to read together as a family or one-on-one, and discover new adventures each and every night. We look forward to putting on our favorite jammies and snuggling up together with a new book. At the end of the night, it goes into a basket under the Christmas tree with the rest of the books we opened, to be enjoyed any time.

That's all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed my Christmas post! If you're looking for more DIY Holiday inspiration, check out my handmade Activity Advent Calendar. I have even more fun projects, ideas, and inspiration on my "Holidays" pinboard on pinterest! Are you documenting December? I'm doing a December Daily this year! I'll also be sharing more of my Christmas projects this month, so stay tuned!

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Do you share this family tradition? Have I inspired you to try it? Any thoughts, questions, or comments about this post? I'd love to hear it! Your feedback is always welcome and much appreciated.

Mahalo for stopping by!

Smashbook: Family Fun

Happy Friday Everyone! Soon it's going to be summer, so I thought I would share a fun spread from my pretty pink book documented last year. 

There is nothing more precious than looking back at captured memories. And what I love most about smashing, is that those moments in time can be documented not only with photos, but with other pieces of memorabilia. Today I want to share how I use those sweet little tidbits of paper ephemera, coupled with treasured photos, to document a family trip, concert, special event, or anything that you want to remember for years to come.

Here is our first trip we took to nearby Seattle, WA....

As much as I love Smashbooks, there always ends up being a few page designs in each book that I just don't care for. For instance, this particular spread in my pink book was originally of a bunch of old spoons. Not really my taste. So I decided to cover it. The Washington State Ferries fleet is stocked with tourist pamphlets, brochures, and magazines full of information, photos, and maps. On the back of one of the tourist mags I picked up, I came across a double-page map of Washington State. It was the perfect background to use for our trip to Seattle!

Since our trip began with a ferry ride, I decided to showcase our route on the map. Using a couple of star stickers, I marked our home location and our final destination. Doesn't it look great?! This is such a simple element to use for documenting day trips or vacations. You can use any type of map. This one worked perfectly for me because it was free, and it's an actual piece of ephemera I picked up while on our trip.

Another thing I love doing on my pages is adding peek-a-boo flaps with hidden journaling. You can also do it using photos. In my case I used a favorite postcard. All you need is a long piece of washi tape attached "halfway" onto one side of your photo or card. Using an Xacto knife, create two small cuts on the washi tape at the top and bottom edges of the postcard, stopping your cut at the corner of the card or photo. This creates a "hinge" to easily open and close revealing the hidden journaling underneath.

Here you can see the cool little journal spot I added underneath my card. I used it to briefly talk about some of the details of our day. I didn't want anything too big because I love the look of the map. Plus, I had plenty more journaling space on the back of the postcard if I needed it. I also added a small tag for the date and placed it where it is visible when the card is both open and closed.

Another one of my favorite elements to add to my books are pockets. I love them! They are perfect for stuffing full of the lovely paper "goodies" you pick up. Most of the time my pockets are handmade ones I create from scrapbook paper. But this one actually came from an awesome set of free printable pockets I saw on Pinterest. You can find them on my "Printables/Templates" pinboard.

Whenever you go out, be sure to keep all of the little paper tidbits you pick up. From ticket stubs to receipts, they are perfect for adding to your pockets. Here you can see the admission ticket from our visit to The Seattle Aquarium, the ticket stub from our ferry ride, a photograph that I didn't have room for on my spread, and a souvenir we picked up from a cool little shop downtown. To each piece of ephemera, I added a washi tape tag so that they can easily be pulled out of the pocket.

All of these elements together, along with your favorite photos help to make a wonderful recreation of that specific moment in time. With the addition of fun embellishments that complement your pages, you will truly have something personal and special that will never be forgotten.

Now I am so ready and super excited for summer 2013 and can't wait to document it! I really hope you enjoyed this post and leave here with new ideas and inspiration to create something fabulous in your SMASH* book. Wanna take a peek into my Pretty Pink Book? You can find it here. Looking for more Smashbook inspiration? Be sure to check out my "SMASH* & PL" pinboard on Pinterest. It is full of links to hundreds of free printables, ideas, inspiration, and DIYs. I'm positive you'll find something you like! Wanna stay updated on my recent posts and projects? Be sure to "like" my new fan page on Facebook!

Are you a SMASHer? Do you have any favorite elements you like to add to your books? Any thoughts, questions, or comments about this post? Please let me know. Your feedback is always welcome and much appreciated.

Thank you for stopping by!

Reuse Project: Crafty Organization

I definitely consider myself pretty crafty, and I was exposed to the green life at a very early age. So naturally, any project that involves repurposing/reusing everyday household items (that would normally end up in the landfills), and the chance to add a touch of my own personal creativity, is really a dream project!

I make it a habit to check out all of the food containers before they get to the recycle bin or trash can, and I save the good ones that I know I can reuse. If you have the extra space, start saving your containers! I have a shelf in one of my kitchen cabinets designated for them. You'll find different types in various sizes. My favorite kind to reuse are glass bottles or jars! Spaghetti sauce ones have measurements on them, baby food jars are perfect for corralling small items, large jars from pickles or juice can hold other food items too (ours hold uncooked pasta), and candle holders (lidded or not) are also great for organization!

Over the years, I've gained knowledge of what goes in and out of our family's home. From the organic food (along with its packaging) that comes in to it, to the garbage and recyclables that get taken out every week. And looking at our trash, I saw that one of the snacks we love so much, was also a huge contributor to our garbage. But I realized they also came in really awesome lidded cans! That is how our abundance of Honey Roasted Peanuts containers came to be...

Today I'm going to show you how easy it is reuse almost any container, and at the same time make that container look like it was never used to hold food! Let them be cardboard containers that once held snacks (like mine) or large aluminum spaghetti cans, this technique can be applied to almost anything. But the first thing you must do in any case, is give them a good cleaning!

SUPPLIES:

• Food Containers (That Need a Facelift)
• Scrapbook Paper - Scraps are best!
• Mod Podge - Matte is what I use.
• Paintbrush - Preferred over the foam ones.
• Labels, Tags, Cameo Cuts
• Stuff the Needs Organizing

Thoroughly clean each container with soap and water. The ones I have are lined and made of thick cardboard and hold up really well. Quick washes and rinses of soap and hot water are all I need to clean them. But don't let the cardboard containers sit saturated in water though for obvious reasons! I also  like to hand-dry everything.

1. Trim your paper(s) to fit the desired container. In my case, they are all scraps from my homemade daybooks. They're a near perfect fit and need just a slight trim!

2. Working in sections, spread an area of the container with a good layer of Mod Podge. Slowly place the sheet of paper over the glue. Be extra careful to keep the paper straight each time! Rub the paper to smooth out bubbles and creases.

3. Repeat the previous step until your container is completely covered. Make sure that paper is lined up straight! You will start to see it wrapping at an angle, but don't let that happen.

4. I'm using a strip of coordinating patterned paper (more daybook scraps) to cover a small gap since my 12" paper is too short. I think it's a nice little detail... clever and cute!

5. Now comes the fun part of adding a label! I wanted to have some fun with mine and decided to mix it up a bit. I used stamped tags with twine or cord, labels with Cameo cuts, and strips from my Dymo Label Maker.

6. Fill 'er up! I store mine with clothespins wrapped in twine or cord, cardstock and chipboard embellishments, pens/markers, etc. The possibilities are endless!

The fabulous thing about my repurposed food containers is that they stack very well! You can use them without a lid  to hold pens or scissors, and with one to hold just about anything else. They can really be customized to fit the theme in any room, and are so versatile they can hold more than just crafty supplies!

I really loved this Reuse Project. I got to destash and reuse two of my supplies... my ever-growing scrapbook paper stash and the food containers I've been hoarding! And I got fabulous storage in the end!  This is definitely what I like to call Frugal & Crafty Organization: The art of repurposing and reusing everyday objects in creative ways, and providing simple storage solutions...without spending a penny.

Do you like to reuse glass jars but hate that the metal lids from those containers still have all of that ugly food jargon on it? I sure do! I figured out how to cover those ugly metal food lids with scrapbook paper, so now all of those glass food jars will look gorgeous from top to bottom. Check back soon to find out how I do it....

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Any questions, thoughts, or comments about this post? Feel free to drop me a line. Your feedback is always welcome and much appreciated!

Mahalo for stopping by!