Practicing Colors

So one of my favorite things about summer is that I can stay up late crafting and creating and no alarm clock goes off the next morning.

Last night, while searching Pinterest as I always do after putting my little man down, I came across a cute idea for printing story boards out to use on a felt board. I thought it would be cute to just create it out of felt instead. I decided to make some colored baby chicks in eggs to help Little Man learn to say his colors. He is able to point the colors out when I ask, but only says blue, yellow, brown, and black. 

I didn't start out with a pattern...I just kind of went for it, and figured felt is cheap, I will see what happens. Surprisingly my first little chick turned out well. I didn't want to press my luck, so I made him into a template and made the 5 other chicks.

Then I needed a felt board, I have been wanting to make one since last year. I found an old frame, took out the glass, and cut a piece of white felt. I glued the felt onto the backing of the frame, and done! All I need to do is hang it up in the playroom.

I used the brown background so the eggs wouldn't blend into the white. I put a small piece of Velcro on the four corners of the brown piece so that I could change out the background when needed. I also put Velcro on the back of the chicks. 

W(My little man) loved pulling the chicks off the board and squishing them all in his fist...such a boy.

Some activities W and I did with the colored chicks...

- I would ask him to give me a specific colored chick
- I pulled off or pointed to a chick and asked him what color it was...he only says a few colors right now, but can point out most common colors.
-Count the chicks
- Sort chicks by color with other items
-Sing songs about chicks or colors

With Love,
Megan

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! It's been a year since I posted on here, but I'm back and have been crafting like crazy. I have so many fun projects I have been working on and am ready to share. 

In the past year I have become a mommy to the most amazing little boy in the world. I am also teaching still so things are busy, busy, busy! Wyatt and I have been having a blast this summer. I can't believe he is almost one already!!! 

 

Wyatt and Daddy cooling off! It's been over 100 degrees this weekend!

I have been working on a scrapbook for Wyatt, I am proud to say I am pretty caught up on big events. I also made this banner to decorate for the 4th and am so proud of myself...I made it all using materials I already had!  

Happy Birthday America!!!

 

 My beautiful nieces, Bella and Sofia enjoying the 4th of July Parade in Biggs!

Bella and Wyatt enjoying a ride in the festive Wagon on our way to the Hometown Celebration Parade!

With Love, 

Megan

Ella's ABC Book!

I can't believe little Ella is already 2 months old...she is already getting so big. Here is a picture of her and I when she was only a week old...so sweet!!!

Here is the ABC book I made for her...After scrapbooking girlie style for Bella the last seven years making this book for Ella was so fun and easy...I'm not having as much luck with Wyatt's book....I will share pictures if I ever finish it.

Happy Crafting!

With Love,
Megan

"Bandanna Paper" Thank You Cards!

I finally found some energy to craft tonight! I went up to my craft room spent the first hour clearing off the table...and then didn't know where to start.

Looking through my printed paper I found some cute bandanna paper from Martha Stewart's Scrapbooking line at Micheal's. I decided to make a few monochromatic cards with a little Shabby Chic design.

To embellish the cards I used vintage lace & buttons, ribbon, flowers, and pearls. Find these adorable cards at my etsy shop With Love and Affection.

With Love,
Megan

Bree's Baby Shower!

Getting ready for baby Ella!

My friend Bree is expecting her first child on April 21st! I am so excited our little ones will be just four months apart. Today we celebrated with a Shabby Chic themed shower for Bree.

So glad I finally found a use for this beautiful birdcage. We used it for my wedding to hold the cards. It worked out perfect with a small flower and candles as the center piece.

I just love using these Gerber glass baby bottles as vases, they are the perfect touch for baby shower.

The Candy Buffet!
I love this idea! While searching for some creative party favors for the shower, I came across the idea of a Candy Buffet. The idea is to fill glass jars, apothecary jars, bowls, or pretty much anything else you have full of candy. Give the guest something to fill and let them create their own party favor to take home. For Bree's shower I used pastel candy that's in the stores for Valentine's Day and Easter. Her sister even ordered custom M&Ms....TOO CUTE!
For the guests to take home I decorated mini Chinese food boxes...stamped with Ella Grace!

One of my favorite decorations, I love this old box! My mom and I found it at Home Goods for seven bucks. I used a few old Mason jars from Joe's moms tomato canning and filled them with flowers. Perfect!

Bree, her mom Dawn, her sister Nicole, and Nicole's three daughters Hayliee, Regan, and Bristol.

Bree and I!
Bree is eight months pregnant and I am 18 weeks pregnant.
Can't wait for both our little ones to be here!

With Love,
Megan

Crepe Paper Tutorial

It's been a while since I posted a tutorial, so this weekend I went in search of a new technique to share with my crafty friends.

I've always loved the look of these crepe paper circles, they look so neat on vintage inspired paper crafts. This weekend I finally made a few, and they were soooo easy. I think I ended up making ten of them. I even used a few on some really cute Halloween Treat Bags, click here to see them.

Ok, so let's get going,

Here is what you will need:

- Crepe Paper (party streamers, I found mine at Dollar Tree) cut off about 1.5 feet

- Thread and Needle

- Scissors

- Two Sided Tape

That's It!

To begin, thread needle and begin first stitch. I don't mess with knotting the thread, instead I just tape the end of the thread to the crepe paper. Start stitching about 1/4 of an inch from the edge. I usually stitch with about a half inch between each stitch.
Begin to bunch the crepe paper together as you stitch.

Once you have scrunched the crepe paper to your desired look hold the thread in place and put a small piece of two sided tape over the hole and end of the thread.


Cut the thread and crepe paper and apply one piece of two sided tape to one of the edges.

Attach the two sides together.

That's It!!! Once your crepe paper circles are made the creativity is endless.

With this pink crepe paper circle I used decorative scissors and cut about an eighth of an inch off the edge, creating a decorative edge.

For these Halloween treat bags I put some liquid glue on the very edge of the crepe paper and dipped them in glitter. Then I layered cardstock tags and stickers.

I hope you learned something new, and will try it soon. If you do, I would love to see what you create. You can either post it on your blog and put the link in the Mister Linky below, all I ask is that you mention my blog and provide a link to it on your blog post. If you don't have a blog post the picture in my flickr group by clicking here and I will add it to the post. Join our flickr group and you may be featured on my Friday Favorites Post.

Please visit my etsy shop With Love and Affection for some more crafty goodness.

Baby Gaven Brag Book!

I made this 8x8 brag book for a friend of my mom's who is about to have a baby boy. The nursery is going to be safari theme, so I used the adorable safari animal clear stamps I got from Target. I knew they would serve a good purpose when I threw them in the cart a few months ago. I made the first page using the light teal and craft brown and loved it so much I decided to use it throughout the whole album.