I created this with various Halloween supplies I had lying around ( bingo cards, stars, stickers, tags, boxes, ribbon, glittered trees, bells, plastic spiders, plastic skeletons) with the addition of some photos (both in color and black and white). When it comes together, it creates a fun decoration.
Another holiday, another excuse for photo cubes. Can you hear me singing “I just can’t get enough?”. You can see my other cubes here and here.
Halloween cube photo ideas:
costumes
pumpkin patch adventures
pumpkin carving
Halloween carnivals
Halloween/ costume parties
Halloween art
spooky looking skies
Start by using 2″ square cubes from Michaels, JoAnn’s or even online. Cut various patterned Halloween paper into 2″ x 2″ squares. Find those precious October/ Halloween photos and cut into 2″ x 2″ squares. Adhere with Modge Podge or Aleene’s tacky glue using a foam brush. Finally, you have the perfect Halloween keepsake for a table or shelf.
Have you seen this book? A Question and Answer a Day for Kids- a three year journal 
We started this book back in June and we have been having a blast with it. Every night (or almost every night) we pull out this book and ask Harry the question of the day. There is a question every day for 365 days and then it repeats for 3 years. I can’t wait to see how the answers change through the years. This book has prompted incredible conversations. And leaving it permanently on the dining room table allows us to not forget. Here are some of my favorite questions/responses (so far):
Q: Which three words do you like the sound of:
A: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolconiosis , slick and caramel
Q: ________is so funny.
A: My parents. They make silly mistakes that we can all laugh at together.
Q: Describe your pet or a pet you’d like to have:
A: brown, furry cat, Mainecoon. Small. Has some flecks of orange. Small and stays small with green eyes. Playful, energetic but always ready to snuggle and be petted.
Q: What song do you like to sing? Why?
A: Dynamite. It is a nice fitting song and it has been with me quite a while.
Q: Is there something you can’t stop thinking about? What is it?
A: Rainbow Loom – making my Chinese Dragon
We are having so much fun with this book, I am also thinking about this one for me, Q&A a Day: 5 Year Journal and this one for Patrick and I, Our Q&A a Day: 3-Year Journal for 2 People.
Wondering what to do with all those Fourth of July photos? Cubes are a great way to go. These cubes incorporate Fourth Of July’s over several years.
You might also add photos of:
You can pick up 2″ blocks at Michael’s, print some photos, find some red,white and blue paper, and adhere it all the blocks. Quick, easy and a fun decoration to add your summer decor.
Summer is here. School is out. It’s time to relax a little.
But with summer comes the “I’m bored.” Several years ago, I created a book/binder for my son filled with ideas, inspiration, how-to’s, anything that came to mind to stop the words “I’m bored” ever being uttered out of his precious mouth. The book was a huge success so I decided to update and expand it.
My goal was not to tell him what to do, but rather to inspire him to make, to do, to try, etc.
Here are some possible ideas to include:
1. Reminding them about toys/kits that are in their closet.
2. Pinterest has a wealth of ideas for projects/art – zentangles, cork art, recycled art, string art, paint techniques, duct tape creations, rainbow loom creatures, fuse beads
(perler beads) patterns, bubbles
3. Websites with great projects:
4. Try new things – make a comic, play in Garage Band, Art Rage, Sketch Up, Scratch Programming, learn Adobe Photoshop, Khan Academy, Geocaching, learn coding at www.code.org, learn to play solitaire, Pokemon or Magic the Gathering, a random act of kindness
5. Learn – about an animal, a place you want to go, a time in history, Harry Potter spells
There are so many ideas you can put in a book like this – it is limitless.
Here is a little of what Harry’s Book of Summer Fun looks like:
A list of 100 Ideas:
Added tabs for items with more information or photos.
How to make a Zentangle. (doodling)
pattern examples.
Inspiration.
More inspiration.
Something a little different with doodling.
Examples of what to do with old trash and broken branches.
Science experiments.
Reminding my son about the cool stuff in his closet.
Yes, even Minecraft but with challenges!!
String Art.
Fuse beads (Perler Beads).
Pet Rock.
Admitting the embarrassing amount of corks my son insists on collecting.
Combining recycled objects and robots.
Paint ideas.
Duct Tape.
Shadow Puppets.
A shadow box with Lego guys.
And here is Harry already creating from his new book. He has already admitted there is no way that there is enough time to create, discover, learn all the fun stuff in the next 3 months.
Enjoy summer!!!
Back to reality…..
A rainbow loom hippo in a rainbow loom lake.
A Costa Rican inspired toucan.
And we are moving into the dragon phase.
Sunset. 
Yes, I draw pictures on his lunch every day.
Cat nip is soooo good.
“No, it’s mine.” “No, it’s mine”
Have a great weekend.
What does a week in your life look like?
For years, I have been taking one week of a year and going in depth with what a week looks like for our family, inspired by Ali Edwards. I usually take a week where I know it will be a fairly ordinary, average week (if that actually exists).
The following are examples of what I photograph and document:
The list goes on and on. You will be amazed with all the parts that make up your story.
I used Ali Edward 8.5 x 11 templates for my pages. Once I created my digital pages I put them together at Adoramapix. The quality of the book is just incredible – the vibrance of colors and clarity with thick lay flat pages. This is one of my favorite photo book printers! My one and only complaint with the company having very specific page count restriction is now gone, you can choose exactly how many pages work for you (up to 76 pages). This project is so worth it!
Photo cubes are all the rage these days and they add of touch of personality to your decor. You can pick up blocks here and you can also find them at one of the craft stores, Michael’s, Jo-Anns, etc. After finding some of my favorite photos, I printed them out in 2 inch squares, cut them out, put Modge Podge on the back of the photo and the face of the cube to adhere them, added some patterned paper on a couple of sides and a few rub-ons (you could also handwrite some details or love notes or add even more photos). It really is a quick, easy project to display those photos and stories.
At this point, it pretty clear I love photography and all things related to photography so it probably comes as no surprise that I love to give and get photography related gifts, Valentine’s Day was no exception.
I have been eyeing Artifact Uprising for quite a while and trying to figure out an excuse to make something. I love, love, love there core values. This was taken directly from their website:
OUR CORE VALUES
When I finally decided I needed to get my husband something for Valentine’s Day, I knew where I was going. I don’t know about you but I think men are so difficult to shop for. After looking through their different possibilities, I chose the “wood block and prints“. The wood block is made using beetle-kill pine reclaimed from the forests of Colorado. It also includes 12 5″x 5.75” heavy weight card stock photos that sit neatly in the wood block. Now the choice was finding the right photos. Most of their examples were black and white and very abstract which lent itself to my husband’s simple style but I did need to make it a bit more personalized – with special moments between us, a couple of our son and a couple of just me (it is for him) and converted these to black and white. I also added a beach shot, a sunset shot and a sky shot which I kept as color because that it was makes them special. Artifact Uprising was very easy to use and once I had decided on my photos, it only took me a couple of minutes to place on the computer and submit. My husband loved it! It is sitting in a prominent position on his desk. This was a great, easy and simple gift. I am thinking about making one for my desk too.
Another Valentines Day Idea! It is only 4 days away! Yikes!
I cut about thirty pieces of construction paper in various colors and wrote 30 (completely random number) love notes to my son, folded them, put them in a box and tied a bow on the top.
My son loved opening the box and each note was like a new present. He couldn’t get enough!
It is also wonderful to remember and write down all the good things (because sometimes it is hard and we forget).
I love you because…..
I hope you enjoy this simple, meaningful project as much as I did!
surf and sea design 