The boys and I made homemade snowglobes today; I found the idea on Tiny Twist Creative. The boys were so excited when I started rounding up little action figures and ornaments we could use. They chose which characters to use. Jacob chose a snowman and Cookie Monster; Jaden, a pirate and Santa. It’s so interesting raising boys….

Adding glitter was the icing on the cake for Jaden.Of course, then came the shake, shake, shake.Methinks putting the pirate in with Santa might have been a bad idea….we have a fallen Santa!The childlike wonder was so worth it all….

I’m seeing a LOT more crafting in our future.:)

With autumn arriving, being my most favorite season of the year, I am starting to feel a bit more crafty, maybe even a bit more ready to get in the kitchen and cook something up or redecorate my home.  It’s always this way every single year.  This time of year finds me wanting to pull out things like craft supplies, dutch ovens for making some kind of warm, cozy soup, or maybe even a bit of fabric to make something beautiful.

Oh, but isn’t it fun to browse around the internet looking for ideas?  Maybe I could finally get a new set of curtains made for our bedroom.Maybe I could finally work on finding a tv stand to replace our rather drab, little black stand that’s in there now….this one is pretty.Maybe it’s time for that family tree wall to finally take shape on our living room wall with some antique looking picture frames.Whatever it’s time for, I’m ready to make our home a haven this beautiful autumn season.  Blessings to you and yours.

(Disclosure: This post is written for CSN Stores, without compensation, in anticipation of a future product review.)

The boys and I had the opportunity, through Twitter Moms’ Glue Dots Summer Bonding Project, to get creative.  We had a weekend in June that included not only Father’s Day, but my parent’s 50th anniversary and my mom’s birthday.  So, we decided to make some homemade cards.  Of course, we were able to use our fancy, schmancy glue dots for the project.

The boys got busy making Father’s Day cards, and we put little pockets on their cards, so they could insert coupons for Daddy time and tickets to see a movie that Daddy had been wanting to see, The Last Airbender. The glue dots worked great for their cards.  While they were steadily working along, I decided to create this cute teacup card for my mom, for which the inspiration came from Martha Stewart (yes, I am a fan….she has the most amazing crafts). Anyway, we had a blast, and the glue dots did great for the boys’ cards; they didn’t want to stay sticking as well on mine, but I think it’s because I was trying to insert little teabags down into the cup, and they didn’t want to hold all of that weight pulling on them.  It was just too much.  However, for crafting with the boys, they are awesome in this mom’s book.  They are less hassle because they’re so much less messier than liquid glue or even gluesticks, which Jaden has an obsession with.  He can’t paint the table with Glue Dots, which makes me that much happier.:)

You can find Glue Dots online; you can even like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.  You’ll find some really creative project ideas online, as well.  They have a variety of dispensers available.

(Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Glue Dots blogging contest to be eligible to receive a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.)

I don’t know if you’ve ever read the blog, Mod Podge Rocks!, but I have to say that Mod Podge does rock!

That blog gets my creative side flowing, and last week, I finally decided to take the plunge and try this whole Mod Podge thing out for myself.  I’ve actually never used it, except for small school projects, but apparently, you can do just about anything you want with it.  So, I decided to take our plain, white, utensil crock we have next to our stove and transform it into a thing of beauty.

Behold, the power of Mod Podge!:)All I did was cut up pieces of scrapbook paper into squares.  Now I do have to say that the lighter weight paper was so much easier to work with on the rounded, slick surface of the crock.  The heavier paper didn’t want to stick so well, but it did after sealing and drying.  After cutting my squares, I put a layer of Mod Podge (I used Matte finish) all over the outside of my crock, where I wanted the paper to go.  Then I put Mod Podge on the backside of each square of paper, as I added it onto the crock, trying to come up with a creative design as I went.  I used a paintbrush, but next time I’ll probably use a sponge brush, since it would be a lot easier and smoother, I think.  Once I had all my squares on, I also put a piece of vellum paper that reads Bless This Nest, and it has 2 little blue birds on it, one on each end. After everything was Mod Podged onto the crock, I then brushed over it all with another layer of Mod Podge.  I’m thinking I should have done more than one layer maybe, but it really did a great job of sealing the layers together.  Not saying this crock will be easy to clean, by any means, but it definitely is cute! The Mod Podge sealed it well, but it’s just not as smooth as I thought it’d be.  I love it, though!  Definitely gotta try more Mod Podge projects.