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DIY Back To School Photo Prop

June 13, 2015 By: Flavia

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope this summer is starting off right for all of you! I want to bring you today a very fun and easy project.
This DIY back to school photo prop is my latest contribution for ehow. I did not hesitate for a second to create this project and write the tutorial. I love taking pictures (understatement of the year), so a photo prop for the very first day of school was on my long list of crafts to make (aka Neat DIYโ€™s Pinterest board).
Read more>>>>

Cricut Father’s Day Promo – Gift Card Included!

June 8, 2013 By: Flavia

Hi there!

You all know how passionate I am about crafting and yes, I do a lot of graphic design on the computer and it seems like the scissors and the glue gun are a part of my hand these days…{As a matter of fact, I cut and squeeze the glue gun so much that I think I am showing signs of carpal tunnel syndrome…Yikes!}. But, I would say 90% of my projects wouldn’t be complete without my Cricut Expression 2. 

Cricut Expression 2


The first Cricut I owned was a gift from my husband on my 29th birthday. 
{ Oh Gosh! it sounds like a long time ago….not really though ๐Ÿ™‚ }. 
I started using it for making personal scrapbooks and for home decor projects. Little did I know that after having our first {and only} child I would be crafting his first birthday party decor and that those same decorations will bring me to this day…crafting party decorations for kids all over America. Last year I upgraded my Cricut to the Expression 2.
If you are still thinking about what to give Dad for Father’s Day, and he is a techie kind of person, here is a good idea:  how about a Cricut Expression Father’s Day Gift Pack?

Here’s what is included in this special offer:

  • Black Cricut Expression Machine
  •  $50 Cricut Craft Room gift card 
  • Bonus deep cut blade 
  • Tool kit 
  • 2 Cricut Color Ink pens 
  • Project starter materials including stencil, vinyl and iron-on 
  • Idea book to get Dad making projects of his own 
I am not sure if this black Cricut Expressionยฎ  is a limited edition or not but it sure looks nice and elegant for dad! 
Stencil, vinyl and iron-on included!

Love this sample project, perfect for a father-son day spent at home labeling all things possible! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Find out more about this special offer and read about all the features of this black Cricut Expression  here.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Craft Room Design – The Big Reveal

September 20, 2012 By: Flavia

The moment has finally arrived and I am so excited to share with you this big reveal! For years, and I really mean it when I say years, I have dreamed of a craft room/studio. And y’all have no idea how happy this makes me! ๐Ÿ™‚ Yes, I am like a kid with a brand new toy. The difference is that I am not going to get tired of this one, ever!

If you read my post Craft Room Design, you’ve been waiting to read this post and see the newly remodeled room. Well, wait no more, it’s here!

For months I searched the words “craft room ideas” and an image of a white craft room -or ten rather- would pop up! It’s the cleanest, nicest look. Now, before I describe how I did it I have to say that I can’t give you an exact amount of money I put into for two reasons.

1. I have been buying items for the last year here and there (on sale or not) and 2. My husband put a lot of work and craftsmanship into this and his work is priceless ๐Ÿ˜‰

Ok, on to the project breakdown.

This post contains affiliate links. For more info, please read my Affiliate Disclosure.

The Walls

The room had plain white walls. I wanted the room to look clean and airy but white walls are too blah!, so I picked this muted yellow color called Banana Cream Pie from Glidden in an eggshell finish. Easy to clean. Glidden paint is sold at Home Depot.

The Flooring

Bye bye, carpet!

Even though I love the feeling of carpet under my feet { I am a barefoot type of girl }, the room needed a flooring upgrade badly. The carpet was just too worn out from all the traffic all these years. We picked laminate flooring, besides economic, which is very low maintenance.

Oh! and I can move my chair around with ease!. I keep handy a handheld vacuum that my husband gave me {he can pull out anything from the garage like a magician from a hat} and I can’t live without it. I virtually have no mess at all now!. 

Storage Cubbies

I bought these at Michaels. I initially wanted to build a “wall unit” with these cubbies and just make a small counter against the wall flanked by a pair of cubbies on each end. Then, I realized that the depth of the counter (14.5″) would be too small for my projects and then I would be begging for more space again. 

So, here is where the project took a big turn.

I had bought 22 cubbies one day at Michaels when they had a big sale. All the scrapbook storage was 40% off, plus I had a 25% off total purchase coupon. So, it was a good deal. I knew this beforehand {it pays to run to the craft store three times a week} and I made a pre-design on a sheet of paper and went there the day of the sale with a plan! ๐Ÿ˜‰ That was at least 7 months ago! 

I bought a mix of cubbies with shelves, drawers, shelves and drawers, magazine holders, etc. You can see some of the other cubby designs in this picture.

I had mentioned before how difficult it was to come up with a plan, being that I had only two walls to work with. But I am delighted with what my husband and I came up with! He’s a genius, if you ask me ๐Ÿ™‚

{ Bonus picture! } When my son saw his father working with power tools, he went running to his room,  dug inside his toy box and found his screwdriver (bottom right), and brought it to his dad… Just too cute! 

Back to the description.

The Countertop

Because I wanted a big and – I mean BIG – surface to work on, my husband custom made the counter out of wood and high gloss white Formica.  It weighs around 300 pounds! Yep, it’s huge! It came home from his shop in three pieces and he put it down over the cubbies that I had strategically placed in the room. 

Please ignore the spider web of cables I have under my desk. That’s my next project. One thing at a time. Look at the ‘big picture’ here.

On the wall side, the counter is 30 inches deep by 11 feet long. When it turns, on the left of the top picture, it’s 36 inch by 7 feet long, and then, when it turns again it’s 15.5 inches deep by 4 feet long.

We brought the cubbies forward so the counter would overhang just 1 inch. Behind the cubbies -on the wall side- there’s an opening, which we thought it would be our son’s hideaway…but it turned out to be perfect: behind those cubbies, I have a built-in garbage chute.

That hole in between my desktop station and my Cricut is for the garbage! I came up with this idea when my son started dropping all his toys inside the holes that my old desk had. And then I started dropping my garbage there too. This one has an actual garbage pail underneath! LOVE IT!

Take a close look at my built-in garbage chute in my post: 5 Easy Craftroom Organization Tips (tip #4)

The Ikea Kallax

My wall unit plan {with the cubbies} changed when I spotted this Ikea Kallax Bookcase on Pinterest. 

To my despair, Ikea does not make the largest Kallax {6×6 cubbies} in high gloss white. So, we purchased two: a 4×4 cubbies Kallax and a 4×2 cubbies Kallax and we mounted {yes, we! I picked it up and gave my hubby a hand} one on top of the other.

My main idea was to have some storage for my son’s toys on the bottom shelves. His bins are the white ones and I make sure he knows it. No more touching mommy’s stuff!

Inside the fabric bins, I have all things possible. I have come to realize that – no matter how hard you try – crafting is always going to be a little messy.

If I stopped to put ‘neatly’ away from each scrap of paper or any material for that matter, I wouldn’t be able to finish projects on time. So, these bins are wonderful. If I have leftover paper, I just drop it in its bin, leftover tulle or ribbon, in another bin…and so on.

Scrapbook Supplies Storage

Each bin is full to the top with all these supplies {they’re still neatly organized inside…I still have the ‘brand new’ fever}

  • Paper Punches
  • Solid color paper scraps
  • Patterned paper scraps
  • Stationary (includes cards, envelopes, and return labels)
  • Stamps and ink
  • Fabric, tulle, and ribbon scraps
  • Cricut accessories like jukebox, blades, vinyl rolls, along with stencils and other miscellaneous tools I don’t use every day.
  • Glue products and tools like a screwdriver, X-Acto knife, pliers, wood sander, etc
  • Acrylic paint and brushes.

The Embellishment Center

Another item I bought at Michaels at 40% off, plus 25% total purchase coupon) was the embellishment center. 

At first, I thought I wasn’t going to have a wall where to hang it because it is big and because I have an open loft I didn’t want it to be seen from the formal living room downstairs. Turns out I found the perfect wall kind of behind the Kallax but still, perfectly accessible.

I still have the black file cabinet. It’s an eyesore in this bright and fresh room, but I can’t change the color of the printer so I figured I’d rather keep the whole thing like that, seamless. Until I come up with a new plan.

In the embellishment center I keep…well, embellishments.

I cut hundreds of tiny onesies at a time for my favor tags so I store them by color in different storage jars. I also use mason jars where I keep lollipop sticks for cupcake toppers, wood craft sticks, mini clothespins, and multicolor pompoms. 

I just bought a bunch of Martha Stewart embossing powder and I am looking forward to starting new projects ๐Ÿ™‚ Now that I have a much more functional {and inspiring} room, I’m hoping I can work on new items and projects.

The Shelves

We bought 3 of the Ikea Lack shelves in high gloss white.  I could not be happier with this set-up! They are so sleek {and I don’t dig too much the minimalist decor}, but they look so good in the craft room!

I love how I can keep my Cricut cartridges handy and they still look cute and decor the room. To the right of them, I have 4, just 4 {out of my hundred and something collection of } cats’ figurines. These 4 are dear to my heart and each one represents a special moment in my life.

Oh! and I have an {empty} cat treats canister because I have my cat on a diet…poor thing. This is the shelf on the right side of the room.

On the left side of the room I decided to just place all my blue tin buckets {these I used on my son’s Caillou Birthday Party last summer} with all my pens, markers, felt tip pens, pencils, and scissors. Easy to reach for me while I am working, hard to reach for my toddler. I think they look cute! {they scream: ‘This is a craft room!’}.

The center shelf is still empty. I have a project under my sleeve…just haven’t got the time to do it. I will make sure to come back to this post and link-up the project. The calendars, dry erase board, and corkboards I bought at my local Walmart but there is a wide variety of these products on Amazon.

The following morning, after we put the shelves and boards on this wall, I woke up to this note from my husband:

“Good Luck in your new office. You deserve the best. I love you! Me.”

With a supportive husband and an inspiring room I think I can conquer the world!

My mission with this post is to inspire you as a crafter to follow your heart and your dreams. With imagination and will power, you can achieve great results ๐Ÿ™‚

If you have any questions about any other products you see on these pictures, feel free to ask questions in the comments!

Caillou Birthday Party

July 30, 2012 By: Flavia

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. For more information, please read my Affiliate Disclosure page.

On Saturday July 21st our little boy turned 2! That same day we offered his birthday bash at The Little Gym. It was F-U-N!

Now, before I start sharing details with you, I have to say: this was WAY too much preparation for 90 minutes! That’s all you have. But knowing me, and always putting so much thought into every little detail, I had to do all these goodies for two grand reasons…One: My son LOVES Caillou! and the look on his face when he saw everything set up -and Caillou images all over the place- was worth all the effort I put into it.
Two: This is what I do, this is what I LOVE to do and I enjoyed every second of it.

I designed the invitation, inspired on all the Caillou party supplies sold online that I have bought two months before. Once I had all these goodies in my hands…

images via birthdayexpress.com

… I designed the invitation. Mostly inspired by the placemat and the image of Caillou with his hands up in the air from the cup…Cute!
Now, for the party goodies I made:

– 2 Happy Birthday Banners
– Food Tents
– Juice Bottle Labels
– Favor Tags
– Welcome Sign
– Centerpieces
– Cake Decoration (well, maybe 1/3 of it!)

*** UPDATE: please DO NOT contact me to via email or via comments looking to purchase Caillou themed decorations of any kind, as right now I am unable to sell any handmade items or distribute digital files. I made these decorations for my personal use only and the purpose of this post is to give you inspirations and ideas on party styling *****  Thanks!

Resuming…

Beforehand, I want to say that I am not the best photographer out there, neither I have the greatest camera, and on top of that, the light wasn’t good at the venue. The walls are yellow and they soaked up the natural light…. and I picked yellow tablecloths nonetheless! So, my apologies for the not-so-good pics. Here we go:

First, the Welcome Sign. This is the only picture with natural light of course, it was outside hanging on the front door…

This is a simple Happy Birthday banner. Initially I thought I would put it as a background for the main table, but behind that table there was a window – bummer!- so I opted for a wall on the side of the room. Here is where the yellow soaks up my natural light!.

Here is a zoom…

This is the main table (with the outside view background). I put a second banner over the skirt. In case you’re wondering, I use foam mounting tabs to hold everything up on the wall and on the table skirt, it works great!
These are the kids’ tables…

Every time I go to Target, my first stop is the Dollar Spot. I am always stocking up on tin buckets… I am obsessed with them! They are cute, cheap and they are multi-use. So, I used them for the centerpieces… just like in last year’s party and weighed them down with crayons.

Last year I labeled water bottles…This year – thanks to my girlfriend whose little boy’s birthday party I helped to decorate – I took the idea from her and labeled also Apple Juice bottles – duh!- last year I gave the kids juice in pouches that I couldn’t label.
Here is a picture of the whole label in all colors. 
Going back to the main table, these are the favors. I bought mini totes in all matching colors, except I could not find red so I used hot pink instead for the little girls. I was upset I couldn’t find red…that’s how quirky I am! But, girls love pink so at the end it was all good! 
Here is a zoom of the favor tags…
Now, moving onto…the cake! I searched high and low for Caillou birthday cakes ideas and I found beautiful ones on Pinterest, many very professional made with rolled fondant…but I think that kids are not too ‘fond’ of it -no pun intended! – Instead, buttercream icing is a go! So, I went to my local bakery at the grocery store and I ordered a simple yellow cake with all primary colors icing, specifying that I wanted green on top (to simulate grass in a park) and no writings on top. The decorator called me that morning to double check with me about the “no writing, no words, no happy birthday on top” note I left on the order. And then she asked me again when I went to pick it up! I had a better plan: 
I bought these Caillou figurines in a backpack and I placed them on the cake. My personal touch were the balloon candles and the little “Happy 2nd Birthday Logan” banner that Rosie and Leo are holding…It’s my favorite thing of the whole party decor! ๐Ÿ™‚
…and because it’s my favorite part, here are more pictures ๐Ÿ™‚
This sight made my son smile BIG time!
So, everyone knows I can’t bake, but I was in the mood for some mini cupcakes with primary colors icing, so I went and asked my friend Betty Crocker to give me a hand and the night before, I iced 48 of these babies myself with these wonderful Wilton Ready-To-Use Icing. They are… imperfectly perfect! The only reason why I did not use cupcake toppers was because they don’t fit inside this particular cupcake stand that I love because it lends itself for some cute decorations.
Here is zoom of the Caillou image on top…
This is one of the bucket tins holding colorful mini Rainbow Spiral Lollipops. I had two tins, one on each side of the main table…
I found personalized latex balloons and paired them with the foil balloons. Swoon!
My girlfriend made these brazilian sweets called Beijinhos (Little Kisses) and they are made of coconut and condensed milk…I ate them all! ๐Ÿ™‚ Here you can see a sample of the food tents.
Another food tent -with better light – this picture is terrible…yikes! I was in a hurry.
and finally, a bonus pic of me and my little man…
After 60 minutes of ” serious fun ” inside the Gym itself, the kids came inside the party room, ate pizza, draw on the reverse of the activity placemats, we sang happy birthday and ate cake. We had a full house! All the kids that were invited attended and that makes all the hours of hard work worth the effort. Everyone, kids and adults had a great time!
Thanks for stopping by!
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. For more information, please read my Affiliate Disclosure page.
*** UPDATE: please DO NOT contact me to via email or via comments looking to purchase Caillou themed decorations of any kind as right now I am unable to sell any handmade items or distribute digital files. I made these decorations for my personal use only and the purpose of this post is to give you inspiration and ideas on party styling *****  Thanks for your understanding!

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