Ordinarily Extraordinary

Wedding Guest Book

So my sister. She is anything but traditional. So I'm not sure why it surprises me that I have somehow ended up making the guest book for her wedding. She didn't want the traditional guest book.

I used flat 12x12 canvases for the front and back cover. Painted them then used Making Memories foam alphabet stamps to stamp the names and date. I designed the inside pages in photoshop. There are also pages inside for her showers and parties with a place for the guest to sign and for the gift they give. I worry that it's a bit on the big side for this, but the 8x10 size was just too small.

 

Craftiness with Dollar Items

If you're stopping by from the CSI blog thank you! My things today are very simple, but that's what I like. Quick and simple to make is the rule for me when I'm carting my Squirt to and from activities.

So this first thing I altered I used a little basket from the dollar spot at Target. I love these little baskets. This one I embellished with some ribbon and a vinyl initial I cut with my Making Memories Slice. It's a basket full of items to keep in my van. This would be such a great idea for a 16th birthday gift also and add a gas card as well. I know a couple of teens about to be 16 and I'm definitely going to be giving them one of these. You could also embellish one of these baskets with note cards and stamps and pens as a stationary basket for a bride to be or a mom to be.

This next item I can't take credit for the idea. My friend Virginia posted one of these on her blog back before Christmas I think. These trays are $1 at The Dollar Tree. I used painter's tape and chalkboard paint and voila. I used my Making Memories Slice again to cut vinyl letters.

This last project is made from those flexible cutting mats. They are 2 for $1 at The Dollar Tree. I taped it off with painters tape and used the chalkboard paint again. Another vinyl letter and a couple of paint pens and a nice little chalkboard for a child. I wish I'd thought about these when I was teaching at a mother's morning out program. Would have made great Christmas gifts for my kiddos.

Giveaway #7

Life and work got in the way of my giveaway post for today. But the day's not over yet so here is my final giveaway, at least for a while anyway.

Today's giveaway is for one of my perpetual birthday calendars. Inside each month has it's own page with a line for each day for you to add all those important birthday or anniversary dates. You can see the inside on this post. I usually sell these in my Etsy shop, but have not had time to replenish my stock since before Christmas. More coming soon.

For a chance to win leave a comment below. For extra entries leave a comment for each of the following.

1. Follow me on twitter.

2. Tweet about this giveaway with the following & be sure and leave your twitter name in the comments:  @amykiane is celebrating her 1000th post at Ordinarily Extraordinary with a week of #giveaways. http://bit.ly/zYBR5

3. Subscribe to my blog via google reader or other blog reader.

4. Become a fan of my photography page on Facebook.

I love my knit slouch berets.

I love my knit berets. Last year before going to New York with my sister I ordered a chunky knit slouch beret off of Etsy. I loved it and wore it the entire time I was there. It kept my head and ears so warm walking around the city. So after Christmas I decided to order a couple more in colors to match my coats. I went back to Etsy to find my order history and thankfully the same seller was still making them. You can visit Pandora Spocks' Etsy shop here. I've seriously considered ordering one in the lemongrass green too.

With the unusually frigid temperatures we've been experiencing here in the deep south I have really enjoyed having them to wear. I usually don't look very good in hats so I'm so happy I've found one that looks kind of cute on me. This first photo is the blue one I bought last year to take to New York. I took it along on our cruise this past October to New England where we took this photo.

And the brown one I ordered to go with my brown jacket.

And the cream one I ordered to go with my off white coat.

Getting back in the groove.

I'm here. Just trying to get back into the groove after a couple of days away and just trying to survive motherhood (some days are harder than others, no?). Lots to share. More photo sessions, my visit to Pepper Place Market, my photos of the day and lots more.

And just because I think a post needs a photo here is a  photo of the necklace I made today taken with my camera phone. A better photo of it to come soon. The recipient really liked it. :)

I love bright sunny Saturdays.

There's just something about Saturdays and weekends. Being able to catch up at an easy pace especially with the temp in the upper 60s and the sun shining bright. Expecting rain again tomorrow though.

I've been working on a few crafting projects this afternoon and tried a new recipe for dinner. Chicken Enchiladas. It was pretty good, but I didn't love the sauce so I'm on the hunt for another recipe to try for enchiladas. Tomorrow I'll be making hummus and pita chips.  Look for more crafty projects too. I have a few things in the works.

I couldn't decide on just one photo for today's POTD so two for today. My embroidery machine. My mother would be so proud. :)

 

DS helping his daddy scoop sand out of the truck to spread in some bare patches in the yard.

It's a Giveaway!!

Well, I meant to have this posted earlier this week, but life kind of got in the way a bit. I wanted to give something away on here to go along with the UBP. I'm giving away a prize over at the Ultimate Blog Party, but wanted to here as well.  I love making things. Almost all my gifts this past Christmas were made by me. So I thought I'd share that love with you all - my blog readers.

So here it is. The first thing is this little blank journal. I gave one to one of my best friends for Christmas as a grateful journal and she loved it. The second thing is an embroidered fabric bookmark.  For the journal the winner can choose which initial to put instead of the A I put on it. (Just wanted to give you an idea there.) For the bookmark I need to put a little disclaimer. The fabrics may be different fabrics than what you see here, but you can choose the name or initials. The fabric choice will just have to be a surprise.

 

Front of bookmark.

 

Back of bookmark.

So here's how to win:

First, post a comment on this post saying hi and please leave an e-mail addy in your comment if your logging in doesn't leave one.

Second, click the RSS feed over on the right and add me to your blog reader and then leave another comment letting me know. 

Third, post about my giveaway on your blog, leaving another comment here that you did with a link.

And fourth, follow me on twitter by clicking on the 'follow me on twitter' link in the left sidebar and of couse leave me a comment letting me know. 

You have until noon on Tuesday, March 31. I'll draw a winner that afternoon. I will e-mail the winner and if I do not hear from the winner in 48 hours I'll draw another winner.

Edited to add: I'm going to wait another day before drawing due to having been sick for the past 24 hours. So you have until the evening of April 1 to post a comment and other ways to be entered in the drawing.

Need ideas.

So our schools will be doing the standardized testing for most of next week and the next. These days are intense so I'm trying to come up with something to send for the kids on the first day and also a little something to send DS's teacher each day they are testing.  I'm sending cupcakes either the last day or the day after they finish all the testing. One day I'm going to send his teacher an apple, another day a muffin and I need ideas for the other days. So I'm looking for suggestions for easy and inexpensive things to make or put together. Any ideas? Please leave any ideas you have in the comments. I would be so appreciative.

Want to see a sneak peek....

of the prize I'm giving away for the Ultimate Blog Party over at 5 Minutes for Mom? Come back on Friday to see the entire prize!

Handmade Christmas

So this year I decided to make a lot of the Christmas gifts we give to friends and family. I procrastinated a bit although my photography kept me quite busy up until the last minute also. But I had to share everything I made here. All of these gifts have been given now so I won't be ruining any surprises.

This first is actually an apron for our niece whose birthday is on the 23rd. She loves to cook so I made her this apron and put it with a cookbook, recipe box, cookie cutters and decorative muffin/cupcake papers in a cake box for her birthday present. I think she liked it. :)

 

This next one is the birthday calendar and matching lunch tin full of cards that I made for our dirty santa game we play at our Sunday School class Christmas party. It was a hit.

 

And I ended up making more of the birthday calendar. I made a total of 9 altogether. Lots of friends and family got this perpetual calendar for gifts from me this year. I've decided to start selling these after the first of the year probably opening an Etsy shop and adding lots of other handmade goodies.

 

And these are the little hanging clipboards I made. The largest one is an 8x8 that I made for DS's teacher and the two smaller ones are 6x6 ones I made for our nieces.

 

 

 

These next ones are purses I made for our nieces. I also made one for the senior teen who is DS's piano teacher, but forgot to take a photo of it.  I used the Amy Butler Smart Handbag pattern for these. The first one is fabric from Heather Bailey and the other fabric I found at Hobby Lobby.

 

 

And this last little gift is a little journal I made for one of my best friends.

 

I did stress myself out a bit making all these gifts, but in the end I had so much fun doing them and it really was such a nice feeling to see how much each one appreciated their handmade gifts.