I moustache you… Will you be my Valentine?

Firstmost… My Lucy said today, “I can’t wait to sell my VALENTIME’SES!”

I corrected, “You mean GIVE AWAY your VALENTIME’SES.”

I never want her to stop saying VALENTIME’SES.

Ever.

These are the Valentines my girls will be giving at school on Valentine’s Day. No, this idea was not born from mine own brain cells. But I am pretty much a rockstar copy cat… I saw the idea for this fairly simple valentine craft on Pinterest… from this site here. But who really knows the birthmother of this fun little activity.

An aside: my mustaches and lips are REALLY big. You know what I always say… GO BIG OR GO BIGGER.

Not that you can’t figure this project out on your own, but in case you like a checklist, I will give you one. Because I love you. Never say I never showed you love.

Well, you can totally say that. You can say what you want. BUT YOU’D BE WRONG.

{{{I am tossing pink puffy hearts in the air right now}}}

I digress…

You need:

• Scissors
• Pencil (for tracing)
• Lip and moustache template
• LOLLIPOPS
• A white gel or paint pen for writing on the card (or silver pen or whatever floats your creative boat…)
• Sturdy black and red paper (my red is SPARKLY!) or that foam paper stuff (I am so technical in my crafting terms)

Oh, and…

A handy-dandy hole punch. THIS is THE MOTHER OF ALL HOLE PUNCHES. I think there are 3 million holes puncher sizes on this baby. And it may or may not be used by master interrogators. Like I said, GO BIG OR GO BIGGER. Or…. have a friend who knows how to craft, so when she gives you crafty things for your birthday – she gives you THE MOTHER OF ALL CRAFTY THINGS… {{{waving to Sara}}}.

Oh, and here are the shapes of the lips and moustache I drew. I know all the fancy DIYers have ways to do this “free download” thing… I drew these on 4×6 note cards. If you print these babies out full size you’ll have lips the size of a child’s head and a moustache the length of a undernourished anaconda. So, adjust accordingly and I’ll see you on the other side…

Now that you have what you need… GET TRACING.

Then cut mustaches and lips until your hands seize up. Or your kids’ hands seize. I am a bit of a freak about quality control so I did the cutting. You know, since 1st graders care so very much about the subtle curves on a ‘stache and such.

Punch a small low hole into the center of the moustache and a small center hole into le lips.

Hand the goods over so the spawn can practice their handwriting…

Pop a lolli in the hole…

It took us about 2 hours from start to finish to complete about 50 handmade Valentines for 2 classes. Oh, AND about 75 of these Hershey’s Kiss Bling Rings… Really, when you think about the time a project COULD have taken, this was nominal. As of this writing, there are still 3 days left before the big day… hitherhencetofore YOU still have time to whip out a few of these bad boys before the big day.

And in case I haven’t told you lately… I love you.

xoxo,

JOtS

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Le Valentines DIY: Lip and Moustache Lollipop Valentines is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

When I searched the interwebz for “canvas photos” I’d get just that…

1. Photo canvases (canvasii ???)
2. Photos transfered to canvas.

BUT THAT WASN’T WHAT I WANTED. For two reasons:

1. Uh, expensive
2. Effort. That’s not my middle name.

There are easier ways, people. Easier ways to show off cute pictures of your cuties.

But first, I digress:

That’s just stupid cool.

Aaaanywho….

You know what else is stupid cool?

My friend Sara does this and she is crafty magic incarnate. So I went to her Facebook wall and was all, “HOW DO YOU DO THAT AGAIN?”

She was all, “Mod Podge” And I was all, “I knew that…”

You need:

• A photo the same size as your canvas (I used a 12×12 here)
• A canvas the same size as your photo (duh)
• Mod Podge
• A spongy brush-thing
• An ink pad for distressing
• Fine sand paper (not pictured because I forgots)

In 3…2…1… Go!

1) Get your stuff.

2) Schemere Mod Podge evenly on canvas with sponge brush then lay photo on prepared canvas. I used a soft cloth to make sure it was set on all solid-like and such.

3) Once it’s dry/set, get out that ink.

4) Pop off the lid on the ink pad and just rub the edges. It’s not neat… get a little crazy if you want.

Rub the ink pad this way and that. Up. Down. Sideways-wise. No rules. Just let the mood guide you.

Once the ink is dry, break out that sand paper. Don’t be heavy-handed. Just brush, swish and let the sand paper soften the sides and edges of the photo and inked edge:

And VOILA!

Now. Could someone please come over and hang these babies?

P.S. These make great gifts!

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DIY: Photos on Canvas (but not Canvas Photos, to be clear…) is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

My daughter has this thing called Market Day at school.

It happens, oh… 4 times a year. The kids in grades 3, 4, and 5 earn Market Day money throughout the year. For Market Day the kids bring in hand-crafted items of unimaginable kind.

I missed the one right before Christmas break because…

Uh…

WellbecauseIamabadmom.OK?!

*head|desk*

Here are some items I spied at the Fall Market Day:

• Scented leaves with magnets
• handmade satchel (this little girl sewed them herself!)
• decorative hangers
• (not pictured) balloon animals
• (not pictured) pencil holder made out of a toilet paper tube and construction paper… decorated with rice and glitter. Yep.

At Market Day the children get to sell their goods. Which means they get to make more Market Day money AND spend their hard-earned “cash”.

I have a love/hate relationship with Market Day because… it’s work. For the kid… for the family. I didn’t hate Market Day when my son was doing it because I didn’t understand it and I was the worst mom ever and he was the poor little boy no one would buy from because his mother didn’t “get it”…. hithertohencetofore help him “get it”.

I have 3 big regrets with my son. This is one. The other two will come out in his therapy in 10 or so years…

Aaaanywho. Now I DO get it. It is an opportunity for the kids to learn about commerce. Being a business person. The value of quality workmanship.

And my daughter is quite the workman, but we are doing a lot of teaching about QUALITY. She likes to DO, but doing well is not so much her passion. Market Day is a great way to teach kids about the value of currency, pricing, and the value of craftsmanship. And some dickering. Oh, and gambling-ish.

This time, Olivia made this wreath:

One item. They are allowed bring 15 items to sell. When a child brings only one item… they do what politically correct gamblers call “A RAFFLE”.

Olivia made a sheet where schoolmates could write their names and room numbers and fork over 10 Market Day dollars to do so. The kids had to guess how many felt circles the wreath was made from. The person with the closest guess – wins! I asked Olivia how much she made… “I don’t know. I just know people had to write on the back of the paper!”

BOOM BOOM my little craftster-raffle girl!

(I live in the PNW. The wreath was finished at night and had to leave when it was still pretty much dark for school the next day… hitherhencetofore the dark picture)

This wreath took 225 felt circles. It could have used more, but we ran out of felt and so… there. It could have used a handful more, but the 4th grade girl who won will never complain.

I learned to make this wreath at a little craft night event thrown by Marie of Make and Takes and Lyndsey of The Stationery Place. They got the “recipe for it here: All Things Simple.

My daughter is 9 and it was a GREAT craft for her. I cut out a 3″ circle in cardboard for her template and those 9 year-old hands cut every felt circle. Not perfectly, but thoughtfully… and it worked out impressively. She pinned every one, and mom stepped in to help fluff and finish as only a mom can do.

It takes a little time, but as far as crafts go, it is easy time. The cutting. The pinning. If you have kids who like to craft and and busy hands is your child’s love language… I suggest this. No glue. No sugar. Nothing gets done that can’t be undone.

I’m wondering… what things do you do to spend time with YOUR kids? If you dont have kids… what’s your favorite martini? Whetehr or not you have kids – what’s your favorite martini???

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Christmas: The Cutest Felt Wreath of All is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

I think I am most “on the spot” when it comes to my blogging.

I think I am a planner at heart, but temper that with REALITY and you get posts about teachers gifts and Christmas projects not in time for it to be of any help to YOU (assuming you love my ideas and want to do everything I do) (let’s just assume you do) (AH! Shhh! Don’t tell me otherwise.)

I digress.

Teacher gifts.

Poor teachers.

Victims of re-gifts, poor taste, 1980 craft-style trinkets, mugs, mugs, mugs, the occasional fruit basket, and commercially made milked-down milk chocolate.

OR… the homemade treat from the kid who picks his nose all the time.

Poor, poor teachers…

I got this year’s little idea from Pinterest. Now I am not saying this is the be-all end-all of all teacher gifts. I’m sure that would involve a one-way ticket to the Bahamas.

Inexpensive gloves ($1) and a coffee card.

The sentiment: Warm Wishes

I just feel the simplicity is appealing.

The inspiration gift had a cute label, etc. I had to go with what I could do. I used a tag found at Pier 1. I punched a hole in the plastic gift bag (I already had on hand) and thread the tag string through and tied a little raffia *just so*.

The latent crafter in me wants to spend hours creating something to wow and impress… but the latent homemaker in me needs to do laundry and dishes… the mom in me wants to bake cookies with the kids – or heck even a real dinner… the wife in me wants to go on a date with her husband… and the business owner needs to get some work delivered.

So I settle. For simple. Cute. And always coffee.

Of course if one hates red or coffee or warm fingers, then… clearly… this gift sucks.

And per RachelDanger‘s advice…

Hitherhencetofore, the girls also included a card for their teachers. Something to hopefully warm the hands, belly AND heart.

Speaking of giving, did you get a chance to read my post about environmentally and socially mindful ways to give – you’ll find it here!

The Teacher Gift is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

I am not going to say this project isn’t messy. And I am not going to say I didn’t have to break out the q-tips and do some micro-managing on bleeding paint…

HOWEVER. I will say it is easier that using knives or sewing… and there is no math involved.

You read that right… NO MATH!

And it is something the kids can TOTALLY be involved in. It’s a bit messy (hello, PAINT) be you kid, be you mom. But the results are off -the-chart cute, so…

This is how I made that there pumpkin you see above:

1. Get a pumpkin. Any size. Wash ‘er up and make sure she’s dry.
2. Apply circle stickers. Really give them a good rub. I used 1″ circles because it was the only size I could find in the office section over there at the Walmart. Really, whatever suits your fancy. My fancy was I didn’t want to drive to another store to find 1.5″ stickers.
3. Paint with black. I used  Plaid acrylic paint.
4. Let the first coat dry, then apply another.
5. I didn’t let the paint fully dry before removing the stickers. Mostly because I am not one who is given to much patience.

Another, super-duper-easy-peasy option is that there pumpkin with white dots. I used a circle sponge and white acrylic paint. It took, like 2 minutes.

2 MINUTES.

BOOM.

Think of the possibilities! Blue dots, green dots, yellow dots, purple dots… BLACK dots.

Endless polka-dotty-2-minute goodness all up in there…

P.S. I would not leave these cuties sitting outside unprotected. I have not tested this theory, but I think rain and dew would make the paint cry. Just sayin’.

P.P.S For more cute pumkin-y ideas… check out my Halloween board on Pinterest. Oh that Pinterest, I love her so… Are you on Pinterest? We should hook-up. I’m serious.

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Polka dot pumpkins are the new black: Polka Dot Pumpkin Tutorial is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

My group won! WE WON!!!

You have no idea what I’m talking about.

Lemme ‘splain… When I went to the BlogHer Conference I accepted a proposal. A very decent proposal… to be part of a creative challenge sponsored by Lowe’s. You know… every woman’s favorite home improvement store, and whathaveyou.

The reason I chose to join the challenge was because… well frankly… I am creatively deprived. I used to consider myself to be quite craft-capable, but as life has become more busy it has been hard to make time to be creative. AND I AM STARVING!!!

At the Lowe’s Creative Challenge at BlogHer there were 4 teams. We each had 60 minutes and 30 items. The challenge was to make something out of these 30 items. My team: Jill of Babyrabies.com, Tina of hometips4women. com, Kim of reluctantrenovator.com, Jennifer of themarthaproject.com, and Lindsay of linzlovesyou.com… We made a back to school board!

And we won! Truth be told, I was the least crafty of the bunch. But I am a really good worker-bee, and good at making sure corners are painted. Jennifer was the one who used the power tool. Rawr.

I did make sure little dots were added to the tails of letters. And MAN am I ready to integrate more creativity into my home. Thinking it’s time to repaint me kitchen.

The my office.

Then… THE WORLD.

I am always setting realistic goals.

Check out the Lowe’s Creative Ideas Facebook page for … well… creative ideas! Spark your creativity!

Thank you to Lowe’s for such a fun afternoon (and lunch!) and thanks to my Back to School Board team for being so team-y and shiny and creative and nice!

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Lowe’s Creative Challenge – My team won the Bloggers Choice Award! is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

?

Titles are so hard for me.

I digress.

My adorable friend Meg… made an adorable, cute, lovely, covetous Summer List. This one right here.

I. Know. COVET.

And I made this one:

It is in process, schee *read it like I am a Mob Boss*…

I got a 30×40 canvas and painted it, ya’lls.

Now it’s on a wall in the house.

Yadda, yadda, la, la, la…

The kids got out of school the late-ish part of June. Then I hit ‘em with a week of VBS, we hosted my huz’s company picnic, then the boy went to adventure camp while the girls did Ruby Camp (my friend Lisa, her 11 year old daughter… created a camp for her and my 2 girls and it was awesome! Cake pops and puppets… Lisa’s awesome, her daughter is awesome…)… I got my gum graft that week. And had another little BBQ at our place, then another…

P.S. Owie. 8 days since THE Horrible Gum Graft of 2011, and still – OWIE.

Now we are smack-dab in the middle of THIS week and today fly to Salt Lake City for the Evo Conference…  that is in Park City. At the Canyons Resort. Wwww-to-the-OW, baby!

I leave TODAY. *little bit-o-panic* Like, the flight flies in 45 min,,,

While there I will be having all kinds of great fun, and will be talking about Igniting One’s Inner Sparkle… and then talking vlogging with Kia of bodhibear.net and Lamar of Black and Married with Kids (such good people, no?!) in a 3 hour workshop on Friday. And another on Saturday… and then my parents will pick me up bright and shiny on Sunday morning and me and my mom and my dad and my 19 year old kid bro…

Chillin' with mah kid bro back in '09

(that’s my son photo-bombin’ the bro-sis bonding)

…and will drive 15 hours back to my house where we will all spend a week (how long are you guys staying, dad???) having fun and such in the PNW… down with some ladies for a 40th in S-Town… And then… then the kids have drama camp that next week. And me. My camp name is J-Bling. So.

Where was I?

Oh. The summer list. And the fact that it is currently list-less. And today is actually the first week-day since school let out that the kids have been able to sleep in.

AND FRIENDS I HAVE RUN MAH CHILDRENS INTO THE GROUND.

Even without a list.

Go stinkin’ figure.

I’m still gonna finish that puppy. Le Summer List is on my list, by golly…

*winds up a good-solid fist*

In the mean-time… My wonderful mother-in-law is coming to help the huz in my absence. And all is right with the world.

And I am so excited to see my parents in a  few days – even with the impending 15 hour car drive. It’ll be like old times, but not. Because my brother is 19 years younger and we’ve never been on a road trip together. I’m gonna drive him CRAZY.

WE are going to drive my parents CRAZY.

Maybe we’ll text each other the whole time. Or we’ll make my  folks listen to Souja Boy the whole time. Or we’ll hit each other and whine, “MOOOOOOOOM!!!! HE’S LOOKING AT MEEEEE!”

THAT’D BE FUNNY.

OOOPS. I FORGOT TO TURN OFF THE CAPS LOCK.

P.S. I owe Lu, Stacey and Tiffany a song. Remember this post. The one I wrote when I was on drugs? I said I would write songs for the right guessers… and now I need to deliver. I am working on it. I have actually recorded a few pieces. And  no. Just no. I love us all too much.

Like this one. Oh golly. I could never do that to you.

Actually… I could.

P.S. Congrats to Katrina of Salt City Spice for her win of the glass coffee creamer pourer-thing!

P.P.S. I love you.

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• Dudes. A hunnad dollah ($100) Visa gift card is right here… And I smell really good after working out!

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We are well into July and still, our Summer List is still list-less. is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

Real quick:

• $100 Visa gift card & healthy kids and teeth via my giveaway site here.
• $100 snapfish.com & kids & play via my giveaway site here.
• 4 park passes to 2 parks for 2 families to Universal Orlando Resort via my site here!

NOW.

For all I know about wearing glitter… I did haz never thought about DIY body glittah, ya’lls!

Ooooooweeee, what up with that?

GAME CHANGER.

Now, I will share with you… My own very BODY GLITTER DIY… because I love you.

You will need a body glitter receptacle, aloe vera gel (unmedicated), something to stir with and GLITTER. Notes re: glitter – Use fine or not… I prefer silver or gold as opposed to color. I only had the bigger kind of silver, but tried with the fine pink/purple glitter. I suppose choosing color is a lot like salt and pepper when cooking — to taste.

Then, go to it… pour in the aloe vera gel, then glitter, then stir. Various sites tell you how many teaspoons/cups… I say, trust your eye.

Badda boom, badda bing…

Observe…

I used the silver glitter on my chest, and put some of the pink/purple concoction on my arm. I think the silver catches light more dramatically, but it was larger glitter. The brand you see pictured in pic #1 is “skinnier”. I have tried a number of kinds, of the same size (roundness), and this particular brand is less thick than others I’ve tried. I don’t know if that makes sense, but…

I’m not kidding, friends… I know my glitter.

I had to go pick up my girls from a playdate after my little experiment. The glitter was a hit, even with the book salesmen who had cornered my friends. My friend said, “You’re wearing glitter!” I told her I made my own body glitter. I beamed.

One of the salesmen said, “I noticed the glitter too!”

Now go, my friends. Glitterfy! Make, glit, and whathaveyou.

P.S. Some sites said one can add essential oils and/or food coloring, but me… not so much…

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SHUT THE FRONT DOOR: How to make your own body glitter! is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

to tout, to share to blather on and on and on about…

I thought I’d do a round-up of sorts… from my brushes with fame (not brushes OF fame, that would be weird), to $100 Visa gift cards, to possibly winning a scrapbook… There are things.

A good number of things to share. Did you know that by the end of the year, by the power of Greyskull, generous brands and the power of BlogHer… my review site will have passed out over $3000 in cash and prizes?!

#truestory

On tap currently:

• Staying Fit and Fighting Holiday Temptations for $150
• V8 V-Fusion for $100
• My story about riding a sleigh with Samantha Bee, courtesy of eBay…
• I narrowly escaped a wasp attack while on the phone with the one and only Joel McHale of “Community”…
• The story of a successful diaper drive…
• And an opportunity to win a photo book from ScrapBlog! Yes. I got crafty, but did it ALL online!

I think that’s it. Well, except for the time I had to sit in for Wolf Blitzer.

Dear Mercy. How is it that Kathy Lee Gifford still has a job? Clearly… the news studio is my color.

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So Much, So Much is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...

Crafty?

Creative?

The word “crafty” gives a different feel than the word “creative”. Similar, but not the same.

Stamping.

Letterpress.

Another two words that could be easily exchanged… But are different. Similar, but not the same.

I have stamps. I have VERY cute letter stamps. In my craft cabinet.

Today I worked with paint and wood *stamps* and really strong magnets and this tray-thing for the letters… and a big roller…

And I felt CREATIVE.

Not crafty.

I felt CREATIVE.

*insert poetry reading snaps here*

Not that “crafty” isn’t a desirable descriptive…

But there’s something about being A Creative… as opposed to being crafty…

I played with those images… filters and cropping and light. Shadows and depth… Something I think a Creative might do.

I am Into the Woods this weekend. Enjoying a different sort of creativity… instead of using my words to get my creative on… I got to use letters to create words… on paper. A story of color and texture and spacing…

It all felt so yummy, I almost could have licked that letterpress. But I didn’t.

I really didn’t.

I didn’t hug her either. I totally wanted to though…

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Just Call Me A "Creative"… is a post from: Jenny On the Spot * This is what I do...