Egg Carton Redesign

I don't know how many times I went looking for one of the girls hair clips or bows and just could not find what I was looking for or even one at all. They were scattered throughout the house and completely disorganized, which lead me to the idea I plan to share with you below: an egg carton redesign. I really can't take credit for the entire design... I actually stumbled onto this idea when I noticed my older daughter, Ava, using the egg carton to organize her blocks. She's such a clever girl! But, between the two of us, it's solely our creation!! Very crafty, indeed. And the entire project came from left over scraps of card stock and few little crafting flowers and of course an unused egg carton that was just about to make its way to the trash. A very inexpensive creation, in deed! Check out below how the whole design came together.

Here are the steps we came up with to complete the craft: 
1. Paint the entire egg carton the color of your choice and allow to dry
2. Trace the top of the carton onto card stock and cut out
3. Apply Mod Podge to the back of the paper, place the paper on the carton top, and apply Mod Podge over the entire surface of the freshly placed paper; allow to dry
4. In the meantime, create accessories (i.e. flowers, bows, etc).
5. Glue accessories onto the top of the carton
6. Place contents inside the carton, and Viola! Your super cute organized redesigned egg carton is complete!

While some of the projects I do may be too advanced for my girls to participate, I still love to include them in the crafting fun! They have a blast using their imaginations too, yeah know! ;)

Keep in mind this redesign can be functional for other little items that you may need organized, like beads, buttons, or even small tools (i.e. nuts, bolts, nails). {Note: If you're planning to put heavier objects than hair clips and bows in your newly redesigned egg carton, a way to keep the lid from popping open is to apply velcro to the opening.}

I hope you've enjoyed this redesign! Happy Crafting!

Linked: One Crafty Contest, Sharing Saturday, Ta-Da Tuesday, Tuesday To Do Party, Take A Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations

April Showers bring... May {Hand Print} Flowers

This morning the girls and I decided to get a little bit artsy in celebration of Spring! We gathered up our crafting tools (i.e. scissors, card stock, crayons, glue, and popsicle sticks) and came up with an idea to make Hand Print springtime flowers. Yep, we can take credit for this entire design!

What we did to make an oh so crafty bouquet:
1. Trace your hand print several times (at least 8)
2. Color and cut out
3. Cut out a circle for the center of the flower
4. Glue everything together (as shown above) onto the popsicle stick (note: the petals were created using my handy dandy personal Cricut cutter, but you can also make them free hand)

And that's it! Simple and so very cute!! Happy Spring to you all!

{Check out my girls during the process. So much focus!!}

Linked: Shine On Fridays, Happily Mother After, Sharing Saturday, Tip Toe Thru Tuesday

Starbucks Gift Card Giveaway {$30 Value!!!}

Hello there, all my lovely blogger friends and fellow readers!! I am in a very giving mood today, perhaps it is because today is my FOUR year anniversary {to my husband!} or perhaps it's because the weather is reaching temps near the 80s (very high for this time of year where I live in the mountains of WV) or maybe it's just because I want to continually express from time to time how thankful I am to have each of you as my avid faithful followers!!

That is why I {in addition to a few of my fellow blogger / etsy shop buddies (more on them in a moment)} am offering you a chance to win a $30 Starbucks Gift Card! When deciding what I would put up for grabs at this giveaway, I had several ideas in mind but always came back to the very item you see below. I mean, and I'm sure you'll all agree, who doesn't enjoy a good cup o' joe from your local Starbucks every now and again. And for those of you who just aren't into coffee that much, well, they have plenty of other delectable items that I'm sure your palate will certainly enjoy, from muffins to cakes... even a nice warm cup of hot tea, if that suits you. Yes, I'd say this is quite a treat! And I'm happy to have one of you win it!

Before you start clicking away at your chance to win, let me take a moment to share a little bit about my lovely fellow contributors:

1. Sewplicity is a fun mommy/crafty/photography blog where you will find life-inspired tutorials, pattern and tutorial reviews, sewing tips along with ramblings about her life and family. It's a very fun place to hang out!
2. Mama Meg's Yarn Shoppe is just the cutest little crafty crochet shop on the planet! I've even used her work for my photography shoots. You'll want to check her out!
3. Frazzled Five is a super fun blog written by an amazing mommy of five! Stop by her blog to be biblically inspired and to read all about her fun loves for life!

Good luck to you all! And did I mention just how awesome you all are, because guess what, you really really are!

(Oh, and I'm not actually entered in the giveaway if you happen to notice my name on the entry list... Confession, this is my first time using Rafflecopter, so I had to check it out and make sure my settings were correct. hehe!)

NOTE: This giveaway ends Thursday, May 10, at midnight (EST), so don't forget to check back then to see if you are a winner. The winner has 48 hours to contact me {thephotomommy@gmail.com} with their information (i.e. name and address to where they would like the gift card to be mailed). If I don't hear from the winner by the end of the 48 hours, the gift card will go to the runner-up. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway