December Daily Product Preview: Video Post!!

I tried to upload video to my blog today with no luck...I don't know if the video was too long or if somewhere there is a little download elf who laughed so hard at my first pitiful attempt to film a video that he wouldn't allow it to post.  Whatever the case may be, I managed to upload it to YouTube.  During the month of December I am embarking on a journey of telling the story of our family through the December Daily, a project I have been stalking for the past few years on Ali Edwards blog  (yes, I said stalking...I'm not too proud to admit it!)  and thought I'd post some of the product I'm using.  And primarily it's a way to keep me accountable to the project...the big, wide world now knows I'm doing this project and expects updates on my progress! :)  I encourage you to check out Ali's site if you're interested in this project.  So feel free to sit back, laugh, yawn in boredom, and/or enjoy my first video

post.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apEOQJ83I9o

Letter Wreath Tutorial

Today has been a good day to post pics of various projects I've been working on so up next is a Letter Wreath Tutorial.  I was originally inspired by a project and tutorial I saw on Pinterest (of course!) by Living with Lindsay.  The original link with pictures is far superior than what I put together but at least it'll be a journey of the wreath I ACTUALLY made and not the fantasy of what I'd like to make.  That's the danger with Pinterest...constantly lurking and stalking the creations of others and never experiencing that creative rush for yourself.  Here goes!

Since I now live in a house with a real front door instead of my previous flaming yellow and white glass/metal/plastic door, I've become obsessed with making pretty things to go on it.  I'm already plotting a wreath for Valentine's Day!  After leaving my Umbrella Wreath up through Easter, I wanted something that could last for several months but be neutral holiday/season wise.  I also wanted to try and utilize some of the greenery and resources I already had to make it more economical.  This wreath fit both of those stipulations!

You'll need a 24 inch grapevine wreath, glue gun, and greenery of your liking.  I purchased the wreath and some additional greenery at Michael's (Can't let my employee discount go to waste, right?!) and used a 40% off regular price coupon on the wreath.  Dollar Tree also has a 24 inch wreath for a dollar but it's the thin

twisted reed type wreath so you may need more greenery to cover the wreath.

I started with the ferns, using both Boston and asparagus fern (I feel so smart that I actually know
what kind of fern it is!), then added ivy and green proteas. 

Once the greenery was in place, I went ahead and hung the wreath on my door so I could place everything

the way it would be seen from a distance...and mostly because I'm short and couldn't get a proper view

of where I was putting stuff on the wreath when it was laying on the table...but we'll pretend it's a critical

step for properly putting your wreath together.  The letter is pretty heavy but I was able to hot

glue it in place with no problem.  I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy standing in front of my door, holding the letter in place for several minutes but at least I gave them something fun to talk about

over dinner, right?

A little close up...

And we're done!  Once I stuffed in all the greenery and hot glued my ginormous letter N to the

center, I added the flowers and a bit more greenery to fill out any naked areas.  I've gotten

lots of compliments on the wreath and I think the only thing I would change would be the

letter...I'm thinking of pulling it off and wrapping it with twine or burlap so the letter

isn't quite so WHITE.  

So there you have it, my Letter Wreath Tutorial.  Enjoy!

Candy Lei Tutorial

Still working on the Money Lei tutorial so I thought I'd at least post my Candy Lei tutorial first.  There are SOOOOO many possibilities for making this much cuter than what I have posted here...do a search on Pinterest and you'll see what I mean.  However, this lei was made for my 12 year old son who will rip into it about 10 minutes after I give it to him so I held back on adding any frou-frou embellishments.

 Step 1:  Cut your roll of cellophane the length you want your lei to be:  I cut this one at about 55 inches long. 

A few tips:  If you're using bulky pieces like I did here, I recommend you lay your candy out before cutting your cellophane to gauge how long you need your cellophane to be.  Also take into consideration who you're making the lei for:  obviously this length would be too much for little people but you may want something longer for an adult. 

Most cellophane is fairly wide so I fold it over lengthwise and split it in half so I can get two leis out of one piece. 

Step 2:  (shown above)  Lay out your candy down the length of the cellophane, leaving a small space in between each piece so you'll have room to tie your ribbon.  I've seen leis made with individual pieces of candy as well as bulky packs like what is depicted above but the concept is still the same.

 Step 3:  Fold over each side of the cellophane until you've got one long tube around the candy.  It doesn't have to be really tight to the candy so don't worry if the cellophane looks loose (see below).

 Here's what it looks like when both sides are folded over.

Step 4:  Begin tying in between the candy, starting at the center of the lei and working toward one side, then starting back at the center and work toward the end of the opposite unfinished side.  That way if your candy shifts and you need to remove a candy at the end to make room to tape the lei shut, you can do that more easily than if you randomly start tying.  I like to make my ribbon about 18 inches long or longer so that I can have curled ends.  I used curling ribbon here in my son's school colors but you can use baker's twine, gardening twine, ribbon, raffia...the cuteness level and cost of resources is completely up to you.

 Here's what it looks like before I tape the ends together. 

 Step 5:  Overlap your ends and wrap a piece of heavy duty clear tape around it to hold the lei in place.  The candy lei can end up heavy and I've never had to worry about them falling apart whenever I've used this tape. 

 Step 6:  Tie a bow around the taped end.  I usually like to add lots of curling ribbon here to mask the taped end.  I also like to add a cute tag here to dangle with the ribbon. 

And here are my kiddos at the end of my son's band concert, with my son proudly displaying his lei.  (I know I'm prejudiced but aren't my kids adorable?!) I always give my daughter flowers at the end of each of her concerts so the candy lei is our tradition with Jordan.  I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Stuff I Made: Flower and Candy Leis

2011 was a busy year for the Nigg Family, between Senior Year and subsequent graduation of said senior, Jordan being the lead in his school play, lots of travel to see Europe before moving back to the States, moving from Germany to Savannah, Georgia...the list goes on!  During all those fun moments, I kept forgetting to post pics of the leis I made for the kids.  Unfortunately I didn't take step by step photos of how to make them but I thought I'd at least post the pics so you could see them and post some sort of tutorial later.  You may be asking yourself, why leis?  My dad grew up in Hawaii and the lei is a huge part of any celebration.  If you see graduation photos in Hawaii, the graduates are usually so covered with leis, you can barely see the graduate!  When my dad graduated from USF, our family came from Hawaii with a huge box of leis to put on my dad when the graduation was over and my mom handmade carnation leis for my high school graduation many moons ago, so of course I had to carry on the tradition. 

Here's George Washington aka Jordan, post school play and sans wig, showing off his candy lei.  This is super easy to make:  measure out the cellophane to the length you want the lei, lay out your candy along the length of the cellophane, roll the cellophane around the candy and tie off in between.  I use clear packaging tape to secure the end and a bunch of curling ribbon to hide the tape at the back.  My mother-in-law helped me make a boat-load of these as a farewell gift to Jordan's class at the end of the school year...she'll probably think twice about coming to visit now :)

I made three leis for Alex's high school graduation:  two from carnations and one made with dollar bills.  You can find plenty of tutorials on how to make flower leis online.  The money lei was a bit more complicated and tedious but worth it in the end.  The lei shown here has $100 worth of ones attached, which makes for a pretty long lei.

And as you can see here, the graduate is sure to love the gift!

Hopefully I'll get my act together and post some step-by-step tutorials soon. 

Alex's Room Project: Part 1

I'm new to the whole concept of  "painting a room/adding color/matching a color scheme" thing...partly because the few forays I've made in the past have been horrible but mostly because everywhere we've lived as a military family we have been verboten to paint.  The house we are currently in is RIFE with colors and we were encouraged to paint with abandon when we moved in, which evoked both a squee and a frisson of nervousness.  Well, we've officially painted one wall in the joint (in Alex's room) and it wasn't a huge success.  Not horrible, just slightly frustrating because the color we picked darkened to a shade very different from what the sample came out to when we painted a sample patch.  But you know, I'm probably the only person who will really notice so we're going to leave the wall alone for the time being.  In the meantime, I've been working on various projects with Alex to remodel her room.  Again we're limited since we're renting, with another move due in 2 years and said child will be staying in Georgia when we move so it doesn't pay to go overboard.  Anyway, I digress.  The point being, her room remodel has been an excuse for me to get crafty!!  I know, I know, when do I ever need an excuse to get crafty?!  Well, this has been crafty on a whole new level for me.  Like, home decor BIG crafty with fabric and paint and furniture remodeling kind of crafty!  So fun and so exciting!  Unfortunately I haven't taken pics of the bigger projects yet so I'll tantalize you with a small scale project that I managed to get pics of today.



  



So, here's the details:

 

The majority of my supplies were purchased at Michaels:  the 12 x 12 expresso frame, the K&Company background scrapbook paper, Making Memories trims (brown and blue), mini burlap canvas (on clearance), chipboard embossed butterfly and adhesive pearls (package in the impulse aisle for only $1.00!), Martha Stewart brown glitter, and the Recollections blue butterfly.  I also used the iTop to create the brown paper brad in the center of the paper medallion.  The rest is from various locations:  Ghent, Belgium for the cream lace trims and buttons (at a flea market notions vendor), Toom Baumarkt in Germany for the brown crochet flower, cream twine from Listmann's in Germany, and Joann Fabrics for the brown damask fabric.  You can't see it very well but the silver button in the center of the ruffled flower shows the head of Athena, Goddess of War and Wisdom, which is Alex's favorite Greek goddess.  The project was inspired by a combination of two projects featured in the latest Cricut Home Decor magazine.  I hope this inspires you to get crafty!

 

 





   

Something to Make You Smile

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I have a sense of humor that veers to the quirky.  Just look at my blog design and total strangers can figure that out!  Recently I was doing some shopping in Marshall's when I came across this beat up little notebook that gave me a laugh-out-loud belly laugh that caused heads to turn.  The cartoon pictured on the front is funny all by itself but when coupled with a story about my mom, you'll see why I not only laughed so hard but why I just had to buy this for her.  My mom worked for KKNU radio station in Fresno for several years as the secretary to the owner and the first building they were located in had all the announcer's booths located down one long hallway, with the office cubicles and entrance at one end and the restrooms, copy machine, and rear exit at the other end.  So every time you went to and from the restroom, you walked past the announcers who you could see through glass half walls that separated the booths from the hall.  I remember running back and forth down that hallway as a kid, waving at the announcers each time I ran past, which they always good naturedly endured.  My mom is a very attractive woman and I was always so proud of how detailed she was about her appearance, especially when going to church or work.  And she always made sure everything was in place when going to the restroom:  lipstick, hair, outfit...all were perused before walking out.  Well, one day she didn't quite check her appearance well enough before walking out of the restroom at work, down the hallway past all the announcers, who all got quite a show as she walked past with the back of her full skirt tucked up into her pantyhose!!  If my mom reads this, she's going to kill me!  I don't remember all the details of the story but I know my mom was mortified.  I've said all that as the intro to show you this picture of the journal I got for her:

You're probably asking yourself why I'm publicly sharing this with the whole world?  First, I hope the story and journal pic make you laugh out loud and bring a smile to your face.  Second, the story should be a reminder to us to not take ourselves too seriously.  There are so many things in life that are challenges...a death in the family, dealing with health problems, a teetering economy...the list could go on and on...but I hope you take a moment each day to find a little humor in life.  And learn to laugh at yourself! 

Spring Umbrella Wreath Project

I haven't blogged in FOREVER and it feels good to be back in The Land of the Blogger.  Pinterest has become my new crack...I'm lurking on there daily, looking for new ideas and project inspiration but I'm determined to be a doer and not just a lurker!  Sounds sordid, I know.  Anyhoo, I thought I'd post a pic of a project I recently finished that was based off something I saw on Pinterest.  If you follow my boards, the original umbrella idea is pinned on my "Crafty Stuff I Wanna Make" board.  Okay, are you ready?!

I think it turned out AWESOME, even if I do say so myself ;)  I'm not a floral designer by nature...that would be my awesome mommy...but this was something I could do.  I didn't take any step by step photos of putting it together but here's some tips if you're interested.

Tip 1:  I divided the umbrella into three sections using mini clothespins and left them there.  Once the greenery is added, you can't even see the clothespins.  That way if I want to take it apart and do something else with it, I have that option.

Tip 2:  With the exception of the umbrella, which I purchased at The Paris Market in downtown Savannah, everything in the arrangement came from Michael's.  (Thanks to Gene at the Savannah Michael's who helped me pick everything out!)

Tip 3:  If you use a plastic vs. cloth umbrella, match your stuffing to the plastic.  Looks much better and hides any craft foam used.

Tip 4:  Make sure everything is well secured to withstand wind and the door opening and closing frequently...I had a feather chickie fly off the first day because I didn't secure it well enough!  Thankfully the package I purchased had two chickies in it so all is well.

Hope you enjoy my latest project and that it inspires you to make your own!

Moving Forward

I recently found this picture, which spoke to me about the many changes that have gone on in my life over the past few months.  It made me realize that whether I wanted to or not, I needed to keep moving forward.  Move forward with sorting the house for relocation, moving to a new state, a new church, a new way of life...20 years of Army life has certainly kept us moving forward!  We've spent the past seven years in Europe so returning to the "norm" of living in the U.S. has been a HUGE change for us, especially the kids, who have essentially been raised overseas.  And now that we're here, there's still more movement, more change.  Joe is getting ready to deploy again, Alex is looking at attending college away from home, and Jordan is now in junior high school...it's those moments that make me want to stop time or slow it down rather than move on because I don't want to miss something important.  I'm excited for all the changes and the new adventures life holds for me, for my family.  So here's a few upcoming changes for the Nigg Family:

*Joe's deployment is imminent...obviously I cannot give particulars but I ask for prayer as we transition to being Joe-less once again.  The kids have been wonderful throughout our move here but we have still not found a church home or that special group of kindred spirits which we seem to find at each duty station.  (Well, there's Mike and Kati but they're kindred spirits from Hawaii so they don't count as making new friends. They're family now so that's different!)  I really need to get Jordan involved with art classes or music lessons or sports and Alex is still searching for a job.  The move has taken its toll on our time and finances so I'm hoping that things will settle enough that we'll be able to get involved with more activities.

*In two weeks, I'll be resigning from Stampin' Up! and starting a new job.  SU! has been a huge part of my life over the past seven years, with so many wonderful experiences and wonderful people met along the way.  For quite some time, I have wanted to take my papercrafting business in a different direction.  The time and attention I've had to dedicate to our move to Georgia meant temporarily putting those plans on hold.  Phase One:  I've been hired by Michael's Arts & Crafts as a scrapbooking and papercrafting instructor, as well as working in the store part-time.  With Jordan still in school, I didn't want to re-enter the corporate world and work full-time, plus I wanted to work somewhere doing something I love.  Working for Michael's means I can implement Phase Two sometime after the 1st of the year:  open my own Etsy shop!  At different times I've had requests to sell my cards and crafts, as well as kits to make some of my projects.  Having a Michael's employee discount certainly won't hurt that goal :)

*In just a few short weeks, I'll be taking Alex to tour a college that she's super excited about attending next year.  It's only four hours away from us, which means visiting back and forth will be easy, and the music program is phenomenal!  She seems to finally have her feet on the path she wants to take in life, which is exciting, but nerve-wracking for me as a mom.  Parents joke about pushing their kids from the nest but the reality of seeing our babies spread their wings and fly is no laughing matter.  So much has to happen between now and when she leaves for school, much of which I will be handling without Joe to support me.  Alex and Jordan are very close so it will be a difficult transition for him as well.  I pray for wisdom and strength as we look ahead to the next chapter in Alex's life.

There's more I can say about other changes going on in our family right now but I've attempted to restrain myself with the highlights.  Verbosity is certainly one of my many weaknesses but I can never be accused of not communicating, that's for sure!  I'm excited to revive my blog and use it as a means of keeping my sanity over the next year.  Hopefully, you'll hang on for the ride!  Thanks for dropping by and sharing in my latest musings. 

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Classic Chocolate Band Graduation

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New and Improved!

Welcome to my new and improved blog!  In the coming months I am looking to re-launch my business and take it in a new direction, starting with establishing my own "brand".  I don't know about you but I LOVE the new look.  Isn't the cow hilarious?  Gives me a giggle every time I look at that cheesy grin.  A big thanks to Tajuana at BannerBlvd for the new design. 

I'm excited about upcoming projects and changes in life (like moving to Georgia!  Eek!)so stick around for the fun.  Let me know what you think of the new look.  Until next time! 

Luisenpark Field Trip

Recently I traveled with Jordan's class to Luisenpark, a beautiful city park located in

downtown Mannheim. The field trip was a bit of a nightmare as we waited outside in drizzly weather over two hours for our bus to show up and rode over an hour on the bus only to be

told by the two teachers in charge of the field trip that we would barely have an hour to explore the park before having to drive back to Ramstein. Not the best planned field trip I've ever been on but we had a good time for the short amount of time we were in the park. The majority of our time there was spent on the gondoletta, an inexpensive boat ride across the lake inside the park. As you ride you can see peacocks and storks roaming the park, the stork's nest, flamingos, pelicans, and we had enormous carp and a mama duck swim right up to us with her babies in tow.

Even with the park overcast and dreary, we still enjoyed the beauty of the park.

Once we got off the boat and began to make our way back, one of the park caretakers stopped my group and asked that we be careful going down the path as two geese were coming down the path with their babies. Sure enough, we got to watch the little family taking their babies for a stroll...or

a waddle, as the case may be! I made sure the boys stayed

back since the mama and daddy geese would attack if they felt their

babies were being threatened.

They didn't seem to mind us too much as they led their babies to

the water.

Aren't they adorable?!

Group photo near the penguin exhibit. Jordan on the way back, looking a little tired :)

Ryan decided to help him cheer up a bit! Jordan and I agreed that it

would be worth going back to the park when the weather improves,

especially since we missed seeing so much of the park. It would be the perfect place to spend an afternoon since there are so many places to picnic and play. I hope you enjoyed the photos of our latest adventure!

Back in the Crafting Saddle Again

I can hardly believe that it has been over two months since my last posting. So much has happened in the past two and a half months, including the fact that today is the first time I've done any crafting since my last post. At the end of March I flew to California to help my family as my uncle required care during his recovery from open heart surgery. My uncle is the primary caregiver for my grandmother, who is in the latter stages of Alzheimer's Disease, and there was no way he could take care of himself and my grandmother at the same time so off to Fresno I went. My time there had its share of ups and downs but I will always be grateful for the time I was able to spend with family: my uncle, my grandma, my dad and step-mom, my in-laws, and my mom. It was the first time since the beginning of my marriage that I really got to spend a little time with my in-laws and that meant so much to me. And I will especially cherish the time I spent with my mom and the opportunity we had to draw closer through the circumstances that brought me to California. After three weeks, I flew back to Germany and it has been the usual whirlwind of activity since then but somehow I couldn't get myself back into the spirit of crafting. In a way, I think I've been a little depressed (skip ahead if you want to pass on my little pity party). My kids are growing up, with Jordan having just turned 10 and Alex about to finish up her junior year of high school which means discussing college and goals for her senior year. Joe has been coming and going quite a bit. My business has grown pretty quiet and for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to sit down and make anything or get things going again. But a ray of light came through the clouds last night as I spent some time talking with Joe. As a result, I gave myself a good talking to and this morning I finally sat down in my decrepit office chair and crafted. Ahhh, to have ink on my fingers, glitter on my pants, and a few projects finished...a little heaven on earth! I wish I could say I came up with some stunning project but I needed to make some thank you gifts for customers and friends so I opted to start small and get out project leftovers that needed to be finished, which is how I ended up with the project featured in the photos.

This charming little organizer box is a printable template called Filed with Flair, a template featured through Papertrey Ink. The template also comes with a base that fits three boxes side by side, which I will definitely have to make in the future. I had two or three printed templates leftover from a class I taught awhile back and thought this would be a good way for me to get back in the crafting groove.

I created six cards from previous card designs for inside the box, mostly with German sentiments since this is going to a German friend of mine. The color scheme is an unusual mix of Stampin' Up! neutrals: Kraft, Basic Gray, Going Gray, Basic Black, Sahara Sand, and Very Vanilla. The box is large enough to easily fit eight to ten cards with envelopes. I'd also like to design an acetate top to fit onto the top of the box since I think it would make it look more finished for gift giving.

This is just a single note card front which allows you to make four from one sheet of cardstock. Perfect for jotting down a quick note. The flower strip is made from a left over scrap of cardstock from another project. I love making the most of my scraps!

Here's the box packaged and ready to go, except I forgot to make a tag for it before I took the photo! As I said, it's not an earth-shatteringly stunning project but I enjoyed putting it together and it will still be a lovely gift. Thanks for stopping by!

Cute and Quick Basket

I was cruising through Stampin' Connection yesterday, an awesome new resource for Stampin' Up! demonstrators and I found this adorable project posted by Patricia Giesbrecht. Patricia made the comment that it's made with only six strips of designer paper and included a link to a tutorial on YouTube (you ROCK, Patricia!). Surely it couldn't be THAT easy?! I ambled on over to check out the tutorial and made a sample in about five minutes! I love, love, love quick and cute projects, especially when it's something easy to demonstrate in a class or workshop.

How can you not love this cutie? Perfect for Easter and very sturdy once you add brads onto the handles. Check out GiddyGreetings.com to see a video tutorial for the basket. Have fun!