~personalized book for kids-gift idea~

 Back in September I discovered a free photo book

offer at Shutterfly again. GREAT!

Problem was, it ended that night.

I couldn't let a free photo book offer go to waste

so I decided to throw a book together that

I'd been wanting to do for awhile.

I took pictures of my son's favorite toy

"doing things" throughout the day while

he was at school and made it a story.

It was actually a lot of fun coming

up with ideas for the pages.   

Once I got the pictures, I plugged them into the 

book and the story just took off.

 Disclaimer: the pics are NOT the greatest quality.

   

 My son LOVED it! 
I gave it to him for his birthday.

The next day when I took him to school he said,

"I told MACK to do a few things while I'm at school."

Seriously? This is definitely my kid......

Total time it took to make this book,

including taking the pictures, was only 1.5 hours.

For those of you looking for a fun, personalized

gift for that kid on your Christmas list, 

this is your GOLDMINE!

Easy, affordable (even if it's not free)

and something they'll remember forever......

because COME ON-

when you were a little kid

didn't you think your toys played and did

things when you were gone?

I sure did.

~daily Christmas advent activities with books~

Two years ago my Mom put together the 

cutest advent activities and gifts for each of

us kids and our families.

She put so much time and money into it and 

it was something I was hoping to do each year.

I wasn't on the ball enough to do it last year.

This year, I thought about it in time but didn't

want to buy things to add to our already

insane amount of Christmas decorations

or kids toys. I saw an idea on the blog

MADE last year and decided to give it a go

for my family this Christmas;

a book to read each day until Christmas.

I didn't want to go buy any so I just 

gathered up all the Christmas books we

already had here at the house.

  

 I was a few shy of having enough for each day

so I added in a coloring book for the kids, 

a Christmas game, some mugs and a couple 

activities (like looking at the lights down-town,

cookie making and ornament making) to the gifts.

I had all these at home.

I wrapped them up and put numbers on them

to correspond with the days we will open them.

         When my kid opened the first day's he said,

"Hey! This book isn't new! I already have this!"

I think he was a bit disappointed initially but it

passed as soon as we sat down to read the book.

Now it's the first thing he wants to do when

he gets out of bed each morning.     

            

~shirt inspired from "I Spy DIY" book~

This book.....

....has soooo many fun ideas in it!

 

I made a shirt inspired by one of her ideas

in the book. Hers is made with a scarf and mine

was made with fabric I have had for years, not 

knowing what to make with it. I had about a 

yard of fabric and cut it out in the shape 

of two scarfs. It's basically two squares sewn

together, leaving an opening for the neck and arms.

I didn't even have to hem it.

Instead, I burned the edges.

An idea I wouldn't have thought of on my own

and it was sooooo much faster.

 

Here's my version:

 I know these self portraits are killing you.

They kill me too and I CANNOT for the life of me

get a decent shot ANYWHERE in my house.

Ugh.

 

Here's a pic of it on my dress form-it gives

you a better idea of what it looks like.

 I made the neckline extra wide so it falls

off my shoulder. The pink ribbons are just

for draping and marking on my form, they aren't

actually part of the shirt. 

I made it especially for a special summer concert

with some of my favorite gals:

 I loved the finished product and the concert

wasn't half bad either......come to think of it-

the concert ROCKED! 

I'm adding Grace Potter to the list of

celebrities I want to be friends with.

 

~speed reading ~

I've been wanting to read these books

for awhile now. I see trailers for the movie

coming out soon and figured that was the

kick in the butt I needed to get started.

I'm starting this tonight. 

I've got to read the book before I see the movie.

Do you prefer to read the books or see

the movies first?

nook storage pouch

Check out the storage pouch I made for my cousin's Nook:

 It fits like a glove and she said she loves it.

She just throws it in her purse and doesn't have

to worry about it getting scratched or dirty.

 This was EASY!

Basically just take the measurements,

add some length and width for the seam allowance,

sew together,

turn right side out,

sew up the sides.

I took all the pictures for the tutorial.

If you're interested let me know,

I'll go back and post it.

This almost makes me want to buy an

electronic book reader.

Do you do electronic or old school?

I'm still old school....

Linking up with Positively Splendid
and
KoJo Designs 

~damaged goods-update~

Remember the library book I damaged

a while back that they were going to 

make me pay for?

This here's an update to that story......

 

So-I go back to the library to

pay for this book. In return, they were

suppose to give me the book I had damaged.

I thought I would give it one last ditch effort

before I forked over the cash for

this MINIMALLY damaged book.

To start off with, I dealt with a different 

person this time. A really sweet young gal.

I told her that I was there to pay for a book

that they told me I had to replace

 because it was "un-usable". She went in

the back and got the book in question and looked

at it herself and said, "Are you kidding me?"

She agreed with me, the damage was barely

recognizable and the book was far from

ruined. She told me she couldn't over-ride the

fee without an approval from her supervisor...

but she wasn't there that day.

Long story short.....

I ended up speaking to the library manager

that day and she thought it was 

ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS that

they had attempted to make

me buy a new book. 

They reversed the fine and put the book 

back on the shelf. 

Can I get a woot woot?!

I wasn't kidding or exaggerating when I told

you that the damage was barely noticeable. 

 

~damaged goods~

We go to the library weekly.

A few weeks ago I check out this book:

Sewing Bits and Pieces.

It was alright. 

There were a couple cute projects in there I was

going to attempt (owl bookends being one of them).

I had the book sitting on my table, waiting to

copy the patterns onto tracing paper

when I spilled a little tiny bit of coffee.

The coffee got on the very bottom of a few

of the last pages in the book and a little on the back cover.

I let it dry....it's not too bad.

It was obvious that it had MINIMAL damage but

most definitely still usable.

I return it to the library, expecting to be charged

a fine because of this but boy am I shocked 

to see what the fine is......

$21.99!

GIVE ME A BREAK!

Assuming that this was a typo or something,

I go into the library yesterday and ask them about it.

They have the book set aside and bring it out.

I see it EXACTLY as I have returned it.....

MINIMAL WATER DAMAGE in the back.

I explain to her that there is no denying I have

damaged the book but the fine seems outrageous

for what little damage has been done.

She explains to me that the book is unusable now.

(In who's world?)

She says to me, "Would you want to check a book

out that was in this condition?"

My response, "Uh yes....and as a matter of fact, I have 

many times from this very library. I have

actually checked out books that were in far

worse condition than that one."

I asked her if I could dispute or appeal the charge

and she said no. AND....if I don't pay it in 30 days,

I get sent to collections.

The encounter was a friendly one....I had decided

before I went in that I would just have to be

OK with whatever the outcome was. I didn't 

want my day to get ruined over $20.

So-looks like next week I will be going into the 

library, paying a ridiculous fine......

and walking out of there the new pissed proud 

owner of this book.

Moral of the story.....

NEVER spill even a drop of liquid on your library book!

I'll think twice before reading while in the bathtub again too.