Gifts for grandma and husbands

Hey there everyone, sorry for being absent on the blog last week, I was enjoying time with my family and didn't feel like spending any of that time on the computer...

So I owe you two weeks worth of gifts. Gifts for grandma and gifts for husbands.

There were a few things that my mom mentioned when I asked her about what the kids could make
for her that she would like to receive. She said she loves any handmade gift from the kids and
especially anything made with handprints. So, we did the handprint calendar for grandpa but obviously
grandma gets to enjoy that as well. She mentioned things like placemats, mousepads, an apron with
handprints on it...and while I think these are all great ideas and hopefully we'll still be able to make some
of these things before Christmas, we made something different. My parents are missionaries right now
over seas and they don't have a lot of the "comforts of home" with them over there. So, I decided to have my kids paint them a picture. I just gave the kids a square canvas board and let them use their own creativity to paint them a picture. Canvas boards can be found at JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and Michael's. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby and it was a package of 6 boards for $7.99 and I had a 40% off coupon so each board only cost me about 80cents, and I already had the paints on hand so this is a VERY inexpensive gift idea.

These paintings usually happen in "sessions", they paint for a bit then stop and add more too it at another time. They LOVE to paint and ask almost everyday if they can paint. I like to keep those square canvas boards on hand for times like these. They make great personal gifts. I didn't take a photo of the finished project because I don't want to spoil the surprise for my mom!

I don't have any photos of what I am getting/making for Greg...but I can tell you about it quick. I ordered some personalized products with some photos that my aunt took for us on Thanksgiving. He's in need of a new travel mug (takes his coffee to work with him every morning) so I ordered one from Shutterfly. I also ordered a desk calendar for him from Vistaprint (I got the same one as a wall calendar for free). And the thing I am making for him is pajama pants. He told me that he was a little sad last Christmas when the kids got new jammies but he didn't. SO, I  went to goodwill and had Micah pick out a top sheet that he liked (he picked solid navy blue) and I bought that and one flannel sheet for the girls and I plan to sew pj pants for the whole family out of those sheets. Sheets are so much cheaper (especially from goodwill) than buying that much yardage of fabric at the fabric store. Plus, isn't it nice to crawl into your sheets wearing sheets?! Ha, we'll see. I have a pair for myself that I cut out of some old vintage orange and yellow flower sheets about two years ago...maybe I'll actually sew them for my Christmas present this year!

Hope I've given you some ideas. I need something else for my hubby though, so if you have any good hubby gift ideas I'd love to hear them!! Have a great week!

Pinterest

So I was hoping to have a last minute Mother's Day craft for you today, but alas I do not.

I have not been in the blogging mood lately. My personal blog is sorely neglected. I used to post quite regularly but only posted 13 times in March and 13 in April. I guess I'm too busy playing outside with the kids and just don't want to take the time to blog.

The other reason I haven't been blogging as much is because I'm "pinning" more. Have you heard of Pinterest? It's an amazing website that lets you bookmark or catalog ideas and creative things you see on the web. I've tried many ways in the past to bookmark great websites and ideas. I used delicious for a while and it's a good way to bookmark things but the problem is there are no photos to go with what you've bookmarked. I've added a page to my blog called "Someday" and it's crafts I've seen on the web that I'd love to try someday. But Pinterest has them all beat. I started pinning in February and can't stop. If you are a pinner you know what I mean. It's very addicting so be careful!!!

Straight from the site:

What is Pinterest?

Think of Pinterest as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and "follow" collections created by people with great taste.

People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things -- wedding inspiration, favorite T-shirts, DJ equipment. You name it, people are pinning it.

We know you have great taste in something. Our mission is to make Pinterest the best place for you to share your taste with the world.

So, it's a great way to see what other people find interesting and creative and it's a fun way to bookmark ideas and projects. I would love to see what you're pinning. Come on over to my Pinterest Page and follow me (jamielynn)!

I suggest that you add the "pin it" to your toolbar so that when you're blog surfing you can pin what you find right away and won't loose it. It's a great way to keep things in a catalog so you don't loose ideas and also so that you can give credit where credit is due.

And if you're interested to see if anything has been pinned from your website or blog just type in "http://pinterest.com/source/name of your website" ex: "http://pinterest.com/source/thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com"

I know some of you are pinning and I'd love to see your boards!

And speaking of giving credit where credit is due this is where I found the idea for the "copy" and "paste" onesies for twins!

Happy Pinning!!!!