I made this fun little chandelier for my girls’ room a month ago using my Back to Basic’s digital line. It’s been a cute addition to their room, and it was pretty easy to make. Check out the tutorial below.

Want to cut it with your silhouette machine (or any other machine that cuts Illustrator files?). Download the ai file here (not for commercial use or resale).It’s already set up with 6 butterflies to a sheet.

ILLUSTRATOR FILE DOWNLOAD

If you want a pdf version of all six butterflies already setup for you (if you need to cut them out by hand), don’t worry! I’ve hooked you up too.

PDF FILE DOWNLOAD

Download the tutorial with instructions here:

Ahhh, the first day of school. A little bit sad, but a whole lot of happy. Siri woke up this morning and started getting herself ready (a minor miracle) saying, “I don’t want to be late to my first day of school!”

We celebrated with Banbury Cross Donuts and (me) trying to walk it off by trotting to school with the neighborhood.

It has been quiet in the house today. Felicity has been coloring in my office while I’ve tried to do a little work. Felicity doesn’t start preschool until next week, but it will be lovely to have a couple of hours to work during the day (My goal is to discontinue to the 2 o’clock in the morning design spurts!).

It has officially been 4 years now since I haven’t bought text books and headed to school. Perhaps that is why I have been so gung-ho about my little ABC Class—a reminiscence to those old grad school days. I love the new school year, and I’m excited for the fall to come (this morning felt like fall-too bad it will hit 100 degrees tomorrow).

We love a small town Fourth of July. In Minnesota, we always went to Stillwater for a beautiful old-time Fourth of July with friends on the St. Croix River. A little tip off from friend Deena sent us this year to Huntsville, Utah.

On the actual “4th,” we visited the Golden Spike Monument for a little re-enactment of where the two railroads met to connect the country and a bumpy trip on a gravel road to the Spiral Jetty. To tell you the truth, I love historical and art sites, but I could leave the road trips. Road trips are just not my specialty. Josh is the one who inspires trips like these.

Somehow is seemed very patriotic to see this re-enactment of the railroads connecting the country.

The Spiral Jetty is really neat. However, the minivan had a rough time. Might I suggest four-wheel drive?

We’ve been camping the last couple of days roasting ridiculously large marshmallows (My husband says they throw the universe out of balance. My mother-in-law suggests jumbo-sized chocolates and graham crackers should be sold to match these. I think a brand-new box of baby wipes should accompany them.).

On the campgrounds, look what we spotted this beauty:

It was just on the edge of the campgrounds as we walked over the bridge. I didn’t think we were going to see any critters (except for Potty and Snotty (so named by my daughters)—our potbellied squirrels that scavenged our campsite). It was such a treat to see this big guy!

We went to Lagoon (a Utah theme park) and are now recovering. I love theme parks, but a day of rest is necessary afterwards.

So today, we are still in pajamas and creating all sorts of disasters. The girls got out the scrapbook stuff and created their own “books” this morning. I’m also planning on getting to the mountain, er, laundry accumulating downstairs.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the chat this morning. It was a bit of a problem because the site was overloaded, so I left up the thread and anyone can comment on it until 5pm MST to win the $10 gift certificate. I’ll announce the winner at the end of the thread. Want to check it out? Go here.

You also have a chance to grab one of my kits for free this weekend during the sale and a couple of $1 Kits. You’ll also notice the Meredith Fenwick has her entire shop for sale so you can check it out the sale here.

It’s just a silly, little thing, but worth it for the birthday girl! Print out silly faces of the birthday girl (or boy) and place a birthday hat on their head. Add a toothpick and you have a very fun (and thoughtful) birthday cake (even when your birthday cake is having a landslide problem. Next time don’t attempt a third layer, Carina)!

Just click on the image (and “Save As” to download) if you want to use this little template for your own birthday hat silliness!

I bought a dresser last week and, of course, the best part is that it came in a box. After playing with it for a week inside, we dragged it outside to paint it and let the neighborhood play in it.

They get to use their creativity and it’s free…man, I love a good box!

Also a shout out to everyone taking Jessica Sprague and my course: The Art of Digital Design today! It’s week 5 and you are stuck with me (whaaahaaaaa)! Excited for all the fun we’re going to have this week!

My mom was recently in town, and she gave Siri a sewing lesson. It reminded me of when I started sewing at the ripe old age of five years old by my mom’s side (I’m sure not unlike the way Siri was sitting by her in this picture I managed to capture).

The amazing part is I remember taking her old scraps at the age of eight and being completely unsupervised on the sewing machine (kudos to her for letting me go at it). I remember making Barbie dresses with big skirts (my introduction to learning how to gather). I remember cutting the fabric in all sorts of crazy ways and sewing them in even crazier ways. It was brilliant. The pure happiness of a little girl entranced in her sewing project.

Looking back, I appreciate more than ever my mom’s efforts to let me be creative…and let me try things independent of her. I must have made a mess…in fact, I can even remember some of the messes. I would dump out boxes of scraps of fabric and thread looking for the exact right piece—a mother’s nightmare to clean up.

This little trip down memory lane is just a nice reminder to myself that I need to create opportunities for my little ones to be creative (And maybe be okay with the messes. Ouch! That’s hard!). I hope that whatever crafting and creativity you have in your life is also a part of your children’s lives too—Because I think creativity is pretty important. Hope you do something fun this weekend with your loved ones and nurture that creativity!

After a few beautiful days, we got this yesterday:

Someone needs to explain this weather to me. Today I put in my herb garden. It was freezing and the wind was crazy. Silly me for trying to garden!

If you haven’t signed up for the facebook page yet, there’s still time to get the free kit! We are SO close to 500 people and once we hit it, I’ll be sending out a link to everyone with a download of this beautiful kit.

Happy Saturday!

I always wonder were my days go. So this morning I had camera in hand while we did our “stuff.” Sure, not a typical day for us in some ways (Siri was home from school because she’s had a fever the last couple of days and we didn’t want to infect anyone). And super typical in other ways (there’s always some kind of craft-making mess in our house).

Paper crafting, anyone? (Of course, only after I actually managed to clean my studio)

More projects with the paper (Siri chose MeadowLark™ for her wings this morning).

Why do these darn kid sprinklers ALWAYS break?

The view from my backyard. We anticipate seeing this for the next few days. You can just barely see our next-door neighbor directing the bulldozer guy.