American Crafts

Halloween Decorations with American Crafts & Target

2 · Sep 26, 2013 · 16 Comments

This Halloween Decorations post brought to you by American Crafts // ' Tis the season to start dressing up our homes with all kinds of creepy, crawly decor. I have to admit in the past I have not been much of a Halloween decor person. I've never really gotten into the macabre & grotesque side of Halloween. However, In recent years the Halloween trends have become way more fun in my eyes and I've fallen in love with decorating for this playful holiday. Companies like American Crafts have also made it so dang EASY to dress-up our home decor and spook things out for our parties!

A few weeks ago the crew at American Crafts sent over some goodies that they have created for Target for this year's Halloween season and they are soooo stylish and fun to work with!

The products range from full kits like the paper wreath, witches hats & banner all the way down to stylish washi tape and everything in between. You can buy little individual elements to create with, or buy a full kit that comes with everything you need. I put together this stunning paper wreath that was a SNAP to make.

The kits come with everything you need, you don't even have to bust out the glue or tape. The instructions are easy to follow and the project comes together really quick. For this one I did find that a stapler did come in a little handy at times, but for the most part everything worked like a charm. I used the wreath to dress-up my entryway and I love how everything turned out.

I added stickers to some glass containers that I had laying around. It's simply amazing how even just that, transforms the whole scene into something a little spooky.

Next, I made the banner from the Happy Halloween banner kit. The EASIEST BANNER EVER!! Seriously… Everything is self-adhesive so it's just stick-it and go.

The cool thing is you can make whatever element just how it is pictured in the kit, or you can (if you feel comfortable) bring out your creative side and use the elements to invent your own masterpiece. I used the elements from the witches hat kit to dress-up some straws for the display.

I love how they turned out!

You can find all of these fun products, plus several more at your local Target store. Go grab'em before they are gone. As cute as they are, they are sure to sell out FAST!!

Disclaimer // This is an American Crafts sponsored post. I received free product and payment for this post. However, all thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own. I want you to know that I will NEVER post on a product that I don't love or would use in my normal everyday life.

New Project Life Just Add Color Kit Perfect for Instagram

6 · Sep 9, 2013 · 7 Comments

// This post brought to you by American Crafts & Project Life //

I adore Becky Higgins and her Project Life brilliance! Raise your hand if you have also fallen in love with the Project Life system. It takes chore out of documenting life and turns it into something fun and enjoyable. Here is a post that I wrote a while back talking about Project Life, how to use it and why I love it. I've even used left over cards to create some fun projects for my little guy, like these Flash Cards. Needless to say, I'm a fan!

This month the Project Life crew is introducing a new kit with a whole new twist on HSN (the Home Shopping Network.) It's the Just Add Color kit on HSN. You are going to love this kit and especially love the price!

Soooo… other than the fun new colors and graphics, do you notice something different? If you've been working with Project Life before, you'll notice the new square format perfect for Instagram photos. Here's a quick run down of what's new in this new release…

I decided to take my very first Instagram photos and work on a few pages…

Gager's was so small back then, just a baby! I LOVE how the fun 2×2 squares and the stickers add so much to the page. Check out some of the stickers, they are great…

Not in the mood for color? Don't worry! This kit has a stunning collection of black and white cards as well…

These black and white cards were perfect for when Gage broke his leg… I'm still not feeling to colorful about that. 😉

Isn't this kit so fun? Don't forget… A Limited amount of Just Add Color kits will be available at an amazing price at HSN on September 17th. Shop early because they will sell out for sure!!

Disclaimer // This is an American Crafts sponsored post. I received product and payment for this post however, all thoughts, idea and opinions are my very own. I will only post about stuff that I adore!

Creative Flashcard Design Ideas | For Students and Kids

26 · Jun 27, 2013 · 12 Comments

Looking for creative flashcard design ideas? I think you’re going to love these! This post was originally created back in 2013 but has been updated some now. These flashcards were for my kids when they were really young but would be great for students as well. These were so much fun to make.

So, it’s that time… Gage is three… Time to work on mastering his letters. With the girls home for the summer, I thought this would be a great time to make some Alphabet Flash Cards for the girls to play school with. That way Gage will get excited about learning. My first thought was… Those Project Life cards are PERFECT for making flash cards. So many great colors and patterns, with a little creativity these cards can transform a stack of photos into a quick meaningful memory book but… What if you just want to craft with your Project life kit? I took some cards from my Midnight Kit and turned them into some amazing flash cards…

How to Make These Flashcards

Sometimes you have leftover cards or maybe you just want to use these amazing kits to create with, no matter… Project Life is getting easier and easier to find. The cool thing is that if you don’t have some Project Life cards on hand, you don’t need to worry! Project Life products are now available at several different retailers here in the United States, Canada, Australia, and many other countries. I found my Midnight core kit at my local Hobby Lobby here in Lincoln but you can also find them at Michaels, Craft Warehouse, Beverly’s Fabrics & Archivers. Not to mention a whole bunch of smaller craft and scrapbook supply stores. You can also find Project Life online at Two Peas in a Bucket & Scrapbooks.com.

I thought this kit would look great for some flashcards for a little boy…

I took out my Silhouette CAMEO and my trusty glue stick and went to town…

It was just so slick… I could easily coordinate the colors and patterns to create this fun set for Gage.

This is a perfect starting point for him. Next, I am going to add sight words onto the ring of cards and use the letter cards at dividers. It will be great… The girls can play school with him and help him learn his letters. Total score for the summer downtime when the girls are home and Gage is going to love it!

Other Creative Flashcard Design Ideas to Try

If you’re looking for other flashcard ideas to help out in the classroom or at home, you might like these next three. The first section of this post was how to be creative and make your own cards that look great. Below are some other Flashcards you can buy and make them look nice yourself.

These Assorted Blank Flash Cards

These assorted blank flashcards would be great for you to make your own flashcards with. The colors are nice and the texture is just right. You can get a large pack of 1,000 for a very good price.

These Thick Number and Letters Cards

These cards are great for younger students. You can play games with these cards like the jump game. You call out a letter or a number and have the students jump from one card to the next. This is a great way to introduce physical activity into learning and make the games fun for the kids. Give them a try!

What have you made with your Project Life cards? Do you only use them for your memory books or do you think outside the box?

Disclaimer // This is a post sponsored by American Crafts. I have received free products and payment for the post. However, the ideas, thoughts and opinions are my very own.

Project Life on HSN

7 · Mar 20, 2013 · 5 Comments

Project Life // I used to be a CRAZY scrapbooker! I spent a fortune on all kinds of scrapbooking supplies and then subsequent storage containers for said supplies. I've spent many a weekend with my house looking like a scrapbooking store exploded in my house. As much as I loved the creativity of documenting my families life this way, I started to feel bogged down by the process. As the styles changed, it became popular to have just one photo per 12×12 page. Holy smoke… it would take over an hour to work on one page and cost upwards of $10 per page some times. It was CRAZY!! Several years ago, it just became too much and… I quit. I gave away my fortune in supplies to a friend and turned my back on the art form. In turn, I have not documented my families milestones or day to day life since then. Sad, I know!

I've been a Becky Higgins fan for YEARS. I have all of her early books and have followed her career for sometime. Successful women have always intrigued me, and she has always been such an inspiration. Even with that, I was not ready to jump back on the scrapbooking bandwagon with her new adventure, Project Life. I didn't even look into the whole concept. The idea of a whole new scrapbooking system, made me break out in hives just thinking about it. Yea, I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. As thrilled as I was for Becky, I just couldn't jump on board. Then I started to see all of the fun projects cropping up on Instagram and Facebook. Everyone it seemed was using Project Life. Good friends of mine, Catherine from Design Editor and Rebecca from Simple as That… Busy ladies, were making these super cute layouts and documenting all of their fun memories with Becky's new system. Maybe, just maybe, I could tackle the years that have stacked up, unorganized with this system. Maybe, just maybe I could organize my families memories without heart palpitations, without spending a fortune on supplies, without taking over an entire room of my house with supplies, without alienating my husband with the mess and the time it took away from our family. Maybe I could DO THIS!

Right about the time I was ready to jump on the bandwagon, American Crafts contacted me to see if I would be will to review the new Blush Edition of Project Life. Little did they know I had just spent about a month preparing myself to enter the world of memory keeping once again. It was PERFECT timing. I had also just ordered some of my Instagram feed from Origrami and was SUPER excited to find that my prints would work perfect with the Project Life format. I set to work, and had a ball working on my family's memories stress free, mess free and super quick. Here is a video on how to use Project Life…

How fun is that? You can put as much time and effort into your book as you want. Here's how my first few pages turned out…

You can play around with designs if you like. I did add a few little elements with stamps and some washi tape, but I'm going to leave it at that. There is really no need to make this a complicated process…

I had so much fun yesterday working on this project and I can't wait to continue catching up on my family history. You can too, with Project Life. There are some pretty cool things coming up for Becky and her crew this spring. One of those fun events is that Becky Higgins is bringing two of her Project Life kits to the Home Shopping Network on March 25th!! Both of the kits will be at a fabulous value price, so you don't want to miss out.

Stay tuned to American Crafts and Becky Higgins this spring, there will be more amazing announcements that you won't want to miss!

This is a sponsored post by American Crafts

American Crafts

How to Make These Flashcards

Other Creative Flashcard Design Ideas to Try

These Assorted Blank Flash Cards

These Thick Number and Letters Cards

Footer