Altered box...

I rarely alter items...I'm never quite sure what to do with them, but I had this clear box and wanted to be a little creative this afternoon while it was rainy. Nothing fancy but I think it's cute! And I use all scrap pieces of paper to create it (thanks Scheffie, you're the best!)

Enjoy your weekend! Hope all you mommies, aunts, grandparents and friends have a beautiful Mother's Day!

Caught in the act...

Every six months or so, just when I think we've figured out little bug out, he changes things up on us. Our system of time-outs and taking away cartoons doesn't seem to be as effective as it once was. So we've added a little more incentive to the mix. A money jar. He'll earn money for good deeds and behavior but he'll also see money removed for inappropriate behavior. We're hoping the visual of the money going up and down in the jar will maybe be a light-bulb moment for him (fingers crossed!)

I used spaghetti sauce jar that would otherwise have hit the recycle bin. I used my new Stampin' Up Top Note die cut to create the front card. I PSE to print out the Caught in the Act! with the dinosaur graphics. The saying seemed appropriate since he's earning for good and loosing for bad behavoir, we can catch him either way. Some scraps of ribbon and a few pieces of Me & My Big Ideas bling finished it off nicely.

The jar is now sitting on our kitchen counter waiting to be filled. Wish us luck...

Reindeer food...

When I was a kid we always put a carrot out for Santa's reindeer. We might have put carrots out for Santa, too. Poor Santa didn't get any goodies from us. ;) Since GQ has been setting goodies out for Santa I don't believe we've left anything for the reindeer. The other day I told GQ that we'd have to leave some cookies for the reindeer and he told me that "Santa's reindeer don't like cookies." Ok, we'll just leave cookies for Santa. That's easy!

Then I read something my friend Kim posted on MBI about her son making reindeer food at school and the little poem that went along with it. I thought it was a great idea (and I happened to have all the ingredients for it in my pantry!) And I try not to pass up an opportunity to make something with paper, glue and ribbon!

I used an old spaghetti sauce jar (I save them for projects and organization) to hold the food. It's just a mixture of rolled oats, raisins, Honey Nut Cheerios, Kix and some glitter. You can use anything edible that you have in your pantry really. The recipe Kim listed was the oats, raisins and glitter but I had some cereal that was on the last leg of freshness so we tossed it in.

To decorate my jar I used scraps of paper and ribbon so it'd look pretty sitting on the counter until Christmas Eve, when we'll toss some out in the backyard for the reindeer to snack on while Santa makes a stop at our house. And whatever the reindeer don't eat I'm sure the birds, squirrels and occasional roaming cat will eat.

The little poem on the jar reads:

Sprinkle on the lawn at night.
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
This will guide them to your home.

BOO!

I made these cute little treat bags up to BOO! the neighbors. They went together very quickly...I used some cardstock to wrap around the paper board tube from an aluminum foil roll. I glued that to a cardstock circle, punched holes and used a pipe cleaner for the handle (had to rob GQ's craft box for that part.) I free handed the ghost image on white cardstock, cut out, added some googly eyes and applied with dimensional tape. Lastly I tied some ribbon on and used stickers for the word BOO! Now I have to run to the store and buy some little candies to stick in there. I'm guessing it will hold around five or six mini candy bars.