Playing ketchup - oops! I mean, catch up!

I know, I know, it's a SHOCKER that I finally decided to get back on my blog and start posting again.  I've been so busy lately with all my "projects" that I haven't had much time to do any blogging.  So to prove to you that I'm really not a slacker, I decided to show you a few of the things I've been working on.

First, here's the Family Home Evening mirror I just finally finished (well almost anyway).

A couple of months ago I started doing a little research on the internet, looking for a creative way to do a FHE board of sorts.  After hours of seeing the same things over and over again, I decided to tap into my own brain and see if I could get any creative juices to flow.  I had seen a couple of boards with photos, which is what I really wanted to incorporate, but I couldn't find what I really wanted.  So I decided to put my ol' faithful Cricut to work again to cut out our last name in chipboard and then scrapbook paper to put on top.  My original plan was to put it on a piece of wood (which we have plenty of stacked in the garage).  However, I don't know how to use any of the saws or major power tools besides a drill gun so it would require my darling husband to cut it out for me.  Thus, we move on to plan B.  As I was scouring the thrift store, looking for the perfect broken-off cabinet door, I found a mirror and thought...PERFECT!  Of course, that mirror must have weighed 100lbs and was hanging the wrong direction so I went to my local Wal-mart and found one just the right size for my family for only $10.  

  

And a couple of isles over were the perfect sized plastic frames to mount on my mirror.  They originally had big strips of magnet on the backs of them, but I took those off and put big strips of sticky back velcro on them instead.  Then I cut out the vinyl with my Cricut and put it all together.  Not without a few complications along the way, though.  Let's just say, if you're ever going to do a project like this, #1. Don't put your glue too close to the edges of your chipboard; #2. Don't use anything paper backed (like a phone book, for example) to weigh down your chipboard letters until they dry unless you have waxed paper or something like that in between the letters and the books (unless you want the number to the closest Emergency Chiropractic embedded on your sign forever); and #3. Check the position of your hanging hooks on the back before you glue anything down so you don't do it upside down and end up having to mount your own hooks in order to hang it up on the wall.  So maybe after I get my hooks mounted to my mirror and hung up on the wall I'll take another picture of it without the messy distractions.

Next, my niece asked me to make her graduation announcement for her.  So this is what I came up with.  They had a separate paper they included with the announcement with all the details on it. 

And finally (although I'm sure there were plenty of other projects mixed in with all of these), I FINALLY finished the DVD slideshow project that I started about 2 years ago for my parents.  It was supposed to be their christmas gift that year and I really did start it during the summer that year, but I think I bit off more than I could chew.  I decided to do both mine and Dane's family that same year so I got everyone's photos from both families of everyone growing up until the present.  If you do the math, that's photos from 78 people, not including some photos of spouses mixed in there too.  I know what you're thinking...she's PSYCHO!!!  And yes, yes I am.  I was able to get Dane's family DVD done in time for christmas that year (barely), but not mine.  So this project has been hanging over my head for almost 2 years now.  Can you imagine the relief I felt when I finally got it done?  Whew!!  I have been so intimidated to even work on it for the longest time because I knew how much time and effort it was going to take to get it done.  So it was my goal to get it done in time for Mother's Day this year.  And I made it!  Yippee!  Even though it took me right up until 5pm when our family dinner started.  But hey, it's done, right?  So here is the outside cover of the DVD case I made to go with it.

And since Dane's parents' 50th anniversary was coming up, I also made a much simpler DVD for them with photos and videos we had of the kids so they could see them, since they live so far away.  But I decided to make things easy on myself and just use the base of the DVD cover I made for my parents' and change out the photos for different ones.  Easy Peesy!

Anywho, now that some of the biggies are over, I should be able to get back to things around here.  Thanks for being patient with me and also for getting through this REALLY LONG post.  You guys ROCK!!