simple gift

I'm a sucker for marketing gimmicks. Call me crazy, but I thought this football inspired Dr. Pepper was the cutest thing ever. I, of course, HAD to buy one for my hubby. Not becuase he loves football (go Cougs!), but possibly becuase he has a secret (very secret) love for Dr. Pepper. And I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to surprise him when he opened his lunch at work.
You'll notice I didn't go all out on a cutesy tag -- I've learned that cutesy is great, but not necessary with my husband. He loves the sentiment more than anything and he isn't likely to gush about all the work that goes into the tag. When you open the tag it says "Hope you have an absolute BALL at work today!! We love you!" I know, totally cheesy right? Sometimes though, a dollar soda and a handmade tag are just the trick to show someone you love them :D (got the soda at Walmart btw)

Homemade gifts as of late ...

I've made a lot of homemade gifts lately. Unfortunately I haven't been taking pictures :) Here are a few I managed to capture before I wrapped them:

A scrabble-tile necklace for a little girl starting the first grade:

I let my daughter pick out the picture (in this case, a pink gerbera daisy picture that we found through a google images search) and we put it together on some stretchy fishing cord with some beads. Total project only cost me $2 in supplies since I already had most everything at home :) I love when that happens!

We paired the necklace up with some flower hair clips -- 6 is definetely not too old for some bling and bows in your hair!

My sister-in-law turned 16 this week. This gift was a challenge. Teens love storebought stuff (at least I did when I was a teenager!) and I didn't feel like I could come up with a jewlery/room decor gift that I was sure would fit her style. In the end I went for a "back-to-school" theme and used turqoise/lime green to pull it all together.

Here is a picture of all the goods:

I mod podged a clipboard, some binder clips and a mini notebook with matching scrapbook paper and then got some candy and pens/pencils to match.

I decided to bag everything up in cello bags so it would look less random ;) I think presentation is very important with homemade gifts. I wanted to put it all in a turqoise bucket/basket but I ran out of time, so I think the individual bagging and bag toppers helped :)

I'm working on Christmas gifts and more birthday gifts this month so stay tuned :)

Dollhouse Cakes!

Hey dear bloggers! My friend just started the coolest business -- miniature cookie-cakes made especially for parties and special occasions and decorated to match :)
To celebrate her business she is hosting a giveaway, so all of you local Utahn's head on over for a chance to win some delicious (and pretty!) cakes for your next get-together :)

Dollhouse Cakes CONTEST!!

Personalized game

I saw THIS tutorial for a personalized family version of Yahtzee and decided to give it a try. It wasn't that hard at all, and the directions she gives are perfectly detailed and so helpful. It made a fun gift for my game-playing sil.

I'm back.

Don't have a heart attack. Here are a few easy-peasy projects and recipes I've been up to lately:


These super yummy peanut butter balls. The original recipe is HERE. But I added chopped dried cranberries and followed some suggestions from of the recipe reviews to improve them a bit.

I made THIS banana bread into mini-muffins. I liked it even better this way. SOO good.

I finally mailed off my sisters very late birthday present which included this cute picture frame (found at the $1 store and then covered with fun paper), and a few idea notebooks, also covered with cutesy paper.

Remember those THREE sheets of paper that I bought that have since covered three picture frames and two sets of wood blocks for home decor?? Well, I'm not done with them yet. I needed some new magnets for the fridge so I whipped up some of the classic glass marble magnets. I don't think I'll ever get tired of those.

I wonder what else I can make out of that paper?? :)

Then my mother-in-law walked me through (i.e. held my hand and told me exactly what to do because I'm clueless) making a diaper/wipes holder for my purse or diaper bag. I loved this project and it was so fun to actually SEW something (rather than just blog about sewing projects others have done).

This is a picture of the holder with the changing pad. The changing pad was a pain -- we used plastic on one side and fabric on the other. I will never sew with plastic again! But it was worth it in the end:)

Here is the inside with the pockets and binkie holder:

And the finished project all ready to stash into my purse. Love it!

I still have a message board I'm working on and another birthday present in the works ...expect exciting stuff.

Why I'm lame

No more excuses. Time to face the truth. I've picked up a new hobby and it's taken over my craft-collecting, recipe-writing time.
So even though poor SynergyMom is sorely neglected ... I'm still having fun :)
Check it out at www.jesseephotography.com

No worries ... I will be back ;)

Because I'm Lame ...

Since I'm being a blog slacker, I thought I would share a few favorite links ... of people who actually keep up with their blogs :)

Hope you enjoy, and find them as addicting as I do!

http://www.skiptomylou.org/

http://createstudio.blogspot.com/

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/


Enjoy!!