The Toy Box Years: Flower

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

So, last night, while watching Army Wives, I decided to work on some picture frames that I've had in my craft stash for about a month now - one for Nani and one for Nudgie. (Oh yeah, and to see what I did for Day #1, click here)

I found the frames on sale at Michael's. What I like about these frames is that they have the actual "leg" on the back of the frame and not that little peg of wood that always seems to pop out. (I really dislike those frames!)

I painted one purple (for Nani) and one yellow (for Nudgie). I learned that I should have done a base coat of white on the yellow frame first - and then painted it yellow. It never quite turned into the yellow that I wanted, and you could see the wood slightly seeping through. (And that was after three coats!)

I found the letter stickers in the dollar bins at Michael's and already had the felt for the fabric rosettes (my latest crafting obsession!)

I'm really happy with the finished project! And now I have to find the perfect pictures to put in them!!

(Disclaimer: None of these craft supplies were purchased during my Lenten fast of craft stores!)

My Marine left yesterday for a 5-day mission and will be back sometime on Monday. So while he's gone, I need to keep myself and the girls occupied which isn't too much of a problem. But I decided to do a "5 Crafts in 5 Days" challenge with Nani. While Daddy's gone, we're going to make a craft every day!

Yesterday we did a spring flower craft.

I gave Nani some scrapbook paper, glue and buttons and asked her to make some flowers. I wanted to see what she could come up with on her own. And she did a great job! I was too busy watching her work that I didn't get any picture of her in "action". But here's a picture of the completed project.

After Nani was in bed, I added some wire "stems" to her flowers and put them in a glass that I found at Goodwill for .49. I added some blue decorative stones and a pink bow.

After I did that, mommy got to work on her craft!

I found this frame at Goodwill too. Obviously, the fish motiff really didn't go well with anything in our home (thank God!) so I decided to recycle it.

I repainted the frame a Caribbean blue, popped the glass out, and covered the mat with yellow felt. Then I made 4 felt rosette flowers. I thought they looked a little plain as is, so I cut out some circles from some other fabric scraps I had laying around. Add some buttons, ribbon, and felt leaves -- and viola - a perfect flower garden! I also had some butterfly buttons that I found buried in the bottom of my button box, so I added those too.