Scor-Pal

So simple, yet ingenious!  Have you ever set out to make a handmade card, only to discover that folding it straight was the hardest part!!??  Well, I recently came across a tool that helps with just that...plus you can do so many more cool things.  (Stay with me and I'll show you!)  It's called a Scor-Pal and it looks like this...

The designer of Scor-Pal, Diana, was kind enough to send one for us to keep at Maple Memories.  YEAH!!  Now, when you come, you can try it out as well!!  Thanks, Diana!!!  Scor-Pal® creates accurate and precise scores giving you professional looking folds, no more crooked cards. Multiple scores are done in seconds without moving the paper. Perfect for accordion folds, boxes, fancy fold cards and other interesting projects! 

There are so many fun things that you can make with this thing...like these adorable little boxes.  You can find the step-by-step tutorial here.

This coffee cup box is just too cute!  What a great gift to give to a friend.

You can use it to score paper for cards, boxes, mini albums, or wherever you need a straight line! 

This little album was made using several scores with Scor-Pal.  Their blog is full of great projects and tutorials for you, so head on over and check it out!

Scor-Pal has other great products as well.  Including Scor-Tape, a double-sided adhesive that is available in many different widths...perfect for card and box making!  Oh, and did I mention that they also sent us a Scor-Pal!!???  It's a smaller version of the Scor-Pal...great for taking with you to your favorite crop or retreat house when your space is limited!  ;)  There's more, so head on over to the store, blog, and/or Facebook to check it all out.  Be sure to let them know that Maple Memories sent you!!  Happy Scoring!

Heartwarmers

I was looking for a Valentine's Craft for the kids when I came across some "heart-warmers". If you head on over to "lovesome", she has a great tutorial and a free download of the cute little card to go with it!   All you need is felt, rice, and a sewing machine (or you could handstitch).

My 10 year old daughter has recently learned to embroidery, so she handstitched this...

She has a special friend from church that she wants to give it to tomorrow, which means I need to get off the computer and start sewing!  Keep warm and have a blessed day!

What Valentine's Crafts will YOU be working on?

I've got to get better about blogging!

Hello, my loyal followers.  I have been horrible about keeping up with this blog, but things are going to change.  I am going to find time to get "crafty" again...or at least point you in the direction of others that are!  ;)  Here's your chance to tell me what YOU want to see on this blog.  More recipes, scrapbooking layouts, product information, special deals!!??  YOU tell me and I'll see what I can do for 2012!!!

Now, I also have a favor to ask YOU!  I am looking for companies or individuals that have products that they would like to get noticed or samples they are willing to share.  If this is YOU or someone you know, have them contact me at shannon@maplememories.com.  I have something up my sleeve for the guests that stay at Maple Memories this year (and of course, those of you that read our blog).   So, be sure to email me AND send your friends on over!! 

Oh, and here's a special deal for you today...

Pick Your Plum has these adorable paper straws available TODAY ONLY at 61% off!!!  If you're not familiar with Pick Your Plum, you should check them out.  Each day they have an awesome deal on the latest and greatest of crafty items.  I want one of everything!  :)

Pinterest

Like many of you, I've become slightly addicted to Pinterest!  It has so many GREAT ideas...ALL IN ONE PLACE!  Need turkey treats for school.  Check.  Christmas ornaments for kids to make at church. Check.  Inspirational Words.  Check.  A new dinner recipe.  Check.  It's heavenly. 

Found on pinterest.  Original source: http://www.thehighheeledhostess.com/2011/11/turkey-treats.html. I used store bought "cookie icing" to serve as the "glue" to hold everything together.  Worked really well and dried fast.  Even the kids helped.  The above picture is our final product...pretty cute!

Found on pinterest. Original source:  http://craftysisters-nc.blogspot.com/2010/12/baby-jesus-ornament.html.  We made these for Sunday School, so in order to keep the cost down decided not to add the wooden star. 

 Great question, isn't it!?  LOTS of wonderful, insightful quotes floating around on people's boards.

Found picture on pinterest.  Googled Pineapple Barbecue Bacon Burgers and found the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pineapple-bacon-burgers/. 

Happy Pinning!

Snowman Ornaments

This was such a fun craft for our family! All 5 of us made one. Yes, even my hubby sat down and created with the rest of us. Meg has a great tutorial here. She used colored balls, which turned out ADORABLE. I had these frosted ones tucked away in my craft room, so that's what we used. The are actually really pretty hanging on the tree with the light coming in from behind.

PUMPKINS

Pumpkin Carving...

Pumpkin Painting...

Pumpkin Pancakes...

Pumpkin Pizza...

Pumpkin Bracelets... I found the tutorial here.

I love FALL!!!

Family on Burlap

***LAST CHANCE...OUR GIVEAWAY ENDS AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!***

I found this family tree wall over at For the Love of it awhile ago. I love it. I have always liked the old black and white photos of my family. Like this one of my Grandpa and Grandma taken in the 1940's.

So, when I found this frame at a local garage sale, I knew it would be perfect with burlap in it!!


I wanted to use the word "FAMILY" like Arlene did on her wall. If I find another cool frame, I will probably do "HERITAGE" also. Step 1 was to find a font and size that would fit in my frame. Step 2 was to print it out and then tape in the window. I had to print on a few sheets due to the size of my letters. I then cut them and taped them together on the window.

Step 3: Tape burlap to the window, making sure the letters shine through. I cut my burlap LARGER than my frame so I would have enough left to wrap around the back when it was time to frame it.

Step 4: Grab your sharpie and start tracing. Remove from the window. It should look like this... (Sorry, I can't seem to get my picture turned around today!!)

Arlene used paint to color in her letters. That was my plan too, but the Sharpie was working so well and I liked the color, so I kept coloring with the marker. It was a lot less messy!

There she is!! My glass broke when I was framing it...OOPS!! However, I kind of like that you can actually see and feel the burlap. Now, I just need to get it hung on the wall and surround it with my FAMILY!

Linking up to:

1. Look What I Made on Creations by Kara

Monogram Crayon Teacher Gift

My friend, Michelle, made this...isn't it adorable!? She made this Monogram frame for her sister to put in her classroom. I think it would make a great teacher gift as the school year comes to an end. I am planning on making them for my kids' teachers this weekend, so hopefully I will have some pictures for you later. It's just crayons...some broken to make the shape of the letter and glued to scrapbook paper with embellishments of scrapbook paper, ribbon and some stickers...perfect! She found the original idea here and then this one gave her additional ideas to help her create her own unique monogram. Thanks for sharing, Michelle!

What do you give your teachers for the end of the year?

Crafty Storage

Isn't that a clever idea for storing ribbon!!? I found this picture on someone's blog over a year ago. I've been searching to give them credit and can't seem to find it. Sorry. If it's yours, let me know and I will be sure to recognize you!

I was going to do this post on storage ideas for all your crafty items. Like the use of towel bars to store punches. Have you seen this? So cool. And simple. Genious.

ANYWAY, while I was searching for the latest and greatest in storage ideas to share with you. I found a blog that had already done it for us!! It's called Crafty Storage and I plan to spend hours pouring over it when I have more time!! Here's just a small sampling of what is in store for you...

A DATE A MONTH

This is the gift that I gave my husband for Christmas this year. I had spent time shopping in different stores and just couldn't find the right present. You know, that one thing that he REALLY wanted. On his list...a ladder (um...how am I going to hide THAT!?), hunting pants (now, THAT's exciting! HA!)...and then it hit me! He's always saying that he enjoys the time we have together...just the two of us. With 3 kids, jobs, a business, and other activities that time is sometimes hard to come by. When we DO have time alone, we often start in on some project that needs to get done because it's "so much easier and faster to get it done when the kids aren't around." Can you relate to that!?

So, I decided to give him "A Date a Month in 2010." I made the book out of chipboard and covered it with scrapbooking paper and stickers. Tied it together with jute. Keep in mind, this is for a man so I didn't need all the bling and fancy stuff. I kept it simple.

I went downtown to some of our favorite spots (the ones we never manage to get to) and a few NEW places that would be fun to try out. I bought gift cards or certificates for each place. 12 places total...one for each month. If they had one, I tried to pick up a business card from the business. It served as the "pocket" to hold the GC (see November's page above). I then attached them to each page, along with a little note.

He liked it! Really, he did! AND we are both looking forward to our "January Date"...breakfast at the the coffee shop!

In case you're interested, I did try to pick a variety of places AND times. Here are a few examples:

January - gift card to The Well. The note said, "Pick a morning. We'll drop the kids off at school and head to The Well for coffee and cinnamon rolls!"

March - 2 movie tickets. "MOVIE NIGHT (Popcorn's on me!)"

April - GC to Main Street Deli. "Block some time on your calendar and join me for lunch!"

May - GC to AutoZone. "Need some company while you're working on your car!? I'd love to join you for a good conversation and maybe to lend an extra hand." Note to readers: My husband has an old car he is working on in the garage. Your "date" doesn't have to be going out to dinner...be creative!

August - Chamber Check (these can be used at businesses that are part of the McPherson Chamber of Commerce). Used scrapbooking paper with a deck of cards as the background. "It's your lucky month. Pick a place and I'll join you...maybe over some BBQ!?

Halloween Sanitizer

When did OCTOBER get here!!?? I LOVE FALL, absolutely LOVE it!! There are so many things going on and fun things to do. SO MANY THINGS (Football games, soccer games, Pumpkin Patches, Fall Parties, Scrapbooking Weekends, Chili Feeds, Apple Orchards) that the months seem to FLY by!! I've been spending some time in blogland and, as always, am inspired by the amazing talent of so many different women. All the Fall and Halloween decorations makes me wish I had ALL DAY to CREATE!! Well, like most of you, I don't. BUT, I found these adorable Boo Sanitizers over at Just a Girl....

and HAD to try them for myself. I dug through my scrapbooking stuff (great way to use up scraps) and created these...

And these...

AND THESE...

Once you have your supplies out, it really only take MINUTES to get them done! I then went out and delivered them to friends...after all, EVERYONE could use these this time of year and it's so fun to give those "unexpected" little gifts!! Oh, and if you're a friend reading this and HAVEN'T gotten one, don't be mad...I still love you...I ran out of Sanitizer...making a trip to Walgreen's this afternoon...they have them on sale for 2 for $3.00!!! ;)

Laundry Room Sign

I found this collage frame at a garage sale for $1.00. I really liked the frame itself. The yellow collage matting...not so much. I purchased a vinyl wall saying several months ago for my laundry room and have been waiting to put it up. I am still toying with the idea of painting the laundry room at some point and I didn't want to waste my vinyl saying. SO, I decided to use this frame to help solve my dilemma.

The first thing I did was remove the matting and white paper that was inside the frame. I then adhered the vinyl saying to the GLASS of the frame. Now, I needed to create a new background. I went through my fabric and scrapbooking paper, but didn't find what I was looking for. Then it hit me, why not use wrapping paper!!?? It was CHEAP and AVAILABLE!!

So I cut the wrapping paper to the size needed to wrap the backboard of the picture frame.

Remember this doesn't have to look pretty...no one is going to see the back.

The final step was putting it all back together. So simple and easy. It took me about 1o minutes...most of which was spent rubbing on the vinyl saying. I like the paper. Seems fitting for the laundry room, don't you think!? AND the best part is, if I want to change colors or get tired of this, I can just take out the blue wrapping paper and change the background to something else!!! Side note: This isn't the greatest picture due to the glare. Looks much better in person AND you can't tell it's wrapping paper at all!!!

My plan is to frame pictures of my kiddos, all nice and DIRTY, having "loads of fun" all around it. I think this one qualifies, don't you!!??