craft verb \'kraft\ to create with care, skill and intention



Thursday, April 28, 2011

got cash?

One of the symptoms of our stuck-in-a-rut-ness over the last couple of years is that our approach to managing our money has become pretty lax. Now, I'm no financial expert, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that this is not the best approach. So we decided this week to start using Dave Ramsey's tool known as "The Envelope System" . Did you click over there and check it out? If you're not already familiar with it, go give it a look-see. (I am not affiliated with Dave Ramsey in any way other than being a big fan.)

Since I am "the nerd" of the house, organizing this system for our household falls to me. Since I am such a crafting geek, well, making it cute falls to me, too. Come on - you didn't really think I was just going to use regular old envelopes did you? I happen to believe that if you have a dull or otherwise unappealing task to do then cute-ing it up can make it a little more enjoyable. Or at least tolerable. I think of it as a spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down ;-)





Don't they just make you want to sit down and pay bills? Ok, maybe they're not quite that cute! But they are easy and fun and they could be useful even if you are not interested in The Envelope System. I think they would be perfect for gifting cash and in this season of graduations and weddings, I thought you might enjoy seeing how I put them together.


Start with a piece of cardstock 6 1/4" wide by 6 3/4" tall. Fold up the bottom 3" to form a flap, leaving a margin at the top for adding labels.

Lay a piece of scrapbook paper across the front of your cardstock and attach it with glue. I'm loving rubber cement right now, but use whatever works for you.


Optional: Use a 1" circle punch to punch out a semi-circle on the bottom flap. It really does make it a little easier to remove the money from the envelope. You could use other shapes, too, or skip this step.


Wrap the excess scrapbook paper around to the back and glue it down. It will not wrap all the way around and meet in the middle. I did not find this bothersome, but if you do, you could use ribbon or fabric in place of the paper and cut it to a length sufficient to wrap all the way around the envelope. That's it! Now you can embellish it however you like.


Voila! Pop it into a gift bag and you're ready to go. Oh, and don't forget to fill it with some moolah! (Please don't harsh on my terrible stamping job ;-) I was trying to hurry and get this all done before picking Baby K up from school!)

Now go forth and make envelopes! Or take a bath. Or do something nice for yourself. You deserve it!
~B

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Versatile Blogger Award

I am sooo excited about this! Thank you to Lesli at Put A Little Umbrella In Your Drink for nominating me! If you haven't checked out Lesli's blog before, hop on over for a visit. She features all kinds of great deals and cool giveaways. It's so fun!

So here's what ya do:
1. Link back to the person who nominated you for the award.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 7 new-found blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

Here are 7 things about me:
1. I gag when I get really freaked out. I don't know why. I don't like it. But it's especially bad considering that...
2. ...crowds really freak me out. You can imagine the hilarity that ensues. I will have to tell you sometime about the time I went to Wal-Mart at 5:00 a.m. on Black Friday (for obvious reasons this is not a regular thing for me). That's definitely a story for another time, but I didn't have to wait in any long lines :)
3. I am a huge grammar geek. (That's not to say that my grammar is always correct.) I know the different parts of speech and I always got really excited in school when it was time to diagram sentences. I still get a little excited just thinking about it!
4. I do not like to shop. When I worked outside of the home and had to have decent clothes, I would visit the website of my favorite store, decide what I wanted, then go to the store and grab just those things. Now, I just wear the same two t-shirts and pants until The Hubs tells me it really is time to go get some new clothes. Then I go to Wal-Mart and buy two new t-shirts and pants. It's mostly because...
5. ...I am ridiculously cheap. I recently refused to buy a flowery clip for my hair because it was $2. Seriously. I came home, cut up an old t-shirt into strips, fashioned the strips into a rosette and wore that in my hair instead. I am not even kidding. I admit that it does seem a little silly when I see it typed out in black and white, but it seemed completely reasonable at the time. The Hubs wants me to include that I super-glued my glasses back together on an almost daily basis for well over a year because I was too cheap to go get new ones. I remind him often daily that he really wouldn't like it any better if I spent money like crazy. He reminds me right back that there is some middle ground. (I've never been there, but they tell me it's nice.)
6. I love to listen to NPR. I am particularly fond of The Diane Rehm Show and Talk of the Nation (especially Science Friday). I actually have the call-in numbers for those shows (and for the White House, by the way) in the phone book on my cell phone and I have called them all before, but I've never gotten through. Well, I've gotten through at the White House...that number just goes to voicemail and you can leave the President a message. I don't know if he listens to it or not because he's never called me back or anything (Men!). But it is nice to know that there is a venue for you to share your thoughts. And I always have lots of thoughts. Which brings me to...
7. ...the best piece of advice I've ever gotten: "Maybe you just need to get over yourself a little bit." I know that sounds harsh, but it was delivered quite sweetly by a man whose only interest was to help me through a particularly rough patch in my life over 10 years ago. I've never forgotten it. I hear it in my head every single day. And I'm still working on it. I think I probably always will be.

So, now that we're BFF's I know you're dying to see who my 7 lucky peeps are!

Shelley of Crazy Wonderful - great crafts and family fun
Sarah of Unfamiliar Paths - faith, family, and adventures in sewing
Stephanie of Full of Great Ideas - the awesome-est thrifty projects you've ever seen!
Shauna of Shauna Henry Art - crazy cool mixed-media art
Bonnie of Pink Stitches - great sewing and crafts combined with family fun
Mattie and Tiffany, both of Mrs. Crafty Mama - lots of fun crafting

I hope you'll pop over to check out their fab blogs! Congrats to these 7 talented ladies!
~Brooke

Monday, April 25, 2011

Don't Call It a Comeback...

...I've been here for years! Ok, so I haven't exactly been burning up the airwaves the last couple of weeks. My entire fam has been taking turns being sick - one after the other - for what seems like an eternity but is actually only about 3 weeks. Yep, it has been a regular snot factory around here. The whole fiasco culminated in my contracting a sinus infection last week, which of course I let get way out of control before going to the doctor because I'm pretty much convinced that antibiotics are evil and enough vitamin C can cure anything. You know, except for when it doesn't cure something and then I have to go to the doctor and get antibiotics. So I went to the doctor, got the antibiotics (and a shot! Bleh!) and I'm just now feeling human again. And I have missed you all so much!

I'm so disappointed, too, because I had fun stuff planned to share with you. Some of it I still can share, but I doubt you're very interested in Easter crafts at this point, huh? Oh well. Life happens ;) I hope you guys have had a great April and a terrific Easter!

I do have one exciting thing to share! I got nominated for an award, y'all! It's my very first one and it absolutely made my day. This is just a little teaser, though. I will give you all of the details tomorrow! And it involves sharing some of my fave blogs, so tune in for all of the fun!
~B

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Pay It Forward Giveaway Winners!

Hi all! Sorry I've been slow to announce the Pay It Forward winners. Allergy season is in full swing here and I've been in an antihistamine-induced haze for days now ;-) But I am very pleased to announce that there are five faboo winners! Yea! Congrats to Pink Stitches, Lesli of Put A Little Umbrella In Your Drink, Meg of A Little Knick Knack, Mattie and Tiffany - both of Mrs. Crafty Mama. Ladies, look for an email from me inquiring about your mailing address!
~Brooke

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Look What I Got!

Take a look at what came in the mail for me today! Squeal! I was one of 5 winners of Shelley's Pay It Forward giveaway over at Crazy Wonderful and I won a set of awesome handmade chalkboard coasters. And they arrived today!
They are so fun! I love them! Thanks Shelley!
~B

Friday, April 8, 2011

Pay it Forward Giveaway!

Hi friends! I am so excited to take part in the Pay it Forward giveaway that I read about on Crazy Wonderful! I am one of 5 lucky readers of Shelley's blog to win these crazy awesome chalkboard coasters:


Photo from Shelley's blog
 All I had to do was leave a comment on her blog promising to "pay it forward" with a giveaway on my own blog! What fun!

So now it's your turn to be one of the lucky ones. Here's what I have for you:


Key fobs!

Daisy Bouquet in Indigo from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line


Ripple Stripe in Orange (I know that seems weird since there's
no orange in this little strip, but there's lots of orange in the
overall pattern repeat) from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern II line


Mosaic in Rose from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line


Sweet Jasmine in Brown from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line


Clematis in Green from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line
 So if you want to play along, here's all you have to do:
  • If you are not yet a follower of Craft a Better World, consider this your engraved invitation! Click "follow" up above and join up!
  • Leave a comment on this post promising to post to your own blog something you have made that you will gift to 5 commentors.
  • That's it! Easy peasy!
The first 5 people to comment will win one of my key fobs, so don't delay! And if you include in your comment which key fob you would like to receive I will do my best to honor your request - just remember that I only have 1 of each :-) Good Luck!
~B

A Little Knick Knack ***Hey! I'm linking up to Meg's party at A Little Knick Knack! Come on over to check out tons of fun ideas!!!***