A projects, a bribe, and a giveaway

Man, I'm getting good at blogging!  I feel so proud of myself lately.  Not because I'm taking the time to actually blog, but because it just shows me that I'm spending time AWAY from work, crafting, and playing with the family.... that feels GOOD, I like change... I think I might have to make more changes :) !  This was actually going to be a quickie post because it's Joe first day off of work and well that means I'm glued to him for the next 3 days.... lord help me :) but I have him fixing the sprinklers!

OK, first things first, lemme show you little project I made the other day: 

These seriously took me about 1/2 hour total and thats including the time I took to actually figure out what I wanted to do.   Just for fun (for all my digital girls out there that is) I thought I would run down the steps I did to make em' in case anyone out there was feeling a little adventurous, feeling like they needed to USE THEIR STASH , and needed a little pushy to get started!  Come along would ya?

Step 1:  Gather Your Supplies

I used plain white tags from Paper Reflections, my Sizzix butterfly die, a Hambly Studios grid overlay, Prima lace, Ranger Inc. paint dabber, old scrap paper, and a sewing machine which is totally optional :)

Step 2: Paint Your Tag

Step 3: Cut/Tear your scrap paper

I sized the paper to fit centered on the tag, with some of the painted edge still showing.  Then I tore off the very edges of all 4 sides.

Step 4: Ink

I inked the edged of my torn paper in a contrasting color AND also inked my painted tag with black ink

Step 5: To Sew or Glue...

Personally, I LOVE the look of things sewn onto a page or project.  If you don't have a sewing machine don't worry about it!  grab some embroidery floss or plain ole thread and a needle and hand sew away!  Actually, I much prefer that "hand made" look :)  When I used my machine, I also have a loose stitch and try purposely to go all over the place!

Step 6: Curl

Again, because I like a more "unclean" looking project, I have been spending a lot of time curling up edges of my mat's, pictures, and other paper stuff... just gives a little more flava :)  So I went around my edges and turned em' up a bit after it was sewn into place on the tag.

Step 7:  Frilly Up

Grab a small piece of scrap ribbon or lace.  Whatever you have laying around that will work with your project.  I put small beads of glue on the actual lace, then stuck it in place, centered on the tag, WITH the frayed sides kinda overlapping.

Step 8: Ink AND glue

If you don't have a die cutting machine to cut out any shapes, use WHATEVER you have on hand!  Use chipboard buttons, shapes, stickers, doesn't matter... just a little something to add some more texture, color, and/or "height" to your tag.

Step 9: Stamp or Write

Now, I'm in LOVE with stamps... ANY kind of stamps actually, so I chose to stamp my "greeting" on the tags.  I also truely hate my writing, so alphabet stamps are my favorite in the world to use!  If you don't have any, use stickers or hand print yours.  I put them in different spots on the tag, directly on the paper, on a different piece of paper, cut out, etc.  Just wanted to do them all different.

Step 10: Tie Me Up baby

Once you are all happy with the way your tag looks, go ahead and grab some scrap ribbons or in my case, I used tulle.... love the stuff.... kinda like glitter, can't get enough... it's yummy and girly and oh so fun! 

Voila... all set :)  Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't!  The point is to use scraps of stuff your already have and chances are you won't use ever!  Simple little projects like this are great for so many reasons... but seriously, how cute would this be, attached to a gift for someone?  Just makes it feel like you put a little bit of "you" into it and you can make it coordinate with the item you are giving.

Alrighty then, what's next here?  Oh, I SCRAPPED again and man oh man, I can't even tell you how much fun I'm having.  I don't know if its because I get to get my hands dirty with glue and paint and glitter and there is complete chaos in my office or if it's just because paper is my "roots" or if it's just because I'm away from work playing, but I'm really loving all the playing I'm doing lately.  Anyways, I can't show everything because most are samples for the show, but here is a layout I did:

Mostly Prima goodness here... Urban Cosmos Collection, flowers, my Whisper tape... then I used a Hambly Screen Print Overlay, and the journaling tag is also mine that I did digi :)

And then I did this little mini album... can't show ya what's inside yet, but here is the cover:

I used an old 7 Gypsies Album I had laying around, one of my Matties, Paint Dabbers, a small snippet of Prima's voila die cut ribbons, Prima's cardstock stickers, my Sizzix butterfly die, then some stamps.  I can't wait to show the inside of the album.... gotta wait until CHA is closer though :)

Alright, almost done here.... last but not least, my BRIBE and GIVEAWAY :)  The past couple of month's Makena has been showing signs of needing to be potty trained.  She always tells us when she "goes" (literally RIGHT after she goes), asks to be changed out of her Pull Up when she's done, knows the difference between #1 and # 2, and overall, I just feel like she's ready to get started training.  The only problem is that when we catch her before she goes and we try to get her ON the potty, she will not cooperate at all.  She loves going on the potty when she doesn't have to go, can sit there for 10 minutes singing her heart out, but when it's time to really do anything, she will cry and fight us getting on it.  So where do YOU come in and how does this work into my GIVEAWAY????

All you have to do is help me out with your bestest potty training tips... all the things you may have done that worked, friends have done, doctors told you, old wives' tales.... I will take ANYTHING lol!  It's been 7 years since I had to potty train Blake and he was SUPER easy.... trained in 1 week to even sleep through the night!  Makena will not be that easy!  So, leave me your tip and from those posts I will pick a random winner to receive my Whisper Collection:

This is a nice little package of stuff... my paper collection (2 of each design), rub ons, ribbons, clear tape, chipboard monograms, and a little package of flowers!  Please, please, please help a mother out!!!!  I will run this until Sunday night 10pm EST so leave me a suggestion for my potty training adventure and you get entered to win the package of goodies :)  I will ever so appreciate it!!!!!  Thanks ladies!  I'm off to see Kung Fu Panda!!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO

 

 

 

Comments

[Jenn]

Bribe her!I've heard it works - an m&m or something similar for making it in the potty. :)

[bunny]

Oooo.... lovely stuff there! It seems like Makena's the one who might need to be bribed :P Maybe you could give her a reward for using the potty. Or you could have some water toys that she can only play with ONLY when she's on the potty.

[Leslie (lhaslem)]

Oh man - i remember those days:) Hayden was almost 3 when we got him potty trained and would do the same thing - sit and sing forever but never do anything until 2 minutes after we took him off the potty. So I tried potty boot camp - naked:) For 2 days straight we stayed home and he wore no clothes. He sat on the portable potty for a good amount of that time watching TV or reading books because he was afraid of getting himself wet. Then, when he did go in the potty, he was so excited and proud of himself that he wanted to do it again. There were some accidents but overall naked boot camp worked for us.

Good luck Makena - you can do it! :)

[Donna]

We're training my grandson right now, so I can really appreciate what you're going through. :-) Does your daughter love clothes? If so, you might take her to the store to pick out underwear, explaining that she gets to wear them when she learns to go to potty. I'm also a big fan of the Sesame Street potty DVD.

[Juliana]

We had a jar of m&m's - she got one for trying, two for #1, and three for #2. This only works if your kid likes candy.

Once the #1 process was down, the #2 process usually needed a little more motivation. We talked about certain things she wanted, and then made goals associated with them. We put a chart up in the bathroom so she could see the progress toward her bribes...I mean, um, prizes!

[Sarah]

Holy moly.... definitely bribing! Find what she loves to reward her with. We did a sticker chart and after 10 stickers, she got a Littlest Pet Shop animal. But I will say, the sticker chart didn't work at first, we took a few weeks off and came back and it did work--with the pet shop animals.

And actually, the other thing that worked for us is that she wasn't allowed to have any sweet things at all until she went to the bathroom on the toilet. If she did, she could have sweet things again--unless she had an accident. We do not give her sweets all the time of course, but she loves them when she has them!

Good luck Corina! I don't envy you. We're still working on going #2!

[denali]

Jenn & Juliana said exactly what I was going to say: M&Ms! Worked like a charm for my cousins' babies :)

[Jamie]

Oh, I feel your pain... my littlest one was a total nightmare- ok, maybe I shouldn't have told you that (don't want to scare you... but on the bright side, my other 2 a boy and a girl were speedy trainers)

Anyways, first thing we did was set a timer and every 1/2 hour they sat on the potty like clockwork- (i might read to them for a few minutes while they were on there to get them to sit for a minute) after sitting, we did the sticker thing (the kids got one to put right ON the potty- we were 'decorating' it, snd I rewarded them even if they did not accomplish 'anything' other than sitting on it, I wanted them to want to sit on the potty) When sitting on the potty resulted in 'somtheing' I had a basket that I had filled with $$ store goodies that were wraped up like presents (you leave me a present in the potty- you get a present) these goodies were not extravagant- a few stickers, a sucker, a car, a beaded bracelet, etc...
This is what worked for us- quicker for the 1st two, slower for the 3rd- but it did work for us. We also went to the store and let them pick out their own underwear- and if I did buy then anythong random while we were out shopping or whatever, I'd tell them that whis was because the were so good at sitting on the potty this week- just constantly giving them that positive feedback...

Best of luck Corina~ hope the training is speedy!! :)

[Danette]

First of all, be absolutely sure she is ready! Then find something she loves, and bribe her! She gets the treat or whatever you choose when she tells and goes and she doesn't if there is an accident. Always walk through what to do "right" when there is an accident. Also, brand new big girl panties.
LOTS and LOTS of PRAISE!

[lindsay]

i feel your pain, girl!! SAME thing w/ my 3 yr. old son right now. the only thing that has gotten him to NOT fuss about getting on is shifting the focus to a stuffed animal (or doll)...we're not potty training my SON right now, we're training the doll. so leif gets to put it on the potty, tell it what to do, etc. etc. it was even HIS idea to make a little pretend potty for the doll so they could sit on it together... maybe she would be into that, too?

[BethW]

Great tutorial. I love the photos and the step by step. Makes it so easy to follow.
Potty training-karma is fixing to get you. I had 4 boys and if you were able to potty train a boy in a week, trust me you totally upset the potty cosmos! The only thing that got me through it was a line from a Bill Cosby stand up routine-"Have you ever see a child go to school in diapers?".
I'm with the potty boot camp if you can do it. Certainly lots of praise for even small successes. Hang in there-a good sense of humor and lots of love will get you through it.

[Anne-Marie]

Hmmm.. I have 2 kids and I did them the same way. Bring them to the loo at periodic timings, that seemed to work. Training them for night is another matter altogether. :)

[karenvonbaron]

Potty training, hmmmm...it has been 24 years since I had to tackle that but I remember my daughter wanted those big girl panties with the ruffles on the pack of them. Remember those? Wouldn't go over her diaper and we didn't have pull-ups back then. Made potty training easier---she wanted to wear anything 'big girl' and not baby! She also like getting the 'atta girl' when she went in the potty and not the diaper. Overnight potty training was a little more tricky...Hope this helps. Best of luck! ;)

[Denise ~ Paper Ponderings]

Oh I'm ALL for bribery. Let's see...we used stickers, ice cream, whatever was "big" at the time. I remember seeing one little girl at church with bandaids ALL over her little legs and I asked what had happened. The reply was, "Oh nothing. She loves bandaids so we used them as a reward."

[StampinCathy]

I had this problem with my second one. I had to just put in in little girl panties. Pull Ups are great and a must, but it keeps them dry. Little girl panties will be wet and they hate that. I also have alittle treat every time she did her business and that really helped also. Good Luck!

[Mimi Hornberger]

My girls were quite easy but I found that treats helped a lot. Treats for dry pants, treats for using the potty, new "big girl" panties, etc. I wish you the best of luck.
Yummy goodies! TFS! XO, Mimi

[karen]

maaan i am so sorry, mine is 3 and he's not potty trained yet so i have no ideas. I've heard rewards are great. making potty time fun is great too from what i'm told....i'll be watching this thread for ideas!!

[Francesca Di Leo]

Great techniques and info...

I'd love to get my hands on that product package...!!!

As for the potty training - I just let my little guy go naked all day and I'd chase him around with the potty when I knew it was time to "go". I always knew when he had to poop when he'd hide under the kitchen table and get very quiet (unlike his usual rambuctious self). He eventually got the message and would ask to go potty.

It's all fun, enjoy it cause it goes by so quickly. Think of all the fun tales you'll be able to tell when she's older.

all the best
Francesca from Toronto

[2stampis2b]

Beautiful stuff! I just found your blog today via Prima. It's hard to remember potty training my 5-year-old even though it wasn't that long ago...we used a training book and rewards like M&Ms. It didn't take long, but guess what? We just had an accident while running errands the other day. Mommy was busy and my little guy doesn't speak up like he should, so between the two of us...

[Deborah]

For my son...I had to wait (I tried to start him using the potty too early)...so if you know the time is right...here's what I did. We got a potty seat that was cool looking (the little potty didn't work for him)....than we got a book that talked about a little boy who learned to use the potty and how proud he was about it...than we'd read the book often and each time he tried to use the potty I'd cheer and clap for him "woo hoo, way to go!"...kind of like a potty party! He used waterproof training pants on top of real BIG boy pants! Each time he'd not use the potty...we'd go to the potty and try to see if he had anymore...soon he knew how to go at the right time. I'd ask him "Do you have to potty...let's try" after giving him lots to drink. He'd also like to run the water in the sink to try to help him out. It was hard work. Using the potty seat was better for me than the little potty...who likes to clean up the little potty when you can just flush it down :)

[Cass]

Sorry, I can't help much. My son was super-easy to train and my daughter is only 6 months old so a while off starting.

Something I've heard of is a star chart. Draw up a sheet of paper and put a star sticker (or some other sticker!) on the chart each time there is "potty success". When she reaches a certain number give her a reward. I don't know if it will work but it might be worth a try!

Good luck! :)

[Kelli P.]

I haven't had to potty train yet, but I have a friend who she spend a whole day in the bathroom with the child and she has there favorite things to drink and some snacks. But the point is to have them drink alot and then to use the toilet. I don't know, but she has potty trained all her kids this way (4) and in just a day. I personally would go find a book and read it. I love your layout! It is gorgeous.

[Karen B.]

Good luck with the potty training. That's probably the one part of parenting that I didn't like at all. Positive reinforcement is the best tool that I know of. I would suggest making potty time an opportunity to read to her to get her mind off the task at hand. If she uses her diaper when she's not paying attention, then anything that lands in the toilet while reading it a reinforcement opportunity. I wish you the best in this.

Your giveaway items are really nice, too. Thanks!

[Sandie McCarthy-Roberts]

Bribe, Bribe, Bribe. And everyone has a payoff. Find out what hers is, and buy it ahead of time. Put it on the wall.. or on a shelf.. and say.. oh boy. THIS is yours... as soon as. If she whales.. you say... with urgency. OH OH.. Let's hurry then, and you can have it right now!!! Let's go potty, so you can have this!!! Make it her decision. Her power. Once she goes.. she'll go. Then the payoffs can be smaller. :) Good Luck. Hope it works. Every child is so different. What works for one.. doesn't work for the next.

[Jeanette]

Thankfully, my boys were a breeze to potty train. I always rewarded them for going, and it worked like a charm. I saw Kate (of Jon & Kate plus 8) giving one of the kids m&ms and then taking their picture standing next to the potty. Wasn't sure how I felt about that at first, but I can imagine the child felt great having a photo of her work for all to see! :D