0 Top 10 Projects of 2011

 HAPPY ALMOST NEW YEAR!

I wish you an yours a happy and fruitful 2012.  

I love to look back to see which of my posts are visited the most throughout the year.  Some of these, including the most visited project are from years past, but that doesn't make them any less special.  I am so happy everyone is still finding inspiration from my creations!  Let's take a look at the most visited projects of 2011 here at seven thirty three.

 10. Frayed Edge Pillows - These still adorn my bed and are so soft and comfy.  I still love my Master Bedroom makeover and am so happy I made these to accent my bed and headboard!

3 Mama Bird Necklaces

I finally got around to making some of these adorable Mama Bird Necklaces that I found via Pinterest.

I made my mom, and both SIL's one and added to their gifts for Christmas (of course I made myself one too!).  My little sister had already seen mine and loved it, so  I made her one using the same idea, but instead of making it a "nest" I just did loose loops around one bead.  I loved it so much I made myself a pair of earrings that matched her necklace.   They were a big hit and everyone loved them.  So easy and inexpensive to make!  I used 8mm pearls, although 6mm probably would have been easier for my moms which required 6 beads.

2 What are little boys made of? #92

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Party Guidelines: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project and 2) Enter your blog name and in paranthesis add the name of your project so we can clearly see what it is 3) Don't forget, these should be BOY RELATED (Big Boy projects are accepted too)! AND PLEASE grab my button!

2 Sugar & Spice #91

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The party guidelines are: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project 2) Don't forget, these should be GIRL RELATED (can be for us grown up girls too)! 3) AND PLEASE grab my button and add it to your post so that other crafty ladies can come join the fun.

0 Angry Bird Ornament

Merry Christmas Eve!  I wanted to share with you this super cute, SUPER EASY Christmas ornament I made in just 20 minutes!  I referred to Obsessively Stitching's tutorial and used an old red bulb, white, orange, and black acrylic paint and a regular old paint brush:

 I was cruising Pinterest when I came across the tutorial and my son happened to be next to me.  He is an Angry Bird fanatic and BEGGED me to make one.  It turned out perfect and really does look like an Angry Bird!   There's still time to get one on your tree!

0 FFF: Lisa Storms Holiday Teacher Gifts

I fell in love with these teacher gifts from Lisa Storms:

 What's not to love?
I took this idea and put it to use for my sister and her boyfriends gift.  I stuffed one with a $25 gift card to Starbucks.  I had already picked up a shirt for my sister that she had mentioned she liked in passing, so I stuffed hers with the shirt.  Put them in a gift bag and they are waiting under the tree until Christmas morning.I used a wood bead and a shish kabob skewer and printed up some flags and glued them on.

2 What are little boys made of? #91

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Party Guidelines: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project and 2) Enter your blog name and in paranthesis add the name of your project so we can clearly see what it is 3) Don't forget, these should be BOY RELATED (Big Boy projects are accepted too)! AND PLEASE grab my button!

8 seven thirty three's future...

First I need to say THANK YOU to all of you who took the time to leave me a comment or to send an email my way after Sunday's post.  It was so heartening to have all of your support.  My blog has been my hobby for the last 2.5 years and after posting my decision I had a knot in my stomach the last few days.  To feel like I was just totally done... I swear, I feel like a junkie trying to break her habit! But after receiving some great words of wisdom from my friends, fellow bloggers and readers telling me that maybe I could just check in once in a while and not worry about the pressures of following my schedule, it clicked.  I have held myself to a standard with blogging like I do with everything else in my life.  If I'm doing something I'm going to be routine about it, and with blogging it is just becoming too much for me.  It took me taking a break from my many activities to realize I felt like my children always saw me with a computer in front of my face; even though I did most of my blogging at night when they were in bed, it is just how I felt.  It was a breath of fresh air not to have to run to my computer to make sure I had a post for the next day.  But at the same time I really did feel like something had died!  I know that might sound weird to non-bloggers, but I know that many of my blogging sisters understand!  SO, I am not quite ready to give up seven thirty three.  
This is my plan: I know many find the boy party a great resource for boy-related crafts and I would hate for the blogging community to loose that, so i will continue my weekly parties. Other than that, nothing will be regular around here.  I know I have always stated that is one way to grow your blog and I still totally believe that, but my goal isn't growth as it once was.  It is to continue to share my ideas and crafts and to inspire others.  I often pushed myself to create something just so the blog had new content, so it became work and not a fun hobby.

Although I may not check in as often as I use to, I will still be around and I will still be stopping by all of the awesome craft blogs and you will still find me on Facebook and Pinterest.  I am just taking the pressure off from myself and lowering the standard that I set for myself.  I think this will bring the pleasure of blogging back to me!  We'll see how it goes and how my children fair and in the end that will be the determining factor for the future of seven thirty three!

1 Sugar & Spice #90

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The party guidelines are: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project 2) Don't forget, these should be GIRL RELATED (can be for us grown up girls too)! 3) AND PLEASE grab my button and add it to your post so that other crafty ladies can come join the fun.

3 "POP!" Themed Gift Basket

For our Family Party this year I created a POP! Themed Gift Basket and I'm excited to share with you the contents!  The recipient was my Aunt, her husband and 11 year old step-daughter.

The original purchase that started the theme was a Babycakes Cake Pop maker.  I then found a Pop Art Jewelry Maker for the 11 year old.  And after discussing with my husband we picked up some Poptarts, Pop Rocks, Popcorn, Sour Pop Pacifier and some Pringles, which I added a "Once you POP, you just can't STOP!" tag to.  I also picked up some beef jerky and created a tag that said "For the "POP" of the Family".  He also got a case of beer that had a "Pop the Top" tag attached and of course I forgot to get a picture! {NOPE.  Not stretching the Pop theme one bit!}.

2 Aliens Love Underpants

Hi Ladies.  As I posted yesterday I have decided to step back from blogging but had a few last draft posts to publish.  This is one of them... it is a guest post I did over at Dragonfly Designs last week:

Today I am going to share with you a craft that my son Mason and I worked on together.  I think this would make a wonderful gift for a daycare or pre-school gift exchange, or really, any little boy in your life.

Have you ever heard of this book?

30 Sunday Sadness

UPDATE: I'm not usually wishy-washy, but I've grown this blog and it is a piece of me and after posting this it didn't feel right, so check out the future of seven thirty three here.  It is with great sadness that I write up this post... I have decided to stop blogging at this time.  I took three weeks off from my design side job (seven thirty three - - - custom blog design) and only have had the blog to focus on this last week and I had so much more me time.  I then decided I would take the next two weeks off from blogging as well and really focus on family time... but I think I have made the decision to continue on with just designing for all you other great bloggers.  I have really enjoyed blogging and sharing my crafts and creations with all of you, but I have come to feel it is more of a chore than enjoyment recently, which tells me it is time to stop.  There were some other factors that have contributed to my decision, but right now, I just want to focus on myself and my three young children! The plan is to have this last, but we'll see if in a month I am ready to come back.  I plan on keeping seven thirty three online and available for reference and will still be checking comments and emails, etc.  And  course I will post the rest of my draft posts. I wish you all the best and thank those of you have followed along and taken the time to comment and email me.  It really made me feel appreciated!

1 No Sew Felt Mailbox

I made my son a no-sew felt loft bed the other day, but because his goes under his desk there really wasn't room to add a mailbox like I did for my daughters.  But he REALLY wanted one and said, "Mom, can't we just make one to put on my desk?"  How could I say no to that challenge? I had plastic canvas and felt and a trusty glue gun, so in about 10 minutes we came up with this:

Not the prettiest, but it does its job and he is super happy with it! 

8 Money Bouquet Tutorial

Out of the 30 people I give gifts to for Christmas only two are receiving a gift of cash.  Wow writing them number down seems crazy!  But remember, I'm from a huge family!  5 siblings, a mom and dad, 5 nieces/nephews, 2 SIL's, 1 BIL, Parent-In-Laws, Grandparents, my children, Husband, one very close family, daycare provider, and 2 best friends.  We no longer exchange with my older brother and his wife and we made that decision mutually.  My younger siblings are still young, so doing a drawing to buy gifts doesn't work yet... maybe eventually!  Anyway - the two I am giving the gift of money to are saving to make purchase bigger items so I am helping to contribute to that.  But of course I can't just put it in an envelope!  So not my style.   I came up with this idea on the fly and am pretty happy with the result!

A Money bouquet!

3 FFF: Teacher Holiday Gifts

DOUBLE DOSE OF FFF TODAY!

I created a few fuzzy sock cupcakes for my daughters teachers for Holiday Gifts this year.  Along with a lemonade 'thirst for knowledge' cup (idea and straw flag from Lisa Storms):

 {Sorry for the bad lighting!  Took this picture at 9 at night... what do you want from me?!?  LOL}

1 FFF: Designer Flowerz

I was pretty impressed when Adriana from Designer Flowerz emailed me several tutorials from her blog.  At 13 years old she is already on the fast track to an awesome creative adulthood! The tutorial that stuck out the most to me were her tie dye tied shirts:

 My 13 year old sister actually turned her school soccer shirt into one of these last year and they look pretty neat.  PERFECT teenage project. 

2 What are little boys made of? #90

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Party Guidelines: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project and 2) Enter your blog name and in paranthesis add the name of your project so we can clearly see what it is 3) Don't forget, these should be BOY RELATED (Big Boy projects are accepted too)! AND PLEASE grab my button!

2 Sugar & Spice #89

Oh GEEZ!  I totally forgot to remind you yesterday to stop by Dragonfly Designs for her One for the Boys event where I shared a very fun craft based off the book, Aliens Love Underpants!  Please stop by this awesome event to show your love to me and the other guest bloggers, and Heather to!  So basically just show the love to everyone, it is that time of year, right?!? Also an FYI for you all: I am taking next week and the week after off from blogging so that I can enjoy the Holidays with my family.  My two weekly link parties will still be up on Wednesday/Thursday so feel free to link up!

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The party guidelines are: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project 2) Don't forget, these should be GIRL RELATED (can be for us grown up girls too)! 3) AND PLEASE grab my button and add it to your post so that other crafty ladies can come join the fun.

2 Handmade Christmas Ornament Round-Up

Each year my mom's family gets together for a large Christmas bash.  My mom has 8 siblings, all married with at least 3 children... and now those children are getting married and having children.  So needless to say, there are a lot of us.  It's loud, it's busy and it's loads of fun!  One of the traditions of the party is an ornament exchange.  Each person brings an ornament and sometime during the party we all gather in the great room and in order of age, pick an ornament.  It is always a blast and some of the ornaments are SO much fun, like this Ballerina Pig my daughter got at her first exchange (it was a much sought after ornament!):

1 Poor Elf Got Stuck!

He he he!  Poor Christina Marie got her belt stuck on our fan and had to hang upside down all.day.long! But she got an eagle eye view of the days proceedings and apparently she was concerned with what she saw because this morning the kids found her here:

{click image for a larger view}

She managed to hack into my password protected computer and wrote Santa an email that says: "Dear Santa,  I'm sorry I didn't make it back to the North Pole tonight.  My belt got snagged on the fan and it took me all night to get unstuck.  The Conner kids are being good. However, they are fighting a bit amongst each other.  If they keep fighting they might need a bit of coal in their stockings.  I sure hope they start being nicer to each other so that doesn't happen!  Love, Christina Marie Pop-in-Kins"
My kids bicker on and off, it's just what they do, but this last week it has gotten TIRESOME!  I know it is the excitement of the Holidays, the crazy schedules, etc. and we'll get back on track once we are into January!  But until then... maybe the fear of coal will keep them in line. HA!

10 Loft Bed No-Sew Felt Tent Tutorial

We purchased my youngest daughter a new loft bed a few weeks ago. This is the one we bought:

It is solid wood (no particle board!) and is a perfect height.  UPDATE: Lots of people have emailed me asking where I got the bed - it is the Popsicle Mid-Loft Sleeper and I bought mine through O.co (AWESOME customer service at that site!).  I had a promo code and it was free shipping, so it was the best deal on the bed I could find, but you can find it all over online.  There is even a version with a slide.  I do want to mention that the first bed we received was missing the headboard and the footboard, and four of the pieces (I think it was the four bottom legs) didn't have holes on one side.  O.co was amazing and shipped us a new bed OVERNIGHT and paid for the old bed to be shipped back.  The second bed came in and there were no issues.  If you are a Facebook fan you might remember me posting about my experiences with both O.co and UPS (don't even get me started on them!).

1 FFF: Candy Cane's Are Delish!

I love this super simple Candy Cane Door Decor made from Burlap and plastic bags.  A Gracious Gathering shares how to she created this cute Holiday decoration right here.  I'm pretty sure most of us crafters have all of these materials on hand!  Deck the halls and all that jazz, right?

3 Santa's Spy Went for a Swim

Well, technically she went for a boat ride... in the kids bathtub.  She also dumped all the toys out of their mesh bag and into the bottom of the tub.   My daughter turned on the shower this morning and stepped in and imagine her surprise when she found Christina Marie already there!  And she remembers hearing the tub running last night at 10:45pm but thought it was me....  she was correct, I used her restroom at 10:45pm, but there was no sign of Christina Marie.  She said it must have been at 11:15pm that she woke up. :p
Check out this stinkin' elf:

If your elf decides to take a boat ride and the bathroom is connected to a child's room, please note to run the water very slowly so it isn't too loud... also, Christina Marie may or may not have turned the faucet off and resorted to lugging bowls full of water from the Master Bathroom to avoid the noise...
Christina Marie also lost her magic yesterday.... a certain two year old couldn't resist a little touch, and then her older brother said, "Nooooooo!!!!! Now she lost her magic!  We HAVE to tell Santa!"  To which said two year old responded by bursting into tears and saying, "NO MOMMY!  No, don't tell Santa!".  I told her Santa wouldn't be mad and then called Santa and told him that Christina Marie would need a magic boost and please do so ASAP.  Since Santa wasn't mad all was well in the world.
Happy Wednesday!

1 What are little boys made of? #89

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Party Guidelines: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project and 2) Enter your blog name and in paranthesis add the name of your project so we can clearly see what it is 3) Don't forget, these should be BOY RELATED (Big Boy projects are accepted too)! AND PLEASE grab my button!

7 Sugar & Spice #88

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The party guidelines are: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project 2) Don't forget, these should be GIRL RELATED (can be for us grown up girls too)! 3) AND PLEASE grab my button and add it to your post so that other crafty ladies can come join the fun.

1 Fun Felt Christmas Tree for Kids

I wanted to share this great felt project my son brought home from daycare last week.

 Together with his daycare provider he cut out a Christmas tree and all the trimmings.  The also cut out some present shapes and created bows and even a little Santa.  Him and his little sister has spent lots of time creating "surprises" for me by decorating the tree in new and fabulous ways.

2 Meet Christina Marie Pop-in-Kins

We have a crazy elf that runs around our house at night getting into all sorts of trouble and having lots of fun.  Her name is Christina Marie Pop-in-Kins and she made her debut in the Conner household last year.  She was a big hit and the first thing each morning from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas Day is the hunt for Christina.  The concept is that she is magic and at night (or while the children are busy) she can move and run (just like a "real boy"!) and takes off to tell Santa all the secrets of the children in the house (you know, like Suzy pushed Bobby and John didn't eat his dinner)... but along the way to going to Santa's she likes to have a little fun and ends up in different places each morning... and no, you aren't suppose to touch her because she'll loose her magic (although sometimes little fingers can't resist and then Santa may have to give her a magic boost...).

7 How To: Open a Link in a New Window with a Single Click!

When you link to another website and a user clicks that link it typically brings that person away from your blog and to the other page... and who knows if they will return!  Unless you know html and know how to add the correct tag to the code, there isn't anything you can do about it... until recently!  Have you noticed that Blogger added a new feature when you click that little link button?

 To have a link open a new window so that a user does not leave your site, all you have to do is make sure that little "Open this link in a new window" is checked!  No more loosing readers as they go off to explore your links!

0 Shabby Apple Giveaway Winner

Congrats to the winner of the Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway:

#8 - Rae!  You are going to be the best dressed lady in town this Holiday! 

4 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town...

I spent last night putting together our Christmas Cards.  Each year I put out a photo Christmas Card for family and friends... but getting a group shot of my three kids is ALMOST impossible.  It just doesn't happen.  I decided we had so much fun with the Monster Mouths from my sons party that we would do a similar style for our card.  I put together some fun Christmas things on the computer, printed and cut them out, added them to a skewer and gave them to the kids.  Here was the attempt at a group shot:

 And this was THE best one out of like twenty... Instead we went individual:

0 FFF: Boys Best Vest Tutorial (with Pattern)

Last week was horrible, as you know I had a bacterial infection that put me down for the count, but now I'm back and on the mend and jappy to be back with a FFF!

When Dana from A Place in the Cloud sent me her Boys' Best Vest tutorial I knew I had to share it with you all.  This is PERFECT for the Holidays, so if you want your little man to be the best dressed guy on the block, head over to A Place in the Cloud for the tutorial!