It's Been a While!

Hello again!
    As much as I hate taking small hiatus', sometimes it just happens without any control. We started a tiny new adventure and would love to share it with you all. This will be one of my only posts about it on this blog, as not to distract from what this blog is about.

Our sweet Caroline is very into this new thing about the surprise egg videos out there on YouTube. After much, MUCH, viewing and consideration, we decided to start our own channel as well! This is just a fun little adventure to take with our daughter. There is a lot of bonding activity for us, as well she is learning so many things. We talk about the colors of items, we use a lot of toys she has for fun little play-doh covered eggs and some new ones. As well once we have enough subscribers we will be doing giveaways and donating toys as well to area children's hospitals. I want to teach her to spread happiness, just as much as she gets from these videos. If you can do us a favor and check out our little channel. Let us know what you think! We would love to hear from anyone.

Here is the information:
Channel Name: ACD Toy Collector

Here is one of our first videos to check out! Click Here for YouTube Chanel.

I will be talking soon about our current living situation (renting a house) and how we keep everything organized in smaller spaces! As well I am going to try and bring myself back into the Silhouette Challenges, I loved doing those and they are one of my favorite activities for me. Thank you for hanging around! See you very soon- Alisha

Festive Advent

Happy Holidays! I hope all of my readers are having a great holiday season. I am so glad I actually had time to jump in and get my Silhouette Challenge done for this month. It was a very close call with everything I have going on lately.

Some pearls are missing because I have a curious toddler. 

This months project is something that I want to pass down as a tradition to my daughter. When I was very young my mom would always buy all of us kids an advent calendar. It was nothing fancy, just the nice little cardboard boxes with flap doors to reveal chocolate candy. The memory of it has held on and is something I do find wonderfully nostalgic. Last year my little one was much too young to really enjoy the festivities or candy for that matter.

Now that she is older we are so excited to share in the holiday fun with her. So with this project I decided to make the advent calendar and make it something very special for both of us. Now, this was not as easy as I believed it would be.  I am positive I made it more difficult for myself than I should have. But that is the point of the challenge, right?

I used a thicker card stock, not sure of the weight because it was pieces in my paper box. I made the design myself in the Silhouette software. It is like a lift top box style with flap doors that are perforated around the edges. I then embellished them with large, easy to read numbers and a little bow with a pearl on top.

My daughter thinks it is "pwettyyy!" and is very excited for her "bite!", everyday. We also work on getting her to say the number on the front, so far she has gotten to number 5, but I don't push it. It's just so much fun to watch her get so excited to open it up and be as excited as I was. These are the moments to cherish with her!

Over the year I will be making a new one surely with new materials that are sturdier and will hold up for years to come. Have a wonderful Holiday Season and Happy New Year! - Alisha

Make sure to check out these amazing projects by our other Silhouette Challenger Bloggers. As well enter for a chance to win a Cameo or Portrait of your very own!

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!





1. Pineapples and Pinecones // 2. Simply Kelly Designs // 3. Architecture of a Mom // 4. Just a Girl and Her Blog // 5. Two Purple Couches // 6. Chicken Scratch NY // 7. Creative Ramblings // 8. One Dog Woof // 9. Ginger Snap Crafts // 10. The Thinking Closet // 11. Please Excuse My Craftermath... // 12. Designer Trapped in a Lawyer's Body // 13. weekend craft // 14. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 15. Practically Functional // 16. Living My Given Life // 17. My Paper Craze // 18. The Kim Six Fix // 19. Home At Eight // 20. Queen of Everything // 21. Tried & True // 22. Mama Sonshine // 23. unOriginal Mom // 24. Create it. Go! // 25. From Wine to Whine // 26. GetSilvered // 27. It's Always Ruetten // 28. Nearly Handmade // 29. McCall Manor // 30. Silhouette School // 31. It Happens in a Blink // 32. Create & Babble // 33. Sowdering About // 34. Where The Smiles Have Been // 35. My Favorite Finds // 36. Lil' Mrs. Tori // 37. Designed Decor

Gimme A F.A.L.L!

What does that spell?! FALL! It is almost here and I could not be more excited. Seriously, besides a full fledged blizzard winter, fall is my second favorite season. The leaves turn such amazing colors, the crisp air is so refreshing and it is just cool enough to wear a sweater. 

This month for the Silhouette Challenge the theme was Home Decor. As some may know, I am all about decorating. So for this challenge I really did challenge myself with something I've never done. That is building an object out of paper, as well I finally got the silhouette pens and the double sides adhesive. So this month is a melting pot of new things for me!Here is what home decor and a touch of fall looks like for me this year.

For this project to build the letters I used just regular colored orange and black textured card stock and my glue runner. I purchased the Silhouette designer edition from SVGtools and was given a credit to SVGcuts for $10. As soon as I saw these awesome letters I knew I needed them. Seriously, there are SO many projects that can be done with the letters, don't be surprised if you see them around again. 

I transferred the letters into the Sil program and the cuts are already line up to fit on a 12x12, they also have smaller sizes too. I watched the video on SVGcuts website to help me figure out how to put the letters together. It was extremely easy and took about 30 minutes to put all of the letters together total.

Next I used the sketch feature in DE(designer edition) to create lines inside the letters for sketching. On the A I used the rhinestone filler though to make little dots all over the face for a different feel. I have put off buying DE for years, I wish I would have done it much sooner. There are so many awesome tools in it! Next I used my black and dark brown pens and told the Cameo that we were using sketch pens instead of a blade. It drew them on just the same as if it was cutting out the letter. I love all of the different color options too.

For the little accents I used double sided adhesive and cut out two little leaf shapes and one of the L face fronts to cover in gold and red glitter. I really love how they turned out. It was also very simple to cut out and brush the glitter over. Mind the I attached the double sided adhesive to another piece of card stock that was cut in the exact same shape. it is much easier to work with complicated shapes this way.

Then I put everything together on our front table after finding my extra fall decor out of storage boxes in the garage. This project has been one of my favorites by far. It really took me out of a comfort zone with my paper crafting, but was very fun and exciting at the same time. As well the project was probably one of the easiest I have ever done too. I highly recommend the letters, why buy them at a craft store when you can make as many as you'd like at home!

I hope you enjoyed this months challenge. Have any comments or questions? Leave me a line below!
Also please take a second to subscribe and be updated on all the fun silhouette challenges, other projects and family life here on Home At Eight. Thank you for stopping by.

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!






1. The Moberg Family // 2. Sandpaper and Glue // 3. American Honey // 4. Weekend Craft // 5. Grey Luster Girl // 6. From Wine to Whine // 7. Cutesy Crafts // 8. Practically Functional // 9. Home At Eight // 10. McCall Manor // 11. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 12. Adventures in All Things Food // 13. Create it. Go! // 14. Please Excuse My Craftermath... // 15. The Outlandish Momma // 16. The Sensory Emporium // 17. My Paper Craze // 18. unOriginal Mom // 19. My Favorite Finds // 20. Architecture of a Mom // 21. Black and White Obsession //

Cutting The Cord: An update.

Another year has yet passed without cable and we survived! Very much a first world problem in todays society, one that I am ok with not having. I am positive that not having a bill such as cable helped us move to a city we have been planning to move for years, to go down to one income now, and do more family activities together.

Riding the golf cart around town and getting outside!

Since I wrote about our life without cable last year we have learned even more about doing things frugally. Learning to curb spending habits started with cutting our cable off and it has been more gratifying every time we find a new way to cut out more material objects. Which we know is not as special as time with loved ones. Now there is absolutely no room in the budget for cable and will never be a choice really, and my kids will live just fine without it.

 Even now in watching shows together we spend the whole time together, and mostly watching our daughters favorite shows on the PBS channel located in our Roku line up. Hulu has really upped their lineup of shows and movies too. As well we all know Netflix is on top of their game with shows like "Breaking Bad" and OITNB, some of our personal favorites for after baby is asleep. We get at least 2-3 mailers every week about how the companies can offer us cable for a year for lower and lower costs. They are personally wasting a lot of money and paper sending us those. The most impressive by far has been a large gift card, laminated, hard copy of a deal, it went straight to my toddler to draw on.

Doing just fine without the cable lifestyle. 

If you are still thinking that you may not be able to live without all the channels, give yourself a challenge when it is time to renew and try going without it for a month or two and see if it is really something you want to keep. Did you do more things as a family, is there another way to watch your favorite show. Just try it, you might surprise yourself.

This is an updated post from the original written last year, you can read it here. Any questions or comments on the cable free life? Comment below! - Alisha

I'm So Excited, And I Just Want To Share!

As you all know, we FINALLY got our Etsy shop open. At first it was just a few items, yet I am adding to it every other day and getting more and more ideas. I would love for any readers to share ideas with items that they like such as iron on transfers, designs you like, rhinestones, decals, all things are great. Now that the shop has been open for a week I want to pass on a Grand Opening event to you. Thursday starting at 8am EST through Sunday 12am PST I am doing a BOGO on any orders over $10 on vinyl decals. Super exciting, right?

I want to Thank You for the support that has kept me going with this blog for three whole years. I am so excited to be on this new adventure and will share a new vlog post this week about where I would like this blog to go and how it will intertwine with my youtube channel. So many exciting things are happening right now, it's good to share it with all of you. Below I will post the link to our Home At Eight facebook page explaining the details of the BOGO event. I hope you enjoy the designs and Thank You again for supporting us at Home At Eight.

-Alisha

Post by Home At Eight.

We Are Open!!

Click to Shop

We have officially launched our Etsy shop. Home At Eight Designs. As of right now there are just a few things listed, life with a toddler can get crazy. I will be adding more every day this week and soon we will have a lot to offer. If there is anything you're interested in having made please just ask!

Right now on our facebook page we are having a giveaway of a 4inch Custom Monogram Decal to THREE people! All you have to do is "like" the post. That is all. Share with all of your friends too so they have a chance to win as well.

Thank you for all your continued support now and in the future. We are very excited to be on this journey. - Alisha & Daniel of Home At Eight

Post by Home At Eight.

Something Exciting...

I have some exciting and new things going on here. And one of those items are that I am now an independent consultant for Usborne Books and More! I joined first because it is actually something that provides a fun activity for the whole family and not just myself. My daughter gets all the benefits of the product and I can make income for our family and have more time at home. This is something I am very excited about. The books are absolutely amazing and now Caroline grabs at least 3 a night to have me read to her. She only goes after these books now though, not even her others that she hasn't "read" yet. Anyways I wanted to let everyone know that I am going on this amazing journey towards promoting literacy. Hopefully this also means I will have much more time to make posts now. As well I will be posting videos about these awesome books and life in general. You can reach my Usborne site through this Link. 

If you have any questions or are interested in hosting a Facebook party just shoot me a comment or email. (alishalandreth@gmail.com)