About Jessica

FT Science Nerd, Wife, Mom of 3, Christian, love of all things Crafty, but as most women with a bazillion things we love, many get started and *maybe finished MUCH later- thus Begin To Craft.

KeyBoard Shortcuts for Gmail

I love blogging. Heck, if I didn’t I would not spend so much time doing it, learning about it, training and figuring it all out. I LOVE all the different things I learn about the internet and social media, and computers. I love really Geeking out with new technology and tips. I like Star Trek Continue Reading …





|Sweetpea Lifestyle| 31 days to Sucessful Entertaining Roundup!

31 days to Successful Entertaining with Ashley Berger of Sweetpea Lifestyle

I am catching you up on Ashley’s series for Successful Entertaining.   Day One: 31 Days to Successful Entertaining Day Two: 12 Items Every Hostess Needs Day Three: How to Organize Your Stuff Efficiently Day Four: 20 No Cook Appetizers, FREE PRINTABLE Day Five: How to Set a Buffet Table Day Six: Tuscan Lemon Chicken Continue Reading …





Cleaning, Organizing, Decluttering & just getting your groove back.

organization begintocraft

Where to start One of the wonderful bloggers I read, talked about getting her groove back on DIY and crafting. (I will try to link to it when I can find it again.) I can SO relate to that. I juggle a lot in the move towards doing this full time. I LOVE crafting, DIY, Continue Reading …





How much should you make working in Social Media?

blog tips and tools

I came across this article almost a month ago. It is an interesting read about how someone in SM aka Social Media, meaning blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media site managers make in the industry. There are many companies that recognize if an actual PR company does it, they should be paid for their Continue Reading …





|Sweetpea Lifestyle| Vinyl Tutorial for Silhouette

vinyl4

I happily shared an extremely basic tutorial on cutting vinyl for a very simple project using the Silhouette Cameo. I have had it only a couple months, and we used it to create vinyl first. Ashley is so talented with the Silhouette for sketches and cuts. I will have to get her to share how Continue Reading …





My perfect Mother’s day!

mothers day 2013

I thought for a while about what I would want to do for mother’s day to be perfect. We have all these expectations of what we want from our spouses, parents, kids, right! We actually dreamed of those macaroni covered construction paper cards that our kids would make and give us, and breakfast in bed. Continue Reading …





“Foto” Friday!

My Delicate Peacock Jessica Ballard/Begin To Craft

I am off work on Fridays, and use it to spend my time with the kids. I am going to have down time here on the blog and will share with you Foto Friday. It may be via Instagram which would also link to Twitter and FB so you can catch it there, but I Continue Reading …





Guest Post: 2 Innovative Printing Techniques To Create Customised Clothing

btc guest post

This is a sponsored Guest Post with awesome ideas for ways to customize clothing using different printing techniques. I felt it was a good fit and agreed to share it. Creating your own customized clothing can be immensely satisfying as you explore different ideas and experiment with various techniques. The best part is, at the Continue Reading …





May Silhouette Special features |Chipboard| & Bundle Special

Silhouette Vinyl Tutorial

I am excited to join Silhouette to share with you their newest product CHIPBOARD. What is so special about chipboard, you ask? Well it is thinker, almost like cardboard. Picture using it for a sturdier frame for a Mother’s day gift, like this, or for that cute Paper doll set you downloaded from their online Continue Reading …





|The Sewing Loft| 50 Great Ideas to use Trim!

The Sewing Loft 50 Trim Projects

So, you totally need to go check out Heather’s collection of 50 ways to use trim! She has it broken down into several topics including Home decor, kid-friendly, gifts,  & clothing and accessories. There are links to the tutorials for all of these ideas so you can easily re-create them for yourself. It is after Continue Reading …