Gets Bored Easily

A Week of Easy Valentine Ideas

2012-01-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

In past years me and my daughter have used several different kinds of items to create valentines. Most were for school ideas but some were ideas we gave to each other. All were easy to create and pretty minimal money involved. I hope you enjoy these ideas as much as we enjoyed creating them.

Idea 1: Go on a scavenger hunt for Rocks or go buy them at the dollar store. Paint them or leave them natural and write "You Rock" on the top and the child's name on the bottom with a sharpie. We painted pink ones for girls and blue ones for the boys. The kids loved them.

Idea 2: A $1.00 box of chocolates with a Forest Gump Quote. I love that movie.

Idea 3: Find a Globe, a map, etc and make a little tag that says "You mean the world to me"

Idea 4: Find a stuffed animal or a coloring book page of jungle animals and put a tag that says "I'm wild about you!"

Idea 5: Buy a Reece Cup and make a tag that says "We make a great pair!"

Idea 7: Use some left over striped wrapping paper to create pockets for microwave popcorn. Embellish however you want and make a little tag that says "Poppin by to say Happy Valentine's Day"

PTO Christmas Party - Breakfast with Santa

2012-01-02T08:01:00.001-08:00

Here are some more details from the Candyland Christmas Party we had for the students.

Candy Cane Lane: We collected 2 liter bottles, wrapping paper rolls, and quilt batting for the Christmas party for the school's Breakfast with Santa. We cut the bottom of the 2 liter bottles off to use for anchors for the wrapping paper rolls to create Candy Cane Lane. The 2 liter bottles were filled with sand and paper and then we stuck in the "wrapped" recycled paper rolls to create the peppermint sticks.

Chocolate Woods: In the middle of the candyland board we created a chocolate woods scene. This consisted of Candy boxes that we obtained from Sam's Club, large hershey kisses, M&M's, tulle, tissue paper, and some wooden trees. The large hershey kisses were made from the top of the 2 liter bottles that we cut off to make the base of the candy cane lane anchors. The tops of the 2 liters were wrapped in aluminum foil to make them look like hershey kisses. The M&M's were made from foam cut in circles with painted on M's. Someone thought it was a chocolate train when they looked at it. That would have been really cute. I wish I would have thought of it.

Fireplace: The fireplace was made out of boxes, brown lunch bags, mailing tubes, wrapping paper, and tissue paper. The brick pattern was made from brown lunch bags overlapping. The main fireplace was made from a flat screen TV box. An opening was cut out and filled with black paper to make it look like the inside of a fireplace. Mailing tubes were covered in wrapping paper that looked like wood and bundled together with tulle and tissue paper to look like a fire. The mantle was made by wrapping the foam from the TV box with paper and placing it on top. Then finally the stocking were hung to give it a little something extra.

Milk and Cookie Mountain: We initially collected Milk Jugs to create an igloo of some kind. When we didn't have enough we came up with this idea. We would create giant cookies and make a mountain out of the milk jugs. The cookies were created using deli cookie tray lid and tray and cardboard cake rounds.

I plan to post more details about the party soon. I hope you are enjoying the pics as much as we enjoyed creating this candyland(mostly out of recycled items).

Candyland PTO Christmas Party

2011-12-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

For our breakfast with Santa this year we decided to go with the candyland theme. This theme can be pulled off using mostly recycled items which is great for the PTO budget. About a month ahead of time we asked for donations of boxes, 2 liter bottles, wrapping paper rolls, toilet paper rolls, lids, egg cartons, cellophane, milk jugs, wrapping paper. We had a lot of fun coming with ideas for these items. We had several activities during the Breakfast with Santa to create a fun atmosphere and keep the kids busy. We created a candyland board on the floor in the gymnasium with wrapping paper and scrapbook 12X12 papers so we could have a donut walk during the breakfast. We bought several dozen donuts at krispy kreme and played christmas music. We picked a number out of a hat to see which child landed on the square in order to win a donut. We also had Santa there so anyone could get pictures with their child and Santa. We had a write a letter to Santa station as well complete with a santa mailbox created out of donated boxes. Around the candyland board we created several stations for the kids to look at. We had a gingerbread house made from boxes, a box replica of the elementary school decorated with christmas theme, and many other decorations sprinkled throughout the gymnasium. Overall it was a success and we had a really good turnout. I will post more pictures of the event soon.

Wedding Head Table

2011-11-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

Here is the head table for the fall wedding we just did. For this post I want to focus on what's behind the table. The wooden trellis looking items are inserts for french doors. I have had these in my attic for about 10 years and since we couldn't really put anything on the walls they ended up being handy to hang the bride and groom signs and the burlap banner behind the table.

Total costs for this project for us:
Inserts: On hand
Burlap: scrap from other project
Sign: Old sign I had outside turned over and painted on Bride and Groom (FREE)
Paint for burlap: $.33 cents
Wire for one sign: $.33 cents
Total: $.66 cents

Wish board for Reception Area

2011-11-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

We created this wish board with an old frame, chicken wire, and some spray paint.

Total Costs for project:
Frame from old dresser at goodwill: $4.99
Spray paint: $1.99
Chicken Wire: $5.00
Clothespins: $1.00
Paper: left over from napkin wraps
Total Costs: $13.00

Napkin Wraps for Wedding

2011-11-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

We created napkin wraps for the plastic utensils and napkins at each place setting. We bought some kraft paper and printed out the Groom's last name and folded the paper around the napkin and utensils.

Cost:

Napkins = 2 packs at $1.99 each

Kraft Paper = $2.50

Printer (on hand)

Utensils (on hand)

Total Costs: $6.48

2011-11-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

For drinks at the wedding we had water, tea, and lemonade. For the drink dispensers that we had on hand or borrowed I created burlap tags to identify the drinks inside. This was a very quick and easy project. We also elevated the dispensers with a piece of wood to go along with the them.

Totals costs for project:

wood discs for dispensers = FREE

Burlap = $.50 for a very small piece

Orange Paint = $.50 for a bottle of craft paint

Ribbon = $.33 cents for a spool

Foam Stamps = $2.00

Total Costs = $3.33 for some custom drink dispenser tags

Chair Wraps - Fall Wedding Decor

2011-11-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

At the reception venue they had brown fold up chairs and we didn't want to rent anything else because that would be costly so we went with a simple chair wrap. We found rolled spools up burlap in the floral supply section at Michael's. They are placed near the clay pots and hot glue area in our store. We also bought orange ribbon and a light burlap by the yard and orange burlap by the yard. We cut the burlap into 3 circles and sewed them together to make a flower for the backs of the wraps.

Total Costs of Project:
4 rolls of burlap ribbon @ $6.00 = $24.00 (we bought some with 40% off)
yard of plain burlap = $2.00
yard of orange burlap = $2.00
buttons (on hand)
orange ribbon (on hand)
Total Costs: $28.00 for 80 chair wraps

Homemade Halloween Costume

2011-10-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

My daughter wanted a unique costume to wear for Halloween this year. I found an idea online for a group costume for rock paper scissors and I thought to myself , self why can't I make that into a one person costume. So....I did. Here is the result.

I knew I wanted a rock for her head so I headed to home depot in hopes that they would have a rock cover for an outdoor speaker, but they didn't have any of those in stock. So plan B, I walked around until I thought of an idea for the rock. I found a styrofoam faucet cover for $.97 cents and some insultation in a bottle ($5.00) that you put around windows to seal them. Then I headed to the spray paint($4.00) to find a rock looking color. Then I headed to walmart and found the white sweatsuit ($10.00) for the paper. I drew the piece of paper lines on with my fabric markers. Then to round out the trio I found huge clown scissors at the dollar store. If I wouldn't have found them I would have probably made some scissors out of cardboard or taped a real pair of scissors together and put them on her outfit.

To make the rock I sprayed the insulation on the faucet cover and let it dry overnight. The next morning I sprayed to rock grey and hot glued it to 2 headbands. I tied the scissors around her waist with a belt so she could wear the sweats again.

Overall this costume costs me: $20.00, less than pretty much any costume I could find at Walmart or Target. Everyone seemed to like it.

Stump Centerpieces for Wedding

2011-10-31T05:21:00.000-07:00

My friend wanted the reception to feel very fallish. She wanted the first thing that popped out when you walked in to be pumpkins because she loves them. So we came up with this idea to fill out the table centerpieces. Stumps carved with intials and heart and a pumpkin sitting on top.

Total Costs for this project:

Stumps = Free

Carving Tool = Free (on hand)

Pumpkins = 10 at $2.00 each $20.00 ( we borrowed many of them from friends fall displays)

Moss = 1 bag at Michael's at 40% off approx $3.00 - one bag did all the tables and more

Total Costs of project: $23.00

Cake Pop Holder

2011-10-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

I love cake pops so it was a natural thing to make them for my friend's wedding. I have to admit they aren't the most attractive pumpkin cake pops I have ever seen(for some reason my chocolate never coats them perfectly like Bakerella???) but they were tasty and they looked adorable if I do say so myself. We put one at each place setting. All I did was go grab a few branches that had fallen in the woods, sawed them in pieces, and screwed holes in the top. Then I stuck in the cake pop sucker stick. Easy, Peasy, cute and tasty. Oh yeah, I added a thank you tag too!

Total Costs for 80 cake pops favors and stands:

Wood = free
Sucker Sticks = $2.00
Devil's Food Cake Mix(X2) = $2.50
White Icing(X2)=$3.00
Clear Bags(X2) = $2.00
Orange Chocolate Melts(X3)=$4.50
Paper and Ink = on hand FREE
Total = $14.00 for 80 favors (not too shabby :P)

Card Stump - Wedding

2011-10-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

For th fall wedding we we're going with the natural theme. We live in a woodsy area and we figured we could make a lot of things from tree stumps and limbs that had already fallen over. We wanted to dress up th gift table so we created a card stump to hold all the cards from the wedding. It was very easy and looked great at the wedding. All you do is find a medium size stumped and cut some angled cuts in it...Easy peasy.....and best of all FREE! And as an added bonus you have firewood after the wedding. More ideas coming soon..keep checking back.

Costs for Project:

Stump = Free

Chainsaw to cut stump = Free (on hand but you could borrow from someone)

Total Costs: Free and you have firewood after the wedding :)

Cupcake Table

2011-10-29T20:16:00.001-07:00

I recently helped a friend plan and implement her fall wedding. Here is a sneak peak of the big day. One of my favorite parts of the decor was the cupcake table but there are lots more fun ideas and I will posting them very soon. I hope you like this cupcake table as much as I enjoyed pulling it together.

Project Total not including cupcake ingredients:

Stumps = Free

Chainsaw to cut stumps = Free(on hand)

Cupcake liners = $4.00

Total: $4.00

I made 2 batches of pumpkin and 2 batches of apple cider cupcakes. There was a total of around 120 cupcakes used in this display.

Halloween Favors

2011-10-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

Are you like me and have a hard time throwing anything away? I'm always thinking in the back of my mind....I'm sure I can do something with that. So today we will talk about my obsession with anything cardboard. Yes I have two containers full of toilet paper rolls. I know it's a little crazy but what's even crazier is my MIL came over last week and asked if she could throw some of them away and I panicked a little. You know, I have been saving those for a long time for something :) So I decided that the annual halloween party might be a good time to part with some of them. Here is what I came up with - Toilet Paper Halloween Party Favors. I just squeezed one end together sewed up the end, Stuffed some tiny treats in there and squeezed the other end another way and sewed it up, Punched a circle, cut out a bat and slapped it on there. I think they turned out really cute and they look like those sour cream containers everyone is making nowadays. If you covered the roll with paper first they would probably be even cuter.

Multiplication Fun

2011-10-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Natalie made it through the 4's with our last game so this week we made up another game for 5's.

Here's what I needed:

Electrical tape

Lazy Susan

Scrapbook Number stickers

Here's what you do:

Section off Lazy Susan into sections for numbers 0 - 12

Create an arrow on the table out of electrical tape

Place scrapbook # stickers 0-12 in each section

Start spinning and have fun.

5 multiplied whatever # the arrow is pointing to after each spin.

Birthday Gift Packaging

2011-09-24T08:53:00.001-07:00

We created this Birthday Present in a bottle for my daughters BFF. We stuffed it with fingernail polish, lip gloss, bracelets, nail care kit, makeup case, etc. We couldn't find a way to wrap that we liked so I spotted a two liter bottle I had been keeping for something else and wallah the birthday gift in a bottle was created for her

What you need:

A 2 liter bottle

An instrument to poke a hole in a bottle(I use my corn holders)

A pair of scissors

Adhesive(Tape, Glue Dots, or Tape Runner)

Scrapbook Paper or Fabric to put around bottle

Stamps(optional)

Ribbon(optional)

Here's what you do:

1.) Clean out a 2 liter bottle

2.) Poke a whole in the middle of the bottle as shown

3.) cut a flap into the bottle with scissors

4.) Wipe out any excess water that may be left in the bottle

5.) Stuff with gifts

6.) Tape flap shut with scotch tape(you don't want to use anything stronger because it will be too hard to remove later)

7.) Measure paper around bottle and use adhesive to stick on bottle. I used an adhesive runner but glue and or tape would work as well.

8.) Stamp name and adhere to bottle

9.) Tie Ribbon around bottle

It's that easy and my daughter is really excited about giving the "bottle" of goodies to her friend.

Dollar Store Crafts

2011-09-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! My crow invitation idea was featured on Dollar Store Crafts. Go check it out :)

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2011/09/make-crow-halloween-party-invitations/

Multiplication Fun - Playing Cards

2011-09-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

Natalie made it through the 3's without a hitch. Woohoo! The egg carton was fun and we may revisit for another set of #'s but for now it's adios egg carton game and hello playing cards. For the 4's we will be using our "modified" set of playing cards to play card games to help learn and reninforce our 4's multiplication tables. Last night we played pick a card, high card, and another game we made up.

Here's what you do:

Find a set of playing cards...old ones are preferred because we are marking them up a little. If you have rook cards you wouldn't have to mark them up, but I didnt' want to lose my rook cards so I bought a cheap deck of cards and got the markers out.

Get out the A-K and mark them up. If you have a joker to use as a zero you can get out the A-Q. I made my Ace a 1, Joker a 0, Jack a 11, and Queen a 12.

For the first game I shuffled the cards and spread them out in my hand. I said pick a card any card to make it more fun and she started selecting. When she selected the card she had 5 to 10 seconds to shout out what 4 multiplied by that number is. If she got it right she won the card. Whoever had the most cards when all cards were selected wins.

Next Game I divided the cards into 2 stacks. We then both flipped our cards over and yelled the answer to what 4 multiplied by the number was. Whoever had the highest card one.

The next game is basically the same with the exception that I spread the cards out to look like a memory game and we flipped the cards that way. Since there is an uneven number of cards whoever wins the last set, wins the remaining card if they get the answer right.

We had a good time "playing cards" last night while learing multiplication.

These games are fun for your child and they almost forget they are learning at the same time. In addition to the games we play we also every couple of days make a practice test and set the minute on the oven timer to make sure she is getting the information from the games to the paper. This helps reinforce learning and gets her practice for how the test will be in the classroom.

I hope you have fun mixing it up a little. Check back in two weeks. Hopefully we will be soaring to our 5's.

Halloween Party Game

2011-09-13T17:11:00.001-07:00

I love creating new games for my annual halloween party. I found this idea on a birthday blog somewhere-I really should keep links but it's a downfall I just draw out the idea in my idea book and forget where it came from. If it's yours please claim it, I do not take ideas intentionally without saying where they came from..PROMISE. I took several pictures to show the steps that it took to make this cute game. Without further ado here they are for your viewing pleasure :)

What you need:

Board
Spray Paint (optional)
Buckets
Bolt and Nuts
Stencil (optional)
Paint (optional)

Step 1: Find a Board big enough to sit all your buckets on. I had 6 buckets but you can do less or more.
Step 2: Paint the board whatever color you want (I used spray paint)
Step 3: Place buckets on board and trace around them
Step 4: Drill holes in center of circles that you drew on board
Step 5: Drill holes in bottom of buckets. I learned the hard way that you should stack all the buckets together before drilling through the bottom. That way they will not split.
Step 6: Place the bolt on the bottom of the board and then place the bucket on top of it. Then thread on the nut inside the bucket.

Step 5: Look how pretty your work is so far. You could be done right now or you could kick it up a notch as Emeril might say.

Step 6: I like to stencil and paint stuff so I pulled out my Martha Stewart number stamps and my craft paint and stencilled the buckets with #'s.

Step 7: Admire your work. Go get some kind of throwing objects(ping pong, bouncy, bean bags) and start playing.

Fun Ways to Learn Multiplication

2011-09-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

Natalie is in 3rd grade and they are learning their multiplication tables. She is her mother's daughter in that she gets bored easily :). She mastered her two's by just doing the boring old let's practice your multiplication table and I'll set the timer to one minute on the oven but when it came to 3's she was a fussy mussy. She didn't want to practice them. I tried playing a game in the car where I asked her one and then she asked me one but that only lasted about 5 minutes before the boredom and I don't want to do this syndrome rolled in. I feel for her. I was getting sick of asking them to her as well. So for each set of numbers I plan on coming up with a fun way to learn the set of multiplication tables. So without further ado...Here is week 1 for the 3 times table but you could use it for every # if you want.

Here is what I did for the 3's:

Go to Fridge

Pull out an Egg Carton

remove all Eggs (otherwise this could get messy)

Take a pen or sharpie in my case and write the #'s 0-11 in the holes where the eggs go

Then write a 12 on the bottom flap

Cut off the top of the carton with scissors or it rips off pretty easily

Get a piece of candy or some other object that will fit in the holes of the egg carton and start tossing

How to Play

Take "tossing object" and throw toward Egg Carton

Mom or whoever is over "the game" yells 3 times "whatever # you land in" and the child yells out the number. If the object does not go into a hole that's when they have to answer 3 times 12.

So far we have played 2 nights in a row and my daughter can not get enough of it.

I hope you enjoy this game. Check back for more ideas as we go through the entire multiplication table.

Easy Halloween Crafts

2011-09-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

My daughter is always saying she is bored. So we ripped up some fabric today and started on some halloween crafts. We started with styrofoam bases for the mummy balls and the candy corn cones. We ripped up some fabric and started wrapping it around. I love crafts that don't have to look just right. Here's how we did it:

For the mummy balls we used:

round styrofoam balls

Muslin Fabric

small piece of Black Fabric

Glue

Tape

Scissors

Googly Eyes

tape a piece of small black fabric on ball

start wrapping muslin strips around ball

tuck in end of fabric to finish

glue on googly eyes

Done!

Project time: 20 minutes for 5 balls

Candy Corn Cones

What you need:

Orange Fabric Strips

Yellow Fabric Strips

White Fabric Strips

Cones in various sizes

Rip pieces of fabric in approx 1 inch strips

Start at the bottom of cone and wrap the orange fabric

Overlap next layer of yellow fabric and then white fabric, tuck end of white fabric under

Done!

Project time: 10 to 20 minutes for 3 cones

Give it a try. It's quick, easy, and cute and that's my kind of craft.

Girl Scout Craft Ideas

2011-05-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

Scrapbooking:

Scrapbooking is so much fun. It's a great way to document memories. I am over craft ideas for my daughter's girl scout troop and I have been throwing around the idea of a once a month crop for their meetings. I have taken pictures of their group events and I will be getting the prints developed for them. The idea is to have a completed scrapbook of their events by end of the girl scout year. So that being said I was looking around for a list of scrapbook starter kit ideas and didn't find one that I liked so I decided I would come up with one myself and share with you as well.

Each Girl should have a kit that includes at a minimum the following items:

Adhesives (I like the roller tape and the glue sticks for age group 7-10)

Pop Dots

Scissors (small scissors for small hands)

Ribbon (several different colors)

papers (several different colors)

pens

Binder to keep finished pages in

Bag to keep each girls supplies separated

I will bring weekly:

Pictures

Stickers or clipart to match theme of pictures

Punches(circle, square, and any punches I have relating to theme)

Stamps(Letter Stamps, various other stamps that match theme)Ink Pads(only one to two colors a week so the colors do not get mixed and ruin the ink pads)

Page samples (since we will have a limited time for crafts at the meetings I will bring samples to show them ideas)

Other optional ideas to bring as needed:

hole punch

stapler

embossing ink pad

embossing gun

Cricut or other similar device

fabric

buttons

brads

Page Kits

Paints (Acrylic, puffy, stickles)

Brushes

Tea Party Hats

We had a tea party for the girls. We bought plain white and straw hats and let the girl decorate them with feathers, flowers, ribbons, jewels, etc. We manned the hot glue gun so no one got hurt.

Eye Masks for Sleepover

We had a mommy and me sleepover so we created eye masks for the big night. I supplied felt, scissors, and an eye mask pattern and the girls supplied the creativity. They created a mask for themselves and their mothers for the event. After they cut out their designs I took a picture and then later sewed them together with elastic to finish them off.

Simple Fleece Scarfs and Fingernail Painting

For one of our meetings I brought some fleece remants and some fingernail polish. The girls had a blast painting each others nails. The fleece scarfs were very simple to make. The only supplies needed was fleece and scissors. We cut a strip of fleece and fringed the edges.

I am always looking for new crafts to try out with our troop. If you have any ideas please comment and let me know.

Caramel Dipped Devils Food Cupcake with Pecan Topping

2011-03-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

I love to bake. I don't really like to cook that much but baking that's a different story. No cutting or peeling to be done. Just measuring, mixing, and putting in the oven to wait. It always smells so good and the result is normally delicious. I was making some cupcakes for dessert for a spaghetti dinner at the grade school and was trying to use up the rest of the ingredients I had opened to make one more batch of cupcakes. I found a devils food cake mix and I had some canned pumpkin, condensed milk, a a bag of caramels, and a few pecans. I thought that sounded like a turtle candy so I begin dumping everything into the mixing bowl. Here is the recipe:

Caramel dipped Devil's food Cake Cupcake with pecan topping

-Devils food cake mix
-a small can of pumpkin
-1/2 cup oil
-1 egg

Mix cake mix, pumpkin, oil, and egg with mixer. If too thick add a little water to the pumpkin can and pour a little at a time into the mixture until it's at almost at cake consistency. It can be a little thicker than normal.

Fill cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for approx 20 to 23 minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure they are done. The pumpkin makes the cupcakes really moist and you can't taste the pumpkin flavor.

Caramel and Pecan Topping

-bag of caramel bits(or 24 whole caramels)
-1/4 cup of condensed milk
-1/4 cup pecan bits

Melt caramel and condensed milk in candy melter. You could also do this in a saucepan but the candy melter is easier when you dip. Let caramel melt completely before dipping.

Let cupcakes cool. Lay out some wax paper. Dip top of cupcakes in the melted caramel. Immediately place a handful of pecans on top of hot caramel. Let stand for about 5 minutes.

ENJOY!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

2011-03-09T07:14:00.000-08:00

My favorite dessert of all time is my mom's pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing. It is so good it screams come and eat me while I sleep. After I eat a piece it makes me want to run a mile so I can eat another piece(and I hate to run). This recipe is great during fall but I like to enjoy it all year round. Here's the recipe so you can make a pumpkin cake or cupcake:

Pumpkin Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinammon
4 eggs, well beaten
1 cup oil
2 cups canned pumpkin
Mix Well. Bake at 350 degrees. For cake - bake for 1 1/2 hours. For cupcakes - bake for about 25 minutes, check at 20 minutes with toothpick.

Cream Cheese Icing
1 stick butter
8 oz cream cheese
1 lb box conf sugar (if you don't buy boxes like me is 3 3/4 cups of conf sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
Cream butter and cream cheese together. Beat in Conf Sugar. Add vanilla.

Let cake cool and frost. ENJOY!

To create swirly frosting on your cupcake buy a pack of cake decorator bags. Cut the end off about 1/2 inch up and fill with frosting. Squeeze frosting to the bottom of the bag and swirl onto cupcake starting on outside of cupcake and working inward. YUM.

Halloween Party Invitation - 2010

2010-09-14T04:51:00.001-07:00

Each year I like to create a memorable halloween party invites for our annual Halloween party. The first year we had the party I found the Martha stewart fingers in the boxes and we did that. The next year I decided to try and come up with something on my own and ended up with a creepy box full of googly eyes(I have a link to these somewhere under the halloween catergory :) ) Last year me and my daughter created a creepy skeeleton tomb from a 16 oz bottle and was able to mail it in the bottle to the kids. The loved getting a bottle in the mail..LOL It costs me about $1.25 to mail each one. This year's invitation will be:

CROWS flying the invite to the kids.

I found crows at the dollar store.
I printed off the invitations
Rolled up the invite
Used the crows wire feet to hold the invite in place
and now I'm searching for a suitable container to mail them in.
Here they are waiting to fly off and deliver the invites. Ready...Set...Fly

This was the easiest invitation to put together so far. I think the kids will enjoy their messenger crows when they receive them in the mail.

Happy Halloween!

Felt Halloween Ornament - Werewolf

2010-09-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

I created this felt werewolf halloween ornament for a swap at 2peas. He is created with grey felt, grey fur and black eyes. I made up the pattern myself and I think he turned out so cute...well as cute as a werewolf can be. The fur really makes him look like a werewolf. I started with gray felt in the shape of a werewolf head with ears. Then I sewed on a layer of gray fur along the top of the head. Then I stitched a piece of light gray felt cut in the shape of a U for the face. Then cut circles for the eyes, half circles for the eyelids, triangle for the nose, mouth shape, and teeth shape out of felt and then stitched them on with the machine. Last thing I did was sew on a hanger and some black bead eyes.

Teacher Appreciation Week Ideas

2010-05-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

For teacher appreciation week I did 3 things:

1.) Brought the teachers lunch from Olive Garden(printed the menu and told them to pick out what they wanted, called it in and picked it up and delivered it to school during lunch). They loved this BTW

2.) Participated in a two peas swap to create an awesome teacher charm bracelet. They were wearing this when I went in to deliver lunch. They seemed to love this as well

3.) I created them a nameplate for their desk. It was so easy and it finally gave me an excuse to use the scrabble tile holders that I have been accumulating with buying all the scrabble games at yard sales for the actual tiles to make charms.

It's so easy...Here's what you need:

1.) Scrabble Tile Holder

2.) Scrabble Tiles

3.) Hot Glue or any other adhesive

You can customize the tile holder however you please. I didn't paint mine because I liked them in the wood finish but get creative as your heart desires. I just spelled out the teacher's name on the tile holder to make sure the spacing looked right and hot glued in place. For one of them I took a small drill and drilled a hole in top to stick 1/2 of a skewer down in the hole. I hot glued it as well and added a ribbon and jolee sticker. At this point you can customize however you want and have fun with it. I told you it was easy.

I hope you enjoy these ideas. Thanks to all the teachers out there!

Mini Easter Egg Earings

2010-03-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and they had a pack of 24 mini easter eggs for 34 cents so I picked a bag up. Last night my 7 year old daughter had the "I'm bored" syndrome so I pulled the eggs out. I had been working on charms so all my jewelry stuff was laying on the dining room table so we came up with these mini easter egg earings that she could give to her teacher's for Easter. Here is how we did it:

Mini Easter Eggs

E6000 Glue

Earring findings

jump ring

and the long finding with the loop on the top(sorry not sure what that's called)

1.) unscrew all the the eggs

2.) glue around the rims of the bottom and press the top on it and let them dry(at this point you could poke a hole in the top of the egg and put the long finding down in the hole and curl it so it can't come out)

3.) poke a hole on top of the egg, you can use a drill or a ice pick like I did since I didn't want to run out and get the drill.

4.) place a dab of glue on the hole you made and place the long finding down in it.

5.) Let that part dry very well before going on to the next step

6.) Place a jump ring and an earing finding on the loop of the long finding and your ready to wear you new mini egg earings.

I plan on making a matching necklace and wearing mine to the Easter Egg Hunt and the Easter craft day at school. I hope you enjoy this fun and easy Boredom Buster craft.

School Snack Idea for St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

I've been scouring the internet trying to come up with a snack idea for my daughter's class for St. Patrick's Day. Last night, since I couldn't fall asleep an idea popped in my head (maybe Lucky the Leprechaun placed it in my mind...hehe) So here's the idea and it's so easy you still have time to make it for your favorite class.

To make you will need:

Lucky Charms Cereal

Lucky Coins(one for each student)

Bags to package the Cereal

Here is the note that Lucky will leave me in the morning on my counter top:

Dear ___________ Mom,

I know you worked hard on your snack but since this is Saint Patrick's Day I hope you will do a little leprechaun a big favor. I have left some snacks for your daughter's class on your counter top in the kitchen. I hope you will read the story I have left and delivery these snacks to Ms. ________'s class for me today instead of your snacks.

Thanks and happy St. Patty's Day,

Lucky the Leprechaun

Then I will attach the story to the box that hold the treats. Ms. _______ will read the following story to the children before handing out the snacks.

Every March Lucky the Leprechaun watches all the First grade classes in the world. He watches to see which classes pay the most attention, do their homework every night, and try hard to do their very best. On the Eve of Saint Patrick's Day Lucky packages up bags of his favorite snack, Lucky Charms, for the top ten well behaved classes. After he packages the snacks he delivers them to the parent that has snack day scheduled on Saint Patrick's Day so they can take to the top ten classes. In one set of snacks there are lucky coins hidden in the snacks. These special coins are located in the classroom that Lucky felt was the very best behaved. If you are receiving this snack that means Lucky thought you were one of the top ten First grade classes in the world. While eating your snack be very careful because you may have a Lucky coin hidden within it. If you do find a lucky coin give yourself a big pat on the back because that means you are Lucky's very special class for St. Patrick's Day 2010.

ENJOY and Happy St. Patrick's Day. Once I get these packaged I'll try and remember to post a picture.

Valentine

2010-02-15T06:32:00.000-08:00

This is so us....

Here is what I gave my hubby for Valentine's day!

Halloween Recycle for Valentine's Day

2010-01-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

I have to admit it I start a lot of projects with good intentions that never get finished. At Halloween I saw the cutest black bats all over doors, windows, entryways, and porches and I bought the supplies, cut out a lot of bats and never adhered them to anything(maybe next year). So I was looking for a valentine project and guess what I spotted...my stack of bats..laying there since Halloween. Poor guys. I have recycled them into Valentine treats for my daughter's class. I hope you like them. I just used some black construction paper, a crayola white pencil and some recycle butterfly glitter foam sticker cut into shapes of hearts.

Easiest Coconut Bon Bon Recipe

2010-01-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

About 10 years ago I went to a candy making class and they gave us a book of recipes. I love coconut so one of the first ones I tried was the coconut bon bon recipe. It looked easy and only had 3 ingredients so that was my kind of recipe. After I tried it once I was addicted. I have made these coconut bon bons for every type of event and with every color chocolate wafer there is. This is equally good with chocolate and vanilla melts in my opinion. I made some recently for work for valentine's so I thought I would share these easy treats.

Here is the 3 ingredients you need:

14 oz - coconut

1 cup - light corn syrup

Chocolate melts

Here is what you do:

1.) Pour coconut in bowl

2.) Pour corn syrup in microwave safe dish.

3.) Heat corn syrup for 1 minute in microwave

4.) Pour corn syrup over coconut and mix well

5.) Refrigerate a couple hours(I usually refrigerate overnight but it is not necessary)

6.) Remove from fridge and form coconut mixture into balls and place on wax paper

7.) Melt chocolate

8.) Dip coconut balls into melted chocolate

9.) Decorate as desired or just leave as is

When I make these for parties they are always the first thing to go. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

School Snack Idea

2010-01-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

It's wintertime and the kids are hungry...wait a minute they are always hungry for a little fun snack at school. This snack idea comes from my daughter. I'm so proud of her she came up with this on her own. It almost made me tear up it's so cute. Finally she is doing something like me...thinking of crazy snack ideas. If you like this idea please comment and let her know. She is very proud of it :) It's nuts...no it's crackers....well yes it's NUTCRACKERS. Isn't that fun???? We went to Sam's and bought some indivudually wrapped peanuts and individually wrapped crackers stuck them in a small cup and used some nutcracker scrapbook paper to decorate. I hope the kids enjoy these next week as much as we enjoyed making them. fyi...no one in Nat's class are allergic to nuts so this is possible. If they are allergic to nuts maybe you could put a picture of nuts as a tag on a bunch of crackers?

Valentine Treat Ideas

2010-01-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Now that Christmas is over I have been brainstorming Valentines Day ideas. I will use some of these ideas for my daughter's 1st grade class valentine exchange, some for snack days at School, and some will be filed for later years but I wanted to document them on the old handy dandy blog so I didn't lose them.

After searching the net for Valentine's ideas I highly recommend the following website with lots of pics and great Valentine ideas - http://skiptomylou.org/ I particularly love skiptomylou's "Bomb" Valentine and intend to make some this year but instead of bath bombs I will most likely filll with candy for my nephews class. Example and Pic created by Skip to My Lou website.

Below I have some more ideas for Valentine's fun and I will post pics as I make them. If you decide to make some of these ideas I would love to see your pics.

"You Rock Valentine" - Gather Rocks, paint them, and write "You Rock" on the rock with a sharpie. I think this one would be great for a boy valentine exchange. Could also use this saying with pop rocks candy as well.

"Your Dynamite Valentine" - Make some dynamite with pretzel rods, red chocolate and red twizzlers and create a tag that says "Your Dynamite Valentine. Wrap 3 pretzel sticks together with string twizzlers and place in ziploc with the tag. Make sure you make a wick for the dynamite.

"Stick with me Valentine" - Get some valentine stickers and put them in a little baggie and attach a label that says "Stick with me Valentine" or you could do sticks of gum.

"Your my main squeeze Valentine" - Lemonade caprisun with a tag that says "Your my main squeeze" - or for teacher a stress ball with a tag that says "Your my main squeeze"

"You color my world valentine" - A bag or box of crayons and a coloring page of a globe with a tag.

"Your a blast valentine" - A rocket ship made out of lifesavers

"You complete me Valentine" - A picture of your child cut into 4 or 5 puzzle pieces in a bag with a tag. Example created by me.

"You have a heart of Gold Valentine" - Gold foil wrapped chocolate hearts in a baggie with a tag.

"You warm my heart Valentine" - A paper or fabric pocket with a packet of hot chocolate. Example created by me :)

"You Rule Valentine" - A small ruler with a tag. Idea and pic from Family Fun Magazine website.

"You suit me to a TEA Valentine" - Tea bag in jewelry sized baggie with a tag.

"Poppin by to say Happy Valentine's Day - Microwave Popcorn with tag.

"I dig you" - Shovel with Candy - idea and pic from Family Fun Magazine website.

"I'm banana's over you Valentine - Banana with tag.

"You make me float Valentine - Balloon with tag.

"I'm nuts for your Valentine" - Individual bag of nuts with tag. Example created by me.

"I'm a sucker for your Valentine" Sucker with tag.

"We connect Valentine" - Individual connect 4 candy favors(found at Toys R Us) with tag.

We attract each other Valentine. magnets with a tag.

"Valentine, your all that and a bag of chips" - Bag of Chips with Tag

For Teacher:

"You shape me Valentine" - Cookie Cutter with tag

"I'm lucky to have you as a Teacher Valentine" - Lucky Charms or Rabbits Foot

"Glad to BEE your student" - Honey with tag attached.

"Your an un-frog-gettable teacher" - stuffed frog with tag

"There is only one thing that could make you a cooler Valentine - Ice Cream GC with this tag.

Please let me know if you like these ideas or can think of any others. If you create some of these items I would love to see them. Once I get out of the house, I'm snowed in at the moment, I will be creating some of these so check back for pics.

Snowman treats

2010-01-02T09:06:00.001-08:00

I just learned how to upload to mosaic maker so I put together a snowman mosaic of things around the web that I love. Links below:

1. http://www.ehow.com/how_4456299_make-_snowman-gumball-bubble-ornament.html
2. http://familyfun.go.com/
3. http://www.matthewmeadstyle.com/2006_winter/htm/style.htm
4. http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1940965
5. http://barbschram.blogspot.com/
6. http://tasteofhome.com
7. http://www.blisstree.com
8. http://www.simpleflourishes.com
9. http://getsboredeasily.blogspot.com

Snowman bean bag toss

2010-01-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

This was at the school's Christmas party last month. One of the dad's built this bean bag toss snowman game so the kids could play. I thought it turned out super cute. I just love the scarf they added on.

School Snack Idea - Halloween drink

2010-01-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

Why not make the drinks you send into school fun for the kids as well? I always try to spruce the water or juice up in some way. This idea will work with just about any occasion but in the pics above I removed the water label and printed out a simple label for Halloween. I bought some Halloween treat bags and placed an individual sugar free cherry kool aid packet in side along with a Halloween straw. The label says "HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Mix powder with water to make your own Vampire blood". The kids loved this at their Halloween party and felt like they were getting a real treat.

Workgroup Gift

2009-12-31T12:44:00.000-08:00

My husband and I work at a utility company and most of the guys and gals we work with drive company vehicles and are out in rural areas frequently. I bought a 24 pack of Toilet paper and wrapped them festively for a quick little "gag" gift this year. They got a kick out of it. The little tag says "Keep in truck in case of Emergency". Sometimes it's the thought that counts and not the gift....or at least I hope so in this case.

FUN VALENTINES IDEAS

2009-12-31T06:43:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

Since my Christmas Cookie Exchange Party had to be cancelled this year due to weather and Electricity outages I think I'm going to go all out for Valentine's day and have a candy exchange party. I think the theme will be chocolate covered cherries(as I have a cute set of cherry dishes designed by Mary Engelbreit(sp?) I've been picking up all the last minute red christmas clearance stuff for the party and should be pretty cheap to pull off. I have bought red and white polka dot cup cozies at Michaels to fill with candy for take home gifts. I also scored on chocolate covered cherry hershey kisses at 50% off(YUM, I vote these my favorite hershey kiss flavor)

Here are some other ideas I'm kicking around. Check back for more inspiration as I find it. If you have any ideas please leave me a comment with a link.

Credits for above pics:

Super Cute Candy Buffet (could easily adapted for Valentine's by replacing cake with chocolate fountain)

http://mylife-myloves.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-little-girls-magical-day.html

Cupcake Kit Gift Set
http://www.papertreyink.com/ ( Nicole Heady)

I Choo-Choose You Cupcakes
Family Fun Magazine

Burlap Christmas Ornament

2009-12-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

I created these Burlap tree ornaments for a swap I was in. I first sewed on lots of different ric racs on the burlap and then cut them into tree shapes. Then I stuck on a hanger and a cinnamon stick for the trunk. Very fast, easy and cute. This would make a great gift tie on as well.

Christmas Card Display - Shutters

2009-12-14T18:36:00.001-08:00

I found some shutters in my craft room and dusted them off to use for my christmas card display this year. Very cute and easy. I really love how it looks, how about you?

School Snack - Snowman poop

2009-12-14T18:31:00.000-08:00

Here is another quick and cheap standby for a school snack. I found this great little poem. It's not the typical poem that most people use but it's really cute for first graders.

School Snack - Snowman on a stick

2009-12-14T17:57:00.000-08:00

I created this school snack for Natalie's class for Winter. Here's what you need to make your own:

wooden skewers

large marshmallows

food icing writers

orange tic tac

hershey kiss

fruit rollup

Here's what you do:

place 3 marshmallows on stick and top off with hershey kiss

write on face and buttons onto marshmallows

cut fruit rollup into strips before removing from plastic

stretch out the fruit rollup a little

wrap around 1st and 2nd marshmallow

make hole with toothpick and place tic tac for nose

bag up with baggie

The teacher told me the kids loved these. I would love to see your versions if you make some.

Now hop on over to Todays creative blog by clicking link below to see other fabulous projects.

Homemade Halloween Costume

2009-11-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

UP HOUSE

Trick or treating was a lot of fun with this homemade one of a kind costume. Every house we went to really enjoyed it! The kids especially got a kick out of the homemade costume I made Natalie this year. The only part of it that was difficult was getting in and out of the car. We opted to have Grandma drop us off at the end of the subdivision and walk to the other side instead of getting in and out of the car. This costume was made from a cardboard box, toothpicks, paper plates, tape, glue, recycled post office mailers, and craft paint. I added 2 extension rods inside the box to tie the shoulder straps too. It was a lot of fun to make the 3 dimensional version of the UP movie house. I found a coloring book with the movie characters and we colored them and cut them out to have the little boy on the porch and Carl hanging out the Window just like in the movie. To make the house I just looked at the picture of the house and kept cutting and taping the details to the cardboard box. Natalie wanted to paint something so she painted the movie logo on the back of the box so even if someone didn't recognize the house with balloons they could read the movie title on her way back to me after getting her "treats".

Halloween School Craft #2

2009-10-31T07:19:00.000-07:00

I did a few more crafts with Natalie's first grade class this year for halloween. Here are the instructions to make two simple and very quick crafts.

Eyeball Necklaces

Package before hand in a baggie:

foam eyeball (skull or whatever else you can find a lot of)

string

jumpring attached to a jewelry pick(if you have older children you can let them attach the jump ring)

glue(optional)

To make:

1.) push jewelry pick into foam shape(in this case eyeball)

2.) optional...glue into place and let dry

3.) place string through the jump ring

4.) place around neck and tie

5.) enjoy sporting around your new halloween necklace

Witch Pencils

Package before hand in a baggie for each child(you don't have to do this but it makes it a lot quicker):

1 pencil

1 piece of felt approx 6 inches long and 3 inchs wide(I used brown and black)

rubber band

piece of string or ribbon

To make:

1.) cut felt piece to look like a fringe. This will be the broom strands.

2.) wrap fringed felt around end of pencil with eraser

3.) secure with rubber band

4.) tie ribbon or string around the rubber band to hide

5.) sharpen and use

I hope you can use these ideas. Happy Halloween

Halloween Treat - Witch Hat Cookies

2009-10-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

I made these witch hat cookies every year. One because they are so easy and two because they are so cute. My two favorite things easy and cute without much effort.

You need:

Striped townhouse cookies(or similar)

Hershey Kisses

Icing(I like the squirt bottles but you can use regular icing

1) place striped cookies upside down

2) unwrap hershey kisses

3) squirt a glob of icing on the bottom of a hershey kiss

4) smoosh hershey kiss on top of cookie

5) enjoy your witch hat cookie. Now how easy was that?

halloween 2009 - many faces of Natalie

2009-10-31T06:49:00.001-07:00

Natalie has always dressed up in a few different outfits every halloween. We always have a halloween party (outfit 1), we go trick or treating around the neighborhood(outfit 2) , and we always go to Walmart (outfit 3). This year we added two more outfits because of trick or treating times in different "grandma zones" and because school had a dress up as your favorite book character day. Here are the photos of Natalie so far....Last one for tonight is not quite done yet...but it's a doozie(and homemade) so check back soon for pics of it. :)

Halloween Party - Bumble Bee (Daddy was a beekeeper)
Grandma Trick or Treat - Rag Doll
School Favorite Book Character - Fancy Nancy
Walmart - Super Girl (pics coming soon)
Home Trick or Treat - ????

Halloween Dessert Buffet

2009-10-31T06:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of my halloween dessert buffet.....check out my other blog shortly for the details of the buffet and my halloween party this year :) http://craftparty.blogspot.com/

Fancy Nancy Costume

2009-10-31T05:56:00.000-07:00

My daughter's school doesn't have a "normal" halloween dress up day like we used to when I was in grade school. They have a week of activities like wear a hat day, backwards day, team spirit day, and the final day is dress up as your favorite book character day. So this year Natalie decided that Fancy Nancy would have to be the character she dresses up as. I have to say my eyes lit up because she doesn't usually want to dress very fancy :) So I went to JoAnns and found some great hot pink silky fabric and some light pink with sparkles fabric and went to town on a "fancy" skirt. Then I headed to goodwill to find a shirt I could alter into something fancy. Then it was off to the dollar store to find all the fancy accessories. One last stop put me at Michaels searching for something to fancy up her shirt. I found the pink glitter iron on letters and the rhinestone iron on butterfly...YEAH!!! Her hair took a while in the morning with all the feathers, bobby pins, and crowns but in the end I think she turned out fancy fabulous.

Halloween Napkins

2009-10-20T07:30:00.001-07:00

Here is a cute easy way to bring halloween into your mealtimes. Go to the dollar store and buy some skeleton hands (10/$1.00) and a package of black napkins. Get out some of your ribbon you have been hoarding(o.k. maybe I'm the only one that hoards ribbon :) ). Tie them together and put them at each place setting for a creepy touch.

I made 40 of these to use for our halloween party this Saturday. I think they turned out very cute and I did 40 for $5.00 bucks and the only store I had to go to was the Dollar Tree.

Enjoy!

Halloween Trophy - Try # 1

2009-10-11T17:48:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to give an update on one of my halloween projects. My first trophy "redo" is just about done. I like it but I'm not crazy about it yet so I will keep tweaking. I found a little doll at a flea market for $.10 so I wrapped her to look like a mummy and put a nail in her foot to place her on top of the trophy I took apart and spray painted black. I still have to make the name plate but for now I just wrote it on the front. I think I'm going to add some cobwebs and spiders too. The next one I'm trying will be a skull head or skeleton. Check back.

Halloween School Craft #1

2009-10-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

My dd teacher asked me if I could come up with some halloween crafts the kid's could do on Fridays in October.

The first craft we did last Friday was Felt halloween Chair Covers.

What you will need:

Felt (Orange, Black, and White)

Fabric Glue

Scissors

Design Sheet(optional)

Name Tag(optional)

Here's what you do:

At least a week before:

1.) Measure chairs...add 1 inch to width and add 1 inch to heighth to get size of felt you will need.

2.) Buy felt (I bought 4 1/2 yards and it made 25 chair covers)

3.) Buy "accent felt" I bought 1 1/2 yards each of black and white(I think I could have gotten away with 1 yard for 25 kids)

4.) Draw some simple designs for the chair covers to give children some ideas(if you are dealing with older than 1st grade you can probably skip over this step) I included my designs(please disregard my drawing skills :) )

5.) Buy at least 3 bottles of Fabric Glue

6.) Make sure teacher has scissors for all the children.

7.) Sew Chair Covers(use a 1/4 inch seam allowance to make sure they will fit over chairbacks. (I suggest making one prototype and taking it into school to make sure it fits before sewing all of them.) - If you don't know how to sew or just do not want to take the time you could just fold the felt over the top of the chair and punch holes in each side and thread ribbon through and tie together to hold the cover on the chair.

8.) Cut "accent color" squares of felt for each child.

9.) Make copies of your designs for each child(or you could make one posterboard and place it in the front of the classroom.

9.) Package 1 chair cover, 2 pieces of felt(white and black), and a design sheet in a bag or ziploc for each child so you can pass the items out quickly.

Once your in the classroom:

10.) Explain to each child what they are making. Place your prototype on a chair so they can visualize.

11.) Pass out your bags of supplies and scissors to each child.

12.) When ready to glue have them raise their hand and glue for them. You put the glue on the back of their pieces and let them place them on their chair cover. Make sure the chair cover is facing the right way before gluing down.

13.) Place a sticker or safety pin a sheet of paper with the child's name on the chair cover and place somewhere in the classroom to dry.

14.) Clean Up and Take a Deep Breath you will probably need it :)

I hope you enjoy this idea. Check back next week for our next classroom craft idea.

Halloween - Button Costume - This time with Instructions

2009-10-07T13:20:00.001-07:00

I have had several emails asking me for more details on how to make the button costume I made for dd a few years ago so I thought I should elaborate:

Here's what you need to make your own button costume for your little cutie this year:

2 green floral wreaths

fabric of choice

cardboard

yarn

hot glue

safety pins.

Here is how I did it:

1.) Hot glue fabric around the 2 green floral wreaths. You can use whatever size you want. (I took my dd to the store and held them up to her to determine which one "fit" the best)

2.) Cut 2 pieces of cardboard into circles that will fit snugly inside the floral wreaths.

3.) Cut 4 holes into the cardboard circles for the button holes.

4.) Wrap fabric around the cardboard and hot glue in place. Then cut out the fabric out of the button holes.(I cut them in an X shape and hot glued around the hole). Make the cutout the same size as the opening and they should fit snugly into the wreath opening. If your not comfortable with that use some more hot glue.

5.) Place button up against the person that will be wearing the costume to measure how far down you want the button to come down on them.

6.) Make 2 shoulder straps by taking a length of 4 inch black fabric(or whatever color that will match her shirt), fold length of fabric in half and sew straight stitch down the sides(you could use ribbon if you do not want to sew).

6.) Use a safety pin to pin the straps to the back of each wreath. That way it will be easy to take on and off when needed.

7.) Take yarn and thread it through the button holes and your done. (Mine didn't look too pretty on the inside but you couldn't see that part.)

8.) Optional: glue buttons all over everything that is visible...shirt sleeves, pant legs, hair scrunchies, shoes...go wild.

8.) Now go take your cutie trick or treating and count how many times people say Look isn't she/he cute as a button.

If you end up making this costume I would love to see your version. Leave me a comment if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Hope

Chalkcloth Gift Tags

2009-09-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

Turns out chalkcloth gift tags are very easy to make. All you have to do is buy some chalkcloth, some double fold binding tape and some eyelets. Cut the chalkcloth into a rectangular shape. Sew on the binding tape on both of the short sides. Cut to fit. Then sew the binding on the long sides. If you doing a bunch of them at one time just daisy chain them through with the binding tape. Punch a hole into one corner of the chalkcloth with the top of a pen. Then hammer the eyelet in. Thread a ribbon through and you have chalkcloth gift tags. Reusable and very cute. I will be using these for Natalie's teachers this year for their Christmas Gifts. Try it you'll like it :)

Halloween Party Game #1

2009-09-28T04:34:00.000-07:00

Each year at our annual Halloween party we try to throw in a few "new to us" carnival type party games. Here is the first idea I'm throwing around for this year - Pumpkin Punch Out. The idea is to have DH cut out a big pumpkin out of wood and I will paint it Orange and Green and screw orange plastic cups to it to let the kids punch a number to get a prize. Here is a pic of the idea in it's prototype stage minus the big wood pumpkin. Here's how I did the test phase:

1.) Buy a pack of orange Solo Cups(or any color you prefer)

2.) Fill cups with Green paper crinkles and a small halloween prize(make sure the prize is soft or there is lots of crinkles on top of it to cushion little hands when they hit the cups. There is lots of squeezy skeletons, eyeballs, rats, etc you can buy for halloween.

3.) Take parchment paper and cut into a strip big enough to cover the top of the cup and at least 2 inch down the cup.

4.) Place the parchment paper on top of the cup and take a rubber band and place it over the top of the parchment paper to "attach" it to the cup. Make sure all sides of the parchment have rubber band to hold it down to the cup. The further you can go down the better. Have fun testing it out some with your kid or yourself.

5.) Stamp or draw on halloween images or numbers onto each cup.

6.) Step right up and hit the cup and get a prize

For the actual party version I will add one extra steps:

before step 2 above I will screw each cup into the wood from inside the cup at the bottom.

I hope you enjoy this quick and easy halloween party game!

Halloween Sweets Table

2009-09-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this halloween sweets spread by Amy Atlas? If not you should go to her blog to check it out in detail. - http://amyatlas.blogspot.com/2009/09/celebrate-magazine-feature.html I have looked at it about a million times now. I'm going to attempt a version of a halloween sweets table for our halloween party this year. So without further ado here is my first item I'm going to put on our halloween table. It's quick and easy and I think very cute. I'm going to try and stay with the orange, black, and white just like Amy did but I'm going to do different items and a different background. Please check back throughout October as I will be posting my other ideas and eventually my complete sweets table. Let me know if you like this idea or can think of a way to improve it. I took the donut box that I bought the individual wrapped donuts in and wrapped it in orange wrapping paper. I turned the box upside down and stuck dowel rods though it. Then I took white powdered donuts and placed them on the skewers. Then as you can see I topped them with the cutest little peeps Ghosts. I only did one for my prototype but with all the skewers filled in I think it will be very cute for one of my white elements. If you are doing a version of this sweets table please let me know so I can check out your blog.

Halloween Trophy

2009-09-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

Why did I buy these trophy's at Goodwill the other day for $.97 cents each? That's what the cashier asked me anyway. LOL! I told her I had a vision for these trophies for my halloween party. Because of some of the weird things I buy at thrift stores I wonder if the cashiers talk about me after I leave? Probably but oh well I'm going to have some fun Best Costume Trophies this year for our halloween party. I had to take these puppies apart quick before DH saw them and said are you insane? Why did you buy trophies at Goodwill? So I quickly unscrewed both trophies after my "before" pic was taken. They came apart very easily. Then I was going to spray paint the body of the trophy but it was pouring the rain so I went with plan B---acrylic paint. It worked o.k. but I think I'll put a spray coat over the top to finish it off. Then I have 2 options I'm going to play with for the top of the trophy. One is I'm going to tear off the arm off the baskeball player and wrap him up like a mummy for the top or I'm going to take a skeleton and a dowel rod and put the skeleton on the top. Check back later to see the end result.

Halloween Photo Op Wall

2009-09-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

I saw an idea on StacyClaireBoyd.blogspot.com website. It was so cute I wondered how I could incorporate it into my halloween party. So I went on a hunt to Goodwill, Union Mission, and Salvation Army. I found several wonderful frames(see pic). I then went to Walmart and bought some black spray paint. I plan on getting hubby to get wood or drywall and find some white with black print wallpaper and cutting some holes for the big frames and putting spooky looking pictures in the other frames. I will use this so the kids can take pics together in their halloween costumes. I can't wait to see it all done. This may sound silly but I think I've seen something similar done somewhere but I can not find it anywhere. I might have just dreamed it after I saw Stacy Boyd's version because I'm kind of weird like that!!! :) I'll be sure to post the finished product when I'm done. Total Costs for frames and paint so far $14.00. You can check Stacy's wedding photo wall out here - http://stacyclaireboyd.blogspot.com/2009/07/family-portrait-wall.html

Halloween Ornament

2009-09-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

I have officially gone batty! I created these felt bats for a swap I'm in a 2peas. I saw a bat a while back and did a screenprint for inspiration. Now I can't find the source. So if it's your idea..please let me know and I will credit you. I did a slight modification on the body shape and added a round circle under one of the button eyes to make it look a little more primitive looking. Here's how I did it.

Step 1 - Cut 2 black bat shapes out of black felt

Step 2 -cut one round circle out of felt(any color but black) - I did mine in orange, yellow, and purple

Step 3 - Gather some halloween colored buttons(I used an SEI halloween button tube I had on hand)

Step 4 - Sew the round felt shape and the halloween buttons on for eyes on one piece of the black felt. (You can use my how to sew on a button with your machine tutorial if you don't know how to do this)

Step 5 - Sew on the mouth and fangs(use a contrasting thread - I used orange but white could look nice too)

Step 6 - Cut a length of ribbon for your ornament hanger(I used orange ribbon)

Step 7 - Place ribbon folded in half in between the two felt black pieces. The felt pieces should be wrong sides together.

Step 8 - Sew around the perimeter of the bat to secure in ornament hanger

Step 9 - Sew two trianges on both sides of the eyes and mouth to create a fun look.

Step 10 - Hang up your bat and let him fly.

ENJOY!

Bandaids for BOO BOO's

2009-09-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

I saw some customized band-aids some where on the internet so I had to make some. Here's what you do:

1.) Buy some band-aids, staz on ink pad and a stamp
2.) Open the band-aids

3.) Stamp image with stazon ink. If stamp is too big turn stamp over and place band-aid on top to stamp it.

4.) If you want make a fry container to hold the bandaids(sorry for the bad pic)

5.) Use as needed for all BOO BOO's

School Snack - Oranges

2009-09-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

It's our turn for school lunch this week. We usually do a fruit because most people do a starch like peanut butter crackers and baked chips. While Natalie really likes pb crackers and chips she gets bored with them. In the past I have done strawberries with ff cool whip and mini bananas, ff vanilla pudding, and vanilla wafers. So this time we came up with oranges. Since 1st graders can't usually peel oranges I got that job. If I never have to peel another orange it will be too soon. :) I have to admit even for me I went a little overboard this time around. I made bag toppers for the oranges with a knock knock joke, sewed wet one packs for the wet ones(you can't give kids oranges and not have wet ones can you? I didn't think so). And the thing that put it over the top...when Natalie told me she gets to hand out her treats ...what did I do you ask? Yep, I made her a orange shirt to wear to school and a hair scrunchie on snack day to match her snacks. I told you,,,over the top. But hey, let the other mom's talk about how I must not have a job, etc(BTW, I do have a job)..... I had fun making the stuff and Natalie said she loved it...so yeah! Hope you enjoy the pics and let me know if you have any other ideas for snacks.

Spooky Forks

2009-09-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

We had several forks left over and some googly eyes so Natalie glued them on. We saw this in a magazine and knew we had to create these for our Halloween Party. Very quick and easy project.

School Fun - Utensil Customization - Twist on Lunch Box love note

2009-09-20T15:23:00.001-07:00

I went to the grocery store today and I bought a box of 100 plastic forks. When I cook I try to come up with quick projects Natalie can do to keep her happy. Today's project consisted of white plastic forks and a sharpie marker. Natalie and I customized all 100 of them. We first began with a halloween theme with ghosts, witches, halloween sayings, etc. Then when we ran out of ideas I started coming up with ideas for her school lunch. I usually send a note or goodie in her lunch box anyways so this would be great for the note. I thought of the usual notes...I love you, Your the best daughter ever, etc. I also thought it would be fun to tell her when her favorite shows come on in the evenings...Like - New GLEE on tonight!!! Ideas for customizing your silverware are endless. HAVE SOME FUN!!!

Thanksgiving Advent Calendar

2009-09-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

I created this Thanksgiving Advent Calendar for a sewing swap on two peas. It is made of felt, muslin, stazon, and number stamps. It was time consuming but the final product was worth it. I first cut the squares out of fall colored felt. The squares are approximately 2 1/2 by 3. Then I stamped the numbers with stazon onto muslin. After that I cut the numbers out and sewed a leaf on each square. Then I zigzag stitched the numbers on the felt pockets. I laid out the felt pockets on the background and pinned them in place. Then I sewed and sewed and sewed until all the pockets were secure. Lastly I handcut the title and sewed it onto the background. Then I cut out a backing piece and rod pockets for the top. Since I was using felt I did not have to turn right sides together to put on the backing. I just sewed around the permimeter and placed the rod pockets in at the top.

I plan on using my calendar for thankful activities. For instance, one day I might say....We are thankful for our grandparents...Give them a call today and tell them you love them.

Kindergarten Graduation Ideas - Sneak peak

2009-06-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

I am planning Kindergarten Graduation party for the students in Natalie's class. I have been a busy bee making all kinds of fun goodies. Check my other blog(http://craftparty.blogspot.com) next Monday for pictures and details. For now...I'll show you the plates in progress for them to eat on. Please ignore the soup can that was to weigh down the plate so the glue would stick. I'm going to have one at each place setting. They still need there tassle but I think they are turning out cute.

Cost: $2.48 for pack of 22 bowls, $4.98 for 2 packs of 15 plates..Total Cost under $10 bucks for a big statement on the tables.

XOXO Hope

End of School Year tradition

2009-06-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

The school year is winding down and I wanted to come up with some traditions for my daughter who is graduating this year from Kindergarten. I plan on each year picking a significant item that my daughter has learned in school that year and making her a t-shirt to wear. This year she learned to read so it was only fitting to have a t-shirt that said "I learned to read in Mrs. Briles Class". She wore the t-shirt to school today since it's the last week of school. I can't wait to see what her teacher thought about it :).

This project costs me under $5.00 to make. T-shirt $2.00, Iron On Letters $2.00

XOXO Hope

Who lives in a pineapple under the Sea?

2009-04-28T08:51:00.001-07:00

Spongebob Squarepants....

I participated in a swap at two peas called Go Fish. There was a spongebob Group and I did spongebob. I really like the way he turned out. I found a spongebob bandana and cut out the spongebob faces and zig zagged the edges. Added a white strip and a brown stip tie and collar and arms and legs and Spongebob was created. Overall pretty simple but took a while to make. I also added magnets and sewed circles around his head to make sponge looking areas and to hold the magnets in place.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries - Yummy

2009-04-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have blogged but I assure you I have been very busy swapping, crafting, cleaning, painting, goingn to ballgames, etc....

Natalie was off on spring break so we decided to have a picnic. We made chocolate covered strawberries. They were delicious and so easy. It did take a little thinking to figure out how we would put them in the picnic basket without squishing them. Walleh! Egg Carton did the job perfectly. I even got another carton to take some to my mom and family. Wouldn't this be cute in a pink carton decorated with valentines paper for a valentine gift for someone. So CUTE!!! I would love to receive it :)

Valentines Day - Class Mailboxes

2009-02-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

I created felt mailboxes for each student in Natalie's class for Valentine's Day. A basic box construction with a flap and a hole cut in the top for valentine's and the words MAIL in felt glued along the bottom. I made 23 of these in 2 nights after work. I hope they enjoy them on Tuesday at their Valentine's Party. Please excuse my mess :)

Class Valentine Gifts - Hot Chocolate Pockets

2009-02-01T16:19:00.000-08:00

My dd Natalie and I created these Hot Chocolate Pockets for her class a few years ago. This is the first project she created with her sewing machine We created some felt pockets to hold hot chocolate and her valentine cards. I think she did a great job sewing her pockets and I only had to help a little. These were very simple to make but let me know if you need more detail. I wanted the tags to say "You Warm my heart Valentine" but she wanted them to say "Happy Valentines Day" so she won since they were her pockets. I cut the pockets and she cut the hearts. I stamped the images and she colored them in. It was a joint effort. They were a hit with the class and very cheap to pull off.

Felt Food Tutorial - Pie Slice

2009-02-01T06:05:00.001-08:00

I hosted a felt food swap on 2peas. My contribution was a slice of cherry pie. I'm going to attempt through pictures to show you how I made this slice of pie. Here are the components:

I used a pair of pinking shears to cut the notches in the brown felt to make it look like fancy crust.

I topstiched the brown felt onto the top of the cherry fabric trying to get the cherries to show through some of the holes in the felt.

Take one of the long red pieces and put right sidestogether and sew along the outer edge.

Sew the other red strip on the opposite side.

Here's what it should look like after this step:

Now take the bottom piece right sides together and sew to one red strip. Then stretch it to the other red strip and sew it to the other side of the bottom piece.

This is what it should look like.

The end may have an opening at this point so sew straight across it to ensure it comes to a point.

After you sew across the edge,trim the excess so it doesn't bulk at the end after turning.

At this point turn the fabric and make sure you do not have any holes around the perimeter and at the end.

To make the crust take the long piece of felt and fold in half. Then take the smaller piece of felt that has been cut with the pinking shears and place on top. Sew across the top about 1/2 inch away from the pinking shear cut to hold together.

I will be back to post on how I stuffed and sewed the crust on.

Activity Day 20 - Cookie Party

2008-12-21T17:49:00.010-08:00

We had our 4th annual cookie party today. Natalie made mouse shaped cookies and I made pineapple cookies, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, and pecan suprise cookies. I also made 3 different soups for the party - potato soup, french onion soup, and corn chowder. The potato soup went fast. We had 9 participants this year. Small but fun and a great variety of cookies this year. Mommaw Anna won best cookie, Joanna won prettiest cookie, and Jean won most festively dressed.

Activity Day 14 - Christmas Gifts for Cousins

2008-12-21T17:48:00.002-08:00

We made felt tic tac toe boards out of felt for all of Natalie's cousins. We have been playing them every night since :). They were very easy and the X and O 's stick to the felt easily.

Activity Day 12 - Birthday Party

2008-12-21T17:08:00.000-08:00

Chucky Cheese Birthday Party. Happy 6th Birthday Natalie! You are now 6 years old! Wah!

Advent Day 8 - Letter to Santa

2008-12-11T15:32:00.002-08:00

Natalie wrote her letter to Santa today....

From Santa she wants pixos and she wants Mrs. Claus to make her a hat and scarf.

Later she added she wanted a pogo stick too.

Advent Day 6 - Christmas Parade and Sleigh Riding

2008-12-11T15:31:00.004-08:00

We went to the Christmas parade on the coldest day of the year. We got smart this year and stayed in the car until exactly noon. Santa was scheduled to come in on a helicopter like every year but he was grounded this year so he rode into the field in a police car. After he came in the parade went quick this year :0 . Natalie still got tons of candy but this girl was so happy it didn't take but 20 minutes this year because the snow was coming down and the wind chill was freezing. We brought hot chocolate too(note to self: do this every year). It snowed enough that we went sleigh riding. This is the first time Natalie has ever went sliegh riding. She had a blast.

Advent Day 3 - 2008 - Hot Chocolate and Book

2008-12-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

We read a book and drank hot cocoa by the fire. This is one of my favorite ones. I love hot cocoa :) and there really isn't much organizing to this activity go get a book and flop down by the fire..easy peasy.

Advent Calendar ideas

2008-11-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

Every year my daughter Natalie and I countdown to Christmas with an advent calendar. Here are some of the activities we do every year:

Read Book and Drink Hot Cocoa by the fire (my favorite)
Paint Fingernails in Christmas-y colors
Go to Christmas Parade
Go to look at Christmas Lights
Make Cookies
Make Candy
Have dessert at restaurant of her choice on her true Birthday(usually falls during the week)
Decorate Gingerbread House
Make christmas ornaments
Go Christmas Shopping
Wrap Presents
Write Letter to Santa
Mail Christmas Cards
Color Christmas Pictures
Deliver Christmas Cookies to Neighbors
Go to Christmas Party at work
Watch Christmas Movie
Sing Christmas Carols, Dance with Santa Claus, Ice Skate with Elves
Go Ice Skating or Bowling
Make Teacher Gifts
Wear Red and Green
Take Christmas Pictures
Wear Christmas Socks and Christmas clothes and jewelry
Donate Food
Visit Live Nativity
Donate Toys
Christmas Eve - Read Night before Christmas and open 1 present

Halloween Party - games

2008-10-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

I've been busy getting ready for our 2nd annual halloween party. I cut out a ghost to make the basketball (aka boo toss) a little spookier. Then I printed out a coloring book page onto transparency and shot it up on the bean bag toss board Eric made for me. I think it turned out pretty cute but I might need to paint the background white. I'm not loving the wood look. I made the bean bags out of some scrap material and rice. OK there not bean bags but who will ever know? I guess you...LOL I will post the other games as soon as I'm done. Christina if your reading this look I used the stencil you sent me :)

Halloween Ornament Swap - my contribution

2008-10-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

I participated in the Halloween Ornament Swap on the 2peas message board and boy I'm glad I did. I received some wonderfully create ornaments. Here is my contribution. They are made from felt, buttons, ric rac, and pom pom fringe. I hope the girls enjoy.

Halloween - Eyeball Jar

2008-10-11T17:04:00.001-07:00

I found a halloween font online and a dingbat of spooky eyes, printed them onto a transparency with my laser printer and cut it down to fit into one of my glass jars. This can also be done by printing on regular paper and using a copier to burn onto the transparency. This project is very very easy!

Ice Cubes with Worms...EWWW!

2008-10-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

I saw an ice cube tray at target with bugs and stuff for $4.99. I thought how easy I could do that with gummy worms and my own ice cube tray. So I did. I will be using these ice cubes for my halloween party.

If I have snack day at school this month I'm going to make some for the bottled waters that the kids get.

I might try some oter things too. Raisins might look like little bugs and maybe if I was spider rings really good I could use them.

Halloween Tree

2008-10-03T05:33:00.000-07:00

The story of how this tree came to be....I was looking through the Better Homes and Gardens Halloween Special magazine and I saw "the tree". I said I would love to have one of those. My DH in his usual manner said "I could make that easy". Hmm... {Deposit in back of my mind}......Move forward a few weeks later...My DH says he needs to go get some wood to make himself a video game cabinet. I say why don't you pick up the wood to make me that tree that you said would be so easy. He said ok. HUH! It was that easy to convince him. And now I have a spooky tree coming up my driveway since it was too big to fit into the house(8 ft). I scanned the tree pics into the computer, printed them onto transparencies and then he shot them up on his plywood and traced and cut with jigsaw. It took him a few hours but he did a great job. Next time he says he can make something I'm going to say let's go get the wood right now :).

Oh yeah...the sign in case you can't read it says FOUTHOUSE> It used to say OUTHOUSE and it was a $1 at the dollar store...hehe

Happy Halloween!

Unique Halloween Party Invitation

2008-09-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here is our Halloween Party Invitations for this year. I bought some boxes, googly eyes, and cheese cloth at Michaels and we took an afternoon to make the invites. Natalie decorated the outside of the boxes and I decorated the inside. I glued googly eyes to the bottom of the box, inked up the cheese cloth and glued it around the perimeter. Then I printed out the invitation and put it on the inside of the box lid. It reads:

"EYE" hope to see you at the Halloween Party!

When: Date, Time

Where: House
We can't wait to SEE you and your costume!

School Snacks

2008-09-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Natalie started kindergarten a fews ago and it has been busy. A little bit of homework every night, early bedtimes, and bathtime at night so we don't have to get up so early. It's been a whirlwind but she really loves her teachers and she is learning a lot already. We volunteered to bring in snacks for the class two days every other month. I cut up some strawberries and put 6 of them in snack ziplocs. I also got two tubs of fat free cool whip and put them in snack size cups for each child. Natalie said everyone liked strawberries but one person. So I would say that was pretty good. Next snack day we are doing low fat cheese sticks and wheat crackers. Anyone have any better snacktime ideas? The snacks can't be high in sugar.

Witch Pencils - Class Gift

2008-08-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

I know I've already shown this idea...well sort of. This time I have wrapped the felt around a pencil and added a tag. I think I will make these for Natalie's kindergarten class for Halloween.

Pancake Cups - Yummy!

2008-08-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

I visited Todays Creative Blog a day or so ago like I do just about everyday and I saw Sycamore Stirrings website(http://sycamorestirrings.blogspot.com/). She has some very creative food ideas that my child will love!

This morning we tried the pancake cups. They are a lot of fun and so easy to make. I love fun and easy!! I should have photographed them on a little nicer plate but they were so yummy I was doing good to get this shot :). Preheat oven to 350. Then all you do is get some microwave pancakes and microwave them like you normally would in the microwave to make them flexible. Then smoosh them down in the muffin cups to make little pancake bowls. Bake for about 3 to 4 minutes. Take them out and fill them with whatever you would like. We did strawberries and whip cream. Wouldn't these be adorable for a brunch on a cupcake stand? I think so.

Halloween Costume - Button

2008-08-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking about halloween and the costume ideas started moving around in my head. I want to think of something unique and exciting but also something that isn't uncomfortable for Natalie. I remember when my mom was little she would always make our costumes. My favorite of all time was when she dressed my twin brothers as a pack of doublemint gum. She got a big box and painted in to look like the gum and made aluminum foil hats for them. I can't find any pictures but they looked adorable. Of course I'm sure they weren't quite comfortable having to walk around together in a big box but they did win best costume that year at the school halloween fair. I created a costume for Natalie a couple years ago and it is still my favorite. I took green floral wreaths, fabric, yarn, cardboard and safety pins to create her Button. I think she looked "Cute as a Button". Now to start thinking of ideas for this year. Hopefully something will pop in my head when I'm trying to sleep, that's when I usually get my ideas.

Halloween Ornament Swap - Attempts

2008-08-10T18:03:00.001-07:00

I've been playing around with halloween ornaments for a swap I'm participating in at 2peas. I don't know if I'm going to go with any of these but they are so much fun I can't stop making them. LOL. The theme is vintage so I made some pleated orange ribbon with silver ric rac to trim a few of the items. I think ric rac says vintage to me, especially silver ric rac. I went out and picked up some sticks out of the yard to make the little broom sticks, they were super easy-I picked up sticks cut a 6X2 inch square of felt, cut fringes on it, rolled around the stick and tied ric rac around it. I think they would be cute on a halloween tree but not so sure they would be vintage. I also made a witch finger complete with spider ring. I think they are cut but not quite sure if they would be considered vintage. But don't they sort of look like icicles you put on a Christmas Tree? I think so. The witch hat glue wasn't dry yet but they are a definite maybe. They are cuter in person than they look in the pic and I'm thinking a curly wire coming out of the top with beads and a spider hanging off would be cute. The round ornament looks vintage but it isn't doing it for me, KWIM? So if anyone's reading this...which one do you like best? Check back if you like ornaments because there will most likely be more because once I get started it's hard for me to stop. LOL.

Sew Button on with your Sewing Machine Tutorial

2008-08-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

This is a trick I learned in a sewing class that I thought was too good not to pass along. I hope I use the right terminology but I won't promise anything. LOL

Step 1: Put down your feed dogs on your sewing machine. I have a button on the side of my machine that I push in and the feed dogs go down. You may have to refer to your manual on this. Here is a picture of my feed dog button. The feed dogs are the things under the needle that pull the fabric through for you when you sew.

Step 2: Change your stitch type to ZIG ZAG. Almost all machine have a zig zag stitch. It looks like this on my machine - Stitch #2. Depending on the button you may also have to change your stitch length but I've never had to do this for the buttons I have sewn on.

Step 3: Place button under the pressure foot of the sewing machine like so. Try to line up the holes with the needle placement.

Step 4: Manually turn the big round button on the side of your sewing machine to make sure the needle will go through the holes of the button without touching the button. **This is extremely important. If you just start using your foot pedal at this point and the button is not lined up the needle could break and you may start crying :(. Make sure the needle will go through both holes you may have to turn the wheel twice to make sure.

Step 5: Step on the gas once you see the needle will Zig and Zag from one hole to the other on the button without touching. Stitch as many times as you want to make it sturdy.

Step 6: Remove from machine..Repeat if necessary for a button with more than 2 holes.

Step 7: Yeah! You can sew on buttons now with your machine!!!

Felt Snowman Ornament/Gift Tag Tutorial

2008-08-05T06:13:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to be the only one without a tutorial on their blog so I put this one together last night. It's my first tutorial so be gentle :).

Step 1 - Gather your materials. You will need one piece of white felt and small piece of orange felt, ribbons, buttons, scissors, and a round object to make a circle. Mine is about 4 to 5 in in diameter but you can play around with the sizes.

Step 2: Fold the felt so you can make two circles at once and draw a circle using your round object.

Step 3: Cut out Circles. Cut out nose shape from orange felt. Cut 10 pieces of various ribbons about 4 inches in length. I like to use 2 of each type of ribbon but you could use all the same ribbon if you would like. He's your snowman make him however you want :).

Step 4: Play around with nose placement and draw different types of mouths to see which one you like best.

Step 5: Take one piece of white circle and sew on button eyes. You can refer to my soon to be tutorial on how to sew on buttons with your machine or sew them on by hand at this point.

Step 6: Sew on carrot nose and sew over mouth that you drew.

Step 7: Stack 2 pieces of ribbon between the finished face circle and a blank white circle. Pin in place. Do this however many times you like. I like to do 5 sets of 2 ribbons. You will tie these two pieces together later on.

Step 8: Sew around using 1/4 inch seam allowance. Removiing pins as you go.

Step 9: Tie ribbons to form hair for your snowman.

Step 10: Enjoy! At this point you could place a wire in between middle set of ribbons to hang or place on package or bag. And don't forget, HAVE FUN!

4th of July Decorating

2008-07-06T08:16:00.001-07:00

Some Pics of my house decorated for 4th of July. I love collecting the glass canisters. I bought some shredded red, white, and blue papers at the dollar store and gave this project to my dd to do. She had fun filling them up and it kept her busy for a few minutes. They looked really cute lined up all in a row. I decorated the deck with some shutters I found at a yard sale last year for $4.00 for the set and I found the bunting at another sale for $1.00. I think they look really cute paired together with some red flowers and a metal star. I bought the strawberry crush so the red bottles would match the decor and then we decided we would use the container to hold the plastic utensils. The outdoor table turned out really cute. I saw an idea in country living I think that had the cans filled with flowers so I did this too. Took some of the snowball bush blooms in some clean tin cans. The table runner is a valance curtain I found at the thrift store. I think it looked very festive at the 4th of July cookout. My milkglass got a new look by stacking them and placing the remaining red and white paper strips from the other project. Stopped by the side of the road the get the other fresh flowers in the vase. And last but not least my living room got a face lift by draping over a flag on my rustic ladder and cutting some flag fabric into squares and framing them in inexpensive $3 frames I found at Walmat. I love how it looks on my newly painted yellow walls. Well I hope you enjoyed my 4th of July Decorations. Happy 4th of July!

Cascading Potted Plants

2008-07-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

Todays Creative Blog featured the following blog: http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/. She has a great idea for potting cascading plants. I decided to try it myself for the 4th of July when Walmart had all their plants marked 50 cents and 25 cents. I think it turned out pretty cute. Including the pots this costs be approx $5.00 for all of it including the flag.

Easy Patchwork Pillow

2008-06-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

I found a quilt at a yard sale that had seen better days. It had holes in it and stains all over it. Therefore I got a good deal. I took the pieces that were good and made pillows from them. They look like they took a long time but they only took about 5 minutes each. The smaller pieces that aren't big enough for pillows I think I'm going to use to make patchwork birds for christmas ornaments. Or I may think of something else before then? Who knows.

Happy Fathers Day

2008-06-17T18:54:00.001-07:00

Here is my dh with my dd. She's so lucky to have such a good daddy. Happy father's Day!!!

New Food: Rachel Ray

2008-06-17T18:49:00.001-07:00

Ritzy White Pizza http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/ritzy-white-pizza/

I love to watch Rachel Ray. She has a semi-new feature on her webstie called the food crew. I tried one of the recipes for Arugula. I thought it was really good. I had never tasted Arugula before or fontina cheese. I did substitute the proscuitto for ham. I recommend this recipe but I might use mozarella next time because the fontina is quite expensive.

Crayon Roll

2008-06-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Found this tutorial over on Skiptomylou. It's a great tutorial and it took about 30 minutes to complete. Great project! http://skiptomylou.wordpress.com/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/ I will probably make a lot of these for christmas presents. Would be cute to make it a little smaller for lip gloss too for teenagers on my gift list. Could also be used for make up brushes. Anything else anyone can think of?

July Banner

2008-06-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

I made this banner to decorate for a 4th of July party. I cut the red and white striped fabric and star fabric into banner panels. Then I freehanded J-U-L-Y out of blue gingham pattern. Then use the zig zag stitch around the letters onto the panel and sew onto a length of ribbon to hang.

Pillowcase Envelope Pillow

2008-06-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

I collect pillowcases. I just can't help myself when I see one with an interesting pattern I pick it up. It's already sewn so I usually just adjust it a little bit and make something else. I've made pillowcase dresses for my little girl, little skirts for her, and a few other things. Today I was playing around and made a 4th of july envelope case for some pillows I didn't like anymore. Here's how it turned out and it took about 5 minutes to make. Basically you stuff a pillow form into the bottom of a pillowcase. I had to add a little extra batting to make it fuller on one side. wrap the other end of the pillowcase like a present and sew around side that looks like an arrow before you fold it back and sew on a button. Then flip over onto the pillow form...Wallah you have a envelope pillow in less than 5 minutes.

Paint Chip Packaging

2008-06-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

I participated in a scrapbook color swap over at 2peas. Basically you go through your craft swap and pick out items either by color or shape and send them in to a central person. Then they send you back one of each item from someone else in the swap. You were to place each category in a ziploc and put your name on it. I placed my items in a ziploc and went to the paint store to get the colors that matched to make cute little headers for the bags. The ones that weren't colors I used my punches to punch out the shape needed(ex. circle, squares, etc) Here is a pic of them all laying out together. I think you could pick up some red or green paint chips and package things to give out for christmas. Or use the cartoon character ones to use for goody bags for birthdays. I think there are a million uses for those paint chips. Anybody else used them in a clever way?