This is a really simple card.  I used a solid, print, 2 brads, another small strip of a solid and whatever you want for the words.  You could stamp them or in this case I ran it off on my computer. 

Whatever color you pick for the inside is what you see on the front bottom of the card.  I folded the card in half and on the front flap I cut a smiley face by trimming off the edges of the card.  I glued the the print on the front and cut it to match. 

Next, using the brads, I attached the Happy Birthday paper onto the coordinating solid and then glued on the solid to the card.  That's it.  You can change it up and use whatever words you want. 

Christmas Tree Card

I know Christmas is over, but here is a cute idea for a homemade Christmas card for next year!  Just cut out 7 small rectangles out of corresponding Christmas prints and stack them on top of each other.  I cut a trunk out of little piece of brown paper and a star out of some red paper to finish it off.

Christmas Star Card

Since I don't plan on posting again later this week. I will be enjoying some much needed time with my kids I am posting everything today.

I love this Christmas card. The stars really make it.

You will need:
christmas paper
white cardstock
coordinating cardstock
3 cardboard stars (you could cut these out of cardboard yourself*)
string
vellum
brads or hooks of some kind

Cut out your white cardstock and fold it into a card. Print a Christmas message on your vellum. Then cut it into a rectangle. Glue the vellum on the coordinating paper. Cut the coordinating paper a little bigger than the vellum and glue onto the Christmas print paper. Use a needle to put a hole in the stars (you could also use yellow cardstock stars). Thread your string on the needle and use the needle to thread the stars on the string. To help prevent the stars from moving around tie a knot behind the star. Try threading your stars so that they are going different directions. Then tie the string around the hook and attach to the card. If you are using brads then punch the brads through the print paper first and then tie the thread around the brad. Then push the brad down on the other side of the print paper. Lastly glue your print paper on the white cardstock.

*To cut out the cardboard stars yourself download this star, print it out, and then use it to cut out the stars.

Christmas Card (Two for One)

I love Christmas. Back before I was a working mom I used to make homemade Christmas cards. Here is the same card with a different message and paper. It always amazes me how different cards can look when you just change a couple of things.

You will need:

Christmas print paper
coordinating paper

white cardstock

red ribbon (about 3/4 yard)

vellum

4 brads

Christmas sticker or printed message

Cut your card out of white cardstock and fold in half. Then cut your Christmas print paper so it fits the front of your card. Put your Christmas sticker or print a Christmas message on the vellum, cut it out, and attach it with brads to the Christmas print at the top of the card. You can use a background paper behind the vellum to add interest (especially if your background paper has a lot of white) as one of the cards shows. Then it is time to add the ribbon. Wrap the ribbon around the Christmas print twice below the vellum and then tie in a bow. Then glue your Christmas print paper on the white cardstock.

Hands Soap Bottles

It's probably my turn to post, since no one posted on Monday. Sorry. I have the hardest time keeping track of this extra item in my life. But I have two weeks off teaching for Christmas and actually have time to post. I love Christmas break.

So here is my Christmas or anytime craft for the week. It is super easy and cheap. My two favorite things when I'm making a craft.

You will need:
a bottle of soap (get the $1 Equate kind from Walmart)
transparency with hands saying printed on it
netting or ribbon
gift tags
rubbing alcohol or fingernail polish remover

First download a copy of the hands saying, then using your own printer or your local copy store print it onto a transparency. Cut apart the hands saying. Remove the labels from the soap bottle (Equate soap is the cheapest and easiest to remove the labels, Softsoap brand labels are hard to get off). Use the rubbing alcohol (works best) to remove and residue from the label. Then unscrew the lid of the soap bottle. Loosely roll the hands saying up (just small enough to fit in the soap bottle opening), it works better if you roll it back with the saying on the front. Then put the saying in the soap bottle. Use the soap dispenser to push it down a little and help it unroll. Be careful not to push it all the way down to the bottom. Screw the lid back on. Then tie the netting or ribbon around the top, attach a gift tag if you want, and viola a finished gift. You can use red and green colors for Christmas or other colors for birthday gifts.

Here is the download link for the Hands saying.
http://www.4shared.com/file/W0atSoFK/HANDS1.html

An Extra post

I got back from a cruise last week, and posted my Monday post but forgot my Thursday one. I am so sorry, so here is my post a couple of days late!
I made these Dashing through the Snow plagues for gifts. There were easy and fun to do. All you need is three pieces of wood that can be any size. (if you have some scraps they would work well) My wood was 4x4 and 3x4. 1/2 inch thick.

I painted the edge and backsides along with the top sides of the wood pieces
You can use any color you want that looks good with your paper

I cut my paper to be a little smaller then my wood. I then modge Podge the paper onto the wood

I cut these shapes using my Silhouette. And I cut the words Let It Snow in a different vinyl color then my images. If you do not have a vinyl machine you can always print an image onto the paper using your printer, or use some big stickers from the craft store.

There you go a gift for the neighbors or a decoration for yourself.

Holiday Magnets

These cute magnets are so easy to make and make great gifts for your neighbors!  Buy a bag of the 1 inch clear glass marbles, the flat ones that usually go in vases, not the round ones.  Then cut out circles of scrapbook paper to fit the marbles.  I glued on a star and snowflake and printed joy on some of them.  Then mod podge the paper to the flat part of the marble.  When it's dry either hot glue a magnet to the back or buy the little round ones that have the sticky back.  I used the stick on ones, and they are holding just fine.  I plan on buying the silver canning lids (not the rings, but the lids themselves) and putting a circle of scrapbook paper on the inside of it and then putting the magnets on it and then put them in a little cellophane gift bag with some shredded paper stuff.  That way the magnets stick to the lid and don't get lost in the bag.  Have fun creating!

Count down to christmas

I am a firm believer in good deals, especially in crafts. Last year I found this wood advent calendar on clearance at Michaels. I don't have an advent calendar, so this is what I did to spruce this up:

First I spray painted the entire advent calendar (spray painting was easier then painting it with acrylics)

 I used my printer to print the numbers on the scrapbook paper

I measured and cut out the squares, and then I mod podged them onto the calendar.  After it dried I put a layer of mod podge on top.  I then went online and found some quotes and put them in each box.  The fun thing is that you can use any paper you want to make this cute calendar, and every year Michaels has a bunch of different wooden advent calendars.  

Pumpkin Bars

I found the yummiest recipe for Pumpkin Bars!  Enjoy!

1 package yellow cake mix

1/2 cup melted butter

1 egg

Combine and press into a greased 9x13 pan, reserving one cup for topping.

Step 2

3 cups pumpkin pie mix (be sure to by the mix and not plain pumpkin)

2 eggs

2/3 cup evaporated milk

Mix until smooth and pour over crust.

Step 3

1 cup cake mixture

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine and sprinkle over filling. (It says to keep adding sugar until it crumbles, but it seems like I can never get to that point, so I just pull it into pieces and distribute them on top of the filling)

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes until the pumpkin layer is done.  An easy way to tell if the pumpkin is done is to insert a knife and when it comes out almost clean, its done.  We like it best refrigerated and served with cool whip. 

Little Turkeys

 So I saw this cute idea for little edible turkeys to put by the side of everyone's plate at Thanksgiving, and they look cute in real life, but the camera just couldn't quite capture it.  The body is a creme filled chocolate or a chocolate covered cherry, the tail feathers are half of a fudge striped cookie and the head is a candy corn, with chocolate frosting holding it together. I think if you use a chocolate covered cherry, the body will be bigger and would be cute if you used a whole cookie as the tail feathers and another cookie underneath it kind of as feet.  Yum!

Give Thanks

This cute holiday plaque was so easy to make.  Here is what you'll need:

12x12 Board (I got mine at Roberts for $3)

12x12 scrapbook paper

vinyl saying

embellishments

mod podge/foam brush

sand paper

I first painted the wood a dark brown and then I mod podged the green paper to the wood.  Don't trim the paper to size, leave just a little edge of the paper (atleast an 1/8 of an inch) hanging over the edge of the wood (the board says its 12x12, but it was really only 11 3/4 square).  Then using the sandpaper, sand the edges of the paper off by sanding along the edge of the board and the excess paper will come off in a nice little strip and then your paper will fit your board exactly.  I chose to rough up the corners and a few spots on the front of the paper with the sandpaper to give it more of a worn look.

Next I put on the vinyl letters and I cut leaves out of a piece of scrapbook paper and glued those on.  Then I mod podged over the top of everything. 

 Last of all, I added ribbon (using glue dots) and a little jewel where the ribbon crossed over itself to get the finished product and voila! A super easy decoration!

Fall Card

This card is easy to make. I found this cute fall paper at Michaels in a fall pack. The nice thing about buying paper in packets is that you get pieces with different patterns that coordinate in color.

Fist I took five pieces of paper and tour them into strips. 

* To help tear your paper wet the area where you are tearing, then tear it.

 I layered my stripes onto the card base and glued them on. Then I trimmed the edges.

Next I embosed this stamp of a tree, and inked the edges of the paper.

 To add some embellishments to my card I used ribbon and a button.

No shoes please

I got this idea from another craft blog on how to tell guests not to wear shoes in the home. And because I have a baby in the house she is constantly picking up and eating anything on the ground. So this is what you will need to make this darling Bare feet only picture frame.

1 wood frame ( I bought mine from Michaels for $1)

wood Acrylic paint (use a paint that will match with your paper)

1 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper (the thicker the paper the less it will bubble)

Mod podge

A picture of your family or kids with bare feet!

First measure the frame onto the paper. Then cut out your paper, I made mine a little smaller then what I measured so I could have a painted edge.

 Paint the frame, it isn't important to paint the part of the frame that the paper will cover.

 Then I mod podged the paper onto the frame. I learned that if you glue the paper to the frame first, then let it dry before you mod podge over it, it made less bubbles when it dried. I also smooth out the bumps the best I can with the back of a butter knife. I used the paint to dust the edges of the scrapbook paper using a stencil brush.

 My sweet brother in law took the picture of all of our feet! I think it turned out pretty cute. I hang this on my door with a wreath around it, that way when people come they know to take off their shoes, without me having to ask!

Happy Birthday

I needed to make a couple of cards that I could send to nephews.  Lacking any ideas, I ran to Roberts and found this cute airplane paper.  I used a blue card base and cut a airplane to glue on.  I printed up the Happy Birthday banner on the computer.  I used a plain green for a stripe with some thin green string that I had on hand. It turned out cute.  I was also thinking some white clouds instead of the stripe would also look good.  The nice thing is that the airplane paper I bought was covered with planes so I can get several cards out of 1 piece of paper.  Change it up to use what you have on hand and have fun!

Thanksgiving napkin rings

I decided to make Thanksgiving napkin rings.  After searching all over for rings I could use and not finding any, my husband came up with a good idea for using PVC pipe that you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot.  Its super cheap and you get a long piece of pipe.

 I cut the pipe into pieces that fit my orange ribbon so the whole pipe would be covered.  I used 2 different ribbons, 2 leaves in slightly different sizes and colors, a pine cone, a hot glue gun and Mod Podge.  I had some tiny pine cones I got at my in-laws, that I picked up off the ground that were just the right size. 

I bought the ribbons on sale and layered them together to get the look I wanted.

I spread a thin layer of Mod Podge on the pipe and attached my orange ribbon and then my brown ribbon on the top.

After I let the ribbon dry I hot glued on everything else.  I cut some more ribbon and twisted the ends together with a twisty tie cut in half.  I glued that on, followed by both leaves. Then I covered the ends of the leaves and the twisty tie with the pine cone. 

That's it.  It was really easy.  I spent about $8 and made 20 napkin rings.  Not to bad.  Using a centerpiece that has pine cones and leaves in it, the napkin rings should look really pretty for Thanksgiving.  I think I might go back and add some berries for some more color.  That is the beauty of these rings.  You can glue on whatever you want and make them whatever size you need.  Happy creating!

Any Occasion Card

This cute card can be used for any occasion.  Here's what you'll need:

3 Plain colors

Corresponding Print

Thread

Ribbon

Brad

Eyelet

I sanded the edges of the blue square to give it kind of a worn out look, and I have a flower cut out that I used to do a red and a yellow flower of each size, but you could just cut out two sizes of flowers and put them together with the brad.  I stamped "hello hello" on the red tag, but you could put happy birthday, thank you, or whatever you want!

Corresponding Cards

I always have pieces of random paper laying around from making one thing out of it, so I try to come up with ways to use it for more than one card so that my paper stack doesn't get out of control. :)

Here's what you'll need for these two cards:

                                                    2 corresponding prints

                                                    1 sheet of plain corresponding color

                                                    white/cream paper

                                                    tan/white for card base (8 1/2 x11 sheet cut in half)

                                                    ribbon

                                                    two brads

Here are the dimensions for this card:

Tan base: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded in half 

Large pink square: 5 5/16" x 3 5/8"

Large cream square: 5 1/16" x 3 3/8"

Small brown & pink squares: 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"

Pink rectangle: 4 3/8" x 1 1/2" (cut off corners)

Cream rectangle: 3 3/8" x 1 1/8" (cut off two corners)

Stamp or print a phrase on the cream rectangle and push the brad through the end of the pink rectangle and then glue it all together a layer at a time.

This card was super easy.  Here's the dimensions for the paper:

Tan base: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded in half 

Brown striped: 5 1/2 " x 3"

Pink print: 5 1/2" x 1 1/2"

Pink rectangle: 2" x 3 5/8"

Cream rectangle: 1 5/8" x 3 1/4"

Cut the ribbon long enough to wrap it around the paper so that you don't see any fraying edges. It's easiest to use a small hole punch to punch a hole through the ribbon for the brad to go through, or use scissors to cut a small slit.  Then, line up the bottom of the ribbon with the bottom of the brown paper and use two glue dots to secure the ends of the ribbon to the back of the brown paper.  Glue the pink paper to the tan base and then glue the brown paper with the ribbon on to the tan (which will overlap the top of the pink).  I stamped a flower on the cream, but you could use a sticker or print off some clip art.  Have fun!

 

Halloween Trick or Treat Bags

So we as sisters definitely got some of our craftiness from our mom, who made these cute Trick or Treat bags for all of our kids this year, and in less than an hour you can make one too!

This is what you’ll need: 1/2 yard of a Halloween print fabric

                                     1/2 yard fabric for lining

                                     1/8 yard Halloween print fabric for top edge

                                     2 feet (2/3 yard) 1 inch nylon strap for handles

                                     Thread

  (This amount of fabric will make two bags, so if you want them to be different from each other, buy 2 different Halloween prints and alternate using use one for the lining and the other for the bag. You will need 4 feet of nylon strap for 2 bags)

First cut your fabric to these sizes: Bag – 15 ½ by 22 inches

                                                       Lining – 15 ½ by 22 inches

                                                       Top edge – 2 ¼ by 22 inches

                                                        Straps – 12 inches each

Now to put it together!!!!

Step 1 - Top decorative edge: This strip is going to go over the top two inches of the bag itself to reinforce the top.  Measure 2 inches down from the top of the bag material and pin the top edge strip there with the right sides together.  Sew ¼ inch from top edge of strip. (In this picture, the strip is the candy corn print)

Then turn strip up and sew along the top edge to secure it.  (If it doesn’t quite reach the top, don’t worry! Just sew ¼ inch from the edge of strip. When you sew your top seam, just make it wide enough to cover your stitching.)

Step 2- Sew bag : Fold bag material so it measures 11 by 15 ½ inches. Sew down the side, sewing ½ inch seam (unless you have words printed down the selvage side – then make the seam wide enough that the words will be inside the bag). Turn at the bottom of the bag and sew along the bottom edge. Backstitch each end as you sew.

 

Step 3- Bottom of bag: This is easier than it looks! Stick your hand inside the bag and open up the bottom of the bag. Find a corner and match up bottom seam with side of bag making sure it is pulled tight with no fabric bunched up on the back. Measure 2 inches across as in picture. Sew and backstitch. Repeat on other corner.

Step 4 – Handles: Turn bag right side out and lay so top is flat. Measure over 2 ½ inches from sides. Pin straps (with one on each side of bag) placing them at the 2 ½ inch mark, with about 4 inches between edge of straps. Zig zag edges of straps to prevent fraying. Trim thread.

 

  Step 5 – Lining of bag: Sew as you did the bag in steps 2 and 3 above – EXCEPT

in the side seam leave about 4 inches not sewn about ½ way down the lining.

Step 6 – Put bag together: This sounds tricky but is really easy! Leave lining turned with the print inside. Put the bag inside the lining with right sides together and matching up the side seam. Pin the tops together. Now sew the two pieces together – when you get to a handle, backstitch across the handle so you sew across the top of it 3 times to make them stronger. When you have sewn the tops all the way together back stitch. Now put your hand through the opening you left in the side seam of the lining and pull the bag out! 

Step 7 – Sew lining opening closed:  On the inside of the lining sew the opening closed with a really narrow seam. Then stuff lining inside bag.

 

Step 8 – Finish top of bag: Working on the outside of the bag top stitch around the top of bag making sure lining is pulled down inside so it won’t show from the front of bag. This will keep the lining down inside and make the top of the bag stronger too!

                      NOW HAVE SOME FUN TRICK OR TREATING!!!

Activity Treat for guests

The moment I saw these little apples I fell in love with them! They are the perfect size for making caramel apples with our guests for our Halloween party! To practice my kids and I made some. 

I bought a bunch of tiny apples about 1x1inch, we used 8 for this

1 small package of caramels

1 cup chocolate chips ( I like milk) but you can use all different kinds

three boxes of mini nerds Halloween colors

1/4 cup flavored coffee creamer or sweetened condensed milk

8 skewers

 To make the caramel, I melted the caramel with 1/8 cup of creamer. Then we put the skewers in the middle of the apples and dipped away.

 They are a bit runny so I let them dry a little on Styrofoam.

 We then dipped the caramel in a chocolate solution: 1/8 cup creamer to 1 cup chocolate, I cooked this in the microwave for 20 seconds and then stirred until the chocolate chips were melted and the milk was incorporated. If the chocolate chips need a little bit of warming up, only do 10 sec or less at a time. You do not want to burn the chocolate.

After dipping them in the chocolate we dipped them in the nerds. I know these do not look like martha stewarts, but my kids did them and had a great time! I know your guests will as well.

 You can also use sprinkles, nuts, mini chocolate chips, and mini m&m's to dip them in.