crafts

November 16, 2011 9 Comments

DIY punch design gift bags

Yesterday I mentioned that I teamed up with All You magazine on a holiday savings article and that we were giving away FREE printable gift tags and recipe cards.

Today I’m sharing my craft for the article. I wanted to share an idea that would be adorable, easy and of course, inexpensive. I personally like to give little “happy” gifts to my sons’ teachers, our neighbors, and a number of others who make an impact in our lives throughout the year, but it can get pricey. So I bake! This year I’m going to make our favorite, no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies (so yummy when warm) and I’ve added a peppermint twist.

For the packaging we’ve designed recipe cards and holiday tags (both can be personalized right in the document before printing) and I got a bit crafty too! I embellished white lunch bags and inserted a gusseted cello to keep my goodies fresh and to keep the bag crisp.

You’ll need white lunch bags (picked mine up at Target), gusseted cello bags (picked mine up at Target), a hole punch (this one is a Martha Stewart punch that I picked up for 40% off at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, it has three hole sizes to choose from!) and ribbon or twine (this twine is from the Martha Stewart collection too).

Here’s how:

Fold the bottom of your bag down on both sides so that you don’t punch through it
Punch a simple design (Christmas lights, snowflakes, ornaments, Christmas tree) on a self-healing mat if you have one (if not, grab a piece of wood or other hard surface you don’t mind scarring) ~ I recommend placing it near the bottom of the bag if your treats are short
Bag your treats and insert them into the lunch bag
Download our free tags and recipe cards
Personalize them with your name and your recipe, print, cut and give!

And here are a few other punch ideas: Tall ornament (like the one on our design) and

a Christmas tree.

And the best part, this adorable Christmas packaging will cost you less than $.40 per gift! Check out this issue of All You magazine for more wonderful savings ideas this holiday season!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter (with discount offers to the shoppe), follow us on twitter and pinterest.

DIY jingle bell bracelet

I love jingle bells at Christmas! When I was in grade school I actually got in trouble for putting them on my shoestrings. Not that I was a fidgety child or anything! {wink} So when I saw these beautiful red jingle bells at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores I had to pick up a bag and make myself a bracelet.

Of course little ones ran off with it after I jingled them into giggles. They eventually gave it back and I plan on wearing it on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. (It’s a great way to make them think Santa’s on the roof! His reindeer always have bells on their reins, right!)

I thought it also a great idea for kiddos to make as Christmas gifts for moms or moms to make as gifts for their little girls. Here’s how!

You’ll need a few supplies: jingle bells, thin elastic and ribbon.

Measure or estimate wrist size and then thread your bells. I alternated large, medium and small.

Next cut equal lengths of various coordinating ribbon and tie them on to fill in the spaces. It’s that easy!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter (with discount offers to the shoppe), follow us on twitter and pinterest. Participating in link parties at Uncommon and Tip Junkie.

it’s not too late!

It’s not too late to download my free Halloween collection featured in Better Homes and Gardens latest Halloween issue! Even if you’re not hosting a party this weekend, there is always next year!

Enjoy! And as always, I hope you’re inspired!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter (with weekly discount offers to the shoppe), follow us on twitter and pinterest.

say “trick or treat?!”

I can’t tell you how often I’m the one saying “Trick or Treat” when we go out on Halloween. My kids often just turn on the shy smile and say nothing until the candy is in the bag and they joyfully scream “Thank You!” as they run away. I guess if I can only get them to say one or the other I would prefer they be polite. That said, I’m strongly considering making them carry my Halloween photo props (from our Trick or Treat collection) around with them!

It’s cute and it keeps me from having to “Trick or Treat” for them. {wink}

Happy Monday everyone!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter (with weekly discount offers to the shoppe), follow us on twitter and pinterest.

DIY circus crayon favors

Today I’ve asked the talented Bird’s Party to share her super cute and fabulously DIY circus crayon favors with us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Homemade crayons make fun and economical party favors for any age, and it’s a great use for all those broken crayons lying around the house! I made these for my kid’s Big Top Circus birthday party!

What you’ll need:

Wax crayons
Craft knife
Clean, empty and dry can
Chocolate molds (mine is a Wilton’s)
Cello bags
Favor bag topper

And here are the easy steps:

If your crayons have paper labels, take them off with a craft knife. Simply score down the length of each crayons and the paper comes off easily (NOT a job for kids!)
Break up the crayons into equal pieces so they melt evenly, and place them into the can. You can use similar shades of one color or mix crayon colors for a groovy effect!
Place the can in the oven on how heat (about 100 degrees) until melted.
Pour the melted wax carefully into the molds until level and let it set in the fridge. (NOTE: Molds cannot be reused for edible items!)
Once cooled, remove the crayons carefully from the mold, place them into a cello bag and add a topper.

Cute, right?

Thanks you so much Kim for having me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can visit Bird at Bird’s Party blog for more circus party ideas! And as always, I hope you’re inspired!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter with weekly offers, follow us on twitter and pinterest.

DIY monster pedestal jars

I shared our new Trick or Treat Halloween party collection weeks ago (blog post, collection in the shoppe) and I mentioned that my monster pedestal candy jars were my favorite craft project. And this morning I’m going to tell you how I made them. It’s super easy!

You’ll need glass glue, sharp scissors (these are Martha Stewart brand), black vinyl (I picked mine up at Hobby Lobby),

candle stick holders from the dollar store and you may even get lucky and find your glass jars there. I picked all of mine up at a nearby Dollar Tree with the exception of the Jack-o-Lantern bowl. It’s a bit larger and I picked it up at Target. And last but not least, you’ll need lots of candy! You may recognize my orange gumballs, green and white sixlets and mini marshmallows from my DIY monster cello bag treats in Monday’s post. They were left overs. {grin}

Just attach the candle stick holders, cut out the self-adhesive vinyl in simple shapes, stick them to your bowls/jars,

fill with candy, give them fun names like Frankenstein bolts, ghost mist and pumpkin seeds and serve!

As always, I hope you’re inspired!

Join us on facebook, sign up for our newlsetter with weekly offers, follow us on twitter and pinterest.

DIY monster cello bag treats

We always like to give a little something special out on Halloween to the kiddos in the neighborhood that the boys play with. Last week I was browsing around and ran across some adorable ghost cello bags from The Gaines Gang. I immediately thought clever! And then the next thing I thought was how I could make my Trick or Treat collection monster pedestal candy dishes (tutorial coming this week) into cellos and give them out on Halloween.

The fabulous thing is, these aren’t only cute. They’re super simple. All you’ll need are pretzel cello bags from the craft store, I picked mine up at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, and a wide tip Sharpie! Crafting doesn’t get much easier than that.

Jack-o-lantern,

Frankenstein,

and ghost!

I just filled each with candies (orange gumballs for my jack-o-lantern, green and white sixlets for my Frankenstein and mini marshmallows for my ghost), tied them with pretty ribbons and done.

As always, I hope you’re inspired! {UPDATE: I made Thanksgiving turkey cello bag treats!}

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter with weekly offers, follow us on twitter and pinterest. Participating in Tip Junkie’s Tip Me Tuesday.

carving pumpkins with my boys

We live in Ohio so there are pumpkins galore this time of year and the kids always want to carve them. It’s not always the easiest task to keep the boys clean during that process, but they always have such a good time.

We picked up a few pumpkins at the nursery last weekend and the kids simply couldn’t wait so I let them carve one (we’ll save the others for a bit closer to Halloween).

We used these new Pumpkin Masters carving kits. The boys sat on the front porch for 30 minutes selecting which template to try and in the end the dragon won out. Although, we’re going to try these new eye and teeth (plastic) picks on our next pumpkins. They’re really neat because they stick right into the holes you’ve carved and they’re mostly clear so the candle light will shine through and make them extra creepy. Boys really like extra creepy! {wink}

My youngest wanted to use the crayon that comes with the kit first to draw on a smiley face.

Then, down to business. We taped on the stencil and he used the little hole punching/tracing tool to outline his dragon.

After our template was on, he wanted to color it in before we carved it out. And he wanted color so he went in the house and got a small can of crayons.

They didn’t work as well as the crayon in the kit, but he was determined. {proud momma smile}

Then came the real work… dipping the ick out of the pumpkin into a garbage bag. If you’ve not ever done this before… it’s really, really messy so be prepared.

The kids of course thought it was cool. And using the little scooper in the Pumpkin Masters kit makes the process a lot easier when you have to scrape the sides clean. (NOTE: If you spray the inside with a bleach and water mixture the pumpkin will rot slower.)

So now we’re back to my smiling little boy and his dragon pumpkin. Happy weekend everyone and as always, I hope you’re inspired to do something fun!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter with weekly offers, follow us on twitter and pinterest.

Country Living Mag 2011 Fair

Country Living magazine hosts a fair in Columbus Ohio and Atlanta Georgia each fall. The theme of the fair is to come and experience “country living” with hundreds of booths showcasing talented artisans, antiquers and fantastic fall flavors.

Well those of you that know me, know that I’m a southern girl (born in Alabama, college in Texas and Mississippi and then off to Tennessee before finally landing in Ohio) so country life is in my blood. Last year I was on my way to Disney World for their Not So Scary Halloween Party (it was fabulous by the way; I wish we were going again this year!) and didn’t get to attend. Well I wasn’t going to miss the Fair again this year!

And guess what! I had the opportunity to meet the editor, Sarah Gray Miller (that’s her on the right). She was lovely and down to earth, just how you would expect a good ole Mississippi girl to be. And I have to tell you, she was wearing these fabulous worn cowgirl boots and shared that she picked them up on eBay for $10. {I need a size 8.5 if anyone wants to get me a Christmas gift!}

So as you can imagine, I flitted around taking pictures of almost everything in my path. My creative brain was in overdrive with inspiration.

These are just a few of the things I thought were too lovely not to photograph. My absolute favorite are the angel wings made from an old picket fence. How clever and creative!

There was also tons of seasonal inspiration at every turn. How fun are those plush pumpkins?!

And the signage was just too fun not to share. I expected the sidewalk signage, but the outhouse was just funny and then my son really wanted to take the motorcycle signage home. “Mom, it’s just too cool!”

And I can’t leave without sharing a few fun pics of my boys enjoying the day. They love to “go” and that includes exploring with their mom. These are some of the fun times I captured. The “Great Pumpkin Patch” in the center of town, my youngest with this month’s Country Living magazine cover image in the background (love those pumpkin ideas!), my boys jumping off of the hay in front of the test kitchen… I’m sure we they weren’t supposed to be doing that… and my oldest with a swan neck gourd. Okay, I made that name up… but that’s what it looks like to me. {wink}

Although this year’s event in Columbus is over, there is another one in Atlanta next month if you’re nearby. And if you’re thinking about it, take a video tour of the Columbus Fair with Sarah to see what the 2011 Country Living Fair is all about. And if you get to go, I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Join us on facebook and follow us on twitter and pinterest.

DIY fall dessert stand

This morning I thought I would share a lovely and easy way to display fall treats. It was as simple as popping into my JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store and picking up two wood slices (in the wood crafting section) and two mini bales of hay (with seasonal) and stacking them.

And then to my bakery for some mini apple pie fritters and

some oh so yummy pumpkin donuts. If you’ve not had pumpkin donuts you are really really missing out! The dessert labels, banner and owl cookies are from our new Pumpkin Patch party collection that will be available in the shoppe this week.

Happy Monday everyone and as always, I hope you’re inspired!

Join us on facebook and follow us on twitter and pinterest. Photography by Angie Arthur Photography. Participating in Tip Junkie’s Tip Me Tuesday.