Working on a collection

I paid about $3 for all three of these bowls at a rummage sale this summer then primed and spray painted them some vintage-y colors. I'm keeping my eye open for more so I can fill the space above my kitchen cabinets with lots of them!
I'm going for something like this:

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Or this:

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With colors like this:

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And some of these:

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And maybe these:

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Pay it forward mustache

Three gifts down, and two to go from my "Pay it Forward" post on Facebook. This stuffed mustache key chain was the most fun to make and give so far. I made it with pleather from Joann and stuffed it . The loop that attaches it to the keyring is just some black cording. There are three young ladies in Spokane who got a kick out of their little gift and I am so glad they enjoyed getting them as much as I enjoyed making them!

I hate to go, but I am in a hurry today, so I really "mustache!" HAHAHAHA!! Get it?!

My new go-to bday present

This "build-your-own-fort-kit" has been a big hit with the birthday kiddos and their parents, it is inexpensive and easy to put together, which is why it is my new go-to bday present!

I got the idea from Saltwater Kids, this post. She got the idea from Bloom, this post. And since then I have seen it at Design Dazzle, this post. Or with a superhero twist here at Grosgrain.

I've only included one twin size sheet and about 10 clothespins but the other tutorials have several sheets and more clips. I've also been using a matching pillowcase cut in half and lined with a coordinating print, then made into a drawstring bag, which just seemed easier to me but you could just use the pillow case the way it is or any other bag you find.

And on a related note, but also for any number of other fun projects, you can design your own tags on Picnik using this tutorial at Homemade by Jill or this one at The Mother Huddle. There is another one on the Picnik Blog right here, and they link this post at Wordplay. Or you can just use the tags at the bottom of the post from Saltwater Kids. Whew! That is a whole lot of links!! I hope you use them and make a fort kit for some luck little guy or gal!

Project and sewing tip

Idea from: Infarrantly Creative, tutorial here.
Who got the idea from: The Idea Room

My added tip: Use a little glue stick to secure the ribbon before you sew it on, it saves you from having to pin it. You can also use glue stick instead of pins for hemming pants and any number of other things, try it sometime! The idea was passed on to me in a sewing class.

And one more thought, the metal clips were found in the section with all the purse handles at Joann, not in the notions dept.

It was so easy to do that I sat down and made all of these at once.

Merrily we stroll along

Tutorial here at one of my new favorite blogs Prudent Baby.

Pretty clothespin magnets

Lots and lots of tulle...

For Haley's 3rd birthday we had a princess party. I bought yards and yards of pink tulle to drape all over the party venue (our dining/living room). Every since then I have been tying bows with tulle on every girl package that leaves our house. I still have yards and yards to go. This was an easy way to decorate a gift bag for a sweet baby girl. The tulle was cut into strips about 2 inches wide and tied around the handles of a plain white gift bag.

Too cute not to share...

We are going to a Hello Kitty bday party tomorrow for one of Haley's little kindred spirits. Her mom just happens to be my friend in real life and in blog world. I thought these puffy party decorations were too cute to pass up!

Apples of gold

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Proverbs 25:11

Hopefully and prayerfully,we will be wise enough to choose our words so carefully that they are beautiful to the friends and family that grace our home. Maybe this little project will serve as a reminder to do so.

Father, teach us to speak to each other with the goal of building up. Help us know one another so well that we recognize each others needs and can speak accordingly. Let our words benefit all who listen. In Jesus name, Amen.

Mini-chairs

Picked these up at the thrift store, along with a 99-cent can of spray paint. This is what I ended up with:


Well no, not all of that, but this is what I have to work with. I want some kind of arrangement that looks cute enough to hang on the wall.

Combo #1, needed more color?

Combo #2, still not quite the razzle-dazzle I am looking for.

Combo #3???

Hmmm, any suggestions?? In my brain I have beautiful blue walls, like the ones you see in all the new cottage-style, coastal style magazines. And an unlimited budget with which to adorn my mini-chairs in glorious, exotic seashells and something covered in jute.

In reality, I am packing my house to move back across the country, and my husband is diligently repainting the fingerprints on the walls with the normal shade of white found in rentals. Is there such a thing as rental-beautiful magazine? We do live on a budget, so that we don't have to live crisis-to-crisis like most. And besides, isn't having everything covered in cardboard just as lovely as jute?? Good thing my kids are cute, and my husband is so handsome they sort of make up for my lack of home decor!!

On a side note, please forgive my photography. I have this super-cute, and super-ornery two year old that just figured out she is tall enough to reach onto the counter. On top of said counter she found my camera. And the rest is history, I found it, turned on, lens crooked, bearing that fatal message...LENS ERROR...ugh. So my phone is my camera for now, and yes for those of you who remember, it was about this time last year that I had camera trouble also.

Tin can magnetic spelling game

After seeing these refrigerator magnets made out of tin can lids, (the link is to a blog, for a sweet young lady, please go leave her a comment about the adorable work she did!) the wheels started turning, exactly how I got from refrigerator magnets to spelling game I don't know, but this keeps my kids busy in church! I have made several sets of these now, the first ones didn't have felt on the back, just a bead of hot glue around the edge of the lid, felt is way cuter. Also these lids are cut off using one of those sideways can openers from Pampered Chef so the edges are not raw, and not dangerous (or barely dangerous). DO NOT USE CAN LIDS WITH SHARP EDGES...SOMEONE WILL GET HURT...IF SOMEONE GETS HURT, DON'T BLAME ME...PLEASE. If you don't have the nifty sideways can opener, use frozen juice lids, or email me and I will send you some lids, I have some extra...I won't tell you how many...it is embarrassing.


What you need:
felt, any colors
scissors
tacky glue
tin can lids
cups that tin can lids will fit into
modge podge
magnetic strips or magnetic paper
alphabet stickers and words or printed alphabet and printed words (I recently saw some of those little magnetic poetry games in the dollar section at Michael's that would be cute with this!)

Cut circles out of the felt that are about 1/4"-1/2" bigger than your lids.

Put a bead of glue around the (semi) exposed edge of the can.

Step 3 is to maneuver the lid down into a plastic cup, where the felt will be held in place OVERNIGHT! This way the glue has time to set up. If you take it out too soon the edges just peel away, but even leaving it in over night, the glue wasn't dry all the way. So step 4 is to take it out of the cup, and let the glue dry, I waited overnight again. Step 5, trim away the excess felt from the edges. DON'T trim the felt until the glue is dry.

Step 6 option one--using the magnetic strip, which is already sticky on one side, adhere your letters to the sticky part and then trim away the excess, cut each letter out individually and stick them to the top of one of the lids.

Step 6 option two--using the magnetic paper, modge podge the individual letters to the paper and then cut them out, and stick them to the top of one of the lids.

Also modge podge the words you have chosen or the sticker letters to the top of the other lids. And there you have it! I left one of the lids blank so the kids could make their own words. My friend Ashley suggested making a bunch of words out of the magnetic paper so they could switch the words in and out, which might keep them occupied longer.

Project Rating:
Supplies--I had everything on-hand. You can get magnetic paper at any craft store, it is kind of spendy, about $3 for one little sheet, but you don't use very much of it, so you would have plenty left over for another project.
Execution--I hate waiting for glue to dry...so that part was torture for me. But the rest was pretty simple.
Fun factor--It was fun because I had an opportunity to craft something!
Mess factor--Just scraps of felt to clean up, and glue off my fingers! The plastic cups had some glue on the inside, which peeled right off.
Teach the lesson--There was no lesson to teach this time, but the kids are quiet for about 10 minutes with it in church!
Side notes/learned by experience--the kid cups you get from restaurants worked great for stuffing the lids inside, because they fit perfectly inside the lip. Also the magnetic strip was easier to work with for the individual letters.

Other things to do with tin can lids:
Chalkboard paint magnets
More magnets, with vintage photos and clever quips, by Popnicute!
And more magnets, by Recycled Crafts...
Snowman craft, by Craftbits
Pictures with punched out nail holes, by Marlie's Creative Universe, these are Christmas, but you could do any holiday, or theme.
Purple people eater game instructions, by DLTK
Wind chimes, by Se7en
Turn them into ladybugs with felt and pipe cleaners for antennae
Make a magnetic clock for learning how to tell time
I also saw these somewhere with kids' school pictures glued in, and decorated...don't remember where.

Cereal box turned lunch box, or little girl purse, or whatever

We went to the park with some friends, and packed our lunches in these clever tote-boxes from Family Fun. As with everything I put on here, it was over-the-top easy. Just cut the flaps off, I tore them off. And cut out some handles...I used a box cutter. The one at Family Fun was modge-podged all over for a more decorative look. I just glued a piece of paper that each kid decorated themselves to the front.

Project rating:

Supplies--minimal, on hand

Execution--easy

Mess factor--few scraps of cardboard

Fun factor--too fast to be fun, but we got a lot of compliments on them at the park

Sidenotes/learned by experience--cut the handles at least 2 or 3 inches down from the top, and don't make them too wide, otherwise they tear out easily.

Kaleidocycles

These are pretty cool! You upload four photos here at a site called Fold Play (they have some other fun stuff on there, but I wouldn't let my kids peruse the site). Then print out a page with the photos all jumbled up, then score, then cut, then fold, then glue, and voila!! Your very own kaleidocycle, it flips around and shows a different picture each time you flip it.

Project rating:

Supplies--minimal, had on hand

execution--medium difficulty

mess factor--few scraps of paper

fun factor--finished product is great fun

learned by experience--must make good score lines, must let glue dry before moving on to each step, and especially before you play with it!! I used regular printer paper, cardstock would've been better. SCORING IS KEY!

Decorated binder clips

Trim your paper to fit the front and back of the binder clip. Apply modge podge to one side at a time and cover with the strips of paper.

Once the glue or modge podge is dry decorate with more paper, stickers or other embellishments. Word to the wise, if you are putting names or words on yours, make sure the silver clippy "leg" part is pointing downwards before you put your words on. Otherwise when they are actually clipped onto papers, the words will appear upside down. Click on the collage and look at first photo, the word Ta-Da is upside down.

Wrap in clever packaging, and deliver! We gave some of these as teacher gifts, and some to my home schooling mommy friend.


Words to use:
child's name
teacher's name
days of the week
to call
to file
to read
to send
to copy
to grade
graded
small photos of animals, flowers, things you collect


Here are some more ideas:
Fabric covered at How About Orange
Two Peas in a Bucket
With ribbon at Scrapjazz
Binder clips and lots of other cute stuff at Emuse

Two tutes: wire bird nest, hand sanitizer

Aren't those so cute?! The bird nest tutorial is here, at Just Something I Made. They couldn't be easier, and require minimal materials. Combine that with this tute from Just A Girl, and viola, very easy and practical teacher thank you gifts! We gave ours to the AWANA and Sunday School teachers, and then I kept one for myself. That is a perk of being a home school mama, I get teacher gifts that I know I will like!

Brown paper packages tied up with string

My nieces got baptized this weekend. It was pretty cool. The bracelets are their gift, hopefully they will remember the occasion every time they wear them. I love anything wrapped in brown paper and string. So I sewed the bracelets up into little brown paper pockets made from lunch sacks. It was easy and it looks simple, but pretty.

Canning pictures?

The picture quality is really low here, my camera batteries are dead and so I used my phone. But you get the drift. I used to save jars for Michael's grandma, and now I am just in the habit. I have an entire shelf in one of my cabinets, full of jars.

You can check out the original idea here at Photojojo. I just subscribed to their newsletter, it is plum-full (that is Texas speak) of ideas for using your digital photos.

Pie in the sky

Check out Whimsy Love. It is so fun, I grin just opening up the blog, and she has great tutorials! Like this one, Wee Pies, made with bottle caps and seed beads. I made mine into refrigerator magnets.



I had glue problems. You must use the clear tacky glue, just don't even waste your time trying out every other glue product in your home, they don't work. And don't try to weave the little strips of felt. I thought hers were woven, upon closer inspection I was wrong. Which is good because I was beginning to think she was crazy. One more tip, you can buy bottle caps in the scrapbook section of any craft store. Did you know that? I was too cheap and just used some free ones, but it took me a couple of months to get them!

Recycled mailers

There is a lot about the "green" movement that I can't get into, and a lot of people behind the movement that I can't support. BUT, Genesis clearly tells us we are to be stewards of the Earth that God created for us. This is a whole different thought process than what is currently being promoted as "green." Here is a great article, she put into words exactly what I have been thinking, and makes some great points.

That being said, here are some "green" projects! (And frugal too!) I saw this on a blog somewhere, but can't find the link. I would be more than grateful to give credit where credit is due, so if you know it or it is yours, please let me in on it!


You will need:
Junk mail/bill envelopes
glue

Every bill we get has two envelopes, one that it comes in and a return envelope. If you use an envelope opener to unseal the edges and then flip it inside out and refold it, you can use it again! I used modge podge to seal the edges, but elmers would work fine. This would be great for teaching kids how to use glue judiciously. (Some of them don't have pre-printed stuff all over them, so you wouldn't even have to flip it inside out, you could just reuse it.)

Next up: Kid's artwork bubble wrap mailers, or magazine collage mailers. This idea came from here.

You will need:
Bubble wrap
old magazines or kids artwork (We did it with magazines, but in the future will do it with the kids artwork)
scissors
modge podge/elmers/double sided tape
clear packing tape

Cut your bubble wrap to the size you need for the contents of your package. Smear modge podge on the smooth side of the wrap and cover with magazine clippings. LET IT DRY!

Fold into a pocket shape, leaving enough for a flap to cover the top and seal the edges with tape. Fold the flap over, like an envelope and seal the edges again with tape.


Sign, seal, deliver!

We represent the lollipop guild, the lollipop guild, the lollipop guild...

Thanks again to the Better Homes and Gardens email that my mom sends me, and thanks again to my mom for sending it!

(FYI--my title is from The Wizard of OZ, I always thought it was lollipop kids, until tonight when I looked up the lyrics. Who would've thought?)

What you need:
Hard candies like lifesavers
Bags to crush the candies in
Something to crush the candies with
Tin foil
Cookie sheet
We used some cookie cutters, but I don't recommend it
lollipop sticks
packaging

Preheat oven to 350. Unwrap and sort the candies.

Bag the candies and crush them. According to the kids, this was, by far, the best part of the whole project! According to me, it was the messiest.

Arrange the candies on the cookie sheets in patterns. Make the piles about 1/4 inch tall. The candy melted out of the cookie cutter and just became blobs, plus it was difficult to get the cookie cutters out of the goo once it had been melted. Also, make sure there is enough room to insert lollipop sticks once it comes out of the oven.

Bake at 350 for about 6 minutes. When it is getting close to time, watch them carefully. We left one batch in the oven too long and all the lollipops spread into one giant pool of sticky candy mess. When you pull them out, IMMEDIATELY, insert the lollipop stick and twist it around so that the candy is coating the stick. Then let them cool. They cool off pretty quickly and easily peel off of the foil. They are kind of fragile. We wrapped ours in clear favor bags.

One final thought, if you mix all the colors together it tastes like some really disgusting cherry cough syrup/moonshine combination. Maybe you like 100-proof cough syrup?

Okay and just one more thought, this was a very messy, sticky project. BUT it cleaned just as easily as it messed up. And it was worth the mess on the mess vs. fun scale.