Happy Thanksgiving

 

 

"HIS"

 

 

"HERS"

 

 

Happy Turkey Day everyone!  Hope you are all able to be spending this day with family and/or friends!  We are spending the day with my husband's family and we are also going to "do" Christmas this weekend as well!  We are driving down to his parent's house (about 2 hours away) this morning and will eat, eat, and eat some more for the next few days!  Great!  I don't need any more inches in  my jeans!  Anyway....sure to be a great weekend!  Today, I just wanted to leave you a few pictures of the turkey shirts I made with the kids to wear this week.  Acrylic paint, feet, hands, shirts.  That is all it takes....oh, and a bow for my daughter's "girl" turkey.  How cute are these?  The kids LOVE them.  They have already worn them this week and are wearing them again today!  Hope you all have a great day filled with turkey, dressing, and all the "fixin's".  I personally made the pecan pies, the homemade (of course) cranberry sauce, and the dinner for Friday night (stuffed shells/beef and chicken).  Whew....it's been a long week....can't wait to eat it all!  :-)  Have a great day and remember, it is always homemade!

Target Turkeys...

This is the second Thanksgiving craft in the series this month....one more week till the big Turkey Day!  I can't really believe it.  I feel like Thanksgiving meal at our house this time last year was, like, yesterday!  This year we spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws and we are also doing Christmas on the same weekend....and I haven't bought the first item...seriously!  Not.  Good. 

Anyway...here is the craft for today.  Target had these little gems in the $1 bins although they were actually only 50 cents!  Which made it even better.  The kids had a blast putting these together and there are plenty of stickers left on the sticker sheet to use for something else!  They are thrilled which always makes for a happy Momma!   

Have a great day and remember, even with my kids, it is always homemade!

Autumn Banner

 

 

 

First of all...sorry that these are not the best pictures.  I couldn't take them in natural light and these take away from how cute this banner really appears!

 

This is the frist week of another series this month of "Thanksgiving Projects".  I know that this is not a true Thanksgiving themed craft but it is great for this time of year.  Also, this is a great craft for the kids to do and then be able to appreciate it themselves when it is hung up in your home!  My son did the stamping and glueing of this yesterday.  He is VERY proud of it....although, not too happy that he had to take the bats and ghost projects down to put this up!  He still wants it to be Halloween!

 

I got this idea from something I saw on Pinterest....I saw real burlap hanging with apples stamped onto it and it was so cute that I began to think of a way to improvise.  So, I had some burlap paper, twine, an apple to use as the stamp, and the leaves and stems are made with fake leaves....just cut down into pieces.  I tried at first to make the stems out of pipe cleaners but I HATE glueing pipe cleaners down.  It just never co-operates!  Oh well.  Life will go on....

 

So, hope you enjoy doing this yourself or with your kids.  My kids love to "make" stuff!  My son loves to stamp with all my "boy" type stamps.  I am sure that one day I will "make" my daughter crafty as well!  ;)  She is only 2 so glue and such is not fun right now for ME!  She loves to color and use stickers so I am sure a love of stamps will follow. 

 

Have a great day and remember, it is always homemade!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bleach-Sprayed Shirts

 

 

 

 

You may have seen this technique on Pinterest or just browsing the Internet for craft ideas....I saw it on Pinterest and then had a friend who tried it and so, I just had to try this for the kids.  My first attempt was the owl and I am so glad that I had a "trial run" because I messed it up!  It got the freezer paper applique too wet with bleach and it bled through into the design.  I kept that shirt for a PJ shirt for my daughter but had a second go at this and they came out great. 

 

First, you cut out a design that you want on Freezer Paper.  I used my SCAL software to cut the designs out.  Then you iron them onto the shirt.  Then you need to put something between the front of the shirt and the back that will not allow the bleach to bleed through onto the back of the shirt.  Then, from a distance spray bleach onto the shirts so that the bleach will kind of float down onto the shirt....you do not want a direct spray. 

 

As you can see from the pictures above some colors appear different than others.  The red was awesome but took more sprays of bleach than the others.  The pink took a couple of sprays and the yellow faded rather quickly.  My suggestion is to spray one or two sprays and then let it dry completely before spraying more so that you can see the effects as you go and so that you do not spray too much.  You can not reverse the effects.  Do this on a hot, sunny day so that the shirts will dry quickly.  Think of the possibilities!

 

Have a great day and remember, it is always homemade.

 

Cello Bags

These little cello bags that are 1 inch by 8 inches are the cutest bags ever!!!  I have seen multiple uses for them.  If you just google them on Google Images, you will see several uses for them for every holiday.  So, from left to right in the picture:  1.  This is one that we made in our stamp club with the little set you get from SU!.  The second is one that I made that was just for fun.  These will be used for my kids' Bible class teachers this year but instead of candy corn we are going to dip those long, wide pretzels in green chocolate and then into Halloween colored sprinkles.  The third is a vellum bag from SU! that we also did in stamp club.  It is embossed with the spiderwed embossing folder and then you just add the tag.  Very cute, very simple.  Have a great day of crafting and remember, it is always homemade.

Pumpkin Door Hanging

 

This is a $1 project.  At our church, the ladies have a Ladies Night Out on the 3rd Monday of  each month.  I was asked by the hostess of last month to do a few easy craft ideas.  Well, I was walking around the Dollar Tree one day and saw this felt (thick felt) pumpkin.  I figured I could figure  something out for this pumpkin, so I bought it.  I brought it home, added the letter, ribbon and a little inking around the edging and voila----a simple, cheap door hanging for the fall.  Hope you enjoy and remember it is always homemade!

Candy Pencils

Pinterest.  Again!  How cute are these???  Inside the paper is a roll of ROLOs candy and then on top is a Hershey Kiss.  I attached the tag underneath the Hershey Kiss so that it would stay put and not move.  I hear the teachers loved them.  I have been wanting to make these for a while but couldn't because it was the summer...not anymore!  :-) 

Directions:  (Video Below)

1.  Cut yellow cardstock to about 3 3/4 inch x 4 1/4 inch.  Then run the longer side into a paper crimper.

2.  Cut a pink piece of cardstock about 3 1/2 inch x 2.  Ink the edges and attach the long end to the end of the yellow paper with red tape. (You will have to overlap the paper, depending on length of the ROLOs.  Just measure it before you attach the two pieces together.)

3.  Place some glue on the inside of the paper as well as red tape on one of the long ends of the prepared paper piece.  The red tape will be at the closer of the roll after you wrap it around the candy.

4.  When the ROLO candy is covered, add glue dots, tag string and the kiss to the top to appear as the "lead" of the pencil.

I hope all these directions make sense....it is making me think I should do a video for this project....

And....so, I did!  It is below.  It is really quick, just shows you how instead of telling you how....Hope it helps.  Have a great day and remember it is always homemade!

 

Owl Pillowcase Box

I know I say this a lot, but, seriously, how much cuter can you get???  This is an owl made with the Stampin' UP! tag punch and the scalloped circle punch.  The circles of the body is a 1 inch circle punch I got from Hobby Lobby.  The tiny circles for the eyes were done with my Cricut and the feet are tiny flowers from a mini punch I bought at Micheal's.  The pillowcase box was cut out on the Cricut using my SCAL software.  You can find a template as well anywhere on the Internet!  Just fill the box with treats, decorate and send to someone you love!  Have fun and remember, it is always homemade!

Gum Wrappers

These are sooo cute and soooo easy.  I saw these on MY PINK STAMPER and I decided to make these for my kids' Bible class teachers at the end of their quarter.  Easy, cheap and cute.  I am all about it.  Go over to Robin's blog and check out all the dimensions!  Have fun and remember, it is always homemade!

Layer Lace Flower....Pinterest Project

Very cute flowers that I saw on Pinterest one day.  So, today I tried them...very easy but I suggest playing with scrap paper on your first one!  For glue I used a hot glue gun instead of the glue the orignal creator used.  If you go to her tutorial, she has several other types of flower tutorials as well.  Have fun and remember, it is always homemade.

Happy July 4th!!!!

These lanterns were made for the kids.  They had a blast making these.  We actually made them last month and they have been hanging on our mantel for a few weeks.  They were very proud of them!  My son cut his own slits in the paper.  Obviously I "helped" Darcie with hers!  I am not looking forward to the day that she has scissors in her hand!  I let them pick out their "star" paper at Hobby Lobby and these are the selections they made! 

We also made this standing 3D star.  I cut the shapes out on the Cricut using my SCAL software and then we all glued them together to make the finished project! 

Our family hopes you have a great day of celebration of our Independance Day and hopefully you are spending it with family and friends!  We are! 

Have a great day and remember, your kids LOVE to make anything homemade!  Just let them show you!  :)

More Bookmarks = More Reading in the Future!

FYI: To enter this week's GIVEAWAY, go HERE! Here are a few more cute, EASY bookmarks!  Hope you enjoy!  These are mindless crafts!  ANYONE, I repeat, ANYONE can do this!  :-)

The first one is simply a paperclip with a knotted ribbon around the top of it!  Seriously, it takes about 30 seconds and it is so cute!  Many of the craft stores around town are selling these for ridiculous prices and I assume people are buying them because they are still on the racks....but, sorry, if you are purchasing these, you have to be crazy!  Go to Walmart, buy some large paperclips and some ribbon and you can make as many as you want for SOOOOO much cheaper!  That is my 2 cents!  :-)

The second one is obvious as to what it is.  It is a paint chip card with a hole in the top with a ribbon knotted through the punched hole.  I let my kids do some finger painting on a couple for my Mom and my Mother-In-Law a couple of months ago.  We sent them in the mail and they were thrilled to get this personal gift from the kids!  Super simple and a fun craft for the kids.  I plan to let the kids do some fingerprints on these as well the next chance I get.

The third bookmark is a little more complicated but still simple if you have punches or a dicut machine.  This bookmark tutorial is HERE.  You dicut the shape on white (or whatever color you choose) and then place a patterned piece behind the negative of the dicut.  Does that make sense?  Hopefully!  I inked the edges and chose not to stamp or write any words but you could make it however you wanted to...that is what is great about these bookmarks!

Happy crafting and happy reading!  Have a great day and remember it is always homemade.

Stampin' UP! Party and Goodies!

First of all, if you want to be in the drawing for my GIVEAWAY this week, go HERE and just leave a comment and you will be entered into the drawing NEXT Friday! (If this link doesn't work, just scroll down to the last post)

Last night, I asked Beth to come to the house and do a Stampin' UP! Party for me and several of my friends! It was a blast and everyone had lots of fun! We ate, crafted, and just got to know each other better. How much more fun could you get?? We made two cards and one envelope which are seen below. How cute are these?

As Hostess, I got one of every card that was made by Beth as she demonstrated the products. This is the extra card that she made last night (seen below) I also lucked up and received the basket (seen below) made from their new fabric line. Soooooooo cute! I was super excited! Their fabric is soooo cute and trendy!

I did "decorate" just a little bit and I also gave out a thank you gift to everyone who came and spent time out of their lives to come and see all the great Stampin' UP! products. The pics are below. So easy and fun. Directions for the water bottles will be featured on the blog sometime in July. Sorry, you have to wait till then! ;). Have a great day and remember, it is always homemade!

P.S.: Beth has a blog and is listed in my blog list on the right side of my blog page. It is Southern Inkerbelles! She has some great ideas and fun projects all the time! Enjoy!

Corner Bookmarks

Those of you who know me, I read A LOT.  I am one of those annoying people who can't stand to fold a page corner down in a book and for that reason, I have been known to make many bookmarks because they somehow get lost along the way!  I have a few right now that I actually haven't lost!  I found this fun website just recently that had several different bookmark ideas!  I think it was a list of 18 different ways to make homemade bookmarks!  So, I now have a little box full of several very cute bookmarks.  I plan not to loose them this time!  :-)  This week and next week (and maybe again in the future) there will be another post with more ideas for cute homemade bookmarks. 

The first bookmark above, I have been wanting to make for a long time.  It is simply a corner cut off of an envelope (at the size you prefer; mine is a 2.5 inch square cut in half) and then I added the green printed paper to cover the white envelope corner.  You would never guess that is what it was, would you?  I then dicut the ladybug and added it to the top of the bookmark.  I am so excited to start my new book and use this bookmark! 

The second bookmark, I found online.  It is a piece of paper that is folded into this triangle pocket.  The tutorial is HERE.  This is a really cute bookmark...simple, yet cute...BUT it is a little bulky.  Now I used a thicker cardstock, so if you were to use a thinner piece of paper, I think it would be perfect.

The third bookmark is a little different take on the corner bookmark.  Now, on the tutorial that I viewed that you can see HERE, she sewed a stitch around the edge to close it.  I just used glue on the top seal because I didn't feel like getting my sewing machine out.  Yes, I blame it on laziness!  :)  Even without the stitch it is still really cute! 

So, have fun making these for yourself (because you are like me and constantly loose bookmarks), or make them for someone who reads a lot as well!  I am sure they will treasure it because, remember, it is always sweeter and more thoughtful when it is homemade! 

DVD Repurpose....Pinterest Idea

So, seriously, Stacy Vaughn's tutorial for this coloring case is AWESOME!  How do people come up with these things?  I would have never thought to do this!  After this post on her blog she had two more posts that have more ideas for a DVD case.  Here are the two tutorials:  coloring case and travel checkers

I saw this idea and made two for my kids and then let them decorate the outside.  This case is great for church services, sitting at the doctor's office, car rides and much more!  My kids pick out new stickers to stash in theirs every couple of weeks at the Dollar Tree, Walmart or Target.  Wherever we may be that week when we see some cheap stickers. 

I made this video and it will be featured on another website (along with an introduction added that is not seen here) for the Keeper's At Home website.  Before you view this video I just want you to realize what I am refering to on the video when I say a few things refering to the introduction part that you will not see here.  Does that make sense?  Anyway...here it is and have fun making this case.  Believe me, it will be used by any child you decide to make it for!  Remember, it is always so much more fun when it is homemade.