handmade gifts

Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Monogram book
 
My little brother is getting married this weekend.  I know he and his bride would appreciate a card and money, but I wanted to give them a little touch of beauty for their home.  I found a Danielle Steele's Book at the Thrift store for 50 cents.  I saw an awesome monogram book on Pinterest [I couldn't track its source :(] and was ready for a project.

I was surprised how easy it was to cut the cover into a 'B' shape with only scissors.  Then slowly I traced the cover on the first page and cut about ten pages at a time.  It is okay if it is not perfect, I prefer the imperfections.   It took 2 hours of mindless work (in front of my Monday night comedy shows) and it was looking awesome. 

After the shape was complete, I flipped through the pages, and crinkled them as I went.  This allowed the book to flair open a little.


Lastly I didn't like the cover, so I mod podged some scrapbook paper to the front and added an embellishment.

All I have to do is add a card attached by a pretty ribbon and its ready for its recipients!

Congrats Bryan and Britny!
 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

DIY gifts that the kiddos can make

 
I am uber-late on posting this.  The kiddos made Mother's Day gifts for Grandma this year. 
 
DIY personalized notepad- CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP
Miss-3yr.-old drew a picture on each side of a paper folded in half.  I made 25 copies of her masterpieces and cut the paper down the middle (thus making 50 half size sheets).  Then her and I sorted her pictures so that they alternated in a pile.  Finally I clamped the pile with binder clips (a piece of chipboard from an old notepad on the bottom) and painted RUBBER CEMENT on the top of the pile.  A few layers of cement and a clear coat of nail polish and voila!!! 50 sheet notepad.
I saw many other sites like justpeachy who did this but used padding compound for the adhesive, unfortunately I could only find padding glue online, and time was ticking.  This seemed to work just as well, and a TON cheaper.  You can make SEVERAL pads with a small container of $3 rubber cement.
 
finger print vase
Mr.-2yr.-old went for a the classic vase.  We used an old mason jar and a plethora of acrylic paints (lemontreedwelling used other paints).  He dipped his fingers into paint and placed them on the jar as I slowly turned it.  When he was all cleaned up I took two shades of green and with one connected all of his dots to the bottom of the jar and with the other filled in the void spaces with vegetation. 
After it was dry I lightly clear coated it with spray paint.  I am hoping that this will keep it from rubbing off or scratching.  The clear coat made it a little frosted looking.  I don't recommend too much scrubbing to clean.  
 

Monday, May 6, 2013

baby subway art

My kiddos are growing fast.  I made this up awhile ago but never shared because I was hoping to figure out how to share the template.  Unfortunately I have mad Word skills, but they don't transfer well to other computers.
 
I made this in Word by creating several text boxes and changing the text direction.  I used a combination of 2 fonts that I thought complimented each other (Mongolian Baiti and Engravers MT). 
 
This is would make a beautiful gift for someone if you can get all of the details.  If you make a template it takes a minute to customize the details for future babies.
 
HELPFUL HINT.  If you create a template in Word and want to play with the color, the easiest way to view different color schemes is to go to PAGE LAYOUT and click on THEMES.  There are predetermined color schemes that change your text in one click.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

DIY toys

This has been a project since before Mr.-1yr-old was born.  Shortly after picking the name I found these (unpainted) on clearance at Michael's for 25 cents each- YES! $1.75! They sat unfinished on my craft shelf for nearly two years. 

For Advent I finished a project for each of my kiddos.  Mr.-1yr-old is having a slight train addiction, so I knew I had to get this project going.  He favors magnetic trains because he is able to connect without assist.  He likes the fact that only one side if finished, because it allows him to match the north and south poles of the magnets correctly. 
Miss.-3yr.-old did not get left out.  Last spring we bought an unfinished birdhouse at Michael's.  We didn't paint it, because hubby bought me a very nice store bought one.  So I had other plans for our sad unfinished one.  First I had to get my handsome man to modify the hole into a door.  Then the destruction of many pine cones took place for the roof.  After a little paint and trifling around our nature sensory tub; a fairy house was built.  It really is more for looks than anything, some of her small fairies fit in it, but not enough room to actually "play inside it".

details: pine cone shingles, acorn cap roof peak, shell chimney, craft moss, tree bark front steps, plastic butterfly, plastic mini bird eggs, dried mushrooms/fungi, silk leaves and flowers. 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Word find occasion card

I went straight to Microsoft Word and created these after I saw similar concept with wrapping paper.  Each card has the possibility to be used for 12 occasions.   Occasions include; birthday, mother's day, dad's day, happy holidays, it's a girl, it's a boy, get well soon, congrats grad, thank you, I love you, and good luck.  I would love to share this, but not tech savvy enough yet to figure out how to.

Mouse Trap Memos

Magnet Mouse Traps.  Just did a little scrapbooking on them.  Keep away from the kiddos.
 

Burlap Placemats

Made a bunch of these burlap placemats for the church craft sale.  Now I need to make some for ME!  All you do is a zig-zag stich and "color" with a permenate marker.  I wrote Praise, Joy, Family, Thanks, Eat, Giving.  Thank you cottageandvine.blogspot.com for this great design idea and much more!
 

Thursday, October 18, 2012

church craft items

Never anytime to post anymore. But here are some snapshots of the simple crafts that I am donating to the church craft sale. Still in the process of creating many more!


 

Fleece hand warmers









Baby shower card








felt nativity scene








felt potato heads







coasters









Birthday card








acorn picture frame





Monday, September 24, 2012

kid chore list

This dry-erase plate was given to us as a wedding gift.  It is fun to change the ribbon for the seasons.  The concept really would work with any porcelain plate, in fact for Christmas gifts last year the kids mod podge fabric to the back of a glass plate and we put it on a stand for the aunties and uncles. 
 
We sometimes write messages to each other, but lately it has been Miss.-2yr-old's guide to what chores must get done.  She loves guessing what jobs we are doing for the day while I draw a picture.  Then she is happy to help me get those jobs done so she can erase each picture. 
1.  sweep
2.  vacuum
3. dust
4. laundry
 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

kid art kitchen towels

A couple Sunday's ago was Grandparent's day.  We made an easy and inexpensive gift for each of the grandparents, and just a couple days ago this gift for our neighbor's birthday.  At target I picked up a four pack of tea towels for $3.99.  The kiddos drew a picture on a piece of paper.  (Mr.-1yr-old scribbled, and I traced his hand right in the middle of the scribble).  I placed a tea towel on top of their drawing and with a sharpie marker I traced it (the tea towels are thin enough to see the picture "well enough" through it).  I washed it afterwards and it faded a tad bit, but still looked very nice.  We wrapped them up with a few dish cloths and a done!
Thank you to http://www.settingforfour.com for this great idea!



 

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Scrabble Deco


We like to make handmade gifts to family members and friends for birthdays and holidays.  My brother received this for his past birthday.  Miss.-2yr-old (at the time) was able to help assemble. 
The plaque was inspired when my husband received a pile of scrap wood for us to burn in our wood burner. 
There were several foot-long lengths of molding that resembled a scrabble tile holder.  My mind started spinning and a project was visually created.
Next I googled scrabble letter tiles and found a lot to choose from.  I played around with different tiles until I was able to print the size, look and quality that worked well for me. 
I Mod Podged them onto square cardboard pieces (for future use I am thinking of a wooden material). 
Then hot glued them to the scrap piece.

The coasters are from www.incrediblethings.com.  I bought a scrabble game at a garage sale for a buck.  This set had 4 coasters, but one full game can maybe make a set of 6 if you choose.  I hot glued them to cardboard.  Felted the back and trimmed the edge with twine.  I tried to hide meaningful words in the coaster, but it was tough with the limitation of letters and 4-letter words.
 

House Number Doormat

www.marthastewart.com has a tutorial on how to paint a door mat.  We visited my brother in his new house today and did a version of this project as a house warming gift.  The rug was simple and cheap ($6 at the local hardware store).  All I needed to do was add his house number. 
In Microsoft Word I printed the numbers in size # 675 and font Edwardian Script ITC BOLD.
I cut out the letters for a stencil (the '6' was tricky with the middle removable.) 
Then I dabbed brown acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium in the stencil.  Voila!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Father's Day Gifts

SHHHH!!!!!!! don't tell daddy...

Our card was rushed.  I was tempted to spend more time redoing it, but figured the kiddos were already checked out of posing for the camera.

The free download of the words are from http://www.positivelysplendid.com/.  I made the balloon chalkboards from poster board and chalkboard spray paint.  I didn't like how I put "he" in the saying,  the dark background, and that the pictures didn't fit in the frame right.  But it all in all is a cute card. 
DADDY'S BACK RUB SHIRT! 
I was a little scared on how this project would turn out with Miss.-3yr-old in control.  I am pleasantly surprised.  I did all of the black.  Miss.-3yr-old did all of the colors.  I drew the large shape's outline and she colored it in.  It isn't perfect, but I finished it off with a black outline and it looks great!  The flowers are a foam stamp. 

Now, when daddy needs a massage, he can rest on the floor and the kiddos and play with cars on his back!   Idea from www.thebluebasket.blogspot.com.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Love Collage

Our family is beginning to accumulate young children, which has not made a "cousin" photo shoot successful.  For Mother's Day we did a photo shoot of individual BUT SIMILAR photos and put them together into a collage frame.  The outcome couldn't be better.  

Please excuse the chopped in half 'E', I have a better cut but misplaced it for the time being.

So how did we get the awesome letters?  Well I was tempted to buy the giant paper mache letters at the craft store, but they are $10 a piece, so I got crafty.
The dollar store has foam board.  I drew out 2 letters on each board.  Cut with a utility knife.  And painted the heart red.
When it came to the photos, for the little ones it took MANY shots.  It also took some clear tape so the letters could withstand the abuse.  I knew the tape wouldn't matter once I put the pics in black and white.  The editing of the red heart was done by my sister-in-law in Photoshop, however if you don't have Photoshop then use the free download photo editing program called GIMP.
I couldn't have been happier!

The frame is $5 at Walmart (my Walmart stocks them, the neighboring one does not)

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