Sparkling Snow Ornaments

I'm so excited about Christmas this year. I'm going to be making Christmas ornaments to give away again.

This year I'm using Christmas in the Nick of Time for a few craft ideas.  I used this book last year, too.  There are 750 easy-to-make ideas for crafting, cookie-baking, gift-giving, decorating and memory-making. :o) lol I got that from the front of the book. 

Anywho, here's my first project.

Sparkling Snow Ornaments

What You Need:

Purchased clear flat-front ornaments

Loose snow

Small funnel

Snowflake rhinestone stickers

Fine white ribbon

What You Do:

Remove the top from the clear ornament.  Set aside.  Fill the ornament half full with the loose snow using the funnel.   Put the ornament top back on the ornament.  Place the sticker on the front of the ornament.  Put the ribbon through the ornament hanger to hang.

HOW SIMPLE!!

I can't wait. Each year our Christmas list has gotten bigger and bigger and I can't afford it anymore. So a few years ago Daniel and I decided that instead of buying gift certificates or store bought gifts we would, AHEM! I would create baskets with a few goodies in them to give away.  Last year it was ornaments, framed pictures of our family and a few goodies.

This year it's going to be nicer ornaments, homemade apple butter, homemade fudge and marshmallow cocoa mix in a jar with a couple of new mugs.  :o)

I thought about going to Hobby Lobby and making the ladies some cute bracelets but I need to price all that first.  I know that I'm going to be getting the mugs from the dollar store.  And I read in another craft book that when you make fudge let it set in a small dish and just wrap that in cellophane and tie a small knife to it. What a cute idea! 

I have a few kids on my Christmas list too, other than JD. That book I posted about has some cute ideas for kids gifts that are homemade.  I *might* do something out of there but I'm not sure. Do you guys have any ideas for that? What are your plans for Christmas this year? Are you making any gifts? 

Other books I'm using this Christmas:

Send Your Autumn Postcards

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Fall Fingerprint Tree

I was checking out my favorite website, Kaboose.com, and I found a CUTE fall craft to do with kids. I just had to post it here for all of my readers. :o)

Hand print and finger print crafts always make wonderful keepsakes. Here’s a fun way to celebrate the coming of Autumn while preserving your child’s size and age at the same time.

What you'll need:

• White construction paper or card stock
• Orange construction paper
• Scissors
• Acrylic or poster paint in green, brown, orange, yellow, tan and red
• White craft glue

How to make it:

1. Line work surface with newspaper and place white construction paper in the center.

2. Start by showing the child where you want to place his/her arm on the paper, you will be painting the bottom of the forearm, palm and all fingers.

3. Use brown paint to cover bottom of forearm, palm and all fingers, use a generous amount.

4. Help child carefully lay their arm and fingers down on the paper, fingers extended. Hand should go in the center of the paper to allow room for the leaves. Gently press down and roll each finger, palm and arm onto the paper. Lift arm straight up into the air.

5. Wash paint off arm and hand and dry completely.

6. Place a nickel sized amount of each color paint into a paper plate. Have child dip their finger into the paint and onto the paper creating leaves of all different colors. The fingers on the paper are the branches, so put the leaves at the end of the branches and all around them.

7. Use a paint brush to add some grass at the bottom of the tree.

8. For older kids, add a few flowers in the grass. Use a small dot of paint on their finger to create the center and flower petals. You can even add a little squirrel in the tree by dotting on a head, body and tail! Use a black marker to dot on the eye. You can also add a few “falling leaves” by dotting two or three colors falling from the branches and use a marker to add a few squiggly lines indicating motion.

9. Make a frame from the orange construction paper by gluing around the back edge of the picture.

Tips:

• This project has fun variations for Spring as well. Make all the leaves green using two or more shades, then add red dots for apples or white and pink dots for flowers. Use a construction paper color for the frame to match the season.

• It’s best to show children a finished project first so that they understand what they are trying to create. This will make it easier to envision their own picture.

• Be sure to have a bowl of water and some paper towels handy for cleaning off fingers.

Source

Household Recipes to Share

As I stated in my previous post, we're having a homemade Christmas this year. I'm leaning towards the idea of putting together some homemade items together in a basket and making it look nice.

I have a website that I absolutely love that has HUNDREDS of recipes like I'm looking for. It's called RecipeGoldMine.com. The name suits the site just right!

Here are a couple of recipes I'm interested in making ...

Vanilla Room Spray

1 (4 ounce) clean spray bottle with a fine mist setting
1 1/2 ounces distilled water
1 1/2 ounces clear vanilla extract

- Fill the spray bottle with vanilla extract and distilled water.
- Let the bottle sit for one day before use.
- Shake the bottle prior to each use. Mist lightly in the room. Be careful not to allow the air freshener mist to fall onto furniture or into open beverages.

Simply the Best Pancake Syrup
3 cups brown sugar (one 1-pound box)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 or 2 cinnamon sticks, broken
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
Zest of one orange or one lemon
1 teaspoon maple extract (optional)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Mix brown sugar and water together. Add whole spices and citrus zest. Cover and let steep for several hours. Taste to see if spicy enough and, if so, strain into a container with a cover. Stir in maple and almond extracts. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 2 cups.

Pecan Pie Jam
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup granulated sugar
1 pinches salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 tablespoons apple cider or lemon juice

Mix ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is well blended. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Transfer to sterile jars, and refrigerate.

Yields about 2 cups.

These are EASY recipes that are going to make great gifts. I found a website, lol, I'm always finding websites, CanningPantry.com that has all kinds of canning jars that are going to be useful for these gifts. I'm going to purchase some of the 4 oz. jars. I'm also going to be get some labels so I can create my own personalized labels to put on the jars. Then, of course, I'll be getting some fabric and rattan twine so I can make the jars look pretty!

TA-DA! This will be great for almost everyone on my list. And I can even mke something for the kids because that website has a recipes like Rootbeer Jelly, Kool-Aid Jelly, and Cinnamon Cocoa Mix in a Jar! I also plan on making these little Puzzles in a Jar gifts. I found them in a Christmas Crafts book and basically you buy a puzzle, put the peices in a jar and cut out the small picture on the puzzle box and put it in on the tag and decorate the jar. It's cute.

I think this is going to come together quite easily. I mean, if I head to Sam's Club I could buy in bulk and really save some money! Hopefully, this gave you some ideas, too! :o)

Merry Christmas!

My New Favorite Books

I signed up with CraftersChoice.com about a week ago and picked out my 4 books for $0.99! Well, I got my shipment today and I am very impressed with everything. So far, my favorite book is Christmas in the Nick of Time. I love it. There are 750 easy-to-make ideas for crafting, cookie-baking, gift-giving, decorating, and memory-making. lol, that's what the book says. But seriously, this is a GREAT book!

I also bought The Everything Soap Making Book. It's full of recipes and techniques for creating colorful and fragrant soaps.

If you haven't caught on already, Daniel and I are having a homemade Christmas this year. We are flat broke and buying all this stuff just isn't happening this year. I planned on making fleece blankets this year but I didn't get around to doing it. I'm such a procrastinator.

Well anyways, I've also been looking online for things I can make for Christmas to giveaway and here are some crafty ideas I've came across ...

Holiday Coffee Containers
This crafty gift is at Foldgers.com. Click on the link above to go to the site.

Potpourri Candles
This crafty gift is at MormonChic.com. Click on the link above to go to the site.

Well, there's just a couple of things I have in mind to make. I hope you got some good ideas. If you know of a site that has some easy crafty ideas, post the link!

Thanks!

Gettin' Ready for Christmas

As I posted earlier this year or last year, can't remember, we're having a homemade Christmas this year. I love everyone to death but I just can't afford to buy-buy-buy for everyone and struggle for my own child, ya know?

This year we have 20 people on our Christmas list that we have to buy for. I really hope I'm not missing anyone. I've decided that the couples (parents, grandparents, 1 aunt and uncle) are getting Glass Gem Magnets. I'm going to get small pictures of everyone in each family and make about 15-20 magnets each. I think that's going to be PRECIOUS!

Also, I've been checking out the craft section on MarthaStewart.com and I've found so many things that are going to be easy to make. I'm also going to make Christmas ornaments for those couples as well. I'm going to make other things, but can't figure out what I'm going to do yet.

I've decided that my sister (14) and Daniel's two little cousins (13,10) are going to get movie baskets and no-sew fleece blankets. I've found some popcorn bowls on ebay and I'm going to put microwave popcorn in it with some candy and a movie for each kid. So, then, they'll have their own movie and a blanket. :o) YAY! 3 down, 17 to go! lol ...

I'm not sure about the guys yet. I always struggle with them. I'm going to do some hunting around and figure something out for them.

Does anyone have any ideas for more homemade gifts that look nice and all? I'd love to know what they are ....

I want to learn to crochet

I've decided that I'm going to learn to crochet. It's been on my mind for quite some time but today I finally took the first step in my journey. I went to Ebay and bought me some needles and some yarn. (I don't go shopping in stores because I can usually find it cheaper online and I don't have to get my kid out of the car. lol Isn't that terrible? No ... I didn't think so either.)

For a total of $9.40 I purchased an 8-pc Aluminum Boye Crochet Hooks. I didn't think that was too bad considering all of the other prices were over $20. I'm bidding on some yarn right now and that auction will end in about 6 hours. The cool part of all of this is that I went through my UPromise account and earned myself some money into JD's college fund!

So anyways, I'd like to make a couple of blankets and stuff for Christmas so I went to Michaels.com and found some free patterns! I'm so excited. The website that really helped me out was LearnToKnit.com. This site is awesome and very helpful.

UPDATE: I found a site that will teach you step by step to crochet! :o) YAY!

My only problem is that I'm not REAL SURE how to get it all going. lol ... I guess I'm going to need to buy a book .. But as for now ... I'm just going to get my supplies and go from there.

If anyone has any tips or ideas or helpful websites with pictures, I'd love to see them.

What is SmileBox.com?

My cousin told me about SmileBox and I had to check it out. Now that I've checked it out, I have to share this site with you!

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Backseat Box - Crafts For Kids

This laptop box is just the ticket for packing games, toys and snacks to take along on a road trip. CRAFT MATERIALS:
	Empty cereal box
	White Con-Tact paper
	Colored tape
	Pencil
	Craft knife
	Felt scrap
	Stapler
Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. First, remove the waxed paper lining from the cereal box and close the box top. Cover the outside of the box with white Con-Tact paper, as you would if you were wrapping a gift box.

2. Apply long strips of dark-colored tape around the center of the box to create a roadway. Then use short pieces of yellow tape to create a dotted centerline. Use more colored tape to fashion decorative road signs to stick on the rest of the box.

3. Next, set the box, back side down, on a flat surface and pencil on a large rectangle. Use the craft knife to score the top line of the rectangle (a parent's job), but do not cut all the way through the cardboard. Now, cut along the remaining three pencil lines, this time cutting through the cardboard, to create an opening flap.

4. To make the box easy to open, staple the piece of felt to the lower edge of the flap, and the box is ready to use.

Soapy Snowmen - Crafts for Kids

If there's one craft kids can't resist, it's sculpting.
Children are born to squish, roll and stick stuff together.

MATERIALS
2 cups mild, powdered laundry detergent (we tested and recommend Ivory Snow Ultra)
1/2 cup water
Toothpicks
Twigs, cloves, buttons, felt, seed beads, tempera paints, egg carton and pipe cleaner

To mix up a batch of faux snow, pour the Ivory Snow into a bowl, add the water and whip with an electric beater until doughy.

Shape the damp soap into three balls. Stack them by gently pushing a toothpick halfway into the center of the bottom ball. Then, push the middle ball down onto the toothpick until the two balls touch. Do the same for the snowman's head.

Now, add twig arms, clove eyes, shirt buttons and a felt scarf. To make a smiling mouth, press on a row of seed beads. For a mini carrot nose, color the tip of a short twig with orange paint. Top off the snowman with an egg-cup hat or a set of pipe-cleaner earmuffs. As the soap dries (this can take a few hours), it will lose its grayish tinge and turn bright white.

Pasta Pets - Crafts for Kids

If you're looking for quick fun on a rainy day, just use your noodle -- elbow, bow tie or penne will do -- to make these posable toy animals.

CRAFT MATERIALS:
	Dry pasta
	Pipe cleaners
	Glue
Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. Create the animal's torso by sliding a few pieces of pasta onto the center of a pipe cleaner. (Wagon wheels are perfect for a chubby belly; rigatoni for a lean one.)

2. Then, bend the pipe cleaner on both sides of the torso to form a neck and tail. Add more pasta and fold the tips of the pipe cleaner to hold the pieces in place.

3. Bend the neck (between pastas) into a right angle to form a face.

4. To attach legs, ears, or horns, twist shorter lengths of pipe cleaner around the body and string them with macaroni. You can even glue on miniature soup pastas for a mane or fur.

No-Sew Fleece Blankets

Daniel and I have decided that we're having a homemade Christmas in 2008! I'm excited. As I posted earlier (I think) I made homemade candy cane bath salts for the ladies this year. We also stained plaques for my parents and Daniel's parents that read "Ka-Ka & Big Daddy's House" and "MeMa & DeDa's House". That's what JD calls our parents. They were perfect gifts for them; they loved them. We got them other things but that was their homemade gift. We used a wood burner to burn their names into the wood. We also bought two trunks at Michael's for Daniel's grandfathers. We burned "Papa's Box" onto the front, stained it and attached a leather strap for easy opening.

Next year, I'm going to made Apple Pie Bath Salts and No-Sew Fleece Blankets. I'm sure along the way I'll find new things to make, but as of today. I'm sticking with that. My only problem is that we have about 35 people on our gift list! lol ... That's A LOT of blankets! Phew! I better get busy right? haha ...

I went and checked out Jo-Ann.com and they have a good selection of fleece on sale in their clearance section. I'm going to start off with that since I'm new to this and I've NEVER made anything like a blanket before. I'm a bit nervous though, I don't know the difference between the fleece fabrics they offer. What is Anti-Pill fleece?

All tips are appreciated if anyone has done this before! :o) Just send me email if you don't want to post the tip here!

*hugs*