Rice Krispy Paintbrushes~ Tutorial

I have been meaning to get around to writing this post for the past two weeks, so here it is..... finally!!!

We made "paintbrushes" as party favors for G's 5th birthday. 

I originally found the idea on Pinterest, and I knew these would be a great touch and fun for G and I make together.

I purchased pre-made Rice Krispy treats from the grocery store. I'm sure you could make your own, but I was trying to be as stress-free as possible. 

 I found these wooden sticks from Hobby Lobby for around $4.00 and used a 40% off coupon. These are very similar to the little wooden spoons for ice cream.

 G helped to unwrap all of the treats and we stacked them up.

 Then, we pushed the sticks about half way into the bottom. 

The treats were room temperature, and after inserting the sticks, we had to re-shape them just a bit.

 I tried making these with almond bark and food coloring, but it just did not work. So, I headed to Hobby Lobby, and bought colored candy wafers. Note to self- you cannot return these to Hobby Lobby, so if you buy extra, you're stuck with them.

 I bought green and purple, and let G chose which color she wanted. Purple is her favorite, so i'm stuck with a bag of green. 

Anyway, melt your chocolate in the microwave. Stir every 30 seconds; it only took about a minute and a half to melt the entire bag. 

Dip the top half into your chocolate.

 Spoon chocolate on all four sides, but don't cover the entire treat.

 Lay on wax paper to dry. I know, I layed these on tin foil, but I was out of wax paper and didn't know it until we were getting started.

Once the chocolate was dry, I placed these in cellophane bags and tied with ribbon. 

These were such a fun party favor for a rainbow-paint party!

Wreath Tutorial

My mom and sister-in-law were here this weekend, which means one of two things. We'll go shopping or we'll do projects. This weekend it was all about the projects! My sister in law and I both decided we needed new wreaths for our front door. I still have my Easter wreath hanging, and I knew I wanted to change it before MC's party next weekend. So, Saturday afternoon, we went to our favorite store. Any guesses on what that might be?

If you guessed, Hobby Lobby, you were right! I'll give you a thousand imaginary dollars- Congrats!

Neither of us were sure what we wanted our wreath to look like, so I pulled up Pinterest on my phone, because I had pinned and remembered seeing lots of cute wreaths!

We found a grapevine wreath that had cream flowers, a silver bow, and the house numbers down the side, and we both agreed that we would make our wreaths the same. After all, we live 4 hours apart, so no one would know the difference (until now.) 

I decided not to do our house numbers because we are actually moving at the end of the month. (I know, we're moving again- but that's another post.) So, I went with a "W" for our last name.

Hobby Lobby carries wooden letters for around $3-5.00. I picked up some silver paint and painted it. I started with the sides first, and then painted the front. I skipped the back because no one would see it. 

We also purchased a grapevine wreath ($5.00), and some silver deco-trim ($6.00). I already had the wire at home. 

I started by wiring the deco mesh to one side of the wreath.

We also purchased one flower bouquet that had 6 large flowers on it. She and I divided the flowers. ($10.00) I pulled off the flower heads, and hot glued them in place between the gatherings of the deco mesh. 

When the letter was dry, I used wood glue on the back to secure it in place. I tried using hot glue, but it just wouldn't hold, so i'm glad I found wood glue in the garage (thanks DJ!) I also wired it in place in three different areas, and then I painted over the wired areas with the silver paint. 

And, ta-da! I hung the wreath on my front door. 

I love the yellow/grey combination! Although, I just noticed that my wreath hanger is gold- oh well. 

The wreath cost about $15.00 to make, but we also didn't get anything on sale, which was our fault, because I'm sure it'll all be on sale this week. However, we needed a new wreath yesterday, so we didn't wait. We did however, pull up a 40% off coupon on our smart phone.

Anyway, I love it- hope you do too!

Up-Cycled Easter Wreath

This is what my Easter wreath from the past few years has looked like: I knew as soon as I pulled it out of storage, that I was going to have to re-make the entire wreath. It was faded and falling apart.
I pulled all of the flowers, eggs, and ribbon off of the grapevine wreath. Thankfully, I hadn't hot glued much, but used wire to wrap everything in place.

Once everything was removed, I gathered items from my unused Easter decorations and other things I had around.
I used wire to wrap the pink netting in place. This was left over from the girls Christmas tree, and thankfully, I had just enough.
Then, I hot glued these glittered eggs that I had. When grouping things together, try to place them in odd numbers, such as groups of 3 for a more visually pleasing effect.

After, I glued on the eggs, I knew that the wreath needed something more, but I wasn't exactly sure if a bow would work, because I didn't have enough tulle, and I didn't have enough ribbon. It just didn't look finished.

So, I found a bucket in my Easter decorations and tied it on with wire. I added a little bit of Easter grass on the inside, and placed 3 eggs inside the bucket.
Here's the finished wreath!

Cost $0.00

Do It Yourself: Pirate Party Invitations

G's 4th birthday is pirate theme. I went back and forth as to what kind of invitations I wanted for her shin-dig. I was going to order some custom made photo-type invitations, and then I began to scroll through Etsy one evening. I found the cutest pirate invitations, and decided that I would be able to make them myself.

Materials:

Scrapbook Paper

Resume' Paper (or other printer paper with a darker finish)

Printer

Glue dots or stick of glue

Paper cuter

Ink Pad
I purchased a black and creme stripe scrapbook paper (pardon the picture quality, my flash was off, and I did not notice, so everything looks yellow). Using the paper cuter, I cut it down to a 4x6 piece.

Next, I went into my Word program and typed up the invitation. I was able to turn the document horizontally and make it into two columns. I copy and pasted the wording onto the 2nd column, and printed. I was able to use less paper this way, and both columns were a 4x6 size. (I used resume' paper because I had it lying around.)

I found the picture from googling for pirate images. I copy and pasted an image on to the invitation. Once, they were printed, I tore around the sides and made into a ball to give it an 'old treasure map' kind of look.
I used this ^^^^^ ink pad that I purchased from Hobby Lobby. You can also purchase this from a scrapbook store. After you tear your paper and roll it up, unroll it and lay onto a scrap piece. Rub the ink pad over the edges to give it a burnt look. You can also rub it on the middle of the paper in order to make the paper look even older. The ink will be darker on the spots where it creased from being rolled into the ball.

I considered using a lighter and just burning the edges of the paper. I'm glad the scrapbook store lady recommended the ink pad to me. It was much safer and I've been able to use it for other projects for her party.
Next, glue your printed and aged invite onto your 4x6 scrapbook paper.

I was able to purchase brown 4x6 envelopes from Hobby Lobby- just look in the card making section.

The project cost around $25.00. It would have been cheaper, if I had the paper cutter myself. That was around $7.00 for a cheap one. You can also just use a ruler, and make straight lines on the back of your scrapbook paper and cut.

I love the way these turned out! They'll be going out this week to her classmates at school and in the mail as well. Invitations are the way to perfect way to give a hint to all the fun your guests will have in store for them at your party! So, make sure you give them that glimpse!

Twine Wrapped Letter

Have you checked out Pintrest? Let's just say I've found a new website obsession, and I have so many ideas 'pinned' that I'll be busy if I try to re-create all of them!

I found this idea on Pintrest, but I also found it through a friend, who found it on Pintrest as well. I've actually done something similar to this before making a Valentine's wreath, but this is the first time I've used it for a letter.

I wasn't able to purchase a lot of accessories for MCs room, because we weren't actually in the house while I was pregnant and I wanted to see her entire room wasn't put together until we were moved and settled. But, still, I wasn't crazy about some of the accessories we had in there, so I knew that this would be perfect for the shabby chic look I want to achieve in her room.
I purchased Natural sisal (jute works also) and a paper mache' letter from Hobby Lobby. The sisal was about 2.00 and the letter was on sale, so I think I paid around 2.00 for it as well. You'll also need a hot glue gun.
Start at the back side of your letter and place a strip of hot glue along the bottom. Press the sisal into the glue for a few seconds, and continue to place glue and the sisal all away the letter working your way up. When I was close to the bottom I used a lot of glue to hold the sisal in place, but I found that you didn't have to glue all the time as you worked your way up.
I did both of the 'legs' first, and then I started on the top, following the same as above- glueing close to the start, and then not glueing as often as I wrapped more and more.
The letter M was difficult because I had to do the bottoms and then the top, and finally the middle.
When I started on the middle, you can see that there was a gap.
So, I placed a bit of glue closest to the top and pulled the sisal all the way to the top and held it in place until the glue dried a bit. And, then I continued to work my way down until I had reached the tops of the sisal that I had wrapped on the bottom.

I did have a few cracks between the sisal, so I just cut a few small strips of the sisal, placed some hot glue on the letter, and glued the strips on.
Because her room is a bird theme, I also purchased these two birds from Hobby Lobby for 2.00. I glued one at the top and one at the bottom.
And, here is the final product in her room!

I hope you'll try this product yourself! You can use it on a bookshelf, or even hot glue some ribbon on the back and use it like a wreath!

Easter Key: tutorial

We all know that Santa Claus comes in to our houses through the chimney? But, how does the Easter bunny get in? With a key of course!

G and I sat down and made a key especially for the Easter bunny to get into our house this Easter.... here's what we did: I drew a key and a bunny on paper and cut them out.

We purchased 3 sheets of felt from JoAnn's- all of this cost around $1.00 w/ a coupon I had.

G decided she wanted the ears to flop over, so I drew a new pattern. Place it on top of your felt and cut around the pattern. I used pins to keep it in place.

I did the same thing with the key.

We glued on the wiggly eyes with hot glue. I cut out a mouth and nose from the pink felt (this was suppose to go on the ears, but since they flopped I changed the plans). I drew whiskers on with a pen. Then, I punched a hole into the bunny and the end of they key and used Easter egg ribbon to tie them together. I wasn't in love with the bunny, so I quickly made a bow... the bow would be cute at the bottom, but since we're about to have two girls. We might as well have a girl Easter bunny!

We'll leave this 'key' by the front door so the Easter bunny can get in the house & leave a basket full of goodies for G!

How to Make Cloth Wipes: Tutorial

I decided that I would go the cloth diaper route with baby Megan. It's so much easier on the pocketbook, despite the extra laundry, and with the chemicals that I've read about in the new Pampers dry max, I'm honestly, just scared of disposable diapers.



Over the last few days, I've been wondering about cloth wipes. In my head, I had decided that I would purchase regular wipes, because we're still using them with Gretchen on occassion. Then, I began to wonder if the wipe solution would interfere with the material on the cloth diapers. So, I went to a trusty 'green' message board, and asked which would be better.



Upon hearing the results, I decided I would go ahead and give cloth wipes a try as well. One poster reported that she could save an average of $300.00 per year using cloth wipes, and that was purchasing the cheap ones!



I googled for a tutorial as to how to make the wipes myself and with some changes, here's what I came up with: 1. Gather your materials. You'll need paper to make a template, a ruler or straight edge, and measuring tape, pins, an ink pen, and fleece. You can also use receiving blankets.

2. Begin by marking your paper & choosing a measurement of how large you want the wipes. At first, I measured a 5x5 square, but once it was cut, I decided it wasn't big enough, so I measured a 6.5x6.5 square

3. I don't have a ruler, so I used this box to draw a straight edge.

4. Cut out your straight edge and pin it to the fabric.

5. Cut out your squares.

6. Place two squares together with the prints facing each other. You may want to pin these in place, but I found that the fleece 'stuck' well together.

7. Using a straight stitch, sew down the edge of each fleece. When you first start your stitch, you'll want to do a back stitch as well.

8. Sew around 3.5 sides. Leave a pocket opened, so you can flip the material right side out.

9. Once you flip your material facing the right direction, you'll want to turn in the edges of the pocket opening you left.

10. Sew your pocket opening shut- don't forget to back stitch at the beginning and the end.

11. And, that's it! If you want to give your wipes a decorative touch, you can sew around it again, using a zig-zag stitch.

These were pretty easy to make. The most time consuming part was cutting out the fabric. It took about 5 minutes to sew each one together.

If you don't feel like sewing, i've also decided to add these to my Facebook page. They'll be 5 wipes for $4.00 plus S&H. You'll also be able to choose between girl or boy fleece fabrics.

Keep your eye out in the next few weeks, for these cloth wipes to be added to gift sets that will be perfect for baby showers!

Tutorial: Thanksgiving Placemats

We're hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house this week, so I decided that it would be fun for Gretchen to make us some Thanksgiving placemats. Last week I let her choose one color of construction paper and she colored all over it. Then, I traced her hand. I cut out five handprints.

Above you can see the supplies that we used. I made turkeys out of her handprints that we made a few nights before. On brown construction paper, I drew a peanut shape and cut those out. Gretchen attached one peanut shape to one hand- her hand served as the turkey feathers. I also printed out Thanksgiving clip-art (stickers would work too), and thanks to the die cut machine at work, I cut out leaves and turkeys.

Gretchen was given a large piece of brown construction paper. I let her choose which clip art she wanted to add. She also added her hand print turkey, a leaf, and another turkey die cut.

She had lots of fun putting these together! To keep it fairly mess free, I placed the glue on the back of the picture.

And, these are the finished placemats! I'm going to take them to work this week and laminate each of them. I figured that my in-laws could take theirs home, or if it does get messy, that we can just toss them!

These placemats were a great activity to teach her about Thanksgiving, and to give her something hands on to do while I cooked dinner!