Christmas Craftapalooza

Two weeks ago we rounded up a few friends and hosted the first ever Christmas Craftapalooza at our house. I love the idea of kids giving handmade gifts for Christmas, but I'm not so much into giving out cheesy toilet paper roll Christmas ornaments or framed handprints (OK the handprints aren't necessarily cheesy, but there's only so many years you can really do those and have them mean something). I'm all about having the kids make GOOD and USEFUL gifts that aren't just pulled out once a year when the grandparents know you're coming over for a visit.

Usually Sport, Spice, and I make these candles every year for my mom and a few friends.

Photo from Family Fun

Obviously adult supervision is required, but they make a nice gift and are fun to create.

We've gotten a bit tired of those though so this year I scoured the internet to come up with some new ideas. Here's a look at what was created at our craftapalooza...

Beaded Rings:

Photo from Family Fun

Spice and I actually made one of these as a make and take on a recent trip to Micheal's. We liked them so much we decided to make more for Christmas. I found  instructions at Family Fun. Our rings were similar, but we used small pearls in place of the silver beads to give it a fancier Christmas look. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of any of the finished products. We had kids aged 5-9 at our event and some were better able to do this than others. I'd recommend it for ages 7 and up as an unsupervised craft. Some of those pearl beads are hard to string!

Cookies in a Can:

Similar to cookies in a jar, but uses Pringles cans instead. (This was one of those spur of the moment "I'm in desparate need of a gift NOW!" ideas I came up with last year.)We wrapped Pringles cans then fillled them with cookie ingredients in Zip-Loc bags. Here's our recipe:

In one quart-sized Zip-Loc bag, combine 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, and 1/4 tsp. salt. 

In a second bag, combine 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar.

Fill a sandwhich size bag with 3/4 cup chocolate chips, raisins, nuts...We used the peppermint swirl chips for a festive look. They were delicious!

Place all bags inside a 6 oz Pringles can and add a gift tag with the following instructions:

To use combine all ingredients in a large bowl with 3/4 cup shortening, 1 egg, 2 Tbsp. milk, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Form into one inch balls and bake 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Altered Notebooks:

By far the favorite craft of the day was altered notebooks. My kids are still making these. I purchased three-to-a-pack memo sized notebooks at Dollar Tree. These had a plasticy type cover on both sides. One side had a second cardboard cover underneath the plastic layer so I cut the plastic cover off (I was worried the glue would not adhere to it as well) and we worked with the cardboard side. Before the party I traced the cover on a bunch of pieces of scrapbook paper and cut them out so the kids could just pick the paper they liked best and glue it on. Once they had a new decorative cover they were able to add embellishments using paper punches, stickers, and stamps. Some websites give instructions for removing the spiral wire so that the entire front of the notebook can be covered, then making new holes and reinserting the wire. Way too complicated for my tatste! We just glued the paper as close to the wire as possible, leaving a small white edge along the top of the notebooks. I think this worked out just fine and made it much easier for the kids to complete the project on their own. Oh and for all you true bargain hunters out there, I've since found more notebooks at Big Lots that come four to a pack, making these cute little personalized gifts come out to about 30 cents each.

If you're still looking for gifts to put under the tree, get the kids to work and if none of these ideas float your boat, check out Works For Me Wednesday for more last minute gift ideas.

Beginner Sewing Project

Spice has been showing a lot of interest in sewing lately so I decided it as time to set her up with a few projects. We started off with a beginner needlepoint kit from JoAnne's, but it has proved to be a bit more complicated than we bargained for so I made up some projects of my own for her.

We started off with a set of mesh coasters from Dollar Tree. This rubbery "material" is also found in the shelf liner section. I originally went in for the shelf liner, then saw the set of 4 coasters and thought they were the perfect size for little hands. I used a Sharpie to draw a simple flower shape on the coaster in red and purple for Spice to embroidery with yarn.

 

We have a couple of large plastic kid's sewing needles on hand, but if you don't have any, I've seen kiddie needles fashioned out of pipe cleaners. Spice "traced" around each shape with her yarn then I tied it off for her.

 

 

She had a great time with this project, completing it over 2 days, and is very proud of her work!

 

Next up, a rainbow!
Check out Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family for more fun ideas.

Favorite Projects of 2009 Part 3

Well, this favorite projects of 2009 bit is lasting way longer than I intended. I think my all time favorite project of last year was the half-bath redo. Here's what it looked like when we moved in. These pictures were taken when we were looking at the house so the lovely (mismatched) green toilet cover and rug were all part of the seller's brilliant presentation skills.

 

 

The walls were papered in an interesting green and burgundy pattern that resembled sponge painting. As you can see, the wallpaper was torn, but it was stuck on good. So good in fact, that most people didn't even realize it was wallpaper. They thought the room was painted. I knew this teeny tiny room would give me fits when I tried to remove the paper so I committed the ultimate remodeling sin... I painted over it. I know every where you look, the experts say DON'T DO IT! But the experts all seem to live in dream homes where wallpaper peels right off in one nice big piece and the wall is in pristine condition underneath and ready to go. Unfortunately, Hubby and I have a penchant for buying houses that seemed to have been previously owned by wallpaper moguls or something so I've dealt with quite a bit of wallpaper in my time and none of it comes off that easily.
Now I'm not recommending you go out and paint over every inch of wallpaper in your house, but there are times when it seems to be the only option. So, if that's the case at your house, here's what to do:

1) Take care of any loose ends by gluing them back down or carefully peeling away.
2) Cover the walls with an oil-based primer, such as Kilz. I know, oil-based paint is a total pain, but using a latex (i.e water-based) primer may cause the wallpaper to bubble up or come loose over time. Not what you want to see after all your hard work.
3) Use drywall compound to repair any flaws from torn wallpaper or to cover any seams. Remember how I told you my wallpaper was really stuck? Well you couldn't even find the seams after one coat of Kilz so I lucked out and got to skip this step.
4) Apply another coat of oil-based primer just to be on the safe side.
5) If you need to apply more primer it is safe to go with a latex-based one at this point.
6) Now for the fun part, cover with at least two coats of your chosen color (latex or oil-based).

Here's my new half-bath. I know the pictures aren't the greatest, but it's a small room. What'd you expect?

 

 

Wanna see more makeovers? Head over to Thrifty Decor Chick for a Before and After Party link-up.

Favorite Projects of 2009 Part 2

When I first laid eyes on this family rules canvas over at the Pleated Poppy, I knew I had to have one. Luckily, Lindsey gives a great tutorial so you can make one of your own. I pretty much followed her directions to a tee. The only thing I would add is to print out a "rough draft" of your rules on plain paper first to make sure they will fit. I thought I had measured well and went straight to printing out on my lovely color-coordinated scrapbook paper that I had spent weeks searching for. Not good. I was able to make do and squeeze out enough scraps to print out our rules with a smaller font. Here's our finished product:

 

I used a 24X8 canvas. I would have loved to do a huge one, but I wanted this hanging in our kitchen where it could be seen often and the best place for hanging was the side of a cabinet. I also added a ribbon to the top of mine to make a bow for hanging. I did not want to put a nail through the cabinet so I used a Command Hook.

I used some of the rules on Lindsey's canvas and added some of my own. Here are our rules:

Always tell the truth
Always show respect
Don't hit...hug
Love one another
Have fun
Mind your manners
No whining
Help each other
Think before you speak...use gentle words
Laugh daily
Be kind, be happy, be positive
Clean up after yourself
Listen well
Obey the first time
Celebrate together, be on each other's team
Never leave angry
Be a blessing
Work hard, work together
Encourage each other
Cuddle often
Say your prayers...thank God for this family

The most fun part was picking out all the cute fonts to use. I downloaded all of my fonts for FREE from Fonts For Peas.

Simple Woman's Daybook

For today, Monday December 21, 2009 - First Day of Winter

Outside my window...sunny and cold. The grass was "crunchy" this morning when Sport took out the trash and our outdoor table and chairs have a thick layer of frost on them.

I am thinking...about craft projects I saw online last night and wish, wish, wish I had the time and supplies to get them made up for Christmas gifts this year. Can't believe I have to wait a whole year before I can get back to them!

I am thankful for...Christmas break! I had planned on homeschooling up until my parents' arrival on Wednesday. Then by the grace of God I realized the reason I wasn't enjoying Christmas this year was because I was too focused on school every night to relax and enjoy the season. So now we're taking a few days off so I can do just that.

From the learning rooms...Even though we are on break, I'm still going to try to sneak in some math here and there for Sport. The kids have also been working furiously on homemade Christmas gifts.

From the kitchen...chicken and dumplings tonight, ravioli tomorrow and who knows for the rest of the week. Come Wednesday, I'm letting the family chef (my Dad) take over.

I am wearing...jeans, a soft maroon ribbed turtleneck I picked up at our last swap (i.e. FREE), brown socks, and brown shoes.

I am creating...a few last minute Christmas gifts to be finished up. Can't tell you what they are though. Someone might be snooping!

I am reading...nothing at the moment unless you want to count my new Sneaky Chef cookbook. Will hit the books again after Christmas. Guess my Books Read In 2009 sidebar is finished for the year. I am halfway through a couple of books, but will have to wait until 2010 to add them to the list. Oh well, at least I averaged a book a month (barely).

I am hoping...the kids can control themselves today and tomorrow with all of their free time and not make me wish I had kept school going. : )

I am hearing...Christmas music coming from the kitchen and Sport and Spice building with Lincoln Logs upstairs.

Around the house...Looking Good! Did a quick clean up for friends who came over this morning, laundry is all caught up and even put away, Christmas lights are twinkling from every corner...maybe I should cancel school more often!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Tennis and Lego Club tomorrow, my parents' arrival on Wednesday, Spice's last minute Nutcracker Ballet themed birthday party on Sunday, and just in case that's not enough, we've got CHRISTMAS! (Which is also Hubby's birthday by the way.) A full week as usual.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

 

You know all those cute Gift In A Jar mixes you read about this time of year? Well if you ever plan on giving one, plan ahead. Way Ahead. I had no idea canning jars were seasonal items until I went searching all over town for them a few weeks ago with absolutely no luck. We planned to give Cookie Mix In A Jar gifts to all of Sport's fellow book clubbers and Lego clubbers. I had enough jars on hand to take care of Book Club and thought I'd find more before Lego Club met. No such luck so an hour before our last meeting, I dug out three Pringles cans I'd saved for candle making and, in a moment of desperation (that's when I get most of my ideas), tucked bags filled with flour, sugar, and M&Ms in each one. I covered each can with wrapping paper, tied a recipe on with ribbon and viola...three cute little gifts ready to go! I love how the M&Ms show through the clear lid.

Visit Peggy for more Simple Woman's Daybook entries.

Baby's First Gift

If you have any new little ones in your family this year, consider this idea for baby's first Christmas gift: Purchase a basket or bin and fill it with some of your favorite children's books to get baby's library off to a great start.


You can buy pre-made book gift baskets online, but they are uber expensive. I hit upon this idea a few years ago and it has become one of my favorites for welcoming a new baby and one that is greatly appreciated by new parents. This is also an easy gift to plan ahead for. You've got a good 8 or 9 months to get things together right? Be on the lookout for book sales and you can put together a great gift for very little moolah. Some of my favorite places to pick up gift books are Scholastic's Book Club or warehouse sales, Target's dollar spot, and Kohl's. The Kohl's Cares For Kids program offers classic children's books in hardback for 5 bucks. Right now they are selling the Laura Numeroff series If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, If You Give A Pig A Party, If You Give a Cat A Cupcake...This is a great deal! I picked up the last few titles we didn't already own to add to our collection. You can also snag one of the stuffed animal characters to fill out your gift basket.

We also love to make homemade gifts around here. Here are links to some of our favorites:

We make a couple of these ice candles from Family Fun every year.

Spice and I have been making treasure soaps similar to these for her Little Flowers group. We put silk flowers inside.

I love these coasters! I'm making these for the kids' teachers. You would think with homeschooling we would not need teacher gifts, but that's not the case. There are church teachers, dance teachers, tennis coaches, co-op teachers... I think these make a beautiful gift without breaking the bank. One tip though that I learned the hard way: If you take on this project, use very thin coats of sealer. Don't even worry about covering the entire tile at once. Just spray a light mist, let dry and go back and hit spots you may have missed. I ruined 2 sets last night by getting the tile too saturated on the first spray. I was not a happy camper standing there watching all of my ink run together.

We Are That Family's special gift themed WFMW post has a ton of other ideas if you're just getting started on your Christmas list.

DIY Advent Wreath

Putting together a new Advent wreath has been at the top of my holiday to-do list since last Christmas. Seeing as though today is the first Sunday of Advent, I figured it was the perfect time to actually get off my fanny and get started on the project.
We've had an Advent wreath for years, but sadly, the only way I can seem to remember to light it every night is if it's sitting right in front of me at the kitchen table. Our old wreath was just a tad too big for the center of the table and Hubby and I would always have to engage in a bit of a nudging match all through Advent. I'd nudge the wreath his way just a tad to make more room for my plate and he'd nudge back to make room for his. Nudge...nudge...nudge...day after day.
I saw a wreath in a catalog last year that I really liked and filed the idea away in the far recesses of my mind until I could get around to making a new one. I use the term wreath loosely, because there isn't a traditional evergreen wreath base involved.

Here's the finished product (and yes, there is a 4th candle hidden on the other side):

 

I picked up four dark purplish candles at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago because I'm so good at planning ahead. I know one should be pink, but there were no decent looking pink ones available. My original plan was to tie a pink ribbon around one of the candles, but I forgot about that somewhere along the way. In the meantime, I saw fall colored candles wrapped with a Thanksgiving theme and decided to go with that for this project. I printed the words Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love in brown ink on cardstock as a reminder of what the four Sundays of Advent represent. I used the Porcelain font downloaded from ScrapVillage and added a fancy dingbat at the beginning and end of each word for a sophisticated look.
Aside from candles, a traditional Advent wreath uses a circle with no beginning or end to symbolize the eternity of God and evergreens to represent continuous life. Although I did not use a traditional wreath, I wanted to keep a circular base. I used a decorative bowl we received many years ago as a wedding present and if you line the candles up just so, they are a perfect fit. My original plan was to use a silver charger I picked up at Dollar Tree last year, but I liked the looks of this better. To fill out the wreath, I added a few clippings of an evergreen bush from our yard. We like to keep a white candle in the center of our wreath to light on Christmas Day, but the bowl wasn't big enough and if I used a bigger dish well...we'd be right back to nudging. I'll figure something out when the time comes. I've got a whole 26 days to think about it!

Outdoor Lights Redo

Here's a look at a quick weekend project I did last week. I've been itching to take this on since I first saw the idea at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, but it turned cooler than expected here sooner than expected so I thought I'd missed out on the opportunity until spring. Last weekend was gorgeous though so I too the opportunity to give our outdoor lights a much needed redo.

Here's the before picture:



I used Rustoleum's Hammered Black paint for a quick coverup. I love Rustoleum's hammered finish paints. I used the Hammered Aluminum to revamp the vanity lights in both of the bathrooms in our old house (think 1970's fake brass finish with huge globe light covers). It made for an amazing transformation once I put new globes on. Everyone thought I had actually replaced the light fixtures. Anyhoo, here's an in progress picture. Stacking the Roman Gladiator helmets, I mean uh...light fixture tops on cans from the garage made them much easier to paint.



I'm not as brave as Jen from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. She free-handed her fixtures. I taped mine all up and used a cheap foam brush.



Here's the finished product. Looks a hundred times better in my opinion and the transformation was under $10 for three lights!