Alphabet Magnets

My candle holder project left me with a lot of little baby food jar lids.  I kept them because....#1-I am a hoarder....and #2-I just knew if I kept staring at them long enough, I could find a good use for them.  And I am fairly certain that this is what makes me a hoarder in the first place...everything can be used again, in another way, right?  I like to think so.

While staring at my ever growing collection of lids and wondering what to do with them, I realized that the little circle in the center was about the same size as my new circle craft punch.  Could it be?  Was it possible that I could squeeze yet 1 more craft from my $6 toy?  I was giddy with excitement.  Really....It doesnt take much, folks.

Here is what I did:

I punched some scrapbook paper with my 1.5 inch craft punch and put alphabet stickers on the circles.

I spray painted the lids and hot glued magnets on the back.  Then I glued the circles in the center of the lid.

And now you have a nice little set of alphabet magnets for your 2 year old to pull apart, shove under the fridge and carry on with their day, as if nothing ever happened.  Enjoy!

Candy Ornaments

I picked up this cute little candy pick at JoAnns a few weeks ago at a lovely 60% off, making it .39.   My kinda price!  So, I bought 2.  I thought they were cute but I didnt want to use them the way they were.  I wanted to do something different with them.

I wanted them to be individual candy ornaments for my little white tree in my kitchen.  I like to put all things sweet on the kitchen tree(cupcakes, candy, etc.)so I thought these would make cute ornaments.  I just cut them apart with wire cutters.  Or you can gently wiggle the wires out of the candies.  And that leaves the perfect little hole to put a lollipop stick in.  Wrap them up in cellophane, add a ribbon and your done.  Too sweet.  The larger candy on the top is just wrapped in cellophane, sans stick.  I thought it looked better that way.  But there are no rules here.  Stick it, if you want to.  I wont judge.

They looked pretty cute on the tree and you just cant beat the price.  They would make cute little present toppers, too. 

I bought 2 sets of the picks so I wanted to do something different with the second set.  So, I coated them with Mod Podge and then rolled them in Epsom Salt.  It gave them such a pretty, sugared look. 

Wrap them or leave them naked.  They are beautiful, either way.  And the grand total is .13 each.  Sweet.  

Do you ever do this?

I was at JoAnns recently and found a great craft punch at a great price.  It was a 1.5 inch circle punch for $6.  But, the last thing I need to do right now is spend money on something that Im only going to use once or twice and then throw  in my craft drawer, never to be seen again.  If I was to buy this craft punch, I would need to come up with at least 2 or 3 things that I could do with it in order to justify the purchase.  Crafty Rule #1-NO UNITASKERS!  Everything worth owning in the Craft World needs to have more than one use.  So, I bought it.  And then came up with a few things to do with it.

I punched out 1 tissue paper circle and 1 card stock circle.  Actually, in an effort to save my card stock, I used a cardboard tube from the center of a roll of wrapping paper and just flattened it.  Then I glued them together and used a small hole punch to put a tiny hole in the top.  Then I added a ribbon.  Instant gift tag.

I got out a few christmas gift bags from last year and did the same thing.  Punched 1 decorative circle and 1 card stock circle.  If your card stock deficient, and you dont have any empty wrapping paper rolls laying around, you can use a cereal box.  Or any thin cardboard type box you have laying around.  Macaroni and cheese, band aids, whatever  You just need a circle for the back that is a plain color so you can write to and from and to add a little more heft to your tag.  You dont have to use the second circle but it does make it more sturdy.

You can even add some stickers or little jems if you want.  Glitter is always nice, too.

You can also fold a piece of paper in half and punch it with some of the fold in the punch and you get a cute little gift card.

You can use the tags as a wine glass marker, too.  Oh, darn.  Now I have this glass of wine here.  I only poured it to use as an example for the picture but now I guess I have to drink it.  Oh the things I will do for the blog!

So, now that my 1 glass of wine has turned into 2, Im sure the rest of this post will be interesting. 

They look pretty cute around a bottle of wine..  Or maybe I just have my wine goggles on. 

They even look cute on the tree as a simple little ornament.  You could also make a garland out of the circles by gluing them on a string or ribbon. 

So, Im pretty sure my mission was a success.  I found more than 1 use for this great little addition to my craft drawer.  AND I had a nice glass (or 2) of wine.  What a great day.

Vote For Me

This is one of my entries for The Dollar Tree Holiday Craft Contest. Voting starts tonight at midnight eastern time. You can vote once a day through the 28th. Wish me luck!


$5 Wreath

The Dollar Tree Holiday Craft Contest

This is one of my entries for The Dollar Store Holiday Craft Contest. Voting starts tonight at midnight eastern time and you can vote for your favorite entry once a day. I would love it if you could take time out of your busy day to vote for me. Thanks, and wish me luck!






A Berry Easy Tree

Gingerbread Village

I was at Target yesterday, in the dollar section, and I found this....

Its one of those photo cubes that Im sure you have seen before.  I wanted to make something cute with it but wasnt quite sure what to do.  The dollar section didnt offer much inspiration so I headed to Michaels to see what I could come up with. 


And here it is.......

I want to live here....or at least visit for a while.

I simply opened the frame and cut a piece of the inside wrapper, since it was already the perfect size to fit in the frame, and hot glued some stickers and embellishments to the paper.  I just put a glob of glue down where I wanted the stickers and held them upright until they stayed. 

The gingerbread people, house and gumdrops were part of a foam sticker set that I got at Michaels for $1.49.  The tree and bushes were a holiday pick that was .49.  And the present came out of a pack of 10 for $1.49.   Im not sure if you can tell from the picture but I also used regular school glue on the rest of the ground and sprinkled epsom salt to look like snow.  Then I carefully put the frame back together. 

I just love the way this turned out.  My 2 year old daughter stares at it and tells me what she thinks they are saying and Im feeling kinda proud because Im pretty sure I just created a warm and magical Christmas memory for her, and for myself, for less than $5. 

Then she looks at me and says, "Lets eat 'em!"

Ah, yes...warm and magical.





Linking Up At.....

Almost Free Candle Holders

Im starting to see a pattern here.  I do a lot of crafts with stuff that is fairly inexpensive.  These candle holders are almost free.  I say almost because you use empty glass jars from food that you already buy and tissue paper which you can get at the dollar store or recycle from a gift you have received.  If you are a pack rat, like I am, then you should have plenty of tissue paper in little folded piles all over your house. 


The idea for these came from Halloween.  Lots of different versions of ghosts and monsters were created using this method.  I just so happened to have a lot of empty baby food jars and pasta sauce jars shortly after Halloween so I thought I would use them up.

This is the first version I made.  Lets call this the Fall Collection, shall we? 


I just noticed something.  Its not much of a collection if it is just one, now is it?  Moving on....


I just took the empty jar, smeared the whole thing with Mod Podge and wrapped the tissue paper around it.  Another layer of  Mod Podge on top of the tissue and stuck some fake leaves on it.  Then I wrapped the top with yarn.  If you dont have Mod Podge, you can also water down regular school glue and use that. 


The picture really doesnt show its true beauty.  It looks so pretty when you put the candle in.  Gives off a very soft, warm glow.  And the baby food jars are the perfect size for a little tea light candle. 


I just loved the way they looked so I had to make more for Christmas..

Same idea here...clean glass jar, smear with goo, wrap with tissue...but here I splurged and bought a spool of ribbon for a buck at the craft store....It is Christmas, after all. 


You can make a few of these and they look really nice but since they are so cheap and easy to make, you could also make a bunch of them for real impact.  I am making about 25 for my large family room window and I cant wait to see how it looks..  Im thinking they would also look nice outside to light a walkway.   

Im Soooo Excited!

I simply cant believe that I made the list of Top 50 DIY Blogs at Online Degrees. I mean...REALLY? I had to read it 3 times just to make sure it was real! I mean...REALLY? I am on the same list as some great blogs that I have been following forever....Someday Crafts, Tatertots and Jello, Room To Inspire and Be Different, Act Normal, just to name a few. Thank you so much to Maria at Online Degrees for sharing the great news with me. Check out the list at http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-50-diy-blogs/

Blog Hop

Burlap "Gingerbread" Invitation

When the Holidays roll around every year, I always think of family gatherings.  My happiest holiday memories from childhood are not of the presents I got, but of the times that our family spent together.  And of the food we ate.  Oh, the wonderful, glorious, beautiful food!  Okay, not so much the food as the sweet , sugary goodness that was always a part of every celebration.   I'm pretty sure that this is where my sugar obsession was born and raised.  Right there in the middle of our dessert buffet.  But, my point is, I have great memories of family and food.  And , I want my kids to have their own memories of sweet family fun, as well.  So, I thought it would be fun to start a new tradition this year....a cookie decorating night.  Kids on a sugar high.  Frosting everywhere.  I can't wait!

If there is going to be a party, then we need to invite people.  And I want to invite them with something cute. 

So I made this Gingerbread Cookie Invitation.  It is also a magnet to put on the fridge to remind you of the event.  It may be hard to tell from the picture but it is wrapped in a nice little package (cellophane) and the top of the package is the invitation.

The inspiration for this came from Melinda's wood cookie invitation at Under My Umbrella.  She used wood for her cookie and Dry Dex for the frosting.  It was so adorable I wanted to try it right away but I needed to make a few changes for my version.

We are decorating gingerbread cookies so I thought it would be cute to make gingerbread cookie shaped invites.  I didnt have the wood that Melinda used but I did have some left over burlap from a Thanksgiving project so I decided to use that instead.

I used the cookie cutter that I am using for the cookies and traced and cut two layers of the burlap.

I hot glued the two gingerbread men together and added the magnet to the back.  I actually used a magnet that came on the front of our phone book as an ad for a plumber.    You can buy magnets at the craft store for this but I just happened to have this so I used it.  Hope my drains dont get clogged.    I will never remember that number.  You could also add a ribbon instead of the magnet, if you wanted to make this an ornament instead of a magnet.

I cut a festive outfit for him out of felt and used puffy paint for his hair and face.  I let it dry and then added the strip of card stock that had the date and time printed on it from my computer and cut it to fit.

I wrapped the whole thing in cellophane and stapled the invitation to the top.  The invitation was also just a simple one, printed at home on card stock.



And I thought it turned out so cute......

I made a special lady to keep him company.


And because they needed a place to live....

 I made them a cute little house.

Lots of fun to make and I love the way they look.  Now Im off to hand them out. 

A Berry Easy Tree

This cute little tree is another project that is super cheap and easy.  I made it this weekend after falling in love with the one Nicolette made at momnivore's dilemma.  It took me a little longer than I thought it would, but I love the way it turned out. 

Nicolette made this beautiful silver and white tree that inspired me to make my own red version.

I didnt have the cool trees that Nicolette used so I ran down to JoAnns and grabbed a standard styrofoam cone(2.49)  I also picked up 6 bunches of large red berries(on sale for .39), 4 bunches of small red berries(on sale for .27), and 4 bunches of small white berries(also .27), and a white star for the top(on sale for .39).

Nicolette used hot glue , but since I was using styrofoam and was running low on glue sticks, I just snipped the berries off the stem with their wire still attached and stuck them in.

I started out with a nice, neat little pattern in mind.  Somewhere around my fourth cup of coffee, I got very lost  and just started slapping them on. But that is part of the beauty of this project.  It still came out great!

You can see some of the styrofoam in between the berries but I thought that since I was using red and white berries, the white of the styrofoam just kinda matched.

Thanks to Nicolette for the inspiration...check out momnivore's dilemma...lots of great ideas.

My 1st Link Party

And a HUGE THANK YOU to Roeshel at The DIY Show Off for holding my hand and walking me through it.  She is AWESOME!

My $5 Wreath

     I was at WalMart the other day, looking through the holiday magazines for inspiration and found the idea for this wreath in Family Fun.  It really is one of my all time favorite magazines because they have such cute little creative crafts for all occasions.  So, I ran over to the Dollar Store and JoAnns and picked up a few things and went home to make my wreath.

     Now, I wish I could say it was a quick trip and I was quickly back home whipping this puppy out in a very efficient manner with the rest of the day to spare.  But, the truth is, Life happens.  Clothes need washing, food needs fixin, and at least 1 person in our house is going to need immediate assistance of some kind every single time I start to create something.  So, even though Im sure this little wreath should only take about an hour.....4 days later....I have my wreath.

Here is how I did it:

      I bought a wreath at the Dollar Store that had greenery all around it.  But I only needed the wire form underneath so I just snipped the greenery off and saved it for another craft.  Then I tied sandwhich bags (the plain fold-over-top kind, not the ziploc ones) all around it.  You just fold them in half and tie.  Super easy.  Unless you are trying to feed a cranky baby at the same time.  So....two days later....my wreath was finally covered.

     I tied two sprigs of glittery leaves on with fishing line since I wasnt sure whether or not the hot glue of my trusty glue gun would melt my lovely creation.  I figured that if it blisters my skin, Dollar Store baggies didnt stand a chance.  I was happy with the way the fishing line worked so I added a bird and some ornaments and, yes, 4 days later....my masterpiece was finally finished.

And, the best part...It was so cheap to make.  The wreath form and the sandwich bags were from the Dollar Store.  The ornaments came in a box of 27 at JoAnns and were 1/2 off of 4.99.  The bird was 1/2 off of .99 and the two sprigs of leaves were 1/2 off of .69 each.  So, I guess it is actually the $5.69 plus tax wreath.  But, still pretty cheap.