Category Archives: crafts

Egg-celent Day!

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.

Today was the first day of my daughter’s Spring Recess and to kick it off, I decided to dye our first eggs at home.  Yes, it’s another egg story.  🙂 I took their yellow Little Tikes table to the kitchen because it’s the brightest room in the house plus the cleaning supplies are there too, just kidding, not really.  Yesterday, we purchased this kit at Target.

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I chose the Marble Magic effect.  Inside you’ll find an egg dipper and color tablets.  Instructions are on the back of the box.

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I chose to add vinegar to the tablets for a more vibrant color per the instructions.  I hard-boiled four of the eggs.  The other two were emptied out by my husband the day before.  I dissolved the tablets and got green, blue, and pink.  Then I added ½ cup of water to each.

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We dipped the eggs and my oldest daughter decided to use her M & M’s toy fan to speed up the drying process while my youngest was fascinated and kept looking into the cup.  I had to watch her closely in case she decided to take a sip.

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We dipped some of the eggs into two colors and achieved somewhat of a marble effect.  It looks more speckled to me, but the girls were happy with the results and that’s all that matters.  The Peter Rabbit egg holders were very handy.  Aren’t they adorable?

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Olivia took her markers and got even more creative.  It’s a girl holding a basket with an egg.  Love it!

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She also used glitter glue to decorate the eggs.

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Here’s the Peter Rabbit basket made out of cardstock.  It was super easy to make and absolutely adorable.  I glued the characters to the basket, but used masking tape for the basket itself.  If you want to make one for your kiddo click here http://www.nickjr.com/crafts/peter-rabbit-egg-basket.jhtml

I had a lot of fun dyeing these eggs with my daughters and we’re going to be making more because my husband was working today and missed out.  We Skyped him at his job, once we finished, so he could see the results and he was super happy to see us and our marbled/speckled eggs.  This will be my last post on eggs, I promise.  I do hope you guys enjoyed our adventure in egg land.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY Easter Decorations

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I love making my own decorations for the holidays, especially when there’s a ton of ideas online.  I’m currently decorating for Easter and found a great banner idea as well as adorable DIY paper carrots.  I combined those ideas and included some plastic eggs and created this banner for the hallway outside my door.

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You can see the instructions and printable template for the easter egg banner here http://www.creationsbykara.com/2012/03/easter-craft-easy-easter-egg-banner.html and pictures of the paper carrots here http://www2.fiskars.com/Crafting/Projects/Holiday/Easter/Easter-Egg-Hunt#.UUiNKlqMHUM

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I used card stock to print out the template for the easter egg banner.  I then used several decorative papers for the banner and used construction paper for the carrots.  To hang these up I used pink and white baker’s twine.

At nickjr.com, there’s a whole bunch of crafting projects and I made the peter rabbit holiday garland (http://www.nickjr.com/printables/peter-rabbit-holiday-garlands.jhtml) because my youngest likes Peter Rabbit.  I also printed out egg holders (http://www.nickjr.com/printables/peter-rabbit-easter-eggs.jhtml) and an egg basket (http://www.nickjr.com/crafts/peter-rabbit-egg-basket.jhtml) for when we start dyeing our easter eggs at home.  Since my daughter dyed her first eggs at school, she’s super excited to do it again.

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When I picked her up from school yesterday I brought her a basket so she could carry home her masterpiece dyed eggs.  She’s in love with them and wants to keep them forever.  🙂

There’s definitely more egg stories to come.  I’m also planning my youngest daughter’s birthday at a snail’s pace.  So far, I only have a theme, Nickelodeon’s Bubble Guppies, and I’m planning on using the free printables on nickjr.com to decorate.  Again, I’m leaving everything for the last minute, but isn’t that how it’s really done?

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Germ City and a couple of Iron On transfers

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Hello everyone!  I hope you guys are well.

As for me, I’ve been to Germ City and back.  I got sick again.  Can you believe it?  Back to back.  I don’t even think I was finished being sick the first time before the second wave hit.  It started with an itchy throat and then BAM!, my body and my head just wanted to curl up in bed and forget about the world, but I couldn’t do that because I have to take my oldest daughter to school in the morning and take care of my two-year old at home.  I will admit to you all that it brought me to tears.  Not having control of my body or the energy to fulfill my obligations as a mother really sucks.  In one moment, my two-year old looked at me and said, “Its ok.”  I love that little girl.  I’m feeling much better now with the help of my wonderful husband (he took over when he came home from work and got me meds!) and my landlady/friend (she made us soup and looked after my youngest daughter while I took my oldest to school).  My body is up and running again so enough about being sick.

Let’s talk about Iron-On transfers!  Last week, I wanted to design a bag for my mother’s upcoming birthday.  I also wanted to make my daughter a t-shirt with her latest obsession, Super Mario and friends.  I found a cool clip art on AOL search, printed it out on iron on transfer paper and ironed it on a white youth t-shirt.  I surprised her with the shirt and she absolutely loved it!

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I have to do another one for my youngest because she wasn’t happy with the fact that I didn’t make her one.  Oops!

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For my mother’s bag I took a couple of pictures of her with my daughters as well as one with them striking a princess pose, printed and ironed it onto the bag, which I bought at A.C. Moore.  These bags are awesome.  I’m going to stock up on them.  I think my mom is going to love this bag!

Let your creativity soar and make one-of-a-kind gifts for your loved ones!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY Felt Gift Bow

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I love wrapping gifts with unique wrapping paper that I either make myself, if the gift is small enough, or find at stores.  Recently, I wrapped up this gift for my god-daughter’s birthday.

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I found this polka dot wrapping paper in the dollar section at Target in Harrisburg, PA awhile back.  My god-daughter loves Minnie Mouse so I found this clip art and glued it on top and then I found a Disney inspired font and printed out her name on an address label for her card.

She’s going to love it!

I also love gift bows and after finding that DIY magazine gift bow pin on Pinterest and attempting it with great results, I thought, “Let’s try using something else to make a bow.”  HELLO FELT!  

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I’m definitely not a pro at sewing, but I do my best.  I love the final result of this bow and I used a long piece of thread so I could attach all the felt pieces together without having to cut and start again.  I only cut the thread for the last piece of felt, in which I sewed it separately and then tried to sew it on top of the bow without showing too much thread.  I wasn’t that successful, but that was my first attempt and I’m definitely making more of these bows so hopefully practice makes perfect.  I’m going to add a little bit of glue so it’ll stay on the gift, but hopefully still come off intact.  The gift above is my husband’s Valentine’s Day gift 🙂 wrapped up in another gorgeous print found at Target’s dollar section.  I can’t wait to show you what I got him.  It’s too freaking cute!  I also can’t wait to do more of these gift bows in different felt colors and designs.  Happy gift wrapping and bow making!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY Valentine Cards

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I love sending mail to my family and friends.  It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I’m going to be sending out valentines along with a couple of pictures of my daughters to them all.  I could always go to Target and buy a set of valentines, but where’s the fun in that?  Here’s what I came up with this year for my own Valentine cards:

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Using Microsoft Word, I made a quick design with a heart and our well wishes for Valentine’s Day.

I made four to a page and printed it out on white cardstock.

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Then using Anita’s All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint in True Red and a little bit of water mixed in, I painted the hearts and let it dry.  Then I outlined the hearts with studio g Glitter Glue (I couldn’t find the name of the color but it’s sort of yellow/gold).

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I cut out the cards using my trusty cricut paper-cutter.  It makes things so much easier and neater.

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Here are my valentines!  Ready to be accompanied by a picture and shipped off to my loved ones.

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This craft project was quick and I can’t wait to ship them out.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY VALENTINE DECORATIONS

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I love decorating for Valentine’s Day especially for my girls.  They love seeing all the hearts and pastel colors sprucing up our home.

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Using my heart puncher, I like taping hearts in various places like my china cabinet, the TV unit, the door, etc.  My daughters always seem to find all the little decorations I put up.  It’s like a game for them and I love seeing their smiles when they discover hearts here and there.

I love decorating with banners and I made these two last year using felt and my heart puncher.

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I purchased purple, hot pink, light, pink, and glitter red felt in order to do my banners.

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I cut out the triangles (freehand) and then sewed them together right at the corner.  For the heart banner, the glitter red felt was a bit thicker and I was able to punch out hearts and string them together.

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I put the pennant banner outside my doorway with this cute little guy declaring his love for you!

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I decorated my picture shelf in my living room with the heart banner.  I want to make a couple more and overlap them, but I ran out of the glitter red felt so it’s off to the craft store.  Yippee!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY IRON ON TRANSFER T-SHIRT

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  My heart is still quite heavy regarding the tragedy that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut.  I’m a mother of a kindergartener.  I don’t know what I would do.  I do wish everyone love, support, patience, and peace.

I wanted to share with you something that I’ve done as a gift for my father for years now.  The other day he wore a shirt that I had personalized for him using iron on transfer paper and fabric markers.  I made that shirt a looooong time ago and I was so surprised to see that he still had it and that it still looked great.  My mom mentioned to me that he loves wearing the shirts that I make for him, especially the ones with his grand-daughter’s pictures.  She said, “those are his favorite because he gets to show everyone his grandkids!”  Love it!

Here’s my process:

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I purchased my iron on transfers and t-shirt at A.C. Moore.  The shirt was on sale for $2.99 and with a store coupon, I was able to get the transfers for half off.

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Choose and print out your picture.  For this particular brand, I had to print my image as a REVERSE IMAGE.

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You’ll need an iron and I use this piece of wood, specifically for my t-shirts so I just store it away when I’m done, along with a pillowcase.  I place the pillowcase on top of the wood so I can have a hard but smooth surface.  I always do the transfers on the floor so I can press down on the iron.

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Cut out your design or image and place it on your t-shirt right side up so you can see exactly how it’s going to look.

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Flip over the paper and center it once again.  I usually like to place the image one finger long down from the neck.

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PrintWorks instructions: “Iron transfer with firm pressure in a straight, non-stop motion top to bottom and side to side.  Keep iron moving at all times to prevent scorching.”  Make sure your corners are ironed down.

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Let your t-shirt cool off completely (this part is hard for me because I’m so impatient).  Then carefully peel away the transfer’s backing.

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I LOVE IT and I hope my dad loves it too.

I hope you guys enjoy this gift and crafting idea.

Take good care.

Until next time…

DIY Thanksgiving banner

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  Here’s a DIY Thanksgiving banner that I came up with.

I used Microsoft Word, a leaf template, cardstock, a wide Thanksgiving print ribbon, and paper clips to make my banner.

A simple, but meaningful banner.

I affixed the leaves onto the ribbon using the paper clips and the ribbon is held by blue painter’s tape, which I love to use because it holds things up and doesn’t damage surfaces.  I hope you like this idea.

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

DIY: MEET OUR TURKEY

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  Remember our Halloween door monster.  If you don’t, then here’s a reminder:

I wanted to continue this door decoration idea right into Thanksgiving so our adorable monster has had a major transformation.

Meet Gobble Gobble Mercado!

I think I love him more than my daughters do.  Oh well, he’s simply adorable and I had a blast doing this.  I kept the eyes from the monster and printed out the hat, beak and feet.  I used party streamer paper and found two red strings for the wattle.  I hope this turkey brought a smile to your face.

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

DIY – Updating Snowman Family Wood Plaque

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I recently updated a family wood plaque that was given to me as a gift when my first daughter was born.  My sweet cousin, Janice, sent me a hand painted, personalized snowman family wood plaque for Christmas 2007.  I absolutely love personalized gifts and more so when it has our family name.  After I had my second child, in 2010, I would often look at the plaque during Christmas and think, “Sophia is missing.”   I let a couple of years pass without doing anything simply because I was scared of messing up the plaque.  I got over that fear a few days ago.

This is the BEFORE picture.

I made an outline of the fourth little snow kid with pencil, in case I needed to erase.

Got my paint, which I need to buy a new one ‘cause this sucker is old, and brush.

First coat of paint

I wanted to emulate the original work so I painted that blue outline first using a toothpick and then a fine tipped brush once it dried.

Added the scarf and branch/hand with snowball

Using markers I added the eyes, nose, smile, and
name.

Final touch was the year, in which she was born, but I didn’t have a white marker and I wasn’t going to attempt to write it with paint.  I just used a black marker and my snowman family is complete!

I know that it’s not as great as the original artist, but I’m pretty happy with my touch because Sophia is not missing anymore.  I can’t wait to put it up for Christmas.

Take care all.  Until next time…