Category Archives: Gifts

Jack-O’-Lantern 2012

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well and safe.  Hurricane Sandy came and left.  I live on the border of Queens and Brooklyn.  It was pretty scary hearing the powerful winds outside and seeing the trees swaying back and forth.  In my area, we were fearful of trees falling down and power outages.  The power did go out twice, but literally for a second each time.  We’re very thankful to be safe and we hope that everyone is able to recover from this storm.

This year we really wanted to go to a pumpkin patch, but unfortunately we never made it there.  Instead, my husband came home with an artificial carvable pumpkin made by funkins (www.funkins.com) and bought at the arts and crafts store, A.C. Moore.  I didn’t know there was even such a thing!  There was no mess and this pumpkin can be used over and over.  Love it!

 

Before                             and                            After

We placed an LED light inside because the warning stated no open flame inside or near the pumpkin.

All the best and we really wish these were good times.

Stay alert, stay alive.  Until next time…

LOVING THIS…

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I received my latest Lisa Leonard Design and I love it.

I don’t like fussy jewelry.  This tiny token heart necklace on www.lisaleonardonline.com went on sale and I couldn’t resist.  I love the simplicity of it.  My next purchase is most definitely going to be the tiny twig necklace.  I have been eyeing that piece for a while now.  Maybe my hubby will get it for my birthday in December.  Hint, hint! 🙂  Check out Lisa’s designs for meaningful gift ideas.

Take care all.  Until next time…

Here’s Minnie Mouse!

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Hello everybody!   I hope you guys are well.  I wanted to share a picture of the newest member of our stuff toy family (lucky for me, she’s pretty small because that family is getting bigger by the day).

My mother, aka Grandma Rose, found this adorable Minnie Mouse at her church’s second-hand sale.  She bought it specifically for my youngest daughter and when she presented it to her, the response was priceless.  My daughter, who’s 2 years old, exclaimed, “My Minnie Mouse, thank you Grandma!” and proceeded to hug my mom.  This was the first time she had ever seen this toy, but she called it hers immediately.  I know, it’s shocking to hear a 2-year-old saying the word mine.  🙂  Her response was so unexpected and endearing.  You never know what you’re going to get or hear with a little kid, but most of the time it’s pretty funny.  Needless to say, my mother was very happy afterwards.  She was also the person who gifted my oldest daughter, who’s five now, her very first Mickey Mouse when she was two as well.  Mickey was also found at the same place and he’s still top doll in my daughter’s eyes so Grandma is pretty good with her rummaging skills and creating new friendships.

Take care all.  Until next time…

DIY Paper Gift Bows

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  Did I ever mention that I love Pinterest?  Oh I did, well I’m going to declare my love for this website (www.pinterest.com) once again because it’s ABSOLUTELY wonderful.

When I saw this pin for magazine gift bows, I thought, “Oh my gosh, I have to try this because if it works, I will never buy a gift bow again!”  Guess what?

                   

It worked!  “I am never buying another gift bow again!”

I used a magazine page, turquoise cardstock, and the instructions from the pin above to make these pretty bows.  I have to admit that I was so giddy after I made them.  I know I’m a dork, but a very happy one.  🙂  So go ahead and follow these instructions (thank you very much to whoever made them) and make a gift bow yourself.  It’ll put a smile on your face and keep your hard-earned money in your wallet (every penny counts).  You’ll be showing some talent, making a gift pretty, and recycling.  A win, win situation.  Happy bow making!

Take good care all. Until next time…

DIY matching envelopes for greeting cards

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I wanted to share this little idea I had with you.  Every time I want to send a small greeting card to a family member or friend, I 95% of the time include a picture with my message, but the accompanying envelope is usually too small to accommodate the picture, so instead what I do is make my own envelope.

I received a cool set of blank cards from my cousin and I wanted to make matching envelopes so I scanned the front of the greeting card and saved the image, opened my word document with my saved envelope template (AOL search or Google), inserted and fixed the image to fit properly in the middle, and printed it out.

All you have to do is cut out your envelope, fold and glue it up.  For this design, because it had a dark background, I inserted white rectangles, while in word document, so you can see the address part as well as the stamp.  I prefer clear address labels, but you can use white labels to make the boxes as well.  You always want the post office to be able to see your mailing information clearly.  I hope you guys like this idea.  It does have endless possibilities.

Take care all.  Until next time…

DIY fabric covered wooden letters

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Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.  I wanted to share with you my second project that I did this past Friday.

I’ve had this letter A and this pink toile fabric for a long time now.  I love this fabric so much that I decided to use it to decorate the letter A, which is my first initial.  I’ve never done this project before so I just did it my way and took pictures highlighting each step that I thought was helpful.  Basically, it’s like wrapping a present and using glue instead of tape.

Here’s what I did:

Using a ruler I outlined the letter (I didn’t trace it) on the front of the fabric because I needed more fabric for the sides and I wanted to see exactly what part was going to show.  I also used a vanishing marker.

I used my rotary cutter and mat.

This time I traced the letter on the other side of the fabric so I could know exactly where to place it down once I applied the glue to the letter.

I glued the letter down and these were my tools.  I used my x-acto knife, sharp scissors, a ruler (borrowed from my daughter :)), vanishing marker, glue, and a Q-tip (the top of my glue was broken so I used a Q-tip to apply the glue onto the front and sides of the letter).

Using my ruler, I started marking where I would cut and glue the fabric.  The process was like wrapping a gift.

As you can see in the pic above I lost some of the fabric due to the curve of the letter A so I just took a small piece of fabric and glued it onto the spot and then covered the side with the rest of the fabric already there.

Working my way around…progress.

For the little hole in the letter A, I used my x-acto knife and made a cut in the form of a cross all the way to the edge and glued the fabric.  At the bottom of the A, I used my sharp scissors and made cuts at the corners and glued the fabric as neatly as I could.  As you can see, there are some parts that are not covered.

Just take a scrap piece of fabric, make sure that it covers the area well and glue it on.  Now you’re covered!

Same process and…

…I’m done!  I love, love, love my fabric covered wooden letter.  After taking this picture so you guys can see it,  I placed it on my dresser and it looks fabulous.  I’m so happy with the result.  Now, I have a great gift idea and more arts and crafts to do for the future. 🙂

I hope you like this crafty idea.

Take care all.  Until next time…

DIY project with iron on transfer, a great picture and a tote bag

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Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.  Today I want to share with you a project that I love to make and give as a gift.  I love to add an unexpected and personal touch to a gift that actually comes from the person the gift is intended for.

For example:

My wonderful cousin, Janice, is an amateur photographer and she currently lives in Huntsville, Alabama.  Needless to say, I MISS HER GREATLY!  One day while driving, she spotted a gorgeous, enormous tree.  The sun was illuminating it perfectly.  A scene like that, you got to act fast if you want to capture it for life.  So she quickly pulled to the side of the road, got her trusty camera, and took several shots.

Ninety-five percent of the time when I receive a letter or greeting card from my cuz, there’s a picture or more inside.  Who’s the subject of the picture?  That’s the exciting part.  It’s always different.  It could be a funny picture of one of her cats, a butterfly outside her window, art displayed on the sidewalk in the city, a waterfall, horses, etc.  We love corresponding through snail mail because it’s so much more personal and it’s our special thing.  When I received a copy of her magnificent tree, it spoke volumes on how good of an eye she has and how talented she is with her camera.  This picture needed to be displayed, for her, but where?

Here’s the pic:

I love using iron on transfers, especially on t-shirts, but I wanted to use something different.  At A.C. Moore craft store, I stumbled upon cotton tote bags.  They were like blank canvases that you could decorate, but instead of hanging them on the wall, you could carry your masterpiece for all the world to see.  You could wear a t-shirt for a day, but you can carry your bag almost every day. 🙂

After scanning the picture on my printer, I inserted the pic into a word document and copy and pasted my cousin’s signature at the bottom of the pic.  This, I felt, added an extra personal touch.  I saved my project and printed it out on iron on transfer paper (tip: always remember to read the instructions on how to print your image on the transfer paper).

Once I had the image ready, I got my iron, a pillowcase, and a piece of wood that’s big enough to lay your project down.  Lay your pillowcase down on the piece of wood, iron out any wrinkles so you can have a smooth surface, and do the same for the tote bag.  Position your transfer where you want it to be and iron away.  Give it time to cool and then peel away the backing of the paper.

Here’s my project completed:

I was so happy with this bag that I almost kept it, but I didn’t because I knew it would bring so much joy to my cousin.  I filled the bag with the rest of her Christmas presents and when she received it, she was so happy and couldn’t wait to use her new tote bag.

I hope this idea inspires you to make many different and personal projects either to keep or to give.  Until next time…

Happy Birthday to my luv!

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Hello everybody!  I wanted to say a special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband.  He’s also a blogger at workoutdrinkbemerry.wordpress.com.  He LOVES working out and training in Judo (brown belt) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (blue belt), savoring different beers, wines, and liquors (and giving you his review on them), smoking a good cigar, and just being merry!  He’s my one and only and I hope all his wishes come true.  Until next time…

I gave him this six-pack beer carrier from etsy seller coldcreekbrewing…the beers weren’t included, I supplied those! 🙂  As soon as I saw this on etsy.com, I knew that he would love it.  Plus, it brings its own beer opener right on the handle!

DIY Diaper Cakes

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  Today I’m going to talk about one of my favorite baby gifts to give at a baby shower.  A long time ago, ok 2008, my sweet cousin Rosie was pregnant and expecting a boy, and I wanted to give her something cool, unique, and practical.  Enter diaper cakes!  I researched online for a unique baby gift and the diaper cake kept popping up, so I read articles and blogs in order to see what you needed to make one and how to do it yourself.  I also viewed YouTube videos and they helped out a lot with the visual aspect.  Like I said before, I don’t have a great memory, but because this project brings me so much joy in constructing it and giving it as a gift, I do remember the sheer anticipation when I tackled my first diaper cake.  I had a lot of fun!

My list of essentials in order to make a cake includes an empty wrapping paper tube (it’ll be your starting point where you begin assembling the diapers around it, once you finish the tube will be hidden), rubber bands (to wrap the individual diapers and then wrap them to the tube in place, making the towers), ribbon (to hide the rubber bands), baby toys (for decoration and added gifts), baby toiletries (for decoration and added gifts), baby blankets (roll them up and insert into diaper cake just like the diapers), clip art (optional), curling ribbon, (optional), assorted mini baby decorations such as pacifiers, safety pins, etc. found at the craft store (optional), a piece of wood or very thick cardboard (for the cake to sit on), and of course diapers!

This was the first diaper cake I made.  My family and my cousin’s friends loved it.  It looked great on the table and it was one of a kind.  This cake made everyone happy, especially the expectant parents, because diapers are one of the most important gifts one can give.

I wish that I would have taken step by step pictures but back then, that thought never occurred to me.  I’m happy that at least I took a picture of the finished project.  After that cake, I did some more but again I only took pictures of the finished project and unfortunately at this time, no one is expecting.  So until, you can always do what I did and research online.  Look at different cakes for inspiration and DIY.  This is a project with endless possibilities.

Here are pictures of all the cakes I’ve made:

This diaper cake was for my sister-in-law.  This one came out wider than the first.  I stuffed a lot of diapers, which made the top big enough to sit two stuff animals, wash cloths in the center forming the “candle or cake topper”, and letter sitters (sadly, discontinued) spelling out the baby’s nickname, A.J.  Everyone kept asking, “You made that?”  I would nod and they would say, “Amazing!” 🙂

This diaper cake was for my dear friend, Francine.  It was the tallest, widest, and heaviest cake I’ve ever made.

This was the cake topper that I chose and I thought it was the most adorable thing ever.  It was a clay baby figurine that I found at Lady Jane Craft Store.

This cake was smaller and I used the letter sitters (sadly, discontinued) to spell out bella (short for Isabella) to decorate the top.

And last but definitely not least,

my Rock and Roll Princess diaper cake, which I made for my sister-in-law’s second child.  I placed a pair of brand new black, patent Mary Janes on top as the cake topper.  For decorations, I used a princess crown, pink feather boas, and on the base I glued gingham ribbon to make the skirt for the cake to sit on.  A hit once again!!

I can say wholeheartedly that I had so much fun making each and every single diaper cake.  I hope you enjoyed looking at these pics.  Until next time…