Graduation 2013

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May 232013

Graduation time is fast approaching for everyone. Do you have a graduate in your home? Are you trying to plan a party? Or do you need to find a great gift for any graduate. I’ve compiled a few of my favorite graduation party ideas and gift ideas.

Graduation Party Planning

When I do any party planning I like to have a few things that are fun and unique to my party. This does not mean I spend a ton of money or a ton of time planning or setting up for my party. I look for fun ideas that are reasonable. For High School and College Graduations it is very easy to dig out old photos of the graduate to show off how he or she have grown. What can set you apart from others is how you display those old photos.

Of course all of these ideas are going to depend on what kind of space you have and if the party will be held indoor or outdoor. My first photo display is VERY simple. Pick up from your local craft store cloths pins and cord. The cord can be any color and you want to look for medium wait. Hemp works great as well as bakers twine and jute. You find a place in the main room that you want your pictures on display. Take the ends of the cord and string them up. You can tie the ends to something to make sure it stays up for the entire party. You then pull out your clothes pins and hang your photos. You can do more than one clothes line of photos if you want. You can also hang them in different places in the room or house. The hardest part of this project is picking your favorite photos.

A second idea to display photos is to scrapbook your photos. This can take a while depending how many years of photos you want to scrapbook and how detailed you are with your scrapbook. To do a scrapbook you need to get a scrapbook and refill pages. You will need to decide on what size of album you want, 8×8 or 12 x 12. Then you will need paper, acid free double sided tape or acid free glue dots to hold your pictures to the paper. Embellishments if you desire, this can be stickers, cut outs from magazines, cut outs using a cricut machine, sports momentous, the list is endless. This project can be costly depending how much you put into it.

Third option to display photos is to take flower pots or buckets and fill them with dirt, peanuts, candy, rocks, whatever yo

u want and attach photos to Popsicle sticks. You can get very creative with this and decorate the pot or bucket with paint, stickers or other school momentous and ribbons or you could keep it very simple and leave them unfinished. You can paint the Popsicle sticks if you would like or purchase colored ones from your local craft store. I would attach a photo to each side of the Popsicle stick so no mater which way someone is looking at it they see a photo. Again the most difficult step in this one will be picking your favorite photos.

Food Ideas

I have two simple food ideas to share that I found online and thought they would be fun to make. The first one is made with a variety of fruit. Depending what is in season or what kind of fruit you and your family like to eat this is what I would purchase. In the photo I’ve attached you can see what was selected and how it is displayed. The trick to make this work is to get containers that will hold your fruit and will not fall if and when someone removes some or bumps the table. You can build this as high or as wide as you want. I really liked the idea of using the green tops of the pineapple as part of the decoration around the fruit display. It looks like this helps keep the fruit from rolling off in places as well. Remember to use plastic as much as possible so your favorite glass piece does not get broken when fruit is removed. You can also find a fun fruit dip that you can put in a bowl to the side for dipping as another fun option.

Who would not want to eat these delicious looking diploma’s? They are cute and supper easy to make. Purchase a package of hostess HoHo’s and “wrap” them with a ribbon. You want to select the color of the graduates school. If you want everything to be edible then you could use frosting to tie the ribbon again using the graduates school color. It’s cute, easy to make and tastes great. The stars that are in the photo could be cardboard cut outs or you again if you want everything to be edible you can make sugar cookies and frost them or leave the unfrosted.

Gift Ideas

I have two gift ideas that are related but a fun twist on giving money to the graduate. Yes we have all seen and given the stand by money card or a gift card. Yes I like to give money because I know how expensive college life can be. It seems every graduate needs dorm room supplies, food, or just necessities. I found these two fun ideas on pinterest this last week. The first option is to take dollar bills in ay denomination and put them into an empty bottle. You can decorate the bottle with scrapbook paper or construction paper again in the graduates school colors. Then take curling gift ribbon and tie it around the top to add a little extra decoration. You now have a fun way to give money that your sure your grad will not get from someone else.

Option two to give money is to purchase a document frame. Document frames come in a variety of styles depending how fancy you want it to be. Your frame does not need to be super fancy as the money inside is going to be the real gift. Take a piece of copy paper and decorate it as little or as much as you want. In this photo there is a border around the outside and the bills are attached in the middle. Don’t use a permanent adhesive to attach the bills. Make sure to use a low tack tape or glue dot. You could use stickers to write the saying “In an emergency break the glass” or hand write it. I personally do not like my handwriting so I like to use stickers or use my cricut machine to cut out the letters for this. You could be really funny and purchase a toy hammer to go with it or small real hammer. You can stack the bills on tip of each other in the frame or just a couple of single bills. Again it depends how much money you want to give. I like to stack some bills on top of each other so the grad does not know the true amount of the gift until he or she opens the frame to use the money. This way you can give more than what they think they received.

Happy Graduation to all 2013 Grads!

Baby Shower Gift Idea

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May 152013

I was invited to another baby shower recently and was trying to find the perfect gift for Sarah and her future bundle of joy. Sarah is very crafty and is always making cute things for everyone. One night I found this great idea on www.pinterest.com, a Diaper Wreath. I know you’ve all seen the many different diaper cakes that have been made over the years but I thought this was a great new twist. I am going to explain how to make three different styles of diaper wreaths in this blog. Of course if you do any research you always find many other ideas and ways to make them as well.

Supplies Needed:

Large wire wreath form or large foam wreath form
Diapers (I like to use size 2 or 3)
Hot glue gun
Ribbon (You pick the color or how many different colors you use)
Toys & or spoons, pacifiers, stuffed animals, shoes, bibs, etc.
Large bow
Pipe cleaners
Sticker letters for the baby’s name (I like to use chipboard letters), You can also use wooden letters. See 2nd display for wooden letter option.

Baby Boy Diaper Wreath

This diaper wreath is the first one I found on pinterest and knew right away I had to make one of these. I looked at the photo and figured out the supplies I would need and made my purchases. See above guide for supplies. Remember you can add as little or as much to your wreath as you want.

I took my foam wreath form and my hot glue gun and started to glue diapers to the wreath. As pictured in the photo I glued the diapers flat. This way I did not use very many diapers and was able to give the remainder of the pack to Sara to use once her son was big enough.

After the diapers were attached I started to attach the items I had purchased, rattle, spoons, pacifiers, teething rings etc. I used pipe cleaners to attach the items to the wreath form. This way they were decorative but effective. You could also tie your items to the wreath form with ribbon. The reason I like to use pipe cleaners is then I have a covered wire that I can pull as tight as I need to and just twist. I don’t ever have to worry about not getting the not tight enough or too loose.

My final touch was to make a large bow at the top. The color of ribbon is up to you. I recommend a ribbon with wire so the bow will hold it’s shape. When I make my bows I usually do not add the tales until the end so I can get them the right length. I attach the tails to the bow again using my pipe cleaners. I attach the bow to the wreath form again with a pipe cleaner. Sara did not share what she was going to name her son so I took my chip board letters and put baby on one tail and boy on the second tail. What you put on the tails if anything is completely up to you the creator.

Andrew Diaper Wreath

You take very thin ribbon in blue and green and tie a piece around each diaper. You do not need tie this very tightly just enough to make the bottom of the diaper a bit smaller than the top part of the diaper. Once you have enough diapers to put around your wreath form you can hot glue the diapers to the wreath form. I like to keep my excess tie end to the back of the diaper so it does not show on the front. After the diapers are secured to the form you attach the extra items. Again you have endless options to pick from, rattles, pacifiers, socks, teething rings, shoes, stuffed animals, small lotions and soaps. Anything that baby needs is a wonderful addition to this adorable wreath. This bow pictured is super simple for people like me who are not very good at making bows. Again you purchase a variety of ribbons. Pictured here is three different types of ribbon, green polka dot, blue polka dot and white with a baby print. You take about 8 inches of each ribbon until you run out. Fold all the ribbon in half and take a rubber band at the fold of the ribbon and tighten the band until you cant tighten it any further. This way all your tales hang loose like pictured. Grab another pipe cleaner attach it through the rubber band and attach the bow to the wreath. You now have a cute whimsical bow for your wreath. Lastly you attach your wooden letters using your glue gun. These letters can be purchased at a local craft store. These letters have been painted blue. You can paint them any color and add polka dots, stripes or any design you want to them. You can also leave them unfinished if you desire.

Yellow Diaper Wreath

My final wreath idea to show you is the easiest one of all. Anyone can do this one even the least crafty person. You take your wire wreath form take a diaper and put the diaper on the wreath. You then take curling ribbon and tie it around the diaper to secure it to the wreath form. You continue this over and over until the entire wreath is covered. In this photo they took a plastic pant hanger and hung the wire wreath form on the hanger and attached a sign saying Welcome Baby. The sign was made with using a cricut machine. The final step in this photo is to place a suction cup on the window of the door and hang the hanger on the hook of the suction cup. You now have the easiest diaper wreath I have ever seen. This one of course is made with all yellow, you can always change the color based upon the sex of the baby or the mothers choice. You also have the option to add baby items if you so desire as in the above options.

Mothers Day 2013

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May 082013

Wow, has the year flown by so far! It’s May again and Mother’s day is Sunday. Being a mom of two I always love anything my kids make for me, well almost anything. Here are a few ideas that your kids can do on their own, dads can help or you can make for your mom.

Stepping Stones

Stepping stones can be a gift that is made every year to show how much your child has grown. If you have young children footprints work great and as they grow up hand prints and their name are adorable. I love to see how my kids have grown through the years and what shape of stone they pick out to make. My mom and mother in law love the stones they have received from the kids and cherish this special gift.

You have multiple options to make a stepping stone. You can go to your local craft store and buy a kit.

Kits include the following materials:

Plastic shape (this will be the shape of the stone when it is dry
Bag of cement (you follow the directions and just add water and stir)
Stones or letters to stamp out your child’s name or make a design with the stone
You will need a stick and bucket to stir the cement

This time of year most craft stores have their stepping stone kits on sale for around $12.99 or less depending on the size of th

e stone. Kits normally run around $20 full price. For a first time user I recommend the kits due to the ease that it comes with everything and you just follow the directions that come with the kit. It will take time to dry so allow for this when you are making your gift.

Make your own stepping stone:

Cement mix
A stick to stir with and bucket
Stepping stone mold
Decorations for your stone, like marbles, rocks, pictures etc.

Once you have your supplies, mix the cement mix in an old container or one that you do not intend to reuse. Mix per the directions on the package. Pour the cement into your mold. You could have chosen a small, medium or large mold. Check out the above to find all the options available to you. Let the cement set for a while and lightly shake it to get all the air bubble out. I was told to place the mold on to

p of your wash machine on an empty spin cycle twice and all air bubble would work their way out. I’ve never tried this but it sounds like a great idea. I just shake mine back and forth a few times and I’ve never had an issue getting the bubbles out. Once the cement has started to dry you can start to place your stones, marbles, pictures or whatever you have decided to put on your stepping stone. If water starts to pool you can dab it with a paper towel. If too much water pools then you may need to drain some of the extra water off your mold. After you have followed the above steps you need to let your mold set in a cool dry place so it can fully harden. After it’s dried you have a perfect gift.

T-Shirt/Apron Craft

Another fun mother’s day gift idea is to go to your local craft store pick up any color of t-shirt and fabric paint to make your very own one of a kind t-shirt. Or pick up a plain apron. You have so many options on what you could put on the shirt or apron. Your child could do hand prints and make them in a shape of heart. Use hand prints for flower tops and then you paint on the stems. Write your child’s name or a special saying. The list is endless on what you could do. Make sure to place a piece of card board or a t-shirt cut out shape in the shirt or apron before you start. The paint can bleed through if you do not do this.

I like to use puffy paint for my t-shirts because it comes in a bottle that you can write with if you want to. When I’m doing hand prints I squirt some puffy paint onto a foam plate and let my child dip away. You can purchase puffy paint in individual colors or in a variety pack, depending on how many different colors you want to use. The question I am asked most frequently is how long will this take to dry. Their are many variables that will affect dry time. First how thick the puffy paint is, you want to place the final project in a dry area with even temperatures. If you put the paint on too thick you do run the risk of the paint cracking. I know it is hard to imagine this but I try to use a medium amount of paint as I’m making my design. This way the entire shirt/apron looks the same. I will add another layer after the first one dries if I feel the shirt/apron needs more dimension.

Have a very Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mom’s out there. I hope your day is very special!

Review of Cricut Machine

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Apr 252013

I started scrapbooking 9 years ago after I got married. My sister convinced me to scrapbook my wedding photos. I had a lot of fun doing it and became addicted. By the time I finished our wedding and honeymoon photos our first child was born and so the scrapbook craze really kicked in. I started to use stickers and pictures off the internet, die cuts and 3-D shapes to enhance my photos. About five years ago I invested in the first cricut machine.

Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter is pronounced like the bug, cricut and is manufactured by provo craft. A cricut cutter is a machine that cuts out designs and alphabets for card making, scrapbooking, and paper crafting. The Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter comes with the George and Basic Shapes cartridge and mat to get you started. This machine can cut images up to 5.5 inches. Other cricut machines can cut larger images and comes with different cricut cartridges. You can also purchase additional cricut cartridges from local retailers or the cricut website.

Working at a craft store everyone assumes that I am always crafty and know how to do every craft. Yes because I work at a craft store I know a lot about crafts and how to do a lot of different ones but I am just like you and have to teach myself. Before I purchased my cricut machine I had read a lot about them and had talked to lots of scrapbookers. During one crazy Thanksgiving event I broke down and purchased my machine. I finally had time to use it after the crazy holiday season. I unwrapped the plastic, took out the manual and started reading as I “played” with my new toy. I will stress “PLAY” with my new toy again. I have found that by trying to do different designs I had to learn to make it right through trial and error.

For example depending on what kind of paper you use you will need to adjust the blade depth and speed before you cut out your design. Also depending on the size of your design you will need to adjust the speed and thickness of paper. I have found that real intricate designs are more difficult to get clean cuts on if the size is really small. Always make sure your paper is stuck down properly to your cricut mat otherwise the paper will slide and the blade will cut your mat not the paper. When your mat is too used to keep your paper stuck down it is time for a new mat. You can purchase them for $9.99 for 2 of the 6″ x 12″ mats. I suggest rotating your mat so you can wear it out evenly as well so you do not have to replace them before they are truly worn out.

I have had people tell me that they will ‘treat’ their cricut mats with a spray adhesive so they do not need to buy another mat. I do know that if you do this the warranty on your machine will be void from provo craft the manufacturer as this causes a residue to be left behind in your machine. I do not recommend you do the above step. However if you want to try it, do so at your own risk.

When I am scrapbooking with the letters and designs that I have cut out with my cricut machine I use a variety of different glues to secure them in my albums. I like to use tape runners by therm o web. You can purchase refills for them and they work great. I have also used a variety of glue dots. I like the brand glue dots. Glue dots come in different sizes of circles or strips. This way you have a larger variety to select from.

Get Your Wine on Part Four

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Apr 172013

Wine bottle lights

After visiting the winery last fall my mind is still running with all the fun craft ideas you can do with wine bottles, wine glasses, decorating for wine parties and so much more. I’ve been searching for fun ideas to make wine bottle lights. I was a bit overwhelmed with all the different sites available and how many you can buy pre made. I of course want to be crafty and like to make things myself. I found this website and got a lot of cool ideas. Check it out and see were it leads you. http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=all&includes[0]=tags&page=1&q=wine+bottle+lights&ref=related

Supplies Needed:

Glass wine bottle or bear bottle with cork or lid
Drill and 1/2″ glass drill bit
Safety glasses and gloves
Electrical tape
Masking Tape
25 to 50 strand lights (depending on size of bottle you have)
Stickers or picture to put on outside of bottle (optional)

I started with my practice bottles since I was not sure how this was going to turn out. I removed the label off the bottle by fist soaking it in warm water for about 10 minutes. Any sticky glue that was left behind I used wd-40 to remove it. Thankfully at my house we have an assortment of tools available so I had a drill and a 1/2″ glass drill bit. This made my project much cheaper since I did not need to buy these supplies. If you do not have a drill try to borrow one from a friend or family member to help keep the cost down.

I took my first practice bottle and inspected it. If the bottle has any imperfections in it, the bottle could crack or break when you drill your hole. Be sure to wear your safety glasses and gloves in case the bottle does break. I took a piece of masking tape to mark the place on the bottle I wanted to drill my hole. This also helps so your drill bit will not slip on the bottle.

Once your hole is drilled wash the bottle to remove any glass fragments. After the bottle is dried it’s time to add the lights. Take the string of lights and start inserting them into the bottle. Insert the end without the plug first. Once you are close to the end of the string leave one light bulb outside of the hole. Take a small piece of electrical tape and tape the cord to the outside of the bottle so it does not slip out. Turn the bottle upside down so the lights move to the top of the bottle. Again take a small piece of electrical tape and attach it inside of the bottle to hold the strand of lights to the top. Once the tape is in place add your cork or lid to the top of the bottle.

You have two options at this stage you can be done and have a very nice accent piece for your next wine party or a great gift. Option two is you can attach a picture, stickers, your favorite quote or poem to the outside of the bottle. Mod Podge is one of my most favorite products and it works great. You can mod podge anything to anything. For one of my lights I mod podge a silly photo of my friend and I from one of our wine parties. Of course I had to give her this bottle so she could enjoy it as much as I did. I also like to print out poems and mod podge it onto to bottle and will use some decorative stickers to add some extra bling to it as well. The beauty with this project is you can do a lot or a little to the bottle itself. Have fun crafting!