Christmas Ornament Storage Idea

For the most part, I don't use a lot of Martha Stewart's ideas.  I think she's a very creative woman with lovely projects, but I just don't have much need for a fancy centerpiece when our table is usually set with mismatched cups and plastic plates.  However, when I came across this idea for ornament storage on Pinterest, I knew that it was a Martha Stewart tip I would actually use.  Before I took down our Christmas tree the other day, I got my supplies ready.

Check it out...

Pretty smart, isn't it?  I already had the large storage box, but the flimsy little cardboard dividers it came with were pretty much worthless.  I just cut two pieces the same size as the storage bin from a large cardboard box, then hot glued on some plastic cups.  As I took the ornaments off the tree, I put them into the plastic cups, filled up one layer, then added the second piece of cardboard and cups!

Thanks, Martha, for this smart and easy solution.  (Now if only she had some tips for vacuuming up all the pine needles that flew everywhere as I tried to carry the undecorated tree out of the house!)

Melted Snowman Bottled Water Labels (with free printable)

Need a quick and easy idea for drinks for your kids' classroom party?  Maybe you're having a party at your house this winter and want something cute and simple?  Do you wait till the last minute, but still want something fun?  

Check out how I added a little extra cheer to some regular bottled water...

So cute and super quick and easy.  I made up little labels that I could cut out and stick on the water bottles using regular clear packing tape.  I opted for this method over printing directly on regular sticky labels for a couple reasons.  One, I can never figure out how to get my images the right size to align properly on the labels.  They're always too big, too small or running off one side.  The other, more practical reason, is by using packing tape over the label, I avoid the chance of the ink running and the image being ruined by a drip of water.  I wouldn't put these bottles in a cooler full of ice, but the image should be fine if just a little water spills on it.

All you have to do is pick up a case of water, print out three sheets of the labels on regular printer paper (there's 8 on each sheet), cut them out, and stick them on!  Quick, cheap, easy and you probably have everything you need at home.

Here's a printable of the labels.  (I think I have it set up correctly so if you just click on the image below, you'll have the printable PDF, but let me know if you run into any problems.)

Sharing at:

The Frugal Girls 
Tatertots & Jello

Faux Gingerbread Houses

With three kids, I've had many attempts at Gingerbread Houses over the years.  They love the idea of making a house out of cookies and candy, but every year we end up being disappointed by the final results.  We can never get the royal icing to actually hold the walls and roof together so the whole house ends up being lopsided, if we were even lucky enough to get it to stand up at all.  Then, that same darn royal icing ends up dripping and glopping all over the place when we try to attach the candy pieces.  If they don't get too frustrated, they do enjoy the process, but I knew I wanted to come up with a better idea for this year.

Check out our houses...

 

Don't they look cute?  They look like real gingerbread houses and they even SMELL like real gingerbread houses.  We got to plan our designs and choose fun candies to put on them.  They even have what looks like royal icing on them as decoration  ~ but we didn't have to deal with the real thing.  Best part, the girls and I had an awesome time making them.  (My son opted to let me make his while he watched his usual Sunday afternoon of football!)

Now, do you want to see what made this project so easy?  Check out what we used as our house forms...

 

That's right!  Our cute gingerbread houses started out as some unfinished birdhouses from the craft store.  

I realized that every year,  we enjoyed the process ~ designing, working with candy, snacking on some of the candies and seeing our finished houses ~ but we really never ended up actually EATING our finished, lopsided, drippy houses.  I figured, why not make an inedible house and save ourselves some of the hassle.  To add a little extra bit of fun, we scented our paint with some cinnamon so our houses actually have a slight gingerbread smell (and it really smelled awesome while we were painting them.)  For the royal icing look, we made some microwave puffy paint and to attach the candies we just used hot glue.

Here's what you'll need:

• unfinished wooden birdhouses (less than $5 a piece if you use a coupon at the craft store)
• brown acrylic paint 
• cinnamon
• paint brushes
• 1 cup of flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder (not baking soda!)
• 4 tsp. salt
• water 
• squirt bottles (we used the Wilton ones, but any squirt bottles should work)
• assorted candies (we used lots of non-chocolate candies ~ chewy Sweet tarts, gumballs, candy canes, peppermints, Mike & Ikes, etc)
• hot glue gun

Here's what to do...

The first step is to paint your houses.  We poured some brown paint into a small container and then added cinnamon for the fun scent.  Mix it together, adding some water as necessary to get the right consistency.  You'll want it a bit thicker than regular paint, but still spreadable.  Once you have your scented paint mixed up, paint away.

 

The houses looked nice and realistic and it smelled AWESOME while we were painting!

For the next step, you'll want to mix up some microwave puffy paint.  We've done this several times, but I've never posted about it.  It's really simple though.

In a bowl, mix together 1 cup of flour, 4 tsp of baking powder, and 4 tsp of salt (you can half or double the recipe if you need more or less ~ this was plenty for 3 gingerbread houses).  Next, gradually add water and stir until you have a mixture with a consistency of a thick pancake batter.  You want it squeezable but not too runny.  Put the batter in a squeeze bottle and start adding the icing details.  Now here's the cool part, after you add a few details (we did one side/section at a time), pop the house in the microwave for about 45 seconds.  The "paint" will puff up and dry instantly.  Now, you'll have a hardened icing look in just seconds. 
 (NOTE:  when we used the puffy paint on paper, we just microwaved it for about 30 seconds, on the houses, it seemed to take a bit longer about 45-60 seconds.  You'll want to start at about 30 seconds, see if your paint is setting up, then add time as needed.)

Once you have all your icing details in place, it's time to add the candies!  I allowed my 10-year old to handle her own hot gluing, but I did the gluing for my 7 year old (she gave me very precise directions on which candies went where!).

That's it!  We really had a fun time and the girls were so proud of their finished houses.  They still have a slight gingerbread smell and they look really cute.  I'm sure you could eliminate the cinnamon scent, but I figured since we had to paint them anyway, it was a fun little addition.  You could also try another type of  3-dimensional white paint for the icing details, but we loved the quick drying aspect of the puffy paint (and it really does look like icing!)

Oh, and we still got the fun of eating some of the extra candies too!

Here's one last look at a finished house...

Sharing our fun project at:
 Craft-O-Maniac
Brassy Apple 
Skip to My Lou 
Frugal Girls

Fireworks T-shirts

I can't remember in what magazine or book I originally saw how to make these cute fireworks shirts, but I first made them when my youngest was just a toddler.  Now, nearly 5 years later, we decided to make some more fireworks shirts for the Fourth of July!

Don't they look a lot like real fireworks?

They were really simple to make and the kids had a blast (pun intended).

Here's how we made them...

1.  Gather your supplies ~ plain t-shirts, fabric paint in spray bottles and puffy fabric paint.  (You'll also want a piece of cardboard or several sheets of newspaper to put inside your t-shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through and something to cover your work surface with.)

NOTE: I happened to pick up the Fabric Spray Paint with a coupon at the craft store.  However, last time I just watered down regular fabric paint and put it in my own spray bottle  (about 2 parts paint to 1 part water) and it worked just as well.


2.  Spray several bursts of color on the front of your shirt. This will be the bases for your fireworks.

 3.  Next, use the puffy paint to add the lines of color radiating out from each firework.  In some spots, the puffy paint came out a little too fast, so we just used a toothpick to spread it out a bit.

4.  Next, I used some of the gold glitter puffy paint to add just a little more sparkle to each burst!

5.  We waited a little bit for the paint to dry, then did the same thing on the backs of our shirts.  Let it dry all the way and we were ready to go!

Now, I know this post is a little last minute to get ready for the 4th of July, but as I said before, I'm a last minute kind of girl.  We really had fun with it though, so hopefully you can make a quick run to the craft store for supplies and make some tomorrow before you go to see the fireworks.    Otherwise, just  "pin" it for next year! ;)

Sharing our fireworks at:

Craft-O-Maniac 

Elf on the Shelf Ideas ~ Week 2

The fun with our Elf is continuing...  (see his antics earlier this month)

Day 11 ~ He put up our Christmas wreath on the door

and then kept watch over the front yard.

Day 12 ~ He made a batch of 
yummy Christmas tree cookies for 

the kids to take to school.

Day 13 ~ Going for a joy ride in the playroom!

Day 14 ~ The kids were surprised to find him in the fridge next to Mommy's coffee cream!

Day 15 ~ The Elf left us the ingredients and directions to make some yummy Christmas Tree desserts.

Busy decorating...

... and then busy enjoying their desserts!

. 

Day 16 ~ The kids thought this was hysterical!

(Mommy thinks it's good there's only 9 days until Christmas

if the elf has resorted to cross-dressing ;)  )

Hope your elves are having fun too!

Make sure to check out 

our Elf Ideas party for even more inspiration.

Elf on the Shelf Ideas ~ Week One

Last week, I shared our fun  

Elf on the Shelf Breakfast 

that our Elf planned for us to start 

the month of December.  

Here's what he's been up to since December 1st...

 Day 2 ~ Caught in the corner of the living room making Q-tip snowflakes.

 Day 3 ~ Found sitting on the shelf in my son's room.

 Day 4 ~ Sneaking chocolate chips in the pantry.

 Day 5 ~ Left us a message on our dry erase calendar

 Day 6 ~ He switched our shower curtain to our Winter Snowflake one,

then took a shower himself.

 Day 7 ~ Taking a little break for an Elf mani/pedi 

in the girls' room.

Day 8 ~ He left us a cute 

Candycane Garden Planting Kit.

Day 9 ~ Unfortunately, he could only leave us a note and no special candy canes grew :(

Day 10 ~ Luckily the next day was better 

and some M&M-filled candy canes 

grew in the Candycane Garden.

The fun continued the following week ~ check it out HERE!

Have your elves been having fun?

Make sure to visit our Elf on the Shelf Idea party for some North Pole inspiration.

Footprint Penguin Wall Hanging

 I originally shared this idea as part of the Christmas Wonderful series at Design Dazzle, and now I'm excited to share it here with you in time for the holidays.

How cute is this group of penguins in their little hats and scarves?  Doesn't the shape of their bodies look familiar?  That's right, they're footprints!  I made this adorable canvas wall hanging for the grandparents last year using the footprints of all the grandchildren.

The project was pretty inexpensive and not too difficult to make at all, but even more importantly, the grandparents loved it! 

Here's what you'll need:

• plain artist's canvas ( I had a lot of footprints, so I used a 12" x 24" one)
• two pieces of blue cotton fabric for the background (mine had small prints that somewhat resembled the snow and sky)
• black cotton fabric for the footprints (mine had a subtle dot pattern)
• scraps of fleece or felt for the penguin accessories
• Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive 
• acrylic paint for the eyes
• snowflake buttons (optional)
• iron and hot glue gun

Here's what to do:

1.  Iron the Heat'n Bond to the wrong side of the blue fabrics.  Overlap the two fabrics slightly to form the "ground" and the "sky".  (I cut a slightly wavy line where the two colors met.)  Cut your fabric a few inches larger than the size of your canvas.  Peel off the paper backing and iron your pieces directly to the front of the canvas.  Wrap the excess fabric around the sides to the back and hot glue in place.

2.  Next, iron the Heat'n Bond to the wrong side of the black fabric. Then trace the child's footprint onto the paper-y side.  Cut out the footprints.  (For an example of how this is done, see a similar post I did with Footprint Butterflies).  Peel off the paper backing again, position your footprints where you want them on the canvas and iron them in place.

3.  Now you'll want to add your penguins' clothing!  I simply cut out pieces of leftover fleece to make little hats and scarves and hot glued them in place.  Then I cut ovals out of white fleece and hot glued them on to form the penguins bellies.

.

4.  Finally, use a bit of acrylic paint to paint on your penguins' eyes  (I initially planned on using googly eyes, but I liked the look of the painted eyes much better!) and add little triangle noses ( I just glue on a small triangle of orange paper)  I also added a few snowflake buttons in the "sky".

.

5.  That's it!  Whether you're making just one penguin or a whole waddle (yes, I looked up the term for a group of penguins!), this is a really cute way to use footprints to create some winter art.

I hope you enjoyed our little project (the grandparents loved them last year).  

Sharing our "Happy Feet" at:

 
The Mommy Club 
Somewhat Simple 
Created by Cori 
Gluesticks 
Tatertots and jello 
Family Ever After 
Red Ted Art 
Six Sisters' Stuff 
Be Different, Act Normal
I heart Nap Time 
C.R.A.F.T. 
The Girl Creative 
Keeping it Simple 
Under the Table and Dreaming 
Brassy Apple 
Skip to My Lou 
Today's Creative Blog 
The Frugal Girls 

Easy Christmas Tree Shirts

Last year, the kids and I made these 

cute Christmas Tree shirts.  

As with most of the stuff we do, 

they were easy and inexpensive.  

Plus, the kids had fun making them 

and they turned out pretty cute too!

 

Here's what you need:

• plain red shirt ( I like using the inexpensive t-shirts from the craft stores for our seasonal shirts)
• some green, brown and yellow cotton fabrics (scraps are fine, as long as the green piece at least 6-8" big)
• iron on adhesive ( I usually use Heat n Bond Ultra Hold )
• yellow and white fabric paint
• q-tips

Here's what to do:  

1.  Iron your adhesive to the wrong side of your green fabric.

2.  Cut out a triangle shape for your tree.  The size will depend on the size of your shirt.  You'll want it a little bit smaller than you'll want your finished tree.  (I used pinking sheers to cut mine for the pine needle effect, but you can use regular scissors too!).  Next, draw a few diagonal lines on on the tree and number each smaller shape.

(Please ignore the nasty looking ironing board cover,
I really only use my iron for craft stuff!)

3.  Next cut apart the smaller triangles, reassemble your tree on your shirt leaving a small space (about 1/2") between each triangle piece.  Do NOT peel off the paper backing yet and use those numbers as a guide so you know which piece goes where.  (Don't ask me how I know that it's nearly impossible to try to reassemble a bunch of triangle pieces without any numbers to show which piece goes which way! ;)  )

4.  Once you have all the pieces arranged to form the tree, peel off the paper backing and iron in place.

5.  Using your scraps of brown and yellow fabrics and the iron on adhesive, cut a small brown tree trunk and yellow star and add them to your tree.  

(Oops, no picture of this part, but I know you can figure it out)

6.  Next, using your fabric paint and a q-tip, add a string of lights in the space you created when reassembling your triangles.  My kids chose to use a combination of yellow and white dots, but you can do any colors.

 

That's it!  Allow your painted lights to dry then wear your new Christmas Tree shirt with pride!

You can even wear them when you go visit Santa 

and impress him with your handiwork.

Sharing our tree at:

I heart Naptime 
Craft-O-Maniac 
Under the Table and Dreaming 
Skip to my Lou 
Making the World Cuter 
Tatertots and Jello