Owl container

My nephew had a birthday last month and his momma loves owls, so when I found this owl made out of an oatmeal conatiner, I figured that was an awesome way to wrap the present.  Everything I gave as a present fit in there perfectly!

My oatmeal container was a lot bigger than the small one used in the tutorial, so I had to adjust the measurements for my container...easy to do if you just measure and mark on the container where you want the sections to go.

My only trouble was keeping the paper glued to the container at the top when I folded it down to make the top of the head...I just had to add tape along to top edges to keep it attached.

The yellow part of the eyes I made from yellow satin that I cut in circles and seared with a lighter - carefully- to make it curl up.

Birthday Calendar

I saw this idea for birthday calendars on Eighteen25.  I thought it was cute and small, so it didn't take up a lot of room.  I'll just have to find someone to write in the names on the lines for me since I don't have cute handwriting :)

You can hang it on the wall, lean it against a wall, or hang it up since the clip has a handy hold to hang it with already.

What I did different:
*I didn't trim the calendars on the bottoms along the line you are suposed to cut - just trimmed the top and sides.  That way the calendar went closer to the bottom of the clipboard - more centered and didn't leave a big gap like in the example (just an OCD of mine).  I just used the strip of paper to cover the line that still showed.
*Since I left my calendars a little longer, I ended up cutting my strips of patterened paper to 1.25" tall instead of the 1" in the example.

First problem I ran into...I couldn't find these 6"x9" clipboards at Michael's anymore. I went to 2 different Michael's stores before an employee told me he thought they were just a seasonal item (why would clipboards be seasonal?) So I tried Jo-Anns - no clipboards...Wal-Mart - only plastic, neon mini clipboards. So, I went to Office Depot as my last resort. I figured they would be there, but probably expensive, so I was avoiding them. I was right - $2.50 for the clipboard compared to the .99 cent one in the example. Oh well.

Second problem...these clipboards didn't have screws attaching the clip to the board. They were riveted on and not removable. So if I want to paint the board, I'll have to tape it off and paint it really careful. So for now, it's not painted. But I'm having a hard time thinking of a color besides white, that would match all the different papers I glued to the calendar pages.

Bat Swarm

The bats swarmed my living room again. 

What I love about this decoration is that my 3 year old makes it a priority to show the bats to EVERYONE who comes over to our house.  I put them up while he was taking a nap, and he woke up and found them and was SOOOO excited.

Last year we didn't have the giant clock on the wall, so the look is a little different. 

**I traced an image of a bat I found online and cut them out with my cricut - really easy to make.  And just stick up with some painter's tape and you're all done!

Paint Chip Egg Garland

I saw this idea from Modern Parents Messy Kids on One Pretty Thing the other day...and knew I had to go digging for my paint chips.  I love how it turned out!  Depending on the ages of your kids, they could help with this.  Mine are too young for scissors, but my son lined up the eggs after I cut them and had fun helping me.  You could even do this with scrapbook paper instead if you don't have paint chips handy.

I ended up with enough eggs to make two of them.  A long one for the mantle, and a short one for the mirror in the entry way.

As I've been trying to decorate for Spring/Easter, my children quickly remind me what I can and can't put out at their level.

Spring Flower Garland

I wanted to make a flower garland like I did with my valentine's hearts...but I didn't feel in the mood to cut out lots of felt flowers.  So I used my Cricut and cut out some flowers out of cardstock. 

Then I sewed them in a line with my sewing machine.

I made this while my kids were sleeping, and when my 3 year old got up from his nap, he saw them and said "wow! good job, Mom" and went off to play with his toys.  At least someone notices the things I make without me pointing them out...like I have to with my husband. :)

Cookie Package

My dad LOVES butterscotch cookies, so I made some for him for Christmas.  But I wanted a neat way to package them and then ran across this idea at Creative Itch.  I didn't have any of the clear plastic to use as the window, but I have tons of vellum . . . use what you have, right?

I did make a test box first using the dimensions in the tutorial, but my cookies weren't as tall and there was a lot of empty space.  So I cropped the dimensions so it wasn't as big around and so it would fit my cookies better.  Then I cut out the oval and word "cookies" on the cricut and glued it to the box and added ribbon.

Swarm of Bats

I saw this idea on MADE, but decided I wanted a different style of bat.  I wanted a little more of a kid friendly shape instead of a more realisitic one.  And I already had the template from making my banner last year.  Here is the link to this bat if you want it.

After cutting out about 8 small bats by hand, I was done with that technique.  I traced the bat shape on my computer and imported it into sure-cuts-a-lot to cut it out on my cricut.  WAY faster!

Since we've moved into this house (almost a year ago) I still haven't figured out what I want to do with the huge vaulted space above the tv. . . so for now, it's home to a lot of bats.  I even wrapped them around the corner and down the hallway a little bit. 

Any bets on if my husband even notices them when he gets home?  :)

Birthday Banner

I made this banner last week . . . I used 2 different sized bowls to create the circles - the biggest bowl was about 6" wide and the other one was slightly smaller. I cut the letters out with my Cricut onto cardstock and then layered them all using a glue stick.

I also distressed the edges of the letters and the inner circle with brown ink to make them stand out a little better.

And then I used my crop-a-dile (just a fancy hole punch) to punch holes in the edges and tied them together with ribbon. We have an 8 foot opening between the living room and the kitchen, so I wanted it to be kindof big so it would span the whole opening.

Decorated Stars

I bought this star chain last year on clearance and just finally got around to finishing it. At least it's in time for the 4th of July. The star chain came in a rusted brown finish (they're metal). But I don't decorate with browns, so it didn't match my decor. I painted it a creamy white and mod podged scrapbook paper to each separate point. It took me forever to get 2 templates (one for each size star). I had to make several of them before I got it right. I left space between each paper and the edges so that the paint would show through.

Once I got the top coat on it, I added ribbon to the ends to secure it to the mantle.

Father's Day: Candy Bottles

For some reason, I had a hard time trying to come up with an idea for my husband for Father's Day . . . the kids are too young to do some of the cute kid-involved ideas for now. Then on Saturday, I remembered this idea on Sister's Stuff. And I was able to get help from my 2 year-old in filling the bottles with the candy.

I made my husband and his dad drink all the cream soda and took back the bottles . . . and neither of them wondered why I needed all 6 bottles empty that instant. I would have asked why.

ABC's in a Can - Take 2

I couldn't think of a craft to do the other day, so I decided to make another ABC can for my daughter - that she will use in a couple years (since she's only 6 months old). That lid looks red in the picture, but it's the hot pink Similac Soy Formula lid, and I found a paper that had the same pink in it - perfect!

ABCs in a Can

I saw this idea on Brown Paper Packages and instantly knew I wanted to make one. I did things a little differently since I didn't have the same supplies she did. We don't drink juice from a concentrate, so I didn't have 26 of those lids on hand. But . . . we do eat refridgerator biscuits - you know, those Pillsbury ones packed in a tube? So I used those instead. But they are much smaller, so a No. 10 can wouldn't work good with smaller circles. So I cleaned out an old infant formula can - I knew I saved those for a reason (but I had the "sample" size that I got in the mail from Similac, so the smaller size worked great with the biscuit lids.)


My daughter grabbed the inside rim yesterday and cut her finger, even though I thought I checked to see if it was smooth enough - guess not - so I would suggest sanding the inner rim down before giving it to your kiddos.


The other thing I did differently is I used letter die-cuts I've had for several years instead of printing them on the paper with the computer/printer.


The above picture didn't show it, but later I cut a slit in the lid so he can drop the letters in. I just used an exacto knife to cut through the plastic lid - worked great.


I showed it to my son when he got up from nap and there were a lot of wow's and smiles. He's just learning his letters so he loved seeing them on the metal lids that he could drop in the jar.



Then a few weeks later, I saw on her blog that she made something else with juice lids . . . a color quiet book. So now, I guess I have to go out and start buying juice concentrate to get the larger lids.

Brag Book

Using the tutorial from eighteen25, I made this brag book for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. I added small vinyl letters (using my Cricut) to 3 of the pictures with the kid's names. Since there are only 3 grandkids on that side, I did 2 pictures of each kid. And the back of the pages are blank for now, but I can add pictures of future grandkids if needed.

Easter Vase

I saw this vase idea on someone's blog . . . I got a glass candlestick from the dollar store, painted it blue and then put one of my drinking glasses on top of it.

To make the easter grass, I cut strips of green cardstock and folded them up in that zig-zag pattern. Then I filled it with decorative eggs.

This is by far my favorite holiday thing I've made lately.

Also, the vinyl blocks were made through a kit I purchased from Creative Signs by Jenna a couple years ago - she still sells them on her Etsy shop.

Paper Purse treat/gift

At church, we have a program where a pair of women team up and visit a few different women in the church and that usually involves sharing a gospel message and sometimes leaving them with a treat! As a treat to go along with this month's Visiting Teaching message, I found this idea for a paper purse filled with chocolate gold coins. This month's message is about "managing your resourses wisely and staying out of debt." This was so easy to make - I made 2 in probably less than 10 minutes! Just download her template and print it on the back of your patterned paper and cut it out. Simple and quick! It even has a quote by Elder Rober D. Hales on the inside flap.

Now all I have to do is go find chocolate gold coins. Since the next holiday coming up is St. Patrick's Day, hopefully there are tons of these to find at the store.

I could see this working really well for a party favor as well where you want a purse to hold the candy. Just leave off the quote and it works for any occasion.

Colorized and Brighter Ceiling Fan

My son's room had a ceiling fan, and it looked boring and plain, so I decided to spruce it up. I disassembled it, and Mod Podged scrapbook paper to the fan blades. I also added a stripe of another color to cover up the paper seam since each blade was longer than the sheets of paper. The fan blades are 2 sided, so I only mod podged the ugly fake wood side and left the plain white side alone, so if I don't want the color anymore, I can just flip them over if the the paper doesn't come off clean.

Note holders

I saw this idea on Sister's Stuff during the summer and decided to make one for my mom and one for my mother-in-law for Christmas. My mom has a slight obsession with post-its (she got that from her dad) . . . so I figured it would be perfect for her.You just need one of those plastic 4"x6" frames (turned on it's back instead of upright) and scrapbook paper and embelishments.

Then, attach the post-it pad to the top - once the post-its are gone, they can just add another stack and keep using the holder.

Wooden Accent Words

I bought these letters at Jo-Anns and decorated them with scrapbook paper, ribbon, wooden snowflakes, and fake snow.

This decoration works for December and can stay out into January since it's more "winter" decor and not specific to Christmas.

Christmas Advent Mini Muffin Tin

I saw this idea back in September while I was looking for different Super Saturday craft ideas. We didn't end up using this as one of our crafts (it would have taken way too long), but I made one anyway (since I made it in September, I've been dying to post it, but I wanted to wait till it was closer to Christmas).

I bought the mini muffin tin at Wal-Mart for $4.50 and the rest was all stuff I had lying around. Since this is a muffin tin, I'll be putting little candies behind each number for my kid(s) to have as they count down the days.
I did mine a little different than Tami did in her post. I used my Cricut to cut the numbers out on white cardstock and adhered them to the paper - I didn't want that much white and I didn't really like the simple ink printed look.

I cut out the squares of red/green cardstock (and used my corner rounder punch to round the corners) and then cut out circles - sadly, I don't have a circle punch, so I had to cut these out by hand :( Then I mod podged the papers and numbers together. Once that was dry, I added embelishments to random squares with ribbon, brads, eyelets and little paper punched shapes.

Final touch, add the magnet squares to each corner on the back.