Magnetic Fish Game

Magnetic Fish Game 

I made this darling fish game for my toddler son. I got the fish and worm pattern and tutorial from Homemade Gifts Made Easy. Supplies: material, brown felt, embroidery thread, strong magnets, parachute cord, wooden dowel, metal bucket, and metal washers.

He loves it!

Recipe Box Keepsake

Recipe Box Keepsake
My daughter asked for a recipe box for Christmas, which she plans to fill out recipe cards as part of her Young Woman Value project. I found a bamboo recipe box at Bed Bath and Beyond. As my gift to her, I made scrappy dividers out of scrapbook paper, made labels, printed out recipe cards, bought stickers, printed out quotes, made a few layered recipe cards as note cards, etc. It turned out so darling! I cannot wait to make my own recipe box keepsake! 

Dividers Templates
I found the blank divider templates from Free Printables Online. I made my own labels  using a chalk board background paper and used I'm Bored font.
50's Kitchen Card 

These are the note cards that I made and I wrote a note on the back.  I got the complete kit for free. The 50's Kitchen Cards are from Paper Craft by the way they have many beautiful other free cards to download!

Recipe Card Printables
I collected a bunch of free recipe cards from many websites, which I printed out on white card stock paper. I also found some recipe cards at Hobby Lobby and Walmart. Here are some of my free printable recipe cards favorites: Cookie Exchange Cards, Kokeshi Doll Cards, Colorful Recipe Cards, and Black and White Cards.

 Baking and Cooking Cheats
I found a wonderful printable of baking and cooking cheats from Thrifty Homemade Days, which I cut out and put on paper from Paper Craft's  50's Kitchen Cards set. 

Supplies: Recipe box, scrapbook paper, divider template, embellishments, scissors, paper cutter, and glue stick  I used 12X12 Hopscotch double sided paper pack and baking stickers came from Walmart. I collected baking/cooking quotes, Julia Child Quotes, Baking Theme Stickers by Victoria Thatcher and random vintage images from Pinterest. I basically put the chalkboard quotes in a couple different journal card templates and printed them out on sticker paper. Here is my Recipe Box Pinterest Board with some pins for inspiration in making her recipe box.  The project was so easy and fun to make!

Love One Another

During the week of Valentines Day, some ladies in our neighborhood gave our front door a heart attack!  They also gave our family a box of sugar cookies and kisses!  What a fun surprise!
Heart Attack

I helped little sister make an iPod Valentine's Day box since she was having a contest at school for the best box.
iPod Valentine's Day Box

Credits:  I used the following: iPod template, Sweetie Pie Kit by Shabby Princess and fonts were love ya like a sister, and calibri. Supplies to make it: shipping box, paper, foam paper with sticky back Valentine's embellishments, stick, yarn, scissors, glue gun, and glue stick.
Our Valentine's Flowers, chocolates, and car!

I adore my lovely family!

I hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day too!

DIY Animals and Cars Baby's Nursery and Baby Essentials

We finally finished the nursery!  During the last few months of my pregnancy, I decided to make some things for my baby boy.  To be honest, these projects were my "nesting" activities so I went a little overboard, lol. I fell absolutely in love with the cutest nursery fabric called "Animals in Cars" from Joann's Fabric!  So I decorated my baby boy's nursery and made baby essentials coordinating with the animals and cars nursery fabric theme. I was able to find many things from thrift shops for cute decorations such shelves, hooks, pillows, picture frames, his dresser, and chair.  In addition, the nursery essentials and decorations were made by doing several DIY projects that I found on Pinterest. With help from my awesome sister in-law Marilee, we made some incredible baby stuff for my baby boy (beach balls, crinkle baby tag blankets, and a baby blanket)! I also made pillows, bibs, burp rags, receiving blanket and an owl, clouds, and hot air balloon baby mobile!

I Spy Quilt (Animals in Cars and Tools)
We were inspired by Obsessively Stitching Blog to make an I Spy Quilt!  We made our patches 5X5 instead of 4X4. My blanket turned out to be the size of the crib and perfect for baby to play on the floor!

The Baby Pillows

I found pillows and stuffing from a local thrift store for my stuffing, which is a total money saver compared to buying it bulk at the store. I used the following tutorial and template: How to Sew The Slip Stitch and Owl Plushie Template.

Baby Mobile
I was inspired by Craftiness is not Optional to make our own DIY baby mobile.  I hand stitched felt owls, clouds, and hot air balloons by using embroidery thread. I even stuffed them with fiberfill.  I used the following templates: Owl Templates and Hot Air Balloons and Clouds Templates.

Garland
Instead of a curtain or valence, I decided to hang a garland/pennet above the window and below the picture frames or shelves! Here is where I got the Template and Tutorial.

Wall and Shelf  Picture Frames

Boy Subway Art is from Simple Scrapper.
 Button "Z" Wall Art- I glued on tons of buttons that matched his room.
Free vintage owl, elephant, and monkey printables are from Hand Made Home

 Nursery fabric wall art on canvas- I was inspired by Blue Cricket Design
I spray painted a plain picture frame to a blue color and a chalk board to green.
Book Shelves
I bought a couple spice racks from Ikea and spray painted them green, blue, and orange. I bought all the shelves from a thrift store. By the way, the white clock is from Ikea.

"Z "book shelf  decoration (I bought the cardboard Z from a craft store and used Mod Podge to stick the fabric over the letter Z).

Crinkle Baby Tag Blankets 

I used the following tutorial Baby Tag Blanket Tutorial and 8X8 template.

Fabric Beach Balls
 Templates and tutorial are from The Purl Bee.

Car Seat Cover

The matching car seat cover was made by one of my daughter's friends, which happened to be made out of the same fabric we used. It is a perfect car seat cover for on the go!

Receiving Blanket 
I made a rounded  receiving blanket following this tutorial: Receiving Blanket Tutorial. I use this blanket in my baby's car seat!

Burp Clothes and Bibs 
Burp Clothe Tutorial is from Cloud Nine Fabrics
Chenille Bib Tutorial and Template
Bib Tutorial and Template

I'm pleased with my several sewing projects even though they are flawed or not perfect after all I am just a newbie learning how to sew! I look forward to making some other new cute things in the future!

My Little Monkey Baby Shower

On April 20th, 2013, my nieces and sister in-laws threw me a fun BOY monkey themed baby shower. Since my nieces were both expecting babies soon, I helped them out with some details of the party such as using my digital skills in designing decorations, game printouts, and invitations, which they all appreciated. 
The Baby Shower Invitation

Credits: The papers and clothes line with baby clothes are by Megan Farrow (Studio Flergs). Monkey doodles and alpha are by Kate Hadfield The fonts I used are grumble and FO-Giggles.

Decorations

The decorations included the following: a branch with hanging Monkeys in a Barrel Toy, diapers, and other clipart, Diaper Babies, Diaper Cake, framed ultrasound pictures, banners were made by using a couple templates scalloped circle, onesies templates, and diaper templates, framed boy subway art was from Simple Scrapper, framed "Z" button art, a homemade baby quilt, beach balls, and crinkle baby tag blanket, which were made by my amazing sister in-law Marilee. Not shown in the pictures, there were cute center pieces on the tables (buckets filled with foam, green gems, and sticks with either a diaper, monkey, or onesie clipart on it).

Baby Shower Games

What's in the diaper bag? I got the ----> Template for the purse clip art.

Baby Name Scrabble
Guess how many M&M's are in the bottle
What is in your purse?
Guess Jen's Baby Bump Measurements
Prizes
The prizes were random girly things from the Dollar Store (shower wash, bath salts, lotions, nail stuff, picture frames, candles, hand soap, etc) wrapped in a bag or tied with twine.

Food

My family brought many yummy goodies (finger foods) to eat such as Italian deli rolls, chicken salad sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, fruit platter, and veggie platter. As for the dessert, they served chocolate dipped rice krispie treats, cupcakes, and raspberry swirl rolls. We drank two types of juices or water.
Thank You Favors

My husband and I made these mini chocolate chip banana breads by using a pan that had six bread molds in it. They turned out very moist and delicious! I have been using this recipe for years and cannot figure out where I got from. We have made it many ways (muffins, bread, mini breads, and added optional ingredients).
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
2 c. flour
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
2 1/3 c. mashed bananas
Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt. In another bowl cream together butter and sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas. Add banana mixture to the flour mixture, stir well. Pour mixture in a 9X5 bread pan and bake for 60-65 minutes. If doing banana muffins you can cut the baking time in half, which is what I usually do instead of the large bread loaf.   Optional ingredients: Depending on your mood (sweet, chocolate, or spicy) you may add 1. tsp vanilla extract, 1 c. chocolate chips, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp allspice.

A Perfect 10 Owl Birthday Bash

 A Perfect 10 Owl Birthday Bash!

 As most people, we all live on a tight budget and don't have excess money to spend on a big birthday party. So for my daughter's birthday, I made a DIY owl themed girl birthday party using a lot free templates and  purchased a digital scrapping booking kit called Penelope kit by Shabby Princess.
The  Owl Birthday Invitation

Credits: For the party invitations, decorations, birthday banner, games, party favors, etc, I used paper and elements from the Penelope kit by Shabby Princess. I used font grumble font and FO-Giggles.
The Decorations and Food
The Light Pink and Chocolate Brown Party Supplies (plates, cups, napkins, plastic wear, and table cloth) are from Oriental Trading. The serving platters and flowers are from a local Dollar Store.  I designed food cards, a Happy Birthday banner, and misc decorations that I taped on a stick.  The silver buckets were filled with foam and blue and pink gems, which are from Walmart. The balloons are from a local party supply store.
The Food
The owl fruit platter contained an owl, which is made out of a pineapple, lemon slices eyes, grapes pupils, cantaloupe nose, and oranges as wings. We served grapes, strawberries, pineapple, cantaloupe, and orange slices.  The owl cupcakes: I was inspired by One Charming Party by using Oreos and Reese's Pieces for the eyes and nose.  Owl finger foods were crackers, cheese, lunch meat, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and olives. We also served vanilla cookies, Oreos, and Reese's Pieces.
The Games and Craft

Stick the Owl in the Tree
Owl Word Scramble
Owl Bingo I used this --> Template
How Many Jelly Beans Are in the Jar? (the winner took the jelly beans home).
The Owl Craft

Supplies: scissors, Elmer's glue or glue sticks, craft feathers, pencils, colored construction paper, and googly eyes.  Directions With the desired colored construction paper, trace the owl body and beak from a free Template, draw feet, and use a stencil for the oval shape in the middle of the body. Cut them all out. Trace both hands for the wings and cut them out. Glue together the owl pieces. Stick or glue on googly eyes and feathers.
The Owl Mask Photo Booth

The Party Favors

"Owl Keep Your Place" Bookmarks are made by me using Shabby Princess's Penelope kit.
Owl Treat Bags Template (supplies: templates, brown lunch bag, glue, and scissors)
Cute Owl Necklaces from Oriental Trading
Candy-Sour Gummy Worms, Air Heads, and Ring Pops
Glow Sticks from the Dollar Store
 Owl Masks Idea Mine Template and Coolest Free Template
The Presents

The party was a total "Hoot"! Everyone was happy to celebrate little sister's big 10th birthday!

Fall Leaves and Floral Wreath

Since I loved making my own cheap spring wreath this year, I decided to make a fall one too.  I went thrift shopping and to Walmart for the supplies.  I bet you could find a lot of this stuff from the dollar store too! I spent a total of $8.44, which is not bad considering most craft stores try to sell decorated wreaths around $20.00 and up.

Fall Leaves and Floral Wreath

Supplies

wreath ($2.00 from a thrift store)

colored leaves, berries, acorns, pumpkins, etc ($1.50 from a thrift store)

 pine cones ($3.00 from Walmart )

orange and yellow sunflowers (.97 each from Walmart)

Glue gun and glue sticks

pliers to cut the flowers

Instructions 

Arrange your supplies how you like to design it. First, I glued on the leaves and flowers.  Then I started layering the other embellishments (pine cones, acorns, pumpkins, berries, etc). It took about two hours to hot glue it all together.  

Spring Butterfly and Floral Wreath

It has been a while since I last crafted something.  I was in desperate need of a colorful spring wreath to hang on my front door since my oldest daughter thinks I never decorate my house for holidays or seasons.  So I went to a local Dollar Store to gather some supplies.

Spring Butterfly Floral Wreath

Supplies

One wreath 

Flowers: baby breath, yellow, orange, pink, and purple

Batches of butterflies (brown, orange, pink,and blue)

Glue gun and glue sticks

pliers (to cut the flowers)

My total spent at the Dollar Store was $10.00, which is cheap compared to a craft store! As for the time arranging and gluing it together, it took me about two hours.  Now isn't that a pretty cheerful wreath? I absolutely love my spring wreath and look forward to making other wreaths in the future!

Gratitude Lesson and Activity

This past week I home made some fall color crayons (idea from My Magic Mom) by recycling yellow, green, brown, red, and orange broken crayons in a mini muffin pan and preserved some colorful leaves for a cute fall decoration craft.

Fall  Recycled Crayons

Supplies: 
Crayons such as yellow, green, brown, red, and orange colors,  mini muffin pan, X-Acto Knife, Butcher Knife, and cutting board.

Directions: 
We used a X-Acto knife to peel the crayon wrapper off.  Then I used a butcher knife to chop the crayons into small pieces. Bake at 250 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Allow them to cool on a baking rake then transfer the pan into the freezer for 30 minutes.  Use a knife to carefully remove the crayons from the pan.
Colorful Leaves Strand 

Supplies: 
Modge Podge, paint brush, brown twine, mini clothes pins, and  an assortment of colorful fall leaves.

Directions:
 I tied both ends of the twine and hung them up with a tack.  Then I coated the leaves with a layer of modge podge.  They dried by clipping the mini clothes pins on the twine!  

For the lesson on gratitude, I discussed Helen Keller because even though she was lacking her eye sight and hearing that she had enhanced sense of smell and touch.  She taught us to appreciate the beauty all around us!  I found a wonderful lesson LDS Family Fun, which I shared with the girls.  For a craft, I printed out a thankful tree and some leaves for my girls.  They colored the tree and then colored their leaves with the groovy homemade crayons.   We also placed a leaf behind the paper to stencil the texture of the leaves.  The girls enjoyed that the most! Lastly, they wrote down some things that they are grateful for and shared them with the group.

Stenciling Leaves!

I made Turkey Pop Treats for our "thankful treat"!  They were rice krispy balls, dipped in chocolate, and candy corn as the feathers, beak, and eyes!  They were delicious and cute!

What a yummy treat!