Ghosts in the trees

With Halloween quickly approaching, and the weather determined not to cooperate, I decided it was time to get in the spirit anyway.  We really don't have very many Halloween decorations, and my 6 year old needed a project over the weekend, so I decided to make ghosts for our trees.  They were super easy, very inexpensive, and my daughter had a great time making them.

I cut a large white trash bag into 12 sections.  Then we stuffed the heads with old newspaper bags and used a twisty tie from a toy we had opened that morning.  I used a yarn needle to poke string through the top of the head and tied it at the top.  My daughter drew the faces, complete with a smile and we tied them to the trees.

Here are our ghosts on one of the trees, swinging in the breeze. 

Super cute, and super cheap...we used materials we already had, some of which was destined for the trash can!

Super Cute Flower Pens

Everyone who knows me knows I am a bit of a freak about my pens.  One of my biggest pet peeves is when people walk away with my favorite pen.  A creative way to solve this problem is to make them into pretty flowers.  Then when someone walks away with one of them, I can quickly spot my pen on someones desk!  They also make a great teacher gift, what teacher wouldn't love some pretty pens for her desk?

 To make flower pens, you will need:
Pens
Flowers
Floral tape
Glue gun

 Start by yanking the end cap off your pen by any means necessary.  I usually use my teeth, but pliers are probably a better tool!
Remove the stem from your chosen flower and put a glob of hot glue on the end.  Stick the glued end in the shaft of the pen, give it a twist to spread the glue on all sides.

Allow the glue to cool slightly, and adhere the floral tape to the top of the pen.  Wrap the floral tape around, making sure to stretch it as you go.  Once you reach the bottom, use a tiny bit of glue to stick down the end.  At this point, the pen will be slightly tacky from the floral tape.  It will go away as you use the pen, but you can roll it between your hands to remove the tackiness more quickly.

 

 This is what the finished pen will look like.  I find that the cap doesn't fit well after wrapping with floral tape, so I toss the caps.

Now that you have a pretty pen, you need something pretty to display them.  To make this container, I used Mod Podge to adhere scrapbook paper to a peanut butter container.  I used ribbon to cover the part where the lid screws to the container and stuck on a flower for good measure.

This, along with a Thank You note written by my daughter, will make a perfect Teacher Appreciation gift!

Adventures in Gardening

Last year, I ventured into the world of vegetable gardening.  I wasn't too successful, only getting a few green beans for all my hard work.  This year, I am determined to do better and actually get more than 2 meals worth of vegetables!  I made a few changes to last year's plan and got started last month.

My husband found this little upside down planter on clearance at the end of the season last year.  It has rosemary, parsley and basil on the top.  Planted in the holes on the bottom are tomatoes and strawberries.

 Last year, I used a pot for my potatoes, I didn't get any edible ones.  This year, I went for a different variety and also used kitty litter containers with the bottom cut off.  There are 4 plants in each container.  As they grew, I added dirt to cover the plants until they reached the top of the containers.

These little plants were in the soil from last year.  I am pretty sure they are green beans since they are in the same spot I planted them last year, and now the leaves are looking like green beans.  I hope I am right!

One month later, the herbs and tomato plant are still thriving.  I even have a tomato growing, and have used the herbs to cook with.  The strawberry plant is all but dead.  Back to the drawing board on that one!

 As you can see, the potatoes (in the yellow containers) and green beans are doing great!  I bought a tomato cage that unfolds and is perfect for supporting the green beans as they grow.  I have also planted peas and carrots in the open space.  There is still room in the center for something else.  I am not sure what I will plant there, if anything.  Last year, I also planted pumpkins, which completely overtook the small garden space I have, then the vine was inundated with bugs and died!  This year, I am trying to start the pumpkins in the blue container in the grass to the left.  There is plenty of room for them to spill out of the container and grow to their heart's content in the grass.  We are hoping to use these for our Halloween pumpkins *fingers crossed*!

 Last but not least, this is my lemon bush.  I have had her for 2 years and she has yet to produce any lemons.  She looks MUCH healthier and happier this year, so hopefully we will see something good soon.

At the beginning of the year, I got sucked in by the Arbor Day Foundation.  I sent them some money, and they sent me 12 "trees".  Now I had done some research, so I knew I would be getting "sticks" and not "trees".  When they arrived, my husband laughed and said "Honey, we have tree mail."  I opened my tree mail and had a good laugh when we looked at a bag of 12 sticks.  I really should have taken a picture of them, it was quite priceless.  Flash forward about a week when I finally had time to plant my sticks.  I started to dig my first hole, and realized that there was no way I was going to dig 12 holes in our horrible hard, rocky, clay soil!  I got one good hole in the ground and gave up.  I only had 3 pots laying around, so only 4 "trees" were planted.  The rest were given away to friends or tossed in the trash.  Here are my 4 sticks in all their glory...

This is how my trees looked this morning.  Still sticks, but now they are sticks with leaves (which are really hard to see in this picture because the grass is finally growing back).  Two of the trees have some sort of bug which is eating perfect half circles out of the leaves.  I have to do some research on how to get rid of them and not hurt my precious babies in the process!

I can't wait until I can start eating my veggies this year.  There is something so satisfying in eating something you planted and grew in your own yard, don't you think?

Back in the Saddle

Well, the proverbial saddle, that is.  I don't exactly ride horses anymore ;)  As much as I love crafting, I had to take a bit of a break because, as usual, life got in the way.  Now that things around here have settled down, I am recommitting myself back to my blog and crafting.  I have been working on a little something while I was away...

A few years ago, I taught myself how to knit.  When I found out I was pregnant with my son, I knew I had to knit him a baby blanket.  My daughter was quite sad that he had a blanket from Mommy, but she didn't.  One day, she asked me to make her a blanket, to which I said "yes, of course I will!"  Soon after that request, I pulled out my patterns and she picked the one she liked and we went to the craft store so she could pick out the yarn she liked.  Fast forward about six months and the blanket is finally finished! Here it is in all it's pink glory...

 And here is a close-up of the pattern.

My sweet Nutty Bear will be over the moon when she receives this blanket!  I can't wait to give it to her.

Cookie of the Month - December

This month for my daughter's teacher, I decided to use some of the cookies from our Christmas Cookie Baking Extravaganza.  I selected 3 different types and tied them up in this cute little snowman bag I found in my stash.

This batch was given a bit later this month because my daughter's teacher was not in the classroom for the first week of December.

Paint Storage Solution

It seems that everywhere I look, there are great ideas for paint storage.  My favorite storage idea was from Infarrantly Creative.  She used spice racks!  What a great idea, I wish I had thought of it.  As you know, I love to hit the garage sales, so with this new idea in mind, I started my search.  I didn't quite find spice racks, but I did find this...

 And this...

 The first unit was unfinished wood, so it only took a quick sand before it was ready for painting.  The second one, on the other hand, had quite a bit of clear coat on it, so it took longer.  Plus it has a very narrow groove on each of the shelves and an ugly gold nameplate on it.  All it took was a bit of elbow grease and a good coat of paint to make them beautiful! 

After my primer dried, I painted each of the pieces using a brush and some paint I had left over from another project.  They turned out VERY bland and boring, so I decided to paint a cute little flourish on each.  I used some "oops paint" I picked up a while ago.  I love the way they turned out.  I even love the fact that the designs are a bit rough and aren't perfect.

 The ugly gold plate on this rack was perfect for my little flourish!

Now to figure out a color to paint the wall so they really pop!

Christmas Cookie Baking Extravaganza

Every year, the women in my family get together between Thanksgiving and Christmas to have our Annual Christmas Cookie Baking Extravaganza.  Each person brings 2 recipes and we spend the whole day baking, eating and enjoying each other's company.  Now that I live in a different state from the rest of my family, I don't always get to participate, however, while my mom was in town, we had our own Mini Christmas Cookie Baking Extravaganza.  I didn't get pictures of all we made, but here is a small sample of the yummy goodness...

Wintermint Wafers

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Cappuccino Crinkles

Sugar Free Chocolate Chip (especially for my Dad, who is diabetic)

Don't you just want to take a bite out of your computer screen?  I know I do!

Hand Towel Angel

My mom bought a super cute Angel made out of kitchen towels at a craft fair she recently attended. They were so cute, we decided to make some of our own to give as gifts.

Here is what you will need:
Hand towel
Fingertip towel (if you can’t find one, a microfiber towel will also work)
Pot holder
Rubber bands
Thin wire
Small beads
Ribbon
Bunch of berries or other small item for angel to hold

Start by folding the hand towel using an accordion fold. Once it is folded, find the center and fold in half. Secure with a rubber band about 3 inches from the top. You may also want to temporarily secure the bottom to encourage the pleats to hold their shape.

Fold the fingertip towel in an accordion fold. Place a rubber band in the center of the towel and about ½ inch from the bottom of each end.

Bunch the potholder and slip through the center rubber band on the fingertip towel

Wrap the ends of the fingertip towel around the hand towel and secure the ends together.

Now that you have the basic shape of the Angel, it’s time to decorate her.

To create the halo, string beads on a wire and twist to make the circle shape.  Be sure to leave several inches to slip down through the rubber band at the neck. Tie ribbons around all the rubber bands to hide them. Feed the plastic hanger from the towels through the ribbon used to tie the wings and arms together as shown in the photo below.

This is a shot of her from the back

Slip the berries or similar item through the rubber band and the "wrist", or you can leave her "hands" empty.

Before wrapping or hanging in your own house, make sure to remove the rubber band on the bottom and, voila cute Towel Angel suitable for gift giving. This makes a great hostess gift or teacher gift.

Note: I forgot to take pictures while I was making my angel, so I used old towels to take the pictures for the tutorial. The folds are much harder to make with well worn towels, but it will still work.

This post has been entered in:

Holiday Scented Soap

For Halloween, I colored our foaming soap orange.  Well I made too much, and we just finished using it all up.  This time, I made a smaller batch, so we won't be using it well into the new year *fingers crossed*.  I colored it red with 2 drops of food coloring, and added 1 drop of peppermint essential oil.  The whole bathroom smells yummy every time we wash our hands now.  The great thing about it is the smell does not stay on your hands for long, just a few minutes before it dissipates.  My daughter loves that the soap bubbles are pink when she pumps out the soap.

Advent Calendar

Family Fun magazine had a great Cone-iferous Advent Calendar in their November magazine.  We have a fabric one that I bought several years ago, but this year I wanted to do something a little different for my daughter.  Using their template here, and paper from a holiday paper pack I purchased at Joann Fabrics, I created these little beauties:

Inside, I hid things my daughter loves the most:  Quarters, tattoos, gum, coupons to redeem for playing time on the iPod, 30 minutes of TV, a special dinner out at her choice of restaurants, and a few other goodies.  So far, every day has been a huge hit and she asks the moment she comes downstairs in the morning.  When we open each cone, we talk a bit about why we celebrate Christmas. 

Be Thankful Banner

Leelou Blogs has a fantastic Thanksgiving Printable Kit filled with all sorts of great printables for Thanksgiving.  I especially loved the Be Thankful banner printable.  Being the crafty person that I am, I saw it and thought to myself, "I'll bet I can make something like that".  It has been a while since I used my Cricut, and I have been itching to make something fun with it.  I pulled it out of the dust bunnies the other night and came up with my own version of the Be Thankful banner. 

As an additional activity for Thanksgiving day, I think we will use clothespins to attach all the things we are thankful for this year.

Cookie of the Month - October & November

I forgot to post October's Cookie of the Month, so here is a quick snapshot of what I did for October.  I made Carmel Apple Bites.  They looked like little carmel apples down to the stick, but they were actually cookies.  Because October's holiday is Halloween, I included a few plastic spiders to set the mood and wrapped them up all pretty.

 My mom found this fantastic cookie recipe that tastes just like Twix bars.  Oh my...they are so good, I could eat the whole recipe in one sitting!  Anyway, they are called Thousand Dollar Bars.  The recipe can be found here on the King Arthur Flour website.  I wanted something cute to package the cookies in, and I happened on this tutorial from Dandelions and Dust Bunnies.  Perfect!  I made the strips a bit longer (about 10 inches) to accommodate the cookies inside, cut a large leaf from green paper and wrote out the words.

So cute, now to start thinking about what I will do for December.  There are so many cookie recipes to choose from!

Halloween Foaming Soap

I am always looking for new ideas to get my 5 year old to wash her hands.  We already use foaming soap, which gets quite expensive, so I poked around online and learned that you can make your own!  I have been doing this for about a year now, but still have to fight with my daughter to wash her hands.  I was walking by the bathroom the other day, when it hit me...why not make the soap fun colors?  With Halloween coming up, I thought orange would be a great color to start with.  This was made with 5 drops of yellow and 1 drop of red food coloring.  My daughter noticed it right away and this week she has been using the soap without my prompting her!  I may try scenting it next

What do you think?  What fun colors would you use?

Halloween Subway Art

I recently ran across MaryJanes and Galoshes and their great Halloween Window Subway Art tutorial.  I just love all the subway art I have been seeing everywhere, and I was inspired.  I just had to make something similar.  I knew I didn't have the right picture frame at home, so I started to troll the garage sales and found this beauty for only $0.50.

With no nicks or scratches, the frame was in perfect condition.  Perfect!  One less step I would have to do.  I recently got the Sure Cuts A Lot software for my Cricut.  Oh my goodness....what have I done without this software all of my life???  I won't ever have to buy a font cartridge again!  I downloaded several spooky looking fonts* from DaFont and got started designing.

Once I was happy with the words, I used my Cricut to cut everything out on cheap Contact paper.  I laid it all out before committing and sticking everything down.

Since it was too late last night to paint my project, I went to bed and dreamed happy spray painting dreams until this morning.  After dropping my daughter off at school, I used Valspar's "Frosting" spray paint to frost the open spaces on the glass.  Then, the hard part, waiting for the paint to dry.  After I lifted the letters off, I was left with a very sticky situation!  Most of the sticky part remained on the glass.  Yuck!  Thank goodness for Goo Gone!  I spent about an hour or so scrubbing all the sticky residue off.  When it was finally off, I gave the glass a good washing and put some orange paper behind the glass and snapped it all back together.  This is the final product...

I apologize for this picture, this project was very hard to photograph!  In the right light, this looks really cool, and I love that I can change the back paper to suit my moods!

* The fonts I used were:  Yard Sale, Juice ITC, Mars Attacks, She Creature, Lunacy More, Trick or Treat BV and Jack Lantern BB

This project has been entered in the Halloween Extravaganza over at The CSI Challenge

Broken Heart Band-Aid Box

Way back in the day when I was in high school, whenever one of my friends broke up with her boyfriend, I would put a Band-Aid over her heart to help stop the pain. My mother-in-law spent the last week untangling a 38 year marriage to my father-in-law. Suffice to say, her heart is hurting, and while I cannot imagine the pain and hurt she is going through, I can be there for her, to put Band-Aids on her heart to keep it from hurting. To that end, I decided to make her something special to hold her Band-Aids.

I used a plastic box that once held drink mix pouches and used Mod Podge to cover it in fabric.  I added a fabric embellishment to the top and ribbon around the edges.  Then I used Mod Podge to add fabric and a note to the inside.  After everything dried, I added a bunch of Band-Aids.

Here is the inside of the box.

I really just wanted her to know that we are there for her and we love her and will support her in any way we can.

Cookie of the Month - August & September

I am a bit late getting this posted, but here goes...

I decided that I wanted to do a little something special for my daughter's teacher.  Teachers do so very much for our children, and they do not get enough thanks for all of their hard work.  One of my friends told me about something she did last year called Cookie of the Month.  Each month, she baked a new cookie recipe and gave it to each of her kid's teachers.  I thought this would be a great thing to start with my daughter.  Hopefully I can keep it up for the full year.  Here is what I have done so far...

August:  Chocolate Chip Cookies

 I included a note explaining Cookie of the Month Club and asking her to let us know if she has any allergies.

September:  Chocolate Glazed Shortbread

This actually isn't the finished product, because I wanted to show the cookies in the picture.  To make the bag:
* Cut down a 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper to the size of a sandwich Ziploc bag.
* Fold paper in half and about 1/2 inch from the bottom of each end.
* Line up the bag and paper and punch 2 holes.
* Feed ribbon through the holes and tie in a bow.
* Glue bottom flaps to form a flat bottom to make the final presentation below.

I tell my daughter about the cookies in her backpack and she gives them to her teacher.  My daughter loves giving them to her and I love being able to say Thank You each month!