Sunday, November 28, 2010

Countdown to Christmas!!

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My friend and I made these last week! I put a couple pieces of candy..1 for each kid, and an activity for each day inside the little box!

Boxes ordered from papermart.com. In bulk but a great price!

The boxes are 2” square. Cover them with paper a 2”x2” piece of paper and use a paper circle punch to punch out the tab. I used embossing, vinyl and paper for the numbers! and arranged the numbers as you can see…spelling some out, regular numbers, roman numerals and a combination of some! The boxes are able to slide in as drawers to a long box made of cardstock and then covered in contact paper so it will hold up against little kids!

Ideas:

1. Make homemade Hot Cocoa

2. Make Christmas Ornaments

3. Reindeer Candy Canes

4. Play with Little People Nativity and talk about Jesus

5. Gingerbread House

6. Christmas Caroling

7. Make cookies for Santa

8. Wrap Presents

9. Go for a drive to look at Christmas Lights

10. Ring a Bell for Salvation Army

11. Play in the Snow! Snowmen and Snow Angels

12. Make Snow Globes

13. Make Christmas Cards for Grandparents and Great-Grands

14. String Popcorn

15. Make Gift Tags

16. Make Napkin Rings for Christmas Dinner

17. Silverware Stockings

18. Pictures in the Snow

19. Visit Santa at the Mall

20. Make Paper Snowflakes

21. Make gifts

22. (Jesus

23. Watch a Christmas movie

24. read Luke 2

25. Letter to Santa

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Diaper Cake

I helped with the Baby Shower of 2 of my friends last week. They are both having little girls!! Here were my gifts!

One’s nursery is Purple and White to celebrate K-State.

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The other nursery is Black, White and Yellow!

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I wrapped each diaper individually and tied it, then tied them together in groups. 6 for the top, then 6 for the bottom..set up some more diapers and tied another 12 around the 6 for the bottom. Had a few left over that I just shoved in anywhere I could, which helped make it a little tighter! The “lollipops” are a washcloth rolled and tied, then I put the spoon on the back and wrapped some saran wrap over it and tied it. I also added a travel size baby powder, travel formulas for emergency, and a little rattle toy. In the past I’ve also included q-tips, nose bulb, clippers, thermometer, butt paste (which I personally prefer over desitin)..more little necessary stuff. But the price can add up quick! It was nice to make two, that way I could share cost between! I also always like to include a little goodie for the mom. After all.. she DESERVES it for all her hard work!! :D

Crafternoon

My friend and I started a monthly “Crafternoon” group..except we didn’t meet this month due to Super Saturday, and we won’t meet next month w/Christmas and our husbands in finals and ..just busy busy busy-ness.. anyway..In October though, we did these “HOME” projects that have turned out way cute! We only did the HME letters and then 3 months worth.. a Ghost for Halloween, Pumpkin for Thanksgiving and an ornament for Christmas. We’ll get together again early January to work on some more for the next few months! Get ready ladies and let me know if you want to come! There is a small fee, and I do need to know before hand so we know how many to cut out as well :D

October:

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November:

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Next Months:

{will go here}

 

I don’t have a fireplace and mantle, but I have a shelf that I enjoy using to decorate my home with. This is it for this month!

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Holiday Blocks

Front:

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Back:

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Tasty Tuesday - Chicken Cordon Bleu

I do a Tasty Tuesday on my “family blog”, but I think I’ll start doing it here too! I’m not good about doing it EVERY Tuesday, but when I have a good recipe, I like to share!

This recipe I came up with from a few different recipes I combined. We LOVE it!

Chicken Cordon Bleau

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Ingredients:

**Chicken breasts (large can be cut into 2), so..however many you need to feed your family! **Dijon Mustard **Swiss Cheese **Deli Ham **Egg Wash (egg and water) **Shredded Parmesan Cheese **Basil **Oregano **Ritz Crackers **Salt and Pepper

Instruction

*Pound chicken flat..to about 1/2 inch or so thick. If you pound them too much they will start falling apart, so be careful! (Then cut in 1/2 now if needed)

*Spread small layer of Dijon Mustard. Lay the 1 slice of Swiss cheese and 1-2 slices of ham (depending on thickness). Roll chicken and stick it with a toothpick (or 2 or 3 or 4!) to hold it together.

*Mix together about 20 crushed ritz crackers-crushed, 2-3 Tbsp grated parmesan Cheese, sprinkle of Basil, oregano, salt and pepper. I’m sorry, I don’t have exact measurements, I just go till it looks/tastes about right. (You don’t need too much salt (if any), ‘cause the crackers are also salted, and the ham is salty too.) and if you run out, just make up some more.

*Dip the chicken rolls in the egg wash and then in the cracker crumbs. Roll until chicken is coated in the crumbs.

*Lay on greased cookie sheet. Bake 350* for about 25 min. until Brown and chicken is cooked through.

BACK TO RECIPES

Elf on the Shelf

What are your Family Christmas Traditions?

Here is one we will be starting in our home this year!

Have you heard of the “Elf on the Shelf”? Well, I have actually never read the book, but the idea (as I understand it) is that when the elf is done with his preparations at the north pole, he comes to visit the children, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and stays for a while. He watches the children each day to see if they are being “Bad or Good” and then each night he comes “alive” and reports to Santa. He quickly returns in time to make some “mischief” around the house and to hide in a different place for the children to find him the next morning!

I am SUPER excited to start this tradition, as my son is 3 now and SOOO excited and into the “being good ‘cause Santa is watching” idea - it’s kinda’ nice, and now I understand what it’s really all about ;) :P.

The following links are a couple places that I read about this idea, and they have the elf story books/and elf dolls for sale ~kind of pricy though if I do say so. In saving some money..I made my own elf! Using a Dollar Store baby, I made some clothes and a cap. Not a professional job, just my guessing, but it turned out okay. I can do a tutorial if anyone wishes. I still want to add some “jingle bells” to the cap and boots! 

Elf on the Shelf

Elf Magic

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I know I blew up the picture, but don’t look too close! ;) This Dollar Tree baby doll ($1) has two right hands..lol. I guess they ran out of lefties and just turned a right upside down  :). When they get back in stock, I’ll get a different one…maybe..lol!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

6 in1 Puzzle

Since my kids are 1 & 3 and don’t look at my blog! Here is something I’m working on for them for Christmas! Puzzles!

2x2 from Home Depot “Orange” was about $1.70ish (will get 2 puzzles from it!)

Calendar f/Target dollar bins $1 (..can get 2 if you cut right!) Here are some of the options. They also have a Pixar which (shockingly) my son did not pick..he chose the Madagascar instead.

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Total Project: about $4 with paint and mod podge.

1. Cut blocks w/Miter saw to square: 1 1/2”x1 1/2” and sand! Cut as many as you need for how big the pictures are. For smaller kids, you may want to find smaller pictures, or a bigger piece of wood for bigger blocks somewhere, the calendar pictures I found will use 25 blocks.

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2. Paint blocks. You could just paint all the edges, but I painted the whole block. I figure the wood will soak up some of the paint, so the mod podge would work better, rather than soaking up some of the mod podge!

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3. While waiting for those to dry, pick your 6 most favorite pics. from the calendars. remember you will be cutting them down, and a little off the edges, so make sure your picture subject is somewhat centered!

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4. Cut. Cut off the top (calendar hole) first.

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Then you’ll want to cut the whole picture down to size. Measure you blocks first. I found my pictures would need to be measured at 1 3/8” square..since it is 5 blocks across..I need to cut the whole picture to 6 7/8” Square.

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Then proceed to cut your 1 3/8” squares. should end up with exactly 25 – 1 3/8” square squares..be careful not to mess up and cut wrong!

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Easies to cut strips first, then back to squares. You can cut one pic at a time and mod podge it on, or cut all 6, just make sure you don’t mix them up or you’ll have 2 pieces of the same pic on one block and that would mess the whole thing up!

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5. Mod Podge the pics to the blocks! One picture at a time! Using the Mod Podge as the glue.

**Hint, for easier puzzles, keep all the blocks in order (ie… top left corner of ever picture on same block, etc.. For Harder puzzles, mix up the blocks or turn them for every puzzle!**

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I don’t know what the difference is between the different types of Mod Podge, but I used the puzzle saver kind.

When done Mod Podging all the pics to the 6 sides of the blocks, run a light coat of Mod Podge over the top of all the pics on all sides of the blocks!

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You could also do this with family pictures. I think you would just need to mod podge the back to help it stick..not the front of the picture..but I haven’t tried it to find out.

sspuzzleblocks


BACK TO TUTORIALS

Monday, November 8, 2010

Tutorial Page

So, as you may have noticed, I just added a “Tutorial” page to my blog. I figured, since I’m making them up for the Super Saturday blog anyway, I might as well put them on here as well :). Hope they are easy to read! If you ever see me post something that you’d like a tutorial for, don’t hesitate to ask! :D Thanks for stopping by!

Washer Necklace Tutorial

1. Pick your paper. Position your washer on the paper to see what you want to show on the washer. I like to off set mine a little bit because the washer has a hole in the middle you have to account for, and to get a bigger variety of color!

Trace it!

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2. Cut it out and hole punch the middle to fit the center of the washer!

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3. Decoupage the paper to the washer.

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4. Sand the edges so they don’t hang over the sides! This way, after the Glossy Accents is dried, the washer will be water proof!

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5. Apply Glossy Accents liberally to the washer, covering the paper completely.

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(I like to put a ring around the outside and the inside, then just fill it in.) Slowly, going back and forth. Making sure you have an even pressure so you don’t create any bubbles! The thicker the layer of Glossy Accents, the longer it will take to dry though!

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6. Let Dry! Overnight if possible.

7. Measure Cording. For an adult you’ll need about 32 inches. To account for the knots and being able to slip it over your head.

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8. Tie the two ends around each other so you can slip it tighter and looser.

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9. Find a bead that has a hole through it big enough to fit your cording width twice! And slip the bead on the opposite end of the knots.

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10. Put the loop through the washer and pull the rest of the cording w/bead through to loop it around the washer. Push the bead down. You can put another knot over the bead if you wish!

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Put it on, and wear it proud! Because YOU made it!! :D

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BACK TO TUTORIALS!

Key Chains Tutorial

FIRST of all..let me tell you, I am NOT a professional seamstress. I don’t claim to be, and am not the best with coming up with patterns. However, I do seem to have a knack for seeing something and “winging it”. That being said..if you have any tips or tricks to show, I am ALL ears! :) So, lets get started!

 

1. Cut 2 pieces of coordinating fabric to 13” x 1 3/4”. Cut one piece of interfacing to 1 1/4” x 10”

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2. Iron fabrics. Iron interfacing to one piece of fabric on the wrong side 1/2” from the 1 end.

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3. Put 2 pieces wrong sides together (pin if you need) and sew along 3 sides (2 long and one short) leaving one end open for turning. Use 1/8 inch seams!

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4. Clip corners and flip. Pull right side out and push corners in with a crochet hook or other slightly pointy object. (but not too pointy because you don’t want to poke a hole into the fabric!) Stitch down the 2 long sides again. (can do all 3 or all 4 if you want).

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(See the stitching in this one!)

5.Put key ring on end w/o interfacing and turn up about 1 1/2”. Fold other end down to overlap about 1/2”. Make 1 (lose) seam across to hold the 3 pieces together.

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(I forgot to do my stitching down the front side..don’t pay attention to that..do it for yours though. It gives it a more finished look!:) )

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6. Cut ribbon about 5 inches. Wrap around and fold in end. Stitch along both sides of the ribbon. Make sure to get close to the end so you don’t leave too big of a gap for the ring, otherwise it will be spinning circles. I used a “D” ring, for Relief Society Super Saturday, we will be using regular key chain rings.

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It’s not perfect, but it works! And it’s CUTE!!

 Back to Tutorials!