Valentines for the boys

Valentines for boys can always be tricky.  I found some ideas on Pinterest and I decided to give them a try with a little twist.

Original idea for Grenade Valentine - Jacolyn Murphy

Original idea for Wheelie Valentine - Thirty Handmade Days

I made 2 versions of these.  One for Adam (Grenade) & One for Colton (Wheelie)

1.  I started with these tin boxes.  They were on clearance for 10 cents at Michaels and I bought all they had.  I had no idea what I would do with them at the time, but this just happened to be the perfect project.

2.  Designed and printed my valentines to fit the top of the boxes.  

LINK TO PRINT YOUR OWN AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.

3.  Cut them out and then used my corner rounder because it makes the cards look so much better.

4.  Use double sided take to stick the cards to the top of each box

I found these army men at Target and Wal Mart.  They are in the party favor section and come in a bag of 6.  I think they are cheaper at Wal Mart ($2) and the exact same thing as Target.  They are larger than the regular little army men and have a fun little parachute.

You can find the cars anywhere, obviously.  But the dollar store has them in packages of 3.  3 for $1...not bad.  They are also in happy meals right now.  So if you are like me and go to Mc D's more than you want to admit, you can start collecting your cars.

6.  Gather your cars or army men

7.  Fill tin with paper shreds and insert the toy of your choice...you might want to add some candy too. :)

If the tins are too hard to find or too expensive, you could also use a little muslin bag.

Or pillow boxes that can be found in the cake/candy section of any craft store.

Ok...I have never done this before, so I have no idea if this will actually work or if I loaded and saved everything right.  But if you want the printable for either of these try the links below.  Fingers crossed on this one, but no promises. :)  I left a blank space so you can hand write the name.

Grenade Valentine

Wheelie Valentines

2011 Ornament

Every year I make a personalized ornament for each of the boys. Well, yesterday I realized that I had completely forgot this years ornament.  YIKES!  So, 2 days before Christmas I was frantically digging through my craft room (actually it is a craft closet that I pretend is a room) to see what I could come up with.  I also got a lot of inspiration from tons of embroidery hoop ornaments on pinterest.  Here is the last minute 2011 ornament...

I took some of my leftover canvas fabric from the Christmas bags and hooped it on an little embroidery hoop.   

 I ironed heat & bond to some brown dot scrap fabric and cut out the reindeer shapes out on my Cameo.  Iron the cute shapes on the canvas and embellished with ribbon and embroidery thread.  I cut the names and date out with t shirt vinyl, but I plan on going back and embroidering their names when I have more time.  Yeah, lets be honest...that will never happen...

Grady got an ornament too.  I love how it turned out and it looks just like him.

Merry Christmas Adam, Colton & Grady!

Reusable Christmas Gift Bags

I had bookmarked this idea from Disney Family last year and I knew it would be on my to do list for this Christmas.  I used some leftover canvas curtains I purchased at Ikea to make the bags, but drop cloths from the hardware store would be super cheap too.

…Disclaimer…

I am NOT a seamstress.  I can sew a straight line and that is about it and sometimes I don’t even do that very well.  So these instructions a BASIC.  If you are a seamstress or sew well, you might want to look away.

1.  Cut 2 identical rectangles and turn right sides together.  I made all different sizes ranging from a lunch bag size to pillowcase size so I could accommodate different size gifts.  Sew the fabric on 3 sides. Leaving one of the shorter sides open.

2. Turn down a hem on the side you did not sew…press and stitch down.  You should basically have what looks like a pillowcase.

3.  You can stop at step 2 if you want, your bag will be fine.  But, I decided to do one more step to make my bags more like gift bags with a flat bottom.  Press the side bottom seam to the center bottom of the bag.  You should have 2 triangle bottoms.

4.  Stitch a straight line a few inches up from the tip of the triangle.

5.  Trim off excess and press seams.

6.  Turn right side out and you should have a flat bottom bag!

7.  Iron on Heat & Bond to your fabric and then cut out some letters for each persons initials.  I used my Cameo to cut out the letters.  But you could just as easily trace letters onto the fabric and cut them out.

8.  Press applique letters on each bag.

9.  Depending on what type of heat & bond you use, you may need to stitch over the fabric…I did not do this step because the letters felt like they were stuck pretty well and I don’t plan on washing these bags.

10.  Reusable Christmas Bags DONE!  Just inset gift and tie with a cute ribbon.

I even made one for the dog…

So excited to have these bags as our new family tradition and it makes gift wrapping SO EASY!

Mason Jar Snow Globe

I loved making these cheap, easy, cute and fun snow globes with mason jars.  Some are filled with water and some I just made waterless.

What you need – mason jars, trees or figurines & ornaments (the trees are from wal mart 75 cents!), E-6000 glue, glycerin (found in the band aid section of wal mart) & glitter & distilled water.

1.  I got a stash of old mason jars in all different sizes at Good Will.

2.  Spray painted the ugly gold rims and lids with Krylon Hammered Metal Silver spray paint to make them look older and vintage.

3.  glue your trees on the underside of the lid and let dry COMPLETELY.

4.  Add glitter to your jar.  I used about 2 tsp in each jar…but it depends on your jar size

5.  Fill the jar with distilled water and a tablespoon of glycerin.

6.  Make sure the glue is dry before inserting your lid.

7.  Make sure your lid has a tight seal and then screw the tops on.

8.  Turn it upside down and hope you have a good seal…otherwise water will start leaking.

I made some of these without water.  Just added fake snow in the jar.

If you don’t feel up to making these, you can always purchase them from Anthropologie ranging from $25 – $38 dollars.  Crazy because these cost me about $3 each.

Fun Day Monday on Saturday

Jenny and I made a schedule change this week and decided to do a craft night on Saturday instead of Monday.  My sweet friend April and my mom joined us this time and we all came with too many supplies and too many ideas for just one night.

THIS felt leaf garland was cheap, quick and easy.  I love it!

I had some scrap wood and we each made one of these…

We just mod podged some scrapbook paper on the board, made some fabric flowers and glued on some clothes pins to clip the picture.  The wood was rounded on the top because it was scraps from a staircase, but it made the board look so much cuter than it was just straight.

Or it can also be a recipe holder…

Then we all made some fabric flower headbands.

We were getting really carried away with the fabric flowers and I was sticking them on everything.  Not sure if I will get the nerve up to actually wear this hat?

And we made these Christmas blocks out of more scrap wood. (THANKS Uncle Tommy for cutting all the wood!)  Just modge podge the paper on the wood blocks…so quick and easy.

I had pictured craft night to be all cute and organized with some fun food or cupcakes…but this was the ugly behind the scenes reality…OH MY GOODNESS WE MADE A MESS!  And yes, that is Adam in the corner making fabric flowers…you got a problem with that?

But it was soooo fun.  We already have a list of projects for our next get together.