Homemade gifts as of late ...

I've made a lot of homemade gifts lately. Unfortunately I haven't been taking pictures :) Here are a few I managed to capture before I wrapped them:

A scrabble-tile necklace for a little girl starting the first grade:

I let my daughter pick out the picture (in this case, a pink gerbera daisy picture that we found through a google images search) and we put it together on some stretchy fishing cord with some beads. Total project only cost me $2 in supplies since I already had most everything at home :) I love when that happens!

We paired the necklace up with some flower hair clips -- 6 is definetely not too old for some bling and bows in your hair!

My sister-in-law turned 16 this week. This gift was a challenge. Teens love storebought stuff (at least I did when I was a teenager!) and I didn't feel like I could come up with a jewlery/room decor gift that I was sure would fit her style. In the end I went for a "back-to-school" theme and used turqoise/lime green to pull it all together.

Here is a picture of all the goods:

I mod podged a clipboard, some binder clips and a mini notebook with matching scrapbook paper and then got some candy and pens/pencils to match.

I decided to bag everything up in cello bags so it would look less random ;) I think presentation is very important with homemade gifts. I wanted to put it all in a turqoise bucket/basket but I ran out of time, so I think the individual bagging and bag toppers helped :)

I'm working on Christmas gifts and more birthday gifts this month so stay tuned :)

Personalized game

I saw THIS tutorial for a personalized family version of Yahtzee and decided to give it a try. It wasn't that hard at all, and the directions she gives are perfectly detailed and so helpful. It made a fun gift for my game-playing sil.

I'm back.

Don't have a heart attack. Here are a few easy-peasy projects and recipes I've been up to lately:


These super yummy peanut butter balls. The original recipe is HERE. But I added chopped dried cranberries and followed some suggestions from of the recipe reviews to improve them a bit.

I made THIS banana bread into mini-muffins. I liked it even better this way. SOO good.

I finally mailed off my sisters very late birthday present which included this cute picture frame (found at the $1 store and then covered with fun paper), and a few idea notebooks, also covered with cutesy paper.

Remember those THREE sheets of paper that I bought that have since covered three picture frames and two sets of wood blocks for home decor?? Well, I'm not done with them yet. I needed some new magnets for the fridge so I whipped up some of the classic glass marble magnets. I don't think I'll ever get tired of those.

I wonder what else I can make out of that paper?? :)

Then my mother-in-law walked me through (i.e. held my hand and told me exactly what to do because I'm clueless) making a diaper/wipes holder for my purse or diaper bag. I loved this project and it was so fun to actually SEW something (rather than just blog about sewing projects others have done).

This is a picture of the holder with the changing pad. The changing pad was a pain -- we used plastic on one side and fabric on the other. I will never sew with plastic again! But it was worth it in the end:)

Here is the inside with the pockets and binkie holder:

And the finished project all ready to stash into my purse. Love it!

I still have a message board I'm working on and another birthday present in the works ...expect exciting stuff.

calender o' love

My friend gave me the neatest gift!! My very own February calendar made of wood blocks, paint and some festive scrapbook paper.

I imagine that most everyone has seen a calendar like this, where you position the blocks to show the correct date (the blocks have different numbers on each side). This turned out so cute. I would love to make one for each month!


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Doesn't get much easier than this...

My sister made these super cute valentines for a Visiting Teaching swap that I am in. I love the simplicity of paper covered Hershey's nuggets. It really is the easiest paper craft ever -- but look what a difference it makes to look at them wrapped up in pretty paper :)
I'll be giving some to my husband this year -- minus the cutesy clear box. He will love them just as much in a clear cello bag :D

Valentines anyone?

There are a TON of paper craft ideas out there that could easily be transformed into a sweet valentine for a friend :)
Here are some of my favorites -- cheesy valentine sayings included.
(All pictures are courtesy of the sites I link to)

Valentine Treat

I think these are absolutely adorable -- and so easy!! These cute little treats are actually individually wrapped lifesavers. These would be great for a class valentine exchange.

Strawberry treat

I really like 3D projects. This one holds a few small treats. You could easily do a line like "Valentine, you're Berry Sweet" Also, the link has the template you can download to make them yourself. If you have Cricut DS software there is a cut file you can download :)

Party Hats


Ok, so I realize these are supposed to be witches hats. I was thinking they would make adorable party hats -- think party favors -- or in this case, Valentines. How about putting a saying (on the bottom) like, "Hats off to you Valentine," or "Valentine, you're the life of the party"

Treat Bag

These cute little bags would be incredibly simple to transform into a valentine. All of the instructions are on the link. If you happen to have Cricut DS software I have a cut file for a bag like this with a window in the shape of a heart :D

Chocolate Holder

I really like this 3D box -- the perfect size to hold three Ghiradelli chocolates -- yum! The instructions are kind of involved so it would make a great Valentine for a close friend or family member.

homemade Christmas ideas

I think most people are in the same boat as me: working on a homemade Christmas. With all the craziness in the economy our family is really trying to focus on being frugal this holiday season. It has been really wonderful actually -- aside from the part about coming up with a homemade gift for my husband :( I know, it's only 10 days until Christmas and I am STILL empty handed. It's a long story, but the gift I was so excited about turned out to cost $50 to make -- the same as purchasing it at the store. I don't know about you guys but I thought making something from scratch was supposed to be CHEAPER. I'm trying not to stress about that so if you have ANY ideas for a homemade gift for a man PLEASE let me know.
Anyway, this Christmas I have seen a lot of great homemade decorations and projects that can be made from paper. I love these ideas because paper is inexpensive and a lot of people already have craft paper lying around the house. So here are some cheap but fun paper Christmas projects:
This first picture is from my home. I have these three frames hanging in my kitchen. In the fall they have beautiful photos of pumpkins and leaves, in the spring it is berries and in the summer it is colorful vegetables. I purchase the photos through sites like istockphoto.com so they are gorgeous and make for really colorful decorations. Well, this year I didn't want to spend $10 on pictures for my wall :) Unfortunately I have NO skills in still-life/creative photography. Instead I went the cheap route and purchased some cream paper and printed pictures off my computer. The two trees are actually from a font I downloaded on dafont.com and the reindeer is from google images somewhere. I actually ended up liking the simple look and it was a quick and inexpensive project.


I saw these paper ornaments crafted on How About Orange (I am always stealing her stuff for this blog). I saw that a friend and her spouse had made all of their ornaments for their tree with paper so I thought I would post these cute ornaments. Click on THIS LINK for her detailed tutorial on making them. I think if they were blue and white they would remind me of snowflakes instead of flowers.

Love this idea from Martha. Really, if I had a mantle I would be making these tonight. Luh-Hove them. Wouldn't this look beautiful with that shimmery scrapbook paper they have?? Here's the link. Now go make some.


Now for the most genious idea of the night. Just kidding. This is my version of a tree garland made of paper links :) We have a tree made up of unique ornaments and mementos -- even the silly pinecone I made in kindergarten. As such, I can get away with a homemade garland to decorate it :) I love the look of ribbon on a tree but this year we decided to involve the kids and use up all of my red and green scraps to make a simple garland. I would post a picture of the tree but, well we don't have one yet. I know, do I sound SO unprepared for Christmas or what?! Hopefully we will fix that by tomorrow ...
Stay tuned, I have several easy crafts that make great neighbor gifts coming SOON.

Homemade Ornament

I am really enjoying these sweet homemade paper ornaments! Check out Chick 'n Scratch -- she even has a video tutorial :)

More small gifts ...

I love this adorable idea from Chick'nScratch! These adorable little paper purses hold a Kit Kat inside! What a fun and simple gift for friends! It would be so easy to transform these for any occasion too.
Here is the linkyloo.

pumpkin party favors

So here is the results from my paper pumpkins on a stick :) I think it turned out really cute and it was really quick to put together. I simply hole-punched the bottom of the strips of paper so that I could slip them over the sucker stick and then used a little hot glue to hold it together on top. Fun stuff :)

Easy halloween craft

I'm always looking for new uses for scrapbook paper ;) Here is a really fun craft from Chic'n'Scratch that I really like:

Her version is really simple, but I bet you could have a great time with patterned paper, and a cute stem and curly vines :) Get creative -- even your kids could make a cute project like this. In fact, I'll be making a version of this around lollipops for church on Sunday, so I'll have to blog the results :) Enjoy!!

LINK HERE.

She slacks again!

So I'm seriously wondering if I should ever do a week theme again! Apparently I don't have the memory or dedication to blog every single day! Here (again) are two days in one of my love of paper!

This picture frame project was done by .... mE. I know, are you going to die of shock that I actually did one of the crafts that I'm blogging about? The whole project (including iron) cost less than $20! I purchased the craft paper to match my home, the $1 frames at Michaels Arts and Crafts (or maybe it was Roberts... they both have them) and then used some Mod Podge to adhere my paper. After the mod podge dried I painted the edges to match, "inking" the edges a little with the paint to blend the edges into the paper. If you look closely you can see that I am NOT a perfectionist and I did not sand my project to give the mod podge a smooth and finished look. My green one ended up with a few bubbles. I'm told you can pop those with a pin but I've never tried it and the bubbles aren't that noticeable. So there you have it ;)


Project Number 5 and the last for the week: Decoupage EVERYTHING in your home. Haha. Here is my example:


My daugher picked out this really really cheapo baby cradle (flimsy plastic) from the dollar store. It was covered in this beyond hideous pink and orange design which emphasized the cheap look. We grabbed some sparkly paper to match and covered up their nasty labels with some pretty paper and voila! a prett(ier) baby cradle for my daugher. This one was totally eyeballed so the lines aren't even that straight but she didn't care (and neither did I!) and I think it looks MUCH cuter now. So get creative! You never know what a little paper and mod podge can do!

For the Love of Paper Day TWO and Three

Ooops... so it's only day two and I totally slacked.
Here we go with day two AND three of my paper obsession:
Ok, so remember how I said I'm in love with homemade wall art? Here is another example. This beautiful art piece was made using PAPER. Yep, craft paper. It doesn't get much easier than that people! Here is her TUTORIAL.

Ok, I know this idea is old-school -- weren't we all using watered down glue in kindergarten to make pencil holders for our dads on Father's Day? But with the explosion of beautiful and sophisitacated papers out there I think it's time to revisit this kindergarten craft and make our dest a more interesting place to work :)
The picture is courtesy our pal Martha.

For the LOVE of Paper Day ONE

Ok, this is a little mod-art for me, BUT I think it could easily be transformed to match any taste. The best part? The materials are simply foam core board and paper. Yep, she actually uses sticky wall hanging-stuff instead of nails to paste this art peice on her wall. Don't be surprised if you see a ton of wall-art projects coming from me. I LOVE THEM. I think large pieces of art are generally wayy wayy to expensive, and it's so much fun to make something to fill up that empty white space.
There are so many ways this craft could be fun! I could def. see it in a dorm room or a modern living room.
Here is the tuturial.

Bring on an exciting week..

Ok so I totally have no clue when I turned into such a blog slacker! Well... hmm.. it could be the fact that my children HATE me being on the computer :)
Sorry for the lack of a Monday recipe. To make up for it I'm going to dedicate this new week (monday through friday) to my LOVE OF PAPER. I personally think that beautiful paper makes the world a better place and I'm going to prove it to you -- one project at a time!.
Here is a sneak peak at the excitement to come:
Simple project made amazing using cute paper and Mod Podge. What's not to love??
(photo from THIS site)

How fortune-ate I found this craft....

I love this adorable idea! I actually made them this morning as a surprise for my hubby. I happened to have a Chinese take-out style box and I put a tag on it that said "I'm so fortune-ate to have met you 5 years ago today!" The fortune cookies were really easy to make, though I didn't have cute patterned paper like the lady who made them in the picture. I used plain cream colored paper and they still turned out really cute. You def. need strong adhesive to hold them together though -- mine kept popping apart :)
Here is the simple TUTORIAL. ENjoy :)

dresser do-over

Ok, so it is seriously too late for me to be up blogging ... but what harm will ONE post do right? Ok, so remember back in the day when I blogged about paper covered furniture? And remember how I couldn't find ANY good photos anywhere online? Well, luckily curbly.com came through for me!

Check out this fun and funky dresser:

Ok, so it is a little bright and retro for my taste, but think how fun this would look in a girls room! WIth pink furry pillows no less ;) Check out the link and see the impressive before and after shots! Hooray for do-it-yourself projects :)

Photo holders

What a fun craft!! There are so many possibilities with these **simple** binder clips-turned photo holders! For example, what if you spelled "FATHER" and put in pictures of your kids with their dad -- great Father's Day gift. How about spelling "Christmas" and displaying the Christmas cards you receive in the mail. How about spelling "Gratitude" (as a Thanksgiving decoration) and putting up photos of all the things you are grateful for this year. Fun stuff! I'm sharing this idea now because school supplies are on sale everywhere -- so hurry go make some and then e-mail me the photos! :) Here is the link for the instructions.

Ways to say "Thanks"

I love paper crafts and I love simple projects that can be used as a "Thank You" gift. I have to bring a treat once a month for church as a reward for sisters who did the assigned reading before class, so I am always looking for simple inexpensive paper crafts.
I used this idea on Sunday and made a very simplified version of this project using paper I had on hand. I still think it turned out cute, though I used KoolAid over Crystal Light. I hate Crystal Light. Splenda taste makes me want to barf. Just thought I'd share.

Here is the link.




While this crafters' style doesn't necessarily match mine, I still love the adorable idea of using CD slips as cookie envelopes! I have a ton of those things (and I'm pretty sure they're cheap anyway), and this would be a really cute way to use them. Now if only my cookies looked as perfectly flat and round as hers ....
Ok, maybe I'll buy the cookies :) Here is the LINK.

Pretty game

I think this is a beautiful memory game from THIS BLOG. What a great way to use some of your favorite scrapbook papers! You could even put pictures of family members on the opposite side of the tiles -- help your children learn the names of their relatives while playing a fun (and beautiful) matching game!