Block-O-Lantern

A few years ago my mom went to a Super Saturday for her ward. They did these glass block crafts and painted snowmen on them. Well one of them cracked when they drilled the hole so they gave it to my mom for free! Probably because she always spent the most. Seriously, we would be down there all day and not even finish everything. So frustrating! Haha

Anywho, so my mom gave me this glass block. Now I always had in my mind to do what they did and paint a snowman, but while going through our Halloween decorations I found a strand of orange lights and then I got to thinking... I'll make it into a Jack-O-Lantern! So here are the steps to make your very own Block-O-Lantern!

What you need:
A glass block. You can buy them at Home Depot, or even Michaels sells them with the hole already cut.
A drill
Tissue paper
black cardstock
Mod Podge (Click to make your own)
A strand of lights

First you will need to drill the hole if you bought it at Home Depot. I didn't have to do this step so I can't help you out. Just be careful so you don't crack it. Then stick your strand of lights inside.

Here is what it will look like... 

Origianlly I was just going to paint the face on, but I'm no artist and I really didn't have the right tools. Plus the wire of the lights are black so you could really see them and it looked horrible. (Sorry no pic)

Instead I decided to mod podge some tissue paper on to hide the wiring. I used white because it is what I had on hand. If I could do it again or when I make my mom one I would do orange tissue paper. That way when it is off it would still be orange. Also, maybe you could just do white lights and it'd still be orange. 

This is what it should look like. I just did a single layer, but you could do more if you wanted. 

 I cut out his face out of black blingy/ shiny scrapbook paper. You could really use whatever you have. Then mod podge it over the tissue paper.

And now lit up! I love it. I think it turned out so cute. Cost me nothing and took me like 20 minutes to make. The hardest part was cutting out the face. I used white tissue paper with orange lights. I'm thinking if you did orange paper than you could just use plain lights. That way too when it's turned off it will still be orange.

Let us know what you think, and feel free to email us your attempt at your own Block-O-Lantern!

~CJ

Halloween Countdown

The first Halloween post of the year!!! Halloween is coming and maybe your kids are excited already. My little bug is too young to feel the excitement of loads of candy approaching! To help kids know how much longer until they can indulge in chocolate goodness, I've made a Halloween countdown. Here is a Gibson original!

I'm so excited with how it turned out and I love that I came up with the idea all by myself. I even figured out how to print in a circle and everything. Here is a basic list of what you will need to make your very own Halloween countdown!

Orange paper (apparently some cardstock is too thick to print on so be careful)
Black paper
Stove burner cover (can buy them in a 2 pack at Dollartree I used the smaller one.)
Black Paint
Ribbon
Magnet sheet
Hot glue gun
Mod Podge (click to learn how to make your own) 

Sorry, I didn't take pictures along the way

First thing to do is paint your stove burner cover black. At first I just painted the edges, but it helps the paper stick if you paint the whole thing. It took 2 coats.


While that is drying you can print out your Days until candy paper. Confession, I made this a few years ago. I will work on getting a template up here.

Or you can make your own. In openoffice use the Fontwork gallery and type in what you want it to say, then change the shape to a circle. And mess with it until it's what you want it to be. Sorry I can't have it be easier for you!

Ok so print it out on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of orange paper. Then trace the paper around the burn cover. Then cut. It helped to cut a little smaller than the actual cover.

Once the paint is dry you can mod podge the orange onto the cover. Here is where you may want to make changes. My ink smeared a little bit. I'm not sure if there is anything you can do to make it not smear. So you may want to just glue it on or something? Or maybe just do mod podge behind the paper and not on top. It's up to you. Or as you can see in the picture it's not that noticeable.

Next you can cut out your numbers from the orange paper. I don't have a fancy cricut machine so I just went to my local scrapbook store and used their die cuts. I did 1 1/2 inch numbers 0-9 and did 1-4 twice so you could make 11, 22 etc. (I only did #4 twice because it was on the same die cut. I don't see me ever counting out more than 31 days, but who knows.)

Next cut your black paper into squares. I cut them into 1 1/2 x 2 inch squares. Then glue your numbers to your black squares.

Cut your magnets and stick to the back of your black squares. 

 Then bunch a knot  around your main ribbon with multiple ribbons. There is a trick where you only tie one ribbon and just lay the others inside the knot.Hopefully I can explain it.

Lay out one ribbon down and lay the others on top of it. Then tie the bottom ribbon around your main ribbon.

 It will look something like this except around your main ribbon...

Like this.

Then when that is done hot glue your ribbon to the back of the cover. The cool thing about this is all the extra numbers stick to the back of the cover. I would suggest storing in a ziplock bag when storing over the year.

There you have it, your very own countdown!

 

Email pictures, I'd love to see how yours turns out!

~CJ

Summer Bucket List

Wow it has been awhile! Whoops! My new shop is keeping me pretty busy.

I just created a Summer Bucket List for my family. It will mostly be me and my little bug, but we'll involve Daddy when we can. 

This is our first year making an actual list. It should be fun and keep us even busier! We'll just cross things off as we do them. 

Mother's Day Coloring Sheet!

I love giving my Mother's a homemade card for their special day aka Mother's Day! Now that my little bug is older he is able to make it for them. Here is a coloring sheet so your little one can color their own. Click here.

~CJ

General Conference Coloring Sheet

What color is President Monson's Tie? This is great for little ones who are too young to really know what is being said. This can also be used for both days. Hope your little one likes it! Sorry it is not the best quality. Here it is!

Walking on Cloud 9!

Since I was able to quit working and be a stay at home mom I've been trying to come up with different ways to bring in some income. My best bet so far was making the car seat cooler. I am planning on selling them in a craft fair in November. However, since it is hot now I thought I'd give them a try on a facebook cosign group. A friend of mine saw them. and asked if I would want to make 100 of them. I thought she was kidding. She wasn't. She co-owes a mom discount website and they are in need of a vendor to sell carseat coolers. 

I'm accepting this challenge and am so nervous! I have NEVER EVER done anything like this! So I need your help in choosing the fabrics I do. Here are 14 that I have at my house right now that I really liked. Pick your favorite boy and girl one and the top 2-3 of each will be what I sell. (Boy is the Left stack, girl is the right 2 stacks, some are gender neutral)

Leave a comment with your favorites! And thanks for your help!

~CJ

Fabric Lables

I have been a crafting maniac right now! As you may or may not know I'm preparing for my first craft fair that will be taking place in November. Seems like forever far away, but I think it will creep up on me before I know it. It is a small show that is at The Fountain of the Sun Retirement Center. Sounds weird doing a show at a Retirement Center, but I figure they have to shop for Grandkids right? So I am selling kids stuff. Hopefully it does well.

To make me seem more legit I decided to give labels on my projects a whirl. I googled DIY fabric labels and there are tons of tutorials I'm not going to go through the process with you. Basically you just put fabric on Freezer paper and run it through your printer. 

I got one of mine wet to see if it will hold up through a wash, but really I don't think many people will be washing my products. So anyways this is how mine turned out...

Does it look familiar? That is my water mark I use on all my pictures! It's so exciting because it cost next to nothing!

And in case you are wondering what I'm making here is the final product... A car seat cooler! This is the one I made for my Niece Leah!

Want one for your self? I am pre selling them since it is HOT outside (atleast in AZ it is). If you would like one contact me craftsbycjg@gmail.com. For now it will be local orders only. Sorry.

I would LOVE feedback on this! I am going to be asking for a lot of opinions in the next several months. Between pricing, display ideas, and settling some nerves I need your help!

~CJ

Egg Button Art

Is it just me or is button art all over the place? I've mostly seen it with monograms and hearts. I wanted to incorporate it in my house someway, but wasn't sure how. I liked the monogram, but wanted something unique. Brainstorming upcoming holidays I decided to make an Easter egg.

What you need:

1 frame. I bought the frame from Michael's that they sell for a buck.

Paper cut to a little bigger that 4x6 inches. I went for a green to kind of act as grass...

Buttons- white for the outside and then different colors for the design. I wish I had a more variety of size, but I still think it turned out nice.

Glue dots to put the buttons on with (click to learn to make your own)

Paint if you used a wooden frame.

The first thing I did was paint the frame. I choose a pastel purple color because it is Eastery and it wasn't used in the buttons.

While the frame is drying cut your paper.

Arrange your white buttons in an egg shape and glue dot in place.

"Decorate" your Easter egg and glue dot. 

I did 2 coats of paint.

Then add your paper to your frame and display.

This would be a fun activity to do with your kids. And it looks so nice displayed! Love it!

Be sure to follow me!

~CJ

Sesame Street Party: favors

This will be the last post on the Sesame Street Birthday Party I threw for my little 2 year old. This one will focus on the party favors.

I pre-filled the loot bags with a couple of sesame street stickers. I bought them at DollarTree and then cut the sheets into more pieces. They also got a fruit snack. During the party (before I handed out the favors) I labeled each child's bag with an address label with their name on it. If you are going to have a loot bag label them otherwise you get kids crying over which one is their. Last year I prelabeled them, but then some kids didn't show up so I had a lot extra. So my advice is to take a few minutes during the party to do it.

After games I let them pick out a prize and then at the end I let them choose 3 more prizes. Here is what I had available.

- Cars
-Necklace
- Tops
- Slinky
- Glow sticks
- Plastic Snakes
- Wands

In addition to the little toys they got through out the party each child also got a piece of chalk.

The chalk was a summer product at Walmart. So in January I was able to get them $.50 for a 4 pack! The little baggies were leftovers from last years puppy party and the labels were free printables from On One Hand. She has different numbers so you can base it on the age of the Birthday boy/girl!

The adults weren't left out either. Each family got to take home a cookie mix in a jar.

Wow horrible picture

Here is the recipe for the cookie mix just add one layer at a time packing lightly to keep it from mixing.

• 1 cup - all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon - baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon - baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon - salt
• 1 cup - firmly packed Brown Sugar
• 1 1/4 cups - oats
• 1 cup - chocolate chips

I found that you didn't need to pack it as tight as other recipes say. The ones that I did pack had a lot of headspace. After that I just cut up from fabric from my stash and tied with ribbon.
I made the cute cookie monster label you can get print  here. On the back of Cookie is the instructions to bake. (For personal use only). I think these would be cute for any gift not just Sesame Street themed. Cookie Monster is loved by all!

Hope you got some ideas for your party!

~CJ

Sesame Street Party: Games

This is post 3 on the Sesame Street Birthday Party I threw for my 2 year old. You can see the invites and food on past posts. This will be the games that we played.

At first I was considering canceling the games I had planned because the kids were having so much fun playing on the little playground we have in our backyard. So I asked a few of the kids of they wanted to play some games and they enthusiastically said yes! Here are the games I had panned. Some we played, some we didn't. I had way too much planned. Parties go by so fast!

Zoe Necklaces- 

As guests arrived I gave each child a bowl that had stuff to make a snack necklace. We used fruit loops, pretzels, peach rings, and cheerios. To make the necklace I used embroidery floss and ties one end to a pretzel. The threading end I taped so it would be a more stable and act as the "Needle". Some kids made them so just ate them and other took it home with them to do later.

Big Bird Treasure Hunt- What you will need is Bird seed, prizes, blindfold and safety pins (Optional). Get a bowl or container (I used a plastic shoe box) and put the bird seed in it. Then either put the prizes into the bird seed or safety pins. I did safety pins because I didn't want the toys to get dusty with bird seed crumbs. Then each had a turn to see how many clothes pins they could find. Kids 5 and older were blindfolded. Then they got to pick out a prize. I had slinkys and spinning tops. The Slinkys were a huge hit!

Cookie Walk- This game was inspired by Cookie Monster. Growing up at the school carnival they would always have a cake walk. It was so exciting to win this huge cake to bring home. Then in high school years at Church Halloween Parties they would do the same thing, but make it personal and do a cupcake walk. I loved that idea. I wanted to incorporate it somehow into the party and so I did a cookie walk! If you don't know how to do a cake/ cupcake/ cookie walk here is the jist of it. Each player stands on a paper with a number on it. They walk around in a circle to music and when the music stops so do they. Then a number is drawn and whoever is standing on that number gets to pick put a prize. To make the game go faster I did colored paper so each time 2-4 kids would win. We played until everyone had a chance to win. We had several cookies for them to choose from.

Keep Super Grover in the Air- We didn't play this one, but I think the kids would have enjoyed it. I had a blue balloon blown up and drew a Grover face on it. Then we would have just tried to keep it in the air as long as possible.

Oscar Trash Toss-  This one is all over the internet. Basically throw crumpled paper into a trash can.

Elmo Says-  Simon Says, but Elmo style. You know since he talks in 3rd person all the time anyways.

Duck, Duck, Goose- In honor of Ernie's love for his Rubber Ducky we were going to play duck, duck, goose. Not enough time though.

I didn't want the grown ups to be left out of the fun. So I came up with some games for them to play.
Bert's Paper Clip Collection- 

My bug's favorite muppet is Bert so I wanted a game to honor the boring pigeon lover. Did you know Bert collects Bottle Caps and Paper Clips? He does! So I thought the perfect game would be to have people guess how many paper clips he has in his collection. What did the winner get? Their very own bottle cap collection... a box of Bottlecap candy. Love this? I have a printable for you...


I also, came up with a word scramble game. This is really hard if you aren't watching Sesame Street these days. There are a few new characters. Here is the printable, there is 2 on a page so cut it in half. And to make it easier on you an answer key:)


This was so much fun! Sesame Street is a great theme to have for a party. Really the sky is the limit! Hope you like my ideas. Next monday will be my final post and I'll share the party favor I did! Everyone loved it!

~CJ