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: 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

Sesame Street Party

I just threw a Sesame Street Birthday Party for my 2 year old! He's getting so big. He had the time of his life. Unfortunately I didn't get the best pictures as usual. Here is the problem with planning parties I'm finding. Only I know what is going on so I have to do everything and I don't think about things like pictures when I'm doing a billion other things. No matter what, I never have enough done before hand.

So here are some pictures from the party. Hopefully I can explain enough without the pictures. This is the overview. I'll do a couple of more specific posts.

***Update- You can see games here.

Painting with Cars

(This weekend was my little bug's Birthday / Party so I'm pretty wiped out. Luckily I've had this in my drafts so you still get a post today. Check back next week for the party details)

I know this idea has been around forever, I'm not inventing the wheel here. I just want to share how easy it is and well worth it! A few weeks ago I was watching my Nephew. It was the first time it was just him. I've usually had his older sister too. So I wanted to do something fun and BOY! He really enjoyed it and so did my little bug! We painted with cars!

Supplies

Paint (I just did acrylic)

Cars (I didn't want to use our nice cars, so I bought a pack at DollarTree just for painting with [3 for $1])

Paper (just used plain copy paper)

We had aprons on just in case

Also we had a clear cloth down to protect the table. That was back when I wanted to keep the table clean. Now I realize it's his art table let him have fun with it. It is now colored in crayon.

Just let the kids dip and drive on their paper. It looks pretty cool and the kids loved it!

 What is your favorite thing to let kids paint with?

Want another idea, see the post of painting with lettuce.

~CJ

Advent Calendar

Is it just me or is the last week of November going by real slow? One day it's Halloween and then the next it is Thanksgiving and then a month later it is December 1st. Anyone else feel that way? I think a lot of it had to do with Thanksgiving being early this year. I'm just so excited for Christmas season! I've tried putting off most Holiday things until December. Don't get me wrong our lights and decorations are already up, but waiting to get truly into the spirit. One more day!

I"m really excited this year because I made an Advent Calendar. It starts on the first, but we put it up today.

 To make this I just cut a 4x4 square out of Christmas Paper that came in a holiday pack that I will never use, I really like it for this though. Then I Printed off the numbers from studio diy. I cut those out and attached to the front with homemade glue dots.

Then I made up a little calendar and starting filling in which activities would be good for what days. I tried to keep the weekdays easy and do the more time consuming ones on weekends. After everything looked good I handwrote the activities onto the paper. I also added the date we should be on incase we get behind.

This will be tomorrows card...

I just hung them up with clothespins (I wish I would have painted or covered with paper). I hung them up with 1 in the middle and switching off. This way when we get to only a few days left all the numbers aren't to one side, they will be in the middle.

Here is our list of things to do. We'll see how much we stick to it. I'm planning on doing some posts on the activities.

24- Play with Nativity Blocks
23- Christmas Devotional on BYU tv
22- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
21-  Play with Magnet Nativity
20- Make a homeless bag and give it to someone before Christmas
19- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
18- Watch Muppets Christmas Carol
17- Go to Tucson Zoo
16- Go see Temple Lights
15- Watch Mickey's Christmas Carol
14- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
13- Make and Decorate Sugar Cookies
12- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it.
11- Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas
10- Watch Home Alone
9- Watch Mr. Krugers Christmas
8- Drive around and look at Christmas Lights
7- Visit Santa at Bass Pro Shop
6- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
5- Watch Home Alone 2
4- Open Christmas Jammies and watch Polar Express
3- Go on Polar Express
2- Watch Elf
1- Play with Magnet Activity
0- CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope this gave you some ideas! I know this time of year is hectic with all that is going on. But make sure you take the time to enjoy it! Happy Holidays!

~CJ

Hair Bow Holder

Here is the before, I got the frame at Goodwill on their Dollar Thursdays so yep the frame cost me $1! The picture is horrible, but the frame was fine...

BEFORE

I tried to match the colors of the room. Hopefully I did ok. The first thing I did was spray painted the frame. I did about 3 coats. The spray paint cost $2-$3 I think.

Next I hot glued the ribbons on. I wanted to make it a little unique so I did the ribbons diagonal instead of Horizontal of verticle as I have always seen with these. It was hard to get them tight because I tried gluing to the inside of the frame instead of the back because in my mind it would look better against the wall. (It will make more sense in the next picture... hopefully) I tied a bow out of a piece of tulle and hot glued it to the bottom. It adds a nice touch I think.

AFTER

See the ends of the ribbon? They are on the lip where the backing of the frame would sit instead of just the back. Not sure how it would turn out just doing the back.

I then hammered on some saw tooth hooks so it could be hung up. These are like $.97 at Wal-Mart for a pack of 5.




Total cost= $5 tops The ribbons I already had and the flower clips I made awhile ago. Not a bad project!


~CJ

Craft Day 2012

So I am planning a craft day on Saturday, November 17th from 10am to whenever you are finished. If you are near Mesa and want to participate let me know. I will have everything you need to finish the craft that day. If you sign up, please please please don't back out! If you can't come you can still get the kit and make it on your own. Any questions let me know. Here is the list of craft kits I am doing (will be updated as I complete each craft):

Burlap Banner= $3 for 6 pieces .25 for each additional piece

Choose between white, tan, red, black, brown, orange and green. I will have different colors of paint to choose from, but if you want to make sure I'll have something specific let me know what color you want. Also what word you are planning to spell out just so I can make sure I have the letters ready. The pieces will be pre-cut at around 2.5 x 3.5inches.

Santa Frame= $2.50 (5 Available)
3.5in. x 3.5in. opening. Buckle will most likely be different. This was just something I had on hand. (If you don't want to do Santa you can something else you have in mind.)

(I'm going to distress this more, just wanted to give you an idea. Different ribbons available.) 

Burlap Bubble Wreath: $10
Choose between white, tan, red, black, brown, orange and green (refer to picture above)
I'm thinking I will pre-cut the Squares... maybe!

Wonderful time sign= $5 (5 available)
Not done with this one either (Shocking I know). Just picture this on a almond colored board. Will have hooks on the back to hang up on a wall.

Magnet Board= $8 3 magnets included (3 Available!)

Tons of paper to choose from. There is also holes drilled at the top and ribbon to hang it up with.

Snowflake Wreath= $10

I need an order form by November 14th! If possible, I'd love to receive payment then. Or atleast half...

You can email form to craftsbycjg@gmail.com or fb or just give it to me in person.
Click here for an order form

I'm really excited and I hope you are too! Feel free to invite a friend or 2!

~CJ

Homemade Mod Podge

I found this out and feel like it is my duty to share the word with everyone. I found this at Life in Rehab. I guess it should be common sense that mod podge is just glue and water, but I never would have had the guts to try it myself first.

All you need is water, school glue (like elmers) and a jar. Take equal parts water and glue, pour in a jar, and shake, shake, shake!

It works great! Costs like 50 cents. I made it for a favor for a craft day I hosted along with a foam paint brush. It was a nice touch.

I'm probably going to reference this post a lot since I have already done so much with it.

So go ahead, give it a try. Let us know what you created with your super cheap homemade mod podge!


~CJ

Candy Bar Boquet

***OLD POST

Are you still needing a gift for your sweetheart for tomorrow? It's not too late, this project only took about 15 minutes once I had all the stuff gathered.

When Valentine's Day first started appearing at the store I noticed this candy bar bouquet. It looked like a fun gift for a guy. Immediately I thought I could so make that! So I took another challenge, could I make one cheaper than what they sell them for??? I decided to make one for the hubs!

 This one was at Fry's. It came with a vase, Dove chocolates, 3 Hershey candy bars and one of those $1 box of chocolates that aren't really any good. (personal opinion). Then of course the cellophane and ribbons... This particular one was selling for $16.99.

So I set out to make mine... I gathered all of my supplies. Most of it I already had on hand I just needed the candy and the foam to stick it into.

 You will need:

Vase

Skewers

tissue paper or cellophane (I only had tissue paper on hand)

tape

foam (I bought it from DollarTree)

Your filler I used the Crunch heart shaped chocolates.

Candy Bars I decided to use 6- Crunch, Kit Kat, Heath, Almond Joy, Hershey Almonds, and 100 Grand

Ribbon or tulle

First fill your vase with your filler. I didn't even use an entire bag.

 

Then tape your skewers to the candy bars. I was first rolling the tape and sticking it on with the stick in between, but later they would fall off so I would recommend just putting the tape on the normal way.

 Then get your form. I never realized how messy these were.... then stick your candy bars in. I laid it down because it wouldn't stand up straight.

 Wrap your form with tissue paper and stick into vase... Tie with ribbon or tulle.

Then add your own personal message

Now for the price match up. I think it might be close...

Frys to buy it was $16.99.

For me to make mine cost was...

candy bars- $3.75

filler candy- $3 have some left

foam form- $.50

Total= $7.25

However that was because I had a majority of the stuff, If I were to buy everything estimated cost would be...

Vase- $3 (cheap ones from Walmart)

Skewers- $1 for a pack of 100

Candy filler $3

Candy bars $3.75

Tape $1

Tissue Paper $1

Total= $12.75 

You would still spend less AND have stuff left over. Sounds like another win to me! I understand that when buying from stores you are also paying for the employee to assemble it together for you, but seriously this took very little time. 

So if you have a craft closet like mine you could make out with a nice gift for your valentine for under $8. Are it is more customized because you can choose his favorite candy! This would be perfect for any gift giving holiday or just because. Men love surprises too, almost as much as chocolate:) Or maybe I'm thinking of me...

I've also seen these with different snack items that would be fun also. Do you have any out of the ordinary bouquet ideas? One of these days I'm attempting a fruit bouquet.

~CJ

Burlap Banner

I cannot wait for Fall! I may or may not have gotten some of my fall decorations out today. I have made my first fall craft of the year and I'll share it with you today. I made a Burlap Banner!

I've been wanting to make something with Burlap for awhile now, but never knew what. Burlap seems so fall-ish to me so I thought a banner that said "fall" was perfect. Here is what you need to make your own.

Lettuce Stamping

I know this isn't a new concept, but hopefully if you run across this it may remind you and you can try this with your little one(s). My little bug really enjoyed it!

Today while making lunch I was cutting up lettuce and saw the stub and thought we should do some stamping. I've been wanting to do more "arts and crafts" so this was perfect. Besides instead of just throwing it away, why not play with it first.

More after the jump..

Toilet Paper Tube Necklace

I found this website this morning called no time for flash cards. It has a ton of activities for kids. I came across one using toilet paper tubes. I love this idea because we need toilet paper, but don't really have a use besides filling with dog treats for the dogs. (Need another idea for dogs see this ice lick I made)

Here is what we did. Color the tubes. My little bug was kind of young for this. He mostly just stuck the colored pencils through the tube. Still a fun activity. We even added some stickers!

 Then I cut the tubes into 4 pieces and strung them onto a piece of yarn for a necklace. He loved it!!!

 He especially loved to crumple them together. 

He actually ended up wearing this all day!

~CJ

Bridal Shower: Invites

My Best Friend is getting Married!!!

I can't believe it, it's so exciting. Amy and I have known each other forever! Literally! At least for me since she is almost a year older than me. Our families have been friends since before we were even thoughts in our parents minds. I am so happy that she has found her eternal companion!

With the excitement of her getting married, I get to throw her a bridal shower! I love throwing parties! Amy is the only girl in her family so growing up I was like a sister to her. So as her Sister I want this party to be over the top. (My over the top and your over the top are most likely different. My over the top is probably your thrown together in a few hours.)

The shower is tomorrow so I have been SUPER busy getting things ready. It is looking awesome! Can't wait. So to get you as excited as I am, here is a look at the invites I made!

She decided she liked the colors Yellow and Brown for her Bridal Shower. It seems a little baby shower-ish so to make it less baby I found some coordinating paper with purple. So the colors are going to be yellow, brown and purple as the accent color.

I love how they turned out. I made 40 of them and between paper, envelopes, and recipe cards it was less than $10. Gotta love it!

We are doing a door prize at the shower. Sent with the invitations was a recipe card. Guests were asked to fill it out and bring it to the shower. We'll randomly pick 1 or 2 and that guest will win a prize! Who doesn't need more recipes? And better yet who doesn't love prizes?!?! Hopefully there is a lot of participation.

 I found the recipe cards at Michaels, regularly $1 on clearance for $.50, plus I had a 15% entire purchase coupon. I bought 3 so there would be a variety of design. Artichoke, lettuce, and mushrooms. At first I didn't really like them, but they are kind of growing on me.

 All the paper was bought at Joanns for 5 for $1 plus 20% off because they were doing college discount! Love it!

Stay tuned for the rest of the Bridal Shower Details!!! Hopefully I'll get right on them and not post pone it too much.

~CJ

See more about this shower
Decorations

Linked to these parties

Swap Week- File Folder Games

IT'S FINALLY HERE! 

I'm finally prepared enough to start swap week! Which just realized is crazy since I'm throwing my best friend's bridal shower this weekend!!! It's ok I'll manage. I don't want to put this off any longer.

The first swap I want to tell you about is a file folder game swap. 12 people participated and we each did 2 different games. We did this in 2 parts to make it a little easier. We each made 12 of 2 games and then swapped. It was a lot of work, but so worth it! The kids loved it! (***I did not make all of these, so I may not be able to add a link to all of these sources. I will do my best.)

To start off some things I learned about making file folders...
- Print out the pieces that do not attach to the folder on card stock. Yes it's laminated, but it still needs the extra thickness.
- If doing a swap and making a bunch, start with plenty of time. They do take time to make, very tedious!
- Cheapest place to laminate is Teaching Stuff. Ask to sign up for their membership program it's FREE and makes it cost way less! It was cheaper than using contact paper, someone in the group had their own lamination machine and this was still cheaper.

Plan of Salvation- This is a nice churchy one and good for FHE. Just matching up the pieces.

Let's go on a picnic- This is a little game. You each are an ant and are racing to see who can get to the picnic first. We haven't played this one yet. I'm trying to come up with something to use instead of dice.

 Chick Chick Boom Boom- LOVE this one. This was one of my favorite books growing up so I find it fun. Would be fun to use while reading the story too.

Counting Ladybugs- Counting the dots and matching the number, both spelled out and the number.

Race Car Counting- I did this one. Matching the number with the dots. What I like is the colors are different so really you could do numbers or color matching. I tried doing a magnet, but it wasn't strong enough. Any tips or something other than velcro it's so noisy.

Sequence Cupcakes- Arrange the cupcakes from smallest to largest

Dino Egg Match- Match the egg with the same color dino. This one is kind of tricky because some of them are really similar colors for a kid.

 Decorate an easter egg- (not sure if link is correct) This one is one of my favorites. She used some type of thick double sided tape so the pieces stick anywhere you want.

Down on the Farm- Fun for teaching animals. Match the head with the tail.

 Search for Shapes- Not sure where this one is from, I couldn't find it anywhere. It's fun though. Spin to see which shape to go to. First one to finish wins.

Achy Breaky Heart- Match the colors together

Heart Counting- Match the number with the same amount of dots.

 Heart Patterns- Not sure of the source. Match up the shapes that have different patterns on them.

Noah's Ark- Either fill up the ark with the animals or put opposite velcro on the same animals and pair the animals together. I think I might add a piece of velcro on the boat because not everyone fits in the windows.

 Don't Eat Pete & Tic Tac Toe- This is a twofer! On the left is a tic tac toe game. Since it's laminated you can just use a dry erase marker. The right is don't eat pete!

Shape Sorter- A bunch of different objects, match the shape with the object.

Match the Shapes- Yep just like it says, match the shapes.

 Snakes and Laddes- Based on the childrens game.

Family Garden- LOVE this one! There are slots for the carrots and beets to go into. So fun!

I hope this list gives you some ideas of some great file folder games. It is so much easier to mass produce. Gather up a few mamas and have them do this with you. I bought the file folders at Dollar Tree 10 for $1. Some people found them cheaper at Wal-Mart, but I think it varied by store. Cost for laminating was like $10-12 for all 24 games.

Have fun! Your kids will thank you:) Come back tomorrow for another swap idea.

~CJ