Candy Flower Bouquet

Another quick and easy Teacher Appreciation gift or Mother's Day gift.  I made something like this last year for my Mom.  She loves the Dove chocolate candies, so I used those last year.  My daughter's teacher like Reese's peanut butter cups, so I bought a bag of those to make her a Mason Jar Candy Flower Bouquet for Teacher Apprication Week.

I used a mason jar, a bag of candies, double sided foam mounting squares, and some silk flowers.  Place a mounting square in the middle of each flower and attach a piece of chocolate.  Put your flowers in the mason jar and fill around the stems with the remaining chocolate.

I cut a scrap of paper to fit in the middle of the mason jar lid.  I added a little note, "How Sweet it is to be Taught by you!"  I taped the metal part of the lid to the outer rim to keep it in place.  Before taping the lid in place, I slid a piece of ribbon through the lid in order to tie it in place around the mouth of the jar.

Maybe Mom or your child's teacher would prefer real flowers!  I sent in this African Violet for another day of Teacher Appreciation Week.  I used a strip of paper with a note that read, "Teachers plant seeds of knowledge that grow forever."  I taped the two ends of that note to the end of skewers and stuck the other ends into the soil of the plant.  Super easy and a fun little banner to top your plant.  Need another idea?  Check out my Framed Word Art for an easy craft.  

Whatever you decide to do, make sure to tell the teachers in your life and Mom, Thank you!

Easter Snacks

Easter is almost here.  My kids are on Spring Break!  It's nice to have this time off, but it's also a bit tough to get anything done with them here.  Since there's no school this week, that meant we had school Easter parties last week.  I was in charge of organizing the party for my daughter's preschool class.  It didn't have to be anything too big.  Just a snack, craft, and a book to read.

What little bunny doesn't love carrots?  Especially when they're filled with cheese crackers!  I used Stauffer's Whales which we think are so much better than Goldfish, but any kind will do.  I've found Whales at Dollar Tree, Target and Big Lots.  Annie's bunnies would be perfect but they are a bit pricey when I had to make these for a whole class.

No snack would be complete without a little juice.  I cut yellow scrapbook paper to fit around mini juice boxes.  I taped it in back and they stayed in place just fine.  On the front I used sharpies to color in eyes and a chicky beak.  So cute!

The kids all loved how cute the food looked.  These would be the perfect table decoration for the kids table at your Easter feast.  Plus the kids would have something to snack on while waiting for dinner.

The kids also decorated their own Easter eggs at our party.  I found the plain white plastic eggs at Walmart and then let them be creative with markers and stickers.  See how I made my Doodle Eggs here!  It's fun to see how the kids all chose to decorate in different ways.  Still need to decorate eggs?  I love these doodle eggs since it elimates the big mess that comes with dying eggs.  Have fun and be creative!  Happy Easter!

Dollar Store Sock Snowman

I wanted to share a cute and easy craft project that you can do with the kids!  These adorable sock snowmen are easy to make, inexpensive and great little guys to use as decorations around the house!  I love Christmas, but there is always so much going on and things to do.  Crafts have to be quick and easy or they just don't get finished.  That's why these sock snowmen are the perfect holiday craft!

I found all of the supplies I needed to make the sock snowmen at the dollar store.  I used men's white crew socks for the body, kid socks for the hat, and twine to close up my sock.  One bag of rice should make about two snowmen, depending on how big your socks are.  I attempted to use the funnel to help pour in my rice, but it kept getting stuck.  It was just easier to pour the rice into the sock without it.

Begin by cutting your sock in half around the heel of your sock.  I was able to make two snowmen out of one sock.  It you are using the toe, just pour your rice in, tapping as you go to help settle the rice.  If you are using the top portion, turn your sock inside out.  Tie one end closed with your twine and then turn the sock right side out again.  Fill with rice and then tie the top closed with twine.

Decide how big you want to make your snowman's head.  Tie another piece of twine around his neck to give him his head and body.  You can trim your twine or tie it into a little bow.  Now it's time to take your little kid socks.  You could trim the end off, but I just started rolling it up at the cuff until I got the size I wanted for my little guy's hat!

After sliding his hat on, it's time to give him a face, maybe some buttons or add a scarf.  I used Sharpie markers to decorate and add the final touches.  Want to add a scarf?  Cut a small strip of fleece and tie it on!  My girls loved to make their own little snowman family.  We have them in all sizes to make each one a little different.

Monogram Tote Bags

My weekends have been all wedding, wedding, wedding lately.  The big day is next Friday for my sister-in-law.  In honor of the upcoming day, I thought I'd share some of the things we've had going on.  A few weekends ago we headed out to the beach to celebrate the Brides in a little get together and fun filled night.  All of the Brides and Bridesmaids stayed at our condo, so I wanted to have a little something for each of the girls in a little gift tote filled with things they might need for our bachelorette beach weekend.

I wanted to personalize the totes for each of the girls.  I bought these 13.5 x 13.5 tote bags in a 3 pack set at Michaels.  Always a good idea to use your 40% off coupon!  I bought white totes for the brides and black totes for all of the bridesmaids.

I found my letter templates online Here and printed them out.  Next, cut out the letters.  Iron a piece of wonder under big enough to fit your letter onto your chosen fabric.  Trace your letter, backwards, onto the back of your wonder under and cut it out.  This should make your letter face the right way after you cut it out.  

Now it's time to place your fabric letter with the wonder under onto your tote bag.  Iron it in place according to the directions on your wonder under.

Sew in place around the outside of your letter with a zig zag stitch.  This really secures the letter in place.  

You can pick either a complimentary color or a contrasting color for the zig zag stitch thread.  

For our bachelorette bags, I filled them with things I thought we might need out at the beach.  The brides got white flip flops and the bridesmaids got a tan color.  Everyone got an extra large plastic solo cup and a towel.  Of course we needed some snacks and gum!

The beach weekend was a great time!  So much fun hanging out at the beach, great time at dinner and more fun checking out New Smyrna beach night life!  These tote bags would be great for any party favor and could be done with smaller totes.  You could also make them for Halloween treat bags with Halloween fabric for the monogram.  How about a child's dance bag?  Travel toy bag?  Reusable gift bag?  So many versatile ideas.  Make yours in no time today!

DIY Halloween Costume Ideas

My girls love Halloween and picking out their costumes every year.  However, I'm not big on spending money on pre-made costumes from the store.  Even growing up, we always put together a costume out of what we had rather than buying it.  I think it's much more creative and fun to come up with an idea, rather than just buying something.  My youngest did recycle one of our dance recital costumes to be a mermaid!  Always nice to get a little more use out of these things since we spend so much $$$ on them!

Last year we all decided to dress up to go trick-or-treating.  That meant I needed an outfit as well.  I decided to go as Katniss Everdeen from the Huger Games!  This wasn't too hard to come up with out of items from my closet.  I had some green pants, a black tank, a green jacket and black boots.  I found a gold pin that resembled hers at Goodwill for $.99.  I also found a bow and arrow set at the Dollar Tree.  It was a bright color so I simple spray painted it silver.  For my quiver pouch, I made a long skinny bag out of black felt and attached a black purse strap to it.  Make sure to braid your hair.  Simple!

One of my daughter's wanted to go as Olaf from Frozen!  I did buy her this Olaf hat at Target, but it's something she can wear throughout the winter, and not just on Halloween.  We paired it with a brown long sleeve T for Olaf's stick arms.  Top that with a white sleeveless shirt for his belly.  I simply pinned on black felt circles to be his buttons.  It is also pretty easy to make a tutu skirt.  Sew or pin a circle of elastic to fit your waist.  Next tie strips of tulle onto the elastic until you have filled it.  Add a pair of white leggings and Olaf is ready to go!

My oldest daughter wanted to be a cowgirl.  We pulled just about all of it out of her closet.  She wore a plaid shirt over a tank along with her jeans.  Top with a pair of boots and a cowgirl hat and you are just about ready to go!  We found a bandanna for $1 at Walmart and added a rope lasso.  You could carry your own rope if you have some in the garage, but I found hers for just a few bucks in the costume section.  Ready to lasso some candy!

I'm all for buying Halloween costumes.  However, I usuallly buy them after Halloween when they are 75% off!  That way the girls can wear them for dress up all year long.  Sometimes they will pick something out of their dress-up bin to wear for Halloween.  That way they get to wear a number of different costumes in one year if we happen to go to more than one Halloween event!  Don't forget to check Goodwill for costume props and accessories.  That's where we got my husband's awesome cheerleading outfit!  I may even have one to match!!  Happy Trick-or-Treating!

Linking at:  Tatertots & Jello

Bridal Shower Ideas

A couple of weekends ago, I helped host a bridal shower for my sister-in-law.  Her wedding is going to be in November and they are having a rustic romance theme with some burlap, pallet wood signs, and baby's breath.  We decided to carry on this theme for the bridal shower as well.  Today I thought I'd share some ideas and pictures from the day.

Have a twitter account?  Give the guests a #hashtag to post with any picture in order for everyone to check out online later!

Painted bottles are a fun way to reuse old wine bottles.  Add a little puffy paint first and you can make them any theme you choose.

We had a Stock the Bar Party, so guests were asked to bring the couple a bottle of wine, liquor or beer.  Therefore, we thought it was quite appropriate to have a Mimosa Bar at the party.  Everyone loved it!  We had champagne in both plain and flavored varieties.  We also had blueberry, orange and cran-strawberry juices to make the mimosas.  We had strawberries and orange slices as garnishes.  My daughter enjoyed making her own non-alcoholic version with ginger ale and sparkling water.  Don't forget some fun stirrers!

We didn't want anyone to misplace their glass, so I made wedding ring themed drink tags out of plastic beads, chenille wire straws and cardstock cut into name tags.  Guests could write their names on their tags and twist their wedding rings onto their drink stem.  No lost drinks!

For favors, we made little individual mints with Mint To Be sayings tags.  The couple has a different version they are giving out at the wedding, so again we used a smaller version of their ideas for the bridal shower.  To make the labels, I used the vertical business card template in Word.  Place your wording towards the bottom of each card.  Print on cardstock and cut down to the size you need.  The top portion will fold over the back of your mint so that you can staple it in place.

We wanted everyone to share their wishes with the happy couple.  I cut pieces of paper in different shapes and sizes and set them out with a Wish Jar!  Guests could share any thoughts, advice, wishes or even date night ideas for the couple to read later.

For one of our games, we had all the guests wear little wedding rings.  If anyone said the words "Wedding" or "Bride" someone else could take their ring.  Whoever collected the most wedding bling won a prize!  

For game prizes, we went with another Stock the Bar liquor idea.  The couple might want to stock their bar, but the guests would love their own drink too!  I placed a mini car of Cherry Dr. Pepper in a mason jar.  I wrapped the jar with burlap ribbon as well as a skinny piece of colored ribbon.  Next I used string to tie a small bottle of Fireball liquor on and slid in a straw.  You could do this with any of your favorite drink combinations.

Finally, it was time for dessert!  Cookies & cream cupcakes and Raspberry filled lemon cupcakes were the perfect ending to this fun party!  Hosting a party this season?  Hope I was able to give you a few ideas for your next get together!

Linking at:  Tatertots & Jello