April 2016

Labels: giveaway

Labels: giveaway

These are super simple and customizable! Here are the materials you need:

Next is the Bottle Cap Snowman!

These ornaments are a perfect gift for teachers, and the kids can help you make them!

I purchased plain bottle caps online, spray painted them white and hot glued them together with a strip of ribbon down the back that also serves as the hanger. Embellish as you like! So easy!

The next handmade ornament is one we handed out to children in our church as a Christmas gift. 

We have over 120 kids so we needed something that wasn’t going to break the bank. We each took turns using 40% coupons at the craft stores to buy wooden doll pegs and a pack of wooden stars and crafting wire to complete the look. The baby was made from a regular size peg that was sawed just above the leg split. Add a little twine for a bow and a hanger and you’ve got a sweet remembrance of the true meaning of Christmas.

Last but not least are some awesome Sprinkled Glass Bulbs!

I’m sure you all have see the glitter glass bulbs, right? I still want to make some of those, but I saw these on Pinterest and had to try it out. I love the look of the sprinkles because it reminds me of the Christmas cookies we make every year!

Here’s what you need:

• Glass bulbs- I used smaller ones, but any size will work. In fact plastic may work too
• Varnish- this will be your sticky stuff!
• Funnel
• Sprinkles

After you remove the cap from your glass bulb, place about 1 TBSP of varnish in your glass bulb. Turn it around in your hand until the entire inside is coated.

Turn the bulbs upside down in dixie cups to let the varnish dry and become tacky. Wait at least 30 minutes. For me an hour was good amount of time. You don’t want the varnish to still be so wet that nothing sticks. It will create a big mess!

Once the varnish has had time to dry, use your funnel to add your sprinkles. Swish it around until all your bulb is covered! I can’t wait to try this with other sprinkles.These would be so cute for birthdays and other holidays too! 

I hope you found something you can create and enjoy! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Handmade Ornaments that are part of the blog hop today!

Connect with us! You can find us here:

Valerie made it into Week Three of So You Think You’re Crafty!  Thanks for your votes and support!  Please take a minute when you’re done here to check out this week’s projects and vote for your favorite.  The theme is “Knock-Off”, and there are some great projects as usual!

Next, I wanted to take a minute and let you know about something fun we’ll be doing next week.  You know how you buy craft supplies for a project and then you have leftovers?  And what usually happens to those leftovers?  If you’re like us, they usually sit around in your house, taking up space.  Well, we’ve challenged ourselves to come up with a project using ONLY supplies we already have.  We’re calling it our “Make It Work” series (thanks Tim Gunn!) and will be sharing our projects the last week of each month.  If you’d like to play along, we’ll be hosting a “Make It Work” party on our Facebook page all next week, so get out your leftover supplies and start crafting! Now, on to today’s post: A friend of mine on Facebook re-posted a picture and recipe for a simple homemade brownie mix. I knew I had to give it a try and see if it was worthy of a Making My Own post! I even happened to have everything on hand which made this much cheaper than a box mix!

For the dry mix, combine:

1 Cup sugar

1/2 C flour

1/3 C cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

When you’re ready to make some brownies, just add your eggs, oil and vanilla as indicated on the bag and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. This makes an 8×8 pan of brownies, which my kids DEVOURED. I made another batch this weekend and added about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and they were even yummier! I wouldn’t say these were the best brownies I have ever had, but considering the cost of these vs. the box mix, I would make these every time. Yum!

Connect with us! You can find us here:

These are super simple and customizable! Here are the materials you need:

Next is the Bottle Cap Snowman!

These ornaments are a perfect gift for teachers, and the kids can help you make them!

I purchased plain bottle caps online, spray painted them white and hot glued them together with a strip of ribbon down the back that also serves as the hanger. Embellish as you like! So easy!

The next handmade ornament is one we handed out to children in our church as a Christmas gift. 

We have over 120 kids so we needed something that wasn’t going to break the bank. We each took turns using 40% coupons at the craft stores to buy wooden doll pegs and a pack of wooden stars and crafting wire to complete the look. The baby was made from a regular size peg that was sawed just above the leg split. Add a little twine for a bow and a hanger and you’ve got a sweet remembrance of the true meaning of Christmas.

Last but not least are some awesome Sprinkled Glass Bulbs!

I’m sure you all have see the glitter glass bulbs, right? I still want to make some of those, but I saw these on Pinterest and had to try it out. I love the look of the sprinkles because it reminds me of the Christmas cookies we make every year!

Here’s what you need:

• Glass bulbs- I used smaller ones, but any size will work. In fact plastic may work too
• Varnish- this will be your sticky stuff!
• Funnel
• Sprinkles

After you remove the cap from your glass bulb, place about 1 TBSP of varnish in your glass bulb. Turn it around in your hand until the entire inside is coated.

Turn the bulbs upside down in dixie cups to let the varnish dry and become tacky. Wait at least 30 minutes. For me an hour was good amount of time. You don’t want the varnish to still be so wet that nothing sticks. It will create a big mess!

Once the varnish has had time to dry, use your funnel to add your sprinkles. Swish it around until all your bulb is covered! I can’t wait to try this with other sprinkles.These would be so cute for birthdays and other holidays too! 

I hope you found something you can create and enjoy! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Handmade Ornaments that are part of the blog hop today!

Connect with us! You can find us here:

Valerie made it into Week Three of So You Think You’re Crafty!  Thanks for your votes and support!  Please take a minute when you’re done here to check out this week’s projects and vote for your favorite.  The theme is “Knock-Off”, and there are some great projects as usual!

Next, I wanted to take a minute and let you know about something fun we’ll be doing next week.  You know how you buy craft supplies for a project and then you have leftovers?  And what usually happens to those leftovers?  If you’re like us, they usually sit around in your house, taking up space.  Well, we’ve challenged ourselves to come up with a project using ONLY supplies we already have.  We’re calling it our “Make It Work” series (thanks Tim Gunn!) and will be sharing our projects the last week of each month.  If you’d like to play along, we’ll be hosting a “Make It Work” party on our Facebook page all next week, so get out your leftover supplies and start crafting! Now, on to today’s post: A friend of mine on Facebook re-posted a picture and recipe for a simple homemade brownie mix. I knew I had to give it a try and see if it was worthy of a Making My Own post! I even happened to have everything on hand which made this much cheaper than a box mix!

For the dry mix, combine:

1 Cup sugar

1/2 C flour

1/3 C cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

When you’re ready to make some brownies, just add your eggs, oil and vanilla as indicated on the bag and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. This makes an 8×8 pan of brownies, which my kids DEVOURED. I made another batch this weekend and added about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and they were even yummier! I wouldn’t say these were the best brownies I have ever had, but considering the cost of these vs. the box mix, I would make these every time. Yum!

Connect with us! You can find us here:

In light of the recent bombing at the Boston Marathon, I’m grateful to live in a country where such things are NOT common.  When they do happen, we pull together as a country in support of each other– at least for a little while :).  I know it’s a little early, but I’m feeling patriotic.  And of course, we have both Memorial Day and the 4th of July coming up over the summer.  So, you will have plenty of time to make this Vinyl Land of Liberty Sign.

I used Silhoutte’s Premium Vinyl in Navy Blue, along with some red I had in my stash, for this project.  I love the premium vinyl- it adheres so well to whatever project I’m using.

Here’s a quick and easy tutorial:

1.  If desired paint your frame.  I loved the distressed look of this frame.  The tan one cost $9.99, and the white cost $19.99.  What?!?  I bought the tan and added some white paint, rubbed on with a paper towel, then sanded smooth.  That’s an easy $10 savings!  (Plus I used a 40% off coupon to save even more.)

2.  Cut your vinyl.   You can download the .studio file here if you so choose 🙂

2.  Apply your transfer tape and place your vinyl on the glass of the frame.  Be careful– I HAVE broken glass this way.

3.  Scrape it firmly to adhere to your surface.  Then remove transfer tape, leaving the vinyl behind.  Don’t mind the green folder- I just put it there so you could see the design on the glass.

4.  If you are layering two colors like me, just keep your transfer tape trimmed tight to the shape so you don’t have to deal with unnecessary sticking.

5.  Put the glass back into your frame and place a white piece of paper behind it.  Replace the back and

that’s it– easy peasy!  Laura thinks this is minimalist but I kind of like it that way.  Feel free to embellish however you’d like.

If you don’t want to make this in vinyl, you can download it as a free printable.  Right click the image to open it in a new tab or window and save it to your computer.  Or click here to download the file.

Connect with us! You can find us here:

Don’t they look amazing?

These bars are half brownie, half cookie, and 100% delicious!

 Click here for a printable version of the recipe, or just copy this down!

¾ Cup Butter, softened

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 ½ C flour, divided

2 ½ tsp salt

1/3 C cocoa powder

1 TBSP butter, melted

1.    Cream softened butter and sugars until fluffy.

2.    Add eggs and vanilla to sugar mixture.

3.    Add 2 ¼ cups of flour, and salt to sugar mixture, mix well.

4.    In a separate bowl, mix cocoa powder, melted butter and remaining ¼ cup of flour.

5.    Divide batter in half and add the cocoa mixture to one half.

6.    Mix in M&Ms, or desired toppings.

7.    Spread the chocolate batter in a greased 9×13 pan.

8.    Add the cookie dough batter on top and spread as evenly as possible.

9.    Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Now go and make them, you won’t regret it!

Connect with us! You can find us here:

Don’t they look amazing?

These bars are half brownie, half cookie, and 100% delicious!

 Click here for a printable version of the recipe, or just copy this down!

¾ Cup Butter, softened

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 ½ C flour, divided

2 ½ tsp salt

1/3 C cocoa powder

1 TBSP butter, melted

1.    Cream softened butter and sugars until fluffy.

2.    Add eggs and vanilla to sugar mixture.

3.    Add 2 ¼ cups of flour, and salt to sugar mixture, mix well.

4.    In a separate bowl, mix cocoa powder, melted butter and remaining ¼ cup of flour.

5.    Divide batter in half and add the cocoa mixture to one half.

6.    Mix in M&Ms, or desired toppings.

7.    Spread the chocolate batter in a greased 9×13 pan.

8.    Add the cookie dough batter on top and spread as evenly as possible.

9.    Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Now go and make them, you won’t regret it!

Connect with us! You can find us here: