A Simple, Practical Dinner Gift Basket

Some friends of ours are in the middle of a stressful move, and to add a little support, we made a simple dinner basket up for them. I think this would be a great gift for a new mom, if someone has family in the hospital or just needs a bit of lovin'.

I just layered spinach salad (heaviest ingredients at the bottom!) in a large mason jar, added a pretty loaf of bread and some poppy seed dressing on the side and popped it into a basket. Simple, beautiful and helpful. I'll definitely do this again!

Ingredients, in order from bottom up:
Mushrooms, sliced
Grape Tomatoes, whole
Grated Cheddar
Hard boiled Egg (one and a half), sliced
Bacon, diced
Lots of baby spinach

Will keep in the refrigerator for 2-5 days depending on how fresh the ingredients are.

Easy Homemade Lip Balm Recipe

This lip balm is the best. I've tried all sorts of expensive natural chapstick and been disappointed every time. When I started using my homemade stuff, I was able to go from constant, all day application to once in the morning and once at bedtime!

 

Ingredients:

2 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp beeswax

1 vitamin E capsule

5-10 drops of sweet almond oil 

*optional 5-10 drops essential oil such as sweet orange, peppermint, vanilla or cinnamon

Melt it all in a pan (be clever and use one that pours well) on low heat. If using essential oils, add after removing from the heat. Pour into containers.

Tips:
 *I bought a big brick of beeswax from a honey supplier. I use a sharp, heavy knife to shave off the wax and then pack it into the teaspoon. You can also buy beeswax in pellet form (much easier to deal with) or if you don't want to buy a lot of wax, a chopped beeswax tea light will do.
*Lip balm containers can be found at some health food stores or on Etsy
*I quadruple the recipe to fill approx 12-0.15oz containers (standard twist up size)

Tutoria Upgrade- Making Your Own Labels the Smarter, Faster Way!

I had a very small amount of time to make a very large batch of labels and needed to make the process more efficient. I cannot believe I didn't think of doing it this way before.

Instead of cutting my ribbon or twill tape, I just ironed 5-6 onto the ribbon at a time. SO much faster! It keeps them way more organized for storage and cuts down on the amount of ribbon wasted. I've included the (extremely popular) original tutorial beneath for convenience, but with fewer steps, since I'm getting smarter.

Materials:
Iron on Transfer Paper (I just used the t shirt kind)
Printer
Scissors
Iron
Ribbon, twill tape or whatever you like best. Just make sure it's iron safe!

1.) In Keynote or Powerpoint, arrange your logo in rows. I printed out a few test sheets to get my labels just the right size. FLIP YOUR IMAGE! I may or may not have forgotten this step and wasted a sheet of transfer paper. If you're using a Mac, use keynote. Powerpoint for Mac has no 'flip' feature to make your logo a mirror image. Print onto transfer paper according to package directions.




2.) Cut out your transfer paper labels and position as many labels as your iron will cover (I managed 4-6 at a time) on the uncut ribbon or twill tape.

3.) Iron those suckers on. Like crazy. When you think you might be scorching the ribbon, wait another few seconds! Make sure to read the transfer paper directions so you know what heat setting to use and if you should use steam or not. I peeled off the paper backing at random intervals as a sort of quality control, to make sure they were stuck. The rest I left on when I rolled it back onto the spool to protect the tags.

Isn't that sooo much easier?

DIY Mother's Day Flower Pots

Here's a pretty, handmade gift for the mom in your life this Mother's Day. It cost us under $15 and can be finished in a lazy afternoon.

Supplies:
Clay Pot; big enough to hold your herbs or flowers
Dirt
Permanent Marker
Chalkboard Paint 
Masking Tape
Optional: acrylic paint for a border

We taped off a rectangle with the masking tape and painted it with blackboard paint according to the directions on the bottle. When it was dry, we peeled off the tape and wrote on the opposite side with Sharpies. Once we had planted our basil, we added the white border and left it to dry.

Picnic Perfect Lemonade by the Jar

This lemonade is the best I've ever made and it only takes 3 steps, 2 ingredients and I made 4 jars in less than 5 minutes. I'm thinking I could even add a shot of vodka for hard lemonade for a grown up BBQ!

Supplies & Ingredients:

250 mL Mason Jars (as many as you'd like!)
Measuring Cup and Spoons
Sugar
Lemon Juice
Hot (or boiling) water
Ice Cubes

1.) Add 1 heaping Tbsp of sugar and an inch of hot tap water to each mason jar. Put on the lid and shake to dissolve the sugar.


2.) Add 30 mL (2 Tbsp, 1/8 cup) or lemon juice to each jar.

3.) Pack full of ice cubes and screw the lid on. It will be perfect by the time you unpack your picnic lunch, just give it a little shake before you open it!

If you plan on drinking it right away, add 2-3 ice cubes and fill the rest of the way with cold water. Yum!

Adorable New Hat for the Winter

Giddy Up and Grow has so many beautiful things. I've been drooling for quite some time, but I don't usually wear hair accessories, so I've been waiting and watching. When I saw this bow, I couldn't resist any more, especially since I knew exactly how I wanted to use it: as perfect embellishment for a crocheted hat!

No-Sew Franklin and Mrs. Turtle Costumes

We had a super-amazing church costume party on the weekend and here's how we went:

No sewing at all- my favorite. I cut the bellies out of fleece (you could use felt) and used quilters temporary spray glue to stick it to green shirts. I drew the lines with a brown fabric marker. Franklin's hat is a team hat that I covered with felt and adhered with the same spray glue.

My Mrs. Turtle necklace is made of purple ribbon and a wooden circle painted white.  Felt or a button would work for the charm as well. I used sticky velcro on the ends so it can come apart and hot glued the circle onto the ribbon.

We both had turtle-shell backpacks. One is a vintage ninja turtles backpack (doubles as a candy bag!) and the other was a handmade fleece kijiji find. I think one could definitely be made from fleece, hot glue, straps and stuffing in no time.

My little Franklin is just too cute!

Easy-Peasy DIY Wall Art

I found this genius idea somewhere on the world wide web and had to use it immediately! We're slowly re-decorating our house and there was a perfect unused spot on the wall for these little gems. All you need are embroidery hoops and fabric. So easy, and so darling!

Easy Wooden Alphabet Blocks Tutorial

Here are a few lost photos of some ABC blocks I made for Daniel when he was learning his letters. He still loves them and now he's using them to spell. They're so easy to make!

Supplies:
Jenga Blocks (I used a no-name brand and saved a few dollars)
Permanent Marker, preferably non-toxic
Paper
Optional-Stencils, if you don't like drawing!

1.) Plan your simple drawings for each letter on the sheet of paper. Simple is best. Here are the objects I used, in alphabetical order:
Apple, Balloon, Candles, Duck, Egg, Fire, Gingerbread man, Hat, Ice cream, Juicebox, Kite, Leaf, Mittens, Nose, Oven, Pencil, Queen, Rabbit, Stars, Teepee, Umbrella, Vacuum, Watermelon, Xylophone, Yarn, Zipper.

2.) Start drawing! It only took me one evening for the whole project because I made everything as simple as possible. I drew the upper and lower case letter with a picture of an object starting with that letter on one side, and left the other blank. I repeated the capital letter on both ends of the block as well.

3.) I used a few of the extra blocks for simple sight words as well. Right after I gave Daniel his blocks, he saw a coupon (he had just turned 3) and said "Mommy, why does this paper say 'off'?" I just about fell over! I wrote one word on each side On/Off, Mom/Dad, Open/Close, Yes/No, Go/Stop, Hi/Bye etc.

This is a great gift because you can personalize it for your child with color, drawings and sight words that you think they'd enjoy!

10 Minute Piggy Bank

Who doesn't love a great "no skills required" craft once in a while? This little project reminds me that simple, re-purposed materials are usually the most intriguing for a child.

A few months ago bought some lovely organic cream that came in a glass bottle (it makes me wish I enjoyed home-coffee as much as store-coffee so I could buy more cream).  I just couldn't resist the container and when I was done I didn't want to put it into the recycling bin, so I gave it to Daniel to play with.

My Dad was visiting and watching Daniel 'plink' the coins into the bottle when he suggested we make it into a real piggy bank. He just cut a little slot into the lid with a utility knife and it was done. It's been a favorite toy for quite a few months now. Good call by Papa!

Quiet Book #2- Around The House

Bring something cool and handmade to a baby shower, and you can bet you'll be making it again! Here's my second attempt at a simplified quiet book. I just couldn't find another 9 hours in my schedule to make a second 8-page book! I made it in an 'Around the House' theme, since children love to mimic adults more than anything.

Since it was a smaller book, I added a memory matching game (the bag is sewn in) on the inside cover. I think it fits with the theme of household activities, and little one can pretend to wash them, or add clothespins for some extra fun. The flowers button off for practice buttoning, just like the button snake. It's a great time-killer!

A simplified version of the oven and cookies, and a new addition. I adore this little garden, with it's package of seeds and watering can! I used fabric markers all through this book to speed the process up. It's so much faster than embroidering, and more fun too.

I love this idea for practice with brushing or braiding. It's a bit girly, and I usually try to make them unisex so they can be passed down, but I couldn't resist! The back cover has a pocket to add pieces for any of the activities, or paper and pencil.

Sending it for a test run to make sure it's as cool to a kid as it is to me!

Mini I-Spy Doll AND Tummy Time Quilt

Here is the mini I spy quilt I made for my goddaughter. Part of the Baby Shower gift basket. I made it big enough for tummy time, but small enough to use as a doll quilt when she's a little bigger, about 32"x 32".

I adore I spy quilts, but I really hate quilting, so mini is perfect! I decided to round the corners, use a zig zag stitch and embrace the quirkiness of my quilting skills. At least on the second attempt, the squares all lined up!

I've also finished my first I Spy crib quilt for sale. This one is not quirky at all! Just plain cute. I'm debating about listing it in my shop. I really love the cotton candy colors!

And last but not least, this little gem that's already been snatched up! I used a simple, self binding method and I think it may have won me over to quilting! It's so much easier.

An Updated Tutorial: Making Your Own Beeswax Cloth for Reusable Sandwich Bags

I've been surprised at how many people are finding me as they try and figure out how to make their own beeswax cloth. It's very simple, but time consuming and messy! I felt that since this has been such a popular subject I should update the tutorial with better photos and instructions.

Materials:
Beeswax (I have a 1/2 lb chunk from a local producer, but you can also use a pure beeswax candle)
Pan
Paintbrush (I use a fan shaped brush. Once you use it for beeswax, that's all it will be good for, so don't spend a lot of money or use your favorite!)
Cotton fabric

1.) Melt a small amount of beeswax, over medium-low heat, in your pan. Once it's melted, keep the burner on at low heat.

2.) Dip your paintbrush into the beeswax and gently sweep across the fabric. You'll start with very light pressure and then firmer as it cools. When you dip again, ensure the hardened wax melts again. A very light coating is enough. The beeswax will soak through on the fabric, so it's best used as a liner, with the beeswax side facing in.

This is the perfect material for reusable sandwich bags. Most that you see are lined with petroleum products, unless they are 100% cotton. The beeswax is also better at keeping food from drying out than just plain cotton.

Washing Instructions:
Handwash in cold water with mild dish soap. Warm water will melt the wax! I prop ours open to dry on our dish rack and they're good to go by morning.

Quirky Little Dress from Old T-Shirts

I found a book called DIY Fashion at the library with a tutorial for a t-shirt dress. It looked adorable so I added it to the stack. Turns out the directions were terribly unclear, with no photos or helpful tips on shaping. Sigh.

I fiddled around quite a bit and came up with something but there are a few strange tucks and it's a bit quirky. It's the first piece of clothing I've made myself, though, so I'm excited about the possibilities!

Sewn Climbing Bear Toy Tutorial

I am endlessly impressed by Made by Joel. He makes such beautiful, simple, wonderful things! I recently came across his Climbing Gorilla tutorial and found myself wishing (again) that I knew how to woodwork. I looked around for a tutorial for someone who doesn't have tools at home and I couldn't find much. And is I was looking, someone else might be too. Here's what I came up with:

Supplies:
Wool Felt (I used an old, felted sweater scrap)
Beans
Yarn or String (aprox 3 feet)
2 Medium Sized wooden beads
Pattern

1.) Print the pattern at the bottom of this post (should be 4.5"x4.5", or desired size) and cut it out.

2.) Cut 2 bears out of felt.

3.) Pin and sew along dotted lines. Leave gaps right through the middle of the arms for the string. Make sure to backstitch when stopping and starting. Notice that the bear has dotted lines from shoulder to armpit? Sew there! That's so beans don't wiggle out of his middle and through the string holes. Be sure to leave a gap to stuff him!

4.) Fill the bear with dried beans or dried peas. Don't pack them in too tight. If he's too heavy it will put unnecessary stress on your seams...and who wants to re-sew anything?

5.) Sew opening shut.

6.) Feed string through the holes, top to bottom. Tape the ends with scotch tape to make it easier! Tie beads at the ends of the string.

7.) Done! Now you hang it on a door know and practice wiggling the strings back and forth to make the bear shimmy up and down!

And here is a no-sew, no-tool version.

Hegehog Themed Baby Shower Gift

I've outdone myself! My first baby gift basket was cute, but this one is to die for!

It all started with finding this adorable wooden hedgehog clock at Superstore. I knew it would look perfect in my goddaughter's room, although I was tempted to keep it for myself!

I found this great hedgehog softie tutorial and whipped one up right away in Michael Miller's Hegehog's color scheme.

I added a Bagsket to hold it all, and although the colors won't match baby's room, it will be a great tote for car toys.

Next month, I plan on hosting a second shower for a different crowd and I have a few things up my sleeve for my little peanut. Can't wait to show you!