Ornaments, Tags, Present Toppers

We will be making these next week for MOPS. They can be either ornaments, gift tags or present toppers. The blue snowflake is an idea from Martha Stewart (love her!).

Bacon Onion Dip

Make your own YUMMY bacon onion dip!
This was another MOPS craft.
You could use these as hostess gifts as well.

Ingredients:

2 tbs bacon bits
1 tsp beef bouillon granules
1 tbs. minced onions
1/8 tsp minced garlic

Combine all ingredients in a small ziploc bag. Store in cool, dry place and use within 6 months. To make: Combine 1 cup of sour cream and 1 package of mix. Chill at least an hour before serving.

Friendship Tea

We made these at MOPS and they were a huge hit.
Not only were they cute in the jar but the tea tasted so good.
These would be great hostess gifts for the holidays!

I found the jars at Ikea (4 for $2.99) love that place!

In the jar layer the following ingredients in this order:

3 tbs. sugar
3 tbs. tang
3 tbs. lemonade
2 tbs. powdered tea
pinch of cloves
pinch of cinnamon

Tie a tag to the jar with these directions:
Pour jar of ingredients into a bowl and mix.
To serve tea, add 2 tbs. of tea mix to 1 cup of boiling water.

You can make almost 5 cups of tea with this little jar.

Fabric Backed Plate

These plates are super easy to make and sooo cute!  I will be making some for the neighbors and delivering them with Christmas cookies on top! 

 

What you need:

Clear plates (ikea has them for .99)
fabric squares
Mod Podge

spread the mod podge on back of plate.  Lay down one piece of fabric, cover with Mod podge and repeat with rest of fabric.  When done, let dry and then flip the plate over and cut the edges of fabric off from around the plate.

Hand-wash only!!!!

Friendship Soup

We made this with my MOPS group and not only does it look pretty in the jar
but it tastes SOOO good!! You can find the recipe here:

Friendship Soup Mix In A Jar

It makes a lot of soup!

Hello

Upside Down

Kelly had fun coloring under the table!!

Window Painting!

I found the best recipe for window paint

at Chasing Cheerios

It is super easy to make...

water, corn starch, dish soap and food color

I ended up just mixing a little of each until

I had the consistency of pudding.

Not only was it FUN but it was super

easy to clean up and my window is now spotless!!!

Decorative Blocks!

I LOVE making these blocks!!

Thanks to a Martha Stewart show that showcased

some great Etsy crafters....

I learned how to make decorative blocks!

Style 1

Style 2
Great for all occasions!
Now for my quick tutorial on how to make them...
First, have your handyman cut wood for you
I bought 4 different sizes of wood from Lowes and had
the mister cut them in different lengths

Really all that you need:

wood, paint, whatever stickers you want,

scrapbook paper if you desire, mod podge

Paint all sides of the wood.

I like to put two coats on .

Little tip...if you are covering your blocks with scrapbook paper

you can do a "quick" paint job and usually get away with one coat!

I prefer to sand the edges. Not only does it

give a rough, vintage, antique look it also

is great to cover-up any flaws :)

Add your stickers and cover with a coat of mod podge.

I love block letters...they can be arranged in so many ways!

Rock Painting!

This was a great boredom buster for Kelly!

She chose a bunch of rocks from our rose garden and painted them! Washing off her collection

Some of them are "animals" of some sort!

FUN and super easy project!

Paper Mache!

Paper Mache Bowls!

I found this cute idea at Kids Craft Weekly

So simple and easy.

Here is what you need:

colored tissue paper, Elmers glue, paintbrush,
plastic bowl and saran wrap

1. Cover the bottom of a plastic bowl with saran wrap...
I taped it to the inside of the bowl so it would not move or slide

2. In a separate bowl mix together
equal amounts of glue and water

I used 2 bottles of Elmers glue for 5 bowls

3. Tear tissue paper into pieces (size does not matter!)

I used 3 sheets for 2 bowls...next time
I will probably use 3-4 sheet per bowl

4. Paint a layer of glue mixture onto bowl. Cover with tissue paper and more glue.
Continue until you have used all the tissue paper.

5. Lay it outside to dry. Once you think the outside of the bowl is dry enough,
carefully pull it away from the plastic bowl and then gently pull off saran wrap.
Leave out for another hour or more so the inside can continue to dry.

A few things I learned for next time...
*wrap the bowls in saran wrap before. This was a "boring"
part for Kelly and she really could not help with this step.
*Tear some of the paper before as well. Took longer than
I thought and was too much for a 5 year old attention span.
However, let them do some of the tearing...
it is great for their fine motors!
*Only use plastic bowls! We used a few glass bowls and
the tissue did not slide off easy...I ended up tearing 2 bowls :(
*Use more tissue paper! More paper = thicker/sturdier bowl

Have fun!

Muffin Tin Meal

Muffin Tin Meal!

Kelly and Jake each had their own muffin tin lunch.

I was surprised at how much they ate and

the fact that Jake (17 mos) only tried

to tip his tray once!!For the little man...

hot dog, grapes, banana, cheese,

pirate puffs and cheerios

For Kelly...

hot dog, grapes, cheese,

pirate puffs and yogurt

Book Bag Tags

For Kelly's school backpack the teachers requested

that it be labeled with their name.

I thought about using a sharpie but

decided I wanted to find something that was not so permanent.

I found a great idea from Controlling My Chaos.

Fun book bag tags using badge holders.

I found the badge holders and book rings

at Wal-Mart for less than $3.00

I used double sided scrapbook paper

The measurements I used for the
background paper were
3 6/8" x 2 6/8"
The smaller paper on top (for her name)
I just cut smaller than the first one


I am a fan of foam layering tape which
gives your project a 3-D look.
I used this tape to adhere the name paper
to the background paper


Add ribbon and you are done!
I made one for Kelly's backpack, one for her
lunchbox and one for Jake's diaper bag!

Recycled Crayons

FUN!

I peeled most of the crayons but had Kelly

do a few tooWe used muffin liners but you don't have to
Break the crayons up into halves or thirds.
We tried a few fun combinations
as well as mixing some primary colors to make
other colors
(red + yellow = orange)
Bake for 8 minutes at 275 degrees

Fun!