Watercolor Gift Tags

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For me crafting is a big stress reliever. It is almost therapeutic for me when I am feeling really stressed or overwhelmed with life, to pick up some yarn and a crochet hook, or a paintbrush, or go sit at my sewing machine and make something. Sometimes when I am feeling that way I just want to make something without really thinking too much about it, just sit down and create something. At those times one of my favorite things to do is get out some paints and just play around with them. 

Beginner Craft Kit Gift Idea

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My girls love to make things and be creative. As we were thinking about Christmas gifts this year we decided that we really wanted to focus on gifts that would allow our kids to be creative and develop their own talents, rather than just more toys to add to the toys we already have.

Christmas Candy Bottles

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As I was thinking about Christmas craft projects and ideas a couple of weeks ago I sat down and looked through some of my craft supplies to get some inspiration Sometimes looking through materials and supplies will spark an idea. It is one of my favorite ways to get project inspiration. Sometimes it will be a specific item that will give me an idea, sometimes the color of something, a material, or a combination of those. Sometimes when I feel like I have no creative ideas I like to go wander through a craft store and I am bound to find inspiration as I walk through the aisles.

Paper Gift Box with Tissue Paper Flower

It is once again time for the Create with Cricut Challenge and this month we were challenged to make something with tissue paper. I have to admit I was a little nervous about this one. I had not yet tried cutting tissue paper with my Cricut and even though I had been told it could do it I was a little hesitant to believe it. Tissue paper is just so thin and delicate. I imagined it sticking to the mat and not coming off, or tearing really bad. I was happy to find that none of those things happened. Instead it cut perfectly without any problems.

Grad Gift Card Holders

This week I am joining a bunch of other creative bloggers to share End of the School Year projects we made with our Cricut machines. Anything from teacher gift ideas, to graduation, to summer vacation. I decided to make a super simple graduation gift idea.

So Sweet Milk Bottle Valentines

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I found these little glass milk bottles on Oriental Trading and I thought they would be perfect for a little Valentine gift. They were really easy to put together and I think they would make a cute gift for teachers, neighbors, or friends. 

Gift Ideas to Encourage Creativity in Kids

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I have been meaning to get this post up for a while and now Christmas is just around the corner. The last couple of years as it gets close to Christmas and I am thinking about the gifts I want to get for my kids I have felt like it was really important to find some gifts that did 2 things, first, did not use technology. I don' t have a problem with technology in general and I think that there are some great things that use it and even fit my second requirement, however my kids can be a little addicted and if I let them they will sit and play video games or watch YouTube videos of other kids playing video games (something that I do not understand at all) for hours. I feel like for my family it is important to find ways to unplug. Second, I feel like it is really important for me to find gifts that encourage creativity in my kids. Whether that be toys, games, books, or art and craft supplies I feel like it is really important to encourage kids to be creative. I thought I would compile a list of gift ideas that I think fill both requirements.

Crocheted Baby Doll Set

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I have been wanting to make a baby doll and doll set that included a moses basket style bed for a while, with 3 little girls in our house dolls are pretty popular around here. I recently got around to making the doll as well as a bed, blanket, and pillow set. I think it would make a really fun Christmas gift for a little girl, or a gift for an older sibling getting a new baby brother or sister.

Cricut 101: How To Use the Cricut Write and Cut Feature

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There are so many different things that you can do with the Cricut. The first thing that comes to mind is cutting, whether it be vinyl, iron-on, cardstock, or something else. It is a cutting machine so that is obviously the main thing that it does, but did you know it can do a lot more than just cut? It can also write, and score. You can even do one of those things at the at the same time as you cut, without ever stopping the machine. There are also other features like print and cut. If you haven't tried some of these features you may wonder how they work. Today I want to show the write and cut feature and how you can use it to make some little tags. It is a really easy project that has a lot of practical uses and once you learn how to do it you can use it to make lots of different projects. The tags come in handy for gifts. I have also use them to label crocheted hats with the sizes. Also, I will have a video showing how to do this soon, I was working on one but had some issues so as soon as I get it ready I will add the link here.

Reversible Superhero Capes

These kind of capes have been around forever but they are so easy to make and kids love them so they are one of my favorite gifts to make for kids, especially little boys. A few months ago I decided to share a pattern for how I make my capes over on the Geeky Mormon but I never shared the link here. When I originally posted the tutorial there it was right before Salt Lake Comic Con held their FanX event and I thought it would be an easy cosplay type option for little kids, in fact my youngest daughter wore one the day that we took the kids. Now with Comic Con next week, Halloween not too far away, and Christmas not long after that I thought it would be a good time to post about them again. Batman and Superman is obviously the most traditional cape but my girls love superheroes as much as my boys do so I decided to make a girl version with Batgirl and Wonder Woman too.

Easy Oly-Fun Tooth Fairy Pillow

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My son is at the age where he is just starting to lose his teeth, he lost his first a couple of months ago and then just the other day he lost his second. When he lost his first tooth the tooth came out and then he lost it, literally, he couldn't find it to put it under his pillow. I showed him some pictures of tooth fairy pillows and told him that I could make him something like that to help him not lose the next one. Besides, the tooth fairy that comes to our house has always thought that taking a tooth out of a pocket and replacing it with money seems like it would be way easier than trying to dig around under their pillow to find a tiny little tooth while not waking them up. He liked the idea but I didn't really get around to it right away and kind of forgot about it until the other day when he announced that he had just pulled out tooth number two. It was actually right around bedtime that he reminded me that I said that I would make him a tooth fairy pillow and that he needed it right now. I brought him in my sewing room and together we came up with a really easy design that I could make quickly and he picked out colors and everything. Not too long after that he had a little tooth fairy pillow to stick his newly lost tooth in and he was ready to go to bed.

Crocheted Phone or Tablet Stand

Yesterday I shared a new pattern over on the Fairfield World Site and I thought I should share it here too. This time of year is all about Dad's and Grad's, men and teenagers/young adults, probably the two hardest groups to make handmade gifts for. I have no problem at all coming up with gift ideas that I can make or new babies, little kids are pretty easy too. Feminine gifts are also easier come up with but something handmade and at all masculine is a little bit more difficult. I wanted to try to come up with a gift idea that could work for either of those groups, either as a Father's Day gift or as a gift for a recent grad. One thing that it seems like those two groups have in common is their love for  technology. I have seen some pillow type stands that can be used for propping up phones, tablets, or e-readers and thought maybe that would be a fun project. Not too long ago I featured a knitted version in a link party, a little different style but similar idea, and I have seen other knitted versions as well as sewn versions. This is my crocheted version.

Kids Crafts- Leather Bookmarks

This month Alli from Made with Happy has put together a series of Kid's Crafts from Around the World. When she asked for people who wanted to participate I was really excited to sign up. First of all I thought it sounded like a really fun idea. I have always enjoyed learning about different countries and cultures and I think kid's crafts are a fun way to do that. In fact, a couple of years ago I spent a summer doing "Mom School" with my kids using an around the world type theme. We did some fun projects based on the different countries we were learning about. We made little passports, learned about the different flags, did little craft projects and cooked food from different places. It was a lot of fun. This kind of reminded me of that. The other reason why I was really excited was because I knew exactly what country I wanted to do.

Cookie Box Snowmen

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Today I am going to share a Christmas gift idea that is cute and really easy to make. It is perfect for stocking stuffers or neighbor gifts or any other time you need a small gift. I will probably be saving the ones that I made for my husband's family Christmas party where every year we put together Christmas bags for the kids. We have pillowcase type bags for each of the kids and we bring a bunch of small little gifts and treats, dollar store type stuff, and I thought these would be great for that. I made them using small boxes of Nabisco cookies, there are a few different types to choose from, I got OREO, Double Stuf OREO, and Nutter Butter cookies. They also have Chips Ahoy! cookies and RITZ Crackers in the same small boxes. I got them at Walmart, they were right by the checkout so they were really easy to find. I think the store I went to was out of Chips Ahoy!, at least I didn't see any, and I wanted cookies instead of crackers so I didn't get the RITZ but any of the boxes should work. There are some variation in the sizes of the boxes but not a lot and it is easy to work around. 

Minnie Mouse Inspired Bag

A couple of weeks ago I made Mickey and Minnie Inspired Pillows for the Disney Inspired week of So You Think You're Crafty. I had a little bit of fabric left over from the pillows and the same weekend that I had to turn in my project we also had a birthday party for one of my nieces who was turning 3. Turns out she loves Minnie Mouse so I thought I would make a little gift for her using the leftover fabric. This Minnie Mouse inspired bag is the gift that I came up with for her. 

SYTYC Week 6- Handmade Gifts + Giveaway

After winning last week's "Disney Inspired" round of SYTYC I am in it for another week. It is down to only 3 of us, the 2 who make it through this week will be competing in the final round next week. The theme this week is "Handmade Gifts". It was kind of a hard one because a gift can be pretty much anything but I am pretty happy with the project that I came up with, I hope you like it too.

DIY Wooden Photo Stand

This week's So You Think Your Crafty theme was a little bit harder for me than any of the other weeks. The theme was "Paint" and although I have made a lot of painted projects in my life, I haven't really shared any painted projects on my blog. I played around with a few different ideas before deciding on the DIY Wooden Photo Stand. I really wanted something that I could share how to make, not just paint something that I bought or that would be difficult to replicate.

Birthday Doll Clothes & Free Doll Tote Bag Tutorial

My daughter just had her 7th birthday. The day before her birthday we did some things to celebrate as a family and we got her a gift. We explained that that was her birthday gift and she wouldn't be getting anything on her actual birthday and she was fine with that, until later that night when she started talking about what she wanted on her actual birthday. I know my little girl and I know what a big deal her birthday is so I wanted to surprise her with something small for her birthday. The week leading up to her birthday we spent working on moving some rooms around and working on some stuff in the house. Part of that was moving my craft room stuff so I hadn't really had much of a chance to work on a gift the days leading up to her birthday. She is really into American Girl dolls, and by American Girl dolls I really mean the cheaper knockoff versions that you can get at Walmart or Target, so I had planned to make some little clothes and accessories for her doll. I did a search for free doll clothes patterns, printed some off, chose fabrics, cut out some outfits, and did a little sewing.

Wedding Gift: Couple Embroidery

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my sister-in-law just got married. A few weeks ago I was invited to a bridal shower and I really wanted to make something to give to her as a gift. I looked online and came across this link that had some handmade wedding gift ideas. Number 13 on that list is an embroidery of the couples names and a large ampersand. I saw that and thought that was something that I could make pretty easily. Mine does not look exactly like the one in the picture of course, I played around with different fonts until I found a combination that I liked. I ended up making it at kind of the last minute so I didn't think to take any pictures so that i could post it here. I just made it, stuck it in a bag and gave it away. The only pictures that I had were the two below that I had texted my husband from Walmart to get his opinion on how I should frame it.