sea of red vests

My scout projects a sea of red vests and book covers for there scout books.

I Love to make things for people even if I can afford to buy something so I have been spending some time trying to get some projects done. In the middle of all this I am a boy scout leader over the wolf pack they are the greatest rowdiest group of 8 year old you have ever seen. Every year I make red vests so they can display their awards on them. The scout office charges $12 for them and they cost us just over $1 to make them. With 12 boys that is that is a savings of about $130. The problem is I always make them in December. I get so overwhelmed. and I always have extra scraps that I don't want to throw away but I also don't want to store them. I got real excited when My friend Tylynn Showed me this snowman candy wrapper it was perfect to use the scraps on. I think we will have the boys make them next week in scouts. They are real simple it is a red hat and scarf out of felt. It is a candy bar wrapped in white card stock buttons for eyes and buttons. The nose is orange paper. You could use markers or paper for the eyes and buttons.

fun wekend

I had a fun weekend. We had a girls craft weekend and spent the weekend finishing projects for Christmas. I found this cute idea for My girls to give to their friends. It is a tic tac holder. There is a cute little poem on the inside.



It says he is cute cuddly
& full of good wishes
he wants to give you
These snowman kisses

I got these moose finger pupets for 25 cents each put a baggie of kisses on it's neck. The card reads Merry Kiss Moose.

I

12 days are over

I know the 12 days are over but I still plan to share some ideas and fun projects. I made this desk calendar for my mothers Birthday yesterday. I also plan to make one for my husband for Christmas. each Month is a 4x6 size so it fits in an acrylic frame found at walmart for $1. It is like the CD calendars that you see people making but I like this size better and the frame looks better.

12th day of Christmas gifts

On the twelfth day of Christmas gifts My good friend gave to me a decorated Tin. Who doesn't like a decorated tin? Get out your Modge Podge and fun paper and soon you will find that there is nothing that you can't cover. You can go to your local craft store and buy them in all sorts of sizes. You can use them to hold cards photos food almost anything you like.
Tins don't have to cost a lot of money this pink one is the electrasal tin that my dishwasher soap came in you can see the original can in the back. You can also get tins from the dollar store and I love to put a new top on the cheap cookie tins that you can get at any store. So look around and cover anything that is not moving.

11th day of Christmas

On the eleventh day of Christmas gifts My good friend gave to me some magnets.



magnets are so easy to make and cost so much to buy. I got some tiles at homedepot. They come attached together 8x8 or so. You can ask if they have any broken ones at a discount. You cut them all apart it is not a big deal to throw away the broken ones if they give you a big discount. I used permant ink and a stamp to make the immage. Then I glued a button magnet on the back found at wallmart of any craft store. You can make lots of these in a short amount of time and it is so easy the kids can help.

10th day of Christmas

On the tenth day of Christmas My good friend gave to me a recipe book





I love a good recipe and you know there are those recipes that the whole family loves so write them down and put them all in the same place. I took all of our favorite Cookie recipes and made a book for a friend's wedding. I made a copy for my brothers and sister as well.
If you paper scrap take out your suplies and start making a book I made mine 6x6 because it was a good size to find a book to put them in.
If you do Digital Scrap booking run over to 2 peas and sign up for there recipe card swap. It ends Dec 1 They are making 4x6 cards and swapping them. You email your recipe to the host and they will zip all the recipes and then send you a link where you can download and print them. I am joining I can't pass up a good cookbook.

9th day of Christmas gifts

On the ninth day of Christmas gifts my good friend gave to me a personalised mug.





I love these mugs they are so much fun. I have seen them at my local dollar store my grocery store old navy, and Starbucks. They are 10x the price at Starbucks for the same mug. You can unscrew the top and put in a new insert. You can scrapbook it up or just put in a piece of pretty paper. I gave them to my friends to decorate at a weekend crop we went to. We were able to drink out of them all weekend. I put a single serve drink mix with them and some straws. I still like to drink out of mine It is the one mug my kids will leave alone. If you want to make them dishwasher save glue the lid down with some E6000 or glue from the hardware store.
I am drinking the minty hot cocoa out of mine right now. Yummmy!

8th day of Christmas

On the eighth day of Christmas My Sister gave to me an Advent calendar cute as can be.


I thought this was so cute that as soon as Lolly gave it to me I asked if I could share it. She made 12 of them as gifts. They are gift boxes she said wedding favor boxes formed in to a tree. Each box opens to reveal a treat and a slip of paper with a task to do that day like decorate your tree. She gave it to me early because I told her I was going to get the one at Starbucks. Starbucks has the tree with candy in it people are taking them home and decoupaging paper onto it to make it look like the one my sister gave me.

here is the link to the instructions that she started to follow.

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/1188229594673.xml

here are other links to the same basic idea

Matchbox
http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/AA62DC22-296B-4D0C-BC44-40D43073104C/

http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/20522BBB-7725-4578-A121-89035001B6E3/

Good luck and have a happy Thanksgiving.

7th day of Christmas gifts

On the seventh day of Christmas gifts my good friend gave to me "muffin for Christmas"







I thought this was a cleaver idea when I came up with it last year. It is a basic Muffin Mix and I put together a booklet with 7 pages of things you can add to the muffins to make different kinds of muffins. You should be able to follow the link to my word document down load it and make any changes you need to it.



We measured out enough muffin mix to make a batch then put them in a Ziploc bag. We make cloth bags to cover the Ziploc bag then made a topper for the fabric bag. We gave the booklet with the mix. The booklet has the muffin mix and the recipies to make diffrent muffins out of it. Enjoy.

muffin booklet link

http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/621140_o4ud8/muffinforChristmas.doc]muffinforChristmas.doc

the 6th day of Christmas gifts

On the Sixth day of Christmas Gift My good Friend gave to me a pattern for a hair bow.

If you have little girls you know bows can cost a fortune and making them is often hard and they don't always fit. I found what I think is a cleaver idea on how to make a bow. They take about 21 inches of ribbon and a pony tail holder.

Very simple just measure out how much ribbon you need 21 inches of ribbon fit both my 4 and 12 year old. You just fold the ribbon over twice and stitch it around the pony tail holder. The pony tail holder has give in it so it holds the ribbon on your head without making it feel uncomfortable on your head. You can leave the ribbon plain or add flower or a bow. The possibilities are endless.

I read in the paper that more families are going to make homemade gifts this year because of all the toy recalls. When you make it yourself you know it is made with love. Jill

5th day of Christmas

On the fifth day of Christmas gifts my good friend gave to me a pair of santas underwear.





I wanted a simple project that the kids could get involved in and I also had lots of left over red felt that I needed to use up. It was so simple that my kids were able to cut them out them selves and all I had to do was sew them up. If you do not sew you could glue them together.


Here is a cute poem to attach on a tag.





Dear Santa,


We looked for a stocking,


but couldn't find a spare,


so we ended up stuffing


your red underwear.







I found this project and full instructions at this site. http://www.thefamilycorner.com/homegarden/crafts/undies.shtml

4th day of Christmas gifts

On the forth day of Christmas gifts My good friend gave to me a hot cocoa Recipe the best you have ever seen.





I am a hot cocoa snob and Mint chocolate is my favorite. When I found this recipe I knew that I had to try it. It was good but I was unable to find the mint semi sweet backing chips so I had to improvise. I found Andies mints in the backing section and found them to strong in the amount called for in the recipe. I played with it until I found the perfect blend. You will get to benefit from my practice. I am posting the first version and my end version.



This is what I plan to make for my neighbors this year. I just got the notice of the anual Christmas party on the first of December They are expecting forty families I had beter get to work. They can be put in a cello bag I found this one at Walmart. I also like the idea of putting it in a cute mug.

this is the original version of the recipie

My new improved version of the recipie.
You should be able to right click on the image and save as a photo. It is formatted to print as a standard 4x6 print. Enjoy, Jill

castle

Here is a photo that you might need if you want to make one of the projects I am showing Saturday.

3rd day of Christmas

On the Third day of Christmas my good Friend gave to me a magnet board

This is such a fun gift to give and you can do so much with it. You can make it into a calendar, photo hanger, recipe card holder or post it note holder . The second is a post it holder and the last is a play board for some magnets. I got a 5x7 piece of sheet metal from Lowes it was about 40cents. You find it with the duct work. make sure you don't get aluminum a magnet will not stick to it. I took a magnet with me to make sure it would work. I covered the metal with paper and decorated it to make it cute. For the post it holder I just bent the mental over the edge of the table so it folded back to hold the metal up it is bent so it looks like a L. I used my cropadile to punch a hole in it to hold a ribbon that I can hang a pen from.
Thursday when I was a Target I found this Belle Magnet paper doll set. It wasn't until I got home that I got the great idea of covering the metal with a photo of the castle at Disneyland. I just took a photo that I already had of the castle and sized it to 5x7 then printed it on the center of a letter size piece of paper. I centered the metal behind the photo and covered it. I put the whole magnet piece on the back of the play board so my Daughter will know where to put the pieces back when she is done Playing with them. I uploaded the photo yesterday so you can use it if you need to. Jill

The winner of the calendar overlay is Tami Look for my email.

2nd day of Christmas....

On the second day of Christmas Gifts My good friend gave to me a calendar cute and simple as can be.........

Who doesn't like a calendar for Christmas I have two different ones to share today the first is just the perfect size for sticking in your purse. It is the checkbook style calendar that you can get at the dollar store, Joann's, Micheal's or Target. They only cost a Dollar but you can take the cover off and make a new one. It makes them look so much nicer and fun to show off. Just take out the old cover and use it as a template to make the new one. The color choices and decoration choices are endless. Look at your homemade cards for inspiration. I tore a homemade card apart to make the purple calendar. It is a great way to reuse a card. Use your favorite photo as inspiration I love the photo of my daughter and the dog.

The second is this year at a glance Calendar. I took a family photo and with the use of a photo editing program turned it into a Year at a glance Calendar it was so easy. This is the family photo from our yearly retreat. I am going to print them out as a 5x7 and give them to the whole family. This photo was taken by my very talented Sister in Law Debby. And what a great deal I can print them at costco for $.29 that is less than the cost of a stamp. They should fit i n a 5x7 card. You can stick a strip of magnet to the back so it can hang on the fridge.

I opened up the photo in photoshop Elements. Then put the year at a glance overlay on it and I was done almost that fast. Here is a link to a free overlay.

http://www.pbase.com/455rocket/full_year_templates

If you don't do digital scrapbooking and you still want a year at a glance calendar of your own family leave a comment and I will draw a winner that can email me a photo and I will do all the work and email it back to you as a year at a glance calendar. I will post the winner with my third day post. See you then. Jill

1st day of Christmas gifts

On the first day of Christmas Gifts my good friend gave to me....... A pancake mix quick and easy as can be.


I love this pancake mix it really is simple and easy as can be.

This is a picture of the pancake mix that I put together to sell at a boutique last year it sold very well. I used this gingerbread pancake recipe and found that it was very good. I found the bottles at a warehouse sale and stamped the tag and decorations using a stampin up set. IT could just as easily had been put in a cello bag or a paper bag tied with a ribbon. I put the dry ingredients all together then on the tag gave instructions on how to finish making the pancakes. You should be able to right click the recipe card below and save as a photo. It can then be printed at home or at your local photo developer it is formatted as a 4x6 print for you to enjoy. Neighbors also like to have a copy of the recipie so they can make the pancakes again, or if you want to make a tradition of giving it every year tell them they will have to wait until next year for you to give them the mix again.


Please leave a comment if you like what you have seen and come back tomorrow for a chance to win the gift that we will be sharing. Jill

The night before.....

I knew I wanted to share some of my neighbor gift ideas but I did not want to take my family blog and fill it with my ideas so I started a new blog to help share these ideas. This 12 days of Christmas Gift ideas is intended to help you come up with some simple ideas of things that you can make and share with those that you love. These are not all My ideas I hope to give links of share where I got the ideas but I am not perfect and my mind is not as sharp as it use to be. If you have an idea that you want to share please email me I would love to post it and give you the credit we can also link other Christmas sites to this one. I will start my first post on Thursday until then.