A (Very Late) Birthday Gift

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far. We have finally caught up, or are at least catching up, with the list of projects we've needed to complete. Here is one that is quite a bit late, but I'm sure it'll be OK! 

Last month was our niece's birthday and we knew exactly what we wanted to make her.  After looking around at the craft stores and not being able to find what we were looking for, we had to order it on-line. (I'll admit, we did run a bit late piecing it all together, but...) After ordering it, it finally arrived, only to come the day before we left for vacation and we didn't have enough time to get it out. However, we're pretty sure it was worth the wait:

The completed project is a personalized glass block light. The pictures aren't the best, but the first is when it's unplugged and the second is it on. (My back-lighting skills are terrible) We decided to go with purple, teal, and lime green (because who doesn't like that color combination?!) The hardest part of this gift was (safely) sticking all of the lights in the block and cutting a whole in the bottom (or maybe cracking it) to keep the lights in. The craftiest part of this project (the bow) was a little troublesome, but it works and it made me wonder where to add more of the super easy loopy bows. I was thinking Christmas...  *<|:0)
 Now we just have to get it out in the mail. At least she'll have an extended birthday, and she'll have it before her next birthday!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Good evening! I feel like I should start with a silly pun or something, but after spending the last three days working on superhero projects, my creative juices aren't flowing tonight. However, I wanted to post a quick  little project for today (even though it's tomorrow everywhere else...)

I came across this super cute poem the other day and wanted to make a little something that with it. I printed the poem out, leaving just enough room for a lucky little leprechaun! I can't say I was totally creative with the treats, but when the poem ends with Leprechaun Kisses, what are you supposed to share with someone?!
Now that we have gotten most of our orders organized and completed, hopefully there will be a little more time for us-crafting, especially because there are so many spring-themed projects  we want to make.
Thanks for stopping by! Now it's time for bed!!

Whoo Loves You?!

Happy Sunday!! We hope you are all having a fantastic weekend so far! After days of waiting for the rain, it has finally come. We are supposed to have heavy rain for the next three days. Luckily we don't live in the mountains... These days are perfect for catching up on crafting (and cleaning, unfortunately). Anyway, we have one more Valentine's Day gifts to share with you today. This is the gift I put together for Boy this year. I didn't want to ruin the surprise, so hopefully he doesn't look here today... Unfortunately, my pictures aren't very good today. Sorry!

Owls are his favorite animals, so I went with them as inspiration. It's also easy to come up with a silly pun to go along with. The bag and matching card have the two owls sitting on a branch with little matching ribbon embellishments. And of course, I added googly eyes!

The card is an easel card. Once it's open, the top rests on some 3D hearts. The final touch is a bag topper for the sweet snack:

I made some s'more pretzels (hence another pun!). It also features the two little owls!
Hopefully he'll enjoy this gift. And if he doesn't care for the gift set (because he's a boy...) hopefully he'll like the gifts inside!
We  are entering this gift set into FCCB's "I Heart You" Challenge
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Merry Christmouse!!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a superb week. And that everyone back home is trying to stay warm. We hear it's supposed to be quite cold there. Anyway, it's been a few days since we've posted a new project up. We've been keeping uber busy, trying to get all of our holiday gifts done.Hopefully they'll be done in time to get them out on time.
So, on to today's project. This is a gift made for a teacher friend who absolutely loves Mickey Mouse:

This adorable set was so fun to create! It includes two wine glasses and four coasters. One glass is full of Mickey Mouse's silhouette. The other is a "gauge" of the day. It has three lines to describe the school day- "Oh boy!", "Aw, Phooey!", and the one for the hardest of days, "Up to My Ears", with Mickey ears. Here are some pictures of the side-step card that went along with it:

There's quite a bit going on in the card, including some glitter and rhinestones, although those are a bit hard to see. And, of course, there's also Rudolph on the roof, with his nose so bright! And the greeting says, "Merry Christmouse", which pops up off the card. The picture below is of the set all spread out, which shows each of the coaster designs (hope she doesn't mind us using her picture!)

How cute is that gift?! Who wouldn't want to get this set? It was so fun to make and we're already planning  sets for ourselves!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

A Crafty Back to School Gift

Welcome to another week! We hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend. We've been busy working on a ton of projects, mostly classroom decor. We have a few to share this week, but we'll start with our favorite!

Who wouldn't want to get this little gift for the first day of school?! There are a lot of teacher "survival kits" out there, with a range of things. This one is full of desk supplies that a teacher, and probably her students, would need for a successful year.

This is a picture of the paint can and top. These are a great way to use up all of your ribbon (and have an excuse to get more!!) And you can't give a gift without a card! It's a little hard to tell, but the paper used has a shimmer to it, to add a special touch. Of course we added googly eyes to both the owl and apple because everyone knows they make everything that much cuter!

This is a list of everything that was in the paint can. Our favorite? The last one about wanting a snow day! It's too bad we don't get too many of those.
We are entering our little teacher gift into this week's "Back to School & Classroom Favors" at Decorate to Celebrate.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for another (adorable) back to school project!

Spa Gift Set

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope the week went by pretty quick for you. I know it did here. We have a busy week coming up with family visiting!! We're definitely looking forward to that, and I know they are too, since they will be getting a reprieve from the Texas heat!
Anyway, today's project is perfect for a Friday afternoon, or weekend, or any time, really. We made this super cute relaxation kit for our brother's girlfriend's birthday.

 

We figured that after having to deal with our brother all the time, she needed something to help her relax! This box has everything she needs, except the wine, but only because they frown up sending wine through the mail... We were busy in the kitchen making the various scrubs and bath salts (not the drug kind, don't worry!) and decorated the mason jars with little labels. Michael's had some great finds in their Dollar Spot, or whatever they call it with all of their matching items. We went with the purple and teal color scheme, and found a really cute matching box, which is just a photo box.

The card to go with it is a 5x7 with a chica in the same color scheme. Since no birthday card is complete without some glitter, we added some to the bathtub to make the bubbles look extra inviting.

 

 Here are the box and card together. I hope she enjoys some alone time with it!

 Thanks for stopping by!

One More Valentine's Day Project!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a wonderful (Single's Awareness) day yesterday. For being two single ladies, ours wasn't too bad. We had a few kids ask us if we'd be their Valentine, (but we're pretty sure it was because they felt bad for us!) We spent the evening watching the hot guys on The Vampire Diaries, some wine, and a pizza. Can't get much better than that! And to top it off, it's the start of another long weekend, with temperatures in the mid-50's! (and a little bit of rain, of course).
Today's project is our last Valentine's Day project for this year. It is a quick hot chocolate gift set. We wanted to make something that would go with our coffee syrup kit, but was appropriate for a child. We figured the next best warm drink to coffee was hot chocolate! We added four little packages of hot chocolate mix, figuring these looked a little nicer than the packages from the box, some little chocolates, and some mini marshmallows, but those are hiding. (Who knew you can get a whole container of just hot chocolate marshmallows?! We'll have to see what kind of recipes we can make with them!!)

This was our first attempt at actually painting on a coffee mug. The other times we've decorate mugs, we've done so with vinyl and Sharpies. We wrote out the name first and then went over it with an acrylic paint. (Recommendation- have your design drawn out first, in case you spell something wrong, or don't like the look of it.) We've seen the idea on Pinterest before, which is where we got the Sharpie idea. Unfortunately, the marker ones washed off only after a few handwashings. Here's to hoping this lasts longer!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another Cupcake Saturday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Or as we like to call it, "Singles Awareness Day." It's not that we are against it or anything, but shouldn't love be shown every day instead of just one day?
Today's post is the gift we sent to our parents. It's a movie gift basket, with all kinds of goodies inside.
(The best part is the Nicholas Sparks four movie collection. They don't get much more romantic than his stories!)

The inside of the card has a poem using the names of the different snacks we put into it. It sounds corny, but that's okay!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Change from the Norm- A Super Simple DIY

Happy Friday night, everyone! I know it's practically Saturday morning, but we hope you all have had a fantabulous week and have plans to enjoy the weekend. Today was the perfect end to a pretty dreary week here- 50 degrees and sun! That's like spring back home!! Oh, so much better than bone chilling temperatures and snow. There's room on the couch for anyone who wants to visit! Today's project is a little different from most of our posts, but it can be used in either warm weather or cold, or just to wear around the house.
Since most of the schools around here had half-days (silly, I know), I was 'fortunate' to start my weekend a bit early. When I woke up this morning, I had big ideas on how to spend my day. The biggest one was cleaning. It needed to be done. But no one really likes to clean, me included, so my brain decided it wanted to do something else more fun. I could have done a paper project (and probably should have), but I really wanted to make something out of fabric. One of the accessories I like to add to an outfit is a little scarf, sometimes to add a pop of color, others because some of the classrooms get uncomfortably cold. We have a huge bin in the closet full of scrap fabric and so I decided to make a scarf with some of the scraps. This is what I came up with:

(It was either the lamp or the vacuum cleaner...my model has gone to bed and I haven't quite mastered the art of taking good self-portraits.)
Now, it was super easy to make this scarf. The project (if done correctly the first time) could be done in under an hour and with only a little bit of fabric. After spending more than enough time trying to figure out what kind of scarf would look good in white flannel (there are quite a few differnet types- scarves, fringed, frayed), I decided to make a 'curly' scarf. There are a whole bunch of tutorials on how to make these, but the idea is super simple. You take your fabric (old t-shirts work well, too) and double layer it. Trace a circle, about 10" in diameter, onto the fabric and cut it out (for an 'adult' length. The bigger the circle, the longer the scarf.) The next step is to cut both layers into a spiral. They don't have to be perfect and you can most likely cut more than one at a time. My scarf has 10 strips, but you can add more to fluff it up. I wouldn't go smaller than this. Find the half-way point of each strip and then put it on. It's that simple. You can add a few stitches to the back to keep the layers in place, but they've stayed pretty well all day, even after taking it off a few times. Onto the flower:

This is where I spent most of my time- trying to figure out what kind of flower I wanted to add to the scarf. I tried the rolled ones, but it was just not working for me. It was a hot mess- figuratively and literally, with all the glue from the hot glue gun. After three failed attempts, I decided on this one. There are also tutorials out there on how to make these, but again, they're super easy. This is the tutorial that I followed. I cut out a 3.5" flower from some black and pink fabric and tulle. She said to use 9 flowers, but I added a few more to make it a bit fuller (OK, I also misread one of the directions and glued my black layer down by accident.) I folded the matching tulle into the flower, to give it a little pizzazz. I sandwiched a cheap black elastic between two pieces of felt, so my flower can be interchangeable. This flower just happened to match the rest of my outfit (socks included) quite nicely! I guess tomorrow's project is to make some more flowers. Or to continue cleaning....such a hard decision.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another Cupcake Saturday!

A Winter Treat

Welcome to another week! It's back to work for a lot of us after the holiday. It was definitely a little hard to wake up this morning, both physically and mentally. But, on the bright side, only a few more weeks until another break! We're looking forward to it already :)
Anyway, today's project goes along with yesterday's invitation. It uses a similar design and would work well as a party favor or gift bag. Fill it with some hot cocoa mix and it's all set to go!

We used some more buffalo snow on this bag, giving it a 'realistic'-ish touch. It is so much fun to use, until it gets all over the place. But at least it's  pretty and sparkles a little! The tree is made to be 3D, but it's a little hard to tell.

And, of course, there is the cute little bow! The ribbon has white printed snowflakes and the blue matches the bag. We decided to add the extra white yarn bow, to add another dimension. They are held together with a cute snowflake brad. Just looking at this bag is making me cold! I hope the Northeast doesn't suffer from too much snow tonight and tomorrow morning. That's one thing I don't miss!!
Thank you so much for stopping by. Join us tomorrow for a home decor project.

Cupcake Saturday!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Everyone is probably sleeping off all of this week's turkey and stuffing, and yesterday's shopping! (Remember, today is Small-Business Saturday. We're offering 20% off purchases of $10.00 or more from our Etsy store this weekend!)
We are slowly catching up on all of the sleep we missed this week. 12 hours of sleep is always wonderful, except when you travel for 17+ hours the day before... And, we would also like to wish our sister Sarah a very happy 29th birthday, again ;)
So, for today's post, we have another cupcake, of course! This cupcake is a sweet treat, with no calories- the best kind! It also goes along with this week's elf theme.

How adorable is this?! It is one of our cupcake ornaments. It is complete with a little 'fondant' elf and green 'sprinkles'. And his little hat is adorned with a cute little bell, that can ring in the season. It's a nice little addition to any Christmas tree! Unfortunately, he doesn't quite match ours this year.

Thank you for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another holiday-themed week!

Happy Halloween!

We hope everyone is having a great week so far. Or at least trying to find things to keep the boredom away back East. We're sure everyone is all set for tonight's festivities, or at least those of us who haven't had Halloween "cancelled" again this year. Although, we must admit, we haven't gotten any of our candy yet...looks like it leftovers for the kiddies who come tonight! I wonder if they would accept our business cards...
Anyway, today's project is a little something we whipped up. It is a little home decor project we made for the occassion.

We wrote out "We're here for the boos!" Get it?! Hilarious I know! :) (I am fully aware that it actually says were, but the apostrophe didn't want to cooperate, so I ask that you use your imagination and pretend it's there!) And of course a ghost's favorite wine would be a white wine, right?! We used some wiggley eyes, as well. The lights are actually candy corn lights, but it's a little hard to tell in the picture. This would also work well as a little hostess gift.
Thanks for stopping by! Hope everyone has a safe an enjoyable night!

Out of the Ball Park!

Good morning, everyone! Today's post is a cute gift bag and card for an all-star birthday kid.

This was a really easy project to put together, with the hardest thing being picking the colors to use! Not going to lie, one of the ways I pick which team to root for is based off of their uniforms. And Seattle sure has some nice uniforms to chose from. I really like the blue, teal, and white color combinations... Of course, whatever color uniforms your team has could be used instead. Add their name and age, and you have probably the only personalized gift-bag at the party!

I like the shape card, too. When it comes to kid's birthday cards, you don't want to make them too fancy, since chances are they won't be keeping them. So I chose to keep it simple and with the theme. I think this would be a great gift bag to give to a kid who is having a sports-themed party or an kid-lete in general.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rudolph, With Your Nose So Bright...

Good morning, and thanks for stopping by! We hope everyone is having a wonderful week and I'm sure, looking forward to the weekend. Today's project is dedicated to a true Christmas classic. I'm sure you can guess which movie we're showcasing today... For today, we decided to make a little hostess gift set:

We were going to include some of the other characters from the movie, like the Abominable Snowman, Same, the snowman (narrator), and Hermy the elf, but decided to focus on the reindeer. We've included three things in our set. The first is a bottle of wine. OK, more the tag, but who doesn't love getting some wine?! Our tag features Rudolph, of course, along with his gal-pal, Clarice. It's not the holidays without some sparkle! 

The next thing we included were some gift tags. There are nine all together, one for each reindeer. It's always handy to have a few extra ones hanging around. Or they could be used as drink markers...

And when the last guest leaves, we included some home-made body vanilla-brown sugar body scrub. This is such a good idea for a gift. Not only does it smell really good, but it leaves your skin silky smooth and, unlike soaps, you don't have to worry about it getting in your mouth (it's made from things found in your kitchen).

 

 As we were making this set, it got us wondering about a few things. First, has anyone else ever wondered if any of the reindeer ever suffered a identity crisis? Like Prancer and Vixen?? Also, apparently according to the TV-movie, Donner is Rudolph's dad?? Who knew??
It might be too early for Rudolph to guide Santa's sleigh, but hopefully this gift set can lead you to some gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season!
Thanks for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another delicious Cupcake Saturday!

We have entered this into Bitten by the Bug 2's Christmas in July challenge.

For Sale Here

Wedding Shower Gift

We are really excited to share today's project with you. We made this towel cake for our really good friend who is getting married this weekend.

It was a great shower gift. It is literally a shower gift. We took various sizes of towels and stuck body wash, lotion, and spray in the folds. We chose lilies in honor of her puppy, whose name is Lily. We made the paper lilies with scraps from her invitations.

Thanks for stopping by!

Today's Party Trivia:
- Wyoming became the 44th state in 1890.
- In 1978, ABC's World News Tonight premiered
- Today is National Pina Colada Day and Teddy Bear Picnic Day, so go out and have some drinks with your favorite stuffed animal!!

A Cute Gift Idea

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a nice week so far. Today's project is one any little girl (or not so little) would flip for...OK, just kidding, but anyway. This is a two-part project that would be a perfect gift or favor for a beach party, or a spa party, or a bachelorette party. I'm sure there are a few more ideas out there. The first part is a little box we made. It is in the shape of a flip flop:

How cute is that?! We've seen similar projects on-line, but they looked so big and clunky, and we didn't quite like that look (although there are some super cute decorating ideas for them out there.) It's hard to tell in the picture, but our box measures about seven inches long and 1.5 inches high. The top is also embossed with some waves. The flower is handmade, as well. The second part is a little beach cover-up:

Another cute idea! In the last few weeks we've made two different cover-ups. The first one is pink, with a white ruffle edge. Unlike this one, there are no straps. This one has two braided straps and a ruffle around the edge. They're just towels with some extra "pizzazz". The two we made use the same fabric as our shower curtains, since they'll be used mostly in the bathroom, and not at the beach, in our case! Put the two of these projects together and the gift ideas are endless!!
Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day!

Today's Party Trivia:
- The first main-line passenger train to use electricity completed a test run from Washington DC to New York in 1895. A few days later, the train was opened to the public.
- The world's first automated teller machine was installed in England in 1967.
- Today is National Sunglasses Day.

Sand Pail Gift Card Holder

Today's project is a sand pail. But not any sand pail. This one holds a gift card for the birthday person! I really like the microbeads we used to make the sand look like sand. It definitely adds to the card, as long as they don't all roll off the table when you're putting them on.

Thanks for stopping by!

Today's Party Trivia:
-The US government declared Christmas a federal holiday in 1870.
- Coney Island's roller coaster, the Cyclone, opened in 1927. It is now considered a National Historical Landmark.
- The first product to be scanned using a UPC was a pack of gum

Father's Day Gift Box

After the success of our Mother's Day gift box, we thought that maybe dad would like one too. But he wouldn't want flowers and teddy bears and girly things. So we thought, and thought, and came up with a tool box! Of course he would like a tool box! Our dad has so many tools, he probably doesn't know what he has any more. We used to have a ping pong table, but it hasn't seen the light of day in years since it's covered with dad's things. It's his work table now.

Ok, so this tool box won't hold any tools, but it does hold treats! And dads like treats... and it has a shelf for a gift card, so dad can go buy some more toys to play with. (Just make sure to reinforce the bottom so they don't all spill out.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Today's Party Trivia:
- The Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1939. 
- The world's largest twinjet, the Boeing 777, made its first flight in 1994.
- Today is Peanut Butter Cookie Day!! (A batch of those would make a perfect Father's Day gift...if they last long enough!)

Another Teacher Gift

Today, we have another teacher gift for the end of the year. Some might think that giving a gift of thank you notes is kind of silly- What? You want your own work back?! Well, let me tell you, thank you notes come in very handy as a teacher. It's nice having a card nearby, just in case a student surprises you. You can take one right out and write the note, instead of putting it off till later and (possibly) forgetting! So for today, we made a gift set of "Thank You" notes.  Add a pen and some envelopes and your child's teacher is all set.

We used multiple layers to make the apple and worm stand out on the front and the pencil on the inside. These cards are 4 inch squares, the perfect size for a quick note. (Which is also nice so the teacher doesn't have to think of how to fill up all that space!)

We entered this card set into the Fantabulous Cricut Don't Bug Me challenge.
Thanks for stopping by! Join us again tomorrow for another Kid-Friendly Friday! Have a great day!

Today's Party Trivia:

- The VCR was introduced by Sony in 1975. Who has any of those left?!
- Graceland was opened to the public in 1982.
- Today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day- I hope it's sunny and warm enough for everyone to celebrate!

Slight Change of Plans

We hope everyone is having a great week so far. Look at that, it's already Wednesday! As you know, for the last few days, we have been showcasing some graduation projects. There were some more that we really wanted to finish (which could have been the start we needed to begin our own high school scrapbooks that had been planned years ago...) but things just weren't working like we wanted them to. We didn't want to show a half-hearted project, so we sort of changed the direction we were going in. Since graduation means the end of another school year, and that means thanking those who work so hard all year to get students where they need to be, we decided to make some gift sets any teacher would like to get! (OK, so if they're anything like us...)
Here is the first gift set we made. It doesn't have to be a "teacher" gift, per se. It would make a fabulous gift for a friend, for the holidays, or just for yourself!! This is a teacher one, due to the decor on the basket.

This is a perfect set for a coffee-drinking teacher, and what teacher doesn't like having everything she needs at her disposal?? The basket includes a bag of Margartitaville coffee(!), some individual creamers, and some snacks. It also includes a travel mug, complete with:

It's own little cup cozie! How cute is that pattern?? It's so fun and cheery- perfect for summer! (It is actually a homemade cozie- can't wait to make some more!) Below are pictures of two sides of of the basket.

Each little section has it's own little "theme". The first one is the arts and crafts, since that's the best part of elementary school! The other side is dedicated to the "specials", like  gym and music. And the last side is more "academic", with pencils and books.

This basket was a cinch to put together, except for some of the smaller cut-outs. And before we go, the last picture is of the matching card. The card is actually a little pocket. The little teacher can be used as a bookmark, too!

Phew! I think I covered it all! Now that that's done... We hope you come back for another gift set tomorrow! I have also entered this into the Cooking with Cricut "End of the Year" Challenge.


Today's Party Trivia:
- The first YMCA was founded in London in 1844
- Downtown Seattle was destroyed in an 1889
- In 1984, Everyone's favorite video game, Tetris, was released