"The Best Of" Shadow Box Gift

My husband's grandpa just turned 80 and I knew I had to come up with something special to celebrate this huge milestone. After some thought, I came up with the idea for a shadow box that featured all of the best things from the year he was born, which happened to be 1933. I started by having my mother-in-law hunt down an old baby picture of Jack (he was a twin too!).

 Then I used The People History for my information on what was happening during that year in history. I chose the topics of popular culture, who else was born that year, and how much things cost when narrowing down my focus.

It was as easy as finding a piece of scrapbook paper I liked for the background, using my Cricut to cut out the lettering (you could simply do this by hand or print it off of your computer), and printing off the information with a few pictures to make it more interesting. I did my magic with a trusty glue stick and the gift had come altogether.

Once it was in the shadow box (which I picked up at Hobby Lobby for 50% off!) it made a great addition to the table at thebirthday party that displayed different pictures of Jack over the years. Happy 80th Birthday Jack!

I think this gift would also be a great way to commemorate an anniversary or any other fun date in history you are celebrating. I know I found it fascinating to look back a ways in time and see what memorable things had taken place.

Featured on The Happy Housewives 100 Days of Homemade Christmas Gifts (2013):

Tackle Box turned Treasure Chest

 As Jordan's 6th birthday approached, I knew I wanted to get him a treasure chest of sorts. He is my little collector and I knew this would speak to his heart in a big way. Plus, it would give me a way to limit what he could hoard keep inside the house. Win/win!!

I had just planned to get a wooden box I had seen at the craft store and paint it up but my husband had a brilliant DIY/upcycle/conversion idea that I so wish I could take credit for. He remembered that he had a spare tackle box hanging around in the shed and thought that after some sprucing up it would make a great treasure box. Just think about those trays that lift out and all the little cubby space. It's a treasure finders dream!

Here are the outdated, sat-in-the-shed-too-long-so-it's-covered-in-stuff, before pictures of the tackle box:

Hubby worked his color magic and painted this up to be a much brighter, cheerier version of it's old self. I love the look of the blue and red together, don't you?

On the bottom of the inside of the treasure chest I wanted to have a treasure map so I found THIS IMAGE, printed it out, and mod podged it to the bottom of the box. I think it's a special little touch.

This was a super easy, fun project that cost us nothing since we had all of the components on hand. I can tell you that our 6 year old LOVED this gift!We filled it with pirate candy we found at the Dollar Store and then we made a little treasure hunt for him to find it. After following the clues, he discovered it up in a tree in our yard. Do you think he likes it?

Featured on The Happy Housewife's 2013 edition of 100 Days of Homemade Christmas:

Looking for another tackle box transformation idea? Check out my mom's tackle box jewelry organizer (click the picture to see the entire post):

Making Bean Bags

Let the 1st birthday related posts begin! We are going pretty low key when it comes to presents, seeing as he is only turning 1 and his brothers already own 75% of the toys on this planet. I did want one of his gifts to be homemade. I have been so good about doing that for my niece and for other friends and family but not so much with my own boys. So I decided to make him some bean bags...nice and easy but lots of fun for a 1 year old!

What you need:
~ Fabric
~ Beans. I used small white beans (no really, that's the name on the bag!) and it took about 7 1/2 cups worth.
~ Something to cut with
~ Something to sew with

Let's get started:
You'll want to start by cutting squares out of the fabric(s) of your choice. I wanted 10 bean bags made from 5 different colored pieces of fabric so I cut 4 5inx5in squares out of each piece of fabric for a total of 20 squares. I used a rotary cutter just because it made cutting nice and easy but good ol' fashion scissors work just as well:

I decided to make my bean bags a different color on each side so I matched up my color combinations and begin pinning squares together (the right side of the fabrics should be touching):

Now to begin sewing. You could easily do this project by hand but it is of course much faster if you have a sewing machine. You are going to want to sew along 3 sides of your square, leaving one side open so you can fill them:

Flip your square right side out and fill it with beans. I used 3/4 a cup, you can adjust that based on how full you want your beanbags:

You ready to finish 'er up? Fold down the open side and pin it shut. Then sew across the top and voila...you have yourself a beanbag!

I love this project because it took minimal time and very few materials. I am hoping that Isaiah loves them as much as I do!

Aren't they pretty?

If you are wanting something a little more elaborate, check out these counting bean bags.

This project was featured over at The Happy Housewife, Attempting Aloha, and Play Pennies: