DIY Holiday Mugs {for all the people on your list}

There are those Pinterest ideas you see, love, pin and never do anything with. Then there are the ones you see, love, pin, revisit, and not only do something with but do EVERYTHING with....that would be these mugs for me. I think we have all seen different versions of these DIY mugs. Simply write with sharpie, pop in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, let cool and you are good to go. Anyone can do that! So I did - over and over and over. Thought I would share the versions some of the people on my Christmas list are receiving this year.

The Papa (insert any loved one) Mug:
The idea behind this one is cute. I actually saw this it through an advertisement on Facebook for a personalized gift company. It said something different but had all the grand kids faces around it which I thought was cute. I browsed Pinterest for a saying I liked best and settled on "All my MOST favorite people call me papa." I then {attempted to} add all my kiddos faces. An artist I am not. In fact, my kids themselves probably would have done a better job. Thankfully, Papa loved it nonetheless.

The Teacher Mug:
I found this one on Just a Girl and Her Blog and knew it would make the perfect gift for my kiddos teachers. She even makes it easy for you and includes the printable tag! Nathan goes to PEP one day a week and has two teachers there on top of his and Jordan's regular teachers so I made 4 all together. I filled the cup with peppermints and spearmints, a cute striped straw and a gift card to Starbucks. Along with the printable tag I attached an ornament that I also found at the dollar store. Actually, everything but the mugs and the gift cards came from the dollar store and the only reason I didn't get the mugs from there was that someone had already cleaned out all the pure white ones. A totally reasonably priced gift that is still super adorable and useful (Lord knows I NEED coffee in my life!).

The Snowman Mug:
I pinned these along time ago as a gift from Elfie and had originally planned to have them at our North Pole Breakfast but didn't have them ready in time. So I used them as part of a hot chocolate treat he brought instead. I picked these mugs with the cute red band at the top because I thought they looked like hats for the snowman (and you guessed it, I got these at the Dollar Store!). They love having their own mugs with their names on them and these will be fun to pull out during the holidays each year.

Have you tried this Sharpie mug method yet? How'd it work for you? Baking them is supposed to keep them from wiping off but we noticed that when we hand-washed the snowman mugs they did fade in some areas. Not sure how to remedy that but if any of you have suggestions I would love to hear them.

I will tell you a tip that helped when I was working on these - Magic Erasers will take off the sharpie if you make a mistake drawing on it in the first place so don't panic if you make an error!

Pin-spired Teacher Gifts

With the last day of school upon us before Winter Break, I have spent the week putting together little gifts to let the people in my kids school life know how much we appreciate them. All of these ideas where pinned to my Random Acts of Kindness board on Pinterest, so make sure to come follow along if you want to see what other gift ideas catch my eye!

Samuel has been seeing a physical therapist for a few months now and she makes the trek out to our house every week to do his therapy and is so good with not only him but our other kids, so we wanted to give her a little Christmas gift to thank her for all she does. This gift idea came from Taylored Expressions (where you can find the free printable tag to go with it) and includes some cozy socks and a bottle of nail polish. I put it in this cute Christmas tin I got for $0.99 at Walgreens:

The only people who spend anywhere near as much time with Nathan and Jordan as I do, are their teachers. We so appreciate the hard work they put in each and every day to teach and care for our boys so it was the least we could do to send along this small token of thanks. These tins full of Snickers and Almond Joy along with the tag that says To A Year Full Of Snickers and Joy is from Lil' Luna, head over there to get the free printable.

Finally, we wanted to pass along some Christmas wishes to the man who has the big task of picking up and dropping off our boys each and every day. This printable is actually a postcard meant for a mailman, but I cut off just the main message and crossed out mail to replace it with kids. Some M&M treats for the bus driver, as inspired by Who Arted?:

While none of these gifts were over the top or about to break the bank, I think it is the thought that counts. Taking a moment to thank someone important in your life, even in a small way, is the least we can do to show our gratitude. Hope you have been Pin-spired to do the same for those special people that surround you and your love ones!

Handmade Spiderman Birthday Invitations

My 5 year old will be turning 6 at the end of this month so I am busily trying to keep up on the planning of his Spiderman party so that I am not going crazy with last minute prep {who am I kidding...that will still happen}. Most years I have made an effort to hand make the kids' birthday invitations. Doesn't always happen but it is something I enjoy doing and because we keep the guest list family-only still, it isn't very time intensive. This year's Spiderman theme was pretty easy to turn into an invitation. Want to see the finished product?

Okay...not totally finished because I have to add the party info to the back but you get the gist. Let me walk you through this super easy Spiderman face. I did this free hand and if you know me you know that drawing is not one of my strong suits...my point being that if I can do this, so can you!

First Step: Trace and cut out a Spiderman shaped face. Like I said before, I did this free hand while looking at a picture online but you could cheat do it the smart way and print off a picture to trace for more exact measurements.

Second Step: Add a spiderweb to the face. I did this with a black sharpie but you could easily use a puff pen for dimension or even glue and glitter for a sparkly touch.

Third Step: Create eye mask. This was done in three parts:

1) Cut out black part of mask - here is where it would pay to print off something, as you can see my free hand skills at this step were pretty poor

2) Use an X-acto knife to remove the part of the mask where the white will show through

3) Glue a white strip of paper onto the back of the black mask

Fourth (and final) Step: Glue the mask to Spiderman's face. Easy as that!

Some other suggestions for this -
**This would make a great lunch box note for your little guy (or gal!) who loves Spiderman. Just write your note on the back and slip it into your kiddo's lunch box on a special day.
**Make this large sized out of poster board and play "Pin the mask on Spiderman" at your party.
**Use these as accents on your party banner.
Lots of possibilities!

I will be sharing more of my party prep as I go but in the meantime you can follow my Spiderman Party board on Pinterest to see where I am getting my inspiration.

Magnetic Paper Dolls

I told you to be on the lookout for my post on Magnetic Paper Dolls...and now you can look no further! This is yet another Pinterest inspired idea. The amazing talent over at Make It and Love It created an awesome tutorial that I actually copied exactly for my nieces birthday.

Aren't they adorable? And this isn't even half the books worth of dolls and outfits so I can get a whole other gift out of the book. Great deal!

While I was making this set for my niece, my boys became totally enamored with it and I actually had to take it away from them to give it to her. It gave me the great idea to search something out for Isaiah who is getting ready to celebrate his second birthday. I came across this link for printable paper dolls and printed them out myself on card stock and then went about the same process of sticking them onto magnet paper and cutting them out. Easy peasy!

I really love the retro look of these and think they will be fun for my little guy. I see many more magnetic dolls in our future because the possibilities are truly endless. You can find all kinds of really cool printable paper dolls online that range from Little House on the Prairie, to wedding themed, to Princess dolls. And for boys you could do super heroes, dinosaurs, heavy machinery, and so on.  And this gift is truly affordable. Printing at home and picking up a cookie sheet at the dollar store makes for minimal cost there. And if you have a Hobby Lobby near you I recommend using their 40% off coupons to get cheap magnet paper. You know how much I love affordable, easy gifts that have that special homemade touch!

Gardening From Kitchen Scraps - Green Onions

Oh, the never-ending wealth of knowledge I receive from Pinterest! I totally have dreams of growing my own garden one day but in this season of life the idea of tending to it seems a little overwhelming. But I am thrilled to learn that there are some pretty easy ways to grow veggies from what I already have in my kitchen with very little time or effort involved. Just my kind of project!

This week I decided to try to grow some green onions. Seemed easy enough. Take a bunch of green onions, cut of the bottoms, place in a jar of water in the window and done. No really, that's it. Too good to be true? Maybe. Let's see how it worked for me.

This is what my green onions looked like the first day when I started this little experiment:

And this is what they looked like exactly one week later:

Pretty awesome, huh? I can just start trimming them off and using them whenever I need and they will continue to grow over and over again. The only upkeep involves changing out the water and rinsing off the roots every once in awhile. I can handle that!

~Thank you Homemade Serenity for the idea~

***Update - Wanted to come back real quick and update you on this. We got 2 great re-growths out of this bunch and then nothing worth using after that. I still think it is worthwhile and a good way to stretch each bunch:) 

Pin this - Food

On this edition of Pin This I thought I would share with you some of the recipes that I have not only found on Pinterest, but also made. I absolutely love trying new recipes and for years subscribed to several food magazines, cooking 3 to 4 new recipes a week. I have since let the subscriptions lapse and rely mainly on the internet to find new ideas. This works especially great as I tighten our food budget (and our budget for extras like magazine subscriptions) because I can look for things that cater to what I already have on hand or will be buying on sale soon and I can look at a number of sources, including Pinterest. Here's what I've been inspired to try over the last few weeks:

These 8 minute mini cinnamon rolls were our Christmas morning breakfast and were absolutely delicious (not to mention E.A.S.Y)

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a tip. Homemade hash browns come out nice and crispy in the waffle maker - Brilliant!

Cookie bowls for ice cream, yum! Mine didn't turn out this beautiful because I used my own cookie dough recipe so I recommend using theirs for a better turnout.

We love us some enchiladas - these Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas were pretty good. I think the inside would make an awesome dip!

These homemade tortillas are simple and delicious - I have made them several times (including for the enchiladas) and they have yet to disappoint.

Homeade Cheez-Its caught my eye because I love making snacks that I would normally buy at the store, partly to see if I can and partly for cost and the ability to control what goes in them. Good!

I think I saved the best for last. These Apple Cinnamon Muffins are To.Die.For. Moist, sweet, so good!

 

 

Hope that you are able to try and add some of these to your own recipe boxes. Feel free to share any of your favorite Pinterest recipe finds as well, I'm always up for something new! And if you want to see what other kinds of food ideas have caught my eye hit the Follow Me button in the upper right hand corner of my blog to keep up with all of my Pinterest finds. Happy Pinning!

Bring on 2012!!

Nothing like a New Year to give you a fresh perspective and a clean slate! I am so excited for another year of possibilities and look forward to sharing what I accomplish with you all. Here are some things you can expect to see in 2012:

• More Pinterest favorites- I mean, come on, I spend enough time there I can't help but have it spill out here!

• Pictures of my new craft corner once it's complete. Nothing major just a tiny space to call my own:)

• Lots of craft projects thanks to the above mentioned - currently working on felt finger puppets and you can expect lots of homemade gifts this year, especially for the kiddos.

• DIY home decor - we have been de-cluttering, re-organizing and switching things up around the house so you will see some of what we have done/are doing as progress continues. Just today we re-purposed a magazine rack into something we can use in our bathroom so be on the lookout for that!

• One man's trash is another man's treasure - We are going to be working on some fun re-purposing projects together from free finds on Craigslist after we get everything organized at home. Should be fun!

• Monthly updates on our Christmas 2012 in Arizona savings fund - we are trying to use found/saved money to fund the bulk of our trip so I will share with you the progress we are making and where we are finding the extra money.

And much, much more I am sure! Should be a fun ride, hope you will join me. something missing from the list that you would like to see more of? Feel free to share your ideas, I would love the feedback.

Happy New Year everyone, may it be full of increased blessings and joy for all of us!!

Pin this - homemade gifts and Christmas decor

With less than a week left until Christmas I thought I would share some of the easy homemade gifts (for you last minute folks:) and DIY decorations that I have been finding on Pinterest the past few weeks. If you have found something you love, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

I thought this "Whisk You a Merry Christmas" was cute...click the picture for 15 gifts under $2

I made this for a friend...it takes only 4 ingredients that you likely have on hand and minutes to make (and smells AMAZING!)

This has to be my absolute favorite homemade gift find this week...magnetic paper dolls!

A tea wreath - beautiful and a great gift for the tea lover in your life

This list is actually up to 30 now (just click on the picture) - including a bean bag tutorial from yours truly:)

A Santa centerpiece made from a coffee can

I love this snowman family made from dollar store gloves - great decor or family gift

This sock snowman would cost next to nothing to make and is so adorable

I hope that gives you some stuff to work on this week if that's what you were needing. If not, something to bank for next year:) For more of the fun ideas I have been finding, make sure to come follow me on Pinterest - just click on the button on the upper right hand side of this page. Happy Pinning!

Pin this

It's been a couple of weeks since we talked about pinterest...way too long if you ask me!! But that doesn't mean I haven't still been pinning on a regular basis. Can I share some of my favorite pins right now?

These hot chocolate cones would make adorable stocking stuffers

Peppermint Stick White Chocolate Marshmallows...need I say more?

Elf donuts made out of cheerios. Brilliant!

Loving this place setting for a Christmas dinner

This is a Peter Pan silhouette using a cutout on top of the lamp. Lots of possibilities!

Make your own never-ending Vanilla Extract

Isn't this stuff great? Want to see more of what I am pinning each week? Click on the red Follow Me on Pinterest button at the top of the page. Happy Pinning!

Let's talk Pinterest!

Okay, I'm officially hooked. Like most other things I am a little behind in jumping on the band wagon but now that I have I am glad I did! There are so many great ideas floating around Pinterest and even more than that I love that I have one place to keep them all. My brain could never begin to hold all of the recipes, crafts, decorations, etc that I see and want to remember in the future. And now it doesn't have too! All my future plans are neatly pinned on my boards for just that moment when I am ready to make a new recipe or start a new craft. Brilliant!

Because I am always falling in love with ideas I find there and I have this blog to share what I love, I thought I would start trying to post some of favorite finds from Pinterest. Things I can't wait to try or things I got inspired to try. What do you think? I don't know if this will be a weekly thing or a here and there thing...we'll see! But if you want to see all the things I am finding feel free to hit the Follow Me button to the left of this post:)



This week I am going to share a few of the things I have been inspired to do or make. Click on the caption if you want to see the original source and start creating yourself:)

This Countdown to Thanksgiving turkey from my last post was Pinterest inspired:)

 

 

My boys are loving my twist on the dinosaur hats pattern I found!

 

Matching winter hats for my nieces made out of old fleece pajama pants

Want to know what the number one Pinterest inspired item I have been making lately is? Anything pumpkin flavored!! Here are some links to the recipes my family tried and liked:
- Pumpkin Cornbread - http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2010/10/01/pumpkin-cornbread/
- Pumpkin Fudge - http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2010/10/21/pumpkin-fudge/
- Pumpkin Pancakes - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Pancakes/Detail.aspx
- Pumpkin Gingerbread - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-gingerbread/detail.aspx


Finally, with Thanksgiving a little over a week away (really??) let me share with you all the Thanksgiving decor and crafts I have been inspired by. This will take you to my board full of pins dedicated specifically to Thanksgiving: http://pinterest.com/chrystalscorner/thanksgiving-decor-and-crafts/

Happy Pinning, as they say!

Countdown to Thanksgiving

I love crafts. Always have. When I pictured myself as a mom I pictured lots of hands on crafts with my kids. So when my oldest boys were big enough to sit at the table I started planning all of these fun projects to do. I quickly realized just how hard it is to complete a project with two toddlers! Needless to say, it started to be fewer and further between that I let my boys in on my crafts because it just felt more like work then fun. But now that they are 4 and 5 I really want to make more of an effort to get hands on with them. And thanks to Pinterest, I have a LOT of ideas to choose from!

The holiday season is a great time for crafts. There is so much inspiration to draw from. We decided to start with a Countdown To Thanksgiving craft (thanks to Make and Takes for the inspiration) that will help us get excited for the big feast as well as remember what we are thankful for each day. This was a great project to do with my kids because it only involved a handful of supplies and they were able to help with each step.

I started by cutting out the body, the head, the facial features and the strips for the feathers. Jordan got to draw on the eyes and glue on the beak, waddle, and legs.

Nathan got to write Happy Thanksgiving on the body.

They both got to trim the strips of paper into feathers.

 Now I have seen this project where you start with all of the feathers and then take one off for each day as a countdown to Thanksgiving. I liked the idea of adding a feather a day so that you end with a full bird so we are going to do it that way. Each day I am going to ask each of my boys what they are thankful for and write it on the feather before adding it to the body. At the end we will have a nice keepsake to look back on:)

Since we didn't start this until November 5th, we had 5 feathers to catch up on. It was sweet listening to my 4 year old say first that he was thankful that God and Jesus loved him and my 5 year old list his brothers as what he is most thankful for. I look forward to the next 19 days not only because that means Thanksgiving is here and we get to celebrate with loved ones, but also to hear each day what my little guys are thankful for in their life.

Organizer made from Formula Cans

Yup, I have finally used up all those formula cans! Remember this post on making a centerpiece from a formula can? Well, a friend of mine remembered it too and when she saw a picture of an organizer made from these very same "leftovers" on Pinterest, she was kind enough to send it my way. I finally found a project that would let me use up a bunch at once! This is great because we are done with formula in our house so I can check that off my list of useless clutter future projects in the making.

Now at the same time as one friend was showing me this fun idea, another friend was in need of organizing her school room at home (she has 5 kids and home schools...talk about an excuse to be slightly unorganized!). She instantly came to mind when I began to think about bringing this project to life.

Here is the basic idea:

I wiped down my cans first. If you are using something that is actually metal you can wash it but these formula cans are cardboard so I just wiped them out.

I peeled the labels next. This step is probably unnecessary so take it or leave it:)

You'll see I had 5 formula cans and one Nesquik which was a little taller. You really can use any size!

Next I Mod Podged the paper onto the cans. On 3 of them I used wrapping paper and the other 3 I used construction paper. The wrapping paper is much more likely to crinkle or tear so I recommend sticking with sturdier papers.

All wrapped

I then used hot glue to attach all of the cans in a pyramid shape with the tallest can in the center of the bottom row.

Look at all that storage space! Perfect for school supplies, craft supplies, or any other thing you can think up:)

 Now the version I made is pretty plain. I just used paper to cover the cans but there are endless decorating possibilities. I figure since my friend is artistic in all kinds of ways that I am not, she can jazz it up to her liking when it is finally in her possession. I also stuck with a basic pyramid design but there are all different ways to do this. I have even thought about adding smaller cans (think soup cans maybe) to attach in an upright manner so that you could hold things that way as well. Or painting paper towel rolls to match and gluing those on the outside for open ended storage options.The possibilities are pretty limitless so I hope you take this idea and run with it. And of course, come back and share if you do!