Candle Making

Project for Christmas with the kids:

DIY Candles

Three Little Pigs

Lauren came home from school with the cutest project and it got my teacher juices flowing. I have never seen this done with the three little pigs. She did a great job with her house made of straw (yarn), he house made of sticks (spaghetti noodles) and her house made of bricks (torn construction paper). And she even wrote her name. It's perfect!

Salt Ceramic Dough

Elijah (and I) had to use this recipe to make a water cycle chamber. It is an interesting dough. The water cycle chamber is pretty awesome. It was a great project.

Mix together:

one cup table salt

one half cup cornstarch

three quarters of a cup of cold water

Heat this mixture on the stove.

(A double boiler works best, but a saucepan on low to medium heat is satisfactory.)

Stir constantly. In about two or three minutes it becomes so thick that it follows the spoon in the stirring process. It quickly reaches a consistency similar to bread dough. Spoon out the mixture onto foil or waxed paper. When it is cool enough to handle, knead the dough for several minutes, place it in a sealed plastic bag.

Pickle Jar Project

I found this great site and it has all kinds of awesome projects that I am going to do. I like the project and they seem to be in my price range.

The first one is to make display jars out of old pickle jars. Cute. Cute. Cute.

Pickle Jar Project

Reversible Tote Bag Tutorial

Today I am a sewing maniac. I just finished a bag for my kids piano music and now I've moved on to Hogwart's robes. All to the sound of multiple Roman Candles being fired off. I hope the house is stills standing at the end of the night. There are lots of formerly illegal fireworks out there.

I wanted to post the tutorial that I used to make the piano bag. I had a bit of trauma in the middle. Sewing is NOT my middle name and I had a hard time thinking this one through. Thank GOoDNESS for my seam ripper. But here is the TUTORIAL.

Paper Bag Flowers

I've been cruising Skip To My Lou. I love to just look and admire. There are some excellent ideas on it.

She shares some good ideas. One of them are the paper flowers she got from

Martha Stewart

And of course I think the Wedding Luncheon she uses them on.

Wine Glass Paper Shades

Oh how I wish I was having a party or wedding or SOMETHING to try these out for. I want to make these. They sound cheap and easy. I WILL do this.


American Homemakers Post

You can put tea lights in these to light them up. So Cute.

Kissing Balls

If anyone out there knows how to make Kissing Balls, please call me. I want to make them. I think they are awesome.

I especially like THESE Kissing Balls. Thank you Momma Did It.

Reversable Apron/Cooking party

For Ally's 5th Birthday we did a cooking party. Yes I know she is about to turn six. I've been a little (read: ALOT) disorganized.

I made each of the kids aprons. I got the pattern from THIS website.

For the party we also had the kids make their own pizzas and decorate their own 6" cakes. This party was hugely successful and all the girls loved it. I should probably post pictures.

Car Seat Cover

I made a car seat cover for my baby. It was actually pretty simple. I decided I wanted to try it when I saw them going for $40 a pop and thought I could make a cuter one for cheaper.

My only disappointment is that it drags a little on the floor. I found that not all car seats are the same and mine was a little bit bigger than others, so I added several inches. I guess I added a couple too many inches. This is going to be too hard for me to fix because I used Rick Rack like Tiffany did. But it's still really cute. I should take a picture, but alas, I don't want too.

But here are the blog posts that I got my ideas from:

Tiffany is my sisters SIL. They are super crafty and I loved how her cover looked.

Tiffany's Blog

This is a tutorials I followed:

Lulu's Tiles

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Next up, I'm going to make a nursing cover.

Homemade Hand Sanitizer

I hate hand sanitizer. I think it is gross and has potentially harmful chemicals in it. I also don't like anti-bacterial soap. But there is something intriguing to me about knowing what is in mu hand sanitizer. For a tutorial click HERE.

Wedding Frame

Okay so, I am loving the Creative Crate. She has so many cute ideas. Here is another one that I really like.

All I need is a Cricut. Dang it. Oh and money. Money is good too.

Family Canvas Tutorial

I found a new blog called The Creative Crate with ton of Creative ideas.

I want to make this canvas art and HERE is the tutorial.

Shower Curtain Play Mat

I got this idea from My Little Gems, who doesn't want me to take pictures without asking. So I'll just link it instead.

Basically, she used a shower curtain to make a Hot Wheel town, like the ones my siblings and I would make. This totally reminded me of my childhood and I loved the idea. So if you want to see pictures you'll have to click here.

Book Pumpkins

I found this interesting idea on The American Homemaker's page and I am intrigued.
They are just folded books. Interesting idea, eh? I really like this idea.

Trick or Treat Crafts

Okay, Halloween isn't usually my thing, but I think these are very cute.

Graphics Fairy offered this print out for free.

Kendra from "Me and My Insanity" came up with this idea for it.

She also came up with this craft, which I think is so cute.


Here are the directions if you want to make it too. Although these aren't really directions, it links to where she got the idea and other ways of doing it. I think it is cute.

Halloween Mason Jar Lanterns

So who likes the food at Our Best Bites? I do! Much to my surprise they had a Halloween craft and I want to do it sometime.

This is tissue paper modge podged onto mason jars. I think it is really cute.
Here are the complete directions on Our Best Bites.

Fairy Ribbon Wands

I can never resist a great tutorial. So one more from Little Birdie Secrets. They have this fantastic tutoral on how to make these.

Sidewalk Paint

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Mix well and apply to sidewalk with paintbrush.

You can add food coloring to this to give it color. But the colors don't wash off the sidewalk so well. So white is probably good.

Felt Brown Bag Lunch Tutorial

I really want to learn to make this. I think it is cute. For a complete tutorial go to Skip to My Lou's Tutorial.