Crafting 101

I thought I would post some easy crafts that would also make nice Mother's Day gifts. So for each week until Mother's Day, I will be posting a new craft just for Moms...

Today I wanted to start with Bath Cookies...(why do the same old bath salts and bath fizzies when you can make cookies)

What you need:

2 cups of Sea salt or rock salt
1/2 cup Baking soda
1/2 cup Cornstarch
2 tbs of Almond oil
1 tsp Vitamin E oil
1-2 eggs
6 drops Essential oil

Cookie cutters

What you need to do:

Preheat oven to 350'. Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using a rolling pin, smooth out the cookie mix and use cookie cutters to make cookie shapes. You can also roll small balls in your hand and make plain old round cookies.

Bake about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.

Makes 10-12 cookies depending on size.

How to use:

Drop 1 to 2 in a warm bath (it works great if you put them in while the water is running into the tub.)

Store them in an airtight container for up several months.

Stay tune for more fun gifts you can make for your mother...

Crafting 101

Do you have scrap fabric sitting in a drawer, taking up space? Do you have buttons or soda pop lids that you would like to do something with? Do you like magnets? Who doesn't...they make great little gifts...

Here's a couple ideas:

Take some quilted batting and cut it the same size as a button. Cut the fabric a little larger so that it will wrap around the button and the batting and glue the fabric at the back. Take a magnet and glue it over the fabric you just glued together and you have a one of a kind magnet for your fridge or your child's locker at school...

For the soda pop lids you would do the same thing only you will probably want to fill the inside of the lid with batting to make it easier to attach the magnet to that side.

For more unique ideas:

If you have someone in the family who enjoys sewing, why not wrap that material around a large empty thread spool, place the magnet on the back of the spool where your fabric meets so you can cover up the seam.

Take a thimble and put a magnet on it...or take a piece of fabric and wrap it around a small piece of cardboard. Take a sewing needle and put it through the fabric and back out again...glue a magnet on the back. It will look like a small sewing project...don't forget to put a small piece of thread through the eye of the needle and knot it, so that it really looks authentic...

Find a small jewelry gift box, if it has a bottom and a lid, glue the lid to the bottom of the box on an angle of sorts...glue some cotton to the bottom of the box...get those little wooden hearts and paint them and write "I Love You, Mom" or something that goes along with who you are giving the magnet to...glue the wooden hear in the box on the cotton and then put a magnet on the back of the lid...now every time they see the gift box, they will think of you....

Dog lovers, cat lovers, gardeners...find material that matches their likes and wrap some batting and material around:

buttons
milk jug lids
icing tub lids (for a bigger magnet)
medicine bottles (if you are giving this to a gardener, wrap the material around it and then purchase some of those small decorative flowers and put them inside so it looks like a vase...put a magnet on the back and they will always have flowers blooming)

A nature lover...find some very pretty rocks (small ones), clean them up...and put a magnet on the back...If you child has quit playing with Barbies...then why not find one of her (or Ken's) old hiking boot and put a magnet on the back of it...

Do you have pieces parts from an old game...checkers or chess...why not cut a piece of cardboard out...put some checkered material on the cardboard and glue a few checkers on your 'board'...magnet on the back..there ya go...

Small toys can be fun to use also...those little yellow ducky bath toys...put a magnet on the bottom of them and put them on the fridge if you have a duck hunter in the family...a fun twist to their sport...

Think outside the box...these little magnets can compliment other bigger gifts that you have gotten...or they can be neat little gifts to hand just to say, "thanks" or "I love you"...or just for fun...

Crafting 101

With Easter so close, I thought I would share some different ideas on decorating Easter eggs...

• Kool-aid dye - Mix the whole package of Kool-aid with a little water - the more water you use, the lighter the color will be. Place the hard boiled egg in the liquid, leave in for while you do something else (this does take a little longer than the regular dying eggs). Get the eggs out of the mix and let them dry.
• After you have hard boiled the eggs, take tissue paper (all different colors) and tear into small pieces. Wet an area on the egg and put the tissue paper over the water. Continue all over the egg until the egg is covered completely. Let dry and then pull the tissue paper off and you will see a pattern and colors.
• If you mix 1 teaspoon coloring, 1 Tablespoon vinegar, 1 cup of water and 1 Tablespoon salad oil. When you dye your eggs in this mix you will have a marbled colored egg.
• Put stickers on the egg and dye them...then remove the stickers once the color has dried.
  

Happy Easter!!

Crafting 101

This little craft is to help the birds in your neighborhood have a nice place to live.

A Homemade Birdhouse

What you will need:

1 coffee can with a snap on lid
Hammer
Scissors
1 large nail
ribbon (long enough to wrap around the can)
twigs the same length as your coffee can with one a little longer
rope or twine

What you need to do:

Cut about a 2 inch hole in the plastic coffee can lid close to one edge. (the size of the hole depends on the size of the coffee can and the size of the bird you are trying to house - the bigger the can, the bigger the hole - the bigger the bird)...Put the lid on the coffee can. Hot glue the twigs side-by-side and close together to the ribbon. Hot glue the ribbon around the coffee can...making sure the longer twig is next to the hole in the lid. Wrap the twine around the can a couple of times, so that it helps hold the twigs in place. Make the twine long enough so that you can hang it from a tree. Make sure you hand the 'nest' so that the longer piece of twig is on the bottom so that the bird has a perch to stand on when they are checking out their new home. Don't worry about putting anything on the inside, the birds will fill it up for their nest.


And don't forget the frogs/toads...you heard me...the toads will eat mosquitoes, slugs and other bugs. Why is this important, because they can keep the bugs away from your plants.

What you need:

1 or 2 Daylily plant(s)
1 (6 inch) clay pot

What you need to do:

Find a nice spot close to your garden and dig a small hole deep enough to plant the daylily plant(s) and the clay pot. Bury the clay pot on its side with a little more than half of the clay pot showing. Plant the daylily (one on each side if you got two) close to the opening (don't block the opening). Get a toad and show him his new home...

Have fun...

Crafting 101

Some of the best crafts are the easiest crafts and this craft just proves that point...

Tennie Ties

• shoelaces (plain white ones)
• DecoArt So Soft fabric paint
• pencil & tape
• permanent markers

Now decorate your shoelaces however you want...to match your mood, your outfit, your favorite team...or just go crazy and see what happens....

The DecoArt fabric paint can be painted on (in a design of your choice) or lay down some wax paper and drizzle the paint over the laces...you can use one color or a couple colors.

Wrap the laces around the pencil (from one end to the other) and then you use the permanent markers to "paint" lines from tip to tip on the laces.

Make animal prints or dots or whatever else your imagination can come up with. You can have laces for every day of the week, holidays and ones that fit your mood (no matter what that might be)...

Have fun!

Lilfix