Spooky Soaps

A friend got me thinking about soaps again. Here are some spooky soaps embedded with toy finger puppets. My son loved them! He was excited to use his new soap and very anxious to get to the toy. It will be a lesson in patience. I tried to explain that it will take a while before the toy will "come out." It will be a good motivator for hand washing during this crazy flu season.

By the way, I used a muffin pan for the molds.

Beary Cute

Photo from Familyfun.com

I love this idea that I saw in Family Fun magazine. I know that teddy grahams and gummy bears still have sugar but I bet it's less sugary than most Valentine's Day candies! This is a cute and easy treat to send with your kids for their buddies on Valentine's Day.

Details and instructions here.

Yet another gift card holder

Here is one more gift card holder. I found the template at FamilyFun.com. They do not post the entire instructions, but all I did was download the template, trace it onto thick kraft paper and folded. I used double stick tape where you fold it over.

You can also do this using old greeting cards or any cardstock.

Gift Card Box

I guess it turned out to be gift wrapping week! How about another way to present your gift cards?



This pattern is by Heather Bailey. The instructions say to use cardstock. I used cardstock for the tray, but regular weight paper for the outer part. I think it worked just as well.

Craft Quickie Thursday - Knit Gift Card Holder

In continuing with our (unintentional) gift packaging theme this week, I started thinking about another way to use up those small amounts of yarn us knitters have lying around - make a gift card holder.

Here's what you will need:
Yarn
Knitting Needles
Approx. 1 yd of ribbon or yarn
Embroidery Needle

Start by knitting a rectangle to approximately 4"x8" in a pattern of your choosing (purl, knit, rib, etc). Once finished, lay your knitted piece flat and fold the bottom edge up approximately 2". Find the center point of the ribbon (I used silk cord) and place that inside the folded piece, centered inside the fold at the bottom so that the ribbon sticks out of both sides. Thread an embroidery needle with your ribbon on one side and stitch a few times up that side, ending with your ribbon on the back of your piece. Repeat stitching on the other side, also ending with your ribbon on the backside.

Insert your gift card, fold the top over, bring your ribbon around to the front and tie a bow.

The best part is that in using up your left over yarn, so it's not costing anything!

Recycled Gift Bows

It's funny that Traci posted yesterday about using I-cords to make a bow for your gifts. We didn't plan this, but here's another gift bow idea! This one was made using a page out of a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. You can make this using any paper: magazines, cards, recycled gift wrap, scrapbook papers.

You can find the tutorial from Instructables here. Super easy. YOU CAN DO IT!

I am never paying for bows again!

I-Cord Ribbon

I was recently introduced to ravelry.com. I love to be organized, and for me, that is the great thing about this site. It has forced me to sit down, pull out my yarn and see what I actually have hiding in my stash. It has also inspired me to try and use up some of that left over yarn.

In my family, January is one of our big birthday months. I thought, what better than to use yarn as a decorative element on a package. Instead of just using it as is in place of ribbon, try making an i-cord (you can see directions here - scroll down that page to see the how-to video).

It's very easy to do. You'll need some yarn and double point knitting needles. The yarn I used is Berroco Comfort Nylon - 9743 Goldenrod and my needles are a US4. I cast on 3 stitches and continued knitting until the piece measured approximately 30 inches. One nice thing about an i-cord is that it has some stretch to it, which made it perfect for tying a bow.

Magnetic Bookmarks & A GIVEAWAY!

I saw a tutorial for magnetic bookmarks from Martha herself. I wanted to make some that weren't Father's Day themed.



To make this, download the template here. It looks like this:



Print it on your color printer, cut out the bookmarks, and then fold them in half. I used a corner rounder punch on one of them:



You can use peel and stick magnet strips to attach to the inside bottoms of the bookmarks. I found the magnets at Michaels for $1.49. Yes, I used my 40% off coupon to save a whole $0.60!





And here they are in action:



These are great to include in birthday cards for my friends who enjoy reading. You can also make your own by cutting out a rectangle to decorate or embellish. Mine were about 3" x 7" but you can make it any size you want.

I will mail these two bookmarks to the first person (within the United States) who comments with the name the book in the picture above. **Brimful Curiosities was the first to comment: the book is "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein**

Technorati Tags: bookmarks

Craft Quickie Thursday: Personalized Photo Books

Every Thursday we will be featuring crafts that are very quick and easy to do. This week: personalized photo books! Check out your local craft, general or dollar stores for a 4x6 photo book. I was able to find these ones at my local Dollar General store for $1.00 each:



The cover and back can be removed:



I removed the cover and traced and cut out some white cardstock so that they were the same size. Then I decorated. I wanted to show that you can go simple and add a picture (with a glue stick, scrapbooking adhesive, or double-sided tape) and just doodle, draw, and decorate using markers or pencils. If you happen to know Photoshop, I found a tutorial on how to doodle using Photoshop. You can also get a little more fancy with this. I made a second book using scrapbooking paper and some ribbon I had saved from a gift someone had given me.



These make great inexpensive but personalized gifts especially for new parents, grandparents and other releatives. I think they are a fun gift for kids too. They like seeing pictures of the favorite relatives, friends, and things in their lives.

Please be sure to come back each Thursday for other quick and easy craft ideas!

Tags: photo, book, album, gift, crafts