Snow Ice Cream

So, I'm a little late on the snow post. At least for the Pacific Northwest. However, it sounds like in other parts of the country, this may be something fun you could still try. Snow Ice Cream! I saw the idea on Facebook, when bunches of my friends were making it. I delayed in making it myself and by the time we did make it, the snow had a nice layer of ice on the top of it. It didn't work out as well, but it was still fun to try. To make Snow Ice Cream, check out this blog. This recipe for snow ice cream calls for sweetened condensed milk, but there was another recipe, courtesy of Veggie Tales, that I saw floating around Facebook that didn't required the sweetened condensed milk. Here's that recipe:

So, I can't speak for the VeggieTales version of snow ice cream, but for the recipe I tried, it wasn't too bad. It was incredibly easy to make and took practically no time at all. My nephew, Gabe, and my son helped me make it. However, I would highly recommend not allowing the two-year-old to pour the sweetened milk...oy! What a mess.

Icky sticky mess!

After we got milk, vanilla and snow all in one bowl, we went to mixing. My mom was recording the boys making the snow ice cream (or "Snow Cream" as Gabe referred to it) while I was taking pictures. She will not be happy to have her picture on here...but, oh well. Muwahaha! :) (love you, momma!)

After it was all mixed up, the boys each got a little bowl with some of their concoction.

Cade wasn't much of a fan, which was surprising considering how much he loves ice cream, but Gabe thought it was pretty good - especially with chocolate syrup on it. I tried a little of it and it was way too sweet. If you do decide to make this recipe, I wouldn't recommend putting the whole can of sweetened condensed milk in. It also was too icy. For the first few snow days, the snow was like powder and the last day or two of our winter wonderland, the snow was covered with a layer of ice.  And we did not get around to making our "snow cream" before it truly was "Snow Ice Cream" because I was lazy and didn't make it when the snow was soft and powdery. I have a feeling this ice cream would've been better made with that fresh snow. Also, this does not freeze well. Gabe was resilient and continued to eat the frozen ice cream for a while, but it's kinda like re-freezing a blizzard from Dairy Queen...it's just not the same. 

So, there you have it. Try making some "Snow Cream" for yourself - if you have some snow. Especially if it's soft snow. And enjoy! 

Christmas Cards: The clean up

It's time to undeck the halls and clean up the holly. It's time to throw away the 5 pound fruitcake and take down the Christmas lights. It's time to get rid of the Christmas cards everyone sent you...or is it?? I love Christmas cards. I especially love the ones with pictures. I love the others too, but the picture Christmas cards make me so happy. I just was never sure what to do with them after the holidays other than put them in a box to look at every once in a while. There's no way I'd be able to frame each and every one of them. But, thanks to my friend Haley, I now have a new solution. She told me this little trick last year, but doesn't remember it at all. I'm glad she remembered it long enough to tell me though, because it's brilliant! Want to hold on to your Christmas cards, birth announcements, or any other cards you may be interested in and make it fun for your kids to look at too? Create a book with them! All you need is a hole punch and some rings like you would find in a binder (you can get them from office supply stores or even Walmart or Fred Meyer for super cheap).

I like to write the year on the back of each of the cards for my reference. After it's dated, I hole punch the picture and then put it in the binder rings.

Put it on the rings with the rest of your Christmas cards, make a cover if you wanna (I have yet to do that) and you have a make-shift photo album that you and your loved ones can enjoy!

Thanks to my sister for the Christmas card, hers gets to be the example. :) 

You can do this with normal cards too. That's how I've been storing all of the cards that I've gotten from showers and such since my daughter has been born, but because it's not pictures, I'm just using one ring in the corner. Those cards will be put in her memory box and this way they will all stay together. I love finding new solutions for storing my pictures and other stuff that I am too clingy to get rid of. :)

So, if you are clingy like me, I hope this gives you a helpful solution. May you all be blessed in 2014!

Easy Sock Snowman

These cute little guys are a
quick and easy craft to give
as gifts!

Supplies 

Crew socks

Rice

Rubber bands

Buttons

Small black beads

Fabric

Orange foam sheet or construction paper (for nose)

1.  Cut sock in half.

2.  Turn upper half of sock inside out, secure raw edge with rubber band.

3. Turn right side out.

4.  Fill sock 2/3 full with rice.

5.  Shake sock to settle rice.

6.  Secure with rubber band.

7.  Fill head with more rice, secure with rubber band. 

8.  Fold raw edge of toe end of sock to form cuff.

9.  Secure with glue onto head.

10.  Glue on eyes and nose.

11.  Cut fabric into a 1"x 12" strip, wrap around neck for scarf.

12.  Glue buttons to front.

13.  Cut (5) 1/2"x1-1/2" strips of fabric and glue together and add to hat.

Signs for Christmas

This is, again, a little cheat on my blog. I didn't get these ideas from Pinterest, but I have been busy crafting my little heart out and thought I'd show you my two latest creations. One idea I got from Craft Warehouse, where I saw this cute little sign.

When I saw it, my initial thought was "I bet I could make that!" And, by golly, I could! (Not surprisingly, seeing as how they make these for folks to find their inspiration. It's how those craft stores grab ya!)
Supplies that I purchased for this project:
A wood frame that they sell at Craft Warehouse. You could probably find a frame of just about any kind and make this though.
Red Paint (which I actually already had at home)
Ribbon for the border
Some bling or ribbon or whatever your little heart desires for the inside
Vinyl for the words
Mod Podge to secure the ribbon

Here it is, a blank piece of wood just waiting to have something gorgeous applied to it

I originally started out with red paint, but it was much too bright, so I got a slightly darker red and repainted it. I liked the end result. And, obviously, you don't have to use red...I'm just not creative enough to come up with my own color scheme. After the paint had dried, I mod podged the ribbon to the border and waited for that to dry.

Instead of blinging up the sides like the Craft Warehouse example, I used some cute snowflake ribbon that I found and just placed it on the bottom of the frame, again using mod podge. I thought about applying it all the way around the frame, but I think it would've been a little overkill. After all was dry, I went to my amazing Silhouette Cameo and created the text for my copy-cat masterpiece. Once it was applied, my sign was complete and I was quite pleased with the results! The ribbon is a little long and I didn't cut it down quite enough and some of the vinyl is a little cockeyed in spots, but I am settling for the time being because crafting with a two year old and an infant means you have to settle for a while from time to time.

My other project was for an online auction that my MOPS group was putting on. I have actually made a few of these and I love them. A friend of mine made one and I just had to copy her idea and make it my ownself, plus I found it on Pinterest so I was determine to make it too.

Photo from Pinterest

 I did this little project on a deep set canvas that was 8x24 in size. (Well, my original was 8x24, this one was 12x24, but my preference is the 8x24).

So for this project, you just need:
A deep set 8x24 canvas
Paint color of your choice
Paper or vinyl
Mod Podge

I wasn't crazy about the red background, so I changed that up a bit this time (I'm a rebel!) and went for a dark night sky blue. I painted the entire canvas including the outside edges.

After that was dry, I took the paper that I had purchased (sparkly silver paper) and cut it out, again, using my fancy cutting machine - the Silhouette Cameo! Seriously, that machine is AMAZING! After it was cut, I placed the cut-outs on the board to my liking, then I mod-podged them down on the canvas. Be careful not to use too much mod podge as it can leave a little white glaze on the top of your canvas, but for the most part that doesn't happen.

I have actually made this sign a number of times as gifts and I used a different technique each time to see which way I preferred. So, here is what I learned: Once I used glitter spray paint and painted with that first, then I applied a vinyl of my cut-outs, painted over the top and once it was mostly dry, peeled off the vinyl. This I wasn't as excited about as it left the print looking a bit sloppy or unkempt, in my opinion. (See bottom sign in picture) Then I've tried applying mod podge to the entire canvas after the cut-outs have been applied. This leaves a nice glaze on the sign, but the glittery paper isn't quite so shimmery. If you had nothing to compare it to, you'd never notice though - it still has plenty of shimmer. (See middle sign in picture) and then I've just used glue or mod podge for the cut-outs and left the rest alone. This works well, though sometimes the glue leaves a bit of shine if it's outside of the cut-outs. (See top sign in picture) Either way, I prefer the second or third method over the first.

3 different examples

In the end, I just think this is a beautiful Christmas sign, no matter how it is made. But, just so you can choose your preference, here is the 8x24 sign vs the 12x24 sign

8x24 Sign

12x24 sign

So, there you have it. All the beautiful signs I've been making recently. I know there are ways to cut vinyl without the fancy silhouette cutting machine, but since I have it, I will continue to use it. I love it. Happy crafting and Merry Christmas!

DIY Christmas Card Hanger

Wow. It's been a while since I've actually written a post. I knew, once I was pregnant, I was going to be taking a short break from my blog, so I went to work adding some posts before baby got here. Baby is now here and she is absolutely perfect. I love her very much. Thankfully, brother is quite smitten with her as well. What a blessing that is!

Back to my blog. Last year, I wanted to find a creative way to hang my Christmas cards that wasn't just taping them to a wall. Because, let's face it, that's really not creative at all. So, I went to Pinterest, as always. I couldn't find the exact pin that I took the idea from, but I found a similar idea today so you can check it out. To check out the blog, click here.

Photo from Pinterest

This was very simple to make, and even more simple because I used my Silhouette Cameo to do so. However, it should be fairly easy even without the fancy cutting machine.

I started by painting a piece of wood red. I didn't actually want the sign to be red, but wanted it to have red highlights in it. To complete that, after the red paint had dried, I painted over it with black paint. Once the black paint was dry, I used a piece of sandpaper and sanded the board ever so slightly in order to see the red paint as well. It kind of gave it a worn look - which is what I was going for.

This was before the paint had dried and before I applied another coat of black paint.

Once that was completed, I added my phrase "Season's Greetings" to the board. I used a paint pen to make it look extra cool. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I saw on Pinterest, a lot of people made signs like these that said "Merry Mail." If I had seen that, I may have stolen their ideas. It is pretty cute.

After all was dry, I used a glue gun and added ribbon to attach the Christmas cards and a skinny ribbon to hang the sign. As it says in threepartsblessed's blog, a "Command" hook is an awesome invention and should be used for hanging your sign. It comes off clean from your walls at the end of the holiday season. I love them.

And there you have it. This picture was obviously taken at the start of the season. I wanted to allow for ample time to add Christmas cards. This was a great addition to my holiday decor and it was very useful. I think I will decorate the clothespins next, but I haven't taken the time to do that yet.

Anyway, I'd recommend making something like this. It doesn't take too much work and it is oh-so handy if you don't have a way to hang up your cards already.

I'll be posting more before Christmas, but in the meantime, here is a picture of the cuteness that is just a little over a month old that has entered our lives.

Homemade Holiday Coupon Book For The Boss!

My sister wanted to make a present for her boss today. And, what do you a get a man who can afford to have everything? A homemade gift. She was really excited about it and asked for my help. She decided on a Christmas Coupon Book and I did some searching on Pinterest to find some options. Most of the options were for spouses or parents, so we had to do a bit of digging to go beyond finding a template that was already a complete coupon book with the coupons already written out. I'm pretty sure her boss would NOT have wanted a coupon for a massage given by my sister...well, maybe he would've, but it would be inappropriate to say the least. :) We decided on making one similar to one made on http://sarahsinkspot.com/blog/coupon-book's bog. She even had a sheet of coupons to just print. But, my sister wanted to type them out, so we did some master copy and pasting into a Word Document and tweaked and edited it to fit our needs. We put a colorful border around each one and she wrote her message. I think she ended up with 5 different messages and made 4 of each of them. Creative idea, not having to think of a bazillion ideas. We printed them on cardstock and cut them out.

After cutting them out, we cut down a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper down to 8.5x11 for the cover and back and printed out our cover.  I highly recommend printing on a scratch paper first to make sure it's the right size and coloring that you'd like. Plus, then you can be certain you are putting your paper in the correct way. After you have printed it, cut it down to size and remember to cut enough for the back of the book as well.

Don't mind the cookies in the corner of the picture...yum! :) 

Once it's cut down to size, make certain (one more time) that your coupons fit in just right. Take them out, and put one extra one (we had a few extra just-in-case coupons laying around) inside and go to town with your hole puncher. We did two holes.

 After you have punched holes in your cover (and back) and your extra coupon, take your extra coupon and one or two of your real coupons and line up the holes. Continue doing this until you have hole punched all your coupons.

 Put your coupon book together and thread some ribbon through. 

And, lastly, be proud of the beautiful hand-made gift you've made for your boss. :) 

Side note: We did add stickers to each page and I forgot to post pictures with that, but it just made it that much more festive. We've decided that, my sister will right "VOID" after the use of each coupon, or, (if she chose to use it more than once) put a hole punch on the coupon so you can see how many times it's been used. I'm excited for her boss to see this awesome gift!

I would definitely make this again. It was a fun idea, a fun project and with the template, it wasn't nearly as time consuming as it could've been if we had designed each "coupon on our own. Fun, definitely fun! :)

The Spouse Christmas Countdown!

Last year, I worked on The Spouse Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar from http://www.thedatingdivas.com/tara/the-spouse-christmas-countdown/. It was a fun little project that  took me about 4-6 hours(ish) to complete start to finish. I worked on it over the course of a few days. The best thing to do is find a friend who would like to do it with you! That's what I did, and we had a blast.

Between my friend, Christina, and myself - we made 50 cards (obviously) and had them all a standard size to simplify it. We went with 4x6. Basically, we treated it like we were making a normal card, with a decorative back. I do not believe I'm much of an artsy person without VERY specific instructions, so this was a bit of a challenge to me to be creative. And, I was quite impressed with myself! Once got all the cards made, we laid them out on a table and each took 25. This is what they all looked like laid out:

After we picked our cards, our work together was done. I went home and cut out numbers using red cardstock on my Silhouette Cameo. I used a sticker maker to stick the numbers on the cards (although glue would've worked fine too.) After that, all I had left was writing out the messages on the back! The dating divas' blog recommends that you do 2/3 compliments, 1/3 services and a half of a 1/3 for Christmas activities. That came out to 14 compliments, 7 services and 4 activities. Christina and I wrote that out and shared some of them with each other so the brainstorming wasn't as difficult either. :) I decided to type out my messages because would it be fun to do this again a different  year? And how much more fun would it be if you could change up the messages and NOT remake the cards?! YEAH!! That's my kind of project!! So, I typed them up, cut them out and taped them either just to the back of the card, or onto card stock and THEN cut them out. After that, all that was left was hanging the beautiful work that I'd done! And, here it is!

It was such a nice surprise for my husband to wake up and see on December 1st! Granted, he knew it was coming - I can't keep a surprise to myself when it comes to him. But, he doesn't know what's on the cards!! He'll get to discover that each day. 

Anyway, this was a fun project. I would recommend it, if you are the creative type or (like me) have a friend who is. :) It's a nice way to bless your spouse (or anybody that you want to make it for, for that matter). 

Yay or Nay for me on this project? Yay, indeed! It was a fun one and I love to spoil my husband! For more details on how to make this project (and even simplify it with a standard card you could use) go to the blog above! 

Until next time....