Father's Day Gift - Fishing Tackle Box

So for Father's Day I made a little gift this year I made a neat little treat box for my Dad. I'm under the impression he doesn't get treats too often, but I might be mistaken. Either way, I wanted to include candy as well as non-sweet treats he could take with him when he goes out fishing with his buddies.

The examples I found online were equally as cute but used baby food bottles. There are no babies in this house, and I didn't have enough time to ask my friends to save their jars for me. This project can be made in very little time, which means I did it sort of last minute... typical for me.

I got my jars from the DollarTree and drew up my labels myself in Photoshop® and everything else I had on hand. Well, except the treats of course!

I had a box that fit 6 pint sized mason jars perfectly so I covered that in scrapbook paper. You could also cover your box in the wood patterned contact paper they have at the DollarTree and make your box look a little more authentically wooden or antique.

I printed my labels out on heavy weight white paper, but I would suggest using a cream color to make it look a little more vintage.

I used my 2.5 inch circle punch for the lid labels, and they worked out perfect! I just attached the labels to the lid with double sided tape, again, on-hand.

The side labels were also simply taped on with double sided tape. I cut them out by hand. I customized my labels to say what was in each jar.

My treats were:

• Swedish Fish
• Gummy Worms
• Peanut M&Ms
• Sunflower Seeds
• Mixed Nuts
• Goldfish Crackers

You could use all kinds of treats but I tried to stay with the fishing theme mostly. I added some labels to the box itself and voilà! There you have a sweet little treat box for dad on Father's Day or maybe for his birthday. And it doesn't have to be for only dad, it can be for any Fisher-person you have in your life!

FREE DOWNLOAD LABELS

Here are the labels I made in a free PDF download.

DIY Jar Soap Dispensers

SUPER CUTE GIFT ALERT!

These were a hit at the baby shower last spring and this last Christmas and quite inexpensive to make. And who doesn't need soap? It's a nice way to personalize a little, one of the most impersonal gifts I think a person can give, lol!

You can make this as hard or difficult for yourself as you'd like, and as a life rule, I decided on the difficult route. Even the difficult route is pretty simple so don't panic.

Here's what you'll need:

glass canning jars (pint sized is great)
galvanized lids - pre-drilled (This is just my preference. See link for available options)
high-temp hot glue gun
high temp glue
sand paper
soap pump
*optional glass beads
*optional twine or ribbon

I have used the lids that come with the jars, but I don't think they are as nice as the galvanized lids available out there. There are many places to order lids for your jars, in wide mouth OR regular just make sure you buy the right size to fit your jars.

You can get a pack of 12 wide mouth lids from Factory Direct Craft.com for less than six bucks! But you will need to do some work to the lids. You can buy their pumps too and not have to worry about them fitting into the pre-drilled lids, but I figured, why waste money on something I will end up buying anyways, right?

Besides, I prefer the foaming soap dispensers and they didn't appear to have those available through the same store. The only problem with the foaming soap pumps is that they are pretty wide. The smart way to make the holes bigger in these galvanized tin lids would be to use a drill it attachment and quickly drill the right sized hole. That is not how I roll though...

In all my low tech awesomeness, I just used a set of pliers and sorta peeled back the edges of the hole until I had increased the width enough to insert the pump... no measuring. Just insert pliers, bend the edge back and test.I apologize for not having a pict of this part of the process but it seems I was so unhappy with all of the pictures I took of that part, that I deleted them and have none left. Oops!

Once the hole is large enough, just slip the pump through. Make sure the hole is not so big that there is a big gap you have to fill later with hot glue. I sanded the section of the plastic pump that shows through the hole so the hot glue will have something to grab instead of just slick plastic. Trust me, I did not spend much time or effort making this part of the pump look fabulous, and neither should you.

Before I glued anything down, I screwed the lid on the jar. This is sort of an important step if you car about the logo showing on the front of your soap dispenser. Then I put the pump facing the direction I thought was most pleasing and made a mark on the underside of the lid. This might require a little bit of hand coordination so as not to accidentally move or misalign, but if you care enough about this part then you will get it right.

All finished with that, I hot glued everything in place. I suggest that you use high temperature hot glue because it has a stronger bond. Hot glue will also cover the sharp edges that you will make when you resize the hole, adding a little bit of protection for your fingers when you get ready to refill.

If you used the pint size jar, you will need 16 ounces of soap, and that means TWO Bath&Body soaps, OR you can add some glass beads to help fill the dispenser. I got the glass beads from our local DollarTree store.

Then to pretty them up, I added some twine and some holiday bangles I had! Voilà! A pretty little gift you can personalize via scent and decorations. You can buy these ready made for upwards of $35-$60 dollars online, but why when you can make them?!

Leave me a comment or send me a message and let me know what you think! Maybe I missed a step or didn't describe something well enough? I am happy to help!

Thanks!

Country Style Baby Shower

First and foremost, this was a team effort!

No way it would have turned out so cool without my Aunt Kathie, her daughter Jennifer and our buddy Candi! Candi, Kathie and Jenny worked on all the beautiful (and fabulously tasty) treats, while I just ate them shamelessly. (Hey, I worked out that morning running up and down the stairs about a bazillion times!)

Baby Wyatt is destined to be a cowboy, so that's what our theme was - well that and blue antique Ball jars. Between Jenny and I, I think we had about 12! Not to mention the 25 or so we made into door prizes and shower favors.  Check out the super cute, handmade invites here.

My contribution was mainly the games and prizes, while Jenny and I teamed up on most of the decor. Tissue paper pom-poms from Martha Stewart, burlap runners, raffia, jute, clothes pins, barn wood frame, simple white flower arrangements and a tree were all part of the show.

Thankfully my Aunt had a bunch of flowers and a TREE (random I know) from he older daughter's wedding a couple of weeks earlier.... Seriously a life saver. The tree had a bunch of cute baby items for momma to take with like travel sized baby ointment, socks, binkies and a hanging picture frame even.

DIY - Door prize Ball jar soap dispensers.
Aren't they cute?

Our door prizes were soap pumps made from Ball jars and Bath & Body works soaps. We also had party favors that were Cowboy Cookies in quart sized Ball jars... It had crossed my mind to make one of the games be "How many Ball jars did we use?" but as it was, we had more games than prizes! Jenny found the Cookie recipe on Pinterest. Jenny and Candi put them together in a mad dash a day or so before... I hear it was quite the mess considering they didn't have a funnel to use. HA! I wish I'd have seen it but they turned out SUPER CUTE!

Build-a-Baby Winner and Momma of the hour!

Game list included:

• Diaper Raffle
• Match the Animal Momma with the Baby (printable)
• Guess How Many Clothes Pins Are in the Jar
• Guess the Gerber's
• Build a Baby - from Playdoh (and momma chooses winner)

Plus my all time favorite because it's so helpful...

• Thank You Card Give-Away (People address the Thank You card envelopes to themselves and a winner is drawn from the envelopes.)

** Most of the rules to these games are either self explanatory or available by searching online so I won't go into more detail but everyone seemed to have fun. Awesome Games Available here.

The food was amazing, especially the gluten-free lemon butter cream frosted (and raspberry cream filled) cupcakes. Homemade by Candi!

I made the little flags for the cupcakes and I love how they look on the pedestal with the turquoise ribbon.

I could go on and on about the food but instead I'll just share the pictures and the decor with you now. If you see something you like, let me know in the comments, and if you have questions about how something was made or done, send me a message and I will do my best to explain. Otherwise the rest is a fully gratuitous post for the the baby shower.

Thanks for reading!

Party Favors - Cowboy Cookies in Ball Jars

It's a Cowboy!

Salted Carmel drizzle... oh yeah!

The spread also included 7-layer dip and Raspberry Chipotle dip among other yummies!

All in the details - that is burlap as the table runner.

Cowboy Cookies Galore!

Making a sheriff's badge for her Playdoh baby.

This was hosted at the Polson Museum - I'd use them again in a heartbeat!

Drink Bar with Real Lemonade.

Wooden letters Momma gets to take home and decorate with in the nursery!

Mod Podge Tile Coasters

Found these fun little DIY coasters that are super easy to make and cheap too!

Like all projects lately, I found this one on Pinterest. I'm thinking Christmas presents... but they're not likely to be a surprise anymore since I put them on here. Oh well, I think they are cool so here's my attempt.

Pinspiration: Tile Coasters

You will need:

• 4 - 5 square tiles (4.25" x 4.25"), white ones are cheapest. I think I payed 13 cents a piece! 
• 4 - 5 pieces of fabric or scrapbook or wrapping paper (3.75" x 3.75")
• 4 - 5 pieces of felt or foam (3.75" x 3.75")
• Mod Podge
• Sponge brush
• Glue, For gluing the fabric or foam to the bottom of your coasters
• Clear acrylic sealer spray paint

Optional:

• Cutting board
• Rotary cutter for fabric

How to:

1.  Cut your fabric or scrapbook paper into 3.75" x 3.75" squares.

2.  Mod Podge the top of you first tile and center your patterned square. Make sure tho get all the air bubbles out from underneath the square, you're gonna put cups full of liquid on them and you want the surface to be flat. Let it dry.

3.  After you let it dry a little, put a layer of Mod Podge on top. Let this dry.

4.  Put a few layers of Mod Podge on the top of the coaster. Do this for all of your coasters.

5.  Once you've properly coated your coaster you'll want to protect it and make it water proof. Spray the acrylic sealer on your coasters. You'll want to give them a few coats of the sealer as well.

6.  While everything is drying, cut your foam or felt into 3.75" x 3.75" squares.

7.  Glue your felt or foam squares to the bottom of the coasters.

8.  Let your coasters dry and cure for a couple of days before you put anything hot on them, but after that you should be able to use them for anything.


You should be able wipe the coasters clean, but they are not likely dishwasher safe.  The best part about this is you can make these for pretty cheap. I had the Mod Podge and the fabric already. The sealer paint wasn't much, maybe $4 but you will be able to use it on other projects. Sponge brushes are from the dollar store. You can find felt and foam both at the dollar store.

These turned out cute and I suggest you go make some this weekend!

Photo Letter Blocks

I saw these photo message blocks over at the Stories by Me! blog on Pinterest, and thought what a wonderful surprise they would be for my Best Buddy who lives out of state. The poor girl ends up with all my craft attempts. This one, however, turned out pretty slick, even if my photos don't do them any justice. (Maybe she'll take a photo of them for me in their natural setting and share it.)


Pinspiration: Letter Blocks

What I used: 

• 3 to 6 blocks depending on your word(s). I found blocks measuring about 1.5 inches, but these are a little small.
• 3 - 4 coordinating scrapbook papers to match your theme
• ModPodge Matte Decoupage Glue - (Or make your own)
• Laser Printer - Inkjet colors will smear if they get wet! Most home printers are Inkjet.
• Scissors
• Foam Brush
• Sandpaper/Sanding Block
• 9 to 18 photos formatted to fit your blocks. 
• Photo editing software, such as Adobe® PhotoShop® (Gimp a downloadable program or Pixlr, an online photo editing program would work as well)

Optional:

• Finishing Spray
• Distress Ink or Chalk
• Letter Stencils
• Acrylic Paint

How To:

1. GET ORGANIZED. Figure out what you want to spell. I wanted to have two words on opposite sides of the blocks. I chose F-A-M-I-L-Y and F-R-I-E-N-D. Then I picked out some bright and summery colored paper that I knew my friend would like. Then I sorted through a bunch of photos to narrow down which ones I thought were worthy.
   
   
2. I used PhotoShop to re-size my images to what I needed and printed mine in black and white on the laser printer. You could use real photos though, printed from a photo lab.
   
   

3. I printed my letters out onto scrapbook paper that I had to trim to 8.5"x11" in order to run through the printer. Another option could be to paint or stencil your letters on to the paper. You could also cut your letters out and glue just the letters on your blocks like this example from Berlin Patch.
   
   

4. Trim all your images and letters to fit whatever size of blocks you have.
   
   
5. Paint a coat of ModPodge on the cut ends of your blocks, as they will soak up and absorb more of the glue than the other sides. Let this dry before continuing.
   
   
6. Paint a thin layer of glue to the first side of one block. Place your first photo or letter square over glue and press in to place, removing any air bubbles or crookedness. While the glue is drying, continue to repeat the process for your other blocks and squares of paper. Try your best to WAIT for the glue to dry before trimming or sanding any excess paper.
   
   
7. Once the glue is dry, sand the EDGES of each block and avoiding scratching the photos or letters. Optional: If you want an aged or distressed look, rub ink or chalk along the sides of the sanded portions of the blocks. The idea is to darken the exposed wood and disguise any white paper edges. (I chose not to do a distressed look.)
   
   
8. To protect the photos, spray a few layers of finishing Acrylic paint or a few more coats of ModPodge.

Mini Polaroid Magnets

I stumbled on a cute little magnet project from the Ambrosia Creative website for custom Polaroid shaped magnets. I decided I wanted to make them for my best friend who lives a couple states away. But after seeing how cute they were, I decided I wanted a set for myself as well. Here is how mine turned out and how I did it.

Pinspiration: Tiny Polaroid Magnets

Some of the items are a little difficult to find on the Harbor so I also included where I found them below.

You will need:

• Stiff white card stock or photo matte board (I used the same board as is used to Matte a nice photo, because it had the right thickness I wanted. These you can find anywhere they sell picture frames just about, but I bought mine at Walmart.)
• Craft knife OR sturdy scissors (with scissors, you'll need strong hands)
• Metal straight edge/ruler
• Spray mount Or Photo Mounting Squares (I get my photo mounts at Joann's or Micheal's in their scrap-booking section, but I'm sure Walmart or Target has these.)
• Adhesive-backed magnet tape (A little more tricky to find, but I bought mine at Micheal's)
• Photo editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop (Gimp a downloadable program or Pixlr, an online photo editing program would work as well)
• Photo paper & Printer OR If you are like me, you'll just take them to the local photo lab printers.

How To:

1. You'll need to download the Photoshop file of the Polaroid frames below. One download is for a 4x6 image, handy for taking to the photo printer, and the other is an 8.5x11 that you can use at home. In your photo editing program, place your photographs in a separate layer behind the Polaroid frame layer. Crop and re-size your photos to fit within the mini Polaroid frames.

2. Print out photos onto photo paper. (Or pick them up from the photo lab place, lol. As a side note, I used matte paper for mine, but it works either way.)

My Path diverges here: Either you use A) spray mount adhesive or you use B) photo squares.

3A.Spray the back of your sheet of photos and also the cardboard/card stock with spray mount. Let each dry a minute before mounting the photos to the card stock. 

3B. Trim your photos. I trimmed my photos before I attached them to the card stock because it would be easier to see where to stick the photo mounts. Then attach the photos to the card stock leaving a little space between for easier trimming.

4. Trim around the photos with your craft knife or scissors.  Use the metal ruler/straight edge as a guide for your knife.

NOTE: Scissors can tend to pinch the card stock at the corners if you are not careful. See photo right. If you are using a craft knife, start with a fresh blade.

5. Attach magnets to back of each individual Polaroid. Depending on whether you bought a sheet or a roll of magnets will determine whether you should stick the Polaroids to the sheet first or time the roll to fit the Polaroids and then attach them.


Downloads:

4x6 Photoshop File

8.5x11 Photoshop File

Valentine's Day Jar of Hearts ♥

So I have decided to start sharing some of the crafty projects I have been working on lately (instead of blogging). I started to get in touch with my crafty side, in part, because of my aunt and cousin, and their Christmas crafts they had me doing. Pinterest played a role in my craftiness as of late as well. Except I have little interest in re-posting other people’s projects. I intent to try and only show my own pictures of my projects. That is unless my project is such a huge FAIL that I need to reference the original source so you can see what I meant to create, OR you just need to see my inspiration. Hopefully that won’t happen much.

I began thinking, hey, I have this blog that I’ve somewhat abandoned and I actually have content to write about now, so here we are. You’re looking for a “Jar of Hearts” project, maybe even the song, and I’m rambling on.

I wanted to make a fun Valentine’s Day gift for my husband that was creative, fun and sweet. I went on to Pinterest to look for some ideas and saw lots of cute little fabric/felt hearts, mostly made into garlands (as that is all the rage right now). I saw someone mention the idea of leaving little hearts in their loved one’s lunches and then it hit me. I could hand sew my own little hearts and fill a jar with them.

Pinspiration: Comfort Me Hearts

Even more back story: A few years ago, Brian and I would hide a little stuffed Sully (Monsters Inc.) toy, in random places for each other to find. Boots, coat pockets, socks, pillow case, silverware drawer, ALL very good places. But somewhere along the lines, Sully disappeared for good. Possibly sent out to the trash unknowingly with a load of old worn out socks. ☹

Valentine’s Day was the perfect opportunity for me to create that fun little surprise game again, only with hand sewn hearts.

So here is what I used, and you may want to use something else entirely:
•    Pinking shears
•    Sturdy utility scissors (these will cut card board or card stock)
•    Cardboard or card stock
•    4 – 6 different patterns of pink and/or red fabric (you’ll use less than a quarter yard)
•    Matching thread
•    Sewing needles
•    Cotton or Poly Stuffing, rice, beans, or anything you might want to put inside the hearts (scents maybe?)
•    Jar
•    Small funnel (I made mine out of paper)

I cut my heart patterns out of the card stock from an old cereal box, free hand. My hearts were about 5 inches wide and maybe 3 inches tall. I tried to give myself about a quarter inch extra for sewing seams. Just cut a few different shapes and sizes out until you have a few you want to use. It’s totally fine if you have to fold the cardboard to cut them, because I just folded the fabric inside the templates to cut them out.

Funny enough, I have fancy cutting tools and fancy cutting boards, but little desire to use them. One thing I would recommend that I did not do, was iron the fabric before cutting it. Those fat quarters I bought had fold lines that I mostly worked around with, but if you wanted to do it the right way…

Needless to say, I’m not going to fault you for skipping steps. I liked the sloppy, handmade feel my little hearts had.

I cut out multiple shapes and sizes of hearts. Some I sewed inside out and stuffed with cotton batting, (all I had on hand) and some I stuffed with rice. I stuffed the larger hearts with rice, as I know they would make nice hand warmers when popped in the microwave for a few seconds. You could add scents to your hearts, like lavender, cloves, or any scented oil. More scent ideas here.

I also made some neat little message holder hearts. These I have not seen anywhere else… yet. I love the idea of having a little hidden pocket to write little notes to my husband. Since my fabric was just thin cotton, I went ahead and cut four layers at one time. I loved the rough edge the pinking shears gave the hearts so I just went with it.

I’m not going into too much detail on how to sew the pieces together, or fill the hearts with stuffing. If you need that level of direction, there are TONS of tutorials for beginners out there.

I put about eight or nine hearts in my little glass Ball jar and finished her off with a rough-cut piece of fabric tied around it. I’ve hidden two hearts already… he’s either not that good at finding them or I am fantastic at finding hiding places… I prefer the latter. ♥