Jungle Themed Gift Tags

My son turns 2 in about two weeks. I'm trying to get some stuff together to give to his "friends" at the daycare, since I don't have the funds to have an all out birthday party. I found some really cute animal finger puppets for $3.50 (10 pieces) on eBay. Now, while I anxiously wait for those puppets, I am trying to find, or make, decorations and such for his "party". Since it will be at the daycare, I decided I would make goody bags with special tags. Not finding any tags that I liked, I decided to make my own. I included a link to the one pictured below, and one to a blank template where you can write in whatever you want. I also have the word document, if you want to be able to edit it. If you do, shoot me an email. :)







You can download the one pictured above HERE!
You can download the plain one HERE!

Paper Lunch Bag Accessorized!!

I made some gift bags out of brown paper sacs. I'm sure they sell white ones, but I had brown ones. The first thing I did was get a paper sac, some contact paper, and I cut the contact paper into Easter designs. Simple enough. Then, I put them onto the paper lunch sacs. Here is the result:

I'm sorry, it's not a better picture. I scanned it into my computer.

Dying Eggs for EASTER!

I remember growing up, and not being able to afford those expensive egg dying kits. Even still, I’m too broke to afford those really cool ones that let you make eggs gold, or whatever. I can’t help but wonder, though, if I would buy them if I COULD afford them! I still grew up relatively poor, with LOTS of kids, so I am a thrifty person. Here are a few ideas of how to decorate your eggs for less… and it’s still REALLY fun!

1. Get a white crayon, have the kids color on the eggs, and then dip them in the egg dye. Wherever a crayon marked the egg, it stays white.
2. Instead of buying egg dye, use food coloring. You can even get different hues of the same color by adding less or more food coloring.
3. Use coffee mugs for the egg dye. That will make it so it can’t be too deep, and less area for the egg to drop.
4. Cover the table with an old newspaper. This will protect the tabletop, and, hopefully, absorb some of the moisture. If you live where it’s warm outside, just do it outside! That way, anything that spills will go in the grass.
5. Put the egg, with food coloring, into a Ziploc. This will be mess free eggs.
6. Ziplocs also work great for glittering the eggs. Drop in a Ziploc some glitter, then put the wet, dyed egg into the Ziploc. The glitter will naturally stick to the egg.
7. Use the empty egg cartons to store the dyed eggs. This idea also works great if you want to let them dry in the cartons, since they absorb moisture.
8. Paintbrushes are a great way to get the custom look without spending a bundle.
9. I, personally, like to get the cheap stamps from Michael’s crafts or Walmart, and stamp on the eggs directly. I usually dye the whole egg, and then stamp in a darker hue of the same color. Ex: Pink egg, with Red stamp. –I recently got the idea to glue foam stickers to the tops of bottle lids to make stamps. I will be trying it this year! (Website with idea is here.)
10. Stickers are generally pretty cheap, and they make a dyed egg look so NICE. Plus, kids of all ages can use a sticker. :D
11. Place several wet eggs into a dry bowl, then drip food coloring onto the eggs. I like to do this with multiple colors, and it has a really cool effect. You need to take out the eggs fairly quickly, or you will get gathering dye on all the bottom ones (a big ring or a solid, dark section. Not pretty!).
12. Tie rubber bands around the eggs, then drop them into the dye. The rubber bands usually keep that section of the egg white. As soon as the egg dries, take off the rubber bands. Viola!

I hope these ideas help you out. Please let me know how they work for you, and, if you can think of other suggestions, please shoot them my way!

Until next time,

--Danyelle

Dishcloth Bunnies--Great for EASTER!

I recently got asked for some cheap, and easy, crafts people can do with small children. Well, my mom has always made these... well, since I can remember. I tried to take as good of pictures as possible. If you make these, and take better ones, please send them to me so I can post them. I will credit you, of course! I don't have googly eyes or pom poms, but you would add them to this creation (or leave them off if you are making them for REALLY young children that may try to eat them).



Okay, first, you gather your supplies:

Washcloth

Ribbon

Egg

Scissors

Googly eyes and PomPoms (If you're going to add them).

Lay cloth diagonally, and roll from one corner to the next. Your wash cloth should look like this: 

Now, pinch corners together, to make your washcloth look like this:

Fold the top part back, until the corners are about 2/3 the way up. It should look like this:

Tie ribbon around area your fingers are holding it. It should look like this:

Now, you will want to move the stuff around a little bit, so that the face looks more even, and the ears are both facing the same direction. Then, it will look like this:

Put egg in back, and Viola! You are done!

*NOTE: If the egg doesn’t fit, you can gently pull the hole to be bigger. Being gentle is what it’s all about here, or else it will fall apart. *

Christmas Leftovers.....

Okay, so I know Christmas was a few months ago, but some stores are still trying to get rid of their Christmas stuff. Right? Okay, so here are some tips, suggestions, or alternative uses I have for you:

1. Ribbon-- Most of the ribbon doesn't look like it's Christmas ribbon, it's PACKAGE is just Christmas-ish. There are MANY uses for ribbon, a few of which are: Details in crochet/knit blankets, bookmarks & chokers (you can buy ribbon clamps off eBay), hair accessories, etc.
2. Artificial Snow Sheets-- I got bags of this stuff for only $0.50 each, and all it is is sheets of batting. I've been using it for quilts, pillows, etc. I spent HALF of what I'd spend on ONE bag of batting, except I got SIX bags! Talk about a deal!
3. Tubs-- You know, the plastic Rubbermaid storage tubs? Well, they have them color coded for seasons, so this really works after each season. I find that Christmas has the biggest clearance price, though, since red and green are so OBVIOUSLY Christmas!!!
4. Food-- Yeah, as surprising as this may be, there is ALWAYS food that is packaged in Christmas packaging for the season. The expiration date is usually MONTHS out (cereal and such), but it goes on clearance due to the out-dated packaging.This tip is ALSO great for any other holiday. Different holidays have different food items that go on clearance. Like, for example, Gingerbread, Eggnog, or Pumpkin coffee creamer during the Christmas season. Mine STILL isn't bad that I got after Christmas. Has another two weeks left on it! :D
5. Tupperware-- Yup, tupperware. Well, actually, probably not that BRAND, but leftover food storage containers. They overstock on these items, and, of course, a lot of them have Christmas designs on the packaging. Some of them are red and green, or gold and red. Who cares, though, right?
6. Material-- Okay, so the BEST holiday for cheap material always seems to be Halloween, but Christmas has some GREAT leftover material as well. I'm not sure why, but I always find that the panels go on clearance right after the holiday.

I'll leave my tips to that... for now! If you have any additions, let me know! :D

Cheap Trick!

I was shopping at a certain craft store, which I won't name, when I realized how EXPENSIVE craft supplies are! Granted, I used to think the prices were just fine. What changed? eBay is what changed my opinion. See, you can get the same products at a FRACTION of the cost. Seriously! Below are a few pictures of craft items I got off eBay, which are at least 5 TIMES as much at the craft stores in my area! I made some really nice bookmarks, and total cost amounted to about $0.50 each, and I gave them as gifts. No complaints, since everyone loves to read. At least in my family they do! :D

***Important Note: I will have the approximate price I paid for each piece. I posted links to the search pages for each of the items. I purchased in bulk, because I was able to then sell the leftovers and get my money back. A few additional tips for purchasing on eBay is to look at the cost of shipping, look at seller rating (VERY important), and if you don't get your item by three and a half weeks out, contact the seller. eBay has a 45 day time-frame where, if you don't start an "Item Not Received Case", you lose your money and may NEVER get your item. If the seller says something like, oh, I'm having issues with PayPal, still open a case no later than day 40 (happened to me, and I lost $32!) Online, in general, gets you better prices. You just have to be careful... and wait for the items!!! (From China, it's about 3 weeks to a month that you'll have to wait. Planning is key here!)***

Bookmark I made for approx $0.50 each. Dolphin bookmarks (search for this term, though I included the best deal I could find in the link), and the stones are Apatite (or something like that).

 Next picture is of a bracelet I made. Stones cost a little bit more, about $0.10 each (Wood Jasper), and the beads in between cost approx $0.01 each (Tibetan Silver Tube Spacer Beads, Tibetan Silver Bead Caps). The Memory Wire generally costs about $0.02 each loop.

The next picture is of some feathers I got off Eskay. It's a small company, but they shipped fairly quickly, and the feathers were in excellent shape! I paid approx $0.35 each feather, and they sell at the craft stores for about $8 for three.