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!

Menu...

Okay, I know that this isn't a craft, or anything, but, hey, for me it kinda was! Considering the fact that I created this document from scratch, that's considered a craft by me. :D







So, I created this because I've been having a hard time sticking to a menu with my son. I went and bought some laminate (a roll cost about $8 at the university, so I'm sure it's cheaper elsewhere), a plain clipboard, and a dry erase marker. I printed and "laminated" it, then put it on the clipboard. Now, I can put new info on the sheet each week, and not waste a huge amount of paper. If you want to edit my version, at all, please feel free to email me. I can send it to you via Dropbox. :)










All you have to do to download the menu is to CLICK 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. *

Tiger's Eggs--For the PICKY eater!

Okay, here's the story behind this one. I first realized that when you baste an egg, it looks much prettier. Then, in highschool quite a few years back, I had a friend over. I was cooking breakfast, when she came in and started ordering me around in MY kitchen. Yeah, it irritated me, too! Anyways, one thing that was GOOD (the ONLY thing, actually) about her trying to run the cooking was that I learned the trick you are about to learn! The reason I say this recipe is GREAT for the picky eater is because my nephews REFUSED to eat the eggs that I made them. I'm not sure why, since they'd liked em like that for YEARS! Anyways, I remembered that irritating day in highschool, and I asked them how they'd like TIGER'S EGGS??? Know what they said? YES!!!! AWESOME!!!

Well, it's quite simple, actually!

What you will need:

• Good frying pan, with a FLAT bottom, not overly curved up edges (no woks or anything like that). 
• VERY small pan lid (I prefer glass because it allows you to see when the egg is done, though my mom prefers a metal one. It's all about preference, here.)
• Plastic cup most the way full of water
• Salt Shaker
• Egg(s)

 Instructions:
Heat stove to med/high heat, and place pan on burner. After pan is heated, crack egg into pan, sprinkle salt onto egg, pour water into pan NEXT to egg, and place lid over egg and water. Watch as the egg cooks, since I'm not sure how long it takes to cook them to YOUR specifications. It doesn't take that long, though. Then, when egg is cooked to your preference, put on plate and serve. Enjoy!

***NOTE***
If you want LOTS of "stripes", apply lots of salt, if you want very little "stripes", apply very little salt. Simple as that.


Pictures were as best as I could get. Hope you enjoy. :D

Okay... NOT a craft, but still a GREAT deal!

I know, I know... I said I would only post crafts that are cheap. But... it's for a good reason that I'm breaking my rule. I PROMISE!

Have kids? Have family? Have yourself? Now rephrased: Have kids, family, or yourself with bad vision? Although my rephrasing totally SUCKED, this deal doesn't:

Zenni Optical is having a buy two, get one free for glasses!!!!!! Now, the prescription eye glasses are already starting out at $6.95 a pair! Now you get one pair free for every two pairs you buy? SHOOT!!! Looks like I'm getting more glasses! Plus, if I read the terms and conditions correctly, any additions you get to the glasses are applied to the free ones (like polycarbonate lenses, or scratch resistance)!!!!!! Talk about a SWEET DEAL!!!

As ALWAYS, here are my tips:
1. Buy everyone's glasses TOGETHER! Shipping is only $5 PER ORDER!!!! So, that will already save you some money.
2. If you decide to tint your glasses, know that they are not DARK colors, but BRIGHT ones! I'm talking friggin neon blue, green, and amber is actually pretty much yellow. Now, gray in 80% is almost black. That is the color I ALWAYS get now. If you're all for neon colors, go for it! Otherwise, you can always just tint it a lower percentage. I thought higher meant darker, not brighter. :D
3. Make sure you have your Pupillary Distance (PD) BEFORE you go online. If you got a prescription, they measure that for you, and you PAID for it! You just need to ask for it! Otherwise, I will load a document that you can download, print, and cut out which measures your pd.
4. Go to the glasses store and try glasses on. When you find a pair you like, write down the numbers on the inside of the arm thingy or the bridge of the nose. This will give you the size of the lenses. The frames add a few centimeters. You can always ask the vision center associate how wide the frames are. What I also did was traced the shape of the glasses onto an index card. Sounds silly, but certain shapes just DON'T look good on me! :D
5. HURRY THE HECK UP!!! The deal ends in the beginning of March! If that date has already passed, still check out the website. It's totally worth it!

Here are some pictures of my favorite glasses, but, to start, the opening page at Zenni! 

 I think these ones are just SOOOO cute! :D

 I think I'll order these ones!

 I HAVE these ones, and they are AWESOME!!!!