Children Self Portraits {Creative Gifting}

2013

Father’s Day is just around the corner and I am always on the look out for gift ideas that my kiddos can make (or at least be a big part in the making process). My sister-in-law, the creative Debra, shared with me this cute idea of self portraits. She even snapped a picture for me to share. I love the idea and it would not only be great for a Father’s Day gift, but could work for other occasions with Grandparents, Christmas, etc. I believe the youngest below was 3 or 4.

creative father's day gift idea, mother's day gift idea

What You Need:

White card stock (or light colored)
Pencil
Acrylic paint (variety of colors)
Paint Brush
Fine point permanent marker in black
Picture frames of choice

Directions:

Step 1: Have each child draw a picture of themselves on a piece of card stock using a pencil. You will probably want to make sure the card stock is precut to the size of your desired picture frame. I know my kiddos would use the entire space given to them!

Step 2: Then have them paint it using acrylic paint.

Step 3: Once dried, trace over the pencil / outline the entire drawing with the skinny permanent marker.

Step 4: Frame and display!

Super easy, unique and you cannot help but love it! And you can update it every few years to add to the fun.

Creative gifts made my children

Enjoy!!!

Filed Under: All Ages, Creative Gifts, Decorating on a Dime, Preschool Tagged With: Crafts

Creative Picture Frames for Mother’s Day

2013

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Now I can NOT take any credit for this project! I am proud to say that my husband came up with these two ideas all on his own, ventured into the land of Hobby Lobby to purchase the supplies and sat down with our kiddos to make these for me. This was my gift for last year and I just love it. As you will be able to see, both kiddos chose to do the same style, so we still have supplies for the second style just waiting to be put together

Style 1: Mom Rocks

Supplies Needed:

Picture frame
Rocks
Wood letters – came in a variety pack. He purchased an all caps pack and an all lowercase pack
Clear glue
A favorite picture – I printed out 5×7 and cut it down to fit the picture opening

Directions:

Let your children, if this is going to be from your children, pick out their letter style they would like to use and if they want to put the words on top/bottom or on the sides. Then glue the letters to the frame and start decorating. Let it dry and then insert the picture. Note to any DADS reading this: Make sure you pick a picture and add it to the frame. It took awhile for this mom to remember to add one and I would have loved it if it came with one already in it.

Style 2: Mom Rules

Since none of these have been made, yet, we do not have any pictures. But this is the idea my husband came up with and I think it would turn out pretty cute.

Supplies Needed

Picture frame
Colored popsicle/craft sticks – he found a variety pack
Black thin tipped permanent marker
Wood letters – see description above
Clear glue
Favorite picture to put in frame -see description in project above

Directions:

The idea for this craft is to create rulers out of each popsicle stick by marking them with inch marks using the marker. Then glue them onto the frame…either covering the entire outside of the frame or just doing the sides leaving the top and bottom blank OR whatever variation you can think of! Once the rulers are in place, glue the letters to “Mom Rules” to the frame. Pretty cute sounding, right? I’m pretty impressed that he came up with this idea on his own! If anyone makes one, I would love to see a picture.

Click HERE for more Mother’s Day Ideas…gifts, food, fun.

Filed Under: Birthdays/Celebrations, Creative Gifts Tagged With: Crafts

A Mug With a Personal Touch

2013

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Some may see this as a unique gift and others may see it as a much needed sanity saver…either way it is awesome! Take a look….

Unique rift - picture mug

My cute little sister gave me a laugh the other morning when I walked into the kitchen to see her enjoying her morning hot chocolate drinking out of her OWN mug. There is no denying that the mug belongs to her! So, I just had to share.

You can make it yourself, but I am thinking it is just as cheap at artscow or a local copy place. Give it as a gift for the person who has everything or make one for every person in the family to solve the fight of which cup belongs to which person. So simple and so funny. I can’t help but laugh when I see this!

ENJOY!!!

Filed Under: All Ages, Creative Gifts Tagged With: Crafts, Made By Me!, Spare Change

Mustache Valentine’s Day Cards

2013

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This year we are actually getting our Valentine’s Day cards ready before Valentine’s Day! I like my kiddos to be involved in making their Valentine’s and I usually try to encourage something non-sugar attached to it, but this year they really wanted to give a treat. So, thanks to my mom for the idea we made it a fun treat! I think they turned out pretty dang cute!

Here is the fun…

Here is the card….

What You Need:

Paper for the card – we just happened to have red
Black or brown paper for the mustaches
Suckers
Scissors
Razor blade or knife
Tape
Glue gun

Directions:

Step 1: Cut out mustaches using a template to trace them or some sort of paper cutting machine. I found a really nice lady near me who was able to cut them out for me using her Sillouette.

Step 2: Hot glue mustaches to suckers. A tiny dab works great and helps them last longer, so they can play with them.

Step 3: Print out your cards with your mustache phrase. We used “i “mus-tache” you to be my valentine!” I made the “must-ache” a lot smaller to fit under the sucker. You can kind of see it in the picture.

Step 4: Cut a slit in the paper using your razor blade or knife. about the length of our smaller “mustache” worked great…so about an inch long. I actually just used our kitchen knife because I misplaced my razor blade! Ghetto? Mabye, but it worked! lol

Step 5: Stick sucker mustaches through slit and secure on the back with tape.

Step 6: Enjoy!!! Easy enough that my kiddos can help me stuff and tape (older kiddos can use the glue gun). If you want to get fancy, you can make the card into a heart or circle or use some fun scissors to edge it. Whatever you do, have fun!

I seriously love this picture!

Check out these other ideas for Valentine’s Day…

Homemade Valentine’s Day Cards and Traditions

Valentine’s Day T-Shirt

Filed Under: All Ages, Creative Gifts, Traditons, Valentines Tagged With: Crafts

Holiday Garland and Gift Pack Kit from JOLLY TIME Pop Corn {Review}

2012

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We love homemade Christmas ornaments and projects. This year we have been busy making our own Holiday Garland for our tree thanks to JOLLY TIME Pop Corn and Habelman Cranberry. We have attempted to make a popcorn chain for our tree a few years ago and I think we only got 20 or so pieces on our string and most of those “mysteriously” disappeared within a couple of days after. I am not sure if my son loved eating the popcorn more or stringing it, but he has asked to make another chain every year since. So we were super excited when we had a chance to test out this Holiday Gift Pack and make our own cranberry popcorn garland with it. My kiddos think the cranberries make it “more real”, which I have to admit they are right!

JOLLY TIME has banded together with another centenarian, family-owned business, Habelman Cranberry, to help you pass along a holiday tradition so antiquated that it began when there weren’t lights to put on trees: Stringing cranberry popcorn garlands. Festive and family-friendly, this beautiful craft will be sure to bring together the people who make it, as well as those you gift it to.

We had a lot of fun spending time together stringing our garland. The kiddos loved to create their own patterns and even did awesome at taking turns. I loved how the whole house slowed down when we were making them and oh, the fun conversations we had! They told everyone who came over about their “Christmas Popcorn and Cranberry Chain.” We even had friends and cousins who loved to help out when they stopped by for a visit.

I would like to say that it looked like this all the time…

But we had A LOT of “tasting” the yummy popcorn, too!

And I just have to add this one in below. I love that I caught this cute girl’s attitude! :-)

This is what I want every year… making some fun memories together. I am thinking next year we are going to give some holiday memory making in a jar to our neighbors instead of goodie plates. Isn’t this popcorn jar such a cute gift idea?

Check out Jolly Time on Facebook and their site for some more fun ideas and popcorn recipes.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Filed Under: Creative Gifts, Review

Ghost Pops

2012

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Can you guess what we have been up to? This was a pretty fun and inexpensive Sunday afternoon project. My kiddos saw these Ghost Pops over at their Grandma’s house and have been begging to make their own since. I have seen these around since I was little and often take that for granted. It made a great project and they loved making them! My 4 year old and 6 year old were able to make them all on their own.

What You Need:

Tissues (cheapest is fine)
Suckers (any kind)
Ouchless hair ties (or something else to secure the tissue down – string, rubber bands, twisty ties, etc.). We used what we had on hand
Markers (optional)

**Everything cost less than $4!

Directions:

Step 1: Gather supplies and demonstrate the procedure. Wrap sucker with tissue. Place rubber tie over the what is now the ghost’s head, double wrapping is not necessary. Add faces if desired.

Step 2: Let them go to town on their own.

Step 3: Adding the faces had to be my kiddo’s favorite part!

We now have so many ghosts that we will probably have enough to last us until Christmas to share with everyone. Hopefully, we can give some of these away.

AND for added fun, go to PicMonkey and embellish a picture of your children with their Halloween editor! My kids are going to love seeing this top picture!

ENJOY!!!