Gift Wrap

Since I am sick-o, I thought maybe you would enjoy this guest post I did for Sugar Bee Crafts a couple of weeks ago.  Enjoy!

I am no good at making bows, so usually the gifts are either scribbled on with a Sharpie or I use a little piece of wrapping paper folded in half as a card.  Are any of you guilty of this?  So I decided to be a little more creative this year.  And a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

All you need to make these cute gift tags is:
grosgrain ribbon
scraps of paper
photos

I printed off the photos at Costco.com as a wallet size.  They cost 39 cents for 4.
Simply wrap around the ribbon, secure it with a glue dot or tape, and add the paper and photo to the top!

There is now no excuse for ugly presents.  Remember:  presentation is everything!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I will be taking a little break this week -
I wish I had a laptop, but since I do not I will be back soon!  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sugar Bee Crafts

I'm guest posting today over at Sugar Bee Crafts!  Come say hello!

Super Saturday: Bottle Cap Magnets

A few of you asked me to share how we made these cute magnets at our Super Saturday, so of course!

Now this project was actually done by Jen from Jen's Brain Things.  I have used some of her pictures, as well, with her permission (of course!)

Items needed:
Bottle Caps
3d Epoxy domes
scrapbook paper
magnets

First:  Buying the materials.

Bottle caps can be found SUPER cheap.  They are all over, but Aunt Christy's is 100 for $3.95.
The 3D epoxy dome stickers are 100 for $9.95.  Not quite as cheap as the bottle caps, but not bad.  Those were also at Aunt Christy's.  I linked the actual item for you in case you want to check them out.
They sell all this at the craft stores, but they are super crazy expensive there.
example:
Hobby Lobby stickers 24 for 2.99.  (OK not too bad.)
Hobby Lobby bottle caps 24 for 9.99 (Yowzers!!!)
Also, the pre-flattened bottlecaps can be found at bottle cap co, but they are $14 for 100.  Any color. (even cheetah.)  And the price goes down with quantity with free shipping over $25.

Magnets seemed to be strongest and cheapest at Hobby Lobby.  50 for $6.99.  Now Michaels are same price and the magnets look identical, but they weren't as strong.  JoAnn's didn't have any large packs at all.

Second:  Tools!!
Jen has this cool tool called a cuttlebug.  I'm not sure of another way around this.  Maybe run it over with your car?  lol.  If you are reading this Jen, let us know!
1 inch circle paper punch
hot glue gun

Ready?  Let's go!

First, take your cuttlebug and run the bottlecaps through.  If you want a detailed description of how, go here.  (Or buy the preflattened bottlecaps!!)

Next, punch out your paper circles.

Place them on the bottle cap.
Add the sticker.  If you check out Jen's tutorial, you will notice she used a glaze instead of the stickers.  But trust me - the stickers are so much easier.  And if you are working on a large scale, they don't need drying time which is a BIG DEAL!

Use a glue gun to glue the magnets on the back.  If you have E6000, that is a good option, as well.

Done!  So easy!!

Jen did some cute YW values magnets I thought I would show you, as well.

Then she put them in a gift card tin.  So cute!

Thanks Jen for letting me share your Super Saturday craft today!
And for those of you wondering how the cute picture frame things were made, tutorial found here at Shanty2Chic.

Gluten-Free Anyone?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Schar for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It seems that everywhere I look more and more gluten-free options are available!  It's amazing!  Restaurants even have them on their menus.  

Now, I am not allergic to gluten, but I went gluten free for a while and decided that my body likes me a lot better when I don't eat it.  It really surprised me!

So when I heard about the new gluten-free products from Schar Club I was totally taken back!  Sub sandwich rolls.  Ciabatta rolls.  Baguettes.  I am not even kidding!  Maybe I live under a rock, but I didn't even know they existed.

My kids think baguettes are the best bread ever invented.  They would take a small baguette to school for lunch if I let them.  Just that.  Nothing else.  They LOVE it!  So I was thrilled that I could make food for my whole family, including me!  And can't you just imagine dipping them in some yummy soup?  Again - gluten-free!

Schar Club is not only the leader in gluten-free food, but the are the bomb in my book for launching this awesome line of food.

Want to try some free?  Click her for a Schar free sample.  This website has recipes, giveaways, dieticians and Coupons for a Free Sample!  All you have to do is sign up for the Schar Club.  Super easy. (and worth it!)

What are you going to make with your gluten-free bread?  A sub?  Meatball sandwich?  Turkey on Ciabatta?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Thanksgiving Silhouettes

I know it hasn't been long since I did my Halloween Silhouettes, but I couldn't help myself.  When I saw these Thanksgiving silhouette table settings at Martha Stewart I knew I had to personalize them, as well.

Just like my spooky Silhouettes, I took a side view picture of my kids and printed it out on regular paper.

Then, I drew the hats or feathers on the picture.
I did one thing differently this time, though.
Check this out:

After I cut them, I took them outside and spray painted them black!  So much easier than using a Sharpie.

And they dried super fast.
Then, I just stuck them on card stock and framed them!  Super easy!

Linked today:  Somewhat Simple, Home Stories A to Z, At Home with K, Chef in Training, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sassy Sites, My World Made by Hand, Funky PolkaDot Giraffe, Not Just a Housewife, Under the Table and Dreaming, Everything under the moon, Lil Luna

Super Saturday Crafts - Magnet Board Tutorial

For some CRAZY reason I volunteered my services at our neighborhood Super Saturday. We had a few crafts for the ladies to put together to hand out this year as holiday gifts. Whew! Who knew that a project so easy to make for 1 could be such a pain in the butt for 20? The project I chose was this magnet board:

We also made these awesome picture frames:

And some really cute apothecary jars:

Oh, and how can I forget the magnets?!?

These are going to look super great on the turquoise magnet board my mom and I made for my niece.

I have to give you the low down on finding supplies for this project.  Lowes is my usual "go to" store, but not this time.  Oh no.  Home Depot was the only place for this magnet board.  Lowes originally had some metal flashing sheets in their roofing dept. for about $1 that I was going to clip in half with some tin snips.  I was NOT looking forward to this because I knew it would leave them a little jagged and that always makes me nervous with kids around.  When I went to buy them, however, they informed me that they stopped selling them.  So my only option was aluminum flashing.  Well hello!!!!!  Aluminum is not magnetic so no!!  I already checked out Home Depot and they said they didn't have any either.

I was so disappointed.  I had already collected the money from all the ladies and didn't know what to do. I searched and searched the internet with no luck (in my price range.)

I went back to Home Depot on a whim and did NOT ask for help this time.  I just went straight to the roofing dept. and guess what!!! They sell the sheet metal for 64 cents a piece!  Yeah!  I was so excited.  They had piles of them.  

Magnet Board Tutorial

total cost:  less than $10/per board

Items needed:

10" x 2 1/2' board.  These come in 10" sections and they cut them for free.  (They are about $16 a piece, equaling $4 each)

4 pieces of sheet metal from HOME DEPOT 5"x7" (64 cents each)

16 decorative nails (about $1.50 for 24)

Vinyl lettering

paint 

sand paper

Step one:  Paint the board.  Front and sides.

Step 2:  Sand the edges.

Step 3:  Drill or punch holes in all four corners of the metal.

Now my friend Jen has this really cool tool called the "crop o dile" or something like that.  It was awesome.  It punched right through the metal.  I have GOT to get me one of those.  Otherwise, just drill little holes in the corners.

Step 4:  Nail the corners on the wood.  Just use a regular hammer and pound them in.

Step 5:  Add your lettering to the top.  I used Ma Sexy font.  It was just a free one I found on the web and cut out using my Silhouette.

They turned out super cute and not bad for an under $10 project!

Linked at:  Skip To My Lou  Keeping it Simple, Lil Luna, Creations by Kara, Someday Crafts, Junk in their Trunk