I spy Christmas ornaments

I may or may not have made these for all three of my little nieces and my children for Christmas this year. I'm also thinking about going out and getting more to make them for my older niece and nephew. :)

I started with large clear ornaments. Yes, they are plastic. When I showed my husband these after I was done the first thing he asked me was "those aren't glass are they?' Yes dear, I am planning on giving five children under the age of 6 a glass ball to play with. I'm that smart :)I found my ornaments at Michael's. Theirs are cheaper than Jo-ann's. The big ones I bought at Michaels are $1.99-a whole dollar cheaper than Jo-Ann's! And, if you use a coupon it's even cheaper!

Michaels is where I also bought all of the little trinkets to go inside of them. Some of my items are foam stickers (don't remove the backing), others are meant to go on tiny Christmas trees, some are charms I found near the christmas crafts and ribbon, the rest are actually buttons. Like sew on your shirt buttons! So incredibly cute! And, they all fit perfectly in the opening of the ornament. I  bought my epsom salts at the drug store. A hug milk carton of them on sale for $4. Anyone have any other recommendations for the rest of them??? I printed off a specific list of what to look for in each one and attached it like a gift tag. Add a pretty Christmas bow (not on my son's though!) and you have the cutest little gifts that are alos bunches of fun

I used my Cricut to add the names with cheap-o contact paper. I've never bought the real vinyl you're supposed to use for crafts. You know, the $9.99 stuff? I'd be afraid to make a mistake of it. I have 30 feet of contact paper in green and red for $2.99 each. Works for me! There's my free tip for the day :)

Well, I lied. I have some more free tips for this project:
Hot glue the tops onto the ornaments. They were kind of loose once I took them off and then put them back on. I didn't want to risk these spilling at someone else's house once I gifted them. Or spilling at my house knowing my children :)
Also, dab the tiniest bit of glue in the  holes in the top of the ornament topper. The holes where the hanger goes into the metal cap. Those two teeny, tiny holes CAN let some of the salts escape if shaken. I'm so glad I played with these for a while when I took my pictures!

 

What can you spy??

 

 

Now for your opinion: would you give these to a 13 year old and 10 year old? I have heard talk of how they used to love the "I spy" type books. Maybe? Maybe not?

 

 

 

A birthday gift with spirit :)

My BFF and I have now known each other for HALF of our lifetime. HALF.

Holy Cow. We met back in high school and you might remember me talking about her shower gift and her wedding card box. Wow. I make her a lot of homemade gifts.....

The latest installment of 'things I've made for my best friend' was in honor of her latest birthday. It was a milestone and to celebrate it her husband threw her a surprise party. I was so happy to be there with her! Although when my husband brought the gift in (WAY too heavy for me to lift!) her family all laughed and exclaimed "what a <my family name> gift!" uhhhh, thanks?? What kind of family do I come from? I like to think we're a family who likes to be fun :)

If you do this gift right it works out to around $1 a piece-some of mine ended up at $1.03/.04 ish but I didn't let that bother me. The big storage container was $7 so all in all it was just under $40 for this gift. And, my best friend is worth that and more :) (she may or may not be reading my blog.....)

Well, are you ready to see this GREAT gift??

 I cut the letters out with my cricut....that's contact paper so she can peel it off and use the container when she's done!

Yep, that's 30, count them THIRTY bottles of "cheer". I mixed it up and bought three different brands so she had a wide variety. I mean, if you have to turn 30 (which I do NOT plan on doing in February, pssh) why not have fun doing it?!

Happy Birthday, my dear best friend! <3

Candy Arrangement

I made this for Father's Day but in reality it could be given for any type of occasion.

I wanted to give my husband something on the actual day of Father's day. I told him about his big gift a week prior since he began talking about it. I only had one idea for a gift and I didn't want to disappoint him if he wanted to pick something out for himself. So, I told him we would go to the store together and he could choose a new radio for our boat. He was pretty excited.

Still I wanted something for our daughter to give him on the morning of his day. I went to the Dollar Store and came home with the makings of an inexpensive gift.

My husband doesn't like many sweets but I got him some stuff that I've seen him munch on before. I also bought a bag of shredded paper filler. Yes, you could make this part yourself but I didn't want to! I already had the flower pot, styrofoam and those are wooden skewers I use for shish kebabs down at the bottom of the picture.

With a little bit of hot glue I attached the skewers to the candy (after measuring and cutting the skewers); the jolly ranchers and lemonheads got two skewers each. Stick them into the styrofoam, fill in with the shredded paper, add a sentiment or message and there you have it. Very inexpensive and incredibly fun!