DIY Christmas Lottery Tickets

I still have not found the advent calendar yet this year, but I still have a few boxes of Christmas decorations to go through.  So, I decided to make some scratch off lottery tickets for the 12 days of Christmas as a substitute for the Advent Calendar.  Yes, it's true, I do occasionally let me kid have a $1.00 ticket and she loves them.  She likes to just have it to play with.  So, I thought that she would get a huge kick out of some scratch off tickets.  Instead of winning cash, I am having her win Christmas activities like watching a Christmas movie, having hot cocoa, and decorating ornaments. 

I started off by designing the tickets in my photo shop program with the activities I wanted.  They are just a little larger than business card size. 

You want to print them on stiff paper.  I cut down two heavy sheets of glittery embossed scrapbook paper to 8 1/2 X 11, but white cardstock would work too.  I like the scrapbook paper because then the back of the card looks nice too.

This goes without saying but print on the white side of the cardstock. 

Then, I covered each part of the ticket with the prize with clear packing tape. 

This tape keeps the paint from sticking to the paper.  A couple of strips of plain scotch tape would probably work too.  But, packing tape is just the right size and really easy.

Next, you mix up the paint.  It is 1 part dish soap to 2 parts paint.  Metallic paints work well, like silver if you wanted authentic looking tickets.  I could not find the silver paint in the craft mess so I went with holiday red and I added some glitter. 

Paint over the prize area.  I wanted to make them really festive so I added more glitter on top of the wet paint. 

Once they are totally dry, you can sut them apart.  The paint scratches right off of the tape. 

  

Elf Donuts

This is so cute I just had to share it.

Seriously!  These are cheerios.  Check it out here.

Anthropologie Christmas Tree Hacked

I saw this tree for $48.00 on Anthropologie.  It is cute, but not that cute.  So, I was inspired to create a new weekly blog feature where I will hack high end crafts and show you the cheap and easy tutorials for making them. 

Supplies

wooden shish kabob skewer

wooden shape for base

old book

scissors (preferably decorative edge)

glitter - optional

hole punch

cardboard

ink pad for aging (optional)

beads/ornament for topper

So everything I used I already had right here at home. 

 1) I used an old book of poetry.  The size of your tree is limited by the dimensions of your book.  With this book, the largest piece I could cut was 5 1/2"x 5 1/2".  I used a craft knife to cut the pages out of the book.  The original uses sheet music.  I used a book with heavy pages so that it would hold up well.  If you have a really old book, then you will not even need to use ink to age the pages.

2) Cut your squares starting with your largest size - here 5 1/2" with the decorative scissors.  I cut 4 of each size.  The dimensions went down by 1/4" increments.  So, the next size I cut was 5 1/4" and so on until I got down to 1" squares. 

3) Next, Kamille inked all of the pages for me, which is a great way to get your kid's help.

4) You can see all of the pages have been inked.

5) I took a small wooden cut out of a star (it can be anything - even a piece of heavy cardboard) and a skewer from the kitchen.

6) Glue the skewer onto the wood with a big glob of hot glue.  I initially planned to put it into a small wooden bead for extra support but I could not find them anywhere so I just used a huge glob of hot glue.  I'm pretty impatient so I cooled it off really quickly with compressed air, but you can just hold it there until it is dry.   

7) Next, I used an old usps box that someone sent paperwork in to make the separators.   Any old cardboard or foam core or thin Styrofoam will work.  Cut it down into 1" squares. 

8) Then I layered 1 book sheet and 1 square.  They just poke down onto the skewer. 

9) Here you can see how it starts to build up really quickly.  Just spiral the pages as you go. 

10) When you get up to the top where the pages are under 2" you need to cut the cardboard squares a bit smaller.  When the squares get small they get hard to stab onto the skewer so I actually punched a small hole into each square of cardboard for the last few on the tree.

11) The tree might be shorter than the skewer, depending on what size pages you started with.  Just cut the top off with scissors about 1" from the top. 

12) Finally, I glued some beads on as my topper.  The original used a small glass Christmas ornament with the metal hanger removed.  You could use a star, a tiny angel, whatever you want.  I like glitter, so I used some scrapbook glitter glue on the edges. 

50 Things to Make from Your Mismatched Socks

After looking at the laundry basket full of orphaned socks we have, I decided to put together this tutorial roundup of loads of things to make or do with your old socks.  There are so many great things I never even thought of until I started this roundup.  I love how creative people can be.

1. Bean Bags - from A Little Tipsy

2. Long Winter Gloves - From Ruffles & Stuff
3. Fingerless Gloves - From Cut Out & Keep
4. Armwarmer Gloves - From At Home In Sussex
5. Dog Chew toys - from Ehow
6. Tiny Dog Sweater - From Dogs We Luv 

7. Pin Cushion - from Unfortunately Oh!
8. Cleaning Rags - From Money Saving Mom
9. Bunny Slippers - From Violet Le Beaux

10. Pot Holders - From Phinnywood
11. Paper Pieced Soft Ball - From Recycle Crafts
12. Legwarmers - From Hand Maid Liset
13. Barbie Clothes 
14. Sock Snowmen 

15.  Home Dec. Chair Remake -From Design Your Revolution

16. Coffee Sleeve - From Parents
17. Scarf - From Charlotte's Fancy

18. Sock Elephant - From Fretta
19. Sock Bunny - From Crafting Hazard
20. Sock Monkey - from Super Sock Monkey
21. Sock Catterpillar - From Danielle's Place
22. Sock Dog - From Danielle's Place
23. Sock Cat - Danielle's Place
24. Sock Reindeer or cow - Danielle's Place
25. Sock Vase Remake- From Craft Stew
26. Sock Wreath - From Whip Kits  

27. Stocking Ornament - From Sara Sweet Surprise
28. Doughnut play food-  From Rook No. 17
29. Beanbag Cradle for your Camera -a great substitute for a tripod for use on bumpy or other unstable surfaces.  Fill the beanbag with rice of bean and then set your camera inside to steady it.

30. As Bands to How Yarn - From Citric Sugar
31. Use to polish your shoes
32. Homemade hacky sack - from Planet Green
33. Fill with rice or lavendar and make an eye pillow or other soothing pillow. - From LiveStrong
34. Use as a soap holder for the garden or bathtub.  Helps scrub off the grime and keep the soap from slipping out of your hands.
35. Draft Dogger from old tights or knee socks. From Re-Nest
36. Save old socks to wrap up items when moving or fragile Christmas Ornaments.
37. Fill with potpori for drawers or closets. From Wondertime
38. Make a sock frog.
39. Make a cat toy buy filling with catnip.
40. Use to store golf balls, tennis balls and other small toys.
41. Use them to make wrist rests.
42. Use over ice packs.
43. Make a sock purse. from Ehow
44. Make baby legwarmers. From Ehow

45. Extend the Life of Pajamas - Save the top part and sew them onto the arms and legs of children's pajamas to extend the usage of the pj's. 

46. DIY Chia Pet - From MaddiesMinnions 

47. Hobby Horse - Horse on a Stick : - How to make a Horse on a Stick, a good toy for older toddlers (a few of the steps may cause a choking hazard). This is a perfect activity for children four and up, however would require adult supervision. from Ehow

48. Weave a Jump Rope - With this classic finger-weaving project, kids can get a jump on outdoor playtime by recycling their old socks and outgrown tights into a colorful homemade toy.

49. Lunch Money Holder : - With this clever change purse, your child will be able to keep all his cafeteria cash up his sleeve until he needs it.

50. About 50 more tutorials for making socks puppets, dolls, and other kids crafts can be found at ArtistsHelpingKids.

Fall Leaf Cookies

I've been wanting to make these fall leaf cookies since I saw them a while ago.  We got everything out to make the cookies and then low and behold in the over 200 cookie cutters we have there was no leaf to be found.  They've probably been used in the play dough table.  Well, I improvised and used grapes instead. 

 For this simple project, I just used 1 roll of premade sugar cookie dough.  Leave it out for about 20 minutes before starting so you can knead the dough.  I cut it into 4 pieces and put each piece in a ziplock bag with some food coloring.

 Kamille kneaded the coloring into each ball of dough, mess free I might add.

 Once the color was blended into the dough, I put it into the freezer for about 10 mintues just to chill it down again.

Here you can see the four colors we used.

 Next, you tear the dough into little balls and arrange them on a piece of plastic wrap or parchment.  This way you avoid a mess and you don't need to add extra flour into the dough.  Smaller balls with make a more marbled look.

 Once you have all of the dough in place, cover the sheet with more plastic wrap or parchment and roll it to about 1/4" thick.

Then you can cut out your shapes and bake as directed. 

Our Preschool Thanksgiving

Thanks to some awesome tutorials, we had a blast at the preschool Thanksgiving "feast". 

I made the paper bag popcorn turkey, corn on the cob cupcakes, and a preschool staple - carrots. 

 Here is the turkey.  The kids loved it and it was so easy and cheap to make.  Here is the tutorial.  It took about 10 minutes to make this turkey start to finish.  I used air popped pop corn to make it healthier but I'm sure premade or microwave would work just as well.

 These are mini muffins.  For my version, I used M&Ms instead of jelly beans.  They are cheaper and the kids like them better.  I also just make the cupcakes in the mini muffin pan because I didn't want to give every preschooler a huge cupcake right before lunch. 

Here is the inspiration version made in full size muffin tins with jelly beans.  You could actually get more of the oval shape with the M&Ms too if you poked them in on their sides instead of flat.  I used chocolate chip muffin mix so the chocolate buttons went better with the flavor.  I think that the whole batch was about $5.00 and it only took about 30 minutes.  The mini muffins cook in 10 minutes, then I pop them into the freezer to cool them and then I just tinted a tiny bit of premade frosting yellow.  The tutorial is here.

Here are all of our happy Pilgrims and Native Americans after their big feast. 

Gifts for the Musically Inclined

This post is inspired by our little brother who will soon be releasing his first EP.  Lisa & I are both so proud of how far he has come creatively.  Seriously, he used to color only in black.  Once, he drew what I thought was an ice cream cone.  He got really angry because it was a baby in a blanket.  Who knew?  You can check his music out here.

This is an ingenious idea - a cover for your old guitar strap.  Awesome.  Pink unicorns might be a bit girly, but I think that something screen printed with his band's name would rock his world.  The tutorial from Prudent Baby is here. 

For those who are old school and still rock the cds, check out the sewing tutorial for this car cd holder.  Looks like a great stash buster to me.  Click here to find the tutorial from Puking Pastilles. (Fun fact - I lived across the street from one of the most famous pastilles factories in France.  They are yucky =).

For the kids, I love these DIY rhythm instruments.  The tutorial is from my all time favorite blog Skip To My Lou.  Check it out here.

Check out this record bowl tutorial.  Everyone likes these and they are pretty much a free project if you have any old records.  Plus, you can always find old vinyl at thrift stores cheaply.  Having a recovering hippy for a mother, we have made many a record bowl around our house.  Love em.

This is fun little project.  My mom made me a few record purses several years back and everyone loved them when I carried them around.  Her design was much more complicated than this, but I like this tutorial.  Mod Purse tutorial here.

Another fun thing to do with old records is to make cuff bracelets.  They are easy to cut with a dremmel tool.  I have made about 100 of these back when I was doing craft shows.  They are really fun and people love them.  This is a great teen and tween gift item.  Depending on how you decorate them, they can end up being quite chic.  Check out the video tutorial from the Naughty Secretary's Club here.

This final one isn';'t a tutorial but an inspirational piece showing how creative you can get with the old records.  I love this and I see it being created as a Christmas gift for someone I know.  You can check out the designer's etsy shop here.