Candy Jar pictures

Just realized I didn't finish the post on the candy jars.

After painting them, we glued mason jars to the tops of the sticks. We used gorilla glue then put them on the table with a few heavy books balenced on top so they could dry. The gorilla glue turned out to be not such a good idea at first. We used the kind that expanded, and of course, it expanded over the lip of the candle stick and showed.

Turned out to be a good thing though, since I had to figure out what I could do to cover it up and ended up liking the finished product better than I would have if I had left it plain. I ended up using sheer ribbon at the bottom of the jars, tied in a bow. It is actually the ribbon my sister used on her wedding invitations, so it worked out very well and tied everything together. Hind sight, I am really glad that the glue messed up and I had to find something else to add to them. I really love the way it turned out.

After everything was dry and I had wiped out the jars to make them clean and sanitary (I did was them first but wanted to make sure they were still clean since I was putting something edible in them), I filled them with three different types of candy. There are several different options for what to fill them with, both edible and non-edible, but I went with lemon heads (well, lemon heads and lemon head friends), fire balls and gummy cola bottles. The first two are my sister's favorite candies and the third is one liked by brother in law.

So there. That is the rest of the post. Below I have posted the picture of the finished product on my sister's table after she opened them. For the record, she loved them! :)

More Paint Chip Projects

Here are more paint chip projects!

The first one goes along with the last entry, where I showed you the bookmarks. These are valentines cards that I will be giving my students. I haven't made the envelopes yet, so I'll have to show you those in another post.

But first, here is how I made the cards.

First, I used small paint chips for this one. They are single color ones, but I am sure you could use ones that have multiple colors on them.
Putting two of the same color together, which a white one in between them, I punched a hole in the upper left hand corner. I did have to cut the white paint chip down b/c there weren't any in the smaller size (you can see that below).
Next, I took a brad that I had cut the end off (see picture below for a picture of before and after) and put it through the holes.


I then cut several different size and types of hearts using my Cricut Expression. I chose one that fit the size of the chips I chose and glued it to the white chip. I then decorated it and wrote a message on it.
Finally, I (will) put it in an envelope that I cut using the Cricut and write the students name on it. Done!



My next paint chip project was card creating. I used my Cricut Expression to cut a heart, a flower and two "love"s from paint chips. I did use a bigger chip for this project because I wanted to have several colors on it. Even using a high level of pressure, it was still difficult to cut all the way through the thick paint chip. I then glued the pieces down so that "love" was the flower stem and the balloon string. That is it!





My last project (as of right now), I made a notebook using paint chips. You want to get pretty good size chips for this one to make it usable. Behr from Home Depot has the best. They also have the rings (pictured below) that you can get for FREE! They are also in the paint section and are supposed to be used to keep all your paint chips together. I haven't seen these anywhere else besides Home Depot (and trust me, I check out the paint section in any store I am in that carries paint), so I would just make a trip there.
To make the notebook, I cut three holes into two paint chips that matched. I ended up using a three hold punch for the top and bottom ones then measured with a ruler and used a single hole punch to make the middle one. I am a tad anal, so I wanted to make sure they were equal distances from each other and the ends.
To make the paper for the inside, I played around with notebook paper until I had the size I wanted. I made the inside sheets smaller than the paint chips so they wouldn't stick out. I then used one of the paint chips as a guide and punched three holes in the notebook paper. For the size I used, I was able to get about four squares out of one sheet of paper.
I then put it all together, put the rings through the holes, and voila! I have a notebook. :) I use it as a food journal, but you could do anything you want with it. I do plan on using my Cricut to cut something to decorate the cover. But for now, I'm busy making 30 of those Valentines cards for Wednesday!

Valentine's bookmarks

It has been a while since I posted but I have been busy creating!!

My newest creations that I want to share are Valentine bookmarks that I created for my students out of paint chips. Here is the original inspiration. And here and here are more ideas on bookmarks and other things you can do with paint chips.

These are really so easy that I am not going to post step by step pictures.
Here is what you do.

-Go to your local Walmart or hardware store and stock up on paint chips (get all different colors-the possibilities are endless with these so get a bunch...you may want to get them on several trips though).
-You can leave the paint chips long or you can cut them in half for a shorter bookmark.
-Using scrapbook punches and some markers, punch shapes down the paint chips. I varied the punch I was using plus the placement of the punch to make several different types. I also glued the pieces that punched out on other paint chips for a different look.
-Punch a hole in the top of each one.
-Using ribbon, slip both ends of ribbon through one side of the hole until you are left with a loop on one side and the ends on the other. Pull the ribbon ends through the ribbon loop tightly. You now have a bookmark.

Below are some pictures of the end product. The first picture shows you how I cut one in half to make two...I set it next to a whole one to show the different sizes. Since I have quite a few kids (and a lot are boys), I tried to do a bunch and will let the students pick the one they want to go along with their valentine.

Now all I have to do is figure out what kind of card to get them! I have always done dollar store valentines, but this year, I think I want to make them. Especially since I am getting an early start! What do you suggest?

Candy Jars

I am in love with this craft! Ever since I saw them here, I have wanted to make them. My sister is a candy fiend, so I thought this would make a good Christmas present for her.

I looked everywhere for a cheaper set of candle sticks but finally broke down and bought the ones at Wal-Mart.
The only color they came in was black. While I love that color and use it a lot in decorating, since the present was for my sister, I decided to paint them white. That way she could use them in any room in her house (i.e. in the bathroom, filled with cotton balls, etc).

First, my dad helped me to spray paint them. We used a primer to cover as much of the black as we could. Of course, it has rained for days here, so we had to go to the lake and paint them inside the house (which is in the process of being built so if we got paint on the plywood floors, it wouldn't matter). After giving it about 4-5 coats (with wait time for drying in between) of primer, we spray painted them white. We also gave them 4-5 coats then decided to let them dry overnight to make sure they were covered thoroughly.

Hollow book

I haven't posted in a while but I have still been creating. I am trying to give something I make with every gift I give this Christmas season. Well, as many gifts as I can.
In keeping with this theme and since I am giving gift cards to my cousins, I decided to make the gift card holders instead of just giving them in an envelope.
As a kid, I ALWAYS wanted a hollow book...you know, those books that sit on the shelf but when you open them, there was space inside to hide things?
Well, I decided to make one of my cousins a hollow book. My inspiration came from here.

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the process and the finished product before I wrapped it, but I may just have to unwrap it (very carefully) so I can show it off before taking it tonight to give it away. :)

FYI: if I ever do this again, which I most prob will since it was so much fun, I will make the margin bigger. 0.5 inches was difficult to work with, especially as I got further into the book.

The Sixth

This project was inspired, of course, my Pinterest. Here is the original post.

And here is how I did it.

Using a shadow box and 12x12 paper that I cut down, I created a Christmas decoration that I love! First I took apart the shadow box and looked at it. I have never used one before so I wanted to make sure I knew how to put everything back in when I was finished. I then used a paper cutter to cut everything down to size.

Next, I used my circut machine to cut out the letters Merry Christmas. I was very excited when I realized one of my fonts had this already programed so that is connected together. (My next purchase will be the cd that allows you to string any words together-it is $50 so I am waiting for it to go on sale.)

The original post talked about putting the words on the inside of the frame, which I thought was a great idea. So, I put tape on all the letters (this was the hardest part, since I knew that if any of the tape pieces were hanging off the letters, they would show since I was taping to glass). The picture below with my finger was taken to show you the tape pieces. They are from a scrap-booking pack and come in a long strip. You can either leave them together (like if you are gluing a picture down or you can take them apart-they are less than 1 cm wide). So, I taped all my letters then realized that I was taping on the wrong side (the back side) if I wanted to put it on the inside of the frame. So there went that idea. It still worked anyway and since I don't have children (unruly dogs don't count), I think I'll be okay.

Next I took out all the ornaments and placed them in the shadow box. When I first looked at the project and decided to try it, I didn't realize that she used bells in her picture-hence the "Jingle All the Way". Opps. I bought red balls to go into it. Oh well. I still love how it turned out. The pack I bought was from Target and had three different types of balls in it-shiny, dull and glittery. I hate weird textures, so I didn't touch the glittery ones (they are in the picture below still in the pack). I only used the shiny and dull ones-I put about 20 in the frame. I thought it would be neat to have different sizes, but then realized the bigger ones wouldn't fit when I put the back on the shadow box. You can see the size difference below. I took them back to Target. I also cut off all the strings that you use to hang the ornaments.

Finally, I put it all together, put the backing on the frame and voila! I had a great Christmas decoration. I did have to take the back off several times to get the balls to sit right. They don't move around once I have the back on, so some were hanging above the pile. But once I got the all together and put the back back on, it turned out great.

This project turned out to be one of my favorites that I have done. I have already bought more supplies to try it again. I love this one!

The Fifth

When I first saw this posted on Pinterest, I loved it and knew I wanted to try it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original post (the link on Pinterest took me to a blog but I couldn't find where they had posted the frames). Luckily, this was a fairly easy project.

Here is what I did.

I bought three 5x7 frames. I couldn't find paper that was that size, so I got the 12x12 paper. The hardest part of this entire project was cutting the paper to size. The 12x12 paper doesn't fit in the paper cutter well.

After cutting all the paper down to size and getting them in the frame, I had to decide which frames were going to be up and down and which frame was going to be in the middle, going sideways.
I then use my circut machine to cut "Ho" in several different fonts. The circut machine has been one of my favorite purchases I have ever made. I bought it this summer when it was on sale for the 4th of July and have never regretted it!

I took the paper back out of the frame, positioned the "Ho"s in the right place and glued them down using scrapbooking tape.

Seriously, this was the easiest project. I do like how it turned out but I think I like the one that inspired the project better. I'll keep working on it to get it right. I think the "ho" in the frame with the stripped paper needs to be bigger to try to fill out the frame more. I think I'll try it and see what it looks like. Of course, I'll post pics!