Holidays Archives - Busy Moms Helper

Halloween Lighting Fun

October 19, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

This post is sponsored by Philips Hue via Momtrends Media. The opinions are mine and are not indicative of the opinions of Philips Hue or Momtrends Media.

Growing up, my family always loved Halloween, and the entire neighborhood made it extra special and exciting. Us kids really looked forward to the candy, food, costumes and friends! Now with my kids, I try to make it just as much fun – and this year, we’re going way beyond the ‘normal’ with some Halloween Lighting Fun! Whether you’re throwing a monster bash, want to greet trick-or-treaters in a frightfully delightful way, or just want to add more witch’s magic to your kids’ holiday, this is sure to be a hit for the whole family.

One of my favorite parts of the Halloween season is all the COLORS – from the colorful treats and decor, to the costumes and makeup. This year, we’re taking ‘colorful’ to a whole new level thanks to the Philips Hue Go. Y’all know how much we love our Philips Hue smart lighting system, but I have to say that this piece just screams (or glows) FUN! Using the Hue app on your smartphone or tablet, you can personalize the light to match any theme or atmosphere you want. To make it even more convenient, you can control your Hue lighting with just your voice using Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri with Apple HomeKit.

One you have the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance starter kit, just add a Philips Hue Go to your system. The Hue Go is great because it’s portable lighting. One option is to plug it into a power outlet and shine it on your walls to paint them with colored or white light. We’re going with the more flexible option for our Halloween lighting fun this year, though! The rechargeable internal battery can last up to 3 hours, and even when it’s in portable mode, you can STILL control it with your smart device. So if you’re busy handing candy to the newest monsters and heroes to knock on your door, you can still play with the countless color options.

For us, we wanted to make a super colorful, exciting witch cauldron with smoke – cue the dry ice! Now, keep in mind that the Philips Hue Go is not waterproof. You need to use caution and common sense – make sure the light isn’t touching (or even too close) to the water or dry ice. We made sure we had a DEEP bucket, put the water and dry ice at the bottom, then set our light on something else several inches above those (but still hidden at the top of the bucket). It was incredible how cool the smoke looked with the various colors as it flowed out of the bucket and over our Halloween table spread!

The kids love making ‘spooky’ (okay, so they’re too adorable to be very scary, but they tried) and silly faces behind the light, and to pretend they’re casting ‘spells’ over the cauldron – I mean, bucket! We kept switching up the colors from a favorite pumpkin-like orange, to an eerie witch-green tone. There’s even pre-set light scenes in the app such as Blood Moon or Blue Lagoon. Have a special backdrop or photo? The Hue app can extract the colors from your image and apply it to your lights, making your Halloween atmosphere complete perfection.

Make the ultimate trick-or-treat stop or create haunted house effects with Hue’s special Halloween lighting formulas. You can recreate a lightning effect – or make it appear like a mischievous ghost is switching the color and brightness of your lights! The third-party app Hue Haunted House can add flashes and flickering to your colored lights for more Halloween fun, as well as combine haunting sounds and lighting effects to make anyone jump – enter the creepy ghost sounds or eerie piano music! Another option for a thrilling sound and light show is to download the Hue Sync app (available for Windows 10 PCs or macOS computers) to sync your Hue lights to the beat of your chosen Halloween-related music tracks. I think a set of Thriller is a definite must-do!

We’re all counting down the days until Halloween this year, and are so excited to show off our fun lighting with friends and visitors! Thanks to Philips Hue smart lighting, anyone can turn their everyday lighting into an extraordinary experience. Halloween is the perfect time to play with light and color and create an amazing ambiance, but it doesn’t have to end there – use it any day of the year! Once you nab the start kit, it’s simple to add more of Hue’s products like the Go to REALLY turn your house into the spookiest (or most thrilling) in the neighborhood!

What’s YOUR favorite Halloween color?

20 DIY Halloween Mason Jars

October 15, 2018 by Danielle 2 Comments

I love doing crafts, especially around the holidays. They’re just extra special, plus you can do decor or gifts and consider it a check off your list of to-dos anyway! For some extra fun, here’s a list of 20 DIY Halloween Mason Jars – you can pick from spiders or monsters, bats or candy corn, even cute ‘BOO’ jars for some festive decor!

My personal favorites are the mummy jars because they’re so dang cute! My kids would have a fun time with several of these, including the ghost lanterns. There’s a little something for everyone, so pick your favorite and get your Halloween craft on with these fun Halloween Mason Jars!

Mason Jar Crafts Love – Zombie Mason Jars

Blue i Style – Mason Jar Jack O Lanterns

Mabey She Made It – DIY Halloween Treat Jar

A Pumpkin and a Princess – Halloween Etched Glass Mason Jar Luninaries

Crafts by Amanda – Frankenstein Luminaries

Kids Craft Room – Neon Mason Jar Mummies

Landeelou – Black and White Halloween Painted Mason Jars

Just a Girl and Her Blog – Halloween Mason Jar Luminaries

Two Sisters Crafting – Spooky Halloween Mason Jars

MomDot – Halloween Drip Painted Mason Jars

Oh So Savvy Mom – DIY Upcycled Halloween Village Luminaries

Anne’s Entitled Life – Sugar Skull Mason Jar

Mason Jar Crafts Love – Candy Corn Mason Jars

Yesterday on Tuesday – Lighted Halloween Mason Jar

Simply Kierste – Mason Jar Ghost Lantern

It All Started With Paint – Mummy Mason Jars

Miss Information – Halloween Luninaries

House of Hawthornes – Painted Halloween Mason Jar Craft

Bee of Good Cheer – Polka Dot Candy Corn Mason Jar

MomDot – Halloween Mason Jars

Bug Valentine Craft with Free Printables

February 10, 2018 by Danielle 2 Comments

Even though many of us are barely recovering from Christmas, Valentine’s Day is quickly creeping up on us – crazy, right? With 4 kids in school this year, we’ve got plenty of kids’ Valentines for school to deal with. Luckily, these Bug Valentine pencils are a super easy craft, turn out adorable, and we even included the free printables for you!

You all know I love joining in Craft Lightning every month – and we’ve done some awesome crafts for every theme! Remember the snowman fingerprint activity last month? For those that don’t know – with this party we only share 15-minute (or less) crafts. I was able to do at least a dozen in that time, so within an hour I had plenty for my kids’ friends. Here’s for not waiting until the last minute – Woot woot!

Supplies

These Printable Bug Valentines – Download the 8.5×11 sheet here
Pom-poms
Pipe Cleaners
Hot glue/gun
Scissors
Googly eyes
Pencils
Hole-punch

Directions

Glue a pom-pom onto each pipe cleaner at the top. Glue 2 googly eyes onto the front. Cut the pipe cleaner to your desired length (or leave it longer, up to you) and wrap around the pencil.
Cut out the bug valentine cards. Hole punch at the top and bottom, then slide your pencil through.

That’s it – see, I told you it was a super easy Valentine idea! The kids are really excited to give these out – and were glad we did such a variety of colors for their friends to choose from.

Another bonus? It’s a non-candy Valentine idea, meaning less sweets to deal with! I like this partially because my kids don’t need even more candy, as I’m sure their friends don’t either – but while doing the craft I’d probably eat well more than I should if it was candy! I’m much safer with pencils and pom-poms 🙂

Now head over to see the other amazing Valentine’s Day crafts for this month’s Craft Lightning!

If you missed our other Craft Lightning crafts….

How to Print on Burlap & Valentine Date Invitation Printable

February 2, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

This post was sponsored by BurlapFabric.com – as always, all opinions and ideas are our own.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t always like burlap. In my mind, it was always a bland brown color that had fraying edges that were a mess, and you couldn’t do much with it at all. Wow, that’s sure changed! Now you can get burlap in several different colors, shapes, styles. You can get it as a napkin, a bag, ribbon, banners and so much more. I love the options! I also love that I now know how How to Print on Burlap & I’m sharing a fun Valentine Date Invitation Printable for y’all to use this month!

Isn’t this banner super fun? I thought it’d be unique to not only ‘invite’ my hubby to be my Valentine date, but do it by decorating with a banner covered with the invite – he’s sure to get the message that way, right? 😉

I got this 12-pack of burlap banner pieces for the project, and though I was a bit nervous printing on a weird shape, it turned out really simple and no hassle at all!

Supplies

12-pack of burlap banner pieces
Printer (I used inkjet, but I’ve heard this will work on laserjet as well – but haven’t personally tried that)
Scissors
Hot glue/gun
Valentine Invitation Printable -click on here & the 8.5×11 will download
Colored Burlap Ribbon – if desired

A side note – the reason I really love this burlap banner pack is that it already has a filmy backing to it. Otherwise, we’d need to do additional steps with freezer paper to create a backing for going through the printer. This worked great for me without the extra though because it was already there!

Directions – Printing on the Burlap

Cut just under the top folded-over area of the banner, removing the strip that holds the string – but save it, because we’ll reattach it later! Be sure to trim the edges a bit to get rid of any frays that could get caught in the printer.
Do a test page on your printer to make sure you know the proper direction to load your burlap. You want it to print on the non-shiny side. We designed the file to be 8.5×11 in size, but it’s laid out so it’ll print in the bulky area of these banners, with the top at the largest width of the banner – as you can see below. After your comfortable that you know the direction to load your banner piece, place it as needed in your printer and hit print.

Directions – Attaching Rope Back On

Use hot glue/gun to reattach the strip with the rope to the back of your banner. Don’t go very close to the sides, as you’ll need to trim a bit off so they don’t stick out.

An easy way to trim them WITHOUT CUTTING THE ROPE is as follows:
- Cut a little slit inwards (only on that back strip, do not cut the front triangle in any of these steps) so you can push the rope enough towards the center that it won’t get cut on the edge.
- Cut the excess strip off, keeping the rope away from your scissors – and remember to avoid cutting the front triangle piece, you’re just cutting the excess along the edges!
- Repeat for other side so they’re both hidden/flush with the nice triangle edges

I love this little ‘invitation’ and how simple it was to print on burlap – I can see a lot of fun projects like this in the future! I also used this red burlap ribbon for some added ‘color’ and accent with my banner. I think it really brings out the red text!

If you like it more simple, that’s perfectly great too – it still looks incredible, and almost makes the mustache part stand out even more which is fun 🙂

Whichever way you choose, this fun Valentine date invitation is unique, simple to make and a great way to catch the invitees eyes!

If you have burlap that doesn’t already have that film layer on the back, you’ll need to add it using freezer paper and an iron, otherwise it’ll have issues printing since there’s holes/gaps in the burlap:

Be sure you use freezer paper – NOT wax!
Trim a piece of freezer paper so it fits your burlap shape. Trim so it fits EXACTLY – don’t forget to trim any burlap frays as well.
Put the shiny side of the paper onto the ‘back’ of your burlap and use your iron to ‘stick’ the paper to the burlap.
Follow the printing instructions as above – always do a test sheet to ensure you have it loaded the correct way.
Once printed on, carefully peel off the freezer paper. It should come off easily, but if it’s sticking a bit too much, try rolling the burlap gently so it loosens it up more to peel off. Another option is putting it in the freezer, which seems to make the pieces unstick from each other.

What would YOU print on burlap?

Please note – printers and burlap may vary, so please make the best judgement when putting something other than paper through your printer. We’re simply sharing how we did it and what worked for us. We assume no responsibility if your printer/burlap is different and something gets ruined.

Other Valentine Ideas…

DIY Valentine Frame from Craft Sticks

January 30, 2018 by Danielle 2 Comments

Let this sink in for a moment – it’s less than a month until Valentine’s Day. Please tell me I’m not the only one in shock – I mean, didn’t it just turn 2018, and already we’re looking to February?! Well, whether we’re ready or not, the holiday is coming – so to TRY and get myself in the festive pink-and-red-everything mood, I wanted to share this fun DIY Valentine Frame from Craft Sticks that I put together.

It’s surprisingly easy, aside from getting the glitter off your hands afterwards (really, I need to find a reliable trick that will help me get rid of the random glitter that sticks around for days after a project because DANG it’s everywhere). You don’t even need a ton of stuff, and you can even let the kids make their own sweet valentine frame for a neat holiday craft.

I love that it’s 3-D looking due to the layer and stacking of the sticks, and that you can customize it to fit your own preferences. Hate pink? Don’t use it. Want larger sparkles instead of tiny glitter? Do it. This is YOUR Valentine frame, so make it your own!

Supplies

12 full craft sticks
6 full craft sticks cut in half (so 12 halves) – be sure to cut off the sharp edges
Hot glue/gun
Glue Stick
Glitter, sparkles, accents, ribbon, etc. as you see fit
Photo

Directions

If you haven’t already, cut the 6 craft sticks into halves (does NOT have to be perfect, just ‘ish’). Then, pour your glitter/sparkles of choice into a large plate or tray. I mixed a few colors to get a variety mix (silver, white, pink and purple). Rub one side of each stick (including the halves) with your glue stick – one stick at a time – then rub in the glitter mixture to coat that side. Set aside to dry as you continue with all the sticks.
Follow the following diagram below to arrange and hot glue your sticks together. 1: put 2 sticks on the left and 2 sticks on the right, connecting at the bottom point of the ‘heart’ (don’t glue in this step). 2: glue a stick on top & between the two sticks on each side (shown in photo 2 and 3 below). 3: glue 2 halves on the top right and 2 halves on the top left to angle in towards the top of the ‘heart’. 4: Turn over and glue 2 halves under the left and 2 halves under the right to do the final point down and in to finish the ‘heart’ shape. 5: Turn it back over and glue 1 half on the left and 1 half on the right to make the top center part more sturdy. 6: Glue 1 half to the left and 1 half to the right for the top ‘corner edge’ parts of the heart – again, to make it sturdy.
To finish it up, glue a ‘handle’ to the back & bottom of your heart shape with the last full craft stick piece!
Then all you have left is to carefully trace & cut out your photo so it fits on the back of your frame, then carefully glue along the edges so it stays in place.

That’s it! I know that may seem like a lot of steps, but it’s truly simple and takes hardly any time at all. In fact, doing the glitter on the sticks is what took me the longest of everything! Just be sure to follow that diagram photo so you have a visual to help keep it as easy as possible.

You can add accent pieces – like a little ‘jewel’ – or a ribbon, as you see fit. Like I said – make it YOURS! Or customize to the person you’re giving it to 🙂

I had to add the photo hubby and I had taken during family pictures last month because I absolutely LOVE it! Often us moms forget to get photos of us with our kids, and sometimes even less do we get photos with our honey. That’s something I’m trying to work on this year – more photos WITH those I love, not just of them!

One last tip – if you don’t want the ‘craft stick’ tan color showing through, you can use markers or paint before hand to color it, or just be sure to layer up the glitter a lot for full coverage. I kind of like the randomness and dimension to it, but that’s just my personal preference.

What photo would YOU put in this fun DIY Valentine frame?

More Valentine’s Day Crafts

14 Days of Valentines

January 25, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

February is next week – seriously?! New Years is long forgotten, and I’m actually writing 2018 properly on the date now. This year seems to be flying by already! While I’m sitting here a bit dazed about that fact, at least I’m ‘semi’ prepared with a special gift for hubby. If you’re looking to do a thoughtful 14 Days of Valentines gift, these cute and customizable envelopes are PERFECT! I love how simple it is, plus you can craft, decorate or fix them up however you’d like.

You can do the 14 days of Valentines starting on February 1st and work your way UP to February 14th, Valentines Day – or start it on that day and work from there, it’s totally up to you. I prefer working up to Valentines, and having the last envelope hold things for a date night or special dinner. You can include things like sweet notes, photos of memories, gift cards, a note saying where their gift is hidden (for example: find your new comfy gift in the dryer – and it’s a new blanket or slippers, etc.). You don’t need to spend a bunch at all, just focus on what you want to give your sweetheart that they’d really love and appreciate.

When I saw these envelopes on Amazon, I knew they’d be the perfect thing to use for this project – not only are they easy to fold up, but the little ‘tab’ has a heart shape! They’re also a great size – not too big and not too small, either. They come in a pack of 50 – so you have PLENTY! They’re that nice, clean manilla color, so you can paint, color with markers, write on, or whatever you want to make them yours. Below, I’m sharing the fun striped heart decoration I did for the back of them.

Supplies

Heart-tabbed envelopes
Red, Black and/or White paper strips (or color of choice)
Large sturdy paper for attaching
Glue
Scissors
Number stickers (1 through 14)
Photos, notes, gift cards, etc. to put inside your envelopes

Directions

Glue your strips randomly into rows on your larger sheet of paper. Trim off the edges that stick over, so all the area has that firm backing to it.
Draw/trace heart shapes onto your piece of striped paper, then cut out carefully.
Glue onto the back of your envelopes, also included a numbered sticker so you know what day goes with what envelope.
Close up your envelope with your gift/photo/note inside, then surprise your sweetie with a special 14 days of Valentines gift!

If you want to get extra decorative, you can even color (or put glue and add sparkles) to that little heart tab. I chose not to, but maybe that’s what you’d prefer for your own set.

If your gifts don’t really matter which order they’re opened in, you can skip the numbered sticker part. If you need to know what’s being opened that day – in case it’s a time-sensitive gift, or you need to place the actual gift somewhere – then be sure you have some way to know which envelope goes with what day.

Another fun idea would be a ‘scavenger hunt’ – so do all 14 envelopes/gifts at once, but have the first one hold a clue to find the second, then so forth until the 14th one is the BIG FINALE. The ones leading up can hold just clues, or also include small gifts or sweet thoughts/memories.

I’m considering doing random ‘memories of us’ notes in the extra envelopes I have and bring them out at unexpected times of the year for the special surprise for hubby. Maybe include photos of us and/or the memories the note is about. That’d be a good way to make your significant other feel loved all throughout the year, not just on holidays!

Now that I’m thinking of more ideas for these envelopes, I think they’d also work as class Valentines – have your child decorate each envelope as they want, then stick a gift (nothing bulky or too big, but like an eraser, sticker, even Pokemon card or something) inside. Cute and original!

What are you getting YOUR special someone for Valentine’s Day?

New Year’s Eve Printable for Kids

December 26, 2017 by Keri Houchin Leave a Comment

Get ready to ring in the new year with the family, including the kiddos. It’s time to look back on 2017 and plan for a wonderful 2018! Give the kids this New Year’s Eve printable to fill out their best memories and resolutions.

Do you make a New Year’s resolution every year? How about your kids? I think it’s really important to set goals, no matter how old you are. As parents, we can help our kids choose goals that are realistic and also fun to accomplish.

Whether you let them stay up until midnight or not quite that late, this New Year’s Eve printable can be a fun family activity. Sit down together and talk about your memories from the year and what things you want to do or are looking forward to next year.

This printable is fun and would make a great keepsake. The first section is a little “about me” to capture what your child loves now. The middle area includes three spaces for memories from the past year and at the end, there is space to make resolutions for next year.

I wanted to keep this simple and my kids really prefer to write with a prompt. I think making resolutions is hard for kids and adults when you don’t have guidelines. I mean, there’s so much you could do, right?

So I included little prompts on each line to get the kids started.

To print your New Year’s Eve page, click HERE.

Although I made this with elementary-aged kids in mind, I think older kids and adults will have fun with it too. I think it would be really fun to do these every year (so there’s no date on this printable!). I love being able to look back and ahead at the same time.

If you’re looking for something more goal-driven, this New Year’s goal printable is perfect for that. It has space to write in a single goal, plus everything you need to do to reach it. I think it goes really nicely with the New Year’s Eve printable for kids, if you want to use both.

How are you celebrating New Year’s Eve with your family?

Teacher Gift Idea: Survival Kit

December 20, 2017 by Danielle 2 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #StockedWithLove #CollectiveBias

Why oh why do I let Christmas sneak up on me every single year? I thought I was *super* on the ball this year, having all the kids’ gifts done and wrapped shortly after Thanksgiving – but I completely forgot all their teachers! Between my five kiddos, we have 8 main school teachers (some switch half-day, so have two main teachers), plus several assistants, six dance instructors and four karate professors. Instead of blasting holiday music and curling up with some hot chocolate trying to ignore the fact I hadn’t gotten them gifts, I got creative. It’s super easy to customize cheap, plain stockings to make the perfect Teacher Gift Idea – a Survival Kit to help get them through the rest of the year!

Hover on the image below for some super easy shopping for the fun BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages holiday collection online!

Since I was extremely scrunched on time, and determined to tackle this last ‘big’ task I had before really relaxing for the holiday, I swung by Target to get everything I needed to create these fun teacher stocking gifts. While you should definitely get some fun items to stick in their stocking – like a gift card, cute mug, fun note pad or candies – be sure to stock up on stuff that are much-needed in classrooms. There’s several things that work for ANY type of teacher – be it school, dance, karate or whatever – such as packs of BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages. And guess what? Their festive BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages holiday collection is on sale in the ads during the week of 12/17! You can nab 2 for just $5, making them a very useful (aka necessary) classroom item for a great price.

Since kids have a tendency to get hurt even in the strangest of ways, any parent, teacher or instructor is smart to have BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages on-hand because they heal hurts faster and are the #1 doctor recommended brand. Target also has Paw Patrol and Star Wars BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages, which make for great stocking stuffers for the kids, so why not grab a few of those while you’re there?

Here’s some more survival kit ideas you can include:

Hand Sanitizer
Glue Sticks
Crayons, Markers, Pencils, Pens, etc.
Tissues
Room Scent Spray
Lint roller
Target gift card – to buy whatever else they may be needing!

Don’t forget the stuff that’s just for fun, as well!

To Customize Your Teacher Stocking

Supplies:

Generic Stocking in size of choice
Ribbon, Beads, etc.
Accent Decor (felt or thin wood shapes, sparkles, glitter, etc.)
Hot Glue/Gun

Directions

Use hot glue to attach a ribbon or strand of beads to create a line accent, – this can work at the top, around the bottom of the ‘cuff’ of the stocking, or even all around the edges of the stocking part. I did two as a strip at the top, then cut some bead strands to ‘dangle’.
Before glueing, decide on a pattern/style you want for the stocking by laying out your accent pieces/decor. Once you’ve found the spots/pattern you want, carefully hot glue them in place. Once dry, rub a little where there’s excess hot glue sticking out to help remove those loose ‘glue strings’ that sometimes occur.
Fill with teacher gift items- the fun AND the useful – and BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages.

See, it’s really easy to turn a simple, plain stocking into a personalized and fun gift packaging! You can even have your kids help pick out the decorations and design the gift, making it extra special. Just be sure to watch them with the hot glue, please!

If you have room in the stocking, you can even have your child write a few thoughtful notes or memories to stick in there as a special surprise that is sure to mean a lot to their teacher. I even put in a few from me, since I’m sure they don’t hear gratitude from the parents often enough.

Now that I’ve got gifts done for the MANY teachers in our lives, I think I’ll take this same idea and make miniature ones for people who very rarely get recognition – like the mailman or people that work the garbage trucks! It’s amazing how many people there are that have an impact on our lives – even if it’s ‘just’ delivering mail or removing our trash from the curb. I’m trying to show a little more gratitude this year, and love that I can easily do that in a fun way without taking up much of my little time. After all, the kids are out of school early Wednesday then it’s going to be a rare moment I’ll have much time at all until they go back in January – but I’m really looking forward to all the family time! 🙂

What other teacher survival kit items would YOU include?

Ruffled Tree Skirt

December 7, 2017 by Danielle 6 Comments

Oh. My. Gosh – this skirt was a LOT of firsts for me, and can I just tell you I’m SO IN LOVE with it!!! I’ve always wanted a Ruffled Tree Skirt, and now I can make one anytime I want! Originally shared December 2013.

DIY Ruffled Tree Skirt / Busy Mom's Helper

It turned out better than I had hoped, and actually ended up being a lot simpler than I originally planned (once I stopped TRYING to do it the hard way)! If you couldn’t tell by now, I love Blue and Silver Christmas. Don’t know why, it’s just B-E-A-U-tiful to me. Love. It.

Now, this tutorial is based on how I did MY skirt – you may want different sizes, pattern, materials, etc. Change it based on what YOU want, but I can only write from my experience with the one I made. I wanted a big skirt, so my measurements are all based on 52″-ish skirt.

Supplies Needed

Sewing Machine/thread OR Hot Glue (lots of it)

Fabric – amounts will vary based on your pattern and TYPE of fabric (see Step 6)

Good Scissors

Fabric Pen (I used a normal pen)

Fabric Measuring Tape

Ruler or Yard Stick

Directions

#1: Take a base fabric (flannel, cotton, scrap – it won’t show). Mark your center and pin the measuring tape there, then tie a pen to the 26″ mark on your measuring tape. Carefully draw a circle evenly (as much as possible) 26″ from the center all around.

#2: Using your Ruler or Yard Stick, draw a line from the center all the way to the edge, doing 90 Degree angles all around. Mark a noticeable X in the middle of the circle.

#3: Now mark 3″ out from the X in the center, doing a large 3″ circle all around the center.

#4: From the X in the center again, do a circle 7″ out. Then 11″. Continue, adding 4″ every circle until you’re to the edge – your last row may not be 4″.

#5: On one of your lines from the center to the edge, cut straight in. This will be where your skirt opens. Now cut out that 3″ circle in the very middle – this is where it will be around your tree bottom.

#6: This is where it gets a bit tricky and ‘guessy’. How much fabric you use will depend ENTIRELY on your pattern and what TYPE of fabric. For example, the dark blue I used ruffled more than the silver, so I had to use more to go further. Here is what I used on my skirt, using the fabrics and pattern I did. Measurements are what I CUT them, so PRE-RUFFLING

Center Row: 1 – 6″ x 52″ strip of dark blue

2nd Row: 2 – 6″ x 52″ strips of silver

3rd Row: 4 – 6″ x 52″ strips of dark blue

4th Row: 5 – 6″ x 52″ strips of silver

5th Row: 6 – 6″ x 52″ strips of dark blue

6th Row: 5 – 6″ x 52″ strips of clear/sparkly silver

Cut your strips – keeping in mind you may need more/less, depending on how they ruffle.

I did allow a margin of error when I cut mine – and also keep in mind if you’re going to hem them. I just did a cross stitch.

Note: You do NOT have to use expensive fabrics. I just chose these fabrics for my own. You could do it just great with cotton, flannel, sheets….make the skirt how YOU want!

#7: I did a cross stitch around all of my strips. You could also hem them (keep enough room when cutting). Your choice.

#8: Now for the gathering. I used a Gathering Foot on my sewing machine – first time ever! LOVED it! You could also do a basting stitch. Another option is to just HOT GLUE the pieces to the large circle piece, gathering yourself as you glue it on. I didn’t do this, but it’s an option.

#9: Now you sew (or hot glue, if you choose) the pieces to your large circle base. START AT THE OUTSIDE!!! Pin a few pieces at a time (VERY difficult if you try to do a large row all at once), then sew (or glue) them on…..

……Continue until the row is complete, going clear to the other end. If it hangs over the last edge a bit, that’s perfectly fine.

#10: Continue with all of the other rows, working your way from the outside towards the inside.

If it hangs off too much, like more than 1/2-1″, trim it off.

#11: When you’ve done all of the rows, take the edges (the long line you cut earlier towards the center, where it will open and wrap around the tree) and hem them under.

And you’re done!

Note: I left the little gathering edge in the center, because I liked the look. You can always hem that, or wrap a ribbon/fabric piece around it, if you’d like.

Seriously, I absolutely LOVE my skirt – the colors, the ruffles, the size – it’s perfect (for me)! I also love how much EASIER it was than I originally thought – I should’ve made this years ago!

Make Your Own Stocking Advent Calendar

December 2, 2017 by Danielle Leave a Comment

Wow, this project is a bit late getting up today, but there’s a really good reason (I’ll explain at the end). Just goes to show that even us bloggers, who may appear to have it all together online, are as much a mess as anyone else…possibly more so! I’ve been really excited to share this tutorial on how to Make Your Own Stocking Advent Calendar, and hope you enjoy it!

Now, I ended up doing more than one, so please don’t be confused if the pictures show different fabrics. ALL the tutorial steps are done from the same stocking advent calendar, so it shouldn’t be hard to follow these simple steps. Our kids love it when we pull ours out at Christmas, especially because we do put treats in ours for each day. You can do small toys, notes with a special surprise or activity for them, or whatever you want that works for your family! The point is, it’s a really beautiful and fun holiday decoration, plus gives the kids a way to count down the days!

Supplies Needed

1/2 yard Main color fabric (I’ve used felt, fleece and a silky one, you choose) – in the pics it’s the blue or the red
1/2 yard Secondary color fabric for the pockets – in the pics it’s the silver or green
1/4 yard lining (I use just a plain white, cheap fabric)
1/4 yard Quilt batting or thin foam lining
Sewing machine, thread, scissors, pins, etc.
Ribbon for a hanging loop
Bell that fits into the little pockets
Ribbon/rope/cord to hang the bell
Ribbon for the trim along the top flap, if desired
If you don’t want to/can’t sew the numbers on, you can get iron-on numbers or use puffy paint (I don’t recommend the last option, but it’s up to you)

Cut out your fabric

Cut out your stocking shape…a total height of about 20″ and a width (toe to edge) of about 13″. This allows for the seams. What you will need of this shape: 2 Main Fabric, 1 batting/foam, 2 liners.
Cut out the top over-flap….it’s one piece, folded on the fat edge (toe side of the stocking). Total height about 4″ on the low side, about 6.5″ on the tall side. Total length of 26.5″. What you will need of this shape: 1 Main Fbric, 1 batting/foam, 1 liner.
Cut out your rows, about 11″ long and 2.5″ tall, this allows for seams.

The Pockets

Sew a little hem along the top and bottom of each row, as well as the ends.
Either sew on your numbers now (you’ll need 4 pockets on the top 4 rows, 5 on the bottom two rows….leave more room on the two sides to allow for seams and such. If you’re ironing or using puffy paint, you can wait until the end.
Sew each row onto the front Main fabric piece. JUST the bottom, since the top needs to stay open.
Then sew the edges up the side of the stocking, so they don’t fold over funny.
Going from the center, pin where you will sew DOWN the stocking, creating each little pocket. Keep in mind the edges will still be used in a seam, so allow room for that.

Put the Stocking together

To sew the front and back of the stocking together, put the layers ‘inside out’….so the two white liner pieces will be on the outside. The foam/batting goes between the FRONT main piece and one of the lining pieces, and the other main fabric goes on the back.
Pin and sew all the edges for a pretty seem (once it’s right-side out it’s pretty).
Making sure you keep the top OPEN (the stocking will actually be open at the top, so you can put things inside if you want) also hem the top edges around.
Sew together the top ‘flap’ pieces….main fabric, then batting/foam, then lining. Hem the top edges really nicely, then sew the two side ends together. So the pieces would stay together nicely, I quickly stitched along the bottom. If you’re going to add the trim to the flap edge, you’ll CAREFULLY fold the ribbon (so the middle edge) is sticking out between the main fabric and lining, then the edges sticking inside. It’s a bit tricky, but looks better. I don’t have photos of the trim, but will try to add some soon.
You’ll then sew the bottom of the flap piece to the top of the stocking, as shown in these photos… The stocking is inside out, then put together at the top like this. When you fold the flap over, it will look like this. And the inside will look like this.

Finishing touches

Take a loop of ribbon and just sew it inside the stocking, so it hangs near the top edge, as shown.
Also sew in one end of the rope/ribbon/cord for the bell. Attach the other end to the bell, making sure the entire thing can reach the bottom pockets on the stocking.
If you didn’t sew on the numbers, now you can iron them on, or use puffy paint.

THIS IS WHY I HAD ISSUES TODAY: I tried the puffy paint on this beautiful silver and blue Stocking Advent Calendar. It looked terrible….and we accidentally spilled some on one of the pockets so it smeared and looks AWFUL! I went to quickly remake that stocking, since I had enough fabric and such anyway….and my sewing machine decided to break. Until I can get that repaired, no ‘finished’ pics of the pretty silver/blue stocking 🙁

Having used various fabrics, I decided I prefer the felt/fleece best. It doesn’t slide around and wrinkle like the other shiny stuff. Go with what YOU prefer, though! We love our stocking, and can’t wait to get started on it in just over a week….so fun!

DIY Christmas Countdown

November 20, 2017 by Danielle Leave a Comment

We love doing holiday countdowns in our house, and I’ll admit we do have a decent few. I love that we can not only make it a fun activity for the kids – and it helps avoid being asked ‘how many days until Christmas’ since they can just check one of the countdown calendars – but that it also works as cute, festive decor for the home, too! This fun DIY Christmas Countdown is super simple & quick to make, and looks AMAZING for the holidays!

It’s also great because it can use just a handful of items, and takes less than 10 minutes to put together. You can certainly mix up the colors and designs, making it into something other than a Christmas countdown, if you’d like! Remember our Disney Countdown that’s similar? Just like that, you can switch up the straw colors and designs, as well as the papers or frames, and add little accents as you see fit to really make this your own.

Supplies

Frame of choice – paint if desired
Paper Straws (I used red/white polka dot)
Paper Scraps (I did white & green)
Clothespin
Number Stickers or Pen/Marker
Hot Glue/Gun
Scissors

Directions

Cut your paper straws so they fit snuggly inside the frame. You CAN glue them into place, but then you can’t switch them out – I prefer just making them fit tight so I can remove them later to reuse the frame if desired.
Cut out your paper pieces – I like doing a little ‘banner’ type shape, with one color larger than the other to act as a border. Glue the smaller piece onto the larger one. Add your numbers, either with a sticker or write it neatly. The amount of numbers you’ll need will depend on the holiday – for our Christmas countdown I did up to 24 little banner pieces.
Hot glue the clothespin onto the frame – if you want to reuse it, careful to just glue onto the straws, not the frame or you won’t be able to take it off.

That’s it! Then start at 24 (or 23 or 25, depending on how you do your numbers and if you plan to go to Christmas or Christmas Eve), and each day switch it with the lower number. It’s great how much excitement it brings kids to do a Christmas countdown – probably helps them be more patient until the holiday, too!

If you want to do a larger frame, you can fit 2 clothespins and just do single digit numbers (like a 2 and a 3 to make 23), but I wanted this particular one to be smaller so I just stuck with the one number set. This does mean making more banner pieces, but I was ok with that for mine.

You could get a cute Santa hat of Elf shoes sticker or decal to put on the corners of your countdown if you want, or keep it more simple like this one. It’s up to you – it’s YOUR Christmas countdown, after all!

What’s YOUR favorite thing about the Christmas season?

DIY Thanksgiving Place Settings

November 6, 2017 by Danielle

Do you go all out for Thanksgiving when you host? I sure would love to – an elegant spread, name cards and centerpieces and the whole lot. The reality is that I simply can’t – between time, money and the 5 kids ‘helping’ with setting everything up, we’ve got to keep it simple. One idea is to get them involved and just have fun with it – like making these DIY Thanksgiving Place Settings! They’re super simple and quick, and even though they aren’t the ‘fanciest’, they’re still plenty colorful and entertaining for any holiday table.

Y’all know I’m a big fan of crafts that can be done using scraps, right? Well all this takes is scraps of straws, Popsicle sticks, paper and hot glue – easy-peasy! It’s even better if you have a variety of Thanksgiving colors, like reds, yellows, oranges, browns and golds. Just think of all those pretty fall shades!

You can totally customize these to be whatever size or shape you’d like, and get as creative with the letter (or full name, if you feel ambitious) as you’d like. I considered sparkles, but then realized we’d all end up with sparkles in our food so dismissed that pretty quickly. Add a cute, colored feather in the top corner, or a mini turkey sticker. Have fun with it, especially if your kids are helping you put them together (and be careful with that hot glue!).

Supplies

Straws
Paper
Popsicle Sticks
Hot Glue/Gun
Scissors

Directions

Cut the straws to the size you’d like. We just did them in half. Cut the popsicle sticks so they fit behind your final shape, holding it together but not sticking out the sides.
When you have the straws laid out however you’d like (I tried to line up the stripes so it looked like a continuous, multi-colored pattern), add some hot glue on the back and carefully place your popsicle stick on it. Try to make it go all the way across the straws, so it’ll hold them all together. Cross them, or just line them up next to each other – the main point is that they are there to secure all the straws in place.
Cut out (or use stickers) for the letters or names to go on each of the place settings – glue or stick them on.

That’s it – super simple, and you can get as creative as you’d like! Just place on your each plate/napkin for some colorful Thanksgiving place settings for everyone to enjoy.

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Make Your Own Stocking Advent Calendar

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Cut out your fabric

The Pockets

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