Chalkboard Napkin Rings

Saturday the kids and I went to a nearby garage sale looking for treasures.  I was hoping to find a huge mirror to lean in my dining room, but no such luck.  I did walk away with a dozen wood napkin rings for a dollar.  I knew that these would soon be transformed to chalkboard napkin rings that I spied on Pinterest.

Source: myhomelifemag.wordpress.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

My Home Life's used Martha Stewart Chalkboard paint and there are two reasons why you want to use this paint.  One, it is inexpensive and two, it comes in COLORS!  I chose gray.  This 6 oz paint goes a long was at only $5.99 a bottle at Michael's or with a coupon $3.84 after tax.  For less than five dollars and few hours you can have customizable napkin rings.

DIY Chalkboard Napkin Rings

1.   Wood napkin rings. I see these all the time at Goodwill.

2.   Martha Stewart Chalkboard Paint. Don't forget your coupon!

3.   I found that this narrow brush made the painting easy.

4.  The paint needs an hour to dry in between two coats. No priming needed!

5.  Personalize and enjoy your new napkin rings!

Tutorial: Doc McStuffins Headband by Growing Kids Ministry

Lindsey is a blogger over at Growing Kids Ministry.  A blog designed to help parents, teachers, and Children’s Ministry workers who want to help the kids they love grow in their faith.   The blog is filled with Bible lessons, craft ideas, and other resources.  Lindsey made the cutest Doc McStuffins headband. Awhile back I was pinspired to make some band aids and now we will have the headband!

Lindsey has offered to share her tutorial and here it is! Get your glue gun ready!

How to make a Doc McStuffins Headband

“Don’t worry!  I’m a doctor!”  That’s what 4 year old Elle recently told me at her birthday party.  Her newest favorite show was Doc McStuffins and she was having a birthday party to the medical max.  Her dad, who is currently a resident at a local hospital donned scrubs and provided lots of party supplies like band-aids and facemasks.  Her mom, super fashionable in her borrowed scrubs, had lined up a row of stuffed animals along the couch, who were all in need of a check-up.   Before heading to this party, I knew I would need something Doc McStuffins oriented to give to the birthday girl.  I spotted this spectacular headband on Etsy, but alas, it wouldn’t arrive in time.  So, it was time for me to put on the DIY gloves and make my own.   Follow along and you too can have your very own Doc McStuffins headband (a dream come true, right?)

What You’ll Need:

·       A headband ($4 at the grocery store)

·       Purple glittery ribbon ($2.50 on sale at Michael’s)

·       Pink flower (Michael’s)

·       Hot glue gun and glue sticks

What You Do:

Start by cutting a length of ribbon for your first layer.  I did about 3 feet, but that ended up being a little long.  You’ll be doing a few layers, so it’s not a big deal if you cut it a little short.  The shorter the ribbon is, the easier it is to work with.  I would aim for somewhere between two and three feet. 

Begin by applying a little dot of hot glue to one end of the headband.  Press one end of the ribbon onto the glue at an angle.

Keeping the ribbon tight, begin to wrap it around the headband, following the curve of the headband.  You’re going to do a few layers, so it’s more important for the ribbon to be laying flat rather than covering all the headband.

Just put a little dot of hot glue on the headband and then stretch the ribbon over it.  Try not to touch the ribbon, since it might leave a mark with the hot glue seeping through.  I just pulled the ribbon tight against the glue and that did the trick.

Just keep wrapping and glueing all the way down the headband.  You can see in the upper left box where I touched the glue and it came through the ribbon. 

Now you can learn from my mistakes!

Make sure you keep the ribbon pulled tight to keep it nice and smooth. 

Once you glued on one length of ribbon, repeat the process with two more layers.  You don’t have to start on the end each time.  Just start at a gap and keep on going. 

Next, glue on the little pink flower on the right hand side and voila!  

You’ve got an official Doc McStuffins headband!

Check out Lindsey's blog for more fun projects like this one!

How Our Teacher Gifts Turned Out

Earlier this week I showed you the Pinterest inspired teacher gifts and now I am going to show you my version!  Some were easier than others!

Monday

Quench Your Thirst

Cost $7.49

Tuesday

One Smart Cookie

Cost: None- I had everything on hand.

Wednesday

Blooms

Cost: $10.70

This counts the three dollars worth of pencils that I hot glued two times to the vase and they kept falling off.  The pencil vase was a fail, but fresh flowers are never!

Thursday

Thanks a Latte

Cost: $5.00 

Friday

Fingerprint Keepsake

Cost: $2.00 for the frame and stamp pad

I was inspired by this Etsy find and created my own using this tree and little photoshop. I was able to get all the students' fingerprints when I was at the school decorating the door.  

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week is teacher appreciation week and as a former teacher I know how hard a teacher can work!  Last year was my first year as a mom of a student and I had fun putting together little gifts.  This year volunteered to decorate the teacher's door.  The theme was movies and Mrs. Mitchell's favorite movie is Star Wars.  My awesome brother Michael photoshopped her face onto Yoda's body.  I found this tutorial for the lightsaber and here are the Jedi Training certificates.

Madeline and Luke were my little helpers. 

Christmas Crafts with the Kids

Two crafts that caught my were salt dough ornaments and a hand print Christmas tree.

Source: christmas.yourway.net via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: ucreatewithkids.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Here is our version of the tree.  It is in the disaster of a powder room.  I like the tree a lot better than the previous print.  I spray painted the mat with silver metallic paint and popped a 12x12 paper on top. 

Here is our colorful salt dough ornaments. I love Luke's psychedelic gingerbread boy. 

Please excuse the mountain of clean laundry. Sometimes crafts come first.

Jolly Coasters

I have a coaster obsession. For the last few months we have been using our map coasters, but I thought we needed some festive ones for the holiday season. This time I used fabric instead of paper and I like the results better.  I did two coats so this project only took half an hour and I already had the supplies so it was free!

Oliver +S Doll Carrier

A few months ago at the library I checked out this oliver + s book.

Many cute patterns, but the one that caught Madeline's eye was the doll carrier.  I like the pattern because it is fairly easy to follow and the carrier is adjustable so Madeline can carry a variety of "friends".  This project was free because I used scrap fabrics and I had traced the pattern and scanned the instructions.  The only modification that I did to the pattern was add buttons as opposed to Velcro.  If you are looking for a doll carrier this one is a winner in our book!

Map Coasters

I saw these super cute DIY coasters by Almost Never Clever and knew that was what I needed to replace my ugly coasters. This is a great tutorial with pictures and supply list!

I found an 8 pack of coasters for .80 at Michaels and used a free rest stop map of my favorite state, Indiana to use.  I did try another set with come textured card stock and that was a fail. I think that it was too thick. The light weight map produced less bubbles. I think that these turned out so cute! Not perfect, but functional and interesting. We are using them in our family room and the master bedroom.  

Easy Peasy Name Art

I love "found" letter collages, but wanted an easy one for a wedding gift. I was inspired by this Full of Great Ideas name art tutorial. Stephanie included the link to the awesome Leo Reynolds collection of letters. I picked out the letters I wanted to use and saved them all at the same size to my desktop. I chose the medium 500 size. When I had all of my letters I uploaded them to my Walgreens photo account and chose the 8x10 photo collage print.

It only took a few seconds to choose my border color and arrange my photos. An 8x10 is only $3.99 or FREE if you can score a coupon code like I did. You do not need photoshop and it will only take minutes of your time!

I plan on using a matted black frame, but I need to find a great deal on one first!

Teacher Gifts on a Budget

This weekend I picked up some cute goodies for Wyatt's teacher. I already showed you the wordle project here, but I wanted something for each day of the week. Everything came from Target and I was able to snag quite a few of these items 75% off at the One Spot. As a former teacher I do not think that you can have enough note paper and note cards. Wyatt said that his teacher's favorite color was purple so I took that into consideration too.

Monday:

Polka-dot pail, bundle of pencils, and bird note cards. Cost: $1.50



Tuesday:

Purple glitter box, magnetic notepad, mini gel pens. Cost $1.50



Wednesday:

Mid week pick me up mini brownies in a cute chinese takeout box. Cost $2.95



Thursday:

Mini butterfly notecards, butterfly "Thanks" stamp, purple ink pad, chinese box. Cost $2.50



Friday:

The framed wordle print. Cost $3.99



Total cost for the week is $12.44, but I think that the presentation is cute and along with the handwritten notes that we are including will be thoughtful too.