Kid's Crafts - Mother's Day Photo Frame, Desk Organizers and Greeting Card

My grand daughter is almost 7 years old and loves to do arts and crafts. Every time she is over at my house we sit down and craft something together. Since Mother's Day is just around the corner, she wanted to make a few crafty projects for her mom, along with a Mother's Day greeting card.

Before I get started with our kid's craft projects, I first wanted to tell you about Yoobi who makes arts and craft supplies for children. Yoobi is based on a bright yet simple idea, colorful and vibrant supplies for school, home or office that give back! For every Yoobi item purchased, a Yoobi item will be donated to a classroom in need, right here in the U.S.! It's that simple.

Yoobi sent us several crafting supplies to help facilitate this project. They sent us some fabulous markers, twist-up crayons with storage case, a package of gel pens, glue sticks for paper crafting, stickers, self-inking roller stamp and a plastic photo frame. You'll see that we used a lot of these supplies from Yoobi to make the following projects.

To go along with these supplies, I went to the Dollar Store and purchased a set of 4 mini plastic storage bins for $1.00 and a package of flower shaped glitter foamies (20 are in one package). The rest of the supplies used were from my craft supply stash that I keep here at home.

First up, the Decorated Picture Frame! For this project we used the picture frame that was sent to us from Yoobi. To keep it simple for a 7 year old...my grand daughter arranged 3 of the glitter foamie flowers on one corner of the photo frame and glued them on with all-purpose craft glue (the kind that is in a bottle). After it was dry, we placed a photograph of her family inside the frame.

Next up is the Decorated Plastic Bins which she made for her mother's desk at work. These bins we got at the Dollar Store were 4 for $1.00 which makes them a great deal. Each one is 5" in length and they have little carrying handles. They are the perfect size for storing paperclips, staples, rubber bands, chalk, erasers and all of those "other" little things you need to organize on a work desk or a teacher's desk. For some of these she simply decorated them with stickers (from Yoobi) and for some of the other ones, she glued on those glittered foamie flower shapes we got at the Dollar Store.

For the Mother's Day Greeting Card, I did have to help her quite a bit with this. We used a blank pre-made greeting card/note card and decorated the front and back of it with a piece of lavender printed scrapbooking paper, cut-to-size. We used a pair of decorative edge scissors to trim just the front opening edge of the card into a scallop pattern. I had some pre-printed Mother's greeting cut-outs leftover from a scrapbooking project and we cut one of those down-to-size to fit on the front of the card. We matted it onto dark purple cardstock, trimmed around the edge leaving a 3/16" border. We added it to the front of the card using adhesive foam dots. To finish it up, I made a satin ribbon bow which she glued onto the front. Using markers & gel pens from Yoobi, she wrote her own message to her mother inside the card and drew some flowers in there to accent it.

You can learn more about the kid's arts and craft supplies from Yoobi by visiting their site online. We would also like to thank Yoobi for supplying us with craft supplies to make these projects.

Disclosure: We received complimentary arts & crafts supplies from the company featured in this post. No monetary compensation was received. Regardless of receiving supplies, our thoughts, words and opinions about these products are 100% our own, unbiased opinion. Your thoughts may differ.

Make a Scissor Holder Using a Potholder - Craft Project Idea

Looking for a last minute gift idea? These are great little no-sew projects that work up in a few short minutes. They make great little gifts for the holidays, for Easter, Mother's Day and/or for Birthdays. You can buy your supplies at a local dollar store to save money.

Scissor Holder Using a Potholder Craft Project

1 large square shaped pot holder w/hanging loop
1 tube fabric glue
1 full-size pair of scissors
2 clothes pins

Note: If kids are doing this project use liquid fabric glue. If adults are doing them, you can use a hot glue gun with glue sticks.

Lay your square shaped potholder down onto the table in a diamond shape with the hanging loop to the right. The ones we used are solid color on one side and have a print on the other side. The solid color is facing up and the print is facing the table.

Fold the pot holder in half with the edges over-lapping one another. Squirt a thin layer of fabric glue down the one side and sandwich the other edge on top. We used two clothes pins to hold them together until the glue dried. 

Once the glue has dried you can tuck your full-size scissors inside. We have a little hook on the side of our refrigerator where our scissor holder is hanging which keeps my kitchen shears in easy reach. I also keep one hanging on a wooden knob in my sewing & crafting room. I always know where my scissors are and they are always within my reach!

Craft Project - Scrabble Tile Framed Wall Hanging



My future son-in-law is turning into a really crafty guy and today, I just had to show you all what he made for my daughter as a Christmas present this past year. Even though he gave it to her for Christmas, it would make a great Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Easter, Wedding or Birthday gift too!

Scrabble Tile Framed Wall Hanging

Supplies List:

Wooden Frame (your choice of size, his is very large)
White Photo Mat (or color of your choice)
Piece of Heavy Duty Cardstock (color of choice to fit inside the photo opening of the mat)
Lots of Wooden Scrabble Tiles
Glue Dots ( adhesive used in scrapbooking & cardmaking)

Directions: For the project, he spelled out their names, daughter's name and words that are related to love, trust, friendship, etc. (sorry for the flash in my photo). He spelled out the words he wanted and then arranged them onto the black piece of heavy duty cardstock using the glue dots on the back of each wooden tile to hold them in place. He then took the left-over wooden Scrabble tiles and just randomly placed those letters onto the white photo mat as shown in the photograph above. He then assembled everything and slipped it all into a black wooden picture frame. On the backside of the frame, he wrote a love letter to my daughter directly onto the back of the frame which is super sweet!

My daughter has her new piece of handmade "art work" hanging up in their family room and I think it's absolutely GORGEOUS! My photo doesn't do it any justice thanks to my flash on the camera bouncing off of the glass. I will try to get a better photo of it and update this blog post when I do.

How To Make A Scrapbooking Pen and Pencil Organizer

We are getting ready to move into our new home and one things I love about our new home is that I get my own scrapbooking and craft room! I am really looking forward to decorating it up and making it cozy. With that said, I want to get all of my scrapbooking and craft supplies organized but I don't have a lot of money to spend on buying various organizing containers and shelves.

I decided to make some organizers myself by repurposing empty containers that I normally throw away. For this project, I wanted something to hold all of my gel pens and markers that I use for scrapbooking and cardmaking, and I wanted it to look pretty enough to sit on a shelf or on my desk top. I turned an empty pretzel sticks container into the perfect pen, pencil and marker holder and here is how I did it!

Pen and Pencil Canister - Organizer

Supplies Needed:

1 Empty Plastic Pretzel Rod Container with Lid
2 Sheets of Scrapbooking Paper
1 Roll of Rick Rack Trim
Liquid Glue Pen
Ruler
Scissors

I measured my plastic container and then cut a strip of paper from textured chocolate brown scrapbooking paper to those exact measurements. I used a liquid glue pen to glue that strip of paper around my plastic canister/container. It took about 10 minutes to dry and set. From a piece of pink printed scrapbooking paper I cut another strip that was much smaller in it's height to wrap around the canister and used the liquid glue pen to glue it on top of the chocolate brown paper, centering it so that the brown peeked out on the sides. I then used my liquid glue pen to glue the yellow rick rack trim on both long edges of the pink paper strip. I left the entire thing dry overnight.

While it was drying, I traced around the round lid onto a piece of the pink scrapbooking paper. I then cut it out but cut the circle slightly smaller than what I needed as I wanted some of the black on the lid to frame out the pink circle once it was glued on. I used the liquid glue pen to glue it on and found that this worked a lot better than using a hot glue gun.

You can use these decorated canisters - containers to hold all kinds of things and I am going to make many more of them as I empty out containers from our pantry. (after we have eaten the food, of course!). Now all of my gel pens and markers have a pretty little home! The next one that I am going to make will hold all of my colored pencils! Yeah!

What a great way to save all of those plastic containers from our landfills! This is a great project that the older kids can do too! Enjoy!

Mother's Day Wall Hanging Gift Idea - Craft Project

My crafty friend Barb Ireland has done it again! Today I am sharing with all of you her YouTube video on how you can make an adorable wall hanging for your mom this Mother's Day. Her instructions are so easy to follow and all you have to do is watch her YouTube video to learn how to make it. You could have it completely completed in just one day!



I think this wall hanging is just adorable! You could use the instructions and change the color scheme and them to suit Valentine's Day too! I think a few of these in a young girl's theme would be darling for a little girl's room too! I know my little grand-wee-one would love one in a fairies or ballet slipper theme!

Watch Barb's YouTube video as I am sure you will love this crafty Mother's Day Gift idea too! Enjoy and thank you Barb for sharing!

Turn a Shoebox into a Keepsake Box for Mom for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is just around the corner and my crafty and talented friend Barb from Barb Ireland Designs turned an old empty shoebox into a beautiful keepsake box using craft supplies that she had on hand.

I think this beautiful keepsake box would make the perfect Mother's Day Gift for your mom this year! Inside the keepsake box you would place a piece of jewelry or other gift that you want to give to your mom along with the card and keepsake box that you made for her.

You can find the complete step by step instructions on how to turn an empty shoebox into a beautiful keepsake box by watching Barb's YouTube video below. Wow, she is one talented lady!



Isn't the keepsake box just beautiful? I think so! You could really do any type of design that you would like by using Barb's easy techniques. Enjoy!

Cardmaking ~ Mother's Day Cards Stitched with Love

Mother's Day Cards Stitched with Love by Rachel Paxton

This Mother's Day, make your mom a homemade Mother's Day card she

will treasure forever. These two card designs are very easy and

will only take you about an hour to make. Using your sewing machine to add accent stitching will give your card an extra homemade touch.

Materials:

Blank greeting card
Scrapbooking paper with floral pattern
Two coordinating solid colored pieces of scrapbooking paper
Creme or white colored paper
Coordinating ribbon
"Mother's Day" rubber stamp
Floral rubber stamp
Ink pad
Paper cutter
Scissors
Glue stick
Glue dots
Sewing machine
Coordinating thread

Note: For my cards I chose yellow daisies for my floral print and gold, brown, and white for my coordinating papers. My ribbon was light brown with dark brown polka dots and I chose gold ink for my rubber stamps and gold thread for my accent stitching.

Card #1:

This card will open horizontally. Cut a piece of the floral print paper to fit the front of the greeting card, and glue it in place. For the left hand side of the card, cut a white piece of paper into the shape of a small rectangle (horizontal) and stamp "Happy Mother's Day" in the center*. Mat this piece with slightly larger rectangles of the two coordinating solid colored pieces of scrapbook paper. With your sewing machine, stitch along the inside of the white rectangle**.

For the right hand side of the card, cut a white piece of paper into the shape of a slightly larger rectangle (vertical) and stamp your floral stamp in the center. Mat this piece with the same two coordinating solid colored pieces of scrapbook paper. With your sewing machine, stitch along the inside of the white rectangle.

* You can vary the sizes and orientations of the rectangles depending upon the sizes of your rubber stamps.

** Before you begin stitching, practice on scratch paper first. You may need to adjust the tension to stitch on paper.

Arrange the two rectangles next to each other on the card, slightly angled away from each other, and glue in place.

Cut a piece of ribbon the width of the card. Glue in place with glue dots about an inch from the bottom of the card. Cut another piece of ribbon and tie into small bow. Use a couple of glue dots to glue the bow near the right end of the other ribbon, about an inch from the right hand side of the card.

Card #2:

This card will also open horizontally. Cut a piece of the solid colored scrapbook paper to fit the front of the card, and glue it in place. Cut a slightly smaller piece of the floral scrapbook paper, center it, and glue in place.

For the center of the card, cut a small horizontal rectangle from white paper. Stamp "Happy Mother's Day" in the center of the white rectangle. Glue this piece onto a slightly larger piece of coordinating solid colored paper. Use sewing machine to stitch along the inside of the white rectangle. Center this piece in the center of the card and glue in place.

Cut two pieces of ribbon to fit the height and width of the floral paper. Using glue dots, secure one ribbon vertically about a half inch from the right side of the floral paper. Secure other ribbon horizontally about half inch from the top

edge of the floral paper. Cut another piece of ribbon and tie into a small bow. Use a couple of glue dots to secure the bow at the intersection of the other two ribbons.

Happy Mother's Day!

Photos of finished Mother's Day cards:
http://www.crafty-moms.com/cards/stitched-mothers-day-cards.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com/

Cardmaking: Four Homemade Mother's Day Cards to Make

Four Homemade Mother's Day Cards to Make by Rachel Paxton

There is nothing as special or personal as a homemade Mother's Day card. Surprise your friends and family with your handmade creations. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Materials:

Four blank greeting cards (available at craft stores), scrapbooking paper with floral pattern, coordinating solid piece of scrapbooking paper, creme or white colored cardstock (whichever matches other papers best), paper cutter, scissors, glue stick, computer, printer, sewing machine.

Card #1:

For this card you will need a floral piece of scrapbooking paper, a coordinating piece of solid colored scrapbooking paper, and a piece of white or creme colored cardstock. Cut a piece of the solid colored paper to fit the front of the greeting card and glue it in place. Cut an approximately 2-inch strip of the floral paper and glue on lefthand side of card as a border. Use your sewing machine to stitch* along the righthand side of the floral border and around the outside edge of the card. Cut a large square out of creme colored or white card stock and glue to the center of the card. Type "Happy Mother's Day" on your computer and print out on white or creme colored cardstock. Cut out the phrase (narrow strip) and glue to the bottom of the square in the center of the card. Choose a flower from the floral paper and trim to fit in the center of the square on the front of the card. Glue in place.

* Stitching tips: If you have never used your sewing machine to make cards, it is easy! Just sew on the paper like you would on fabric. You might want to reserve a needle just for paper so you don't dull the needle for your fabric projects. There are two ways you can include stitching in your card making projects. You can either stitch directly on the card, or you can stitch on a separate piece of paper and then glue that piece to the card (then the stitching won't show through the card).

Card #2:

This Mother's Day card is quick and easy. Cut a piece of the solid colored scrapbooking paper to fit three-quarters of the front of the card. Carefully tear along the righthand edge of the paper and glue the paper in place. Next cut a piece of floral paper to fit half of the front of the card. Carefully tear along the righthand edge of the paper and glue on top of the solid colored piece of paper. Type "Happy Mother's Day" on your computer and print it on white or cream colored paper. Mat the cut-out phrase first on a piece of the solid colored paper, then glue to front of card. Stitch around the outside of the card if you wish, but it isn't necessary.

Card #3:

This card will open horizontally. Cut three approximately 3-inch strips of paper to fit width of card: two floral and one solid colored. Tear bottom edges of each piece. Beginning at top of card overlap the three pieces with floral paper first and glue in place. Cut a large square from the cream or white colored paper and glue it in the center of the card. Cut a slightly smaller square of solid colored paper and glue in center of cream colored piece. Type "Happy Mother's Day" on your computer. Print on cream or white colored paper, trim, and glue in the center of solid colored square. Stitch around the edge of the card, if you wish.

Card #4:

This card will open horizontally. Tear a rectangle from the solid colored paper and glue near top of card. Type "Happy Mother's Day" on your computer and print on white or creme colored paper. Trim and glue to center of solid colored paper. Tear another piece of solid colored paper (larger than first) to glue across the bottom of the card. Cut a rectangle from floral paper and glue to center of bottom piece of solid colored paper. If you wish you can accent edges of floral rectangle with coordinating eyelets.

Notes: - The terms "card stock" and "paper" are used interchangably here, but it is up to you which kind of paper you use, depending on the look you are trying to achieve - A sewing machine isn't necessary for this project, it is just a nice added touch - You don't have to use your computer for this project, you can handwrite the words if you wish.

Happy Mother's Day!

Photos of finished Mother's Day cards: http://www.crafty-moms.com/cards/mothers-day-cards.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com/.

Cardmaking: Quick & Easy Mother's Day Card Ideas

I love making handmade cards for Mother's Day because I can make them all pretty with girly embellishments, ribbons and flowers! This past Mother's Day I made two quick and easy cards for my mother and mother-in-law and each card took me less than 30 minutes to make. I won't go into lengthy details on how I made them but will give you a brief overview. Please refer to the pictures for more details.

For the card above I used a premade purple striped greeting card with a scalloped edge. I then cut out a "mother" sentiment that was pre-printed onto white cardstock and matted that onto dark purple cardstock. I left a 1/4" border on my matting. I then used a couple of self-adhesive foam dots and attached it to the front of the card. Inside the card I handstamped a Mother's Quote using a rubber stamp and purple ink pad.

For the second card I covered the front and back of the card with muted seafoam green print paper using a glue stick. I then cut a MOM sentiment from white cardstock and matted that onto matching seafoam green paper and then onto solid green cardstock. I trimmed it down leaving an 1/8" border around each mat. I then attached it to the front of my card using self-adhesive foam dots. At the bottom of the card I attached a seafoam green ribbon with glue dots and then glued on a matching ribbon bow.

Like I said...they are super quick and easy and make for a great beginner's project!

Do It Yourself ~ Herbal Foot Pampering Recipes

As a mother, I used to neglect my feet as it just was not at the top of my list of things I needed to do. Now, after a busy day spent chasing around kids, I look forward to 20-30 minutes of spoiling myself with some much needed foot care.

To cut down on time, I keep a plastic bin in my linen closet stocked with the supplies needed to make the following recipes. In addition to the inexpensive ingredients, I like to keep clean towels, loofah sponges, foot files, pumice stones and foot lotion in the bin so that I have everything ready to go as I need it. I recommend purchasing a plastic basin at your local drugstore so that you have something to soak your feet in. You can easily whip up these recipes in only a matter of minutes.

Lavender Milk Soak6 cups of water
2 cups of milk
4 tablespoons dried lavender

In a large glass bowl, combine the water, milk and lavender. Microwave for 1 minute until mixture is warm. Pour into a foot basin and soak your feet in it for 15 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.

Almond Sea Salt Scrub

3 cups of sea salt
1 cup of Epsom salts
8 ounces of water
2 ounce of almond oil

Mix all ingredients in a medium sized container. Use a plastic scoop to measure out what you need. Rub sea salt onto the heels of each foot for 3-5 minutes. Rinse under warm running water. Pat dry with a cotton towel and follow up with a gentle moisturizing foot lotion.

Soothing Oatmeal Soak

1 cup cornstarch
1 cup powdered milk
1/2 - 3/4 cup of oatmeal

Combine all 3 items in a blender container and process until smooth. Fill foot basin 1/2 full with warm water and add oatmeal mixture. Soak feet for 10-15 minutes. Towel dry and apply moisturizing foot lotion.

Shelly Hill has been working from home since 1989 and a busy mother and grandmother. Shelly enjoys taking time out for herself every evening after a busy day.

3 Homemade Relaxing Herbal Bath Salt Recipes

As stay at home mothers, we spend almost all of our waking hours taking care of the children, cleaning the home, preparing meals and doing the family errands. When was the last time that you did something relaxing just for yourself? If you had to pause for a moment to think about your answer, then it has been too long.

When I take time out just for myself, I enjoy taking a long hot bath. I like to fill up my bathtub with some homemade bath salts and while I am soaking, read a good book. These baths help to relax me after a long busy day.

The following recipes are really easy to make.

Relaxing Lavender

2 cups Epsom Salts
1/2 cup sea salts
1/4 cup baking soda
4 drops of Lavender Essential Oil

Mix Epsom salts, baking soda and sea salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the Lavender Essential Oil until salt mixture is coated. Let air dry and then pour into a container with lid. Use a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of bath salts under warm running water.

Romantic Rose2 cups Epsom Salts
1/2 cup sea salts
4 drops of red or pink soap coloring
4 drops of Rose Essential Oil

Mix together the first 2 ingredients in a large glass bowl. Stir in the soap coloring and essential oil until well blended. Use a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mixture under warm running water.

Hydro-Therapy Salts
2 cups Epsom Salts
1 cup sea salts
6-8 drops of blue soap coloring

Mix together the first 2 ingredients in a large glass bowl. Stir in the soap coloring until well blended. Use a 1/2 cup of mixture under warm running water.

Creating Your Own Gift Baskets For The Holidays

Creating your own gift baskets to give as holiday gifts is really easy and fun. You can save money by making them yourself instead of buying them from a trendy gift store. You can make them for personal use to give as gifts or start a home based gift basket business.

You only need a few simple supplies to get started.

Supplies Needed

Basket
Basket Filler (shreds)
Basket Clear Cellophane Bag or Basket Wrap
Ribbon (to tie off the bag)
Ribbon (to make a bow)
Gift Tag
Product Fillers
Scissors

Now let's get you started with some theme ideas for those on your holiday gift giving list.

1. Correspondence Gift Basket: note cards, all occasion greeting cards, book of stamps, personalized address labels, pens and address book.

2. Manicure - Pedicure Gift Basket: top coat, base coat, colored nail polish, nail polish remover, nail polish remover pads, cotton swabs, toe separators, nail file, nail buffer, cuticle pusher, nail clippers, nail brush, hand cream, foot cream, foot file and a travel pack of tissues.

3. Book Lovers Gift Basket: journal, pens, 2-3 books, 2-3 bookmarks, reading glasses, candle, gift card to a book store and a magazine.

4. Bakers Gift Basket: cookbook, oven mitts, hot pads, trivet, recipe cards, spices, 6 cup muffin pan, muffin pan liners, spatula, mixing spoon, measuring cups, measuring spoons, apron, rolling pin, pastry sheet and baking pan liners.

5. Snack Lovers Gift Basket: microwave popcorn, bag of popped popcorn, chips, pretzels, candy bars, cookies, snack cakes and crackers.

6. Movie Night Gift Basket: 2 tickets to a local movie theater, 2 DVD movies, 3 bags of microwave popcorn and several packs of candy.

7. Gardener Gift Basket: flower seed packets, vegetable seed packets, gardening gloves, knee pads, gardening hand tools, small gardening decorations, outdoor thermometer, gardening book and gardening magazines.

8. Dog Lover Gift Basket: dog book, dog bones, dog treats, dog leash, dog collar, dog clean-up waste bags, dog shampoo, dog toys and a disposable camera.

9. Cat Lover Gift Basket: cat book, cat treats, cat leash, cat collar, cat shampoo, cat toys and a disposable camera.

10. Teen Girl Gift Basket: nail polish, nail remover, cotton swabs, cotton balls, nail file, perfume, shower gel, body lotion, hair items, teen girl magazines, journal book, pen and a disposable camera.

11. Bath Spa Gift Basket: bath sponge, mesh pouf, shower gel, body lotion, bath back brush, bubble bath, bath salts, bath bombs, bath soaps, wash cloth, bath towel, robe, slippers and a bath wrap.

12. Hair Care Gift Basket: hair towel, shampoo, conditioner, hair mask, hair gel, hair mousse, hair spray, head bands, pony tail holders, barrettes, hair clips, brush and a comb.

13. Laundry Care Gift Basket (great for housewarming and bridal showers): stain remover stick, spray and pen, dryer sheets, laundry detergent, fabric softener, hand washing detergent, lint brush and an iron.

14. Scrapbooking Gift Basket: 8x8 scrapbook, solid 8x8 scrapbooking papers, print 8x8 scrapbooking papers, 3 glue sticks, 1 pkg. glue dots, 1 pkg. brads, 1 pkg. eyelets with eyelet tools, 3 packs of stickers, decorative border scissors, disposable camera and other scrapbooking embellishments.

15. Bird Lovers Gift Basket: hardbound coffee table bird watching book, bird watching journal book, pen, bird feeder, small bag of bird seed, binoculars, small birdhouse and a disposable camera.

These are just some suggestions on what you can use as basket fillers, you don't have to fill your gift baskets with all of those items. Get creative and 'think' outside the box.

This article is copyright 2009 by Shelly L. Hill, All Rights Reserved.