In Case You Missed it...

...here's a recap of this year's '12 Days of Christmas'.

Day 1: {For Your Mistle Toes}

Day 2: {Snowman Popcorn}

Day 3: {Nugget Trays}

Day 4: {Santa Gum Holders}

Day 5: {Tile Coasters}

Day 6: {Hot Cocoa Gift Set}

Day 7: {Snowman Poop}

Day 8: {Pencil Pouches}

Day 9: {'To Do' Lists}

Day 10: {Snowman Patty Treats}

Day 11: {Santa Gift Tags}

Day 12: {Jewelry Made By My Girls}

{Jewelry Made by my Girls}

**This year's '12 Days of Christmas' features the items that my daughters and I made for our very first craft fair**


Day 12: {Jewelry Made by my Daughters}

The whole reason why we had a booth at the craft fair was so my daughters could sell the jewelry that they make.  They are pretty crafty, and I adore their creations!

I've got 4 daughters, ages 13, 11, 10, and 7.  The older 3 made jewelry, and my youngest helped me out with all of the other crafts.  Here's the pictures of their jewelry.

Duct Tape Feather Earrings and Candy Wrapper Bracelets

Duct Tape Flower Rings & Pop Tab Bracelets...

Scrabble Tile Earrings

Here's a list of the items, who made them, and what we charged...

Duct Tape Feather Earrings- $3.00/pair (made by my 13-year-old)
Duct Tape Flower Rings- $5.00 (made by my 13-year-old)
Pop Tab Bracelets- $3.00 (made by my 13-year-old)
Scrabble Tile Earrings- $5.00/pair (made by my 11-year-old)
Candy Wrapper Bracelets- $3.00 (made by my 10-year-old)

Their jewelry didn't sell as well as they had hoped.  We sold only 3 of the Candy Wrapper Bracelets and 1 pair of the Scrabble Tile Earrings.  My girls were heartbroken!!  The Duct Tape stuff sold better, but not by much.

I talked with my girls a lot before the craft fair about not getting their expectations up too high.  It's hard to know what people will be interested in, but there's always the hope that they will buy your stuff.  My warnings didn't help their feelings OR mine!  I felt so bad that they worked so hard on their jewelry and didn't see the results that they had hoped for.

Although they didn't do as well as they would have liked, we DID have a great time.  There's nothing better than spending time with my kids, doing something that we all enjoy.

**I don't have tutorials to show how to make the jewelry.  We just googled them and found some videos and written tutorials online.

That brings us to the end of this year's '12 Days of Christmas'!  I hope you enjoyed the items featured, and found some inspiration for gifts to make for your friends and loved ones!!

{Tile Coasters}

**This year's '12 Days of Christmas' features the items that my daughters and I made for our very first craft fair**


Day 5: {Tile Coasters}

I've made tile coasters in the past, and we use them all the time at our house.  They are a GREAT gift idea and can be personalized with pictures, soda cans, or scrapbook paper. 

I used some scrapbook paper for these, and had enough tile to make 4 sets.  We sold them for $6.00 a set, and ended up selling 2 of them.

If you'd like to make some of these, there's a fabulous tutorial HERE.

{For Your Mistle Toes}

As I mentioned on Friday, my daughters and I participated in our very first craft fair a few weeks ago.  Instead of doing my annual '12 Days of Christmas' this year, I decided to just share the items we made for the craft fair.

Day 1:  {For Your Mistle Toes} Nail Polish Gift Idea

This gift is perfect for the girls on your list! 

The original idea came from HERE, but I used THIS IDEA for my packaging.

These did pretty well at the craft fair.  I made a total of 12 of them, and sold all but 4.  Not bad, and the extras are going to be used as Christmas gifts for some of my girls' friends.

Since tomorrow is my 'Sew Cute Tuesday' linky party, I'll be sharing my next craft on Wednesday.  See you then!!    

A Candy Bouquet in Honor of our Grandpa

My sweet Grandpa passed away on May 30th.  We knew he likely wouldn't survive his stroke, but I don't think you can ever be prepared to lose someone you love. 

He {always} had candy in his suit pockets at church, and a cupboard full of gum at home.  My kids loved going to his house because they knew he'd let them have a piece {or two} of gum.  So in honor of our Grandpa, my sisters and I decided to make a special bouquet for his funeral.

The candy and gum that we used were Grandpa's favorites.  It turned out better than we hoped, and we know he would've loved it!

We miss our Grandpa every single minute of every single day.  Although our hearts were {and still are} broken, we find comfort in our belief that we will see him again someday.

Until then, every time I chew a piece of Grandpa's favorite gums or eat one of his favorite candies,  I'll be thinking of him.  He may be gone, but he'll never be forgotten.

{Spooky} Banner

Okay, here's the Halloween banner I made last year...and forgot about!

You can probably tell how these were made, but here's a run-down on it anyways.

*trace around a CD onto cereal boxes, and cut out the circles
*mod podge scrapbook paper onto circles
*cut out the letters for SPOOKY using the Cricut, mod podge them on
*punch a hole on each side of circles, and tie on some orange ribbon

Bats & Pumpkins {Halloween Banner}

Funny story.  I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to have some Halloween decorations ready to go on October 1st.  I needed a banner, and got to work making a special one to hang up on our wall.  It turned out even better than I had envisioned (love it when that happens!).

Bats and pumpkins were on my mind, so I decided to go with that theme for my banner.  Here's how it turned out.

I used cereal boxes for the bats and pumpkins, spray painted them, added glitter, then hung them up on some twine.  You can't tell from these pictures, but the bats and pumpkins are super sparkly!!

I tried to get a few shots in the sun so you could see the pretty sparkles...

Now for the funny part of this story...

I hung my banner up on October 1st, then got the rest of my decorations out of storage.  Turns out I had forgotten about a banner that I made for Halloween last year!!  Oops!!  Hate it when that happens!!  Oh well....you can never have too many banners hanging up, right?

I never got around to sharing my banner from last year on here (that's probably why I forgot about it!).  I'll work on getting pictures of it so I can get it posted. 

Back to School Teacher Backpacks

My kids were excited to meet their new teachers and see their classrooms during 'Back to School Night'.  We couldn't show up empty handed, so each teacher got one of these cute backpacks filled with treats.

The backpacks were filled with a Post-It Note holder and some candy.

The teachers LOVED their gifts! 

FYI:
Backpack Tutorial can be found HERE
Post It Note Holder Tutorial can be found HERE
Apple Printables can be found HERE



Linking to these fabulous parties:

It's Stinkin' Cute Craft Thursday @It's Sew Stinkin' Cute
Show Off Your Stuff Party @Fireflies & Jellybeans
Get Your Brag On @Gluesticks

Sewing Camp Project #3: {Fabric Bracelets}

Only 2 of my girls wanted to make our 'Sewing Camp' project #3.  I think the other girls' excitement about sewing has died down a bit, but I'm not giving up on them!!   

We used THIS TUTORIAL from Women Who Do It All for our bracelets.  They turned out DARLING!

I'm hoping to fit in a few more projects before school starts, but things seem to get busier and busier!  Maybe we can make some more of these to stash away for birthday gifts/Christmas gifts!  It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas!!

Soda Can Coasters

I've got bags and bags full of empty soda cans, so as soon as I saw THIS TUTORIAL from The Idea Room, I just had to give it a try!

This first set was made using energy drink cans.  My husband thinks they're pretty cool!

And then I had to try some soda cans.  Blogger doesn't want to load this picture the right way, but you get the idea.

These would make a perfect gift for Father's Day....or birthdays....or Christmas!  I'll definitely be making more! 

Mother's Day Corsages

Mother's Day is just a few short days away...how did that happen?! 

I've been planning/working on gifts for my Mom and MIL for weeks, and am thrilled to be sending them these adorable Mother's Day Corsages!   

Oh, how I LOVE THEM!!  They were a little time consuming, but TOTALLY worth it!!  I wanted the packaging to be as cute as the corsages, so I used some empty plastic strawberry containers and left over paper Easter grass. 

Here's a closer view...

They went off in the mail yesterday just to be sure that my Mom and MIL will get them in time for Mother's Day.  And since I loved them so much, I may have made myself one (or two) as a Mother's Day gift to myself....shhhhhh! 

Candy Wrapper Button Earrings

We've been saving our candy wrappers to make more bracelets like THESE.  As I was sorting our collection, I was thinking about how I could make matching earrings.  And then the idea came.  I wasn't sure if it would work, or if they would even be cute, but I must say that I LOVE the result!

Cute, right?  I used a 5/8" covered button kit for these...

and these...

And a 7/16" covered button kit for these...

Here they are together so you can see the difference in size.

Did I mention how much I love these?  I don't know what it is about recycling, but I love taking 'trash' and turning it into cute, wearable items.  What do you think?

FYI:  For some reason, the 7/16" size was harder to make than the bigger size.  I ended up having to hot glue the bottom on because it wouldn't stay otherwise.  Also, to protect the wrappers, I brushed each earring with a few coats of Mod Podge. 

**Edited to Add:  A great tutorial for making covered button earrings can be found HERE**



I'm linking at these fabulous parties:

It's Stinkin' Cute Craft Thursday @It's Sew Stinkin' Cute
Tuesday Tell All @My Craftie Life
Get Your Brag On @Gluesticks
Fantabulous Friday Link Up @Momma's Kinda Crafty
I'm Crafty Party @So You Think You're Crafty
Take A Look Tuesday @Sugar Bee Crafts
Ten Buck Tuesday @Young Nester