Easy Christmas Gift Idea with Free Printable

My kids needed some quick Christmas gifts for their friends,

and I remembered a cute gift one of them got a few years ago from a cousin.

It was just a can of soda pop and a bag of microwave popcorn 

tied up in a cellophane bag with a tag that said:

Pop, Pop

Fizz, Fizz

Oh, what a good friend you is!

I searched online for some ready-made tags,

and didn't have much luck.

So I made my own :)

Here is how we packaged ours.

(I wish I would've bought larger cellophane bags)

If you'd like the tags without the watermark,

you can download it HERE.

Merry Christmas!

Crochet Penguin Hat

Crocheting.

I am totally obsessed with it right now.

I love that after just a few hours of work {or less},

I can end up with something as cute as this.

Some of my favorite patterns are from Repeat Crafter Me.  

Sarah's patterns are easy to follow, and she offers them for FREE!

If you crochet and would like to make one of these cute penguin hats, 

you can find the free pattern HERE.

Happy crocheting!

My New Hobby

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2013 was to learn to crochet.

It's something that I've wanted to learn for a long time, 

but just never did anything about it.

One of my daughters and I joined a 4H crochet group,

and we quickly became frustrated with it.

Our first project was a dishcloth.  

Neither one of us ended up finishing it.

It was super confusing for both of us.

Then we tried making a slouch hat.

I ended up taking mine apart several times before I finally finished it.

And it sure wasn't pretty.

We started a few other crochet projects, but then both of us 

ended up putting away our crochet hooks for a while.

Learning to crochet was a lot harder than we thought it would be!

In November of 2013, after a very long break from crocheting,

I finally picked up my crochet hooks again to give it another try.

I'm SO glad I did, 'cause I'm LOVING my new hobby!

THIS OWL HAT was my ultimate goal when it came to crocheting.  

And I'm happy to say that I've finally learned how to make them!

I've made several (my kids have claimed most of them!),

but here's a few that I was able to snap pictures of. 

This one is a newborn size.

Cutest thing ever!

I made this one as a gift for a 6-year old girl.

Love the colors together!

What about you?

Do you crochet?

If so, what are some of your favorite things to make?

YW Christmas Gift

Although it's too late to use this gift idea this year, 

I figured I'd share what we gave our young women for Christmas anyways.  

It's never too early to plan for next year!

We loved THIS IDEA, and decided to give our girls a pair of gloves.  

We found the gloves at a dollar store, and packaged them up 

in a cellophane bag topped with a tulle bow.  

The girls LOVED them!

Since we used gloves instead of mittens, 

I ended up creating my own version of the printable.

If you'd like a copy of my version of the printable without the watermark, 

you can find it HERE.

Christmas Gift Box

No, I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth ;)

I had every intention of doing my annual 12 Days of Christmas this year.  

Things just got too busy, and I never got around to it.  

I hope you'll forgive me!

Boxes are something that I love to make.  

Whenever I see a tutorial for a new one, especially if it's super cute, 

I always end up making at least one.

This little box measures approximately 4.5" x 2" x 1.5".

It's the perfect size for a small bottle of lotion, a few tubes of chapstick, candy, etc.

The bow on top was made using the new 

Envelope Punch Board from Stampin' Up!.  

Isn't it too cute?!

Want to make your own?

The box tutorial can be found HERE,

and HERE is a great video on making the little bow.

Have a fabulous weekend!

2013 Young Women in Excellence {Stand in Holy Places}

I've been busy the last couple of weeks planning and preparing

 for our Young Women in Excellence 

(this is a program in my church for young women ages 12-18 to celebrate 

what they've accomplished in the Personal Progress program throughout the year).  

Our theme was "Stand in Holy Places". 

 Here's a rundown of few of the things we did.

I bought THIS IMAGE of a high heel shoe made from the 8 Young Women Values.  

We used it for our invitations, in our programs, and made cupcake toppers with it.  

Here's our invitations (I loved THIS INVITATION so much that I patterned ours after it!).

I didn't get any pictures of our cupcakes with the toppers (darn!), 

but here's a few other pictures from that night.

'Stand Ye in Holy Places' printable can be found HERE.

 Value printables can be found HERE.

Our gift to the girls was these cute paper high heels filled with Hershey's Kisses.  

They were a hit!! (and a LOT of work!)  

We also gave them each a temple recommend holder 

that says "Stand Ye in Holy Places"

A close up of the cute shoes...

The printable pattern for these shoes can be found HERE.

We've got a wonderful group of girls in our ward!  

It was fun to be able to have a night to celebrate them 

and all the wonderful things they are doing!

Card Folders

We recently held a community bazaar in my little town, 

and everyone was asked to donate a few things to be sold there.

I decided to make some of these cute Card Folders as part of my donation.

They open up to hold cards and envelopes.  

I think I put 4 cards and 4 envelopes in mine, but there was room for more.

Here's the card that I made for this card folder.

Card Folder #2....

And the cards that went inside...

These little card folders would be a fun gift idea!

Would you like to make a few?  You can find the instructions HERE.

More DIY Magnet Boards

There are a few thrift stores in my little town, and my SIL and I 

like to go to them each week to see what treasures we can find.

Last week I found some gold trays hiding on a bottom shelf of one of the stores, 

and knew immediately what I could make with them.....more magnet boards!

These trays were gold, so I spray painted the edges a chocolate brown color 

before mod- podging scrapbook paper onto them.  

They turned out so cute!

I think there may have been a few more trays at the store....

and I'm hoping they're still there!  

My girls and I will be making more of these 

for Christmas gifts for their friends this year.

(if I can find more trays!)

Paper Purses

Do you know any ladies that are really into purses?  

I have always been a simple girl, and have never seen 

a need to own more than one very plain purse at a time.  

Until recently.  

I've discovered that having a cute purse adds a little bounce 

to my step, and am always on the lookout for another fun one 

to add to my meager collection.

So when I saw THESE CUTE PURSES from Jill's Card Creations, 

I knew I had to make a few...

These tiny purses would be a perfect gift bag for lotions, nail polish, or even some treats!

Yep.  I think I'm addicted!

{Favorite} Back to School Teacher Gift Ideas

Confession time.  

I didn't get around to making my kids' teachers Back to School gifts this year.  

Hiss....Boo!  

I'm disappointed in myself over not getting anything made, 

but figure we can make up for it later.

Since I was such a slacker this year, 

I thought it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane 

and share some of my favorite gifts we've given their teachers in the past.

'From the Desk of...' Gift Set

Back to School Teacher Backpacks

Back to School Box of Goodies

And here's a few that would be great Back to School teacher gifts as well...

Water Bottle Drink Tag Gift

Custom Hand Sanitizer Bottles

I haven't decided yet what I'm making the kids' teachers for this year.  

Any ideas?

DIY Magnetic Memo Board

As I was preparing to go to Girls Camp a few weeks ago, 

I was on the lookout for fun 'Secret Sister' gift ideas.

I came across THIS TUTORIAL for DIY Magnetic Memo Boards using 

Dollar Store metal burner covers, and knew I'd found what I was looking for!

I forgot to get pictures of all of them, so here's 2 of the 4 that I made:

I absolutely {LOVE} these!  Not only were they super easy to make, 

but they turned out adorable!  

Wouldn't they make fun birthday/Christmas/Mother's Day/Just Because gifts?  

We'll definitely be making more!

End of the Year Teacher Gift

It's hard to believe that the school year is nearly over!  

My kids have had GREAT teachers this year, and we wanted 

to give them each a little something to say thank you for being so wonderful.

We ended up going with THIS IDEA from Kiki & Company

via I Heart Naptime.  Adorable, right?!

Our Summer Break officially begins on Friday!!  Can't wait!