New Tradition-Kid's Hand print for Mother's Day

This grandmother is starting a new tradition with the grand kids for their mommy's on Mother's Day.
 I got the inspiration from Anna at mylifeandkids who was a special guest to post at Mod Podge Rocks.
Anna's post was
Mothers day craft for kids: handprint canvases 
She gives you all the direction for this project.  I used most of her methods but personalized my way and used a wood frame instead of canvas.
I made circles scrapbook paper using my fiskars circle punch for the name and star punch. Traced this lil man's hand on scrapbook paper. Painted my board. You really could you anything that the kids hand would fit on.  I prearranged where I wanted everything placed.  Once I figured it out I coated my board with Mod Podge then place everything in place.  Making sure all edges were on good and pressing on everything to get any air bubbles out. Let dry then coated 2 more times with the podge. Then hung a wall hanger on back to hang it up.
Here is my version of our new tradition of kid's hand prints for every Mother's Day from here on out.  Well at least until the kiddos have stopped growing. So that will be at least 16-18 more years.

grandson helping make his mommy's gift

My Mod Podge Projects

Mod Podge is now one of my loves in crafting. There is so much, many crafts that you can do with this wonderful adhesive stuff. Sure glad I came across the brown paper bag floor craft. It opened a whole new world of crafting to me.
One of the best sites I came across is Mod Podge Rocks.I'm sure there are many more decoupaging sites out there that I will stumble upon in my crafting adventures.
So far here is what I've made with mod podge.

My best project so far!

Mod Podge comes in a variety of formulas:

Fabric, gloss, hard coat, matte, outdoor, satin, sparkle and dimensional magic. Pick your project, pick your formula. Get crafting!

How to make a Friendship Bracelet Tool and a Friendship Bracelet

How to make a homemade friendship bracelet tool and making a friendship bracelet video.  It is a great site for kids/teen crafts.  Some even adults will enjoy.  Basically something for everyone.  From simple to a little more difficult crafts.

 Simple Kids Crafts is a video blog that has a ton of crafts.  They also have a YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/simplekidscrafts  I think they have over 500 tutorial videos. 

Be sure to go check this video blog out!!

Homemade Friendship Bracelet Tool

Be Mine Valentine

Reading many blogs as I do everyday, I came across one last night with a Be Mine Valentine Wall Hanging. You can visit it here with a tutorial. I wanted to share with you the one I made.

 It is so cute and was super easy to do. Can be made to any size you would like. Probably even easy enough for a kid craft.  The be mine valentine only requires a few supplies.  And it doesn't take long to put together either.  I didn't however follow Crafts by Amanda directions or supplies exactly.  But for the most part I did.  She has many other tutorials on her site.
Supplies I used were:
Kraft paper
craft paint
craft wire
glue gun and glue
buttons
burlap and scrap material
the filling I used some flat fiber fill stuff not quite sure what its called but believe it is kinda some sort of batting.
black sharpie and a spray sealant


Hope you find this Be Mine Valentine wall hanging as easy to make as I did.

DYI Country/Rustic Wooden Spoons

Country/rustic is my decorating style. I can't really afford to pay the price of the things I would like to have decorating my home. Or my kids home which they all love that style as well.  So I'm always looking on the net or Pinterest looking for ideas to decorate our homes.  Recently I seen a site for wooden spoons and had to try the technique they said about.  I went to my uncles used store and he had some wooden spoons there for $.25 each and I picked up a few to do country/rustic style.

Got the wooden spoons home and anxious to start a new project and I pulled my paints out in four different colors trying to stick to the country/rustic colors. Reddish, indigo blue, black and not sure of the color name but in the greens. Then I started painting away.  After both sides were completely dry I took a rough piece of sandpaper and scuffed the edges a bit.  Trying to think of how they would naturally get worn.  Now my problem is I don't know what I want to put around them.  Or what to do with them. Tried tying a bit a fabric around them, also tried twine.  Seen somewhere that they were also just place in a mason jar or hung on wall.  Guess I'll figure it out.

One of the simply and least expensive crafts I've done. Another way to make my life a little Easier

DIY Burlap S'mores Banner with Tutorial

Today I whipped up this cute Burlap S'mores Banner and provided a Tutorial for a craft pal of mine. She has s'mores parties and thought this sign would be great as a decoration.  She hasn't seen it yet but hope she loves it.

Crafting Supplies Needed for this Burlap S'mores Banner that was pretty easy to do.
Burlap
Lace
Stencils
Paint
Twine
Stitch Witchery

Sorry no pictures as I went along, I wasn't sure how it was gonna turn out. I showed my aunt and she suggested that I put it on here with a tutorial. 
So here is what I did.
Grabbed some burlap and laid my stencils spelling s'mores out on it to determine how big i needed to make the burlap pieces. Mine measured 5x7, I wanted extra on it to allow for folding over the twine.  I cut my burlap.  Then laid my stencil in place and dabbed the paint on the burlap. Let dry surprisingly it dried pretty quick so I was able to move on to the next steps fairly quick.
Take the lace and twine.  Measure the lace according to the width of the burlap.
Then take the stitch witchery and lay it on the edge of the burlap then place half of the lace on top of the that allowing the other half of the lace to hang over the top edge. 
Place damp rag on the lace and iron according to stitch witchery instructions.  You want to make sure you leave this extra overhang to add the twine. 
Next take the twine, (I did not cut my twine yet because I wasn't sure how much I was gonna need. But you could figure it out a head of time, I just didn't.), and lay it on your lace and right at the edge of the burlap. Place your stitch witchery same as you did to the other side.
Fold down the lace make sure that the twine is at the edge and not where the witchery will adhere to it. Do this process to all your burlap pieces. 
I left about a foot of twine at each end and left a loop for hanging.
Make your pieces any size or length you wish.  Determine by the size of your stencil and the look you are going for.
You could even cut into triangular pieces.
Hope you could follow along with my instructions for this pretty easy Burlap S'mores Banner.  If you have any questions feel free to ask.
 

Tip for Another Mason Jar Use

I had another brilliant idea today for Another Mason Jar Use.

Above:See all the junk on the rim and lid.

I had a half quart of paint and was having problems with getting the lid on cause of all the junk on the lid rim.

So I poured it in a mason jar.  Now I can see how much and also much easier to clean the rim off to seal back up.  I also labeled the lid so everyone would know what is in the mason jar.

Make Primitive Tags Fast! (2-5 minutes)

Found this great tutorial on making primitive tags fast and many other tutorials on Our Pioneer Homestead Blog. Check their site out here

Now that's what I call a Coffee Mug

For Christmas my husband received the biggest coffee mug I've ever seen from his sister. Its called a Mega Mug. His mom joked that while he was at work that he could tell his co-workers that he was on coffee break and would be done when he finished his coffee. While they joked about the coffee mug I just kept thinking of things I could use that cup for. My first thought was to use it as utensil holder on my counter top. How cool would that look?
Just wanted to share this extra large Coffee Mug. Open to suggestions on uses for this Mega Mug.

Pie Filling Cake

Recipe for Chocolate Cherry Pie Filling Cake

1. 1 Box Chocolate cake mix 
2. 1 Can Cherry pie filling
3. 2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 cake pan
In a bowl lightly beat the eggs, stir in the cherry pie filling. Add the box of Chocolate cake mix. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Spread into your greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes

You can mix different cakes with different pie fillings to make other super yummy cakes just like this one. And I didn't even need any icing and it was still so delicious. I had a few co-workers try it and they all complimented it and wanted more.
One example-Apple Pie Filling and any light colored cake mix. Not really sure how they will all test but experiment with different combinations. Results could be just as fascinating as this Chocolate Cherry Pie Filling Cake