Wednesday, April 11, 2012

A "Ready To Pop" Baby Shower Printable

A "Ready To Pop" Baby Shower Printable





For my daughter-in-law's baby shower I used the theme "Ready to Pop"
I centered everything around popcorn.
I used popcorn containers for the prizes.  I mixed caramel corn with pink M &Ms, and any other pink candy that I could find. Put the mixture in a plastic bag.  Tied it with a pink ribbon and then put it into a plastic popcorn container and added the "Ready to Pop" tag below.  If the person is having a boy, then change it to blues

Then for the table I made these place cards, treat bags, and napkin rings:

For the treat bags I added PoP Rocks along with some other goodies.

Napkin Rings:

Place Cards:


Treat Bags:
Here's how to fold the treat bag:


For further instructions on how to fold the treat bag go here

Here's a tip for a more professional finish.  I print mine out on high quality ink setting, plus I print it out on a shiny photo paper.  It didn't even look homemade! 

Another tip is if you save it as a picture, you can go in through your photo editor and use the auto fix.  It makes it a little more brighter and crisp.   If you save it in between each time you use the auto fix, it will allow you to auto fix it several times for a darker image.




My flowers were in a popcorn bowl with the "Ready to Pop" sign in it.
I printed out these signs in various sizes and used them wherever I could think of.
If you want a copy just click on the picture, then right click and "copy" or "save as".




Here's a larger version of the sign:

Everyone loved it and it was a lot of fun.

Games:
I found some really cute baby shower games at frugal fanatic's blog.
Just click on the picture below to check them out:
http://www.frugalfanatic.com/free-printable-baby-shower-games/
I just wanted to give a shout out to my friend Holly (no relation) who made
these cute pacifier balloons:
http://hwscutie.blogspot.com/

 

 

Here are some other cute printouts from HollysHome:








Saturday, April 7, 2012

Easter Basket Scavenger Hunt

Easter Basket Scavenger Hunt

One Easter when money was tight and my kids were little I decided to take the clearance stuff that I had, and make a scavenger hunt for the kids so that it seemed like they had more items.  Since then, it has become a tradition that my kids will not live without. 


I print out a page of tags for each child. 


Each page is a different color, and each child is assigned a different color.  Then I count up all of my items and start writing clues for each item. 


To make it easy to cut, I would just fold over the whole page on top, and then cut around the tag.  I would write the clues on the inside of the tag.



For the little kids, I drew pictures of their clue, for example,  a T.V. or a bed, etc. 
I number the clues to make it easier to follow.
After a few years of doing this, I decided to have the kids do it for each other.  That way I didn't have to spend so much time on it, and it made the kids more involved.  Then I would hide the gifts when they slept.

Easter Egg Hunt
After the kids were done finding their items we would have an easter egg hunt.  I always assigned each kid a different color egg.  That way I could put things like money, or girl things, or boy things, so that the egg was more personal.  It also kept the kids from having bad feelings on Easter.

See how to spruce up unwanted Easter decorations into a cute Easter Egg Tree: http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2012/03/easter-egg-tree-recycled-from-old.html

Make a cute Easter Garland from last year's Easter clearance items:
http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2012/03/easter-egg-garland-from-last-years.html

Make some easy bunny bread for your Easter dinner:
http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/p/favorite-family-recipes.html

http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2014/03/surprise-someone-with-eggcellent.html
 

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

When Life Gives You Too Many Lemons Just Freeze Them Into Ice Cubes! Make hot lemon and honey for a cold! Recipe included.

When Life Gives You Too Many Lemons Just Freeze Them Into Ice Cubes!



Growing up in Arizona we had lemon trees.  In the Winter we would get so many lemons that we couldn't use them all.  Then in the summer we wouldn't have any lemons, and would love to have them for cooking.  Here is a way to get lemon juice all year round:


First, squeeze your lemons.  To get the most lemon juice out of your lemon, put it in the microwave for about 15 seconds, then roll it around the table a little bit. 

Then cut your lemon and squeeze into a juicer.
Poor the juice into ice trays and freeze.


When the trays are frozen, empty out the ice cubes and place into a freezer bag.
Use as needed.

Put  the lemon peels down the garbage disposal for a fresh, clean smell.

Here's a great recipe to use your lemon cubes for a cold:



The best honey to use is Cox's Honey!




If you are suffering from eczema here's a way to get 
rid of it with honey.  

Check out this video:

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Easter Egg Garland From Last Year's Easter Clearance

Easter Egg Garland From Last Year's Easter Clearance




I love to shop for clearance items, and try to challenge myself to to use what I buy. I bought these decorations last year and thought that they were so cute.  I was thinking about using them as gift tags on Easter presents.  I have seen a lot of blogs this year on Easter Garland.  That gave me the idea to string it all together for a garland to hang from my mantel.





Here's all the stuff I got on clearance.  I took the ribbon and measured it against my mantel and cut it to fit.


Then I took off the existing string and used yellow ribbon to tie onto the main ribbon.  I started in the center and worked my way to the ends, making sure the ornaments were spaced even.

When I was done I had an adorable, and economical Easter garland for my home.

See how to spruce up unwanted Easter decorations into a cute Easter Egg Tree:
http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2012/03/easter-egg-tree-recycled-from-old.html

Have an Easter Basket Scavenger Hunt.  Here's how:
http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2012/04/easter-basket-scavenger-hunt.html


Make some easy bunny bread for your Easter dinner:
http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/p/favorite-family-recipes.html

http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2014/03/surprise-someone-with-eggcellent.html
 

Easter Egg Tree Recycled From Old Easter Decorations

Easter Egg Tree Recycled From Old Easter Decorations



I had bought some Easter Egg Tree Decoration Kits on clearance a few years ago.  I never really liked them, but would use them any way. 


While getting out my Easter decorations I decided that it was time to throw it away.  But then I thought that I always wanted a nice Easter Egg Tree.  So what could I do to "doctor" this one up to make it "nice?"

I think the tree part is what bothered me the most it was multi colored, and just seemed tacky:

So I got out some white enamel paint, and painted it, leaves and all with white paint. 

The decorations seemed a little plain.  So I antiqued the bunnies and the chicks, glittered the eggs, and took off the strings and ribbons (because they seemed to dangle too far off the tree.)

Then I went to the craft store and found some cute white flowers with rhinestones in the middle and hot glued those to the branches.  I also bought some white ribbon to tie the ornaments onto the tree. 

When I was finished, the little pot that the tree came with just seemed too small.  So I found a larger pot that I liked and put the tree in it.  I attached the green ribbon to the pot then filled the pot with glass pebbles.  I thought it turned out cute!



I saved money (by recycling) and I also have a Easter Egg Tree that I like!

I also took last year's clearance items and made them into a cute Easter Garland.  See how it turned out: http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2012/03/easter-egg-garland-from-last-years.html

Have an Easter Basket Scavenger Hunt.  Here's how:
http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2012/04/easter-basket-scavenger-hunt.html

http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2014/03/surprise-someone-with-eggcellent.html
 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

A Bring Back the Beach Bowl



In my last blog I showed how to make a cute Beach Photo Frame:

 http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2012/03/beach-sand-photo-frames.html

When my family did that project we had so much fun collecting items, that we had a bunch of items left over.  That's when I decided to bring home the extra stuff and create a "Bring Back the Beach Bowl."  It is much like a zen garden, but with a beach theme. 

We found a glass bowl and filled it with sand.  Then we added a bunch of our beachy items like drift wood, sea glass, sea shells, etc.  We added a candle for fun.  Then we placed it on our coffee table to help us remember our vacation.  What is fun about is that we can still play in the sand and rearrange our beach bowl any time that we are missing the beach.




Beach Sand Photo Frames






Every summer our family takes a trip to the beach.  This is one of our favorite activities.  Because of our love for the beach we decided to do a family craft so that we could bring some of the beach home with us. 


We used foam core poster board and cut it out to the size of frame that each person wanted.  We used an utility knife to cut the foam core with.

During our vacation we collected shells, rocks, beach glass, sand dollars, etc. from our walks and our boogie boarding trips






We also brought back a bucket of beach sand.

We covered the foam board frame with white glue and layered the sand onto the frame.  Then with the glue and also a glue gun we attached the shells, rocks, wood, etc.  Each person had their own unique design.


After the frame was dry we put a 1/4" ribbon around the side to hide the foam edge.

Then we placed one of our favorite beach pictures inside.


And that is how we brought the beach home with us!


Use the leftover items from your beach frame to make a "Bring Back the Beach Bowl"
Take a look at mine at http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2012/03/bring-back-beach-bowl.html