Thursday, September 27, 2012

Magnetic Travel Game

Hello everyone!

While out shopping for cool Halloween/Fall bargains, I came across these cute and girly Magnetic Dress Up Dolls for just $1.  $1!  I couldn't let this bargain pass me by so I bought two sets for KayC.  I found the magnetic doll sets at Dollar General in the toy section.  The set included 19 magnetic pieces to play dress up.























When I got home I opened up the magnetic doll sets and showed them to my daughter.  She loved them!  It was so easy to change outfits on the dolls and add accessories.  When it was time to put them away, I realized where am I going to store these without losing any pieces?























While going through my craft supplies, I came across this magnetic tin box that I had bought a while back at Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon.  The tin box was $2.49 minus 40%, I ended up paying only $1.49!  The tin box was the perfect size to hold the magnetic doll on one side and all her accessories on the other.  Also, I thought, what a great way to store them and a great way to take the doll anywhere (car ride, grandmas house, out to eat, doctor's visit) without losing any pieces.  Yay!  A "Magnetic Travel Game" for only $2.49!  Well, actually $3.49, because I bought two sets of magnetic dolls.








Sunday, September 23, 2012

Hershey's Candy Bar Wrapper

Hello Everyone!

Candy!  Who doesn't love candy?  With Halloween just around the corner, candy will be everywhere.  It is a great treat to have around the house and enjoy once in a while (or everyday, lol) and a great treat to give to friends and colleagues.

A few years ago I got interested in creating candy wrappers after I gave them out as wedding favors at our wedding.  I originally ordered them from a lady around my neighborhood.  After looking at them, I realized they were easy to create and set out on a task to make my own.  I originally created the template using PowerPoint.  It was not an easy task but I was successful in creating a template.  Over the years, I continued to search for an easier way to do this and I think I finally found it.

Adobe Fireworks CS5.  Yes, yes, I know Fireworks is not an easy program to use (nor cheap - cost wise), but after playing with it for a while I found an easy way to setup templates and add images and create a candy wrapper.

Below, I have included some of the templates that I have created.  Feel free to download and print.  Make sure that when printing you select Scale and set it to 100%.

Materials Needed:
Hershey's Candy Bar (Normal Size)
Candy Wrapper Template
Foil Paper
Glue



Putting together your Candy Bar:

Print out and cut the candy wrapper template.  Cut out a piece of aluminum foil paper big enough to wrap the entire candy (do not open the candy bar).



Fold down the edges of the candy bar, then wrap the piece of aluminum foil paper over the original candy bar wrapper (just like if you were wrapping a gift).  You may have to cut the aluminum foil paper with scissors to be the right size.  Fold the aluminum foil paper into place.  No glue or tape needed, the aluminum foil paper will stay in place.





Take the candy bar wrapper template and wrap it around the aluminum foil wrapped candy.  The candy bar wrapper template should overlap slightly at one end.



Add a thin line of glue to the overlapping side of the wrapper, making sure that you don't get any glue on the aluminum foil paper.  Apply pressure to glue the wrapper around the candy bar.  Let dry.



Front of the candy bar

Back of the candy bar
Your candy bar is ready to give away!  You can pass out the candy bars just like that or you can put them in a candy bag, basket or put it inside a nice halloween decoration (the pumpkin is a votive candle holder purchased at the craft store for $1.00).




Here are some of the templates that I have created.  Click on the link to open the window, download the file and then select print.  Make sure that when printing you Scale it to 100%.
Back to School Template 1
Back to School Template 2
Back to School Template 3
Happy Halloween Template 1
Happy Halloween Template 2
Happy Halloween Template 3


Images from:
backgrounds.picaboo.com
Free Disney Clipart
http://www.mrkolber.org

Friday, September 21, 2012

5 Petal Flower Bow

Hello everyone!

Today I am going to attempt to show you how to create a "5 Petal Flower Bow".  That is not the correct name for it I know, but I am not sure what the proper name for it is so I will just call it that.

Original Bow
We originally purchased the bow for my daughter at one of the carts at the mall (a little overpriced if you ask me) but cute anyways.  Excitedly I took it home and pulled it out of the bag to try it on my daughter and discovered that the button on the center had fallen off.  :o(  So off I go to look for my glue gun to glue the button back on, to discover that I have enough ribbon to create this bow and many more.  Mmmmm......  So here is my attempt at making the bow.  Let's get started.

Materials Needed:
1 inch ribbon cut into 5 - 3 1/2 inch pieces
1 alligator hair clip
lighter or Fray Check to seal ribbon ends
glue gun
needle
thread (color to closely match the ribbon color)
center piece (button, rhinestones, bottle cap, or any other cute item to put on the bow center once the bow is finished)

Instructions:

Collect all your materials and make sure that you have sealed all the ends of the ribbon pieces.


Take one piece of the ribbon and fold over and hold secure with your alligator clip.  It kind of looks like a backwards 7.  The fold over section is a little bit less than the half mark for each piece of ribbon.  You may have to try this several times before getting the exact mark.


After folding each piece of ribbon like the backwards 7.  Hold the ribbon in your hand at the 7 fold and remove the alligator clip.  Take the top part of the backwards 7 and fold down to make both ribbon ends meet, making sure that both ends meet exactly.  If both ends don't meet, you will have to go back and redo the backwards 7 fold until both ends of the ribbon match exactly.  This part will be the hardest part.  Once the fold over is done your ribbon will look as if you have created a small triangle tip and a little puffy.  This fold will create the tip of the petal.  It will take several attempts until you feel comfortable with the fold.

Front View
Sorry about the difference in ribbons.  My other photo did not look very good (I don't think this one does either :o) I will try to take another shot, sorry).

Back View
Take your thread and needle and double thread it, making sure you have enough thread to sew through the 5 petals and to tie a knot.  Take your first petal (piece of ribbon) and stitch along the bottom of the ribbon with your needle and thread.  Make sure that if you have a ribbon with different colors (like mine) you created all your petals in the same color direction.  I made that mistake and did not realize it until I put them together with the thread.  I had to take it apart and refold them.  Thread all 5 petals together until you have one string with all of 5 petals.


When you have stitched all 5 of the petals together, pull the thread slightly making sure the thread does not break.  The reason for the pull is to make sure that all 5 petals are close together and you have a little bit of a gather in each of the ribbon pieces.  Connect the first and the last petal and pull the thread again.  Take the needle and thread through the first petal to make sure that it will not come undone, connecting your first and last petals and forming the flower.  You have now created your 5 petal flower.



2 other flower bows I created.


You are now ready glue the alligator clip to the back of the flower and add your center piece.  Make sure that when you are gluing you alligator clip you place something between the two parts of the clip so that it does not glue it self together.  You can cover your alligator clip with ribbon if you like to give it a more finished look.  I ran out of ribbon for covering my clips, so I just glued it bare.



Here is the finished look of my 5 Petal Flower Bow.  Hope you all were successful in following the steps.

Please share pictures of your finished 5 Petal Flower Bows.