Creative Mom Cafe

There are some people in my family who love flowers. They love gardening and growing flowers, but during the cold winter months there isn’t much gardening to be done. So one of my favorite gifts to give is flowers that can be grown indoors and brighten up the cold months.

But you’re not just giving flowers. You are also giving them the flower pots. You can be as creative as you want to be painting and decorating flower pots for your flowers to grow in. Use large pots for bigger plants. Paint, glue on, and create unigue designs that make the pots stand out.

Some people love hanging baskets in thir homes for flowers and plants. Taking string, fishing line, or thin wire you can hang beads, shells, or anything else from. One great isea is to hang small metal discs from the bottom of the hanging basket. Then as the weather warms up the basket can be hung outside on a porch or patio and double as a wind chime.

For cooks you can give several small pots with herbs plantd in them. Paint or glue on photos of the herbs planted and stencil in their names. Stencil a letter on each small pot to spell the name of the recipient for a special flower gift. You can even create a beautiful center piece by gluing several small pots around a larger one. Paint and decorate them all and plant with flowers. You can even let kids paint and decorate pots to give to grandparents and other family members.

Of course you don’t have to give just pots. You can search through thrift shops and garage sales for interesting pots and containers that you can decorate as well.

flowers, flowerpots, 30 Gifts in 30 Days

After my craft the other day of making purses from recycled plastic shopping bags I wanted to share another recycling gift idea. Using up items you already have on hand is a great way to recycle and bring someone a smile.

Most parents have a small collection of those small, baby food jars. The tiny glass jars with tin lids can be reused in a though sand different ways. These are perfect for storing tihngs, for decorations, and for fun gifts. Here are a few ideas you can use to crate holiday gifts this year and clear out your old jars.

• Use the small jars as decorative candle holders. Tie ribbon or string around the jars. I have used small, clear glass rocks and glued them around the jars. Add a small tea light candle in the center and you have a perfect decorative gift.
• Create a storage unit with them. If you know someone who has a lot of small pieces, such as nails or beads, you can create a simple storage unit for them. All you need is a large board, a hammer, and nails. Nail the lids of the jars onto the board. Use strong nails so that they will stay in place. You can then fill the jars with what ever pieces and screw them into the lids. Use paint to decorate the board however you wish.
• Turn the jars into mini snowglobes. This is one project that my oldst loved doing last year. Use small figures, beads, or whatevr you want to create a personal snowglobe. Fill with water and screw the lid on tight. Add a few drops of superglue to make sure that the lid stays on.

baby food jars, recycled gifts, 30 Gifts in 30 Days

Sometimes you have that one family member that you just do not know what to get them for the holidays. This can be especially hard if you are trying to make your own gifts. They don’t want a quilt, or a scarf, or anything crafty. So what can you make them? That’s when I whip up a bath of cookies! Place them on a decorative plate, wrap them in cellophane and tie with a bow. It is an instant hit! Here are a few of my favorite treat recipes that you can give as a homemade gift this year.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375° F. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and butter. With an electric mixer at medium speed, beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough in tablespoon sized balls on an ungreased cookie pan. Bake chocolate chip cookies at 375°F for 10 to 12 minutes, or until browned.

This recipe makes 6 dozen cookies, so you will have plenty to go around.

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I’ve mostly been posting gifts that adults can make and give this holiday season. But that’s not really fair. Kids can make some great gifts too, ones that many people would love to get. I know my mother would likely hang up anything my sons made and consider it artwork better than anything made before. Doing crafts with your kids is a fun way to gt some presents taken care of and sharing all the fun of creatiing with them.

A favorite craft project around here is making salt dough. It is simple, inexpensive, and you can make whatever your heart desires. Plus there is painting involved, which automatically makes my oldest son happy.

All you need is salt, flour, and water to make the dough. The recipe varies depending on where you look for it. There are several different recipes to choose from, I suggest experimenting and finding which one works best for you.

The dough tends to be a bit like Play Doh, which makes it perfect for shaping and molding. Create whatever you and your children want. Animals, people, designs, the possibilities are endless. Once you have what you want you then bake the pieces in your oven. Here are some tips on baking your salt dough pieces. You have to be careful as you don’t want to burn the figures or over cook them so that they crack or break. Once you have you baked (and cooled) dough pieces them you can lt your kids go wild with the paints. It sometimes takes several coats to get the colors to look right, but painting and repainting can be a lot of fun. Once the paint is dry you should add two or three coats of a clear varnish to protect the piece.

You can make Christmas tree ornaments by shaping a small loop to the top of the pieces and threading ribbons through once they are dry and painted. Or create a wall plaque by adding wire to the back of the clay before drying it. Instant holiday present!

Books you should find:

• Salt Dough
• Dough Folk Art: How To Make Beautiful & Lasting Objects From Flour, Salt & Water
• The Magic of Salt Dough

salt dough, kids crafts, 30 Gifts in 30 Days

One of the reasons I feel that buying or making handmade toys is so important is that it is a way to provide safe toys for our children. I have always been a bit picky about what toys my children play with. Plastic is a big concern in our home, for safety as well as environmental reasons. As the toy recalls grow larger and larger it seems that making our own toys is the ony way any mom can guarantee safe toys for her kids.

I am sure everyone knows by now about the Aqua Dots/Bindeez recalls. This takes a large chunk out of the toy market this year, a market already declining because of so many concerns.

I hope this year that many parents see that when it comes to toys less is more. Kids do not need 50,000 toys sitting under their tree. And for the few toys that they do get show them that it is the thought that counts by putting more thought than money into your gift choices.

Some books I would suggest finding:

• Easy-to-Make Old-Fashioned Toys
• The Toymaker: Paper Toys That You Can Make Yourself
• Make Your Own Toys: Simple Projects for Making Beautiful and Lasting Gifts for Your Babies and Children
• Knitted Toys: 25 Fresh & Fabulous Designs
• Making Toys

toys, toy recalls, aqua dots, children, gifts

If you thought that screenprinting video was fun, wait till you see this!

Now this is a fun and unique gift idea! I went looking for some great instructions on how to do this. I found an article describing how to make a vinyl bowl in your oven and another with step by step pictures. And here is a great video that shows you how as well. But no where did I find anyone using a hair dryer as the man in the video uses.

I am curious what kind of hair dryer one would need. I would think a pretty high powered one, I doubt the cheap one hanging in my bathroom would work. Putting it in the oven does seem to be the easiest way to do it.

I’m excited now. I just need to find some old records and see what I can create. I think a trip to the thrift shop is in order. Has anyone else ever done this? I’d love to hear how well it worked for you! And what do you do about the holes in the center?

bowls, records, vinyl bowls

Scrapbooking is a fun craft that many people enjoy. I started scrapbooking when my first son was a newborn and I’ve been hooked ever since. It is a fun way to spruce up photos, tell a story, and let your creative side come through. It is also a great gift idea for this holiday season.

Putting together a special scrapbook to give as a gift can be a great way to share memories. If you have a child going off to college, a friend moving far away, or just a family member you do not get to see often you can share pieces of your life with them. Sift through your old photos and find the ones that really capture special moments. They do not have to be posed, in fact the best photos are spontanious and fun. You can also give someone a scrapbook that you put together to remember a special moment in their life. Use photos you have of thir wedding or of their children. Any moment that you think they would enjoy looking back on you can scrapbook.

If you do not have the photos to use you can still put together a fun scrapbook. Create the pages as you normally would but leave the places for the photos blank. You might include small tags that say “place photo here” and let them put in their own favorite pictures. Be as creative as you want to be! You do not have to stick with a specific theme. You can just create fun pages and let the receiver decide what photos they want to use.

A few tips for putting together perfect scrapbook pages:

• Map them out first. It helps you to have a ready made plan before getting to the cutting and glueing part.
• Lay out what you want to use and gt a look at it first. What might sem like a good match in your mind’s eye may not be so impressive in real life.
• Get inspired! Do a seach for scrapbooking on Flickr to see what great pages other people have made. If you see something you take take it and run with it.
• Have fun!

scrapbooking, photos, gifts, 30 Gifts in 30 Days

I’ve mentioned before that I love knitting. Even though I’m still fairly new at it, I’ve really ejoyed getting into it and trying to make new things. As it turns out, knitting is also a great gift idea. If you can knit you can create almost any gift for anyone, and it doesn’t take much. Yarn, needles, a pattern, and time is all you need to put together the perfect gift.

I have a warm hat and scarf knitted up for my youngest son, and now I’m trying to make a special scarf for my nephew to wear this winter. But you don’t have to stop at just scarves. There are tons of free patterns available on the web. You can make anything from sweaters to toys. And what I love is that it does not matter whether you are a beginner (like me) or an experienced knitter (like Barbara here), you can find something that you can make and give as a great gift.

If you are feeling really generous and think your knitting skills are up to par you might concider knitting a little poppet or two for the Softies for Mirabel drive. They need the softies by November 20th, so it would be a rush order for any slow knitters out there. But it is for a great cause. You could make a knit teddy bear, a rabbit, a robot, or a monkey. There are dozens of great free patterns out there. Just search for “free knit toy patterns” and see what inspires you!

knitting, toys, Softies for Mirabel

Almost everyone knows at least one person who loves candles. Whether they enjoy them scented, designed, or both candles can be fun for decorating your home. So why not try to make some? I know, some of you are probably sad that you were unable to win the craft books I gave away, which included a candle making book. But to make you feel better I am going to share a simple way to make funky candles you can give.

When I was in college my roommate and I would make candles late at night to give to our friends. They were very basic, inexpensive, and almost too easy to make. You need a double broiler to melt the wax, however we used a clean empty tin can that we sat in the middle of a small pot of water. Put it over fire to heat the water, add the wax to the can making sure to keep it upright and not spilled into the water and wait for it to melt. Often our wax came from the remains of old candles that were melted down to stubs. We would carefully remove the last of the wicks and break the wax into smaller pieces that melted easier. For dye we used the colors already in the candle pieces or added small bits of broken crayons to white wax. Scents came from a few drops of essential oils that we already had and wicks were found rather cheap at a local craft supply shop. It was fun, exciting, and gave us a creative outlet for cheap.

Of course you may want to be a bit more professional in your candle making endeavors. You can find a great set of instructions that show you how to do it the right way at Let’s Make Candles. From the basics to the wax you will find great info on making your own candles. You can also find a step by step tutorial here that will guide you through the candle making process.

You can also go over and say hello to Shelly, the new writer at Wax and Bubbles, who promises to share everything she knows on making your own candles. Who knows, you might become so excited making candles it turns into a fun project selling candles.

candles, making candles, gift ideas, 30 Gifts in 30 Days

Are you ready for 30 Gifts in 30 Days? I hope so because here it is! I have been really working my brain to come up with 30 great gift ideas that are creative and fun. I know that not all of us are talented so I am trying to make this a healthy mixture of easy and complicated ideas. We all know how hard it can be to shop for everyone, especially when the prices keep going up, up, up. Hopefully you will be able to find some great ideas that you can do this holiday season.

I thought I would start off with a gift anyone can make: the gift basket. Trust me this is the simplest gift to put togther and the most personalized. All you need is a basket and an idea of what the recipient loves. Line the basket with dishtowels and fill with kitchen gadgts for the chef in your family or line it with some great scraps of material and lots of sewing goodies for the crafter in your house. The possibilites are endless.

Here is how you can put one together on the fly. First you need a great basket. You can often find dozens of baskets at thrift shops. for a few cents you can find any size, style, or shape that you might want. Next you need to fill it. A coffee lover might like a collection of sample packets, the family photographer might enjoy some rolls of film and fancy picture frames, you can even put togther a kid’s basket with small toys and games. You do not have to spend a ton of money as long as you keep the items in line with what the recipient would love. Lastly decorate the basket to give it that finishing touch. Add ribbons, a bow, maybe even a balloon tied on. All it takes is a little creativity and you can make it look like you spent hundreds of dollars on it.

~Don’t forget to stop by my give away and enter to win some fun craft books! ~

gifts, gift ideas, 30 gifts in 30 days, holidays

I’m finally (mostly) finished with my pumpkin. I would like to add “Happy Halloween” to it but right now I don’t have what I want, and I’m not interested in hand stitching the letters on. I’d like to do them in fabric paint, but that will have to wait. And yes, the eyes are crooked. That’s what happens when I am trying to sew and keep kids out of things at the same time. Oh well, it makes it look “quaint”. That’s what I’m telling myself at least.

Now that I’ve gotten the Halloween flag out of the way I will hopefully have time to finish knitting the hat and scarf I have been making for my youngest son. He has outgrown his winter set from last year so it’s time to get him something new. I decided that instead of buying him one this year I’m knitting him one myself. (You can see the beginnings of it here) In fact my plan this year is to make as many gifts myself as I can instead of buying them new.

Which is the perfect tie-in for something I want to promote. This holiday season TreeHugger is asking people to pledge to give handmade gifts this year. I think it’s a great idea! You can join the pledge by going over to buyhandmade.org and signing up. It’s a great justification for hunting through thrift shops and getting crafty this holiday season. If you are not sure what to make for everyone on your list subscribe for my 30 Gifts in 30 Days all through November.

handmade, gifts, crafts, TreeHugger

I finally put the finishing touches on my oldest son’s costume. He wanted to be a pirate this year, which I love. However, I didn’t want to go the boring mass produced costume route. How creative would that be? But I also haven’t had much luck being historically accurate with a pirate look.

So here’s what I put together from thrift store finds and back of the closet treasures: a white, over sized shirt. Shredded at the bottom and sleeves. Loose black slacks, also shredded. A red bandana. A patch. A sword. And a felt pirate hat. I’m calling it “pirate lost at seas for too long”. Hey, thre is nothing wrong with taking creative license with Halloween costumes.

Spaking of fun Halloween costumes. Tomorrow (the 26th) is the last day to have your creative costume up on Etsy for the contest. A search through the costumes already entered shows you just how much fun people have ben having with this contst. And who can blame them?

A. it’s Halloween for crying out loud, and
B. the prizes are pretty sweet

My favorite, and what I tried for months to talk my oldst son into being this year, is Max from Where The Wild Things Are. That is a favorite book around here, one that I have loved since I was a little girl. Too bad this costume is too small and too expensive. But it does give me some ideas for next year. Maybe my youngest will be more willing.

What is everyone else whipping up this year? Anyone else going to make their own costumes?

Halloween, costumes, etsy, contest

Jummy of Getting Crafty has some fun challenges going on. You are challenged to make your own cards for the holidays. I wasn’t able to get in the Christmas card challenge, but there is a birthday card challenge coming up that I hope everyone will be a part of.

Funky handmade cards are always so much fun to give and receive. You can get creative and let your imagination flow. And who doesn’t love getting a one of a kind card made jsut for them rather than the same old cards everyone else bought at the store. Just ask Mommy Zabs, who saw such a graet idea that she put together Card My Christmas, a fun christmas card shop that uses your own photos to make great one of a kind cards.

Handmade cards are also a huge hit on Etsy. So many creative types are cutting, gluing, and sewing up unique cards. Any reason you might have to give a card you can find a great one to give. And maybe even some inspiration to make your own.

Since I didn’t get to enter the Christmas card challenge I thought I could at least share my idea. Feel free to take it and make it your own.
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OK…I just found this link on Family Fun.com and it spawned my latest creative decision. I think making seasonal designed shirts would be a cool idea to ring in the new season for your child and their friends.

Check out this simple, yet SUPER COOL T-shirt Craft

Another, no ‘creativity needed’ project for those of you who ask for them!!

You’re welcome!!

What family doesn’t LOVE spoiling the teachers in their lives? And wht better way to do that than with a handmade craft!

This Tote Bag is adorable and SIMPLE!

All you need is a tote bag from your local craft store or WalMart…some apples…and a few colors of acrylic paint.

This would be a great “beginning of the year” craft for a class to give to the teacher putting a child’s name on each apple. One tree on each side.

**HINT: Use acrylic paints as they are permanent and won’t wash out if Mrs. So-and-So has to throw her bag in the wash!