DIY MOMS - Red, White & Blue

By Leslie Pleasants
4th of July is right around the corner.  To me the best memories I have of the 4th of July is when I am with my family and friends.  When you gather all together and have a BBQ... kids are running around....  everyone is mingling... summer is HERE! 

Celebrate in style with these great DIY Red, White & Blue decorations and ideas!   The more you get in the spirit the more your guest will too!!

Pom-Poms

Vellum paper

Scissors

Double sided tape

To make pom-poms, fold a 3-by-15-inch piece of vellum in half twice lengthwise. Cut slits every 1/8 inch, leaving inch at the top uncut. Unfold the paper, and attach a 1-inch piece of double-sided tape to one uncut corner; adhere to a bamboo skewer, and wrap the paper around several times. Once you reach the other end, use another piece of double-sided tape to secure. Curl the lower strips with the edge of a scissor blade, as you would a ribbon.

by Martha Stewart

 
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Pinwheels

•Scrapbook paper (preferably with double-sided pattern)

•Wooden dowels

•Hot glue gun and hot glue

•Double-sided tape

•Scissors

•Star stickers

•Spray adhesive (if necessary)

1.To create dual-sided pinwheels, gather double-sided scrapbooking papers in patriotic hues, or if you can't find pages in palette, create your own. Find pages in contrasting patterns, and use the spray adhesive to adhere them together.

2.Cut paper into square shapes — we made 8-inch and 6-inch squares to create pinwheels of varying sizes.

3.Fold squares in half diagonally to create a triangle. Crease.

4.Open the triangle and fold diagonally the opposite way. Crease.

5.Open up the triangle and flatten out the square.

6.Cut along each diagonal fold three-quarters of the way to the center.

7.Pull the tip of every other corner toward the center. Use double-sided tape or white craft glue to adhere the first tip to the center, then each folded-in tip on top of each other. When you finish, you'll have the pinwheel shape.

8.If you want your pinwheel to spin, skip to step 10. If not, simply hot glue the pinwheel to your wooden dowel. Skip cutting down wooden dowels from the hardware or craft store and use inexpensive flag dowels (removing the flags, of course).

9.Finish your pinwheel with a decorative star sticker in the center.

10.If you want your pinwheel to spin, you'll need to push a pin through the center (a straight pin works), then a bead beneath the pinwheel. You'll drive the pin into your dowel with a hammer. If needed, fold over (or cut and then fold over) any part of the pin that sticks through to the back to prevent injuries.
by good housekeeping

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Garland
Letter-size, stationery-weight paper in red, white, and blue
Paper cutter or scissorsby censational girl
Ruler
Pencil
Bone folder
Mini-stapler
1/8-inch hole punch
White cotton string

1. Cut paper to 6 by 11 inches. Using a bone folder to make crisp folds, fold the paper in half; then, fold it in half twice more. Open the folded paper, and use the creases as guides to accordion fold the paper to resemble a fan.

2. With the paper still folded, find the center, and mark it with a pencil. Use a desktop stapler to staple the center. (The staple should be perpendicular to the folds.)

3. Make a mark, 1 inch from each end on the folded side of the fan. Using scissors, trim both ends of the paper on an angle, starting from the 1-inch marks and cutting to the paper's edges.

4. Fan out the paper to form a star, and bring the ends together. Staple the ends together with a mini-stapler.

5. With a 1/8-inch hole punch, punch 2 holes, one fold apart from each other. Thread cord through one hole, around the back of the star, and then through the other hole.
by martha stewart
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Star-Spangled Luminarias

Brown paper sacks
Blue and Red tissue paper
Glue stick
Tea light candle

1. Cut a star from cardboard (ours was 2 1/2 inches from point to point) and use it as a template to cut other stars from red and blue tissue paper.

2. Glue the stars to the insides of lunch bags with a dab or two from a glue stick. For a bit more pop, add other small star-shaped stickers on the inside and perforate the sides with a star paper punch.

3. Fill each bag with 2 to 3 inches of sand and sink a tea light or votive candle into the sand. Place the luminarias in a spot outside where you can keep an eye on them, and light the candles. (Tip for parents: To avoid scorching your forearm, light a piece of uncooked spaghetti and use it to light the candles.)


4. From inside the bags, the tissue paper stars will cast a red and blue glow guaranteed to shine on long after the twilight's last gleaming.
by family fun
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Wreath

Red, White an Blue yarn

Foam or straw wreath

Die cut stars

(or print out from computer an cut on cardstock)

Hot glue gun

If you use straw wreaths do not unwrap the plastic.. you will just end up making a mess.

1) Start with one color and glue down one end and start wraping.  You might want to premark the wreath on where you want each color to be so you don't get confused.

2) Once you get all the ribbon around then you can glue on the stars.  If you want to make them different heights you can hot glue them to little objects first then glue to the wreath.

Now you have a 4th of July wreath that is super cute and inexpensive!

by the creative imperative.blogspot.com      

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Easy Sand Candles

Red, White and Blue sand

Various glasses or vases

Skinnier glass to fit inside

Tea light candle

To make a sand candle, fill a clear drinking glass with enough sand so that a votive candle placed on top falls just below the rim. Set the glass inside a clear glass vase or jar. With a funnel, fill the gap between the two containers with layers of colored sand, using enough to reach the rim of the drinking glass.

by martha stewart

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Firecrackers

Toliet paper tubes

Felt sheets (paper size), cut in half

Ribbon

Decorative paper

Double sticky tape

Small toys or candy

1) Fill the tube with candy, gifts or toys. 

2) Take you felt and wrap it around the tube.  Tie each end with a piece of ribbon.

3) Now you can be creative on what you want to do.  You can leave it as is or you can use some decorative paper and stamps or write a persons name on them or you could even write 4th of July on it.  Wrap it around and use the double sticky tape to hold it together.  Great for party favors, decorations, placecards, etc...

by  fantasy celebrations

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Festive Cans

Prepainted cans or silver
Ribbon
Hot glue gun
Double sticky tape
Flowers
Flags

Add a bit of ribbon with hot glue to the back seam.  Then use double sided tape to guide your ribbon around the canister, and keep it straight.  Use one more dab of hot glue to keep the other end of the ribbon in place.

DIY Birthday Plate

  Make your Own Family Birthday Plate!

  By Leslie Pleasants

Everyone has a birthday in your family so why not make it just a little bit more special with a tradition. Make a Birthday Plate that you bring out any time someone has a birthday. Whoever's birthday it is that person gets to eat off of that plate. If you want to make a plate for each person in the family you can do that too and personalize it with their name.

Materials:

Ceramic Plate

Porcelaine brand ceramic paint

(pens or brush on)

*if you use a brand other then Porcelaine make sure its

non-toxic and dishwasher safe

Make sure you wash the plate and take off any stickers. Completely dry. Now you can use stencils or freehand you design. You might be a scrapbooker and already have a cupcake stencil or have a cricut and make a stencil or purchase one from the store. This doesn't have to be perfect so you can make it your own.

Some ideas:

Balloons

Cupcake

Cake

Candles

"Happy Birthday!"

"It's Your Day!"

Present

Remember you have the middle of the plate to decorate but you can also decorate the edge of the plate too! 

Directions:

Follow the directions on the paint. You might need a second coat. Let the first coat dry first before applying the second coat though. Until the plate is baked you can fix any mistakes you made by washing them off. Or you can use a Q-tip.


In order for these plates to be used with food, the plates MUST be baked following the manufactures directions on the label. These plates will last for years and years. Even through the dishwasher!!

DIY Mothers Day Gift Baskets

By Leslie Pleasants

There is no better way to show your love and appreciation on Mothers Day then giving your mom or a mom a gift basket.  Gift baskets can be easy and inexpensive but shows that you really put some thought into the gift.  They allow you to combine their interest and pleasures without being limited to just one simple gift.

The first step to creating the perfect gift basket is to pick a theme.  Start with what they enjoy doing.  Do they have a hobby?  What do they enjoy doing?  Do they need something to relax and indulge in?  This is where you get to get creative.  The entire process of finding things to fill the gift baskets should not take very long at all once you figure out a theme.  This time barely compares to the time that your mother will spend enjoying her gift basket that keeps on giving. 

You can also make smaller gift baskets for other moms in your life.   Grandma's, Mother-in-Laws, Sisters (that are moms), friends, etc... 

Here are some gift basket themes and ideas:

Scrapbooking:

papers, pens, ribbons, stickers, brads, photo album, photo's, scissors

Gardening:

seed packets, shovel, water can, gloves, bulbs, flower pots, gardening labels

Cooking:

pasta, wine, seasonings, olive oil, utensils, kitchen towels, pot holders, recipe cards

Camping:

solar lights, citronella candle, flashlight, table cloth, smores fixing's, beach towel

Movies:

movie gift card, popcorn tub(dollar tree), popcorn, flavoring, candy, blanket

Relaxation:

bath salts, lotions, body scrubs, relaxation music, candles, ear plugs, chocolate

Summertime:

canvas beach bag, sunglasses, sunscreen, beach towel, flip flops, shorts, tank top

Mom-to-Be:

baby names book, saltines, massage gift card, parenting magazine, anti-stretch mark lotion, peppermints

Candles:

candle holders, long lighter, votives, tapers, pillars, snuffer, matches

Chocoholic:

hot chocolate, bars, cookies, hot fudge, flavored coffee, truffles, chocolate cookbook

Exerciser:

protein bars, socks, work out dvd, water bottle, magazine, gym membership, towel

Coffee:

large mug, coffee, novel, chocolate covered espresso beans, coffee gift card

Gamblers:

pocket electronic games, cards, poker chips, vegas plane tickets, poker rule book

Crafter:

hot glue gun, double sticky tape, papers, ribbon, scissors, stickers, stamps, ink pads

Crochet or Knitter:

assorted needles or crochet hooks, assorted patterns, ribbons, buttons, "made by" labels

Accessories:

lipstick, nail polish, cuticle oil, hand lotion, scented hand sanitizer, earrings, necklace, scarf

7 DIY Mom Valentine Decorations

Valentine Wreath

Need: (got all decorations from Dollar Tree)

- Foam ring

- Heart picks

- Red Garland

- Hot glue gun

Wrap the garland around the ring... hot gluing it down till the ring is completely covered. Next break the sticks off the hearts and hot glue them on the ring. I did lay mine out first before hot gluing to see what they would look like. Then I attached a ribbon to be able to hang it.

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Valentine Ring Garland

Need:
- Sheets of paper (red, pink, white, or patterned)
- Glue stick
Cut sheet of paper in half. Then cut strips 2 inches wide. Glue ends together

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Love Glass Block

Need:

- Glass block (You can get them at your home store. You can even buy ones with pre-made holes in them for your lights)
- Vellum paper

- Mod podge (you can get next to glue in craft stores)

- LOVE stickers

- Ribbon

- Lights

Attach vellum to glass block with Mod Podge (spread evenly on back of vellum w/ paint brush or foam brush). Attach the LOVE stickers on the vellum. Wrap a piece of ribbon around the block and tie a bow at top. Fill block with lights and enjoy!

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Heart Garland

Need:

- Colored sheets of card stock

- Glue stick

- Pencil or pen

- Glue dots or double sticky tape

- Fishing line and needle (optional)

Cut strips of paper. You can even glue two strips together to make it a bigger heart. Fold strips in half. Taking one end of the strip, take a pencil and roll the paper inwards till you are about 1 inch from the fold. Gently pull out the pencil. Repeat other side. Now you can glue the middles together with dots or double sticky tape.

You can glue them together to make a garland or take a need and fishing line and start from bottom of heart and push needle through bottom, then in between heart to top. Add as many hearts as you like. The double sticky tape or glue dots will hold the hearts in place. Then you can hang the garland from the mantle or the dangling garland from your chandelier.

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Lacy Heart Garland

Need:

- Paper lace hearts (they have them at the Dollar Tree or Craft stores

- Card stock

- Thin ribbon

- Hole puncher
- Double stick tape

Cut out hearts from card stock a little smaller then the paper lace hearts. Using double sticky tape, tape them together. After all hearts are done hole punch at each end of heart. Then weave ribbon in it (leave enough at ends so you can hang). Hang this on your mantle, kitchen window, child's bed, etc...

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Love Letters

Need:

- Wood LOVE letters
- Red craft paint

- Ribbon (same width as letters)

- Glue

Paint the letters. Glue the ribbon around the letters (sides, tops, etc). Then place on dining table, mantle, etc..

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Felty Heart

Need:

- 3/4 yard red felt (cut into 3 inch circles)
- Straight pins

- Foam heart shaped

Fold the circle in half then half again. Attached it to the foam heart with the straight pins until the whole heart is covered and you don't see any of the white heart foam. Attach a ribbon if you would like to hang it.

MOM Tip: Themed Cupcakes

MOM Tip: DIY Fun Themed Cupcakes!

Create fun cupcakes for any occasion. Try making a themed cupcake! Super easy anyone can do. Click here for a HUGE selection of themed cupcakes from Family Fun.

DIY MOMS - Simple Glass Hurricane Candle Holder

It is DIY MOMS day . Where we feature a DIY ( Do it yourself) project by a MOM each week.

If you have a DIY Mom project email us at trisha@247moms.com.

Last week on 24/7 MOMS Live Tammy showed us her simple glass hurricane candle holder she made from the dollar tree. We found this simple tutorial to follow so you can make your very own for personal use and gift giving.

Today we are featuring 320 Sycamore blog and her dollar store version of Williams Sonoma Glass Hurricane on DIY Moms.

dollar store version of the WS glass hurricane

ETA: if you can't find these supplies in your store, see this post

When I opened an email from Williams Sonoma a few weeks ago and saw this glass hurricane, it took my breath away:

photo from Williams Sonoma

Isn't it gorgeous? I loved it.

So, of course it was on my mind. I wish I could empty my brain sometimes, but alas, it was smashed in there along with other useful tidbits of information that I want to remember later, like did you know you're only supposed to run cold water in your garbage disposal to make it last longer?

Anyway! Stay on track, Melissa...

I was picking up some Christmas goodies at the Dollar Tree, and look what I found in the candle/glassware aisle:

Do you see where this is going?

First, remove the tags.

Then, take the candlestick, put some hot glue around the top rim, and place the hurricane on top of it, looking down into the hurricane vase to be sure it's centered.

I love that the Dollar Tree has these hurricanes! Then, take your white skinny candle (next to the saints candles in the aisle), put some hot glue on that and stick it in the hurricane.

Then, go out and find some pretty leaves from a tree, or use fake ones. I chose to use brown, cuz that's what William used, and it's very Thanksgiving-ish
and let them fall gently between the candle and the hurricane

Trim your wicks down, light your candles,
and love that you spent only about 15 minutes, and $3 each, instead of WS $80 ones!

I'm not hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, but wouldn't these look lovely on your holiday table? Or as a hostess gift?
All of the supplies were at the Dollar Tree, but you could re-create it using supplies from Target, Walmart, Michaels, etc.
I noticed that Hob Lob had some glass candle holders that looked almost exactly like the Williams Sonoma bases, so for a few more dollars you could get closer to that look.

I can't wait to change out the leaves for red berries at Christmas, spring blossoms in the spring, or lemon leaves in the summer.

*Stop by each week for our DIY MOMS feature. 24/7 MOMS will feature a DIY ( Do it yourself) project by a MOM each week.

DIY Taco Seasoning Mix

The Novotny's are a Taco loving family and tend to go through many warehouse size containers of taco seasoning each year. But I now have stumble across a DIY ( do it yourself) recipe to making my very own Taco Seasoning mix thanks to Jolly MOM.

Make Perfect Tacos with Your Own Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix! {Recipe}

from: Jolly Mom

Every couple weeks or so, we have Taco Night at our house! It is one of our favorite meals and honestly, tacos are actually very healthy depending on how they are made. Making your own seasoning mix is the first step in healthy and delicious tacos. It is so easy to do and you will be skipping all the chemicals in the prepackaged stuff!

Taco Seasoning Mix:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
dash garlic powder

Place all of the above ingredients into a zip top bag or small container. It makes enough mix to season one pound of ground beef. What I do is premake a few of these to have on hand anytime we need it. When you're ready to make tacos, this is what you do:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the ground beef with the seasoning mix.
2. Add the seasoned beef mixture to skillet over medium high heat. Brown the meat and then add a 1/4 cup of water to the skillet. Turn the heat down to low, cover the skillet and cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until beef is cooked through.
3. Have fun building your tacos!

Taco Building Tips:
1. For extra flavor, add sauteed onions and minced garlic to your ground beef just before browning.
2. Don't use prepackaged shredded lettuce. It only takes seconds to shred your own and it honestly tastes so much better!
3. Use lots of fresh veggies like diced tomatoes, fresh salsa, corn, and others to take your tacos to another level.
3. Use whole grain taco shells. Ortega makes some yummy ones!
4. Use lean beef--they taste just as good!

For more recipe ideas visit Beauty and Bedlam!

Portable Spice Kit For Travel or Camping

from the : Handy Hausfrau. Click here to visit this fun and creative site.


Today's DIY project at The Handy Hausfrau is a portable spice "rack."

We have a second home (a ski condo in the mountains) and I am constantly filling up Ziplock bags with various spices for cooking. Why don't I just leave the spices up there? you ask. We rent the condo out and on more than one occasion, I've searched for my crushed red pepper, only to find that a renter used the last of it on his pepperoni pizza slice. To solve my problem (and to be a little more kind to the environment), I created this Portable Spice Kit.

It's only 6 inches x 1.5 inches and it easily fits in any tote bag or suitcase that I'm lugging back and forth. It would be the perfect gift for the frequent traveler* or an outdoor lover who spends their time camping, but doesn't want to give up the luxuries of cooking with spices.

*I would check with the airlines to see if you can carry on spices. Not sure of the current regulations for powdery substances on flights.

To create this project, head to your local Walgreens, CVS or other drug store. I perused the racks until I found the section for the 7-Day Vitamin/Medication Containers. They had two sizes, and in my case the $2.99 (Large) size was perfect for what I needed.

Notice the little key in the upper right corner of the package? This indicates a locking mechanism - great for ensuring that your cayenne pepper doesn't end up popping open in your backpack - creating a week's worth of flourescent orange underwear.

When you open it up, you'll notice that each day's lid also has raised dots on the corner - braille to indicate the day for the visually impaired. For our purposes, the braille will get in the way.

Find your strongest pair of nail clippers and get to work clipping those dots off. Place the clippers as close to the surface as possible to remove as much of the raised plastic as you can.

Then get our your emery board (or buy a pack of the cheapies for $0.99) and get to work sanding the lids to a smooth finish. You could also use sandpaper for this, but I was too lazy to walk to the garage to get some. The emery board worked perfectly.

This is what the lids will look like when you're finished. Don't worry about the scratches. Your labels will cover this right up.

Now comes the fun part. I found vintage spice and canned vegetable labels and adapted them in Photoshop so that each would contain the name of one of my chosen spices. My seven containers hold: Cinnamon, Cayenne Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper (can you tell that we like spicy food in our family), Oregano, Ginger, Dill and Garlic Salt. You could definitely find your own and adapt them for your use, or feel free to download my complete PDF file here. Print the file out on 8.5"x11" full sheet labels. You'll see that the file prints with trim lines already in place. (If you're using my file, you'll need to find a vitamin container with lids that are 5/ 8"(w) x 1"(h) to ensure proper fit of the labels.)

Get our your straight-edge and Exacto knife and trim each label to size.

Apply the labels carefully. Make sure that they are fully adhered or the paper will bubble and curl when you apply the Mod Podge. Here's what it will look like with all of your labels in place.


Cover each label with two generous coats of Mod Podge to seal the lids.

Allow it to dry thoroughly. (You can see that "Ginger," in the foreground, started to bubble after the Mod Podge was applied. Just push the bubbles down gently with your finger nail and reapply another coat of Mod Podge to remove any fingerprints.)

Here's a close-up of the final product after the Mod Podge is dry.

Pop open those lids and fill with your favorite spices. Each container is big enough to hold approximately 2 teaspoons of each spice. Not enough to season a whole vat of stew, but enough to makes sure that two boys have cinnamon toast for breakfast and Mommy gets her salmon seasoned just right!

Be sure to send me pictures of your final product at sara(at)thehandyhausfrau(dot)com.