Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Make Recycled Gift Tags From Old Holiday Cards


When I first got married, we did  not have a lot of money for the little things, like tags for presents. My husband's grandmother, Grandma Fuller, taught me how to make pretty Christmas gift tags, using old cards that had been mailed the year before! This is a very easy and cheap way to finish off your presents. In my opinion, they look a bit more personal than the store bought tags! 

Materials Used:
Old holiday cards
Scissors or paper cutter
Hole punch (optional)
Marker or Pen, for labeling


Step 1: Collect Card Covers


Gather up your collection of old holiday cards, and either cut or tear the covers off, along the crease. You can usually get 4 good size tags from one card cover! 

Step 2: Cut & Punch


Cut your Tags! 
This is where making the decision to use scissors or a paper cutter is crucial...if you cannot cut straight lines (like me!) you may want to use a paper cutter. Or you can have slightly wonky ones, like I do, and call them "rustic". Large cards that have a scene that would not look quite right cut into two tags, can become a folded gift tag! (See picture below).


Step 3: Write & Ribbon


Use a pen or marker (I chose red marker so it would be easy to read) and address your tag. Attach the tag to your gift with ribbon or tape. I  use fabric gift bags that have ribbon attached, so this was really easy.

You can omit punching a hole in the corner and just tape the corner to the gift, just make sure to make the cards large enough to flip. 


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Thursday, October 31, 2013

10 Trick Or Treat Safety Tips



Keeping safety in mind, children can go gather their parents free candy trick or treat to their hearts' content! 




1. Parents should inspect treats and throw away anything unwrapped or loosely wrapped - including anything homemade from someone parents don't know. Check for signs of tampering or small holes.


2. Watch out for choking hazards for little ones, such as gum, peanuts or hard candy.

3. Tripping is a concern, so make sure costumes are not too long, baggy or loose. 

4. Costumes should be bright, reflective and flame retardant. Face masks need to fit well so that children's vision and hearing is not impaired.

5. Feed children before you trick or treat. When they're hungry, they could be tempted to sample the treats.

6. Children younger than 12 need parental supervision. THIS IS LAW in many places, including Illinois. 

7. Remind children to walk from house to house and not to walk in yards, where they could trip.

8. Flashlights with new batteries should be used as they walk on the sidewalks.

9. Driveways and alleyways are dangerous areas and need to be approached cautiously. If you're driving trick-or-treaters, have them exit your car on the curb side. Most importantly, stay off your cellphone while driving to avoid the distraction, the Illinois State Police urge.

10. If you're on candy duty at home, make sure your walkway and yard are clear in anticipation of kids coming to the door. Keep dogs and other animals inside and away from the door. Also keep jack-o-lanterns with candles out of the way.

BE SAFE AND HAVE A 
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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This work by Little Mom on the Prairie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

How to Inspect Halloween Candy Properly

Make sure to thoroughly inspect your free candy your kids' candy before they (and you) dig in!

Parents should inspect treats and throw away anything unwrapped or loosely wrapped - including anything homemade from someone parents don't know. Check for signs of tampering or small holes.



How to Inspect Candy for Trick or Treating Safety -- powered by ehow


BE SAFE and Have a Happy Halloween!



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This work by Little Mom on the Prairie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

10 Ways to Get Creative with Easter Egg Hunts


Easter is this Sunday, (March 31, 2013), and it is time to devise our Egg Hiding Strategies! Instead of the old stand-bys, like hiding the eggs in the grass, try some of these fun ways to spice up the traditional Easter Egg Hunt! 
First, you need to decide if you are going to hide hard boiled & dyed eggs, or plastic prize filled eggs. We use the plastic eggs for The Hunt in our house, because half the fun is opening them and seeing what sort of goodies you got! Plus, I am afraid we will miss an egg and end up with a horrible smell! If you do use boiled eggs for your hunt, make sure you write down the location of every egg. 

If you are also using plastic eggs, try some of these fun tricks and tips:

1. Hide handmade coupons good towards a special treat inside a few of the eggs. (Examples: "Good for one free hour of TV", "Good for one free hour of uninterrupted mommy/daddy time" or "good for staying up 30 minutes past bedtime" are a few I have used.)

2. Add in temporary tattoos, fun shaped erasers, tiny nail polishes, plastic dollar store toys and other non-candy treats inside your eggs.  One reader wrote in that she sometimes puts a dollar inside a few of the eggs! She also noted that adding quarters made the eggs pop open. (Thanks Suzy!)

3. I just got a bunch of Free Food Certificates to add to our eggs for The Hunt. Each book costs $1 and comes full of coupons for free burgers, drinks and ice cream. 

4. Make an Easter themed scavenger hunt by hiding clues in plastic eggs. Give each person an egg with a clue to the first hiding spot. At the first spot, hide an egg with a clue to the next spot. Hide as many clues as you would like. Put a prize at the end of The Hunt as a reward. If you a lot of people playing in the scavenger hunt, you could create multiple hunts.

5. Hide a prize filled egg on their chair before breakfast - they will start their day with  their first egg of The Hunt! Put a few gummy vitamins inside! 

6. Have your Hunt at night and put mini glow sticks inside each egg! The kids will have a blast seeking out the glowing spots in the yard. 

7. Instead of using baskets, try having the kids decorate a pail, then use them to collect the eggs during The Hunt.  

8. Get creative with hiding places! Pick a part of the house to be the focus of your Hunt, I suggest the main living area. Then, pick unusual places to stash the eggs! Inside shoes, under the couch, tucked between books on the shelf...

9. Make it a little more challenging for older kids by stepping it up a notch with the hiding spots. Tuck an egg inside a paper towel roll, inside a coffee cup, inside coat pockets or cleverly hidden among a cluster of objects on a table. 

10. Get adults involved! Hide a few special eggs (maybe a different color or mark them with a marker) with fun adult goodies inside, like cash or a gift certificate to a local restaurant or coffee place. Everybody likes being remembered on Easter! Make the adult eggs very hard to find! Place eggs inside hanging light fixtures, on top of the fridge or other high places. 

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This work by Little Mom on the Prairie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

How to Plan a Perfect Easter Egg Hunt



Step 1: Location
The first thing to think about when planning your Easter egg hunt is where the focus of the hunt should be. This activity can be held indoors or outside in the yard depending on the weather. If you decide to have the Easter egg hunt outside, choose an area that is safe, like a yard free of debris and animals. If indoors, I suggest the family/living room as a good place to have the hunt. 

Step 2: Egg Preparations
Buy small plastic Easter eggs, based on the number of people that are going to be at the hunt. A good rule of thumb is to have between 15 and 20 eggs per person.  If the hunt is with older children, or if you want it to be a more challenging activity, buy more eggs to hide at the hunt. You can color coordinate by child, or by age group. 

Step 4: Hiding Spots
Keep track of where you hide the eggs, and how many eggs you have - especially if you are using hard boiled eggs. You can get creative and try to use harder hiding spots for the better prizes or for the older children’s eggs. Read this article on 10 Ways to Get Creative with Easter Egg Hunts.

Step 5: Collecting 
Hand out tote bags, pails or sturdy baskets for the kids to use at the egg hunt. If you see a kid having trouble finding eggs, help them out. You can use the "getting hot...hotter...no, colder...hot...hotter" method of guiding younger children if they have trouble finding eggs. Use hints for older kids if necessary. An Easter egg hunt is meant to be a fun activity for everyone involved! 

Step 6: Prizes
Try non-candy alternatives, cash, gift certificates, or handmade coupons good for fun activities. Decorate one plastic egg and fill it with a special prize, whoever finds that egg gets the extra special something inside. Get adults in on the fun, hide adult prizes in different colored eggs and hide them up high, where only adults can reach! Prizes could be a gift certificate to a coffee place or cash. 

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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Build a Free Easter Basket


Easter is around the corner...
we have a double whammy, my daughter's birthday is the day before Easter...so I had to get creative with Easter Basket ideas, for free or darn cheap! I am sharing the basket I've built for my daughter, and if you hurry, some of these deals (or deals like it!) are still available! Get them while supplies last!!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

2 Great Wedding Planning Freebies


Wedding Paper Divas is offering a FREE Wedding Website. You can easily create an ad-free personal wedding website complete with online RSVP capabilities and more! Click here to make yours!



I know a few of my readers are planning their weddings (congratulations!!) 
Hopefully this cool freebie will help keep you organized and on budget! You can print out a free budget chart, estimate chart and follow up sheets (for vendors). Brought to you by Bride2Be. 



Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Free Printable Valentine Trading Cards



You can customize these Valentines with photos, and edit the text with your own creative sayings. Perfect for printing at home for friends and classroom Valentines. 

Saturday, February 2, 2013

FREE Owl Valentine’s Bookmark Download


Get a FREE Owl Valentine’s Bookmark download from Tracee at Teachers Paying Teachers. You do need to sign up with TPT, but it is free to join and they have tons of stuff to download for free or for a small fee. You do NOT have to be a teacher to join.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Saturday, December 22, 2012

FREE Printable 6 Gift Tags Download

I just made these up on my computer, using my hand drawn designs and scanning them in, creating a kind of digital 'stamp' out of them! 


Print your tags on standard printer paper or on nice card stock. I used a hole punch to attach ribbons, and wrote out our names. You can see them in action here, shown on my Custom Made Gift Bags from It's a Wrap! Gift Bags. 




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This work by Little Mom on the Prairie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Toilet Paper Roll Gift Box



The holidays can tap you out, leaving you to have to be creative with your gift wrap! For small gifts, this is a super cheap DIY gift box made from an empty toilet paper roll. It is also a great way to use up those scraps of wrapping paper!

Materials:
Toilet paper tubes
Gift wrap
Scissors
Invisible tape

Pencil & ruler optional but helpful!

Step 1: Measure Wrapping Paper 

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Measure the length of the roll,  and cut the paper  long enough to go around the tube one and a half times. Make sure the paper covers the ends on either side. 

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Tape one end evenly to the roll, with invisible tape. 


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Step 2: Roll Your Roll

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Roll the paper around the roll, and tape the seam. Try to keep everything nice and even - you can trim the edges with scissors to even it out if need be. 

Step 3: Pinch and Tape

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Pinch the roll at one end, like shown above. Fold the end neatly, and tape closed. 

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Fill the tiny box with goodies, then repeat the folding and taping procedure on the other side. Attach a cute little tag and give your gift!

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 diapers

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This work by Little Mom on the Prairie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. All photographs are under same copyright.

Monday, December 17, 2012

15 Handmade Gifts They Won't Hate Receiving


Whenever most people think of handmade gifts, they think of ill-fitting knit hats or hideous reindeer sweaters, or inedible jams. I,however,have to admire people who make bunches of their own holiday gifts. If you do it right, it can save you money, and there’s also just something about homemade presents that says you really care...as long as you get it right! At any rate, it is more thoughtful than a gift card in most cases. 

These artsy-craftsy folk got it right, in my opinion! Here are 15 awesome handmade gift ideas that are sure to please every man, woman or child on your list! There are even gift ideas for cats and dogs!


1. Leather iPod Touch Case by gmjhowe graphic design


2. Wooden Necktie (and Bowtie) by laxap
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3. Office Foot Stool from an old Tray Table by Alan Casey
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4. TREAD BELT by opendesignclub
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5. Homemade Earring Organizer by eolough
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6. Cargo Scarf by lovefromvirgil
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7. sew an adjustable chef's apron  by compwalla


8. Recycled Teacup Soy candle by cheekysttich
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9. Finger puppets for all reasons! by stinkymum
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10. Kids Snuggie by scoochmaroo
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11. Fridge Magnets by hethlee 
(I think of Alphabet magnets for kids)


12. MINI-MUFFIN CRAYONS by AlwaysAllTheTimeCrafting
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13. Kid Crane Riding Toy by stevemoseley
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14. Rope Dog Toy by mattrush
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15. Knotty Mouse for Good Cats by J3443RY
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coupons  

Saturday, December 15, 2012

DIY Holiday Craft Round Up


I LOVE things like Pinterest, or blogs that do things like Sugar Bee's "Take a Look Tuesday", because I can see a plethora of projects, all in one place! These are a few of the BEST I have seen today in my internet travels. 

Free Winter Printables from Laura's Crafty Life


Cinnamon Sparkle Ornaments from

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DIY Ginger Salt Scrub from Fun Home Things


Easy Paperclip Angel Ornament from 


Vintage Glitter Bulbs from The Moody Fashionista


Apple Pumpkin Cake 
(OMG are you kidding me?!? Sounds DELICIOUS!) From Architecture of a Mom


Thanks for sharing with the world your crafty and culinary genius!