Halloween Treat Bags

For Kids Club this year (an after school program I volunteer for once a week), I decided to make the kids a little treat bag. Each bag has tons of candy (sorry, Moms!), two Halloween-themed pencils, and two mini Halloween-themed note pads (jack-o-lantern and Frankenstein's Monster).

The cellophane treat bags are from Michael's and have little jack-o-lanterns, spiders, and other Halloween characters on them.

For the gift tag, I took an index card (white and blank on both sides) and made a ghost template. Then, I traced the ghost onto more index cards, cut them out, and drew a cute, non-menacing face on each one.

Here's the back.

I hole-punched an arm, and tied around the bag with purple ribbon. I think the kids will love them.

Giveaway!

Over at HomeSpun Threads there is a website called Tungsten Wedding Rings that is giving away a free wedding band to one lucky winner! Click on the HomeSpun Threads link for details!

Hem your own Jeans!!!!

I happen to be one of those people who is ALWAYS between sizes. When I need to buy jeans, if I don't get a brand like Levi's that has different inseams, I am in big trouble. "Regular" is almost always too short, and "long" is always too long. So, I would take my jeans to a tailor to have them hemmed at $15 bucks a pop! Guess what? It is REALLY easy to hem your own for FREE! I just hemmed two pairs in 1 hour. You can't even tell they've even been hemmed! It was really easy and I was able to preserve the original hem. Check out this awesome tutorial at Dacia Ray.

New Luggage Handle!

My poor little weekend suitcase's handle disintegrated. It was still functional, but it was ugly to look at and uncomfortable to hold. SOOOOO, using this tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets, I made a new CUTER one!

Here is a close up. To add more cushion and stability, I cut a piece of craft foam and glued it (with all-purpose glue) to the finished handle on the inside. No more uncomfortable hands using this handle! And it makes it easy to spot if I need to check it at the airport!

Don't for get to make a matching luggage tag!

Pesto Turkey Pasta

A meal, from Betty Crocker, so simple and delicious that I had to share. It takes 20 minutes to prepare start to finish.

You will need:

3 cups uncooked bowtie pata

2 cups pre-cooked cubed turkey breast

1/2 cup basil pesto

1/2 cup chopped roasted red bell peppers (in a jar)

parmesan cheese (not pictured)

1. Boil your pasta.

2. Mix cooked pasta, turkey, pesto, and bell peppers until everything is heated through.

3. Sprinkle with parmesan LIBERALLY and mix in thoroughly.

Voila! Easy and yummy!

SOOOOO GOOD!!!

Money Soap

I'm always looking for unique gifts for my male teenage cousins. They are the hardest group to shop for! Money is always appreciated, but I hate just handing over the cash. Gift certificates are great, but I ALWAYS give those. So, I have a new idea...MONEY SOAP. It's money embedded in soap. Now those stinky boys will have to wash up to get paid!

To make this soap, you will need:

4 oz. CLEAR melt and pour glycerine soap

1 mL of lime essential oil

1-2 drops green food coloring

paper money (any denomination)

4 oz. soap mold (I got mine at Michael's)

rubbing alcohol in a spritz bottle

Fold your money and set aside.

Cut soap into cubes and put in heat safe container. Microwave in 20-30 second bursts. Add the lime oil.

Add food coloring.

Stir.

Pour a thin layer of soap into the mold (about 1/4 inch thick) and spritz with rubbing alcohol. Let cool until a thick skin is formed.

Spray money liberally with alcohol. Spray cooled soap with alcohol again.

Pour the rest of the melted soap into the mold (you may have to microwave again) and submerge money with a toothpick. You may have to hold the money down so it won't float up. I set up a rig where I had the soap on my cutting board and I set a knife on the counter with the handle hanging over the edge to hold the toothpick in until the soap cooled completely.

Once cooled, remove toothpick by twisting then pulling out. Melt the last bit of soap and pour it over the hole. Let cool. Wrapping your soap is important to preserve it. Tear off a piece of plastic wrap and tightly wrap soap.

Cut any excess plastic wrap.

Use an embossing heat tool to "shrink up" the plastic wrap to create a nice sealed package.

You'll end up with a beautiful bar of soap that everyone will want!

A bagalope would be the perfect way to package this up! Easy and creative!

Check out more fun and easy projects on Poppies at Play!

Creative Gift Packaging

So, this is my second tutorial, and I think I put too many pictures this time. But, it will be that much clearer for my readers. This is a tutorial for a "bagalope." It is a small gift bag made from an envelope perfect for small gift items and gift cards. It is cheap and easy, AND, it only takes 5 minutes to make! Perfect if you are running late.

You will need:

an envelope (I used a 5" x 7" but any size will work)

ribbon

stamp

ink pad

glue

self-adhesive address labels

scissors

bone folder

embellishments (I used a die cut flower and glitter paint)

First, seal your envelope. That's right. Seal it.

Decorate the sealed envelope on both sides with a stamp and ink pad. If you have time, you could emboss it.

Fold both long sides of the envelope in about one inch. Make the crease very sharp. Repeat on one of the short ends which will ultimately become the bottom of your bag.

Cut the top edge (the remaining short side) off. The more you cut, the shorter and stouter your bag will be.

Pop open your envelope...

And push in all the sides.

This is what it will look like when all sides are pushed in.

Fold the little "tabs" on the bottom in and glue into place.

Your bag will now stand on its own. Yay!

Now, cut two equal lengths of ribbon...about 8-10 inches long. These will be your handles.

Attach each end of each piece of ribbon to its own address label.

Stick the ribbon and address labels to the inside of the bag.

Now, you can glue on any embellishments.

The last think I did was decorate with gliiter paint. I added little "dots" all over on both sides.

Allow to dry and you now have a beautiful custom gift bag!

Enjoy!

Check out more awesome DIY at Poppies at Play!

My First REAL Tutorial - Luggage Tag!

Okay, so this is my first tutorial AND my first luggage tag, so excuse the sloppy product. I've learned a few things that I will pass on and I'm confident my next luggage tag will turn out much better. Okay, on with it!

You will need:

3 pieces of fabric-

-8 in x 2 in

-13 in x 4 in

-5.5 in x 4 in

single sided fusible web - 8 in x 1 in

double sided fusible web - 12 in x 3 in

cardstock or thin cardboard - 6 in x 3 in

vinyl - 4.25 in x 2.75 in

button

Iron all three pieces of fabric to make them easier to work with. Then center your 8" x 1" single-sided fusible web on top of the WRONG side of your 8" x 2" piece of fabric. Iron.
Now, this may sound really weird but trust me... you need a glue stick to make life easier. :) Run your glue stick across your fusible web.
Fold each side into the middle, the glue will hold it, and iron it.
Fold in half again and iron.
Sew up both sides of your strip close to the edges.

Now, cut the corners of your cardstock so that it turns into a tag shape.
Iron your 12' x 3" piece of double-sided fusible web to the WRONG side of your 13" x 4" piece of fabric.

Peel off paper backing and center your trimmed cardstock off to one side.
Run your glue stick along the edges of the cardstock. Fold the edges of your fabric over.
Swipe glue onto the folded edges of the fabric.
Fold strip in half width-wise. Tuck in all corners EXCEPT for the top of one side. See pic for clarification. :)
Insert one end of the strip you made earlier, fold the remaining edge of the tag over and sew. Phew!
Now, sew a buttonhole at the top. Make sure it is big enough for the button, but not too big. You want the button to fit snugly so that it can't be pulled out.

Next, on the WRONG sides of your 5.5" x 4" piece of fabric, trace or draw a 3.5" x 2" rectangle.

Then, draw another rectangle 1/4" SMALLER on all sides. Cut out this smaller rectangle, then cut diagonally from the small rectangle corners to the bigger rectangle corners. ***REVISION: To make life easier, make a cardstock window that measures about 4.5" x 3" with a 3.5" x 2" cutout and wrap this fabric window around it for sturdiness. your tag will look better too.

Glue edges of window and fold them up. Swipe with glue again. Place your vinyl on top of this.

Sew around edges of window. If vinyl sticks to your presser foot and makes your life difficult, put a piece of tissue paper on top of it and sew. Just pull tissue off after sewing.
Now, I will try to be as clear as possible here because I didn't document this part very well with pictures. Fold edges over the vinyl up to the edges of the window and glue. Sew ONE of the short sides of the rectangle. This will be the side that is next to the buttonhole on the tag. Leave other sides unsewn until the next step.

Line up window piece on the body of the tag

and sew around the TWO long sides and the ONE short side (this should be the bottom of the tag). Leave the top edge of the window open! Sew a button to the back side of your strip. Fold back and button. VOILA!

I hope this was clear. If you have any questions feel free to contact me and I will help out however I can. :) Have fun!

This was featured on Poppies at Play.