Cupcake Stand

I hope you had a great Easter! It was so nice to be together as a family. If you haven't seen this cupcake stand already I wanted to share it with you. Three sundae/parfait cups, 1 dessert plate, 1 dinner plate, and 1 serving plate can make a simple and cute cupcake stand! I love this idea. Glue it together or skip the glue to make it easy to store. Watch out for dish sets that are on clearance (especially if it isn't a full set) to get a great deal on some dishes. I think this would be a great wedding/wedding shower gift, don't you? This idea comes from here.

Baby on the Brain...

Nope I am not pregnant! Just loving lots of little baby things lately. Maybe it's because it's SPRING! I love this little framed fabric hand print display, don't you? Trace those little hands so that you can keep them forever. This would be great to give grandparents too! Especially if they are too far away to enjoy those little hands before they grow up.

Use scraps of fabric and a thrift store frame to make this project easy on the budget.

Spring Wreath

Here is a clever idea using plastic bottles to make flowers. Isn't this a cute spring wreath? You can get the tutorial over at tatertots and jello. This could be a great gift idea for anyone that needs a little bit of Spring in their life right about now.

Cake Balls For Me?

I am the proud recipient of these delicious cake balls (or was - they are long gone by now). And what a great gift it was. My friend showed up on my porch unexpectedly with these little balls of joy a few days ago and it made my day. She even made the box. Do you like it? It's made with scrapbook paper.

She made three different kinds. There are red velvet cake balls with cream cheese frosting dipped in white chocolate and milk chocolate. And there are devils food cake balls and milk chocolate frosting flavored with 1 Tbsp. orange extract and then dipped in milk chocolate. And I can't tell you which was my favorite because they were all so good.

Valentine Pillow Notes

Cute little Valentine pillows. Made from dish towels (simple sewing so even I could handle this one). With little pockets for "Why I love you" notes to your kids (or anyone special to you) for the 14 days leading up to Valentine's Day. I'll be starting this tradition next year for sure.

So click here for the details and the tutorial. And watch for the after holiday sales for those Valentine dish towels (these were 50 cents each). Aren't they cute?

Love You Banner

How could you not love this banner? Banners are another one of my new loves these days and I would be so happy to get one as a gift. If you have the storybook cricut cartridge then you are set. The black background shape was made using this cartridge (set at 5.5"). The patterned paper is cut to 4x6 and the letters were made from the same cartridge (set at 4"). Add a little ribbon and stuff here and there to add to each letter. I also like that she used eyelets to thread the ribbon through the top of the paper to prevent it from tearing.

If you love banners too then you should check out more: simple magazine Valentine Garland, a glittery Thankful Banner, Holiday Bunting made with Christmas paper and recycled Christmas cards, Trick or Treat banner using freezer paper, mini Easter bunting...

Don't you think it would be fun to show up on someone's doorstep with a happy little banner for any occasion? I know it would cheer me up!

Send a link of your banner or one that you love. I would love to see it!

Free Disneyland Tickets?

Free Disneyland Tickets for Service:

If you like Disneyland and you might be planning a trip in 2010 take a look at this cool service promotion Disneyland is sponsoring. Ages 6 and older can spend a day of local service and earn a free day pass to a Disney theme park. You must preregister so click on the link below. Type in your zip code and find out what you can do. What a great gift idea!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day

52 Week Books

This gift idea is great for the new year, but any time is a good time to start. These are called 52 week books. Each book has a theme (such as Gratitude, Service, or Friendship) and has a page for each week of the year (52 weeks). Every week each family member shares an experience that happened that week that is related to the theme. Then the family picks one to record in the book (or you can record all if you want). It is a great tradition to begin and creates an easy and fun way to look back on your memories and teach children valuable lessons.

There's even more good news. These books are really easy to make. All you need is a notebook from the dollar store and some scrapbooking paper. Each purchased notebook makes two 52 week books by taking off the binding and cutting the pages in half horizontally. Then decorate the cover however you want. Then, cut the binding in half and re-bind each book. If you want, you can also put a number on each page (1-52). Each year your family can pick a different theme to focus on. This would also be a great journaling idea for an individual, a child, teacher, or a couple too!

Thanks for sharing this great idea Gwen!

Birthday/Anniversary Calendar Magnet Board

My sister made this cute magnet board to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries. She used vinyl to separate the magnet sheet into months and then printed out a piece of paper for each member of the family with their name and date of birth on it. She also included anniversaries. Then she backed the paper with magnet strip tape. There are a ton of possibilities for how you do the magnets. Check out this, this, and this for more great ideas on magnets.

I love this idea because it is a great way to make room for more birthdays and anniversaries as new additions join the family.

Heart Wax Paper

A simple idea to dress up your baked goods found here. Just cut hearts out of tissue paper. On an ironing board lay down a layer of paper towels, then wax paper, tissue paper hearts, another layer of wax paper, and another layer of paper towels. Set an iron to medium heat and lightly iron over the layers to set the hearts onto the wax paper.

Consider all of the different shapes you could use to dress up your wax paper for baked goods. This could be great for any holiday or occasion.

Fruit Bouquet

Gwen and her daughter Nikki made this fruit bouquet for Nikki's teacher. They found a flower pot at Michael's and cut a head of iceberg lettuce to fit inside the pot. The greenery they used as filler here is kale. Then they used skewers to stick the fruit into the iceberg lettuce: grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe, and pineapple. So cute. And something that kids can be involved with.

More Cute Coasters

These coasters from here are made with printed paper and napkins! She gives a great tutorial too. I would never think to use Santa napkins or print something from my printer and mod podge it onto a coaster. And the tiles are so cheap too. She used white tiles for these. Just make sure you spray the top of the tile with acrylic sealer after the mod podge is totally dry to protect your design.

You could also try using gift wrap too!

Homemade Puzzle

There is a great tutorial here for how to make a puzzle out of a photo or your own art. The picture was sized and printed in a Word document and mod podged to a piece of cereal box cardboard. Then add a layer of mod podge on top of the picture. A piece of patterned paper was mod podged to the back of the cardboard. After it is dry, trace puzzle pieces with a fine tip sharpie marker and then cut them out with an x-acto knife.

You could personalize this for any child, any age. It would be great to give a set of personalized puzzles as a classroom set for a teacher too (maybe with scenes of the city or state).

Also, consider putting another picture on the back of the puzzle instead of scrapbook paper. Then you have 2 puzzles in one!

FHE Lesson Ideas

If you want to do the FHE Lesson gift idea and are looking for some ideas for FHE lessons go here for a whole bunch of links to sites where you can get materials and ideas.

Family Tree

I found a beautiful family tree template here. Go here to get this template and take it to a copy store to get it enlarged. Fill out as many names as you can and give it to a family member to display in their home. Family names can be added to it through the years.

FHE Lessons

I have an accordion file folder with enough Family Home Evening lessons for one year. Some lessons are detailed and some are brief.

Each of the manilla folders has a detailed lesson inside.

A detailed lesson includes: an attention getter, songs, scriptures, quotes, various activities to choose from depending on the age of your children, a story, visual aids and a recipe for a themed treat.

Here are 9 brief lesson plans. They have an opening statement or question, a song, a few scripture references, and an activity suggestion.

This could be a great gift! You don't have to do lessons for a whole year. Try a month. Or put together 1 lesson, make copies, and give it as a gift to all the families that you know.

You can get all kinds of material here and here.

You could also do a similar gift for families who don't do FHE. Find a craft that is great for the whole family and include instructions and materials to make it.

Memo Paper Art

This is a great gift for a child to make. All you need is a stack of memo paper. Let the kids go free (with a lot of supervision, of course) decorating the sides with markers.

Tissue Paper Flowers

You can make tissue paper flowers with your kids for their teacher or for a grandparent for Mother's Day. You can find the step-by-step here.

Chunky $1 Wood Frames

Martina made these great frames with paper, mod podge, and ribbon. For $1 you can get the cute chunky wood frame from Michael's. It would be fun to print out a letter for a family initial or spell a child/baby's name with one letter per frame. Or give a teacher a picture of her with your student.

Cookie Flowers

I love this cookie bouquet because it has mini cookies! I LoVe mini! I found this bouquet here. I like this for teachers or mother's day gifts for the kids to make. Or maybe for a new mother in the hospital or a get well gift. But really any day is a good day to get flowers.

Hint: To add some variety add some Oreo Fudge Rings (dark brown with white stripes).