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.

Shower Notes

Crayola Bathtub Markers sound fun for a children's birthday gift. But I would never think to give this to a spouse for Valentine's Day so that you can leave love notes in the shower. Kind of a fun idea don't you think? You can check it out here or order them here. Apparently they are hard to find in stores. But I haven't checked myself.

This would also be a very cute gift for a wedding shower.

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.

Rustic Wood Sign

This is a fun idea with endless possibilities. You can turn a piece of scrap wood into a fun, rustic sign. Paint the sign, trace some printed letters (or fins letters at Michael's), paint the letters with an angled paint brush (to get a nice edge on your letters), and then use a power sander to distress some parts more than others. Keep your eye out for some wood!

cake stand

You can make a one-of-a-kind cake stand...

with this. I found this great idea here. This cake stand is made with thrift store items: a candlestick spray painted and a plate. Put some E6000 glue or silicone sealer around the top of the candlestick and then glue it to the center of the bottom of the plate.

Movie Baskets

Give the gift of a fun family movie night or date night with this movie gift basket found here. I have seen movie popcorn boxes at the dollar store. Use floral foam or Styrofoam to stick your skewers into and then attach the items to your skewers (she used hot glue) and stick in the foam. Items to include could be: popcorn, movie candy, and hot chocolate.

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!

Window Art

This could easily be a free gift. Here is a great alternative to vinyl if you are looking for a nice, clean look. I found the idea here (great tutorial) via here. Basically you type out anything you want and then open your image in Sumo Paint (a free download) and flip the image and print it out. Then tape the image face down on the front of the window or glass exactly where you want it. Flip the glass over and paint the letters with acrylic paint.

In the free section of Craigslist and also on freecycle you can look for vintage windows and glass pieces that won't cost you anything!

I would love to see what you come up with. Email me your pictures if you do this gift idea.

Bath Salts

Put a few tablespoons of this in your bath to make your skin soft and yummy smelling. I also used a little to wash my hands and it was wonderful. Here's how to make this gift.

Bath Salt Ingredients:

Epsom salt

Sunflower or Vitamin E oil

A tube of your favorite scent (found in the candle-making aisle of the craft store)

A glass container with a lid (check the dollar store)

food coloring

Before mixing, pour the salt into the container that is going to be used and then dump it into the mixing bowl. This helps with not getting too much or too little salt to fill up the container. Remember to leave space to close the lid.

Once you have the right amount of salt measure it and then add half of that measurement of Sunflower or Vitamin E oil. Example: 2 cups of salt and 1 cup of oil. Then mix the salt with the oil for a few minutes in a bowl.

Add the scent. For this cucumber melon jar pictured above 8 drops were put in to start, but then 6 more drops were added to give it a stronger smell. It really depends on your taste and the intensity of the scent you are using. Mix for a few minutes.

Then add food coloring. Since a light green color was desired for the cucumber melon about a 1/2 of a drop was used. (A whole drop was put in and then half of it was scooped out with a spoon). If you want to make a color by mixing the food coloring try mixing it first and then add it to the salt. The colors didn't seem to blend well with the salt and oil, maybe because the coloring is water based.

You could try printing your own design label with the name of the scent and directions for use. and attach it to the container. Bath salt are not recommended for pregnant women or children.

Thanks to Ali for the picture and Hollie for the idea.

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.

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.

Gift of Organization

If you need a gift for someone who enjoys being organized or would appreciate help being more organized (or in my case, BOTH) then check out houseoforder. Marie Ricks of House of Order is a professional organizer and has some great tips and products. Some of her products include books on organization, meal planning guides, family/personal information organization, and cleaning house organizers for all ages. And they are all very affordable. She also has organizing helps for getting out of debt, moving, keeping track of the best grocery prices, planning weddings, and planning for the holidays.

She has some free downloads available on her site as well as her products. Some of my favorite products are the Stay-At-Home Housecleaning Plan cards and dividers, the Teaching Children to Work Packet, and the Fast/Deep Clean cards.

Hand Soap Art

This is one of my favorite gifts! It is so easy. All you need to do is buy a hand soap bottle from the dollar store and remove the labels (front and back) with rubbing alcohol or goo-be-gone. Then you draw or print whatever you want. You could even have a child draw a picture for Grandma or a teacher. Take it to the copy store and get a transparency made. Then cut out the design and roll it up and stick it in your soap bottle making sure that the design is facing the front of the bottle. Use a skewer or something that will fit in the bottle and straighten out the transparency and scoot it to the front of the bottle (so that the dispenser can fit back in there).

If you want some help getting started here are a few free templates I have made

Got Soap? (one font). For either short, square soap bottles or tall skinny ones.

Got Soap? (with different fonts). For either short, square soap bottles or tall skinny ones.

Clean Hands Includes page for short/square bottles and page for tall bottles. You can personalize the "clean hands" template by adding a family name (like the picture above) or leave it off and have a more generic gift on hand.

ABC's For tall bottles only. You've gotta sing your ABC's until your hands are clean, right?

Other Variations:

You could also try editing a cute photo at picnik.com. Create a pencil sketch and copy that onto a transparency.

If you want to add a border around your piece of art you can find some great ones here.

Hint: Using foam soaps, hand sanitizers, or colored ink unfortunately won't work.

Simple Dry Erase Board

The original idea came from here but this is a slight variation. This one is made with patterned paper instead of fabric. All you need is a picture frame with glass. Behind the glass put any pattern paper you like (make sure it won't make your writing too hard to read - a small and/or light pattern seems to work the best).

The glass becomes your writing surface. Just use a dry erase marker on it.

Fashionable Cork Board

You can find a great tutorial here for dressing a regular old cork board. Don't have fabric? Try paper.

Tile Coasters

Tile is so cheap! These tiles were 34 cents each at the hardware store. You can get 20 cent ones that aren't distressed on the edges. Martina made these using felt sticky-back round pieces (40+ pieces for $5.99) on the back and Stays-On (around $8) ink stamped with a rubber stamp on the top of the tile. She also sealed in the ink with some mod podge once it was dry. The dark brown one was smeared with Stays-On and then embossed. Don't they look classy? I love the stamp she used.

You can also use flat pieces of felt glued on the entire back surface of the tile. Overall the start-up cost for this project is a little much, but once you have the Stays-On ink and the felt pieces you can make a lot of tile coasters.

Handmade Cloth Napkins

I can't afford to buy cloth napkins but it would be fun to have some for special occasions. Here is a great tutorial for 2 different styles of napkins that you can sew yourself. Watch for sales on fabric or remnants!

Established Blocks

I love wood blocks. Besides the look I also like that they are durable with kids around and any "distressing" they do only add character. Here is a great idea for a newly married couple or a 50th wedding anniversary and everything in between. If you don't have access to your own vinyl letters or want to buy them you could print out letters in any font, cut the letters out, and trace the letters onto the blocks.

Hint: Before you print out your letters select the text, right click and select "Font" and then check the box that says "outline." This will save on ink.