Valentine Candy Arrangement

February 4, 2016 by Chandra Leave a Comment

Where is January go? It’s hard to believe that February is here. I made a simply, easy and cute candy valentine arrangement to brighten up the month. My kids love it and think that every arrangement should be candy-forget the flowers! Everything is from the Dollar store so not only is this candy arrangement cute, it’s also easy on your wallet.

I used sixlets candies in a glass jar to hold the arrangement in the jar. The candies were pink, red and white and were the perfect base to build the arrangement around. I stuck with similar colors (pinks and reds) and themes (hearts) for the candy.

For the items that didn’t have a stick attached I used pipe cleaners and bamboo skewers to make a stick that could be used in the vase.

My children love the arrangement but they can’t resist nibbling on the candy so it won’t last long!

Simple DIY Headband Organizer

September 25, 2015 by Chandra Leave a Comment

Do you have a pile of headbands that looks something like this? Well we do…we did! My daughters are at ages where they don’t always want a bow in their hair but they want something to dress up their hair so we’ve been turning to headbands. The box that we kept the headbands in was OVERFLOWING and a jumbled mess and I had to come up with something to keep them straight.

I made a simple ribbon organizer and used the straight stitch on my sewing machine.

This is a great craft for a beginner sewer. Here’s how I made this!

Supplies-

Grosgrain ribbon-use what you have unhand or buy 2-3 yards depending on how many headbands you have to organize. I used 2 varying widths. I used a 1 1/2″ width for the background and a 1″ width for the holder
Belt loop-This is to hang the holder once complete. You could easily substitute a hair elastic and get the same outcome.
Sewing machine and coordinating thread-You only need the basic straight stitch so minimal skills are required. I haven’t tried a ‘no-sew’ version but I expect it’s possible to glue with fabric glue. It would just take more time and definitely more patience!

How To-

Determine how many headbands you have to hang. Each loop will hold one-1″ headband or two-1/2″ headbands
For this headband holder my loops are each 3″ and I have 2″ between each loop. I first left space (5″) at the top of he ribbon to attach the metal ring that is used to hang the headband holder.
Mark the ribbon every 3″ and then 2″ for the entire length of the ribbon. Make a small mark that won’t be seen or use a disappearing ink pen.
Pin together each of the 3″ segments and then sew a straight stitch to make the loop.
Once all of your loops are attached attach the metal d-ring (or elastic band) to the top by looping the ribbon through and stitching down.
Finally attach the larger background ribbon to the loops. I pinned the two ribbons together and stitched on the edge of the smaller ribbon the entire length of the holder. Every time I got to a loop I’d raise the need and adjust the ribbon to avoid stitching down the loops.

This certainly helped up organize our headbands and it’s much easier to pick out which headband to wear each morning!

I’d love to see how yours turned out.

Favorite Advent Calendar-Perfect for Young Children

November 19, 2014 by Chandra Leave a Comment

My girls are already talking about Christmas activities and one of their favorite activities every year is the advent calendar! We have several in our house every year. This one is by far the simplest and my favorite of all! Clara made this in preschool last year and I loved it so much that I had to keep it. We will be making a new one over the Thanksgiving break for this year!

This is perfect for children of all ages. Each day a star is added to the night sky.

Advent-calendar-add-a-star-a-day

The stars in the sky help countdown until Christmas day!

When you are out of stars you add baby Jesus to his cradle and it’s Christmas day! Do you see what I mean about simple? This is a perfect calendar to reinforce the real meaning of Christmas!

To make one yourself here’s what you need:

1-ribbon or wire to hang on door (about 8 inches)

1-11×17 piece of blue construction paper

1-yellow star (this one is about 3 inches wide)

4-wooden tongue depressor (for the manger)

2-popsicle stick (for cradle)

1-baby Jesus cutout (this one is made from brown, purple and tan construction paper)

24 star stickers

Glue, tape, marker

Attach the wire/ribbon to the top of the construction paper so that it will hang on door.

Number the night sky from 1-24

Use the tongue depressor to make a manger and glue large star on top of manger.

With the small popsicle sticks make a cradle to hold baby Jesus. Make a baby Jesus to use for Christmas day that will fit within the manger. Print the below saying to get started!

Each evening after the prayers are said, add a star and jump in bed. When all the stars are in the sky, place Jesus in his bed to lie. Baby Jesus in the hay, means that it is Christmas day!

I hope that you enjoy this quick Chrismas activity!

Easter Treat-What to do with leftover Easter candy

April 22, 2014 by Chandra Leave a Comment

Did the Easter bunny visit your house and leave WAY too much candy? If you are looking for a cute and yummy way to use up that candy try making some easter bark!

I happened to see this post by Sweetapolita where she made the most adorable easter bark. I was looking for something cute and simple to make and hand out to people for easter and knew this was what I’d be trying. As Sweetapolita mentions, you should take the time to temper the chocolate so that the finished product is pretty. It really doesn’t take much extra time and it makes the finished product ready for gifting!

Making chocolate bark couldn’t be easier:

Melt (temper) chocolate. If you want 2-toned chocolate like I did then you will melt chocolate as well as white chocolate.
If you want to color your white chocolate then make sure that you have food coloring that is meant for chocolate. I used one by Wilton and it worked great.
Pour the chocolate onto a cookie sheet that is lined with silpat. If you don’t have a silpat sheet then you can use parchment paper. You just need to make sure you have a surface that the melted chocolate isn’t going to stick to.
Next pour the colored chocolate on top of the first and swirl (a toothpick or skewer works great).
Add candies of your choice and allow to harden.
Break into pieces, package and serve!

Now go gather up that leftover candy and make some of your own!

Birthday Countdown!

April 8, 2014 by Chandra Leave a Comment

I don’t know about you all but in our house birthday’s a big deal! Our kids LOVE anticipation and the countdown process. I try to get the kids involved in the process-they love being craft as much as I do!

Abigail turn 7 on April 15th so we are in full countdown mode! Here is the countdown that she created this year. The first thing that we do each morning is tear off a number to see just how many more days remain until the big birthday!

Here’s one more idea for a birthday countdown that we used last fall when my husband turned 40! I don’t know if he had fun counting down to his birthday but the girls sure did!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss: Celebrating with a school parade!

March 2, 2014 by Chandra 1 Comment

My oldest daughter is in the first grade this year. One fun activity that the first grade does every year is to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday! The first graders have a parade for the kindergarten students. At the end of the parade the first grade students either read or tell about their favorite Dr. Seuss book.

My daughter chose Green Eggs and Ham and we had a great time making her float! The most time consuming part was figuring out how to make a float that represented the book. One trip to JoAnn’s and we were able to put this together. We found green and white sticky felt and a styrofoam cone and we were on our way to the finished product!

I happened to stumble upon some Dr. Seuss fabric at my favorite local fabric store, Textile Fabrics. Abigail has been asking me for awhile to learn to sew so she helped me whip up this simple skirt! She was so proud to wear something that she made!

The Daily Dabble

Cook, Create and Celebrate