Tag: gift

Christmas, Craft Projects, Holiday

Painted Salt Dough Ornaments

Jessica Smith

Remember the salt dough ornaments from Sunday? Well, if not, let me refresh your memory.

BAM!

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Carrie, Amy and I made a bunch of these ornaments at our last craft night of 2012 and I hung a few on my tree right away. I also saved a bunch to paint. And, amazingly, I painted all of them on Tuesday night after work! I guess when no television shows are new it’s much easier to motivate yourself to work on crafts.

I broke out my Martha Stewart metallic silver paint that I used like a crazy person this summer (silver mirrors, silver chests, silver everything!) and a teeny tiny paint brush and started to paint different ornaments. I made three snowflakes out of the silver, adding ribbon to hang them on the tree by. I also painted a few with reds and greens. I painted a lot of ornaments last night.

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I accented this snowflake with red dots using the tip of a small nail head.

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Then I painted this little mitten. So cute!

I’d show more, but they are all gifts for people who might be peeking! You get the idea anyway.

One last thing… if the world ends tomorrow, nice knowing ya! 😉 Happy almost Mayan Apocalypse and happy Thursday.

Craft Projects, Graphic Design

Applesauce Labels

Jessica Smith

Remember all of that applesauce I made last month? Well, it’s getting super close to Christmas and time to give it all away. I wanted to jazz up my gift a little by making labels for the applesauce, so I designed a super cute red and green label in InDesign.

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I printed them out and started cutting each label out. I applied them to the jars in different ways, but the way I liked best was adding it to the jar with ribbon. To do so, I cut two lines on either side of the label using an exacto knife, then I slid the ribbon through these holes.

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I then put a few dabs of hot glue onto the back the label and placed it onto the jar, making sure to secure the ribbon with a dab or two of hot glue as well.

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Don’t the labels look great? I left a line at the bottom so I could write in the flavor of the applesauce before giving them to my coworkers for Christmas.

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Here’s one with a little bow instead of ribbon around the jar. These turned out adorable as well.

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Christmas, Craft Projects, Holiday, Quick and Easy Crafts, Wine Crafts

Holiday Wine Charms

Jessica Smith

I welcome today with open arms after yesterday’s tragedy in Connecticut. I was in a real funk after hearing about the shooting (rightfully so) and couldn’t quite snap out of it all day. Even though we had our holiday party at work and I got to come home to my hubby and my puppy, I couldn’t shake the terrible sadness I was feeling. I can’t even imagine what that town is going through right now and my thoughts are with them in this unthinkably difficult time. I am so thankful to get to see my little brother today and my sister and my parents… they are all getting extra big hugs from me for sure. Today is a new day and will most certainly be a better day, so with that said, onto a few happier things.

Today is my best friend’s birthday! Dana and I have been friends forever. Seriously. We were next-door neighbors when we were born and have been friends ever since. Sure, we were forced to be friends. But years of our parents making us play nice turned into a fantastic friendship that I know I’ll have as long as I live.

Me and Dana

Weren’t we cute? I’m on the left and Dana is on the right. And that’s my momma 🙂 She’s so pretty.

Dana and Me

And here we are today… Dana is on the left this time and has a lot more hair, but we are more or less the same.

Love you, Dana! Happy birthday.

And now onto the craft!

I’ve already shown you how to make wine charms, but did you ever think to make holiday-themed wine charms as inexpensive Christmas gifts? I hadn’t until this year, but as I was wandering the aisles of Michaels I Stumbled across holiday buttons and picked up a pack of holiday lights and cookie cutter buttons. Holy cuteness.

In case you forget how or simply missed the post on how to make wine charms, it is super easy. All you need are different charms or beads, pre-made hoop wire, and pliers. Add your beads and charms onto the hoop wire, then bend the end of the wire into a right angle so nothing can fall off. Put this bent end into the eyelet on the end of the hoop wire, and your charm is finished! Just make sure there is something obviously different about each charm so when they are used people will be able to remember which is theirs (although I never remember… oops.)

The first set I made were a Secret Santa gift for my coworker Julie. I made her a set of three wine cork ornaments and these wine charms to go with a nice bottle of wine. I used the Christmas light buttons and a few silver beads as accents to make this adorable set of wine charms. She really liked them and said she didn’t have any wine charms at all before! Sweet.

Holiday wine charms

Then I made this set of cookie cutter charms. The colors are all very similar, but each charm is very different: Heart, tree, gingerbread man, star. I have two sets of these and will be giving them out as Christmas gifts. Gah, they are so cute.

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All in all, these probably cost about $2 per set. So if you need an inexpensive gift, these are a great idea.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Hug your loved ones and make wine charms 🙂