Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub

Previously I posted the lemon scrub I made.  Since they were going to be for holiday gifts, I figured I would make a sweet flavor to go with the bitter lemon as a "gift pkg".    After all there is nothing better after these winter months, than a good sugar scrub to get all that winter dry skin off before swimsuit and sandel season!

I went with the Brown Sugar recipe I found here then added some vitamin E oil for the skin benefits.

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup-3/4 cups olive oil

1-2 tsp of vanilla

1 tbspVitamin E Oil

Mix dry ingredients together in bown and gradually add wet ingredients in the order they are given.  Work it together with a spoon until it all looks the same.   If too dry add more oil.

Like with the Lemon Scrub - I used the small Ball Jelly Jars, mainly because I think they are cute and then also because they are the perfect size for this type of gift.

I put a cute tag on the top with the ingredients and directions. 

Then I just stacked it with a lemon one and tied with ribbon for gifts.

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix & Peppermint Stix

I found these cute jars in my closet and had to find something to use them for.  Christmas seemed like the perfect opportunity so I set out in search of the mystery item I would put in the jars.

After many nights on pinterest and sorting through my boards, I settled on homemade hot cocoa and peppermint stix for my neighbors / family friends. 

 

I got these adorable peppermint stix at CrackerBarrell last month (of course they were at the counter - where you can't resist but buy the junk just staring at you as you check out).

For those of you who don't know what CrackerBarrell is - you are missing out!!  It is a restaurant with home cooking, generally an older crowd and an amazing fun gift shop at the entrance to browse before and after you get your grub on!

I melted some white chocolate and dipped the end of the sticks.  While they were still wet, I added some sprinkles and let them set in the fridge on wax paper.

During my Christmas grocery shopping I found these adorable Mallow Bits by Kraft.  Since I knew I was making hot cocoa, I HAD to get these, because who doesn't like mini marshmallows?? 

See...it was a necessity!

To Make the Cocoa, I used a recipe I found at penniesonaplatter. 

It turned out so good and was amazingly creamy and rich.  Here is the recipe:

3 cups nonfat dry milk powder

2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients into a large bowl. Pour half of the mixture into the bowl of a food processor and process until the chocolate is finely ground. Transfer to an airtight container, then repeat with the remaining mix. Store in the airtight container for up to 3 months.

To make the hot cocoa drink, mix 1/3 cup of the cocoa mix with 1 cup hot milk.

Here is the finished gift!! 

 I tied the peppermint sticks in a cellophane bag to the jar with preparation directions on a tag. 

Personalized Tile Coasters

Some friends and I decided to have a DIY party to make a few Christmas gifts this year.  We settled on tile coasters as the project and set out to purchase everything in October.  Yes, I said October.......we are proactive like that........except that we didn't actually get together to make them until December 13th...ugh!

In order to make them we purchased some travertine tiles from Home Depot. 

 They are only $3.67 for a 9 pack so we bought a few to make it an even group with sets of 4.

We got the stamps online and at JoAnns (Fun full page ones for every other tile and then some cute flourish ones with small letters.  We opted for the clear cling stamps so we could see what we were doing during the process, but any stamps will do!)

This is the H on the small acrylic block

 (upside down for some reason - I guess I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing).

Here is my finished product of my 4 sets of tiles.

After stamping with StazOn stamp pad that uses permanent ink, we rubbed a layer of finishing wax to seal the tiles and prevent condensation from cups to soak in.

Also, small felt pads were put on each corner of the bottom (I forgot to take a picture of that part).

We then tied them up with some red tulle (for a little flair)

To finish it off, I made tags for each set that said "We hope you COAST through the holidays with Faith, Joy & Cheer.  Merry Christmas - The Hawkins"

I really loved the way they turned out and I can't to make more for other occasions that may come up where I am in need of a quick adorable gift!

We got the idea from the adorable Huckaby's Happily Ever After blog. 

You can view her original post HERE.

Tupperware Cabinet Makeover

I forgot to take the before picture but we can all agree that it was a disaster!!! 

 I had Tupperware (some of the actual brand but most was a mismatch of types) everywhere and falling out every time I opened the doors.  It got so bad that when anyone else unloaded the dishwasher they would put up everything BUT the Tupperware and just leave it on the counter for me to "figure out" where to put it in the cabinet. 

I saw this great idea to line the cabinets with peel and stick tiles on Family Handy Man and then The Container store had the Elfa sale going on before Christmas so I decided I had enough with the awful Tupperware cabinet and I was going to do something about it.....now.

I got the peel and stick tile from The Home Depot.  I didn't go crazy and spend more for "cute tile" but instead picked one of the cheaper ones (since it was going in my cabinets) but still decent in appearance (not the ones that looked like 1960's brick flooring).

At only about $32 a box of 45 it was a good deal and worth every penny.

My Awesome husband installed all the tile and said that it was super easy since he could just use a box cutter to make the cuts and it was easier to measure and cut to fix exactly as opposed to that HORRIBLE CONTACT PAPER, that never goes on smooth and then peels up after a day.

The tiles make it super easy to just wipe clean.

Next I went to The Container Store and got the awesome Elfa slide out drawers to make looking for the Tupperware easier.

Finished Product....I love it ! And - we are on our way to finish installing the peel and stick tiles to EVERY cabinet in the house.  Including the bathrooms...yay!!

I put all the containers in the bottom two drawers and then all the lids in the plastic pull out drawer on top.   I didn't want to waste that valuable room in between the baskets so I put the little items like my son's sandwich holders there (they fit great and stay out of the way).   All the big stuff and large cups went on the top shelf.

Lemon Sugar Scrub

This year I decided to try out the phenomenon of making your own body scrub.......ok, well maybe it isn't a phenomenon, but I have heard it a lot this year.  I figured how hard can it be??  I can try this out and I LOVE lemon scents in the kitchen  so I am going to start with that.

Guess what?.........

It turned out AWESOME!!  LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

Here is how I did it:

- Zest of 1 lemon

- Juice of 1 large lemon

- 2.5 cups plain white sugar

- 1 cup Olive Oil

- 1 Tbsp Vitamin E Oil

Mix oil and sugar together in bowl.  Add in the lemon juice and zest and mix again.  Then add in the Vitamin E Oil Last.  Stir together until well mixed.  Add extra oil if needed for desired consistency.

I put in these cute jelly jars.  It actually filled 6 of them with one batch, so it was pretty easy to finish up the dozen jars I got.  You could get some jars a little bigger and just use 6.

(I know, I know.......ingenious and you never would have thought of that, right).

I put a little tag on top with the ingredients as well as storage requirements. 

(It last 2-3 months if stored in the refrigerator.   Try to keep water out of it when using)

Now go get to scrubbin'................just kidding.  No seriously, scrub away!!

(I made my husband try this and even he thought it was amazing and made his hands really soft, although he will never admit it if asked!)

Here is a link to the template I made for the tags:
 https://www.dropbox.com/s/m15xw62ud49r4ss/Sugar%20Scrub%20Tag%20Template%20-%20Blog.pdf

Teacher Christmas Gifts

It's Christmas time...YEAH!!!  Craft and gift time for the teachers in my life.  My youngest is in preschool so we still do the teacher gifts (unlike my teenager who would just die if I sent gifts to his teachers in High school - although I am sure those teachers would like a little pick me up during the holidays also).

Drake's school had these sheets at the front desk with the teachers for each class and one for the office personnel that had info about them.  Stuff like their favorite colors, scents, food....etc.  I personally love this idea!!  I know some people don't want them to expect gifts by putting a "requirement list" out there but I would really prefer to give people stuff they like then just random junk so this is a phenomenal help to me!!

This year I used their favorite colors from the info sheets to put together a little foot care kit for the holiday.  I included a fuzzy pair of socks with coordinating nail polish.  For the teachers in Drakes classroom, I included some lotion and a gift card for some Mexican food. 

OK - I know that Mexican food is not "foot oriented" but who doesn't want Mexican food all the time anyway.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, don't judge!

 

I made these tags and printed them on card stock in the coordinating favorite color and then just attached to the plastic bags.  

The back had the name of the teacher and Drake's name so we could drop them off to each person even if they weren't at their desk. 

Here are some of the ones I made.....they were all different to fit each person.  

 

One of the teachers is a man so I did something a little different for him.  He loves Coke Zero and Reeces so we just made him a No Stress Kit for the holidays instead!   

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!!


You can download the .PDF  template here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6iv4k3u8gueygqw/Mistle%20Toes%20Tags.pdf

We Wisk You a Merry Kissmas!

Pinterest inspiration - little Christmas gifts for the neighbors/ teachers.   Wisk filled with holiday Hershey Kisses and a note that says "We Wisk you a Merry Kissmas"!!

Awe how cute - right??  I wouldn't mind getting this as a gift.

Thanksgiving Blessings Mix

I don't know about you  but I tend to be a procrastinator when it comes to all the projects I have to get done during the holidays.  These turned out great and saved me a ton of time!

 

 

 

We found these adorable printables from this site and made goodie bags for my sons class at Thanksgiving.  They came out wonderful and included stuff that kids really want to eat!!  Very easy since we used snack size bags and some cellophane bags for the teachers.  Great project you can throw together the night before a party at school. 

 

Superhero 4th Birthday

I LOVE birthday parties..........any parties are really fun to put together but birthday parties for little kids is exceptionally exciting because they get so excited for them. My son is no different! Drake was turning four this summer and I knew that we had to come up with something new and fun for the kids. Like last year we went with a swimming party at a local water park since it is his favorite summertime activity.........now to just figure out what the theme would be and how I would be able to incorporate it with water fun.

Like most 4 year olds, my son is completely into super heros!! He loves to dress up like them and wear his cape around the house as he saves the dog from villans :) So this year I went with the obvoice choice and decided on a superhero swimming party!

I started with the decorations and party favors. Red, blue and yellow seemed to be the obvious choice (everyone knows Superman colors). I decided to make capes for the kids out of towels so they could dry off with them after the swimming fun. Here are the towels I made for each child attending. I used red bath towels and cut off the ends to make them a little more fitting for small children. I then used a yellow and blue bath towel to create the shield and initial. The superhero towel was a premade beach towel that I loved with all Drake's favorite heros so I used that one for his special birthday cape.
Next were the decorations and "big kid favors". We have some friends who have teenagers and I wanted to make sure they had something since they were attending a 4 yr olds birthday party. To do this, I asked each of them what their favorite candy was and made these goodie bags from Drake. To add a little fun, I also made these tootsie pop super heros!!

These are the certificates for Super hero swimming school that each child received after the party.

The party was set up in the theme colors with their capes on the back of each chair.

Superman cupcakes that Drake helped me make. Using white cake mix, divide into three seperate bowls after mixed and then stir in red, blue or yellow into each bowel. Layer the colored cake mix into the cupcake papers to create a fun look when they bite into it.

I used a scrapbooking punch to punch out the designs I created and printed on cardstock.


He was a very happy boy!! Happy birthday my dear Drake. We love you :)

Teacher Appreciation Day!!!

For Teacher Appreciation Day at Drake's preschool I made these yummy treat baskets. They were Circle print ruffle bowls filled with triple chocolate bunt cake, pineapple raisin nut bread, cherry almond coffee cake and s'more kits.

I put tags on them that said "You Take The Cake - Thank you for ALL you do!" and another tag that has the poem "Why God made Teachers". Drake goes to a christian preschool so it was fitting to include a little prayer/poem to go along with them. And who doesn't need a little guidance and support of kind words for an afternoon pick me up?

Four kits - One for each of his teachers and then a larger one for the office staff and extra teachers in the break room................can't leave anyone out, everyone loves a good snack!
S'more kits - I used plastic treat bags and filled them with graham crackers, large marshmallows and Hershey's chocolate then I created a tag and printed on card stock to fold and staple over the top. Super fun project that makes a cute gift! The labels said "We Need S'More Teachers like you".

Luggage Handle Covers - How To

I found this great how-to for luggage handle covers on a blog called Little Birdie Secrets. Here is the link to her how-to lesson on making your own luggage handle covers: littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com

We are going to New Orleans this month and since my luggage is black I figured it might be fun to "spice" it up with a fun handle cover to make it easier to find at the airport. I know, I know.......for those of you non crafty people, you can purchase these................you are correct........BUT, you can not purchase ones that are this cute!! I love it and it took me less than an hour to make 4. Can't beat that! Have fun travel crafting!!