Perfect Christmas Gift: Edible Coal

I think this is one of my favorite ideas of all time but the pictures don't really show the glory of it, so be warned and use your imagination.

My neighbors have had a bad week. They had to put their dog to sleep in the middle of the night, only to find out the next day that the landlord is putting their house up for sale and they have to find somewhere else to live. That is a rough week to me. They also have a good sense of humor and a slightly darker side than I do so I knew they would get a kick out of this gift.

What gift you ask? A bag of coal.. a yummy yummy bag of coal.  Here's what you need to make these pieces of coal:

You will need Dark Cocoa Mint Candy melts,
Black sanding sugar,
and Marshmallows.

I know black food coloring is in the picture but I wound up not needing it, so just strike that from your grocery list. You will also need straws or skewers and a glass of rice.

First melt your candy melts, following the instructions on the package.

Place your marshmallow on a straw or a skewer and roll it in the melted chocolate. Use a fork or spoon to coat the places that you missed such as the top and bottom and then scrap off any extra chocolate. Tap it on the side of the bowl to shake off more excess chocolate and then place the straw end in the glass of rice so that it can start to set up.

Don't let it harden, just let it set for a minute or two so that the weight of the sanding sugar won't pull the chocolate off the marshmallow when you dip it in the sugar.

when it's set for a minute or so, roll it in the sanding sugar to coat the whole marshmallow. You might have to use your hands to sprinkle it on the bottom, where the straw is.

Stick this back in the rice and let it set until totally hardened, about 20 minutes.

Now you'll have edible coal. My husband did not believe me that this was edible at first.

However it is edible, and delicious. It tastes like a fluffy Andes Mint. Yum. Seriously.

So now you have your coal, what are you going to do with it?

I put the coal in an extremely shiny Ziploc bag. Then I printed out the "Save Santa, Be Naughty" on white cardstock and attached it to the top of the bag. You can use staples to do this or punch holes in both the bag and cardstock and weave ribbon through the holes. Finally I made a loop on the back of the cardstock so we could hang it on their door and run.

This is the back:

Tonight Princess Goofy went and hung it on their door, knocked, and then we all ran away. Hopefully they enjoy the joke but not as much as they enjoy their treat!

Because I love you, here's the graphics that you can use to make your own. Just right click on it and save or if you do have photoshop CS and above and you want a copy of it in .psd format, just email me or leave a comment with your email address and I'll send it to you.

And remember.. Santa is getting old people. Be nice and save him a trip... by Being Naughty!

Handmade Gift Idea: Peg Dolls

My kids love Peg Dolls. Princess Newbie is constantly finding them around the house and walking around with them in her hands.

They are the perfect gift to give to little girls for Christmas or to stick in stockings. Last year I made them for my girls as stocking stuffers and this year I made these for my niece. I'm going to decorate an old wooden cigar box to look like a house for them and give it to her for Christmas. I think she'll love it.

You want to learn how to make them? They are super simple and anyone can do them.. yes anyone! even if you can paint. If you can make lines and dots, then you're good.

First you need unfinished man peg dolls from the craft store. They have women forms that are smaller and flare out at the bottom like a skirt. They are fine to use but I like these man dolls because they are chunky and much safer for little hands.

First paint all the heads a plain tan/ skin color. Then paint on the basic clothes. Don't put on any decorations yet, just paint basic bans of colors and with different necklines and the occasional scalloped hemline. We'll add the details when this dries a bit. If you let it dry then it is easier if you mess up a detail and want to paint over it again. Trust me, I know this.

These dry extremely quick so in no time you'll be ready to add the face details. It's best to do this using a wooden skewer or toothpick. Add two black dots for eyes and using a different skewer, draw a pink mouth. I dabbed a little pink on the cheeks using my pinky. I'm fancy like that.

Now using the same method of dots and lines using a skewer, add details to their clothes. It is much easier to use a skewer, no paintbrushes! If you really mess it up, just repaint the basic clothes again.  Not that I have ever had that problem!! OK.. just a few times. Like 20.



Um. I think these guys/ girls need some Rogain.

Much better.

Now for the last step... let's add a glaze to make them shine and preserve the paint.

I love this stuff. I could bathe in it, except that then I would be perfectly preserved. Wait.. can I buy this in bulk? This will make a ton of difference in the final product. The little mistakes will be much less noticeable and your peg dolls will hold up for a long time. There's a few of them that I found outside after a month or more and they looked perfect, thanks to this glaze. I found it at Hobby Lobby and I left the price tag on for you to see that it's extremely affordable. The little jar is all you need.

I found it's best if you paint the body with the glaze first, not the bottom, and then paint the head, using a knife or other sharp point to hold it still while you paint. You do not need to glaze the bottom. Pop any bubbles with a pin and check them every few minutes for drips.

Let dry for 24 hours and then you'll be ready to play.

Cute huh? What girl wouldn't like a few of these to play with?

Did you hear though?

There's a peg doll streaker on the loose. Hide your kids, hide your wives... or just hide your forgotten naked peg dolls.

Tutorial: How to Cut Burlap in a Straight Line

Crafts with Burlap are huge right now but have you ever tried to cut burlap in a straight line? Or have you ever bought burlap at the store and then got it home to find out that it is so jagged and misshaped that it is now too small for your project?

 Cutting Burlap with straight edges is easy, all you need is to know how to do it.  Start by finding the size that you need. This piece of burlap had already been cut so it did not have selvages (the woven edges) however, if yours does have it then you need to snip the selvage where you need to cut the burlap at on both sides of the fabric. Just make a simple cut that goes from the outside edge of the selvage all the way through it, stopping at the border between the selvage and burlap.

Now, at whatever length you need, find one string or thread of the burap and start to pull it out. Don't yank it because you'll break it, just pull with an even force.

 The rest of the fabric will start to buckle and gather, this is ok... just keep pulling.

Pull the string all the way out and then you'l be left with a channel that you can cut straight through to make an even cut.

Viola'. Now you have a straight line for your Burlap edges.

Most importantly, you can politely share this tip when having your burlap cut at the fabric store. It will assure that you and the peope that come behind you, always get home with the amount of burlap that you paid for.

Hostess Gift Idea: Scented Hot Pad Tutorial

I have a secret, not the same one from yesterday but a different one. This one I can tell you but I'm a little ashamed of it. I never cook thanksgiving dinner. Every single year we go to my aunt's for dinner. I don't even know how to make stuffing from scratch. I'll stick with crafting, you stick with stuffing and the world will be a happy place.

So today I'm sharing this tutorial with you for a scented hot pad. It's a great gift to take to the person who is hosting you for thanksgiving if you are not cooking yourself. Plus it's also a great gift idea to take to neighbors this coming Christmas. You can wrap it up by itself or put it in a basket with some tea bags and a small tea pot.

The best part is one that you can't see. This thing smells amazing, even Damion commented on it. Then when you add a nice warm dish to the top of it, the smell radiates even more and it's wonderful and homey.

So for this project you will need:
1 piece of cotton fabric - 3ft x 3inches
1 piece of flannel - 3 ft x 3 inches
uncooked rice
cinnamon oil or candle fragrance
plastic baggie

The very first step you need to do 24 hours in advance, so make sure you add that time into your equation. Take two cups rice and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon oil or fragrance and then sprinkle with actual cinnamon. Put in well sealed container and let stand overnight or for 24 hours.

When your rice is ready, cut your fabric into two strips that measure 3ft (1yrd) by 3 inches.  Lay the cotton fabric, right side up on top of the flannel.

Next fold the fabric over until the ride sides are touching and stitch a line along the edge.

After you sew one straight stitch, go back and use a zig zag stitch along the edge to prevent the seams from busting when you add the rice. If you have a serger, that would be the best option. If you don't zig zag the seams, you might regret it.

I plead the fifth as to how that happened.

After your seams are sewn, it's turn to turn it inside out. I used a coat hanger with one end bent to help turn the fabric to the ride side facing out.

Next you need to stitch one end closed and then start filling with rice. I did not use the full two cups of rice, you will just have to play around with it.

Then it's time to start the rollin'.

To start, measure about an inch from the end and make an indention with your fingers, moving rice out of the way. Now turn it back onto itself to start the spiral. Do this one more time for the next turn and then it should start spiraling easily.

I started the spiral and then went back with my needle and thread to start sewing it once I had it layed out. I used a needle and thread to tack it down to itself from the inside every inch or two so that it would hold the spiral shape. I also hid the seam inside the spiral.

Tack it from the inside and no one will see your stitches! Keep going until you get to the end and then stitch that down to finish your scented hot pad.

Now you can sit down and enjoy a nice cup of tea.

Remember to always store your scented hot pad in a plastic bag to maintain the fragrance.

Chalk Board Fall Leaves ~ Tutorial

I've been waiting to make something with homemade chalkboard paint for a long time. I had planned on doing pumpkins originally but then ran out of time before Halloween and decided to do more of a fall leaf theme with it. 

To make these chalkboard leaves you will need:
Chalkboard paint - either bought or made
paint the color of your choice
Eucaboard or some other type of hardboard with a flat smooth surface - can be found at Home Depot
Foam Roller
Fine grit sandpaper
jigsaw
Drill and bit

To start, make your paint if you are making it yourself.

To make your own you will need two tablespoons of unsanded grout for every one cup of paint.
All I had was sanded ground and I'm too cheap to buy a bag of unsanded grout (about $10) so I put the grout into a little pouch I made of loose weave fabric and tapped it onto wax paper until I had the amount I needed. It worked great, leaving the sand inside the pouch a nice pile of fluffy sand free grout on the wax paper.

Next I mixed the grout with one cup of flat paint.

Originally I wanted the color to be a dark cocoa brown but once again I was too cheap to spend money on paint so I used flat paint that I had in the garage and mixed in craft paint until I kinda had the colors I wanted.

Now you have chalkboard paint and are ready to begin the next step.

Take the eucaboard or hardwood and prime the whole thing with whatever light colored paint you have on hand. See how cheap frugal I am?

Then when the paint is dry, freehand leaf shapes or print out leaf shapes from online and transfer them to your board.

Now take your jigsaw and cut out the shapes, no manly men required. You can do it!

Those are not all my pencil marks on that leaf. My kids got hold of the pencil and went nuts, redrawing leafs to their hearts content while I wasn't looking. All this to say, before you start this project, lock all kids in the closet. I'm joking, I never lock them in the closet. That's what the bathroom is for.

Just kidding.

Now comes the fun part. You get to paint your leaf shapes!

I tinted all the leaves a slightly different shade of orange to make them stand out a little more.

Give each leaf two coats of paint and then sand it with fine grit sandpaper when dry.  Before you can actually write on it with chalk, you need to season it by rubbing chalk over the entire surface and then wiping it off again. Now you can write whatever message you have, or write thanksgiving blessings and change it each day.

Now use your drill to drill a hole in the stem of each leaf and hang with twine or rope.

My husband didn't realize they were chalkboard and asked me why I didn't spend more time on the words. Um.. because I plan to erase it and change it tomorrow? or in five minutes?

and here's how the look from the front door.

beautiful? I think so.

String Pumpkins: tutorial

When I was a little girl my mom used to make easter eggs using string and starch. This week I decided to try making some string pumpkins since you might think I was a little crazy posting Easter Eggs right now.

It worked great so I decided to share them with you. Do you want to make some of these?

Let's get started...

You will need balloons (one per pumpkin), white glue, water, foam craft brush or paintbrush, and crochet yarn. That's all.

I could only find a yellowish orange crochet yarn but I didn't let that stop me. I also found a fuzzy thread on clearance that I used on one pumpkin.

First mix glue and water in a 3:1 ratio. It should be like a thick soup.  Use the glue to coat the entire balloon surface.

Slowly wrap the string around the balloon.

 Keep wrapping, occasionally patting the entire surface of the balloon and string with more glue. You need to pat so you don't pull the strings off the balloon.

Keep going... until your balloon looks something like this:

Then hang it up to dry by tying a string around the balloon knot.

Now repeat to make more and learn how fun it is to take pictures of floating orange orbs.



If you want to make a fuzzy pumpkin than you need to complete all the above steps including hanging it up to dry. While it's hanging up, give it one last coat of the glue/ water mixture. If you look at the fuzzy string closely, there is one side that is actually fuzzy and one side that is just a braid. Wrap the braid side around the pumpkin several times but do not reapply any more glue because then you will glue down the fuzzys. Just do a couple of passes, don't go too crazy or it won't have enough glue to hold it. Let it dry.

Let all the balloons dry overnight and then using scissors, snip the top of the balloon by the knot. As the air leaves the balloon, it will pull away from the yarn leaving you a perfect sphere. Pretend you see a photo here.

Pull the balloon out of the top and you're almost done!

Now to make the pumpkin shape, just lightly push the top and bottom inside the sphere until you have a pumpkin shape. It should hold on it's own.

Trim off any loose strings, add a stem and a leaf.. and here you go...

You could also add a felt pumpkin face for halloween using tape and then gently remove it for thanksgiving. I love the double duty crafts.

Go make pumpkins! No dirt, watering, or waiting for months required.