Homemade Christmas: Goody Bags- Kool-Aid Play Dough Kits

As part of my Homemade Christmas series, I wanted to make the Goody Bags for Big Sister's classmates a kit for something they could make at home.  Big Sister has loved making her own Play Dough for years.  At first, I was intimidated by it, but when Prince Charming banned the real thing because of its awful stench, I had to come up with something else.

The Kool-Aid ones are non-toxic, edible, and smell great.  They last in an airtight container up to 3 months, and you have all kinds of color options!

I will share the printable I created for the Goody Bags tomorrow, but for today, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup salt
1 Pkg unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tbs oil

Directions:
1.  Mix flour, salt, and Kool-Aid until blended.
2.  Add oil and boiling water, mix with spoon until cool enough to knead.
3.  Knead by hand until color is blended.
4.  Store in air tight bag or container in the refrigerator.

Tutorial: Laminated Cotton Tissue Holders

 I make these for Big Sister's teachers each year.  I use laminated cotton since it is easy to wipe off- you know germs and such.   This year I am using a favorite Michael Miller fabric- Dick and Jane!

Step 1:  Trim to 5 1/2" x 8".

Step 2:  Fold over twice and iron each 5" end (be sure to use a scrap piece of cloth).

Step 3:  Sew hems.

Step 4:  Fold each end into the center serge or zig zag edges.

Step 5:  Sew sides 1/4" from the ends to strengthen stitching (see contrasting brown thread in picture).

Step 6: Turn each side right side out, pushing corners out firmly

Step 7:  Fill and Give!

I also sell these in my etsy shop- Lila's Bowtique

Tutorial: Quatrefoil Homework Station

I picked up this cute little wood box from Hobby Lobby for $5.99.  It has a turntable under so it spins! And with a little bit of spray paint and vinyl I turned it into a homework station for Big Sister. 

I should have sanded it before priming, but I will know better next time!

This green really isn't sea foam green- it's more like a dark celadon, but it's 107 degrees here so I won't take the time to make sure the settings are right on my camera.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

So, that's 1 coat of primer, 2 coats of paint, and 2 more coats of clear sealant.  I played with my cricut a bit, and cut out a cute little quatrefoil design in white vinyl (I used the Elegant Cakes cartridge).  And here's the finished product all packed and ready for the new school year:

I kept pencils and crayons on one side, scissors and glue on the back side, and her home reading book in the middle!  I just love the quatrefoil design, and Prince Charming has even agreed to make a stencil so I can paint the backs of the shelves.  This whole time I was trying to figure out how to do the white on top of the yellow, but he says, "Why don't you paint white first and just stencil the yellow on?"  Brilliant!  The colors in our kitchen are yellow, green, and orange.  One day I will show you the whole room, but for now you will just have to get bits and pieces!

Tip:  When using spray paint, save your manicure by wearing rubber gloves on your spraying hand.  For some reason I always end up with a bit of spray paint on my trigger finger!

Tutorials: Linky Tip #1

I am pretty new to the blog world, but I LOVE Link Parties!  I love to share my ideas (don't we all), but I also love to check out all the amazing things everyone else does!  After several weeks of linking up, I had a mess on my hands.  Finding the link I wanted to use typically meant scrolling through lots of links from the week's past.

Before

Does this look familiar?  Getting rid of all those old links was really easy!  Just mouse over the links until you find one you want to delete, select it as if that is the one you are linking to in the party, then click inside the url box anywhere, press your down arrow (that link should come up again), and press delete!

It should look like this before you press delete!

Rinse and Repeat until all you are left with is the links you are currently sharing!

After

The steps are pretty much the same if you are using Linky Tools.

Before

After

This tutorial was created using Firefox.  The steps may be different in another browser.  Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

Tutorial: Giant Pinwheel

So this is a pretty simple concept, and just about everyone has made a pinwheel at one time or another, but I thought I would share how I like to make a pinwheel.

Materials: 

12" x 12" Scrapbook Paper

CD

Straight Edge

Long sewing pins- make sure it has a round head on the end

Pencil with eraser

Wire Cutters

Hot Glue

1.   Select a piece of  two-sided scrapbook paper.

 2.  Put a cd in the center of your sheet of paper (it doesn't have to be exact, just near it), and mark 4 small lines in line with your corners.  Read the next step and you will understand this better.

3.  Line up a straight edge from  one corner to the next and draw a line from the corner to the marks you made in the last step.

4.  Cut along the lines you have drawn.  Remember to stop at the marks you made in step #2.

 5.  Insert your pin about 1/2" from each corner working your way around the paper.

6.  Once you have all corners pinned, line up your pin in the center of the paper, and push it all the way through.

7.  Push your pin through the eraser of the pencil- be very careful not to push your thumb against the eraser, your you will have a pinwheel attached to your thumb!

8.  Cut off the excess pin on the back side.  and pull the pin back just enough that you can't see it sticking out.

9.  Put a dot of hot glue on the back of the eraser when the pin made a hole.  This will keep the pin from poking through and hurting your little ones!

10.  Sit back and admire your Giant Spinning Pinwheel!