Birthday Money Balloons

Here's another gift idea when you don't know what to get (especially great for kids and teenagers) ... a box of money-filled balloons! This particular one was for my nephew who was turning 14 at the time. The box was filled with 14 balloons and each balloon had $1 in it. My oldest son helped me put this gift together... here's a quick, little tutorial:

1. Roll dollars up tight. Secure with washi tape (or some other tape that won't be difficult to take off... you don't want it to rip when the tape comes off).

2. Stick the money in a small balloon (I used water balloons). These balloons were small and this part got tricky. I don't have a picture, but it helped us to put the opening of the balloon onto a funnel and stick the rolled up dollar in through the funnel, kind of stretching the balloon as we did to make the dollar fit.

3. Inflate balloon and tie closed. We have an inexpensive little balloon pumper that we used. It made it a lot easier to blow the balloons up. The one we are using came from Bed, Bath and Beyond a few years ago.

4. Decorate or write on the balloons if you wish, stick them in a box, wrap it up and you're good to go!

Have a great week!

Free Valentine Heart Printable Update + Pencil Instructions

I made these Valentine pencils about four years ago for my kids to give their teachers and the office staff at their school. They were a big hit with the receivers, and ever since I blogged about them, they have garnered a lot of interest. They are my most pinned photo on Pinterest, and my most visited blog posts are about the pencils. I wish I could claim credit for the original idea, but this was just my take on a similar idea I'd seen from someone else, who had also gotten the idea from someone else, and so on. Once I posted them, I started getting a lot of e-mails, comments, etc. asking for more details. I was also lucky enough to have a back-to-school version of the pencils I made featured in the September 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes and through CK on a local TV show, Studio 5. These are the ones that were published:

Back-to-School Rolo Pencils originally published in September 2010 in Creating Keepsakes Magazine.

After my original blog post about the Valentine pencils, I had so many people ask for instructions that I created a follow-up post with the instructions. After I posted the follow-up, I had several people ask about the heart I attached. The actual heart I used is no longer available, so I created my own that people could download and use. Having the original post, instructions, and free download spread across three different posts is confusing, so I decided to consolidate and put everything in one place.

Valentine Rolo Pencil Instructions

1. Cut a 3.5”x4.5” piece of yellow cardstock. Make score lines every 1/4 inch (the score lines should be parallel with the long side of the cardstock). Using pinking shears or decorative pinking scissors, cut a small strip off the short side of the cardstock. Wrap this piece around the Rolo’s, and use adhesive to hold together.

2. Cut a 3.5”x3/8” piece of pink cardstock. Wrap this around the top of the Rolo’s for the edge of the pink eraser. Trace the top of the Rolo’s on pink cardstock and cut out to get the top of your eraser. Stick this on top with adhesive.

3. Cut a 3.5”x3/8” piece of aluminum foil and adhere this around the seam where the yellow and pink cardstock meet. Use Glue Dots to adhere a Hershey’s Kiss to the bottom of the Rolo’s. This is the pencil point.

4. Tie a cute ribbon around the top and add a tag (free heart printable below). Give to someone you love!

Valentine Heart Printable

Click here or on the image below to download this printable sheet.

Other posts about these pencils can be found here, here, and here.

Feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment if you have any questions, and I'll try to answer them!

Scrap Paper Garland

I used to be a paper scrapbooker. Years ago. I still love to make handmade cards and other crafty stuff, but I don't really paper scrapbook anymore. Not in the traditional sense anyway… Project Life? Yes! Anyway, I have stacks and piles of scraps of patterned paper. This scrap paper garland is a great way to use paper scraps and pieces that probably won't be used for anything else, and it's pretty cute, too! It's super simple, so get the kids involved. My daughter loved working on this with me.

First, we tore the paper up into little pieces. No measurements, nothing precise… just tear. We used Elmer's glue thinned with a little bit of water (you could also use Mod Podge) and a foam brush to adhere the scraps to a sheet of white card stock.

I think the easiest method is to brush the glue on the paper (work a section at a time so the glue doesn't dry before you're finished) and stick the scraps to them. Overlap the pieces so that there is no white left showing. It doesn't matter if they aren't stuck all the way down because once the white paper is covered, you brush a thin layer of glue over the entire sheet.

Once the white card stock is completely covered and you've brushed a layer of glue over the top, let the mosaic paper dry completely before completing the next step.

Turn the paper over and trace hearts over the entire sheet (we used a cookie cutter as a stencil). Cut the hearts out and punch a small hole on each side.

Thread a thin string (or ribbon, yarn, cord, whatever) through the punched holes of each heart to create the garland.

We used our garland to decorate for Valentine's day. The great thing about this is it can be adapted for any occasion depending on the colors/patterns of paper you use and the shape.

Pinned + True | Balloon Garland

I love Pinterest. I have a lot of pins. (My Pinterest boards found here.) A.LOT. Obviously, more pins than I'll ever have time to attempt. But, I do actually try some of the pins I pin. I've created a board called Pinned and True where I can keep track of things I tried that worked for me. This balloon garland is one of them. It's so simple but genius. All you do is blow up a bunch of balloons and using a needle (careful not to pop the balloons) and thin string, thread the string through the tail part of the balloon. I don't really know what it's called, but it looks like a little tail, right? Anyway… genius, I tell you. No need for helium.

Link to the pinned idea: http://www.agirlandaboy.com/journal/archives/002791.html

My Favorite Gift Wrap

I've started buying this brown mailing paper from Dollar Tree, and I love to use it as gift wrap. You can find the paper online here, but there's a Dollar Tree close to me, so I just buy it there.

Image from DollarTree.com.

The thing I love most about it is it's like having a blank canvas. I can leave it as is, or pretty it up a little like I did below with doilies and letter stickers. Baker's twine is my favorite thing to use to finish it off. I love Baker's twine and can't seem to get enough of it.

The brown paper is going to be fun for Christmas, too. I just ordered 3 new spools of Baker's twine in red, silver, and gold… can't wait!

graduation and birthday cards

I just wanted to share a couple more tri-fold card I made. These double as a card and a gift because there's room to add a little $$ or a gift card.

Subway art: eighteen25 (the one shown above is last year's version, but they also have one for 2012)

Graduation cap: Haynay Designs

Subway art: eighteen25

Present: ScrapMatters Cupcakes and Candles Collab

Need a quick teacher gift? I think most teachers would love a gift card to spend. Eighteen25 also has a really cute teacher version of their subway art. Find it here. See the dance teacher version I made here.

quick gift

This is a great go-to gift we use for my son's tween-aged cousins and friends when we're either short on time or aren't sure what else to get. Most kids I know like candy and money! (You can see similar quick, go-to gifts here.)

Credits: Digital papers used for wrap and tag come from my Sociable paper pack. Ribbon is Offray, and scallop punch is Stampin' Up!

Just wrap a small stack of candy bars with a cute piece of patterned paper then with $1, $5, $10, ... (any amount!). Tie a ribbon, add a tag and you're good to go!

quick gifts

Credits
patterned paper: All My Memories; yellow ribbon, cardstock: Stampin' Up!; chipboard circle: Maya Road; metal letter: Making Memories; other: red and brown ribbon

Credits
cardstock, ribbon, string, ink: Stampin' Up!; dotted circle stamp: Close to My Heart; chipboard circle: Maya Road; metal letter: Making Memories

artist party

My daughter turned 5 in March, and she decided she wanted an art party. We had so much fun planning this party. She loves rainbow colors, so we went with bright, fun colors for everything. She and all her cute, little friends had a blast. Here are some of the highlights. (I took A LOT of pictures, so this is a pretty image-heavy post.)

The invitations using my Box of Crayons Printable Card.

The traditional birthday wall (banner created with my Pennant Banner Template).

Colorful buntings hung over our "art studio" (aka our kitchen table) where the girls painted.
Bunting created with my Bunting Template v.2.

We turned our home into an art gallery before the party with our own paintings.

Party sacks, water bottles, plates, and watercolors to add to their sacks to take home.

Aprons for the girls to wear while they paint and take home when they're through.
(Less than $1 each from Oriental Trading here.)

Water bottle labels with a spot to write names.

Paintbrushes, paints, and jars (for water) all ready to go!

The birthday girl.

Some of the creations of our budding artists.

Pin the nose on the clown. (No party is complete without Pin the ____ on the ____... right?)

Rainbow cupcakes. (Recipe found on Our Best Bites here.)

Brand new set of watercolors for the girls to take home with their aprons (total party favor cost for both the watercolors and apron was less than $2 each!).

Edited to add: Artist Party Printables are now available in my store at ScrapMatters.

1st Birthday

Birthday parties are one of my "things". I love to throw my kids a good birthday party. And yes, I probably spend way too much time in the preparation stages of the party, but believe me there are plenty of other things I don't do that make up for it! LOL But parties are one thing I like to do. My youngest turned 1 last month... I can't believe it! We had a family party and had so much fun. I had a lot of fun decorating for this one. I created all the printables using Little Boy papers and elements by Echo Park that were perfect for what I wanted. I created the templates for all of the items, and I'm hoping to find some time to make them shop-worthy, so stay tuned for that in the next couple of months!

Here's a collage overview of everything:



Some close-up shots:

Cupcakes, treats, and party favors

Birthday banner and cupcake table

"Sour cream" containers filled with M&M's

Party blowers (the kids loved them, the adults... not so much)

Water bottles (with a label spot for names)

Banner close-up

Birthday wall (I make a birthday wall of pictures for each of my kids' birthdays... they love it)

Baby's first cupcake :)

Yummy cupcakes

My daughter also had a birthday last month. We had an "artist" party, so I'll try to share the details of that one of these days!