Shift Mama

Easy Holiday Memory Ornament

Hands up all my busy mom friends with a stash of craft materials AND mementos from various family holidays.   Both of my hands are up.  I have a cedar chest full of assorted craft projects and supplies from many trips to the dollar and craft stores inspired by blog posts and pinterest pins showing cute and "easy" crafts. 

For today we'll focus on clear, empty, plastic christmas ornament balls.  Last year The Kid was really into emojis and we saw a really "Easy" craft post about making your own emoji ornaments.  All you needed were these clear ornaments, some yellow paint and a couple of sharpies.  The idea was that you open the ornament, pour in the yellow paint swirl it around, let it dry and then draw on the face.  Yeah...actually not as simple as it seems.  The paint didn't swirl or dry evenly, and drawing on the emoji faces??  Not as easy for a tween as one may expect.  So the project was abandoned after two sad attempts, leaving me with some empty ornaments to try and use.  

No problem though!  I also have a couple of baggies of sand and tiny shells and sea glass that have been hanging around from family vacations of the past.  So, I bring you a truly easy holiday ornament/vacation memory craft idea.  It honestly takes minutes to do - from start to finish.  Perfect for the busy working mom!

The ornament that I am making in this post contains some sand a few shell fragments from our vacation last year to Hawaii to celebrate the wedding of friends.  

Here's what you need:

• Empty ornaments
• Sand/Shells/Sea Glass/Pebbles whatever small bits that you (or more likely your kids) brought home from the last family vacation
• Sharpie
• Bowl
• Funnel, or folded paper to act as a funnel

Here's what you do.

• Remove the cap from the ornament and place the ornament in a bowl
• Pour sand from the baggie directly into the ornament - you can use the funnel or folded paper to help direct the sand if you want
• Add any small pieces (shell, rock, twigs etc) into the ornament 
• Place cap back on
• Write where the materials in your ornament came from and the year
• Clean up - and sand that didn't make in the ornament will be in the bowl making it easy to dispose of - you can make another ornament, add it to the garden/fish tank etc

All the Supplies for the Ornaments

 

Holiday Memories Ornament

 

Collection of ornaments from our last vacations, on display all year round.

A few notes:

 Of course please respect the location that you are at and don't remove any living items like shells with animals in them, whole shells that something could move into, coral from the reef, etc.  

The amount of sand we brought home was equal to the amount of sand that ends up on the bottom of our suit cases/floor of the rental car/hotel bathroom from rinsing bath suits out.   

If you want to display your memories all year round, keep an eye out for square bottom ornaments - they are way easier to display!

August Craft Challenge: Garden Solar Light Upgrade

It's the end of August already!  This summer went by in a flash and I definitely learned that creating posts through the summer (with schedules and deadlines) when I am working full time just doesn't happen  - that's why there is no July Craft Challenge Post.  To try and get back to into the swing of things and back to a routine here is a quick and easy garden craft.  I can't  take credit for this idea - I totally stole it from my mom - scroll down to see the light that inspired this post!

This one is so quick and easy that you can do it in minutes.

 Here's what you need:

• Empty jars:  I used a few 500ml canning jars (no lids)
• Glass pebbles
• Solar light tops

If you are like me you probably have several broken solar lights in your garden.  The light part works just fine but the post has broken,  leaving the light  just sitting on the ground.  This craft helps elevate the light - both in height and style! 

Covered two steps in one go: these glass pebbles were already stored in a mason jar!

The top of this solar light works, it just doesn't have a stand. A quick wash and crafty touch solved that problem!

Here's what you do: 

Fill the jar with the glass pebbles, set the light on top and place in your garden. Simple!  

If you want to get even more creative, try using different sizes of jars and placing them all in a cluster in the garden to really highlight a specific area - like a fairy garden or patio seating.  You could even switch up what is in the jar to use up different craft supplies. I have so many glass pebbles (where are they all coming from??) so used those, but sea shells, beads, rocks, small toys, or buttons could be fun too! 

One of my finished lights. This simple craft brings broken solar lights back to life!

The original! My mom's light that inspired me to make my own!

Happy crafting!  

Looking for some more garden ideas, check these out:

Make Your Own Garden Flags

Build a Fairy Garden

Upcycle Tins into Planters

Make a Bee House

From Scrap Fabric to Fairy Garden Flags

Last year were asked to review and write about Irish Fairy Doors.   It was so fun to watch the kid get really into gardening as we installed her door outside.  The only issue with where the door, and surrounding fairy garden, got placed is that it was smack dab in the middle of where our dog and the neighbours dog meet up to sniff and bark at each other through the fence.  So this year we moved her fairy garden to a safer, and larger, space.   I decided against letting her paint the fence in the new location though, instead opting to have her decorate with found items and some fun DIY garden flags. 

This flag idea tied in perfectly with the craft challenge that I am doing as well since it uses scrap fabric.  I pulled out some lightweight fabric (that I don't even remember buying), cut it to the size of flag I wanted, sewed a quick seam in, strung the flags together on some garden twine and let The Kid go creatively crazy with stamps and fabric paint. 

 

Setting up to cut the flags. I used this paperback as a template and left all the edges unfinished.

 

Sewing in the seam so that I could thread some garden twine though to allow them to hang. I went with a 5cm seam.

 

Don't cut the thread between flags - this will ensure the flags stay in place. Tie a knot in the end of your garden twine and put a safety pin in the knot to help you guide the twine through the seams for extra strength when hanging the flags.

 

 

Decorate your flags with fabric paint, sharpies, whatever you want! Hang and enjoy! Our flags say Peace on them (but it's pretty faint and hard to see).

 

 

She's already asking to do another set, when we get time to do another set of them I will look for different colours of fabric (or maybe have her help me tie-dye some) just to give the garden an extra pop of colour.  

This project took me about an hour from start to finish (from finding the material, setting up the sewing machine, cutting the flag size and shape, sewing, and stringing).  The decorating took quite a bit longer :)  This would also be a super fun birthday activity - whip up a quick set of flags and let the party goers loose to decorate and leave their mark on the birthday girl's (or boy's) fairy garden. 

Looking for more crafts?  Check out these other bloggers taking on this craft challenge year!

 Emily from A Pop of Red  

Megan from Make Something Mondays  

 

Carin from Eclectic Soapbox 

 

Martha from The Art in Martha  

 

Vanessa from Social Stampers  

 

Mary from Sew Much Love, Mary 

 

Jemma from Thimble and Twig 

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80's Birthday Party

Quick Herb Planters

It's the end of May already and that means it's also time to post my Stash Busting Craft Challenge craft.  The Stash Busting Challenge is a collection of bloggers who have committed to reducing the amount of craft stuff that we have accumulated over the years.  

This month I'm focusing on something I don't actually have lots of ( thanks to some decluttering before our last move) - "collectors" tins.   I'm not sure how these things get labeled as collectable, or why I have such a tough time recycling them, but I sure can't resist when something is sold in a good old fashioned tin, instead of a cardboard box.  

The idea came to me when I was talking to a coworker and somehow we got on the topic of these tins.  I'm slowly starting to recycle them or give them to The Kid to use in her sculpture/collage projects (she basically just glue guns stuff to any surface - like her desk chair for example).  I'm quote sure that we have all seen this done and honestly it doesn't need a tutorial, so we'll call this just an idea/reminder!

You are going to need some small tins, favourite potted herbs, potting soil and some small rocks. 

Although not a "collectable" tin, this maple syrup can makes the best herb planter!

First step is to put some rocks in the bottom of the tin.  This will help with drainage and hopefully prevent the roots of your herb from getting waterlogged.  You may also want to punch a few holes in the bottom to aid drainage,  to punch holes in, use a hammer and small nail and slightly hammer the nail into the bottom of the tin to make the holes.  

Next fill with potting soil, about half way.  Add the herb and then fill the rest of the tin with potting soil. 

Clean up the outside of the tin and set somewhere you can admire the cool use of the tin and pick herbs for your outdoor cooking! 

Cilantro and Parsley, planted and ready for BBQ season!

I split my herb plants up - putting half in the tin and planting the other half in the garden as well. I find in my area some herbs will come back the following year, either from self seeding or by regenerating from the root over the winter. 

 

DIY Retro 80s Glitter Bracelets

Alright my children of the 80s friends, have we all come to terms that 80s is now a theme for parties, events, and dress up days at school?  It's taken me a little bit of time, but I think I'm ready to embrace it, except for the 80 hair - that didn't work for me in the 80s so it's definitely not working for me now! 

A couple of summer's ago my daughter wanted to have a glow in the dark party and somehow that morphed a bit into 80s theme as well.  One of the things I wanted to make with the party goers were glitter bracelets but we just ran out of time, and I ran out of energy (and interest) in rounding up all the girls to make them do stuff.  As a result I had a bunch of materials hanging around in my craft supply cabinet so I thought it was time to get crafting and make some bracelets. 

In case you need a refresher on what Glitter Bracelets were/are, the internet has provided this picture of the popular 80s fashion item. 

Who didn't love these in the 80s?

To make your own though you just need to make a trip to the dollar store and the hardware store. 

At the dollar store: 

• glitter
• glue sticks for your glue gun 

At the hardware store:

• two different sizes of PVC clear tubing.  One size (smaller) is for the bracelet, a larger side is the connector piece so make sure it is just big enough for the smaller tube to fit inside.  You will also only need small amount of this larger size.  To decide what size for the smaller tubing, use your wrist to measure it - the smaller tube needs to circle your wrist.   note: pay close attention to the type of tubing you buy.  Mine says "not for use in ice makers printed  on it (hahaha)  

Other Supplies

• scissors
• glue gun
• funnel, or piece of paper 
• container to collect loose glitter 

Let's Get Crafty! Gathering the Supplies (OUTSIDE because glitter)

Let's get started!

The first thing I recommend is going outside, and covering your work surface with a table cloth or other covering.  Why outside?  Well, because of the glitter.  It's going to get everywhere.

Measure the smaller PVS tubing (using your wrist as the guide) and cut.  Using your hot glue pipe hot glue into one end.  Set aside and let that harden up. While you are waiting you can cut the larger PVC into small pieces (about 5cm should be enough).

 

Plug one end with glue, cut the connector prices while you wait for the glue to harden.

Once the glue plug has hardened, add the glitter.  We used a small piece of paper folded in half as a funnel type apparatus to get the glitter into the small PVS tube.  If you have a tiny funnel you can use that, or if you really don't care where the glitter goes, use a spoon to fill up the tube. 

You want the glitter move around in your bracelet, so don't pack it too full.  Real 80s glitter bracelets had water them.  You can try and add water if you want.  We didn't and the glitter still moves around in the bracelet. 

DIY Glitter Bracelets

Next pipe hot glue into the open end and let that dry and harden.  Once it is hardened use the larger PVC to connect the bracelet and create a loop. 

Finally - show off your awesome 80s fashion flair! 

 

Want to check out what some other bloggers are doing to use up their craft stash?  Take a look at these: 

 Emily from A Pop of Red 

Megan from Make Something Mondays 

Carin from Eclectic Soapbox 

 

Martha from The Art in Martha 

Vanessa from Social Stampers 

Mary from Sew Much Love, Mary 

Jemma from Thimble and Twig 

Folded Paper Keepsake Book

Another stash-busting craft post!  I LOVE buying scrapbooking stuff, but I don't love scrapbooking so.....I have a tonne of paper, stickers, embellishments and so on.  It's time to start using them all up.

 The perfect way to use some of the paper is by making simple keepsake books.  A few folds and some glue, and ta-da - a cute little book, with pockets (who doesn't love pockets!) to tuck away memories of special days. 

Here's what you need: 

• Scrapbook paper sheet
• 1 colour or type of card stock or similar thick paper 
• 2nd small piece of card stock or paper
• ribbon
• glue 

The inspiration for this is from a Culture Days activity that The Kid and I did one fall in St. Albert (I really miss the amazing things that happened in St. Albert!)  The book we made was large enough that the pockets held tea bags (such a cute idea for a mother's day gift).  Instead of scrapbook paper we used old maps - so if you want to make a bigger book just think of larger paper sources, like maps! 

 

The original folded book - this one big enough for tea bags.

 

Step one, fold your paper in half, long ways. 

Step two, fold the sides up about 1/2 way - this is how the pocket gets made. 

Step three , fold accordion style.  You should now have a folded square accordion - this is the inside of your book!

Step four, cut your card stock so that you have two pieces.  These are your covers,  so they should be slightly bigger than your accordion fold book. Glue the covers on.

Step five, glue your ribbon on the left hand side of the front cover, you'll glue about 15cm of the ribbon on the left, the ribbon end should stretch out on the left side, this allows you to wrap it around a couple of times to keep the book closed. 

Step six, glue the second card stock piece on top of the ribbon (to cover the ribbon)

Step seven, decorate that second piece of card stock.  Add your keepsakes, wrap the ribbon around and Done! 

 

Be sure to check out the other bloggers that are taking part in this Stash-Busting Craft Challenge!  Links to their blogs are below, they do some great crafts, but also do some other great stuff too! Be sure to check them out.

Host: Emily from A Pop of Red 

Megan from Make Something Mondays 

Carin from Eclectic Soapbox

Martha from The Art in Martha 

Vanessa from Social Stampers 

Mary from Sew Much Love, Mary  

Jemma from Thimble and Twig 

 

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Repurposed Stuffies - February Stash Busting Challenge!

A little preamble and apologies for not exactly following the "rules" of this challenge! The intent of the stash busters challenge is to create something new from all the stuff we have stashed in our craft cabinets/closets/boxes.  I had started out with the plan to do just that, using up extra fabric scraps this month to create some fun rice bags but then the project took on a life of its own!  

Our Finished Project!

 

We are huge fans of using microwavable rice bags to help soothe all that ails us - from sore muscles, to stomach cramps, to just sometimes needing a bit of extra comfort that comes from snuggling in bed with something warm.  We only have a few of them though and recently my daughter has started wanting to have one every night.  Which made me think that we should make some of our own and then to make them extra fun covers for them, but then my daughter got involved and the project evolved! 

 

Rice Bag Stuffies

 

We took some small stuffies and made them into fluffy cuddly rice bags. Here's how we did it: 

1.  Gather some small stuffies, look for ones that aren't complicated, no arms and legs that are stuffed.  Also be sure the ones you choose don't have any metal anywhere, including metallic threads or shiny glitter accents
2. Using your stick ripper open a small incision in the seam of the stuffy, make it just big enough to be able to remove the stuffing. Remove the stuffing and add it to your stash of craft supplies for later use! 
3. Using a small funnel pour rice into the stuffie, leave some room for the rice to move around but use enough to fill the stuffie up!  
4. Sew shut 
5. Voila!  A multipurpose rice stuffed stuffie - great to heat up and use for comfort, also awesome as a bean bag toy

Getting set to remove Grumpy Cat's stuffing

 

Filling the Rice Bag Stuffie

 

Want to add an extra bit of luxury to your rice bag?  Add some of your favorite essential oil to the rice before stuffing.   

 

Rice Bag Stuffie Cover

 

Sometimes bad things happen to favourite stuffies. Like the time my dog thought Perry The Platypus was a dog toy and Perry ended up with some puncture marks in the side.  We would have just patched up the holes, removed the stuffing and created a rice bag stuffie,  but instead went a different route. 

 

Using the area where the puncture marks were i cute Perry open on the side and removed the stuffing.  Because Perry has legs that were also stuffed I needed to sew up the holes of all the legs (to stop the stuffing from leaving).    I will also be using a whip stitch around the hole that I created to finish off the project and prevent the material from fraying.  

Sometimes there are weird things inside the stuffed toys.

 

Next: Make the rice bags.  

Using left over material I cut out a simple rectangle and sewed it shut on three sides, plus about half way on the fourth side  = this is a great intro to sewing project for kids as well.   Turn the rectangle inside out and using the small opening left (from not sewing the fourth side completely shut) fill with rice. Hand sew the opening shut and you have your very own custom made rice bag.  You can heat this in the microwave and the stuff it inside your hollowed out stuffy for a soft and cuddly heated rice bag! 

Still have some finishing work to do on Perry, but other than he is ready to go!

 

 

Be sure to check out the other Stash Busting Crafters as well! 

Host: Emily from A Pop of Red 

 

Megan from Make Something Mondays 

 

Carin from Eclectic Soapbox 

 

Martha from The Art in Martha

 

Vanessa from Social Stampers 

 

Mary from Sew Much Love, Mary 

 

Jemma from Thimble and Twig

 

 

 

 

Pony Bead Sun Catchers

I'm excited to be taking part in a new type of challenge this year, one that is hopefully going to get me using my creative brain to create some new crafts, or updated crafts, and help clear out my stash of craft supplies!  I've joined A Pop Of Red and six other bloggers to do a year long stash busting craft challenge.  The plan is to create something new each month with the supplies we already have in our craft stash. 

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of random craft supplies.  From half started projects, to left overs from kids crafts, guide crafts or other craft ideas there is a lot of stuff to use up!   

The January Project

For January I've taken on making sun catchers using pony beads.  We've probably all seen the cool Pinterest pins showing super colourful sun catchers and possibly you've wondered how easy is that really?  Well I have the answer! 

This craft is pretty easy BUT I highly recommend you do not do this inside your house.   I used a toaster oven in our garage (put there specifically for crafting, not put there to make toast while working in the garage....although that would be pretty awesome).  The fumes from the melting plastic are quite strong and they stayed for quite a while.  I am so glad I didn't use my kitchen for this craft. 

Here's what you need: 

• Cookie Cutters
• Pony Beads
• Baking sheet and tinfoil (you could also use a disposable pie plate) 
• Paperclips

Here's What You Do

1. Line your baking pan with the tin foil.  If you are using a disposable pie plate you don't need to line that was more foil. 
2. Decide on your shape, place the cookie cutter on the foil lined tray
3. To add a hanger for your sun catcher, slide a paper clip under the top edge of your cookie cutter 
4. Add your beads into the cookie cutter.  The beads will spread out as they melt so you don't have to worry about jamming the beads in.  I also found that it doesn't matter if you lie the beads flat or if they "stand up" they melt the same no matter how they end up in the cookie cutter 
5. Bake/melt in your 400F oven for about 7minutes
6. Take the tray out of the oven and let it cool. I found that about five minutes was enough time to have the ssun catcher cool enough to pop out of the cookie cutter, if you wait too long the plastic will stuck to the side of the cookie cutter and could break as you try and pop it out of the cutter.  

 

Sorting the beads is always my favourite part!

 

 

Paperclips make amazing hooks for the sun catchers.

 

Get colours and experiment with free form melting too.

 

Definitely use a heat source outside of your kitchen. This is my special crafting oven, situated in the garage so we didn't inhale plastic fumes!

 

Let the project cool a few minutes before removing the melted beads from the cookie cutters.

 

String a ribbon through your paperclip hook and hang in the closest window!

Check out this great clip from Izzy all about creating the sun catchers.

 

 

 

Looking for some more fun craft projects to help you use up stuff stashed in your craft cabinet?  Here are the other blogs taking part.  I think I am the least craft blog focused person in the group!

 A Pop of Red 

 Make Something Mondays 

Eclectic Soapbox 

The Art in Martha 

Social Stampers 

Sew Much Love, Mary 

Thimble and Twig

Chocolate Bar Holiday Sleigh

This craft has been around for ages on Pinterest and if I had any idea just how ridiculously easy it was to we would have made them years ago!   

You'll need: 

• 2 candy canes
• 1 Kit Kit or similar shaped bar: Ritter Sport would work for this too and make it fancier, just make sure whatever you choose is small enough that your candy canes fit to make the sleigh runner. 
• 6 Hersey miniature bars (want to make this super Canadian? Find the Hockey Puck Hersey Minatures and use those instead!) 
• 1 Santa or other chocolate figure
• 1 low heat glue gun and glue sticks
• ribbon or bow (optional) 

Choose Your Favourite Chocolates to Build Your Sleigh

Glue the candy canes to the bottom of your kit kat. Once the glue has set, turn the kit kat over and glue the hersey miniatures on.  The first later has three mini bars, then two on top of that, followed by the last one.  The final step is to run a line of glue along your Santa and lean him against the bars, or if you have a smaller figure you could glue it so it stands up on the sleigh.  Our Santa was too big for that.   If you want to add a bit more holiday flair to the sleigh consider sticking a bow on the sleigh or timing a ribbon around it.  

 

Use a Low Heat Glue Gun to Protect the Chocolate, and the Crafter!

 

Here's Izzy showing you how it's done.  It's so simple your Tween can do it! 

 

 

Great Gifts that Kids Can Make and Share!

 

Standing out from the Crowd: Tie Dye Race Shirts

We've all been there - your kid is competing  in an event and they really want to wear the shirt that the event has supplied, but you want to be able to identify your child in the crowd of kids.  How can you both get want you want?  

How about tie dying the shirt? 

I wish I could take credit for coming up with this brilliant idea but I can't.  At the Sunrype TriKids event in Kelowna I spotted a family of competitors  with tie dyed shirts and it was like a light bulb went off in my head - how had I not thought of that before?   Tie dye is so easy and quick to do, it instantly personalizes the shirt while at the same time lets the participant show their team/event spirit. 

We pulled out the tie dye kit that we had and gave tie dying a go.  We used a kit from Creativity for Kids, it came with everything we needed - three colours of dye, elastics, gloves, a plastic table cloth and apron to protect our surfaces.  The kit we have is similar to this one, but didn't have the spray bottles.  

It took us about half an hour to get set up and dye the shirts, and another couple of hours to let them dry.  Easily something that can be done right after race kit pick up and be ready for an event the next day. 

The kit came with three colours, and instructions on different patterns. We did the sunburst for the race shirt and The Kid went freestyle on a third shirt. Sunburst worked best. 

A race shirt that will definitely stand out! 

Sunburst Shirts - I'm looking forward to wearing mine.  I don't think I've ever had a tie dye shirt!

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