Showing posts with label Tutorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tutorial. Show all posts

Friday, June 15, 2012

M&M Boutonnieres


I wanted to do something fun and different for the men at church for Father's Day. Every year they give us flowers. I wanted to do a boutonniere but not with flowers. They all have a sweet tooth so I googled candy boutonnieres. I found lots of pictures of the finished product but no tutorials. I definitely couldn't afford the $20 price tag per boutonniere so, I decided to come up with my own way to make them and then share the tutorial with all of you. Each boutonniere costs $1 or less so it's really affordable and easy to make.
Supplies needed:
I bought everything at the Dollar Tree except the M&Ms and boutonniere pins.
1 Bundle of fake baby's breath $1.00
(slide the baby's breath and leaves off of the stems)
1 Bundle of fake flowers $1.00 
(slide the flower heads and leaves off and cut the stem at the base with wire cutters)
1 Roll of floral tape $1.00
1 Box of sandwich bags $1.00
1 Roll of Scotch tape
M&Ms $2.89 at Aldis
1 Roll thin satin ribbon at Wal-Mart $0.97
Box of Boutonniere pins at Wal-Mart $3.00
1/4 cup measuring cup
Scissors
Wire Cutters


1. Cut the zip top off of the sandwich bag

2. Add 1/4 cup of M&Ms to the corner of the bag

3. Twist the bag really tight

4. Secure the tight twist by wrapping a piece of scotch tape securely around it

5. Take the floral stem and gently push it through the base of the "flower." Be careful not to puncture the bag out the other side. It's easy to do. Get the stem as far to the top of the bag as you can. It keeps the "flower" from falling over.

6. Secure the "flower" to the stem with a small piece of floral tape and trim off the excess sandwich bag where the floral tape ends. If you've never used floral tape before the trick is to stretch it tight as you wrap. That is what makes it stick.

7. Cut between the leaves to open the closed circle. This will make it easier to wrap around the base to secure to the "flower."

8. Wrap the leaves around the base under the "flower" and secure with a piece of Scotch tape 

9. Take the baby's breath and slide it up the stem. Position it at a height you like it and secure with floral tape. Cut the stem with wire cutters at the desired length and wrap the rest of the stem including the end with floral tape.

10. Now add some ribbon and you are done!

I hope you find this tutorial helpful and if you have any questions/suggestions please feel free to contact me. I think these turned out super cute and I know my husband can't wait to eat his!

*I don't mind you making your own but, please respect the work I've done here and not take my pictures or tutorial to your own site. Please refer your traffic here. I'd do the same for you. Thank you!



Saturday, January 21, 2012

Homemade Hand Soap

I'm just going to come out and admit it. I am a pinterest JUNKIE! There are some amazing things to be found there. If you'd like to see what I'm pinning you can click on the red button to the top left of the page.

I have been looking for even more ways to save our family money. One thing that everyone does (or I sure hope does) is wash their hands.

Hand soap refills cost about $4.00 and that gets you a half gallon of store brand soap. Name brand is even more expensive. I have really progressed in the hand soap area. Originally, I bought the individual soap dispensers each time I ran out of soap. I wish I could go back and smack my young self for wasting so much money!

Then, I get a little smarter and started to buy the refill and fill up the individual soap dispensers. About a year ago I came across this tutorial; http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2010/03/homemade-foaming-hand-soap.html on how to make foaming hand soap from regular hand soap. Genius!! I had received foam soaps from bath and body works so when they ran out I added some of my refill soap to the bottom and then filled it the rest of the way with water. Shake it up and you are ready to roll.

Now, thanks to pinterest I have taken the next step in saving the MOST money on hand soap! I found a tutorial here; http://www.creativecaincabin.com/2011/03/diy-liquid-soap.html that makes 2 gallons of liquid hand soap for $1!!!!!! I checked out the tutorial to make sure it was something I could do easily. Remember your time is valuable too. This turned out to be the easiest thing ever to make. Plus, I am still going to use it to make foam soap so it will last even longer.

Homemade Hand Soap        This will yield 3/4 gallon of soap
Supplies Needed:
~ Big Stockpot or Pot (I bought a really cheap one from Walmart because I didn't want to use one I cook food in)
~ Whisk
~ Cheese Grater
~ 1 bar of Ivory soap
~ 4 cups Water
~ 8 cups Water





Pour 4 cups of water into the pot. Grate your Ivory and add it to the water. Turn the heat to high. Whisk until all soap is melted. Let cool completely. Then, add 8 cups water. Reheat and whisk until all melted again. Let cool completely and pour into storage containers.

That's it! I didn't do the full recipe because I don't have a big enough pot to hold 36 cups of water!

Total Cost was $0.33 for 3/4 gallon of soap vs $4.00 for 1/2 gallon of generic brand of hand soap.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Preschooler Picture Chore/Daily To Do List

Lil man is in a helping/do it myself stage. So, I decided to make him a chore chart. Since he can't read yet I wanted pictures. I looked all over the internet and couldn't find what I wanted. So, I got out my camera and took pictures of his world to make it more personal for him.











After I took the pictures I edited them and added text. I printed them out on our printer and then laminated them. It's the first step. I'm trying to decide what I want to do next. I am still short the "say your prayer" pic but, will have that soon. I would love to hear any suggestions.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Bath Tub Toy Holder

I am a big fan of the blog makeitandloveit. She had a great idea to make a mesh tub toy holder. We had a frog holder that we got off of Amazon. It worked great for a month or two. Then, the adhesive gave out due to the moisture in the bathroom. The other mounting option consisted of putting screws through our new tub surround. No way! So, when I saw her post I had an idea of my own. It is a no sew. We already use a mesh lingerie bag for Peanut's socks. It's great. You'll never lose a pair of those tiny socks again! Anyway, I bought another one at Wal-Mart along with a pack of 2 suction cups.
And this is what you get. Simple and easy and less than $5.

Trim a Lamp Shade

For this inexpensive project grab the desired lamp shade, a utility blade, pencil for marking, soft tape measure, and ribbon of your choice.
I placed my tape measure right above the trim. I made marks every inch. You can play with the spacing. Then, you take the utility knife and make vertical slits the length of the ribbon. Next, weave your ribbon in and out.
I did the top and bottom. I think it turned out pretty cute.
Here's the after pic of our bed area. I added red ribbon around the pics above our bed too. I still am going to make some fun pillowcases for our bed when I get some time. Our room looks totally different and I love the change. All together I spent less than $40 for the whole room. It will be closer to $50 when I make the pillowcases.