The random Number Generator selected comment #1, which was my real-life friend friend Korie using her husband’s account, so Korie & Jarrod, you are getting the Christmas print 🙂
Also, I have my own exciting news-today I won a blog giveaway for the first time! Someday Crafts did a give away of 2 crochet patterns from Jenny and Teddy and I won! I’m getting the bunny and the little girl named rose. Now to brush up on my crochet skills…
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.
Remember Colorforms? I loved those things as a little girl.
Then I saw these fabulous plates on At Second Street. And I was amazed!!! How brilliant.
I was inspired by her plate rubbings idea to create some personalized coloroforms for my kids.
These things are freakin’ awesome! (if I do say so myself)
It’s not a plate (because I’m that mom, the one who is less than thrilled about the idea of playing with food.)
It started with a piece of cardboard cut from the top of a box.
I covered in it two layers of canvas drop cloth, attached with Spray Adhesive.
Then I printed a picture of each of the kids. I put them in PicMonkey and used the “pencil sketch” option first to make things easier for myself.
I went over the main features with pencil using thick, dark lines.
Then I turned the pictures upside down and rubbed them with the blunt end of a butter knife. You have to rub really hard. When you transfer, the picture will be backwards on your finished product.
The rubbings were really light. (This is after I traced over them again with the pencil.)
I traced over them with a Sharpie Fabric Marker.
Then I cut sun glasses, mustaches, and bow ties, eye patches, etc. out of felt and had way too much fun de-facing my children…
If you liked this post, I would so appreciate your pins on Pinterest!
You might also like:
If you are wondering about the products I used in this post, just visit the Amazon affiliate links provided for your convenience.
I’ve been picnik-ing again.
This time I made a checkerboard print of the Three Wise Men.
And you can win an 8 x 10.
You are welcome to use this image for your personal crafting purposes, but I am also offering a free 8×10 print to one of you lucky followers. 🙂
Keep it for yourself or give it as a holiday gift.
Rules:
You must be a follower of Binkies and Briefcases.
You MUST leave an email address so that I can contact you if you win.
Open to US residents only.
To enter: (each comment is one entry)
Leave a comment about one of your holiday traditions
Leave a comment telling me you are a follower.
Don’t forget to include your email address in each comment.
I will order the print for the winner via Snapfish and have it sent to you.
I will leave this Giveaway open until next Monday, Nov. 22. I will announce the winner on Tuesday, one week from today.
Good luck!!
The winner of the Blueprint Giveaway was Michelle from That Mommy Blog! Congratulations! I’ll email you to get the address where you would like to have your blueprint sent.
I have no affiliation with Steve Spangler, I have just really loved his products for several years now. In my pre-mom life I was an elementary math & science teacher working with gifted children. These are, in my opinion, the best products on the market to make science fun for kids and they are also really affordable. I like to give them as Christmas presents, especially to kids to are in the awkward preteen phase where toys & clothes won’t cut it, but you want to give them a “thing” and not a gift card. Plus, I like to give stuff instead of money because a $5 bill doesn’t seem like a very generous gift, but I can buy something cool for less than that….ok, I’m rambling now. Just check out these awesome gifts that are all available on the Steve Spangler Science website for under $5.
Astronaut Ice Cream (freeze dried ice cream) for $3.95 makes an awesome stocking stuffer. I’ve given it to students during our units about the solar system and this year I’m giving this to my little cousins along with some Star Wars children’s books I picked up at our library’s book sale.
InstaSnow powder $4.95. I LOVE this stuff! (although it’s messy) I used this in my classroom every year in lessons about friction, polymers, and even part-part-whole addition. It is amazing!
Energy eyeball, $4.95. I’ve used this in lessons about closed circuits, but it’s also a cool stocking stuffer, especially for little boys.
Growing Alligator, $1.95. I’ve used these in lessons about measurement. The kids loved them, plus they are really cheap. It starts off small (stocking suffer size) and grows when you keep it in water. They even shrink slowly when you take them out of the water.
Individual test tube experiments, $3.95 each. again, perfect stocking stuffer size. I’ve given these as gifts and used some of them in my classroom as well.
I LOVE Steve Spangler’s stuff!!!!!
I also have his Ice Cream Ball, UV color changing beads, the Axle Annie book, and I’ve used the crystal trees in my classroom & worked with other teachers who have used the butterfly habitat, all with great success.
If I ever decide to home school my kids I will probably buy every product he makes-they are that awesome.
🙂
It’s my first give away!!!
Remember my Blueprint art work?
Well here is your chance to win an 8×10 copy of my blueprint.
(Frame not included)
Rules:
To enter
(each comment counts as one entry)
Don’t forget to include an email address in each comment! I need a way to get in touch with you if you win.
Winners will be selected at random on Sunday, 11/14.
If I get more than 150 comments I will choose 2 winners.
Good luck!
If you have never even touched a sewing machine until this moment, you can do this. I promise.
Remember how I told you Anthroplogie has a line of sweater skirts out right now?
When I saw them on their website (for a minimum of $98 each, no less) I had a serious Why didn’t I think of that?! moment. Here I’ve been making all kinds of stuff out of sleeves, I have desperately needed something to do with the torsos of all my re-purposed sweaters.
It’s so easy I’m almost embarrassed to post this as a tutorial. Almost.
The important thing is to find a sweater with a band at the bottom that is similar to your waist measurement. (A little bit smaller is better because it will stretch. If it’s a little big just belt it.) This one is a men’s medium and I picked it up at Goodwill today for $4. It’s important to use a men’s sweater because it gives you more fabric for length.
I chose this one because of the way the band curved in at the bottom, the neutral color, and the fact that it had my favorite words (“machine wash, tumble dry low”) on the tag.
Are you ready? There are only 2 steps.
Step 1: Cut a scalloped shape across the chest, just under the arms.
Step 2: Zig-zag stitch along the area that you just cut. This will prevent unraveling and will also create a little ruffle as you pull the fabric through the machine.
Done. Ready to wear in 10 minutes.
(I know these pictures of me are awful, but it’s the best I can do using the automated timer on the camera by myself)
You can use the sleeves to make some of my stockings or puppets.
Let me know if you make one!
I’m linking to
Trash to Treasure Tuesday
Tuesday Treasures
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Transformation Thursday
Get Your Craft On Thursday
Sunday Showcase
Refashion Party
Yesterday our local FOX station aired a segment about my $0 Christmas projects on the 10:00 news.
If you are new to Binkies & Briefcases, you can find all of the projects that I have completed over the past few months by clicking on the links below.
So far I have completed these children’s toys
“Colorforms”
A Felt Tool Set
A Space Play Set
Dinosaurs (Pattern available at the top of my side bar)
Stuffed Crabs (Pattern available at the top of my side bar)
Dominoes
Puffy Dollhouse
Sweater Puppets (These made the top 10 in this month’s Iron Crafter Competition)
Rag Doll
You can also find other low-cost ideas for gift-giving for older children or adults like my recent sweater sleeve stockings, homemade vanilla extract,or blueprint art.
I’d like to thank Nava & FOX 43 for featuring my story, I hope that we can inspire some other families to focus on the true meaning of Christmas without getting caught up in the commercialism.
I don’t really have a tutorial for this project, but don’t worry. It’s really easy. If I can do it, you can too.
I picked up this wooden tool box at Goodwill a few months ago. I thought I could use it to store craft supplies or grow a mini herb garden or something, but I never did so I decided to turn it into another no-spend Christmas gift for Nicholas.
All I did was cut tool-shapes out of craft felt, sew them together & stuff them with poly-fill. I made hammer, a saw, and a screwdriver. The yellow thing is supposed to be a ruler, but I don’t think it turned out very well. Then I wrote his name on the box with a Sharpie. I was originally going to paint it, but he’s a boy & he’s 3, I assure you he does not care one little bit what color it is so it is staying au naturel.
The only hard part was stuffing the poly-fill in the long skinny pieces like the screw driver. I used a crochet hook, but it was still a bit tricky.
Other felt tool sets can run as much as $40. I spent $0.
That means my no-spend Christmas total savings is up to $326.
It’s that time of year again. Only 3 weeks until Thanksgiving and 50 days until Christmas! I’m giving a little talk to my Mom N Me group at church next week about homemade Christmas presents and I wanted to have a little homemade give away. Plus I joined the Craftaholic US Gift Exchange this year.
I didn’t want to spend a lot of money or too much time on these projects, so this is a super quick & easy project. Total time=less than 10 minutes for both. Total cost=$3.50
I bought this sweater last week at our local Goodwill. (Don’t worry, it’s been washed since then)
Our GW doesn’t have a dressing room. This is a Land’s End sweater marked medium that was in the women’s section. I assumed that meant women’s medium (my size) & I threw it in the cart. Um..it didn’t. It meant child’s medium. Oops. To the re-purposing pile it went. Good thing it was only $3.50.
I cut off the sleeves in a stocking-ish shape.
1 sweater=2 sleeves=2 stockings
Turn them inside-out and sew along the edges you cut. Leave the tops open, of course.
Sew on a loop of ribbon so that you can hang it. Fold down the cuff at the top to give it a more finished appearance.
They are a medium size, a bit too small to work on your mantel, but plenty big enough to make a nice gift.
Fill them with holiday cookies, candy canes, craft supplies (I think knitting needles would be cute since the stocking is made from a sweater. Get it?), a gift card, whatever your little heart desires.
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