Glittered Chalkboard Ornament Tag Tutorial

I am in love with all things glittery and gold these days, seriously In. Love. So it seemed fitting to make these fun Glittered Chalkboard Ornaments (that also double as a fun gift tag!) for Jo-Ann's new #fabulouslyfestive campaign. 

I was asked, along with some other lovely bloggers, to create something fabulous and festive for the holidays and, well, this sums up those two words so perfectly in my eyes :-) 

These are so simple to make and have such a wow factor. Plus with the chalkboard component there are endless possibilities to what you can use them for...write a name, a Christmas phrase, or draw a design, you name it!

Glittered Chalkboard Ornament Tags

Unfinished wood ornaments (found at Joanns)

Chalkboard paint

Paintbrush

Mod Podge

Glitter

Twine

Yarn needle

I found these unfinished wood ornaments in the holiday aisle at Jo-Anns. These are great because they have a raised edge around the star which is perfect for glittering up!

You will need some chalkboard paint, mod podge, glitter of your choice and a paintbrush to do this project.

The first thing you want to do is paint the inside of the ornament with the chalkboard paint. You do not need to be perfect with the paint as the edges will be glittered so any messes you do make will get covered. Follow the directions on your bottle of paint, mine stated that it needed two coats and then it needed to cure for 24 hours.

Once 24 hours has passed, take a piece of chalk and rub it all over the chalkboard paint to prep it for writing.

Then, paint on a layer of mod podge on the raised edges of your ornaments (not the entire ornament!), heavily sprinkle your glitter over top and tap off, and let dry for about 20 minutes. Once dry, add another layer of mod podge over the glitter (again, on the raised edges not the entire ornament!) to seal it so it does not flake off.

And then grab your chalk or a chalk paint pen and decorate as you like!

Ahhh...glittery gold goodness!!! I 'm feeling good about that :-)

For more inspiration in your holiday crafting, visit the Joann's craft catalog here.

And be sure to use the coupon below to get a jump on your craft shopping too!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

TUTORIAL: How to Make Holiday Gift Tags with Avery Labels {with FREE Printable!}

With the holidays literally just right around the corner, I thought a great idea would be to get ahead of the game and create some fun handmade labels to use on all the Christmas gifts that I plan on gifting during the holiday season. In case you want to get a head start on your holiday season too I wanted to share how I created my labels using my favorite Avery labels and tags, yes, they are not just for office/business purposes! You can totally use these to create cute and stylish tags for your handmade gifts as well as labels for your baked goodies!


If you remember how I used Avery's labels for Eloise's first birthday party here, you will see just why I adore them so much. They are so easy to use, seriously! Their Print and Design Online center is so simple and not at all intimidating to use (and that is coming from me, the ultimate non-techy kind of person you will ever meet!) They really make it easy to be as creative as you want to be by offering pre-designed templates you can manipulate or blank templates where you can design from scratch. So every time you use it you will get the most professional results making your project look perfect every time.


Today I am going to show you how I made my holiday tags and labels--more specifically the labels but you can make the tags just as easily with these directions! I used Avery Labels #22846 (2x2 inch Kraft Square Labels) and #22802 (2x3 1/2 inch Printable Tags with Strings) for my project but you could use any of their products. The sky is the limit, folks!

The first thing you want to do is head to the Avery website (here). Then click on their Design & Print Online button on the left side of the screen (not shown).


Once you are in the design center you will type in the number of the product you will be using in the search bar in the middle of the screen. Then just click on the product when it pops up. This will pull up a screen (above) with all of your design options. See, they have a blank template as well as lots of really nice pre-designed ones that are perfect for the holidays!


I chose the blank template because I created a design using Picmonkey that I wanted to upload. If you want to use the two designs I created you can find them below:

Made with Love printable (transparent background)

Handmade with Love printable (white background)

If you are pulling up an image you pre-designed like I did, click the Images button on the left side of the screen and within that you will click on the From My Computer button to upload your image. If you want to design your project from scratch instead you will be able to use any of the buttons you see along the top of the screen as well as in the left side bar. You can add text, shapes, numbers, even QR codes! You can also cut, copy, and paste as well as zoom in and out of your design.



Once I uploaded my image, I stretched it to fit the label and then clicked Preview & Print at the upper right side of the screen. From there you can print your project as well as adjust your printer if your labels print slightly off. I usually print on a blank piece of paper the first time to see how my printer is lining up, then I hold it to a light with the Avery label in front of it to see in what direction I need to align my printer. It's pretty easy and usually only takes me a couple of times to get it perfect!

So there you go--super easy, cute, and professional quality holiday tags and labels can be made by YOU in no time at all!! Gotta love that! Now your labels as well as your gifts can be handmade this holiday season!

If you need more inspiration for your holiday labels check out Avery's variety Pinterest Pages, here:
Parties and Celebrations
Food and Drink Labels
Food Jars Only

Avery and Blogher are offering ONE of my lucky readers a $100 Visa gift card!! All you have to do to be entered is comment answering the question, "When are labels typically useful for you?"
Thanks for stopping by today and GOOD LUCK!

Follow Avery here

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “”#SweepstakesEntry”"; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post”
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 11/11/13 – 12/15/13.
Be sure to visit the Avery Labels Page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

XOXO,

Simple Halloween Party Decor Ideas

Here are some of fun and inexpensive ways to decorate for a kids' Halloween party that I came up with for a local mommy group's get together they hosted this month!

I made simple goody bags that acted as an activity bag for each kid during the party. I stamped "Happy Halloween" on plain brown kraft bags and filled each one with the all the items needed to make little pom pom spiders for their craft activity.

Inside each bag I placed a smaller clear cello bag full of different sized pom poms and googly eyes, a few pipe cleaners, a straw for their drink, and a cute pipe cleaner pumpkin to take home.

Each table had simple teeny pumpkins in wire baskets with some Halloween colored crinkle paper. I love this stuff!!!

We also put jars of pumpkin wands at each table. Just a stripey straw with one of those marshmallow pumpkins on top! Each jar was tied with a ribbon for a simple centerpiece.

Easy and well within a small budget! 

Some of the activities also included these tattoos I made here. And each child took home these party favors too!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

Zombie, Witch, Cat, and Mummy Halloween Costumes!

This weekend I actually finished all my littles' Halloween costumes! And with a whole 5 days to spare, phew! :-) We even carved our pumpkins and into more than just jack-o-latern faces too, I tell ya we are on a R.O.L.L.

So back in August (yes AUGUST! Don't your kids start planning out Halloween costumes months in advance?), Noah kept telling me he wanted to be a zombie...a zombie?! Thankyouverymuch Plants vs Zombies. I figured this was finally the year of store-bought costumes and you know what? I was okay with that...I mean it has to happen at some point. I even took him to a few different stores but he just didn't like anything he saw. Finally he asked me if I would just make it for him. Really??? Okay, sure! And then Penny literally begged me to make her a witch costume with lots of purple (her favorite color)...and Ellie, well, she had her heart set on a kitty cat :-) So thinking all this through I figured they were all "classic" halloween characters and, since Oliver really doesn't care what he is, I decided to make him a little baby mummy. Gah! His turned out so stinking cute!

At first I wasn't really sure how to make a zombie costume. I mean they are just an un-dead version of regular people in regular people clothes, ya know. We talked about his vision and really he just wanted to be all bloody and have ripped up clothes, lol! Well, that was easy enough for me.

I sewed up a pair of light grey twill pants using an existing pair of his pants as a pattern except making the legs much wider so he looked really skinny and zombie-like. We wanted the pants to be light enough so that you could see blood and dirt but not white in color.

Then I bought a simple white t-shirt and stained it with tea to make it look grungy and found a flannel at a local thrift shop for $3 to finish off his costume. To make everything all dirty and bloody, we actually just grabbed some Crayola markers in red, brown, and black and went to town marking up his clothes. I used a pair of scissors to make small cuts all over and then took a piece of sandpaper to rough up all the edges.

I bought some face paint at Target and lightly painted his face white and then added some black around his eyes so he looked tired and undead.

I was even able to get him out of character for this one...do zombies ever smile?

Penny had her heart set on a purple witch...you know, a "good" witch. A witch! I didn't think my kids would ever want to be a witch with all the princess-y stuff out there. How fun it was to make a witch costume!

I made Penny's dress from a lightweight knit fabric so it has a nice drape and some stretch to it. I patterned it after a peasant dress but extended the sleeves into bell sleeves for that perfect witch look. I added a black cord for a witch-y belt and I bought her tights a Jo-Anns for 60% off. PS. they have lots of fun colors!

To make her cape, I bought some of this fun purple "Halloween" novelty fabric at Jo-Anns for 50% off...come to think of it all the fabric I bought for these costumes was 50% off...so inexpensive! When I did the math it costs about $12 or less to make each costume, such a great deal for handmade costumes!

I made a big witch-y collar on it and sewed a length of bias tape at the top of the collar that doubled as the string to tie it on.

I found the hat and broomstick at Target for a few bucks a piece, you can't beat such inexpensive finishing touches!

Ellie wanted to be a kitty cat, so sweet! All she wants to do is say "meow, meow" which actually sounds a lot more like "mow, mow" when she says it.

She picked out this kitty (cougar-y?) fleece fabric all by herself, it is so dang soft! And it's nice and thin and a dream to sew with.

I used Simplicity Pattern 1584 to make the dress except I added a small velcro closure on the back and omitted the black fuzzy collar as I figured that would annoy her after awhile.

I was also lucky enough to have just enough leftover fleece to make her a pair of pants to match. Love when that happens...and I actually don't mess up and have to buy more fabric after deciding to go through with it ;-)

Oliver. 

Oh, this costume is just so fabulous on him! I just love everything about it!

I bought 4 yards of white gauze and tea stained it in my crockpot along with a simple white onesie. I bought some white fleece and made him a pair of pants and a little hat and then just hot glued the gauze all over. Back and forth and side to side. 

If you are planning on doing a mummy costume and using hot glue, may I just warn you that you will want to stretch the clothing as you hot glue or you will have a really hard time getting said clothing on. Since it was hot glue and gauze it stretched and ripped apart without a problem but just took a bit of extra time having to re-do some of it.

I was a little worried he would hate this costume but he actually really enjoyed having it on! I think since the base is a simple onesie and a nice cozy pair of fleece pants all the gauze doesn't really bother him.

I just had to black and white one...so mummy-like!

I have to laugh at my attempt at group shots...4 kids in one frame...it's tough stuff, especially with a 16 month old who has no desire to stand still!

 I hope you enjoyed this year's Halloween costumes!
Are you done, getting close, or just buying at the store this year?

Thanks for stopping by today!!!

XOXO,