DIY Glass Cozy

We have a family of 3 and no dishwasher (well except me). Family that lives downstairs, and friends and family that come over at least 5 times a week.

When people come over the most common request is a drink. We have water at our house which looks the same in all of our same looking cups. I was washing cups every day like it was going out of style. So I came up with an idea to decrease cup use!

Everyday one person is allowed one glass. How do we keep them straight? Glass Cozies!

I picked out different fabric colours and styles that I had at home, first for my family then for friends. It is a loop of fabric with an elastic band sewn inside the fabric. I just measured the width around our glasses and added some extra fabric to give the scrunchy look.

This has solved all my dishwashing problems! I no longer have to wash 6 glasses when there were only 3 people home.

Happy homemade living!

How to make a fabric advent calendar!

I know its kinda late to post this but maybe a Christmas idea for next year?

Every year as a child my momma surprised us with chocolate advent calendars. You know the ones with waxy chocolate, but as a child you think it is just the best thing ever!? Thanx to my momma we have another new tradition to use every year :)

No, it isn't the chocolate advent calendars. I made my own that suited our family!

A Christmas Felt Advent Calendar

During Christmas we get more then enough cookies and treats from friends and family (and our bakings in the home) so I wanted to come up with something that excludes daily treats. We have troubles some days thinking of things to do as a family or those lazy days, and this year we found it energized us to do what was on the tab for the day.

I started with a felt tree, then felt ornaments and christmasy things to go on or around the tree, our little family and presents (the extra present is for our pup). The ornaments are movable via velcro on the back of each one.

Next came the background. I measured how big I wanted it to be free cut out the numbers. Then came the boxes.

At the top and bottom are bamboo sticks holding it straight.

Here comes the coolest part. Each of the pockets have a felt christmas ornament to put on the tree every day as well as an activity for our little family to do together. The 24th day has the Christmas Star. Our little cookie cannot wait to put the star on her calendar tree!

This 'I love Santa' has velcro too! It goes on the pocket of the day and moves as days go on. I purchased this from the dollar store, it came in a pack of 6.

Some examples are: skating, board games, build a fort and sleep in it, watch christmas movies, bake and ice christmas cookies for friends, build a fort and read stories in it, get in pj's make hot chocolate and drive around to see christmas lights, collect toys that we don't play with and put them in a shoe box for other children.

You can add other things like traditions your family has (ie going to cut down a christmas tree). Our little girl LOVES it! The first thing she says in the morning is "I have to go see the Christmas calendar! I wonder what fun things we get to do today!" She runs back to our bed with the note of our family activity of the day and tells us what else was in the pocket.

The chocolates are gone. This is definitely coming out again next year!

This was very inexpensive to make. I used leftover felt from various other projects for the decorations, other felt was bought at the dollar store and finally at Fabricland they had the red background fleece on sale for $5!!

Merry Christmas Friends!

Monster Bookmark Tutorial

I LOVE BOOKMARKS! Especially fun ones!

Nice bookmarks are kinda expensive... well for a thirfty woman they are. I guess I could just tear a piece of paper and use that... Or paperclip... But I find they either fall off or fall through the book and I loose my spot! Hate that! My little cookie is reading books that have chapters! How did this happen?? I remember reading to her before bed, now she is reading to me :)

Anyways, she is now finding that her paper bookmarks are falling out the bottom of the books as well... Blast.

I found a picture with no link on Pinterest on how to make monster bookmarks. These are only genius because they hug the corner of the page/pages! No more bookmarks falling out the bottom! I'll show you how to make it. Piece of cake! I used scrapbooking paper but you can use any old paper that you can cut and fold. No pattern required!

First take a regular piece of paper (or as decorative paper as you want)
Measure out 3 squares beside each other in the shape below (I first made mine measure 4inches x 4inches for the bigger children books then smaller ones 2.5inches x 2.5inches.

 Draw a diagonal line crossing out the top and bottom square. Cut off that section.

You should have a shape just like this!

I traced this shape onto other scrapbooking paper a couple times to make a few of them :)

Next you want to fold the triangles along the lines you drew so you have 2 triangles sticking up and a square on the bottom

Lay one triangle on top of the other gluing them together with your good ol' elmers glue, forming a pocket

With the larger monsters I folded the bottom part of the square into the pocket making it more stable (this was flimsy paper) and left the other ones out. You can add eyes with extra paper and teeth (just make sure you glue the teeth to the front inside... I know from experience)

And there you have it fun bookmarks for everyone! Great for stocking stuffers or crafts to do with your children on a rainy day :)

Cinnamon? Good! Candle? Good!

I LOVE summer with all my heart, but I LOVE fall for all the colours! There are soo many holidays in fall that I love too. Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas (well this one doesn't really count as its in winter... but we don't get much snow here so winter is included in fall). My most favourite part is getting all the family together over at our house and preparing a giant turkey and ham and all the fixings.

Anyways, back to Cinnamon and Candles.

When I think of cinnamon I think of baking, egg nog, blankets snuggled on the couch and finally I think of FALL. So here is my fall gift to you!

It's cinnamon sticks tied to a candle! Yeah thats right, its that easy to create a scrump smell in your home. Now why would I go out an buy a cinnamon smelling candle you ask? Duh, this is soooo much prettier! This is my prototype as I only had a giant candle on hand. I grabbed some string I had around the house and just tied it all together.

This little glorious thing smells soooo great! It all the holidays, season, and food wrapped into one candle.

Make one for your home or wrap it up and gift one to a friend!

What you need:
Candle of almost any size
Cinnamon sticks from the baking section
String that looks pretty (you can also use an elastic band

I found when I raised the cinnamon sticks higher they let off a more profound cinnamon smell. Three days later and the candle still smells just as good as the first day.

MMmm, careful though this will make you in a better mood as cinnamon is one of the scents that is proven to be more calming.

I think I am going to make some ginger snap cookies!
What is your favourite thing about fall?

Happy Crafting!