EASY Homemade Cards

The world can be divided into two categories:

Card Lovers & Card Haters

I'm a hater.

I should clarify a bit...

It's not that I hate the actual card (I love notes and letters). I hate that cards are $5 and people will just put your name on the inside at the top of like 3 paragraphs of typed writing.

Like they wrote the whole thing.

If you're just going to use the thing as a to/from note, save the $5... or better yet, get me 5 things from The Dollar Tree instead.

Two lines written from the heart on a piece of computer paper mean more to me that two pages of prose on an embossed store bought card.

(stepping off soapbox)

Here are two very easy ways to make your own cards. i.e. you don't need 3 hours and $100 worth of scrapbooking supplies to to it!

1. Repurpose an old book...

Board books go through a lot! When they are on their last leg use a razor blade to cut off all the pages.

Write a message on the front of the page and you have an awesome card for kids. Use a piece of coordinating scrapbook or construction paper to cover the back... or don't. There might be another cute picture or fun poem that just adds to the charm.

Noah loved his 1st Birthday "card" from us...

2. Old calender into cards...

Have you seen those daily scrapbook calendars? Or the quote a day calenders?

You know the ones. (growing up we were huge fans of The Far Side daily calenders!!)

Get one of those when they go on super sale (February/March), cut around the picture or cartoon then glue stick onto colored card stock. Fold a bigger piece to make a card or just do one layer for a fun note.

DONE!!

(Even though it looks like the cards pictured below have added borders or layers, they don't! These are cut straight from an old scrapbook calender. For a few we used fun scissors around the edges. My favorite is Deckle.)

(This picture will be funny to Iris when she gets this thank you note from Eli.)

Tutorial: Repurpose a Men's Shirt into a Boy's Shirt

Click here to see the explanation for each picture! Hope you like it. I promise it is pretty easy. I just did loads of pictures so it would be super clear.

DONE!

The dress shirt turned out awesome! Every time Eli has worn it people are shocked I made it from one of Hot Hubby's old shirts.

I haven't taken any pictures since I sewed on the front pocket. I'll try to get some soon!

I hope you try this and have as much fun making the dress shirt as I did :)

Bottle Bowling...

I modified this from and idea my friend Rachael saw in a magazine. Here is how to make a bowling set out of old H2O bottles!
You'll need H2O bottles, a hot glue gun, mod modge, rice (or sand or beads or...) , paper and a ball.

First pour about an inch of rice into each H2O bottle. This will give some weight to the bowling set. Then hot glue the lids on the H2O bottles (H2O bottle lids are a huge choking hazard so be safe and glue them on!).

Cut paper into strips...




Don't be shy with the mod podge! You'll need a lot because of all the nooks and crannies on the H2O bottle. Dipping the paper into the water will help the paper conform to the shape of the bottle.

Cracker...

Do you get those yummy animal crackers from Sam's Club? You know, the ones that aren't that bad for you (unless you melt chocolate chips and dip them in the warm chocolaty goodness). The containers are awesome and I felt horrible throwing them away so I started using them to store small toys (I'm so Green). The actual container is the perfect size but the narrow top can get flustering for little ones (and moms) when they are trying to pull out or put in a toy that just barely fits. I got out my trusty craft supplies and did a little plastic surgery (I think I'm so funny)!!!
You can too...
Cut the top off the bin. I sliced it with an exacto knife then cut it all the way around with my craft scissors. Try to cut it in one fail swoop so you don't have any sharp edges.
You can be done here, or if you think your bin needs a bit of extra cuteness grab your Mod Podgue and cute paper and have some fun!


I had intended to cover the whole bin with paper. But the clear bin is great for spying out it's contents. So instead I opted for covering up the animal cracker logo.
I used paper that would show Eli what goes inside. Footballs for the ball bin and cars for the car-train-anything-with-wheels and tracks bin. You can just to a rectangle cut and stick it on (footballs) or you can layer it up (cars). These bins are awesome for organizing sets with small pieces... polly pocket, blocks, legos, doctor kits, animals...
I had fun doing this, I should have done it with the kids because it is such an easy craft. The bin with the lid would also work great for packaging family or neighbor holiday gifts!!

I have an really amazing Halloween craft coming out Monday. I'm so excited...