Chomp-Chomp {Road-Trip Snack Necklace}

A little bit back in time I happened upon this pin originally from Blondie and Brownies  and knew exactly when to do this.

Today!

Because today is the day we hop into our (already) loaded car & head out for our camping adventure!

So while shopping this week I picked up a few items that would work and were dairy-free/appropriate. Then for fun (hey, it's supposed to be an adventure, right?) got a surprise treat to toss in the mix :)

Mom's Best Honey Nut Toasty O's, Trader Joe's Fruity O's,
mini pretzels & Lifesavers GUMMIS. I used some sock yarn
I had in the craft room for our string & a plastic crochet needle.

I thought the best time to do this would be in the morning during Little 'A's 1st nap. I thought wrong. That plan only works if the baby actually takes a nap. In my case he went down great, I set up our 'station' in the front room & right when we were in the middle of things he woke up. Oh well, it worked out in the end.

We had a lot of fun making these! It was great for so many things- following directions, hand eye coordination, dexterity & of course, snacking fun :)

 I knew we would snack while we worked, but in hindsight I probably would make this an 'after nap' activity since we did have a candy in the mix. And as far as the candy is concerned, I did not set those out in a bowl, I left the bag right next to me & handed him them as he went along. I kept it to 3-4 gummis a necklace. 

 He wasn't quite sure what to do at first. He kept trying to pull them off, lol. But once I showed him that you EAT it off, he was pretty jazzed about it :)

We made several, one for him to wear in the car during our drive, & a few to share with our friends' daughter while on our camping adventure. This activity went so smoothly that we went ahead & made 2 dozen Chocolate Chip Devils Food Cupcakes (dairy-free) & some meat pie filling for Hobo pies tomorrow :) All before 10:30 am! And I know what you're thinking....

Yes- I take cupcakes camping. You make them beforehand & just wait to frost them until you are there so transport is easy!

and YES- I will most definitely be frosting them with Chocolate Marshmallow frosting, we are CAMPING after all ;)

Hope you all have a fun, adventurous weekend....I know we will!

Camping Out, a look inside the tent~

The invites went out, the guests arrived, the party was a hit!

Now here's a closer look at all the little details, the behind the scenes of Camp Jammer. I should mention that we didn't have a big budget for this shindig, but we always enjoy making, thifting, recycling whatever we can so the $0 small budget wasn't really a concern. The majority of the money was spent on food, as is usually the case. Speaking of food...

Mini bags of Better Made Chips proudly on display
(It's a Michigan "thing")

S'more Trail Mix Party Favors!
{Honey Graham cereal, mini marshmallows & chocolate chunks}

"Puffed" Pop Corn Movie Treats
"Camp Jammers' wants to Thank You for 'poppin' over"

Oh yes, a baking combination that is S'MORE right than you know!

And here's how you make it!

I made Old-Fashioned REAL lemonade
& pre-filled Mason Jars ready for the taking.
We also offered Water & a cooler full of Beer. 

-Roll cutlery in a napkin
-Take a plate
-Punch a hole in the side
-Attach napkin roll with ribbon
-Sit back & marvel at how smart people will think you are...

It wouldn't be REAL camping if Duct Tape wasn't involved somehow...

How could I NOT make this sign when I had giant
pieces of poster board lying around the house?!

Thread+needle+ballons=Easy Ballon Garland!

No Camp would be complete without a Swimmin' Hole

And don't forget about Arts & Crafts!
We prepped our collection of milk cartons with white spray paint,
cut a hole in the side, hot glued on popsicle stick shingles
& attached a twine loop to the top.
Then the kiddos got to paint their new bird house, it was a big hit!
We even included a bag of seed to take home :)

Sheet Fort:
Bags full of old sheets- check!
Rope & twine- check!
Ladder- check!
Clothespins- check!
Feeling like a kid again- Check!!

We topped of the festivities we a movie outside!
If you can get your hands on a white sheet
& a projector then you are good to go!

'J' even had his own little camping chair to sit in :)
And since it was HIS birthday we
watched his favorite movie, Cars

And last but not least, the Kiddie Camper Packs!

At "check-in" each Kiddie Camper recieved:
a personalized Camp shirt (tshirt was thrifted, then I jazzed them up)
a personalized water bottle (Michaels Crafts- $1)
a bubble wand/glow necklace for the older kids (Dollar Tree)
binoculars (Dollar Tree)
chalk (Target Dollar Spot)
snacks: AirHead, raisins, fruit snacks
Bandana (Handmade by my mum)

Here's what the back looked like:
"MALLOW out & have S'MORE fun!"
Camp Jammer, 2012

And there you have it. Well, you get the general idea at least.
We hope you enjoyed your stay at Camp Jammers, ya'll come back now ya hear!

Craft On! {Marital Mugs; Shower/Wedding gift}

It's that time of year again... Wedding Season! 

Our family friends are getting married today, & since they are such a fun couple I wanted to give them a fun little something for their special day. I saw this "pin" a while back & stored it in my memory bank (& since I'm running out of room in there I had to get rid of something...I don't need to remember long division anymore, right?)

And being that things have been pretty busy round these parts lately (as I'm sure you noticed with the lack of posts that have been going up...more on that in another post), I had to save it until the very last minute...late at night the eve of the wedding. It always make me mad when I do this because then I am rushing & my eyes don't focus as well because it's late & it's never as good as I know it could have been. Oh well. It's done. It took a few minutes to get the creative juices flowing, but I eventually found my groove. 

I decided to take the original idea- HIS & HERS mugs, & make them more of a symbol of their new adventure together... Mr & Mrs Mugs. I bought 2 white coffee mugs from Target (you could even check a thrift store or dollar store for some nice mugs!) & an Enamel paint from Michael's Craft Store in Licorice. The total was less than $10.

First I wiped the areas to be painted 

down with some Alcohol Prep Pads 

(hope no one gets injured anytime soon...

they came from the medicine cabinet...)

Then I hand painted each one, this took a few tries.

When I did a shitty job wasn't satisfied I wiped it off again

with an alcohol pad. I tried with water but it made it worse.

I let them dry over night, then followed the paint directions 

& set them in a cold oven, turned it to 350, let them bake for

30 mins, then let them cool in the oven. And...

TA-DA!! Mr. & Mrs. Mugs :)

On the back of His (Morning Beautiful) I wrote "Do you?"

& on Hers (Hello Handsome) it says "I do!"

Then to really personalize it I wrote the 

wedding date on the base of the handle,

no excuses for ever forgetting it now! lol

True story, I have actually had to ask the Hubs "wait...when is our anniversary? Its the 4th, right?" The look in his eyes told me loud & clear that I was wrong, HAHA! I am not very good with dates, I suppose it may be another area that I toss out to make room for more craft idea storage...

I just noticed when I glanced at these pics again that I ASSUMED they were right handed...& now that I have permanently baked that assumption in the oven for 30 mins they will both end up being LEFT handed! Then these cups go from Marital mugs to Ego Boosting cups...

In case its early & you haven't had your coffee yet I'll paint you a picture...

The words will be facing THEM, not their spouse, so every time they pick up their mug for a sip of joe' they will see "Morning Beautiful" or "Hello Handsome"! LOL! Oh well, good thing I put the proposal on the back...which may now be the front....

Well, I better get my butt in gear, I have a wedding to get ready for!

Until next time, Craft On friends, Craft On!

Craft On! {Monogram Door Decor}

It took an extra amount of effort to get this post up, but I managed & here we are, reading it together (*imagine I'm sitting next to you....wait, that's creepy...never mind, forget I mentioned it...moving on...back to whatever we were talking about before this got weird...)

We're in the midst of a Front Porch Freshen-Up! A couple weekends ago we got to work- taking everything out, wiping & sanding down the trim & damaged areas, getting out the paint (that we bought a year ago for this project!) & gettin PUMPED for this make-over!! Annnndddd.......then we had to go to a family thing, put all the stuff back & haven't touched it since. This is becoming our M.O. with house projects, have I mentioned the year long kitchen remodel? Yea, still not finished...a year people...a FULL year.

So, to motivate us me I decided to whip up a little something special. A Fun, Frugal Monogram Decor for the Front Door (go on, say that 5 times fast, do it- I double dog dare ya)!!!

This entire project cost me less than $5!! You can get craft letters from most craft stores now, but I got mine at Joann Fabrics along with a small, wooden flower. I gave the flower a coat of white paint & painted "Welcome" on it. You could personalize it with your last name or a holiday greeting if you make a seasonal monogram. There are a LOT of possibilities. I grabbed a skien of yarn from my stash, a few colored felt sheets & my handy dandy Hot Glue Gun. Let's get started:

STEP 1: GET WRAPPIN'!

You will need: Cardboard letter, 1 skien of yarn,

Hot glue gun & clear packing tape

I cut 4.5" pieces of yarn to cover each 'end'

 (It took 15 for each end of my S)

covered the ends & secured with tape.

Then wrap yarn from one end to the other,

secure tails with a dab of hot glue.

STEP 2: FLOWER POWER!

Flower 1

You will need: Felt sheet(s), scissors & hot glue gun
Cut a strip of felt at 1.5" thick (the height will determine
the length/fullness of the petals, the length of felt strip
will determine how big/small your flower is)
Fold the strip in 1/2 & secure seam w/ dabs of hot glue.
Snip the strip from one end to the other (you can do this
on a diagonal or straight depending on the look you want)
Then roll up your strip, securing w/ hot glue as you go.

Flower 2

You will need: Felt sheet(s), scissors & hot glue gun
Cut a square from the felt
(bigger the square the bigger the flower)
Round off the corners to make a circle, then starting
at the outer edge, cut into a spiral. Slowly get wider
as you cut, leaving a 'bulb' in the middle.
Roll up your spiral, starting at the smallest end.
Stop rolling when you reach the 'bulb', secure at that spot
w/ a dab of hot glue. Then cover the base w/ hot glue
& fold the 'bulb' flap over to cover the base.

Flower 3

You will need: Felt sheet(s), scissors & hot glue gun
Cut 6 "flower" shapes from felt, you can make as many
scallops on the edge as you'd like.
STEP 1 requires 5 of the flower "petals".
Use a petal as the Base, fold petal #1 in half, matching
the middle point of the fold over the middle point of the base.
Secure the bottom 1/2 of #1 to the base w/ a dab of hot glue.
Fold #2, placing the top 1/2 of #2 over the bottom 1/2
of #1, secure to base w/ a dab of hot glue.
Continue w/ petals #3 & #4, tucking 1/2 of #4
under the exposed 1/2 of #1.

STEP 2
Take the final 'petal' & pinch in the middle,
place a blob of hot glue in the center of the
4 petals, place pinched tip in glue.
Then take a few small pieces of contrasting
felt (or small button/bead) & glue in the middle
(I apologize for the bad pics, it was late & I was tired! lol)

STEP 3: PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

And what do you have?

A welcome sign that is sure to put a
smile on your visitors faces :)

Hopefully soon I will be able to post pics of my new door decor on our freshly painted door in our newly updated front porch!!! One can only hope, OR one can get off ones ass & just get the thing done already...either way

I hope you have fun with it & Keep On Craftin' On!

I Linked up with The Six Sisters!

DIY Stain Remover {Review}

I always keep an eye out for DIY Home cleaners/Solutions. We're on a tight budget & anything that I can make myself may take a little more time/effort, but will save major $$ over time. 

I found this Stain Remover on Pinterest & knew exactly what to try it on. 'J' has a few standard white undershirts that had MAJOR collar stains, stains on the front & were overall really dingy.

The recipe is simple: 

mix one part Original Blue Dawn with two parts Hydrogen Peroxide, 

Apply to stain, 

Rub in a little,

Let sit,

Then toss in wash

As you can see, it didn't remove the major stains on the front.

But it did brighten them up and remove most of the collar stains.

Lessons learned:

It doesn't remove all stains, but does an ok job on lite ones & dinge.

Apply lightly, probably best if put in a spray bottle.

Hand rinse it BEFORE putting it in the wash, it took forever to rinse out all the soap in the load.

All in all, not bad. I will definitely try this again, especially on fresh stains.

If you try this out, let me know if it worked for you :)

RE-Review, click *HERE* to read the update!