the scrappy frog

a froggy farewell

2010-06-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

This is just a quick post to let you all know that I will no longer be posting craft and home decor tutorials here on The Scrappy Frog. All previous tutorials and posts will still be available - just search under the appropriate term - but any new craft and home decor tutorials will be posted to my other blog Temporary Insanity.

Thanks for your faithful readership, and I hope that some of the tutorials were helpful to you.

Here's to making lovely things always, and please drop by for a visit at Temporary Insanity sometime. No strait jackets, I promise - just a very large delicious slice of life (with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles on top, naturally!)

Thank you! - Jeanette Foster

writer at Temporary Insanity

artist at The Framed Frog

Flower Power Art

2010-05-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

Fun girly decor doesn't have to be expensive or difficult to make! My 4-year-old recently made these bright daisy plaques for her bedroom with only a little supervision.

You will need: three square wood plaques (ours were 5"x5"), acrylic paint, sealer, and three large artificial gerber daisies in the colors of your choice

***tools needed - paint brush, scissors, hot glue gun***

First, paint your wood plaques with the base color. My daughter chose green because it would look great behind the flowers and also ultimately because it is her favorite color. :) Let dry completely and paint a second coat. (This is a great time to show your child how to use smooth, even strokes while avoiding "blobbing" the paint.)

Next, choose some contrasting colors for the polka dots. Using one color at a time, dip your paint brush into the paint and then "dot" the brush on the plaque. Use this method to put as many or as few polka dots as you would like on each plaque. Let dry and then seal each plaque.

Cut the stems off your gerber daisies (adults please!) and use hot glue to adhere firmly to the center of each plaque.

We decided to put sawtooth hangers on the backs of our plaques for easy hanging, but you could also staple on ribbon hangers. These bright and cheerful art pieces are now hanging in a row in my daughter's room. With butterflies hanging from the ceiling, they fit in perfectly. :)

Wordless Wednesday - No Greater Joy

2010-05-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

a recent custom order I did.

very appropriate for the upcoming Mother's Day :)

Message Central Made Pretty

2010-05-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

These days I never know if I am coming or going. Our calendar and white board are vital to keeping our schedule sane and normal (whatever that is!)
Since our "message central" needs to be on the hallway wall leading into the dining room, I wanted it to be attractive and not too boring. :) Here's what I came up with:

You may recognize the fabric from the curtain panels I made for our front windows. Message Central is very close to our entryway: so I wanted it all to coordinate. I made a french memo board and a calendar board, and the center white board/pocket board/cork board was a Costco find a few years ago.

I posted a tutorial last year on making a French memo board. This particular board was made with a 16x20 stretched canvas, a half-yard of blue/brown damask fabric, brown satin ribbon, and amber rhinestone brads (you can find these at Michaels). To achieve the spacing shown on this board, mark off every eight inches on the 16 inch side and mark off every five inches on the twenty inch side. To make your board sturdy and long-lasting, apply a little hot glue to the back of every brad and glue down all ribbons and fabric in the back (in addition to the stapling.) (see the tutorial for full instructions on making a memo board, or order a custom one from The Framed Frog)

I thought that my calendar looked too plain hanging by itself on the wall; so I made a calendar board of sorts to dress it up a little. It's super easy - all you need is a piece of cardboard that is at least an inch or so bigger than your calendar on all sides, a piece of fabric to cover the cardboard, and some ribbon.
To make my calendar board, I covered my piece of cardboard with the blue/brown damask fabric as if I were wrapping a present, pulling the fabric tightly around the back and securing it with tape. (you could also staple it if you like.)
Next, I used an Exacto knife to poke a small hole in the cardboard where the top of the calendar would go. I cut a length of blue ribbon to go around the bottom of the calendar board and secured it with tape in the back. I also used a leftover rhinestone brad from the memo board on the center of my ribbon.
To hang the board, I placed the board against the wall where I wanted it. I put a screw through the hole I had made earlier and screwed it into the wall, leaving enough of the screw to hang the calendar on. Then I hung the calendar on the screw - all finished! The ribbon at the base is a great place to hold stamps, tickets, coupons, etc.
The more I look at my calendar board, the more I feel it is missing something. I think today I'll make a brown ribbon bow to put above the calendar.

Oh, and if you would like to see the sweet birds and other things I used to decorate the rest of the dining room, check out my post at Temporary Insanity!

Too-Easy Dinosaur Cake

2010-04-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

What do you do when your three-year-old informs you that he wants a dinosaur cake for his birthday and you have already planned a big extravagant cake for his birthday party the following week? I wanted to say "Too bad, mister! Mommy is already making you a cake for your party and there is no way I am spending tons of time in the kitchen on TWO cakes for your birthday!"

However, it's a little hard to resist those big blue eyes. Add the plea, "Momma, you're the best cake-maker in the whole world!" And I'm a sucker.

So I made my kid a dinosaur cake, but I still didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. So here's how to make a Too-Easy dinosaur cake:

1. Use a cake mix and bake it. :) I did half the cake mix in a round cake pan and the other half in a cupcake tin.

2. After the cake cools, make (or use canned) frosting and liberally frost the cake.

3. Crush up some graham crackers and sprinkle in various sections of the cake for "dirt". Use green sprinkles (or green shredded coconut) for the other sections for "grass."

4. Take your kid's favorite plastic dinosaurs (or purchase a pack at the dollar store) and arrange on the cake.

5. Use leftover robin egg candy from Easter and make a "dino egg" border.

6. Dye the remainder of your frosting blue, or whatever color that makes your kid happy, and use a ziploc bag with the corner cut to pipe your kid's name. (I used the rest of my frosting to ice my cupcakes.)

So, my charming three-year-old was more than satisfied with his "awesome" dinosaur cake, and Momma was pretty happy to spend minimal time in the kitchen and still catch an episode of Dr. Phil that day.

Wordless Wednesday - Fire Train

2010-03-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

a recent name train completed for a customer in a dalmatian and fire truck theme...
This one was definitely fun:)

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom!

Making Curtain Panels for Small Windows

2010-03-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

We recently moved to an older house with lots of quirky features. Apparently the previous resident could not figure out what to do with the two slender windows flanking the front door, so she took some lace curtain panels from JCPenney, cut them shorter, and tacked them up with thumb tacks. Yikes!

I wanted to change them right away, but I refrained myself as I knew some unpacking was in order. As soon as I got a free moment, however, I was off to JoAnns' to get some new fabric for those windows. I wanted the curtain panels to be flat, not gathered.

So here's how to make your own flat curtain panels for any window in your home.

1) Measure your window. My windows were 6" wide and 36" long. You will need an inch more for each dimension in your fabric for seam allowance.
2) Choose your fabric. I did not want lace or any kind of sheer fabric; therefore I knew I would need enough fabric to make my curtain panels double-sided. I chose this gorgeous chocolate/blue damask because it complements our blue front door. Note: If you choose a directional fabric like I did, make sure you have enough fabric to keep the pattern going in the right direction. I went ahead and purchased two yards, as I am planning on making some other items with the remaining fabric.
3) Cut your fabric. I was making two curtain panels - double-sided - so I cut the fabric into four 7" by 37" pieces.
4) Lay the fabric pieces back to back (make sure your fabric design is going in the same direction!) and sew the long sides together, leaving about two inches from the top for hanging the curtain panel later. I hand-stitched mine, only because I have yet to find my sewing machine in the piles of boxes...
5) Next, iron side seams open and turn right side out.
6) Fold bottom seams up a half-inch, iron, and then stitch closed.
7) Stitch any trim you like to the bottom of your curtain panel. I used a tiny brown pom-pom trim to accent the little brown dots in the damask pattern.
8) Fold down top seams a half-inch, iron, and then stitch closed. Insert a small wood dowel through the opening on each side of the panel and use small hooks to mount just above the window.

And, voila! You have perfect flat curtain panels that can be viewed inside and out. They are a welcoming touch in our home, which is still a little chaotic from the move. :)

Wordless Wednesday - Bird Bath!

2010-02-16T19:54:00.000-08:00

can you guess what room this custom set of artwork was for? :)

Valentines Projects

2010-02-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I have one more Valentines project that I am hoping to get up by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, don't forget about all the great Valentines projects from last year, too!

1. Make some sweet stuffed elephants out of winter gloves. Find the Love Glove Elephants here.

2. Super easy for kids - try these Love Bug Valentine Cards!

3. Use these very adorable cupcake and cookie papercrafts to decorate gift bags, picture frames, and more.

4. Decoupage these Groovy Collage Hearts for instant wow!

And of course bake up some lovely cupcakes with extra frosting and decorate them with conversation hearts, or cut out some yummy heart-shaped sugar cookies and dip the edges in pink and red sanding sugar.

Happy Valentines' Weekend!

Wordless Wednesday - Allyson

2010-02-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

a dear friend is having a baby girl soon, so I made this wall letter for her sweet nursery

here it is on the crib bedding - so pretty in purples and pinks and greens...

and a close-up of her name - Allyson! :) Can't wait for her to arrive!

The Framed Frog

Lattice Hearts Frame

2010-02-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

Special photos always make great Valentines' gifts, and they are even better when put in a lovely frame or handmade scrapbook. Here's a beautiful frame that you can make in a few hours that is perfect for Valentines' Day and will look perfect in the house all year long.

You need:

~a unfinished wood frame (mine is an 8x8 frame you can get at Michaels for a dollar)

~white acrylic paint

~scrapbook paper (mine is Loopy Vines in Pink)

~ribbon to match the paper

~modge podge

~tissue paper

~hot glue gun

Now make your frame!

1. Paint the wood frame white and let dry.

2. Use your tissue paper to trace the top of your frame. Cut it out as a template for for your scrapbook paper. Trace it onto your paper and cut it out. (Remember, if your paper has a one-way design like mine, match it up before cutting.)

3. Line up your scrapbook paper cutout on top of your frame. Cover back of paper with modge podge and adhere to the frame.

4. Paint over the top of the scrapbook paper with modge podge and let dry completely.

5. Next, measure out your ribbon and lay out on your frame as shown in the above photo. Use a hot glue gun to first attach the ribbons to each other (where they crisscross). Then hot glue them securely to the front of the frame.

6. Turn frame over and glue the ribbon ends to the back of the frame. Run a thin line of hot glue along the ribbon end to prevent fraying.

7. Next, cut out three hearts of various sizes from the same scrapbook paper you used to decoupage the frame. Line them up smallest to largest on the vertical ribbons as shown and hot glue in place. Carefully paint a small amount of modge podge over each heart and let dry completely.

Not into pink? This frame would look great in other color combinations as well. Make the frame without the hearts for an elegant piece of home decor.

And of course, this frame is already available for purchase at The Framed Frog. If you don't want to go to the trouble of making it yourself, go ahead and get it now in time for Valentines' Day.

"Sin" Cake

2010-02-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

Valentines' Day will soon be here, and it's the best time to surprise and impress your sweetie with something sweet and decadent. I have made this cake several times - it's hubby's favorite - and a friend calls it "sin cake" because of its richness. If you're a peanut butter lover, this cake is sure to hit the spot!

Here's the list of ingredients:

CAKE: 3 eggs

1 2/3 cups sugar, divided

1 1/2 cups milk, divided

3 squares unsweetened baking chocolate

1/2 cup shortening

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

FROSTING:

2 pkgs of cream cheese (8 oz each), softened

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped

Hershey milk chocolate bars, broken into squares

1) First, finely chop the squares of unsweetened chocolate.

2) Next, whisk one egg until blended in a saucepan.

3) Stir in 2/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk, and the chopped chocolate. Continue stirring over medium hear until chocolate melts and mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

4) Meanwhile, cream shortening and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, as shown.

5) Add two eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Add vanilla extract. The batter should be a creamy yellow.

6) Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt). Add them to the creamed mixture alternately with one cup of milk, beating well after each addition.

7) Now add the cooled chocolate mixture and mix well.

8) Pour into three greased/floured 9 inch round pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

9) Cool in pans for ten minutes: then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Level each cake layer and wrap in plastic wrap tightly before putting in the freezer. (This helps the layers to be firm and not as crumbly when you ice them.

10) To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Alternately add the sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter, beating well after each addition.

11) Spread frosting between layers of cake.

12) Spread frosting over the top and sides of cake generously. Sprinkle the round edge of the cake with the chopped peanuts and decorate the sides of the cake with the milk chocolate squares. Keep the cake in the refrigerator when not consuming. :)

It takes some extra time to make this cake, but I assure you the results are well worth it!

Wordless Wednesday - Framed Frog Projects

2010-01-26T22:23:00.000-08:00

just some recent custom work I did for my shop The Framed Frog...

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...

Ribbon Corset Gift Bag

2010-01-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun method to make your own gift bags for any occasion. I am going to demonstrate this project by using paper and ribbons suitable for a baby shower gift bag, but the style adapts well to wedding shower gifts, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts, and more. Just change up the paper and ribbon to match your occasion!

Here's what you need: 2 pieces of 12x12 scrapbook cardstock(matching), glue stick, hot glue gun (optional), ribbon, hole punch, sharp scissors, ruler

I chose this fun baby alphabet cardstock for my bag. (its squares make it super easy to fold and cut!) I also liked that it was double-sided, so the inside of my gift bag would have a design as well.

1) First, decide what size you want your gift bag to be. I wanted my gift bag to be medium-sized; so I cut off 2 1/2 inches on one side of each piece of scrapbook paper. Then I decided that the sides and bottom of my bag would measure 2 1/2 inches. Using a ruler, I measured 2 1/2 inches from the corner of my paper and then made a cut 2 1/2 inches straight up, as shown.

2) Next, crease the paper along that line the rest of the way up. (this fold is 2 1/2 inches from the edge of the paper.) Also make another crease in the paper along the bottom, 2 1/2 inches from the bottom edge. Do this to both pieces of paper.

3) Fold the corner up and in, as shown in the above photo. It should look like you have two half-boxes. :) Use a glue stick and secure that corner in place.

4) Using a hole punch, punch ten evenly-spaced holes along the side edges of each of your "half-boxes". As you can see in the photo, this is forty holes total, ten on each side of both boxes.

5) Now, stand the boxes on end, facing each other, so that the punched edges match up and there are five sides to your bag. The top should be open. Glue the bottom two pieces together securely. (I used a hot glue gun for this to make sure it held.)

6) Measure your ribbon to be 3 1/2 times the length of the side of your gift bag. Starting at the bottom, pull the ribbon through the bottom two holes, making sure your ribbon is equal-length on both sides. Lace up the edges together as shown and tie a knot at the top. Do the same for the other corner.

7) Next, punch two hole in the opposite corner of each beribboned corner, as shown.

8) Finally, bring the remaining ribbon from each corner across the bag to form a handle and tie it into a bow through the two punched holes.

You can use this method to make very small bags suitable for giving jewelry or perfume or gift cards as well as the size shown here. To make larger bags, you will need to cut individual sides from paper and lace up all four corners as well as the bottom to achieve the size you need.

Snow Ice Cream

2010-01-19T10:32:00.000-08:00

For many of you, the world is covered in a white blanket of snow. You've done the snowman and the snow angels and the sledding and the snowball fights. What other fantastic entertainment can you derive from the wonderful frozen stuff?

How about making some snow ice cream with your kids? We had the opportunity to do this a few weeks ago when we got a freak snow storm here in Oregon. (we rarely get snow here!)

Here's what you need:

2 bowls of clean fresh snow (cereal bowl size)

1/2 cup milk (or cream)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

All you do:

Take your milk, sugar, and vanilla and mix them well together. Combine this mixture with the snow in a large bowl and stir carefully until it is completely mixed together. As you stir, it will form grainy pieces until it becomes nice and smooth.

Eat it right away! We drizzled ours with chocolate syrup and enjoyed it immensely.

:)enjoy

Yummy Pop Tart Cozy for your Ipod

2010-01-15T10:07:00.000-08:00

I have had an Iphone for a few months now, and let's just say we are inseparable! Poor little Iphone gets tossed in purses and diaper bags and car dashboards, and I think it needs a little TLC.

I decided to make a soft case for my Iphone inspired by all the junk food I shouldn't be eating right now. :) Isn't this Pop Tart case just the cutest?

It fits my Iphone perfectly with room to slip in headphones or my Bluetooth headset. It is also the right size to hold an Ipod or Blackberry. You could even use it as a cute bag to hold your credit cards and cash.

Here's how to make this fun pop tart Iphone cozy. You will need:

1) a piece of tan felt, 4 1/2" by 6 1/2"

2) another piece of tan felt, 4 1/2" by 8"

3) a piece of brown felt, roughly 3 1/2" by 5 1/2" cut in a similar shape to the one in the pic above

4) embroidery floss, in chocolate brown and tan

5) needle

6) various colors of seed beads or bugle beads

7) button (I had some vintage orange buttons on hand)

First, thread your needle with three strands of the chocolate brown embroidery floss and use a running stitch to attach the "frosting" to the 4 1/2" by 8" piece. (Place the "frosting" about an inch up from the bottom, as shown.)

Next, still using your needle threaded with the chocolate brown floss, stitch on randomly placed seed beads.

Then, place your button at the top of the shorter piece of tan felt (4 1/2" by 6 1/2") and center it. Sew in place firmly.

Place the frosting piece and the button piece back to back, lining up exactly. The frosting piece will extend higher than the button piece. if you need to, use a few sewing pins to secure the two pieces together. Thread your needle with three strands of the tan embroidery floss and sew the two tan felt pieces together with a blanket stitch. (if unsure how to do a blanket stitch, see this helpful tutorial).

Continue the blanket stitch along the top of the button piece of felt. (please do not sew this part to the other piece of felt. :) )

Fold over your longer piece of felt to find where the button hole should be. Cut a slit slightly larger than the diameter of your button and stitch around the slit for durability.

And that's it! Slide in your Iphone and accessories, button it up, and you're ready to go! It's sure to draw attention and be a conversation starter wherever you go.

***Change it up! Make it a strawberry poptart with pink frosting. Don't like beads? Make small stitches with colorful embroidery floss instead, or use fabric paint to make your sprinkles.***

Fun Fringy Fleece Scarf

2010-01-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick project you can complete in an hour, and it will be sure to keep little (and grown-up too) necks snuggly warm!

All you need is a half-yard of green fleece and a half-yard of pink fleece (or whatever colors you want!) A pair of sharp scissors and a ruler will be used as well.

1. Cut your fleece into 6"by 8" pieces, four from the green and three from the pink. This will make a scarf about 42" long - suitable for a child. You may want to add a few more pieces to make a scarf long enough for an adult.

2. Along each 6" side of each piece, mark off every half-inch. Make a cut one inch deep at each mark, so that each piece of fleece has a one-inch-fringe on each 6" side.

3. Take a green piece and a pink piece and line up the fringed edges. There will be 12 "fringes" on each colored piece; tie the first pink fringe to the first green fringe in a firm knot. Continue with the rest of the fringes, being careful to keep the knots even, not too tight or too loose.

4. Add another green piece and do the same. Add a pink piece with the same tying technique, and so on, until all seven pieces have been knotted together.

And you're finished! This project is easy enough for even a child who has the ability to tie knots to do.

Make it in your favorite colors, your team colors, or even patterned fleece.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

Well, as you surely noticed, the Scrappy Frog took a back seat for a while in order to let The Framed Frog drive! :) From mid-October until now, I have been kept busy by a constant flow of custom orders, not to mention three little children and their messes. I am so thankful for this Christmas rush of orders, but I am also a little relieved to have some time now to myself. Thus, I will be contributing more regularly to the Scrappy Frog and bringing you more craft ideas, better ways to scrapbook, interesting ways to re-use things around the house, and of course plenty of kid-friendly stuff.

But until I get some of those posts up and running, go on over to my other blog Temporary Insanity to get the tutorial on making this yummy Yule Log.

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful time with family and friends!

Sweet Felt Pumpkins

2009-10-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

I recently tried out a new fall decor craft from the October issue of Family Fun. Family Fun is a fantastic magazine chock full of great ideas for crafts, activities, parenting tips, recipes, and more. Each issue I own is dog-eared from all the use we get out of them! :)

This particular craft involves making some fabric 3-D pumpkins to display in your home. The original directions call for furry and fuzzy fabrics, but I decided to use felt instead.

You need:

some orange or yellow felt, twigs gathered from your backyard or street, needle and thread, plastic grocery bags, and a hot glue gun

1) First, trace a circle on your piece of felt. An 8 or 9 inch diameter is a good size.

2) Next, cut out the circle. (please disregard the fact that yes indeed my kiddies are still in their pajamas in the photo)

3) Using the needle and thread, knot off one end and then stitch around the perimeter of the circle in large running stitches. (about a half-inch from the edge)

4) Pull both ends of the thread to gather the felt into a pouch. Crumple a plastic grocery bag and place inside the pouch before pulling the thread even tighter and tying it off.

5) Insert a broken twig into the opening of the pouch and hot glue in place.

6) I decided that my pumpkins needed a little more pizazz and so glued on some green ribbon "leaves" as well. My daughter helped me make the basket by cutting slits around the edge of a paper plate, weaving a ribbon through the slits, and pulling it tightly into a bow to pucker the plate up into a basket shape.

These were so simple to make, and can be a chic way to add some fall to your home. Try using different fabrics (we also made one from a fat quarter of orange fabric) or use a cinnamon stick instead of a twig for the stem. Stuff the little pumpkins with potpourri or add black felt features to turn them into jack'o'lanterns.

It took me less than an hour to make three of these pumpkins, and I plan on taking them to a friend's house as a house-warming gift.

I Need More Contest Entries!

2009-09-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to remind everyone about the Fantastic Froggy Fall Craft Contest? There is still time to enter - in fact, I extended the deadline to September 28, 2009. You have plenty of time to get your creative skills working!

Don't forget - you don't have to have a crafty entry to be a part of the contest. I also have prizes for those who spread the word via Twitter, blogging, and Facebook.

And finally, I have some fall crafts just about ready to post for you all to enjoy. I picked up some beautiful fall foliage, votive holders, pumpkins, and fabulous ribbon at Michaels to make some new projects.

Please send all craft submissions for the contest to jfrogster@gmail.com. If you tweet, blog, or facebook about the contest, leave a comment at the contest post.

Perhaps You Need Some Inspiration...

2009-09-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Inspired yet?? There's still time to enter The Fantastic Froggy Fall Craft Contest! Just email me with your craft idea for one of the four categories described here, and you could win Starbucks cards and a host of awesome goodness from The Framed Frog.

I need people to spread the word too, so head on over to the contest post and leave me a comment on how you blogged about, tweeted about, or mentioned it on Facebook.

I need some more entries! Help me out please!

Announcing - The Fantastic Froggy Fall Craft Contest!

2009-09-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

It's absolutely my favorite season of the year - time to visit the pumpkin patch, jump in piles of leaves, send those kiddies back to school, and bake dozens of pies for no reason at all.

In honor of my favorite season, The Scrappy Frog is hosting a Fantastic Froggy Fall Craft Contest with fabulous prizes, sponsored by The Framed Frog. So get your crafty self ready!

Here are the details:
Categories:
1. For Kids - these should be crafts that are easy enough for kids to do with minimal help from adults. These could be fall-themed cards, fall treats, gifts for their teachers, etc., as long as they follow a fall theme.
2. Halloween - these should be crafts geared towards the Halloween holiday. These could be decorations, party favors, costumes, treats, etc., as long as they follow a Halloween theme.
3. Scrapbooking - these would be paper crafts. These could be scrapbook page designs, mini albums, cards, etc., as long as they follow a fall theme.
4. Fall Mania - these would be fall-themed crafts that do not fit in any of the previous three categories. These could be storage ideas, decor, jewelry, apparel, etc.

Prizes:
The winner of each category will receive a $5 Starbucks gift card(or something similar if the winner does not have a local Starbucks, poor thing!). A grand prize winner will be chosen out of the four category winners to receive a custom gift package from The Framed Frog - this includes a French memo board, two photo frames painted to match the memo board, and matching candles. Finally, one of the entries will be chosen at random to receive a $25 gift certificate to The Framed Frog.

Rules:
1. Submit your craft entry in the correct category. You may enter every category, if you like, but only enter each category once.
2. Your craft idea must be original. It can be a twist on an old favorite. Please do not copy an idea off a website and send it to me .
3. All craft ideas must be presented in clear logical steps and with at least one photo or diagram. They should be sent to jfrogster@gmail.com to count as an entry.
4. Most entries will be featured in The Scrappy Frog during the month of October with full credit given to you for your idea.
5. Deadline for entries is 12:00 midnight PST on September 28. Winners will be posted on October 2, 2009.
6. Winners will be chosen after all entries are reviewed and tested by Jeanette Foster.

Finally, I have one more special prize for those that help me spread the word. Leave me a comment below indicating that you have either tweeted, blogged about, or mentioned the contest on Facebook, and you will be entered in a drawing for a special surprise. Do all three if you like, but please be sure to leave me three separate comments then to increase your chances of winning.

I can't wait to see all of your great ideas!
(By the way, since I am a big football fan, football definitely counts as a fall theme! If you have any questions about the contest, please email me at jfrogster@gmail.com).

And don't forget, there are lots of great giveaways and contests out there! Hop on over to the next blog to enter one!

Silly Soapy Play Clay

2009-09-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I know, I know, it has been far too long since I last posted on The Scrappy Frog. This summer, The Framed Frog has really taken off, and most of my extra time has been taken up with custom orders. This is great of course, but also very time-consuming. It's hard to find time to come up with extra crafts, make them and photograph them step by step, and then write all the directions to making them.
However, since fall is upon us and Christmas will be here before you know it, I am going to do my best to get as many crafts and clever things to you as I can this season. In fact, I am going to be holding a fall craft contest in the very near future. Prizes will include a gift certificate to The Framed Frog, gift cards to Starbucks, and a few other ridiculously awesome things. You don't want to miss it!
But for now, here is an easy recipe for Silly Soapy Play Clay. This stuff is great because when your kiddies (and you perhaps) play with it, their hands end up smelling like they just washed them. (instead of that strange Play Dough odor)

You need: 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, 1 TBS of liquid soap, water, and food coloring

To make:
1. Take the flour, salt, and soap; and mix all of them together in a large bowl.
2. Add 8 - 10 drops of food coloring to the mixture and blend in.
3. Add water slowly and continue to mix until the mixture turns into a workable dough.

And that's it! You can leave out the coloring entirely if you want, or make several colors. The play clay should be stored in an airtight container when not being used.

My children loved this and played with it for hours, concocting birthday cakes and pancakes and little aliens. We also created a a totally yummy play clay that you can mold into awesome creations and then eat them! The recipe for that clay will be in a future post.

Froggy Pond Cake How-To

2009-07-15T16:08:00.000-07:00

It's once again time for the Birthday Cake Round-up at Life As Mom. This time I am giving a tutorial on a cake I just did for my daughter's half-birthday. Yep, we love birthdays around here and so celebrate our half-birthdays too! She wanted a frog pond cake (so maybe her momma's obsession is rubbing off on her a little) and here's what I came up with.
You'll need: a 2-layer 9" round cake, enough blue frosting to fill the layers and cover the cake, a small amount of green frosting for the frogs, three bamboo skewers, five large marshmallows, green candy melts (or white ones tinted green), and a tube of black gel frosting.

1. Cover the cake with blue frosting. Lay the back of a spoon against the frosting and pull away to make waves.

2. Toast three of the marshmallows (or use caramel swirl ones like I did) and skewer them. Break the skewers at three different places to make three different hieghts and insert the "cattails" in the cake as shown.

3. Make the lily pads by melting the candy melts (I use the defrost setting on the microwave and stir it every thirty seconds). Pipe the melted candy on wax paper in the shape of lily pads and use a knife to spread it evenly.

4. After lily pads harden (this goes faster if you put them in the fridge), place them on the cake.

5. Next, make your frogs by placing a marshmallow each on two lily pads. Frost over the marshmallows in green frosting and add two frosting dabs to the top of each frog's head for eyes. Also pipe legs on each frog. Make a third frog in the water by piping a large ball of frosting with two dabs of frosting on top.

6. Finally, add detail with a little white icing and the black gel icing. Pipe some green ripples around the bottom edge of the cake. (use a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off).

Add an adorable kid, and you're done! In future posts, I will share some of the froggy crafts we came up with as well. :)

The Framed Frog Announces. . .

2009-06-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Time for another giveaway! This one is being hosted by the Etsy Chatters Team blog - you can go here to read all about me and my artistic endeavors!

Then you can enter the giveaway simply by commenting, twittering, etc. to get entries to win a $25 gift card to my store The Framed Frog! That can get pretty much anything in the shop or at least be a good chunk of change toward something bigger. Please go check it out and enter the giveaway here. It'll cost you like five minutes. If that. How can you pass this deal up? And why are you still reading this? Go, go, go!

Wordless Wednesday - Recent Projects

2009-06-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

A few snapshots of some of my more recent projects for the Framed Frog:

- a customized magnetic chore chart - chores are removable and the little magnets are hand-painted wood shapes. . .

- one of my ridiculously awesome ninja frames customized to say "Ninja Dude Loves You" - a special gift for Father's Day. . .

a canvas painted for my dad - combines two of his great loves - coffee and the Scripture. . .

two sets of peg hooks, one for a girl's room (it matches her bedding) and one set for the boy's room - also matches the bedding.

I've been just a little busy. . .

Super Easy Dry Erase Boards

2009-06-05T09:03:00.001-07:00

These dry erase boards are so easy to make, and they make great Father's Day (or any day for that matter!) gifts.

For this project, you need a photo frame with a glass or plastic insert in the opening, scrapbook paper, ribbon, a glue stick, and a dry erase marker. I used a 8x10 frame I purchased from the dollar store.

For the example above, you need a sheet of "sandy" paper and a sheet of seashells paper. Cut the sandy paper to an 8x`0 size (or whatever size your frame is). Cut the seashell paper to a 3x8 size and glue to one side of the sandy paper as shown. Cut a 8" piece of matching ribbon and glue along the edge of the seashell paper. Cut a small rectangle of seashell paper and write "relax" on it. Glue in place. Insert the sheet in the photo frame. Cut another piece of the matching ribbon and tie securely around the dry erase marker. Glue other end of ribbon in place behind board.

To make the "To Do" board above, you need a sheet of scrapbook paper that looks like boards of wood and a sheet that looks like grass. Cut the wood paper to fit the frame. Carefully cut out the letters for "to do" from the grass paper and also cut a grassy border. Glue these in place.

And for the dad board above, you need one 12x12 sheet of geometric patterned paper. Cut the paper to fit the frame. Using the remaining paper, cut out the letters DAD and three circles and glue in place.

It took me about thirty minutes to make all three dry erase boards. The frames and dry erase markers were each a dollar and the rest of the materials I found in my craft stash. That made each board a cost of only $2.00!

All right, I know Father's Day is in only 2 weeks, so I will do my best to get some more projects posted before then. Have fun making your dry erase boards!

Making a French Memo Board

2009-05-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Often when shopping around home decor stores, I have eyed the many French memo boards on display and imagined them in my home. There are just two obstacles to that dream however: 1) they cost too much, and 2) they don't come in the exact colors or pattern I want.
I wondered then how much it would cost to have an online seller who does custom French memo boards make one for me. After a bit of surfing, I realized that I was going to have to make one for myself. And for Sara and all you other non-sewers out there, don't worry - there is no sewing involved!
Here's what is involved:
I went to my local craft store and scavenged for materials to make my board. First, I needed a stretched artists canvas. I am blessed enough to have a local craft store that sells these very inexpensively (I paid $4.49 for a 12x12 canvas!) You are not going to get that kind of deal at Michaels or Joanns, but here's a hint: check out your local thrift stores for old canvas paintings. You're going to cover it up anyway, so use your resources!
Next, I needed fabric to match my bedroom. A flat quarter, which is precut fabric for making quilts, is the perfect size for covering the canvas. I found some fat quarters on sale for $1 each - and in the pile were two pieces of beautiful teal/brown floral fabric.
It was easy to obtain matching ribbon for the board. At Michaels, you can get a spool of 1/4" satin ribbon (10 yards) for 50 cents. This is more than enough ribbon for the board!
Finally I purchased some gold thumbtacks, a package of gold brads, and planned to use my staple gun as well.
And here's how to make this French memo board:

1) First, iron your fabric so that there are no creases or wrinkles. Stretch fabric tightly across the canvas and turn canvas over. Pulling fabric as tightly as you can, staple fabric in place on the left and right sides of the canvas.

2) Trim excess fabric as shown in the photo above.

3) Carefully fold in each corner as if you were wrapping a present. Hold each fold in place with a thumbtack.

4) Fold down the other two sides of the fabric and staple in place, stretching fabric as tightly as possible.

5) Turn over canvas - it should look like the photo above.

6) Now get ready to attach the ribbon. Measure off each side in three-inch increments and mark them with thumbtacks. (Note - do not push thumbtacks all the way in as you will be removing them later)

7) Beginning at one corner, stretch ribbon from one thumbtack to the next to make six diagonal stripes across your board, like in the photo above. Each time the ribbon goes underneath the canvas, tack it firmly in place with a thumbtack or staple gun. Don't forget to pull ribbon very tightly as you work. (With this process, I never brought the ribbon across the back of the canvas but rather worked around the sides of the canvas).

8) Do another set of six diagonal stripes in the opposite direction, weaving them under and over the previously place ribbon. Pierce ribbon intersections with a thumbtack and then place a brad in the hole you have created. Turn canvas over and seal brads.

And viola! you have your own French memo board. Try different ribbon striping patterns or sew buttons instead of the brads. (Or glue buttons to the tops of brads, if you want to avoid sewing.) Try different canvas sizes and fun fabrics and ribbons for kids' rooms, your kitchen, or as a very thoughtful gift for a friend!

Origami fish - fired, grilled, or baked?

2009-05-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

My husband and I are the leaders of our church's PeeWee Pirate Club on Wednesday nights. Every week, we have about 15 to 20 3-5 year-olds that participate enthusiastically in everything and (sometimes) get a little carried away. But like every good teacher know, a little bribery goes a long way - so we always have something for the kids to look forward to at the end of the night if they've been "good." Traditionally this item has been candy or other sweet treat, but lately I've been appalled at the amount of candy my three-year-old brings home from Sunday School and church each week. We decided to be a "candy-free" zone and have prizes that had no sugar whatsoever.

So, every week, I've been racking my brain for affordable prize options for the kiddies. I delved into my sticker collection a few times and then starting folding origami animals as well.

I'm writing this post to show you what we did with some simple origami fish and to give you a few more ideas as well.

I started out by folding 20 little goldfish following this video and using 3"squares of brightly colored paper. (Remember you don't have to buy "origami paper" to do these!) I then cut several pipe cleaners in half, put a little hot glue on one end of each pipe cleaner, and inserted the fish onto the glued end. All tied together, these fishies made an adorable "bouquet" but our students found several uses for them. Wrap one around your finger to make a ring. Wrap one around a pencil for a cute topper. Twist one into your hair for a cute fashion statement.

I also saw this idea somewhere else on the internet, but my mommy brain fails me at this point. simply make dozens of origami goldfish and string them onto fishing line with a few bead spacers in between. You can hang these in the doorway for a ocean-themed "bead curtain."

So there you go - fish for every occasion. :) Some great Father's Day ideas coming up - so stay tuned!

Sock Monkeys and Cupcakes and Jungles, oh my!

2009-05-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

Life has been rather busy around here lately, and I thought I would share some of the newest items at The Framed Frog, items which (besides three hyper young ones!) are what have been keeping me so busy.

Here is a new custom item inspired by this frame that I made for my mom for Mother's Day. She loves sock monkeys, and I painted a photo frame with sock monkey "portraits" of each grandkid on the frame. At The Framed Frog, you can order your own custom sock monkey portrait frame. I can do up to six kids or "kids-at-heart" :) on the frame. You choose the colors as well. What a unique gift to keep for generations to come!

I am attempting to branch out to several boutiques in my area as well, and thus I have been working on original photo frames to present wholesale to the boutiques. This Sweet Cupcake one is the first design and is also available at The Framed Frog. Don't you just love the brown ribbon with pink stitching? (I admit it - I am addicted to ribbon!)

And as always, I am continuing to do custom artwork for baby nurseries and kids' rooms. This set was completed for a surprise baby shower and was to match this jungle bedding. You can get your own set of custom artwork at The Framed Frog too - I can do just about any theme except licensed characters, as those are obviously protected by copyright law.

And now I'm off to work on another set of custom artwork - this one involves a lot of pink, white, and puppies!

Photo Flowers In Flower Box

2009-05-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this project didn't quite make it to posting before Mother's Day! That's all right - this sweet flower box would make a great birthday or just because gift, too!

You need:

1) pipe cleaners (four for each flower, one should be green)

2) photos (good headshots, with the heads being about the size of a quarter or smaller)

3) a Saltines box or other rectangular shaped box

4) brown felt

5) hot glue gun

6) scrapbook paper or wrapping paper, enough to cover the box

7) ribbon that matches the paper ( I ended up using about four feet of ribbon)

1. First, cut out your photos in a round or oval shape, making sure that they are about quarter-size or smaller.

2. Next, choose the primary color of your flower (I used pink in the photo.) Take one pink pipe cleaner (stem) and carefully twist into a figure eight. Twist the remaining end of the stem to make one more petal and bend in place. Do this again with another pink pipe cleaner, forming six petals total.

3. Choose the central color of your flower (here it is yellow). Weave the yellow stem through one petal and out through the opposite petal, until it has passed through all the petals, anchoring them together. Twist the yellow stem around the top of a green stem a few times to secure it.

4. Place a photo on top of your flower. Using the remaining yellow stem, carefully loop it around the photo to secure the photo in place. You can glue it down if you like, but I left mine unglued so that I could switch out photos at a later date, if I wanted.

5. Now make the flower box. Tape down all ends of the box.

6. Next, measure the top of the box and add about an inch on all sides. Cut that measurement from brown felt. Lay your felt piece on top of the box and use a marker or chalk to mark where you will want your flowers to be.

7. Carefully cut slits at each of your marks. (I did nine).

8. Lay your felt on top of the box again and cut the corners as shown in the photo. Hot glue the felt in place on top and then each side.

9. Cut four pieces of scrapbook paper, two for the ends and two for the sides. Be sure there is an extra inch or so on all sides of each piece. Glue the end pieces in place first, as shown.

10. Then glue the side pieces on. Trim any excess paper to leave smooth corners.

11. Measure the perimeter of the box and cut ribbon to size. Glue ribbon along top edge of box. Make a bow with remaining ribbon and glue in place.

12. Using the sharp point of your scissors, poke a hole through the cardboard at each of your felt slits. Bend each flower stem until it is at the desired height. Insert each flower stem in one of the slits and hot glue in place. Hold the stem upright for at last a minute while the glue hardens.

Isn't that cute? This would be such a great gift for someone with an office or cubicle. It's cheery, bright, and definitely a conversation starter.

Candy Box Mini Scrapbook

2009-05-07T14:33:00.001-07:00

What mom wouldn't love receiving this adorable mini scrapbook for Mother's Day? Mini scrapbooks are great for moms and grandmas to carry around in their purses or pocketbooks to show off to their coworkers and friends.

This unique mini scrapbook is easy to make, takes about one hour to complete, and is made of things you probably have around your house.

You need:

1) an empty Whitman's candy box (the four piece box) or similar container (an Altoids tin, perhaps?)

2) three 8.5x11 sheets of white card stock

3) needle and thread

4) 8 cupcake papers or liners

5) 8 2x3 photos

6) markers

7) glue stick or glue dots

8) ribbon

9) optional embellishments (decorative brads and beads were used in the sample project)

Awww. . . isn't it cute? Don't forget to empty the Whitman's box before you begin. This could very well be your favorite part of the project. :)

1) First, cut your card stock into four 3.5 x 5 rectangles. Fold each rectangle in half so that the folded piece measures 2.5 x 3.5. Lay the four rectangles on top of each other with the folds matching and use the needle and thread to sew along the fold through all four pieces. Use a running stitch and secure the thread ends.

2) Second, trim your cupcake lines about halfway with a sharp pair of scissors. (see photo above)

3) Then trim your photos to be in candy shapes, rounding the corners to form ovals and circles. Glue the photos to the centers of the cupcake liners. (I used glue dots to give the photos a bit more dimension)

4) Glue a cupcake liner/photo to the cover of the "book" you made from the card stock. Open the book and glue the remaining cupcake liners/photos to the inside. On the opposite page of every cupcake liner, write that "candy's flavor" in marker. For example, the photo above shows Grammy and Pop playing a game with the kids; so I named it "Gametime Nougat."

5) With remaining card stock, cut a rectangle to fit the top of the box and label and decorate as you wish. Glue in place on the box cover.

6) Finally, use some matching ribbon and glue in strips around the box lid. This works really well when you use glue do ts. Make a little ribbon bow and glue in place. Carefully fold up your book and put it inside the box. Ta Da! Chocolates that will last a whole lot longer than they do around this place. . . (speaking of which, I am heading to the box of Godiva chocolates sitting in our kitchen right now)

Under the Sea Spaghetti Sculpture

2009-04-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

This eye-catching spaghetti sculpture came to fruition one day when I was cleaning my kitchen. I found some spaghetti noodles that had mysteriously fallen behind a kitchen canister, all dry and in various curly shapes. The texture and swirly shapes of the noodles inspired me to try to create a project that used cooked spaghetti noodles as the medium.

***For this project, the spaghetti noodles have to be cooked and dried out for a few days, so plan ahead!***

You will need: 1) a few handfuls of spaghetti noodles, 2) modge podge or other clear-drying craft glue, 3) a piece of sturdy cardboard (I used the bottom of a pizza box), 4) acrylic paints in white and various shades of blue, 5) copy paper in bright colors, 6) cardstock in a bright pattern or color (for the coral), 7) glue gun, 8) foam brushes, and 9) blue or white pipe cleaners

1) First, cook your spaghetti until done. It doesn't have to be completely cooked, just enough for it to be fairly pliable.

2) Next, spread the cooked spaghetti on several layers of paper towels and press more paper towels on top of the spaghetti to absorb as much moisture as possible. Let the noodles sit for about ten minutes on the paper towel.

3) Cover your piece of cardboard with a thick layer of Modge Podge or craft glue. Drape your spaghetti noodles in swirly patterns across the glue-covered area. Try not to get too many noodles piled up in one area, but also remember that the noodles will shrink as they dry. (I had too many noodles in one corner of mine, so they bent the cardboard a little when they dried). Place your noodle-covered cardboard in a warm, dry place on a flat surface. (I put mine on top of my dryer!)

4) Allow the noodles to sit for a few days until completely dry and hardened. Handle carefully, as any noodle not completely adhered to the cardboard could snap off.

5) Begin painting your spaghetti sculpture. Start with white (using a foam brush) and paint various spaces in between the spaghetti noodles. (somewhat like a paint-by-number). Also paint some noodles. Next paint with your light blue, and continue on with each shade until you finish up with your darkest blue. Allow to dry completely and then coat with a sealer. You can use Modge Podge again or a craft glue, but I found that using a a spray-on sealer was faster and easier. Use what you have!

6) Cut various shapes to represent coral from your cardstock and glue to the bottom of your sculpture with a glue gun.

7) Next, fold five origami goldfish from your colored copy paper. I used 4" squares to make my fish. I followed the video tutorial here at OrigamiAncy to make the fish. Cut your pipe cleaner into thirds and twist these pieces into the places you want your fish to be in the sculpture. (Basically you are knotting them around the spaghetti strands that stick out away from the cardboard. If you don't have any pieces sticking out, skip this step.)

8) Using the glue gun, place some hot glue in the inside of each fish and insert each fish on one of the pipe cleaner pieces. Squeeze fish gently to ensure a tight hold. Then bend the pipe cleaners to arrange your fish.

And your spaghetti sculpture is complete! Not enough texture? Glue on some seashells or make some paper/ribbon seaweed to add to your creation.

***Note: If you are doing this project with kids, you can use it to teach about cool colors (your blues, purples, and greens) versus warm colors (your pink, reds, yellows, and oranges).***

Easy No-Sew Bows and Other Mother's Day Stuff

2009-04-27T11:14:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about my mom lately and of course Mother's Day is the perfect time to share those thoughts with her through some crafty goodness. (naturally) I hope you have been doing the same - I think all moms especially appreciate some homemade pretties. :)

So here's the instructions on making an easy, beautiful ribbon bow to be used on gift bags, packages, barrettes, flower vases, etc. Possibilities are endless as you choose the style of ribbon and embellishment!

For this cute and simple bow, all you need is: a glue gun, some wide ribbon, and an embellishment such as a flower or button. ( no sewing!) :)

First, cut your ribbon into six equal-length pieces. The longer your pieces, the bigger your bow will be! (I love huge bows!)

Then loop both ends of each piece back and glue into place to form a "figure eight" shape.

Glue each "figure eight" on top of each other, shifting each one slightly to the right so that your bow is full.

Finally, glue your embellishment to the center of the bow. I glued this particular bow to an alligator clip for Gabi's hair - I just love huge bows in her new pixie cut! (And she is particularly fond of green right now and is more than happy to wear it!)

Want some other ideas for Mother's Day! I've got some more great posts coming up on a mini candy box scrapbook, spaghetti paintings, pipe cleaner bouquets, and more!

In the meantime, try making these fun handprint coasters from my very first post here! Or visit Etsy for more great Mother's Day gift ideas! Here are some of my favorite Mother's Day gifts from Etsy:

1. A Purse-Making Kit - for the crafty and handbag-loving mom

2. A Nest of Stone Eggs - personalized with the kiddies' names

3. Silver Disk Necklace - personalized with kids' or grandkids' names

4. Adorable Bird Soap Dish - this is personalized too! with names and has the cutest birds ever on it

5. Matching Mom/Daughter scarves - hand knit and oh so cute!

6. Mother's Day photo cookies - get yummy sugar cookies with the kids or grandkids' photos on them!

7. Modern Paisley Frame - ok, had to get a little self-promotion in there! But seriously, wouldn't mom just love a beautiful frame custom painted to match her living space?

(all of these things can be ordered now with plenty of time to receive them for Mother's Day!)

Making Your Own Set of Greeting Cards

2009-04-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is coming up soon - on May 10th - so the next two weeks I will be posting several crafts for kids to do for their moms (and for grown-ups to do for their moms, too!)

When special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries come up in your family, where do you get your cards? The grocery store? The Hallmark store? Walmart? Regardless of where you shop, you are going to be shelling out at least $3 to $4 for a nice card. That can get quite expensive over the year! Making your own cards is a whole lot cheaper and sends a special message - that you really care.

Unfortunately in this high-paced world we live in, finding the time to make a card every time an occasion arises is difficult. Today's project is making a whole set of cards at one time. The set I made took me one hour to complete, and now we have ten cards ready to use throughout the year. Make a set for yourself, or a set for Mom for Mother's Day. Kids can easily get involved in this project as well.

You will need:

1) 5 sheets of white cardstock or heavy paper

2) 10 images (these can be pictures cut from a magazine, pictures cut from greeting cards you have received, images printed off the internet in any theme you desire, etc. I have included a sheet of heart images ready to color and use if you wish.)

3) one sheet of tissue paper to match your images (we used pink)

4) about six feet of thin stain ribbon to match (again, we used a bright pink)

5) glue stick

6) stickers

7) pom poms or other embellishments, such as rhinestones or buttons

8) glitter glue

9) craft glue

10) markers

Here is the sheet of heart images that you are welcome to print out and use in your cards:

Here's how to make your set of cards:

1) First, choose what images you will be using on the cards. I bought some boxes of Valentines on clearance after the holiday for 20 cents a piece. We decided to use the Disney princesses on our cards. (There are all sorts of free images available for printing on the internet. Try searching for flowers, fairies, birds, etc)

2) Next, cut out your images and color them if necessary.

3) Then cut your sheets of cardstock in half to make ten 5 1/2" by 8 1/2" pieces. Fold each piece in half to make a card and crease the fold.

4) Cut your tissue paper into 1" by 5 1/2" strips (ten) and your ribbon into 7" pieces. Carefully gather the tissue paper at one end as shown in the picture and tie a ribbon bow around it. Do this for all ten strips of tissue paper.

5) Very carefully use the glue stick to apply some glue to the back of the tissue paper strip and press firmly on the front of the card, as shown.

6) Glue images above ribbon on each card. I found that tucking the image slightly underneath the ribbon bow works best.

7) Choose what message you want on the front of the cards and write it, using your markers. We decided to make a set of thank-you cards, but you could write a variety of messages, including "Happy Anniversary", "Happy Birthday", "Hello", "Love", or anything else you'd like. Add stickers (we used the heart stickers that came with the valentines) and use craft glue to glue on your embellishments. I found these sparkly pink and white pompoms for a dollar at JoAnns, but you could use anything your heart desires on your card. (Sometimes less is more - leaving off the embellishments would work well too!)

8) Finally, I brushed some heart glitter glue across the stickers for some extra sparkle. I cannot resist adding glitter whenever possible, much to the chagrin of my husband. :)

And to make some matching envelopes, The Knitting Blog has an excellent tutorial with lots of photos right here.

Wordless Wednesday - Sushi letters and starry trains

2009-04-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

These are two recently completed custom orders from The Framed Frog. The paper mache letters are hand painted in a sushi design and have matching black ribbon hangers. These sturdy letters are painted on all sides and can be done in any design you want. Just contact me at The Framed Frog and I'll work with you to get your exact design!
The train letters are wooden and magnetically connect to each other. These particular letters were painted in a star and airplane theme to match a little boy's room. He is turning one! I can also paint these adorable trains in any design you like.
I love custom orders - they are a challenge and it is fun to know that no one else will have one exactly like yours!

T-Shirt Dresses and Tie T-shirts

2009-04-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

I am not much of a seamstress. My abilities are pretty much limited to sewing hems and elastic waistlines.
For Easter, I wanted my three little ones to have matching outfits. After searching online and at local stores, I came to the conclusion that I could not afford to pay someone to make matching outfits for the kiddies. So I decided to make some on my own. (haha!) I had this grandiose scheme to make a cute jumper for Gabi and matching rompers for the boys. A quick look at the patterns reminded me of my lack of talent in the sewing department. I had to change gears. I remembered the many T-shirt dresses I had had growing up and thought that it couldn't be too hard to sew some material to the bottom of a t-shirt. For the boys, I had seen various T-shirts in boutiques online on which a fabric "tie" was appliqued. I could do that, I thought. So after choosing some appropriate fabric (the husband warned me that it should not be "too girly"), I started playing around with it and made these shirts with tie appliques:

And a cute T-shirt dress for Gabi, as well as a matching Easter hat:

Here's how to make these adorable outfits:
For the tie T-shirt, you need: a plain white (or other color) T-shirt ( I bought the boys' shirts at Wal-Mart), a small scrap of fabric, thread to coordinate with the fabric, and fusible web (purchase this at any sewing store)

For the T-shirt dress, you need: a T-shirt that is a couple sizes larger than what your daughter normally wears, fabric (I'll explain how much you need in the instructions), coordinating thread, and a piece of yarn.

For the hat (or barrette), you need: a small scrap of fabric, coordinating thread, matching ribbon, a flower embellishment, a button, hot glue, and a hat (I got Gabi's hat at the dollar store).

MAKING THE TIE T-SHIRTS:
1. Draw a tie shape on stiff paper, such as cardstock. The size of the tie will depend on the size of your T-shirt. Cut it out to be used as a template for your applique.
2. Trace your template onto your fabric, making sure that the fabric design is going in the right direction. For example, I used fabric with tiny brown rabbits playing on it, and I had to make sure the rabbits were not upside down. If you use striped fabric, put in at an angle so that it looks like a real tie. Also trace your template onto the fusible web.
3. Cut out your tie shapes from the fabric and the fusible web. Put the fusible web piece behind the fabric piece and iron together, following the directions on the fusible web package.
4. Decide where you want the tie on the T-shirt and pin in place.
5. Set your sewing machine to a tight zig-zag and carefully stitch around the perimeter of your tie applique. This is important: start by stitching down the right side of the tie, go up the left side of the tie, around the top of the "knot" of the tie, and finally across the tie to completely outline the "knot." Take it slow and remember that the fabric will bunch up occasionally. This is fine as long as you don't stitch through the other side of the T-shirt! :)

MAKING THE T-SHIRT DRESS:
1. Take the T-shirt and measure the bottom all the way around. For example, the measurement all the way around the bottom of Gabi's shirt was 24 inches. then measure how long you want the skirt to be, allowing for 1/2 inch for the waist and 1 inch for the hem. For example, I wanted Gabi's skirt to be 11 inches long; so I added 1 1/2 inches to get a length of 12 1/2 inches. Cut two pieces of fabric with your width and length. (My two pieces were each 24" by 12 1/2".)
2. Place the two pieces of fabric with the right sides facing each other and sew a 1/2 inch seam on each short end.
3. Fold hem under 1/2 inch and iron it flat. Fold it under again another 1/2 inch and iron flat. Stitch hem.
4. Cut a piece of yarn that is 6 inches longer than the measurement of the bottom of the T-shirt. My yarn was 30 inches long. Keeping the skirt inside-out, place the yarn along the top edge. Carefully using your biggest zig-zag stitch setting, stitch over the yarn without catching the yarn in any of the stitches. Leave a short section of the yarn sticking out on both ends.
5. Pull the yarn to gather the top of the skirt, adjusting the gathers as you go to create even gathering all around. When the skirt is gathered to the same measurement as the bottom of the T-shirt (in my case, 24 inches) tie the 2 ends of the yarn together tightly.
6. Turn the T-shirt inside out and pin the gathered skirt to the hem of the t-shirt. Keep the skirt inside-out as well and match the skirt's side seams to the side seams of the T-shirt. Stitch the gathered skirt to the T-shirt.
7. Trim any ends of yarn that may be sticking out. Turn dress to the right side and iron the stitching flat.

MAKING THE MATCHING HAT:
1. Take a small strip of the fabric you used for the dress and fold in half length-wise. Use a long straight stitch on your sewing machine or stitch by hand with long stitches along the non-folded edge of your strip. After stitching pull both ends of the thread to gather the strip into a round ruffled shape.
2. Stitch the ends of the ruffled shape together securely. Make several loops with the ribbon and stitch to the center of the ruffled shape.
3. Stitch the flower embellishment on top of the ribbon, and if desired, stitch a matching button on top of that. Glue the whole thing to the front of the hat, or to a barrette.

This is my first attempt at writing a sewing tutorial, so please let me know if any of the instructions are not clear in the comment section. Next time I promise I wil take pictures during the whole process so that you can see each step. :) I got a little carried away while I was doing it.

Teaching Your Kids Painting Techniques

2009-04-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

Perhaps an alternate title to this post would be: "Quick! Cover all the furniture and strip down your child. We are about to unleash toddlers with paintbrushes and goopy paint!"

Seriously, giving paint to your little one is a fearful thing. I want my kiddies to have artistic exposure and training, but the mere thought of the MESS usually causes me to keep those paints and brushes hidden from their little destructive fingers. So the first step in this process is to GET OVER IT. The kids WILL be a mess. There will be some destruction. That's okay. It's all part of the artistic process. You WILL survive. I promise. ( However, if you have OCD, you probably shouldn't read any further). :)

Before releasing the paint and brushes to the kiddies, you need something for them to paint. This can be paper, wood objects, old pieces of cardboard, etc. I decided to try out a plaster kit I had bought on clearance a few months ago.

The instructions seemed pretty simple - we mixed the powder with three tablespoons of water in each ziploc bag, squished it up, and squeezed it into the molds. The molds set up in about twenty minutes, but I let them sit for about two more hours before we painted them.

Now for the painting - here are some general tips on making this process a little easier.

1) Dress the kids in something you don't care about or strip them down to their diapers/underwear. I have tried smocks, but my kiddies always seem to get the paint under the smocks. :)

2) Lay down something on the table and the floor to catch all the paint spills. At first, I used paper towels; but they didn't work too well. I ended up designating some old towels as "paint towels", which worked amazingly well.

3) Give your child small portions of the paint on a plate - not a bowl or cup. This sounds funny, but they will be less tempted to "drink" the paint this way, and it also keeps the spills down. I use some old plastic flower-shaped plates I got at Wal-Mart to separate the colors, just like an artist's palate.

4) For supplies, use acrylic paint and craft brushes. At Michaels and at JoAnns, you can purchase acrylic craft paint for 50 cents for 2 oz. This is plenty of paint and gives you the opportunity to have lots of different colors on hand. Of course, since I use this type of paint in my artwork frequently, I have a stash for the kids to choose from.

On to the painting! For each age group, you will focus on different things. Younger children need to learn how to hold their brushes and only take a small amount of paint on their brushes. Older children can work on even brush strokes, color matching, and even shading. My kiddies are age 2 and age 3; so we worked on brush position and not slathering the object with a gallon of paint! :)

My 2-year-old is left-handed and is most comfortable holding his brush in his fist. This is fine for young ones. I showed him (many times!) how to dip his brush into the paint and not stab the paint ferociously. You shouldn't tell your child what colors to use (for example, "Don't use pink for grass!") but rather focus on technique. Even a 2-year-old can make short brush strokes and coat an object. You can encourage them to use different colors, and with little ones, the colors are bound to get mixed. That's okay - just don't let it get to the point where the whole painting is brown because of all the color mixing.

My 3-year-old is working to hold her paint brush more like a pencil, which is the proper position. I worked with her more on spreading the paint evenly across the object, instead of applying paint to the same spot over and over. She also learned to mix colors to make other colors - such as yellow and blue make green, and blue and white make a lighter blue.

After our plaster creatures had dried, I tried to think of a way that we could display their artwork. The plaster objects were too heavy to be used as magnets. I remembered that I had some wooden wall hooks in my stash, and I got those out for the kiddies to paint. These wall hooks are only $1 at Michaels.

(At this point, the 2-year-old had had enough painting, as evidenced by the blue hands and face!) I let him go play and finished his hook for him. After the paint dried, we hot glued the plaster creatures to the hook bases. I then painted names on the hooks - these were gifts for Grandma and Grandpa - and we varnished the whole thing with a glossy clear varnish.

It is more of a hassle to allow your kids to paint, but the more they are exposed to such a flexible and creative outlet, the more their creativity will grow!

Just spray them off with the hose when you're finished. . .

I Need Your Help!

2009-04-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hey readers!

One of the items in my Etsy shop has been chosen as a finalist in the 3D artisan contest at Blockhead Radio. My Felt Birthday Cake Picture Centerpiece is waiting for your votes! Please go and vote here at Blockhead Radio for my felt cake - if I win, I get a free audio commercial and banner ad on the site. And I can use all the advertising I can get!

I recently purchased a Nikon D60 SLR camera to take better pics of my artwork, and while I feel it was a necessary business purchase, I need to sell more of my artwork to pay off that camera. I love my new toy, so please help me out! Vote vote vote and spread the word - thanks!

And don't worry - things got a little crazy here with my parents' visit and general busy stuff - but I'm back on track and ready to share some more crafts with you this week. I've got a post coming up on teaching your kids some painting techniques, and a little later this week I'll have a tutorial up on how to make some clever tie T-shirts for your little man and a T-shirt dress for your little girl.

Paint-and-Ribbon Easter Frame

2009-04-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Easter is coming up soon, and I have lots of crafts to get out to you all before it arrives. We'll see if we can fit them all in!

Here is a very sweet photo frame that can be modified for many occasions. Using this pattern-painting technique, you could easily make this frame with a teddy bear, kitty, duck, heart, star, etc. This frame makes a great Easter gift or could be a super cute gift for a baby shower.

You need:

1) an unfinished wood photo frame that holds a 4x6 photo (you can get these at Michaels' for a dollar or JoAnns for 2 dollars)

2) acrylic craft paint: white, light purple, dark purple (or dark pink, light pink; dark blue, light blue; whatever colors you want your gingham to be)

3) an unfinished wood shape (rabbit; these are 25 cents at Michaels)

4) clear matte varnish

5) a wide artist's brush and a fine-tip artist's brush

6) hot glue gun

7) matching ribbon

8) white felt scrap

9) button and thread

To make:

1) Paint the rabbit shape and the frame white. Use two coats on the rabbit and 2-3 coats on the frame. Let dry.

2) Using light purple, paint vertical stripes with the fine-tip brush on the rabbit. (You can measure them and mark them off, or just eye it like I did).

3) Still using the light purple paint, paint horizontal stripes on the rabbit.

4) Again using the light purple paint, mark off the bottom left corner and the top right corner. Fill both sections with the same gingham pattern you did on the rabbit. Do the vertical stripes first; then the horizontal stripes. Continue pattern on outside and inside of frame as well.

5) Using the dark purple paint and the fine-tip brush, place a dab of paint at the center of each intersection of the light purple stripes. Do this on the rabbit and on the frame.

6) Using the dark purple paint, paint "stitches" around each gingham area on the frame. When dry, use wide brush to coat frame and rabbit with varnish.

7) Cut ribbon into nine 1-inch pieces. Fold both ends of a piece of ribbon under, and hot glue to the frame. Continue with all pieces of ribbon to mimic stitching. (This takes a little practice. I found it best to glue down one end of the ribbon at a time.) Hot glue rabbit in place. Thread the button and glue in place as an eye. Cut a tiny piece of white felt and glue in place as the tail.

You can use the same concept as I stated earlier in different colors, or you may choose to do different fabric patterns. In the frame below, I did a duck frame in a retro flower pattern; and I have plans to do a pink leopard print rabbit frame and a blue Hawaiian flower print duck frame. Be creative!

And if this is all too much work for you, you have two other options:

1) Use scrapbook paper or fabric and decoupage it on the rabbit and frame.

2) Buy one at The Framed Frog! You can choose either of these frames or have me custom-make one for you. Order now to get your frame before Easter!

Quick And Easy Easter Decor

2009-03-27T12:00:00.001-07:00

Today's craft is going to be a super simple decoration for spring. I hesitate to even call it a "craft"; it's more like an assembly of items. All you need for this little project is: 1) a clear glass vase, 2) small plastic Easter eggs (I used pastel shimmer eggs), 3) rice, and 4) three artificial Gerber daisies on long stems.

To make: Arrange the daisies in the vase, folding up any stems that are too long. Hold them in place while you carefully arrange the Easter eggs around them. Still holding the flowers in place, pour rice slowly over the eggs until the flowers are standing firmly on their own. Don't overfill with rice or all your cute eggs will be hidden.

That's it! Use the same colored eggs as your flowers for a striking effect, or use a monochromatic color scheme such as various shades of pink or yellows.

The tulip votive holders in the picture were actually from my sister's wedding a few years ago. We dressed them up with some springy ribbon bows, and they have made their appearance every spring since then.

Crafts to come: Thank-you cards to make with your child, Snuggly soft bunny friends, Paint-and-ribbon Easter picture frames, Sweet bunny cupcake toppers, and God's Easter Gift Art.

Check back soon for these crafts!

Lucky Green Fun

2009-03-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

All right, so the everyday life has been beating me down and I have not been able to fit some St. Patricks' Day crafts in. (I do have some Easter ones in the works that are just too adorable however!)

So in my browsing I came across some fun links for crafts you may wish to try for this very green and very lucky holiday:

1) A Leprechaun Hat for Chips: Make this cute hat to hold your snacks and other yummy treats!

2) Froot Loop Rainbows: Exactly as the title says. Easy and edible!

3) Green Pepper Shamrock Printing: Pretty simple again and easy to do with kids!

4) Salt Dough Shamrocks and Rainbows: Just like the Christmas ornaments - these are really cute!

5) St. Patrick's Day Dominos: Use the colorful patterns and make a fun new game to play!

SO happy last-minute crafting, everyone! I'm off to feed my little leprechauns and calm the one that's teething. :)

Daisy Giveaway and St. Patrick's Call-Out

2009-03-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't you just love to win this cute wall hook for your home?

Well, head on over to A Blog of Goodies, where my Daisy Fairy hook is being featured in a giveaway. There are several super easy ways for you to enter the contest, so go check it out!

And now a quick (and late, I know) call-out to all you crafters who have a great St. Patricks Day craft to share! Due to much late-night work for my etsy shop, I have fallen a little behind in the crafting just for fun category. Please help me out and send me your St. Pat's ideas! Email me here jfrogster@gmail.com with the craft instructions, or send me a link to your blog post about a St. Pat's craft. You can even send me a link to a great St. Pat's craft that you found on the web! Hurry, hurry, the lucky green holiday is coming up soon and we are all eager to see your greatest ideas!

(hmmm, a little leprechaun mentioned to me that he just might have a little prize for the best craft sent in...)

Fun Crayon Molds and Rolls

2009-03-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

During my quest for unique and fun Valentines' crafts, I came across several sites that suggested making heart-shaped crayons. Since recently my darling angels had the audacity to break several of their crayons into tiny pieces, I decided to try making some shaped crayons for myself. There are lots of websites with "recipes" for this project, but basically all you need is a bunch of broken (without wrappers) crayons, a muffin tin, cooking spray, and an oven. I am blessed to have a three-year-old who will sit for hours and peel off crayon wrappers, as this is the most tedious part of the craft. The crayons need to be broken into small pieces. Spray the muffin tin with cooking spray - I used a mini loaf pan for our creations. Fill each section of the muffin tin with broken crayon pieces and put the muffin tin in an oven heated at 250 degrees for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool. Put the tin in the freezer for a few minutes to make the crayons easy to remove. Pop out the crayons and enjoy!

Now here's a couple of tips:
1) Use higher-quality crayons: the cheaper crayons tend to blur colors more and make the new crayons more breakable.
2) Use brighter, lighter colors in your swirly crayons. Avoid black and dark blue - these just

smear up the whole crayon.

So once we discovered how much fun it was to make these cute crayons, we decided to make some for David's little friend, who was having his second birthday party on Saturday. And that gave me an idea. I had seen several clever crafters on Etsy that make crayon rolls - basically quilted fabric with slots for crayons to be rolled up and taken along on trips. Now I'm not much of a sewer, much less a quilter! I figured that I could make up a much easier but still cute and functional facsimile.

So here's how to make the crayon roll:
You need: a clear plastic binder pocket with a velcro flap closure, a piece of fabric large enough to cover the back of the pocket with allowance on all sides for seams, a sewing machine, paper, markers, and ribbon

What to do: Iron under a small seam on each edge of the fabric - then zigzag stitch the piece of fabric to the back of the clear plastic pocket on all edges.
Change the sewing machine over to a straight stitch and sew two straight lines to divide the clear plastic pocket into three pockets, as shown.
Make a small paper label for the flap closure - I wrote "Jack's Crayons" on mine. Zigzag stitch the label to the open flap (otherwise you'll stitch the whole thing closed!)
Fold the pocket into thirds along the stitched lines to see where to place your ribbon for the tie closure. See the photo for my placement, and stitch ribbons securely in place.
Insert crayons into pockets, roll up, and tie it shut with the ribbon. This would also make a great carrier for Hotwheel cars or other small toys.

Even a very inexperienced stitcher can make this, and because its interior is plastic, you don't have to worry about the fabric getting all marked up by the crayons. :)

As for the crayons, we ended up making specific color combinations, such as pink, green, and orange together. It would be neat to just use pink, purple, and white shades when making crayons for a girl or green and brown shades to make camoflauge crayons for a boy.

Paint Can Mini Scrap Book

2009-03-05T08:24:00.001-08:00

So your husband dragged you along on another boring trip to his favorite hardware store. Of course, he chooses to browse the aisles full of not-even-remotely-interesting plumbing parts and electrical gear. Sneak away to the paint aisle and pick out some paint sample cards. Ok, let's not kid ourselves - he's not going to do any repainting at your house anytime soon. But. . . you can use those paint cards to make a mini scrap book like the one above!

Choose a fun theme (I chose my daughter's third birthday party) and get busy! This scrapbook took me about 2 hours to complete, and that was while I was also watching America's Next Top Model. (slight distractions at the cat fights!)

Here's what you need:

1) 8 paint sample cards (I used Dutch Boy cards because of their large size and chose bright colors to go with my birthday party theme)

2) 9 3" by 5" photos to go with your theme

3) gluestick and masking tape

4) coordinating papers (I used The Pocket full of Posies Matstack from DCWV - I love the bright designs and glittery accents!)

5) hole punch

6) loose leaf ring (the kind of ring found in a three-ring binder)

7) two sheets of white, gray, or silver cardstock

8) one sheet of colored paper - I used yellow

9) journaling pens

10) two eyelets (I used gold ones to match the yellow paper)

11) ribbon or another material to use as paint can handle (you could also use pipe cleaner, wire, yarn, etc. I am just a ribbon fiend so that's what I used)

First, take the paint sample cards and glue them back to back so that you have four cards. Press them together firmly - I stuck mine under a few heavy books for a couple of minutes to make sure they were sealed together.

Next, punch a hole in one corner in each of the four cards.

Crop your photos to about a 3" by 5" size and reserve one photo for the "paint can." If you are using smaller paint strips than the Dutch Boy ones, crop your photos to a smaller size.

For each card, glue a photo in the darker colored side of the card, leaving the lightest color open for journaling. Remember to do both sides of the card! Cut out paint splash shapes from your coordinating paper and glue over two of the corners of your photos. As you can see in the photos above, I glued the splash shapes over the same two corners on each photo for continuity. Journal in the lightest color on each card.

Slide the loose leaf ring through the punched holes on your cards and close it.

Now it's time to make the "paint can". Cut a sheet of cardstock (white, gray, or silver) to be 11" by 7 1/2'. Fold it in half so that it measures 5 1/2" across. Seal the bottom and side with masking tape, leaving the top open to form a pocket. Cut another sheet of cardstock the same dimensions and cut the yellow sheet to be 3" by 11". Glue the yellow strip to the center of the second sheet of cardstock; then wrap this sheet around the taped pocket and glue in place.

Decorate the paint can label with a photo and journaling. I wrote "Foster Family Paint. Color: Birthday Happiness. Inspired by: Gabi's 3rd Birthday.

Attach an eyelet to the two top corners of the "paint can". Thread the ribbon through and knot it inside the "paint can." Slide the finished scrapbook inside.

This makes a great and easy gift - although I am pretty sure I am keeping mine. Wwe have a bulletin board at our house filled with pictures, memos, and such; this paint can full of memories will be hung on a thumbtack there to be perused often (most likely by the birthday girl, who never tires of seeing herself in pictures).

If you make a scrapbook like this, please send me some pictures of your work. I'll gladly feature it here on The Scrappy Frog!

Mini Scrapbooks and Etsy findings

2009-03-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I know it's been a little while since I posted. Some very cute and unique crafts are in the works and hopefully the instructions will get posted within the next couple of days. Some special mini scrapbook ideas are coming your way!

Anyway, the reason I've been a little behind on posting here is that I've been ultra busy creating items for my etsy shop and working out all the business details. (that, and taking care of three little . . .er, angels!) If you've never been to etsy.com before, you must visit! The creativity and talent of the artisans on there is absolutely amazing! You can buy cute personalized diaper bags, incredibly unique jewelry, funky clothing, etc. I also like to browse etsy just to breathe in all the creativity and get some new ideas of my own. One fun way to browse etsy is by using their new Pounce feature. Similar to "Stumble" on Firefox, you simply click on the Pounce icon and you can choose to either see three shops that haven't sold an item yet, or three shops that just sold an item. Be careful - it's addictive! Have an idea for something you want created but can't find it anywhere? Use the Alchemy feature on etsy - submit your request and all qualified artisans will bid to do it for you. You get to pick who does it and at what cost to you! I have seen the craziest requests there - just recently I saw someone requesting a belt buckle in the shape of the Oscar Mayer weiner mobile. :)

Anyway, I thought I would share a few links to my favorite Etsy shops:

1) Skeeterbug Bows and More

This shop has the most adorable little dresses and hairbows. I am particularly fond of her little cupcake ribbon hairbows - too cute!

2) LoveLee Soaps

Hard to resist the Hostess chocolate cupcake inspired soaps and the cheerful garden gnome soaps here!

3) Paper Funk Press

This shop has some great notecards made from original pen/ink illustrations (my favorite medium as of late!). Check out the one that starts out - "Love is like chewing gum...

4) Funky Recycling

Now you can get your very own pig pin made from a recycled Diet Coke can - and many other whimsical creations as well!

5) Janine King Designs

I'm pretty sure one of these classy bags is going to become my new netbook's case soon - I just have to decide which one to order!

Now go have some fun at etsy!

It's a Piece of Cake! - Picture Frame How-To

2009-02-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

I promised instructions on how to make the cute little picture frame cake below.

So here they are! Please keep in mind that this is a bit of a time-consuming project.

For one piece of cake, you will need:

a. 2 pieces of 3" by 5" cardboard, 1 piece of 1" by 5" cardboard

b. masking tape

c. cardstock

d. felt: one black piece for the cake, one tan piece for the filling and frames, one pink piece for the frosting, one white piece for the decorative icing, one red piece for the rose, one green piece for the leaves, one blue piece for the candle

e. sharp scissors

f. hot glue gun

g. needle and white thread

h. one black pipe cleaner, one yellow pip cleaner, and one orange pipe cleaner

i. decorative ribbon (I used a ribbon that says "Happy Birthday" on it

j. other ribbon and felt for optional decorations

1) First, securely tape the two 3 by 5 pieces of cardboard together on their 3" sides. Allow for some flexibility.

2) Next, take the 1 by 5 piece of cardboard and fold the ends in slightly. Hot glue the strip of cardboard about a half-inch in on each side to form a triangle, as seen in the photo above.

3) Then cut out a 3 1/2" by 11" piece of black felt and hot glue it to the outside of the cake, with 1/4 inch above and 1/4 inch below the cake. Glue down those quarter-inch sections.

4) Next, cut a piece of cardstock 3" by 6". Tape it in place along the cardboard strip in the back, forming a curve.

5) Then cut a strip of tan felt, 1/2 " by 11" and glue in the center of the black felt for "filling."

6) Now it's time to make your rose. Using the shorter end of your piece of red felt, cut a strip about 1 " wide, with one side scalloped and the other side straight.

7) Place a thin strip of hot glue along the straight side of the red felt strip and roll it up. Fluff out the petals. Cut out three green leaves and glue onto the base of the rose. Set aside.

8) Now here's the fun part. Trace the top of the cake on the pink felt, but use a wavy line instead of a straight one. Leave extra felt at the base of the triangle to cover the back of the cake, as shown, and cut out. (sorry, I don't have a pattern for this!) Lay the cake with its back on the pink felt, as shown, and roll up the sides and hot glue it down. This gives it a cleaner edge.

9) Glue down top of "frosting" and tuck excess felt up underneath cake, gluing it firmly in place.

10) Cut a 1" by 8" strip of white felt. Stitch a wide running stitch down the length of the strip and pull stitches to ruffle the strip. When ruffle is the same length as the back of the cake, tie off. Hot glue white ruffle to back edge of cake. Glue on the rose, and glue the decorative ribbon to the base of the cake. (If you wish, make another ruffle and substitute it for the ribbon.)

11) Now make your candle. Cut a 3" piece of black pipe cleaner and a 1" by 1 1/2 " piece of blue felt. Fold the felt piece in half (width-wise) and hot glue in place, making a small sleeve. Insert the black pipe cleaner piece, leaving about 1/2 " at the top. Cut a small piece of yellow pipe cleaner and form a flame around the black "wick." Glue in place and then glue a small scrap of orange pipe cleaner to the front of the flame.

12) Attach your candle by cutting a tiny slit in the top of the cake with the sharp scissors. Insert the candle in the slit, and turn the cake piece upside down. Twist the pipe cleaner to hold the candle in place upright, and then hot glue into place.

13) For the frames, cut out two tan pieces of felt, 2 1/2" by 3 1/2". Cut out a 2" by 3" rectangle out of the center of each piece. (Make this easier by folding the piece in half, marking off the rectangle, and cutting it.) Place a thin strip of hot glue along the bottom edge and two sides of the frames and glue onto the side of the cake. The top of each frame should be open to slide a photo inside.

14) Optional: Cut another frame, following #13, out of pink felt and glue to the back of the cake. Or decorate the back of the cake with felt shapes, such as hearts, flowers, etc., or ribbon bows.

If you are going to make a whole cake, do all the pieces at the same time to keep them uniform and periodically put them together to make sure they will fit into a cake shape. The decorating possibilities for this project are endless - here are just a few ideas.

a. Use blue frosting, an "It's a Boy" ribbon, and little felt baby booties instead of roses for a baby shower cake. In one of the frames, insert a card with Birthdate:, Weight:, Height: on it for the mom to fill out later. (Use pink for a girl)

b. Make a graduation cake with the recipient's school colors and use tiny felt graduation hats instead of roses. Roll up some money into little diplomas and insert inside the cake piece.

c. Make a seasonal cake to celebrate a special holiday. St. Patrick's Day is coming up - decorate the cake frame with shamrocks and little pots of gold.

Yes, it is a lot of work. After figuring out how to make it and doing it a few times, I have managed to streamline the process a little. Go ahead, try making one or order one at The Framed Frog. I will do any custom order there. :)

Felt Birthday Cake Picture Frame - WW

2009-02-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

Here's the newest offering at The Framed Frog - an adorable felt cake that comes apart into six pieces to be used as photo frames. It makes a great birthday gift - this particular one was for Great-great-Grandma's birthday. It could also be customized for a baby shower or graduation or whatever you like!

If you're interested in trying to make this yourself, come back to The Scrappy Frog tomorrow for the how-to post. Or let me do all the work for you and order one at The Framed Frog. :)

Find more wordless (and otherwise!) fun here at 5 Minutes for Mom. . .

Recent Creativity - WW

2009-02-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of things completed recently:

I hope you got these already, Sara, but if not, then here's a sneak peek of what you will be getting soon! I hope your boys love the little airplanes as much as I enjoyed making them!

And a recent cake decorating endeavor:

Polka dots are great when you just can't get the icing quite smooth enough! :)

FInd more wordless fun here.

Hand-painted Flower Fairy Hooks

2009-02-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

As many of you already know, I do customized artwork for children's rooms and baby nurseries, and it is available in my etsy shop, theframedfrog.etsy.com. I decided to start adding some seasonal pieces to my shop as well. New at The Framed Frog is a collection of hand-painted flower fairy wall hooks. Right now you can purchase "Lilac" and "Petunia." The third in the collection, "Daisy", is actually going to be featured in a "Fun With Flowers" giveaway in March. I'll give you more details when it gets closer to the event.

These were really fun to make and have a distressed look to them. There are a couple of ways that you can make a wooden piece distressed. In these pieces, I painted the bases a bright blue. After they dried, I sponged on a lighter blue. When that dried, I sponged on a little white and also skimmed the edges with white. Finally I took a fine-grade sandpaper and gently rubbed it over the blues and whites before painting on my flowers.

So, now I am thinking of some Easter pieces to do as well as add more fairies to this collection. Any ideas? I'd love to hear from you!

Special Valentines for Daddy

2009-02-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

My husband works so hard for our family and is such a great dad! I am extraordinarily blessed and definitely wanted to have the kiddies make him some special Valentines. When I set about designing this project, I had two goals in mind: 1) to be cute and original, and 2) to be easy for the kids to do most of it themselves. Keep in mind that my little angels are 3 years old and two years old. Didn't they do a great job?

Here's what you'll need to make these Valentines:

1) red foam craft sheet (large if you're making two)

2) crayons

3) permanent marker

4) lanyard lacing

5) pipe cleaners

6) hot glue gun

7) smiley face buttons

8) sharp scissors

9) beads (optional)

How to Make these Valentines:

1) Cut the foam craft sheet in half and instruct the kids to color all over their piece with crayons. Colors like white, yellow, and green work best. (You can definitely skip doing this if your child is older. I just wanted another thing for my two-year-old to be able to do)

2) Fold each piece of foam in half and cut out a heart shape. Cut evenly spaced slits along the edge of the heart with sharp scissors.

3) Have each child choose a color of lanyard lacing and help them "sew" it through the slits. My 3-year-old is really into those sewing cards so she did really well with this. Knot off the lacing at the end.

4) Have each child choose a pipe cleaner for their daddy and one for themselves. Encourage them to choose two DIFFERENT colors. Fold each pipe cleaner in half and cut it at the fold. Fold one of those pieces in half again and cut it at the fold, making three pieces total.

5) Take the long piece and fold it in half to form legs. Twist little feet at the bottom of each leg. Then take one of the other pieces and use it to form the body, twisting the bottom around and through the top of the legs. Finally, take the last piece and use it to form arms, twisting them in place across the body.

6) Make the child's pipe cleaner body smaller than the daddy's body by adding extra twists.

7) Using the glue gun, affix the bodies to the laced foam heart so that the child and father are holding hands. Glue on the smiley face buttons for heads, and add any other embellishments. We used more pipe cleaner to make hair, and we used beads for hands and hair accessories. The kiddies got a real kick out of picking out hair colors and beads.

8) Finally , write "I Love You, Daddy" with permanent marker and help your child "sign" their name.

The kiddies will be giving these to their daddy before he leaves for work tomorrow so that he can take them in to his office.

Don't forget to check below for the other last-minute Valentine ideas that I posted today. Happy crafting!

Groovy Collage Hearts

2009-02-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

These Valentine cards are fun to make but can be a bit time-consuming. The end result, however, is well worth it!

You will need:

1) a few old magazines

2) scissors

3) glue stick

4) white paper

5) Modge Podge

6) your choice of embellishments ( We used wooden craft cutouts that were already painted and decorated, and beads)

How to Make These Groovy Valentines:

1) Go through the old magazines and cut out random squares about 1" or so. Arrange squares into their color groups. (It is good to decide what colors you will be looking for before going through the magazines). We were making three valentines; so we chose a group with greens and yellows, a group with pinks, reds, and purples, and a group with shades of blue.

2) Draw a large heart with a permanent marker on the white paper and begin gluing the squares of one group on the heart. I chose to work my way around the heart; my daughter did a more random placement of her squares.

3) Make sure you glue plenty of squares on so that all white is covered. Generously overlap the edges of the heart with your squares, as shown below. Then turn the paper over and cut out the heart along the permanent marker line.

4) Lay your completed hearts on cardboard or newspaper. Using a foam brush, generously cover the hearts with Modge Podge and allow to dry completely.

5) If you want, you can stop right here and write your Valentines' message on the back of the hearts. These are certainly pretty enough to stand on their own.

6) However, if you want to go a step further, decorate the heart with embellishments of your choice. Some examples are stickers, gems, beads, paper hearts, lace, etc. I found these adorable wood-and-felt cutouts (already painted!) at Michael's for 49 cents each.

Of course, you can use this decoupage technique on lots of things. I picked up a few wood-framed mirrors today that I am going to try it on.

Again, I am putting up a few posts today with last-minute Valentine ideas. Be sure to check all of them!

Easy Valentine Banner

2009-02-12T16:43:00.000-08:00

I was prowling around Michael's today, dragging my three kiddies through all the aisles to find the great deals and to get inspired. I found a few sale items that I thought I might be able to make into a fun Valentine banner to give to the kiddies' grandma when they go to her house tomorrow to stay overnight.

You need:

1) Pretty ribbon (Michael's has all their Valentine ribbon 1/2 off; I paid $1.00 for this ribbon and plan to use the rest for hairbows for Gabi)

2) 3 pack nylon hearts ornaments (These are on sale at Michael's for only 50 cents a pack; the company is Sulyn Industries)

3) Darice Foamies stickers (all of these cute sets are on sale at Michael's for 50 cents a pack)

4) White paper

5) Beads

6) Glue (I used a hot glue gun)

How to make the Banner:

1) Arrange the Foamies stickers on the nylon hearts however you please. Trace the hearts onto white paper and cut out three hearts.

2) On the paper hearts, affix the remaining Foamies stickers and write any message you desire. Glue each paper heart to the back of each nylon heart.

3) Slide three or four beads onto the fishing line hanger that is on the top of each nylon heart. Knot in place.

4) Cut a piece of ribbon about three feet long. Slide each heart's fishing line hanger onto the ribbon and center them. Tie each fishing line hanger firmly to the ribbon.

5) Loop back each end of the ribbon and glue into place.

I imagine this easy project will be hanging above Grandma's fireplace tomorrow. Wouldn't this be so cute in a little girl's room?

And frugal too . . . this entire project cost me about $1.50.

Stay tuned for more last-minute Valentine ideas! I have a couple more projects to post today.

Please Vote for Gabi's Photo!

2009-02-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Hi all! In case you haven't seen this in my other blog, this sweet picture of Gabi was selected as a finalist in the "Horsin' Around" photo contest at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Please go here and vote for her photo - it's number 19. The prize for the contest is a rocking toy from A Rocking Horse to Love. Since Gabi already has a well-loved rocking horse, we are going to give our prize to a family with two little girls that needs a whole lot more than we do. So please go vote and spread the word! I am sure that a new toy will bring big smiles to these little girl's faces!

Thanks, everyone!

More Valentine Craft Ideas!

2009-02-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

Recently I participated in a Valentines' package swap and was thrilled to receive a box full of goodies from Adrienne at Crafting Mom of 1. Besides candy, pencils, and even a vintage Valentine, she included an adorable handmade wool felt bunny and embroidered wool felt barrettes and pencil toppers, as shown below. She posted about making these bunnies here.

And so I did some searching to see what other Valentines crafts are out there, and here are a few of my favorites:

1) Fancy Valentines' cards that look like they took a lot of work but are actually pretty simple to make if you follow the directions on this video
2) A whole assortment of frugal Valentine craft ideas found here - my favorites in the list being the heart collages and the box of "compli-mints"

3) These lovely decoupage hearts with step-by-step instructions and photos here

4) And of course I had to get something froggy on the list - get the patterns to make these heart stake critters here.

You Can Now Purchase My Customized Artwork!

2009-02-06T00:31:00.000-08:00

I finally have my Etsy shop up and running! To see what's in my shop, click on the button on my sidebar or go to theframedfrog.etsy.com. I am selling customized artwork like the kind in my recent giveaway.

One of my winners will be receiving this set of artwork within the next couple of days. She specified her colors (brick red, deep blue, and white) and her theme (her three kiddies share a room, and she wanted the family's love of cats and dogs represented.) As you can see, she also opted for the personalization of the pieces, which will be great when her daughter gets her own room and can take her piece with her. The coordinating ribbon hangers say "Favorite Things" on them.

So if you are looking for something special and unique for your baby's nursery or child's bedroom, please visit my Etsy shop! Pass the word along to friends and family. These would make great baby shower gifts!

Cute Cupcakes and Cookies Papercraft

2009-02-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about Valentines' Day are the sweet treats!(okay, make that any holiday!) My indulgence now is usually a box of chocolates from my man, but children everywhere celebrate with heart-shaped cookies and pink-frosted cupcakes. Wouldn't it be cute to make some papercraft cookies and cupcakes to be used on Valentine cards, boxes, etc.?

These sweet treats have zero calories and are made simply from cut paper glued together.

Here are the patterns for the cupcakes and the cookies:

Assembling the cookies: Cut out "cookie A" from brown paper and "cookie B" from pink paper. Glue "cookie B" on top of "cookie A". Cut out lots of tiny "sprinkles" from various colored paper and glue on top of "cookie B". (I also used a heart punch for heart-shaped sprinkles.)

Assembling the cupcakes: Cut out "cupcake A" from white paper and "cupcake B" from either red or pink paper. Cut out 4 "cupcake C"s from the opposite paper of "cupcake B" (for example, use red on "cupcake B" and pink on "cupcake C", or vice versa.) Glue the 4 "cupcake C"s to "cupcake B", with triangles pointing downward. Glue "sprinkles" and hearts on "cupcake A". Glue "cupcake A" to the top of "cupcake B", overlapping it a little. Cut cherry out of red paper and glue to top of cupcake.

And here's how I used my cupcakes and cookies:

Here they are decorating a Valentine box for our church nursery workers. There are so many creative possibilities with this project! They can stand alone as adorable Valentine cards, be used on scrapbook pages, decorate boxes or bags, etc. You could even cut them out of felt and glue them to a barrette for a cute Valentines hairbow.

And now that you're craving some sweet treats, go make up a batch of Valentine spritz cookies! Use your favorite spritz cookie recipe (here's mine!), dye the dough pink, use the heart-shaped disk, and add some colorful sprinkles!

More Valentines Ideas

2009-02-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more ideas sent in by other crafters. All of these are easy to do and require just a few supplies.

Noreen of Silly Mommy of 2 Silly Girls sent me a link to her post about tooth fairy boxes. These are super easy to do and very cute and could easily be made into Valentine boxes instead of tooth fairy boxes. Check out her idea here and see what you can come up with to make them more "Valentiney." Also, aren't her little girls just adorable? I love the genius hairstyles!

The Buki family has a cute little almost-one-year-old, Liam. Her idea to do a Valentine card with him was to let him color some cardstock and then trace his hands on it. As she said, "Simple but sweet."

Next, Valerie at Christian Preschool Printables sent me a link to her post about these cute and tasty Valentines decorations here. If you can handle a glue gun, you can certainly do this project!

And finally, Dina Lettre of Four Lettre Words emailed me with her crayon Valentines that she made with her son. They took old broken crayons, melted them, and poured them into a heart-shaped ice cube tray. When the melted crayons hardened, Dina popped them out and put a few in each plastic bag to which she attached a cute tag. What a great idea! (and recycling to boot!)

So take these idea and have some fun with them! Also, if you have a great Valentines craft idea, please email me at jfrogster@gmail.com with the idea or send me the link to your craft post.

Love Bug Valentines

2009-02-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is the winning Valentine craft sent in by Sara of Hostage Negotiation. Sara made these incredibly cute love bug Valentines with her three-year-old and sent in the following instructions.

Supplies: pink/red/white construction paper, scotch tape, glue stick, white glue, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, marker, glitter glue, and scissors

How to make the Love Bugs:

1) Cut out 3" circles from construction paper (I used a kid's cup as a trace. It worked well.) Short cut- draw 3 circles equal distance apart on the narrow side of the paper, fold into fourths and then cut out the 3 circles. . . you magically have 12! This makes enough for 4 caterpillars.

2) Arrange the circles in a red/white/pink pattern so that the pink ends up being the face (or however you like.) Using the glue stick, smear a little glue on the right half of the circle and overlap with another circle. Repeat until you get to the head which will be raised up a little bit from the body.

3) Fold the pipe cleaners into quarters and cut up. Once you have the size you like (I think I ultimately cut it into eighths), fold into 'L' shapes for the legs and antennae.

4) Flip the caterpillar over and use scotch tape or white glue to glue one leg onto each circle. (If you want more legs, do two on each circle. Also, tape/glue 2 to the top of the head for antennae.)

5) Using the marker, draw on face and message. I wrote " I <3>

6) Using white glue, glue the googly eyes onto the face.

7) Take glitter glue and outline the body (I used pink).

The project cost Sara nothing since she already had all the supplies on hand. These would be easy to mass produce and do with kiddies.

Enjoy making your love bugs and check back here at the Scrappy Frog for more Valentine ideas. I am trying to get quite a few Valentine craft posts up today so that you all can get them done before Valentines Day! :)

The Results Are In!

2009-02-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Well, the results are tallied and I am ready to announce the winners of the customized artwork giveaway!

It took me a little more time that I originally thought it would. There were some comments that didn't count as entries, such as questions directed to myself regarding specifics about the contest.. :) So I numbered all the comments that did count, making sure that those who mentioned me in their blog got an extra entry. I then wrote out each number on a square of cardstock and mixed up the numbers in a cup. David helped shake up the cup several times so that the numbers were thoroughly mixed, and Gabi closed her eyes and picked the winning number.

And the winner is. . . Karen of Sillymonkeez! I am looking forward to getting started on her dog and cat-themed artwork.

Of course, there was also a Valentine craft contest winner as well. I was hoping for more craft entries, but the ones entered were so cute! I chose Sara(Hostage Negotiation) as the craft winner because her idea was 1) easy, 2)adorable, 3) inexpensive, and 4)just fun to do! Her craft as well as others that were entered will be featured in my next post on Valentine crafts.

So ladies, please contact me ASAP so that I can get started on your artwork. If I don't hear from you within 48 hours, I will choose a new winner!

A BIG thanks to all of you that took the time to enter the giveaway. All your comments had me thinking about rainbows, jungles, princesses, butterflies, zebras, baseball, faeries, cupcakes, frogs, giraffes, Audrey Hepburn-inspired kitties, and many more! If you didn't win but are still interested in purchasing some customized artwork for your child's room, please email me at jfrogster@gmail.com for my reasonable pricing. I am hoping to have my shop website up soon.

Again, thanks for all the great participation and please come back for more great crafting ideas! :)

Winners to be announced...

2009-02-01T00:14:00.001-08:00

A big thanks to all of you that participated in the Valentines' giveaway! The two winners will be announced on Monday, February 2, so check back then to see the results.

Gotta go tally up some prize winners! :)

No Time for Scrapbooking?

2009-01-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

I love to scrapbook, but finding any chunk of time in my week to be able to sit and scrap undisturbed is very difficult! My three little angels take up most of my time and energy!

I try however to at least make one scrapbook a year. One easy way to do this is to scrap a single page for each month of the year. I did this in December 2008, staying up way past my bedtime but accomplishing 12 pages that represented the whole year in one night. Here are the results:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Then here's the best part. Scan each one of the scrapbook pages into your computer, save them, and take them into a print shop to be made into a calendar. We do this every year for Christmas gifts for our family and friends. We have the scrapbook, and they all get a calendar to remember us by all year!

Remember these tips while making your 2008 scrapbook:

1) Choose two or three good quality photos that represent that month for you. For example, the month of June highlights photos from Uncle Tim and Aunt Paula's visit; and August of course shows pictures of the our new baby boy Michael.

2) Keep it simple and colorful. Too many embellishments will detract from your photos and may not scan well. Clear color contrasts help you to get a good scan. FOr example, I used mostly red and white for my July page.

3) You can definitely use three-dimensional embellishments, but be careful that they don't stick up too far off the page. This will cause shadows and uneven scanning. I used ribbon, embroidered patches, brads, and 3-D stickers.

4) Keep at least a half-inch of each page edge clear of decorations and writing. When the print shop prints out the calendars, they will trim all the edges. You do not want part of your kid's face cut off or a loss of some of your journaling!

5) You don't have to use New Year's photos for January, Valentines' photos for February, and so on. I noticed that I had quite a few cute pics of the kiddies sleeping from February 2008, and so I chose sleep as my theme for February.

And that's it! I hope it inspires you to get out your scrapbooking supplies this weekend and make a memory of 2008!

And don't forget - the artwork giveaway ends tomorrow night at 12:00 midnight PST! I would love to have some more Valentine craft entries!

Cute Mailboxes

2009-01-26T21:36:00.001-08:00

Target has these adorable metallic mailboxes in the dollar section. Besides the pink and silver, I saw that they have red and white as well.

I had actually been looking for something like this for Daddy (and me!) to leave the kiddies little messages and treats. Decorating these mailboxes presents endless possibilities! I decided to let Gabi have most of the control of the decorating. Here are some of the things we used to spice up our mailboxes:

1) stickers of course - I had to remind Gabi several times that there's no use putting a sticker on if you're going to cover it up with another one!

2) beads (use a very small amount of glue for these)

3) chipboard letters (I had a pack of glittery sheets of chipboard letters from Colorbok)

4) ribbon

5) rhinestones

6) three-dimensional accents (a tiny plastic baby hand on Michael's, a little plastic bus on Gabi's, and a plastic star on David's)

7) bottlecaps (I have this set of bottlecaps with numbers on them, so we used #1 for Gabi, #2 for David, and #3 for Michael)

I set up a trial run with the mailboxes before dinner. It only took Gabi a few minutes to notice that the flags were up on their boxes. David danced with joy when he discovered that "the mailman" left fruit snacks in the mailboxes!

There are so many ways that you could use these mailboxes - a Valentine treat box, a Littlest Pet Shop hideaway, a place to keep your stamps and other mailing supplies, etc.

Don't forget - just a few more days to enter the Valentines' giveaway! I have been getting the best craft ideas from you and hope to get more soon! Also, remember that you don't have to submit a craft idea. Just leave a comment at the end of the giveaway post. Post about it on your blog and let me know to receive an additional entry. I am so excited to get started on the winners' artwork!

Love Glove Elephants

2009-01-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I hope you all are working on some great Valentines' ideas to submit to the contest. Remember, you can also enter the contest simply by leaving a comment here.

Maybe our Valentine project will inspire you a little! Gabi and I made the adorable Valentine elephants in the above picture in one afternoon. Supplies for these cuties are easy to find, and Gabi really enjoyed helping make them and then playing with them afterwards.

So here's how to make the "Love Glove Elephants."

You'll need:

1. a few pairs of winter "magic" gloves - use the ones around your house that don't have matches anymore or buy some like I did. Target had theirs on clearance for 68 cents for 2 pairs. (these are toddler size gloves)

2. beans - we used kidney beans because that's what we had in the pantry, but really you could use any variety of bean. :)

3. hot glue gun

4. felt in various colors to match the gloves - again we used leftover felt from my craft room.

5. google eyes (or buttons would be cute!)

6. yarn - Gabi chose the multicolored skein from my collection.

7. pony beads

8. glitter glue - we used gold.

9. sharp scissors

1) First, fill each glove with beans. This is best accomplished with one person holding the glove open while the other pours in the beans. Be sure to work some of the beans down into the fingers of the glove. Fill the glove, but don't overstuff it.

2) Next, turn in the cuff of the glove completely on each elephant. Use the hot glue gun to glue in place and seal the beans inside.

***NOTE***Gabi had a great idea here. If you wanted to use jelly beans instead of kidney beans, turn in the cuff but don't glue it shut. Then the recipient of the elephant can open it up and take out the jelly beans.

3) Next, cut out large hearts from your felt. These will be the elephants' ears - you will need 2 for each elephant. I cut mine freehand, but it would probably be wise to make one and then trace it for the others.

4) Using the hot glue gun, place a small amount of glue on the tip of each heart and glue it to the base of the glove's thumb. (the elephant's head) Make sure to put one ear on each side of the elephant's head.

5) Then glue on the googly eyes.

***NOTE***Because of the use of the hot glue gun, small children are not able to do much for this project. Involve them by letting them choose colors, count beans, sort the felt hearts, etc.

6) Cut the yarn into 5 " lengths. Tie three strands together and braid them. Before knotting off at the end, slide on a pony bead. To help keep the yarn in place while you are braiding, use masking tape to tape it to the edge of the table.

7) Next, cut out small hearts from the felt. You will need one for each elephant.

8) Arrange elephants so that they are sitting with their legs sprawled out to the sides. Using the hot glue gun, glue the braided tails to the elephants' rears and then glue a small heart at the top of each tail.

9) Finally, use the glitter glue to paint gold toenails on the elephants feet.

There you have it - pink elephants on parade! Remember that although hot glue does a pretty good job of holding things in place, a very small child should not be given one of these elephants. If a bead, bean, or google eye came loose, it could pose a choking hazard to the child.

Every month I receive Family Fun magazine in the mail. It's full of great ideas for kids' activities, crafts, recipes, etc. The February issue featured an article on making a 4-legged octopus out of an old winter glove. I read through the article, and wondered if I could make other animals with a glove. And hence the pink elephants were born!

If you make the Love Glove Elephants, let me know how they turned out. I'd love to see what creative twists you put on these!

(by the way, since I used all materials from home except the gloves, this project ended up costing me only $1.12!)

Valentines Contest! Win Customized Room Art!

2009-01-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED
Last year Gabi was in daycare for a few hours each week while I did some part-time teaching. We wanted to do something special that did not involve candy for her Valentines for her classmates. After poring through several ideas, we decided to make homemade Playdough in heart-shaped containers. They were a hit; so we are turning on the creative juices again this year! Wait until you see what we have up our sleeves!

And I want to see your ideas! So I am hosting a contest where two lucky people will win customized art for their kiddies' bedroom or playroom. I have done such art for baby shower gifts in the past and am looking to begin selling it on the web later this year. Here are a few

examples of my work:

The two winners will each receive a set of three square framed art pieces, customized to the theme and colors of their child's room.

So, I know you are just dying to know, how can I win this great prize??

You can enter in one of two ways:

1) Send me your original Valentine craft idea to jfrogster@gmail.com. Please include at least one picture and some simple steps on doing the project. The best ideas will be featured in an upcoming Valentine extravaganza post, and of course, the best idea will be awarded a set of customized artwork.

2) Comment on this post, telling me what kind of artwork you would LOVE to have in your kiddie's room. That will count as one entry in a drawing for the second set of artwork. Post about the contest in your blog and then leave another comment letting me know; and this will give you an additional entry in the drawing.

You may enter BOTH ways if you wish. You may also enter more than one idea. The contest opens on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 and will close at 12:00 midnight (PST) on Saturday, January 31, 2009. So get crafting and spread the word, people!

(find more giveaways here!)

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED! THANKS TO ALL THAT PARTICIPATED! WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THIS BLOG ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2009.

Glazed Raspberry Surprise Muffins

2009-01-19T15:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I'll introduce a recipe or kitchen goodie in this blog as well. Two of my passions are baking and cake decorating. Often I like to play around with a boxed mix and make my own version. This saves time and money.

Today's creation? Glazed Raspberry Surprise Muffins

Ingredients? Milk, egg, Jiffy Raspberry Muffin Mix, Hershey's Premier White Baking Chips, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and pink sanding sugar

1. First, prepare box mix according to box directions. Stir in desired amount of white chips (semisweet would be fabulous too!).

2. Grease mini muffin tin and put one tablespoon of your mix in each cup. Bake at 400 degrees for 7 1/2 minutes.

3. Remove from oven and let cool. Meanwhile prepare the glaze. Use a 1/4 cup of milk and continue to add confectioners' sugar until thick, but not too thick that it can't flow. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

4. Take each muffin and swirl top in the prepared glaze. Continue until all muffins are covered. Sprinkle with pink sugar.

Enjoy! I hope all of my muffins make it to music practice without being devoured! :)

Hand Print Coasters

2009-01-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

My mom's birthday is in January, and since she lives far away from her precious grandchildren, I usually try to make her gifts with photos and such of the kiddies. (By the way, it is a time investment, but handmade gifts are cheaper and usually more appreciated!)

I wanted to do something with the kiddies' handprints, and decided to attempt making some drink coasters for her.

For this project you will need:

Coasters: 1) white cardstock, 2) non-toxic acrylic paint, 3) paintbrush, 4) markers, 5) contact paper, 6) sharp scissors, 7) hot glue gun, and 8) sheets of corkboard (I got mine at the dollar store)

Coaster Holder: 1) empty can ( I used a formula can, but you could use an empty cocoa can, coffee can, dishwasher detergent can, etc.), 2) scrapbook paper, 3) glue stick, 4) ribbon, 5) sharp knife

How to Make the Coasters:

1. Trace the bottom of the can you are using for the holder on the cardstock. Then cut a slightly smaller circle from the cardstock. Use that circle to trace as many more coasters as you want on the cardstock and cut them out. (I did 6 coasters, 2 for each child)

2. Paint your child's hand and place hand firmly on the center of each circle. Lift hand directly up and put aside to dry. Use your favorite colors; I chose primary colors for my kiddies.

3. After the paint is dry, use matching markers to write names, sentiments, dates, or whatever you would like on the coasters. For each child, I wrote their full name and the date on one coaster; and I wrote "I Love My Grammy" and their age on the other one.

4. Carefully cover both sides of the cardstock circles with contact paper. Smooth out any bubbles and be sure there is at least a 1/4 inch "seam" around each circle.

5. Trace the cardstock circles onto the cork board and cut them out. Brush off any excess cork pieces from the edges.

6. Using a hot glue gun , adhere the cardstock circles to the cork. Your coasters are finished! (If you don't wish to make a coaster holder, stack up the coasters you've made and tie a matching ribbon around them. Great gift presentation!)

How to Make the Coaster Holder:

1) Stack up all the coasters next to the can you are using and mark the top of the stack on the can. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the can at that mark and all the way around.

2) Mark a place in front where the coasters will be easily lifted out and cut that out with the knife.

3) Again trace the base of the can on colorful scrapbook paper and cut it out. Glue on decorations of your choice. I chose a photo of the three little angels and wrote out a cute little poem about toddler's fingerprints.(I found a great poem here.)

4) Glue the circle into the bottom of the can. Cut matching scrapbook paper and glue it around the sides of the can. When completely dry, overlap the cut edge of the can with ribbon and glue in place.

As you can see in the picture above, my daughter made "fingerprint flowers" to add her special touch to the gift. I tied the coasters with colorful ribbon and wrapped the whole thing up in primary colored tissue paper.

And there you have it - a complete functional set of coasters! My mom was thrilled with these permanent reminders of the kiddies' tiny fingers!

Please let me know what you think. Also, I am looking for tips to help my photos of the crafting process turn out better. I can't seem to get rid of that glaring white spot!

Creative Beginnings

2009-01-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

Life with three little ones age three and under is definitely an adventure! Between the countless loads of laundry and the many demonstrations of sibling "love", I certainly have my hands full and often am doing tasks late into the night and again early in the morning. But one thing my mom always says - "If you really enjoy doing it, you will find time to do it, no matter how busy your schedule is." So true.

So I started blogging because I loved writing and wanted a way to keep track of all the kiddies' cute sayings and activities. And then I got back into crafting and scrapbooking as well. Both of these hobbies require that I get up earlier in the morning and stay up later at night, but they are so fulfilling to me.

This then is my craft blog - full of posts about my latest endeavors in the creative world and hopefully soon your shared posts too. Enjoy it - take the ideas and use them for yourself; or modify one and let me know how it turned out. Let's get crafting!