Crafts and DIY Ideas Archives - Page 26 of 28

Teacher Appreciation Week Ideas

04/23/2013 By Charlene 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

Here are a bunch more clever teacher appreciation week gift ideas that might work for you! Many of these come with free printables so you can look like you invested a ton of time when really it was very easy to put things together.

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

Here is a free 8×10 printable from Balancing Home. You might consider framing this or print it on cardstock and place inside a clipboard.

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

And I think this is really cute- I know I just love brand new markers myself. There is a free printable that reads “Thank you for coloring our lives and making us Sharpies” from Design, Wash, Rinse Repeat.

She very cleverly used a Crystal Light container but I think these little canisters from World Market would be great as well! I actually have one of these holding Sharpies on my desk right now- there are two sizes to these canisters so the taller one for sure fits markers and you can also choose from a red colored lid. Just grab some ribbon and tie that little tag around the top.

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

And who doesn’t need thank you notes or little notepads or stick notes? This is a great idea from Mommy by Day and Crafter by Night. She has an adorable little printable tag that you can attach to stationary. Her note reads “Take Note You are one of my favorite teachers. Thanks for a great school year!”So grab a stack of notebooks or cards or whatever and tie this little tag on top. If you want to do a little more, you might also add some great pens or markers and tie to the bottom of the cards.

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

And here is another idea- Build It, Sew It, Love It has a really cute little printable note tag to go with a Dr Seuss book- Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!I haven’t heard of this book but it is about a remarkable teacher that fosters children’s creativity and confidence. So a very nice gift for a teacher that is especially passionate about books. You can grab the hardcover of this book for just $10 right now too!If you would like to add a little something else, there are several adorable little things from Barnes and Noble. Right now they are heavily promoting “Oh the Places You Will Go” by Dr Seuss because it is such a popular item for new grads. So you can pick up little tote bags, coffee mugs and more for good prices. This mug is $10.95 or they have a travel mugs for about $10- see the Dr Seuss collection here.

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

And here is another free printable that would be nice in a little frame or again just clipped to a clipboard. You can get the free printable from Full of Great Ideas.

Teacher Appreciation Ideas

And who doesn’t need a cute new tote bag? Especially with summer coming- so you can get a free little printable tag to put on a cute tote from Uncommon Designs.

(And PS: Barnes and Noble has fun totes that would be perfect for teachers- like this one)

And for something simple and very inexpensive, here are some very cute free printable tags from Eighteen 25. Just grab a little jar or baggie and fill it with yummy treats.

Male teachers or teachers you don’t really know that well might like movie tickets. Here is a really and inexpensive way to package up tickets.

Do you have a gourmet candy store in your area? Maybe they have candied apples! In my city we have an amazing company called California Caramel Company that makes incredible candied applies.

These would be so fun as a little treat.

Last but not least, how about book plate labels? I am doing a set of these for one of our teachers this year.

My favorite place to order stationery is Tiny Prints. You can choose from tons of designs and customize these any way you like. The tags above are from Tiny Prints.

If you want to check out lots more Teacher Appreciation gift ideas– head over here.

How to Make Homemade Window Cleaner

04/22/2013 By Charlene 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

Here is a super simple homemade glass cleaner recipe you can whip together with what you likely have on hand anyway.

Yesterday was actually clean the windows day so I decided to see how well this recipe worked compared to a regular window cleaner spray I had on hand.

I have to say the homemade version seemed to work better. It really did- so I think I might just stick with this from now on!

Plus I buy the green cleaners but some of them have such heavy fragrance. I don’t like breathing in the stinky fumes and spraying that stuff all around the kiddos and the dog (oh and me too!)

So this is super easy and it did work really well for me:

Mix equal parts vinegar and warm water.
I used one cup warm water and 1 cup vinegar.
Add 1/2 teaspoon dish soap (I used the magic blue Dawn soap)*
Shake to mix in a spray bottle.

And get to cleaning! If you want to add a few drops of essential oil you can always do that too. I added a bit of Tea Tree Oil and I found the Dawn smell was a little strong so I didn’t smell the tea tree very well.

I did a bunch of windows yesterday but the little one by the front door was in especially bad shape. This little window is where our dog likes to smoosh his face and bark at the UPS driver or wait for us to get home. It gets super dirty from his nose plus the kids are always putting sticky little fingers on that window while they wait for me to unlock the door…

Anyway- TMI yet? It needed a good cleaning.

And this is the same window from the other side after a good cleaning. Much better!! There was even sticker residue on the window before from one of the children and the spray took that almost completely off.

So I would say this worked better then the window spray I had on hand. It cleaned perfectly and I actually preferred it.

Give it a try the next time you are cleaning and see what you think!

This is certainly an inexpensive alternative to regular cleaners and really my favorite thing is just eliminating one more product from the cupboards.

*If you are concerned with removing all the toxic chemicals in your home an alternative to Dawn dish soap would be Earth Friendly. You can order from Vitacost and save $10 off your first order of $30 or more.

And here are a few other articles you might enjoy:

Teacher Gift Idea: Custom Thank You Notes

04/19/2013 By Charlene Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

Teacher Gift Idea: Custom Thank You Notes

I have posted this the last few years and wanted to mention it again. Those of you that might be picking up a little something for Teacher Appreciation week might want to consider making custom cards from the kiddos.

These are so special and so easy to do.

I simply print out a large THANK YOU sign and have the kiddos hold the sign up for a little mini photo session.

I upload the photos and create a custom card for the teacher. Usually we include a nice note about what we enjoyed most for the year and every year these have been a huge hit.

Teacher Gift Idea: Custom Thank You Notes

Here is one from last year for our preschool teacher- we included a little note about how much fun Maya has at school.

Teacher Gift Idea: Custom Thank You Notes

And this is one from a few years ago of my big girl. She is just holding up a card that says Thank You. Very simple and so cute.

You don’t need to use a Thank You sign- anything that might be meaningful would work. My Kindergartener this year is going to hold up a sign that says “Thanks to You…” and in a second image “I Can Read!”

My kiddos LOVE to do this every year and they have a great time with fun expressions and poses.

Another idea would be to upload a picture that your child might draw- my 3 year old has actually drawn photos of herself and her two teachers before. The pictures they draw can be so precious.

So I just wanted to pass along this idea that is very cute for any cards you might need- these are great Thank you cards year round but especially cute for Teacher Appreciation Week.

I wanted to remind you about the nice deal I posted recently- you can get 6 greeting cards for $5.95 shipped right now. I plan to do this deal myself this weekend- that covers (3) teachers plus Mother’s Day cards.

Cheaper then going to the store and much nicer! I also love Tiny Prints for beautiful cards. You will pay a little more- maybe $3.50 or so- but what you will get will be a really lovely card so well worth the money.

Here are some other gift ideas:

DIY Home Fragrance (like a Williams Sonoma Store)

04/12/2013 By Charlene 50 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

I love William’s Sonoma!

I make a point to stop in every time I am at the mall just to stroll through the beautiful store and smell the wonderful things they are making. Sometimes I can get a bite of something yummy or even a free little glass of cider or a cappuccino. I can close my eyes and pretend to be Ina Garten baking up some lovely tarte tatin in my perfect kitchen……. and then the children knock something wildly expensive off the shelf and I leave the sunny garden in the Hamptons and high tail it out of that store.

One thing I love about William’s Sonoma is that is always smells so lovely. So occasionally I am a copycat and make their little simmering fragrances at home.

This is nice to do when you have company or you are spending the day cleaning or cooking… Just a nice little treat to make the house smell incredible and it is so simple and cheap to do.

Really you just toss a bunch of ingredients into a pan and simmer on the stove. I have used a crock pot too if you are nervous about using the stove.

William’s Sonoma use different fragrances depending on the season and what they have on hand. If you happen to stop by a store- take a look at the stove and ask what they have cooking. The last time I was in they had lemon, lime, orange and cinnamon going.

I have also seen them simmering BBQ sauce which is not really what you think of for home fragrance but dang if it didn’t make me hungry that day! (I am going to try it the next time I have a BBQ. )

You can add just about anything you have on hand- whatever fragrances you like really. I used whole fruit but I have heard of people having success with just using the peels of the fruit. I always find this to be a great way to use up any fruit that might be on the verge of going bad. My orange below wasn’t looking so tasty so that was a perfect way to use it up. You can use essential oils instead of fresh ingredients or dried stuff… just open the pantry and see what you have!

Here are (3) quick recipes that I used recently to get the ball rolling:

Lemon, rosemary and lavender

I have a Rosemary plant and it is one of my favorite scents and this goes with just about everything. You probably want to use some sort of citrus to get that nice fresh, clean smell as the base and then compliment the citrus with whatever you like. I used a little lavender essential oils but vanilla from your pantry would be perfect too!

Orange, cinnamon, clove and vanilla

This is a really yummy scent for the holidays especially and you can add a little cranberry to make it more festive. I don’t make this often because cinnamon sticks are kind of expensive but you can always use powdered cinnamon or maybe a touch of apple cider and the orange and vanilla are delicious together. If you do use cinnamon sticks make sure to break it up. I use a mallet and give it a good bash to get it into a few pieces.

Lime, coconut oil and vanilla

This is a bit more summery to me and I love lime and coconut together. I think mint would be a really nice addition or thyme or whatever you like. The coconut oil and vanilla give off the strongest scent in my opinion- so this one I can smell throughout the house.

So just fill a saucepan about 1/2 way with water. (The less water the stronger the fragrance). Add your ingredients in and simply let it simmer for as long as you want. There is no need for perfect measurements- I usually add several drops of essential oils or use a tablespoon of vanilla or coconut oil. Really it just depends on how strong you want the smell.

Other Idea:

Chopped apples and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon

Cranbberries with cloves and cinnamon

Once you are done with the fragrance you can put it in a jar in the fridge to use again or put it in a freezer container if you won’t use it for awhile.

Once you want to smell something lovely again just pull it out pop back in the pan to simmer.

Yummy!

And if you decide to try this let us know what combination of ingredients you use!

A little tip:

You want to bring the fragrance to a boil to really release the fragrance and then reduce the heat and let simmer. If you use the crock pot, I like to bring it to a boil in a pan and then transfer to the crock pot on low heat.
Do not leave this unattended as you occasionally need to refill the water. If you need to step out just turn the heat off completely and you can always turn it back on when you get home.

Here are a few things that will come in handy for this project:

Mason Jars // Coconut Oil // Vanilla Extract

And here are a few other articles you might enjoy:

How to Clean Your Dishwasher

04/11/2013 By Charlene 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

This is a little random but how often do you clean your dishwasher? Never? Well you are in good company!

I will be the first one to admit that I don’t really think about cleaning the dishwasher- it is just one of those things that escapes my attention when I am cleaning the kitchen. Super gross though when you think about dirty water and gross old food and maybe even mold in that dishwasher.

So here are a few easy tips to keep it nice and clean.

Run a fresh load- either full or empty with hot water. Once the cycle is finished empty the dishwasher completely.

Remove your silverware tray. Now you want to start giving her a good bath- a simple solution of vinegar and water in equal parts is all you need. (Vinegar will clean and disinfect as well as help prevent mold and mildew.) You can also just use hot soapy water.

I found a little yuckyness under the silverware tray (which I don’t always remove to unload) and also around the sides where the rubber is. You can use a rag, scrubby or a toothbrush to get it nice and clean. Just go ahead and dip the toothbrush in straight vinegar or use a 50/50 vinegar and water solution.

For any dirty bits you have trouble with you can mix a tiny bit of water and baking soda to create a paste. Now use a scrubber or toothbrush and that should help get it clean.

Next you want to take a look at the bottom of the dishwasher where the food basket area is. Have a look and see if you spot any food or other debris. Clean that out with a paper towel. If you can possibly remove the basket at the bottom, go ahead and do that to make sure you are getting it all. Don’t take any chances though breaking the dishwasher 😉

You can use toothpicks or a toothbrush or a q-tip or even an eyebrow brush to get into all the little holes.

The next step is to put a cup of vinegar in a cup in the top rack of an empty dishwasher. Turn it on for a full cycle on the hottest water you can.

The cup will just sit up in a glass in the dishwasher. Instead of the vinegar you can sprinkle a cup of baking soda on the bottom of the dishwasher- or if you want to do both you can also go that route.

Once the cycle is done, just take paper towels or a rag and wipe down the inside.

And that is it! All clean!

And one good habit to get into is running hot water down your drain and zipping the garbage disposal on for just a few seconds before you run the dishwasher (every time).

And you can check out a very easy DIY drain cleaner here. This is a great way to freshen up the sink as well as work through any clogs.

Simple Homemade Drain Cleaner

04/10/2013 By Charlene 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

I have mentioned this tip a year ago or so under the easy DIY bathroom cleaners post. I thought it was worth mentioning again though because I am in the process of a nice deep clean in the kitchen this week!

This was partly due to the fact that my wonderful husband went through a few packages of chicken I bought and put them into individual servings to stick in the freezer. He left all the extra chicken wrapping and trays in the trash and when I came home to our lovely sunny kitchen (on a nice warm day)…. well you can imagine how pleasant that smells.

So I thought I’d do a good scrub down of the kitchen and wanted to remind you how easy it is to freshen a sink and also clear up any gross clogging issues you might have.

This works 99% of the time for me in both the kitchen and the bathroom and is a very inexpensive and non toxic solution.

I like to do this in the kitchen sink about once a week to keep things nice and fresh and smelling good.

All you need is:

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup vinegar

And get a plate out to cover up right away.

So you simply pour the baking soda down the drain and then dump the vinegar on top. It fizzes a little so grab your plate and put it on top of the drain right away.

Next just leave it alone for a bit- 20-30 minutes and then remove the plate and run hot water (make sure it is hot) for about 2 minutes.

And that is all there is to it!

A nice fresh and clean sink. If you want extra credit you can also put your lemon or other citrus rinds down the drain. I drink lemon water daily so I run those down the garbage disposal too.

And you want to check out more easy and nontoxic cleaners here.

Does anyone else have easy cleaning tips they want to share? I know I love shortcuts!

Stay tuned because I will be posting a few other easy tips to get that kitchen looking amazing tomorrow!

Easy DIY Foaming Hand Soap or Foaming Body Wash

04/05/2013 By Charlene 26 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

Easy DIY Foaming Hand Soap or Foaming Body Wash

So this is really incredibly easy to do and hopefully some of you will try this out.

I came home a few months ago and my husband is typically in charge of bathtime for the girls. Well I walked in to see the kids having a great time and my husband sitting there happily and realized they had somehow used an entire bottle of body wash in one bath. Of course he was oblivious to this fact and my girls were just enjoying all the lovely bubbles they created.

I like to get really good products for their little skin so I didn’t want to ruin the party but I could also see about $6 going down the drain (literally). Boo!

So I decided that instead of giving them regular body wash I would make them a foaming wash that would last much longer.

So if you want to stretch your soap a little bit more there is an incredibly easy way to make your own foaming hand soap or body wash. This works for everyone but it is especially great for those of you with kiddos. I think the foaming stuff is more fun for them and it is easier for them to manage. I can’t count how many big glops of regular soap I find in the sink- wasteful and messy.

These soaps last ages and ages too so you don’t have to fool with yet another trip to the store. Yeah!

So here is the trick. You will need to start out with a foaming dish soap container of some sort. So go ahead and splurge on whatever kind of soap you like and use that soap until the container is gone. Once it is empty you can use it to refill over and over again. You can also buy foaming soap dispensers from places like Pampered Chef but I have heard they don’t actually refill that well.

You can see below I have a Method Foaming Hand Soap I purchased a long time ago- that one I just refilled (and actually the soap I made from that formerly empty container is above in Adriana’s little hand.)

I also have a Bath and Body Works container for the kitchen plus a body wash foaming soap for the littles. All of those had been used up and were empty.

Easy DIY Foaming Hand Soap or Foaming Body Wash

Now you simply want to grab the soap of your choice- get whatever brand or fragrance of whatever kind of soap you want. If you do the Bath and Body Works containers you might try to find a shade or fragrance that matches what you had before.

I used a plain old cheap hand soap that is clear and a shampoo from Aveeno to refill my containers.
Next you want to measure one tablespoon of the soap you have for a refill.
Add that to the empty container.
Fill with warm water from the tap- keep the water on low to fill or you will have zillions of bubbles everywhere.

Now you are done and you can pump away! You just use that teeny tiny fraction of actual soap and the rest is all water.

So the nice thing is you can splurge on a lovely soap or good quality product- or just get something basic and save yourself a little money.

It will foam perfectly and it functions perfectly to get your hands/body clean. The only trick is that if you use too much soap (like you don’t bother to measure 1 tbl but just eyeball like I did the first time)- you won’t get the lovely foamy stuff. Just rinse out what you did and start again but this time measure ;).

I tested this over and over again with different soaps and it worked perfectly each and every time!

You can see below- this is the Bath and Body Works soap dispenser and I filled it with that cheapy stuff in blue pictured above. It foams perfectly.

And by the way, when you do buy your foaming soap to get the dispenser, try opening it and emptying it into a cup. I think you will be shocked at how watery it will seem in the glass. So if you are hestitant to try this thinking that 1 tablespoon might not be enough soap to actually clean- I think you will see right away that what you actually bought is mostly water anyway.

Easy DIY Foaming Hand Soap or Foaming Body Wash

Thanks to Full of Great Ideas for this wonderful tip. I have literally had this bookmarked for about 2 years now and I am so glad I finally tried it.

And here are a few other easy DIY tips for you:

World Market: Tinted Mason Jars $2.49!

03/29/2013 By Charlene 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

If you are looking for an easy hostess gift or a cheap way to jazz up the house for Easter, I wanted to mention that World Market has these beautiful blue tinted Mason jars.

The large Mason jar is 7″ and is priced at just $2.49!

Some of you in the South might be sitting on a mountain of Mason jars and thinking- whooptie doo- but in California these aren’t nearly as popular so I hardly ever see them.

We also have beautiful daffodils priced at $1.66 for 10 stems right now in my area- so for $5.00 you can grab these jars and some flowers and put them all over the house!

I actually have (3) of these lining the dining room table right now and then I grabbed an extra to take to Easter Dinner as a little hostess gift.

Sadly these are not available online right now and my store has been selling out of them so you might call ahead and see if they have them in stock.

And if you haven’t been to World Market lately, they have all sorts of cute things. If you want to take a look online here- they are offering 10% off sale items through Sunday.

And here is another cheap and cheerful idea for a little hostess gift.

Just a simple layered jar of M&Ms. Get the directions and some other ideas here.

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