Starry Eyed Craft Idea for MOPS/MOMSnext 2016/2017

I am so excited to be on my MOPS/MOMSnext leadership team again this year!! I am heading up the creative activities for another year. It is my absolute favorite thing to do in this world, aside from going to Disneyland and eating lime Tootsie Rolls. Anyway... I thought I would share the crafts that I am doing this year since I tend to get a lot of questions about what our ladies' favorites have been etc. I am happy to share my plans (as I discover them.) ;-)
Feel free to take away any inspiration that you find!

So, here we go:

Craft for September- Painted Wood Beads and Tassel Keychain with Shrink Plastic Theme Charm

I used 20mm natural wood beads that I painted in theme colors, or at least as close as possible to theme colors. I found the beads at Joann in the jewelry making section. 

I bought the leather jewelry cording at Hobby Lobby, also in the jewelry section, along with the jump rings and keychain rings. 

I used a 2 1/2" star shaped punch to cut shrink plastic and edged the shape with a silver paint pen and used a permanent ink pen to write the theme in the middle. I also punched a hole before I shrunk the plastic and then added a jump ring to attach it to the key chain split ring. 

I followed a very simple tutorial to learn how to make the tassel, using this Youtube video.  

And then I just assembled all the pieces. It was that easy! It ended up averaging out to be around $1.50 per mom, and I planned for 65. Hopefully the ladies will love it as much as I do!

Thanks for stopping by!

"Be You Bravely" MOPS/MOMSnext Nametags

This Thursday is our first meeting for my new job as co-coordinator for our moms group. We met recently and got things settled for the upcoming year. One of the tasks that was needed was for someone to come up with a nametag for our MOPS/MOMSnext leadership ladies. I love doing these sorts of things so I gladly accepted the challenge.
Here is what I came up with. I used the Silhouette studio software that comes with the machine and made my own file. I purchased the feather from the online silhouette store and added each ladies name in separately before printing and cutting. I then added cute little feathers on each of the tags to represent how many kiddos each mom has. I bought some paracord and will be punching holes in the top and hanging them from the cording. Simple, cute, and effective. If you ask me nicely, I may share the file. ;-) Have a great week!

He is Risen Sign

I have been happily making a bunch of these He is risen signs for the last few weeks. They are so quick and easy to do! In fact, I recently shared this craft with a group of about 20 women, all part of my MOPS/MomsNext group. We got together on a Thursday evening and we all went home with a version of the cross sign. It was a total success! Even the ladies that aren't that crafty had an easy time doing this one.

I purchased the crosses at Hobby Lobby and cut the boards myself. The words were cut on my Silhouette machine and then we decoupaged the paper onto the wood pieces. Then we embellished.

I have posted a couple of my favorite examples. Really, the sky is the limit! Just find coordinating paper and a few supplies and you are ready for for action.

Spiced Spider Cider

I have not had a whole lot of free time lately- but for good reason! This time of year starts my busy crafting days and I love every minute of it! MOPS is in full swing and I have been planning and making gifts to bring them each meeting. A recent one came to me while I was at Winco doing my weekly shopping. I came across an excellent deal on Langer's apple cider. $1.78 for a gallon! I thought that was a good place to start.

Next, I had to decide on a cute way to present my great deal on cider. What better way than jarring it up and making a cute little tag?! So that is what I did. It reads, "Along came a spider and sat down be... Cider. Empty contents of spice pack into a saucepan (should have also said, "with the cider," )and simmer for 30 minutes or more. Remove cinnamon and oranges. Enjoy! And BEWARE!" (get it??)

I decided to fill quart jars with cider and water bath
canned them, (covered the jars in boiling water in a big pot and let them simmer for 15 minutes.) Then, I created and added a fabric topper and a tag with a little plastic spider glued to it. I decided on a clever little pun that added to the "cute factor." Hadn't seen it anywhere, so I think it might be my original idea. Don't sue me if I unintentionally copied you... Haha.

It didn't quite seem finished at that point, so, I came up with a little something else. I thought I would add some simmering spices. So, I bought an orange, cut it in slices, dried it in the oven on a rack for 2 hours at 200 degree (flipping them half way through.) When they were good and dried, I added them to a little cellophane bag with a couple of cloves, a cinnamon stick, a pinch of nutmeg and allspice and 1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar. I then attached that to the lid of the jar with some baker's twine. And voila!  I got lots of compliments on the idea, so I am assuming it went over well. I just think it is so stinking cute!!

I like Halloween, but I don't like the scary aspect of it much. This was my little way to enjoy the spook without blood, guts, and gore. Now, on to my next project...

Happy Halloween!

MOPS Leadership Nametags

With the beginning of each school year, a new year for MOPS and MomsNext begins. For those of you not familiar with these organizations, they are groups for moms of all ages- MOPS for those who are pregnant through preschool age and MomsNext is for moms of school age kids. They are great if you are in desperate need of friends or support or just an outlet for relaxation. I have benefitted so much from joining the group and am on the leadership team. I do creative activities with a couple other ladies. We are having so much fun planning for the new year! The next theme is "A Beautiful Mess" and the Bible verse that accompanies it is Ephesians 4:10- "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." I am so excited!! 
Anyway, we recently had our leadership planning retreat and it was decided that we needed to stand out a little, in the sea of moms. We wanted them to know that we were available if they had a question or if we could help them in any way. Thing is, we only had generic looking plastic covered boring nametags. Those wouldn't do for me. Nope. So... I volunteered to come up with a design and to create a tag for each member of the steering committee. 23 in total. This project was so fun! I just went to Hobby Lobby, invaded their ribbon section and started my collage. I ended up using my Silhouette to cut the vinyl names and my labeler to create the position titles. I had blank bottle caps and found the jewels that I put in the center in the scrapbook section. I bought the paper, feathers, and burlap flowers there too. The chevron washi tape was something that I got online somewhere. I honestly couldn't tell you where. Maybe Pick Your Plum?? Not sure. But that stuff is everywhere these days. I cut out the oval shapes with my Big Shot machine. Then I glued all the pieces together with my hot glue gun and decoupaged the whole surface with Mod Podge. Simple as that! Not a hard craft, but definitely time consuming. It took me "some" hours to finish them all. But I think they are totally worth it. I am sure we will be easy to identify with our beautifully messy tags.

Wooden Disc Necklace Gift

A while back, I had made some washer jewelry with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic and scrapbook paper and a couple of embellishments. They became pretty popular both on Pinterest AND in real life with the people who received them as gifts. Got me thinking... I wonder if I could come up with something else using the same technique. I had recently picked up some wooden circle discs and discovered that they would be perfect to make some pendants with. So, as luck would have it, I needed another gift idea for my MOPS table mates to celebrate the end of our year. I made them each their own necklace with an affirming word decoupaged onto it and some little rhinestones and a scrapbooking paper flower embellishment.While I was at it, I made myself one, only I skipped the affirmation and rhinestone and added my initial and a pearl bead. Finally, I screwed in a tiny eye hook and hung it on leather cording. Works for me!

Rag Rose Spring Wreath

I got together recently with my MOPS table group and we made a cute little wreath. Or at least we STARTED a cute little wreath... I came home with my handful of completed rag roses and my wreath form and tons of strips of fabric and sat at my table until I got so tired my eyes just shut themselves and I slumped over my hot glue gun. In other words... this project took A LONG TIME! But the best ones always do.

I made sure to get a good night's sleep and after I took care of my morning responsibilities, I was back at it. Finally finished my wreath late the next morning. I would say that if you are planning on making yourself a rag wreath, you plan on doing a few flowers at a time, get a good stash of them going, then sit down to assemble them on the wreath form. That would make it seem effortless!  If you are new to rag roses and need a tutorial for an easy version, you can find one here.

Valentine's Day Candy Kebobs

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought I would give it a shot. Super cute, I think. I was also thinking I could cheaply whip up a bunch for Valentine's exchange gifts for my kiddos. I was wrong, unfortunately.

Making 36 of them for my child's class would have been too pricey. The kind of candy you need is heavy, so even buying in bulk at WinCo was an investment. So... I am settling with making 8 for my MOPS ladies.

I can give you a tip for when you decide to make some. Keep a damp towel nearby to wipe your fingers. This gets REALLY sticky (understatement.)

Another tip is to make sure to get the shorter skewers, otherwise you will have too much overhang. I found the shorter ones at Party City, of all places, along with the pretzel rod bags (in the baking supply section.)

The ribbon I chose was 80% off at Hobby Lobby. It was left over from all the Christmas stuff. LOVE those kinds of bargains. I got a couple other rolls of red ribbon to keep in my ever growing stash. I mean, for 60 cents each?! Can't beat that!

I may end up making some cute tags to go along with these. Not sure yet. My group meets next week...
I guess it all depends on if the magical extra-free-time fairy stops by my house. ;-)

Flameless Candle Snowman Pins

I wanted to give my MOPS table another little treat and I had seen a cute project made out of a flameless votive candle. I found a package of 3 for $1 at Dollar Tree. Super cheap! I found the trinity poem on the internet and the idea on Pinterest. I put 9 of them together in about 2 hours from start to finish. Just used an orange Sharpie marker to color in the "carrot" nose and a black one for the eyes and "coal" mouth. I hot glued on a pin back in case they wanted to wear them ever (probably not, but it sure made it easier to attach them to the poem cardstock!) So, if nothing else, the pin made my job as assembler much easier.

I think if I had more time to plan this one, I would have purchased some cute polar fleece material for the scarf but since I didn't... I just used up some snowman fabric that I had on hand.
In any case, it added a little cuteness to my MOPS lady friend's days. Or at least I think they did.
Here is the poem, in case you would like to use the idea for a project of your own.

Snowman Trinity Poem
by anonymous

When you see a snowman, three snowballs round, it reminds you that with God, three in one can be found. The bottom reminds us of God, the Father, our strong Rock and Foundation, Creator of all living things. The middle shows us God, the Son, with arms spread open wide, who died on the cross for our salvation. The head reminds us of God, the Holy Spirit, who is our Counselor and Friend. He speaks to our hearts and minds, transforming us into the likeness of Him. So when you are in the midst of your wintertime fun and a snowman you do see, remember the blessings given you through the Holy Trinity.