DIY Typography Tray: I Heart You

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We tend to hoard things we find in the Target Dollar Spot, known as Bullseye’s Playground. Does anyone else have that problem? They are never absolute necessities, but at the time they are must-haves, and at $1 or $3, it’s hard to pass up. This tray was sitting in Jessica’s craft pile for months and months. It was one of those Playground finds. Finally, a lightbulb moment went off. We played with letters, and with just a couple materials we made a unique DIY tray for a loved one this Valentine’s Day. It can be used year-round because the words I (heart) you can, and should, be said year-round.

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Materials:

Step 1: Lay the letters out on the tray the way you want them to look. Spread out the I, heart and you among the black letters so the message stands out. If you want to use a different object other than letters, such as matches, beads, etc you can, just make sure they are thin. The thinner they are, the less Dimensional Magic needed to cover them.

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Step 2: Super glue the back of each letter, and lay it back down where you want it. Wear gloves for this step – you don’t want letters stuck to your skin!

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Step 3: Once all the letters are glued, start to pour the Dimensional Magic. We suggest smaller trays for this project. We needed four packages of Dimensional Magic, which wasn’t too expensive at $5 each, but the smaller the tray, the less product you need to buy.

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Step 4: Let the Dimensional Magic dry for at least 8 hours. The color will be clear, and not cloudy once it’s fully dry.

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Pucker Up: DIY Lip Balm with Essential Oils Just in Time for Valentine’s Day

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We have a drawer full of essential oils. The more we learn about the uses of the oils, the more we love. The more we love, the more we want to make. The more we make, the more we want to share.

This post was inspired by Gabriella’s (Jessica’s daughter) lip-making kit she got for Christmas (if a 6-year-old can make DIY lip balm with the help of a kit, we could surely make it, too), as well as Valentine’s Day. We made DIY lip balms with essential oils that not only smell amazing, but feel soft and smooth on lips too! These make awesome gifts for girlfriends and loved ones. It was so easy, and so fun.

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DIY Lip Balm with Essential Oils
makes 6 lip balm tubes

Ingredients:

Directions:

Step 1: Add 2 inches of water to a saucepan on the stove. Put on high for boiling water.

Step 2: Add shea butter, beeswax pellets and coconut butter to a glass measuring cup.

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Step 3: Place the glass measuring cup in the pan on the stove, and occasionally stir the mixture with a wood popsicle stick until all pellets are melted. Once they are melted, remove the cup from the stove, wait about 30 seconds, then add the essential oils. The combinations we chose are:
Peppermint: 30 drops
Peppermint and Lavender: 15 drops Peppermint and 10 drops Lavender
Peppermint and Wild Orange: 15 drops of each
Lemon and Wild Orange: 15 drops of each

Step 4: Stir the essentials oils in the oil. Quickly pour into the lip balm tubes before it hardens.

Step 5: Print labels. We made our labels for our lip balms using Avery labels. Free PDF file here. The Avery label you need to purchase is 5195. There are 60 labels per sheet.

Step 6: Once the lip balm is set (about 3 hours), stick the labels on.

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Share the lip balm love, and give to friends! Baci, Baci (kisses, kisses).

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DIY Trolls Valentine’s for Kids

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Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling has been on repeat in our home, car and phone speakers since the beginning of summer. We dressed like Poppy and Branch for Halloween. We’ve seen the movie a hundred times. So, it should come as no surprise that our Valentine’s this year are colorful, bright, a little hairy and Trolls themed!

We just can’t get enough of our little colorful, tiny, song-loving friends.

Jenna made the adorable printables available here for a whopping $1.  Let your kids tell their friends, “I see your true colors, and that’s why I love you.”

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We opted for Trolls rings for the girls in the class, available at Michaels or Amazon. For the boys, they will have fun playing with finger laser rings available at Amazon. One printable for both girls and boys! YAY!

Print, cut, stuff the bags and staple the label on. It’s that easy…plus it’s a non-candy Valentine for the win!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

DIY Watercolor Animal Cards

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Valentine’s Day is one of the top holidays when the puns just can’t help themselves! Some are cute, some are cheesy, some are just plain genius – all work because we become big piles of love mush {or love stinks grinches}, so on Valentine’s Day we eat them up {most of the time}.

An easy and pretty way to decorate a card for someone you love is with watercolors – you don’t need to have an ounce of artistry for this one – just add color to the paper. We hopped on the train of puns with these! Embrace your creative side, brainstorm the puns, get the kids messy in paint and send a little extra love in the mail this year.

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Materials:

  • Watercolor paper
  • Watercolor paints
  • Paintbrushes
  • Water
  • Blank fold-over notecards. If you don’t have any, cut card stock and fold them.
  • Elmer’s glue
  • Sharpie marker, thin tip

Directions:

Trace and cut out animal shapes on watercolor paper. You can find images online, trace and cut. We used our Silhouette electronic cutting machine to cut the animals for us. If you like to create, the machines are worth the investment. We love ours.

Paint the animals with watercolor paints. Let them dry.

Apply glue to the back of the animals, and stick them to the cards.

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Write your words with a thin black Sharpie marker.

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Coloring Outside the Lines

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We are big fans of Sex and the City. We remember so many lines and favorites scenes from the sexual and charming sitcom. One in particular made us laugh, and inspired today’s DIY project.

In the first Sex and the City movie, while at lunch, the ladies were talking about sex, as a result of Miranda’s dry spell with Steve. Charlotte’s daughter was at lunch, so the ladies had to use code for the word sex. Remember this scene?

It went a little something like this…

Miranda: How often do you guys…
Carrie: “color”?
Samantha: Well, I can’t color enough. I would color all day, everyday if I had my way. I’d use every crayon in my box. 
Carrie: We get it, you love to color. 

When asked how often she and Big colors, Carrie replied: But I will tell you this. When Big colors, he rarely stays inside the lines.

So, naturally we made translated this scene into a DIY project. An ordinary white mug was transformed into a DIY black and white heart mug with a colorful, marbled handle, and filled with bright markers!

The message here is either a PG-13/R rated version about sex and coloring outside the lines in bed. If this is your goal, this DIY black and white heart mug is a funny gift to give girlfriends about “coloring” with their man, in a #howoftendoyoucolor kind of way.

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The G rated message of this DIY black and white heart mug can be more inspirational – in a black and white world, be the person who adds color. Be bold. Be yourself. Color the world with bright colors, happiness and kindness. Color the world pretty.

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Even if you’re not a Sex and the City fan, coloring is all the rage for kids and adults these days, so this would make for a great Valentine’s Day gift, birthday gift, or overall fun gift for a friend. Combine it with a pretty notebook, and write your message inside the notebook. #coloroutsidethelines #howoftendoyoucolor #sexandthecityforever #takethetimetocolor #colortheworldpretty #nevertoooldtocolor

Materials:

Directions:

Design a small heart with the Silhouette editing software. Print the mini hearts on the vinyl, following instructions provided by Silhouette.

Cut the hearts individually while they are still on the Silhouette vinyl backing. Use a small strip of Frog’s Tape on top of each heart to remove it from the vinyl backing. Place it on the mug. Use a credit card or straight-edge to smooth it out.

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Remove the tape. The heart should stay in place on the mug.

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Continue to add all the hearts in a scattered or organized manner on the mug.

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Tape off the handle of the mug with Frog Tape.

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Pour really warm water into your disposable container. Drop 4 drops of each nail color inside the water. Swirl the colors around quickly {really quickly} with a toothpick. Insert the handle of the mug inside the water till its fully covered and then lift it out. Let the handle dry. Once dry, remove the Frog Tape. If the nail polish gets on the mug, remove it immediately with nail polish remover.

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Fill the mug with markers.

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