life according to three j. sisters - weddings, parties, lifestyle.
It’s all about the bows this season…and we love it. We use to put bows in our girls hair when they were young, and now we can do it again because it’s cool! From sweaters to jewelry, we’ve rounded up some items adorned with big, fabulous bows. Links below.
Last week, we thanked teachers, friends and family with a Thanks Fir Everything label to go along with Frasier Fir scented all-purpose cleaner. It makes cleaning smell so good! Today, we have another FREE holiday label for you + a sweet gift idea for this holiday season! We’re sharing a BEE JOYFUL label to go along with a honey-themed gift! It’s the sweetest!
We purchased local Colorado honey from Bjorn’s Colorado Honey this season. To go along with the honey, we bought adorable honeycomb waffle makers (for less than $12, these are must buy). Next, we made cute labels. You can either print the label on sticker paper, or attach it with a tag. These two items are great price points – the honey is $14 and up. The waffle maker is just $12. So you can buy both, or one or the other, but the label works either way! Get the free labels below (6 per sheet).
You still have time to order these gifts, especially the honey. That’s the beauty of ordering small and local. It’s not made in China. 🙂 If you don’t live in Colorado, they will ship to you. It arrives quickly, and they have deals happening right now.
We bought raw local Colorado honey for tea, baked goods and cooking. We also bought Propolis Honey. Propolis, sometimes called bee glue, is a mixture of plant sap, beeswax, and honeybees’ natural enzymes that helps keep the beehive in one piece, and prevents the growth of fungus. For humans, propolis has benefits, too. The flavonoids function as antioxidants, which helps with free radicals (can reduce risk of cancer), it’s a natural anti-histamine, has anti-inflammatory properties, and it’s rich in B-complex vitamins. Plus, it has anti-microbial properties, as well. Um, yes please. A tablespoon a day is what the bee ordered.
You can download the Merry Christmas free label is here. And, the Happy Holidays free label is here.
Happy gifting!
We realize we’re jumping straight into Christmas with this post, but with all the shipping woes and economy meltdowns, we got started early this year. We want to help you do the same.
The smell of Christmas makes us so happy. So, might as well make it smell like Christmas as often as possible, right? Typically, it’s candles and diffusers that diffuse our favorite smells around the house, but this time, we’re talking about the Thymes Frasier Fir All-Purpose cleaner. The reality of being a mom is that we clean our counters (among other things) about 5 or more times a day. While gifting or receiving an all-purpose cleaner isn’t the sexiest gift, it’s a practical one that can be use daily, and also one that smells amazing. It’s worth sharing something that evokes cheerful emotions, especially when we are doing mundane tasks.
Let’s spread the smell of Christmas cheer this year with our latest printable to go along with Thymes all-purpose cleaner. We’re giving these early to teachers and neighbors this year.
We made two versions of the free printable. One says HAPPY HOLIDAYS and the other says MERRY CHRISTMAS. Choose the best one for you, and print it on card stock paper, then attach it to the bottle.
We have some holiday gift guides coming your way soon, so be on the lookout for those.
You can buy the Thymes all-purpose cleaner here or it’s on sale for $11 here.
If the cleaner isn’t your thing, you can buy a beautiful candle or diffuser oil.
Resin is one of those mediums we see everywhere, and it’s been on our must-try list for a long time. We’re happy to report that we finally got around to it. We made some fun heart-themed gifts for Valentine’s Day – DIY keychains and DIY resin hair clips. We’re basically obsessed with all the amazing things you can make with resin and epoxy, and hope this is just the beginning of the things we will create. There is somewhat of a learning curve with resin, at least for us, so hopefully this is a helpful tutorial, and you will be crafting with resin in no time.
Kimberly at A Girl and A Glue Gun has so many tips and trick when working with resin and epoxy, and we highly recommend watching her videos. She made some amazing coasters, jewelry and keychains.
DIY Resin Keychains & Hair Clips
Materials:
Directions:
First, we want to apologize for the fact that we don’t have photos of the process. Our hands were wet with resin and didn’t want to mess with a camera at the same time.
Step 1: Follow the directions that come with the resin kit, very carefully. Put on gloves, and set up space with disposable cloth. It’s crucial is have good airflow while stirring and pouring resin. We always have a window open close to the craft table when working with resin. Fresh air is your friend with this one. The first step will be to pour a small (1-2 tbsp or so) amount of resin and hardener in separate cups, then pour an equal amount of each into another cup. The two you pour in together is what you’re going to pour into your project, so estimate the right amount. You will have to stir the two together very slowly for 3-5 minutes. You will see some bubbles – we have found that the slower you stir, the smaller and less bubbles (which is a good thing). Once you are done stirring, pour in another cup, and then add your glitter, a couple drops of dye or whatever you are putting inside. Stir and/or mix it in with a popsicle stick.
Step 2: Pour the resin and add-ins in the molds.
For Hair Clips: You will want to carefully pour to the top of the hair clip molds. If any excess overflows, carefully swipe off with the side of a popsicle stick or wipe with paper towel. You can move any sprinkles or glitter around with a toothpick if you need to.
Hearts: Pour about halfway, not to the top of the mold. If you are adding small alphabet beads, pour a tiny amount of resin in the heart, and then add the beads (you can use a toothpick to help place or wiggle them around), hold a flame close to the top of the resin if any bubbles (they will pop magically), and then pour the rest of the resin to cover the letters The heart should be about 1/2 to 3/4 full.
Step 3: Once the resin is in the mold, you will want to take your lighter and hold it closer to the surface of the resin. We learned this from A Girl and A Glue Gun. It’s amazing – the bubbles pop when the fire gets near it. Carefully hover the lighter over the surface of the resin to get out all bubbles.
Step 4: Wait 24 hours for resin to completely dry/cure. This is super important. It’s hard to do, but you can do hard things! Once 24 hours has passed, push the object through.
Step 5:
Hair Clips: You’re ready to glue the heart resin clip topper onto the actual metal clip. Add e-6000 glue to the metal clip and place the resin topper to the clip. Use chip bag clips to keep the resin in place on the clip. Let dry for at least 2 hours, but 12 is preferable.
Heart keychain: To make this a keychain, you will need the kit mentioned above with the keychain loops, screws and mini drill. Drill a hole smaller than the screw into the top of the letter, so you can twist the eye screw nice and snug in the letter. If you don’t have a drill (like us), you can use a jewelry pliers to twist the eye screw into the letter. It can be frustrating at first, but after a couple twists, it will hold in place, and then you twist further until it’s fully in the letter. Next, add the letter, and you have a darling new keychain.
We are Italian, so we eat a lot of pasta. It’s our love language. We still dream of all the delicious pasta we ate everyday in Italy. We love to cook pasta for our families, too. Whether it’s with red sauce, or a creamy pesto sauce, and topped with meat or vegetables, we love to cook it…and devour it. Most of us are gluten free, and initially (years ago), pasta just wasn’t the same. Now, there are so many wonderful gluten free options at the store, we cannot even tell the difference. It’s so yummy. Barilla is hands-down our favorite. It tastes delicious, and it’s easy to cook. Plus, we can buy spaghetti noodles, lasagna no-boil noodles, penne and more! This post is not sponsored by Barilla (we genuinely love their products), although we would love to make some recipes sponsored by them. Hint, hint!
Recently, our Barilla gluten free penne box not only inspired a meal, but also a craft. We recycled the box, and transformed it into a DIY light box for Valentine’s Day. Now, that’s a bright idea worth sharing! The kids helped paint the boxes, and we cut the hearts, so it was a family effort. This DIY project costs very little money, it can be shipped to a loved one, aka grandparents, easily because it’s very lightweight, and when lit, it’s magical. It’s hard not to feel the love when those lights comes on inside the box. If you have little ones that want to continue crafting after they decorate the box, save some noodles, and paint them too. Send a pretty DIY necklace along with the box.
Let’s get started…
Materials:
Directions:
Step 1: Find a heart printable on the internet. Print it. Tape it on top of the box, and begin to cut with the Xacto knife.
Step 2: Paint the box. Two coats is best, depending on the saturation and paint color you choose.
Step 3: Once paint is dry, cut small boxes of cellophane sheets to match the size of each heart. Place the small square over the heart, to make sure it fits. Add a small square of double sided tape to each corner of the box. Now, carefully use your fingers to place the cellophane box inside the pasta box behind the heart you sized it for. Press down on each corner so it stays in place. Repeat until all the hearts have a colorful cellophane sheet behind them.
Step 4: Place twinkle lights inside. Move them around as you need. As far as twinkle lights go, the colorful ones were the brightest, and we liked them the best. But, white lights are pretty, too. These are so small, the battery pack can be glued inside the box, but not sure they will be the brightest due to 20 fairy lights on each string. If you use a small pasta box, these would work great, and you get more of them, so more bang for your buck.
Step 5: With the paint pen, add a cute phrase like, “You light up my life.” on the bottom clear cellophane strip already on the pasta box. If you want to make it extra special, you can add a photo behind one of the hearts, too.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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