Old Window Picture Frame

I found this old window and had to do something with it. 

             

  Materials:

       

• Old window
• Hanging Hardware
• Favorite Family Photos
• Clear Tape

Directions:

1. Find an old window
2. Clean it up. Do not scrub to hard, you don't want to take away any of the distressed look. 
3. Add the hanging hardware on the back. 
4. Add your photos using small pieces of clear tape. 
5. Hang it up!

DIY Wood Pallet Coffee Cup Holder

My husband helped me make this wood pallet coffee cup holder. It was a fun project for us to do together. I found this pallet this size but you could break down a larger pallet to make it the size you want.

This pallet is 2ft x 2ft

Materials:

• Small Pallet
• Extra Wood
• Drill and Screws
• Coffee Mugs
• Hooks
• Letter Stencils
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush

Directions:

1. Find or make a small pallet. 
2. Add a couple small boards to create a shelf. 
3. Using stencils, paint the word coffee across the top.
4. Add the hooks for the coffee cups. 
5. Now it is ready to hang. It is heavy so we screwed it into a stud on the wall. 

Rainbow and Pot of Gold

Rainbow Finger Prints & Pot of Gold

This was a fun St. Patrick's Day Craft I did with my kids. 

Materials:

• White & Black Construction Paper
• Paints (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
• Glue; stick & liquid
• Gold Glitter

Directions:

1. Have all materials ready. I put a small amount of each of the colors of paint on a paper plate so they were ready for the little fingers. 
2. Cut a pot out of the black paper. Glue it towards the bottom and one side of the white paper. 
3. Starting with the red paint, make finger prints in a rainbow shape. Continue with the other colors in the order of the rainbow. Wash your hands between each color. 
4. If you would like you can add some fingerprint shamrocks around the rainbow. 
5. Using the liquid glue, spread some around the top of your pot. Sprinkle the gold glitter on the glue. 
6. Keep your artwork laying flat to dry. Hang it up!

Creamy Crab Dip

OMG! SO YUMMY! This is a favorite in our house! 

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. Imitation Crab Meat Chopped
• 1/3 cup Mayo
• 6 oz. Cream Cheese
• 1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese 
• 1/4 cup Chopped Green Onion
• 1 Tbs finely Chopped Jalapeno 
• 2 finely Chopped Garlic Cloves
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Fun Bowl to serve your dip in.

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix together the cream cheese and mayo until smooth. 
2. Add all other ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined. 
3. Use as a spread for crackers, toasted bread, or pretzel chips.
4. Enjoy!

Tips:

• Double this recipe for a larger group. 
• If you do not like spicy foods try it with out the Jalapeno and Cayenne first. You could also use one or the other, or less of each.

Rainbow Fruit Pizza

 Happy Spring!
This is a great treat to make for a spring day. My kids loved the fun rainbow and the fresh fruit.

Materials:

• Prepared Sugar Cookies 
• Prepared Fruit Dip
• 4 Fruits (Rainbow Colors)
• Knife

Directions:

1. Prepare your Sugar Cookies and Fruit Dip. Click the links to use my favorite recipes. 
2. Chop your fruit into small cubes. 1/4 cup of each fruit is plenty. I used strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, and blueberries. 
3. Spread your fruit dip on the cooled cookies.
4. Add your chopped fruit on top of the dip to create a rainbow. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple!
5. Enjoy!

Variations/Tips:

• If you don't like the fruit I used, just get something you like of the same color.
• This is a great treat to make for many occasions. You could use any cookie shape and make it into a fruit pizza. 

Marshmallow Fruit Dip

Traditional Marshmallow Fruit Dip!

So Yummy!

Use this dip for any fruit or you could also use it as the spread for a fruit pizza. Click the link for my recipe for Fruit Pizza Cookies. 

Ingredients:

• 9 oz. Container of Marshmallow Cream
• 8 oz. Pack of Cream Cheese
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into your mixer. 
2. Using the whisk attachment, mix until smooth.  
3. Chill before serving. 
4. Dip your favorite fruit and enjoy!

Tips:

• If you don't have a mixer, soften the cream cheese a little by setting it out or microwaving it a few seconds. This will make it easier to mix by hand. 

The Best Soft Sugar Cookie

I Love These Sugar Cookies!

These are the easiest and best tasting cut out sugar cookie I have had. Everyone I make them for agrees! Best part is that you don't have to chill the dough. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350℉
2. Use a mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until smooth, at least 3 minutes. 
3. Beat in eggs and extract. 
4. In a separate bowl mix baking powder, salt, and flour. Slowly add to the wet ingredients. When the dough becomes to stiff for your mixer, pull it out and finish kneading the dough by hand. 
5. Do not chill the dough. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your cookies.
6. Bake at 350℉ for 6-8 minutes. Let cool until firm enough to move to a cooling rack. 

Tips:

• If you have to chill the dough just set it out to warm up before rolling it out. 
• Exchange 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract for 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract for a sweeter cookie. 
• Start out with 6 minutes of cooking time, add more time as needed. They should be only lightly browned on the bottom for a softer cookie. 

Shamrock "Stained Glass"

By Makenna (2)

This is a fun way for your kids to help decorate for St. Patrick's Day!

Materials:

• Wax paper
• Tissue paper (greens, yellows)
• Liquid glue
• Water
• Bowl
• Paint brush
• Permanent marker
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Take a half sheet of each color of tissue paper. Fold up and cut into 1 inch square pieces. Does not need to be a perfect square.
2. Take a piece of wax paper and draw shamrocks with a permanent marker.
3. Mix about one teaspoon of water with one tablespoon of glue together in a bowl.
4. Paint an area of the shamrock with the glue mixture and layer on a few colors of tissue paper. Paint the glue over the top of the tissue paper. Continue until the shamrocks are covered completely. 
5. Let the glue dry and then cut out the shamrocks.
6. Hang it on a window to look like stained glass art.

Tips:

• You can use some of these same steps to make other pictures for any time of the year. For example; flowers, stars, pumpkins, snowmen.

Painting Mess Free

My sister did this with her kids for Easter. So Cute!

Materials:

• Canvas
• Paints
• Plastic wrap
• Newspaper
• Paint brush 
• Black permanent marker

Directions:

1. Have all of your materials out and ready to use. Put the canvas on newspaper.
2. Squirt dots of paint on the canvas.
3. Place plastic wrap on top of the paint and wrap it around the edges of the canvas.
4. Let your child rub the paint around. Having the plastic wrap over the paints makes this safe and mess free for little fingers.
5. After the canvas is all painted, peal the plastic wrap off and let it dry.
6. To make the bunny footprints, have your child sit in a chair with clean feet.
7. Paint one foot with white paint. Make sure it is thick so you get the whole footprint.
8. Stamp the foot on the canvas so their toes are pointing down and there is space for the ears above the heal.
9. Do the last 2 steps with the other foot or another child's foot. If you have more kids just add 1 foot for each of them.
10. To add the ears to each bunny, use a paint brush to paint the white long ears first. After that drys a little, add a center pink stripe for the inside of the ears. Use that same pink paint and add a small dot in the center of the heal for the bunny nose.
11. Once all of the paint is dry you can add the details. Use the black permanent marker to draw a face, write Happy Easter, and add names and ages by each foot.
12. Hang your canvas and cherish those little toes or you could even give this as a gift.

Tips/Variations:

• You could do the mess free painting for any occasion and with any colors of paint. 
• If you do hand or foot prints be ready to clean them off between each. 
• If your canvas is small enough you could put it into a zip lock bag for the mess free painting. 

Antique Window Photo Frame

This is a great country chic way to show off your family photos!

Materials:

• Old Window Frame
• Sandpaper
• Chicken Wire
• Wire Cutter
• Staple Gun/Staple Hammer w/staples
• Hammer and Nails or other hanging Materials
• Clothes Pins
• Favorite Family Photos

Directions:

1. Prepare your window. Mine was an old screen window from a cabin. I had to remove the old screen from the window before I could start. 
2. Sand and clean the wood lightly. I left a lot of the original paint and just lightly cleaned it. You may want to add some paint and give it a little distressed look.  
3. Cut the chicken wire to the size you need with a wire cutter
4. Staple the chicken wire to the back of the window. Be very careful not to get hurt. Ask someone to help you if you need. 
5. Make sure there are no wires sticking out that could poke into your wall when you hang it.
6. Hang your window up vertically or horizontally.  
7. Add your family photos using clothes pins.
8. Show off your beautiful family and hard work!

Tips:

• Find an old window at a craft/antique shop or online. 
• Use fun clips for hanging your photos for a little extra personality. 

Bunny Kids Painting

I loved how easy this was. My kids had so much fun doing some finger painting with this project.

Materials: 

• Small Canvas
• Washable Paints
• Stiff Paint Brush 
• Bunny Stencil
• White Paint

Directions:

1. Get all of your materials out and ready and cover your painting surface when you have kids doing the finger painting. 
2. Paint the whole canvas with all of the colors you chose. Use light colors first, like yellow. If the colors start to mix to much they will turn brown. 
3. Let it dry completely. 
4. Pick the spot you would like to put your stencil. Tape one edge down with painters tape. 
5. Use a stiff paint brush to paint in the stencil using a tapping motion. Do not have a lot of paint on the brush and be gentle so the brush does not get pushed under the edges of the stencil.
6. Pull the stencil off when you are done painting.
7. Let dry and enjoy the artwork through the season. 

Tips/Variations:

• You could use many different paint colors and stencil shapes for this project. For Example; red, white and blue with a star, greens with a shamrock, kids favorite colors with their initials, etc...