Tuesday's Tips & Tricks Link Party #63

It's that time again!!

Here's a quick overview of last week's party.

Most Clicked:

Strawberry Limeade Rum Punch from All She Cooks

Host Features:

Kathleen (Fearlessly Creative Mammas) - Canvas String Art Graffiti by Juggling Act Mama

Krysta (KrystaSteen.com) - Quinoa Veggie Burgers by Little Miss Dexterous

Jessica (My Life by Jess) - Heavenly Blueberry Recipe Roundup by Dreaming of Leaving

Cassie (Southeast by Midwest) - DIY Linen Spray by Dreaming of Leaving

Heather (Stringtown Home) - Blueberry Filled Cupcakes by Juggling Act Mama

Gabby (Not Too Shabby Gabby) - Cheesy Beer Bread from Courtney's Cookbook

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Your turn!!  Feel free to link up, just make sure you spread the love and visit other people's shares and do some commenting.  {You know we all like a little pat on the back!}

An InLinkz Link-up

Adorable, Quick and Easy Valentine Box

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching.  Are you ready?

I'm rarely fully ready for any of the holidays, but this one always seems to sneak up on me.  Yeah, because you know it's never on the same day each and every year. {There goes that sarcasm again.}

A couple of years ago I was completely unprepared.  There was so much going on at the time and making a box to for my kids' Valentine's to go into just seemed like a complete waste of time and energy.  And that year Baby #3 was taking some pretty nasty chemo, so energy was really low. Thankfully, I have some really amazing friends and neighbors that look out for me my kids.

So, armed with gifted stickers, the kids and I started looking around the house for a box to decorate.  Should have been an easy enough search, but we came up with nothing.  Then one of the kids spotted (one of the many) Huggies wipe boxes in the living room.   Using very little in terms of time and supplies, we were able to come up with some pretty cute boxes to sit on the kids' desks at school to contain all their little friends' Valentine's Day cards.

While it's a simple and really fast project, it gets the job done.  Plus, it's durable and can be reused for several years.  (Making me seem more prepared than I actually am.  Bonus!!)

Cutting the center rubber out of the center despencer area to make it easier for little people to put those cute V Day cards inside the box. 

If you really want to get fancy, decoupage the outside with some pretty scrapbook papers and stickers.  The sky is the limit with these little gems, so have fun and be creative!  Plus, if you decide to make one of your own, please post a picture on my Facebook page.  I love seeing other people's creativity!

Keep loving Life!

Tips & Tricks Link Party #33

It's that time again, friends!  Things are really turning toward fall around here and the party is no different.  Glad you could join us this week!

1) Kathleen & Heather - Fearlessly Creative Mammas

2) Karissa - A Fresh Start

3) Krysta - KrystaSteen.com

4) Heather - Stringtown Home

5) Gabby - Not Too Shabby Gabby

6) Jessica - My Life By Jess

Here's a quick recap of last week's party.

Most Clicked:

Harvest Home Tour from Fearlessly Creative Mammas

Features:

Kathleen and Heather: Pumpkin Pie Smoothie from Krysta Steen

Gabby: Caramel Apple Crisp Pie from Angels Homestead

Krysta: Pumpkin Spiced Muffins from Eat Drink and Save Money

Heather: Fall Home Tour from Lilac Drive Designs

Jessica: How to Make a Burlap Wreath from Logan Can


Now it's your turn to link up and share your latest project, recipe, tip, or anything else you want!  Can't wait to see what shows up this week!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Family Scrabble Picture

I really like crafting.  Did you know that?  I mean, I really like crafting.

But unfortunately, I didn't do many handmade gifts this Christmas.  Maybe next year (or this year?), but November and December were just way too busy to try and get much done in the crafting department.

I did get one handmade gift in.  I loved doing this!  It turned out just like I had hoped, and I think the recipients liked it, too.

I was able to get 12 grandkids' names and a few extra words fit.  Limited places if there are any more kids born.  {Keep that in mind Melissa.}

The project took two games to complete because of the letters needed.  The frame is a simple shadow box purchased from Joann's Fabrics and Crafts.  Letters are hot glued onto the board and then the board is hot glued onto the back ground of the frame.  Very simple construction.

TIP 1:  When purchasing a second set of letters or a whole game, make sure the tiles are the same.  Mixing tiles from an older game and newer game will be glaringly evident.  Not a pretty finished product.

TIP 2:  When using hot glue, place the glue no the back of the letter tiles and not on the board.  This will help eliminate the strings of glue on your finished project.  You could also use wood glue, rubber cement, or something similar.

TIP 3:  Shop around for games and tiles.  I found my second game at a local thrift store.  If you prefer, extra tiles by themselves can be purchased through Amazon.com.  (See Tip 1 when making purchase.)

TIP 4:  Be prepared to play around a little with the word placement when doing this project.  It helps to get all your words planned, make sure you have enough tiles for all the words you want, and then start placing them on the board.

TIP 5- Walk away.  Seriously.  There are going to be times when it gets really frustrating.  You will have several words or just that ONE LAST WORD that won't fit anywhere.  This is the perfect time to take a 10 minute break.  It's amazing what new ideas will come about after a coffee or snack break.

The projects using this game fascinate me for some reason.  I have several projects pinned with the Scrabble game theme just waiting for me to find the time to do them.  One day.....

Owl Themed Birthday Party

We recently had a little girl turn 8 in our family.  {Wow!}  And, it's the policy in our home to have a birthday party when an eighth birthday rolls around.

Now, you would think at this age a little girl would go for Frozen, Princess or any other number of girly themes.  Not this one.  She has been obsessed with OWLS since she got this hat over two years ago,

 and her mind was set.

So, here's how we do Owl....

Decor:

We also had several stuffed owls on table tops to help decorate.

Food:
Owl Fruit Tray-

Owl S'mores

Owl Cupcakes

Craft:

Corner Bookmark

We really had a lot of fun with it all.  These were all super simple things to do.  Because of that, I was able to have a lot of help from the kids.

My 10 year old Caroline was in charge of finishing the smores after I split the marshmallows.

Madi took care of separating the Oreo cookies for the cupcakes.

Once I got the kids all started on the craft, they were able to be turned loose to create.

Even our almost 5 year old was able to make his own bookmark.  Googly eyes are a must.

Head on over to Pinterest and see all the sources and places of inspiration for the things we did for the party on Madi's Owl Bday Board.  You'll see several ideas we didn't do and all my pictures pinned there, too.

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Bowling Pumpkins

We are in full holiday swing around here.  Seems like as the kids get older, the costumes get a little more complicated and involved.  It's all good as long as we start working on them early enough.  (Not always the case each year, but we are getting better.)

This year I was in charge of the game for my son's preschool class.  Since there are 7 little boys in that one class and no girls, I wanted something that involved lots of movement.  And, after doing some searching online and on Pinterest, I decided to do a little bowling.

Such a quick and easy project!  You'll probably even have all the supplies on hand.

Whatcha Need:

6 paper towel rolls
14 sheets of orange construction paper
1 sheet of green construction paper
Tape
Permanent marker

Whatcha Do:

Tape 2 & 1/3 sheets of orange paper together.

Roll the orange construction paper around a roll of paper towels.

Repeat for all 6 rolls.

Cut the green construction paper into 6 equal squares and draw stems on each one.

Tape the cut out stems on the orange 'pumpkins'.

Use a permanent marker to draw faces on the 'pumpkins'.  Then set them up to play.

Use a ball to knock the pumpkin pins over.

My little helper - the king of photo bombs!

The game seemed to be a big hit with all the boys at the party today.  Hooray!  They then played tackle bowling with the pins just before we decided it was the end of their party.  Such is life with little boys, right?!

Enjoy your Halloween!

Scrabble Remix

I would love to claim this idea as mine, but I can't.  However, they say imitation is the best form of flattery, right?

My sister gave this to my parents this year for Christmas.

It has all 16 grandkids' names on the game play area and the initials of us kids and our spouses on the side.  I absolutely fell in love with it and decided to make one for my own home!

There was quite a bit of trial and error.  I had to order more tiles off Amazon.com to have enough of the letters I needed, too.  Did you know there are only 2 'V's in a game set?  I managed to use 3 on our board.  I also needed more 'L's, 'S's, 'M's and 'K's.  Spreading everything out on a flat surface and playing around with words and configurations really helped.

I didn't have as many names to work with as my sister, but I was able to fill our board pretty well.  Seven names and a few extra words later, I have my very own board completed.

What do ya think?  I'm so pleased with the results!  Of course, while working on this for our family, I had so many ideas about other themes:

Wedding present - marriage, love, commitment, bride, groom, names, God, faith....
Baby boy - name, date, blessing, gift, love, dirt, trucks, snakes, snails, puppy tails...
Baby girl - name, date, blessing, gift, frills, lace, sugar, spice....
Also, sports, cars, just about any interest.  You could even just have a mock game set up for a game room.  So many ways to do this.  With or without a board, too.

I attached all the letter tiles to the board with rubber cement.  Whatever glue you choose, make sure you don't put on too much.  Don't want it squishing out the sides.  The black background in the shadow box  is fabric, so I was able to use velcro to stabilize the board and the tile holders.  Over all the project is quite easy.  The hardest part was figuring out which words to use.


~~Don't forget the February Special from Shaklee!!~~