Kids Craft: Cheap & Easy Valentine's Day Care Packages

Hi! It's Jilly. I know Valentine's Day is this Saturday, but we made these cute and easy Valentine's Day care packages for the kids' cousins and I just had to share them with you!

Supplies:
Empty toilet paper tubes
Scrapbook paper
Glue
Small toys or candy
Clear packing tape



Directions:
1. Cut hearts out of scrapbook paper and glue all over the outside of the toilet paper tubes.

2. Fill tubes with little goodies. We got little Valentine buttons, heart suckers, and Sixlets from the dollar store.

3. Write the lucky recipient's name and address on a solid colored piece of paper and tape to the tube. Cover the tube with packing tape so the packages will arrive intact.

4. Take the tubes to the post office and mail to your distant loved ones. Ours only cost $2.32 to ship from New York to the West Coast and Hawaii. Not too shabby!

The kids had a lot of fun putting these together. Hopefully the cousins will like their little surprise!

Do you send Valentines to anyone who lives far away? What is your favorite Valentine's gift you've ever received? Let me know in the comments, or on Faceboook!

More Valentine's Day Goodies:

Printable Alien Valentines

Printable "Sucker" Valentines

Two Last-Minute Printable Valentines

Valentines Heart Hair Clips

Five Awesome Grandparent Gift Ideas

Hi! It's Jilly. A couple months ago I was part of the Gift It! Series on my friend Kim's blog- Bugaboo, Mini, Mr, and Me. It's a great series that I love participating in!

Christmas is coming up soon. (I know...I said the "C" word before Halloween...) Sometimes it's hard to think of a good gift for the grandparents--sentimental, but something they'll actually like. Ha ha!
 I've compiled some ideas for you. You should be able to find something in this list that the grandparents on your list will go gaga for!

Yarn Craft Round-Up

Hi! It's Jilly. A few months ago I was able to participate in my friend Kim from Bugaboo, Mini, Mr, and Me's "Yarn It All" series. My contribution was this round-up of 15 crafts you can do with yarn. I thought it would be nice to share it here with you guys.

DIY Harry Potter-ish Magic Wands

Hi! It's Jilly. My kids love Harry Potter. They love to read the books and watch the movies, and even had a Harry Potter birthday party this year. So, it was no surprise when they announced that this year's Halloween costume theme would be...Harry Potter. #shocked

For their birthday party I made wands for all the kids to take home, but I never got around to posting the tutorial for the wands! I know, I know...bad blogger. So, since Halloween is coming up and I will have a little Draco, Luna, and Hermione running around, I figured now was a great time to post the wand tutorial. 

The wands are super easy to make and look so awesome! Seriously.

Supplies:

Chopsticks

Hot glue

Brown spray paint

Cornstarch

Directions:

1) Using a hot glue gun, add lines and dots of hot glue to the chopsticks in whatever design you like. 

Be careful not to burn your fingers! I hear these things are pretty awesome for protecting your fingers, though. (affiliate link)

2) Spray paint the wands and allow them to dry. I poked holes in a box and put the wands in the holes so I could get the best coverage while painting.

The wands took 2-3 days to dry. 

3) The wand still felt a little tacky because of the hot glue pieces on them, so my Hubby had the brilliant idea to dust them with a little cornstarch. It took away the tackiness, and it made the little details on the wands pop!

That's it! All the kids at the party loved their wands and how they were all so different. And, they were super cheap and easy to make...my favorite kind of craft! 

What do your  kids want to be for Halloween? Are you guys Harry Potter fans?

More Harry Potter stuff:

    

Last year's Halloween costumes:

  

*Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instgram or Pinterest so you don't miss the next post!*

Kids Craft: Bubble Painting with Palmolive Dish Soap - #Palmolive25Ways #cbias

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Hi! It's Jilly. My kids love to do crafts. A few weeks ago we were at our local discovery center and they were doing bubble painting. The kids thought it was so awesome. I knew we had to try it at home with Palmolive dish soap!



Painting with bubbles is really easy, and it's a lot of fun! Let's do this thing!

Patriotic Felt Star Hair Clips

Hi! It's Jilly. We are excited for the Fourth of July tomorrow! The girls and I wanted to make some cute little hair clips for them to wear for the festivities.

These hair clips are SUPER easy to put together. They didn't take very much time at all, so you can still whip some of these out in time for the Fourth.

Patriotic Felt Star Hair Clips

8 Crafts to Keep the Kiddos Entertained on the Fourth

Hi! It's Jilly. Is it just me, or did the Fourth of July sneak up on us really fast?! I like to have some little crafts or games for the kids to do every year while we're hanging out on the Fourth. This year we are going to an air show at the local airport, and we'll be tailgating before the gates open. So, it will be good to have some things for the kids to do while we wait for the air show to start!

I've rounded up a few great craft ideas for the kids to do while we wait. Maybe your kids will like to make some of these, too!

Father's Day Tie Bookmarks

Hi! It's Jilly. Still need something for the kids to make for Father's Day? Don't worry...you're not too late! Make some of these quick, easy, and personalized bookmarks!

I'm in charge of Activity Days at church (midweek activities for kids 8-11 years old). I needed something the kids could make that their Dads might actually use, and that the kids could personalize since my Hubby will end up with three of them!

I came up with these fun bookmarks! Granted, we made bookmarks last year, but these are a little different.

Supplies:

20+ DIY Ideas for All Those Photos {Photography Contributor}

Hi!  It's Kimmie!  I'm pretty excited about this installment of photography 101.  Why?  Because I decided to take a step away from the technical for a moment!  I mean, the technical is great and all; we all need to know the basics, of course, but today's post is right up my crafty alley.

There are so many pros to living in the digital age when it comes to photos!  You can take tons and tons - literally - and not have to worry about cost.  You can store the photos without taking up any physical space at all.  You can capture moments you never could before due to movement and high speeds.  It's great!


But what do you DO with your photos once you've taken them?  If you're like me, you have grand designs to make good use of all your personal and family photos - displays, framed gallery walls, scrapbooks, photo albums, journals, and more!  I've got hundreds of pins for this!  BUT.  (If you're like me) none of these ideas come to fruition, and there your photos sit on your external hard drive being visited briefly when you scroll through them to take a quick stroll down memory lane.

Pennant Banner Cards Using Scraps

Hi! It's Jilly. Need a cute handmade card that's fast, easy, and doesn't break the bank? Then you'll love these fun cards!

I'm in charge of Activity Days at church (midweek activities for 8-11 year olds). I needed a cute craft that would be easy for the girls to make, yet still use some of their own creativity. After eyeing my box of scraps I came up with these handmade pennant banner cards.

We made two different cards: "Happy Birthday" and "Thanks". They are reaaaaally easy to make and I love how each one is a little bit different, yet still "stylish".

Supplies:
8x11 white or cream cardstock, or blank white cards
scrapbook paper scraps - non 'matching' colors are ok!
baker's twine, yarn, or jute
glue
scissors
stapler
a pen, or stamps & an ink pad

How to:

1) Make your card base by cutting the cardstock in half lengthwise, creating two 5 1/2" X 8" pieces. Fold in half to make a card. (You can skip this step if you started with premade blank cards)

2) Cut 6-9 small triangles out of various scrap pieces of scrapbook paper. You need enough triangles to fit across the longest part of the card comfortably to create your pennant banner.

3) Once you have them arranged the way you like them, clue your triangles onto the card to make the pennant banner.

4) Cut a length of twine, yarn, or jute to place along the top of your banner. If using jute or thick yarn, you may want to split the 'hairs' apart a little so it's not as heavy.

5) Glue your twine, etc along the top of the triangles. Cut off any excess twine hanging off the sides of the card. Staple the twine onto the card on each end. Be sure you don't staple your card shut! (This step is optional, but it helps the twine stay on the card and is a fun little touch.)

6) On the bottom of the card write or stamp your sentiment. I like how both options look!

7) Voila! Your card is ready to be enjoyed by your lucky recipient!



I love how these cards turned out! They have kind of a "vintage" vibe to them. And, did I mention they're easy?! All my Activity Days girls loved making them, and it was fun to see their creativity. Some stuck with an alternating pattern on the banner, and others mixed and matched. It was a fun activity!

Other fun crafts you might like:

    

Are you following me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter yet? I'd love to see your cute face there! 

Top 13 of 2013

Hi! It's Jilly. 2013 brought a lot of growth here at Hi! It's Jilly. It's been an amazing bloggy year! I'm so grateful for the great things that have happened and that a few of you read what I write. Ha ha!

I was a contributor at My Favorite Finds, as well as All She Cooks, which was a great experience and helped me "hone my craft".

I gained a lot of followers on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, which helped me meet some awesome new people and get to know all of you a little better.

And, I had a lot of popular posts during the year. I'm glad you guys liked them! In case you missed them, here's a list of the Top 13 Posts of 2013. It looks like you guys like to eat! ;)

The Ultimate Harry Potter Round-Up!

Hi! It's Jilly. You guys may or may not know this, but I am a HUUUGE Harry Potter fan! Seriously. It's kind of sad awesome.

The first movie came out when I was in college. I was able to see a sneak peek before it came out. My friend worked at a theater and invited a bunch of us to come see "this kid movie with a bunch of hype." Well, I loved it! After that I read the first book and I was officially hooked!

I reread the first five books while I was in the hospital with the kiddos, and read HBP as soon as it came out during those long hours sitting on the couch nursing after the kids were born. (that's Half-Blood Prince for those of you who don't know Potter-speak)

Personalized Mickey Head T-Shirt Tutorial

Hi! It’s Jilly! A looong while ago I did a guest post at Debbie Does Creations about some Personalized Mickey Head Freezer Paper Stencil shirts I made for our family trip to Disneyland.

A week or two ago I got the awesomest comment on my Facebook page from a girl named Melissa who used my tutorial to make shirts for her family's Disney cruise!

Her comment totally made my day! It was so neat to see a project someone made from one of my tutorials! And her shirts turned out SO great! I love how she outlined the ears and letters in white. So clever!Melissa asked if I could please post my tutorial here for all of you. But, of course! (said in a French accent)

Here is the original post:

This summer we were able to go to Disneyland with my husband’s parents AND my Mom- Eight people total. It was quite the group, but SO much fun!

I wanted some fun, personalized shirts for us to wear one of the days of our trip. I started looking for different ideas online and saw a lot of great ideas. I finally settled on a
design and decided to do a freezer paper stencil.

I used the free font Mickey Ears, which was so cute and easy. To make the template I just typed the first letter of each person’s name in a Word document, and increased the font size until it filled one whole page.



Then I printed it out, laid freezer paper over it, and traced around it with a pencil. You want to write on the non-shiny side, because the shiny side is the side that you will be ironing to your shirt.



Next, cut out your template with an x-acto knife.



You want to be sure you have enough paper left around the outside of your design so that it doesn’t cause problems when you are trying to paint and when you eventually peel the stencil off your shirt.



Once you have your stencil made, iron the freezer paper to your shirt, shiny side down.



After the shirt cools a little bit, start painting! The kids can even help with this step. You can get fabric paint in a huge variety of colors from your local craft store. Don’t forget to use your coupon and get 40% off!

Oh! And make sure you put a piece of cardboard or a paper bag inside the shirt between the front & back of the shirt. You don’t want to accidently paint the front & back together!!



Now, let the paint dry COMPLETELY!



Once dry, CAREFULLY peel the freezer paper off of the shirt.

(In this picture the bigger part of the stencil has been peeled off, but not the letter in the middle)

And that’s it!! Now you have a one-of-a-kind shirt to wear!!

If you’d like to get to know me and my crazy crew better, follow me at Hi! It’s Jilly, on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. See you soon! :)

Here are some other easy crafts that might be right up your alley.