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

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:

FROZEN "Build a Snowman" Waffles

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #FROZENFun, #collectivebias

Hi! It's Jilly. Prepare to gasp. We have NOT seen FROZEN yet! See, I knew you would gasp! We never made it to the theater when it was there, and now the DVD comes out March 18th, so I figure we'll just buy it when it comes out.

Even though they haven't seen the movie yet, my kids love Frozen. They hear all about it from their friends, watch video clips on YouTube, and get excited whenever the songs pop up on my Pandora stations. So, when I was at Wal-Mart the other day I thought I'd check out the "Frozen" toy section and see what they had.

I found these darling dolls, and these cute little figures that will be perfect for tossing in the girls' Easter baskets.

Handmade Kid Gift Ideas

Hi! It's Jilly. Back in August I was able to guest post for my friend Kim at Bugaboo, Mini, Mr, and Me. Kim and I have been friends since high school, and I've always loved her creative self! She was hosting her 2nd Annual Gift It! Series, so I was thrilled to participate! (Here's a link to my contribution to last year's Gift It! Series. Thanks for asking! ;) )

I found some great handmade gift ideas, and now that Christmas is sneaking up on us I thought it would be great to share these fun finds with you guys here at Hi! It's Jilly.

Here is a round-up of fun and easy gifts YOU can make that the kids will love AND that won't break the bank!

Scripture Treasure Hunt - includes all the printables you need!

Hi! It's Jilly. I'm in charge of Activity Days at church, which are bi-monthly faith-building activities for the 8-11 year old kids. Today we are doing a Scripture Treasure Hunt! I am going to hide clues around the church building, and the kids will have to look up the scriptures to figure out where the next clue is located. This would be a great activity to do at home for family night, too.

I've included for you clue cards, set-up information, and an answer key for you to print out. The clue cards have a reference from both the Book of Mormon and the Bible. For those of you who are not Mormon, I've included a set of clues with only Bible (KJV) references.

Click HERE to get the PDF for the clues and HERE for the set-up and answer key. All you have to do is print it out. Have fun searching the scriptures!

 

All Aboard the Polar Express with the Saratoga & North Creek Railway!

Hi! It's Jilly. I love the book "The Polar Express" and always wanted to take my kids on it. I just found out that there is a railway only a couple hours from us here in New York that has a Polar Express! I can't wait to take the kids! Let's hear more about it from the Saratoga & North Creek Railway. :)

All Aboard! THE POLAR EXPRESS comes to life this holiday season as the Saratoga & North Creek Railway rolls out of the station bound for the “North Pole!” Come early and climb aboard with your family to cozy-up and enjoy our festively-decorated vintage train cars. Dancing chefs deliver hot chocolate and a cookie to each guest to savor while music from the Polar Express movie plays en route to the North Pole. Make sure to have your tickets handy, because your conductor will be by shortly to punch each child’s ticket.

Before arriving at the North Pole, the iconic book, The Polar Express is read as your Chef turns the pages to share the beautiful illustrations in the original book. With the station far away, 

DIY Princess Buttercup Costume from The Princess Bride

Hi! It's Jilly. This year my kids decided to be characters from The Princess Bride for Halloween. I already shared with you Michael's Dread Pirate Roberts costume and Katelynn's Inigo Montoya costume. I know Halloween is technically over, but I couldn't pass up showing you Emma's Princess Buttercup costume! Just "pin" it for next year. ;)

To make her costume I looked though the women's nightgowns, housecoats, and robes at the Salvation Army to find the perfect thing to craft into her Buttercup dress. Because Buttercup's dress has really flowy, droopy sleeves, I knew that a women's size dress would work.

DIY Inigo Montoya Costume from The Princess Bride

Hi! It's Inigo Montoya Jilly. Last week I showed you Michael's Dread Pirate Roberts costume, which I am in love with. Now you get to see Katelynn's Inigo Montoya costume!

This costume was super easy, too. What you need:

DIY Costume: The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride

Hi! It's Jilly. Lately my kids have been OBSESSED with The Princess Bride. Like, crazy obsessed. So, they decided to all be characters from the movie for Halloween.

Michael is going to be Westley, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts. He's been pestering me for at least two weeks about putting together his costume. As you wish. ;)

His costume was SO stinkin' easy to put together! Definitely a great costume choice!

What You Need:
A black dress shirt. Any long sleeved, collared shirt will do.
Black pants or leggings. Michael is wearing a pair of the girls' black leggings. (Shh...don't tell.)
Black boots. Are you sensing a theme here?
A black bandana, or a piece of black fabric. A "doo-rag" would work, too.
A black eye mask. I got mine from Joann's for, like, one or two dollars.
A black belt. (Not the karate kind, silly) Michael is wearing one of my skinny belts. Ha!
A sword. One with a sheath/scabbard is preferrable.
A fake mustache, or some brown or black eyeliner to draw one on.

I'm not going to do a "tutorial", 'cause it's pretty self-explanatory. All these things can be found either in your closet, at the thrift shop, at a craft store, the dollar store, or can be borrowed from a friend. I love swapping accessories with friends at Halloween!

There you have it, folks. One Dread Pirate Roberts, ready to sail the high seas, fight off ROUS's in the Fire Swamp, and save Princess Buttercup!

And now...more pictures! Aah! I love 'em!

"Mom, remember that time when his sword got stuck in the ground and he picked it up like this?"

Seriously the cutest Dread Pirate Roberts ever! Sorry, Cary Elwes.

What are YOU going to be for Halloween? 

Are you following me on Facebook or Twitter yet? Well, you should. It'll be awesome!

Love these parties!

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.

Pleygo- Netflix for Legos!

Hi! It's Jilly. Do you have a kid who LOVES Legos? Or, would you like to see if your kid likes Legos without the huge investment? Then let me introduce...PLEYGO! 

Pleygo is a Netflix-like service that lets you "rent" Lego sets one at a time. Subscribe, rent, play, and exchange sets of Legos unlimited times per month. And, shipping is free both ways! You just add sets to your Wish List on their easy-to-use website, then shriek with excitement when the Legos show up in your mailbox. 



Another great thing about Pleygo is it helps cut down on household clutter. Instead of being overrun with Legos that you have to organize, you child can play with a set for a little while and send them back when they want some different ones! If you are currently overrun with Legos you can send some of them in to Pleygo and get credit for them on your account!

Oh! And if you are a germ-a-phobe, you'll be pleased to hear that all the sets are sanitized before they are shipped to your house. Yay!

Subscription plans start as low as $15 a month. Receive your First Month FREE at  http://www.usfamilycoupons.com/coupon.php?bid=11329&dealid=1389®ionid=75 or directly at www.Pleygo.com.  Pleygo memberships make great gifts, too! :) 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

DIY Doodle Book with FREE Printable!

Hi! It's Jilly. A couple weeks ago my son was bored during church. Ok, that happens pretty much every Sunday. Who am I kidding? ANYway, to help entertain him I started drawing random shapes on a piece of paper and told him to "complete" the picture. He loved it! So, I thought it would be cool to make a little book full of doodles for him and his sisters.

This project is fast and easy, my favorite kind of project! (Like my Upcycled Tights Wreath, Utensil Crock, and Superhero Masks)

And, I've already done the bulk of the work for you. All you have to do is print everything out! Woot!

The Official Tutorial:
1) Print out the doodle book pages, double-sided, on regular printer paper. Cut the pages in half width-wise, so your book will be half as tall as a normal sheet of paper.

       
2) Print out the cover page on colorful paper. You can use cardstock if you'd like it to be more sturdy, but it will be harder work for your stapler. Cut in half.

3) Fold the book pages and cover page in half. Line them up and trim if needed.

4) Staple near the bottom and top of the left hand side, as close to the fold as you can.

All done! That was easy, right?! Your kids will love them!

Printables are for personal-use only. But, feel free to use them as much as you want!

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If not, you totally should! :)

Might be linking up with: Craft-O-Maniac, C.R.A.F.T, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, More the Merrier Monday, Make the Scene Monday,Serendipity and Spice, Home Stories A to Z, Titus 2 Tuesday, Take It On Tuesday, Work It Wednesday, What We Wore, Read, and Made Wednesdays,  Show & Tell Thursday, The DIY Dreamer, House of Hepworths, Mom on Timeout,Pinterest Power Party, My Favorite Finds, Weekend Wonders, My Turn For Us, Fancy This Friday, Sew Crafty Angel , Friday Favorites, Super Handmade Sunday