Hollowed Out Books

I took two diet books and made my granddaughters a secret hiding place.  Who needs a diet book anyway, the word DIET is a four letter word to me.  If you go on a diet, then someday you will come off the diet, making the whole trip wasteful.  I want to teach my gbabies to eat healthy, to make the better food choices in their eating habits. 

So....I found two old diet books.  I marked about 1/2 inch around the pages and used a box cutter to cut out the pages.  If you go slow and remove as few pages as you can at a time, it will look better.  If you get in a hurry (like me) it becomes not so neat.

I used Mod Podge, but you could also use Elmer's glue to glue the pages together.  I just used a brush and brushed the glue along the inside and outside of the pages.

I tend to not go out and buy items for decorating, and use what I have. I used a couple of old fabric pieces to line the cut out holes.  Being I had some Halloween stickers, that is why one book got a witch.  The other book got a gingerbread baby, not sure where that came from. 

Stickers and just random items to personalize each book a bit. 

My choice would be to fill the hole with trinkets, but I was in a hurry to give it to my oldest granddaughter, as she saw it one day and has constantly ask me, if I was finished yet.

Soo...I went and bought a handful of candy to fill the space.  The other book, is for the gbaby that is 4 months, I have plenty of time to find trinkets for her book.

Very Easy to do.  It took no time to complete.  Best of all, the gbaby loved it.

52 Reasons I Love You

Found a very creative way to say "I Love You" over at Paper Vine Blog.  I immediately thought hmm, I could do this.  It requires little money and is easy.

I bought two decks of cards, a set for each granddaughter.  And I already had the little rings. Now, I don't have fancy machines to cut out perfect squares.  Or a machine to punch perfect holes.  But, I do have scissors and a single hole punch. :)

First, I punched the holes into all the cards.

Then I used the paper out of the printer and cut little rectangles that would fit in the middle of each card.  Next, I colored a border around each paper.  I used a glue stick and glued a piece to each card.

Now, came the hard part..thinking of 52 reasons you love someone.  Hmm, you say that shouldn't be so hard.  Well, I didn't want to use just generic reasons...I wanted to be as specific as possible on some of them.  It needs to be where it couldn't be given to just anyone.  It has to belong to that one person only.

My 10 year old granddaughter...her deck is completed. I will give it to her next visit. As for my 3 month old granddaughter, well, her deck will take a bit longer.  She is too young to be very specific about.  Our memory making has just started.  As she grows and I learn about her ways, I can add specific reasons to her deck.

Making memories for the girls to have, so they always know they mattered to me.

Mantel decorating

I would love to decorate my mantel for each holiday, but I don't have holiday items to do this.  So, I am trying to find inexpensive items or creative ways to decorate. 

I found these cheap plastic holiday serving plates.  Not knowing what to do with them, they have been sitting in the closet for awhile.  Then...I saw where someone simply put the date in the middle and set it on the mantel.  Tada...I could do this.  I used stencils and painted the numbers.  My paint job is not very smooth, but from a distance it looks pretty. 

Being, they are red plates, they will work for two holidays.  So, I did one for Valentines and one for Christmas. 

I really like them.

 

Paint Chip Dry Erase Board

I found this inexpensive, easy gift project for anyone on your gift list.. friends, teachers, co-workers.  It takes an hour or so and cost about $5.00.

You know those paint chip squares that you get from HD, Lowes or even Walmart.  Anytime, I go to these stores and I frequent them quite a bit, I always choose a handful for reasons such as this, or one never knows when I will want to change the paint on a wall. 

Here is where I got the idea...over at The Aesthetic Writer.  I followed their directions, although I couldn't cut the squares as straight as they did.

I bought a $5.00 11x14 frame at Walmart.  Keep in mind, it needs to be large enough to hold a month of numbers.  I cut the squares to be about 2x2 size.  I then spray painted the cardboard that comes in the frame white, as you can see the board in between the squares.

I taped the squares down, by just taking a little piece of tape rolling it up and sticking it on the back of the square.  That allowed me to adjust as necessary.

You could make another one or several and line a wall, if you need to see months in advance.  Or when the month is over, just grab a tissue and wipe it clean, re-number and you are ready for another month.

Neat, easy peasy idea.

Ruler Growth Chart

With my 10 year old granddaughter we have marked her growth on a wall in the garage. I have kind of framed it in, but nothing permanent.  We have only lived her 3 years, and even though she loves to stand and see how much she has grown, I always think how nice it would have been to have started it when she was born.

With the birth of our second granddaughter next month, I knew I wanted to find some kind of chart.  So, set out for internet travel to find something I could do. Well, lo and behold, I found the coolest and easiest growth chart over at 517 creations , this really neat ruler growth chart. 

My ruler growth chart

 Went to HD and bought a 1x8

Chose a stain and wiped it on.  In hindsight the color I chose is a bit too dark.  I then got out the yard stick and a small ruler.  I pretty much copied 517 step for step.

I used a pencil to first mark off each foot, then went and marked half of that then inches in between.  I then went back with a black medium point paint pen and drew over the penciled in lines.

517 said she enlarged the font to 200...oh no, I had no idea how to do that. The drop down box only allowed the font to be enlarged up to 72.  So,  back to google to search how to enlarge font.  I found exactly what I needed here at ehow. It worked like a charm.

I rubbed pencil on the back of each number and then turned them over and used an ink pen to trace the number where I wanted it.  I then took my paint pen and filled in the number.

It's not secured to the wall yet, as I have to make sure it is 6 inches off the ground.  Just wanted to share.

I love how it turned out.  Hugs to me.

Felt Mobile for the crib

After finishing my granddaughter's Quiet Book, I realized I had quite a bit of left over felt.  So, off to google crafts and things that I could use the felt for.  Lo and behold, I find the perfect item..a felt mobile to go over the new granddaughter's crib.

Over at kojo designs I found where she had a box of scrap pieces of felt and made this, so very easy felt mobile.  Hmmm, I can do that.

So I did.

When my new granddaughter comes to visit, she will lay in her bed and look at the pretty colors.   She will be in awe of her g-ma's talent. ;)

Calm Down Jar

Over at here we are together, I found this mind jar.  A very easy project that speak volumes of what it is designed to do.

The idea is to help calm a child who needs to stop, think and regroup.  By shaking the jar and watching the glitter swirl and fall to the bottom, it allows time for the mind to calm down and relax.

It is mesmerizing to watch.   In the light, the glitter sparkles and is very pretty.  After I made it tonight, I handed it to my hubby to check it out.  He spent several minutes shaking and watching the glitter.  This might be a neat idea for adults as well.

The glitter falls quicker than I want it to because the glitter I used was large glitter.  I think the very fine glitter will work much better and be slower at falling.  I will try that kind next.

I think I will use it as a tool with my youngest granddaughter (after she is born).  Just in the way I plan to use the nice seat as a method of helping her cope when she becomes stressed.  The mind jar will be part of the nice seat.  A place she can sit, shake the jar and calm down.