Easy Father’s Day Gift and FREE Printable

June 9, 2012 by 8 Comments
Father's Day Printable

Father's Day is one of my favorite holidays! I love to help my kids show their dad how much we appreciate him.  We generally cook up some beef skewers, make "grilled' cupcakes for dessert and spend the day doing things dad loves.  Last year I made up this cute Father's Day printable for an easy craft for the kids to put together. I saw this cute little gift at a friend's house a few weeks ago so when I ran across Dad's Root Beer at the dollar store last week, I knew I had a winner!  We don't buy soda often so this is most definitely a treat for Dad around here.   I am from Michigan where we call this carbonated beverage "pop" so this works for me.  Hopefully it works for you, too!  You don't have to use Dad's root beer -- just use his favorite carbonated beverage.  Also, you could just use tape and tape them to the bottle or can.  Be creative! The printable is available on my Facebook page (click on the blue "EXCLUSIVE" box) or at the very bottom of my emails in small ... [read more]

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Handprint Christmas Trees

December 19, 2011 by 6 Comments
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I really love hand print/footprint crafts with the kids even though I have getting out the paint with a 3 and a 5 year old makes me break out in a sweat (even if it is washable!).  These hand print  Christmas trees make an easy and memorable Christmas gift for anyone who loves your kids just as much as you do. I used card stock and Crayola washable paint to make the hand prints. The tree is the hand with fingers closed; the tree trunk is the thumb and the "ornaments" are just their fingers. I painted the stars free hand, but you could use fingers to make those, too. Then I painted dollar store "document frames" with red craft paint.  The document frames are 8 1/2 x 11 so they fit paper well. I usually still have trim a bit of the paper down, but it's better than an 8 x 10 picture  frame.   Remove the glass and paint. Make sure to clean the glass before you replace it as it is usually pretty dirty. I attached the ribbon using packing tape. I couldn't think of anything ... [read more]

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Holiday Gift Idea: Candy Cane Bath Salts

December 12, 2011 by 3 Comments
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I found this gift idea in an Advent devotional that I'm using this season.  The author suggested the recipe as a way for the reader to find some indulgence during the busy holiday season, but I thought this would make easy and fun gifts. You can use a combination of salts -- epsom, rock, sea salt, for example, or you can just use one kind of salt.  Epsom salts are found pretty much anywhere that has a pharmacy.  The rock salt I had on hand from making ice cream in a bag.  You can also dye part of the salts to make a red and white striped container, but I'm kind of leery of food dye in the bath tub so I skipped it.  I buy my essential oils through a co-op, but peppermint oil is pretty easy to find at a health food store.  Essential oils can get expensive, but a little bit goes a really long way. I used half-quart canning jars to package the salts because I have a lot of them on hand, but be creative! Plastic containers, old jars, even a plastic bag would work for ... [read more]

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Holiday Gift Idea: Family Memory Jars

December 5, 2011 by 3 Comments
Family Memory Jar - Growing Up Gabel

Family memory jars are a great way to collect and keep memorabilia from family adventures throughout the year.  Make a jar every year, or empty it out and start over and save the contents in a special box. My friend makes and sells "Thankful Jars" for Thanksgiving.  The idea is that everyone in the family writes down one thing they are thankful for every day of November.  Then on Thanksgiving all of the slips of paper are read out loud.  And if you are really creative, you can turn those slips of paper in to a chain to put on your Christmas tree. The idea got me thinking that it would be nice to have a jar to use all year round for family memories.  The idea is to drop things in the jar all year long -- movie tickets, notes, report cards, etc.  At the end of the year, say on New Year's Eve, you get down the jar and reminisce.  You can either close the jar up and save it (like a time capsule) or empty the jar and start over the next year. I bought these packages of ... [read more]

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DIY Advent Wreath

November 30, 2011 by 1 Comment
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For the past few years I've been wanting to incorporate an advent wreath in to our Christmas celebration.  We had one growing up and it had a teeny tiny manger in the middle. I have fond memories of light the candles every week.  My husband was raised Jewish and I like that lighting the candles on the advent wreath somewhat corresponds to the Hanukkah menorah (although we do celebrate Hanukkah, too).  Every year on the day after Christmas I go looking for an advent wreath and every year I come up empty handed. Last year during Advent, Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter posted about her homemade Advent wreath and I instantly fell in love with it.  The only problem is that I don't have evergreen or pine cones readily available.  But I decided to make do with what I had... and.... I decided to start by purchasing pink and purple votive candles and small holders. I paid $1 each for the candle the clear glass holder.  I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with ... [read more]

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