Crafty Christmas – Treat Containers from Formula Cans

I like to give away baking at Christmas. It’s an affordable way to spread some cheer to neighbours and friends who you wouldn’t normally buy presents for. But it can be tricky determining what to put my homemade sweets in for gifting as pretty containers end up being more expensive than the baking but a Ziploc bag really won’t do.  Yesterday, Chris needed cookies for a charity bake sale at his office. I knew the chances were high that if I sent them in one of my containers I’d never see it again so I had to come up with something quickly that still looked cute. Enter the formula can!

I’ve been saving them since Nathan started on formula 3 months ago so I have a LOT of them – he goes through about a can a week! I just knew they’d come in handy some day. I took a clean, empty formula can, measured a piece of glittery Christmas scrapbook paper to fit and then wrapped it around the can and hot glued it on. Done! Isn’t it pretty? The lid is plain so I don’t think anyone would even know it was a formula can (unless they have a baby of their own at home!). This was a 900g container and it fit two dozen Hot Chocolate Cookies perfectly – great for Christmas gifting! And since the tin is air tight it’ll keep the cookies fresh too :)

If you wanted to get even more creative you could add extra embellishments like ribbon or stickers but I think I like how pretty and simple this one is. I'll definitely be making more of these before December 25th!

By the Batch - Barbecue Edition

Instead of being about a batch of cookies, this week's By the Batch post is about a batch of condiments - homemade condiments that we gave to my Dad for Father's Day! He's really hard to buy for so we decided that making him something was the way to go. And at this time of year he's all about his grill so anything you can spread on meat to make it yummy was sure to be a hit ;)

We made 5 different condiments (from BBQ sauce to mustard to relish) and bottled them in little jars that we bought at the Bulk Barn. I made little circle tags for each bottle and tied them on with string. Then we put all the bottles into long basket lined with rafia.

The last step was to affix the cute little tag I made with my Silhouette.

My Dad seemed to really enjoy the gift and he'll be able to enjoy it all summer long. Father's Day is over but maybe this can inspire you for next year!

Celebrating Mom

As you all know, yesterday was Mother's Day so I wanted to show you how I celebrated my Mom and my Nana this year.

First, I made my Mom a card. I cut the "Mom' and the heart out with my Silhouette. The sticker and the flower tag are from K & Company.

Next I painted coffee cans and potted beautiful pink and yellow dalias in them for my Nana. This is a really cute and easy way to reuse cans. You can leave them plain, paint designs or write on them with markers like I did.

We gave my Mom a lilac tree. Since I couldn't really wrap it I just tied on a big bow and then made a sign using my Silhouette (seriously, I love that thing!). I can't wait to visit my parents' house later in the spring when the tree starts to bloom - I love the smell of lilacs!

I hope all you moms had a special day of your own!

Happy Easter!

We don't really do Easter presents around here but I couldn't resist these fillable eggs and chicks that I came across yesterday so this year everyone in the family is getting a little chocolate from me and Chris.
I hope the Easter Bunny brings you a little something sweet of your own and that you get to enjoy a long Easter weekend full of family and fun :)

Office Baby Shower

Today at work we had a little lunchtime baby shower but with a twist - our guest of honour was a male colleague! Needless to say he was quite suprised but I think he was also touched and pleased as well.

I made a diaper cake.

I loaded it with tons of baby stuff in gender neutral colours since they don't know whether it's a boy or a girl.

It was kind of nice to make a yellow and green cake versus the typical blue or pink. The little puppy dog slippers are my favourite thing on the cake.

I also wrapped some organic Gerber sleepers and onesies up in a brown paper bag with ribbon - trying to keep the present as un-girly as possible. I couldn't resist adding the "I love daddy" bib. So cute!

The last project was making the card. I folded a piece of brown cardstock and glued on the background paper and then letters to spell  Baby. I think it turned out simple but still really cute.

I love making these diapers cakes and other gifts for babies and would love to turn it into a business someday. I just can't resist cute :)

More Paper Hearts!

Ok, I admit that I might be obsessed with making things out of paper hearts. I've never made as many Valentine's Day decorations as I have this year and I've put many miles on my heart punch - still not tired of hearts! I hope you aren't either because tonight I want to show you two more paper heart projects that are quick and inexpensive to make. Both of them are courtesy of Martha Stewart's website and I made them both using less than one whole piece of scrapbooking paper.

The first is Heart Envelopes. Start by cutting a heart from a patterned piece of paper. Pick paper that has a pattern on both sides if you have one. The size of the heart is up to you; obviously the bigger the heart the larger your final envelope will be.

With the side you want on the inside of your envelope facing up, fold the left and right sides in so they meet in the centre.

Then fold the top down.

 Lastly, fold in the point to make the flap of your envelope and you're done!

These cute little envelopes can be used to hold a love note, a little trinket, or even a piece of jewelry. Once you've put the gift inside seal the flap with a sticker.

The second project made out of the same piece of paper (though my instructive photos show a different piece) is a Heart-in-the-Fold Card featuring a heart that unfolds to look like a flower. Start with a square piece of paper. Like the envelopes, the size of the paper you start with will affect the size of your end product.

Fold the paper in half vertically and then unfold. Then fold horizontally and unfold. Turn the paper over and fold it in half diagonally and then unfold again. Turn the paper over again and bring the corners of the diagonal fold up to meet each other. Then press the sides in to form a diamond shape.

Draw a heart shape that lines up with the folded point of your diamond.

The cut the top of your heart out making sure not to cut the point at the bottom.

And that's it! If you've folded it correctly then your heart will unfold to reveal four heart shaped petals.

The last step is to affix the heart to a folded piece of cardstock to finish the card.

Easy, right? Two inexpensive Valentine's Day projects that you can knock off in less than half an hour!

Cookies in a Jar with Freebie Printable

Can you believe that Christmas is only a week away?! If you're looking for a last minute gift idea that's homemade but easy to put together then look no further than Cookies in a Jar!

The idea is that you are providing your recipient with all the dry ingredients needed to make a batch of cookies in one pretty package. For the jar above I used a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies found on Christmas-Cookies.com.

You'll need:

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Putting it together is simple. Just mix the salt and baking soda in with the flour, then layer the ingredients in a quart-size jar in the order listed, with the chocolate chips on top. Depending on the size of your jar, you might want to put some of the chocolate chips at the bottom of the jar and then the flour mixture will settle around them giving you more room. I put 1/2 cup of chips in the bottom of my jar and the ingredients filled it right to the top. Make sure you pack down each layer, especially the brown sugar, so you end up with a pretty layered effect.

Close up your jar and decorate any way you like. I don't like to put labels on my jars because that makes them harder for the recipient to reuse. Instead I used pretty candy cane stripe ribbon, some bells and a cute Christmas button from a set I purchased on sale at Michaels during the summer. They've been used on all my gifts this year!

The last step is to print the instructions so your recipient can make the cookies. And I've made this step easier for you by creating a pretty freebie printable using elements from Shabby Princess! Just click on the image below for the full size version and then print it in any size you'd like (I used 4x6) and include it with the jar.

This gift is so easy to make and I love that when your recipient is finished with the jar, she can reuse it for making her own Cookies in a Jar gift :)

A Shutterfly Christmas & A Special Offer For Bloggers!

After I posted about holiday cards and how they've gone out of fashion I was pleasantly surprised to hear from quite a few people who reported that I was dead wrong because they still send cards every year. With that in mind, I’m excited to post tonight about Shutterfly and their awesome Christmas photo cards (keep reading for a special offer for bloggers).They let you incorporate one or more of you own photos into their beautiful designs. And with hundreds of designs to choose from, there’s bound to be one to suit your tastes. Their pricing is great too and they even offer free shipping on orders over $25!

I'll definitely be sending some of these Christmas cards out this year, I just can't decide which design I like the best. I think I've narrowed it down to these ones but I keep on changing my mind!

Shutterfly also does party invitations that are so nice they make me want to throw a holiday event just so I can order some!

And you can even use Shutterfly to make great gifts. Who wouldn’t love a personalized wall calendar that they can enjoy for a full year?

And I’ve got exciting news for my fellow bloggers. Shutterfly wants to give you 50 cards for free! Just click here to find out more.

For everyone else, order your cards now so you have them in plenty of time for the holidays. Each card comes with its own envelope to make sending them easy. And if you're really feeling hands off, Shutterfly will even send your cards for you! Visit the Shutterfly website today :)

Gifted Magazine

A couple of days ago I was over at Desire to Decorate and Wendy had posted about the absolutely wonderful Gifted Magazine. The online magazine, created by Creature Comforts, is full of great projects, freebies and gift ideas just in time for the holiday season. I've already picked out several of the projects that I want to try, I just have to work them into my crafting schedule!

One of my favourite things from the magazine is a set of printable cards, tags and gift wrap. Really simple but super cute. They're made by Paola Zakimi who also has a really cool Etsy shop. Aren't these images adorable?

I also want to try making my own wrapping paper. To make many of the varieties below, all you need are white boxes and paper, gold card stock, a gold pen, a ruler and scissors. Full instructions can be found in the magazine. Imagine how much money you could save this Christmas if you didn't have to buy wrapping paper!

I have really just scratched the surface of all the great stuff in the magazine. Go and check it out yourself here! I promise you'll be glad you did :)