Dollar Store Apothocary Jar

I am sure all of you have seen the many, many tutorials out there in blogland for dollar store pedestal jars.  I have made several to use for Baby Showers and holiday decorating.  So far I had not been able to find lidded jars at our dollar store to use.  But last week I was perusing our local Dollar Tree and found this little gem in the the baking section.

 

It was tucked away on the bottom shelf near the salt and pepper shakers and across the aisle from the disposable baking pans.  I would not have expected to find it so far away from the other glassware.  I was excited to see it though and grabbed a candlestick to go along with it.

Here is what you need to make one too!

A Jar ($1), a Candle Stick($1), Adhesive Remover and E6000 Glue (I had both on hand)

So I spent about $2 for the project!

1.  Start by removing the labels and then getting all the adhesive off.  I use Goo Gone.  You will want to wash and dry the glass really well after that.

2.  Next you will put glue on the rim of the candlestick and then line it up with the jar.  Try to get it in the center.  Take it back off again and apply a little more glue to the rim and to the jar where the glue circle now is.  Let the glue sit for 2-10 minutes to get a bit tacky.

You can see that I got it a little off center.  I wiped a little of the glue off and reapplied it a bit more centered.

3.  Attach the candle stick to the jar and let it sit overnight.

 

4.  Now you are all set!  You can fill it with candy, or anything else you like!

The above display only cost $5!  $2 to make the Jar, $1 for the Candy Corn, the Pumpkin was at the dollar store and the little Halloween pale was in the Dollar spot at Target.

I think it fits right in with my other jars that I got at Home Goods.  

Linking up to these parties:

Home and Family Friday      DIY Under $5      Wow Me Wednesday      Show me What Ya Got

Whatever Goes Wednesday       Show and Share         The Crafty Soiree       Transformation Thursday

Catch a Glimpse Thursday      You Rock     Tuesday Time Out

Striped Skirt

Over the Summer we were given a sack of hand-me-down clothes for Ady from a cousin.  Ady and I went through them and decided what to keep.  Ady doesn't like tank tops so she decided not to keep the one that was there, but I like the stripes in it so I decided to use the fabric for something else.  It is a nice stretch jersey fabric and was still in good condition so I didn't want to throw it away.  At first I thought I would take it in a bit and make a dress for Evy, but I decided that the way the straps were would be complicated to take in without looking strange.  I forgot to take a before picture, but here is a picture of what is left.  You can get the idea of what it was.

I started by cutting off the top part.  I cut it straight across.  Then I turned it under and sewed a casing for elastic.  I measured the waist of one of Evy's skirts and cut my elastic to that size, then fed it through the casing and sewed it closed.  

I had one long strip of fabric left so I cut it in half to make two flowers.  To make the flowers I sewed a loose stitch all the way across, then pulled it to make a ruffle on one side, then twirled it around into a rosette.  I sewed one onto the skirt and then decided to make another to sew onto a T-shirt.  I decided to make it into a pin rather than sew it on so the T-shirt can still be used under dresses. 

Here is the finished outfit.

I think it turned out so cute!  

It started out as a girl's size 7/8 tank top and is now a 6-12 month size skirt.

Since the tank top was a hand me down, the total cost for the project was basically free!  I had the shirt already, and it can still be used for other outfits.

Here is Evy modeling her new clothes :)

She isn't standing independently yet, so it was hard to get a good shot of her in the outfit.  She loves to stand hanging onto furniture though, so I tried some different poses.

This project was so easy!  I will definitely be on the lookout for other T-shirts and Tank tops to make into skirts for Ady and Evy.

2 little dresses

A few weeks ago Ady and I were thrift store hoping and came across a really cute women's skirt, but not in my size.  It had a nice wide waistband and I thought it might make a cute dress for Ady.  We also found a similar skirt in my size, so we bought them.  Now I am not much of a seamstress.  I can only do basics, but I am learning.  When I got home and took a better look at the skirt I bought to make into a dress, I realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as I had originally thought.  The pleating on it isn't uniform so it will be more complex to take in.  I will work on that one next. The skirt I bought for me was cute, but not extremely flattering, so I decided to use it for the project instead, since it was constructed the way I needed it to be for the dress.  

I forgot to take a picture of it before I started, but this is basically what it looked like, except I have already cut off the excess fabric.  First I had Ady try it on and we held it up to were she would wear it.  The skirt had a side zipper that I wanedt to utilize for the dress, so I kept that side intact.  I pinned it on the opposite side to were it would be in order to fit around Ady's chest.  I was worried that I might not leave enough for the seam allowance, so I ended up being a little too cautious and left a bit too much room.  She will be able to grow into it this way.  With the excess fabric I made straps and then the remainder was used to make a matching dress for Evy.

It needed a little something, so I pulled out some hot pink ribbon and sewed in onto the waistband.

There are definitely flaws, but overall I am so pleased with how it turned out.  There is no way I could have made a dress as complicated as this if I had started from scratch.  I will definitely be on the lookout for similar styled skirts at the thrift store to do this again.

I was hoping that there would be enough of the whole skirt left to make an identical dress for Evy, but it was a bit too narrow.  Fortunately the skirt was full enough that there was still lots of fabric available to use though.  I ended up going with a pillowcase style dress, loosely following this tutorial at Naptime Crafts.

Its a little big right now, so it should fit her for a while.  She wasn't very cooperative with trying it on over and over as I made it, so I had to do a lot of guessing.  Also, I was mostly working on it while she was asleep!

Isn't she cute?!

Here they are together :)

The total cost of the Project:

$4 for the skirt, I had the ribbon on hand, but It was probably about $2 worth.  

I did have to buy pink thread, so that was another $2.

So about $6 for 2 sweet little dresses!  Not bad!

 

I have always had a dream of making cute matching dresses for my two sweet little girls.  ♥ 

Merry Christmas Card

This year we had a hard time getting a good photo for our christmas card, so I went with an "artsy" one. HeHe. Actually I just went with the best of the worst. I like it anyway. I liked the little circles for extra photos on this card.

Here is our annual Christmas poem that I include with our card.

2008 came and It went.
We are lucky to get a Christmas card sent.
Taking a good Picture has been such a trial.
Why can we not get 5 people to Smile!?!

We are still living here in our lovely old house,
happily celebrating 9 years as each other’s spouse.

Kyler is 8 and enjoying 2nd grade.
He loves reading, Gymnastics, Arts and Crafts to be made.
He is Excited to have been baptized and joining Cub Scouts,
He is a wizard at computers, the Wii and Lego’s – no doubt.

Tayden is 6 and loves being in grade 1.
He is a super reader and loves to have fun.
Gymnastics and Swimming are his favorite Sports,
He tells us cute jokes and is a little Sweet heart.

Ady is 4 and Our Little Princess.
She loves to dance and sing and wear a pretty dress.
This year Ady is taking Ballet.
She also enjoys reading and games we all play.

If you would like to hear more about life in our home,
Visit our blog at http://gigglinggrins.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas to you and Happy New Year as well.
We wish you all Happiness, Love and Good Health.

Knifty Knitting

A few years ago my sister gave me her Knifty Knitter, circle knitting looms. I never had gotten around to using them until recently when I found them again. I let Kyler pick out some yarn and started making him a scarf for his birthday. I really enjoyed making it and love how it turned out. It is very soft and I like the colors. Now I am working on one for Dave. I haven't had as much time these past two weeks, but I hope after Christmas I will be able to get ones made for all of us. I had Kyler put it on to model it and he was cracking me up with his poses.

Homemade Ornaments

Every year I try to have the kids make Christmas Ornaments for all the Grandmas and Aunts and Uncles. We usually make Snowflakes, snowmen, or icicles. This year we are super busy, so I wanted something quick and easy. We ended up getting some Fimo Clay and cutting out snowflakes then decorating them with beads. Then we popped them in the oven for 15 minutes to harden them up. I had some regular clay too, in more colors so we thought we could use it as well, but when we put it in the oven it melted and ruined my cookie sheet. Oops!! Oh well, you learn something new every day! Here are some pictures of the fun.

Ready to Roll!

Ady and Tayden Rolling

Kyler displaying some of his Ornaments

Oops!! Sadly most of the ones Ady made were on that pan! She wanted pink snowflakes and the pink all melted. After that she mostly lost interest. The other sad part is this was one of our favorite baking sheets for making gingerbread . :(

Finished Ornaments

I think they turned out pretty well

Here is a peek at what we have made in years past

Doll house

We celebrated the October Birthdays with my extended family on Saturday. It was a lot of fun to have them all up to our house. My Aunt Debbie and Cousin Jenny were here for the first time. We had 4 birthdays to celebrate; Ady, My cousin Jenny, My Brother-in-law, Mark and my Grandma.

Dave has been working for about 6 weeks on making a doll house for Ady for her birthday. It isn't quite finished yet, but we went ahead and gave it to her on Saturday because some of the presents she was getting were for the doll house. Dave is still planning to fill the screw holes, stain it and put a back on it, but for the most part it is all done. It turned out so much better than I imagined it would. Dave spent a lot of time on it and did an excellent job. He pays a lot of attention to the details and does such an amazing job when I give him the time. :)

Here is a picture of it. We are going to let her enjoy it for a few weeks before we take it back to the garage to finish it. As you can see she doesn't have a whole lot in it yet, but for Christmas we will be giving her more furniture and little rugs and things for it.