One of a Kind Gifts

Scripture Journals Tutorial: Part 1

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is a series of posts that I am sooo excited to share with you. I feel very passionate about it because it has CHANGED MY LIFE. I recently came across the idea of making scripture journals from Shannon at The Red Headed Hostess blog and I have spent the last few months creating my own through trial and error. I want to share with you what I've done in hopes of helping you feel enthusiastic and excited about studying scriptures. It's no longer a chore for me. It's my favorite part of my day and I want it to be yours too.
It doesn't matter what religion you are. If you study the Bible, Book of Mormon, or any scripture you can apply this idea to your studying. The best part about this is that you can be as simple, straightforward, and logical as you want, or you can get as artsy and creative as you want. Wherever you are in the crafty spectrum and have time and patience for YOU CAN DO THIS. The important thing to remember is to make this yours. Do what works for you.

Why keep a scripture journal?
Here are a few reasons:

"We often leave the most precious personal direction of the spirit unheard because we do not record and respond to the first promptings that come to us when the Lord chooses to direct us." -Elder Richard G. Scott

"I've found, as I'm sure you have, that when you are trying to learn from the spirit, it's important to make a note so it will not be forgotten. The more you not only hear but abide by what you've been told, the more the Lord will give to you. It will come more and more rapidly and you will begin to hear and feel those impressions of the Spirit more quickly than you have previously done." -Elder Gene R. Cook

"The prompting that goes unresponded to may not be repeated. Writing down what we have been prompted with is vital. A special thought can lost later in the day through the rough and tumble of life. God should not, and may not, choose to repeat the prompting if we assign what is given such a low priority as to put it aside." -Elder Neal A. Maxwell

In the few short months that I have started my scripture journals, the knowledge that I have learned and retained is more than I have learned about in years of just reading a chapter a day (which is how I used to "study").

My main reason for doing scripture journals is to give them to my children as a family heirloom after I am gone or when they are old enough to appreciate them. As Shannon said (I'm paraphrasing)- it's a way to keep teaching my children after I am gone.

I give full credit to Shannon at her blog for this idea and I thank her for all the work she put into sharing her journals. I want to help spread the word to more readers because its worth sharing if it helps people grow spiritually.

Materials Needed:

First you have to pick some journals. This is important. You want to find some that is the right size, enough to hold lots of information, will function the way you want it to, and look the way you want it to. If you plan to keep it simple, pick a lined journal that you can do lots of writing in that has thick pages so your ink won't bleed through. I planned to be more artsy and wanted to decorate my covers using scrapbooking supplies so I bought a coptic journal kit from Etsy. When it is all done I will bind it so that it will open and lay flat.This may be a little more extreme but for me this is my creative outlet so I needed a blank canvas. Any journal will work. The way I have mine set up is I have TWO journals. One that is for chapter by chapter study and another is for Topic based study. They can be referenced to each other.
Also get a good ballpoint pen that won't bleed through pages, or leave puddles of ink that will smudge and make a mess.
OPTIONAL: Colored pencils, glue stick, scissors, scrapbooking supplies (paper, stickers) art supplies

What do you put inside?

This depends on you and your style. This is not a daily record of your personal thoughts like a diary. This is a record of what you have been learning during your scripture study. This means a record of quotes you want to remember, promptings, stories, talks, word definitions, scriptures you looked up, etc.

Some of my pages are purely artistic in nature. Others hold pictures that I love. Others are journal entries with my personal insights from a story, others are character analysis on the people I have been reading about.

I created a template in photoshop that I print out and glue in and write on. Maybe a freebie in the future?

But getting it all organized is the tough part. Here is a post from Shannon that talks about how to set one up.

I Have Been Born of Goodly Parents

I will post some additional tutorials and ideas on creating these journals. I highly recommend checking out the following sites for additional inspiration and tutorials:

Here is my pinboard that I keep for my scripture journals if you want to follow that. It lists sites, talks, quotes, etc. that I plan to put in my journal somehow or art supplies I plan to use.
The Red Headed Hostess- she even has some journals you can purchase that are already set up and ready to go (I bought a set and they are really great for outlining how to study). She is the main source for all my inspiration so you should really check her site out. I want to be her when I grow up.
Here is a sheet you can download with some ideas from Dana Cockrum that was also taken from The Red Headed Hostess.

I hope you find this as fun and uplifting as I do. Enjoy!

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Elastic and Crocheted Headbands

2011-11-08T17:29:00.000-08:00

I am so excited about my new One of a Kind project. I have been making crocheted headbands. I can make them any size, even for adults. My girls were good sports and modeled some of them for me.

Embellished with Buttons

Single Flower

Red with Pearls, perfect for Christmas

With Ribbon

I am selling these for only 4 dollars. I can custom make them any size and whatever color you would like. Please contact me if you are interested.

~Tamara

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One of a Kind Creations

2011-10-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Krista and I have been working hard to get ready for the Beehive Bazaar in a little over a month. Here are some of my newest One of a Kind Creations that will be at our booth.

Hopefully I will have time to make a lot more. Let me know if you are interested in any of these items. What would you buy at the Beehive Bazaar?

Tamara

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Where has the time gone?

2011-10-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, the time has flown by. The 6 of us sisters have been through a whirl wind this last year and unfortunately One of Kind suffered. Chalyse was busy pushing her oldest baby bird out of the nest and off to college. Krista and Lisa were busy moving and trying to get settled. Tara changed jobs and was going to school full time. Aimee had a baby and well, I had two babies. I want to start posting again and I hope to more regularly.

Krista and I have had some fun this last year with a booth at Signs and Wonders Home Decor. We sell all sorts of handmade crafts. For Halloween I have been busy crocheting baby witch hats and candy corn hats.

I also make striped leg warmers to go with them. If you are interested in these items or any other custom made crochet please contact me.

Happy Halloween!

Tamara

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Matchbox Shrines

2010-07-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

I love making art out of found objects. There is nothing so satisfying as taking something that is not worth anything and turning it into something beautiful or fun. Lately I have been making little shrines out of matchboxes. You can get a package of ten matchboxes at Wally World for less than a dollar. Add a little paper, glue and paint and make something more than the sum of its parts.

These are fun to make for your friends- you can put a pair of earrings or some candies in one for a sweet little gift. I like to make them wearable, because that is how I roll:

You can add a pin or a even make a necklace:

I used old earrings and added broken jewelry pieces to this one.

Another fun application is to make a wallet sized picture frame:

More fun:

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Father's Day

2010-06-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

Idea from Disney Family Fun

This clever trio is a tasty way to honor the King of the Grill on Father's Day.

Ingredients

Brownie batter
Black food coloring
White frosting
Orange sugar
Caramel creams
Red, yellow, and green candy fruit slices
Hot Tamales candies

Instructions

To make a batch of 12, place liners in a muffin pan, oil them, and fill them two thirds full of your favorite brownie batter, then bake according to the recipe directions. Let the brownies cool.

In a small bowl, mix one or two drops of black food coloring with 1/4 cup white frosting. Transfer the frosting to a ziplock bag and snip a small section from the corner. Pipe grate lines onto each brownie and let them set for 20 minutes. Add embers with a sprinkle of orange sugar.

Prepare the grill food as instructed below and press it in place atop each brownie.

Kebabs = A caramel cream and red, yellow, and green candy fruit slices, cut into small pieces + toothpick skewers

Pork chop = two thirds of a caramel cream, molded with fingers + black food coloring, applied with a toothpick

Hot dogs = Hot Tamales candies + black food coloring, applied with a toothpick

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My Car Seat Blanket

2010-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

So I made my car seat blanket, and I love how it turned out.

Tara from craftaffection.blogspot.com taught me how to make this.

It can also be used as a blanket for baby to lay on when you get to your destination.

And wraps up nicely for a gift.

Thanks, Tara!

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2010-04-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

It's almost the end of another school year!! Wow how time flies! Time to start thinking about teacher gifts for Teacher Appreciation Days and end of the year gifts. Here are a few that I found....(Thank you to cindylough!)
Appreciation 7 days a week
posted by cindylouh on April 22nd, 2008

This year for teacher appreciation week we will be giving each teacher a "days of the week" pill box filled with little treats and sayings. I found the pill boxes at the dollar store.

You may download the sayings if you like -
teacher-appreciation-sayings

(I didn't use the "We are lucky to have you for a teacher" saying. It would go nicely with a lottery ticket!)
Fabric covered tacks fill one of the compartments to tell them they are sharp!

I used Jessica Jones' fabulous instructions to make the fabric covered thumbtacks

Some purchased colorful clips fill the next compartment

Next up marble magnets

These are simple to make with glass gems (floral department at the craft store), E600 craft adhesive, a 3/4 inch hole punch, 3/4 inch magnets and decorative scrapbook paper, wrapping paper and or magazine scraps. First punch out a circle and glue it to the back of the glass gem. I removed air bubbles by moving paper in a circular motion to distribute glue evenly and then pressing hard. Allow to set. Next glue the magnet to the back of your papered gem. I found it necessary to sort my glass gems to find the largest ones with no scratches or imperfections. If your glass gems are smaller try using a 1/2 inch hole punch and 1/2 inch magnets.

A measuring tape tells our teacher that they really measure up

Change for the soda machine fills another compartment

Small little post-it notes (the kind for marking a page) just fit to say, "Just a note to let you know we think you are a wonderful teacher!"

Some mints to say thank you

Wrapped all up with a little gift tag that reads:
A daily gift for all you do,
Teaching my child each day through.
Making a difference without taking a rest,
As a teacher, you're one of the best!
teacher-appreciation-gift-tag-for-pill-box

Hopefully our teachers will feel appreciated each day!

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

posted by cindylouh on May 1st, 2009

How about a fun candy gram! Shauna will show you how! You can find more candy gram sayings here.

A

For those of you that love stamping Nichole Heady has some great teacher gift ideas like this basket full of a journal jar, embellished notebook and beautiful card.

A

Embellished hand sanitizer is a useful gift. Learn how from Lisa Johnson

Michelle Rodgers has a darling candy bar cover.

A
Every teacher could use some cute sticky note covers learn how from GreetingArts!

EE

A

At our school teachers must now wear a badge. Cute2Carry offers an easy tutorial for making a pretty lanyard for those badges.

A
Help your teacher take their lunch to school in style with this simple oil cloth lunch sack ---filled with a gift certificate to a local sandwich shop would make it extra nice!

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Every teacher could use a bookmark ----attach a note that says, "You wrote the book on being a great teacher" and enclose a gift certificate for your local bookstore to make it extra special!
How About Orange shows us how to make some pretty bookmarks from your favorite fabric.

You can find more handmade bookmark ideas here
A

"Just a note to say......................." You may find the pattern in the shop.

A
Little Birdie Secrets has a tutorial for a fancy notebook.

Love these Mod Podge clipboards from Marta.

How about this cute paper cake with a saying, You take the cake!" Heather has a great tutorial.

A
More homemade gift ideas can be found here
More teacher appreciation ideas can be found here.

Make your teachers feel loved and appreciated this year!

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Mother's Day gift ideas

2010-04-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

I was hopping around some of my favorite blogs and found some of the cutest Mother's day gift ideas.

Mother’s Day Coupon Book
To: ________________________________
From: ________________________________
Mother’s Day Coupon
This coupon entitles the bearer to the following:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
With love from: ______________________________
Mom, turn in this coupon to receive your gift.
No expiration date.
Mother’s Day Coupon
This coupon entitles the bearer to the following:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
With love from: ______________________________
Mom, turn in this coupon to receive your gift.
No expiration date.
Mother’s Day Coupon
This coupon entitles the bearer to the following:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
With love from: ______________________________
Mom, turn in this coupon to receive your gift.
No expiration date.
Mother’s Day Coupon
This coupon entitles the bearer to the following:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
With love from: ______________________________
Mom, turn in this coupon to receive your gift.
No expiration date.
Mother’s Day Coupon
This coupon entitles the bearer to the following:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
With love from: ______________________________
Mom, turn in this coupon to receive your gift.
No expiration date.
I found these and other great projects at these blog sites:

http://www.tipjunkie.com/

http://sweetgrace.typepad.com/the_inadvertent_farmer/

http://punkinseedproductions.blogspot.com/

http://www.executivehomemaker.com/

http://strattonfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com/

http://princesswithahalfpricetiara.blogspot.com/

Happy blog hopping!

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Book Covers

2010-04-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

I am not a sewer so I am pretty proud that I did this all by myself without a pattern. Granted its super snug on the book so next time I will give myself more margins but you live and you learn. Using scrap fabric left over from my refurbished craft chair project and random ribbon I already had, I came up with this book cover I now use over my scriptures.

Ok I lied about doing it all by myself. I made the "2 minute flower" using the tutorial from Craftaholics Anonymous. SuPeR EaSy! I added velcro and a strip of fabric to keep the book closed.

If you aren't as brave (or stupid) to wing it like I did, there are plenty of book cover tutorials on the net. I was specifically looking for one for lds scripture covers and all I could find was inspiration from sites that sell them like this one. She makes the most darling scripture covers and matching totes to carry them in. Here is a little inspiration for you:

I can't find the other picture I saw but it had a place to put crayons or marking pens on the backside.

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Car Seat Blanket

2010-04-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

I want to feature my friend's site today because she posted a project that I love.

Tara @ craftaffection.blogspot.com made this adorable car seat blanket.

I am so excited about this project because I struggled so much with my babies in their carseats. Both of my boys were born in the coldest months of winter and in order to go anywhere I had to really bundle them up. I would always lay a blanket right over them when carrying the car seat and then stress the whole time wondering if they could breathe. I am going to try and teach myself how to use my sewing machine this month, so this is a good project to start with.

Thanks for sharing, Tara.

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Hanging Vases filled with Votive Candles or Flowers

2010-04-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have an area of my kitchen that has been a sore spot for a long time. I needed something on the wall so I bought a spur of the moment iron rod shelf with 4 hooks underneath it.

I am not a fan of hanging mugs in the kitchen, so I have been trying to find something to hang from the hooks.

I used to have hanging pictures from ribbons from the hooks, but never really liked how they turned out. I tried hot gluing some metal planters with herbs in them, but it looked silly to me in the end.

I'll admit I am a PB junkie and I like to get ideas from their site. On their homepage flashed an idea that was like "Duh! I can't believe you didn't think of something like that!"

I LOVE this! Its so simple and unique and wonderful. The mason jars are a little too country looking for my kitchen, so I used the idea of hanging glass vases and did some more research:

I love the look of clean lines and although this wouldn't fit for what I needed, I wish I had a wall to devote to just this idea. This got me thinking of hanging flowers instead of votive candles.

I really liked this next one from Origin Crafts. It has different vases so that it is a little more unique:

I ended up purchasing these and I was suprised and a little disappointed at just how small they were when they arrived. However at Walmart I was able to find another similar and slightly bigger glass jar meant for salad dressing that I used in addition to the three in this picture. I went to Hobby Lobby with their 50% off stem sale, and got me some white and blue stems to put in them. Here is the end result:

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Easter Cans

2010-04-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a picture of the Easter Cans my friend made for her family. She used scrapbook paper over paint cans and ended up with these cute Easter Buckets.

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Master Bedroom Decor- Love Collage

2010-04-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I heard that your master bedroom should be a relaxing romantic getaway. They said to put your kids pictures everywhere else in the house, but not in your bedroom. This is so that when you are there you aren't thinking about all of your other responsibilities. The idea is to just have pictures of you and your spouse or significant other.

Most of my pictures of my hubby and I are from the days of film, or not professional ones anyway. So I don't have any one that I would want to blow up and frame.

One day I happened across an old diary of mine and read several entries I wrote of when we met and were dating. I also found some old homemade Valentine's Day Cards an old notebook where we used to write little love notes to each other and leave for the other person to find. I thought it would be special to display my favorite journal entries and love notes along with our pictures of us together.

Getting my inspiration from Steph's master bedroom at Somewhat Simple, I decided to do a collage above our headboard.

(Ignore the mismatched pillow cases, let's pretend the really nice ones are in the laundry)

I bought the 22X28 frame %50 off at Hobby Lobby. The two lettered frames on each side were also %50 off.

The glass for the frame was too much so it is on the list of things to get in the future. But for now it works as is :)

I put together the collage in photoshop using all of our pictures I scanned in, and typed out the journal entries. I fit as much as I could on an 8X10 page and printed it out in black and white. I then attached all of the pages to a posterboard.

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You've Been Egged!

2010-04-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday night, we "egged" some of our friends' houses.

We did it as a family and it was such a fun time.

We filled a bunch of plastic eggs the night before with candy, stickers, and small toys.

I printed out a cute sign I found at Eighteen25.

We snuck up to the door and scattered the eggs all around and then rang the doorbell and ran away as fast as we could.

This will surely become a family tradition. I wish we could have egged everyone's house.

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Pottery Barn Knock Off- Decorative Speckled Egg Vase Filler

2010-03-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

It's a little hard to be excited for Easter and Spring when this is what my backyard looks like right now:

So I am doing the best to bring the spring feeling indoors! I LOVE the speckled eggs found over at Pottery Barn. They use them for all different ideas, including a vase filler, as seen here:

The only problem is if you want to purchase these babies, they won't even get shipped out until the end of April. Kinda defeats the purpose. So I had to go elsewhere. Pottery Barn wants $19-$59 for each of their hurricanes, but I got my mine at Costco- only 2 are pictured but I have 3 of them- for $15.00. That's right, ALL THREE cost a total of $15.00.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about Willis!

I got my nest and eggs at Taipan. They were a little pricey- each egg cost two dollars and they were originally meant to be hung from tree limbs. I ripped the ribbons out from them so they look more natural. I bought a nest for pretty cheap and ripped it in half to place in the bottom of both vases. I like the look of Pottery Barn's egg to nest ratio better than mine, but my budget wouldn't allow for more eggs.

So here is my I-can-have-it-right-now knock off version:

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This post is participating in:

2010-03-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a really cute Easter Idea I found at paperjewelsblogspot.com. (One of my favorite places to go for ideas!

Easy Easter Paper Craft: Mini Egg Basket

I love Easter! I've always loved dying eggs, hand painting them and hiding them! I'm in the midst of planning our neighborhood egg hunt, so I'm buried in plastic eggs. Here's a fun use for those mismatched ones that always seem to be left over! I thought this idea at the Think Crafts! blog was so darling, I decided to adapt it to what items I had on hand. My girls (9 and 4) loved helping me make these. What's not to love about decoupage?

Here are the basic supplies:
scrapbooking paper
plastic eggs
decoupage glue/brush
ribbon

I cut the paper into angled strips so that it fit better on the egg and layered them on top of one another.

I knew I would find something cute to do with this iron tree that I found on clearance at Big Lots! I'll whip up a few more and maybe the Easter Bunny will fill them with chocolate kisses. Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

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All I need to know I learned from the Easter bunny!

2010-03-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

All I need to know

I learned from the Easter Bunny!

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.

There's no such thing as too much candy.

All work and no play can make you a basket case.

A cute tail attracts a lot of attention.

Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.

Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.

Some body parts should be floppy.

Keep your paws off of other people's jelly beans.

Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.

The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.

To show your true colors, you have to come out of the shell.

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

May the joy of the season fill your heart.

AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!

Happy Easter!

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Easter Egg Nest

2010-03-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

Recipe from http://www.hostessblog.com/

Ingredients:

6 oz good-quality dark chocolate roughly chopped

4oz Rice Krispies

72 mini chocolate eggs

Cupcake papers

Directions:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Bring just to a boil, turn off of the heat and allow the chocolate to melt in the bowl. Stir in the Rice Krispies.

Spoon the mixture into cupcakes liners. Flatten a little and make a well in the center. Fill each one with three speckled mini chocolate eggs. Allow to set. Enjoy!

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Hot Cross Buns

2010-03-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

Traditionaly Hot Cross Buns are eaten on Good Friday, the cross of course represents the crucifiction and the shape of the bun represents the rock that was removed from the front of Christ's tomb when He was resurected on Easter Sunday. Hot Cross Buns were not always associated with Christianity, though. Their origins lie in Pagan Traditions of ancient cultures, with the cross representing the four quarters of the moon.

I was looking for some traditional Easter foods to make for my family and Hot Cross Buns seems to be the popular choice.

Here is a recipe from allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm 2% milk (110 to 115 degrees F)

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 egg

4 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons raisins

2 tablespoons dried currants

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 dash ground allspice

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon water

ICING:

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon 2% milk

Directions

1.In a small mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in milk. Stir in butter, egg, sugar and salt. Combine 3/4 cup flour, raisins, currants, cinnamon and allspice; add to the yeast mixture and mix well. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

2.Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4-6 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

3.Punch dough down; shape into six 2-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Using a sharp knife, cut a cross on top of each bun. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

4.Beat egg yolk and water; brush over buns. Bake at 375 degrees F for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks. Combine icing ingredients; pipe over buns.

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15 Easter Egg Hunt Ideas

2010-03-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

15 Unique Easter Egg Hunt Ideas

1. Hidden Easter Basket Clues:

When your children get up on Easter morning don’t just let them search for their Easter basket- give them a plastic egg with a clue inside. This should lead them to another plastic egg, which leads to another and so on, until finally leading them to their basket. Use up to about a dozen eggs per child. They’ll have so much fun they’ll almost be disappointed when they get to the basket at the end. When they get older have them make up clues for each other.

2. Spider Web:

While your children are sleeping, hide their Easter baskets in the house and tie a long string to each one. Loop the strings throughout the whole house, around and over and under furniture so it looks like a huge tangled spider web eventually leading to their rooms. Tie the end of each string to the doorknob of the child whose basket it’s attached to, so when they come out of their rooms on Easter morning they can follow their own string throughout the house to find their Easter basket. Place some extra treats along the way to make it extra fun.

3. Odd or Even Egg Hunt:

For this game you must write ODD or EVEN numbers on each egg. When the kids are lined up for the egg hunt give each an odd or even number assignment. They can only get eggs in their assignment

4. Math Egg Hunt:
Hide plastic eggs with numbers in them, ranging from maybe 1 to 5 then, limit the children to how many they can find, like maybe 6 or something then after they’re all found, total up the numbers that are in their eggs and the one with the highest number wins a prize. Have candy in the plastic eggs too, so that everybody will end up with something

5. Color- Coded toys:

Hide small toys inside plastic eggs. If your gifts are child exclusive ( such as Matchbox car for a boy or Barbie accessories for a girl) give them a special color egg to find. If they find colors not intended for them, they must be quite about it, and they’ll think they are in on a special secret.

6.Secret Prizes:

Hide plastic Easter eggs with little notes inside, telling what the prize is. It can be in the form of a poem or just a clue (like this hippety hop). Buy little items such as candy eggs, toys, or little stuffed bunnies or chicks for prizes. Make sure everyone gets at least one prize.

7. Secret Notes:

Put little notes in plastic eggs. Things like “You have to give Aunt Mary a big hug” or “You get to take a piece of candy out of Andys basket” or “You must do one favor for uncle Tom”. Have some prize eggs too that have numbers inside which match a gift.

8. Designated Color Egg Hunt:

Keep your egg hunt equal for all of the kids by painting ONE color of egg child. At the start of the hunt, give each child a different colored egg for their basket. Tell them this is the color that they’re supposed to hunt for (any other colors don’t count) and also the number of eggs that are hidden. The first child to find their eggs wins a special prize.

9. Find Your Name Egg Hunt:

Before your party write each person’s name on one egg. The person that finds their first wins a prize.

10. Winning Numbers Egg Hunt:

Fill plastic eggs with small toys, temporary tattoos, stickers and wrapped candies for the hunt. Along with plastic eggs, hide a few real colored eggs. These eggs should have numbers painted on them and whoever finds one can exchange it for the corresponding numbered prize (stuffed animals, chocolate bunnies, Easter books ,etc.

11. Checklist Egg Hunt:

For large Easter Egg Hunts, make checklists for each child. Give each child a basket with a checklist and pencil in it and instruct the kids to find ONLY what is on their checklist and no more, otherwise someone else would be without enough. Make all of the checklist the same for each child and make sure you have enough eggs hidden so that everyone can complete theirs. You can have a grand prize too, for whichever child completes his checklist first by finding all of the items on it the fastest! The checklists could read something like this.

___Find 2 blue eggs
___Find 3 pink eggs
___Find 1 yellow egg
___Find 2 orange eggs
___Find 4 purple eggs
___Find 3 green eggs

12. Indoor Egg Hunt:

Is rain going to ruin your Easter egg hunt? Just hide jelly beans inside the house and have your adults or kids hunt for them. Depending on the egg of the participants you can make the hunt easy or hard. Ever try and see a black jelly bean on a black object? Have fun!!

13. Night-time Egg Hunt:

For older kids (or adults), try an egg hunt in the dark! Give everyone a cheap flashlight to look for their eggs. Or try a glow in the dark egg hunt and paint every egg with glow in the dark paint.

14. Reverse Egg Hunt:

Have your children make at least five eggs each and hide them around the house. When they are done hiding them, the parents look for them and the child whose egg is found last wins a prize.

15. Treasure Map Egg Hunt:

Make up treasure maps for your egg hunt. Draw the maps to scale with each tree, bush and flower on the map and let the children plot out the hiding spots of all the eggs they find on their maps. Or you can plot the hiding spots on the maps when you hide the eggs –then give a copy of the map to each of the children and let them go to town finding the eggs by using the map. Obviously, this works out best if you are using large area for your egg hunt.

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Bake - It - Forward!

2010-03-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

This is a great gift idea for any holiday. It is a Bake It Forward plate! I found this great idea at http://www.infarrantlycreative.blogspot.com What you do is you make this plate, add goodies and give it away. When the recipient finishes the goodies there is poem underneath telling them to do the same and “Bake-It-Forward.” How fun is that?!?!

Supplies:
Plate ( Goodwill for $.25-$1.00)
Envirotex Lite (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Amazon) $7-$10 on sale
Mod Podge (any craft store) $2
Foam brush $.20
Scrapbook Paper $.25
Bake it Forward Poem

1. Open the poem (right click on the link to save it to your desktop) and size it so that it will fit on your plate. Print it on scrapbook paper of your choice.

2. Next cut the paper down to the size of the plate. The first one I did happened to be a 6” square so that was easy. If you have a circle plate you will have to use a compass or a circle cutter to cut out the paper.

3. Using a foam brush and Mod Podge (any sheen will do) spread a thin, even coat of decoupage glue onto the back of the paper.

4. Press the poem into the plate and burnish (press really hard) the paper making sure there are no air bubbles. Let it dry.

5. Put two coats of Mod Podge on it (drying in between coats). It is really important that you seal the entire piece of paper. If you don’t the resin will seep through and darken spots on the paper and it won’t look as nice. Note: If you see bubbles form put some Mod Podge on your finger and press it out.

6. Once the Mod Podge is dry prepare your resin ACCORDING TO THE MANUFACTURER’S INSTRUCTIONS. That is very important – believe me! Make sure you use a container and spoon that you can throw away.

7. Pour the resin onto the poem. It is self-leveling so it should spread to the sides by itself. If it doesn’t - use a plastic utensil to spread it.

8. Let it sit for 5 minutes. At that time all the air bubbles will rise to the surface.

9. Take a long lighter and wave the flame over the top (touching the resin slightly) and the bubbles will disappear. I usually babysit the resin for 30 minutes and use the lighter once more if necessary to get all the bubbles out.

10. Let it dry overnight. Meanwhile, bake your signature dessert and think of who you can give a sweet blessing to. In the morning the resin will have cured. Make sure you only hand wash this plate. Now add some yummers and give it away.

If you have none of the supplies on hand you could purchase about 5-7 plates and have enough of the resin to do all of them. So it should cost you no more than $3 a plate.

With Easter coming up, this would be a great time to bake some spring cookies and "Bake - It - Forward"!

Grow Real Easter Grass

2010-03-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Two weeks until Easter and this year I am going to grow REAL Easter Grass in my kid's baskets. You only need about 7 to 9 days to make it happen and it is a great project for young children to help with.

Photo from GreenSun Recycling

What you'll need:

Wheatgrass Berries
Easter Baskets
Plastic Wrap
Soil
Newspaper
Spray bottle

Measure out 1½ cups of wheatgrass berries per basket. Rinse the seeds and then soak them in a bowl filled with warm water overnight. Line the baskets with a piece of plastic wrap to make them waterproof. Then cover the bottom of the baskets with about 2 inches of soil. When the berries have sprouted, drain the seeds (you can use a colander). Next, spread the sprouted seeds evenly in a single layer over the soil, being sure to cover all of the dirt. Then sprinkle a light layer of dirt over the seeds to cover them. Lightly water the seeds with a spray bottle. Place the baskets in a warm and sunny spot in your house. Cover the whole basket with a layer of newspaper. The next morning, take off the newspaper, spray the seeds with some more water and replace the paper. Repeat every day until green blades sprout through the soil. Then you can leave the basket uncovered. Then all the wheatgrass has to do is grow! It'll take about 7 to 9 days for the grass to grow about 8 inches. If the grass has grown taller then you want come Easter, just trim it down with a pair of scissors.

Hopefully the Easter Bunny will leave us some sweet little treats amongst the grass.

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Book Purse

2010-03-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Brought to you by Hungry Panda

What a cool idea!

Who would think to turn a book into a purse? Annie Shao from Hungry Panda Clothing, I guess.

Check out the tutorial here.

I could totally see my sister, Krista, with one of these.

Thanks for sharing, Annie.

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Shamrock Shake

2010-03-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

Brought to you By Skip to My Lou

Copycat McDonald's Shamrock Shake

2 cups vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
8 drops green food coloring
1/8 teaspoon mint extract ( or amount for desired flavor)
Blend well and enjoy!

Green Candy Shamrocks

Green shamrocks are made by melting green candy coating and placing melted candy in a candy mold. Once hardened, pop candies out and garnish your St. Patty's Day treats.

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