Make and Takes

Coloring Rice Green for a Springtime Display

Marie — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:29:37 +0000

As I’m itching for Spring, we’re coloring our rice green today, helping to represent green grass. My own grass is now turning from brown to green and I think this Spring project is going to give it a boost. Let’s all say it together, “Stay out SUN!”

Supplies for Coloring Rice:

dry white rice – any kind
rubbing alcohol – this helps rice dry faster
green food coloring
plastic zip baggie
paper towels
tray

Instructions:

Place 2-3 cups of dry rice in a plastic zip baggie.
Pour in 3-4 drops of your green food coloring.
Pour in 1 Tablespoon of Rubbing Alcohol.
Now seal the bag and shake it all together. Make sure each piece of rice gets coated.

Pour your colored rice onto a tray lined with paper towels to dry.

Food coloring can stain, so be careful. You’ll want it completely dry before you start to work with it again, as you don’t want any color to drip. After 20 or so minutes, give it a stir with a spoon. It should be dry within an hour.

For my Spring display, I filled my pink bucket with crunched up paper towels so I don’t have to use as much rice to fill it. Then I poured in my colored green rice up to the top.

Now it’s ready for a fun Spring time display. Check out what we’ve placed inside our cute bucket: Easter Candy Lollipops

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Kid’s Crafts for Easter

Marie — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:30:44 +0000

Here’s a few fun Easter kid’s crafts and yummy treats we’ve made in the past. They’ll be sure to help you celebrate this Springtime holiday!

Crushed Egg Shell Art

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Growing Easter Grass in Egg Carton Baskets

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Marshmallow Easter Bunny Treat

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Teaching the Meaning of Easter

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Stuffed Fabric Easter Egg

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Make Your Own Mixed-Media Lyric T-shirt

Marie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:39:04 +0000

Guest post by Somer of A Little Great

Music and t-shirts are two things we have in abundance at our house. I often hear one of my kids complaining to the other, “You can’t sing that, its my song.” So, I decided to collaborate with them to make t-shirts with lyrics from songs they like. We came up with an image and lyric, and then used a combination of freezer paper stenciling, applique, and embroidery to create one-of-a-kind t-shirts.

The stencils can be used for all different songs. The sun and clouds were done with freezer paper stencils. Download and print the sun and clouds template here: sun and clouds template

For the embroidered words, I used a disappearing marker to free-hand the words. Then using an embroidery hoop and two strands of floss, I embroidered the words.

The “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy” is done in a variety of stitches. The “decided to create a dream come true” is kind of like an interlaced running stitch, with the foundation stitch using embroidery floss and the interlaced stitch (a single weave, not going back a second time) out of 1/4 inch ribbon.

The “Fight” t-shirt has appliqued boxing gloves with detailing done in a back stitch with two strands of black floss. The black words were cut from freezer paper with a Cricut machine then stitched on. Download and print the boxing gloves template here: boxing gloves template

We had so much fun dreaming up combinations of our favorite songs and images. Many more t-shirts will be in our future.

Somer of A Little Great is a creative diva, pattern designer, seamstress, walking idea machine, devoted special-needs mom, artist extraordinaire, and mother to four amazing kids.

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How to Grow Your Own Wheatgrass

Marie — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:40:39 +0000

We’ve grown regular grass before, but this year I wanted to try my hand at wheatgrass. It was very easy to grow, needing only a few supplies. Wheatgrass is known for nutritional benefits, but with this beautiful green color, it’s also a perfect Spring display.

Supplies for Growing Wheatgrass:

hard red winter wheat (found in most health food stores)
container
potting soil
water

Containers: I chose a few different containers, as I’m going to test them all out to see which one works best. I’ve got an egg carton, terra cotta pots, floral vase, Easter bowls, silver tray, and our Easter bunny bucket.

Soil: Fill your containers with potting soil. Leave an inch or so of space for the grass and roots to grow.

Seeds: I soaked my seeds in water for a couple of hours. Then spread a layer of seeds on top of the soil in each container. Spread them full and even.

Water: Give your containers a good soak, but be careful not to let your seeds move around. Pour your water in slowly. For the first 2 days, they need constant water to help the seeds germinate. Once the seeds show a white tail, keep them watered, but no need to soak.

Grow: Set them in an undisturbed area, I just grew my wheatgrass on my kitchen counter where no little hands could reach. Then watch it grow! Here’s what it looked like in only 4 days.

The Results: After only 7 days, here’s how well the wheatgrass grew! And it’s growing more and more by the minute! Check the Wheatgrass Containers post for full results.

We’re having fun displaying our wheatgrass for Spring, giving me hope for warmer weather to come!

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Growing Wheatgrass in Springtime Containers

Marie — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:35:03 +0000

When I grew my own wheatgrass, I chose a few festive containers. I wanted to test them out to see which would work the best. Here’s the results for how each container turned out.

My favorite wheatgrass container: Terra Cotta Pots. These worked out fabulously. I love how the orange from the pot contrasts so well with the green from the grass. I think I’ll be making more of these and giving them to family and friends.

Runner-up: Silver Tray. I also love this silver tray with the grass as a beautiful display. It’s perfect for decorating a living room side table or a kitchen table centerpiece.

Fun container to watch it grow: Glass Floral Vase. With a glass container, you can really see what’s happening as the wheatgrass grows.We used this Etched Glass Vase to grow wheatgrass. It was fun to watch as the wheatgrass made roots and grew grass.

Festive for Easter: Easter Bowls and Easter Bunny. For the Easter bowls, I bought these ceramic bowls from Target a few years back and have previously filled it with candy. I thought it might be fun to try grass. It looks really fun and festive. But as these containers are not very deep, they are losing soil. The roots are taking over and floating the grass right out of the bowls!

I also used this Easter Bunny Bucket for a container. This is a fun one for my kids, as they’re hoping the real Easter Bunny might hide some eggs inside!

What didn’t work at all: The Egg Carton. It was a fun idea to start with, but every time I watered it, the carton would soak up all the water, leaving the soil with none. I was having to pour more and more water, making a big wet mess on my counter with lots of towels. Sorry no photo, it got tossed back into recycling after 3 days.

What containers have you had success with growing grass or wheatgrass indoors?

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Fuzzy Shamrock Craft for St. Patrick’s Day

Heather — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:00:55 +0000

My sons love those baby books that have touchy-feely parts in them, even now that they’re not babies anymore. Here’s a craft for kids that creates a furry shamrock, perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. Kids will enjoy making a little decorative picture, a greeting card for Grandma or maybe even the cover of a notebook, with these fun fuzzy shamrocks.

So what’s the secret fuzzy ingredient? Velour pads, like the ones you put on the bottom of tile coasters.

Supplies for Fuzzy Shamrock Card:

A package of velour pads (I found mine at the dollar store)
Craft foam or card stock
A marker

Instructions: Stick four circles together in a group on cardstock or foam, draw a stem, and decorate as desired. Easy!

Heather Mann is a regular contributor at Make and Takes. She’s is the mother of three boys, ages 3, 2, and baby. She publishes Dollar Store Crafts, a daily blog devoted to hip crafting at dollar store prices, CROQ Zine, a print magazine devoted to hip crafting, and also CraftFail, a community blog that encourages crafters to share their not-so-successful craft attempts.

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Weekend Make and Takes: St. Patrick’s Day Crafts

Marie — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:09:02 +0000

It’s the Luck ‘o’ the Irish this week as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Here are some fun crafts for your *lucky* weekend!

Make a Rainbow Connection by Make and Takes (pictured above)
Green Mashed Potatoes by Red Head Recipes
Kid’s Embroidery Rainbow by Filth Wizardry
Leprechaun Walk Book by Let’s Explore
St. Patty Party Ideas by Tip Junkie
Leprechaun Treasure Hunt by Green Lily Designs
Marshmallow Clover Cupcakes by Gourmet Mom on the Go

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Giveaway: Crafty Gemstone Supplies from Add a Dangle

Marie — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:40:56 +0000

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. Congrats to #25 Deborah Gilchrist. Have fun making your jewelry with these beautiful gemstones.

Hey, all you DIY crafters! Yes, I’m talking to you. Get ready for this fabulous crafty giveaway today. Add a Dangle, one of Make and Takes sponsors, is offering a gift certificate to help you stock up on your DIY jewelry supplies. If you’ve been wanting to make some handmade earrings or a necklace, then this is the store for you. Here’s just a few of the lovelies you’ll find in their shop.

Gems: Quality gemstones for your DIY jewelry.

Chains: Clasps, hooks, and sterling silver or gold chains cut to length.

Jewelry: Beautiful jewelry ready to wear.

And you’ll be going on a $50 shopping spree to fill up on your jewelry supplies. Who could use a few more chains, clasps, and gems? I know I could!

______________________________________________________________________

Giveaway Entries: For your chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Add a Dangle, leave a comment on this post by Monday March 15th @ midnight, telling me if you’re going to make earrings or a necklace. I’ll announce the winner chosen from random on Tuesday morning March 16th. Good Luck!

Extra Entries – enter a new comment for each extra entry telling what you did:
- Tweet this giveaway and follow @makeandtakes
- Become a facebook fan of Make and Takes

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Homemade Recycled Easter Bunny Bucket

Marie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:17:30 +0000

We’re making a fun Easter Bunny Bucket from a recycled frosting tub. This white tub works perfect to cover and contain fun Easter treats. We’re using ours to fill with dirt and grow grass, but you could fill this with yummy Easter treats and snacks.

Supplies for Recycled Easter Container:

recycled container – this is a frosting tub
white cardstock paper
cotton ball
scissors, markers
glue – glue dots work great

Instructions:

1. Measure your white paper around your container. With your scissors, cut the paper to fit the length around the whole container. Leave a few inches of the paper extra long for the bunny’s ears to point out long.

2. Using glue, attach the paper around the container.

3. Color a bunny face with your markers or crayons.

4. Attach a cotton ball with glue to the back of the container as bunny tail.

Now it’s ready to fill up with fun Easter goodies!

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4 Helpful Tips for Thrift Store Shopping

Marie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:29:35 +0000

There is real talent when it comes to thrift store shopping. I’m lucky to live near two of the top thrifters around, Allison and Kami. These ladies are skilled in their approach and attack! After going with them on a recent trip to the thrift store, I learned a thing or two. Here’s a few tips for the next time you go thrift store shopping.

1. Get there early! I arrived just before 10 am to my local Utah thrift store and witnessed close to 30 people lined up to get in. They are the real bargain hunters. Kami and Allison are usually among them! They say most people head in towards the collectibles first, seeing what’s new for the day. You could probably go every single day and find something new.

2. Pile it in, decide later. It can get pretty hairy in there, people spying in your cart to see what you’ve got. So if you’re thinking about a specific item to buy, just put it in your cart. Allison’s cart is piled high, both of them. She likes to make sure it’s all in her cart, so no one else can snag it. Then decides later if she’s really going to buy it. (She’s got an iron grip on those carts! ;)

3. Will I use it? If you’ve got something specific in mind for an item, like Allison’s really cool jug or this clock of Kami’s or this mirror that’s going to get a fresh coat of paint, then get it! But if you’re not going to use it, don’t buy it. It’ll just be adding more junk to your junk.

4. Go with a friend. This tip is helpful with tip #3. I was constantly asking them their opinion if I should buy something. Should I get this or this? What would I use it for? Can I borrow your black paint? Will I really end up wearing it? It’s nice to go with someone who can tell you yes or no, otherwise you might buy a whole bunch of stuff you really don’t need.

Here’s what I found and purchased. I’m beyond thrilled with my wooden lollipop tree. My grandma had one of these out at Christmas when I was little and I’ve been wanting to find one ever since. (That dude behind me is totally eying my find, I know it!)

My baby also got a cute dress, I have a new fun red purse, a couple of plates that will start showing up in recipe posts, and a tissue box cover that Kami convinced me to paint (I’ll share the new look when it’s done).

What thrifting tips and tricks do you abide by when shopping at thrift stores?

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