Make the best of everything!

Felt Alphabet Soup

2012-03-01T20:17:00.000-06:00

I just finished making a birthday present for one of my favorite little people who turned One last month. I thought of the idea of making " Alphabet Soup", after this little girl's mom told me about how her daughter likes to play with items in the kitchen and play with the laundry. It took me a little longer than I thought to make this gift, but I hope she likes it.

I hand sewed all these letters with felt and purchased a pail from the craft store to use as the " Soup Pot",

To make the letters, I free handed bubble letters right onto the felt and cut them out. I made two for each letter and sewed them together. I stuffed them with " pillow stuffing".

All the letters go into the Soup pot. The games that a child can play with these letters are endless! When I give this gift I will include a wooden spoon!

And thats how you make " Alphabet Soup!"

Puffy Paint Name Stamp

2012-02-28T14:06:00.000-06:00

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, then you know that I LOVE working with Puffy Paint.

I saw on pinterest that someone used it to make stamps, and I wanted to try it out for myself .

I decided to try making a " Name Stamp" because I think they are great!

I cut out a remnant of craft foam. and wrote my name on it " Backwards" Writing your name backwards can be a neat lesson for a child to learn!

I waited for the puffy paint it to dry. It usually takes at least an hour.

I pulled out my ink pad. I pressed the stamp into the pad and ran over the back of it with my finger to make sure the ink would cover it.

I also pressed down as I was stamping it onto the paper.

I really think that it came out cool. I am sure that if I didn't press down so hard, the background might not have been black.

This was a cheap, easy project! Great for a rainy day activity!

Tortilla rose cups

2012-02-21T10:02:00.001-06:00

I was trying to fall asleep last night, when an idea came to me. ( If you blog, then you know how that goes)

I have always loved all the felt and paper rose tutorials I have seen online.

like this one that running with glitter made at Tulsa kids

But what about making roses out of corn tortillas?

So. This morning I decided to have a little kitchen experament while the little man was napping.

I pulled some corn tortillas out of the fridge and followed the felt rose tutorial, but with the tortilla.

I followed my Homemade tortilla chip recipe. I salted and brushed the tortilla with conola oil.

I used kitchen shears to cut the tortilla.

I folded the tortilla into a rose. I had to be Very careful to make sure that the the tortilla didn't tear.

( Just a thought, that a flour tortilla might be easier to work with)

I baked the tortilla rose in the oven at 350 degrees fairinheit for 21 minutes. I checked it every 3-5 minutes.

When the rose is crispy to your satisfaction, then it is done.

After I took my tortilla rose out of the oven, I thought it looked like a cup. So I put salsa into the rose.

It was a great little breakfest!

Chalkboard table top

2012-02-12T10:17:00.000-06:00

I see so many chalkboard posts everywhere.

I used to be very reluctant to dive into the chalkboard paint world. All that chalk dust sounded like such a mess!

Until I had a friend post a link on her Facebook page about a chalkboard fridge.

I decided to give chalkboard paint a try.

My husband and I have this table set. It is cheep. We purchsed the table and 4 chairs for no more than $200 in 2005.

This table top has lots of scratches on it. Partly because its made of cheep wood.

And Partly because I have done many crafts on this table over the years, and should have taken better care of it.

I love this table. I didn't want to get rid of it, but I couldn't justify spending alot of money refinishing it.

So.......

I went to Menards and purchased chalkboard paint ( I live in the middle of nowhere, so I chose this brand because it was the only option unless I wanted to make my own). That being said, I was pleased with this paint.

While my baby was napping, I broke out a roller and painted the table! It only took about 20 minutes. about 4 hours later I gave the table another coat.

Below is a photo of the paint drying. I didn't put plastic on the ground. a small amount did drip onto the ground. It was easy to clean up.

Here is a photo of the finished table after my family had breakfest and decorated the table a bit.

I added a little glass with some chalk. I want people feel like they can feel free to draw!

I really LOVE my new table!!

Here are some clean up tips after having this for a few weeks.

I had to play around with clean up. The first few times I tried cleaning this table I ended up with white streaks on the table. Also, when I used a sponge, particles from the sponge ended up on the table.

I found success with a wet wash cloth. You will need enough water on it in order to remove all the chalk dust off the table.

Also, I find that I have had to sweep or swiffer white chalk under the table. However, I still say that having a great chalkboard table is worth it.

Valentines day Coffee cup

2012-02-03T11:08:00.000-06:00

Last year, I made my husband DIY beer labels for Valentines day. And oh how our lives have changed since last year!

Now that we have a little one, Greg's beverage of choice is coffee, not beer!

I decided that I will surprise him with a special Valentines day travel cup that he can take to work with him on Valentines day!

I purchased a pack of disposable " to go" coffee cups from the store and took off the cup liner.

I then traced the cup liner on a piece of cardstock .

I then used a heart cookie cutter to trace a heart.

I got some coffee beans out of my kitchen cabinet.

And used a hot glue gun to glue them on my coffee sleeve.

I then glued the coffee sleeve onto the cup.

I made a little message to attach to the cup. " Our Love will continue to Brew. Always"

I also plan to attach a foam heart sticker on the cup opening to prevent spills as he is driving to work.

A picture of the finished product once again.

Like?

Look at my Coffee Charms I made last year!

Red Box movie gift set

2012-01-29T19:54:00.000-06:00

My nephew Adam turned 6 last week. Last year I made him a Homemade detective kit. that went over big

How do I give him a gift that might compare?

I came up with a "Red Box gift set". I came up with the idea because we had neighbors give us a gift card to Red box for Christmas ( and we LOVE Red Box in our house)

I thought it would be fun for Adam to be able to pick out some movies to watch.

So....

1) I made up these felt movie tickets by "googling" movie ticket and copied the design. I just cut out the movie tickets freehand. I used black puff paint and drew on the felt to make the movie tickets.

2) On the back of each ticket I wrote down the " code" for Adam to use to get his free Red box movie.

3) I found a shoebox and filled it with goodies that you might find when you go to the movies.

I chose 5 kinds of movie candy, since there are 5 children in Adams family.

4) I wrote out instructions and taped it to the bottomof the box lid

5) I covered the shoebox with red wrapping paper, and wrote " Adam's Red box" I chose to write this, because I didn't want to violate any of these copywright laws they are talking about.

This was a very easy gift to make!

An afterthought: having a "Red box" themed birthday party would be a cute idea.

Valentine Bagel

2012-01-26T20:10:00.000-06:00

There have been some pretty neat Valentines food items in " Blog World" this Valentines day season. Heart shaped breakfast, lunch and dinner. Heart shaped snacks, eggs, vegetables and meat.

And of course every baked good one can think of has been turned into a heart.

If you don't have time for hours of baking, or if your family is too busy for a sit down breakfast.....There is still hope that you might be able to serve a special Valentines day treat!

I present The Valentines day Bagel!

( and no. Not heart shaped homemade bagels...)

Just buy store bought bagels and turn the circle hole into the shape of a heart!

( have gone off the deep end this time?....yes...yes I think so)

So I cut out a heart in the middle of the bagel.

Toasted the bagel.

Spread cream cheese on the bagel.

And for a hint of Valentine spirit. I filled the middle with cherry jam!

There you have it! The 5 minute Valentines day breakfast!

Valentine Food Extravaganza!

2012-01-26T06:51:00.000-06:00

I have decided that anything can be heart shaped if you want it to be.

This Valentines day season on "Make the best of everything" I have been showing off my heart shaped goodies for Valentines day.

On my Blog, you might have noticed my

Heart shaped tortilla chips Heart shaped potato skins

Heart shaped tortilla chips and potato skins, just to name a few. It turns out that a heart shaped cookie cutter can be used for almost anything.

However, I also wanted to share some amazing Valentines day food ideas that I have seen on the web that I wish I would have thought of myself!

A salad with heart shaped beets! ( I LOVE beets!) Learn how to make this at Fly away Vegan

Heart shaped Ravioli at Christines Cuisine

Heart Shaped Carrots at Projects by Carm

Calzone hearts! from Six in the Suburbs

Hope you enjoy my picks!

Happy Almost Valentines Day!!!

Your " The bomb !"

2012-01-24T08:27:00.004-06:00

I made this cute Valentine using felt and a craft stick. Before I became a mom, I was a Girl Scout leader for several years. My girl scout troop was obsessed with " SWAPS". I basically turned a girl Scout SWAP into a Valentine.

I made this because my friend Sandra and I always send each other little trinkets like this. ( basically things like Girl Scout Swaps)

For more information on Girl Scout SWAPS. click here. Girl Scout SWAPS are cute little crafts that Girl Scouts give each other as tokens of friendship.

Anyway, I cut pieces of felt into strips.

Then wrapped the strips around the craft stick to make it look like a " bomb" popsicle.

I used a hot glue gun to secure each color.

What an easy cute Valentine to make!

Heart shaped frozen Banana pops

2012-01-22T12:25:00.002-06:00

Have you ever had frozen bananas? I was introduced to frozen bananas by a magazine called YM when I was a preteen. ( I do not think this magazine still exists)

Freezing bananas is an extremely healthy way to have a treat!

I used my smallest heart cookie cutter to make some heart shaped frozen banana pops!

And its Easy!

I used a banana and a pack of lolly pop sticks. I used my mini heart cookie cutter to cut hearts in the banana.

Then, I wrapped them up in tinfoil and froze them for about 2 hours. When you put them in the freezer, they are a little slimy. but after they are frozen, they should stay up on the sticks just fine.

These turned out great. They are very healthy. and I ate all of these shortly after they came out of the freezer

Baby food Valentines

2012-01-12T14:53:00.001-06:00

2011 was a BIG year of babies among people I know! Including me!

I had my little boy on October 30 ,2011.

But before that, four of my good friends and three of my cousins all had baby girls!!!

I thought it would be super cute if my son, being the only boy in the group, sent Valentines to all his little girlfriends and girl cousin playmates!

I might be creating a monster with this.....or maybe he will grow up and get mad at me for doing this to him. Who knows.

I came up with baby food Valentines for the girls!

For Katelyn. Peas! because she is a " Sweet Pea!"

Bananas for Brenna!

Pears for Emma.

For Hadley. Apples.

These next three are for 'cousin' baby girls. so I needed to make the phrases. 'cousin' appropriate.

( I grew up in the Chicago area....our family is not like THAT)

Alayna and Madison are getting sweet potatos.

And a Blueberry treat for Ariana!

Hope all the girls enjoy their Valentines. As a girl myself, I know how important Valentines day is to the girls!

If you send a birth annoucement to the White House...

2012-01-07T19:02:00.000-06:00

If you send a birth announcement to the White house....You might just get something back!

I saw a blog called North Carolina Charm and saw where she sent a wedding invitation to the president and got a congratulations letter back.

How neat is that? Only problem was. I have been married 5 years.

soo..

I tried sending my newborn sons birth announcement to see if I would get something back

and I did!!

( just wish I would have taken better pictures)

I wrote a little note on the back of his announcement.

and sent it to the following address.

About 6 weeks later. We got this in the mail today!

What a GREAT addition to his baby book!

Heart shaped potato skins!

2012-01-07T09:02:00.002-06:00

Now presenting another heart shaped treat from my kitchen! Also, I won't be offended if you all think I have completely gone off the deep end!

My husband was surprised last night when he came home to find yet another heart shaped meal in January!

And I know I said " healthy" Valentines day treats for my Valentines day food extravaganza. But I served these with a very colorful salad.

These actually turned out much nicer than I thought they would.

I cut a potato into slices. ( Two of these slices were flat, and the two "end" slices were rounded on the bottom) and used my heart shaped cookie cutter set to cut out hearts.

I ALWAYS leave the skins on potatos. They are the part of the potato with all the vitimans!

I used two sizes of cookie cutters. Just so I could use as much of the potato as possible.

Layed them out on a baking sheet. brushed with olive oil and salt.

Of course I also cooked the " scraps". I am not a waster.

They came out nice and crispy! Just how we like them in my house!

I added. Cheese and bacon bits to each potato. And thats it!

The best part is? I made this super cute treat and used ingrediants I already had!

Heart shaped tortilla chips

2012-01-04T15:14:00.000-06:00

Here is my Third installment of " Valentines Day food 2012"

Today's Valentine treat are heart shaped tortilla chips!

I followed my " Homemade tortilla chips" recipe. you can find it Here.

I used my heart cookie cutter to cut the chips into hearts.

I served it with some " Hot" Salsa!

Easy. AND super cute!

P.S

Looking for more traffic on your blog? e-mail Makethebestcrafts@gmail.com to get a free shout out to my facebooks fans!

Like?

Please see my Valentines Pasta Dinner! Here

Heart shaped apples

2012-01-03T08:49:00.001-06:00

Welcome to the second edition to The Valentines day food extravaganza 2012!

Here is a simple way to make a healthy Valentines day treat for your family!

Valentine Hearts are Red. Apples are also red.

I sliced apples. excluding the core.

Used this cookie cutter to make hearts out of the apples. For the larger hearts, I just used a knife to cut out hearts.

Heart healthy!

Valentine Pasta Dinner

2011-12-29T19:31:00.000-06:00

Hello. Welcome to Valentines day season 2012! I have only been blogging for about a year now, and I have decided that Valentines day is by far my favorite time of the blogging year! Its all about the love people!

This is the first post for 2012's " Valentines day food extravaganza!" I have been brainstorming Valentines day food for some time!

If you have any fun Valentines day food that you would like me to share with my followers and Facebook followers, please e-mail Makethebestcrafts@gmail.com. I also require that you like us on Facebook.

I know I don't have the most followers in the world, but I hope this can be fun for everyone. I am looking for submissions of " out of the box" Valentines day food.

The point of this, is to think healthy. Families can still celebrate valentines day without loading up on candy and cakes.

I will start with my Valentines day pasta dinner.

This is a simple dipping plate with Olive oil and a heart made with tomato paste ( tomato paste that comes in a tube). I got inspired for this Valentines day appetizer, when recalled a visit to" Little Ital"y in New York City. My husband and I received our bread dipping plate it had olive oil and tomato paste mixed together. We both love it!

I purchased this heart cookie cutter set at Hobby Lobby to use for my Valentine pasta dish.

I cut a zuccini with the two smaller cookie cutters to make them look like hearts. Cute. Right?

I also cut a few hearts out of a red pepper. ( although this didn't go with the same ease as the zuccini).

I sauted the veggies in some olive oil.

I threw them over pasta with a white sauce.

Wa la!

Easy Valentines day pasta dinner!

Santa Claus Ice Cream Sundae

2011-12-11T17:32:00.001-06:00

One Day, I was rooting around Pinterest. and I saw

This

Totally amazing ice cream sundae kit!

I decided I wanted to make one for our new neighbors, but with an extra special Christmas twist!

So, I came up with a Santa Sundae kit!

Since this is a Christmas theme, I put a fun Christmas twist on all of the Sundae toppings!

Rudolph noses AKA Red cinnamon candies.

Christmas Toys. AKA Gummy bears.

Broken Christmas lights. Or, Christmas M & M's

Elf Ears. Or, slivered almonds.

North Pole Rocks. Or, Crushed Candy Canes.

Christmas Sprinkles

Christmas Snow ( Marshmellow fluff) and Mrs. Claus's hot fudge.

I placed all the toppings in a Box and wrapped it up. I used cars stock, markers and puff paint to decorate.

I really feel like puff paint helps with that finishing touch. don't you?

Get creative with it! the topping ideas are endless!

Some afterthoughts I had were....

Santa's chocolate chip cookie crumbs.

Gingerbread man crumbs.

and

Chocolate chips as " Snowman eyes"

Merry Christmas! Hope you will make one too!

Madeline costume....And a desperate plea for help.

2011-12-08T12:01:00.001-06:00

PLEASE read this post...at the bottom you will see my desperate plea for crafting advice. I will seriously reference you on my blog for a long time if you can help me!!

I LOVE making gifts for my nephews and niece. ( and I will Love making gifts for my son too. Although, right now, he is only 6 weeks old)

My niece is the " Princess of the family" She is 4, the only girl in the family, and she is also adorable.

Audrey has a great amount of princess dress up clothes. What a great idea to make her a costume that would introduce her to a literary character.

I chose ...

Madeline!

I also purchased a Madeline book, just in case she was not familiar with Madeline.

I have been starting to sew some simple things. I don't have a sewing machine, but trying to decide if I should get one. My mom brought hers with her when she visited for Thanksgiving, and helped me with this project.

We found fleece remnants at the fabric store. for about a dollar apiece. With fleece, you don't have to hem the ends and its durable for a little girl to play in.

The Madeline dress is made out of a little gir PJ patternl My mother has been sewing for a LONG time. She has pretty much every pattern you can imagine

The Madeline cape is made out of a basic children's cape pattern. We then just added the white collar ( also fleece) and I hand stitched the ribbon on for the finishing touch.

I measured the ribbon longer than I thought it needed to be. If this is too long, it can always be cut.

Here is the finished product.....Almost finished.

Seriously? How am I supposed to make the cute yellow hat that goes with this outfit??? The only thing I have been able to come up with is to spray paint a straw hat yellow!

Suggestions?!!

For the person/ people who helps me accompish this, I will link a few of your blog posts from my blog. ( though my facebook page)

And lastly, here is a Eiffel tower made from a pipe cleaner. This is from my " breakfast toppers" post. I just thought this would be cute to incorperate into the gift wrap somehow. Also would be a cute cupcake topper for a Madeline party.

Happy Holiday crafting everyone!!

Roasted Grapes

2011-11-29T13:23:00.001-06:00

I just would like to start by saying that I didn't come up with this on my own. My mother in law learned about this idea in a cooking class and told me about it. ( I added the blue cheese though) Also, you need to try this, because its just good.

In a baking dish. drizzle some olive oil over some grapes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast them in the oven for 40-45 minutes

They should look like this.

Pair the grapes with your favorite cheese! I chose Maytag blue cheese! I live in Iowa after all!

The flavor combo was fantastic! Left me salivating for more!

What a great little afternoon snack!

One tip though. Make sure you roast them for at least 40 minutes at 350. otherwise the grapes flavor wont be a great!

Pretzel Eiffel tower masterpiece!

2011-11-10T15:42:00.001-06:00

What can I say? Only that I have always wanted to make something that looks like the Eiffel tower. I mean for a REALLY long time! I thought I would use craft sticks or something. Not food.

I saw This Ice cream sundae Eiffel tower on Pinterest. the other day, and I got inspired.

I have an 11 day old baby at home. This afternoon I was in an out of REM sleep on the couch ( watching him sleep in the bouncy seat) dreaming about how I would put this Eiffel tower together.

So, after we both woke up, fed and changed him. I decided to see if I could put this together.

Here are the ingredients you will need to make your own pretzel Eiffel tower.

1) A handful of pretzels.

2) 1 Saltine cracker.

3) 1 Cheeze it cracker

4) a teaspoon or so of cream cheese.

I used the cream cheese as the glue. and put together my structure VERY carefully. enjoyed it for a moment or two...then devoured it! ( it turns out that onion and chive cream cheese taste pretty darn good with pretzels)

So then after I finnished, I was thinking that if you wanted your Eiffel tower to last longer, you could use frosting and maybe graham crackers. That would also be a great snack, and the frosting might stick better.

Felt Christmas Cookies!

2011-10-24T21:39:00.000-05:00

After I made my niece's Felt food Pizza restaurant kit. I have a new love of sewing felt food! Since I am ~~patiently~~ anxiously waiting for my baby to arrive, I have found sewing a nice relaxing activity for when I feel like I need to sit down for a little bit.

I decided to sew a Children's Christmas Cookie bakery! ( glass of milk not included)

Pin It

Tips on dipping cake pops!

2011-10-23T00:00:00.071-05:00

Below is a photo of the cake pops that ALMOST failed! 

I have no fancy decorations on these. I was happy just to get them done. My husband was having a Halloween lunch at work, so I took this as a chance to attempt cake pops. I looked online for some recipes, and decided to make pumpkin cake pops!

So I made the cake. Added pumpkin puree, rolled the balls and let them cool overnight.

Then.....I attempted to melt chocolate. ( I was going to make them look like pumpkins)

Here is a picture of my failed attempts at melting chocolate......All in my Sink.... I am not proud of this site.

So, ~~some~~ all of the chocolate burned ( the white chocolate) and The regular chocolate was just too thick to dip the cake pops!

I used up all the chocolate in our house. I almost gave up, but decided to research a solution!

Solution:

I hopped online and found a forum on melting chocolate for dipping. The secret is adding Shortening to the chocolate! This thins out the chocolate enough to dip things. AND unlike oil or butter, It dries thick with the chocolate!!

( I really could have used this tip during my chocolate covered pretzel disaster last Christmas)

and THATS the secret of successful cake pop dipping! ( or any kind of chocolate dipping!)

Please click on " Home" to find out about our current giveaway that ends on October 31st!

Homemade Tortilla Chips in 15 minutes!

2011-10-20T20:19:00.001-05:00

I have always loved warm tortilla chips you can get at Mexican restaurants. Especially when you see just a little bit of oil on them still and they are salty. I am not sure if Mexican restaurants fry or bake their chips, but I tried this simple recipe and was able to make warm baked tortilla chips.

I just used soft yellow tortillas, salt and olive oil. ( I am sure canola oil would be good as well).

I cut out the tortillas into triangles.

Brushed them lightly with olive oil. and salted them. ( I like mine rather salty)

I baked them at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes ( check them every few minutes)

Wa la! Here they are! These are excellent! I may never buy bagged chips again!

Please click on " Home" to find out about our current giveaway that ends on October 31st!

Fun Halloween treats with wrapped candy!

2011-10-18T10:43:00.005-05:00

I LOVE Halloween and I REALLY love all of the cute Halloween treats that I have been seeing in the " Blog World" these past weeks. I do plan on making some homemade Halloween treats for my husband to take to his Halloween lunch at work.

However, What about cute things to give to Trick or Treaters? These days you cannot just make cute homemade treats to give out. I would not want my child bringing home non wrapped goods unless I knew exactly where they came from.

My baby is due on Halloween, so I might not get to give out candy this year, I decided to make some " Boo Bags" for some neighbors. Since I was going to be dropping these off anonymously, I wanted to make sure I was using store bought goods.

First I made these cute monster Hershey bars!

I started with a king sized Hershey bars. I attached some craft foam with double sided tape.

I then decorated the candy bars with googly eyes and Puffy Paint. I played around with the designs. I went with a monster theme.

Next, I purchased chocolate eye balls and made cute little favors with the eye balls. These are easy and a little special something you can give to your Trick or Treators.

Hope you like these! I am sure there are many other treats you can come up with using candy that is wrapped! ( its sad that these rules have been established, because everyone loves homemade treats. But thats just the era in which we live)

Baby shower favor idea

2011-10-11T08:32:00.005-05:00

Back in August my mom's three younger sisters threw me the most amazing baby shower and it meant the world to me!! I really wanted to make some cute favors for the shower, just so I could let everyone know how much I appreciated everything.

My first indication would be to make something homemade. But the venue we had the shower at had a rule that anything you brought in could not be homemade. I brainstormed for a long time to come up with something cute!

You can imagine the check out kids reaction at the grocery store, when a pregnant lady came in and purchased 30 Full sized Baby Ruth's!!! ( It was funny)

This was REALLY simple to make. I just cut out pieces of card stock and used puffy paint to draw my last name and taped them onto the candy bars.

I think they went over really well. We almost used " Sugar Babies" instead of Baby Ruths. However, I don't really like Sugar Babies and my mom and I decided that Sugar babies would be cute for a shower or a birthday party for twins.

Hope you like!