Gift Boxes (a pretty box using something from the automotive section at Dollar Tree)

Today, I decided to tackle the stash and organize it. Wow - it is amazing!! I will share more when I am done. Here are some more gift boxes.

Box for an food chopper.

Jewelry Box

Interior of previous box.

Interior of the Pooh box in my last post.

Paper mache box from my stash.

Doll bassinet box. Decorated with synthetic lambswool from the automotive department at Dollar Tree and a doily from Dollar Tree (both from my stash as are the buttons).

Shoe box.

So what do you think of the synthetic lambswool/doily combination? Weird or cool? I kind of like them but wasn't sure at first.

Gifts to go in the boxes (all from thrift stores).

Detail shots for fun.

Gift Boxes

I have a strong aversion to wrapping gifts so I do something even more time consuming and putzy. I make gift boxes.

This is the gift box I made for the rooster box I made my MIL.

This is the box I made for two different hanging hooks I made for my MIL. (You can see them here and here).

This is the only box I had left from last year. I put a milk glass vase that I bought for my MIL in it.

This box doesn't have a gift yet but it is just the right size for a gift card.

The boxes are all recycled, one was a doll's stroller box, one was an American Girl accessory box, one was a shoe box, and one was a jewelry box. I'm still stash busting so all the decorations are from my stash.

I am sharing at:

Autumn Fun T-shirts for Art Class

This weeks craft project for school were these Sharpie Tie-Dyed T-shirts with Fall Silhouettes. T-shirt crafts don't get easier than this and the elements required are probably things you already have: sharpies, t-shirts, and rubbing alcohol. I got the idea for Sharpie Tie-Dye from Jamie at C.R.A.F.T.

After the t-shirts were dyed, we traced autumn themed silhouettes onto the t-shirts either free-hand or using cookie cutters as stencils.

Here are is the front of my shirt

and here is the back

I am going to share a photo of a funny spook I see almost daily.

Storybook Trays

I found these trays in my stash. I get frustrated by the piles of papers from the girls and so I thought these trays might suit. I figured they could each have a tray to corral their stuff.

I don't have a before shot of the big tray but here is a before shot of the small tray.

I spray painted the trays with Krylon Fusion. Hammed copper for the small tray and hammered aluminum for the larger tray.

I used the pages from a storybook of fables and fairy tales for children to line the bottom of the trays. I Mod Podged them down and added several generous coats of Mod Podge on top. Then (since I know my girls will do something crazy with the trays) I sealed the trays with Liquitex Pour On Finish.

I am sharing at:

Pumpkin Patches and Wishbones

On Friday afternoon, the girls and I went to the pumpkin patch. Have you ever noticed that almost everyone calls the pumpkin patch they go to "The Pumpkin Patch", as if it were their personal pumpkin patch and as if out of all the pumpkin patches in the world it were the only one worth going to?

Our patch has Scottish Highland cattle. They are such fabulous looking creatures.

In the barn with this goat was an ancient white blind horse, a obese Vietnamese potbellied pig, more goats (fainting goats), llamas and alpaca.

They have all sorts of fowl from guinea fowl, to peacocks, to turkey, and geese. This year they even had some young chicks who were in that awkward half down-covered and and half feather-covered stage.

Escaping the corn maze.

Last week, I was looking through a book of science experiments and found the classic experiment of turning a bone to 'rubber' in vinegar. I happened to have two wishbones lying around (doesn't everyone?) and so we turned one to rubber and left one as a control,

I let the girls make a wish and break the brittle bone (above) but I didn't have the heart to show it because C grabbed K's wrist and held it steady and so cheated. :(

Here is the rubber bone - you can tell even in this photo that it doesn't seem to have the same shape as the control bone.