Blog - Gluesticks Blog

{I Love You to Pieces} Puzzle Father's Day Cards

May 30, 2011 By Brandy 7 Comments

I know it's too late for anyone to use this idea this year for Mother's Day (the tags say "Mom"), but Father's Day is just around the corner and these would be great for Dads too!

I came up with this activity for the children at our church. I needed an inexpensive activity for 45 children!

Oriental Trading sells blank puzzles for a reasonable price, but I only had a week to prepare these, and if I ordered from them they wouldn't have been here in time. So I found mine at Discount School Supply. 48 (4") puzzles + 2 day shipping for $19.95. Sweet.

The children created a special Mother's Day "message" for their Mom and then broke it into little pieces so that she could put it together when they got home from church. They had a GREAT time making these. We also talked about mothers in the scriptures and did a matching game. It was a great sharing time.

I made tags that said, "I love You to Pieces Mom! Happy Mother's Day" and put them in snack baggies ahead of time.

I ended up with three to make when I got home! 🙂

So just switch out the tags for a special Dad and it's a sweet, custom gift that's fun to reveal!

Little Rainbow Cake

May 28, 2011 By Brandy 10 Comments

child with small cake with blue frosting

Aaron made this sweet little cake for his preschool teacher's birthday. I wanted something that he could do on his own. He helped bake it (even cracked the eggs on his own!) and then got to work decorating it.

blue cake with skittles candy rainbow on top

Just skittles and mini marshmallows. He was so very proud of his cake and his teacher was thrilled to receive it. She shared a little piece with each member of the class and even took a picture of the cake and is using it as her facebook profile picture 🙂

child decorating cardboard cake plate with markers

A fun, cheerful, and simple cake. I'll have to come up with some more little cakes like these for the kids to make this summer. He had so much fun.

child with finished rainbow skittle cake

Do you have any fun projects that you have done with your kids? Link them up here!

Time Capsule Birthday Gift! 1920's, 30's, 40's

May 20, 2011 By Brandy 10 Comments

Send a family or friend on a nostalgic journey and make a time capsule birthday gift from the 1920's 30's or 50's! Brimming with treats and gifts.

I've been thinking about my grandma lately. She is one the biggest inspirations behind my love for sewing. Today I'm sharing a gift that I made her a few years before she passed away. A nostalgic time capsule gift from the 1920's, brimming with treats and trinkets from the decade she was born. When she passed away I received the tin back that I used to put everything in. It seems only fitting to use it for holding sewing notions now, and I think of her every time I use it. Â I shared this gift idea on hereÂ before, but IÂ thought it would be fun to look back onÂ this oldie, but goodie!

black and white picture of author's grandmother

Wasn't she beautiful?

She loved the giftÂ so much that she refused to open or eat any of the treats inside! I labeled everything with the year it was created and a brief back-story to it and she saved them to show to people when they came to visit her.

Time Capsule Birthday Gift! 1920's, 30's, 40's

I had this tin in my craft closet for awhile. I used to use it in my kitchen decor, but haven't for awhile. It has The Saturday Evening Post picture on it. An issue in 1922. Perfect for the era I was going for! And just the right size for everything I collected to put in it.

My mom told me a couple of her favorite songs, so I made her a CD with them. The photo on the front is her! She grew up on a farm in Boulder, Utah. I also included a photo book that included more facts about that decade (price of a loaf of bread, gallon of gas, etc.). It was absolutely fascinating to learn about the time she was a child.

We lived at Ohio at the time and one of my favorite restaurants to go to was Cracker Barrel. I especially loved their Old Country Store. I found these fun items to include in her tin and labeled everything with the year it came out and fun facts about its history. MOST all of the chocolate candy bars that are around today, came out in the 1920s. I picked a couple of favorites and one that I hadn't tried before like this marshmallow one. Doesn't look appetizing, but it is classic of the era so I think she will remember it.

Did you know that Kool-aid, Scotch Tape and Band-aids were all invented in the 1920s and early 30s? I didn't until I made this gift! I attached descriptions, time frames and facts to each item. It was fun reading through them!

More Homemade Gift Ideas

Birthday Party In a Box Pampering Spa Gift for Mom Root beer Sampler for Dad Hostess Gift Basket Homemade Bath Bombs What to Expect When You are Expecting Gift Basket

Birds!

May 11, 2011 By Brandy 10 Comments

Aren't these fun?!?! I saw these on Obsessively Stitching and knew that my boys would love them. Aaron asked for a green one, and Dallin asked for a blue one. So last night, since Derrick is out of town, I got to work and ended up with a couple of more. They were just too easy to make!

The patterns and tutorials were great. I spent about 2 hours on the pig and all of the birds. The boys were very excited to see these when they woke up. Since I made the red bird and pig as well, Aaron was wondering where the yellow and black birds were, lol. I'll have to make those too sometime, but I got tired last night.

Kaylee LOVED the baby blue one and so I made her a pink bird. She didn't like it. She wanted one just like Dallin's. So I made her a baby blue two-toned one and that sufficed, but I think she still likes his better.

She added her "blue twee twee" to the pile.

The originals were made from fleece. I bought a bunch of sheets of felt for mine and it worked out great, but will probably get fuzzy and pill sooner than fleece would have.

The Mini Wasp Bag

May 9, 2011 By Brandy 6 Comments

Do you remember this Wasp Bag that I made a while ago? I LOVE it! Every year for the past 3 years, I have made my mom a handbag for her birthday. The first year she asked for one around her birthday, the second year that one started to wear out so I sent her another, and this year I decided that she might like an upgrade again. It's fun choosing fabrics that I think she will like and trying new patterns.

As you can see, my bag is much larger than hers. I scaled it down a lot. I have 3 kids, and still have one in diapers (hopefully not for long, we're working on that). My mom doesn't need a big diaper bag or old lady purse so I thought this would work out well for her.

inside view of handbag with pockets and lining

I especially liked the fabric that I found for the inside (Hobby Lobby)

bottle of body spray and lotion inside handbag

I filled it with some body products and a gift certificate to Cold Stone and called it good. She loved it.

Would you like to make your own Wasp Bag or a scaled down version?

Click here for a link to the tutorial. No, it's not mine. I don't have mad skills like that, but I can follow a pattern and share a link 🙂

Brown Bag Apple Gift Sacks

April 30, 2011 By Brandy 22 Comments

brown bags painted red to look like apples

Last night I was browsing some blogs looking for something to add to our teacher's appreciation gifts. Maybe a unique way to wrap them or a little treat to make with them. I saw these on Skip to My Lou and immediately left the computer, grabbed 4 lunch bags, a can of red spray paint and headed outside. 10 minutes later I had 4 sacks, ready to turn into little apples...for FREE. I love them!!

red painted bag with raffia tied to close

I made some cardstock tags and a little leaf and added our memo cubes, along with a candy bar for each bag.

Now I think we are set. Dallin's school has themed days next week. Some are fun days like PJ day, Hat day, Sports Day, and the other two are "bring a flower for your teacher" and "make a homemade card for your teacher" days. It will be fun contributing to those days, but it's nice to have something homemade and creative for the boys to give their teachers and bus driver besides what is "required" to bring 🙂

4 red painted bags that look like apples

Teacher Appreciation Memo Cubes

April 28, 2011 By Brandy 7 Comments

Last year for "Teacher's Appreciation Week", we made chocolate covered strawberries. We'll probably still do strawberries for the teachers this year, but also made these little custom memo cubes. I saw the idea here and ran with it! I went to Office Max with a pack of 500 sheets of copy paper and they made 6 memo pads for me with the sides glued (1 side on each).

Here are the ones that Aaron made for his preschool teacher. Everything looks cuter when a preschooler does it. We sure love our teachers and have been blessed with absolutely wonderful ones this year!

two decorated memo cubes for teacher gift

Minion Cupcakes Made With Twinkies!

April 27, 2011 By Brandy 55 Comments

Does it get any more hilarious than this? These minion cupcakes are made out of Twinkies. They are such a fun treat to make with kids and are easy to customize! Use Smarties candies and frosting to add eyes, a mouth, and glasses!

Aren't these little minion cupcakes great?!?! We had no occasion to make them for, but who needs an occasion for cupcakes? We found them online and knew we had to make a batch for the family (link to inspiration below).

Minion Cupcakes Made With Twinkies!

FYI: Finding white smarties takes A LOT of little packages of smarties. Most of them are pink and purple, but that was even better for the kids because they liked snacking on the extras.

child frosting cupcake with blue frosting

Â Frosting the cupcakes in blue to match the minion's over-alls.

Each minion is made from a half of a twinkie, two smarties, and colored icing for the eyes and glasses. Aaron couldn't wait to finish frosting the cupcakes so that he could lick the knife. You can see the evidence on his face 🙂

child putting half of a Twinkie onto cupcake

After adding the smartiesÂ he decided that he was done with frosting and putting the minions together.Â So I took over with the eye details.

child adding Smarties candies to cupcake for eyes

And here they are! Be sure to check out the link for more Despicable Me party ideas! She did a fantastic job!

Pinewood Derby Days!

March 30, 2011 By Brandy 16 Comments

junior mints boxes decorated like derby cars

Our oldest isn't old enough for Cub Scouts, but Derrick is the Cub Master, so we still hear all about scouts and sometimes help participate in it.

Derrick and I came up with these fun candy "trophies" to give to each scout during the Pinewood Derby. They each received one along with a certificate. They were so simple to make and would be great for birthday parties as well!

candy car made from junior mints and chocolate bars

I think the photos are pretty self explanatory, just a bit of hot glue and the candy was easily attached.