Bottle Cap Magnets Tutorial

I got some bottle top magnets for Christmas a few years ago that I really liked.  I'm not sure why it took me this long to do it myself but I finally did.  Here's how I did it.

Supplies: 

Bottle Tops

Magnets

E9000

Cardboard

Patterned Paper

Glue Dots 

Mod Podge Dimensional Magic

I used some cardboard to make a stencil for the inside of the bottle cap,

 then used that to cut out more cardboard and patterned paper pieces.   Make one cardboard piece and one patterned paper cutout for each bottle cap you have.

 I used two glue dots stacked on top of each other in the center of the inside of the bottle cap and then pressed the cardboard on top of that.

 I put another glue dot in the center of the cardboard.

 Then pressed the patterned paper at the top of that. 

Coat the top of the patterned paper with a layer of Mod Podge's Dimensional Magic.  I did about an 1/8 of inch layer, let it dry for 3 hours and then because I wanted to make the bottle cap look more full, I did another layer.  Make sure to get rid of any bubbles, a tooth pick or safety pin is a good way to poke them out.  If you wanted you could also just stack up more cardboard paper and use less Dimensional Magic.  

 After it totally dries, I used E9000 glue to attach the magnet.

Voila, it's complete.  These are  really quick (minus the waiting time), easy, and cheap to make.

Save the Jar

I don't know about you but I have a ton candles in these glass jars.  So I decided, why throw away the jars if I could clean them out nice and use them for something else.  Lately, I''m really into saving things that at first glance look like garbage. Egg cartoons, toilet paper rolls, tissue boxes and know candle jars.  So this is how I cleaned it out.  Burn the candle until it can't burn anymore, put it into the freezer for a couple of hours, after you  take it out use a butter knife or screw driver to crack the wax.  After that you should be able to easily get the wax out, then just wash the jar with a little soap and a sponge, don't forget to clean the lid too.

Now you have endless uses for this cute little jar.  Here's just a few idea's I pulled off of Pinterest.

No Tangle Headphones

I found this great idea for "No Tangle Headphones" on Pinterest.  Cute right?

Source: crownhilldaybyday.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Well I have a lot of this string, from way back in 4th and 5th grade when I had a bracelet making "business".  I was so cool!  I've held onto the string all these years, used it a little bit for some free-hand cross stitching but other then that it's gone pretty much untouched.  So I thought this would be a good opportunity to use some of it up, not to mention I hate having to untangle my headphone every time I go to use them.

It's a pretty easy project, if you use to make friendship bracelets (no matter how long ago) it comes back to you like riding a bike.  You can go to this blog to get a tutorial, Crown Hill.  The string she used is a little different then mine.  Mine string is the kind you find in the cross stitching isle. I think you probably have more options as far as color in that type of string, but her's seemed to work really well and looks great too.  So either one works.   I was working with left-overs and didn't have a lot of one color, so I decided to do mine in multi-color.

Like I said it's really easy, but it is a long task.  I just put on some TV and got to work.  It took about maybe  4 hours, I broke it up into two days.  Oh and I used a jaw paper clip, clipped to the jack of the headphones and my shoe to hold it into place.

Here are some projects I would like to work on sometime in the near future.  I would much rather be working on them, then only writing about it but sometimes this is all I can do.

So I really like these bags.  I think I would like to do them in the exact same colors.  There is just something so peaceful about the color and texture combo.  I'm also really into stenciling fabric with ink right now.

Source: seekatesew.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest

I love this patch work on torn jeans.  My daughter recently got a bunch of hand-me-down jeans from her cousins with a couple that have little wholes in the knees.  I'm looking forward to doing this to them.  Maybe I can find a way to "girlie" it up a little.  If not I would still love to do it.

Source: bymiek.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest

I would like to make a trash for my car like this. I think I could use a waterproof washable fabric.

Source: etsy.com via Tracy on Pinterest

I really want to make this. I would change it just a tiny bit so it makes sense in my family, but I love it.

Source: ashleyannphotography.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Last but not least. I need to make burp clothes. I bought about 30 yards of fabric on black friday to make burp clothes. I was pregnant and didn't know whether I was having a girl or boy, so I bought fabric for both and figure that whatever was left would make good baby gifts. I have since miscarried (1-14-12). A very heart breaking experiences, I know that I will never get over the loss of my little boy Max Elias both I do need to heal. There is something inside me telling me that making them will be apart of that process. It's a little scary to think of but I know the Lord is and will be with me through this. I think I'll make one for Max Elias to add to his memory box.

Source: sewshesews.wordpress.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Valentine's Day Hairband

This image I found on Pinterest inspired me to try and make my own version of a Valentine's Day Hairband.

                                                                  Source: katiedid.squarespace.com via Tracy on Pinterest

I fit a piece of elastic to Ella's head, cut it, and sewed it together at the ends.

Cut 6 hearts of difference sizes out of felt.  Double up on the hearts and sewed them long the center of the elastic band spaced out a little bite.  This craft took seriously 10 minutes.

I have to tell you I wore in when we went out to lunch today and it pretty cute.  So it's not just for kids!

Michael's $2 Grab Bags

I've been trying to be really good about not spending money lately, not that I spend a lot usually, but just being extra careful.  Well, I went to Michael's to buy a single piece of red felt for a project I hope to finish and post on by tomorrow.  But they had their oh so lovely $2 Grab Bags out.  The deals are so good, it feels almost stupid to say no.  So here's what I got...

-Two squishy belly pig key chains 

-a lava lamp key chain

-toy story 

-mechanical pencils 

-gem embellishments (Ella uses for earrings) 

-a bangle bracelet

- a snapit bracelet

-P intitial note pad 

-Christmas tags, toy train

-football shaped balsa wood cutouts 

-scrapbooking scissors 

-a little foam man

- the leather tray 

-a plush toy that you color

This was all in the bag.  If you check out some of my other post, this is just an ok bag.  My nieces got the kind of book bags that you color this year for Christmas and Ella seemed to like them so I thought I would try out the plush toy and I few of the other things were fun finds.  It is about $20 worth of stuff for $2.  

But not to show you the find I'm really proud of!  There was a little hint in the last picture.

That's right, that $30 basket was $2!  I actually got the go ahead from the hubby to go back and buy two more to use for gifts and I got a even better deal, two for $2!!!!

I love the Grab Bag deals!!!

Curbside find!

I don't know whether I posted this find before or not but I found three of these canisters in a box at someone's curb.  They are pretty navy blue, ceramic canister from MACY's.  I been using them for a long time now in my craft room to hold some supplies.

I've really love all the vinyle labels that are all over Pinterest:

Source: homestoriesatoz.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest

So I have a silhouette, that to be honest I have really had nothing but trouble with.  I haven't heard other people complain about theirs, so I think it most be just be a fluke with my machine.  But I have found that I can cut vinyl pretty well if I don't use a fancy font, up the thickness settings and the cap, I can actually use it.   So I labeled my canisters so the $200 I spent on it doesn't go completely to waste.

I might use what's in them now that they are labeled.  I could never remember what I stored in them.

Thank you to the lovely people that put great things to the curb!  I try to give back sometimes by putting things to my curb that I can't or don't want to use but think someone else might! 

I hate unloading my dishwasher

So i'm guilty of having a dishwasher that half the time is full of clean dishes, while the counter loads up on.  I hate it though when it's empty and people don't load the dishwasher.  I know it's my own fault they don't though, they just always assume it's full of clean dishes.  So to be fair, I decided I needed to make something to let people know easily if they are clean or dirty.

I took out these magnets I had bought for next to nothing, 

Mod Podged them up with a little scrapbook paper, and added some vinyl letters.  

Nice and easy!

I've had this glass vase of flowers in my living room and I like the flowers but every time I look at it I think of how much I don't like the pink water. But I've change the water and it still turns pink right when I add it to the water. So that got me thinking I wanted something to cover the pink water. I saw this from Pinterest:

                                                                         Source: moredesignplease.com via Tracy on Pinterest

It inspired me.  That's why I love Pinterest!

So this is the before picture, see the ugly water!

Here's the after.  No more pink water!  I am no longer stressed by the watery pink clashing with my room and can just enjoy the flowers!

Valentine's Day Craft for Daddy!

I found this cute and free idea on Pinterest, so I thought I would give it a try!

Source: prudentbaby.com via Tracy on Pinterest

It was a fun little craft to do together and really easy. The only thing I had trouble with is when you bend it may not be level making it so some of the stamp doesn't touch the paper. I solved this by trimming it up.

(excuse the bed head)

We also used it on a paper that we wrote out what the scriptures say about LOVE.  I figure we aren't much into Valentine's Day (at least the spending a lot of money on each other) but  we do have a lot of love for each other and we want to know and share Christ's love so we will use Valentine's Day to help Ella reflect on these things!

Next week my daughter's preschool will be exchanging Valentine's Day cards.  I wanted to do something home made, but fast and cheap.  I liked the Pinterest Valentine's with a photo of a kid that makes it looks like the kids are holding them, like this one.

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest

So because my daughter was taking a nap (and that never happens) I decided that I wasn't going to stage her and just use a photo I've already taken. This is what I came up with.

It was quick, easy and I only needed to buy the lollipops.  Since Ella woke up when I wasn't even half way done with the first step, I was glad I kept it simply.

A need to craft

I've recently (as in got home yesterday) spent to much time in the hospital. I started to go crazy. I really, really needed to craft. So I challenge myself to craft one night with my hubby and daughter using the things I found in my hospital room.  I think it's a pretty cool owl!

This I'm not so proud of.  I was trying to use only things that are from the hospital, no an outside source (like the Panera Bread bag).  But I hadn't been collecting, so it was only what I could collect in a half hour.  I think this one was a failure.  It was suppose to be garland of some sort.  I suggest to you, if you ever find yourself in the hospital start collecting even when your not feeling good enough to use it, that way when you do, you'll have it.

Ok, so if I haven't made it clear, I love Pinterest and am really posting this so I can put my owl on 

my boards!  Go and check them out!