Gifts

$2.00 DIY Beach Bag

0 · Jul 25, 2013 · 3 Comments

Hi Whipperberry readers! It's Jenn from My Fabuless Life back this month to show you a super simple, super affordable little beach bag I threw together for a recent family vacation. Literally, if you have five minutes and a five dollar bill, you can make this–you don't even need a personal cutter! And what's extra awesome about this project is that you can use this method to "screen print" just about anything that's fabric!

Our family recently went on vacation to the beautiful Oregon Coast and this trip meant two things for us: LOTS of time in the car (we drove from Utah to Oregon) and LOTS of time at the beach. I always pack my 3 year old daughter a road trip bag and a brand new bag to hold all of the goodies is part of the fun. For this trip, my $2.00 bag pulled double-duty by holding all of her stuff during the car ride and then all of our treasures and toys once we got there and were ready to spend our days on the beach.

To make your own bag you'll need:
Freezer paper
Craft paint + Fabric Medium
A cloth bag (I got mine for $1.99 at Hobby Lobby without the 40% coupon)
Iron

Find the image you want to use: for this one, I just Googled "Whale Silhouette" and found one that I liked. Click on the image so it shows up on your screen like this (in Google, you can also click "view original image"):

Zoom in or out on the image until it's the size you want and then just lay your freezer paper right over the computer screen and trace GENTLY! Let's not go ruining any computer screens here, since that would sort of negate this whole $2.00 project thing. You should be tracing on the freezer paper shiny side down (pencil marks will be on the dull side).

Next, just cut out the image with an Exacto knife. Make sure to leave plenty of room around your shape to "slop" your paint so it stays on the paper and doesn't smudge all over your fabric. Make sense? If not, you'll see what I mean below.

I wanted this to be sort of "kid chic" so I left the cute little face off of the whale–not to mention, it makes it that much easier to cut and paint. Next, iron your freezer paper onto your fabric shiny side down. Make sure to iron it down good and tight so your paint doesn't bleed underneath (I do it with my iron on the highest setting). Also be sure to iron your bag or shirt or whatever you're using prior to painting it. Painting on wrinkled fabric will not give you pretty results.

Next comes paint: mix the paint and medium according to the instructions on the bottle of fabric medium (which can be found with the craft paints). I used gold paint (like I said, I was going "kid chic" here and it glitters in the sun–BONUS!) and my fabric medium ratio was 2 parts paint to 1 part medium. This gives you a softer finish on the fabric once the paint dries. You can do this without the medium, but your paint will be stiff and won't soften as much in the wash. YES–you CAN wash it!!

Apply your paint (you can use a brush or a dobber), let the paint dry a little and then pull the freezer paper off and let the paint dry overnight. DONE & DONE!!

This is such a fun easy way to personalize gifts. Onesies for baby showers, book bags for kids, team t-shirts for little ones…the possibilities are really endless. Later this week over at MFL, I'll be showing you what I filled this bag with for my little one and my favorite tips for LONG road trips with kids so make sure to stop by!

diy screen printed team shirts // summer printable // memories in a jar

Italian Soda Valentine with International Delights

1 · Feb 13, 2013 · 7 Comments

Italian Soda Valentine with International Delights // Every year for Valentine's Day my family has a special tradition… We have a fun Valentine's Day dinner together with all the pink, red and heart fixin's. Some of the items on the menu heart shaped pizza, heart shaped jell-o and for a special drink we have Italian Sodas with some type of red or pink soda. With all the heart shaped fun, my kiddos favorite is the Italian soda. If you don't know what an Italian soda is, it's basically some type of flavored soda as the base and then you add a shot of cream to make it extra special. I thought I could take it a step further and create a fun little gift that we can give out as Valentine's to our friends and family this year. With the help of International Delight's handy little creamer cups it worked like a charm!

It is jus the cutest little Valentine and something original that everyone will just adore. Here is what you will need…

Supplies

Red or pink soda of your choice
International Delight creamer cups, in original or vanilla
A fun straw
Baker's twine
A standard hole punch
scissors & paper cutter
Printable bottle label
Double sided tape
Plain printer paper

Instructions

Print the label that I created for this project on plain printer paper.

Cut the labels out and secure to the bottle with double sided tape.

Carefully punch a hole in the tab of the creamer cup and set aside.

Cut baker's twine long enough to wrap around the bottle twice, roughly 24 inches. Wrap the bottle with the bakers twine twice and tie into a basic knot. Tie the straw on next and secure with a bow with long ends. Thread the creamer cup onto the ends of the baker's twine bow and secure with a knot. Voila, you have the cutest Valentine and your kiddos and friends will love it.

Now, you can create you Italian Soda two ways… Pour your chilled soda into a glass and add the creamer or, take a few drinks out of the bottle and then carefully add the creamer to the bottle of soda. Be careful with the second method because the soda will bubble up with the addition of the creamer. Stir or swirl the soda to mix and enjoy!

This Valentine’s Day, share the love with recipes and homemade gift ideas! Don’t miss the International Delight Valentine’s Day Twitter Giveaway. Enter by following International Delight on Twitter and by tweeting your favorite ID flavor with the hashtag #IDLove. Winners will be contacted on February 15th and will receive ID Valentine’s Day Sampler Packages!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

Gift Giving with Styled by Tori Spelling

1 · Jan 30, 2013 · 3 Comments

Gift Jar with Styled by Tori Spelling Key Chain // Hello my friends! We're running slow today with another snow day here in Lincoln. Can't complain at all in my book. Snow days are the BEST!!!! We've settled down with a Harry Potter marathon and I, of course had to do a little creating on the side. With Valentine's day around the corner I thought it would be fun to make some simple little gifts for teachers and such with some of my favorite Styled by Tori Spelling goodies…

I thought it would be fun to create a gift jar (of course) and make a little key chain for my daughters teacher this year. For the jar I just took a little 4 oz. jelly jar and cut some craft paper to fit the lid and glued on a gem flower from Styled by Tori on top…

Toss in some coordinating tissue paper and you have a simple yet beautiful little gift jar. Couldn't be any easier than that. The jar, quite frankly is also part of the gift. The person who receives it will be able to use it to store little items in and they will adore it!!

Next, I created a fun peacock key chain for the "gift" in the pretty jar…

This one is super simple as well. I found this lovely peacock charm from the Styled by Tori line and then I bought a nice clip to attach to it to make the key chain…

You may need to use some needle nose pliers to open the ring up a bit to attach the clasp and peacock. Close the ring and voila, you have a fancy new key chain…

Many of the Styled by Tori charms will work perfect to make a fun decorative key chain. Next, all you need to do is to attach your key ring with your keys and you are in business. I always like to have little clip on my keys so I don't lose them in my bag, so that was a must!

Won't this be a fun little gift for teachers or friends for Valentine's Day, teacher appreciation, mother's day, birthdays, anything really. You can make up a bunch and keep them in your gift stash and always be ready with a fun gift at hand.

Last Minute Holiday Gifts with GiftGloss

210 · Dec 4, 2012 · 4 Comments

Do you ever find yourself in a pinch over the Holidays? You need a gift for a friend, neighbor, colleague and you just don’t have time to make some goodies to share! You find yourself heading to the market to find some store bought goodies but feel like a total dope for bring bringing something that’s not homemade. Don’t you worry! All you need to do is keep some GiftGloss on hand with a few other handy packaging supplies and you are GOLDEN!

design elements // rhonna designs

I ran to the store yesterday and checked out the bakery section to find some goodies that I could repackage and give as fun gifts for friends & neighbors when you are in a pinch. Here are some suggestions that I have…

No. 1 Select a Theme

Even when you are in a hurry, take a few minutes to come up with a cohesive theme. This will kick your quick goodie up a notch and turn it into a stunning gift. It took just a few minutes to go through the bakery and candy section at the store to find a few items that would go with my red, white & chocolate theme.

No. 2 Packaging

Nothing screams LAME more than store bought goodies brought in their store containers. To save myself from that mistake I keep a few items on hand to save me when in a pinch…

GiftGloss – Not sure what GiftGloss is click here to see their video. I keep both the 6 & 12 inch rolls on hand
Decorative plates or containers – The skies the limit here, as long as they fit in the 6 or 12 inch GiftGloss tube.
Fancy parchment paper – I found my red dot parchment paper at Cost Plus World Market
Ribbon, twine, yarn or some type of decorative tie – I found my fun personalized ribbon on Pick Your Plum not too long ago. It says “Merry Christmas from the Thoming Family” LOVE it!!

No. 3 Placement

You’ve taken the time to get the goodies, stock the fun packaging… Now you need to make sure you create a beautiful goodie package or plate by making sure you place thing well.

Don’t over crowd the plate.
Use the color to your advantage with color groups.
Think of your patterns and textures and place accordingly.
For large plates have one item be the show stopper then add to it with a good supportive selection of items. For example, in my large plate I have the beautiful cookies as my show stopper and then the supportive cast accentuates the beautiful cookies.

Now, if you keep all of those things well stocked, you can have some amazingly SIMPLE yet STUNNING holiday gifts in a snap.