Hancock Fabrics Coupons - Good Ones!

Hancock Fabrics is having a Martin Luther King Jr. sale, and they have some good discount deals going on.  If you need to stock up on craft supplies, now is the time to do it!  These coupons are good through Sunday, January 15, 2012.

$10 off of $50 purchase - online code MLK10
$25 off of $100 purchase - online code MLK25
$50 off of $200 purchase - online code MLK50

These coupon deals can also be used in-store.  For the printable coupons, click here! 

Fun Activity - Water Bombs!!!

My kids and I embarked upon a journey of great fun this afternoon. I came across a website that had a neat craft idea for some fun outdoor water toys. You can find the directions here. My girls and I descended upon the dollar store to gather supplies for our endeavor. I was amazed, all of the supplies were in one place, and cheap too! The supplies needed to make these consist of sponges, drawer liner, a couple of Sham-Wows (yes, these amazing absorbant cloths are now at the dollar store, LOL), and some zip ties. It was a relatively easy craft to do with my kids. They helped me cut the pieces and arrange them, and then I tightened and fastened the zip ties for them.

As we finished this little project, neighbor children had gotten word about what we were making (my children may or may not have occasionally poked their head out the door waving a finished water bomb to show their friends). By the time we finished making them, the neighborhood children had gathered in our front yard to play with our new toys. I got out a few buckets filled with water, and the fun began. You all are lucky, I barely got a picture of a few of these babies before the children started their water wars! They all kept saying how neat they were, and they were eventually transported to the neighbor's pool as the water play shifted to another yard. Yeah, I would say that this little project today was a winner :-)

Great Crochet Resource

As I pursue my crocheting adventures, I continue to come across many great web resources. I happened upon this little gem of a website, and I already know that it will be one that I frequent quite often. It contains some really neat stitch patterns (FREE!!!), as well as motifs, that will help me as I try to design my own crocheted items. I am somewhat of a dreamy crocheter most days, LOL, as I see visions of what I want to crochet, but can never quite find the right pattern, or have no idea how to sit down and figure it out. This website I found will definitely be helpful in my needlework endeavors, and once I finish my current crochet project, I fully intend to get to work using the information from this website. Now that I have given great fanfare to the website, I shall reveal it to you :)

www.mypicot.com

Another Free Patterns Website

I came across this website in a crocheting pattern book I am currently using. I went to check it out, and I have just found lots more projects to keep me busy (if I get around to it!). It has free patterns for beading, crafts, crochet, cross stitch, knitting, paper crafts, plastic canvas, quilting, and sewing. These free patterns can be found at www.freepatterns.com . Happy crafting!!!

Hancock Fabrics Coupon Code

Hancock Fabrics has a coupon code for an extra 10 percent off your online purchase. It will be valid from April 13-15. The code is MTNYF. If you order fabric online, April 13-15 would be a good time to put in a new order!

Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments Craft Project

Yesterday, the kids and I started the process of making some Christmas ornaments out of a homemade salt dough. It was really simple, I mixed up the dough, then we rolled the dough out with a rolling pin and used cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. You do have to bake these ornaments, but before I put them in the oven, I used a skewer to poke a hole in the top of each ornament, so that we can use some ribbon, yarn, or string to be able to hang them. We will be keeping some of these for our own Christmas tree, but will also give a few for gifts. I got the recipe for the salt dough from http://www.divinedinnerparty.com/christmas-ornament-dough.html .

Salt Dough Recipe

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups water

Mix ingredients together well and knead dough until well blended. If too sticky, add additional flour a little bit at a time until the right consistency is met. If too dry, add additional water in small amounts until desired consistency is achieved. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters, place shaped dough on a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool, then paint.

I was going to buy some special paint to decorate the ornaments with, but the article at the above posted link suggested nail polish as a nice, decorative paint. Since I had plenty of nail polish around, we decided to try that out. I must say that it adds a nice touch to the ornaments, and the shine is lovely!

Overall, this was a great activity to do with the kids, and they loved it!

Washable Finger Paint Recipe

We tried a new finger paint recipe today. What makes it even better is that it is washable! I got the recipe over at http://www.kinderinfo.com/finger-paint-recipe-washable/ . The kids are having loads of fun!

Washable Finger Paint

2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 cups water
1/4 cup dishwashing soap
Food coloring

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and water. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil, continue stirring until mixture is a smooth gel. Add dishwashing soap. Separate mixture into several small containers. Add desired food coloring to each container. Let cool, then paint!

As a side note, I used a small whisk to stir the mixture while it was cooking. This helps prevent clumping so you get a smooth consistency for your finger paint.

30% off Coupon - Hobby Lobby

This week's coupon for Hobby Lobby is for 30% off of needlework kits. Just thought I would post this if anyone is interested.

http://www.hobbylobby.com/assets/dynamic/_weekly.coupon/2010_39_coupon.gif

Oatmeal Playdough Recipe

Today, my kids and I tried a new playdough recipe. They are busy creating with their little hands as we speak! This oatmeal playdough recipe has a different texture than regular playdough, so it offers the children a different sensory and creative experience. I found the recipe at http://www.playdoughrecipe.com/oatmeal-playdough-recipe/ , and I made a few minor adjustments to it to ease some of the stickiness. It is rather sticky as the original recipe is written, so I added some cornmeal and some extra flour until the dough was the perfect consistency. The above posted website also has many other kinds of playdough recipes to try out, if you are interested.

Oatmeal Playdough

1 cup of flour

2 cups of oats

Food coloring

1 cup of water

Cornmeal

Extra flour

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Mix desired food coloring with the cup of water. Slowly add the water/food coloring mixture to the dry ingredients, mix together well. Knead the dough by hand to continue to mix (will be sticky), then add cornmeal and extra flour a little bit at a time. Continue to knead and add cornmeal and flour until dough is a good consistency for play.

P.S. The picture is a birthday cake, made with the oatmeal playdough, by my 5 year old.

Printable Hobby Lobby Coupon

In lieu of the Christmas craft post I previously did, I thought I would post a link for a printable coupon for Hobby Lobby. It's for 40% off, and you can use one per day on regularly priced items. Here it is:

http://www.hobbylobby.com/weekly/coupon.cfm

Christmas in July?

If you are someone who likes to make your Christmas gifts, it might be a good time to start planning and thinking about what you would like to make. I find that not only does making gifts save alot of money, but people really appreciate the personal touch you put into it. And it really is the perfect thing to give someone who already has everything! I have found it easier to make my gifts over the years, because I have morphed my expectations into reasonable ones instead of grandiose ones (for example, there is no way I will be able to make an afghan for everyone on my list).

Smaller projects enable you to give nice gifts, and to be able to make several items. Some ideas for those who do needlework (knitting/crocheting) are doilies, hats, gloves, scarves, slippers, socks, hair pieces, potholders, dishcloths, etc. I have also made things like homemade jams/jellies for gifts (which go nicely with potholders or dishcloths as a gift). My kids have been begging me to crochet them some stuffed animals (they have seen the pattern books in the store, LOL). That just might make it onto my Christmas project list as well! To be even more thrifty, use a free pattern from http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/ or http://www.ravelry.com/ . They have tons of patterns and ideas! My only problem is choosing which ones to use!

If you start your projects now and stick with it, you should have Christmas covered by the time it gets here, and you will have less stress because most of it will be done by the time the season rolls around so you can focus on enjoying family and friends. Go forth and craft in peace!

P.S. The picture comes from www.clipartheaven.com .

More Free Crochet Patterns, Plus Knitting!

I almost cannot believe it took me this long to discover an awesome website, chock full of free patterns! I just recently became a member of an online knitting/crocheting community. It is called www.ravelry.com . I have already been browsing through all the patterns they have available, tons of them! They offer knitting patterns too. There are also plenty of patterns available to purchase as well. But there is no shortage of free patterns! It is free to join the group. Head on over and sign up today if you want to enter a needleworkers paradise!

Cute Potholders to Crochet - Gift Idea!

I found this incredibly cute potholder pattern through http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/ . I was going to try a few other patterns I found there, but after trying this one I am hooked! (No pun intended!) It is a simple cobble stitch to get the textured look, and then layered with a picot edge trim. The pattern is called "Maryanne's Potholder" and it can be found at http://dishclothboutique.20m.com/cpatterns/maryannespholder.html .


In the pattern, it suggests using some yarn to hold the pieces together while joining the two sides. I personally found it easier to just use four safety pins, one at each corner, and remove them after the project is finished. I have made these in quite a few color combinations, my personal favorite is a cream color with a darker contrasting color. The beige ones are nice too, though.


These little cuties can be whipped up quickly and would make a great Christmas gift, or any other kind of gift you might want to give. I plan on giving them in matching pairs. They would go nicely along with a jar of homemade jam or jelly, if you happen to have some on hand. I have tons of chokecherry jelly that I made in preparation for Christmas, so that's what I will be giving out to many unsuspecting family members (unless they are reading my blog, which will leave them suspecting) along with these dainty, yet hefty, potholders.

Free Greeting Cards

I love going to the store and looking at all the cards when I need one for a special occasion. But then I see how much some of these cards cost, it's pretty crazy! I have seen regular greeting cards cost more than $5 a piece. Granted, not all of them cost that much, and there are ways to get nice greeting cards for a much more reasonable price. However, I often find that the cards available for $.99 are pretty well picked over, and there isn't much of a selection.

If you are on a tight budget and need a card, there are ways to do it for next to nothing. There is always the dollar store, they might have them pretty cheap. If you have kids, they can make a greeting card for whatever occasion you need one for. Some occasions may not be appropriate for this, however. You could always make your own greeting card as well. If you are good at things like scrapbooking, this is an excellent way to save on greeting cards and add a nice personal touch.

Then there's always the internet. There are plenty of sites out there that are devoted to free printable greeting cards. Some of them want your personal information before they will let you print a card. I tend to steer clear of these because then it opens up my email for junk mail. We just used a site today that looks pretty good. My daughter has a birthday party to go to, and she found a card she liked at http://www.123printcards.com/ . They even have cute little envelopes to make to go along with your card. There is also http://www.printable-cards.gotfreecards.com/ or http://www.mintprintables.com/ . There are other sites that are free, such as http://www.bluemountain.com/ but you have to become a member to use those. Happy card making!

Free Crochet Patterns

It is getting to be that time of year when thinking about holiday gifts becomes more of a priority. I have been to several crafting stores today to look at pattern books for crocheting gifts. This year, I am more into slippers and socks. In past years, I have crocheted scarves, gloves, hats, afghans, etc.

My problem is that I like one pattern in each book, but I probably wouldn't use the rest of them. I hate to spend the money to buy a whole pattern book for just one pattern that I will use. I decided I would come home and look for some crocheting patterns on the internet and see what I could come up with. At least then, I can find one pattern I like, and I am not out $10 or more dollars for buying the pattern book.

The website www.crochetpatterncentral.com/index.php has many, many, many free patterns, plus links to other free patterns. To see what kind of patterns are available on this website, click on the "site index" option at the bottom of the webpage. Their website says they have thousands of free patterns available. You're sure to get some new ideas for projects just by browsing around there! The picture on this page is actually their logo. What a neat website!

Peanut Butter Playdough

We like to play with playdough around our house from time to time. A fun twist to playing with playdough is playing with edible playdough. The kids have alot of fun with this activity, and it tastes pretty good too!

Peanut Butter Playdough

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup dry powdered milk
2 tbsp. honey

Mix ingredients together until it forms a plyable dough.