Patriotic Pops

Happy 4th of July!!!!  If you've been invited to a party today, but you don't have anything to bring, here is something you can whip up this morning.

The creative minds at Family Fun have come up with a patriotic pop.  You might even have these ingredients and materials around the house.  You can find the list of ingredients, materials, and a video tutorial here.  While these are easy to make, the freezing time will draw out the preparation a bit.  Put the kids to work.  They should be able to help you with this dish.  Stay cool with your patriotic pops and have fun celebrating the ole' red, white, and blue today.

Eagle Bites

The idea of eating an eagle never sounded so good.  July has arrived and it is time to start thinking about what you'll serve to friends and family on Independence Day.  Looking at the creations of others always makes me humble.  This is a perfect example.  If someone told me to make dessert in the image of an eagle, I doubt I would have come up with this yummy treat.

As you get ready for the 4th of July holiday, we're sharing a couple of ideas that will wow your guests or your host.  Even if you aren't a fan of coconut, this dish would no doubt inspire a smile and some conversation.  You can find all the directions here, on the family fun site.  Bravo to the person who came up with this idea.  Anyone who can get crafty with food is talented in my book.

Independence Cake

Our Independence Day celebration generally involves a BBQ, perhaps strawberry shortcake, and several cold dishes brought by my aunts.  This patriotic piece of cake would knock my family's red, white, and blue socks off.

I can appreciate an interesting artist in the blog world.  So, I was thrilled when I stumbled upon 17andbaking.com.  When I was 17, I was featured in the high school play.  This young lady, now 19 years old, is being featured in national magazines.  

I think this adorable cake is a great idea and deserves more attention.  You can find out how to make it here.  This teenager may make you feel a bit inadequate.  Hopefully, she'll also inspire you to do something you love.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

To all of our friends around the world- thank you so much for all your loving, encouraging and inspirational comments! Today we are spending the day with our family members creating memories. We are very excited for what 2011 brings. Today- we invite you to sit by the fire and enjoy life! On behalf of myself, Crafty Cat, Chef Donavan, Crafty Lady and our whole family Happy Holidays!

Snow Flakes Are Falling Somewhere

 A fun and traditional children's project is the snowflake! But, where do they go once they've been created? Many times we have put our snow flakes on our sliding glass door. This year I decided we would decorate that corner in the dining room that never gets any love!

My son spent at least a couple hours meticulously cutting out his little snowflakes then we glued on the glitter (which got everywhere, but isn't that the point if it?). Then we let them dry. I received a ton of Christmas bows as a gift recently, so I decided to put them to good use making the rows and rows for the flakes to be displayed! Then it took me a good hour or two (remember, I'm a mom of 3 kids!LOL) to create all the pink bows. We stapled the snow flakes to the ribbon (no need to worry, the silver from the staple won't stand out) and then stood back and admired our creation!

My son declared three things. He didn't like the pink (he's all boy!), but he actually thought the pink theme worked very well with the gold (he's also a great artist) and it looked like a wedding display (a fun wedding he would want to go to and eat lots of cake)! LOL- Regardless, we had such fun making this display and we really do admire it while we're eating dinner. It makes me giggle- because it kinda does look like a wedding display and I really like that! Wanna know about that crazy fun looking feathered Christmas tree? Tune in Sunday- I'll tell you how that came about!

Craft Show Alert

If you happen to be in upstate this weekend, you can visit the 5th Annual Albany Holiday Crafts on Madison,  a splendid show and sale of art & craft.

When:  Friday November 5th from 5pm - 9pm (as part of Albany's First Friday)
           Saturday November 6th from 10am - 5pm.

Where:  The Woman's Club at 725 Madison Avenue, a gracious 1895 mansion near Washington Park.

Why:  The show benefits the programs of The Woman's Club of Albany, and Double H Ranch, a camp for children with life threatening illnesses, founded by Paul Newman and Charles Wood.

Who:  Featured artists include...Loretta Fontaine (our upcoming Artist in the Spotlight), Cherry Schacher, McGillycuddy’s Naturals, Nancy Noble Gardner, Ben Rauch, Pat Bohrer, Elsa Fletcher, Mary LaFleur and Kathryn Benson, Lisa Phegn, Karen Greendale, Cinderloop and Katie Nare.

Web:  http://www.holidaycraftsonmadison.blogspot.com/

Dollar Store Costumes

A Gift For You!

Cost $3

I bought three items: a beautiful purple gift bag, purple ribbon and a package of multi colored tissue.

Cut the hole out of the bottom of the bag. Staple ribbon from the front side of the bag to the back side of the bag over each shoulder. Staple tissue paper to the front of the bag. Use some of the purple ribbon to make a bow for her hair and then staple some tissue paper to the ribbon!

Puppy Love!

Cost $4

I bought 4 items: 4 hand micro fiber dusters!

All the rest of the items were found on a scavenger hunt around my house. I attached the two skinny dusters to a headband, dressed our model in a brown turtle neck and handmade scarf from my talented aunt. The finishing touch was a little makeup to provide the nose and the whiskers!

 Pop Corn Anyone?

Cost $5

I bought 4 items: an apron, a bag of 10 individual popcorn bags (but only used 4), two packages of white jar openers and a pair of sunglasses!

Cutting up the bags and placing them on an angle really made this costume reflect the fun that comes along with eating popcorn. Once again I just stapled away, securing the bag to the apron. Then I cut the jar openers in half and stapled those on as well, bunching them up at random to make each look unique! I used the extra parts of the bag to make the head band around her head. This was the only part of the creation where I had to use tape to secure it. I cut out the "fresh" in one of the bags and i taped them on to her glasses!

These unique costumes were so fun to make!

Note: these are handmade ideas that have not gone through the standard of safety testing that store bought costumes have- so be safe.

Halloween Party For The Kids

Halloween is so magical for the kids, so why not throw them a fun party? You can have them make their own construction paper placemats. Give them the stickers and markers and help them personalize their placemat. Give them some coloring books and plan a fun snack for them.

I had fun making a centerpiece for this party! It really impressed my little guests and it was rather simple to construct!

Supplies:

-1 small piece of felt
-gauze
-1 foam cone
-1 foam ball
-4 white pipe cleaners
-2 wiggly eyes
-1 tooth pick
-tacky glue

-mod podge or fabric stiffener

-1 piece of cardboard cut into a circle. That will be your base and you cover it with paper towels.

-black shiny ribbon

-spiders and web to decorate with

-one milk carton bottom

Adhere the round cardboard cut out on top of the milk carton base. Then adhere cone to the cardboard circle. Insert 1/2 of the toothpick into the tip of the cone, put a little glue around the top area and then push the ball down on top of the toothpick. Allow that to dry. Twist the pipe cleaners together and then wrap around the top of the cone.

In a separate bowl dunk your gauze into enough Mod Podge to make it wet. Fold the gauze in 1/2 and then drape over your foam creation. Allow it to dry and then decorate with your web and spiders!! Too cute! Have fun~ Crafty Lady.

Trick Or Treat!

We're welcoming Halloween early to Crafty Life and Style. This week we will offer you affordable ways to make this a Halloween to remember! Today it's a two-for! A hand made trick or treat bag and zombie costume!
Let's start with the bag!

Supplies:
-gift bag (recycled or from the dollar store)
-ribbon
-Halloween themed paper from your scrap bin
-pre-cut letters
-black acrylic paint
-foam cut outs (Halloween themed from the dollar store)
-glue
-double sided tape
-stapler

Really, you can pretty much go crazy and even give the supplies to your children and have them customize their own bag to their liking. there's no way to go wrong. For me, I thought I would staple the ribbon on to the bag. I liked the look of it and it was the easiest and fastest way to get it to stay attached to the bag. I then glued the letters right on to the ribbon and then glittered them up.

I had this great piece of Halloween themed paper from a previous layout so that went in the middle. To help my "OR" pop out of the page I seized the opportunity to finger paint a black patch and then down went the letters and foam cut outs to finish it off. It was such an easy and fun project.

Then the zombie costume. This was lots of fun. Second hand stores offer a treasure trove of clothing that you won't feel bad about cutting up. The pants, vest and shirt cost no more than $8! I grabbed the scissors and began cutting random holes. Feel free to shred, chop or do whatever you feel you need to make your clothes look worn. Then pull out your red, white, brown and grey acrylic paint. Blotch the paint on the fabric, saturating it and making sure your colors stick out. Layer different colors on top of each other. We painted this while it was still on our zombie boy. It resulted in the need to be washed up but the fun we had doing it was worth it in the end.

Then for the makeup- you can use either baby powder and lipstick like we did or makeup from the costume store.  This is a one of a kind zombie that all the friends will be sure to be spooked by!!

Halloween Week Coming Early!

We are excited to announce that Halloween is coming early to Crafty Life and Style! For the week of October 17th through the 23rd we will be providing crafty, tasty and visually exciting creations all with helping you get ready for All Hallows' Eve! You don't have to break the bank to go all out and provide your family members with a Halloween they won't soon forget!

Fun crafts to do with the kids, affordable homemade costumes that will win any contest, and ghoulish treats that kids of all ages will enjoy eating! Come on! Join us every day for the fun and if you leave us lots of fun spooky comments we might even post pictures of us in our childhood homemade costumes!!