New Year's Party Hats

 I'm dusting off the old Aleene's Creative Living archives for these great party hats for your New Year's Eve celebrations!

Whether it's New Year's Day or a regular day, look great when you're workin' out!  Heidi Borchers designed this many years ago but it still would be the hit of your exercise class!

What You'll Need
Aleene's Flexible Stretchable Fabric Glue
Glitter, washable
Chalk pencil
Leotard
Belt, if desired 

How to Make It
Prepare the Leotard
Wash and dry the leotard following manufacturers laundering instructions.

Pattern
Draw two sizes of stars and cut out.  Place on leotard and trace with chalk pencil where desired.

Apply Glue
Cut a tiny hole in glue tip. Trace stars with glue. Sprinkle on glitter.  Let dry.  Remove excess glitter.

Care of Leotard
Do not wash for at least a week to make sure glue cures. Treat as a fine washable by turning inside out and washing in a gentle cycle.  For best results, hand wash and hang to dry.

Need an inexpensive holiday gift for a teacher, friend, really anyone who wants to be creative, eat healthy and unplug?  Check out our store for exciting books and videos.   Need something right away?  Check out the www.lulu.com site and you can print the books, put them in a binder and you're set with a unique gift for that special someone!

Happy Holidays!

Kids Decoupage Gift Ideas

 

I had to blow off the dust on this project - 1997!  Here's a great idea for a holiday gift for Grandma and Grandpa.  Pick a theme and find tissue paper, wrapping paper, cards or posters, have the kids cut them out and glue them on ceramic tiles.  Use raffia or ribbon to hang the tiles and they're sure to impress. 

How to Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

Gather up the entire family and get wrapping!  For the holidays, use your favorite colors and have at it!  Use any quality acrylic paint, different widths of paintbrushes and paint away until the wrapping paper is just to your liking.  Handprints make extra special gift wrap. Let dry and wrap it up!

How to Make a Time Capsule

 

Make a family time capsule that will be fun to put together and fun to open in a few years!  Use any quality paint, brushes, tissue paper and glue.

Shrink Plastic No Monsters Allowed Night Light

 

I came up with this project many, many years ago when my nephew, Justin, was afraid of monsters under his bed - he's now sixteen and definitely not afraid anymore!  This fun, yet functional project from my archives features shrink plastic that you can find at your local craft store.  Gather the entire family around the oven and watch it shrink before your eyes - it's magic!  Some of the products listed aren't available so just substitute like items.  For the baking board, sprinkle a regular cookie sheet with a little baby powder before you put your night light on it.  Sub a clear spray to protect the surface of the night light.

Have a Spooktacular Halloween!!!

Healthy Halloween Party

OK, it's the day before Halloween and how do you keep yourself and your family from all those tempting sweets???

How about a party at your house?

Call up your friends and invite them over for a healthy, creative evening.  Pick some of the ideas on this blog and have a guilt-free Halloween

Games

Play charades (see the how-to's below)
Makes Silly Sticks - giant pick up sticks from dowels
Bob for Apples
Make a Finish Flag and have relays

Food 

Friendly Monster's (search above for the recipe)
Totem Pole Dinner - let the kids (and adults) create their own entire dinner as a totem pole
 Food Taste Test - change the texture of foods before the party - blend, chop, etc. and at the party blind-fold a volunteer and have them guess what it is

Remember to Take Your Vitamins

For convenience I buy vitamins in those plastic pouches but I didn't like the box they came in so I'd hide it in the cupboard and of course, I'd forget to take my vitamins.  Here's a nice way to 'display' your vitamins on your counter.  I put the pouches in a beautiful glass and added a saying.  I've had this saying for many years - way back to my college days when we had secret pals.  She gave this to me and I've kept it all this years.

Take your vitamins!  And, show the world all the love in your healthy heart!

Healthy Turkey Soup Recipe & Make a Tureen to Serve It In!

 

Here's a great family activity for a cold day - make this yummy soup and then create a soup tureen to make soup serving special!

Here's What You'll Need

• Aleene's Original Tacky Glue
• Pebeo Porcelaine Paint: Scarlet, Yellow, Bronze
• Tureen, ceramic
• Alcohol
• Soft cloth
• Foil for palette
• Toothpick
• Plastic wrap
• Oven
• Raffia
• Silk leaves (fall colors)

How to Create It

1. Clean outside of tureen with alcohol, using soft cloth.
2. Place a small amount of yellow paint on foil. Add a dab of scarlet and bronze paint. Mix with toothpick.
3. Tear a 12" piece of plastic wrap from roll. Scrunch. Dip plastic wrap in paint. Dab off excess on foil. Dab paint on tureen until desired look is achieved. Let dry 24 hours.
4. Place tureen in cold oven. Set temperature to 300 degrees. When oven temperature stabilizes, bake for 30 minutes. Turn off oven and allow tureen to cool down gradually in oven. Once tureen has been 'baked' it is dishwasher and microwave safe.
5. Tie raffia around tureen. Glue leaves on raffia streamers.

  Leftover Turkey Soup Recipe

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked fine whole wheat noodles
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
2-1/2 tablespoons chicken flavored bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried whole thyme
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 bay leaf
4 quart cooking pot
8 cups water
1 diced carrot
3 cups cooked diced turkey   

How to Make It

1. Place all dry ingredients in cooking pot. Add water and carrot. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf.
2. Stir in turkey. Simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Make 2 quarts. Serve this scrumptious turkey soup in your beautiful tureen.

Decoupage Fall Leaf Box

Bundle up the entire family, head outside, run around and gather some colorful leaves to create a leaf treasure box

Here's What You Need

• Acrylic spray paint - your choice of colors
• Paper mache box
• Aleene's Instant Decoupage - Matte
• Leaves - dried or silk
• Foam brush

 



Here's What To Do
1. Spray paint box. Let dry.
2. Brush Instant Decoupage on back of one leaf. Place on box where desired. Brush a coat of Instant Decoupage over leaf. Repeat for all leaves.

Fall Unplug & Indoor Activities for the Entire Family

The evenings are getting shorter and that means we'll be spending more time inside so we need to come up with some creative ways to unplug from all those electronic things and find ways to keep active indoors.  How about?

• Charades

  If your children are young, find pictures of animals and other interesting items in magazines, cut them out and apply the picture to some heavy paper with a glue stick. Have the entire family cut pictures from magazines - no rules, anything that tickles their fancy.  Glue the pictures to a box that will be your 'draw' box for the charade cards. You'll need props, so fill a box with fun items from around the house.  Let a child pull one of the pictures out of box and act out their 'thing'.  Use a timer and let the laughs begin!
  
  For more fun indoor activities this Fall, check out the Make Healthy Fun! book, ebook or video under the shopping section!

Makes Leaves & Marbles from a Dough You Make Yourself

I had the pleasure of returning to my elementary school and showing the fifth grade class how to create using the cornstarch and glue dough recipes.  We made amazing marbles and leaves to follow along with class assignments.  The recipe and other great ideas can be found in the Make Healthy Fun! book and ebook along with tons of other ideas to get your entire family to unplug and have fun!

Happy Fall!

Who Doesn't Like Saving Money?

Check out the wide-array of books and save 20% when you order - offer ends September 7, 2012.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=joan+martin+fee&x=11&y=8&sitesearch=lulu.com&q=

Strawberry Crafting

Is your family eating a lot of strawberries this summer?  Then you'll probably have a basket or two hanging around the house.  Create a fun basket weave craft project for your table to salute the end of summer.  Check out this video from the original Craft Wars ten years ago showing you what else you can do with strawberry baskets.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3_jslB-XrU&feature=share

Just Don't Plant Plants  

My bro keeps reminding me instead of just planting plants in the yard to make them edible - makes sense - since you're using the water, why not make it something you can eat? I bought a pineapple plant at Trader Joe's a few months ago and I think it will be part of tonight's dinner. But, will it start another pineapple??? 

Time for a Walk

These adorable and inexpensive sandals will get kids (and you!) out and walking this Summer.  For a different look, apply 3D fabric paint in a camo design or glue on some rope.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Enjoy!!!

Summer is in Full Swing!!!

Have the kids started the "I'm bored" routine yet?  Make a Crafting Treasure Box so that any time it can be Boredom Fighter Time!  Find a container (something colorful or even use a cardboard box and let the kids decorate it with stickers, glitter, etc.) and add some glue, magazines, scissors and odds and ends from around the house.  Keep some heavy paper handy and let them get creative.

Cosmic Dining

What You'll Need

• Self-adhesive shelf paper, clear
• Confetti, stars
• School papers
• Drink carrier
• Plate, clear
• Tissue paper
• Scissors
• Spray on glue
• Clear glue
• Construction paper
• Paintbrush

How to Make Them

Placemat

Cut construction paper slightly larger than school paper. Place together, if desired, using stick glue to hold in place. Place shelf paper on work surface with paper backing side up. Slowly remove backing paper and construction paper side facing down. Smooth. Turn over, sprinkle with confetti and place another piece of shelf paper over top. Smooth. Cut slightly larger than construction paper.

Tote

Apply spray glue on carrier following instructions on can. Smooth paper on carrier. Cut excess. Glue confetti around edges.

Plate

Cut letters from school papers. Brush clear glue on center back of plate and place letters over glue (they’ll be backwards) and press with fingers. Brush glue over remaining areas of plate. Sprinkle on confetti. Crumple tissue paper. Uncrumple. Place over glue and smooth with fingers. Brush glue over tissue.

All About Me Circle Book

Create a fun memory book from a grocery bag

What You'll Need

• Brown paper bag
• Scissors
• Photos
• Words from magazines or printed from computer
• Colored safety pins
• Colored tape
• Glue stick
• Twine
• Ruler

How to Make It

Cut out a circle from paper bag. Draw a line from center out to edge. Cut on line. Fold circle in half along cut line. Open circle and fold over the quarter formed by the cut forming 3/4 of a circle. Fold the already folded 2 quarters over on the quarter above them so that now you have a semicircle. Fold thick part on remaining quarter of circle. Decorate to your heart’s content. Use colored tapes for tabs and to cover inside seams. Glue photos and words to pages using stick glue. Wrap twine around hand. Cut ends and tie a knot at center. Pin knot to bottom of book. Accent book with colored safety pins.

Free National Park Service Admissions

Step away from the videogame: On Saturday, June 9th every park and site in the National Park Service system lets you in at no cost.  Check out the details at http://local.msn.com/great-price-on-the-great-outdoors-free

June 8th is Best Friends Day

Celebrate friendship by packing a picnic lunch and heading out to a park.  Let each child invite along a friend and share a day of good fun (don't forget a friend for you!).  By the way, being silly like my nephew, Brandon, never gets old!

Stuffed Animal Pillow

Add a fun new look to a child's room by simply gluing stuffed animals to a purchased pillow.

What You'll Need

• Stuffed animals, small ones work best
• Pillow
• Glue
• Pompoms

How to Make It

Apply glue to back of one stuffed animal. Place on pillow. Continue with all stuffed animals. Glue pompoms to fill in around stuffed animals.  That's all there is to it!

Diet Slurpee

Diet Slurpee coming to a 7 11 near you soon.

Cost will be the same as a standard Slurpee. Formulas may differ, but for example the Fanta Wild Cherry is 66 calories for 8 ounces. The diet equivalent is 20 calories. It will be available at all participating 6,700 7-Elevens in the U.S.  Check out more about the Diet Slurpee at
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/18/11745664-7-eleven-serving-up-diet-slurpees-for-the-first-time?lite

What do you think?

Summer Bucket List

Summer is upon us so why not take a twist on the ol' Bucket List and make a Summer Sand Pail List...

What are some fun things you want to do this summer for yourself and your family?  Write your answers on pieces of paper and toss them in a sand pail you get at the local dollar store. Pull one out each day or week and get moving!

Here's what I have on my Summer Bucket List (subject to change every moment!)

1. Walk more (after a broken ankle last year it's pretty hard and I am having to really talk myself into it!)
2. Try something new - mine is to try new healthy recipes
3. Plan better for my meals - I eat so much better if I plan and when I have healthy food in my house
4. Invite my nephew over for some beach time
5. Walk on the beach with my shoes off
6. Play tourist in my own town
7. Go to my local farmer's market and buy a vegetable I've never tried before
8. Plant a garden
9. Make stepping stones from large leaves I have in my yard
10. Well, that's my little secret...

Have fun and enjoy your summer!
Joan

Juiced-Up Desk

Help your kids get more organized this new year with a little recycling and creativity.

Materials Needed

Juice boxes

Journal

Glue

Old crayons

Scissors

Cording

Crayons

Open Cookie Cutters or knife

Foil

Pan

Pen with removable ink cartridge

Potato peeler

Directions

Rinse juice boxes and let dry.

Journal

Cut fronts and backs from boxes. Glue boxes across journal, overlapping. Glue cording along top and bottom edges. Tie a bow using cording and glue to journal.

Vase

Glue 3 boxes together. Tie 4 bows from cording. Glue bows to fronts of boxes.

Caddy

Glue boxes together. Glue cording around top edge of boxes. Tie a bow from cording. Glue bow to front.

Crayons

Shape foil with sides coming up, forming a bowl. Place in pan. Remove labels from crayons. Break into small pieces in foil. Using low heat, melt crayons. Do not leave unattended while melting. Let cool slightly. Using potato peeler, shave a different color crayon over melted crayons. Let set up slightly. Press cookie cutter into crayon or cut around with knife.

Pen

Remove ink cartridge from pen and insert in straw.

Happy New Year!

Here's to a healthy year filled with much happiness, creativity and fun!

Joan