Category Archives: Crafts

Hand & Footprint Canvas Craft

Happy Mother’s Day!

This year for our moms, I decided to do a hand made craft with the kids. If you’ve seen my kid crafts before, you know I usually like them to be as adult hands-off as possible. This one is a little different. I saw this awesome idea on Fabulessly Frugal & immediately wanted to do something similar for our moms.

Hand & Footprint Canvas Craft - Mrs. Dessert Monster

This is a simple, but multi-step (multi-day for me) project. Cupcake is 3 years old & loves painting. I had her paint two canvases; one 8×10 & one 9×11 just to mix it up. She needed a little bit of assistance to cover the entire canvas with paint without leaving white areas or muddling the colors too much. Once that was done, we let the paint dry over night. The next day, we did Cupcake’s hand print as the ‘O’ in LOVE. To be safe & reduce the chance of smudging, we let that dry overnight, too. On a different day, we did Blue’s footprints as the ‘V’. He was 7 months old at a time & it was more difficult than I was expecting! If your child is older, this could be a one day project. Once those dried (I think I did it the same day this time), I painted the ‘L’ & ‘E’. I also painted the edges of the canvas black to make it look more finished. Finally, when everything was dry dry dry, I wrote their names & ages on the back & they were ready to be gifted for Mother’s Day!

Hand & Footprint Canvas Craft - Mrs. Dessert Monster paint

I mailed one to my mom in Florida, & the other we gave to my mother in law Mother’s Day weekend. I love that this is a kid’s craft that also makes for adorable decor. I know the kids will be excited to go to their grandmas’ houses & see their art on the walls. Cupcake will be, anyhow. Blue is still excited about anything & everything, since he is an infant!

Hand & Footprint Canvas Craft

  • canvas, 8×10 or larger (the larger the easier it is to work with)
  • paint, such as acrylic, in as many colors as you’d like plus black
  • paint brushes
  • clean-up supplies such as wipes/towels – especially if there’s a baby involved!
  1. Paint your entire canvas using as many colors as you’d like.
  2. Once your painted canvas is dry, get black paint on your child’s hand. Press their hand on the canvas where the letter O would be in the word LOVE.
  3. Once the hand print is reasonably dry (or totally dry if you are working with toddlers & babies), get black paint on your child’s feet one at a time & press on canvas to form the letter V.
  4. Once the V is reasonably dry, use a brush to paint on the letters L & E. If desired, paint the edges of the canvas black.
  5. Finally, once everything is completely dry, write the child’s name or have them sign the back. Your beautiful art gift is ready!
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Christmas Toddler Craft

How is it 2 weeks until Christmas already?

How has it been 2 months since I last posted something? More on that another day…

If you’ve seen some of my other toddler crafts, you know that I am a huge fan of minimal parental involvement in said projects. This craft is no different. It’s a very simple painted wooden ornament. It almost sounds too simple to write about, but I haven’t seen this activity posted on any of the homemade gift or toddler Christmas craft posts I’ve come across on Pinterest.

Christmas Toddler Craft hand painted wooden ornament - Mrs. Dessert Monster

Who wouldn’t want to receive a hand painted ornament, especially when the artist is this cute?

Christmas Toddler Craft - Mrs. Dessert Monster

This one is all for Mami!

This craft is very low prep & has minimal supplies. I purchased a blank wooden ornament from Target for $1. There are LOTS of stores that would have something like this currently – all the craft stores, Wal Mart, etc. I chose 3 “wintery” acrylic paint colors for Cupcake to use. Choose your favorite color scheme! Just keep in mind that toddlers like to go over the same spot again & again, so the colors can get muddled. Our icy blue, silver, & gold help up decently to this – though the blue is a little lost!

Christmas Toddler Craft - Mrs. Dessert Monster

You could use another medium for this craft – markers or glitter glue sound like fun, too!

Christmas Toddler Craft

  • blank wooden ornament
  • paint in 2-3 colors, or another medium such as markers or glitter glue!
  • adorable toddler
  1. Supervise your toddler while they paint all over the ornament.
  2. When they’re done, allow the ornament to dry. You can add their name, your family name, or a fun Christmas saying to the ornament. I’m turning this into our family ornament for 2018 by using my Cricut & some vinyl – you could do something similar with a marker or a stencil & paint!

Christmas Toddler Craft - Mrs. Dessert Monster

Fall Pumpkin Toddler Craft

If you’ve seen my post about toddler cards, you know that this mami doesn’t want to put a lot of work into a craft that’s supposed to be done by a toddler. So when I saw a cute little fabric pumpkin at Target I thought to myself, “this would be perfect for Cupcake to decorate – with minimal help from me!”

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I love this project because it is good for almost all toddler development stages & even older! Toddlers (ages 1-3) run the gamut from just starting to walk to almost ready to read, but if your kid can hold a marker, they can decorate a small pumpkin. It doesn’t even have to be a fabric one like this – it can be a craft pumpkin or even a small real one! Just use an appropriate type of marker for whatever the surface of your pumpkin is.

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Cupcake had so much fun coloring all over her pumpkin. She loves when I let her play with markers. She particularly enjoys putting the caps back on.

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You’ll notice I gave her permanent and dry erase markers (which won’t wipe off since this pumpkin’s fabric). Her washable markers are still in some box around here…

The bright side is that her art work is permanent! 😉

The only input I had was giving her the markers one by one & pointing out white places on the pumpkin for her to color on some more. After she was done, I took that permanent marker & wrote her name & the date. Then we went outside for a little photo shoot!

You can kind of see that the leaves are actually changing color around here! Just a few more weeks until cooler temperatures in Georgia. As a Floridian, I am nervous & excited!

This cute little pumpkin is going on our bookshelf. Having just moved, I wasn’t going to pull out much of the fall stuff we have stored in the garage. I’m happy to have a little pumpkin flare around the apartment & it’s extra special that it was made by my daughter.

Fall Pumpkin Toddler Craft

  • small pumpkin (fabric, craft, or real!)
  • markers (I suggest fall colors like green, brown, and orange, but if you want a rainbow pumpkin that sounds fun, too!)
  • adorable toddler
  1. Supervise your toddler while they color on the pumpkin.
  2. When they’re done, write their name on it if you’d like. Done!

Toddler Cards For Any Occasion

Cupcake’s birthday is in January, so last year she got to enjoy all of her first holidays in order. This means that I got to do all of the fun handprint/footprint crafts for with her.

Footprint Valentines day heart? check. Footprint Father’s day craft? check. Handprint turkey for Thanksgiving? check. Handprint AND footprint clay ornaments for Christmas? check.

Now that she’s no longer an infant, I just don’t find it as cute. Let’s face it – the gift recipients know who really made those things. ME. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really cute ideas on Pinterest. But most of them are just work for mom.

Cupcake is 17 months old – old enough to want to do things on her own, but not old enough to really understand that we are making a gift for someone else. So even if I wanted to, it’d be pretty challenging to get her to give me a handprint or a footprint this year. So strong willed, & she’s not even 2! Say a prayer for me.

For Father’s day I searched for ideas of something she could make her daddy that was minimal work for me while being a little more thoughtful than just her scribbling on a piece of paper. I didn’t really come across any ideas I liked, but inspiration came from Cupcake herself. She likes to color & paint all by herself (heavily supervised, of course!) & her absolute favorite thing in the world right now is stickers. That gave me an idea.

It sounded too simple, but what if Cupcake really could make a card for daddy by herself with minimal guidance from me?

Toddler Cards for Any Occasion Made By Toddlers - Mrs. Dessert Monster

Sometimes, the K.I.S.S. principle really is the best. Keep it simple, silly!

Cupcake had a lot of fun painting this card for daddy.Toddler Cards for Any Occasion Made By Toddlers - Mrs. Dessert Monster

Once the paint was dry, we added stickers. I let her add as many hearts as she wanted before giving her the sticker letters, one at a time in order, to spell DADA. That’s really all of the involvement I had, minus making sure she didn’t get paint everywhere! Oh, and writing her name & the date on the back!

This craft is so easily adaptable for any occasion! Use different colored paper, paint, or markers depending on your target audience & time of year! It’s infinitely customizable. You can let your toddler add as much or as little embellishment as you wish. The only ‘must’ is sticker letters. As long as your toddler has the motor skills to put stickers on a paper, they can do this craft!

Toddler Cards for Any Occasion Made By Toddlers - Mrs. Dessert Monster

My hubby really loved receiving this card from our sweet daughter. She handed it to him herself! It might sound silly, but the fact that he can tell she really made it (as opposed to mommy) makes it more special!

Toddler Cards For Any Occasion

  • card stock – any color!
  • paint, crayons, and/or markers
  • sticker letters
  • optional: more stickers, glitter, paper scraps, or any other embellishment you can trust your toddler with, plus glue if necessary!
  1. Have your toddler paint or color on the piece of card stock. If you use paint, you will have to factor in drying time. (I used paint & had it be a 2-day project. Twice the fun!)
  2. Have your toddler stick on any other embellishments. I gave Cupcake heart stickers, since this was a Father’s Day card & she ‘hearts’ her daddy. Use holiday themed stickers to be extra festive!
  3. The last step is to give your toddler sticker letters one at a time & in order of whatever word(s) you are trying to get them to spell. I minimally guided Cupcake on putting the DADA stickers next to each other. I suspect that in another month or two, I wouldn’t even have to do that! Then, write your toddler’s name & the date on the back.
  4. Have your toddler give the card to loved ones & watch their heart melt!

 

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Housewarming Gift

When we first bought our house, our friends Beth & David gave us the housewarming gift made famous by ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’.

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Last summer our dear friends moved away & now they have a home of their own in Delaware. I wanted to be able to give them the same great housewarming gift, but the distance forced me to get creative.

I decided to make them a canvas wall hanging.

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I printed the text on some pretty craft paper, painted the elements (& the edge of the canvas) with acrylic paint, outlined them in permanent marker, & sprayed the whole thing with an acrylic sealer.

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It was a fun project! It took me several days – probably would’ve only taken me 2 or 3 in my pre-baby days, haha.

Once Beth & David were settled in their new home, I shipped it off to them.

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Though I miss them dearly, I am so happy for their new adventure.

Can’t wait to visit them in January – wish us warm-blooded Floridians luck!

Cowboy/Western Trunk or Treat

This year my church did a big Fall Festival. It was awesome! There was a bounce house, hay rides, a bake sale & contest, food, games, & trunk or treat.

Along with contributing to the bake sale, we decorated our car for trunk or treat.

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We dressed Cupcake as a cow for her first Halloween! I bought her pants online, her daddy made the onesie with some iron-on paper, & I made her headband from a dog costume. Semi-homemade Halloween costumes for the win!

Naturally, we had to be a cowgirl & cowboy to accompany Cupcake.1509387295928.jpg

The trunk decoration was fairly simple.

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A big toy horse, cardboard ‘fence’, some rope, & a blue sheet as the backdrop.

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Cupcake was really the star of the show. Everyone got a kick out of the baby cow in the (play)pen! We had other toy farm animals in there, too.

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For a little bit she was even in the trunk, too! It was a windy day, but there was not a cloud in sight & the sun was beating down. How crazy is it that Tropical Storm Felipe had passed really close to us just the night before?

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I hand painted this ring toss game to go along with our trunk, but it was too windy to play. Also, I think my pegs were too short, which made the game super hard. Lesson learned!

We all had fun passing out candy & checking out everyone’s costumes. Cupcake loved all of the attention she was getting. Once the trunk or treat portion of the festival was over, we checked out the rest. It was an amazing production! Over 1,000 people attended throughout the day.

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I’m very proud to say that the pumpkin chocolate swirl cake with pumpkin spice buttercream I entered into the baking contest won 3rd place!

It was a great day!

It’s Not ‘Goodbye’, It’s ‘See You Later’

Last Sunday was bittersweet.

It was Cupcake’s baptism, but it was also the last day we would see her godparents for several months.

Our best friends & our sweet goddaughter have moved to North Carolina.

Hubby & I knew this day would come. We knew that David would be looking for a job out of Florida after he got his PhD. We knew that all this time since his graduation last year was ‘bonus’.

It doesn’t mean we miss them any less!

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I’m so glad we are each other’s daughter’s godparents. Now we’re family!

To ease their long drive from South Florida to North Carolina (in two separate cars, I might add), I made them a little going away present.

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That way they could stop for coffee & snacks along the way.

Also, who doesn’t love a good pun or two?

I’m so happy for my friends. They are closer to their families & their careers are advancing. It’s almost hard to be sad for me when I’m excited for them!

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I know our girls (& future kids!) will still be close. Thankfully they moved somewhere that will be really nice to vacation in!

So it’s not ‘goodbye’, it’s ‘see you later’. We are looking in to plane tickets for next year 🙂

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I already see how much my goddaughter is enjoying the mountain air!

Wedding Shadow Box

A few weekends ago I finally got around to making the last of my post-wedding crafts.

Shortly after our wedding last December, I bought a shadow box for wedding memories. I knew I wanted to display our guest book records along with it – more on that later.

Wedding Shadow Box - Mrs. Dessert Monster

So, I got to work on my shadow box on this free Saturday I had. It was a wonderful Saturday, one that had absolutely no plans or schedules. My husband & I got to stay home all day. We did some stuff around the house. I did some crafty things. We watched college football. We grilled up some steaks for dinner. I baked brownies for dessert. It was very relaxing & much needed.

I had been saving extras of all of my wedding stationery, ornament favors, & cake decorations for this shadow box. I also saved my bouquet – no fancy preservation or anything. My mom grabbed it for me the day of the wedding & it has been sitting in a mason jar on my vanity for months, drying nicely.

Wedding Shadow Box - Mrs. Dessert Monster

Obviously it isn’t as bright & vibrant as when the flowers were alive, but it still looked pretty good.

Red Bouquet - Mrs. Dessert Monster

I didn’t want to use the entire bouquet, just one or two of each flower. So I disassembled the bouquet & made my own little mini arrangement before using the original ribbon to wrap it up.

Wedding Shadow Box - Mrs. Dessert Monster

Stanley kitty was hanging out with me while I assembled everything.

Wedding Shadow Box - Mrs. Dessert Monster

I love how it turned out!

Red & Cream Music Themed Wedding Stationery

As soon as we got engaged in March & set the date for December, I knew I was going to do a lot of stuff myself for the wedding. I really do enjoy crafting, and also I can be a little bit of a control freak. I won’t guarantee that I saved a ton of money, but I did get exactly what I wanted, designed by me, made to my specifications. These projects were time consuming! And time is money, friends.

Save the Dates

From the very beginning of our engagement we decided on a Christmas-y Music themed wedding. We met in high school marching band & both remain pretty band nerd-ish (we play hand bells at our church). I saw the idea for save the date calendar stickers before online, & I think mine came out pretty good!

Red Cream Music Save the Date

Invitations

I probably did save quite a bit of money on my invitations. The secret is that I cut almost all my own paper. I originally bought an invitation kit from Michael’s that included the RSVP cards. I didn’t like the invitation but I did like the RSVP cards so I used those. Then I bought 8.5 x 11 cream card stock, as well as sheet music & red card stock 12 x 12 in bulk (watching for sales & 50% off coupons at Michael’s) & spent hours with a paper cutter watching Gilmore Girls & cutting paper. I only cut myself once during the entire process!

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I took the advise of a lot of DIY invitation blogs/forums I read & chose my envelopes first, then decided what size I wanted the invitation to be. I read several horror stories where brides made these beautiful invitations that were not a ‘standard’ size & then their enveloped cost a fortune or didn’t fit properly.

In my invitation suite I included invitation (7×5), reception card (4.5×5.75), RSVP card & envelope (5.5×4.25), map/directions card(3.5×5), & accommodations/website card(3.5×5).

Red Cream Sheet Music Wedding Invitation

Then all of these inserts were wrapped together with a belly band.

Red Cream Sheet Music Belly Band Wedding Invitation

I designed & printed everything myself, including the envelopes. There are tutorials online for doing mail merges & how to print on envelopes. I lined the envelopes with the music paper. This worked out well for me since I bought square flap envelopes – I just had to cut the sheet music up into squares. Had they been the pointed/European style envelopes I don’t think I would have put myself through the trouble.

I had help assembling the invitations. After I cut everything, my mom, mother in law, sister in law, and BFOTB (best friend of the bride – a la Sookie from Gilmore Girls) came over for an assembly party.IMG_20140913_193131

Programs

The last thing I printed for the wedding were the programs. I bought a bi-fold program kit from Michael’s & designed them similarly to how I did the invitations. I was very pleased with how they turned out.

Red Cream Music Wedding Programs


This was A LOT of work, but it’s a once in a lifetime experience. It made the wedding planning experience more ‘mine’, & I thoroughly enjoyed it!

100 Days of Marriage

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Today is our 100th day as husband & wife!

Somehow I got the idea that this should be celebrated & starting brain storming on exactly how I wanted to do this. So I came up with the idea of writing 100 things I love about my husband & surprising him.

I figured that if I couldn’t come up with 100 things I love about him, I was in trouble.

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I’m not saying I immediately sat down & scribbled 100 things off of the top of my head like it was easy. It took me weeks to fill up the 100 sheet notebook I bought.

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I actually learned a lot over the past couple of weeks. I started observing my husband so that I could adequately describe all of the little quirks and nuances I love about him. I know I love my husband entirely, but spelling out all of those little things wasn’t as obvious as I originally thought. So I found myself studying him closely as I filled up this notebook, unbeknownst to him. I actually though of several more things I could have written once I was done, which is wonderful.

Turns out I really do love him, like, A LOT.

We are going to 100 Montaditos tonight to celebrate We were going to go, but our local one closed down! We had tacos instead 🙂

I almost spoiled the surprise about a week ago when he told me he had trumpet practice for Easter on the 30th & I reacted in a way that made him ask me if I had plans. I forgot that the plans were only in my head! I spent the next 5 minutes giggling & trying to get him to drop the subject. I wanted to surprise him and do something nice for him. I wanted to put in all this effort for him & show him how much he means to me without him doing anything in return.

The best part about this notebook, though, is that if I ever doubt our marriage I can go back & read what I wrote in my own words about the man I married. If troubled times hit us & I waver, I will have a reminder of 100 reasons to hang on tight (there are many, many more than that).

We had a great morning looking through the notebook together. I loved watching his face light up as he was reading it; I could tell he was really touched. I married an amazing man ❤