blog diy – Kaella

World’s Greatest Farter Father’s Day Gag Gift Tutorial

June 5, 2018 by kaella, posted in Uncategorized

In our family, we love to pick on each other and have a good laugh.We love to give gag gifts and funny cards. Every family should laugh together and have some fun because life is to short to always be serious.

In typical Dad fashion, my husband spends lots of time in the bathroom which is usually when I need to pee. Doug loves to gross Danyella out by farting next to her and then blame it on her. So she decided she wanted to create a gag gift for him for Father’s Day.

After doing some searching on gag gifts, Danyella decided she wanted to give him a roll of toilet paper and write her jokes to him on the paper. Well you can’t just write on toilet paper. So we came up with the idea of taking one joke and painting it on the toilet paper.

I am sure you will get different results with different toilet paper with different thickness and ply. We used what we had on hand which is soft, thick, double ply toilet paper and acrylic paint. She had to go over the words twice to get the letters to stand out. The black seemed to be thinner which was hard when it soaked into the toilet paper faster than the blue.

If you are looking for a quick and easy gag gift for father’s day or a birthday all you need is: Toilet Paper and Acrylic Paint!

Paint your message on the toilet paper, let it dry, wrap it up and give your gift!

3 Milk Carton Kids Crafts for the Spring

May 22, 2018 by kaella, posted in Uncategorized

Spring is in full bloom in our area which means flowers, birds and planning for the Summer. It also means rain and lots of it! How do you keep kids occupied when they can’t go outside and play? Find a fun craft to keep them occupied… here are 3 different ideas that relate to the Spring season and upcoming Summer season.

Now, if you are like me, you are the type that hates to just throw things away or just recycle them but everything can be repurposed to work as something different if you think outside the box. One thing I hold onto is milk cartons because I can use them for so many different things. Something I love to use them for are rainy day crafts to keep Danyella occupied when it is raining out.

*Please note that these crafts need parental/adult supervision and help because it requires a knife or scissors to complete.

Idea Number 1: Milk Carton Planter

Paint the carton with acrylic paint. You may need to have the kids let a coat of paint dry and paint again. Once the paint is dry, the parent/adult can cut the top out of one side of the carton. Add soil and seeds/seedlings. The kids can watch the plants grow in their new planter!

Idea Number 2: Milk Carton Bird Feeder

Paint the carton with acrylic paint. You may need to have the kids let a coat of paint dry and paint again. Once the paint is dry, the parent/adult can cut the top out of two or all four sides of the carton. Put a hole on the opposite side of top opening. Put a string through both holes and tie the ends together. Fill the bottom with bird seed. Hand the bird feeder on a favorite tree or porch to watch the birds eat.

Idea Number 3: Milk Carton Bank

Paint the carton with acyrilic paint. You may need to have the kids let a coat of paint dry and paint again. Once the paint is dry, the parent/adult can cut a slot on the top of one of the sides of the carton. The coins can go in the slot and the bills in the top hole! This is a project that the kids can add stickers or other decorations as well!

Gardening Essentials to Buy at the Dollar Store

April 29, 2018April 29, 2018 by kaella, posted in Couponing and Saving

When you are living on a budget but want to expand your garden, then you need to go to the Dollar Store! Over the past couple of years, I have seen the Dollar Store expand their garden supplies from tiny pots and watering cans to decent sized pots, watering cans with the longer spout, seeds, tools, gloves and even small bags of soil! This is where I needed to be shopping to get my garden going for this year.

The must have that I picked up first was the watering can with the narrow spout. I prefer this kind of spout for my small indoor pots because I can control the water flow. To buy this type at Walmart or Lowe’s will run you at least $10.

Next, I picked up some pots for my seedlings. The ones I picked up are 6″ pots which after I am done with transplanting my seedlings to bigger pots, I will use these pots to transplant my herbs. There were bigger pots that I plan on picking up this week once I have my garden plans set. At Home Depot, a 6″ pot starts at $2 so you can basically get one free at the Dollar Store.

Then, I found a hanging basket and liner which will be great for the wild flower seeds that I purchased as well. I love the look of a hanging baskets on porches to bring out the colors of a house. What I don’t like is the price at Walmart starting at $8 for a small one. I can’t wait to watch my flowers bloom in my new hanging basket!

Other things that you can find to get your garden started is gardening tools like a shovel and rake, gardening gloves and kneeling pads. I have all of these from previous years of gardening so I didn’t need to buy them this year but it is a great resource for someone just starting on their green thumb journey or someone needing to replace their tools.

Last week, I talked about the variety of seeds that you can buy at the dollar store. Out of convenience, I picked up seed packets for carrots and lettuce at Walmart which were $1.49 and $1.69 each so I could have picked up a third packet if I bought them at the Dollar Store! If you want to read my post about starting from seeds here is the post: Plant Seeds to Save The Earth

The only thing that I did not purchase at the Dollar Store was my soil. Since I will be doing my gardening from pots, I prefer to use Miracle Grow potting soil because it has the added nutrients my plants will need.

I can’t wait to continue to journal my garden as the season continues! Fill me in on some of your gardening tips below!

St. Patrick’s Day Quote Sharpie Mug DIY

February 27, 2018February 27, 2018 by kaella, posted in Uncategorized

One of my favorite holidays is St. Patty’s Day because there is so much more behind the day besides green beer and dressing in green. This day began as a celebration of Christianity arriving in Ireland with a day of feast. Since the first St. Patty’s Day, this holiday has become one of the most celebrated around the world. It is celebrating the luck of the Irish, the good fortune life has brought into our lives and looking forward to the greatness the future holds for us.

Now, I am not Irish or at least that I know of but my 3 older children are Irish on their father’s side so I have embraced celebrating this holiday for them. I love to make brisket and cabbage with soda bread. I am not a beer drinker but I will do enjoy drinking some Bailey’s Irish Cream in my coffee. Of course, we dress in green and decorate the house in a fun Irish way with shamrocks and rainbows.

I LOVE and collect fun coffee mugs but haven’t found one for my St. Patty’s “special” coffee or one that was affordable (sorry I won’t pay $10-$20 for a cool mug unless its keeping my coffee hot for hours). I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own Irish inspired mug.

Something else I love is quotes which includes Irish Blessings. I have some Irish Blessings that are displayed in my house year round because they have a special meaning that I cherish. These blessings are so beautiful and inspiring that I wanted one on a mug for the special day for my special coffee.

I grabbed my sharpie markers and bought an affordable, white mug from Walmart to do this Sharpie Irish Mug project. A lot of people prefer to use Sharpie oil-based Paint Markers but regular markers will work just as well and less of a mess for kids to make a mug of their own. The difference in the permanent marker and paint marker is you will want hand wash the permanant marker whereas you can put the paint marker mug in the dishwasher,

I chose “May Your Day Be Touched With A Bit of Irish Luck”which started on one end of the mug and wrapped to the other end. Then I added a shamrock, a rainbow and a pot of gold. I wish y green sharpie would have been brighter but it was still cute.

This is the tricky part… for permanent markers set your mug on a cookie sheet in the oven THEN turn the oven to 350 degrees. Once the oven reaches 350 degrees, bake the mug for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, turn the oven off but DO NOT take the mug out of the oven until it is completely cooled so that the mug doesn’t crack from cooling to fast. I usually keep the mug in the oven for at least an hour. For Paint markers, you will want to do the same instructions EXCEPT the oven will be set to 250 degrees for 30-40 minutes depending on how thick you applied the paint.

Now its time to wash your mug, enjoy some special coffee and celebrate St. Patty’s Day!

Kids Tissue Paper Heart Craft

January 30, 2018 by kaella, posted in Handmade Gifts

Today’s Teach me Tuesday is for the kids but adults can have making these too. With Valentine’s Day only a couple weeks away, I wanted to do a cute craft that kids could make and give as a gift or use to decorate their room. Plus, after the baby shower I have a TON of tissue paper because I just can’t throw it away so I am recycling it.

Now depending on the age(s) of the child(ren) making this craft will determine how much help they will need from an adult. An adult will need to cut a heart shape from cardboard which I used an exacto knife to do. For younger kids, an adult will need to cut the tissue paper into small squares.

Supplies:

Heart shaped cardboard cutout, tissue paper squares 2″x2″s, Elmer’s liquid glue, paint brush and string or yarn.

Directions:

Cut the heart out of the cardboard and put a hole at the top to put the string through later.

Cut the tissue paper into 2″x 2″ squares.

With the pain brush put a little bit of glue at a time on the heart so it doesn’t dry to fast.

Take the tissue square and squish it to create the texture and put it on the glue.

Keep doing these 2 steps until the entire heart is filled but make sure you don’t cover the hole at the top.

Once dry, thread the string through the hole and tie into a loop.

Now the heart is ready to be a gift or decoration.

This is a great way to let kids get creative with colors and make a handmade item.

Turning an Old Sweater into New Mittens

January 23, 2018January 23, 2018 by kaella, posted in Uncategorized

Continuing our series on turning an old sweater into something new, this week I took the same sweater from last week and created new mittens. The cowl neck of the sweater made the perfect pair of mittens. I could have done a little decorating with the yarn but I decided to keep these simple. All you need is an old sweater (the tighter the stitch the less unraveling when you cut), sharpie marker, scissors, yarn and a yarn needle. Optional: pins to keep the 2 layers together.

Place the sweater on a table and optionally pin the sweater sides together to keep it in place when you trace. Trace your hands on the sweater with the sharpie. If you want a looser fit for the mittens then trace bigger then the hand.

2. Cut out the mittens through both sides of the thickness

3. Take the sides and put the 2 right sides together so the sem will be on the inside of the mitten when you turn it inside out. Take a long tail of yarn and sew around the mittens. At the thumb and curves, I double stitched for better re-enforcement when they are being used.

4. Turn the mittens inside out. You can either decorate them with a yarn bow or other things or put them on and use your new mittens!

Upcycle Old Sweaters into New Slippers

January 16, 2018January 16, 2018 by kaella, posted in Uncategorized

Anyone who wears sweaters, has old sweaters that are out of shape, dull in color or out of style. I love to take old items that most people throw away and make it something new again. For the next 2 Teach Me Tuesday posts, I will be showing you how to upcycle an old sweater into something new just using the sweater, scissors, yarn and a yarn needle!

Today we are upcycling an old sweater into new slippers which are cozy and cute! My best tip is to use a machine knit sweater because they don’t unravel as easily as a handmade sweater.

Step 1: Cut the sleeves off of the sweater.

Step 2: Take a pair of shoes or flip flops to cut the sweater to create the soles for the slippers. You can use a marker to trace and cut the soles as well.

Step 3: Line up the sole to the cut end of the sleeve. I did pin them together just to make it easier for me. You might need to stretch the sleeve end to fit the sole.

Step 4: Cut a large length of yarn and sew the sole and sleeve together. I used a stitch that wrapped the yarn across the edge of the two pieces by threading the yarn through the yarn loop. You can use any stitch that is easy for you. For added strength, you can stitch 2 rounds.

Step 5: this is optional! I added a weave of yarn at the top of the sleeve so I can tighten the top if I want to wear them different ways.

Now I have a new pair of slippers for this snowy night we are going to have in New Jersey! Next week, I will be taking more of the same sweater to make mittens so be sure to stay tuned!

Easy DIY Handmade Candle Gifts

December 5, 2017 by kaella, posted in Uncategorized

Originally, when I purchased this candle making hit from Hobby Lobby, all I wanted it for was the pot to melt my lotion pops and lip balms. The kit was $23 regular price but of course I brought out the 40% coupon and got the kit for $14. Me being me, I saved the candle making contents for another day to experiment. As the holidays are fast approaching and my budget getting smaller, I pulled the candle making contents out to check out what I had to work with. The contents included palm wax, a color/fragrance wax bar, thermometer, 9 wicks and 3 little tins to make the candles. Well how do you include 9 wicks and 3 tins?

I headed to my favorite cheap crafting solution store… The Dollar Store! I found a set of 3 little plastic dishes that look like cupcake wrappers. I bought 3 sets of 3 to go with the 9 wicks. Now my total was $17 for 9 gifts minus the wrapping or bags they will go in.

Now the kit did originally come with instructions which of course I couldn’t find because I was looking for them. So I just kinda winged this part as a learning process….

First, I warmed the water in my pot and placed the pot from the kit in the water to create a double boiler. While the water and pots were warming, I placed the wicks inside the containers.

Second, I placed about half of the bag of wax into the pot and let it melt down. I did stir occasionally using a silicone spatula that I use for the body products. You can use a spoon that you don’t mind not using for food again.

Third, I added half of the color/fragrance bar and allowed it to melt down. Continue to stir once in a while to get an even coloring. My coloring was a dark green and the fragrance was a sweet floral scent which I really do like. While that was melting I placed chopsticks (pencils would work as well) next to the wicks to help keep them in place when I go to pour.

Fourth, after allowing the wax to cool for a few minutes (Not to long or it will begin to solidify), I poured the wax into the containers. I did this slowly so that the wicks would get shifted and the wax was even. I didn’t realize that one of the containers had a crack in the side so a little wax did come out until the wax started to solidify.

It took about an hour for the candles to cool down but I think they are very cute and easy to make for a gift. Now to figure out what to wrap them in??

Here is a link the kit on Amazon which is more expensive than the Hobby Lobby price but still a great way to save some money by making multiple gifts to give at one time.

Candle Making Kit

DIY Dollar Store Advent Calendar

November 28, 2017 by kaella, posted in Uncategorized

I grew up enjoying the chocolate filled advent calendars which my kids and have adopted the advent calendar tradition. These advent calendars are hot commodities in my area and sell out very quickly so we have learned to be on the hunt for them. Last week, Danyella and I went into Hobby Lobby and found the calendars…

They wanted $8 for an advent calendar that was smaller than the ones we have bought in the past. No way was I going to pay $8 for cheap chocolate in a cardboard box! That is just absurd inflation when I could make a better one for the same price or cheaper.

So, I headed to my favorite place for cheap crafts…. The Dollar Store! I purchased snowflake printed zip bags, small bags of Danyella’s favorite candies, a pair of socks (she loves penguins), lipsmackers, holiday bracelets and holiday erasers. Plus I had some holiday kisses to use as well. All of these would be fun treats for her to open once a day and better than the overpriced advent calendar. I already had leftover wrapping paper, tape and a cardboard box to cut up and I printed the numbers through my Google Docs account. So I spent a total of $7 plus tax for our DIY advent calendar!

Materials:

wrapping paper

cardboard box (cut into the size/shape you desire)

tape (I preferred double-sided but you can use regular clear tape)

printed numbers 1-24

fun goodies for 24 days

zip lock baggies

Directions:

Create 1-24 and cut each number out than tape them to the bags
Fill the bags with your goodies
Wrap the piece of cardboard with the wrapping paper
Create row with the tape to stick the bags (I created 3 rows starting with 24 at the top and ending with 1)
Press the baggies onto the tape for the kids to peel off each day
Place your advent calendar on display and start on December 1st

DIY Painted Tumbler Gift Tutorial

November 21, 2017 by kaella, posted in DIY

With the holidays and this baby fast approaching, I have been trying to figure out a cute gift to give my high risk nurses. I wanted this gift to be extra special because they have been so amazing to myself and Baby Evelynne throughout my entire pregnancy. I don’t know what I would do without them.

I have thought about lots of different gifts but I wanted it to be something that they could use the whole year. At the dollar store, I found cute sparkly plastic tumblers and came up with the idea of painting something nurse related on the tumbler then fill the tumbler with another handmade gift.

I found a cute stethoscope picture, printed it out as my guide and painted it on the tumbler. I filled the cup with a messy bun hat that I made for the upcoming, cold Winter season. Super Easy and you can pick any quote or design to make it unique to the person you are making a gift for.

Supplies:

Plastic or Glass Tumbler

Acrylic Paint

Mod Podge or another sealant

Paint Brush

Design you want to paint

Directions:

Clean the tumbler and throughly dry
Place the design inside the cup to follow as a guide
Paint the design. I did 3 layers to build up the color but allow the paint to dry between layers.
Place 2 coats of sealant (Mod Podge) over your design. I used a gloss sealant to create a shiny design.
Fill your tumbler with candy or another special gift.

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