These clips were so super easy to make I will probably be making at least 20 more, you know, just in case.

I started by downloading this design from the Silhouette Design Store. Isn’t is cute? You can make any design into a planner clip or bookmark, this one just happened to be designed for this very purpose!

I opened up the design in Silhouette Studio and ungrouped the images. I decided that I didn’t need the clip to be two sided so I deleted all the extra pieces. However you will need a 2nd base layer to sandwich the paper clip in, so don’t delete that piece. If you are using a different design, just simply make a copy of your base layer and make a mirror image of it so you have a back piece to use to enclose the paper clip!

Now, you don’t have to use scraps for this project. You can cut each layer separately, loading and unloading your cutting mat and placing and replacing each individual color of paper. However, I like to simplify my cutting as much as possible. So if you’d like to experiment with using scraps for a project here’s how you do it (or at least how I do it).

After determining the size of everything I want to cut I cut out my scrap paper to have about a half inch of allowance, width and height. I then arrange my different paper onto my cutting mat like so – making sure I use the grid as my guide.

Once my paper is all in place I go back to Silhouette Studio and place all of my designs to line up with where I have placed my paper scraps. To make this easier I like to color all my layers in Silhouette Studio the same (roughly) color as the paper I am going to cut it out on. It helps me organize the different layers. You have to make sure your grid is turned on so that you know where to place your cuts.

Next, send that baby to your machine and watch it go! I only took me 1 min and 28 seconds from start to finish to get all of these piece cut! It would have taken a lot longer if I had done one layer at a time!

Ok, so now that we’ve cut all of our layers out in record time we’re ready to assemble the clips. You’ll need some sort of adhesive for the paper layers and hot glue for the enclosing of the paper clip. By the way, a cordless hot glue gun is an AMAZING thing to have!

Line up your layers, use the adhesive runner to stick them all together. Then, apply a nice amount of glue on the back of your shape and use that share base layer you cut to sandwich the paper clip between. Give it about a minute to dry and you are ready to clip away!!

Now I will always know exactly what week I am on in my May Designs meal planner. Which, by the way, is about the cutest thing ever (you can turn any of their designs into a meal planner)!

So what do you think? Are you ready to try cutting with scraps? You can use this same technique when you are cutting vinyl, too! Let me know if you have any questions!!

The post Planner Clips & Using Scraps w your Silhouette appeared first on Shes {kinda} Crafty.

Full disclosure: while I was not paid to host this party I was given product to demonstrate with and then keep. All opinions, however, are mine and mine alone.

Of course in order to have friends over for the first morning of winter vacation you have to have cupcakes. I took plain white frosted cupcakes from the store (Target) and spelled out the Ozobot logo with Wilton candies. They were a huge hit with the kids, needless to say. We also had donut holes and croissants along with juice and milk.

It’s amazing how something so small, that literally fits into the palm of your child’s hand, can be such a powerful, and fun, learning tool. Both of my girls attend a STEM magnet school so they were already exciting about coding when we first learned about Ozobots but trust me when I say that you need NO prior knowledge about robotics or coding to enjoy these little guys. I know that because although today’s generation may be knowledgable about what the word coding mean, I really didn’t have the first idea about it.

There are 3 different ways to play games with your Ozobot – Draw and Play, Print and Play, and Digital Play. The kids had a blast using markers and white paper to draw their own paths for the robots to follow. The look on their faces when the Ozobot would follow the turns or change colors like they had drawn was magical. It made them so much more interested in learning how the robot knew to do those things.

I had also printed out in advance several of the print and play games from the Ozobot website. It was hilarious to watch them use some of these games like a magic 8 ball. They were asking the Ozobot all sorts of silly questions and then letting it loose on the “maze” to see which path it would take to tell them the outcome.

When our time was up no one wanted to leave. One of the lucky ladies at the party got to take home her very own Ozobot, a very merry early Christmas gift! Luckily for everyone else at the party (and you, too) Ozobots can be purchased online on their website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Toys R Us.

If you have any questions about Ozobots please leave me a comment and I will reply as soon as possible. Learning how coding works is going to be just as important to today’s generation as learning how to simply use a computer was to mine and I am so excited that both of my girls already have a passion for it and that we’ve found a product that makes it so much fun.

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The creative possibilities with the Silhouette CAMEO® are endless. Here are just a few:

• Design your own custom apparel
• Personalize a party
• Give your home decor a signature look
• Build 3D prototypes
• Cut fabric and save time doing it
• Decorate with vinyl decals
• Construct a school project
• Create custom invitations
• Make a stencil
• Create unique stamps

Here are a couple of my favorite gifts I’ve made with my machine.

As you can see vinyl is my favorite medium but it’s definitely not the only one I use. Heat transfer is also loads of fun. I even made these hats for my entire family for a cruise we took this summer.

I also used paper and chipboard to create these really cute autograph books.

There are just a few, fun examples of projects you can design and cut with a Silhouette. So, what are you waiting for? Oh, a good deal on a machine and supplies?!? Well lucky for you I have that, too!

All deals will go live on Thursday, November 26, 2015 at 12 am MST (2 am for us East Coasters!)

Here are some of the great deals that will be available online at Silhouette America with the promo code: KINDA

– Free Shipping on order over $50.00 (contiguous US)

-40% off almost everything in the Silhouette America store

-20% off Silhouette Design Store Subscriptions (promo code: BLACK in the Silhouette Online Store)

– machine bundles as low as $99.00 including 

   *Silhouette Mint $99.99

   *Portrait & Mint $189.99

   *CAMEO $199.99

    *CAMEO & Portrait $289.99

 Lots more bundles featured on the site!  

Remember to use the promo code KINDA when checking out to get the special prices.

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There are really no rules for a Craft Kit birthday present but here are a few good ideas!

• “Wrap” your gift in a storage box where all the supplies can be contained. That way you aren’t adding to anyones mess! I used a scrapbook paper storage box that can often be found for half off at any craft store.
• Include the basics like scissors, a paper trimmer, or glue – depending on what type of crafts you have in your kit
• Go with a color theme to make completed projects coordinate.
• Keep the age/skill set of your recipient in mind – this is a birthday gift after all so you don’t want the projects to be too easy or too frustrating, just lots of fun!
• Include all the supplies that they will need to complete 2-3 finished items in your Craft Kit.

This Craft Kit Birthday Present was for a 9 year old girl who loves to craft. It included

Heidi Swapp Marquee letter
Scrapbook Paper
Ribbon
Stamps & Ink
Paper Punch
Heidi Swapp glitter tape
Glitter glue pens
Poms
Adhesive tape runner
Naked wood frames
Mod Podge
Foam brushes
Miscellaneous decor items
Sequins & glitter

By scouring the dollar sections, clearance aisle, and using coupons and sales to your benefit you can put together a very nice and full Craft Kit birthday present on any budget.

I also had to take my Silhouette CAMEO out and add a bit of personalization to the scrapbook paper box. I didn’t even both wrapping it!!

So next time you get a birthday party invitation don’t run straight to the toy aisle try out the craft aisle instead!

The post Craft Kit Birthday Present appeared first on Shes {kinda} Crafty.

The stores are filled with school supplies, the sun is starting to set just a tab bit earlier, we are pretty much over the heat. Yup, sounds like fall, and school, are just around the corner! Not that you asked me, but I am ready for both already. How about you? To get you in the mood I have two fun things to share today. One is a really fun, and totally easy, DIY Mason Jar homework station and the other is information about Ball Brand Canning Jar’s International Can-It-Forward day that is happening this Saturday, August 1st!! Oh, and to make it even better, you can enter to win a free case of jars to make your own homework station or preserve your favorite summer garden treasures.

Brought to you by:

Supplies needed for your own Mason Jar Homework Station:

• Ball Brand Canning Jars (I used the new heritage collection jars in purple, swoon!)
• Puffy paint
• Lazy susan (optional)
• School supplies

Four east steps to making your own Mason Jar Homework Station:

1. Draw on your jars with your puffy paint
2. Let dry at least 4 hours
3. Throw school/homework supplies in jar, set on a lazy susan (or a condiment holder as I did)
4. Get to (home)work!

When is the last time you’ve used puffy paint? Puffy paint is awesome to use on glass, if you happen to make a mistake it wipes right off. Want to change your design after it’s dried? Just peel it off!! It’s perfect.

I went with really simple designs because I wanted to keep it fun and I am not an artist. However, you could always print out a design and put it inside the jar to trace.

By the way, pre-sharpened pencils are amazing! Also, keep reading to learn how you can win your own case of Ball Brand Canning Jars!!

On Saturday August 1st, Jarden Home Brands will host this year’s fifth annual Can-It-Forward Day, broadcast live online at FreshPreserving.com from 11AM – 4PM EST from the new state-of-the-art Jarden Home Brands headquarters in Fishers, Indiana. An event celebrating the joys of fresh preserving, Can-It-Forward Day encourages gardeners & food enthusiasts across the country to celebrate what “Made From Here” means to them by fresh preserving their favorite local ingredients in peak season. The webcast will have an integrated chat function where viewers can submit their home canning questions to be answered in real time. New this year, there will also be an exciting celebrity mason jar auction unveiled during the webcast!

DETAILS:

• Tune in to the live webcast of canning demonstrations from 11:00am – 4:00pm EST, featuring an integrated chat function to submit your home canning questions to be answered in real time. New this year, there will also be an exciting celebrity mason jar auction unveiled during the webcast!
• Share what Made From Here means to you by hosting a home canning party on Saturday, August 1!
• Share your home canning creations, tips and tricks via social media with the hashtag #canitforward.

You can also watch the live webcast right here on She’s Kinda Crafty!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This blog post was sponsored by Jarden Home Brands but all opinions are 100% authentic!!

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Oh, and you won’t believe how easy they are to make. We’re talking 5 minutes per bracelet! Double score.

Although the supplies are really simple it might take some searching around to find exactly what you want. Like I said, I ordered my beads from China through AliExpress (you can find pretty much anything there and most of it comes with free shipping, just be prepared to wait several weeks for your delivery). However, if you just want to make one or 2 bracelets you can find everything you need by searching acrylic beads on Etsy. The round ones I used were about 20mm size “gumball” beads and the Mickey shaped are 34mm acrylic beads. In recent months more large beads are becoming available in most craft stores and departments. Even Walmart has a good selection!

Supplies:

• Stretch Magic stretchy jewelry cord
• Beads
• Scissors
• Clear Nail Polish
• Bead Design Board (optional)

1) Measure your child’s wrist and add about an inch to account for the chunkiness of the beads – that’s how long you’ll need your finished design to be.

2) Line your beads up on your bead design board. For me this is the hardest part. Just keep playing with it until it looks good to you. This is where the circles in the bead design board come in handy. It’s nice to see the beads going around in a circle to get a better idea of how it will look while wearing.

3) Cut a length of stretch magic about 2 inches longer than your finished design.

4) String your beads in order.

5) Follow the directions on the back of the package to tie off your bracelet (you’ll need to tie 3 square knots, that’s it!)

6) Seal the knots with some clear nail polish and then cut the extra cord, I still like to leave about a 1/4″ inch cord.

That’s all you need to do! How simple is that?

It’s a good thing they are so easy and fast to make because you are going to get a LOT of requests once they see the first one.

Total arm candy, five year old style!!

I mean, the cutest, it’s just too much.

I know that these bracelets are going to be treasured for many years to come by my little ladies and I am pretty sure they will be packed in our suitcase come time for our cruise this summer.

In fact, they are so sparkly and adorable that they may even become part of future birthday and Christmas gifts for friends and family! Let’s face it, what girl doesn’t want a little sparkle arm candy?!?

The post DIY Disney Princess Inspired Bracelets appeared first on Shes {kinda} Crafty.

Just print out these free tags on white cardstock, cut them out with scissors or a paper punch and have your little darling sign their name on the back! It doesn’t get much easier than that and you KNOW it’s a gift that is going to be used.

I made these to be 2.5 inch squares, so make sure you tell Adobe not to resize the file when you are printing if you want them to be 2.5 inches. If you don’t mind that they are smaller (about 2.25 inches) then you can resize the page.

I hope you have a WAND-erful day!

The post End of Year Gifts with Free Printable Tag appeared first on Shes {kinda} Crafty.

As usually, I only got to about 2/3 of the fun things I had planned for the party, but that’s ok because everyone at the party, especially the birthday girl, had a wonderful time. Here are some of the precious pink and yellow details from the party. I didn’t even get to take out my camera until everyone had arrived so I got the few photos I could and moved onto hosting the party. By the way, have you ever had everyone arrive RIGHT ON TIME for a birthday party before? Yikes!

It all starts with an invitation right?

This is the invitation I designed for the party – simple and preppy, just like I like them!

It’s all fun and games until your “P” won’t stay inflated.

Store bought cake and homemade cupcakes. The yellow box from IKEA helped give my cake plate a boost.

As with every party this lovely cake came from my local Publix. It was a really big hit with everyone asking who made it.

Strawberry cupcakes in the cutest greaseproof liners! Topped with East Frost of course.

Did you know that Publix also makes petite fours…and they are AMAZING! I love that they added the pink and yellow P’s to them!

The day before the party we were shopping at Costco and they had this gorgeous floral arrangement in our colors!! I had to buy it because all parties need fresh flowers, right?

How cute is this lemonade stand?!? It was repaired and repainted from a friend’s carnival party. There were many last minute changes to how I originally wanted it to look but Mother Nature has her plans and we can only go with her flow.

These paper rosettes are a labor of love. LABOR being the key word!

Decorated sugar cookies are my weakness, and these did not disappoint in looks or taste!

Too pretty to eat….if they didn’t taste so good.

You can pretty much find anything on Amazon so when I saw Pink Lemonade Air Heads (my daughter’s favorite candy) I had to click purchase.

I have wanted a reason to purchase on the Heidi Swapp marquee letter kits since the day I first laid eyes on them. This will be added to her bedroom nightstand soon. (I love using party props as keepsakes in my kids’ bedroom!)

Chocolate lollipops are a must at all of our parties and they are always a hit (and always so easy to make)!

There is a reason I stick to my Silhouette machine for all lettering  but sometimes you just gotta do what’s fastest when it’s coming down to crunch time.

Happy 5th Birthday Piper! I am so happy to be your mom and can’t wait to do it all again in 2 years (we only do non-family birthday parties every other year)!

Vendor details:

Cookies: Flourish Sweet Shop

Greaseproof cupcake liner: Sweets & Treats Boutique

Cake, Petite Fours, Decorated Brownie Bites: Publix

Balloons: Northstar Balloons

Invitation, decor, photography: me

The post Pink Lemonade Party appeared first on Shes {kinda} Crafty.

If you have ever been to an American Girl store or just shopped online for one of their adorable dolls you are well aware of their pricing. That’s a nice way to say that they are on the pricey, ok, very pricey side of things. However, I thought that you do get a lot for your money at the bistro party. They have 2 different size parties at the Charlotte Bistro – 4 and under out in the main bistro or the deluxe party in the private room for up to 10. I decided on the deluxe party so that my daughter could have more than 1 friend.

The price for the party includes invitations (I designed my own but the ones they sent were really cute, much better than most places that include fill-in invitation), a full meal including appetizer and entree, personalized cake, ice cream, craft, games, and party favor bag for each girl.

Every guest is invited to bring their own American Girl doll but fear not, the bistro had plenty of dolls on hand to borrow so no one would feel left out during the party.

Each place setting includes a matching doll setting of a plate and mug, which you get to take home. The girls had plenty of giggles feeding their dolls while we decorated sparkly purple skirts for their dolls and waited for our food. Each girl got to order her own appetizer and entree – since it is a drop off party it would be recommended that you know if the girls have any allergies before their parent leaves. All the girls enjoyed their meal and felt really grown up and important making her own food decisions. It was cute to watch them and listen to them interact with each other.

While they were finishing up with their entrees the party hostess came in and played games with the girls. Hangman was their favorite. In fact, my daughter said it was her favorite part!

As you can see the room is ALL PINK so getting a great photo of the cute cake was a bit tough but as you can see the delicious cake that comes with the party is very nice and already included the correct number of candles.

After a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” the girls got to dig into their cake and ice cream and then we opened presents.

I wasn’t sure what the party favor bags would include when I signed up for the party so I ended up making these cute little mason jar favors with some nail polish, candy, and nail stickers. However, the included favors were very generous and I don’t think the girls cared too much about the mason jars! With our party each girl got to decorate their own skirt for their dolls and the favor bag included a doll t-shirt, doll party accessories, stickers, and a book. One of my daughter’s friends said, “This is the BEST birthday party I have EVER been to!” when she saw everything included in the favor bag.

I would say that the party was a huge success and I am glad that we did it. I didn’t know what to expect going in but I would say that we got what we paid for at American Girl – great service, excellent theming, and wonderful quality. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience for my daughter and will make for fabulous memories for years to come. Oh, and besides the mason jars, which weren’t needed, I put in ZERO effort for the party once invitations went out, which to me was well worth it!

The post American Girl Bistro Party Charlotte appeared first on Shes {kinda} Crafty.

I want to share with you today a fun and easy DIY teacher appreciation gift that not only is beautiful but something you kids can actually help you make! In my experience the kids are so much more excited to present a gift that they helped make than something their mom is forcing them to hand over. For this project I let my daughter pick out the color flowers we were going to make – pink and green – her teacher’s favorite colors!

Supplies:

• Bloom printable (12×16 or 8×10)
• White canvas
• Spray Adhesive
• Tissue Paper
• Brads
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Glue

1. Print out your Bloom printable sign. I have a large format printer so I printed it at home but if you want the 12×16 size Costco prints 12×16 photo enlargements for $2.99. You can also print out the 8×10 at home, you’ll just want to size your tissue paper flowers accordingly.

2. Spray the spray adhesive on the back of your print out, focusing on the corners and apply it to your canvas. I’ve seen great priced canvas at Walmart lately, as well as weekly sales at the craft stores.

3. Fold your tissue paper, 2 or 3 sheets stacked together, into 2 and 3 inch squares.

4. Punch or poke a hole in the center of your square and insert a brad.

5. Cut your square into a circle.

6. Separate each layer of tissue paper by pulling straight up and crumpling into a cylinder. Repeat until all layers are separated and “crumply.” This is the part your kids will love!

7. Fluff your layers out to behold your beautiful flower creation.

8. Glue flowers to your canvas.

I really love the multi-color flowers, they are so much fun to make.

At the last minute I decided to add some “stems” to our canvas with a metallic marker and before handing it to her teacher I will have my daughter write her name on the bottom.

If you are looking for more great (and fast) Teacher Appreciation craft ideas please make sure you check out all the amazing ideas being shared during this round of Craft Lightning!

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