Fall is here in full force with the grand finale of Thanksgiving only one week away.  As usual, I have been pinning my little heart out, finding fun ideas & recipes for the big turkey day.  I can’t believe how fast the season is flying by.

I kept coming across pins for “gratitude trees”.  I knew I had to make some of our own.  We had some aspen branches in the garage.  We use them for our aspen wood branch place card holders.  Our supplier for the branches, Natures All LLC, has an amazing selection of wood branches freshly cut from their forest in Wisconsin.  So beautiful.  The quality is outstanding.

My lumberjack made a larger wood tote from the usual ones he bangs out in the garage and this tote is currently on loan from the man cave.  With the branches standing straight up, it really does remind me of an aspen tree forest.

I printed the leaves out on my Cricut Explore, just “sliced” a circle in the Design Space software to make it a tag.  I recently got a booklet of glitter cardstock from Joann’s Fabrics & Crafts with one of their amazing coupons.  With a 60% off coupon they recently had, I purchased a whole 25 sheets of glitter cardstock for only $8!  Wow!  Those can range up to $1 per sheet sometimes! I even have enough left for the unicorn invitations I plan on making for Lela’s birthday party next month.  Major score.

Lela and I sat down to contemplate what we are grateful for.  She started talking about how she was thankful for Santa Claus, candy, and “everything”.  What can I say, the kid knows what’s up.

We couldn’t have a crafting night without some sort of treat!  I found these “Candy Pretzel Turkey Bites” on the blog Suburban Simplicity.  Such an amazing blog.    Erin, mother of six children, runs the blog and it has DIY projects, crafts and recipes I could search through for hours.

I did the recipe a bit different from Suburban Simplicity, but it worked too!   I didn’t have parchment paper, so I went on the cheap and just went without.  I also had a horrible time finding candy corn.  Walgreens?  A no-go.  Walmart?  Had to special order them and wait three days.  I eventually found some in the clearance section at CVS after calling in to inquiry about their inventory.  I actually asked CVS to put the candy corn on hold. (and they did!  Thank you CVS!)

When I walked in to pick up my candy corn, the clerk said “Ahhh, so you are the candy corn lady!”

I responded, “Yup!  That’s me!  The crazy candy corn lady!”  We both laughed.  The point of the story is try CVS if you don’t have any leftover candy corn from Halloween.

Ingredients

Pretzels, Candy Corn (CVS), Rolos, Reese’s Pieces

Wilton Candy Eyes  (available at Joann’s Crafts & Fabrics. Pick-up option available! Order online, pick up later. Perfect, don’t forget to check out the coupons!!!)

1.  Heat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. Place the pretzels knot side down.  Place the rolo in the middle of the pretzel.
3. Place in the oven for one minute.  Take out.
4. Put on the candy corn “feathers”, eyes, and reese’s pieces “nose”.
5. Flash freeze in your freezer for up to 15 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

If you liked this blog post, be sure to sign up for up for the email list to get updates on new DIY crafty videos and future giveaways for custom paper tags!

Happy crafting!

I am very pleased to announce that our little Etsy shop is now selling 100% painted wood signs.  We are still in the first phases of this new product and are currently taking custom requests!  Currently, we have this specific sign with any custom name available.  Would be great for any baby shower or little girl’s room.

If you would like to see a free proof of an idea that you may have, message me through Etsy, or if you don’t want to start an Etsy account, you can go to the listing here and click “ask a question” under the “add to cart” button.  

I am open to any and all ideas/sizes.  I think these could make great wooden signs for weddings too.  I’ve seen some great wooden signs, and the quality of this product is sure to be treasured for years.

Thank you so much for following my blog and I plan to post another video soon of some Thanksgiving treats for the holidays!  I’ve been pinning away and can’t wait to show you some easy, fun crafts I found for turkey day.

Do you love the bath bombs?  I do too!  But dang, they are expensive!  Save the money and make them yourself.  I recently fell in love with Fragrant Jewels, a company that makes bath bombs which include gorgeous rings, so after you take your luxurious bath, you have a new piece of jewelry.  I don’t know about you, but I think this is an amazing business idea.

After thinking about the Fragrant Jewel rings, I realized there are all sorts of fun objects that can be put into a bath bombs.  Shells.  Jewelry. Gems. I started my crafting obsession with soaps and bath bombs.  I came across CEO of Brambleberry, Anne-Marie Faiola website “Soap Queen” and briefly sold soap through another shop idea I had called “The Paper Crane Soap Company”. Looking back, the first item I ever sold on etsy was actually a trio of soaps.  If you are looking to start your own etsy business, soap is an excellent place to start.  With the amazing success of the handmade retail store LUSH, one can easily see this a great market.

In terms of presents & favors, my friends and family have always raved about the bath bombs I make.  With this bath bomb recipe, you can probably make about 4-6 bath bombs.  🙂  Perfect amount for your besties or bridesmaids.

Do you like the foiled tags from the video?  They are available through Amazon Prime.  If you have your event soon, you can get the tags to your door in 2-days.  Most of the ingredients for this are easy to find at local stores.  Citric acid is a little hard to find.  I usually buy mine from Brambleberry.  I have also been able to find these at hobby home brewing stores in town, they use it in the fermentation process.  But if you need them as fast as you need the foiled tags, I have also seen this good citric acid product available on Amazon Prime.

Another component of this recipe is that I actually use food coloring instead of a classic “LaBomb color”.  There are official bath bomb colors you can purchase from Brambleberry, which are great and work good.  However, I have found if you are in a bind, food coloring works just as good.  Plus, I love the color it leaves.  When I put these baths bombs in water, they gave the water a tropical ocean blue color to it.  (Sigghhhh.  Makes me want to take a bath now!)  They don’t dye the tub either.  Just drain the tub and it’s good as new.

So there you have it!  Let your friends know they are the bomb!  See the ingredients, video, and written description below.  Thank you for reading my blog! ❤

Ingredients:

1 cup citric acid

2 cups baking soda

Food coloring

Essential Oils

Witch Hazel (available in the aisles of Walmart, just be sure to fill it in an empty spray bottle.  You are going to want to spray it a bit, and then check the consistency, and then spray it again.)

Silicone Mold (I prefer silicone because it really is a perfect copy.  I’ve made some very intricate bath bomb designs, and when you use a silicone mold you can get an exact precision to the mold, so I highly recommend silicone molds when doing your bath bombs).

Shells (Any sort of fun item that won’t be damaged from a bath bomb and water is great to embed into your bath bombs.  Who doesn’t love a surprise?)

 

1.  Place 1 cup citric acid into a bowl.  Mix and sift until you can get all the clumps out.
2. Mix 2 cups of the baking soda with citric acid.  Sift and mix with hands again to get all the clumps out.
3. Mix the citric acid and baking soda until well incorporated.
4. Put in some drops of the food coloring.
5. Put in some drops of essential oils.
6. Mix until oils and food coloring are well incorporated.  Keep mixing the bath bomb mix until the food colorant starts to come through and change the whole color of the mix.
7.   Fill an empty spray bottle with witch hazel.  Spray mix with witch hazels.  In between sprays, mix and squeeze the bath bomb mix until you get a solid consistency to place into the molds.
8.  Once your bath bomb mix has reached a clumpy consistency, pack them into your silicone molds.
9. Let dry for 48 hours.
10. Package up and give to your besties!

Thank you for reading my post!  Please comment if you have any questions!  I monitor my blog frequently and would love to help you make your bath bombs. 🙂

 

S’more Alternatives

Want to have s’mores at your big day, but don’t have a venue that allows fires?  These s’more pops are incredibly easy to make and look great displayed on a Styrofoam stand covered in any sort of colored tissue paper you may want (I used pink tissue paper. 🙂 )

Almond bark is every baker’s best friend.  (I still get confused as to why they call it Almond Bark, it is chocolate, right?  Can anyone help me with this? lol)  I only recently discovered it after doing some Pioneer Woman recipes. (I am kind of in love with Ree. ❤ )  I learned this marshmallow pop recipe from her, and you can check out her original recipe here.  These marshmallow pops can really be decorated in any way you may want, maybe with mini m&ms, Oreo crumbs, or whatever additions that tickle your fancy.  Almond bark also comes in white & regular chocolate, so the color options are endless, something that comes in handy if you are a DIY bride looking for color options and fun favors.

Almond bark is so easy to use too.  You just put in the microwave, melt it in intervals of 30-60 seconds, stirring along the way to see that it doesn’t get burnt.  Once the almond bark is melted, the possibilities are endless.  After finishing these marshmallow pops, I used the rest of the chocolate to make chocolate dipped strawberries and graham crackers.  Yum.  These didn’t last long in  my house.  😀  They probably won’t last long at your wedding either.  😉

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

\Having so much fun getting orders together as we enter peak wedding season. Use coupon code 35OFFALLORDERS to get 35% off of your whole order until June 15th!  Customers have been loving the beer totes & the paper tags.  We’ve also introduced some custom matchboxes too.

Want to celebrate state love?  Check out my online shop, https://papercranewishes.patternbyetsy.com/  and if you find a product you like just click “ask a question” and I can send over some potential proofs for your big day.  🙂

Cash in on your wedding savings today until 6/15!

 

DIY Bird’s Nest Pendants are a great gift during the spring season.  Put it on a jump ring and string it on the favorite necklace of your choice. Subscribers to HandCrate get the materials to make the pendant in this month’s box.  🙂

I’ve changed the approach to the box as I’ve wanted to increase the value of the box without having to charge more.  I am now going to making a lot of fun craft projects and whatnot out of my own studio here, Paper Crane Wishes.  I am always to include other artists who may interested in marketing their product with tiny samples.  If you are interested always feel free to message me at handcrate@handcrate.com.

Here’s the video tutorial for the bird’s nest pendant, very excited to do more tutorials.  I am thinking a paper flower bouquet for mom next month.  🙂  Plus some special soap gems I will instagram later, because you know “mom rocks”.  🙂 🙂

PS, excuse my misspelling of “gauge”, just trying to get these YouTube videos and made this little typ0 after I uploaded

I get a lot of HandCrate subscribers asking what they can do with the washi tape that comes in every month’s box.    I thought it would be fun to do a weekly blog post about all the amazing projects a person can do with washi tape because there are a bundle.

I will keep posting ideas weekly to keep the creative juices flowing for my fellow craftys.

Thank you so much for reading this blog!  If you would like a seasonal washi tape sent to you monthly, along with all sorts of other fun handcrafted goodies made by the Paper Crane Wishes studio, sign up for HandCrate!   ❤ Amy

After some updates on our process for the glass bottle totes, we have relaunched our beer totes on etsy (sorry Amazon).  In the photo above, my trusty lumberjack (& husband, Paul) is making a wine tote in our garage.  He loves making them too.

We put this tote together over the weekend.  It looks so COOL!  We like how big the lettering looks on the totes, really gives it that fun “WOW” reaction.  Other fun ideas could be “BEST DAD EVER” or any fun inside joke really.

Before we took a break from making beer totes for six months, we also had come up with another product that works great for weddings, gifts, vineyard birthday parties, anything wine-related really.  At the moment, I only have this design available for the wine totes, but soon we will be offering more custom options (just have to experiment with the vinyl a bit).   But table numbers would be so much fun!  Plus, yours truly could make some amazing custom wine bottle labels.

A lot of woodworking this weekend!  Interested in a custom tote? Message us on etsy and we will make it happen!

Thanks for following the blog!

❤

Amy

My little one just turned three years old, so we have been celebrating mermaid-style.

This little cake topper was great, I put in the top of my cupcake stand.  🙂  Made from glitter cardstock.  It’s times like this that I am happy I subscribe to the Cricut image library.  I only use public-domain fonts/images for my shop work, and so it’s fun to finally dive into these exciting designs during big events.

You can see the cake topper a bit there – – everything was mermaid themed: cupcakes, wrapping paper, food.  Even all the presents.  It was just a small gathering with Grandma & Grandpa, but what a festivity! (and Willie too, my doggie, he did a great photo-bomb in the back 😀 <3)

Here’s an image of a garland from the Cricut image library.  So intricate.  I love all the 3d effects the designs have, with different layers of paper.

They even had a design for this cute little crown.  My mermaid princess proudly wore her seashell tiara.  I also made some foiled signs.  This one says “fish food”, which is just a bowl of chocolate/pretzel goldfish.

I also put out a teapot filled with “ocean water”.  This one was just water dyed blue, but if I had enough time, I would recommend going and getting blue Kool-Aid or another blue liquid.  But still very fun!

So there’s how we celebrated mermaid-style?  What sort of birthday events have your organized for your families?  Love to hear all the wonderful ideas!

thanks for reading!

❤

Amy