What you will need:
*3 Pieces of large,white poster board
*Sturdy sissors
*Glue
*Red , White and Blue construction paper
*White/Silver glitter pens
*Ruler
*Stapler
*Stretch String

Here’s what to do:

*Draw large triangles on a piece of the poster board. The base of the triangle should be about 15inches, and the sides should measure about 8inches.

*Cut out the triangles
*Staple the triangles into a cone shape. These will be your hats.
*Cut Red and white strips of construction paper. These need to be about 3/4 of an inch long.
*Cut a blue square measuring 1sq. in. out of the blue construction paper
*Glue the blue square to the top of the hat, and glue the paper around the hat forming a flag. Trim any excess paper.
*Draw small stars on the blue square with the white or silver glitter pen.
*Add a drop of glue to an inside area of the hat at the base and affix a piece of stretch string.
*Straight across from the first drop of glue, drop a second and affix the other side of the string.

These party hats will add a personal touch to any independence celebration you may have. An additional idea would be to create the hats out of poster board, affix the string, and have your guests decorate them themselves.

Here’s what you need:
*Cardboard Toilet Paper Tubes
*Red, White and Blue Construction Paper
*Glue
*Scissors
*String/Twine
*White/Silver Glitter Glue Pen
*Assortment of small candies

Here’s what to do:

*Cut strips of red construction paper. You will need about 5 strips for each cardboard toilet paper roll tube.
*Cover the toilet paper roll tubes in white paper. Trim excess off.
*Cut a 1”X1” square of blue construction paper, and affix it to an edge of the tube. Make sure an edge of the square and one of the edges of the tube line up.
*Glue on the red strips of construction paper so it looks like a flag is wrapped around the tube. Trim any excess paper.
*Draw tiny stars on the blue construction paper with the White or Silver glitter glue pen.
*Measure the top and bottom of the tube and cut out a circle of white construction paper for each end.
*Glue the bottom circle onto the top of the tube, but don’t affix the top circle yet.
*Insert small candies into the tube
*Glue the top circle onto the tube, to keep the candies inside.
*Cut a bit of string or twine and glue it to the top circle.

Now you have firecracker party favors to give to your guest at your next 4th of July Celebration Bash!

Here’s what you need:

*Wooden, unfinished heart-shaped box
*Paint and paint brush
*3D sticker
*Old newspaper

Here’s what to do:

*Lay out the old newspapers on a flat, hard surface
*Paint the heart-shaped box the color you have chosen, and let dry
*Apply a second coat of paint, and let dry
*Affix the 3D sticker to the top of the box
*Give the gift to the one you love

If you’d like, fill the gift box with candies or treasures that you know your loved one will truly enjoy. Then watch as their eyes light up as they realize that they received two gifts in one!

Nothing says “I love you” more than a gift that you have made yourself. These types of gifts really show the person you love how much you truly care about them because you took the time to create their gift yourself.

There are lots of things the can and should be included in this special scrapbook. Things like ultrasound photos, hand and foot print pages, hospital bracelets and crib cards, lots of pictures from the hospital stay, cards and print outs of emails that you received before and after the baby was born, poems that you have written or that remind you of your sweetie, letters written to your little one, pictures of things that were done (and eaten) while you were pregnant, baby shower pictures and mementos, and photos of you in your maternity clothes before and after the baby. These are just ideas to help you get started. You can add or subtract to this list as you see fit. Many kits are dedicated to baby scrap booking, or you can printout layouts and designs from online. Either way, you are creating this scrapbook, and you should create it the way you want it.

Creating a baby scrapbook rather than purchasing a baby book makes things a bit more personalized. The baby books that are bought in stores are a bit boring, and very impersonal. This way, you can share your memories of the little one with the world, in your personalized style.

International Scrapbooking Association

1. Find a box, any size of a box, and tape the ends of it shut.
2. Wrap the box up with wrapping paper to suit the occasion, and tie a ribbon around it.
3. Attach this poem:

I took an ordinary box
As empty as can be
I filled it with a special gift
And wrapped it carefully.
But please don’t ever open it
Just leave the ribbon tied
And hold it tightly near your heart
Because my love for you is inside!

The tag for the poem can be decorated, and cut out into any shape you like. Use glitter and markers to decorate the poem tag, as well as the text of the poem. Attach the tag to the gift box using ribbon.

Father’s everywhere will hold this gift close to their heart forever, as they will know that it is a gift of your love. This craft is easy for children of all ages, and will get smiles from dads across the board.

An easy Father’s Day craft is actually a two-for-one deal. Buy a white t-shirt and write dad a special message on it to show the world just how one of a kind he is. Decorate the shirt with paint/stamps however you choose, and write out a message or quote on the front/back like “Number 1 Dad” or “The ABC’s of Fatherhood”. If using the latter, use each letter of the alphabet in a positive word about your dad. When you are finished put the shirt on a hanger, and put it out to dry.

You may be asking yourself “Where’s the second part of this gift?” Well, as the children are creating their unique gifts, video tape them working on their creations. Wrap the video up and give it to the dad as well. Not only is it a gift to the greatest dad on earth, but also memories the entire family will cherish forever.

Holidays don’t have to be expensive on the pocketbook. There are many easy crafts that children and adults of all ages can do to show just how much they care. The best gifts always come from the heart.

First of all, what do you want the invitations to look like? If you already know the colors of your wedding, you could plan a color scheme very easily. What graphics are you going to put on your invitations? Lots of sites online offer free wedding clip art, and some of the graphics are stunning! Just do searches for wedding clip art, and you will have everything you need.

Do you want your invitations to be loaded with content or simple? Well, this all depends on your personal preference. You don’t want your invitations to be overloaded so your recipients only see the graphics, and can’t find the information that they really need. However, you just don’t want a plain white card with bland text and no graphics, as your recipients will think that you don’t really care about the look of your invitations. It’s all up to you to find a happy medium.

Wedding invitations don’t have to be made on the computer either. Yes, it would be cheaper and quicker, but if you’re crafty, you can use materials found at a local craft store. You may want to dress the invitations up in lace or other material to give a nice presentation to your invitation. Whichever way you choose, your guests will appreciate that you took the time and effort to create your own invitations rather then purchasing them from a printing company.

Girl’s casual dresses can easily be “dressed up” with an extra piece of fabric. Cut and measure the fabric as you would with a normal dress. Then, cut out the dress pattern from lace panel. Stitch the two pieces of fabric together with their coordinating pieces, and construct the dress as usual.

Children can easily mix up the front and back of sewn clothing. An easy way to counter-act this is to cut a small square of fabric, around 1in X 1in and sew it to the back of garment. Sew it on the back of the neck of a shirt or the back waistline of pants. This will save time when children dress themselves as they will not have to guess which way to put on their clothing.

To expand a child’s wardrobe, pick fabric and prints that go well with each other. By mixing and matching fabric that correspond with each other, the child can mix and match their clothes and the parents won’t have to worry about their child putting together some odd outfits.

Children will always be picky creatures. When sewing for your child, take them to the store with you when you buy fabric, and let them pick out the fabrics that they would like to wear. Letting your children in on the creation process will make them feel like they are actually helping create something of their own, and they will be more likely to wear the clothes that are made for them.

Start slow when planning and operating your business. It usually takes a year or two to generate any type of profit. I am not saying that you won’t make a profit in the first few days of selling. It just takes a little longer to generate larger profits as more and more people become aware of your products over time. When profits are generated, most of those hard earned dollars should be put back into the business in order to grow and expand. The more variety of products you have, the more profit you will make.

Research your vending areas. When you start selling crafts, location is key. If you are selling at local craft shows and fairs, research the daily attendance to these events. The bigger the event, the more people that attend the event. The more people that attend the event means more exposure for you and your products.

While it may be tempting to loan some funds in order to start up your crafting business, I highly discourage it. Never go into debt for your business, as this is a very bad, but very common, business practice. What happens if you take out a loan for supplies to make your products, but those products don’t sell as well as you hoped. Now you have bills to pay, and no money to pay them.

The craft business can be a very fulfilling and lucrative business, if enough planning is involved. The best thing for crafting artists to do is write down a business plan, re-read it over and over again until it is perfect, and then follow through with that plan. A lot of business owners fail because they forget to look back upon their business plan and follow through with their ideas. Also, always expand upon your business plan, as you will want your business to grow. In business, there is always risk involved, but a good business plan will help minimize those risks.

I don’t know about this one…what do you think?

There are many chores dreaded by most members of any household.
In fact, probably every household chore is held in dread by
someone in every family. It does seem, however, that some
chores, for whatever reason, always rank near the bottom of the
preference list. These highly dreaded chores are the ones that
people will do almost anything to trade with someone else or
get out of all together. Silly deals are made so that one
person will clean another’s room for a month in order to get
out of cleaning the toilet one time. For some reason, doing the
dishes seems to be one of the things most families hate to do.

Perhaps people hate doing dishes because it comes at the end of
a relaxing meal or a stressful day, or maybe people would rather
choose another chore because of the way dishes make your hands
shrivel like dried fruits. In any case, I have never quite
understood why people dispise doing dishes so much.

If you think about it, doing dishes is much easier than many
other household chores. It is not nearly as hard as pushing a
vacuum or scrubbing a toilet and it requires absolutely none of
the mental focus that dusting around tiny, breakable figurines
takes. So why not choose doing the dishes and let your other
family members fight over the really hard chores?

Doing dishes is also a great way to relax and unwind after a
hard day. Put on some good jazz music, light a few candles and
enjoy the peace and quiet of doing the dishes in a space all to
yourself. Take time to think back on the events of the day and
reflect upon areas that your life that are going well.

Especially if you are married, offering to do the dishes after
dinner can be a great way to spend a little time with your
spouse and connect after a busy day that took you in separate
directions. Take that time away from the kids each day and be
intentional with asking questions and caring about the details
of each other’s lives that can so easily be left unshared.
You’ll be amazed at what doing dishes will add to your marriage
if you make it a special time each day.

So the next time your family gets into a debate about what
chores each person will do, surprise everyone by volunteering
to do the dishes. They will be glad you did and you will too
when you discover how easy and relaxing time spent doing dishes
really is.

Julee Mitchelsin has fallen in love with
doing dishes and is a strong advocate of others learning to
love dishes as well. Sound crazy? Read more at
http://www.dishestimes.info