Mom's Christmas Place Mats - DIY

 

I helped my mom make these adorable Christmas themed place mats with my nephew today! They were quick, easy and fun for all of us!

The items you need are:

Place mats (a lighter color works best)

Brown paint

Green paint

Red paint

Black sharpie or black paint

Red Sharpie (optional)

A hand and a foot!

First, you take the place mat, and lay them out. Paint the foot being used green, and place it towards the bottom left corner. Then take the hand being used, paint it brown and place it just above and to the right of the foot print. Then repeat that step two more times. (Or even more if you'd like!)

Next, take the red paint and just use a small amount. Dip in a thumb and a finger tip to make the Santa in the sleigh! Let the paint dry.

After the paint is dry, we then used a black sharpie to draw in the detailing of the sleigh and reindeer. Ropes, antlers, the bottom of the sleigh, and of course Santa's face!

My mom used a red sharpie to write Merry Christmas, however you can also use some red paint if you want to! When it was all done she wrote his name and the year on it, so that they will remember forever.

  

My momma made these as a surprise gift for my nephews parents. This is a fun project to do with kids of all ages! It is also a great way to watch the kids hands and feet grow over the years!

If you make a Christmas place mat of your own please remember to share them in the comments below or even tag #CVA on Instagram! I would love to see your creations! 

Sharpie Art

Ever since I can Remember, I have been in love with Sharpies. They can write on anything and it lasts almost forever! They are a little pricey however... but sometimes you can get very lucky and find them on sale! That was my case with the packs above. I was not planning on buying four packs of Sharpies.. however.. I walked in the store.. (CVS) and saw that they were on sale so I just couldn't help myself!

I decided to start a new project with these... I took a plain white piece of computer paper... I drew shapes and lines all over it. Creating somewhat of a homemade coloring page. Then I simply just started coloring each shape a different color. Hopping all over the page until it was completed!

Here is my first and most favorite of them all!

I call it "Life" ...

If you look at it just at a glance... it looks like a crazy blob of random colors and shapes... ( which it sort of is.. HA! ) But if you look at it closely.. you will see different parts of a picture... a beautiful part of life. 

That is how I see life... it is crazy and hectic at times but when you sit back and look at your life.. it is beautiful.

What do you see?

If you make a masterpiece of your own.. please share it! All you need are markers ( or even crayons! ) and a little inspiration! ♥

Present Idea - DIY Date jar

 Every year I buy James gifts, but because I love crafting so much, I also try to make him a few things as well. Here is one gift I have made him this year... A DATE JAR! 

Even though we always find adventures and we ALWAYS have fun together, I think that sometimes it will be fun and spontaneous to just pick a date out of a jar and do it! Sounds like a great time, right?!

I had a clear vase with a lid in my candy buffet box from the wedding, so I washed it out and cleaned it up, then I just used black scrap-booking stickers to label it "DaTe JaR" So easy! (and cute!)

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a pack of Popsicle sticks (the wider ones) and I just used a black sharpie to write a date idea on each one. I believe there are about 150-200 sticks and dates in this jar.

It only took me about a half hour to think up and write out each date idea and then just drop the stick into the jar. 

 

Some of the Date Ideas I used are:

- Coffee Date -Sushi Date - She picks a movie -He picks a movie -Hold hands and walk around a mall - Netflix night -Camp out in the backyard -Day long road trip - Rollerblading -  Fishing - Cuddle Date! - Chinese Food - Chili's - Leon's - Movies - and many many more! If you need some more ideas, feel free to ask and I will share more! 

I have this wrapped up and under our Christmas tree waiting for him!

This is also a great Valentines Day present, or anniversary gift that is easy and it doesn't cost a lot of money!

DAY 12: Homemade Christmas Cards!

Hello! 

Christmas is almost here... scary as that sounds (because it came up so fast!) But because its the truth, I decided this year to make all of my Christmas cards that I give away and send out! I made four different types and just had fun with them really!! 

The first type that I made was family cards. I didn't make them for ALL of the families that I know but for a few. These ones were the most work and took the longest. I used white buttons for the snowmen, red Santa hat stickers for the boys, and made cute little bows for the female snowmen out of gold wired ribbon. I used blue construction paper for the background and added some snowflakes. I drew the arms with a black sharpie, that I also wrote the names out with. 

The second and third types of cards that I made this year were so EASY!! and they took the least amount of time. The button ornaments! For some cards I used felt buttons and some I used real buttons, in the colors red and green of course! I glued them onto white card stock, then took my trusty black sharpie and drew the string, cap, and bow! SO EASY! (and cute too!)

The last type of Christmas card that I made this year was inspired by my lovely husband James. I had a vision, and he helped me find all the supplies, and he made my idea even better! (hes amazing!) I used colored brads, (I think they look like mini ornaments) I used the brads to pin some thin green ribbon in a zigzag shape onto some white card stock and it looked like a tree. So I stuck on a glittery gold foam star sticker and drew a tree truck with a brown sharpie! (finally my brown sharpie got used! Poor guy rarely gets used for anything!)

For all of the cards I made this year, I used Christmas themed and colored scrapbook paper as the cards and bought a few packs of plain white envelopes. Here is a picture of each type of card I made:

 

Here are a few of the ways that I addressed the envelopes. I understand that the pictures are not top quality, and they look dumb. But I took them with my cellphone, and I had to blur out some names and addresses. These pictures are just to give you an example of how I wrote out names.

For couples, I did a curved line across the entire envelope. Then wrote their names on top of the line, and their address below.

I put our return address in the bottom left corner.

For some families I did a large first initial, then wrote their names in black as you can see below.

Then their address below that, and our return address in the top left corner.

For husband and wives, I wrote the last name big in red and green and "Mr + Mrs {name} small above that, then simply just wrote the address below.

Here is a clumped up sum of some of the different styles of addressing envelopes that I did.

 

These cards and envelopes were a TON of fun! And they were so easy and quick! I always have a blast crafting up a fun card, and sharing them with the people I love.

Christmas is on its way!

♥Renae