5th Anniversary Gift- DIY Wine Box and Custom Label

I truly enjoy the tradition of the wedding gift and the 5th anniversary is the wood anniversary.  For some reason it was incredibly difficult for me to come up with something that I thought would really wow my husband.  He is a chef and is really smart about wine and what foods you're supposed to eat with certain types of wine.  Thus, I decided I wanted to make him a wine box.  I found the perfect inspiration from Something Turquoise, the only difference is she turned her box into a wedding ceremony box to be opened at a later anniversary.  On my box I simply added two hinges to the side, which you can slightly see in the picture on the left.  In addition, I spray painted my letters a darker color, which wasn't intentional, I wanted them light, like the box at the inspiration website, but I totally didn't stick my letter stickers on hard enough and it bled through.  I sprayed the hinges the same color as the letters so everything looked put together better.

So, once the box was created I needed something to put into it.  I didn't want to just give him an empty box, seemed like a bit of a let down, here's a wine box, but no wine.  The wine bottle needed to be as special as the box, so I decided to make my own label.  To get the winery label off I simply put the bottle in a sink full of water mixed with dish soap.  After about 20 minutes the label came off easy with the swipe of my sponge.  

After, I designed a label using Photoshop.  I ended up printing them on Avery Weatherproof Package Labels, the size that has two per page 5 1/2 x 8 1/2.  I added our wedding date and part of the lyrics of our song.

I think it turned out pretty well and he was super surprised.  

Remember to check out Something Turquoise for instructions on creating the box. They are super detailed with specific color stain used, and a visual on the sized of wood needed, which I love.

Rainy Day Fun

Here is a great way to pass the time when suddenly you find yourself with a bored kid or two.  I don't remember where I saw this first, but I have been using this to make mother's day gifts since I was in 6th grade, now my daughter does it.  Here is what you will need:

• Regular glue
• tissue paper
• empty glass jar
• cup of water
• paint brushes
• things to decorate the jars with

Normally I stick to a more matching color pallet, but my daughter wanted to use all the paper.

Start by mixing the glue in with the water.  The color of the water you see above is what you want to get to.

Next you simply tear a piece of the tissue paper off, it doesn't matter how big, small, or shape, whatever you want.

Dip the paper in the glue and spread it onto the jar, however you want.

Continue until you cover the entire jar.  Wait to dry, which shouldn't take too long.  Now, you're ready to decorate.  Here are some examples of what we came up with, the jars on the left and right side are ones I made my mother when I was younger.  This website has some great ideas for what you can do with this.  I used a Newman's Pasta Sauca jar, but using a mason jar would be way cool too.

What do you like to do when it's yucky out?  Any tips for us?

Diaper Cake

My gift to the couple for the baby shower was a diaper cake.  I had a lot of fun making this and wanted to share it.  Here is what I used for my diaper cake:

• Around 80 diapers, depends on how many goodies you stuff in the cake
• Also, a baby wont wear newborns for very long, so it would be good to get different sizes
• 80 rubber bands
• 3 giant rubber bands
• Ribbon
• Cardboard tube (I used a wrapping paper tube)
• Wrapping paper, I used white
• scissors
• Goodies to put in the cake-Here is what I used
• Baby shampoo
• Baby powder
• Baby body wash
• Stuffed animals
• Pacifier
• Baby bib
• Baby clothes
• Pack of wipes

The first part takes the longest, what you'll need to do is wrap all of your diapers a tie them with the rubberbands.  I usually get the white ones, but I thought the green would look nice with the jungle theme of my cake.

Next cut two circles out of cardboard.  This can be measured in different ways, I have heard using a dinner plate for the top layer nad a salad plate for the second tier works, unfortunatly my dinner plates are square, so I ended up using sewing hoops.

In the middle of the circles trace your tube, like I traced the end of the wrapping paper tube.  This way you are sure the tube will fit.

Next, I used my wrapping paper around the layers.  This is actually the top side, it looks a little gross, but it will be covered with diapers and goodies, so it will not be seen.

Put the tube through the holes you cut out, tape the bottom board to the tube.  After, I taped the leaves onto the bottom of the layers, to add to the jungle theme.  You can add any kind of decoration, depending on the theme.  Next, you start to put the diapers on.  A trick I use it to cut a long ribbon and wrap it around the bottom tube, don't tie it, just grip it.  Then, you can easily slide the diapers in, loosening it when you run out of room. 

When you think you have enough, you'll know because it will reach the edge of the board, you can tie the ribbon into a knot.  If it doesn't look great it's fine, the ribbon will cover it.  Now, you'll be able to take out the diapers and replace them with goodies.  Make sure you only do one diaper at a time. 

Now, push down the second tier and add the diapers.  After you finish that one, do the third tier the same.  Since it's such a small tier, I don't bother cutting out a cardboard tier for it.  Once you finish adding the diapers and slipping in your goodies, you're ready to decorate.  I added ribbons and stuffed animals!  I also like to do the fake flowers, big swirly ribbons all over the tiers. 

Front of Diaper Cake

Back of Diaper Cake

Lemon Sugar Scrub

I hosted a baby shower today and for game prizes I found these great instructions for Lemon Sugar Scrub at Under the Table Dreaming

The ingredients are simple:

• Sugar
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Lemon Juice (if you don't want a lemon scent then a scented oil.)

You start by mixing 2 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of the olive oil, and 4 Tbsp of the lemon juice, or the scented oil.  Mix them together until it becomes like a grainy paste.

 Pack it into jars, my picture shows the small jars, but this will be enough to make 12 oz of sugar scrub.  These are 8 oz jars, I just made a couple batches of it for the baby shower.  Whatever jars you use, just make sure the lid tightens tight, you do not want this stuff spilling.

The theme of the shower was jungle, so I put this fabric on the lemon scented scrubs, and I also did a lavender scented scrub, which had an animal print to it.  I have also seen people wrap a ribbon around the top, also adding a spoon for scooping.

Hand Prints

I wanted to make the grandparents something special for their Christmas presents, and I found the perfect hand print instructions at Homemade Grits and decided to try it.  So, here is my successful attempt at the same.

So the ingredients include:

4 cups of flour

1cup salt

1 1/2 cups water

Preheat the oven at 300ºF

You will knead the dough for 15-20 minutes

I rolled the dough out and had the kids put their hand prints one by one. After each print I cut the hand prints out.  I didn't have a cookie cutter, so I used the lid to the coffee as a template and then cut the circle with a knife.

The next step is to make a hole in one spot big enough for ribbon to go through. I used an unsharpened pencil to make the hole, twirl it around so it goes all the way through.  It's important to poke little holes throughout the circle, because this will make sure bubbles don't happen.  Just lightly put pokes in the dough, they will go away when baking.  I also put their names and the year on before I put them in with a toothpick. 

Her directions say to spray pam, but I found it left the bottoms a little damper when they finished, so I would suggest tin foil.  Depending how thick you make the dough will determine how long you leave them in the oven. The websites direction say 20 minutes, but I ended up having to leave them in for 2 hours.  I must have made them super thick.  Mine were about 1 centimeter thick.  When they come out they should look browned.  If they aren't hard when you pull them out, don't worry because they will harden when they cool.

I took them outside and spray painted them gold.

After they dried I used my glue gun to stick felt on the backs.  I knew my mom would want to hang them on the wall, and this would help keep the wall from being marked up and keep the hand print from breaking or cracking.

 Here is the final product.  I wrapped these up in tissue paper and placed them in a pretty cookie tin.  These went over very well, I think we even got some tears!