DIY Mood Lighting-In Under ONE Minute!

 

When I bought this night-light lamp about 4 years ago for the kids room, I always bought colored bulbs in yellow or orange for it. Those bulbs added a warm and cozy mood to the room. As the years went by I realized that they were not always so easy to find and they can get pretty pricey. 

Recently, the bulb blew and I asked hubby to pick up a new one at the local hardware store. Not knowing that I needed a warm and cozy bulb, (of course) he bought a bright, (brighter than the sun) LED bulb. He said they were energy efficient so I didn't bother to have him return it. For about a week or so we had to place a sheet over the lamp to dim it's glare. It was so bright I was afraid it would wake the kids from their sleep. 

I realized I had these awesome paints in my craft bin. This was exactly what I needed to solve my issue. This stuff is great on glass, ceramic and tiles. You can find them at Michaels craft stores. 

NOTE: Since this is an LED bulb, it is ok to paint because it does not drive heat like regular bulbs do. Please DO NOT paint regular bulbs. Be sure to only use glass paint.

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DIY Ring: Great Holiday Gift Idea

Love DIY jewelry? So do I. I featured a few holiday jewelry crafts before and I get great responses from them so I decided to do another one. This is a very simple tutorial but it has a great impact as a final piece.

Things you will need:

1. Silver or gold shiny trimmings from the fabric or craft store
2. Needle nose pliers or anything to pinch a curve in the wire
3. Galvanized thin wire

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CUTEST Snowball Decor: A Fun Kiddie Craft!

Looking for a cool kid craft to entertain your little ones? We've been facing some serious cold weather lately, so our weekends are mostly spent indoors doing lots of reading, playtime and of course, crafts. Today we made a snowball family to display for Christmas. It's super inexpensive and so much fun for the kids to be creative. At first, I wanted to cover the foam balls in white, clear glitter but I realized how sparkly they were as is. I saved my glitter! They looked like crushed ice snow cones.  

Things you will need:

1. Different sized foam craft balls from the craft store
2. Googly eyes
3. Mini twigs
4. Felt sheets for scarves
5. Scissor

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Safe Play Toddler Christmas Tree

If you have small children, you kinda know what it is like putting up a Christmas tree in your home. It becomes a challenge to keep your most precious ornaments safe from curious little fingers. Our babies are now almost 3 and 4 years old but we have had many ornaments broken to pieces in the past years. They are only materialistic things I know, but some can break and hurt them. Last year I sat with our youngest son in front of our tree for almost an hour guiding his little hands carefully over the fragile ornaments. That was my way of getting him over his curiosities for each ornament. The more you prevent them from going anywhere near the tree or touching anything on it, the more it becomes a fascination to them. It's the whole forbidden fruit thing ya' know? 

Anyway, I saw a few posts online that featured Christmas felt trees that are placed on the wall. The ornaments are made from felt also and they are attached with velcro. They can be removed and attached all day long. It is a way to keep young kids away from the big tree and all it's precious, heirloom ornaments. I think it is the cutest idea ever. I figured I wanted to make that for the kids this year also but I wanted to use an actual tree instead. An artificial one that is. I saw a very cute one at a nearby discount store for $5.99 Not bad I thought. It came in white or green...

I wanted to use a small sized version of our big tree just so that they would get used to an actual tree-like structure. I even bought miniature gift boxes to place under it on Christmas morning.

 I was supposed to set it up and place it in their room for an early morning surprise but the kids found the boxed tree in my room way before I had a chance to hide it. I tried to show them how to set it up but they wanted to take over. So, I let them...

I let them use the safe, plastic ornaments. It's genius. Looks like the real thing but they are virtually indestructible. Each had a wide enough string loop for little hands to hang and unhang. Remove and replace etc.

I think they were pretty proud of it. They demanded more and more ornaments...

This lasted HOURS...

They napped...

They awoke and went straight to the tree.

When they tugged too hard and the tree falls, I no longer have to panic thinking something would break...

How cute.

Hang NEW little toys on the tree on Christmas morning for them to find. They would love it!

Enjoy! 

Please leave me your wonderful comments and questions...

Have a safe and happy holiday season all!

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DIY Holiday String Lights

Hey all. I am in full swing of all things Christmas and Holiday'ish. I have been working on all Holiday crafts. It's the best time of the year! I get all cozy and creative with just about anything. I made these strings lights for our dining room table. Check out the ones I made a few years ago-String Lights.

Things you will need:

1. White tissue paper of coffee filters
2. Battery operated LED string lights
3. Scissor

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Fun LED Christmas Night Lights!

PLEASE NOTE: Only use LED lights for this. LED lights do not get hot or give off any type of heat. Especially when placed in a plastic bowl. The use of non LED lights may become a fire hazard.

For some reason I am very exited about Christmas this year. The kids are at an age where they are really looking forward to it. I dug trough my Christmas storage in the attic and found lots of things that I forgot I even had. It's amazing how only a year passes and we forget what we have stored away. I found these fun colorful string lights that I have not used in a few years. I still love the old school colorful lights. It brings back so many memories from my childhood.

Anyway, while the kids were sleeping today, I placed the string lights in a deep clear Plastic bowl. I didn't even bother to untangle them. Just stuff em in there and leave a portion out (enough to reach the outlet). You can leave as is or place the lid on the bowl and turn over. When the kids woke up they were very excited to see their new night light...it's a really simple thing to do but these kids get excited about anything shiny or anything that lights up! 

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Budget Friendly Christmas Decor

Like making cone trees? I can never get tired of seeing them. They are so expensive looking but so inexpensive to make. These two cone trees cost me nothing to make. I had everything I needed right at home. 

Things you will need:

1. 8.5x11 inch printer paper
2. Used tissue gift paper
3. Scotch tape
4. Elmer's School glue

I was inspired by these trees from potterybarn.com. Aren't they adorable? I love walking into that store and feeling like I can make almost anything in there. Hah, well except for the furniture...

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Best Guacamole. Ever...

Hello all. I just wanted to share a quick recipe with you all. My all time, favorite thing in the entire world to eat. Guacamole. I learned how to make this about ten years ago while visiting a cute, little latin restaurant in Queens, New York. Hubby (boyfriend at the time) and I watched the waiter/chef prepare this amazing appetizer at our table. I insisted that he explained all the sprinkles and dashes of this and that as he went along. From then on, I was known to make a pretty mean guacamole. It's a simple yet super tasty concoction I must say...Here's how.

My Recipe

1. Three ripe Haas avocados
2. Two plum tomatoes
3. Two or Three jalapeno peppers
4. One large tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves and stems
5. One teaspoon red onion
6. One teaspoon olive oil
7. One teaspoon dried oregano
8. Half teaspoon sea salt
9. One lime, juiced

Start by slicing your avocado vertically until your knife hits the seed inside. Then rotate the fruit until you have sliced it all around...

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Never Buy Organic Scallions Again...

This past summer, I started incorporating more and more organic produce/vegetables in my diet. One of those are scallions. I use a lot of scallions. I use it in scrambled eggs, soups, fried rice, sautés, mashed potatoes, sandwiches...you name it. It is used for it's amazing flavor and also for garnishing your dishes beautifully. I found myself buying this green onion almost every week or so. Usually, to save time, I would buy a good amount of it. Dice it up and freeze it-- but of course, nothing beats having it fresh. I certainly couldn't garnish my meals with frozen scallions...

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DIY Framed Silhouettes in 5 Minutes Tops!!

Love doing funky silhouettes of the kids? I sure do. I recently did a more advanced version of it in Adobe Illustrator. This powerful software allows you to do traces of photos that are then turned into vector art as shown above...I will explain all the photos shown by detail. This takes about 5 minutes tops. I promise. 

Open Adobe Illustrator (I'm using the CS5 Version). Go to the window tab and select tools. You should then see the long tool box on the left (below). Click on the arrow on the left (black arrow) and click the image with it. 

See my little RED arrows throughout the tutorial. Take notice that the frame selection around the image looks different with the white arrow and the black arrow.

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DIY Photo shoot: Use Nature's Backdrop

Just spent the most amazing day with the kids-It was such a beautiful autumn day...I took them trick or treating at the children's museum and boy did they have a blast. Just as we were leaving the museum, I spotted an office building that had the prettiest heap of colorful leaves. We pulled over and had the kids play with the leaves. I remember doing the same thing as a kid in Queens, NY.

My little son took his bag and sat quietly under a tree with his treats (background). I just kept snapping photos while they played (or sat). I love natural, non posed photos. Especially with children being...children.

Get out there and use nature as your backdrop. Sometimes it's prettier than going to a studio. Cheaper too! Be sure to get the most out of daylight. It's the BEST light to shoot in. 

Below is a photo from an iPhone my hubby took while I was snapping the kids. You don't always need a big fancy camera to get great photos. You can use your simple point and shoot camera or camera phone and still get an awesome photo. Daylight, again, is key. 

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FUNNY Marshmallow Teeth Jacko-Lanterns

This has got to be the most easiest and effective craft ever...I didn't plan on making this a craft for the blog but it turned out so cute and it was soooo easy to do. This was actually the very first time I have ever carved a real pumpkin. Ever. I was surprised at how easy it was. I always feared the mess and the pain it would cause my wrists while cutting the features out because I suffer from pain and numbness in my wrists. I purposely bought an older, stale pumpkin just so that it would be easier to carve out. Ha...It worked! Go ahead and carve out your features and any design you want. The kids had fun watching me make a silly, happy face pumpkin.

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DIY Transform Tea Cup with Baking Clay ~ Fun Craft Project!

Ever wonder what you can do to upcycle those old, mis-matched tea cups? Below is a teacup that was once part of a 16 piece dish set. It was our very first dish set as a married couple and it kinda hurt to just toss it away. It was the only item left out of the entire set so I decided to keep it. The cup is very small so I don't even use it since all of our new cups are much larger and white.

Below, is a photo of the tea cup before it's transformation...Let me show you how to make it into a charming little teapot planter (above).

Things you will need:

1. Old teacup
2. Baking or air dry clay (I used Super Sculpey  baking clay)
3. Oven

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Our Adorable PUMPKIN Family!

I couldn't resist. I love putting googly eyes on everything and this was just another opportunity! I also wanted to add ears and feet to our lovely pumpkin family. I choose cute little pumpkins that represented us in size order.

Things you will need:

1. Little pumpkins of different sizes
2. Baby carrots
3. Toothpicks

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CraftyMoods BEST Halloween Decor & Costume Ideas

SPOOKY DIY Ghosts for Halloween...

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DIY Sparkly Holiday Earrings

Hello! I just wanted to share a quick fashion trick that I did for an upcoming party. I have a pretty tan dress with hints of gold and I wanted to accessorize it with the perfect gold hoop earrings. I have tons of faded jewelry that I absolutely love and can't seem to throw away...I hate when they live such a short golden or silver life! Here is what I did to fix one pair...

Below are the before and after versions.

Things you will need:

1. Shiny trimmings or strands of sequins
2. Gold or silver jewelry wires (thread also works)
3. Faded hoops

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"NEAT" Way to Store Hair Tools!

Hello all. You would never know what is hidden behind this sink on the other side of it (above). I have to give credit to my hubby for this one. He noticed the mess my hair tools and his hair trimmers were making. Wires and cords were everywhere, tangled, and in a complete disarray. He attached a few curved screws into our sink vanity and saved the day. Now, passing by or walking into our bathroom, you would not see the mess that was once there. Instead of putting away the curling irons, hair dryers, trimmers and flat irons every time we used it, it is hung neatly for quick, easy access. Believe me this saves me so much time!

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Pottery Barn Knock-Off: Spooky Halloween Branches

Hello everyone, I wanted to share my weekend project with you. I fell in LOVE with these pottery barn aspen branches! They are so SPOOKY!! As you can see they are no longer available online but no worries...you can make them yourself! All you need is a branch from your backyard, white spray paint and a black garbage bag. Yes, here's how...

Grab a store bought branch or one from the yard and spray paint it white.

Cut up a large, black garbage bag as shown below. This bag was folded in 4 and cut into 3 inch strips...

Fold over the 3 inch strips to create more layers as shown.

Cut a leaf pattern out with the base of the leaf on the folds...

Cut out more leaves if you have space on top also...

They should look like this - if it's not perfect thats OK!

Don't they look like mustaches?

I ended up using the smaller leaves more (left) They hung better on the branches...Use the smaller ones on the top/tip of branches and larger ones towards the bottom.

Tie the leaves around the branch and pull into a TIGHT knot. Then squeeze to fold over as shown...

Looks like spooky leaves to me!

You can tie the leaves unevenly around the stems. This way it creates two different size leaves. It's more realistic...

And there you go...your very own EASY to make, spooky branches. Just in time for those halloween parties and entry way decor.

Have a Safe and Happy Halloween everyone! 

Check out my other project SPOOKY DIY GHOST!

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