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DIY Owls – Toilet Paper Roll Crafts

Amy — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:00:01 +0000

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Okay, so this is why I love Pinterest so much. I find things like these owls made out of toilet paper rolls! Can you believe it?

This fun idea came from Decoideas a blog based out of Spain. My kids are going to think I’m so weird when I start doodling on toilet paper rolls! ha.

Come follow me on Pinterest and see what other cool ideas I’ve found.

Be sure to join Amy on Facebook for more fun!
Also, be sure to check out Printables by Amy! Find easy and affordable digital files to download and print at home or at your local quick print shop. Each product is custom designed by Amy, a professional graphic designer. Amy makes do-it-yourself projects a breeze!

Free Party Printables – Celebrate Collection

Amy — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:51:37 +0000

Hosting a party on a budget doesn’t mean you have to pass on the beautiful decorations. I’m guest blogging on the FedEx Office blog today where I designed a bright and cheery “Celebrate” Party Printable Collection to help make your party planning easier! And, it’s all free!

Use this Free Party Printable Collection for a big party, small celebration, or just print a few items for fun! It will work great for a birthday or a generic celebration. There are plenty of designs in the collection to use for all kinds of parties.

The Free Party Collection comes with:

A 5×7 invitation with editable text fields to add your own party details.
Cupcake Toppers & Tags – Three designs to use for cupcakes and other decor.
Table Decor Sign
Three Pages of Patterned Scrapbook Paper
Cupcake Wrappers
Water Bottle Labels

I’d love to see photos of your parties. Just add a photo to my Facebook Page or tag Living Locurto if you post one to your wall. Thanks!

Visit FedEx Office to download the free party printable collection.

Please leave a comment over there is you like them!

New Craft Show for Kids – Meet My Daughter!

Amy — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:18:29 +0000

There is a new craft show for kids launching today and hosted by my daughter. I don’t know how many shows there will be or if anyone will watch, but it sure was fun to make!

It started yesterday morning when my daughter got into my craft supplies and made a paper collar for her stuffed dog named “Mom”. This was totally her idea with no help from me at all. I loved her craft so much, that I asked her if she would show my readers how to make it on a video.

She did this “How To” video in one take with no coaching by me. I just put the table in her room and turned on my camera. She is only five years old. I sat there amazed by what she was doing and saying. Even if I wasn’t her proud momma, I would be very impressed! I think she’s a natural. Heck, I’m 40 and just now able to be on camera without freaking out…. and I still have to do a million takes to get it right. ha!

I hope your kids will like watching the show and be inspired by her. She has a lot of creative ideas!

I’m very proud to introduce Siena in the very first “I’ll Show You How” Show.

Show title, craft and script by Siena.

Find more of Siena’s craft videos here.

I’m not sure how regular the shows will be, but they should be FUN!

If you want to watch her momma’s show, head over to My Craft Channel where Angie and I give you 10 awesome tips for taking good photos.

Napkin Wreath – DIY Holiday Craft

Amy — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:24:55 +0000

I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. I enjoyed time with my family in Oklahoma and some yummy home cooking! Besides stuffing myself with turkey, I also had time to relax and make a Christmas wreath for my mom.

This was the easiest wreath I’ve ever made! I used cocktail napkins and an old grapevine wreath to create simple holiday decor.

What you need:

grapevine wreath
20-25 paper cocktail napkins (I used these napkins- I found them at my grocery store around $4 per pack of 20.)
glue stick
embellishments of your choice (I used jingle bells, ribbon and glitter)

I twisted the middle of a napkin and stuffed it into the grapevine wreath. No glue needed! This way you can easily change the wreath at anytime.

It takes about 15 minutes to stuff the wreath. After you add a lot of napkins, the wreath looks really good. To hide the back of the napkins which was white, I adjusted one so the white was not showing, then used a glue stick to hold it in place by sticking the napkins to each other.

For this wreath, I added a string of jingle bells, a pretty ribbon and sprinkled it all with glitter.

Of course this won’t work outside, but my mom has a screened-in front porch, so the wreath looked great on her front door! I wonder if anyone will notice it’s made with napkins? I thought it turned out really pretty!

So now you have something fun and easy to do with leftover paper napkins!

Halloween Recipe – Brains in a Jar Cupcakes {Free Printables}

Kristan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:56:32 +0000

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Spooky Halloween treats always make fun party food and gifts!

It’s almost Halloween, so… Surprise!!

I made you Brains in a Jar!! Isn’t that just what you’ve been wanting?

Obviously these are not real brains (much to the disappointment of my 7 year old son), but they’re close enough and are the perfect combination of creepy and gross. They can be put together ahead of time, and would be great for a Halloween party dessert table or class party.

Or you can do what I do and take one to your child’s teacher and say, “here’s a Brain in a Jar…and I look forward to my kid getting A’s on his work for the rest of the year…” and give a giant awkward *WINK*.

Anyway…

These treats are seriously easy to put together. You’ll need:

Small jars –I buy a box of half pint canning jars at Wal Mart, but you can buy bigger ones if that’s what suits your fancy

Seedless Raspberry Jam–Because blood doesn’t have seeds in it, mmmkay?

Pink cake–I used strawberry but you could color white batter if you prefer. I baked mine in a large jelly roll pan so it would be thin, but you could bake it in 9 x13 or do cupcakes and cut them in half.

Frosting–I made my own using THIS easy recipe. Just add a few drops of pink and a tiny drop of black to get that pinky grey color

Piping bag fitted with a #5 round tip (You can buy these at Michaels or Walmart)

Once your cake is cooled, cut a circle of cake the size of your jar. I used a round biscuit cutter, but you could also use another jar or a small glass.

Spoon some raspberry jam over the cake, covering the surface and making sure it reaches the edges of the jar.

Put some frosting in your piping bag. Hold the bag at a 90 degree angle and squiggle the frosting along the edges of the jar. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just squeeze and make a zig zag motion along the inside of the glass.

It should look like this.

With a smaller glass or cutter, cut a piece of cake small enough to rest in the center of the “brain frosting”. Place the piece of cake in the middle.

See? That way you don’t go hurting your hand trying to pipe frosting all in the center.

Holding the piping bag at a 90 degree angle again, loosely squeeze frosting all over the top of the cake. Just let it squiggle all over.

It should look like a gross brain in a jar.

Isn’t that totally disgusting?

But it tastes good, I promise. I even tried ~~a few~~ one for quality control.

All that is left to do is attach the cute printable tags that Amy made to go with!!

How easy and cool is that? We practically did all the work for you!!

Halloween Brains in a Jar Free Printable Tags

Download the Free PartyPrintables here:

Halloween Brains in Jar Labels & Tags

We hope you are disgusted by these in a good way. Enjoy your Halloween!!

About Kristan

Kristan is a fun mom from rural Arkansas with an amazing talent for creating cute recipes along with humorous stories. Find her on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, Twitter & Facebook.