Diaper Raffle (A Baby Shower Idea)

I mentioned HERE that my daughter and I were invited to two baby showers recently.  THIS is the one that we were able to attend -- for my niece.  We were excited to attend this shower.  This baby girl's arrival in July will mark a new generation in our family... GREAT grandchildren for my in-laws!!!

The flat stationary card invitations were so cute (see above, from Shutterfly) and among other things said this:

DIAPER RAFFLE:

Bring a package of any size diapers

to be included in a prize drawing!

My daughter and I took a pack of diapers for the baby-to-be, and I wrote my daughter's name on the slip of paper for the drawing.  There were several gifts to choose from, among them: beautifully potted plants, and assorted Bath & Body Works items.  All of the potted plants were chosen by the time my daughter's name was drawn -- yes!  She was a lucky winner!!  She came home with some B&BW items.

Because this was a rather large gathering for TWO moms-to-be, and there were lots of gifts to open, we did not play games.  But... the diaper raffle was one way they gave away prizes to the guests.  The other was to set a timer[several times] while gifts were being opened.  Whomever's gift was being opened when the timer rang could choose a prize.

Two nice ways to make the guests feel special without taking up a lot of time!

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Skip the Registry! (A Baby Shower Gift Idea)

Somehow, by the time I got to shop for my niece's baby shower, almost all of her registry items had been purchased!  She has 15 siblings, and a rather large extended family, so I shouldn't have been surprised, I guess. Anyway, I went all "renegade" and bought stuff that wasn't on the registry.  Dangerous, you say?

Well, there are two things that I KNOW:

• In big part, a new mom-to-be doesn't have a clue about HALF of the stuff she will need.  How do I know this?  From personal experience!  I was a new mom-to-be once.  Suffice it to say that not all of the "needs" make it to the registry!
• A new mommy can ALWAYS use basic personal hygiene items for the baby.

And so, I took that route.

I loved the idea of presenting the gift in some kind of box/basket that will be useful, so I started my shopping in the plastic box and drawer aisle.  I found this really neat pink [yes, it's a girl] plastic tote that could be used for a million different things: laundry, toys, books... you name it.   Then, I made my way to the baby section of the store.  I decided to be really practical.  Here's what I selected:

• tub of baby wipes
• large refill pack of baby wipes
• baby wash (hair & body)
• baby wash (nighttime calming)
• baby lotion
• baby lotion (nighttime calming)
• baby oil
• cotton swabs
• A+D diaper ointment
• set of bath scoops/strainers (this WAS on the registry, I confess!)

It's worth mentioning that I chose all store-brand products.  Each of the items that I picked out had a national brand item sitting right next to it, but the store-brand was much cheaper, which meant I could buy more within my budgeted dollar amount!!

While I was at the store, I grabbed two packs of pink/white tissue paper, and a big pink curly bow.  I knew that once these gift items started getting opened, the mystery of what the rest was... well, wouldn't be much of a mystery any more.  So, I decided not to wrap up each item.  Instead, I just folded a pink and white piece of tissue paper around each item, and stood it up in the tote.  I remember having leaking boxes of wipes at my shower -- so I was more careful with them, and did not stand them on end, but rather on top of one another.  As for the ribbon, I pealed the paper off the sticky area, and folded that sticky square over the edge of the tote.  TaaDaa!

I love that the whole thing is self-contained, and that my niece will have an easy way to transport these goodies home.

Practical and pretty!

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Books for Baby (A Baby Shower Idea)

We have gone a pretty long time around here without any bridal or baby showers, but last month we were invited to TWO baby showers on the very same day!  I couldn't believe it when the invitations arrived.  What are the chances?

Unfortunately we weren't able to attend both showers since they were in different cities at the same time...

We were not able to attend a friend's shower out of town... but we received the cutest invitations that included this slip of paper:

This is BRILLIANT!

We were really big on reading to our kids when they were little.  We used to have baskets of books in every room in the house.  Books were always all over the house once the kids got to them, so this was an easy way to put the books away without carrying them back to the bookshelf.  It didn't matter which books ended up in which room, or which basket -- just nice that they had some place to be "put away."

When our kids were little, we read to them EVERY night before bed.  Even if we had a late night and bedtime needed to be speedy, there was a quick story read before lights-out.  Gradually of course, kids become too grown up to do a bedtime story with Mom and Dad, but even after reaching that age, our daughter still insisted on the tradition at Christmas-time!  Mind you, this is the girl that slept with her books rather than dolls.  No joke people.  She still loves books to this day, and insists she will never-ever switch to e-books.  After all, e-books don't have that wonderful book-ish smell, she says.

I wouldn't trade a moment of the time spent reading with our kids!  I'm excited for little Levi, and the great book collection he will already have when he is born!

"The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

- Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

To subscribe to Drinking From My Saucer via email
just enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Homemade Gift-Giving (Part 2)

Ready for Part 2?  I've got a couple more ideas for you!
(If you weren't here for PART 1, you can read that post HERE.)

I used THIS IDEA for a cake stand, found on Pinterest.  I scoured the stores for matching or coordinating melamine plates and bowls to make the little cake stands.  My best sources were Target, a local discount store, and our local grocery store.

I wanted to make each cake stand unique -- and Christmas-y if I could. Only a few ended up being non-Christmas -- and they were pretty cute, too.

To each cake stand, I added two mini-loaves of bread, some packets of specialty cocoa and cider, and candy canes.

The mini foil pans w/ plastic lids were purchased at our local grocery store, but you can find them at lots of places around the holidays, and often even in Christmas colors/patterns.

I  purchased large "basket gift bags" at Michael's, and tied each gift bag with red and white twine, a glittery ornament, and a gift tag.  The bags I found ended up being a little bit bigger than I needed, so I just cut a few inches off the open end.  (Be sure you open up, and know for sure which end that is before you start cutting... I'm just sayin'.)

It was fun coming up with all of the plate/bowl combinations -- and I did a lot of baking and freezing to have all of the mini-loaves ready!  I chose Banana Bread, Pumpkin Bread, and Cranberry-Orange Bread.  Each plate got two different loaves.  I received lots of compliments -- about the home-baked breads, as well as the cake-stand idea.  Not gonna lie.  I felt kind of clever.  Pinterest ROCKS.  What can I say? *wink*

MY BEST TIPS:
1. Don't seal up your gift-bags any sooner than necessary.  The glue used for this project (E6000) has a strong scent.  I noticed that it (still) didn't smell too great when I opened a bag to add an item.  I'd give these plates as much time unwrapped as possible, to allow the glue to cure.

2. If you've frozen your breads, allow for a little condensation before wrapping!  You don't want your recipient to open a drippy gift!  (I let mine thaw on towels on the kitchen counter the day of giving!)

3. Also, remember... tell your recipients to hand wash the cake plate!

See similar projects HERE and HERE.

You might also enjoy making these gifts:

Abstract Wall Art

A Button House

A Winter Scarf Wreath

A Vintage Paper Chain

Ornaments made with vintage hymnal pages

Linking to Fabulously Creative Friday at Jen Rizzo's

'13 Gratefulness

* grateful for an amazing sunrise yesterday morning

* grateful that 3 "international" babies let 3 nice ladies [that don't speak their language] comfort them while their mamas were in English classes

* grateful to work with two sweet women who love the babies as much as I do

* grateful for my daughter's involvement in our church youth group

* grateful for dear friends who graciously open their large home to the youth group

Feel free to chime in with a comment!  What are you grateful for today?

Homemade Gift-Giving (Part 1)

While I'm not ready to deck the halls around here (not until after Thanksgiving), 'tis the season  if you're thinking of CRAFTING gifts for Christmas this year!  Last minute crafting gifts can be disastrous, so it never hurts to get ideas early, and (at least) start gathering supplies!  That said, I thought I'd share a few cute gift-giving ideas that our family has used in the last couple of years.  These are ideas gathered from Pinterest, and we've put our own spin on them.  Maybe it'll give you some ideas for gift-giving this year!

Today: Part One.

My girl and I made these pretzel-kiss treats, and filled cute little Santa bags (from Hobby Lobby) with them.

We also found a recipe for Peppermint Stick Cocoa on Pinterest, and filled canning jars with the mix.

I used some scrapbooking supplies like a circle template (for the cocoa label), a snowman stamp (also for the cocoa label), and a corner-rounder for the cocoa instruction tag.  Don't forget to add this tag so that your recipients know exactly how to prepare the cocoa!

Combined in a cute gift-bag, these two items made for a festive Christmas gift.

Stay tuned for some more simple ideas in "Part 2" tomorrow.

'13 Gratefulness

* grateful for provisions being made for a cousin to come to Cleveland Clinic for heart surgery

* grateful that my daughter caught up on some missed sleep & said "that was the best night's sleep I've had in a long time"

* grateful for golden pools of leaves in the yard

Feel free to chime in with a comment!  What are you grateful for today?

The Button House

Did you have a nice long weekend?  On Saturday, we gathered with family to celebrate Jill's birthday.  On Sunday, we had a day of worship, rest, and fun with friends.  (It was fabulous!)  On Memorial Day, we gathered with family again.  It was awesome.  Our Memorial Day Weekends are typically filled with lots of family time, and each year, I come home reminded of how blessed we are.

For Jill's birthday, I gathered a bunch of gifts: something I knew she wanted, some things I knew she'd use and enjoy for her family, and for herself, and then... I tried something crafty, too.

Around Christmas-time, I spotted THIS LITTLE BUTTON HOUSE on Pinterest, and followed the link to This Girl's Life.  (If you want a little "Christmas in May", head on over to check out her cute decorating!)  I had seen the same type of paper-mache houses at Hobby Lobby, so I was inspired to try my hand at one of these.

My version, as you can see, is not meant to be Christmas-y.

My supplies:

• paper-mache house
• spray paint
• buttons of various sizes and colors
• E-6000 adhesive

My process:

• Remove the "lid" of the house, and spray-paint both sections inside and out.  I chose a neutral color, and think it gives a nicer finished look than the paper-mache.  (Make sure to follow the directions on the paint can, and work in a well-ventilated space.)
• While the paint is drying, choose your buttons.  I love the monochromatic Christmas inspiration, but I'm tickled with the result of my multi-colored house as well.
• When the paint is dry, decide on placement of buttons.  I recommend placing them before gluing them so that you can make sure you have the sizes and quantity that you need to fill the space.  (Note: I only filled the front-facing spaces on my house w/ the exception of the "flowers" under the side windows.)
• TIP: As I glued buttons, I had the house on it's back so that the buttons could not slide as the glue dried.

My result?

• A quirky little button house that says, "There's no place like home!"

Happy Birthday Jill!

Happy Mother's Day ~ A Gift for Mom

I know, I know -- it's MOTHER'S DAY and I'm late with a Mother's Day Project.  But, I'm sharing my project for my mom anyway.  [There's no sharing of anything ahead of time around here since my family follows my blog.]  Besides, nothing says this project is only for mom's.  This "Cake Stand" is a great little project for any lady in your life, mom or not.  Add a little something to it (a sweet, or some other kind of treat), and you've got a cute little gift!

I actually used this Cake Stand idea for Christmas projects last year -- and couldn't share that ahead of time either, so I'll be sharing about it this Christmas.

I found the idea HERE, and was really excited about all of the possibilities.  After all, melamine dinnerware is all the rage now, and wow -- are there ever LOTS of cute patterns around!  I found this plate/bowl combo at Target, and loved it because it's got a look of pottery.  I was fooled until I actually picked up a piece!

It's a REALLY SIMPLE project, but I always feel a little paranoid about getting the bowl centered on the plate.

Let me backtrack for a minute...
For the two of you who may have never seen a project like this before... You glue the bottom of the bowl to the bottom of the plate, and TaaDaa!  You've got a cute little cake-stand!  It couldn't be more simple.  [E-6000 glue is recommended.]  However, like I said... I'm always a little paranoid that I'll glue it and walk away, and when I come back -- I'll realize that it's off-center.  So, I devised a little system to help me to center the bowl on the bottom of the plate.

I used a scrapbooking template -- but you could really trace anything round.  A jar would work well too, since you could see through it.  Here's what I did.  I found a circle on the template that was very close-in-size to the circle on the bottom of the bowl.  I used the template to trace that circle onto the bottom of the plate.  Granted, I was still "eye-balling" it rather than measuring -- but it's a lot easier to see if it's centered this way than once you have the bowl in place!

This allowed me to see exactly where to put the glue, and set the bowl.  It worked like a charm!

Some of you may be wondering why I didn't just trace the bowl.  My bowl's sides were a little steep, and I didn't want to risk any stray marker markings on a white bowl while working at an odd angle.  Also... at that angle, it's hard to see if you're really centered.

Now... all that's left is to lay down a line of E-6000 along the marker line, and set the bowl on the circle.

Here's the final result.

I added a little something extra, and wrapped it all up to go.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

MY BEST TIPS:

* work in an area with adequate ventilation

* allow at least 24 hrs. drying/curing time

* hand-wash only

See a similar project here --> A Tale of Two Pretties

Easy Christmas Gift Tags (do it now)

After Christmas...
What do you do with all of the Christmas cards you received?  Do you lovingly tuck them all away?  I know I don't have room to keep years and years worth of Christmas cards in our small home.

Do you pitch them all in the trash?  What?  Wait!  There is a way to re-purpose them!  This is a real money-saver too!  I haven't bought Christmas gift-tags since... Well, actually, I don't know if I ever have.  Certainly not in years.

Some time after Christmas, I sit down with all of the Christmas cards our family received.  I separate all of the photo cards, and set them aside to include on a few scrapbook pages.  As for the others: I carefully tear off the front, and discard the back -- as there isn't usually anything pretty there to be used for a gift-tag.  Trace circles on the front of the cards -- as many as will fit.  I use my scrapbooking circle template -- but you could use any shape you want, or even just cut strips across the width of the card.  Just make sure you have room to write your "to" and "from" and perhaps a little "Merry Christmas!"  If you're strategic in your placement, you will be able to get a few gift-tags from each card.

If the card is more sentiment than artwork -- well, use that too!

Sometimes, I use my "tag" template as well... although nothing says Christmas gift-tag to me like a circle... just the way my mom used to have my sister and I make them -- by tracing around the top of a drinking glass!

Now, all you need to do is punch a hole, and string some ribbon through to add to your packages or gift-bags.

TaaDaa!  Easy peasy!

Obvious?  Perhaps.

Money-saving?  For sure!

Green?  Oh yeah, baby!

Now, tuck them away in a place where you will find them next year.  Admittedly, this is sometimes the most important step!  I usually keep mine with my wrapping supplies - but I've also been known to toss them in our big ornament tote at the last minute.

Christmas Gift-Tags.  They're a "good thing."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S.

Check out the sweet little giveaway going on over at

Lemonade Makin' Mama

Project Pinterest: Graduation Gift Idea

Need an idea for a graduation gift?  In thinking of our own son's graduation NEXT year, I've started pinning gift and party ideas on Pinterest.  I'm happy to say that one idea actually came in handy for this year.  Check it out!

If you go HERE, you can "purchase" a free printable that says (in various designs) "In case of emergency, break glass!"  It's a little humor for a new college student, and something they can hang on their dorm-room wall until it's needed.

All you have to do is purchase an inexpensive certificate frame at the dollar store, print the download, tape bills to the appropriate place on printed surface, place in frame, and wrap.

Bottom line is... it's a more interesting way to give money.  But, who knows?  Maybe it WILL actually get saved for an "emergency."

Thanks to Parties & Patterns for the idea!

Source: partiesandpatterns.blogspot.com via Sally on Pinterest

linking with:

Ribbon-Tied Brag Book (Take Two)

Today, I'm linking up with the "Pin the Tail on the Bloggy" Pin Party, and I'd like to re-share a craft project of mine.  In fact, it was the first one I ever posted on my blog.  It's super easy, and an inexpensive way to make a cute gift for any time of the year!

I have one of these little Brag Books sitting out on a shelf, loaded with all the family pictures we get at the start of a new school year, and in Christmas cards.  But, it's also the perfect size to fit easily into a purse -- you know, so you can take it along, and "brag" to your friends about your cute kids (nieces, nephews, grandkids - you get the idea!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The instructions for this are oh-so-easy.  Here we go...

Supplies needed:

1 pack badge holders - found at office supply stores.  (Horizontal or vertical doesn't matter, however, it would be easier to get photos into the wider opening of the horizontal holders.  The badge holders I found were rather rigid.)

Narrow ribbon.  You can mix & match, have a theme, or stick with one particular type of ribbon -- totally your choice.

Line up your badges.  Each badge has a pre-punched hole at the top.  (You may have to poke the plastic tab out.)  It doesn't matter which way they face.  However, I do make sure that the front and back are turned inward - meaning the slot where you slide the picture in is facing the inside.  This way, no pictures can slip out.

Cut your ribbon, leaving it long enough to tie a knot and have some leftover.  Slip it through the hole in each badge, and tie that knot!  Please note:  tying the knot tightly insures that the book's pages will stay lined up neatly -- however, it also makes it a little more difficult to slip photos in.  Try a happy medium.  Do this with several ribbons, until you like the look.  Remember, you can use one type of ribbon, or a happy rainbow of colors/styles -- your choice.

When you're done - it should look something like this.  Leave the ribbons a little on the long side so they "flop" a little.  Then, trim the ends at an angle, or in a "V" cut - as you prefer.

TaaDaa!  A sweet little wallet-sized, ribbon-tied brag book.

Just the perfect size to carry in your purse.

OR leave it out on a table at home.

So cute either way.

I'm linking up with "Pin The Tail on the BLOGGY."
Need more exposure for one of your favorite projects?
Head over to Fox Hollow Cottage or Debbiedoos to link up!

Also linking with: