Category: Gifts

Handmade Monthly-Heat Gun Embossed Welcome Mat

5/30/2019

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. But, all opinions expressed are my own.

These aren't pictures by my house, but just examples of what can be stuck to shoes and feet of people entering your house!

There are so many things in the summer that get tracked into the house! Grass, sand, mud, the list goes on. This month for Handmade Monthly I decided that I would share something that I needed for my backdoor! I had a doormat out there, but it seemed like everyone barely used it. I was constantly sweeping up dry grass and whatever else got tracked in. So, somewhat tongue in cheek and somewhat seriously, I took my cue from a shampoo bottle and made this mat that says, "Wipe yer feet! REPEAT."
I think these mats would make great gifts as a housewarming gift for people with kids. Or, change the words and they would be suitable any time of year for the front or the backdoor! Or, how about for an RV , camper or cabin?
I found the mat I used at Dollar Tree! That's right! A doormat for $!.00! They have them on their website to order in bulk, and they have a bunch in their store. I decided to use embossing powder with my heat gun to create my design. It was pretty much a learning experience as I figured out what to do. I'll show you what I did and tell you what I learned!
Supplies:
plain doormat
paint
paint brush or foam brush
embossing powder
stencil
Heat Gun

Use your computer to find a font and the size that you want and print of your words to make a stencil. Or, make a self stick stencil on your Cricut or Silhouette. (Better idea)

After you stick down your stencil where you want it on the mat, fill it in with glue or paint. Then, sprinkle on the embossing powder carefully.

I found that a chalkboard paint marker worked very well on these mats.

That was the basic overview. Here are the things I would do to make it easier.

Make sure you have white embossing powder and not clear! (Um, yes, I did that.) The clear won't show well on glue. I ended up using the chalkboard marker to fill in the words and then you the clear embossing powder to give it sparkle.
Apply the embossing powder very carefully just where you want it to be or it will leave sparkles all over your mat and everywhere else. I like to just take a pinch and put it right where I want it to go.
Don't hold the heat gun in one place for too long or your mat will melt.

In the end, I like the look of this mat by my backdoor. I think that the embossing will hold up better than just paint, but of course, using just paint is a definite possibility. I hope you will take some of my tips to heart, to make your mat less labor intensive!

I had fun trying to come up with good messages for my backdoor mat. If you have anymore cute sayings or ideas, let me know!

These stencils are available at Dollar Tree.

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15 of the Best Mother's Day Books and Read Alouds

5/3/2019

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This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support

Mother's Day is a particularly great day to pull your children on your lap and read sweet books with them about sweet relationships between Mother's and children or if you are a grandma like I am, between grandmas and grandchildren. Of course, don't save these awesome books for only one day a year. Use them to nurture your relationship with your child throughout the year. Some of these books would make great cards to go with a gift to a new mother or grandmother. Today, for Friday Faves #100 (Insert loud applause!) We are sharing some of our favorite picture books and read alouds that are perfect for Mother's Day!

These books are broken into 3 categories:

Read Alouds-Books that have beautiful illustrations, but also need the written words of the story to get across the full meaning in the book. Great for that one on one time with parent and child as the parent reads and helps make the story clear. Or, they can be wonderful for emerging readers.
Picture Books-Books that have illustrations that almost tell the full story and perhaps a little extra story of their own. Great for young children to be able to "read" on their own by looking at the pictures.
Grandmother Books-This will be a combination of read alouds and picture books that deal with grandma and grandchild relationships, just because I am a grandma and want to include them! (I do what I want)!

Read Alouds (Click on the photos to go and purchase!)

I Love You Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt, Ill. Cyd Moore. This cute book is all about the unconditional love of a mother for her child, even if he is stinky or a bug or anything else the child in the story can imagine. !

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, Ill. Sheila McGraw. I couldn't leave off this classic sweet tale of a mother's eternal love. Admit it, we've all made up our own tune to the words of the song!

The Best Mother by Cynthia Surrissi, ill. by Diane Goode. A little girl wakes up one day in a bad mood and thinks she could probably find a better mother. Of course, she learns that she has the best mother that she could ask for.

Mom School by Rebecca Van Slyke, Ill. by Priscilla Burris. Where do moms learn to do all of the cool things they need to know how to do? Mom School of course! They act like kids when they are there! An amusing spin on the mother-child relationship.

If I Could Keep You Little by Marianne Richmond. Kids grow so fast and every mother feels the desire to keep them little a bit longer. This book would make a good card/ gift for a young mother. It points out why the growing up is also precious.

If You Were My Bunny by Kate McMullin is a sweet story about animals and the sweet songs they sing to put their babies to sleep. Lots of stars for this classic.

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, Ill. by Nancy M. Leak. A kiss from mom in the palm of his hand helps little raccoon be able to make it through his first day of school. When the world is frightening, mom's love is always there.

Picture Books (click the pictures to order the books)

What Not to Give Your Mom on Mother's Day, by Martha Seif Simpson, Ill. Jana Christy.
This is a super cute picture book about Mother's Day gift giving from a child's point of view.

Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman. I couldn't leave out this Dr. Seuss edited classic. A little bird goes in search of his mother when he hatches, even thinking a large "Snort" might be his mother!

The Greatest Mother's Day of All by Tamsin Ainslie, Ill. Anne Mangan. This story takes place in Australia, and it shows that a young mother's Mother's Day experience can be universal!

Peppa Pig, by Scholastic. This book is a little pricey, I'm guessing because of the popularity of Peppa Pig right now. My grandson loves Peppa Pig and George. The book is also available as a board book.

Grandma Books (click on the pictures to purchase)

Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer. Mercer Mayer books were always popular with my own children. His illustrations always were so great, adding so much to the story line!

Here Comes Grandma! by Janet Lord, Ill. Julie Paschkis. This book portrays how I feel about getting to see my grandchildren! I would love to go in the red convertible, but I will get there anyway I can!

Grandma's Kitchen by Madison Lodi, Ill. Francesca Deluca. This cute board book talks about something I love to do with my grandchildren, cooking!

Nonna Tell Me a Story Books, written by
Lidia Bastianich and Ill. by Renee Graeff. Lidia Bastianich is a beloved Italian-American chef who has written a series of books about a grandmother who teachers her grandchildren about food and cooking. There are kid friendly recipes included in each of these books. This one is about the farm, there is another Christmas themed one!

Let me know if one of your favorite Mom or Grandma books got left off the list!
Don't forget these Mother's Day Gift Ideas!

Make a magnetic poster frame.

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Handmade Monthly: Magnetic Poster Frame

4/30/2019

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Around Thanksgiving I made this cute poster print on Mixbook of my babies wearing sunglasses and being insanely happy about it. It was so easy to make the poster and it turned out so cute. I also loved their selection of backgrounds and layouts. It was really easy to use their upload tool and making the poster took me no time at all. I was really pleased with the quality when it came in the mail as well. Especially considering both photos were taken with cell phone cameras.

What I wasn't sure of was how to display the poster in my home! That's when I had the idea to make a magnetic poster frame. I have always loved the minimalist look of these simple wooden frames but the price tag on the bigger frames was enough to turn me away. When I saw these paint stirrers for 5 gallon buckets for less than $2 how to make one struck me like lightening. Watch the video below to see how I did it.

I love how customizable these frames are. You can use them to hold a variety of size of prints and posters. And you can paint them, use a wood burner on them, or decorate with Washi tape.

And they're the perfect thing to display my Mixbook poster prints. I can't wait to order more and change them out, because it's so easy to change the picture displayed in these frames!

Some tips for making these:

Be sure to use strong ceramic magnets as the cheaper ones won't be able to stick through your print. Rare earth magnets aren't necessary, but would work as well.
I only put three magnets in each side but if I were to do this again I'd do 4 or 5 just to make sure the hold is strong enough for thicker papers. (3 is perfect for my Mixbook print though)
Instead of gluing the twine to the wood, next time I might get eyelets to screw into the top and tie the string to that.
I bought my magnets in bulk and on sale on Amazon. ($8 for 100 the sale isn't happening right now but keep on the look out).

With Mother's Day (and Father's Day after that) coming up this could be an easy and thoughtful gift to give to your mother or grandmother! Especially if you include a photo print, of their favorite people.

That will be especially easy right now because Mixbook is offeringup to 50% off orders until May 1st. That's tomorrow so get your orders in soon! Also if you are a new customer you can get 45% off with the code AFNEW19. Two incredible deals! If you aren't a new customer there's another code for Mother's Day that works until May 7th. MOMDAY19A will get you 45% off $139 or 40% off Sitewide

Let us know how yours turns out!

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Handmade Monthly-Heat Gun Embossed Welcome Mat

15 of the Best Mother's Day Books and Read Alouds

Handmade Monthly: Magnetic Poster Frame

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