Personalized and "Stickered Up" Hand Soap

I made a few different little gifts for Cash's pre-school teachers. I thought this soap idea was a perfect gift for a teacher, and personalizing it made it so sweet! I found this transparency idea over at Infarrantly Creative when Amy from The Idea Room was guest blogging. It looked wildly entertaining to me because it looked super fast and easy! You can't beat that during a holiday season! Check out the link for complete instructions. ( and better pics! Sorry! These were more night pictures!)
I also had some extra scrapbooking stickers that I had used on another project/gift (will be showing you later...), and thought it would be fun to add them to soap soap bottles, too. They came out pretty cute, and will coordinate with my other teacher gifts!
The best part is that I made each soap dispenser gift for under $2.00! YAY!

Post-It Present

Ok, so here's another inexpensive fun little gift. I made these for my son's pre-school teachers. Super easy, and in my opinion...super cute! ( I found this idea somewhere online after blog hopping, and I just tried to find it so I could give props...but no dice. Will let you know when I do find it.)

What you need:
clear frames (I bought mine at Dollar Tree for, you guessed it...$1.00)
post-it's (I bought a generic pack at Wal-Mart for $1.74. Had enough in this one pack for 5 presents)
scrapbook paper/embellishments (Already had these.)

I think it's pretty self explanatory how to do this little project, but here goes...
Cut scrapbook paper to fit frame, stick post-its on the front, and attach ribbon or embellishment. Done. :)

Christmas Coffee Cozies

Most people these days are on a tight budget, and the lack of funds can really bring a person down rather than making them "holly jolly." I love to give gifts, and it makes me super sad when I realize my bank account won't allow it. I am going to beat that bank account! This year there will be small handmade gifts for loads of my loved ones to enjoy. My gifts, obviously, won't be ipods or Wii games, but they will be from the heart, and hopefully things my friends and family will consider (somewhat) useful. My quest for holiday happy gifting started the other day when I made these coffee cozies for all those coffee lovers in my life. They are cute, easy, and GREEN! Perfect! (Green in the sense that you can use the cozy over and over rather than use the paper ones when you buy a coffee out and about.) What do you think?

What you need:
-Wool sweater (must be at least 90% wool) I made all of these that are pictured from two sweaters.
-felt
-glue gun or fabric glue
Step 1- Wash the sweaters with HOT water, and dry on HIGH heat. You will need to do twice, and to create more friction, wash towels or jeans with the sweaters. You want the sweater to shrink up, so it won't fray when you cut it.

Step 2- Cut 2 1/2 to 3 inches off the sleeves for each cozy.

Step 3- Add a little detail with felt. I googled templates, such as an "apple template." I printed it small, cut it out, and used it to cut the shape out of felt. Hot glue or fabric glue will work to attach felt to cozy.

Step 4- Wait, there are no more steps!! ENJOY!

This one is for my step-dad who loves to sail. shhhh don't tell!

Thanksgiving Tasties

This year the Crosby clan made a few hard choices, and decided to stay home for the holidays. Since Andre's family is in LA, and my family is in FL...this leaves us in the middle...alone. BUT fear not! We have a beautiful church family, and our amazing Bishop Coleman and his wife asked us over. We have spent Christmas with them before, and since we love this family mucho grande! we decided to accept their gracious invite. Indeed, we were filled with love, laughter, but no pumpkin pie. Well, to be fair, there was pumpkin pie on the menu, however my pumpkin cupcakes stole the show! These delectable cupcakes were my contribution along with my "go to" side dish, roasted fresh green beans. Here's the recipe for the cupcakes. We'll save the roasted green beans for another day... :)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes
What You Need:

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin, divided

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

4 eggs

1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed

1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Make It:

HEAT oven to 350°F, and place cupcake papers in cupcake pan.

BEAT cake mix, 1 cup pumpkin, milk, oil, eggs and 1 tsp. spice in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Spoon into cupcake pan.

BAKE 16 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese in medium bowl with mixer until creamy. Add sugar, remaining pumpkin and spice; mix well. Gently stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate until cupcakes have cooled completely.

Place a couple of spoonfuls of mixture into a Ziploc baggie, and snip one corner off.

Stick this corner into cupcakes, and squeeze filling into cupcake. Do this carefully, as not to break open cupcake any more than necessary.

Decorate with a little twirl of filling on top to cover hole. Drizzle with caramel topping just before serving; top with nuts. Refrigerate leftovers.

Happy Tasting!

PS- This recipe was actually a cake when I found it, so you will have a LOT of filling left over. If you make it in cake form, you are suppose to cut baked/cooled round cakes in half using a bread knife. Layer the cake and filling, leaving the top of the cake without. Drizzle top with caramel and pecans. This way is called "Luscious Four Layer Pumpkin Cake."

Andre loves the filling, so I am going to make some macadamia nut cookies for him to slather the extra filling on and gorge himself into a sweet sweet tastie coma. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I pray that everyone's Thanksgiving is filled with love, laughter, and pumpkin pie!!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Crosbys!!

Another Secret Pal Gift- Commissioned

My friend asked me to make a Christmas wreath for her to give her secret pal. Since I am totally into yarn wreaths right now, I thought this was a perfect excuse to hone in my mad yarn skills. It turned out pretty festive, classic, and still in the simplistic fashion. I was pleased. I do hope that my friend's secret pal loves it as well.
Since I didn't finish it until about 10:30pm, and I plan to hand it off tomorrow...I had to take pic's in a dark house. Sorry for the quality.

Turkey for the Turkeys

Today was my Sunday to teach Sunday School at church to a toddler group. Since the attention span is low, the actual "lesson" doesn't really last that long. I usually like to have some kind of art or craft to get them involved in, and usually I keep it seasonal. Having said ALL of that...today we made turkey pins, and THEY ...WERE...CUTE! We all loved them; me and the kids. Cash is in the class, and he decided that we should keep them to wear on Thursday. Awww, melts my heart when I get Cash excited about crafts.

Cute + Easy = AWESOME

I found the idea in Disney Family Fun November issue. In the magazine, they used cereal boxes, but being the felt lover that I am...well, you get it.

The "How To"

-Start by tracing four small, round objects, such as a jar lid, a bottle of tacky glue, a dime, and a quarter, onto your felt (or cereal boxes.) My circles range in size from 5/8 in to 2 in.

-Cut out circles.

-Snip tail feathers into the largest circle, as shown.

-Cut one of the medium circles in half for wings.

-Use a hole punch to create tiny circles for eyes (I did mine free hand, and I dont recommend it...kind of makes the turkey look a bit crazy.)

-Cut a triangular beak from yellow and a tiny half-circle from red for the snood. (NOT pictured. I forgot this part. Opps.)

-Stack and adhere the pieces with tacky glue.

-Hot glue a pin on the back.

Done. Turkey for a little turkey. (lovingly call the boys turkeys.)