Gift Ideas Archives - Page 15 of 25

DIY Under $5 {Ruler Frame}

September 7, 2011 By Michelle Barneck 13 Comments

I’m kinda liking the whole school theme. My little guy is loving preschool and I want to reinforce that any way I can. When making my Back to School frame I got the idea to make a ruler frame to go along.

Making a ruler frame was pretty much as easy as I thought and I love how they turned out, very academic. 😉

Ruler Frame

Supplies:

4×6 frame
4 wood or partially wood rulers
Table saw
Hot glue

1. Lay your rulers on your frame. I liked one end under and one end over. Mark with a pencil where to make your cuts so they fit on the frame just right.

2. CAREFULLY cut your rulers with the table saw. Be sure to account for the width of the blade when cutting. I had to leave an extra 1/8th inch. If you don’t have a table saw you can use a hack saw. I did my first two like this, but it took forever.

3. Lay your rulers back on your frame to make sure they fit right. Then hot glue to frame by putting a line of glue across the end of the ruler that goes under and another line of glue about an inch in from the “over” end so it will touch the ruler under it.

Simple as pie. The kind made with pre-made crust and pudding.

Super cute on their own, but add a printable from the talented girls at Eighteen25 and Sprik Space and it totally makes them!

Total cost: $3 per frame
Frame: $1
Rulers: $2 (2 for $1, used 4)
Printables: FREE
Everything else on hand

Now it’s time to link up your $5 projects!

Please remember:

Only link to your own projects that cost you $5 or less (price does not have to include items you had on hand)
You can link past projects that fit the dollar limit, but please only link each project one time to one DIY Under $5 party. Do not link the same project week after week.
No linking giveaways or items for sale
Please link back so others can join the party and so you have the opportunity to be featured on Saturday!

Linking up wtih:
Look What I Made
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Topsy Turvy Tuesday
Design Dazzle
The Idea Room

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for free Tipsy updates via RSS or email.

We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂

Point of View: Back to School Features

September 1, 2011 By Michelle Barneck 2 Comments

A big thanks to all those who linked up with the Point of View Back to School party! Here’s a couple of my favorites!

Back to School Teacher Gift from The Happy Scraps

Back to School Party from Dukes & Duchesses

Be sure to grab your Point of View featured button.

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for free Tipsy updates via RSS or email.

We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂

DIY Under $5 {Chocolate Zucchini Bread}

August 31, 2011 By Michelle Barneck 10 Comments

Anyone else’s garden exploding with zucchini? I love it as much as the next girl, but there is only so much you can eat in true vegetable form. Sometimes, I like to go the baked good route and mix chocolate and zucchini. It’s a great way to combine my chocolate addiction with a healthy sidekick.

I like to use the Our Best Bites Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe which is fantastic as muffins or loaves. It has this sugary crackly top that is truly divine! Yum-o!

We made a great big batch and sent a loaf to little guy’s teacher for the first day of school.

I just wrapped it up in a sheet of parchment, tied it with a red ribbon and added a little note. It makes a yummy teacher appreciation gift.

This recipe has been approved by the chunk. He can’t get enough of it. Thumbs up!

Now it’s time to link up your $5 projects!

Please remember:

Only link to your own projects that cost you $5 or less (price does not have to include items you had on hand)
You can link past projects that fit the dollar limit, but please only link each project one time to one DIY Under $5 party. Do not link the same project week after week.
No linking giveaways or items for sale
Please link back so others can join the party and so you have the opportunity to be featured on Saturday!

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for free Tipsy updates via RSS or email.

We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂

Point of View: Back to School

August 26, 2011 By Michelle Barneck 14 Comments

Is it the fourth Friday already? I swear it sneaks up on me every month. Well, you know what that means. It’s Point of View time!! This months theme was “Back to School” and I am loving what the girls came up with! Just take a look…

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=9f43e60d7f&view=att&th=13201a7487fe9b1d&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_grrwy6yd0&zw

I’m not going to lie, I was stumped with this month’s Point of View theme “Back to School.” My oldest just started his first year of preschool so I have not had a lot of experience in school themed crafts or teacher appreciation etc. I asked the hubs what was the first thing that came to mind with “back to school” and he said, “pencils and paper”. So, I ran with it.

I took a cute picture of my son on his first day of school and wanted a special way for him to display his big boy milestone. But, in true Tipsy style I did not want to spend a lot or buy some really cheesy, overly colorful back to school frame. So, I made one out of the true symbols of back to school: pencils and paper.

Back to School Frame

Want to make your own? Here’s what you’re going to need.

Supplies needed for Back to School frame:

4×6 picture frame (mine was from Dollar Tree, the plain wood frames from Michael’s were too long for my pencils)
16 pencils, may want to have extras in case you break one or make one too short (they have packs of 16 at Dollar Tree, got my packs at Office Depot)
Pencil sharpener
Hack saw
Foam brush
White lined paper
Mod Podge
Exacto knife
Hot glue
Red cardstock apple
School Picture

1. Lay your pencils on your frame and mark them where you want the end to be for them to fit all puzzle like on a diagonal.

2. Slice off the extra with a hack saw so you don’t have to sharpen the pencils for hours (or be like me and recruit the hubs to do so). Our table saw had the perfect little groove to hold two pencils in place which was great since you need two of each size.

3. Sharpen the pencils to a point until they all fit perfectly on the frame.

4. Brush a light coat of Mod Podge over your frame and lay a sheet of lined paper over it carefully smoothing over the front of the frame. The only part that will show are the corners, so if it creases a little don’t worry.

5. Mod Podge the edges of the frame and wrap the paper around folding on the corners like a present. Mod Podge the paper around to the back of the frame so the sides look nice and finished.

6. Cut an X in the paper in the middle of the frame with your exacto so you can fold it in to the middle and Mod Podge on to the inside edge.

7. Trim off the excess paper. You will fold the paper under the picture when you put it in.

8. CAREFULLY hot glue each pencil in place. I had all the pencils in place so I could see exactly where they needed to go. I put 3 or 4 tiny dots of hot glue on the back of each pencil.

9. Add a cardstock apple (found in my scrapbook stash). I cut a little piece of lined paper and penciled some seeds o it to add a little dimension.

10. Add your favorite back to school photo (the one with him wearing his life jacket to look like muscles was a close second) to finish it off.

Now link up so we can see your Point of View on
Back to School!

Link up your own current or past projects as long as they fit the theme: Back to School
Link back so others can join the party and so you can have the chance to be featured by one of the Point of View girls!