DIY Pacifier Holders

These might be the easiest and cutest craft for new babies! Once you get the hang of it you can have matching pacifier holders for any outfit! They are simply pieces of ribbon and suspender fasteners held together with hot glue on one end and velcro on the other. Very easy, anyone could do it!

I got these at Hobby Lobby with a coupon. But if you know a cheaper place please share on here! I'd love to be able to make dozens on them! 

Make the ribbon as long or as short as you want but keep in mind some people attach it to the baby's clothes and some to the car seat. So I kept mine just a little bit longer. Hot glue the end with the suspender fastener because you don't want that end to come off. Or if you want to make a set where they can alternate ribbons, use velcro on both sides. Put velcro on the other end and leave a large enough loop to be able to hook around the pacifier. 

Just think of all the stylish babies! 

Dollar Crafts - Felt Tote Bag

Ever wanted to give a lot of kids presents and not sure what to get them? You can either get tote bags already made at the dollar store or buy bulk colorful ones at Hobby Lobby (I use a 40% coupon and the bags come out to be the same price).

Once I have a stack of tote bags I just cut up felt pieces and hot glued them on. Super fast, fun, and cheap craft! You can either give them to kids or let them decorate their own, either way they will love them!

"Butterfinger" Candy

I don't know about you, but I have really loved getting on board with this whole using crackers as candy thing! Not that crackers are any more healthy than candy, but it certainly is more fun! Here's a great way I found to make homemade Butterfingers. Be careful: you will eat ALL that you make!

Simply make a mini peanut butter sandwich out of Cheez-Its and put them in the freezer. This was the most time consuming part and started to get annoying. Hold out! It will be worth it! 

After they have been in the freezer a while, melt some chocolate chips or candy to use for coating. 

Once they are coated, put the candies back into the freezer to harden. 

Everything is ready! You now have a pan full of bite sized candies that taste just like Butterfingers! I kept mine in a bowl in the frig to keep the chocolate from getting soft. 

Breakfast Cookies

Call them cookies, call them breakfast, call them what you will; this is too easy!

2 bananas

1 cup oats

not quite a 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips or raisins

Mix the bananas and oats together with a fork in a bowl. Either leave them plain banana oatmeal cookies, or add in the chocolate chips or raisins. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes 18 cookies. 

These are great to have on hand for a quick and healthy breakfast, for a nice snack, or just for fun! That, and won't you be the best mom when your kids think they're eating cookies for breakfast!?

Sweet Potato Dog Treats

Here's the absolute most easiest dog treat and only one ingredient! Sweet potatoes are safe for dogs and a fresh, healthy, treat for them. Simply get a sweet potato and peel it. (It's so much easier than cooking it first; FYI for Thanksgiving)

After you peel, slice the sweet potato like chips. Lay out evenly on a cooking sheet and cook at 350 degrees for 25 minutes on one side then flip and 25 minutes on the other. If they still aren't dried out enough keep cooking it a bit more. Store and keep them like you would any normal cooked vegetables. Miles loves them! 

Miles

Last Saturday, Matt and I drove out to Castle Rock to go to the Buddy Center with the Dumb Friends League. We weren't sure what was going to happen and we weren't completely set on adopting a dog that day. Matt was leaving Tuesday for another 6 week rotation and that would mean me alone training a new dog. But still, we were excited!!

See how excited we are about to leave to meet some dogs!?

So we get to the Buddy Center and saw this super excited little cutie jumping up and down when we walked past. He was certainly the cutest and most happy dog there! So we asked to meet him in a visiting room. This little guy loved us from the start! As soon as he came in the room we got on the floor and played with him. 

He stole our hearts and when the DFL worker asked "is he the one?" we couldn't say no!

First family photo! Leaving the Buddy Center.

Miles has been an amazing dog! We love him very very much! Here's some fun things about Miles:

1. He knows sit, up, down, and lay down but mostly when I'm holding a treat! 

2. He is scared of my toothbrush, hair dryer, and especially the vacuum! 

3. He loves crawling under our bed. 

4. He's pretty much house trained and doesn't have to stay in his crate. 

5. Miles sleeps on my bed with me! Not sure how it's going to work out when Matt gets home! 

6. He loves grass! He'll roll around in it like crazy and it's super cute.

7. Miles will prance through the grass then pounce on all the bugs that go flying! 

8. When playing fetch he brings the ball back and will sit before I through it again. 

9. He's a slow eater and never snaps when we give him treats. 

10. Oh my goodness! Do we love him! 

Life is so much better and we're so happy that we have Miles in our lives! 

Absence of Craft Blogs

Hello, Everyone!

I have two official followers so I'm using the word "everyone" very loosely here.

This summer you might have noticed a lack of craft blogs. If you have not noticed let me tell you: there have been a lack of craft blogs.

Let me tell you a secret: I was crafting my butt off this summer! Okay, that's not a secret. We all know I share everything on Facebook. I made a goal after seeing something on Pinterest. I didn't read the blog with it, because I'm lazy, but I read the Pinterest caption. The picture was a stack of presents and it said "wrapped and done by august one".  The caption mentioned that this woman finished all of her Christmas shopping and wrapping before August hit. I thought "this is a great idea!" I don't have kids, yet, to make the season even more busy. But looking back to last year I was in school and was working retail. I barely got anything done! It was crazy. So I decided that I would take advantage of the summer and make gifts. I planned a trip to Texas at the end of the summer as my deadline to have all the presents done.

Then I took it one step further...

My family does Secret Santa. We have my whole life. When there's 5 kids (eventually 6), no parent can afford to help each kid buy a present for each kid and then buy your own gifts on top of it. So we "drew names" (pick a number!) and shopped for that one sibling. Even now that we're all grown up, we still do Secret Santa! But I made a homemade gift for everyone in my family. All of them! (Then bought my Secret Santa an extra gift to make it fair :) )

Here's what the pile looked like the day I left for Texas:

That's 16 gifts! 16 crafts! 16 homemade projects! And soon to a blog near you: 16 blog posts! I can't post any of them until after Christmas to keep them surprises, but come January there will be a ton of craft posts. Since finishing all those crafts less than a month ago, I've been a little crafted out. Sad times. 

Don't be worried, though! I thought up a craft today and want to do it! So you'll see a craft post soon enough. If you wanted to, you two followers, you. :)