St. Patrick's Day Free Printable and Candy Pot of Gold

You can make anyone's day a little richer on St. Patrick's Day with this sweet little pot of gold.

These are so simple to make, you can easily whip up a bunch before St. Pat's and have the kiddos help!

I designed the treat topper and made it available as a free printable. (The link is at the bottom of this tutorial.)

Here's what you'll need to make the pot o' gold:

2 inch terracotta pot (It really measure's about 2 1/4 but I think it's sold as a 2 inch pot)

Black satin or glossy craft paint

Paint Brush

Gold wrapped candies ( I used Rollo caramels)

Free Printable Tags (link is at the bottom of this post)

Scissors or 2 inch circle paper punch to cutout tags

Bamboo skewers (1 for every 2 pots)

Glue

Paint the terracotta pot black, both inside and out. It'll take about two coats to cover the surface evenly.

While the pots dry cut your bamboo skewers into about 3 inches inch pieces. You'll need one 3 inch length for every pot. The skewers should cut easily with scissors but you could also use a utility knife.

Cut or punch out the printed tags and glue onto each skewer.

Fill your pot with gold wrapped candies and stick your treat topper inside.

Click here to get the treat topper design. (Which is free for personal use)

They would also make great cupcake toppers, gift tags, stickers, button, or medallion on a card.

(Free tag design is for personal, non commercial purposes only. Hershey's the maker of Rolo Candies did not in any way sponsor or endorse this post.)

Make A Customizable Family Tree Pillow- Free Printable

This is Part 2 of my Simply Screen Custom Silk Screen Kit Review- The project reveal.

If you missed Part 1 you can check it out here.

Lately I've been doing some genealogical research. And it sparked my interest in making a family tree project. (Plus I really needed some new pillows on the couch and have been meaning to try and make some for a long time now.)

Not only is this pillow something you can make for yourself but it's also a great gift for anyone on your list this holiday season because it's completely customizable.

First I used the custom silk screens I made to print a tree onto t-shirt-like fabric. That'll be the front of the pillow. For the back I used this cute little striped fabric.

Once the screened image is printed and dry, if you are making the pillow for yourself you can go ahead and write your family names around the tree leaves.

If you are going to give the pillow away as a gift, move straight to the next step which is sewing the pillow.

To make the pillow I followed this fabulous tutorial for an envelope pillow that Tracey Pereira put together as a guest post during my sewing 101 week.

Once the pillow is done (and by the way thank you so much Tracey because I actually, finally, sewed my own pillow and it was easy), turn it right side out and stuff it with a pillow form.

If you are going to gift this pillow include a fabric marker, and a nice card or tag letting the recipient know how they can easily customize this pillow with their family names. Another nice thing to include is a piece of cardboard. The recipient can place the cardboard inside the pillow when writing the names onto the front and the marker won't bleed onto the back of the pillow.

If you'd like to make this pillow for yourself or as a gift, I've made my screen design available as a free download here. All I ask is that you please respect the time it took me to make this design by not using it to produce items you intend to sell. It's for personal use only.

Love Potion Ideas and Free Printable Labels

So many couples I know just aren't into celebrating Valentine's Day. I know lots of people consider it a consumer holiday... with an expectation to buy candy and over-priced flowers but I just love the idea of celebrating LOVE.

So for Valentine's day why not make up a little something fun for you and your partner... just yourself... anyone else that you love... or someone you know who'd like to find a little love.

I'm talking Love Potions-

They could be bath salts, placed into a small glass bottle.

Here's a basic recipe I found online, but there are tons of them out there. I used Lavender because I think it's it's relaxing and romantic.

I made mine unique by adding some hearts cut out of lavender and honey soap. I simply cut a slice off the end of the bar and cut it into a heart shape. I liked the idea of these little hearts being visible in the bottle then dissolving away in the warm bath water.

You could also make linen spray. Small travel sized spray bottles are the perfect size.

Here's the recipe I used.. but I cut back on the essential oil called for and just used a few drops. Again I made mine lavender. Spray this on your sheets and pillow cases for a nice, subtle, romantic scent.

Or some how about some tea. Again I used a small glass bottle with a cork top.

I used loose herbs but you could also use a tea bag and replace the original tag with a love potion label.

I've made two sets of these labels, purple as shown in my post, or pink.

Both are available for Free.

Just click on the links at the bottom of this post and print or download.

I included a label for all three things I made here as well as a generic "Love Potion" label in case you want to label something else, here are a few more ideas:

• Massage Oil
• Bubble Bath
• Sugar or Powdered Coffee Creamer
• Serve cocktails for a party in little bottles with labels. (Wouldn't that be so cute!)

Just be sure if you're using the generic label that the recipient knows the real contents and whether or not it's edible. You could write the contents or directions of use on the back.

Get the Purple Labels Here

Get the Pink Labels Here

And don't forget to enter my giveaway-A Box of Craft Supplies for Year-Round Holiday Crafting, If you haven't entered yet, hop on over to that post and leave your comment by January 31st!

Free Pattern-Graduation Cap Card

Last year I made a simpler version of this graduation cap card. I've refined it and created a free downloadable pattern. Below I've shown the steps to make it.

Materials: Craft Knife, Scissors, Glue, 3 Inches of Embroidery Floss. Pattern Printed on White 8.5 by 11 Card Stock.

Start by printing out the pattern sheets on white card stock. Then score across the middle of the cap, inside card, and tag with the backside of a craft knife or a bone folder. You'll also need to score where each tab meets the base of the hat band (this is shown in the top right photo below).

After scoring, cut out all the pieces with a craft knife by following the black outlines for each piece.

Make a hole in the top of the cap with a hole punch or a needle tool. There's a white spot indicating where to punch the hole.

The next step is to fold the tabs on the hat band and glue the ends together to form a ring. And set the band aside to dry.

Now it's time to glue the embroidery floss to the top of the cap. Thread one end through the hole from the outside and glue it in place on the inside (this will get covered up by the card insert- so don't worry about being neat).

Trim the thread to the desired length and sandwich it between the tag. Glueing the tag closed and the thread inside at the same time.

If you'd like your cap to hold a gift card or money use your craft knife to cut along the semicircle marked on the card insert.
Fold the inset card and the top of the cap along the scored lines. Match up the folds and glue the top of the insert card to the top of the cap (this is the side of the cap that has the tag attached), the insert will cover up the hole.

Glue only the corners at the bottom of the insert card. Using just a small amount of glue on the bottom will allow the card to flex neatly when folded. i=It will also let you place a gift card or money in the tab easily because you can slide your finder under the back side of the insert card and push the semicircle up a little.

While the top of the cap dries, add glue to the tabs along the band and glue the top and bottom of the cap together.

Last- glue the dot over the hole for the embroidery thread to finish off the top of the hat.

You can write a note, slide in a gift card or money if you'd like, then I like to add a tiny drop of glue to close the card and hold it together tightly until the grad opens it.

This is my very first pattern- So if you make this card I'd love to know how you liked it or if you have any suggestions on improving the pattern. Thanks!