February DIY in a Box

Since I can remember, my house has been filled with crafts and projects thanks to my mom. In my eyes, my mom is the most talented, crafty, and creative person I know; everything she touches becomes beautiful. Fortunately, she has passed on her love of creating and crafting to my sisters and I (even though we don't have all the talent she does). Whenever I see something, one of my first thoughts is "could I make that?" I love the challenge of thinking of fun new projects and crafts, or trying to recreate something I see.
I know not everyone shares the same love of crafts and projects my family does, however, I do think everyone has the ability to create. My goal is to make it easier, and more fun, for those of you who WANT to do crafts and projects, but get too scared to try or don't want to deal with rounding up the supplies. With DIY in a Box, you will get the basic supplies needed + instructions. I'll also include the level of difficulty (judged by my cute, non-crafty husband) and the time needed for the craft. Each month will vary in look, age group, difficulty, cost, and theme, but hopefully all of them will be easy and fun for YOU!

So...my February DIY in a Box is the Valentine Coloring Kit. Each box will come with the basic supplies to make four Coloring Kit's: 24 total crayons to make 12 shaped crayons (3 per kit), 12 cupcake liner's, 4 treat bags, 4 label's, and 4 sets of three coloring pages made by Brooke Gudenau with Bevy and Brine.
This DIY would be a fun little craft to work on with your kids, and would make cute Valentine gifts. You can purchase here.
Level of Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5
Time: 20 minutes active, 1 hour 15 minute total (including baking and cooling time)
I'd love to see your creations, tag me in your pics!

Valentine Coloring Kit

This craft is super easy and very cute for you to make with or for your children and their classmates. I am 99.9% sure that coloring with these crayons is way more fun than the plain, boring crayons ;)


Whatcha Need:
-Small silicone muffin tray (I love this heart shaped one), small muffin pan, AND/OR small paper muffin cups
-Crayons
-Cookie Sheet
-X-acto Knife (optional)
-Cellophane Treat Bags, like these
-Coloring Sheets and Labels

What To Do:
-Preheat oven to 200 degrees F
-While you wait, peel off the paper wrapper from the crayons. This is when the X-Acto knife comes in handy! Run the knife down the length of the crayon to quickly peel off wrapper
-Break or cut crayon into (roughly) 1/4" pieces
-If you are using a muffin pan, spray with non-stick cooking spray
-Fill mold with crayon pieces. I chose to pair similar colors together, but rainbow crayons would also be fun! You'll need the equivalent of two crayons per cup
-Place mold on cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the crayons are completely melted
-Carefully remove cookie sheet from oven and let the crayons cool
-Once they have cooled for about 5 minutes, place molds in the freezer and let them harden and cool for about 20 more minutes
-Once the molds have cooled completely, stretch the silicone mold (or if you're using a metal muffin tin use a knife) to loosen the crayons, then pop them out of the mold
-Put 2-5 crayons in bag
-Print and cut 4x4" labels and fold in half
-I like to fold the bag down a little bit, but that's optional
-Staple bag closed using labels
-Print coloring pages and punch a hole in the top left corner
-Tie pages together using string or book ring

Big thank you to my friend, Brooke Gudenau with Bevy and Brine, for making the coloring pages to go with these crayons! Let me see what you make, tag me in your pics!

PS: If you don't want to deal with the hassle of finding supplies, you can purchase my February DIY in a Box. Each box comes with the basic necessities needed for making four kits.

The Beauty of Engineer Prints

For a while now, I've had a strong love for engineer, or industrial, prints. I've decided to confess my love from the rooftops and share with everyone the magic of these prints.
Engineer prints are large black and white prints printed on thin paper originally used for engineering and blue prints.
The beauty of these prints? You can almost always get them printed for under $5! They take up a huge empty space on your wall without costing you a ton.
It's important to note that since engineer prints come on very thin paper, the picture quality won't be as good as traditional prints. Also, if you're wanting to print in color, you'll have to ask your printer how much color they allow.
For the cost, though, engineer prints are one of my favorite ways to spruce up a room! You can hang engineer prints with one of your favorite frames, fun washi tape, cute thumb tacks, binder clips, or using spray adhesive on foam board or plywood. You can find Engineer Prints at Staples, Fed Ex Office, and many local print shops. Give it a try! My newly added Be Still prints can be your first project. I'd love to see what you come up with... tag Scripted Desire in your pics!

 

Can you believe all of these cost me less than $10?!

Pom Pom Garland

I love these little pom pom garlands because they are easy and cheap to make, and they are such a fun accessory for a room or party. You can change the color, size, and density to fit your taste/need/holiday. I chose a pink-ish colored yarn and paired it with my Valentine Prints to add some valentine decor to our house. This garland would also be fun for any Valentine's Day Party you have coming up!

Here's what you need:

-Yarn of your choice

-Scissors

-Large Needle (optional)

What to do: 

-Decide how many pom pom balls you want to make. Once you decide your number, cut {X amount} 8-inch pieces that you'll use to tie around each pom pom ball. I made five pom pom balls, so I cut five 8-inch strips. Place your strips off to the side. 

-Wrap the yarn around your fingers at least 20, but as many as 100, times. The density of the pom will depend on the number of times you wrap around your hand. I prefer 50 wraps, but you do you!

-After wrapping, carefully slide the yarn off your fingers. Grab one of your 8-inch strips and use it to tie around the middle of your yarn bundle. Tie it nice and tight!

-Cut all the loops of your pom on each side. 

-Fluff your pom, and trim some of the ends if you'd like (but don't trim the center tie just yet) 

-Cut a piece of yarn to the length you want your garland to be

-To tie the poms on the garland, you can use a needle OR you can use the center tie to secure it to the garland. 

       [If you're using a needle]

       -Thread the garland string through the needle

       -String the poms together using the threaded needle

       [If you're not using a needle]

       -Tie each pom to the garland by tying the center tie in a double knot

-Arrange and space the pom pom balls however you want and hang!

If you're using a needle:

If you're NOT using a needle: 

 

From left to right: 20 wraps, 50 wraps, 70 wraps

You can buy the Valentine Prints here

Printable Planner

If you're just now trying to get organized for 2017, no judgment here because I'm right there with ya. I love a good planner to help keep me organized, but don't love how they are either cute+expensive OR cheap+not so cute. SO, I created my own! This planner comes with a cover, contact and menu page, as well as a yearly, monthly and weekly calendar view. You can download this calendar as an 8x10 or as a smaller version to fit in an A5 binder.
I chose to print the smaller version and paired it with a binder from the dollar section at Target (aka best place ever). Run to Target and raid their dollar section right. now. because they have some of the cuuuutest accessories for organizing along with A5 binders for only $5.
It's not too late to get organized! I'm confident that this planner will help get you in the right direction :)

PLEASE NOTE:
- You will need to print the A5 planner as landscape and to use there will be some cutting involved... To cut: Cut the paper directly in half , and cut 1 inch from the bottom of your pages. That's it!
- You can print double-sided if you'd like, however I like to use the blank pages for jotting down notes, reminders, goals, etc. If I could, I would tell you exactly how to print double-sided, but unfortunately every printer is different. You can always take your download to a local print shop and have them print double-sided for you.
- I recommend printing on card stock for the best quality.

The Planner's can be found under the "shop" tab.

Homemade Marshmallows and Kitchen Conversions Chart

Buy Kitchen Conversions Chart

I know, I know...why would you make marshmallows when you can easily buy them from the store? Well, I'll tell you why. Homemade marshmallows are lighter and fluffier than store bought marshmallows; it's almost as if you're eating a sweet and delicious cloud. You can also change the flavor, color, and shape of homemade marshmallows, which makes them super cute. And they really aren't too hard to make. YOU CAN DO IT!

Ingredients:
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup of ice cold water
1.5 cups of sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (you can use regular vanilla extract if you want)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
nonstick spray

Directions:
Place gelatin and 1/2 cup of the water into mixer bowl. In a saucepan, combine remaining 1/2 cup of water, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Place over medium-high heat, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes. Uncover and clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Continue cooking until the mixtures reaches 240 degrees F, which will take 5-10 minutes (depending on your heat). When you reach 240 degrees, immediately remove from heat. Turn your mixer on low speed then slowly pour the sugar syrup into the gelatin mixture. Once you've added all the syrup, turn the speed of the mixer up to high. Whip until the mixture becomes very thick, about 15 minutes. In the last minute of mixing, add the peppermint extract (or whatever extract you've chosen).
While the mixture is whipping, prepare a 9x13 pan:
Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add half of the sugar/cornstarch mixture and move around the pan to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Once the mixture is done whipping, pour into the pan. Use a lightly greased spatula to spread the mixture in the pan. Immediately after you spread the mixture, drop a few dots of food coloring all over. Mix the food coloring into the marshmallow mixture using your spatula. Lightly dust the top of the marshmallows with the sugar/cornstarch mixture. Let the marshmallows sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
Transfer marshmallows onto a cutting board. Dust a pizza wheel (or knife) with the sugar/cornstarch and cut the marshmallows into squares. You can also use cooking cutters to make various shapes, just make sure you dust the cookie cutters as well. After cutting or shaping marshmallows, dust the sides with the sugar/cornstarch marshmallows. Store marshmallows in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks, but I'm 100% sure they won't last that long!

While you're here, you can purchase my 8x10 Kitchen Conversions download for only $5. You can frame this print, hang it on your fridge, or hang it in your cabinet door. I love having this chart in my kitchen for a quick reference!
Email me to purchase your download at scripteddesire@gmail.com

Clipboard Calendar

I love these little clipboard calendars because they make me feel like I'm actually organized without taking up too much space, and as an added bonus, they are adorable and simple to make.

I chose gold + white stripes for my design, but you can get creative with your design!

What you need:
- My printable 2017 Calendar
- Mini clipboard
- Spray paint (I used gold and white)
- Painter's tape

Whatcha do:
- Tape off the sliver clip at the top of the clipboard (or just paint the whole dang thing)
- Spray your base color and let the paint completely dry
- Tape off stripes, you can either eyeball where you want your stripes, or you can space them about 1" apart using a ruler
- Spray top coat and let dry
- Carefully remove tape
- Print off the downloadable calendar
- Cut each into a 5x8 rectangle (you should see verrrrry faint gray lines that will help you with your cut lines)
- Hang that bad boy up and show off how organized you are!

Hang it on your wall, display it on your desk, stick it to your fridge...wherever you want. Enjoy!

(P.S. all prints featured in this post are available for purchase)