Eightymillion

A DIY craft and photography blog. Dogs included.

DIY Inspiration: Handmade Vintage Button Magnets

I have a {secret} obsession with buttons.  Especially vintage ones.  Their small, colorful, unique, and most of all useful. I’ll be sharing more ideas as I have time to create them.  Here’s the first.
Create your own magnets.  These have gone over well in our vintage shop so I’ve decided to make more with plans of adding them to one of my Etsy shops.  
Then I ran into a problem…
I don’t want to give the new batch up.  I sent some in my sister’s Christmas box.  Maggie (niece) loved them. They’ve found a good home on my metal cabinet that I have in my office.  And they might just stay there. We’ll see.
Assorted buttons, button magnets, and a hot glue gun.  That’s it.  Attach one button to each magnet using the hot glue gun.  Get creative and stack various colors inside one another.
I found that a cookie sheet works great as a drying station.  
As I slowly clear away the holiday mess in my office I’m finding more DIY projects.  You were warned.
Until the next word…
~Jennifer

DIY Last Minute Holiday Gift Giving: Handmade Recipe Book

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen baking all my Holiday goodies. In between watching what’s in the oven an idea came to mind. This is so simple and inexpensive (under $3.) that you can create your own in less than 10 minutes. They make great gifts for those who love to cook/bake. Need a last minute gift? Attending a holiday dinner? The hostess would love one. Family reunion? Collect favorite recipes from everyone and combine in one book. You can also give the book without any recipes inside, but it would add a nice touch if you shared some of your favorites.
Here’s what I did.  

You can pick up these mini brag books (photo albums) just about anywhere but I find that the ones Michaels sell hold up better.  The Recollections brand holds 36 – 4×6 photos.  They cost $1.99.  I was fortunate enough to catch a sale at Michaels and got them for $1.00.  

I customized my cover with a photo that I took at my Mom’s Vintage Store of an old mixer that was admired by many. It had since sold, so I’m glad I have the photo. Adds a nice touch for this project. If your giving this gift to someone who’s spends most of their time in the kitchen (maybe their a professional chef) you could use a photo of them in action. How about cataloging the gift?  Give a set of three or more. One for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Oh, and one for desserts. My muse is coming in loud and clear with ideas right now. Back to the tutorial.
I removed the cover from the album and measured a piece of black cardstock the same size. You may use whatever color you wish. Match it with the recipients kitchen color for a more customized look.

I took a piece of white cardstock (cut smaller than the black piece) and used a scalloped scissors to the edges.

This book is mine so I added the text Recipes to the photo. Again, personalize here as you wish. Using double faced tape I attached the photo to the white cardstock and then to the black. I recycled the previous cover by attaching it to the new cover (design facing the black paper). That way I have a empty white page when the book opens to add notes. Or a personal message to the recipient.

Insert back into the photo album and guess what? Your done! I told you it was simple.
If I was to gift this I would add some recipes of my own using 4×6 index cards. Add a nice writing pen and the remaining index cards and your gift is ready. 
What’s nice about using these photo albums for recipe books is that when you accidentally hold the beaters up and dough flies everywhere it wipes off easily. Yes, I’ve done that several times.
Okay, one more idea. My sister shared these adorable photos of my niece Maggie cooking in the kitchen.
Alternate the recipes with adorable photos such as these.  
I’m completely obsessed with these photo album books. So much that I’ve decided to utilize them for another DIY project, titled The Polaroid Project. Check out that post here.  
Check back tomorrow for the weekly Top 10 List.  I’ve sharing DIY wrapping inspiration and quick appetizer recipes.  And I’ve got a couple more simple last minute gift ideas to share before the big day arrives.

DIY: Inexpensive Holiday Arrangement Of Ornaments

Easy, festive, inexpensive, and takes less than five minutes to put together.  Keep reading!
Have you ever purchased ornaments with the intention of hanging them on the tree, but they stayed in the holiday box year after year?  
Several years ago I found this adorable tube of assorted Christmas balls at Old Navy.  The holiday was over so they only cost me $1.99 (love those clearance bins).  We’ve all made purchases simply off of the “they looked cute” method.  Right?
When I first moved into my house I noticed these swag hooks in various spots in the house.  The first thing that comes to mind when I see them is those plants that hang in a hand knitted holder.  Remember those?  Throughout the years I’ve found uses for those hooks.
Using various lengths of ribbon I strung each of the ornaments.  I wanted the bold colors to pop, so I chose a cream colored ribbon to hang them with. 
And there they hang.  In the corner of my living room.  You could also hang them above a doorway.  Or on the hardware that opens your closet.  I would recommend choosing one that you don’t open a lot, especially if the ornaments are made of glass.  My dogs don’t bother them because they hang so high.  Not sure if they’re cat proof.  They may think your hanging up toys to play with in passing.  
Need a quick gift for someone who just moved into a new house and doesn’t have a lot of holiday decor?  How about someone that is away at college?  The arrangement would be small enough not to take up much room.  Hostess gift?  Giveaway at a holiday craft show?  Please stop me, because I could give you ideas all night.
Okay, one more.  Do you find yourself buying new ornaments every year and then you don’t know what to do with the old ones?  Pass them along to your kids when they move out on their own.
Have fun!  Perhaps I’ll hit the clearance bins again this year.  They would look cute in our shop in Galena, IL.  
Tomorrow I’ll be in the kitchen again.  Baking more goodies for the gift bags.  This time I’ll be adding a little twist to a traditional recipe.  Chocolate?  Of course!  I’ll be posting the recipe here when they’re finished.  Are you baking this year?  
Until the next word…
~Jennifer