So. . . This is it.

Hello Everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I have decided to shut down Creative Spring. I have enjoyed my experience blogging about all of these fun things, but with four little ones, I just can no longer find the time - at least not at this point in life. So, as of January 1st, this blog will be deleted.

Thank you to my good followers. It has been a pleasure.

T.

Cookies for Santa Plate

I have not posted in awhile. I have been busy with getting ready for baby and with being in charge of our women's craft day at our church. The craft day is finally over and I will be posting a few of the things we made. The first is this Cookies for Santa plate. This project was a hit. We made them with plates from the dollar store and vinyl lettering. Once the lettering is applied, the plate is no longer dishwasher or microwave safe and should be cleaned only with a damp cloth - but hey, for a plate you use once a year - I figure that is fine. Anyway, I was pleased with how they turned out and the ladies loved them.

**If you are interested in purchasing the vinyl to make a plate for yourself, I am selling the vinyl only in my etsy shop. The cost is $1.00 for the vinyl and 50 cents for shipping.**

Mini First Aid Kit

Over a year ago, I had a post on this blog about other uses for plastic baby food containers. One of the ideas I collected for the post was to put a couple of band aids and antiseptic wipes in it and you have a portable first aid kit. I thought this was a great idea, so I did this and put it in my purse. Recently, when I pulled it out of my purse, my husband mentioned that he would like to make a bunch of them with his fifth grade class. Well, I no longer have a baby eating baby food, but luckily I had saved almost enough for his class to make kits. (I did have to get a couple more from a friend). The kids loved this project. They just filled them with a few band-aids and antiseptic wipes and then put a red cross sticker on the top. They are useful, turned out cute, and were a real hit.

Frugal Friday - All Purpose Cleaner

As the wife of a school teacher - I am always trying to find ways to add a few more dollars to the grocery budget. I am going to try to use Fridays to share some of the things I have found that help me save a few pennies. Maybe you will find them useful too.

I recently ran out of glass cleaner and found this old recipe laying around. I gave it a try and it works pretty well. I like the fact that it can be used as an all purpose cleaner and disinfectant as well. Sure I can buy glass cleaner at the dollar store - but this recipe cost just a few cents to make and can be used for a lot more than just glass.

Homemade Disinfectant / Glass Cleaner

2 cups water

1 cup clear rubbing alcohol

2 Tbsp non-sudsing ammonia

Mix well in squirt bottle.

Pom Pom Throw

I love this cute pom pom patchwork throw. Head on over to Sew 4 Home and check it out.

Play Make-up

I found this cute tutorial at Not so idle hands for making faux make-up for your little girls. I don't have little girls, but my sister is always complaining that her daughter loves to play with make-up, but always makes such a mess with her "play" make up. This tutorial shows you how to make mess-free make up out of old make up containers and dollar store nail polish. Such a cute idea.

Homemade Lotion

Well, I'm not sure that this lotion is actually homemade, but it is definitely improved at home. My hands get very dry in the winter and it was expensive to buy any lotion that would combat the problem effectively. I finally found this recipe at recipezaar and whipped up a batch. It made alot for very little money. I just used the cheap store brands of lotion and petroleum jelly. It worked wonders for my dry skin. Click here to check out the recipe on recipezaar.

Is Anyone Still Out There???

Hello again! If anyone is actually checking this blog anymore, I just want you to know that I am still here. We found out in early March that we are expecting another baby and it has been a difficult few months. But, now that I am finally feeling a little better, I plan to get posting again. My goal is to have at least one new post up each week. Sorry for the long silence.

T.

Going Green Popcorn

Click here to go to Bright Ideas for this fun recipe that would be great for St. Patricks Day.

Taggie Animals

I have really been neglecting this blog. Sorry! We have just been soooo busy - but I will try to do better. For today, check out this tutorial on how to make these fun Taggie Animals at homemade by jill. These cute little things can be attached to car seats, strollers, etc with a plastic ring. Love them!

My Oreo Pops

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

I just wanted to create a quick post to share how my Oreo Pops turned out. My little boy was happy to give them to his friends, and I got several compliments from the moms. I think they were a success.

Oreo Pops

We are in the process of getting our house ready to sell, so my days are pretty busy and posts may be rare for a week or two - but for today . . .

These are what I am planning to make for my sons preschool class for Valentines Day.

Click here to go to Happy Birds Crafting Haven and see her tutorial.

Sweet Valentine Treats

"Gourmet Mom on the Go" has some very fun ideas for valentine treats.

Click here for her tutorial on how to make these heart shaped cinnamon rolls. Yum!

Click here for her tutorial on how to make these fun edible crayons. Wouldn't these make a great valentine for kids to give to their friends? So cute!

Valentine Hand Sanitizer

Check out this cute tutorial from Just A Girl. She touts this as a teacher gift idea, but I think it would make a great gift for anyone, or even a cute shower favor. Love it!

Valentine Watercolor Project

What a cute art project for Valentines Day, using nothing but paper, crayons, watercolor paint, and rubber cement. I love this blog. She has so many good ideas. My husband uses them often for art in his fourth grade class. So make sure you check out the rest of her blog too. Click here to go to Art Projects for Kids and be inspired.

Valentine MP3 Player

Look at this cute idea from Family Fun. It is an MP3 player made from a box of conversation hearts and a couple of mini peanut butter cups. The instructions come complete with the printouts to make the MP3 player. So cute!

Valentine Bingo

Valentines Day is approaching, and today, I found this cute, free, printable Valentine Bingo game at Making Friends. Click here to take a look and print it out for yourself. Looks like fun!

CD Clocks

I found this idea for making CD clocks at Blissfully Domestic. So cute!!!

Blackboards

My sister-in-law made these for two of my boys for Christmas. What a great idea! She just got quarter inch boards, painted them with chalkboard paint and edged them with wide grosgrain ribbon. She then stenciled their names on the boards with paint. She made crayon rolls for the chalk. So clever!

Chocolate Bon Bons

I made these little babies before Christmas for my husband. He loves them, and I only make them once a year, which is strange because they are soooo easy. Probably, because I love them too and cannot stop at one (or two, or three...).

Chocolate Bon Bons

3 large Hershey Bars (with or without almonds)

1 13 ounce tub Cool Whip

1/2 tsp peppermint extract (optional)

crushed vanilla wafers, flaked coconut, powdered sugar, chopped nuts, etc.

Melt chocolate carefully and pour over Cool Whip which was placed in large bowl. Pour slowly and fold in chocolate as it is poured. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least two hours. Drop by teaspoon in wafer crumbs (or coconut, or nuts, etc.) and roll into a round ball (about bite size). Place on a cookie sheet covered in waxed paper and freeze. Yum!

Gone Fishin'

I made little fishing sets for some of my nieces and nephews for Christmas. My boys did not want me to wrap them up, as they were having a lot of fun "testing" them for me. I guess I will have to make a few more for them. I blogged about this project in an earlier post - the only change I made to her instructions was to use a washer for the hook instead of another magnet. It was just easier, for me, to avoid drilling the hole in the magnet, and they still worked great. You can find her tutorial here.

Neighbor Gifts

I know, I know. I am not very timely in my posting on this, but I didn't get a chance to blog about my neighbor gifts before Christmas. These are the gifts I made for my neighbors this year.

This is how I packaged them.

Business as Usual

I am finally back from my Christmas break and I will start posting regularly again. I thought I would start out by posting a few of the things that have been keeping me busy over the past month or so.

I am going to start with the superhero capes I made. Two of my boys are in a major superhero phase. They are always bugging me to put something around their neck as a cape, so I decided to make them their very own superhero capes. My sister's children are about the same age as mine, so I decided to make some for them as well. They ended up being a big hit with all the kids! I found a good tutorial at Puking Pastilles which was very helpful. I made my own little changes, but the method is the same.