4th of July Treat Bags

This was a really fun project, but I always have to sorta change it to make it my own!

I got the idea for making theses cute little Treat Bags from Jessica Spragues Blog Hop last week, it's #13 of you were intersted.

To fill the treat bags I made a couple batches of Pretzel Nibbler Mix. Really yummy when you don't burn it...some of it burned and I just picked out the burned pieces, the rest taste alright.

These sticks that I used to put the recipe of the Pretzel Nibblers on are called Story Sticks, I just used Wooden Grilling Skewers. The normal use for a Story Stick, is like when you are sitting in a group, the person holding the Story Stick starts telling a story, then passes the stick on to the next person, to add to the story and so on. So you are only allowed to speak and add to the story when you are holding the Story Stick.

If you click on the phots they will enlarge and you can see the recipe if you'd like to make them.

CAUTION!!! If you plan to make this recipe, I suggest, if you have a newer microwave that has the Power settings 10 - 1, you might adjust the setting...part of my first batch burned on 10 so I set it on 7 for the first cook, 7 for the second cook and 5 for the third cook...when I make it again I may just use 6-6-6 and see how that works.

I have it all finished now and thought they turned out pretty cute! I printed out a tag to stick on the brown paper bag, cut a band from cloth to put around the folded over opening of the bag & stapeled the band to hold it together, then just slipped it on the bag to keep it closed, made the story stick, using 2 stars back to back with the recipe on it, skewer inbetween the stars, and tied cloth bows on the stick to adorn.

This was a fun and easy project...bags ready to go to the campout out this weekend!!! I'm sure this idea can be used for many different kind of Treat or Gift Bags.

Baby Portrait

Here's another picture of baby Jack.  My daughter has a portable photography studio with a black backdrop that we set up and she has this cool rug we brought in from the nursery to place baby Jack on.  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

My Brand New Grandson!

Took this photo today of my grandson born on June 23rd.  His name is Jack Morrison Miller.  He was 7 lbs. 1 oz. and they delivered him 3 days shy of a month early!  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Father's Day or ???

We're on the road a lot these days but I did get to make Father's Day cards. I lifted the idea from Card Creations - an '09 edition. Get out your circle punch; I used the 1 inch. These colors are good for a masculine card. I do want to change up the color combinations and sentiment for more occasions. The THICKERS alphabet worked great on this as does the foam type. My Dad just turned 80 and Ev's Dad is 96. Happy Father's Day to all!

Fabric Bowl and Coaster

Here is another fabric bowl I made along with a coaster. They match the tote bag for Vanessa and they will go to her along with the tote bag.

Tote Bag

Here is a Tote Bag I made for our grandaughter Vanessa's 15th birthday. I'm going to fill it with bath wash, body spray, lotions, lip gloss, etc. I got the pattern from a craft book and added an inside pocket and the outside bottom pockets.

Baby Crib

Tony had an old Jenny Lind crib that was missing one of the up and down metal rails.  That was the only thing missing.  It was originally a maple color.  I ordered new parts to include the rail....mattress holder, and new teething bars.  I refinished it in black for my daughter Chrissie, who is pregnant and due with my 3rd grandson in July.  I recently presented it to her at her baby shower.  She LOVED it!  I also refinished the changing table to the left of my daughter.  This was given to her by her generous cousin Melanie and I refinished it to match the crib.

Here's a closer picture of the changing table.

I also made the baby bumper set out of material that Chrissie had picked out.  She is making a baby quilt for the baby and I used 3 of the fabrics that we ordered especially for the baby bumpers.  I used the Fairfield Nu-Foam for the foam fillers...it also has a pattern written on the paper insert.  I added the orange piping....it wasn't part of the pattern.

Published Work

I submitted a shower invitation for the June/July issue of Cricut Magazine that was published.  My invitation appears on page 112.  This is my 2nd published work.  I also had a baby cradle favor box that was published in the premiere (Jan/Feb) issue.  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Photography

I am a grandma again...this is number 2 grandson.  His name is Kayden Taylor.  He was born on June 1st....and is perfect in every way!  I took this picture of my son holding Kayden. I added a black vignette to the outside edges to make this a square instead of a rectangle.  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO