Popcorn Bags

Let's make our own popcorn bags! So you go to the movies with your family and get the big bucket right? Then you have to keep passing it back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Annoying right? Well now you can get your kiddos excited about the movie, have a fun craft, and they get their own little popcorn bag! Wonderful I know!
Materials:

• Brown paper bags or really any type of bag

• Paper

• Glue

• PenBlades (of course) #10, #15

• Markers

Steps:

• So just grab some paper bags cut your initial paper backing to fit the bag.

• Look at the movie you'll see or even your child's favorite character and have them plan out their bag. (We did Blue from Inside Out, and Olaf from Frozen)

• Use your PenBlade to cut out your paper. I didn't have my usual cutting mat with me so I actually used by Cricut sticky mat. 

• Glue all your pieces onto the bag and TADA!

Now fold them up and take them in your purse. Buy that huge popcorn bucket and pour some into the new and cute paper bags for the children. It's awesome because now you get to monitor how much the kiddos eat!

This is basically your Christmas Bucket list. 25 days till Christmas with 25 new things to do every day! This is perfect to go along with the Christmas Advent calendar you should have made! (previous blog post)

Every day you do one of these things tell us about it. Take a photo, post on Instagram (#PenBladeChristmas) You will see our journey as well! Alright so here is your list

1. Give a friend a small and simple gift
2. Hang mistletoe
3. Random act of kindness
4. Bake cookies for a neighbor
5. Zoo Lights
6. Have a Snowball Fight
7. Donate a toy
8. Make a Christmas tree ornament
9. Listen to Christmas Music allllll Day
10. Write a letter to Santa
11. Go sledding
12. Make a Gingerbread house
13. Drink hot Cocoa
14. Make Snow angels
15. Read Christmas Stories
16. Go Ice Skating
17. Sit by the fire
18. Take a picture with Santa
19. Build a snowman
20. Watch Christmas movies
21. Wrap presents
22. Wear an ugly Sweater
23. Drive around in your pjs, looking at Christmas lights
24. Leave cookies for Santa
25. Remember what today is all about

So there you go! That is your wonderful list of 25 things to do with your loved one, your boyfriend, your family, your girlfriends, Doesn't Matter! Just do it and have fun!

Merry Early Christmas!

p.s today is giving a small gift. So head over to our Etsy shop and buy a triple get a single for free! 
Ends 12/1 @ 11.59pm

Christmas Advent Calendar

You know those chocolate Advent calendars? Well they are great and all but wouldn’t it be better if you could make your own? I will go step by step and show you how to make your own amazing Christmas Advent calendar! YAY!

Materials:           

Metal sheet as your backdrop (You can even use a metal flat cookie sheet)

Tin cans (we got our from pick your plum)

Triple pack of PenBlades (DUH)

Lots of Christmas Craft paper

Sticker Numbers and letters (countdown and the letters December)

A Cricut (If you don’t have one, you can still do it! Just give yourself more time)

Glue dots or strips

Washi tape (not totally necessary)

Ribbon

Magnets

Hot Glue

Once you have your base measure it out and see how many squares you can fit across it. Mine was big enough I could fit 5 down and 5 across. Yes, you’ll need to do all 25 days! I was lucky enough to have 25 different colored/patterned papers. But please, make it your own! Be creative! 
Create a template for your squares depending on how many and how big you can make them to fit on your backdrop. Then whatever tins you have trace those and make a template for your circles. They also have square tins too. So take your pick or get whatever you can find.
 

Use your template and your #11 PenBlade to cut your squares and then your #10 or #15 to cut your circles. With your tins that you get, trace that and just have the whole circle cover the container.

With my card stock I cut the square and circle on the same page right next to each other. Use the #11 blade for your squares and the #15 or #10 for your circles. Those have an easier time with curves.

Once they are all cut out, glue the circles onto your containers using the glue dots or strips. Hot glue could work but it will make your paper uneven.

Then place your squares however you would like them and use the glue strips attach them to the base.

Next I used Washi tape to make a grid line. It breaks it up a little nicer and adds sparkle!

Now grab your magnets and hot glue those to the back of your tins and let those sit. It’s surprising how long it takes a magnet and hot glue and metal to all stick together.

So now you have your base finished and your tins almost finished. Now for the top DECEMBER part. You have a few options. 1. You can buy some blank tags and add your letters to them or 2. You can cut out your own tags.

All right once you have your tags cut, place your sticky letters that you got before onto the tags and then grab some ribbon and thread it through. Then glue strip those on your backdrop as well. All right, now stick everything in its place. Add your magnetized tins to wherever it looks good and then you’ll add your sticky day numbers to each tin. These stickers were a pain in the butt! So I used the #10 blade to help get the stickers to peal from the sheet and strategically place them straight on the tins.

 Well, Congrats! Now you have your Christmas Advent Calendar!

So cute I know.

Soon to come is a list of things you can put inside your tins!

M.I.C.K.E.Y M.O.U.S.E

In honor of mickey mouses birthday I have decided to make a super easy craft for your little girls hair! Its seriously so easy. 

The things you will need are:
one sheet of black felt
hot glue
a barrette

See that? How simple is that list? Okay well you also need to find some circular shapes around the house to use as a template.  So go find an circular object that is about 1in. in diameter and another with about a half in. in diameter. The big one will be the head, the little one will become Mickey's ears. 

Trace 4 head sized pieces on your felt and 8 ear sized pieces from the felt.  Once they are all traced begin to cut them out. The easiest way I found was using a PenBlade. The number #11 was my favorite for this. It is able to cut through felt so easily. You'll see. 

Alright now for the instructions:

1. Grab a head circle and place a drop of glue in the center then fold the circle in half
2. lay a different head circle flat and glue the half circle you just made on half of the flat circle
3. Grab a third head circle, glue in center, fold in half, then glue in center of the half and fold in half again. (should make a quartered circle)
4.  Place a glue drop on the center of the flat head circle with the half head attatched, and stick the quartered circle in the center so the folds stick up
5. Glue your last head as you did in Step 1 and glue on the other side of the quartered circle as you did in step 2.
6. You will Repeat steps 1-5 for the ear circles.
7. glue an ear to each side of the head
8. Now glue your Mickey Mouse to the barrette

 
Boom! Cuteness has arrived!! It may sound a little complicated but just read the instructions a lot and you'll be fine. Now your girl or even yourself can wear a cute little mickey mouse hair barrette anytime you want!