Soap and washcloth reindeer

Yuletide Washcloth and Soap Sachet Reindeer Novelty Gift

I enjoy an extended family Yuletide gathering yearly and I like to include something fun and crafty. This year I decided to go with these adorable little washcloth and soap reindeer. I learned this in childhood as a girl scout and found it fun at that time - and somethings never change! They are still fun to make. ☺

Party favor and teacher gift alert! When making several the cost is about $2.25 each. Most of the items necessary to complete the project come from the dollar store! I made more then a dozen this time and my kiddies sure enjoyed participating in the project. These little reindeer are super cute and make people smile! They're so easy and fast to create too.  It's a win-win.

soap that smells amazing!

From the Dollar Tree store:

• Tan plain wash clothes (2 per pack)
• Festive ribbon
• Red/Green/Black/White pom pom for the nose (1 pack did several projects including these)
• Googly eyes (1 pack did several projects including a dozen+ of these)

Fun way to transport non-flying reindeer!

The things that did not come from the dollar store-

• Brown pipe cleaners (find them here walmart)

• Hot glue gun & glue for it (Not a new buy had on hand for years!)

• Bar of soap that smells good (I used Texas Scents Soap see photo which were $2 each and smell heavenly!)

This is a great project to share with your kiddies! It is very simple indeed! (Just remember that hot glue guns require adult supervision - but you already knew that.)

(Also in case you were wondering, the red bucket in the photo was available in Walmart in May of 2013.)

Got Reindeer?

Once your folding and ribboning is completed (as shown on the left) you can move on to antler creating. Fold a single long brown pipe cleaner in half so you have a giant V. Then hold the base of the V in one hand and bend the top of the emerging antlers to and fro. Once they look antler-like to you just insert the V you were holding into the center of the ribbon-gathered washcloth. Voila you got antlers baby! 

Glue the eyes and pompoms on in the appropriate locations and allow to dry/cool. That's it! You got nifty gifty reindeer! 

Valentine Fun

The Valentines double! These were fantastic and fun little things to make!

First the wooden sentiment piece:

We made a couple of these little dandies to give this Valentines day. My girlfriend Gypsy cut the vinyl and wood. (Yes, she is aaaahmazing)

The kids did the rest.

First the kids donned art smocks. The process included painting all surfaces of the wood and letting it dry. The key to this is using a disposable cheap-o table cloth so the kiddies have plenty of room for paint without destruction of the room! Also - there is no substitute for supervision.... haha as one of them told me "we already see great!"

Then the kids sanded the project wood with strips of sand paper in the back yard. They went over all surfaces but especially the corners. I wiped the dust off with a damp paper towel.

I helped them place each vinyl sentiment on the project and they rubbed like crazy. (Fun stuff I tell ya..) Then they used red sharpie marker on the rear of the wood to add a personal message. Once the marker was all dry they covered the entire project with ModgePodge. That too had to dry and it takes a while. Overnight in this case. So imagine the Jeopardy theme song and fast forward about 20 hours......

The kiddies were very excited to finish up their now dry project. (boy 20 hours went by fast!)
The final touch was adhering a red ribbon. We glued it in place. Voila!

Next the mantle candy candle:

I like Pinterest. It is really addicting, and fun, and full of great ideas! I got this idea on Pinterest.

I bought some dollar glass candle bowls, votive candles, and traditional Valentines candy conversation hearts. I poured two boxes of hearts into each bowl and placed a candle on top. I lined them up along the mantles edge and it really did look cute! They cost a total of $1.75 each. I plan to reuse the candle bowls in similar ways for other holidays and seasons.

I made this at Gypsys place. I thought i'd share it here since it is part of my Valentines mantlescape. It is painted red and sanded. The letters are vinyl and that is bakers twine in the center. I had such a great time making this project. 

There you go. Happy Hearts Day my lovelies with Hugs!