DIY BROWN SUGAR KEEPER

DIY: How to make your very own

BROWN SUGAR KEEPERS

I love these cute little simple crafts like this.  I first saw these items in the country store called THE MASON JAR in West Virginia last year.  Every since then I've been dying to give them a try on my own.

And here's how mine turned out.

I started off by ordering me a pound of natural air drying red clay on ebay.  I got the Activia brand, in a one pound package for around $10.00.

This type is self hardening so there's no need to fire or bake them,
super strength and has a low shrinkage rate. So I figured this was all good.
I'm sure this one pound package will make a lot of brown sugar keepers, just no idea how many yet.

The first thing I did was to lay out some wax paper on my counter and get out the rolling pin and some of my stamps. These are regular stamps you use in crafts for ink and paper. They work great here.

I'm not sure why I did not roll it out on the wax paper, DUH, but i did lay them on it to dry!

 I stamped them, then I cut them out with the makeshift tea bag strainer for a cutter.

Just peel away the rest and reuse it again.

 Take a spatula, scoop up the keepers easily and

 lay them out on  a sheet of wax paper to air dry.

Here they are up close. They measure approximately 2 inches.

I used stamps to decorate them, although this is not necessary, I thought it added a cute touch. 
I looked and looked for my mason jar cookie cutter, but sadly I can't find it. I think that would've been super cute!

 (Note, the thicker your keeper, the longer it will retain moisture!)
But I'm going with about a half inch thick to start off with and see how it goes.

AND THEN:
After letting them set and air dry for what seemed like eternity, almost two days really, I was ready to package them up.
(That is a good sign though, air drying for so long, I know now that in an air tight container, these will hold moisture good!)

I used AVERY label maker to make some bag toppers and inserts for instructions with those cute graphics you see.

And for a baggie to put them in, I used the large bakery cookie treat bags found in the bakery section at Walmart.

And now they are ready to go.  I think these will be a great grab and go cheap craft for anyone to get or give as a gift. I am going to price them at $2.49 each.

I so cannot wait to find my Mason jar cookie cutter and make them in that shape. I'm sure they will fly off the shelf!

Happy Crafting ya'll,
see ya next time.
~Lisa
www.booth555.com

MASON JAR MINI PLANTERS

Super simple idea here ya'll. If you like little mason jars as much as I do, you may like this.

I started off with these clear, plain and simple little cute Mason Jars.

And sometimes, instead of clear, I use the these ones I hand stain.

I just took some little new growths of  "Hen & Chicks," (I think, no idea really about names, but someone told me they were) separated them,

 added some more good ground dirt to the jar

 and stuck them in their very own mason jar.

That was pretty much all there was to it.

Now I know this doesn't give the little plantings much room, but I don't mind transplanting them on down the road into something larger.  

But as for now, I am loving having the little brown, grubby jar sitting on my desk.

I even stuck one in this cute little dish I found at a flea market.

I love it!

Happy Crafting Ya'll,

~Lisa

 If you want to see I tinted the clear mason jars blue and various other colors, click here.

 Or how I made the jars n' things grubby, click here, for the previous post.

DIY Salt Dough Cornbread Sticks

I love working with salt dough.

It's such an easy mixture and there are tons of things you can make with it.

(Click here for my salt dough recipe)

Here is my most recent salt dough creation:

SALT DOUGH CORNBREAD STICKS
 

• Just mix up some salt dough in a bowl
• (CLICK HERE to view my SALT DOUGH RECIPE)
• (I added some black craft paint to these sticks AFTER they were made) 
• lightly spray a cast iron cornbread stick pan with Pam
• press the salt dough into the cornbread pan
• bake at 300* for approximately 45 minutes

That's it!

Let them cool and flip it over and pop them out.
Here's how they came out:

 The bottoms are smooth because I had pressed them in.

Most of mine came out easy. But there were one or two that I had to help along.

Overall, I love how they came out:

Just a neat idea to make if you like having some fake food sitting around
in those cute dishes you've collected.
And the primitive themed homes really look awesome with these cute, little simple touches!

Hope ya'll liked this idea and happy crafting until next time ya'll,
~Lisa

Craft Show Display Ideas

With just a hint of warmer weather today, (which will soon drop again,) I have already started to prepare for my spring craft displays.

I have been watching auctions and estate sales for some old suitcases, wooden cabinets and metal basket trees. Luckily, I have found a few and saved them back. 

But I usually always end up needing more cabinets to hold many little treasures.  And here is where my other half comes in.  He is great at making things (on his one day off.)  And as you probably seen before, I love having him make these cabinets out of old barn lumber.

And keep in mind, about any type of found wood could be used, not just old barn lumber!

Try to work with just about anything you have on hand.  I do this all the time so I'm not 

out any more extra money than I have to be.

And this one was from last spring with some beautiful, fresh Easter flowers in an old Mason jar.

Just look how vibrant and beautiful they were!

Don't forget to add little touches like this to your displays.

Make your items stand out and show shoppers how they may be

able to use them.

Here's a child size chair we made out of old barn lumber also.
It's a great display for anywhere you want to add some decorations.

And by adding some fresh flowers to it last year, you can see it make it really "Pop" with color.

Anything you can do like so, will really help get people's attention to your items!
And every little bit helps right!

 Hope this post gave you a few ideas to help in your next craft show display!
Happy Crafting and see ya'll next time,
~Lisa

DIY Stamped Gift Tags

I have been on a kick recently about making stamped gift tags.  

I have all sorts of stamps I have collected over the years and they are now being put to use. 

And if you don't have the right stamp for the right occasion, 

they are super easy and cheap over on ebay.

Here's what you need:

-Plain Manilla Tags or Make Your Own 

out of stock paper and a tag punch (which I do a lot!)

I got my punch on ebay.

-Stamp of choice

 

-String 

( I love bakers twine and it comes in all sorts of various colors)

Then simply just get to stamping up your favorite designs! 

String it and you are done!

So super easy and the designs are only limited to your imagination really!

Here's some of my recent sets.  I tend to make them in sets of 25. 

That amount fits great in my little baggies.

Oh yea, some of them I like to "Grungy" up. 

I think it makes them a bit more primitive looking.

But you must do this before stamping, or so I've learned so that the stamped

design doesn't run.

CLICK HERE FOR MY GRUNGY TAG RECIPE POST

To do so, I just mix a bit of brown craft paint into a small amount of water.

I then dip the tags down into the mix, 

lay them on a baking sheet and back for about 10 minutes in a 400* oven.

Take out, set aside and cool. And then I go back and brush on a bit of Vanilla Extract.

It takes a bit of time, but it is o'so worth it!

Here's a close up of some of my "grungy" tags:

Whether you choose to make your tags grungy or not, I'm sure they will be super cute.

CLICK HERE FOR MY GRUNGY TAG RECIPE POST 

These are awesome to tie onto gifts or to just decorate your primitives with.

I also even just add them as a "Made by" tag for some of my handmade crafts now and then.

Till next time,

Happy Crafting Ya'll,

~Lisa

DIY EASY GENERAL STORE SIGN

Here is a very easy General Store sign you could make for any country kitchen out of about any kind of wood.  I free handed the words Eggs, Butter, Lard and Opinions on it with just chalk! And nope, I didn't even use the fancy chalk paint to get to do this!

I started off with these extra pieces of wood.  The larger one, would've been a little bit too big or I would've loved it.


The board to the left is just a piece of pine board left over from our counter top redo.
So really, any type of board will do.

All you really need is to buy some black paint from Walmart like this:

 It is outdoor, flat black.

Paint it on the board,


One coat was all I needed because I like to let some wood show.

Then I put a saw tooth hanger on the back. You can get them in a pack at
the Dollar Tree for $1.00.

And while you're there, pick up some chalk. That is what I free handed
the words with was chalk!

And best of all is that  since the black paint is outdoor paint, the chalk
wipes right off with a damp rag.  If you ever want to change it up again.

I just thought up words that might be on a sign in an old general store.
But you could easily make this board into a memo board or a menu board for your
country kitchen!


Hope ya'll will give this cute sign a try!
Happy Crafting!
~Lisa

PS:
I did finally get to do something with the HUGE piece of old cute wood up there on the right.
I just painted it black with the same paint, in case I ever want to write on it too. 
But for now,
here's how I have it used in my home:

Just sitting on a counter top, holding a wreath hanger at the top.
With a few dish towels draped over it and a piece of my favorite fabric!