I Tri and Craft

thoughts from a mother of boys, a marathoner, a triathlete, a crafter, a wife, and a scientist

Category Archives: Outings


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Gift Card Birthday Box ~ Free download

It is Birthday Party Season!

 

OK. So there is really no Birthday Party Season, most people can’t really plan on when a birthday is.  But it seems like we had a lot of birthday parties to attend in the months of March & April.

For one such birthday I was unsure if we were going to be able to attend.  Kids were sick and so I put off getting a gift, then I decided to stop on the way to the party.

Don’t judge me, you all have done that too.

But, as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men….

The day got away from me and I wouldn’t have time to run in and find a present.  Alone with the kids in tow.  But I could stop and grab a gift card.

You know, there needs to be more dive thru services for things like this.  A gift card ATM.  Go ahead, run with my idea.  Just include me in the royalties.

I also knew I wasn’t going to be able to stand around the card isle finding the perfect gift card holder.  But as the baby was sleeping, I did have time to make a little box with a tag.

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I made a box template and tags in Silhouette Studio and filled them with some digital paper in birthday pattern.

I used the sketch pen feature to address the tag.

It is a little deeper than a gift card, but I filled the space with tissue paper.  I wanted something a little more substantial than an envelope.

The boys and I ran into the store, bought a gift card conveniently located next to the check out counter, and made it to the party on time.

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For those of you who might find yourself in the same kind of rush you may download this box here.

You will need Adobe Reader, a printer, scissors and glue.

Happy Crafting

 

Please remember this is for your own personal use only.  You may print the item as many times as you need for your own personal use but please do not forward, share, sell or in any other way distribute this file, or use for any commercial purposes or claim as your own design.  If you would like to feature this item, please do so as a link to this page.  Thank you.

 

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Easter Bunny Juice Boxes for a Preschool Easter Party

Ian has his Easter party at school today.
So what do I volunteer to bring?
Juice boxes of course because I can make them look like super cute little bunnies.
I found these Hansen’s Junior Juice
boxes and thought the would be perfect because there are just 4.23 oz, a perfect size for little 4 & 5 year olds.

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I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out all the parts for the bunny.

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I was grateful that I had two mats!  I could load another one to cut, while I was taking all these little parts off.
I then just glued them all together and wrapped around the boxes.

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I made 20 boxes and was able to use one 12×12″ sheet of pink card stock, scrap pieces of black and 7 sheets of 8.5×11″ white card stock. I also had the googly eyes, so I only had to buy the juice boxes, which I got 20 for less than $7.

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I also broke out my Cameo to make a letter matching egg game. I got the eggs 18/$1 and I already had the vinyl. I cut out an upper case and a lower case letter, and put them on different colored eggs.

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I put the upper case on the top half and lower case on the bottom half. The kids then would match the two letter s together.

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We also had the kids make rabbit masks to hold up for a group picture.

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You need a paper plate, card stock for the ears (white and pink), pipe cleaners for the whiskers and craft sticks for a handle.

We cut out the center of the plate, made a template for the ears and let the kids cut the ears and glue them together.

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They turned really cute and we were able to get a great group picture.

Happy Easter

 

 

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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 12

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

Our Zoo does a light display that runs from Thanksgiving through the first weekend of the new year.  There is no holiday theme to their display, it is of course about animals. 

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Typically we go see the Zoo Lights before Christmas, but that didn’t happen this year.  There wasn’t as much time between the two holidays and Christmas came before I knew it.  There was one week where we had time, but it was wicked cold out and thought of taking the boys out in that weather did not sound fun.

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We kept saying ‘if the weather is nice we will do it tomorrow.’  Then tomorrow came, and we had no time.  So we ended up going after Christmas.  It was cold, but it was dry and there was no wind, so it wasn’t that bad.

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Sid was mesmerized by the lights and the people.  Ian loved the lights, but was disappointed the animals were not out.  On the way home he said “I only got to saw one monkey. He climbed for me, an stayed up dat one night.”

I love the displays that look like the picture is moving.  You know, the ones where the lights are on a timer and turn off and on down the line.

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But my favorite thing about Zoo Lights is that they take in old lights.  They used to use the lights they took in after determining what was wrong with them.  Our zoo now only uses LED lights, but they do recycle lights strings.  If you have lights that don’t work, or tangled, or you just want new ones, take them to the zoo.  Don’t throw them away!

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What are your Christmas Traditions?


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 8

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

This tradition I don’t let my family participate in.  Every year I stay up super late the couple of days before Christmas and wrap presents.

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I always think I will start early, and I always think I have plenty of time.

Of course I don’t!

So I stay up late, while everyone is asleep and wrap their presents.  At least I know I am not alone.  Mom’s across the world are doing the same thing.

I was able to squeeze in making these gift tags for the boys.  I didn’t want to write on their gifts from Santa, I don’t want them to eventually recognize my writing.

 

If you want to download a blank set of these gift tags you can do so here.

 

Happy Wrapping

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What are your Christmas Traditions?