Christmas Gifts - 3/8 - The Idea Room

How To Make Play Dough—Peppermint

Sorry about not getting this up sooner. Things have been crazy around here with that wind storm. I just finally found some time to sit down and get this typed up. Have you ever wondered how to make Play Dough? It could not be simpler. I have shared how to make some fun Kool-Aid Flavored Play Dough and Pumpkin Spice Play Dough. Well, since it is Christmas time, I decided we needed to make some Peppermint Play Dough. So I fiddled with the recipe a bit and came up with a recipe for some yummy smelling Peppermint Play Dough.

Peppermint Play Dough Recipe

1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 Tablespoon Peppermint Oil Extract
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup water

1. Mix flour, salt, & cream of tartar in a medium cooking pot.
2. Add water, peppermint extract and oil.
3. Stir over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes stirring constantly.
4. When mixture forms a ball in pot, remove.
5. Knead until smooth.
6. Play and explore with this fragrant, brightly colored dough as you would any play dough.
7. Put in a plastic bag and refrigerate to store.

A great way to entertain the kids during Christmas break. Or a great gift for a neighbor, classmates or friends. It is so easy to make and is the softest (non sticky) Play Dough recipe I have ever used. I like it better than the store bought stuff…plus…it smells amazing!! And if you are feeling extra festive…throw in a handful of red glitter to give it some fun sparkle!

And, in the spirit of giving, I have provided you with a free printable Peppermint Play Dough label for the tops of your jars or Tupperware containers to label it for a gift. The labels are 3 inch circles. If you need them smaller you can simply print the label smaller than 100% to get the size you need.

{Download Peppermint Play Dough Label}

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. I would love to hear from those of you who are planning on making some for yourself or who plan on gifting it. 19 more sleeps till Christmas…but who’s counting!!

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December 6, 2011 · Filed under: Activities, Christmas Gifts, Christmas Recipes, Crafts, Kids, Recipes, Winter Tagged with homemade play dough, How to make Play Do, Make Play Dough, Peppermint Play Do, Play do recipes, play dough

Gift Games—Tic Tac Toe

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Want a really easy gift game idea for your kids friends or for your neighbors this Holiday season? How about this simple but fun Tic Tac Toe game? This portable, magnetic game is perfect for taking on road trips, restaurants or appointments to help pass the time for your restless little ones…or let’s face it…yourself. Want to know how I made it so you can make one to? I thought so…

As part of the Martha Stewart Holiday Paint Campaign sponsored by Plaid, I was sent an amazing collection of paints, stencils and brushes from Martha’s new paint line! It was like Christmas morning! So many great products for creating so much creative goodness.

For this project, I used a couple of the paint products—Martha Stewart’s White Satin Paint and Martha Stewart’s Magnetic Paint. I used many of the various sized paint brushes they sent me and some fun Letter Stencils. You will also need some magnets, a wooden plaque and some round wooden 1 inch buttons which I was able to pick up at Lowe’s.

Take your wooden plaque and paint three coats of the magnetic paint onto the front of it. I painted just up to the edge of the plaque. I followed the directions on the back of the magnetic paint label and painted one coat at a time and let it dry for an hour before painting each additional coat. You will want to add at least two layers of the paint so that your magnets will hold well. Then I let it dry for 24 hours.

While the magnetic paint was drying, I painted the wooden buttons using Martha Stewart’s satin white paint. I loved this paint. It was so thick and smooth. It only took a two coats and the finish was so smooth and pretty. After they had dried completely, I stenciled the letters x and o with the Martha Stewart Letter Stencils onto the white buttons. I made a total of 10 buttons and made 5 o’s and 5 x’s. When they are dry glue some magnets to the bottoms using some E6000 glue.

Then I painted the edges of the plaque with a coat of black paint. This will show up under the white when I sand and rough up the edges for a nice distressed look. When the black paint is dry, use the white satin paint again to cover up the black and to give your plaque a nice finished look. I only painted around the sides and edges of the black as I added some fun patterned paper on the top.

Attach the paper with some Mod Podge with a layer underneath and a layer on the top to adhere and protect the paper. I prefer the matte finish Mod Podge.

When it has dried completely you can take a piece of sand paper and rough up the edges to give it a fun, distressed look.

Pretty simple and makes for a fun, homemade inexpensive gift idea.

And…that is not all…if you want you can change it up and turn it into a fun little photo display or recipe holder…

November 14, 2011 · Filed under: Activities, Christmas Gifts, Crafts, DIY Tutorials, Games, Gifts, Sponsors, Teacher Gifts, Tutorials Tagged with Activities, games, Gift Ideas, Home made games, Home made gifts, Martha Stewart crafts, Martha Stewart Paint, Mod Podge, Plaid Crafts

Make Bead Necklaces

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I am so excited about this latest project…how to make bead necklaces! Ever since I saw those adorable gumball necklaces over at One Charming Party (whose site I LOVE)…I have been wanting to make them for my girls…and if I am being completely honest…MYSELF!! So cute right? Well, I have kept my eye out for gumballs and just never came across any colors that I loved without having to order them online. Well, one day while perusing the craft store (which happens more often than I would like to admit) I spied some wooden beads! BINGO! I had my “gumballs” and I could make them exactly the colors I wanted.

And they are so EASY! I simply took the wooden beads and painted them with acrylic paint.

I put each bead onto the end of some skewers that we had left over from some summer BBQ’s so that I could paint them easily. Then I carefully pushed them off the skewer and onto a paper and left them to dry completely. Then I painted them with a high gloss finish. I just used a bottle that can be found right next to all the acrylic paints. I forgot to take a picture of it…but any glossy varnish will work. I wanted them to have a glossy finish much like the gumballs do.

I painted several in some fun and bright colors and added some polka-dots to some since I seem to be loving polka-dots lately!

After the beads are completely dry, cut about 3.5 – 4 feet of ribbon (depending on the finished length you would like the necklaces to be). I used 3.5 feet and that seemed to be a great size so that all three of my girls could share and wear these necklaces.

Line up your beads to determine the pattern you would like them to be strung on the ribbon. Take your middle bead and thread it onto the ribbon so that it is in the exact middle. Tie a knot on each end of the bead to hold it into place. Then leave about an inch of space (or more depending on your preference) and tie another knot. Thread your next bead on the ribbon and tie a knot directly on the other side. Now do the same on the other side of the middle bead. Continue with the process so that you thread one side and then the other. This will ensure that you have the same amount of ribbon at the end of each end bead on the necklace. I put seven beads on each necklace and feel that an odd number looked better than an even number of beads.

The possibilities are endless! You can also find other great beads at your local craft store if you don’t feel like painting them yourself!

I love that these are so fun and cute and so INEXPENSIVE!! I also think these would be a great classy gift for a little girl for her birthday from a friend. Or a fun activity to do for a little girl’s birthday party so the guests could each take one home. Or Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers…Or make them to give to a mom/grandma for Mother’s Day!

We have been wearing these around town for the past few days and have already had several compliments on them!

Now I am looking for some classier beads to make one for myself!