DIY Marshmallow Roasters - Summer Fun!

Since summer and roasting marshmallows over the camp fire go together I thought I would share the DIY upcycled marshmallow roasters that I made with my Girl Scout troop (when they were in third grade....which was five years ago).

These babies are really easy to decorate, but they do take a tad bit of elbow grease to assemble. To be honest, I had my husband do the hard part.....but I told him what to do.

First thing you will need are a few pants hangers from the dry cleaner.  Our dry cleaner gave me over a dozen for free. 

Next, remove the wire hanger from the cardboard tube.  First part of applied elbow grease!

Wearing protective eye gear, snip off the curved ends of the hangers.  After the ends are snipped off, use pliers to flatten the "hanger" part of the hanger and smoosh the arms so that they form a V shape.

 This really isn't difficult, it just takes a little bit of muscle.  Having a vice gripe would probably make the job easier, but my husband did it all with just his manly bare hands and a pair of pliers.

Now here comes the fun crafty part.......decorating!

Cut strips of tissue paper approximately 1/2 an inch wide by an inch long.  I was working with 3rd graders so having the strips a little longer helped them handle the paper. You can cut your tissue paper any size you want.

Working in small sections, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the outside of the cardboard tube.  Lay down a single piece of tissue paper in the glue, wrapping it around the tube. Use a small dab of mod podge to seal down the ends of the paper. Once you get the entire tube covered in tissue paper paper let it dry and then add a few coats of Mod Podge to seal it. 

To use the roasters, stick the looped hanger part of the hanger into the end of the tube and add marshmallows.

When you are done, simply burn off any leftover marshmallow bits, let the metal hanger cool off......then squeeze the two prongs together and push them into the tube.  Built in carrying case!

You can't get the tubes wet, but you can gently clean them with a slightly damp sponge or wet wipe. And don't leave them outside over night while you snooze away in your tent.  Sitting out in moist air will ruin them (says the experienced Girl Scout leader). With proper care these upcycled DIY marshmallow roasters can last for years of roasting fun.

Cheers and happy crafting! 

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Showing the love with stuffed hearts - tutorial

Last week while on Pinterest I repinned this adorable crafty idea that was pinned from Mooreaseal's blog.  Her guest blogger, Katie shared her cute little stuffed hearts that she used to stash around the house for her Dad to find. A little way to show him how much she loved him.

Since Valentine's Day was coming up I wanted to make a bunch of hearts so I could do the same thing for my girls. Well, one daughter as the older one wanted to do it for her boyfriend. :)

Who wouldn't love finding little stuffed hearts that say, I love you! through out their day?

Let's get started..........
Cut two pieces of fabric large enough to fit your desired sized heart on.  Put the the right sides together, fold the square in half and trace the heart. You can use a stencil or just free hand it.  Turn the fabric so the wrong sides are together and stitch the heart together leaving an open for stuffing.

After doing a few hearts I discovered that it was much easier to leave the bottom point of the heart open for stuffing.  If you don't have a sewing machine you could hand stitch your hearts.

If your hearts are small, use a wooden skewer to stuff some batting into your hearts.  If you don't over stuff the hearts you can close off the stuffing hole with your sewing machine.  Or just stitch them closed by hand.  I am far to lazy to stitch my hand so I used my machine.  The beauty of this craft is that they don't have to be perfect.


(**Also, a little up-cycling tip......save old pillows to use as batting for your stuffy projects.)

So here they are........I cut some smaller hearts to applique on to the puffy hearts for added cuteness (do that before you stitch them together). Since they were so small that I didn't use any fusible webbing....just sewed them on. Wham-bam, thank you mam.

Once you have a collection of puffy hearts give one to your sweetie and tell them that the hearts are just a little something to show how much you love them and that they will be finding them here and there through out their day.

I bought Kate this Sock monkey for Valentine's Day and had him sitting in her room holding the first of the hidden hearts.  I hide hearts in her school folder, back pack, lunch, in her make-up bag, by her tooth brush, in her favorite cereal bowl!

When she came home from school she was beaming when she showed me the hearts that she found.  Seeing how much joy it brought her I am definitely going to keep it up during the year.

Now go on and share the love and Happy Crafting my friends.

Oh, and head over to one of the various bloggers hosting Scrappy Happy Me. There are a TON of people linking up with cute ideas.