Keep Calm and Bluff On - Free Printable

I really wanted to use a line from the Lady Gaga song as the title to this post, but it doesn't match my other boring free download titles. So just start singing Lady Gaga's Poker Face in your head when you read this. I have it I mine and can't get it out, so I am sharing the experience with all of you.

Yesterday, I made and shared the free digital download for the Keep Calm and Love Horses piece. Today, I used the same template and made a poker themed Keep Calm for my brother-in-law for Christmas. I always have such a difficult time making gifts for the men in my life. The ladies are simple, bath stuff, pillows, any accessories, but the guys are tough. I am very pleased with this gift!

My husband informed me the hand that I picked isn't necessarily a horrible hand, as it does have an Ace high...but I had already made it in a slew of colors and I really didn't want to make it over again. I personally am really bad and poker and I would not go in with this hand...maybe that is why I am so bad at poker :)

If you have any suggestions on other Keep Calms you would like, let me know and I can try to share them with you. This only took a few minutes to change the original template.

Remember, you can print these 8x10s for under $1 and if you are frugal you can get frames for $1 too at the Dollar Store or a Thrift Shop. You could also buy a fancy frame and make it look like a really expensive gift. It is all up to you! These can be printed as 8x10s by simply downloading the image (below) and sending it to your favorite print shop for developing. I personally use Costco because their quality is amazing.

To download one these images to print:

• Leave me a comment letting me know who you are going to use this for, which color you prefer or if you would like another color, let me know and I can see what I can do for you.
• Right click on the image you want and select open in a new window or tab
• On the full size image, right click again and select 'save as'
• Save it to a place on your computer where you can easily find it
• Send it to your favorite photo developer, find a frame and you can cross another Christmas gift off your list.
• Please only use these for personal use!
• Enjoy!!

Here are all the colors of  free digital downloads I made for 'Keep Calm and Bluff On':

Do you see this hanging in your basement? Does anyone you know love poker as much as my husband and brother-in-law?

I am very happy to say that is one more person of my Christmas list!

Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Stephanie

Keep Calm and Love Horses - Free Printable

Do any of you have daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, etc. who love horses? Well, I have a frugal gift for you! This 8x10 printable will cost you around $2 to make; it costs under $1 to print, $1 to frame (if you buy it at the Dollar or Thrift Store). You can't beat a $2 Christmas gift!

As I have mentioned a few times, my sister lives on an old farm built in the 1890's. Ever since she moved there, her daughter has loved horses. After years of horse back riding lessons, she is now begging to get her own horse. I don't think that will be happening any time soon, so I thought I would make her a framed "Keep Calm and Love Horses" piece for Christmas.  I am planning a Homemade Christmas again this year, so I had to start early. Be prepared, I will be making lots of printables, so you might see quite a few of this sort of posts. Don't worry I will offer them all for free, so hopefully you can check off a few people on your list as I am doing the same.
I am not sure which color I like the best, but I think I am drawn to the teal and the Tiffanyish color.

I won't go through details as to how I made this, simple because I really don't think most of you care :) (I will tell you that the font is called Keep Calm and can be found on most free font websites and the horse was a free PNG image I found on the internet. PNG images have transparent backgrounds, so they are perfect for projects like this.)

I will just give you the free download in a selection of colors that will hopefully match your decor.

These can be printed as 8x10s by simply downloading the image and sending it to your favorite print shop.

To download one these images to print:

• Leave me a comment letting me know who you are going to use this for, which color you prefer or if you would like another color, let me know and I can see what I can do for you.
• Right click on the image you want and select open in a new window or tab
• On the full size image, right click again and select 'save as'
• Save it to a place on your computer where you can easily find it
• Send it to your favorite photo developer, find a frame and you can cross another Christmas gift off your list.
• Please only use these for personal use!
• Enjoy!!

 Here are all the colors I have made:

 

 

Is there anyone on your Christmas list you can use this for? Is there any other 'Keep Calm' you would like to me to make and offer as a free download?

Enjoy!

Stephanie

The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!

I am not going to become a food blogger, as I have stated when I shared my rotisserie chicken recipe, but I have a few recipes that I absolutely love and though you would appreciate them.

After posting my glassed etched cookie jar, I thought I would share my recipe for the best chewy chocolate chip cookies in the world! If you are not a chewy cookie lover, just stop reading now because these are not for you. Granted if you cook them for a longer time they would not be as chewy, but still, there are plenty of crunchy chocolate chip recipes out there, go find one of those :)  For all of you, who are like me, who love the chewy cookie, this will be a favorite of yours too.

These cookies freeze amazingly well, taste great frozen and are a personal favorite for Christmas baking!

I am not a food blogger so I didn't photograph the process but I think you can clearly understand the instructions.

I have been making these cookies since I was in University (sad to say that was almost 20 years ago~ wow I feel old) and don't recall where it originated but I have made minor changed to it from the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (my trick if I don't plan ahead and it is not softened, I grate it with the large opening on a cheese grater. Works like a charm!)
• 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract (2 tsp if you like less)
• 1 egg (at room temperature)
• 2 cups all purpose flour (I have used the unbleached before but have not tried with whole wheat flour)
• 2 tsp corn starch (this is the important ingredient to make it chewy)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups chocolate chips (I tend to use 2 - but you can decide)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F
• Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and the egg and mix well.
• With mixer off, add flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt on top of the butter/egg mixture. Gently mix dry ingredients together with a fork and then mix with the creamed ingredients.
• Stir in chocolate chips
• Drop by spoonful onto parchment lined (or greased) baking sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes depending on the size. You will know they are done when the edges turn brown. If you like a crunchier cookie, let the top brown.
• Leave cookies on hot sheet for approximately 5 minutes to set before transferring to a cooling rack.

 Yields 36 cookies (I make the cookies medium size)

Has anyone else ever used cornstarch in cookies to make them chewy?

Enjoy and happy baking!
Stephanie

Glass Etched Cookie Jar - My Christmas Gift Ideas Have Officially Started

I am sorry for being away from Full of Great Ideas for so many months, but I have struggled to balance work, life and blog. Blog always fell to the bottom of my to do lists. After months away it stopped being added to the to do list all together. I have not stopped thinking about it or stopped crafting, I just didn't have the time to share what I have done.

As you know, I am a mom to two wonderful kids that are growing up too fast and I didn't want to miss anything.  I realized I was watching life through a camera. Don't you find that? You go to a special event or on a trip and you watch everything that is going on through the view finder! Yes I have some great photos, but the experience is not the same. I had to step back and  reevaluate.

Well I hope to be back to blogging on somewhat of a regular basis. My posts might not have as many photos or be as complicated. But I will try my best.

I thank everyone for their notes and comments wondering where I was and I am sorry for not responding. I really do appreciate them.

Well on to my first post now that I am back...my glass etched cookie jar.

My close friend had her birthday last week and I wanted to make her something small to celebrate it.   She is not one to bake and always appreciates when we drop by with homemade items, so my kids suggested cookies. I had been planning for our second annual Homemade Christmas (I know you all just gasped with the fact I am planning Christmas already, but that is me) and I had pinned an etched cookie jar. Sorry can't share the pin because I got smart this year and I hid my Christmas pin board. I found out the hard way last year that my family follows me on Pinterest and none of my ideas were surprises.

I knew I wanted to put their monogrammed initial on the cookie jar so it could be used for other items after the cookies were all gone. I designed three images and my children picked the easiest one, the EileenCaps font letter Z. I know most of you do not have a Cricut or Silhouette machine to cut your own letters, but this can be done with wall vinyl or stickers you can buy at the dollar store too.

It is pretty, isn't it?

I bought the cookie jar for $6 at Walmart. It was an Anchor brand I believe. To be honest with you I should have looked closer at it before I opened the packaging because it did not have the rubber ring around the lip to seal the jar nicely. It was reasonably priced and a perfect size, but I would have preferred to spend a few more dollars to have it seal.

I cut the 4 inch square design out of vinyl with my Cricut and stuck it on the cookie jar. Because the jar is straight up and down, I did not have any problems with the vinyl laying flat! This was the easiest placement of the vinyl I have ever had.

There are many options for everyone to do this craft even without an electronic cutter. You could spell out words like cookies, a name, funny saying etc with stickers from the Dollar store and there are people on Etsy who sell vinyl for a few dollars if you are interested in purchasing it.

Using a foam brush, I put a thick layer of the glass etching cream all over the area to be etched. I made sure to lift the cookie jar up to look at it from the back side through light to see if I missed any spots or corners. As you can see, I lay the cookie jar on a crumpled old towel to keep it from rolling.

Now here is the hardest and longest part of this project, walk away for 25 minutes. My bottle of etching cream has warning labels covering the instructions so I don't know what the bottle suggests, but over the past while I found this to be the best amount of time.

Here is an important tip...once the time is up, use the same foam brush, and carefully scoop up the etching cream and put it back in the bottle. Someone recommended it to me in my comments and I have done it ever since. This stuff is pretty expensive if you don't use a 40% off coupon so you might as well save as much of it as you can. I have been etching gifts for years and have barely used any of the jar because of this!

Once you get as much off as possible, run the entire thing under water. Work as quickly as possible because if the etching cream sits on another spot of glass it will create a shadow. Don't worry too much about this, just run it under a good stream of water and scrub it off.

So here is the etched cookie jar. It is hard to get a photo of it, but I think you can get an idea how amazing it turned out!

My kids and I baked a batch of the best chewy chocolate chips cookies in the world an filled the jar with them. We tied a bow around the lip of the jar and called it a birthday gift!

I think this is going to be my go-to gift for this year. Teachers, friends, coworkers will all be seeing cookie jars under their trees this year.

What do you think? How would you feel if you got this as a gift?

Stephanie at Full of Great Ideas.

My Oma is...Coasters from Grandkids

I know it is really early for Mother's Day gift ideas, but if I don't share this now I am going to be too busy and not get it posted in time. So at least this way you have plenty of time to use this idea for yourself.

I had these marble tiles laying around from the many other coasters I have made in the past. The first was the half-marathon bib coaster I made for my husband and the second set was the monogrammed coasters I made for a girl friend who was retiring. I purchased these tiles at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore but you can find them for really reasonable at HomeDepot or Lowes.

My mother is lovingly called Oma by her five adoring grandchildren. As with every family, each child has his or her own special relationship with their Oma. So, I thought what better way to express that unique relationship then to ask each of them to describe their Oma with one word and make a set of 6 coasters with those words.

I love how each description was a representation of each child and my mom knew immediately which coaster was from which grandchild. 

Materials

• Marble tiles (unsealed)
• StazOn permanent ink stamp - This permanent stamp can be purchased at Michael's for around $7 (I believe) and if you use a coupon you can get it for 40% less.
• Vinyl or stickers to use as template
• Sponge brush

Method

There are many ways you can do this craft. I designed and cut the templates out of vinyl with my Cricut, but you can use stickers from the dollar store or even stamps to make them.

I started off by cleaning the tiles with a damp cloth. When I purchased them, they seem to have a powder all over them.

Once dry, I stuck the vinyl directly to the tile. I placed the vinyl in different locations and directions on the tiles so they were more whimsical.

Using StazOn permanent stamping ink in black, I brushed the stamping ink over the vinyl with a sponge brush.

I found it worked best to wipe the brush across the template as opposed to dab it. I waited a minute and did a second coat to get a really dark black.

Here is the one tile I dabbed the sponge on; you can see how the ink bled under the vinyl and didn't give a crisp line. It did not look horrible but not as nice as the others.

Here is one where I brushed the ink across the vinyl like I was painting it on. See much crisper.

Once all the tiles are stamped and all the vinyl/stickers have been removed, you need to bake the tiles to make the stamp permanent and fade resistant.

Don't judge the how dirty my toaster over is...I use it for everything!

I baked my tiles in my toaster oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Once the time was up, I turned off the toaster oven and let them cool in there. They retain the heat for a long time so please be careful.

Also, don't venture too far away when they are baking just in case your tiles do not like to be heated. Just be careful and aware!

I did not put a sealant over the tiles they they can absorb the sweat from cold drinks.

After they were cooled, I put rubber stoppers from the dollar store on the back. I have used the soft felt ones before but found they slid off tables really easily. So these work much better!

I had each of the kids write their names and date on the back of the tiles with permanent markers.

My mom loves them and the kids love to use their own coasters when they visit. The kids have even noticed when Oma was using their coaster, so she now has to pay attention to not use one all the time. Share the coaster love amongst all the grand kids :)

So that is it. Simple, easy, cheap but most importantly personal gift idea!

What do you think..do you see the possibilities with this? Mother's day gift, father's day gift, teacher gifts...really you could give these for so many different occasions.

Stephanie

DIY Tree Stump Coasters

I know this is a little late but I have to say it...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It has been a  month since I have managed to find time to share with you any new ideas I have had. I have a long list of things I made for Christmas gifts, that I never got around to posting. So, I thought I would just continue to share the homemade gifts and if it is something you like or think you could make as gifts, you can always remember the instructions are here or simply 'Pin It" and come back.

I had set a goal of an almost all homemade Christmas and I have to say I did pretty well. Female homemade items are pretty easy to find and make but I really struggled for ideas for the males in my family.

As I have previously mentioned, my sister lives on a farm so they keep all the wood they cut down in the field to burn in their wood stove. I had the idea of making tree stump ornaments for the men, so I asked if she had any old Christmas tree stumps in her piles. She found a cedar stump that was a nice width that had been in the pile for over a year allowing it to fully dry.

When I went to make the ornaments, they weren't turning out to be exactly what I wanted. After leaving one of the circles sitting on my kitchen counter for a week (does anyone else do that, you don't have a home for something so it sits on the counter?) I realized that it was the perfect size for a coaster. So my gift for the men was found!  I ended up making these simple and free tree stump coasters for my husband, brother, brother-in-law and uncle.

They were very well received by all the men!

Materials:

• Miter saw
• Tree stump (approximately 4 inches in diameter)
• Polyurethane (or another sealant)
• Foam brush
• Sand paper

Method:

I plugged in my miter saw, shoed my kids into the house, put on my gorgeous safety goggles (they really are horrible things, but I would be in serious trouble if I was caught not wearing them) and placed my 3 foot stump on the miter saw.

I held my breath, made sure my fingers were very far away from any moving parts, and cut a 1/3 -1/2 inch slice of the wood off the stump. I continued to do this until I had enough disks. I planned to give each person 4 coasters.

I tried my best to keep the oddly shaped disks together so that they could be stacked nicely when I give them as gifts. The imperfect ones, where a branch came out, were by far the most interesting coasters in the end. So don't worry if they are oddly shaped.

Once all the coasters were cut, I quickly sanded them with some fine sandpaper. If I was smart, I would have pulled out my mouse sander, but I didn't. So each was sanded by hand.

I pulled out my scrap cardboard, laid out all the coasters and gave the tops and sides a few coats of polyurethane I had laying around with those cheap foam brushes. Once dried, I flipped them over and did the same on the opposite side.

After they were completely dry (follow the instructions on your sealant) I stacked the stump coasters, aligning any imperfections and wrapped them with raffia.

I love the idea of making one coaster (or ornament) every year with your fresh Christmas tree. We personally are in the artificial tree camp, but if I were to have real trees, I would make on slice a year, write the date and a special note on it to remember that Christmas. Most tree cutting places would probably cut off a piece for you when you purchase the tree, so you really don't even need power tools to do this!

What do you do with your old trees?

What do you think of this? Not bad for a spur of the moment, first idea failed, gift!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season!
Stephanie