inspired by this blog post, and trying to come up with a way to package more inexpensive candy, but still make it special, i decided to make jellybean packets.  again, they’re pretty simple and you could probably figure them out on your own, but just in case you prefer the step-by-step, here’s a photo tutorial with a few notes.

print off the image you want for the outside of your packets (if you like my jellybeans, here’s a free download for you!).  i tried it with both regular paper and cardstock and found that the regular paper worked better in my sewing machine.  if you’d rather do the stapler method, the cardstock versions are a little sturdier and a little crisper.

trim off the white borders.

cut into three approximately equal strips.  aim to get the jelly bean stripe in the middle of the piece of paper.

roll each strip into thirds and pinch the bottom edge.

sew (or staple) approx 1/4″ from bottom edge.

fill with jellybeans (cute litle chenille chick optional).  leave plenty of room at the top!

pinch the top shut perpendicular to your bottom seam (this is how it gets a triangle shape instead of just a flat pillow shape).

sew or staple your top seam shut.

and that’s it!

if you make this project (or any of the other projects in this series), i’d love to hear about it!

i also bought some sidewalk chalk and i suppose i could have included it in the art kit, but it didn’t really fit and i didn’t want to get chalk dust all over everything, plus, i found this great idea online of how to package sidewalk chalk as party favors and just had to try it for myself.  i didn’t have the fancy stripey or polka-dot chalk, but i still think they turned out pretty cute!  they remind me of saltwater taffy.  the process was incredibly fast and easy, but in case you’d like a little more detailed instruction, here’s a photo tutorial:

tear off pieces of wax paper about 3″ wider than the length of your chalk, then cut or tear these pieces in half, across the short width.

roll each piece of chalk in one of these (almost square) pieces of wax paper.

then, just twist the ends and you’re done!

just a quickie today to show you what i did with yesterday’s notebooks.

i decided to make an art kit that contains:

a homemade notebook

a box of crayons

a few special stickers (some are felt and some have wiggly eyes!)

a few easter tattoos

and a mini-tube of glitter glue.

i packaged them up in some plastic bags i had leftover from a previous project and added a bag top that i designed on my computer.  i was inspired by this post and i really love the way that the packaging adds a special touch to items that, on their own, might get lost in a basket full of goodies.  everything other than the notebooks was purchased at either target or hobby lobby and the total cost of each bag came to about $1.10.  the font i used is called pea noodle’s girlfriends and is a free download from my favorite handwriting font website:  fonts for peas.  my bags were about 4.25″ wide (i also re-used the two plastic bags that the stickers had come in!) and if you’d like to use my bag tops, click on the link below to download the pdf.

easter art kit bag top

step 1:   print the .pdf onto cardstock, cut on the gray lines and then fold each bag top in half.

step 2:  fill your bags with the goodies you want to include, press the air out (you don’t have to get all the air out, just try to avoid the “pillow” effect) and fold the top of the bag down a few times so that the bag fits the contents better.

step 3:  tuck the folded bag inside the folded cardstock bag-top and staple in place.  easy-peasy!

one of the things i also said i’d provide at this year’s easter egg hunt was a basket for any kids who forgot to bring their easter basket with them.  i didn’t want to go out and buy a bunch of cheap easter baskets for “just in case,” but i didn’t want to give the kids a plastic grocery bag either.  luckily, i remembered this classic paper bag basket idea!  even martha knows this one.  but just in case you’ve never seen it (or in case you want a less fussy version than martha’s), here’s my quickie photo tutorial:

maybe the kids could use their new art kit to make this simple paper bag easter basket look more festive!

i hope you’ve enjoyed my easter crafts series!  i had (way too much) fun creating it for you.  :)

this year, i am in charge of the annual easter egg hunt at my church.  basically, that means i’m in charge of orchestrating the hunt, but i’m also responsible for providing some treats for the kids’ baskets.  now, i could have taken the easy route and just bought a few big bags of candy, but i thought maybe parents might appreciate a little variety.  and because i’m always reading inspiring blogs like this one, and because i think there will be less than 20 kids participating in this year’s hunt, and because (as mr. happy stuff would say) i’m always trying to make things more difficult than they need to be… i decided to put together a few non-food easter treats.  and i thought i’d share them with you in case you’re looking for some easy easter basket ingredients.

today’s installment is a little easter notebook.  i drew three simple easter-y images (and left them as line drawings so kids could color them if they wanted to), scanned them into my computer and then printed them onto colored cardstock.  i added 5 or 6 sheets of plain white paper (you could also use paper that’s been printed on one side for a “greener” alternative, but half of the notebook will have the printed side on the front of the page) and stacked them all together.

i then folded one of the white pages to find the center line.  you could also draw the center line on with a pencil (i found the drawn line easier to follow than just the crease).

sew a straight line down your crease or center pencil line.  if you don’t have a sewing machine, you could easily staple this part instead.

if you have a paper cutter, now would be a good time to use it,.  if you don’t have one and if you’re too impatient to wait until you have access to one, a ruler and an exacto knife work just fine.  these three notebooks ended up being different widths because i am not a graphic designer.  i don’t think the kids will care.

if you’d like to make your own notebooks and you’d like to use my artwork, click on the link below to download the .pdf.

easter notebooks

tomorrow, i’ll show you what i did with the notebooks!