Oatmeal Cookie Jars

What you'll need:

• 1 Mason Jar with lid (clean and dry)
• Hot Glue Gun or Super Glue
• Hole punch
• 1 Piece of Ribbon about 8 inches long
• 1 square of fabric (about 4.5"x 4.5")
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup flour (white or wheat)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1-1/2 cups oats - (quick oats or old fashioned - uncooked)
• 1/2 cup raisins (sometimes I add Choc chips instead!)

1.) Plug in your hot glue gun.

2.) Measure out all the dry ingredients above and put them in seperate bowls.

3.) Add each ingredient to your jar one layer at a time and be sure that each layer is even in the jar before you add the next one. A funnel works really good for this. You can also improvise with a paper plate as shown in this photo. Try to seperate the colors to make the jar look more intricate. Example: add them to jar like this - 1/2 the flour - 1/2 the brown sugar - 1/2 oats - 1/2 the regular sugar - 1/2 the chocoloate chips - 1/2 flour and repeat the pattern.

4.) Once your jar is done, set it aside because now it's time to decorate the jar lid. Using your hot glue gun, center the fabric on top of your jar and glue it down. Let cool.

5.) Print out your printable recipe card, cut it out, and punch a hole in the left hand corner using your hole punch.

6.) Tie the ribbon around the neck of the jar and attach the card by threading the ribbon thru the hole in the card and tying a bow.

7.)Put the lid on your jar and you're done! Make as many as you want and I know many mothers who sell these during the holidays for around $5-$8 a jar. You can even paint on the jars themselves with paint markers if you're artistic!

Homemade Coloring Books

Kids love to color but imagine the check you’d be writing if you bought 15 coloring books for your son’s birthday party! And just think about it...you’re paying $4 a pop for some black lines drawn on plain paper?! Geesh! Even I could do that! Hey, that’s a great idea...

Making your own coloring books is a breeze. Plus, your kids will have so much fun coloring in books that are about them and their family! Follow these easy steps and you’ll be creating coloring books for the whole neighborhood in no time!

What you'll need:

• Plain white paper
• Pencils
• Hole punch
• Black marker
• Cookie cutters, stencils, etc.
• Construction paper
• Stapler

1.) Start by drawing large, simple pictures on white paper. Use a pencil to begin with in case you make mistakes. Once you and your kids are happy with your designs, outline the pictures with a black marker. Make sure to erase the leftover pencil marks as best as you can so that they don’t show up in the final version.

2.) The next step is to duplicate your artwork so that you can have as many coloring books as you want. If you have a scanner, you can scan the pages into your computer and then print out the pages. Otherwise, you could go to the library and just xerox your pages. And ten cents a page is a much better deal than you’ll ever find on a commercial coloring book!

3.) Once you’ve collected all of your pages, cut construction paper for your coloring book covers and staple the books together. Have your kids decorate the covers and your done! Friends and family will love your fun, original creations.

Tips & Advice:

• Not so artistically inclined? That’s OK, you can still have fun and create cool coloring pages. Get together cookie cutters, stencils, or other things that your kids can outline to create their pages that way. Go outside and collect different shaped leaves to draw on your page, outline your hand or foot, or just draw big shapes for smaller kids to color in.



• Mix it up. Don’t just rely on your own artwork to fill up these books. Download some Crossword Puzzle Software and make cute personalized crossword puzzle games. Or check out our Coloring Pages and add some of our creations to your own. Don’t have enough time to get the kids together for a craft day? Just download all of our free coloring pages and print up fun coloring books fast!



• Take it easy! Don’t worry if your pictures aren’t perfect, don’t sweat over your daughter’s not-so-round circle...it’s the personal touch that makes these books so much fun. They shouldn’t look professional - they should look like you and your kids put your heart into those pages!

I hope some of these ideas help make gift-giving a little easier on your pocket book and - more importantly - I hope this helps to bring your family closer together with fun and useful crafts. Happy Homeschooling!