I recently made some decorated candy bars for Christmas to donate to an organization that was collecting them to pass out to kids in need and senior citizens.  I've never decorated candy bars before so it was fun to create something different than what I usually do.  My goal was to just use craft supplies that I had on hand and not buy anything but the candy bars.  I pretty much kept to that goal but ended up buying some Hershey's kisses for the reindeer's noses.  This post is mainly just for ideas and inspiration, not a step by step tutorial, but I will share a few tips on how I made some of the creations.

The photo above shows most of the supplies I used.  I used just basic Elmer's glue to glue everything together.  The paper I used for the reindeer was a tube of brown kraft paper that I use to wrap packages to ship.  The paper I used for the santas and snowmen was a tube of white paper that is to wrap packages in too. 

The reindeer, Santa and short snowmen were all make out of Kit Kat bars.

 The longer snowmen were made out of Hershey's Cookies 'n' Cream candy bars.

I love how these Santas turned out!  They feel like a craft that I would have made in grade school!

For the Santa hat I unrolled a cotton ball (not sure all cotton balls are made this way) to use for the Santa hat fur bottom and some leftover pieces of cotton ball rolled up for the ball on top of the hat.  For the beard I cut full sized cotton balls into slices with a scissors. 

The reindeers were really fun to make!  I came up with the idea to use a red Hershey's kiss for that famous reindeers nose.  So you get a little bonus chocolate with the reindeer nose!  For the antlers I made a template to print onto construction paper and cut out a bunch of them.  I've included a pdf antler template for you to use if you would like to print the template onto construction paper.  I've always had success running construction paper through my printer.  I've made the template in 2 sizes...one for the reg construction paper size of 9 x 12 and regular 8.5 x 11 size paper.  If using the 9x12 size make sure your printer is set up for that size.  On my printer I had to make it a custom size in order to print it out correctly.  Click here for 9 x 12 template and click here for 8.5 x 11 template.

This is probably obvious how to attach the paper wrapper for the body or face but what I did was attach the underside with a little piece of tape to the back side of the candy bar to secure it and then wrap it around the candy bar and attach with one or two pieces of tape.

 The snowmen are a great way to use up small scraps of construction paper.

Since Easter Egg Hunts are cancelled this year I decided to make a visual paper Easter Egg hunt in my front yard!  During this uncertain time with the coronavirus I wanted to make something fun for my neighborhood to enjoy on their daily walks and spread a little joy for kids and adults.  This Visual Easter Egg Hunt kit includes 6 eggs and a sign to place outside. 

There are 3 egg versions to choose from...one page has 6 colored patterned eggs, another page has 6 black and white outlined patterned eggs to color yourself and there is one page with just 6 plain eggs to color and design however you would like. The eggs measure 3 3/4" tall once cut out.  Six eggs print per page.

Once you've printed and/or colored your paper eggs you can attach them to a stick to put in the ground.  I happened to have some bamboo skewers on hand and they worked very well to attach the egg to the stick with scotch tape. 

I found a wooden stake in our scrap pile to hold up my sign.  I also found a clear sleeve to insert my sign into to protect it from the elements outside.  I'm not sure where I even got this clear plastic sleeve but you could also use a clear sheet protector.  I used a staple gun to attach the sign to the wooden stake. 

I placed the eggs throughout the front yard and might move them each day.  Can you find the eggs below?! 

Click this link to download your free printable Visual Easter Egg hunt kit.  Have fun and share photos with me if you use this kit.  Have fun, stay safe and have a Happy Easter!!

With the popularity of the adult coloring book craze I decided to make some FREE Valentine's Day themed color pages!   Do you like to color?  Confession:  about 15 years ago I use to keep a Winnie the Pooh coloring book and colors under the seat of my car to color on long road trips!  So needless to say I love to color! ; )  I made 3 different heart coloring pages ranging from basic to a little more detailed. 

To download the chevron heart coloring page click here.

To download the random hearts coloring page click here.  Does anyone else think this one kinda of looks like an animal print pattern?

To download the heart rows coloring page click here.

Enjoy and happy coloring!!

The winter Olympics are upon us. Do you have Olympic Fever?  I enjoy watching the winter Olympics more than the summer.  My favorite winter sport to watch is curling, yes curling, followed by the various skiing events. I'm not sure why I'm drawn to curling.  I guess I just find it fascinating that you throw a rock down the ice and people use brooms to keep it going and going straight.  FYI, I know I'm not using the correct terms, I have to relearn them every 4 years! ; )  What's your favorite Olympic sport to watch? I've made a Free 8x10 USA Olympic printable to download if you have the Olympic spirit going on in your house.  Click here to download the file.

Go USA!!

Hello!  It's been awhile since I've said much on my blog.  It always takes me a little while to get back in the swing of things after the Holidays.  I had so many ideas and things I was going to share with you in December but time slipped away being busy in my shop, went back home for a week and now January is close to being done!  I always feel I need about 3-4 weeks to get back to normal after the Holidays. I hope 2014 has been off to a good start for all of you.  Did you make any New Years resolutions?  I'm not a big New Years resolution person.  In general I just try to be a better person than the past year.  What does that mean?  Well eat a few more healthier choices, keep moving a little more, be kinder and less judgmental.  I know some people choose a word for the year ahead to strive to be better at.  Some examples I have seen are: Joy, Focus, Purpose, Simplify and Adventure.  The goal is to focus on that one word in various aspects of your life for the year ahead.  I've never done the one word resolution before but Sara Bareilles' popular song Brave made me think about doing it this year with the word, wait for it...Brave!

Have you heard her song before or watched her video?  If not watch it below and really listen to the words.  I also love her video.  You know the phrase "dance like no one is watching", well this video is pretty much the literal interpretation of that!  Give it a watch, it might make your day!   So why did this word speak to me?  Well in general I'd like to be a little more Brave in many aspects of life.  I'm pretty much a person who loves rules, I'm on the quiet side and I analyze everything to death.  I sound like a really fun person don't I! ha ha  Since I analyze everything to death I suffer from analysis paralysis.   What is that?  As defined by Wikipedia analysis paralysis is the state of over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome.  I'm pretty good at talking myself out of things.  I get a gold star for that! So that's where the word Brave comes in to try and help me get over the speed bumps that I build up for myself and then talk myself out of things.  I need to be Brave and blow past those speed bumps (break some rules), speak my mind a little more and stop with the self doubt talk and just go for it!  Anybody with me and want to be more Brave? To be a little more Brave I've made a few FREE printables to help get our Brave on! Below is a FREE 8 x 10 Artprint to help you be Brave!  The words are from Sara Bareilles' song Brave.  Click here to download the image.

I also created a FREE 5x7 BRAVE printable in a Rainbow and Black and White design.  Download the rainbow one here and the black and white one here.  FYI - the large copyright and website address underneath the artwork will not be on the downloaded file.

Just download, print, cut and place it somewhere in your home or office to remind you to be a little more Brave this year! So for me not having a resolution this year I guess I lied.  My resolution is to be Brave! Did you make any New Years resolutions this year?

I designed these Military Welcome Home Printables awhile ago and I'm finally getting them up on my blog.  If you have family and/or friends that have been away serving our country for awhile throw them a little party to welcome them back home!  I've made a "Welcome Home" banner and a variety of square or circle tags (if you use a circle punch) to use as cupcake toppers or for other decorations!

It's kind of hard to take a photo of the actual banner all made and put together so below is a little visual of what the banner says and looks like once it's printed and cut out.

I had to split the banner into 2 files in order to upload it to the blog so click here for the word "Welcome" and click here for the word "Home".  Once printed and cut out the individual triangles measure approx. 5 1/2" W x 6 1/2" H".

To download the tags that you see below click here.

If you use these printable for a party please share some photos with me!  Thank you to all of those that serve our country!! *Terms of use for free digital files/downloads: All digital .pdf files/designs are to be used for PERSONAL USE ONLY! Commercial use, re-selling, making a profit from, forwarding and sharing these files/designs is strictly prohibited. You may NOT sell the finished (printed & cut) designs. All designs are original creations and are copyright of ©Amy Miller Designs. All rights reserved. By downloading these files/designs you agree to these terms.  All of my downloadable files are password protected, which means you cannot bring them into a design program and alter them.

I'm sharing a FREE printable with you for Teacher Appreciation Week.  With the popularity of chalkboard art popping up everywhere I was inspired to make a faux wooden chalkboard note and gift card holder.  I also made a matching note card.  You can download both printables towards the bottom of this post.

Teacher Appreciation Week is a week long celebration the first full week in May and Teacher Appreciation Day is the Tuesday during that week.

The gift/notecard holder is pretty easy to assemble.  Download, print, cut, fold and tape the side flaps to the back of the holder.  Write a little note of appreciation to your child's teacher or have your child write the note.  You can also enclose a gift card if you wish.

I also came up with this idea from a blog post I read by Christi, from Love From The Oven.  She wrote a post about what teachers really would like to receive as gifts during the holidays.  She posed this question to over 50 teachers to see what types of gifts they enjoy receiving.  You can read it here.  The number one answer was a gift card followed up by a simple hand written note of appreciation.  This gift/notecard holder works for both answers.  Keep this printable in mind at Christmas time if you decide to give something at that time.

To download the gift/notecard holder click here.  To download the matching note cards click here.  As with any free printables and artwork on my website, please use this for personal use only.  Thanks!

If you are looking for a personalized gift for your child's teacher keep in mind my cute cupcake decorations you can purchase in my shop.

Make sure to thank a teacher!

With Cinco de Mayo coming up I wanted to share some margarita cupcakes with you and a FREE lime wedge printable!

I made these awhile back when my husband had a Mexican themed food day in his department.  I needed a recipe that did not contain alcohol since they were going to be consumed in a work environment.  My friend Julie suggested a recipe from Wilton that you can find here.  The frosting is a lime cream cheese recipe that you can download and print here.

To garnish I wanted them to mimic margaritas so I "rimmed" the edge of the frosting with colored sugar and then cut plastic straws into 1 1/2" - 2" sections and inserted them in the cupcake.  For the lime wedge on the side you can use a real lime wedge, a sugar candy one or a FREE faux printable one like I did.  You can download and print the lime wedges from a link further down this post.

I made 2 different lime sizes to choose from.  I made one that is 1 1/2" that works well for mini sized cupcakes (that's the size that I made in this post) or a 2" one that works well for regular sized cupcakes.

To make the paper faux lime wedges download the file and print from the links below.  Use a 1 1/2" or 2" circle punch (depending on which size you are using) to cut out the limes.  You can use a scissors too, but it's much quicker with a punch. If you want the lime wedge to be seen on both sides, fold the circle lime in half, poke a hole in the middle with a toothpick and secure with a piece of double sided tape.  If you just want the lime wedge to show on one side cut the circle lime in half and tape a toothpick on the back side of it.

I also used the paper lime wedges to decorate my cake stand as you can see.

To download the FREE lime wedge printables click here for the 1 1/2" file and click here for the 2" file.  As with any free artwork on my website, please use this for personal use only. If you use these printables please let me know how you used them! For more fun Fiesta ideas check out my Pinterest board here! What’s Baking is a section on my blog where I share various items I’ve been making and baking!  I’ve loved to bake since I was little!  Some recipes or creations I’ve made up myself and some are things I’ve made from my way too many Pinterest boards and from way too many bloggers I follow.  To take a look at some other things I’ve been baking go here!

Turn those boring chocolate heart boxes into a work of art with some basic craft supplies!  After the chocolates are gone use them for a gift box!  These were seriously so fun to make.  I could have made way more but I had to stop myself and get this blog post finished!  These embellished boxes are pretty self explanatory by looking through the photos but I'll point a few things out here and there.

First you need some heart boxes, kind of obvious I guess.  I had a couple saved at my house and bought a few too.  Tip - if you would like to get some of these boxes to have on hand pick some up the day after Valentine's Day when they are 50% off or more!

Word of warning if you are buying boxes mainly for the actual heart shaped box, not for the chocolates.  Be careful of the plastic molded ones like the one below.  I wanted 1 more large box and got this one at Wal-mart I think for $3.00 but it won't make a good gift box because the plastic molding is all one piece so you can't remove it.  I'm not sure if all the plastic heart boxes are this way but just a heads up.

You can use just about any type of creative items to dress up your boxes.  You could use gift wrap or scrapbook paper and call it a day or keep on embellishing.  From my craft arsenal I gathered some wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, chalkboard contact paper, stickers, bakers twine, washi tape and some small clothespins.  I never got to use the small clothespins because I ran out of boxes to dress up but they would have been cute to glue to the box and put a little love note or To/From tag in the clothespin.

At first I thought of just dressing up the outside of the boxes to make them a little cuter with leaving the chocolates inside.  Then I figured they would be good to recycle and use for gift boxes for Valentine's Day, Birthdays, Engagements, Weddings and etc. presents.  I was really surprised how many different items I could fit in the boxes since they are only about 1" tall.  As you scroll through the photos below you'll see I ended up making some themed  boxes.  The items below came from various sources (mainly Target, Wal-mart and Michaels) and some items I had on hand.  Gift cards, Disney or other amusement park tickets would be fun to put in these boxes too.  You might need to take some of the items out of the packaging in order to fit in the box.

To get started take the top/front of the box and flip it over and trace it onto the back of the paper you would like to use.  Cut out the paper heart and attach with glue or double sided scotch tape to the front of your box.

After the new paper is attached you can embellish to your hearts content! For the box below I used striped wrapping paper, white card stock, bakers twine and washi tape.  The heart balloons were inspired by the artwork I made in honor of Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Confession time...I have many rolls of washi tape but have never used them!  Yes, that's grounds for some type of crafting offense I'm sure...please don't turn me into the craft police!  ha ha  A couple weeks ago I came across these beautiful cards made by Omiyage.  I liked the technique they used to make shapes by overlapping the washi tape so that's what I did to make the heart balloons on this box. If you are like "what the heck is washi tape", go here and Omiyage explains what it's all about.  You can also purchase washi tape from their shop here.  The bakers twine is from The Twinery.  Oh, I made a heart template that you can download towards the bottom of this post.  The template is a sheet of graduated sized hearts ranging from 1" to 4".

This box became a craft themed gift box.  Some of the items include: ribbon, mini paper punches, glitter, pencils, erasers, washi tape, heart post-it notes, fun edge scissors and a little candy!

For those that don't know, I suffer from Hello Kitty addiction.  I don't know if there is a cure, but I really don't want to be cured!  ; )  The 5 year old in me just takes over when I see Hello Kitty and I get all excited and sometime start clapping when it's super cute!  (yes I really do that!)  So while I was staring at my pile of heart boxes the HK face entered my mind and out came this box.  I used white & yellow card stock, black contact paper (you can just use black card stock, I had the black contact paper in front of me so that's what I used) and red polka dot ribbon for the bow.

What's inside?  Yep, HK items!  HK keychain, bracelet, magnet clip, lipgloss and candy!

Ok, this one is my FAVORITE!!  I LOVE hot air balloons.  I've been fascinated by them since I was a kid.  I wanted to make a box with some dimension and a hot air balloon is what came to my mind.   I used scrapbook paper and bakers twine for this box.  I cheated and made my clouds in Illustrator with the wording.  I have horrible hand writing and didn't want to ruin my design with it so I used the computer!

Here's a quick little tutorial on how to make the hot air balloon.  Trace and cut out 3 heart shapes (you can download a heart template down further in this post), fold them in half, glue or use double sided scotch tape to attach them to each other.  There will be a half heart shape left on each side to glue or tape down to your box.  Pretty easy!

This box became a bakers theme.  Heart shape cookie cutter, sprinkles, mini cupcake liners and candy are what landed in this box.

To be honest, I'm a girly girl designer and my mind just doesn't think in boy land.  I noticed I didn't have anything representing a boys theme and all I could think was Vroom, Vroom!  This was suppose to be a basic car theme but it turned into a Disney's Cars theme.  I was trying to find some basic car stickers with traffic signs but couldn't find anything but Disney's Cars stickers.  This box I used red card stock, Cars stickers and road - looking washi tape. I realize you might not be able to find road -looking washi tape, in place of that just use strips of black card stock and use white chalk or White Out to make the white dash lines.

In the box...Disney's Cars Sticker Tape roll (found at Wal-mart in the greeting card section), match box car, erasers and candy.

This next one I really didn't like how it turned out and I wasn't going to include it but decided to anyways.  Do you ever have an idea and it's so cool in your head then you go to create it and you're like this does not look how it did in my head?  Well, that's what happened with this box.  Chalkboard art seems to be all the rage and I wanted to create something with black chalkboard contact paper I recently bought.  I wanted to get some colored chalk markers but couldn't find them so I just used regular chalk.  It just seemed to be hard to write/design on this paper.  It didn't take the chalk the same as a real chalkboard.  I tried to use colored chalk but it just ended up looking almost white.  So this is what I ended up with.  I think I'll stick to digital/faux chalk art designing and skip the real chalk art!

This box is for the fashion glamor girl!  Heart socks, nail polish, lip glosses and candy!

This last one is another favorite, it's only made from various scrapbook papers.   I turned to one of my Pinterest Boards for this paper rose technique.  I was so happy to use something I pinned for once!  You can find the tutorial to make these roses here.  They really are super easy and fun to make.

I thought this box would be cute to give to a best girlfriend with their favorite lip stick or lip gloss and a little candy!

These 3 are my favorite.  I just love creating with paper!

I hope these spark your own creativity to dress up those boring chocolate heart boxes!

Here's your FREE heart template that I mentioned earlier in this post.  Just click the photo below and you will be able to download and PDF file of hearts to print out and use for your craft projects.

Have fun crafting!! Linked up at:  I Heart Nap Time, Lil' Luna, Somewhat Simple, Tatertots & Jello, Today's Creative Blog & A to Zebra Celebrations