Monogrammed Hand Sanitizer/ Soap Bottles

I'd like to welcome all my newest Followers! CrAzY! I hope you stick around and enjoy what you see here at The Idea Room. Today I would like to share with you a fun, easy and inexpensive gift that is perfect for teachers, neighbors and friends...Monogrammed Hand Soap and/or Sanitizers.



All you need are a few simple items:

A bottle of hand soap or hand sanitizer
A sheet of overhead transparency
goo gone (to remove labels)



I usually buy my bottles of soap and hand sanitizer from the Dollar Store. {Or you can buy empty bottles and fill with soap and sanitizer}. Then I remove all the stickers and labels from the bottles. I got my paper labels wet and they easily scraped off. To clean off any glue residue, I used Goo Gone which I purchased at Home Depot.



**Download the free monogram label here.

**You will have to save it to your computer and then open it up with your Word program, photo program or insert it into a blank Word document. Then you should be able to send the image to the background and then type over the image to add the letter you need.

Measure the width of your bottle. In your word program edit the monogram and size it to the proper size for your bottles. Add the letter you need in the center. Then print out the monogram. If your printer is a laser printer, you can print the monogram right onto your overhead transparency paper. If you don't have a laser printer, print the monogram onto a regular piece of paper. Then copy the monogram onto the overhead transparency with a copy machine. Most Copy Centers will be able to do this for you.



**The above step is very important. If you don't print it with laser printer or copier, the lettering will fall off your vinyl and float in the sanitizer or soap...which doesn't make for a pretty present!

**You can always forgo the above step and just cut out some vinyl in the monogram and place it on the front of your bottle too.

Cut around your printed label as straight and as close as you can get to the writing so that it fits properly into your bottle. Check before you cut the bottom of the label to be sure that it will sit as high in the bottle as you would like it to.



Roll up the label so that the writing is in front. I roll mine backwards. Stuff it into the top of the bottle carefully.



Use the soap dispenser to push the label to the front wall of the bottle and to straighten it in the right position.



The best part of these is that they are so afforable and practical. They are also completely customizable. You could really put anything on the transparency and they could be used for so many things...birthdays, home decor, for new parents and their frequent guests, etc. Here is a version I made two years ago for one of my child's teachers.



**For the "hand in hand" download, click here.

Happy gift-giving!

If you have a favorite Christmas project, feel free to link it up here. *Please remember to include my button (or a text link) below your post! From this link up I would love to find and feature a few of your Christmas ideas on my blog in the coming weeks. Thank You!

*I reserve the right to remove any link for any reason! Then remember to leave others some link love in the form of comments on their link ups! We all love comments right?

Boxy Cosmetic Bag

Look! Something you can make for a man!

OK, so this one is for my friend Felice. Not a man. But a woman who enjoys cosmetics and bags and just had a birthday. It has a canvas outside and oil cloth inside for spill containment and easy wiping clean. But oil cloth not required.

I used Echino by Etsuko Furuya, Quiet Ground, Oil Cloth in Natural and the matching canvas, both available at Fabricworm.
Sizing is up to you. My finished boxy make up bag is quite large. You might want to make yours smaller. I don't know any man that would need this much space for his toiletries.
So my pieces measure:
2 pieces canvas outer 16X14
2 pieces oil cloth lining 16X14
One 16" zipper
but i suggest, for a more normal size, going 14X12 with a 14" zipper

1. Cut your fabric.

2. Lay one piece of canvas (or whatever outer fabric you are using) right side up. Lay your zipper facedown with the zip to the left with the top edge of the zipper lined up to the top edge of the fabric. Now lay a lining piece (oil cloth) facedown on top, with top edges lined up, like so:

Sew in place with your zipper foot:

Now fold your pieces wrong sides facing.  Lay your other outside piece right side up. Now lay your zipper and assembled pieces with the outside fabric face down and the lining fabric facing up as pictured. The zipper will be face down with the zip to the right this time. Make sure all the top edges are lined up:

Lay your other piece of oil cloth (lining) right side down on top with the edges aligned.  You can pin at the very edge (pins leave holes in oil cloth but you won't see these in the final bag):

Sew in place with your zipper foot.

3.  Flip all the pieces around so the zipper is at the top and your oil cloth (lining) pieces are on the outside right side up.  Sew straight across the bottom:

4.  Now bring the seam you just sewed to the center, above the zipper like so. Unzip the zipper halfway so you can turn it inside out when you're done:

Flatten it out and sew up each side, across the zipper.  Reinforce the zipper edges by sew back and forth over them a few times.  Trim your edges:

4.  Now pouf up your bag, still with the oil cloth to the outside.  Pinch each corner in and pin it.  Determine what height you like and draw straight line at the same measurement across each triangulated corner (i did 5"):

Sew that line with a straight stitch:

Cut off the triangle:

Repeat pn al four corners.  Now your bag looks something like this:

Turn it right side out.  You're done!

Pretty quick and simple right?

Stuff with sunscreen and the like.  Don't worry about spills, you can wipe it clean!

Bath Salts

from: Life Frosting

Last night at our RS meeting, we learned how to make BATH SALTS.

ok..brace yourself, this is easy...

1. ziploc bag

2. 1/3 cup sea salt

3. 1 cup epsom salt

4. a couple drops of essential oil or fragrance

5. a couple drops of food coloring (optional)

6. mix.

Isnt that fun.  I love baths and usually just stick in crystals, bubbles or anything else I have close.  I think these make cute little gifts though...for someone who needs to RELAX a little!