The Idea Attic

Tie-Dye Easter Eggs

2011-04-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. I think I'm the only crafter that doesn't really like to craft holiday crafts (if you followed that sentence, you've gotten more sleep than me). Last week I was too busy to post. I was making things for the auction we were having at church to raise money for the youth. I made two signs and crocheted two beanies and tried to finish the felt bunny I was making.

Before I knew it, it was Friday and all I had were fuzzy pictures of my projects. See below.

But I know many of you will be dying eggs in the next few days, so I thought I quickly put up this post for tie-dye Easter eggs. The only problem is dying eggs like this goes quickly because you can do 4-5 at a time. But you don't need any egg dye...just vinegar and food coloring (I like the neon colors).

First you arrange the eggs in the colander and splash them with vinegar. This cup wasn't such a good idea. I found out the a little 1/2 tsp or medicine dropper works best. You don't have to coat the whole egg...just pour and let it drip around the eggs.

Then take your food coloring and put one drop on a few of the eggs.

Then gently roll the eggs around.

Then add your second color and gently roll your eggs around. Don't roll them around too much, or you'll just get brown eggs...just roll a little.

Then pick them up and set them on a paper towel for about a minute or so. Then lightly rinse an wipe dry. And here they are.

There you go! I hope you have fun dying eggs. Happy Easter!

Plarn Part Deux

2011-04-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

If you don't remember Plarn Part 1, click here. It's basically where I confessed my slight obsession with the show Hoarders which was freaky, but did not give me the heebeegeebees (sp?) like the show Animal Hoarders. There was a man who was living in a house what hundreds of rats...oh I just shivered...and he loved them. He cried when they were all taken away. Again, while I was completely grossed out, I watched until the end...and even had a tear in my eye for the old man (remember, I cry at everything since the kids have come along).

Okay, enough of the Hoarders. I finally finished my Plarn bag. It wasn't that it was hard, I had to build up plastic bags in my house. It's amazing how many bags you don't have once you're trying to stay on a budget. In total, I think I used 60-80 bags. But here it is...

Add caption

Here is the Plarn bag holding a bag of apples!

For you crocheters or even no crocheters...this is the pattern.

26 chains
Double chain in 2nd back and in each chain
At the end of the row make a chain and go back for a total of 15 rows.

Make two of these and use a contrasting plarn color to stitch together using a single stitch.

For the handle I made mine 5 stitches across. It could have been skinnier. I don't remember how long I made the strap, but make it to fit your liking remembering that the plarn stretches. I then attached the strap to the bag using single stitches.

There you have it! Plarn bag! My girls love carrying it around. And I feel eco-friendly.

Have a great week!

Sweet and Salty

2011-03-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

SWEET

It's true. Call the presses. I'm trying to eat more healthy. And that is the reason for my posts today. So, instead of treating myself at the end of a long day with ice cream or cookies, I've been treating myself with strawberries. We are blessed to live near some farms, so there's a guy with a small stand (okay the back of his truck) that sells flats of freshly picked strawberries.

I love eating them just whole...so yummy. But lots of strawberries means...lots of strawberry baskets. I feel bad throwing these things away...I'm sure I can do something useful with them. So much to my hubbie's chagrin, I saved a few. I found some mini binder clips (and if you're looking for a post solely about binder clips, click here) and decided to attach all the strawberry baskets together. I then found a few different ways I could use them.


You can use it as an organizer for craft time with the kids!

We made a game. They had three tries and they tried to get the most points. This version helped with their adding of fractions.

Other Games:
-Put letters on the papers at the bottom and when your ball lands on a letter, you have to say a word that starts with that letter, but no repeats.
-If you have a deck of cards, you can give each person a different suit and you can try throwing your cards in the baskets to see who gets the most points.
-If you lead the kids music at church, a song can be under each of the papers and the kids can try to throw a bean bag in there.

Anyway, you get the idea.

SALTY
Because of previously stated attempt at eating healthier, I discovered that you can make your own potato chips in the microwave. You probably already knew this...but I didn't and I love potato chips so I love this.

With a mandolin slicer, thinly slice the potato.

Kinda' like so

Then with the olive oil cooking spray, lightly coat the potato slices and the microwaveable plate. Place slices on plate.


Microwave for 3 minutes first, check on them. They should be like this, lightly brown. I cooked these for a total of 6 minutes. Make sure you use hot pads to take that plate out of the microwave.

Then lightly sprinkle on your favorite flavor. I love this salt. It's so tasty! I think you can see the phone number on the bottle if you want to order. The shop is owned by a friend of a friend who is so nice. They have so many yummy spices there and the prices are so reasonable. It's better to call than go online because she gives you a ton of cooking ideas.

I like to put mine on a cookie rack to cool and crisp. Plus, I'm using the plate to make the rest of my chips.

There you have it! The Sweet and Salty of my healthier eating.

Life - Trying to have a Ball

2011-03-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

My deepest apologies to Debbie who seems to have been the only one posting lately. I'm not going to try to get any sympathy from you, but (here's where I actually do try) I've had my hands full the last few weeks.

First, I had strep throat and my family caught something else almost as bad. Then I had a week long business trip in freezing Chicago (ok...I admit, it wasn't that cold, but So. Cal Girl was NOT comfortable). Then a quick family vacay to Disneyland which brought on bronchitis. Again, the bronchitis itself wasn't that horrible...it was the almost peeing or peeing my pants every time I coughed. Let's just say there was a lot of coughing and a lot of laundry to do. So between all that, work, church, family and 4 prescriptions for anti-biotics...I'm feeling a lot better and can focus on a craft or two.

I'm not mentally prepared to make Easter projects, so I decided to make something for the baby shower I get to go to on Saturday. So I whipped up a diaper cake and decided that I wanted to top it with homemade fabric balls. All kids and babies like balls! So, here's what I made:

This is a perfect project for using all those left over fabric scraps. I looked for a pattern and I found a site that taught me how to make my own pattern as well as the cute easter bunny out of this same ball pattern. Here is the link. Post pictures of your creation on our Facebook page if you make it. I think it's so cute but like I said, I'm not mentally ready for Easter stuff yet. So I created my own pattern. Here is the pic or you can click on this link to download the pdf version with instructions.

I cut a version of my pattern out of some thicker plastic like a thick sheet protector or something. Then I cut out 6 pieces from my fabric. The ball above was two pieces of three fabrics or you can do three pieces of two fabrics. Make sure you iron your pieces. I know...I know...I hate ironing. But it makes sewing your pieces together so much easier.

Decide how you want your patterns to go and then sew 3 pieces together, side by side. (Remember right sides facing for sewing.) Then with rights sides facing, sew the two sides of the ball together leaving a space to stuff the ball.Turn it right side out and stuff the ball. I like to put a jingle bell in there...just to make some noise. Then hand stitch the opening.

Here is one ball not stuffed with a section left open and the other one done.


I'm not a very good hand-sewer...but this is my "closing of the hole."

Here it is again.

My kids are loving playing with these. And they are so anxious to make their own. I told them it was like build-a-bear and they can put their own treasures inside their ball.

Here are the balls on top of the diaper cake. You can also see cute baby socks my friend Stacy decorated with crocheted on buttons. Maybe I'll convince her to be a guest blogger soon.

Oh...one more idea I had with this ball. I have to teach the kids music on Sunday at church, so I'm going to cut out 10 "pins" actually circles and I'm going to write songs on the back or ways to sing the song (ie whisper, hum, only girls, etc.) and I'm going to let them go bowling. They have to roll this ball and whichever "pin" it lands on will determine their singing fate. It should be fun!

Now that I'm healthy and there's less stress at work, maybe I'll take some time to have a ball, too!

The Switch

2011-03-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

I am the mother of 4 young children who are still in the "bedtime routine" mode.

As is typical with most young ones, the dark is not their friend.

But, their parents LOVE the dark.

My husband came up with a solution that I think puts him in the genius category: A Dimmer Switch

Full disclosure: I thought he was weird when he first suggested putting a dimmer switch on the hallway light. Dimmers were for setting the mood, whether it was eating dinner at the dining room table or watching a movie in the family room. But he did it anyway, and I love it!

When the kids are first put to bed, we turn on the hallway light all the way on.

BUT...once they fall asleep, we dim the hallway light down. There's just enough light that if they wake up, they can find their way to the bathroom (or our room). But it's dark enough that the hallway light doesn't bother the adults that aren't scared of the dark.

Is that a "Bright Idea" or a "Dim Idea"?

Kiss Me...I'm Irish!

2011-03-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

Really.

I am.

My Grandpa was born in the green country before he came to this Great Land.

I won't really make you kiss me. I'll save that for the Mister and the Munchkins.

But I've always been proud of my Irish heritage.

So one might think that I would be thrilled when the 3rd grader came home last week with a "family assignment": Build a Leprechaun Trap. I was a little overwhelmed at the thought. But then we came up with this.

Yes, it doesn't look like a trap. There's more to the story:

As part of her assignment, she is supposed to write an essay about her trap and what she will do if she catches a leprechaun. She then will have to present the trap and give a speech to her class.

So I asked her what her plans were if Luck was on her side and she caught a little fella:

One might think the obvious - have them lead you to their gold. But not my little girl. The genes apparently run deep. Her plans with her little friend is to play dress up. She wants to dress him up. Did someone say "shopping"?

So we built the Leprechaun Inn, Where Lucky Little People Stay...Forever.

Her plans are to get him through the door, get him to make himself comfortable at the Inn, then put a rock in front of the door to trap him. Then she can lift the roof off and start her play date. Here are a few pictures of how our trap turned out:

For the materials, we bought the cardboard house at Michaels. It was under $3. Meg painted it green while I used Mod Podge and glitter for the roof. I placed where we wanted the house and then drew out a pathway. I used glitter for the path. After it dried, I used hot glue to glue the house and pots to the cardboard. For the grass, we took Easter Basket grass and I cut it up in small pieces. Meg used the Mod Podge and painted the bottom of the box then sprinkled the grass on. For the sign, we bought the pot and coins at the Party store. We bought the pre-made rainbow at Michaels and wrote on it with a Sharpie.

It came together pretty quickly.

Now wish us Luck on the essay and speech...oh and on catching the little fella...

PLARN Part 1

2011-03-02T13:35:00.001-08:00

Okay...small confession...I kinda' like watching the show Hoarders. Well, let me re-phrase that. It's not the I truly enjoy grossing myself out to the point of gagging, but I can't take my eyes off the T.V. and I can't stop watching the next episode on Netflix.

I've analyzed myself because this fact kinda' disturbs me and I think I watch it so that I can feel good that my NOT-ALWAYS-SPOTLESS home, or more appropriately ALMOST-NEVER-SPOTLESS home has crumbs on the floor and the couch pillows aren't arranged, and there are remnants of kids games throughout the house...but at least I can see the floor and I don't have to sleep in my bathtub because there's food rotting in my bed.

I'm amazed that people live like that and I feel sad for them. It also makes me think as I step over the unfolded blanket on the floor, "If I don't pick that up now, I'm one step closer to the T.V. show" and I pick it up. I mean, I do have some Hoarder tendencies...I like to buy things on sale, even if I don't really need them, and I don't like to throw things away because I might need them someday (especially craft supplies). I'm not as bad as I was when I was younger. My mother and grandmother were...ehem...are very frugal and wasting was and is a sin. So we saved a lot of things and (like I exposed in an earlier post) cut the mold off of cheese and ate the good part.

Mom has gotten a lot better about throwing things away, but one thing she has an over abundance of is plastic grocery bags. Seriously, those things are like bunnies. They multiply so quickly. My mom has this holder that you shove plastic grocery bags in and it is FULL. I once emptied it and I'm not kidding that there were nearly 100 bags in there or more. So when I saw a purse made from plastic grocery bags at a fair, I had to know how to reuse these things that way.

Introducing PLARN. Plastic bag yarn. This is part one because this is just showing you how to make the plarn and part two will be a cute bag I'll crochet from it. I'll show you a preview:

The whole purse will be cute!

Be warned, PLARN takes more time to make than you think...but it's kind of a fun thing for the kids to do and it can make them feel like they are helping the planet.

First, fold the bag in half and then in half again as shown below:

Then, cut the bottom (you can recycle) and the handles (you can recycle) and cut the rest into 1 inch strips.

Then unfold the plastic bag strips and keep them in a loop. Then, loop the circle strip under the other loop and through and pull...i know, confusing...just look at the pictures below:

Keep doing that till all your loops are connected. Because I had different colored bags, I did three brown loops then three white loops. Those brown plastic bags were REALLY thin and kept breaking. You can either tie them back together or just throw them away in the recycle bin.

Then wind up your plarn into a ball ready to crochet. For my purse I will need about 60 bags. This section below was about 10 bags.

Stay tuned for my finished purse (about 2 weeks because I'm leaving for a business trip to Chicago and will be gone for a while!!)

Hide, but Don't Seek

2011-02-28T21:27:00.000-08:00

Forgive me...

I've just recently returned from a trip to temporary insanity.

This is what sent me there:

Problem: Oldest daughter can't find her iPod Touch. She swears she left it on her desk in her room. Now it's not there. It's no where!

Suspects:

#1: small little 15 month old. Her latest trick is to reach on top of tables and swipe what's in her grasp. If she took it off the desk, who knows where she could have dropped it.

#2: 3 year old sneak. She loves to go into her sister's room and browse the luxury department, i.e. everything her older sister has told her she's not allowed to touch. (Older sister is not aware that some days while she's at school, I let little sister in her room to play...Oh the things I can get done in the rest of the house while she's visiting heaven)

#3: a little brother. His favorite part of the new Christmas present is the ability it has to beep when lost. As soon as he learned about the "Find Me" function, he decided it's fun to play hide and seek with the iPod. When we send out the Ping signal, it's usually found in the towels, or the game cupboard, or inside the couch. Our problem, the battery had died before we knew it was lost and there was no power in it to beep.

When the Suspects were asked if they took it, not one of them denied doing it.

We seriously spent 5 days looking for this, including President's Day. But I couldn't function until it was found. This wasn't something that could easily be replaced. So towels and linens were folded and refolded. The games were all sorted through, just in case it got placed inside a box. Toy boxes were shuffled through. Couches were vacuumed out. Under the beds were cleaned and organized. Drawers had been opened and organized. The hubs even went through the outside garbage...just in case. Nothing. And then I moved on to closets. First suspect #3s. Then mine. Then to the victim.

That's when I pulled out her laundry basket to go through it and I heard something. It sounded like an angel got her wings...because it was the sound of an iPod sliding down the basket.

{Sound the Heavenly Choirs}

If my detective skills are on, I would point my finger at Suspect #1 because of the hiding spot. I'm guessing she swiped and dropped not too far from the original location. If it were Suspect #2, I probably would have found it in her bed, waiting to be used when the lights went out. And Suspect #3 would have gone much farther to hide it.

So we have now decided the she needs a spot to put her iPod. My husband came across a clever idea. We knew it needed to be something that those Suspects won't know about. So we did this in secret. (Although if truth be told, I did it in front of them, but they never notice me anyway. Seriously...it takes 3 times of asking if they've brushed their teeth before they look at me funny). And we made this:

We went to a used bookstore and bought a book. Funny enough, my oldest is a big reader. And when my husband brought this book home she asked if they had another one at the store because she might want to read this. I'm hoping she feels this same way when she gets to high school!

We also used some mod podge and felt.

My honey then used a razor to cut out a rectangle big enough to house the iPod. (We laughed that the next chapter is titled "Ruined!").

I then placed plastic bags around both sides of the book to keep the mod podge from sticking to those pages. I took my brush and first put mod podge around the pages inside the rectangle. After that had dried, I brushed mod podge around the outside pages of the book.

Once it was all dry, I mod podged the felt to the inside of the rectangle. I then cut the remaining fabric. I chose to try to cut the felt square at the top.

If I were to do it again, I think I would leave a little border of fabric and glue it down. I didn't like how it looked when I was done, so I added some scrapbook paper to pretty it up.

And now it can stay safe hiding inside this book. Shh! It's our secret.

We found the idea HERE

Tank It

2011-02-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

My oldest spends every other Tuesday evening with the girls her age at church. She is often coming home with great things. A few weeks ago, she was asked to bring a tank top to the activity. I bought a bag of 4 tank tops for about $3, just in case other girls needed one. She came home with 3 extra tank tops and one darling bag. It was cute. It was simple. And she loves it.

So the other day when she had a friend over, she asked if they could make bags with the left over tanks. This is what we did.

I printed out the first initial of their name on Word. I taped it (backwards) to the window and had the girl trace the letter on Wonder Under.

After they cut the letter out, we ironed it onto the back side of some scrap fabric that they chose. Then cut the letter out of the fabric and iron it on the tank top.

They then chose ribbon and we sewed it around the tank top.

Finally we turned the tank top inside out and just sewed up the bottom.

Turn it back out and you have a bag.

These two little girls are currently rehearsing for the school musical. They are using these bags to keep their scripts in as they go to play practice.

Crocheted Wire Necklace

2011-02-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

Okay. I have a husband story slightly related to Valentines Day. One day we found a leak in our ceiling and cute and handy hubby tears through the ceiling to fix the problem. Can't find it, can't find it...and then goes on the roof to find that one of the clay shingles moved and all he had to do was move it back. So for the next 3 years I ask him to fix the hole in my kitchen ceiling....nothin'. Fast forward to last Wednesday.

I was getting ready for work and thinking about the upcoming events. We were having my friend's surprise birthday party at my house on Saturday so I was thinking about cleaning the house and desserts, etc. The party was with the kids and so I was going to have about 9 kids over and I was thinking that it would be nice to lock them in the bedroom so it was less noisy. I say to the husband, "Wouldn't it be nice if we had a T.V. in our room so we could lock all the kids in the master bedroom to watch a movie?"

That was it. Two hours later I was checking my bank balance and saw a very large debit from Costco. I called the husband who said, "You told me to buy a flat panel LCD TV for the bedroom for Saturday, so I did." Me, "WHAT?!" Him, "Happy Valentine's Day?"

Well, that story has nothing to do with my project for this week, but maybe some of you have a husband just like my model. I thought I'd let you know that you're not alone.

This week I was very surprised to find out how EASY it is to crochet wire. I literally made this project in like 20 minutes. All you need to know is how to crochet a chain stitch...and it's a great project to use up all those odds and ends beads you may have.

I found this tutorial on YouTube (click here) and it was simple to follow.

You will see in the tutorial that you crochet three different chains and braid them together. I made one braid with just white beads and the others with random colored beads.

I like this project so much that I'm going to invest in sterling silver wire and then get some glass beads maybe all in one color family or maybe do another one of these hodge-podge designs. Guess what all the girls in my family are going to get this year!!!

Tootsie Pop Love!

2011-02-13T12:24:00.001-08:00

I know...I'm squeezing this post in at the last hour since Valentine's Day is tomorrow! But my good friend Katie showed me this blog post and I LOVED the idea! You may remember from previous posts, I am not a huge fan of Valentine's Day so I'm not going to break the bank and my back for school parties. So when I saw this I knew I had to do it! So simple!

1. Snap a pic of the little guy holding his arm out (I told him to hold an imaginary balloon.)

2. Use Photoshop or a site like Picnik.com and add your text.
3. Print at the drugstore.
4. Get out your exacto and make slits for the lollipop.

And your kid is ready for the party!

Love it!

Happy Love Day!

Look what CAN's can do!

2011-02-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

This post is dedicated to my friend Jennifer who was staying at my house last week. And you know how on day FIVE you've both talked about your families, work, kids, church, kids, and families? And so you start talking about weird things like food storage. But not just food storage in general, but where to hide money in the house and your gold and silver coins....YEAH. That's what we were talking about. I know!

Anyway, Jen said that she saw a good idea about using a peanut can or something. Then you cut out the bottom with one of those can openers that leaves no sharp edges...you know the ones that cut the side of the lid instead inside the lid. Here's a link to the one I have!

Empty the can, clean it out and fill it with your valuables. Then you carefully glue the bottom back on and shove the can of nuts in with the rest of your cans in your food pantry or food storage.

So, yesterday while I was making spaghetti sauce for dinner and was looking at all those cans, I thought I'd try her idea....but not to hide valuables or money....to wrap presents.

So, I cleaned the cans and took off the labels.

I filled one of them with candies (wrapped) for a Valentine's gift. And the other one I put a present in for a friend. I even squished a hat I crocheted for a baby into one of these.

Then I glued the lid on. I think I might have put too much glue, but I tried to use a toothpick to poke the glue into the crevices. (I used tacky glue for this.)

So you can see the glue squished out the top (that's why I think I used too much).

I just used my finger to wipe the excess away. Hopefully my presents inside didn't get glue on it.

I decided to wrap the cans with paper and ribbon. After using many different adhesives, the good old glue gun worked the best. If I had any more creativity, I'm sure I could have used cute stamps to decorate or write on the can...but it was late and I wanted to watch GLEE on DVR.

So this is how they turned out...

I thought this would be a good idea to disperse goodies at Christmas time because you don't have to buy a container, and you don't have to fill them up too much. And I think it would be fun to open these treats. You can use a regular can opener, or just use the grippy part to lift the lid on your No-sharp edges can opener.

-Put a piece of tissue paper inside and stack cookies almost the exact size of the can inside.
-Fill the can half with raffia and put movie tickets and some bags of m&m's inside for a quick birthday present.
-The small cans are perfect for lipgloss, chapstick, erasers, or any small gift.
-Or you can always fill it up with cash and store it next to your green beans.

Whatever it is...."You CAN do it!" Cheesy, I know...but a can of creamed corn to whoever can name the movie first...

What About Love

2011-02-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

Name the band and you'll know what today's post is about:

HEART...of course!

My Sugar has worn this HEART hair-do the last two years around Valentine's day and it's the one hair-do that she gets stopped by the yard duties, teachers and other parents. It's darling and it's easy. Here we go:

Start with a small pony. I like to use the little elastics.

Right on top of the pony, you're going to split it into two with your finger.

You're then going to take the pony through the hole. You're going to take it under so the pony ends up coming out the top. I think it's easiest if the hair is slightly damp.

You'll then split the pony into two. Once again, it's helpful if the hair is damp. I then start with one side and twist it. Have 5 small clippies ready to form it into the heart shape. I twist and put a clip at the top. I then twist a little more and put a clip in the middle of the side. Then I go to the next side to do that half.

I then finish off the heart at the bottom. Here I pulled her hair into one pony.

I've done it in the past where I do two ponies (with a side part on top for the heart).

I found this cute hairstyle a few years ago on a hair blog that I LOVED! I was so sad when she decided to stop blogging. She had the cutest hair styles and great tutorials. Luckily she has kept the blog active so YOU can now go and partake of her goodness. I'll link you to all of her HEART hair styles right HERE.

Before she quit blogging, she was blogging buddies with this momma stylist. If you haven't stumbled across her blog before, you probably aren't a mother of a Princess. Her link is HERE and she has amazing styles.

My friend used one of her HEART styles on her girls at church yesterday. You can see their darling do's HERE.

HAPPY HEARTS DAY! (That's for you Noreen! - I love ya!)

For the little mommies...

2011-02-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time I bought some flannel. I put those 2 yards of flannel in a bag in a closet and my life resumed. End of story. But then I saw this: 'click here' And then I remembered why I had purchased that flannel at the fabric store clearance sale! I had seen a similar tutorial and I had every intention of making a wrap for my daughter's baby dolls. She is constantly bringing me a doll and a blanket and wanting me to swaddle her baby, only to walk away and to have the doll completely unraveled within seconds!

I owe a big THANK YOU to Leslie at Little Apple Seed for reminding me why I had a bag of flannel in my closet!

I followed her excellent directions:

Here's my 24" x 24" square (cute fabric, huh?)

Before I sewed on the pocket, I grabbed the largest of the dolls to make sure all of the babies could enjoy the comforts of swaddling (this baby is in one of my daughter's preemie outfits. Bittersweet memories!)

All sewn together:

Now here's where my wrap takes a different turn from the tutorial I referenced. I added some velcro:

I used sticky back so it would stay put when I figured out where to place it. Then I sewed the strips on.

I placed a set on the bottom tip and on the pocket:

And then one on each "wing." One on the inside and the other piece on the outside.

And swaddling your baby doll is as easy as 1 - 2 - 3!

And then watch your baby love her baby!

(She was not in a cooperative mood today so I had to sneak up on her and snap a pic while she was in a Little Bear trance!)

Nordstrom Knock-Off

2011-02-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

Last week Melissa talked about how she hated Valentine's Day. Melissa - I can still remember the Valentine's Days of college when we'd dress in black and watch women power movies like....Thelma and Louise (was that really Brad Pitt) or watch Steel Magnolia's and cry and hug and tell each other that we didn't need boyfriends because we had each other. And truth be told, we were more fun...that's why all the "dating" roommates dreaded their dates because we were going to do something fun in their absence. (It's 18 years later and we're still all friends...where are you now Cold-Sore Curt?)

Anyway, at that time I thought I hated Valentine's Day because I didn't have a boyfriend...but that's not the case...I now have a very cute, loving husband and I still don't much love Valentine's Day. Restaurants are booked, babysitters are taken, we feel forced to look lovingly in each other's eyes when, really, we both want to watch the game on the T.V.'s above. [Although, Valentine's Day is perfect for giving each other the things we bought right after Christmas at the sales, but couldn't justify spending money on ourselves. I think that's really why Valentine's Day was invented.]

So in honor of Melissa, I decided NOT to do a Valentine's Day themed post. (Deb's all about Valentine's Day...guess who always had dates in college!) I guess this can be a Valentine's post if you are going to make this fabulous gift for a friend.

DISCLAIMER: If your name is Lisa and I'm going to your birthday party tonight...don't read on because I'm about to reveal your present.

I was looking for something cool to make my friend for her birthday and I stumbled upon a fabulous tutorial from a fabulous blog. Here it is!

Basically she recreated a $595 necklace from Nordstrom for less than $20. Uh...that wasn't a typo...a $595 necklace and there are no real gold, real silver, real pearl parts.

Because she gave such a great tutorial, I didn't document my every step. But I decided to make this necklace instead:

Here's the link to the necklace (click here)

But here's a screen shot in case they don't sell that necklace anymore. CLICK the PIC to see it bigger.

I only had 15 min in Joann's yesterday because I was in a hurry for an appointment. They didn't have everything I really wanted (like a dark chain and glass pearl beads) and I didn't have time to go to any other stores, so I settled on a longer silvery chain and crystals. And this is how it turned out. [Thanks to my friends Elita for modeling & Hazel for photographing.]

FYI, I singed the edges of the blue fake silk to make sure they didn't fray.

Hopefully she likes it! I saved $585 by making this by myself. Maybe I can use that money I saved to get my husband a Valentine's Gift....oh wait, I already have a few things for him.

Please Leave Us a Message...

2011-01-31T12:59:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is February and that's one of my most favorite months!

It may or may not have something to do with a birthday, but throw in Valentine's Day and there's nothing but LOVE.

And once you become a parent, Valentine's Day seems to be focused on your kids. And that's what we're beginning today.

We're making a message center:

A few weeks ago, I ordered these mailboxes from Oriental Trading for *cough, cough* $3.99 a piece. I justified the price with the idea that we will re use these each year. On Saturday night I was racing against the girl locking the doors of Target to get to their pharmacy department. As I was hurrying across the store (because I got locked out of the green doors but slipped through the blue doors) I walked by the dollar section. And what did I see...these exact mailboxes for $1 a piece. So if you like, hurry to your nearest Target!

Last night, we pulled out some stickers and got to work decorating our own mailboxes.

And then I took my napkin/utensil holder and turned it into our card/pen holder. 3x5 cards fit perfectly inside the mailboxes.

Now the kids can leave messages for each other. My little 6 year old boy was busy this morning before school writing notes. And he walked in the door after school and went straight to the table. I love it! In fact he even left a message for himself: "Dear Me, I make me laugh. Love, Me" We're not worried about self-confidence over her.

It's my goal to leave a note for everyone each night before I go to bed. I figure surely this won't be too difficult to do until Valentine's Day. We will then collect all their notes, put them in an envelope and into their memory boxes. These notes will be great to look back on someday.

Simple.

Easy.

A Step in the Right Direction

2011-01-29T21:23:00.000-08:00

Pardon my absence from the blogging world. Sometimes the work/life/blog balance just isn't there so I have to let something go while I get back on track! You can guess out of the three, which one I had to let slide....

I know we're getting closer to Valentine's Day and the blog world seems to be filled with hearts and all things pink and red. But honestly my heart isn't in it (no pun intended!) I have never been one to go all crazy over Valentine's Day. I'm a big fan of love and all but Feb. 14th...ehhh, I could take it or leave it. BUT (you knew there was a "but" coming didn't you?) I didn't want to be a complete Debbie Downer so I chose to do something red in honor of the impending love day!

I reached into my thrift store pile and decided to do something with this little step stool. When I see unfinished wood in a thrift store I've gotta grab it!

I sprayed the $1 find "Apple Red"

Sanded it and distressed it a bit. Then pulled out the Modge Podge

Modged Podged some cute black floral scrapbook paper onto it

And I think it turned out pretty cute! My niece has a ladybug themed room so I'm thinking it will be a nice addition to her darling room!

I'm due for another post before V-day so who knows....maybe I'll surprise you with something pink next time!

Actual Conversation Hearts

2011-01-26T22:07:00.000-08:00

For those of you who may know me, the following fact may come as a surprise to you...I love quiet time. Most of you know me as the person who fills the air waves with constant chatter and who does everything in her power to avoid the "7 minute lull" (you know that part in a conversation where no one has anything to say?). I do enjoy quiet time when I'm by myself and/or the kids are all in bed (like right now), when I can read, or think or rest my vocal chords.

But when I'm in the presence of people, I really don't like having awkward pauses in conversation. Unfortunately, my children are the same way. They all have a story (or 14) to tell and I have to organize the conversation chaos or I'll put everyone in quiet timeout. So some of you may remember my iPod app coasters and my ideas to encourage organized family conversation (click here to remind yourself). It worked for awhile, but then they started fighting about who got which coaster. As if my kids need yet ANOTHER reason to fight.

So, this Valentines I came up with "Real Conversation Hearts." None of this Hug Me, Be Mine mumbo jumbo...I mean how does that start a conversation?

Heart: Hug me.
Person: Okay.

Nice conversation.

Heart: Be Mine.
Person: Okay or No (in which a bad conversation will start)

So I cut out paper hearts and put real conversation starters on the back. Here are a few:

If you could meet anyone in the world who would it be and why?
If you could only eat one kind of food for the rest of your life, what kind of food would it be and why?
If dogs could talk, in which ways would the world be different?
If you could choose one talent that you could have and you'd be the best in world, what would it be and why?
Try to convince the family to go on your dream vacation this summer.
Describe the person on your left in 27 words.

You get the idea. I came up with a lot of story prompts in my post for a cheap quiet book (click here to remember). I used them for my conversation hearts since conversing is different than writing.

And since texting is the preferred method of communication among our youth, I think they are missing out on the art of conversation. Hopefully this can help.

Also, to add a little Va-Voom to my kids lunch, during Valentine's season, I use a cookie cutter to cut their sandwiches into hearts.

It makes it a little more exciting for them. Maybe I'll get one of those food markers and write Hug Me and Be Mine on their sandwiches.....hmmmm.

Roll the Dice

2011-01-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

I'm betting on my family today...

With Valentine's, comes Love.

With Love, comes my Family.

So tonight's Family activity will be focusing on loving each other with these two:

For the game, we'll sit in a circle and everybody takes turn rolling the dice.

One dice has things to do. Ours say: Blow a Kiss, Hug, Compliment, Handshake (I made up a fun handshake sequence we'll use), Chest Bump (a family favorite that gets everyone laughing), and Wish (which it helps to be specific when you tell them to say something you "wish" for that person so that your son doesn't say, "I WISH that she'd brush her teeth so her breath doesn't smell" - yes he said that while playing with this last night).

The other dice has pictures of each of us. That is the person who will receive the action you roll.

When we've played this game in the past, we've let the turns go around the circle several times until we've hit an obvious "time to stop now" moment. But the kids have always loved doing this.

When we've done this before, we just used a regular dice and I've typed up who is what action is what number (i.e. one = hug, two = compliment and one = mom, two = dad, etc.).

For tonight, I'd thought I'd make our own dice. So I gathered these items:

(Can you see my Spice Cookie trying to get into the picture?)

* Wood Blocks
* Pictures for each person in the family
* Pencil
* Scissors
* Sayings/Actions
* Mod Podge
* brush

Because my blocks were so small (they're just a little bigger than 1 inch), I just placed my block over the picture and traced the square around each person and action. Then I cut with scissors.

I then brushed my mod podge on the block, placed my picture on, then brushed more mod podge on. I didn't want to have to deal with corners matching up, so I cute my squares to be just a little bit smaller than the block. So you can see the edge of the blocks.

As soon as they were dry, my kids started playing. They love this. And it does help us to focus more on each other instead of a typical game where we're trying to beat each other...because I may or may not be competitive with my kids when we play games.

Crocheted Beanies & Flowers

2011-01-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

I don't think I ever told you guys that it snowed here in my little Southern California town on the first Sunday of the year. It was amazing! The kids had so much fun playing in the slushy snow. My son kept running to the back to see if the "pool has frozen, yet." Poor guy, I had to explain that that probably wouldn't happen, but he was excited nonetheless.

Now I don't want to make any of you jealous, so I'll try to refrain from talking about the 75 degree weather we're experiencing. It almost makes up for the ridiculous cost of living!

But knowing that most of the country is still experiencing winter, I decided that the perfect baby gift for twin girls would be Flower Beanies.

I'm all about the fast projects that look like you spent so much time on but seriously, these were pretty simple. I know not all of you have grasped the love of crochet or knitting, but it really is a stress reliever.

To me knitting is more difficult, I have to watch a youtube video every time I need to cast on. But crocheting is simple and if you use a big needle and thick yarn, these projects are QUICK!

There are a million free beanie patterns on the web, youtube, etc. You can find help with how to start, how to chain, how to double crochet...videos are helpful. I love this tutorial for the flower (click here).

I put my flowers on a hair clip so the parents could decide whether or not they want the flower on or off.

Then my baby girl got jealous of the presents for the newborns, so I had to whip this one out for her, too...with both colored flowers. I did this all in one evening, so you see...it's not too difficult.

I love making gifts for people. And it really is pretty cost effective. I spent $4/skein (2 skeins) and was able to do 3 beanies and 5 flowers. I think shipping is going to cost more than the present.

Happy Winter!

Once There Was a Snowman

2011-01-17T20:58:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year...

Time to build a Snowman.

Whether you're starting to feel cabin fever from extreme winter weather or you're like us and snow just doesn't fall on our lawn, I've got the kid friendly activity for you.

Build your snowman inside.

We took this:

And made this:

I took some scrap fabric and made them into bean bags. I cut a front and back of each of the following:

*Hat
*Head
*Eyes
*Carrot nose

*Middle
*Bow tie or scarf
*Buttons

*Bottom
*Boots

I sewed them on the outside of the shapes using an overcasting zigzag stitch (That's a straight stitch on the inside and a zigzag on the outside. I used a contrasting thread because I thought it'd be cuter. Remember to leave just a small opening to fill.

The larger shapes (3 circles, hat, boots) I filled with pinto beans. I used a water bottle as a funnel. I just cut off half of the bottle.

The smaller shapes (5 circles, nose, bow) I filled with rice.

I then closed up the holes. I started sewing just a little before where I left off and went a little over the other end.

And when it was all done, we played with our new little friend.

We tossed all his parts in a bowl.
We had a starting line that you had to stay behind.
We then took each of his bits and built a snowman by tossing the beanbags one by one.

The kids loved it. Here are their first attempts:

This is Sugars Snowman:

This is SmallHubs Snowman: (I call him SmallHubs because he looks and acts just like his older model)

And we let Spice adjust the rules when she built her Snowman:

Only a 3 year old can build a snowman in a leotard and tutu (which was probably outfit number 6 for the day, I lose count).

Even Hubs tried to build a Snowman:

WARNING: No mittens were used in the building of these snowmen.

Because Super Heros need a place for their cape....

2011-01-14T08:01:00.000-08:00

In case you don't know this, now is a great time to hit the thrift stores! Folks have donated to clear their closets for all of the new stuff from Santa. Plus it's a great way to beat cabin fever. It gets the kids out, it doesn't break the bank if I buy a $.50 plastic boat and it keeps an extremely busy 4 1/2 year old occupied for part of the day. (Plus I don't feel bad if I donate it right back a couple of weeks later!)

So thanks to these little escapes to the thrift stores, my project pile has grown! Fun and exciting things are coming your way!

Let's start with this little thing....

It was kind of a mess. It had bright, splotchy, pink paint. And whoever painted it must have done it on newspaper because there was paper stuck to it. But it was half off of $.69 and I had an idea!

I sanded the paint blobs and newspaper off. And then I gave it a coat of primer to try to hide some of the bright pink. And I used my paint pyramids. My brilliant husband got me these for Christmas! Are these perfect for my spray paint addiction or what?!

So after I primed it and sprayed it an off white.

I took it apart....

Modge Podged....

And look how pretty! Perfect for my daughter's room!

I used Command Adhesive strips to hang it. I didn't want to put holes in the door and with the strips I can move it up or down as much as I want.

Now my super hero child has a place to hang her cape and her ever-important purse, that has to go everywhere we go, has a peg as well!

Happy Friday!

Felt Topiary

2011-01-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

Business trips always mess me up. Actually, 6 am flights mess me up. When scheduling my 6 am flight, I just thought, "6 am is not that early." Uh, yes it is when you have to drive an hour to the airport. Yikes! That was stupid. So that was just a long excuse for why I'm posting on Thursday instead of Wednesday...business trip - mess me up!

Anyway, for those of you who remember the swirly felt wreath from last month (click here) I used that same technique to make this cute felt topiary for my friend's birthday.

I got a tall vase (on sale at Michael's), green floral foam, mossy grass, dowel, round styrofoam ball, 1/2 yard of felt, pins, paint, glitter and ribbon....oh, and don't forget the glue gun.

First I used the technique I used for the swirly felt wreath and cut out 150 2.5 inch circles. I pinned all the pieces in. Then I took the foam and pushed it into the vase like this....

First I painted the dowel and sprinkled glitter all over it.

Then I stuck the dowel into the styrofoam ball with felt and glued it in place. I used a lot of glue. When that cooled and dried, I shoved the dowel into the foam and did the same thing with the glue....LOTS of GLUE!

Then I glued the moss over the foam and glue to cover the mess I had made with the glue in the first place.

If I could do it all over again, I would have wrapped the dowel in a pretty satin ribbon instead of the paint and glitter. It would have made it look more classy I think.

I'm going to make a few of these for me with different heights and different diameters of balls. I think that it will be cute!!

Check!

2011-01-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

(FRONT)

(BACK)

Check that baby off the list! Finally!

I started this quilt last year. And when I say "last year" I don't mean the last half of 2010. I don't even mean the first half of 2010. I really mean last January, this quilt was started.

You see, a year and a half ago, I had a woman at church who offered to teach anyone interested how to quilt. I was two years into being a proud owner of a sewing machine, meant for the purpose of quilting, and I didn't know how to use it. I was suddenly feeling confident enough to take this "new talent" on. So I showed up for class.

This quilt was the first quilt assigned to us to work on. It's a "log cabin" block quilt. It was my first real experience at piecing together a quilt. I loved how the quilt came together for me. It was exciting and thrilling. I sent it off to be professionally quilted.

When I got the quilt back I quickly sewed the binding to the front of the quilt using this method. But because this quilt didn't have a purpose, it was in trouble.

And once I got the binding attached to my quilt, it just sat. It's been sitting for a long time. It's been sitting long enough that I don't even notice it sitting in my room, next to my chair, waiting for me to handstitch the backside while watching all those shows waiting for me on my DVR.

So with the new year beginning, I decided it was time. It was time to cross this off my list...mostly because my oldest daughter kept reminding me that it wasn't finished and it was really starting to ware on me.

But here's where I admit that I cheated. I decided if I was going to get this quilt checked off my list, it was going to have to be finished by my machine.

So this is what a did.

I pinned the other side of my binding to the back side of the quilt. I made sure that it was just on the other side of the stitching from attaching the binding to the front.

I then pulled out my blind hem foot. It has a metal bit that I used to have it run in the ditch between my binding and my quilt while I stitched on the front of the quilt using a thread that matched my pink binding.

Now, if I were an expert sewer, I could try to actually "stitch in the ditch" and have the thread just barely grab the material on the other side. But I am very aware of my skill, or lack thereof, and I decided to have my stitching show.

I am also able to create my mitered corners. I stitched from corner to corner (backstitching at both ends. I then would cut my thread. Fold my corners under, then begin again on the next side stitching from corner to corner.

I save that hand stitching on the backside for special quilts. But I'm beginning to learn that sometimes, you've got to take the easy route if you're going to get it finished.

Magnet Curtains

2011-01-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...Magnet Curtains sounds like some new Infomercial product, but I promise I'm not trying to sell you anything. Although, this idea did come from necessity. Now I know this post won't apply to most of you, but for the few of you in my situation, it might be helpful.

Problem #1: Front door has a big window on it. People can just walk right up to our front door and observe our lives. See exhibit A.

Exhibit A

Problem #2: Door is a metal door and I don't want to screw in anything to the door to hold a window treatment.

Problem #3: We want to leave our kids home alone for a few hours while we do a little Christmas shopping. Our oldest is almost 10 and we think they can handle watching TV for two straight hours, but we don't want people peering into our door.

Hurried Solution #1: Husband wants to tape packing material in the window. (NOT SHOWN because I had a better idea...although still a little W.T.)

Hurried Solution Idea #2: Use magnets to hold said packing material to window so we don't get tape residue. See exhibit B.

Exhibit B

New Problem #1: It's weeks later and this is still on the the door. As you can see, the kids have been playing with the magnets.

New Solution #1: Made a curtain with Magnets in it. See Exhibit C.

Exhibit C

Here's how I did it.

First I tried to go to Joann's to buy some material, but they were closed. So, I sauntered over to Target next door and found this 42" wide x 84" long, brown window panel for $7.99 (which I think is actually cheaper than if I bought material at Joann's). Plus, there was already a big hem sewn in for me at the top so i could drop my magnets in it.

Sorry, I took it out of the package before I took a picture!

Then I measured how long I needed the panel and added 7 inches so I could make a big hem at the bottom to match the top (we need the magnets at the bottom, too). I cut the material and then pinned and sewed the bottom hem to match the top.

Pinned hem and then I sewed.

Then I tried to figure out how many magnets I would need to keep this weight of fabric up. I figured out it was 9 magnets. So then I measured out nine slots for the magnets evenly spaced.

Then I sewed the first side, dropped a magnet in and sewed the other side so the magnet stayed inside it's little pouch.

Can you see the little round heavy duty magnet? It's inside it's little pocket.

I sewed in all the magnets at the top and used that to guide my pockets for the bottom hem so they lined up.

On the top hem I even sewed a littler pouch for the magnet so it stayed at the bottom of the hem to give it the gathered look.

There you have it! A curtain for my metal door.

Notice my Christmas decorations still up...Saturday's project will be to pack up Christmas!

And when I'm feeling open and free and want more sunlight in, I just pull the curtain down. I think I'm going to make a few different colors or even find a patterned material.

NO-SEW VERSION: Decorate the magnets with buttons, or bling or flowers or anything you want. And then just magnet the material to the door folding over the hems. I might try that as an option, although then the kids start playing with the magnets....but you don't have to SEW!!!