TP Roll Wreath

Tags

DIY, DIY wreath, recycling, repurposing, tp roll wreath, tutorials

That sounds kind of scary, right?

After we made our tp roll stars last month I started thinking about trying a wreath.
I don’t know why.

It kinda turned out the way I envisioned it in my head.
Somewhere along the way the lines got kind of weird and the perfectionist in me (I bet Suzie H. would swear that side of me doesn’t really exist!) keeps staring at the imperfect circles trying to figure out where I went wrong.
But I think I like it anyway.

The best part about this bad boy was that it required nothing but tp rolls (since I have to change all the tp rolls in the house it’s easy to collect them…) and a glue gun.

Smash the tp rolls flat, creasing the edges as much as possible, then cut in 1″ strips.

I laid them out using a round bowl as a guide. This was supposedly to keep my circle nice and even. Whatev.

Hot glued each piece to the next.
Repeat x two.
Then I added one of the tissue paper flowers I salvaged from the Christmas wrapping wreckage.
I figure I might as well use them again if they don’t get totally mangled beyond recognition.

It’s not perfect.
My projects rarely are. (Now that, Suzie H. would probably agree with!)
But it’s doing a pretty good job of cheering up my little craft room/nook right now.

Parties I link to: Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across My Face, Sew Can Do, Sew Chatty, C.R.A.F.T., Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, The Southern Institute,  Chef In Training, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sugar Bee Crafts, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Todays Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, Mandy’s Recipe Box, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths,  The Crafty Blog Stalker, A Glimpse Inside, Delicate Construction, Tidy Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Tatertots and Jello, Flamingo Toes, Six Sisters Stuff, Naptime Creations, Crazy for Crust

31 Day Challenge: Day 26 (Rainbow Crayons)

Tags

31 day blogging challenge, DIY, kids art, kids projects, rainbow crayons

Of all the projects we’ve completed this month, today’s was one of my very favorites.
It’s awesome for two reasons:

1) It uses up all of the broken crayons that I find all over my house. They “mysteriously” get left out of the crayon bag every time. My girls aren’t fans of anything that isn’t pretty or perfect.

2) Hello! Rainbow colors!

So, this is simple.
Cut up the crayon bits into small-ish pieces.
Place in your preferred baking trays. (We used a silicone flower pan. I think the silicone makes it easier to break them out after they’ve dried, because they’re flexible. But whatever.)
Bake on 250 for about 15 minutes or until melted.
Let cool, the pop your new rainbow crayons out and unleash the artist.

I seriously could sit down and color right now. Where’s my Beauty and the Beast coloring book when I need it? ;)

Want to see more of the projects in this series? Check out the other posts here.
There are over 1000 bloggers linking up to the 31 Day Challenge! View all of the links here.

31 Day Challenge: Day 19 (Lace Crowns)

Tags

31 Day challenge, DIY, kid crafts, lace crown, lace crown tutorial

Wow, this month is flying by.
NOT!

Actually…it really is.
But you won’t find me crying in my Coke Zero when November 1st rolls around and I’m not obligated to complete an activity and then blog about it on the same day.
I know, I know, it would have been smart of me to plan ahead and have a few already completed activities for the unexpectedly crazy days when I really don’t have time to craft, take photos, and write, but again…that would require planning ahead.
I’m not exactly known for that.
Plus, I forgot about the whole challenge thing until about September 28th.

But enough rambling.
This activity actually took us several days, because there was a lot of drying time involved, but it was simple and the crowns turned out so cute!
They’d be cuter if they were embellished, but don’t make me go into the whole planning ahead bit again…

Supplies needed:
Crocheted Lace, cut to 18″
Fabric stiffener
Hot Glue
Embellishments (if desired)

Completely soak the lace in fabric stiffener.
Lay flat to dry on wax paper (overnight is a good idea).
Repeat until the lace is completely stiff.
Paint the lace if you like the idea of colored crowns.
Spray paint is easiest.
I used Krylon Glitter Blast for the pink one – this stuff is amazing!
For the silver crown I used a can of spray glitter that I bought way back in 1998. I remember because I bought it at Ben Franklin’s the first time me, Reb, Josh, and Caleb went shopping on Black Friday, the first in what’s become one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions. I bought it for the twelve million angel costumes I made for the Christmas play that year. I have no idea how it’s lasted this long.
Or how I remember all that, for that matter.
Anyways, not as superior a product as the Glitter Blast, but it’s pretty on the crown.

After the paint has dried, bend the lace into a circle, matching ends, and glue together.
Embellish if you have your act together.

P.S. I know what my kids hairs look like. In my defense….I’ve re-done their braids three times today already. It’s hopeless.

Want to see more of the projects in this series? Check out the other posts here.
There are over 1000 bloggers linking up to the 31 Day Challenge! View all of the links here.

Parties I link to: Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across My Face, Sew Can Do, Sew Chatty, C.R.A.F.T., Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, The Southern Institute,  Chef In Training, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sugar Bee Crafts, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Todays Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, Mandy’s Recipe Box, the Sasse Life, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths,  The Crafty Blog Stalker,  Something Swanky, A Glimpse Inside, Delicate Construction, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Tatertots and Jello, Bacon Time, Flamingo Toes, Six Sisters Stuff, Naptime Creations, Crazy for Crust

31 Day Challenge: Day 14 (Leaf Prints)

Tags

31 Day challenge, autumn, DIY, fall projects, kid crafts, leaf prints

Of course we had to include the obligatory autumn leaf prints .
Yes, it may be part of desperate attempt to convince ourselves that it’s actually fall and we aren’t still melting when we go outside.

I’m sure everyone knows how to make these.
Gather leaves, cover back of leaf with paint, press onto paper.

If you’ve never made one it means your elementary school teacher fell down on the job. ;)
Still a fun craft, though.
And it gives you a chance to point out different kinds of trees to your kids.
See? Biology.
I just impressed myself.

 

Want to see more of the projects in this series? Check out the other posts here.
There are over 1000 bloggers linking up to the 31 Day Challenge! View all of the links here.

Pinterest Tips: Pass or Fail? (Cleaning Makeup Brushes)

Tags

beauty, beauty tips, cleaning makeup brushes, cleaning tips, DIY, makeup

So this week I tried out the following tip from good ole Pinterest:

Source: beautyanywhere.wordpress.com via Lola on Pinterest

 

The last time I cleaned my brushes was….well, never.
Why has it never occurred to me that they need to be cleaned?

It was pretty straightforward:

• Add a few drops of Johnson’s baby shampoo to a shallow glass of water
• Swirl brush around in solution (don’t submerge the metal part)
• Rinse under warm water
• Squeeze out excess water, reshape, and lay flat to dry

I couldn’t believe how much makeup came out of these brushes!
Definitely calling this one a success.

Now I just have to remember to clean these bad boys regularly…

Parties I link to: Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across My Face, Sew Can Do, Sew Chatty, C.R.A.F.T., Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, The Southern Institute,  Chef In Training, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sugar Bee Crafts, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Todays Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, Mandy’s Recipe Box, the Sasse Life, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths,  The Crafty Blog Stalker,  Something Swanky, A Glimpse Inside, Delicate Construction, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Tatertots and Jello, Bacon Time, Flamingo Toes, Six Sisters Stuff, Naptime Creations, Crazy for Crust

Pinterest Tips: Pass or Fail? (DIY Carpet Cleaner)

Tags

carpet cleaner fail, carpet stains, DIY, DIY cleaners, home, household tips, magic eraser, Pinterest

So, everyone loves Pinterest, right?
It’s pretty much the hottest ticket in town these days.
In fact, if I need to find something (recipe, cleaning solution, food substitutions, etc) I generally check Pinterest first.

And if it can’t be found on Pinterest or Google…well, it’s pretty much a lost cause at that point.

The problem is, there’s so much to see and read up on, that I find myself pinning twenty different solutions for homemade laundry detergent and then feeling too overwhelmed to try any of them out (just an example – I posted a great detergent recipe here).

There’s an easy solution for that.
Try these AWESOME, NO-FAIL, BEST-EVER tips out myself.

Maybe I’m just a skeptical person, but it kills me when I read all these pins that say “one pinner says this chicken recipe is so good that her family now calls her Martha Stewart, plus it kills bugs and cures cancer!”

Uh.

Whatev.

But some of them are intriguing, and I’m all for a frugal, DIY version of something.

So…one tip I’ve been dying to try out was this:

Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I have gross carpets. They’re old, stained, hideous.
They were when we moved in, and they’re even worse now.

So I was super excited when I saw the photos showing the miraculous removal of ugly carpet stains with just ammonia and a steam iron.
After obsessing thinking about it for a few weeks, I finally drug out my iron, decided which towels should be consigned to the fate of soaking up stains, outfitted my kids with gas masks, and pulled out the old ammonia.

I’ll admit it.
I was expecting stellar results.

Except it didn’t work.
Yep, definite fail.

I didn’t just try it on one stain; I tried it on several.
Over and over.

The only results I produced were an upset stomach at the hideous warm steamy carpet smell and a nice chunk of burned carpet when my iron slipped off the corner of the towel. (OOPS!)

So disappointing.

I don’t know if my stains were different or older or what, but they aren’t budging.

So, as much as I wanted the outcome to be different, I’m assigning a definite fail to that experiment.

On the bright side, though, when I was cleaning all the carpet chunks off of my iron I decided to try and remove all the black gunk (where does that come from, anyway) that had collected on it over the years.

I scrubbed for a while and then decided to try my fix-all, go-to, couldn’t-live-without-it, wonder product – Mr Clean Magic Eraser, of course.
At least he didn’t let me down. Took that grody gunk right off.

So even though I have a newly holey, stained carpet….I have a shiny iron.

See?
Bright side to everything.

Before

After

Parties I link to: Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across My Face, Sew Can Do, Sew Chatty, C.R.A.F.T., Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, The Southern Institute,  Chef In Training, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sugar Bee Crafts, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Todays Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, Mandy’s Recipe Box, the Sasse Life, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths,  The Crafty Blog Stalker,  Something Swanky, A Glimpse Inside, Delicate Construction, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Tatertots and Jello, Bacon Time, Flamingo Toes, Six Sisters Stuff, Naptime Creations, Crazy for Crust

Homemade Rotel Tomatoes

Tags

can your own tomoatos, canning, DIY, homemade rotel recipe, recipes, tutorial

Through the years we’ve come to realize that the only things that grow well in our garden are peppers and tomatoes.

The only problem with that is we don’t really care much for tomatoes.

What we DO love are the Rotel canned tomatoes, so after Jerm brought in the twelve millionth tomato I decided to try making some myself.

I’ll be honest.  I was skeptical about how this would turn out.  I didn’t think the homemade variety would be nearly as good as the store-bought.

And I was right.

It’s even BETTER!

I guess freshly grown things really do make a difference.  ;)

HOMEMADE ROTEL TOMATOES

• 1 gallon tomatoes (some of ours were still green; didn’t matter) – peeled and quartered
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 3 bell peppers
• 7 chopped jalapeno peppers
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 TBSP canning salt

Put all the ingredients into a large pot and bring to a boil.

Simmer on low for 30 minutes, stirring often.

Pour into jars, wiping the rims clean.

Screw on lids and process.  We used the pressure cooker for about 10 minutes, but you can also use a water bath for 45 minutes.

Parties I link to: Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across My Face, Sew Can Do, Sew Chatty, C.R.A.F.T., Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, The Southern Institute,  Chef In Training, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sugar Bee Crafts, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Todays Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, Mandy’s Recipe Box, the Sasse Life, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths,  The Crafty Blog Stalker,  Somewhat Simple, Something Swanky, A Glimpse Inside, Delicate Construction, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Tatertots and Jello, Bacon Time, Flamingo Toes, Six Sisters Stuff, Naptime Creations, Crazy for Crust

DIY Wall Art (for less than $10!)

Tags

DIY, DIY subway art, home, projects, wall art, wall prints

A few months ago I was searching for ideas for some wall art for my living room and stumbled across this post.

I immediately pinned it (of course).

Source: iammommahearmeroar.net via Rachael on Pinterest

 

I was totally in love with it, and luckily for me, Cheri had posted a full tutorial and even sells the document.
Since I’m pretty much lost when it comes to stuff like that (lame, I know), I happily paid the couple of bucks so I could print my own.

I thought I would get to this project right away, but somehow the entire summer passed without me getting to Staples to have it printed out (as a 24″x36″ engineers print – only $3!). Turns out Staples isn’t really conveniently located. Meaning it’s in a scary-ish part of town and I’m chicken.

But….I finally got my print and a piece of thin MDF and a few pieces of wood to build a frame around it (totally unnecessary, but I think it looks better that way).

So it was super simple.

Build a frame. (Which I did by myself. Go me!) Paint it black.
Attach the MDF to the front of the frame. Paint the edges black.
Using spray adhesive, carefully attach the print to the board, smoothing as you go.
Distress with sandpaper if that floats your boat. (I love distressing stuff.)
Hang on the wall and sigh happily every time you pass your super nice, super cheap wall hanging.

Confession time: I had to rip my first attempt off and go back to the scary part of town for a re-do, all because I thought that it would be a better idea to spray the finished product with a sealant. Which would have been awesome if it hadn’t decided to bubble and warp. So much for brilliant ideas.

What do you think?

Parties I link to: Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across My Face, Sew Can Do, Sew Chatty, C.R.A.F.T., Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, The Southern Institute,  Chef In Training, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sugar Bee Crafts, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Todays Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, Mandy’s Recipe Box, the Sasse Life, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths,  The Crafty Blog Stalker,  Somewhat Simple, Something Swanky, A Glimpse Inside, Delicate Construction, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Sassy Sites, Tatertots and Jello, Bacon Time, Flamingo Toes, Six Sisters Stuff, Naptime Creations, Crazy for Crust

DIY Fabric Refresher

Tags

cleaning, DIY, DIY fabric refresher, home, make your own Febreze

I know the blog’s been a bit lonely for a few weeks. I’m not sure what to blame it on exactly, but my excuse of choice is that the summer heat sucks all motivation from me.

But anyways.

Since I haven’t been couponing lately my stockpile has dwindled down to just a few shelves full of household and hygiene-related items, which I’ve been trying to use up before the expiration dates roll around. I pulled out my last bottle of Febreze fabric refresher and thought it smelled kind of funky.
Honestly, I’m not sure if it was supposed to smell like that or not since I usually buy other scents, but when I opened the bottle to investigate it had green floaty things on top.

EWWWW!!!

So I dumped the bottle thinking that surely there was a DIY version out in internet-land somewhere.

And guess what?
After about two seconds of searching, I ran across this post.

It took about three minutes to gather what I needed and whip up a batch of my very own fabric refresher.

1/8 cup Fabric Softener (I used my trusty Gain)
2 TBSP Baking Soda
Hot Water

Dissolve the baking soda in approximately 1/2 cup of hot water, then add the fabric softener.
Pour into spray bottle (I used the Febreze bottle, after sanitizing it of the mystery green substance, of course) and add hot water to solution.
Spray on carpets, couches, curtains, etc.

Now my house smells wonderful and I didn’t have to spend a dime to replenish my supply!

Parties I link to: Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across My Face, Sew Can Do, Sew Chatty, C.R.A.F.T., Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, The Southern Institute,  Chef In Training, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sugar Bee Crafts, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Todays Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, Mandy’s Recipe Box, the Sasse Life, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths,  The Crafty Blog Stalker,  Somewhat Simple, Something Swanky, A Glimpse Inside, Delicate Construction, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Sassy Sites, Tatertots and Jello, Bacon Time, Flamingo Toes, Six Sisters Stuff, Naptime Creations, Crazy for Crust

Susannahs Room: Butterfly Mobile

Tags

butterfly mobile, crafting, creating, DIY, kids rooms, room makeover

One of the projects I did for Susannah’s room makeover was this butterfly mobile.

I found the idea here and knew it would be perfect for the butterfly theme Susannah had requested.

It was a fairly time-consuming project, but Susannah ooh-ed and aah-ed over it so much that I felt it was worth the effort. ;)

You can find detailed instructions on how to make this here.

Parties I link to: Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across My Face, Sew Can Do, Sew Chatty, C.R.A.F.T., Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, The Southern Institute,  Chef In Training, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sugar Bee Crafts, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Todays Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, Mandy’s Recipe Box, the Sasse Life, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Ginger Snap Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths,  The Crafty Blog Stalker,  Somewhat Simple, Something Swanky, A Glimpse Inside, Delicate Construction, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Sassy Sites, Tatertots and Jello, Bacon Time, Flamingo Toes, Six Sisters Stuff, Naptime Creations, Crazy for Crust