Felt Creations

These little guys were so much fun to make! I saw them on Multipurpose Wings. She used a tutorial from Not Just A Mommy (the owl comes from this site). I loved the monster and the owl, so we made both!

Aaron assembled his monster all by himself. I cut out the felt pieces and he did the rest! Such a fun little creation.

We went to some yard sales this afternoon and Kaylee brought the little owl with her to each house. She is quite attached.

How cute would these little monsters be in our Monster Bathroom, or even if I had known about these for our Monster Bash? I am in the process of decorating Kaylee's room in owls...stay tuned!

Sharing this project at Skip to My Lou, It's So Very Cheri , The Girl Creative, DIY Showoff, Tip Junkie, , Under the Table & Dreaming , I heart Naptime , Making the World Cuter

Terracotta Planter

I just love this time of year! And I LOVE flowers. Absolutely LOVE them!

I did a some research when deciding which flowering shrubs to plant in our yard and I was pleasantly surprised with how well everything grew together! The ones that they put in when the home was built were just awful. Now we have some curb appeal and in the varieties we have last through the fall.  I have strawberries growing amongst the flowers and the kids enjoy picking them for a quick snack.

 

I decided that I wanted to make something inviting this spring for our doorstep.

My inspiration came from this beautiful planter here. I had some old pots that I spray painted a couple of coats on. I also added a clear coat to seal them. Then I stacked them using crushed soda cans and small bricks to raise each pot a bit.

You could use vinyl, but I painted my address numbers right on the front. I made a stencil with contact paper and my cricut. After I painted the numbers, I gently peeled the contact paper away.

I planted petunias, impatiens, asparagus fern, and ivy.
 

Painting T-shirts With Acrylic Paint

You read it right. Look at that hot rod bus.

Our friend, Kai, LOVES school buses. He had a school bus party for his 6th birthday and the boys were invited.

We went to Joann's to get him a little glue gun for his gift (he really liked using Aaron's low temp glue gun at our house) and saw this little bus patch. It was so perfect so I grabbed a plain black t-shirt as well.
 

When I got home it looked so plain. I thought it would be cute, and hilarious, to add some flames. So that's what I did! I simply painted them on with several coats of acrylic paint. I had a board inside the shirt so that the paint wouldn't bleed through. You can mix your acrylic paint with a bit of fabric medium (found right next to the little bottles of acrylic paint) and that will help it set right in the fabric (a softer texture when it dries and less cracking after many washings) than just using acrylic alone, but either way works and is permanent.

Once acrylic paint dries, it is permanent. I know this because I've ruined several shirts while crafting over the years.

 

After it was completely dry, I ironed on the patch. I sewed around the patch as well to make sure it was sturdy. I also ironed the back of the flames to heat set them.

A one of a kind birthday gift (along with the glue gun) for a one of a kind little guy.

Homemade Peel & Stick Wall Decals

We have a lot of empty wall space in the basement, so I decided to create yet another space to display my children's artwork (they already have one in their bedroom that is completely full....all the time).

I simply strung up some ribbon with tacks and hung their artwork with tiny clothespins. It looked cute, but I thought it needed some sort of lettering above the display. Vinyl is great, but pricey and mostly comes in solid colors. I wanted to do something with some fun and colorful paper.

 I made my own peel and stick lettering!

Here is how I did it.

Supplies:

Scrapbooking Paper

Contact Paper

Mod Podge (or spray adhesive)

Foam Brush
 

Brush a layer of mod podge onto the top of a piece of contact paper , then place a sheet of paper on top of that. Press down firmly and get rid of the air bubbles. Place under a board or something heavy to keep it flat while drying.

I haven't tried spray adhesive, but would imagine that it would work just fine as an alternative method. Just spray and place a board over until set.

Once the sheets have dried, they are ready to be cut! You can use a cricut or stencils to cut into desired shapes. I used both. I used the Cricut for the words "Imagine" and "Create" and made printouts of the words "Get Messy" from Microsoft Word and traced them onto the contact/cardstock.

Peel off the backing and adhere to the wall.

I noticed a few of my corners and edges coming off of the contact paper when I went to peel the backings off. I guess the mod podge wasn't thick enough in those areas. I just added a little tacky glue to fix the small spots and they were good to go.

Custom peel and stick letters that are nice and sturdy, easy to place onto a wall, repositionable, and inexpensive!

And these aren't limited to lettering! The possibilities are endless especially with the huge variety of cricut cartridges. You can make all sorts of custom scenes for your wall.


Our basement is brighter lit than most basements, but it is still hard to take a good picture down there. You get the idea.

 

Turkey Chili and Sweet Cornbread

Comfort food. Perfect for a rainy day. Here are our recipes for chili and cornbread. The cornbread recipe comes from All Recipes and it is so sweet and moist. PERFECT! The chili is my own. Like most chili recipes, it is simple and consists of opening a bunch of cans.

Turkey Chili

1 lb. ground turkey*

3/4 c. chopped onion

15 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

15 oz. can chili beans, in sauce

14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes & green chiles, drained

16 oz. tomato sauce

14.5 oz. stewed tomatoes, crushed

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. cumin

2 T. chili powder

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Brown meat and add onions. Cook through and drain if necessary. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil in a large stock pot. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.

Serves 6

*I only buy ground turkey, but any ground meat would work.

I did a search recently for a good cornbread recipe online. This was what I found, one of the highest rated ones. Yum!

Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For original recipe, click here.

Sharing this recipe at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Somewhat Simple

Stroller Makeover!

I bought this little umbrella stroller awhile ago at Target. It's nice to have a little one for going to the zoo and museums, etc. But there wasn't any storage on it, like most umbrella strollers. So I decided to make some.

I bought this fabric to make Kaylee a jumper a couple of months ago, but it matched the stroller so perfectly so I used it for this project instead. I made a bag and lined it with a scrap of corduroy to make it nice and sturdy.
I also made button flaps to strap it to the stroller and for easy removal for cleaning.
I had enough fabric to make a cushion too! Nice and cozy. I found some orange material that was perfect to sew to the border as a ruffle. I didn't have any batting, so I used some fleece scraps. 3 layers of fleece for the cushioning.
I marked the fabric where the straps would go through, then made large button holes for them to slide through.
That's it! I left it in the hallway when I was done. Kaylee saw it when she woke up from her nap and it was love at first sight.
She loves pointing at the little birds. She climbed in and sat in it while I pushed her around for an hour. I made lunch, cleaned the living room, got the kids ready to go to the science museum....all while she sat in her stroller. She screamed when it was time to get out and get into the truck. Crazy little girl!

Sticky Poster

Dallin and Aaron had fun making these when they were little. Heck, Aaron still likes doing this. He and Kaylee made one the other afternoon and had a great time.
Take a large piece of contact paper, peel the backing off and tape it to the wall...sticky side out. Then let the kids loose! Super easy and perfect for toddlers.

Just hang it out of reach when you are done if you use little pieces like we did. Somehow the flag that was on the lawn from the city (marking gas lines) ended up on the poster. Hope they didn't need that because Aaron thought it looked great on the poster.

Microwaved Potato Chips!

I'm always looking for fun snacks for the kids. And if they end up being healthier that's always a bonus.

Microwaved potato chips are actually really good! I can't ever make them fast enough for the little mouths and tiny fingers that are always reaching across the counter top to the plate.

 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 potato, sliced paper thin (peel optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Pour the vegetable oil into a plastic bag (a produce bag works well). Add the potato slices, and shake to coat.
Coat a large dinner plate lightly with oil or cooking spray. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on the dish.
Cook in the microwave for 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned (if not browned, they will not become crisp). Times will vary depending on the power of your microwave. Remove chips from plate, and toss with salt (or other seasonings). Let cool. Repeat process with the remaining potato slices. You will not need to keep oiling the plate.

recipe source

Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com

 

Simple Gifts

Last week was "Teacher's Appreciation Week" at school. They did fun themed days like "PJ Monday " and "Wacky Wednesday".The kids brought in little things like homemade cards, etc. for their teacher. Nothing fancy, which I was grateful for. I can't stand when class parents solicit for extravagant gifts and gift cards for teachers. What happened to heart felt gifts?

Moving on.... we went over to Dallin's school in the afternoon on Friday and dropped off these strawberries for his teacher. He missed school a couple of days last week because he was sick. It was nice to talk with her while she wasn't so busy since we stopped by while the pm Kindergarten was at recess.
I just used a berry package and wrapped it with some border that I had in my closet and a little ribbon. That's it. Simple.
We also made one for Miss Jan, Dallin's bus driver, since we just adore her.

My friend Tiffany let me in on an awesome deal that she found at an outlet store. Plates for .10!! You can't pass that up! I went there and bought a bunch in different colors and even grabbed some larger ones for $.99-1.99. Derrick is going to help me make a cake stand out of the red plate and bowl. I spent $15 for everything you see here.

Tiffany was sharing some of her ideas for the plates like mod podging photos on them or just having a nice little plate to give away and not have to worry about getting back since it was only .10.

I am going to do some silhouettes on the pink and green ones for Kaylee's room or even little hand print gifts for family....the list goes on! Gotta love a great deal!

Sharing these ideas at Skip to My Lou, Blue Cricket Design, Life as Lori, Somewhat Simple, Keeping It Simple , It's So Very Cheri , Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative, DIY Showoff, Tater Tots and Jello, Tip Junkie , The Persimmon Perch, A Soft Place to Land, Making the World Cuter, Today's Creative Blog, The Thrifty Home

Floor Runner

(photo above from Tatertots and Jello)

Jen, from Tatertots and Jello, shared this adorable floor runner on Somewhat Simple recently. I LOVED it and the colors matched my kitchen perfectly with all the accessories that I made in my no cost kitchen makeover!

But there was a problem....the entire thing is HOT GLUED together! It looks cute and would probably work in many homes, but not mine. With it being right there at the sink and washer, dirty dishes would drip across it and it would need to be washed. And it was made from ribbon which wouldn't hold up in the wash since I wash my kitchen rugs every couple of weeks or so. So her tutorial wouldn't work for me, but I still wanted one!

Derrick helped me come up with a design and I went to Joanns to get fabric. I chose a heavy duty corduroy for the base and some home decorating fabric, which is heavy as well, for the border. The rugs were from Walmart. I spent about $20 on everything.

I prewashed the rugs and fabric before sewing. The length of the space is 2 1/3 yards so I bought a little less than that so that I would have room to add a border. I cut it up the center, flipped it so that right sides were facing each other and sewed the border on the longer ends (which is 4" wide and folded in half to make it thicker and 2") in between the layers. Then I turned it right side out and sewed the borders on the shorter ends.

That was probably confusing, but I'm not that great at giving directions. Basically, I made a long table runner out of durable fabric....there.

I simply plopped down the rugs on top of that. It's been in the kitchen for almost a week now and is working out great.

And the best part??? When it gets dirty, I can simply take the rugs and throw them in the wash and then wash the runner as well. Everything is machine washable. It doesn't look as put together as Jen's, but it works for my kitchen, so I'm happy!

Silver Leaf Transparency Photos

I am making these temple photos with the young women at church this week. I taught a class several years in Kodiak for the women and it was a lot of fun. I had some supplies left over so I thought the girls would like to each have a temple photo in their room!

These are very simple to make.

First, decide what photo you want and print it out in black and white onto a transparency. If your printer is like mine and doesn't print on transparencies, you can take your photo that has been printed on plain copy paper and have Fed Ex/Kinkos print it onto a transparency for about .75.

Then, lightly spray the back side of the transparency with spray adhesive (found at Walmart).

Now comes the fun and messy part. Take sheets of imitation gold or silver leaf and gently lay them on the back of the photo. They don't have to fall perfectly or line up with each other. The messier the better because it gives it a cool vintage look. Keep laying the silver leaf sheets on until the entire surface is covered. Use a tissue/kleenex to dab the back to smooth out the silver leaf. If you use your fingers, it'll just stick to your fingers.

I buy my imitation silver leaf (aluminum) on ebay in bulk. MUCH cheaper than any craft store. I bought 75 sheets of it (5"x5") for $10. An 8x10 print will need 5-6 sheets.

Turn your transparency over and you will see your black and white image with a beautiful silver background. Trim it down to fit into your frame.

The one of the Nauvoo temple is a 3.5"x5". It only took 1 1/2 sheets of silver leaf.

***Images of LDS temples can be found on www.lds.org You are free to save them to your computer and download them for personal use. They are the best quality ones online as well. I tried finding one of the Kirtland temple since www.lds.org didn't have one and had issues getting a good quality one on google images. ***