Spring Cleaning Supplies at Dollar General

This post brought to you by Dollar General. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

Spring is upon us and that means the seaon of Spring Cleaning. Here at Gluesticks, we are post poning Spring Cleaning until April 1st when I will be doing our 2 week series on how to organize and maintain your home all year long. I can't wait for you to join me for this!

With that being said, there were a couple of areas in my home that just couldn't wait until April to get cleaned. And both of those areas happened to be in my kitchen. My refrigerator and my pantry. My pantry was mostly organization and throwing out boxes, etc. to free up space, but my refrigerator needed to be deep cleaned.

I found pickle juice, a bag of barley that had fallen on its side. Soy sauce dripping on the door shelving, little flecks of garlic peels that were all over my vegetable drawer, and even some egg whites that had dripped from a crack egg in a carton. Nice. There is only so much that little out-of-date box of baking soda in the back of the refrigerator can do to help make the refrigerator appear cleaner, ha!

Mom Blog to Money Blog Workshop {My Review}

I didn't create Gluesticks with the idea of making any sort of income. In fact, the first two years I had my blog I didn't have a single ad or promotion on it. I was afraid I would lose readers and thought that I would be selling myself out. After a while it dawned on me that I was creating a service for my readers to receive free patterns, ideas, and tutorials and that Gluesticks was turning into a small business on its own. I also realized that it isn't selling yourself out to be reimbursed for the time and energy that you are providing as a free service to others.

I found that if I didn't care for ads on a blog, I just ignored them. And I hope that my readers feel the same way and would do the same thing instead of leaving my blog. I stayed away from pop up ads completely and paid promotions that I didn't feel my readers would benefit from.

The first year I monetized Gluesticks I made a few hundred dollars. I was thrilled!

Spring Cleaning Event on Gluesticks!

How many of you started cleaning your homes top to bottom last week when winter officially turned to spring?? Yeah, me either.

In fact I don't think I have ever done "spring cleaning". I just try to maintain things year around and deep clean when needed. Last month I noticed an area that couldn't just be maintained. It needed an over haul and so I focused my attention there. And that area was my kitchen. My refrigerator and pantry were packed to the brim and made it impossible to find anything. Seeing the end result has motivated me to continue on to the rest of the kitchen. We moved here just 5 months ago and I am still figuring out what works and how I want to organize it all.

New Rubbermaid® All Access Storage Containers!

This post brought to you by Rubbermaid® All AccessTM Organizers. All opinions are 100% mine.

We love storage totes over here. They are all over the place. Especially in the garage. We have them stacked almost to the ceiling with Christmas and Halloween Decor, old toys that I haven't been able to part with, and kids clothing. They are such a practical way to safely store our items, but the only draw back is it can be a nightmare to un-stack the totes. This is partially my own fault for filling them to the point that they are too heavy for me to get down! And if I do manage to get one down (by pretty much letting it fall to the floor), I usually wait for my husband to stack it again for me.

Cue Rubbermaid® All AccessTM storage containers. Where have these bad boys been all my life? New Rubbermaid® All AccessTM storage containers have a drop-down door so that you can access your stuff inside, even when the containers are stacked!!

If You Give a Child a Crayon...

If you give a child a crayon they are going to want some paper to go with it. When they finish coloring on the paper, they will need a pair of scissors to cut out their picture.

 

 

The picture reminds them of a puppet and so they will ask you for an old sock.

Our Monthly Delivery of Craft Projects

 

 

 

We are big Kiwi Crate fans. I purchased a month-to-month subscription last summer for Kaylee, who isn't in school, thinking it would be a fun treat for her to look forward to every month. She LOVES it and so does her older brother, Aaron.

 

 This month they made a periscope, had fun playing with an invisible ink pen and pad and pretended to be super spies. The photo above is one we did over the summer. They made wind cars and wind socks.

 

In previous months they have made kaleidoscopes, a bowling game, musical instruments, puppets, and more. The crates come with everything they need and all of the instructions. It's worth paying for such organized and put-together crafts.

 

We look forward to the 15th of every month because we know our next crate is on its way! I received an e-mail today to share with friends to receive $10 off their purchase. That is a great deal, 50% off a crate, delivered to your door.

 

Try it for a month, you can cancel ANYTIME, no strings attached. The crates are well worth the discounted deal and you can decide if you want to continue at the full price after you receive your first box!

 

Click here to receive your first crate shipped to your door! Shipping is always FREE.

 

How to Make Striped Curtains

Finding horizontal striped curtains in the stores may very well be the hardest task out there. That is why I decided to make my own. Using pre-made curtain panels!

 

 

When I made my dining curtains I didn't plan on making a tutorial so I didn't take any photos of the actual process. It was my first time making a pattern so bold, and honestly I wasn't sure if they would turn out. I've received many comments on them and so I thought I'd do a post and let you know a how about them.

LeapFrog Reading Campaign and Giveaway!! **CLOSED**

Congratulations to the winner,

One Girl and Three Crazy Boys!March 18, 2013 at 8:29 AM

We love Dr. Seuss-but our two favorites are Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham. They are such fun books!

 

It amazes me how long of an attention span my children have when it comes to reading books together. They easily get distracted doing other activities, but will sit down and read a stack of books together, no problem. Even Ruby who isn't even 18 months old loves to read with me. She is pretty pushy about it too as she comes up to me and throws a board book in my lap. And when we finish she hands it to me again, and again.

Sittercity America's Top Sitter Contest

 

A good sitter is more than just hired help. They become a part of the family and your childhood memories!  I am pretty choosy when it comes to who I will leave them with.

I Need Sewing Machine Recommendations!

Last night my sewing machine died. After 10 years of weekly abuse it gave up. My husband bought this for me when we were first married and expecting our first child. He left it on the kitchen table with a note saying,

 

"Make something pretty."

 

I was thrilled when I came home from work. It was the first sewing machine that was MINE and it worked beautifully. I learned the basics of sewing as a teenager, but didn't have the time or money to really get into it until later after I was married.

 

It's hard to say how many projects I have made on this machine, but it definitely earned its keep.

 

I Want To Be Like You, Mom

Last night while helping my oldest with his math homework I looked over in the kitchen and saw Kaylee scrubbing the dishes in the sink with a dirty little scrubber and no soap and putting them right back in the sink. She looked over at me and said, "I am doing some dishes for you, Mom, because I want to be like you." 

 

  

 

I'm sure she had no idea how nice that was to hear.

Amish White Bread

 

I use to enjoy trying new bread recipes, but lately I've had a few flop! Like totally. Tasted really yeasty, didn't brown, didn't rise. After waiting 3 hours to see if my hard work paid off only to have it fail is frustrating. So I decided to just stick with the bread that has been fool proof for me. And every post about bread that I have shared on here (and you can find them all HERE!) have been staples in our home with great success. Especially this one. Amish White Bread. It is absolutely delicious and I've been making it for 4 years. I usually use white flour, but it is amazing with half whole wheat as well.

Happy Pi {π} Day!

Happy Pi {π} Day!

My kids are a bit young to understand what  π is, but they do know what PIE is.  Apple, Cherry, Berry, and Pumpkin are our family favorites. It is just the perfect dessert and we love the varieties of crusts and flavors to try. So when I told them that March 14th was "Pi Day" they jumped on board.

A Surprise from Green Giant

 

 Anyone can have a giant surprise talent. What's yours? Maybe it's  being double jointed or being the master at double dutch jump roping.

 

Well, Green Giant wants to hear about it. And they want to share their big surprise with you!

 

Introducing......

 

 

 

Chips!

Coconut Poke Cake

 

I love coconut cakes...as seen here, here, and here! Here is another spin. A very easy one.

Peanut Butter

Make your own peanut butter with the kids for a fun activity and snack! Just like the good stuff you grind at the health food store.
 

Create a Rustic Crate

Create a rustic crate using an inexpensive unfinished wooden media box. Ideal for many uses in home decor and easy to make too. 

I found an unfinished wooden media box at Michael's the other day and thought it would make a nice addition to our living room decor. These boxes come in two sizes and are fairly inexpensive. Especially if you have a 50% off coupon. That brought it down to $2.50.

 

With a little paint and twine I was able to turn this box...

New Yopa! Authentic Greek Yogurt

My kids and I are big yogurt fans. Two of my children don't care for milk, but love yogurt so it's been a staple item on our grocery list for year. We buy them by the fridge pack family boxes every week. It makes such an easy breakfast, addition to lunch or snack. We recently tried the new YoCrunch Yopa! Greek yogurt and were impressed with the blend of flavors and textures.

Our Family Portraits! {At Picture People}

This post brought to you by Picture People. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

Last weekend we took our children to a photo studio for the first time! We've always done our own family portraits, but decided to try something new and fore-go the self-timer. I am so glad we did. Our experience at Picture People was great and our portraits speak for themselves.

Cinnamon Bunny Rolls

 

 This sweet roll dough is one of our favorites. It makes the best cinnamon rolls in only 90 minutes and a fun variation on our cinnamon rolls are these little bunny rolls. Make sure to leave a space for these on your Easter menu this year! And for the grown ups, try our 90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Icing.....heaven on a plate right there!

Easter Egg Hunt Lunch

Lunch time has never been so fun! We had an Easter Egg Hunt lunch last year and it was such a hit that we can't wait to do it again. I am also going to fill Dallin and Aaron's lunch boxes with eggs as well since they won't be home to partake in the fun preschool version. Here is how our fun tradition began....

Flannel Baby Blanket

 

 

My friend  recently gave birth to her sixth child. I figured that after 5 kids it would be nice to have something new for baby. And so I made him a soft flannel blanket. Just the right size for laying on the floor to play on, or gently folded up across him in his car seat.