Garbage Bag Dispenser

Since I've been married, we've stored all of our grocery bags under the sink. I've hated every minute of it but didn't do anything about it. The bags under the sink would always have that threat of having something really nasty on them or be all wet from water dripping. I FINALLY put a stop to that! Make It and Love It came up with a really good tutorial to make a multi-fabric grocery bag dispenser. I thought hers was adorable (like everything she does) and her tutorial is really easy to follow so I made mine one night.

I'm doing my kitchen in red, black and white and I had this fabric in my scrap stash. I'm not thrilled with my fabric selections though. I think that some of the red fabric looks more pink then red (especially in the picture.) Luckily no one is ever really going to see it...well except everyone on blog land!

I'm currently working on a project with these. Can you guess what it will be? I got all four books for $.25 cents at a yard sale! This picture doesn't show very well how much fabric is there. After I took the books apart I had a stack that was 5 inches high......FOR .25 cents!!!

Yummy Color Matching

The other day I was in a time pinch...needed to get the kitchen cleaned up and dinner started, but my son wanted to play a game with me. So I printed off these circles on a piece of cardstock and gave him a bowl full of fruit loops and told him we were going to play a cool matching game. I started out playing with him for a few minutes and then invited him to do it all by himself. It was yummy, educational, and occupied him so I could get my stuff done. Win! Win!

Bumper Border

Was doing some organizing of closets this morning when Ivan saw his old dinosaur crib bumper and wanted it back on his bed. There really was no space for it on his little toddler bed, so I came up with another use for it. I tacked it up on the wall as a border, so now he can look at it everyday. What do you think?

Daniel's Quiet Book

The idea for this quiet book actually came from a quiet book someone made for Keri's son, Alex. Each page's theme was derived from a letter in Alex's name. Another friend of mine showed me her quiet book, of which she only made one page. 10 women got together and each of them made one page 10 times and then combined them into adorable quiet books. So I merged those two ideas for a baby shower I threw a week ago. I picked the theme for each page, came up with a rough templates, cut out "kits" for each page, and then had each person at the shower help assemble the book. We didn't really play games, but spent our time eating and working on this cooperative quite book. Some people got really creative and went above and beyond what I could have ever imagined, and some did the bare minimum--and that is OK! Now our friend has something to cherish from her baby shower that each of her friends and family there had a hand in. It turned out to be pretty amazing (my scanner is smaller than the pages, so the pictures don't do the book justice) and a very fun and productive shower. I got many positive responses from the atypical baby shower I threw so I think I will definitely do it again.

D- Dinosaurs (felt dinos behind pockets of rocks)
A- Automobile (toy car in garage, roads, signs)-- I love this page because the 8 year old sister of the gal we threw the shower for sewed the lines on the road. I think she did a great job.
N- Noah's Ark (zipper pocket on ark with plastic animals inside it)
I- Insects (matching colors, magnets)
E- Eating (plate, cup, velcro silverwear, velcro food in fridge (doors open)
L- Letter (Envelope with paper, mailbox that opens and closes) The coolest thing about this project is that is cost me less then $3.00 to make. Now that is not an accurate estimate for the cost of this project, but when I thought of making it--which was only a day before the shower--I was calculating how much everything might cost and quite honestly, I didn't want to go shopping because it sounded EXPENSIVE! So I decided to see what I already had in my fabric and crafts drawers....I had everything we needed except for the bias tape binding! Pretty cool, eh? I thought that was a good reminder to check out all of your materials before you go shopping for project stuff next time...you might already have it on hand!

Ribbit

I love to make hooded towels for boy baby shower gifts! This was my most recent. I've also done bears, rabbits, dinosaurs, ducks. Guess I should have taken pictures of all of those. Well I promise I will make more in the future and post pics then.

Cool Canopy

Another project I did for my friend's daughter...she loves everything enchanted (fairies, princesses, elves, dragons, etc...). I found great instructions here. It took me about 45 minutes to put together and about 10 more minutes to sew the dragonflies and butterflies by hand. We picked up the sparkly bugs at the dollar store (2 for $1) which were actually iron on appliques. I loved it, she loved it, and now I want to do one to put up in my bedroom (maybe with some more neutral colors and minus the sparkly bugs). Total cost for tulle, fleece, hula hoop, ribbon, and bugs was about $15

Castle Pinata

I don't have a little girl and don't claim to be an expert in the "princess" department, but my friend's little girl turned 5 the other day and in a moment of desperation, my friend asked me to help her make a castle pinata. We didn't really have time to do paper mache so I started building one out of CEREAL BOXES! I just started playing around and realized that The top flaps (where the boxes open and close) were absolutely perfect for the top of my castle. I added a few embellishments like the tower, door and ribbon...but all in all a fairly simple project. I wish I could give you step by step pics and instruction, but we had left our camera at a friends house, so all you get is the final product. FYI: this pinata was tough for the little kids to break... would recommend using this type of pinata for older kids (like 8+).

Materials You Will Need:
Cereal Boxes (about the same size)
Masking Tape
Glue
Tissue Paper

1.) Tape boxes together in desired shape. Leave an opening somewhere to put the pinata guts in.

2.) Cut Strips of Tissue paper to cover the box. I cut strips about 2 inches wide and then cut 1 inch slits up about 1/2 inch apart to make the fringed look. Start gluing strips from bottom to top.

3.) Fill it.

4.) Close it up (and cover your hole--like the green tissue paper on top)

5.) Embellish.

6.) Let the kids smash it!

Sorry this is super uninformative...I will be better with my next posts I promise. I figure you gotta start somewhere right? Comment if you have any questions and I will try to help.

New Author!

I have FINALLY convinced, with a lot of begging, pleading, and promising, my friend Mandy to join me in this blog. She is unbelievably talented and I can't wait to see some of the things that she will post. I know that you will love her as much as I do! (No presure Mandy!)

If anyone else would like to be an author, please let me know.

Keri

Alex's Curtains

Alex's room is facing the afternoon sun and we have a really bright light on the back of our apartment. For the past few weeks I've pinned up a blanket to the window to make it a little darker so Alex and my nephew understand when it it time to go to sleep. The other day at a yard sale I came across this really cute car fabric that matches his room theme. I decided to use it and the other fabric I already had in my stash to make some curtains for Alex's room.

They were super easy to do. The hardest part was figuring out how far to space out my tabs. All I had to do is measure my window and then decide how much fabric I needed to cover it. The navy blue fabric is really thick so I didn't need a lining for it. With the blinds and the curtains closed it can get very dark in the room.

I spent a dollar on the car fabric and I think $1.50 on the dark blue fabric (and I still have some to spare for both fabrics.) I am just using an extra shower curtain rod for now until we have the money to change it.

I'm ready now to branch out and do a fancy design for my bedroom curtains. Wish me luck and pray that I will come across some more cheap fabric!

Dish Soap Dispenser

I first got the idea to use an olive oil dispenser from Make It and Love It as a soap dispenser. At the time I didn't have a dishwasher so I needed something really convenient. I found this soap dispenser at the dollar store so when I took off the label it left a residue. So I got the idea to cover it. This craft was so easy and fast.

My dispenser is curved inward so I couldn't use paper to cover it. So I grabbed some red fabric and black ribbon from my stash. I cut the fabric to the dimensions that I wanted it (length + one inch and how much it takes to wrap around.)
I used liquid stitch to "sew" down an inch. This is so when you look through the glass you don't see the wrong side of the fabric. Put a line of Mod Podge where you want to start putting on the fabric. Slowly move around the bottle, stretching the fabric as you go.
After I had the fabric firmly attached I added some ribbon to the top and bottom. The ribbon was able to hid the cut edge of the fabric and also give it some more flair. I took a sewing tape measure and measured around my container on both the top and the bottom, plus a little extra to overlap. I used the mod podge to attach the ribbon but I had to use a little super glue on the spots that the ribbon wouldn't adhere to very well. My ribbon was pretty thick so thinner ribbon would adhere easier.
I then covered the entire thing in mod podge to finish it off. I decided to cover the glass to give it a frosted look. I covered it three times to give it a good seal.
I think it turned out pretty cute and it was so simple. The hardest part was waiting for the glue to dry. The entire project probably cost me less then $1.50.

DIY: Rugs, Mats, and Towels

We have a 2nd bathroom in this apartment that we sadly had to live without at our last place. The only thing wrong with it is having to decorate a SECOND bathroom on a very limited budget. I've come across a few cute, cheap, and green ways to get a bath mat.

This first one is from Michelle Kaufmann. They have provided a wonderful tutorial but it can also be found on You Tube. It is recycled towels tied to some gridded matting. I love the thickness of it. Plus, I want some new colored towels and this is a great way to use up some of the ones I already have. If you don't have any towels to spare, hotels throw away old towels and rags if they have a stain on it that they can't get rid of. You could try getting the hotel to donate them to you or buy them for a fraction of the cost.

I found this on Martha Stewart for the craft of the day. Isn't cute! It looks like it would be pretty complicated but the instructions seem simple enough. I think it would be a cute little mat in front of the bathroom sink or something.

I just came across this adorable canvas rug made from a drop cloth.....yes...a DROP CLOTH.... from The Fine House. It looks so cute in the kitchen with the table and chairs over it. You could make it whatever color and style you wanted. This would have to be my next project if I didn't have a million already in line!

A little while ago I came across this Tic-Tac-Toe Beach Towel from Martha Stewart. Living in Idaho doesn't give me very many opportunities to get to the beach but it made me think of a tic-tac-toe picnic blanket! So simple and easy. You could go one step further and do a checkers blanket with bean bag pieces.

To finish off the towels....I have yet to make my little guy a hooded towel. I have all the supplies but sadly he has to use a plain old rectangle towel at bath times. Ahhh poor guy. I have come across some excellent tutorials for hooded bath towels. You can make the one from the picture above from the tutorial provided by Little Birdie Secrets. Also, Break It Down, Sewing and Design has made a cute lined hooded towel. One thing that is missing from both towels is ribbon. Adding some ribbon to the edges or to the non fuzzy part (whatever that is called) of the towel really spruces up the towel.

Sorry STILL!!!

Well we are finally settled in our new apartment but my craft area isn't put together yet. Unfortunately, it has to be the last room I do. I will work as hard as I can to get some stuff together!

In the mean time....I would love to have some coauthors for this blog. If there is anyone who knows me in person and would love to share their creations on here, please leave me a comment. I just don't have enought time to post as much as I would like to so please let me know if you would like to help! It is a great way to encourge you to get some projects and ideas that you've had finally done. There is a few of you that I've already talked too about it that SHOULD give me a yes...cough cough.....MB!!!