11 Favorite Gems from 2011 {project posts}

*I started this post a month ago. This has not been the month for "wellness" in our household...Needless to say, I have been busy. Plus I was kind of burned out after Christmas. Let's hope February is a better month!*

One of the reasons I love keeping this little blog, is because it is fun to look back and see what you learned and what you were able to create- among all the craziness of raising children.  So -for my sake- and in case you missed it- here are my favorite 11 projects from 2011-in no particular order. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  (I'll share my favorite recipe & food finds later.)

( One of my blog goals  for 2012 is to get to know my readers better ! I'd love to see your favorite projects- leave me a comment and I'll come visit :))

 1. DIY Pottery Barn Inspired Heirloom Frames

2.Valentine Love Message Blocks

3. Easter Bunnies from Cardboard Tubes

4. Spring Sign using Juice Lids (tutorial)

5. Child's Art Supply Tote (tutorial)

6.DIY Lego Table

7. IKEA Spice Racks turned Bookshelves

8. Lego Birthday Party Ideas and Toy Story Birthday Ideas

9. DIY Star Wars Ornaments

10. My Big Fat Car Play Mat

11. DIY Summer Wreath

Kids Crafts: Water Noodle Lacing & Pattern Practice

Here is today's kids craft... (still trying to post one each Monday :))

I am certain I saw something similiar to this on a blog last year...forgive me for not telling you where/when- I can't remember...

This is a great activity for pre-schoolers and even kindergarteners. In fact, it is going to be one of my centers in pre-school this year :)

It is a great way to practice patterns.

Purchase some water noodles- I got mine at Target for about 75 cents each on clearance- in the dollar section. These are the same water noodles we used for the car racetrack.

Cut them up with your kitchen knife on a cutting board.

Buy some cording- I got mine at Wal-mart for about a dollar a yard. Tape the ends really well with clear packing tape so that they don't unravel and so that little hands can handle the cording easily. You could also use shoe laces for lacing.

To secure the end, I tied one water noodle piece right to the end of the cording so that they didn't fall off the end. ( you can probably see in the next picture)

Get to work making your patterns.

With my youngest son, I helped him at first, and then he caught right on and did it by himself.

My boys suddenly had new toy snakes to play with! And oh what fun they had- and are still having!

Have fun!

( p.s.I have a tutorial and a give-a-way coming this week for you :))

Rag Ruffle Pillow {take one}

I have a little bit of an obsession with throw pillows. My husband does not like it. I always have a lot of them, -probably way too many.

So after moving, I wanted to change things up a bit without spending a lot of money.

I had a vision of a ruffle throw pillow made from fabric scraps....and here is the first attempt.

I love color but the room that this pillow is in is pretty neutral-with tans, whites, blacks, and reds. I am trying to use my love for color very carefully so it doesn't look like a circus....

I plan to make more of these similar pillows (with a tute if I can get it done) - so tell me - what do you think?

Cute pillow or tacky homemade pillow??

Make a Car Race Track from a Water Noodle

I saw this on Family Fun, and also saw this post and this post on making a marble track from a water noodle. So with their inspiration, I figured out a way to make one for cars- and  it worked! (Since we have two boys crazy about cars, and a one year old who puts everything in his mouth-we had to make it for cars instead of marbles.) Here is what it looks like:

How to make a Car Race Track from a Water Noodle:

1.You need  a water noodle with a large hole in the middle.

I found mine in the dollar section at Target- they were 2 for 2.50.  I had a different water noodle at home with a small hole that would not work. Make sure you get a "cheaper" water noodle- as they tend to have larger holes. (check the dollar store)

2. Using a kitchen knife, I cut it right down the middle.

3. I used long skewers (used for shish-ka-bobs on the bbq- you can buy at the grocery store) and poked them right through the water noodle.  Here is a little trick: If you poke the skewer through and pull it out a little bit, you can widen the track a little for the cars.

4. You need something to hold it in place at the top and bottom. I found Styrofoam from a box that worked perfectly. You could use a cardboard box or Styrofoam. With Styrofoam, you can poke the skewers right through it and it stays in place. With cardboard, you might have to use packing tape.

I taped the Styrofoam to the floor at the bottom of the track with packing tape-so it would not slide around on the tile. If you don't have stairs, your could use a large box at the top of the track and attach it to the box like they did on Family Fun. (linked above).

5. We used fabric scraps to make the "start" and "finish" signs and used packing tape to hold them in place.

6. Here is another trick for making this work for cars:  use narrow cars- most no-name- dollar store type cars will work. We had some metal ones that were a bit smaller than the regular cars and they worked perfectly, as did some of the smaller Hot wheels or Matchbox cars. Some of them are too wide- but it depends on how big the hole is on your water noodle.

That is it! It provided hours of fun for our kids! It also cost next to nothing! We love it. I took it apart, and we'll put it up again and again this summer.  

Since the styrofoam we used had a hole in the middle, they put their rubber snake in it and said it was "snake pond" and they did not want their cars to land in snake pond! :)

Here is a little video to show you how this works. This is a great summer indoor activity- when it is just too hot to go outside.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Back in the day when I started this blog, I was posting Kid's Crafts and Activities just about every week. For the next month or two (during summer) I am going to try to post a fun kid's activity every Monday :)

Spray-painting a Bunkbed {or becoming a DIY crazy person}

I think I have gone crazy. Seriously, who spray paints a bunk bed?
raise your hand (leave a comment) if you have done this so we can be crazy DIY friends...☻ ☻ ☻

Please excuse my prolonged blogging absence. We are still in the middle of a move and it has also been crazy! And while we are trying to move, we decided it would be the perfect time to re-do the boys bed. {crazy}

We bought this bunk bed a year ago off of Craig's List. We thought it was a good deal, until we discovered the same bed...at Walmart.....for almost the same price but brand new of course. Dang it! That is the only time I have not found a good deal on Craig's List.

I so wanted a blue bunk bed like this one here that I could never afford.

And I {for years} have had this vision of a Pottery Barn boy's bedroom.

{that I have planned to recreate for a fraction of the cost ...someday}

It is finally someday. ☻

So after buying spray paint and returning it for another color and doing that again, we finally decided on Oxford Blue, Satin finish. We began our biggest-- spray- paint- crazy- person- project- ever. Although I did this in an open garage, with a fan, and with a mask-which I could only stand to wear for so long-  I still got SICK. I mean sick. Because, guess how many cans of spray paint it takes to do a bunk bed?

It takes about TEN cans to do a bunk bed. I am getting dizzy just thinking about it.

I hope it was worth it.

Too late now.

The bed is done.

When the room is all put together....and I can't wait... I'll show you my thrifty boy's room:)

And I think we are done with spray paint for a while- although this morning my husband spray painted some of our old ceiling fans. :)

It is such a quick and easy fix- darn stinky spray paint.

Thanks for reading!

The Red Desk Is Done!

It is finally finished!

This desk took us quite a while to refinish- mostly due to not having any free time! My husband did a large part of the work-sanding, priming, and we both did the painting. He bought this for me last summer for $35. The date on it was sometime in the 1960's.  Here is what it looked like:

BEFORE

It sat in our garge for months before we even started working on it. My husband....well he is a genuis..pretty much. :)  The drawers did not slide in and out really well, so he got some flat thumb tacks, and attached them so that now the drawers slide in and out very smoothly. He had to purchase a few screws for re-attaching the top, since the old ones were really worn out, and we purchased the new hardware. Total amount spend: $35 for the desk, plus about $20 primer and paint, and about $20 for the hardware- total about $75-80.

Picking red paint can be difficult... You don't want to get a color that is not too orange or too pink when what you really want is a true red. We used Glidden (because it was on sale at the time) Red Delicious in semi-gloss-because I did want a shiny red desk. This red is a true red. 

For the inside of the drawers, I picked up this cute wrapping paper from Target for a dollar, a while ago, and it was perfect for lining the drawers. I just taped it for now, in case I want to change it later. :)

Here it is dressed up with flower pens, and a fun runner....Since we are moving in a few days, this isn't going to be its home. I just had to enjoy it inside the house, since it was sitting in the garage for about a year.

Can't wait to fill up the drawers and put it to good use!

Thanks for reading! Happy Weekend.

Fabric Tic-Tac-Toe Game {Tutorial}

I started this back in March, but finally finished it. This is a fun way to teach your children tic-tac-toe- a great game for pre-schoolers- since it introduces things like patterns, strategy, while having fun at the same time.

(please let me know if you have any questions- as I wrote this really late at night- and I'm sure my brain was rather tired....:))

Supplies for Fabric Tic-Tac-Toe:

2 large squares of 2 different fabrics (I made mine 14 by 14 inches)

scraps cut into 2  or 2 1/2 inch strips for the lines

scraps for the x's and o's

thread

Light batting (I used warm-n-natural)

After you have your two 14 by 14 inch squares (you can use any size), iron your long strips as shown in the photo. Measure where you want then to be sewn to form a tic-tac-toe square.

Pin on, spacing evenly and sew close to the edge on both edges of each line. You can leave the raw edges alone on the short ends. When sewing the two pieces together, you will catch these ends in the seam.

The above photo shows the raw edges of the board. The tic-tac-toe lines are left unsewn. Trim them so they are the same length as the board. Now you are ready to sew both pieces together and complete your board.

 If you want to use batting, cut it the same size as your board size. (14 by 14 inches)
Put right sides together, and the batting next to the wrong side of one of the board sides. Sew 1/4 inch around the entire thing, leaving an opening to turn right side out.
Trim threads, turn and press.
Top-stitch around the entire board about 1/4 inch or less from the edge.

Now your board is complete!

You can use anything for your x's and o's- craft foam, felt, cardboard, chipboard, anything. :) I used fabric.

My son helped me make the x's and o's. I cut a long strip for the x's and cut pieces into 4 inch strips. I did the same with the batting. Then I sewed the batting in between two layers of fabric, and crossed two of these together to form an X. I sewed right in the middle of these two to make the X.

For the O we traced a cup and cut out the circles. We sandwiched the batting between two pieces of fabric, and I sewed around it.

Since it is two sided, you can play tic-tac-toe on either side. (just adds a little variety for the little ones ;))

You are now ready to play tic-tac-toe. Want to take it somewhere- a road trip, a doctor's office?

Just fold in half with the letters in the middle, roll it up, and tie it with a ribbon or scrap of fabric. Now you can throw it in your bag and take it with you.

Happy Sewing!

Thanks for reading!

DIY Play Kitchen from a Nightstand Completed

It is finally finished! Our DIY play kitchen from a nightstand that cost 6.50. We did put more than that into this, buying paint, glue, and some hardware. I would say we did not spend more than $50. Most of the steps we got from this flickr group created by Jane. She was the first one I saw building these cute kitchens. I'm sure you have seen several of these out there.   Well this is ours- we made it and it lives in our house.☻

If you were expecting a total BOY kitchen, sorry to disappoint you. I wanted a neutral one. :) But my oldest boy informed me he wanted a MAC TRUCK painted on the oven door. (Can't we have one toy in our house not covered in cars and army guys? Just sayin.. :) )

Here is what we started with :

Here are a few Tips, Hints, and Ideas if you would like to create one. Make sure you refer to Jane's photos linked above-she really gave a lot of detail that helped us out in this project!

 I used Gorilla Glue for attaching many small parts. My husband also used screws, washers, and bolts to attach many piece so that the kids can move them.  For the stove top, I painted black circles with paint, (and the help of a sharpie marker to make the edges even) and used popsicle sticks that we had cut in half and spray painted silver. (We had leftover silver spray paint from a Christmas project.) The sink faucet is an upside down wooden "J" and the hot and cold knobs are little wooden people you can buy from a craft store- painted silver and screwed in so they turn.

The sink bowl is from Goodwill. I searched for a silver bowl, and most were over $7. But I found this one for about $1 at Goodwill. If you can't find one, get a pet food bowl if you really want a silver bowl.

We used chalkboard paint to make a chalkboard on one side, and a scrap of wood to frame it. I used Gorilla Glue for attaching the frame.  This glue requires pressure, so I used masking tape to hold it in place, and it worked! I also used Gorilla Glue for attaching the pieces to the stove top-the popsicle sticks. This glue expands, so I just used my sharpie to cover it up if it came out over the edges. If you haven't used this glue, you have got to try it- powerful stuff.

The knobs for the sink are just pieces we found at the craft store, painted silver and screwed is so they can turn.

The back splash is a piece of chair rail -a scrap we also picked up at Home Depo.

The towel bar is a dowel we painted silver and glued it to some scrap pieces. The towel is a washcloth- and I used velcro to attach it over the bar, so it can be taken off. (and it is cuter than my actual kitchen towels...)

We used the actual door from the nighstand, and attached it with hinges. I used some sticky-backed velcro to help the door stay closed. (I used white because I had it on hand but black would have been a better choice.)

The oven door handle is the actual hardware from the nightstand, just painted silver.

Originally, we were going to use a dowel to hang the curtain. Then after a thought, we realized, when the dowel was unattached, it would automatically be turned into a sword in our house- every long object becomes a sword with my boys. ☻ So I used velcro to attach the curtain. I used sew on for the curtain, and sticky-backed velcro for the cabinet. It stays put really well.

What kitchen doesn't have an army guy to guard their salt and pepper shakers? I think that is my favorite part. ☻

The salt and pepper shakers are just wooden pieces I found at the craft store, painted, and glued together.

We did buy the back piece and the shelf piece from Home Depo. Most of the extra wood pieces we used were in the scrap bin.

 And there you have it...the tour of our new play kitchen. I like it so much more than my real kitchen, maybe I'll try using this one instead. (wink wink)

We decided we will be making more of these- they are so fun to make and personalize! If you live in my area, I'd be happy to help you make one or make one for you.

OH...and because I have been informed by my 4 year old that every kitchen has to have a refrigerator, we have plans to make one from an old desk we were going to get rid of- more DIY projects to add to my list! Now I just need a wood shop, and about 20 extra hours in the day :)

**Added later: I have had several questions about the measurements of this. They are:

15 inches deep

22 inches wide

Total height is 40 inches

and height to the top where the stove and sink are is 21 inches high. **