Showing posts with label Crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crafts. Show all posts

February 9, 2016

Dry Erase Menu Board

I picked up this dry erase board a couple years ago at a yard sale for $0.50. I used to just write the day of the week and our dinner for the week on it, but since I've been doing freezer meals and shopping for a month's worth of food at a time I decided to step it up a notch. 


First, I measure the board and figured out how to fit 7 squares across and 5 squares vertically so it would look like a calendar. 


Luckily, I had this ruler that was just about perfect for making my lines and spaces fit perfectly. I just put it on my board and drew a straight line with a permanent marker where I needed them. I made sure to not touch or smudge it because that would be a disaster in my book. 


I did all my lines horizontally then did the vertical lines after I made sure it was nice and dry.


Tada! After it was all dry I used my dry erase markers to fill in the days and dinners we would be having. Super easy to erase and rewrite the dates each month but still have the lines. 

I would be lying if I said I don't stare at it every time I go into the kitchen. I'm so proud! 


December 15, 2014

Busy Bag Swap Ideas

In the past 6-7 months we've participated in two busy bag swaps. If you don't know what busy bags are, they're basically just small learning activities that help kids engage in fine motor skills. The nice thing is they fit into a small bag so they are great for in the car or at a restaurant. 

With the swaps, each mom made multiples of the same bag, then when we met we each took one from each mom and ended up with lots of different bags. We have 25 total now and Mason plays with them all the time. 


Here's what we ended up with after our second swap. 


The next day I went and picked up some pencil pouches at the Dollar Tree to put them in because Mason was tearing the bags. Each pouch has two compartments so there's two activities per pouch. So nice to just grab one as we're walking out the door. 


I'll be back with some more posts later this month looking closer at what each bag is in case you're interested in making some of your own. 



December 11, 2014

Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments

The other day I came across this salt dough ornament on Pinterest. I decided to do it with the kids this past weekend. All you need is 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and water.


Mix the flour and salt and then slowly pour in water until it forms a dough.  Flatten it out on a cookie sheet so it's large enough for your child's hand to fit. Press their hand into the dough and slowly lift it out.


I used a straw to make a hole at the top so we can hang it. After you do that, bake it at 150 degrees for 1 hour (my oven only goes down to 170 degrees so I used that).


Remove from oven and let cool completely. You can then leave it how it is and hang it from the tree with a pretty ribbon, or you can paint it. I painted them so the handprints would show a little better.  On the back I also painted 2014 so we'll always remember when we made then. These are something you could do every year or you could even do footprints.  I'm sure grandparents would love them too.







This post also appeared here as a guest blogger post

December 10, 2014

Craft Space Organization

We've lived in our house for 7 months already and I haven't gotten around to organizing my craft space.  Our living room is long so I have one side for my computer and craft stuff. It was definitely an eye sore. 


The first thing I did was go though my file cabinet and cleared out two drawers for my fabric. I just hung the fabric by color/design over the file folders. I was way too excited about this, and even said "ohh, ahh" when showing it to Mike. 



A few days later this awesome craft table arrived. Merry Christmas to me! I got right to work putting it together and loading it full of my stuff.  




I love that everything is concealed inside and I am totally in love with the drop side table part to increase my work space. 

Now, the question is, what do I sew first?!

November 21, 2014

Easy bookcase upgrade

The other day I decided to get rid of Mason's toy box and get him a bookcase instead. He has built in shelves behind his toy with most of his toys on that so his toy box was practically empty besides the books and toys on top.


Before putting the bookcase together completely I decided to give it a little upgrade. I just found some fabric in my stash that went with his room colors. I laid out the cardboard back piece over the fabric. I stretched it tight and used some box tape to attach it when I wrapped it around the cardboard. Then I nailed the cardboard piece to the bookcase.  Quick easy and fun upgrade to a simple $17 bookcase.






October 3, 2014

DIY Halloween Eyeball Wreath

This wreath may be one of my favorite Halloween decorations I have. I pinned something similar on Pinterest last year, but they place they suggested to get eye balls made the wreath cost almost $60! No thank you!  I made this one for $6.  I bought several of these wreaths last year after the holiday for $0.50 each.  The eye balls were a dollar a bag from The Dollar Tree. I was so excited when I saw them there. 


I bought 7 bags of eye balls, but only needed 5 to cover the front of the wreath. I could add more around the edges but I worry they'll fall off when I have to store it after Halloween is over so I just did the front. 


I just started hot gluing them on one by one, making sure all the pupils pointed the same direction and worked my way around the wreath. 



When I was almost all the way around I hot glued a halloween ribbon on it so I would have a way to hang it up.   I held it up and filled in some of the empty looking spots and then hung it up and stared at it all day. I was so proud! 


It hangs on our front door and I did add some window cling bats so the whole door is mighty festive and ready to scare the kids. However, now that we live in the country I doubt anyone besides my family will even see it. 



I wish I would of covered the wreath with some orange or black ribbon or tulle just to hide the straw a little more, but when I started I was too excited to think about that. 



June 10, 2014

Latch Board DIY

I've been seeing latch board tutorials all over pinterest lately, so I decided to give it a try.  I just headed up to Menard's and picked out a few door latches, hooks, a handle and some washers.  I also picked up a small can of yellow paint and a round board.  For everything it was about $30.  



First I painted both sides of the board. I also saw on pinterest to use push pins to hold it off the table when painting so it doesn't stick.  Worked great! 


Once it was all dry I layed out my parts to figure out where I wanted them so they wouldn't touch each other and worked best. Then I waited for Mike to get home so he could assemble it. I probably could of done this part myself, but I wanted him to help out too. 



Here's Mason watching so patiently. 


He played with it for a few minutes and that was about it.  Marley played with it too, but in the end Mason picked up his cars and went on his way.  Maybe he'll play with it more when he's a little bit older. 





November 30, 2012

Kiwi Crate Review

I first heard of Kiwi Crate through a friend. It looked interesting and like something Marley would enjoy, but at the time it was a little too pricey for us.  With Mike starting his new job, I decided to splurge on a monthly subscription for Marley. 

Her November box arrived the other day and she dove right in. It was the Carnegie Hall Making Music Crate.  Each box has 2-3 crafts in it. This one had a xylophone and rhythm bells.  The crafts are geared towards 3-7 year olds and each comes with instructions (with pictures)  Marley needed very little help from me once I read her the instructions. 


Getting started. Apparently Zeus had to check it out too. 








Done, now it's music time. 




She played a "song" and then immediately asked to do the next one. 





Done with the rhythm bells. Now it's time to rock out! (Marley loves rock n roll music so I'm sure she thought she was playing rock n roll) 



Overall, I think Marley really enjoyed this, and it only took her about 15-20 minutes to make both crafts. I'm excited to see the December one! 

Does anyone else subscribe to Kiwi Crate? If you want to try it out, they're having lots of holiday specials right now, and I have a coupon if anyone is interested.

Want to sign up? Just click here.