Simple Mom Challenge Week 1

Drawers & Shelves

Some of our cleaning did not get documented.  Hubs found it odd that I was a bit sad I didn't get to take before pictures, so I stopped trying when he was around :)   Here are our kitchen drawers.  

First the baking/measuring side:

{Before}

{After}

I found some items we never used and gave those to Purple Heart.  Other things, like duplicates of certain measuring spoons, I donated to noodlebee's day care.   After several years of battling with my Silpat I decided to wrap it around the rolling pin and now ~ phew! ~ it doesn't get stuck or crushed!  I also got rid of the blue Star Wars cutter since it really doesn't make as good crust-less sandwich as the Millennium Falcon :)

Next the utensils drawer.  THAT one won't stay organized for long as I don't have dividers.  I plan on gifting myself some this summer.

{Before}

{After}

Finally the 'junk drawer' which is on the left side of this two-drawer section.  {The silver ware drawer is cramped but that's the best it's going to get unfortunately} Look at that mess!! There were 5 {5!} playing card sets in this drawer.  We don't  even PLAY cards!!! And seriously, do we need 13 pencils with no points??!!  Some of those items went the way of the trash can or to my classroom.

{Before}

{After}

Linked up at Project Simplify!

Spring {Break} Cleaning

It's the time of year again - time for Spring Cleaning!  I actually love cleaning and organizing.  I've always be a fan of 'everything in it's place' and with 4 people and a dog in a 2 bedroom house, I'm always rearranging and looking for ways to organize areas better.  Generally the best times for me to do this are during school breaks {spring, summer and winter} since it's more relaxing without full time work and we have a teeny bit more money to buy new baskets, bins, etc {yes, I admit I am a container junkie} with no daycare costs.

This year during spring break, I've begun major overhauls of the kids' closet, the linen closet, and my craft side of my clothes closet.  I am not going crazy however, since eventually we are going to be moving my son down to the basement for his own room.  It will require huge changes in storage and new furniture, and I don't want to make little changes now that will just be changed again a few months down the road.  The goal is two years from now to have him down there.  Slow and steady...

So for my spring cleaning to be still be efficient, i.e. focusing on the small areas and not the large ones for now I'll be following along with Project Simplify over at Simple Mom.  She's got a four week challenge that even my son can be helping out with.  Stay tuned for our before and after pictures!

Fairy Easter Basket {PBKids Knock Off}

When I saw Pottery Barn Kids new collection of Easter basket liners, I fell in love with the fairy one because I knew my two year old who loves all things princess would love it too.  What I did not love was the price tag and immediately I devised a plan for a DIY hack.  It took about one hour total, spread out over a few days {you need some drying time for the puffy paint} and cost me approx $5 {tulle, elastic and pink puffy paint}.  The rest of the supplies I already had, and you could totally just customize your version based on what is in your stash.

Here are the supplies/tools I used:
PBKids Easter Basket, pink gingham liner, pink tulle, 1 & 1/4 inch wide waistband elastic, safety pin, a cookie sheet, scissors, pinking sheers, white felt, pink puffy paint, pink ribbon {I used two different ribbons} a package of pre-cut roll up felt flowers from Etsy, and hot glue.

{Step 1} The Tutu

Wrap your tulle around the cookie sheet and cut along the edge.  Fold that in half and cut again.  You will have to work in batches.  Your pieces will be about 8 inches long depending on your cookie sheet size.  Sorry I don't have a picture of this - it was late at night!

Safety pin your elastic together and slip around your leg so you have a sturdy base for tying on the tulle.
Work one piece at a time and 'tie' the tulle onto the elastic using a slip knot.  Readjust the safety pin when you are done with the tulle to fit around your basket, and scoot it on from the bottom up, resting right underneath the lip of the basket.  Your pink liner will show at the top and your safety pin will show now, but you will cover that up later.

 {Step 2} The flower
Cut a leaf shape with your pinking sheers out of the white felt & use the puffy paint to write the name.  If I had an embroidery machine I would have done that, but I don't so puffy paint it was!  Allow to dry according to the package.  I left mine to dry for a few days but I think you just need 24 hours.

 Once it's dry, cut your ribbon approx 10 inches and tie into a knot so that the ribbon in folded in half.  I liked using two different shades of pink, as this project has about 5 total different pinks anyway!

Overlap slightly and hot glue together by the knot so that the 'v' isn't as wide.
Flip over your leaf shape and glue both pieces to the back.

Roll up the flowers and glue into place on the front of the leaf.

{Step 3} Assemble
Push the tulle away from the safety pin and place a copious amount of hot glue directly on the elastic near the safety pin {you won't see the pin, the leaf will cover it}.  Push the leaf on, and continue to hot glue around the elastic and felt until it is secure.

{Viola!}  I'm so excited to celebrate Easter morning with this super cute basket, and I can't wait to see my princess's face when she sees it!  I'll definitely be taking video of that one!

Happy Easter!

Doggie Bag

This weekend we are adopting a sweet beagle named Eva.  We are all so excited.  I think this week I've done as much 'nesting' for her as I did for my second child, it's been really fun to shop for new toys, dishes, etc.  Of course our first place to shop is Etsy, and we've found some adorable collars that we will be purchasing very soon (as soon as we know her neck size!).  Among the cute this I found were some very adorable and extremely functional zipper pouches- for keeping treats or disposable bags.  This one below is made by The Sewing Dog

 As much as I want one however (and I think mostly I just love the doggie carabiner clip!), right now it's not too financially smart to spend money on things I could possibly make myself.

So after a few online tutorials and one hour, I have made my first ever zipper pouch!  Yes there are many mistakes but hey, it's a good first try.

I used oilcloth for the lining so it wouldn't get all funky from treats or dirt or slobber.  In hindsight the laminated cotton would have been MUCH easier to work with, but I like the look of this too.
It's going to be nice having something to put the treats in during classes & walks.  I might just have to make a few for some doggie friends! Happy Thursday!

NoodleBee's Play Kitchen

This summer noodle and I transformed a television stand we purchased off of Craigslist into a play kitchen.

The paint, faucet, and hardware was all found at the Re-Sale store for $5.00. The sink is a plastic container from IKEA and the burners & knobs were wooden pieces from Micheal's.

Since I didn't want to have an actual door to the oven, I simply made a frame around the oven space with 4 stretcher bars {also from Micheal's} and attached the handle at the top to create the illusion that it opens.  The oven also has some black poster board and a touch light inside.  We modge-podged stickers around the knobs for on/off/hot and the knobs are turn-able.

The curtain under the sink hides all the dishes and pantry items.  I made it during one nap time session from two Target dish towels, a strip of coordinating fabric, ribbon, and fabric glue.  {Yes I could have sewn it but that would have been loud and woken the baby up so glue it was!}

We had so much fun working on it together and last night after months of fine-tuning and sewing play food we gave it to the birthday girl.  She has been playing with it non-stop ever since.

My husband thinks it the coolest thing I've made and noodle and I are one proud DIY duo!

Happy 2nd Birthday to the real noodlebee!

Day of the Dead

I am thrilled to have found this amazing Day of the Dead printed laminated cotton to use for my pocket bibs.  Right now they are being sold exclusively at Gossypia, an eclectic boutique in the Del Ray area of Alexandria, Virginia.  I'm so excited to have my bibs here amongst other amazing and beautiful artistic clothing items!  Look for this print coming soon to my Etsy shop.

National Book Festival

Today we took advantage of the wonderful Library of Congress National Book Festival down on the National Mall in Washington DC.  I waited for an hour to see Marc Brown, beloved author of the Arthur series, and 2 hours for a Jeff Kinney {Diary of A Wimpy Kid} autograph for my son.  It was definitely worth the wait!


Marc Brown was amazing with his fans, and a fellow fan took a picture of me with him ~ can't wait to get that email!  I had two books for him to sign, one for me and one for baby Kate.  Yes, she is too young to appreciate it now, but in a few years I'm sure she will think it's pretty cool.  I just have to make sure she doesn't destroy it during her toddler years!

What a great day!