DIY

Cheap Frame –to– Chic Frame Repurpose

Dear Tacky Gold Dated Frame,

You’ve been repurposed. Which is much better than replaced. Replaced means you’re making friends with the diapers and watermelon rinds in the dumpster. Repurposed means you get to move from random stranger’s house to ours and make friends with the snot that’s wiped on the walls, and the hanging plant that has somehow managed to stay a little bit green. All it took to repurpose you was:

Cheap black spray paint (the dollar store type – but this would work too)
Sand paper (the dollar store type – but this would work too)
Some twine (the dollar store type – but this would work too)
Clothespins (the dollar store type – but this would work too)

Thank you for being a solid foundation, and beautiful pattern, and for being cheap. 🙂 I really like how you turned out! I’m so excited to rotate pics of my cute family through you! And since I didn’t buy this, it’s like I saved $60 🙂 You’re amazing!

Love, Em.

Frame Repurpose

August 1, 2016 2

That Outfit that can’t seem to make it to the Hamper? Here’s the Solution.

“But I’m wearing it tomorrow!” Right, I’m sure you are. I’d like to say it’s my kids saying this, not my husband. 🙂 Regardless, that outfit that is messing up your house and can’t seem to make it to the closet or hamper? It now has a home, or as my 3-year-old says “it lives on the sign.”

Do you or your kids/husband leave out clothes too?

Since I love a clean house, and LOOOVE making things, I’d love to make one of these for you. Head over to my etsy shop, and choose a color for your custom sign. Your purchase helps a NICU baby get human milk!

If you are the crafty type, head to the hardware store for a little lumber, wood glue & nails. Then to Ikea for a few hooks. Grab some paint and sealer, and voila! I cut the letters out of white vinyl on my silhouette cameo, but they could be painted as well.

DIY Clothing Sign

July 12, 2016 1

Outdoor Scrabble Set – DIY for $20

DIY Outdoor Scrabble Set

My mama loves scrabble, and the outdoors, so when I ran into this pin, I had to make one!! I found a sign company that would make the tiles for $85. ORRR since I’m crafty, and like to do-it-myself, I bought some supplies:

Clear contact paper for $6
Wood contact paper for $14

I printed off the tiles on my printer. I applied the clear contact paper on front, and the wood texture on the back. I had the wood stakes & string on hand (but it’s $2 at Lowe’s if you don’t have it!) Make sure you have a big helper to cut your strings. Such a fun summer activity!

DIY Scrabble Set

July 5, 2016 0

A World Map Canvas Painting in 1 hour

There I was. Staring at 2 babies, thinking I should entertain them. Staring at the rain outside the window. Staring at the blank walls of my house, which have been that way for 3 years.

That was all it took. I had an old art canvas I’d purchased at an art show. I had lots of paint and brushes on hand. I had a baby that loves, loves, loves to paint. I had an hour before bedtime. Time to repurpose that canvas! The excitement set in, and we got started.

jess painting canvas

Thank goodness she loves bathing as much as painting.

DIY canvas world map

Amazingly, we had all of the supplies on hand. Here is what we used:

Acrylic Paint – like these, or the little 99 cent bottles from the craft store. We used 3 blues, 3 burnt-ish colors, white, gold and silver.
Paint-brushes, or tore-up old sponges.
Blank Canvas (hit up the thrift store!)
Glitter! Usually available at the dollar store.
Polyurethane Spray (optional – holds the glitter on so it doesn’t end up everywhere.)
World Map Pattern, which happens to be available in my etsy shop.

Here is how we did it:

Close-ups of glitter and patterns and brush-strokes:

australia s.am

It was serendipitous that the existing veins ended up looking like mountain ranges. Let’s pretend they line up with real ranges. Such a fun crafty project!

March 30, 2016 1

A Cake Topper Made From a Cereal Box for my Granny’s 79th Birthday Party

Granny says her bones are made of concrete, because she fell down 7 cement stairs, and escaped with a hematoma and some bruises. She’s the toughest lady I know!! She always has a smile and warm hug for me and my babies. And since it’s not every day your granny turns 79, we had a big party for her. I decided to make a cheesecake with candied macademias and home-made caramel. YUM!

It needed a beautiful topper, but I didn’t want to spend $40 on etsy for a custom one. Since I have a silhouette cameo personal cutter, I decided to make one out of a cereal box. First, I made a sketch:

Then I pulled it into Illustrator to trace it. Next I imported the svg file into the silhouette studio software, and sent it to the cutter, with the blade set at 8, and speed at 1.

Next, I squished some straws onto the bottom pieces for stability, and spray painted the pieces. Added some glitter, and a polyurethane coating, and boo-yah. Custom, beautiful, fancy cake-topper from a cereal box.

Then, cheesecake! Because … cheesecake!

Oh my gosh, look how cute she is! I want to be just like her when I’m 79!!

March 15, 2016 0

Velociraptor Fossil Cookies PLUS 4 Generations of (super cute) Skiers

My baby turned 3, and to celebrate, went skiing with her 84 year old great-grandpa!! How cool is that!!?? As she chased him down the mountain, she had the biggest smile and heartiest giggles. Actually, we were all trying to chase him down the mountain. He skis like he’s still 20. It was a magical night.

4 generations of skiiers
She got a gajillion gifts at her birthday party, we’re spoiled! Many had a dinosaur theme, including a velociraptor cookie cutter from Whitney. Naturally, we had to make cookies, and after a quick pinterest search, decided on fossil cookies. Check it out!

velociraptor-cookies

We grabbed a sugar cookie recipe from pinterest. For the frosting, we threw some powdered sugar and milk in a bowl until it was pretty thick. Put that in a ziplock, cut off a tiny corner and pretended we had a fancy frosting bag. Thank you ziplock for making my life easy. The dirt is some smooshed up graham crackers, butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips. Dig in! (Ha, couldn’t resist – #sorrynotsorry for the pun Mitz.)

February 25, 2016 0

Ocean Room Decoration with over 40 Movable Pieces

It’s penguin awareness week! Well, at least at the Living Planet Aquarium! To celebrate, we made an ocean with … you guessed it – FELT! These felt walls are such fun toys for my kids. It’s great entertainment for both of us, and easy for me because there’s minimal mess!! Much better than the day I attempted a mess-free activity. 🙂

ocean2

We ended up with over 40 pieces! Ocean life, sea shells, eyes and bubbles. Lots of bubbles. Not sure what it is about toddlers and bubbles. Blowing bubbles might account for over 50% of the job description of mom. Turns out felt bubbles are almost as cool.

My oldest is starting to tell stories with all the sea life. Some days the jellyfish likes the shark, others not so much. It’s magical.

ocean1

So, how does this magic all come together? The felt scenes stick to the wall with a few command strips (included). The easy-to-move felt pieces stick right to the felt wall. The pieces are so easy for toddlers to play with, and it’s amazing to see them use their crazy wild imaginations. I love watching my babies re-arrange their underwater world over and over.

SPECIAL!! If you use code ‘penguin’ you’ll get 5% off AND a free felt penguin to swim through your ocean!

Promo code valid through Feb 29, 2016.

January 23, 2016 0

The 3 cutest monsters you’ll see today. Fun kid craft.

Some days I make time to do fun things with my babies. Today was one of those days.

monsterwall1

We made monsters!! And they’re super versatile. Did you know that felt sticks to felt! And it’s the perfect hold for toddlers to move all the legs and arms and eyes around to build wonderful creations! I LOVE watching my babies and their imaginations. We’ve come up with some pretty fun guys.
Continue reading “The 3 cutest monsters you’ll see today. Fun kid craft.” →

December 13, 2015 1