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Friday, July 29, 2011

Daughter and Son Room Reveal















Howdy! Here it is, my sweet daughter and darling baby boy's bedroom!

































My amazing mom made all of the bedding! Bed skirt and all! She is so talented and she is my MOM! I am just in love with how it turned out!
I will be adding more pillows. As for a head board... well this works for now.
For the blank wall I have a few ideas or it just may remain bare. Still deciding on that one.




 Horse Sheets just complete the look for my horse loving daughter! Notice the Ric Rac on the curtains? Love the added touch it brings to the room.
 Welcome home pictures from my youngest daughters to their baby brother! So sweet!










My God fearing husband is the Senior Pastor of our church. After having our son, I was unable to attend church one Sunday morning. My older daughters went to church with daddy. As daddy was preaching my daughter drew this portrait of him. She said, "this is what you look like on the inside daddy!" She was so proud of how fun her daddy is! Now her picture is displayed on her very own memo board in her new room!
 A boy girl room made with LOVE! You can check out my other posts about this room here.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Homemade Coke Icee

 Okay so this refreshing summer treat does not fall under the healthy category but it most definitely is fun! I am not one who gives my kids caffeine, but every once in awhile there is an exception. This is one of them. A Coke Icee at home?!? Love it!
 What you need:
  • A liter bottle of Soda of your choice, just can't be diet.. The artificial sweeteners will not freeze right. Or 4 cans of soda since all you need is 48oz.
  • An Ice Cream maker like the one pictured here. The bowl is frozen so that is what freezes the soda.
  • I added Grenadine to turn our Coke Icee into a cherry Coke Ice. Note: I did not use all the missing Grenadine from this bottle. You don't need a ton. The Coke I did use all but what is remaining.
  • Maraschino Cherries for fun

 Fun straw cups for the very excited consumers!

 A more grown up glass for the kids  adults enjoying this treat.
Add a cherry and a straw and slurp away!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Built In Desk Makeover

I have a built in desk in my family room right off the kitchen. It has been a source of frustration for me for awhile now. It seems to not only be a bit of an eyesore but a clutter catcher as well. Since ripping it out was not an option I had to get creative. What could I do that would take away my extreme dislike for this area is what I began to ask myself. Well... here is what I came up with for now. I do have to say the dislike has disappeared! Amazing what a little paint and some creative touches can do to transform frustration into a feeling of satisfaction.



















One of the things I really did not like was the open cubbies. My sweet husband uses this desk as well. Though I don't think he has ever sat at it, he does "store" stuff here. So I knew the cubbies were one area I needed to tackle. The paint color matches the accent wall in my family room as well as the bit of green I have in the kitchen. The cubby curtain matches my kitchen window valance that you can see here, as well as pillows I made for my couch. The top wall above the cabinets I am still deciding if and what I will do up there. 

The memo board... can you keep a secret? It is a plastic bin lid that I turned into a memo board. Remember the plastic bins I made into drawers in my daughter's room? You can see them here. Well the lids were just sitting with out purpose. Purposeless no longer! The fabric matches pillows I made for my family room couch.






For the letter bin I used Word once again to create what I wanted inside the frames.








The toile back ground in the above picture was copied from a wall paper sample I found on the Internet. I just Googled toile and found different options. I then pasted it into Word and added the text I wanted.
For the roosters I also used the Internet and Word. I found the rooster prints I liked, copied them and pasted them. Each rooster is an individual print that I just stacked one on top of the other. The background I used for the roosters is the same one I used for my letter bin.
The frames for the pictures also found themselves made over with paint. gotta love black paint!




































For the curtain here is what I did. I measured the fabric to the size I would need. I then pinned the edges and sewed them. To create the ruffle, as I was sewing the top I folded the fabric, reversing the fold each time. For example if I folded to the left the next one I folded to the right and so on. I used a zig zag stitch with silver thread. To attach the curtain I used double stick Velcro.


The folder cover is a background you can choose for a blog. I copied and pasted it into word and then added the words I wanted. The folder is a great solution for me and all my random ideas I come up with. It helps me keep my thoughts of what I would like to do around my home organized. I have each room or area in my house broken down and divided with dividers. Each section has a plastic insert where I can slide magazine clippings in of things that inspire me.






So there we have it! Simple touches that have taken my frustration away! Total cost for me to transform this desk area... my time and that is all.
May I encourage you, if you have an area around your house causing you frustration. Look around and see what you could do to improve upon it with what you already have. 


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

4th of July Shirts and Headbands

Fourth of July is one of my favorite Holidays! I love spending the day with friends and family anticipating night fall bringing on fire works! This year I decided to add an extra touch of fun and make shirts and headbands for my kids. True to who I am on July 3rd I gathered everything I would need to create these fun shirts. That would explain why this post is past the 4th of July. But hey you can now  be way ahead of the game for next year!









I decided to make my supply shopping spree a one stop spot. So I headed to Walmart where I knew I could find inexpensive shirts for each of my kids. I originally thought I would use fabric to make the flags, but my Walmart did not have fabric that I liked, so I decided on ribbon. 













I cut my ribbon for the flag 4 1/2 inches long. The ribbon is 1 1/2 inches wide. I used two ribbons. Making the flag 4 1/2" X 3".

For the "stars" I used two 7/8" ribbon that were just about 2" long.
I first pinned everything to the shirt and then got wise. I  sewed the two flag ribbons together and the two star ribbons together. I then pined the flag to the shirt and the star ribbon to the flag. I then used a zig zag stich in white thread and sewed all the way around the flag. I then sewed the remaining edges of the stars to the flag.






This shirt is before I got "wise" and sewed each ribbon on individually. May I highly recommend not doing it this way!















For the baseball flag shirt it took 3 7/8" pieces of ribbon. Each 4" long. The "stars" are the same as before.

First sew the baseball ribbons together and then sew the  "star" ribbon together. Pin the baseball ribbon flag to the shirt and the "star" ribbon to the flag. Again using a zig zag stitch with white thread.



































  If you notice I also reversed the order of the ribbon for the flags. My oldest daughter has polka dots on top and then the next daughter (by age) has stripes on top and so on. For the headbands, I used ones I already had that had seen better days, but you could purchase new ones. All I did was hot glue the ribbon on. For the smaller head band I used the 7/8" ribbon and for the larger ones I used the 1 1/2" ribbon.
Hope you had a happy 4th! We sure did!