Bottoms up!

Throughout the school year my children love to drink capri sun in their lunches. I started taking advantage of this since they are such an inexpensive drink and the packaging can be upcylcled. I began having them save the pouches, telling them to just stick them back in their lunch boxes instead of throwing them away. They were very faithful in doing this until I had so many of them I got tired of having my sink full and working around them. Last year I went ahead and made this lunch bag I found the instructions to after google searching:

              My son started taking this to school at the beginning of the year when his lunch box began to wear out (cheap thing!) and I couldn't BELIEVE the rave. Sincerely! You'de thought I'de done something extraordinary with the responses we got. He later told me that kids thought he wasn't telling the truth when they asked him where he got it and he told them his mom made it. He mentioned this while I was sewing the teacher's end of the school year thank you gifts. {Unfortunately I didn't remember to take a picture of them-oops} It was around 11p.m. the night before the last day of school & the boys were also putting together stretchy bracelets to wrap as a gift inside the bag. I was tired, what can I say? But here is a picture of the one we got the idea for the tote bags from from:

      ( You can find this tote bag here.)

This is what ours looked like. The teachers LOVED them. After sewing the lunch bag, I no longer need a tutorial. Just looking at a sample gives you the idea...my kind of project!  So then I had enough leftover pouches to make a summer bag for our family. I have already used this summer bummin' bag for pool accessories, picnic bbq and park days. SO easy to clean. When it gets dirty or sticky, just spray it down!

I was so amazed at how easy the pouches are to work with. What I love, is that they are like working with a precut project all ready for you to stitch together. To prep, you just cut open the bottom with an exacto knife (or whatever is handy), load them in the dishwasher and let dry.

I got creative with mine and added a pocket leaving the pouches of the pocket open to create smaller pockets for spare change and jewelry (you never know): 

The best part, is that the kiddos like totin' it around! {WOO HOO!}

 Does this make you want to make a capri sun rain jacket? Sincerely. It's been done. My son now wants one.

  Bottoms Up!

                                                                           XoXo,

 

Rise and Shine Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are SO good, I just had to share the recipe for those of you who have been around pickin' blueberries already this summer and want a great & tasty breakfast to use them in. I was surprised by the outcome of the batter since it was a lot thicker than I'm accustomed to, and thought I'd missed an ingredient somehow. Not so, expect this batter to be thick. I have actually come to prefer it now since it's so easy to work with.

           {Photo by:  www.allrecipes.com}

Streusal Top Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 C flour
3/4 C sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C veg. oil
1 egg
1/3 C milk or cream
1 C fresh blueberries
Mix together all ingredients except the blueberries. Fold in blueberries (do NOT over-mix). Fill muffin tins with rounded scoop.
*streusal topping:
1/2 C brown sugar
1/3 C flour
1/4 C butter, cut into cubes
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
mix all ing. except the butter. Cut in cubed butter (like you would pastry dough). Sprinkle generously over muffins. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 min.

Try not to eat the whole pan yourself! My family likes this served with scrambled eggs made with amercan cheese and sprinkle of black pepper.  Yummmm!

Dressing it up

This lamp sits in the children's nursery. It's been such a great lamp and we've had it for at least 3 years. I love it because it's a dimmer switch lamp, so I can adjust it according to our lighting needs whether it be for reading, playing, or a night light. It's very practical, but has lots of possibilities...

I'm going through a SLOW process of  "redecorating"  the nursery {not that it was ever truly decorated} and keep my eye out (while running errands) for anything that will fit the needs of what I'm going for in there {whatever that is}. It will eventually be for the two girls, but as for now, it is a boy/girl nursery. So here this lamp sits. Being useful.

Then, while looking for a pan at TJ Maxx Home, I fell upon this:

Being the flower/ruffle/light and airy look woman that I am, I fell in love! Immediately I  KNEW what lamp I needed to apply this technique to. So that night I got busy making these:

I used the only white and airy fabrics I had on hand. It was the perfect night to do a project with my honey out of town and the kids all in bed while watching Sense and Sensability {for the umpteenth time}.  So the next day I started hot glueing, and couldn't remember what that shade looked like. So I drug all my little people back to TJ's and took a pic for details:

And resisted to buy this lamp yet again. Heaven knows we have enough lamps in our house! Then I went home and glued some more. I had just the right amount of

fluffy circles to do this:

 I was afraid it would look funny since it was on a more inverted lampshade. But I am pleased with the results. Especially at night:

It almost makes me wish I'd done the whole thing in tone on tone print!

Aren't they Fun?!

Can't wait to work on the rest of the nursery because while I was in the check-out line at Maxx's-These fun knobs caught my eye for that dresser re-do.

 (More on that later)

Baby to Potter

I'm so excited to share this project with you I could just BURST!! I have been wanting a potting bench for many years, but had no reason for one since we had too many trees and shade to have a garden. This last February we had an extraordinary amount of love shown for us as 4 men came to our house every day for 5 days while my husband was out of town.

They said they wanted to surprise him by taking out two trees he had asked to borrow a chainsaw to cut down. We'de been wanting to cut these trees down for 5 years running to allow for this much desired vegetable garden that we now have!

         Now that it's done and here, I have been able to rekindle a long time dormant gardening passion. 

During much organization and dejunking, our last baby turned one. I realized I was ready to get rid of a lot of baby things, some of which included a stroller/car seat combo, baby swing, front pack and changing table. As I worked in the garage doing the organizing thing and kept passing and piling things on top of this old changing table that I've changed many a million diapers on...

                        I decided it could really work as a recycle project. So I put it in the back yard. 

Then I saw these old fence posts we've had around here for quite some time and...

thought about these hooks I bought on clearance like a gazillion years ago and always wanted to use, but never could find the perfect place to hang...

and the wheels in my mind were on high speed until I could've burst!

So I got to work and started with the "hutch"...

  I was loving the rustic look it was taking on, but wasn't satisfied because it still looked like...
                                                              a changing table.
                                                                  (whine, mumble, wimper)

                                                                                Then, after much swinging and thinking...

I took a break and waited a day or two and...

Painted

                                Every- last- spindle! {This is why they developed sprayers. In ALL sincerity!!}

It was painful. But worth it. After an hour of errands and kids, I went to town nailing, and hacking, chopping and piecing until I

came up with this:

And I LOVE IT!

 Every.

Last.

 inch.

 Much more than I ever liked it as a changing table.

Happy Gardening!!

XoXo,

 

Father's Day gifts

Since the Father in this house knows what he wants and doesn't usually end up using the gifts we purchase for him, we have decided that the unfailing gift is MONEY. I also like to give this better than a gift card since it can be spent whenever, wherever, however. So...to make this gift fun and special, we decided to make an oragami shirt and tie. I have a son that is HUGE into oragami. He can make AMAZING things...Someday we'll have to share some of them. But what made me think of the shirt and tie was a card my mother gave each of my boys one year for their birthdays. It was five $1 bills that she made into a card sized shirt and tie. The one I made is smaller, and just requires one bill of choice. No tape.

                            This is how ours turned out. It literally took me 10min. or less to whip up!

                                         You can watch the "how to video" here to make your own.
I've been poking around and found some other pretty great ideas. Here are just a few of my favorites:

                        This stamped washer keychain is right up my alley by Polly @ helping little hands

*You can find the tutorial and go to the websites by clicking on the pictures.*

Or what about this idea by Michele at the Scrap Shoppe?

           

                                                                Isn't it clever?!

                                     This was a great twist from Tina at Twinkle Toes:

               

                           And don't they always say "the best way to a man's heart is through his stomache"?

                                      How about this great idea from Christine at Pure Joy Events:

                                              

Or this for the happy Dad campers by Cris at Crissy's Craft:

                        

                                                                           WAY Cute!!

   It's always fun to see what creative things the kids come up with. Handprints, like this canvas at a bird and a bean, are always a great idea: 

 

                              I love a good project that can look amazing in a short period of time.

Hope these ideas got your creative juices flowing and that you give the BEST gift for the Father's in your life!
                                                                       XoXo,

And, Hey---I'm linking up to these parties: