Travel jars

These are simply jars with little bits from different places we have been. Close or far from home. My jars are from Michael's, 3 of the 4 sides are plain.

This one is from Fernandina Beach, FL.

Bald Mountain State Park, MI.

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island GA.

They currently live on the shelves in our dining room. They have changed a bit since we first moved, so I snapped a quick picture. Here they are right now. Yes someday I will put a picture in that frame.

I do still have a few bags of goodies from the past year that are in need of jars.

refrigerator pickles

Ingredients
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 cups white sugar
3 cups sliced cucumbers
1/2 cup sliced onions

Scrub cucumbers and slice 1/8" thick. Slice onion. Mix onion and cucumber together in a large bowl.

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil. Boil until the sugar has dissolved, about 10 minutes




Pour mixture over cucumbers and onions. Transfer to mason jars and store in refrigerator.

Wool dryer balls

These wool dryer balls are easy to make and a great alternative to fabric softener. They take just a little wet felting to make and last quite a while. You just need 100% wool yarn, panty hose, a washer and a dryer. Start by wrapping the yarn as tight as you can till your yarn ball is the size of a plum. Once you have done this for as many dryer balls as you want, ( I use about 6 in a load at a time) slide them into the panty hose and tie them tightly between each ball. Wash and dry them in HOT water. When they are dry remove them from the panty hose and wrap another layer of yarn on them. This time till they are the size of a tennis ball. Remember that when you felt it it is going to shrink a bit. Then re wrap them in the hose and wash and dry them again.

Easter eggs

This year I decided to forgo traditional egg dying for something that would last a little longer. I have started to grow my collections of holiday decor now that we have a little one to decorate for. Since Brooklyn is so small she wouldn't miss out on dying eggs anyways.

I blew out the eggs and went to town with colored sharpies. I also decided to make a few into ornaments. I just took a piece of thin twine and strung it threw the egg with a button on the top and bottom to hide the holes.

How to make fabric garland

Supplies:

1/8 yard fabric

2 1/2 yards twill tape

pins

thread

sewing machine

pinking shears

First choose your fabric.

Cut 3" by 4" rectangles with pinking shears.

Space your rectangles on a your piece of twill tape 3"-4" apart. Mine are spaced every 3". Pin them in place.

Take your garland over to the sewing machine and top stitch your rectangles to the twill tape. Just sew the entire length of the twill tape, there is no need to stop and start sewing on each piece of fabric. I also sewed loops at each end of my garland so I could just loop it over the ends of my curtain rod to hang it.

Hang garland and enjoy.


This is a fun and easy way to decorate for a holiday or everyday. You can also add letters to create message banners as well.

Decorating for Easter

Little bits for Easter around our house.....

My Grandma's vintage milk glass makes a perfect little candy dish.

Chicks.



The garland was a quick DIY project that I tackled last week, stop by tomorrow for a tutorial on it.


Here are the bunny finger puppets that I made last year. Go here for instructions.


Last but not least is a carrot dish that I picked up at Salvation Army a couple of years ago. I used it for remotes and a catch all on the coffee table, it would be a great candy dish too. However I don't need that much candy around the house right now. It can all stay hidden in the cabinet....

It's a GIRL!

Projects for baby: part 2

We painted the room an apple green. Then I went back with a projector and projected the image of these leaves on the wall and painted them. They turned out great, it took 2 coats of paint but it was well worth the time it took.

I also sewed the curtains for the room. I hate how much curtains cost. Also baby room curtains are too kid for me. I wanted something neutral that could stay in the room for a long time as the kid grows or the room becomes something else.

The valence is made of a brown ticking stripe and the drape/sheers are made of a natural colored muslin.

I searched for a very long time for a small book shelf for the room that didn't have sharp edges or that was too big. I knew I was going to have to make something I just didn't know what it was for a long time. I finally settled on baskets. I had one and only had to buy 3 more. I just zip tied them together on the inside and back in a couple of places and it is more than sturdy enough to hold books and toys.

It's also great that it is completely reversible when it is no longer needed as a book shelf.

(after)

Projects for baby: part 1

I found this side board at Salvation Army, it just needed a good cleaning and some new knobs. The top was also badly scratched and some of the finish was missing. So I decided to paint the top black.

(before)

(before)



(after)

(after)

I already had this cute bird lamp that would go perfectly in the baby's jungle room but the shade was damaged when we moved to Florida. So I had to find a new one...

(before)


A little ribbon and hot glue transform the plain shade to a fun colorful shade.

(after)

(after)



There are still more projects for baby to come....

House tour: Baby room

Since I am official one month away from my due date we will start the house tour with the baby's room.

The baby's room is by far the smallest room in our home. It was a challenge to get everything in there that we needed and wanted. We do not know what we are having so we went with a neutral jungle feel. I think even if we knew what we were having it would have turned out just the same. I love this room.

In the next couple of days I will go over some of the projects that we did for this room and baby. There are a few in there, the lamp shade, the walls, the mobile, some of the art, and the book case. I think that's all....

Homemade laundry soap

Making your own laundry soap is really easy. You will only need 3 ingredients.

Washing soda

Borax

Fel-naptha bar soap

The ratio is 1 cup grated soap, 1/2 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup borax.

Grate the soap.

Then mix everything together.

I have found that 5 bars of soap and a box of each borax and washing soda make a batch of laundry soap. It makes almost 2 gallons of dry soap.

Use a tablespoon per load of laundry. Great for front loading washers. Its also dye and fragrance free. Which is great for me since Ben is allergic to something in most laundry detergents.

Back for a bit....

Sorry I have been gone for so long..... No excuses but, we bought a house and are having a baby! So we have been a bit busy to say the least. I will be back soon with some house pictures and baby projects. I probably will be in and out for a while since the baby is due at the end of February and that will consume all of my time.