Easy Pillow Craft

Have you ever seen something that just immediately brought a friend’s name to mind?  A while back I saw this awesome pillow at House of Fifty and LAUGHED OUT LOUD.

It had my friend Susan’s name ALL. over it.  You think so too, don’t  you?

So, I set about deciding how I was going to make my own version.  Mini Manor Blog did a great tutorial on envelope pillow covers here.  You can check that out to see how to make your own.  It’s okay, I’ll wait……*hmmm de dumm*…you back?  Told you it was a good tute.

Sooo, back to my DIY version of the House of Fifty Magazine pillow.  Because I don’t have a silhoutte, and can’t seem to win one on anyone’s giveaway I just did things the old fashioned way.  I chose a font I liked in Word and printed out the phrase on regular old paper.  **Get ready for some fabulous photography, folks!**

Then I got out my little projector

ran around the house looking for things to prop the pillow on and put the paper under the projector.  Once my pillow was propped up in front of the projector, I just used a Sharpie and traced the outline of the letters.

**Note:  Be careful doing this.  The pillow will squish down if you press too hard with the Sharpie and then some letters may or may not be a little thicker than you planned.  And you will find  yourself quoting from your pillow.  🙂
Once you’ve traced everything, just fill it in carefully & you’re done!

I used canvas for the pillow cover and just a fine tip Sharpie to write.  Mine’s smaller & more “home made” looking, but Susan liked it & that’s what matters.  If you ever meet her,  you will just KNOW this had to be hers!

What fun, easy things have you made lately?

 

Linked up to the party at Sew Many Ways! 

Organizing Kids’ Chores

It’s FRIIIIDAAAYYY!  Woo Hoo!  Hope your week went well!

Yesterday, after I mowed our 1/2 acre backyard (with the push mower), I sat down to scroll through some of my favorite blogs until I could breathe again.  IHeart Organizing, of course, was the first one I visited.  Courtney from A Thoughtful Place was guest posting and talking about organizing kids’ chores, which inspired me to share how we handle chores.  I touched on my new system here.  You can check that out to see how I made the cards.

We went through a LOT of attempts to organize our chores.  A lot.  Honestly, as your children grow, so will their responsibilities, which means changes to how you handle that.  We used craft sticks in a flower pot when they were younger.  They would pick out a craft stick, go do the chore, and come back for another craft stick.  These chores were things like “put books on shelf” and “make bed”, “put away stuffed animals”.  That worked for a brief time, then I went to cards, then I went to spreadsheets.  I just love spreadsheets.  Now we have chore cards that look like this:

Those are their daily chores.  At the end of the day, they pass their card to the next sister.  So each week they end up doing the same chores on Monday & Thursday, Tuesday & Friday, and Wednesday & Saturday.  We don’t do chores on Sunday.

They also have a weekly chore card that looks pretty much the same:

These also rotate so they aren’t doing the exact same thing every week.  I have a large dry-erase calendar on the kitchen wall with each week labeled “A”, “B”, or “C”. It was hard to get a good picture….

The letters are written in dry-erase marker to the left of each week.   You could add or subtract letters depending on the number of children you have.   I also use this calendar to keep track of who sits in the front seat each day, who is responsible for feeding the dog, etc.  Calendars & spreadsheets eliminate a LOT of squabbles around this house!

So, how do YOU keep track of your children’s responsibilities?  I’m always looking for new ideas!

 

Growing Girls & Chore Cards

I thought about titling this “Growing Up Girls”, but then the English teachers of the world would cringe.  “Growing Girls” fits just as well.  My girls ARE growing.  And it’s hard – on me at least.

This week, I taught one how to use a drill and hang a curtain rod.  We discussed the need for sheet rock anchors and how to insert them properly.

She also learned how to remove a wire shelf & fill in the holes that sheet rock anchors leave when you remove them.  Next she’ll learn how to install adjustable shelving in her closet.  And the whole time, I will be wondering how that grown girl above could possibly be the same sweetie below:

My girls are growing up SO fast!

The other two learned how to sort laundry and load/run the washing machine and dryer.  (They have less interest in tools.)  I also gave all 3 of them new “big girl” chore cards.  To say they were excited about the new cards would be……wrong.  Especially when they saw “scoop poop”.  🙂  But, the dog has to go somewhere & although we have a HUGE yard, I don’t really want to risk stepping in his business.

The cards are laminated so they can check off their chores, then wipe the card clean and pass it to the next sister at the end of the day.  Chores rotate just like days to sit in the front seat of the van and days to be first in the shower.  I declare my life is RUN by spreadsheets!  But, hey, if it helps me keep my hair a little longer I’m all for it!

Here is what their cards look like:

I couldn’t edit that pic to save my hide!  Hopefully it is clear enough.  I just typed up their chore rotation & printed to fit in one of these:

Then you just cut it out, lay it on the non-sticky side of the pouch and put the sticky side down on top.  Easy, peasy!

I would like to note that “Bible/Prayer Time” is on their card.  Every time.  Is it because that’s a chore?  No.  Is it because they need to check that off to be saved?  No.  All 3 of my girls have chosen to follow Christ.  (Hallelujah!)  Having “Bible/Prayer Time” on their card is a gentle reminder that following Christ is an every day thing.  Not a once-and-done thing.  And you can’t follow the Leader if you don’t know where He is going, am I right?  The only way to know where He is leading is to read/study and pray.  Every day.  I wish someone had made that clearer to me when I was younger.  It would have saved me a LOT of heartache and mistakes.  If you have questions about that, I will be more than happy to try to answer them.  You can put them in a comment, or email them to doandredoblog@gmail.com.

So, anyway, that’s part of what I’ve been doing.  There are also some pantry organizing projects and little painting things here & there, including part of the kitchen cabinets.  Hopefully I’ll have the fan painting project done & posted tomorrow.  (By the way, most of my organizing projects are fueled by iHeart Organizing.  You should check her blog out if you like organizing.)

Weekend Recap

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  We got a few things done around here & actually RESTED on Sunday.  Yep, we did.  But on SATURDAY, we did not really rest.  I did laundry, laundry & some more laundry.  I also made some happy surprises.  Remember my flea market finds?  Well, I washed & wiped everything down AND discovered that the linen, king-size duvet cover is from POTTERY BARN!  And I got it for less than $7!!  YEEEESSS!  Um, I was a little excited.  Anywhoo, the sweet little embroidered pillowcases are hand made and have a cute little overlap that hides the end of the pillow.  How great is that!?

After ironing for HOURS on Saturday, I wiped down my metal baskets & put them to work.  Here they are in their new homes:

Kind of a fuzzy pic, but the larger basket is perfect for holding my favorite magazines and planning binder.

My little basket holds extra t.p. for the 1/2 bath.  It needed some steel wool TLC and then I sprayed a clear sealant on it.  Not sure if I should have, but we’ll see what happens.  Once we put up some shelves, it will sit on a shelf alongside my favorite little sign.  I like having it there as a gentle reminder that I am NOT the only one capable of changing out the rolls of toilet paper.  The little sign came from a store in Birmingham called Swoozie’s.

Hubby built 3 new drawers that will go in the kitchen eventually.  Our bottom cabinets are just funky & these drawers will really help maximize use of the space. Here’s how they look for now, without the fronts:

He’s just so great!  They will be painted & have fronts put on them eventually.

I went to Target on Saturday as well.  They had these cute chair cushions marked down to $5!  They are perfect for these old chairs that will go in the kids’ treehouse.

Yes, I know the chairs need to be painted.  Did I mention they were headed to the kids’ treehouse??

There’s more to tell, but this is getting lengthy & I don’t want to bore you tire your eyes!  Have a fabulous day & come back real soon!  I’ll leave you with a pic of my oh-so-helpful assistant……

Kitchen Progress

I actually found pics of our kitchen showing how it looked when we bought the house in 2006!  Yay!  Because otherwise you may not have believed this:

YES!  Now THAT is some 1986 country blue AWESOMENESS!  Did you notice the cute little shelf brackets with hearts carved in them?  Ummmhmm.

SO! The shelf came down.  The wallpaper, however, was another story.  You see, these people did not believe in priming the walls prior to putting up wallpaper.  EVER.  And they LOVED wallpaper in EVERY room.  So if the wallpaper came down, so would half the sheetrock.  Yeah.  So we primed over the TEXTURED lovely little flowers after we removed the double chair rail, & painted it yellow.  So, then it looked like this:  (couldn’t find an “after” shot w/o someone in it!)

Then, several years later, I spotted a quote in Hobby Lobby that I loved.  “A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen.  This kitchen is delirious!”  Had to have it.  So I came home, wrote it free-hand above the cabinets, went over it with black acrylic paint and ended up with this:

For some reason, everyone thought “delirious” was “delicious”.  I dunno.  Doesn’t matter though, because that is gone now.  We decided to take the cabinets all the way to the ceiling.  Low & behold, they were already framed out that way!  The builder had just covered over the top part with plywood (and wallpaper…).  So, hubby spent one morning tearing that down & it looked like this:

Also, you may have noticed that the peninsula is gone & the dishwasher is in a more normal spot.  We no longer have to be Stretch Armstrong to reach the upper cabinets or sink when the dishwasher is open.  Woo hoo!  I’ll put all that fun in another post, as well as more current progress.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Birdhouse Redo

Happy 4th to everyone!  Sorry I don’t have any fun, patriotic things to show you today.  BUT, I do have the completed birdhouse redo!  (I’m sure your day wouldn’t have been complete without it!)  🙂

Here is the “before”:  (Well the ‘almost before’ since I had already removed the glass knob..)

I LOVED this birdhouse as it was, but it was just too dark for the redone den.  So, I decided to lighten it up a bit.

Hmmm..the roof wasn’t quite right, so I sanded it a bit to  uncover some of the original brown.  Then it was too brown.  So, I ran up to the craft room & grabbed some gray acrylic paint and rubbed it on with a paper towel.  Here is how it looks now:

Not much difference, really, just more gray than brown on the roof.  I think I like it….we’ll see.

Note to self:  Do not sand & paint while wearing a little black dress.  Even when you wear latex gloves.  Because when you remove the latex gloves, you tend to wipe your hands on whatever you are wearing.

Anyway, here’s how the lightened up birdhouse looks in it’s home:

Yeah, the mantle is pretty bare.  To me, more stuff just means more to dust.  And I don’t like to dust.

Have a wonderful holiday!  We’re working on the kitchen redo today.  I painted several of the soon-to-be-gone cabinet doors in an effort to decide on the future cabinet color.  What do you think?

Mommy Time & Thrifting Finds

How was your weekend?  Hope you were able to find some respite from this infernal heat!  Being the intelligent person that I am, I chose to actually be IN the heat most of Saturday.  Crazy. I know.

My sweet hubby gave me this past weekend off.  I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do.  I could go out of town, or stay in town.  I could shop, nap, thrift, eat out, whatever.  He held down the fort & took over the kids.  Yeah, I think I’ll keep him.  🙂 So, I hit my first outdoor flea market on Saturday morning in Collinsville, AL & sported a wasp sting within 5 minutes of arriving.  Are wasps like a required feature at these things, because they were EVERYWHERE!  Thankfully, I’m not allergic, so I just kept going.   There were SO many people & the vendors were crazy varied!  Something for everyone for sure.  I was pretty excited to round a corner & find these lovelies waiting for purchase:

The small one was only $5 and the large one was $20.  Later that afternoon, I saw one almost identical to the small one at a consignment store.  It was priced at $24.  Can you believe it?!

I then drove to the Birmingham area to check out some thrift stores and our Habitat Restore.

I found these pretty pillowcases for $1 each at the Lovelady Thrift Store.  Love them!

This cutwork sham was only $.75!  I’m a cutwork, battenburg lace nut, so I HAD to have it!

I was also on the hunt for a baker’s rack to put on our covered deck.  For months, I have looked for one to no avail.  Saturday I came across no less than 6 while thrifting.  Can you believe the prices they ask for these things??  They ranged from $75 to $250.  WHAT?!  Then I found this at our America’s Thrift Store –

$50.  Yep.  I snagged that one in a hurry for sure! While there I also came across this linen, king size duvet cover for $7, blue striped valance for $2, and damask shower curtain with trim for $5.

It turned out to be a great thrifting weekend & some great Mommy Time (or Time Off!)!

Sunday was truly a day of rest – after I got up at 4:45am and drove to another outdoor flea market.  More wasps and LOTS of BRAS?!  Bras??  At a flea market??  Crazy.  So, I spent about 30 minutes there, filled up with gas & was home in time for worship service.  Then I took a nap.  Wow.  Haven’t had one of those in a while!

I’m linking up to Rhoda’s party! (And hopefully the button will work, so you can hop over there & do the same!)

Stripes!

Yeah, I’m a little late jumping on the striped wall bandwagon.  Better late than never, huh?  I’ve seen all the striped walls floating around blogland, but for some reason they just weren’t working for me.  Until House of Smiths did this..

Yeeaaahhh….all the sudden I HAD to have a striped wall in my house.  So I did this…..

Not the same caliber of work, (painting or photography) I know.  But I did it!  And it was a ROYAL pain!  For real.  I’m cured of needing stripes.  Possibly forever……except maybe on curtains….ANYWAY….  Yes, I know the stripes do not go all the way to the floor.  This is due to a VERY valuable lesson I learned.  When painting stripes on a potty wall, be sure to first measure the distance between the potty & the wall.  If said distance is LESS than the width of your boo-hiney, DON’T DO IT.  The logistics just don’t work. Trust me on this one friends.  No, there are no pics of the fun.

There will be shelves & baskets added.  If the lack of stripes on the bottom portion still bothers me REALLY badly, I’ll remove the potty tank & see if I can get those stripes done.  But, I’m telling you it will have to be a HUGE need.

House of Smiths gives a GREAT tutorial on the striped wall here.  Honey, when she says its “boring and monotonous” she is not lying!  You will.lose.your.everloving.mind penciling all those stripes.  And then taping them.  When my youngest walked in & saw the all the green Frog Tape on the wall, she said “Wow!  I kinda like those green stripes!”  I seriously considered just leaving it like that & walking away.  For real.  It was THAT bad.  But, now I like it & am glad I stuck it out.  So, let’s check out the Before & After shall we?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Do One Thing

I don’t know about you, but we have a “To Do” list about a 1/2 mile long.  And then there’s the “Honey Do” list that’s even longer.  There’s also a daily “to do” list.  You get the idea.  We are overloaded with lists (and projects) around here. 

One day my hubby came to me and announced that he would start coming home and doing one thing off his list every day.  One thing.  Why was that so profound?  Why did we not think of that 6 years ago when we moved into this fixer upper, 1986 monstrosity with country blue wallpaper and 3 colors of carpet?  Oh, we tackled projects.  Big ones.  But then we got tired.  And overwhelmed.  So, we stopped.  It was easier to watch tv or play Mexican Train on the Nook than look at ALL those stinkin’ lists!

Since that day a couple of weeks ago, the hubby has faithfully started marking off items on the list.  Some big.  Some smaller.  But each day (except Sunday) one thing comes off the list.  I have jumped on the “One Thing” wagon as well.  Since a heel spur & plantar fasciitis (?) have stopped my morning walks for now, I get up & work in the yard.  It’s cooler at 6:30 am here in the land of “fry your eggs on the sidewalk” heat.  I water the hydrangeas and do one other thing – mulch a flower bed, fill in holes the dog dug, etc.

So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your lists, just take it one thing at a time.  You can do it!  The Mexican Train ain’t going anywhere sister.  It’ll be there when you get done.

Weekend Recap and Project Ideas

Morning!  I hope every.single.one.of you had a GREAT weekend!  We did!  My girls spent Friday plotting deciding they wanted to change their rooms.  The ring leader eldest is an aspiring interior decorator and has a severe case of finickyness.  If that’s not a word, it should be.  She changes her mind & design often.  Kind of like me…  ANYway, it led to some fun conversations and work for me.  Yay.

Fair warning – this will be an iPhone photo intensive post.  Sorry, but that’s how I roll right now.  There are a few “regular” camera shots as well, but with my amazing photography skills, you won’t be able to tell the difference.  🙂

Saturday morning was spent taking down curtains, changing out the hardware, and swapping curtains around in the girls’ rooms.  The kids’ have decided on a “Morroccan” theme for their den.  Don’t think they (or I) know what that means, but we’ll try it.  Sooo, the kid den got a set of curtains that were in our regular den several years ago.

Hard to tell, but they are burgandy with a gold design on them.

The youngest, who has the Castle Room now, wanted one set of gold curtains shortened.  I did this by running a tension rod through the bottom of the curtain & hanging the bottom tension rod under the top tension rod.

She also wanted the other set of gold curtains, that had previously been in the Castle Room, rehung.  So, I did.  But this time I did use sturdier hardware than a tension rod.  These are actually hung on a shelf rod with brackets made to go on the inside of a closet system.

My eldest thought she wanted a “Morroccan” theme as well, but has now decided on “African”.  You know, cause it’s been a day since I hung the other set of den curtains in her room…. No after pic of that, but they are same as the set in Kids’ Den.

I also decided one of my decorative birdhouses needed to “lighten up” this weekend. 

I love this birdhouse.  It actually has a little glass knob that goes just below the ‘entrance’.  It is made of reclaimed barn wood & I’ve had it for about 15 years.  Literally.

I’ll give you the ‘after’ and a ‘redo’ (yeah, already) later this week. We also have the new light for the kids den & I’ll (hopefully) get some kitchen pics up too this week.  But for now I have to drop kids at sewing lessons & head to a lunch meeting to work on some improvements to our Special Needs Ministry.  Soo excited!

Here’s a pic of my cute assistant as a reward for looking at all my REALLY bad photography!

Can you stand the cuteness!?!  Seriously, I have no idea how I get anything done with this much help! 😉

Happy Monday!