Stars and Stripes Skirt

Since Memorial Day is coming up this weekend and Independence Day shortly after that, I wanted to whip up something patriotic for Caitlin to wear. I had some sort of stars and stripes patchwork skirt in mind. So I went to JoAnn's to see what fabric they had. Nothing really stood out to me for what I had pictured in my head. But I did find this stars and stripes fabric and loved it, so decided to can the patchwork idea.

I also had it in mind to do a tutorial. But since this thing went from patchwork skirt, to elastic waist-banded twirly skirt, to box pleats and a zipper, I really can't remember what I did to get the final product. This was the first time I installed a zipper and let's just say I finally got it in. :) Let's hope it stays at least through the July 4th.

 

Saving Time in the Kitchen

Just in case you missed my first contributor post over at The Cheap and Choosy, I'm re-posting it here today.

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Saving Time in the Kitchen.

A while back, I realized that I needed to spend more time being Mom and less time focusing on the household things that need to be done. So, I'm doing my best to find ways to save time in those arenas. I mean let's face it. Being mom is the best, but there are other responsibilities too. I'm just choosing to give less time to those other responsibilities and in so doing needing to be more efficient with the time I have.

So my first task is to save time in food preparation because typically I spend SO MUCH time there.

Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Menu Planning: One Month At A Time
I've been menu planning for a long time now. But I was only doing it for a week at a time. And it was really putting me in a stale-mate on what to cook. I became much less creative and found myself planning many of the same meals week after week. Even spaghetti gets tiring after awhile.

I've now begun putting menu plans in order for a month at a time. It forces me to be more creative and more varied in the meals I choose to provide for my family. At first it was a little difficult, but now I'm loving it.

Freezer Cooking: A Little At A Time
Ok, I'm probably the last stay-at-home mom to jump on this band wagon, but I've finally figured out how awesome freezer cooking is. It took me forever to try it simply because of time. I know, isn't freezer cooking supposed to save you time? So why would time be a deterrent?

Most of what I had seen about freezer cooking meant going to the grocery store and loading up on a ton of food stuffs and then spending an entire day or even half a day prepping and cooking food to put in the freezer. I just don't have the time for that. My kids would never be ok with me spending that kind of time in the kitchen and devoting so little to them.

But, and here's the big but for me, you don't have to do it that way. What has been working for me is to just prepare one freezer meal at a time. Whatever I cook for dinner that night, I'll make one or two extra and toss those in the freezer. Over time my freezer dinner stash has built up and it only took me a few extra minutes each time I made dinner.

More Simple Meals
Sometimes I think us moms feel like we have to provide a culinary masterpiece for dinner. We don't. And they take too long to cook anyway. Sometimes the best meals are the simplest. Tonight we had a salad full of cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and apples. Topped with some seasoned chicken and a sprinkle of cheese it was a complete and healthy meal. And the best part, it took no time to cook.

Print Runner Poster Giveaway

Did you see the decoupaged giant photo I posted about earlier today? Would you like to make one yourself? It will be super easy with a poster from PrintRunner.com!

You could win a 24" x 36" poster printed with your favorite family photo. That would make a fantastic over the mantle statement piece!

PrintRunner.com was established with little more than a small press and a dream. Ten years later their company became one of the foremost quality printers in Southern California. Their commitment to provide the best value and high quality full color printing at affordable price made the company grow.  PrintRunner is a full service high quality printing company located in Chatsworth, California.

Besides online poster printing services, they also offer other online printing services for business cards, calendars, greeting cards, stickers, and tons more.

Details of the giveaway prize

Poster Size: 24" x 36"

Quantity: 1

Colors: 4/0 Front Only Printing

Coating: Gloss Aqueous (AQ) Coating

Paper: 100# Gloss Book

Proof: None

Ready to Ship In: 3 Business Days

*Giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above.

 *Disclaimer

Thank you to PrintRunner for providing us this giveaway, I will receive a set of postcards for hosting this.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DIY Decoupage Giant Photo

I love giant family photos hanging on walls. And although our bathroom update is meant to create a relaxing escape for me, I couldn't resist putting in a reminder of my sweet girls. All you need to create your own giant photo on canvas is a poster sized print of the photo, a canvas, some fabric strips, and mod podge. Yep, just another decoupage project.

I ordered a 16 x 20 poster sized print to match my 16 x 20 canvas. It would be great if you could custom order your picture to be 18 x 22, but that didn't work out for me. The reason a picture larger than your canvas would be best is because of the sides. You don't want to leave those bare. And if your picture is larger than the canvas, you could fold it over and around the edges.

However.... my canvas and photo were the SAME size.

To prevent the sides of the canvas from being blank, I cut two long strips of some black fabric I had lying around. Enough to go all the way around the canvas. Make sure the fabric is wider than the side of the canvas so the raw edges of the fabric don't show. Smear mod podge all over the sides and apply the fabric.

Fold the edges over on to the top of the canvas using mod podge to hold it down. Make sure those corners are folded and crisp. Do the same on the back of the canvas.

Once your edges are taken care of, you can go about decoupaging the rest easy peasy. Pour mod podge on the canvas and use a brush to spread it all over. Place your picture carefully. Press and smooth starting in the center moving to the edges.

Once that's dry, spread more mod podge on top of the photo. Be generous with it. It WILL dry clear.

Allow your picture to dry and then hang.

Here's a couple more pictures; one from the side so you can see how that fabric edging looks and one from further away so you can see how it looks on the whole wall.

Would you like to make your own giant photo? Check back later today for a poster giveaway from PrintRunner.

Wood Crate Linen Cabinet

 Do you believe in small miracles? It's easy to believe in the big ones. They are hard to miss. But what about the small ones. They don't always come in the shape or size we want them to, but they come never-the-less.

Before

Ok, once you realize what I'm talking about you are going to think I've completely lost it. But really, not being able to find those wood crates I was talking about a few weeks ago was really driving me nuts. No one had any!! So when not even a week after I posted my crate frustration, I found some on craigslist! Literally they were not the size or shape I wanted, but I figured since I couldn't find any elsewhere, I'd get them anyway. It was my little miracle of the week.

I had to be creative in how to arrange the crates since four of them were this odd L-shape. Which meant that they also needed some restructuring. But we went from these flower display crates to this awesome crate linen cabinet. Or bookshelf. Whatever you want to use it for. I just wanted it for a linen cabinet.

Here's what we did.

Because of the L-shaped crates we had to remove the slats from one side and reattached them to the other opening up the front of the crate. Basically, we had to move the slats around so the correct side would be open once stacked up.

Then we painted the crates, used wood glue and nailed the crates in place as we re-stacked them.
 

It turned out REALLY good! Then I filled it up with Mason jars for my Q-tips and cotton balls, lotions, and homemade natural soaps, towels, and wash cloths. And most importantly as the linen cabinet is sitting beside the tub, a place to set my book after I'm done taking a bubble bath. Ah, simple bliss.

 

 

 

 

Cheap and Choosy: Saving Time in the Kitchen

Today is my first post as a contributor at The Cheap and Choosy!

I've written a little bit about how I Save Time in the Kitchen.
Please take a minute to check it out and support The Cheap and Choosy.

Thanks!

Men's Shirt Refashion

There's nothing better than a classic white blouse. But finding one that fits just right can sometimes be one of the hardest things to find. On top of that, Hubs isn't a big fan of me wearing button up shirts because he feels that even though they are tailored for a woman, they still look manly to him. I have had very few button up shirts that he thought didn't look masculine.

So when I saw this men's shirt refashion I totally flipped. I'm sure you've seen it on pinterest. Although it is a button up, the lack of collar and capped sleeves makes it look much more feminine. Don't you think so?

Here's my inspiration photo.  Gorgeous isn't it!

Photo Source

So of course I had to try my hand at it. I followed the directions on the tutorial. But let me just tell you, if you are new to sewing like me, using a t-shirt as a guide is not as easy as it sounds. You might end up with your shirt not quiet even on both sides. Can you see my sleeve problem? I didn't think to check it because it looked the same when laying flat. It wasn't until I was almost done and trying the shirt on that I realized my sleeves weren't right. And the shirt would lean to my right side because there was more fabric on that side. See.

So this project took longer than it should have because I had to go back and redo some of it; meaning I had to trim the excess off one side. And now, it's a little tighter than I originally wanted. The gaps between the buttons were bulging. Uh. I am still trying to lose some pregnancy weight so...

Anyway, I've waited several months to take photos because of the size issue. This is where we are now.

Not bad. Although I can make it look good standing up for a photo...... sitting down makes all those bulges and gaps show up again. Just think how unseemly that would look from the side. Yea, definitely can't wear that out in public.

So I think this little project is going to call for a redo. I'm not sure when, but someday.