Concrete Pots

 The last couple of days have been warm and sunny.

I'm feeling spring around the corner and a need to plant. 

 I mentioned a while about wanting to make cement pots.  The pots were made but I didn't make them.  

Andy kind of took over my project and made all of these pots for me.  

Yea!!  

He always laughs when I talk about anything on pinterest.  He just doesn't get it.  I have tried explaining.  Nope, he doesn't agree that it's a brilliant site.  Anyhow, I told him about these pots I was going to try to make.  He kind of laughed and said they probably wouldn't work.   We googled cement pots and found tons of sites about how to make them.  He decided he would help me.  We collected a bunch of different sized buckets and containers.  Next thing I knew, he was making them...on his own.  The project that I was going to do.  The one he laughed at.  

HA!!

Pinterest is pretty awesome.  

He keeps trying to say he got the info from googling it not from pinterest, but we all know we wouldn't have pots on our porch if I hadn't found it on pinterest.  

Thanks babe, for making them!!

He bought a bag of concrete that costs about $6.  Not quite sure exactly which one he used.  It wasn't the cheapest.  He had never used the type of concrete he bought, but he thought it might work better because it seemed like it wouldn't be as rocky as the cheapest bag of concrete.  

He didn't really like the way it mixed up, but I think the pots came out great.  After making them, he thought the cheapest bag would probably work also.  Next time.

He used vegetable oil to oil up the containers and buckets to keep them from sticking to the concrete and for easy release.  Some of them didn't get oiled enough because they were hard to remove afterwards.  He also found that any little ridge in the container or bucket will make it difficult to remove.  Only a couple did not work out because they broke when he was trying to remove the containers.  So if you want to try this out, OIL UP!!

Generously oil!

I really love how they turned out!

We need to make more.

DIY - plain sweatshirt makeover

 I bought a cheap plain black sweatshirt for Julian 

for his Halloween costume in case it got cold.   It was worn for about an hour.

 It hasn't been touched since, so I wanted to change it up a little.  

It is more Ella's size so I decided to make it over for her.

This is what I did.

That's it.  

Super simple.  

I'm not in love with how the collar turned out, but it will do for now.  

I only sewed the top and tacked the tip of the collar down so it would be pretty easy to change out. 

I wanted more of a peter pan collar.

It looks a little Amish to me, but she didn't seem to mind.

I have an itch to sew right now.

canning

we wanted to start a little earlier in the year to stock up on some jam, so my friend Christy and I had an all day canning party.  

it's a party when you have 3 kids running around and one baby boy watching us, right?

the kids had fun squishing up the blackberries and of course eating them. 

we started out wanting to just make some jam, but we thought we would kick it up a notch and can some salsa and pickle some jalapenos also.  

love the jalapenos.  

we have been eating those almost daily.

can't wait for our next canning party...we might have to have the grandma's help out with the kiddos a little so we don't burn anything, ha, ha.

DIY: rug bag

today i am super honored to be doing a little guest post over on Mandi's blog Make it Dear.

i am sharing a little tutorial on this rug bag.

a while back i bought a bunch of Ikea rugs after i saw a picture on craftgawkers of small area rugs sewn together to make a large area rug.  clever right?  well i bought 6 and only ended up only hand sewing 3 together.  a couple of weeks ago i made a bag out of one for a friend's birthday.  i loved the fringe end and couldn't help make one for myself.

go check it out and browse around Mandi's blog.

have a great Friday!!

DIY: SILLY PUTTY

when i first saw this to make your own silly putty, i couldn't wait to run out and grab some glue and liquid starch.  

how fun, right?

it's super simple and both of the kids loved making it.

what kid doesn't like to squish their hands around in glue?

that simple.

here is how we made it.

we emptied the 7.5 oz bottle of glue into a bowl.

added a squirt of paint and mixed it.

then i just kept pouring small amounts of the liquid starch in.

you can see it immediately start to adhere to itself.

julian stirred it with a spatula for about 5 seconds and then dove in with his hands.

you kind of have to knead the putty once it forms and keep mixing the starch into it until you get it to a point where it isn't sticky any more.

we have made two more batches since this one.  

ella made some silver putty and today julian made some black putty.

the one julian made today feels the most like silly putty.

i added a little more starch and it is a little stiffer.

 after all that fun you need a little refreshment...

 i have bought and drank so many of these lately. 

these thai coconuts are so creamy and sweet.

YUM!!!

have you tried them?

the kiddos aren't huge fans, but i could probably have one a day.

happy thursday!!

DIY : simple plushie pup

 so i'm going to go ahead a apologize upfront for the horribly boring pics.  i often sew at night after the kiddos are in bed and the lighting is beyond bad so guess what?...that's when i also took these pics.

i almost forgot to even take a picture when it was completed and all tucked into the cozy blanket, but I remembered after the kids were already strapped in the car and we were heading out to deliver the little guy.

so here we go...

 i just found some fabric from the local shop called 'MK's fabric stash/store'.  

(not to be confused with my favorite fabric store M & L)

 yes, i kind of hoard fabric...it's a sickness that comes in very handy for projects like this.

 i usually use a flannel and a soft fleece but i only had the polk-a-dot flannel and the cotton houndstooth...it worked.

the piece of houndstooth was the last bit i had so that is how i got the shape of my dog.  

i just freehanded the silhouette but a stencil could probably be found pretty easily.

i have found that it's easiest to draw exactly where i am going to sew rather than drawing at the seam allowance.

 i'm obviously not super strict about staying on the line since it is hand drawn after all.

make sure to use a short stitch length...i had mine set at 2.

leave a 2 inch opening for turning and stuffing. i usually try to leave the opening at a straight part (not a curve or corner...it's just easier to sew closed when it's straight) in whatever i am sewing and on a part that is not obvious.

i left the opening on the pup's belly for this one.

 sounds backwards to cut out leaving a seam allowance since you already sewed it, 

but just trust me you still have to have that in there.

make sure to cut the notch out of the curves that curve out and a line at a curve that curves in...confused?

look at the picture...i tried to draw them in a little better.

it makes it easier to turn and there won't be any puckering.

careful not to cut through your seam...but if you do, no worries, just throw it away and start all over again, ha...joking, just sew over the seam again where you cut through.

 this is kind of a pain and will probably make you curse...especially if your animal is small. 

 the tail on this guy was the worst.

i used a capped pen to help push it through, but anything with a blunt tip will work.

don't use the point of a knitting needle it will probably poke through (trust me)...then you will really curse.

 ok stop... your not done yet!

 use small pieces it usually feels a little less lumpy when you are done.

  i think this is kind of a slip stitch or a blind stitch.  not sure if this helps or makes it more confusing, but i start inside under the seam allowance and poke up right where the two pieces should come together...right inside the fold.

go straight across to other fabric and poke right into the top of where the fold would be.

pull though and poke back up in same fabric about 1/8th of an inch away and keep going...

make sense?...good.  i'm actually a sewing instructor and use correct terms all the time, ha, ha.

i have actually never taken a sewing class before (unless you count a jr high sewing class, ha, ha)

just wing it...the point is to just close that gap so the stuffing does come out, right?

top stitch on the machine if you have to, just close it!

 i hand stitched the ears on just using a running stitch where the stitch is visible...

hey it's going to look so good you want that baby to realize that it's actually hand made, ha.

hand stitch the button eyes on.  

i have found it easier to add these on after sewing the two pieces together. 

 i sew the two eyes on at the same time. 

it looks kind of cute with the tufted look at the eyes.

tuck your card in there and throw a string around it.

easy? let me know...

Soap making...

 There is something about making something new for the first time that is so exciting to me.  

My friend Christy asked me if I had seen the recipe on how to make liquid hand soap...I hadn't and I was really excited to see it especially since I had just bought a new smell good liquid hand soup and my little mister Julian decided to use the whole thing to 'clean the sink' for me.

Love this little guy, but the whole thing...really?

She sent me the link that day and this past weekend we made our liquid hand soap.

We used this recipe.

I couldn't find a Mrs. Meyers bar of soup so I just picked one that was big and smelled good when I stopped at Sprouts. 

I used a South of France bar and it worked.  

 We used the food processor to grate the soap.  This is the little trick I learned when making our laundry detergent.  It is way easier and the kiddos love to grate it.

We made it in the late afternoon and in the morning it was thick.  I is use the immersion blender to kind of smooth it out.  

It worked perfectly.  

Now we have plenty of hand soap for only $3.50

Yea!!

DIY: mini chalkboard and chalk pouch

Ella and I were trying to think of a little gift we could give to her classmates that wasn't candy, easy to make and was fairly cheap.  

I had been wanting to make a little something like this for the kids for road trips.  It's small, the chalk hopefully won't get lost and the felt pouch works as an eraser.

 I knew it was going to be easy

 so this is the little Valentine's gift Ella and I made for her classmates. 

1. GATHER SUPPLIES - yarn, wood slats ( I got mine from Michaels and they were only $2 for a pack of 6) it measure 7-1/8 x 2-3/4 x 3/16 in., felt, chalkboard paint, a paint brush, scissors and chalk.

2. PAINT wood slats with chalkboard paint - 2 coats and let dry.

3. CUT a 3X4 in. piece of felt.

4. CUT a small scoop out of one end of felt as shown.

5. CUT a piece of yarn about 15 inches long.

6. FOLD felt in half lengthwise.  Loop yarn in half and stick in where you are going to sew at the top.  SEW side and bottom close to edge making sure to sew over both pieces of yarn.

7. DRILL a small hole in any corner of wood slat and remove splinters.

8.PULL loop of yarn though hole.

9. FEED pouch through loop of yarn and pull tight.

10. PLACE 2 sticks of chalk in pouch.

GO GIVE SOME LOVE!!!

Chevron Tray - DIY

 Supplies needed: old tray, painter's tape, and paint.

I forgot to take a picture of my tray before I started painting but mine looked pretty much like the one pictured except is was really old and scratched up.  I'm sure you can find a thrifted one pretty cheap.

 This is how I made this one:

I painted the entire tray 2 coats of white.  Let it dry.  Then I taped off the chevron stripes.  Make sure you use painter's tape so that you don't accidentally pull up your paint.  I just used the width of the tape to space the lines but it might also be fun to have the stripes different widths.  Paint 2 coats for the stripes.  Remove the tape before the paint is completely dry.

Enjoy your new tray!!

forget the tripod...

it was late afternoon going into evening and i, in my always last minute fashion, decided we needed to go take our christmas card pictures...right now!!!  

quick, quick the sun is going down.

i grabbed the camera and tripod and kind of glanced at everyone to make sure we were somewhat decent.

i wanted to take pictures out in peter's canyon but the sun was slipping away too fast.

i love train track pictures but i couldn't remember if there was even any access to the closest train tracks.

we found a little spot where there wouldn't be too many people to see us and freak out.

i went to mount my camera on the tripod and ugh, the little screw was missing.

we were there and it was now or never so the camera went on the tracks and a little rock angled it up...

i love the angle...i think it turned out better than if it had been on the tripod.

this is the card that went out to family and friends...

MERRY CHRISTMAS all!!!