Tired of being buried by snow, sleet, rain, hail, biting winds and miserable cold?
Yeah. So are my kids.
They’ve been off track for two and half weeks now and this cold snap isn’t helping. We’ve been to the museums, played the board games, colored the pictures, watched the movies, made the forts and baked the treats, but today my kids landed at
B-O-R-E-D.
And I knew that all they needed to was to run around outside and go crazy … which wasn’t going to happen … and so we did the next best thing:
Drag Out The Diaper Boxes.
Yup. It was time for some good, old-fashioned air guitar … OLD SCHOOL STYLE … since I’m one of those mean moms who won’t let my kids have video games.
But oh the fun you can have with a box and some music and a whole lot of imagination.
Think of it as Guitar Hero meets Huggies.
And so my Dirty Half Dozen grabbed some cardboard boxes … and started drawing and cutting …
… and rummaging through my scraps …
… and creating their own masterpieces …
I spy a Halloween cupcake pick, a nickel, a candy wrapper and an orange band-aid I’m going to pretend is clean.
… complete with – wait for it – rock star glasses to match.
And by the time all of them were done, they’d given themselves super-cool rock star names.
So we went big and decided to rock the afternoon.
We took their headshots …
… and practiced for their upcoming neighborhood world tour …
And when they had it just right, we cranked up our favorite playlist on iTunes and let them jam away.
And it. was. awesome.
And while “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz may not the rock anthem be, my Dirty Half Dozen shredded it like pros.
Oh, and we taped their concert, too. We got some priceless footage “on-stage” as well a hysterical acoustic version of my six-year-olds sure to be smash hit, “I love cute baby unicorns even though they’re not real.”
And after the kids were thoroughly worn out, they got a kick out of messing around in Picasa with me to create the perfect album cover.
May I present:
I have a feeling their album launch party next week during FHE is gonna rock.
Cardboard guitars, loud music, and all of us dancing on the coffee table…
… thank you Mr. Walmart diaper box for an awesome afternoon.
So grab a box, raid the art supplies and crank up that music.
I have a love/hate relationship with girls tights.
I lovedressing up my daughters in pretty dresses, nylons and clippies.
I hate that my daughters to this to the thin, regular nylons on the very first wear:
I loveit when my daughters pair funky tights and loud skirts and walk out of the house looking like Fruit Loops.
I hate that a pair of heavy, funky tights can cost up to $5-10 a pop. And times two … make that $10-20.
Or for more than one pair apiece … make that $40-50.
Are you kidding me?
So when I found these awesome ladies knee highs at Target for $1 a piece …
… the wheels started turning … and I wondered … and I raced home to dig out that stash of blown out tights that I wasn’t emotionally ready to throw away … and voila!
Old, ripped tights + cheap ladies socks =
Homemade Stocking Awesomeness for a dollah.
And you’re going to love how fast and easy these are to make.
Have the child that’s going to wear these put on the pair of ripped tights …
… then pull on a pair of ladies knee highs right over top, making sure the heel of the socks line up with the child’s heels or the tights will look funny from behind.
Use a pin to mark where the child’s toes are so you know where to trim later on.
Safety pin the socks in place and carefully remove.
To attach, slide the tights onto your sewing machine and carefully stitch along the top of the finished sock hem using a zig zag stitch.
(Switching to a lighter pair of tights and socks to make the next few steps easier to see.)
Turn tights inside out and carefully trim away threads and the legs of the tights, making sure not to cut the socks underneath.
(All nice and trimmed)
To finish the foot, trim away the extra sock above your pin mark …
… and use the cut off toe piece as a template to cut around.
To finish, just whip stitch the foot closed from the inside.
Start to finish, 15 minutes flat.
No more expensive tights. No more slouching knee highs. No more getting mad when kids from school with holes in the knee.
1. I know a custom fit is best, but what if I’m making these for someone else?
Measure down and attach socks to tights 1” from the crotch seam for toddlers and 2” down for girls 4-8.
2. Why hand stitch the toe? Why not zig zag or serge the edge?
The zig zag and serger stitch stretched out the sock really bad and caused a bunch of puckering. My girls hated how it felt on their feet, too.
3. What colors can you use?
Rock what ya got.
My first choice is for the tights and top hem of the socks to match. I think it looks more professional, subtle and like the store bought kind. That being said, I didn’t have enough black tights to use with the grey and white argyle socks so I used a pair of pale pink tights. No big whoop.
My girls always wear shorts under their dresses anyway (plus NO ONE should be looking.)
Have you seen all those cute heart trees floating around Blogland? I’ve been looking forward to making one, too, since I made my holiday planter back in November.
And since I’m still on a I-love-my-ridiculously-huge-immediate-extended-blended family kick, I went the photo route again using thumbnail pictures of family just like I showed in my Valentine’s collage post.
None of my parents, grandparents or siblings live in state, so having these faces all around my home is the next best thing.
Want to make one?
Once you have your branches and container figured out, trim your photos into heart shapes (or as close as you can get.)
Family over form here, people. No trimming off relatives.
You can either tape ribbon-yarn-twine whatever to the back of each pictures and tie to the branches …
… or just hot glue them right on.
I only had yarn to work with and was having the craft equivalent of a bad hair day (couldn’t tie a bow to save my life), so I went with the hot glue.
You can also add plain cardstock-fabric-felt hearts to the mix for some color.
(I love and miss these people so much)
I dressed up my planter with a picture of our family to add a little extra something.
And that’s it. Really.
Two easy to options: plain pictures like it looks up against my red kitchen wall – or – pictures with extra cardstock hearts.
Now that I’ve tried both, I like the extra punch of color the little cardstock hearts add.
Either way, this is so fun and easy to make.
Now go grab some sticks, a container and Rock What Ya Got. I’d love to see what you come up with!
This is my little boys’ closet in the aforementioned terribly finished basement. Bleh.
Every morning it’s the same jumble of socks, underwear and jammies haphazardly tossed on an ugly particle board shelf.
Originally I had white bins from the dollar store like Mr. Sock Bin below that worked great. The only problem was that I bought the bins in 2004 and they finally wore out.
And while it would only be $4 to run back to the store and grab some new ones, the whole point of my challenge this year is to see if I can do with out.
My solution:
Make chicken cashew sandwiches on croissants for dinner.
A couple times. Ahem.
No seriously. Check it out:
Those little bites of flaky goodness come in clear plastic containers that are perfect for wrangling clutter.
After washing and removing labels, I dressed my new “bins” up a bit by sewing quick fabric bands …
… made from the left-over scraps from my boys’ new quilts (thank you Grandma L!) Aren’t their quilts awesome? I love the dinosaur scale machine quilting. *Swoon*
I’ll probably add some cute little labels soon, but for now I’m loving how much cleaner the boys’ closet stays. Now all those jammies …
… and socks and undies …
… have a tidy little space to call home. (And no more mountain of clothes—phew!)
Now if I can just find the perfect {free} paint to help the rest of the closet ….
Scraps from left over projects or even projects that you’re not quite done with that need a place to hang out and not clutter up the place?
Yeah, me too.
I’ve tried putting paper scraps in boxes, bins, page protectors, etc., but it never works. I usually end up with boxes and bins and page protectors full of paper that I’ve completely forgotten about … and never use … and then go buy more of that paper for my next project, only to find later.
Bleh. No more.
The solution: over-the-door organizers!
I stole this bad boy from my daughter’s room where it was sadly underused. She, apparently, prefers to put put her tights/socks/undies/clippies in a giant pile on her floor.
Two year olds. Sheesh.
I love how well this works! There’s plenty of pockets for storage and I can see exactly what I have before I start anything.
The top pockets hold adhesives and blades that I want to keep out of little hands.
All of the scraps are kept tidy and in rainbow order, because I’m type A and OCD like that.
The bottom, larger pockets are perfect for projects that I’m in the middle of and prefer not to leave all over the place …
… wall art for my boys’ room, Valentine’s decorations, kitchen shelf tabs, those closet dividers that I’m still working on (I ran out of milk jugs and pie plates—ha!) and yes, even my first Christmas project of 2011 (coincidently left over from 2010).
And this would work for all those fabric or ribbon scraps, too.
Ah … much, much better.
Have fun shopping around your house for clutter busters!
If you’re like me, your January is about resolutions and getting organized. Our house is getting some much needed get-rid-of-the-crap-you-don’t-need lovin’, room by room.
First stop, the kids’ closets.
Everything but jeans and jammies gets hung up. And with two kids per room, that means all the shirts, church clothes, dresses, coats, etc. for both of them have to play nice in a single, cramped closet.
To help the kids keep their spaces tidy and organized, I’ve used dividers like this in the past.
The only problem (other than the fact that I didn’t have nearly enough to go around) was that it looked like a giant, yellow uterus. I’m sorry … but that’s a deal breaker in my book.
So, I figured I could make some more using items from the recycling bin AND change up the shape a bit to make cringe-less dividers that were personalized to match the kids’ rooms.
These were so easy to make:
Grab any left-over containers/bins/jugs with areas of thin, flat plastic … here’s what I had on hand.
I cut away the curved edges and drew an arched shape …
… and traced a hole for the closet rod from a milk jug cap. This pattern is so flexible … adjust the shape as you’d like.
Ah … no more uterus.
To cover, cut two pieces of patterned paper or fabric slightly larger than the divider. Spray the divider front and back with spray adhesive and sandwich in between the paper layers.
You can feel the divider through the paper so there’s no need to trace or precut your paper—just cut along the edges. You can go along the edges of the dividers with marker if you’d like or just leave as is.
Labeling is easy: sharpie, vinyl, paint pens, whatever.
And sorry for the clearly photo-shopped names … I cut my kids’ names out of vinyl on my Silhouette–I just didn’t want to use their actual names on a public blog.
You can run the names down the side …
… or along the top. Your choice.
And feel to use much cuter paper of fabric! My boys picked out this lovely drab gray, even though I was leaning toward cute Amy Butler print.
Of course then, you could skip covering the dividers all together and just use the plain plastic with a little lettering love. Bows, flowers, stickers, etc. would look adorable, too.
Yup. I just went with the plastic since I didn’t want to see the corrugated edges showing through. But, those edges could easily be covered with ribbon, mod podging, etc.
2. Can you use mod podge to attach the paper/fabric to plastic dividers?
Not really. I tried that method first, but it just doesn’t like plastic very well. The bond was pretty weak and the paper peeled away in just a few days.
3. Can I use the plastic from empty 2 liter bottles?
Nope. I tried cutting and weighing the plastic for a week to get rid of the heavy curving. No good. The plastic did flatten out some, but it bowed heavily once the paper was applied.
4. What about using a Xyron instead of spray adhesive?
I did make a few that way and it worked great. See?
The only problem is that it uses a lot of adhesive and I was going through it way too fast. I figured it would take a whole roll to make enough to do all the closets in our house. I’d recommend this method for small batches.
5. Why is the divider so long? Can’t you just use a circle shape?
Not really. The long “legs” help weigh the divider down and keep the arched, labeled section upright (although you can make them short that what I show). When you use just a plain circle, the labeled area is top-heavy and ends up facing upside-down.
The Christmas wreath came down a week ago, but I’m not quite ready to bring out the Valentine’s day stuff just yet. I want a week or two to enjoy the rush of energy and promise that this time of year brings. And since anything New Years-ish will have a short showing on the door, I’m looking for quick and easy.
My solution?
Raid the Christmas decorations before putting them away.
A few dollar store snowflakes, some fabric scraps, a left over cardboard box and voila—Happy 2011 in winter white in 15 minutes flat.
Want to make your own?
Couldn’t be easier.
As always, I hope you Rock What Ya Got to adapt this project so that there’s no out-of-pocket cost.
*****************
Arrange three large snowflakes end to end and hot glue together.
To make the banner, you can freehand your own design (which I’m terrible at) or use this great image from Graphics Fairy.
After I printed it out, I wasn’t crazy about the shape with the snowflake, so I cut it in half …
… flipped the two halves and taped the new shape together. Template done.
Trace template onto a cardboard box flap and cut out.
Trace template onto burlap and cut around the lines, leaving an extra 1/4” all the around so that the fabric is slightly larger than the cardboard backing. Hot glue in place.
Cut numbers out of left-over felt and attach with hot glue.
The banner ends get a quick dress-up with rosettes made from 1” strips of burlap.
A quick dollop of hot glue holds them in place.
Glue banner the center snowflake with hot glue.
Done and Done.
To hang, I dressed up a cheap magnetic clip from the frig with a quick rosette and more hot glue.
But if you’d rather skip the rosette clip for a look more like this …
… hot glue a magnet to the back tips of the top and bottom snow flakes.
And the fun part about this project is the you can change the whole feel with different banners.
How about a little silver sparkle?
(Sorry … silver is crazy reflective and tough to capture)
Swap out the burlap for a left-over Christmas gift bag and salt!
Trace the banner template on a gift bag and trace around the edges, leaving 1/4” extra just like with the burlap.
Attach to the cardboard base with hot glue.
For a flocked look, line the outer edge of the banner with regular school glue and sprinkle with table salt or glitter.
To fill the numbers, mark outline with a pen … trace and fill numbers with glue … cover with salt or glitter …
1. Can you use cardstock instead of fabric or gift bags?
Yes … if it stays inside.
2. Do you need to paint your cardboard backing before covering with fabric/paper?
I tried both ways and it doesn’t matter (so long as your porch is covered!) I tried spray coating, painting and mod podging with tissue paper to see if there was any noticeable advantage and there wasn’t. It just added a lot of time and was a pain. Happy to report this is step you can skip.
3. Can you use regular glue to attach the fabric or paper to the cardboard base?
I wouldn’t. With the silver gift bag, I used Elmer’s glue and it warped the paper slightly (which you can kind of see in the pictures). I made a second one just to try and the hot glue worked great—no warping at all.
4. If I don’t have extra felt snowflakes lying around …?
You can cut snowflakes out of cardstock on a Silhouette/Cricut or you can make 3-D puffy snowflakes out of regular paper using the technique I showed here on Ucreate with Kids.
5. If you have a Silhouette or Cricut, you can make cutting numbers out of felt easier by cutting out the numbers in vinyl first, sticking them to the felt and then cutting around. Easier than trying to trace on felt.
For all you motorcycle enthusiasts out there with little tykes in the house, how about upgrading those basic wooden ABC blocks with a quick trip out to the garage recycling bin?
As promised, here’s my favorite version of the make-your-own-blocks project that I featured yesterday. And truthfully, this color scheme was the first one I imagined once I decided to make these blocks. There was something about the shape of those empty metal cans in my recycling bin that reminded me of the exhaust pipes of a Harley.
And so the wheels started turning … and I scoured for chrome paint … and then I found something even better:
Buying a roll of this amazing stuff was technically a cheat for Thrive projects, but a certain grandpa sent a roll our way as part of Christmas. (Thank you!)
I used the same simple process from this post to easily turn empty food cans into colorfully, eco-friendly toys with some serious moxy.
Recognize that star? A little diamond-plate vinyl applied over my disposable baking sheet stars yielded some matching ornaments that makes me wish my entire tree was covered with biker stars and a leather studded tree skirt.
As always, this project is perfect for rocking what ya got: house paint, spray paint, craft paint … whatever. And even though I fell in love with the diamond-plate vinyl, regular chrome spray paint looked amazing, too. Personalized details like the letters and flame decals can be applied with a stencil …
Special thanks to Dave and the staff at Golden Spike Harley-Davidson for letting me get up close and personal with the inspiration for this project! Your selection, gear and customer service rocks. Check them out here.
Not your average wooden blocks kids, these Thrive-friendly can blocks get a serious make-over courtesy of some soap, paint and a generous dose of awesome.
Why make these?
Because my kids do this …
every time I hit a case lot sale.
And the problem (other than the fact that it created another mess to clean up) is that cans are heavy. Miserably heavy—especially when that tower tumbles over and enchilada sauce takes out a piggy toe. Or pumpkin puree drops on a thumb.
And then of course there’s the dents and dings and the missing wrappers and mystery meals …
… that make me really, really grumpy when the kids drag out the cans.
So after years of headaches, injuries and swearing, it finally occurred to me to just give them their own dang cans to play with. And I decided that if I was going to go through the hassle of saving and washing and priming and painting several dozen soup-sauce-fruit-veggie-tuna cans, these were going to be the biggest, baddest, coolest looking blocks you’ve ever seen.
And after a week of off-and-on painting …
and hands that look like this because I wasn’t smart enough to wear gloves …
I gotta say:
Mission Accomplished.
Want to make your own?
This project is as easy as they come.
All you’ll need is:
Rock what ya got: house paint, spray paint, craft paint … whatever.
Putting these together is a cinch:
Just PRIME, PAINT and SEAL the outside and inside of the cans. (Two coats of color is best).
Done.
But the fun part is in the details …
… Learning …
… Favorite sports team … or rivalry sports teams—ha! …
… Colors to match your kids’ favorite beat-up well-loved toys …
… Names …
… Or some serious Harley-inspired attitude:
(For more pictures of the Harley blocks, click here)
And since I started making these, the ideas keep coming.
How cute would these be in
ANIMAL PRINTS or POLKA DOTS or PAINTED SHAPES
like trains or planes or cars for all you artistic types?
Or what about cutting some of those cute VINYL SHAPES or using STICKERS to jazz them up even more?
Clean-up is easy: skip the dishwasher sterilize cycle and just wipe down with disinfecting wipes. (Great project for kids while they’re watching TV.)
Storing is easy too: find an old box, drawer or dollar store bin to keep these corralled. Done.
1. The more sizes you have, the better. Here’s what I had on hand:
Formula, tuna and tall spaghetti cans would be great to add, too.
2. Inspect each can for sharp edges or snags, then flatten with needle-nose pliers. For pull top cans, don’t even try to flatten the lip … doesn’t work. Trust me. Instead, cut a piece of craft foam, cardboard, etc. and glue it to the lip. Paint as usual.
3. Prime these babies. No really … prime. These will be knocked down a melllllion times and you don’t want paint chipping off on the first play date or ending up in little mouths. Same goes for a sealant. Two coats wouldn’t hurt, either. (I skipped these two important steps on some of my first cans and have since repainted. Bleh.)
4. Craft and house paint will work fine, just be prepared for more coats. I used craft paint for my orange blocks since that’s all I had and loved how they turned out, but it required six coats to get the color coverage even. Don’t let that discourage you, though. Craft paint dries very fast and I managed to get all of my coats done in one day.
5. This is a several day project. The coats of primer, paint and sealant spread over four days to allow the coats to dry well. But again, don’t let that be a deterrent. This project was a lot like making bread: it takes awhile, but most of it’s waiting. I only spent 5 minutes of painting twice a day so it wasn’t a heavy time draw.
6. If you’re going to stencil letters or designs over the base coat before sealing, wait a couple of days first. I stenciled the next day and, even with low-tack vinyl, some of the paint peeled off. On the next batch, I let the paint dry two full days before stenciling and had no problems. Just make sure to remove your vinyl/stencil, etc. immediately after you paint.
7. If you like the metal look of the cans, you still need to seal them with a protective coating.
8. If you need extra cans, spread the word to family and friends. I sent out a quick Facebook message asking for empty cans and ended up with a couple dozen within a few days.
I spy a Halloween cupcake pick, a nickel, a candy wrapper and an orange band-aid I’m going to pretend is clean.
I have a feeling their album launch party next week during FHE is gonna rock. 
