Chore Chart

Does anyone else play 21 questions with their kids every morning and night? Have you brushed your teeth? Did you go to the bathroom? Where are your jammies? I wanted to give the kids a way to see what was expected of them, but also something that would give them a sense of accomplishment.

I looked at poster charts, but I wanted something that could be used over and over again and repurposed sometime in the future. What kid doesn't love stickers? I just don't want to keep buying them...

One day I was trying to fit all my sheet pans into their cupboard, and I got upset because this one with handles just never quite fits in my other jelly roll pans. Then it hit me...this was perfect for a chore chart! In there is some wonderful analogy about being different and meant for a specific purpose... 

I went into my spray paint stash - because everyone has a stash, right? If you're buying paint, be sure it's meant for metal. I was deciding between the teal, matte black, and gunmetal. I decided the teal would be too high-contrast with our wall color.

I settled on a 'hammered gunmetal' paint and set up shop in the garage. I didn't spray on the cooking surface, because I didn't expect to use that side. Painting on a box will help you get to the sides and will keep it from getting 'stuck' to your drop cloth.

Once the paint dried, I used masking tape to make a channel and used a silver sharpie to make a center line.

I printed out three basic 'chores' for each child that would be moved from night to day - brush teeth, go potty, pajamas (on or off). I 'laminated' them with packing tape, and glued magnets on the back. I also made a morning/night header that was taped down. I wanted everything to be visual, because my tiny people can't read yet.

 

I got two command strips (the velcro ones) and did a strip on the top handle and a strip on the bottom handle.

The kids love it! My son views it as a race, and he tries to 'move his pieces' first. My daughter could care less about winning, but it's great for her to visually see what is left to do (in addition to setting minimum expectations).  Instead of mom being the bad guy, I ask 'are your pieces moved?' and they handle the rest.

I like that this project can grow with us, as we add more responsibilities. It can go horizontal in the future for actual chores and days of the week.

The base concept can be used for all sorts of fun projects. You can use the alphabet fridge magnets for spelling practice, tie strings on washers to make 'mazes', etc.

Kid Museum

We have a prolific artist in our home and it all MUST BE DISPLAYED! I'm talking seriously hurt feelings. So, we busted out the painter's tape and this was the result on our living room wall.

It was SO messy, but I loved the enthusiasm and didn't want to squash any dreams. So, I decided we needed to come up with a specific 'area' for the art.

Like a good southern gal, I headed to Hobby Lobby!! Fortunately, all open-back frames were 50% off (don't ever buy anything full price there - pro tip!).

I strung yarn across and pulled it tight, securing with staples. Notice how I folded the yarn back over so it doesn't slip out. The tighter you can pull it, the better - as the weight of the pictures will pull it down.

Here are the 3 resulting picture areas: 

He was SOOO proud to hang up the pictures! I found some mini clothespins that were already black - saved me some spray painting! 

Here's a feel-good before and after shot!

Tool List:

-Scissors

-Staple Gun

-Level (or an app)

Supply List:

-Frames (mine were $10-$25 each after sale)

-Black Yarn (40% off coupon)

-Mini Clothespins (less than $2 and on sale)

-Beefy Command strips (over $7 for the two packs)

You could do the same with white frames, white yarn, white paperclips. We stayed with the black frames to match the rest of our picture wall.

I made it very clear that this was our 'art space' and any new pictures need to replace the existing ones, or layer over them. So far it seems to be working...

DIY Auto Care

Leaving an office this morning, I realized my car was winking at me. 

Cute, but not safe.

I'm a big DIY fan, which is probably due to my stubbornness to 'conquer' everything. However, I tend to leave certain things to professionals. Can I change my oil? Yes. Do I WANT to change my oil - or is my time more valuable doing something else? Plus, my oil change place has massage chairs and WiFi... so basically I can work and get a massage.

In my mind, the headlamp assembly was super complicated and I would have to take things apart. So, I called my auto place and they said they had an appointment the next afternoon. I probably wasn't going to be driving in the dark, but I also didn't want to wait. 

An encouraging text from my hubs and a quick Google found me this YouTube video. If the video is only 54 seconds long, how hard can it be?!

I popped the hood and sure enough, the lights were super easy to get to! They just turned and popped right out!

 In my triumphant picture, I didn't realize I had taken out my high beam bulb (see how BOTH lights are now out?).

If I would have looked closely, I would have seen the bulb missing from the highly reflective inner light. The low beam is filtered through the circular area (technical stuff here, folks).

I called the local battery place, instead of driving 20 minutes to an auto-parts store. Sure enough, they had them in stock!! It's important to note that the low and high beams are different bulbs, so be sure you've got the right one if you're comparing them.

So, my DIY project saved $21-$42 depending on the estimate.

TADAA!!  Go forth and DIY your life!

Making a Personalized Travel Quillow

I don't know that quillow is the correct term. It's basically a mini-quillow. What the heck is a quillow? It's a quilt pillow. They're usually much larger (think throw pillow) and quilted with a heaver material. I wanted to make a travel version that was a more comfortable blanket. Blallow? We'll stick with mini-quillow... 

I had a friend who was moving overseas, and I wanted something super functional, but personal. I made an open call to our friends to text/email/drop off very basic messages in thick sharpie. I color corrected them to black/white and added them to a Photoshop file. When I did the color fill I liked how the hearts stayed white. Her favorite color is green, so I went with that! The inside of certain letters stayed white as well, but I filled that in. Who wants a travel blanket with lots of white?! Here's what my square psd file looked like:

I picked a hex code that I knew Spoonflower could use, then I uploaded/ordered some custom fabric from www.spoonflower.com - I don't get any perks from sending you there... just wanting to share a great company! They let you choose the repeat, so I did an offset one. I also ordered custom fabric from them for a first birthday party. They have wallpaper, and all sorts of fabric. I got 2 yards of the modern jersey. This is what the fabric looked like (a bit darker than the image shows):

I found some coordinating minky at JoAnn's Fabrics as the backside.

This is the point where I really dug in and focused on the project, so I didn't take many good pictures. You can find many quillow tutorials online, here are the basic steps I took:

POCKET:

-Measure out 'pocket' to be 2in wider and longer than you want your final pillow to be. 

-put fabric face-to-face and sew them together 1in from the edge(leaving a spot to flip inside out). I added a rope handle so it could go over a roller bag handle. You do not need to top-stitch this mini-blanket (pocket) because it will be sewn down to the blanket.

-It is optional if you want the fabric to match or contrast the blanket. I did one side of each so the pocket blended to the signature side but was the minky zig zag when flipped inside out.

BLANKET:

-Make a standard blanket; face-to-face good sides, sew around (leaving a hole to flip it inside out), and DO TOP STITCH this bigger blanket.

-The blanket should be just under 7 times the pocket width and just under 3 times the height/length.

COMBINE THE TWO:

-Sew down 3 sides of the pocket to the blanket. Leave the side in the middle of the blanket unsewn (this is also the side where the handle needs to be).

Sorry again for missing the 'in the process' pictures! It's basically a tiny blanket on a bigger blanket.

The trickiest part about a quillow is folding it. 

FOLDING:

-Pocket down.

-The 7x width of the pocket is because you want to fold each side into 1/3s and pile it on top of the pocket It's going to be tucked in, so if you can make it ever so slightly inside the pocket, it'll make your life easier!

Then, fold it down into 1/3s so you end up with a fat pile on top of the backside of the pocket.

Then, you simply invert the pillow. If you make the blanket too big, this is more difficult. The corners will always need a bit of finessing; I find it easiest to put my whole hand inside the pillow and push it to the edges of the pocket.

I ended up with enough fabric to make two, so they got a set of mini-quillows. Here they are at the going away party! We will all miss our friend, and even though we can't all go along, we can be with them in spirit!

Both fabrics are super soft and I'm thrilled with how it turned out!!

Cheap & Easy Teacher Gifts - Holiday Scent Stew

I wanted to make something special for all of the ladies at daycare. There are at least 10 people who interact with both kiddos on a daily basis, so it needed to be something economical.

I decided to make some Holiday Scent Stew for them!

The ingredients are cheap and easy. Each bag contains:

• 3 Cinnamon sticks
• 1 tbsp of Whole Cloves
• 1 Orange (large or small)
• 1 Cup Cranberries
• 1 Bag

You can get as creative as you want - with cellophane bags and raffia ribbon. I went with the pre-decorated Ziploc bags on sale at Target! I would recommend putting them in something you can see the components in - it's as beautiful as it is yummy-smelling.

It took only about 10 minutes to assemble 16 bags. I took them all to daycare to share with any admin/teachers I had overlooked. I would recommend placing sticking labels on bags before filling them - they adhere better on a flat surface. 

If you use large oranges, I would suggest cutting them into 1/4 sections instead of half. 

I made a page full of labels on stickers (again - get as fancy/basic as you want). You could do printed tags and cut scalloped edges and attach them with ribbons.

I gave the gift to our teachers as a Thanksgiving/Christmas present so they could enjoy it the whole holiday season. There's definitely a scent to this time of year.  The mix can last up to two weeks once they add water, so it will fill their house with the most delicious smell for a while.  

One of my fondest holiday memories as a child was sticking whole cloves into oranges - something about cloves/oranges just triggers happy Christmas memories!

I've already heard from four of the teachers that they made and LOVED them! One of the ladies even said she made a batch for her relatives to give as gifts.

What are you doing for teacher gifts this year?

Getting Organized

I've been starting to sound like a broken record - "Honey, is tonight a late night? Are you taking the kids today?". So, I decided to make a calendar for us both to look at and reference without bugging the other person. I know there are calendar apps available, but as much as I use my phone, I often like something I can walk by and look at. 

So, I ran to Hobby Lobby and got a 14x11 frame (50% off). I also got a set of sparkle letters. I already had some white poster board and a sharpie.

I knew that I wanted this to hang on the fridge, but I also didn't want to commit to ripping off the 'leg' of the frame. So, I secured it with a bit of duct tape and we were off to the races.

I started with four magnets, but that proved to be not nearly strong enough (the frame did a SLOW slide to the ground). I ended up with 8 total square magnets so it would be sturdy enough to take a hit from a rouge ball from the kiddo. They were thick enough to come beyond the taped down leg, so it sits perfectly even on the side of the refrigerator. 

For space reasons (and because we're together most weekends), I only did the 6 sections with a split Saturday/Sunday. There is also an 'upcoming' section at the bottom of things on the horizon. The standard/consistent events were written on the back of the glass so I don't have to worry about erasing/rewriting them.

I decided to put the letters behind the glass (directly onto the poster board) so they wouldn't get in the way when cleaning/erasing the board. The only downside to this is the writing casts a bit of a shadow onto the board. Luckily we have light coming from multiple directions, so it isn't a big problem.

I lucked out and had some mini dry erase markers that already had magnets on the back (and an eraser on the tip) - awesome!!

Looking back at this picture, I wish our life was this open - the frame has almost double the entries now...

How do you stay organized?! Do you have favorite apps?

Blueberry Muffin Remix

I almost titled this post 'Vegan Blueberry Muffins' but I think some people shy away from things labeled vegan because they think it means less tasty. These muffins were just as good as the regular (without the guilt or the hives)!

My intention wasn't to create vegan muffins; I just wanted some goodies for a morning party that our son could eat (dairy free). Also, I was looking for one without egg, as I have a friend who's child has an egg allergy. I know what a relief it can be to have 'safe' food for your kids.

I came across a few different recipes and tweaked them. We already eat TONS of soy - so I really didn't want a recipe with lots of soy (plus I feel like you can always taste the hint of soy in something). We use organic soy milk, but even then, soy crops are one of the most 'engineered' in our food supply (right up there with corn). I'm not diligent with non-GMO foods, but I always want to choose a more natural alternative when possible. 

My recipe ended up as follows:
Preheat oven to 350º
Combine ingredients in a bowl the order listed
1/4 cup non-dairy margarine (can sub 'real' butter/margarine)
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup rice milk (can sub almond, soy, real, etc)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour (any kind)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
fold in 2.5 cups blueberries
Bake 35 minutes

I used Costco brand organic rice milk and this spread from Trader Joes:

 

Mine made 2 dozen smaller muffins (not mini-muffins, just no muffin-tops). I find giant muffins harder to get out of the liner for little ones. If you want to make larger muffins you'll probably get closer to 18.

I'm happy to report I came back with an empty platter - so the other kiddos and moms enjoyed them too!

Get creative with the mix - use flavored applesauce, add raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, etc!

**Side note: I know there are many blogs that post the most amazing, glorious, beautiful pictures of food. I'm the mother of 2 small ones with an iPhone trying to find and share goodies with anyone who stops by :)

Lemonade Lust

The hubs and I are big fans of Chic-Fil-A lemonade. Their diet lemonade has a sticker on it that said something along the lines of, "only lemons, water and Splenda." Instead of driving the 30 minutes to our closets CFA (and since they're closed Sundays) I decided to give it a go!

Enter lemons:

It makes me think of summer, even though it's not even double-digits outside. I got a bag of 18 smaller lemons from Costco. I cut them each in half and juiced them:

Side note: the hubs was the one really craving lemonade, and he's been hounding me for years to donate the juicer we 'never use' to goodwill. I think the juicer gets a reprieve… for now.

I ended up with almost 2.5 cups of lemonade. I split that between two pitchers and added a heaping 1/2 cup of splenda to each. I did a quick whisk to get the Splenda really dissolved.

I added 6 cups of water to each. The mix is still pretty bitter, so if you like a sweet lemonade, I would add more. I would play it safe though, and error on the side of less water. Then, based on your tastes you can water it down more.

It was definitely refreshing, and will be a staple in the summer when we're grilling on the patio!

No Sew Curtains

Curtains are one of the easiest projects to tackle yourself - no sewing required! You'll need fabric, an iron, and hem tape.

First, decide the length of your curtains. You can measure the window, or use an existing curtain/liner as a guide. Since I didn't want the liner peaking out from behind the curtains, I made them 4 inches longer (also, so they would graze the floor).

The fabric had a white edge I could use as a guide to iron an even edge on the sides.

Enter magical hem tape! Even if you're sewing-inclined, sometimes you don't want a line of thread down the side of a project. You slide the tape between two pieces of fabric and iron... they stick together and you're ready to go!

Once the sides were done, I made an inch hem at the top. I angled the corners in, so there would be a clean edge at the top of my curtains. 

I then folded the top over 4 inches to make my rod pocket. I carefully laid hem tape down to stick my first hem to the back of the curtain.

Because the fabric was thick, I turned to iron the back to be sure the hem tape fully melted and stuck the pieces together.

Taadaa! Rod pocket complete. Notice the folded in corner? That way you don't see the fabric peeking out from the front of the curtain if it hadn't lined up perfectly.

Instead of creating matching hems at the bottom, I lined up the tops to make sure both panels were the same length. No surprise, they weren't. 

So, with the tops (already with rod pockets) lined up, I laid out the curtains straight to see how off my cutting was at the bottom.

I folded the ends and did a quick iron to make a crease to use as a guide when making the bottom hem.

Not precise, but closer than if I had just put a 2 inch hem on the bottom of each.

I ironed and hem-taped the bottom of each panel using my crease as a guide. Notice how the hem size changes? I'm not very straight with the scissors... 

I flipped the corners in, so the front has a clean look. If you're curious, you can see the fabric name below. IKEA baby - cut your own fabric! 

Curtains hung! Forgive the bad iPhone picture (nursery #2 post coming soon)!

I got enough fabric to do two panels and extra to do bolster pillows and whatever my brain thinks up.