A handful or projects

Well, honestly, I haven't done that much crafting this year (which is why I haven't posted). After getting pregnant, my motivation and energy level dropped big time. Here are a handful of things I've been able to complete the last month or two now that I'm feeling a little better and slightly more motivated.

Here's my new "daily tasks" system. I have a monthly calendar next to it and then the night before I write down my appointments and what I want to accomplish the next day. I did like the idea of the last daily task system, but it required too much upkeep (turning cards 3 times a day). I do still try and incorporate some of her tasks on certain days (laundry or bathrooms on Monday, whatever I didn't do on Monday on Tuesday, etc.).

I really like having scriptures and quotes posted around the house where I can see them. I had been doing just printed messages on white paper, but after I painted, I haven't put those back up. I wanted something a little more permanent, so I did this vinyl on balsa wood  for our entry.

I saw this pinned on my friend's pinterest and made it up pronto since my meal planning had been suffering (I know, a constant problem for me). It kind of helps me put the "30 meals idea" in plain sight and arrange it 1 month at a time so I don't have to do it too frequently. I'm in my third week and it's definitely been helping me. The magnetic lables are handy since they can be moved easily if I have to change. I like it's a dry erase board, also, so if I don' t have a label made up, I can just write it in.  I got the calendar board at Target.  The customizable, printable, FREE labels are here. I do need a second board for the "extras", but this works for now.

These little pumpkins were actually our conference quiet project for the boys. They LOVED them. It was a $5 kit I got from Target, though I've seen them at Walmart as well. I basically just let them go to town without any direction from me. I just tacked a clothes line on our wall and used mini clothes pins to hang them.

These boo blocks were inspired by LeAnne's blocks from last year. I just got some coordinating paper and modge podged it onto black blocks. My friend Erin has a cricut cutter and made me the letters out of vinyl.

Aside from this, I've painted our computer room and a fair amount of trim, though there's a lot of trim left for me.

Wooden Peg Nativity

I saw this and thought of your peg dolls, Mar. How hard do you think this would be? And what kind of paint did you use for your dolls?  It seems the felt would be easier, but if I wanted to do paint instead of felt?

My new weekly tasks system

Well, I don't think it's any surprise to you, my close friends, that I'm not the world's most organized person. Nor am I the best house keeper. Up until now I haven't had specific days set aside for anything I do (except scheduled events like preschool). I do my laundry when things start running out. I clean the bathrooms when I can't stand the little toothpaste flecks on the mirror any longer. I...ok. I shouldn't divulge all of my house keeping sins here. I am trying to be better and get more organized though.

I recently came across a cute and simple system at Sherbet Blossom I thought might work for me. It's one you can purchase for a download to print, but you could easily make this if you felt crafty. Cut some cute coordinating card stock to an easy to handle size (3 for each day's tasks and one for each day of the week) print daily tasks on white card stock and glue on, etc. I have not felt like paper crafting at all, so I chose to buy and print it. I'll customize and add a few things here or there, but overall I think it will work for me. At least I hope it will help...

It splits each day up into 3 parts.
1.Daily morning tasks (empty dishwasher, review calendar and to do list, personal time)
2. "To do" items for the day
3. Daily evening tasks (run dishwasher, review calendar for tomorrow and personal--things like scriptures and journal)

Her suggested days for the "To dos" are as follows (though you can easily customize it and move it around to your schedule):
Monday: Major housecleaning day laundry, vacuum and dust, mop floors, wipe down doors, deep clean bathrooms
Tuesday: free/ clean out car (I think I'm going to add baking day -- bread, granola bars, etc.)
Wednesday: Problem area day--clean out fridge, clean kitchen, clean one problem area, make menu and grocery list (I'm adding empty all trash cans and take trash to curb)
Thursday: Grocery shopping and errands, clean bedrooms
Friday: date day -- clean out diaper bags/ purses, do something nice for hub
Sat.: Focus on family day
Sunday: day of rest. blog/journal, read

I'll hopefully get around to posting about how this works for me. I'm really hoping it will help. I often think if I just had a good system in place I could be better, but maybe I'm the problem rather than the system being the problem...time will tell I guess.

More thrifty wall art ideas

I've been trying to figure out how to create more reasonably priced art for my house (like the calendar art). I love sets and Dean loves maps, so I think I'm going to actually attempt to do the map one for Dean's room or the empty wall in our living room. The 40% off coupon at Micheal's for the canvas was a super great idea since I am not good at finding original bargains and sales.

Mod Podge Canvas Map Tutorial

I have a couple friends with cricuts or silhouettes, so I also would love to do something like these vinyl on canvas for my bedroom with their help.

Our kitchen is currently discumbobulated since Matt's started tiling in there. It's going to look so much nicer than the ugly, stained linoleum. Then on to the wood floors in the living room!! I can't wait. I currently should go paint more in my bedroom I guess, so enough blogging for now.

Recycled Art

I love calendars. I don't have tons of them or anything, but I like to have 1 nice calendar with art that I love. My favorite calendar so far featured art of Robert David "Bob" Bretz.  I randomly found it on Etsy as I was searching for a calendar that spoke to me. It was a little pricey as far as calendars go ($25 I think), but this recycled wall hanging makes it so much more worth the money, (plus, I did really love it the whole year).

I just had a carpenter friend cut boards to the size of the calendar pages, modge podged under it and over it, drilled a hole where the calendar hole was, and then hung it on my wall. It was the first time I modge podged anything. It was less intimidating than I thought it would be, but I did have to have a friend show me how to do it.

I have many talents, but hanging pictures is NOT one of them. Matt gave me some pointers, and I think it turned out a whole heck of a lot better than it would of had I done it strictly on my own. It's not perfect, but I do like the end product!

Aprons on the Brain

I haven't been in a sewing mood for a little bit, but I have done a little bit of sewing and crafting in the past few months that I haven't yet included on this blog. For Christmas I decided I wanted to make some aprons for gifts. I am in dire need of a new apron myself so I thought I would try to find a good pattern and use it to make a gift and later (when I feel up to it) I can make one for myself. In fact, I am remembering now that I even made an apron (reversible half apron) for my new sister-in-law Lexi for her bridal shower back in October.

For Christmas, my siblings and I rotate who we give gifts to and this year I had my brother Joel and sister in law Abby and their two little boys. Knowing how much my own kids love baking with me, I thought it would be fun to give them a Mom and Me Cookbook and a little cooking set  as well as some pint sized aprons for the boys (they are 3 and 1 1/2). Well I ordered all the cooking gear and before I sat down to pull out my fabric bin to see if I had any decent boy fabric, I checked out Abby's sewing blog and low and behold I sat face to face with a picture of her little guy in a cute but manly apron. What?! (oh and by the way it is a free pattern/tutorial and it is awesome!) So I crossed that off my list, and got to work on some aprons for her and my brother.

For Abby's apron I used this free ruffle apron tutorial. I just used what I had and I used lots of pink and some Amy Butler because I know she is a fan of both. And there is some yummy Heather Bailey fabric in there too. I really liked how it turned out and I know she really liked it too.

I am not really into sewing for men. Both my husband and my brother are very manly men and I much prefer sewing frills. The very first pattern I bought way back when I first started sewing and I was a new mommy was a simple apron pattern. I made several of them. My husband  wanted me to make one for him but he insisted it had to be made of some real fabric - nothing too flimsy, so he helped me pick out some real tough duck cloth/canvas. The apron I made for him 5 years ago has held up very well and he doesn't hesitate to wear it when he is grilling. So I figured I had better go the same route with my brother. I remember the first apron my dad ever had. It was a blue and white check apron with the words "#1 Cook" on it. I have fond memories of my dad working in the kitchen wearing that apron. I thought it would be fun to find some blue and white check fabric and put those same words on Joel's apron and cross my fingers that he would remember my dad's apron as well. So his apron is pretty utilitarian, but I hope that he will get some wear out of it. I know he can be a mean cook when he wants to be - especially when it comes to meat.

I also decided to make an apron for another one of my sister-in-laws, Maren, (I have a lot of sister-in-laws) and this is where the pattern comes in. I searched etsy for some cute patterns and I only found about 50 that I wanted. There are some seriously cute aprons on etsy and I really really loved seeing all the vintage inspired ones. After some serious deliberation I bought the Pretty Ditty Apron. I loved everything about this pattern. It comes in different sizes including little girl sizes. There is the option to make it reversible and it is just plain cute! So I made a darling apron for  Maren and in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and trying to live in the moment, I of course forgot to take a picture before I wrapped it up and gave it away. I know Maren loves yellow and I picked out Heather Bailey's Hello Roses in Gold fabric for the main fabric. I love me some Heather Bailey.

And as I have been obsessing over aprons, my talented sister in law Abby came out with an apron pattern of her own!! It is an apron for Mommy and daughter. And can I just say it is DARLING! I am in love with the pockets and the sweetheart neckline and all of the ruffles. Cute, cute CUTE!

So by the end of this year I am hoping to have an apron for my almost 1 1/2 year old girl who keeps stealing her brother's and sister's aprons as well as a drawer full of cute aprons for myself. Because you can never have enough!

XO,

Maren

Preschool ideas

I recently happened upon this great preschool resource and thought I should share the link. She has lots of links to good preschool activities of all types of subjects.

Pre-Kinders: Resources for Pre-K teachers.