a UFO complete!

Summer 2010, when my kids were two and three, we made adorable handprint American flag tank tops to wear.  I didn't want to get rid of them when that summer was over, so I tossed them in my to-sew stack with the intent to make something out of them.  Tonight, in my on-going project to turn the guest room into a den/school room, I was cleaning out my sewing cabinet and came across them.  I decided it was as good a time as any, and whipped out a throw pillow.  It'll live on my long bench in the entry way during 4th of July time.  It's going to be SO cute!!

I cut out the flags, ironed some stabilizer on the backs of them, and then stitched them onto some red twill I had in my stash.  I made it into a pillow shape, and now it just awaits me buying another bag of polyfill to stuff it and finish it up.  Maybe I'll remember to do that between now and July.

purple yarn

I took two skeins of light grey wool yarn that had been in my bins, unloved, for  who knows how long (years?) and dyed them with purple (grape) kool aid!  Super fun!  I used the same method described here (the one with the blues and the crock pot about 3/4 of the way down the page).  My results were less dramatic than hers, I think due to the fact that that I started with a gray base and not a white/natural base and that grape kool aid is not as dramatic as blue Wilton's dye.  I got a nice semi-solid, though, and I really like it!  Much better than the boring gray at any rate.

dress ups

Before: small, plain, sturdy bookshelf that my husband brought into the marriage.  It has been housing various things in the guest room, but nothing that couldn't be relatively easily re-homed.  Two shelves had already been removed before I remembered to take before pictures.

























Before: dress up storage.  Overflowing. Yikes.

After! Ta-da!

Command hooks to the rescue (gosh, I love those things!).  I left one shelf, moved it down, and put two smaller bins below.  I currently have clothing dress ups hanging, with hats and accessories in the bins.  Capes are on the outside, since they're too long for the hanging space inside (plus they get used DAILY).  I want to get a couple more hooks for the outside and move the purses and necklaces onto those and out of the accessory bins.

Dress up is the thing around here, so hopefully this keeps ups better organized, makes the costumes more accessible, and fuels the FUN! 

lego (duplo) table!

Thanks to pinterest, I found a new use for my ugly old Ikea coffee table.  Pinterest is littered with Ikea Lack end tables turned lego tables, but I had a Lack coffee table, which is bigger, and frankly better, since I have three preschoolers who will need to play here happily (ha!) together. My favorite of the DIY lego tables that I browsed was Jill's from Meet the Dubiens.  I pretty much knocked it off.  And I love it! 

Before,  uninspiring $20 coffee table, well  used.

Since I was using 2 plates, I attached them together with a big block, to make sure they were aligned correctly.  I centered them on my table, and put some tape around the edge so I'd know where to put it back down after I applied glue.  Not a very scientific process, but it seemed to work pretty well.  I gorilla glued those puppies down, and removed the blue tape.  I left it overnight, weighted down with some books.

This morning I added the road (address labels cut with my rotary cutter), and the blocks.  They got the Winnie the Pooh set and the school set for Christmas.  They also have a Thomas set and a Toy Story set that we can add in when we want to change it up.  I grabbed a couple of bins at Target to hold blocks on the shelf underneath.

LOVE! 

Christmas crafting

I crafted Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews this year (and for my mom, but I think I forgot to take pictures of that one!).

A doorway puppet theater (with Ikea farm animal puppets) for the older three

























and a hat for my favorite baby, Annie



















tutorial for the puppet theater and farm animals can be found here:
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/09/14/doorway-puppet-theater/
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40213189/