Dreaming for more hours in a day

Bathroom storage shelf

2012-02-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

You know how these things can cost upwards of $25 even for a cheapo super small particle board one at Walmart? This is under $20 dollars and twice the size of the one I purchased last year with said characteristics. And this one is solid wood. Check it out over at Ana's site.

Audrey's birthday present

2012-01-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

I sent Ana 4 different ideas that are at the top of my list. I have to work very hard to keep myself down to only thinking about 3 projects or I will get so overwhelmed I get anxiety. The one I am currently working on, the one I am currently designing (on computer) and the next one on the lineup.

I had already planned on building Ana's play kitchen set for Audrey for her birthday. I told Ana this and she sent me a plan she had actually already designed. So that ended up being my first project for her. Awesome, Ana paid for my daughters birthday! :) Check out the full posting of the One Piece Play Kitchen on her site for plans as well. This is also Part 2 of the Playroom project.

Exciting News

2012-01-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

If you have been reading me a while then you know I am obsessed with Ana White and what she does and the amazing service she provides to all of us starter DIYers. In my case, my new found passion of building comes from a combination of cheapskate, owning a new home that needs lots of things I can't afford, loving to build, and a very stubborn attitude that leads me to say, "I could do that for cheaper" even when walking through Ikea! Shh don't tell anyone!

Well Ana and her family are building a home for their mothers in Alaska. This has left them VERY busy and she is unable to keep up with actually building all the projects she can design. This is fine except that you really need to be able to build it to make sure it is totally doable for those beginners that don't have the know how of adjusting. So, her exciting solution: She contacted some of the most active contributors to her blog- I being one of them. She has asked if we would be willing to give her a list of some of the things we want to build around our own homes. Send her the ideas, she will design and create a plan, she pays for the building costs, we build it, we photograph it, we blog it, and we keep it. UH! I get how this is still profitable for her, but come on? Is there even a question in there? Of course I am up for that? Awesome.

My Queen Farmhouse Bed

2012-01-06T07:35:00.000-08:00

Here is my adventure into another bed. We got a queen sized mattress from a family member and didn't have anywhere to put it yet. Eventually I wanted to build a murphy bed for our playroom but knew that wouldn't happen till next year (er, later this year) so I built this in the meantime. I had been wanting to build one for a while but knew Charles wouldn't like the style for our room, so this was the perfect solution. The entire project cost me about $70 to build. Right now m little toddler sleeps on this and it is so cute to see him only taking up the tiniest little bit of bed. Good news, he has only fallen off like twice seeing as it is so big!

HERE are the plans over at Ana White if you want different sizes or to see her plans.

And

Here are my plans if you want to build your own like mine (which has some modifications).

Pantry Fix

2011-10-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

I totally hated having things in my pantry that are so annoyingly small taking up nice space on my shelves and getting pushed to the back. I needed this! Find the plans over on Ana's site

Ikea Trofast Toy Storage

2011-10-04T07:26:00.001-07:00

I am turning my Den into a playroom and here is

Playroom Part 1

I loved this idea of easy storage for a kids playroom. I was just going to buy them from Ikea because they are not a bad price. However, I drew up the plans and found that I could build three of them out of one sheet of plywood!!! SOLD. So I hacked the design and it took me only a day to build them. Love it. Cost me $30 (just for the wood that is). I built them to exact Ikea specs so I could buy their bins also. They are a good size and they are pretty sturdy and super cheap. Love it.

I used a router to cut into the plywood about a half inch. You could also use a dado blade on a table saw, which would probably actually be better. You could also totally build them an inch wider and just screw slides into the sides. But this measurement was the only way to actually get three of these out of one sheet of plywood.

When I get them situated exactly where I want in the room, I will probably put a little "mantle" on them as a finishing look.

And here are the plans

Kids TAble and Chairs 2

2011-09-15T14:23:00.000-07:00

Kids Picnic Table

2011-08-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Outdoor Lounge Chair

2011-08-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

Outdoor Raised Raised Planter Bench

2011-08-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

Captain's Storage Bed

2011-06-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

Platform Bed

2011-06-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Kids perfect little bench

2011-05-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

Kids Adirondack Chairs

2011-04-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

Kids Table and Chairs

2011-03-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

House Projects: Livingroom Clock

2010-09-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

I mentioned how in love with a square clocks I am on my craft blog here. And had it in my mind forever that I wanted to make a really cute big one for my living room to add another element of green to the mix. I need it wherever I can get it! As usual with me I labored over what I wanted it to look like. Here are the results! I love it!

Pillows I love

2010-08-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

My Quiet Book

2010-08-11T15:26:00.001-07:00

In true motherhood obsession, I took on the mother load of all projects. A year ago some friends and I were all talking about getting together to make our kids quiet books for church. We came up with some fun ideas but alas, new babies came and life got pretty busy for all of us.

So for some reason the time had come and I decided to tackle it. I agonized for weeks and weeks about the style of how I wanted it to look. Do I do everything out of felt, do I draw on fabric with fabric markers, do I design each page myself? Then I searched and searches everywhere online that I could to find some ideas, and came up with a few of my own. I will admit that Audrey (at 2.5 years old) is too old for some of the cute ideas out there. I wanted her book to be a little more interactive and challenging in her though process than pages with buttons and lift tabs. She has regular books that do that. Anyway, there is nothing worse than when a project turns out less than mediocre when you put so much effort into it.

So here is how it turned out. I can't believe it turned out so amazingly awesome I must say so myself. I better get a comment from EVERYONE that reads this, to tell me how AMAZING I am for doing this for my daughter and how stinking cute it turned out! HAHAHAHA

My final book pages measure 10 x 11 inches and the cover is 11.5 x 12.5. The pages in these pics are all unfinished but if you see in the final book pages I sewed them inside out and then flipped them and finished them like you would a pillow case.

I used a combination of hand drawn things ( the kites on this page, and clip art with iron on transfer paper) That way I didn't take quite as long as it might have if i had had to cut all those shapes out, and heaven forbid come up with decent art work. The point of this page is matching patterns. I didn't actually do a match for each kite because I like that she has to "search" through some extras to find the matching pattern.

Iron on for the face, and I ended up using tacky glue to put the pieces of yarn in place. Worked like a charm.

I wanted something to help her count. She already knows how to count but this page helps with the added bonus of learning to count one thing at a time. funny how you don't ever think about the "stages" of learning to count.

This is a page she can grow in to. The hands spin

The ark opens like a drawbridge with the animals inside.

Once again a page where her being older and already knowing her animals and sounds attributed to this outcome, Finger puppets. This is probably her favorite page. She loves to have me stick all of these on her tiny little fingers.

Learns to set the table and how to open a belt buckle.

I have seen an apple tree in almost every book out there, but I didn't think there was actually much point to just learning to stick them on! This is a great way to learn your family history early. Unfortunately with 7 kids on the Charles's side, I don't think she will be getting a Graf family tree.

Once again the wonder of iron on made this page so easy and so much better.

So simple but this one turned out super cute. Fun little game thrown in the mix.

Right now I only have the one set of coins to explain the concept of tithing, but later you can add lots more to help learn to count the worth of money.

Pretty self explanatory. I just traced my own shoe.

Pockets for the letters of the alphabet and then an entire page with rows of velcro where for now she can practice her ABC's and eventually spell words of sentences.

Cute page where she can write letters and put them in the mailbox, eventually teaching how to address letters and put a stamp on it

Printed out a wintry scene on iron on and then built all the snowman pieces out of felt, each piece comes off.

I decided to make kind of a zipper folder cover for the whole thing to stay in so that if any of the little pieces fall out, hopefully they don't get lost. Plus I used pretty sturdy iron on interfacing to make it lots more sturdy but still have a pretty soft appeal to be tossed around and things. I was so excited at how cute this cover turned out. I didn't have a pattern, I just kind of dreamed it up in my head. I cut out two layers of fabric about an inch and a half larger than my pages ended up being. I might actually do it more if anyone cares to follow my technique. Then ironed one piece to sturdy interfacing, and then heat bond onto the other piece so that the finished two pieces could eventually be bonded together. I added all the front page accessories and then bonded the front and back of the "folder" together. Then I ran a zipper all the way around the inside of the folder. Then I decided to use bias tape to cover the unfinished edges.

I ended up punching the brad holes into each page to turn it into a "three ring binder". this way you can take each page out or add more pages if you want.

I want to advise also, a SUPER easy way to do some of this stuff is with the heaven sent machine called a CRICUT. My sister in law has one and I knocked out the titles for each page in like a half hour. It was awesome! Saved me lots of cutting. Sanks Cassidy.

NOTES:
-If you are making things that come off the pages strictly out of felt ( like in the tic tac toe game) I would recommend using a thicker interfacing to keep them sturdy. Felt stretches in the hands of curious two years old's.

- I used a thicker interfacing on each page to help it hold it's own and then when sewn together each page (which is actually two thick) is quite sustainable. Some people just use felt alone as the page, or I have seen muslin or straight pellon used. Pretty much up to you and how you want it to feel.

- I spent very little on this project, I only had to buy some interfacing, the cute cover fabric, the zipper (need at least a 36 in) and the iron on paper (which is actually kind of expensive so do a test print, and remember to change your paper setting in your printer or reverse your image.) All other fabric and felt was stuff I had.

- DO NOT re-iron anything with the iron on transfer paper on it. It will stick to whatever is against it. I did that on the clock and the felt from the hands got stuck in the clock face. URG!!

Decorating my house: Audrey's room

2010-08-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about Audrey's room. If I weren't married and didn't have to worry about pleasing a man in the same room with me, I would go totally girly and bling it out in every lush girly way I could. So, that is what Audrey got! The pictures don't do it justice of course and it isn't totally finished yet, but here it is 95% of the way done!

You can see just a hint of it in these pics, but I got this awesome black shag rug at Home Fabrics. Originally I had wanted to go with a white sheepskin, but I decided white was NOT a good idea for a girl who likes to drink milk in bed. I went to Home Fabrics on a whim one day and they had this last black shag outside, so I got it at 20% off. At $70 it was more than I had spent on Ethan's rug and a little hard to swallow but it fits perfectly and is a lot nicer than his anyway!

FYI: this paint color took a specific primer and then two coats of red. I think I was super conscious of saving $7 so I went with the cheaper paint. DON"T EVER GO WITH CHEAPER PAINT!!!

Paint treatment. I was going to do pinstripes, but decided that wasn't quite formal or girly enough. And I didn't want people to think 'yankees uniform'. So I cut out three different stencils, (thank you to the cricut once again) and bought a metallic paint. It is a white on white so it gives it just enough of a shimmer to look different in some light. It looks AWESOME. But definitely needs to be appreciated in person. Come over!

Shelving cluster for girly stuff. I have a little poem I am printing out about kids growing up and taking time to play. I think it is appropriate. This cluster is right above her chair and reading corner spot.

True Bling! I found this mirror at Habitat for Humanity for $10. It was perfect, just enough of an arch to make it girly, and is has probably $7 worth of little rhinestone beads glued around the edges. It took the longest to actually sort through my entire bag to sort out the sizes! EEK! I am thinking I will probably add a little etching at the bottom that says something like, "True beauty lies within" What you think?

Audrey's chandelier was something of much thought and provocation. I of course would have loved to make it out of crystals or beads. But that would have cost me a small fortune. Definitely not cost effective or worth it. Then it struck me one day in the middle of doing something else, sequins. I ordered a 100 yard spool of sequins and cut them and hot glued them to an embroidery hoop. Looks pretty good for like $8 eh? I am thinking it needs some rhinestones glued around the circle at the top though.

This is the only thing I had for Audrey that matched her room scheme when she was born. I agonized over this design with a very patient Cassidy for weeks! I still like the finished design. Although I am thinking it still needs a little something. So I might screw crystal knobs into black blocks to hang these from and add a little more substance. What you think?

This is the little girl quilt like block Colleen made perfectly for Audrey's room. It patiently awaits a frame with glass in it. I have updated pictures for her frames on the way and I am thinking of screen printing a swirl design on this lamp if my fabric doesn't stretch that far.

Still needs a black chair rail at the cut in line and a clock that I can bling out in some way. So I will update when finished. Ask about how anything else was done and I will tell ya!

Dish Towel Perfection

2010-08-11T14:04:00.001-07:00

No more worries about weather it get folded and hung straight or not!!! Love this!
It is just a little velcro along the edges

Stairwall photos

2010-08-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

I love the simplicity of how some of these stand out and add a splash of color without being overwhelming. One day....

Wall Ideas

2010-05-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

I like this idea for the walls in one room maybe. Would help to break up a dark color too while providing some extra cool storage for arm work or something.

I love this one day in a house with a large enough entryway or hallway or something!

This is just plain fun huh?

Master Bed ideas

2010-04-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

My first revamp project

2010-03-22T22:12:00.001-07:00

So here it is. My first attempt at re-purposing something old into something fabulous! Audrey needed something cute to wear for St. Patty's day, for a cute picture of course!- other than just a green shirt. So here it is, picked out a almost never worn sweater, rummaged through some scrap fabrics and a little while later:

Of course this actually took way longer than I would have liked because let's face it, sewing kids clothes (specifically arm holes) is NOT FUN! Turned out pretty cute though.

My first project update- Audrey's room

2010-03-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share this almost finished project. I finally got Audrey the bed I wanted for her. Free I might add, It is a full size so there is plenty of room for her to grow into it. Or plenty of room for us to cuddle with her and fall asleep with her on! Oh well, maybe just me to fall asleep with her on. There was one night Charles fell asleep with her and apparently he found her on the floor! at 2 am! SEE SEE...I am totally not a bed hogger. He steals bed space from a baby!!

Anyway. I got a nice padded mattress pad and made a super soft sheet out of a fleece blanket (this is the best thing to sleep on, and way cheaper, ask me how I will tell you, it's easy to make one!) The bedskirt looks like a little girly tutu made of tulle. Love it, will probably add a white ruffle layer under it though so that you can't see the box spring through the tulle. I am still in the process of making the headboard. I have to order the buttons I want to do the tufting with. Used an old plywood board from scenery stuff, hand-drew an arch shape, ran over to a very generous friends house to use the jigsaw, bought the batting at 40% off and already had some leftover fabric. The buttons will be the most expensive part but still the whole project should come in at around $50! Course I am not using foam. Technically you are suppose to use foam that is what gives tufting that deeper look, but, I just used three layers of batting, hopefully it all turns out FABULOUS. I think it will. I am excited.

WHAT DO YOU THINK??

I will update in a few weeks with the final project!

St. Patrick's Day

2010-02-25T09:26:00.000-08:00

I am totally doing this. Found the ideas here on Poppies at Play

"One year my sister sent us the cutest story about a leprechaun and his treasure. The story said that if you put a treasure box out the night before St. Patrick's Day the leprechauns will leave you a little treasure. Only the leprechaun doesn't like to leave it where you put it...you must follow the trail of leprechaun dust to the spot that he hid the box! She sent us an unfinished craft treasure box with some green paint and stickers. The kids had so much fun painting and decorating their box! She also included some stuff for me the "leprechaun" to complete the mischief. She had paper shamrock confetti and a bag of hershey's treasures! I hid the box in a great spot and then created a trail out of the confetti. It was so fun that we have done it every year since!"

Here are some ideas of cute Leprechaun traps you can make

Isn't this a cute craft?! You make it out of a toilet paper roll, paint, pipe cleaner, and some green craft foam! I think this will be perfect to make this year!

Crinkle Teether

2010-02-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

So Easy

From Joy's Hope

Baby booties

2010-02-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

From Heather Bailey Design

and From Michael Miller Fabrics

DIY Argyle shirt

2010-02-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

From Lu Bird Baby

DIY Toy Laptop

2010-02-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

how fun is this???

From Journey into Unschooling

Candy Necklace

2010-02-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

From Serving Pink Lemonade

Nightstand Kitchen

2010-02-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

How stinking cute of an idea is this?

another one for ideas

Velvet Bows

2010-02-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

Love these for lots of things, bows, accessories, decor.

From It's in the details

Custom FORT

2010-02-23T15:00:00.000-08:00

How fun is this? Maybe one day!

From Make it and Love it

Spy Bags

2010-02-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

Perfect for church!

From Make it and Love it

Diaper Case

2010-02-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

Do you know that people charge like 30 BUCKS for these things at craft shows!!! URG! You can SO do it yourself now!

From Make it and Love it

Cloth Rings

2010-02-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

Love this for babies. Both my kids LOVE to chew on fabric, this is perfect for little hands!

From Make it and Love it

Easy as pie stuffed animals

2010-02-23T14:22:00.000-08:00

I am totally making these for the kids for Easter!!! Perfect little hand held chew toy for Ethan too with the ribbons. You could put bells or shakers or crinkley papers to make it just like they do real toys. LOVE IT

From Make it and Love it

Necklace Holder

2010-02-23T14:18:00.000-08:00

I would personally do a bigger frame with cute paper or fabric, and add several different knobs to it so there is room for all of your necklaces

From Make it and Love it

Bow Holder

2010-02-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

I also love this basic idea as an earing keeper, just line the inside with that mesh plastic craft sheet you can get at any craft store I am sure.

Make it and Love it

Mouse Pad

2010-02-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

Totally not necessary right....but for those of us that LOVE to be all matchy matchy...

Make it and Love it

Neck Pillow

2010-02-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

Audrey totally needs one of these, I hate it when I see her totally slumped over in her car seat and she can't even breath!

Make it and Love it

ID Bracelets

2010-02-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

Good idea for kids when you are out in public or something.

Make it and Love it

Mod Podge Shoes

2010-02-23T13:39:00.000-08:00

Can't believe she did this and it works!

Make it and Love it

Scarf Repurpose

2010-02-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

From Make it and Love it

Gathered Flannel Scarf

2010-02-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

So cute and can be done with leftovers!

From Make it and Love it

Magnetic Board

2010-02-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

I want to make something like this as a recipe holder by the oven. Could put vinyl lettering saying something cute along the top. I would maybe mount it to en easel instead of a post so it leans back and can be read from taller heights.

From Drab to Fab

Decorative Book Covers

2010-02-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

LOVE this idea for a little decoration on decorative shelves!!! From Drab to Fab

old metal filing cabinet revamp

2010-02-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

From Drab to Fab

Glass Goodie Jars

2010-02-23T08:58:00.000-08:00

Love this idea. From Drab to Fab