No Solicitors, Please!

I used to think door-to-door vacuum salesmen were a myth.  In this day and age who would go into the homes of strangers to demonstrate an over-priced vacuum?  To my surprise (and dismay) they actually exist and ring my doorbell on a regular basis.  So do teenagers wanting to sell me magazine subscriptions to earn a free vacation.

I don't have time to read the magazines I already subscribe to.  I love my cheap, store-bought vacuum.  I'm not looking for a new church, lawn mowing service, or newspaper subscription.

Unless you are a child who lives on my street selling cookie dough don't bother knocking on my door.  Solicitors, if you ring my doorbell during nap time you can expect to be greeted by an angry mom.  This is your warning.

I've been wanting to make a sign to hang by the front door for a while now.  Then, last week, Facebook was full of warnings of a woman in town pretending to be a door-to-door book salesman looking for children to kidnap.  I don't know how that story originated or if there is any truth to the warnings, but none the less it prompted me to finally make a sign.

I started with a board from the scrap pile in the garage.  I used a pencil and letter stencils to write out my message.  I liked the spacing and look of it all so I traced my pencil lines with permanent marker.  I knew if I painted over the pencil lines I'd never get the spacing right again!

I planned to paint the board with white craft paint.  Craft paint is thin enough the marker would still show through.  Unfortunately, my white craft paint was MIA.  And I had a sleeping child that I wasn't about to wake to run to the store.  Such is life.  Not wanting to put off this project any longer I found some white spray paint in the garage and went to work.  I figured my perfectly spaced letters would be covered forever, but I really just wanted to get. it. done.  

In my haste I didn't factor in the weather.  It was at least 100 degrees out.  The spray paint was drying before it even hit the wood!  It was all bumpy and resembled a popcorn ceiling.  I ended up sanding all the crumbly paint off and was left with this.

I painted the message and edges with the same royal plum paint I used on the shutters.  Some twine stapled to the back finished it off.  

The sign was hanging on the porch for maybe 24 hours when, right in the middle of nap time, the doorbell rang.  My first thought was, come on people, read the sign!!  Turns out it was my neighbor with free movie rental coupons for the kids.  haha  I guess since she falls into the "welcome friends" category I'll forgive her for waking my son. ;)  By the way, she loved my sign.  I guess she isn't in the market for a new vacuum either.

The Places We've Lived Map

I love revamping something old to make something new.  Old, weathered barn wood is one of my favorite materials to make interesting pieces for around the house!  I used old barn slats to make a US map for my living room. 

Here are the wood slats in all their rough and weathered glory.

We took the slats and cut them so they were all close to the same length without being perfect.  I made sure not to cut off some of the broken ends.  I think they add character!  Then I arranged them on the driveway, alternating the rough ends.

I cut two boards to size to hold the whole thing together.

I carefully slipped the support boards under the slats and then used old nails found in the garage to nail the boards in place.

I used a projector and chalk to outline the United States centered on the boards.

I chose Minwax stain in ebony to create a nice contrast.  Before staining I scored my chalk line with a razor to prevent the stain from running.  The old wood soaked the stain right up.

With acrylic craft paint I painted a red heart where we call home.  Then I used silver paint to mark all of the cities we've lived in.  The silver marks look so much like nail heads that I'll probably go back and paint over them with another color.

Barn Wood Map

And here it is hanging in my living room!  I'm so happy with how it looks!

I have a couple boards left and a fun idea for them!  Check back later to see what else I have up my sleeve!

Trees Don't Wear Skirts!

"Tree's don't wear skirts!"  At least that's what my three year old daughter told me when she asked what I was working on a few weeks ago.  I was covered in hot glue and burlap fuzz constructing a new skirt for our Christmas tree.

My inspiration came from Pinterest.  I was browsing one day and saw this pin.  

Source: doneoverdecor.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

I followed the directions at Done Over Decor.  I hadn't planned for mine to look so Minnie Mouse like, but we're all big fans of Disney so I'm OK with it.

Ruffle Burlap Tree Skirt 1

I also hadn't planned on a furry new addition to the family.  Let me tell you, raw burlap edges and a young puppy aren't a good combination!  I've had to chase the puppy away many times and I'm forever picking up stray threads.

Ruffle Burlap Tree Skirt 2

From this angle you can see the black felt base under my ruffles.  I used a large piece of black felt cut into a circle with a hole in the middle.  I think I found directions for making the base on Google.  I made mine fairly small since our trees are usually skinny.  I used hot glue to attach the fabric strips. By the way, hot glue and burlap are a horrible combination.  The glue oozed right through the burlap sticking to and burning all my poor fingers.  But regardless, the end product was worth the temporary discomfort.

Ruffle Burlap Tree Skirt 3

This is our tree.  Its a cedar my husband cut down.  Cedars are not good for the Oklahoma prairie so we have cut one down every Christmas for the past 5 years.  They aren't the prettiest trees but my husband is proud of his efforts to help the Oklahoma environment.  You can read more about cedars on the Pioneer Woman's blog.  

Ruffle Burlap Tree Skirt on Cedar Christmas Tree

Usually there is a recliner living in this corner of the house, hence the pictures hung high on the wall.  The United States map is another project I hope to share soon.

Here is our new puppy, Bruiser.  He is a white faced Boston Terrier.

Boston Terrier

I got a new DSLR camera for Christmas and Bruiser has been my test subject as I practice shooting in manual mode.

Boston Terrier Bokah

I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Happy Valentines Day!

This year we jumped on the bandwagon and made heart shaped crayons for Valentines Day for the girls' classes.  I had a huge stash of used crayons that had been collecting in my classroom for quite a while.  The girls and I peeled (I used a razor to cut the paper lengthwise down the crayon and they peeled the paper off), broke, and melted them in a silicone heart shaped pan.

Here are my helpers.  I think they liked breaking the crayons the best.

Monkey is giving out crayons with Dora Valentines.

Lil Bean is giving out crayons with paper hearts taped on top.

How are your little ones celebrating Valentines Day?  

Finished Quiet Books!

I've been frantically working on quiet books for the girls before our upcoming vacation.  Monkey hasn't flown since she was a baby and Bean hasn't ever.  I'm so nervous about how they will do on the plane!  Hopefully these activities will keep them occupied long enough to get us to Florida!

The finished quiet books!

quiet books pages 1:  a shoe to lace and hair to braid

quiet books pages 2 and 3: a tent to zip open, more hair to braid, and a pocket with paper and a mailbox to fill with notes

quiet books pages 4 and 5:  peek-a-boo baby with a woven blankie, snap flowers, beads on pipe cleaners, and velcro tic-tac-toe

quiet books pages 6 and 7: counting beads and a mini flash card alphabet book

 My older daughter helped me look for ideas online and requested many of the pages above.  In each picture the top book is for my younger daughter and the bottom book for my older daughter.  Although I'm sure they'll be trading books as soon as they get bored with their own!

Each page was made from a standard size piece of felt and leftover sewing notations I had around.  As I completed the pages I sewed them back to back with stiff felt in between.  The books are pretty bulky, but should hold up well.  

My inspiration for these books have come from these sources.  Thank you for sharing your ideas!

Sew Can Do

Nap Time Journal

faith-love-hope

Chalkboard Labels

Recently I got some chalkboard paint for a project and have become obsessed with it.  I found that making chalkboard labels on all of my random kitchen containers ties them all together instead of looking so, well, random.  And I love that the containers are clear because I notice when we are running low on sugar before I go to the store, rather than in the middle of a recipe.  

Here's how I did it.

I taped off the label area and covered the sides with paper.  On re-purposed containers I made the label bigger to cover all of the sticky residue from the original label that I was too lazy to get all the way off.

I sprayed a few coats of paint (giving each coat time to dry in between).  These containers were slick and the paint got a little runny so I kept each coat on the light side. 

Kitchen Chalkboard Labels

After waiting a few days for the paint to cure I put my new containers to use!

So easy!  

And did I mention the three snap top tupperwares came as a set for $3 at Aldi?  Money well spent saved.

Do you have an awesome use for chalkboard paint?  I'd love to see it!

A Place to Pretend

A few posts ago I mentioned the shelf I hung for Christmas stockings.  Here is a post-Christmas update.  The middle picture is one of my all time favorites.  Its my grandparents' wedding picture.

You may have noticed all of the empty space under the stockings in the original post.  It didn't take long to fill it up!  My husband dug an old table out of the shed and cut down the legs.  I gave it a thick layer of paint and it was ready to go.  Then I found cute children's DIY furniture patterns at Ana-White.com.  My mom and I joined forces and built the doll high chair to surprise my little Beanie for Christmas.

 Next I found plans for the kid's storage chair and my husband graciously whipped up a couple.  He's so sweet!  They have already been well played with!  Can you see why I've hidden all the markers?

Now my girls have a place in the family room to play and I have something pretty to look at.  Win-win. 

A Feathery Problem and Solution

My husband has to work today so I thought I would surprise him with a little something and try to solve a feathery problem in the kitchen.  He often prepares food for his birds over the trash can next to the sink.  I think the picture says it all.

 A fat tin can will be perfect for those meat scissors, and a falcon silhouette is the prefect way to keep them separated from our other scissors.

 I covered the whole area with tape and traced my falcon design.

 I cut the design and carefully peeled it off.

 A quick hit of black spray paint...

 And the tin is finished!  Yuck factor gone!