Tuesday...trial and error??

So, I was trying to think of something to do today.

Last week I made the tote bag out of the fused plastic...this week I thought I'd try out a little scripture bag or something like that with the fused plastic. I've been looking for a pattern to make the bag cause I'm just not that talented of a seamstress to cut out pieces I think should go together and then actually make it look like what I want it to look like. Before I went to BYU, I had grand dreams of becoming a home ec. teacher (go ahead and laugh now.) I went to BYU, took my first pre-req. home ec. class (pattern design), failed miserably, and never took another home ec. class again...too painful! Needless to say, I like patterns!!

Anyhoo...I finally found a pattern. (Yay, me!) But, as I was searching for a pattern, a little idea (probably not incredibly original/unique...but I thought it would be fun to do anyway) popped into my head. You know when you go to church and you bring the BIG BAG full of stuff to keep your kids entertained throughout the meeting, and then you end up lugging the big bag around with you through the rest of the meetings....well, we need a bag especially for kids. We've tried the "every kid bring your own backpack" thing...that just makes more bags for me to carry. (And let me just say that carrying around 5 backpacks full of stuff is not so fun.) So, I was thinking that it needs to be a small, scripture bag size bag, and it should be filled with things that could keep the kids occupied, but also help them think more about the gospel. Kenny, of course, said that there would have to be some sort of snack container in it. Of course! I was thinking, a book about temples, or Christ, or the prophets, or maybe favorite primary songs. Customize it, I guess! It would need a little crayon/marker holder...pens/pencils for the older kids, and a notepad to draw in.

What would you put in it? What would your kids like?
Give me some of your ideas. I'll see what I can come up with, and post it next week.

Oh, and just so that you know that I haven't been completely lazy this past week, Ashlynn and I made some cute little clippies yesterday. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while but kept putting off. Well, yesterday was my neice's b-day, and Ashlynn wanted to make something for her, so we pulled out the ribbon, the alligator clips, some cute little plastic flowers, and the handy-dandy glue gun and went to work. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics...sorry! But the clippies did turn out really cute. I'm almost positive we'll make some more...and maybe try a few different kinds. Then I'll post a tute on them. Honestly, they're so easy, you probably won't need a tute...just a pic, but I'll post a tute anyhow. I promise!

So...send me your ideas. I'll be waiting!

Tuesday Tip

Well...this isn't a cool tutorial on anything, but I think it's a pretty cool tip.

I've been trying really hard lately to get our family "prepared" for whatever the future may hold. 

Food Storage

72 Hour Kits

Emergency Plans

...All that stuff

Of course I'm not as far along as I want to be, but it's better than nothing.  

I was on Giveaway Today (one of my favorite sites) last week and they had a giveaway for a company called Deals to Meals (formerly, "My Food Storage Deals".)  Of course I didn't win the cool giveaway...I never do.  I'm not that lucky.  (I wonder what that says about me...that I keep entering contests that I know I'll never win????)  Anyhoo, my little tip for the day is a FREE 2 week trial for Deals to Meals.  

As per their website, Deals to Meals works by:

-Comparing prices of the 5 major grocery stores to Costco and Walmart

-Telling you where the best deals are to stock up on your food storage and freezer

-Providing a meal planning service to help incorporate your food storage into your weekly meals

-Designing a weekly grocery list to make meal planning easy

-Sharing recipes

-Giving weekly tips and info on food storage

I've only glanced at it, but it could be pretty helpful.  I'm particularly intrigued by their "Free Downloads."  I'm planning on using their Food Storage Inventory Sheet to help me keep track of what I have and what I need.  (I think that's my biggest problem...hopefully I'll keep better track of my food storage than I do my checkbook!)

Anyway, Deals to Meals offers a free 2 week trial.  You could either sign up for your own 2 week trials, or you could get in on the free 2 week trial that is going on with Giveaway Today (technically, it would probably be a week and a half trial now...but who's counting!)  If you want to use the Giveaway Today trial simply go to Deals to Meals and sign in as follows:

E-mail:  giveaway@dealstomeals.com

Password: Giveaway

Give it a try.  See what you think!  Maybe it'll save you a little cashola...or at the very least give you plenty of ways to spend MORE cashola!!!

Tuesday Tip

Here's my tip of the day
(somewhat tongue in cheek...but a tip nonetheless!)

I got out of the shower this morning, wrapped up in a towel, and went over to the mirror to comb my hair. I picked up the brush, started pulling it through my freshly washed hair, and stopped abruptly when I realized that all of a sudden there was white stuff in my black hair...and NO, it was not "gray" coming through. Upon further inspection of the brush, I found that one of my lovely little monsters (who shall remain nameless) thought that it would be wonderful to leave a little toothpaste in mommy's brush. Obviously it would help make my hair smell minty fresh. Mmmmm! So, here's my tip for the day:

*ALWAYS LOOK BEFORE YOU BRUSH*
(Note: This may not only apply to your hairbrush!)

Tuesday Tip

With the dollar not stretching quite as far as it used to and also in trying to stay in the spirit of Elder Hales comments regarding wants and needs and staying out of debt, I've decided it's time to get creative with my wants. Easter (and spring) are around the corner...I hope! When I was a kid, we always used to get a new Easter Sunday dress. When I was little, my grandma would make them. As I got older, we usually just bought them. I really WANT a new dress but I probably don't need one and I really don't want to spend a whole lot of money on one. This year I've decided to try and save a little $$ and do it grandma's way.

After a few snags (so to speak) in my plans, I finally finished "my" new skirt.

It was actually very simple and easy to make (once I actually read the directions.) The best part is that I made it for under $10 (pattern and all.) The bad part is...(drumroll please)...it doesn't fit. This problem probably would have been eliminated had I actually read the pattern, but I figured that I would just make the size I thought I was. No go! (I'm a little miffed cause I made it to go with my awesome red shoes...oh well, better luck next time.) Luckily I have a skinny sister, and it just happened to be her birthday so, she ended up being the beneficiary of my new Easter Sunday skirt. I plan on making another one that will actually fit me soon...who knows? Maybe I'll get comfortable with sewing again and set up shop. Any orders? jk....(kind of)

The next items on the to-do list are for Ashlynn. An Easter Sunday twirl skirt and a dress. I found some really good deals on fabric at Walmart and I've inherited several pieces of fabric from my grandma, so these skirts are going to be extremely inexpensive. Skirts...probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $5. The dress...$10. Not to bad! I have a pattern for the dress (and will post pics when it is done), but I'm just flying by the seat of my pants with the skirt. OK...not really. I don't have a pattern, but I have found a couple of blogs with some good tutorials on how to make them AND they really are easy (more math is required than actual sewing) so even you non-sewers out there could do it. Click here to visit the link at 30days. She has plenty of fun dresses and skirt tutorial links for girls and mom's alike. Be sure to scroll down the right sidebar because I haven't linked you up to all the patterns. Have fun!

Tuesday Tutorial

Today's tutorial is on how to make an upholstered headboard. (I know I've posted pictures about it on my personal blog, but I don't remember ever posting any instructions on how to do it. A few people have asked how to do it, so here it is.)

Things you'll need:
*A piece of wood (MDF, hardwood, anything...) sized for your bed. Height and width depend on your preference.
*A drill
*A staple gun
*Fabric (enough to cover the wood with extra to wrap around the edges)
*High Density Foam (1" or 2" whichever you prefer)
*Batting (enough to cover the piece of wood)
*Adhesive Spray
*Buttons (optional)
*Washers (only needed if you use buttons)
*Needle and Upholstery Thread (again, only needed if you use buttons)

Instructions:
1. Cut the wood to the desired height and width (the store will do this if you ask)
2. If you're going to use buttons (for a tufted look,) decide where you are going to place them. Mark it on the wood and drill a small hole (large enough for your upholstery needle to fit through.)
3. Spray the adhesive on the front of the wood and carefully lay your high density foam on top. (I say carefully because with most brands of adhesive you'll only get one chance...it's super sticky!)
4. Once the foam is secured, place the batting down on top of the foam. Wrap it around the edges of the wood. Use a staple gun to secure the batting down on the backside of the wood.
5. Place your fabric down, right side up, on the foam (the front side of your board.) TIP: I actually laid my fabric right side down on the floor and placed my board with the batting and foam directly on top of it. It made wrapping the fabric around the board a lot easier!!
6. Wrap the fabric around to the backside of the headboard on 1 side. Start stapling from the middle of the headboard. Pull fabric TIGHT for the best look. Staple 1 entire side before moving on to the next side. Repeat for all sides. Wrap the corners like you would wrap a present. The key is to make sure that the fabric is always being pulled tight.
7. Once the fabric has been stapled down on all sides, you're pretty much finished...unless you would like to add buttons for decoration to the headboard. If you're using buttons, thread your needle, start on the backside of the headboard, poke the needle through the wood, foam, batting and fabric (leave a long thread on the backside.) Attach your button and bring the needle and thread back through to the backside of your headboard. Pull the button tight. Tie a knot around a washer (with both ends of thread) to secure the button. Don't worry...the washer won't be seen. It's on the backside of the headboard. Repeat this procedure for each button.

Ta-Da...you have your very own upholstered, custom-made headboard. I mounted mine directly on the wall (like a floating shelf) however, there are several ways to mount it. I like it, but it's kind of permanent and I like to move furniture around quite a bit. I could still move it, but it would take a lot of work...and some patch work on the wall. (My husband got a little drill happy when putting the headboard up.) I've heard of people mounting the headboard on the wall with heavy duty picture hooks. Not sure how that would work?? My personal preference...and what I will do next time; buy enough wood to stand the headboard on the floor behind the bed (all the wood could be upholstered or else it could just be left as wood) or put some sort of legs on the headboard and attach it to the bed frame.

Cost: I was trying to see how cheaply I could make the headboard...therefore, I used MDF, 1" foam, batting that I already had, made my own buttons, and I got a great deal on the fabric...SO, the grand total was right around $100. Obviously the cost would go up depending on the materials that you use, but I'm really happy with our cheap headboard.

Idea: You might find an old headboard on craigslist or at a garage sale. What a perfect project to upholster...you could cut a piece out of the headboard to upholster and then stick it back in. Easy! I think I might try this next time!

*Sorry for the lack of pictures. I made the headboard before I ever thought of blogging about it! If you have any questions or if my directions are not clear, leave a comment and your e-mail address and I'll answer them as best I can.

Tuesday Tip

Today's post isn't so much a tip or tutorial (for you at least.) I've been trying to teach myself a little bit about photoshop, so I've been doing a lot of playing around. While I was playing around I decided to make a little quiet book for church for Rylen. (I'm always looking for something to hold his interest for a minute and keep him quiet through sacrament.) Anyway, I love the new song the kids are learning in primary this year, "The Family is of God" by Matthew Neeley and I thought I would make a little book out of that so...

GGUF Binder


(GGUF stands for God Gave Us Families.) I think I made this in a 4x6 size...to be put into one of those little photo books that you can buy at the dollar store, but if you're printing it off in Acrobat, then you can also print multiple pages on the sheet (making it smaller.) I would print the pages off on cardstock (or regular paper and then mount on cardstock for stability) then you could put them in the photo book OR you could just laminate the pages and hook them together with a binder clip or something and voila a quick little quiet book for your small kiddies that will also help them learn the words to the song for primary. Enjoy! Oh, and if you happen to want a bigger size leave me a comment and I'll try to figure out how to resize it.

The Family is of God - Quiet Book

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*Also, I had to upload the book to scribd. Not the most convenient place to put it because you have to register on the site to get the book, but registration is free. I'm also hoping that you might be able to print it directly from the view in this post. Click on the iPaper button and it should give you an option to print, but if you want to download it you'll probably have to go to scribd. Let me know how it works. Thanks!