Category: Tutorials

When I grocery shop with all three of our girls (ages 6, 5 and 4), I leave the store feeling like this:

During the school year, I shop while they are in school or when I just have one with me at a time, maybe two, but I avoid taking all three with me to the grocery store. My kids seem to lose their minds when they get in there. I’m guessing by the looks of the other moms in the store and after talking with my friends, my kids are not abnormal with this behavior. Normal or not, it drives me insane!

Now here we are in the middle of summer and no school days anywhere around us for me to shop alone. I will usually go in the evening when my husband is at home with them or I make my mom go with me.

My husband was about to leave for a two week trip and I needed to do some serious grocery shopping before he left because I didn’t want to have to take the girls to the store with me. Two nights before he left, I planned to go by myself. Turns out, I ended up with an ear infection and missed my opportunity to shop kidless.

So I had to take all three to the store. I was shopping for two weeks and I needed a plan to get in and out with my sanity intact. I put on my thinking cap and came up with this plan. I’m pleased to say it worked like a charm and I left with all three kids, my entire list complete and all my hair in place. That’s quite a feat!

Here’s how you can do it too:

1. Grab a sale flyer from the store. This makes it easy to see what is on sale at a glance and you will need it for step 3.

2. Make an organized list by aisle in the store. There can be no wandering around thinking about what you may need to pick up. This will also help you avoid the unnecessary backtracking for something you forgot in the store. That way once you get past the cookie aisle, you won’t have to go back! I also got my coupons ready and in an envelope. I will normally just have a few ready and get out the rest as I’m shopping along.

3. Make a list for your children. I used the sale flyer from the store and cut out pictures of items we were buying that day. This helps you kids visually see what items they are looking for and it becomes a game of i-spy. I stapled the images on an index card. I made one for each child, organized by sections of the store. One had this card, another one had produce and some groceries and the last one had frozen and cold items.

4. Bribe your children to behave. Mine will do anything for fruit snacks, so I promised them fruit snacks when we got finished, if they behaved. You are free to skip this step if you don’t agree with bribing kids!

5. Take a kid sized shopping cart to the store. We tossed the Little Tikes shopping cart into the van and off we went to go shop.

6. Allow one child to shop at a time with their list and shopping cart. I placed the other two into the two kid sized shopping cart and entertained them with the free cookie from the store and sample foods. Next time I will take some coloring books and crayons or something else to entertain them while they are not shopping. The child shopping took their time searching for the items on their list and when they found them, they placed it in the little shopping cart. I picked up the other things on my list as we went along. Once their list was complete, we put the food into the big cart and switched out kids.

This plan worked like a charm! I got comments from people all over the store and one mom stopped me to say she thought about taking a little cart with her, but was too nervous about. Once she saw us, she said she was going to try next time.

To shop this way took much more time since I had to plan stuff out before we left and kids searching for stuff can be a bit slow, but in the end everyone had fun. I no longer fear grocery shopping with three little girls! I’m passing along our experience in case anyone else needs some tips.

If you have more than 3 kids or your kids are too old to sit in the cart, you need more help that I’m qualified to give! Good luck…and share some tips with me.

I’m assuming that most children are like mine. When you give them an ice pop, they immediately look for something to wrap around it while holding the cold stick. Our girls constantly got out dish towels or napkins, etc to hold their icy snacks. As summer approaches, I had visions of more laundry due to using extra kitchen towels and of lots of wasted napkins and paper towels, especially when I loaded up on fruit chillers at the store for $0.11 a box! After a bit of trial and error, I developed these icy pop holders. Lining them makes it so much easier to slip the ice pop into the holder because it doesn’t catch on the fibers like it does for felt. The double layer protects the hands better and the layer of felt also helps absorb the sticky drips. They work great and look much cuter than a clunky kitchen towel.

These holders work well with frozen Gogurts too!

This is a quick and easy project.

You can make 3 ice pop holders with this tutorial.

Gather your supplies:

• One piece of craft felt measuring 9×12 inches
• Coordinating scrap fabric
• Scissors
• Thread and sewing machine
• Pinking shears

1. Take the piece of felt and cut it lengthwise into 3 equal pieces measuring 3×12 inches each (as indicated by my dotted lines on the photo).

2. Cut 3 strips of scrap fabric the same size.

3. Place the fabric on top of the felt with the right side of the fabric facing up.

4. Stitch the fabric to the felt using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.Go all the way around the rectangle.

5. Fold the holder in half so it measures 3 x 6 inches and stitch along the side seams. I stitched right on top of the lines I made with the lining. Do not stitch along the fold or across the top, just along the two sides.

6. Trim the top and sides with the pinking shears to prevent raveling.

7. Slip the ice pop into the holder and enjoy!

I toss these in the washer and lay them flat to dry.

Please let me know if you have any questions about my instructions!

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I have slowly changed our kitchen from what it is to what I want. I started with spray painting the light hanging over the table and the cabinet knobs. Two cans of spray paint later, they went from brass to brushed nickel. I’m planning on painting the walls, but I’m still talking Jon into the color I want.

I have always had a thing for beadboard. I wanted it around our bar and at the end of the cabinets. I found out that there is beadboard looking wallpaper. It’s textured to resemble the grooves in beadboard. I headed out to Lowe’s and pick up a roll. I’m really happy with the results. It’s paintable too so you could make it any color you want. I wanted it white. I painted some, but haven’t finished it yet. The wallpaper comes prepasted and goes up really easy. It’s hard to see it in these pictures, but here are my before and after pictures.

Now I just need some new paint, floors, appliances, sink, counters and cabinet fronts. I’m slowly getting there!

While out searching for a great apple crumb pie recipe, I came across this cute idea for cupcakes. The original recipe was to use red in the middle for Valentine’s Day, but these were made green for St Patty’s day. This would be cute for that too since it’s just around the corner. Me thinks I may have to make these and have the leprechauns leave them behind while the girls are sleeping.

I also thought this would make a cute idea for announcing a new baby’s gender. I never came up with any creative ways to spread the word since our family was so spread out, but this would be fun. You can make white cupcakes with a neutral colored icing, like green, yellow or white. Then on the inside they can be blue or pink. It would be fun for a baby shower too. Then when you hand out the cupcakes, the person will know of a baby boy or girl is on the way.

To make the two toned cupcakes, use white cake mix to put into the cupcake liners. Save some of the batter and dye it with food coloring. Place the remaining batter in a pastry bag or  into a plastic bag. Clip the corner of the plastic bag to allow the batter to come out. Push the tip of the bag into the center of each cupcake and squeeze a couple of tablespoons into the center of the white batter. Bake as usual.

As another option, you can bake the cupcakes first and dye icing to go into the middle. It makes a yummy treat inside the cupcake. I do this from time to time and it’s always a hit with the girls. To do this option, bake the cupcakes as usual. Once they are cooled, place the dyed icing into a pastry bag. Press the tip into the top of the cupcake and squeeze in the icing. Ice the cupcake with neutral colored icing.

Enjoy!

We don’t have much in the way of Valentine’s Day decorations around here. I saw this idea in a magazine I read while I was recovering from surgery. I caught up on many magazines during those two weeks!

During nap time today, I whipped up this faux topiary. I cut hearts out of felt and used pins to attach them to a Styrofoam ball.

Then I stuck the ball on a dowel and into some Styrofoam in the little pail I found. I added a few rocks to the pail for added weight. Then I cut strips of paper and curled them to fill the rest of the pail.

Finally, a few ribbons finished the topiary.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

There once was a young lady who lived in a house. She had so many hair bows-even one for the mouse.
Okay, it’s not that extreme, but with three girls, we have hair bows all over the house. It has gotten quite out of hand, I must admit.

As part of my new organized life, I decided to fix the hair bow situation. For some reason-let’s be honest here…I’m lazy-the hair bow storage container lives in the family room. We take the girls hair down just before they get in the tub at night, so there is a large collection on the counter also. We also find bows, rubber bands, etc in all sorts of odd places around the house and car. Not anymore. Today the hair bows have a new home. I went to Walmart this morning to get the supplies and this is what I now have behind the girls’ bathroom door:

I am loving the new storage solution. It was so easy! Now I’ll show you how I made it so you can make your own too.

The project took me just under an hour from start to finish.

First gather your supplies.

You will need:

• One painting canvas-I used the kind stretched on a wood frame-16×20 inch, but you can use any size you wish
• Acrylic paint-I used Valentine Pink
• A foam brush-they are cheap and work great for this project
• Ribbon-different colors, sizes, styles-you decide! I used these colors of grosgrain to match the shower curtain in the bathroom. You can use any colors to fit any room or style you wish.
• Glue-I love Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac
• Scissors

I have later learned that instead of using glue, staples work just as well! So you can staple the ribbon to the back of the canvas. It’s a quicker and easier way to finish this project.

Paint the canvas and let it dry. I just did one coat so that it would dry fast. Make sure you paint the sides of the canvas also.

While the canvas is drying, start cutting your ribbons. It’s easiest if you measure one and use it as a template to cut the rest. I like using different widths of ribbons because I think it’s easier to slide/snap smaller bows and barrettes on the narrower ribbons. When measuring ribbon, be sure that it’s long enough to glue on the back of the canvas frame. When the canvas is dry place your ribbons on it to see how they look and make adjustments as necessary.

Start gluing your ribbon down. I started with the center ribbon and worked my way out to the edges. Take off the loose ribbon, keeping it in the same order you had previously. Flip the canvas over and slide the middle ribbon into place under the canvas. If the ribbon is decorated with striped, polka dots, etc-make sure it’s facing the correct way. Place glue on the strips of ribbon that are sticking out past the canvas. Hold them down for a minute until the glue starts to hold. This glue starts to dry fast and sticks very well. I glue the end away from me first and then stand the canvas up so I can make sure the ribbon is aligned the way I want. Then I put it back down and glue the other end in place. Continue glueng each ribbon the same way. Be sure to only put glue at the top and bottom of the ribbon, not in the middle.

Half way done!

Here’s what it will look like when all ribbons are glued in place.

It’s ready for the bows.

This hair bow holder works well with alligator clips, barrettes and snap clips. You can also slide headbands in place.

I hope this tutorial was easy to follow and you enjoy your new hair bow organization as much as I do! If you have questions or my directions are not clear, please let me know.