Beaded Wire Pumpkin Tutorial
Curious George Pumpkin Template
Jewelry Holder
Messenger Bag. Full and Doll Size Tutorials
Cooling Neck Wrap Tutorial
Shrinky Dink ID Tags
Fabric Pail Tutorial
Cloche Hat Tutorial
Hammock Tutorial
Valentine's Day Topiary
Upcycled Candle Holder Lamp Tutorial
Picnic Blanket Tutorial Part 1
Picnic Blanket Tutorial Part 2
Story Dice
Fabric Flower Tutorial
Shrinky Dink Pendant Tutorial
Summer Fun Jar
Fabric Covered Headband Tutorial
Mini Christmas Wreath
Personalized Wine Charm Markers
Self Portrait Dolls
Ice Pop Holder Tutorial
Hair Bow Holder Tutorial
Pool and Bath "Paper" Dolls
Wooden Peg Dolls
Tile Coasters
We planted a butterfly bush in the backyard. I didn’t read the tag very well and had no clue how big it would grow. It really needs to be moved, but we haven’t done that yet. I think trimming it back would also help, but for now I’m just enjoying the view.
When searching for some back to school lunchbox ideas, I came across these two smart ways to include fruit into lunch.
Come Together Kids shared banana writing! Simply use a toothpick to write a message or draw a picture on a banana. By the time lunch rolls around, your message will appear on the peel. Such an easy way to add fun to lunch.
My kids loved sliced apples, but they won’t eat them after they begin to brown. I’m going to try this idea from At Home with Real Food. Sliced apples with no oxidation issues because you cut it apart and put it back together until they are ready to eat. Now I’ll just have to figure out how to keep them from shooting the rubber band across the lunch room.
I have the walls painted. That was a major undertaking. It went from being a dark shade of green to a light gray. We settled on Sherwin Williams Silver Strand. The trim is white.
I’m not out to finish the rest of the room. I’m looking for bedside tables. Ours are not working for me or my vision of the room.
We have cherry furniture and I can’t find bedding I like. I didn’t realize how hard that part would be. I figured with a neutral wall, the bedding would be pretty easy, but I guess I was wrong.
This will be on the wall over our bed.
I need to get some pictures of the room as I go along!
I thought maybe getting into the Christmas spirit would help give me cool thoughts to help beat the heat. This would be a good time to start making some Christmas gifts.
These were a lifesaver during our Disney World vacation this summer. The night before our trip, I whipped up these cooling neck wraps and we were all so glad I did. Although the man in the family balked the idea of using one at first, the heat won and he wore his too.
To use the neck wrap to cool you off, you simply soak it in water to activate it and tie it around your neck. Polymer crystals absorb the water. As the water evaporates, it cools you off.
I made them different lengths for the kids than I did for the adult size. Here’s the tutorial for the child size cooling neck wrap.
Start with a strip of fabric that measures 30″ by 4″ and fold it in half lengthwise with right sides together.
Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, stitch the length of the wrap and one end. Zigzag or pink the edges. Leave one end open to fill the neck wrap. Turn the wrap right side out.
Measure 8.5″ from the bottom seam and stitch. This section remains empty.
You can find the polymer beads to use for the wrap in the floral section of craft stores. I found these small packages so I didn’t have to get a huge container. This project uses 1.5 teaspoons, so you don’t need much. These beads absorb water and swell up to much larger than their dry size.
Add 1/2 teaspoon to the neck wrap.
Be sure to get all the beads towards the bottom of the section so you can sew the sew the section closed and not hit any of the beads. They will break a needle! I found it easiest to ease the whole teaspoon down into the wrap before dumping out the polymer beads.
Measure 3″ from the first stitch line and stitch another to form a pocket to secure the beads. Repeat two more times in order to complete three sections with polymer beads. Fold in the end of the tie and top stitch to close the tie.
The two sections at the ends with no beads will be the strips you tie together.
Soak the neck wrap. It may take about 15 minutes to fully absorb the water. The polymer beads will absorb warm water than cold water.
Then wrap it around your neck and chill out. In this picture, it was untied, so it’s pretty loose around her neck.
Tips:
I made the adult size more like 45″ and made 4 pockets with the beads.
We soaked the wraps the first morning we were at Disney. Each night we put them in the fridge and quickly dunked them in water each morning. The beads remain large for days so it doesn’t take long in the water each morning to have them fully absorbed again.
When we weren’t using the neck wraps, we carried them in an open Ziploc bag in our backpack. If you close the bag while they are wet, they can mold and mildew.
Running the wrap under water to refresh it as you pass a water fountain really feels good when it’s hot.
I found this fun idea to make water balls for our many trips to the pool. Head over to Make and Takes to find out how to make these cute balls!
We took the girls to Disney World and Seaworld earlier this month and it was their first trip to each. We had a blast!
I always have a fear of getting separated from one of the kids when we are in big crowds. Our kids know our home phone number. That wouldn’t work so well for them if we were away from home. They may also have difficulty trying to come up with our cell phone numbers if they are scared.
So I needed a way to attach our cell phone numbers to them. I’ve seen things like wrist bands, temporary tattoos, etc to put on your kids so they always have your phone number. Those sound nice, but they can be costly and that also requires prior planning, which for people like me who wait until the last minute, that doesn’t always work.
The night before we left, I decided to drag out my Shrinky Dinks and make them an ID tag. I cut a circular tag shape, wrote our numbers on them and punched a hole. After shrinking the plastic, I strung each one on a ribbon to tie around for a necklace.
They worked perfectly. They also made it through water rides and didn’t fade, smear or smudge. We can also use them for the next time we go out in a large crowd. I love reusable!
The girls also loved having them. You can see the tags on the girls in most of the pictures of the girls from the trip.
They were easy to tuck into their clothes.
I did find one downside to the ID tag. By the end of the trip, the girls were very disappointed that they never needed their necklace.
This year for Father’s Day, I wanted to get something for my dad that he would enjoy and didn’t involve another gift card to the hardware store. That’s when I came up with a Dessert of the Month Club idea. I gave it a cutesy nickname of mine from childhood and choose desserts I thought my dad would enjoy eating. I plan to deliver one dessert each month to him for the next year. It was fun to come up with different seasonal dessert ideas too.
I printed up the schedule, mounted it on scrapbook paper and wrapped it up.
It’s a quick and easy gift you can do at the last minute, but also spread out for an entire year.
Teacher gifts for this year were fun and easy. The girls made ribbon bookmarks and we also gave their teachers gift cards to the bookstore. So the teachers are ready for summer reading.
We used ribbon clamps and the girls made charms out of Shrinky Dinks for the ends of the bookmarks. I made myself one out of a fabric scrap and a bikini charm.
They were a hit!
To make them, cut a piece of ribbon about 10 inches long. Get some ribbon clamps (found at craft stores in the jewelry making section) and use a pair of pliers to clamp them to the ends of ribbon. Adding a charm to the end finishes off the bookmark.
The camps come in several sizes, but I used the same size with several different ribbons. I used a lighter to melt the ends of the ribbon just a bit so they wouldn’t fray if they extended past the clamp.
