Pom Poms and Butter Bowls

Quite a while ago, I remember seeing something about helping to develop the fine motor skills in youngsters by cutting a hole in the top of a container and giving them little colorful pom poms to put in the container. For the life of me, I have no idea where I saw this idea now...I can't find it on my Pinterest page and I'm fairly positive I was not creative enough to come up with this one on my own. ha! However, since I can't find it on my Pinterest page, I will - for the moment - claim it as my own brilliance...though we all know differently.

This was cheap, quick and I'm fairly certain it couldn't have been easier. The pom poms are from the dollar store and, as you can see, it was not a tiny bag. There are plenty of them for my son and my nephew and any other child who may be interested in playing with this as well - all at the same time.

I started by, obviously, washing out the container and letting it dry. Then I cut a small hole in the lid. I did my best to make sure the hole was just a bit smaller than the pom poms, so as to make this a little more challenging for my son. I think for a very little child, a bigger hole would be a better idea, but since my son already has developed some fine motor skills, I thought this may just help hone them a bit.

After it was cut, Cade was intrigued and had a great time playing with the pom poms and getting them into the hole - which did prove to be a bit of a challenge, but he managed with a smile on his face. 

After a few minutes, he enjoyed taking the lid off and throwing the pom poms all over the room...that wasn't as much fun for me. However, we then worked together to put them all back in the container. In the process of adding them all back in, we worked on colors and counting - counting how many pom poms we were putting in and talking about the colors of each pom pom. It was a great lesson and he has been enjoying emptying and putting them back in for a few days now. For such an inexpensive project, I'd say this was a definite hit! I'm glad I thought of it... he he he. 

P.S. Someday my son may resent me for all of these "diapered baby" pictures on my blog, but I will just remind him that getting him dressed was just not worth it as he preferred to be a little nudist. hehe! 

DIY Children's Growth Ruler

Hellooo there!  I am excited to be filling in for Heidi as she loves and cuddles on her new baby girl!!!  You might be wondering who I am and others of you may know me.  I am a wife of 15 years to my darling hubby, Josh; a mom to two loving children, James age 12 and Hope age 9; I am a blessed child of a Savior who loves me and gave everything for me and I am a craftaholic.  I love to craft!  Ok, maybe I didn't emphasize that enough.  I LOVE TO CRAFT!!!  It doesn't matter if its scrapbooking, crafting with paper, wood or fabric.  I enjoy sewing but struggle with knitting.  My wash cloth I am trying to knit has been sitting 1/3 of the way completed for at least 3 months.  Another passion of mine is fitness and nutrition but that's a topic for another day!

My babies are no longer so little.  My first born just turned 12 and I have enjoyed looking through some pictures of him growing up this last week.  He was and still is so cute!  We have a tradition that on our kiddos birthday we mark on the wall how tall they are.  Well, when we moved we couldn't take that wall with us!  At least, not with the new owners being very happy with us.

Pinterest to the rescue again! Solution: DIY Children's Growth Charts.  They are customizable in so many different stains, fonts and any other way you can think of.

This is the one I have made for our family.  Hopefully, this week I can get their heights added to the ruler. I'm just ecstatic to finally have it hanging up!

I don't have pictures of each step along the way but I will take you step by step through the process.

Step 1: Purchase a board at your local hardware store such as Lowe's or Home Depot.  My board is 6'x12".  When I choose my board I like to look at the grain and see which one has the character in it I like.  I also look for knots.  I love what they add to the board but I want to make sure they do not align with where I may want to paint a number, line or document their height.

Step 2: Lightly sand and wipe with damp cloth.

Step 3: Stain.  I chose a stain from Minwax.  #224 Special Walnut

If you haven't stained before, relax!  It is super easy.  I place my board on two saw horses and use one of the cheap foam brushes you can get anywhere.  I swipe the stain across the board with the brush, working in then with handful of paper towels I go over it wiping of the excess stain.  I work in 2 foot sections.  I don't stain the whole board and then wipe.  I just work my way down the board until it is all covered.  Let it dry for a couple hours and then flip and do the same thing to the other side.  My board only has one coat of stain but if you prefer it darker you can do more.  I usually let my board, after it is all stained, sit outside in the garage over night.  It's stinky and will feel a little greasy.  Letting it sit over night seems to take care of both of those issues.

Step 4:  While your  board is drying you can create your numbers on your computer.  I picked a simple font and size that was pleasing to me.   My numbers are roughly 2" in size.  Print them and cut them out about the size of a playing card.  This allows extra paper around the number for when you tape your number to your board.

Step 5: So your board is all dry, stink free and ready to have the lines painted on it!  I have found the easiest tool to use to paint the lines on is a paint pen.  You can find them at Craft Warehouse, Walmart or any store that has a craft section.  I have even found them in the paint section at Bi-mart.    I use my handy dandy ruler and mark with a pencil every inch going up the left side of my board.  I make a 3" line for every 6" (this will be your foot and 1/2 foot markings) on your ruler and 2" line for inches.  YOUR BOARD STARTS AT SIX INCHES.  That means your first line should be 3" long.  After I have written the lines on the board in pencil I go over it with my paint pen.

Step 6: Once my paint dries, I tape my numbers on the board at the foot markings.  Remember your board begins at 6".  Using a rounded pencil or ball point pen, trace the outside edge of each number.  You don't have to push really hard but firm pressure is needed.  This will leave an indent in the wood for you to use for your paint pen to trace and fill in.  

Step 7:  After your painted numbers dry, spray it with a matte clear acrylic sealer. 

Step 8:  Put a saw tooth hanger on the back and embellish any way you desire!

I used my Silhouette Cameo and cut out my children's names, birth date and stats in vinyl and placed them going up the right side of the board.   Another idea I am contemplating is modge podging a picture, of the corresponding year, on the board by their height.

These make great gifts for baby showers or even great gifts for soon to be or new grandparents.  They're just a little awkward to wrap and deliver. :)

Thanks for letting me share my Pinterest test with you today.  I can't wait to hear what creative ways you come up with to customize your board!

Happy Crafting!! ~Christina  

Disney Pumpkin Carving

I'm not a big fan of Halloween, but I am a huge fan of fall. I love the smells, the colors, the atmosphere, the crispness in the air and the pumpkin patches. I love going to the pumpkin patch and enjoying the last bit of sunshine that we will probably have for a while. This year was no exception. 

This year, we went to Fordyce Farms in Salem, Oregon. They have a pony to ride, animals to check out, a hay maze & corn maze, a hay fort and all you have to pay for is your pumpkins and the corn maze! It's a great deal. We picked out our pumpkins, went through the corn maze, climbed a hay fort and then drove home and went to town carving the pumpkins. There were a few different pins on Pinterest for great pumpkin carving designs, but most of them you had to register for a site or the pin just took you to a website with pictures of lots of really cool pumpkins that just makes your pumpkin carving abilities feel less than adequate. But, I did find one site! To check it out, go here.

Photo from Pinterest

This site does make you register, if you actually want to see the whole image, but I was ok with the amount of image I had to make it work. I see no reason to register for a site that I may or may not use only once a year. I ended up making the lovely Cinderella image that you see above. 

My son had some fun creating his own artwork on my Cinderella template. Oh-so pretty. As you may be able to see, I did finish off the top of her hair by free-handing it. Thankfully, her hair wasn't too complicated. 

Here it is all completed. It'll look neater seeing it at night lit up, but I haven't gotten that far yet, so this is the picture I have. 

My husband and son made the alien from Toy Story and Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc. Those templates were complete and easy to follow and I would recommend the site where my husband got those templates over the one listed above. It's through one of my favorite Disney addict websites that I like to visit: Chip & Co. The actual link to the pumpkin carving templates is here. 

And for your viewing pleasure, here are a few more shots from our trip to the pumpkin patch. 

And lastly, here is a photo from our maternity picture shoot that we did when we got home from the pumpkin patch. 

Happy Carving!

How To Clean Candle Jars

You know when you get a really pretty candle jar with a super awesome smelling candle inside that is just done. It can't be used anymore, the wick is burnt out and there is nothing left but the drags of candle wax. Oh, what a sad day that used to be for me. Have you ever wished you didn't have to throw out that pretty candle jar afterward? Or, maybe you were like me and you just hoped you'd figure out a way to get out the drags of wax left at the bottom of the jar and put it on a shelf to be forgotten for months and months until you eventually found it again and just gave up and threw it away. Thankfully, this may have only happened to me once or twice as my mom showed me how to clean out candle jars many years ago. Thank God for moms, right? But, recently, while doing my random look-see on Pinterest, I came across an article on how to clean out candle jars in a way I had not tried. I wondered if it was quicker or easier than my mom's way (which, by the way, was either to put boiling hot water in and let it set for a while and then use a butter knife to remove the now-pliable candle or put an ice cube in and wait for the candle wax to break a little more easily.)

The method I found on Pinterest was actually a combination of my mom's methods. You can check it out here.

Photo from Pinterest

To be honest, I didn't clean my jar out first. I didn't read that step. Skip step one? How could that happen? My pregnancy brain must've taken over...

My jars actually had far more candle left in them than I think most people's would, but I knew I wouldn't use them, so I wanted to just get rid of the wax.

Anyway, I boiled some water and filled my candle jars up.

After sitting for a few minutes, some of the wax began to rise, but really only in the pink candle.

Doesn't that look cool?? Then I added a few ice cubes. The link above didn't explain how long to let anything set before putting in the ice cubes, so I just waited about 5-10 minutes. I was afraid if I put the ice in too soon, the whole jar would crack due to the heat and cool at the same time. The 5-10 minute wait seemed to do the trick.

After the ice was put in, more of the candle wax floated to the top. In fact, so much of it did that it created a semi-seal of candle wax on the top of the jar and I had to re-break the wax in order to drain the water so I could remove the wax. It was kinda neat.

After it was drained, I used a butter knife and the wax that had been floating came out very easily. And it worked very well!

The white candle is the perfect example, though, for those who would want to do this with a jar that had very little wax left in it. As you can see, the wax floated to the top rather easily and it took no effort to remove it from the jar.

Looky there! Three nice, clean, new-looking candle jars! Ready for some kind of artsy-ness to be applied to them. So, what's the benefit of using this method rather than my mom's method? I believe it's a bit quicker. Mixing the two methods my mom gave me seemed to do the trick and get the jars cleaned out much faster than one method over the other. I like this tip. I'm gonna use it again.

EDITOR'S NOTE: So...I just learned a trick I liked way better than this Pinterest test method. A friend of mine mentioned sticking your candle jars in the freezer and the wax will just pop right out. So, I gave it a try. It was amazing!! I put my candle jar in the freezer right before going to bed for the night and when I took it out in the morning, there was no fuss/no muss. It was incredible! I'd say go this route if you aren't in a big hurry to get the wax out. It may work more quickly than it did for me - I'm really not sure how long it needed to be in the freezer. But, still...incredible!!

Voila!

DIY Fall Wreath

I always see these beautiful wreaths on Pinterest and think "someday...someday I'll make one of those..." and then my inner dialogue goes off and says "yeah right...you aren't that creative..." well, inner dialogue, thanks to step-by-step instructions on a certain blog I discovered on Pinterest, this time I am that creative.... kinda. Haha.

Photo from Pinterest

I saw this beautiful fall wreath on Facebook and had bought a stick-wreath a while back on super sale at a craft store and finally got up the gaul to use it. To see how to make this your ownself, check it out here. 

The most expensive part of this project was the wreath. Everything else costs very little, but the hot glue gun...that costs your fingers a bit. Or, maybe it's just me. Ouch! Those blisters did not feel good! 

I tried a few different techniques before I found exactly what I liked for cutting the felt flowers. I started by marking the felt with a sharpie and cutting the lines. This proved to be my least favorite method as the black shows up on the tips of that flower and I didn't like that as much. It probably isn't noticeable to anybody but me, but I didn't like it so I didn't do it that way again.

The next technique I used was taping the pattern to the felt and cutting it that way. This was probably my favorite method, but also the most time-consuming and difficult to get right. Most people probably wouldn't have a problem, but I am challenged when it comes to using any kind of cutting tools. Seriously. It's a bit embarrassing. 

The last method was to cut the felt out using my silhouette cameo. This worked wonderfully, although rather than it just being the felt, I had to iron on webbing so that it would cut nicely using the silhouette. But, it worked! Although this was the easiest method, it was not my preferred method because it left every flower too uniformed, without as much personality. Most people would probably see that as a good thing, but it wasn't my preference. 

In order to make the smaller flowers, I used the same pattern, I just cut off the end of it. I was surprised by how easy these were to make! Other than, like I said, the burnt fingers. Ouchy. Oh well, the sacrifices we make for beautiful projects, am I right?

After the flowers were done, I laced the berry/beads string through the wreath. This was a bit more challenging than I would've expected simply because I wanted it to look like it had only been woven in the front. Nobody was gonna be seeing the back of the wreath, so I'd rather not have much of the pretties back there. Once the berry/beads were strung, I got out my hot glue gun and glued the flowers into place. Note: I'd recommend placing them first so you can see what they look like and you can adjust them accordingly. Once they are glued in place, it's a whole lot harder to move them. 

I had a few friends ask me to make this for them, so I got more practice and had a blast doing it! I tried a darker red on one, but wasn't as crazy about it. It looked ok, but meh...not preferred. I had a good time making these and was happy to do it - though I felt like I was robbing my friends of the joy (and blisters) of making this themselves. Hopefully they won't resent me too much after they've seen it here on my blog. 

It took me about a week to actually get my wreath hung on my door, but I am liking the way it turned out and feel very proud to see my hard work hanging on my door.

Photo from my friend Charity - this is the one I made for her.

How To Remove Set-In Stains

As I've been getting ready for baby's arrival, I've been pulling out a lot of my son's old clothing and toys and washing things in order for his soon-to-arrive little sister to use. Much to my dismay, many pieces of clothing had yellow set-in stains in them. I'm not sure how they got there - I washed everything before I put it all away and don't recall seeing it then, though it was a year or so ago. Either way, I went on a mission: to find a way to make those set-in stains go away. I started out by using Biz laundry detergent and followed the directions I found from a Pinterest link. To see the instructions, check it out here.

Here is what the shirt looked like before any treatment.

Honestly, I tried to take the easy way out and just scrubbed some Biz on the shirt and then put it in the wash, but it didn't take care of the problem, unfortunately. After a washing, it may have taken out a slight bit of the stain, but not enough to cut it by any means.

So, I went ahead with the directions suggested in the blog: I boiled some hot water and had the shirt in the sink for the entire day. Ehow recommends having the garment soak overnight, but since I did this in the morning, I jeopardized my sink throughout the day. So, I'd suggest soaking it overnight as well. The shirt soaked all day and then I washed and dried it.

Unfortunately, although the stain was mostly gone, it was still there and I really didn't want it there at all.

So, back to the Pinterest board I went. Next up, I tried something suggested in this blog. A little hydrogen peroxide, a little dawn dish soap and baking soda...I was intrigued. Hopefully this one would do the trick. I mixed up the ingredients, laid it on the stain and then scrubbed it up. As suggested in the blog, I let it set for an hour and into the wash it went.

 Fingers crossed...breath held...hoping that the stain would be removed and....

Eureka!!! It worked!!! So, to recap - try the hydrogen peroxide/dawn/baking soda mix. (PS - my mom informed me this is basically diluted bleach, so be sure to only use it on light colored clothing.) That seems to have done the trick. Biz laundry stain remover certainly made a difference, but it did not remove the stain like the other formula.

So, this is a combo tried and true and tried and semi-lied. Biz is a great stain remover, but may be better for stains that aren't so set in. Yay for salvaging old, stained baby clothing!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

It was a dark and stormy...afternoon. My husband was at the Oregon State University football game (go Beavs!) and my son and I were hanging out at home staying warm and dry. But, the day was missing something: warm, homemade, comfort food - Loaded Baked Potato Soup.

Photo from savourthesensesblog.com

My goal was to make a crockpot recipe, but as I looked into recipes, this one seemed to jump out at me and it looked heavenly. So, I went with it. 

I did not find this recipe on Pinterest - I wanted something that was a little more convincingly tried and true. I would've pinned it on Pinterest if I was talented enough to figure out how to pin stuff that I find on the web, but, unless there is a widget allowing me to pin it - I have no idea how. So, instead, I'm just gonna post about this non-Pinterest test. Which, by the way, was an absolute success. 

This recipe took a little bit of work to make, although mainly it was just a lot of dirty dishes and not too time consuming. My mom, my husband and I all thoroughly enjoyed this. For the three of us, we probably could've halved the recipe and still had far too much. This was fantastic as leftovers as well, by the way. Oh my, it was good. 

My picture doesn't look near as tasty as I didn't add "garnish" like the picture shows; I just mixed it all together and away we went. It wasn't as pretty, but it was just as tasty, I think. 

Next time there is a cold, blustery evening, I'd suggest making yourself some of this rich, hearty, tasty soup. It's a hit!