Pinterest Interest: Initial Wreath

On my Pinterest account I have an entire board dedicated to wreaths. I love them! I am just now getting into making them and have found that this new hobby is really fun. Every time I pull in my driveway and walk up my steps to our front door, I get a little bubble of joy. I say to Ryan "Look at our wreath! Isn't it pretty?!"

This design idea was inspired from the blog Broken Treasures . She has got some great ideas and tutorials. This is my take on her beautiful Initial Wreath. 

I started with a pressed board letter that I found at Hobby Lobby, some yarn that I had left over from a scarf I had perviously made and a glue gun. (A crafters best friend!)

I took my yarn and started wrapping my "S" and used my glue gun to help keep it in place as I moved along. The ends were a little tricky, but I just glued and made a long zig zag pattern up and down the end and it worked great.

Once I got it all wrapped and looking wonderful. I added some decorative pieces that I found at Michael's. Some red and yellow/green foam berries, a felt flower, and an amber gem that I glued to the center of my flower. I then glued down all these pieces to my "S".

Then to finish it off, I added some sheer ribbon that matched my yarn to hang my initial wreath on the door.

Happy Wreathing!

Coming Soon! While I was at Michael's I also got some other stuff to make a grape vine wreath that I'm really excited about!

Pinterest Interest: Car Seat Coolers

As I'm sure many of you have already figured out, Pinterest is a great resource for what ever you fancy. If you haven't discovered Pinterest yet, you definitely should!

Anyway, I have found hundreds of ideas for crafting, decorating, and recipes. I have tried to make myself use these ideas instead of just collecting them and letting them sit in cyber space. One pin I recently came across, was how to make car seat coolers for your little ones. Riley hates getting into a hot car seat! So this was something that I really needed to make for him and Ellie as the summer heat drags on.

I got the directions from a blog eighteen25. She has a great tutorial and it's super easy to follow. I only made a few changes to my car seat coolers. 

• I only added 4 ice packs pockets 
• I trimmed my ribbons shorter and added a small hem to the ends of my tie
• I used a combination of beans, corn, and lentils for my weights (because I didn't have rice) 

The first time I used the coolers, I took my kids to the aquarium. We were there about 2 hours and when we came out their seats were nice and cool and the ice packs were still frozen. My mom also had the great idea to get a thermal tote to keep the coolers in while you're traveling from place to place. 

I keep all the ice packs in their pockets, roll up the cooler, and store it in the freezer. So all I have to do when we're ready to leave is grab it and go! 

(If you like my thermal tote it's a Picnic Tote by ThirtyOne and I know a great consultant!)   

Pickles!

This weekend I embarked on a new journey... canning! I have been gardening the last couple of years, but haven't been able to give my garden the time and attention it requires because every time I've planted a garden I've gotten pregnant. Must be something in the air. This year however, I am not pregnant and so although I'm now a busy Momma of two, I still have found a little time here and there to grow a few plants (and lots of weeds!) including cucumbers.

My cucumber plants have done really well this year and so I decided to try my hand at making pickles. I bought a "Ball" starter kit that included 3 pint jars, a canning basket for lowing the jars into a hot water bath, and INSTRUCTION! This has proved to be a great buy! I also bought a dill pickle spice packet. So all I had to do was combine water, vinegar, and the spice packet and bring it to a boil. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Now, I am not intending this to be a tutorial on making pickles because this was truly a test run. Maybe as I become more confident in my ability I will create one, but for now this is just a story of my canning adventure.

I decided on slices and spears for my pickles. So I cut them all up and added them to my jars. Then, once the pickling liquid was ready I added it to my cucumbers.  I then "finger" tightened my lids, loaded up my basket and lowered into the hot water bath.

5 minutes later I pulled them out and set them aside to cool. Amazingly all of my jars sealed correctly and in just a short 24 hours we will have homemade pickles ready to enjoy! 

DIY Pacifier Clips

I'm one of those people that enjoy accessorizing when ever possible and what better way to spruce up at little one's attire than a fun and colorful paci clip?! Now I'm not sure if any of ya'll have had this problem but we have lots of different kinds of pacis and not all of them have the ring that most paci clips attach to. So after some research and I've figured out how to make a paci clip that is universal to all pacifiers.


This is what you'll need:

• Ribbon of your choice (I've found that the 7/8 ribbon works best)
• thread
• suspender clips
• cording

Measure your ribbon to about 10 inches.  If you're going to layer your ribbon like I am in the pictures then now is when you'll want to sew them together. Then measure out a piece of cord about 5inches long.

Fold one end of your ribbon 1/4 inch and then fold again 1 inch. Now mark at the top of your fold. This is where you are going to add a button hole. If your sewing machine is compatible or if you have the know how add your button hole to where you placed your mark.








If you chose not to use a button hole you can fold the ribbon and cut a small half circle where you've placed your mark.



Once you've created the button hole insert your cording into the hole, making a loop about 3 inches long outside of the button hole. Fold your ribbon over again and stitch around the rectangle. (I've used a zig zag stitch) Then add a criss cross stitch through the center of your rectangle. This is what holds the cording in place.

On the other end of your ribbon place the ribbon through the suspender clip ring and then fold 1/4 inch and then another 1/2 inch fold. Stitch across to secure suspender clip.

TA DA! You have an universal pacifier clip ready for any paci you throw at it!

Thrift Store Treasure

Today I ran by my neighborhood thrift store looking for some odds and ends. While searching through the frames and wooden shelves I came across a bag that had a wooden giraffe in it. With closer inspection I discovered that it was handmade giraffe bank. The poor thing had fallen apart and was in desperate need of a makeover.

Recently one of my good friends had a little girl and they decorated her nursery with pink giraffes. Wahlah! My creative gears started turning.  Overall the bank was in good shape, just needed some TLC and she would look brand new. Plus she was only 99 cents!

As soon as I got home I started working on her. I wiped her down, sanded some rough spots, and took a dive in my paint box. I came up with a perfect hot pink and decided on white for the spots.

After several coats of pink I finally had a "well duh!" moment and realized if I primed her she would cover better. And of course she did. So once I got the base coat on and her reassembled everything else came together quickly. I added brown to her feet, horns, and tail, adorable white spots, and a pink heart to show she was made with love. Plus I dropped in a couple of coins to help get the savings started.

I think she turned out great and I know my friend is going to LOVE her! (I'm almost tempted to keep her myself) There is nothing like taking something old and forgotten and turning it into something new and shiny.

Happy Thrifting!