Crafts
Leather Map From Old Boots
There are a great number of things to be sad about in this world. Your favorite pair of boots falling apart at the seams is not one of the things that should make you sad. Don’t worry. If it did devastate make me sad I wouldn’t do anything immature like text my bestie a million crying face emojis when I realized the boots were not repairable. Of course not. Instead, I decided my heart would go on to save the leather from the boots. Perhaps I could use it for a crafty project in the future. That’s where the idea for a leather map from my old boots originated. Here’s how…
Personalized Wood Hangers
Hangers are that one useful tool in my house that no one wants to use. This is particularly true when it comes to our coat closet. Coats will find their way to a hook, the back of the chair, on a bench, on the floor, and my least favorite place, hanging on the closet door knobs. But not ON a hanger IN the closet. I’m living with a house full of rebels. I tell you this so there’s no doubt that this crafty project – personalized wood hangers – was just for my pleasure. In this house, it seems, I’m the only one who thinks hangers are useful AND can…
Wardrobe Malfunctions Happen
Something fun happened, so I thought I’d overshare with all of you. A couple of weeks ago, Buzzfeed included one of my sewing hacks in their article on “avoiding a wardrobe malfunction.” Cool, right? Buzzfeed is one of the 100 most visited websites in the U.S. (when I checked), so this is especially great for my itty-bitty site. Since their article was about avoiding wardrobe malfunctions, let’s talk about the times I have NOT avoided a wardrobe malfunction. I’ve nursed a very enthusiastic baby in public. If you’re a mom, you’ll know some babies consider nursing an Olympic sport with arms, legs and nursing covers flying everywhere. More than once…
Denim Pennant Gift Toppers
My stack of ripped denim jeans is piling up, folks. At this point, I’m just shaking my head like, “REALLY?!?” But ripped jeans are in style, you say! Perhaps. However, these jeans of Handy Husband’s are ripped in a rather unfortunate location. Do you get what I’m saying? The jeans aren’t really fixable in any way that says you should be wearing them to work for Casual Fridays. It’s not THAT casual! I need to throw them away or repurpose them. The repurposing issue is a challenge because most denim projects seem very dated or way too country western for me. I’ve lived long enough to know that if I…
What Should I Do With This Junky Treasure?
If you’ve been following along on this blog – and thank you for doing that – you’ll remember I talked about our sidewalks being torn up and the amazing memento I now have from the tree that was cut down during the process. I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but our driveway apron was torn up too. A few weeks after the new concrete was poured, I cleaned out the flowerbeds next to the driveway. Yes, I occasionally do tend to my flowerbeds. I swear! Do you know what I found when I was weeding that day? A glorious junky treasure! Talk about chippy perfection! It’s a piece of gate…
Christmas Tree 2017
I was gung-ho to decorate for Christmas this year. Then I opened the Christmas boxes stuffed with holiday decor. I looked at all the glitz and glitter and did not feel that burst of fa-la-la-magic. Instead, I felt like a tall, curly-haired grinch. Minus the green complexion. However, the kids were excited to douse the house in Christmas everything! Even though I FELT like a grinch, I didn’t want to BE a grinch. So we blasted Christmas music and got to work spreading holiday cheer around the house. I set the Christmas tree up in the living room in front of the big window. Then I just looked at it…
Turn Building Blocks Into Christmas Ornaments
Some people do crossword puzzles to keep their brain sharp. I constantly thinking of ways to repurpose items in our home. Totally the same, right? Hmm. The latest idea was to turn my kids’ natural wood building blocks into Christmas ornaments. Why?? Let me explain… One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the artwork my kids bring home from school. I’ve saved some of it and every year when I open the holiday boxes and see something they made with their cute little toddler (now big kid) hands, I melt into a pile of mom goo. This is one of my favorite pieces of foot-made handmade artwork. If…
5 Easy, (mostly) Recyclable Halloween Decorating Ideas
My interest in holiday decorating comes and goes. I’m not sure why. Different seasons of life, perhaps? My interest or lack thereof in storing A TON of holiday decor is more steady. I like to keep some Christmas and autumn decor, but I don’t have space or the desire to store items for all the other holidays. If I can make it and recycle the decor when I’m finished, I consider that a holiday decorating win. Here are 5 easy Halloween decorating projects that are low-on-cost, high-on-impact and (mostly) recyclable. I should note that after I wrote this post, I was doing a little fact checking. Yes, I do aim…
MultiTasking Fail and a Rope Planter
Moms of the world, I hope I’m not the only one think you can relate to this scenario. One simple thing you have to do. That’s it. One. simple. thing. And you pick a time to sneak away to do the one simple thing when both kids are entertaining themselves. They are old enough to do that now – thank goodness. My one simple thing was to do something with this planter. It was pink and I started to paint it, which I realized was not going to help. This needed to be a complete cover up job if I wanted to keep the planter. But the project goes sideways…
Pom Pom Initial Gift Bag
I confess. I’m a gift bag re-user. I’m sure you are all SO shocked to hear this news. Reusing gift bags has its limits though. Especially when your kid notices Santa uses the same gift bags that mom uses for birthdays. EEK! That’s just one of the reasons why I keep a stash of plain gift bags on hand. White or brown paper bags work for every occasion. Girl birthday, boy birthday, teacher gift, special gift from the jolly man in a red suit, etc. The other and perhaps larger part of why I like having plain gift bags on hand is that I have fun decorating them. No surprise there.…
