12" x 12" Magnetic Memory board

Memory Board

Children's artwork is great, but it takes up so much room on the fridge, especially when it is 3-D.  So I made this memory board for my little boy to hang in his room.  He is really proud to hand up a new picture and have it on display. 

I used a 12"x12" scrapbook frame, a sheet of 12" x 12" magnet board, scrapbook paper, twine, and mini clothes pins to create this.Oh, and any magnets you want.  I plan to make more later...

Start by openeing the frame, insert your desired scrapbook paper ( I cut out his name and attached it to a tag, but left it simple other than that) and metal sheet, then close it up. 

Decorate the clothes pins as you see fit. I modge podged some coordinating paper to mine. Then clip them to your ribbon or twine.  

Attach the twine to the back side of the frame (I used a staple gun). 

Now you are ready to hang it up for your rotating gallery!

Child's Ghost foot painting

Ghost foot painting

Today's activity is ghost foot painting. When you apply the paint to your child's foot, I found it was easiest to have them step in the paint and then step onto the paper, as opposed to them trying to bring the paper up to their foot. 

Attach google eyes (can you tell I love these yet?) and you are ready to display for all to see.

Hand towels for kids

I am all about making life easier.  My kids would wash their hands after using the restroom and when I would go in to check on them/ clean up, the hand towel would be on the floor.  My solution? add a loop to the towels so little hands couldn't pull it off our towel bar. 

Now, we have two towels, the top 'adult' hand towel and the bottom kids towel that cant' be pulled off when they dry their hands in a hurry. 

Why the two towels? Well, I like things to look finished and one towel has kind of a limp appearance. Two is much better!

Cereal box conversion for a storage bin

 It occurred to me that cereal boxes are just the right size to hold our incoming bills and coupons that need to be sorted.  Our counter space is limited and it seems that our 'landing zone' for all of our paper is right where I prep dinner.  These are perfect!

• I started by trimming down the front and top tabs off of each box
• Next, I applied a good coat of modge podge to the front, sides, and inside of each box
• Cover with scrapbook paper
• I chose to embelish mine with the words 'coupon' and 'bills' on the front of each box. 
• Finish each with a sealing coat of modge podge when the base coat is dry

Easy two-tier veggie and fruit basket

Garden Veggies!

Since our garden was really going crazy this year, we needed a place to hold all of the garden abundance.  We have been using a footed fruit tray for years, but not until the other week had it occurred to me to place a dinner plate underneath to double the storage place.  I would love to have a multi-tiered rack, but haven't made it a priority while out shopping. 

Brilliance often comes to me just before bed or while my mind is absent during showers (this is one of my few alone times without kids).  Most of my ideas and revelations come during these moments! *sigh*

Paint Pour Pots

paint drip/ pour pots

Paint pour pots are so easy to do. I had a few terra cotta pots laying around (one had a chip in the bottom), so I fixed the chip, and gave them a makeover.

Directions:

Lay down a plastic bag to protect your surface. Paper will not work as a good amount of paint is left over.
Turn your pots over and place a piece of tape over the drainage hole
Pour enough acrylic paint to cover the bottom. This will be your base color
Add colors. Each time, add just enough paint to cover the bottom. after the addition of the second/ third color, you will see the base coat start to slide down the pot. 
Keep adding the paint until you are happy with the results. 

Note: stop just before you think it is just right as the paint will continue to run. 

Place the project outside to dry and it will be ready to use in 24 hours.

Making the most of space... Closet wrapping station

 Is Santa coming to your home in a few months?  Well, he would appreciate it if he could find the wrapping paper.  I used two IKEA 24" towel bars mounted to the inside of a linen closet door to support my wrapping station.
Then, I used "s" hooks from IKEA and binder clips to hold the wrapping paper. Be sure to clip the paper so it doesn't unravel.

Down below is where we are stashing the bows and ribbon. The baskets were both from IKEA (I love that store for affordable storage options).

I did use an extra hook to hang our gift tags behind the bows against the door.

Price breakdown:

2- 24" towel bars: $2.49 each
1- white office bin - $2.99
1- package of "s" hooks - $1.99
1- wire basket - $5
1 - package of binder clips (I had these on hand)