rock stories

I was inspired by this driftwood art.  It was so fun and colorful.  But since I don't have any driftwood around I decided to make my art on rocks for my kids to play with in their sand box.  We made a few different "stories" that we are going to paint with our cousins at a little family get together that is coming up.
Here's our fairy tale rocks.  I used my inspiration from the driftwood art.

Here's the story of the three little pigs.  I loved this art work I saw here.

 And my kids wanted a pet shop, so here it is.

I think they are so cute and can't wait until the kids paint them up.  They are going to be so cute.

a cup a day...

...keeps the dishwasher empty!I've seen so many cute ideas out there for how to have a place in the kitchen so that kids use only 1 cup a day.  I've loved them all, but wasn't sure how I wanted to do this myself....until I went through that pile of great antique boxes from my mother-in-law.
I found this beauty and she was perfect for the task (the words on it couldn't be more perfect either!) :). 

My kids are great at choosing a cup each morning and then keeping it in their box.  This is also helping us be better at drinking out of cups and not just water bottles and sippies!

These cups are life savers.  They are so cute and fun.  The kids get excited about choosing a different one each day.  They were in a huge bin (or can be found in the party section) at WalMart and were $.87 each.  We bought a bunch.

daddy's day

We had a nice quiet father's day this year.  It was so nice.  My husband woke up to some cute homemade gifts that his kids were so proud of.  I got these cute bag ideas from here and the cute card from here.

He got a great homemade "back rub" shirt from the kids.  We drew some roads on it for their monster trucks to drive around on to massage his back.  They included some of their favorite destinations on there like our house, the lake, the park, WalMart, Grandma's house, the treasure museum, the train yard, Disneyland...  It was fun to make and they did great art work

They also gave him some "pop its" and told him that he's the best "pops" ever!

I then interviewed each of them and they filled out this questionaire about their dad.  We got some cute responses that will be fun to look back on.

laundry room

I have been wanting to figure out a way to make my laundry room look a little cuter.  It seems to be the place I just dump and stash and hide things.

 I "went shopping" at my in-laws and found these amazing wooden boxes.  They are so great!   A little stinky and a little dirty, but awesome!  True treasures.

The newspaper lining them was dated January 2, 1950!  What treasures!  The advertisements in them were so fun to see!

So after a little cleaning (okay, a lot) they were good to go.  I love how they look. 

I still need to label my detergent jars and I want to build a table top to go over my machines, but everything around here happens in baby steps.  So probably in another few years that will be done too! :)

tool box = book box

If there is one thing our house does not lack it is books and bookshelves.  But we didn't have any place to keep our library books when we brought them home.

As I mentioned before, I like to "shop" at my in-laws.  I am always able t find the best treasures.  This time I was able to find all of these great wood boxes and tool boxes.

This told tool box made the perfect place to keep our library books...and it looks wonderful too!  Just a little cleaning up and a vynil label and there you go.  It makes me happy every time I see it!

ribbon tie dress and taggie

This dress pattern I made I am in love with.  It is so easy.  I dress can be whipped up in 10 minutes.  Only basic sewing skills are needed.
You just sew the size fabric you need in a tube with the ribbons in the seam on the top.  They sew about an inch down when it is right side out for the elastic to run through.  I added the band of a second fabric on the bottom for fun and the flowers as accessories.
I made this dress for my little niece and I love how it turned out.  The fabric was chosen by my SIL for her nursery, but then she went a different direction, so I told her I'd find something to do with it.

The flower on the dress and the hair flower are just 6 circles of felt folded in thirds and glued in a circle with a fabric covered button in the center.  Again, super easy.  You just have to know how to hot glue!

With the bit of fabric that was left and finding some cute ribbon scraps in my stash I made a little taggie for her since all babies love tags.  I think it turned out so cute and made me want to make one for my little girl, even though she is way passed this stage!

pompom cake

I got to make a cake for my little niece who was turning 1.  Turning 1 is a big thing so I wanted it to be cute and special.  Sadly, I am not a great cake decorator.  I finally came up with this and thought it turned out pretty cute. 

I simply made some yarn balls and glued them onto sticks.  I wish I would have had some scissors to cut some of them down a bit, but when you decor last minute as a clubhouse with no supplies you work with what you've got.

The cake was red velvet and delicious.  It was fun to cut into the cake and find a bright beautiful red cake waiting for you.