Bad Mommy, Cute Pictures

Bias Tape Pillow Tutorial

A few months ago, I spied a pillow at my favorite store.  I would have bought it, too, but I'm just too cheap to spend $20 on a pillow that you can't even wash.

So, of course, I sped home to re-create it.  It was so easy, and cheap.  And kinda fun, too.  If you're in the market for a fun new pillow, try my

Supplies Needed:

old pillow or pillow form

1 yard-ish fabric (I used duck canvas)

2 packages of bias tape

1. Follow Martha's method of creating an envelope pillowcase.

2. Before you sew the envelope together, lay out the bias tape in the pattern you like.  Put the pillow at the top so you have an idea of what will be on the front of the pillow cover.  Note:  the sacked-out baby in the background is not required, but suggested.

 

3. Stitch the bias tape on.

4. Fold the cover and continue with Martha's envelope tutorial.

 

Tada!

Happy Birthday to My Other Dad!

This is a plentiful month for birthdays.

Especially those of the grandpa variety.

We love you, Grandpa N!

Happy Birthday to My Dad!

We love you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I'm thankful for so many things, but above all, my sweet children and husband.

And now, for your Thanksgiving entertainment, I present to you.....

On the First Day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me:

printable holiday gift tags!

This year, my goal is to be 'wrapped and done by December 1'.  I'm right on track!

Here are the gift tags I used this year, which I created to coordinate with my gift wrap.  Helllloooooo I-have-a-photoshop-addiction.

Here's the image, if you'd like to use my tags.  Just right-click and choose "Save As" to save it to your computer.

 

Check back throughout the holiday season for the rest of my holiday series!

Family Home Evening

When it comes to living the gospel, there are so many things that we are so bad at.  But one thing we've really been enjoying lately is Family Home Evening.  Basically, we set aside one evening a week to spend as a family.  We typically sing some songs, have a quick lesson, and then play a game or make a craft.  Oh, and treats.  Always treats.

The Sunbean has really been getting into FHE the past few months, and it is so cute.  She gets so excited on Mondays, and loves to help me think of a game or craft.  Her favorite treat is to put some chocolate chips in muffin cups for everyone.  Love that girly.

Yesterday, we made some little pinecone Christmas trees.  They absolutely didn't turn out cute at all, but it was fun to craft with my family.

I just wanted to take a minute to remember this little moment.  Lately I've been feeling like time is zipping by...I know that all too soon I'll be wishing for these crazy days of laundry and messy faces and sticky floors.

Coming Soon....

Some Pinteresting Socks

99.9% of my leisure time is spent on Pinterest.  And I know I'm not alone.

I kept seeing these pins for cute boot socks with lace and buttons.  I loved the mix of trendy and vintage.  Since they are going for an average of $40 on etsy, I figured I could make some easily enough.

And!  It's a quick project.  Behold:

It's so quick, in fact, that I didn't take any pictures.

Supplies Needed:

one yard of lace

knee socks

buttons

1. Cut the lace in half so you have two half-yard pieces.

2. Machine-sew them onto the top of the socks (make sure you stretch and sew at the same time).

3. Sew the buttons on.

Done.

So far, they haven't gotten good reviews from my critics, but I love them and that's all that matters.

Today I'm wearing them with boots, skinny jeans, and a sweater.  Cozy for a Saturday.

Household Happenings

I hate it when I realize that it's been a whole week since I've blogged.  So I'll give you a brain dump and post a fun little project later this week.

• First, everyone around me is having babies!  It's so fun!  Yesterday, I went to visit my sweet college roomie and her sweet baby girl.  As a bonus, I got to check out her adorable house.  As a bonus on top of the bonus, my kids slept in the car.  Here's that sweet baby:

• Then, another dear friend of mine had a baby on Sunday morning, AND my high school bestie had a baby tonight.  When I go home for Turkey Day, I'm going to have so many babies to squeeze!
• Speaking of squeezing, that's Little Dude's newest pastime.  Squeezing the fat on my upper arms.  Ouch!  Perhaps this will be the final encouragement I need to drop the remainder of this weight I'm carrying around.  Just to give you the proper picture, I'm currently eating a cookie.
• The Sunbean officially *really* wants something for Christmas.  She saw this little Hello Kitty umbrella and must have it.  It's at a store that is all the way across town, and I need to get back over there to get it, since they only have one.  I can't go when she's with me {duh}, so I have to wait until MacGyver gets home.  But rush-hour traffic in big city + darkness + baby = little motivation.  Tomorrow.
• Are you watching Revenge on Wednesdays?  It's on in 4 minutes, and I can't wait.  I'm totally obsessed.
• Speaking of obsessed, I'm obsessed with finishing my Christmas shopping before December 1st.  It's an OCD sickness, really.

Happy Good-TV Night!

Homebucks

It should come as no surprise to you that I've completely trained my 3-year-old to love Starbucks.  It is our easiest bribery tool, and also works well for rewards.  And snacks.  And lunch.

The Sunbean at a tea party at Starbucks on her 3rd birthday.

Sometimes, she gets a hankering for Starbucks when it just isn't possible to go, like when our fun money is spent for the week or on a Sunday.  So MacGyver and I play a little game called 'Homebucks'.  We make a 'brown milk' and eat a treat.

This last Sunday, it was me who needed the Homebucks.  I really wanted one of those giant oatmeal cookies from Starbucks.  A little Pinterest-addiction later, and I found this recipe.  Oh man, it was a dead ringer for Starbucks.  I even made them giant-size.  I used the berry medley from Trader Joe's, instead of the raisin/cranberry mix the recipe calls for.

They were so tasty.  I'm only a tiny bit embarrassed to tell you that between MacGyver and I, we ate the entire batch on Sunday night.  Calories don't count on Sundays.

Chalk it Up to Goodwill

Have I told you about the Goodwill stores here?  They are amazing.  I hated the Goodwills where we used to live.  They were skanky and gross and expensive.  But here?  They're still skanky and gross, and sometimes expensive, but they've got good stuff.  What kind of stuff?

Well, for one, Target donates all of the clearance items that don't sell.  Yes.  You read that correctly.  It's amazing.  So the kids and I swing by the local store at least once a week.

When we first moved here, we didn't have any of our furniture.  Still don't, actually.  We're {patiently?} waiting for our house to sell.  We lived for 27 days {not that I was counting} in the 'resort camping' lifestyle.  I'm not a fan.  We now have a king-sized bed and a lovely new sofa.

Before that lovely sofa arrived, I wanted to DIY some type of coffee table.  I decided that I'd know it when I saw it, and headed off to the old GW.  That's what the cool kids are calling it these days:  GW.  I came home with this beauty:

MacGyver did not share my vision.  Also, that is not our lovely new sofa.  That is a crappy Ikea thing we got years ago.  And a lawn chair.  Ah, memories.

But I knew she had good bones, and decided to make the top a chalkboard.  I knew the adults kids would love it.  I scampered off to Lowe's to grab some chalkboard paint and nearly had an aneurysm.  $25 for an itty-bitty can?  No thanks.  I decided to try Martha Stewart's method for chalkboard paint.

 I very much suggest using a throw-away container for mixing.  The obvious choice for mixing would be a paint stick.  I didn't have one, so I used both a straw and a plastic spoon.

Since I really wanted the actual look of a chalkboard, I went with a classic gray color, but you can do any color you want.  I bought the 94-cent carton of grout, and a little $2 trial size of gray paint, so this was a pretty cheap project.  For the legs, I decided to add some color and go bright yellow.  I had a coupon for a free tester from Benjamin Moore, so I scouted out the local Benjamin Moore retailer for that.

The whole project was pretty easy.  Here's the finished table:

The verdict?  We all love it.  The Sunbean loves drawing on it, and we think it will be great for keeping score while playing games with friends.  The space still needs some serious work, but we're happy with what we've got so far.

Here's a cost breakdown for you:

table (Goodwill):  $10
grout (Lowe's):  $.94
gray paint (Lowe's):  $1.94
fresh foam brush (Lowe's):  $.98
yellow paint (Creative Paints):  free
supplies:  already owned

total:  $13.86

Winning!

It's Genetic

 Me, 1984

The Sunbean, 2009

 

Little Dude, Yesterday

What can I say?  Socks are tasty.

Spickity-Span

For a few glorious days at the beginning of our move, we had cable. I made it my job to watch TLC and HGTV so I could get my fix.

While exposed to the larger repertoire of commercials, I saw an ad for the Libman Freedom Mop. Once I realized my Swiffer was still at the old house, I grabbed the Libman mop on my next Target run.

Seriously, I've not been so pleased with a product in a long, long time. I love that the solution bottle is refillable, and that the cleaning pad is washable. I spent 15 bucks once, and now I'm done.

Plus, it works really well. It cleans my disgusting I-have-two-kids-a-husband-and-crazy-hair floor.

The folks at Libman didn't pay me for this (they don't know I exist), I just really like it.

You would, too.