Changing Table -Turned Dog Bed

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across a beat up, run down changing table on the side of the road. It was no longer safe to put a baby on. It was missing two shelves, and was super rickety. Because it was made of real wood and had interesting spindles, I felt the need to bring it home and make something out of it.

The hubs was obviously unhappy that I was bringing more junk home;o) Story of our lives, right?

Anyway, I thought it would make a perfect pet bed.

 This is how it started out. 

I used an electric hand saw and chopped the legs off. That was definitely an experience. Note to self...use a sharp blade next time. I was literally shaking so hard that I had blurred vision while cutting this piece because the blade wouldn't cut through the wood:o) 

I sanded down the feet to get a nice edge.

I then ripped the safety buckles off of the bottom.

And then spray painted it.

The cushion is made from painters' canvas and two large pillows from my couch in the bonus room.

I made the cover removable by adding a zipper to the back. That way when it gets dirty, I can just throw it in the wash.

Not bad for a roadside rescue?

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Lazy Days of Summer

Good Tuesday to you all. We are having a great rainy summer afternoon. This is the first time I have felt semi-normal since last Thursday. I had to have two hernias repaired in my belly button, so I am slowly recovering. Today was the first time that the kids and I were home alone, so I needed to find things that wouldn't require any heavy lifting, and that would keep us busy.

Painting is always a good go-to for kids. And I haven't picked up a brush in quite some time.

This morning we worked our magic on some canvas.

 Here is a closer view of what I came up with...a little lamb..or sheep..whichever:o) He is perched upon the mantle for now. 

 After painting we made homemade ice cream in the living room with an ice cream ball. I was quite impressed with this little contraption. It actually works:o)

 You can find one of these Ice Cream Balls Here. We got lucky and found ours at a yard sale for $5...still in the box:o)

After naps, we went outside just before the rain came, and dug into our yummy afternoon snack.

 Smiles all around:o)

Just so you all know, I am jumping back on the crafting wagon again now that things have been forced to a snails pace...just the way I like it. We only have 6 weeks before school starts and I want to take advantage of the time I have with my kids and their creativity. So stay tuned for crafty kid fun:o)

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Mr. Sock Bunny

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Ours was a bit uneventful. Both of the kids had kind of a down weekend. E had a fever all day Saturday..have no idea why. And S.R. has had a bad cough and runny nose. We just hung out at the house all day while they tried to feel better. 

So while they were recovering, I needed something to do with my hands. 

I grabbed a pair of socks that were too big for S.R. and transformed them into a little bunny.

 An arm-less bunny, but he's still a bunny. E saw his little tail and said, "aw look, he's got a powder puff." Too cute;o)

I'm hoping to make a few more of these as soon as I find some more socks;o)...and they will have arms!!!

Happy Monday to you all!!

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Table Transformation for Free

I am slowly getting the house back to normal after the birthday festivities....slowly:o)

 As I was cleaning and doing the 9 millionth load of laundry today, I had the urge to just change something in my house. I am getting the itch to make some major changes in my home, BIG changes...terrible timing! We are doing a lot in the backyard right now, so the inside needs to be left alone.

So to kill the "urge," I went shopping in my garage and created a FREE mini makeover.

This is the table in my living room that is a dust collector. I found this antique table at a yard sale last spring. It desperately needs the paint removed, but I just can't stand the thought of torturing myself like that:o) So there it has stayed..all chippity. Is that a word? Probably not..anyway...

 I was given this table top from my mother's friend. It was once apart of an antique Hoosier cabinet...it had seen better days. She completely disassembled it, and gave me this table top.

I had every intention of putting legs on it and turning it into a sofa table...really I did!

However, me being the "lazy" that I am, just wiped it down and laid it on top of the dust collector table. Now I have an even bigger dust collector table...and I LOVE IT!

 Not bad for free, huh? And now I can go a few more days without having to completely overhaul my house:o)

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Vintage Pillow Case Dress

I thought I would share a dress I made today. One of the outreach programs for our Homemakers' club this year is to make Pillow Case Dresses for the Little Dresses for Africa program.

We needed a "prototype" to show at the county board meeting, and I was asked to make one. I had this beautiful vintage pillow case just hanging in the closet, and I knew it would be great for the demo dress & perfect for my S.R.

 The needlework on the bottom of the dress is all done by hand...it's beautiful!

 Instead of tying a bow on either shoulder, I decided to go with the "less-fuss" approach, and go for the one shoulder bow.

I can't wait for S.R. to wear this dress.
She squealed when she saw it. Hopefully that same enthusiasm will be there when spring arrives;o)

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Drive-In Movie Night

Last night for Valentines Day, we celebrated at home with a Drive-In movie night. I made these Cars for the kids to sit in using some cardboard boxes, acrylic paint and foam sheets.

The kids LOVED them, and the hubs called me the best mom ever;o)

They were geared up and ready to go with their bean bags and travel pillows tucked inside for comfort.

 I attached little storage bins to the sides with clips to hold their food and drinks.

 Can you tell that S.R. wants to show off her Valentine card from her brother...when she opened it, she squealed and jumped up and down...unicorns are her favorite right now:o)

 ...and purple:o) Can you tell what the licence plate is supposed to say?

 E called his a hot wheels car:o)

And this was the concession area:o) These were some leftovers from E's 3rd birthday party...the decorations that is:o)

Our spread...

This is what was hanging under the refreshments sign. I just used publisher and one of the templates.

 And I had this hanging on the front door so that the hubs would know where to go when he arrived home...I found it online somewhere, copied and pasted in Publisher and added what I needed.

We had a fantastic evening, and the movie was really funny. I'd say that this was a great way to spend Valentines!! I hope our was as great as ours:o)

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Little Dusters

Yesterday I stayed home from services because S.R. was sick with a cold. We had our own little Bible class and discussed this week's  memory verse. I printed out one of the coloring sheets that I linked back to, and then I decided we also needed a craft.

I read her the story of Dorcas, found in Acts 9.  We talked about how Dorcas was a helper and what it means for us to be helpers. 

For our "helper" craft, I made these little dusting mitts out of felt, and let her decorate them with googly eyes and yarn. 

I had her lay her hand on a folded sheet of felt. I used her hand as the template and just traced around it. I cut around the lines, and then stitched the two pieces together, leaving the hole at the bottom. We made one for E as well, so he wouldn't feel left out:o)

E decided he wanted to be a helper this morning, and dusted a little for me. Isn't he a sweetie?

This was a super simple and fast craft for the kids and they have really enjoyed using their dusting mitts...and I have enjoyed them as well...makes for a cleaner house;o)

If you would like to make these, and don't have a sewing machine, using tacky glue or fabric glue should do the trick as well.

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Free-To-Me Crafts: Basket Weave Hair Bow Holder

The other day I saw the cutest tutorial on how to make a hair bow holder using ribbon and a picture frame. I thought that I had bookmarked it, but apparently not. I can't seem to find it anywhere. It was so cute!!

So I definitely cannot take credit for this idea...if any of you know who created it, let me know so I can do a link back, please!

Anyway, we were having an issue with S.R.'s hair bow holder. We were running out of room.

Here is what I made for her to fix the problem.

This project was of no cost to me. I had all of the materials on hand. A friend of mine gave me this picture frame a few months back. I am slowly becoming the person who everyone wants to give their junk to, and I secretly LOVE it!!! Hubs...not so much;o)

Any-whoodles, she was a sad little frame:o( 

She needed some love, so I painted her with Krylon's Premium Silver Foil Metallic Spray Paint. It was the only full bottle of spray paint I had:o) I have a ton of ribbon my mother gave me, so I used coordinating ribbons and created a basket weave pattern and hot glued the ends just inside the lip of the frame where the glass usually rests.

This project took me 30 minutes to complete after painting, and was FREE! You really can't beat that:o)

Now we have more room for new hair bows!!

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