Ok, each year I see these and each year I say I'm going to make them.
This year I FINALLY did.
And you know what?
They really were super simple
and super adorable!

I had been saving some jars (a couple of baby food jars, jalapeno jars, jelly jars, etc.) and finally decided just to DO IT! I already had paint and black vinyl so I knew I didn't need to run to the store (or come up with any other excuses). :0)

I made sure the jars were completely free of any labels or "gunk". I know there are a lot of ways to do that. I've used Goo Gone, etc. BUT the easiest (and best) way for me is simple: scalding HOT water with dish soap in it. Get the water seriously hot, squirt soap in while it is filling your sink, then put the jars in. Let em' soak for a good while...20 minutes or so...and then use your hands to rub em' clean. :0)

First I did plain orange, straight from the bottle of paint. I used regular craft/acrylic paint in the little bottles. I poured some into the chosen jars. I then held the jar over a little bowl (LITTLE bowl...like one you would use for a side of salsa...) and slowly tilted the jar down while turning it. Do that until it coats the INSIDE of the jar completely. Then give it a good shake to get remaining paint out. I did that a lot, and hard, and there was still paint in it. But that's ok, it will dry.

Next I grabbed that little bowl and added some more orange paint and a little white paint, until it was a nice light orange. Then I repeated the same fill/tilt/turn/pour to coat a couple more jars. After that I used the paint left in the bowl and added more orange and some red. It made a darker color. I repeated the same steps with a couple more jars. :0)
Then I did that with plain white paint too.

VOILA!

I let the jars sit OPEN while I took the lids out to the garage.
I spray painted the lids black.

Then I sat down at my Silhouette and picked out some jack-o-lantern faces and designed what I liked, as many as I needed. I used some black vinyl and let my Silhouette work it's magic.

I simply peeled and stuck the faces on the jars!
I let the jars sit open for at least 2 more days to let them dry completely.

On Halloween I put little battery-operated tea lights in each jar and used them in the center of one of our tables.
ADORABLE!
(this photo only shows 5 of the finished one, there were 7 in all...the other two were on a different table)
And for me...FREE!
I already had ALL of the supplies on hand!
(sorry I didn't take more photos of the process...)

I don't know why I waited so long to do them, they were easy and cute!
:0)
~robin

I LOVE decorating for the seasons and each year I am intrigued by what new additions I can make. I have a plate rack/display in a little nook of my living room and I really like to change out the plates for each season.
I didn't have any that really worked for fall SO I knew I needed to figure something out.

This is what I came up with and I LOVE them!

First I got plain white plates at the Dollar Store. 3 plates = $3.
Nice.

Then I picked up some big artificial leaves at Michael's...$1.50 for a pack of 5

I grabbed my Rubbermaid container of brown glaze (glaze paint mixed with some brown paint...the same mixture I use for the furniture I redo). I used a papertowel and simply rubbed some glaze on the plates. I didn't use much and I rubbed in a circular motion, rubbing until I liked how much/how little was on the plate.

Then I simply hot glued the leaves in place.

That's it!
I was going to go over it all with a clear coat, mod podge...or something but I think it would have taken the glaze off. SO I left them as they were.
They are simple yet they look perfect!

Three plates for less than $4.50
:0)

Hi! There may be ONE of you "out there" reading this and that's ok....heck, there may not be anyone out there reading this!
But that's my fault.
I disappeared
AGAIN

BUT I'm back
AGAIN

I've been doing lots of projects around my house so I want to get those posted
and maybe catch you up on me and my kiddos
but mainly, the projects.

see you soon!
~robin

I had a WONDERFUL day today. I had tons of fun planning for today too...I really did. This year I was really in to caleb's birthday party. I wanted it to be cute, fun, and all about Caleb. I put photos of him out from each year, his scrapbooks out, his baby books, etc. He picked out the foods and snacks, drinks, etc. I think I really enjoyed the planning and prep because I really was embracing what a party was/is all about...celebrating that special person. In this case it was Caleb and "8" was hitting me pretty hard.
8 sounds so "old" compared to the first 7...at least to me it does. I simply can't believe he is 8. I can't believe how fast the past 7 years has gone. I love him sooooo very much. I am overcome today with how very much I love this little guy....well, big boy. I have been singing "You are My Sunshine" to him since he was a baby, along with so many other routines and traditions.
I think he really enjoyed today too. I pray that he will always enjoy his birthdays and we will always take the time to remember what they are all about....celebrating, remembering, and embracing.

Happy Birthday Caleb
I love you more than you can ever know

On the way home from swim lessons today I got pretty frustrated. Frustrated with my kiddos...the constant tattling, the fussing with each other, the overall lack of kindness and love being shown for one another. It's just exhausting!

SO...I decided to challenge them.

I told them that they were going to have some challenges to complete that they had to do TOGETHER. Completely together with sharing ideas and explaining things. I got em' all pumped up about it. :0)

This was the first set of challenges:
all of these challenges used their wooden blocks:
1~ build a structure using 10-15 blocks that is at least 12 inches tall (I gave them a tape measure)
...if there is any arguing or unkind words, I would knock down the structure for them to start over... (it didn't happen though)

2~build a structure using no more than 15 blocks that is at least 18 inches tall. This time they had to take turns, one after the other, one by one

3~build a structure using no more than 10 blocks that is at least 18 inches tall. They had to take turns and talk/ask/explain before each block they put on. This was great because it helped them understand each other. (I sat nearby for this one to help). For example, Caleb wanted to put a long block upright....Georgia didn't like it BUT Caleb said "Georgia, turning it this way makes it a lot taller". She then understood better and was ok with it. :0)

They did GREAT!

The next challenge though...they are still working on...it's not nearly as easy nor going as well.
~Draw a PICTURE that has at least 6 different shapes and 15 different colors. They have to be part of a picture though...not just shapes drawn. The picture has to tell me who (characters) and when/where (setting).

Oh my oh my...the arguing and tears came full force. I made them talk for at least 3 minutes, nobody was allowed to pick up a crayon yet. They had to talk about what they wanted in the picture. That went pretty well. But once they started drawing, Caleb wanted to take control. "NO, I don't want any people in it. We always draw people". "No, the stem of the flower has to be green." "(scratch out)...birds doN'T have beaks like that"....
Ugh.
tears
tears
tears
fits.


I stopped them every now and then to talk about compromise.
I stopped them again to discuss that the picture is NOT Caleb's picture. It is supposed to be made by both of them, including their ideas and wants.

After the 3rd (and longest) discussion, it seemed to finally work. They are currently drawing nicely and talking to each other. :0)

I think this is going to be a part of our daily activities.... "challenge time".

What about your kiddos? Is the summer bringing new challenges and opportunities?
:0)

The easiest project I have done lately...by far....is to make hooded towels! SO easy and adorable!

My kids have hooded towels that they use EVERY time they take a bath or shower. My Sis gave them to the kids for Christmas YEARS ago and we still love them (and wouldn't want to live without them!). Every summer we spend a lot of time in the water, at pools, etc. and I'm always dragging around beach towels. Beach towels are too big for the kids to really use well and they hate carrying them. So this year I decided to incorporate our daily tool into our summer lives....hooded towels! Since they are so easy for bathing, they are sure to make pool trips easier too!

Here are the directions that I followed and it's super easy to do! :0) (I also made the tote they show for Georgia and a different little bag for Caleb)

This is how easy it is:
buy a towel and hand towel of your choice. You will only use HALF of the HAND TOWEL so if you want to make two hooded towels then buy two bath towels but one hand towel. OR you can make a cute little bag with the left over hand towel half (that's what I did). :0)

Cut the hand towel in half vertically...well, lay it out horizontally and cut UP through the center...does that make sense?
Fold that half in half (good sides facing each other) and sew a curved line the straight across. (go to the folded side, go down about 3 inches from the top and start there. Sew in a curve up towards the top and then straight across.
(this is actually after I sewed it once with a straight stitch and was about to go over it again with a zig zag stitch. Hopefully you can somewhat see the curve and line)

(I also trimmed off the excess ...especially at the corner... so it wasn't too bulky)
Turn it right side out.


Find the center of your bath towel and pin the bottom edge of the hood to it. The bottom of your hood should already be hemmed...the hem that was already on the towel, same for your bath towel. SO, the center of the hood, meets the center of the towel and you pin them together.


Sew straight across with a zig zag stitch.

That's it! :0)
Here it is:
Georgia's was easiest because the towel had the same print/pattern on both sides. Caleb's didn't....and I forgot about that! SO, I didn't intend to make the hood opposite of the towel NOR did I intend to make the bag stripes on one side, solid on the other! BUT...it matches the towel and HE LOVES THEM THAT WAY! Gotta love when accidents turn out better than what was intended! :0)



Now, for Georgia I used her left over hand towel to make a little tote like the one on the DIY tutorial. She loves it!

For Caleb I wanted to make him a bag that was a little less girlie. So I simply cut off the good edges and folded it in half. Then I took some ribbon that coordinated but didn't seem to "pretty" and pinned it in place at the top (both tops). I sewed those on. Then I sewed it together, sewing around the other three sides. I turned it right-side-out and that was it!

they keep their goggles and a water bottle or snack inside their bag. Now they can easily carry their towel and necessities without any complaining! It makes us all happier! :0)

(Jen...if you happen to read this, I promise I am making yours TOMORROW!!!) :0)

My husband and I have very different views on what makes a store a great store and what "Best Buy" means to us. My husband's FAVORITE store is Best Buy. My favorite store is Goodwill, where I find all of MY best buys! :0)

Today I want to share one of them with you.

I walked into Goodwill not too long ago...ok, a couple months ago really but who is counting? I fell in love with this piece before I even completely saw it! I saw it from the side/back and wasn't sure exactly what it was but I knew something important: it was different than any other furniture piece I have AND there was a good chance that it was pretty inexpensive (I was at Goodwill after all!) :0)
When I first saw it though there was a couple standing at it, looking it over. All I could think was "Walk away, walk away, walk away....and as SOON as you do, I'm grabbing that tag off of it!". Sure enough, I walked over close and waited...they turned and walked away (I think I gave them time for approximately 3 steps away) and I grabbed that tag. THEN I looked the piece over better. I lifted it and found it to be heavy and made of solid wood, I noticed the price...$34!!! (that's good in my book), and there was nothing broken on it! YEA YEA YEA!

I paid for it, had it loaded in my car, and brought it home so I could transform it (2 months later...but again, who is counting?).

I was so excited about the piece I showed it to my neighbors and friends. I was happy that other people had the same excited and awed reaction that I did.

I finally decided to tackle this baby! I knew I wanted to paint it and put a color wash on it. I wasn't sure what colors but I knew that first I needed to figure out where it was going to go in my home. I brought it inside and figured that out, which helped me decide on what colors to paint it.

First I primed it. I thought I was going to sand it...I decided to give primer a try. SPRAYPAINT primer at that....it took two cans, a couple of coats...and the priming was done!

The I decided to paint it green. This is the green that I used in my guest bathroom many moons ago, it's called Herb Tea. I love it in my bathroom so I figured it can't be too bad. I painted just one good coat on it.

Last I had to figure out how I wanted to "age" it...I saw all over blogland about glazing furniture. You use 4 parts glaze to 1 part paint. I ran to Home Depot for a quart of glaze and talked to one of my favorite employees there...she does a lot of refinishing of furniture and she told me how "addictive" color glazing can be! She told me how she does it: a chip brush, dry painting, and sometimes a little rubbing with a cloth....and I got what I needed. I decided to use the dark brown paint that I have left from painting my formal dining (we don't use it for that though) room.

I grabbed a rubbermaid container (so I could close it up and keep the leftover paint) and mixed the glaze and paint. Super easy.

Then I started painting. I kind of dry brushed, kind of not....did a lot of rubbing off with a wash cloth. It wasn't hard BUT I did learn a lesson...I started painting around 8:00 AM and it was going great. Then it got much warmer outside and the glaze started drying MUCH faster by 9:00 AM....so it didn't turn out perfect. I have some areas that are darker than I wanted, some areas that needed to be rubbed better.... but they dried before I could get to them.

Here is a leg of the bench...before the color glaze and after the color glaze...

BUT it was my first time doing a color glaze, first time doing any sort of painting technique on furniture...and I LOVE the result. It looks so much better! I just love it.


When I was almost finished Caleb came outside (I paint on the front porch) and said "Mom, it looks a lot OLDER now since you painted like that, it looks OLD!" I smiled and said "YEA! Good, it's supposed to!" He was so glad that I liked his comment and he laughed that I wanted it to be that way.

Here ya go...before and afters....



Thanks for stopping by!
:0)