Handcrafted - Our Family Unit

Handcrafted

January30th

No Comments

File Folder Felt Camping Game

Posted in: Handcrafted, Sewing

I made this file folder game for Kade back in August when we were getting ready to go on our big camping trip to the Giant Sequoias and Yosemite, but it continues to be a huge hit. I figured if he enjoys it this much, your kids might too. It’s SUPER simple and easy, so hopefully you can whip one up before camping season starts in a few months.

I started with 2 file folders and a few scraps of felt that I had lying around. To begin, I cut some random scenic shapes out of the felt and sewed them directly onto the first folder in layers. Then for the “cover” I used the second file folder as a stencil and cut out one large piece of brown felt. Now because I had already sewn the felt on the inside, the first folder was a bit thicker than the second. So to enable the second folder to give a bit and wrap around everything without pulling, I split it down the center fold. Then I stitched the large piece of felt to the now 2 pieces of folder. I then attached a square of felt to act as an outside pocket for the pieces, and then finally stitched the two folders together back-to-back. Voila! An outdoor scene!

Next, I googled “animal silhouettes” and “camping silhouettes” and came up with 2 sets to play with, separately or combined. Above are my wild mountain animals. We were going to bear country so I cut out three different bears, these ended up being the only bears we saw on our entire camping trip. Below is the camping set. I just sketched out what I couldn’t find on Google and modified to what I new we had (ie. Jeep SUV and pop-out trailer). My caffeine addiction apparently knows know bounds, as I included a coffee pot and cup as essential camping supplies. I also decided to take some freedom with my creative expression and dressed “myself” in a red sundress. I’m pretty sure I’ve never worn a dress in the wilderness, but who’s to say it can’t happen.

Either way, Kade seems to love it. He makes up stories about the animals chasing each other and how they try to hide in our camp. It’s probably one of the simplest and cheapest toys we have and still a hit. So embrace the felt, succumb to the creativity and cut out your story – it’s sure to be fun!
January21st

1 Comment

Pantry Organization with Vinyl Labels

Posted in: HouseWifery, My Kitchen, Refurbishing, Slice of Life

Welcome to my sad, crowded, disorganized mess of a pantry. It has needed some TLC for quite some time, but I never got around to doing anything about it until last September I couldn’t take it anymore. That’s when I saw a couple of pantry redos on Pinterest and got inspired. So I set to work organizing, pulled things out, thought about new placement, emptied ugly store containers to fill labeled Tupperware that I had on hand and stuffed everything back in. Sadly, the picture above is what it looked like AFTER I “organized”. All that energy and the result was that Kyle couldn’t find his cereal in the morning because it was on a different shelf! So, deflated, I walked away for a few weeks. Then my mom came in October and re-inspired me. We went to IKEA, land of great cheap organization, and talked paint color and label design. My Silhouette Cameo didn’t arrive in time to do the vinyl labels with her, but I started on those a few weeks later. Right before Christmas, Kyle convinced me to paint and get rid of the tacky contact paper and finally this week, I finished painting the shelves. After 6 months, it’s finally complete and I love it!

A little paint and a few cute containers and organizational tools made such a difference!

One of the best ideas was to use the door space. Although Kyle raised his eye brows a bit at the red baskets (his quote after I told him what I wanted to use them for, “OK, but what are they supposed to be used for?”). And I LOVE having the spices there, hanging pretty on the door, easy to see, easy to reach. Perfect! I told Kyle it was what I’d “always wanted” and he said if he’d known a magnetic board and tin cans would make me this happy, he would have done it a long time ago. Lesson: Better Communication – the key to every good marriage! Oh well.

The Silhouette was a godsend. It was so easy to use and I loved how the vinyl labels turned out. It had a little trouble doing the tiny labels for the spice cans, not because it wouldn’t cut the vinyl, just that the little bits it was cutting out tended to get caught in the blade. It was more trouble to apply the labels than make them. I’ve read that transfer paper makes this part easier, so if I ever need to do this again, I think I will go that route.

One thing that I think made my pantry so ugly before is all the little packages of junk that make it look like the baking aisle threw up on the shelf. So I bought these cute boxes at IKEA and labeled them too. Now the popcorn salt, taco seasoning, bread crumbs, marshmallows, etc are all hidden away and not cluttering up my pretty pantry.

Now for a little Before & After:

Top Shelf – before everyday items like cereal and bread were hidden among all the unopened Costco stash. After, it’s reserved for the unopened food items and a few big container spices.

2nd Shelf – before the stacking of stuff drove me crazy whenever I needed something on the bottom, but after I put those white wire shelves to better use and fixed my container issue with new coordinating ones.

Third Shelf – before I could never find the can I was looking for and always bought more of what I already had by mistake. After, the can organizer and red boxes cleaned up the clutter.

4th Shelf – I’m not sure why I don’t have a before pic but the after speaks for itself.

Bottom Shelf – before it was packed with stash items always looked cluttered. After, most things are hidden in the black container and what’s out can be neatly stacked. And who doesn’t love a basket of root veggies, right?

I’ve finally completed what may have been the most unnecessarily long project EVER. But I really do enjoy it. The red makes me happy when I open the door and I love that it’s so much more usable now. Shoulda done this a long time ago…
July27th

2 Comments

MADE Pants for Kade

Posted in: Handcrafted, Sewing, Slice of Life

So I did a bit of sewing over the last couple months – attributing to part of the blogging hiatus. I can only do so many things at once and I’m learning to accept that. I came across this adorable pattern for boy’s pants at MADE and after reading her super easy instructions decided it was time I tried to sew a piece of clothing. She had this way of writing that convinced me that even I could make these pants, so it was all I could do not to run out at 9:30 at night to buy fabric. However, once I actually brought fabric home I realized that I might need to slow down, re-read the instructions, and perhaps try to earn the confidence rather than believe it from a blogger who had no idea I was a sleep deprived maniac.

So after a second trip to the fabric store, I had this on my floor. It was all very exciting, but that’s the way things stayed for about a month.

Thank goodness inspiration struck again and I started sewing. It actually is a wonderfully simple pattern that once I got the hang of, worked really well. I love that my tall skinny boy finally has pants that FIT him. He’s a 4T in length, but is no where near that around his little waist and butt. And those adjustable pants, although a nice try, just gather up around him like some sort of broomstick skirt. So finally, thanks to MADE, we have success!

Being moody…

Being goofy…

Being cool.
January24th

1 Comment

Happy 100th Post!

Posted in: Handcrafted, Refurbishing, Sewing, Slice of Life, Woodworking

YEA! We did it!!

I just sat down to think about blogging tonight and realized that this is my 100th post! I gotta tell you, I’m kind of excited about this. The last fifteen months seem like they have flown by – so many things have happened and changed since then, the most important of course being the birth of our daughter, Berlin. I can’t begin to express how in love with her I am. One of the best things she does right now is sleep with her head cocked back, like she’s looking up at something. It’s the absolute perfect position for me to just look down at her sleeping on my shoulder and take in every little detail of her face – her tiny lips, the “worry dimple” on her eye brow, her beautiful creamy skin, her perfect chin, the expressive smile that shows me those darling dimples. I love it!

But before I had the chance to fall in love with my girl, I fell in love with my boy. Spending my days with Kade at the park or the beach or our own backyard has been such a pure delight. Especially now that he’s become the protective “Big Brother”, it just seems that he is growing up way too fast. When I started this blog, he hadn’t even had his first haircut and now he has full conversations with me. It cracks Kyle and I up because his teachers at church always describe him as “very verbal” – they have NO idea!

He has been sick with a cold the last few days and the poor guy just has no energy. Today he laid down on the floor and told me he couldn’t play with his toys. I asked him why not and he said, “My whole body is broke!” Isn’t that the most pathetic and honest thing you’ve ever heard? I feel like that when I’m sick!

Something else that is new since this blog started – I learned to sew! I started out with a humble little art smock and eventually progressed to doing the kid’s nursery. One of the best things about that is that my two sister-in-laws also learned to sew this past year. Since my sister and mom already knew how, now ever family get together is a pattern & project swap. I also took on a few upholstery projects which were definitely learning experiences, but at least resulted in furniture that I’m not embarrassed to own. Kyle even got in on the projects, making some toys for Kade and building the greatest kid’s activity table on the planet!

I can only hope that the next 100 posts are as eventful. I’ll be honest – our days are incredibly full right now (and not exactly with blog-worthy events) and sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get a post up. But I love that I have an electronic scrapbook of our lives and I love that you all are sharing it with us. Your comments always mean so much and I’m glad we can be a part of your day!