Design Update and a Meet and Greet!

 Howdy, friends!

We've had a few changes around here, and I'm excited to share them with you!  If you are following by RSS or email and haven't had a chance to check out some of the new features, come on over and let us know what you think!

First, a new blog design!  Yay for not using a generic template!

Second, streamlined options for keeping in touch! Just click the button that best meets your needs.

Google+, Facebook, RSS, Pinterest, and email subscription buttons

Third, a Meet and Greet link party!  We would love to get to know our readers better and we know there are many of you out there who read but aren't the commenting type.  So, we'd like to invite you to link up a page or post that introduces you in a nutshell.  We aren't picky- anything that helps us get to know you better would make us happy. (By the way, you don't need to have a craft blog... any blog will do!)  You can enter your link and thumbnail below, and this link party can be found permanently on the Meet and Greet page in the top menu. (Incidentally, if you are the curious type and want to get to know more about us, our intros are on that page too.)

There are a few more changes on the way, and I'll share those when they are ready, but for now, I'm excited with the changes we've had so far!  Of course, many things will stay the same.  We still have our Projects and Tutorials page and a Freebies page in the top menu bar.

The intent of this blog is still to keep track of our projects, chronicle the homemaking learning process, and share what we have learned with our dear readers!

Meet and Greet Link Party!

Spring Shirt Refashion

A couple weeks ago I was asked to put together a display of refashioned clothing as a part of a bigger display of homemaking skills at a local women's workshop/ conference organized by my church.  The conference itself was great, and I was excited to be a part of it.  I ended up mostly using refashions I had already made, but I came up with a few new things to add to the display, and I am excited to share them with you! 

In its previous life, this fun spring shirt was dull and wintery, with too-long sleeves, and a weird floppy neckband that forced me to always wear a tank top underneath, or expose myself.... consequently, it had a sad, neglected life.

Having a makeover really gave this shirt new life, and it was fairly simple.  First, I gave the neckline three darts to get rid of the floppy/ flabby neckline and instead add some cute contour.

Second, I chopped the sleeves off right above the elbow.  With the extra material from the sleeves, I cut three bands of differing widths and layered them over the newly- short sleeves into a cascade- raw edges and all (that's the beauty of knits, no?).

Once everything was pinned to my satisfaction, I (carefully) tried the shirt on and was delighted to discover that I loved it so much more than before, and I recommitted to giving it the attention it deserved.

I sewed the darts in place, and did a double line around the sleeves for stability.  I still had some scraps left over from the sleeves I chopped, so naturally I made a button poppy for embellishment!

I'm loving the finished product!

(Look for more cute shirt refashions in the near future!)

A Grown Up Birthday Party

Last week the local Relief Society (women's organization) of my church celebrated its birthday (actually later this month it turns 170 years old!) and I was asked to decorate... happy dance!

I didn't get a ton of great pictures, but I thought I would quickly share what I did (with a small budget too)!

I pretty much had free reign as far as themes go, so I decided to go with simple, bright and colorful (while trying to avoid making it feel too much like a 3rd grade birthday party).

The majority of my budget went towards purchasing round vinyl tablecloths- why are those so much more expensive than rectangular tablecloths?!  We put contrasting tissue paper on top of the tablecloth, then filled mason jars with colorful tissue flowers. See how to make tissue paper flowers here (this is the approximate method I used).

I printed out "Charity Never Faileth" motto place cards which were then embellished with paper flowers.  I downloaded the free word art graphic here.

We had a soup buffet, and there were some amazing soups!  (Think clam chowder, chicken tortilla soup, taco soup, tuscan chicken soup, pumpkin soup, creamy tomato with tortellini.... Yes, I had like 5 bowls, thanks.)  We hung my reusable ruffled streamers on the walls and around the food tables.  Find the tutorial for ruffled streamers here.

Of course we had birthday cake (I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the cake.  I'm terrible at remembering to take photos at events like this.  I never even think of it most of the time. Wah.).

Besides the table cloths, I think I only spent about $2-3 because I used things I already had (i.e. I'm kind of a packrat and I save used pieces of giftwrap tissue for projects- perfect for these flowers!)

I just have to say that I love being a part of the Relief Society.  I am grateful for so many women who have become role models, sisters, and friends.  Yay for Relief Society!

Happy Pi Day!

We almost missed it this year... 3.14 (and what a shame to miss any opportunity to eat pie, no?)
Luckily, despite busy schedules, my sisters were able to head over here tonight for a while.  And between Cara's mad apple pie skills and Marissa's proficiency in blending (can you tell I'm feeling a bit punchy after all that pie?) we came up with some masterpieces.

No, the picture isn't backwards... see comic below!

Yum... homemade apple pie and chocolate fudge (tofu) pie (no picture of that one, unfortunately)!  Ahh, contentment!

And just for fun...

Source: Uploaded by user via Rochelle on Pinterest

Hope you were able to enjoy Pi Day!

Rotating Toy System

My alternate title for this post was "Preventing the 'I'm tired of all my toys' problem".  Not a great title, but accurate, and descriptive, nonetheless.  Those of you with toddlers know the feeling I'm sure: it doesn't matter how many wonderful, educational, brightly colored, amazing toys with bells and whistles you get; after a few minutes, all your kid's toys are boring to them and they are fascinated with trying to get into the knives in the kitchen.  Or rifling through your personal hygiene drawer >ahem<.  Or worse, playing in the garbage or toilet.  Anything off limits is nearly impossible to deter them from, because their toys hold no interest for them any longer.

After a fairly difficult day/ days (think along the lines of a cup of water poured on the couch, box of cereal dumped on the floor, re-rolling the toilet paper, pulling my son off of the entertainment center 5 times, fishing a sock out of the toilet, marker all over the walls, and a few tantrums) I decided I needed to change something.  I was tired of trying to coax my son to play with his toys.  I was tired of picking all the toys up off our tiny living room floor several times a day (scattering toys evenly around the whole room was apparently the only interesting thing to do with them, and when the only room available for your kids' toys is the front room, you may or may not live in constant fear of someone coming to the door and seeing the awful state of your home).  I was tired of feeling like I had nowhere to put our ever- increasing collection of children's playthings. 

I had a couple of under- bed and cheapo stacking storage containers which I proceeded to fill with almost all of the toys.  (The under- bed containers fit nicely under the bunk beds, or stack up well on the high shelf in the closet, and the other bins just barely fit in the closet.)  I left a few things out for my kids to play with, but everything else was g-o-n-e.  Ahhhhhh. What relief, what peace!

Today, the toys that are out have labeled zipper bags so scattering them isn't as easy as it once was.  As we get more toys, I get more storage bins.  Yes, it sounds sad, but actually it isn't.  I either use clear bins or put labels on the outsides of the bins so I don't forget what we have.  There are some toys that stay out pretty much all the time (like the bag of matchbox and oversize cars), but we rotate what is out when the kids start to get tired of their toys and start getting into mischief.  I try to have just 2 or 3 bigger toys out, and a few smaller toys.

I am not going to say that it is a perfect system, that my house is immaculate, or that my kids always love playing with their toys and not the toilet.  But it has definitely helped, and it has probably saved my sanity.  One day I would love to have a kid's "playroom" that the toys can be more accessible in, but for now, this is what works for me.

Do you have a great idea about toy storage or helping your child enjoy their toys?  Share it in a comment below (please!) and let us all benefit from it!