Art Wall

The kids bring home all kinds of art work from school and church. Plus they make things at home all the time.  These lovely drawings and such tend to decorate the whole kitchen, starting with the fridge and ending with the floor. I love all the things they make and I would love to keep every single one of them (well most of them), but there is no way that is going to happen. I hate clutter (thought I still have some, let's be honest) and I can't keep all these little masterpieces,so.....The ART WALL was born.  Basically I organized these works of art.  I had a huge blank wall needing some lovin' in the kitchen.  A sad wall + a border + some amazing pictures = ART WALL.

Here it is:

We keep adding to it until the wall is full, then we take a picture of it (our way of saving it all forever).  The kids aren't too sad when we throw most, if not all of it away since we took a picture of all of it.  We do occasionally keep a special one here and there. Then as the new pictures and drawings come in the house...up..up...up  they go, onto the art wall. And a new wall decoration begins. In my old house, I had this same idea, but without a border and it was okay, but kinda chaotic.  This border helps keep things looking nice and neat. Organization is what I'm all about baby.

Do you have an art-wall of your own? 

Paper Flower Tutorial

I made a paper flower tutorial.  So cute! doesn't even look like paper.  Perfect for cards, gifts, or even hair bows or anything else you can think of. Check it out:

This totally worked.  My girls made some and so did my mom.  They are easy and fun for everyone. Pass or Fail? 

Post any flowers that you make.  I'd love to see them.

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Miracle Blanket Tutorial

I found a tutorial on flickr by AndyZohner  showing how to make a miracle blanket .  I made one and it looked great, but it didn't really work very well.  Maybe I did something wrong, but I am pretty sure I followed her directions. It turned out way too stretchy.  

The pocket for the legs was way too baggie.  

I tried sewing some elastic on it to help bring in all the droopy material...

... but it was still too saggy. My little guy just wiggled right out of it. Maybe I should have just bought a real one.

I don't know if it was a bad tutorial, or if I am just not good at making those, but for me it was definitely a failure for me.  Okay, so now it is your turn to try out her tutorial and let us know how it turns out.  Will it Pass or Fail?

Pacifier in a cup

I thought putting a pacifier in a souffle cup sounded like a good idea for keeping an emergency pacifier in the diaper bag and keeping it clean while it floats around the bottom of the bag. I got the idea on Pinterest, the pin originated from  Cynditha.blogspot.com . I bought these tiny cups at Wal-mart. I think they work great.  The pacifiers came in a little clear box for storage, but they were so big. I love how small these souffle cups are.

  The nipple on the pacifier does get a little bent though on the larger ones (6+ months).  Not all types and sizes of pacifiers will fit, but the ones I use (MAM) fit.. So pass or fail?

Mini Taco Bowls

I saw this on Pinterest (where I find lots of things to try) and decided I wanted to try it.  The pin originated from  Storage and Glee which had no directions, but it seemed pretty self explanatory. I made these for dinner last night.  I'd say they turned out like pictured, and tasted great.  Although cute, not really functional except as a bowl. They are hard to eat.  We ended up holding them like tacos anyway and tried very hard to keep them from dumping all the delicious food out of them.  They were quite messy.  So I think next time I will just use taco shells.
*Note:  I did notice that the bottom of the muffin pan would also hold the tortillas in an upright-taco-shaped position as well. I think I will bake themas tacos next time...a little more functional and healthier than frying them.

So... I baked them at 350 degrees for....I don't know...15 mins or until done.  =)

Here is a picture of them:

Before

After

Ready to eat!

Pass or Fail?

Baby Spit-rags

I wanted some cute spit-rags for my little boy (still in my tummy), but the cute ones never soak anything up.  I used cloth diapers (the big plain white ones) for all my other children and they are the best ever.  They were actucally made to soak up things (I know, go figure) But they are WHITE and show every thing on them, not to mention they are quite stained.  So I decided to cover them with cute fabric and have the best of both worlds: cute spit-rags and rags that will actually soak up all that nasty.

So here's what I did:
I took this old stained spit-rag (cloth diaper):

Then I used this pattern I made up:

 I took some flannel baby receiving blankets ( that, by the way, are too small to wrap a baby in) and cut them up making pieces of flannel fabric. Then sewed one piece onto each side of the white spit-rag.

I started using them right away (well, once he was born), and they work great!  I am so happy with them.  Pass or Fail?