Water bead discovery

I haven't posted for awhile. I blame it on lacrosse, tball and dance recitals.

However this is too great to not share.y daughters preschool used these in their sensory table and the kids loved them. I was at meijer today and found them in the fake flower section for $2.00 a pack.

We bought four different colors and started each color in a small ziplock container filled with water. Within a few hours they had turned into these huge balls. We mixed them and moved them to a bigger container.

The kids are having a blast with them. They are non toxic but are a choking hazard so children need to be monitored while playing with them.

They are so much fun. Enjoy!!!!

Quick Kroger Dinners

 

I am a member of Bzzagent.  They send you products to try for free and share your thoughts about.  I recently got a campaign called "Kroger Spring Dinners".  I got two free Kroger pork loins, Kroger rolls, Kroger Mashed Potatoes, and Cake and Frosting.  My Family LOVED it.  I threw the pork loin into the crock pot and made BBQ Pork.  The mashed potatoes were microwave, so I heated them up and then ate the pork on top of them.  The rolls were easy to pop in the oven and dinner was ready on a busy school night!

Old One.... But EASY One!!!

 

When we bought our first house, we didn't have much.  I had no artwork and big walls.  Someone gave us an old picture of a bird.  I LOVED the size and the frame, but wasn't crazy about the bird picture.  I wanted something with texture but neutral.  So I came up with this......

 

First I took out the old picture.  Then I found different types of brown bags.  (Grocery, shipping stuffing, etc)  I crunched all the paper up and tore them into different size pieces.

 

I arranged them how I wanted them on the picture and then used a glue/water combo to glue them down.  After it was dry, I used two different colors of brown shoe polish and rubbed it on the paper to give it some depth.

 

This was the final product!  I was REALLY happy with it for us!!!

Are Pigs Flying?!?!?!!?!??!?!

 

 

Anyone that knows me well, knows that my van always looks like it should be on "HOARDERS- AUTO EDITION"  Today the kids helped me and we cleaned out the WHOLE van!  There is NOTHING in there at all!  It has been swept out.... wiped down and cleaned out.  Enjoy it now folks because we all know after next week, which is full of lacrosse, t-ball, dance class, school, etc, the van will be a total disaster once again!!!

Books Books Everywhere....

 

 

We were very lucky to be part of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.  The kids each got one book every month until they turned five.  Along with older cousins who donated books to us too, we have quite the collection. 

 

The kids LOVE to read and I LOVE that they love books, but the shelves always looked messy.  So this is my attempt to make them work in our living room.  It's fun to look at now, but they are still easy for the kids to get and read on their own.  PLUS there is no excuse to not putting the books away where they go! :-)

Non Crochet- Recycled shirt Nightgown

So a few people have said they would love to reuse old shirts for nightgowns, but they can't crochet.  So today while the gingers were napping today, I came up with this.  Keep in mind I did it all in about 25 mins, so it isn't going to win any prizes for perfection, but it was a HUGE hit around our house!

 

 

 

This was an old shirt that was in the donate pile!!!

 

First I cut off the collar and the sleeves.  Then I cut down both sides.

 

I found a shirt that fits.  I used it as a guide for the night gown and then cut around it.

Then I just sewed up the sides and the straps together. 

When I was finished, I saw the sleeves laying there and realized they would be a great size for Mia, the American Girl.  I used one of the American Girl's dresses as my sizing guide.

TA-DA!  Done!

A VERY easy VERY fast. 

Not perfect by any means, but it only took a few mins to throw together!

 

It was a hit!  She thinks its sooooo cool that this used to be Daddy's work shirt!!!

Old Mens Work Shirt to Nightgown......

My husband had a bunch of old work shirts that he didn't wear anymore.  I hated to get rid of them, so I decided to make some new PJ's for the little ginger girl!  I crocheted the top for her with straps, then I just cut the arms and collar off the shirt and sewed it on.  (the buttons are up the back).  It was quick and easy and makes for a comfy nightgown for her! 

So I have been working on new "spring" items for my Kate's Closet Store.  Usually I make scarves, hats and such.  The necklace sets are $10 each, the earrings are $5 each and the bracelets are $5 each. 

Recycling fun- cool water table

Yesterday was the girl gingers birthday. We bought her cupcakes. Today I was getting ready to put the plastic container that they came in, in the recycling bin. But the kids wanted to play outside and it gave me an idea. I flipped the top over and filled it with water. The kids got some bath toys out. The have raced boats and had water fights so far. The best part is when they are done I can snap the bottom on to keep bugs and leaves out. That way they can play with it tomorrow.

This is what happens when I'm forced to watch basketball....

Can you guess what game we were watching??? These are for sale. $20 each.

Flip Flop Makeover......

My kids LOVE flip flops in the summer.  The cheap ones are my favorite because they are great to throw on before they go outside to play.  My daughter complained though that the straps hurt her feet.  And when she took them off there were always marks..... solution......

 

Crochet flip flop straps!!!!  And of course we had to sew on a button and put a flower on it.  The flower is changeable so she can make them match her outfit.  And the yarn is washable so I can still throw them in the sink if they get dirty. 

 

I'm in LOVE with hers and I'll be making myself a pair soon!!!!

Also- if you can't crochet or knit, you could use ribbon, balloons, or material to tie on them to make them soft!!!!

If you don't want to do any of those, I would be glad to make a few more pairs!!!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Ginger Style!!!!!

I can't believe that my little girl is 5 today!!!!!  We wanted to make sure she had an extra special day!  However, since today is our first day back to school after spring break, I knew we would have to work extra hard!!!!! 

I wanted an early morning surprise..... So we used some streamers to make a "net" over her door and then filled it with balloons.  She opened the door and was covered with balloons.  Also there was a streamer that lead down the stairs and around the house and at the end was her birthday gift! 





She got an American Girl who was Girl of the year from the year she was born.  It is the ONLY doll that we have found that looks like her.  She will be well loved!!!!

Sadly, it is not even 10 am, and she is expecting lots of surprises!!!  I'm running out of ideas! 

Do you do anything fun/special for your kids on their birthday????

Dish Towel Dilemma

 

 

I love to crochet things!  I remember when I was young my mom always had dishtowels that had crochet tops that would button over the handle of our oven door.  I used to LOVE them.  I always knew where the towel was. 

 

Years later, now that I have my own kids, I'm always searching for a dish towel with wet hands.  Or when I find one, it is in a heap on the counter still wet!  I went to work and figured out a solution! 

 

Instead of crocheting on ALL of my dish towels, I created this!  It buttons on and off and you can put your towel in it to dry.  I now know where my towel is at all times and even the kids put it back after they wipe their hands!!!

 

 

 

 

(I also sell these through Kate's Closet! 

Please email me if you would like to order one....... Katesclosethats@gmail.com)

Boring Closet Doors for a Sports Kid.....

My son has a slight obsession with sports!  I swore when I had him that we would NOT push sports on him just because he was a boy.  It seems that it didn't matter.  He loves all things sports.  His neutral is slowly becoming more and more of a sports theme without any help from me.  The more things that went into his room, the more we noticed the white closet doors.  So we got the idea to make them look like lockers.  He wanted them red and we went from there.....

 

 

 

 

 

First we used a high gloss red (and spent DAYS putting on more coats!!!). 

 

After the paint was finally done, we used painters tape to make stripes on the top and bottom of the doors and painted black over them.  Finally we used mailbox peel and stick numbers to make them look more official!  I was still trying to figure out how to make a faux lock for them, but for now he is happy and that is all that really matters!!!

Curtains for BIG windows on a SMALL budget!!!!!

 



We have four HUGE windows in our family room, on either side of our fireplace.  They would be wonderful if we lived in the country on a bunch of land with privacy!  However, we have very close neighbors, so we need some sort of window coverings for them.  They are 108 inches long so everything I found was very expensive.  For the last few years, they have been covered with the curtains I bought when we first moved in.  Each window only had one curtain panel (not for looks but because I couldn't afford to double the price...).  I decided we needed a change.  So off to Ikea I went to find something that would work......

 

I LOVED the idea of this $9.99 VIVAN PAIR of curtains, however they were too short.  But I bought four packs and kept on searching....

Vivan Curtains- Ikea

 

I have always LOVED this blanket at Ikea, but never could find a use for it.  But it HIT me.... I could use this blanket and sew sections of it on to the shorter curtains to make them the right length.  So the OFELIA blanket went into my cart and it all started to come together!

Ofelia Blanket- Ikea

 

 

I came home and got to work.  I cut the blanket into 8 equal parts.  Luckily the width of the blanket and curtains worked perfectly.  I then just used a basic stitch to attach the bottom of the curtains to the panel of the blanket.  I used hooks with clips to hang them on the rod.  And DONE!!!!!  I had two panels for each window and I LOVE the look for spring/summer.  The curtains let light through and look much more custom (to me at least!)

 

So for 8- 108" panels I spent....

 

               Vivan Curtains (4)- $40.00

 

               Ofelia Blanket (1)- $20.00

                                              _________

 

                             TOTAL- $60.00 or $7.50 per panel