Monday, January 14, 2013

DIY Mixer Cover


I decided to upgrade my mixer cover. I made one over a year ago with some extra fabric I had. It's a little kiddy and does not go with my decor. I bought this chevron fabric at Hobby Lobby and made my girls skirts out of it. I had just enough left over to make a new mixer cover. I am so excited they have chevron fabric at Hobby Lobby now (I'm obsessed)! This material is cotton, they also had black and white. The first cover I made was from duck cloth, which is probably a better choice. They also had some different colors of chevron in duck cloth there. This is an easy beginner sewing project.

So here is what I did: 

Step 1 and 2:  I just placed my old cover over the material and cut around it. It measured 21inches long 16 1/2 inches high. I curved the top edges. You can make a template out of tissue paper if you would like. 

Step 3: (This part is optional) I took one piece of the fabric and monogrammed our initial on it.

Step 4: Place both pieces of fabric together with right sides facing each other. Sew around the curve of the fabric from the bottom of the left side around the curve of the fabric to the bottom of the right side. Then fold the bottom of the cover over twice and sew all the way around it. 

Now you are done! Enjoy your custom mixer cover! It's great for keeping dust out of your mixer, and making it match the rest of your kitchen. (My mixer is red, and nothing else in my house is red)

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Girls Bathroom Makeover




Yes I'm alive! I know I've been MIA for a while. I have no exciting excuses for it either. I have been sewing and crafting, just not blogging about. Here is one of the projects I did a few months ago. 
Sorry for the picture quality. I found these free printables here. The I am a child of God printable is from here.

I bought a bunch of picture frames from Goodwill for $1-$2 a piece. I spray painted them all white. I used the spray paint that has primer in it. I then printed out the pictures I wanted to use. I bought the shower curtain at Ross for a little under $6, it also came with the hooks. The basket on top of the toilet was $2 from goodwill, it is the perfect size to fit two rolls of toilet paper. 

I really did not like the aqua color of the walls (it's much brighter in person). I think the white frames and neutral colors in the shower curtain tone it down a lot. This was a very inexpensive project and it makes a big different to me. I don't hate the wall color anymore, so that's good! And it's not super kiddy either. Which is good since this doubles as our guest bathroom.

I also added a little something to our master bathroom wall. This pictures show the true wall color. Luckily there is some natural lighting in that bathroom so it photographs better. I found this metal wall hanging (not sure what to call it) at a yard sale for $1. I bought some silver spray paint and painted it. Then I hung it on the wall. It takes up a lot of space which is good. There is nothing else on the walls in that bathroom. The only other thing we bought for the bathroom is the cabinet over the toilet. We bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond. Total waste of money if you ask me. It's not deep enough for towels, which was really the reason I wanted it. If you need it for storing other things I'm sure it will be great. We also bought the basket sitting on the shelf for $5 at Marshall's. I think I'm going to get all my baskets from Goodwill from now on since they are so cheap. I do the love bluish gray paint in this bathroom. The silver matches all the fixtures so it looks nice.

I hope everyone is having fun getting ready for the holidays! 

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Glenda and the Wicked Witch

I bought these costumes last year at Target for 80% off. Glenda decided she wanted to be a butterfly, our compromise was dollar store wings. I did have to take the costumes in and the ribbons were already falling off, next year I might just make there costumes. But they loved them anyways! 




I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

$1 Fall Wreath


I decided to make a wreath for my front door. It's the first one I've made since we moved in this past May. I bought this wreath at Dollar Tree, for $1! It's not huge so if you need a bigger one try Hobby Lobby and use a 40% off coupon. You should be able to get one for under $5. 
I used silk flowers I had leftover from making headbands to decorate it. You can also buy some at Dollar Tree or any craft/fabric store. All you do is pull the flower off the plastic stem and lay out the leaves and flowers in any pattern you desire. I attached the flowers using hot glue. I added a jewel to the middle, and that's it! I think it's pretty cute for $1! 
You could really use anything to decorate your wreath. Felt flowers would also be a great inexpensive idea. A great tutorial for making felt flowers can be found here.
And because one picture just is not enough, here are some pics of my girls with their pumpkins. Enjoy!




Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Getting Organized


I know I've been a lazy blogger lately! 
Is it just me or does life get crazier once you have a child in school? This year my oldest is in Kindergarten and afternoons are so busy now! I miss those days of not having to go anywhere. Waking up early and homework are not fun! 
Anyway, I have been doing some projects around the house. I decorated the girls bathroom and the hall bathroom for cheap! Thank you Goodwill! I will share those projects with you later. 
I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite organization pins from Pinterest. I've been trying to organize our home, it's always hard for me. But I have made some improvement. Here are some good idea's to get you started:

I have to get some of these bags! I think they can be found at Wal-mart and dollar tree. The link explains that you give each child a bag for their socks, so they don't get lost in the wash. What a great idea! I just fixed our washing machine last night. We had a sock in the hose, for the second time! Luckily this time I found out how to fix it by watching a video on youtube. Last time it was $75 for the repair! These dang socks are driving me nuts. So from now on our socks will be washed in these bags. I might have to make my own depending on the price. If I do I will make a tutorial.
I bought two of these $1 baskets from Dollar Tree for my girls to keep their shoes in. They are a good size to hold quite a few pair of shoes, or toys if you like. They are so inexpensive and a great size. The picture below is of smaller baskets from Dollar Tree. Many come 2-3 per pack. I recently organized my junk drawer in the kitchen with two sets. You can't beat $2! 
This is just genius! You can use this pocket organizer under your sinks, or in your hallway closet! I've seen picture on pinterest of them being used for cleaning supplies, pantry items, and children's art supplies.
The link for this pin was not working, so I don't know where the idea originated. It is a spice rack made out of a mop holder and attached to the inside of a pantry door or cabinet. Another great idea!
These storage boxes are awesome! I wish I had these when my girl were babies! Their drawers were always a mess because everything was so tiny and was easily lost. I'm sure they are great for older kids too, and even for organizing crafting supplies! 
My sisters are coming to visit me in December and we are going on an Ikea trip (my first time!) any suggestions on what I should buy? I'm thinking just organization stuff and home decor.
I feel like organization is a never ending battle, but it feels good to have an organized home. Check out one of my favorite organization blogs over at Simple Organized Living.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

No Sew Curtain Ties

 I love my new curtains! 
The only problem is they are a little snug on the rod and do not want to move over to let light in. So I had to find a solution. I didn't want to screw more holes in the wall and use metal curtain holds. Weird name, but that's what they are called. I also didn't want to spend the money on the metal holds. 
So I decided to make no sew curtain ties. I used fabric left over from the fabric blind I made.
What you will need:
1/2 yard or so of fabric
hot glue
Velcro
iron/ ironing board
 
You may need to use different measurements depending on the width of your curtains. So just wrap the fabric around the curtain to get an idea of how long you will want your tie to be. I cut my strips to 7inches x 23 inches.
I used heat n bond tape instead of sewing. As you can see I placed and ironed on a piece of tape to the ends of the material. Then I removed it, folded the material over and ironed it down. (Remember to follow the directions on the heat n bond. If you iron too long it will not work as well.)
Then I folded the top over 1/2 inch or so and ironed it down (not using any tape).
I flipped the material over and ironed on a piece of tape to the top. 
The folded under piece is on the bottom now as seen below.
The I flipped the material back over and pulled the tape off and ironed the sticky side over the other end of the material.
Then I hot glued the Velcro to the ends of the tie.
All done! Now just repeat this process for the amount of ties you will need.
Sorry for the picture quality, the sun coming in through the curtains made it tricky. I might need a lesson or two on taking pictures, lol!


Check out my linky friends! :