What a Mess

 How to paint laminate furniture without sanding.  Without sanding my eye.

Number 1 this took 3 days.  I don't have a garage so I spent 3 days with two of these bookshelves in my bathroom (my only bathroom) and trying to keep the kids out of there as much as possible (obviously they had to go in there at least a few times a day).

 Do you like the color though?  I love the color.  It will go great with the fire engine red bed that is coming soon....trust me, it will look cool.

Number 2 the paint didn't go on even, the roller left all sorts of weird streaks and stuff.

Number 3 These bookshelves are to be used by small children and they are already chipping and I haven't even put books on them!

Look at that mess.  Ok so I'm super frustrated so I turned to my good friends...chocolate, google and pinterest.  I think I've figured out what I'm going to do to make these look good.

First I'm going to just have to use them for now because I don't have the time to fix them.

second  I'm going to sand off all that paint

third I'm going to use this tutorial to re prep the book shelves (it would have been nice to know that my primer takes a full week to cure....and that if you really want to use your furniture you will need to sand the laminate finish off first)

Fourth I'm going to use spray paint to get a better finish.

ok so If you pinned this tutorial that claims you can paint without much sanding (well there is some light sanding but obviously not enough) unpin it.  I would say to pin that one in my step 3 but I haven't tested it yet so I can't really say.
Sorry no sanding girl, your dresser looks really cute but it just didn't work for my bookshelves.

what should I use them for?

I set out to make bath tub crayons for my girls for christmas and what I got was cute soap that doesn't write on the bath tub.  

 I made them in this cute heart mold I got at Joanns because I also want to make these heart crayons for Valentines day because there are so many allergies in Violet's preschool class that choosing an appropriate treat for valentines is impossible.

This is a simple project.  Just melt clear glycerine (which you can no longer get in store at Joanns, so I got a pound of it on Amazon) in the microwave, add food coloring (I used neon gel), pour into whatever mold you want and try to convince your 2 year old that they are not candies but soap.  I might as well have skipped that last step because she took a bite out of one anyways.    

So they are cute and easy to make but they do not write on the tub.  So what should I do with them?  I have 23 little soap hearts now.  Any ideas?

ahhh! Monsters!

Have you noticed that Monsters are everywhere these days? (I'm not just referring to the upcoming halloween either)  I bought a baby outfit for a little boy and everything was monster theme, kids toys are monster themed, jewelry school supplies, dishes.  It's so cute.

  I found this Make your own monster craft on pinterest a few months ago (check out all the cute monsters on that post) and I knew I would make one for each of my girls.  I didn't know where to get the specific monster parts so I was trying to get all cute and crafty and I was going to make all the monster parts with iron on transfer paper and monster pictures I found online, and then while walking through target I found this on clearance....

Sweet, much less work for me!

 I ironed all the monster pieces onto felt, then cut them out and stuck velcro on the back.  The rest is just felt (this is my last christmas felt project!  Hurray!)

Then I used the monster body and some accessories to make the monster on the front.  I had so much fun making this and if the girls don't like it I might play with it.  I made two so if they both don't like it Peter and I can have monster making contests!

you can get your own monster iron ons at this link.  

were you a fan?

old McDonald had a farm....

They are done!

The first step was to cut all the pieces out, (that took an entire night!  Don't underestimate how long it will take to cut out 16 tiny black eyes....I think I've used as much felt as I can stand for at least a year....dang I have one more small felt project for Christmas)

 then to glue the pieces to the body (Hint...just hot glue in the middle of the pieces, trying to sew through hot glue is impossible!)

and then to embroider around those parts ( I had a lot of embroidery thread in the appropriate colors so I only had to buy a few new colors, but they are only 30 cents each)

 and then sew it all together! ( my sewing machine was not happy with me about this part.  Sewing felt can make for a lot of fuzz in your sewing machine so keep a little brush handy to clean out the needle and little gripper teeth often or your machine will jam...A LOT)



  Here is the original pattern for the puppets.  They take about a week of nightly work but I think they are so cute  and the girls will love them so they are worth the effort.

 aren't they cute?  My favorites are the little lamb

  and the kitty.

Work in Progress

They are taking a lot longer than I thought but they are so cute! I'll post pictures of mine when I'm done.  Here is the pattern for these Farm puppets.

These really are the best

I went to pull up the link for these amazing beef dip sandwiches but the link leads to nothing now.  So thankfully I saved the recipe in a word document because when you call something "Best Ever Beef Dips", you know it's going to be good.

If for some reason the author stumbles upon this post ( which I highly doubt) let me know and I'll give you credit.  But for now here is the recipe for "Best Ever Beef Dips" by anonymous

Best Ever Beef Dip Sandwiches

         1 tablespoon minced garlic

         1 tablespoon dried rosemary

         3 bay leaves

         1 cup soy sauce

         6 cups water

         3-4 pounds beef chuck roast

         rolls or buns

         sliced provolone

Combine garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, soy sauce, and water in a slow cooker.  Stir to combine.

Place the roast in the liquid in the slow cooker.  Cook on low for 6-12 hours.

Remove roast from slow cooker and shred.  Place liquid from slow cooker in another container and remove bay leaf.  Return shredded beef to slow cooker.  Add a small amount to the reserved liquid.  Add just enough to make the beef nice and moist.

Place slice rolls or buns on a baking sheet.  Place one slice of provolone on each roll.  Place on the center rack of an oven under the broiler. (placing it on the center rack prevents burning)  Broil until cheese is melted and bread is golden brown.

Serve meat on the rolls or buns along side reserved liquid for dipping.

I found that 12 hours was the magic number for me.  This is the perfect recipe for a rainy october day.  yum!

It's cheap and it doesn't give me hives

Laundry soap!  I have a major love hate relationship with laundry soap.  On one hand it makes my clothes clean....but on the other it sometimes makes me break out in hives!  Yikes!  So after years of paying for either the expensive organic, dye, and scent free laundry soap or a costco size bottle of antihistamine I decided it was time to try home made laundry soap.

I first saw homemade laundry soap on 19 Kids and Counting.  Although I think it was just 17 kids back then.  There is something about the Duggar family that I love, but homemade laundry soap? come on.

Leave it to Pinterest to force me to try something home made that I would not have bothered with before.  I tried The White Silk Purse's recipe for laundry soap a few weeks ago.

  First of all it's super cheap to make which makes up for the super big mess I made in my food processor, Giant stock pot and stand mixer.

 Secondly, It smells like Dial soap! Fels Naptha, which I found at winco is made by Dial and I love the smell of it.  I had been using fels naptha as a stain pre treater so I new where to find it.  Winco has all sorts of cool stuff like that.

Third, It's concentrated so I only have to use a tablespoon for each load.  Now I do a TON of laundry, and I have been using this for about 6 weeks now and I am about a 1/3 of the way through the 3rd of 4 containers.  Normally I would have spent like 20 bucks on laundry soap by now instead of around 3 dollars.

So it's cheap, it smells nice and it lasts forever and DID I MENTION IT DOESN'T GIVE ME HIVES?!?!?!  seriously that part is the coolest part.  Sorry makers of Benadryl I will no longer be your poster child.

Crazy Good!

Crazy Good is what I wrote next to this recipe after dinner.  I guess I loved it. Of course it is a recipe from Our Best Bites.  They are a new discovery for me, My sister in law gave me the cookbook for my birthday and I have loved everything I have made from the cookbook, so naturally when I saw this recipe For Sweet and Spicy Honey Grilled Shrimp on Pinterest I had to try it.

This picture is from Our best bites website...I was too anxious to eat my yummy shrimp to stop and take a picture.  I chose to marinate it for 48 hours.  The results were well worth the wait.  YUM!  There were no leftovers that night.

PS...I wasn't in the mood to start the coals that night so I just sauteed them in a hot skillet and they were still amazing!  I will definitely be trying this again during BBQ season!

going without shampoo part 2

So on wednesday I decided to try going without shampoo.  I've gone as long as I could I need to wash my hair!  The first 2 or 3 days were nice, but by day 5 my hair was crazy!  It was super oily and was doing something really weird in the back.  So I went back to the original blog post about how to clean your hair without shampoo and she says that your hair will go through a super oily phase as it adjust to the lack of detergents in your shampoo, so I decided to give it one more day.

So today (day 6)  I decided to give it one last try and this is what my scalp looked like after I had my hair dry....

except I didn't have guys in orange and green trying to clean up all the oil! (maybe if I could find some guys in orange and green suits my hair would look good).

So sorry to the proponents of a shampoo free lifestyle but I just can't join your ranks, it's just not working out.  Maybe if I had shorter hair.  I do however like the way my hair looks on days 1 and 2 so I may continue to do this a few times a week just to cut back on my shampoo use, because my hair did look really nice on those days.

 now if you will excuse me I have a date with my shampoo bottle!

Butterfly mobile

For some reason I thought felt would be so simple to work with.  And for the most part it is, unless you are trying to cut out a delicate design.  Then it becomes an obnoxious fabric that I swear I would never use again... until I started making farm animal puppets a week later.

This butterfly mobile (which isn't really a mobile because it isn't meant to be hung over a crib because it is super long and would definitely be a strangulation hazard) is for my niece for Christmas this year.  She has a red and pink and black lady bug themed room, so I thought butterflies would look cute.  Here is the blog where I got the butterfly template.

Even though I hated cutting out the butterflies it was actually a really simple project.  I used a super small hole punch to make the holes for the yarn to go through since my plastic yarn needle was no match for the tough felt.

The top is a 4 inch wreath form with coordinating ribbons tied on it.

Baby booties

I'm getting a new nephew in February. I'm so excited I just had to try this pattern for baby booties that I have had forever and have not had a reason to use for a long time ( well I suppose I could have made some for the two nieces that were born last year....sorry girls!)

I was actually surprised at how simple these are to make.  I am not a great seamstress so anything that comes together  and looks nice I'm happy with.   My favorite part is the airplane buttons.  My brother in law flies airplanes so I was pretty psyched when I found those buttons.

I know how to sew now!

Look what I made!  I am so proud!  It's a nightgown made from a pillow case!  A PILLOW CASE!  ok so It's not that complicated but I'm not a great seamstress so I am excited that they look cute and haven't fallen apart yet.  I made six...Violet and I got a little carried away at Goodwill picking out pillow cases.  Each night gown takes about  1-2 hours.   You will need pins...lots of pins!

Here is the pattern in case you want to try it out :)

Going without shampoo

I was on this post about how you could use oil to wash your face ( I haven't tried it yet but I probably will) and the writer said she hadn't used shampoo in a few weeks....what?  That's crazy!

  So I checked out the recipe and all you need is baking soda and water for the shampoo substitute and apple cider vinegar and water for the conditioner substitute.  Ok I have all those things and I hadn't washed my hair yet so I decided to give it a go.  

First off I made a big mess trying to get baking soda in a squeeze bottle, I eventually figured it out and no I'm not going to tell you how I did it because it was ridiculously simple and anyone could figure it out, I just was too tired to figure out the physics behind a funnel.

So I hopped in the shower and tried them out.  Now the solutions are mostly water so it is like pouring water on your head, so I just applied it directly to my scalp instead of pouring it in my hand like normal shampoo.  I let the conditioner substitute sit for a few minutes like normal and I rinsed.

I let my hair air dry for a few minutes and then dried it with my blow dryer until it was mostly dry.

I was extremely skeptical on how this would work because usually when I don't shampoo I look like this on day one.....

But after using my baking soda and vinegar solutions my hair is soft and clean and it stayed that way all day long and the slight vinegar smell dispersed after about an hour so I didn't smell like salad dressing all day :)  I think I'll try it tomorrow too.

Check out my clean and sparkly hair!  The writer claims that after a while of using these solutions you can use just plain water...that would be awesome!

What am I going to do with all this stuff?

Hi!  I'm addicted to Pinterest .  It's this great site that keeps track of all the nonsense I find on the internet and shares it with all my friends and in return it shows me all the stuff my friends found on the internet and I can file away their find in my files too!  It's awesome! It's amazing!  It's a big waste of time!!!

So what am I going to do with all this fabulous stuff I find on Pinterest?  I decided that I could only be on Pinterest if I actually tried out some of the stuff that I found.  And then I was thinking....Ya know...I've tried a lot of things on here and I've loved some of it and some of it was just...meh.  So how am I going to keep track of what I loved and loathed?  And that is where this blog comes into play.

This blog is really just for me to keep track of stuff I tried and maybe an outlet to write down all the craziness in my head but your welcome to take a look at it if you want.

My favorite thing about Pinterest is the recipes!  My husband and I joke that we never have the same meal twice because I get bored cooking the same things over and over again.  We do have some favorites but we probably eat them 2 or 3 times a year.  I have tried a lot of recipes on pinterest.  My absolute favorite so far has been Lettuce Wraps.

I don't have my own picture so I will just post a picture from the blog Iowa Girl Eats.  These lettuce wraps are so tasty and a little messy if you want to stuff them full but I love them!  Especially when you dip them in sweet Chili sauce!

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