Baseball Quilt

I have been working on quilts for my kids.  I'll show you how I did it with my daughter's quilt because that it the one that I have been taking pictures of the process.  I finished my son's quilt and I have to share it with you guys.  I forgot to take a picture of it on his bed, but when I put on my son climbed right up on the bed and started snuggling with the quilt.   I'll take that as a good sign.

Toy Room Closet Before and After

So this closet kind of became the one that we threw stuff into and shut the door then walked away from, when we moved in.  It was driving my kind of bonkers at how bad it was in there so finally I tackled it the other day during naptime.  Here is my before (above and below).

So first things first I emptied the whole closet out top to bottom.

I dragged a set of shelves that we had up from downstairs on there I put the games, and videos that were in the boxes.  I took the sweatshirts out of the pile of coats then hung the coats back up.  I am no able to walk into the closet and I was also able to put the vacuum in there as well.

 

Here is a fuller top to bottom view.

Again here it is Before:

After:

Fabric Mats (no sewing)

I'm excited at how this project turned out.   It cost me all of about $4 to do.  The frames are from the dollar store that I painted white.  The baseballs are vinyls that I cut out on my Cricut and the mats in the frames are made from poster board and fabric scraps.  Warning I took a lot of pictures on how I made the mats.

I used the paper that came in the frame as my guide as to how big to cut the poster board.  I then traced around it.

I cut it out then repeated the process 2 more times.

The pictures that I was putting in the frames were 5x7's.  So then I measured a little bit smaller then 5x7 in the middle of each mat.

Here are my three mats with the centers cut out.

Using my scrap fabric from making the bean bags I cut out a piece that was a little bit bigger then the mat.  I also cut the inside corners just a little bit.

Then I started hot gluing the fabric to mat, folding the fabric over.  I did the outside of mat first.

Here is what my corners look like.

Then I pulled the fabric tight and started gluing the inside.

Here is what the back looked like when I was all done.

Here is the front of the mat.

This is after hanging the frames.  I am waiting for the pictures to come in the mail. 

Two Braids into One

Here is another braid hairstyle that I did on my daughter and she kept it in for a couple of days which is a big deal for her.

I started with two braids.  Then when I got to the point that I would put a normal half ponytail in I quit adding hair to the braids and braided them to the ends.  Then I did the rest of the hair into one french braid.

Kitchen Jars

I have been wanting to replace my yucky plastic containers for some nicer ones for a long time now.  I haven't done it because it has been hard to find jars the same size as my containers (they are bigger then normal).  I finally replaced the smaller containers with these jars from Walmart.  I used my Cricut to cut vinyl for labels.  Now my cupboard looks a little bit more organized and a little nicer.

Preserving the Harvest: Strawberry Jam

I know that its a little late in the season for strawberries.  In my defense we moved this summer so we wanted the least amount of stuff to move, then I was waiting to buy a new freezer (which I'm still waiting) so I could make freezer jam.  I finally just gave up and decided I better make some strawberry jam before the prices start going up.  The process was really simple just a little time consuming.

I cut up and smashed about 4lbs of strawberries to get 2 quarts of crushed strawberries.  Actually my daughter did the smashing and thought that it was one of the coolest things.  I could see boys loving this as well.

Then I moved the strawberries to a pot and added 6 cups of sugar.  I turned the heat on and slowly brought it to a boil, stirring every so often to help the sugar dissolve.

The next step is to let it boil rapidly until its thick.  It takes about 40 minutes.  Stir frequently to prevent sticking and burning at the bottom.  When it was thick I poured it into half-pint jars that had been sterilized and were hot, I put the lids on and put processed them in a Boiling Water Bath for 6 or 7 minutes.

I removed them from the bath and set them on the counter to cool and finish sealing.  I love hearing all the pops as they seal.

August's Cleaning Goal

So I realized that I completely forgot to post this month's cleaning goal.  I have been so busy trying to get the house more organized, playing with the kids and getting ready for the baby that I have been a little forgetful.  Here is August's Cleaning Goal.

Sandpaper t-shirts

So I found this idea on Pinterest a while ago on making t-shirts with sandpaper.  I kept forgetting to buy the stuff when I was at the store, then my daughter was going to have a couple of her friends over I immediately thought of these shirts.  The directions I used are here.  I would be careful about what you put in the dryer right after having these shirts in there for a little bit "setting the picture" the load (luckily it was darks) had a couple of clothes that were a little bit more pink than before.

The girls had a blast making these and my daughter has worn hers quite a few times since.