by Trina on September 2, 2010
Last week on Xander’s birthday when I took the day off, we headed to Walmart to spend his birthday money. I caught a glimpse of one of those reusable coffee cups with a lid that looks like the paper ones with plastic lids. It was a steal at $5 so I bought it.
I didn’t like the little blue rubber thing as the hand grip on it so I decided I wanted to make a coffee cozy for it. I scoured the internet for DIY tutorials and came across this one.
The first one I made according to the printable template came out too small for my new cup. But it fit perfectly on my mugs I use at home. {Also, I decided to use some quilting squares on this one. I love the colors.}
To make sure the next one I made would fit, I took my paper template and traced it on another piece of paper adding a 1/2 inch allowance around the perimeter and cut it out.
This one I didn’t quilt so it went alot faster. I’ had this one done in under an hour and that was from start to finish, picking fabrics, retracing the template and adding the buttons. I also decided to make this one reversible.
I love it!
VERDICT: I’m so glad I tried this project. It was really simple and it got my creative juices flowing again. I haven’t sewn anything since earlier this year when I made the corn bags. I will be making more for friends or as teacher gifts {gotta find out if they drink coffee first though}. My friend Amber has already requested one in her favorite houndstooth print 
Do you have your own coffee cozy? Would you make one of these?
by Trina on September 1, 2010
For a while now I’ve wanted to incorporate some type of chore chart into our daily/weekly routine. I want to teach the kids to pick up after themselves without having to nag all the time.
I’ve seen printable charts, magnetic charts and visual “charts” {like Flowers in a Pot or Bees in a Hive}. I’m thinking we are going to need something highly visual and interactive so I like the idea of the Bees in a Hive {worker bees are good workers } but maybe not in a jar, maybe a big poster with bee cutouts that can be positioned and repositioned as needed.
I need something that I can stick with, that will get the kids excited and I want to also incorporate some of them as PAID chores.
The kids are ALWAYS asking for things, whether it be something on TV or something they see while we’re in a store. I say no 99% of the time because #1 they don’t need more “stuff” and #2 the grandparents usually beat me to buying the “stuff” {whether I want them to or not…but that’s another subject}.
I want to teach them the value of saving up to buy something they really want so that they appreciate it more. I also want to teach them about giving and saving.
I just found a website that may offer some suggestions on this as well, but I haven’t had a chance to read any of it yet. But I’ve got it bookmarked for later, you can check it out here.
So I want your feedback on what you’ve tried and what works for you or what didn’t. Do you pay your kids an allowance? How much and which chores do you specify as paid chores?
by Trina on August 31, 2010
My baby’s first day of K4!
He decorated his own school bag! Of course there’s a T-Rex on it. He love dinosaurs!
Me {sans makeup! lol} and my lil man!
His teacher has a blog and its only open to invited readers. She sent the link yesterday and it had some fun pictures of their first day. Here he is in front of the name wall.
And at PlayDoh time!
I talked to him after school and he said he loved his class! I’m so blessed to have two kids that love school! {At least for now….:)}
by Trina on August 30, 2010
My weekend wasn’t action packed, but I did get a little crafty. Jonathan worked all weekend and the kids and I hung out at the house mostly. I didn’t even shower yesterday. What? Don’t judge me. It was rainy, I was cleaning/crafting and we never left the house
I got the urge to craft on Saturday so I decided I would search the internet for a how to on a certain thing I wanted to make. I’ll share more on that Thursday {for my New Thing}. But that got the ball rolling…
Sunday I was looking through my scraps to make another of the above mentioned mystery item when I came across some old pillowcases I bought to make pillowcase dresses for Rayna. She’s always so picky about her clothes, so I slowly got out of making things for her because it would break my heart to spend hours on a dress or outfit and her never want to wear it. But I saw those pillowcases and thought it would be a really cute skirt. And it wouldn’t take hours. So with her approval of said pillowcases I got to work.
I didn’t use a pattern, I just eyeballed the length I needed, cut the tops of both cases off, undid the side seams and stitched the two cases together up both sides. Then I made an elastic casing and VOILA! A skirt. I didn’t even have to do a hem because I used the existing one from the cases.
It’s really full and makes a great twirl skirt. She couldn’t stop twirling!
After she tried it on it was a little long and she wasn’t so sure about it. So I got the idea to tuck in a tank and have it look like one of those “twofer” dresses
and she loved it! We added the leggings and she declared it “Tuesday’s Outfit”! {Because she already had something picked out for Monday. lol}
A few more shots:
Please ignore the dishes in the background :S lol
What did you do this weekend?
