Archive for October 2012

Halloween T Shirt Pillow, Hurricane Sandy

crafts, decorations, fabric, family, Halloween, Holidays, pillows, ribbon, ruffles

It's been a long few days. Thankfully, we escaped Sandy's wrath with little more than 10 hours without power and some downed or snapped trees. We are so lucky and grateful. In a quick drive around town today I saw homes with trees through the roof and downed wires everywhere. I hope you find yourself safe and dry tonight.

A few weeks ago I was getting some of the girls' old clothes ready to sell or pack away and I came across the sweetest Halloween outfit, shirt and pants, that Molly wore when she was 12 months old. It was given to her by my friend and Molly looked so cute in it! It was one of my favorite pieces of baby clothing for her. Ellie never got a chance to wear it because their seasons and ages are way off. So it was in great condition.

Well, I couldn't bear to get rid of it. I kept putting it in a box and then pulling it out again. How could I give it away? Well, I didn't. I made it into a pillow by using fabric glue to glue it onto some felt and then finished it with some ribbon ruffles. I love it!

Here are some pictures of our backyard after Sandy came to visit. It's hard to see but mainly we have large branches and tops of some trees that we aren't sorry to lose because they were old. My rock star husband was out literally all day with his chain saw taking care of business. Now we have neat and orderly piles according to debris type such as large branches, small branches, pine, etc. Which just shows you that opposites really do attract since I can't keep anything organized let alone the tree rubbish.

And I would like to gush a bit more about Jim right now. He took on the whole hurricane preparations himself since I hurt my back.

He:

climbed up on our roof multiple times to blow out the gutters of clogging leaves
rigged tarps in strageic areas around our foundation to keep the deluge away
added extra length to our downspouts for the same reason
moved our entire basement of boxes and stored things into the center of the room in case we got seepage
readied the generator
moved plants, furniture, etc. to the garage
and got together all the miscellaneous stuff like flashlights, batteries, water, etc.

This is half of our basement and our stuff.

And he did all that while he prepared meals for us, changed diapers, put kids to bed, oh yeah, and worked a full time job. And then today he cut wood like a boss.

I've said it before but I'll never stop saying it. Jim is the best person I know. He is so selfless and so supportive and I'm not sure he can ever really understand how grateful I am that he's here with me and going through this whole life thing together. He's a good friend to have and great person to love. I don't mention it here but I have a handicap from a car accident that prevents me from being completely normal and he doesn't care. He never makes me feel less or like I'm a burden. He is exactly the husband I needed and I believe God knew that. This blog is a slice of my life, not just the DIY or crafting slice, but one of my family as well and so if I gush about Jim or the girls now and then I feel like it's ok to do it here!

Cheers!
Jenny

Removing Stained Glass Sidelights (DIY project)

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DIY, family, House progress

Rose stained glass sidelights are my pet peeve. So guess what we did today? Yup, took 'em down.

I found these roses old fashioned and out of date. My poor mom was so sad to hear this because she really liked them and in her words "It can be cost prohibitive to have them made!" In the true spirit of someone who's frugal and practical, she thought that by nature of them being A) unbroken and B) costing money I should just love them in all their Beauty and the Beast rosey goodness. eh. sorry, Ma.

We want to try to sell them on CL or maybe bequeath them to my mom since she loves them so much (and she does sort of sound like Mrs. Potts) so we wanted to take them out very carefully.

There was a small quarter round molding holding the glass in place against the door moldings and casings. I sliced through the layers of paint in the seams. That's the picture at the top.

Once all the paint was cut through, we gently pried the quarter round off and pulled out any nails that were left behind. I hurt my back badly this week so I was only able to help that far. Jim took over and used a screw driver to pry off the quarter round. He placed a wedge under it to protect the casing.

After the molding was removed, we pulled out the clips that were holding the window frame inside the sidelight casing with a needle nosed pliers.

Jim just lifted it right out! Not one problem!

Um, ok, maybe one problem. The part of the sidelight that was covered with the stained glass is a different color than the rest of the trim. Well, we are planning on painting it all soon anyway. I'm just glad to have a clean, simple look now that feels more modern to me!

So that's a pet peeve gone! What are some of yours? Here are some more of mine:

when people eat fast food burgers by peeling the wrapper back bit by bit as they eat instead of unwrapping the whole thing (I have NO reason for this one)
when both shows I'm flipping between have commercials on at the same time
Caillou and his infernal whining
the sound of fingernails being clicked together
when my dishtowels are not folded neatly in the kitchen
the word "toenail"

So there you go.

We missed a fun birthday party today for a friend's little girl because of my dumb back issues. So the girls were housebound and bored all day. They built a tent and played camp out for a long while. Well, they played until Ellie decided it was more fun to pull the tent down than it was to play under it. It's SO much more fun if your older sister is shrieking "STOP IT, ELLIE!"

Here are a few fuzzy pics from the two who must not stop moving ever.

And lastly, what did I do all day? Well, Jim was out securing the house against the impending hurricane and I was in too much discomfort to do much of anything so I tried to get Molly to help me put together a
91 piece foam haunted house. Yeah, it wasn't the mother-daughter bonding I had hoped for. She declared it was boring and left so I completed it myself (in 2 hours). I. am. a. loser. Oh and I was left with one large piece leftover. Of course I was, right?

Hope you are all happy, healthy, and may you not be left with any pieces left over!

Cheers!
Jenny

I'm too pooped to party

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family, Halloween

I have the flu. drat. I was in bed all day and while I feel better now, it was ugly for a while. I don't understand why I get sick when my mom never got sick once growing up. I thought moms were immune to getting sick!

The worst part is that I am missing a Halloween party at our local high school. It sounded so cute and the girls were so excited to go. Our neighbors were going too and we always have such a good time with them. So while everyone is at the party, playing games, eating fun Halloween food, having a costume parade, and painting pumpkins, I'm sitting here watching reruns of Who's The Boss (which really is a good show. Shows were so sweet back then weren't they? ) in my nightgown. Fantastic.

Halloween Pillow, New Sewing Machine

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blogs, crafts, decor, DIY, fabric, fall, giveaways, Halloween, Holidays, pillows

A couple of week's ago I found out I had won a brand new Singer sewing machine from DIY on the Cheap! It's a great blog, by the way...I hope you'll check it out! Anyway, I was beyond excited as my machine is the cheapest one Singer makes and I've struggled with it from day 1. I figured it was me and I was just destined to be about as good at sewing as I am at saying no to dessert.

But then it arrived (and so quickly too! Go Singer!). I waited a few days before taking it out. I was a tad scared as if it would laugh at me when it realized who would be using it. I could picture it pointing its needle at me and gasping for breath as it choked between laughs, "You? You are going to sew with ME? Oh girl, I think not."

Fall Entry (Autumn Porch Decor)

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decor, decorating, decoration, fall, family

NJ's foliage is changing and the leaves are falling. It's such a gorgeous time of year and it always makes us spend a ton of time outside. I added a few things to my front porch entry decor this weekend too. I bought a few small orange mums that eventually will be on the dining room table as a centerpiece and a couple more pumpkins. Last week we added some corn stalks and I think we're about set! I'll put out some luminaries for Halloween night too.

Molly made the ghosts, pumpkins, and witch hats on the door. I know you don't see that stuff on entries on Pinterest or in BHG but honestly? What's a home without stuff like that?

Thanksgiving Autumn Table Settings Using Aleene's

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crafts, fall, table

I got crafty this week! I was inspired by an awesome box of Aleene's Glue and Adhesives that arrived on my doorstep. How can I not get crafty when I had the opportunity to use such great products? Aleene's glues and adhesives are a staple for crafters and I found the products I received to be top notch!

After playing around with the products (which included an amazing spray adhesive in addition to the ones I mention in this post) I decided to whip up some fall inspired place cards and napkin rings using Aleene's glues and adhesives. I'm so happy with how they turned out and I'd love to show you how I made them. Everything was so easy and honestly, didn't cost much time or money to make! And I actually made two different styles of napkin rings so I'll show those both to you and you can decide which you prefer. I know my favorite : )

Materials:

Aleene's Fabric Fusion

Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue

Aleene's Original Tacky Glue

Scrap fabric or ribbon

Dollar store flowers

Acorns

Real or fake leaves

Glitter

Card Stock

Marker

Step 1: Cut a toilet paper tube or paper towel tube into 1-1.5 inch pieces.

Step 2: Using Aleene's Fabric Fusion to secure, wrap a strip of scrap fabric or ribbon around the rings to cover completely.

Step 3 White Flower Ring: Cut the center petals out of the dollar store silk flowers.

Step 3 Brown Flower Ring: Using the rolled flower technique, make a rosette out of ribbon. I actually used some from some pillows I had made last year but that I was no longer using. Waste not want not!

Step 4: I applied glitter to some acorns by dipping them in Aleene's Original Tacky Glue and then in some gold glitter. I only did this for the acorns I used in the white flowers and hindsight being what it is, I realize I should have used extra fine glitter. But I loved using this glue for this part. The glue goes on white so you can see where your glitter will end up but dries crystal clear.

Step 5 White Flower Ring: I didn't even let the glue dry. I immediately used more Aleene's Tacky Glue to stick them inside the dollar store flower.

Step 5 Brown Flower Ring: I glued the acorns directly to the rosette using Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue.

Step 6: I applied a large dollop of the Aleene's Fabric Fusion and glued the flowers on top. I had to trim the stems on the white flowers flat but the rosettes were easy peasy.

Step 7: Glue the real or fake leaves onto the rings underneath the flowers. I used real leaves. I also used Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue.

And here are some of the different napkin rings I made!

I thought place cards would be a nice touch to go along with my new napkin rings.

Step 1: Cut a piece of card stock the size you anticipate needing. Mine were about 4" x 6". Size a piece of fabric about 1/2 inch larger on all sides, right side down. Snip the corners of the fabric without snipping the card stock.

Step 2: Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue came in so handy here too. It worked perfectly! I ran a bead around the edge of the card stock and folded up the sides of the fabric, pressing down to adhere. Then I snipped off the extra fabric and let dry.

Step 3: Once dry, fold the card so the fabric is showing. Cut a piece of card stock slightly smaller (I eyeballed it!) and glue on. Aleene's Original Tacky Glue is the best glue and it worked like magic here. I was able to glue on the leaves and acorns right away too and then just let it dry flat. The glue dries clear so there are no worries about any excess showing.

I have to tell you that Aleene's glues and adhesives have been a godsend to me lately. I used them for so many quick little jobs. Ellie has a little stone turtle that she carries around with her all the time. She tripped and fell, cracking off the turtle's head and flipper. Oh no! Well, Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue worked so well to repair him.

And then I couldn't get my little ribbon bats to stick to my Halloween wreath until I used these cool glue dots I got from Aleene's too. They are clear and come in a nifty presser downer applier thing. Anyway, it worked great because the dots are small and you can be very precise.

So there you go! I am really happy with my Aleene's glue and adhesives and plan to use them for my next crafty project too! You can keep up with Aleene's products on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter, too!

Find my disclosure policy here.

Have you thought about your Thanksgiving tablescape? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Cheers!

Jenny