Frugal DIY Play Kitchen!

For little Man’s 3rd birthday party I decided that a play kitchen would be a good addition to our playroom! I didn’t have a lot of money to spend (none really) but I still wanted it to be cute! I found a possibility on etsy.com for a cardboard one and bought the PDF. I loved it but it required a lot more materials than I had available at the time. So I looked around and found some materials that I thought would work.
I first saw this end table that I was using as a cable box stand and nothing else. I grabbed that and replaced it with my file cabinet as the cable box holder lol
I knew I needed room for a sink too so I found an old drafting desk that the top ‘lift up’ portion of the desk was damaged on one edge but was long enough on the ‘good’ part to cover the top of the end table and then have overhand for the ‘sink’ portion.
So I had my handsome hubby cut down the desk top to the right size, cut the hole for the pie plate sink and screw it on to the top of the nightstand- lining up the edges. I caulked/used wood filler on the seam where the top of the end table and bottom of the wood came together. Then I taped off the half that overhang with painter’s tape and newspaper and spray painted the entire nightstand/remaining portion of desk top white. It took a couple coats and I didn’t do the back, the inside or the side under the over hang since those wouldn’t be seen. The reason I did this is that I wanted it to have some separation between the  stove/oven side and the kitchen side. It ended up looking like the sink is in a butcher block countertop- love it!

Next I took off the tape/newspaper and placed the pie plate in the hole. It has a lip and we measured the bottom of the plate (which is a bit smaller than the rim) so it fits in tight and the lip keeps it from falling all the way through.
I traced a saucer four times onto the ‘stove’ side of the kitchen and filled in the circles with black acrylic paint. Handsome Hubby drilled some small holes and fitted them with these little metal pegs I found laying around and that’s what we used to hold the ‘oven’ knobs on with. The knobs do come off but I didn’t want to glue them because I wanted them to be able to spin. I wrote the ‘temperature’ & ‘on’ ‘off’ with a thin line Sharpie.

Then hubby measured and cut plywood to fill the front of the end table for an oven door and he cut a ‘window’ in the middle for the oven window. I spray painted that white and we attached it to the kitchen with hinges at the bottom, magnetic tape to hold it closed and upright and a handle to pull it open with.  The ‘window’ of the oven is covered from the inside with a sheet of transparency film and it is just taped on using packing tape (so it’s clear and blends in). I might hot glue it on later but for now it works!
 

After that we just screwed the handles through the overhand/old desk top part of the kitchen for faucet handles and used Gorilla Glue to attach the wooden J (I painted it sliver first) upside down to look like a faucet. I would have loved to do a screw up through the bottom of the over hang into the bottom of the J but when we tried it started to split the J- so glue only was what worked for us!

I used sticky backed Velcro on the edge of the over hang and sewed the matching Velcro (using sew on Velcro obviously lol) to the bandanas to make a sink ‘skirt/curtain’
And that was that! I had everything but the hinges, handles, J and knobs on hand. The oven ‘knobs’ were free and the rest was all $1-$5 each.

 


So here are the materials you would need to make your own. I have linked to similar or the same products where ever it was possible!

Materials: End Table(I used one similar to this- only mine had two shelves)    
Pie Plate with rim (but no handles) (mine came in a pack of 2 and was similar to this)
wooden or paper mache letter “J” (mine is wooden- this link is for paper mache because I couldn’t find the right ‘font’ of J that looked like a faucet)
Kitchen or Bath Replacement Faucet Handles (mine are similar but couldn’t find them online)
Acrylic Black Paint
Metallic Spray Paint -Silver
Satin White Spray Paint
Replacement Oven Knobs (mine are actually from an old Helicopter)
Plywood (got mine at my local Lowe’s)
Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Markers
Wood to form ‘countertop’ (the same width as your end table from front to back and then about twice as long-mine came from the top of an old desk that part of the wood was warped. We cut off the bad part and used the good part)
Solid Color Bandanas - (Whatever Color you want)(mine are leftover bandanas from the Pirate Birthday party!)
Small Hinges (you’ll need at least two to attach the oven door with)
Magnetic tape (you can get this at Wal-mart or a craft store also)
Kitchen Cabinet Handle (this is similar to the one I used but I would have loved to use this kitchen cabinet long handle because it is longer-more like an oven handle)
Velcro (both sticky backed & sew-on)
Transparency Films
Packing Tape
Gorilla Glue
Screws

I hope you all find some interesting materials to make your own play kitchen! Just know that you CAN do it without spending a fortune on those wooden play kitchens they sell!
In fact, I’m not the only one who has made their own play kitchen.

Have a Happy Day,

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Pro-CRAFT-ination. Do you have it?

I tweeted earlier today that I had 'pro-CRAFT-ination' and it really got me thinking. I have a LOT of projects 'in process' right now and I can't seem to finish them before starting a new one.

I once heard that procrastination is the worst form of perfectionism- it's the paralyzing fear that if it's not going to be perfect why even start? Or you are too nervous it won't turnout perfect you can't even start. I believe I have pro-CRAFT-ination because I'm not afraid to start a new craft project but once it is underway I can't finish it because of this underlying fear that it won't turn out exactly as I envisioned it- aka: perfectly.

Yeah totally realized all that from a tweet.

SO I've decided to list all my unfinished projects here in a post and I hope to check in with you all weekly and be able to cross a project off! I need motivation to get 'er done! (ok that was totally lame and cheesy but I'm leaving it in!)

Here is my monstrous list:

1. Bathroom floor to be painted & sealed
2. Completely empty old craft room & put it into windowless room.
3. Move Lil Man into old craft room
4. Strip & repaint nursery room door & frame (lead paint detected)
5. Paint nursery walls.
6. Lay nursery floor. (currently plywood)
7. Try to reconfigure crib.
8. Make curtains for nursery
9. Make mobile.
10. Make Lil Man curtains
11. Finish lining living room curtains
12. Make playroom curtains
13. Finish fabric storage for playroom
14. Sew Velcro to play kitchen curtains to hang them.
15. Tank top refashion
16. Maxi dress refashion
17. Doggie door painting & install
18. Train table
19. Old window into craft room storage
20. Paint new countertop to match my painted laminate counters.
21. Finish sanding & sealing kitchen floor.
22. Paint trim, stair risers, & railings in dining room
23. Paint kitchen
24. Paint new light for dining room & hang
25. Make Miss E some dresses
26. Strip wallpaper & paint on hallway.
27. Type up & digi-scrap my recipes.

Ok there is more than that but I can't make you read forever. Just a note- most of the curtain projects & paint projects I haven't started yet so maybe I don't have pro-craft-ination on those.
Do you ever have pro-craft-ination? What one project have you been putting off just finishing??

Alright that's all I can type out on my iPhone right now lol! Sorry for the lack of photo- it wouldn't let me add one because I'm using a phone. Hopefully I'll remember to log onto my computer tomorrow to add links & pictures!


Oh and in case you noticed the slow down of posts: I took an unofficial and unplanned bloggy break & rested up while enjoying my babies!!

Have a happy Day,

Last Summer Project!

Today I’m going to share with you my spring/summer wreath that I made 3 years ago while pregnant with Little Man. I thought it would be a good “last hurrah” for Summer project.
It’s a fun little Pinwheel wreath! I didn’t take any ‘how-to’ pictures because I made it pre-blogging days but I did do a little Photoshop action to show you the basics!
First Here’s the wreath:

Cute huh?

Ok here’s the supply list:

• double sided scrapbook paper cut into 5x5 inch squares (or 3x3 or 4x4 or 6x6 etc. whatever size you want!) (or if you can’t find double sided do what I did- glue two pages wrong sides together, let dry then cut into your squares)
• foam wreath (must be the Styrofoam or foam…NOT the straw ones because you need to paint it)
• acrylic paints or spray paint in your color of choice
• brads or other round paper fasteners
• hot glue gun & glue
• sting for hanging
• small hole punch

Directions:

• Paint your wreath form completely. Let dry. (obviously do one side first, let dry then do the other & let dry) You paint it because you will see it from the side since the pinwheels only fit on the front of the form.
• Tie your hanging string around the wreath.
• Take your squares and cut in from each corner towards the center but don’t cut all the way through! Stop short of the center.  Like this:

• Next you will take every other corner and fold it into the center (without creasing it into a triangle…just pull the corner to the center gently) Like this:

• Punch a small hole in each corner that you pulled to the center. Also punch a hold in the center (or just use a pencil to make a small hole) Insert a brad or other paper fastener through each corner that is pulled in & the center and then open it up in the back of the pinwheel to secure.  You could also just hot glue the corners to the center and not use a brad. I just like the ‘finished’ look it gave.
• Next take your painted wreath form, lay it flat on a table and arrange the pinwheels on top in whatever pattern you like. I overlapped mine a little.
• Lift up one pinwheel at a time and hot glue the back of it to the wreath. Repeat until you get all the way around the wreath.
• Find the string you tied around the form earlier and hang your new creation! Fun & Summer-y!

How fun is that? And pretty cheap too! If you used browns/greens/yellows you could make one that is more fall like, same with red/green for Christmas'-y and one with different shades of white/creams would be beautiful for Jan./Feb./March. Although I have to say I love the spring summer ones the best because that’s when you use actual pinwheels :)
I hope you’ll share yours with me if you make one!!
Have a Happy day,



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Real Honesty.

This post has been sitting in drafts for a few days. I’m nervous and scared and relieved all at the same time to be publishing it.
I am writing this post not because I want sympathy or pity. I’m writing it because I want someone….maybe you….to know you are not alone & you are better than you think you are. Really you are. Yes YOU.
This will be long and wordy and full of errors because if I don’t just write it as it comes out I will never publish it.
Ok here goes (big deep breath & pray my entire family isn’t reading this because my mom will call me and give me that concerned voice “Are you ok?” which will make me cry and will make me mad all at the same time for some reason):
House duties:
You know those blog posts that are like “I’m going to show you the real mess my room is” and then it’s a picture like this:

So yeah…that’s my house on a GOOD day. No, that’s my house on a FANTASTIC day.
Here’s my craft room:
And actually that is much better than it looks now. At least you can see some of the guest bed/futon in this one. 
yeah. I know. you don’t have to tell me. it’s the biggest mess ever. It’s so overwhelming I can even begin. I know, I know if I just do 15 minutes at at time it will be done in no time….ugh yeah thanks FlyLady…NOW I have to find an extra 15 minutes to work on it.
Edited to add: After I wrote this I came across this post in my Google Reader. I love it bc it is simple.
Personal:
I laugh when I read “get up an hour earlier than your kids and have ‘me’ time” HA! (actually I cry but that’s a different story) my kids get up at 5am. Consistently. without fail. every. single. day. and actually my Little Miss E wakes up to nurse at 4am- nurses for 20-35minutes and then gets up again when Little Man comes in demanding a cereal bar and to go downstairs. Speaking of little Man he doesn’t want to nap anymore and it’s a whole big struggle to even get him anywhere near a bed after 1pm everyday. IF I can get him there (kinda hard considering he’s 40lbs and very good at flopping around so you can’t pick him up) he *might* fall asleep IF I lay with him (hard to do if Miss E needs to nurse or is crying.) At night he won’t go to sleep until after 8:30pm IF I lay with him in our bed. Trust me I’ve tried the whole put him in his bed and keep putting him back until he stays thing….that’s a fantastic idea IF he would fall asleep-EVER- using that method and if after a long, long LONG night of putting him back he would sleep past 5am. Which he doesn’t. I swear if I put him to bed at 4am he would be back up at 5am- just crankier. And that’s another thing: Why does he wake up cranky no matter what? Even from naps (2+ hours if he falls asleep)? He’s cranky…even when I don’t wake him up.
Anyway so ‘me’ time does. not. happen. at. all. ever.
I would LOVE to have my mom come up and watch them both so I could nap but I’m nursing Miss E and when we try to give her a bottle of pumped milk she chokes on it and just doesn’t ‘get’ it. and if my mom would take Little Man and I would sleep when Miss E does (to avoid the whole bottle issue) I’m never tired then (again WHY is that??) or I feel like I should get stuff done that I can’t do otherwise. Plus my sister lives with my mom right now due to personal issues and has a 2 year old and one due in Sept. so my mom has her hands full already…I’m lucky to get 2 hours out of her when she comes to visit…and usually then she shows up before I’ve really woken up and hit my ‘stride’ for the day so those 2 hours are NOT productive. Ever. haha. But I appreciate her offers to help.
Weight:
This one never used to be an issue for me. Well let me rephrase that- I was always ‘bigger’ than my peers and according to those stupid BMI charts I was always ‘overweight/borderline obese’ which by the way is stupid. I was 5’4” in high school running cross country 145lbs and considered borderline obese? C’mon! Even I know that wasn’t true!
After having Little Man I nursed him and was pre-baby weight (145lbs.) by the time he was 3 months…then continued to lose because of the stress of my husband’s deployment..I still only got to 130lbs. and those stupid BMI things told me to be 115lbs. to be within the ‘healthy’ range. Honesty: even at 130lbs. my jeans size was still a 14. Which apparently shocked my friends when I told them. They all thought I was at least an 8 if not a 6. I’ve never been a 10 let alone a freakin 6! I wish lol.
So anyway right now at Miss E being almost 10 weeks I haven’t lost a pound in almost 2 weeks. I’m at 181lbs. 181. this is uncharted territory for me. I have no time to work out (see above about no me time) and I thought nursing would help again this time at least get me back to 150lbs. 
I don’t want to buy clothes that fit this body because I don’t want this body (read money/budget section below to also know why I can’t buy clothes in all the sizes I am/will be- sorry Stacy & Clinton but I just can’t and if I could they would be those cheap ones you hate!). I know I’m not supposed to say that. I’m supposed to be all “love your body at any size” but I don’t. I don’t love my body at this size. I don’t love seeing 181 on the scale. So I wear yoga skirts and tank tops that I wore when I was pregnant just to get by. Until I get to that place…if I ever get to that place. I am continually amazed that my body made two babies…that it knew where to put the nose and the fingers and all those organs. That they are healthy because of my body. That I fed/feed them with my body. But that doesn’t mean I love what happened to my body. I would not give up my kids to get back to 135lbs but why can’t I have my cake and eat it too?
Money/Budget:
I love reading blogs-especially thrifty ones. I love a good thrifty find or dollar store re-do. Love ‘em. But I can’t participate all the time. My husband and I have written out our budget and are trying to follow Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover but we get stuck on step 1 then when we get that done we get stuck on step 2 so long that we use up the emergency fund and have to go back to step 1. This means that I don’t even have $1 to go to the dollar store and buy something to spray paint. If I DO have a little extra for some reason I either want to spend it on stuff my kids need or I can’t seem to GET to the store or yard sales (see above with no time for me) and I can’t take Little Man because he asks for everything and throws a tantrum if I say no and now that I have Miss E I can’t carry him out of a store kicking and screaming while holding her or her car seat. So I don’t go to the store. (Hubs grocery shops when he gets out of work) So I’m trying to somehow make this blog maybe possibly make me $10-$25 a month to help off set our budget (since it covers all the necessities) so I can have a crafty endeavor once in awhile still. But this blog is about those crafty endeavors and if I can’t afford to keep doing them I won’t have loyal readers so I won’t  be able to get advertising so I won’t be able to do the crafty endeavors….vicious cycle I tell ya. Vicious. lol (Also the lack of ‘me’ time makes it hard to blog let alone craft! whew!)
Hubs:
My husband is in the military (deployed twice already) and I hate it. I’m proud of him but I just want it to be over with already. That is hard to say for many reasons a few being: it’s his job and it’s how I am able to stay at home with my kids and how we survive, it is also very un-American to say I wish my husband didn’t serve. But I get a nervous/throw up feeling when I think of him deploying again- I felt that way every single day of the year he was gone last time and I am so scared I’ll have to raise my kids on my own for the rest of my life if something happens to him-that they won’t know their daddy. I am not made out to handle that. I sometimes wish someone else would serve so he wouldn’t have to and then I feel sick/guilty that someone else would have to feel nervous/throw up just so I didn’t have to and so I feel like it’s my duty to feel that way so that maybe you don’t ever have to know that feeling.
Having it all together:
I get “you have it all together” or “you are so much more domestic than me” or something similar- a LOT. I’m here to tell you that most days I don’t shower, I wear the same thing that I slept in and brushing my teeth is probably an after thought not a priority. If I do shower it’s at 3pm and shaving just doesn’t happen anymore. I haven’t baked bread since Miss E was born (except for once and I was rushing and it came out bad). Yes I cloth diaper but it’s because I can’t afford to buy that many diapers all the time.
On this blog, on twitter and on facebook you see what I want you to see. You see what I think YOU want to see. No matter how many times someone says they want to know the real you- they really dont. I mean I have so many issues I’m trying to deal with I don’t want to feel bad after listening to your problems that I can’t find the 5 minutes to help you too…I don’t need more guilt on my plate haha.
So because I have so much to worry/stress/throw up about I’m worn out and I’m a bad friend. I forget to get gifts or can’t afford to. I forget to call you and when you call me I’m too tired to form complete sentences so you get “uh-huh” “oh really”  “that’s nice” etc. and you feel like I’m ignoring you. I’m not. really I’m not. I’m trying so hard but nothing is seeming to match up.
My son eats cereal bars (organic brand), chicken nuggets (Tyson because we can’t afford the organic kind anymore-there’s only like 10 in a $8 box and he eats 5 at a time! yikes!), peanut butter toast, hummus & crackers, ice cream and chocolate. I can’t get him to touch a veggie or fruit (TRUST me I’ve been offering it to him since he stopped at 18 months….he’s THREE so that 10-15 times exposure thing is CRAP-OLA)  and we even planted a garden this year trying to A) save some money and B) get him involved in the process to try and get him to eat some veggies…so far we have ONE cucumber to show for our efforts and he wouldn’t even touch that. UGH. Yes I know if he is hungry enough he’ll eat it. But with little sleep, no nap, waking up cranky, etc…wouldn’t you go the easy way too? at least the ice cream and chocolate is only after he poops on the potty.


Whew. So there it’s all off my chest and if you’ve read this far…I’m sorry for putting my stuff on you. I’m sorry for wasting 10? 20? minutes of your life lol
So if you feel the same way as me on even only ONE of these things: I don’t have any advice and I don’t have a solution…I can’t even say “It will get better- it’s only a season in your life” because so far it’s the only season I know. But just know that I’m there with you. No matter how it seems on this blog…I know and I’m there. We can be there together- not solving anything but just knowing the other is there with us.

ok, I am prepared to lose some subscribers on here and have some friends on facebook avoid me because of all my ‘issues’ but I got sick of reading other “honesty” blog posts and thinking that it would be a great day if my life was their “messy/bad/ unorganized” life! lol!
So I’m hoping some of you feel that way too. Thanks for reading Miss E needs to nurse and Little Man is begging for nuggets…so REAL life calls!
Love,

P.S. I just want to state that I LOVE my kids and my husband and I KNOW we could have it much worse and I am thankful we don’t. Really I am very thankful and VERY aware it could be different. I just needed to vent and let someone else know that it’s ok she/he feels this way too. Because I wish someone would’ve written this post to make ME feel better too.

OpenSky Shop Grand Opening!

Good Morning! I am so excited that the time has finally come to open my OpenSky shop! I have found some interesting, valuable, and terrific products to start with and I can’t wait for you to have a look around!
The first product I want to share is the Klean Kanteen 12 oz. Sippy ($20)! I own this product and use it for my son a lot! We especially take it when we go to the playground or Grandma’s house.

This sippy is great because it is food grade stainless steel (no more plastic sippys!), it is dishwasher safe (and super simple to take apart and put back together), and it is designed to work with Advent’s BPA free sippy spout. (You can also get a ‘loop’ top from the company to replace the sippy part when the kiddos get older and can drink from a regular cup)
My son loves this cup because it looks like Daddy’s stainless steel water bottle and it has the slimmer neck so he can grasp it with his smaller hands.
Another product I wanted to highlight in my “Grand Opening” post was the square glass jar with glass lid- 32oz ($12).

This product will be perfect as is for storage & organization but I wanted to sell it because it is perfect for glass etching for a wedding gift or any gift!
Because I bake a lot of bread I know the value of good loaf pans and I also make it two loaves at a time so I love that this next product ($12) comes as a set of two:

They have a non-stick coating and are made of heavy gauge steel that provides even heating! These will make feeding your family frugally so much easier!
Last I wanted to highlight a product to pretty up your home:

These green porcelain dinner plates (set of 4) are only $60 and can be used as your plate or your charger! They are a lovely square shape which is something a little different to add a unique touch to your table setting. They come in a cute little gift box too!


Well that's it for my Grand Opening Highlights post! I have more products in my shop and you can shop directly from here- just look over at the right hand sidebar ---> and you’ll see my shop & can purchase from right here!
Here is a little coupon for you to use while you shop too:
From now thru August 16th, 2010 if you use coupon code FREESHIPPING you will get free shipping on any OpenSky purchase!

Have a happy day,

The Naughty Spot

My son, Little Man, is 3. I’ve heard 3 is more trying on the parents than the ‘terrible twos.’ In the past year we have been implementing timeouts. They are effective for us and I like them as a teaching tool. However my son needs boundaries (where to sit & stay during timeouts). I was using the forced hot air heating grate in the floor as the designated spot this summer but then remembered that this winter those metal grates would be hotter than hot if he needed a timeout while the furnace was on.
So I moved on to plan B. I made my own naughty spot.
I just used my silhouette machine and a free font-Pupcat. I designed a circle shape and put the text inside, cut the vinyl in my machine then, when it was done I peeled away the letters and outside the circle to leave me with the ‘negative’ space to put on my floor.
Here is the fun part: Don’t have a Silhouette or Cricut?? You can make one too! Go into paint or Photoshop or some similar image software. Draw a circle and insert text into it. Then go and get yourself some of this:

I got mine at Wal-mart about a year ago but I’m sure they still have it. 

If not you can buy full sheet adhesive paper at Papertrey, Ink. 

 

The only negative I can see with this method is that you only get white stickers (unless you draw your circle and fill it with color on the computer) and it might take you a little time.
So draw your circle in your image software and type your text inside the circle. Load your sticker paper in your printer according to the manufacturer’s instructions on the package and print out your design. Then take an craft knife or small sharp scissors and cut the circle then the letters out. Make sure you keep the interiors of the the letters O, A, P, etc. so that you can place those on the floor too.
Then just peel off your backing and press your sticker to the floor in the desired spot! Most adhesive printable sheets are low tac or low adhesive so they shouldn’t harm your floor when you remove them but I would test a small piece of sticker in a corner or under a piece of furniture to see. (Same with vinyl- it should be ok but it’s always best to test!)

Other variations of this could include putting it on the seat of a child-sized wooden/plastic chair (or an adult sized one if your adults need time outs too!) or on a piece of vinyl/laminate flooring remnant cut to size and painted a fun color (that way you can take it to Grandma’s or the babysitters to promote consistency in timeouts). Also use that sticker trick to make any and all wall decorations you want without having to buy a Cricut/Silhouette/cutter machine! :) Frugal & you still get to jump on the bandwagon of vinyl!

Hope you all have a happy day!


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