Today's Win

 I awoke this morning, late for work, to discover I now have the day off. This is wonderful because I spent the weekend with my family and for the love of god I need a rest. Green Tea a hot shower and ghost TV and, of course, napping. I have been fiddling around on my computer, looking for a free or cheap photo editor. Everything I found was way too... cartoony or had so many buttons and options for things I would never use that I couldn't figure out how to use it. Then.. I found it!

DARKROOM! really cheap for some reason so I download it click start and I am on the move again. This is the program I used when I worked at the Portrait studio and I trained the new staff on how to use it and make it efficient. So off I go. I find some old photos that a photographer friend of mine had done of my daughter and added my little yweak to them. Yup I haven't lost it.

This is my rugrat having her cake at her first birthday.

So granted I don't have a great camera but where my camera lacks I can make up with proper editing equipment. So off I go to kill some time waiting for the house closing and practice with my own little munchkin. Very exciting, wish me luck!

Handmade Gifts For Boys

So I was given an impromptu vacation. This happens sometimes with child care, the family takes a vacation and you are workless until they return. Fortunately I still get paid when they take time off so I still get a little money. Fortunately, this gives me some time to finish up some gift wrapping and getting a few of my little DIY gifts complete so I am excited about that. Not to mention all this one on one time I get with the little one, (she spends most of her time playing with the boy I nanny and rarely has time for mommy.)

Now that my scarves are done, (check my last post for more on that,) I have time to get the boys fort kit done. These clever little things go for anywhere between 30 and 40 bucks. I'm not terribly certain its worth all that so on Black Friday we went out and got just the pieces. I have two nephews so everything is doubled.

I grabbed:

• Two flat sheets. (I got twin sized just because of limited space and I know their families will have old sheets that can also be used. 
• Clothes Pins (You can get a ton for very little money)
• A mini child's flashlight
• Last but not least a book to curl up with in there. (The boys are pretty big on books so we play that up where we can.)

All you really need to do is cut a piece of burlap about double the width and length of the bags the sheets came in. You just want to make sure everything is going to fit inside. Fold over the long sheet of burlap and sew the sides. Turn it right side out and there is your bag. I took another strip of burlap very narrow and pretty long. Putting slits in the top of the burlap bag to weave your 'ribbon' through as a sort of tie.

These are the pieces all pulled together.

This is the final product. I'm going to embelish the front with some paint so it says Fort Kit and tie the top again to make it look a little more polished. I will update as it becomes completed.
I hope the boys like love them and have lots of fun.

If you liked these projects follow me for more great DIY on a budget.
See you soon.

While I Was House Bound

Here in New England our winters get pretty brutal and we are all mostly used to it. It is common to lose power a few times. Well, we got hit early this year and had some down line and bitter temperatures. Regardless we cooked Thanksgiving dinner on the grill, you read that correctly, on the grill. The sides were all done on little propane camp stoves and we warmed the appetizers in ceramic dishes on the wood stove. To top it all off we had frosty cocktails and a little warming brandy to snuggle up to. All in all it was a pretty cozy evening. Even the baby didn't seem to mind since all the attention was on her and not the iPad or the TV. Anyway, since all the crummy weather came through it has been too cold to go outside so I decided to keep myself busy with some inane project. I cant really work on my furniture indoors and we are still working on the offer for the new house so I needed a relatively short project.

Crochet! Time consuming while still being productive. Well after about 45 minutes and two inches into a blanket I needed something a little more..... fun. Arm knitting seems to be the new fun thing so I figured if I do well I have holiday gifts and if I mess it up I have dog blankets. Win, win!

I am pleased to announce.... It worked beautifully and they look nice rather than like a child knotted a bunch of strings together. (I have a habit of busting out some epic pintrest fails from time to time.)

 I will warn you, as I quickly found out, one pull on one of the chains and you will never get it back in the right place so try not to let little hands grab at them. The cuff with the button was just a quick single crochet stitch with a double crochet at the end to make the hole. This thing works great for hiding the seam where the ends are stitched together. These took about 15 to 20 minutes each and together they used about 2 and a half skeins of super bulky and bulky yarn. Make sure you get the fluffy stuff to fill in the holes a little.

Any of my projects you would like to know more about feel free to message me or leave a comment. I don't mind doing tutorials if you need one. I'll be back soon with some more projects as the Christmas gifts start coming together. Thanks guys!