Easy DIY Character Table Updates

I'm all about upcycling. For one thing I'm broke and for another upcycled pieces are usually the most interesting. It is  probably a blessing that I don't usually get out to flea markets often because I would buy all the pieces, then I need a craft store and a hardware store.

By the way if you like crafting or upcycling check out Hobby Lobby, that place is amazing.

Anyway, A couple years ago I got my daughter one of those character tables with two chairs and an aluminum frame. Well, she doesn't really watch that show anymore and its not the cutest thing to look at. Especially when moved to the living room for playdates and coloring.  So, a friend of mine got me a glue gun, (I know, I should have gotten one years ago.) and I had some leftover fabric so I started measuring pieces and cutting out each section. I got lucky and had just enough to do the whole set.

The directions are simple.

The back and bottom of the seat and the table top are screwed in with brackets. Unscrew em.
Lay the piece on the fabric and cut out. Doesn't have to be perfect you will be stretching it but leave enough to glue down.
All I did was use the glue in the corners of each piece to keep the shape and to keep the fabric from moving over the plastic.
Glue sections down on the back by gluing a 3 inch strip at a time and pulling the fabric tight. (I used clothes pins to hold the fabric down while the glue dried. It doesn't take long but it prevents you from pulling free already glued fabric.
Trim the extra.
screw back together.
Whole thing took like half an hour.

She loves it!

Feel free to comment with any questions or comments. I will be doing another gardening update soon, this year is going to be epic, I am just waiting for the sprots to get a little bigger before I post. There is also some new stuff coming from my reddit series so keep an eye out for that. Lots more photos.

DIY Snack Packs

Traveling with a toddler is quite the endeavor sometimes. Have you ever noticed they eat.... constantly! My rugrat has always been a good eater but this also means she wants to eat all the time and packing snacks in a diaper bag doesn't always work out as planned. Snacks get left in the bag and go stale or the apple sauce will spoil when the car heats up and cheerios... friggan... everywhere!

While my methods are still in, what I like to call, the planning stages, I have found a few hacks over the last year or so that have made my life slightly easier and I'm here to share them with you guys.

I found this idea on Pintrest and adjusted it to suit us.

 My daughter had mostly formula as a baby and I had dozens of these plastic containers lying around. (I also use them to store crafts like beads, pom poms, washi tape and rogue crayons. Highly recommend holding on to a few of these if you are going to buy them anyway. The scoops also work great for the DIY detergent I posted yesterday. DIY Laundry Detergent)  A few staples I throw in these are oatmeal, fruit cups or fruit snacks, animal crackers and those squeezy applesauce packets. You can obviously adjust the contents for whatever you kids may prefer just don't forget to take some of the perishable stuff out and throw it in the fridge when you get where your going. These little guys are perfect for a night at the Grandparents house. (My parents don't usually have a lot of kid type food around.) A trip to the park or the beach. (Wishful thinking!) I also make a snack mix that she just loves and it saves a little packing time when getting ready to go. I will be posting my snack mix soon so you guys can give it a shot.

As always feel free to share and comment away and I hope this helps you guys in your own planning stages.

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.

Food For Tiny Fingers

It's official, my daughter is 1 year old! 

We celebrated her birthday over the weekend followed by my husbands party and it went very well. This morning my husband asks me, as he is making her bottle, "Aren't we supposed to be weaning her off of these soon?" Crap, he's right. That means more finger food, relatively scheduled meals, make ahead breakfasts. (I am out of the house by 6am and home with the other little one but 7am so breakfast is already a pain.) Then I start wondering where am I going to put all these meals and tiny tupper ware containers. Well, I think I've got it.

So There are several things I pick up for my lil munchkin to eat. 
Cut up green beans, peas, carrots, broccoli chunks, any frozen or canned veggies really. Throw some in a cup and microwave or grab a small pot and toss in your veggies. Storage is simply your pantry or canned goods cabinet and they take seconds to make. Pair them with some fruit or pretzels.

I will hard boil some extra eggs and throw them back in the fridge for a pre-made breakfast or an afternoon snack.

Cook an extra chicken breast or meatballs when you make dinner. Bonus: split it with the kids and make some quesadillas for lunch or a salad and you got your lunch too with little work.

I am a big fan of chunks of block cheese with some fruit and crackers or cheerios. All very easy things to put together.

With all these little finger foods filling up the fridge and pantry I decided to throw together some Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker and up-cycled some old formula containers to use as storage.

After you pull off the label you can spray paint it with plastic paint. Then I decorated it with some washi tape. The one on the left I use for storing crafts like beads, pom poms, washi tape rolls, etc.

Using small zipper bags and mini storage you can set these up for where ever you need them. For instance one will have small bags of cheerios, (instead of bulky boxes in the pantry.) pretzles, fruit snacks, snack pouches, really anything. 

For the refigerator snacks like fruits and veggies I have small storage boxes,

The white one you see here houses small tea boxes, instant coffee and all those rogue k-cups and kool-aid packets that make such clutter in your cabinets.

One of these little guys can slide out of one side of your fridge and all your toddler to-go bags remain contained in one place.

Last thing I am trying to do more of is making foods ahead, as I mentioned cooking a little extra the night before so you are all set for lunches and snacks the next day but I also like to load up the freezer. (Depending on space you can use those containers above to hold bags of freezer food.)

I like to make french toast sticks, mini pancakes, mini muffins etc. Its a good project for a lazy Sunday when I have an extra pair of hands for the baby. You can make up a ton of them in the time it would take to make a regular breakfast and on those busy mornings you toss 'em in the oven or microwave and the kids are happy. Not to mention all that breakfast stuff will make your house smell all yummy!

A new one I want to try is yogurt bites. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and use an icing bag (or a ziplock with a hole cut in the corner.) and make dots on the paper. Freeze them and pop them into a bag for a cool summer snack.

Anyway, off I go to start cooking then off to work so my husband can clean the kitchen. ;) 

What time saving tricks do you guys have?

DIY's This Summer

One sick baby, two sick babies.... Thank the universe we did not decide to have a second sooner because I am already elbow deep in snot and poop.

We are enjoying our first year as a family and trying to get in all those story book times together such as apple picking, pumpkin picking and of course the local favorite, one of the many fairs that hit the area in the fall. This year we got an extra treat! The stomach flu... let me tell you how terrifying that is with kids all over the country getting sick and getting hospitalized. Fortunately, it hit us one at a time starting with my husband. He was down and out for two days, the poor guy, but once a year he always gets very sick then bounces right back. Then our daughter got it. No puking, (that's my girl) but definitely uncomfortable and lots of dirty diapers.

This was followed up by a seasonal cold and lord there are boogers... EVERYWHERE. Granted this is gross but it doesn't bother me so much. It bothers me more that my poor little one is feeling so crummy and anything I can do to help ie. aspirator and tissues just pisses her off more.

During the day I watch a little boy around my daughters age and they are the best of friends. In fact, they share binkies... This morning I started sneezing etc. I am so glad my husband is taking his vacation next week because one sick baby is enough for me, two, however, as well as being sick myself, is just far too much. So tonight it's a hot bath and fuzzy pj's, some Chicken noodle soup and an early bed time. I'm already exhausted.

This leads up to the fact that I have little time for projects left not to mention that I am currently looking for a house and we are slightly broke so it occupies a lot of my time. However, as promised, I have other little fun things I have done this summer. Such as,

Mission Impossible for Toddlers!

My niece and nephew are three and five years old and smart! Well, I like to have activities planned for them while they are here. A couple times in the summer my mom has Grandkids weekend. We go to grammy and papa's house and go camping.
 All this required was some bright red yarn. (I know it's a little difficult to see but it's there.) and you zig zag from tree to tree, high and low and cris-crossing every which way.

In this case I was not able to gather all the materials so I didn't use the bells but when tied to the yarn the bells will jingle when the "lazer" it touched letting them know they lost. On the other side of the obstacle is a small path leading them right back to the starting line. Not everyone has this kind of land especially when you live in the city so this can easily be done indoors. A long hallway can do the trick with some scotch tape (don't ruin your paint job.) and the yarn and bells if you want.

You can do this with older kids and toddlers alike. I am thinking we can do the spy theme when my daughter is a little older and set this up at her birthday party. The kids can win little prizes is they get through. (You can use the same toys as you have in the goody bags for the kids so that everyone gets a fun toy.

I did one other project for them with the help of my brother.
Sone day I'm driving down the road and I see the frame for a papasan chair on the side of the road. (I am a big fan of free or cheap.) So my husband picks it up for me and it is brought to my parents where the base was promptly shattered. Sad but hopeful I assure them I am going to make a swing out of it so please don't burn it. My mother rolled her eyes so hard she may have sprained one but the chair went unburned. Finally, the last big camping trip I have got to do something with it or it goes in the bon fire. Got some big fat rope, the kids and went hunting for a tree.

With the help of my monkey brother we got it hung and the kids loved it. It was like a carnival ride and strong enough to hold my brother and I.

Assuming the wood holds out through the winter I will be using a very large cushion I made to cover it but an old comforter will do just fine. I don't have a photo yet of the kids up high but that swing hums and the rungs of the chair serve as handles and foot wedges without the threat of tiny busted fingers. They had such a blast that they wanted to keep it up after the rain started. Until, of course, there was talk of s'mores and fire. 

Sadly, the camp is now closed but we certainly enjoyed it while it lasted.