Thursday, July 29, 2010

Headbands and elastics and scrunchies, OH MY!

My daughter and I have been sharing a drawer for hair barrettes, combs, and clips for a while now. I don't mind sharing spaces with her, but she is getting more and more "girlie" every day, and we have been running out of space in our small bathroom to keep everything organized. So while I was at the dollar store recently, I spotted a box of 10 small, adhesive hooks for - you guessed it - $1.00 ... and I found her a space in the bathroom to keep her barrettes neatly organized.



She loves having her things hanging here, separated from mine. I think I might need to add a small mirror to the other door ... but of course then I might never get time to get myself all dolled up in my own bathroom anymore!

I think I'm gonna buy some more of those little hooks and try this neat trick in my kitchen! No more disorganized measuring spoons!

P.S. By the picture, I think my husband is excited at the prospect of no longer finding these things all over the bathroom floor! 

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Making an Idea Board

After cutting up a few old boxes a few months ago, I was left with 2 square pieces of cardboard laying around. It didn't feel right to throw them into recycling, so I decided to reuse them in a crafty kind of way.
I've always wanted one of those ribbon-laced memory boards that I used to see in everyone's college dorm rooms (except my own). I'm not sure if the ones that I have seen were made or purchased, but I didn't realize how EASY this project was until I tried it myself!

Here is how I created an "idea board" for my sewing/craft space out of 2 squares of leftover cardboard:

Materials: Cardboard, batting and scrap fabric (to cover front of cardboard), ribbon, hot glue gun and glue sticks,

1. Trim cardboard until it's relatively square. It really doesn't have to be perfect. Now, I imagine you could cut the cardboard out to any shape/size that you wanted. I almost made 2 matching boards but I decided to tape my 2 squares together to form one long rectangle.



2. Iron and lay out your fabric (right side down), then lay batting on top of fabric. Make sure that the batting exceeds the sides of the cardboard just a little (maybe a quarter of an inch or so), and the fabric should stretch at least an inch and a half around all sides.

3. Lay the cardboard piece on top of the fabric and batting. Working with one side at a time, stretch the fabric snugly over the cardboard and use the hot glue gun to glue the fabric to the back of the cardboard piece.



4. Once the glue dries, lay the ribbon out on the front of your board in the design that you would like. I used long pins to hold my ribbon in place while I glued each individual piece. Also, be sure you that you really pull the ribbon tight against the face of the board. If it's not tight it won't hold your things well. Once you've got the ribbon in place, glue to the back of the cardboard.

5. Finally, I used a heavy-duty needle and thread to sew (straight through the cardboard) buttons on all the placed where two strands of ribbon intersected. I glued a braided ribbon to the back to use for hanging, and hung on a push-pin on my wall.



This project is SO easy! None of the steps have to be perfect (notice no real measurements here) in order to get a fantastic end-result. Also, it's totally frugal even if you do have to go out and buy a few things (this didn't cost me a single penny - I had all the supplies on hand). I also love it because it's totally customizable! I think I'm going to make two more to hang above my kids' beds!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Edible Jewelry

Never underestimate the power of "snacks on a string". Kids love them.



For these we used extra long pieces of licorice strung with a few different types of cereal, some cereal straws, and a few pretzels. Bonus ... I didn't have to take any extra food with us to the park in case someone got hungry.