Sunday, February 17, 2013

"New" Pillows

I hadn't realized that it had been November of 2009 that I had redone my couch pillows, but when I went back to my old blog to check, sure enough, it's been four years!  You can check out my Goodwill Redo HERE if you would like to see how I turned a tablecloth into new pillows.  Well, these pillows were really starting to look bad (and I was getting embarrassed having our CARE group over every Wednesday to sit on them!), so I decided to recover them.Of course, the only material I happen to have on hand in my Scrap Stash that would cover four big pillows, was some ticking that I got at Walmart for $1 a yard (they were clearancing all their bolts of material).  I bought the whole bolt, in fact.

For this project, I actually debated just doing two or three of the pillows and changed my mind about the material several times.  I finally decided to just do it, and I could change them in a few months if I didn't like them.  If I had read my original post, I wouldn't have wasted any time in changing them since it's been so long!

Of course, once I got them done, I decided that my couch really needed that drop cloth slipcover that I've had the material for three years and hadn't had enough guts to start yet.  My green couch just wasn't cutting it with my new pillows, so now I have a new project started.  I'll be posting more on that soon!

Another view of those pillows.  I didn't worry about making these removable or putting in zippers, I just went the quickest way, and sewed the pillows in there.  It is so satisfying to just do something new!  Refreshing!

Check out the blogs I love to link up to on the right column.  I love to hear what you think of this new, free project!  Do you have have a project that starts another, though?.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Potty Training

This week, we had a speaker come and talk about Potty Training with our MOPS Group.  I wanted to tie in a craft to go with it, so decided to include a Potty Training Chart.  I went on a search on the trusty internet, and found lots of ideas and a free printable for a Potty Training Chart.  I found quite a few, and one I really liked, but it was blurry when I saved it on my computer.  Here is where I got the Potty Charts from.  I printed these off at the church we meet at on card stock for free, so this cost me nothing.
 I had a pack of self laminating sheets on hand that I figured I would just have MOPS reimburse me for, that was until I priced them out at Walmart and discovered that they were $14 for just 10 of them!  Needless to say, I donated most of the cost of these and would recommend using a laminating machine and the sheets end up costing about $.28 each.

Here's what you will need for this project:

  • Ribbon ($.99/roll - we got 2-3 out of each)
  • 1/4" Grommets ($4.45 for 15 grommets and the tool)
  • Hammer
  • Piece of wood to pound on
  • Hole punch (I used regular one, but had to widen the hole to fit the grommets)
  • Card stock with charts printed on them in color
  • Lamination sheets & Lamination Machine (I own one, ask around, you might be surprised to find someone that owns one.  Originally, I split the cost with a friend, and then we just switched when we needed it.  They cost only $28 in Walmart)
This project didn't take very long to complete for 6 ladies (about 20 minutes).  My non-potty trained little one (who had no interest in prior attempts) watched carefully as I got all the things ready, and when I walked in the door from MOPS last night, she was waiting for "her" chart to hang on the wall!  She has had 3 stickers just this morning!

Here's the directions:
  1. Follow the directions for laminating the sheet.  You could do ahead of time, but it was nice to have the ladies do it themselves.)
  2. Punch a hole in two spots at the top - we eyeballed this.
  3. Follow the directions to pound in the grommets.
  4. Tie on ribbon.
  5. Hang up by toilet & enjoy!


I think if I calculated correctly, this project cost us about $1.10 each to make.  I was shooting for less, but you could cut costs if your supporting church has a lamination machine and sheets for free, too.  The Grommets were fun to try - none of the other ladies had ever used them.

I also printed out some potty training tips from Pinterest that I had found along the way.  Let me know what you think.  I hope some of you can use this for a MOPS night, too!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Ouch!

I have to say - "Ouch!  That had to hurt!"  As we were discussing our newest find in the chicken coop and trying to decide how in the world a hen laid such a big egg, one of our younger children piped in that the rooster must have laid it because he's the biggest one out there!  We cannot seem to convince this child that rooster's don't lay eggs.  So far, I'm not sure if it's twins or what, but I'll give an update when we get enough eggs to have a meal.  It will be an egg-citing celebration for sure!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

If you build it, eggs will come!

Coop and in upper right, you can see those buckets
A couple of weeks ago, we got some chickens for free (You can go HERE to read about that story).  We had a chicken coop attached to the barn, so were excited to move the "new-to-us" chickens in.  It came equipped with 5-gallon buckets for nesting, but I had my suspicions that it wouldn't work for them.  Of course, our chickens were molting, too, so we weren't sure how long it would take before they would lay in a new place and finish molting.


This weekend was beautiful, so Mr. Right and my Oldest set to work at making a nesting boxes for the hens.  Mr. Right salvaged some plywood that was laying around at work for years to build them.  He even split a log to hold the nest in down the front of the boxes.


 Isn't it just wonderful?  Now, Mr. Right and the boys have been visiting the coop regularly to see if the hens have made any eggs for breakfast!
Mr. Right even added an extension to the nests, for the hens to perch on.  
 Two days later - WE GOT EGGS!  We are all so very excited that we got two eggs from our free chickens that we can hardly contain ourselves!
Aren't they the most yummy eggs you've ever seen?  We can't wait to see what's in store tomorrow!  I love to share with the blogs on the right column!