Monday, June 29, 2015

General Conference Quote Board



I've written several posts in the past about engaging your children during General Conference and preparing them beforehand.  About a month ago a friend of mine, Kensie of Kensie M Photography, shared a way that she keeps the messages from conference hanging around the house--literally.  




Honestly, this one of the quicker projects I've done in a while!    First, I gathered a good collection of quotes from this past General Conference and pinned them.  You can find them all on my Conference Board on Pinterest.  Next, I saved them and cropped them to be 6 x 8.  (My frame was 36 x 24 so this allowed me to have 18 total quotes in my frame.)  After printing them on cardstock I arranged them--and then rearranged a few times--until I was satisfied.  I then flipped the quotes over into the frame and taped them together with masking tape.  

I've seen my boys reading them as they head downstairs and it makes my heart happy to know that they are continuing to internalize the wonderful messages we have been taught.  I love to have a visual reminder of those words hanging in my home. 

And just for you I'm sharing a printable I created with one of my favorite quotes.  Enjoy!







Monday, June 15, 2015

Eraser Stamped Patriotic Shirts (Using Dollar Store Tees)


Hey, I just wanted to let you know that my book Quiet Book Patterns is on sale right now through Amazon for only $7.90!  This is the lowest price I've seen it selling for!  Now's a great time to grab a copy and buy one to give away as a gift too!  Purchase your copy here.
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The Fourth of July is one of my very favorite holiday's.  I love the parades, and the red, white, and blue, and the patriotic music, and the food and fireworks, and spending time with family.  This is a land that I love!

A few weeks when I was shopping I noticed the patriotic shirts on display.  As I was browsing through them I remembered that I had spied some t-shirts at the dollar store and thought it would be fun for my kids and I to make our own patriotic shirts for the fourth of July.  I mean for $1 why not?  Here is what we came up with inspired by this shirt that I saw at Target:






I love how they turned out and they were so simple to make.


First things first--I washed my shirts.  This is always a good idea so they can preshrink.  It also washes away any chemicals on the fabric from manufacturing which may prevent the paint from being permanent.  I still can't believe I snagged these tees at Dollar Tree! You really can't beat the prince for a fun craft project.  I was lucky to find one in each of my kids sizes and they even had some in my daughters size in a girl cut.  



To start out I traced and cut out a star from freezer paper.


I then placed the shinny side of the star onto the fabric and ironed it on using a medium setting.  Be sure to focus on the edges and points of the star.  Iron for about 30 seconds to a minute.  The first time I used freezer paper for a project I applied a lot of heat and and lot of pressure and I couldn't get the freezer paper to come off of my fabric when I was done. I ruined my project.  Less is more here, but at the same time you want to make sure the paper is completely ironed on so no paint seeps under.


I then mixed in some textile medium to my red and blue paint and used a new pencil eraser to stamp.  Be sure to place cardboard, wax paper, or freezer paper inside your shirt before you start stamping so the paint doesn't soak through to the back.


You really can't go wrong with the design.  I concentrated the dots more around the star and then spaced them out as I got further away from it.


Once the paint drys you can peel away the freezer paper and your shirt is done!


This project is very kid friendly.  My children had a blast making their very own fourth of July shirts.  Now they're busy making a bunch of red, white, and blue rainbow loom bracelets so once July fourth rolls around they'll have plenty of patriotic things to wear.


Cute kids.  Cute made-by-them shirts.



Since these dollar store shirts where such an incredible deal we grabbed a few more is different colors too.  Stay tuned to see what we made with those!


Monday, June 1, 2015

Main Squeeze + A Giveaway! ****Giveaway Closed****


A friend was recently telling me about these handy little contraptions that are perfect for squeezing out every last drop of anything that comes in a tube--and because I'm a penny pincher I love them.  If you're a penny pincher you'll love them too. They're called Main Squeeze and I have fallen in love with them.  So have my kids.



The frugal side of me works hard to get every last drop out of my tubes and bottles and that is why I am thrilled with these little lovelies.  They are perfect for items in the bathroom like toothpaste, make-up, diaper rash cream, lotion, sunscreen or medicines.  They also come in handy in the kitchen for things like frosting or piping bags, and even work wonderfully for crafty things like paint or glue.


You simply slip them on the top of your tubes and they squeeze everything right down to the bottom.  My nine year old thinks they're just about the greatest thing ever since it prevents her three year old brother from making a squishy mess of the toothpaste tube.


I have to say I was really surprised how well it "smooshed" everything in my tubes down to the bottom and then how well it holds it's place without wiggling or moving around.  This Main Squeeze is really secure and works just how I had hoped!  Pretty cool, huh?


If you're wondering where to buy these beauties you can find them HERE.  And because I'm so thrilled with how well these work I want to share the love! I'm giving away one package of Main Squeezes to one lucky reader.  To enter to win simply leave a comment below telling me one thing you do to be frugal . . . and that's it.  Giveaway ends June 9, 2015 11:59 PDT.


And the winner is . . .


True Random Number Generator  2Powered by RANDOM.ORG


Bonnie!

Congratulations Bonnie on winning a package of Main Squeeze!  I know you'll love them as much as me.