Tutorial: Kids Play Makeup

Posted By:  Stephanie

Lately my little girl who's 2 loves to play with makeup.  It doesn't matter to her if it is real or fake, to her it is all VERY real = )

I decided that I would get a head start on Christmas gifts and make her a set of eye shadows and blush to go in a "makeup" kit for her.

I got these from the Dollar Store, that way I wasn't wasting good makeup.  I don't wear enough myself to have a lot of spare containers laying around, if you do use those.

Pick some nail polish colors you feel would work well for your "makeup".

I found using a toothpick and running it around the outer edge of the makeup made it either pop right out or break up really well so it came out pretty clean.

I then used a q-tip to clean out the corners to make them really look nice and real makeup free.

Next add the nail polish.  I did just enough so that the bottom was covered and you don't see metal, then paint the outer brim of the metal to give it the effect that it is completely full.

There you have it, mess free makeup for your little one or as a gift for a little girl you know would love it.  All you have to do is wait for it to dry.  Warning, this is a bit of a stinky process!

DIY Fringe Scarf

Posted By: Kristi


What a great weekend! Bummer that it had to an end but it was great while it lasted. Yesterday evening, my sister Samantha and I whipped up a fringe scarf. It was a quick project and can be a fun addition to your outfit. Here's how we did it....


1. Find a shirt you no longer want and cut across it, armpit to armpit.

2. Cut evenish strips up the shirt, starting from the bottom, about 6 or seven inches long. Keep cutting all the way from one side of the shirt to the other side.

3. Once you are done cutting the strips, hold the shirt still with one hand and pull each fringed piece with the other hand. You want to really stretch each piece out.

4. That's it, you're done! Put on your new scarf and admire your new look. = )

Samantha is a lovely model, next time I will get her cute face in some pictures! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend and that Monday isn't too hard on you!!

Picture in a Jar

Posted By: Kristi

Don't weekends just seem to fly by? Most Mondays aren't the most exciting to me but today is Halloween and my kiddos (dogs) LOVE Halloween so I am a pretty happy girl today. Oh, by the way...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! = )

Tonight we will dress our doggie babies up (believe me, they love it! We aren't torturing them) and pass out candy to the trick or treaters. Miss Lou and her mom and dad will also be stopping by. Here is Little Lou last year.

As you can tell, she wasn't too thrilled. The costume didn't last long because we all felt bad for the tired little hot dog. Tears and all she was CUTE as always!

Our babies...

Hopefully you all have fun plans for tonight as well. 

This weekend I spent studying for a test I have coming up and went to a family get together. I also took a short break from studying for a little project. I had a small jar laying around that I wanted to use for something, I decided to use it to hold a picture.  I cut a picture I had to fit in the jar.

Oops, not the straightest cut but you can't tell when your done. Promise. = )

I then placed the picture inside the jar.

Once the picture was in the jar, I added olive oil and closed it.

It's tiny, cute and a fun way to frame a picture. I first saw this on Pinterest, done with a large jar and picture.

 This took me less than five minutes and would have been even faster if I wasn't taking pictures along the way.

Did you do any projects this weekend? Anything Halloween related?

Have a fantastic Monday!

Binder Clip Photo Holders and Giveaway

Posted By:  Stephanie

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Back to the Binder Clip Photo Holders:

I love when I get a few minutes to put a quick craft together.  On this rare day (yesterday) Little Lou took about a 45 minute nap which she is doing less of lately so I was able to get to work in my craft room and make binder clip photo holders.  Fun thing about this is that if you have a need for a cute binder clip you can always take the photos out and use them to hold your papers with style.

How I made my binder clip photo holders:

First I measured the clip.

I happened to have three large clips to work with.  I would have loved to have jumbo clips but this is what was at our Dollar Tree, so I went with it.  Once I measured the size of the clip where I wanted the paper I cut two pieces for each clip, one for each side.

Next I got out the handy, dandy Mod Podge and a small paint brush.

*Side note - Once I finished this project I cleaned everything up and the paint brush is missing.  Like NOWHERE to be seen which is weird because my craft room is very clean and organized.  I don't get it.*

Paint a layer of Mod Podge onto the clip to use as adhesive for the paper.

Place the paper on the clip.  I followed the same steps and put the paper on both sides before continuing.

Paint a layer of Mod Podge on the top of the paper on both sides to seal it.

Here are my three clips once I finished all of them.  I let them dry for a few minutes before I put them to use.

See the picture on the right side?  That is Kristi (left) and I (right) when she was 7 and I was 5.  I just love this picture because we're wearing the bows our mom used to make us.  Memories, memories.

Speaking of memories, every time I think of Halloween after the year our little sister Samantha was a witch I always think of her in this costume that our mom made.  She was the CUTEST friendly witch of all time.  I wish my mom still had this costume so that Little Lou could wear it next year, I'll have to ask her but I think it's long gone.

I loved having pictures in my craft room while I was testing out my new photo holders so I decided to keep them in there for now along with Lou's canvas painting that she made featured in this weeks Toddler Tuesday.  I'll have to give it up when her big girl room is done but she may have to make me a replacement.

I am guest posting today over at Nap Time Is My Time, you should go over there and check out Emily's blog, she has a lot of great posts and some fun linky parties too.

Have a great day!

Helpful Tips

Posted By:  Stephanie

I have some great tips for you today!  I found these while reading the magazine First For Woman that was given to me by my amazing Granny K.  Hopefully these tips are new to you too.

Genius way to use expired sunscreen:

Instead of tossing expired sunscreen use it as shaving cream.  The thick formula will provide a barrier that prevents razor burn.  An extra plus to using sunscreen as shaving cream is that most sunscreens have soothing moisturizing properties.

Effortlessly wipe away water rings:

Have you had people over and in the places where you've strategically placed coasters it seems your guest did not notice, leaving you dreaded water rings?  I have a fix for you, rubbing alcohol!  Soak a rag in the liquid, wring it out and use it to lightly dab the stains until they disappear, do not vigorously scrub.  Robbing alcohol will penetrate the damaged varnish of the table and quickly evaporate, “dissolving” the water stains in minutes.

Ensure your child’s shoelaces stay tied:

Has your child learned to tie their shoes but haven’t mastered the double knot so their shoes are always coming untied?  Sprinkle a little water on the laces before tying them.  As the water dries the lace will expand to make the knot tighter, keeping your little one safe all day long.

Get shower door tracks gleaming:

Do you have the problem where you look down while getting out of the shower and you notice your shower door tracks could use some attention but you aren’t sure how to get in those spall spaces?  Spray your favorite all purpose cleaner into the tracks and let sit for a few minutes.  When you are ready to clean use a screwdriver and wrap a soft cloth around the end and quickly rub back and forth in the tracks.  The cleaner will loosen the built up dirt, dust and soap residue making it easy to scrub it away.  The screwdrivers narrow tip will easily fit into the tight spaces your fingers can’t reach.

Safely pick up glass shards:

You are putting away the last plate when emptying the dishwasher and you drop it.  You are able to collect and discard all of the big pieces but the little shards still remain.  Lightly moisten one side of a slice of bread and wipe the floor wet side down.  The damp sticky slice will attract and lift every last bit of glass, safely clearing the floor.

Do you have a super awesome tip for us?  Please share!

Entryway Windows

Posted By:  Stephanie

Will, My Girl and I live in a manufactured home that had not been updated in years.  Lucky for us, although Will is handy, his dad/my father-in-law LOVES projects.  Before we moved in he did some woodwork and put in new floors (I will show you those at a later time) that have been used twice before, starting as a gym floor.  I just LOVE knowing they have been used twice before because I like to imagine what type of story they have and even more because you know I love a good excuse to recycle/repurpose!

One of the updates that he did was take out these icky glass pieces in the entryway that look from the dining room to the entry way and vice versa.  I love what he did with the holes that were left.  A few pieces of wood, trim and stain and we have a great new open space while salvaging the wall that works as a great divider.

It's amazing what a difference it makes to open up a space like this while removing an eye sore at the same time.  You may have noticed the difference in wall color from the "before" to "after" photos.  That's because Will is a genius painter and painted almost every wall in the house before we moved in.  You can see his handy work HERE when he helped me transform our master closet into my craft room.

What SMALL change have you made in your house that made a BIG difference?

(I only call it small because I didn't have to do it.  If I were to take on this project I would probably still be working on it haha!)

Lemon in Flower Arrangement - Button Wall Art by Deanna

Posted By:  Stephanie

Remember when I was telling you about our crazy week?  Well I've found a positive to it!  When someone is in the hospital many times other people will give them flowers and every once in a while something really neat that you haven't seen before comes into the room.  I was very impressed with this arrangement with the lemons in the water.  I think this arrangement is very unique, pretty and the lemons serve more than one purpose too.  I found through some Google research that lemons in the water serve as a base for the flowers and you don't have to have as many in the vase to fill it out AND adding lemons to the water in your flower vase improves the water flow in the stems of the flowers.  The acid in the lemons help reduce the amount of fungi buildup in the flower vase and the lemons help open the buds.  Cool huh?!

Do you remember the post about the button wall art Kristi made?  Deanna, a friend and follower of our blog saw that post and made this for a friend who just had a baby name Mason.  Didn't this turn out super cute?  What a great idea for a shower gift!

Have you seen something on our site and tried it yourself?  We would love to see what you've made and how you may have created it different too.  Please comment below if so and we would love to feature you on our site in a post.  If you have a blog we will put that in our post as well.

Have a great night!



Tidy Tip - Organizing Plastic Grocery Bags

Posted By:  Stephanie

I have to start this post by saying, I know I really should be using reusable fabric shopping bags, which is also one of my near future goals.  In the meantime we use plastic grocery bags and re-use them for things like Will's lunches.  I don't know about your bags, but my bags were taking over our pantry!  I decided to go back to my middle school days of writing and folding notes and I'm very pleased with my very much improved grocery bag storage.

First I dug out all of my grocery bags and threw them on the kitchen table.  As you can see, we do a LOT of shopping at Walmart.  We get all of our groceries there because in our small town our only choices are Walmart and Safeway.  Walmart is a much cheaper option when living on a budget.  I'm so thankful for our new Walmart!

Lay out your grocery bag and flatten it out.

Fold it in half...

and in half again.

Start from the bottom and fold the corner in,

and continue folding into triangles over and over until you reach the top.

You want to stop when there's about this much left at the top.

When you stop folding make sure that your are at the part where you have a little pocket like this.

Tuck the handles into the pocket.

There you have it, a nice compact grocery bag.

I continued and folded all of my bags which took just a few minutes.

I took one of my milk jugs and made it into a container as shown here so that I would have a place to store the folded grocery bags.

As you can see in my first before and after picture it made a BIG difference in my pantry.  How do you store your grocery bags?