Getting Organized: a Cleaning Calendar

We’re a busy family. Two kiddos under three and two working parents makes life challenging to manage day-to-day. My husband and I are neat and tidy folks with type-A personalities so we both get a little edgy when the chores pile up.

My husband came across this great image of a cleaning calendar from the blog bakerette.com when he was searching for ideas on how to get more organized with household chores. This calendar was such a great idea, but I wanted to create one for myself that I could update with chores that better fit our lives. Now I want to share an editable version with you!

Free Editable Cleaning Calendar

Click on the link above to download my google doc. To edit the chores in the text boxes, just click on the text and start typing! I used “Apple Casual” for the font to match the headings I created so depending on the fonts available to you, your download might look a little different. Isn’t that the great thing about being able to edit it? If you like what we’re up to and don’t need to change the chores, feel free to just save my image.

Happy cleaning!

Like this? Maybe you’d be interested in a freezer inventory too. This was another great pinterest find that I made my own. I use it to keep track of all of the proteins, veggies and pre-made meals stored in my freezer.  If you laminate it, you can use a dry-erase marker to mark the checkboxes on the left with one slash to indicate the number of an item in the freezer (like three boxes slashed for three pounds of ground beef) then I complete the X once the item has been used.

DIY Scrabble Picture Frame

Lauren is my crazy talented photographer friend and someone who really just inspires me. She is magic behind a lens and captures expression like no one else I know. She also happens to be a rockstar gift giver. For Father's Day, her very lucky hubby will be receiving this beautiful picture frame with a beautifully captured daddy-daughter moment with her sweet daughter "P". When she shared the photo with me, I just had to ask her to write a guest post so here it is! 

DIY Scrabble Tile Picture Frame

Hi thatssewnina readers!  I am so honored to be guest posting here on the blog!  It’s my first post on someone else’s blog, so bear with me.  Nina saw a project I had done for my husband for Father’s Day and asked if I would do a guest post… and of course I said yes!  It’s a quick project and super easy.  I originally found the idea on pinterest.  The original pin had no instructions, so hopefully my little tutorial will help you out.

Here's what you need:

• A shadowbox – I got a 8x10 from Hobby Lobby.  All frames were 50% off this week, or you could use their coupons.
• Hot glue gun & glue
• Scrabble Tiles – I ordered mine from Ebay to get the exact letters I needed.  You could sort through an old game OR check out the Hasbro website.  They sell refill kits for $7.99 on their site. 
• A pic of your little one – ‘Daddy’ and ‘Daughter’ worked out well for a 5x7 picture in an 8x10 shadowbox.  Other words may fit better on a 4x6 photo if they’re shorter.

Here's how:

All you have to do is disassemble the frame and adhere the photo and tiles directly to the mat.  I used hot glue.  You could also use superglue.  Elmer’s or school glues may not work as well due to the velvety texture of the mat.  Reassemble the frame and voila!  Perfect gift! 

Other ideas for scrabble frames:
Mommy & Me
Grandma (or Grandpa) and Grandson (daughter)
If your child has a name that starts with an M, D or G, that could also work well.  IE Mommy & Margie, Grandma & Grant, etc, etc. 

Thanks for letting me share my project!  Hope you all have a wonderful Father’s Day weekend!

-Lauren

Ta-Da! 

 

Great Idea: a Stay-Put Picnic Table Cover

One of my college friends posted this great idea of making a DIY custom tablecoth using a standard tablecloth and sewing some elastic around the fabric to gather the ends under the table. I loved this idea and was just waiting for the right project to pop up to use it. 

When I recovered our outdoor patio chairs (post to come soon!), I miscalculated how much fabric I would need and ended up with four extra yards (... um, yeah. WAY over-calculated but it was 50% off so I wasn't being too careful.) This project came to mind and I realized what a perfect fit it would be for a picnic table cover. 

The idea is simple (assuming you can sew!) 

Here's how: Stay-Put Picnic Table Cover

Supplies needed:
Fabric or a store bought tablecloth
A few yards of elastic (1/8 to 1/4 inch in width)
Your trusty sewing machine

Step 1: Measure your table

Yup, that's pretty much it. No worry about being too exact. If you're doing a circular table, you may want to lay your fabric on top of your table like my friend Patricia and trace out the edge of the table with a fabric marker.

Step 2: Cut out your fabric

Add five inches on each side of your above measurements and cut out your fabric.

Step 3: Sew your elastic on

If you are using a fabric that frays a lot, you may want to take the time to zig-zag stitch around the edges to limit fraying. Remember that this is going to be under the table so you won't see much of it so it doesn't have to be pretty.

To sew the elastic on, pick a starting point and line up your elastic on your fabric and put your needle down into the elastic and fabric. Back-stitch a few stitches to secure and sew on! As you sew, stretch your elastic tight.

I made a rectangular tablecloth so I back-stitched and cut my elastic at the end of each side. For a round table you can just keep on going.

Step 4: Enjoy your stay-put table cover!

When you're done sewing, pull it off your machine and try it out! 

What a great idea! No need for annoying clips or picnic table weights. 

Coming soon... DIY cushion covers!

Great idea! Baking bacon

I've been a little light on posting over the last month. I work in higher education (specifically admissions) and it always amazes me just how crazy things get in the spring. Students are excited for spring break. Students are stressed after break for the home stretch for the end of the semester. In admissions we are doing everything we can to drive home the numbers as we near registration and enrollment. We are planning end of the year celebrations. We are welcoming crazy amounts of people to campus for every activity you can imagine. 

SO... excuses, excuses... I've continue doing projects and haven't made time to post so I've decided to put myself of a 7 day challenge to post a new idea every day for 7 days. 

Here goes! 

Day 1: Great ideas...

Every now and again you just come across that special something... some idea that makes you think, "Huh, how come I never thought of that?" (or if you're lucky sometimes, "Gee, I'm glad I DID think of that!") So I thought a GREAT IDEA would be to do some quick posts with great ideas. Here's my first:

BAKING BACON!

Maybe this is old news to some people but this blew my mind! I love bacon (if you eat meat and you don't love bacon, you don't love puppies. It's a no brainer.) but the trouble with it is that you have to watch it like a hawk to make sure it's done right. If it actually worked, what an amazing concept.

Tried it! Totally worked. 

Here's how:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cover a large baking sheet with a layer of tin foil (to make for easy clean up). Lay your bacon across a cooling rack to allow air to circulate all the way around. Place the cooling rack over your baking sheet and toss it in the oven. Depending on the thickness of your bacon and how crispy you like it (me? almost burnt to a crisp!), bake it for 20-40 minutes.

We use thick cut bacon from the butcher (is there any other kind?) so I checked it at 20 minutes, then at 30, then finally thought it was done to my liking around 40 minutes. I know that is a long time to wait but I got the rest of breakfast made and my kitchen cleaned up in the meantime.

Perfection! The bacon was crisp and flat.

Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine’s Day! … not for fancy dinners or flowers or sweet words from your honey (not that those aren't great) but, to me, it’s a day meant for expressing your love and appreciation for the special people in your life. It brings back all those warm fuzzy feelings from those ridiculous but wonderful “punny” valentine cards of our elementary school days.

Since curly girl was born I’ve started an unintentional tradition of a cute Valentine’s picture turned into a card. Now that GiGi has entered the picture, I realize that these Valentine cards have meant more to me than my Christmas cards so I knew I needed to think of something extra special this year. 

Here's what I did:

Maybe it's hard to see so...

I took a picture of Curly Girl holding a sucker with her hand out. I used a utility knife to cut a slit on top and under her fist in the picture then inserted a sucker through it. I used “Stick with me, Valentine!” for her tagline.

GiGi was a much more willing model so I was able to tape a mustache cut-out on her lip (mother of the year!) Then used the old “I mustache you a question… Will you be my Valentine” for her line. I cut slits at the top and bottom of the picture so that I could attach a silly straw with a mustache hot glued on.

You can get kid cut-out cards printed at your local photo center (Walmart or Walgreens each had the option on their websites). These were only 28 cents for a set of three!

here's Curly Girl's original picture... then I cropped it tight on her face and hand to make the sucker stand out

They were definitely a hit! 

Curly Girl's Valentine pictures from the last two years:

 about three months old

15 months

Secret?

this was my actual favorite picture from that photo session