Kitchen Towels

My friend made me some towels a couple Christmases ago for holidays throughout the year. I loved the idea and decided to make some to match my kitchen. Does the fabric look familiar? I had some left over.... this is the perfect thing to do with left over fabric.

So you just cut the fabric the size you want. I sewed all the edges under and then sewed directly onto the towel. I just used bath hand towels. They were really easy to make and turned out super cute.

Chore Chart

My mom found this cool idea for a chore chart on this blog. We thought it looked really cute and I knew my boys would love it. It is actually magnets. The idea is that you put the magnets under their name, and when they are finished... the kids then move the magnet to the blank board. My 3 year old absolutely loves it! We do chores together every afternoon! (Which is super good for me too because I tend to not be the most neat person. Dishes and laundry have always been struggles for me.)

There is a tutorial on her blog, but I will go ahead and explain what I did.

So I first went to Home Depot and found metal roof sheeting. They are about a dollar a piece. I didn't want to spend a whole lot on wood, so I actually just got particle board. I figured it was fine if it didn't stick out that far from the wall. Cut the board to fit my three pieces of metal.

I painted the board, and prepared the metal. On the other blog she just stuck the paper to the metal sheets with double sticky tape so she could change it for holidays and stuff. I just wanted mine to match my kitchen and wanted the paper a little more durable. So before I glued the metal onto the board, I covered them in paper and modge podged them on. (Both underneath and on top.) I printed out their names and also mod podged those on. The reason I did it that way is so I could add names on the bottom halves of the paper when we have more kids. If it was typed directly on the paper I wouldn't be able to add so easily.

After the mod podge was dry I glued on the metal sheets with E6000 (basically my favorite glue ever. I use it for everything that you would normally use hot glue for.... much stronger). You have to let the glue dry overnight so I left it on the table with some heavy books on it.

Not so Idle hands has a printout of the graphics for the magnets. I ordered the 1 inch square glass tiles from here. You could also probably use the large circle glass pebbles from craft stores (in the flower section) and make your own graphics if you want to save money.... they are $1.50 for 25 or so of them.

I glued the pictures to the tiles with my trusty E6000, and mod podged the back of them. When that dried I glued on a circular magnet to the back. (You can get from walmart.)

That was a very detailed description with no instructional photos.... so check out Not so Idle Hands if you need some visual aides. :)

Message Board take 2

So I finally made a message board for myself. I think it turned out pretty cute. Again, same basic instructions as the clip holder. Just thought you might want to see the different colors. :)

Sunbeam Pins

While I was at my mom's house over Christmas she wanted to make something for her nursery kids that were moving into Sunbeams. I can up with this for her:

They turned out really cute and I made a few for my little sunbeam and his friends.

They were pretty easy to make. We cut out a circle in yellow felt and the ray part in orange felt. Drew the face on the yellow, sewed the little cheeks on, and hand stitched the rest of the face. Sewed the yellow and orange together with a running stitched, then stuffed the sun before we got all the way around. Finished sewing the sun together, and glued a pin on the back with E-6000 (my favorite glue). Viola! A cute little pin for your sunbeam!

Christmas Corn Bags

We have done these corn bags a couple of years as Christmas gifts now. I guess I should probably explain what they are since a few people we gave them to had no idea what it was. It is a heating pad that you fill with corn feed and heat in the microwave for a few minutes.

We love them for keeping our feet warm in the winter, cramps, headaches, and shoulder pain. You can get corn feed from a local IFA or similar store. It is only 9 or 10 dollars for a 50 lb bag. We usually get about 22 corn bags out of the 50 lb bag. You can make them just about any shape you like, but I like to stick to this one because it fits nicely on your neck. I also make a smaller version because these are kind of heavy on your head if you have a headache.... especially if you are claustrophobic. :)

Here is the poem I attached to it:

We made this bag especially for you

To use it: Here is what you do

Microwave for 3 minutes on high

and you can kiss aches and pains goodbye

Apply it to a troubled spot

The heat will ease the pain a lot

You can warm those little toes, so cold

You'll find it nice to have and hold

Hope it helps you stay warm

during these long months of cold and storm!

I got some of the poem from a different website about rice bags, but I don't remember where I found it. Anyway, it is a really good and cheap gift. (Especially if you live in cold places.)