Betcha Can't Guess...

...what my last name starts with!

Here's my latest home project.

I love it.

And we've still got room on the wall in case

we come across more letters we love or another idea on how to make another one.

I spent less than $30 for all of it.

The white sparkly one, the lower case orange, and the uppercase red

all came home with me in my suitcase from Utah,

when I stopped at the Wood Connection.

The vinyl letters also came from there - in the clearance box for .50 - $1 a piece.

I made the yellow one - it's cardboard wrapped in yarn.

The green and brown ones were found at Michael's for .99 or less.

And the blue one with a threaded letter I made myself from scraps around here.

I'll post a tutorial on that soon.

Here's another look:

 

Gray & Yellow Baby Shower

I hosted a baby shower for a friend a couple weeks ago.

It was awesome.

I wasn't sure what theme I wanted to go with, so I snagged the theme from

my friend's plan for the nursery for her new baby,

gray and yellow.

And it was GREAT!

Here are some pictures from the party.

I hung a pennant banner across the front of the table,

and some gray & yellow paper things

hanging from the ceiling.

 I served rice krispie treats,

lemon cupcakes, and vanilla pudding in baby food jars with

two mini nilla wafers on top

 The cupcakes were pretty good.
I used the recipe here.

 I made a circle garland from several sheets of scrapbook paper

 And I made some tissue paper puff balls.

It was my first time making them.

They were pretty easy, but need a lot of paper per ball.

I was a little skimpy with the paper, so I probably would have been

more pleased if I hadn't.

But tissue paper can get expensive.  So I just had 7.

But it was enough.

 I also bought 1/8 yard of three different yellow and gray fabrics

from JoAnn.  Then I cut them into strips and tied

them onto some gray ribbon.

I thought it was pretty cute.

And the whole thing was about $7.

 Entry table; 

here's a close-up of the chalkboard

 And I had these cutie elephant sugar cookies

in the little basket on this table as a favor, so the guests could

grab one or two on their way out the door.

 It was a lot of fun planning this party,

and it seemed that everyone who was able to come had fun.

So it's a complete success in my book.

Also, did you see how great the table looks in use?!

I had asked my husband to try to have it done so we could use it

for the party.  And it was done and dry with enough time to spare.

Thanks, Honey!

Kitchen Table

Back in 2007, when we had just one child and my husband

was in Afghanistan, I found a great deal on a new table at a sidewalk sale.

It was a round black pedestal table, with four chairs,

for about $150.

It looks a lot like this one.

And it served us well.

Except for when I wanted to cut out a lot of fabric,

spread out anything, serve food on the table at the same time that we ate,

or have company over for dinner.

Especially as our family grew.

So after we finished our tv console, we started working on a table.

And it's finally done!!!

Woohoo!

And here are some pictures of the process, well I guess just

the staining, since I can't find any of the actual building.

You'll just have to take our word for it that we built it in the garage.

 So beautiful!

And one of the best parts? 

It was less than $200.

And very easily seats 8 comfortably.

If you are interested in making one for yourself, you can find the plan

here, from Ana White.

We did make a few changes to the plan.

We used three 2x12s for the top, with 2x3s between them.

I think the rest is pretty much the same as the plan.

If you've made one of these, or another of Ana's plans,

I'd love to see it.

Laundry Soap Recipe

This is by no means my own recipe,

but I really like it.

I found it on Pinterest, and after a friend

of mine tried it on her blog and loved it, I decided

to try it out

You can find the original post HERE.

When I made my first batch, I also purchased a large container for it.

I was a little nervous about it, since it's large and glass,

and that's not always a good combination,

but it's worked out wonderfully.

So I think for my first batch it was about $30, with

the inclusion of the pretty jar (which I bought for $9.97).

I still keep a spray bottle of Shout handy,

to give the kids' clothes a quick squirt when they've had a messy day,

and a small container of OxyClean for soaking things - 

have you ever tried it on a white baby onesie that's been 

washed and dried (without realizing there were stains from a diaper)?

I soak them overnight in a small amount of cold water, then rinse and wash the next day.

Presto!

Clean white onesie.

I can't remember when I made the first batch of soap, but I know

for sure it was in this house, and I don't think that 

my son was born yet, so I will go with March.

But my current batch was made on November 1, so 

when that runs out I will know for sure how long it has lasted around here.