Dear Readers, I have been thinking recently most of my posts are not many confessions. So I thought I would create a new blog that focuses on what I really like to write about , what I am passionate about and do in my daily life. I will be moving all my articles over to the new blog, with many others I am writing , Semi-Crunchy Frugalistic Mommy on a Budget Please join me there. Thank you for following me :)
-Mama bear
Friday, December 13, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Frozen Finger solution - Sock Pop holder
Boo bear loves frozen yogurt and popsicles but her little fingers cannot stand the cold. So since Cinnamon bear is not a sock wearer, and the laundry monster keeps taking sock sacrifices, we have a few mis matched pairs of her rarely worn socks floating around. I have seen little crochet covers online. 1. I cannot crochet to save my life , and 2. If there is something on had I can use, then even better.
another pretty basic idea..
Sock + Frozen pop = Pop in Sock.
another pretty basic idea..
Sock + Frozen pop = Pop in Sock.
Monday, June 17, 2013
DIY Easy as Pie Door Stopper.
Ok, I checked out Pinterest after I posted this and there is another blogger that did this before. I should check out Pinterest before next time.
It is summer time, almost. The heat is here and the windows are open. Which creates a nice cross breeze. Except when Cinnamon Bear is sleeping, that cross breeze may be nice, but can cause the doors to slam shut waking her.
In my Pinterest watching I saw those fabric door covers that cover the latches on doors you can make yourself. They are a GREAT idea, but I need air flow in my home.
fabric latch cover example
My last project where I made homemade water balls from sponges and nunchucks from pool noodles
I had a pool noodle left over. I thought I would help Cinnamon Bear get a little more rest. Of course with 4 kids in the house during summer break ( and their friends coming in and out) , the baby gets woken frequently. (although, she can sleep through a concert) The cat will go in her room using her paw to open the door making a clicking noise which wakes her, or the door slams from the wind, or there are times I want to check on her but opening the door wakes her as well.
SO In my desperation for her to finally take a nap I made these.
Here are your easy as pie instructions.
You will need, a pool noodle, and a knife.
Cut pool noodle to desired length for door stopper. ( Do you see the kids teeth marks? LOL they must have been hungry or something.)
Cut lengthwise a small sliver out of the noodle
It is summer time, almost. The heat is here and the windows are open. Which creates a nice cross breeze. Except when Cinnamon Bear is sleeping, that cross breeze may be nice, but can cause the doors to slam shut waking her.
In my Pinterest watching I saw those fabric door covers that cover the latches on doors you can make yourself. They are a GREAT idea, but I need air flow in my home.
fabric latch cover example
My last project where I made homemade water balls from sponges and nunchucks from pool noodles
SO In my desperation for her to finally take a nap I made these.
Here are your easy as pie instructions.
You will need, a pool noodle, and a knife.
Cut pool noodle to desired length for door stopper. ( Do you see the kids teeth marks? LOL they must have been hungry or something.)
Cut lengthwise a small sliver out of the noodle
BAM.. a door stopper that cost less than 1.00 to make.
Enjoy! Finally Cinnamon bear can get a cool breeze through her room and sleep.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Our Media Detox
Look around when you go out. Church, playground, restaurant while you are driving. In this day and age almost everyone has some sort of electronic device attached to them. Cell phones, tablets, game systems, you name it. Everyone seems so very connected but in reality we have become very disconnected. Disconnected with those around us and right in front of us. Sad as this is, this scene Disney Pixar Wall-E, points out what is going on today with electronics and us trying to be connected. Watch the whole thing and point out similarities of what you see around you today.
I must say this.. my pet peeve is when I am talking to someone face to face and they are looking down at their phone and texting. It is a respect issue for me. Be with the people who are right in front of you I believe. I have this blue basket now at my front door ( or did until the sign went missing) I do not force my friends to put away their phones, but encourage them to be with those in front of them.
We just got the tablet and it has been nice when I have been at a PTU (parent teacher union)meeting I will admit. But finding the kids want to play all the time if I have it. I see kids faces buried in these all the time when I go somewhere. Even kids who are becoming addicted.. not just to these tablets but other media. Read this article about children and Ipad addiction. Toddlers becoming addicted to Ipad require therapy.
We recently got cable television last summer for the first time and let our kids play more on the video game consoles. My middle two kids had never experienced cable TV or commercials much for that matter. We started noticing a trend with our kids. They seemed to be sucked in like Sleeping beauty was with the needle on the spindle in the Disney movie "Sleeping Beauty" haha. I noticed they were more distracted, and it was harder for them to focus.
In all seriousness, We noticed that with the new media around, our kids were fighting etc and had case of the gimmies and the "I am soooo bored" whine.
A mom at my kids school I found out has no TV or video games and the only cell phone I see used is her and her husband. Her kids are star students and do very well at school.Another mom friend of mine did a week as well of no media, Her kids success inspired me to do the media detox.
So we took it upon ourselves last Fall and bagged up of ALL their toys that they said they were bored with, but a few like books, blocks etc. Then shut down and turned off all video games. They were off limits up until March of this year.
It was hard at first to not tell the kids, "hey, go watch a TV show, or play a video game". At times I wanted so much to have it quiet while they watched a show they liked. So to help instead of spending money on a new video game or the extra cable package, we purchased board games, and books. With the cold , winter break we encouraged pretend play, writing, drawing, and outside play. That became our media detox. The change we saw in our kids was AWESOME.
They started playing together, using more of their imagination again ( like they did before we had tv) and got along better. We played more games as a family, and I was able to teach them card games I enjoyed as a kid. Like Speed, go fish, Uno, Old Maid etc. They learned how to play poker, and even Dude Bear who is 11 made up a role playing game on his own, not knowing what those games even were.
What it does come down to is moderation of course. With summer approaching it can be hard to not let them just play a video game or watch TV for something to do. I guess in this I just want to encourage parents or yourself to once in a while do a media detox. I know some of you rely soley on cell phones, and being connected ..but unplug once in a while, You will enjoy the silence. Be with those around you and enjoy that little time you have with your kids or your loved ones. It was worth it for us.
We just got the tablet and it has been nice when I have been at a PTU (parent teacher union)meeting I will admit. But finding the kids want to play all the time if I have it. I see kids faces buried in these all the time when I go somewhere. Even kids who are becoming addicted.. not just to these tablets but other media. Read this article about children and Ipad addiction. Toddlers becoming addicted to Ipad require therapy.
We recently got cable television last summer for the first time and let our kids play more on the video game consoles. My middle two kids had never experienced cable TV or commercials much for that matter. We started noticing a trend with our kids. They seemed to be sucked in like Sleeping beauty was with the needle on the spindle in the Disney movie "Sleeping Beauty" haha. I noticed they were more distracted, and it was harder for them to focus.
In all seriousness, We noticed that with the new media around, our kids were fighting etc and had case of the gimmies and the "I am soooo bored" whine.
A mom at my kids school I found out has no TV or video games and the only cell phone I see used is her and her husband. Her kids are star students and do very well at school.Another mom friend of mine did a week as well of no media, Her kids success inspired me to do the media detox.
So we took it upon ourselves last Fall and bagged up of ALL their toys that they said they were bored with, but a few like books, blocks etc. Then shut down and turned off all video games. They were off limits up until March of this year.
It was hard at first to not tell the kids, "hey, go watch a TV show, or play a video game". At times I wanted so much to have it quiet while they watched a show they liked. So to help instead of spending money on a new video game or the extra cable package, we purchased board games, and books. With the cold , winter break we encouraged pretend play, writing, drawing, and outside play. That became our media detox. The change we saw in our kids was AWESOME.
They started playing together, using more of their imagination again ( like they did before we had tv) and got along better. We played more games as a family, and I was able to teach them card games I enjoyed as a kid. Like Speed, go fish, Uno, Old Maid etc. They learned how to play poker, and even Dude Bear who is 11 made up a role playing game on his own, not knowing what those games even were.
What it does come down to is moderation of course. With summer approaching it can be hard to not let them just play a video game or watch TV for something to do. I guess in this I just want to encourage parents or yourself to once in a while do a media detox. I know some of you rely soley on cell phones, and being connected ..but unplug once in a while, You will enjoy the silence. Be with those around you and enjoy that little time you have with your kids or your loved ones. It was worth it for us.
Friday, January 4, 2013
"Hole" solution to hole-riffic pants
All of my examples are at the end of this post.
What you will need:
- Pants with holes in the knees
- scrap pants ( the ones where the holes are way to big to repair) or scrap fabric
- Iron on patches
- scissors
- needle and matching thread
- embroidery hoop (optional)
- fabric paint (optional)
- small craft paint brushes (optional)
As you may have read before, I am not a great at sewing and have little patience. With 4 kids in this house, I need to get things done as quick and easy as possible. My awesome neighbor gave me a bag of her 4t boys pants with holes, her kiddo had out grown for me to use as "play jeans" for Boo Bear. The holes were there, but not super bad, like ripped from one side to the next. So I started looking at ways to repair the hole. Of course easily, inexpensively, and not make it look like I slapped a iron on jean patch to fix the hole. So my solution. Patch from the inside of the pants, hand sew to secure the patch and paint creatively.
Kids Jeans instructions and distressed instructions are below.
I did 2 different types. Jeans to look distressed and painted jeans with the inside out patch covering up the hole.
Do this for all variations of jeans.
1.Turn Jeans inside out.
2. Cut a piece out from your spare pair of junk jeans to cover the hole of the jean with about an 1/8
inch allowance on all sides..making sure the spare jeans patch will overlap the hole
3. Place that spare jean part on your iron on patch and cut around the spare jean patch with a 1 inch allowance around the sides.
side note* - you can iron the area you are fixing on the jeans to warm up the area so the patch will adhere better.
4. Place spare jean patch face down to cover hole in jeans entirely
5. Place iron on patch shiny side down ( to adhere the patch to the jeans)
6, With iron on HIGH heat, move the iron back and forth constantly until patch is secured. Let cool.
7. Turn pants right side out. With a needle and thread, hand sew around the outside hole to secure the patch further. ( some patches the edges will peel off no matter how much you have ironed them)
If you like the distressed look, stop here. I did this for my jeans, since they were distressed when I bought them, but the distressed part on my knee tore open. now it looks like the hole was always that size. Since I patched them using the above steps.
What this really is is patching your jeans from the inside instead of the outside. The "spare jean" part keeps the stickiness of the iron on patch from sticking to your ironing table, and also makes the finished product look better, and for kids jeans the next part, gives you a flat canvas to paint on.
Now for Kids Jeans
Follow Steps 1-7
8. Clean up ragged edges by cutting off scraps of string.
9. With creativity, you can use iron on transfers, to stencils, to bejeweled kits, buttons, etc.
10. Come up with designs you will like that will cover up the holes and hide them better.
11. Decorate as you please.
I hope this was informative for you and will help you save those jeans , and get a little more use out of them.
Before
After
Girls Bug pants
After with caterpillar and ladybug. Flowers below pockets.
Girls Butterfly pants
Before After
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Almost Aunite Anns hot dog pretzels
I should have taken step by step photos of this. There is a trick to getting them golden and tasting more like a pretzel. They are delicous.
This is what I used
1 Pkg. Hebrew National Hot dogs (7 count)
1 Pillsbury reduced fat Crescent Rolls tube
1 cup of hot water
1 egg room temperature
1TBS. baking soda
1 -2 or so TBS. flour ( for rolling dough)
1 Tbs. butter
Pretzel salt or Coarse Sea Salt
Pre Heat oven to 350 deg. Fahrenheit. Lightly flour surface to roll out dough. Open package & roll out dough on surface with your fingers. Sprinkle some more flour on top of dough to keep roller from sticking to dough.
Looking at dough, you will notice that there are triangles to the dough. Pinch the triangle edges together. And make 4 large rectangles out of these (this is where I should have taken a picture) Roll the dough out once or twice to seal the triangle edges your pinched together.
Using a cutting tool ( I used my pizza cutter) cut each rectangle in half horizontally. This should give you 8 strips of dough. Spray cooking surface with Pam, if it is not a not stick surface. Gently take one strip and roll a hot dog in it to create a "pig" in a blanket. Do this for all 7 of the hot dogs. Use leftover strip to create your own little pretzel creation.
Here is how to get a golden sheen and a pretzel taste from the dough
Fill up a measuring cup to 1 cup of water. Add 1 tbs of baking soda. Place a skewer or chop stick or wooden stick in the water. Cook on high for 1 minute. ( placing a wooden stick into microwaved water will prevent the water from exploding since unlike traditional methods of boiling water, microwaved water may not bubble showing that its boiling.)
With a basting brush, take the hot water baking soda stuff and brush all the dough with it. Want to know why? Watch this Episode of Good Eats S11 Ep. 2 Pretzel Logic (start at 12:29 on the time on youtube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcHEQpoOraE
Or watch the whole episode
I chose to not boil the dough in the water because I did not want to , and it seemed to get fine results with out boiling the dough in the baking soda water.
Then break you egg and whisk it to make a egg wash. Brush the egg wash on each pig in the blanket and cook for 16 minutes, or until a nice dark golden brownish color.
Take out of oven and brush melted butter on your little piggies. Sprinkle with your pretzel or sea salt.
Grab a soda and eat one of these before the kids get the rest. They will go fast!
This is what I used
1 Pkg. Hebrew National Hot dogs (7 count)
1 Pillsbury reduced fat Crescent Rolls tube
1 cup of hot water
1 egg room temperature
1TBS. baking soda
1 -2 or so TBS. flour ( for rolling dough)
1 Tbs. butter
Pretzel salt or Coarse Sea Salt
Pre Heat oven to 350 deg. Fahrenheit. Lightly flour surface to roll out dough. Open package & roll out dough on surface with your fingers. Sprinkle some more flour on top of dough to keep roller from sticking to dough.
Looking at dough, you will notice that there are triangles to the dough. Pinch the triangle edges together. And make 4 large rectangles out of these (this is where I should have taken a picture) Roll the dough out once or twice to seal the triangle edges your pinched together.
Using a cutting tool ( I used my pizza cutter) cut each rectangle in half horizontally. This should give you 8 strips of dough. Spray cooking surface with Pam, if it is not a not stick surface. Gently take one strip and roll a hot dog in it to create a "pig" in a blanket. Do this for all 7 of the hot dogs. Use leftover strip to create your own little pretzel creation.
Here is how to get a golden sheen and a pretzel taste from the dough
Fill up a measuring cup to 1 cup of water. Add 1 tbs of baking soda. Place a skewer or chop stick or wooden stick in the water. Cook on high for 1 minute. ( placing a wooden stick into microwaved water will prevent the water from exploding since unlike traditional methods of boiling water, microwaved water may not bubble showing that its boiling.)
With a basting brush, take the hot water baking soda stuff and brush all the dough with it. Want to know why? Watch this Episode of Good Eats S11 Ep. 2 Pretzel Logic (start at 12:29 on the time on youtube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcHEQpoOraE
Or watch the whole episode
I chose to not boil the dough in the water because I did not want to , and it seemed to get fine results with out boiling the dough in the baking soda water.
Then break you egg and whisk it to make a egg wash. Brush the egg wash on each pig in the blanket and cook for 16 minutes, or until a nice dark golden brownish color.
Take out of oven and brush melted butter on your little piggies. Sprinkle with your pretzel or sea salt.
Grab a soda and eat one of these before the kids get the rest. They will go fast!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
"Moby" type wrap from a full-size bedsheet
Ha ha I look back at my last few posts and think why did I think I could actually get more things done ..So here is my now Quarterly update. Sorry followers.
The shear reality of Cinnamon Bears pending arrival in the next 10 days has me on nesting mode to get things done. I saw a pin on Pinterest about making your own Moby wrap by going to the fabric store getting 5 yards of fabric and sewing them together and VOILA, a Moby wrap for a fraction of the cost. http://www.rookiemoms.com/how-to-make-a-moby-wrap/
(this site also has a youtube video on how to use the wrap)
I like to be frugal and thought, why would I go the the fabric store when the thrift store will do me just as good. So I went to my local thrift store, found a full size sheet in great condition for $3.99.
The fabric is a cotton Jersey type fabric I found. I made sure it was a little stretchy because I know with the "Moby" brand , the fabric needs a little give in it in order for it to be snug but not too snug.
I am not a professional or good sewer by any means, and I know my husband would be impressed to see the sewing machine out on the desk. I am also at times impatient. Therefore, I thought I would take the easy route and sew only what I needed to, using the bedsheets finished edges to my advantage. That, with being 37 weeks pregnant, I do not want to stand long..it hurts.
Alright enough talk , here is what you need to get started and get done. Took me about an hour. Here is the condensed version; Measure, cut , sew.. done.. scroll down for the detailed version.
Materials:
1 Full size bedsheet ( Jersey knit or stretchy fabric)
Pinking shears , scissors or rotary cutter
Measuring tape
Sewing machine
Pins
For me I found that my table here is exactly a yard wide, so I measured like the ladies do at the fabric store using the table.
I measured my sheet lengthwise. (if the sheet was on your bed it would be from the top of the sheet to the bottom.) The sheet was 3 yards long.
The width of my full size sheet (from side to side) was 75 inches wide. The instructions in the website says it needs to be 21 inches wide.
With these dimensions, it does mean that you have to cut the fabric to make everything work out.
I taped my measuring tape to the table so I could measure out the with of the sheet , pin it accordingly. So that it would be 21 inches wide the whole length of the sheet. Iron it and cut ( this may not be the way to do it professionally, but it worked for me. Notice the wood clamps..yea, that holds down the fabric so I can cut it.) For my Male readers... see, you CAN use tools and sew..and that is electrical tape holding down my measuring tape.
The sheet is LONG enough to make two- 21inch wide strips that are 3 yards long a piece plus a left over strip.
Once sewn together, that is a Moby wrap that is 6 yards long and 21 inches wide.
(With 1 left over 3 yard long strip you can make homemade baby wipes out of. Or dust rags. )
Upon more reading I found that some Moby wraps are made for those who are a little larger in size, and the dimensions in the website above, may not fit all very well. I'm smaller my husband is bigger so I decided instead of cutting and measuring and more sewing than I really want to do, I will just make it a 6 yard long strip of fabric.
Taking advantage of the finished edges on the sheet, I decided to match up the bottoms of the cut strips from the sheet. ( they are finished edges as well, so following the line to match it up was easy peasy.) Please excuse the big baby belly in black fabric..
Because you are sewing the bottoms together of the sheet, the top finished edge of the sheet will become your "Moby" wrap ends. (I chose not to sew and finish the left edge right now that I cut with my pinking shears. If you look at the right of this wrap, the other side edge is finished as well already because that would be the sides of the sheet)
So..ALL DONE! I now have a "Moby" wrap that I made from a full size sheet that I did try out using Boo Bears' Raggedy Ann doll. I will certainly post a pic of the finished product , in actual use here in about 11 days!
Here is the Front, with Raggedy Ann. The doll is up pretty high, because the baby bump is totally in the way.
The shear reality of Cinnamon Bears pending arrival in the next 10 days has me on nesting mode to get things done. I saw a pin on Pinterest about making your own Moby wrap by going to the fabric store getting 5 yards of fabric and sewing them together and VOILA, a Moby wrap for a fraction of the cost. http://www.rookiemoms.com/how-to-make-a-moby-wrap/
(this site also has a youtube video on how to use the wrap)
I like to be frugal and thought, why would I go the the fabric store when the thrift store will do me just as good. So I went to my local thrift store, found a full size sheet in great condition for $3.99.
The fabric is a cotton Jersey type fabric I found. I made sure it was a little stretchy because I know with the "Moby" brand , the fabric needs a little give in it in order for it to be snug but not too snug.
I am not a professional or good sewer by any means, and I know my husband would be impressed to see the sewing machine out on the desk. I am also at times impatient. Therefore, I thought I would take the easy route and sew only what I needed to, using the bedsheets finished edges to my advantage. That, with being 37 weeks pregnant, I do not want to stand long..it hurts.
Alright enough talk , here is what you need to get started and get done. Took me about an hour. Here is the condensed version; Measure, cut , sew.. done.. scroll down for the detailed version.
Materials:
1 Full size bedsheet ( Jersey knit or stretchy fabric)
Pinking shears , scissors or rotary cutter
Measuring tape
Sewing machine
Pins
For me I found that my table here is exactly a yard wide, so I measured like the ladies do at the fabric store using the table.
I measured my sheet lengthwise. (if the sheet was on your bed it would be from the top of the sheet to the bottom.) The sheet was 3 yards long.
The width of my full size sheet (from side to side) was 75 inches wide. The instructions in the website says it needs to be 21 inches wide.
With these dimensions, it does mean that you have to cut the fabric to make everything work out.
I taped my measuring tape to the table so I could measure out the with of the sheet , pin it accordingly. So that it would be 21 inches wide the whole length of the sheet. Iron it and cut ( this may not be the way to do it professionally, but it worked for me. Notice the wood clamps..yea, that holds down the fabric so I can cut it.) For my Male readers... see, you CAN use tools and sew..and that is electrical tape holding down my measuring tape.
The sheet is LONG enough to make two- 21inch wide strips that are 3 yards long a piece plus a left over strip.
Once sewn together, that is a Moby wrap that is 6 yards long and 21 inches wide.
(With 1 left over 3 yard long strip you can make homemade baby wipes out of. Or dust rags. )
Upon more reading I found that some Moby wraps are made for those who are a little larger in size, and the dimensions in the website above, may not fit all very well. I'm smaller my husband is bigger so I decided instead of cutting and measuring and more sewing than I really want to do, I will just make it a 6 yard long strip of fabric.
So..ALL DONE! I now have a "Moby" wrap that I made from a full size sheet that I did try out using Boo Bears' Raggedy Ann doll. I will certainly post a pic of the finished product , in actual use here in about 11 days!
Here is the Front, with Raggedy Ann. The doll is up pretty high, because the baby bump is totally in the way.
This is the Back, I did not have time to make the back look perfect in this photo and even out the fabric for eye appeal, but you get the jist.
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