Go Green Again!

It is Earth day again...already? This year has just flow by.



So have I become more eco-friendly? I would like to say yes, but really it is Richard who heads that department in our family. After are mostly successful garden that we planted WAY too early last year, it has really been a passion of Richard's. So much that this year he bought a composter. Now we are saving food scraps and lawn clipping to make our own wonderful and enriched soil.



Let me tell you that I am glad this is something Richard wanted. This is a stinky venture he has created. Well only when you open the composter, ours is fully enclosed. I do have to deal with our counter top composter though.



This little can has filters in the lid, so it doesn't get all stinky just sitting on the counter, but boy when you open that lid it sure is ripe if it doesn't get emptied every day.



The kids absolutely love this. They help turn the composter and they always want to know if this food or that can go into it. Bradley thinks it is crazy that egg shells and coffee grinds can go in, but steak and candy can't.



As for me, I want to some kind of project in honor of Earth Day. I have chosen a pretty adventurous project. Hopefully I can get it finished in time and that it turns out like I see it. My idea....



But my fall back tribute to Earth Day will be dirt cups desserts. Very easy and safe. Bradley has been asking for them, so why not?

You Seriously Made That!?

The Twisted Headband

My post title has a double meaning... Yes I seriously made this, and I got the idea and instructions from a new blog that I am following. Yep you guessed it, the name of the blog; You seriously made that!?

Cute HUH???

Let me say now that I am not a crocheter. The single link (loop) stitch is all I can do. I don't even know the lingo... I am sure I could probably learn more, I just don't have the patience.

But hey, I got this down. Aren't the colors fun???

I even made a small one for babies. I just need to get elastic to finish it off instead of ribbon. Check out the tutorial and some of her other great crafts.

Etsy Envy

I have recently found, fell in love, shopped til I dropped, and now envy a wonderful website called Etsy. This is a website with many types of goods. I love the handmade goods. They have the largest selection of everything you never knew you needed.

After window shopping, and many purchases, I decided I could make a lot of these adorable items myself for cheaper. So here are some of my Etsy inspired (or stolen) projects.

I started making these fabric bows for Ivy's baby. Then I went bigger and bigger for Olivia (these aren't pictured). I have had a lot of fun making these and I have had about six people offer me money to make them for her. I don't know if I am ready to go there yet, but maybe.


Ivy and my mom have been busy cranking out tons of baby bibs, burb rags and blankets. I haven't really sewn anything since I was pregnant with Bradley. I have been toying with the idea so while shopping around on Etsy I saw these cute little dresses. The fun part is that they give you the fabric pre-cut and you sew it. I bought the red dress and made a pattern with it for the blue and brown dresses. My sewing is not that straight, but Olivia loves them, and I am giving the mostly blue one to Brooklyn.

This is my favorite steal. My friend Erin gave me some of her daughter's clothes that didn't fit. This skirt being one of them. I added the ribbons on the bottom. The same skirt on Etsy $35.00. This cost me $5.00 in ribbon, and I had enough ribbon to add it to a plain yellow shirt Olivia already had from Walmart. So cute if I say so myself.

Project Overload

Here are the fun craft project we have done. The kids are real proud of what they are able to build, and they love to paint. The projects are fun, sometimes a little stressful for mom, mainly because I am a control freak, but it is helping me let go of the control and giving it to them.


June's Home Depot Project was a small table Foosball game.

I took the kids by myself to this. It was definitely an adventure. Olivia needs one on one help, while Bradley only needs help holding pieces together while he hammers. The problem, they both want (NEED) help at the same time. We eventually worked it out, and finished the game. It even came with cute little stickers, so no painting needed. YEAH!!!


July's Home Depot Project was a Periscope.

The kid's love this "spy" toy. They are really sneaky and spy on us from downstairs and around corners. They would be better spys if they could keep from giggling.



Painting

We bought these wooden creatures for the kids. Olivia really wanted a doggy named Piper. Bradley thought the snake was really creepy. Creepy is Bradley's new favorite word, it means everything from awesome to creepy. The kids were painting them one Sunday afternoon, but Bradley was too excited to play his new Wii game, so his never got finished. Priorities!!!

Hammer Time

It was time again for the kid's building workshop at Home Depot. This month they made a flower pot holder.


Bradley was very serious and went right to task. I was in charge of stabilizing his pieces while he hammered. I was afraid he was going to hit my fingers, but he ended up hitting his own instead. That did not stop him. He kept on going no worse for wear.

Richard and Olivia were hard at work. Olivia is really getting used to swinging that hammer. She was very courteous and cleaned up all her tools and her brothers. I just wish I could get her to clean up her own toys!

Here are the finished project, Home Depot even gave us the flower and the pot. How nice? Bradley has decided to give his to his teacher for teacher appreciation week. So he painted his green with polka dots, because his teacher's favorite color is green and she loves polka dots. Olivia wanted to paint hers like a rainbow, and have polka dots too. So I convinced her to have rainbow colored polka dots.

The kids can't wait for next month's project. They really like building something with their own hands, then getting to paint it!

GO Green

I am really not the "Green" type of person. I recycle because we have a recycle pick up in our community. I hope it does good and does not end up in the land fill like the rumors have once stated. I have the cloth grocery bags thanks to my mom, but you have to remember to use them for it to actually count right? I recycle paper at work, because it is confidential information and I have to. So that is the extent of my greenliness. Yes convenience, very sad I know. So this year we decided to celebrated Earth day (early), the first official time for our family. Actually doing and being aware of Earth day and participating was fun. We taught the kids about plants and insects and how they help the Earth. I also made the kids a "recycled" shirt, and a Earth Day themed dessert. Our First Garden

We planted some vegetables that I hope Bradley will learn to like. Olivia already loves all vegetables and salad.

The "Recycled" Shirts

I used Olivia's St. Patrick's Day shirt (there is a shamrock in between the word GO) and one of Bradley's shirts to create these new shirts. It was a fun craft project, the kids couldn't really help though because it involved bleach. I got the idea for my "recycled" shirt from http://secretsofasupermommy.blogspot.com/

Dirt Cups

Of course we had to end the day with a yummy treat. And that implies worms? Bradley wanted to eat a million of them, no surprise. The surprise was, Olivia didn't want any. She loves to dig up worms she just didn't want to eat any, even the gummy kind.

Home Made Bridal Shower Gifts

Ivy and I decided to get crafty and make home decorations for my sister Toni's bridal shower gift. We copied all the ideas from one place or another, so really none of it is original, but we are really proud of how they turned out.

This glass block idea I got from my sister-in-law Kim. She actually has a form of the spring one below. This one is a night light of sorts, Bross will be my sister's new last name, when she is married.

Ivy's friend made her a set of these LOVE blocks, so we decided that it was an easy and cute decoration. We made FALL and SNOW the same way. Ivy and I essentially borrowed the idea of the sayings across the boards from Ivy's friend and the Quilted Bear.

Think Spring (one for Toni, and one for a prize)

I think the BOO is my favorite one.

We had a lot of fun making these, Ivy and I got in a lot of sisterly bonding and made a wonderful present for our little sister, that we hope she will enjoy with her new hubby for many years to come.

Thanks to everyone that we borrowed the ideas from.

Project Feed Butterflies

Today The Home Depot was offering a free building projects for children, a Butterfly feeder. They gave us all the supplies and tools to put it together. Bradley and Olivia even got an official Home Depot apron.

Richard helped Olivia hammer and stay on course.

Bradley knew what to do and got right to work. He took his work very seriously.

When they were done a took their projects to the Project Manager (a Home Depot Employee) to be inspected and checked off. Both Bradley and Olivia passed with flying colors. They were each awarded a certificate and given a project pin that they can collect each time they do a project. Next they headed home to put the finishing touches on their butterfly feeder.

They each painted and decorated their feeders. Each of their feeders reflect their favorite colors of the moment. Right now Olivia's favorite color is blue and Bradley likes all the colors (except pink).

Now we just have to wait for the weather to warm up and the butterflies to set flight, before we hang our feeders up in our garden.

Carving pumpkins

Ok, so we decided to carve pumpkins again this year. After getting one for free from my mom, we went and got two more.

Bradley wanted to have a mummy pumpkin. After trying to figure out how to "carve" the mummy wrap, we decided to sacrifice an old t-shirt and just wrap it.




Olivia wanted a kitty, so Amanda drew up a kitty face, and I set about carving it out. One cut and a few bandaids later, it turned out pretty cute.





I decided to do things a little different this year. Tired of seeing all the cute jack-o-lanterns out there, I decided to make a "gross" pumpkin. It was probably the quickest one I have done, since I didn't have to scrape out the insides.



Happy Halloween!!

Richard