City girl gone coastal: August 2011

Mini Mum Organiser

Does anyone else have trouble keeping on top of everything, despite the best of intentions?!

I really do want a tidy, organised home, and to be able to remember those messages and notes I write down and then find a month later, I just haven't found a system that works for me!

So, out came some of my scrap booking stash and I came up with this, a chipboard mini organiser!

To make your own you need the following

mini chipboard album

scrapbook paper

printer & laminator

embellishments

How to

1) For the front cover I stuck down some paper and trimmed off the excess. Using my Big shot die cutter I cut out a topper and used sticky pads to secure it in place. On to the topper I used sticker letters to add a label and finished it off with a few chipboard embellishments.

2) The first page holds my cleaning lists. I made up 3 lists, daily, weekly and monthly. Once printed out I trimmed them to size and laminated each list.

I covered the chipboard page in more scrapbook paper and used sticky letters to add a label.

To keep the 3 cleaning lists secure yet removable I used hot glue to adhere a paperclip to the page, this ensures the lists stay secure yet easily switchable when needed.

3) The second page I made was a 'Remember' page for all those little things I either need to tell hubby, do later or just don't want to forget!

I covered the chipboard in scrapbook paper, and laminated a spotty piece of paper, I then trimmed this down into post it noteish size pieces. I used more hot glue and a paperclip to again ensure they stay securely in place but removable when necessary.

4) The last page I made up was a 'Call Me' page, I'm terrible at remembering phone numbers I'm also very good at losing my phone so returning phone calls is easier said than done!

I again covered the page in scrapbook paper and used sticky letters to label it.

Using my computer I printed a list of names of the people I'm most likely to call, I also printed a blank page for additional names and numbers.

Once printed I laminated both pages and trimmed down to size, I left the phone numbers blank, to be written in pen as the numbers could change but the names are unlikely too!

I used more hot glue and a paperclip to keep them in place but easily removable when I need a number.

There are 2 additional pages, which I have covered in paper but not yet used.

Once all the pages were complete I placed them in order and used the rings to secure everything together.

I then tied a few pieces of ribbon around the rings.

I've placed the organiser on a shelf next to the sink, which now I've broken the dishwasher I will be spend more time at, so hopefully I wont miss what I need to do, will have all important phone numbers close at hand and have all those things I need to remember in one place!

Even if it doesn't work, at least it looks pretty!

Linking to some of these blogs

Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, Sweetpeas & Bumblebees, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry , Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots & Jello, J & M's Eye Candy , Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17, , Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too

I'm in Trouble! How to break a dishwasher

Normally it’s the kiddos in our house who destroy things, but every once in a while I like to join in the chaos and keep hubby on his toes!

I decided to clean the dishwasher, and I mean REALLY clean it.

I took out the rack, the spinny thing and cleaned them all.

Then I took out the drain kinda thingy and plate type thing (I think it’s a big fancy smancy plug) and put these in hot soapy water.

Then, I got a screwdriver; do you see where this is going?

I took out the bit that covers the spinny thing, basically I removed A LOT of screws and the amount of food and sludge at every step was just OHMYGOSHNESS DISGUSTING.

I cleaned the whole thing, it was brand spanking shiny new clean, I even cleaned all the screws, yep they get nasty too!

Better yet, I managed to put it all back together PROPERLY, at this point I’m contemplating being a professional dishwasher cleaner, felt very satisfying knowing that my dishwasher was now so clean that I wanted to share the joy and hygiene.

But, then like the stooped arse I’am, I started to take out the screws in the door.

DO NOT DO THIS, EVER!

So, I took off one set of screws, feeling pretty good about it, as I was able to clean up a huge amount of sludgy stuff, yep the grossness gets in the door!

I figured, as I’m a natural at taking these things apart, I should carry on and really give the door a good cleaning, so I take out the rest of the screws.

Just as I take out the second to last screw, the door kinda pops, the bloody hinges!

Then the door falls off in 2 pieces, the outside bit your kids draw on and the bit that gets wet when a cycle is on.

So I’m sat there on the kitchen floor, thinking

“I can fix this, I’ve created life, twins no less, and I’m not going to let a door beat me!”

I prod and poke it a bit, kinda like when you hit the TV to get it too work, doesn’t look much better.

I then carry on cleaning it; if I have to show hubby the broken dishwasher I may as well make sure it’s clean?!

Seriously, I had no idea so much gung and ickness could be in the door and seal of a dishwasher, my thinking is if it can get in there, it can get out and over your dishes, eeeeeewwwwwww!

Anyhoo, after much cleaning and shrieking, yes I shriek when confronted with something nasty, and flail my arms around, I thought I would give it one last go to put it back together.

So I pulled bits one way, pushed them another, kicked it, threw a tea towel at it, put a paint tin in it (random aren’t I?) and finally accepted that I had single handily broken our dishwasher.

Having done this kinda thing a few times before, I call hubby.

Me: “you do love me don’t you?”

Him: “yes, what have you done?”

Me: “I was cleaning the dishwasher, it was dirty, and I kinda broke it”

Him “How kinda?”

Me: “The door fell off”

Him: “How?”

Me: “Because I took all the screws out! And it’s now in 2 pieces”

Then there is a bang

Me: “Now its 3 pieces and some of the wires are hanging out”

Him: “Did you unplug it from the wall?”

Me: “No, why?”

Him: “Because it has electricity going in it!”

I then, like a moth to a flame, get hold of a bunch of wires and try to put them back into where I think they came from, and get a tiny electric shock.

We end the conversation, him telling me to unplug it and leave it alone, me protesting that really we don’t need a dishwasher anyway!

I unplug it and smoosh the door back as much as I can.

Hubby comes home and sees my ‘handiwork’

I had a defence prepared for the inevitable questioning as to why.

Apparently something along the lines of:

‘well its obviously inferiorly made if I was able to do that to it, and putting screws in it is just asking for someone to take them out’

Hubby says it’s for the engineers to get to parts.

My retort of

‘They should have put rivets in it then, and they could use a de – rivetor’ at least makes him smile!

So, that is how to destroy a dishwasher, easier than I thought.

I don’t actually think I want a new one, not because I’d be tempted to take it apart, got that out my system now, but because I never realised just how dirty they are. We always wiped off any food stuff from items before they went in, I would take out the easily removable parts every week to be washed, I checked the holes on the spiny things after every use to make sure nothing had got stuck inside it preventing the water from coming out and if I ever saw anything in there that shouldn't be, it came out. We used good quality tablets, ran a cleaning solution every few months and regularly put it on the super duper hot wash with just a tablet to give it a good cleaning. Basically, we did everything to maintain a clean dishwasher.

So, now you know where my boys get their naughty streak from, their daddy!

Lovely Cozy Pillows!

Pillows, can a house ever have too many pillows?

Nope, more the merrier as far as I’m concerned, especially when you have a 2 year old refusing to wear nappies, eeewwww! I know, nasty, like having a new puppy running around!

Anyhoo, a few weeks ago I snapped up two bags of remnants from my local fabric store, it’s a bit of a gamble, you really have no idea what is in them, but for £3, worth the risk!

Luckily, it paid off, and in one of them was a very generous sized piece of striped curtain fabric, which I decided would make some lovely cushion covers.

Being the organised and efficient mother, homemaker, crafter and blogger that I ‘am I haven’t got photos for some stages, you know, the whole beginning part!

The inserts I used were 20”x20”, so for each cover I cut 1 piece 21”x21” and 2 pieces 15”x21”, these would make up the flaps on the back.

{visualise inserts and fabric}

I printed out the words ‘cozy’ and ‘love’, cut them out and pinned them to my fabric.

I then cut them out of the fabric.

I’ll be the first to admit my sewing isn’t the best, and having never done appliqué the thought of actually pinning and sewing the letters to the fabric was a little daunting, so using a few dabs of fabric glue, I stuck the letters down, once the glue had dried I then set to sewing the letters to the fabric

I used the same process to attach 4 hearts to each pillow, 1 heart for each member of the family, ahhh.

Using 4 strips of blue fabric I made some bias tape to cover the raw edges which
would be on the back of the pillow.

I then pinned each strip over a raw edge, one per flap piece, and sewed it in place.

I then pinned 2 flap pieces to each front piece, rights sides facing, raw edges together, one flap will overlap the other. I then sewed these together.

Once everything was sewn together I trimmed off any excess fabric, squared the corners and turned right them side out.

I then inserted the pillow inserts, fluffed them up a little and then settled on the sofa with some new comfy pillows!

I did iron this fabric SO MANY TIMES, is just never looks any better.

I think this will be my new ‘go to’ pillow cover style’ no zippers, hurrah!

The weather has turned miserable, summer is over for another year it would seem, so I’m going to be making a few more comfy pillows, what is it about the drab, chilly rainy days that makes me want to snuggle on the sofa with blankets and pillows?! Hmmm, think I just answered my own question!

Linking to some of these blogs

Fruity Bunting and a Sewing Mishap

I'm guessing you’ve all heard of bunting, but what about fruiting?

I suppose technically its still bunting, but as its fruit shaped I’m calling it fruiting!

I wanted something to jazz up the kitchen a little, its windows are small and face a wall so can be a bit gloomy on a rainy grey day, what better than some fun bunting to add a little flair!

I’m going to be totally honest, this project did not go to plan, at first I had all the good intensions to sew the pieces together, turn them right side out and press them all nice and pretty. But, my sewing skills just aren’t up to sewing small pieces with curves, the apples ended up looking awful, but instead of throwing everything in my scrap fabric bin I decided to unpick them and start over.

I wont show you the mess I sewed, best to just move on!

Once I had all the pieces unpicked, I paired them up again and laid the pieces right side down, using a brush a spread some fabric glue over one piece.

I didn’t go crazy as I didn’t want the fabric to get soggy; once it was covered I placed the other piece on top, right side up, smoothing out and bubbles or wrinkles as I went.

I then placed it to one side to dry, and carried on with the rest.

I repeated this process with the leaves, did I honestly think I could sew these,

hahahaha to me! When both pieces of the leaves were glued together I pinched once end of the leaf to make it curl slightly. These were then placed to one side to dry.

Once everything was dry I paired up the apples and leaves and hand stitched each set to this too cute for words bias tape.

Whilst I was sewing I did this!

What the heck!!! I didn’t even realise I’d done it; I obviously do way too much house work and desperately need that manicure!

Any hoo, once I’d removed me from my sewing, I showed it off to hubby who suggested hanging it over the door way, which I did.

So, what do you think, is ‘fruiting’ the new bunting, I’m also doing some pear, cherry and strawberry ones, not sure where they will go but I’m hooked! Ohhh, maybe I should do some pumpkins as autumn is on her merry way!

Linking to some of these blogs

Window Frame Refashion, DIY

The more I saw of those repurposed window frames, the more I wanted one.

Having browsed the local charity/ thrift stores for some time I knew I wasn’t going to be picking up a window frame anytime soon, which left me with 1 option, make my own!

Whilst I doubt I have a career in window frame making, I’m beyond impressed with how this turned out. Other than my boys, this is my most favourite thing I have made!

If you fancy having ago at making your own window frame here’s how I did it.

Everything I used I had to hand, not a penny was spent, woohoo!

The cross bit in the middle, sorry don’t know what it’s called, is actually a spare part from the boys tree house.

The frame part is made from the wooden supports which made up part of the packaging from our new cooker, using a mitre saw I cut the wood to size, the horizontal pieces I cut at 57cm and the vertical pieces at 53cm.

I laid the pieces out and used some wood glue to attach the pieces together I then got a little ‘staple happy’ with my trusty staple gun.

Using short lengths of cotton twill tape, I stretched the pieces over each joint section. I used the staple gun to secure the tape which attached the frame pieces without the need for nails; I wasn’t sure how the wood would survive nails!

I whacked in a couple of extra staples, not just because I love the ‘pop’ of the staple gun, here and there.

Once I was happy with the structure of the frame I gave the whole thing a coat of paint.

Once this was dry I used my palm sander to sand it down.

I almost left it like this!

I then applied some Folk Art Stains Oak, I have to say the idea of paying for something which I have to apply then wipe off seams wrong, but this stuff actually worked great! I love how it seeped into the sanded areas and has highlighted the grain in the wood.

Once it was all dry I flipped it over and used my trusty staple gun once again to attach the cross bit to the actual frame!

I knew I didn’t want to use glass, too dangerous with my darling terrors, so I found my stash of acetate sheets; I have a couple with various patterns on and chose two to put in opposite sections of the window.

One with pink swirly things, which remind me of flowers, this I put in the bottom right corner and in the top left corner I used a sheet which had some green swirly bits going for the grassy tree look here!

In the other two sections I used clear sheets, all 4 are attached using the staple gun and trimmed where necessary.

Using 4 dinky pegs, hot glue, bakers twine and some triangles cut out of card I made some bunting which I strung across the top right panel. To give the flags a bit of ‘oomph’ I used sticky pads to give the fronts and back together.

I wanted to incorporate some of my favourite song lyrics, these are the ones I find inspirational and make me smile,

‘Don’t Worry be Happy’

‘Singin’ in the Rain’

I’m going to add to them and change them over every few days, at the moment I have just tucked them in the side of the frame, not too sure how to attach them in a non permanent way!

So here is my 'refashioned window frame' just goes to show if you can't find something, try making your own!