DIY Play Kitchen-Finished Project

This post is long over due! My grandpa did an amazing job. The kids love playing with them.

Before:

After:

Sewing is on this week’s agenda

I have to get 3 sewing projects completed in about a week. 2 dresses (for Maggie and Bridget) for the 4th of July and 1 superhero cape for Parker. He requested a cape for his birthday.

Here is the cape tutorial I am going to use.

 

Here is the dress tutorial I am going to use. I am a little nervous about the dress for Bridget. I am going to have make adjustments because she is almost ten and needs a much bigger size. Hope it turns out

I am going to get to use my craft table for the first time. I will actually get to leave the sewing projects out and not have to clean them up every night.

This table is made from the same barn wood. It is super heavy duty. Perfect for my craft projects.

Parker wanted in the picture

An Affordable and Memorable Gift Idea

Years ago I remember helping my Grandpa get ready for the 4th of July. He was getting his American Flag out of the garage, and I commented on the great quality of his flag. He mentioned that the flag was flown over the US Capitol on his and my grandma’s 40th wedding anniversary.

Well, fast forward about 7 or 8 years and Abe and I were getting ready to get married. I remembered my grandpa’s flag and thought it would be neat to have a flag flown on our wedding day. I placed my order, and our flag came about 6 weeks later. It sat in a box for a long time, but I found a way to display it our home. Our flag plus a window from my parents’ house equals and extremely special wall hanging in our home!

 

The great thing about these flags is that they are extremely affordable to order. It is only $17.30 for a 3’x5’ cotton flag or $28.05 for a 5’x8’ flag. We have the smaller one, and it is plenty big. They are GREAT quality flags. We have 2 couples in our church getting married in the next 2 months. I am going to order them a flag for their gifts. My friend who used to work at the US Capitol mentioned that they order them for each of their children for the date of their birth. I think it could be an awesome shower gift. Just fill out the form, attach a check, and put the form in a card for the parents to mail in once the baby is born and the birthday is known. It could also be good for a special anniversary, milestone birthday, graduation, etc.

Here is how you go about ordering your flag:

1. Find your US Senator or Representative here or here. We live in California, and I just chose a Senator (these women are not my choice for Senators, but I have not control over that…blech!)

2. Go to their website.

3. Find the order form. Now this part might vary by the member. You might have to do some searching around. You can always send them an e-mail or give them a call if you can’t find the form. I went to “Constituent Services” and the link to the form was found there.

I scrolled down to find and clicked “read more”:

4. Complete the instructions to order the flag. One thing to mention is that the orders can only be placed 6 weeks in advance. Make sure you don’t send in the forms too early.

The order form:

I am going to complete the forms and send them off. Their flags will come in the mail to them a few weeks after the wedding. I hope the new couples will enjoy their flags as much as I enjoy ours. If anything they will be ready for the 4th of July

Vacation Jars

I saw the idea for vacation jars here. I was so excited because we had bags full of keepsakes from our travels. It was fun to go through them and put them in jars. I plan on giving some jars with labels to a new couple who are getting married this Summer. Thought it would be kind of a fun gift, so they have a place to store keepsakes from their travels starting with their honeymoon

My Take On Monogram Art

I am a minimalist when it comes to decorations in my house. I don’t go out and buy lots of knick-knack type things. If I put something up in my house, it usually has some sort of meaning. I love pictures and keepsakes (things from our childhoods, our kids’ keepsakes, etc.) I am very sentimental, so I love ways to display things from our past and our lives. I saw this idea on this blog.

I thought it was a great idea, but I didn’t like the idea of finding some random magazine article. I think somewhere in the comment section someone talked about making their own using Microsoft Word and text boxes. I knew I could figure it out, and I loved that I could choose my own wording. I tried to think of what wording I could use. It came to me. My husband and I love hymns. He sings them to our children every night when they go to bed (swoon-he is an AWESOME dad ). Why not use a hymn that starts with a G-word. Here is my result.

I created it using Microsoft Word and then turned it into a JPEG file. I have since found an easier way using Microsoft Publisher. I had it printed at Wal-Mart and popped it in a frame. I have plans of giving one as a wedding gift.

A decoration with special meaning to our family!