Sewing Room!

We just moved to a new home and we love it! Finally I get a room for my sewing adventures. It's possible that it was because we got tired of my projects being in the living room or kitchen table. Here is a sneak peek!

Stax!!

Stax are so delicious! and I was just introduced to them here in Mexico! I was also impressed by the cool container that they come in.  

Since we have been here in Mexico we haven't been able to really go shopping for toys for the kids so I've had to get creative fast.  Entertaining kids in a foreign country where you can't really go anywhere has been a real challenge, not to mention that everything is really expensive and I don't buy expensive anything!! 

We found this cute little shape toy where you match the blocks to the toys and its fun and educational! 

So I've used the Stax container to store these blocks. 

Also here in Mexico no one drinks the water, so we are constantly buying water bottles or drinks.  So for some reason the bottle caps are all sorts of colors which is so fun! I've been saving those as well and storing them in the Stax containers :D

My Brig loves playing with the bottle caps, he puts them in the container and dumps them out. This will also help your toddler with their motors skills. Other games to play are counting, color matching and stacking them. 

This is Sage with the matching game 

 keeps them entertained for a long time...well long enough to make dinner. 

Stack- $20 pesos so about $2.30

Total = $2.30 

Gigi

Got Controllers? Control Then!

Since my husband bought our PS3 we have had lots of controllers all over the place.  We have controllers for the Wii, PS3 and the TV. They were constantly getting lost because there were so many of them.  

There are so many uses to this amazing liquid called Mod Podge. I am absolutely in love with it and you will probably see many more posts that require it. 

After shopping I noticed that there are many boxes that are pretty hard and sturdy, specially if you shop at Sam's club or Costco where they sell things in bulk.  I really like to re use these boxes instead of throwing them away, I use big ones as bins for toys or for storage. 

This box is no different but thanks to Mod Podge we can make it look nice to match either the room or personalize. 

This is what you will need:

1 Sturdy Box 

Mod Podge 

Brush

Scissors 

Scrapbooking paper of your choice 

Cut the box to a desired length 

Then cut your paper to measure to the side you are covering. 

( its okay to not be dead on with the measurements) 

Cover the side with Mod Podge, then stick your paper on, make sure to have some paper wrap around the bottom, about half inch. 

cut the sides so that you can fold your paper in nicely. 

Same at the bottom

Do this to all sides 

And lastly paint the Mod Podge all around making an even coat. This will give your box a shiny finish.

Let it dry. Ta- Da!!  There are many uses to these same steps, instead of a box to store things it could be a gift box, get creative!! Enjoy!! 

Box- free

Mod podge- had from previous crafts 

Paper-$ .90 cents 

Total $ .90 cents 

Gigi

Gallons of Milk = Fun

When it's cold out side you gotta get creative when you have little one. This idea I found on Pinterest and had to try it.

The girls loved it!!

Just cut 2 gallons of milk and keep as much of the gallon as possible. Preferably cut a blue one and a red to create team colors.

Then take some medical tape and tape around to cover the sharp edges.

You can take this outside too, its waterproof and no big deal if it gets ruined,

just make another one!

2 Empty gallons of milk - FREE

Small Ball -$2.30

Medical Tape - $2.50

Total -$4.80

Gigi

Thifting and Decor part 2

Remember this?

This was a corner of my little home that I had no idea what to do! So I went to the place where I always gather inspiration... DI!!

My first DI find was the shelf. Because of that I decided to go with a "Fishing" theme. I had most of these things in my backyard and around the house. I bought the bear and the shelf at DI, the rest I already had.

I also included pictures of my children and little sister on the left side.

It's always fun to put together something new out of things you already have. The only things that I purchased were the bear and shelf. The lamp was in my back yard and honestly not sure how it got there. Brigham had a cute little fisher man hat that doesn't fit him any more and that is hung on the right. The sign on the left along with the cute tin can I got for my wedding. The roses on the tin can Justin gave me for valentine's day.. Awh! The fishing block I actually made and i'll post a tutorial on that soon.

Hope this inspired you to decorate on a small budget and by using things you already have.

Shelf- $3.00

Fishing Bear- $1.50

Fishing Block- hand made

Everything else- FREE

Total- $4.50

Gigi

Magnets

Here is a fun quiet toy that kids can play with, specially at church. MAGNETS!!

Gather these magnets that you get with the phone books, stickers and scissors... that's all you need.

Stick your stickers to the magnets and cut them out. Thats it!

You can get stickers at the dollar store.

I got a tin box from one of Justin's watches and put them all in there. Ta da!

Stickers- $1.00

Magnets- Free

Tin Box- Free

Total- $1.00

Gigi

T-Shirt Quilt

I love T-shirts!!

They don't fray so they don't need to be serged and they are so easy to re purpose. This quilt though I have to say was not my idea. My sister Stephany is also very crafty and came to me with this idea and we decided to take it on. First she got lots of T-shirts from all her friends that are leaving on missions. We picked out the ones with bright colors and started cutting them out.

They don't all have to be going the same direction we put some side ways to make it fun.

First you want to line them all up on the floor and match them up like a puzzle. Make one big square and fill in the little areas with extra material from the T-shirts.

We didn't serge the edges, T-shirts don't fray so you don't need to do that. Little by little take pieces and start sewing them together.

We wanted this to be as low cost as possible so instead of buying batting we used an old blanket in between.

Then we cut a corduroy material that I had. (I got this at a yard sale, a whole box full of material for $10, Steal!) Cut about 2 and a half inches more around the edges.

I am not a quilter and this was our first time, so we just made this up. There was probably an easier way to do the edges but this wasn't too hard either. We went around the edges and measured and folded the Corduroy in and sewed by hand. The stitches don't need to be close together or small, this is just to hold your material in place so that you can sew it on the machine. Make sure to pin the middle of your quilt so that it doesn't move around.
Lastly sew along the edges of each T-shirt and you are done! You can also do other designs with a quilting machine.

If you have questions please leave me a comment or send me a message on facebook.

Happy Quilting!!

T-shirts- FREE
Batting Blanket- FREE
Corduroy Material- $1.00 (roughly)
Time- 3 to 4 hours.
Total- $1.00!