Cute (and easy) DIY garland

My sister (Kitten Sorceress) is adorable. She is super crafty and creates the BEST things. Always.

Since I’ve been busy/overwhelmed/barelymakingit with the start up of the new school year (let me tell you- 6^th graders are exhausting. Every. Day. The energy- where does it come from??), I am posting yet another adorable DIY project that KS worked on recently.

Materials:

-Old t-shirts in whatever colors you choose

-Scissors

-Hot glue

-Twine/yarn/some type of string

-clothes pins

 

1. Cut your t-shirts into long, thin strips.

Cut

2. Roll each strip, using hot glue to secure the end of the strip to the BACK of the flower? Dot? The thing.

Roll.

Roll some more.

Keep rolling.

Glue.

3. Using a clothes pin, secure the THINGS to your piece of twine/yarn/whatever. Make sure they’re spaced apart evenly!

Pin.

4. Hang it up and give yourself a pat on the back for being so darn cute.

Love it.

 

I cannot wait to make a fall garland- I already have the old t-shirts set aside in a dusty red, burnt orange (seriously though- who makes a t-shirt in burnt orange?), and mustard yellow. It is going to be fabulous.

Happy week to you all! Cross your fingers I’ll have time to complete one of the 10 projects I have on my to-do list. How many days until summer??

Easy DIY Shelves

I hate bank walls. They bother me immensely. They’re so lonely and bare and sad. But also kinda exciting. There’s so much that you can do to an empty wall. For example:

–Display books

–Chalkboard wall

–Photo wall 

I found this cool pottery set below at a garage sale for $8 and knew I wanted to display it somewhere in our house.

Set of 4 bowls and plates= $8 at garage sale. We found the coffee mugs in my grandmother’s basement.

Unfortunately, shelves are expensive. And I hate how many of them look. So, we decided to create our own. Here’s how:

Materials:

-2 long pieces of wood (cut to whatever length you choose)

-Shelf brackets

-Screws

-Power drill

-Level

Directions:

Figure out where you want your shelves to go on the wall (keep in mind you need to find studs for this to really work. Please note: the video I attached for finding studs has the following comment posted: “Also, the guy in this video is very sexy.” You’ve been warned). Mark with a pencil the exact location of the studs and where your brackets will go. Using your drill, attach the brackets to the wood. Finally, drill screws into the remaining bracket holes, attaching the shelf to the wall.

*Sorry I do not have pictures for this process- I didn’t know when we did these 2 years ago that I’d have this blog. Rats.

Total cost to make: about $18

Accessory breakdown: Both pictures, wine bottle, sifter, towel- gifts from friends and family; old cheese grater- $0.50 (will be used in a project, of course); old books, picture frame, mason jar, dried hydrangea- found around our house. Total cost of accessories (including pottery): $8.50. Amen.

So how much will it cost you to build similar shelves?

-2 pieces of wood: $6

-Brackets: $12 (includes approximate cost of screws used)

Total cost: $18

I can handle that.

Any other ideas for blank walls? Do share. 

Also, puppies:

Love.

 

Time Savers Update

We are champions. We mastered the cleaning list I posted about last week. And by that, I mean we followed the schedule for the 5 days since I decided to do it. But still. Anyway, every day (okay, except for Friday, of course) we did our daily chores so that we didn’t have to spend 8 trillion hours this weekend cleaning. It actually worked. I just had to make sure I didn’t sit down when I came home. Or start snacking. I went right to the chore. Miracles do happen, y’all.

AND, cooking everything on Sunday was awesome. I literally wondered what I would do one evening around 7. Everything was clean. We had eaten. Could I actually watch 3 hours of The Office? (The answer is yes, I could and did and will).

This week, we made broccoli and white bean soup as well as a caprese quinoa bake. So. Good.

Caprese Quinoa Bake. Oh my.

We also made another meal for tonight and leftovers whenever (because why not?). Sr. calls this “roasted roots.” Bet you can’t guess what’s in this dish….Heads up: it’s super easy to prepare. And quite tasty.

Roasted Roots

Ingredients:

-Baby potatoes. Lots of ’em.

-About 10 Radishes (halved)

-2 beets- 1 orange, 1 red, cut into large chunks

-1 rutebega- cut into large chunks

-1 turnip- cut into large chunks

-olive oil

-salt

-pepper

(Suggestion: Add a sweet potato! We didn’t have any :-()

Mix all ingredients and roast in 350 degree oven for about an hour. Enjoy!

What are your favorite weeknight dishes?