I am not the most organized person in the world. I like to hang onto things in case I need them, but I often lack a place to put them. The front of my fridge is a perfect example of this problem. It is constantly covered in wedding announcements, birthday/Christmas cards, reminders of upcoming events, Sweet Girl's artwork and receipts waiting to be categorized in our budget. It's time to find a new home for a few of these items.

While walking through Walmart I found myself headed toward the school supplies. I love school supplies! Buying school supplies is perhaps the thing I miss most about teaching. Anyway, as I was browsing I came upon a bulletin board and decided it was time to purchase one for our office. I couldn't just leave it plain,so I added some fabric to fancy it up. This is seriously the easiest project ever.

Here is what you need:
Bulletin Board
Fabric
Thumbtacks

1. I started by cutting my fabric a little bigger than my bulletin board.

2. Next I folded the edges under and started pinning it in place with the thumbtacks. I made sure to pull tight when I folded and pinned the opposite sides. I did have to go back several times and straighten pins or re-space them or pull the fabric tighter.

Out new bulletin board is now up and has freed up some space on our refrigerator door. Notice the picture of Sweet Girl from last Halloween? She was the cutest little pumpkin ever!

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The start of preschool is just a couple weeks away, and I am busy trying to make sure everything is ready. Our first unit is all about apples, so I made these apple bean bags to go along with it. Sweet Girl has already tested them out so I know they are super fun. After I finished them she placed each apple into a separate tupperware container. Then she put them into a bowl and then back in the containers, then she moved the containers around. It all looked very methodical, but I was not following very well.

These bean bags are very simple to make even if you don't sew well, and they are perfect for fall which is creeping up on us very quickly.

Here is what you need:
Felt- I found sheets at Walmart for $.23 each
Matching Thread
Filler- I used some leftover popcorn kernels I had
Apple Template

1. I cut a 5 1/2 inch apple template on my cricut. I'm sure you could easily find a picture online that would work. Then I pinned and cut out my felt apples. In this picture the stem and leaf are still on. Before I cut out the felt I just clipped the stem and leaf off and cut the out in brown and green felt.

2. Pin two apple pieces together with the stem and leaf pinned at the top.

3. Sew around the edge. I back stitched over the leaf and stem to make sure they would stay in place. Leave an opening to pour in the filler.

 4. Add the filler until it is as full as you want, but don't overfill or you won't be able to sew up the opening. Stitch up the opening.  You can turn it inside out before this step to hid the edges, but I don't mind the edges showing. I did trim them a little to make sure both sides met up perfectly.

Let the playing begin!

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This fall serving platter used to be this Christmas platter. The transformation cost me $3.50.

This lovely Christmas platter was given to me a couple years ago. It has been sitting in my cupboard in the original box ever since. It's a nice platter, but it's just not my style. A few weeks ago I was cleaning out my cupboards and decided to put this in the box of things to get rid of. Then I cam across this Tray Makeover from Shabby Gals. Perfect timing. I decided to try to makeover my platter. Worst case scenario, it turned out really bad and I threw it away instead of donating it.

I bought some yellow spray paint from Walmart and started spraying. Looking back, it would have been a good idea to use primer, because it took a lot of coats to cover up that red trim. After it was painted I sprayed a matte finishing spray on it to prevent chipping. Then I added the vinyl letters that I cut out on my Cricut. I used leftover vinyl from another project. I am a big believer in saving your scraps!

It looked a little empty with just the word, so I added some leaves to make it look more like a fall platter. I'm excited to use this to serve up some delicious fall treats. Maybe some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

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Sweet Girl is such a little thing, but she has finally made it into a forward facing car seat. It was such an exciting day, except for one thing, the straps. They kept digging into her neck and leaving red marks, so I made these simple strap covers.

I put these together in about an hour using fabric I had at home. I didn't really measure them, so I'll do my best to just explain what I did. Hopefully the pictures can get us through.

1. First I used a tape measure to measure around the strap. I cut my quilted padded material (I don't know the technical term)  slightly bigger than the distance around the strap to allow enough room for the ends to overlap. Then I cut out my flannel with a little extra room to account for the seams. I used flannel to make it extra soft and comfortable.

2. Next I double folded each of the ends of the flannel and ironed them down in preparation to be sewn down.

3. Sew down the flaps on all four sides.

4. Cut a strip of Velcro. Be sure to use the kind that says its good for sewing on the package. Otherwise it is really tough to sew and not good for your machine. When you sew the fuzzy side and the scratchy side (those are the technical terms) make sure one goes on the front side and one goes on the back, it doesn't matter which is which.

All done! Wrap them around the car seat straps for Baby to enjoy. Doesn't it look like Sweet Girl is enjoying this? Okay, I hope this all made sense. Sorry I don't have any measurements or more specific instructions. The pictures are pretty clear and you're always welcome to ask for clarification.

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I have been admiring various cupcake stands for a long time. I have read a ton of tutorials, and now I finally made one. We recently had my entire family over for breakfast. I made delicious quiche and muffins (recipes to come later), and I needed a fancy way to display the muffins. Okay, I didn't need it, but I have been wanting one and this was a good excuse.

Here is what you need:

3 Stove Burner Covers (You'll have to buy four and you can use all of them, but I just went with three.) I got these at the dollar store.
Candlesticks- Also from the dollar store.
Spray Paint
Mod Podge
Scrapbook Paper
Ribbon

I spent $4 to make this project. I only had to buy the burner covers and the candlesticks. The rest was stuff I already had at home.

1. Start by spray painting the burner covers and candlesticks. It was such a shame to paint over this happy chef, but he had to go.

2. Measure and cut out the circles of paper. I chose to use my burner covers with the edges pointing up . I thought it might help in keeping things from falling off, but you can do it the other way too. Spread a thin layer of mod podge glue, stick the paper circle on and smooth it out. Watch for a few minutes to smooth out any bubbles.

3. Spread another thin layer of glue on over the top of the paper to protect it. You can see the glue around the edge, but as long as it is a very thin layer it will dry clear.

 

4. I hot glued the candlesticks to the bottom of the burner covers. The entire thing is not glued together so I can take it apart and just use one or two layers if I want. I also tied a bow on each of the candlesticks to add a little pop of color. 

And then you have to fill it with food.

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