Growth!

Before I even begin, I have to say, this is a great project for renters! A portable growth chart.

Honestly, I wish I'd thought of this sooner. Actually, I saw something similar on a blog, didn't mark it, but it stuck in my brain and I could never find it again. If it was you, let us know. :)
 

What's up with all the rambling today? I sure wish I'd just get on with it. ;)

Okay. After we bought the house, Matt wanted to mark the kids' height on the wall. So he did. This is what it looked like.

Um, yeah, kind of messy.

Sort of drove me nuts. But it was in pencil because we were never in full agreement as to where it should be done. That means it was easy to change.

This is jute webbing.

Used in upholstery.

I just held it up and decided how long I wanted it. I think I used about 2 yards. Maybe 2 1/2. I bought 3 to be on the safe side. It only cost $.99/yd. at Hobby Lobby.

On the top edge, I folded it over just a bit and hot glued it down so that there would be a little pocket for the hanging string.

On the bottom, I just folded it over and hot glued it flat.

I suppose you could add trim if you wanted. I like it simple.

I tied my string to a chopstick and threaded it through the pocket.

Untied it from the chopstick, tied a regular knot, then shifted it around so the knot and ends were hidden inside the pocket.

One little nail at the top for hanging, but then the end was all wiggly.

So one finishing nail at the bottom holds it down, and you can't see it unless you are looking.

Other options: use a little dowel in the pocket, or use a pretty ribbon. Instead of nailing the bottom, you could glue metal washers to the back at the bottom to hold it down.

So, then I just transferred the last measurements onto the jute. (We will do new measurements in January.)

We make the mark, then find out the measurement and label the mark with name, date, and height.

I used metal washers. I had intended to use the little tags with the metal edging, but I kept forgetting to buy them when I was out and about.

I love the washers, but I did add a couple finishing nails to the top since they are heavier than paper tags. I used floral wire to attach them.

If we move, we can take these memories with us. All we have to do is hang it up again, checking that one of the heights mark is at the right level.

And lest you think I get things right on the first try:

Front and back, lots of mess ups until I was satisfied.

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Pinterest to the rescue!

So, I really thought we were going to need to go out and buy a new dishwasher. My first clue was the fact that after a cleaning cycle, the dishes were coming out completely dirty.

I was not happy about this. We plan to upgrade our appliances someday, but it was a bit down on the list. And, we just bought Karl (our sofa). I didn't need another big expense. Grr.

But, after seeing a bunch of "fix your dishwasher" pins on Pinterest, I looked up a couple of the sites and figured it was worth a shot. We mainly went by The Family Handyman.

Apparently, the filters, float, and spray nozzles all get clogged. Did you know this? 

I have never before cleaned a dishwasher like this. Okay, let's be honest. I don't like gunk. I made Matt clean it. :) Pretty sure there was something about gross gunk cleaning in his vows.

It's like magic. I kid you not. My dishes are coming clean again! Having Matt clean all that out is going on the spring cleaning list. So, if you dishwasher is not cleaning well, seriously, try cleaning it first.

I wonder, now, how many people throw out their dishwasher without ever realizing it just needed to be cleaned? 

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH)   Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

Art Adventure: Leaf Rubbing and Watercolor

Let's mix two fun things together to make fall pictures.

Leaf Rubbing and Watercolor

Supplies:

• paper
• leaves
• crayons
• watercolor paints
• brush

First gather a few leaves to make your rubbing. It helps if they are not competely dry and brittle so they are easier to handle.

Lay a leaf on the table so the ribs are facing up. 

Lay the paper on top of that and color across the whole leaf with a crayon. This creates the leaf rubbing.

Do this several times. It's okay if they overlap.

Then get out the paint. And these don't have to be fancy, just the kid's watercolor pans are great. Just paint across the whole picture with one or more colors.

The crayon resists the paint because it is made of wax, so even if you paint directly on the crayon, the watercolor will pull away and you will still see the crayon in the finished product.

It becomes even more prominent when it is completely dry. (I was a bit impatient when I snapped these pictures.)

Kitchen Crashing: Almost there!

Well, color is done and it looks great. Floors, cabinets, new sliding doors are all in. They have a contractor that is helping install all the big stuff. Considering they revamped the whole layout, it was probably a good idea to have some professional help.

There is so much natural light now! So much in fact these pictures are overly bright.

Appliances are still to come, but they will be going stainless (last I heard anyway).

The counters will be granite.

It has a little more variety than Diana first wanted, so I'm super excited that she branched out. :)

By the way, Diana keeps telling me that I'm too nice describing all this to you, and that I should tell you that she is crazy and wants everything very boring. 

Yeah, except with only minor prodding she painted her kitchen purple, picked a non-rectangular tile, and on her own went for the granite with more variety. Boring? Nah. Definitely tasteful and classic though.

I'm standing with my back against the fridge when I took this. It's sitting in the living room at the moment. The crazy arrangements you have to make to get through a remodel!

It's so close! Back splash and counters need to be installed and the new sink along with the counters and then the appliances.

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH)   Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

 

Adventures in Ridiculous, Or Our Trip to Ikea

Sure, let's drive two hours and buy a couch at Ikea in our seems-big-but-not-that-big Ford Freestyle. What could possibly go wrong?

When I think assembly required, I think of relatively flat boxes. Not so, dear readers, not so. Hmmm. Let's back up one step.

I needed furniture in the basement, but I didn't want to buy brand new stuff for the room no one sees when my living room furniture is 8 and 9 years old. 

So we took the loveseat and moved it downstairs. And had to get rid of the green couch because it wouldn't fit downstairs (and it was my least favorite of the two anyway).

That meant, I needed an affordable solution to get that much seating back into the room. Enter Karl. 

Whose full name is KARLSTAD, but we just call him Karl. (It's just necessary to call furniture from Ikea by its name. It just is.)

Packing him into the car involved taking most of the pieces out of their boxes. 

It was a bit like playing Tetris knowing you were given pieces that will never fit together.

Gabe's seat belt could not have been re-buckled if we took him out for any reason on the way home. We had planned to stop for lunch. Then Matt started to go through a drive-thru when I pointed out we won't fit with the stuff on the roof. 

I don't want to say Matt was a bit testy, but at this point his response was, "Fine, then I guess we just can't eat anything!" Or, we could send someone in to buy the food to-go. Which, of course, he came to his senses and that's what we did.


Then we got home and all the pieces in the house.

Someone told us they'd never buy a couch from Ikea because it's just all bolted together and that's cheap. Um, what do you think is holding together any piece of furniture you buy? You just don't normally see it. We've been happy with Ikea's quality.

It went together really easily and things just lined up right. 

The slip covers are nice and tight. Though, wow, it took a lot of muscles to get the cushions into them. They are made to fit perfectly! We picked the Sivik Dark Gray color. I really like it.

Of course it means I need to get to all the other updates in the room now. :) One thing at a time, right?

Here's my advice. If you are going to get a couch (especially a sectional) from Ikea, take a truck!

But, welcome home, Karl, welcome home.

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Art Adventure: Glue Drawing

Kids love glue, so why not make a whole picture out of glue?

Glue Drawing

Supplies:

• school glue, such as Elmer's
• wax paper
• glitter (optional)

Tear off a piece of wax paper. Let your child draw a line drawing by squeezing glue from the bottle. 

Thicker lines will hold up better in the end.

Make sure line interesect and connect or it won't stay together after it's dry. 

Your child can make something recognizable or just scribble.

Once the drawing is complete, have your child add glitter if you want. 

And then let dry. This is the hardest part because if your lines are very thick, it can take as long as overnight.

Once dry, carefully peel the glue away from the wax paper.

Some scribbles, just kind of hang down and create an abstract mobile.

Or it may remain in shape if thicker lines were used, like this spiderweb design. 

Seeing what happens when you peel it off the wax paper is part of the fun.

Kitchen Crashing: Back splash Tile

Picking tile was another adventure. Diana wanted something interesting, Kent wanted something that wasn't too busy. Neither wanted something overly trendy. Everyone wanted neutral.

And, if you started reading and are wondering who in world are Kent and Diana, read Kitchen crashing parts 1, 2, and 3. Okay? Y'all with me? Good.

It just seems best to be classic and neutral with cabinets, counters and floors since they are big expenses. Tile isn't something you will want to change often so it needs to be something you want to stick with.

We both started out loving this tile:

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Gorgeous! But Mr. Practical pointed out that the bevels would be a pain to keep clean. We also found the white finish to be kind of bright in person, too stark in the sample tile.

We salivated over this:

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but didn't even think it would be in the realm of affordable.

Diana also picked up tile from local home improvement store. For awhile they were seriously leaning toward a traditional subway tile. And Kent like the idea of stainless steel.

It was kind of cool, but I think we were all a bit worried about how great it would be en masse. It might be a bit too shiny. And too trendy.

So, we looked at stuff like this:

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A nice blend of glass and stone in whites and grays. 

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And this is basically the same but with the addition of stainless steel for Kent.

This was one of my favorites, but neither Kent or Diana were big on the little tiles, and Kent is not big on "busy" (meaning random sizes and colors) at all. It's not my kitchen, so they get to veto me. :) I'll admit as much as I think something like this will be okay over time, it is a bit trendy.

So,after so much searching and debating, Diana went forth and ordered the tile we both really liked:

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It's interesting, neutral colored, the lantern shape but no bevels and not overly busy. It's also a traditional shape so even though it's not common, it's also not overly trendy. We have a winner!

 

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH)   Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

Art Adventure: Modeling Clay

My philosophy with art is that it is more important to let children explore art media and enjoy it than it is to always have a perfectly complete project. So, sometimes open-ended projects are best.

Modeling Clay Sculptures

Supplies:

• modeling clay
• scissors
• baking sheet
• oven

The easiest way to divide up modeling clay is with scissors.

You have to knead and squish the clay a bit to soften it up so you can work with it. Sometimes kids need help with that part.

Then just let them go, and create anything with their imagination. We had a snowman, pretzels, a bridge, a sheep and a tower created this time.

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with foil and bake the sculptures for about 15 mins. (depending on how thick. Check your package instructions.)

Don't underestimate the power of just giving kids supplies and letting them go. You don't always need an elaborate plan. But if you do want building techniques check out my archive.

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH)   Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming