Freecycle Friday - More junk! & Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

So Blogger was acting up yesterday, so you guys get a Halloween treat.....Freecycle Friday on Saturday!

K, so this week I want to show you all what I did with one of my thrift store finds.

It's super-easy!

I took this:

And made it into this:

Just using paint.

I just used Krylon brushed nickel spray paint to cover the milk pail.
(check out this post to see another use)

Then, once dry, I masked off a rectangle on the front,
And gave it a good few coats of chalkboard paint.

Ta-Da!

I use it on my scrapbook table to keep small scraps of purdy paper in.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

By-the-way........I'm having such a hard time with our 2-week challenge, I had to go into Michaels and Joanns to get stuff for our SS last week (and then return a few things afterwards) and it was SO hard NOT to buy anything (unnecessary).

But, on the good side, my errands have been super-fast since I know I can't buy stuff.......It's kinda freeing in a way. Plus, no extra junk stuff to clutter my house :)

Fixed It! & Yum, Another Reader Giveaway!

So, a few of you were having trouble downloading my chore chart files from my last post. I didn't really think about it at the time, but I created those in Microsoft Publisher, so I went back and re-saved them as Word docs (2003 version).

Now, it should work, but you should still be able to change things if you want (like names :)

Thanks for letting me know, just let me know if you have anymore problems.

Now......

I was asked by My Blog Spark to try new Yoplait YoPlus Light. And they sent an awesome "Get Healthy" gift pack that included a stylish sports bag, sports towel, ear buds and two free coupons for any flavor of the new YoPlus Light yogurt.

AWESOME!

So, I tried the yogurt (and had to hide it from hubby and the kiddos :).....and it was yummy!

Yoplait says:

"When juggling a hectic schedule of everyday life, it may be difficult to find the time for foods that will help keep you feeling on track. But, that doesn’t have to be the case anymore with the help of YoPlus Light yogurt, a quick, healthy snack that also helps regulate your digestive system without compromising calorie intake or taste!"

It's totally true, I feel good! I've been eating it everyday and I feel "regulated" :) Plus, it's light, but doesn't taste light. You know, the aspertame aftertaste you get with some others.

My favorite is the Key Lime Pie....yes, you can have your pie and eat it too :)

So, I'm picking one of my followers to receive their very own "Get Healthy" gift pack.

Leah from "Doubly Blessed"!!!

Come on DOWN!!!

(I've always wanted to yell that :)

Leah, e-mail me with your info and I'll pass it on so you can get your stuff.

Looks like you could use some cool free stuff with 3 kiddos under 3 (eek!)

Don't worry, you can try some too with a great coupon here.

Tune in for more!!

Have Fun!

Super Saturday Crafts!! Chore Chart & Temple Block

Soooooooooo, can you tell I've been busy?

On top of EVERYTHING else that's been going on here, I got sick last night. I'm not talking cute little cough,cough, sniff, sniff

I pucked my brains out!!!

And some other stuff (I think you all know what I mean :(

Well, I feel better today, so I guess it wasn't the flu, probably something I ate. That should teach me to stop eating out of the trash....no matter how thrifty I'm trying to be :)

So, enough with the gross images....onto the fun stuff!

Super Saturday was awesome! I had a great time.....and got to sit around more than usual (yeah, right) since I did my crafts early........ie. the ones I signed up for that other people taught

We'll start out with the temple block, I got the idea from here, but made it a little bigger. And I got the pic from Flickr and added the words in Photoshop.

Here's what you need:

• A 7 1/2"x 7 1/2"x1" block of wood
• Black paint or color of your choice :)
• A 6 1/2"x 6 1/2" piece of scrapbook paper
• A 6"x 6" temple pic (or other pic)

So, paint your block and distress the edges with sandpaper (of course). And ink the edges of your picture. (double, of course).

Apply your paper using either Mod Podge or Tacky glue (I used tacky glue since my paper and photo were pretty thick). Make sure you cover the entire surface with glue or your paper (or pic) may bubble when you apply the finish.

Then, stick on the photo the same way.

Once the glue is dry apply a few coats of Mod Podge to finish or a finishing spray.

Beautiful!!

Now on to the Chore Chart:

•  A 31 1/2"-ish x 11 1/2"-ish wooden board (or shorter or longer depending on how many kiddos you have)
• Black paint
• 8  5"x7" metal roofing shingles (found at Home Depot or Lowes) 
  
• 4 sheets of scrapbooking paper-cut down to 7"x10" 
• E6000 glue 
• 1" square glass tiles-can be found on Etsy 
• Super-strong magnets (I used 1/2") 
• Diamond Glaze

You can make these as long or short as you need, but I wouldn't go over 5 or 6 panels since that would be ginormous! If you have more kiddos, you could make 2 separate 3 or 4 panel charts.

Paint and distress your wood. And go ahead and seal your board with some awesome Krylon "Low odor, clear finish" matte finish.

Then, lay out your metal shingles and arrange them till you're happy.

Then, using your handy-dandy (and stinky) E6000, glue your shingles down. I used some pavers to make sure they stayed down and are stuck nice and tight.

Then, I printed out the names onto the paper and adhered them with just a few pieces of double stick tape. That way it would be easy to change the paper if I want (for the seasons, or holidays, etc). I made these available here for ya'll!

For the magnets, I got some 1" glass tiles and super-strong magnets from here on Etsy or you can go here too. I liked the larger size since there are pictures to help my girls be able to see what the chores are.

I made the cute chore magnets the same way as I showed here.

And I worked soooooooo hard on these cute magnets.....but I am making them available to all of you super-cool peeps here.

Who loves ya!?

Since I did this for SS, there are tons more chores for you to choose from than the ones I have on my chart. I even made a few duplicates since I found 2 different cute pics for a couple of the chores.

So, I'll explain the "extra chores."

Hubby and I don't want to pay our kiddos allowance for chores they should do no matter what..... and we don't want them to think that chores are optional (I don't get say no to laundry or dishes...do I?).

Anyhoo, all the regular chores are not optional and they don't get $$$ to do them, but we thought up a bunch of extra ones that we thought were fair to pay them for. Then, we assigned prices for each one and made up a few rules:

1. Each "extra" chore can only be done once per week (so if Maddie already did it, Aislyn can't do it again the same week), 
2. We get to assign the first "extra" to each kid (since some are not as popular as others) and then after that one is finished, they can do as many as they want, 
3. They have to finish their "regular" chores for that day before they can do any "extras" and they have to get permission first. 

These ones I made are kinda made for younger kids, so you may need to make up different ones depending on your kids' ages. And as for "mow the lawn," we don't send our 5 & 3-year-olds out to do it alone......it simply means help mow the lawn until they are old enough to do it alone (so, next year :)

K, so there you have it. Hope your kiddos don't get mad at me for the chore chart ;)

Have fun!

P.S. Thanks SO much for all of your awesome comments and support over my last post.......I know I've said this before, but

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!

We really appreciate all the LOVE and kind words and are SO excited to meet our little girl!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Whew! I'm still buzzing from SS, but i wanted to let all my AWESOME readers know that.....

It's a GIRL!!!

We got our referral the other day for an (almost) 1 year-old baby girl......and she is SO beautiful!!

We will be leaving in a few weeks to go meet her and formally accept the referral in the Russian courts.

We are all so excited here and I can't wait to hold my sweet little girl.

Unfortunately for us, we will have to return from the 1st trip empty handed and wait till the 2nd trip (a few months later) to be able to bring her home.

BUT,

We are psyched none-the-less!!

Wow! That means we'll have 3 girls........sorry for my hubby.

(actually he likes having daughters, they're daddy's girls)

I was kinda starting to hope for a little boy.....so no cute little boy clothes for me :(

But, how fun to have 3 giggly, sweet little girls....YAY!

So, thanks SO MUCH to all of you for your awesome support and encouraging e-mails.......I NEED all the support I can get :)

And, I'll keep you updated in the coming weeks and months.

Have fun!

Super Saturday Is CRAZY!!!

WOW!

So, I'm sure you've noticed that I've been a little MIA.

Well......

Our Super Saturday is TOMORROW!

(and I'm not ready yet.......but don't tell anyone)

In case you don't know what SS is,

It's a cool Mormon thing.

(I don't know who started it, but I LOVE her!)

It's where all the ladies get together one Saturday a year.....and craft the whole day away :)

I always teach a class (or 2), so I'll be up way late tonight.

But, please come back, cuz I will be showing off the crafts I taught next week. They are cool! And maybe I'll get permission to show off the other crafts too :)

Have fun!

Glass Halloween Blocks

So, Halloween is getting closer......do you have enough decor yet????

Well, here are some super-cute glass blocks I made last year that are sooooooo fun!

(and easy)

Just set one of these babies out on your porch to add some fun ambiance :)

So, what you'll need:

• Some black vinyl OR paper of your choice
  
• Square glass block
  
• Small string of Halloween lights (you'll want to use LED if you can....I got mine at Joanns for $5 last year)
  
• Some cute 2 1/2 inch ribbon
   
• Glass drill bit (1/2 in. size or larger)

First, you'll want to drill a hole in the bottom of the block. Make sure it's big enough to feed the lights through.

If you have vinyl.....cut out the shapes or words you want and stick them onto the block.

If not, just print your shapes or words onto the back of your paper backwards. Then Mod Podge the paper onto the block.

You can put a couple of layers of glossy Mod Podge over that........or use a glossy finishing spray over it. You want to use glossy so it looks like glass and blends in with the block. You'll do this step if you use vinyl too.

If you can't or don't want to drill a hole for the lights, you can wrap the lights around the block before you tie on your awesome ribbon and it looks really cool too.

Ta-Da!

Some more adorable glowing Halloween decor.

The reason I suggest LED lights......1) You can leave them on for a long time and they won't get hot AND 2) They will glow forever!

Have fun!

A Challenge and A BIG Thank You!!

Hi there everyone!

Hope you all enjoyed my guest blogger......i know I did :)

It was fun to take over someone elses blog for the day!

So, first I want to let you all know about a challenge we started here at the McDonald abode.

We call it the "No More Junk" test.

We are going for 2 weeks without buying anything!
(anything uncecessary......so, yes, we will keep feeding our kids)

Our house has slowly gotten SO CLUTTERED!
I would share pics, but it's really bad, I don't want to hurt anyone's eyes.

So, that means no more thrifting, garage saleing, or dollar store trips for me :(

I have tons of junk that's ready for up-cycling....so don't worry about no more crafts from me :)

Next off.......I want to say that my readers

ROCK!!!

It has taken me awhile to get a chance to post about these, but I feel so flattered!

To start off.....

Thanks so much to Jen @ Flawed and Fabulous for this

"Honest Scrap Award"

Ten "Honest" things about me:

1. I was born in Germany (my dad was in the army)
2. Whenever I get back from clothes shopping, I always make my hubby come in so I can do a show and tell. (He's a good sport and always acts interested)
3. Everytime I get a package, I get SO giddy! (even if it's something I knew was coming)
4. I'm very clumsy and accident-prone :)
5. I would rather craft than have a clean house.......and I usually do!
6. Sometimes when hubby is working, I just make PB&J for dinner (since that's what the kiddos really want anyways)
7. I STILL refuse to read the "Twilight" series, but only on principal so I don't feel like I've given into peer pressure (but I'll watch the movies :)
8. I was way hyper-active as a kid....but tons of fun!
9. I'm a night-owl......I seem to have more energy at night.....plus it's nice and quiet.
10. I LOVE cold cereal, and could probably eat a box in one sitting.

Next, thanks to Kelly @ Night Owl Notions for this one:

"Best Blog Award"

 

And......

Sherrie @ Sherrie's Rose Garden tagged me

So, here are 7 personality traits:

1. I'm waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy OCD (as if you couldn't tell :)
2. I'm pretty creative (duh) and LOVE to be inventive with my crafts (LOVE a good challenge......thus my "Freecycle Friday" segment)
3. I CAN'T live without some of my creature comforts like chapstick and lotion (better update our food storage)
4. I try to be loyal.
5. I'm a perfectionist (is that the same as # 1?)
6. I'm very thrifty.
7. I try to be active and eat healthy.

K, so I really can't pick just a few blogs to pass these on to.......so make sure to check out my blogroll.......there are TONS of great ladies who have AWESOME blogs!

Thanks ladies!!!

You all

ROCK!!!

Freaky Freecycle Friday!!

Hey there peeps!!

Today I'm doing a blog-swap with the sooooooooooooo talented Stephanie over at Somewhat Simple.

So, check me out over there......and I will leave you in her very capable hands here!

AND!

She's even doing a "Freecycle Friday" craft (I need to try this one)!!

Bonus!!

Here she is..........

Every time I check to see what Emily is up to on this site, my "Craft To-Do List" grows and grows! So many fun things here, I am honored to be a small part of it!

My name is Stephanie and I am happily typing this post right now from my home in Arizona! I am a wife to my best friend, mom to 3 fantastic kids, and creator of the site somewhat simple. Like Emily, I too LOVE to share creative ideas, easy tutorials and yummy recipes on my very own blog.

Today, in sticking with Emily's "Freecycle Friday" theme, I decided to share a cute idea that uses items you will find in every home! I call them Cereal Box Totes, and they are so easy you just might want to grab your kids and make these together- I did!

Here is a step by step tutorial, just click on the images to enlarge them:

 

 

 

 

 

*or you can use ribbons for straps like my son chose to do with his. see picture below*

(not sure why this uploaded to the side- sorry about that!)

*** Disclaimer!!! Don't judge me on how these look! I told you my kids did these and I mean it! I tried helping them "make them cute" but you know how it is talking a kid into listening to your ideas!!! They have a vision in their head and nothing you can say (or suggest) will change their minds. With that said, I think they turned out pretty good for a 3 and 6 year old! And the kids love them, so I am proud of them!***

And you can try all different sizes too- the small red one is from box of granola bars. I made a cute almost square one from from a waffle mix box that I gave away to the lady I visit taught years ago. Just have fun with this idea! I am going to see how these work as church bags- they fit a coloring book, some crayons and a bag of fruit snacks very nicely!

 Anyway, I would love for you to come check out the other fun things I have going on at somewhat simple. Each day I post something new: giveaways, monthly challenges, crafts, recipes, and more crafts! Consider yourself personally invited to join in on the fun!

Thanks Emily for letting me take over here today! I love your non-idle hands and I love your blog- keep the ideas coming!

Have a great weekend everyone!

What Really Goes On Here.........

K, so we REALLY know how to make our own fun here at the McDonald household.

Mostly, our fun just consists of making our girls do weird stuff and then laughing at them (and then posting it on my blog).

The other night I was teasing my hubby about the size of his jeans (compared to my scrawny 3 year-old) and somehow my kiddos ended up like this:

(please excuse the mess behind them)

Here's a lying down shot:

I was surprised that my kids could each fit in one pantleg. I guess I won't let them go anywhere near my jeans......in order to keep my self esteem in tact : }

In hubby's defense, these are only a 34 waist.......but, he's tall, so these are 36 long!

Have fun!

Halloween Invites For Your Zombie Party

*Sorry about the dark pics.......today was overcast ALL day.*

Today I finished these cute invites for our fun up-coming Activity Days Halloween party.

I LOVE this card design!!!!

I got the idea from a friend of mine (hey Valerie!) 2 years ago when she made some super-cute baby shower invites for another friend of ours using this design.

So, here's how:

You need to start with double-sided paper for this card. Cut it down to 12"x 4" strips.

Then, score each strip at 1 1/2 inches & again at 6 inches.

Fold each strip as shown.....then staple twice on each side. I like the way it looks to use colored staples (you can get them cheap anywhere).

To make the tags, I used Publisher to print the info onto 5 1/2"x 3" pieces of paper (you can print 4 per page). Then, after cutting them out, cut the corners off to make tags. Or, you can use another tag as a template.

Ink the edges and staple a small piece of cute ribbon at the top (I got this sweet ribbon at the $1 section at Target.....Yeah BABY!)

To finish......I stamped my little bats in glue and sprinkled sparkly glitter on top.

Ta-Da!!

Now I'm off to do more crafts!!

Have fun!