Glitter Bottles

Well, it's time to post about another Pinterest project! This was another one for the kiddos! I have seen these pins floating around Pinterest (& have pinned it twice, myself in 2 separate places!) of glitter jars that are a visual aid to help kids "chill out". With the temperaments of my boys,  I decided it was time to give this one a shot! 

When the boys misbehave, it tends to end up being an issue of their actual reaction of being disciplined or their reaction to being frustrated over something that ends up getting them in the most trouble. So, they may have just thrown the Wii remote because they were frustrated with the game and as a result, I may give them a warning, saying "I understand that is frustrating, but it isn't okay to throw the remote." Warning 1. Fast Forward 5 minutes, and the same thing happens again & I have to send one to his room & the whole house explodes in a major meltdown. Screaming, tantrum meltdown. THEN, I can't just let that behavior go. So the child ends up in more trouble over his behavior at being angry/frustrated then for the actual offense. Make sense? It REALLY gets drawn out over here & it is really tough on this mama. Just gonna add that.... But I feel like I am always saying "It is okay to be angry, but it is NOT okay to ACT like that when you are angry." However, I can't say as though I have actually given them constructive ways to deal with their anger either.

So, when I saw these bottles, I thought- GREAT IDEA! 

They remind me of snow globes, but with colored glitter. The idea is that by visually watching the glitter settle, it helps them to focus on something else & calms them when they are angry, frustrated, & sad. By the time the glitter settles, they should have themselves composed.

Here is how we did it- For each one you need:

 a clear bottle (I used those "ICE" flavored water bottles- bought them as a treat for the kids)

a bottle of glitter glue (I used 2 smaller containers from a multipack at dollar tree for each one- but they have larger containers in the $1 bin at Michaels that would've been perfect)

a small vile of fine glitter (look in the kids craft section rather than the scrapping section of Michael's- much cheaper... each vile was $1.29)

clear tacky glue (if you want to slow down the "settling" any more- I skipped this)

 

I filled the bottle about 2/3 of the way full with WARM water. This helps the glitter glue dissolve.

 I had the boys help make them so that they would get pumped about using them when they were done. So they squirted in their glitter glue.... 

 

 And poured in their glitter....

 

 Shook them up...

And were super excited with the results!

 The only thing I am not too pleased with is that a lot of the glitter foams up on the top. Not sure why, but the kids don't mind & they work otherwise! So we'll take it!

 I added some ribbon and a label on the front with a scripture that was relevent... 

"Be angry & do not sin" -ESV Ephesians 4:26

Done! I hope they will be helpful in frustrating times for the boys. So far, they have!

ShadowBox Savings

By now, you have probably all heard of Pinterest. It is the most amazing, addictive, yet inspiring place to share & gather ideas on the web. I have "pinned" thousands of ideas! I have also used SO many of them... from recipes to birthday party inspiration, to holiday decor! 

The most recent "pinned & tried" idea I have implemented are these shadowboxes.

 

The kids have each been begging for a different (expensive) electronic & I refused to buy something that I knew they wouldn't have respect for & it would be lost or broken in no time.

 Yet, they kept begging. 

We tried talking about saving their money so they would appreciate it more, but alas, any money they got would burn a hole in their pocket- especially Jackson. Eli is pretty good about holding onto his (until his older brother convinces him "they" need more beyblades or gum or whatever). 

So, I decided we would try these shadow boxes. The idea is that you put a picture of something they want to save for in the frame as a reminder to what they are saving for. And because it is a shadow box, it is wide enough to hold the actual money. Randy took the frames out to the garage & cut slots in the tops for me & then voila... the money dropping began!

Jackson was a bit disheartened that he literally only had the bottom of a jar of change to his name. But, I gave him a roll of dimes ($5.00) to jump-start him & Eli had lost a dollar in the playroom & he told Jackson if he found it, he could keep it. (so sweet!) And of course, it was quickly found! 

Eli is saving for a Nintendo DSi  & Jackson is saving for an iTouch! Hefty choices to save for, but Eli is already $50 on his way from leftover birthday money! :) I am going to start rewarding them in different ways , like rather than going out to lunch or dinner, I plan to offer them the option to put that money into their savings instead if they want to stay home & make a sandwich. When we are at the store & they are begging for a pack of gum or a new beyblade or set of Pokemon cards,  i will offer to buy that OR i can give them them that amount to go into their savings if they would rather. Hard choices sometimes reap great rewards! I am hoping this will teach them that!

** These are the widest 5x7 shadowboxes I could find from Michael's that I got on a BOGO sale... so both frames only set me back $10 total. Sweet!

Color Run

Remember back in May when I told you all that I was training for my first 5k?  Well the Color Run has come & gone & I survived!

 I was a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to run the entire thing since I had been averaging about 2 miles on my  twice weekly runs, if that. (Training kind of came to a halt after mom's accident- priorities tend to shift when you almost lose your mom.) 

However, Rebecca stuck by my side, encouraging me to keep going & I did! Aside from a very sore knee when I finished, I felt like a warrior! Ha!

 We didn't get too much color during the run, despite trying to get as close to the "powder tossers" as possible... 

 

 But after the run, there was an "after party" where they jammed music & had big color explosions every 15 minutes!

 

Then we were covered in color!! So fun!

 They had blowers there to blow the color off as much as possible before getting into your cars. Good thing, because even with the blowers, we still carried a lot of it home! :) 

Thanks, Becca for being my cheerleader! And thanks to Randy for always being proud of me, whether I ran my first 1.5 minutes or 1.5 miles! 

A Place for the Birdies....

 A Saturday afternoon in May, I let the boys loose with some paint & 2 unfinished birdhouses.

They got down to business...

 And made the birds some really special places to stay!

 We've been bird watching every day since!

Just who is this Mary Jo?

 Memorial Day weekend, Rebecca & I were able to get away for 1 night. Mom & Peto had been talking about a place called Mary Jo's in Gastonia. We heard raves of walls & walls of fabric. Any kind of fabric you could think of. Sounded like a place we needed to see first hand!

So, we made a plan to go up on Sunday afternoon (it was almost a 4 hour drive!) and spend the night so that we would have a full day shopping on Monday before driving home late that evening. We were joining Peto, Mama, Ms. Janet, and Jennifer. All to shop til we dropped! Randy just couldn't wrap his brain around this. In the week leading up to the trip we had various conversations about this.

"You are going to stay in a hotel just to go shopping for fabric??"

Yep.

"Ya'll aren't going to do anything else?"

Nope. 

"Sooo.... what exactly is this store again?"

A fabric store.

"Just fabric?"

Just fabric & sewing stuff.

"I don't get why you would need to drive 4 hours to go shopping for fabric."

Would you get it if I said I was going to go 4 hours to shop for sporting goods like at a Bass Pro Shop?

"No"

What if the Martin guitar factory was 4 hours away. Would you get it then? Would you want to go stay the night to ensure you had enough time to see what you wanted to see?

"Well, yeah.... I guess you got me there."

I don't think men get the whole women-like-to-spend-time-together thing. We don't care what we are doing, we just like to be together. Although, fabric ups the cool factor!

 

I really wish I had taken a picture inside the store. The outside of the building was very inconspicuous. Plain jane, nothing fancy, warehouse. But boy, once you walk in, the wall to wall fabric was enough to make your head spin. There was so much that it took me a while to even decide on what I was willing to use my budgeted money on. I bought a few half yards of fabric that could be used for versatility.

 

 and a few especially for "boy" stuff...

 

I think those cute shoes will look really great with some red/grey/black fabrics for a "big kid" quilt for Jackson....

 

Before we knew it, our morning was gone at Mary Jo's! We "broke" for lunch then resumed our afternoon there looking for just the right fabric for a Rollie Pollie Bean Bag pattern that I had bought last year. It's time to put that pattern to use! I finally decided on this fabric...

 

And i was inspired by this fabric & plan to re-do the boys bathroom in a pirate theme this summer! FUN! This will be part of a shower curtain!

I happened to stumble upon some really cute black/white fabric that I couldn't leave there. It was screaming to be a curtain in my laundry room (I have actually been on the lookout for something like this since we moved into this house!)

Before we knew it, we had to head home! We had officially seen it all (or spent all our money, whichever came first!) We had about an hour & a half time to spare before we had to meet up to get Rebecca's girls on the way home. So.... Mama & Rebecca humored me & stopped in at IKEA. I had never been before.

 An hour & a half didn't scratch the surface of that place! Whoa.

All I can really say about that, is that we WILL be planning another overnight trip just to spend a day at IKEA. Right ladies...... RIGHT?????

Random Projects!

I don't think I have updated the blog with ANY of my craft projects since last Christmas maybe? I truly can't remember. But when I was clearing out my phone pictures, I came across a LOT since right before this Christmas, so it has been while. I know a handful of you like to see these, so I am adding them in a post!

Some are sewing projects:

Like ties for the boys & their cousins for Becca's wedding...
And an art apron I made for our neighbor, Sadie, who turned 4....

and a few baby blankets....and not to mention Eli's zig zag quilt is finally finished! This was put off way to long from start to finish!
And as you can see, both the boys get good use of their quilts! Here they are all bundled up next to my bed one morning after a night full of storms....

A few handmade Christmas presents that I grabbed pics of....

Like a shirt for my father in law (who happens to nap even MORE than my husband... is that even possible?!) I saw a shirt like this online for over $20 & I made this one in about 30 minutes & the cost of a tee/paint.
A welcome sign/hook for my mama.... (made from an old cabinet door...)
Another sign made for my step mom... also made from a cabinet door (this time with a glass pane)...And one of my favorite little projects was a Christmas ornament for my friend, Randi. She is moving to Denver in June & I wanted her to have a little something to remember NC with (& me, of course!)
Right after the holidays, Rebecca & I started a "quilt block of the month". Here is my first block! I am pretty excited because this is supposed to be a stars/stripes (red/blue) quilt. That is perfect for Rebecca because quilting is her sanity while Todd has been deployed. But, I knew a red/blue quilt wasn't for me. So, I have been substituting the blue fabric with green, and so by December (the last quilt block month), I will have all the squares for a Christmas quilt! Perfect!

I've also worked on a few home decor projects for myself!
I used another cabinet door to make myself a sign at my entry way...And decorating my hubby's dresser is now this little frame ( more inspiration from pinterest!) that I can wipe down & change the reasons I love him everyday! It's nice to leave him little messages & remind him of all the little things I love about him. I also put up a shelf above the couch. This was an idea that I stole from Rebecca. We had seen it on a blog called "I am Momma Hear Me Roar", and both loved the idea of one long shelf of a simple piece of wood, held up with corbels. And then our friend, Randi had all these reclaimed wood pieces & told us we could have one! Woot! Last weekend, Randy planed them for us & we both got new shelves in one weekend! Here is mine... (It isn't decorated so nicely yet... but it's a start. I need something with some height to it... Keeping my eye out!)That door you see in the corner of the room in one of the above pictures is from the habitat restore. I plan to paint it (probably a bright green), but for now, I just cleaned it up & tossed a wreath on it!And one last project! I went through & made picture books at mpix.com of the kids preschool artwork! I had been wanting to do this for awhile. Mainly, because I knew that I couldn't hang onto ALL that artwork that comes home from school. So, I sifted through what we had, keeping my favorites & scanning them into my computer. Then uploaded them to mpix & created a photo book for each of the boys.
Then I tossed the originals (it truly pained me to do so!). BUT, I did hang onto a handful of my absolute favorites from each of the boys. And I made a little gallery in our LONG upstairs hallway... (Sorry, but the lighting is terrible in our hallway. We really need another light up there!)....
Now, after showing you all these pictures of projects that make it look like I have it all together over here; I have to prove that I don't. Every time I post a picture of something I've done like this to Facebook someone inevitably makes a comment that they don't know how I have the time/energy or whatever. Well.... here is what my laundry pile looked like just 3 days ago, waiting to be folded...

So see? I do NOT have it all together. In fact, my house suffers terribly from all my project undertakings! :) Don't let me fool ya!