Pinterest Time- Photo Puzzle

I found this awesome idea on Pinterest and knew I had to try it out!It took awhile to find the perfect puzzle and when my little cousin B's birthday came around I knew I had the perfect gift. I gathered pictures of his siblings, parents, grandma, godparents, and friends, put together a digital file with the puzzles dimensions, print photos, mod podge into the puzzle, and sit back to admire your work :)

I am so happy with how this turned out!! and cousin B loved it!

Pinterest time- 50 photo collage!!

My mom celebrated her 50th birthday earlier this year!! and all of us kids decided to throw her a surprise birthday party. I knew the minute we decided to have a party that I had to make this sign. My mom loves pictures (and so do I), so whats better than a giant birthday photo 50?!?!

I started by gathering photos and editing them all to be black and white, then I cropped them to be square, and then put them all in a 12x12 page. I simply printed and cut and then pasted to a giant 50!

It was so fun going through all the photos!! 

The first 0 was to short :( so I went back and made it longer!

and the finished project!! It turned out so good and it was an awesome conversation starter at the the party :)

Yeah!! Making it count is back :) thanks to Bobbi at Revolution of Love I can link up all my crafty ideas again! 

I saw this idea a while ago. Granted the blog isn't in English, but I could tell they were on to something. My nephew turned 1 last month and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try it out! 

First buy a pre-sanded round board and prime and paint it!

Second by a whole bunch of hardware and attach to board!!

Third ... Step back and enjoy!

I am super happy with the finished product. I had a hard time keeping the Man Cub away from it :) I might have to make a second one!

Making it count Tuesday: Laundry Detergent

So I am once again I am joining Everyday Snapshots for 

The idea is to get yourself to do all those great ideas we find on the internet :) so here is my meager attempt for the week!

One of my projects this year is to stop using store bought cleaners. I don't have anything against using them, but they are a tad expensive! So one by one as a run out of different products I am replacing them with my own homemade, non-toxic version (patting myself on the back!!). This week I ran out of laundry detergent ... I do a lot of laundry in a week so I got put this stuff together really quick. Unfortunately I don't have a link :( I searched the internet high and low for the recipe that would work for me, but they all included boiling, letting it set and other complicated steps. Right when I was about to give up my friend Carrie shared her recipe ... 

finely grate on bar of Fels-Naptha soap

Add one cup of Borax

Add one cup of Washing soda

mix the whole thing together ... and viola!! you have dry laundry detergent. It takes 1-2 Tbs per load. I found a cheap cup and measured 2 Tbs into it and marked the amount with a black sharpie. Now I just fill to the line and dump into the washer. Also I use 1 cup of white vinegar as well for fabric softener. I have used for 3 loads of laundry so far and I am really pleased. I can't tell any difference in the wash and they smell clean ... so success :)

A Jungle Book Room

When we found out we were expecting our Little Man Cub in 2009 one of the things I most looked forward to was decorating a nursery! Unfortunately a nursery wasn't in the cards; we were living in a one bedroom apartment and really couldn't afford to move :( but no worries I got super inventive and come up with this cute little corner for our Man Cub!

The Whole view

His personalized bedding made by my sister-in-law's awesome mom!! My mother-in-law even switched out the original animals on the mobile to these Jungle book ones :)

My Elfa Shelves over the changing table ... with dollar store baskets to hold socks, pacifiers, and diapering things!

                   My sister-in-law got me this awesome       Bought this cool lamp on clearance

                          hanging thing for diapers :)                                 at the Disney store.

Well, when we moved to our new place I waited on pins and needles to find out if baby #2 was going to be a boy or a girl ... why you ask? because the kiddos had their own room and I wanted to get decorating! When the ultrasound technician announced it was a boy I couldn't wait to get started on the room. I decided to keep the Jungle Book theme, and just add some fun touches ... anyways here it is :)

View from the door 

close ups

 The View from the Window

Close up of the border going around the room

and the final touch :)

Bath Paints

So we are still enjoying winter ... or at least rain in this neck of the woods. I am still trying to keep the Man Cub busy, and I have been finding some awesome ideas online! This latest idea is super easy and really quick to clean up. We made bath paint. This was so fun and extended bath time by about 30 minutes. The Man Cub was pretty wrinkly by the time I got him out :) 

The Bath Paint requires 4 things...

1. cheap foam shaving cream
2. food coloring
3. a muffin pan (or any bowl would work)
4. paint brush (or basting brush if you are like me and don't own a paint brush)

Dispense shaving cream into muffin pan, add food coloring and mix until you get the desired color. Give to your child while the are in the bath and let them decorate the walls. When finished you just rinse it all off (including your child)!!! See simple :)

Sensory Bottles

Well, winter is officially here :( and keeping the Man Cub inside is driving me bonkers. He isn't being bad, just under foot all the time!! Luckily I had some projects I've been meaning to do with him. The first thing on my list was sensory bottles. I was a little skeptical about this one, I mean really how entertaining can filling a bottle be? Boy was I wrong, this lovely project took up almost an hour!! Anyways it was pretty simple, a bunch of small items from the dollar store and some emptied water bottles and you are all set.  

All of our supplies!

Can you see the excitement on the Man Cubs face?

The whole table :)

Admiring his work!

yes we ate lunch with them

The final line up .. Sparkles, pom-poms, ribbons, fish, and beads. 

My pretty menu plan

So this year one of my "resolutions" was to start a menu plan. I'm on the my third month of the menu plan and going strong!!! Obviously there are times when we miss some of the meals, but we just skip it and keep going. It really has made cooking so much simpler for me; no more planning just grab what I keep stocked and cook :) Anyways since I have been using it I though I should make it official by making a pretty menu to put on the fridge! Here it is .....

Not to fancy, but I am going to put it in a frame or laminate it so I can cross the meals out as we go and then erase and redo!  And yes we Menu Plan going to Grandma's house :)

Pinterest Love - no mess paint

Once again I am joining Pam over at Everyday Snapshots for Pinning it Down. 

I know its important to let our little ones experiment with new things, but I hate a big mess! So when I found this magical idea for no mess finger paint .... wow PERFECT :)

Pinterest Love - Brownies and an Oil Drip pan

I'm back for another week of

I feel like I have been trying so many new things!!  

My first pinning project was so simple I feel a little silly even blogging about it, but the Little Man Cub loves it! I  saw this pin and thought I could so make that :) Anyways I ran to a car supply store and bought a $10 oil drip pan and used some picture hanging Velcro strips, and done!!!

I need to put together some fun games, but for now the Little Man Cub stole my pictures off the refrigerator and has some colorful numbers from Grandma. 

My second project was to copy my mom. A few weeks ago she made some awesome brownies and I needed to try them out. I think I actually used a different recipe, but with the same delicious results!!

we forgot to take pictures of the finished product ... we were way to busy eating :)