Scout Camp

The hubs is gone this week, so I have lots of projects planned. Lots of projects. Way more than I will get to for sure, but hopefully I will get the laundry room finished (minus the new-old door) and something for Ellie's room. I blame my mother for this. Everytime my dad went out of town she revamped our entire house. Whew. Sometimes it involved the entire family (like aunts and uncles & grandparents.) Did I mention I am doing a little shifting of bedrooms. Furniture everywhere. (If anyone wants an adorable little girl's bedroom set...I have one I am willing to part with.) Wish me luck.

Old Yearbook Makeover

A friend of mine did this as a teacher gift and it turned out so cute that I decided to run with the idea. My grandparents would have been celebrating 60 years this year. Unfortunately my grandpa passed away. I still wanted to do a little something special for my grandma, so I made a memories book. I took an old yearbook. Actually my mom's old yearbook. I know, who would want to part with their old high school yearbook (do you hear the sarcasm), but lucky enough my dad was also in that graduating class, so they had an extra. We clipped the message my dad wrote in her yearbook that year. "I hope you have a great future." Turns out...she has.


Back to the book...I took some pages out to start with, since I was planning on adding pages, but I didn't take out quite enough, which caused a few problems with my binding later. Then I glued (I used Elmer's spray glue) three pages of the yearbook together, then another three, and another, you get the idea. After that I glued cardstock on the front and back of the three glued pages. This is where the binding problem occured. I needed to take out more pages to begin with. Because I added so many extra pages, the binding on the book broke. It still worked, but next time I will account for all the pages I will be adding and take out a few more of the book pages to accomodate. For the book cover, I used fabric that I simply mod podged to the book and then folded the edges around the cover, just like a binding on a quilt. I thought about taking pictures of the whole process, but then I started and forgot. Once I covered the book I added cardstock to the front and back cover to hide my raw edges. Worked like a charm. For this book I had all my family write letters and share memories for my grandma. I added a few pictures...and wal~la- a perfect gift that she will enjoy for years.

For the most part, I was excited with how well it turned out and was even more excited when I saw her reaction. And funny thing. For the last pages I made a family tree. I was sooo careful to make sure I had everyone on it. I was finishing it up in the wee hours of the morning though, so probably not as careful as I should have been. After I gave it to her, Tony was looking through the book and brought it to my attention that I had left him off. Really. Of the 82 people on the family tree, it was my very own husband I forgot. Oops. He's on there now.

Articles of Faith book

I can't really take credit for this one, since we did it as a super saturday project, but since my kids use it a lot, I decided it was worth sharing. The book itself came from the sei outlet. It was something like $3, I think. Then I just did some very basic scrapbooking. All my pictures came from old Ensigns.
I also did one on the Family Proclamation. Just use key points and use family pictures instead of Ensign pictures. Easy and they make great teaching tools.

DIY Kitchen Cabinet Facelift

So on my list of 52 things for 52 weeks in 2010 was a DIY kitchen project. Here's the result. Originally I had planned to sand all my cabinets down and do a darker stain on what I didn't paint, but I decided against it. Maybe later. I had also planned to paint my countertops, but when I went to buy my paint they only have a few color options for laminate, none of which I liked. So still trying to figure out what to do there. I also plan on replacing the light above the sink with a pendant light. But that is a project for another day.

playhouse yard stake

crayon rocks

I got this idea from My mix of six blog. The kids had a great time coloring and it works for all ages. They found a home in my flowerbeds, where we can all enjoy them for the entire summer.
Just put your rocks in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, then let the kids go to town coloring with crayons. The heat from the rocks melts the crayons, so it gives it a painted look without the mess. I had my kids paint them on old towels, but I think next time I would just use tin foil that I could throw away.

fabric covered magnet board

I have a ton of pictures of family and friends that I want to display, but I hate a cluttered fridge. For this magnet board, I simply covered a piece of sheet metal with fabric. I used a glue gun to glue around the back edges and then used a staple gun to attach it to my wood frame. Once again Tony cut my round frame. Love him.