*Shrug*

I was looking at this wonderful website: Make it and Love it

And saw this adorable shrug:

 Click on the pic for the full tutorial

And I thought "Why don't I do that with one of my shirts?"

So I did.

Sorry for the spotty-mirror-messy-bath deal, but I thought it would...umm...add character. Right? ;)

Anyway, I took this shirt. Sorry, I don't have a pic of it before I cut it up.

Cut it up/made ruffles out of the bottom half/added to top...done.

Okay, there's a bit more than that, but click on the full tutorial above to really know how to do it. Ashley explains it so well, we'll just leave that up to her :) Thanks for the tutorial Ashley, I love my new shrug!

Have you ever wondered why we don't live in a purple world? Looks like fun, huh?

Peek-a-boo

Also, did I mention that I got the COOLEST gift from the "Christmas in July, Gift Exchange" from over at Craftaholics Anonymous. It came from Jessica in Georgia! Check it out.

What cute fabric! I've been trying to find outfits to match it all week so that I can wear it everyday :) Thanks Jess! 

The gift exchange was so fun! I got to send a little gift to a lovely lady in St. Louis. I totally wanna do it again next year.

Wanna see something awesome?

My Father-in-law made this bed as a surprise for my Mother-in-law while she was away on a trip. Isn't that so sweet?
I think it's comprised mostly of fence posts, and 2x4's. I'd have to double check on that though. Then he put on a beautiful dark cherry-like stain (again, my poor memory can't remember what the exact color was called). And added the decorative pieces to the 4 posts. And voila! Beautifully done Bryll. Thanks for letting me share it online. :)

 This pic is without the flash.

This one is with the flash, so you can see the depth of the color better.

And I just LOVE their bedspread, don't you? So cute and simple. Love it.

Sweetsy Sugar Scrub

Usually when giving a gift I've made, I don't blog about it 'till after I've given it away, but I'm break'n the rules today. We're probably going out of town this weekend, so I figured this time it would be fine. :)

For Mother's Day I made some Sweetsy Sugar Scrub for my Mother and Mother-in-law. Shhh, you won't tell right? We're going to see my Mother-in-law this weekend.

Here's what you'll need:

Pour sugar in mixing bowl

Pour in E.V.O.O. to a good consistency. I used around 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cup. 

I didn't measure too much, just went with it. Mix really well.

It should look kinda clumpy like this.

This little bottle of scented oil I got at the dollar store. They have several different scents. 

I poured in about 1/3 of the bottle. 
Edit to add: After I made the scrub I was reading the fine little print on the bottle, and it is acually not made for skin use. But I've noted that if I leave the little jars of scrub open they make my room smell so nice! Try using scented oils from Bath & Body that are made for the skin; or vanilla, or lemon juice instread. (I have heard that pure vanilla extract is actually good on sunburns, so that might be best.)

Then I added some drops of red and blue food coloring to make a light lavender color.

I should've used more and made it more purpley, but the stirring was making my arm SO tired!

This was as purple as it was gonna get.

Then scoop into your 2 beautiful Ball Mason Jars (16 oz.)

Maybe add a little ribbon.

Happy belated Mother's Day!

Glass Chore Chart

Today is a beautiful day in sunny Arizona! Despite the wonderful weather outside, I will be inside cleaning because I've put it off for way too long....aaand I'm super forgetful. I estimate that since getting pregnant I've probably lost about 50% of my short term memory, some days it's more like 80%. So, I've determined to get organized!

Being new to this wonderful Wife/Mommy world I've found I need a few things to keep up. I've never really used a planner, never kept a calendar, never had to! I had a great memory! I'll even admit that I used to laugh a little at those Moms that would say "Yeah, hold on, just let me check my appointment book. No, can't do it we've got ballet, soccer, etc." Now I think to myself "Wow, check out how organized those Moms were!"
This is me today: "Yeah, I'll totally be there to that youth activity, and we can use my car to drop off the kids." That day: --------(crickets chirping) no me. 'Cause I forgot again!!! And the next day: Hey I better get to that activity. Umm...that's not today, is it? AAaahhh!
I feel like I have CFS (Chronic Flake Syndrome).

So.... I got a little pocket planner from Wal-Mart and I check it at least 4 or 5 times a day just to see what I'm forgetting. And for my sadly ignored house (aka: apartment) I made this:

I've seen this idea a couple times on blogland, but I don't remember exactly where. It was a plain frame from the dollar store and now it's a dry erase chore board for me! Here's how I made it.

Took one of the plain unpainted wood frames from the dollar store and painted it satin white on my painting pyramids (love those things!).

While that was drying I cut out little strips of some extra fabric I had. They're probably 2.5 x 0.5 inches. I left them frayed and tied a little not in the middle. Now they're cute little rag bows!

Hot glued them in the corners. (I made 8 bows and only used 6) I did put three in the top left corner and one in the rest of the corners. I kinda liked the Wabisabi (something I heard on King of the Hill, not sure if it's real. Haha, love that show!). It means the off-balance, or defect makes it more beautiful.

The is the actual chart, in case you wanted to see what was on there. Yes, I have to put almost everything! The font is "Alice in Wonderland" (from the new movie). The saying at the top is from the Doctrine and Covenants, that is an added section to the Book of Mormon. My favorite book :)

I felt it was still a little plain so I took two strands of matching thread and hot glued them between each of the bows, down the frame. Just to add a little color.

Added some magnet strips to the back, 'cause the kitchen is probably the room I go through the most, so the fridge is a good place for me to be sure and see it everyday.

Voila!

Frame: $1

Fabric Scraps: On hand

 Spray Paint: On hand

Hot Glue: On hand

Thread: On hand

New Dry-Erase Marker (from the looks of it, I really need a new one): $1 (will buy today)

Total: $2

Love it!!!

P.S. - I highly recommend little planners ;)

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We're back up and running!

Yeah! After much, much reasearch online I figured out how to fix the sidebar problem. Now we're up and running again! Halleluja!

Lame post

Sorry for the lame post. Should be some exciting project, but it's not.
I just wanna let you know that there is some construction going on with Crafty Mamacita and that's why the sidebar is now at the bottom of the entire blog. All will be fixed as quickly as possible. Hopefully I'll have some new projects to post on Monday!

A New Room for my Niece

I'm home again! Arizona feels so good to come home to, espeically after being in cold Utah. But I had a really good time seeing my family and friends. Also, I had my first time being a bridesmaid, at my friend Jessica's wedding.

Isn't she such a beautiful bride? Her wedding turned out so beautiful, and she did it all herself. Good job Jess!

So, my niece just moved into my parents house and she's getting my old room. While I was there we made a few alterations to try and make it her own. I wish I could've done more, but you know how on trips or vacations even though you have lots of time, you really have no time 'cause you plan so much to do? Yeah, it was like that. Here's what we did get done:

First she got a new comforter for her bed.

(from Ikea)

Isn't it awesome! If I were a teenage girl again I would want the exact same one. So we used the colors in the bed to work off of to finish off the room. We also got some cheap throw pillows from Ikea that matched.

Then we each took a pillow and some embroidery floss and we stitched on some easy abstract designs to match the bed (using matching colors of floss).

After that we had a little spray painting party and did over a little table, lots of frames, and a lamp.

This table was green, gray and butter yellow. We got it for $8 at D.I. (it's like Goodwill).

Do you ever get a piece of furniture and just wonder "What were they thinking?"

Gray, green, and yellow? Yuck. The picture doesn't even do it justice, it was pretty bad.

We got some liquid sander to take off the paint, but turned out to be acrylic paint. The liquid sander didn't work so well with that so we just buffed it up using sand paper and then spray painted.

So much better! Rustoleum Heirloom White, and Satin Black. What a breath of fresh air.

The color is off in this picture. It was actually more of a light brown/mustard-y color. Here it looks almost like taupe/brown. But we took care of it with some of that metallic "hammered-look" spray paint. I don't remember the name of it now.

The texture of the lamp really made the "hammered-look" come out nicely. It looks so much better! Sorry there's no lamp shade. It wasn't done.

A live-and-learn moment here. At Crafterhours I saw them do somthing similar to this with twill tape, and they slipped pictures in-between the flaps, but the ribbon we used was too slick and soft to hold up. But it turned out nicely as a piece of artwork. Basically we just overlaid lots of ribbon strips and sewed down the sides. But it turned out pretty, right? Oh and that little rose candle holder we got for about $1.00 to decorate with. So cute!

These little fames are the gold ones you've probably seen at the dollar store. We painted them black. Then with a little fabric...

Aren't they so cute?! I love how they turned out with the black and white prints!

This is where we ended up putting them, but they might find a new home.

Oh, and we bought that young woman statuette at D.I. for really cheap too. Like somwhere around $2.00. We also spray painted that frame up there. I'm not so sure about the color, but I love how it looks without the back and the glass!

Anyway, there's tons more my Mom and Niece can do around the "stiching" theme to match the bedspread. We were really excited about that. But since I have to return home again, I won't see the final result.

Back to home projects!

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