Crafty Jars

This is a super easy craft that will cost under $5 to make (even less if you already own all the supplies!).

And its quick. Real quick. And cheap. and cute. etc.

You need:
3 (or more) glass jars collected from various things you eat eg. jam, chutney, marinade sauces. Different sizes and shapes works best.

White paint. I used Jo Sonja's as its about $3.50 a tube (sometimes less) and I love the vibrancy of the pigment. This is titanium white. You can mix any colour you like really.

Simplicity is the middle name of this craft.

Blob some paint inside a clean, de-labelled jar. 

Use your brush to paint the insides of the jar

Allow to dry and then apply a second coat.

Tie some thin ribbon, lace or raffia around each jar.

Sigh and pat yourself on the back for being so clever. 

Declutter, Beautify and Create Challenge!

Yep, I'm all up for challenges at the moment!


So here is yet another that I have joined!  


I am committing to the 10 week challenge to declutter, beautify and create in various spaces around our home. As the end of the year is approaching, and it is spring here in Australia, its time to clean the cupboards out!


I will be sure to take some before and after pictures for you. Want to join me on this challenge? Please do! You can link up on the Sunflower Schoolhouse page!


Here is this week's challenge:

Week 1
Front Hall Closet and Extra Closets

• go through your front hall closet and any hall closets.
• get rid of as much clutter as possible
• organize what’s left
• make your closets look more beautiful
• is there anything stashed in there that could be used to make a Christmas gift for someone? (pull it out and put it aside)
• share your ideas for frugal decorating and organizing
• tell us what you are getting rid of
• write a blog post and come back and link it up next week
• include before and after pictures of your hall closets if you can

My Personal Goals For Week 1

• Our hallway cupboard doubles as our pantry. So this week I will post pictures of how I have created 'sugarless' spaces for the food I can eat, and 'sugary' spaces for Mr. Awesome!
• As my pantry is 'up to date', I am also going to focus on my bookshelf (one of 4 bookshelves in our house!), and apply the same principles here!. 

Finding my space!

I just finished reading Lessons in Letting Go: Confessions of a hoarder, by Corinne Grant. I thought it was an excellent read and it made me reflect a lot on my habit of "piling not filing".


Earlier today I was revisiting Elisabeth George's Life Management for Busy Women, and I realised that getting half way was not really getting the job done.  My desk had already been 'tidied' and had gone from something like this: 

To something more like this:

I had chucked out all the rubbish but hadn't actually dealt with anything. The desk was still unusable. 


So when I got home today I decided enough was enough. I resorted all the items and made boxes:


1. Things that don't belong in this room and need to be put away (then I walked around with the box and actually put them away!)


2. Things that need to be filed (then I actually filed them!) 


3. Things that needed to be dealt with.


Then I sat down and dealt with the 'deal with' box!


Now my desk looks more like this: 

Sorry about the lack of actual photos, our camera is playing up.


Now I can actually sit at my desk to do my Bible reading in the morning and can use my desk for what its really for! 


What have you recently finished that you have been putting off?


I am linking up for Courtney's Making Your Home A Haven for the next 5 weeks. Check it out here. 

20 Minute Laundry Makeover

You might remember that I have mentioned before that Mr. Awesome does the majority of the washing and ironing around here.  That's what works for us right now, so that's how we roll...!

Lately though the laundry has been a bit neglected in my housecleaning schedule.

Pretty much it constantly looks like this:

And we pretty much can't take it anymore! So this afternoon when out shopping I purchased a $5.99 plastic bucket so I could make a cleaning bucket like this.

And then it was on! I reorganised shelves to put the things we use everyday on the most logical shelves and put the less used items on a different shelf.  Then I cleaned everything off, went through all the old clothes I was saving for rags, and cut them into usable pieces. Then - get this - I threw the rest out!! They were the wrong kind of fabric for rags or had massive holes etc that made them difficult to use. I moved all the beach towels to another part of the house where they could be with the swimmers (and be friends yeah?!).

Tidying up made things easier to store - and to get to.  So here is the final result!

For the first time in weeks we actually caught up on the washing too!  Twenty minutes and using only one new bucket and we have a room that almost feels new!

30 Excellent Books Update

Back in January I decided to read 30 excellent books in 2010. The point was to stretch my mind and spend time focussed on things that would pull me forward, majorly in the areas of Christian living and spiritual discipline. Its time to review the list and see how I'm doing!

I originally only chose 21 books so that I was open to reading other books that crossed my path throughout the year. It seems that so far I have read more "other" books than those on the original list! 

My 2010 30 Excellent Books List (in no particular order)

1. Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes
2. A Call to Spiritual Reformation by D.A Carson
3. According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
4. From Clutter To Clarity by Nancy Twigg
5. The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
6. The Lion Handbook to the Bible by David and Pat Alexander
7. The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick
8. Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney
9. Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartin
10. Power of Praying Through the Bible by Stormie Omartin
11. The Plight of Man and The Power of God by Martin Lloyd-Jones
12. How Should We Then Live by Frances A. Schaeffer
13. Guidance and the Voice of God by Phillip D. Jensen and Tony Payne
14. Knowing God by J.I. Packer
15. Knowledge of the Holy by A.W Tozer
16. The Pursuit of God by A.W.Tozer
17. Commentary on Romans by Martin Luther
18. My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
19. The Cross by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
20. Spiritual Blessing by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
21. Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
22. Sheet Music by Dr. Kevin Leman
23. The Birth Order Book by Dr. Kevin Leman
24. How Women Help Men Find God by David Morrow
25. Finding God by Larry Crabb
26. Home Court Advantage by Dr. Kevin Leman
27. Hungry for God by John Piper

Some of the reason for my slowness has been the difficulty of finding the books I originally set out to read - most of these were recommendations so I didn't actually own them (note to self: next year I will pick all the books on my shelf I haven't read yet!). I also have had a number of work related books to read this year which have devoured some of my time and energy. I currently have about 4 of these books on the go (I have a very distractable personality so I like to have different options at anyone time!!) and I intend to blog about several of these that I have recently finished reading also. 

I thought it was probably also time to have a quick reflect on the goals I set for 2010. 

• Find time to have quiet time with God everyday - I am still working on this but at the moment I am managing around 3-4 days a week
• Use less internet each day - create stillness in the home - hmmm..this one needs work...!
• Have less junk in my life - physically and spiritually -physically I have been through 3 of the 6 rooms in our home so far and have been ruthless in riding us of the excess junk we just don't need - typically I have saved the harder rooms for last!!
• Read 30 excellent books
• Complete the first level of the Preliminary Theological Certificate - I am hoping that now that work has settled down I will be able to enroll for the next intake of subjects in the series.
• Plan meals to manage the budget more effectively - we are finally starting to save more effectively through managing our budget and particularly our food. I am learning to use my freezer and slow cooker to help keep the costs down and not throw out so much food. 
• Memorise Ephesians this year- oh dear - this is one I haven't even STARTED yet!
• Remember more and forget less! hmmm.... only those around me can tell me if this is working! I am trying very hard to return phone calls emails and messages in reasonable time frames and to remember the things that I promise people I will do for them! 
• Complete sewing projects for gifts and for the house - is a sewing list ever complete? I think that's a whole blog post in itself!

Overall, I have perhaps been a little ambitious in my goal setting for this year - but on the positive side we are only half way through! Praying that God will give me the strength to prioritise. 

How are your goals going this year? 

What I've been making...

I seem to have more hours in the day for planning sewing projects than I do for sewing them! I have hurt my neck recently and can't spend long periods sewing or typing or sitting really so I have just been planning mostly! As soon as I'm better I'll be blogging my sewing efforts!

Here are a couple of things I have made in the last couple of months that I've been meaning to post!

Baby Blankets

Babies everywhere at the moment and I have been stitching away with some polar fleece blankies.

Patchwork fleecy for baby Ryan, wrapped up (above) and unwrapped (below)

This print was too cute to cut up, so I just stitched the edges (after a very unsuccessful attempt to sew blanket binding around the edge, Awesome said "Just do that stitchy thing you do, it'll be quicker", and it was, only an hour and a half in front of the TV!). This was a remnant that I found at Lincraft in the remnant box, (love that!) and only needed 1/2 for the blanket - all up it cost me about $2.50!

A close up of the stitching around the edges

With Mothers' Day here I thought I'd show you the little purse I made for my Granny.

This is a purse from a pattern in Pip Lincolm's book Meet Me At Mike's. I love this book and have been busy making things from it (I sadly lost the photos of the bird and flower coasters and another purse like this I made for a friend). The fabric was left over from other projects and the button was from a bag of thrifted vintage buttons I bought at a church fete in bowral (bargain - about 50 buttons for 50c!). All up it probably cost less than $2!

There are still many, many things on my to make list.. and I seem to be adding them faster than I am making them. I am getting a little faster at sewing though (although I have to be careful not to go too fast and cut corners!). Here is a skirt I made by adapting this pattern (which I love and will make a shorter version of soon), while Stu was taking a shower before we went out for dinner. Yep, a new skirt in less time than it would take for me to park at the shops!

(sorry about the photo - Awesome was sleeping). The fabric was given to my by my Mum as an off cut of something she was making, the bias binding was also a find in a bag she was getting rid off and the elastic was from the Lincraft remnant box again ($4 for a bag of about 20 pieces of various elastic!) so all up it cost me practically nothing to make! Even if I had bought all the bits myself the skirt probably comes in at under $10. Bargain!

Lovin' my sewing machine! What are you making?

Sewing Projects I have Lined Up

I have quite a few projects lined up for my sewing machine this year. Here is my get-started list:

• Playsilks for kindy
• I have purchased patterns for projects from here - flirty skirt, fling top, the versatile wrap and discovery bags (that one is for kindy too)
• Aprons and book bags for gifts
• Alter a tablecloth we were given for our wedding to fit our much smaller table and use the off-cut for napkins
• Love this pattern for a halter top but will have to save up I think!

Just a few things to get me started!

Creative Play for Little Hands

I have been searching for ideas for open-ended toys for the children at Kindy. We have a lot of equipment that needs replacing in the next 3 years and I want to make good - lasting choices about the kinds of things that we can choose to give the children.

My criteria are the following;

- must be durable and long lasting - 45 children a day, 52 weeks a year

- preferably open-ended or multi-purpose

- cover a range of developmental areas

- no small parts - most toys in the center are used by children from 6 months to 6 years

- easy to clean and meeting Australian standards where required

- low environmental impact where possible

- cost-effective or low cost

Gee! I don't ask for much do I!

This is what I have come up with so far:

• Playsilks
• Discovery Bags - will have to alter the pattern as the plastic beads would be a choking hazard
• Bilibo - I love this idea, but I think it is financially too expensive for the centre (we would ideally need 6-8 of these)
• Home-made Dollhouse furniture that we could make ourselves with the children
• Tyre Garden Bed (see below) we already have tyres for free from a local tyre store. We just need to organise soil and plants!
• 

Do you have any other ideas of things that we could make or provide for the children?

God-Sized Dreams

2010 Goal Setting

• Find time to have quiet time with God everyday
• Use less internet each day - create stillness in the home
• Have less junk in my life - physically and spiritually
• Read 30 excellent books
• Complete the first level of the Preliminary Theological Certificate
• Plan meals to manage the budget more effectively
• Memorise Ephesians this year
• Remember more and forget less!
• Complete sewing projects for gifts and for the house

Super Cute Palm Sunday Craft

We have just got back from a weekend down the coast camping. It was our first camping trip together - a very interesting experience as I love camping but my husband is not so keen! We had a great weekend although tired we are gearing up for creche at church tonight.

It is Palm Sunday so we have decided to tell the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem. I found a super cute template and colouring in pages for our youngsters here. There are lots of cute resources. I'm not up for reinventing the wheel so I'm more than happy to 'borrow' someone else's material!

I have cut the palm fronds out myself so the little ones can play with them and attached bbq skewers with tape to make stems.

Getting Crafty

As promised I am holding a Get Organised Week (yes, in Australia we spell it with a s). I'm am going to post some photos of crafty and organisational tricks I am finding helpful being a right brainer.


First up is a beuatiful little craft kit I used to make a memory for my friend's birthday.

I love this idea, and even though I used a kit this time, I think I could replicate this idea myself with a very similar result. I included black and white print outs of special moments as friends - our 21st birthdays and weddings, in the order that they occurred. I am looking forward to creating more of these this year as gifts for my gorgeous girlfriends.

Wedding ThankYou Card Update

I am very excited. I have nearly finished stage 1 - writing all the thank you cards. I am cheating and doing them on a computer format, but it is still taking a loooong time! I have just tipped over the half way mark!

I still have stages 2-5 to complete;
2. stick fancy paper ribbon on each and cut out
3. add photo and place in envelope
4. address and stamp
5. post

I am determined to be finished this task by Sunday!