Diaper Box turned storage box

While perusing the bloggy world a couple weeks ago....I saw this.  Turning diaper boxes into cute storage boxes!  I have often used diaper boxes as storage, just never thought about cutesy-ing it up into something more permanent or using fabric.

Both boys decided to fall asleep today so I used that time to cover a diaper box!  (Great use of time, right?  All the cleaning was done already...)  I had some fat quarters that needed to be used to I went digging through that.  We have a little children's table cluttered with stuff on it in our living room and I thought it would be a great place for a cute box to keep all the boys crayons and paper in.

Enter your supplies: diaper box, fabric, mod podge, brush, and scissors.

I am not a precise/measuring type of girl...so I just went for it.  Mod Podge one side of your box.  

 Lay your fabric on top and stretch and smooth out any wrinkles. Cut slightly larger than your box so you have some excess fabric to fold into and under the box.

Repeat on all 4 sides.  I did my 2 long sides first, and then the short sides.  On the short sides, I "hemmed" the fabric so it would it would appear cleaner.  Then I took a strip and lined the inside top few inches...and mod podged that down too.

It was looking a little naked to me, so I decided to hot glue some ribbon around the outside, as well as to the bottom of the strip inside the box to cover up the edge of the fabric.

Pretty cute if I do say so myself, and much better than the stack of stuff on the desk before....

We will see how it holds up.  But for $0 and about 30 minutes of time...not too shabby! What a great scrap buster project too!  What do you think?

If the broom fits...

FLY IT!

I saw this adorable sign on pinterest, and loved it so much I had to make my own!  Lil Luna had a great tutorial so I just followed along.

I used my silhouette to cut out the letters and the witch silhouette.  Being as I didn't feel like fussing with the sewing machine, I simply cut out triangles from some Halloween scrapbook paper I had and glued it along a line of twine!  Walah!!  A quick spray of clear shalacky stuff, and what an adorable little sign I have!

I love it so much and just what my crazy whimsical Halloween mantle needed! :)

Have you been making any cute Halloween crafts yet?  I have been enjoying seeing all the great ides across the blogland and look forward to making a few more in the next couple of weeks!

Halloween Luminaries

If you are on Pinterest at all...I am sure you have seen these cute halloween luminaries!  They are very cute and cheap to make.  My book club made them last week but I didn't attend...so Z and I set off to make them yesterday.  I have been saving jars for who knows what so I didn't have to buy any.  If you don't have any laying around, you can buy a 12 pack at Wal-Mart I hear!

First off, clean out your jars and remove labels.

Second, paint the jars with regular old craft paint.  I actually painted the inside of mine.  Then you don't have to worry about scratching or glazing at the end!  It just gives it a little smoother look.  One note, when painting glass, just try to do one line at a time.  If you try to paint over while it is still wet, it kinda wipes off what you already painted.

The faces I painted on the outside.  Another good thing about that is that you don't have to wait for the jars to dry to paint the faces!  If you don't like the face you made....just wipe it off and start over.  And it won't mess up your base paint!  For the pumpkin, I had some foam pumpkin stickers left over from last year...Z used those to decorate the outside by himself.  It was easier then painting for a preschooler!

That's it!  We painted the lid too.  Drop a little battery operated tea light, and you are set!  Enjoy!

My Favorite Homemade Play dough

What to do when you have a day with nothing to do...make play dough! :)  Ours was getting a little old and hard so we decided to make a fresh homemade batch!

Enter the ingredients:

The recipe actually calls for cream of tartar (which I didn't have this time) so I did a quick google search and came up with baking powder as a substitute.

Have your helper mix together all the dry ingredients. Then add water, oil, and food coloring and stir over medium heat...

And keep stirring....it looks goopy but it will turn into something, I promise! :)  When it stops seeming sticky, it is probably done.  You can always add a little more flour to if it still feels sticky after cooking.

 Then roll it into a nice big ball and pass along to your VERY happy 3 year old!

This stuff lasts for a long time and is so soft.  Over the holidays, I like to add some scents to it (pumpkin=halloween, peppermint=christmas) for some fun holiday treats!  Just store it in a tupperware container and enjoy!

My favorite Homemade Play Dough Recipe
1 cup flour 
1/4 cup of salt 
2 tablespoons cream of tartar 
1 cup water 
1 smidge of gel food coloring (or 2 teaspoons normal food coloring) 
1 tablespoon vegetable oil