chalkboard glasses, check. i’m so pinterest hip now.

so, we have this friend who’s getting married. and i was on the phone with his mom and she was telling me how they want to do the wine glasses with chalkboard paint on them as favor/placecards for the wedding (you know, the ones all over the interwebs like here and here), and they were experimenting with chalkboard spray paint but they weren’t sure about it. so i was like “oh, they make special chalkboard paint you can use on stuff like that, you paint it on and then you bake it. i have some i bought like 4 million years ago, give or take, cause i saw that and thought it was super cool and wanted to do it.” and then she was like “oh, really? how well does it work?”

and then…well, i had no answer for her. because i never used it.

BUT…

i promptly dug it out, and painted all my wineglasses.

and then anything else i could get my hands on in my whole kitchen. because that's how cool this stuff is.


paint ordered here

first  all my wineglasses…



i did two coats on everything. you really need to hold it up to the light to make sure you’ve covered everything you want covered.



then i got itchy paintbrush fingers and started prowling the kitchen. i found my trifle bowl…



and marked off a rectangle with masking tape…



and had at it. this one ended up needing three coats.

my next victim experiment project?



the three tiered serving piece my sister-in-law gave us. (hi sister-in-law! don’t be angry! i love it!)



three edges—taped off and painted. bam.

then everything got it’s turn in the oven—350 degrees for 30 minutes.
do i love it?

 
(who has two thumbs and needs to learn how to spell radish???)

oh yeah. i love it.



(did ya notice this in my baby shower post?)



i’m not done. not hardly. i used not even half of one bottle, and i bought two.

i even started a whole pinterest board of chalkboard ideas (check it here). some of my favs:

the chalkboard lunchbox love note

Source: frecklescrafts.com via Shannon on Pinterest

chalkboard blocks for the kiddos

Source: blogs.babble.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and this is just cool (not very practical though)

Source: mytrendytykes.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and, if you’re not ready to completely commit to chalkboard paint EVERYWHERE, did you know they make this:

Source: amazon.com via Shannon on Pinterest

BOOM! chalkboard CONTACT PAPER!
so whaddaya think? any other chalky ideas you can throw at me?

link here:

bean bag surprise

okay—here it is. a not-so-secret secret amongst most moms (at least all the ones i know):

we HATE stuffed animals.
kids LOVE stuffed animals.

they are purposeless, dust-catching, they take up loads of space and there’s no good way to store them, and if your kids are like mine—they rarely (if ever) play with them—but scream and throw a fit if you try and get rid of them.

sometimes i swear these things breed in the night. they’re everywhere—multiplying like rabbits—even despite my best efforts to corral them, sneak them into the trash, and even enact a stuffed animal embargo in this house.

then i found this (sorry. insert photo of bean bagish thing filled with stuffed animals, which the site is no longer advertising. carry on)

brilliant.
a bean bag chair, minus the beans, plus the animals.
so, not technically a bean bag chair.
more a stuffed animal chair.

GENIUS!
thus was born: 

 

it’s fully lined, with a layer of stuffing in between so that even when the kiddos take out some stuffed animals to play with (riiight) it still has some cushioning.

and the bottom has a nice big zipper for easy access to all our fuzzy friends.



wanna make your own? here’s how i did it!
to make things easier to photograph, i made a miniature sized one. the principles are the same, just size it up for real life :)

i’m going to give you the basic outline of how i made this, but your exact measurements can vary, so your yardage etc. will also depend on how big you want your bean bag—and how many you want to make—maybe your kids are stuffed-animal-aholics who need like five or six of these babies. i don’t judge.

EDITED TO ADD: the lovely and talented Sherri of Thread Riding Hood has created a pattern for 2 different sized S.A.C.s, which you can get HERE on her site! let's all hear it for Sherri! head over for your free pattern, show Sherri some love, and then come on back here for instructions.



and

 
 

tricky, right?
on my final product there was about a three inch difference between the outside and inside pieces. just enough space to get a bit of stuffing in there.

now here’s the extra tricky bit. with five sides, our base has to be a pentagon.



what i failed to realize when coming up with this design is that apparently the pentagon is, like, pretty much the hardest shape to draw. ever.

(and you thought triangles were hard. amateur.)

i googled, i youtubed…i admitted defeat(before i even started) . anyone who’s a regular reader of my blog knows that I DON’T MATH. EVER. PERIOD.
so, if you’d like to be better than me: be my guest. get your compass, your ruler, and your extra large bottle of aspirin and head here for instructions on making a Perfect Pentagon. lemme know how that works for ya. i can tell you that the sum of your angles must be 540 degrees. how you get there is your business.

but i come from the land of Good Enough (which is across the river of Fudged from the country of Almost, But Not Quite Perfect), and this is how we Good Enoughians roll.

let’s face it: it’s a stuffed animal filled bag. does it really have to be mathematically perfect? methinks not.


straighten it out as best you can. channel your inner mathematician.
 




this is your pattern piece for the bottom.



now let’s put in the zipper!



 

now we turn our attention back to the body of the s.a.c.






we’re on the home stretch now!! it’s time to assemble everything.

BUT: somehow i skipped a lot of pictures of this part. sorry! trust me though—it’s not difficult.

first, line up your outside beanie (or beanie outside, whichever) with the bottom zipper piece—right sides together, matching seams to pentagon points.

sew that up.



now sew your lining to the bottom piece, right sides together. try to follow the same stitching line you made
sewing your outsides on to the bottom.

because i forgot to take a picture, i made you this handy drawing:
 
you’re making a hamburger:
top bun=outside
meat=zippered bottom piece
bottom bun=lining

now you have to reach through the hole in the lining, and pull the outside through. at that point the whole thing will now be inside out, so just unzip it and flip it right side out.

sew up the hole in your lining.

final steps:







i made two of these things.

one was big enough to fit all the stuffed animals. i counted 40. no joke.

the other got filled with all the dress up clothes:



these things are AMAZING.
seriously. i knew i would love them once i got around to making them.



but they’re almost worthy of the term “life-changing”.
i don’t completely detest stuffed animals anymore.
i may even let my kids get more.

nah.

but of course, the one the kids like the most?



the tiny one i made as a photo sample.
they all fought over it.

and i realized as i watched them, with just a touch of irony…
i just made them a great little toy to make them play with
all
    the
          stuffed
                   animals.

extreme home makeover: boy’s room edition (part III)

four.

four bags of trash, boxes, broken toys, miscellaneous flim-flam, unused items…

and he asked me when he came home “you didn’t throw anything away, did ya mom?”



“only trash, harrison. only trash.” :)

the room is clean. it’s neat and orderly.
our goals:
       * updated and modern, a little baseball-y for him--but neutral enough that we don't have to redo again in a couple of years.
      * a place for EVERYTHING, and everything in it's place--spots for toys, clothes, legos, books, papers and pens
      * a desk for him to work at and create at
      * fun touches to make him excited

and i'm pretty sure we accomplished our goals.
it’s a little bit vintage baseball…




the pillows made from fabric bought online…somewhere. i can’t remember. i just googled “vintage baseball fabric” and bought a few different types from a few different places. i have more, but this is the only one i used so far.



the grey/brown/navy duvet cover is from ikea. his bed we had (also from ikea). i have a big art project to do for over his wall…that’s coming.



we got rid of the dresser and did a high basket filled unit (from ikea). i still have to make a curtain for the front.

the pictures i bought here.



i think they’re really neat—and perfect for combining a boy’s desire for “BASEBALL ROOM” with a mom’s desire for something a bit more classic.

here’s a better look at one from my pinterest board:

Source: everythingbaseballcatalog.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and an organized toy chest (ikea)—that still has empty spots to be filled


the Pièce de résistance though?
his giant workbench/desk:



this was the googiedaddy’s workbench, languishing unused in the shed since he lost his home workshop.
we dug it out and set up on the front porch…



where it got a good cleaning, bolt tightening, sanding and staining with grey stain.

 

in the room it’s bordered by a new bookshelf on the left (ikea)

 

some shelves filled with books, some baskets for hiding the…treasures.

the red shelves above he had in his room before. but they were more RED!!!!, not rrrreeeddd. you know? so we hit them with some spray paint.



and an organization system from the home depot for his legos beneath that, reminiscent of the ones he loves reading about in his lego magazine...



the bins hang on a bracket that screws into the wall. 4 bins and the bracket were $7.99.

and we spent about 2 hours dividing the legos into color. and yes, i know it may never look like this again—but it makes this momma’s OCD heart happy.
of course, if any of my kids were going to keep it as organized as i have it now--it would be him. maybe there's hope?



the barstools were hand-me-downs from a friend. they got a coat of dark blue spray paint, a recovered seat and the legs cut down to fit his workbench. (we bought the little rubber feet at walmart—like $1.88/4)

and that’s it. i still have to do the window treatments (curtains are done, need blinds), and the wall art over his bed.

but for one whirlwind weekend, and not much money, we’re super happy with the results!

 

thanks for reading!

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