Upcycled Crayons

Upcycled Crayons. Perfect for little hands.

I went through Brooklyn's crayons and pulled out all the broken ones as well as all the restaurant crayons from Red Robin, Olive Garden, etc.

I peeled them and broke them into smaller pieces and separated them into color groups in old muffin tins. Then I baked them in the oven at 300 degrees in 5 minute increments until they were nice and melted. After they cooled a little I put them in the freezer to help them to pop out of the tins.

I forgot about them and after several hours they all looked like this! Oops!

I popped them back into the oven and remelted them. 

Apparently you can't freeze them for more than a few minutes if you want them in one piece. Who knew? Well, we all do now;)

Happiness.

Caramel Macchiato. Mmmmmm!

I love that the color is lighter on the top and darker on the bottom. 

It gives a sweet two tone look.

I can't wait to get these into my sons little hands!

I am linking up with some of these amazing blogs. :)

The Bold and the Beautiful-your blog reviewed

I am so excited to be part of a very unique blog hop. Gail @My Repurposed Life and MeganDVD @ Beauty in the Attempt are hosting “The Bold and the Beautiful-your blog reviewed”.




Please take a look around my blog, check out the layout, pages, buttons, sidebar and gadgets. I would love for you to gently critique my blog. I’m hoping you will leave me some positive feedback about my blog. It would be great if you could give me constructive criticism but be sure to tell me what you like about my blog too! Do you like my pictures? Does my blog load quickly for you? How about the font? All tips and tidbits welcome!


You are welcome to join the party, it starts Thursday night and is open for a week.



P.S. I am freaking out a little bit, but really would love to improve my blog for my readers. Thank you for your input!

Get Organized with A Bowl Full of Lemons

Toni from A Bowl Full of Lemons is going to help make me the most organized person ever! I crave organization but have a hard time getting/staying there on my own. If that's you too, go check out her new weekly challenge and link up.

Challenge #9-Toy Organization

I have been loving all the organization challenges and am trying to get caught up.

Here is how I have my sons toys organized right now:

He loves to stand at the shelf and play with the toys and move them around.

I forgot to take a before picture because this was done over a couple days while painting. Just picture a bucket overflowing with toys that made it impossible for him to find the toy he wanted. Better late than never, no?



Pots and Pins

Over the weekend I went to a couple thrift stores looking for shoes for Travis. He goes through a size in just a couple of weeks and I hate spending 15 dollars on a single pair of shoes for him. I ended up getting him 5 pairs of shoes for 15 dollars at a baby thrift store, and all of them were in such great shape.

I went to a new thrift store in town and found 6 brand new recycled plastic pots for .50 a piece and 2 boxes of sewing pins for .98!

I have been wanting to make a felt rosette wreath and all I needed was some of these, so I was super happy to get 900 of them for less than a dollar!

Oh yeah!

(Said like Vector from Despicable Me)

These I bought to use either for a potted herb garden or for the lemon tree seeds that I have drying out in my kitchen right now. $3.00 for 6 of them! BOOM!

Painting Wood Paneling

I have been dying to do something with this room

since we first moved in. 

See all that dark wood paneling?

See the dark carpet?

See the dark furniture?

Yep. DARK. The room is a cave.

It is also messy;)

 There is a window, but it doesn't get any direct sunlight. See? Cave.

This giant stone fireplace area doesn't help either;)

Home Depot had a paint sale last weekend; 50% off Glidden paint.I went and picked up 2 gallons of paint and 1 gallon of primer.

Before we painted there was some prep that had to be done. I am not a fan of prep work,

but my daddy always says:

"If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right!"

Grrrr! Stupid Daddy's Girl.

Step 1: Sweep walls to get off all the dust.

Step 2: Scrub the walls with TSP(our bucket was black when we were done...EEEEW!)

Step 3: Sand. We sanded just enough to rough up the surface.

Step 4: Wipe down walls with a damp cloth to remove the sanding residue.

Step 5: Prime.

When you prime wood paneling you will spend what feels like half of your life painting inside the cracks. Blah! My hand is cramping up in terror just thinking about it.

Make sure that you use the tip of your brush to get primer into all the knots in the wood.

Then roll a nice thick coat on the rest of the wall surface to help your paint stick.

Step 6: PAINT!

This is my favorite part:)

I love cracking open a new can of paint!

The color is Fresh Pineapple from Glidden

Isn't it just so sunny and happy?

This is me after 7 solid hours of prep and painting.

At this point I had not even finished 1 full coat of the paint, but it was 3 A.M. and I had to get some sleep.

The next night I started at 8 and finished painting by 3A.M.

I put in over 14 hours of labor doing this and my husband put in about 6, so that's over 20 hours on this one room and we are not even done! I still have all the door and window trim to paint and Jon is going to put in new baseboards and add some crown molding(which I will then have to paint).

I did 3 coats of paint to ensure good coverage. 

Here is a picture of the room right after I pushed all the furniture back against the walls.

I will take a better photo once the trim is painted.

I am linking up with some of these fun-tastic blogs:)

{Day 13} Medicine Cabinet

Okay, so I am way behind on the challenge and am catching up during nap times;) I am also doing them out of order, which if you know me at all, drives me crazy!!! *Deep breath*

Here is my 3 part medicine cabinet before:

#1

#2

#3

 I took everything out, tossed what needed to go and separated the rest into categories: body, face, hair. Then I wiped off the shelves and put everything back.

#1

Hair products and perfume.

#2

Face stuff and deodorant. 

The glass jars that hold my makeup brushes are upcycled candle jars.

#3

Husbands stuff.

I was so happy to get this done! 

It felt so good that I did the bathroom drawers,

as well as the storage closet in the bathroom.

Project 365

This year I decided to do Project 365.

~A photo(or more)a day for a whole year~

My kids are growing up so fast and life seems to soar by at an alarming rate. I want to remember what life is like right now and who my kids are at each stage of their lives.

I started another blog so that I wouldn't take over this one with my daily photos:)

Increasingly Domestic {Project 365}

15 days so far and I am loving how it helps me remember to document my day. I am hoping that this helps me improve my photography skills as well!

How to fold a fitted sheet

I hate folding fitted sheets.

They make me so mad and I usually end up with them rolled and smashed as flat as I can get them in between the flat sheet and the pillow case to hide the ugliness.

My friend Anna at Ask Anna wrote a tutorial on
how to fold these darn things a fitted sheet.

Oh my gosh! Awesome.

If you are like me and need some help with this, go check it out.

While you are there, take a look around because she has some great cleaning and organizing tips and has so much more to share.

{Day 5} Under the sink

Here is the Before:

So cluttered and dirty!

I took everything out, wiped out the cupboard, 

and sorted the cleaners that needed to stay.

 Here is the After:

I found a bin to put all my cleaners in to keep them corralled, placed all plastic bags into one bag(I plan to make a bag holder soon), and stacked the paper bags next to that.

Doesn't look like much of a difference, but it feels so good!

{Day 3} Tupperware Cupboard

I am behind on this challenge, but I had a sick baby for 5 days which threw off my cleaning groove. I am doing my best to catch up;)

I decided to switch my Tupperware cabinet with another one, 

so I ended up doing two cabinets!

Plastics BEFORE:

This is the cabinet that held my Tupperware.

Glass BEFORE:

This one had my corning ware and mixing bowls.

I decided to switch them.

I pulled everything out of both cupboards, wiped them out, sorted all the pieces and 

tossed all the pieces that had no buddy.

I corralled all the lids into black baskets that I picked up at the Dollar Tree. 

Not the best quality baskets, but they do the trick;)

Glass AFTER:

Now I just need to put the childproof latch on this door 

to keep all my glass safe and organized.

Plastic AFTER:

This one will not stay organized.

You can see that I could not even take an after photo without the boy 

being all up in there pulling stuff out. ;)

This is my life and I love it.