Easter Egg Dyed Clothes Pins

Have you noticed how everyone is doing things with clothes pins? It's like the clothes pin has made a comeback. People are Mod Podging them, Washi taping them, sticking magnets to them for the fridge, hanging bunting by them, and the list goes on and on. Honestly, I'm pretty psyched about it. I love things that clip. I have big plans to Washi tape some clothes pins and then put magnets on the back of them to use for clipping things to the fridge.

For now, though, I ran across this fun way to dye them with Easter egg dye (I think I've also seen Rit dye versions.) After Mr. S, E and I dyed Easter eggs, I plopped two clothes pins in each cup of dye. I don't have a purpose for the clothes pins yet, so I kept the quantity low.

I left them sit for a long time. I wasn't paying much attention, but probably a whole naptime-- 2 hours. Surprisingly, they turned out great. The colors are super vibrant, unlike the eggs that were dyed in that same dye. And now, I have a cupful of colorful clothes pins! I'm glad that I bought one extra box of egg dye just in case it worked out and I wanted to do more later.

Gardening, Yay!

It's my favorite time of year. Time to start thinking about all the fun things I'll plant in my garden. I went to Meijer earlier in the week and saw that they have all of their plant stands set up out front and even had some of the early plants out already. It was exhilarating just to see!

I have a 5x5 square foot garden. (One day soon, I'll share how I built it.) That's 25 squares to plant in. My garden has been in various states of goodness over the past few years. With being 100 months pregnant and then having a baby in July of 2011, it was pretty crappy that year. Last year, I had good intentions but... eh. It didn't happen.

I'm excited to have an excellent garden again this year. I'm especially excited because E can help. Maybe not help "good", but help nonetheless. And, he can eat my goods.

I've learned quite a few things over the years. The top 10...

1.) I can grow sugar snap peas like a pro. I hate sugar snap peas.
2.) Tomatoes take up a lot of room. Consider using more than one square per tomato plant. Also, build cool tomato teepees.
3.) Cucumbers may be AWESOME or TERRIBLE depending on the cucumber beetles. Consider some sort of trellis structure to grow them on too.
4.) Green bell peppers are only "eh" so grow something more interesting.
5.) Jalapenos may take a while to come in, but once they do, I'll have a ton.
6.) No bean has ever tasted as wonderful as a green bean fresh from the garden.
7.) I'm great at growing herbs in the garden. Not so much in individual pots.
8.) I desperately want to grow strawberries. My neighborhood squirrels desperately want to eat my strawberries.
9.)  Broccoli from the garden is delish, but I must start it early. Heat will destroy it.
10.) Marigolds for bugs. Tums for rotting on the vine tomatoes. Chili powder for squirrels (sorta).

So, here's the 100% for sure plan. All the empty spaces are up for grabs, except for maybe around the tomatoes.

A Spring Wreath

I think E and I are finished dying. The doc said I had a virus. I think it was more like the flu. I've never had a virus knock me off my feet like that and for 5 full days. Anywho... 

Before the sickness, I made a spring wreath. My inspiration came from this one that I pinned. (The pin goes to a site that's not in English.)

It took me forever to take the plunge on this one. That fake fur stuff is pricey and it seemed like it would take a lot. When I saw it on sale at JoAnn's, I knew it was time. I got two balls of it for $2.99 each. Still not cheap, but better than full price which is double that. I used an 8 inch green foam wreath. The green wreath helps hide any spaces in the fur. The spool of flower "ribbon" was quite pricey, but I didn't use much of it so it'll be good for many future projects. Overall, this wasn't a cheap project, but I love it so much. So, here ya go...

It's bright, springy, happy. It makes me smile every time I pull in the driveway. Also, I got to use the fun trick of using a Command hook on the top inside of the door to hang it. I'll never go back to those dumb wreath hangers! 

Twine Wrapped Vase

Wow. It's been a crazy week. E and I have both been extremely under the weather. I've been out of work for three full days and two half days in the past 6 work days. Not good.

Last weekend, before we were all on our death beds, I got into some crafts. Mr. S got me a huge vase of lilies for our anniversary. They were beautiful but I was left with yet another plain vase to deal with. I have been seeing tons of twine wrapped things, including some vases that were mega pricey.

So... free vase + a $10 ball of chunky twine that I only used half of + some yarn that I already had + a lot of hot glue...

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I think I like it.

Gifts for Kidz

Both of these are things I've already written about. However, I've honed my crafting skills a bit and these are both better than the previous versions.

I made these for my friend's 5 and 4 year old.

A tutu for Maddie:

This one is an improvement on the one I made for my niece because it has an elastic waist. 

And a robot crayon roll for Cameron: 

This is an improvement just because I can sew a little better. Plus, I actually measured this one so it holds an 8-pack of crayons. These crayons, by the way, are not the ones I gave Cameron. These are just a terrible baby-chewed collection that I was able to find around the house.

Bird Feeders

I had a busy crafty weekend. I have lots of fun things to share. Up first are these bird feeders that I 100% copy-catted from eighteen25. I even loved their stars so much that I made stars too.

The recipe was easy peasy-- bird seed and gelatin.

The mixture was crazy-sticky so you should take that into consideration if you're making these with kids. There's no way I would've let 19 month old E put his hands on this.

The recipe, which is for one envelope of gelatin and 3/4 cup bird seed, only made three stars.

I hung one on the very dead bush right outside the front door. E and Laika like to sit at the front door and watch traffic, birds, squirrels and people/dogs walking by. So, I hoped this might help attract some extra wildlife. It almost blends in. I'm not sure the birds know it's there.

The other two are in a tree just outside the dining room window, where E sits for meals.

Or should I say, the other two were in that tree. See that gray sky? It turned into rain the next day and these two washed out of the tree. The one in the front is still hanging around... possibly because it's actually not hanging, but more like laying in the branches. I have yet to see any birds. I'll make some more once the rainy season is over.

IKEA Spice Rack Shelf

Have you seen these on Pinterest? It seems like a lot of people use them as kid book shelves. That was my original plan when I bought four of them. However, before they got mounted in E's room, I decided that I needed some in my office. They're perfect for all my little crafty things.

The big plastic container is some kind of sewing container. Or, at least that's where I found it-- with the sewing stuff. The three Erlenmeyer flasks were a donation from a science teacher friend, and the jar full of washi tape was originally a jar of dried chipped beef.