FREE Kids Workshop at Home Depot: Crate Toolbox (Jan 7th)

Help kids get in to the home improvement by letting them build their own Crate Tool Box for FREE at Home Depot on January 7th. They can build it and then paint it! How fun is this! Don'tr be surprised if they want to go shop for some tools to fill it with afterwards.

SIGN UP HERE!

Homemade Christmas Gifts

This holiday season our family has received so many awesome homemade gifts from friends and family and I wanted to share with you the hard work others have done. Maybe these ideas will help give you some ideas of your own for gifts that you want to make in the future.

This is my son with his Stegasaurus backpack and hat that my parents gave him.

This is my wooden door mat that my parents made for me.

This is my daughter with the quiver my parents made for her. Her arrows are all at home and weren't available for this picture, but she is anxious to use this with them when she goes to Archery practice.

Some yummy ice cream toppings that my parents made (well, probably just my mom.)

This is some homemade lavender-mint fabric softener that a friend made. I have already been using it so the cute tied on label is gone, plus 1/4 of the fabric softener is gone.

My MIL made me this present, which will go to the cabin with us. It is a table runner (folded in half in this picture), a button on towel, napkins, and potholders.

My parents made this wooden slide-in sofa side table for my husband. He actually has one they made him a couple years ago but we use it so often (usually the kids have confiscated it) that he really wanted to have a second one.

My MIL made this beautiful dress for my daughter and a matching one for her American Girl doll. 

My daughter made me this bracelet.

My son made these bird feeders for his grandparents.

What is missing from these pictures of homemade gifts we received are:

* Winter Survival Kit (we have already taken this apart to use, it had in it Kleenex, Airborne, Ricola cough drops, lip balm, hot cocoa, and tea) - from my parents

* Homemade Candies - caramels and peanut clusters made and given by a friend in book club

* Homemade Playdough with a cookie cutter- for my son from his preschool teacher

* Handpainted Snowman Jar filled with a tealight and candies made by my son while at preschool

* Elf/SantaCandy Jars filled with Hersey kisses and a little felt hat on top and black belt for the kids from my parents

* Hand painted picture of our cabin from one of my friends (this is still in process, I was just given a picture of the work in progress so I haven't actually received it)

Plus, I wouldn't want to forget about the gifts of time a couple of friends have given me. One friend treated me to a pedicure at a local spa and another friend took to to a dinner at a winery with thieving from the barrel. 

Gosh, I hope I didn't forget any homemade gifts. They are all wonderful and I really appreciate the time people have spent making those gifts and thinking of us. 

We also received lots of other wonderful gifts that we are extremely thankful to have received and feel very blessed to be gifted with. We are very fortunate.

Fix-It Friday: Updating Paint/Stain on Planters

 I finally got sick of looking at this fading wishing well (which my parents made us for our wedding as the cardholder - instead of the pot there was a cardboard slot to place cards in - that would serve as a planter afterwards), I decided it was time to apply a new coat of stain to that the color would liven up this flower bed (now to pull all the weeds from it so that it looks nicer.) It really becomes a focal point and it much prettier to look at with a new coat of exterior stain. It's easy enough to do, I just needed to notice it needed attention.

 I wish I would have thought about this blog post before I took these planter boxes down. These were something my parents made me as a gift (birthday, maybe? I can't remember). I had given them a new coat of exterior black paint a few years ago, but now they not only needed new paint but also to be put back together.

They used nails to assemble them and after many years (we're talking around 10 years now) the wood was pulling off from the nails. All I did was remove the entire planter boxes, hammered them back in to place and secured them with a couple screws on each of the side of the back & front.

If you are trying to figure out how they made the planter box, they made an insert with 3 circles cutouts for 4" pots. We did this so that we wouldn't have a rotting wooden planter box, although over the years I realized with such small pots, that they needed to be water every other day and I would often forget which would leave the plants to dry out & die. So, I put artificial flowers in here because I do want that pop of color but I don't want the maintenance.

So, here you can see the planter boxes put back in to place over one of our flower beds.

FREE Tree at Lowes on Saturday, 4/23, PLUS Build & Grow

Lowes will be giving away one million trees during Earth Week on Saturday, April 23rd. So, stop in to your area store and pick one up to plant.

Also, that same day, Lowes is hosting a Build & Grow Clinic for kids. That day they will be building a birdhouse. Sign your kids up here.

#185 Make a Wooden Raised Garden Bed

I was planning on saving this project for Earth Week when I plan to do a new project or test out a natural cleaning method each day of the week, but my husband really wanted to thatch and I really wanted all those clipping starting out as a base layer in my new raised bed.

This project was super easy for me because all I had to do was help hold the wood in place while he hammered. But it's not a difficult project. I had seen a post on making a $10 raised 4'x4'x8" garden bed and thought that price sounded perfect. And even better price was FREE when my husband told me he could make me a 4'x4'x10" with untreated lumber that we had in our garage not being used.

We are planning on making two more of these and the price of the untreated lumber in 10" was increased to $15 per bed. So, in the end I will have 3 new raised beds that are taller for the same price as three of the 8" beds because we used what we had available.

The only supplies you really need is untreated lumber that you will cut in 4' lengths and galvanized nails (these won't rust.) Make sure you buy untreated lumber because you don't want anything that is in treated lumber to leech in to your plants & food. The article that inspired me to make these garden beds ourselves out of wood claims that her beds out of untreated lumber lasted 15 years.

After we finished assembling the pieces, he placed cardboard on the bottom to prevent grasses from growing through and eventually the cardboard will compost. The next layer we placed in here was brown grass and leaves that my husband thatched from the lawn. My preferred method of gardening is called Lasagna Gardening, so we will continue to add more layers including straw, peat, compost, etc.

#173 Make Puzzle Blocks For Your Child

I mentioned these puzzle blocks in an earlier post. I used the same wood and cut out 9 matching squares, which we lightly sanded. Then using pictures from out of the "The Foot Book" (which a favorite in our house) which I picked up at a local thrift store, I made 6 different puzzles.

I placed all the blocks together then used spray adhesive on the top. I let it set for a couple seconds to get sticky and then pressed on the picture. Then I used an exacto-knife to trim off the edges of the picture and cut the blocks apart. And I repeated this method 5 more time to complete all 6 sides. Finally, I used some spray lacquer on all six sides to seal in the paper.

In the picture you see a representation of all the pictures used. The puzzle is a little advanced for my son at this point, but he will grow into it. Initially, he might just use it as blocks to make towers with and knock over.

#147 Homemade Instruments

Well, these were super simple and quick to make. I took a leftover piece of 2x4 from the xylophone project and cut it into 2 pieces that would be small enough for my daughter to put her hands around. I then stapled the sandpaper down on all four sides and wrapped the edges in duct tape so it wouldn't peel up. She was so excited to have sandpaper blocks since she has never had these before and they have some at preschool to play.

The other instrument we made were maracas using empty spice containers. My daughter wanted each one to have a different sound, so one has a few nails in it and then the other had some rocks. My son was able to some shaking and liked them. I wrapped duct tape around the top to make it harder for little hands to get it open.

#146 Create a Backyard Xylophone

So, here is the finished product. My daughter loves it and hopefully it will be her hours of entertainment. I need to work on some sandpaper blocks & some maracas so that she can have some other outdoor instruments and can have a backyard concert playdate with some friends.

So, here is the Instructables instructions that were the inspiration, but I have to admit that other than glancing at the picture, my husband decided to come up with his own plans.

First, his plans included making it not so wide (their smallest was 22") and made the smallest cut at 12". Then he made the cuts 2 inches larger for each one and made 9 cuts in all. By starting smaller, he was able to use only two 2"x4"x8' boards.

Next came sanding away the sharp edges left from cutting.

Then he stapled rope (he wanted to make sure it was secure so he put 3 staples on each rope segment). He used the leftover rod piece (which was about an inch in diameter) to place between the 2x4's to make sure the space was the same for each. The leftover rod piece was from making the mallet, which I will tell you about soon.

He decided to attach one piece of string to the boards, going up one side, then across & down the other side so that the xylophone was one piece. Then he attached 2 hooks at the top of the top board and 2 at the bottom of the bottom board. He then ran rope through each one so that they could be tightened or loosened independently.

The next step is to step up the anchors use to suspend the xylophone. He screwed a heavy duty hook in the tree at the height we thought would be appropriate for our daughter. And in the ground we inserted an anchor for a dog tie-out. Then he took the rope from the top & bottom attached it to the hook & anchor and tightened the rope to create the tension desired.

You can see a picture of the matter in the top pictures. The mallet is simply a flag pole that we cut down, then drilled a hole through towards the end and inserted some rope so that it could be hung from the hook in the tree when not in use.

Everything we used here were things we had laying around, so we didn't need to spend any money and made her this fun outdoor toy, which will help encourage even more outdoor play & music exploration. Although, the instruction says it would cost about $10 if you made it with their supplies.

Stay tuned for our homemade maracas & sandpaper blocks using stuff we will upcycle and have laying around our home.