Playhouse Makeover

A little over three years ago (when I was pregnant with Carolyn) our neighbors across the street decided to get rid of their old playhouse, and gave it to us for FREE! My favorite word! Weeellllllll, there was a reason it was free, it was very much weather/sun beaten and needed some love. We had full intentions of fixing it up, but a certain little lady entered the world and we forgot all about it. Happily she doesn't mind what it looks like and has loved playing in it, but we decided we'd waited long enough, time for a playhouse makeover!

Mary Poppins Costume

You could buy a Mary Poppins costume, but where's the fun in that? I made Carolyn's adorable little costume for less than $20 and the best part is that most of it she can wear again.

Carolyn's Garden

I love tending to my garden, and so does Carolyn! I think this is so sweet, until she digs up my freshly sown seeds or starts picking under ripe fruit. It's just so adorable the way she wants to do everything that I'm doing and I hated having to exclude her from helping me in the garden. Then it hit me, why not give her her own very distinct garden space, a nice little toddler garden area! On our next trip to the hardware store the plan was hatched.

Simple Garden Sprout Tubes

Want an easy & cheap way to plant seeds and then transfer your little sprouts to the garden bed? Look no further!  I'm experimenting with these easy to make little sprout tubes; made from, get this, toilet paper tubes!

Making the Swing

We decided the old tire swing was too tiresome to hold onto.  Literally, it was exhausting trying to swing on it.  That's why we took it down and in it's place built a nice traditional swing!

How to Build an "L" Shaped Raised Garden Bed

With our huge backyard we had plenty of room to build our garden area.  We decided to build four "L" shaped raise garden beds, with future plans for a circular flower bed in the center.

How to Make a Paper Leaf Banner

One of the first decorations for the party that Ben and I made for the Lion King Baby Shower was this leaf banner.  It was super easy to do and was fun to have a a custom sign.

How to Make Crepe Paper Jungle Vines

For the Lion King Baby Shower I decided to lean more towards the Hakuna Matata part of the movie and go jungle = Jungle Vines were needed!  These would be great for other jungle themed parties such as Tarzan, explorer, etc.

How to Make a Faux Tiki Roof

When the idea came up that I would be throwing a Lion King Baby Shower the first thing that popped into Ben's head was that we needed a faux tiki roof!  I told him, great idea, get on that!  And so he did, my amazing crafty husband whipped up a roof that rocked!

How to Install A Mailbox

Say hello to our new Mailhouse!  Yes that's right, not mailbox, mailhouse!  We learned all about the proper way to install a mailbox and now we want to share it with you.

How to Build A Composting Bin from Pallets

This weekend Ben and I built a composting bin for our future garden from recycled pallets.  It was important for us to build this first, as it can take several months for the compost to be ready to use and we are still working out the details for our garden beds.

Lucy's New Door / How to Install A Wall Dog Door

That's right, Lucy now has her own personal door!  And I'm going to give you a little how-to on installing said dog door.

Cleaning Grout

We move into our new house in just one short week.  That means I've got lots of projects to crunch out first.   Yesterday was clean the grout day!  Okay, so I started on the grout, but there is NO WAY I finished it all yesterday, the house is more than 50% tile floors people!

Make Your Own Backyard Sail Boat Race

Want a fun water activity for the kids and doesn't require bathing suits?  This is it!  We created this little activity for my cousin's three boys to play with on Easter because we knew it would help them get out some energy without getting dirty!

We nicknamed it the Rain-gutter Regatta!

How to Sew a Slipcover for a Popazon Chair

In preparation for having family over for Easter we had some spring cleaning to do.  The problem here is that some items are difficult to "clean."  This popazon cushion has seen better days, and sadly there was no way it would fit in my washing machine.  Therefore I decided a simple solution would be to make a slipcover for it!

Egg Tablecloth Weights

Nobody likes a tablecloth that blows away.  So I thought I show you how I kept my table cloths from blowing away this Easter.  It was super easy and theme appropriate; I used plastic Easter eggs!

Archery Lessons with Ben

Did you know that Ben was once certified by the California Archery Association as a Yeoman and he was also an ACA archery instructor?  Totally awesome, I know!!!
For Ben's 30th birthday he received a bow and set of arrows.  We first went to the roving archery range at the Pasadena Rose Bowl and on Ben's very first shot he hit a bull's-eye! We had a great afternoon shooting with his dad, but alas Pasadena is a bit too far to go shoot arrows on a daily basis.  Ben remedied this by purchasing some hay bales and setting them up on the side yard, now he enjoys shooting every morning before work.

How to Replace a 1999 Camry (or similar) Blinker Cover

Boo-boos happen.  Ben's 1999 Camry had a boo-boo this year.  It bumped into the parking garage post at the apartment and shattered the blinker light.  We finally decided that we were not going to pay someone to fix it for us, but that we would fix it ourselves.  And you know what?  It was super easy to do!  Ben is going to share with you how we fixed it:

Christmas Tree Cheating

You may not believe this, but our tree only cost $20.  Yup that's right!  Check out how we made a small tree look a lot larger!

Easy Peasy $4 Fall Wreath

I just finished making this totally cheap and easy wreath!  Supplies came from my local Dollar Tree.  FYI this is NOT a sponsored post, I happen to shop there a lot...

All you need is one wooden wreath and three fall leaf garlands.  Now these garlands would look pretty sad if you used them by themselves, so it is a good thing we're tripling them up here!