Guest Room Bedside Table

Aside from an occasional overnight visit from one of my siblings or my husband’s folks, our guest room is mainly used by my mom and dad when they visit.  In fact, after my grandmother passed away, my dad grabbed up his favorite bed and mattress from her home and brought it to me so he would always have a good place to sleep when he stayed with me.  Well that was many years, a marriage, and several houses ago.  And I’ve recently moved the bedframe and side tables to our master bedroom.  Dad’s favorite mattress now sits on a metal frame and didn’t have any side tables… until now.


I found a bed tray/side table online that I really liked.  The top tray can be taken off and moved around.  It’s great for eating in bed.

~ I know because I got another one for my bedroom and 

hubby has used it to bring me breakfast in bed.  *big grin* ~

I added a basket with extra soaps, lotion, and other toiletries in case my guests forget something.  My mom, of course, is much more impressed by this than my dad.  LOL!  My dad is one who wrinkles his nose funny at fancy scented soaps.



On the other hand, Dad is the one who gets up to drink water during the night.  With this graceful decanter and tumbler set, he can now reach his water from the bed.  No more getting up and finding his way to the kitchen.



This bedside birdie is my little chipper chirper.  It sits by a nest of sweet little egg-shaped soaps in a dish.




But it ties in nicely with the bird theme on the pillow shams and blanket.



Do you like to provide a little extra touch when your guests come to visit?

Rebecca

Merry Christmas!!!

Well I had certainly intended to share so much more with you this December.  Holiday traditions, decorations, and gift ideas, for example.  But, alas, this blog is an outlet just for me. My family come first.  So I spent the season very busy with the kids, family, and a little crafting.

I also found some time to do a little shopping at an antique store.  That’s where I found this beauty!  Merry Christmas to me from my mom and daddy.  :)
    

I decorated her for Christmas as soon as she got in the door.   I used ornament balls from the dollar store and the thrift store under the cake dome.  The doily underneath was made by my late Aunt Martha.   The tiny crochet stitches are so intricate and beautiful.

The Christmas dishes I inherited from my sister when she no longer wanted them.  Yes, there is a salad plate missing.


And some tatted and crocheted snowflake ornaments.  My mother is an avid tatter and made me a bunch of these.  I did the round crocheted ones.



I love having another area to decorate for the holidays, but my favorite part of the bakers rack is the chicken wire mesh doors.  Perfect place to store my home canned goods.



I wish all of you a very blessed Christmas.  I pray the peace of the Christ child will fill you and your families in the coming year.

Rebecca

Christmas Stockings and Family Traditions

Every year on December 6th my family celebrates a tradition passed down through our German heritage.  We hang our stockings on the fireplace and St. Nick comes to fill them with fruits, nuts, candy, and small trinkets.  The original tradition has children place a boot or shoe outside their door, but in America we seem to have combined it with the Christmas tradition of a stocking on the mantel.

~ These are all stockings I’ve made over the years. ~

The first one I made for my husband before we were married.  He loves hiking and the outdoors so of course he got a hiking boot stocking.


For mine I took my love of quilting and made a crazy quilt stocking.  I also added bells to mine to make sure no one would snitch my chocolate!!  heh heh..


When my son was born I wanted to make him a cowboy boot stocking.  I didn’t have a pattern and was a bit discouraged about making my own until my Nov/Dec 2006 edition of Country Woman magazine came and, Voila!  There on page 16 was the perfect pattern.  And just in time.  Here’s my version.


I took my love of all things Victorian and turned some of my favorite fabrics into a Victorian boot for sister #1.  I love this one so much I almost made another for myself.


And just in time for Saint Nick to come today, I finished the stocking for my 9 month old.  It’s her first Christmas so I had to come up with another “boot” idea and find/make a pattern.  She got a pretty ice skate stocking with hand embroidery and  snowflakes.


This year, I also told my kids that this is when St. Nick comes to make sure they are being good and to pick up their Christmas wish list letters.  You wouldn’t believe how good my 4 year old is being on account of Santa watching.  :o)

Why December 6th you ask?  It’s the feast day of Saint Nicholas, the true Santa Claus.
I can’t wait to see what he brings us!
Rebecca


Celebrating at the following parties:
Tools are for Women Too!
Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party
DIY Showoff Project Parade
Making the World Cuter Mondays
The Girl Creative
Between Naps on the Porch Met Monday

Fall Mantel Decor

I finally got my mantel decorated today.  I LOVE it!! (And so do my little ones, which could mean trouble!!)
I didn’t have a chance to buy anything new this year, because I refuse to spend the time I need to bargain shop when I have the kiddos with me.  Their patience doesn’t last nearly as long as mine for such things.  These are the same pieces I’ve been using for years, but I completely rearranged how I usually decorate with them so it feels new to me.  I also shopped the house and added a few pieces like my pickle crock and my old watering can.


 












I also pulled out my cake dome for a cloche and scattered nuts around my candles on a serving platter.



 


























I can already hear the many times I will have to tell the kids not to take the nuts and leave them all over the house.







Their favorite is, of course, the scarecrow.  He gets a special place up high.  My son is convinced the house is now safe from birds.  Little does he realize that he and his sister have probably already scared all the birds away for MILES!   :o)



There are still a number of things at lower levels.  Let’s see if my two year old will listen when I tell her not to touch.  I hope I get to leave this up for longer than it takes me to get the pictures.

How do you decorate when you have little ones in the house?

Rebecca

Out par-TAY-ing at:

Birthday Castle

It’s been a while since I last posted.  I’ve been working on an appliqué quilt for my nephew, but I don’t have any pics to show you.  My sister is only giving me pieces of it at a time to work on.  We’ll put them all together later.

   
But we did have a double birthday here recently and I wanted to show you the fun cake I did.  My son turned 4 and my daughter turned 2.  Their birthday’s are one day apart and we have been celebrating them together… at least until they’re old enough to want their own day and theme.  Last year I did a train cake from Wilton’s puzzle cupcake forms.





This year I thought surely I’d have to do two different cakes.  Something pink and girly for my daughter and ??? for my son.  So when my son came to me with a book about a farmer who had a birthday and told me he wanted a PINK cake just like the farmer, I figured I’d lucked out.  :)

Here’s his their pink cake that he and his 2 year old sister love!



I’m not the greatest cake decorator.  I’m certainly not a professional, but I love that I can create something myself and give from my heart.  Happy Birthday to my little ones!

Rebecca

Pears, Pears, Pears!!

The other day, my sister came to help me out with the kids so I could spend the day processing and canning the pears from our pear tree.

It’s a variety of Asian pear that is similar to a Bartlett, but juicier and ripens earlier in the season.  With all the rain we had this past winter and spring, we are enjoying a bumper crop from all of our fruit trees.  So I was happy to have some time for putting away the pears to enjoy throughout the year and to share with others.



As a child I helped my mom process the apples from the big apple tree, so doing the pears was very similar.  I cut some into halves or quarters and canned them in a light sugar syrup. 



Then I made a big batch of pear sauce (just like apple sauce).   I saved some sauce to feed my little ones, but the rest I made into pear butter and pear leather.


I love to eat the pear butter on toast in the morning.


Pear leather is just like the fruit roll ups you buy at the store, only this is organic with no sugar added.


To make it, I flavored some of the pear sauce with cinnamon and cloves and spread it into a tray on my dehydrator.  A few hours later and I have a great snack that’s easy to take on the go or pack in lunches.




This dehydrator was a wedding gift and I don’t use it enough.  I love it!  And I love to share homegrown foods with my family and friends.
 




Fun fact: Pears are best when they are picked a little green and allowed to ripen indoors in a cool dry place.  This gives them a less gritty texture.

Blessings,
Rebecca

join me:

The Greatest Before and After!!

I’m so excited to share with all my blogland friends one of my greatest before and afters.  Okay, this is a total cheat on the subject because it has nothing to do with DIY home improvements like most of the rest of my blogs. 

In truth, however, I do believe it will improve our home.  And it is somewhat of a DIY (although not possible without the hand and grace of God).   So by some stretch of the imagination, I think it still fits.  :)

The Before…

~At 38 1/2 weeks pregnant~

The After…




We brought our new baby home this week.  We are both doing well and appreciate all the love and prayers we have received. 


This little one was so excited to see the world that she tried to come out before we made it to the hospital.  The ER staff was great and rushed me into a delivery room just minutes before she “popped” out.   Big brother and big sister are both happy and curious about this beautiful new life.  She’s such a blessing!

P.S. Thank you for sharing this joy with us.  For more “home” related before and afters, see my other posts.

Rebecca

I'm Linking to..

The Sweetest Man…

For Valentine’s Day, I want to spotlight the most wonderful man I’ve ever met.  And I am so blessed to call him my Husband!  He does some of the sweetest things.  Just the other day he told me how proud he is of me.  ~ Talk about a feel good moment! ~   He said he is so happy that I've started this blog and have a way to express my creative side.  He told me he's proud that I chose an endeavor that can be helpful and inspiring to others as well. What a sweet man!!!
 

Then today, he showed how incredibly supportive he really can be... and not just with words.  He spotted, stopped, and picked-up a piece of furniture someone had put out with their garbage on the side of the road.  He thought maybe I'd want it for one of my projects!  Is he great or what?!?



It looks like the bottom of an old chair.  There is some breakage and patching, but nothing I can't work around.  It's solid and heavy.

I'm thinking plant stand... Or little stool...or ???

What would you do with it?

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Rebecca

Fixing the Velcro/Aplix on your cloth diapers for good!!

With my third child due very soon, Baby has been on the brain.  I decided to share my cheap and easy remake of my cloth diapers that got worn out after about a year of use with my two older kiddos.

I have about 33 bumGenius™ 3.0 one-size pocket diapers that were supposed to last me forever.   Ha!!
Did you know that hook and loop tape wears out with use and many, many, MANY washings?  Well, now I do too.  And the thought of spending hundreds of dollars right now on a new set makes my pregnancy heartburn and nausea come back.  (I hesitated for two seconds about whether or not to buy some really cheap ones from China. Uh, no!)  So when I saw other companies and WAHMs making their diapers with snaps, I thought DUH!


Here are all the supplies I need.

1. old diaps with worn out hook/loop tape

2. seam ripper

3. snap pliers (or press) for plastic snaps

4. plastic snaps

I also used these to make things easier, but could have done without.

5. awl (came with my snap pliers)

6. ruler

This is so easy you won’t believe it.

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     Note:  If you don’t have a snap press or snap pliers specifically for plastic snaps you will need to order one online.  The ones at local JoAnn-type stores don’t work on plastic snaps.  I got my pliers from Kamsnaps.com with 200 snaps for about $35.  I don’t recommend paying over $100 for the snap press unless you plan to use it a lot.

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First use your seam ripper to take off the wide strip of loop tape across the top of diaper and the two tabs of hook tape that normally would affix to it.  (After I get it started with the ripper, I find it easy to gently rip it off with my hands.)



Now, of course, since I’m a perfectionist (yes I know I have issues) I’m gonna spend a little extra time pulling all those little threads out.  They will probably come out in the wash, but I can’t wait that long!! :-)


Next, I mark about 8 places across the diaper where I want to put snaps.  I start on either side of the middle and measure out about every 1-¼ inches.


Then, using either the seam ripper or an awl, I poke holes through the top layer of fabric where I’ve marked for the snaps… (notice my hand is up inside the diaper pocket) and push the cap piece into the hole.  While my hand is in there I do all of them at once.
 


Placing the socket piece onto the cap, I make sure the pliers is centered and squeeze! TaDa!!!


Now do this with the rest of them.


Last step is to add the stud part of the snap to the two tabs using the same method.


Before and after….
 

Hope this is useful to some of you. Or maybe it will inspire you to make some other baby items using snaps. They really are super easy!!!

Rebecca