Shirts (Deployment Projects #28,29 &30)

Well, todays projects are not too overly exciting, but it's what has been filling my time!  We are still basically snowed in.  My drive is shoveled and their is a path down our street, but I see no point in trying to get out when all the schools are cancelled and government offices are closed.  That is my clue that we are just supposed to stay home!  We are holding out just fine - - we still have 2 gallons of milk, lots of cereal, plenty of mac and cheese, good to go on peanut butter and jelly....only thing we have run out of is bread.  Not really a big deal, we can live without bread!  I would bake some, but that would require yeast, so I guess we are out of luck on that one!!  If we get really desperate for some bread products, I can always make muffins!!

So, I've been working on some smaller projects - - quickly finished and fun to do.  As I've mentioned before, I really havent' done much with clothing, but since all I have is time on my hands right now, I decided to work on a few projects!

This first one is Simplicity pattern # 2930 

This was a silky fabric and to be honest, it was pretty hard to work with.  I have to say, although the shirt came out looking pretty cute, the fabric was not fun to work with.  I do love the rounded keyhole neck and I think that if I worked with a high quality cotton, this could turn out super cute.

This next one was made with a jersey knit.  Super soft and super comfy!  This is New Look pattern #6868.  It was an easy pattern to work with the only tricky part seemed to be the neckline.

Same pattern, but with a different neck finish.  This time the finish is folded over - - looks cute, but it doesn't really hold it's shape when you put it on and start moving.  Oh well, I guess I can look cute standing still in the corner!!

I do love the details of the pleating across the front and also a single pleat on the back.

Fun times, at least I've found something fun to fill my time with.  It would be more fun if our roads were clear and I could get out to get customers projects or better yet, find some fun furniture on craigslist to re-do!!!  Maybe tomorrow!!

BDU Bag (Deployment Project #27)

The weather is just crazy here!  We have gotten right around 2 feet of snow again!  Yeah, I still have not purchased a shovel, so here I sat!  Thank goodness for neighbors who are willing to share thier shovels and friends who will drive their big 4 wheel drive trucks over and help you scoop out!   It would have taken me hours to shovel all that snow, but with some good teamwork we were done in no time!!

After we got done shoveling the snow I looked down at the truck tire and realized that it was completely flat.  Alright now, I have already taken care of the mirror - - -that was supposed to fill my quota on vehicle problems during deployment.  I don't do tires - - I suppose I could if I googled it, but I doubt it.  The men who were here had that tire off in no time flat, had all the stuff to fix it, filled it with air again and put it back on way faster than I would have had the truck jacked up!  Thank goodness for people willing to sacarafice their time to help someone else out!  I felt completely blessed!!

So, since we have not left the house in 4 days, I have definately had plenty of time for projects!  This first one is super fun!  My friend Shana wanted a bag made from one of her husbands old uniforms.  I've seen lots of bags made from old uniforms and they are super cute.  Most of them have a standard barrel shape with some contrasting lining.  I wanted to make hers a little different, and give it some girly personality!  So, I pulled out my trusty Amy Butler Birdy Sling pattern and with some adjustments and some creativity we made it work.

   Shana has been rockin' the bag since she got it - - and it is a fantastic accessory!!  Big enough to carry everything she needs and cute enough to know it's hers - - not one of her husbands cast offs!!

look at the girly contrasting band - - Luv it!!!

This is what we started with - - I think almost every military family has some extra uniforms hanging around...Almost...  Yup, I searched high and low, couldn't find one!  I was going to borrow one from Shana, but her husband is Airforce, we are Army.  Army and Airforce to not have the same uniforms - - in any way shape of form!!  So I decided to wait until hubby gets back, shurly he will have a worn out uniform by the time he gets back, and then I will make my own!!

A view from the back - - look at those great pleats!  I just love it!!

Shana's husband is deployed also, so this bag is something of his that she can have with her always.  There is a real sense of pride carrying around a bag made from your husbands uniform.  A uniform that has been worn on multiple deployments around the world and something that reminds her that this deployment will come to an end soon and life will get back to pre-deployment normal!  Praying that time goes fast my friend! 

The Big Reveal!!! (Deployment Projects #22-26)

Wow!  So much to post today!  Today is the big school room reveal, but I have 4 projects to show you before I can show you the finished product!  So lets get started.

I Picked up this great book at an antique store that we stopped at on our last trip to Ohio.  It is titled, "The Complete Compendium of Universal Knowledge" - - containing all you want to know of Language, History, Government, Buisness and Social Forms, and A Thousand and One Other Useful Subjects - -- what a title!!  It is copyrighted in 1895.   It is fantastic!  It has....well, everything you would want to know if you lived in 1895!  I was perusing all the useful information in it when I found the military pay charts.  Of course I had to look up what hubby would be making if we were in the Army in 1895.  Major with 10+ years of service:  he would be making an even $3000.00 / year!  Thank goodness we make more than that now!

I wanted to use some of the pages from this book as artwork on the walls.  I carefully cut the pages out of the book and framed them in a couple of frames I had picked up on clearance a while back.  I framed two different sets of pages:  The Military Pay Chart and The Dictionary of American Nicknames.  I love these frames because you actually "float" your picture between the two pieces of glass.  The best part is that you can take them off the wall, turn them around and still see the other side of the pages.  There is so much interesting stuff in this book, I didn't want to miss out on any of it!!

Next project was to put the alphabet up on the wall.  From day one my kids have had to write in cursive.  When children learn to hold a pencil and start drawing and scribbling, they naturally make curvy lines and circles, they generally do not start by drawing straight stick lines.  So it is just easier for them to be able to form the curvy cursive letters than it is for them to make block letters.  I have found that we have had to do very little penmanship practice and they both write very neatly.  They both do a great job with it, but since this is Charise's first year, she still needs to look up at the alphabet a lot to remember how to form some of the letters, especially the capitals.  I wanted the alphabet to blend with the room, not stick out like a sore thumb, so I ended up making my own.  I cut out a base shape from different black and grey scrapbook papers, then a smaller black shape to fit inside and finished it all by writing the cursive letters with a white pen.  I think it gives it the look of writing on a chalk board.  I hung these above our white board so the kids can reference them quickly and easily.

Project # 24 was to put a picture of the kids up on either side of their desk just to distinguish "their" areas.  When we were in CA, we had the privaledge of my very talented cousin taking some pictures for us.  She took these fantastic pictures of the kids and I thought they were perfect for this project. 

The pictures are printed on a very heavy cardboard - -I'm sure there is a technical name for it, but I have no clue!  They were great on their own, but I wanted to add some dimention, so I took some square pictures that I used to have hanging in my old workroom and simply attached the kids pictures to the front - - the old pictures make a great frame and they look like they were made for each other.  To attach the kids pictures, all I simply did was use the Command Velcro Adhesive strips.  That way, if I want to take the pictures off later, neither the photograph or the original picture will be ruined!

Project #25  was the curtains.  I love these curtains!  The fabric is a vintage looking woven green stripes with a very skinny raspberry stripes and - you will never be able to pick it out in the pictures  but it has an accent of tiny yellow stripes which is where I got the yellow wall paint color from.  I wanted a Roman shade, but not the work of making a roman shade!  I knew that I did not care if it functioned, I just wanted it to look cute, so I made a faux roman shade.  I decided to do two separate shades so that when we move, if our next room has two windows, I can just separate them.  I used vintage white buttons to hold up the folds on the shades and finished it off with a great brown and raspberry tassle trim.  They are subtle, yet very cute!!

Sooooo, now it's time to show the before and afters of the entire room!

Just to pain your eyes again and to make you really appreciate the after...

the before

and

Drum roll please.................................

we have such an inspiring view out our window - - the neighbors siding and window only 3 feet away!!

The afters!

I am really happy with this room.  It is a very subtle, sophisticated, organized, cheerful, gender neutral room with old world charm!  The kids are enjoying it and I honestly have noticed a difference in their focus and work ethic.  I am enjoying having a room to teach in that makes me feel happy and not like I am in school again myself!  This definately isn't "your Momma's schoolroom!"

So, what was your favorite project of the school room re-do?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Calendar Time (Deployment Project #21)

Every schoolroom needs to have a calendar!  I wanted something that was easily changed, fun, and still decorative.  Everything at the school supply store is very bright and colorful and they are fun, but just not what I was looking for.  So, not one to take the easy route, I decided to make one! 

I started by making a calendar grid on the wall using black grossgrain ribbon.  I simply stapled it to the wall, measuring it out as we stapled.  I do have to say that it is much easier to do this with two people!  Thank you Shana for helping!!  Although, we did do it pretty late at night and it had been a stressful day, so some of our lines are not exactly perpendicular or parallel.  ( I had to use those words because that is what Cameron was learing about in math today!  When you homeschool, sometimes you have to learn along with your kids - - - right now, at the ages they are at, I am mostly doing "re-learning" but as they get older, I think I am going to be doing a lot of midnight cramming to stay smarter than them!!)

Next, I needed some numbers.  I wanted something that I could easily move around each month and I really didn't want to spend a lot of time making them.  So here is what I came up with.

I took 31 tags and cut them down to 3 1/2" tags.  Large enough to fit perfectly into my little grid.  I used scrapbooking stickers to put the numbers on.  I could only find one package of the number stickers, so I had to fudge on some of them and they have a combination of small and large size numbers, but I think it works.   I had these teeny tiny clothes pins in my stash and they work out perfectly to hold the numbers to the grid and still be able to move them around!

I could have just left them at this stage and said they were "good enough."  But it didn't look very fun on the wall, so I decided to add some more "stuff."  I pulled out my stamp sets from when I used to be big into scrapbooking - - thankgoodness my inks hadn't all dried up!  With a few stamps and some antiquing with the inks, I think I gussied them up real nice.  (sometimes I just have to use sayings that crack me up!) 

Next, I needed to label the month and the days.  I simply did that by using some scrapbooking letters for the days of the week and some great alphabet cards to spell out the month.  Now I can easily change out the month name and the numbered days each month!  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and I think it is a fabulous filler for this little wall!  The map that is hanging above it was a Marshalls steal.  You can also see off to the left there is a little nook where I put a cabnet I got from my Mom and Dad.  Inside the cabnet is the printer, paper and all our learning games.  It is a perfect fit in that spot!  The globe on top was from Salvation Army and, if you can see it, there is an  old book leaning up next to the little organizer.  That's where tomorrow's project comes from!!

Tomorrow is the last day of the school room re-do so come back to see the last of the projects and the final product!! 

What Time Is it? (Deployment Project #20)

Welcome back to the school room re-do!  Can you believe I am up to project #20 already?!!!  We have one month of this deployment down - - five to go.  I wonder how many projects I will have by the end of this?  I'm thinking about having a little contest at the 3 month point and letting people but in their guesses as to how many projects total, then whoever is closest at the end will win a great prize!  What do you think?  Are you game?

Alright on to the next project

Above our double doors leading into the room, we have a little nook that was just begging for something special to be done.  This was a very simple project that took about all of 10 minutes and about the same amount of money!

I went to Target and got 3 *cheap* ($3.00 each) clocks.  I knew they were going to be high up on the wall, so I just needed them to "look the part."  It didn't matter to me that they were made out of plastic.  They had the look that I was going for. 

I hung all three of them up above the doors and then made signs for the different times. 

We have Afganistan - - - Daddy time

Washington DC - - - our time

and Germany - - -John, Josh and Katie time (we have good family friends who are stationed in Germany right now and the kids are always asking what time is where they are, so we decided to add Germany!)

The kids are enjoying knowing what time it is around the world, and they especially like running in here to see what time it is where Daddy is and figuring out what he might be doing - - -eating dinner, going to bed, getting up, etc.  The only problem is that we really need the clocks to show AM or PM because that can get a little confusing.  I'm just gonna chalk it up to some good schooling and lessons in math!! 

and just for you... a sneak peak at tomorrows project!!

School Room light (Deployment Project #19)

I really don't know why someone would build a new house but not put lights in rooms.  What is the point?  How many lamps must I invest in?  Now, I must admit that I do love lamps and I actually prefer the lighting from a lamp to overhead lighting, but there are times when you need good bright lighting.  When you are not trying to set a mood, but instead you are trying to accomplish a task.

Case in point - - the school room.  You just can't use lamps in a room where kids are supposed to be bright, alert, motivated and LEARNING!!  So my first task was to get some proper lighting in that room.  My choice would be a great vintage school room light hardwired into the ceiling...

but....

I do have a budget.

This is a rental home.

and

There is no wiring in the ceiling for a light.

So, it was time to pull out my favorite rental home lighting trick.  I do have to tell you, that I am not an electrician, I don't even play one on TV :)  This is just my own little fix using the little electrical knowledge that my father-in-law taught me.  So I will not be giving detailed directions and I will not guarantee any results if you try this!

I love to take great looking ceiling light fixtures and instead of hardwiring them in, I attach a cord and just hang it from a ceiling hook and plug it in.  Mobile lighting!!  When it comes time to move, all I have to do is unplug the cord, take it off it's hook, pull the hook from the ceiling and pack it all up.  It's an easy solution to a common renters problem! 

I've used this little trick throughout our house - it really helps to bring personality to the room.

I used it with the chandelier in Charise's room

on a chandelier in my work room

And another one in my work room

The only real problem with it is that you do have a big cord going across your ceiling and down your wall.  Usually I try to hide the cord behing my curtains, but it just wouldn't work that way in the school room, so I had to hide it as well as I could behind the white board.  All in all, I think this light works in here and it certainly lights up the room well!!

Check back tomorrow to see the 2nd project in the schoolroom!

School Room Re-do (Deployment Project #18)

All this week I am going to be showing you different projects that I have done during my re-do of our school room.  I gave a sneak peak last week showing the ragamuffin banner that I made, if you missed that, you can check it out here.

One week into using our newly re-done school room and I can tell you that we are all loving it.  The kids seem to really enjoy the new set-up.  I think they feel more organized.  I know I do!  We have so much more room in there, just by switching out their desks and rearranging their furniture.  And you get to see it all this week! 

So... to start it all off, we definately need to show the before. 

As you can see, we were kinda stuffed in this little room.  Each of the kids had their own desk - - - with maps of the world and America on them (which I do have to say is a pretty cute idea that worked well) - - -but the desks were VERY wobbly!  We had lots of charts, calendars, posters, lists and every other imaginable thing on our walls.  You can see in the photo above our counting gears we used to count up to the 100th day of school.  It was just getting too crowded and too busy in there.  It wasn't a place where the kids could focus and work and it wasn't a place I wanted to be any more!!!

It was time for a re-do.

First job - - -paint

I chose a creamy muted yellow.  It is a fabulous backdrop for all the great projects that are going to go in this room.  Check back tomorrow to see the next project in this room!