DIY color sorter

So if you are anything like me (slightly neurotic and a tad OCD) you may be prone to holding on to things or supplies. However, I'm not really sentimental with personal items. I think I have one small box of items from high school including photos, and I've even thought about getting rid of it because I have no idea what to do with the stuff. But I digress. 

Anywho...Miles LOVES those baby food pouches and big kid applesauce pouches. Like loves them loves them. Inhales them. It's a-dorable. You would think with the 3000 some pictures of him I would have one with him eating one of these pouches but...no. 

Within the last few weeks I've started collecting the lids. Why? I had no idea until today. I've keeping them in a jar by the sink. I should note that you should clean/rinse them before keeping. 

I decided to make a color sorter for Miles. This is obviously a "with supervision" toy as the caps are very small. I spilled out my lids to see what colors I had. 

As you can see there are FIVE colors. Red, yellow, green, blue and purple. But more on that later. I went around the house gathering supplies. I found this Christmas gift box in the spare room closet. 

I decided to cover the box to make it less

"Christmasy". I used some left over wrapping paper form our Valentine's day photo shoot. It is very difficult to wrap a box with the lid off. I also only could find blue painters tape so the wrap job looks less than perfect. I'm also not firing on all cylinders with this stupid cold. 

I used a piece of sturdy white paper to make the sorter. I covered the lid with paper so I can still use the lid and keep all the caps inside the box without fear of losing them. I used my hole punch to cut out FOUR holes and then I colored a ring around each hole and wrote the color name. Are you figuring out what happened yet? 

When I was coloring around the rings I realized that I had FIVE colors. Oh well,  I guess I will have to wait until I find a sixth color and make a new box. 

Tada! What toys have you made for your little ones?

how to fix picture quality on night vision baby monitor

We have the Withings baby monitor and we LOVE it. It has an app for the iPhone (and I think Android phones) so I can check it wherever I am. You can also check it online through their website. It has alerts and you can adjust those to your specific preferences. It plays music and has a night-light.

The downside? The night pictures are horrible! As my aunt asked "what's with the paranormal activity?" We initially thought nothing of it and assumed that was just the quality of a night vision camera. Then one day we took our downstairs surveillance camera upstairs and put it in Miles' room to see what the quality was like there. We were amazed at the quality...in the old camera. WTF? How does this new camera make the old one better? It took my husband a few minutes of thinking before he realized that the downstairs camera has more infrared LED’s than the baby monitor. After some looking around on Amazon we found this (you will also need this). The difference is like night and day now.

Here is a screenshot with the light in the room turned on (it’s still black and white because there is not enough light for the camera to switch to color).

Here is the screenshot of the Withings camera by itself.

And here is the screenshot with the IR LED illuminator.

Amazing right?

how to hire a nanny

Bear with my while I compose this post on my phone. Too much going on here lately. It's 11:20pm on Tuesday and I haven't posted yet this week...so I need to do something.

We were very lucky that for (almost) one year a close friend was able to watch Miles along with her son. The boys are eight days apart and (typically) love spending time together. In December I started to feel our arrangement was no longer working so I set out on the task of finding a nanny for Miles. My deadline was before we left to visit family for Christmas and the new nanny would start in January when we returned from our trip. 

I did not want Miles in daycare. Too many people I know with kids in daycare often have sick children. I did not want to deal with that. Plus daycare is expensive. I wanted someone to watch Miles in our home. Nanny's are also expensive. Damn. 

I initially placed a classified ad in our local online newspaper. I received several responses and set up interviews with two young women.  The first young woman I met with had a two month old who would also come to the house and the second young woman had limited formal experience with watching children. 

I contacted a few friends in the area and asked about their childcare experiences. I decided to set up a care.com account and place an ad. And then I forgot about it. After a week of no responses from the other ad and no contact from the young woman I was considering hiring (the one with limited experience) I decided to check care.com and start sifting through he caregiver profiles then I realized that people had responded to my ad but care.com did not notify you by email. Whoops. 

When I started reading responses I discovered that you cannot reply to people's messages unless you have a PAY account. Are you f-ing serious?!? They also block contact information. A one month subscription was roughly $40. 

I was not amused. I decided to pony up the money since I had no other prospects and my deadline was two weeks away. I set up interviews with six other women. One was a no show/no call. That was irritating. One was a heavy smoker. Sorry but no go. One was very large and had a hard time getting up from my couch and I was concerned about her ability to play with Miles down on the floor or walk him to the park. Another had another job that she needed to get to after watching Miles. One was seventeen. SEVENTEEN. And the last one, who was really the first of this group I met with, was perfect. She was a stay at home mom of a Kindergartener and was getting bored at home. She had always worked in daycares or childcare. Perfect. 

We decided on a daily rate rather than a hour rate and the rest is history. So far Miles seems to really like her and she likes him. 

(I don't own this image and I couldn't find out who does)

How to hire a nanny: 

1. Ask around and get referrals from friends and family. 

2. Place a classified ad or ad on care.com or similar service. 

3. Set up interviews. Interview at least 3 people and probably not more than 10.  

4. Consider your options and choose a caregiver. Perhaps do a trial day if you are having a difficult time deciding. 

5. Decide on pay and arrangements. 

fabulous five minute face

Disclosure: This post was written by a Mary Kay beauty consultant. I was not compensated for this post and I have purchased the giveaway item. 

Hi all! I am so excited to be the guest blogger for Holly for teach me tuesday!

I have been a beauty consultant with Mary Kay for over 10 years and the number one thing I hear from the ladies I meet, as to why they don’t do makeup in the morning, is because “it takes too long”. Well I am here to tell you that is a falsehood!!! It’s not that it takes that long; it’s that you have never been taught my Fabulous 5! It’s whole face of makeup you can do in under 5 minutes with only 5 products! Can it be any easier?! Get ready to be amazed ladies!!

Ok so the 5 amazing products we will use are:

1. CC Cream
2. Cream Eye Shadow
3. Mascara
4. Blush
5. Lipgloss 

So let me give you some quick info on these products:

The CC Cream is an all in one miracle product. CC stands for Color Correcting so this product is a foundation, concealer, redness reducer, color corrector, brightener, moisturizer, and has an SPF 20 ALL IN ONE. Seriously these babies are FLYING off my shelves!! It is one of the best things we have in our line. Can I make it easier for you?! One pump of the product, use your fingers and rub it on your face and all that stuff is DONE. We have 4 perfect match colors. I am using the Light-Med.

Second product is the Cream Eye Shadow. This product is also a winner in my book (Holly can attest- she has some!) This shadow looks just as great at 8pm as it did at 8 am when you put it on. It won’t crease, crack, dry up, get clumpy or any of that other icky stuff some cream shadows do. We have 9 gorgeous colors to choose from so there is definitely one (or more!) that can easily be worn everyday. Today we are using Violet Storm.  

Next the mascara- for this I like to use the Ultimate Mascara- mostly because it’s my favorite. I like the lash love too but I can’t break my loyalty to the Ultimate. This is a powerhouse mascara that won’t flake or dry out and will last all day. I like the black (my blonde lashes are virtually nonexistent) but we do have black-brown too.

Our mineral power blush is next. We have 10 awesome shades to pick from- today I am using the universally flattering shade: Shy Blush. Soft, even wear and a soft velvet finish; you will never wear another blush again.

And finally, we finish up with a bit of our NouriShine lipgloss. Fortified with vitamins A, C and E to keep your lips healthy, it’s an awesome product. Again we have 15 shades so you are sure to find a favorite or two! Today I am using one I can never live without: Fancy Nancy. 

So now we apply!

Step one: Take 1 -1.5 pumps of the CC cream into your fingers and apply it to your face. 

Start with your nose, forehead and cheeks and blend outwards. You want the majority of the product to be in the center of the face and it to blend out towards your hair. Ever see those ladies with the crazy foundation line on their chin? None of that. The color should always be concentrated on your face.

Step 2: Take some of the cream shadow on your pointer finger and smooth it on the lid about three quarters of the way up to your brows.

Step 3: Apply the mascara. (I do two coats, do one if you have darker lashes.)

Step 4: Take a big fluffy brush and apply the blush. Now, yes, you should be smiling. This helps define your cheeks, and (insider trick!) apply the blush DOWN towards your nose from your hairline not upwards.  This helps you have a soft pop of color not an 80’s face color streak.

  
Step 5: Dab on some lipgloss and you are DONE!!

 YOU DID IT!!! See it wasn’t that bad!!

Now how much does this cost? I know you are wondering. All 5 products together cost $75. 

1. I don’t know about you but I can spend that in Target in about 5 minutes on junk I don’t need that has never made me feel better or look better. 

2. These products, when used everyday will last you at least 3-4 months, probably longer for the shadow and blush. 

3. I’m here for a deal: you order on my website or look me up on Facebook and tell me you want the Sarcastic Package and it’s all yours for $60! 

We deserve this ladies. Like I said, I have wasted money at Target on nonsense crap that has never helped me feel better. We deserve to feel awesome!! Women are the backbone of the home and we need a little love!!!

HOPE YOU LOVED IT!!

Robyn Zerebniak, future leader of the “Glam it Forward!” unit.

Giveaway time! Comment which color cream eye shadow you like best to be entered in the contest to win your choice of cream eye shadow. Contest closes at 9:00 am CST on Friday (11/28/2014). Winner will be announced on Friday (11/28/2014) at 10:00 am CST. Only comments directly on the blog will count towards the contest. Contest limited to those residing in the contiguous United States. 


Contest is over and the winners have been notified. 

how to stop a toddler's temper tantrum

Let's face it, we've all had those moments where our children have been clearly possessed by the devil and are about to make you completely lose your shit. So here is five step plan to help you curb those terrible one's, two's and three's. 

1. Refuse to give in to toddler's demands - you must remain strong and show them who is boss.

2. Offer alternative activities.

3. Ignore bad behavior, only reinforce good behavior.

4. Put on headphones to drown out toddler's screaming.

5. Give in to toddler's demands - we all know who really is the boss here.


You're welcome. What did your toddler do yesterday? Mine threw food back at me and then proceeded to cry for forty-five minutes.

diy: sequin ornaments/decorative balls

I made these a while back when I needed a craft project to soothe my inner Pinterest addict. Very simple craft/DIY as long as you have patience and an easy place to keep your materials out without children or pets getting all up in your business.

All you need are three items for this simple craft.

Styrofoam balls
Sequins
Sequin pins

The sequins and pins may be in the "kid" section in the craft store because apparently children are the only ones who want to use tiny choking hazard sequins in their arts and crafts.

I found it easiest to go around in a circle around each ball and fill in each row until you finish.

To make ornaments instead before you start to put on your sequins use something to punch a hole straight though your ball and thread ribbon though to hang on the tree.

There you go. Make as many as you want and arrange in a bowl or vase and place on your mantel or where ever! 

When do you start decorating for the holidays? Hit me up in the comments below. 

diy picture frame accent wall

When we bought our house I knew I wanted to paint at least one room in the house before we moved in (the house was a boring builder beige color throughout). I figured we would be spending the most time in our living room so I started there. I’m not sure where my love for gray came from, but this was the first time I used it. Gray is a bitch of a color to choose for paint. There are blue grays, purple grays, brown grays, green grays…sigh. I choose one color gray from the paint chips and bought a gallon. After the paint color went up it looked decidedly blue, but I didn’t feel like repainting so I went with it. See…blue. Oh well.

I found a large painting at World Market and decided to use the blues and greens as accent colors as well as yellow. I found the yellow pot in the dollar section at Target. The glass bottles I stole was gifted from our friend after the garage sale we had together. I picked up the flowers from World Market as well. She also was getting rid of selling a bunch of picture frames. 

Now at this time I had been spending a lot of time on Etsy, because I had not yet discovered Pinterest or it wasn’t really a big deal yet. I found multiple listings for empty colored picture frames for a gallery wall in a variety of coordinating colors, but at a price point that I really wasn’t sold on. So when I saw all of the picture frames I decided to snag a few and make my own gallery/accent wall.

The rest is pretty simple. I took out all the glass and backs because I planned on leaving them empty.  I primed them and then used paint sample size containers of paint that I picked up at Home Depot. One down side of paint samples is that they are not glossy. So I also picked up some spray clear coat. Looking back I should have just bought spray paint but they didn’t have the colors that I wanted and I had yet to totally fall in love with spray paint. I think I ended up putting at least four coats of paint on the yellow ones before calling it a day. Let’s call the yellow ones distressed.

I had my husband put some new hanging hardware on because I changed the orientation of some of the frames. I must have rearranged these frames a million times before I settled on the current (and final) arrangement.

I plan on putting something inside of these frames one day, but I still haven’t decided yet. I have a few key decorations, two antique ones I bought and a key that my husband had 3D printed for me. What do you think? Hit me up in the comments below.

diy dining room furniture makeover: the chairs (a lesson in un-upholstery)

I'm sorry this post has taken so long to get to. To date my first post about the inspiration for this post has had the most views on the blog. That's pretty damn cool. So, here we go. We bought the dining room furniture in 2012…and now it’s 2014 and we are just about done with the project. I never thought about making this project a DIY how-to until now. 


I initially decided to start with the chairs, assuming they would be the most time intensive part of the project and get them out of the way first. I was right, the chairs by far took the most time to complete. But now that everything is done (almost) this project finally seems worth it.
The chairs also had batting and foam to take off (but that was pretty easy). The hardest past was getting all of the staples out of the wood bottoms. That took forever. Several had broken while I was taking off the fabric so I was left with little metal shards. I tried to remember when I had a tetanus shot. We managed to get all of the staples out and then saw how poor of shape the wood was in now. My husband decided to use wood putty to fill in all the holes and reinforce the four corners where the screw attached the legs.

I love the scroll or whatever on the back of these chairs. I HATE the fabric and the color of the wood. I think that I started to take the fabric off before I began looking for new fabric. It took me an entire day off from work to take off the fabric, and I think my husband had to help with the last chair because I was exhausted and my hands were killing me. Five of the chairs had two layers of fabric to take off, a protective plastic and then this ugly fabric. One chairs had four layers. Four. FOUR! 

Once you get down to bare wood you are ready to really get started. First you will need to cut your foam. Scissors kind of, not really work. I purchased an electric knife, you know the kind you use at thanksgiving for turkey…yeah one of those. Have fun, it’s going to look horrible, but the batting will help to smooth everything out. I bought two-inch foam for the chairs. I used spray adhesive to secure the foam to the wood. Then I went nuts with the stapler and the batting. Sorry no picture. As I was getting the batting in place I knew I was going to have a problem with the corners and the weird rounded shape they had. My chairs were now much thicker than where I started. Once you have the foam and batting on you need to start being careful.

Unfortunately for me I picked a pattern for my chairs and one that was made up of lines. I had a hell of a time making sure I cut all the fabric in the right spot so each chair would be identical. After you get your fabric lined up on the chair bottom you will pull as tight as you can and staple in the middle of the top and bottom, leave the sides for now. Once you have the middle of the top and bottom secured you can staple to about once inch from the corner. Next you’ll want to staple the middle of each side and then out until you are an inch or so away from the corner. The next part was hard, at least for me. The corners of these chairs were an absolute bitch. I have no idea how to described what I did, but here is a picture.

Then you know , you’re done. At least with one. Then you have to finish the rest. Sigh.

Celebrate you have completed part one of stage one. Now on to the painting!

next up: diy dining room furniture makeover: the chairs (how to use a paint sprayer)

diy dining room furniture makeover: the inspiration

So let’s say you buy a house. And let’s say you have a dining room and now “need” furniture for it.

And let’s also say that you have a slight Pinterest addiction. So you come across this, this, this, and oh yeah, this. So now you start hunting.

Chris and I checked out several “new” furniture stores and were not impressed, at all, in their selection. Everything seemed to be made cheaply and not out of solid wood. So on a whim we stopped by Trading Places The Woodlands where we met Max. I showed him a picture of the first table and he was all “I have that exact table, hold on.” I was skeptical but after some digging Max found the table and the chairs that go along with it. And there was a matching china cabinet, seemed like our lucky day. I didn’t think my husband would go for it; I figured it would be too expensive. Then Max told us the price; five hundred dollars for everything. Sold! We arranged for delivery and I went home to scheme. Here’s my new furniture. The table has legs, they just weren’t attached at the time.

And some close-ups.

At first I was really, really in love with the teal color in the first picture. Then I thought about it, and thought about it some more and somehow landed on gray and later, yellow. Maybe this happened while I was looking for new fabric for the chairs, I’m not quite sure. I hiked it up to Hancock Fabrics in Conroe and found these fabrics.

The chevron won. I love me some chevron. Also picked up a tack puller. Very helpful, a must have if you will. On to Joann’s for new foam padding and batting. FYI, that is expensive so make sure you load up on coupons. Oh and take something the size of your chair bottoms so you buy enough padding.

Last but not least, the paint. We went to Sherwin-Williams (because I had a coupon) and purchased an oil-based primer that did not require sanding, one quart of a cream color (SW 7564 Polar Bear) for the chairs and one gallon of a gray color (SW 7655 Stamped Concrete) for the hutch and table. We also bought one quart of a yellow color by Valspar that was a paint + primer at Lowes (ended up not using and going with a spray paint instead but more on that later).

COST:

Furniture:

            China cabinet $250

            Table and chairs $250

Fabric and padding:

            Chevron fabric $35 after 40% off

            Green padding $47 after 50% off

            Batting $12 after 50% off

Paint:

            Primer $23

            Gray $37

            Cream $14

            Yellow $13

Etc:

            Tack puller $2

next up: diy dining room furniture makeover: the chairs (a lesson in un-upholstery)