Preschooler Art

We were given a stool for the kid to decorate for a local arts and crafts store, and we decided to make it the only one actually done completely by a kid.  It's friggin awesome.

She painted a good bit of it, then declared it done.  Her dad and I filled in the negative space with more paint, covered it with clear coat, and turned it in.  They didn't think it was the awesomest one ever, but I do. And that's what counts.

Melty Beads

In our house we have discovered melty beads, also known as Perler beads.  Somehow, we have three buckets of these things and they were all free.  Once someone knows you dig melty beads, they start coming in like crazy!

Gluten Free Bread is the SHIZ

My boyfriend's dad works at a bakery, and occasionally he brings me a treat.  This little baby cost $9.  I feel special!

Paper Bag Puppets

The kid asked me for some puppets one day, so I said, "Why don't we make some?" I had this project template from an old crayola magazine, so I copied it and cut it out for her.

I'd make it available for download, but I don't hold the copyright. Sorry guys, but don't like jail. :)

Here's the result (she tacked them up on her bulletin board, don't ask me why):

Origami Surprise

I homeschool the kid now, and as a surprise I busted out the origami my bestie Jen sent me a while ago. 

She did all her handwriting work right, so I whipped this up in less than 5 minutes.

Thanks, Jen!

I do this in my spare time because I'm a decent human being

D.I.Y. Necklace & Bracelet Holder

I have been looking for a necklace holder FOREVER. None of the ones I have come across seem to fit my needs. And they all require dresser space, which I don't have. So when I saw these embroidery hoops at the thrift store, my gears started turning....

** A lot of my photos have been un-hosted, so I have edited the posts to take them out. **

First I tore off that God-awful 80's lace trim that was hot glued on the wooden frames. Then I picked off the hot glue, but gave up after a while because it was damaging the wood. Never underestimate 80's hot glue.

The next step was to plan out where I wanted the necklaces to hang. I used a ruler and a sharpie.

I decided to use some S-hooks to loop through the mesh, and chose this plant hanging chain because it was easy to bend. 

These hoops with the hooks in them lay in my craft area for days, while I contemplated spray paint. Then I saw the most adorable duct tape EVER.

Can you even believe they make damask duct tape?? 

I had to line it all up correctly, and fold it over all weird because they were circles, after all.

I poked the S-hooks back through, mounted them on the wall, and fell in love!

Here they are loaded up with my dozes of unnecessary bracelets and necklaces.

But a girl can never have too many pretties, amirite?

:)

Felt Christmas Tree

I found this post on my feed reader, and just had to marvel at the genius and simplicity. A lot of things get pinned it to my Pinterest and never get completed, but this one got done right away! Here's the original project at Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio.

It only took me about 15 minutes to make my own! My preschoolers love it.

Pumpkins

My boss decided it would be a faaaahhbulous idea to have a pumpkin-decorating contest and then cancel it at the last minute without telling anybody. Well, I was really sick that weekend, but I think I did ok.

Project Estimate:

• Pumpkin ~ $1
• Red spray paint ~ on hand
• Ribbon ~ on hand
• Hot Glue ~ on hand

I took a smallish pumpkin and spray painted it red. I tied the gold glittery ribbon around the middle and hot glued it to the pumpkin. I covered the stem with brown ribbon and hot glued that. Then I called it good and passed out.

Good job for only $1 and 30 minutes, yes?

Preschool Classroom Makeover

When I started in the Preschool classroom in June, it was ugly. It was more than ugly. It was supremely horrible. Holes in the walls, splotchy paint, broken tiles, busted furniture, stains everywhere.

The first thing I did was to clean, clean, clean. Then I rearranged the furniture to better serve my classroom. Here's what it looked like before:

Yep, above that red chair is where the drywall has been peeled off.

Mint green on three walls and gray on the fourth. Ew.

Note the art easel next to the wall. What you can't see is the splotches of paint all around it. Also note the ugly as sin bookshelf. Someone took that poor thing and painted it blue with sponge painted white clouds. And they did a terrible job.

For some reason the bulletin board was sideways. The drywall on this side is peeling off on the bottom from water damage.

At last we see the door to this nightmare.

We started taking everything off of the walls and using joint compound to fill the holes. Here's a better shot of the fugly book shelf.

It took two coats of primer and three coats of paint, but now it is a nice, neutral beige. Thank goodness! That thing hurt my head just looking at it.

Now for the AFTER shots:

Muuuuuuuch better. After spending about 18 hours with another lady painting, here it is! The theme is "garden." Bugs and flowers. It's nifty.

I moved the cubbies, parent info boards, and file cabinet to this wall. On the door is a beehive with little bees with their names.

My boss found a TON of butterfly wall decals on clearance at Michael's, so that's what you see on the wall. I also hand painted some wooden bugs to hang around the room. In addition, I changed the posters and decor to match the garden theme.

The door to the room with clouds and trees is so much better!

That's the kitchen/dress-up center over there. All the art is at child height, because here it is all about them.

Here is the bookshelf, a nice neutral beige. Blends right in, as it should.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my new classroom! It's been four months since the makeover, and I just got around to photographing the new walls and decorations. Thanks for reading!

My Invisible Illness

Many prominent bloggers were asked to participate in this simple blog post meme to help spread awareness during Invisible Awareness Week (September 11-18th). Sadly, I was not one of those bloggers. I guess you must actually post every once in a while to be considered "prominent."

Alas, I think this is very important and it holds true for my life. Definitely check out this website. Be informed. It's sexy.

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: Celiac Disease (a.k.a. gluten intolerance). This has caused me a whole heap of other issues, including debilitating abdominal pain, vision problems, extremely low immune system, irritable bowel syndrome, joint pain/inflammation/tissue buildup, depression, anxiety, atopic dermatitis, thinning hairline, low fertility, miscarriage, heart palpitations, syncope, migraine, aphthous stomatitis (canker sores), athsma, anemia, and probably ten more I have forgotten about for the moment. Oh, and I have hypoglycemia.

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2006, when I was 23. It took five years and an intestinal biopsy to rule out everything else.

3. But I had symptoms since: I was born. In the fall of 2006, however, I developed the debilitating stomach pain that led to the intestinal biopsy.

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: the gluten-free diet. It's never easy. I always risk contamination unless I am preparing it myself, using a sterilized work surface and using clean, sterilized utensils. Then I'd feel pretty safe.

5. Most people assume: that it's easy - just don't eat bread. The truth is, there is gluten in nearly everything. Even when I'm the most careful I can be, I still occasionally get contamination and then the onslaught of illness begins.

6. The hardest part about mornings are: finding something to eat. Because of my hypoglycemia, I must eat, and because I'm not a morning person, I'm not exactly firing on all pistons when I wake up. Some mornings I look at what I have, and just wish I could eat a bowl of oatmeal, or a pop-tart.

7. My favorite medical TV show is: none. I don't watch very much TV due to the fact that I don't have TV service. Don't look at me like that, my co-pay is $40! When I visit the doctor at least once a month, there goes the TV budget.

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my cell phone. It has internet access, so I can look on a restaurant's website to see what on their menu is gluten free (if anything). Then I can use my GPS to find the restaurant.

9. The hardest part about nights are: insomnia. I need about 10 hours of sleep to function at my best, and each night I struggle to sleep for hours.

10. Each day I take: between 5 and 10 pills (both prescription and OTC).

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: know there isn't one for Celiac Disease. Maybe there are alternative treatments to my various secondary illnesses, but I haven't looked into them.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: visible. Maybe that makes me weak, but I have had enough of people telling me I'm just being difficult, or I'm making up my illnesses, or I'm a wuss and I should just tough it out. I would love for people to stop judging me and my decisions regarding my own health.

13. Regarding working and career: if I say I can't work today, then I can't work today. No amount of guilt-tripping or second-guessing will make me better. I have an autoimmune disease. Please don't tell me, "Nobody can be that sick," because yes, they can. I also need more down-time than most people to just recover from the normal work period, even when I'm not sick. I hate hearing, "So did you enjoy your day off?" No, I didn't enjoy my day off. I spent the day in bed wishing I were well enough to do one of a hundred things that needs done. I spent the day on the couch sleeping, because I haven't gotten enough sleep in a week. I spent the day crying, because the pain was so bad. I spent the day in the bathroom, and you don't even want to know what I did in there.

14. People would be surprised to know: how hard this is emotionally. I never expected to be judged the way I am today. I also never expected the level of frustration with food preparation, food choices, and eating out. People would also be surprised to know that gluten-free food is expensive. Six dollars for half a loaf of bread? That's cheap.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: finding out who cares enough to take my illness into consideration, or even to remember that I have one. Some people can be surprisingly uncaring.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: eat at a restaurant. If I speak to the chef and the manager, if they understand the guidelines for non-contamination, if I go there enough so that they remember me, I might get to go to Applebee's once in a while without spending the next four days regretting it. Also, some restaurants have a gluten-free menu. It's usually severely limited, but hey.

17. The commercials about my illness: don't exist. That would be useful.

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: traveling. It's extremely hard to eat gluten-free while traveling.

19. It was really hard to have to give up: cheesecake, LOL. But seriously, it was really hard to give up on some friends and relatives who refused to understand.

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: not cooking. You'd think that would be the easiest, but I've developed a love/hate relationship with food that makes me not even want to enter the kitchen. My husband does our cooking because I can't stand it.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: take my dogs to the off-leash dog park and play frisbee.

22. My illness has taught me: to check every label, every ingredient, every time.

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "oh, that really sucks." Yes, it does. Thanks for reminding me how much having Celiac Disease sucks, and that it is permanent. You can contemplate it for a moment and move on with your life. I must contemplate it forever.

24. But I love it when people: surprise me with gluten-free food they have made themselves. It really shows me that they care when they take the time and energy to make me something gluten-free. My grandma has started cooking gluten-free for everybody when I'm going to be there, and then doesn't tell anybody but me. :)

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: "With God, all things are possible."

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: be prepared. Be prepared to feel better once you start eating gluten-free, but also be prepared to feel awful when someone you love tries to judge or guilt you on something you have no power over. One Easter dinner, my husband's grandmother told a table of 25 people that I was "making it up" and I was just "looking for attention." The only gluten-free thing at that meal was a plate of fresh strawberries.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: people's reactions. They vary from completely understanding to accusing me out outright lying, and every shade in between. I actually thought everyone was as compassionate as I am about illness. I'm a glass is half full kind of person, and I was genuinely surprised at people's ignorance, and choosing to remain ignorant.

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: called in sick to work for me. I got the day off to rest and I didn't have to hear the judgement in my boss's voice.

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: the only way to remedy ignorance is education.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: hopeful that you will be compassionate and understanding now that you know. Hopeful that you won't continue your life as if you had never read this, and actually make an effort to change your way of thinking. Grateful that you even clicked over to read this.

Some websites with information on Celiac Disease:
Celiac.com

Celiac Disease Foundation

Mayo Clinic article

Celiac Central

One website with extremely helpful information on what it feels like to have an invisible illness:

But You Don't Look Sick

Magazine Holder

Hello kittens! It's been a while since a crafty post, but I have been crafting away with my little ones at Y Care.  School is over now for the summer, but I have lots of pics to share with you.  This is one, and there will be more to come!

Take this ugly magazine/periodical holder:

And turn it into this:

I must say, looking at that brown cardboard thing (and its cousin, not pictured, equally hideous white with red cross hatch) made me want to fall asleep.  What to do? We could have painted it, but that seemed boring.  We could have stickered it, but that would be too kitschy.  Finally, I decided to bestow upon my charges the awesomeness of Mod Podge.  

Supplies:

-Magazine holder

-Brightly colored paper

-Mod Podge

-Foam brush

Time:

Varies; as little as 10 minutes (plus drying time), or as long as you want

Steps:

1.Gather brightly colored paper and ugly as death magazine holder.  Slather the surface of the cardboard with Mod Podge using the foam brush.

2. Place the first section of paper (mine was the yellow) and press down, eliminating the bubbles.  Continue with each additional section until done.

3. Cover the whole thing with a coat of Mod Podge.  Let it dry.

4. Behold your awesome new magazine holder! Be prepared for dozens of questions: "How'd you DO that?" He he he.

 

Tips:  

First, measure and mark horizontal lines for later guidance.  

Start with the lightest color first, layering the shades by light to dark.

Wrap corners like a Christmas present wrapping to avoid bunching.

My Goodness, Where Has All The Time Gone?

Hello readers,

I have participated in dozens of swaps and have blogged about almost none.  My bad!  I'm going through a load of personal laundry right now, so I'll blog when I feel like it again.  Could be a week.  Could be a month.  Definitely this summer, though.

Hugs,
Jenny

Today Was A Good Day

I am truly blessed to have such a good friend as J!  Check out her blog at Just Another Anonymous Witch.  Today she sent me this gigantic box of goodies.  And it was wrapped like a ninja.  I told her she should wrap for the secret service, lol.

Here is everything she sent me in one teeny-tiny-ninja-wrapped box.

A beautiful journal with one of those magnetic closing covers.

Cupcake cuteness inside.

 

Pretty note inside almost made me cry!

She MADE me this necklace. And two turquoise stones came along for the trip.  Awesome!

A super thoughtful coupon.

A purpley purse for all my purple purse needs.

A crap-ton of stamps for crafting.

2 nail polishes, and some makeup samples.

Squee!!! Pens in my favorite colors, pink and turquoise!

A box of stationery.

A totally uplifting book.

Inside the book.

Love you, Jen!

She knows I hate scary stuff.

This purple shirt, no joke, I have been wanting for 2 years. I even have the magazine ad clipping to prove it...somewhere. 

In addition to my bff's awesomeness, I had some postcard stuff too, today.

Here's some of what I sent out:

Here's one I got in return.

PLUS, my 4 year anniversary with my husband was yesterday.  Here's the card he got me.

Bahaahahahaaaaaa

 And Mother's Day is tomorrow, so he got me a Dog Mom card.

Inside:

See? Today was a good day.