Oh how the time flies; My little kids are growing up.

You have probably noticed my absence from Small Fry for a while.  Well life is keeping me busy and I am trying to find as much joy in it as possible.  Plus there is just a lot going on and my days are jammed packed usually.  I might be absent from here a lot for a few GREAT reasons.

Reason #1: Small Fry starts Kindergarten next week.  I am beyond excited to have a kid in school.  I have loved school my whole life and now I get to experience it from the parents side and I know there will be ups and downs and joys and frustrations and I can't wait to have it all.  I think I was born to be a school mom.  I hope Small Fry and her school can keep up with my excitement.  She is ready.  I am excited to see how she grows over the year.  Today she did all kinds of things she hasn't done before.  She said, "I guess I am just ready to be a Kindergartener."  I couldn't agree more.  I know most moms are super sad when this day comes, and maybe I will shed some tears...I don't know but for now I am just excited.

Reason #2: My little pumpkin is going to get to be a part of mommy preschool.  Our town does not offer the kind of preschool I want for my kids so guess what?  I am doing my own.  6 little 4 year olds at my house a couple times a week for a couple of hours.  I am thrilled to be doing this.  It means I get to do all the fun things I want to do but would be too much work for only 1 kid.  She is thrilled to have friends come over a few times a week and teaching preschool has always been a dream.  Ever since I did my internship as part of my college degree (which is where I met one of my best friends and nearly changed my major) I have wanted to do something with preschool.  Now I get my chance.  It isn't anything super formal or fancy but it will be so fun.  Can't wait.  

 and Reason #3: this little guy turns 1 in a few weeks, has started walking and is into EVERYTHING plus he loves to be held.  He keeps me VERY busy.  And he continues to bring so much joy to our family.  If he is awake, mommy is not getting much done.

On top of all of that I have a booth for our local Melon Days celebration, a super fun "Handsome Monster" party to prepare for my little man's 1st birthday and my mom is coming to visit, not to mention tomatoes to can, pickles to make and a million zucchini's to use up.  I am not saying I am done with Small Fry (because I am sure there will be cute things that I want to keep sharing), I am just saying if you don't hear from me for days or weeks at a time, there are many GREAT reasons for it.  I am just busy living life.

Back To School Wreath

My Small Fry is starting Kindergarten in a few weeks and we are both beyond excited.  I am not excited because she will be gone, and I will only have 2 to wrangle most of the day (though that does have plenty of perks) but I am excited because I have ALWAYS LOVED SCHOOL.  As a little girl I played school more than anything else.  I even asked for a photocopier as a gift so that I could more easily make the assingments for my pretend students.  I love shopping for school supplies.  I always wanted to be a teacher and loved the 5 years I got to do it (well okay... let's be honest...I hated the last year because I was pregnant and miserable and didn't have my heart in it at all).  I love the smell of new crayons.  I love the idea of getting to be a SCHOOL MOM (which I know may or may not loose it's charm down the road).  I can't wait to pack lunches, hang up projects, volunteer at school and prepare after school snacks.  I am sure all you vetran moms are rolling your eyes thinking, "oh how fast you will get a grip lady" but for now at least I am just super excited about school.  And Small Fry is too.  She is smart and she loves friends and I think/hope she will just absorb every bit of new information she possibly can (and hopefully not drive the teacher crazy by correcting everything she says and does wrong).  

Well I know that school isn't quite starting but the store shelves are being lined with school supplies and I can hardly steer my cart away from them and since we are in the midst of school clothes shopping and my husband, who teaches school, is getting his classroom ready, the energy of a new school year is in the air around here and I just had to celebrate by making a "Back to School" wreath for our door. 

I did a lot of Internet searching for ideas for back to school wreaths but I wanted something really unique and not necessarily plastered with pencils, scissors and glue.  After seeing a book page wreath I got the inspiration to use loose leaf (is that even still in existence...seems like such an antiquated word) as the background for this wreath.  

 What I did was used a embroidery hoop as my base and then balled up sheets of loose leaf.  To hold them together I drizzled hot glue on the center of each sheet and then bunched it up (just like you would if you had made a mistake and were going to throw the paper away).

 I then glued these onto the base.  After doing one layer all around I decided that it needed more depth and added a second layer of loose leaf sheets.  If you think about this, it is really inexpensive, especially right now with school supplies being on sale.  And you can pick up an embroidery hoop at pretty much any thrift store if you don't have one already on hand.

Here is how it looks with 2 layers-I love it.

 For decorations I wanted to keep it pretty simple.  I used mini chalkboards to write the words on.

 For the apples I got my inspiration from no biggie and made a pretty similar version of their paper apple except I used a piece of a tree branch for the stems (hot glued to the back).

 I love how it turned out and it was so easy.  Small Fry was so excited for a school thing on the door, except that she reminded me that she hasn't ever gone to school so how can she be going "back to school."  Smart alec.

Just in time for school to start, you could totally whip this up in an hour or less.  It would be perfect for your front door or for a teachers door for that matter.  Doesn't it just put you in the mood for school?

Also shared here:

Get Your Crap Together Back To School Pattern Pack Review

I am happy to be a part of Get Your Crap Together's Back to School Bus Tour.  Thanks for stopping by.  Today I wanted to share with you some fun and cute back to school projects I made using the patterns from the Back to School Pattern Pack by Get Your Crap Together.  I chose to make the backpack sack, the crayon roll and the snack bag but the pattern pack has 9 different easy patterns to make including a lunch bag, art kit, sandwich bag and pencil pouch.  

 For the crayon roll I used waterproof fabric from Wholeport.  I made the crayon roll to hold our dry erase crayons and using the waterproof fabric makes it extremely easy to wipe clean.  And because I used this fabric I made it a tiny bit different and didn't have to enclose any seams.  I just pinked all the edges (though the fabric doesn't unravel).  The pattern was really easy to follow and super simple.  I made 2 in a matter of 10 minutes.

 I did a church quiet book making party at my house and showed them all my wipeable crayon roll and every mom loved it.

 I also made a snack bag using the same kind of waterproof fabric.  It is also super simple to whip up.  I wanted mine to have a very secure closure so I added extra Velcro to help it stay closed. There was also no need to enclose the seams on this using the waterproof fabric.  Super Simple.

 For the backpack sack I lined my sack to make it a bit more durable.  We are going to use them (I made one for each of my girls) for church bags and there are usually a lot of books involved so I wanted them to be really sturdy.  I love how the backpack sack has the outside pocket to help keep track of smaller items. And it is the perfect size for my girls.

I was really impressed with how fast and easy all of these projects were.  They would be great for school, church, birthday gifts, sleepovers, and the list goes on.  There are some really fun patterns included in the Back to School Pattern Pack.  Thanks so much Get Your Crap Together

Want to check out what other crafty bloggers have done with the pattern pack, this Bus Tour link button will take you where you need to go.

"Sweet As...." The Girl Series of Up-Cycled T-shirt Bibs

Lest you think that the only thing I know how to do these days is throw things way, I thought I had better put a crafty post up just to make sure that you know that I still know how to strut my crafty stuff.  I just got finished with my girl series of up-cycled T-shirt bibs: The "Sweet as....." series.  I love the bright colors.  I love how they all turned out (you know how some things just look better when you take their picture).  On these ones I sewed all the details in white because the appliques all required multiple layers and it would have just been impossible to continually switch the thread.  Here is a closer look at each.

Cotton Candy

Chocolate Cupcake

Watermelon

Strawberry

Popsicle (cherry flavored of course).

 In case you missed the first series (the "Hungry as...." boys series) check it out here for a tutorial on how to make these easy and adorable t-shirt bibs.  

Now what little girl wouldn't look SWEET in these?

Also shared here:

http://whipperberry.com/2013/08/friday-flair-link-party-wocave-update-features-no-6.html

My Quest For Less: The Myth, "You can never have too many"

I was a firm believer in the phrase, "You can never have too many___________".  Extra plastic bags, plastic bins, reusable shopping bags, cardboard boxes, pencils, blankets, sheet sets, socks, girls headbands.....the list goes on and on.  I was sure that you could never have too many of these things.  Now as I am trying to minimize the amount of stuff I have I realize that, "you can never have too many_______" is a myth and a clutter creator.  Here is how I learned that.  On day 1 of my quest for less, when I was just fed up with stuff everywhere and had hit a breaking point where I was really ready to part ways with a HUGE amount of STUFF I had been storing, I realized as I got rid of a bunch of it, that while it is nice to have some of these things on hand, there will be plenty of opportunities down the road to find these items again.  For example-reusable shopping bags.  They are handy, I love them, I have a huge stash in the van to use when I shop and I have a huge pile hanging on a hook in the house and when I go to some thrift stores there is always a bin saying, "free" filled with reusable shopping bags.  Why do I need to store 30 shopping bags?  I will get one free when I stop and do the Pepsi challenge outside the supermarket.  I will get one free when I sign up for insurance at the beginning of the school year.  I can pick one up at the thrift store next time I am there if I really need one.  I DON'T HAVE TO STORE A 2 YEAR SUPPLY OF SHOPPING BAGS.  You most certainly can have enough shopping bags.  The same goes for a shirt you are saving as a painting shirt.  How many opportunities will come along to ruin a shirt and therefore turn it into a painting shirt.  Do you need to have a drawer of, "ugly, no good shirts to use for painting?"  NO!!!  Socks; I thought a drawer full of socks was wonderful.  But guess what, a drawer full of socks is a pain in the rear end.  Folding and sorting and keeping all those things in their place.  A pack of 8 pairs to use and wear out, followed by a new package of 8 pairs seems much more logical to me.  I mean socks are easy to come by.  The stores aren't going to run out of socks.  My aunt gives everyone a pair of socks every time she sees them, we will have plenty of chances to get new socks.  I don't need to personally store 25+ pairs of socks.  Lastly, baby blankets.  When I was pregnant for the first time everyone always said, "Oh you can never have enough baby blankets" and I believed them.  I mean what did I know, and they are all so soft and cute and cuddly and I kept every single one I got.  And guess what?  You really can have too many baby blankets.  What I ended up with was 2 baskets of blankets, a tub under the crib of blankets and the cute ones hanging on the sides of the crib.  I was constantly juggling blankets.  I felt like I had to use them all and so I was always swimming in blankets.  Then I had another baby and I got MORE and then I had another baby and I GOT MORE.  Believe me, you don't need this many blankets.  They are so nice, they are thoughtful, they are warm and fluffy and cute.  But too many becomes a hassle and overwhelming-rather than being helpful.  And when you have a baby shower, guess what you are going to get?  MORE BLANKETS.  Now burp cloths, well I still believe you can't have too many of those-especially if you have a spitty baby.  

There are some things that I think are nice to have in large amounts: ziplock bags, paper clips, hair elastics for kids, toilet paper and paper towels and paper bags (just cause I am a nut and love them) just to name a few.  But I am now realizing that it is better to ask myself, "is this the only opportunity I will have to get this item or will the chance come along again?"  And if it will come along again then maybe I don't need to have a bunch of it, just for the sake of having it.  There are things that you can have too much of, just ask anyone who is trying to declutter.  

My Quest For Less: Will I Still Feel This Way In The Morning?

So the first couple of days in the "quest for less" were pretty intense.  When I unleashed the desire to get rid of stuff I couldn't stop.  At the end of day 1 I dreamed all night about throwing things away.  I woke up in the morning as energized to do it again as I was the day before...almost too energized.  Day 2 was pretty crazy.  I felt like a pitching machine-going through the house getting rid of things left and right.  I kept saying to myself, "this is going to make us happier" but as day 2 came to a close I realized that I pretty much ignored my kids and grudgingly did all my other duties, because I was so focused on reducing.  I had to reel it in a bit, or I knew that I was going to defeat our whole purpose of being happier.  In the days since I worry when I wake up that the desire to reduce is going to be gone-that I will have peaked and fizzled out completely.  But as I get up and get going and pray, I am happy to report that the feeling continues to come and I feel like it is okay to let go of things for another day (some days more and some days less).  

Right now I have been tackling the "easy to get rid of" items.  These are things, that for me, have been begging to be reduced long ago but I just haven't stopped and taken the time to do it.  In one morning I eliminated 2-plus garbage bags of stuff to sell, donate or just plain throw away-that was an amazing feeling.  Here are a few things I tackled first.

1. The fridge door.  Seriously was begging to be organized but I thought it was evidence of me being in the midst of motherhood to have it covered in clutter.  I tossed every tiny magnet that was useless to hang up anything, plus all the advertisement ones that I hate.  I put all the announcements/invitations in one spot, took off all the old pictures and tossed the artwork that had been there for too long.  It still is not bare but man it looks a million times better and seriously took 5 mins.

2. My drawers.  Do you do this: I pull out a shirt, I put it on, I HATE IT, and then I put it back in the drawer (or closet).  Then I repeat the same thing again later.  I do this because I either think it will look good another day or I realize I don't have much to choose from and so I better keep it just in case.  But I never wear it.  So I quickly downsized a couple of drawers and got rid of those "never wear" items and a few old and worn out things that I was keeping for camping or outside work in the fall (like a chance to obtain another one of those kind of shirts will never come along again).

3. My kitchen utensils.  Well that was long overdue too.  How many wooden spoons does a kitchen need?  I would like to know how many Martha has-probably way too many I am guessing.  That was also a quick fix-save 4 favorites (in different styles and sizes) and donate the rest.  Easy and less cluttered.

4. Trinkets and treasures.  This category includes happy meal toys, the little handouts from library story time, dollar store items that were a reward for being good during a shopping trip, bits of paper, stickers...just the bits and pieces that kids collect.  Man a good clean sweep of a few bins, cupboards and shelves and things look much better.  The thing about this kind of crap stuff is that plenty more will come along so kids usually don't even know it is gone.  

5. The kids play food.  This was much needed.  I had taken half of it away months ago because it was everywhere, all of the time.  I finally decided to bite the bullet and separate it all into categories, keep some and sell the rest.  It was a 10 min project and I went from a huge bag and 2 bins full to just 2 bins full, but not overflowing.  When I spread it all out I realized how many duplicate items we had that were unnecessary and how many little trinkets had crept their way into the play food.  We had way more than the girls needed.  In the end when they saw the 2 bins they were so excited to see some of the food they had forgotten they had (cause it was in the basement for so long) and they didn't miss a thing. 

There is still so much more to go.  Sometimes I feel like, "this will just be so nice when it is over" and then I realize that reducing will probably never be over because stuff creeps in so fast.  I have seconded guessed myself lots and fight feelings of guilt all the time but I feel so great about this goal that I don't want to stop.  I am worried that I may be offending family (since not a single one...except my brothers wife, have commented in any way about the idea).  I don't know if they are thinking that I am just throwing away things they have given me left and right or what, but I just want to say this isn't about throwing away gifts (and it doesn't mean that I don't ever want anything again).  This is about looking at our life and deciding what things are going to help us and bring us joy and which things are no longer doing that, or taking up too much space or adding stress or clutter.  And I guess if they don't like it then I will know when the next gift giving occasion comes around and they don't offer anything and I guess if that is the case we will be fine because I really am realizing that we can be happy with so much less than we have now.

My Quest For Less

A while ago (2009) I wrote this post about my need for less at Christmas and now here I am 4 years later to begin sharing my journey to less-and this time I am getting serious.  I don't know if you would call it becoming a minimalist, or downsizing, dejunking, clearing clutter, super organizing or what exactly, but all I know is that I am on a mission to reduce.  Like I wrote in the first post 4 years ago I have always felt this underlying desire to have less but to try and embrace a lifestyle of less is totally out of character for me.  I mean I am a toilet paper tube hoarding, repurposing junkie.  I can hardly throw an empty box away without visions of "what it could become" flashing through my mind.  I am the daughter of a super frugal mother who saved every little thing and repurposed way before it was even cool.  This is the woman who has a box in her basement labeled, "shirts to cut up as rags."  I mean who needs to save shirts to cut as rags; there will always be shirts to cut up as rags.  But that is just the kind of woman she is.  I am the daughter, the niece and the granddaughter of a generation of wonderful people who were born and raised during the depression who never threw anything away and who never really had anything anyway.  And now here I am feeling like chucking blankets, sheets, pillows, spatulas, plates, tupperware etc and I am not sure where that is coming from and I am not sure how it will resonate with my family and those I love but the feeling is there.  I don't know what has suddenly brought on this desire with hurricane force, but I KNOW it is what I (my family too) need to do.  I don't know how it will be manifested in my life, because I have a lot of very sentimental things and I have a lot of very sentimental things that I hope to inherit and I have a major crafting passion which comes with a lot of stuff and I love thrift stores and yard sales and the idea of transforming junk into treasures.  So I don't know how it will all play out.  But I am going to do it.  I have a friend who's family is on a journey to becoming minimalists and I would read a few things she would post on Facebook and see stuff she was selling and felt so envious of her ability to get rid of unnecessary stuff.  Yes, that is right, envious of someone who has less than me.  I want that for us.  I want to figure out how to effectively hold onto the treasures, to weed out the unnecessary, to get rid of the clutter and to avoid buying unneeded things.  Everything was solidified in my mind last night when I watched my two girls splash in the newly formed puddle out front with a bucket of old measuring spoons.  They didn't need a bunch of stuff to be happy, they are so happy with little things.  This morning they have played for 2 hours straight with 4 spools of old thread I had bought at a yardsale and didn't have a use for.  They have unwound every last bit and have it spread everywhere and they are so happy.  And guess what, tonight after they go to sleep I will toss it in the garbage and feel free.  That tells me that it is time and it is okay to get rid of some stuff (toys being on the top of the list).  They are imaginative and creative and it is going to be okay.  I was exhausted last night after an afternoon of gathering and downsizing and I slept like a rock dreaming only of getting rid of more.  I was worried I might fizzle out today but the desire still burns strong and I downsized my wooden spoon collection by over half while the bacon cooked for breakfast.  I love how this feels.  This is going to be one wonderful and probably painful and frustrating journey.

Make Monday: Easy Peach Crescent Rolls

 I am going to admit that I pretty much hate having to make breakfast and lunch.  Trying to figure out what to make, the time it takes, the dishes etc.  The biggest of those problems is trying to figure out what to make.  What I usually end up doing it making pancakes or waffles (again) because they are easy and I can't ever think of something else.  Well, in order to combat that problem I decided to come up with a breakfast menu.  Now I used to be one of those people that refused to use a menu because I felt like it was too restricting.  "What if I don't feel like making that" or "what if it no longer sounds good?"  But once I started using a menu for my dinner meals I found that instead of it being restricting it was actually very freeing.  "What do I make for dinner tonight?  Oh let me just look at my menu."  So I decided that I needed to do the same thing for breakfast (and eventually for lunch).  What I did was went through all my recipes, plus added all my usual stand by's and put them into a list.  Then I got a calender and started penciling in recipes-a different one everyday (except cereal , muffins and omelette repeat).  The plan is to go through my list of recipes without repeating until I get through all the recipes, then I will start again.  Now when I start again-some of the recipes won't be repeated (cause they weren't that good) and I will replace those with something new.

So far this has been wonderful-no wondering what to make for breakfast.  The only problem I have run into is that I am not used to prep work for breakfast so I don't always read recipes in enough advance to get things ready and then I am in a pinch to come up with something different.  This recipe is the result of one of those mornings of lack of preparation.  I was supposed to make apple pie fries (which I still want to make because they look so yummy) but I didn't have pie crust ready or bought and so I quickly created an equally delicious breakfast recipe using a can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls that I had on hand.

The recipe:

1 can Crescent Rolls

1 fresh peach

Cinnamon Sugar

2 tbsp melted butter

Frosting:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Begin by preheating your oven to the recommended temperature.  Spray your pan with cooking spray.  Peel a fresh peach and slice into 8 slices.  Sprinkle the peach slices generously with cinnamon sugar.  Open up crescent rolls and separate into 8 pieces.  Place one slice of peach on the wide end of the dough and roll up.  Place in pan.  Repeat with each piece of dough.  Sprinkle all of the crescent rolls with cinnamon sugar and drizzle with melted butter.  Bake according to package directions (they should be nice and golden brown).  Remove from oven and let cool slightly while making the frosting.  The frosting needs to be thin enough to pour but not super runny.  You may need to add powdered sugar or more milk (depending).  Drizzle frosting over the crescent rolls.  Serve while warm.  These are sweet and a bit tangy from the peaches.  The cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top give them a bit of crunch.  Very, very yummy, warm and perfect for breakfast.  A great way to dress up ordinary crescent rolls.

More Up-Cycled T-shirt Bibs

I recently shared these bibs with you and love how many people have pinned them and stopped by to check them out (I would love it even more if some of those people clicked my "follow" box....but I am not going to be picky about it).

I just wanted to share a few more bibs I have added to the collection (this time I added an infant size):

 And I also created these to sell at our local watermelon festival.  These are also made out of up-cycled t-shirts.  I am busy working on the girly set now so stay tuned.

Easy Sleeveless Dress Refashion

In our house we don't do sleeveless.  I am trying to teach my children right from a young age to dress modestly, which in our home, means no sleeveless clothes.  But we get a lot of hand me downs (which I am so grateful for) and often times they include really cute sleeveless sundresses and tank tops.  I let my girls wear these with a t-shirt under them and I think they are so adorable.  But I wanted to create a way to just add a t-shirt already to these cute sleeveless pieces to make them into an "always modest" piece of clothing.   So I came up with a SUPER easy way to turn a dress like this:

into this:

 What you need for this project is your sleeveless item and a t-shirt that coordinates.  It is important to try and keep the sizes similar, so that they fit better.  I found t-shirts that worked at our thrift store.  You are only going to see the top and sleeves so it doesn't even matter if it has a design on it.

What you need to do first is place the t-shirt under the dress or top (how it would look if your child was wearing it).  Pin this in place.

 I pinned along the front of the dress and the back.

 I pinned on the straps on top of the sleeves and under the armpits.

 Next it is important to choose a thread that matches the stitching already on the dress or top.  In this case the stitching was pink so that is what I chose.  Now you need to stitch.  I look for places where I can sew so that the stitches would be hidden.  I stitched along the front just below the top hem.

 Then I stitched under the armpits (only about 2 inches) again just below the hem.  This keeps the sleeve from popping out.

 Then I sewed along the back.  This had a bit of gathering so I stitched just below the last row of gathering stitches.  If your thread matches pretty close then it is really hard to even tell where you did it.

And lastly I sewed along the straps.  I sewed along only one side of the strap (about an inch of stitching) because that is where the stitching was on the dress.  I don't sew along the whole thing because I don't want to completely change the fit of the dress.  Sewing just a few stitches makes everything lay the way it normally would if you were to just wear a shirt under the dress.

 Lastly you will want to cut down the shirt under the dress.  Pull out the t-shirt flat and

 trim so that there are only a few inches hanging down below the lowest stitching that you did.  Because you used a t-shirt then you don't need to worry about it unraveling.  Knit is perfect for projects like this because it doesn't unravel.

 And there you have it.  A really easy, inexpensive fix.  It takes only a few minutes and a sewing machine.  It was so much easier than I expected.  I was able to do this in about 10 minutes.  It is not like it is that hard to wear a shirt under a sun dress or something but now it is a complete and modest outfit and my daughter was excited because it was like something "new" all over again.

 These are the other ones I did quickly one afternoon:

Now there is no need to worry about an outfit that is sleeveless-you can easily turn it into a new, modest, fashion piece.