Babysitter's Club Part 2

Well, we made our official announcement; the Babysitter’s Club is a go!! We’ll have to come up with a name for it, so we’re not getting hit with any kind of copyright infringement.

We are starting from the ground up, so make sure to stay tuned to see how we build it. I have yet to figure out all the nuts and bolts of how we are going to run our babysitter’s club, but I definitely have some ideas.

First, we started with a series of videos that my daughter and I made both for the families and the babysitters. Here is the first one. I also have a form I created specifically with the Family Information, which you can see here, so that babysitters have as much information as possible, hopefully insuring a successful babysitting job, and the kids staying safe in their care. Some thoughts I have:

1) Have an application for both the families and the babysitters. Nothing too crazy, just so that we have as much info as possible. We’re keeping this to our local area, so for the most part, we’ll be dealing with people we know already.

2) Introduce each new babysitter with a video introduction. I think having the girl’s mom introduce her would be really cool. Something I really want to do is show that these girls are kids too, so that hopefully parents that are looking for babysitters can hopefully realize that this could one day be their little girl.

3) I will probably set up a separate page for the girls, where they can get information about our once/month meeting, post questions, concerns, etc, but I will have all the girls and perhaps even their moms in the parent group.

4) Logistics: I think I will have parents put their requests on the parent group page, and then I will send that off to the girls’ page, where they can respond if they are available. I am still trying to decide if this should be a first come, first serve scenario, but I will have to see how that goes.

5) Monthly meetings: I am contemplating having monthly dues to help cover materials. I want to create a monthly craft, offer training, I am even looking to set-up a CPR class for the girls (this would be at a separate cost though), and probably even mentorship through this meeting time. The only way I can think to cover those costs is to have monthly dues.

6) I am also contemplating a monthly dues or subscription for the parents. I haven’t decided here though. I know I am offering a very important service, and I could keep the fee very low, but I’m not sure that I want to take it that way for now. I suppose if I start doing more, and it grows, I may need to. I guess we’ll see.

Anyways, like I said, I don’t have everything figured out yet. I will cross that bridge when I get there.

Babysitter's Club Part 1

Here is a video to go with my blog post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl_74tXmfww

I am feeling quite nostalgic right now. I remember reading the Babysitter’s Club books and thinking how smart, organized and fun those girls were; wishing that I could start my own club like that. Well, I finally get to do it.

This stemmed from a need; the ability to feel comfortable referring a babysitter to a family, and vice versa, feeling equally comfortable with recommending a family to a babysitter. Now that I have the babysitter, and am not just looking for one for my own children, it has brought a completely different side of the coin to light. I don’t want to refer anyone, on either side-babysitter or family without knowing that it is going to be a good situation. There’s just too much at stake!!

So, I am going to keep this pretty simple. I will let you guys know how I’m going to run it soon. But I do know a couple of things that me and B are going to do: 1) We’re going to plan a once a month meeting with training, crafts that they can do with kids, and a chance to talk with their friends specifically about what did and didn’t work; 2) B and I are going to do a video series both to families and to babysitters with information and tips for both sides.

I am sharing this, to communicate what we are doing with B’s clients, so they can feel very comfortable with whom I refer, but also for my viewers. Perhaps you can start one as well. If you have noticed that there is a need in your area, this could be a great outreach and opportunity for fellowship and networking. Whether you have a teenager in your life you are trying to help, or you have children you need a good list of babysitters for, this could be a great option for either scenario.

Live your Life: Quick Cleaning Routine, so you can enjoy your LIFE!!

Ha!! I was playing a game with my kids and a dear friend called Truth Be Told.  You pull a card and everyone has to guess which response YOU wrote. So, I got a card that said, “Truth Be Told, on a Saturday morning I mostly look forward to…” The responses everyone put were sleep (yes, but my body really only lets me sleep until about 9am anymore anyways), budgeting (ok. I actually wrote this one. I know, budgeting? I can’t help it, whether it’s our budget or someone else’s that I am helping out with, I really love budgeting, and often times wake up with my best ideas on Saturday mornings for budgets. LOL), getting coffee (this one is good, and since I have Alex with me on Saturday mornings, I really do enjoy our Saturday mornings at Starbucks). But here’s the kicker, and the point of this entire pose. One of them said CLEANING!!! I mean really?

I remember when my son was little, he also told me that he thought I loved to clean. Now to be fair to them, I usually do have us doing some cleaning and projects around the house on Saturdays, because that’s the best day to get things done. 

IT IS true that I enjoy a clean house. I am definitely not OCD about it though. Anyone who has visited could attest to that. We usually have tools out for projects and craft projects that are being worked on linger for a couple of weeks. I find that I can focus better when my house is clean. It gives me a serene feeling when I can sit on my cozy couch, sip my coffee, and enjoy my surroundings.

But to think that I LOVE cleaning, they’re crazy!!! No, I like the result. Anyways, I have recently completely revamped my weekly routine to help me with having a clean home, with little effort, and I thought I would share. It actually came from this episode of Deals on the Live Well Network, but I have tweaked it to fit our lifestyle, getting a little cleaning done through out our normal routines, and then doing a focused task each evening after work.

Daily:
Wash Dishes: Everyone in my household now does their own dishes rather than letting them pile up in the sink. If the dishwasher is dirty, they put them in there, if it’s clean then they wash them by hand and put them on the towel to air dry. I wash all the dishes from breakfast, lunch and dinner right away every day, and they go on the towel to air dry. I do try to have the dishwasher emptied, and hand washables put away every day. The kids do this.

Wipe Counters

Shine Sink: (this is a FLYLADY step)

Put things where they belong: This is probably the most difficult for all of us. We’re used to bad habits of  coming in and putting things on the table, leaving shoes everywhere, or leaving bathroom laundry on the floor.

Make Bed: I already do this, as I like my bed to be made, but I do need to get my kids in this habit.

Mail: Mike says to put mail somewhere till you process it later. I process my mail daily. It’s just a habit I’m in.  It takes 2 seconds.  I put things to be filed in one place, and have my shredder right next to that.  Then it's just a matter of putting the envelopes in the recycling bin.

Spray Shower & Squigee: Mike didn’t include this, but I made this homemade shower daily spray, because I don’t want to have to scrub the shower too often…yeah I’m lazy that way!!


Weekly:
MONDAY: Kitchen Day. I am completely following the show on this, cleaning out my refrigerator for snacks or lunches, and just cleaning.

TUESDAY: Bathroom day. I tend to do a quick wipe down every day anyways as soon as I’m done with my morning routine, so this will just be deep cleaning stuff for me.

WEDNESDAY: Laundry day. I am going to follow the show on this too. My kids do their own laundry, so it’s really just mine, Alex’s and any house laundry, such as kitchen towels, bathroom towels, etc. Doing it every week all the way through- meaning clean, fold and actually putting it away- should really help to keep the pile from getting out of control.

THURSDAY: Paper Day. This is the day for me to make sure the budget is written out for the next month, write any checks, file, reconcile my checkbook registry, clean out my e-mail queue on my computer (I do this regularly on my phone, but ignore my computer), and making sure there are no major paper piles around the house.

FRIDAY: Pick up Around the House. This is just to tidy, sweep, dust (something I rarely do), and vacuum around the house; the details.

This may seem like a lot, but I have to say that I have already found that doing this once a week, really keeps the work load light. It pretty much stays clean, and I just take care of detail stuff, working through a couple of the detailed items from the FLYLADY zone lists each week will also allow me to have the stuff I would want to hire a MAID for done.

This has been a great change!!  I am loving the results!!  It is my goal to get cleaning done in around an hour each day, allowing me to focus on the areas of life I DO enjoy.  

Office/Craftroom Project Part 1

I have finally started my Office/Craftroom Project!! It has been waiting since we moved in, in February. And as most spaces with undefined purposes tend to do, it was really piling up the mess!! I decided to share my before photos and the process I go through to get where I want it. Hopefully, this will be an encouragement for anyone else who has been procrastinating on any of their big projects. With no further ado, here are my before pics:

As you can see, it is going to be quite the process. No matter, I am taking this bull by the horns, and starting my fight. I got paper, tape, and a sharpy, and started categorizing all the stuff lurking in my space:

Let the work Begin. I will check in as I go to let you know how it is going. Back to work for me!!

Garage Sale Projects!!

I was able to go garage selling with some great ladies this weekend. Because of that, I was able to redo my lime green wall, adding more to it!! Yay!! It feels much more complete now.

Amongst my many finds, I found this perfect, behind the couch, table. I'm actually going to use it as our dining table though, because we don't have a dedicated area for eating, so this is perfect since it won't take up too much space. The best part was painting it though. Here's what I did:

I drew my design on freezer paper, and cut that out. Then I ironed (on a very low setting) the paper onto the table. I then silver leafed the design using the silver leaf adhesive and silver leaves. It was fun to work with.

I have several more projects underway, and will show them once they are done. Thanks for stopping by.

Decoupaged Bike!!

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Step 1
Take bike apart completely (I had my hubby do this, as it seemed too complex to me)

Step 2
Decide which parts you want covered with fabric; use those parts to help measure out the width and length of your strips (Do this along with step 3 as you go. This way you don’t have to try to remember where each strip goes on the bike).

Step 3
With a foam brush, cover back of fabric with mod podge, and cover the corresponding bike part with mod podge. Lay the fabric on the bike part, playing with it as you put it on. Use your fingers to get out any air holes.

Step 4
Once you have covered the bike parts you want covered, spray all decoupaged parts with 2-3 coats of sealant, allowing it to dry in between each application. You may want more layers; I am finding that I might not mind a few more myself. So, just cover it until you get the desired effect.

Step 5
Put bike back together.

Last Step
Enjoy your beautiful new bike!!!

SOCK MONKEYS!!!

We finally finished our sock monkey gifts, so I can share them!! Yay!! This started out as a project to do with the kids, and we ended up liking how simple and cute they are, so we decided to make them for our nephews and niece. I love the way they turned out. Now we just have to finish the monkeys our kids started.

We got the instructions online, and I will post them below. The socks were purchased at Target for $2, and everything else we had on hand, except the stuffing, which only cost about $5 for the bag. Making this a very inexpensive project!!

Here are the instructions:

Modern Sock Monkey Pattern

Materials:
1. One Pair Original Rockford Red Heel ® socks.
2. Stuffing - use Eco craft or polyester fiberfill (will need approx 6-8 oz)
3. Red knitting yarn (optional)
4. Sewing thread, embroidery thread, 2 buttons (optional)
Sock Monkey Instructions:
Turn both socks inside out.
Body:
Sew a seam on both sides of the center of one sock starting three inches from the white heel, curving across the end of the top.
Cut sock between seams and to within 1 1/2 inches of white heel. This leaves an opening in the crotch.
Then turn sock so seams are inside and use crotch opening to stuff head, body and legs. Hand stitch to close gap.
Arms:
Cut the upper part of the second sock into 2 pieces. Seam, rounding ends and stuff the arms. Attach to the body by hand.
Mouth:
Cut the heel from the sock, leaving a brown edge around the white.
Fasten on lower part of the face by hand-stitching around the bottom; stuff and finish sewing around the top.
The mouth can be enhanced by embroidering a running stitch in either black or white across the middle of the lips.
Tail:
Cut a one inch strip on front of sock, tapering to end of toe.
Seam, stuff and attach to body by hand.
Ears:
Cut the ears from remaining brown part on the sole of the sock. Attach to head by hand.
Eyes:
Sew on moving eyes, buttons, felt or embroider eyes with black thread.
(For very small children embroider eyes).
Cap: (Optional)
Cut off toe of another sock sock, leaving 1/2 inch of brown to roll for a brim. Sometimes a fez is used for a cap.
There are many variations from this basic pattern. Decorations such as pompoms, yarn, bells can be added. Jackets, vests, pants, skirts and shoes are also used for clothing.

Byanca's Jewelry Holder

Today, Byanca and I made these two great jewelry holders for her. We got the frames at Goodwill, painted them orange, then added these cool paper backgrounds. We then attached the wire mesh, and screwed in the hooks. Lastly, we added some bling, and Voila! We were done! They Look Fantastic!

To Paint or Not To Paint? That is my Question!

I recently (ok, 3 months ago) purchased this great "Credenza"(said in my most flamboyant speaking) at the Re-Store. I really like it as it is, however I also think I'd love it in a very bold color!

I tend to do a lot of black furniture, so I probably wouldn't do that. I was thinking "VaVa Voom Red" would be fabulous!! Anyways, I was hoping for some second opinions, and would appreciate any input I receive. Thanks in advance.

P.S. I know the pictures aren't that great, but its what I've got...

Random Doodle

Another purse!

Admittedly, this purse is pretty much like the other one, except the color is different, and because I knew what I was doing it took me a lot less time to make. I figured I'd show it anyways.

Unusual Knitting Bag!!

Upcycling is awesome! I saw the idea of upcycling old magazines to make a really pretty purse on someone's blog not that long ago, and unfortunately I can't remember where I saw it. Anyways, I really wanted to give it a try. Tomorrow, is one of my friend's birthday, and her daughter mentioned that all her knitting stuff ended up spilling out at the beach over spring break and getting all wet. That is when the light turned on. I could make her a knitting purse.

Amazingly, I designed the pattern from a paper grocery bag. I had a couple of game board boxes sitting around because we reorganized our board games, getting rid of all the boxes. I demolished one and duct taped it together to make it fit in the bottom giving it a really strong bottom. More upcycling for ya!

My kids slaved for me to cut out these little squares from brochures of things to do around Oregon and Washington. Yet again, more upcycling! I covered that with vinyl. The seams are covered by purple duct tape. The handles are simply thin rope that I twisted different colored duct tape around, and I braided them together. I glue gunned those on, and covered those seams with purple duct tape hearts, which is fitting since this purse was made with love.

The features of this purse are a couple of pockets, a place for long knitting needles, grommets in the front of the purse to run your thread through, and really cute details. I love it! It's definitely not perfect, but I learned a lot from it, and I'm excited to possibly do some more, and I'll be able to fix those things next time.

So, here's another old project. I'm kind of bummed. I thought we had gotten pictures before we put the guitars, and family picture over it. Oh well. I was really inspired by the color scheme on one of my hubby's t-shirts, and a sermon that had been done pretty close to when I did this about different way's to worship God, and how everything we do in life is a way of serving God. Anyways, I wanted to portray that in this piece of art. There are a few things you probably cannot make out easily on here, and perhaps I will take closer pics at a later time. First, I used the little sign people (you know, the ones on the men's and women's bathroom doors in public places) to portray a few different ways to worship. On the top left I have a band playing, next to that I have a skate boarder doing a sequence of tricks. In the top right corner, I have someone praying, and getting down on his knees, and in the bottom right corner, I have a ballering doing a sequence of dance moves. I also have 1 Corinthians 10:31 (just the verse reference) written on there. You should look it up-it sums my picture up perfectly. And then a couple random items: tattoos, stars, "Praise God", paint splatters, etc.

Oh, yeah, so I suppose you would probably like to know how I made it. It's the same as the table I made in my kitchen. I double layered a couple of Ikea boxes, free-handed the shape, cut it out with a boxing knife, and taped it together with masking tape. I hear using box tape from the U-haul company works the best, but I used what I had on hand, and it worked just fine. I probably wouldn't use duct tape, or clear packing tape as they wouldn't give the same painting texture. Then it took a couple coats of the grey for my background, and I just painted what I wanted.

There were a couple of things to note about this project. One, when working with a piece of this magnitude, the box did have some tendency to try to warp. I didn't worry about this too much, because I knew that once I nailed it to the wall, it would take on the shape I wanted it to. Also, it seemed best to paint the background color in sections. Otherwise, this really was a simple project, and its another great alternative to adding color on the walls when you're not supposed to. Hope you enjoy!!

Projects

We use so many carseats in America, and my daughter grew out of hers. I can't legally sell it, and I can't donate it to a second hand shop, and I really don't want to just throw it away. So, I had to figure out what to do with it. My son had been sitting in it to play his PSP already, and it made me think about all those chairs at the stores with the speakers that they can plug their MP3 players into.

I took duct tape and went right over the fabric and padding, and did a weave with the colors. I'm going to put speakers in the side, and make it so they can hook their games and MP3 players into it.

Sorry the pics not that great, perhaps I'll load another after I get the speakers in.

Peacock Feather Headband

Well, here I go. I'm starting this blog to share all my ideas, and thoughts. We'll see how things go. Here is one of my craft projects. I made one for Naomi, one for Victoria, and one for myself.
I don't know if anyone will even look at this, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to enjoy having a place to put stuff. For those who do see this-I hope you enjoy!!