Camping Hack To Help Your Tent Floor Last Longer

Jul 25, 2017

This is such a great idea for camping!

For my daughter and son-in-laws birthdays (which are really close together) we gave them a tent. It was one of the things on their wedding registry that they were really hoping to get, but didn’t. So, we tucked away the idea for a great birthday gift! It works out especially great since both of their birthdays are in June!

We found a tent we liked but my husband was worried about the review concerning the tent floor being like a tarp and how it might or might not last. To me, it sounded like a normal tent issue. I suspect that the review was written by someone who doesn’t do a lot of camping.

This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience to be able to find similar items to what I am using or like. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

The Tent Camping Hack

I saw this idea for a camping hack to use foam blocks to help your tent floor last longer. Also, so much nicer to walk and sleep on. This is the perfect idea for helping a tent floor last longer. Still needs to be swept out and dried out before being folded and tucked away, but I imagine this would make camping a little sweeter.

We aren’t huge campers and rarely go! I so want to try this!

Then, I saw this amazing wood looking foam blocks on Amazon! I love the idea of going camping with a faux wood floor for my tent! Maybe that is silly, but what is life without a little silliness in it?!

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More camping things I love

These roasting sticks are easy to travel with! They are telescoping and so they condense to being smaller and are easier to pack without being in the way. My only concern might be with younger children who might bend them, but for older kids and adults these are really great!!!

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Camping is always a little better with some conveniences! A camp chef is great cooking things that are harder to do over a fire, like pancakes!
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As a kid, when we would go camping my dad had his Coleman lantern. It was filled with oil to burn. I loved the smell of the lantern and it reminds me so much of camping. However, as an adult I prefer a battery powered lantern. No worries about enough oil, oil being spilled or the lantern tipping over unexpectedly.

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I don’t know about you but the ground is really hard! I prefer a good air mattress or cot!

All this talk about camping makes me want to get up to the mountains!!!

Summer Fun and Sunflower Wreath

May 30, 2017

Supplies for Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath

This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience to be able to find similar items to what I am using. Â I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

The first step to doing any project is to gather all of your supplies.

Steps to put your Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath together

Begin with your burlap ribbon

1st wrap the burlap ribbon around the wreath. Adjust the ribbon to be evenly distributed around the wreath, before gluing. The only part of the ribbon that needs to be glued are the two ends to the wreath and one another. I cut off or removed any sharp sticks/twigs that I worried might scratch the door.

Tie a ribbon around the top, leaving enough room for it to hang on a door hanger.

Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath, make a loop for the wreath to hang from.

Put ribbon around the wreath.

Give a little extra length to your ribbon so you have room to tie it and you can adjust the length.

Leave some extra length, so you have enough to tie it and make a square knot. You can adjust the length when you decide how you want it to hang from your door hanger. Then trim the ribbon ends.

Tie to wreath.

Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath- square knot at the length you want your wreath to hang, leaving a loop to hang from.

Figure out how far down you want it to hang on your door and make a square knot, trim the ends.

Tie your burlap bow to the top by your loop. Use wire to do this; most pre-made bows come with wire already attached.

Next, wrap an ivy garland around the wreath. I wrapped it next to the ribbon, so the ribbon still shows.

At the bottom of the wreath wire your summer items to your wreath.

Wire summer items to your Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath

Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath- wire slide to bottom of wreath

Adding Sunflowers

The bigger sunflowers (at least the ones I had) need to be cut with wire cutters. Leave a little bit of stem to put into the wreath and glue with hot glue. The smaller sunflowers pull apart from the main stem and were easy to glue in place.

Add Embellishments

I glued a little bee to one of the flowers and added a cute little bird that was left over from the Spring Tea Cup craft I did.

It just makes me happy to see this on my door, so bright and inviting.

*In July I removed the wreath to put up one for July. It was a busy day and it got left on the couch. Guess who thought it was just for her!

Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath- Penny takes over

Penny thinks I have made her a pretty place to sit.

Gardens- Personal Mini and Fairy Gardens

May 29, 2017

When we first started homeschooling I thought it would be so much fun to make fairy gardens. My girls didn’t react with much enthusiasm, especially my oldest, who was 11 at the time and never got into really girly things. So, like many other things, we began figuring out what worked best for us.

We created our own mini gardens. At the dollar store, the girls found things they thought would be fun in their own little personal garden. We also tried them in these cute baskets, but even with the peat moss in them, they dried out quickly and only made it through June.

Our First Personal Mini Gardens

Personal Mini Gardens- what works for us!

My oldest daughter made hers into a jungle scene with a hidden treasure.

Personal Mini Gardens- They have their own style!

Daughter # 3 was a Kindergartener when we started homeschooling. She really liked this bird statue and a troll like doll and a seashell which kind of looks like an egg.

Personal Mini Gardens because not every girl likes fairies!

Daughter #2 went for more of a beach scene with a surf board and seashells. She loved hearts and made a heart with rocks and added some other things she really liked.

Personal Mini Gardens- dollar store inspired.

Daughter #4 was only 2 years old so we did this together. A little beach house with a rock lined pathway.

Every year they enjoyed going to the dollar store and finding treasures to put in their personal garden. Then, we would go buy flowers and they would pick out which ones they wanted to use. I thought I had done so good and taken pictures every year, but I hardly took any at all, of their gardens. Wish I could go back in time and take those photos! Luckily the girls took some pictures.

After that first year, we got smart and purchased small planters that would last for several years.

It changed every year and sometimes the figurines would last for multiple years and they could reuse them if they wanted to.

My second daughter always loved the pretty ballerina type figurines to decorate with!

The ballerina figurines were a favorite of daughter #2

Personal Mini Garden- Each child decorates according to their own style.

The gardens change every year and sometimes I let them do the bigger boxes; if they are really inspired.

My personal mini garden- fun things to do

The younger girls have often made gardens for their older sisters who are so busy or off to college.

Personal Mini Gardens- Daughter #4 loves dogs and incorporated that into her garden!

Each garden shows the child’s likes and interests.

They may be a little messy and not fancy, but the girls enjoy doing this, even still!

What they have learned

How to prepare a planter:

You fill the bottom with rocks for good drainage. This is done even if your pot or container doesn’t drain out of the bottom. The water will settle down through the rocks and is better for the plants.

Fill the planter with potting soil.

Put plants in and leave room for them to grow and take up more room and space. The smaller planters don’t hold much, but that is okay.

*When planting a plant from the store you remove it from the plastic container and then break up the roots. Just pull from the middle of the bottom of the root ball with your fingers. This encourages them to grow better and they don’t stay bunched up in the ground/soil.

Personal Mini Gardens- Break up the roots.

Make sure they get watered a couple times a day, especially when it gets hot.

It also sparked some photography interest and they have several pictures of flowers from their gardens.

Personal Mini Gardens- spark interest in photography

She did so good, capturing the water droplets on the petals!

Our Gardens now

My husband has made me a drip system so our gardens last all spring and throughout summer. Last year, we had a problem when the city flushed the system and we suddenly lost a lot of water pressure. By the time we discovered that the problem was a clogged filter, the flowers had nearly died and it was too hot for them to recover.

For Mother’s Day my girls gave me some wonderful Fairy Garden things! I love my little fairy garden and look forward to doing more for my own gardens, now that the girls are nearly grown.

Cleaning Up the Porch

This year we cleaned up the porch and got rid of all the old, broken and faded garden items from the past.

The only one we are still using from past years is the cute ballerina. Hoping the little plant on the right recovers. It snowed after we bought it and before we got it in the pot. Not normally that cold in May!

Happy Planting!

What is your favorite planter idea or tip? We would love for you to leave a garden tip in our comments!

This post contains affiliate links. Links are included to help you find the things I like, use and recommend. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

Spring Umbrella Door Hanger

Apr 18, 2017

I have wanted to make one of these for a couple of years now, but couldn’t find the right umbrella! They either weren’t the right pattern or color and almost impossible to find one with a hook handle!

The trick to doing any craft is to make sure you have the right tools and components for the project.

I found the perfect umbrella at Amazon! #umbrellasarecool

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

(Image is clickable- If you like this umbrella it will take your right to it on Amazon!!!)

I tried to find the original designer of the umbrella door hanger, but there are so many on Pinterest! With that said, I set out to do it my own way, with the help of my hubby!

Materials:

1 umbrella with shepherd’s crook handle

6 bunches of tulips favorite colors to match your color scheme

1 flowering garland

1 spool of ribbon

Floral wire

needle nose pliers

Directions:

I first hung the umbrella on the door to get an idea of how it would hold the flowers and how many I actually needed. It was a little floppy and hard to tie and keep the flowers up.

We laid it on the floor which helped us better arrange the flowers. We made sure the ends of the bunches were tied into the ribbon.

We then realized that it was a little floppy and not holding the flowers where we would like them to be. Sooooo, my hubby took some twist tie material he had but you could use floral wire or clear fishing line, and he tied the umbrella sections together from front to back. This kind of made cute pockets for the flowers to rest in without being floppy!

Then I wove the garland through the flowers. A little wire here and there helps to keep it in place by tying sections of the garland together with the flower bunches.

I tried and tried to tie a decent bow, but I couldn’t get it right. My awesome neighbor is amazing at bow tying and did this one for me!

It turned out so beautifully! We left the wire long from tying the bow to make it easier to tie to the umbrella. this is where we used the needle nose pliers to help tie and twist the bow in place.

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A Cup of Spring for Easter

Apr 14, 2017

I saw this cute round up post on Pinterest of DIY crafts for Easter. It’s number 11 in the round up. When I clicked on the link it took me to a blog that was in a language I don’t recognize and I couldn’t find the craft on her site. I really wanted to make it. . . so, here is what my daughter and I did:

Gathering the materials:

Tea cups
Forks
small fake flowers
moss
little animals and cute things to decorate with
mini Easter eggs
glue gun
hot glue sticks
fishing weights (PEG 6-SZ-1)

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

Why is it every time I find a cute craft to do it is next to impossible to find the right materials to do it?! I searched my local stores for tea cups. I really wanted cute tea cups and no one is carrying them right now. I could find bulky mugs and saucers but I had my heart set on tea cups. I also figured a mug would be harder to balance. I was able to gather flowers, mini eggs, moss and little animals and things from Hobby Lobby, but still no tea cups. Yeah for Amazon! I found these cute tea cups and ordered them. (Picture is clickable and will open in a new tab.)

The steps:

I got forks from Walmart and looked for the cheapest, thinnest forks they had. Our neighbor has a heavy vice and my husband took the forks there and bent them forward about where the tines begin and then approximately 2 inches down the handle he bent the handle backwards. This gives the fork a little bit of a “z” shape.

Using the Hot glue gun we glued the cup to the handle of the fork with the bent part resting on the edge of the cup. Once the glue cooled and it felt stable and secure we glued the tines to the saucer.

***Where you put the fork is important and it will be more stable if the tines are closer to the edge of the plate, like my daughters. (Hers has the fork tines closer to the edge of the plate. You can see it in the photo where she only needs 2 fishing weights.)

I laid it down to work on covering my fork with moss and hot gluing it into place. My daughter, “A” didn’t care if her fork was completely covered.

Then, I turned it over and hot glued more moss to the back of the fork.

I then put the fishing weights onto the edge of the saucer and began gluing them one at a time until it was stable. When all was said and done I needed 5 weights because I put my fork in the center of the saucer. My daughter only needed 2 because she put the tines closer to the edge of the plate and hers was more stable.

Cup of Spring- Craft for Easter or Mother's Day

Mine

Cup of Spring- Easter or Mother's Day Craft Add fishing weights to balance the craft.

My Daughter’s

I then added more moss and decorated the cup to make sure more weights weren’t needed, before decorating the saucer.

Once the cup was the way I wanted it, I decorated the saucer and then the fork handle.

Cup of Spring- Craft for Easter or Mother's Day

Cup of Spring- Craft for Mother's Day or Easter

Cup of Spring- Easter or Mother's Day Craft

They turned out so cute! Perfect craft for Easter or gift for Mother’s Day!

Infinitely Warm With a Fluffy Scarf

Nov 23, 2016

My daughter is going to school in a colder place than where we live. On average, it is 20 degrees cooler where she is than where we are. I found this wonderful, Fluffy Infinity Scarf- free pattern, and thought it would be perfect to help keep her warm! I have been wanting a really nice infinity scarf pattern and this is definitely it! It was fast and easy to put together!

What I Used and Adjustments I Made

I used 3 and 1/2 ish skeins of yarn. I chose the Lion Brand, Wool-Ease, Thick & Quick. It is 80% acrylic and 20% wool. There are 87 yards in one skein. It is machine washable and dryable. (Always a plus!) I used a size “M” hook. However, I made some alterations to the pattern.

*Make sure you check the gauge I had to adjust the pattern because I love the size of the stitches with the “M” hook but my gauge made it huge! The full pattern ran to a full 12 inches! So, I knocked of 10 stitches and had 4 clusters across. So, instead of chaining 32 I did 22ch.

Also, the instructions weren’t clear for row 1. Through trial and error I realized that after the *ch 3- you should then skip 3 ch and then do the DC4tog in the fourth stitch. I didn’t understand that right away in reading the pattern.

It is still thick enough that she can pull part of it up, over her head and keep her ears warm. She wore it out all evening and loved it! It kept her really warm!

I am so tempted to make this into a blanket! It would be so pretty and warm!

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An Afghan for Two-Crochet Project

Oct 24, 2016

An Afghan Made with the Celtic Weave and Celtic Braid

Since learning how to do the Celtic Weave, I have been wanting to make a big warm comfy afghan! I love it! It looks like a big warm sweater! Along the sides of the afghan I did a couple Celtic Braids. This is actually laid out on my California King bed and almost fits the top.

Afghan Directions

I used a size J hook and started with a 269 chain. (I lost track of how many skeins of yarn I used.) The Celtic Weave is made by crocheting with the right side (RS) facing you, ch 2, skip the 1st 3 stitches. Then, around the front post Triple crochet around the next stitch. Fptr around the next stitch. Working in front of the 2 stitches you just made fptr around the second stitch that was skipped, and then in the 3rd skipped stitch. Skip the next 2 stitches. Fptr around the next two stitches. Working in front of the last 2 stitches fptr around each of the skipped stitches. Continue this pattern across and dc in the turning stitch; turn. Next row will be wrong facing (or back of piece) ch 2. back post triple crochet around the second stitch of the row and bptr around the next stitch. skip the next two stitches. Bptr around the next 2 stitches. Working in front of the last 2 stitches, bptr around the 2 skipped stitches.

The Celtic Braid:

Right side row: skip 2 stitches, 2 fptr over next 2 stitches, working in front of stitches just made, fptr in each the skipped stitches, fptr in each of next 2 stitches.

Back side row: skip 2 stitches, bptr over next 2 stitches. bptr in skipped stitches, bptr in next two stitches.

I did one Celtic braid then 2 double crochets and then another Celtic braid and then a lot of Celtic weave between and another Celtic braid, 3 double crochets and another Celtic braid.

The edging:

Reverse shell stitch: Chain 3 to begin the first shell. Dc in same stitch and in the next two stitches. Chain 3, flip your work so you are looking at the back of the 3 stitches you just made. Slip stitch in the top of the original ch 3 you made (at the very beginning before you did any dcs). Ch 1 turn back to the front. The last 3 chains you made will now be across the top of the 3 dcs. Dc 7 times around those 3 chains. Dc in next 3 stitches. Ch 3, flip work, slip stitch around the post of the previous shell. Ch 1 turn to right side. 7 double crochets to make shell; continue around.

Lesson: buy all your skeins of yarn at the same time.

The biggest mistake I made with this afghan is not buying all of the yarn at once. I can see slight differences in the skeins. It is really a bummer! Part of the reason I didn’t realize the slight change in color is because I was working on it in a darker room because I didn’t want my daughter to see it before it was done.

I love how it turned out! Just like a big warm sweater! Perfect for 2 to cuddle under!

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DIY- Bridesmaid Bouquets For My Daughter’s Wedding

Oct 10, 2016

Flowers for weddings are expensive!

We had a few hiccups with who was paying for the flowers and in the end we decided that we could take on doing the bridesmaid bouquets. (Did not want corsages because everyone felt it would look too much like a prom.) I have so much confidence in this now, I want to play more with flower arranging and maybe we could get good at doing some other things with flowers. Next to photography, this is another hobby I have really wanted to explore!

So, here was our plan:

We ordered some filler flowers from the Flower Patch; wax flowers and Lily’s (I thought the type of lily we had was really small, but when I picked it up it was a big lily. However, it worked out really well!)

Wax flowers, are really nice fillers! They are real flowers but that is what they are called.

We could have saved a little bit of money and gone with Queen Anne’s Lace, but I know more now then I did when we were stressed out and trying to decide on things. I couldn’t find a picture I could use to show you what it looks like.

The greenery was Myrtle:

Yeah for Costco!!!

Then we got roses from one of our favorite places to shop, Costco! (Practically, live there!) Their roses are always beautiful and more affordably than anywhere else! However, because I needed less than 8 dozen I had to try and arrange with the Costco flower lady instead of ordering them in. Wouldn’t you know it! They didn’t get any bunches of just white roses or red and white! They had red and yellow and pink and white but no red and white. So, I ended up getting the pink and white, so I could have the white roses and then 2 dozen red roses. (Next time, I will order what I want and go with the 8 dozen and make flower arrangements for the tables! Daughters centerpieces were candelabras with some greenery wrapped around them and pictures of the two of them. They were provided by the reception center. Really didn’t need floral pieces. )

Awesome friends!

My friend used to work for a flower shop and has done wedding flowers in the past. I called her and she agreed to come and help me and my girls make the bouquets. It was so fun and easy. I think it also helped to reduce the stress I was feeling because I just got to be creative for a few hours and not have to run around. Next time, I will consider doing flowers two days before the event. Instead of the day before, because it took longer than I expected and by the end I was getting worried about completing my list of to do’s!

Steps:

First, we forced open the lily’s that were shut tight. They are pretty hardy but you still have to be careful. They can rip, tear or fall apart.

The wire is inserted into the base of the plump part of the stem below the petals. Then gently wrapped around the stem. This strengthens the stems so they don’t break so easily in your bouquet. Only the roses needed to be wrapped with wire, the rest of the stems were heartier and don’t break as easily.

Next, we picked up a stem or two of Myrtle, wax flowers and a couple of roses and a lily. Then we added more of whatever the bouquet looked like it needed to be balanced and pretty. Then we stripped off the leaves and decided how long they should be when being held.

The stems are then tightly wrapped with green floral tape. Then with white floral tape you wrap again. This makes it easy to hide the green tape. Then, you can trim the ends they were about 1 1/2-2 inches from the bottom of the tape and ribbon. Then, we took white ribbon and secured the end with a corsage pin at the bottom. You want to start wrapping from the backside at the base of the tape and wrap around.

When all the tape is covered to your satisfaction you cut the ribbon, turn a little bit of the ribbon under to hide the cut edge (of the ribbon) and secure on the back side of the bouquet with corsage pins. If you end at the top of the bouquet, the pins should be pushed towards the end of the bouquet. If you end at the bottom the pins should be pushed up towards the flowers. I’ve always thought the pins on these kinds of bouquets were buttons. (LOL!) My friend tied some fancy bows with some tails that would hang down and secured them at the top of the ribbon.

We made 5 bouquets in all. It was so much fun!

Look how pretty Alia’s bouquet is!

Left Over Flowers

I had enough flowers left over that I made two vases of flowers. I was so happy I had them at the reception; they added a lot!

Keeping Them Fresh

To keep them fresh we put them in just enough water for the stems to stay wet. Mason jars and short, sturdy vases worked the best. We sprayed them with water and then covered them with seran wrap over night, so they would be as fresh as possible. They looked fabulous! I am so excited about how they turned out!!! (We did not make the Bridal bouquet. That came from the Flower Patch.)

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Bridal Shower Door Hanger- Easy to Make

Sep 21, 2016

Bridal Shower

This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience to be able to find similar items to what I am using. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

My daughter is getting married soon, so my other daughters and I are hosting a bridal shower for her and her friends. I saw a cute pin on Pinterest about hosting a bridal shower and it had a cute door decoration. The door decoration wasn’t part of the post, but I wanted to make one and set out to figure it out.

Materials

I think it turned out pretty good! I bought most of the materials from Hobby Lobby.

1 Bouquet collar- about $1.99

A group of white roses from the wedding isle; it was a His and Hers brand and on sale. It was about $7.99 before the sale.

White Tulle- not sure how much it was and I only used enough to cover the wire stems and make a hanger.

From Zurcher’s I found a cheap $14.99 veil. Hobby Lobby had some that probably would have worked, but I thought I was going to use the tulle to make a veil. Between mulling over how I was going to do this and the way the packaged veil looked; I decided to go this route.

Here’s the back- side of the door hanger:

Directions

Here you can see the Bouquet collar. I cut apart the flower bouquet and threaded the stems through the bottom of the collar. I had some other little decor that I found on the Hobby Lobby wedding isle that I put in between flowers to decorate it and make it look a little fancier. I wish I wouldn’t have cut the stems as short as I had. I would have had an easier time bending the stems upward, so they didn’t scratch the door. I used one stem to wrap around the others (before I cut them shorter). I hot glued them together. Then I put tulle around and padded the wire ends and secured with hot glue. I then glued the comb of the veil to the bottom of the collar. At the top, I tied more tulle to the collar and added some fluffy tulle to the top. (I tried to tie a cute bow, but it didn’t work out and I like how this looks.)

Here’s a close up of the bouquet and the little fancy parts:

There are tulle pre-made flowers, pre-made tulle fluff with beads, and pearls. I like it being all white because I can use it for future Bridal Showers regardless of the brides chosen colors. I have 4 girls, there will be more opportunities to use this! I am so pleased with how it turned out!!!

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Hobbies

This is such a great idea for camping!

The Tent Camping Hack

More camping things I love

All this talk about camping makes me want to get up to the mountains!!!

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Supplies for Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath

Steps to put your Summer Fun Sunflower Wreath together

Begin with your burlap ribbon

Adding Sunflowers

Add Embellishments

It just makes me happy to see this on my door, so bright and inviting.

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Our First Personal Mini Gardens

After that first year, we got smart and purchased small planters that would last for several years.

What they have learned

Our Gardens now

Cleaning Up the Porch

Happy Planting!

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I have wanted to make one of these for a couple of years now, but couldn’t find the right umbrella! They either weren’t the right pattern or color and almost impossible to find one with a hook handle!

Materials:

Directions:

Share this:

Gathering the materials:

The steps:

Mine

My Daughter’s

They turned out so cute! Perfect craft for Easter or gift for Mother’s Day!

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What I Used and Adjustments I Made

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An Afghan Made with the Celtic Weave and Celtic Braid

Afghan Directions

The Celtic Braid:

The edging:

I love how it turned out! Just like a big warm sweater! Perfect for 2 to cuddle under!

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Flowers for weddings are expensive!

So, here was our plan:

Yeah for Costco!!!

Awesome friends!

Steps:

Left Over Flowers

Keeping Them Fresh

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Bridal Shower

Materials

Directions

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