Disneyland 2011

Wow! It's been a long time since I've bothered doing anything with this little blog. Catching up is hard to do, but I'll start with some of our pictures from our trip to Disneyland in May 2011. The whole family went, so it was quite the crowd! This was Jackson's first trip to Disneyland so I was a little nervous about how he would handle all of the sights and sounds, but as usual he absolutely loved all of the craziness (I swear this kid is such a social butterfly!) and really enjoyed the rides. We were there for 5 days which gave us plenty of time to go to both parks and get on all of the rides. Jackson's favorite was "Pirates of the Caribbean!"

Waiting in line for the Matterhorn.

My sisters and brother. We take a picture with this guy every time we go!

Maggie the cow. Did you know Disneyland has a pet cow? Neither did I!

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

The whole family. Yep, there's a LOT of us!

Jackson and my Dad

Of course my Dad bought Jackson this giant balloon, which we then had to figure out how to get home. It popped in the car on the way back to AZ. haha!

My love!

Jackson loved the goats.

Tea cups!

Jackson and Uncle John

Quote I Love

Calling All Extreme Couponers!

I don't know about you, but I looove the show "Extreme Couponing." Well, maybe not the hoarding part, but the money-saving parts thrill me!! If you're anything like me scoring something for free feels like a huge accomplishment and I just can't stop myself. Unfortunately I'm starting to feel a bit like the above-mentioned hoarders. Not good. Check out the picture below for an idea of what I'm talking about.

So, I was thinking. Maybe there's a way I can put my coupon-clipping skills to good use and help out people at the same time.

 Here's my idea. It seems like pretty much all of the free stuff I acquire at the grocery store are mainly toiletries that I'll never end up using because I have so many of them. What if I got a bunch of people together and we all pooled our free goodies and made individual bags for the homeless? I'm thinking we could put supplies like razors, shower gel, deodorant, toothpaste, and a toothbrush in a gallon size ziploc and distribute them to a local homeless shelter. In Arizona the number of homeless (especially families with children) has skyrocketed since the beginning of the recession and I know that local shelters are having trouble keeping up with it. Providing individuals and families with the basic necessities they need to stay clean and healthy is one way we can directly give back and impact communities in a positive way. Other items we could think about including are feminine hygiene products, diapers/wipes, pain relievers, lotion, sunscreen, and washcloths.

So what do you think? I know that if we get enough people together we could donate a ton of products! If you're interested in helping please send me an email at christy.owens81@gmail.com. I'll coordinate things and post more details when I hear from people!

Crafty Stuff

Here are a couple of crafty projects that I just finished.

Zippered Pouch

This was my first time sewing in a zipper and it was a little tricky since you have to change out your sewing machine feet and line up everything just so. I love this little bag because it uses up my leftover fabric scraps and has a cute lining. Perfect as a makeup bag!

Directions here.

Crayon Roll

Another great project to use up little pieces of fabric you have laying around. You need to use a lightweight fusible interfacing for this project, which gives it some extra durability. I used three different types of fabric and sewed a long ribbon on to tie it all up. Perfect for the diaper bag to keep Jackson entertained at dinner!

Directions here.

Decorating Makeovers: Changing Your Drawer Pulls

A quick, cheap, and easy way to update a room is by replacing the drawer pulls on a dresser. We have very basic furniture in our bedroom and in an effort to dress it up a little bit as well as make generic furniture look more unique we replaced the drawer pulls on our dresser. Anthropologie has amazing options and different knobs to choose from. Check them out here! We only replaced the top of row of pulls, which saved us money and added just a touch of vintage to the room. What do you think?

House Beautiful- Making Your Own Pillow Slipcovers

Since I am now home pretty much 24/7 I have become obsessed with prettying up our house. One thing that is cheap and easy to do is change your throw pillows. I haven't had much luck finding pillows that fit the bill or my price-point so I decided to break out the sewing machine and make my own! Since I've never sewed before this has been quite the adventure, with lots of little frustrations along the way. Thanks to some helpful You Tube videos I was able to quickly figure things out and make several cool slipcovers for pillows I have laying around the house. These slipcovers can be made to fit any square pillow and don't require a pattern.

Here's what you'll need:

• fabric of your choice (depending on how big your pillow is, you'll need anywhere from 1-2 yards)
• a sewing machine
• stick pins
• a pillow insert (or pillow you have laying around already)
• scissors
• a ruler or yardstick
• marking pen (I use a Sharpie)

What to do:
1. Measure your pillow from one side to the other.

2. Smooth out your fabric face down and get your ruler.

3. Measure out the length of your pillow and add one inch

 to all four sides.

4. I use a ruler to make sure my lines are straight. Measure twice to make sure it's correct!

5. Carefully cut out your fabric on the lines. This will be the front of your pillow.

6. Smooth out another section of your fabric and measure out the length of your pillow plus 4 inches for the long side.

7. Measure out the length of your pillow plus one inch for the short side.

8. Carefully cut out your rectangle

9. Measure to the halfway point on the long side of your rectangle and draw a line straight up.

10. Carefully cut along the straight line to divide your fabric neatly in half. This will be the back of your pillow.

11. Take the equal halves of the back of your pillow and iron along the long side to create a 1/2 inch seam. I prefer not to use pins so I make sure the seam I create is nice and flat.

12. Now on to the sewing machine! Sew down the seams you pressed, making sure to backstitch at each end. Repeat for the other half of fabric.

13. Now lay the front of your pillow face-up and make sure all of the wrinkles are smoothed out.

14. Lay the halves you just hemmed face-down on top, overlapping the edges. The overlap of the fabric will create a pocket to allow you to pull your pillow in and out.

15. Pin along the edges of your fabric, to connect the top and bottom.

16. Back to the sewing machine! Sew carefully around the edges, using a 1/2 inch seam.

17. Flip your slipcover inside-out and push your pillow in.

Voila! A beautiful slipcover which can be easily washed or updated!

A Backyard Kind of Day

Jackson got to stay home with me today and we had a backyard kind of day. The weather has been fantastic, but soon to be way too hot. So we live it up while we can. He loves chasing the chickens and playing in the sprinkler. I love watching him climb on everything and be up to no good. Definitely a good day.

A Day in the Life of. . . .

Jackson grinning away because he knows he's up to no good (aka turning the TV on and off)

Henry taking  a snooze.

Some slipcovers I made for the pillows on our bed.

Daphne, my constant shadow.

Blah

I feel like I have nothing to say anymore. Some people are really good at making their lives seem so spectacularly perfect that people actually want to read about them. Not me. I'm not very happy right now and don't want to write about it. So instead I'll post some pictures. Enjoy.