Friday, June 27, 2014

Homemade Medical Kit






My fascination with making toys/toy accessories seems to be never ending.  My go to material is always felt.  I found some medical kits at the "Dollar Tree", for yes just $1. The kit consists of a stethoscope, syringe, clamp, ID bracelet, reflex hammer, and scissors.  All of the little pieces were hard to keep up with, so I went to my sewing room and picked up some sheets of felt.  I folded a sheet in half-lengthwise and sewed all the sides together.  I then folded over one edge and cut out the handle.  I added a red cross to finalize the design.


To add to the fun, I put together some slide-on "casts" out of left over fleece.  I made one cast large (for Mom/Dad) and a small (for brother). My boys are enjoying taking care of each other with their new medical kits.

Nothing is more fun to watch than the active imaginations of children.  Hope your weekend is full of play.

You can check out some of my other homemade toy ideas: here and here.

-Laura-


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Room to Grow




Baby Watermelon

This is my third year to plant a garden.  I am still amazed to watch a tiny seed/plant turn into food for my family's table.  This year I filled my raised bed garden to the brim and needed more space.  My husband came up with the solution by building a planter box for our deck. He used mainly scrap wood to build the frame and only spent around $10 on new lumber. I pulled the left over trim paint from our recent siding project and slapped on a coat.  After a coat of paint, soil, and veggies, the planter box garden is ready to grow. 



I have also been trying to grow a dwarf cucumber plant in a pot; so far it is doing well.




This season I have harvested some sugar peas, cucumbers, and a few carrots.  Soon I hope to start gathering tomatoes.








Anyone else growing their own vegetables this year?  Tips on overcoming our drought?

-Laura-

Monday, June 9, 2014

Dump Truck Cake





This past Saturday my baby boy turned 3.  For weeks I have been asking him what he wanted for his birthday cake.  I got a variety of answers including: a book cake, tree cake, and briefly Batman.  Finally my little guy landed on a dump truck cake to look like "Chuck the Truck", which is his favorite cartoon right now. I went to my favorite source, "Pinterest", to look for ideas.  I found several cakes that had used "Oreo" crumbles for dirt and chocolate candy as the freight in a toy dump truck.  This cake was super simple to put together and made my little guy happy. 


What little boy doesn't love trucks and chocolate.

-Laura-

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Mellow Yellow Alfresco Dining



I have a new (to me) table and chairs for the deck.  I plan to paint this dining set with a fresh coat of glossy black paint, but in the mean time I have been busy making some chair pads.  I was able to find more of this mellow and yellow "Fretscene Canary" outdoor fabric from "Dwell Studio" that I used  for the chair cushions on my"bistro" set.




This "bistro" set is on the opposite side of the deck, but I still like the idea that it all coordinates.  




Another recent bargain find, is this "outdoor fabric" table cloth.  I found this at "Ross Dress for Less" for just $13.


More New Things Around the Deck  
New Box Planters with Sweet Potato Vine

Mandevilla with Wave Petunias

Some things I would like for the deck:

Rope Outdoor Dinnerware, Yellow 
This set of Melamine dishes from Pottery Barn.  It is amazing how much they look like stoneware.

Also,

A new umbrella like this one.

Looking forward to lots of alfresco dining this summer.

-Laura-