DIY Six Dollar or so Family Dollar Chalkboard

Regretfully, I've been kinda neglectful in Storybookland lately.

I have some new and exciting ideas running around in my head, and action steps in those general, becoming more specific, business plans. But I have not forgotten my dear storybook-cottagian friends, and so here I am to share this recent, simple, inexpensive project idea with you.  It took 15-20 minutes to complete.

This would be a great project for you and your kiddos, grand-kids, or nieces/nephews, if you have any of those around.

Sara and I were strolling through the Family Dollar when we saw this...

I believe it was a whole six dollars or so.

This gave me an idea.

 

A Basket Cart for Mice and Such

Going through some stuff today, I found this little basket cart.

I found it at a Salvation Army for 50 cents, and have been saving it for my niece Tessa the Besta's woodland creature's house...that I hope to complete for her birthday or Christmas this year or next.

But it was too high for them.

So I removed the basket and bent down the handle.

Now the wire part with wheels can be used for working in the garden,

or as a wagon for the kiddos to ride in...

The hay bales can also be used in the garden, the milk can in the kitchen,

and the large basket can hold their blankets and things.

I think they're pretty cute.  What do you think?

How are you making your today world beautiful?

Tessa's room...a fabric poster and a pillow

We are about to make another trip up north for the summer, and that means stopping to see brother Jason and sister-in-law K on the way.

We are VERY excited to share that they are expecting.  Their pregnancy difficulties are their stories to tell, but this trip will be a time for us all to be happy in their news.

They have of course cutie niece Tessa, and currently two other foster babies.  This means they need more room.  This means they need to remake the storage room upstairs into a big girl, cutie niece Tessa room!  This obviously means I need to be involved.

okay fine, I like stuff

Sometimes I find ugly stuff that needs a lot of work.

Sometimes I get lucky and just find nice things.

For example, this king-sized, iron headboard.

Brand new it is hundreds of dollars, but we found it for 35 dollars (including frames) at a yard sale last Saturday.

a merry merry-go-round

Once upon a time when I was a little girl, we would go visit my grandparents.

They had a red square box with a few toys in it.

In that box was my favorite toy--the one I went for every time.  It was mesmerizing with its little moving chairs and the little song it played (In the Good Ole Summertime) as it went round and around.

When my grandparents passed, I was asked if there was anything particular I'd like to have to remember them.  This was the one thing.

Saturday night we were out and about, when we came upon a moving sale.
And there, down in the grass, was this little community mouse porta potty.

Trash Pickin Saturday

Here are a few favorite finds trash pickin yard sales today...
It's amazing how much stuff I can accumulate in so little time.

First off, a lady bug complete bed set...

Rug or throw (I'm not really sure), curtains, 2 sets of twin sheets, and bedskirt.

 

Gathering, Butterflies, and Other Projects

Well, that was a lazy title wasn't it.

yes.

How's everyone doing out there?!!!

What is everyone doing?

I've been in gathering mode.  

It's like hibernating, but with gathering.

It means I look for good deals and hoard buy a bunch of stuff.

This desk is my new crafting station.  It was only 10.00 on craigslist.

yay. yay.

The Wallet That Isn't Smart (Sequel to The Car With No Heart...)

This is the sequel to yesterday's post, The Car With No Heart.

Yesterday I ventured out in this southern snow storm of an inch or two, to Walmart.
Today I decided I had such luck finding deals yesterday, why not do it again?

But this time the road was 100% clear, no salt needed, all the way to Goodwill..with Sara who is yet another day out of school because of these hazardous southern conditions.

It's the MOST Wonderful Shopping of the Year...

Sing with me...

It's the hap-happiest season of all...
when the kids Christmas stuff in boxes
get shoved into three Walmart aisles
and then I come to call...
and the prices are slashed for one and allllllll.... 

Not the best rhyming I know, but you're making it sound wonderful.

TODAY is THE day I look forward to all year round!

It's the day I spend HOURS in the discounted Christmas Wonderland first trip to Walmart post Christmas.

It's the day when I buy up the little girl 50% off Christmas gift sets...and little boy gift sets too, if there are any still there to buy...those are gold. 

Cupcake body lotions and bath fizzies, because who doesn't want to smell like a donut, oversized hello kitty soap dispensers, ever after high make-up kits, hair chalk, stickers of snowmen,Thomas the train bath paints...

I'm Dreaming of a DREAM BIG, DRAW BIGGER DOODLE BOOK...the beginnings of a Christmas Giveaway

It's here!  I have enjoyed this fall so much, and am actually kinda sad to see it go, but this morning I looked out the window and the trees are beginning to be mostly bare.

One of my favorite Christmas things is how it becomes a chance for all of us to get our creative on and use our imaginations.  Our traditions of making decorations, baking cookies, singing, and more importantly the connections that happen during those times are memories worth making and keeping.

Find this idea and other fun kid craft ideas on my pinterest board here.  They're made out of school glue.

If your kids are like my Sara, their lists are more-than-likely also filled with Elsa's and Anna's this year.  That's all good and fine. For sure our little niece is getting a package filled with her favorite frozen ladies. One of her presents that I'm kinda excited about is something found in the party aisle at Walmart.....icicle-resembling streamers that hang over a door opening!  It's like this one...

Click here for the link.

It will be like she's walking into a bedroom land of frozen!

(thank you for the lessons Bob Ross)

But if you're looking for something a little outside of the box, or even just something fun for the kids to work on over Christmas break, I have a gift idea for you!

Husband Dion came upon these books at a family outing to TJ Maxx last spring.  They were great for summer break.  So much fun.

I keep them in an accessible place, so Sara and I can easily grab one when we feel that  NEED  to use our imaginations and  MAKE  something.  They are like a glorified coloring book. Sara really enjoys working on them.

I too enjoy working on them. Really they're not only for kids. Here's one of my pages.

And here are a few more sample pages:

 

  

Now who do you know who wouldn't want to draw an octopus having a fight with a spider??!

There are also smaller versions.  You can find both sizes on amazon, and to make the deal even sweeter, with code "Holiday 30", they're 30% off this Black Friday weekend (until Sunday, Nov 30th). Click here for the black friday info.  Links to both size books are at the bottom of this post.

Now it's about to get exciting!!!
We of course are going to have a Christmas giveaway contest!

There will be three categories and three prizes...and a chance for your kids or grandkids or nieces and nephews or a stranger kid hanging out on your street, to join in too!  I'll post the info here this weekend, so if you have some mad ornament-making skills or would like to try having some mad oranament-making skills, please check back in.

In the meantime, here are the three prizes...

but the right mushroom is pink, not purple

(These cats like the bird feeder.)

How are you making your today world beautiful?

book links:

Large (and they are large!) Doodle, Imagine, Draw book.
Here's the smaller version of that one.

Large Dream Big, Draw Bigger book.
Here's the smaller version.

A Dough Bowl, Other Stuff, and a Giant Chicken

So you remember that rearranging tizzy a few weeks back.

Well, for the most part, things have settled into place...for now.

I've envisioned a big table to be the hearth of the house of sorts...and this new arrangement has been perfect for us to gather and have a meal or snack time together, work on homework, bake, play games, or work on crafts/projects.  

It has opened up the house, as well as a corner for a little coffee/tea counter and a project/office nook for me.  

Now Siri's wheelchair can pull up anywhere around the table. Before when the table was in the official dining room, it was difficult to get around her chair, and she could only sit by one crowded corner of the table.  

We are really liking this.

The bar stools under the counter were 20 dollars on craigslist.  One was broken, but I fixed it, so now it swivels just as it was intended to swivel. True it may have taken a few hours and a trip to the big orange "I shop here because I'm a man" kind of store to figure it out, but eventually, I was a fixer too. 

 these windows above the table let in more light

This authentic dough bowl was bought from friend Geanine.  She has a great kitchen with lots of great kitchen stuff. She creates and sells things like her amazingly scented harvest and also Christmas potpourris, soaps, home-made lavender cleaners, lip balms, and even tooth powder!  You can find her on fb here, at  The Charming Chickadee.

The dough bowl happily sits on our table, so it can hold lots of interesting-to-me things.  It's joined by our vintage salt and pepper shakers and many times a candle.

This colorful and interesting-to-me pumpkin, grown by our farmer friends, has been here since late summer.

 There aren't too many pics of my corner space yet, but here's a little bit of a glimpse back there.

To prevent the table from becoming a catch-all, stuff is not allowed to be kept on the table (drinking glasses/mugs being an exception). It keeps the space free and more inviting to pull up a seat and hang out together. 

See the black raspberry custard pies with crumb topping on the table?  They are allowed on the table, because they're pies.  And I will eat them all up! I maybe already did. yes. I did.

this chicken reminds me of this chicken

Warner Brothers, ANIMANIACS S01E56 - Season 1 - Episode 56

here's a giant Christmas chicken for my early Christmas-loving friends

Warner Brothers--ANIMANIACS S01E49 - Season 1 - Episode 49

 

I'll try posting a few more pics of coffee bar stuff soon.

Remember kiddos, be kind to giant chickens. 

How are you making your today world beautiful?

The Great Pumpkin Makeovers of 2014

More inspirational bloggers are probably already beginning the spreading of their magical Christmasy ideas, but I'm in love with this fall, and just as some soak in Christmas for as soon and long as possible, well, this is how I feel about autumn.

Created by Randy Blish, Editorial Cartoonist 

And a few weeks ago, while fb friends were out pumpkin picking at patches and corn mazes across this great land, Sara and I were off to our own local pumpkin place of gathering...

Here are the six the pumpkins we "picked" with their PLU stickers still attached...

 

One of them rotted within the week.  So we were down to five.

We narrowed those down to three for our pumpkin paintings.

And now here are our great pumpkin make-over before and afters...

(cheap and easy paint palettes for kids...oven burner covers from the dollar store)

Sara's before pumpkin:

Sara's after pumpkin:

See how she matched each tree's leaves with the fallen leaves around it on the ground?  Also that is an over sized, bright yellow sun on the corner.  Here is the over sized, bright yellow sun. 

ahhhhhhchoooooooo....did you sneeze?

  Later she painted the other side with an ocean scene.  Then following my lead, she added glitter all over...look how shimmery it is!  She added um LOTS of glitter. It sparkles in the sunlight and at night under the porch lights.

 
my favorite, the octopus.  And although I'm not sure why, that fish is saying "I am a circle." circle fish?  maybe.

Siri's before pumpkin:

Siri's after pumpkin:

She enjoyed helping by dabbing the leaves and tree trunk of these three fall trees onto her pumpkin, while she held onto the sponge brush. 

My before pumpkin:

My after pumpkin:

My pumpkin inspiration was the giraffe from the last post here.  His name is Jumbe, (prounounced JOOM-bay)..  My pumpkin doesn't have a name.  It's just a pumpkin.

 I added glitter to my nameless pumpkin.  Here's a video where I somewhat unsuccessfully demonstrate how it sparkles.  The video doesn't really show how it catches and reflects the light just right. 

In real life it is so pretty. Glitter makes everything better.

And since I'm choosing to use all-encompassing words like "everything"...do you like pumpkins?  Do you like pumpkin spice?  I think this pumpkin guy is funny.   

Our neighbor friends came over to paint a few more pumpkins this week too.  Here are their pumpkins...

This one says, "I'm always happy"

 

 

This one is a tulip, and it says "fall is here" but then turn it around and there's this...

 

that Christmas stuff sneaking in again...sneaky Christmas.

Aren't these girls super sweet?! yes.

Next post (here), I'll share one of our favorite fall, pumpkin-like recipes.  It's called Farmers Market Chai, and it tastes dreamy, as my brother Jason says, like pumpkin pie in a mug. 

For you early Christmas lover friends, it's perfect for mixing up in a large batch, packing it up all cute and pinteresty and Christmas-like, and then gifting it to all the people you love the most.  They will love you back and ask for your recipe. 

Did you do a pumpkin project this fall?  A jack-o-lantern, or leaf-of-some-sort project, or try a new or old pumpkin recipe?  If so, will you share it with the rest of us?  Please post your pumpkin spice everything ideas with us on storybook-cottage's fb page here.

How are you making your today world beautiful?