Knitting Project: Mitten Pocket Cardigan Sweater

I usually have a knitting project going on that I work on at night while I watch TV. My most recent project was a sweater for my daughter. I found this sweater in the Fall 2013 issue of Knit Simple. It is a cardigan with mitten pockets and a zipper, I used a fun pink yarn for the body and blue yarn for the pockets. 

This pattern is knitted in pieces and sewn together. I was not a fan of sewing so many seams, I think that the next sweater I will make will be knitted top down. This was also my first time sewing a zipper into a knitted sweater and I have to say it was relatively easy.

Result:

If you would like to get the pattern here is a link to the issue on Amazon.com

Knit Simple 2013 Fall (40 cozy casual knits for all.)

Kid's Craft: Homemade Jello Playdough

I'm not a fan of regular play-dough, it is messy and does not come out of clothes very easily. I like to find ways to make things like play-dough out of items in my kitchen, not only is it easier to clean up but you know exactly what is in it. I have made play-dough before, this is the second recipe that I have tried. 

Pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85146249175519472/

Original Site: Jello Play-dough Recipe

For this recipe you'll need:

-Cream of Tartar

-White Flour

-Jello Packet

-Warm Water

-Cooking Oil

-Salt

For the recipe click on the link from the original site or the Pin link.

One thing that was great about this recipe was that my daughter was able to participate in making the play-dough, not just playing with the play-dough. She loved mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl and seeing the color start happening. The only thing that she could not help with was cooking it on the stove.

In the past I have made play-dough colored with food dye, with this one the jello colors the play-dough. What this means is that you do not have to worry about the dye getting on your hands, the first few times you use the play-dough. Big Plus!!

Result:

Inexpesive Kid's Closet Curtain

When I designed the closet in my daughter's new playroom I knew that traditional closet doors were going to take up too much space in the small room. I then looked around on Pinterest for some inspiration and found many designs that used curtains to hide the stuff in the closet. I knew that this was going to be the solution for me.

Pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/83809243037600546/

I decided to go with my Mom and daughter to Zimman's Fabric Store in Lynn, MA. Zimman's is like the holy grail of upholstery/design fabric in the Boston area, they have a great remnants section in the basement of their store were you can find all kinds of fun and unique pieces. I found a great piece of fabric with a zoo animal pattern that would work great for her playroom. I got the whole piece of fabric for $13, a real steal.

To create this curtain you'll need is:

-Fabric

-Sewing Machine

-Thread

-Curtain Rod and Hardware

and

-Curtain Hook

Other than the fabric I had everything except for the curtain hook ($7). The whole project took me about 3 hours and $20 to complete.

Result:

**SAFETY UPDATE** Cedar Chest Turned Outdoor Toy Chest

**After hearing about a recent tragedy where two children got trapped in a chest like this one and died, I wanted to make sure that anyone taking on this project to be aware of the dangers and take the right precautions so that this does not happen again. When transforming a chest like this make sure that you REMOVE THE LOCKING MECHANISM, this will allow for the chest to be opened from the inside out.**


When we bought my great-aunts house we ended up with lots of extra furniture. Some of it we gave away to other family members and others we have been slowly revamping and using in our house. This week my Mom and I tackled another piece, an old cedar chest slightly damaged was transformed into a outdoor toy chest for all my daughter's toys.

Before:

After:

For this revamp I used green exterior paint that I had already bought for another project so this project cost me $0.00 and about 1 1/2 hrs.

Pinterest Organization: Pen/Pencil Storage

I'm always looking for easy, cheap ways to organize my home. I would also like these storage solutions to look nice. I have many, many art pens, markers and pencils and have them stored in various different bins, bags, etc... I came across a pin that used a small cardboard and toilet paper rolls to organize pens and pencils.

Pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/83809243038363922/ 

Instead of decorating the box with markers, I decided to wrap the box with some fabric I already had to make this project even easier.

Result:

This project took about 20 minutes from start to finish. My daughter had a great time sorting all the pens, markers and pencils by color. It was actually a really good color exercise for toddlers. Now all my miscellaneous pens and pencils are all in one place and I can easily find what I am looking for, because of the color coding.

Design Within Reach Contest: Champagne Chair Entry

I love finding interesting art contests that I can enter to spark my creativity. A couple of weeks before New Years Eve I got an email from Design with Reach announcing their annual Champagne Chair Contest. The idea is that you can use any or all of the cage, cork and the foil/label, from two champagne bottles, to create a miniature chair. 

I had fun creating this chair. It was a great exercise in creativity. When looking at my supplies I realized that the cages looked alot like the components of a bistro chair, so I choose to only use the cages to create my own miniature bistro chair.

Wish me luck.

Result:

Finished House Renovation: Reveal Part 2

On Monday I revealed our finished playroom. You can check it out here at Finished House Renovation: Reveal Part 1. Today, I'll be revealing the master bedroom and office/studio. Our bedroom was the only room in the house that we had not touched to this point so, my husband and I were really excited to tackle this room along with getting a real office space.

So, without further ado...

Before:

After:

                            

Finished House Renovation: Reveal Part 1

In late June 2013 we started in on a major house renovation changing our 3 season porch into two rooms, playroom and office/studio. We got our permit and started the demo. Over the summer a majority of the work was completed, demo, windows, framing, etc... In September I posted an update which you can check out here. House Renovation: Almost There, this had all the before photos and middle of the reno photos.

We ended up finishing this renovation in the beginning of November. Since I became pregnant early on during this renovation I was not able to participate as much as I usually do during our renos. I have to thank my husband for spending most of his weekends over those 5 months, waking up early, working all day on the reno and then working all week at his regular job. I also have to thank my dad and mom for helping out with the renovation so that we could get this done before the holidays started.

Today, I will reveal my daughters playroom and on Wednesday I will reveal my bedroom/office/studio.

Here we go.

Before:

After:

My daughter is really enjoying this space and we are really enjoying having all the toys out of our living room.