Happy New Year!!!

2014 Here we come!

If you have been on Facebook or any other social media sites you have seen the new year resolutions being posted like crazy, But how many of us really full fill them? This year I am going to try and go easy with simple things like enjoy my family everyday and not let negative people get to me. This year is also the year I am getting married to the love of my life, after 10 years together & 2 beautiful daughters we were thinking it's about time haha.. As crazy as I know this year is going to be with taking care of a house, kids, planing a wedding I also want to try and take more time to do the things I love and bring them into my everyday.

 

My top New Years Resolutions......Back to you guys and of cause sewing.. to sew, sew and sew some more! Here's to 2014 I wish you all a happy and healthy year!

This year please check back for new post's on sewing,cooking,cleaning tips,crafts for kids and so much more!

Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit

Review/Tutorial on Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit...

Back in Nov we bought our first home..Price,size,yard, location it was everything we were looking for but the inside well not so much lol good thing the hubby is handy :) The kitchen was the worst for me, its where I spend 90% of my time in the house, it was old and dark!! really dark!! Getting new cabinets was not going to happen, they were not even close to being in our budget. In the past I have repainted and stained a few dresser's so I started to think how much harder could cabinets be..Now when I do dresser I sand them all the way down to the wood, for the kitchen and the amount of other work that still had to be done in the house sanding was out of the question for me. I wanted easy,fast and clean!! After countless days reading online the  I felt  Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations  was the best route for me..

In the Box :

• Instructional Pamphlet
• Instructional DVD
• Deglosser
• Bond Coat
• Decorative Glaze (Optional)
• Protective Top Coat
• Decorative Glazing Cloths
• Scrub Pads
• Stir Sticks

My Kitchen before...gross...

 My Little helper's :)

For the first step you will need to take off all hard wear and cabinet doors, also make sure you have a good working area. I was able to just lay them on the floor all over the house haha because our floors were not in yet..

I labeled everything..helped so much when putting doors back on..

 Next comes the Deglosser, This is a must!!! and make sure to use the scrub pads that are in the box. Be Gracious and use Elbow Grease!! I found that in a few spots I missed the grease that was on the cabinets come thought the paint later on.. luckily its only a few small spots that no one other then me will ever see..but I see them all the time..

The kits states the Deglosser will:

• Prepares the surface; allows proper adhesion of the Bond Coat
• Eliminates the need to sand, strip or prime the cabinets

Once you are done with the deglosser its time for the Bond Coat. My cabinets were so dark it took 3 coats. For me this is were I do question a little if it would have been more cost efficient for me to just buy paint and everything else that came in the kit other then the glaze (I just wanted pure white cabinets) but I wanted easy and fast.. The big reason I question this is because having to do 3 coats, for my small kitchen I was not able to do the sides of the cabinets where the oven is..there was just not enough paint.  For light cabinets and only needing 2 coats it would have been great!

The Bond Coat:

• Provides maximum adhesion to wood, laminate, and melamine surfaces
• Available in an array of timeless colors

After Bond Coat has dried comes the Protective Top Coat:

• Formulated with self cross-linking technology
• Provides superior stain and scratch resistance

This go's on thick and dry's fast..so be careful not to miss any spots. let cure over night and then add your hard wear. Our hard wear was old and outdated..Amazon.com has some great prices! These were only 0.99 cents each. In retail stores hard wear could be around $2.00-$5.00 dollars each, Crazy when you have to buy 18 of them!!!

In the end if I had to do it all over again I am pretty sure I would use this kit. For the amount of time I had it was nice to be able to buy everything all in one box. If I had some extra time and a bigger kitchen I think I would look into buying the products separate. At $74.99 having to buy 2 kits for a bigger kitchen I feel I could get the cost down more. But never the less I LOVE my kitchen. And all in all the product holds up like it states it does. It's been a few months with no peeling paint & they are very easy to clean.

Cupcake Toppers

Cupcakes who doesn't love them!! Last weekend was my daughters 1st communion so when planing the party I didn't want to go the cake route, cupcakes is where its at these days lol I knew I wanted to add something super cute to them and that's when I found cupcake toppers..there like scarpbooking for cupcakes  whats not to love about that..The best part they are not over priced and you can print them at home. I found mine on etsy.com from Lovepartyinvites she will even do a custom order for you!!

Mother's Day Gift Idea

It's that time of the year again to celebrate the mothers in our life's. Every year since as long as I can remember my mother has said the same things to me "Don't get me anything, Save your money" or when I was little "I don't need a gift, You just being good makes me happy" lol and the top one that I even find my self telling my daughters now "Make me something, Mommy loves that so much better then any gift". So this year I am having my daughters go the make something route for grandma..

Where to find a good idea...well of cause Pinterest :) Have I said how much I love this site? 

Drawing on plates with Sharpie Markers

This is by far the cutest and super easy homemade gift to give mom's.

All you will need is a plain white plate that can be found at your local dollar store and a few sharpie markers.. My daughters did their hand print's & the year. Once you are done drawing just bake in a 350° oven for 30 min's. 

  
That's it..your done and now grandma can always remember when her babies where little.

I'm Back :)

WOW is all I can start with, what a crazy few months it has been! I would like to take a min just to update and let everyone know i'm back and in the next few months some new and exciting post's are in the works..

Back in Nov we bought a new house that of course needed TONS of work. My husband and I gutted the whole house and have been putting it back together room by room by our self's to try and save money. It's been a lot of work, But we are very happy with the end result and of cause the money we have been able to save doing all the labor. 

One of our daughters favorite new spots in the house is there reading nook, set off to one corner of our living room. I have found giving them this small area their love for books has grown so much in just a few weeks time.

Just a small book shelf turned on its side with this super cute rug that can be found at Walmart.. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-Kids-Teach-Me-Alphabet-Nylon-Rug-Multi-color/21944084 with my most favorite part The land of nod inspired floor cushion. Tutorial for this comfy cushion can be found at  http://www.livingwithpunks.com/2010/05/tutorial-land-of-nod-inspired-floor.html

Ruffler Foot Attachment Review/How to

Dear Ruffler Foot where have you been all my life??? But in truth I do have to say this was not love at first try. The idea of it was.. ruffles made that easy??? could it really be, oh yes this little mid evil looking piece of metal is my new favorite toy in the sewing room. Once you get the hang of it, you'll want to ruffle everything you sew :)

I'll start with price.. they can range from $7.50 (on sale) to $79.99. Shop around, check you local fabric store, amazon.com, eBay. I paid $20 from amazon.com, from singer it would have cost $49.99. There are a few none brand names out there  that work just fine, the most important thing to know is if you have a low shank machine or  high shank.

OK now onto how to use it so you can start ruffing away. The first thing you will need to do is oil the ruffler foot. You will need to check your instructions on how to do this but here is a photo of how some need to be oiled.

Now that oiling is out of the way, it's time to attach the foot to your machine. To do this you will need the screw driver that your machine came with to remove the screw holding your presser foot on, so that only the shank is there.

You will attach the ruffler foot to the shank using the same screw you just removed, also the part of the ruffler that looks like a U will need to hook onto the part that holds the needle in.

WooHoo it's attached :) now to start ruffling!!! All ruffle feet come with 4 setting. 1,6,12 & * and a adjusting knob.The * setting will only sew one stitch and will not ruffle or pleat, the 1 setting will sew a ruffle every stitch making a tight ruffle, 6 will make a ruffle/pleat every 6 stitches and 12 you guessed it will make one every 12th stitch. The screw / adjusting knob on the foot is for how deep a ruffle/pleat you want. Some ruffle's will just have a screw and some have number's, for the ones with just a screw, the tighter the screw the tighter the ruffle, with one that has number setting, adjusting knob to 8 will make a deeper ruffle/pleat.

When feeding the fabric into the ruffler foot you will need to make sure it is between the black  forks and under the fabric guide.

There is a learning curve but once you have master this attachment you will definitely be asking yourself the same question..Dear Ruffler Foot where have you been all my life lol

   

What a Busy,Fun Summer!!!!

Hi Everyone, Sorry it's been awhile since my last post, I decided to take the summer off from writing this year. I had one of those mom moments when you look at you kids and think one day I am going to wake up and they will be all grow, one of those moments when you think..when that happens will I look back on their childhood and feel like I enjoy every second of them. In a day and age when so many parents have to work sometimes you just have to remember to stop and smell the roses.

For our busy, fun summer I tried to keep it low cost, because lets face it when you stop to smell the roses your not making any money lol.. We did a family trip to visit friends and family, countless family party's & alot of pool time :) My daughter also joined cheer leading so I really enjoyed being able to watch her practice. She'll be 8 in Dec, just started 2nd grade and sometimes I feel like if I blink my eyes she'll be 16 and starting to drive. As a mother of two little girls I want to be able to look back years from now and know I gave them all the right tools to be independent woman someday. This summer I had them in the kitchen a lot, just as my mother use to do with me,.I wanted to share with you all one of our favorite summer recipes, Zucchini Pie..It's super easy and tastes SO good!!!!

Zucchini Pie

Ingredients

3 Cup Thinly Sliced Zucchini
1 Cup Bisquick Baking Mix
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
1/2 Cup Grated Cheese
2 Teaspoons Parsley
1/2 Teaspoon Oregano
Pinch of Black or White Pepper
1 Clove Garlic
1/2 Cup Oil
4 Eggs

Directions
This is the super easy part and the kids love to mix :) just get a good size bowl and put all ingredients together, mix well, Then pour in a  greased baking dish. For this size I use a 9"pie pan or when I double the recipe I use a 13x9 dish. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.