In a Flash Peasant Dress

Yesterday The Mouse found a felt Flash mask in a drawer and decided to wear it. She quickly handed me the Batman mask and cape, and told The Moose he was the Joker.  Daddy was Commissioner Gordon when he came home, and now our house is going to be the Hall of Justice. I kind of like that.

Obviously you have to add a magic wand, Wonder Woman belt, and gloves to make a good super hero outfit!

This morning she decided to be the Flash again, so  I asked Commissioner Gordon if I could steal his Flash shirt since he doesn't wear it very often.  He agreed because of I'm making something for The Mouse or The Moose, he's always willing to give.  He's wonderful like that.

I pulled up this tutorial from Little Bean Workshop that I found last year and set to work making The Mouse a new dress. She very emphatically told me she wanted a dress, not a shirt.  I could have made the whole thing out of the shirt since it was plenty long enough to make a dress, but I've been saving (hoarding) some super hero fabric for a while and thought it would make a great accent fabric.

Her tutorial is very straightforward. The only thing I changed is I made short sleeves with no elastic, and I added a band of accent fabric to the bottom of the dress.

It didn't turn out quite as long as I would have liked, but that will be good for fighting off villains and saving the world!

-Lisa

Raised Garden Beds!

Remember those seeds we planted a while back?  We decided it was finally time to give them a permanent home!  Following the instructions on this blog I found on Pinterest, we built the beds.

I started out envisioning a 4' X 8' garden bed, but quickly changed my mind when I realized I would not be able to reach across the whole thing, and since we will not be able to walk around the back, we switched to two 4' X 4' beds.  This way we will have a walkway in between them, and the kids and I will be able to get more up close and personal with the plants.

We decided on plain, untreated cedar boards because I did not want chemicals on the inside.  The guys at Home Depot cut my boards for me so I didn't have to worry about that part.

Originally I bought regular screws, but about halfway through building the first one, realized I should have gotten galvanized (they don't rust), so I replaced them all one by one.  I was able to stabilize the boards myself for the first two layers, but had to get Baldy's help when securing the boards to the baluster pieces in the corners.  We also added a piece of baluster board to the middle of each side for extra support.  Every baluster board we bought was badly warped, so this part took some muscle.

 

Each bed is 3 boards tall, and I left the baluster pieces sticking out of the tops.  Baldy wondered if we should turn them upside down and use them for stability, but I wanted them on top in case I need to use them when I make freeze covers for the beds later.

After they were built, they stayed in the garage for a week while I tried to decide what colors to paint them.  The Mouse and her friend Cinderella helped me paint one side of the first one before they lost interest and left me to finish.

 

 

I ended up getting purple, yellow, and blue acrylic craft paint from Michael's to finish the sides.  Baldy was doubtful about the color choices, but I assured him they would look good once all the greed plants grew.

I left the fronts of the boxes for the kids to paint, and they added their handprints to them in the form of flowers.  My little brother even added his own while he was here on spring break.  My Mom was able to help me get them painted and filled while they were visiting, which was a total blessing, because it ended up being a bigger job than I was imagining.  She helped me paint the polyurethane sealant on the outsides, too, so the rain and sun will not damage them as quickly.  We used Minwax Indoor/Outdoor Spar Urethane.

After they were dry it was time to move them outside and get them filled up!  We talked with a guy at Home Depot who said we did not need to line the bottoms with cardboard or newspaper, since we were placing them on mulch already.  He advised that the cardboard would just mold and rot, so we should not use it.

Here is what we used to fill them up:

Layer 1: Mulch for water retention (2 bags for each bed)

We put the mulch down, then stomped on it to help it settle (or just because it was fun), and watered it down.

 

Layer 2: A mixture of potting soil (2 bags), compost (2 bags), and vermiculite (1/2 bag)

  

We mixed these three together in the small kiddie pool we happened to have lying around, but you could spread them on your grass, a tarp, or your driveway.  I'd also talk to someone who is familiar with your particular area for what types of soil are best.  We tried to use products that were organic and chemical-free.

After it was all mixed, we filled them up!  Everyone got in on the action, and the beds had about 8 inches left in the tops.  I was glad the soil did not come to the very top because I was worried about a certain small boy digging in the gardens.

  

After they were full, we transplanted our seedlings and watered them some more!  Now the hard part... waiting to see if anything will grow!

  

-Lisa

Art Wall

I recently got to have my Mom, Dad and little brother (who is not so little anymore, watch out, Grandma!) here for a whole week.  Mom and I are both incapable of sitting still, so we got a lot of projects accomplished, and a few more started so I can finish them later.  The first one was my raised garden beds.  I'll post about those later.  Today we will take a peek into my hallway...

This project has been on my list for months.  The hallway leading to the kids' rooms has become parking for their cars, and the wall above was collecting random artwork via staples and push-pins.  I envisioned a hodgepodge collection of cool frames in different sizes and colors.  I don't have a "before" picture, but trust me, it was a mess.  We do A LOT of projects around here.  The Mouse and Monkey ask to paint, draw, color, or "do school projects" almost every day, so the paperwork piles up quickly.  Our playroom has this setup, so I wanted to do something different for the hallway.

I thought I would shop around goodwill, or garage sales to find the frames, but we ended up using some I already had lying around, cutting a few ourselves, and buying the rest from Michael's with 40% coupons.

The white, green, purple, yellow and blue frames were from Michael's.  We cut the red circle and Orange diamond-ish one ourselves.  Black was a small wooden frame I found in a drawer.  The fish picture is a watercolor I did in the 4th grade.  I've been in cahoots with my mother-in-law to get one of Baldy's elementary school art pieces to add to this wall later, too.

I wanted to make it easy to add and remove art, so I hot-glued clothespins onto each frame.  Luckily I had some leftover from a Christmas project.  Large, white clothespins were surprisingly difficult to locate in December, so I used the backside of some of the decorated ones.  Bonus!  I can also balance art on top of them.

 

This canvas has been hanging on the wall for over a year, with only the kids' hand and footprints on it.  I had intentions of hand-lettering a cute quote about kids, but it never happened.  My Cricut Mini cut out some great vinyl letters easily enough, and I didn't have to make a decision about which quote to use!

All in all it was a pretty inexpensive project and it turned out even better than I thought it would!

-Lisa