Friday Favorites: Pinterest Projects and Ideas

Hello, hello!  This is Allison.  "Wait a second," you're probably thinking, "your day is Tuesday, silly!"  True.  But we're doing a little rearranging here on Five Crafty Sisters.  Life has gotten a little crazy for Katrina, so she's decided to be more of a guest blogger than a regular, here on the blog.  With two little ones at home and a third on the way, who can blame her?  So we'll be playing around with Fridays for a bit, while Shauna moves her posts to Thursdays.

As our Etsy shop has now opened (http://www.etsy.com/shop/fivecraftysisters, in case you were wondering), we may occasionally do a "Friday's Market" to introduce new items in the shop.  Other Fridays may be posts from Katrina, or maybe our other sister-in-law or sister will want to add their craftiness.  We'll see if we can recruit them.  :)  But for today, we're going to play around with "Friday Favorites".  Today we will each share our favorite Pinterest/Internet finds.  They may be projects we've completed, or maybe a project inspired by something we saw online.  We may also decide to share a project that we're currently working on.  It's up to each crafty sister to decide.

I'll go first.  This is kind of cheating, right off the bat.  I guess I'm the rebel in the family.  :)  This is actually a project my husband, Brent, completed.  But I found a pin on Pinterest that will hopefully solve a problem I've been worried about.  My husband started wood working this year and has really enjoyed working with his hands.  He made this amazing bench for our kitchen table and started working on a toddler bed after we found out I was pregnant with baby #2.  I love this little bed!  He has really enjoyed Ana White's website found here which provides the plans and the supply lists for countless projects.  I've seen a ton of her stuff on Pinterest, and think she's my new hero.  Anyway...  I love this bed, and Isla does too.  Way to go, Brent!  Isn't my husband the best??  :)  (Did you notice the adorable quilt my mother-in-law, Linda, made?  Love it!)

So one of my fears with this bed, was that we wouldn't be able to easily add a guard rail for Isla to use until she got used to sleeping in a real bed.  I could just imagine all the drama of her falling out of bed in the middle of the night.  But then, I found this amazing idea on Pinterest: put a swimming noodle under the fitted sheet on the edge of the mattress.  It will serve as a bumper if your toddler gets too close to falling off.  SO SMART!  It was a total aha moment when I saw this pin.  I haven't tried it yet (as we're leaving Isla in her crib as long as she'll let us), but I definitely plan on seeing if it works.  Pinterest hasn't failed me yet, so I'm sure it will solve all of my worries.  :)  Okay... which of my amazing sisters is next?

Allison
http://pinterest.com/allisonlacey/

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 Hello there! This is Shauna.  I know you all have missed me since yesterday.  Today I want to get serious, and talk about something personal.  I have a problem.  My friends and family all know about it, and now I think it's time I share with you...I really like cats.  A lot.  I'm about five cat calenders away from being a crazy cat lady.  It's pretty scary.  Lisa's youngest, after forgetting my name, once referred to me as "the aunt who likes cat".  Well now that you know, I can be open about my cat crafting. Get ready for this. 

A few months ago I realized we really needed new pot holders.  We were barely surviving off our old tattered wedding gift pot holders, and I wanted a cheap way to vamp up the look of our kitchen.  Then I saw these pot holders off of  www.purlbee.com  and I fell in love. 

I loved how modern and unique looking they were.  So I decided to pull out some fabric my friend Bethany gave me and put my own twist on it.  I am kind of obsessed with them. 

I used the cat fabric on one side and gray neutral on the back.  I like to mix it up sometimes when I get sick of the cats.  One of these I really messed up on...I added the hoop onto the bottom instead of the top of the pot holder so the cats are upside down when I hang them up. 

I decided instead of sewing only a couple lines to hold together the batting on the pot holders, I decided to sew random lines all over the pot holders to give it some style. I hope you enjoy cat pot holders.

Shauna

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Hello there!  Lisa here.  Just for the record, Shauna is a cute kind of cat lady not a crazy kind of cat lady!!  And Allie, that is a fantastic idea for a bed.  I was always worried about my babies falling in that crack between the mattress and the wall!  Smart!

For my project idea, I thought I would show you something I made awhile ago to hold my calendar and little notes and pictures for and from my sweet children. 

Calendar and little heart man is courtesy of my baby.  He's such a little sweetheart!

I thought I came up with this idea but once I joined Pinterest, I realized that there are very few original ideas, including mine!!  I had a large picture frame that I took the glass out of and painted to match the trim in my house.  I then took some cork tiles I found at Hobby Lobby and glued them to the back of the picture frame.  Super easy and a nice way to not feel bad about throwing out something perfectly useable!  And, bonus, it keeps the front of my fidge a little cleaner!!  Winner!

Lisa

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(Sara posted what I'm sure was a great post, but for some reason, it didn't save.  Look for it next week!)

Lisa: Father's Day

Nice gardening ideas, ladies!  If we lived closer to each other, I'd say we all should do a garden swap.  I sure want some of those berries, Sara!  I've got a lot of thistles to exchange for them!!  What do you say?!!

For this new week, we've decided on the theme of Father's Day for our posts.  I adore our dad!  I have so many great memories from my childhood of dad: gardening, building a fence and a grape arbor, camping, cleaning, going to help others, the beach, running, multiplication tables, hikes, chats, puzzles, games, big breakfasts on Saturday morning, going into the mountains so he can get reception on the car radio to listen to BYU games, church, and so many more!  He taught me the joy of serving others, the value of hard work and the happiness of living with integrity!  I love you, dad!

My man (on the left) with our kids and my dad at one of the beautiful Oregon beaches!

Now I have another amazing guy in my life: my wonderful husband!  He is absolutely the best!  He's the fun guy, the one everyone wants to hangout with, the guy that you'd call in the middle of the night if you needed help, the guy I love!  He's super busy but always finds time to be a terrific husband and father!  I bet if you'd ask my children, they'd each say that they are his favorite.  He has a way of letting them know how special and important they are!  He's one terrific man!!

So what do you get such an amazing guy??  Well, I have a few things that we are getting him that I won't put on here (in case he looks!) but one thing we are doing is taking some of his favorite, old t-shirts and making them into some pillows for his soon to be office!  

  He was throwing them out anyway so I took them and did it.  It wasn’t too hard to make.  I didn't use any instructions and they turned out great.  Here's a step-by-step tutorial, if you'd like.

They turned out pretty good, I thought!  I made an overlapping enclosure in the back just incase I needed to wash them.  Really easy and kind of fun, too!  (You might notice one of the t-shirts didn't make it into a pillow.  I decided it was just too nice a shirt still and asked my husband if he was sure he wanted to get rid of it.  He didn't and couldn't remember why he threw it out in the first place!).

And, of course, what is Father's Day without something special for the main man to eat??  Our papa gets his favorites:

 Mexican Style Meat Tacos

Homemade Rocky Road Ice Cream

These are fantastic recipes!  The only thing we do differently for the meat is to add a bottle of the Taco Bell Sauce instead of the jar of hot sauce.  We like heat but not that much!! 

There you have it!! What are ou doing for Father's Day?  Allison?

Lisa