Jenn Tries...

Well normally I just post my Monday Free Write on Mondays, but since October is a special month and ends on a Monday, I thought that it would be fun to combine the two. In a sort of special tale about why I love upcycling and probably the easiest (and probably one of the best!) upcycling projects, I've come across yet! So here we go. I guess by now its no secret that I love upcycling. I'm not sure how I first learned about it or how I officially got started. It probably was while I was watching home improvement shows on tv or probably during my first ventures on Pinterest. And that was all it really took I was hooked. I just fell in love with idea of turning trash into useful items. (And yes you can make artwork too, I just haven't gotten an inspiration for that yet) I think I really love upcycling most of all because it makes me feel like I'm doing something to help the environment. Whether you want to believe in climate change or not (that's your choice

I realize its getting very close to the end of October, and as of now I have yet to mention anything about Halloween. Which makes sense, since I work on Disney property and they start celebrating Halloween by mid September, so by the time October comes around I'm over Halloween. That and for the past couple of years I haven't had Halloween off (or enough time to decorate for it either!). But since Blue is getting older, I figured now would be the time to get over all my hang ups about Halloween and just start celebrating it. And since its my first real year of getting back into the swing of things I wanted to start small. So I got Blue and Lion some pumpkin candy buckets and also some small pumpkins. (Not big enough for carving, but big enough that they can play with them). And that's when I thought of a great project idea (that would also be great for my little munchkins!) The Project Painting Pumpkins! and trying to get into the Halloween Spirit! Resu

Even before I started this blog, I've never had any real issue with laundry. Sure I would put if off as long as I could, but once I got around to it I didn't mind putting it into the washer and then switching it over to the dryer. What's so hard about that really? It was always the putting away part that I never got around to. Sure I would get it out of the dryer (I can't stand when people do that. I really can't.), but I never got around to folding it and putting it away in a timely manor. And even one I started this blog and after I started bullet journaling, I just got myself in a schedule of doing laundry on one day and putting it away the next. Overall it was just a mess (but I didn't realize that at the time. I thought it was a great system and I thought it worked.) Until I found this article from on Pinterest (and now that I need it again I can't find it, but I'm sure I'll find it again soon!), which basically was a long way of giving

Fall has finally arrived in Florida. Okay that might be the overstatement of the day, but the weather has cooled down (though probably only for this weekend). And really I'll use any excuse to pull out my crock pot again. Actually I've been searching Pinterest for a while now for a good and interesting crock pot recipe, but most of them are for chillis, pot roasts or recipes that for some reason call for cream cheese. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I've tried some of those in the past and I just wanted something different.  The Recipe Chicken Burrito Bowl Recipe from  Number 2 Pencil Results Okay I'll admit it. I was dying to try this recipe after I found it. But I decided it might be best if I saved it for a Sunday late lunch/ early dinner (instead of doing pizza like I've been doing lately). So I started cooking this while I was waiting for my coffee to cool. That way it would be ready just in time for when Blue is "

I teased earlier this month about what I was making. But I never actually got around to buying more yarn to finish it. (And then there's the deciding what color finish it with and making sure I buy the same kind of yarn. Just a whole lot of trouble I tell you!) So instead I thought I would move on to a smaller project. I found instructions to make crocheted hearts and I've been dying to try them for a while now. So I thought there's no time like the present to try it out. The Project Learn To Make Crochet Hearts instructions from Sewrella Craftaholics Anonymous and this lovely instructional picture: (That I still have to track down the creator of) Results Apparently when you search for crochet heart patterns on pinterest, there are many different versions to try. And I didn't mean to try them all out, but I did end up trying a couple of them just to see which one I liked the best. And over all I really liked the Sewrella's 3 siz

I actually saw this idea a while ago. And I saved it and I went along with my life. At the time I had no reason to try homemade good gone or anything to try it on. But as I've started learning how to really upcycle and how to start looking at things for a way to upcycle them.  And that's when I started looking at all the containers my food comes in differently. Especially the jelly jars. Normally jelly comes in a glass jar and it really is a perfect size to store whatever little things you need to store in them. (I went with my coconut oil face scrub). The only issue is that you can rip the labels off, but there is still that stubborn glue strip that remains.  So I was happy when I rediscovered this idea and I knew it would be a great way to try to get rid of that pesky glue strip once and for all. The Project Test Out Homemade Goo Gone instructions from this picture: (Photo from The Repo Woman and if you click the link you can find recipes for all sort

You know I don't normally hate Mondays. Normally because they are my Sundays or because I feel like they are the start to my week and I'm just excited to get the week started again. But yesterday my normal happy go lucky Monday was anything but. So I present to you what I wrote yesterday after a very frustrating morning. (In which I went out to Panera to get some blog post posted and couldn't get the internet to work. When it rains it pours, I guess) I had so much to say today, but once again I learned that Mondays (which are my Sundays) are not my day. I usually work late on Saturday and get up with the kids on Sunday. And most Sundays my mom comes over to help me with the kids. This Sunday however she was in North Carolina visitng my sister. And I had to get up with the kids from Thursday through Sunday this week. (and each night I had to close.) So I thought maybe Mike might think about me and get up with Lyon on Monday morning. No such luck. And yes I get th

All right I know, I'm a day late (and a dollar short!), but we're still having trouble with the wifi and I attempted to write this after work last night, but I just couldn't settle in properly and come up with how to write this. So I put it off until now. Anyway I'm really proud of this page. I've been wanting to do this for a while now and I'm so excited that I finally got around to making it. So without further ado here it is The Page P is for Puzzle   Here's What You Need (All links are affiliated. So if like something please click the link to buy it and help support the blog at the same time!) Assorted Felt Sheets Needle and Thread Scissors Felt Marker Optional: Velcro or Snaps Here's How You Do It   Step 1: Setting Up The Puzzle I knew from the start that I wanted my puzzle to be two layers of felt. A neutral bottom layer and a colorful top layer. (And leave the top abstract so it wouldn't really matter if

I swear I have such bad project ADD that Its no wonder that nothing gets finished around my house before I'm moving on to the next place. I'm just hoping that if I can fix a little something in every room, that I'll eventually transform the whole house. It just might take a whole lot longer than it probably should, but I'm okay with that.  So with that being said I'm moving on to a small project that should hopefully at a little color and decoration to my bathroom vanity. The Project Decorate Bathroom Jars inspiration from  A Kailo Chic Life Results Luckily I don't have that many jars in my bathroom yet. I just have a jar with my home made coconut oil face scrub and an empty jar which I plan to put plain coconut oil in at some point. (At some point I'd like to get around to making lotion and soap for my bathroom, but for now I still have store bought varieties). For my jars I decided to reuse old jelly jars. So the first step was to

I'm sorry for getting this up late. We're having difficulties with the internet lately and I've had to sneak out to get this posted. (Hopefully that will all be resolved by the end of the week) Anyway I wasn't going to write this, I really wasn't, but then I heard Michelle Obama give a speech about this and I knew that I too had to say something about it. That's right I'm talking about what Donald Trump said 10 years ago and more importantly how he treats women today and most importantly how everybody can easily dismiss it as 'locker room talk' or 'boys will be boys'.  Obviously as a woman I'm disappointed and disgusted by what he said. It was rude and vulger, but it was ten years ago. And people over a decade should change, so I can forgive him and Blly Bush for having a past. I'm not perfect and things I say to other people or about other people aren't fair to them. And I'm thankful that nothing I've said is rec

I've actually had this project on my radar for a while now. When I first found it Blue was too big for me to turn any of my t-shirts into rompers for him, so I put it on the back burner for baby #2. And well by the time we had Lion and life had settled in, we were well into football season and I'm too superstitious to switch game day shirts mid season. Plus at that time, I still was too nervous to use my sewing machine. So I put it off again. And then while I was looking at projects for this blog I stumbled upon it again. I knew I wanted to try it, but I just didn't know to use to make it. Luckily my friend Megsy got pregnant and I just happened to have a spare Michigan State shirt laying around (I'm an Ohio State fan, so its a very long story why I have a Michigan State shirt at all). So I put two and two together and decided that this would be something nice to make for her and her baby. The Project Turn A T-Shirt into a Baby Romper Instructions from  Fe