Save My Ottoman

In an effort to protect my couch and ottoman from becoming even dirtier from the kids feet, and the dusty dirt that blows in the windows, and the sippie cup spills, and the candy corn drool, and the...well you get the idea. I have little boys.

I decided to cover it up. Im starting with the ottoman, then I will do the couch.

It really wasnt too hard. For me the measuring and cutting is the worst part. But I had a cute little helper...

This fabric was just to pretty to pass up. Who says damask cant go with polka dots? Maybe someone did say that, but I didnt hear!

Come visit and prop up your feet! I dont even care if they are dirty ;)

No, seriously, come and visit!

Color By Number

Coloring is all the rage around our house right now. So to spice up our coloring books, Avery came up with the idea for me to make his pages a color by number. It only takes me a minute and he loves "solving the code". Plus I think it helps his number skills.

We did a Batman villain:

A Transformer: (he was tricky, lots of little squares. This should keep him busy for a while!)

And a cute Littlest Pet Shop guy: (Avery was quick to point out that "this was is boy peacock because he has the pretty feathers to display" Cuz why would he color a GIRL thing?)

A silly boy sneaking in the picture :)

Homemade color by number is fun! Try it!

DIY French Nails

Im usually a short nail person but on a recent business trip I got a french manicure and I loved it! But Im not so in love with the price tag that comes with keeping nails up professionally. So...I do it myself!

Here is what you will need:

Any french nail polish (usually sell in a set anywhere)

nail polish remover

a brush, go for soft bristles

1. Paint a coat of white on the tips. As you can see, you dont have to be super careful.

2. Add a second coat if you need it. I needed it

3. Pour a little nail polish remover into the cap and dip your brush in.

4. Gently brush back and forth on your nail removing the jagged edge of white. Try to make the edge where your natural nail would start. You may have to dip the brush in the remover often. I find it works best when its pretty wet.

5. After you have done all your nails, top with a light pink or beige polish!

You are done!

I was worried my left hand would be really hard, but it wasnt bad. This method is WAY easier than using the little stickers for french tips.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Energy Bites

Ive been pinning recipes like no body's business. I found this little gem and hoped for once I might get my kids to eat something of substance!

Energy Bites found here on my Pinterest or here for their home blog.

They were really good! They remind me of nature candy I learned to make in elementary school. The honey is really noticeable. At first I didnt love them, but by my second one I am hooked!

Baker has yet to try one, Avery asked that the "new thing would taste good" when he was saying the dinner prayer, but I dont think he has actually taken a bite yet.

I made a few changes. I used butterscotch chips and bran flakes instead of flax (its what I had)

These will be great for my commute to work in the morning!

Another great Pinterest find!

Energy Bites

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Pinterest Project: Food edition

I havent been cooking much lately. Im kind of in a cooking rut.

There are so many delicious looking recipes floating around Pinterest inspiring me to cook something goooooooood!

For this week's project Im looking towards my recipe pin board. Im really excited about the two dishes Im going to make!! They look so so good.

First up: General Tso's Chicken. This is a favorite of my husbands, but Ive never tried to make it before.

And also this Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf. I have some blueberries and a lemon, its meant to be!

I'll let you know how they turn out.

Make something new this week too!

Project Delay

The braided hex nut bracelet is giving me some issues! It looked so EASY! Yet here I am, with a mess of nuts and twine in my lap. I think my problem is my hex nut are too thick. But Im going to put it on hold for now...

Did anyone else try this? Why am I such a dork at braiding hex nuts?

In other news, Baker is out of the crib and into a big boy bed. And consequently, he is pretty much impossible to put to bed now. Yay! Any tips on keeping him in his bed?

Here is the bed

He loves it! He keeps saying "Its awesome!!"

Finally asleep. Maybe someday he will actually fall asleep in there!

Kindergarten is going great!! Here is my big Kindergarten boy. Is this picture fantastic or what? I love it. Its a classic school picture. His little teeth crack me up.

Homework! Luckily he loves to do it. And why wouldnt he? Its mostly just coloring :)

Baker does his "homework" too.

For my next Pinterest project, I think I will make a recipe. There are so many good ones going on out there. Any suggestions?

This Week's Project

As I discovered last week, sometimes crafty supplies are trickier to come by than I think they should be here in Hawaii. Maybe part of it is I live in a small country town (we dont even have a real stoplight people!) or maybe I just dont know where to go (entirely possible) or maybe its just that Hawaii is odd (but I still love it, it is Hawaii duh!). But this week I think the supplies I need will be easy to acquire. We may not have a stoplight, but we do have an Ace Hardware.

This week's project is a simple one. I've seen it going around Pinterest for a while now and I think it could be really cute! See this post for an explanation of what Im up to...

DIY Braided Hex Nut Bracelet

Link to my pin here or go straight to the blog it came from here! Its an awesome blog.

Im headed to Ace!!!

Never heard of Pinterest? Beware, its slightly addicting but oh so fun!!

Pinterest Project #1 Complete!

Surprisingly, I had kind of a hard time getting the supplies for this project. Hawaii is an interesting place. Luckily it all came together!

I like these little sheep!

I decided to make my little sheep into a book mark. See this post for my inspiration.

Embroidery is not my strong suit. But with I slowly got the hang of it.

I chose a nice soft rosey linen for the back

And a little grograin to stick out the top!

Im so glad I tried this project. These sheep arent 100% perfect, but I still think they are cute :) I want to improve my french knots and maybe one day work on a more ambitious embroidery project!

Also, can I recommend this book that is modeling the bookmark?

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

I LOVE this book, its a series. Check it out. Its fun, cute, hilarious, and charming.

Check back next week for another Pinterest Project!

Pinterest Project #1

For my first weekly project I chose one of my very first pins,

these cute french knot sheep.

My in-laws are serving a mission for our church in England and my MIL was telling me some charming stories about all the sheep there. I am going to try to make a few of these little guys on a fabric book mark for her.

Plus Shaun the Sheep is maybe the cutest kid show. I love it. So Im totally loving sheep right now :)

I found a very helpful and simple video tutorial for french knots here.

Original post of these sheep link back to this cute blog

Getting back underway!

I think things are starting to calm down around here. Here is what we have been up to:

• School is well underway for both boys! Its weird for me to say that! Baker goes to preschool two days a week while I work, and Avery is in full day kindergarten. They both have great teachers! (who knew how much paper two kids could bring home the first week of school!)
• Baker is pretty much potty trained!
• I am back from a 10 day work trip to DC. It was great to be back there! More on my trip later
• Ive got so many projects on the brain! Is it too early to decorate for Halloween?

That brings me to my latest plan. Raise your hand if you LOVE pinterest!?! I no longer mind the super long Costco line. Waiting for my ground turkey to brown is no problem. I just browse and pin and repin! Like most of you I am collecting a long list of fun potential projects.

So Im going to start a weekly Pinterest Project! On Mondays I will browse my projects pin board and announce my pick of the week, and by Friday I will blog about how it went and maybe some tutorials or status updates along the way.

I would love for you to join in the fun and do some projects with me! Or if you have a fun project pinned send me an email with the link, Ill pin it and maybe Ill make it! Just send your project to artsyaut@gmail.com :)

Click the link on the side of my blog to follow me on Pinterest.

Ill post my first pinterest project later on today! I have to do a little work around the house first. Dang priorities!!