Small Pantry Makeover and Daytime Makeover for Me

I started writing this back in August 2012 but never posted it. So here it is:

Its that time of year again, kids are back in school. I sent my youngest off to kindergarten. I am home alone during the day for the first time in twelve years! During the summer just thinking about it made me cry. I felt like what am I going to do? What is my purpose during the day? Do I go back to work? Do I go back to school? What is it going to look like? I thought I am going to miss my kids like crazy! I love having my kids around. I cry the first day of school and count the hours till they get home. I love being with my kiddos. They are my world, my life! Having them all in school was going to be big adjustment. The first day of school came and I dropped them all off and drove off but no tears were coming, not even one. What was wrong with me I thought to myself. How could I not possibly be crying. All my kids are in school. I am alone for the first time in twelve years. I walked in the front door of my house and as it shut behind me I took a breath. I took a deep breath and exhaled! I was going to get a little break and it felt good. It felt amazing to take those hours while they were in school to catch up on laundry, dishes actually have my dinner planned and have a phone conversation with a friend without getting interrupted. This is what this feels like!

Weeks after the first day I went through feelings of guilt. I thought that I shouldn't feel this way. I should want my kids home with me during the day and not look forward to the time they are in school. But what I realized is that it is ok to take a break. I have had children home with me for the past twelve years all day. The Lord kept speaking to me that this is my time to breath, exhale, recharge to press into him. I need to give myself this time. Even if it means cleaning the house, running errands, working occasional ect. I am still doing it alone and have time to myself and spend time with the Lord. I am finding myself again and it feels good. Its going to be a change but I am ready for this next season in my life and it feels good. 

Its interesting the first project I tackeled was cleaning out the pantry. So metaphoric for the season of life that I am in and the things God has been talking to me about. The pantry is behind a closed door. No one sees it but you and your family. Isn't that true about ourselves and parts of us that we only see and our family sees. The good, the bad and  the really, really ugly! Its time to clean out the pantry ladies! If the pantry was open to everyone that came into your home what would that look like. I don't know about you but I want my pantry to be cleaned out of all the junk and the stuff that just does not need to be there. So durning this time with the kids being in school. I am going to slowly clean out the things in my heart that just don't need to be in there. The thoughts and feelings that are just not true . The lies that we tell ourselves that don't line up to Gods word. The words that come out of our mouths only around are family that we would dare not say in public. Its time! Weather your kids are still with you at home or they are all at school or you are full time mom its time to let God come and clean out the pantry!

Here are the before and afters of this weeks project:                                                        

                 

Before

 

After

 
 

 

 

I am so happy with the way it turned out. Of course it doesn't look as pretty as this now months later but it is still so functional. I started out by painting the molding. I wanted to paint the whole pantry but wanted something kind of fun and funky and did not feel like stenciling. So I decided to cover the walls and shelves in contact paper. You can find it at your local box store or home improvement store. They have some many cool designs to choose from now. It was very easy to work with and it has stayed up. I was very concerned that it would not take to the walls but it did and months later it is still up! The only thing I did have to reinforce was the top of the pantry. You could use spray adhesive but I did not have that on hand so I used mod podge! It worked great. I love that it is funky but cute and I can easily wipe the shelves to keep them clean.

 

 The bottom red stacker's are from a big box store. I got them on clearance for $3.00. I think they add some pop to the space. I really wanted some wood crates or weave baskets but with these being so cheap and being able to see threw and the fact that they stack I couldn't pass them up.  One has lunch boxes and water bottles. The others has all things cutlery. The next one has extra dry goods and the last has extra foil, napkins,trash bags and zip locks.The wicker baskets on one shelf are labeled with bakery, pasta and misc. On the very top shelf I store all the cereal, crackers and chips in long cereal containers. Those are not labeled because they change week to week for us. The empty shelf on the bottom is now full of course. I will write another post on that soon. That shelf is usually filled with pre-bagged snacks for lunches and anything extra dry goods from Costco. I am very pleased and it was so fun to do!

 

If your pantry is in a mess and you think to yourself why makeover a pantry it is behind close doors no one sees it but me. That is is exactly why you should redo your pantry!! Knowing that if I am the only person to see it each day and of course my family that is a treat in its self. Try it! You will be surprised!!

Green Ninja Ninjago Party!

Wow its been forever since I have written on here!  My son turned 8 this year and he really wanted a Green Ninja Lego Ninjago birthday party. So I brain stormed with him and we came up with some cool ideas. He found a Ninjago Lego cake he wanted online. It was a huge Lego Ninja. I am not a huge cake decorator. I can icing a cake, sprinkle some sprinkles on it and call it a day. Last year was my first year at attempting a themed cake. I made a huge Lego. Well I started to make a huge Lego and the my sweet friend finished it for me! It turned out great because of her! I also have another friend that creates amazing cakes. She really should open up her own shop. She can create pretty much anything in her kitchen. I was going to offer to pay her to make my son a cake. But instead I thought this year I was going to take the time and actually attempt to do it on my own. I am starting out small, nothing to fancy. I made a Lego Ninjago head. It was round and I figured what could go wrong?!? Well nothing did go wrong it went great!. Here it is:

 I know its nothing to do jumping jacks over and some of you could probaly do that in your sleep! But to me I was so proud of myself and so was my family! They actually were so surprised that I created that..haha!

Ok now to more  fun stuff.  Have you ever seen the candy sushi rolls? They are so cool! You can make them out of rice crispy treats, fruit roll ups and gummies. First make rice crispy treats just like the package says. Instead of putting them in your normal glass or aluminum pan, lay wax paper down on a couple cookie sheets. I used two. Spread the hot mixture on to the wax paper and get it about a half an inch thick. Let it sit and set. Mine looked like this:

They should set for about 30 min to 45 min. When they are done grab your box of fruit roll ups. I could not find green ones to look like seaweed so I settled for the multi color ones. Lay your roll up on your rice crispy treat and cut the rice crispy sheet the same shape. I got 6 rolls out of each sheet.

You take your roll up and rice treat and turn it on the counter with the roll up on the bottom and start filling the treat. I used gummy worms. I used about two or three per roll. Lay the gummy worms on one end of the treat and start to roll! When it is done it will look like a big colorful roll. Trim the excess rice crispy treats off the end and cut your roll in fiths or how many every cuts you want. I did five and it was fine. 

Here is how they turned out!

You can also make rice crispy treats the normal way , top it with a gummy worm and wrap it all with a piece of fruit roll up! These were so fun to make. My kids loved making these. Its a fun way to get everyone involved so your not running around like a crazy women trying to get it all done We made them ahead of time but it would be fun if it was a older kids party to have everyone make their own!

Here are the water bottles we made. I just found the Green Ninja mask on line and printed it out and I used packing tape to tape it to the bottle! Be sure the take is covering the whole picture or the picture will bleed when it gets wet.

Last but not least. I was did not feel up to sewing 10 Ninja mask! So thanks to one of my sons older friends who came over to play awhile back...I used his idea! He wrapped his t-shirt around his head to look like a ninja mask! Put the shirt over their head and use the opening of the shirt for the opening of the eye mask and tie the sleeves behind their head! I thought it was brilliant. Not one week goes by without my boy running out of their rooms with one of their t-shirts used as a mask. So I went out to my local box store and low and behold they had green shirts on clearance! I was thrilled. Spent about two bucks per shirt. 

Other birthday festivities included Ninja star making, Ninja obstacle course and my son wanted to throw a Ninja dance party in there! All in all it was a great time! It was so fun that my youngest son wants a Lego Ninjago Party for his birthday.  So we do it all over again next week!!

Christmas Advent

Hi Everyone!  I  finished my Christmas Advent calendar. I was so excited! Its been a two years in the making. I started it last season and then got sick and never got to finish it. I got it out a couple weeks ago and finally got it done. Have you seen the beautiful Christmas Tree advent calender at Pottery Barn Kids. Just like the one I liked at Thanksgiving I have been eyeing it for awhile. But once again I just cant fork out that money. So I decided to make one:)). I don't have pictures on how to like I did with the Thanksgiving one just a picture. I can tell you I used a whole lot of felt and a glue gun. The kids were so excited when it was done!! I told them its not the one from Pottery Barn and my daughter and son looked at me and said at the same time, "Mommy this one is much more special because you made it and we helped you." My heart melted!

Hope everyone has a great week. Only a couple more weeks till Christmas!

Link your craft to the link party at: http://www.centsationalgirl.com/

Bringing winter to Maui

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season! We sure are. Did I mention that this is my favorite time of the year! I LOVE IT! This Colorado girl loves the warm fuzzys you get and all that Christmas brings. Living in Maui like I said in other post isn't really holiday..ish..So I usually get really homesick around this time. This year is no different. Every time I get homesick and mope around the house I can hear my Grandmas voice in my head "Jilly if you mope around your house cause your homesick all day your kids are going to pick up on that. They don't know the difference because YOU are their home." Aww that just melts my heart and brings me back to reality.  I am my kids home. This is OUR home. I love my Grandma. Here are some pictures of are Christmas decor. They are not the best pictures but hey it works. I really need to invest in a good camera one day. Thanks for visiting! Have a great week!

As you can see I left the beans from my fall decorations. I thought they worked for both holidays:)

This is my front entry table. Those are capiz shells for an umbrella on the trees. Multi purpose:))

Winter Mantel

I finally finished our holiday mantel...well not exactly a mantel but the closet thing to it in our home! I am very happy with the way it turned out. I have to tell you this one was a hard one for me this year. I really didn't know what direction I wanted to go. This picture isn't the greatest but here it is:

 Made these out of paper cones and them wrapped them in rope. My kids thought they looked like teepees! Too cute.. I might say somewhat true:)

 Here is a closer look at the wreath. I orginally started making a whole another wreath but it didn't work out to well:). So I started over and went back to the good old tie knot wreath! I switched white burplap, brown burlap, beige canvas and then red canvas. Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the season!


If you want to link your holiday mantel to the link party head on over to:
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Burlap Lamp Shade

I had fun making these these burlap lamp shadess a couple weeks ago. They are super easy and fun. I would love to show you how to do them but the only thing is the photos got deleted from my phone due to my four year old:).

First of the lamp base I found at Lowes about a year and half ago. They were a shinny goldish color more  on the clearence shelf for $3!! The lamp shades were also on clearance but they were covered in black and gold fabric. I think they were also $3 each. I looked pretty funny going to the check with my black and gold  combinations. A can of spray paint, a glue gun and a yard of burlap later...whala! I am happy with the way it turned out. All in all the whole project cost be about 15 for two lamps.

Goodbye Fall!

Well fall has come and gone once again. Well not technically but the fall decor will be coming down and the Christmas decorating will begin! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did. We celebrated with are friends and we had a great time. Loved it! I am still full:). We have so much to be thankful for and I am forever grateful for all that God has done this year. Also thankful for all the things he has taught me. Its been a hard year but he remained faithful through it all.
I  for one am sad to that fall is already over but looking forward to get my Christmas on. We always put are tree up the day after Thanksgiving and this year was no different. The tree is up and ready to be decorated:). I of course put my fix on it before the kids go at it tomorrow night. Believe it or not the kids were so tired today they did not want to put the ornaments up. CRAZY! I know! So tomorrow it is. Here are some sneak  peaks of our Christmas decorations. More pictures to come!

Two last things. One, I have not forgotten about my daughters room pictures. They will be up soon! Two, I put the Follow this blog button at the top now. So if you come on here often I would LOVE to hear from you. So please follow this blog and leave comments when you want to of course! Thank you for visiting my little old blog:) Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Love, Jill