Football Yarn Wreath - Go Vikings!

I've seen yarn covered wreaths everywhere lately and since I couldn't find a nice fall wreath that I liked, I figured I would try making one myself. Browsing through Joann Fabrics, I had a ton of ideas running through my mind, but all that was discarded when I saw yarn in purple and gold. It's football season and what better way to show my support for our team than with a stylish wreath on our door!

Here is my list of supplies:

• Foam wreath
• Colored yarn
• Embelleshments (I chose a wooden V and football)
• Ribbon

Since I purchased a plain wooden V, I painted a couple coats of white and then sprayed it with a matte sealer. Once that was dry, I glued the football on top of the white V so it would be ready to attach to the wreath when I finished it.

Next, I tied one end of the yarn around the foam and then continued wrapping and wrapping and wrapping, switching hands occasionally to avoid cramping!

How I started the wreath

Over half-way done!

Finished wrapping yarn!

Once finished with wrapping the yarn, I glued the embellishment to the wreath and tied a white ribbon around the top to hang it up. This was a very simple way to create a wreath that fits your style perfectly! These are a great gift and will definitely be making more for all the Viking fans in my life!

 

 

Halloween Baby Jars

Am I the only one who cannot bear to get rid of baby food jars? I literally have a cloth tote bag full of clean empty jars just waiting to be used! My husband has been bugging me to get rid of them, but there must be an adorable way to re-use them... right? 

I'm proud to announce that I have found a way! I saw on Pinterest awhile back some baby food jars that were spray painted yellow to resemble lego characters (which I will be doing for the Conductors first birthday coming up in November, but that's a different post for another time!) and mentioned the idea to Catti. She suggested painting the inside of the jar to keep the outside nice and smooth and a little more durable. Catti also had some orange paint on hand and we thought how cute it would be to make pumpkins! I took the idea and ran!

Here is my Halloween Baby Jars tutorial:

First off, you need your supplies:

• Obviously some clean, dry baby food jars. I soak the jars in water for a couple minutes to get the label to peel off easily. 
• You'll need paint. Catti had some washable paint which did an okay job, but I had much better results with the Joanns store brand acrylic craft paint, but really most any paint will do the trick!
• A permanent marker for details.
• Paper towels for any clean up and spills
• A paper plate. I used the plate for when I would tap the jars in case paint came out during the process.

Make sure to shake the paint if needed! I poured about a tablespoon of paint into the jar and slowly swirled it around to cover the bottom evenly.

Then, I tilted the jar horizontally and slowly turned the jar (think like a cement mixer) making sure the glass was getting covered evenly. The first two I was tapping insistently on the kitchen table and it took me about 15 minutes to get each jar covered. On the third jar, I tapped it again the palm of my hand and it went much quicker when I rolled the paint along.

There. Now we've got three orange colored jars ready to be jack-o-lantered. I drew a couple test faces on a piece of paper to figure out which ones I liked the most and then proceeded to draw them on with the permanent marker.

Of course after finishing the pumpkins I started thinking of Frankenstein and Ghosts! Maybe even a Witch or Dracula! Same process, just different colored paints and new faces!

 

Then make sure you husband comes in and makes himself at home on your work table. He brought me a mug of pumpkin spice though, so I guess I can't really complain.

Ta-daa! I let the jars dry overnight (much to the dismay of the Engineer who had a hard time keeping his hands off of the jars - he wants to incorporate them into his train scenes) and worked on the lids the next morning.

To paint the lids, I screwed them onto the jars, poured some paint on the top of the lid (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of paint) and dabbed it with a foam brush. The application was not smooth and was bubbly, but I let it dry and proceeded to do another 3 coats and they turned out better than I thought they would!

Enjoy! We can't wait to see what ideas you come up with for your left-over baby food jars!

P.S. I just couldn't resist...

Raising two boys: My experience so far

It has been almost five years since I had the Engineer and it's a constant trial and error period for me to figure out what kind of parent I am to my boys. Sure, some things didn't work out for our family, even though it worked for other moms I knew (or was suggested in the countless numbers of parenting books I read), but I'm confident to say that I have finally figured out five principles that I follow daily for raising my children.

1. A child spells love, T-I-M-E.
2. Discipline
3. Be a role model
4. No anger for mistakes and/or accidents
5. Listen (H.A.L.T)

1. I cannot stress enough how important it is to play with your kids! I know this seems like an obvious statement, but how many times have you told your child, "Not right now, let me finish (laundry, cooking dinner, dishes, changing a diaper, cleaning, etc, etc, etc!!!)!" I know how busy I am just running a household with two boys who are both in several activities and how easy it can be to not have the time just to play. I try to set aside at least an hour a day where I sit with the Engineer and play trains, work on puzzles, play hide-and-seek or go the park and actually play with him while there. Yes, I stuff myself through the tunnels and smash my hips into the slide, and you know what? He loves it and I do too! No amount of toys or games can replace actual spending time together. Now, I know an hour a day is hardly feasible for most people, but even 15-20 minutes can make a huge impact on your child's life. Sit down and play while dinner is cooking or create a silly scenario together while you are driving around. When your kids are grown up, do you want them to remember how clean the tile and grout was in the bathroom or how much fun they had with their parents, everyday!

2. Consistency is essential while disciplining. In other words, follow through with your consequences! Never threaten something that you can't or won't follow through with. If I tell the kids to stop fighting in the back of our SUV and threaten to turn around and go home if they don't stop, I will turn around and go home if they don't stop. Maybe we were headed to a lunch play-date or Grandma & Grandpas house, it doesn't matter, we go home and miss our activity. However, this is why you must be selective in what the punishment will be since going home isn't feasible if your heading to school, daycare or running errands or maybe you don't want to go home. Either way, whatever you choose, follow through!

3. By being a role model for my children, I make sure that they see me treat others how I would want to be treated. I say "Please" and "Thank you", hold the door open, help someone when they need it and occasionally pay for the person behind me in the drive-thru (Planning a post about helping others in celebration of my birthday coming in a couple months!)! I want them to see that I enjoy being helpful to others and treat others with respect. Another way that I role model for my boys is choosing my words carefully in front of them. The Engineer has the skill of "being occupied" but is really listening to every word I say and to anyone else in the room. My husband unfortunately suffers from Diarrhea of the Mouth and will start telling me awful stories from the news or an inappropriate story from work. I constantly have to remind him not to talk about those things in front of the kids!

4. Mistakes and accidents are just human nature, especially with children. Maybe it's just me, but my first natural reaction when something of mine is broken, stepped on, destroyed or used to dig in the dirt is to become angry. As the boys have grown older, I have worked on taking a step back from the situation, taking a deep breath and reassuring them it's okay, it's just an accident/mistake (depending on the circumstance, of course!!). This is essential in potty training! Accidents will happen and anger just makes the situation worse. Take a deep breath and handle it as cheerfully as possible!

5. My favorite piece of advice my mom gave me about parenting was to use H.A.L.T when one of my boys is having a meltdown. When they do, I pause (or halt, ha!) and ask myself, is he Hungry? Is he Angry? Is he Lonely? Is he Tired? More than likely he is one of those and I'm able to address that specific need to help diffuse the situation much more quickly.

Choo choo! Come meet my boys!

I have two train obsessed boys.

My engineer is four and trains are his life right now. He plays, thinks and dreams all about trains. He just started Pre-k this month and loves school. Engineer goes three days a week for two and a half hours, not a huge commitment but a good transition for kindergarten next year. He is kind, totally hilarious and curious about everything. He's been my constant companion for the last four and a half years and I've enjoyed every minute of it!

My little conductor is ten months old and growing bigger, stronger and smarter by the day! He is sick of crawling and attempting to walk in hopes of keeping up with his older brother. While his train playing usually involves destroying the Engineers detailed setups and chewing on tracks and trains, the two get along great and have a close bond already formed.

The two of them keep me insanely busy and lacking on sleep (A full nights sleep, what's that?) but I wouldn't change it for the world!