Syncopated Mama: DIY

Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

Fabulous, Frugal Flowerpot Costume (no sewing required!)

Halloween is quickly approaching! If you're looking for a sweet, frugal homemade costume idea (that doesn't require sewing!), then consider turning your little one into this cheery pot of flowers:

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Gv's at an age where she's finally got her own opinion about things (her favorite color is red and she makes sure everyone knows it!), so I figured she'd be all over deciding what she wanted to be for Halloween this year.

The funny thing is, whenever someone asked her what she wanted to dress up as this year, it was coincidentally the exact same thing as whatever the other child had just stated he or she was dressing up as!

I was telling this to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, so she started this whole little conversation with Gv, just to see what would happen:

Click here to keep reading!

Simple Homemade Bug Spray

I've switched out many different household cleaning products for natural versions that I make myself (like odor eliminator, clothes and diaper detergent, dishwasher soap, and hand soap), but this was the first personal product that I actually tried creating on my own.

Finding a better bug spray was definitely a priority for us once Gv was born, because there was no way we wanted to spray scary chemicals all over our little baby.

But we live in Florida, where bugs are just a part of life all year round, and we like to do things outdoors, so we needed to figure out a solution pretty quickly after she arrived.

I'd seen lots of different recipes for DIY bug spray, but most of them seemed more complicated than I was looking for (my lazy self is always looking for a cheap shortcut), so I decided to experiment a little bit and see if I could come up with something simpler that worked.

While I'm still playing around with some stronger (read: stinkier) formulas that use more potent apple cider vinegar and fresh herbs that steep for a month at a time, I have hit upon a good, everyday mixture that doesn't smell bad and is a snap to throw together.

What You Need

1 part white vinegar (just fill half your bottle with it)

1 part distilled water (fill the other half with this and make sure the water is distilled so you don't grow a colony of disgusting mold!)

10 drops each of a variety of essential oils (we use citronella, tea tree, peppermint and sweet orange to help deter bugs, but we also make sure to include this one so that the spray smells good (which actually helps repel bugs, too!)

an empty spray bottle (I got ours at our local $ store, but these look great, too)

What You Do

1. Dump everything into your spray bottle.

2. Shake really well before each use.

3. Start spritzing!

See, I told you it was easy! And we've found that the scent is so much better than conventional bug sprays, too. You might notice a little vinegar smell when you first spray it on, but it fades pretty quickly. And if one of the oils (like citronella) smells too overpowering, just increase the amount of sweet orange and lavender. You can even add in your favorite scent to tailor the formula to your preferences!

Do you do battle with bugs whenever you step outside your door, but don't want a flurry of nasty chemicals swirling around your head? Then try this recipe for a homemade version. Not only is it more natural, but it's cheap, too! What do you think? I'd love to hear - leave a comment here or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Fun Felt Sandwich Gift

I've shared with you many times how much I love making personalized gifts for others (babies, toddlers, preschoolers, family & friends, and even my hubby!), but I also love to receive homemade gifts and truly appreciate the time that goes into creating them.

Gv recently celebrated another birthday and she received many fun presents, but one of her favorites is this set of homemade felt sandwiches that are just so cute, I had to share them with you.

First of all, check out the adorable gift bag my talented friend made:

Not only did it serve as the wrapping for the present, but it stores the gift, too! I have got to ask my friend how she made this, because I bet it's something that even I can tackle with my sewing machine.

Once Gv opened the pouch, she pulled out two plates and two sandwiches, all constructed of felt:

One sandwich looks like slices of bread (stuffed a bit to make them puffy) and contains cutout felt pieces in tan and purple for peanut butter & jelly:

The other sandwich is a a burger and composed of a bun (complete with sesame seeds drawn on) and has all sorts of cutouts for the meat patty, lettuce, cheese, tomato, pickles (she even drew little details on these slices), and condiments:

Even though the bread and bun pieces are stuffed with a bit of batting, there's no sewing involved in this project at all. Like the plates (which encase a piece of cardboard), the bread pieces are held together by glue‐gun glue and all of the sandwich innards are just cutout pieces of felt.

Gv has already spent hours playing with this new toy, and has even discovered my drawer of felt scraps and has been "making" other things with those pieces, too. I thought about cutting them up with specific purposes in mind, but when she takes a random triangle‐shaped piece of pink felt, sets it on top of a full gray sheet, and brings it to G declaring she made him "cake," I realize that it might be best just to leave everything alone and let her imagination take charge.

Do you enjoy receiving handmade gifts as much as I do? I'd love to hear - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Not sure jelly would be my choice for a burger addition, but whatever floats your boat...

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24 Thrifty Toys for a 2‐Year‐Old

Disclaimer: We do not let Gv play with these toys unattended and I am not making any claims about the safety of these ideas. Use your best judgement when searching your own house for cheap baby playthings.

When I wrote the last thrifty toys post only a few months ago, I had more than 20 ideas to choose from. That meant I already had a head start on my next installment and boy, was I glad, because gee whiz, Gv just keeps getting older and that means coming up with even more ideas than the previous time!

Although many of the 13‐month and 10‐month toys are still going strong, Gv's interests continue to expand, which means I'm forever exploring the house in search of new discoveries for her to tinker with.

Click here to keep reading!

Customized Hubby Gift (For your anniversary, Father's Day, his birthday, Christmas, or just because!) with 52 Frugal Date Ideas

A couple of anniversaries ago, I was really straining my brain to come up with something special to do for G for our anniversary. We don't really do gifts (as in things), but we usually plan or create something for each other to make the day unique.

I came up with an idea that would not only let G know I thought he was pretty keen, but would solve a huge problem that we seemed to be faced with just about every weekend.

Click here to keep reading!

Frugal Photo Magnet Gift Idea

For Gv's first Christmas, I created this gift for our family. It was perfect for her inaugural year, but even though I wanted to continue to making personal presents each Yuletide, I elected to keep things a little simpler this time around.

So I made these fun photo magnets out of holiday cookie cutters. I figured turning something like this into a magnet would work well because it was small and would still give everyone a chance to see Gv's smiling little face on a regular basis. Even if people didn't put magnets on their fridge (I didn't used to), then they might still stick them on a spare fridge or freezer in the garage, the washer or dryer, or onto a file cabinet.

These little trinkets weren't too difficult to make, either. The hardest part was figuring out what size to print the photo out at (I just did this on my home printer). To do this, I measured the cutter openings and then resized my chosen photo using the basic photo editing software that came on my computer.

I was able to fit six photos on each page of photo paper. Then I just set the cutter on top of the photo, traced around it, and cut it out.

I slipped the photo into the cookie cutter and then put a few dabs of hot glue around the back edges, just to make sure it didn't fall out of place after I got the magnet on.

I'd made magnets in the past using inexpensive magnet paper for the printer, but I knew that wouldn't be strong enough to hold up these cookie cutters, despite the fact they were made out of lightweight plastic. I'd planned to get this paper in the hopes that it would work better, but I decided to first try to use a bunch of free magnets we'd gotten in the mail.

You know the ones. Local businesses send them out with their cards attached, or they come on the front of the phone book each season (who even uses a phone book anymore, anyway?) I'd always held onto these magnets to use in my classroom (I'd glue all sorts of classroom signs and printouts onto the tops, which didn't cost me a dime!), so I had a pretty decent supply to work with.

The free magnets were all large enough to use with these cookie cutters. I just set the cutter on top of the magnet, traced around the outer edges, then cut it out with plain old scissors. Finally, I ran a line of hot glue along the top edge of the magnet and then set the cookie cutter down carefully on top.

Voilà! A cute little personalized gift for everyone to open and enjoy.

And this idea doesn't just have to be limited to Christmas, either. You could easily make one for any birthday or holiday gift, just by using different cookie cutter shapes. I'm actually thinking that it would be the perfect present for Mother's Day, so if you're still scratching your head trying to come up with a great personalized present for Grandma, this might just be your salvation.

I even think this could work for an annual gift, because family and friends could easily enjoy displaying several photo magnets of Gv as she grows each year. I'm already on the hunt for some great cookie cutters that have simple shapes with large openings. I've found some great possibilities, like:

this set of 50 animal shapes
a colossal set like this one that includes all sorts of holidays as well as an alphabet
or just the alphabet and numbers
or just a simple group of fun year round shapes
or maybe even these sets of flowers, hearts, and stars

If you use your own free magnets, you can see that this project can cost less than a dollar a present, but even if you have to buy magnet and photo paper in addition to the cookie cutters, this idea will still come in at less than two bucks a pop, which is great for those times when you have a heart for giving to a zillion people, but a pocketbook that can only handle a handful (think of favors for a child's birthday party, or even a wedding!).

The one thing I was disappointed in with this project was the quality of the colors when I printed the photos out. We'd been having printer/ink issues and I'd thought everything was all sorted out, but the colors still came out a little wonky when I went to make these gifts. By that point, I didn't have time to have the photos printed somewhere else, so I just made the best of it.

Sigh. I miss my old printer. I'd had this one for years and it printed perfect photos, but our house was hit by lightning a couple of years ago and the budget just didn't allow for this gem to be replaced. I'm hoping to get another in the future, though.

Are you still trying to come up with a great gift for this Mother's Day? Or maybe you're looking for a frugal, but personalized wedding or birthday party favor to send home with your guests. With the variety of cookie cutters out there, this idea really lends itself to several different occasions ‐ which one do you like best? I'd love to hear - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Upcycled Spice Rack Vitamin Shelf

We'd had a gross old wooden spice rack lying around.

This is just some photo of one on Amazon I found that got kind of close. I didn't take a before shot of the spice rack because it was too disgusting to remember!

I didn't want any part of it in the house, but it had been in G's kitchen growing up, so he wanted to keep it. He said that surely we could paint it and do something with it, and he lucked out, because I came up with just the perfect thing.

Our bathroom only had one medicine cabinet in it and since it was next to my side of the sink, I'd laid claim to its real estate long ago. Poor G had no spot to keep his vitamins in, except under the sink, because littering the counter with a bunch of ragtag bottles was not an option I was willing to entertain.

We'd had a can of spray paint left from another project, so I yanked the rotting lintel off the nasty old rack, gave it a good scrub and a quick sanding, then headed out to the yard with my newspapers to get it all painted and looking fresh and new.

Not all the vitamin bottles G was using would fit on the shelf, but the taller ones sat perfectly fine up on top and I discovered quite a few empty bottles in the bins under the sink, so I was able to rearrange everything to make it all fit. I made up some quick labels using coordinating scrapbook paper for all the bottles containing relocated pills.

Over time, I hope to get everything into matching bottles (a vitamin we both use comes in a bottle that fits perfectly and has a green cap that matches the shelf color almost exactly). I'll also make new labels (on the computer, or at the very least, using better penmanship), but for now, this is an improvement, and one that turned a nasty old relic into the perfect solution for an organization problem we'd had.

So if you're looking for a better way to store your vitamins or medicine, try using a spice rack! Even if you don't have one to spare, you can find them pretty inexpensively online in all sorts of sizes and styles. You might not even have to do any painting ‐ how easy would that be? Here are a few neat ones I've found that you might want to check out:

A simple spice rack in sustainable bamboo
A wider wooden option, if you don't want to switch bottles
And finally, you can't beat Ikea for frugal, multipurpose items!

Has finding a better place to store your vitamins and prescriptions had you stumped? Try turning a spice rack into the perfect customized solution! What colors would you paint yours? I'd love to hear - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

Also, if you don't want to miss a single minute of offbeat fun, be sure to sign up for free updates and then look forward to having each post delivered right to your inbox, along with a free healthy homemade snack ideas recipe printable!.

Linked up with: Merry Monday, Motivation Monday, Mom 2 Mom Monday, What'd You Do This Weekend, Good Tips Tuesday, Totally Terrific Tuesday, Tuesday Tutorials, Two Uses Tuesday, The Mommy Club, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, WFMW, Homestead Blog Hop,Wordless Wednesday,Fluster's Creative Muster, A Little Bird Told Me,Creative Ways, Thrifty Thursday, Creative Collection, Hearts for Home, Frugal Family Linky, This is How We Roll, Ladies Collective,I'm Lovin It, Kitchen Fun & Crafty, Inspiration Spotlight, Awesome Life Fridays, Home Matters, Pretty Pintastic Party, Front Porch Friday,

Toddler‐Made Valentine's Day Cards (& What You Can Do if You're in a Pinch)

We've been attending a weekly playgroup since the new year began and even though most of the kids are all preschool‐age or younger, we moms thought it would be fun to have them trade Valentine's cards with one another.

I knew Gv would enjoy making them herself and just had to figure out the best way to go about it. I decided to print "Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Gv" onto plain sheets of card stock paper. I then handed her several sheets of heart stickers and a box of crayons before settling back to see what she'd do with it all.

It was very interesting to watch her process of first applying all the stickers to the paper (I was most amazed to see that she seemed to generally space them out so that they pretty much covered the entire page) and then using her crayons to draw on top of that.

When she was finished, I used my nifty fancy‐edged craft scissors to cut them all out (although pinking shears or even just regular scissors would work, too) and then added the names of the recipients.

We received a message saying that two new friends would be joining us the next day, so naturally we wanted to make sure they had their very own Valentine's Day cards, as well.

The only problem was, we'd already used up all our heart stickers, so I had to come up with an alternative idea that would be both quick and easy.

I grabbed some index cards, drew a heart with some markers, added the standard greeting, then handed them over to Gv so she could add her personal touch. I really liked the idea of using index cards, so I might just use them (blank ones like this are best) for next year's cards.

Do you prefer homemade Valentine's Day cards, or fancier store‐bought versions? Have you thought about letting your toddler help create the cards? I'd love to hear! Leave a comment here, or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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