Goodies You've Pinned

I have completed a ton of projects.  Clothes repurposing, sewing, knitting, furniture upgrades, recipes, etc.  And then I have this here blog that is designed to feature all the goodies.  Can I get my act together to put the two together?  Possibly :)

Today shall be a Pinteresty post.  I got most of the ideas from there.  Now, before I show you these, please know that I am a finicky user in that I don't just peruse Pinterest, repin some junk then move on.  I mostly read blogs and pin from there, and if I do get an idea straight from Pinterest, I always go to the link first, check out the site and maybe subscribe to the blog while I'm there.  There's my rant.  Check the link, read the blogs.  If you don't I will be annoyed when your link from Pinterest is faulty.  But I will probably keep following you anyway because you more than likely have good taste.  Especially if you're here reading this.  On with the projects.  

First up, BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad.  Tastier than my picture might reveal.  Iowa Girl Eats just makes her food look so much better! Love her blog--I print off and try her recipes at least weekly.  

Second, I saw this idea a gazillion times on Pinny.  It's awesome--just give your kids some glowsticks in the tub, turn off the light, and prepare to hang out in the bathroom for at least 45 minutes.  

This picture comes straight from Chef in Training, who originated the Pinterest phenom Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta.  Definitely not a light dish, but twas well received in my household.

Got water balloons?  Use em up before summer's over.  We celebrated 4th of July with a little target practice.  Draw some circles, targets, or other shape on the concrete with chalk and let the kiddies (or adults) go wild.  Good for at least five minutes of fun, and no one walks away with welts or bruises.

Phone Troubles

My phone took a dive last night--from the hands of a well meaning toddler into a shallow ceramic bowl. Not a big deal for me, as I use it seldom, and most of the time cannot locate it. It's mostly used as a video recorder and player for the little guy. I can't help but think he had some hidden intentions behind the dunk in the toilet--maybe he's aware of the poor video/audio? Either way, after four years, it might be time for an update.

In other news, check out these tasty and easy peanut butter pinwheels. They are simple and delicious. Here's how I made them: Spread peanut butter over a tortilla. Drizzle with honey. Sprinkle on some granola. Roll, cut into slices. Enjoy.

More Polka Dots: A Quilt

Time for a tour of our little guy's room. I'll show you a few of his decos for the next few posts and hopefully give you some inspiration.

Could not tell you what pattern we used for this delightful little quilt. If I find it, I will let you know. It was a little smaller than crib size, so we added a row of squares. The circles were cut with a special circle cutting tool my mom found at a craft store. We heat n' bonded them together and then zig-zag stitched over the top to reinforce.


In this post, I shall refer to "we" when discussing the construction. This we is my crafty mom, my talented aunt, and me. I did plenty of cutting and ironing and some sewing.


I like the neutral colors--perfect for a boy or girl. Of course I love the polka dots.

Cardboard: Better than Toys

Take a close look at this picture. See all the toys on the right? Not nearly as interesting as this cardboard box. There's something fascinating about them, there must be. We have plenty of cardboard in our garage, so I searched out some ideas for cardboard toys. Here are my three favorites:

These first two are from IKatbag. Cute huh?
There is a full tutorial to make this cardboard car on Parents.com

Same kid, different box. Don't his parents ever put clothes on him?

Sprinkler Fun

We love going to the spray park-- water sprinkling and spraying everywhere.

But wouldn't it be fun to bring the spray park to our backyard? Here are some fun sprinkler ideas I spotted on Pinterest:

She Wears Flowers made this PVC Sprinkler


Instructables also used PVC for this "Kidwash"


This Deluxe Kid Wash from Family Fun is amazing. Our little one is probably too young to appreciate all the bells and whistles, but it would look good in our backyard.

All my best,
Robin

Sew Your Own Bibs

We have more than twenty bibs, and with the amount of drool going on around here, we still don't ever seem to have a clean one. So, instead of doing my required coursework or tending to my house duties during nap time, I whipped up a few little robot bibs. I am glad I did. How cute are they?

This is a simple project for people like me who aren't so comfortable at the sewing machine, but want to give it a go anyway. If you're a master stitcher, this is gonna be child's play for you...maybe skip to the picture of the cute kid. For the rest of us, here's a short tutorial on how to make a bib.



My mom found this fabric at Hobby Lobby. There are more than 6 different robot guys on the fabric to choose from. To finish the bib, I machine stitched around the edge of the entire bib. This gives it a more polished look and rids the need for hand stitching the hole closed. For the closure, I am going to try a snap, but didn't have any of those on hand. We like velcro too and if the snaps don't work out we'll do that.

All my best,
Robin