Classroom DIY Crate Seats and Chart Stand

So excited to finally be linking up and showing the things I've been busy making for my room!

I finally made crate seats for my classroom!

I've been wanting to make them for awhile and just haven't gotten around to it.

I made 4 of them for my classroom library and love how they turned out. 

I bought the crates at Walmart for under $4.

Take the crate with you to Home Depot! 

The man I worked with was great and kept trimming it till it fit with enough room for my fabric. 

 I stapled on three sides pulling the fabric pretty tight. 

I flipped it over, stuffed it with poly fill, and stapled the last side down. 

I then attached another piece of fabric in a loop for a pull. 

TADA! I can't wait to use them!

I saw the coolest way to make your own chart stand using PVC pipes somewhere online.
I can't for the life of me find it now!

I've been wanting a way to hang my chart paper near my carpet area, but didn't want to spend a ton.
I was able to make this one for under $10.
It fits my largest chart paper.
I purchased two pieces of PVC pipe, two elbow connectors, and 4 T-connectors.
I used two 30" and two 40" pieces for the frame, plus the elbow and two T.

The Frame

I added two 2" pieces from the bottom of the T connectors and four 6" pieces for the stand.
I need to get ends for the legs because it slightly rocks without it.
I used old shower curtain rings to hold the paper.
I'm so excited to use this in my room!

I've been bury working on so many products for teachers pay teachers.

Focus Board Header!
I can't wait to put this up in my room this week!

ABC Apple Matching, Chalk Board Class Jobs, Number Clip Cards

Apple Number Clip Cards

Don't forget to check out TPT for their back 2 school sale!
You can find all these products and more in my TPT store for up to 28% off!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been wanting to try my hand at homemade laundry detergent for awhile.

There was a point a while back where I fell completely in love with the Duggar Family. Thank you Netflix instant streaming! In one of the episodes they make laundry detergent for their family and I thought, "well I could surely try that." 

Of course, I never got around to it. 

I kept pinning pins on pinterest of all these different recipes.

But I didn't want to make a huge batch. 

I had nowhere to store it and what if I didn't like it.

This past week for some reason it seems as if everyone is making their own laundry detergent. 

I keep finding tutorials everywhere.

Since I was almost out of detergent I decided that now was the time to do it. 

I came across this pin that had a smaller recipe amount than the ones I had previously seen.

You need four ingredients
1/2 cup Super Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 a bar of soap
1 gallon of water

Grate half a bar of soap into a large pot.
I used Dove, but I've heard any kind will work.

Add half a gallon of water and cook on medium until all the soap has dissolved.

Once all the soap has dissolved, add the borax and super washing soda and bring to a boil.

It will expand a lot and start to coagulate a bit.
Take off the heat and add the other half gallon of water.
Mix together.

I allowed mine to cool and coagulate a bit more before I poured it into the gallon jug.

Let sit for 24 hours before use.

Use 1/2 a cup in your laundry. It is extremly low sudsing, so don't worry.
It is also safe for HE washers, which is what I have.

I spent under $6 for all the materials and still have enough to make 3 more batches.
The two powders will last a really long time.

One thing I have heard is that it doesn't get out stains quite as well so make sure you're pre-treating.
It does however make your whites brighter.

No more crazy expensive containers of laundry detergent for me!

Linking up with Melissa, Sarah, and Amber

Copycat Wendy's Frosty

Kyle and I love getting ice cream.

In fact, we've even joked that we need to start an ice cream fund to support our habit. 

I was thrilled when we got our ice cream maker. 

I was certain that I would use it all the time.

While I love homemade ice cream, it's actually decently expensive to make. 

When I found this simple recipe for frosty's I decided to try it!

It's only three ingredients.

1/2 gallon of chocolate milk

1 can condensed milk

8oz cool whip

Blend together 1/2 the chocolate milk, the cool whip, and the condensed milk. 
Pour into the ice cream maker and add chocolate milk to the fill line.
Mine didn't even take half the chocolate milk.


Follow the ice cream maker's directions and enjoy!

Linking up with Melissa, Sarah, and Amber!

DIY Gallery Wall

Inspiration

I pinned this wall idea awhile ago, but didn't have a lot of space at our old apartment. 

Now that we moved we have ridiculous amounts of wall space plus vaulted ceilings so I finally have space to do it!

I've been trying to think of decently cheap ways to decorate since I know we probably wont be here more than a year or two. This project cost me $25, but you could do it even cheaper if you already have some of the stuff. 

I was originally going to do something different with the space so I bought frames roughly the same size. If I do this again at another place I'll probably add some different size frames in the mix. 

First off, I printed out pictures that I wanted to use in a mix of 5x7 and 4x6. I had a coupon so I got all the photos for $8. If you use pictures you already have you're doing it that much cheaper!

Next, I went and picked out some cheap frames. We didn't have any extras to use, but the dollar store by us had a ton of cute ones! I picked out 11 different frames to use. I wanted all of them to have different looks, but still be able to go together. $11 for frames for all of you keeping track!

Once I got them home I played around with the photos and frames trying to decide which pictures I wanted in what frame.

Before I changed my mind on what I was doing!

Then I decided to add some wood pieces to the collage. I found the large wooden "D" at Michael's for $4 and bought paint in light blue and dark brown to match our bedroom for $1.
I wanted to add some other pieces to balance out the letter, but after searching everywhere and not finding anything I liked I decided to leave it as is. Hopefully I'll find some more pieces to add later on down the road!

 
Paint your wood pieces! This was one of those white letters from Michael's so I knew I wanted it to match our room since that was where I was going to put it! It took two coats!

 
I spent a lot of time re-arranging to make sure that it was exactly how I wanted it. I didn't want any of the silver frames next to each other. I also wanted the different events to be spread out. I had three from our vacation and four from our engagement photos in the mix.
Take a picture of what it looks like once you decide! I was constantly looking back at the picture to make sure I was putting all of the pictures where I wanted them!

The next part is the hardest! I didn't wait for hubs to get home because I was so antsy to get it on the wall. Therefore, I had to do all the hanging by myself, which I hate since I can't make sure it's straight!
First, I measured the wall and marked the center. Then I measured my pictures arrangement to make sure that the center of my layout would in centered on the wall. I started with the bottom and slowly worked my way up hanging each picture to make sure that it was where I wanted it before I hung the next one. You can also cut out paper the same size as each of the frames and tape it up on the wall so you can play with it.


I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I know later I'll want to add some larger frames so it fills up more of the wall.  

   

Linking up with Melissa, Amber, and Sarah

Skittles Vodka Tutorial

When we first started talking about Kyle's birthday party, he really wanted to try some kind of fun drink.

Since neither of us really had any idea of what we would like we started looking.

I had heard of skittles vodka before, but didn't think much of it until then.

We decided to go ahead and try it. 

After the party...

Let me just preface this by saying it was a pain in the butt!

Ingredients:

60 skittles per color. Buy the regular size bag of skittles!

The recipe I found said a 1.75ml bottle of vodka. (You only need half that)

Some kind of glass jar.

Water bottles.

First, put 60 skittles of each color in a bottle. So 60 red skittles in bottle #1, 60 green skittles in bottle #2, etc.
Pour 6 oz. of vodka over the skittles. This will yield approximately 8oz.
Put the lid on and shake.
Allow bottles to sit until all the skittles have dissolved, shaking whenever you think about it.
We did a double batch of each color and it took around 2 days.

Now for the fun part.
Take one of your glass jars.
Put a funnel in it, and place a coffee filter inside the funnel.
Slowly pour one color of the vodka through the filter.
You want to get out all the white gunk floating on top.
The vodka literally never filtered through. I ended up having to squeeze it through the filter.
Not only that, but I strained it completely through twice and it could have used more.
Continue this till all the vodka has been strained.
It took me multiple hours for this part, and a few multi-colored fingers.
The colors do turn out pretty awesome though!

Once done freeze overnight and serve. We mixed them with Ginger Ale, Sprite, and Mountain Dew.

Homemade Reese's Cups

When I first started stalking pinterest I pinned this pin.

I knew it would be the perfect thing for hubs since he loves chocolate and peanut butter. 

Of course, I never did get around to actually making them. 

For hubs birthday I knew that I wanted to make him these homemade Reese Cups.
And they were surprisingly simple.

Makes approximately 3 dozen.
 In a pot over medium heat mix 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 1/4 cup butter, and 1/4 cup light brown sugar.
Stir continually until slightly bubbling.
Remove from heat. 
Add powdered sugar in 1/4 cup at a time mixing each time.
I would followed the recipe and used the full 1 1/4cups, however it became really crumbly.
I should have stopped at 1 cup because it had much better texture.
Let mixture cool.

Line mini-muffin pan with muffin liners.
Mix 4 cups chocolate chips and 1/4 cup vegetable shortening.
Microwave on low for 30 seconds stirring each time.


Using a spoon, fill the bottom of each muffin liner with chocolate.

Place parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet.
Roll peanut butter mixture into balls.
Then flatten slightly to make discs.
I made mine the same size as the ones in the recipe, however, they were too big.
Make sure they only fit in the center of the muffin liner.
Otherwise the chocolate will not be able to get around them.
Refrigerate both the chocolate and peanut butter for 30 minutes. 

 

Once done, place the peanut butter disk on top of the chocolate. 

Cover completely with more chocolate. 

Microwave again if needed.

Make sure that the chocolate gets all the way down on the sides or the bottom wont connect!

Refrigerate again for 30 minutes. 

Keep in the fridge until ready to serve. 

They tend to get soft if left out too long.

These really do taste exactly like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

 

Linking up with Melissa, Amber, and Sarah

DIY Maxi Skirt

I love maxi skirts!

I'm actually kinda sad that it took me so long to get on board. By the time I bought and fell in love with them I had a hard time finding anymore. I've been really wanting a black or black and white striped maxi skirt.

A few days ago I came across this pin on pinterest and knew I needed to do it right away. 

I borrowed a sewing machine from my mom, dragged hubs to Joann's, and we were on our way. 

I used a mix between the maxi skirt I already owned and one of my favorite skirts with a roll over top. The only thing I wish I had done differently was made the flair up top wider. It's pretty form fitting because I used the same width as my original skirt not thinking about it. 

 

Supplies:

1 1/2 yards of fabric (more if you're taller or wider than I am)

Coordinating thread

Sewing machine

Pins

Scissors

 

The first thing I did was lay out my fabric folded in half so I knew I'd get the same size pieces. 

Then, using my original maxi skirt I measured the width of the top and the length of the skirt marking them on my fabric. Mine was 14" wide and 36" long. I knew that I wanted my skirt to have a flare instead of straight down like the one I own. I decided I wanted it to be 28" wide so I measured that out at the bottom. Using a measuring tape, I put one end at the marking for the waist and the other end at the marking for the bottom. I drew my line following that edge in order to give it a gradual angle. I did this on both sides then cut out the skirt. 

 

For the roll over waist band I cut out two pieces of fabric. They were "14 by 10", the length of your waist by double the thickness of your waist band. 

 

Lay the two pieces right sides together and pin up the 10" sides. Sew both sides together and remove pins. 

 

Once  you have it stitched up both sides you are now going to fold it in half all the way around. This will create a tube shape with all the seams inside the tube. One side will be your folded edge and the other side will be the raw edges. 

Now for the skirt! With right sides together, pin up both sides and sew using s straight stitch. 

  

Flip your skirt the right way. Lay your waist band down with the raw edges facing up. Pull the skirt through the center of the waist band. Pin the waist band to the skirt. There will be three pieces of fabric, two from the waist band and one from the skirt. You will be stitching all three together all the way around. Use either elastic thread or a serger/zigzag stitch to give it stretch. My machine didn't have any of these options so I used a straight stitch that worked pretty well. 

If you use jersey knit like I did you don't need to hem the skirt. If you are like me and can't cut a straight line for anything do ahead and hem your skirt. 

 

Pin all the way around the bottom and stitch! 

 

I'm still pretty new to sewing so there were definitely some mistakes, but luckily you can't see most of them!

I'm hoping to find some striped knit and make a few more. 

This is a super easy project! It took me two hours total and a good part of that was trying to figure out how to use my mom's antique machine. Sadly I'm not kidding I looked it up online to figure out how to do something on it and it comes up as vintage! 

Solid Metal! This this is heavy!