A Pinteresting Wednesday: Cloud Baby Toy

Bean needed some new toys.

Pinterest and A Pinteresting Wednesday to the rescue

I had pinned this idea a couple of weeks ago. I immediately loved the little happy cloud with the rainbow tags.

tutorial found HERE

I loved it so much I made one.

Okay I really, really loved it because I made a cloudy day version with only blue tags...get it...rain coming from a storm cloud.

Bean loved them both.

Another successful Pinterest project done.

D.O.N.E.

Vinyl Tablecloth Picnic Blanket Tutorial

I know Summer is more than half way over, but there is still plenty of time to gather up a couple of sandwiches, some chips, fruit, water, and some treats and have yourself a grand little picnic.

Along with that picnic lunch it would also be handy to have a cozy and cute picnic blanket.

Handy? Why yes it would be handy.

You know what would be more handy, if it was easy and cheap to make.

Are you saying to yourself, "Why that would be especially handy! Please do tell."?

Well, okay...but just 'cause I like you.

I love a project that requires just a few items. I especially love a project that requires minimal work and is cheap to throw together...I mean lets face it, I am a mom of four rowdy boys and I spend all my money on milk, bread, shoes, and jeans.

This picnic blanket is one of those projects.

For this picnic blanket I simply used a vinyl tablecloth, a inexpensive $5.00 bed sheet, and a couple of packages biased tape. Pretty awesome huh!?

All you will need is-

1 twin flat bed sheet
1 60"x84" vinyl tablecloth
2 pkg of coordinating biased tape
thread

Don't be confused by the both the extra sheet and the extra package of biased tape pictured. I got a little ahead of myself when I took the pictures of the supplies. You won't need the extra.

You might see the other bed sheet in a different project soon...ooh so exciting.

First you lay out the bed sheet wrong side up. Then you line up the tablecloth on top of the sheet, wrong sides touching.

The fuzzy back of the tablecloth will help it stick to the sheet. Cut off the excess parts of the sheet so that it is in the same shape as the tablecloth on top.

Keep the tablecloth and the sheet together wrong sides facing.

Then after attaching the two packages of biased tape together, pin the tape in place all around the outside edges of the tablecloth.

Sew in place.

Fold over the biased tape and pin in place once more.

Then sew the biased tape to the blanket.

Finished.

See how easy?

Roll up your blanket and stash it in your picnic basket.

Lay it out, vinyl side down because well it is easy as pie to wipe off.

Then serve up your delightful little picnic lunch...

...and enjoy the last little bit of Summer.

Sharing Here:
Thirty Handmade Day: Pity Party
Tatertots and Jello: Weekend Wrap-up
Be Different Act Normal: Saturday Show and Tell
Whipperberry: Friday Flair

In a Nutshell Part 2: Mesa Falls

We took more advantage of living so close to the great outdoors while Hubby had the week off.

We packed up the family and drove a bit to a local waterfall nestled snuggly in the mountains. We planned on making a hike, but it ended up being more of a brisk nature walk.

Less vigorous, but definitely still breathtakingly beautiful.

The waterfall was beautiful.

The walk through the trees in the mountains was glorious.

Plus it was made pretty easy thanks to the plank trail.

Which was great for little hikers.

The view really was so marvelous. I love the mountains.

The only part of the hike that was close to a work-out. Lots of stairs.

We handled it all like rock stars.

Even Bean. But then, he traveled in style. Have mom will travel.

Almost everyone was all smiles. Notice Middle's face of annoyance.

Just imagine him saying, "Another picture!"

Me answering, "We are making memories!"

Much better.

After we were all done and heading back home, we stopped at a little spot called Warm River. There the boys excitedly fed the biggest fish I had ever seen. For a little bit of cat food they will swarm to the surface.

It was quite glorious.

Thanks for letting me share a little bit of our week. I took over 200 pictures of our week., and that was with forgetting to take the camera to the water park. I will spare you and keep the rest of our adventures to ourselves.

It was a grand week.

With our family staycation all done, I do have piles of projects in various stages of doneness (totally a word). I hope to have some to show you this week.

Thanks for reading and sticking around. I sure appreciate ya.

In a Nutshell Part 1: Happy Campers

Did that just say "In a Nutshell Part 1"?

Why yes, yes it did. Humor me. There will be only 2 In a Nutshell posts.

We had a busy week. Hubby had the week off and we took full advantage of the fact. So there is lots of stuff to report.

We went to a water park. We saw out of town friends. We welcomed family. We went hiking.

We went CAMPING.

One of the reasons we were excited to move where we did was because it is way closer to some awesome places for outdoor adventures.

I was excited to give my boys some camping experience. It was debated as to how much of a camper I could be. Last year between just moving here and the fact that I was pregnant and sick, we did not really go visit anywhere.

A year later, some planning, and a brave decision to camp with a four month old, we headed out for a simple over night camping trip. I think I proved I could cam!

There was quite a lot of excitement.

Some of us were a little unsure of the great outdoors.

He got over it and ended up quite enjoying himself.

We shared out camping with Aunt K. It was nice to have an extra set of hands.

One of the highlights of the trip was a lazy and leisurely float down the river at the camp grounds.

Little was excited at first. Then he actually got into the boat. His excitement quickly faded and he decided being in a little boat was not for him. So he hung around at the camp ground with me, Bean, and Aunt K.

The river float was slow and easy. The boys loved it. About an hour later I drove down and picked them up at our meeting point. They were all a buzz about their river float.

Camping brought out the sillies and the hungries. Does camping make anyone unbelievable hungry??

We had hot dogs and foil dinners...not to mention some extra tasty food that may or may not fall into the junk food category. Shhh don't tell.

Hubby and I were worried about nighttime.

Overall, everything went better then expected.

Bean slept well once he got all snuggled up with me. The deflating air mattress only put a slight cramp in my style.

Little had the roughest night. He was up quite often.

Which is why when everyone else was up with crack of dawn he kept sleeping.

Everyone woke up happy. These two were back in silly  mode by the sunrise.

Yup, we had a good camping trip.

 

We made a camping trip with a four month old. We were fairly prepared and organized. I did a good job at letting them just be boys and enjoying

We are a pretty lovely group of happy campers. 

Good times.

Lemonade Chex Mix

We just had a lemonade stand over here. It was lemontastic.

 To see more of our Lemonade Stand go HERE.

On top of making two kinds of lemonade, we also made some lemony treats that they could sell as well.

The most popular treat that we sold was the Lemonade Chex Mix. This is a super yummy and super easy treat to make. You owe to it to Summer to make yourself some.

   
Lemonade Chex Mix
my chocolate therapy 

9 cups rice Chex
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 tsp lemon zest
2 TBS lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Pour cereal into a large bowl and then set aside. Melt the chocolate, butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a microwave safe container. Melt for  minute. Stir. Melt for additional 30 second intervals until smooth when stirred. Pour melted mixture over cereal and gently stir until the cereal is evenly coated.

Transfer the cereal into a gallon ziploc bag. Add the powdered sugar and shake, shake, shake your money maker. Serve it up.

Hope your Summer is going splendidly. Thanks for reading!