Adding Some Music to Lunch

Friday I was in the mood to create something, but nothing on my long list of things that needed to get done were calling out to me. I wanted to create something fun. Then I came across this…

…an adorable boom box lunch box from the gap. After seeing this, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I had a little lunch box/cooler that I had received back in my teaching days. One year for teacher appreciation week, the parents took us on a “cruise” around the world. Everyday for lunch we got a different themed cuisine. For Americas day, we got hot dogs and hamburgers and they came in these fun lunch boxes. We also received matching water bottles. Now I stay at home with my little guy and no longer work for this school, but I still have the lunch sack that they gave me. So I went ahead and transformed it into something that my son can use.

I just used some felt in a variety of blues, greys, black and white to create my own version of a boom box.

And since I had the matching water bottle, I figured why not do something with it as well. I created a headphones water bottle cozy. Take a turn around the water bottle cozy. I wrapped the headphone wire around the water bottle while giving it a 3D effect.

The cozy is held together with some black Velcro.

Not that my son is old enough to care what his lunch box looks like, or old enough to even know what a lunch box or a boom box is, but I plan on keeping this around for a while. For now we will take it with us to our picnics in the park. Hopefully someday he will think it is cool.

Breezy Summer Skirt Tutorial

I shared with you a while back, my breezy summer skirt. Today, I thought that I would share the tutorial. It is super easy- less than 10 steps. No zippers, just elastic. Perfect for summer.

What will you need?

• Sheer fabric
• Solid fabric for the lining
• 3/4 inch elastic
• The regulars- thread and sewing machine

*I do not know the name of the fabric that I used. I do know that it is made exclusively for Joann's. That is where you will find it.

Step 1: Hem your fabrics.

Step 2: Sew your sheer fabric and your lining together. Only sew it together at the top of your skirt. Leave the bottom- the parts that you just hemmed- unattached.

Step 3: Pin in your pleats.

*I obviously botched my fabric while I was cutting it. But once I fold the fabric down to make the band for the skirt, you will never be able to tell. So don’t stress too much if your fabric is not cut perfectly.

Step 5: Sew in your pleats. You are going to measure 1 3/4 inch down from the top of your skirt. At that point, you will sew a line across the pleats.

* After this you may want to iron the pleats all the way down the rest of the skirt. This will give the pleats a more defined look.

Step 6: Fold down the top of the skirt 1 inch to create the band. Pin it. Sew the band shut along the bottom edge.

Step 7: Pull the elastic threw the band that you have just sewn.

Step 8: Sew the elastic in place.

Step 9: Fold your skirt in half while inside out. Make sure the two fabric edges are aligned. Sew up your skirt. Turn it inside out, and done!

Now you have a comfortable breezy summer skirt at a fraction of the price of the JCrew version. You can wear it will a belt and pair with a fun summer tee and flip flops(my fav option). Or dress it up with a fancy blouse and some heels. The possibilities are endless.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Beach in the Backyard

We are in the process of revamping our backyard. There are quite a few outdoor projects that we have slowly been working on every Saturday. All projects(minus the one that I am showing you today) are about 50% done. None would make it to being 100% done, if we hadn’t built this first…

The previous owners of our home had built a special place to put their patio furniture.It was a 7 ft by 7 ft box. We thought it was kind of strange. It was something that really had no use to us. We felt it was just taking up space in the back yard. We wanted to do something with it that would benefit us. So we asked ourselves, what could we do with this space? And the answer… an awesome sandbox!

We started by taking all of the stone off and temporarily relocating it to other parts of the yard.

Next we dug out most of the dirt and relocated that to other parts of the yard.

Then we dug deep holes to hold our pvc pipe.

Then we rolled out the landscaping fabric, cut it to size, and secured it to the ground with landscaping staples.

Then we poured in the sand!

And of course, our son just patiently waited till this was done :) More like tried to crawl out of his swing.

Next step was to paint the pvc pipe. We sprayed it with a plastic primmer first. I recommend that you paint the pipes before putting them in the ground. I am not entirely sure why we put the pipes in before we painted them.

The last piece to this back yard beach was the awning. The awning and the pennant banner were made from duck cloth. Because of it’s size, I had to purchase two 2 1/2 yards of the navy duck cloth. Each piece was 60 x 90 inches. I needed an 80 x 80 inch piece. I had to cut the cloth down to a 60 x 80 inch piece and a 60 x 20 inch piece. Then I sewed those together. For the ties, I just hot glued pieces of twine to the end of the cloth. Then I just tied the twine around the pvc pipe. I was worried that it would slide down the pipe, but it doesn’t. It stays!

It is my sons favorite place to play. Yesterday, while I went to go get his swimsuit, he escaped out the back door to go play. Oh to be 14 months old, with not a care in the world, and the only thing required for playtime is a diaper and some crocs.

This has been a dream. I could not get any of my other outdoor projects done if it wasn’t for this backyard beach.

It’s my sons place to just lounge and read a book while taking a nice relaxing soak in the pool, or while reclining back in his perfectly pint sized chair.

The genius part about this being a sandbox/pool is that I can just hose him down before he comes inside. That way no sand gets inside my house.

This has been the perfect place to play. Although, my son better watch out for the zucchini growing behind him. It has already over taken the carrots. Hopefully it doesn’t overtake the sandbox too ;)

 

Also, I updated my JCrew knock off- Breezy Summer Skirt. I just had to add those pleats. Feel free to check it out again.