Non-permanently painting a KitchenAid

So, I think everyone has seen the custom cut vinyl for KitchenAids. I've seen some crazy intricate ones. Just google "custom kitchenaid vinyl" if you haven't. Wow.

So even though I have a Silhouette and could easily make one for my own, I still haven't, because...reasons. Or not really any reason at all. As it would happen, though, I had some friends come over last night to work on a craft project and we ended up cutting vinyl for their KitchenAids (which was not the project we got together to work on, of course).

I had the vinyl negative left of one of the decals that I held on to because I thought it would make a good stencil for... something. And then it hit me. Why not use it to stencil my KitchenAid? I want to do light blue or yellow vinyl, which I don't have yet, so in the meantime...

I used acrylic paints and tested a little patch first. I just dabbed some on with my finger, let it dry, then made sure it scratched off as easily as I thought it would.

Then...

So that'll hold until I get vinyl in the color I want. There are some parts where it seeped under the stencil, but I'll just wait until it dries and then scratch it off. So easy. I wish I was a talented painter- I'd do an all-over floral design. Sigh. I suppose it wouldn't be worth it, since this probably won't take thorough wipe downs very well.
 

I got lucky

No, not like THAT. Or maybe I do mean like that. None of your business. *blushing*

The title is referring to a gift certificate I won to a local flea market. Fleaology. Here's their blog. I submitted my name for the drawing they do before each one, and I got 3 entries because I blogged about my last flea market finds here. Anyway, I won $50! That, plus the money I'd already set aside to spend there, made me feel like I was gearing up for an awesome little shopping spree. And it WAS awesome. Look, I'll show you:

{I saw this and made a beeline for it. I always keep an eye out for globes. And it was only $15!}

{This doesn't match anything in my house, but I just kept going back to it again and again. It's embroidery.}

{It needs a new place to hang, of course. Or maybe I just need a headboard and some more things to hang by it. Hmm...}

{I'll hopefully make a move on my bathroom redo soon, so that this can stop looking terrible next to those dark green walls. It's awesome for all the stuff I want to keep in the bathroom but don't want little hands to get at.}

{See that awesome scarf with the yellow border? Three dollars. Booyah.}

{I've been looking for awhile for a hard suitcase for dress-up storage, but they're always either too much money or too small. This giant was only ten bucks and in almost perfect condition.}

{Everything fits! (With some room to spare, even)}

{I like wearing the brooches in my hair. I don't know what I'll do with the clip on earrings, but it'll be something.}

{It's a metal peacock! This is another one that I'm not sure why I bought it. I love it. I mean, I parked it on the mantle temporarily, but over a month later it's there because I just love how fun it is.}

I forgot to take pictures of a few things, like another little globe. It's small and white on a brass stand. I also got my new favorite necklace EVER for $2.50. I got a big vintage melon crate, too, but it's still in the garage. It needs a good scrubbing before it's allowed inside. Anybody else had awesome luck lately?

Road tripped

Well, our little vacation is over. We actually got back about a month ago. I LOVE the Oregon coast. The whole Pacific Northwest, really. Just so beautiful. So green. Foxgloves as prolific as weeds. Sigh. I do love it here (UT), though. Just not a whole lot during the summer. Too hot. It was an especially nasty shock coming back from 60-70 degree weather to the hottest week Utah's had so far, the high over 100 for several days straight. I must sound like such a whiner to all the people who live in New Mexico and Arizona. Whelp, sounding like a whiner isn't going to stop this train.

Anyway, before we left for our 15 hour drive, I finished a few other things. One was this:

Magnetic paper dolls! I saw them HERE and just loved it. So much so that I got the exact same paper doll book (that was just coincidence, really- it's at Hobby Lobby if you were wondering). I wanted a big set with lots of options, so I used two 1'x 2' magnetic sheet rolls. Also from Hobby Lobby. I also got all this stuff in 3 different trips to the HobLob (oh yeah. I just slanged it) so I could use the 40% off coupon all times. Because of that, my total was less than $15.

Here are my doll clothes, all popped out of the book and crowded as closely as I could manage onto the sticky side of the magnet roll.

I seriously love playing with these. So does my daughter, of course. And all her little girl cousins (it was such a crowd pleaser- all the girls from age 3 to 10 crowded around the cookie sheet at the beach house).

It wasn't as great of a car toy as I had envisioned- there were two many little bits and not enough room to spread them all out. Great kitchen table toy, though.

As it turned out, we weren't really hurting for car entertainment. My girls were both little troopers for 95% of the drive, which was SO much better than I had dared hope. I think I deserve some credit, too. I was prepared out my ear balls with stuff for both of them, and I want to share. So, without further ado, here's my

TOP TODDLER ROAD TRIP TRICKS!

1. MAGNA DOODLE. Get the giant one. 

2. Straws and pipecleaners. Mim made bracelets, rings, swords, people...I handed them back a few at a time.

3.  A blank notebook. Maybe this wouldn't work as well for some kids, but Mim loves just drawing. We did secret messages for awhile, too.

4. Stickers. I spent like 15 bucks on stickers at the dollar store. Probably more. I let her put them on herself, on her car seat (she can only reach fabric parts, where they were easy enough to peel off), in her notebook, where ever. I also made matching games with them for her to do.

5. Water bottles filled with glitter and water. After you have glitter and water in them, GLUE THE LIDS SHUT.  These were for my little 10 month old. She was pretty fascinated by them.

6. Don't give them something to do until they ask. After every stop, I made sure I didn't just automatically hand something back. Sometimes Mim would go for close to an hour just looking out the window or talking before she wanted something else to do.

7. Snacks. Of course. I did things like fruit leather, popcorn, grapes, carrots, string cheese, nuts, and Pringles. And water. No juice for us. Mim will drink 10x more juice than she will water, which would have meant a LOT more potty stops.

So that's what worked for us. I've seen a ton more lists out there, some with 100+ activities and ideas, but Mim has a pretty long attention span for one so little, so we didn't need that many more things. Not that I'll ever, EVER assume that for road trips in the future. 

Hope your vacations have been awesome! Thanks for reading.

Best aunt ever, part 2

I decided that I want mailing cool stuff to be my "thing." I now have a sister and a sister-in-law in Texas. Not to mention some very close friends here and there around the country. So when I saw THIS blog (via Pinterest, of course) I was really excited. I had no idea the kinds of things you could send through the mail! Pretty much anything can go, with regular ol' stamps, as long as it's 13 ounces or less. And when you think about it, 13 ounces is almost a pound, and there are lots of cools things that weigh less than that.

So, my first awesome thing I sent was a ball. I wrote my nephew's address right on it, Mim helped me decorate it with stickers, and off to the post office we went (we had to take it inside, since there was no way it was going to fit into a mailbox). I didn't get any pictures, though. There's one HERE on the Giver's Log, though. Imagine the same sort of thing, but with one of the even bigger balls (the 16" diameter kind).

That kicked off a whole little mailing spree. I sent a few things to my sis-in-law who just had a baby, a birthday present to my sister, and a belated birthday/kindergarten graduation gift to my niece (which I blogged about HERE). I packaged them all the same way, though, with vinyl.

{I sent my sister some flip flops one at a time, too, but didn't take any pictures. Hers are the blue and red ones, I made them the same way I made THESE.}

 With the flip flops I was originally going to just write the address right on the sole, but I got too worried about sending them through the mail unprotected, since they were embellished. If I had just sent them plain, I probably wouldn't have put them in vinyl.

Anyway, if it's hard to tell, I just took two pieces of vinyl and used my largest zig zag to sew them together. I used a Sharpie to write the addresses on and put one "forever" stamp for every ounce the package weighed (I used my kitchen scale). I have some more mailing ideas- now I just need to get things done and send them off!

Road trippin'

Well, we're not driving yet. We leave for Oregon next week (it'll be about a 15 hour or so drive for us- we're going all the way to the coast) and I've been busy getting things ready that will keep my 3 year old busy.

I have a few things done and thought I'd share this one today:

 But what is it, you ask? Well, it's a cookie sheet with a bunch of animals and things on it. There's something special about these animals and things, though.

 

Ta-da! They have a magnet on the back and will stick to the cookie sheet, which (in my opinion) will make them ideal car toys.

So really, the only "making" I did was taking a pile of these little wood animals:

{I got mine at Hobby Lobby for I think 50cents apiece.}

 And using this to attach magnets:

{I didn't use hot glue because I was worried about it getting soft in a hot car.}

 And voila!

Incredibly simple, but I think she'll have a lot of fun with it. I'm sure I would have when I was a kid.

Since I bought so many little wood figures, I plan on only letting her play with them in small groups (sea creatures, farm animals, pets, etc.). That way it will seem new to her for a longer time, which will hopefully result in her being entertained for a longer period of time. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Knock on wood.

I have more magnet-using, cookie sheet applicable toys coming up, so stay tuned.