Dry Erase List Board- cheap and easy!

At my house, we're trying to start the new year right. Budgeting, planning, organizing, exercising... Wishful thinking, I know. But at least this little project didn't set me back! 

Materials:

8x10 or 8x11 thrift store frame

Easel style stand

Dry erase markers

A printout of whatever list you want (use the landscape orientation on Microsoft Word)

Directions:

Decorate the frame however you like. I left mine plain because I'm lazy. Print your list. Center it in the frame. Cut off any hanging edges of the paper. Sit your finished project on the easel. Write stuff.

Simple right?

For those who like my weekly meal planner, I'll be posting the document here later. 

Let me know what you think in the comments! Thanks for stopping by!

Cheshire Cat Nails

'Nuff said, but i did it to match the Disney Magic Band I painted for our trip next week. 

Guacamole Hack

Cookie Jar

Supplies:

Large Pickle Jar- clean of all labels

Stencils of Puppy and Paw (dollar tree)

White Paint

Black Paint

Chalkboard Paint or a chalkboard label sticker (martha stewart makes these)

Sponge and paintbrushes

Tape- household is fine

Spray-on clear topcoat

Directions:

Tape around the jar where you want the label to be, top and bottom. Try and make the line as even as possible and connect smoothly where it began. 

Remove the lid and set aside if you haven't already.

Sponge the white paint between the tape lines on the jar (at least 2 coats). Sponge the white paint all over the outside of the lid also. Rinse the sponge and wait for the paint to dry.

Center your pawprint stencil in the middle of the jar lid and gently sponge black paint over it. Remove the stencil.

Using a round brush or the butt end of a paintbrush, paint dots all over the lid around the pawprint. 

Tape the dog stencil to the back of your jar, careful to avoid anywhere you have painted. Sponge black paint over the shape and remove the stencil. Allow all paint to dry.

Spray clear coat over everything and allow to set.

Either use your sticker now, on the opposite side of the jar from the dog stencil, or use a pencil to draw the shape of your chalkboard onto the front of the jar. 

If you used the sticker, you are finished, but if not, paint chalkboard paint within the lines. Do at least two coats with a brush. Then, go over with the sponge for a more uniform writing surface. Allow to dry, erase or paint over pencil marks, and fill with dog treats. Voila! 

Some other finished jars:

Redneck Summer #2: Pool time on a budget

This year our redneck waterpark has grown! For around 30$, we've added on to last year's purchases to have a pretty nice setup. The large pool was 16$ at Walmart. Noodles, buckets and other toys all came from the Dollar Tree, and the tarp was about 10$ at Walmart. The smaller pool, the umbrella, chairs, plastic table and sprinkler are leftovers from last year. Collectively, those probably cost around 30-40$ at Walmart. 

Setup:

Stake down the tarp at all four corners to make it more secure. This also makes a great splash pad in a pinch! For 10$, how can you go wrong?

I put the baby pool on the tarp very close to the large pool so that my little one wouldn't feel like I was far away if she was too afraid to go in the larger pool. 

I set up chairs and an umbrella nearby in case the water was a no-go altogether. 

Completed "waterpark"

Enjoying the sun!

Our Lifeguard

Asleep on the job. I don't feel very safe.

Just splashing around

Our system for keeping the pool clean: step in the baby pool first before hopping into the larger pool. So far so good with very little grass ending up in the water! This only works because she only wants to be in the big pool now. I wouldn't use it this way if she was going to be spending any time sitting in her own pool. (Also great for cleaning dirty toys)

Banana Oatmeal Cookies with chocolate chips and walnuts

This has to be the simplest and healthiest cookie recipe I've ever whipped up... And they taste great too!!! I found the original recipe on pinterest, which I couldn't help but modify. The basic recipe was simply bananas and oatmeal, which would probably be great too, but we loved these. 

Here it goes:

2 bananas (mashed or pureed)

1 cup of oats

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1 tsp Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients. Spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from a cookie sheet and allow to cool. Enjoy!

Stepping Stones

Backyard improvement for this years redneck summer adventures. 

I'm going to break this one in half so it will stand up like the one in the Lorax book:

I also created this one because my husband is a die-hard seminole fan:

 

I'll post more pics as they dry, and I'll also share pics of the finished walkway.