Fall Subway Art - Free Printable!

Who is inspired by the change between August and September?  After the summer heat, we tend to look forward to that sweet crispy morning air, smell of dewey leaves, the slight chill in the mornings, bonfires, hooded sweatshirts, and of course- Hawkeye Football! 

 

For our entryway we have a revolving seasonal display - here is the link to our Summer Display...http://smothersx3.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html

 

For fall 2013 - I am going to do Autumn decor with this color pallette.....

• Aqua
• Dark Turquoise
• Orange
• Chocolate Brown

 

 

Here is a photo from Instagram that I took of our Fall Decor - more up close photos of this to come. 

 

 

 

 

I was inspired by this photo I saw out on Pinterest for my color combo for this fall...

 

 

In celebration of my decision..... drumroll please...

I have made up a free printable subway art that will sit in our entryway... all these items are things I love about fall....

Feel free to print, frame and display in your house!

 

 

 

Happy Fall Y'all!

 

Road Trippin!!!!!! Toddler Style...

Traveling with a toddler... it's probably every parents nightmare...  I know that the idea caused a little anxiety within the Smothers' household!

We were able to take our very first family vacation this summer, we drove 12+ hours to Estes Park for a wonderful 5 days of fresh mountain air and gorgeous scenery.  - More to come on that later...

Back to the preparation for this "delightful" time together in the car....

We have a 2 year old who is soon to be 3.... and has a very active mind and delights in constant conversation, activity, and questions....  now how to keep her mind stimulated, my patience level acceptable and loving, while also delighting her on her first family vacation....

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

a.) I would like to start this out by saying "THANK YOU!!!!!" to The Dollar Tree for providing very affordable items for my family.... without that store this trip would NOT have been as successful!

I calculated it would take us approximately 12 hours of driving (one direction).  Therefore I put together one brown paper sack for each hour - so 24 bags of fun total....

within each bag there was:

a.) a felt board activity that one might find in a quiet book
b.) a new little toy  - coloring book, stickers, puzzles etc.
c.) nursery rhyme to read and try to memorize

Here are a few photos from her activities in the bags....

 

Here she is racing cars on the felt board - 3 cars for 1.00

 

 

Magnetized paper dolls - she is playing on a $1.00 cookie sheet

I purchased these dolls from a local consignment shop - "Extras" in Pella.

 

Cookies anyone?  She can put any color and flavor of frosting on her chocolate cookies, as well as put sprinkles or other frosting decoration on your cookie...  She's a great baker folks!

 

The other items that were brought with us to help out with these bags and activities were:

a.) a dry erase marker board

b.) a felt board - I covered a canvas with felt

c.) a cookie sheet for items that had magnets - this also worked for a tray

 

We brought along plenty of snacks - fruit snacks, finger foods and stopped along the way for stretches, a ball for playing soccer in the truck stops, as well as our Kindle that had some fun games downloaded on it.  She surprisingly didn't choose to play on the Kindle as much as we figured she would. 

 

Here is us ladies at Lake McConoughy in Ogallala, NE - we had a picnic lunch here and played in the water.

 

 

 

 

 

Our little miss loved these treat bags, and did really great overall with sitting still for so long.  We had a great family vacation!  I will for sure do this again...  I had maybe $40.00 in this - well worth our sanity!!!!!

 

I put together a list of items for entertainment - here are a few items on this list:

 

 

• photo album with pictures of your child, family members and friends
• Quiet book pages - felt pages/activities
• Audible.com - free books to download
• Children's music CD's
• "What is Missing?" - hide something and have them guess what is missing
• "I Spy" - Red Stop Sign, Brown Truck etc. 
• Pandora on phone - Elmo and other Toddler Radio Stations
• Guess the Animal Noise Game
• Aluminum Foil - Make and mold items
• Dry Erase Markers and Board
• Black Paper and Chalk
• Color Game - call out a color and then look for it.
• Cards -  matching games, abc flash cards, etc.

 

 

Or if you are just bored and feel like goofing around... make a mustache out of paper and double sided tape... and entertain your car buddies and those on the Interstate...

 



 

For other traveling ideas - please feel free to check out my board on Pinterest...

 

http://pinterest.com/mmici21/traveling-with-kids/

 

 

Jewelry Organization - displaying all my pretties

So I have all this fun jewelry... but I can't seem to ever find what I want to wear with my outfits...

I know I am not the only gal out there that looks at these piles o crap - er I mean Piles of Jewelry in the morning and feels overwhelmed by it. 

My dresser while large enough to hold a lot of stuff - lucky girl eh???  However the drawer I had all my jewelry, hair bands, watches, sunglasses and the ever so sneaky bobby pin all seemed to jumble up in that drawer...

Here's the beaut..  AFTER it had been cleaned out and "organized"

Top of the dresser before....

Collected items from around the house....
I had these goodies so this project cost me nothing!

What I used: Paper Towel Holder, Fruit Basket, Pants Hanger, Trays, and yes my friends.. a glass head (what can I say, I am a collector of odd items)



Top of dresser after....

 

Some photos for inspiration of each "station"

 

Now hopefully I will be able to see all my pretty jewelry and be able to pick what I want to wear much easier! 

 

Homemade Cleaning Products - Air Freshener

As promised on Facebook.... the "Recipes" for the homemade cleaning products that I have made and used over the past two weeks - they have worked for the 2 weeks, and have held up, thought I would try them out before sharing with everyone...

Over the past two weeks I have used one bottle of Pine Sol that I purchased at Target for $2.42 - for several different cleaner recipes - which I will share with you all over the course of this week. I still have some left of the cleaner even!!! Probably close to a cup of cleaner remains after all recipes were made.

 

Air Freshener for Pennies!!!!

 

 

Ingredients:

1c Baking Soda

4Tbs Pine Sol

Container - I used a rubbermaid container

 

Directions:

Mix together baking soda and cleaner until you form a rough sand texture. Place mixture into your storage container.  Put freshener in desired room - out of the reach of children and pets preferably. 

Shake every week or so to loosen up scent and change out each month.   

 

Cost:

Baking Soda - on hand

Pine Sol - maybe .10???

Container - on hand

 

Time:

Nothing FLAT!

 



 

You may also find inspiration at this website:

http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/05/super-simple-homemade-air-freshener.html?showComment=1305034685386

Homemade Cleaning Products - Garbage Disposal Freshener Pods

As promised on Facebook.... the "Recipes" for the homemade cleaning products that I have made and used over the past two weeks - they have worked for the 2 weeks, and have held up, thought I would try them out before sharing with everyone...

Over the past two weeks I have used one bottle of Pine Sol that I purchased at Target for $2.42 - for several different cleaner recipes - which I will share with you all over the course of this week. I still have some left of the cleaner even!!! Probably close to a cup of cleaner remains after all recipes were made.

Garbage Disposal Freshners/Cleaner Pods

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1c Baking Soda

4 Tbs Pine-Sol

1/2c Salt

 

Directions:

 

Mix all ingredients together - to form a rough sand texture - this will fizz a bit.

Form into tabs with metal spoon or metal measuring spoon - press together firmly - place onto wax paper to dry overnight

 

Makes rougly 12 -15 tabs depending on how large you form your tabs with your measuring spoon.

 

Mine were not all dry from overnight - I turned them over in the morning and they were completely dry within a few hours. 

 

Place into an air tight container for storage.

 

Drop into disposal while running warm water and disposal on. 

 

Cost:

Baking Soda - on hand

Salt - on hand

Pine- Sol - .25

 

I've been spending how much on those cleaning tabs/packets at Wal-Mart and Target????  OUCH!



Time:
To mix together products took about 2 minutes - I ended up doubling the recipe.
To form the tabs took about 10 minutes
Drying - overnight - flipped over to dry the underside another 3 hours.


I used this site for original inspirationa and tweaked it a bit for my own recipe. 

http://srg123.blogspot.com/2013/05/diy-garbage-disposal-freshener.html

Homemade Cleaning Products - Swiffer & Floor Cleaner

As promised on Facebook.... the "Recipes" for the homemade cleaning products that I have made and used over the past two weeks - they have worked for the 2 weeks, and have held up, thought I would try them out before sharing with everyone...

Over the past two weeks I have used one bottle of Pine Sol that I purchased at Target for $2.42 - for several different cleaner recipes - which I will share with you all over the course of this week. I still have some left of the cleaner even!!! Probably close to a cup of cleaner remains after all recipes were made.

 

Homemade "Swiffer's" and Floor Cleaner

Ingredients:
Pine Sol - Disinfectant Cleaner
Water
Spray Bottle
Microfiber Towels

Directions:
Mix Equal Parts Cleaner and Water - I used 3parts to fill up my spray bottle
Place one microfiber towel on swiffer head.
Spray cleaner onto floor- wipe clean with microfiber towel
When finished - take towel off - throw in washing machine to clean!

Cost:
2 Microfiber Towels - Dollar Tree - $1.00
Pine-Sol & Water Mixture - .50
Spray Bottle -  on hand
Swiffer - on hand

And I've been paying how much for these swiffer wipes at Wal-Mart and Target????? OUCH!

Time:
Same time it takes to put a swiffer cleaning pad onto the mop head....
Cleaner mixture - not even 3 minutes to mix up your cleaner!

Homemade Cleaning Products - Disinfectant Wipes

As promised on Facebook.... the "Recipes" for the homemade cleaning products that I have made and used over the past two weeks - they have worked for the 2 weeks, and have held up, thought I would try them out before sharing with everyone...

Over the past two weeks I have used one bottle of Pine Sol that I purchased at Target for $2.42 - for several different cleaner recipes - which I will share with you all over the course of this week.  I still have some left of the cleaner even!!!  Probably close to a cup of cleaner remains after all recipes were made.

Disinfectant Wipes - 

Cost:
.50 - 1/2 roll Paper Towels
.25 - 1cup Pine Sol - rough est on price
Free - repurposed wipe container

I've been spending how much on the container of wipes at Wal-Mart or Target?????  OUCH!

Time:
Maybe took me 3 minutes to put this all together
The towels do need to soak up the mixture - that takes about 30 minutes to completely soak up to the top of the towels.

Ingredients:
1 roll Paper Towels - Heavy Duty - I used Bounty Basic - $1.00 at local Dollar Tree
Equal Parts Pine Sol & Water (I used a 2 cup mixture) - depends on the size of your container
I repurposed an empty un-named wipe container

Directions:
Cut your Paper Towel Roll in half
Take out the middle cardboard roll from paper towel roll
Fill Container with cleaner - you can pour over the paper towels if you would like too.
Place one half of the roll in the container - let it soak up cleaner - takes a little while to soak up all mixture.
I used this site - however the directions werent entirely clear:

 

http://ruggedthuglife.com/2013/05/29/disinfectant-wipes-pine-sol-or-vinegar-recipes-are-at-the-bottom-of-this-post-for-various-types-of-cleaners-you-can-create-sturdy-paper-towels-water-glad-or-ziplock-container-that-is-large-enoug/

The paper towels have held up surprisingly well - they didnt turn mushy and we use them all the time for quick clean ups!   I would recommend these for any cleaning you would do with regularly priced Clorox or Lysol wipes - you can also use your choice of disinfectant cleaner you would prefer.  I love the fresh scent of Pine-Sol.