Colored Pencil Rolls

Remember when my friend shared her tutorial last week HERE? Well I wanted to try it out but I didn't have any crayons so I used colored pencils. We DIYers have to improvise... I mean I couldn't just wait a day to buy crayons right :) 

I also had two sets of 12 pencils and AnnaLeigh gave a great tip on how to add or take away length to make it for any number of crayons/colored pencils. Her original tutorial is for 8 colors. 

Finn saw me taking pictures and was getting really curious but I am going to keep it hidden and take it out when we need it most... at a restaurant :) 

I also think this would be the perfect go to gift to throw in with something else. It took me about 20 or 30 minutes to make both of these! If I know you and your kid has a party soon, pretend you didn't see this.

Light Cider... I'll Drink to That!

We have kind of started a new Sunday routine over here... Mom's house for swimming, food and drinks. Just so happened that last week I also had the really lucky opportunity of trying out Michelob Ultra's newest beer - Light Cider. So you know what I brought to the festivities :) I have to be honest, I am not a huge beer drinker. I just know that I don't like "dark" or heavy beer. If you follow me on InstaGram then you know that I'm a margarita kind of girl! But when I saw the new light cider, I figured I love apples, I like "light" and its pretty; and that is reason enough for me to try one!

I have to say, I truly liked this beer. It wasn't too appley, it's super light, crisp and so refreshing. When you first sip it, it has a light beer flavor then just a hint of green apple. It almost has a white whine sangria taste because the sweetness is just from the real fruit. It is also Gluten Free and because it is sweetened with Stevia, it has less calories that your typical "girl drink". It also smells like green jolly ranchers haha. 

It was a big hit with us grown ups, my husband even had three and he is typically a dark beer drinker. My mom made a summer roast and a fresh corn salad and it was the prefect accompaniment. Speaking of my Mom, she HATES anything apple flavored and we forced her to taste it... she said, "its not as bad as I thought it would be" haha. That's pretty good coming from someone who doesn't like apple or sweet drinks.

My favorite part... on the box it says to enjoy straight out of the bottle or over ice... Duh, what did I do? I am an ice addict and I can't resist a straw! I think I might have found a new summer drink, and lets be honest... my go to margaritas don't have 120 calories!

I was thinking about what else I could do with it... You know when you put a beer in the freezer or in an ice chest and it starts to slushy? That is my favorite thing... I wonder if I could do a Granita out of this?? I have never made one but I bet it would be so good. Which favorite summer meal or activity do you think would go best with Michelob ULTRA Light Cider?

You can read more at Michelob's Site HERE or at Michelob ULTRA Light Cider page on BlogHer.com.

Crayon Roll - a Guest Tutorial

Hi Guys! A few months ago my friend emailed me with pictures of a little sewing project she did. She is very talented but she doesn't have a blog so she asked if she could share her tutorial with you all! Of course she can!! She is doing a ton of DIY stuff for her wedding, including the Lingerie Bag (one of my very first tutorials) for her bridesmaids. She is having a destination wedding, in only a few weeks so these portable Crayon Rolls are going to be perfect kid favors! I even have them on the to craft list for next week. Thanks AnnaLeigh!

Hi Taylor Made Readers, this is AnnaLeigh :) I saw this idea for a crayon roll on Etsy. They were selling party favors for a children’s party. I thought they were so cute and easy to make I decided to create them for myself and have them available along with a little activity book I found for the children at my wedding. The ones on Etsy were for only 5 crayons but as a kid I know I would want all 8, not just 5. So you can make the crayon roll with as many pockets as you want. This project was a great stash buster. I didn’t buy a single thing for this project, everything came from a stash. Ok let’s get started. :) 

Supplies:

Fabric (I used 3 different fabrics, you can mix and match or however you want to do it)

Ribbon-approx 17” (the Etsy crayon rolls used an elastic hair band but I had ribbon and didn’t want to buy hair bands just for this. If you do use ribbon, I wouldn’t use satin, it won’t stay tied; it needs some sort of friction. If you have the option, I would use the elastic because kids are very capable with tying knots in the ribbon etc and I would hate for you have to cut open your beautiful creation but I went ahead with the ribbon because I’m not using them for my kids and I won’t have to be dealing with it :)

Thread

Sewing machine

Rotary cutter and measurers

Scissors

At the ironing board and cutting board: 

1) Press all fabric.

2) Decide which fabric will go where and cut 3 pieces total:

a) pocket piece 8.5” x 5.5”

b) outside piece 8.5” x 5”

c) inside piece 8.5” x 5”

*If you want to do more or less crayons, just add or take away an inch from the length for each crayon. For example, if you only want to do 5 crayons the 8.5” length would go down to 5.5”*

3) fold the pocket piece (a) in half length wise and press.

At the sewing machine:

1) Pin the pocket piece (a) to the lower half of the inside piece (c) raw edges aligned and the fold of the pocket piece (a) toward the middle. Baste pieces together with about a 1/8” seam.

After you baste, it should look like this:

2) Now we are going to sew the crayon pockets. On the pocket piece (a), I started from the raw edge and sewed to the fold. Be sure to backstitch your pockets for strength. Kids will be kids. The two outside pockets are going to be 1¼” and the rest will be 1”.

3) On the completed inside/pocket piece (either the right or left side is fine, I did this on the right side), fold the ribbon in half and pin it about a ¼” from the edge on the wrong side of the fabric.

4) Baste with a 1/8” seam.

5) Fold the ribbon over to have it run across the front of the fabric and pin it (you can also baste again if you’d like).

6) Now take your outside piece (b) and place it on top of the inside/pocket combination, right sides facing each other. Align the raw edges and pin together. (Make sure the ribbon in tucked inside)

7) Being sure the leave a 1.5-2” opening (marked by my pins), sew a ¼” seam around the project. Be sure not to sew the ribbon into your seam.

¼” seam:

8) Flip your project right side out through the hole you left. With a dull pencil or chop stick, poke your corners out until you are satisfied. Press flat.

9) Sew a 1/8” seam all the way around your project to make it a little more professional and also to close the hole you had left.

10) And you’re all done! See, easy, right?

Scenes from a Craft Room... In Real Life

Happy Monday, I hope everyone had a great father's day weekend. You might be wondering why I haven't crafted all week? Well, other than the Chore Chart, I have been getting stuff done! I am a very organized person- sometimes to a fault. But we are busting at the seams in our small house, it was time to de-clutter and crafting was put on pause last week. Here it is... Introducing my Piles-O-Junk. Yes that is a skull in the bottom left picture, my dad gives my son weird things for his room (is it wrong that I thought about covering it in fabric or glitter?) 

These piles were stressing me out bad! So I did what any girl would do, whined and begged my husband to go to ikea. What on earth is on my TV?? haha... 

A few weird commercials later... Tada!

Meet the newest addition of the craft room family. An organizers dream :) Also, I might have thought of something so smart... I can't get the boys out from under my feet so I just assigned the bottom rows for their toys. Now they actually play with their own toys in here.

This thing is huge, but I love it. I had to move the stuff on the walls so everything could fit. Remember the Bird Trio, Color Wheel Clock, Spool Art and my Green Table. I am so into the gallery wall that I am going to do one in my living room too! See the whole craft room Tour HERE.

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram then you know I'm so excited about the quilt-a-long I'm doing at "Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night". Here is a little sneak peek of things to come...

My poor machine hasn't had any action lately. So, have you done any "spring" (or summer) cleaning? And is anyone else doing the quilt along? And what should I do about that skull haha?

Sponsor Love: Toby and Max

Hi! Help me welcome Taylor Made's newest Sponsor, Toby and Max Jewelry! Toby and Max is a unique, one-of-a-kind inspirational jewelry line. The online shop is owned by Sandy and she says that Toby and Max "is a place of inspiration and hope. A place to reaffirm your desires to be everything you wish." 

Everything is made from sterling silver and pewter and it is all hand-stamped. This one might be my favorite, it has the word "free" on the back:

and how cool are these :)

Toby and Max also has a ton of really cute "pet inspired" jewelry too! 

Go show Toby and Max some love and check out more pieces HERE.

Website: http://www.tobyandmax.com/store

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TobyandMaxJewelry

Blog: www.TobyandMaxJewelry.blogspot.com

If you are interesting in advertising on Taylor Made find out more info HERE. 

Chore Chart

This is a total Mom post... I don't know how well it would work with husbands :) Kidding! Anyway, a few weeks ago my husband and I had a little talk about how our boys are getting totally spoiled in every direction. I love how much our families love them, they definitely shouldn't have self esteem issues later in life ha! I am also SO lucky because all of their grandparents live within 10 minutes of us. They are all super supportive and great with them, but everyone spoils the boys. Which can be a great thing but I don't want them thinking they get a weekly present just for being cute :) So I am going to make these kids work for it... Clyde is a little young but we started a Chore Chart for Finn this week.

I wanted him to really own it so last week I taped paper to a foam board and told him to decorate it for his new chore chart, I totally hyped it up. Every day he was like, "can I color my chore chart?" Look how many hours of fun he had...

Finn will be three in August and he helped a lot, I cut out the letters but he helped me glue them to the board and he got to put the tape down for the borders. I used repositionable stickers for the current goals. I used washi tape for the borders, index cards and an envelope.

Once I feel like he has "mastered" something, I will change it out so I used the restickable tape for those.

This month:

If he does any one of these, he gets a sticker... after 20 stickers... he gets to get to go to target to get a prize. The prizes will be like $3 or under. He already has his eye on a matchbox truck. Now he is working toward something and so far he is so proud every time he gets a sticker. 

On a TMI note, I don't think using the bog boy potty is every going to happen, I guess I will be changing diapers forever. I guess it is a good thing he's cute.

So, do you have a chore chart at your house? What "goals" do you have? I'm thinking of making your bed and getting dressed by yourself for next month. Also any potty tips for boys who are stubborn and don't like to poo in the loo? 

Also don't forget to enter the Mod Podge Giveaway going on HERE, it ends tomorrow.