Archive for July, 2014

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Amy’s Notebook 07.30.14

Wednesday, July 30th, 2014

DIY Lightbulb Terrariums via CladandCloth

Source: Clad and Cloth

 

I don’t think I can kill these diy lightbulb terrariums.

LOVE this family tree wall.

Four things to help you say no with confidence.

I’m wowed by this grill upgrade.

I simply love this dining room makeover.

Quinoa Cakes via A Beautiful Mess

Source: A Beautiful Mess

 

Baked quinoa falafel is a new recipe I am dying to try.

Can’t wait to try DIY natural disinfectant wipes.

These beautiful quotes with watercolor look inexpensive & easy to create.

24 hours in Paris is on my anniversary trip bucket list.

What I Instagrammed vs. what was really happening, or my entire life is a lie…busted!

amys_notebook

I hope you enjoyed our notebook, a collection of gathered links to DIY crafts, food projects, and thrifty ways to spruce up your home. Nothing brings me more joy then to highlight other fabulous bloggers. Follow me on Pinterest for daily inspiration!

 

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Gluten-Free Lemon Chiffon Cake

Tuesday, July 29th, 2014

Gluten-Free Lemon Chiffon Cake

For our family, birthdays are all about the cake and my son’s 12th birthday was just the reason to try out a new recipe. After browsing through the cookbooks, which is the birthday child’s honorary ritual and right, he decided to repeat his choice last year with another chocolate snickerdoodle cake. I rounded out our birthday dessert table with a gluten-free lemon chiffon cake so that I could enjoy a slice of cake with the family too. I would say that this cake was just as much of a hit as the the chocolate cake and tempted me everytime I opened the fridge.

“Just one more slice,” it screamed.

I would grab a fork and nip off a bit and eat it while still standing at the fridge.

Don’t judge.

I am not much of a sweets gal, but this cake was so light and lovely that I couldn’t stop eating it.

Gluten-Free Lemon Chiffon Cake Chiffon cakes are my favorite cakes because they are so light. Much like an angel food cake, they are created with egg whites which really helps with the density of the gluten-free cakes. The cake is so delicate though that I ended up wrapping the cooled cakes in saran wrap and a layer of foil and freezing them overnight so they would not tear or fall apart when I frosted the cake. I highly recommend doing that too.  I still rely upon these two 8″ Wilton pans (affiliate)  (instead of those 9″ pans that produced flat layers for me) and a good spatula (affiliate) for all my cakes. With this cake, in particular, you want to make sure you don’t produce thin cake layers that crumble when pulled from the pan.

Smoothed between the layers is a delicious lemon curd (I used this recipe!) which sounds wildly impressive, but is so easy to make that you will wonder why you never tried making it before. My children fought over who could enjoy the last of the lemon curd that was in the jar.

I broke it up by telling them that since they were going to fight about it, I was going to eat it.

That’s the kind of mom I am, a true problem-solver.

Gluten-Free Lemon Chiffon Cake

The cake is then frosted with a whipped cream frosting that has the lemon curd whipped through it.

I mean, seriously. It’s as if this cake fulfilled all my food dreams.

12

Happy 12th birthday to my beautiful boy. I think this is the happiest of his birthdays and it was because there was no fuss and no elaborate themes. We had just got back from vacation, I had a millionty projects for work, and our shed was in the process of being finished.  There was no time for an elaborate birthday. It ended up being the best birthday yet.

Just friends, a takeout pizza, and some cake.

Why have I been stressing about this birthday party every year?

The smile says it all- simple is better.

I hope you can give this recipe a try. If you gluten-free cakes aren’t your thing, definitely try this Cream Cheese Pound Cake With Homemade Lemon Curd– it’s a winner too!

Gluten-Free Lemon Chiffon Cake
Recipe Type: Dessert
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
A beautiful lemon chiffon cake with lemon curd between the layers topped with a whipped topping laced with more lemon curd. It is the perfect summer dessert!
Ingredients
  • Vegetable oil spray, for misting the pans
  • 2 teaspoons rice flour, for dusting the pans
  • 1 extra large or 2 small lemons
  • 3 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 package (15 ounces) yellow gluten-free cake mix
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup orange juice (fresh or from a carton)
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • For the filling and lemon whipped cream frosting: 1 jar (10 ounces) gluten-free lemon curd (or prepare the homemade version- link above)
  • 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream, chilled
  • 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly mist two 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable oil spray, then dust with the rice flour. Shake out the excess rice flour and set the pans aside.
  2. Zest a lemon and measure out two teaspoons for the cake batter and place it in a large mixing bowl. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice through a fine sieve, discarding the seeds. Measure 1/4 cup of lemon juice, pour it into the mixing bowl with the zest, and set the bowl aside.
  3. Separate the eggs, placing the whites in another large mixing bowl and the yolks in the mixing bowl with the lemon zest and juice. Beat the whites with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Set the beaten egg whites aside.
  4. Place the cake mix, sugar, orange juice, and oil in the bowl with the egg yolks and lemon and beat with an electric mixer and beat until mixed.
  5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter until no traces of whites remain and the batter has lightened.
  6. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared cake pans, smoothing the tops with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side. Place a large mixing bowl and electric mixer beaters in the refrigerator to chill.
  7. Bake the cake layers until they are golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, 18-22 minutes. Allow them to cool on a wire rack.
  8. Freeze the layers wrapped in saran wrap & foil overnight to produce a sturdy base for icing.
  9. Meanwhile, make the filling and frosting. Measure 2/3 cup of lemon curd for the filling and set it aside in a small microwave-safe glass bowl. Pour the cream into the chilled mixing bowl. Using the refrigerated mixer beaters, beat the cream with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, 3 minutes. Fold in the confectioners’ sugar and 1/4 cup lemon curd. Beat again at low speed until the lemon curd is incorporated, 30 seconds. Refrigerate the frosting until ready to use.
  10. Remove the layers from the freezer. To assemble the cake, place the glass bowl with the lemon curd for the filling into the microwave on high power for 10 seconds to warm it. Transfer one cake layer, right side up, to a serving plate. Spread the top with the warmed lemon curd. Place the second layer, right side up, on top of the first and frost the top and side of the cake with the lemon whipped cream frosting. Refrigerate the cake until time to serve.

Adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free (affiliate)

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Apron Full of Giveaways 07.29.14

Tuesday, July 29th, 2014

Owl apron via Etsy

Source: Creative Chics,  $50.00

 

Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways! I hope everyone is having a great week this week! As we do each week, here is our round-up of giveaways for our readers. We hope that this is beneficial to you and your family! Please let us know if you guys win anything- I love to hear the success stories!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we are not giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Kid’s Movies).”

Good luck to each of you!

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A Sensational Beet and Strawberry Summer Salad

Monday, July 28th, 2014

From our food contributor, Diana Bauman.

A Sensational Beet and Strawberry Summer Salad

Summer is the season of abundant vegetables. My family eats such a wide variety of vegetables in this season that my husband often jokes with me and asks if we’re becoming vegetarian. We are certainly not but I do take full advantage of the abundance of vegetables in this season, both in my garden and at the farmers market, to cook them in many different ways.

Although I love to experiment and develop new recipes using vegetables, an incredibly easy way to incorporate more of these nourishing ingredients grown from the earth is to make salads out of them. So often we think of salads as just greens tossed with tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese; however, salads can be made from a variety of vegetables tossed in a simple oil and vinegar vinaigrette – in Spain, this type of salad is called an aliño.

An aliño is just vegetables, cooked or cut up raw, and then tossed in a simple vinaigrette and seasoned with a large granule sea salt. It’s super simple to make and with the addition of fresh grown herbs, the salads become something to swoon over. Let me show you just how simple this beet and strawberry salad is to make:

A Sensational Beet and Strawberry Summer Salad

Step 1. Boil the beets, peel, and dice. Toss into a bowl.

A Sensational Beet and Strawberry Summer Salad

Step 2. Thinly slice some red onions and add to the bowl.

A Sensational Beet and Strawberry Summer Salad

Step 3. Slice up some perfectly ripened strawberries and add to the bowl.

A Sensational Beet and Strawberry Summer Salad

Step 4. Add in a bit of herbs of your choice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and sprinkle with a large granule sea salt.

A Sensational Beet and Strawberry Summer Salad

Step 5. Toss together and serve.

Salads of this nature can be made from any vegetable you may have on hand. Here are a few tips for making sensational summer salads.

  • Red onions generally go really well in most salads. They’re sweeter and compliment vegetables and fruit well.
  • Add in seasonal fruit as it comes into season. It gives salads a touch of sweetness without having to add sugar or honey. I’ve been known to add blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, sliced peaches, and even watermelon to summer salads.
  • Don’t be afraid to experiment. I’ve tossed cauliflower salads, cucumber and tomato salads, beet and watermelon salads, roasted red pepper with red onion salads, etc…
  • Large granule sea salt is for more than flavor. It’s surprising how amazing salads can taste by the simple addition of a large granule sea salt. It gives them texture –  a delightful crunch.
  • Herbs can make a salad. It’s amazing how one salad can taste many different ways by using different herbs. Again, experiment with herbs. Some of my favorites are mint, cilantro, summer savory, marjoram, and lemon balm.

Now the key to a fabulous summer salad is in the vinaigrette. Often times we think we need to concoct a dressing made of 10 different ingredients to enjoy a salad but really it’s much simpler than that. As long as you have the seasons freshest fruit and vegetables all you need is a simple vinaigrette. On hand, I always have balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, and apple cider vinegar. The following is my ratio for a simple vinaigrette.

  • 1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbls of vinegar (red wine, balsamic, or apple cider)
  • 1/2 – 1 tsp large granule sea salt

That’s it. As soon as you start experimenting making salads with a variety of fruits and vegetables I’m sure you’ll memorize that ratio as I have.

A Sensational Beet and Strawberry Summer Salad
Recipe Type: Salad
Author: Diana Bauman
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 40 mins
Serves: 4
A simple summer salad made with the seasons finest beets and strawberries dressed in a simple vinaigrette.
Ingredients
  • 3-4 large beets, boiled, peeled, diced, and cooled
  • 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup strawberries, sliced
  • 1 tbls marjoram (or any other variety of fresh herb like mint)
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbls red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp large granule salt.
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, toss together all of the ingredients.
  2. Chill or serve at room temperature.
3.2.2708

Do you enjoy trying new summer salads? Please let us know in the comments below some of your favorite recipes for summer salads.

 

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It’s the 3 Little Things: So American, Spot Free Dishes, & a Little Dystopia

Friday, July 25th, 2014

3_little_things

Happy Friday, friends!  If you are anything like me, I know that you are looking forward to this weekend. I have quite a few fun projects I am tackling for the site and am jetting off to Austin next week with Savings.com for a fun weekend of learning! In the meantime, it is a mad dash of laundry, deadlines, and playing catch up on the house. The usual.

Here are three things that are making me happy this week that I think you will love too!

The-Americans

Television We Both Love

As you may or may not know, we ditched cable so we either have to purchase a series through Amazon or wait for it to come through our Netflix or Hulu subscriptions. My husband signed us up for Amazon Prime this year and they have a partnership now with HBO and are offering several FX series shows that I am not able to get on Netflix or Hulu. Since we are paying for this membership, we are doing our best to get our money out of it and one way is through our television-watching.

I kept hearing great things about The Americans and we are only three shows in and I am absolutely in love with this series already. It’s a little Mr. & Mrs. Smith and a little Alias. The story is set in the ’80’s and centers around  the marriage of KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington DC.  The show is set during the Reagan presidency and follows Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings, two spies who are in an arranged marriage.

The fight scenes are amazing, the acting is superb, and the plot just keeps thickening.  A marathon of this show is on our weekend agenda and that makes me very, very happy!

lemishine

Goodbye to Spotty Glassware

Summer is the season of wine glasses… oh, wait… maybe that’s just me (*ahem*).  We have hard water and by hard water, I mean miserably hard water that builds up in my coffee makers, on our shower heads, coats our sink fixtures, and makes for the world’s spottiest dishware. I didn’t know what to do other than donate our cups each year and get new ones. We got a new dishwasher and it still wasn’t helping even with vinegar in my rinse aid and running all of our different cycles.

As I researched how to get rid of spots, I ran across this Lemi Shine in a “hard water woe discussion forum,”  and it has changed my world. You add this where the dishwasher tablet usually goes and then put your dishwasher tablet in the other compartment. It boosts your dishwasher soap and makes everything shine like the top of the Chrysler building (said with my best jazz hands). Seriously, if you struggle with hard water, give this a shot and tell me what you think.

the-girl-with-all-the-gifts

A Great Summer Escape

Let me preface by saying that this book is so very far out of my genre that when I picked it up, I wasn’t sure if this was ever going to be a book I could get into. I am just done with dystopian societies, I hate science fiction, and I really am not into shows like The Walking Dead.  I got an advance reader of The Girl With All the Gifts from NetGalley and I can’t believe how much I enjoyed it.  This book is wildly imaginative, suspenseful, and leaves you wondering who you should be rooting for as the story develops. I really, really loved this book.  Unfortunately, it is just the kind of book that you shouldn’t talk about so that each reader can go on the journey with this child and find out just what makes her special.

It lagged a bit in the middle and there were times I was skimming through some of the scientific portions because they were so lengthy, but overall it was an amazing read that found me irritated every time some real-life activity had to interrupt my reading time. It’s been a long time since I have felt that way about a book like this.

I have reached out to the author for an interview, but he’s kind of a big deal… I am not sure if he will reply to my messages. I didn’t want to let this read slip through the cracks though so I am mentioning it today if you want to try something new.

It does have graphic violence and graphic language. Power through.

Don’t read the reviews, it will spoil your journey and discovery of Melanie and all her gifts! 

*this post may contain affiliate links- I only recommend what I love though. Check out past editions of  It’s the 3 Little Things! 

Now it’s your turn, what makes you happy this week? Feel free to share in our link up below and link back to this post to participate or share in our comments below!

Share 3 things that are making you happy today!


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Amy’s Notebook 07.23.14

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014

After school checklist via WhipperBerry

Source: Whipperberry

 

Print this after school checklist. Check!

Balsamic chicken caprese pasta screams summer.

These printable s’mores cubes are adorable – my kids would flip for them!

Grilled peach, honey goat cheese & spiced pecan salad? Yes, please.

15 read-aloud chapter books that everyone loves – perfect!

Chicken Skewers via Yummy Healthy Easy

Source: Yummy Healthy Easy

 

Marinated and grilled Thai coconut chicken skewers over a bed of delicious coconut rice!

A perfect housewarming gift – includes free printable wine label and hammer design.

Fascinating piece on Harper Lee- ‘Mockingbird Next Door’: A Genteel Peek Into Harper Lee’s Quiet Life

How family game night makes kids into better students– bring on the games!

Great tips for hanging party lights.

 

amys_notebook

I hope you enjoyed our notebook, a collection of gathered links to DIY crafts, food projects, and thrifty ways to spruce up your home. Nothing brings me more joy then to highlight other fabulous bloggers. Follow me on Pinterest for daily inspiration!

 

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8 Fun Dresser Makeovers

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014

8 Fun Dresser Makeovers

 

I have so much fun gathering up ideas for repurposing items and look forward to showcasing these ideas for you each month.

Today’s post is all about a furniture staple…the dresser.

I have gathered 8 fun ways you can you can makeover a dresser that I know you will want to run right out and find this thrift store gem to create a new fun piece in your home.

In fact, I can’t wait to snag a dresser myself so I can implement these ideas in my own home.

 

 

 

 

Create a Unique Kitchen Island

Kitchen islands can be quite pricey, but they don’t need to be.
A dresser can be made over into the perfect kitchen island for your home with a fresh coat of paint.
A kitchen island made from a dresser offers ample storage for table linens and silverware as well as a generous top for a cutting board, fruit bowl, or cake stand.
I love this beautiful mint green kitchen island made from a dresser by You’re So Martha.

Make a Cute Dog Bed from a Drawer

As we showed off last month in our suitcase makeover piece, cute dog and kitty beds are all the rage and can be styled to match the interior of your home.
DIY Show Off takes it to another level with an adorable detachable parasol that offers your pooch shade in the summer months.
If you spy a dresser that isn’t in the best of shape at Goodwill or a garage sale, don’t dismiss the piece.
Dresser drawers are just as valuable for fun DIY projects.
Dare I say, in fact, sometimes even more fun than finishing an entire dresser piece?
 I adore this DIY dog bed and the adorable details for your fashionable 4-legged friends.

Make a DIY Costume Closet

Who knew girls came with so many costumes? When my daughter was small, our dress-up clothes resided in a drawer in her room that often exploded all over her floor.

I love the idea of creating a space just for these outfits and Rambling Renovators made a DIY Costume Closet out of an old dresser that is just too adorable for words.
I particularly love that there is a mirror on the side for a quick costume check and that there is storage for jewels and footwear.
The floral wrapping paper interior also adds a special girly touch that any little girl would flip for. This is a DIY-must for moms of girls!

Create a Planting Station

Although I was not blessed with a green thumb, I do have an appreciation for beautiful pieces that add beauty & function to our outdoor living.
Although I couldn’t find the source for this image, I just had to share this fun idea for a way you could transform a mirrored dresser into a planting station.
By adding peg board to the mirror stand, you now have the perfect storage for your gardening tools.
The top is the perfect stop for planting, or even for decorating outdoors.
The drawers make ideal storage for items like seed packets, small pots, gardening gloves, and your gardening cushion.

Turn It Into a Vanity

As we have found with our sixties home, bathroom renovations can be expensive even with the most basic of remodels.
Have you ever considered a dresser the perfect source for a vanity?
I know I hadn’t until I saw this incredible DIY Vanity made from a thrift store dresser from An Oregon Cottage.
The best part is that you can customize this to the size of your home, add a splash of color (or not), and a scratched-up tabletop basically disappears once you insert your sink.
How fabulous is that?

Create Unique Storage

Storage is always something I am thinking about and I love the idea of using dresser drawers for storage particularly in a guest room.
Liz Marie shows off her two beautiful drawers that have been stenciled with numbers as storage underneath the bed.
I can picture spare linens in here, a few basic toiletries, or even reading material for a rainy day.
Again, look at the bones of the pieces and find what is in the best condition and most valuable to you for your project needs.
This is a perfect example of an element you can use from a furniture piece.

Put a Number On It

Numbering things continues to be a trend and one simple addition that you can add to a dresser is numbering whether it is stenciled, applying house numbers, or getting creative with paint.
I love this modern dresser makeover with fresh paint and modern numbers on each drawer from HGTV.
Speaking of numbers, I am also madly in love with this numbered dresser that your child’s date of birth on it.
I found this adorable idea on To London With Love and it makes me want to do this adorable idea on a dresser for my kids.
What kid wouldn’t love to see his birthday everyday and what mom wouldn’t feel nostalgic every time she went into her child’s room.
I adore this!

Add Unique Hardware

For today’s final idea, I love the idea of looking for unique hardware made from other items you might find at Goodwill.
merrythought showcases a beautiful masculine detail on this dresser makeover utilizing leather belts for drawer pulls.
The same idea could be used with leather pieces from purses or purse straps too.
I love that this is such a simple detail, but can transform a dresser into a real showpiece.

Have you ever made over a dresser? We’d love to hear about it!

 

Don’t miss these other great ideas from MomAdvice.com:

 

Make a Closet Office Space

 

 

 

7 Fresh Furniture Painting Ideas

 

 

 

How to Spray Paint Furniture

 

 

 

7 Easy Chalkboard Paint Crafts

 

 

 

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Apron Full of Giveaways 07.22.14

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014

Floral apron via Etsy

Source: Gerbear Collectibles,  $9.99 (pattern)

 

Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways! I hope everyone is having a great week this week! As we do each week, here is our round-up of giveaways for our readers. We hope that this is beneficial to you and your family! Please let us know if you guys win anything- I love to hear the success stories!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we are not giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Kid’s Movies).”

Good luck to each of you!

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Easy Lunchbox Solutions

Monday, July 21st, 2014

Easy Lunchbox Solutions from MomAdvice.com

The back-to-school season is just around the corner and today I wanted to share some easy strategies for packing those lunches this year. I have teamed up with Walmart to share three fun products that you can purchase this year for those lunchboxes: Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread, Frito Lay Chips in their 20-count variety pack, and Danimals Smoothies 12-packs (that just so happen to be worth triple the Box Tops for Education points!). These are all affordable and easy additions for this year’s lunchboxes.

Here are some additional fun ideas for making lunchtime fun for your child this year:

Easy Lunchbox Solutions from MomAdvice.com

Get Organized– As with all things related to back-to-school, getting organized is half the battle. Our family relies on this lunchbox creation station for creating our lunches for the week.  Take advantage of those back-to-school sales and get your lunchbox station stocked with reusable containers and baggies, water bottles, drinks, snacks and chips for the year.

As my children get older, I put more of the responsibility of lunch preparation on them and our lunchbox station really helps when assembling lunches the night before school as well as packing drinks & snacks for our extracurricular activities.

Insert Fun– Every year, I feel a little melancholy about my kids going back to school especially when we have spent so much time together in the summer. This is the perfect time to add a note to let them know how much you love them or add a comic strip and joke to an older child’s lunchbox.

If your school lunch hour is anything like our lunchtime, our kids have very little time to eat. Try to keep the gesture simple so that you can be assured that they were able to tackle their lunch and not just your note.

You can also add fun details like pretty straws, washi tape flags with special messages on them, or a fun treat like Frito Lay’s Chips & a fruity Danimals Smoothie to round out the meal. I love to use Rick Rack Scissors to trim my washi tape to add a fast & easy detail.

  Easy Sushi Sandwich from MomAdvice.com

Try a Sushi Sandwich- Have you ever made a sushi sandwich? These are so fun to create and couldn’t be easier. Grab a loaf of Sara Lee Whole Grain White Bread and your favorite rolling pin. Roll the bread out thinly, but not so thin that the bread will no longer hold together. Add a few slices of your child’s favorite lunch meat and then a cheese stick in their favorite flavor (my kid’s love a swirled stick). Carefully roll this up and then slice in half with a sharp knife. For kids that don’t love sandwiches, these spin on the traditional sandwich is always a hit.

Keep Them Organized Using Their Lunchbox- Trying to keep myself organized is difficult. Keeping my kids organized too? Well, that seems even more impossible. I have found that my children rarely forget their lunches though and this is the perfect spot to clip items that they need to remember for their day. Utilize a binder clip or heavy-duty clothespin and use this spot to jot down notes of activities they need to do for the day, apparel that they need to bring for extracurricular activities, appointments they might need to be picked up for, or forms/permission slips they need to turn in to school. This has been a great system for us and helps remind us all of what needs to happen each day.

I hope you love these ideas for freshening up those lunchbox routines and wishing you easy and sweet transitions back into the swing of the school year!

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DIY Library Tote Bags with Free Printable Designs

Monday, July 21st, 2014

From our diy/craft contributor, Sarah Milne.

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs

Our summer holidays are in full swing. We haven’t any big trips planned, but a few little adventures here and there, along with days filled with a good balance of relaxation and local outings.

One of our weekly summer activities includes a trip to the library. During the summer, it’s so important to keep those little brains stimulated. Also, my oldest is in a French Immersion school and the library is a great resource for her to brush up on her reading and language, en francais.

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs
A good book bag is essential, especially when my girls seem to collect a giant stack of books each visit. I designed some awesome library totes for each of us to take along using a set of canvas tote bags from Michaels (bought with a coupon, of course), and I’ve prepared a set of printables for all of you to print and iron on your own canvas tote bags! These make for such a great gift for the book lovers in your life – there’s a grown-up quote, a floral heart and an adorable gal or guy fox to choose from.

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs

The supplies.

  • Canvas tote bag
  • Ink jet iron on transfer for light fabric
  • Free printable tote bag designs
  • Scissors
  • Iron
  • Towel
  • Hard surface for ironing

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs

The how-to.

  1. Download the free printable book tote designs (links to individual designs below).
  2. Following the instructions on your ink jet iron on transfer pack, print your desired design.
  3. Trim the design around it’s edges.  For the quote, trim each phrase separately.
  4. Diligently iron your canvas totes before applying the transfer to make for the smoothest surface.
  5. Place your transfer in its place and iron.  Follow the instructions on your transfer pack as each varies.  I ironed my transfer repeatedly over the course of 2 minutes.
  6. Let your transfers cool completely before removing the backing.
  7. Off to the library you go!

More ideas.

  • Embellish your totes by adding ribbon ties on the handles or sewing ribbon to the handle.
  • Have your child add their own personal touch by painting or drawing on the back of their totes using fabric paint or markers.
  • Roll up your tote and tie with a ribbon and tag and gift to the book lover in your life!

 

DOWNLOAD free printable tote bag designs.

she reads books quote tote bag design

floral heart tote bag design

gal fox books are cool tote bag design

guy fox books are cool tote bag design

DIY Book Tote with free printable designs

 

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