I have a lot of stuff, a lot. My storage tubs have slowly taken all of the garage shelves and my shed is FULL. So full that it has gotten harder to get anything out. I do plan to purge the holidays' bins when I get into them, but I also have party supplies, costumes, and craft supplies I store in there that I need to get into more often. I asked Jack to build me a shelf that it would be easier to keep things organized and still be accessible. He spent $20 on five 2x4 boards that were 96 inches in length, he already had the wood screws.

The shelf was very simple 48” long, 20” wide enough to fit in the shed and hold the bins. We also made the shelves only 15” high just high enough for them to fit under. The shelf needed to be able to hold a lot of weight so he secured each board with two screws.
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The shelf fits perfectly in the shed and so did the storage bins. This will make getting into the tubs so much easier. When the weather cools back down in the fall I’ll ask Jack to make some more for the other sides of the shed and storage bins, he just doesn’t know it yet.

Well, the store shelves are bare and any disinfected cleaning supplies are sold out. Even DIY make your own hand sanitizer supplies are sold out. SO what do you do? We were lucky to have a box of alcohol wipes in our first aid kit and once we used those all up, we made our own. Jack happened to have a bottle of 71% alcohol for when he works on his electronic projects and I always have cotton pads.
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I placed ten pads in a baggie or in a small jelly jar and but 1 tablespoon of the alcohol on the pads. I labeled them and it was that easy. Now I know it isn’t the easiest thing to use but it is better than nothing and I refuse to buy a 2oz bottle of hand sanitizer on eBay for $40!

​I recently purchased a Sacred Heart shirt on Amazon and I was disappointed with the way that it fit. I ordered my normal size, read the reviews and thought I made the right choice. Well, it got here and I tried it on and immediately returned it. I also recently designed a shirt on Zazzle that I have been wanting for years, along, with a special shirt for Jack’s upcoming birthday, so I decided to make my version of a Sacred Heart shirt; one that would hopefully fit better.
Once I was satisfied with my custom design and made sure I was getting the correct size, I placed the order.
I was really happy with the results of my custom shirt and looking forward to wearing it on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. It just goes to show you if Amazon doesn’t have what you want, just make it!

My birthday is coming up and you know that means a fun themed party! This year’s theme is lemons because I’m not bitter about turning 35! I bought myself the perfect lemon skirt and even decorated the house with lemon décor, including a DIY wreath and fun pillows. I even made a few lemon signs. I wanted Andrew to wear a cute lemon shirt that said “Mama’s Main Squeeze”. The problem I was I found several cute ones but couldn’t find any in navy one to match me.

I finally gave up and ordered a plain navy shirt from Amazon to make my own. Typical right? I found a lemon clip art I liked online and inserted it into a Word document. I know there is actual design software, but this works for me without any additional costs. To create the wording I just used the Word art feature, I picked the style I wanted and typed out “Mama’s Main Squeeze” then fitted inside of the lemon. I printed the image on iron-on transfer paper and let the ink dry overnight. Next, I cut the image out and peeled off the packing before positioning it on the shirt. I covered with a thin scrap of cotton fabric and ironed in place with the iron on the cotton setting. Once the front was cooled I flipped the shirt over and ironed the back for a few seconds.
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As simple as that Andrew is ready to party!

I am in full-blown lemon decorating mode. All month I have been decorating the house with lemon stuff. Maybe it is because of the bright and sunny yellows make this abnormally gloomy month a little brighter. I have been looking for a little lemon sign for my bathroom, ideally saying “So Fresh So Clean”, but I wasn’t having any luck finding something small enough. I did find an image I liked and decided to print it out and Mod Podge it to a board just like I did for the Godmother and Proverbs 31 signs I’ve made. Thankfully we already had lots of lever over scraps of boards and Jack was able to cut two boards to the size I wanted. Before gluing the image in place, I painted the boards white with acrylic paint. Once dry I cut the image to the shape of the boards. I put Mod Podge on the front of the scrap piece of wood and carefully place the image, smoothing it out slowly. After it dried I used a clear acrylic sealant and painted the whole sign.
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The Sign came out so perfect and cute that I ended up making another one for the kitchen!

This has been a project I have wanted to do for about five years now, ever since my grandmother passed away. I used to love playing in the big old red barn growing up that was at the very back of her property. Last spring I finally convinced Jack to go with me to help pick out some of the old barn boards. Not only did we come home with lots of the unpainted boards from the inside, but we actually took the barn door! Literally. Technically there was only one door left and the barn looked bad with only the one and I quickly realized that it was the perfect size for a table, so we took it. And then it sat in the garage for the last year. Since the weather has been so nice and we finished the garden gate and currently waiting on the next project, I decided it was the perfect time to make our new table.

I started by using a heavy-duty paint stripper to get off as much of the weathered damage on the front so it would better adhere to the new backing. I stained the plywood before attaching it to the barn door to prevent the newer wood showing through. We then used Liquid Nail and some screws to attach the former face of the barn door to the stained plywood. I wanted to make sure the table was going to be sturdy and not flex. Also by doing this first made the other side of the door much easier to sand. Once the glue dried overnight we cut the door/plywood to the size we wanted. Then I sanded the new tabletop, a lot. I started with 220 grit sandpaper and then went to 150 grit. I repeated this process several times until I could rub my hand across it without getting splinters.

We bought 2 x 1 boards and used them as trim around the original barn door. This framed it out nicely, as well as, hid the sides of the plywood. Next we attached the new tabletop to an old outdoor table stand we had. The new boards were to new looking and the sanded down the door was lighter after being sanded down so I decided to do a quick light stain of special walnut before sealing it with a clear coat. I used an outdoor varnish and put three thick coats of the sealant, letting it dry fully between each coat.

The finished table turned out better than I ever imagined! It’s such a great way to turn something so memorable from my childhood to something I will see and use all of the time!