The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

{mamma craft} Grandmother’s Flower Garden…by Hand!

The camera made the colors a little harsh…the picture below is a better representation of the fabrics.

Under piles and piles of folded fabric, I found a long lost project I had started before I found out I was pregnant with J.  Morning sickness took a big toll on me those first few weeks and I soon lost interest in any sewing for most of the pregnancy.  Then came a new baby and juggling being a mamma to THREE, and well…there really wasn’t a whole lot of creative energy left.

So it was kind of fun to pull out this long forsaken project and come up with some new ideas.  I decided to stick with just four different fabrics (with a white border), but do a totally new design.  I like to look at tile shop examples for ideas on hexagon placement.  They always have some neat patterns!

Hopefully, these little hexies will turn into a baby quilt.  Can’t you picture the colors in a sweet baby girl’s nursery? 

{giving} Box Tops for Joplin


I’ve been collecting these Box Tops for Education off and on for a few months now.  Having no children in school yet, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with them, but at 10 cents a piece, I thought, “I have to clip them!  It’s like throwing away money!”

Then, this week, I found a Facebook page about helping Joplin, MO schools (remember that devastating tornado?).  And they are asking for… Box Tops!  So mine are in the mail!  If you are interested in donating as well, check out their page!

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On a similar note, I just pulled out my coupons that will be expiring at the end of the month.  Did you know that military families stationed overseas can use coupons up to 6 months past their expiration date?  This website has a list of bases to send them to! 

{family} Mexican Fiesta Night!

Every so often, I get tired of the same old, same old and declare to my fam, “Today we are going to __________!”  The boys are typically excited with my crazy antics and Mark just goes with the flow, bless his heart.  So, after a pretty uneventful couple of weeks, I knew we needed something to change things up a little. 

And after reading about the pinata that was made on Young House Love a little while ago, I knew we just had to make one of our own!  Thus, the theme for Mexican Fiesta Night was born! 

It was pretty cheap for a full day of fun…the only things we bought were balloons (for $1.50) and a couple bags of candy.  Everything else we already had at home.  But spending a day doing an exciting, new craft with the boys…priceless.  Definitely a family memory we will remember (and do again soon!).

{kids crafts} Recycled Crayons

A great craft to do with the kids on a day when it’s too hot to go outside: RECYCLED CRAYONS!  They are so easy and fun to do and the possibilities are endless! 

Here’s what you do:
Find a bunch of old or broken crayons.  Remove all of the wrappers.  Break the crayons into small pieces and place into a muffin tin or silicone pan (we used a mini brownie pan made of silicone that I had on hand).  Place in the oven at 275 degrees for 15 minutes, or until melted.  (If using silicone, I recommend placing it on a firm cookie sheet before putting into the oven.)  Remove from the oven and let your new crayons set completely, about 1 hour.  Then, pop them out and color away!  

The boys just loved this project and we came up with a lot of ideas for next time:

  • I would use an Xacto knife to cut slits down the paper before peeling the wrappers off of the crayons.  This step took the longest and we had some trouble with the older crayons (the paper tended to stick more). 
  • I want to try to make crayons in different shapes.  I know they have candy molds at Michaels for pretty cheap, which would work perfectly for this craft!  How adorable would they be as party favors?
  • I think it would be neat to combine two colors into one space.  Once you have them all melted, swirl the colors with a stick! 

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