Pallet for Home

DIY Cardboard Initial!

As I'm sure many of you do, I constantly am thinking about the next DIY project I'm going to work on. At times I become so overwhelmed on where to start I end up not doing anything.

I was sitting in the middle of my living room floor the other night trying to decide which project to work on and I began staring at the dresser in the living room. Next thing I know I had gathered up a bunch of materials and was starting on my initial!

You'll need:

Cardboard (size varies depending on how big you want your initial)

Sharp scissors

Hot Glue Gun

Marker

Fabric of your choice

Tape

Ruler

I always have a stockpile of cardboard in the garage. I use it for spray painting in the yard, for painting projects indoors, and to put under t-shirts when I'm painting them.

I found some cardboard that was fairly clean and the right size. It had some gaps in it so I used my painter's tape to patch up that area.

First I traced out a rough "H" just to determine if the size was appropriate. Then I used my ruler to make straight, evenly spaced lines for the "H." I eyeballed the little tips at the top and bottom of the "H." Now cut it out!

My cardboard was two thin pieces, so I used my painter's tape to hold the two pieces together and add some stability.

Grab your fabric! Lay your initial down on the BACK of the fabric and trace closely to the edges. My "H" looks the same any way I place it, but remember if you have an initial like "S" that you need to trace the initial backwards.

Once your initial is traced out cut it out, leaving about a 1/2-1 inch allowance.

Make small cuts around the edges so when you are folding the fabric over the edge it will have a more crisp look.

I didn't take pictures of the rest, but it's real simple. Lay your cardboard back down on your fabric and glue the edges of the fabric onto the back of the cardboard. Continue all the way around the initial until all the fabric edges are glued down!

I had to trim little pieces here and there. Each initial will be different.

Now, YOU'RE DONE! Sit back and admire your new decor!

This seriously took me about thirty minutes! I used leftover fabric from my blue chair with furry fabric and cardboard that I had in the garage, so this project cost me $0!

You can make these as large or small as you want. These are incredibly easy to do, so you could make multiple initials to spell out words or make a monogram to put above your bed!

Cheers!

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Feeling loved

Hello all! I'm just checking in. I've had a long, hard road to walk this past month. I've now recovered from my second (and LAST!) severe allergic reaction following my partial knee replacement surgery. I am now armed with an epi pen in case I ever discover an allergy that threatens my throat.

Enough of THAT!

I wanted to tell you how completely LOVED I have felt this entire time. Without a doubt this is the biggest challenge of my life thus-far, and people have loved me through it every step of the way! I've had meals every other day for three weeks, friends running errands for me, and magazines and dvds dropped off. My dear friend, and newly retired teacher (who was Emma's kindergarten teacher before we joined the home school program) has come almost every school day for a month! Thankfully I'm now able to do a lot more and I survived my first completely solo home school day this past week!

Friends have brought me coffee, cookies, cupcakes, and even a hot fudge sundae in the hospital! When I couldn't eat because my allergic reaction made my lips 3-4 times the regular size, and burned like a hundred bee stings, a friend brought me smoothies for two days. People have prayed and sent cards. Just this week I opened the front door to find a friend bringing me a big bag of Rolos, my favorite candy, on my WORST day emotionally to-date. Yesterday my friend that I order beautiful, fabulous cookies from for my parties, brought me the most BEAUTIFUL fall cookie pop bouquet! They are seriously beautiful, and seriously delicious!

EACH and every one of these things has made me feel SO loved. Don't ever underestimate your kind gesture as being too small. To a person suffering, each and every kindness is a light in the darkness. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Our Favorite Tomato Sauce

Tonight we are going on a hayride with our church group. It is an annual thing that we do and it is so much fun. It is like a big family gathering, much like a Thanksgiving get-together. Everybody brings a dish to share, there is a huge fireplace in the shelter in which we meet, and two large fire pits right outside for roasting marshmallows.

I am bringing mini quiches and the ingredients for s'mores. I found organic graham crackers on sale for only a few cents more than the regular brand and I bought Ghirardelli chocolate bars instead of Hershey's for about the same price. However, I couldn't find natural marshmallows {sigh} and so I had to buy the regular kind. I know it is for a crowd and most people that will be indulging don't even care, BUT I DO!

Anyway, I will steer away from my rant for a moment and onto my tomato sauce. It is my hubby's absolute favorite tomato sauce. He actually will eat it plain, like, by itself. I have always made it with canned tomatoes, but recently I learned that the inside of the cans are coated with a product that contains Bisphenol A (aka, BPA). So, that is now out of the question. I made it using fresh organic tomatoes. It turned out just a great!

Beautiful Red Ripe Organic Tomatoes
and an onion

Spaghetti Sauce {Recipe}

2 Tbls Olive Oil*
1 large Onion*, chopped
4 cloves Garlic*, chopped
4 lbs. Tomatoes*, chopped or pureed (I didn't even peel them!)
1 Tbls dried Parsley*
1/2 tsp dried Basil*
1/2 tsp Onion powder*
1/2 tsp Garlic powder*
1 Tbls Sea Salt
2 Tbls Sugar*

1. Sauté onion in olive oil over medium heat until tender, add garlic and cook another minute.
2. Add tomatoes, spices, sugar, and salt.
3. Stir and lower heat until your sauce slowly simmers. Simmer for about 2 hours, stirring frequently.

*Organic