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Vertical Strawberries

September 1, 2016 by Nikki Cole

Love Strawberries? Well I do too but I never seem to get any, well maybe five but that’s it and I have a pretty good sized patch. With the bugs, mold, large dog who tramples them, birds, and the constant weeds I never seemed to get any good strawberries. Vertical Strawberries will help with all these complications. With a little time, a little money, you can have beautifully hanging strawberries that are easy to get, weed, and grow so let’s get our gardening gloves and get going.

Ok so these Vertical Strawberries did cost me a little bit of money but they’re totally worth it! After just a few weeks I’ve gotten some beautiful strawberries and they’re not buried, smashed, or not even there. Now that it is towards the end of the season I have gotten several of the 1 pound containers from the store filled with my own personal strawberries! The planters themselves also look really nice too which is always a bonus. I made three rows of ten foot gutters and there’s four gutters on each so I have a total of 12 gutters of strawberries but do what you have space for. If you need you can also cut the gutters to a shorter length. I didn’t put any caps on the end of the gutters but now I am wishing I did because the water runs out and takes some dirt with it.

Supplies (for each row)

2 – 4”x4”x8’ wood posts
4 – 2”x4”x10’ wood slats
4 – 10’ rain gutters (I used vinyl round rain gutters)
1” thick elbow or L brackets
1” long wood screws
Dirt
Strawberries (I used mine I already had)
Screw driver
Pencil
2 bags of instant concrete mix
Boiled linseed oil

Directions:

Paint your wood with boiled linseed oil, this helps protect it from all the harsh weather. Prep the area, level your area the best you can and clear out any plants. Dig two holes about 2 feet down for the posts. Make sure you watch for sprinkler lines! I completely snapped one of mine and so we had to spend an extra two hours repairing it.

On the 4×4 wood posts make a mark 2 feet up on the post; this 2 foot section will be in the ground. Sometimes the post won’t go the whole 2 feet down because after leveling mine I had one that was only about a foot and a half. It still will work but it is better to have them level. Mark on the 4×4 posts where your gutters will go, we put our first one about 15 inches up and there was about 15 inches between each L bracket.

Screw in the L brackets on your marked posts. Lay your posts down and put in your wood slats screwing them into the L brackets.

Now get some help and carefully pick up each post and place them in the holes. Each hole needs one bag of concrete, lift a post slightly up to make them level and level each way. Get a leveler and make sure that your posts are level each way before the concrete sets.

Soak the concrete: get a hose and soak the concrete and let it settle then soak it again. Check and make sure posts are still level before concrete sets. It is best to let this sit overnight just so it is settled and not going to get pulled down when you’re putting in the gutters.

Grab your rain gutters and place them along the slats and screw them through the bottom into the wood slats about 3-4 times. On the sides of the gutters screw a few holes so there’s some drainage holes, don’t put a lot only 3 should be just fine.

Place your strawberries in and spread apart, then fill in with dirt.

Water! I never worried about watering my strawberries because the 2 times a week my sprinklers came on was enough but with these Vertical Strawberries in rain gutters I water them every other day especially when it is hot outside.

I really hope this all made sense and your Vertical Strawberries turn out great for you! I also will be putting in some block under the Vertical Strawberries or something that looks a little nicer but that will be a next years project for now so if you have any fun ideas I would love to hear them.

2017 Planner

August 26, 2017 by Kelly Dedeaux

Many of you requested that we bring back our most popular planner design from a couple years ago – so we did! This is still one of my personal favorites, too – the bright colors, organized layouts and helpful lists make it ideal for time management or task planning. So without further ado, here’s our 2016-2017 Planner! Also available in just 2017.

Contains purchase/affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more info.

2017 Planner: PDF Download Only $2.99!

Goes from January through December 2017
140 Pages, plus front and back cover
Download comes with all 4 cover options included
Full-color
2-page spread with ALL months (in mini form) from 2016 and 2017
2 pages NOTES after mini months
Then the monthly and weekly spreads
Weekly spreads: days divided into morning, afternoon & evening for easy planning. Also spots for menu, chores and daily notes
4 more pages of Notes at the end

FULL download is just $2.99!

2017 Planner here

BUT – if you subscribe to our newsletter (you can find the link at the bottom of this post if you haven’t signed up already), you get a code for an extra $1 off! Yup, I love you, too 😀 Here we go with the planners (clicking on the product links below will take you to a Gumroad, a secure site, to finish the purchase)

2017 Planner Download

Check out our other fun products here – meal plans, Disney books and more!

Join me at The Pinners Conference

June 30, 2016 by Kelly Dedeaux

I’ll be presenting a class during The Pinners Conference – as such, I receive an affiliate rate when you use my code to purchase a class/ticket. You also receive a 10% discount using it, so it’s a win-win situation!

Do you love Pinterest? Have you always wanted to sit down in a class to learn some of the amazing crafts, recipes, finance tips, shopping ideas, style tutorials and more? Then you’ve GOT to Join me at The Pinners Conference on September 9th & 10th in Arlington, Texas!

There’s SO MANY great classes being offered – you can check them out here. I’ll be teaching on Easy Meal Plans on a Budget! Check out my little bio on the site…..I feel all ‘professional’ looking at it 😉

Be sure to use Promo Code: BUSYMOM for 10% off your ticket!

Some other great ones are:

Natural Beauty From the Kitchen – by Amy Greene
Simple Science Experiments for Kids – by Rachel Miller
How To Create A Family Budget – by Carrie Elle Lindsey
Get Ready for your Trip to Disney – by Shannon Schmid & Autumn Reo
Watercolor Techniques with Markers – by Jennie Garcia
Creating Really Awesome, Free, Kids Crafts – by Jamie Dorobek
Upcycled DIY Succulent & Herb Terrariums – by Randi Dukes
#HASHTAG Tote Bags – by Samantha Conner
Crafting with Crap LIVE (and Interactive)! – by Holly Homer & Jamie Harrington
Kid Cooking Made Easy – by Toria & Juian Frederick
Easy Recipes for Busy Families – by Crystal Van Tassel-Lopez

And so many more!!! Party planning, home decor, money saving, hair styles, fun crafts, yummy and easy recipes, parenting or kid activities – seriously, there’s something (or a FEW somethings) for everyone! I can’t wait!!!

Head over HERE and use Promo Code: BUSYMOM to save 10% on your ticket – then join in the fun with us September 9th & 10th at The Pinners Conference!

St Patrick’s Day Ribbon Wreath

March 3, 2016 by Kathleen Clegg

Are you one of those people who jumps from Valentine’s Day to Easter and forgets all about the green holiday, St. Patrick’s Day? I used to be, but then several years ago, I found out I’m not German at all, but I have a lot of Irish blood in my DNA. So, since I do have have that ancestry, I now try to celebrate at least some each year. To be honest, green isn’t my favorite color, but there are a couple of times each year I break out the green. This year I decided to make an easy St Patrick’s Day Ribbon Wreath and share the instructions with you. I promise anyone can make this, even the most craft challenged.

Every year on March 17, the Irish and the Irish-at-heart across the globe observe St. Patrick’s Day. What began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green. (History.com)

Before I get to the instructions, I would like to tell you about the easiness of this wreath. Is that a word? I had knee surgery last week and have been spending a lot of time sitting on my behind. I don’t mind saying, my behind is not loving it. Anyway, between the brain fogs of prescription medications, I made the majority of this wreath. I tell you this so you can tell just exactly how easy this wreath is to make.

You will need a styrofoam wreath, yarn, various colors of yarn, four foam shamrocks, scissors and a glue gun.

The first step is to wrap the wreath in your yarn. To start the yarn, just tie the end around the wreath form. Start wrapping the yarn, ensuring you wrap it so the yarn is very close together. When you get to the end, tie the yarn off.

After your wreath is wrapped, cut your ribbon into four inch pieces. I cut six of each color. Then tie them as shown below, in little knots.

For the shamrocks, I used two different kinds, one plain green and one green glitter. I purchased them at a dollar store. Glue the shamrocks together so they are off-set some, as shown in the picture below.

Aren’t all of these ribbons fun? After you have them all tied, using your hot glue gun, glue the ribbons and shamrocks to the front side of the wreath. Tie a piece of ribbon around it and hang it up.

What are you doing for St. Patrick’s Day. If you want to have a lot of fun, after you make your ribbon wreath, you can plan a really fun St. Patrick’s Day Dinner using the instructions on my post at Fearlessly Creative Mammas. I’m always looking for fun ways to celebrate, so give me your ideas in the comments please. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

St. Patrick’s Day Sign

St. Patrick’s Day Dinner

Wall Texturing

December 23, 2020 by Kathleen Clegg

I’ve talked about my house before and how we moved back into it after three years away and how we are making some updates to the house. One of the things about moving back into this house is that we are moving in with fewer family members, so we have extra rooms. I decided that I wanted to make one of the extra upstairs bedrooms my craft room, which is so awesome, but was going to take some work. It had been occupied by both my youngest child and my grandsons. One of the walls had a lot of issues, so my husband and I decided to try our hand at Wall Texturing. Actually, he already knew what he was doing, I had no clue.

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Budget Friendly Garage Organization

January 3, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

For those of you that don’t know, we moved to Texas just over two years ago, and after 6 months our house was built here. Although our house is wonderful, there’s one big issue I have with it that can’t be changed: our tiny garage. Luckily I can make the most of it with some Budget Friendly Garage Organization! Originally published February 2015, but their annual Elfa sale is back so I had to reshare!

Our garage is technically for 2-cars, but when we park the van inside, there’s about 2 feet between the van and the wall, then 3 feet between the front of the van to the door leading into our house. Tight squeeze! If we wanted to park Hubby’s car in the second bay, there’d only be about 2-3 feet between the vehicles….and we couldn’t have ANYTHING else in there. Needless to say, we just park the van in there and use the other side for the garbages, our extra fridge and freezer, plus our storage. Things like bikes, tools, paint (I have a slight paint hoarding problem), Christmas lights, yard supplies and other miscellaneous take up that side.

As you can see in that picture, it was a DISASTER, and I couldn’t find anything easily! After over a year of dealing with the mess just getting worse, we decided to take advantage of the Elfa Storage sale at The Container Store….then we spent Valentine’s weekend fixing our cluttered garage problem! Now the second bay looks like this…

Such a difference, right?! And we still have plenty of space for other items as needed. I can find whatever I need, and don’t have to ‘forbid’ the kids from going out there, afraid the messy piles of stuff will swallow them!

Friday Night: We painted the walls

Yes, Hubby was trying to get a ‘butt shot’ but I was too busy to hold still 🙂 Guess he wants to get me back from the butt shot I took while working on our playroom Elfa storage!

Saturday: Install the Elfa Storage System

It was the perfect weather for just opening the garage doors and letting in the sun and fresh air. Loved it!

We could have had The Container Store install it for us, but it’s so simple we just did it ourselves!

Did you know that they’ll also help you design your space to fit your needs for FREE in their stores? That’s what we did…gave them measurements, they designed it, then we worked together switching pieces in/out until we fit the budget we were looking for. It’s so flexible…we still want to add a few shelves later, but it can wait!

Hubby did really good fitting the top shelf PERFECTLY above the garage door, so it doesn’t touch at all as it opens/closes.

We used some of our supplies to adjust our shelving to the perfect height.

Then: Organize it All Easily!

Now I don’t have to kick things out of the way to get into our freezers, and have room to place things (and a table!) when putting away groceries. The kids can easily pull out their bikes and helmets, and I can grab the stroller super quick whenever I need it.

We have perfect spots lower for the kids’ outdoor toys, and can keep the chemicals and things higher out of their reach.

I even have a work table out here, with shelves at just the right height for my painting supplies. Told you I had a paint problem…and this isn’t even all of it, yet!

I can even get the hose and outdoor brooms by myself now, instead of begging Hubby to go dig them out!

Look at all that organized space…I’m totally in love with my garage! As sad as I am that we can’t fit our 2nd vehicle in here, at least it can now be used for some great storage.

Between our playroom, some for my craft room and now our garage….we sure have loved using Elfa to help us organize! And guess what? The Container Store has extended their annual Elfa SALE! So hurry in and take advantage of the 30% off now until March 2nd….believe me, you’ll love it!

Easy DIY Draft Catcher

January 30, 2016 by Kathleen Clegg

Is it still cold where you live? It’s still stinkin’ cold here and will probably be cold for another 3 months or so. Also, where I live the wind blows so bad, so many days, and it comes right in my doors. You see, I live in an older house and while this house is a work in progress, the doors are kind of drafty. Not so awesome when it’s 10 degrees outside. I put a towel at the front door and a blanket at the back door to help, but it was kind of tacky, so I made an Easy DIY Draft Catcher for each door. These babies are easy to make and really do help.

This is Louie. I’m pretty sure he liked the blanket at the back door more than he likes the draft catcher. He seems to lay a little bit away from the door now instead of right next to it. He just stares at the draft catcher. Kind of funny really. Poor mistreated cat.

This is what was at my front door before I decided to make it a little less tacky.

As I said, these are super easy to make. First, measure the doorway of where you want it to go and add 4 inches. Cut the fabric to that length and 10 inches wide. I used a metal tape measurer because I didn’t have a fabric one long enough for the back door fabric.

Fold the fabric in half, lengthwise, and sew along two sides. Trim the edges.

Cut the corner to take the point off of the fabric, as shown in the picture below. The turn the fabric right side out.

To stuff the draft catcher, you will need some fiberfill and bigger dried beans, like pinto beans.

To fill, first put about 2 cups of beans in the draft catcher. Then put some fiberfill in, to measure about a foot of fiberfill. Repeat until it is filled.

A couple of tips. First, when you’re adding your fiberfill, use a yard stick to push it down and pack it is well, a little at a time. Second, use a canning funnel to add the beans. I have beans all over the place now because I dropped some and Louie ran off with them.

You want to finish with beans and a small amount of fiberfill, as shown below. The beans on the ends help hold it in place.

Turn the edges under and sew the end closed. This will be a little tricky. Squish the filling down so you have room to sew the end closed. When you’ve got it closed, move it around a little to fill in where you squished it down.

Finally, you have a lovely draft catcher to keep the draft out of your house. This will help keep you warmer and help with your heating costs. The perfect win-win in my book. Do you have drafty doors or windows? You could use these at window openings too. Stay warm out there!

Other DIY Home Projects you may like…

A Chore Chart that looks Great in your House

December 28, 2020 by Kelly Dedeaux

Since moving into our new house, we’ve been pretty random with chore assignments – especially since we still have quite a few boxes to unpack. Sad, I know! Luckily it was super easy to make this DIY Chore Chart – or should I say ‘chore buckets’ – to help decorate our walls!

Our Family Chore Chart worked great before – but it doesn’t really match with the decor I’m enjoying in our new home. I wanted something that wasn’t only functional, but looked good – an attractive chore chart. Hmmm….that could be interesting, right?

I was really happy with how this turned out, though, and it really does look great on our wall! It doesn’t even really LOOK like it’s a job chart, but just some shelves and decor on our wall. Love it!

Supplies

Wooden crate or shelf
Small buckets
Stickers/labels
Popsicle sticks or this size
Thin marker/good pen for writing
Command strips (or something to attach it to the wall, if desired)

Directions

If you want to paint your crate/shelf, go right ahead. I really liked the semi-rustic look of mine so left it how it was.
Place a sticker or label on each bucket – one per family member (unless you assign chores to groups/pairs) so they know who’s is who’s.
Write each chore/job onto a Popsicle stick.
Hang your crate/shelf, if desired, then place your buckets inside. Just move the job sticks around as you switch who has which chore!

It’s so easy to rotate chores, which is nice in a family with 4 kids (hopefully adding more soon via adoption!) and 2 parents sharing the household cleaning responsibilities. And if the kids are down for trading jobs with each other, they can pull out their stick ‘I’ll trade you sweeping the kitchen for cleaning the downstairs toilets’ or something.

Other Chore & Organization ideas you may like…

The Keepsake Kitchen Diary

January 27, 2016 by Kelly Dedeaux

I received a free copy of this item to help facilitate this review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Who else believes food is such a family thing? I sure do! I remember helping my grandma in the kitchen when I was younger, loving her delicious home cooking. I still enjoy the times I get to help her make recipes we’ve had for years! The Keepsake Kitchen Diary from Lilly & Val is the PERFECT heirloom type item that makes passing down recipes from each generation not only easy, but beautiful and fun!

This idea is so neat – a beautifully designed, spiral-bound recipe book with everything you need to keep track of your family’s favorite recipes! The cover is sturdy, and even the pages are a durable, thick cardstock type so you can be sure it’ll last. There’s pockets inside the front and back covers for you to stick notes or special keepsakes, and the cute pink tabs make finding things super simple.

For each chapter, there’s a neatly organized table of contents – don’t you LOVE it when things are easy to find? They also included several useful pages such as a Quick Calorie Guide and Ingredient Substitutes. Yup, going to be using those plenty!

As you can tell, there’s hand-drawn illustrations (by Valerie McKeehan) all throughout this DIY cookbook, from the random sketches and accents, to the fabulous chapter pages like this Dessert one…

Inside each chapter are the pages for inputing the recipes – everything from instructions, notes, difficulty level and even plenty of space for memories involved with that recipe! Fudge would be a BIG one for me, since it’s something I truly enjoy making with my grandma and have since I was little. In the back they included 12 easy-tear-out recipe cards to make sharing easier! Of course each card has a cute illustration on the back 🙂

There’s room for approximately 200 recipes in the one-of-a-kind heirloom, making it beautiful and easy to bring joy to you and the people you love (and love cooking with) for generations!

Grab your copy HERE!

Stenciled Tables

December 23, 2020 by Kathleen Clegg

Have you ever started on a project, got part of the way through it and decided that you wanted to go a completely different direction? This is that project for me. I bought these two tables for really great prices and thought I might fix them up and sell them for lots more than the price I paid. Today I am going to tell you about my Stenciled Tables, how I stencil and the outcome of said tables. They look nothing like they did when I bought them, that’s for sure.

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Cricut’s January Mystery Box

January 6, 2016 by Kelly Dedeaux

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links.

Guys, this is such a killer deal I just HAD to share it with you! If you love creating things on your crafty machine, then you’ll LOVE what Cricut is offering right now….

So what’s inside Cricut’s January Mystery Box? I would love to tell you, but that would ruin the surprise! However … I am willing to divulge a few bits of information:

While it’s valued at $139.95, you’re able to purchase it for only $39.99!
It includes 5 cartridges

And that’s all I’m sharing because I don’t want to spoil the surprise contained in this wondrous January Mystery Box! Purchase it for yourself or as a gift and solve the mystery of what’s inside! With Cricut, you know you won’t be disappointed. Plus, you’ll get Free shipping on orders over $50 with code JANUARYSHIP at Cricut.com!

Hurry and nab your Cricut January Mystery Box before they’re all gone!

Pennant Banner

January 6, 2016 by Kathleen Clegg

Are you a lover of sports or even just a good party? I love setting up decorations for whatever the thing is I’m celebrating. Since it’s football season, I thought it would be fun to make a Pennant Banner in honor of my favorite team, the Pittsburg Steelers. Now, if you aren’t a Steelers fan, don’t leave because you can use these same instructions for another team or even a theme birthday party.

You may be wondering why I am a Steelers fan, since I live in Southeast Idaho. Well, let me tell you, it all started way back in 1979, during Super Bowl XIII. Yes, I know I am seriously dating myself. That’s okay. I’ve earned every one of my years. in 1979 we lived in Hawaii and my parents decided to have a big Super Bowl party. The teams playing were the Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys and my younger brother decided he was going to root for the Cowboys. Well, I couldn’t really root for the Cowboys, so I picked the Steelers. It stuck with me and all of these years later, I am still a fan. My brother is a fickle man though and he says if he likes any team at all, it’s probably the Denver Broncos now. So now you know why I like the Steelers. I have been to their stadium once, but alas, they weren’t there. So sad.

To make a banner this exact size, you will need:

1 piece of stiff card board measuring 6 inches by 9 inches
1/2 yard of the main fabric
1/2 a yard of border fabric
1/2 yard of medium weight fuseable interfacing
matching thread
pins

First, make your pattern with the card board, as shown in the picture above. If you want bigger pennants, then use a bigger piece of card board and buy more fabric.

Trace the card board on your fabric. You will need 12 pieces of fabric. If you have a patterned fabric, be sure you get at least 6 pieces that are upside right. I used the same fabric for the back and front, but you could use a different fabric for the back if you want.

Now trace 6 pieces of the interface. If you do it just right, you will be using the negative space for part of them, thus not wasting the interface.

Next, cut your fabric binding. If you don’t want to make your own binding, you can buy it ready made at the fabric store. I cut 12 pieces of 9 1/2 inches by 2 inch for the sides of the pennants and then one that is 6 feet by 2 inches for the top binding.

Now you need to adhere the interfacing to the front side of each pennant piece, as shown below. If you don’t know how to adhere fusible interface, you can read this post for instructions. Do this for all 6 pennants.

Next, make your binding. The instructions are the same for the short pieces and the long pieces.

Fold the pieces in half long ways and iron the seam in.
Fold both sides in towards the center and iron.
At the end that will be the bottom binding, fold fabric in a quarter inch and iron.
Fold in the ends at an angle, to form a point and iron.
Iron the whole piece again.

Attach your side bindings to your pennant. Be sure when you do this, you get the pennant all the way into the center so you catch all of the fabric when you sew it. Also, be sure to cover one point with the other so it is covered completely.

If there is any binding over the edge of the pennant, cut it flush with the pennant fabric. Then sew the side binding in place.

Each one takes about 2 minutes to attach. I did 6 of them.

Next, attach the pennants to the top binding, spacing them evenly apart. For my spacing, I left 5 inches between pennants. Sew it all in place.

Now your pennant banner is done. I really love it! It isn’t difficult to make, but the whole cutting out and ironing part takes a little bit of time.

I used two different kinds of Steelers cotton fabric for my pennant. I think my husband wants a Seahawks banner too.

Are you a football fan? I have to admit that I started making this before the Steelers won this past weekend. I was a little worried that they wouldn’t make it into the playoffs. I’m so glad they did. What kind of banner would you make?

Check out these other amazing banners!

Reversible Valentines Day/St Patricks Day Banner

DIY Chalkboard Banner

Fun Easter Scrappy Banner

Printable Minion Birthday Party Banner