Do it Yourself Canvas

Having a young and constantly changing family, I wanted to do something with some recent family pictures that wouldn't cost a fortune.  Pintrest has several ideas of DIY canvas prints.  After looking at several I attempted following 2 .  I will compare them at the end if you are interested in how I felt they turned out.  I included a couple other blog DIY tutorials in case you want to attempt them.

 

Girl in the Air did a 4 foot by 3 foot canvas.

A Beautiful Mess did a canvas that turns out more distressed.

This Thrifty House did multiple pictures that are very similar to what I did.

Literally Inspired is the other blog I attempted.

 

I purchased the Styrofoam from a local "home do it center" for $5 and I got more then enough.  I will keep it and use it for the next few years when I update our family pictures.

 

I purchased the black canvas from "Hobby Lobby" and used one of their weekly 40% off coupons.

It cost under $5.

 

Everything else I had already on hand.

 

1.  To start I took the prints that I wanted to turn into canvas and traced the outline on the Styrofoam.

 

2.  I then used a craft knife to cut the Styrofoam. 

I found that holding it vertical, (pictured above) stabilized on the bottom, made for a cleaner cut then a horizontal cut (pictured below) which turned out more jagged. 

Probably because I could put the entire blade through the Styrofoam and use a small sawing action but when horizontal the blade couldn't cut cleanly through the entire part with the sawing action and without the sawing action/using just a drag of the blade would tear out little chunks of the Styrofoam.

 

3.  I then laid the cut pieces of Styrofoam on the canvas and cut leaving 2-3 inches of extra material. 

 

4. Staple the material to the Styrofoam.

Using a medium duty staple gun I stapled 2 sides (opposites) of the canvas to the Styrofoam 

spacing the staples a few inches apart ensuring the keep the material tight and free of wrinkles when stapling the second side. 

 

5.  To staple the last few sides I cut the material directly in line with the corner 

then folded in the side already stapled (staple it, it will lay better when folding the last piece) 

Fold up the unstapled side. 

cut or tuck the corner then proceed to staple along the entire side.   

The doubled layers of material was a tough section for my medium duty stapler to go into so I attempted a couple of spots until I felt the staple was holding well. 

 

6. Tape over the material.

I think this will help keep the staples in place and also adds a second adherence for the fabric on the Styrofoam. 

You can probably use any color of duct tape.  I used black to match the material color.

I would recommend cutting the duct tape because it makes a cleaner edge and sticks better.

 

7. Iron the canvas making sure to get the edges.  This really helps.  I skipped it initially, but then went back and ironed them.  The heat also seemed to help the canvas stick to the Styrofoam, making a cleaner look and sharper corners.

 

8.  Adhere the picture.

I used Mod Podge and a sponge brush.

 

Covering the entire area where my picture would be.  I also covered the outside edges on personal preference because it gave a shinier look to the black canvas. 

 

After laying the picture on the Mod Podge covered canvas, I rubbed the entire picture with a soft cloth making sure there were no bubbles.

 

9.  Optional step but I wanted to make sure it didn't bubble: 

I flipped the canvas over onto a cut ziplock bag on newspaper (as a protection for my table in case any glue oozed out the edges (which none did...but I didn't want to risk it).

Then stacked magazines (or books, just something heavy) on top until the glue was dry.

I think it would only take an hour or so, but I didn't actually time it. 

 

I then attached a "Command" picture hanging strip to the back.

I felt comfortable only putting one strip on since the Styrofoam canvas was light.

 

This is a store bought art canvas that I painted black on the edges before attaching a picture the same way as I did to the Styrofoam. 

 

Both types of canvas's (Styrofoam and store bought) were quite easy.

 

PRO's for the Styrofoam:

-You can cut any shape you want, i.e. 8x10, 5x5.  Traditional or non traditional sizes.  You can even make very large size prints if you but a larger piece of Styrofoam.

-Very cost effective

-Super light and easy to hang

 

CON's

-Edges may not be as clean as a store bought canvas (Ironing will really help this though)

-You need more 'equiptment' to cut and assemble.

 

PRO's for the Store bought canvas:

-Quick and Easy

-Sturdier feel

-Requires very little to assemble

 

CON's

None really.  It is slightly more expensive then the Styrofoam canvas, but both are much cheaper then a store canvas print.

 

Also I would recommend not Mod Podging the top of the picture. It is a personal preference but I didn't like the streaks it left (pictured below)

 

I made one store bought canvas print and 10 Styrofoam canvas (varying in size from 11x14 to 4x4)

 

Here are 2 of my finished canvas's.

I took a little black paint and 'edged' the pictures just to help the white of the side edge of the picture not stand out so much.

 

Can you tell the difference from the store canvas and the Styrofoam one?

Store bought art canvas on the left.

 

Hope this helps you decide which method to go with.

 

Home made Lunchable

Our home made lunchable

 

A while back when I asked my son what he wanted for lunch he replied "a 'Lunchable'."

'Lunchables' are not something that I would typically purchase so the request caught me off guard.

Trying to think of what I could do to create a lunchable, I remember passing over something on pinterest of serving snacks in a muffin tin, with that in mind I set out to create a healthy, home made version.

 

I cut up some lunch meat and cheese,

pulled out some fruit and a vegi,

added some crackers

and topped it off with a go-gurt 

 

It added a little fun into what we would typically have for lunch, but instead of half eaten sandwiches I had empty tins.

 

I have the large muffin tins, but the regular sized ones would work too.

This is now one of my sons favorite requests for lunch and I can feel good about giving it to him because I control what goes in and can vary it up according to what I have in my fridge/pantry.

Help for Saggy Pants

A few weeks ago while I was doing a little shopping I saw this at Maurices:

I was quite excited because I have a pant issue in that they get saggy if I don't have a belt on, but then I don't always want to wear a belt.  So to eliminate the constant pull up of my pants when I don't want a belt, this was perfect.  And at $8 it was about the same cost of a belt.

 

It wasn't long after that I started realizing my daughters pants needed something to help the sag.  I do love that many brands have the adjustable waist band inside, but I don't like that not very many have that option under 2T sizes.

 

So to eliminate this (these are actually capri pants!): 

 

and this: 

not to mention some pairs of pant s actually falling right down around her ankles.

 

I thought I would try this: 

 

Which resulted in no more saggy pants (see the capri length now!!)  Little celebration going on here. Yeah!

 

Even sitting we had diaper coverage.  Love it. 

 

Now the con about using the mitten clip is that they are not adjustable like the Maurices brand "Hip Hugger" but for $.98 for two it will work for now. 

 

Now I haven't done my research to see if mitten clips come adjustable or in varying lengths.  That might be helpful for when she gets a little bigger, or at least until we can get some pants that have the adjustable waist!

Homemade applesauce for canning

 

This year I decided to preserve some applesauce.

There is a local farm where you can pick your own apples at $.40/lb, which compared to the $1.49/lb at the grocery store, it was a bargain and worth a try.

 

At the recommendation of the farm owner, I went with the empire apple (vs. his other options of Jonathon, golden delicious or red delicious.)

This was our load of apples (15 pounds worth)

 

I had my little helpers putting the apples in the bags after I picked them and it was quite the surprise to find out that one of my helpers was taste testing each apple to make sure it tasted good! 

 

I found a recipe for applesauce in my pressure cooker manual, it was pretty easy and the sauce turned out smooth, nicely colored, and sweet without adding any sugar. 

 

If you don't have a recipe, this is the one I used and a few tips (*) I learned along the way:

 

Applesauce

Wash, peel (I used a potato peeler), core and slice apples. I cut into quarters using a corer/slicer, but if you don't have on I don't think is matters to much how you cut them. 

I put the apple slices into ascorbic acid solution (*gallon of water with 1 Tbsp 'Fruit Fresh') to prevent browning until I got them all cut up.

Drain well.

Place slices in pan (*I would use a stock pot or something with high sides, mostly for the re-boil part because it 'spits' once it is all blended up) with 1/2 cup water

(*I had 42 medium sized apples and still only used the 1/2 C, so my thoughts are that it is to keep the apples from burning until they soften up and start releasing their own liquid.)

Cook until tender (*the apples change color, they seem more transparent if that makes sense, and they start to break up pretty easy).

The recipe says to press through a sieve or food mill, but I just put them in a blender.

Sweeten to taste (I didn't add any sugar)

Reheat sauce to boiling.

Pack into clean, hot Mason jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.

Adjust jar lids. (I like to wipe the rim just to ensure a proper seal)

 

Process:

Pressure canner: Process at 5 pounds pressure, pints 8 minutes and quarts 10 minutes

Boiling water canning: Process pints 15 minutes (now I did quarts and it was not in the recipe so I just did 20 minutes because that is what they recommended for apples)

 

My 42 medium apples yielded 3 quarts.

 

 

 

Treadmill workout using Incline

Since my treadmill has not been working at it's best, my workouts have slacked some.
My husband tinkered with it and we thought had it fixed but come to find out, not quite.
It seems to work fine at the slower speeds so today I just had to give it a try (since we are signed up for a 5K run next Saturday and I have to at least try to be "ready" for it.)
Knowing that as you increase incline on a treadmill that you actually change the equivalent pace for non treadmill running, I came up with a workout that seemed to not stress the treadmill out but work me out!

Minutes	Incline	Speed
0-5	0-2	7.0
5 to 6	12	4.0
6 to 7	11	4.3
7 to 8	10	4.5
8 to 9	9	4.8
9 to 10	8	5.0
10 to 11	7	5.3
11 to 12	6	5.5
12 to 13	5	5.8
13 to 14	4	6.0
14 to 15	3	6.3
15 to 16	2	6.5
16 to 17	1	6.8
17 to 18	2	6.5
18 to 19	3	6.3
19 to 20	4	6.0
20 to 21	5	5.8
21 to 22	6	5.5
22 to 23	7	5.3
23 to 24	8	5.0
24 to 25	9	4.8
25 to 26	10	4.5
26 to 27	11	4.3
27 to 28	12	4.0
28 to 30	0-2	6.5

You can of course adjust the speed to fit where your typical pace would be. And if your treadmill only goes to incline 10 then your workout will just be 4 minutes shorter or you can add those 4 minutes in to the middle of your run at the 1 incline.
If you were unaware or would like to know more about treadmill pace equivalents click here.

What kids will say

I should write down things that my 4 year old will say because there are some funny things.  Unfortunately I don't write them down and then I can't remember any but one.
He was sitting on the floor playing the other day and randomly asked
"Mom, when are you going to have your other 3 babies?"
My first response (after a chuckle inside) was "Are you ready to have more siblings to share your toys?"
His surprising answer was "yes."  Surprising because he was actually in trouble for not playing nice with his little brother.
The other interesting thing from his original question was the number 3.  I don't think we have ever said we were going to have 3 more kids.
Maybe he knows something I don't?  Either way it was kind of a funny and cute conversation.

Canning Salsa

Today I managed to can some salsa.

Our little garden has been producing a good amount of tomatoes and peppers, which is good since that is pretty much all we planted.

Last year it seemed like canning salsa took me most the day and was a tedious task with chopping everything.

Well this year I decided to enlist some help.

I had around 3 options of food choppers and decided on the Ninja

I liked that it had a few different options and was willing to give it a try.

The verdict is...I love it! 

It saved me lots of time (like half of what it took me last year) and although it wouldn't work for chunky salsa, it could handle a whole bell pepper, cut into strips, with no problem.

So my salsa recipe has been a work in progress for the last 3 or so years.

I kind of wanted a recipe that was basic, easy, slightly sweet, not spicy (but I do have a spicy one for my husband), and could mostly come from my garden.

We don't typically grow any onion or garlic, so I plan to purchase those and I will buy a yellow and orange bell pepper to add some color (and because I like the sweetness of them more than green but it seems like they don't want to grow in my garden.)

Anyway...

My recipe is:

10 Cups Chopped tomatoes

3 medium to large Chopped Green Bell peppers (BP)

1 Yellow BP, chopped

1 orange BP, chopped

1 red BP, chopped

1 & 1/2 medium to large Onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced (finely chopped)

1/4 C Sugar

3/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar

3 Tbsp Canning salt

Combine all into a pot, bring to a rolling boil for 20 minutes

Jar

Hot water bath process 15 minutes

Yield: 8 Pint Jars

Done!

Here are a few pictures from my process:

So here is my salsa just getting warmed and ready to boil 

I also fill my hot water caner and get that water going since it takes a while to heat up. 

When the salsa has about 10 minutes left to boil, I put my lids in a sauce pan of hot water. 

With 1 minute left in the boiling process, I pull my jars out of the sink in which they are sitting in hot water (having been recently washed) and line them up near my salsa.

Using my handy jar funnel and ladle I fill the jars. 

I wipe off the jar rims, put on the lids and rings, then...

Once my hot water caner starts to boil, I put the jars on the rack (make sure you have something between the jars and the bottom of the pot) 

and drop the jars in and make sure they are fully submersed, then process.

Resulting in some yummy salsa.

One more batch and I will have almost a years worth.

Hope my garden keeps producing and I will even make a spicy batch for my husband!

Pick me!

So I have been secretly following this photography blog called "Clickin Moms."
They have really great information and I love being inspired by the photographers who also call themselves mom.  I would love to be at their level one day...
BUT for now I am just wanting to win a spot in one of their upcoming seminars.
Lisa Harrison and Natural lighting 101 please pick me!!
http://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/lighting-101-a-cmu-natural-light-workshop-giveaway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClickinMomsBlog+%28ClickinMoms+Blog%29

Mental Vacation

I am having a really hard time getting back to everyday life after my 3 week vacation. 

I spent 3 weeks out of town, hitting 13 different states (if only on the road traveling through!) putting LOTS of miles on my car and creating lots of memories. 

I was with my kids, my parents, and their dog. Well...for 5 days I was with my husband but then met up with my parents and my husband returned home. Then we were with some other family for another one of those weeks.

It was nice to not have to worry about my "home" responsibilities.  So nice that I am having a hard time getting back in the swing of things.

I have heard of needing a vacation after a vacation, but I need an overhaul! 

Maybe tomorrow, since it is my normal lazy and relaxing day, will have to be a mental adjustment that will get me back on track.

No Bake Garlic Bread

Tonight we had spaghetti for dinner and I had purchased a loaf of wheat french bread yesterday with intent to make garlic bread.

However, the idea of turning on the oven when it was over 100 degrees today was not something I wanted.

So I decided to be creative and see if just putting it outside in the sun would do the trick. (Thanks PBS and Curious George for the idea of using solar energy)

I made my garlic butter, cut the loaf in half, smeared on the butter, put the two halves back together, then wrapped it in tinfoil, placed it on the hood of the car (which was in the sun) and...

20 minutes later we had warm, buttery garlic bread. 

It was not quite crisp on the outside like the oven would have done, but it was warm and the butter had melted into the bread quite nicely.

So if you have a hankering for garlic bread but don't want to turn on the oven, use the SUN!

A Treadmill workout

 

 

My motivation to workout has been hit and miss. 

Some days I am highly motivated but then when I get going I loose it and don't last very long.  Other days I struggle and battle to get going, and if I manage to (which I don't always) then I get going and I get in a really good workout. 

Who knows why and what the solution is. 

I know what your thinking...okay maybe I don't, but a solution IS needed because I LOVE the way I feel when the workout is done and I also don't self deprecate myself for what I eat or for being lazy when I have worked out...even if it is only 10 minutes.
Also is is 5K season around where I live and I like to sign me and my husband up...to keep us motivated to run/stay active.

Well thanks to pinterest and the "www" I have found a couple good treadmill workouts, which made me think that maybe I should share the workouts I create/created.  Not to brag or to show off but maybe because it will help someone else with their humdrum days with working out. Also maybe this way I will write them down and can reuse them and save myself the stress of "creating" a workout.

Most of my treadmill workouts will take/last around 30 minutes...they just kind of tend to work out that way. 

Here is the workout I did today.

Time	Speed	Incline
0-1	7.5	2
1-2	4.0	2
2-4	7.5	2
4-5	4.0	2
5-8	7.7	2
8-9	4.0	2
9-13	7.5	2
13-14	4.0	2
14-19	7.7	1
19-20	4.0	1
20-26	7.5	1
26-27	4.0	1
27-30	8.0	1
Cool Down

Now let me tell you that the treadmill speed can be varied according to what you would normally jog at.  Also you can easily make any workout harder or easier by adjusting the incline.  My personal recommendation is that you always have a 1.0 incline because -it makes up for natural resistance you would have if you ran outside.
This particular workout is supposed to be right around your normal jog pace (i.e. 7.5 is mine)
I like to slowly increase speed so that my jog pace will get faster...someday...at least it is at the end of one day
I did not write in a warm-up, probably because I don't.  Or I seldom do.  I will just use the 1 minute walk period to stretch something if it feels tight. 
I do however (almost always) stretch at the end of my workouts.

If you try it and like it/hate it, leave a comment and let me know.
I will try and post more workouts when I create one or use an old one and think it is worthy of passing along.

Oh and P.S. I have little ones at home and so I tend to use the treadmill to train because it is really hard to get outside that often but when I do I usually just run without much thought or script.

Can't get enough

Lately I can't get enough of photography related learning and practice. It is like a virus that I can't shake. Not that it is bad to learn how to be a better photographer, but when I sit down to look at something photography related (like a tutorial or a photography website), I am finding myself looking for way longer then I my allotted time..."Oh it's dinner time already!"

This past weekend we had a family get together and I was able to pretty much have my camera attached to my hand...it was great! Since being home I feel like I am having withdrawals from taking pictures. My kids are getting tired of the camera and I am lacking other subjects. I guess I will just have to be patient for the clients and strict with my allotted photography browsing time!

Maybe turning some of my old pictures into "Styrofoam canvas prints" or DIY "canvas prints" will help take my mind off taking new pictures!?!

Motivation

Lately my motivation for certain things has been minimal.  I seem to get them done, but kind of last minute.  At the end of the day I am finding myself wondering how or why I didn't get more accomplished.  I know that some days it is because I spent time doing things with my kids (which can never be wrong) like taking them to the park, playing outside, etc., but other times I feel like I spent it reading/browsing things relating to my hobby.  Maybe this is the hard part with 3, learning to balance things. Or maybe it is because I had 2 months where there were big projects that I had to do and getting them done made me feel accomplished, so now I'm back to the everyday things and so even when I get them done, it's just not anything special.
I guess it is time to try find new motivation for the same old things!  Especially because I know that as my kids get older there will be many more outside activities that they will be involved in and that means even less time spent at home.

The Kirby

So the Kirby door to door salesman finally got to my house.  I think they stopped once before but I didn't really even give them a chance because it was not a good time.  Probably had toys all over and my kids running around still in their PJ's (hopefully and not just their diapers :)

The way it was approached was that I would get the carpet in one room cleaned for free and all I had to do was share my experience with a friend. 

Well it was a bit more then that...it was a 2 hour demonstration about the Kirby vacuum and how amazing it is.

I had about and hour to pick up the house from the time the salesman first came and when he returned for the "scheduled appointment" in which they asked that I vacuum before they came back.  I of course vacuumed and knowing that when he started the whole sales pitch, right off the bat he had me thinking how dirty my floors still were.

Now don't judge me by the dirt in my floors!

This picture is a view of how they show you the dirt in your carpet.  They have this filter thing that they put on the vacuum and then after only 10 seconds or less (sometimes more) of vacuuming an area they pop it off an put on a new filter, kindly laying them back on the floor in a display sort of way.

In the mean time they are also showing and telling you all the reasons you need to have a vacuum this great.  Such as reducing allergies, carpet and furniture lasting longer, etc.

They even have you get out your vacuum so they can do the '50 passes' test. 

They dump baking soda on the floor then vacuum 50 times over the small area with my vacuum, then they pull out a black filter for the Kirby and vacuum up the rest of the baking soda. 

and of course they just set them back on the floor in the same manner so that you can continue to see all the DIRTY filters piling up.

They then pull out the accessories and show you how you can basically clean everything in your house.  It can even unclog the kitchen sink!

They even vacuumed a small portion of the bed (again with black filters) claiming that what was on the filter was bed mites and their feces (majorly gross if I didn't think that there was also some of the white sheet fibers in it)

Of course by this point they have already introduced the price of the machine and then dropped it once or twice or even three times.

Finally they get to the shampooing part. 

So I did get my floors cleaned after two hours of sitting and listening to the sales pitch.

Luckily I had the excuse that my husband was out of town at a work seminar and that I wouldn't be able to talk to him until that evening.

So despite the great appeal to have my floors really clean and a vacuum that can clean everything, I kept telling them I couldn't make a purchase till I talked to mu husband.

I will admit that I WAS SOLD. 

And, had I been someone to make large purchases without consulting my husband or taking time to look up reviews, I would have probably bought.

They (I say they because a "manager" would come by and see how the salesman was doing and then a managers discount onto the already reduced price.  Or there was the person on the other end of the phone calls, but I am not sure who that was...the person who was okaying then next step or the next price adjustment.) 

So despite the fact the Kirby seems amazing, I don't like that the attachments require a whole setup change to the vacuum.

I am also not a fan of the smell that existed after the shampoo and it took more then the claimed 20 minutes to dry.

I will also say that I didn't expect much of my vacuum.  I think I paid $40 dollars for it and that was 3 years ago. 

But it does the surface like I expect. 

Anyway the next time I went to use it I decided to change the bag.  I should have taken a picture because I have never seen a bag so full. 

I thought they had a "shut off" mechanism that stopped them before they got so full. 

Literally the bag was firm to the touch the entire bag, top and all.  The only area not filled with stuff was the part that was attached to the vacuum. 

I will say that it did a much better job at vacuuming with a new bag.  Probably why the see able filter thing the Kirby does allows full suction for the demo's.

The salesman left probably thinking that he wouldn't hear from me, but once I talked with my husband and he looked online at some prices and also talked to his dad (who bought a used one last year), I called him to tell him we would pass at this time.

Maybe if they come back in a year or two I will have more money in the savings account and a few items paid off and will spend the $$ for the "once in a lifetime" vacuum.  Maybe.

Until then I will remember to change the bag in my vacuum a little more often!

Oh, and if you were wondering where my kids were during all this...part of the time they were downstairs playing, part of the time sitting on the couch with me, and part of the time playing outside.