Corn Bags

So, who's ready to get back to a normal posting schedule?  I know I am!  But first, I have a week of catch-up posts - end of 2013, Christmas stuff, that sort of thing.  Of course I have plans to switch up the daily blog pattern for the rest of the year, but that's still being fleshed out.  So today, I'm going to give more details about one of the last 101 Things in 2013 projects that I finished last year.  

I shared this picture a few weeks ago:

My sister and I went in together on this project to make 14 of these big bags for our mom, aunts, friends, and ourselves.  We had a few pins that we used for reference:

We loved the idea of having a removable, washable cover.  I received a corn bag as a gift once a few years ago, and while it's very nice, the only thing I didn't like was that I couldn't wash it.

So here is a list of supplies we gathered, and how much it set us back:

- 50 lb. bag of feed corn (I got this for $8 + tax at our local Mill & Supply store - 50 lbs made 14 large bags and over a dozen pairs of hand-warmers)

- muslin or an old bed sheet for the inside bag (we scoured remnant bins, freecycle, and our friends' scrap bins for the fabric and probably spent a maximum of $5 on all the fabric for this project, including the cute fabric)

- cute fabric for your cover 

- sewing machine - highly recommended!

- iron

This won't be a full tutorial with pictures, because I'm still terrible at remembering to take those pictures, but here's how we did it.

NOTE ON FEED CORN: We had to sort the corn (least favorite job ever).  There were a few black kernels, and a few bugs that we didn't want to include.  We also microwaved each finished bag 3 times before we gave them away to kill anything that may have still been in there.

Cut two 12" x 12" squares of your plain fabric and place together (if you have wrong sides, they should be on the inside).  Sew a straight stitch 1/4" from the edge on 3 sides.  Iron over twice (another 1/4" for each fold) on the two parallel sides and sew those sides down. Press over twice (1/4" each fold) on the third sewn side and sew this side, too.  You'll have lost a total of 3/4" on each of the three sides for your seams.

Pour 6 cups of corn into the bag.  Hold the bag upright so all the corn settles at the bottom and put a few pins near the top of the corn to keep it in the bottom of the bag.  Sew a straight stitch 1/4" from the edge on the open side. As with the other three sides, press over twice (1/4" each fold) and then sew this seam.  Remove the pins and trim the thread ends, and you should have something like this:

Why, yes, that is an old pink bed sheet.  We used white muslin for most of the inner bags, but ran out for the last couple.  The corners look something like this:

For the removable cover, cut 3 pieces of fabric: one piece should be 12" by 10", and then two pieces 12" by 7".  Line them up (right sides together) so that everything fits in the 12" by 10" piece.  (See the original posts for a better description of this process.)  Sew all the way around with a straight stitch (we did about 1/2" seam allowance), and then again with a zig-zag stitch to keep edges from unraveling. Trim away excess fabric and threads, turn inside out, and place inner bag inside.

Here's what the flap looks like:

Then we made a lot of hand warmers.  We cut two 4" by 5" pieces for each hand warmer, placed them right-sides-together, sewed a straight stitch on 3 sides, and then reinforced that with a zig-zag stitch.  We then turned them right-side-out, and pressed the edges of the 4th side in (so no raw edges would show), and filled with 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of corn (we found that fuller was better for these). Then we stitched the 4th side shut. These do not have removable covers.

And that's not even half of the hand-warmers we made, but by the time I got a picture, they were already given away.

When we gave these to friends, we included instructions on the proper care and usage.

For the big bags, it was basically:

1. Cover is removable and washable, but do not wash inner corn bag.

2. Heat up in microwave for 3 minutes - do not overheat or corn may scorch.

3. If corn bag has not fully cooled, do not use full 3 minutes to reheat.

4. There will be a corn smell and slight dampness for the first several times, but this will fade with use.

5. You can also place in the freezer for a cold pack.

And the hand warmers get heated up for 30-40 seconds.

Caleb and I each have one of the big bags for our personal use.  He's been taking his in the car to keep warm on the way to work - and heating it up at work sometimes, too.  I'll sometimes heat mine up before bed - it's often still warm when I wake up around 2:00 in the morning!  

This is a pretty simple project that even a novice sewer (like yours truly) can handle.  

Oh, and I only bent one sewing machine needle in this process - and that was before I figured out the right way to fold the inner bag.  Huzzah!  Perhaps my sewing-machine-needle-destruction days are behind me!

Love and Warmth.

Leah Joy

The End of the 101 Things in 2013 Project: Part 2

Well, yesterday I shared my last few completed projects (see the whole board here), but today, I thought I'd take a minute (or 12) to reflect on what I didn't finish this year - and why.  Get ready for a whole lot of pins.  And excuses. :)



2. Lose 10 pounds.  Wow, this is a great place to start.  Um, this is a long story.  I might share someday, but not today.  It just didn't happen, okay?



5. Living Room Curtains.  At the beginning of the year, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do for living room curtains.  Now I know what I want, and believe me, they'll look nothing like this.  I have the fabric purchased already, so once these are sewn up, I'll be done.



18. Paint living room, hall, and entryway.  When we moved into our house, I hated the beige that's in the living room, hall, and office.  (The entryway is white.)  There are so many people who are afraid of bold colors and stick to neutrals to be safe, but I was determined to be the opposite.  I had a beautiful green picked out; it was just a matter of time and budget.  Over the course of the year, however, the beige grew on me (figuratively). I still would like it patched up, but it matches everything, and in a living room, that's a good thing.  :)  (I do have some special plans for the entryway, though.)



27. Learn to pipe frosting.  Okay, so I sort of did this one.  I was given a piping kit for my birthday, and I did use it when I made Homemade Oreos, but the original intent of the pin was to make cupcakes or a cake or something where the piping job is actually seen.  :)  And I'm waiting for a month when we don't feel so sugared out. :)



29. Clean my Dyson.  Haha.  This just never happened.



33. Homemade Onion Soup Mix.  Ooh, ooh!  I have a good excuse!  We use onion soup mix for an easy chicken recipe, and so I bought a lot of it before I saw this pin.  So I was waiting to use it up.  And I still am, because I really did buy a lot.  :)



37. Curtains in office.  This one was just low on the priority list.



40. Oil-cleansing face wash.  I have had the stuff for this all freaking year.  I am just scared that this will cause more problems than it fixes.  But I'll never know if I don't try it.  (Oh my gosh, I am my mother.) (That's okay; I like her.)



43. Find another container for the perpetual calendars.  I couldn't find anything good!



50. Test this Ice-Proofing Method.  Well, I never tried it near the beginning of the year, and then we started parking in the garage over the summer (after the garage got fixed), so now that it's winter again, it's a non-issue.



53. Water Marbling.  We never got around to this, but did enjoy using her nail stamping kit a lot!



54. Wax Paper/Crayon Chandelier.  So I'm scared of wrecking another ironing board cover, okay?



58. Roman Shades in the master bedroom.  Since we put up vinyl blinds when we moved in, this project doesn't have a very high priority.  And it's expensive - and I'm not sure making them myself is going to be any cheaper!



59. Organize master closet.  I'm hoping we'll do this one on the 1st of the year - seems like a good day for it!



60. Kitchen backsplash.  Time + Budget.



61. Tile above shower.  Time + Budget.  :)



62. Paint Breezeway floor.  Time + Budget.  Sensing a theme?  (I did clean the floor, though!)



63. Breezeway curtains.  Eh, low priority.



64. Write a song.  Hmm, let's see, I haven't written a song in over 2.5 years.  I'd say that's more than a slump. :-/



65. Upcycle old guitar.  SO MANY PLANS.  SO SCARED OF RUINING A GUITAR!  :)



66. Paint office.  Again, this is that beige, and I don't hate it now. :)



67. Batik with Chloe.  Okay, so we're almost done - we just need to iron the wax out of the fabric and then set the dye.



68. Soy Wax Candles.  This will happen.  Our next step is to find containers for them.



69. Clean the van.  Well, I cleaned my car anyway.



70. Couples Massage.  Okay, so it turns out that we never did this because Caleb is scared.  Not of getting a massage - he's scared of liking it.  Because then he'll want them all the time.  :)



71. Paint/Re-Paint Trim.  Time + Budget.



72. Read The Screwtape Letters.  I could have done this, but didn't.



74. Read Orthodoxy.  See #72.



76. Rainbow Jell-O.  Okay, so I officially have everything I need - except for a situation where I need a lot of Jell-O and people will actually appreciate all the hours I spent making a treat that will be eaten in 35 seconds.



84. Confetti wall.  This looked like so much fun, but I realized it's not really our style.



85. Clean the grout in the bathroom.  Okay, here's the deal: our grout appears to be light in color in certain places and then dark in others, but if I clean it all, and it turns out it's actually light, then I have to keep it clean!  And who cares if our grout is clean or not?  The dark color looks nice, too.  :)



98. Soda Can Lanterns.  Houston, we have a problem.  We don't really drink soda.  And where would I put these, anyway?

I hope I didn't completely bore you!  If you made it all the way to the end, or scrolled down to the bottom to see if it got better, please leave a comment letting me know if you think I should undertake the 101 Things Project again in 2014.

Love and Mozzarella Sticks,
Leah Joy

The End of the 101 Things in 2013 Project: Part 1

Well, friends, this is it - the end of the 101 Things in 2013 Project - in case you couldn't read my extremely long and very specific title.  I left 32 things unfinished (see tomorrow's post) - though some of them have been started.  Still, it was overall a good project.  I tried new recipes and crafts, learned to sew curtains, read some good books, and cleaned my house a lot.  I learned some things that work, some that don't, and some that I just don't like.  I thought I'd start the end by showing off the last few things I accomplished.

13. Corn Bags

I will share a slightly more in-depth post with more photos early in January, but here is a quick sneak peek of what my sister and I made:

20. Real Truffles.

The Original:

Here are the ones I made.  I coated some in cocoa/powdered sugar, but I also dipped some in melted chocolate.

I also made some White-Chocolate Lemon ones using this recipe that were also very delicious.

82. A wreath.

I never thought I'd finish this project!  I bought a straw wreath at Hobby Lobby for about $2.50 (50% off, of course) and some grey yarn and wrapped the whole thing well.  I wanted to make something with removable decorations that I could change out for every season, but after wrapping the wreath, I just never got around to making any decorations.  

Finally, as I was cleaning up my living room after decorating for Christmas, I had two things leftover: a 9-ft silver tinsel garland from the Dollar Tree and a red glitter bow that came on a gift box we got last year.  I ended up twist-tying them on to the wreath, then attached them to the Dollar Tree wreath hanger with some Bed, Bath & Beyond ribbon (yes, still leftover from our wedding gifts - it never goes away!).  Are you getting how little I spent on this project?  Probably about $5. 

Now I just have to decide if this is too Christmassy to leave up all winter or not.  :)  What do you think?

And my final question for you is this: Should I undertake another 101 Things Project for 2014?  Leave a comment with your thoughts!

Love and An-Almost-New-Year,

Leah Joy

It's December!

So, I'm sitting here trying to write a Monday Rant, but it's rather difficult when I'm sitting next to this:

It's our first Christmas tree!  And it's rather devoid of ornaments right now, but we'll get those up sometime this week hopefully.  In my family, everyone had their own ornament container and we were each responsible for putting our own ornaments on the tree (Jacob likes to put all his in one spot right on the front - minimal effort.).  That made it pretty easy to just grab my tin of ornaments this year.  In his family, I guess they keep them all together.  Anyway, they'll be decorating their tree hopefully sometime this week, and then we'll have Caleb's ornaments and we can put all our ornaments on the tree and EEEEEE!!!! CHRISTMAS!!!!

Oh yes, did I mention that once it's December I kind of let loose all the pent-up Christmas Spirit that has been bubbling up inside of me since, well, September?  It's December now, so Christmas is everywhere, and people are less likely to get annoyed by my figuratively-constant jumping up and down.

So, instead of a rant, here's an update on life.

101 Things Project: haven't touched it since I last wrote about it.  Well, we got a tree, and that was on the list.  I've got about 35 things left on the list, and while at least one of them is a Christmas present for someone so it will get done, there are many that just won't get done.  Which is totally okay.  Strange as it may seem, I learned a lot about myself from this project.  Example: I wanted to make curtains for about every room in our house.  I only finished the second bedroom and the kitchen (and I turned the pillowcase in the bathroom into a real half curtain - which wasn't on my list).  I have fabric purchased for curtains for our doors with windows in them, and part of the fabric for our living room curtains (getting really tired of people at church asking me what movie I was watching).  But I've learned that I need time to figure out exactly what I want.  For the kitchen, it went more quickly and was easier (blue and white short curtains, duh).  For the second bedroom, it was a little harder (Print or solid? What color? Lined or unlined?).  For the living room, it was really difficult.  What color? Print or solid? Roller shades or curtains? Hung outside the window or inside? How many panels? How long?  And I thought I had it figured out, and then I'd change my mind again.  I've settled on a sage green broadcloth (which I have purchased) and I'm going to use a thermal lining (not yet purchased) and there will be two panels on the regular sized window and four on the big window.  They'll hang just below the bottom of the trim of the window and be mounted on curtain rods just above the window.  Like this:

Wow, long paragraph.  Anyway, I'm not going to feel too guilty about what I do or don't get to yet.  I'm already thinking about doing this again next year, and I like the idea.  I think if I keep doing this, eventually I might actually come up with a good list that I'll actually do!  (Another thing I learned is that I can only do so many house projects in a year - especially ones involving paint, as the fumes make my husband ill.)

Thanksgiving: This is a fun story.  We've decided to spend one year with my family, the next with his (and then Friday with whichever family didn't get us for Thursday that year).  This year was with my family, and my mom was hosting for 12: an aunt and uncle, my grandma and great-aunt, some cousins, a dear family friend, and us.  On Wednesday, I got an email from my sister that Mom was sick and not sure she'd be able to host the next day.  Would we be willing?  Well, yes, but it'd be interesting fitting 12 people into our house for a meal like that.  Caleb got off work early (because it was the day before Thanksgiving), and he started cleaning the house (and even got two tables from church to set up in the living room so everyone could eat together).  After I got home from work, we both worked on hanging pictures (you know, the ones that sit around for a while before they get hung up?  No?  Just us?) and more organizing.  My sister had offered to come help clean the next morning if my mom was still sick.

Well, Thursday rolled around, and I got up early to work on cleaning my stove so that would be all ready for copious amounts of cooking, and then I got the call from my sister that Mom was mostly better and could host unless we really wanted to.  NOPE.  So, we had a lovely Thanksgiving with my parents and family - AND my house got cleaned! :)

We also got to spend Friday with his family (after picking out our tree) which was really nice.  Cinnamon rolls!

Christmas Decorating: Okay, so I've helped my Mom put up her decorations before, and at the apartment I hung string lights from the drop ceiling, but this is the first year I've gotten to decorate an entire house however I want (with deference to my husband's opinion, but he mostly approves of my taste).  Right now we have icicle lights outside and the Christmas tree inside, but I'm just getting started.  I've decided to make a whole row of mini Christmas trees (in various heights, from 6" to a foot and a half ish, and with various materials) to decorate our mantel.  My mom passed some of her collection down to me, and I picked up one of those shiny tinsel trees at the Dollar Tree (can't find them cheaper), but I'm planning on making most of them.  I have one already made from dollar store playing cards, and another one wrapped in red yarn.  I'll post pictures when I have more done!  

Well, I have so much to do today, so I'd best be off! 

Love and CHRISTMAS!,

Leah Joy

101 Things Update - October 23

So, I did some thinking, and some math (both dangerous pastimes), and I realized that of all the 101 Things left to do that will actually happen, two a week is a good rate.  Here are the two I finished this week:

10. Apple Pie Cookies

The Original:

I don't have any fancy bit-into-cookie pictures, but I have a couple before-baking pictures:

We then packed them up and took them to a party, so I had to quick snap some pictures with Caleb's cell phone for the after-baking pictures.  My apologies for the quality:

So, they're cute.  They taste good.  But so much work!  And I didn't have the size cookie cutters the recipe recommended, so I used cups.  They were bigger, but gave me the right ratio.  But that also meant this recipe only made 12 cookies.  (Although, I also heard that mine were a good size and any smaller would have been silly.)  So, yeah.  Probably will just make pie next time.

22. Chain Chomp Ornament

The Original:

Mine is not technically done yet because I have to add the chain, but the painting is the hardest part:

Some of the edges are a bit inexact, but I bought a 6-pack of black ornaments, so I might make a few more to try to get a perfect one anyway.

Love and Mario,

Leah Joy

Batik! (Part 1)

This is a project from my 101 Things in 2013 list.  I haven't counted it as finished yet, because we're not finished yet, but I thought I'd share our progress so far.

We actually planned to do this about 3 years ago, and already had all the supplies for the first step:

- white fabric (we collected a couple pieces from the Field's Fabrics bargain bin)

- soy wax (Hobby Lobby)

- natural hair bristle brushes (you can find these anywhere, but I think I found these on clearance at Jo-Ann's) (you'll need these so they don't melt in the wax)

- tarps!

- a container to microwave the wax in - we had an old Tupperware (like '70s-green old)

We laid the tarp out on my parents' kitchen counter and laid a piece of fabric over it.  Once the wax was melted, we painted our designs over it.  Batik is a wax-resist form of dyeing - like crayons and watercolor paints, except on fabric.

We are dorks.  But we felt very artistic with the foot-long paint brushes.

For the next step, we needed:

- Soda Ash - helps the dye to stick - can be found at any craft store

- Fabric Dye.  We used liquid RIT brand and did not dilute it.

- As many tarps as you have pieces of fabric

- gloves!

I have no pictures of the dyeing process, because my hands were covered in gloves and dye, but we had a table outside covered in a tarp.  The fabric, after being soaked in a soda ash bath for 20 minutes, was laid out on top of the tarp.  We then took more brushes, and just poured the dye and spread it around on the fabric.  No real science.  When the whole fabric was covered, we rinsed the drips off the edge of the tarp and then folded it up so that the fabric was completely ensconced.  Repeat with the other pieces.  We left the tarps in my parents' basement laundry room for the afternoon and overnight.

(For the record: we had one piece that we weren't sure would take dye because it's a synthetic fabric.  We put this one in a bucket with slightly diluted purple dye and left it overnight.)

The next morning, we took each piece and rinsed them out in the utility tub.  Now's the tricky part.  The dye has to be machine washed and dried to set, but we can't do that until the wax is ironed out (because it will hurt the washer and dryer), but we can't iron out the wax until it's been dried - and we didn't dare drape it over anything to dry until it had been washed.  Quite the conundrum.  We ended up hand-washing them in Woolite, then doing a triple rinse outside, and then hanging them up to dry like so:

The synthetic fabric really didn't turn out so well:

The next step is to iron out the wax (place the fabric between layers of newspaper and iron over that, replacing the newspaper until it comes out clean), then machine wash and dry the fabric.  Then we can use the fabric for stuff!

I'm so excited to get to the next part!

Love and Sodium Carbonate,

Leah Joy

101 Things Update - October 16

I know it's been a really long time, and to have only three things accomplished seems paltry, but I should mention that I've been working on other projects: Christmas presents, trying new recipes in the slow cooker, cleaning my house and my mom's house and my aunt's house and my grandma's condo and my sister's bedroom, etc.  And I've also had to realize that I'm not going to complete all the projects on the list.  Some of them I've kind of 'replaced' with other projects, so at least I'm still doing things.  But really, how could I have known at the beginning of the year how things would go?  And even at the beginning, I knew that I couldn't do everything, so nothing lost.

Last week, I mentioned that I was going to work on this one:

11. Lavender Face Scrub

Like I said, it smelled good, but it's hard to say if it helped or not.  And then there were pieces of lavender all over my sink, which looked weird.  So I put them in the trash, which looked weirder, if that's possible.

32. Homemade Oreos.

I got to use my new decorating kit!  Okay, so no one could see how my piping turned out, but maybe that's for the best my first time around.

Chloe helped me with these.  We made round ones and butterfly ones.

Aren't they cute?  This frosting is spot on for Oreo frosting, and the cookies are just as delicious, if softer, than Oreo cookies.

34. Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies.  

Chloe also helped me with these.  The cookies are amazing, but we had a bit of a disaster with the frosting.  I never use shortening, but this was one case where butter didn't cut it as a substitute.  The frosting was really thin and salty.  We added a lot of extra powdered sugar to sweeten it up and hopefully stiffen it up, which it did, but not enough:

VERY MESSY!  Oh well, they still tasted good!

Love and Sugar Comas,

Leah Joy

101 Things Update - September 18

I'm afraid today's 101 Things Update is a little boring.  I completed several things, but I either took no pictures of them, or they weren't really the type of things one photographs.  But, I've still got to keep you updated, so here goes:

1. Homemade Disinfectant:



There wouldn't be any point in me sharing a picture of a bottle with clear liquid in it.  I'm pretty sure you can imagine that yourself.  And you can read what I thought of it in the Pin's description or right here: there's no way for me to test the disinfecting properties, but it did clean well.

23. Homemade Bagels:



These are the ones I actually made:



This was a great recipe and they are good versatile bagels.  They were amazing plain, with honey, with jam, with peanut butter, with peanut butter and jam, or with pizza toppings.  I have plans to try other recipes in the future now that I know how easy it is.

75. Make your own pore strips.



I've tried this one before (and I thought I reviewed it here, but now I can't find that old post), but I wanted to try it again.  I usually get pore strips when they go on mega-crazy sale, but this recipe could still be cheaper than that.  I say 'could' because she says to use a full tablespoon of both the milk and the gelatin.  A full tablespoon of gelatin is a whole packet - at least of the packets I get - and this mixture also makes way more than I need.  I spread this on my entire face, neck, and upper chest and back, and had barely made a dent in it.  Next time I'll try only using a teaspoon.

Anyway, there are pros and cons to this method.  The cons are that it is far messier than a store-bought pore strip and doesn't peel up quite as easily (it's hard to get a grip on the edge).  The pros are that it is cheaper and you can spread it over your whole face, instead of just your nose or one little area.

87. Crocheted Sock Monkey



I'm not sharing a picture of my finished one until after Christmas because it's for a friend, but let's just say that it's SUPER cute - and I'm now going to be making at least 5 more for other friends/relatives.  It was a full day's worth of work for my crocheting skill level.

So there you have it.  I also have the oatmeal-lavender face scrub (#11) mixed up and plan to use it this morning, but won't have results in time to add to this post.  I also made several steps forward on other projects this week, so hopefully I'll have some better updates soon!

Love and Gelatin,
Leah Joy

101 Things Update - Around the House

Here are a couple house projects from my 101 Things in 2013 list.

9. Towel hooks in the bathroom.

Home Depot was running a sale on items like this, so we were able to get a really nice one (with a gift card we got for our wedding).  Caleb hung it while I was in Virginia visiting some cousins (so please ignore the part where it's slightly off-center).

It's so pretty.  (Here's the link to it, in case you're interested in getting one for yourself.)  We wanted something with plenty of room for future children's towels, and this certainly has it.  

If you read the reviews, you'll notice that everyone loves it, but a few people mention something about the box it gets shipped in messing up some of the edges.  This is true.  It is not in stock in the stores - only their warehouse - so they have to ship it to the store.  For some reason, instead of just getting a bigger box, they put it crosswise in a small one, meaning that some of the edges will probably be a bit 'bruised'.  It's not a huge deal - you can hardly notice.  We might end up painting that bit so you can't tell at all, but there's fair warning if that sort of thing bothers you.  

But it holds a lot!  This is with our shower towels, our beach towels, and our swimsuits after a recent pool day.

15. Try stripping fireplace.

Can I tell you how glad I am that I made that say 'try' instead of 'do'?  This is a ridiculous project.  We borrowed a heat gun from a friend.  This took a long time and tons of effort, but at least it got the paint up.  But it also made a pretty gross smell (and my husband is allergic to gross smells - not kidding, actually).

Then we bought a low-odor paint stripper (no such thing, by the way).  After putting on several coats, the paint would only smear around, like this:

And it stunk worse than the heat gun mess.  Boo.

That's a very frustrating project.  We've kind of set it aside for now, leaving it like this:

(It's modern, right?)

But we also have a mess:

So that's that.  Any ideas on how to get that off without (1) completely redoing our budget for the next 5 years and (2) making a huge stink?

Love and Wire Brushes,

Leah Joy

101 Things Update - Over the Summer

Today, I'll be sharing all but two of the projects I/we did over the summer.  It's really not a lot, but then again, I wasn't expecting it to be.  

77. Strawberrying.  I went with my mom and sister and the three of us picked 75 pounds.  We made jam (see next one) and then split the rest between our two families.  We had a couple bowls for eating fresh and froze the rest to use the rest of the year (I love them for smoothies and pies!).

35. We made 5 batches of strawberry freezer jam - which we also split between our two families.  Mmmmm....

78. Blueberrying.  This time I went with my mom, sister, brother, and husband.  Caleb and I picked about 13.5 pounds, and this year froze them in quart bags instead of gallon bags.  Why?  Well, last year, we (I) only picked enough for one gallon bag because I happened to go on the hottest day of the year and had to leave the patch early, and they were gone in two months (and that was with Caleb holding himself back).  So this year, we froze them in quart bags so that most of them are in parents' freezer and we can better pace ourselves. :)

79.  Pen Cap Vase.  The more I thought about this project, the more I was certain I couldn't make it as cute as the original.

And then, I made it cuter.  Check it out:

And it's even cuter filled with flowers:

It now sits on my desk at work for when people bring me flowers (which only happens in the summer because it's part of a camper scavenger hunt).

96. Nail Art with Tape.  

Of course, I figured I'd do this on Chloe, since I do most nail art on her, but she happened to be gone one week, and my mom came over, so I did my toes, her toes, and my fingers with this!

Here are my toes.  My mom's were the same but with bright pink instead of teal.  Sorry it's a blurry picture.

And then I had a hay-day on my finger nails!

They're not all perfect, but I got really impatient with some parts.  And I still got asked where I got my nails done!  ("Um... my living room?")  What fun!

I hope to get a little more done now that summer is unofficially over, but now I have to go to work, so until tomorrow (hopefully)!

Love and Rainbows,

Leah Joy

101 Things Update - Let's Review (August 28)

I haven't updated you all on 101 Things since the beginning of the summer. I did a couple of things over the summer (I'll review those each individually next Wednesday), but for today, I thought I'd give an update of the whole project over all.  You can totally skip this if you're not interested.  :)

Projects Completed:

3. Pizza braid

4. Make biscotti.

6. Fruit puree popsicles

7. Homemade granola bars

8. Ring hanger for kitchen

9. Towel rod/hooks in bathroom.

12. Learn a new crochet stitch and make a scarf from it.

14. Organize under kitchen and bathroom sinks.

15. Try stripping fireplace - more on this later. I have it as completed because I did try. :)

16. Starting a cleaning schedule/routine.

17. Scones.

19. Anne of Green Gables lemonade syrup - try freezing

21. Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider cookies

25. Curtains in kitchen

26. Lampshade with the tie-ons for yellow room

28. Bows from magazines

30. Slippers for me

31. To-Go Mason Jar Cup

35. Strawberry Freezer Jam

36. Organize kitchen cupboards

38. Curtains in Yellow Room

39. Make legwarmers

41. Lemon Loaf

42. Pizza Rolls

44. Homemade apple chips with cinnamon and sugar

45. Homemade soft pretzels

46. Iced Lemon Cups

47. Date Night Jar

48. Chocolate Lava Cake

49. Lava Cookies

51. DIY Flannel Infinity Scarf

55. White Chicken Chili

56. Crochet flower

57. Knit Dishcloth - new-to-me instructions

73. Read  Wheel of Time 4: Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

77. Strawberry picking

78. Blueberry picking

79. Old Pen Cap Vase

80. High Energy breakfast balls

81. Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie

83. Grocery List

86. White Chocolate Popcorn

88. Read Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

89. Watch Bridget Jones' Diary

90. Pretty Pink Princess Party

91. Watch Ramona and Beezus

93. Read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

94. Read Lady Susan by Jane Austen

95. Lemonade with Raspberry Ice Cubes

96. Nail art using tape

97. Make 2nd crochet sock

99. No-Sew T-Shirt Bag

100. Grocery Bag Basket

101. Read Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

You can read back over my 101 Things in 2013 blog posts to see reviews of each individual thing (new ones for the summer won't be up until next week, but you should be able to find everything else).  Search by clicking the "101 Things in 2013" tag at the end of this post or in the Blog Labels section in the right-hand sidebar.  You can also check out my Pinterest board for completed projects.  There is a mini-review of most projects included in the pin.

Here's what I still have to do:

Projects Still to Go:

1. Try a homemade disinfectant.  

2. Lose 10 lbs.  This is turning out to be more difficult than I thought it would be.  I may or may not share more about that later.  

5. Curtains in living room.  I am having a hard time figuring out what style of curtain/shade would look best, so I haven't done anything yet.

10. Apple pie cookies.  I'm waiting for fall apples to make these.

11. Oatmeal/Lavender Face Scrub.  I actually have all the ingredients for this at this point, so this is something I can do.

13. Corn bags.  Chloe and I have plans to make these this fall.

18. Paint living room/hallway/entryway.  When we moved in, I thought I'd want to paint this area a different color.  I even picked out a pretty green.  Now that we've lived here for several months, I realize that I actually like the color that's in here.  We might patch it up eventually, but this item will most likely not be completed.

20. Real truffles.  Still hoping to make these.

22. Mario Chain Chomp Ornament for Andrew. 

23. Homemade bagels.  

24. Get a Christmas tree.  This is, of course, waiting until we're a bit closer to Christmas.

27. Learn to pipe frosting.  I don't have the tools for this.  I'm hoping to get them for my birthday.  :)

29. Clean the Dyson.  I was waiting until after we had cleaned up a gross mess, but then we borrowed my parents' shop vac for that, so I guess I could do this now. 

32. Homemade Oreos.  This requires piping frosting.  Or is at least a lot prettier if you can pipe frosting.

33. Homemade Onion Soup Mix.  I was waiting for fall on this, because the stuff we bake with Onion Soup Mix is more of a non-summer meal.

34. Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies.  I need molasses and it's never on sale!  I may just have to buy some anyway.

37. Curtains in office.  Similar to the living room situation.  Also, we thought that if I made shades for the bedroom, we could repurpose the current bedroom blinds to the office.

40. Oil cleansing face wash.  I've had the stuff all year - I've just never done it.

43. Find quart containers for perpetual calendars.  I found one - I need one more!

50. Ice Proofing Car with Vinegar.  Not really applicable in 80 degree weather.

52. Jewelry Organizer for Mom.

53. Water Marbling on Chloe.

54. Wax Paper/Crayon Chandelier.

58. Shades/curtains in master bedroom - I've been rather trepidatious to attempt such a huge project (I want to make actual functioning roman shades).  Maybe now that summer is over I can handle it.

59. Organize master closet.  I feel like this may actually be done on my side of the closet.  It's just something for which we both have to be in the right mindset.

60. Kitchen backsplash - budget.

61. Tile above shower - budget.

62. Paint breezeway floor - Needs to be thoroughly cleaned first. :)

63. Curtains in breezeway - Not until the floor is painted.

64. Write a song.  I'm not going to push it.

65. Fix up old guitar.  This is another thing I can do now that I have time.

66. Paint office.  Like the living room, this one is probably not going to happen.

67. Batik with Chloe.  Hopefully coming soon!

68. Homemade soy wax candles - after batik.

69. Clean van.

70. Couples massage - Budget.

71. Paint/re-paint trim - Budget, since we'd have to buy more paint.

72. Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

74. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

75. Make your own pore strips - I have all the ingredients.  I only haven't done it because it takes more time than a regular pore strip, and it's just easier to use a store-bought one.

76. Rainbow Jell-O - I have the cups now, so I can do this!!!

82. Wreath - My wreath base is done (has been done for months), I just need to make attachable doo-dads.

84. Confetti wall for holiday - I have the sticky-tac stuff, I just need to find a good holiday. :)

85. Clean grout in bathroom

87. Sock Monkey for Anna

92. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis - working on it. This is the kind of book to read slowly, one little section a day.

98. Soda Can Lanterns

If I didn't give a reason/explanation for any of these, it means I have no excuses. :)  I'm over halfway done though!  You can see these project pins on this Pinterest board.

Any questions or comments, let me know!  Have you been working on your own 101 Things in 2013 list?  I'd love to see an update!

Love and Patience,

Leah Joy