Family Time Capsule

When we started our reno and the builders were taking the old plaster board off the walls I was hoping we'd find an old newspaper inside one of the walls- I remember as a child the thrill of finding some faded old newspaper hidden away for a different generation to find. We didn't find any but as our builders have nearly finished the gibbing of our new walls I thought it would be fun to make a little time capsule to put inside the last wall to get gibbed which will hopefully be today! I'm going to use a snap lock bag and we'll just staple gun it or tack it to a piece of the framing.  Inside we've put…

* Family photo

*Local newspaper

*Recent magazine

*Stella did drawings of our family and Amelie made up a little collage about us and doing the reno

*A questionnaire- I quickly typed these questions up yesterday and Amelie filled it out last night….

*some stamps and coins

Update- Penny from Little Houswife had some cool suggestion on my Facebook page- she suggested a supermarket receipt, petrol receipt, a CD with current popular music and a TV Guide magazine :)

Family Time Capsule              

Date.........................................

Address ..........................................

How old is this house?

When did we buy this house?

How long have we lived here?

Who did we buy this house from?

Why did we buy this house?

What have we done to the house since buying it?

About our family

Who is in our family and how old are we?

What school/daycare do we go to, who is our Principal and who are our teachers?

What do we like doing as a family?

What are some of the fun things we have done in this house so far?

Who are some of our friends in the neighbourhood?

What are some of our favourite movies and TV shows?

Life in the Year ................

Who is the NZ Prime Minister?

How much is a loaf of bread and a litre of milk?

What are some things that have happened this year worldwide?

When I was teaching I used to do a time capsule in the first week of school with my class- we would get a large plastic bottle, put in a class photo, a newspaper and each child would write a little note about themselves, what they like doing and what their favourite things are. They were always so excited at the end of the year to open up the time capsule. Although one year we buried it in a garden at school and couldn't find it at the end of the year!

Megan 

DIY Skateboard Swing

Hi everyone, here is a quick blog post showing how to make one of these cool skateboard swings- great for older kids and a really quick and easy backyard project!

You will need

* a skateboard deck

*2 pieces of dowel approx 20cm long each for the 'handles'

*a rope - ours was approx 10 metres long- cut this in half for each side of the swing

 (it all depends on the height of your branch so you may need less or more rope than ours)

Pic one

1. Drill a hole at each end of the pieces of dowel the same width if not a bit bigger than your piece of rope

2. Drill 2 holes at one end of the skateboard deck- you can see in the photo above where the holes are (where the rope has been threaded through and knotted.) Do the same at the other end of the deck. (The other holes on the deck are from the wheels)

Pic two

Pic three

3. Use a lighter to burn the ends of each piece of rope to stop the rope fraying and for threading through the holes. Thread one of your 5 metres approx pieces of rope through the holes underneath the deck so it looks like the pic above with equal length of rope coming out of each hole. Tie a knot as in Pic one to keep the deck stable. 

4. Do the same on the other end of your deck

Pic four

5. Thread each end of your pieces of rope through the holes you drilled into your dowel. We put our dowel about a metre up from the deck. You could make it lower or higher depending on the height of your children.  (Ours are 3, 5 and 7- the handles are probably a little too high for our 3 year old). 

Tie a knot above and below each piece of dowel where you have threaded your rope through to keep the handles stable.

6.  Loop each piece of rope over a branch and tie securely. Our deck is about 30 cm approx above the ground.

7. Done- swing time!

Thanks for reading, feels good to be getting back into some blogging again :)

Megan

mousehouse 'ABC suitcase' giveaway

I absolutely love anything to do with the alphabet- typographical artworks, abc books, alphabet posters, abc games and puzzles…I don't know if it's the teacher in me or just the simplicity of the alphabet but I have built up a bit of a collection of games, books and puzzles plus I love making my own ABC activities as well.  And I think children having some knowledge of letters and sounds before they start school is really beneficial- not in a flash card/rote learning type way, just building on their natural curiosity and interest in letters and the ABC's by reading, playing games and puzzles, and talking about letters and sounds in daily life. So I thought with Stella starting school this week I would finally sort out and share my ABC giveaway that I have been planning for ages now.  And Jasmine from Bubbalooz kindly donated one of her lovely mini suitcases for the giveaway which was perfect to keep all of the items in. I used a piece of scrapbooking card to decorate the underside of the lid of the suitcase and have filled it with a few things for one of you to win….

In the suitcase I've put...

*'My First Book of Letters' board book by Alain Gree - I love the vintage style illustrations in this book

* ABC ice cube or chocolate molds

* Aluminium Alphabet water bottle

*A sheet of my favourite ABC little house stickers

*A roll of ABC wash tape

* A lollipop pen to practice all those abc's!

So if you would like to win this all you need to do is leave a comment below telling me how old your children are (you don't need to write their names if you would prefer not to) and what they are interested in eg: reading, writing, numbers and counting, lego, pirates, dinosaurs, fairies, art, sport, space, animals…. If you don't have children you could tell me what you are interested in, don't worry about your age though ;)

Giveaway will be open until next Tuesday the 1st April.

International entries welcome.

For extra entries you can like my Facebook page - just leave a separate comment telling me you have (or already do.)

You can also follow me on Pinterest for another entry

http://www.pinterest.com/megsmousehouse/

There are other ways for gaining entries on my Facebook page as well...

Thank you for reading 'mousehouse' and good luck :)

Megan 

Scrap Bag Swap 2014 - A Pocket Organiser

Ever since seeing this gorgeous pocket organiser on Pinterest  (from the blog post http://nicety.livejournal.com/1217050.html which has lots more photo's of the stunning kids space the organiser is hanging in) I wanted to make my own one and late last year I finally did, making one for my friend's daughters 7 year old birthday. Some of the fabrics I used were from a fabric scrap bag swap I took part in 2 years ago organised by Nin  (I was very lucky to also get Nin as my swap partner who sent me a beautiful bag of scrap fabrics which have been well used) so it was fun to get them out again to make this.  If you have a bunch of scraps then this is the perfect project as you can have a lot of fun choosing different pieces for the pockets and you don't need a lot of fabric for each pocket. I didn't do any measuring for this project which really appeals to me so it was a reasonably quick project too - it probably took me 2 hours max.

For the white back and front pieces I cut out 2 large pieces of fabric (each one about 50cm x 80 cm approx). I used my favourite off white cotton duck that I get from Bernina, a lovely heavy linen looking fabric that I use for heaps of my projects.  Then the fun part-  I got out all my scraps and found a mix of pink pieces, then cut out different size rectangles and played around fitting them on the front piece of fabric. Once I had them sorted I folded over the tops and sides of each pocket and ironed them, and then stitched around them.

For some pockets I added a bit of embellishment like a piece of lace or ricrac.

You could also do things like hand stitch the initial of their name to a pocket, or appliqué their name across the top of the organiser.

I added a ribbon down one side to put hair clips on, and a little ribbon loop under one pocket to attach things like headbands, or a carabina with hair ties on it like this one I shared on my Facebook page a few weeks ago.

I also added a line of lace across the top of the pockets so things like cards and postcards could be attached with pegs.

Then I pinned the pockets on and sewed around the sides and bottom of each pocket to attach them to the front piece of fabric. Once that was done I placed my back piece over the front piece (right sides together), sewed around the whole thing leaving a gap at the bottom for turning, then turned it right sides out and top stitched around the organiser to finish it off. I added two ribbon loops to the top back of the organiser so it could be hung on the wall.

I found a small container and filled it with a few things for the pockets to give with the organiser- 7 year old girls are lots of fun to buy for :) 

I can't wait to make one of these for each of my kids - anything to facilitate any sort of tidying/storage will be a good thing in their bedrooms!

Don't forget to check out all the other blog posts for Nin's Scrap Bag Swap series- there's a link to them all here, and join in the swap next year if you are keen!

http://notchkas-wardrobe.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/a-blog-hop-quilt-along-and-competition.html

Megan

Using Decorative Tapes at Home

This is my last post as part of my series of ideas for using the new Scotch® Expression Tapes,   I have had a lot of fun thinking of ideas for each of my posts- it has been pretty challenging getting them all done during one of the busiest months of the year (school holidays/going away trips) but I have enjoyed sharing my ideas with you!  So here is my last post with a few ideas for using washi tape and the new Scotch® magic tape in your home. As I said in my first post I've been using washi tape for quite a few years for all sorts of things so this is a pretty easy post to write...

I used the magic tape (a matte repositionable tape) to label my containers in my pantry.

I also use it to label containers that go to school for bake sales and the like rather than writing straight on the container.

We use our pantry doors as a bit of an art display wall so I love using washi tape to stick the pictures to the doors.

It's Valentines Day next week so I taped this heart onto a wall by our dining table and made some more washi tape heart stickers  as well.

I bought some new mascara the other day (I buy it probably less than once a year) so I had the idea of taping a bit of magic tape on it and labelling it with the date so I'll know how old it is (apparently it only has a shelf life of 3/4 months!!) 

I also had the idea of using washi tape to make a bookmark type thing just by folding over the tape about 2cm higher than the book and sticking to the other side of the page.

And here are a few more cute ideas I've found on blogs and pinterest-I have heaps more ideas on my 'I love washi tape' pinterest board as well :)

More kitchen labelling and decorating

http://www.sisterssuitcaseblog.com/2012/04/washi-tape-week-day-1-kitchen.html

Washi tape shelf edging

http://www.auntpeaches.com/2013/04/washi-tape-shelf-edging.html#more

A stripy washi wall!

http://www.annkelle.com/my-washi-wall/

Label wine glasses at a party

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/268808671481396667/

Use for gift wrapping - this is how I wrap most of my presents now!

http://www.vitaminihandmade.com/2011/06/i-love-this-tape.html

So I hope you've enjoyed my series of Scotch® tape posts- all of the tapes are at Warehouse Stationery or Fishpond so have fun and get crafty!

Megan x

Here are my other Scotch® Tape blog posts...

Getting Crafty with Scotch® Expressions tape

Washi Tape Craft Party

Washi Tape Kids Art and Crafts

Washi Tape Back to School ideas

Decorative tape ideas in the Classroom

A Washi Tape Dollshouse

A Washi Tape Dollshouse

At the end of last year I took home a dollhouse from a teacher's classroom at my daughters school, planning on doing a quick reno on it for her. Here are some before shots...

I got the kids doing a bit of sanding and then painted the whole thing white.

Then on the last weekend of the school holidays I realised I better quickly get it finished! I used scrapbooking card to wallpaper the top rooms, and then just painted the bottom floors back walls. Then I had the brainwave to use the new Scotch® Washi and Magic Tapes to tape the floors (I especially love the blue patterned magic tape that I think looks like a mediterranean tiled floor and the black and white chevron washi tape floor which I can just imagine on some stylish New York loft apartment)

As I was taping the floors I was checking facebook for something and up came this photo from the Small Acorns facebook page of a dollshouse made out of cardboxes and decorated with pictures from magazines.  Can't believe I hadn't thought of doing this before as I was thinking the dollshouse was going to be a bit sad without any furniture! So I got my stash of Your Home and Garden magazines out (so glad I hadn't got rid of them when we moved) and had heaps of fun going through them for pictures  that would work for each room. 

My favourite pictures are the bookcases as they really look 3D on the walls of the dollhouse, and I love the couches in the lounge too. Some things are a little bit out of proportion and the upstairs especially is quite random but all in all it looks pretty cool and costs a lot less than my previous dollhouse!!

Here are some more pics...I used modpodge to stick them all to the walls, and then a layer of modpodge over all the walls and floors to seal them.

I was finding it hard to find a kitchen that would fit under the window and then I spotted this cute kitchen by Emily Henderson that LeeAnn Yare shared on her facebook page so I printed it out- easy!

I found out that the lovely painting I cut out for this bedroom is from the home of Hayley who runs The Art Room Limited- she spotted it when I shared a few pics on my facebook page! 

It was pretty fiddly cutting out this bunting but a lot quicker than making my own still! The mini art works on the left and right were from an ad for wallpapers in one of the magazines.

The arrow light is from Alex Fultons home 

I thought of Miss Molly Coddle when I cut out the turquoise peacock chair for the kitchen :)

So if you are wanting to do a dollshouse reno this is a great option- you could even washi or magic tape the walls- a lot easier and quicker than paint or wallpapering! (and if you want to change it it's really easy to remove the tape). This would be a great activity to do with kids too, just give them a shoe box and let them decorate it! 

Megan 

 PS: This is the last week of the Scotch® Back to School "Make it Amazing" Promotion so if you've made anything with the new Scotch® tapes upload a pic on the Scotch® facebook page here and you'll be in to win an i-pad mini- there are prizes just for voting as well. I've got one more blog post to publish 'Using Washi Tape at Home" so look out for that :)

Here are my other Scotch® Tape blog posts...

Getting Crafty with Scotch® Expressions tape

Washi Tape Craft Party

Washi Tape Kids Art and Crafts

Washi Tape Back to School ideas

Decorative tape ideas in the Classroom