30 Before 30: Update #1

It's just over six months until I turn 30! It seems to be getting here faster and faster. The other day while driving around, my mother said something to me about people my age, "You know, in their 30s." I shrieked! "I'm not in my 30s! I'm in my 20s!" It was a big "AHA!" moment. I'm about to be in my 30s. It's not that I really have a problem with that. It's just a bit weird to actually say it out loud.

So I've started checking things off the 30 Before 30 List and I've realized that I need to kick it into high gear if I want to get this stuff done.

Here are the things accomplished on the list so far:

#2. So far I have lost 20 of the 40 pounds! Yea! So excited about that.

#6. We have been trying about one new recipe a week. Some of them are listed in the Recipe Roundup.

#7. I'm getting better at making tutorials. It's a work in progress but you can check out the latest one to see how it's going.

#26. I just watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest this last week. It was a strange but good movie and not at all what I expected. Definitely need to get on to watching more!

#30. I've read two small Kindle books so far this month.

The first was How to Save Money Every Month by A.C. Jones. It's a fast read with lots of basic tips on saving around the house.

The second was The Coupon Diet by Beth Jones. This was a much faster read. It covers a lot of basic couponing tips. I already knew a lot of what was covered because I have been couponing for quite some time now but I would highly suggest it for someone who is just getting started.

It's time to get the ball rolling on this list and get things checked off!

The *Easy* Baby Blanket

My father-in-law was looking for a gift for a co-worker who had just had a baby. I wanted to make something functional and pretty but I was also short on time since I had forgotten that I had promised to make the gift. While surfing around on Pinterest (as I have been known to do), I stumbled across this delightful tutorial over at Mama Stellato.

Her pattern is just as simple as the title suggests. I was in love! Here was something that I could get done fast enough to make up for all my forgetfulness.

The front piece I used is a patterned fleece. I was able to find a cute baby themed pattern that I just loved. I found a matching piece of brown flannel for the back panel. Since the fleece is so thick and cozy, I didn't use the batting as the pattern suggested. Putting the fleece and flannel together made for a super soft and cuddly blanket. Other than that, I followed the steps outlined in the tutorial.

These are so fast to sew up that they are now part of my regular routine for my Project Linus blankets. Saves a lot of time, since I always seem to be working on a million different things.

So the next time you have procrastinated a baby gift, keep this in mind!

How to Clean Stove Burners

I was cleaning the kitchen the other day as I work toward my 52 Weeks of Organization. It's something I'm trying to do this year so that my house doesn't stay in a constant state of chaos. I realized that my stove was DISGUSTING! I mean capital D - Disgusting! It's no wonder that at the last place we lived, we got charged for cleaning the stove when we moved out. Unfortunately, just a simple wipe down was not going to do this time and I did not want to spend hours cleaning this mess.

This is my stove before I cleaned it. Gross, right?! I could not believe the mess when I actually got to looking at it up close.

A light bulb went off! I always use Easy Off Heavy Duty to clean my oven - it saves tons of time cleaning the burnt on gook in the oven. It was worth a shot right?! So, following the directions on my can, I put on my rubber kitchen gloves and gave the stove burners a thorough coat of the Easy Off. I took everything apart to be sure that the Easy Off would get to all the dirty parts.

The directions said to let it sit for 20 minutes.
I turned on the kitchen fan to make sure there was good ventilation from all the fumes - I didn't want to pass out on the floor or anything. After the 20 minute timer when off, I came back and surprisingly most of the grease and burnt on mess just wiped right off!!! There were a few of the really dirty spots I had to scrub a bit but it cleaned up soooo easily. I followed it up with a good rinse too.

The end result was so wonderful! My stove top looks as good as new. This is also a great thing since we rent. I know that whenever the time comes to move again, I can get the stove into tip-top shape and not ever get charged again for a silly cleaning fee. And even better than that, I don't have an embarrassingly dirty stove when company comes to visit!

 

DIY: Monogram Coasters

My brother-in-law has been wanting me to make him coasters ever since I got my Silhouette and he saw all the great things I was making with it. I was planning on making them for his birthday and then somehow it didn't get done in time. So I made sure to put them on the list for his Christmas stocking. They turned out to be such a fast and easy project, I don't know why I didn't get them done sooner!

I found these great tiles at Home Depot packaged in a set of 9 for only a few bucks. They are nice unglazed tiles so they should be perfect for absorbing condensation from drinks.

I cut squares of craft felt just a tad smaller than the tiles. I used my rotary cutter and ruler to get nice even squares. (Don't you love my carpet background? I had to work on the floor because every other space in the house was covered in Christmas chaos!) The felt is a great backing so that the tiles don't scratch whatever surface the coasters are going to be used on.

I coated one side of the felt with Fabri-tac and made sure to give it a really good coat. I wanted to make sure that all of the felt was going to stick to the tile.

Then I carefully lined it up with the back of the tile and smoothed it out to make sure that there were no bumps and that the whole thing was secured. I did this to all four of the tiles that I was making.

When they were all glued, I got a big stack of books and set them all under it to dry to make sure they set up really well.

Now for the monograms! On my trusty Silhouette, I settled on the LD Old Glory font and stretched it to a good size to be centered on the tiles. I made one and then copied it so they would all be the same size. Weeding out the little holes in the "Cs" was quite a task but I got them all done. I measured and marked each tiles to be sure the were centered and then applied the vinyl. I have step by step instructions on applying vinyl on this tutorial. If you don't have a Silhouette, you can always use an X-acto knife and cut a design by hand. 

He loved them so much that he wants me to make more. Let's see if I can get them done before next Christmas!

Linked up at:  Fun to Craft 'Look At Me' Party, Sew Can Do Craftastic Monday, Hope Studios Tutorial Tuesday, My Girlish Whims

Easy Afternoon Project: Finger Knitting Tutorial

I have tried to learn how to crochet. Sometime I will post the picture of the sad little scarf I made when my sister made me sit down and learn. It is just not something I think I will ever grasp the concept of. In my many craft endeavors, I had amassed quite a collection of yarn, even without being crocheter/knitter. In her efforts to get me to do something fun with all the yarn, my sister decided that I would learn how to finger knit. Surprisingly, finger knitting is something that is totally easy and fun to do. I made all sorts of scarves for the women in my family this Christmas and they were a huge hit!

I found some great easy tutorials on how to make these scarves. They are so fast that you can make up a bunch in an afternoon or evening while watching your favorite show. Plus they are a great project for kids to do.

At Lines Across, they have an easy to follow Finger Knitting Tutorial and I love that they show you how to change yarn colors.

And over at Maggie Whitley, there is another great Finger Knitting Garland & Necklace Tutorial. My favorite part is that she gives really great instructions and photos on how to tie off when you are finished with your scarf.

For my scarves, I used 2 strands of yarn. One strand of regular yarn and one strand of Fun Fur. I found that this gave it a wonderful thickness and the Fun Fur gave it some extra flair.

Have fun "knitting!"