Deployment Wall

Though I am a seasoned Army wife that has been by my husband's side through 8 deployments, this upcoming one was a bit different for us... it was our first one with having children. In the past, I became a workaholic and survived on take out food and getting lost with my work but not this time. This time was different in many ways.

One of my husband's homecomings from before we had children

I started searching online to start preparing for a deployment with kids and found all sorts of amazing ideas. My favorite had to be pre-recording videos of my husband reading stories and saying "good morning" and "good night" messages to our children. I kinda wish I had him do one for me for some encouragement... maybe next time. Both my kid's LOVED watching their father read to them and wish them good night, especially when we would go days without hearing from him. 

Another great idea was a Deployment Wall. I have never heard of this before and was so excited to have a visual reminder of my husband and when he was coming home. My kid's loved moving the number cards on the countdown and seeing if Daddy left them a card in the mailbox.  

Here is a breakdown of our deployment wall and where I got everything:

-Clocks to show our time and Daddy's

-Patriotic Felt Garland

-Deployment Countdown

-Galvanized metal envelope

-Patriotic picture frame 

-American Flag 

-Iron Wall Basket and is full of wonderful books I HIGHLY recommend for children going though a deployment. 

Night Catch

Countdown til Daddy Comes Home

My Daddy Soldier

Hero Dad

It was a very long deployment and I pray we don't have to go through another one any time soon. We would do special activities to celebrate being a week closer to Daddy coming home, ice cream before dinner was always a favorite. Having a routine always helped. I got very involved with my local gym, church and also our FRG. 

 If you are going through a deployment, what has helped you and your children? 

Foyer Makeover ~ Board & Batten

When we first moved into our house I knew I wanted to put board & batten in our long boring hallway. It was a long dark hallway just screaming for something to be put on those walls.

Well... it took a long time to do and I am just kicking myself for not doing it any sooner. I first drew horizontal lines at the desired height but something happened and we had to put off the project for another time. So, I just painted a thick white line as a reminder to do the board and batten sometime in the future... not the best looking foyer, I know.

A few years later (yes, years! We moved and rented our house out for 4 years but are now back) we are ready to get this foyer done!

The most tedious task is to draw an even horizontal line but that was done a while ago so that part was easy. So the next part was to draw out where I wanted the vertical lines to go. I knew I wanted to avoid corners, outlets, light switches and anything else so I was sure to keep those areas in mind when spacing everything out. 

We used 1/4” lattice strips from Home Depot along with a 1”x1” Pine fore the top trim. Measuring everything took the longest. I wanted to be sure none of the vertical strips ran into any outlet or light switch covers. We did  14” between the vertical strips and 10.5” between the two horizontal ones. After using a finishing nail gun to hang up the strips, I spackled and painted 5 coats of Glidden paint and primer in white on white semi gloss. 

*UPDATE*

We painted the door white and put a fresh coat of paint on the wall above the board & batten.

DIY iPad cover

I have been on the search for a case for the iPad to clip onto the front seat in our car so Rand can watch movies during a long car ride. I never found anything that fit the iPad and the Outterbox case so I made my own.

Front fabric is 12.5"X 11" but I clipped the top two corners. The back fabric is 12.5" x 12" and for the straps I cut two 4" x 6" pieces of fabric. I added holes on each side to plug in to charge so four 2" x 2" squares. The opening is 9" x 6" and I used a plastic paper sleeve protector to cover the hole. 

DIY Ugly Christmas Sweater and skirt

It is that time of year... pull out your Ugly Christmas Sweater! 

Rob and I never really got into UCS but we got invited to a party this year where we had to wear one. I decided to just make our own since I am cheap like that, lol. I drew up a pattern and cut out felt to attach onto an old sweater of my husband's. He loved it so much that he wore it to work! 

 I saw on Pinterest a cute idea where you attach a ton of bows onto a skirt. I did not have a skirt I was willing to ruin so made my own simple elastic waistband skirt with red felt. I separated the bows  (I bought 3 bags of 45each) into two piles to make sure I had enough for each side of the skirt. I also separated the bigger ones from the smaller to make sure they were evenly spaced on the skirt. I kept the paper intact on the bottom of the bow and just hot glued them down so I can re-use the bows. After I glued them all down, I put the elastic in the skirt and voila! I have the perfect skirt to wear to a Christmas party! I had some extra bows so plan on making a little headband to match.

DIY Burlap Banner

It is almost time to break out the mistletoe and decorate for Christmas so in preparation I am making burlap banners to hang on the walls. I also make them to sell on my Etsy and Facebook page. If you feel like trying your hand at making your own, here are the instructions.

You will need:
-burlap
-glue
-water
-a bowl
-a paint brush
-a drying rack (optional but will help a lot)
-scissors
-a sheet of paper
-stencil (optional but very useful, especially if you don't have the nicest penmanship)
-paint or a permanent marker
-twine
-glue gun and glue sticks

First, you need to cut the burlap into strips. I already created a template for my pendants so I used my sheet of paper for a guide to cut out the height of my strips. Be sure to cut in between the weave. This is to help prevent it from unraveling. 

You can either cut right in between the weaves or pull up a string of twine and pull it all the way out of the weave to use as a guide to cut. 

Next, mix water and glue into a bowl. Paint the water/glue mixture onto the strips of burlap. This helps prevent the banner from fraying and falling apart and will help this banner last more than one holiday ;)

 After I hang them up, I usually let mine dry overnight. 

After they are dry, I cut out my pendants. Below you can see the templates I cut out. I use these to help cut out my pendants. Be sure to cut between the weave again to prevent it from fraying. You will be cutting across the grain for the detail on the bottom of the pendants, this is why it is important to paint them with the water/glue mixture. Next, I use my stencil and write out my letters. 

The last step is to glue each pendant on twine. 

 All done and ready for the holidays!

DIY Baby/Toddler Carrier

I am so grateful that we are able to travel and do so much while in Germany. Having a kid never held us back. If anything it pushed us forward because we wanted to explore the world with our son. 

 I have gone through my list of favorites and necessities when traveling with a kid and what is always my #1 is a kid carrier. When Rand was a baby I was gifted an Ergo carrier. I LOVED it and wore Rand around everywhere. He soon outgrew it and I borrowed a friend's Toddler Tula for our trip to Rome. I loved it but did not like the price tag. 

Soon after I started looking into making my own. The only issue I thought I would run into was finding the supplies here in Germany. I first made my own pattern and went to a few local stores to get supplies. It was cute but not practical. The claps were cheap and it did not feel sturdy enough for my son.

I did a bit more research and found Sew Toot! You can download the pattern and Devan has very easy instructions on how to make the carrier. She is very active on her Facebook page and the other ladies on that page are full of great information and tips. I made another carrier and loved it! I was so excited to have a carrier that was comfortable and well made... and cheap! The pattern was $18 and supplies (I had the fabric already) was under $20.

I decided to make a third carrier for myself. I bought some fabric at Fabric.com just for this project. (Out of the Den Plaid Grey, 9.3 oz. Canvas Duck Gold and Riley Blake Swiss & Dots Gray/ White.

I LOVE this carrier! Not only does it look beautiful but it is very comfortable for both Rand and me. 

Pumpkin puree, waffles and soup

It is fall in Germany! I was excited to see sugar pumpkins at the local grocery store and was eager to use my new waffle maker to make some pumpkin waffles for Rand.

No more canned pumpkin for me!

 The next morning I made some pumpkin waffles. Rand couldn't eat them fast enough. Here is the recipe I use. 

 I had some extra so made some soup too.

DIY Sensory Board

I am all about crafts and helping my child learn and explore. I have tons of different materials laying around my house and thought it would be a fun project to make a sensory boards for Rand. 

Supplies:

foam board

jar lids

scraps of different types of materials

hot glue gun with sticks

I carfeully glued each material to a different lid. Make sure to glue them  securely on the top, sides and under the lip of the lid. After I glued all the materials on the lids, I laid them out on my foam board and glued them on. 

Here are some suggestions on what to use for different materials. Fabric stores are great to look for material for this project.  A remnant can go a long way.  Also look at the craft supplies and hardware stores.

-lace

-tassel trim

-silk or satin material

-dried pasta

-rope (I glued them in a spiral to cover the entire lid)

-glitter (I used some glitter paper from my scarp booking supplies)

-cotton balls

-tin foil

-an old teddy bear for "fur"

-feathers

-sandpaper

-sponges or brillo pads