An Easy Easter-ish Sign/Plaque/Decoration Thingy

Hi! It's Jilly. I FINALLY got some Easter-ish decorations up. Just in time, right. Easter is, what, this Sunday?! Can I blame it on the fact that Easter came really early this year and we were gone for a week & a half? Cool, thanks.

I don't have a lot of Easter-specific decorations, but I really wanted to make some kind of sign that would remind us of the reason for the season, without being too over the top with bunnies or eggs or whatever.

I had been pondering what phrase or scripture to put on my sign for a couple of weeks. Then, at church on Sunday a line from one of the hymns we were singing, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives", really jumped out at me. "It's perfect!", I thought. He lives. That's why we are celebrating!

 To make the sign you'll need:
A thin piece of wood
Paint for your base coat
A paint marker
Sandpaper

How I did it:

1. Sand the piece of wood to rough it up a little & help the paint adhere.

2. Paint the board with your base coat. I ended up doing two coats.

I set the board on top of an upside-down bowl so I could paint the edges and the board wouldn't stick to the table!



3. Write your phrase on the board using a paint marker. If you are afraid of messing up you can write it in pencil first, then go over it with the paint marker. I did 2 or 3 coats with the paint marker, since the yellow was so light.

4. Draw a scallop pattern along the top and bottom edges. I'm sure you could find a pattern to trace online if you don't want to do it free hand.

5. Sand the edges to give it that "worn" look. You're done!

I LOVE how this sign turned out! It's sweet and simple, yet the words are so meaningful.

Let me know if you try this project, and send me a picture of it when you're done!

Happy Easter, everyone!



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Might be linking up with: Craft-O-Maniac, C.R.A.F.T, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, More the Merrier Monday, Make the Scene Monday,Serendipity and Spice, Home Stories A to Z, Titus 2 Tuesday, Take It On Tuesday, The DIY Dreamer, House of Hepworths, Mom on Timeout, Pinterest Power Party, My Favorite Finds, Weekend Wonders, My Turn For Us, Fancy This Friday, Sew Crafty Angel , Friday Favorites

Decorating for Fall

Hi! It’s Jilly. Sometimes I feel like I’m always 2 or 3 steps behind. I got some fall decorations up a week or two ago, but I’m just now blogging about it!



Why yes, I DO still have a wedding picture in that picture frame. Hey, I’m lucky to have Halloween decorations up at all, okay?!



One of my favorite parts is the “Boo!” pennant banner. A few years ago a few friends and I got together once a month to do a seasonal craft. We each brought all the supplies to do a simple, inexpensive craft. This banner was my contribution. Amazingly it has lasted all these years!



I’m afraid you can’t see it very well, but the font I used was “Circus”. It adds a whimsical quality, but is still a little spooky! It’s pretty easy to figure out by looking at it, but if you’d like instructions to make the banner, just shoot me an email at hiitsjilly@gmail.com.


I got that”R” pumpkin on clearance after Thanksgiving at Hobby Lobby for 90% off!! And, the vases were on clearance in the garden dept at Home Depot at the end of summer a couple years ago. You never know where you’re going to find great stuff!



I love the little black cat. You can put a tealight candle in it and the eyes glow! I love the pumpkin, too. Awesome clearance find at Joann’s one year.



Yes, I went through and picked out all the red, yellow, brown, and orange Pretzel M&Ms. Ridiculous, I know. Hey! Looks like someone’s been eating those! It wasn’t me (this time).

Like the bone? I used some of Hubby’s old foot and leg models from school. Being married to a podiatrist isn’t all bad. ;)



I got the cauldron from Target last year. It came with some nasty, super sweet drink mix. But, because it had drink mix in it I was able to buy it with food stamps. Sweet!

Over the years while we were in med school I came up with some pretty  creative things to buy that were covered by food stamps because they had food attached. A salad dressing bottle, toys, movie tickets…Maybe I should tell you guys all about it sometime.

The creepy stuff coming out of the cauldron is…CORN SILK! K arranged it herself! Maybe I have a future decorator on my hands. Or, some other profession that involves draping corn silk on caldrons. Hmmm…

I hope you guys enjoyed a little slice of Fall at my house! Follow along on Facebook or Twitter to see more goodies from me!

Baby Steppin' with Fly Lady and A Giveaway Winner (Finally!!)

Hi! It's Jilly! I feel like I've been "away" forever! We went up to Seneca Lake Friday & Saturday, and I feel like I'm just recovering from the trip! Is it just me, or does your house look like a bomb went off after you get back from a trip? Seriously! We were only gone one night!! Sheesh!

ANYways...I have a couple fun things to share with you! First, it's time to (finally) announce the winner of the *huge* S'Wonderful September Sponsor giveaway. Are your ready to see who our lucky winner is?! I know I am!!

And the winner is....(drumroll, please)....

Bre Paulson from Peacoats and Plaid!! Congrats, Bre! SO excited for you!! Woot woot!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Our next order of business involves that bomb-victim house I talked about earlier. I've been struggling with keeping a clean and orderly house for a few years a few months a while. It's always been a big problem for me.

A few years ago a friend introduced me to The Fly Lady and I started getting and reading her e-mails. I've tried integrating her program few times, but was never able to make it longer than a week! (I know. I told you...it's a problem!)

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BUT, no more!! I neeeeed to get my life together! Not only do I need a cleaner house (after all, cleanliness is next to Godliness, right?!), but I need to feel more peace! A big thing about Fly Lady is learning to FLY- which stands for Finally Loving Yourself. This self-loathing ridiculousness needs to stop asap!

So, I've started doing Fly Lady's 31 Beginner Baby Steps. By following the instructions every day it is supposed to help you set up routines to keep everything in your home running smoothly and cure your CHAOS-- "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome". Ha ha!

{They're trying to do a "triplet piggyback ride". Notice the "trail of tears" in the background?!}

I started it on Monday, October 1st, but you can join me on this quest and start at any time! It doesn't have to be a Monday! I've been chronicling each day, so follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook where I've been posting my pics every day. Post your own pics using the hashtag #babysteps, then tag me in the pic so I can see your great progress! (@Hi_Its_Jilly)



If you've been having a hard time keeping your house clean & clutter-free and/or feeling peace, I encourage you to join me! Don't worry about the fact that today is October 3rd, or a Wednesday, or whatever! I agree with what FlyLady says..."just jump in where you are!". I'm excited to hear about your progress and see your pictures!

Oh! And if you want to see the 'breakdown' of what you'll be doing each day, I found an awesome link here. Fly Lady says it's better if you just take it one day at a time, though. Good luck!!

Lunch Packing Ideas

Hi! It’s Jilly. The kids have finished their first week of school. Many of your kids have probably been in school for a few weeks now.

I wanted to share with you a few lunch packing ideas. Hopefully one of these ideas will help you change up the lunch routine a little, and maybe save you some money!

This year I decided to buy reusable, plastic sandwich boxes. You can get them at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. for about $1 each. I found these puppies at Christmas Tree Shop for $1.39 for a 3 pack! (Btw- Christmas Tree Shop isn’t Christmas stuff. I was confused when I first moved here, too.).



I also invested in a few small, plastic food storage containers. I got an 8 pack of these at Joann’s pretty cheap, especially after I used my 40% off coupon! I also got a few bigger ones at Target in the dollar section. I love these because I can pack things for the kids’ lunches I usually wouldn’t, like fresh mango pieces.



My kids don’t eat a whole sandwich, so I put a half sandwich in one side of the sandwich box, then fill the other half with something else, like chips, Goldfish, grapes, or graham crackers.

It’s nice because it leaves more room in their lunch bags, you’re not using another bag or container for those items, AND when you’re only filling half a sandwich box with the chips they think they’re getting a lot of chips (since the box is full), but really they aren’t. Ha ha! Sneaky, eh?



I can split a “single serving” sized bag of chips between all three kids’ lunches and it works out great! Plus, that saves you money, because you can buy a normal sized bag of chips, goldfish, etc. AND you go through less sandwich bags. (BTW- I don’t usually buy individual bags of chips, but my hubby gets these at lunch and brings them home when he doesn’t end up eating them)



Another cheap-o thing I do for the kids’ lunches is pack a bottle of water flavored with True Lemon or True Orange . They think they’re getting “lemonade”, but I know the truth! Plus, True Lemon and True Orange are made with all natural ingredients, so the kids aren’t getting hyped up on sugary juice during lunch.

Oh! And the water bottles? Empty Cran-Apple bottles I told the kids not to throw away when they were done with them. Ha ha! Can we say cheap thrifty?!




So those are the little tips and tricks I’ve been using to pack lunches this last week. What are your favorite lunch packing tricks? What do you like to pack besides PB&J, ‘cause I DO need help in that department!!
 

You should follow me on Facebook or Twitter, just for fun!

Master Bathroom Makeover

Hi! It’s Jilly. With all the craziness that surrounded our move I forgot to show you guys some of the awesome stuff we did to our house in Arizona!

The room we are probably the most proud of is the Master Bath. We did a TON of work in there!

Before:

And After:

 

What do you think?!

Let’s see those side-by-side, shall we?



Looks like a totally different bathroom, doesn’t it?!

So, what did we do?

* removed the tile and replaced it with new travertine
* refinished the cabinet and added new hardware
* framed the mirror
* replaced the faucets
* put in new baseboards
* painted the walls
* replaced the towel rods
* changed out the light fixture

Phew!! But, it looks sooooo much better! I wish we’d gotten it done while we lived there, rather than finishing it up right before we moved. *sad face*

Oh, well. I hope the new owners appreciate it! (Well, once we find a buyer, that is!)

Linking up here.

Moving Tips- Part 4

HI! It's Jilly. It's finally the post you thought would never come...Part 4 of our Moving Tips Series! We moved from Arizona to New York, and now that I'm getting a bit more settled I have just a few more things to share with you. Hopefully it will help some of you out!

First, did you know you can price match your moving truck?! All the big companies- U-Haul, Budget & Penske- want your business and are willing to beat their competitor's prices to get it. So, you can get a written quote from one company, take it to another company, and they will match or beat the other company's quote!

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Some people like the fact that U-Haul has the lower truck bed, so you can get a quote from Penske or Budget, then take it to U-Haul and they will beat it. This is a great way to save yourself some moola on your move.

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You can also save money on the truck rental by booking online. Most places give you a 10-20% discount. Plus, they usually have discounts for students, military, AAA, AARP, and other things. Look for promo codes online. Be sure to explore all your options and all the ways YOU can get a discount. Moving is not cheap, my friends!

image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We got our truck from Penske this time. They didn't have our truck the day we reserved it for (grrrr...). But, they gave us a huge discount as an apology, plus gave us an extra day, since we had to move our truck-loading help back when they didn't have our truck on time. So, in a way, not having the truck on the day we reserved it may have been a blessing in disguise, because it saved us even more money on our ridiculously expensive move cross-country.

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Another way to save money on your move? Get boxes from local grocery stores. Some of the best boxes come from the produce department. Get apple and orange boxes, because they come with lids and are nice and sturdy. Check your local health store, because they usually have more produce boxes. In the Phoenix area we have Sprout's and Whole Foods. 

We got some great boxes from Albertson's. At the stores in Phoenix they call them "Ponca" boxes, because they are shipped from Ponca City, OK. The boxes come with hair & body products in them, and other non-food items. They store them flat in the back near the baler. 

Ponca boxes are great because a) they give them to you flat, so you can fit more of them in your car when you pick them up, and they take up less space in your house while you are packing, b) they are all the same size, so the stack well together in the truck and in your house, c) they are nice, sturdy boxes, and d) they are free. Mwahaha!

My friend, Pam, suggested making a schedule when preparing to move, i.e. Monday- Master Bedroom, Tuesday- Office, Wednesday- Kitchen, etc. This is a great idea, as long as you stick to your schedule. I am terrible at keeping myself on track. Hence, one of the reasons we left FOUR DAYS LATE! Granted, we left a little later because we had a lot of little projects to finish up on our house before we sell it, but still... If I'd stayed on schedule we would have been a LOT better off! Then I might not have looked like this because I was sleep-deprived and running on Dr. Pepper.

As a comparison, this is me at the park with my kiddos the other day, not sleep-deprived and running on Dr. Pepper. Ok, well maybe a little sleep-deprived. I am a Mom, after all. ;)

The last tip is good for anyone, but is especially helpful when preparing for a move. Do you have a pile of stuff you want to get rid of & donate, but don't want to/can't/don't have time to take it somewhere? Well, many of the places that take donations- like Goodwill, Deseret Industries, and The Salvation Army- will come out to your house and pick-up your donations. You just call them, schedule a pick-up date & time, then put your stuff out in front of your house. Everything from clothes, housewares, and toys, to bigger items like furniture, they will accept. Then you know your stuff is going to help people in your community, not just going in the trash. Plus, it's a tax write-off! 

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We had DI (Deseret Industries) come out TWICE to pick-up a huge pile of stuff. SO easy!

That's the end of our Moving Tips Series. I hope at least one of these tips will help your move go a little smoother. If you missed the rest of the series, follow the links below.



And, I feel like I need to add a disclaimer here...just because I'm giving you all these tips does NOT mean I am a pro! I felt like I was in WAY over my head! Not everything I wanted to get done before I left got done. Not every road-trip activity I envisioned was made. Not every box was perfectly marked. (That's Ethernet cable, btw. Yeah...)

So, when trying to move don't let yourself get discouraged if things aren't going according to plan. Life happens. Unexpected road-bumps get in your way. Just go with the flow and do what you can to make it go smoothly, then just let the rest go. It will all work out somehow, I promise!

Sometimes I link up with THESE parties.

Check out the rest of the series!

Moving Tips- Part 3

Hi! It's Jilly. The last couple of weeks I've been sharing Moving Tips with you. I have loved reading all of your comments! It has been so much fun. Much more fun than getting ready to move! ;)

In Part 1 one of the things I talked about was making a list of what you have packed in each box, then last week in Part 2 I mentioned making that list in a word document or e-mail to yourself. Well, this week I was living proof that making a digital copy of your list is important. I lost my notebook and had to start a new list!

Luckily, I found my notebook, but I was not a happy camper about it for a few days! So, I will definitely be making a copy of that puppy!

Now, let's move to the kitchen. Pack up everything in your kitchen except:

• one large & one small pot/saucepan
• one skillet/frypan
• a can opener 
• a 'chef' knife & a paring knife 
• a spatula
•  a mixing bowl
• a mixing spoon
• a cookie sheet
• a vegetable peeter
• tongs (if you grill a lot, which is quick and easy if you're in the midst of moving)
• a cheese grater? 
• anything else your family uses a lot to make the type of foods you eat (I kept out the salad spinner)

You might think you can't live without all the other stuff, but believe me...you can! What do you take to cook with when you go camping? That's all you need. Pack up the rest!

Then, use paper plates & plastic silverware. It saves you time on clean-up after meals.

Speaking of clean-up...when you are getting ready to move, and possibly getting your house ready to rent or sell, be sure to go to bed every night with a shiny sink! 

Amid all the chaos it is nice to have at least one part of your house clean and smiling at you when you wake up in the morning. Plus, it helps you keep the rest of your kitchen a little cleaner, which makes things easier when you are using the sink all day to fill buckets to wash walls or wash out paintbrushes or whatever.

This one I learned from the Fly Lady. Any fellow FLY Babies out there? I don't have all my routines down, but I try and that's what counts, right?!

When labeling your boxes it is a good idea to put a colored dot on all 5 sides on the box. I had a couple people tell me about this one. In the stationary section of the store they sell colored dots like this.

They also have these cool labels that are like post-it notes, except the whole backside is sticky and peels off easily. You could write what's in the box and slap the label on your box.  (Thanks for the tip, Sara!)

But, me and my cheap self decided to go with these dots. They are called Reinforcement Labels. It was only a dollar for the pack and you get 924 of them versus 315 in the other pack for the same price! Sweeet!!

So, designate one color for each room and stick dots on the box in the right color. My sister-in-law said this is really helpful when you are looking for a box for a certain room. You can just train your eye to look for the right colored dot and find the right boxes a lot faster. Clever, eh? 

That does it for tonight. Stay tuned next week for more helpful moving tips! Follow Hi! It's Jilly here on the blog, on Facebook, or on Pinterest so you don't miss anything!

I'm linking to THESE parties. :)

Check out the rest of the series!