DIY Cooking at Home

Hi there! Our family went to see Inside Out at the drive-in movie theater last weekend and it was so fun! Ok, there were a few hassles: it rained, so we all had to pile into our Subaru (cozy!) and we spilled snacks (more than once). But other than that, we had a great time. The next day, I made these snack trays out of cereal boxes to help with spillage the next time. Here are the instructions for how to make cardboard snack trays for the kiddos. I'm betting these things will be a lifesaver. It's really hard to keep track of everyone's drinks and avoid spills during a foray to the drive-in, so these should definitely help. Cereal Box Snack Trays Nap Rating = 1 nap Tools and Materials Empty cereal box Duct tape Scissors Ruler Red Sharpie Utility knife Paper lunch bag Chalkboard labels (optional) Steps Cover the cereal box with strips of duct tape. I wanted ours to resemble red and white striped popcorn containers, so I used white duct tape, but you could pick out

Hi there! I'm really excited to be a part of Sugar Bee Craft's Red, White and Blue series! Check out a ton of inspiring ideas for July 4th over on Sugar Bee Crafts ! Today I'm showing you how to customize votive candles to dress up your patriotic table with a vintage vibe. Handkerchief-Covered Votives Nap Rating = 1 nap Tools & Materials Glass votive candle holders with smooth sides Vintage handkerchiefs (I used ones in red, white and blue for this holiday project, but you could use any you like. I also mixed in some votives I made with denim-blue origami paper) Flatbed scanner / color printer Pencil Outdoor Mod-Podge Foam brush Scissors Steps Make a pattern of your votive candle by placing it on a sheet of plain paper and rolling it while you trace both the top and bottom edge. Cut the pattern out. Iron your handkerchief(s) to get rid of fold marks Place your handkerchief on a flatbed scanner, right-side down and scan the cloth. Print out the scanned image. Ligh

Guys, you don't even know. These shelves have been in a state of half-done-ness for oh, I dunno...maybe a year?? I'm so excited to finally be able to take pictures of them for you. First off, I do want to admit that I wasn't positive I'd love the function of open shelving but I loved the look enough to go ahead with it anyway. I'm so happy to report that I love every aspect of them! That being said, I only have stuff on them that we use literally every day, so things are getting washed constantly and don't have a chance to collect dust. I think I'd feel differently about our open shelves if they were styled for looks, not practicality. Secondly, I learned a couple of things about how to make them look nice. I think it's important to stick with a color palette. Stacks of white plates look best, in my opinion, with pops of color on other things like mixing bowls or glasses. It's a good idea to repeat colors on the shelves. For instance, I ha

Hi there! Hope you had a great weekend! So if you follow me on Facebook, then you might have seen that our youngest broke her arm about a week ago. What a way to start the summer! We had big plans. Now I'm kinda scrambling to figure out how to help her have a great summer anyway. Doctor's orders are for her to keep 2 feet on the ground, meaning no swings, scooters, slides...sigh. She can swim (it's a waterproof cast) but only in chlorinated pools and only if it's just light splashing around. In her words, "all the boring stuff." So, I've been brainstorming for ways to fill our hours. If you have a child with a broken arm this summer, maybe you'll find it useful! Take a hike (a light one) and collect nature specimens. Look for wildflowers and press them in a book when you get home. Use the pressed wildflowers to make notecards, bookmarks or a suncatcher . Pack a picnic and go outside to eat. Can't do a playground? Go to a river or la

Hey, good morning! Just jumping on quick today to let you know about a resource I put together for you on where to buy cheap curtains . You may be surprised at a couple of the sources! Check out my About.com article on where to shop for all of these affordable curtains . Still don't want to buy something "off the rack?" Check out these other posts: Clever Curtain Tie-Backs Low-Sew Curtain Ideas Curtain Rod Hacks Between all of these sources, I've got you "covered"! :) Until next time...

Father's Day is right around the corner, so I thought it'd be useful and timely to post some gift ideas you and/or the kiddos could make. But first, I have to show you a couple of thing I got from Zazzle . I love that you can customize practically anything under the sun on this site, but if you don't have the time or energy, you can just pick something unique from their marketplace.  (By the way, express shipping is 25% off through tomorrow, June 16, on Zazzle .)  My husband's birthday just happens to be March 14, so I had to get him this shirt.  Get it? Also, he runs a construction business, so the girls thought this mug would be perfect. So, is your hubby sick of getting ties, wallets, and/or new boxers every year?  Well, try one of these ideas to knock his socks off. And then , of course, give him the package of socks you couldn't resist buying because all of his have grass stains and holes. Screened T-Shirt by The Cards We Drew Scrabble Tile Daddy Daughter A

Guys. I'm so excited to announce...(drumroll, please)...we have kitchen cabinet hardware! In case you're just now visiting Home Made Modern, it's been 2 years, ya'll. Two years of trying to open drawers with no handles. (See our journey here , here , and here .) Last weekend, I finally painted the drawers and doors and installed my shiny new cabinet pulls courtesy of D. Lawless Hardware . Read on for an easy and cheap way to update your kitchen cabinets! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Awhile back, I used bead board wallpaper by Allen + Roth to cover the inserts of our cabinets. There was nothing structurally wrong with our cupboards. They were just very '70s. Pretty plain with outdated hardware. Since we were (are) on a budget, we decided to save them and just update them a little. So I wallpapered them, and they stayed just like that for awhile, collecting finger smudges and devoid of hardware. Finally, I found the time to clean them with Clorox