"For the Kitchen" - Week 3

Another week has come and gone. Kalleen was again our winner with her "On The Go Book" which now has a tutorial in the Tutorial section.

With one winner, there's always someone we have to say goodbye to. This week it was Corey. We'll sure miss her, but make sure you keep checking up on her at Life With Little Ones.

The winners of the Forever You giveaway have been announced here.

And we have another ready to go. This one is from eWillow. They want to give away a shopping spree or store front subscription! Check out the Giveaway section for more details.

One more exciting bit of news. Do you love SYTYC? Do you love decorating and home design? Then I have just the solution for you. AlchemyJunk is now hosting So You Think You Can Decorate. Go check out the amazing talent she has competing over there. It's starting on February 28th so get ready for some great "Reality Blogivision!"

Now for what you've all been waiting for. This weeks theme was "For the Kitchen." I would love one of everything!

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Craft #1 - Kitchen on the Go

Sometimes having a meal in our own kitchen doesn't fit in the schedule. For those times we need a kitchen on the go! After much research, I created a food-safe reusable sandwich bag and a snack bag that is perfect for eating out.

I discovered that many types of oil cloths and plastic-lined fabrics allow harmful chemicals to seep into the food. I made these bags using freezer-safe gallon sized ziplock bags as the liner. To wash, just turn them inside out and rinse!

They close just like the old sandwich bags pre zip-lock. With these bags, you'll be saving money and sticking to your eating goals in style even when you can't eat at home!

Craft #2 - The Sophisticated Placemat

As a mom of young kids, I often ask them to set the table for me while I'm making dinner and it never fails that they wonder where to place everything. I have seen placemats for kids to help them put the utensils etc. in the right places, but they aren't really something that fits my style. That's how I came up with this beautiful placemat...sophisticated enough to leave out on your table all the time!

The top of the placemat is muslin and the bottom side is cotton fabric...so that it can match with whatever decor you have in your kitchen. The outlines of the dishes are done with free hand stitching, twice over for that semi-messy look.

Now you can ask your child to set the table or if you're like me and always forgetting which side the fork goes on, this placemat will help out and be sophisticated at the same time!



Craft #3 - Menu Board

I try to stay on top of menu planning so I can steer clear of the 4pm "What in the world are we going to have for dinner??" panic! And it's a great way to save money.

Before I made this magnetic menu planning craft, I simply wrote what we were going to eat for the week on a piece of notebook paper. Not cute. And one of the kids would grab it and suddenly our "menu" was MIA!

The menu planning board I made utilizes Scrabble tiles for the days of the week:




It has plenty of space to write your meal plans or use a magnet to attach a recipe you intend to use.



Interchangeably, you could use this project to write your weekly grocery list:



All of the pieces are magnetic and easily removable! This project looks great hanging on the refrigerator or sitting on an easel.


Craft #4 - Reusable Lunch Bags

Pack up some kitchen lovin' with these reusable lunch bags, complete with matching reusable snack and sandwich bags.

Pick out lining to reflect who each bag belongs too. The reusable bags co-ordinate too, and are lined (with a 'plastic' like feel) so that they can be wiped clean. There is even a spot for your napkin and silverware to go.

Send them to school or pack them up for the park, just make sure you have your lunch bag packed and ready to go!

Craft #5 - Personalized Face Plates

I wanted to create something fun for the kitchen. Something to make mealtime more enjoyable for everyone. Something that would replace crying and threatening with laughter and smiles. These Personalized Face Plates did just the trick.

I've been wanting a " Food Face" for a long time. But, I didn't want a mass-produced plate, I wanted something personalized. I thought it would be more fun to dress and eat from the faces we already know and love.

Grandpa's face is especially special since we lost him to cancer a few years ago.

My kids have shown everyone who enters the door their new toys and talk about who's face they want to eat next.

Craft #6 - Flower Napkin Rings

For the Kitchen, I made Napkin Rings from a couple old belts that I don't wear anymore. I thought they'd make some killer napkin rings..... and be a cool repurposing project at the same time. The hubs was a little worried, at first, when he saw me holding my belts with scissors in hand. I don't blame him! I was a little nervous about ripping apart perfectly good belts, but man, these Napkin Rings turned out awesome!

The Flower Napkin rings are my favorite out of the different sets I made. The cute pink and green flowers are perfect for Spring! {And the romantic dinner the hubs and I had the other night....}

Using belts to make napkin rings was SO easy! I used things I had around the house and so it cost me nothing to make these beauties. Don't ya just love a good repurpoing project that doesn't cost a dime :)

Top: a few other napkin ring sets I made. Bottom: the Flower Napkin rings came from this fabulous belt.

Now I have some cool buckles to use for other projects. wahoo!

Craft #7 - Recipe Organizer

The Kitchen is NOT my favorite room in my home. And the worst part of my day is cooking. I don't like deciding what to cook for the week and once I do and get the groceries by the time the end of the week comes I have forgotten what recipes I have the supplies to make. So I decided to create a place to put my weeks worth of chosen recipes!

You simply hang this over your pantry door or your cupboard door. It adds some fun to your kitchen as well as organizing those recipes you have picked out to use.

The front of the pantry door or cupboard will look like this:

Underneath that snazzy flower is a clip to hang the current recipe you are creating from so the card doesn't get food all over it during the cooking process. And during the day you can hang notes or your apron from it!

The inside of the pantry door or cupboard will look like this:

Seven clips with your recipes attached. I started from Monday to Sunday because I shop on Monday and that's the start of a new selection of recipes!

This 'Weekly Recipe Organizer' is a Great way to keep you in the Kitchen and out of the Drive- Through! Because simply planning a week worth of recipes is the hardest part! And what's better than a little pop to your kitchen?

Craft #8 - Modern Dish Towel

One of my philosophies in life is to elevate the everyday to the extraordinary whenever possible. Take dish towels, for example. I've been known to splurge and spend $15 or even $20 for the elegant ones sold at Anthropologie. But despite their beauty, I've found that those towels fall short... literally.


Many people (myself included) hang their dish towels from the oven door handle. It's a convenient spot but not always the most practical. The problem is that every time little hands tug on them or you're standing at the stove to make dinner, the towels fall to the floor. To solve this issue, I created my own dish towel that is both stylish and practical.


The towel is made from 100% cotton jersey that is super absorbent. I deconstructed two men's T-shirts and used stenciling, reverse applique, and embroidery to create this look. I was inspired by techniques in Natalie Chanin's Alabama Stitch book, but the design is entirely mine. A great thing about this project is that the sewing is so simple that even a beginner can do it -- you don't even need a sewing machine.


And thanks to two buttons at the top, the towel stays put, even if little hands pull on it. When it's time to dry dishes, all I have to do is unbutton it and it's ready to go.