Soda Bottle Fairy House for watering your garden.

I love to garden and my garden at home has a whimsical feel to it. I felt it NEEDED fairy houses. So we made some. However since I like to make things that have purpose these fairy houses are also for watering your garden. Where we live in Arizona the ground is dry and these bottles are intended for deep watering. This will make it so that the roots of your plants grow deep in the ground where they will not dry out so fast.

Step 1: Find an empty soda bottle (we used 2 liters).

Step 2: Remove label.

Step 3: Spray paint the top half of the bottle (if you would like your fairy house to have windows so that you can see into the house put square pieces of masking tape where you would like the windows before you paint the bottle). Since the bottles are so light either hold the bottle at the bottom with you hand spraying the rest of the bottle away from you, or so that you don't get paint on you find a way to hold the bottle up (I used blocks that happened to be a perfect fit).

Step 4: After letting the spray paint dry, paint on little doors and windows near the top part of the bottle (the rest of the bottle will be under ground, it doesn't need paint).

Step 5: Cut small holes into the sides and bottom of the bottle with an exacto knife, this is where the water will drain out to water your plants.

Step 6: Dig a hole at least 8 inches deep (you want the majority of the bottle to be under ground).

Step 7: Put bottle in the hole and make sure it is deep enough into the ground (here the door is above ground I need to dig more). Once the hole is deep enough put the bottle in and fill the empty spaces with dirt. Pack the dirt fairly well around the bottle so that it doesn't wash the dirt away.

Step 8: Water down the dirt around your fairy house and fill the bottle as much as you'd like with water to help the dirt around it settle.

Step 9: Add stepping stones for the fairies to walk on and sit back and enjoy your garden.

being mom

Being a mom is... wonderful and frustrating.
...exciting and boring.
...smiles and frowns.
...pleasant and angering.
...fulfilling and empty.
...easy and challenging.
...happy and scary.


Sometimes I feel so lonely and then I remember that I have 2 children that are always with me how could I possibly feel so lonely?

I have been blessed with children that are good sleepers, yet I am so tired.

Today has been such a trying day. I have yelled numerous times and feel so angry, but why? Because I'm a mom. I am feeling the ungratefulness that is childhood and learning how to be grateful. It's just soooo tiring and frustrating. The constant complaining; I'm bored, I don't like this, I wanted ..., I want..., the list goes on and on and on. And all moms have been in this spot. How do we get them to be happy with what they have? How do we get  them to see that they have so much more then some? How do we get them to see that we are doing our best to give them everything they need and as much of what they want as we can. But they always want more.I just keep telling my self that one of these day they will understand, the true question is will I be in the asylum before that happens?

Creating the right school schedule

The hardest part of homeschooling has been figuring out the right schedule. What works best for the little man? What works good for me? What will the little lady be doing while I am working with the older one? How often should we do school work and for how long? There has been a lot of fine tuning over the past 2 years to figure this out and with this new change in life, will we need to make more changes?

Right now we have figured out that school work must be done while the little gal is napping (in a different room), otherwise it is like I am trying to teach the 2 year old how to write a paragraph (not happening, she's pretty darn smart but she's still at the scribbling stage).

Now I hate to admit this, but I am not the best at creating a bunch of lessons to teach him like I would for a class of 20 or so. I like using the hooked on phonics and other work books that I can find at the store and just add to those. People ask "What curriculum are you using?" I say what ever work book I can find at the store and what ever I feel like adding to it : )

I don't know what to say, I'm not working in a school where there are class sets of Houghton Mifflin books that I can just grab and teach him from. I know that there are companies that I can buy stuff from, but I would have to find that company, research what they have, see if it relates to where he's at, buy it , and hope that it's not a waste of money. Where as the dollar bins at Target have work books for a dollar and I can see right there if it at his level or if he will be there soon. No guessing, no research, no waste of money all this equals a happy momma and school work for the little man.

However my little man is not very self motivated, so how do I get him to do these work books? Most of the time by tapping on the book and reminding him of the task at hand. But I really am learning that he does best if I sit right next to him and read the directions with him, and guide him through the first part of every page. I just get so board. So today while he was working, right next to me, and the baby was asleep, I crocheted. I got another row of the enormous blanket for my husband done (each row is 315 stitches and so far the afghan is 123 rows, it's taken a year so far to make).Anyways it keeps me from getting board and a little warmer at night since the hubby likes to crank up the ac and we forgot to pack a warm blanket.

As for school work this seems to be working for now. We do about 2 hours of school work in a day, we do school work for 2 days then take on day off, and once a week we try to take a field trip. That field trip might be to a museum, the zoo, or maybe even the grocery store for math or science or art supplies. My husband loves that we get to teach him the real history and not what he learned in school and I just love that my little guy is advancing. He's excited about reading and more and more I notice him writing when I don't request it. For his age his right on track for where his friends at school would be (except writing, we still have a lot of work there).

This week we'll be going to check out a swamp nature center and get to learn about swamps. How cool is that. I get to learn so much more this way too. Will either of us ever head back to the class room? I don't know, I thought that was where I wanted to be but I never thought I would want to just teach my kids, the one on one is so much easier and I get to spend more time with them this way. It has also made it possible to go on the road with my hubby.

Fancy Smancy Milk Jug Pots

I mentioned a few days ago, in my post She's Crafty, that I would make a post about fancy smancy milk jug pots/ planters. I made a new one for my carrots just to take lots of pictures of the process to post for you. Yes you who is reading this post curious about what fancy smancy milk jug pots look like : )

1. So step one is to get 2 one gallon plastic jugs. And Sharpies!

2. Make sure they are empty and clean. We love our filtered water so when on the road we buy lots of bottled water and I find as many ways as possible to use those jugs and recycle the rest.

3. Cut off the top

4. Draw and color on your jug. Make it as fancy as you want.

5. Poke holes in the bottom for drainage.

6. Cut off top half of second jug to make a base. This will be used to catch the water that drains through.

7. Now draw on this part, make sure whatever you draw makes a band around the jug, with all parts touching. Color it if you'd like. 

8. Now cut away the part above your drawing, this is where it gets fancy.

9. With one of the extra pieces that was cut off, make a sign so that you know what you planted.

10. Add dirt, seeds, and sign to fancy smancy milk jug pot. Place pot inside of base.

11. Place outside or in window and watch your plants grow, and remember to water it.

She's crafty

I need music notes to go with that title.

Saying I'm crafty may be an understatement. What do I like to do? Well here's a list:

Draw
Paint
Sew; costumes, dresses, quilts, bags, purses, baby stuff, kid entertainment stuff (ie: elf ears for my son on demand), curtains, and whatever my sister likes to suggest.
recycled crafts; mobiles out of plastic milk jugs and metal hangers, milk jug garden pots, old tool box to new sewing box, tin can pencil holders, kids crafts, painting on hub caps and washing machine lids, I just thought about painting on the bottom of a frying pan a picture for my kitchen (but its a pretty nice pan I'll have to get an old used one from the thrift store), the list goes on.....
crochet; scarfs, hats, purses, blankets, shopping bags, wall hangings, this list goes on and on here too.

I don't believe that one craft is enough for me, this brain of mine likes to jump around too much to stick to one project, let alone one medium. Even when I am quilting I use multiple types of fabric, and when I draw I love pencils but chalk and pastels are fun too, oh and charcoal!

My goal this week is to post how to turn plastic milk jugs in to fancy smancy garden pots. My garden is currently all in fancy smancy milk jug pots, but the peppers and tomatoes will be upgrading to 5 gallon buckets that my husband brought home from work (they used to have mortar in them and I've brainwashed my husband into my recycling ways and into seeing out side the trash can, so he brought them home to me with out me even suggesting it, hee, hee). As for those fancy smancy milk jug pots I think I will color them and plant onions.

And if you'd like to see pictures I have a shop on etsy (creationsforewe.etsy.com) and you can find me on facebook at Creations for Ewe.