Pinned It & Did It: Skinny Cork Board

I must admit that this week's project is one from the archives. Misha and I made these almost a year ago, and I never shared it on the blog. I also just hung it on the wall a few weeks ago, so it's still relatively fresh. 

Pin. 

Unfortunately, this one doesn't come with an original source. It doesn't come with a tutorial either, but it's really very simple. 

Supplies: Yardstick (preferably one with a pre-drilled hole), Glue (hot glue, Gorilla glue, or craft glue), Corks, X-acto knife

Cut your corks in half, glue them to the yardstick (after first working out a suitable arrangement), and let the glue cure. Smile! You've just completed a cute and really easy project. 

Mine is still waiting for some pins and pictures/cards to hang from it. At least it has found a home on our walls. Baby steps! 

Labor Day at Lake Crescent

We spent the long holiday weekend on the Olympic Peninsula with friends. We spent most of the time at Lake Crescent Lodge with a little exploration of Hurricane Ridge. The weekend included Madeleine's first ferry ride, some light hiking, picnics and romps in the lawn, swimming in the clear and cool lake (including jumping off the dock for three of the adults), Madeleine's first kayak adventure, adult time hanging out after the kids went to bed, and lots of great memory-making.

Here are some photo highlights:

How was your Labor Day weekend?

Pinned It & Did It: Washing a Pack-n-Play

It's time for a practical Pinned It & Did It.

Pin. Original Source.

I bought a used travel size Pack-n-Play when we were moving last fall and a place for Madeleine to sleep at both houses. At the time, I gave it a good wipe with my favorite wipes and called it good. This weekend, I finally threw the whole thing into the bath tub for a good scrub and soak.

I started with some hot, clean water...

...with these go-to products...

...added the crib, mattress, and accessories...

...and ended up with dirty water.

Then I rinsed everything and set it up to dry with the fan running in the bathroom. Because it's travel sized, I just sat the whole thing in the tub to dry. Indeed, it now looks a fair bit cleaner. I'm a big fan of buying used baby/kiddo stuff, so it's good to know that this works for even the things that don't appear to be fully washable.

Little Plus Quilt

It's been a while since the 52-week photo/fabric project concluded, and you might be wondering what I'm doing with 52 yards of fabric. Before the project concluded, I cut into the fabric stash to make a little quilt to give Madeleine for her first birthday. The quilt was meant to go with the doll we gave her, Stella.

I wanted to wait until after the birthday to share it, and, in doing so, I've nearly forgotten to share it with you. So, here is Stella's little plus quilt in all its crinkly, busy goodness:

Madeleine loves to lay on it, wrap it around her, and use it to play peek-a-boo. Hopefully she'll use it to keep Stella warm one day down the road.

Summer Play Date with the Midglets

Even though we missed much of their visit, the Midgleys scheduled a play date for the day Madeleine and I returned from Ohio. 

The boys are still just small enough to share a swing. Smiles all around!

Synchronized swinging!

Photobombing! (Hi, Tom!)

Serious Will cuteness!

Serious Tom cuteness!

Serious Madeleine cuteness! 

Good sharing!

A little intervention before an eye was poked out...

And some very enthusiastic raspberry eating!

As you might be able to tell from the quantity of exclamation points in this post, we enjoyed getting to hang out with the Midglets and their parents for an afternoon. It's our turn to visit them in California, so time to book the tickets! 

Want to see the progression of these three? Check out last October and this past March.