Kids back seat organizer

I'm gonna be taking the kids by myself to my families cabin in West Yellowstone; so lately all that has been on my mind is making the long drive enjoyable for me and the kids. I'm happy when things are clean, and unfortunately family vans (especially ours) have this nasty habit of rarely being clean. Today I created my own backseat organizer for behind the passengers seat of our van using scraps of fabric I've had laying around. I'll show you a basic step by step. First I have pant legs saved up from cutting the majority of my pants into shorts last year. I used one pant leg as a thicker material for the backing of my organizer. I went out to the van and measured where I would want the top curve to be so it would line up nicely with the head rest.
then I folded it in half and cut out the curve on the top corners for the head rest.

choose a fabric the you want for the outside

use the first piece as a stencil and cut out the patterned fabric

put them back to back with the insides facing out and sew together like you would a pillow, leaving a place for you to turn out the fabric. then stick the opening shut

you don't have to but i like to stitch a boarder around the edges, it makes it feel cleaner to me.

I then began adding pockets to the outside, I used coloring books to determine the sizes of the bigger pockets and then a cup and jean material to make a cup holder. I used a half circle for the cups base and the front side of one pant leg as the length for the round of the cup. You can measure the pocket with a cup to get the right size.

sewed it kinda like a pillow and then turned it out

I could only fit the 4 pockets on mine but each serve a purpose.

loaded up on my table.

I used elastic for the top and ribbon for the bottom straps. I figured it would be easier to tie the bottom then try to fit it over the arm rest.

I did end up adding one more elastic toward the top of the middle for more support.

The Budget Play House

I decieded last fall that I wanted to build a playhouse for the kids, and figured I could find a cheap way to put it all together. These are the pics of how I put it all together. Above and below is 4 grass sod pallets, one was used for the base or sub floor, the other 3 were used as side walls. I hooked them all together with some metal braces we had left over from building our fence.

I cut two windows out on the sides by using the rotery saw to cut out one of the pallets boards.

I know this looks like a huge jump from the pic above but I basicly made a rough frame for the front then added the particle board to the sides and roof, keeping a window area in the front. We had extra hinges from our fence and I used them as a hinge for the front door

this is the back view of the play house

it has since been painted yellow with the trim white. I've liquid nailed some flat river bed rocks to below the front window and used old siding on the 3 outside walls from the window down. I did shingle the roof after puting tar paper down, and the playhouse was home to our dogs batch of 9 puppies while they were with us. The playhouse is now my childrens and the dogs when its rainy :)

With a small amout of creativity I was able to build this one for about $20 initally. Now I've painted it and so its tab comes to around $40. I plan on finnishing the trim work when I feel like it but other than that its been finnished

1-1-11

In 2011 I want to fill my days with positive thinking, good experiences, learning and accomplishments! I know that I can achieve this by simplifying and focusing on what matters most to me.

Search for simple is gonna be my blog where I will share my personal search for making life more simple and gratifying. Having a blog isn't necessarily a simple task to keep up, but I feel that by keeping one up to date that I will be able to better keep my eyes peeled for the positive things in life and those things I love.

Things that I love and wish to get better at are gardening, cooking/baking, decorating, and making things from the stuff I have on hand. Those things I wish to weed out of my life include my personal time wasters and the fact that my mind always seems to be distracted with an endless to-do list. I feel like I live those precious moments with my family but I fail to really take them in and appreciate all that I have. So this is my attempt to clear out the clutter and focus on the good stuff!

I started reading "The Joy of Simple Living" at first as a way to find short cuts to make our budget last longer, but it has a bunch of useful information for all of the different areas of my life. I'll be sure to share what has inspired me in one way or another.

p.s. this is an amazon pic you cant really click to look inside from here but you can on amazon if you wish.