Home Remedies for Dry, Cracked Feet.

Used with permission, CC.

    Ever since I had Toddler Picturesque, my skin has been far more dry than it ever has. I used to have ridiculously oily skin, but now it's an odd mixture of dry and oily. Unfortunately, this meant that at wintertime, my feet get very cracked. Sometimes this would be very painful the level of cracks I could get. So I've had to research how to treat dry, cracked feet and I found some awesome solutions!

Pumice stone or Electronic Foot File
    I have always liked a plain pumice stone, but when I couldn't find one at Walmart and found an Electronic Foot File, I thought why not.. I'll try it. 

   The electronic pumice works well, but it's electronic so you can't use it while in the shower... as a result it can be messy getting off all of that dead/dry skin. So I usually use it over the sink or in the shower with it off. 

Salve

    Oh my goodness, Mr. Picturesque had found a great article on making my own salve... but I had decided I'd rather buy it first to see if it would even work. The salve truly did wonders for my dry/cracked skin. Here's the article on how to make it yourself. And here's where I bought it, it is pretty expensive to buy but well worth the cost if you are in pain. 

    Is there anything you've found that helps with dry/cracked skin? Do you have any home remedies? Leave your comment below!

Please note, I in no way am an expert or a doctor. If you feel there is an issue with your skin, please consult an expert. I merely am giving my opinion and what worked for me.

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Kitchen Redo - Part 1

    As you probably saw in my fairly recent posts, we moved a few months back. Because Mr. Picturesque and I find it fairly important to make whatever place we live in "ours," we are constantly doing projects around the house. You can see my previous posts about Moving with Relative Ease with a Toddler and my Kid Bathroom Redo to read more about those projects. Today, I am posting the steps we took to do a relatively cheap kitchen remodel! 

    We have not completed the kitchen yet, we have to do the backsplash and paint the kitchen, so the final kitchen reveal will be posted soon! But you can see the before and after of where we are at in our kitchen remodel. 

    Here is the before picture of our kitchen. 

    We  had priced out doing all new cabinets and counter top, but it was getting too pricey (upwards to $10,000)! We decided we weren't willing to spend that much money. So we chose to repaint our oak wood cabinets, and use the Desert Sand counter top rustoleum product to redo our counter tops! 

    Because we decided to paint the cabinets and redo the counter top ourselves, we only spent about $500 total to redo our kitchen!!! Compared to spending approximately $10,000+ it was a huge save in money!!
    These pictures were taken just after painting the cabinets grey, putting on new hardware, and putting up a wainscoting wallpaper on the bar (and also painting that grey).  

    After finishing painting the cabinets, Mr. Picturesque sanded down the counter tops, cleaned them, then we added the base coat from the rustoleum kit and threw on the paint chips. After drying for 12 hours, we then sanded down the counter tops to create a smooth surface. You can see here pictures what the counters looked like in the middle of the sanding process: 

     After sanding and getting a relatively smooth top, we wiped the counters down. Next, we added the top coat from the kit, which is basically the sealer. We had to turn off all fans and vents to ensure that it dried well and to prevent dog hair from getting onto the counter top while it cured. 

   It has been about 12 hours since we added the top coat. We have to wait 48 hours before we can put light items on the counters and a full week before we can use the counters regularly. But I think it is turning out beautifully.   

     After this cures, I just have to paint the kitchen a seafoam green color, and then put in a backsplash. I also want to replace the lighting soon. 
   As soon as the kitchen is finished I will post final photos!!

   Check back soon to see the finished look!

  

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FREE Printables - Kids Bathroom

    I promised at the beginning of the week that I would post the free printables that I made for my daughter's bathroom, which is underwater themed. If you'd like to see the rest of the pictures of Toddler Picturesque's underwater themed bathroom, see my previous post DIY Kids Bathroom. 

    The FREE printables are linked below each picture. I hope you enjoy!

  Click on the picture above to print "Mightier than the waves of the sea is His love for you."

    Click on the picture above to get the printable for "Rise and shine and give God the glory."

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DIY Kids Bathroom

 

   We recently moved, and I have been hard at work unpacking and decorating. The first things I had decorated were Toddler P.'s room, playroom and finally her bathroom. So I wanted to post the final pictures from decorating her bathroom with an underwater theme. It was super easy, and relatively cheap!
    The first picture (above) you can see I purchased a blue fish themed cloth shower curtain. I got that for fairly cheap from Wayfair.com.

    With the picture above and the one below, you can see the fish on the wall. Our last house I went to all of the work of painting so many walls. With this house, I decided that I could decorate another way. I chose to decorate with vinyl or fabric wall decals! I found these adorable fish ones from Walmart.com.

    I also found these towels for fairly cheap from Walmart.com. But the two pictures framed above and below I made myself with Publisher. I can't take all of the credit though, I got the idea of these designs from Pinterest. In my next post I will give you all access to these free printables. The above one says "Mightier than the waves of the sea is His love for you." Psalm 93:4. 

    This picture says "Rise and shine and give God the glory." Both of these frames were purchased for under $3 at Walmart.

   I'd love to see your kids bathroom inspiration! Post in the comments below!

UPDATE: Here is the link to the FREE printables for the above pictures!

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DIY Embroidered Baby Beanie

    In one of my previous posts (see article here), I shared with you how I had made a beanie for my little girl. This latest beanie I made for a friend who is due any day with her precious baby boy. I wanted to make her, her husband and baby something precious he could remember... so I decided on making two beanies (one embroidered). 

    This project, because I've completed a handful of crochet projects, actually was not too difficult.  

    Below is a picture of the beanie hat crocheted, but with only one line of embroidery completed.

Here is the final product! 

    

    Here is a great video tutorial, that I used to make these hats, on how to crochet a baby beanie: 

    Also, here is an easy video on how to embroider crocheted items:

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DIY "Burned" Wood Slice Ornaments

    I wanted to make something special for family members this year for Christmas and I saw a wood slice ornament on pinterest and thought I could do something similar! Warning: if you are a family member of mine, do not continue to read unless you want your Christmas present spoiled. ;)

    I ordered 16 wood slices from Michaels.com, and after a coupon was applied, I spent about $45. 

     

    I decided I was going to trace out a nativity silhouette (found through google search), and then dremel out the outline. But when I tried to engrave this into the wood slice, it looked messy and unfinished. There was no color differentiation. So then I decided to use a blow torch and unfortunately that also looked too messy. Finally I found this amazing tutorial and decided to try it out.

A little advice: don't use your actually wood slice as practice. I wish I hadn't used them till I had fully figured out what I wanted to do.

     If you click on the tutorial link above you can see the original directions to "burn" paper onto wood. I loved this, it is so easy to do and it has such a beautiful rustic look to it. 

   So how do you do it:

• Print out a flipped image (meaning a backwards image) of whatever you want "burned."
• Once printed, cut out a square around the image.
• Tape to the wood the paper (making sure to not tape over any of the image). Tape ensures that the image doesn't move for the later steps.
• Take a paintbrush and water and lightly brush over the back.
• Take the top of a permanent marker and lightly scratch over the image.
• Once you remove the paper, you should see that image "burned" onto you ornament!!
• Finally take a drill and drill a hole in the top of the ornament.
• Add twine.

    I did do images on both sides of the ornament. One side either has the wise men, or nativity scene and the other side has "Merry Christmas."

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Shared at A Bowl Full of Lemons and Titus 2sday.

DIY Crochet Baby Blanket

    Mr. Picturesque and I have very good friends (family) who are having a baby boy in February. I wanted to make them something special for their son... so I decided to make them a crocheted baby blanket. A Great Aunt of Mr. P. had made Toddler P. one and had prayed over every stitch. I treasure that blanket and wanted something for our friends and their son to treasure as well. 
    It did take me quite a bit of time to crochet (about 4 months), since I'm a beginner and I have a toddler. But I have to say I thought it turned out beautifully. I also had the opportunity to pray over each stitch for this amazing baby boy and the man he will one day become. You can see pictures of the blanket at the top of this post and below. 

    If you are wanting to crochet a baby blanket yourself, the biggest tip I can offer you is to use a bigger crochet hook (it will take less time that way) and to use soft yarn made for babies. Here is the video directions I used for this blanket. I absolutely adore WoolyWondersCrochet because she is really great at giving simple crochet directions and giving great visuals!

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DIY Felt Christmas Tree

    After seeing this Photo Christmas Tree (as seen below) on pinterest for toddlers and looking at felt activities for kids, I decided to make a felt Christmas tree for Toddler P. that she could decorate on her own.  

   To make the felt Christmas tree for Toddler P.:

• After searching around for the cheapest price, I ended up at Walmart and found a 12 piece multi-color pack of 12x18 sized felt. 
• Then I came home, and traced out a Christmas tree onto the green piece of felt with a permanent marker 
• Next, I cut along the lines I made, to cut out my Christmas tree. 
• Then I took the red and blue felt sheets and cut out circles (3 blue circles, 3 red circles), to be Toddler P's ornaments. 
• Next I took the brown piece of felt and cut out a rectangle to serve as the tree stump.
• Finally I used the yellow felt sheet, and traced a star with the permanent marker and then cut it out. 

    Super easy Christmas tree for toddlers, and Toddler P. adores it. She loves playing with it! It's such a great sensory activity too! Another cool plus with this activity, is that felt sticks to felt. So if you wanted to, you cut put it on the wall for your toddler to decorate. 

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Thrifty Monday: Busy Bag for Church

    Yesterday we went to church and typically we would have to leave a few minutes into the sermon because Sweet Toddler P. just gets too antsy. But before church this Sunday I had an epiphany... what if I packed her a busy bag?! Surely at 15 months she's old enough to enjoy one right? Right! So we made our way to the local dollar store the night before, to see what we could find. We found a few items but I wasn't sure what Toddler P. would think when it came down to it.  
    Then came Sunday, and I have to say, my busy bag was a huge success! We lasted almost the entire service, all thanks to snacks and a successful busy bag (filled with dollar store finds)! 
    So what was in my busy bag? I'll tell you:

• First, let's talk about the bag. I decided to use a purse, since Toddler P. is to the stage where she loves pretty things and purses. So I used one of my purses I've always wanted to use, but since I have a diaper bag I have to cart everywhere, I never get to use. This one has flowers all over it and all kinds of pockets for Toddler P. to explore.
• Snacks. Of course I had to pack snacks. So i packed a Gerber pouch, teething crackers (by Happy Baby and Plum), pretzels, and pita chips.
• Water. I brought her My Little Pony sippy cup, full of water.
• My dollar store finds:                             

• A horse. Look at this adorable horse I found! Toddler P. loved it! She was having it prance around all over her seat!

• Blocks. Toddler P. loves these blocks. She's at the stage where she loves stacking things and putting objects into other objects. Which leads me to the next find...

• Watering Can. This adorable child's watering can served as a place for Toddler P. to put her blocks. As I said above, she loves putting toys inside other toys. This occupied her for a long time!

• Big Calculator. Mr. Picturesque picked this out and I'm glad he did. Big buttons are a kids dream! Toddler P. kept coming back to this throughout the service!

What toys do you use to keep your toddler happy and occupied during church?

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Shared on: Good Tips Tuesday, Titus 2s Day

Affordable, DIY Mopping Solution

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    Our entire house is terrazzo flooring, so I have to sweep and then mop all of the rooms in our house (see the picture below for what our floor looks like)! I swear I have gone through so many Pine-Sol bottles it is ridiculous! But after sweeping and then mopping the floor vigorously, it would still feel dirty... or get dirty in the next few minutes. 

    

    But then I found this wonderful DIY mopping solution from momalwaysfindsout.com. I just have to brag about this DIY mopping solution that I learned about from Mom Always Finds Out blog, because I am in love with it!  

    When I tried this DIY solution I was skeptical, but I thought it can't work any worse than Pine-Sol right? Well after mixing the recipe together in an empty bottle, then adding about 1 or 2 tablespoons of the solution to a bucket and then pouring in water to the brim... I went to mopping. I was so pleased with the results! Not only did the floor feel cleaner, but it had a shine to it! 

  

Why I love this DIY solution: 

• It is cheaper than buying some other mopping solution from the store.
• I have all of the ingredients in my house anyway.
• It's cheap.
• Seems to work better than store brands!
• It works on tile and laminate floors (I'm not sure about wood floors).
• Vinegar and water are a great cleaner and you don't have to worry about fumes.
• Vinegar is naturally acidic, so with the water added it prevents it from hurting the flooring.
• Rubbing alcohol has a streak free shine.
• Dish washing liquid adds an extra level of cleaning solution for your floor.
• Essential oils are great for the senses, and lavendar has antiseptic properties. 

    I just had to share with you this mopping solution recipe, with a few personal changes! So without further ado, here's my version of Mom Always Finds Out DIY Mopping Solution (here's the original. Make sure you check out her page for more important details about this solution and the safety of this mixture):

• 2 cups Water
• 2 cups Vinegar
• 2 cups Rubbing alcohol
• 6 drops Store brand dish washing liquid
• 10 drops Lavender essential oil

    Combine all of these ingredients in a bottle and shake well. Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of the solution in a bucket. Add water to the bucket. Take your mop and mop the floors, after sweeping of course. I like using a Libman WonderTwist 2000 mop. Allow floors to air dry. This mopping solution makes enough to last me at least 4 times.

    I'd love your feedback?! What did you think? Did you try this solution? How does it compare to what you normally buy from the store? 

DIY Easy Crochet Beanie with Felt Flower!

   As a relatively new SAHM, things can get overwhelming and frustrating since I'm still getting used to being at home full-time and living in a city that is newer for Mr. Picturesque and I. So instead of solely focusing on getting Baby P. down for her naps, sticking to our daily schedule, and meeting new mom friends... I decided to start some crafts that I've always wanted to do for my children. This led me to crocheting!

    I've always wanted to crochet. I've been interested in learning for at least ten years, but every time I started I stopped from it seeming too complicated. During Baby P's nap times, I decided it was a good time to start picking this up again. I found an amazing video that literally was SUPER EASY to follow and started to crochet Baby P's first handmade beanie.

    Here are the video directions:                                    

    I did have to make some alterations to Wooly Wonders Crochet's directions, since I had a different sized crochet needle than she used and Baby P was much bigger than the video directed. Basically I just added many more rows than the video directed and it fits perfectly! It took me a few days to complete this project (mostly because I worked on this at nap times and her play times).

    When I was done, I decided it would look even cuter with a flower on it. I had felt lying around so I thought, "hey let's find a video on how to do a felt flower." To complete the felt flower, it literally took me 5 minutes! Super easy and quick! Here's the video with those directions:

   

A photo of the finished product:

          

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Living Room "Re-do"

My husband and I recently purchased our first home back in January. We have been working hard to get it looking great! One of the big things we have been doing is getting it painted. It has plain white walls throughout the house. Here are pictures from the before and after of our living room.

Before we moved in:

 The colors we picked for the living room and the accent wall:

 Right as we finished painting

After: