PVC Pixie Hut

Fairies are another favorite in my house. I wanted to make a little spot where my girls could read. Well it evolved into another little hut to play in. This is a Pixie Hut made out of PVC pipe and vinyl.

I painted on the inside of the vinyl and than mod podged the back so the paint wouldn't chip off.

The pipes are 3 different sizes that I picked up at Home Depot. The sizes were 1 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch. The small vines are just irrigation pipe. After I connected everything together I spray painted them. I used the connectors for the irrigation pipes to connect the smaller pieces. There are many different connectors you can use in the same place as the pipe.

This stuff doesn't bend or form easily. The best way is to heat it with a blow torch. I just used my creme brulee torch. I cut out vinyl in the shapes I wanted for the leaves and decor. I used a drill to make holes in the bottom so I could stick the 1/2 inch pipe into the 1 1/4 inch pipe.

And there you have it a homemade child size Pixie Hut.

Now with a little faith, trust, and pixie dust my little fairies are right at home.

New deals this week!!!

Toys R Us is cleaning house! They have many toys and school supplies on clear

ance. I got my daughter a backpack on sale for half off for 7.98. They also had the baby clothes on sale. They are buy one get one 50% off. Their flip flops are all on sale so when you buy two they end up being .75 cents each. They had tons of children's shoes; all kinds, dress shoes, sandals, tennis shoes, etc. So you could pick up shoes for very cheap less than $5 a pair. Its worth checking out.

Also Target has many things on sale too, mostly clothes and school supplies. I got a six pack of socks for my daughter. They were one sale for $2.24 and there was a peelie coupon $.50 off making it $1.76!

Also they had towel dresses for $2.25.

Walmart had many shoes on clearance. The prices ranged from $7.00 to $1.00.

Blues Clues Playhouse

Do you ever wonder how your child can watch one show over and over and over... etc again. That is how my kids are with Blues Clues. They love it. Every time I see a Blues Clues vhs at the thrift store I pick it up for them for their pure delight.

Cues Clues as my two year old calls it is their favorite past time. But no mom wants their child watching tv all day. So I made a Blues Clues playhouse. Now they play outside and get their wiggles out in their custom Blues Clues Playhouse.

I took plywood that I got cut at home depot and nailed it together with pieces of wood from their .50 cent pile.

All in all this project cost around 70 dollars.

First I painted it completely white and than spray painted the other colors I wanted over it. You can use your printables enlarged on publisher to the size you want and tape the back of them on where you want them. Than just spray paint over the paper and everything to leave a nice outline to make sure your characters are proportional. I bought the paint at Walmart and Micheals.

Then I painted on the Blues Clues theme. The characters are fairly easy to draw and I have a lot of practice since it is the most requested item on the doodle board :).

The secret to a project like this is patience and time. I free hand painted everything but if you're not confident in your artistic abilities you could just stencil it and than paint it.

The Nickelodeon website has tons of printables that you can use. Also if you want another theme Disney has several printables too. That make very fun projects for you and your child to play with, or you can use them for your inspiration.

I decided to paint the inside as well. This was my inspiration for the inside.

My girls love playing in it. So its been a huge success!

Micheals Clearance SALE!!!

Micheals is having a great sale this week. They are clearing out their stock for Christmas. I found tons of party favors and monogramed decor and notepads. They also have their spa gifts and more on clearance. They are all 50 percent off when I went on Tuesday!

My daughters birthday is coming up so this was perfect timing. The party favors were only 50 cents each.

Happy Shopping.

Couponing Tips: Where has all the ink gone?

So the thing to do right now is couponing. In my opinion it is a fad brought on by necessity. I have gone through the obsessive extreme faze and am now enjoying the realistic faze.

One of the things I struggled with in the beginning was ink was getting expensive when it came to the printable coupons.

I would print several coupons I thought I needed and than low and behold I would ended wasting ink and paper. It started to get pretty pricey... So I waited for a major sale and bought a Brother black and white laser printer. (about $85) Than I spent 20 dollars to buy four refills of toner (Amazon). I have only had to refill my printer once and it has been almost 2 years.

:> Woohoo!!!

There are many tutorials on youtube about how to refill your ink or toner. Just look up your printer including the model number and amazon offers kits and ink for everything!

Oh but unfortunately, the worst.... let me emphasize WORST! (from experience) printer to refill is an Epson. Steer clear if you can.

To keep paper cheap... just coupon. Staples, Office Max and Office Depot all have sales where you can get printer paper for a dollar or less. Right now Staples has 50 cent deal going on.

Oh and wear gloves!!! And... (and is such a handy word) they fit perfectly in a wipes container.