Love My DIY Home

Survival in a Crisis: DIY Prepared Pantry – Meals in a Jar

We need balance. Food Prep. Emergency Kits. Crisis Planning. BOBs. I've spent a LOT of time reading about prepared pantries, pantry design, emergency planning, etc. Though I see the value in "prepping," I'm maintaining my determination to remain balanced. So, what is a prepared pantry? How much is too much? I'm thinkin' many folks go overboard and spend money and time on prepping at the expense of other responsibities. Yet, I realize by looking around me, myself included, most have done nothing in the area of preparedness. I want to change that and develop the mind set that I can't rely on the grocery store around the corner to always have what I need. I want to be prepared. source So, let's strike a balance. I want to challenge you to take a look at the supplies you have in your home, which I'm betting is very sparse, … Read more

Survival in a Crisis: DIY Pantry Preparedness – Puttin’ Up for the Winter

Today I have a treat for you. I have a guest writer, Heather, from The Welcoming House Blog here today to tell you about how she has prepared her pantry. She is prepared for a food crisis, are you? I'm not, but I plan to be, very soon. Good morning to you! As a blogger who covers Food Storage every single week on Food Storage Saturdays, I can tell you that over and over I hear the same three questions or comments in regards to food storage. When Val asked me to guest post for her, I was thrilled simply because this is a subject I love to write on. I love to show people how common sense it is to start and use a food storage system, and how to do it easily and frugally. Food storage, as it is now called, used to be called "saving for a … Read more

Survival in a Crisis: DIY Pantry Preparedness – Pantry Design

Let’s talk kitchen pantry. My laptop is in the shop, so please bear with me as I suffer through this next couple of weeks without my MAC. Oh boy, it sure is a pain to use someone else’s computer, especially if it throws you back into Windows. I do appreciate my husband lending me his laptop, but oh my, it’s hard to use someone else’s computer, so hard to use a different keyboard, a different operating system and to be without my programs! No InDesign. No Photoshop! OK, I’ll stop complaining and get down to business. Just don’t judge me for my crummy photos – no Photoshop, remember? These days I’m talking about being prepared for a crisis and am focusing on having a good food supply. I have a blogger friend writing a guest post on how to prepare your pantry – how to stock it to be prepared for a food shortage. Until I have that post up and … Read more

Survival in a Crisis: DIY Pantry Preparedness – Using Food Dehydrators

This year I’m focusing on DIY Preparedness for my home and family. How do you think you would do if your family experienced a disaster? Image courtesy of cooldesign / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Earlier this week I addressed the need for an emergency fund as described by Dave Ramsey. Have you considered what you would do if suddenly there was a food shortage in your hometown, state or even across the country? There is a video online that walks you through the need for preparedness – click here to watch it. I will warn you, it’s one of those annoying videos that you have to read, can’t fast forward or pause. My son-in-law and I bought the booklet they recommended at the end, and I’m glad we did. It opened my eyes and gave us some good ideas. Right now they are selling it for $37. I’m currently working through Uncensored Survival. … Read more

Be prepared for a crisis by planning ahead

Crisis on the Home Front … Are you Prepared?

I write with a heart full of gratitude that God saw fit to save the lives of my two kids while they were driving home to Virginia today. They say the best posts are written with strong emotion. This is that post. I have been planning to do a series of posts on preparing your home and family for emergencies, or crisis situations. Today that resolve was driven home when I received a text this morning from my daughter, Jillian, that she and her husband had just totaled their car on an icy highway in Ohio. This kind of a call is every mom’s nightmare. So I start out my series telling you about their accident. I got a text from Jillian and Taylor at 8:30 this morning telling me they had to be dug out of their sister’s driveway before leaving this morning, then a couple of hours later … Read more

FREE Personal Goal Worksheet {Love My DIY Home}

Printable Goal Worksheet for 2014

Got Goals? Start setting goals with this TODAY. This has been very popular on Pinterest! What do you want to stop, change, begin or improve upon this year? Set your goals, write them down and keep the worksheet where you can see it every day. HOW? 1. Download the Personal Goal Worksheet 2. Send it to SAMs or Walmart and get it printed as an 8×10. 3. Cut off the bottom 2″ to make it a square 8×8. 4. Frame it with a frame that has glass to cover it. 5. Use a wet or dry erase marker to write your goals. This way you preserve the worksheet and can use it over and over! I was trying to decide what areas I need work on and came up with this: To accomplish things in life you must have a plan. But it can’t just swirl around in your head! … Read more

My Master Bath Before and After DIY Project

My daughter sent me some pictures of a candle stand she bought at Goodwill and had spray painted with Rust-Oleum Multi-Color Textured Spray, Autumn Brown. When she arrived for Christmas she asked me if I’d done a post on her project. I hadn’t, because she never sent me a picture of the candle stand in her living room, finished. The subject was dropped until she brought it in to me and said, “Merry Christmas.” It was so unique – I L.O.V.E. unique! It was the perfect piece to finish my master bath re-do. Here is the before picture of our master bath. Wait, it gets worse… The former owners of our house took the adventurous avenue and used the master bath as an experimental canvas. Not my style… We called it the Under-the-Sea bathroom. It was a fairly easy DIY project, but the wallpaper WAS a bugger to get off. … Read more

Bronze Angel stocking holder | Love My DIY Home

Christmas Home Tour 2013 – Welcome to my home!

Hi. Welcome. Merry Christmas! I'm glad you came for a visit. I'd like to share my home with you for Christmas. Tell me about your day; grab a cup of coffee and sit with me a while. I don't know about you, but I'd like to put my feet up and just enjoy the holiday. Have you been crazy busy trying to get everything done for upcoming festivities? It can be such fun, but it can also be so exhausting! Shopping? Wrapping? Cleaning? My Christmas time has come. My house is D.O.N.E. My kids have arrived and it's time to enjoy! Here's my little angel I got the day after Christmas last year. Yep. I do the day after Christmas sale every year – It's a family tradition. Most of my Christmas decor was 70 – 90 % off. I'll list some of them for you as … Read more

Visit My Guest Post at The Welcoming House Blog – DIY Pedestal Serving Dishes

Heather at The Welcoming House asked me to share a DIY craft with her for her blog as a guest post. Her blog features everything from DIY home decorating to recipes. Please visit her blog and read about my DIY Pedestal Serving Dishes. They were super easy and cheap to make and great for Christmas! Let me know what you think!

Easy DIY Christmas Pillows by Thrifty Decor Chick

Thrifty Decor Chick had a nifty Christmas craft on her blog Tuesday that I just have to share with you. You know, you think you've seen it all and wonder how anyone could come up with anything new – and then they surprise you and do. This is the cutest thing and I'm definitely going to do this for my Christmas decorating this year. Here's an excerpt from Sarah's "A Quick and Easy Holiday Project." "In the past couple of years I’ve fallen in love with holiday-themed pillows this time of year. I just think they’re a festive addition, and all you do is toss. Toss, toss! (Name that musical.) Throw one or two on a sofa or chair and the room instantly feels Christmasy. Try it. It works. Well the past couple of after Christmas sales I’ve picked up a few more placemats to make my favorite pillows EVER. … Read more