Cartee Chaos

Julia Cartee

Dorothy and The Tin Man (Gurl)

By 1 Comment

This Halloween I was just going 
to let the girls use princess 
dress-up out of the playroom.
 It was easy and it would save us money.
But Nixon put in pretty early that 
she wanted to be Dorothy. 
The girls LOVE The Wizard of Oz!
I had some left over blue gingham fabric and 
she already had the red
 sparkly shoes so I decided
 I could easily make her a 
costume for pretty cheap.
I think it cost me about $8 in tulle.
I assumed Isla would want to be the scarecrow 
but she insisted she wanted to be the Tin Man! 
All I could think was,
 “How can I make the Tin Man cute?”
Roman is at that wonderful but short age that
 he doesn’t have an opinion so I decided he would be the Lion. 
Nixon made a beautiful Dorothy!
She was most 
excited about carrying 
around Toto!

Isla was the cutest little
 Tin Man I have ever seen!
 (This is backed up by every 
person we saw at both Fall 
Festivals we attended)

I was planning to spray paint one of those things you use 
to put oil in your car silver for her head but I lucked 
out when a friend of mine had the heart and hat from her son’s 
Halloween costume from a previous year!  
I simply made a silver tutu dress for her!
Roman refused to
 dress up in his Lion 
costume so Jared filled 
in the 1st night! 
(and I thought Roman was the one with no opinion) 

 The girl’s LOVED their costumes! 
They even won a costume contest
 on FB and made it on the news! 
(although that is a whole other story)

Sewing Sunday!

By 2 Comments


Jessica and I are
horrible at buying up blank t-shirts
to applique or monogram and never using them.
So as I was oganizing my
sewing room/office/guest bedroom?
And I came across several
24m t-shirts I know Roman
will outgrow before the end of the year.
So I decided to have a Sewing Sunday!
I went to get my patterns and realized they
are all in Dallas with my sister so I
found this great FREE pattern
on Pinterest for boy pants!
It’s way better than the pattern I own.
It has a much straighter leg and the back is
higher than the front perfect for
covering his diaper.
It also fits Isla perfect!

Nixon and Isla were my
little helpers most
of the afternoon!

Don’t worry! Nixon is not
cutting her finger.
She was showing me that
her scissors were not very sharp!


Pants I made for Roman!


I wanted Roman to model
his new Fall outfits for me but
he was not very cooperative!

He did not want to stand!


Isla keeps asking me if I am going to
make her some Robot pants…..I am
trying to figure out how
to make her some
and make them look girly?

A new Project Runway started this past week and
Nixon was glued to the TV. She asked
“They are “sewers” like you mommy?”
I replied and told her no they are much better
than me, they make really pretty clothes.
It was so cute she got very upset and said “NO!
Your the best mommy “sewer” ever!
Nobody is as good as you.
Don’t say they are better!”
It’s nice to I have a big fan
even though my hemlines are not straight! 🙂
I am certainly no seamstress but I
think Roman’s new fall outfits
turned out pretty cute!

More Pinteresting Crafts!

By 2 Comments

Our playroom 99% of the
time looks like a bomb has gone off.
Until this past week!
I have been looking
everywhere for a way
to organize the girl’s
dress-up clothes
and saw this idea on Pinterest!
It is the best idea ever!
For a week now the playroom
has stayed clean and organized!

-DIY Chalkboard Label
Crate Organizer-
My inspiration came from no
other than www.lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com
My Finished Project!
Very Easy to Make!
1. Buy the crates ($3.50 @Walmart)
2.Buy light switch covers ( .37 cents @Walmart)

3. Spray paint the light switch covers
with chalkboard spray paint.
4. Run ribbon through the
pre-made holes to attach to crates.
5. Fill the crates with toys,
dressup, etc. and label!!!
I LOVE this!
It has really helped the girl’s
keep the playroom organized!
This past weekend unintentionally
became about organizing our life!
Weekly Family Calendar,
Weekly Meal Planner,
Dress-up Organizer, and
now the girl’s a Chore Chart!
I do not think I have anything else I
can turn into a DIY Dry Erase board
but this was a great idea off of Pinterest too!

-DIY Dry Erase
Chore Chart-
My Inspiration came from
www.thecraftingchicks.com
My inspiration is a lot fancier than mine
b/c she uses photoshop.
(she has a template on her
blog if you use photoshop)

I do not have photoshop so I had to improvise.

My Finished Project!

I tried to do basic chores and things
I want the girls to do everyday.

1. Sleep in their bed
(ALL night! This is a tough one for Isla)
2.Brush their teeth
3. Pick up all their toys
4.Pick up all their shoes and clothes
5. Read (or be read to)
The girls are only 3 and 4 so I think the pictures
are great to use! And they love marking
each box off each night!
Our house has never
been cleaner and
neither have their teeth!

It’s only been a week
but so far this is the
best thing I have come
up with for the girls.

My Pinteresting Weekend!

By 1 Comment

This past weekend the girls went and
stayed in Leroy for a few days.
I took the opportunity
to get off my computer
(I have a slight obsession
according to Jared to Pinterest)
and make a few things that I
have found the last few weeks.

If you don’t know what Pinterest is
it is probably for the best.
You are saving yourself endless
hours of looking at
pictures creating long lists of
future “to dos” and “must haves”.

Saturday morning Haley,
Tiffany,Roman, and
I went thrifting for
finds to make our projects.


I apologize I wasn’t too good
at taking before and after pictures!
I was too excited I was actually
having “me time”!
And I only had a three
hour window (Roman’s nap)
to get everything painted!
-1st Project-
DIY Dry Erase Board
Blessing Weekly Calendar
My inspiration came from
www.lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com.
My Before – A $5 find at a yard
sale earlier that morning!
My Finished Project!
How To?
1. I just popped the glass out.
2. Spray painted the frame black.
3. Put a piece of burlap behind
the glass ( which I can change for holidays!)
4. I choose to say “This Week’s Blessings”
b/c I needed a central place Jared and I
could write down what we had during the week.
I liked the idea of being reminded that
having a doctor’s appointment
or a late meeting is blessing not a disturbance.
5. I made fabric flowers out of burlap
and black polka dot fabric.
They need help, I know!

This Past Week’s Blessings!
-2nd Project-
Kid’s Art Display
I saw this on Pinterest and LOVED it!
My girl’s are little artist and love
when I hang there pictures up!
I want to find chunkier picture frames
but I had these in storage so they were free 🙂
My inspiration came again from
www.lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com

I didn’t get a before picture :/

But my Finished Project!
(I kinda combined the two ideas!)

How To?
1. I simply took the glass
out of unused frames
2. Spray painted the frames
3. For the chalkboard frame I spray painted
the inside cardboard with chalkboard spay paint.
4. For the others, I used floral wire and
taped it to the back and used
clips to hold the girl’s art.
I have a new obsession
with chalkboard spray paint!
I love how the
wall turned out!
-3rd Project-
DIY Dry Erase
Weekly Dinner Menu
I so needed this! It has actually
made me cook more this week!
(okay, it has made me buy groceries so
Jared has cooked more this week!)
My inspiration came
from www.remarkable-home.blogspot.com

My Finished Project!

How To?
1. Spray paint frame
2. Stick a piece of scrapbook
paper behind the glass.
3. Stick on scrapbook letters on the glass
4. Use dry erase markers to plan
and remind yourself of this week’s meals!
Jared thought it was funny to draw the
McDonald Arches on the whole week! 😉
-Project #4-
Haley’s DIY Dry Erase
To Do List
My friend Haley is leaving for college
in about a week and made
the same thing with a little twist!
Before (or during)

Haley’s finished Project!
Since I had the spray paint out I decided
to paint a few picture frames
in the living room. This particularly one
was cream. It looks much better
white matching the b/w pic!

It’s amazing what you can do with
a little spay paint!
(especially chalkboard spray paint!)

I did a few other projects
before the day was over
but I will save them for the next post!
They are my favorite!