Diaper Bag

It's one of those days. I really just don't want to get into it, so I am going to share with you a diaper bag I made a couple months ago- in easier times. I used another amazing Amy Butler print that I bought, not knowing what I would do with it. It just called to me. It turned into this:Complete with side and front pockets, a zipper, and nice long straps.

The inside is lined with clear vinyl (for easy cleaning) and has two large pockets with cute bicycle fabric.
It was a fun project!

Favorite Project

My oh my! I feel like I've been in a swirling vortex of babies, housework, and sewing! I have SOO much to blog about, but find myself using the few moments my hands are empty to sew. From Burp cloths, baby toys and lovie blankets, to diaper bag and skirts, I have been busy! I've decided (thanks sister!) to not get overwhelmed with the plethora of projects to share and just show one at a time... starting with my favorite.

Now that I see this photo I am kicking myself for not taking a 'before' photo, so imagine a drab, twice-used black and white toille car seat, turned into this!

I found this amazing Amy Butler fabric at my new favorite fabric store and snatched it up, not knowing what to do with it. Then after reading how Dana at MADE (seriously, if you haven't seen her blog yet, you must must!!) takes old car-seats apart and makes them cute, I thought, hey, I can use my new fabric to do that!

Ok, really I thought, "I want to do that, and I'm scared to death of ripping apart my car seat to make it happen!" On a boring Monday afternoon I decided to bite the bullet and go for it, not knowing if it would look halfway decent when I finished. I figured I might as well do it when I am stuck at home with the babies anyway.

After one day to pull apart the old seat and three more days to cut out and sew the new cover, I ended up with a fun new seat!! I have to say, I love how it turned out. It makes me happy every time I see it.

I used bias tape for the strap holes and made little strap covers too.

I found a co-ordinating satin for the contrast fabric. I was unsure how to make the shade cover, but once I took the old one apart it was pretty easy.

Amelia looks adorable in her new seat. It brings out her already pink skin tones.

Coming soon: a new diaper bag, baby shoes, and a new business venture!

A productive weekend

Since this weekend is the last weekend before we head down to Sonora to await Baby Sister's arrival, we had an extensive to do list. Things like getting birth supplies together, packing bags, digging the moses basket out, and finding the car seat, along with finishing up some projects like the kid's curtains and Mr. Baby's wall decor. Somehow, and I'm still trying to figure this out, we got almost all of the list done....gasp!... and still had time to go to the lake, attend a little sidewalk craft show, and do fun creative projects too! Was it a three day weekend? It sure felt like it!

I whipped up these fun blocks for Baby Sister, using fabric I had already. These are sooo fun to make, and you can use stuffing, or foam like I did. I think I might make a few more in a smaller size. These are 5 inch cubes.
Each block has the same pink and brown dot fabric, and a different flannel and minky. For the one below I used another one of those receiving blankets from my mom (see last post). To make these blocks, simply cut 6 squares of fabric (mine were 5 1/2" for a 5" cube, and 1/4" seam allowance on all sides) and lay them out in a cross pattern; four squares tall and three across. If you use 2 of each fabric like I did, lay them out so the matching fabric is across the cube from itself. Hmm, this would make more sense if I had taken pictures.....you would have the two flannel pieces on the cross part, the center of the cross (minky) would be the same as the very bottom of the cross, and the top (cotton print) the same as the 3rd square down. Hopefully that makes sense.
I also finished Muffin's ponies! I love the yarn hair, and considering I let Muffin pick any fabric from my stash, I thought she did a great job at getting co-ordinating fabrics! And yes, the Mommy pony is made with another one of those flannel receiving blankets. ;)
It's such a great feeling to do a project using only things you already had in your stash. So fun!
Daddy Man wanted to get in on the crafting action, and decided to do a project with Muffin. (I know, how cute, right?) This is what it looks like when he does a craft.

At least he cleaned it all up when they were done. :) They made a castle for Muffin's strawberry shortcake dolls. (It has also housed the cubes AND the ponies) He made the structure with cardboard, then let Muffin glue paper and decorations to the outside. They were so cute together.
Here's what it sounded like:

Daddy Man: "What color should this tower be?"

Muffin: "Pink!"

Daddy Man: "Ok, how about this tower?"

Muffin: "Pink!!"

D: "We are out of pink. What other color?"

M: "pink !"

D: "How about purple?"

M: "Um, sure."

D: "What should we glue on next?"

M: "A heart!"

D: "What color heart?"

M: "Pink!"

It's a miracle he worked some non-pink colors into that thing. ;)
back view
So, we had a great weekend, and finished it off with a short trip to the lake. Mr. Baby loves to swim. He wants to be on his belly zooming around in the water. He will be swimming probably before Muffin, who says, "Mommy, I don't like it under the water." Oh Muffin. How desperately you need Teacher Cindy.

Oh Deer

What was my favorite part of the 4th of July this year? Super sale at Joann Fabrics!! Well, I probably had more fun being with Daddy Man and the kids for three days in a row, but the sale was amazing!! Their patterns were on sale for 99 cents! We're talking about $12-$16 patterns here! One of the patterns I found was for three different vintage-style stuffed animals, in two sizes. I started with the Momma and Baby Lamb for Baby Sister. For the material I used some flannel receiving blankets that my Mom bought for me and told me to make whatever for her room. I wanted her animals to be soft and cuddly, so the blankets worked perfectly! The only downside- the sheep turned out to look like deer. Hmm....The long legs and neck, and skinny body make them look like deer, but hey, they are still totally cute!
I embroidered eyelashes, mouths and hooves, and used vintage buttons for the eyes. I made sure to cut out the Mama's body so I could use the cute butterfly that was on the blanket. Too cute! Muffin is excited about Sister's sheep, and is playing with them as I write, but asked me to please make her the pony ones. (the pattern has a lamb, giraffe, and a horse). I'll get right on that, Muffin!

Another Gilded Treasure

Today I would like to share with you a successful project, and a failed one.

First, the successful project:

Last December I picked up three of these crown ornaments thinking I would paint them and make something for my mom and Sister (sorry girls, I never got around to it!). Once I decided to do a castle/princess theme for Muffin and Baby's room, I thought they would be perfect in pink! I started out with the same color as the poodles, but it just wasn't popping, so I went a few shades darker.

From gilded......

To perfectly pink!
I even followed through on the project, and hot glued them to her cubby shelf. I'm hoping the glue will hold. If not, I will call in Daddy Man and his power tools.
Close up:
I took the opportunity to give you a little sneak peak of Muffin's work in progress room. I think I'm pretty much done, it's just that its hard to get photos of the whole room at one time (this would mean the whole room would have to be clean. ;) Asking too much, right?).
I found this cutest-of-all chairs at Ross, and got 25% off for a scuff on the leg! So girly and cute!
On to the failed project:

My third attempt at upcycling a men's shirt into a boy's shirt did not go so well. This time I used this tutorial for making a onesie, and modified it for a shirt. It was looking good until I sewed the ribbing on backward on the front half of the shirt. Arg!! At first glance it looks OK....
but closer inspection reveals a slew of errors. I'm new to sewing knit fabrics, so the neckline is all warbly (yup, made that up). As I said, the front neckline that you see is supposed to be on the inside of the shirt...the other side looks better, but since I used the existing hem of the old shirt, I couldn't turn it around. And, as you can see right by Muffin's fingers, I didn't catch the edge of the ribbing in the sleeve.
Well, I will try again. Hopefully I can get it right before this weekend's birthday party for Baby Keller! As for the fate of this shirt? It's not so bad to be doomed to the dumpster, so I think Mr. Baby will use it for a sleep shirt (just like the first two I tried. UGH!)

Poodles

Last Friday Muffin, Mr. Baby and I went garage sale-ing. I know, quite the ambitious activity with two kids, but we had fun! One of my favorite finds was this poodle bookend set. It reminded me of a set we sold at Hibernation. Don't be put off by the gilded exterior. These poodles have potential!! The best part? This vintage treasure was only $1. Score.A few coats of spray paint later.....(don't tell Daddy Man, or Ellie, for that matter. I would be in big trouble for breathing these fumes! Sorry, I just couldn't resist!)
The perfect little girly pink poodle bookends. They are right at home in Muffin's room, and she is very attached to them.
It is very regal, no?

A whirlwind week!

Last week we all went down to Sonora for a visit. The original plan was to go so Daddy Man could work at my Parents' house for the week, getting some much needed property work done for them. We would go down for a week, Daddy Man would work, and the kids and I would hang out with Nana and Aunt Sister. Sounds nice and relaxing, right? Well, my Mom and I decided that this would be our only opportunity to throw my Sister a Baby Shower, so we decided to plan it for Saturday. A couple days after deciding that, I realized that we would be in Sonora for Mr. Baby's 1st Birthday. I know, this should have been in the front of my mind, but alas, I had overlooked it. So naturally, we HAD to plan a Birthday party while we were down with most of our family. Can you see what happened? Our leisurely visit had turned into the party marathon week. Between planning a birthday party, a baby shower, and watching two kids (plus Madelynn for two of the days), it seemed my mom and I were going non-stop! Oh yeah, and I decided to have my baby with Ellie in Sonora(story to come on that one), so I also had two marathon appointments (we're talking 2 hours +!) with her during the week. It was crazy, but we had so much fun. I always love staying at my mom's house, but it was so much better since we were able to stay a whole week. I barely had time to take pictures last week, but here's a few of the parties.

Enjoying his favorite food.

The cake was not bad for Safeway, but nothing compared to the one for the baby shower!
He enjoyed the cake, of course!
After cake and presents (thank you everyone for the fun presents!) Mr. Baby gave us his classic Mr. Baby face. Time for bed!

On to the baby shower. Sadly, I failed to take pictures of the front of my mom's house, but we put flowers like these lining the driveway and walkway up to the front door. There was also a chain of three flowers on the front door, and all around my Mom's house. We used the tutorial from this blog to make these flowers out of different colored napkins.
The food table.....
I made a baby buggy fruit salad out of a watermelon. It was pretty cute. I got the idea from a picture I saw online.
The cake table. If anyone needs an amazing cake in Sonora, go to Kim Angel! I have her email address if you are interested.
She mimicked the design from our napkins. It tasted divine!
Miss Muffin was so sweet and had a great time at Aunt Sister's shower. She kept singing Happy Birthday to Aunt Sister. Super cute. Thanks to Mama Mockabee for letting Muffin hold her sweet baby girl. It was adorable.
Here is a not-so-great picture of my gift to Sister. I made her a car seat tent, burp cloth, 3 baby blocks, 2 binky clips, a toy clip, a bib, and a little dolly. I also included a wooden rattle, and the Love and Logic parenting book(more on that later). I just might do a little tutorial on the dolly, just for you Bobbi, and my 12 dear followers. ;)
I don't think dolly's eyes were sewn on at this point, but rest assured, she had eyes. :)
Well, that about wraps it up! More to come later about having baby girl in Sonora! Exciting!

Utility Sewing Day

Today I did a couple of projects that have been on the to do list for a while, but were not very exciting. But first, I will share with you a project I finished yesterday.

I have been wanting to make a Waldorf-style doll for a while. While I don't agree with most of the Waldorf philosophies, I do agree with their view toys. Toys should be hand-made, with natural materials, with simple features to allow the child's imagination to be the central ingredient in play, and have no bells and whistles or flashing lights. Waldorf dolls have a very distinct style and are made with natural materials: wool yarn hair, wool stuffing, etc. Daddy Man bought a kit as a surprise gift for me, and I had so much fun creating this doll from fabric and wool fluff.

I don't know what her name is yet. Muffin calls her "Monee" (Mon like Monica), which is what she calls me these days. :) We'll see if it sticks. I was tired of sewing (can you believe it?) so I put a dress and shirt on her that I made for one of Muffin's other dolls a while back. Her 'buns' stick out when she bends over, so I'll have to make a longer one later.

More recently, but less excitingly, I made these flannel baby wipes. I already have lots, but with another baby on the way, my usage of baby wipes will at least double, so I thought I'd make them now. I was so tempted to use one of the cute girly print flannels I have, but I decided to save those for a more exciting project. I LOVE not spending money on wipes (or diapers, for that matter) anymore! And I know exactly what' s in them: water!
Per Daddy Man's request, I made several man-sized snack bags. We never seem to have enough for his lunch, so now we do. I even lined two of them with plastic, so he can put his sandwich in them. He was very pleased. :)

Mr. Baby's Room

Well, Here it is: Mr. Baby's room. As part of Operation Beautify, I decided to move him into his own room, and let the girls have their room together. I think it will work best this way, but a major deciding factor was the decorating factor....much easier to have a girly room and a boyish room, then try to mix them together. As usual, my pictures aren't that great. I don't know how she or she or she does it. How do you take decent photos with kids running around, pulling on you, messing up your staged areas, poking each other, you get the picture. (ha ha) Anyhow, here it is.

I still need to hang the curtain rod higher, but I'm pretty happy with how the curtains turned out. I sewed circles on them to match the bedding.

I painted this bookcase....

...and these shelves.....(thanks Sister for the cute arrangement on them!)

...and this table. I love the Uppercase Living on it!
My Uppercase tree on the wall is a bit lonely....not sure what to do with that yet. Any ideas? That green pony- one of the kids' favorite toys. I highly recommend it. It is called the Rody Horse, and it is a blow up toy to bounce on. You can inflate it to different sizes depending on how big your kid is. Love the fun colors too. If you live in Redding, they can be found at Sugarplumb Cottage.

This fabric is what I based the whole room on...ironically it is the last thing to go on the wall. I'm looking for a large frame from a thrift store to paint orange or green. I found this amazing fabric at a garage sale...score!! I wish I could get more of it.

So there you have it. Mr. Baby's room. It is so nice for him to have a space with all baby-safe toys to play in. I don't have to worry about him choking on a pea-sized strawberry shortcake doll purse, and he seems to enjoy having his own space to play in. It is also perfect for bed times. Girls' room to come soon!

Update: After some searching around I found this lamp that was sold at Urban Outfitters a few years ago. Oh how I want that for his room! I can't find it anywhere, just found this picture on a post where someone was ranting about how Urban Outfitters ripped off the design from the vintage fabric, originally offered in an apron kit. Honestly, is it that big of a deal? Anyway, I think my fabric must be from one of the apron kits. If you ever see this lamp, or even just the shade, send it my way!!!