Baby Girl Projects: Hair Bow Holder Frame

This will be the last of the baby girl projects until I finish her room!  I have done a lot of projects to decorate the nursery, but I'm going to post them once the room is all done.

This one was pretty easy, too! I like easy if you haven't noticed.

I took a very large frame that I already had (I tend to collect them) and spray painted it purple.  This particular frame did not have glass, but it did have a hard backing.  I took that hard backing and covered it with thin batting and a piece
of fabric using hot glue to secure it.

Then I took lace and ivory ribbons with gold designs (like gold polka dots) to string across the whole thing. I got all my ribbons and lace at Hobby Lobby during a 50% off sale.  (I didn't use all these ribbons, but I found all these cute trims and ribbons at Hobby Lobby and they were hard to resist!)

I also secured the ribbons using hot glue on the back.  Then I put it all back into the frame and I was done!  I just clipped on a bunch of hair bows that I had leftover from the ones I used to make for craft fairs.

The original plan was to screw hooks directly into the bottom of the frame to hang all my elastic headbands, but then I decided I would just re-use the hooks that I used to hang towels on for Sam.  So I spray painted that purple too and then hung up all her headbands (which I got for crazy good steals from a girl selling them on a Yardsale Facbook page)

Something happy to look at when you first come in the room!  This picture shows the ever-so-smidgen of a sneak peak at the curtains ;)

 The rest of the room will have to wait until I get it all done!  Hopefully that will be this week or next.  Baby is coming soon!  I'm 38 weeks as of yesterday!

Baby Girl Projects: Easy Baby Blankets

You can never have enough blankets when babies are around!  I love having lots especially for variety in all the dozens of photos I take of my cute little munchkins!

Here are two blankets i whipped up one morning:

First, I got this crocheted blanket at a vintage market and I wanted to try lining it with flannel to make it warmer and more cozy.  I found this cute fabric at JoAnn’s (couldn’t find it online) and did my best to cut out a big piece to fit the blanket - allowing enough of the edges to fold under.  Then I just sewed the flannel piece directly to the crocheted blanket.

Second, I made a flannel backed blanket.  I also found this cute cotton chevron fabric at JoAnn’s and got a coordinating piece of flannel to put on the back (couldn’t find them online).  They are super easy to make too!  Just get 1 1/2 yards each of 2 coordinating patterns.  Lay them right sides together and then trim your edges so the blanket is nice and straight.  You can make curved corners if you’d like—just use a bowl for your curve template.  Then sew up the edge with the fabrics right sides together—leave part of an edge about 8 inches un-sewn.  Then use that hole and turn the blanket right sides out.  Topstitch around the entire blanket, and iron it when you are all done! I decided to topstitch it using a blanket stitch that I have on my sewing machine. 

If you are looking for more baby blanket ideas, I posted a few others a while back.  Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Girl Projects: Easy Baby Burp Cloths

Some babies don’t spit up much (Luke) and some babies spit up a lot (Sam)!  I’m not sure which way this baby will go on that, but it’s better to be prepared so I made ten super cute burp cloths to take on the task.

These are super easy to make and they are so fun to customize and make cute!

Here are all 10 of the cloths I made!

I made 7 burp cloths using wide strips of fabric:
I didn’t need a tutorial for these (they are pretty simple), but if you do, I found this really great one on The Petite Lemon blog  I would highly recommend pre-washing the pre-fold diapers before you sew them.  They shrink up a lot in the wash the first time.  You can pre-wash all the fabric you use, too, but I’m super lazy and don’t do that part. If you don’t pre-wash the diapers, though, you will likely regret it later when you wash them.  I did not iron the diapers after I washed them.  That will just stretch them out again, and I don’t think it’s necessary.

The other 3 cloths, I sewed ribbon on the ends.  Use a lighter to seal the ends of the ribbon, and cut it longer than you think you need because the diapers will stretch as you sew and you want to make sure the ribbon goes all the way to the edges. 


Some people don’t like the burp cloths with fabric doing down the middle because they say it’s less absorbent—if you are in that camp, then the ribbon edged ones are the way to go because they leave most of the middle plain so that the diaper part is catching all the spit up. I don’t mind either way, and I love a good excuse to use a lot of different cute fabrics!

If you are looking for a simple baby gift, this is a great one.

Next Up: Easy Baby Blankets

Baby Girl Projects- Bouncy Chair Makeover

When my doctor was talking to me at the end of August about the possibility of needing to deliver early, I immediately jumped into “baby girl projects” mode and tried to get as much as I could done!  I also kind of flipped on major nesting and started cleaning out all the closets and rooms in the house (there was one day I spent an hour scrubbing the toaster oven?! Ridiculous)…but that’s not nearly exciting for you as all the cute girly stuff.  This week I am going to start posting all the girly projects I've been working on around here. 

First up—The Bouncer Chair

I received this chair as a gift when I had Luke and it has gotten a TON of use.  First Luke used it all the time, and then I used it all the time with Sam, too!  It’s just nice to have a spot to put the baby down that’s near you sometimes—I especially use it when I am working on the computer or trying to eat dinner.  It’s pretty portable and can be moved from room to room.  However, it’s kind of ugly so it definitely needed to be cute-i-fied for baby girl! 

Here’s what it started out as:

This was the makeover for Sam—I just made a really basic cover using fleece I had laying around.  It must have been pretty comfy because Sam fell asleep there all the time!

And now here is what it looks like now! I spray painted the blue legs pink and then covered the chair in batting and then a cute white and gray polka dot fabric that I got on fabric.com.  I’ve been working on Sam’s baby book and there are A LOT of pictures of Sam when he’s being cute in the bouncer chair, so when I was picking fabric I wanted something cute but really neutral!  I think we found a winner!

Tomorrow: Easy Baby Burp Cloths! 

Blocking the Stairs

Sam is growing up FAST.  He has been climbing UP the stairs every chance he gets! 

Unfortunately, he is still too little to figure out how to get back down safely.  He loves to hover at the top of the stairs and look down.  He will get up on his knees and get excited…which gives me a heart attack! 

So we built a stair blocker.  We have extra wide stairs, with one side being a wall and the other side being a railing, there aren’t many gates {that I’m willing to pay for and install} that will work.  So we came up with our own solution.

A piece of wood that is 2 feet high and 5 1/2 feet long—my dad was nice enough to go to Home Depot and pick it up {and get it cut} for me, then I just covered it in batting and then stapled fabric to it. 

We can slide it back and forth and take it out whenever we need to.  Or we can just step over it {even Luke.} So far it’s working pretty well!

“Now how do I get down there?”

“I guess I’ll just chew on this thing instead.”

When Luke was a baby we used a long piece of ugly cardboard, so this is a big improvement ;)

Changing Pad Cover Tutorial

I finally sewed up the fabric I had on Sam’s changing pad into a real cover instead of just wrapping the pad with the fabric and calling it good!

It was really easy and you could make one too!

DIRECTIONS:

Wash, iron and cut your fabric. I usually hate washing fabric beforehand, so I won’t tell anyone if you decide to skip that step! You need a piece of fabric about 48” x 32” to fit a standard sized pad (32″L X 16″W X 3-4″H).

Fold it in half lengthwise and then widthwise and then cut out an 8″ square at the outside corner (the one with no folds).

Now it looks like this:

Bring the two sides of a square together, right sides facing and sew them together.

Repeat on all four corners.  When you’re done your changing pad cover will have corners like these:

Take a break to play with and cuddle your little one ;)

Next, create a tube for the elastic.  On the inside edge that is raw, fold over 1/2″ or so and iron, all the way around.  Then fold it another inch, iron and pin in place.

Starting next to a corner, sew it in place at the edge of the seam, leaving a hole at the corner to feed your elastic through, backstitching at beginning and end:

Cut a 36″ piece of elastic, 5/8″ thickness or smaller (i used 3/8″):

Attach a safety pin to one side of the elastic and attach the other side to the changing pad cover with a pin and feed the elastic through the tube:

When you pull it out, sew the two sides together –I sewed a box with an X in the middle {it’s kind of hard to see! sorry about that}:

And then sew the hole closed and that’s it! You are done!  It should look like this from the bottom:

Try it on to see how it looks!

It’s finished! And super cute!

I’m thinking this could be a super easy and quick baby gift if you know what the nursery looks like!  It’s always nice to have an extra cover!

I’d love to see yours if you decide to make one!

Recovered Baby Bouncer

I was tired of the cover on the baby bouncer.

Since my baby spends a lot of time in it and I also take a lot of pictures of Sam when he’s in it, I decided to make it more comfy and more cute!

Before and during

And After.

Basically the it’s just a slipcover with lots more batting underneath it! It’s not totally done, since I still have to make the straps go through it, but done enough for a picture!

Baby is nice and cozy!  You are getting verrrrry sleeeeepy…..

For Nursing Mamas

The first few months of having a newborn, majority of the time is spent feeding them!  I have 3 things that have already come in pretty handy in the first 2 weeks of welcoming Sam home. 

First, a nursing strap.  This is a super easy project that will take you less than an hour and makes a great gift.  My friend had a car-seat canopy cover that worked also as her nursing cover—this nursing strap is what allowed her to use it for both.  All she had to do was take it off the car-seat and clip this strap on and she had an instant nursing cover!  The clips are actually curtain rings (found them at Target).  You can also just use this strap with any blanket to do basically the same thing. 

After trying out the strap, I decided it would be good for times to pack light, but I still really wanted a separate nursing cover with the boning in the neck and an adjustable neck strap.  So I whipped this out (which would have only taken an hour or two but ended up taking me an entire day since baby Sam takes up a lot of my time!):

And lastly, when you are waking up every 2 hours at night and getting very little sleep, it starts getting a bit tricky to remember things like which side to start nursing on each time. I was tired of finding my notepad to write everything down in the middle of the night, so I made myself a little nursing bracelet! I just switch it between wrists to remember which side to start on the next time! I just measured a piece of elastic cord, tied a knot and then strung seed beads on it before finishing it off with another knot. It’s not bulky or heavy, so I can sleep with it on and most of the time I forget it’s even there.

That’s it!  Nursing made easier!

Overdue.

Well Monday was my due date for little baby boy.

It came. It went.
And here we are 3 days later.

Apparently he does not want to come out yet despite my working my tail off trying.

My house has never been so clean and organized!

I have to say while it feels so good to clear away a TON of clutter from pretty much every inch of my house, I wish all this work would put me into labor already!

On a better note, I've de-cluttered my craft space(s) because they are going to be featured on a really awesome website (The Organized Mom)-so you should head over there tomorrow...I'll do my best to remind you to check it out, but I will most likely be in the hospital getting induced on Friday!

Going back to that...my tummy has become Luke's favorite spot to put toys:

funny, right?

I wish i could laugh with you but at this point i am so DONE with having a huge tummy! I am ready to meet this little boy already! I want to know if he looks more like Scott and maybe even has red hair! How cute would that be to have a little red-head?!

You know what else? I'd forgotten how incredibly small newborn diapers are!

Slightly smaller than my hand!

I'm going to have a little baby bum that small around here soon! So stinkin' cute!

We. are. so. ready.

Wish us luck for tomorrow! (or better yet, pray that he comes today!!)

Re-Covering my Infant Car Seat

This is most definitely not going to be a tutorial…like ever.  This was the hardest most time consuming sewing project I’ve taken on in years!  There were several times throughout this week I just about gave up and started searching Etsy for cute car seat replacement covers.  There’s lots of cute ones that tempted me:

First, I found this dinosaur one I really really loved. 

Dinos with black minky boy Infant car seat cover

This is another one I seriously considered buying!

Hoopla Dots Infant Car Seat Cover

But in the end, I couldn't’ go through with it.  I only spent $10 in fabric (green circle fabric is from fabric.com) and thread.  I didn’t even use all of the fabric so I can use it for other projects. It did suck up a ton of time though!  I spent all last week working on this thing!  It’s not near perfect, but it is definitely cuter than it was before:

I forgot to take a picture with the shade part up, so I dug this one up from when we were checking out our new house for one of the first times! This car seat was mostly just boring!!

Now this is what I turned it into!

The hardest part was the shade—mostly because I had to cut it up and make it up as I went and I’m not very good at that.  It took 5 hours yesterday to do just the shade!  I wanted to just get it done so I just constantly worked on it until it was finished-only taking breaks when my back hurt and had to get up and walk around a bit.  The other parts of the seat were easier because I just pinned to the original cover and sewed it up!!  Though it still was pretty time consuming with all those pins and getting it to lay right.  I got poked by pins more times than I cared to count! 

I’m just so glad it’s finished and now baby can come home from the hospital in style!!

Covered Diaper Boxes

Well, I’ve been a little MIA lately because I’m trying to work pretty hard on getting ready for baby to come!!  I only have a little over a week left until my due date and there’s still some projects I’m trying to squeeze in!

I needed some storage for our changing table, and we had a plethora of diaper boxes, so I used this quick and easy tutorial to cover diaper boxes that I found on Positively Splendid. 

I used drop clothes for the canvas because I had a bunch already that I’d used as temporary curtains.  I had the blue fabric in my stash, and I got the ribbon at Hobby Lobby (love those 50% off sales!)

I only did 2 things differently.  First, I did use spray adhesive, but then instead of white glue, I just used hot glue—less messy than white glue and faster drying times.  Second, out of pure laziness, I sewed on ribbon handles instead of doing button holes and bow ribbons on the liners.  I love the bows on hers, but after a few tries of tying cute bows and failing I just gave up :)

Cheap and easy! 

I’m currently working on covering my old car seat cover…here’s a sneak peak:

I’ll put up the finished pictures when I finish it (hopefully over the weekend!)