Wednesday, February 24, 2010

How Much Wood Could Isaac Chuck Chuck?

Well, a lot apparently. Poor The Boy. Bad The Mom. I can't believe I let it get this bad. But, don't worry, I've fixed it. I know you're all thinking that I bought one of those plastic thingys, but i didn't. Because why buy when you can MAKE!!! I have ALOT of left over fabric from when Isaac's grandmother made him his bumpers so I decided to use that, some white muslin, and some batting. I also sewed in some ribbon to tie it onto the crib. Measured, cut and sewed, and voila! And it looks nicer than the plastic cover. Plus you would have still seen the chucked up wood. Now all you see is nothing. Unfortunately, Isaac's found another spot to start chewing on, so I'll be making another one of these soon! I'm glad Isaac's gotten the most use out of this crib before his little brother or sister starts using it!

Monday, February 15, 2010

This is One Sophisticated Baby!

I just love this fabric!!!! If you read my blog on any regular basis, you know that I'm completely obsessed with polka dots!!! My friend Julie Powell had a baby in December and I made her little shoes and a special burp cloth.I call this sophisticated baby because it's not a cutesy little girly baby fabric. But it's so awesome. and I think something about the black also makes it a little more "sophisticated"! Mom loved it and I'm sure baby Grace will feel a princess in them one day!!

Knitting Needle Holder for Jamie

My friend Jamie started knitting about 2 or 3 years ago. She needed a hobby to occupy her time and mind. Boy did she jump into it. She's a masterful knitter now. She knit Isaac a green and white polka dot blanket! It was amazing! I about cried when she gave it to us and boy does Isaac love cuddling with it. I might feature her one day and show all the stuff she's made.

Anyway, all that to say, she has accumulated alot of knitting needles and supplies. So I made her a knitting needle holder. I saw one online (check out the link under "What I want to try") but it looked alittle too involved for me. This is one of the things I finished up during the snow weekend we had a couple of weeks ago. I just loved making it and I think it turned out great. I was so excited to give it to her.

For this project, I even made my own bias tape. Check back later to see how. On the inside, I put pockets of different widths, 1", 2", and 3". You can't really tell from the picture because it's all the same fabric.This was because knitting needles come in various sizes. I also put a little pocket on the upper lift hand side for little knitting knick knacks you use. I had alot of bias tape left over so I just sewed it together to make it a tie.This may sound prideful, but I was very proud of how it turned out. It was one of those things that actually turned out the way it looked in my head, and that's pretty exciting.

In conclusion, Jamie really loved it and said that she was excited to start using it! YAY!

Two Uses for Toilet Paper Rolls

Recycle and re purpose the hundreds of toilet paper rolls you go through. For these projects, I actually used wrapping paper rolls and just cut them all to about 5in.

The first thing you do is glue on some pretty paper. I used both Mod Podge and spray adhesive. I found that the mod podge worked alot better at keeping the paper glued. Measure around the tube and also the length. I added about 1/2 inch to the circumference so that it would overlap. You could even use pretty contact paper.

Use #1: Keep all those extension cords and small cables organized! We have a ton that we use for Christmas and my husband has a cable for everything but they aren't always being used. Before, they were all tangled in a plastic bag. Luke ALWAYS ended up frustrated looking for his cables. Now, they're all right there. Now, for the men, they probably don't need, okay, definitely don't need the pretty paper. Buy hey, who's the one making them? So who has creative freedom? That's right, we do!

Use #2: Party favors or simple gifts. I did these for Valentine's Day for my neighbors. After you glue the paper on, fold the ends in, one side at a time. I know that sounds confusing so here's a picture.Inside I put some Hershey's kisses but you could put any kind of candy or treat that fits. I also put these Bible verses inside.
"And this is love--not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:10,19
My purpose for making these was to remind people of what true love is. It's not a feeling and it's not something that we can go looking for in a person on one day where gifts of love are expected. It's the love of Jesus, and in Him, we can experience true love everyday! After you've filled it, fold the other ends in as well. I also put a sticker on the front to tell who it's from and the address of our house (we're still pretty new to the neighborhood). Then, my family and I went to deliver them to our neighbor's mailboxes. I know, I know, we should've knocked on the door, but I'm still a little intimidated. Pray for me!

Anywho, the possibilities for #2 are really endless. Think about theme parties, birthday parties, party favors, wedding favors... I could keep going. And more importantly, CHEAP!!! or I mean, inexpensive.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Gotta Get Workin!

I have really got to start working on my "What I Want to Try" list. It is getting long!

Wish me luck!

Monday, February 8, 2010

When God Gets Crafty....

...babies get made! We are praising God for blessing us with a new addition to our family! My due date in September 1st which puts me at about 10 weeks. We are very excited!!!! Which also means I'm gonna start getting baby crafty again! Thanks for praising God with us!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Family Silhouettes

Since our Christmas Trees came down, I have been really bothered by the emptiness and blandness of the corner where the Christmas tree was. We prefer family pictures instead of artwork but I just didn't know how to get it decorated. Silhouettes are big now and there are alot of different ways that you can get them done (for a price) or ways that you can do it yourself. I even found that there are alot of different DIY ways . So here's what I came up with. My husband was on board the whole time and was really excited when he saw the finished product. So this is the way I did it (and sorry I don't have step by step pictures)

1. Take profile pictures of everyone in your family.
2. Shrink and crop to the size that you want and print them out.
3. Very carefully cut along the profile trying to exact as many of the bumps and curves of the face and hair as you can.
4. Paint the cut outs black. It took me about three coats with regular acrylic paint to get it really black.

And that's it as far as the silhouettes. Next, I wanted to do something different for the frame and matting. The frames I had were shadow frames I got a long time ago. They had a matte that sat right against the glass and a "board" that sat lifted up higher. (I don't know if that makes sense and you can't really tell from the picture). I had some book pages from another project I worked on that I decided to mod podge onto both the matte and the back board. After those were dry, I simply glued, the silhouette with mod podge, and put another coat on top. The whole porject took about 2-3 hours spread over a couple of days (there's only so much you can do during naptime!). Total cost for the project $0! I had everything at home. And yes, I even did one of the dog....little MissyGirl! I am very happy with how they turned out and I think it adds so much to our living room!

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