We packed so much stuff into 4 days: shopping, yard saling, the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, 2 birthday celebrations, a trip to Kennywood Amusement Park, a visit to Treesdale for canoeing, and plenty of hang out time with family. It was a great final getaway before the baby comes, and Haley had SO much fun
getting an ice cream mustache at Kennywood...
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...canoeing on the lake with Cousin Lena...
...wearing a crown made of wildflowers...
...and riding her first rides at Kennywood (with Mommy of course, I'm not ready to let her try it on her own just yet!)
Oh, and did I mention one of the Christmas presents we got for Haley came in yesterday?
It's a toddler-sized recliner! Yes, I realize it's September, but we just couldn't wait to give her
her present. She loves sitting in the kid-size foam chairs at daycare, so we knew we had to get her one of her own. And why not get her one to match Daddy's chair?
her present. She loves sitting in the kid-size foam chairs at daycare, so we knew we had to get her one of her own. And why not get her one to match Daddy's chair? How cute are they?? Now they can both watch the Fresh Beat Band together in their recliners :) And by the way, I would like to thank the whole cast of the Fresh Beat Band for making our 26 hour round trip to and from Pittsburgh that much more enjoyable. Although I have to say their songs are unavoidably catchy, and I think I may have infected my in-laws with Fresh Beat madness while we were visiting...there are worse things I suppose.
The tutorial for the quilted bibs is coming soon, stay tuned!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Quilted bibs and burp cloths - upcoming tutorial!
My mom emailed me recently wanting some burp cloths and bibs made for a friend at her church. I have this really cute book of baby crafts called Sweet Booties! which is where I got the pattern for all of the cloth rings I've made.
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The book has so many cute projects that I haven't tried yet from crib shoes to blankets. There was one project in particular, a quilted bib, that I've been wanting to try for months so my mom's request was the perfect opportunity to try it! It took a little more time than usual, but the result was sooo adorable and worth the extra time and effort!
I went to Hancock Fabrics and bought 5 different fabrics that I thought would look cute together, but you can always use whatever scraps you have laying around. The only other materials needed were some bias tape to line the edges, flannel for the back of the bib, and string. I love that this project can be done with things I have just laying around. Best of all, I used the same quilting technique and made some adorable coordinating burp cloths!
They're almost too cute to let your baby spit up on. Would you like to know how to make some quilted burp cloths of your own? I sense an upcoming tutorial...
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Haley has an obsession with the bee from the Baby Einstein video "Baby's First Sounds." And when I say "obsessed," I mean to say that there is no other video or show (other than the Fresh Beat Band) that can make this extremely active child sit still for an extended period of time.
If you've never seen this movie before (lucky you, I can recite the whole thing from memory), it's a toddler movie made to introduce small children to their first sounds - baba, mama, ball, and for some reason "marionette" (where do these producers get off thinking "marionette" is a simple baby word anyway??) The main character of the movie is a bee who buzzes around and makes cute little squeaky noises while sniffing flowers and doing other bee-like activities. Pat and I have been forced to watch this movie so much that we just refer to the movie as "The Bee," as in "Haley, want to watch The Bee again for the tenth time today?"
With all this love for The Bee, I wanted to make Haley a Bee of her own! Now let me first say I realize this looks nothing like The Bee from Baby Einsteins, I wanted to try out a pattern of my own.
Bee has big blue eyes and enjoys long afternoons in the garden. She loves honey and buzzing around in the warm afternoon sun.
While I was at it, I thought it would be fun to make Haley a bee-themed shirt to go along with her stuffed Bee. Using some free clipart I found, I made a cute design with a bee and flower and used freezer paper stenciling (I know, yet again) to stencil it on a onsie I found at Wal-Mart for $2.00 - you can't beat that!
You want to make this cute shirt for your kiddo now don't you? Even if you want to make it for yourself don't worry, I won't judge you :) I don't know any fancy way of uploading the file, but I'll attach the picture below if you want to right click and save it to your computer and print it out in the size you need. If you need a refresher on freezer paper stenciling (or if your new to it) just go to my tutorial on freezer paper stenciling here to learn how to paint it on your shirt!
.JPG)
The book has so many cute projects that I haven't tried yet from crib shoes to blankets. There was one project in particular, a quilted bib, that I've been wanting to try for months so my mom's request was the perfect opportunity to try it! It took a little more time than usual, but the result was sooo adorable and worth the extra time and effort!
I went to Hancock Fabrics and bought 5 different fabrics that I thought would look cute together, but you can always use whatever scraps you have laying around. The only other materials needed were some bias tape to line the edges, flannel for the back of the bib, and string. I love that this project can be done with things I have just laying around. Best of all, I used the same quilting technique and made some adorable coordinating burp cloths!
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They're almost too cute to let your baby spit up on. Would you like to know how to make some quilted burp cloths of your own? I sense an upcoming tutorial...
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Lil' Crunchies cans into storage containers
If you are the parent of a toddler, it's likely that you've bought plenty of these.
My daughter LOVES these things, they're like healthy baby Cheetos. (I won't lie, I've eaten a few myself and they are pretty tasty.) We go through a can or two each week, depending on growth spurts/pickiness. With all those Lil' Crunchies she's downing, you can imagine how many cans we throw away. I'm always misplacing my daughter's hair clips and pacifiers, and a thought came to me: rather than tossing them, why not use the cans to make something useful?
In the tutorial below, I'll show you how to turn something destined for the trash into a storage container for all of your toddler's (or your own) little knick knacks using only a few simple supplies.
You will need:
Second, cut out your scrapbook paper and attach around the perimeter of your container by gradually coating the can in a thin coat of Mod Podge one section at a time. Make sure you take your time with this, you don't want to smear extra glue on the outside of your scrapbook paper (speaking from experience here :) If your scrapbook paper wrinkles as you're attaching it, carefully peel back that section and smooth it down again with your fingers. Don't use too much Mod Podge. This will lead to more wrinkles and soggy paper. Some wrinkles will happen, you just want to avoid as many as you can :)
Third, use extra scraps to decorate your containers wherever you want and attach with Mod Podge. I put a border at the top of one of my containers. You could also cut out some flowers or use stickers or other scrapbook decorations to jazz up the containers. The sky's the limit! You could get really creative with these depending on your interpretation. I didn't have the patience need to do too much with these, so I kept it simple.
Fourth, cut out some circles (or whatever shape you prefer) out of scrap paper to use as labels for your containers. I used a coffee cup to trace a circle, but you could use whatever happens to be laying around. You could also make your own label by using Photoshop or Word and pasting it on. Next, take a Sharpie marker to write the contents on your labels. I have boy handwriting so if you're like me, you can find a fun font on Word to use as guidance. Mine still came out a little funky, but hey, that's the charm of handmade stuff right? Attach your labels to the cans using more Mod Podge.
Last, use more scrapbook paper, acrylic paint, and any other decorations you may have to spice up your containers! I cut out some flowers from scrapbook paper to add to my "Pacifiers" container and used white acrylic paint to paint some dots on the label for my "Hair Clips" container. I also made a "Tooth Brush" container and cut notches in the lid with an X-Acto knife to hold my daughter's toothbrush so it doesn't have to lay on the dirty counter.
Voila, new storage containers for your loose knick knacks and less garbage in your trash can! Easy right?
These would make really cute storage containers for an office as a candy jar, container for paper clips, rubber bands or pens, at home for loose change, spare keys, or beads and other craft supplies.
Let me know if you have any questions!
My daughter LOVES these things, they're like healthy baby Cheetos. (I won't lie, I've eaten a few myself and they are pretty tasty.) We go through a can or two each week, depending on growth spurts/pickiness. With all those Lil' Crunchies she's downing, you can imagine how many cans we throw away. I'm always misplacing my daughter's hair clips and pacifiers, and a thought came to me: rather than tossing them, why not use the cans to make something useful?
In the tutorial below, I'll show you how to turn something destined for the trash into a storage container for all of your toddler's (or your own) little knick knacks using only a few simple supplies.
You will need:
- Lil' Crunchies cans (or any other container you have laying around like a coffee can, peanut can, etc.) cleaned out and dried
- Assorted scrapbook paper for covering and decorating your containers
- Mod Podge craft glue found at your local craft store
- Scissors
- Sharpies
- Acrylic paint, gems, or other items to decorate your containers (optional)
First, you want to measure the width and height of your container. When measuring height, make sure you measure the approximate height of your container's label and not the whole container itself. You'll notice in the pictures that the cans have metal bands around the tops and bottom, you want to make sure you don't add these area's into your calculations or you'll end up overlapping the bands with scrapbook paper. The Lil' Crunchies container I used was about 12 3/4 inches wide and 4 inches tall.
Second, cut out your scrapbook paper and attach around the perimeter of your container by gradually coating the can in a thin coat of Mod Podge one section at a time. Make sure you take your time with this, you don't want to smear extra glue on the outside of your scrapbook paper (speaking from experience here :) If your scrapbook paper wrinkles as you're attaching it, carefully peel back that section and smooth it down again with your fingers. Don't use too much Mod Podge. This will lead to more wrinkles and soggy paper. Some wrinkles will happen, you just want to avoid as many as you can :)
Third, use extra scraps to decorate your containers wherever you want and attach with Mod Podge. I put a border at the top of one of my containers. You could also cut out some flowers or use stickers or other scrapbook decorations to jazz up the containers. The sky's the limit! You could get really creative with these depending on your interpretation. I didn't have the 
Fourth, cut out some circles (or whatever shape you prefer) out of scrap paper to use as labels for your containers. I used a coffee cup to trace a circle, but you could use whatever happens to be laying around. You could also make your own label by using Photoshop or Word and pasting it on. Next, take a Sharpie marker to write the contents on your labels. I have boy handwriting so if you're like me, you can find a fun font on Word to use as guidance. Mine still came out a little funky, but hey, that's the charm of handmade stuff right? Attach your labels to the cans using more Mod Podge.Last, use more scrapbook paper, acrylic paint, and any other decorations you may have to spice up your containers! I cut out some flowers from scrapbook paper to add to my "Pacifiers" container and used white acrylic paint to paint some dots on the label for my "Hair Clips" container. I also made a "Tooth Brush" container and cut notches in the lid with an X-Acto knife to hold my daughter's toothbrush so it doesn't have to lay on the dirty counter.
Voila, new storage containers for your loose knick knacks and less garbage in your trash can! Easy right?
These would make really cute storage containers for an office as a candy jar, container for paper clips, rubber bands or pens, at home for loose change, spare keys, or beads and other craft supplies.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Baby update!
Just wanted to post the latest picture of #2 :)
This was taken about 2 weeks ago, and boy oh boy has he been kicking up a storm and making his presence known in there. Connor is approximately 1 pound 4 ounces as of 2 weeks ago. At almost 24 weeks pregnant, I'm feeling lots of movement and the occassional hiccups. At my last appointment, my doctor told me it's normal to not feel the baby moving every day. I can safely say this is not a problem for me.
I have a feeling this little boy is going to be ALL BOY. Now I just have to start making the Steelers-themed baby bedding I've been talking about....time is passing too quickly and too slowly simultaneously! Argh!
This was taken about 2 weeks ago, and boy oh boy has he been kicking up a storm and making his presence known in there. Connor is approximately 1 pound 4 ounces as of 2 weeks ago. At almost 24 weeks pregnant, I'm feeling lots of movement and the occassional hiccups. At my last appointment, my doctor told me it's normal to not feel the baby moving every day. I can safely say this is not a problem for me.
I have a feeling this little boy is going to be ALL BOY. Now I just have to start making the Steelers-themed baby bedding I've been talking about....time is passing too quickly and too slowly simultaneously! Argh!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
For the love of the Bee
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Haley has an obsession with the bee from the Baby Einstein video "Baby's First Sounds." And when I say "obsessed," I mean to say that there is no other video or show (other than the Fresh Beat Band) that can make this extremely active child sit still for an extended period of time.If you've never seen this movie before (lucky you, I can recite the whole thing from memory), it's a toddler movie made to introduce small children to their first sounds - baba, mama, ball, and for some reason "marionette" (where do these producers get off thinking "marionette" is a simple baby word anyway??) The main character of the movie is a bee who buzzes around and makes cute little squeaky noises while sniffing flowers and doing other bee-like activities. Pat and I have been forced to watch this movie so much that we just refer to the movie as "The Bee," as in "Haley, want to watch The Bee again for the tenth time today?"
With all this love for The Bee, I wanted to make Haley a Bee of her own! Now let me first say I realize this looks nothing like The Bee from Baby Einsteins, I wanted to try out a pattern of my own.
Bee has big blue eyes and enjoys long afternoons in the garden. She loves honey and buzzing around in the warm afternoon sun.
While I was at it, I thought it would be fun to make Haley a bee-themed shirt to go along with her stuffed Bee. Using some free clipart I found, I made a cute design with a bee and flower and used freezer paper stenciling (I know, yet again) to stencil it on a onsie I found at Wal-Mart for $2.00 - you can't beat that!
You want to make this cute shirt for your kiddo now don't you? Even if you want to make it for yourself don't worry, I won't judge you :) I don't know any fancy way of uploading the file, but I'll attach the picture below if you want to right click and save it to your computer and print it out in the size you need. If you need a refresher on freezer paper stenciling (or if your new to it) just go to my tutorial on freezer paper stenciling here to learn how to paint it on your shirt!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
How does your garden grow?
Well this past summer I've learned a very important lesson: I don't enjoy caring for flowers.
They're pretty, don't get me wrong, but I learned very quickly how many weeds a garden can produce in a very short time. Weeding is a full time job, and I couldn't handle keeping a house, a toddler, and a weed-infested garden at the same time. I think my other problem with flower gardens is that they don't seem to give back like fruit and veggie gardens do. I would much rather pick a ripe cantaloupe from my garden and happily eat it feeling like all my hard work paid off. With flowers, you pick them and put them in a vase, just to have them die a short while later. What I'm trying to say is basically that I'm a lazy weeder. And I'd rather eat cantaloupe.
My flower garden did do well for awhile...that is until the crazy Tennessee rain storms kicked in and made the weeds sprout more than the flowers. I had good intentions, I tried to weed when I could, but I just couldn't seem to keep up. Eventually, one side of my poor garden was so overgrown with weeds that Pat just put it out of its misery and mowed over it one night as he was cutting the lawn. The remaining flower garden lives on in weed-infested misery though, doing what it can to survive despite my neglect. My fruit and vegetable garden on the other hand? Well, that's another matter.
They're pretty, don't get me wrong, but I learned very quickly how many weeds a garden can produce in a very short time. Weeding is a full time job, and I couldn't handle keeping a house, a toddler, and a weed-infested garden at the same time. I think my other problem with flower gardens is that they don't seem to give back like fruit and veggie gardens do. I would much rather pick a ripe cantaloupe from my garden and happily eat it feeling like all my hard work paid off. With flowers, you pick them and put them in a vase, just to have them die a short while later. What I'm trying to say is basically that I'm a lazy weeder. And I'd rather eat cantaloupe.
My flower garden did do well for awhile...that is until the crazy Tennessee rain storms kicked in and made the weeds sprout more than the flowers. I had good intentions, I tried to weed when I could, but I just couldn't seem to keep up. Eventually, one side of my poor garden was so overgrown with weeds that Pat just put it out of its misery and mowed over it one night as he was cutting the lawn. The remaining flower garden lives on in weed-infested misery though, doing what it can to survive despite my neglect. My fruit and vegetable garden on the other hand? Well, that's another matter.
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Pat planted a small garden in the backyard for me in early spring so I could try my hand at killing growing some fruits and veggies. I planted 2 cantaloupe plants, 2 tomato plants, 2 strawberry plants and a handful of red onions. Fast forward 3 1/2 months and I can proudly say that most of my garden is doing great. The strawberry plants were planted a little late in the season and never produced anything and unfortunately the red onions didn't do well in the soil, but the tomato plants have sprouted about 20 tomatoes and the cantaloupe plants? Well, they've pretty much taken over the entire plot.
This is actually a picture from over a month ago. We had some heavy rains recently and ever since then, the cantaloupe plants seem to have a mind of their own. So far, we've managed to get 2 ripe fruit from them but as soon as those two were picked, I've found about 12-15 new cantaloupe growing.
I haven't had to weed the fruit and veggie garden as much (big plus!) and it's already made up for itself by giving us some delicious produce.
This is actually a picture from over a month ago. We had some heavy rains recently and ever since then, the cantaloupe plants seem to have a mind of their own. So far, we've managed to get 2 ripe fruit from them but as soon as those two were picked, I've found about 12-15 new cantaloupe growing.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
A(nother) life for the valance
Remember the valance turned into hanging pockets that I made for Haley before she was born? Well, it recently got a new life. Or should I say, another new life.
Haley has gotten into a habit of waking up at an unreasonable hour, i.e. any time before 7:00am. We'll be sleeping peacefully and all of the sudden hear little squeals of annoyance coming from her room as she whines to be let out of her crib at 6am. Little does she know that as you get older there's this thing called "school" that she'll have to go to which will make her get up even earlier and actually miss the days she was allowed to sleep in until 7am. I tried to sit down with her and explain that it would be great if she would let Mommy and Daddy sleep until 7 on work days. She just stared at me then toddled off to watch Fresh Beat Band. There's no reasoning with 17-month-olds.
Anyway, I needed something to distract her so we could get in just a few more minutes of sleep, and I thought about the hanging pockets I had made. I originally made the valance into hanging pockets and hung them with curtain rods from the wall because the room Haley was in as a newborn didn't have much storage space and I needed something to keep odds and ends in for easy access. Since we moved, her room is now much bigger and the hanging pockets have been sitting unused in her closet for the past year. The pockets seemed like the perfect solution to keep Haley entertained for awhile. By snipping some of the pockets to make larger pockets and adding straps and Velcro, the valance became a hanging crib bag!
Haley loves having some of her favorite toys at arm's reach each morning and evening. She reads her board books and plays with her stuffed animals, and Mommy and Daddy get some much-needed rest! That, my friends, is what we call priceless.
The only problem I've found though is that while I thought Velcro would be strong enough to hold everything, I didn't take into account the little toddler who likes to take everything apart. Haley quickly figured out that she could tear the crib bag off of her crib, so part of my morning and night routine has been to reattach the bag.
I'll be giving the valance yet another makeover soon by adding some snaps in place of the velcro.
Haley has gotten into a habit of waking up at an unreasonable hour, i.e. any time before 7:00am. We'll be sleeping peacefully and all of the sudden hear little squeals of annoyance coming from her room as she whines to be let out of her crib at 6am. Little does she know that as you get older there's this thing called "school" that she'll have to go to which will make her get up even earlier and actually miss the days she was allowed to sleep in until 7am. I tried to sit down with her and explain that it would be great if she would let Mommy and Daddy sleep until 7 on work days. She just stared at me then toddled off to watch Fresh Beat Band. There's no reasoning with 17-month-olds.
Anyway, I needed something to distract her so we could get in just a few more minutes of sleep, and I thought about the hanging pockets I had made. I originally made the valance into hanging pockets and hung them with curtain rods from the wall because the room Haley was in as a newborn didn't have much storage space and I needed something to keep odds and ends in for easy access. Since we moved, her room is now much bigger and the hanging pockets have been sitting unused in her closet for the past year. The pockets seemed like the perfect solution to keep Haley entertained for awhile. By snipping some of the pockets to make larger pockets and adding straps and Velcro, the valance became a hanging crib bag!
Haley loves having some of her favorite toys at arm's reach each morning and evening. She reads her board books and plays with her stuffed animals, and Mommy and Daddy get some much-needed rest! That, my friends, is what we call priceless.
The only problem I've found though is that while I thought Velcro would be strong enough to hold everything, I didn't take into account the little toddler who likes to take everything apart. Haley quickly figured out that she could tear the crib bag off of her crib, so part of my morning and night routine has been to reattach the bag.
I'll be giving the valance yet another makeover soon by adding some snaps in place of the velcro.
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