Indoor Spring

At this time last year, we were getting ready to move into our house.  Even with the excitement and joy that filled our past year, I still can't believe we have lived here this long already.  As you may be able to tell from my photo, I was quite pregnant when we moved in.  Between my third trimester discomfort and the hectic thrill of having a newborn during the summer, we weren't able to do much in the way of landscaping.  So this year I am super duper excited for spring! 

I have big plans for our yard this year.  Every day I check the weather forecast, hoping for a sign that we can begin our landscaping journey.  But like most Marches, snow is a very likely possibility.  I've just been informed by my snow-loving husband that Saturday holds a 100% chance of precipitation.  So to ease my disappointment, I did some indoor "landscaping."

I picked up my supplies at Hobby Lobby:

- Glass vases
- Ceramic piggy
- Floral Foam
- Decorative "river rocks"
- A variety of floral and greenery stems

Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers (I love them so much that I featured them at our wedding!)  These are my new hydrangeas for my yellow kitchen.

I added rocks for stability and to make arrangement easy

Clipped my hydrangeas to my desired length

I love yellow (no, really!?!) so I picked another yellow stem that's a bit taller.  This arrangement doesn't have a home yet, but trust me... it won't take long for me to find one!

And finally to fill my piggy.  My dear Grandma Della passed down her love for pigs to all her grandchildren, and when I spotted this little guy at the store I couldn't get my hands on him fast enough! 

And here's my little piggy wrestling with his friend on the floor while I worked.  I hope this isn't an indication of his future interests (no snakes allowed!).  I have already warned Jared that no pets will be welcomed into our home unless they have hair or feathers...

Lovely Jewelry

I haven't shuffled through my box of beads in ages.  It's been so long, in fact, that I almost forgot about the ancient days when I used to make jewelry.  Upon discovering my jewelry tools under a pile of HGTV magazines, I was overcome with excitement.  You see... beads are awesome.  How many bead stores did I drag my brothers into on family vacations?  All of them.  Every one.  I'm not joking.

Lately I've been crazy about gold.  I have a beautiful gold chain that needs a pendent, so that was what I decided to create tonight.  I had some natural beads (wood, stone, etc.) that looked perfect with my gold wiring.

This gold wiring is far more malleable than the silver I'm used to working with, so I did some experimenting.  Because what's more awesome than beads?  Love. 

Traveling with the Babe: The Diaper Bag

We don't get out much.  And when we do, we aren't gone long.  Traveling isn't a hobby of ours, but sometimes it's a necessity (especially during the holiday season).  Since we aren't what some would consider to be "experienced" travelers, packing for our young chap is stressful and difficult.  I can't pack up the entire nursery, but I know that we need to bring along enough of the essentials in order to have a successful trip. 

I've had several opportunities to experiment with Little J's packing list in the past few months.  I'd like to share what I learned...

I believe the most important part of traveling (even to the grocery store) is to have a well packed diaper bag.  This is harder than I expected.  I didn't love the idea of lugging around a huge, heavy bag... but after hearing every poop-related horror story in the book (and after several poop-tastrophies in our own home) the thought of getting caught somewhere without the proper equipment was frightening.  This is how I finally packed our diaper bag for everyday use:

packed

unpacked

Like most things in my life, I separated my diaper bag into categories. This helps me to keep organized and re-stock my bag more easily.
 

1. Tummy: 

Formula dispenser (pre-measured and ready to add to water)

Empty bottle

Sealed bottle of water (for when water is not readily available)

Two bibs

One baby spoon

Two meals in travel pouches with attachable spoons

2. Booty:

Several diapers (enough to last almost a whole day)

Re-sealable wipe dispenser

Disposable changing pad (I add a washable waterproof one when we travel)

Hand Sanitizer

"Poopy" bags for disposal (and to trap any bad smells)

   

3. Body:

Onesie

Pants

Socks

Hat

Blanket

Burp cloth

Two washcloths

Travel size body wash

Emory board

  

4. Face:

Teething toy

Pacifier

Vaseline

Kleenex

Small book or toy

Multi-purpose tether*

   

*I made this tether to perform multiple functions.  In a pinch, it can act as a tether for pacifiers or toys, or as a hanging line for a car seat cover (see below).  We love to pull this out when J falls asleep in the car, or when we have to carry him in the car seat through cold/wet weather. To make this gadget, I simply sewed Velcro loops on each end of a piece of ribbon.  

The Velcro attaches on either side of the car seat handle

The blanket drapes without preventing access to the handle

5. Emergency:

(I only pack this pouch when we will be away from home for extended periods of time)

 Cotton balls

Q-tips

Emory board

Nail clippers

Booger sucker

Little scissors

Baby Tylenol with medicine dispensor

Neosporin

Gauze

Variety of bandages

Baby Vicks

Thermometer

sick babes are no fun to travel with!

  

*Check back for more travel tips with baby!*

Fabric Easter Eggs

I usually tend to avoid decorating for holidays other than Christmas and Halloween.  Here's why: retail decorations for every other holiday have always seemed cheesy to me.  And until now, I have never really had much time or desire to make my own decor for the "small" holidays.

But now that I have entered into motherhood, the prospect of putting out decorations for EVERY holiday seems like fun.  Little J may not appreciate my efforts for a couple more years, but I still enjoy the idea that I'm decorating for him. 

I found a little inspiration from something I spotted on Pinterest (duh) but I wanted to put my own spin on the design... so I cooked up the idea for these:

Fabric Eggs

I'm not going to lie... this project was annoying.  But like I told Jared as I was complaining about the mess and frustration, "I had to finish them all once I started."  I don't think I ever really comprehended the strangeness of the "egg" shape, so it took me a couple tries before I figured out the best way to cut my fabric.  You'll see...

The supplies I used were:

 white plastic eggs
Mod Podge
paintbrush
an assortment of coordinating fabrics
(I fell in love with the mini brown eggs, so I picked my fabric with them in mind)

Like I said, I had to play around with my technique a little bit before I was happy with the results.  But to start, I cut a strip of fabric long enough to fit around the middle of my eggs:

my childhood scissors. and yet, the tag says "Andy."  hmm.

while J watched in his high chair

Then, once I finished a couple of gross-looking, foldy, creasey fabric eggs, I figured out my plan!  I cut my fabric into small pieces and then overlapped them onto the egg with Mod Podge.  This resulted in minimal folding and creasing and gave the eggs a craftier look overall.

All in all I'm pleased with how these turned out.  And once I peeled off the dried glue from all my fingers (and my skirt.  and somehow, my face?) I put my eggs on display.  I'll transition them into a basket once I find one that I like, but I have a feeling that's going to be a whole project by itself...

Who's up for a little light reading?

 Happy happy spring!

UPDATE:  I found this adorable wire Easter Basket at Hobby Lobby that displays my little eggs beautifully!

  

Burlap Purse

Every now and then Jared "allows" me to go shopping by myself while he plays video games watches the baby.  The reason I say he "allows" me is because when I go shopping, I always hit up Goodwill.  And he refuses to shop at Goodwill.  (I still cannot grasp why he hates thrift stores so much - to me they are giant treasure chests... but I suppose to a germaphobe like him, thrift stores seem like giant dirty dishrags.  Or something...?).

Yesterday during my solitary excursion I came across this little beauty!

I used to be a purse hoarder, but last year before we moved I purged.  I donated 15+ purses, leaving me with only three of my favorites.  "No big deal," I thought, "I'll just use the diaper bag as a purse once baby arrives."  Well, yes.  I mostly use the diaper bag as a purse.  But what about when I take off on my independent shopping trips without the babe??  That thing is too darn heavy to lug around Goodwill if there's nobody with me who needs diapers... The three purses I kept are suitcase-huge, so when I need a quick wallet-phone-keys transporter, they seem like overkill.  My mission was to find something that I could give a makeover and create to be one-of-a-kind.

So my purse journey began...

This bag is an obvious freebie from The Cove resort (where I have never been), so the first thing I decided was that the logo had to go.  It was also far big for my needs, so I needed to cut it to my desired size.  I love the handles

and this sneaky little inner pocket

so I kept those aspects when I did my trimming:

Now to cover up the logo... I had a small scrap of heavier cotton fabric that I used for a pillow a while back that I thought would suit this purse perfectly.  The burlap is what I initially loved so much about the bag, so I didn't want to cover too much of it.

I snipped a piece big enough for a pocket (and allowed for hemming).  The top edge of the pocket will need to be sturdy enough for phones/keys/sunglasses sliding in and out repeatedly, so I double hemmed the top edge.

The next step was sewing all the pieces back together.  I made a point to reinforce the corners and the top edges of the seams, since purses tend to suffer more wear and tear than clothing.

And finally.... a snap to keep my belongings safe and secure!

Here's the final product!

I'm super pleased with how this project turned out (Jared can quote me saying something like, "I'm soooo proud of myself!")  I love nothing more than to use something that is not only recycled, but UNIQUE!  I asked my model to pose with my new purse, and she happily obliged (even though she had to change out of her pajamas to do so...).

Baby Legs

I'm eating dinner while I write tonight.  It's 9:00 PM and "dinner" is Cinnamon Toast Crunch... Everyone else ate hours ago, but I was too eager to start my sewing projects!  I also managed to squeeze in some sauna time with the babe before his bedtime.

Little J is almost 9 months old and he has caught his first cold.  Don't get me wrong, I realize that we were lucky to have made it this far without any illness!  But this cold has caused some pretty major congestion and coughing (and who wouldn't enjoy a little spa-type pampering?) so we sat on the bathroom floor and let the room fill up with shower steam.  Now the rest of the house feels cold in comparison (Jared disagrees, with sweat still dripping down his face).

Here's the other piece of my evening:

Homemade Baby Leggings

I refuse to use the term "DIY" because it sounds cheap to me... so instead I say "homemade" because it makes me think of grannies.  Here's how I made leggings for the babe:

This project only requires beginner level sewing skills (ability to sew in a straight line), but be aware that working with stretchy fabrics can be a little tricky if you are inexperienced.  But if you're like me and are building on years of sewing expertise learned from making Barbie clothes on your bedroom floor, then you're in good shape (wink!).

1. I bought these socks in the men's department.  The top part of the sock (above the heel) is nice and long for my tall boy.  That's the only part of the sock that I use for this project - the rest goes in my big box o' scraps.

2. So I snip the top away right above the heel.

3. The edge that I just cut needs to be hemmed in order to prevent fraying.  The easiest way to do this is to snip the sides of the sock (such a small tube is more difficult to fit around the sewing machine base).  I pinned my edges and sewed a straight line using a zigzag stitch to allow for stretching.

4. The bottom edges of the leggings will turn out looking slightly wider than the tops now, and in order to keep them snug around baby's ankles, I take them a bit. 

They should have this shape when finished:

There ya go! Super easy, right? I've made 6 or 7 pairs now, grabbing inexpensive socks whenever I spot them at the store.  My favorite thing about these is the convenient accessibility they offer for diaper changes.  No pulling down pants, and baby stays nice and warm.  This makes leggings ideal for traveling (check back later for my baby travel tips!). 

Action Photo! Bouncing against the back of the couch.