Category — DIY

Ombré paint chip dots, for a little gift wrap. Project to come!

For mother’s day I ordered this super cute print from Small Talk Studio for my mom, as she loves cross stitch.

I wasn’t sure how to wrap it because I didn’t have a box that big so I used some vintage fabric I had on hand along with some twine. Not too shabby I guess. And since my mom is very crafty herself I know she will put the fabric to good use!

So I compromised when doing our birth announcements. I designed them, but then I had them printed by Moo. We used them for our Christmas cards two years ago and were very happy with the results so we ordered the same type of card this year which is actually a postcard, but we put them in envelopes. On the back side I wrote down the links for my flickr site as well as my vimeo site, for friends and family who wanted to see more of our little guy!

Two things were wrong with this. One, the color came out more purple than blue. The other, and I am just keeping it real here… I spelled weighing wrong. Photoshop does not have instant spell check (although it does have a spell check feature, which I never remember to use) so I didn’t catch it, and neither did Bryan. I probably would have never known except my aunt brought it up after receiving the card! Oops! I’ll make sure Declan ace’s every one of his spelling tests to make up for it I guess. Here is a photo of the actual ones, although it was taken with my iPhone because I just don’t have the time to take the actual picture, connect the compact flash, edit, etc. etc.

Overall I am happy with them. They aren’t perfect, but they are me, so that is good enough.

The beginning of a somewhat lopsided Easter bunny.

Well, day 2 past the due date and still no baby. Had a check up today and we decided to wait until next weeks appointment (where I will take the non-stress tests and check for fluid levels) before mixing anything up in there… if you know what I mean. I want him to come out as naturally as possible so I am praying that he comes out in the next week so that no type of induction is needed. All in God’s time I guess!! Okay, on to the nursery!

I have said before that Bryan and I didn’t want anything too “baby” which meant no theme, no Disney characters, nothing. We did choose shades of blue and our favorite sunshine yellow as colors, but that was about it. Welcome to our nursery!

(The other half of the room is my craft/sewing area, which I will show tomorrow!)

Bryan’s parents generously gifted us with both the crib and the dresser. We wanted something modern for the crib and found the perfect one at Walmart! It was pretty easy to put together and hopefully will stand the test of time. We decided not to use the lower drawer for now, but kept it in case we want to add it in the future. We will be having the baby sleep in an Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper in our room for the first few months so the crib will be used mostly for naps.

As I have mentioned before, I made the mobile, the bumpers and the crib skirt.

I’ve also been busy making rattles from Lotta’s book. The middle one came out the best… the other two need a little help!

We decided on the Hemnes dresser from Ikea and are very happy with our choice. We wanted something that could be used in any room in the house and would offer a lot of storage, while working as a changing table. Currently the dresser holds all of the baby’s newborn-6 month clothes, burp cloths, nursing covers, wipes, sheets, blankets and a whole lot of diapers. The little hamper is from World Market and will be used for his dirty clothes. We don’t currently have a diaper disposal system, but I think we will just walk out of the room and put them in the guest bathroom trash, where we currently keep the cat… stuff… and just empty it outside each day. We will see how it works out. The little wooden plane hanging over this area was actually a toy that hung in Bryan’s room when he was growing up! His mother brought it out for us when she visited for my shower!

I ended up buying these postcards and framing them. They go perfectly!

My mom and I found this sweet Noah’s Ark framed art while antiquing at the Orange Circle this week.

My aunt and uncle got us this little oh, baby! dish and I think it will be perfect for holding our wedding rings while changing especially poopy diapers!

This bookcase is half nursery, half craft room! The tops half holds books and toys and the bottom half holds wrapping, crafting and sewing supplies.

On the top is our 20 week ultrasound picture that used to be on my desk at work, a blue H that we found in a great baby store down near San Elijo State Beach, the card holder I made for Christmas cards and the awesome vintage New York plate I found a few weeks back.

We have a nice collection of This is books by Miroslav Sasek and I broke down and bought the baby book from Anthro that I had been eyeing.

And a little memento from my time in London.

So there it is! I am sure things will be added and changed constantly, but for now it is simple and perfect and I love it! We do still need some type of night light (any recommendations?!) but other than that it is all ready. Now if only the little guy would come out so that he can enjoy it too!

I have now made myself 3 nursing covers and after receiving a request for the pattern I used I thought I would post a little how-to. I started off using this pattern, but ended up making a few changes and doing things a little differently.

Disclaimer: I am pretty much self taught (and mom-taught, of course!) so I might not do everything correctly, but it gets the job done. Also, my how-to skills are only so good, so if you have questions please ask and if you figure out a way to do this that makes more sense to you then by all means go for it! After all, that’s what I did to the original pattern!

Items you will need:
1 yard of fabric, washed, dried and pressed.
2 D rings size 3/4″ or 1″, it’s up to you. The original pattern calls for 1 1/4″ or bigger, but the ones I bought we 3/4″ and they worked just fine!
Corset boning that is 1/4″ thick. You will need about 12″ of boning per cover.
Thread

Okay, so here we go!

Cut your main cover fabric to 38″ x 26″.
Cut your straps. The first will be 26″ x 3″ and the second should be 10″ x 3″. On this cover I used a different fabric for the straps but on previous ones I used the same fabric for everything.

Next sew the straps. Press each short edge in 1/4″ and sew a quick straight stitch to hold, reversing back at the beginning and end to reinforce.

Next, press each long side in 1/4″, then again 1/2″. Fold the strap in half lengthwise and press, then pin the ends. Following the outside un-folded edges, hem the three sides. You should now have two 1″ wide straps.

Slide your 2 D rings onto the shorter strap, folding over one edge about 1″. Using a straight stitch create a loop to hold the rings.

Set your two straps aside.
Now on to the main fabric. First hem the two short sides and one long side. Starting on a short side, fold over 1/4″ and press, then again 1/2″ and press. Repeat on the other short side, and then finally on one long side. Pin the corners and the middle of each side to hold the press. Hem using a straight stitch, backstitching at the very beginning and the very end.

For the corners, stitch in a square to get a nice clean hem.

On the remaining long side, fold over 1/4″ and press, then fold over another 1/2″ and press, pinning the corners and the middle. With the wrong side up, find the middle of your long edge. If all has gone well then from hem to hem it should be 36″ wide, but no one is going to be measuring so no worries if yours is a little shorter or longer. (You know, if the fabric you are using wasn’t wide enough or if you decide you want more or less fabric around the sides, then yours might be different. And that is okay!)
Once you have found the center, measure out 6″ on each side, pinning your straps right at the edge of the 6″. Once your two straps are pinned down, your boning should fit perfectly in between. Adjust if there is too much or too little space, you want it to fit snugly!

(Your boning should still be off to the side, it will go in last!)
You will now hem from the outside, all the way in to your strap, finishing it off with a square at the strap. Repeat this on the other side.

Now comes the hardest part (in my opinion, since the rest has been pretty darn easy!). Insert your boning under the open hem. You will want it to be curving up towards you. With it flush to the straps and to the inside of the fold pin beneath it to hold it into place until you are ready to sew.

Hem this last piece, getting as close as you can to the boning. If you find that there is more than 1/4″ space in between the end of the boning and the strap, just stitch a little line at the end of the boning to secure it in.

And you’re done! A very easy project that doesn’t take more then an hour once you get it all down. Like I said, I have made 3 of these so far and I may make more just because they are so easy! In addition to the basic cover, you can add a pocket (I have seen them on the inside but you could add it to the outside in a corresponding fabric, maybe matching the straps) to hold your nipple pads or cream… cell phone… whatever! I may add a purple pocket to the outside of this one. The fabric is vintage and the purple just goes so well with it!

Again, let me know if I left anything out or if something just doesn’t make sense as I am happy to explain. And feel free to adjust things. I made the long strap a few inches shorter than the original pattern called for because it was unnecessarily long on me. And the original vintage fabric one I made is a little smaller overall because I didn’t have the right amount of fabric. And just for fun, here is a picture of me wearing it yesterday… at 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant! (Which means today is my due date! Crazy how fast time flies!!)

I’m kind of in love with these owls…

(via)

Today I made myself a little hooter hider, if you will, out of some vintage fabric. Bryan said it is a little girly but hey, I am a girl and I am the one wearing it so….

Well hello! I hope you all enjoyed your three day weekend (if you were lucky enough to have the day off of course!). Bryan did so we spent the day buying a new couch, hitting up Babies R Us for a few last minute essentials (7 days until my due date!) and just enjoying the sunshine. We also hung up the cloud mobile, woo hoo! I previously wrote about the making of the pieces here, and we were just trying to figure out a way to hang it. After discussing wires and plastic and wood and even hangers I came across this picture mobile at Target. A few of the reviews mentioned using it for their nursery and at $9.99 I couldn’t resist! I made a modification to the center clip, making it shorter than the rest, and eventually we may remove the clips all together and just use fishing line for a cleaner look, but for now it works perfectly!!

I had the felt and stuffing on hand, so all in all this mobile cost under $20 (including shipping since I couldn’t find the item at Target). Bryan drew out the cloud shape and I just free handed the sun. Super easy and once again we have a piece that is unique, not too “baby” and inexpensive. And I love that we can easily change out the pieces at any point. Maybe a plane or a moon… add a few rain drops… who knows!

I obviously couldn’t just let the burp cloths be regular old burp cloths.

obviously.

Edit: These were super easy to make. I purchased cloth diapers from Target (I think Gerber brand?) and simply sewed them to regular cotton fabric that I had on hand. Right sides together (although there isn’t a right side to the cloth diaper) leaving a gap at one end, I just went around once, pulled inside out, pressed and then went one more time around. They took no time at all and now I have some super cute burp cloths!!