Divine Crafting

3T Pants Pattern

2014-01-11T17:55:00.001-08:00

I have been working a little at pattern making lately and let me tell you it can be really fun and really frustrating at times. I have made a few dresses for Alice and a some pants for Charlie. I have the pattern here in jpg form for 3T Pants if you would like to try it out.

The first thing you are going to do is cut out each piece of the pattern and tape them together.

I used a pair of my husbands old pants as the material for these pants but you could use what ever kind of fabric you want.

First I laid my husbands pants out flat on the floor, since there was a hole in them I had to be careful about the placement of the pattern. I cut the pattern pieces out of each leg of the pants and ended up with four pieces total at the end.

I cut the first pieces out with the pattern facing right sides up then flipped the pattern right sides down for the other leg.

Seem allowance is added into the pattern

Here are all four pieces after they have been cut out.

Put your fabric right sides together and sew down the red dotted line on each leg of the pants.

Then you are going to sew the green line on each pant leg, by this time you should have two tube looking things. Next you are going to line up the the crotch seems of both of the tubes (that is the yellow dotted lines) and sew them together. I matched together the red seem of the tubes first and pinned then worked my way up the front of the pants pinning together and then the back.

Once that is done you hem the bottom of each leg and around the top of the pants. I folded the fabric down about an inch for the elastic around the top of the pants and sewed all the way around leaving a two inch hole so that I could feel the elastic through.

I measured around my sons waits to get the length I would need for the elastic. Mark your elastic so you know where to sew it together, then match up the lines and sew together.

Feed the elastic through with a safety pin.

Match up your lines and pin your elastic together.

Then sew it together. I usually sew a square
on the elastic to make sure that it won't come apart.

Cut off the extra elastic and pull the pants around the elastic band so that stuff that you've just sewn will go into the fabric casing. Try the pants on your child to make sure the waist fits right, if it does sew up the last two inches of the band around the top. If it doesn't fit right you can adjust it.

Here is what the finished product looks like.

Charlie did Not want to take pictures so I tried to
bribe him with fruit snacks.... it didn't work.

"NOO MOMMY put it away a CAMERA!!"

"Stop! NOO!"

I don't know why he has become so camera shy all of a sudden. I just hop he lets me get better pictures next time. Thanks for reading!

Robot Mittens

2013-09-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

I try to make a lot of the gifts I give out for Christmas and birthdays, it's usually budget friendly and I feel like it's a little better than giving a gift card. Now don't get me wrong, I love getting money for a gift, who doesn't? But I also enjoy gifts that are unique and have had some time put into them. .

Last year I waited until a month or two before Christmas to start making our gifts and almost didn't finish making everything, I figured it would be smart to start a little early this year. It's no fun when your stressing out a week before Christmas because you have so much to get done. The holidays are more enjoyable when they are stress free, don't ya think?

While looking for things to make Charlie I came across this wonderful mitten pattern and I crochet him some mittens. The pattern is well written and I was able to get the gloves done really quick. The pattern can also be used to make gloves for older kids and adults too. After looking at the mittens I felt like they could use a little more protection. I don't know if you've ever played in the snow with crochet gloves but after a few minutes the snow starts to seep through the gloves and your hands get cold really quick. If there is snow outside it is inevitable that Charlie will be in it. So I needed to come up with a way to keep the snow from getting through right away.

I found some felt in my craft room and came up with a robot that I could sew onto the gloves. It will give Charlie's hands a little more protection from the cold and it looks cute to boot! I made a printable robot pattern and a simple oval pattern that you could put on the gloves instead of the robot if your looking for something quick.

The materials I used where

-Yarn

-Crochet needle

-Scissors

-Needle

-Thread

-Crafting felt sheets in any color you choose

-Craft glue (optional)

Step one! Crochet your gloves.

Step two! Cut out your Robot!

Step three! Sew the eyes to the Robots head and the hands
to the robots arms.

Step four! Place both heads on each of the gloves
and make sure their placement is the same. You need
to also make sure that you are putting the Robot
on to the palm of each glove. Sew them on.

Step five! Do the same thing with the body of the
robot and sew that puppy onto your mitten.

Step six! Sew on your arms and your done!

Notes- I used a stitch similar to a blanket stitch for this project. You want to be very careful to not go through both layers of the glove when trying to sew your applique on.

You can use a craft glue to stick the eyes and hands in place before you start stitching but it isn't necessary.

If you would like to use a different fabric like cotton for your mittens you may want to add fusible interfacing to it so that it isn't so flimsy. It will also keep the fabric from fraying. Double sided fusible interfacing like Heat and Bond, will not stick well to your mitten and you run the risk of melting your yarn if you try to iron it on. So if you go the interfacing route then iron it on to your fabric only and iron it before you place the pieces on your glove so you don't burn anything.

I hope you really enjoyed this tutorial. Its really simple and lots of fun, you don't even have to use a robot. Make your own applique and put it together and post a picture on the Divine Crafting Facebook Page, I would love to see what you've come up with.

What I've Learned About Sewing

2013-08-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

I am not the best seamstress in the world but there are a few things I have learned that have helped me to make my sewing projects look better (or at the very least keep me from loosing my mind when something doesn't turn out right).

1. The IRON is your BEST FRIEND!

It makes things so much easier when you can iron down a hem before you sew it or iron out a piece of fabric before you cut out your pattern. It may seem like a wast of time but it really helps.

2. Take the time to thoroughly PLAN OUT YOUR PROJECT.

I know from experience this will save you a lot of headaches later. I can't remember how many times I have messed up on a project and then had to spend a ton of time ripping out seams because I didn't plan out how I was going to sew my garment together before I did it. If you are working from a pattern read it before you start doing anything. If you are making something without a pattern, sit down and write out what you are going to do, what pieces will be sewn together first, second, third and so on.

3. You can always START OVER.

If you mess up on a project don't sweat it! Everyone makes mistakes; just remember that you can always start your project over. Unless you are working with fabric they just don't make anymore....then oops.

4. Wait until your kids are asleep.

It is a lot easier to finish a project if you don't have to worry about your little one running off with your fabric or sticking their fingers in your sewing machine while you are trying to work.

5. Practice on fabric you don't care about

Don't use expensive fabric your first time around. It really stinks when you mess up and waste 50 bucks.

6. Experiment

Take some time and experiment with your sewing machine, it takes some time to get to know your sewing machine so try different stitches, mess with the tension and learn how to fix it.

7. TAKE A STEP BACK AND BREATHE.

There are many times when one of my projects just isn't turning out like I wanted it to. So I just step back and leave my project alone for a little while...take deep breaths and try not to throw my sewing machine out the window. Then reassess the project and try to fix the problem.

8. Learn to get along

If you are new to sewing and you're anything like me you're going to be using your seam ripper a lot. Learn to get along with it, you are going to be spending a lot of time together so you might as well just be friends. Just don't leave it out or your kids may tear your couch apart.

Thanks for reading!

Recovering Fabric Baskets

2013-08-05T12:36:00.001-07:00

I found these bins at the thrift shop for two bucks each but one of them was ripped and the fabric was not washable. Can someone please tell my why they would use fabric you can't wash?! The people who made these things must not have kids.

The bins have a metal frame and Velcro so you can take the fabric cover off to spot clean.

Here is one of the bigger holes

They Velcro onto the metal frame so they can be taken off
and cleaned

Alice was my big helper

The First thing I did was take out all of the Velcro
so I could reuse it in the new basket

My kids love to help with projects

Then I took the whole thing apart with the seem ripper, it took me a really long time and the fabric kept ripping apart. At the very bottom of the bin there was a piece of cardboard sandwiched in between two pieces of fabric, I used the seam ripper to take open up one end and pulled out the card board so I could use it in the new basket covering.

Keep the Cardboard

Cut out one of each piece

For the bottom piece make sure you cut out an
extra strip o fabric about 2 inches wide

Since I want to be able to wash this I am making an opening at the bottom of the bin so that I can slip the cardboard out and just throw the rest into the washer.
I surged one edge of the bottom fabric and then the strip then I put them good sides together and placed the cardboard on top and measured how big the opening needed to be.

Then I surged from the corner to the orange dot, about 1/2 an
inch on each side of the fabric.

This is what it looks like up close

Next sew both of the bottom pieces bad sides together
then slide the cardboard in to make sure it fits

Next I sewed on each of the sides to the bottom piece then surged
each of the sides together and around the top.

Sew the Velcro back on, slip it onto the metal frame
and your
DONE!

The new basket was tested and approved by Alice!
Thanks For reading

Crafter's ADD or Procrastination?

2013-06-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I am horrible at finishing things, just ask my husband. Lets take cleaning for instance, I will start to clean the kitchen and I notice that one of my cupboards is dirty. Instead of finishing the kitchen I will spend an hour on one cupboard. Then there are the kids to take care of and I just forget about cleaning the kitchen all together. I get sidetracked very easily and nothing in my house gets done, but hey... at least I cleaned out one of the cupboards.

I do the same thing when it comes to crafts. I will start making a dress and then find this really cool blanket pattern on Pinterest, then the dress sits in my closet for a few months because I have forgotten I was working on it. Pinterest is awesome but it will probably be the death of m... Ooh, that looks like a nice project... now where was I?

I find so many cool things on there that I want to do and I never finish any of them. I wonder if I have crafter's Attention Deficit Disorder. Does anyone know if there is medication to help with this? I guess I am just going to have to rein myself in and finish one project before I start another one. Did I mention I spent a few days last month cleaning my craft room? There are so many unfinished projects sitting in there that I could probably fill my car with them. I have at least 3 unfinished quilts sitting in a box and I also found a baby cocoon I started making when I found out I was pregnant with Alice. (By the way... Alice is 14 months old now)

Well I better go finish that dress... or clean.

Thanks for reading.

Making a Baby Dress out of an Old Shirt

2013-04-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I remember my Mom sewing me clothes because it was just so expensive to buy clothes for all five of us kids. Its funny how things have changed. I can go to the store and buy my daughter a dress for ten dollars or I can go to Hobby Lobby and spend eight dollars on a yard of fabric, two dollars on a zipper, one dollar on a dress pattern (if its not on sale I would spent 4-10 bucks) and then go home and spend a few hours making the dress. Sometimes it just isn't practical to sew when you can buy it already made. But If you get creative you can make things for relatively cheap. Look around your house and reuse things that you would normally just give to good will. Re-purposing things sometimes forces me to be a little more creative. Even though making things sometimes ends up being a little pricey and time consuming, I really enjoy it. In some ways, sewing has become my therapy. When I have had an absolutely horrible day where nothing has gone the way I planned. When I've spent all day trying to keep Alice from climbing on everything or when I have to scrub Charlies artwork off of the walls, crafting is my escape from the stress.

This week I was looking through a pile of old clothes that I keep with the intent that I may use them in a project some day, and I found a shirt that my Husband refuses to wear because he HATES to wear anything with a collar. At his last job they had a strict dress code and we bough him a bunch of polo shirts out of necessity. If he had a choice he would have gone to work every day in flip flops a t-shirt and shorts. Now that he has a choice as to what he can wear to work, he wears a t-shirt everyday. And I have a plethora of polo and button up shirts that he refuses to wear (even though he looks amazing in them). I couldn't just throw away all of these shirts (I am a pack rat) so I have saved them until I found something that I really wanted to make.

I figured I would make Alice a dress and here is how I did it.

I used my seam ripper and took apart most of the shirt, the collar, sleeves and the short band at the bottom of the sleeves were all taken apart. I saved all of the pieces because I had no idea what I was was going to need.

Once most of the shirt was deconstructed I took the main part of the shirt cut it in half just below the buttons.

Then I laid a dress that currently fits Alice, on the top part of the shirt and use it as an outline to measure out how big I needed to make the new dress. Then I folded the shirt in half so that I could cut the arm holes and the sides of the dress to the size I though should work. Since I didn't have a pattern I left the shit pretty big and put it on Alice to see how much I needed to adjust the arm holes. It was really nice to be able to test the size of the dress on her as I made it. After a little adjusting I sewed both sides of the shirt until I got to the arm holes. Then I put the shirt back on her and I realized that the neck of the dress was just too big, so I took it in a little. The way I fixed the neck required me to adjust the arm hole location again.

Here is what the arms look like up close

Since the old collar was just too big, I took one of the arm bands and sewed it around the neck opening as a new collar. Next, I took the remaining armband and cut it in half and used each of them on the arm area to give the sleeves a finished look. I then took the bottom half of the shirt that I cut off earlier and gathered the fabric and attached it to the top of the shirt. I didn't need to worry about hemming up the bottom of the skirt because I kept the original hem.

This was the 3rd time I tried the top on her
to see how it was fitting. After the 5th try on she
started to get really mad and run away when ever
I came near her with the dress.

I pinned the arm band around the neck as the
new collar.

The dress is still a little too long for her, she trips over it when she climbs the stairs. I will have to shorten it a few inches. I am also working on some flowers to add to the dress so that it doesn't look so bland but I haven't had time to finish them.

Thanks for reading!

Messing Up the Baby Blanket

2013-03-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

The blanket is for my cousin's baby, it is crocheted with a fabric backing. I came across the idea on the internet a while back but like an idiot I didn't think to look for instructions. I thought "that would be easy to make" but it wasn't. I knew that crocheting the top was going to be a little time consuming and it took me about a week to get that part all done. But when the time came to assemble everything, I had a really hard time getting the top centered on the back piece of fabric and I spent about 5 hours trying to get the thing finished. When the sewing was all done, it at about 2:00 in the morning and I was so tired! When I looked at it I notice a bunch of puckering, I was just so mad I could have screamed! I almost got out my seam ripper and took the whole thing apart.

(I have a habit of taking my work apart when I mess up and then not finishing it because I just get so frustrated with the project.) Luckily it was really late and I decided to go to sleep and then I would take the blanket apart and try all over again the next day.
After I got some sleep, I looked at it the next morning and it didn't look as bad as had the night before. It still had its flaws but I guess I just needed to step back for a while and look at it again with fresh eyes. I am still a little bit disappointed with my work but I know If I take it apart now I wont finish it until my cousins baby turns five.

I should have double checked the placement
of the pins before I started sewing.
I might have avoided all of this puckering.

There is puckering all over the back of the blanket because
I over stretched the crochet top when I sewed the blanket together.

Here is what went wrong...when I was putting the blanket together I over stretched the crochet part and because of this, the back of the blanket puckered. It didn't turn out too bad for my first try though. I think the next time I make this I'm going to set it up on a quilting frame and tie it before I sew the edges. I will let you know how the next one turns out.

Thank you for reading!

My little sisters wedding cake

2013-01-23T14:07:00.001-08:00

On the 18th my youngest sister Lorane got married and I volunteered to decorate the cake for her. My plan was to have it done two days before her wedding but after spending all week at my parents house I decided to take Wednesday off and get some cleaning done at home, since my poor house had been so neglected (and my husband was running out of clean clothes to wear to work).
I figured that I would have enough time on Thursday to decorate the cake and I barely finished it in time. I had to change my plans and go with a totally different design after we realized that our frosting wasn't working right. Here is what I came up with.

Baby room make over in progress!

2012-10-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Its funny sometimes how things don't always work out in the time frame you expect them to. My plan when we moved into our house was to have the bedrooms decorated, painted and looking amazing with in the first month. Of course things don't always work out the way we planed. So here is the baby's partial bedroom make over 3 months after the time I planned it to be finished.

Before

After

Before

Cute Baby!

After

I made a crib sheet using this tutorial and I also made a cover for the changing table. I had some fabric covered diaper boxes that I made a little over a year ago and just used those as toy boxes. I still have a lot of work to do in this room but things are starting to come together. I want to add some lighter colors in here to brighten up things up and I would also like to put in some curtains. I still need to get a laundry basket and a trash can that look good in this space but its been hard to find what I am looking for.

I will post more pictures when I get the nursery finished. Thanks for reading!

Pacifier Clips!!

2012-08-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

Did I ever tell you how much I absolutely love pacifier clips? Its great to not have to worry about the baby dropping her binky on the floor and when I need it its always attached to her.
My son has gotten into the habit of stealing the baby's binkys right out of her mouth and then running off with them. I would bet that I have about 20 binkys floating around my house right now but when I need one I can never find any because my little boy likes to hide them.
I have found them in kitchen drawers and cabinets, under my bed, in the trash can, inside toy trucks and anywhere else an almost two year old can reach. He hides them EVERYWHERE! Its really frustrating when you have a tired screaming baby and you can't find a binky. So I have been keeping her binkys clipped to her for most of the day just to keep her big brother from taking off with them.

These were really easy to make and would have only taken me 10 minutes to make but I have kids so it really took me an hour. It has been a little over a month since I've used my sewing machine and it felt good to sit down and sew something, even if it was only for an hour.

I will make a tutorial for these clips and a few others when I get more time. Thanks for reading!

Painting the Kitchen

2012-08-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

When we moved into our new house all of the walls were painted the same color. The first room we decided to paint was the in the kitchen. I didn't really want to paint the whole room so we painted an accent wall.

before

after

It still needs more work but it's really nice to add some color to our house.

Thanks for reading!

Big Changes!

2012-08-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been crazy for my family. We have added a new member to our little clan. Her name is Alice and she is just adorable! Charlie is just starting to learn body parts and he loves to poke her eyes and say "eye!" I am afraid to leave him in a room alone with her because she may lose an one. Other than poking at her all the time he seems to get along with her very well. He spends a lot of time giving her kisses and patting her stomach while he says "baby".

Another big change for our family is a new house! After 4 1/2 years of marriage my husband and I finally own a house. We have lots of work to do on it but we love having a place that belongs to us.

When we moved into our house, the baby was just two weeks old and adjusting to having two children has taken most of my time. Because things have been so crazy, I haven't really had time to work on any new projects but I will try to get things moving along as soon as I can. In the meantime, here are some other tutorials I've found online that I can't wait to try.

Totoro Hat

Painted chevron pillows

This monster hooded towel looks so cute!

Thanks for reading!

Moved to Utah!

2012-03-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I have posted anything so here is a little update.

We have left beautiful Tri-cities Washington to live in Utah so we could be closer to my husbands work. We don't live near a big river any more but Utah does have beautiful mountains!

This is our tenth (yes that is the # 10) move in 4 1/2 years. I have to say this was probably one of the easiest moves I have ever been through. My husbands work was nice enough to hire movers for us (honestly I think I would have lost my mind if they hadn't). I am very thankful to his work for keeping my sanity intact. We were also very lucky to have my sisters in-law there to help. They took care of Charlie for me while we were getting ready for the movers and while they were packing up our house. THANK YOU Charlotte, Brenda and Andrea! I don't know what I would do without you guys.

We made it to Utah safely and Charlie did better than expected on the 12 hour car ride. He did get a little fussy but that is to be expected when you are stuck in a car seat for that long. He spent a lot of his time playing with puzzles and making his stuffed bunny hop.

Since we are looking for a house we put most of our stuff into storage, including my sewing machine and all of my many bins of crafts. I really miss my sewing machine! I guess I will just have to borrow my mom's until we can dig mine out of all those boxes. I will try to finish some new projects to show you guys soon.

Thanks for reading!

Kindle Case Tutorial

2012-02-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

When you have a 1 year old running around your house, none of your possessions are safe. Charlie loves to play with anything that belongs to mommy or daddy, our phones, keys, wallets and computers. I probably spend about 50% of my day making sure he isn't getting into something he isn't supposed to.
A few days ago I caught Charlie playing with the kindle touch I bought my husband this last Christmas. He moved a chair close enough to our bed to climb on then got the kindle off of our dresser which is right next to our bed. After realizing how easily he could have just dropped the kindle on the floor and broken it, I decided it was time to buy it a case.
I looked at Wal-Mart and found nothing. They had cases for iPads and other electronics but nothing for the Kindle. I looked online and found a few cases that I liked but I didn't really want to spend a ton of money for just a case. So I looked through my plethora of crafting materials and came up with a plan.

I used...
1 Kids craft foam sheet
Elastic
Material
1 Button
1 Thin elastic hair band

1) Cut 8x11 inches of the foam

2) Cut 9x24 inches of the material
(If you are cutting your fabric on the fold cut 9x12)

3) Fold the material in half (good sides facing each other)
then put the foam in between it.

4) Sew the fabric around the foam and leave a 4-6

inch hole so you can invert the fabric in a later step.

Make sure you don't sew over the foam!

5) Cut off the extra fabric except the fabric around the hole.
You want to leave the extra fabric there so that you tuck it in
and sew it down when the time comes. It should look like this.

6) Pull the foam out.

7) Turn your fabric right sides out. It should look like this.

8) Put your foam back in, fold under the extra fabric and pin down.

9) Sew a top stitch all the way around the case.

10) Find the center of you case and sew a straight line from
top to bottom. This will be where your case folds.

(Click the image to see it full sized with measurements)
11) Add the Elastic. Measure 2 3/4 in. from the side,
1 in. from the bottom and mark with a pencil.
Then measure 3/4 in. from the side and 2 1/2 in.
from the bottom corner and mark it.
Do the same thing for both the top and the bottom .

12) Add the elastic hair band vertically centered of the
back side of the case and the button to the front side.

Here it is!

Thanks for reading!

Baby Skirts!

2012-02-13T21:09:00.000-08:00

The past couple of days I have been looking through my fabric and extra craft stuff, trying to get some inspiration for a new project. I had some remnants from a project that I finished a week ago and there was just enough to make a skirt for my new baby.

I didn't have a patter so I just made some thing really simple.

First I cut out a piece of fabric 32 in x 8 in, then I used remnants of fold over elastic from one of my other projects. Since I don't have a baby to measure to make sure I am making this skirt the right size, I took one of the 0-3 month outfits I recently purchased and measured around the waist band of the pants. I ended up using about 17 inches of Fold over elastic. Just to be sure that was the right size, I did a search online for baby waist sizes and found a baby sizing chart.

Put the material wrong sides together and match up the ends that are 8 inches long then sew. Flip it right side out (you should have a tube). Next sew on the fold over elastic, you have to pull the elastic tight while sewing to get it all the way around the skirt, which can be a little tricky. I usually tack down about half a centimeter of the elastic before I start pulling it tight so that it is anchored down to the material. Once the elastic is on, hem up the bottom and your done!

Fold Over Elastic

I made some flowers on just for fun

I love the way this turned out

Each skirt took about 20-30 minutes

Thanks for reading!

Ceramic Painting

2012-02-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

My little sisters love anime and manga, so for fun my husband and I painted some mugs as a gift for them. Just so you know, I am not a painter or an artists so the mug I painted didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked. I figured I would show them to you anyway.
I bought some ceramic paint for $3.00 at Hobby Lobby, a paint brush set from Wal-Mart for about $4.00 and 2 mugs from the Dollar Tree.
I printed out a few images to use as an outline for my cup, then I practiced drawing them on paper. After practicing for a while I used a pencil to draw out the images onto the mug (this was very hard to do because the pencil kept rubbing off). Then I painted over the pencil outline and let it dry. It took me a while to finish but that's because I had to paint one layer, let it dry, then paint another one, to get it to look right.

This is my finished product!

My Neighbor Totoro!

This is the mug my husband painted, he finished it in about three hours.

Ichigo from Bleach

Naruto!

Vash from Trigun.

I still haven't cooked them to keep the paint from coming off, but I hope to get that done sometime this week. I just hope that I can do it without totally messing up all of our hard work. Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading!

Baby Tights

2012-01-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

Just a few days ago my husband and I found out that we are having a little girl! I am only 24 weeks along so I still have a long way to go before we see this baby, but I couldn't help looking at little girls clothes online. I found this wonderful pattern and it looked so easy I had to make it.
I used some material that I have had sitting around for a really long time, it was really stretchy and a really pretty shade of purple. I love it!

This was really, really easy to do and it only took about ten minutes. Pattern is for a 3-6 month old so it wont fit my little girl for a while, but she will eventually fit into them.

Thanks for reading!

More Diapers

2012-01-06T00:06:00.001-08:00

Ok so I was going to try to make my own pattern for the new cloth diapers but I am out of PUL so.... I have been taking apart my old ones that didn't work and I've been altering them to make them fit Charlie a little better. I got rid of the pocket and added gussets to this diaper just like I did with the one in my last post. I also took it in a few inches so that it doesn't look so bulky in the butt area. I still have to try it on him and do a leak test, but it's almost 12:00am (I just finished the diaper about 5 minutes ago) and there is no way that I'm going wake him up for that.

My Attempt At Cloth Diapering

2011-12-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

When I found out that I was pregnant with my first son I was really excited. I spent most of my time on the computer reading about pregnancy and raising a baby. I found this baby cost calculator online that estimates how much you will pay during the first year of your childs life. When I went through and added everything up my costs came to almost 6000 bucks! Does it REALLY cost that much to take care of a baby for just one year?! I went through the cost calculator and started cutting things out. I didn't really need a changing table, baby rocker, dresser or diaper bag (all of my purses are big enough to hold my kitchen sink, so they could handle a few diapers and a bottle). Then I realized that it wasn't just these big items that were making the costs go up it was the diapers, baby food, clothes and toys that we would be buying him. According to this calculator disposable diapers were going to cost me $72.00 a month, thats $864.00 a year! I could buy the all of those things that I cut out of the budget with that much money. They have an option for cloth diapers on the cost calculator as well, which was $19.00 per month if you washed them on your own. This price seemed a lot more reasonable to me but did I really want to try cloth?
My first thought was... AHHHH diaper pins! It honestly freaks me out to have anything so sharp next to a baby's skin and trying to put a diaper onto a wiggley baby, one of you is bound to get stabed.
Then I rememberd the pail of stinky diapers out in the garage next to our washer when I was a kid. Could I really wash those poopy diapers? My Mom cloth diapered my 4 siblings and I so it shouldn't really be that hard to do.

The inside of the diaper

I love this fabric

A few months ago I dicided to make a few cloth diapers to see if I would like it. If it didn't work out, then it wasn't a big loss.

Outside of the diaper

The pocket where the insert goes

I found a free pattern online for a pocket diaper and made a few. I used some prefold diapers that I bought on sale a few months back as inserts. Some were made with velcro closures and a few with metal snaps. The diapers looked really cute but they were not very efective. The ones with velcro never stayed on my son very long. There were quite a few times where I found my baby running around the house butt naked. Once I switched a few of the diapers to metal snaps that wasnt much of a problem but some of the metal snaps rusting once they went through the washer a few times. I also had some leaking problems around the leg area of the diaper so I was changing Charlie's diaper every hour which was a little too much for me. I ended up moving back to disposables.
Since the last design didn't work for Charlie, I spent a few days trying to alter the old pattern to work for him. I took apart one of the old diapers and reused the material so if the new pattern didn't work I wouldn't waist money. I looked at a bunch of different diapering options online and watched a lot of diaper reviews. It was really helpful to get a look at real moms and hear what they liked and didn't like about cloth diapers. It made it a lot easier for me to decide how I was going to try to design my diapers. Thank you to all those moms and dads who took the time to do diaper reveiws and show us your diaper routines.
Here is what I came up with.

Fold over elastic is awesome by the way.

I used plastic snaps and I love them!

Double gussets around the legs.

so cute!

For my new diaper I got rid of the pocket and added double gussets to help keep it from leaking, plus I used fold over elastic and I changed the shape a little around the butt area. Once I finished the diaper I put it on Charlie to do the leak test. I finished the diaper later on in the day (around 5:00) and he wore it until his bed time (8:30) with no leaks! I will do another leak later to see how long the diaper can really last.
It still has a few things that I need to fix and alter, but it seems to work pretty well (at least it's better than the first ones I made). For the next diaper I think I am going to try making my own pattern from scratch so that I can get a better fit for Charlie. Lets just hope I can get it to work.

Thanks for reading!

Wreath Tutorial #2

2011-12-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

Here is another wreath tutorial. The women at my church made these at an activity last year and I was not able to attend, so I though this would be a good chance to give it a try.
I had to do most of this project while Charlie was asleep because he really wanted the hot glue gun. He has grown tall enough that he can reach things on the table now. He almost pulled the whole container of beans off the table, so I had to put everything away until he took a nap. I was lucky that he took one of his rare 3 1/2 hour naps, I was able to get a lot done.

The materials you will need are...
- 1 foam wreath
- pinto beans (any type of bean will work)
- hot glue gun
- glue sticks
- spray paint
- ribbon
- lots of time and patience

I started by gluing the beans around one row at a time .

I glued ....

and glued.

This is what it looks like close up.

It took me most of the day to finish adding all of
the beans on the wreath.

Then my wonderful husband spay painted it for me.
I decided it wasn't as good idea for me to do the painting since I'm
pregnant.

Put 2 or 3 layers of paint on it and let it dry over night. Just remember when painting anything make sure that you do it in a well ventilated area. After you are sure that your paint is dry you can attach your ribbon and hang it on the door.

Crochet a Beanie

2011-11-15T23:10:00.000-08:00

Since Christmas is not far away I have been looking for gifts to make for my loved ones and honestly I am freaking out a little. I guess I didn't realize how little time we really have until the holidays are here. So this week I have been doing a lot of crocheting (mostly because I am tired of sitting in front of my sewing machine) and I found this awesome beanie tutorial on YouTube by Crochet Geek. I am not very good at crocheting but I like to pick it up every now and then just to make sure that I still suck.

This hat took me 2 hours

If you are still learning like me this is a good tutorial for you, so here it is. Crochet Geek also has some great tutorials on the basics of crocheting.

The only problem I really had with this project was getting enough time to just sit and finish it. It only took me about 2 hours but if I had waited for my son to take a nap it might of moved along faster. I spent a lot of time chasing him around the house as he ran away with my yarn or crochet hook.

And just for fun here is one of the other projects I'm working on. New pj's for Charlie! They are going to be footy pj's when they are all done. I still have to cut down the legs and the arms because the pattern I used was way too big, then I need to add the feet and the trim. I don't have much left to do and I hope to get it done sometime this week if I can find time.

Thanks for reading.

Wreath

2011-11-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for the holidays, it is my favorite time of year! I love the cold weather, hot cocoa, Christmas lights and the cookies. Since we are so close to Christmas time I thought I would do an easy tutorial on wreath making.

This is a very simple project and it didn't cost me more than 6 bucks. The materials you will need are

-1 wreath (I bought one from the dollar store)

-Yarn (You wont need more than half a skein of yarn)

-Hot glue gun

-Decorations of your choice for the wreath.

-Wreath hanger (I also found this at the dollar store)

I bought this wreath at the dollar store but you can find foam wreaths at your local craft store for about 5 bucks and up.

Tie a knot around your wreath to
keep your yarn secure.

Wrap the yarn around the wreath

Wrap some more...

and more...

When I had about 10 inches left to wrap,
I added in some silver berries.

I cut the most of the stem off of the berries
leaving about 2 or 3 inches,
then I stuffed the end into the wreath

This is what it looks like close up.

Next I started wrapping around the berries
until the first cluster looked like this.
Then I pulled the remainder of the stem up
and wrapped the under it the .

Hot glue the end of the yarn and berries
down to keep it from unraveling.

Add any other decorations you want
then hang it on your door.

Thanks for reading!

Its been too long

2011-11-02T00:19:00.000-07:00

The past few months have just been crazy, we found out a few months ago that we are pregnant with baby number two. I have had almost no energy so I have not done very many projects. During the past week I have started feeling so much better and I'm ready to work on some new stuff.

This Halloween I didn't really do anything fancy I dressed up as a witch, my husband was a wizard and I found a cute little elephant costume for Charlie at goodwill. The only thing I made was our wands (I will post a tutorial for that soon). Since this year was so uneventful I will show you our costumes from last year.

I am a big Star Trek fan! I remember sneaking out of bed every night to watch Next Generations on tv with my older brother and sister at 10:00 at night. Even though I new I would get into big trouble if (when) I got caught out of bed by my mother, it was worth it.

My husband and I spent weeks on his costume alone, I think that I burnt my self with the hot glue gun about a thousand times. I only spent a few days on the star fleet costumes, they were really easy compared to my husbands outfit.

This was the first onesie I ever made

My costume didn't turn out quite right

My husband and his brother all dressed up

Thanks for reading!

Handmade Baby Shorts

2011-07-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

My ten month old baby boy has been growing like crazy and he is starting to run out of clothes that fit him. So I decided to make him some shorts so he can keep cool during those hot summer days to come. Instead of using a patter I took some of his shorts and used them as an outline.

I just love the way these turned out and they should last for at least a few weeks before he grows out of them. If anyone wants a full tutorial on how to make these cute shorts, just leave me a comment and I will try and write one up soon.
Thanks for reading!

Baby Food Jar Spice Rack

2011-06-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here is another post for all you moms out there who have a million baby food jars sitting around your house waiting to be used.
I got the idea to make my spice rack from this site. She put her jars on the refrigerator, but since my refrigerator is not next to the stove, I made a magnetic frame that I could hang anywhere in my kitchen.

Thanks for reading!