unique olive

Better Late Than Never - My Birth Story

2012-09-26T14:34:00.001-05:00

Yes, the baby finally came! She (that's right, we had a girl!!) is about a month old now and this is the first time I've been able to do a blog post...

Cora was born on August 29th at 11:58 am. She was 6 days past her due date at that point and still wanted to stay in! She weighed in at a petite 6 pounds 9.5 ounces and was 18.25 inches long. I was in labor with her for 30 freakin' hours. Pictures coming soon!

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At around 5:30 am on the 28th, I started having contractions, again. They were light and around 10 minutes apart until about 2 in the afternoon, when they stopped. Bean got home from work around 5 pm and it was like a flip switched - contractions started again and they were much stronger and only 7 minutes apart. This went on until about 8:30 pm and then they became way more intense and slightly closer together. By 9:30, we were out the door and on the way to the hospital at my midwife's request. We were admitted to the hospital at around 10:30 that night. Because I desperately wanted to have a natural birth, I chose not to do an epidural and tried to power through it. At around 4 am on the 29th, my contractions were strong but still 5 minutes apart and I wasn't dilated enough - I was going to have to have my water broken and be induced. I was, of course, heartbroken but also excited because this baby was coming without a doubt.

The pain was really amping up around 3 am, which made me try the whirlpool tub for some relief - didn't work for me, unfortunately. The midwife broke the news that we needed to break my water soon because she was worried that the baby would be in distress if we waited too much longer. After a half hour of intense deliberation and tears with Bean, we decided to go ahead and do the epidural and have her break my water. At this point, I had been in labor for just shy of 24 hours and was physically wiped out. The pain med guy appeared and he put in the needle/catheter. I am absolutely terrified of needles so you can imagine the sheer panic racing through my mind at this point... Thankfully, the worst part was the numbing shots and it was over relatively quickly. Soon after my epidural started to kick in and I was finally able to sleep for a few hours. At around 6:30 am, we started the Petocin drip to get the baby coming. The contractions started coming faster, lasting longer, and hurting much worse, even through the epidural haze. My mother, who I asked to be in the room when I delivered, arrived at the hospital at around 9 am and at that point I was in a lot of pain and I just wanted it over with. The nurses and midwife had been monitoring my and baby's heartbeats all night and had noticed that when I had a contraction, her heart rate dropped more than it should have... there was a chance that either her cord was around her neck or that she would not be able to fit through my pevis. My midwife told me that unless we were able to go into labor before noon, I would need a C-section. I bawled... like uncontrollable style. That is the very last thing I wanted and in my heart/mind, nothing about this delivery was going according to plan.

Thankfully, one of the most experienced (and sweetest) nurses tried a technique to get my pelvis to open up - she rolled me to my side and put one leg up on the little bedside table/trays for an hour. This TOTALLY worked like a charm - I was 100% effaced and 9 cm dilated within the hour. At approximately 11:15, I started to feel a lot of pressure not only in my bottom, but now in the front as well. I asked my husband to get the midwife because I felt like pushing... she walked into the room to check me and found that the baby was already half way down the chute, as it were. I pushed along with my contractions and by 11:58 am, I had my beautiful daughter! Bean even got to announce the gender, which was the most amazing thing ever! I, of course, bawled my eyes out right away and my mom was in a state of mild hysterics - she had thought the baby was a girl from day one and was right!

Immediately, they slapped her on my chest and Bean cut the cord. From the very first minute I laid eyes on her, I was absolutely in love. Bean was beside himself with joy, it was a beautiful moment. Later, I found out that yes, her cord was wrapped around her neck but my midwife handled it like a pro - she took it off the moment that it was physically possible and with a speed not normally seen.

She is a perfect, healthy baby and brings us an unending supply of joy and love (and some stress too). It's funny how life before her seems so long ago now but it's only been a month. Cora really completes our little family and we couldn't be happier.

Much love to all of you!

Officially Overdue.

2012-08-27T11:59:00.000-05:00

Like that favorite library book that I keep forgetting to return, this baby is now 4 days overdue. These have been four of the longest and most agonizing days of my entire life. Not only am I questioning every single little twitch or twinge of pain that comes from... down there... but I'm wondering if there is something wrong with me because Baby hasn't come yet.

Yes, I'm overly dramatic but damn it, this was not supposed to go this way. Add a severe case of "Why ME"s to the equation and you have one very emotional and erratic Nicole to deal with... lucky Bean.

Yesterday was just the most awful day I've had in a loooong time. First, I was up since about 3 am because of severe acid reflux that just wouldn't go away. At about 8 am, I was able to fall back asleep for a few hours until 10. I wanted to take a quick shower and head out to the pharmacy to get some Zantac and lo-and-behold, the water main outside of our house broke. I got soaped up and partially rinsed, but no hair washing in sight... I had to finish my "refreshing" shower with baby wipes... yay. Then we left for the pharmacy, finally everything would be okay. We were in the store for roughly 5 minutes and when we came out, our fairly new and nice car would not start. Like nothing at all was happening. Bean popped the hood and found that the battery casing had a big crack in it and had leaked all of the acid/water out... we had no power to do anything. If you would have seen me in the parking lot of that store, you would have made a point not to make eye contact... here is a car with the hood up and a very pregnant woman sitting inside bawling. Thankfully, my sister and her fiance lived pretty close so they were able to drive us home to get Bean's car so we could buy a battery. Then off to Sam's Club, where we ran into Bean's parents and they teased me about my watermelon belly. Everybody laughed but me because I was still right in the middle of my pity parade.

Fast forward to us getting the new battery in the car, which is working perfectly now. The afternoon was fine, we ended up making a special dinner together that was really really good. 3-Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Orange-Butter Broccoli. Seriously, it was heavenly after a long and painful day. At about 8pm that night, I started to feel menstrual like cramps, and I was praying that they were real contractions this time. Coming pretty regularly, my tummy was tightening like it should... everything was finally falling into place. Move to about 10:30 when Bean and I decided to go to bed. Contractions still coming, everything was great. I fell asleep pretty quickly and I woke up a few times in the night to pee, contractions were still there. Woke up this morning and NOTHING. No pains or tightening of any kind, just the baby wiggling about occasionally. I woke up blaming myself that this all had stopped, like if I had just stayed awake we could have a baby today... I am still pretty upset about the whole situation but honestly, what can I do? If the baby isn't ready to come yet, it just isn't ready.

Here is hoping that today is better...

4 Days Away...

2012-08-19T13:16:00.000-05:00

And still no baby to show for it. Yep, my official due date is August 23rd, the day after my 24th birthday, and this baby isn't showing any signs of wanting to leave the womb. I've been trying walking, drinking raspberry leaf tea, even some other methods that I'm not going to get into. Still nothing...

Basically, I want this baby OUT but Baby is not interested in leaving. Still getting lots of movements, wiggles, and stretches from the baby, so that is good. For the past couple days I have been getting a lot of ligament stretching down my left side, especially at night, and Braxton Hicks contractions pretty much non-stop. I am hoping that this is my body trying to tell Baby that it's time to get this show on the road, but I can't decide if that is just wishful thinking on my part. Haven't lost the mucus plug yet and the water has (obviously) not broken... I am about ready to sacrifice a (roasting) chicken to my heathen gods in order to get this movin'...

Bean wants me & little B to wait at least one more day so he can get some time sensitive, important stuff done for work... I couldn't help but laugh in his face. I have been the one carrying around this squirming little human being for 9 months, letting it destroy my body the whole time... he doesn't have the right to ask me to wait, even if it was physically possible. I'm sure he is 85% joking, but it's that 15% that makes me want to punch him in the nose... He means well, surely.

Here is hoping that in the next week, I'll be able to give you guys my birthing story and Baby J's stats... Any mamas with good natural-induction techniques should comment. I need all the help I can get.

Baby Baby BABY

2012-08-13T14:44:00.000-05:00

So I went and did it again, I neglected my poor, sweet blog.

I've been doing lots of other stuff in the mean time though, really. Like trying to wish this baby out of me. We have about a week and a half until our due date at this point and I would LOVE Baby to come prior to that. Like now.

Besides wishing, I've been working on crochet stuff for a local photographer, CNicholl Photography. She did my maternity shots and is just fab. Seriously.

Recognize the belly band?

Anyway, she has commissioned a hand full of crochet prop hats from me over the past two weeks so I've been busy crocheting. And she manged to peer pressure me into making a new Etsy shop, miniolives, which is for all my baby stuff. It's kind of nice to be able to do things other than jewelry, as everyone and their cousin can make a bracelet...

I also did a bunch of diaper pail liners, which are selling like crazy at the new Etsy - who would have guessed?!

Oh and a puffy star origami mobile for Baby J's room... it's so damn cute.

Anyway, go check out the new Etsy and a say a quick prayer for a quick labor and delivery for Baby J and I. And maybe one in the next week, that'd be pretty great.

The beginning of our journey into cloth diapering...

2012-07-24T16:11:00.001-05:00

We made the decision as soon as this baby was conceived that we'd be cloth diapering. For the first 6 months of the pregnancy, I'd do a teeny bit of research every now and again but generally, I just figured I'd wait until the baby got a little closer. I should have started early! Not that it's a big deal now, but budgeting for this would be easier spread out over the entire pregnancy... And now the majority of my day is spent researching cloth diapering stuff, as well as pinning good tutorials for stuff on Pinterest. (Follow me HERE!)

That being said, we decided to do a combination of traditional cloth diapers with PUL covers and pocket diapers. I went out to our local cloth diaper/organic baby rearing store, Little Padded Seats, and bought two white soft IMSE VIMSE diaper covers in small. These are very soft and have nice gusseted leg holes for baby, which could accommodate both chunky thighs and chicken legs. Since I didn't want to have to buy these every time the baby grew, I also bought two Rump-a-Roos covers that are one size fits all. I got a cute little celery color and a stormy sort of gray. To go under these, I bought two 10 packs of premium prefold diapers from Gerber, which I will eventually end up buying more. These are nice because not only can I use them solo with a cover, but I can also use them to stuff my pocket diapers - SCORE. For closure when going solo, I plan to use Snappis, which are pretty awesome because I can't poke baby with sharp pins in the middle of the night.

Now on to the pocket diapers. For these, we are going to try two different brands, FLIP by bumGenius and gDiapers. Both of these are a pocket diaper/cover combo, meaning that the diaper itself is a PUL shell with two pocket flaps on the front and back of the inside to hold inserts or cloth diapers. So far, we have only bought the FLIP diapers but I am diggin' them already. The shells are pretty easy to adjust, they are a one size with plastic snaps, and the stay-dry inserts that come in the daypacks are pretty thick. They are in the wash now but I will test absorbancy soon and get back to you... I got two Day Packs in Noodle and Butternut, which come with 2 shells and 6 stay-dry inserts each for $50 a box. Considering that I will be able to use the inserts or the cloth diapers, these were a pretty good investment. In the long run, I think we'll have at least 6 of the shells, possibly up to 10 because we'll be able to use them for the whole diapering experience up to potty training, and potentially for the next kid.

The gDiapers that we are going to try are SO FREAKING CUTE. Seriously, those little things are precious even though the kid will poop in them. We are going to end up trying four of the gDiapers in Small to start and see how it goes from there. gDiapers are sized, which will probably make it a better fit for growing baby but we'll have to buy more as baby thickens up... Unfortunately, the gDiapers don't come with inserts, you have to buy them separately and they run $30 for a 6 pack, which ends up being $5 an insert! YIKES. I am already planning to make my own inserts for at least the gDiapers, probably the FLIP ones as well. Tutorial in the future, possibly?

Anyway, that is the beginning of my diaper stash, more to come I am sure. I will calculate up my costs eventually as well, so that I can see how much we are saving versus disposable diapers.

Any of my cloth diaper mamas that want to comment with advice would be MUCH appreciated! We need all the help we can get...

Wet Bag - A Tutorial!

2012-07-17T12:41:00.002-05:00

Because the hubs and I are cloth diapering the new baby, we will need to have a couple wet bags on hand at all times, especially during traveling. I had all of the necessary supplies hanging around so I got to work... hope you enjoy!

To start with, you'll need the following things :

Materials

Waterproof fabric (PUL, vinyl, shower curtain, waterproof vinyl tablecloth, whatever you have on hand!)
Cotton fabric
Zipper
Sewing Machine
Scissors
Seam ripper (optional)

To start with, cut your waterproof fabric to the size bag you'll want. I wanted to use a cheap waterproof tablecloth I had gotten during the spring for $1. I thought about my bag dimensions and ended up settling on a 12" x 12" bag, which means I cut a 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece from my tablecloth. The backing of this one is flannel, so I was able to just lay the whole thing over my chosen cotton fabric without pinning - it sticks! So to be final, you'll need two rectangles of fabric, one 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece of your waterproof material and one 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece of your cotton fabric. You'll also need to make sure your zipper will fit in the opening. For this project, you'll want a zipper length of approximately 11.5 inches. If your zipper is a little long, zip it up to the point you want it to end. Put it in your sewing machine unzipped with the spot marked that it should end. Now use the zig-zag stitch on the widest setting but the closest length together to sew the two halves together firmly. Your new ending should be pretty short, but functional. I sacrificed an old zip-up sweater to my heathen craft gods for this craft project, so I had to use this method. (Sorry, forgot to take progress shots for the zipper bit...)

Once your fabric is all cut, you will probably want to do your 1/4 inch fold over on each shorter end, it makes for pretty seams... c: Your stitches should be fairly close together and in a straight line, no more zig-zag-ing for you.

Next, close your zipper up and pin to the short end of your fabric rectangle. You'll want to have the vinyl side facing out on the bottom side, the right side of the cotton facing up for the outside. Sew on your zipper now, and be sure to back-tack your beginning and ending! The next bit is to open your zipper up and sew the other side - this part is key. If you try to do this with the zipper closed, you will have troubles... Once your zipper is on, you'll need to flip the bag inside out so that the vinyl is on the outside on both sides of your tube of fabric.

Pin up your sides and sew your 1/4 seam down each side, making sure to back-tack again. To ensure nice clean corners, snip the corners off at the bottom of your bag, but only up to your seam. Once this is done, open up your zipper and flip your bag right-side (cotton) out. Use something like a pen (with the cap on) or a crochet hook to push out your corners.

Ta-da! Sit back and enjoy your new wet bag! Throw your bathing suit in there after the pool, or use it for soiled diapers and whatnot like we are. When cleaning this bag, I recommend just wiping out the inside with a Clorox wipe or equivalent. If you need to wash it because the outside got dirty, I would machine or hand wash it only - don't dry it in your dryer. Don't worry, it should air dry fairly quickly. The best part of this project is that it didn't cost me a penny! I already had the fabric and tablecloth in my craft zone for other projects. The zipper was from an old (and not particularly awesome) sweater.

Belly Sash - A Tutorial!

2012-07-14T09:15:00.001-05:00

Isn't that adorable? Seriously, so much squee-ing over here. I made this sash for my upcoming maternity photos with CNicholl Photography (here is her Facebook fan page). I wanted to do something to show off the belly, since it still looks pretty decent, besides all of my new-found belly hair...

To make your own cute belly sash like this one, you'll need the following:

Materials

Fabric scraps [I used purple knit from a failed dress and some cottony muslin]
Lacey trim/ribbon or equivilant [Seriously, use anything you want!]
2 inch ribbon for the actual sash
Yarn
Hot glue gun and a couple hot glue sticks
Scissors
Beads
Felt Sheet
Button(s)
Lighter

To get started, decide the basic shapes of your flowers and how many you'd like. I chose to do one large focal flower, one lacey flower, two pom flowers, and two crochet rose flowers. This project is infinitely personalizable, so have fun deciding what you'd like to do and the colors you are using! For my sash, I used a printed ribbon that wasn't overly girly, since we aren't finding out the gender. You could absolutely use a soft satin ribbon for this and it would look a little less busy, plus you could incorporate patterned fabric/ribbon into your flowers without clashing.

To start, make your big focal flower. I used a great tutorial over at The House of Smiths to make my focal flower. I didn't follow her tutorial exactly, but pretty darn close. You can find it here. I used my purple knit on six 5 inch circles to make the base and five 3 inch circles in the cotton muslin to make the top petals. I ended up hot gluing a star button in there, but you could use just about anything with a flat-ish bottom.

Next, I did my little pom flowers in the same purple knit. I used another tutorial for these, found at Sew Chatty. These were craaaaazy easy and I want to put them on everything! I used ten 3 inch circles of the knit per flower and a 2 inch circle of the felt. Once I was done, I went to town fluffing them up, they are friggin' precious!

Next I did the "crochet" roses. I use the term crochet loosely because you are actually braiding them! If I had the time, I probably would have whipped out my crochet hooks and just done a chain stitch instead. For these, I took 3 pieces of yarn in chartreuse that were roughly 18 inches long. I did an overhand knot at one end and stuck that under my clipboard. Then you just braid braid braid. Get it however long you want and overhand knot the opposite end. Clip off the extra yarn on either side and set your felt circle ready. Mine was about 2 inches in diameter, you want it as big as your rose. Put a nice dab of hot glue in the center and put your knot on it. Then just wind it around in a spiral - I twisted mine from time to time. Hot glue regularly so it doesn't come undone. At the end, you should have the knot and a little bit of braid left, this is the time to trim your felt circle if it was too big. You'll want to tuck the knot on the underside of the felt circle and hot glue in place. Repeat this process if you are doing more than one of these flowers!

Finally, I made my lacey 5 petal flower. This was by far the easiest one. I took some buy-the-spool lace trim and cut out a petal shape that I liked. Then I just did 4 more. Cut a small circle out of your felt, like 1/2 inch or so, and hot glue your petals on. I decided that they needed something so I hot glued 3 vintage glass pearls into the center.

At this point, decide how long your sash ribbon should be. If you are making this for yourself, wrap the ribbon at the point you want it on your belly and add 10 - 12 inches. If you are making this for a friend, I would say a 40 inch length of ribbon would be fine. Once your ribbon is cut, don't forget to singe the edges with a lighter so you don't get fraying strings.

I then laid my ribbon on the floor and put out all of my flowers. I took a few tries to find a design that I liked best but once you do, simply hot glue each piece directly on the ribbon. Let it dry for 5 - 10 minutes and you have an adorable belly sash for maternity pictures! This could also be used as a hairband, just cut your base ribbon shorter. OR you could do this as a bridal sash, I'd love to see ivory and white flowers with pearls and little blue accents!

Sorry about the lack of progress shots but I hope you have fun with this tutorial! Now go forth and make cute things, you deserve it!

Will you look at the time...

2012-07-13T14:39:00.001-05:00

Yeah... I flaked on my blog for a while. Sorry about that.

Baby thought it would be super awesome to go into false (?) labor about a week and a half ago, so I've been chillin' and not doing much crafty stuff, IE getting re-addicted to The Sims 3. Bed rest is on, at least for the next week. Kind of sucks, but it gives me a good excuse for Bean to pick up the household slack, just a little.

So this false labor thing did not feel very false. I woke up at about 1 am that night with some mild cramping and an achy back, no big deal. I got up, got a glass of water, pee'd for the 3rd time, and went back to bed. Fast forward to about 2:30 am and you'll see me doubled over in pain and crying from the stress of the situation. I was having contractions, oh god. They were coming around 20 minutes apart and were lasting for about a minute each. Thinking that this was probably Braxton Hicks, though mine had not been painful up until this point, I went into the living room and snuggled up in Bean's new leather recliner and put on Tremors 4 (why??). Seriously, that movie is just the worst. I love the first one simply because I have so many great memories of my grandfather tied to it. Why I decided to watch the 4th in the series was beyond me, but I blame my pain-hazed brain for any bad decision making that day.

Anyway, I didn't sleep a wink that night and spend most of the morning hours googling pre-term labor, which was an awful idea. Not only was I already freaked out, but now I was giving myself more symptoms... I woke up Bean at 5am and told him that he was not going to work that day, I was possibly going into pre-term and we might have a baby later. Obviously, he freaked out which freaked me out even more. In a hurry, we packed both hospital bags and made a list of things we still needed to get. We hadn't packed that yet because neither of us had felt the need, I was only 32 weeks after all. We not-so-patiently waited until 8, which is when my midwife's office opened and left a message for the charge nurse to call me back right away. At some point during the interim, the baby started to move down into my pelvis zone, which made the peeing situation like 10 times worse. UGH.

Because she didn't call us back right at 8:05, we decided that we'd go to Walmart and get some cinnamon rolls. And the stuff off of our lists, but mostly breakfast. We are not Walmart people... I do whatever I can to avoid it 90% of the time. I, again, blame my pain-brain for this lapse in judgement, though I will say that it was much more enjoyable at 8:30 am on a Monday morning, we were one of the few people in there. The midwife did call me back at about 8:35 and told me to time the contractions and I should just come to my appointment at 1:15 that afternoon that was already scheduled. Funny thing... around 12:15 my contractions slowed down to about 30 minutes apart, then 40, and by 1:15 they were gone altogether. Figures. They did the contraction monitoring thing on us for a while, which was cool because the baby was kicking the paddles and having hiccups the whole time. While we were trapped in this little room, Bean and I watched a shoe thing on QVC, which was hilarious and really lightened the mood. All in all, baby was fine, I was fine. The midwife told us that a) I was officially on bed rest until week 35 and b) that we were not to be intimate in that time frame. Bean audibly groaned at that last bit, which made me laugh and the midwife feel uncomfortable, which was great.

So that is my excuse for not blogging for the past week, take it or leave it. I am going to try and pump out another tutorial in the next few days, but I can't promise anything concrete.

Later gators.

Gold and Pearls - A dangle earring tutorial!

2012-06-29T12:02:00.000-05:00

Some new earrings have shown up in my Etsy shop and I am in love! If these do well, I may start doing a lot more pieces like them.

Because I love them SO much, I'm going to tell you how I made them!

Materials

5 - 6 inches of 20 gauge gold wire
2 Glass pearls, I got some vintage ones for a steal at a thrift store
Gold earring findings (Or you could make your own with wire)
Clear Crystal beads, side drilled hole

First thing, I took my pearl and put it on a looped finding. Then, because I like the look of wrapped loops, I used my round nosed pliers and made a loop a bit above my pearl. I then wrapped the rest of the wire down until I got to the pearl and I clipped off the excess.

Next, I did a briolette wrap on the crystal bead. I had a side drilled crystal but this process would work beautifully on a front to back drilled one as well. For a tutorial on how to do a briolette wrap, check out this super informative website! How to Make Beaded Jewelry

Lastly, the easy part! I opened the non-wrapped loop on the pearl bead, this should be on the bottom side, and put the loop from the top of my crystal on it. Close the loop. Then I opened the loop on the earring post and put the wrapped loop on the top of the pearl bead on that. Close the loop.

TA-DA! You just made some super pretty, super simple earrings! These are sooo cute for formal occasions, but you could wear these just about any 'ol time. These would also be really pretty with different colored beads and crystals, or silver wire! Experiment, have fun!

If you are interested in buying some of these lovelies for yourself (or a friend!) please check out my etsy shop by clicking the link in the sidebar.

**THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY, DO NOT MAKE THESE AND ATTEMPT TO SELL THEM.**

Have fun and make something pretty today!

Many things...

2012-06-27T16:30:00.001-05:00

So I have this whole week off because my semester is over with college, WHOO! I have so many things that I want to do with my off time, which is mostly dedicated to crafting, surprise surprise. I will be working on at least one new tutorial this week, and maybe some other stuff, who knows. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that this will be a week of many things for my little blog!

The medicine profiles the line.

Button Earring Alert!

2012-06-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, my sister and I were crafting up a storm and I decided to make a ton of adorable button earrings! These are so cute that we both ended up keeping a pair, I wear them more than I'd like to admit! Here are some of my favorites!

These are so sparkly and cute!

Diggin' the nautical theme of these buttons!

Polka dots... be still my beating heart!

The scroll work on these is just so pretty and intricate!

To see more and purchase some for yourself (or a lucky friend!) click on the link in my sidebar labeled "etsy shop!"

Or you just click this link!

uniqueOLIVE at etsy.com!

DIY Laundry Soap!

2012-06-24T15:46:00.000-05:00

So some friends of mine make their own laundry soap and just love it. I've been wanting to try it for some time but finding the time to grate soap is not the easiest... But I figured that with Baby J on the way, I'd probably want something better for their sensitive skin besides Dreft. Dreft isn't bad or anything, but I'm not a huge fan of the smell of it NOR I am a fan of buying laundry detergent for me and the hub's clothes and a separate one for baby.

So I found this tutorial on Pinterest, it is FABULOUS. The Bobbi over at How Does She has an awesome idea with adding the Purex crystals, which makes the whole thing smell like heaven. So here is my break-down of the tutorial and my results.

I did not use the Oxyclean or baking soda because I totally spaced it when I was at the store, but I did have 1 box of Borax, 1 box of Arm & Hammer Washing Powder, 1 container of Lavender scented Purex Crystals, and 2 bars of Fel Naptha laundry soap. I could have used my food processor to grate the soap, but I like to use that for food and didn't want to wash it 18 times to get all the soap residue off of it. Instead I bought a super cheap metal cheese grater and went to town. It took me around 30 minutes to get it all grated and I lost some finger skin in the process. If I were doing this again, I would wear gloves during the grating. That being said, the rest of the process was totally easy.

I didn't have a 5 gallon bucket to mix in (DANG!) so I had to use 2 large Tupperware containers instead. I just dumped half of my soap shavings into one bowl, the other half in the other bowl. Then each bowl got 1/2 of the Purex, Borax, and Washing Powder. I mixed each with a spoon fairly thoroughly until the mix looked pretty homogenous. Then I dug around in my craft zone until I found some really perfect and awesome glass containers from last Christmas... they were supposed to be etched glass sugar/flour holders, but I didn't end up making them. Sorry Mom! That being said, I used the two containers, which I would estimate at 28 - 30 ounces each (maybe more), the Purex container, 28 ounces, AND a gallon sized Ziploc bag. The Ziploc didn't get full, but about half way for sure. If you wanted to do this process a little more organic or fragrance free, I would recommend using essential oils in the mixing process instead of the Purex crystals. Also, use the white Zote soap instead of the pink version or the Fel Naptha, as those two are scented. The essential oils will leave your clothes very lightly scented, but they are anti-viral and what not so you are still getting a super awesome cleaning.

I think the most awesome thing about this detergent is that for around $15.00 I made enough to last us a loooooong time, as we'll only need 1 to 2 tablespoons per load. That is so awesome, because the cost of liquid detergent and fabric softener is the same, if not more, and this will last me at least as long as two bottles of each did, probably longer. And I did try it today, it smells AMAZING!! Goodbye Tide, hello DIYSoap!

So get out there and make yourself some laundry detergent! The price is right and you get to pick the scents and everything!

Go ahead and check out the tutorial, linked HERE.

Prepare Yourself...

2012-06-20T15:28:00.000-05:00

For an impromptu product review that isn't sponsored in any way, seriously.

SO as you have probably read, I'm pregnant. This can get annoying when I want to clean stuff, because the vinegar/water/baking soda/lemon juice mix isn't strong enough for me and technically I am not supposed to be using my normal cleaners, like Windex and Clorox. (I LOVE BLEACH.) The past several months, Bean has been doing a majority of the cleaning. I totally hate this because he works long days and then comes home to scrub the bathroom. Plus he doesn't get into all the nooks and crannies that I do...

Anyway, I went to Target today to get some crib sheets and return some baby items when I thought to myself, "Nicole, you need to get some of them there or-ganic cleaners." Yes, I give myself a hick accent, what of it. As I was perusing the aisles of cleaners and laundry stuff, I noticed the Seventh Generation multi-surface cleaner and the Method brand cleaners. After a smell test of each kind, I found that the Method French Lavender was MUCH more pleasing to the nose, as the Seventh Generation one smelled like mint and cat pee. The Method brand also had some other cleaners too, like ones specifically for tub and tile or the kitchen. I ended up getting : French Lavender Multi-Surface, Antibac (which is the kitchen cleaner), and Bath & Tile. The Antibac one is Lemon Verbana scented and the Bath & Tile is eucalyptus and mint. They all smelled SOOOOOO GOOOD.

So I went home and put them on the table, not feeling the urge to clean whatsoever. I started working on a foot stool for my nursery chair and lo-and-behold, the cat puked in the hallway. Awesome. I got up and decided to use my new Method cleaner and ooooooooooh man did it work well. For some reason, my cat-dog had eaten a turd (I know right?!) and normally that would out-stink any of my normal stuff. Well the French Lavender covered it right up, which was awesome. I looked into my bathroom and decided that maybe I should just clean the bathtub, as I took a bath earlier today and it was pretty grungy. Long story short, I ended up cleaning the entire bathroom, top to bottom. I seriously want to sit in there on the floor and just breathe, it smells sooo good. And to top it off, the bathroom got really clean too, which I was a little unsure of as it was organic and not bleach.

Method, you have my attention and my business. I hope that you, my reader(s?), go out and check this stuff out for yourself. The price was in line with all of the similar cleaners, in fact I got mine on sale (WHOOT!)

Father's Day

2012-06-18T11:40:00.001-05:00

Was a huge success. Bean flipped over the onesies that I made for him/Baby J, he couldn't believe I did that with freezer paper. (And you could too, check my post below!)

Another awesome thing about yesterday was my baby shower! My awesome sister and always-the-perfect-host mother threw me a garden party themed shower and boy did Baby J get showered. A lot of love for this kid already, oh man.

We finished up what we can with the nursery yesterday too. It looks a lot fuller after we opened all the gifts and put them in their newly appointed positions... And Bean also figured out the infant carrier seat - it was pretty cute watching him walk through all the steps using my 20-something year old teddy bear, Mr. Bear.

Pictures to come in the future, I am sure. I don't want to spoil the fun before we have everything in and assembled!

Thanks -

My craft landfill

2012-06-15T19:44:00.000-05:00

I feel like everyone should have their own little corner (or room) to dedicate to themselves. For me, this is my craft room and office. I am not one of those bloggers who is going to make my house look like it just flew off the pages of Better Homes and Gardens, but I'm not going to show you my real mess either.

Except this one time.

Yep. That is my creative chaos... it's a little more messy than usual because we just moved this room over from being our old master bedroom but it isn't far from the normal state of mess. I know, I need some shelves like crazy and maybe some new forms of organization but when it's semi-clean, it doesn't look too bad.

On my desk you'll see the aftermath of yesterday's tutorial on freezer stenciling, as well as a bunch of other in progress projects. Oh, and the cat is super awesome and broke the blinds in a fit while trying to eat a bee. Just an FYI, the bee won...

I feel like everyone should post their real craft room at least once, it makes you into a real person, not some perfect crafty person with a perfect crafty life.

Multi-Layered Freezer Paper Stenciling

2012-06-14T18:25:00.000-05:00

My first tutorial and it's a doozy. Please be aware that this method is not for the faint of heart, but the rewards are well worth it!

I decided that my husband deserved something from me and the baby for Father's Day (which is Sunday, YIKES!). From me, he is getting new fish for our fish tank, so what better gift that a sweet Finding Nemo onesie from our little guppy. After flexing my google-fu skills, I found a great image for the actual screen printing.

Tools Required

Exacto Knife or sharp box cutter
Cardboard or a self-healing cutting mat
Freezer Paper (NOT wax paper or parchment paper!)
Inkjet Printer
Acrylic Paint (I used FolkArt paint.)
Fabric Medium (I used Martha Stewart crafts.)
Onesies, T-shirts, Totes, etc. (Whatever you want to stencil on!)
Iron
Blow Dryer (optional)
Sponge brushes and a paint palette (Or a paper plate. c:)
Computer photo editing program (I used Adobe CS5, but you could use another free program like Picasa.)
PATIENCE!

So to start with, you need to figure out two important things - what you are going to stencil and what you are going to stencil on. I chose a onesie, but this would work for any other kind of fabric, canvas, whatever. After you've picked what you want to do, find an image of what you'd like and save it to your computer. Open this up with your editing program - I used Photoshop CS5 - and turn your image from a color image into a black and white image. Now you can either print it as is or use your mouse/graphics tablet to make the basic shapes of your design. I suggest if you print the image, you print as many copies as you want colors for your image. If you are doing it all digitally, make each color layer a different layer on the image.

Yep, I forgot to take a picture immediately...

Now you trace until you have the design you are looking for. For my Nemo and Marlin design, I used two layers - one for the orange and one for the black. I didn't need to do a white layer as the fabric was white to start with. If you are interested, you can print your designs directly on your freezer paper by cutting it into a 8.5 x 11 inch rectangle and printing on the DULL SIDE. Printing on the shiny side will surely result in a big mess... If you want to go the other route, go ahead and print your designs on regular paper. Don't worry, the freezer paper is fairly transparent, you can trace your design on OR just tape your freezer paper to the design and cut directly on it.

Now you'll need your exacto knife or equivalent. I have done stenciling with knifes, razor blades, box cutters, and more. You basically just need something sharp with a pointed blade. Anyway, you should cut out your design now! Be sure to hold on to those small pieces for eyes, centers of letters, etc. You'll want those for the ironing and stenciling steps.

After you get your design cut out, get your iron hot and prepare your fabric surface for stenciling. At this point, I'd recommend putting a layer of cardboard (which is what I did) or something else between your layers of fabric. Not all paints will bleed through, but some heavily pigmented colors might.

Once you get your iron ready, go ahead and press your design! Be sure that the shiny wax side is DOWN on the fabric! Also don't forget the little pieces you set aside earlier. I pressed my design for about 1-2 minutes because I had so many small nooks and crannies. You just want to get the paper nice and hot so the wax adheres to the fabric and creates a good seal on the edges.

Now the fun part! Mix your paint and fabric medium according to the directions on the bottle and get your sponge brush ready. Once you are ready, get a little paint on your brush and dab it on your design, paying attention to the edges on the interior and exterior. You may want to do more than one pass depending on the thickness of your paint.

Now you can blow dry your design. I let the hair dryer get it nice and dry, it makes it easier to peel off once it's dry.

Give it a minute or two to cool and GENTLY peel off your design! Make sure your paint is totally dry and give it another pass with your hot iron to set the paint permanently. Some fabric mediums say to let it set for 24 hours, but I have one very nosy cat who would love to ruin it as soon as I walked away...

Next, you should prepare your second layer of your design. For me, this was the little black stripes and whatnot for the clown fish coloring. I should have cut them both out at the same time, but I was lazy and preferred spending that time eating Pizza Rolls. You basically repeat the same steps as the first layer, which I think go much easier the second time.

Position your second layer on your fabric. It helps to have a guide or reference picture near by so that you get the positioning right... or you should free-ball it like me and just peek through the slits in the design to figure out where I wanted it.

Get your paint and medium ready and get to work! Once it is painted to your satisfaction, blow it dry and peel back the design. At this time, I used a tiny detail paintbrush to paint a few details here and there, but you may not need (or want) to do this. Once the design is done, set it with your hot iron. Sit back and enjoy the awesome thing you just created! I know my design doesn't look exactly like Nemo and Marlin from Finding Nemo, but they are close enough for me!

I would recommend letting your finished piece sit overnight to let the paint and everything dry completely BEFORE washing it. When washing, follow the directions on your fabric medium bottle, which will probably say to wash inside out with cold water and tumble dry low.

I hope you liked my first tutorial and that I didn't miss some major step!

If you like this tutorial, free feel to comment or put it on Pinterest!

*Finding Nemo is copyright of Disney.*

hello world.

2012-06-13T14:44:00.000-05:00

Well here I go. Started up my new blog today, here is hoping that it doesn't suck too badly or that I forget about it all the time, like my old blog...

In these pages you'll find crafting tutorials, ramblings, ~~shameless~~ advertising for my etsy shop, uniqueOLIVE, and disgusting personal details about my life. I'll try and make it informative and funny, but it will probably just be that last bit.

Coming soon is a super awesome tutorial on the already over-done freezer paper stenciling. Mine is different though... it's a multi-layered approach that I may or may not have learned from graffiti stenciling.

OH and let me tell you a bit about myself, before I space off and eat my second lunch.

My name is Nicole (hi, how are ya?) and I live in Iowa near our capital city of Des Moines. It is a pretty quiet life around here, for now. My husband, whom I will refer to as Bean, and I have two awesome dogs, Roxie and Mel. They are both rescue dogs and we couldn't love them more. Also, we have a ~~terrible~~ awesome cat named Hobbes, who is mostly a douche but can also be classified as a fat orange tabby cat. The fella and I are also pregnant (and by we I mean ONLY ME) with our first kidlet.

Some thoughts on pregnancy - only believe half of the horrible stories people tell you and none of the good ones. So far, I've gotten pretty lucky as far as the crappy parts of pregnancy are concerned. I have some stretch marks on my thighs (BOO) but they are minimal. None on the belly area yet, thanks to Bean's constant cocoa buttering. Boobs are massively huge now, Bean loves it, I hate it. I started at an already pretty awesome 34 D and am now sitting uncomfortably at a 36 DD. I have very little in the way of varicose or spider veins, which is cool. I'm at about 30 weeks right now and have gained a massive 20 pounds to my not-so-huge frame. People tell me I look beautiful and that I don't look close to 7 months pregnant, but what the hell do they know. I started at my highest ever weight, roughly 140 pounds and am now ringing the 160 bell. It probably is going to piss someone off that I'm complaining about it, but to each their own. I hated being at 140, my ideal weight is more in the 115 range... and now I'm at 160 and still climbing.

The baby is cool and healthy and whatnot, but being pregnant was not something that I was fully and completely mentally prepared for. More to come on this.

If you are reading this, you probably stumbled here by accident, but thanks.

- Nicole