Finger Paint Experimentation

I'm in the process of planning Axel's Harry Potter themed first birthday party (don't worry, I'll post pics when the time gets closer) and I thought finger paints would make a good "potion" for potions class. I found a few different recipes while I was researching recipes on the internet and thought I would try them out. A few people mentioned the paints molding after a week so I'm gonna follow and then tweak a few recipes til I get one that's just right. If you're interested I'm starting out with these recipes:

http://easiepeasie.blogspot.com/2010/07/homemade-finger-paints.html

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/make-your-own-fingerpaint.htm

One commenter on the first link mentioned the sugar causing the mold so I will try once with the sugar and once without. I'll take pictures and post my final results in a week or so along with the recipe that worked out best for me.

Stay tuned!

Baby food container crafts

I know it's been awhile since I've posted and this post will have a part 2 that won't happen for several weeks, but I thought I would post about it anyway.

I recently acquired this:

 

I never really thought about how many of these containers I might go through until someone gave us several dozen jars of baby food. Suddenly all I could think about was emptying them out and crafting with them. I have a few ideas on what I want to do, but I'm not going to share just yet. I promise that I will post pictures of what I make as soon as I get the stuff made.

Baby Clothes on a Budget

Hi Everyone!  Sorry it's been so long since I last posted.  A lot has happened in the past few months.  I had a baby boy, (and he is steadily growing like a weed), I went back to work, and then I quit work.  I'm now a stay at home mom on a budget and it's AWESOME.  I love seeing my son's smiling face when I greet him first thing in the morning.  I love not being so exhausted that I barely have the energy to rock my son to sleep.  And most of all - I love that I am being creative again.

I just thought of, completed, and now blogged about a baby clothes project.  Awesome right??

I hate onesies.  I hate that ALL the baby clothes for infants under 12 months are always onesies.  Do you want to know why I hate them?  Aside from the fact they look ugly (who wears all their shirts tucked into their pants?).  They are a pain to change diapers in.  Especially if you have a breastfed baby that mere mortal diapers can't contain their bowel movements.  It never fails, his poo will explode out the back or front of his diaper, then when I try to get the onesie off I end up smearing poop all the way up to his ears.  I hate that.

I have a million onesies, about a dozen shorts/pants, and only two actual shirts.  I went to three different stores looking for regular shirts and apparently they don't exist.  So, on the way back from the store today I had an idea.  Why don't I turn all those onesies into shirts?  It would be easy right?

Turns out, it is.  (I apologize, since I don't work anymore I don't have access to all my photo programs so some of these pictures are awful and I can't resize them).

I started with a thin crappy onesie that I bought.  It was supposed to be for babies 3-9 months (really? That should have been a sign, I know) but it turned out to be for 3 month old babies and the fabric is thin.  So it's going to be my guinea pig.

First, you cut straight across the bottom removing the snaps and trim.

Then you fold up the bottom and sew.  I used a zigzag stitch so it would still stretch at the bottom.  I managed to spit out 5 of these puppies in about 5 minutes.  Be careful not to stretch the knit as you sew.  If you do then the fabric will ruffle.  Just let the machine pull it through.



One of the onesies I did had a plastic-y image printed on it.  My machine didn't like it.  I think the plastic was sticking to the foot so it couldn't slide it through very well.  Maybe next time I will try a quilting foot with top and bottom feeders.

And here's my angel relaxing in dad's chair sporting one of his new shirts.

I hope you enjoyed this.  I know I did.  Now my son has shirts to wear with all those shorts.

Nursery photo

My nursery is about as finished as it is going to be and I am not sure how I feel about it.  I wanted to do something that was over the top, but my energy just didn't allow for that.  This is what I had the energy for.

I taped off all the stripes and painted them in one weekend.  FYI - I don't recommend that for a 7 month pregnant woman.  I was pretty much useless afterward for about 3 days.  I also painted stripes on the opposite wall.  I used the blue and brown because I wanted to breakup all the green that was in the room.  If you look closely you can see the pillow I made from a window valance that I mentioned in an earlier post.  We had the rocking chair refinished and reupholstered to match the nursery.  And because it was in serious need of a face lift.


All that hard work is worth it though.  In about 6 weeks I will have this little guy in my arms and he will need a stylish place to sleep.

2nd Trimester Energy

Hey everyone!  A couple of weeks ago my husband was out of town and I realized that all my extra 2nd trimester energy was probably going to run out soon.  I also realized that I had made a quilt for my sister-in-law's future baby, but I had not made one for mine.  I wish I had of taken a picture of the quilt I made for her.  The colors were a beautiful orange, brown, blue and green.  Soft shades like sea glass.  I didn't know if she was having a boy or girl so I tried to make it gender neutral.  The backing was a chocolate brown flannel so it would be soft on baby's skin.  Lovely.  And I didn't take a single photo.  All I can say is pregnancy brain. 

Well, I ended up making 2 quilts for my future son.  One was more subdued and one was bright and fun.  I had my husband in mind when I picked out the subdued color scheme and the bright one fits my personality.  Believe it or not, both of these quilts were made with fabric I already had on hand.  I didn't have to purchase anything.  That probably indicates a problem of some kind, but I will choose to ignore that.

First up we have the fun quilt I made for myself.  I used the remaining strips from a jelly roll I used on an earlier project and then picked some remaining fabric to fill in the gaps.  The whole quilt is made with 2 1/2" strips.  Except for the corners.  I was going to cut the frog fabric into strips, but I like the idea of using triangles instead.  That way all the little creepy critters were visible.  Actually, after I had it all sewn together I kinda wished I had used the frog fabric for my center square also.  Oh well.

The backing is just a basic white with a tiny floral print imprinted on it.  My binding is a bright blue.  I love this quilt.  It makes me happy just to look at it and all the bright greens, yellows, and blues.  I hope my son likes it too. 

My husband likes Earthy colors.  He tolerates the bright punchy stuff because he is married to me :o).  So when I laid out this color scheme I knew he would like it.  It's a really simple layout that I first saw on this site.  It looked easy enough to figure out.  I cut 2 1/2" strips from my fabrics and sewed four of them together then cut 8 1/2" squares and squared them up. Next I sewed two 2 1/2" strips of my fabric to two 2 1/2" strips of background fabric and cut them into 8 1/2" squares. The strips between the rows is 3 1/2" wide.  Then I assembled them.

The backing is an olive colored fabric that I had several yards of and the binding is left over from another project I started, but never quite finished.  I showed my husband both my quilts when he got home and he picked this one as his favorite.  Do I know him or what?  I wanted him to have something he likes for when he is toting our son around.  I can't pick out all our son's stuff and still expect my hubby to get excited about it.

Shortly after completing both of these quilts I entered my 3rd trimester and my energy level has gone waaay down.  So much so that I don't want to get off the couch most times.  I do, but I really don't want to.  Now all I need are really hot days and I will be set.  Set to have this baby anyway.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  One more hour and I am outta here!