Nursery Reveal

BEFORE… Office/Craft/Pet Room

AFTER… Soothing room for our baby boy with lots of personal, DIY touches!
 

 





   
       

And of course some burp cloths that match the nursery and our love for Michigan State!

Paint Colors: Sherwin Williams 6758 Aqueduct and Sherwin Williams 7073 Network Grey

Crib: Davinci Porter

Changing Table: Hand-me-down gift from some friends

Recliner/Ottoman: Harmony Kids Newco Taylor Classic Swivel Glider and Ottoman

Lamp Base: Lowe’s

Baskets: Hobby Lobby

Fabrics:

Emily Herrick Going Coastal Crab Walk in Gray

Emily Herrick Going Coastal Sea Star in Gray

P&B Textiles Downtown Circles in Light

Laura Gunn Magnolia Lane Textured Plaid in Turquoise

Tutorials Used:

Crib Skirt

Teething Guard

Valance

Changing Pad Cover

Taggies Cuddle Blanket Tutorial

It’s no secret that babies love to play with the tags on blankets and stuffed toys. Something about the texture of the tag that is silky and soft… I hear it’s a comfort thing. These blankets are soft and have ribbons sewn into the perimeter.

When purchasing a name brand blanket, these security blankets can cost upwards of $25. Yikes! You can easily replicate this playful, cuddly number for around $10 and give a young child a comforting, much loved security blanket.

Items needed
1/2 yard soft fabric (fleece, flannel, etc)
Variety of ribbons in different widths, colors and textures (grosgrain, satin, etc)
Scissors
Measuring tape
Sewing machine or needle with thread

1. Fold your fabric into a triangle to make a square (approximately 18”) and cut. I chose to use different fabric for the front and the back but you can easily use the same fabric.  2. Lay your fabrics together. If there is and “inside” to the fabric, make sure these oppose each other (i.e. have the right-side-out of the fabric face the inside).3. Keep foster kittens from messing with your ribbon (if applicable).4. Pin your fabric together. 5. Lay your ribbon out around your blanket (not necessary, but it helps when visualizing the finished product. 6. Cut 16-20 pieces of ribbon, 5-6” long each. 7. Lay  your ribbon around the blanket (again, for visualization purposes).8. Fold your ribbon in half right-side-out, and pin between the two layers of fabric with the cut ends facing out and lining up with the perimeter of the fabric. 9. Once you have all the ribbons secured, sew a 1/2” seam allowance around the perimeter of the blanket, leaving a 3” hole to turn the blanket inside out.

10. Turn the blanket inside out, tuck in the edges of the hole and hand stitch the opening closed.

Easy Costume for all the Preggos Out There

It may be too late to craft something like this for this year, but keep this one in mind for next year! My sister-in-law is pregnant with our second nephew. When I heard that she and her husband were coming to a Halloween party with us this past weekend and didn’t know what to wear, I jumped into action (naturally).

In my research for the coolest pregnant women costumes, I came across this. Slightly morbid, yet too creative to pass up.

So I went to work on it. Our local Volunteers of America store was having a half-off everything sale and how could I possibly resist!?!

Blue T-shirt: $1.00

Beat up baby doll: $0.30

I had her try on the shirt and I marked it to tell where the arms and legs should go.

I cut small slits so I could poke the appendages through the shirt. After dismantling the poor baby doll, I stitched each body part to the shirt using the fabric that held the baby doll’s arms and legs to the torso.

And not wanting to be too morbid, I added a small ‘trick or treat’ bag to the baby’s hand.

Mr. Tote and I in 50 years…We won for ‘funniest costume’ at the party we went to. I pinned our badge of honor to Mr. Tote’s rockin’ suspenders. The old man likes his keg beer.

Fleece Scarf Tutorial

I made 14 of these before Christmas, but couldn't post for obvious reasons (*ahem MOM, AUNTIE MEG*). So I'm finally getting around to posting my tutorial and finished product. Everything I had seen on these screamed "MAKE ME! I'M EASY!" How could I resist? Little did I know how time consuming they would be. It took quite some time to cut all of the fleece, line it all up, sew it all and cut the fringe. One or two would have been easy, but 14? I just loved so many of the fleece colors, I couldn't choose just one. And since I feel bad asking the girl at the cutting counter for a small strip of each piece, I opted for larger pieces of the colored fleece that made two scarves out of each cut.

Shall we begin? Start by cutting your fleece into 6" strips by the length of the fleece.

Unfold your fleece strips to get the full length and lay your different colors on top of each other. I used three different colors (grey, white and and accent color). Pin the pieces together to hold them in the right place.

Preferably using a sewing machine, sew a straight stitch directly down the center of the fleece.

Remove your pins and lay the strip on a flat surface. Using fabric shears, cut 1" strips perpendicular to the stitched line, being very careful not to cut through the stitch.

A few months ago, I had my online buddy LJ design a custom tag for me that I had made into sewable tags via Etsy seller, Purple Hug. So I sewed these onto the end of one of the strips.

There you have it! Fourteen beautiful, easy, warm fleece scarves! Those that I didn't give as Christmas gifts, I am donating to our church to use for their Shared Pregnancy coat drive.