Gifts for the Modern Baby

I don't do much promotion in this space but I thought tonight I would share with you some of the wonderful work from my sister in law. She is so talented and makes beautiful baby bibs, burp cloths, lovies, and quilts. She shops for the most unique designer fabric and has a real eye for the modern baby.

If you're in the market you can check her out at Sew Quilt Mom on Etsy

Here are some of my favorites...

Crafty Plans for Christmas

I am so fortunate to have a son who shares in my crafty ways. With this comes the allowance to indulge in as many Christmas crafts we can squeeze in before this glorious holiday is upon us.

This week I was able to steal a precious day alone with my bestie who is expecting her third child. Our  aim was to fill our bags with as many Christmas crafty supplies to indulge ourselves and our children in one of the many things that are precious about this holiday.

Here is my plan...



Christmas village from All for the Boys



Pine cone Trees from Givers Log



Tree Stump ornaments from Pinterest (sorry, but I wish I knew who you were)



Glass Bead Ornaments from Kaboose



Painted Ball Ornaments from A Yellow Bicycle



Giant Snow Flakes made from Popsicle sticks (I wish I knew where this was from but the link says it's not safe :(



Wall Felt Tree from Sol and Rachel



Thumb Print Ornament from Fabuluster

Now here's hoping I can get some of these finished by Christmas!!!

Custom Pirate Brothers

Meet Joe and Sam.

Little brothers who's Mommy was thoughtful enough to have special little pirates made just for them for Christmas.

Thanks Katie for supporting my humble shop!

The dolls were made with specific hair and eye color and cost $40 each.

You can order custom made dolls from me at my Etsy shop

Crafty Gifts Ideas for the Kiddos

I hate to say it but Christmas is quickly approaching.

With this being the year of the Pinterest there are more ideas then there is time in the day.

Here are a few of my favorite ideas for the kiddos on my list.











I'm sure this will not be my last post of crafty ideas for Christmas!!!

Lil' Lovie Dolls

Just finished up a batch of Lil' Lovie dolls to take to Jennybean in Lancaster. Thought I would share since they looked so cute all lined up in a little row. You can also find these sweeties in my Etsy shop. They are perfect for little babies hands.

Sunglasses Case Tutorial

I don't believe I had ever owned a nice pair of sunglasses. Generally I get the $15 Target variety and treat them like crap. They float around in my purse getting scratched by whatever. The last pair I replaced actually had the tint scratched off the lens! So today I decided enough is enough. I've got skills, and 10 minutes. I can fix this problem.

So I cut a strip of fabric with pinking shears wide enough to accommodate my shades and twice as long, plus an extra two inches. I also cut a piece of Warm & Natural quilt batting the same width and length minus the extra two inches. And I cut two pieces of magnets 1 1/2" long.

I layered the batting on the wrong side of the fabric centering so there was an extra 1" of fabric at both ends. Then I lined up the magnet at the one end of the batting in the center of the strip.

Next, fold the fabric over the magnet and sew. Repeat at the other end as well. Be sure that your magnetic sides face each other so they stick.

Then, fold right sides together and sew both sides.

Turn right side out and use the end of a paint brush to push out the corners.

This is what your closure will look like.

Ta Da!!! Sunglasses case, just like that.

And a cutie pie just for fun!!!









Tin Can Upcycle - Pencil Holders

I am ashamed that it has been almost a month since my last post, bad blogger!!! I know, life got the best of me. It's amazing how the days fly by when you let them. I try my best to slow life down but that's not easy. Being away from my home 11 hours a day Monday - Friday it's easy to see the days run away from you. I try my best to keep my priorities straight, the few waking hours during the week are spent having fun with my kiddos and hubby. Once the little ones are in bed I'm either crafting, Etsying, or spending some quality relaxing time with my dear husband. And here we are, it's fall, school is in full swing, pumpkins are everywhere, and I have no idea what the Halloween costumes will be this year! But we'll save that for another episode.

For tonight let's take a look at a great rainy day craft... Tin Cans = Pencil Holders

You will need:

•  Scrapbooking Paper
•  Tin Can
•  Glue Gun
•  Mod Podge
•  Paint Brush
•  Ribbon

Measure the height and circumference of your can and cut the paper accordingly allowing an extra 1/2" to wrap the paper over the top edge of the can.

Run a line of hot glue down the can and line up the edge of your paper on the glue. Be careful, the heat of the glue will come through the paper.

Run another line of glue down the can next to the starting point of the paper. Then wrap the paper around the can and press onto the glue. Again be careful, it will be hot!

Bend the top of the paper over the can to cover the rough edge.

Next, carefully run hot glue around the inside of the can on the edge of the paper and cover with ribbon to finish off the edge. Do this working in batches so the glue does not dry too quickly.

Finally, brush the can with Mod Podge and let dry.

I have also done this project with fabric and though it is a bit easier you can see the ridges in the can. But it worked nicely for some Batman cans for Nate's room!

















Homemade Laundry Detergent

Here it is folks. A tried and true, super easy, homemade laundry soap recipe.

Now I've always been a liquid soap kind of gal but for cost savings and diy nature in me, I just couldn't resist giving it a try.

I can say that it has successfully cleaned the following...

     a load of whites
     a load of delicate work cloths
     a load of baby cloths
     a load of stinky hubby cloths

AND there was no irritated skin reactions, even from the baby!!! I think that was my biggest reservation of all.

This recipe uses 3 ingredients and takes no more than 15 minutes to whip up a nice big batch.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

1 c. Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1 c. Borax

1 bar soap

Now I choose to mix the bar of soap and use 3 Ivory (for the gentle factor) and 2 Fels Naptha (for the stain fighting factor)

When I first was looking at these recipes I thought, where do I find this stuff???

Well, amazingly enough the Washing Soda, Borax, & Fels Naptha are all in the laundry isle. Who knew?!?! And of course you know where to find the Ivory soap :-)

I also went to my local Re-Uzit consignment shop to hunt for the perfect container. I figured my laundry room and blog readers deserve the best, tehe!!!

I got super lucky and found this great glass lidded canister with a nice vintage "Goodies" print in a pretty mustard yellow color for $4.50.

And I also splurged on a hand thrown ceramic mug for $.25.

So, let's get crafting...

First, shred the soap in the food processor. Just think of it as giving your food processor a good cleaning.

My dear husband came in and asked how I was making laundry soap with cheese. Silly hubby!!!

Then, mix other ingredients with shredded soap in large bucket.

Next, working in batches, add mixture back into food processor with the blade attachment and process until it is a nice powder. I couldn't get the Fels Naptha to completely turn to powder but figured it would all come out in the wash, hahahaha! I'm cracking myself up now!!!

As your batches are finished add into your pretty container and viola! Homemade Laundry Detergent!!!

If you decide to make the leap and DIY... use 2 T. of detergent per full load.

Bleach Dye T-Shirt - Part 2

Sometimes my ideas look great in my head, great on paper, and then go terribly wrong.

Case in point - Rock On onesie.

Looks great on paper...

Nicely planned

But something went terribly wrong and I ended up with an angry cassette tape.

I'm pretty sure the issue was that my bleach mixture was too thin. The other issue was that I decided, because it was a more detailed design than the first project, to use paint brushes instead of the Clorox pen. The application was all wrong and I ended up going back to the pen but couldn't get the definition I was looking for. And I could see the bleach bleeding into the fabric so I was trying to work fast.

Maybe I can find an 80's rocker wig for Ian and he can be a rock star for Halloween.

Props for the big smile go to Daddy on this picture.

He was up on the roof cleaning the gutters in preparation for Hurricane Irene!

Maybe third time's a charm with the bleach pen project.

I think I'll invest $2.50 in a new pen and see if I get better results.

Stay tuned!