Toddler Room Wall Decorations

This project is not new by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought I include it because it was an original craft- not an online tutorial.

Jake outgrew his "baby room" and I needed some kind of decoration for the walls. Not wanting to pay very much, I bought a yard of fabric at IKEA, and cut out the shapes I liked for the wall decorations. Using some solid fabric I already had, and some iron-on fusing, I put the shapes on the colored circels and streched them around a wodden hoop.

The wodden hoops were on sale- less than a dollar each! I didn't sew anything because I figured they are just going to be on the wall. Not really a candidate for wear and tear. I painted the top screw to match the wall color (yellow because we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl). I also stiched up a quick curtain to match.

They are not perfect, but a nice, cheap wall decoration that brightens up the room. Considering that once we have another child on the way this room will all be changed again, I am happy with how it turned out.

Notice the Ugly Dolls on his bed? His next room is going to be monster themed! I'm already excited for it. And if we are expecting a girl, I am DEFINITELY making this bird mobile from Homemade by Jill and modeling the whole room after it!

Zoa's Baptism Part 1

Happy Baptism little Zoa Mae! I was happy to be asked to bake her baptism cakes. I've been trying my hand at fondant cakes solely based on teaching from YouTube videos. I guess I never realized how much you could learn from YouTube! Fondant is a funny kind of frosting and it can be temperamental, but luckily, I had no problems with these cakes.

The daisies are just fondant cut outs and the centers were made from a mold. I turned them over and laid them on things so that the petals would curl up. You can't really tell with these terrible pictures. Thank you Dairy Queen for my cake writing skills, as I was able to write in one fail swoop and not pee my pants with anxiety over ruining the cakes.

I'm hoping I get some better pictures at the baptism today. I took the cakes over to her house first thing this am so my toddler could not turn them over and my anxiety level could return to normal.

Whew! Big day today....see you later....

GQ Little Man

I'm always looking for little boy projects and I found this great pattern here for a tie. The site also gives a great tip for getting your fabric cut on the bias without much effort. I like little effort!

Next time I will use a more satin-y fabric. I think when I do this next I will buy two ties in the store (for cheap, of course), take apart one, and refashion it into a little tie. That way I can have matching ties for my boys!

Look for that closer to the fall- when we do family portraits. I also plan on having a shirt that fits him by then. Notice how the sleeves are rolled? Yeah, no button up shirt that fits my little chunker right now. We have plans to make it work though....

Jake will be wearing this at Zoa's baptism today....see "Zoa's Baptism Part Two" for pictures.

Mommy and Me Napkin Apron

There have been a lot of really cute aprons out there lately. Sadly, my lack of cooking skills usually means I have little reason for an apron. Or that all of my clothes get dirty while I cook.

Anyhoo, my good friend, Maria, is an AMAZING cook. She can usually do so while using all organic ingredients including produce from her garden. Mmmmmm, Maria's cooking! Well, hopefully she won't check this blog, but for her birthday this August I have tried my hand at sewing an apron. One for her, one for her daughter- matching of course! How cute!

The napkins I used were only $3 at Pottery Barn and the ribbon was 1/2 off. For the adult apron I followed the instructions from here at CraftStylish. For the toddler one I used one napkin and just folded over where appropriate. I tried to match the shape to the "mommy" apron along with details. For a pattern, I traced the shape I wanted onto newspaper, and measured it against my son.

I'm sure he'll hate me for this someday, but he is a great little dress form!

Maybe he'll be a famous chef someday and we'll have a good laugh about this!

TIny Pillowcase

My mother has a tiny pillow that she takes camping, and has affectionately now dubbed "Jake's Pillow." But of course, it needed a case (toddlers are not neat- even while they sleep). So I found a great online tutorial at PlanetJune.

True to form, I needed a couple tries at some of the sewing, but hey- I'm still learning! If you need a fast, simple pillowcase, try this. There is minimal cutting, one piece of fabric, and is great for beginners like me. I didn't even use a pattern and I still got it done while Jake napped.

Oh, and I found an awesome model for the pillow! : )

Hello Cyberspace

I'm not really sure why I decided to create my own blog. Probably because now I can keep a record of the things I try to make. My husband keeps reminding me to take a picture before I give them away, and I never really saw a point in it. But now, being a faithful follower at so many other bogs, I see the point in inspiring others and sharing your twist on a project.

So here it is, cyberworld. A log of things I've created. I hope you can put a little bit of inspiration to good use! Happy making....