Baby Projects: Diaper Baggies

I picked up a roll of 4 gallon trash bags at the dollar store months ago for a different use, but since they were still laying around, I thought they would make a nice addition to my diaper bag for the...less then pleasant smelling baby diapers and soiled outfits in my future. ;)

Baby Projects: Nursing Cover

Although I did purchase a nursing cover on sale early in the pregnancy, even before use I'm not a fan of the design, and it seems too small to really cover much.
I wanted something, preferably a knit type fabric as opposed to cotton, that wouldn't look so "aprony", but be cute and cover nicely.
I scoured Pinterest, and found a super easy tutorial, using only one yard of jersey knit fabric. The total cost was $7 (I already had thread), and it took me five minutes to sew up.

Obviously I haven't actually used it yet, but so far I love it! :) It drapes very nicely, and I think it looks more like a poncho or shawl then a nursing cover.

Excuse the horrible picture, it was taken on my cell phone...

I also finished another pair of booties... How cute are they? ^_^

Baby Projects: Quilt and Booties

So, I made the mistake of reading about how to sew minky, and totally psyched myself up to think it would be horrible. I put it off for months.

Then I got sick of that, and finished the quilt. Not so bad. Pretty easy, actually. I just cut the minky bigger then the quilt top, and used a lot of pins. It took me about a half hour to finish.

I adore minky. ^_^ It's so soft and adorable...

I also have quite a bit small scraps laying around, so I found this tutorial and decided to try it. They used fleece, which I do think would work a little better, and I plan on making more with fleece. I didn't have any at the time, so I decided to make my trial pair with terry. I think they're adorable, and they were fairly easy for my inexperienced sewer self.

I made mine in size 0-3 months. The inside top liner is chenille, and the outside toe is flannel.

8 Months! (lots of pictures!)

   Have I really been pregnant eight months? Three fourths of a year.. wow. I can't really imagine not being pregnant at this point. I definitely feel very pregnant. Moving is awkward, and my belly has become a table for my cereal bowl. Getting out of bed leaves me flailing and feeling like a huge, beached whale.
   Heart burn is the bane of my existence, keeping me up or waking me at night. My hands and feet are so swollen I can barely wear shoes and my wedding ring should probably not be worn anymore.

Ottoman Re-Do

I found a cute little stool at Goodwill last weekend while shopping with my friend Donna, and at just $3, I couldn't pass it up. :)
I had several ideas for color/scheme I was mulling over, but when I finally made it to the fabric store to buy supplies, those were out the window when I found this adorable print.

I can work with that! I also grabbed some trim, and away I went!

Baby Project: Natural Diaper Cream

Okay, this isn't technically a baby project, but more of  a baby gift. Some friends of ours recently had a baby boy, and I knew just what I wanted to make as a gift.

I used the recipe found here, halved again and with some slight modifications.

All-Natural Diaper Cream

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 ounce beeswax (chopped or pellets)

6 drops lavender essential oil

6 drops tea tree oil (melaleuca) essential oil

I put my ingredients in a small canning jar to use as double boiler, and stirred occasionally until melted. Remove from heat and add essentials oils. Stir and pour into your final container, or just leave in the jar.

Allow to cool and set. :)

For my container I ended up recycling a travel size conditioner bottle. I removed the label easily  and printed my own. I also included a printed list of the ingredients and why they are used, borrowed from Simply Real Moms. This would be especially helpful if the recipient isn't aware of the benefits of natural oils. :)

The finished gift basket! I also included two flannel/chenille wash cloths, and two flannel/terry burp cloths.

7 Months In.

Seven months. I have been carrying this sweet baby in my womb for over half a year. It's so hard to believe! The second trimester really flew by with me feeling great and the weather was gorgeous.
I'm officially in my third and final trimester as of two weeks ago, and am 30.5 weeks today. I've really been noticing how I have to slow down again, and the third trimester has brought back the hormones, achiness, and occasional nausea of the first trimester. I'm hungry a lot, but because Baby is squishing my stomach now I can't eat as much, so it feels like I'm constantly eating small meals and snacks!

I get bigger daily as Baby grows, kicking and squirming around in his/her cozy little nest. I am so excited to meet my baby! Time seems to have started dragging again, and the weeks are so quickly ticked off the calender. Still, I can not help but be occasionally overwhelmed at the thought that in ten weeks or less I will will be holding my own baby, and be a mom. It's exciting but scary. I've never been that responsible for another human being before, but I will lean on my Jesus for strength and guidance.

My first baby shower is in less then two weeks, I'm so excited! My generous and sweet friend Donna is throwing it for us, and I can't wait. :) She is one of the sweetest people I know, and has been a true blessing in my life.

Besides a preterm labor scare last weekend, my pregnancy has gone so well! I have no major complaints, and am loving being pregnant more then I even imagined I would! :)

Seven month picture! :)

My sweet sister Susannah and I on her 11th birthday when I got to spend some time with family.

Kitchen Organization

If you ever need inspiration to organize, go to IHeart Organizing. Wowzers, what a beautiful blog full of so many beautiful things!

Anyway, I found my organizing inspiration for some problem areas of my kitchen. Here are some slightly embarrassing pictures of my corner cabinet...

Soup Weather! :)

It's definitely soup weather these days! :) Last night I was craving some of my moms hamburger soup, so this is what I came up with!

Hamburger Potato Soup
1 lb. ground beef
4 cups hot water
5 beef bouillon cubes
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil

In a large pan brown beef with onion. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

What are your favorite fall soup recipes?

Baby Projects: Burp Cloths

Over the last few weeks I have slowly been working on sewing a collection of things for Baby. Mainly, burp cloths and rags. :)

First I whipped up some simple flannel and chenille wash cloths. I found the flannel and chenille at JoAnn's on sale. Mine were 8x8. I decided to do a zig zag stitch around the edges because they were too bulky otherwise.
I ended up with a dozen of these, three of each print.

Autumn is coming!

Despite it being in the high seventies today, I was inspired to do my fall decorating. I adore fall. ^_^
Also, budget. I wanted to do it for under $20.

 My collection. Most of this is from the dollar store, the rest is from yard sales and thrift stores. Just look at all that prettiness. 

First up, my boring spring/summer table center piece....

Autumn update! :)

I used a leaf strand from the dollar store and two birch candle holders I already had.

Next I tackled my never-finished front entry. 

There is a matching candle/holder on the other side of this mirror. 

The wreath was from the DS, and I used burlap, jute, and fabric to decorate it. I love these little wreaths.. I'll have to grab some more before they're gone for the year!

I may or may not be very slightly  obsessed with burlap and jute. <3

Hall before...

 And after. :)

 Everything I used here I had before, except the flowers in the wall vase thingy, which were from, of course, the DS. :P

Some other random fall decor I did around the house. :)

Total cost: $16

Happy Autumn!

Updates :)

You may have noticed the new blog title and layout. :) I decided it was time to update the look and feel of my blog... I wasn't really feeling the old name anymore, and I don't think most people really got it.

The verse, Isaiah 29:3, has really been lain on my heart lately, and I cling to it daily. What wonderful promises our Father has for us...

6 Down, 3 (ish) to go!

When I first found out I was pregnant, January seemed so far away... Every week felt like a month in the first trimester, every day dragged. Of course it didn't help I had zero energy and spent many mornings in our lovely bathroom. ;)

As of yesterday, Baby is 24 weeks "cooked". We can now feel and see him/her move from the outside of my belly, and enjoy watching how how Baby responds to our voices, especially my husbands. :)

I have begun accumulating some baby clothes and items, including a huge haul from my mom. I have some clothes, burp clothes, blankets, etc. Just collecting things slowly has been a lesson in patience for me (I am SO a planner, if it were up to me I would have everything ready by now... :P), but it has also caused me to really research what I think will work best for us, instead of impulse buying. :)

I look forward to the beginning of every month, when we get to hear our sweet baby's heartbeat! I really enjoy our midwife appointments, and we always come away feeling so excited and happy about our baby all over again. :)

I love my preggo belly... even if I can't bend over anymore already. :P

January will be here before we know it, and I can't wait to meet our precious baby!!

One month, right after we found out!

           Bump
        Progress! 

Six months! :)

DIY Fabric Softener

Super easy, cheap to make, smells great, leaves clothes soft, what's not to love? Oh, and did I mention cheap??

After looking at a few recipes online, I scaled them down and basically made my own. It took less then five minutes, and so far I love it!

Refreshing Fabric Softener
2 cups hot water
1/2 cup vinegar
2/3 cup conditioner of your choice, I used Suave as it's about $1.50 or so a bottle

Pour ingredients into a bottle or container. I used an old juice jug I had set aside.
Stir to mix.
And that's it. So easy. ^_^

 I made an easy label on Word, and I was done!

Cost breakdown:
conditioner: $0.75
vinegar: $0.25
total: $1.00
I'm not sure how many loads I will get from this, but my machine takes about 1/4 cup or less for a load. That breaks it down to 16 loads per batch, for a total of $0.06 per load.

Compared to a bottle of Downy, that is a savings of roughly $6.00 a bottle! I like it. I like it a lot. ; )

Piano Bench Re-Purpose

A little bench for our new front door area  has been a project I wanted to work on for a while, and have been keeping my eye out for a good deal for months.

Salvation Army came through again with this cute little piano bench!

Just need a little love, right? That I can do. :)

I bought some upolstry foam from WalMart for $7.50. I didn't have a tape measure to know how much I needed, so I just eyeballed it.

Perfect amount! I took the lid off, as it's hinged so I could more easily work with it.

I had some brown twill left over from a different project. I laid it all out and stapled the fabric right to the wood, it worked well! My sweet husband helped me finish it up, turns out he's an excellent upholstery re-doer helper. ;)

Just like that! Easy, easy project!

The inside of the bench has some useful storage space, as well. I told my husband that amount of space will work until we have like one child's worth of hats and mittens. ;)


Love how it finishes off our hallway, and it also matched the little hutch I redid a couple months ago.

Almost the same exact shade of brown, with black. :)

Total project cost: $12.50

Pretties.

A sneak peek of my next projects. ^_^

Baby Project: Changing Table

We were given this changing table by my husbands boss, and while not bad as it was, of course I couldn't just let it be. :P

Pretty much before, minus the different colored knobs. They were all the same color as the rest of the table, as seen as the door.

I replaced the knobs with silver from Martha Stuart Living and applied some Simply Said I had on hand already to the door.

I will be buying this pad with this cover for the top eventually.

I had just enough fabric left over from my rocking chair project to cover the shelf so it matches. :) I was agonizing over what to do with the shelf. I knew I wanted to jazz it up a little, and had bought shelf liner and other baskets, but when I realized I had this perfect-sized scrap, my decision was made. I love how it looks! All the baskets I already had.

(and yes, that is my baby stuff so far. :P Most of it I had before I was married, some has been gifts so far, and the rest was from garage sales)

Little baskets in the drawer, which I lined with some cream shelf liner I had.

Matching nursery pieces so far! :)

Baby Project: Rocking Chair

this...

to this.

 

                                                             

While ticking off the days of my second trimester (can't believe I'm coming up on half way already!), I have been getting a little stir crazy and looking for something to keep me busy.

Solution? Re purpose three pieces of nursery furniture that were free/given to us!

First on the list was the older rocking chair and ottoman set from my in laws. Not in terrible shape, but I thought it could use a face lift.

Some wood damage.

The little ottoman, which had been at our house in the midst of construction for two years!

I removed the covers from the foam pads, ripped the seams out, and measured out what I would need for fabric.

Fabric and spray paint I *finally* decided on. :P 

Sanded down and ready for...

Painting!! :)

The painting took a couple days, and I believe about 5 cans of paint (still less then $20). The fabric and pillow form were around $40.

The cushion covers were a little more difficult then I figured they would be. :P I haven't tried anything like this before, and I was completely winging it. The ottoman was super easy, I ended up just covering over the old fabric and stapling it down.

The bottom cushion was a pain because of how the pattern was. I'm sure if I was a more experienced seamstress, it would have been a breeze. But alas, I am not.

After a frustrating afternoon, though, I figured 'em out.

Hubby kindly finished the ottoman for me. He's a good spray painter. :)

Isn't that better? All ready for some baby rockin'. :)

I wanted to add a little more pop and color to the chair, so instead of making it all chaotic, I just accented.

Love the ottoman. 

I had some scraps left over from the pillow, and decided to dress up the sides a little. I just attached them at either end with adhesive velcro.