Car Seat Cover

I have heard about these covers and was so happy when I found a tutorial to make one.  I thought it'd be the perfect 'project' to work on if I found some energy.... three weeks away from my due date I'm not feeling like doing a whole lot of ANYTHING these days but this was a quick one - thankfully!  I love that this cover is just two cotton fabrics so lightweight which is important here in Florida - I figure this will deter unwanted touching of my baby but also block the bright sunshine as I'm taking her in and out of the car...

Here is a link to the great tutorial from the blog Cluck Cluck Sew that I used and an example of the cover she did:  car seat cover tutorial

photo source:  www.cluckclucksew.com

For my fabric I used some of the Moda "Botonay" line - it's fabric I actually won through a contest from "Fabric Chicks" - a fantastic fabric store in Coupeville, WA.  They sent me three full yards of this print in three different colorways and I've been trying to figure out what to do with them....  This was a great project to use it on!  The lining fabric is a simple green on green scroll pattern that I found at JoAnne's and the 'straps' is from a Fat Quarter also purchased at JoAnne's.  

Feeling the Love

I was contacted through Etsy recently about a giveaway on a blog and ended up sending a few items for it as well as a few items that the blogess (blogster?  blogger? Not sure on that one...) could review as well.

She posted her review today and I think it's super complimentary!  I received an A- grade which the perfectionist in me would of course love to be an A+++ but the constructive criticism she did give was really good.  Check out the post:  Graphoniac review of Pursewna

Crafty Lady

As you saw from previous posts - I have been doing a ton of craft/DIY projects for my 'coming soon' second daughter but I've done quite a bit of sewing and crafts for other areas of our house as well.  To give you a peek at some of these - here are some pictures and explanations....

This was a $3 purchase at a garage sale.... (love a good deal!)  It had a blackboard on one side and a white board on the other and was framed in an unfinished light wood - which had been well loved by permanent markers by it's previous owner.  I decided to spruce it up with some spray paint then used chalkboard paint to paint BOTH sides of the easel.  I figured white board markers would be too messy for my 2 year old.  I'm super happy with how it turned out!

notice I didn't do a great job of spray painting.....  :)

my daughter loved her new toy!

On our beat up adirondack chair on our front porch was a beaten up 'outdoor pillow' from Crate & Barrel.  To add some color to the area, I made a simple slipcover/pillow case out of some sunbrella fabric (actually, leftover fabric from re-upholstering some dining chairs earlier this year).  It was so EASY and I love the pop of color it adds to the porch.

I also used this fabric in the office to make a pillow cover with a zipper!  My FIRST EVER!  You can tell it's a first but I am so happy I conquered that fear!!!!  (sewing in a zipper.... it's easier than you'd think)

I apologize that this is such an awful picture.... I've been planning on making a cover for my sewing machine for years... I FINALLY got around to it and am so happy with how it turned out!  It has pockets on each end (which really, I'm not sure what the purpose would be) and fits really well!  I don't LOVE my fabrics but I wanted to keep within the red/white scheme that I already have in my office/craft room.  I used this tutorial as a guide for this cover:  Sewing Machine Cozy from Notes from the Patch

Baby Girl #2's Room - the FINISHED product!

Sorry - I got a little lazy in posting additional blog posts about all the craftiness in baby girl #2's room but I figure this post will make it up to you.  :)  Here are pictures and information about the ENTIRE ROOM!

walking into the room....

Canvas DIY art above changing table (see post #2), 'bonne nuit' sign recycled from baby girl #1's nusery, lovely knitted pink throw on glider made by wonderful friend Joyce B for baby girl #1 (she can share....), scrappy lamp  (see post #1)

homemade fabric garland using charm pack from Riley Blake's line "Hoo's in the Forest", vintage tablecloth on side table next to glider and changing table

My Mom made this contoured changing pad cover using Tiffany Blue Minky fabric..... she used this tutorial: Contoured Changing Pad Cover Tutorial

Paper Lantern Mobile as seen in post #4 and crib bumper as seen in post #3

Gallery Wall:  purple 'hands' artwork I did in high school, three Ikea frames that I spray painted using leftover paint from the scrappy lamp, hoop art as seen in post #5, small floral print found at Goodwill for $2, "Love" print purchased at Hey Day in Bozeman, MT - absolutely drooled over this print for a good 30 minutes before deciding to just purchase it - was only $50 and the colors match PERFECTLY!!!!!!

Would you believe I made the crib sheet?  Yep!  I used this AWESOME and super easy tutorial:  Crib/Toddler Sheet Tutorial.  I found the fabric at JoAnne's!  The crib bumper is so fantastic... I LOVE how it turned out!  The crib skirt is from Land of Nod and went with the bedding that baby girl #1 had in her nursery.

a close up of the bumper and crib sheet

this is a simple white Ikea Dresser (Koppang) but I added gorgeous (and splurge-worthy) knobs from Anthropologie.... you can get yours here: Zinnia Knobs, the white birdhouse was a cute find at HomeGoods a few weeks back

I love this print - by a very talented and awesome Etsy artist:  thewheatfield shop, the white frame was on clearance at A.C. Moore for $10, small floral buckets were at Target around Easter ($2 each), white Ikea shelf and ceramic piece is a 'found' piece from around the house

these are AWFUL pictures but gives you an idea of the window treatments:  found these 'blackout curtains" at Target ($15 per panel) then added Jumbo White Rick Rack Trim at the bottom and used turquoise ribbon as ties.  More of the garland/bunting I made using Riley Blake fabric

slightly better picture of the rick rack detail....

I am really pleased with how well the room turned out and it was so fun to add so many crafty/thrifted/DIY projects!!!!  What do you think?  Will Baby Girl #2 be pleased when she arrives?  Only 6 more weeks until we find out!

I am doing my first link up today to Life Made Lovely!

Baby Girl #2's Room - Part 5 (More Artwork)

Have you ever heard of hoop art?  I hadn't until this year and became a little obsessed with the idea of using it SOMEWHERE in my new house.  When we first moved here to FL in April I purchased three different embroidery hoops at Michael's (or JoAnn's or AC Moore.... doesn't matter where, just that I got them) for probably $1.99-$3.99.  They are super inexpensive!  I remember seeing them at our local thrift store back in Washington too!  (Be on the lookout next time you're thrifting..... speaking of - does anyone in the Jacksonville area thrift?  Where should I go?)

Here's some examples I've come across on the internet - they can be elaborate:

source:  boogaboohomemade.blogspot.com

source:  http://epherielldesigns.com

Or they can be as simple as just the fabric in the frame:

source:  www.ohdeedoh.com

image via spotlight

Back to the point:  after a couple of months of having those embroidery hoops stare me down everytime I opened my crafting closet, I finally got around to making some hoop art of my own!  I used some of the leftover fabrics that my Mom & I used for the crib bumper (Part 3) and then some extra fabric I had purchased through Etsy to coordinate with the Riley Blake line.  From there I scrounged through my trims and buttons and 'scraps'.  It was REALLY easy to put these together thanks to a little time and a hot glue gun!

I used this main tutorial to get an idea of the best way to go about it: CJaneCreate Embroidery Hoop Tutorial.  It helped give me an idea of what to do first - stretch the fabric on the frame or start embellishing. Definitely stretch the fabric on first, then you can place your other items on where you'd like them.  I did the largest of my three hoops first - even did a little free-hand stitching to write out 'hello'!  Then I used a bunch of different antique doilies that I snagged from my Mom.  I didn't want to glue these down so that I could re-use them in the future so instead I used small stitches to place them on the fabric.

Baby Girl #2's Room - Part 4 (The Mobile)

I saw this picture months ago and had thought about doing it in my older daughter's room but her room got a bit busy (remember this post?  Big Girl Room Decorating) so I held onto it for baby girl #2's nursery.

source: ashleyann photography blog

I love how whimsical and fun this is!  Isn't it gorgeous?  I love the color combination too - I'm a sucker for coral in any way shape or form....  AND - it seemed fairly simple for me to figure out how to do on my own - also a HUGE plus!  (You can see the rest of Ashley's post about her daughter's beautiful room here:  Entering the Girl World Nursery)

I figured that I'd start with a grid to hang the lanterns and such from so I purchased three dowels at Michael's, sawed them in half and spray painted them white.  I then laid them out in the grid pattern like this:

I used yarn leftover from my wedding favors (yep - I've had that yarn for 5 years!) to wrap the dowels together.  From there I started hanging the lanterns from the grid in my sewing room:

Here they are all tied but sitting on my table.... then I tried taking this into the baby's room and hanging.  Yeah - as you can guess, it didn't really work out well.  So I started again.  I cut all the yarn from the lanterns so I once again had the bare grid and hung it from the ceiling.  I used simple white eye hooks that I bought at Target - by holding the grid up with one hand on the ceiling, I used my other hand to mark five different spots with a pencil to know where to put the eye hooks.  (I'm very scientific and exact about this whole thing, can you tell?)

The grid hanging on the ceiling from the eye hooks.  I used yarn 'loops' to attach the grid to the eye hooks.... from there I just started hanging each lantern.  The lanterns came from both World Market (the largest aqua/blue lantern that was on sale for $4) and from a great website called Luna Bazaar.  I bought five different sized lanterns/honeycombs from them and it was about $22 including shipping.  The smallest lanterns which are referred to as "no frills lanterns" were only $0.95!  The white eyelet one was more like $5.95.  

The pom pom was made using tissue paper I picked up at Target - probably about $1.99 for the pack.  You too can make these simple pom pom's using this great Martha Stewart Tutorial

I played around a lot with lengths and placement - I wanted to have it look 'thrown together' but still symmetrical... if that makes any sense at all.

The finished product!  (Sorry about the photo quality - these are off of my phone....)

The paper stringed garland was made using a scallop punch, scrapbook paper I already had and then they were all sewn together with white thread!  I had them in one long string and was going to loop it but I ended up hanging it in a couple places, cutting and re-stringing on the grid again.  

What do you guys think?  This is one of my FAVORITE 'pieces' in the baby's room.  

(I promise to take better pictures of everything at the end of this 'segment' so you can see everything put together!)

Baby Girl #2's Room - Part 3 (The Crib Bumper)

I loved my daughter's nursery at our old house - it was feminine but not over the top 'pink'.  The bedding I picked out was gorgeous but I knew for baby #2 I'd want to give her something different - something unique.  So, rather than find some expensive bedding online I looked for a way to 're-use' or upcycle!  I actually found a couple of different online tutorials for bumper slipcovers and went that route.  I purchased a plain ivory Carter's crib bumper* off of Craigslist for $15 and then when my Mom was visiting last month - we did a quilted bumper using the fabrics from Riley Blake's "Penny Lane" collection.  As I mentioned in my last post, my Mom is making the baby a quilt using these fabrics so that's the color inspiration behind the room.... many as seen in this quilt here:

photo credit:  mygratituteattitudes.blogspot.com

From there we used this FANTASTIC tutorial from the blog Crafterhours:  Patchwork Crib Bumper Tutorial.  We did end up adding about 3 additional quilt squares as the bumper we were slipcovering was a bit longer than hers but it turned out really fantastic.

The finished product:

We used the pink and blue lines of this collection although there's a really pretty lime green colorway as well.  For the sashing we patchworked some different lines - I think there's a Joel Dewberry chainlink dot as well as some small polka dot that we found in the calico section at Jo-Ann's.

The backing fabric was another great find at JoAnn's!  I LOVE how it looks and it's a great graphic print for the baby since it's just two colors and large shapes.  The ties are extra-wide ivory binding tape.

I can't take credit for ANY of this - my Mom did ALL of the work and for that I am EXTREMELY thankful!  :)  She's a fantastic seamstress and quilter!!!

My Mom hard at work!

*Yes, I know - a crib bumper is a bit controversial.... some people have strong feelings about them and if that's you.... I get it.  But please keep your comments to yourself!  :)