Boys shared room

Tomorrow Hudson will be one month old. I haven't put him in his crib at all yet (he sleeps with us at night, in his moses basket for naps...or just snuggled up with me at all times ;) Today, I was putting some laundry away in the boys' room and I thought, perhaps, I'd set him in his crib asleep for once, since I did make the effort to put together a sweet little welcoming space for him. It's a work in progress, of course - with little people constantly growing and changing, I feel like our home is a constant work in progress. You'd think with him being our fourth baby, I'd just give up and save myself the time, energy, and money in creating a space when I know oh so well he'll end up sleeping with us for at least the first year. But that nesting instinct is pretty strong - and it gave me something to do, right? So, here is the boys' shared space. Pretty simple. A bed, a crib, a teepee, and a couple of baskets. I made the teepee and the mobile - I have made a mobile for each of my babies, it's one of my favorite little traditions in preparing to meet them. Sawyer had a lot of input on this room - we painted it white and then he wanted to put splashes of color around, and forest animals. My favorite splurge was Hudson's crib sheet, and Sawyer's sheets, as well. Anyway, it's a simple space, that will surely transform and change a bit over time. If I'm being honest, I mostly just wanted an excuse to take some pictures of my sweet almost one-month old baby boy. He is such a gift to us all. 

Handmade // Tablecloth Playhouse

Last week, I finished a little project I had started before the Holidays, and it turned out so cute I just have to share it! Actually, I shared it via Instagram and had such positive feedback and some questions, that I thought I'd share here with a little more info.

Welcome to our little playhouse!

Sawyer and Aspen were off in their room gathering things they needed to "move in" and make their little house all cozy, so while they were busy there, I decided Hazel could show you around. She looooves crawling around and around the house, and then heading in (without knocking!) Most of the time she is welcomed with giggles, unless the homeowners are having something like - cookies - for a snack, then they ask me to show her to the door :)

Gotta love a baby bum in bulky cloth diapers! I won't even mention her toes...don't you just want to nibble on them?

Of course she noticed the flowers we planted...she liked them so much she picked one and tried to eat it!

About our Playhouse:

First, I am thrilled to give credit where credit is due - I first spotted a playhouse like this one on Etsy, in the shop CoolSpacesForKids. She didn't have any up for sale at the moment, but I remember thinking - I could do that! It doesn't look too hard to do - and it's sooo cute! I think I had seen it featured on some kids lifestyle blog or something, and had dragged it to my folder of fun ideas (I don't have a Pinterest account). I thought back fondly to building little houses with my twin sister under my Grandmother's table with sheets and blankets, and how they were sometimes heavy and would slip off if we couldn't find something heavy to weigh it all down. Of course, that didn't stop us and we spent hours pretending under Grandma's table. Isn't it funny how some of the things you get excited about for your own children are the things you got excited about as a child, yourself? It happens to me ALL the time! I love that I get to go through childhood again...with my kids (if only I had a cook and maid we'd be set! then I could play with them all day long!)

So, that's where the idea came from. Then, since we had recently moved and were going through stuff (downsized from house to apartment) I found this old muslin backdrop I had hardly ever used...and likely would hardly ever use again. So, suddenly I was thinking...what could I do with all of this fabric? And I remembered the little playhouse! So, I made it a game to figure out how to make a tablecloth playhouse with only materials I had on hand - a scrap here and there that was too small to do much with so I'd either throw it out...or find a way to use it. Essentially, this little house was FREE using all materials I already had on hand. However, if you were to make it, I don't think it would be too expensive to make - if you purchased inexpensive muslin and other supplies - I'm guessing about $35-$50, depending on the size of your table. It does take time, for sure, and a bit of patience to put it together, but it's totally do-able!

I, however, was slightly short on patience (and I am just a lazy sew-er anyway, never pin anything!) and since I hadn't invested any money in the project, I just whipped it together as quickly as I could (I had a couple of kiddos cheering me on!) I didn't even hem around the bottom - the front part looks hemmed because it was the side of the backdrop that the rod went through, thus already hemmed for me. I did do a zigzag stitch (a sloppy one at that) around the doorway and the door, just so it wouldn't unravel, but otherwise, the only stitching I did was the windows. Ironing it was almost impossible - we only have one of those tiny ironing boards so by the time I ironed one size, the other side was already wrinkled (you can't even tell I ironed the whole thing!) The windows - I used felt around the spots I cut out to make it a bit more sturdy. The curtains, I made from this ruffle fabric which - guess what? you don't need to hem! It's great stuff! And then, I decided to make the little window boxes with some "slots" so we could pretend to "plant" flowers - I cut a few out of card stock for now, but we will probably make some out of a heavier duty fabric (pipe cleaners, fabric, felt and hot glue perhaps) that will not be a choking hazard when the neighbor baby comes by and steals the flowers because she's teething and wants to chew on some paper flowers ;)

So, I'm kinda of long-winded. I wish I were more organized and could give measurements and yardage etc. for others who want to try making a tablecloth playhouse, but here is my take: Tables are all shapes and sizes so you'll have to make one custom for your table anyway. If you have a small table like we do and want to use an old king-sized sheet, I think it would do just fine. Use your imagination or use what you have on hand, or be much more precise and patient for playhouse perfection, if you want to. Anyway around it, I promise that your child(ren) will be thrilled to have a little place to play and pretend and exercise their imagination. Most importantly - have fun! 

Handmade // Layette of Leftovers

Remember a few weeks ago when I said I was going to basically use all of my old scraps from my stash of fabric to make some fun new things for the new baby? Well, I did! I've used up just about everything little thing I've had - and I'm so tired of sewing now that I think I'll just stop already! I've made lots of cute things for our new baby, as well as a few for her siblings, and many many as gifts for friends and family expecting babies. 

You would think that already having a girl and then having another girl, we would be set. But no, because these girlies will be the opposite seasons (Aspen as born in January, Hazel will be June) so I did need to make (and buy, of course!) a few things for our summer girl. I figure they'll catch up after the first year and Hazel will get to experience the joy of mostly hand-me-downs, but for the first few months I had to do something. The great thing about summer babies is that a onesie is pretty much an outfit, so that makes it better on the pocketbook and easy to give old onesies new life.

I used a few patterns - made up some on my own - and then used a LOT of inspiration from etsy for a few of these items. I will be sure to give credit where credit is certainly due! That way, if you want the pattern, or to buy, or to study and re-create your own version of one of these, you will have a resource.

Let's start with seersucker...

The above dress is a free pattern download from Rae Hoakstra, the "bitty baby dress". It's made to fit newborns. I made one for Aspen so I had to make one for Hazel as well :)  I also made one for each of my two new nieces that are due - Emerson (Emmy) in May and Karly in August.

The red seersucker onesie-dress I made by (pretty much) following along with this tutorial I found on-line. It looked pretty straight forward, but it was actually kind of tricky - getting the skirt part on straight all the way around the onesie, that is. Especially for a rebel sewer like me who doesn't ever pin anything together. But it definitely looks like a dress that will be comfy and perfect to take her sailing in!

Okay, just a little more seersucker...for bibs! And here is where you will notice a trend...peaches, creams, and ruffles! Oh, toss in a few rosettes for good measure and we're good to go :) While I was going at it with the bibs and a burp cloth with ruffles, I slapped a ruffle onto some of those newborn t-shirts. I had a ton of leftover white onesies from Sawyer & Aspen, but I wanted to freshen them up somehow. 

You may even start recognizing some of my leftover fabric from past projects (the polka dots, for example were from Aspen's Happy Stacker I made for her 1st birthday - Aunt Tia has some tea towels with the same dots I made her for Christmas as well). So, more bibs, and burp cloth/changing pads (I got rid of the one that went on top of the dresser because we just won't have that luxery this time...and honestly, by the time they're a couple of months old I always end up changing them on the floor anyway, so a little spruced up cloth diaper will do just fine ;) And I copied the binky holder from Aspen's old one - I thought Hazel should have a fresh one instead of one that had been slobbered all over.

Ahem, here are some of my favorite little summery pieces! I totally copied the idea from an etsy shop that I love. If you know me, you know I have a thing for sailboats and all things nautical and beachy, so the anchor onesies I just had to try. I did freezer paper stenciling on the dyed onesies and it was lots of fun. Lots of fun for this preggo lady who still feels sick a lot of the time...hence my only activities the past few weeks have been sewing and crafting because it's something I can actually do while feeling not-so-great...but doing it makes me happy...so it kind of balances things out a bit. I actually had a bunch of leftover newborn sized white onesies but they were from the Gap, and had that little bear on the front corner - which didn't look so girly to me, so I thought the rosettes were a great way to cover up the bear. And I had so much fun trying out dying for the first time! Who needs to dye Easter Eggs? Just give me some old onesies and I'll have a ball! :)

More credit is due! My awesome & super talented friend, Allegra, used to sell burp clothes like these rosette ones in her etsy shop as well - not to mention such cute cute headbands - of which she made me TONS for Aspen. (If you look hard in her etsy shop, you will even find Aspen modeling a headband or two with her bestie!) I actually think she was the first one to create this particular style of rosette headbands and burp clothes...just sayin' :)

I made so many shoes for Aspen, I just had to make something for Hazel's tiny feet. I will probably still make her a couple of shoes all her own, but I also bought this inexpensive downloadable pattern for these super cute baby boots! I had to give them a try! 

Okay, we're almost finished, I promise! So...the project above and the one below...used to be my skirt - you can catch glimpse of it here (me wearing it) and here (thrown under Aspen for texture in her newborn & 6 month photos). I always loved the color, but didn't always love the skirt, it seemed slightly poofy or something, but since it seemed connected to Aspen, I couldn't just give it to the Good Will. It was too pretty. So...I made this teeeeeny tiny dress out of the liner for Hazel (I keep measuring small so the doc says she will probably be very petite like our other babies - which will be good because this dress is more like preemie size!) And then with the ruffly outer part of the skirt I made this little dress for Aspen. I hope to one day take her picture in it - since I have never really got around to 2-year pics, I figure maybe 2 and a half year pics will do later this summer :)

I think all I've got to do now is finish Hazel's little corner of our room...and make her a blanket or two. I've already even been stocking up on newborn diapers (maybe I should get a few preemie sizes? I'm all worried now that she's going to be reallllly small...which is fine, I love teeny babies...just as long as she's healthy.) We're pretty much just READY for this new baby to join our family! But we still have about 10 weeks to wait. I have a couple of non-baby-related projects to work on in the meantime, as well as needing to review my hypnobirthing stuff and just plain relax (although I'm kind of tired of relaxing! Especially when laying down to "relax" often brings on the heartburn!) Now is the time when all I want to eat is smoothies...anyone have a recipe they want to share? 

Here's to being done with the sewing/crafting party of nesting! It was fun while it lasted!

A butterfly mobile for Hazel

I apologize that the blog has pretty much been taken over by my nesting projects - and probably will be for a few more  posts - but it helps motivate me to finish my little projects when I know I can share them with those who take the time to look at our blog. 

So, I was looking around for cute mobile ideas and found this butterfly one that kind of made me pause, it was so pretty. But it is also unavailable (and would've been way out of my budget, anyway). Luckily, I did a little web-surfing and came across this little tutorial, which made my project a home-made, hand-made bit of fun on a Friday afternoon (okay, and late LATE into the evening!)

I modified the diy tutorial a bit to my liking, and at 2am (yes, TWO AM! That is LATE for me these days!) I finally finished my little butterfly mobile for baby Hazel. I didn't want to buy a butterfly punch, so I ended up finding a free font and making my own templates (that way I could vary the species and also the size to my liking) It took me days to find the perfect paper - I keep being drawn to peachy pinks (think peaches and cream or kind of the shade of ballet slippers) and so I finally found one at a scrapbooking store. It was pearlescent as well, which only added to it's beauty! I also used the inside of an embroidery hoop to give the mounting part a bit more strength and shape.

It looked so easy to make...and really, it was. The hard parts for me were that tracing and then cutting out all of those butterflies ended up killing my fingers (haven't used petite metal scissors for a while but definitely needed them for the small details on the butterflies). It took a LONG time to cut out all of the butterflies - luckily I had two little helpers for some of them (ahem, very helpful they were!) Actually, Sawyer and Aspen were thrilled that I was making butterflies so they joined me and we had a cutting party at the table most of the afternoon - they cut all the remnants into teeny tiny pieces that floated to the floor, and begged me in between butterflies for some butterflies of their own to play with - so of course ended up making twice as many butterflies and we now have butterflies all over the house, which is actually kind of nice - very Spring like). I also ended up sewing and attaching the butterflies by hand - it just didn't seem right after cutting them all out by hand to just take a machine to them - so I daintily took my time by hand.

Jacob thinks I was rather crazy to stay up so late for the project - but once I got going I just didn't want to stop until it was done. I hung it over the dining room table when I finally finished so when everyone woke up they had a fun surprise in the morning - butterflies!

I mounted it to our ceiling above Hazel's crib this afternoon - and I couldn't stop staring at it! The pearl paper gives the most beautiful effect when the butterflies dance with the light! It makes the butterflies shine and look like they are different shades, even though they are all the very same paper. 

I know, I'm kind of silly. But I just LOVE this kind of stuff! I love that our new baby will have something pretty to look up at - and I can look right across the room at, too! 

In conclusion, it was a really fun project and anyone who wants to give it a try - should! It cost me about $5 for supplies - the biggest investment was patience and time. Happy Spring!

Hazel's crib bedding

I finished it! This past week I have used every moment of my spare time, for the most part, to make Hazel's crib bedding. We got a mini crib (the same as a regular crib - it's not a porta crib, just smaller dimensions - closer to the size of a pack n play but with a real mattress etc.) to go in our room since we are lacking in space. We have 3 bedrooms but can really only use 2 (2 are on the third floor and 1 is on the first floor and we can't have tiny kids being 2 floors below - so it is our office instead). Anyway, I am a tiny bit bummed that I don't get to do any sort of "nursery" for our new baby, but hello SLAP in the face, we are just so blessed to be having her I feel incredibly grateful for that. BUT I AM trying to make her little corner of our room a special place that feels welcoming and "hers". I started off by making her crib bedding. (I wasn't even sure I would do a bumper because I have mixed feelings about them...but I figured it would be a little protection for the baby when her big sister comes and tries to stick her hands through the slats to give her lots of love - when we don't want her to wake her up or poke her eye out, ha!).

The thing about mini crib sizing is that there aren't a lot of options for bedding, at least that I found. You can get it custom made - but then it's well over the price of making it yourself. Or you can find one option for each gender at Babies R Us, but if you ask me it was pretty darn ugly. So, of course I took the matter into my owns hands and home.

I have been in love with this designer bedding - the Matteo Tat from Layla Grace - for sometime (click here to see it). But who spends over $500 on crib bedding? Certainly not me. So I eye-balled it and studied the pictures and tried to replicate it as best I could. I had to just do it free-hand as there are no patterns or tutorials for this sizing (and I'm too lazy to do the math to convert anything). So, I made the fitted crib sheet (by far the hardest part of the project for me - well, not super hard, just kind of tricky) the bumper and pillow and crib skirt. To ge the "tat" effect, I ripped the fabric rather than cutting it with scissors - I was nervous when I started ripping away at the $60 worth of fabric that I bought, but it all worked out and I love the end result. It took 8 yards of fabric to do all of it, plus the batting for the bumper, and some elastic and thread, oh, and the pillow insert. The fabric was a good deal at $6.99/yard and I got 40% off with a coupon for the batting and pillow insert. It ended up costing me just under $100 to make - a great savings of $400! And the satisfaction of putting in every stitch for the sweet little baby girl who will be sleeping in it :)

And there you have it, Hazel Grace's Bedding. Her Daddy says "it's very girly". I sure hope she likes the ruffles as much as I do! (I am also laughing at myself because before having girls I was never a ruffle-lover myself! Maybe there is a reason God is sending me another girl!)

Home Sweet Home

here we are, friday night - 6:30pm...

waiting for the hubs to get home so we can head out on date night.

we don't have a sitter, or a plan...but I finally got around to taking a shower and getting dressed - and even got the kids looking cute (still haven't thrown any makeup on, but au natural is kinda my style, anyway) but I decided we needed a date night, even if the kids tag along...so we are waiting and then heading OUT!

my mom and sister are coming into town later, so I spent a lot of today scrubbing the house from head to toe - and now that it's all sparkly, we are just sitting here enjoying it (well - the kids have now moved from coloring at the table to jumping on the sofa, but such is life!)

okay - so this is getting more random by the moment - anyone following my train of thought? that's okay - it's my journal/blog so it really just has to make sense to me in the end, right?

last week for date night, Jacob and I did a bit of designing together. Well, he designed, and I more like art directed - because I had this thing in mind that I wanted done for a long time, even had the frame already. And we finally got it done. I think we're a pretty good design duo - and we had fun in the process, which is what counts. Here's what we did...

A little print for our living area. If you look close, you can see a sea of legos on the floor reflected in the tv, oh, and my gaucho pants which I love to wear when I clean the house.

Since I had the camera out, I decided to take some pics of some other recent home projects, since we're on the subject.

If you were married to me, I bet I'd drive you nuts. Luckily, I get to drive Jacob nuts, but I think he likes me just as much for my crazy antics and projects as for my smile.

I decided a while back I wanted to do some kind of window treatment in our kitchen. We have stainless steel appliances, black tile. Paint is an antique blue and appliances and accents are red. I thought it would be fun to make it kind of bistro-ish, so I got some stripey fabric at Ikea that I thought would fit the bill. I found a great little tutorial and the other day while Sawyer was in school, and Aspen was taking a rare morning nap due to a bit of a cold, I jumped at the chance to sew it. Last night, Jacob made dinner so I could run to pick up the wood we needed to mount it. And then he ever so patiently worked with me so I could get it up (I am NOT patient and wanted to get it up before our company came to town). I think it cost me about $35 to make.

This winter when I'm making some nice soups or hot chocolate, I will pretend I live in France and it is my own little Bistro. Hey, you gotta find some way to brighten the many gray days we have here during Seattle winters!

Lastly, here we have the Stripey Bathroom. Okay, so stripes make me happy lately. I think it's okay. My friend did her entry way in stripes and I loved it! So, I tried it in our half bath in the main room (we live in a 3 story townhouse - so this is right off the kitchen/dining/living area.

if you ever want to paint stripes - this blog had some nice insights. it's trickier than it looks, but with lots of green tape and a nice dose of time and patience, the results are really FUN!

the downside of pretty pedestal sinks = no storage.

I tried to add a little storage with these baskets from the Land of Nod. They are from the Ropers collection, which they no longer carry (bummer! we have these all over our house and I LOVE them!) the positive part of them no longer carrying the collection is that I got these for $3 each when they were clearing them out! I put extra rolls of tp and sawyer's special toddler wipes, as well as my not-often-used makeup in them.

The finishing touch are a few words by the sink - on the door side. I love friendly little reminders.

I think I may also do a simple white linen or canvas window cover in this room, too - but right now I'm already knee deep in another project - our downstairs room/office.

Oh, yes, I do love how when you look in the mirror the stripes are all around you! (I only did them on the one big wall - are you kiddin' me, doing them around the sink and behind the toilet would have been sheer torture!)

Yep, these pics were taken while the kids were napping and it was 3pm and I hadn't showered yet - still wearing the cleaning gauchos. Hair not combed, face not washed - I'm like this more often than I'd like to admit, but I am fine admitting it :)

Oh! Garage door is opening! Jacob just pulled up on his bike - perfect timing -

Time to sign off -

Happy Friday, all!

Handmade // What to do with a doily

I bought some doilies at the dollar store (2 for $1) I cut them down a little, careful not to cut any "arterials". I later found some small ones at JoAnn Fabric and Craft store - 1 for about $1, which would've saved the hassle of the cutting. Then, I sewed the doily onto a onesie. I think they turned out super cute - and SO easy! I have always wondered what to do with a doily...so, here's one idea!

Handmade // Fabric Magnets

Now that Sawyer goes to Nursery Class at our church and comes home each week with a little something special that he made, I decided it was time to make some pretty magnets.

You see, up until now, I have been the type of person who has a blank refrigerator. I am a minimalist. I don't like clutter. And I especially don't like un-matching magnets on a refrigerator (unless, of course, there is a quirky artfulness about it). So, I decided to use scraps of leftover material, to make some magnets that are pleasant to look at, yet functional. If you'd like to make some, too, it's easy! Here's how I did it:

Materials:

old magnets
or
new, blank magnets

scissors

scraps of your favorite fabric
or
leftover scrapbooking paper, stationary, or wrapping paper

Mod Podge - with lustre (don't you LOVE it?)

An inexpensive, small-ish paint brush

Method:

*If you are recovering old magnets, first put a layer of Mod Podge down and cover it with a solid color paper or fabric (I used white).

1. Cut fabric or paper of choice just about the size of the magnet. Use Mod Podge to glue it to the magnet. Don't be too sloppy, because it's nice to trim the edges (if you are using fabric it will likely stretch a bit). Trim edges. Wait a few minutes to make sure it's adhering to the magnet.

2. Next, cover the new, prettified magnet with another layer of Mod Podge. This will help to "seal" the material or paper onto the magnet, as well as make it a little harder and just a bit glossy.

3. Wait for it to dry for an hour or so...then prettify your refrigerator with your creation, along with a photo of a loved one, a special postcard, a love note, or a toddler-esque drawing. ;) Oh, and

4. Let your toddler play with the pretty magnets so he knows how important his Nursery lesson and works of art are to you.

Bonus: I decided to draw a little sparrow and cut it out with some more fabric and then repeat step 2.

These were fun and super-easy to make. If you have older children, or don't mind getting Mod Podge in your toddlers hair, give it a try! You could easily make these as a cute custom gift...or with a theme...I was thinking of doing some with trains so Sawyer could play "choo choo" on the refrigerator while I am cooking...or we could always re-invent abc magnets in a cool font...

If anyone decides to make these, let me know, and - have fun!