Nursery Letters -- Baby's Name

Over the next several months I will be changing my little girl's room into a girl/boy room. I'm going to use yellow as my main color and started by putting up little M's name on her wall.

Materials:
~ Cardboard
~ Paint
~ Paint Samples (opt.)
~ Fake Grass (opt.)
~ Twine (opt.)
~ Staples/Sewing Pins

I started by cutting out the letters of M's name from an old box (of diapers . . . fitting for nursery decor right?).

I painted them white first and then put yellow paint on top.

To add some pazzaz I cut out little bits of "grass" and "leaves" from my paint samples and used a glue-stick to add them to some of the letters.
(I'm going to do a grass/leaves theme with butterflies on the girls' side and birds on the boys' side)

I took my paint samples again and cut out some butterflies to place around the letters.

To do the grass I cut some of my fake grass to the size I wanted and then tied some twine around a few, making little bunches. I slowly pulled off the tied twine and stapled that to the wall then I stuck the grass back inside.

And the finished product...
(I put this picture through editing and changed the letters. It's not her real name but it gives you an idea of the end result and I can still just keep her as my little M :) Thanks for understanding) 

Total Cost:

~ Cardboard: $0.00
~ Paint: $0.00
~ Paint Samples (opt.): $0.00
~ Fake Grass (opt.): $0.00 -- had some on hand
~ Twine (opt.): $0.00 -- had some on hand
~ Staples/Sewing Pins: $0.00

Nursery Letters: Total Cost ~ $0.00

Dad's Car T-Shirt

C, my hubby, had a birthday last week and I finally got around to making him a Car T-Shirt. It's a car map on the back of a t-shirt he can put on to simultaneously play with the kids, relax after a hard day's work, and get a nice massage. Cool huh?

Materials:
~ White T-Shirt
~ Map
~ Permanent Markers
~ Toy Cars

Tape four pieces of printer paper together and draw a map. (Feel free to copy mine or you can download one here)

Put the map on some cardboard and slide it inside the shirt. I don't know if you can see this very well, but this is my map inside the shirt ready to be traced.

Here's my finished product

This one isn't mine but here is a picture of how to use it when it's done.

(This picture comes from The Blue Basket)

Total Cost:

~ White T-Shirt: $2.00

~ Map: $0.00

~ Permanent Markers: $0.00

~ Toy Cars: $2.50

Dad's Car T-Shirt: Total Cost ~ $4.50

Become a Better Me

My sister has created a blog dedicated to bringing light into the lives of women. She has posts about physical health, spiritual health, and emotional health. It's so refreshing to hear a positive and encouraging voice about women! Visit her site and have a look around. She has uplifting quotes, good advice, and encouraging stories.

BecomeABetter.Me

Your Children Want YOU

My sister sent me this link and it completely inspired me. I love to craft but, as I'm sure you all can testify, it can get stressful sometimes. Unfortunately it's too easy to slip into thoughts such as "I don't have cute, handmade curtains" or "My pancakes don't look like stars". I know that all sounds superficial but the thoughts come whether foolish or not.

The post my sister sent me to was beautiful. It made me cry. It made me realize that crafts and cooking, etc are great if you are doing them to enrich your life and the life of your family. But as soon as they get to be a stress-giver rather than a stress-reliever or take precious time away from your children, it's time to take a break.

Read this post. I hope it touches you like it touched me.

Your Children Want YOU

T-Shirt into Baby Dress

I had two very old tank-tops that I was about to just throw away but I decided to change them into a baby dress. I used two because the fabric was worn out in some places so I just doubled up the whole thing.

Materials:
~ Old T-shirt
~ Current dress
~ Sewing machine
~ Design for the front (opt)

First I took a dress she currently wears and used it to cut out the new dress. Make sure you leave enough room for a seam allowance.

I hate hemming so to get around it this time I just used the hem from my old T-shirt. To do this, cut about an inch of extra fabric below the neckline and cut a strip long enough to go around your needed edge (ie: the sleeve). Fold the strip around your edge, leaving the already finished hem on the outside of your new edge. Make sure that the extra fabric (the non-hem) will be facing the inside of the dress. Pin in place and sew all around using a zig-zag stitch to give yourself some breathing room with moving the fabric around. I did the same thing to finish off the bottom of the dress.

I needed a little bit more scoop in my neck so I traced a lid and cut out a neck.

To finish the neck I cut three strips of fabric from my T-shirt and braided them around the neckline. At first I started sewing it on with a zig-zag stitch but that was way too busy so I unpicked that and just did a straight stitch.


The main reason I made this dress was because I wanted an outfit to add this cute little saying I found...

Yep, I'm gonna have another baby! I'm so excited! We find out boy/girl in mid-April so I'll either be making more girl stuff or I'll delve into little boy :)

I found a T-shirt at DI with this on the front so I just cut it out and stitched it onto my dress.

Here's a close-up of the finished sleeve and neckline. This can give you an idea of how using the hem from the T-shirt and using a braid look.

And the finished product...

Total Cost:
~ Old T-shirt: $0.00
~ Current dress: $0.00
~ Sewing machine: $0.00
~ Design for the front (opt): $2.00

T-shirt Baby Dress: Total Cost ~ $2.00

Baby Leggings

Little M has a lot of cute dresses but her knees get all red from crawling around with no protection on them all day. I've used tights in the past but wanted to have leggings so her cute little feet wouldn't have to be covered up.

Materials:
~ baby tights
~ scissors
~ sewing machine

I didn't take step-by-step pictures but it's really easy.

1 - Cut off bottom of tights (her tights were 14 inches, I cut off 1 1/2 in)
2 - Sew around the edge of the tights

And you're done!

Now she can wear dresses, crawl around and protect her knees :)

And be super stylin!

Baby Leggings:
~ baby tights: $0.00
~ scissors: $0.00
~ sewing machine: $0.00

Baby Leggings: Total Cost ~ $0.00

Old T-Shirt Bracelet

One of my favorite shirts got a big stain right on the front :( I hate it when this happens! I have a few plans for the fabric though. I made a bracelet today and it took me all of 5 minutes.

Materials:
~ Old T-Shirt
~ Scissors

Lay out the shirt sleeve and cut off the hem. Then cut a thin strip from around the sleeve.

My sleeves weren't very long so I had to cut one strip from each sleeve. Then slowly stretch out the fabric. Be careful that it doesn't rip at the seam. One of mine did rip so I just used it as a long strip rather than a circular one.


Fold one of the strips on top of itself so there are two loops. Take the long strip and place it over the hem so when you wrap it around the bracelet the hem will be covered up.


I wanted one more loop in my bracelet so I took my long strip and added one more loop then used the remainder of the long strip to wrap around the hem and tie everything together.

Here's the finished product. Fun and casual :)

Total Cost:
~ Old T-Shirt: $0.00
~ Scissors: $0.00

Old T-Shirt Bracelet: Total Cost ~ $0.00

Valentine's Wreath

Sorry it's been so long! I've been doing projects, I just haven't been posting them.

Here is a wreath I made for Valentine's Day!
Materials:
- Construction paper
- Scissors
- Hot Glue
- Thread

I cut out strips of construction paper about 1/2 inch thick and folded them in half. Then I brought the other two ends around and glued them together to form a heart. I glued a bunch of these hearts together to form a big oval.


Then I took a piece of paper and put it across the top/middle of the oval. I cut out "LOVE" and hot glued thread to it then hot glued the thread to the strip of paper on top.

I cut out two of each letter and glued the thread in between so that no matter which way the letter turns (they spin around when the wreath is moved) you can't see the thread.

And there you have a Valentine's Wreath :)

Total Cost:
- Construction paper: $0.00
- Scissors: $0.00
- Hot Glue: $0.00
- Thread: $0.00

Valentine's Wreath: Total Cost ~ $0.00