DIY Kid Stuff Inspiration

Warning: This may get kind of long.  I am going to share some of the inspiration I have found from around the web for making things for my kids’ new rooms and also just to use for the kiddos.

Last night I finally started a blanket for the baby that I have been wanting to do for a while.  I have had trouble find a unisex fabric I like.  I picked some out that colorwise is gender neutral but it does have flowers so it makes it a bit girly.  Even my 4 year old son said so.  But I figured I can always make a boyish one too and then either have one of the big kids use the quilt that the baby doesn’t need as a throw or give it to someone else who has a baby.  I bought a kind of universal walking foot at Joann’s hoping it would fit my machine but it wasn’t quite compatible.  It turns out though that since this quilt isn’t too thick that so far it has been just fine without it.  I’ll show you two blogs that gave me the idea and then a couple peaks at my work in progress.  I will hopefully finish doing the quilting part tonight and then trim it up and get the binding on it in the next day or two.  I made mine crib quilt size (45″x60″) so it is pretty large.  I made the quilting pattern chevron shaped so that has been the only pain with having to deal with the large blanket…there is a lot of stoping and starting and readjusting as you go.

I first saw this blanket from Katie Did.

Then I saw this one on Mer Mag. And then she made another one that I like even more.

Here is a couple peaks at the fabric I’m using.  You can see the batting sticking out and the threads since I am midprocess.

The other thing that I started making last night (and could have finished if I had all the materials) was this poopy clutch from I Still Love You.  There is a free pattern for it on the site.  I thought it was pretty cute and while I was at Joann’s I bought some vinyl from the remnant bin to make one.  The vinyl I got is kind of a camel beige color…so not the most exciting thing ever but when I looked at the giant rolls of vinyl that they had, I didn’t really love any of the other colors anyway.  I figured I could paint a design on it to give it a bit more pizazz.  I like the feather on this bag on etsy and will probably do something similar.  Making the vinyl part of the pouch is super easy I just need to get the button snap to finish it.  I got something at Hobby Lobby but it wasn’t the right thing so I’ll probably have to get one from online.

Awhile back I came across this tutorial to make a stuffed animal into a lamp on matsutake.  I thought it was so cute.  Then just a couple weeks ago I found that the same woman was giving the pattern for that fox away for free now instead of selling it.  I can’t wait to make it.  I just need to decide what fabrics to use.  I also need to check to see if any local stores carry the stiffy stuff that makes the animal hard.  If not, guess I’ll be buying from the internet again.  The blog that this fox pattern and tutorial for the lamp is on is a different format than any I’ve seen before and it is a bit annoying to navigate and my pins on pinterest just go to the main page.  So, just click on the tutorial section at the top of the main page and find the info from there.

I don’t know if I’ll actually make this rug seen on the etsy blog or not, but I just love it.  There probably won’t be room in the big kids’ room anyway but maybe it’d be cute in the baby room.

I’ve seen a couple of ideas for very easy mobiles that I thought were fun and cute.  I bought a mobile from pottery barn kids in the clearance section for Josiah’s crib.  I then took the animals off and sewed my own birds to hang from it for Audrey’s crib.  I could do something similar but these are just so colorful and simple I may try for something different.  Or one of them could be fun to have over the changing table.

This is a simple one made from ribbons from Project Wedding.

This one is made from crepe paper over at Armelle.

I’ve not been inspired by any of the bedding out there for the big kids.  I have looked at duvet covers, comforters, sheets so I can make my own duvet, and pretty much any other kind of bed covering out there.  Oh yeah, and just regular fabric as well to make a duvet cover.  I want some that looks kind of light and happy but has bright colors too.  Something that either works for both of them or two that coordinate enough so that they look ok being by each other.  I don’t want to spend a lot of money.  That’s usually my biggest issue.  I’ve been looking at fabric like I said but I will need 7.5 yards of fabric to make a twin duvet and that adds up quick!  Especially making two!  I did find some fabric by Michael Miller that doesn’t come out until August that would work great.  Again, the issue is price.  I’ve never bought designer fabric because it is 1. usually not at any store I am at and 2. it costs more than I usually want to pay.  Maybe I could buy enough fabric to just make the top pretty and then put something cheaper on the bottom that coordiates.  Another idea I was actually settling on before I found that fabric yesterday is buying an already made white duvet cover and then making my own designs with fabric dye markers.  I’ve been playing around with some color and design ideas using colored pencils.  Here is one that a mom from A Thousand Words  via Young House Love made from her son’s drawings.  I think it turned out pretty awesome.

Ok, that should be enough inspiration for one day!  Next time I can share some of the artwork on etsy that I’ve had my eye on.  Oh yeah, and a clock I bought too.

One Down, One to Go and Other Randomness

Here’s a bunch of random stories from what’s been going on here lately.

After much deliberation and going back and forth on trying to decide on what will work best for arranging the 3 kids in their 2 rooms we finally decided on putting the two big kids in Audrey’s room in two twin beds.  I originally was going to put them both in some type of bunk bed in Josiah’s room after doing some measuring it just wasn’t going to work…or at least there is no great place to put a bed in that room.  The bunk bed would either cover up the windows and if we put it on the same wall as his toddler bed it makes it hard to get to the closet.

This was Josiah’s room when it was getting close to being finished before he was born.

This is his room the day of his 4th birthday.  We had hung up streamers and thrown in balloons while he was asleep.  It looks like some playing has been happening too, so ignore the mess.

You can see from the two pictures the room isn’t big.  The one wall is all window and the opposite wall has the door to the hallway and the closet door.  There is just enough space between the doors to put a dresser (which is there now) or a book shelf.  He does have a high vaulted ceiling which would make my fear of the kids hitting the fan (which taking out or not using in our TX heat is NOT an option…plus with that window, Josiah’s room is the hottest in the house) not a problem.  In Audrey’s room, it is a tiny bit bigger and there is a good wall for a bed/beds but the ceiling is a standard 8 feet so the fan is very low.  Josiah also gets a lot of nose bleeds and many of them start while he is asleep.  I don’t want to have to mess with helping him with that/changing sheets from a top bunk while trying to not wake his sister.  And then of course there is the rare night time accident or throw up.  So, we measured Audrey’s room and figured out that we could fit two twin beds in her room with the current dresser in between them.  This way they have a little space between them, will be easier to make the beds, and guests will have beds they can sleep in for the first time since Audrey was born.  So, all that to say is I have been stalking Craigslist and local thrift/consignment/antique stores for beds.  I want them to match or be close and probably ultimately white so that the small room will look as open and bright as possible.  I need them to be gender neutral and not too babyish so that they can be used for a long time.  Saturday morning I found a listing for a garage sale in Austin that had a black vintage iron headboard and footboard plus rails.  There was no phone number but we decided to chance it and even though we didn’t get there until noon the bed was still there!  We’ll have to paint it but I am so excited to finally find one of the beds.  This style or ones similar aren’t too hard to find so I am sure we can find another like it.  In two weeks a nearby town will be having their big once a month Market Day when hundreds of vendors come and sell there stuff.  I am hopeful we’ll find something then if not before.  I’ll try to keep you posted on how the room comes together and I’ll share some things I’ve been eyeing on etsy and pinterest to buy or make.

(craigslist photo)

Now onto more random stories…

I have strange dreams all the time but two days ago I had one about the baby.  In it I had the baby, a girl, but didn’t remember anything about having her.  I had no memory of any part of the labor or anything.  I was mad because part of what I am looking forward to with keeping the gender a secret is the doctor announcing “It’s a boy/girl!” after going to all the trouble of labor.   I was also shocked in my dream to learn that her name was Oklahoma Kay.  I couldn’t believe we would name her that and told Ken we had to go get the papers changed.  Dreams are so strange.  And if anyone is having problems picking a baby  name, this one is up for grabs because we won’t be using it.  So have at it!

 

Our little girl is in a phase right now where she takes her diaper off pretty much every time she is in her crib.  We try to catch it so she doesn’t pee in the bed but sometimes she is tricky.  The girl either needs to stay dressed or get potty trained because I am so tired of changing and washing everything in her bed that gets wet all the time.  We have tried lots of different ways to make it hard for her to get it off but nothing has stopped her yet.  We need some kind of metal chastity belt with a lock or something.  Or some kind of big kid onesie with the opening at the back would work but I don’t know if anything like that exists.  We didn’t go through this with her brother.  He maybe did that once or twice.

 

We took the kids spontaneously to Sea World last week.  The weather was  a little cooler that day (high of 94) and we’ve been talking about doing it for a while now.  They have a deal where you pay for one day’s ticket and can continue to go back for the rest of the calendar year so hopefully going a few more times will take the sting out of the big price tag.  Everything went really well and we only saw maybe half the park.  To end the day for us we stopped by their splash park to cool off.  Audrey was running around and having a wonderful time until she ran right into a giant pole that sprays water.  Of course a giant colored bump appeared on her forehead right away.  She actually recovered pretty well but it was a bit tougher with her missing her nap and being really tired.  We look forward to going back and it’ll be a nice thing for Ken to take the kids to after the baby arrives so they can have an adventure and I can get some rest.

Any fun random stories you want to share?  Have you been enjoying the summer?  I have been so thankful that we are just now getting to 100 degree weather.  Last year at this time I think we had already had 20 days or so of it.  I am also hopping the storm in the gulf, Debby, will come this way and push some rain up to us.

Babies, Dolls, and Thrifting

So, of course I made it all the way to the dr. last week without my photo cd that they upload the sonograms on.  Ken always came with me with other two pregnancies and he took care of that so it has been hard for me to remember with me going alone most of the time.  Luckily, they have all the photos saved in their computer so next time I can bring it and they can load them all.  The visit went great.  In fact it was the fastest visit I think I’ve ever had.  It would have been pretty easy to take the kids along since I was only there a total of 20 minutes but one of my sweet friends read my last post and offered to watch the kids.  I promise, I hadn’t mentioned anything in the last post as a hint for that.  It was appreciated though since it was one less thing to worry about.  They did a big ultrasound where they look at everything.  I saw the brain, kidneys, 4 heart chambers beating away, and of course hands, feet, and face.  Technology really is so amazing.  The sonographer said that everything looked great and that the baby was 1 pound 7 ounces.  That sounded big to me compared to my weekly emails about what the baby is doing but he assured me that it was average for 23 weeks.  Both of my other kids were big babies so I keep waiting for this one to start getting huge.  I know my lack of restraint with desserts probably isn’t helping.

So, unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of my little one.  But I do have photos of a doll I made one of my childhood friends I visited who was due yesterday.  I made her one of the black apple dolls that I have made before as gifts.  This was the first brunette I’ve made.  They are easy to make and I used scraps that I already had so it didn’t cost me anything.  I picked out fabric that would somewhat match the baby’s nursery.  I did give her some cute baby clothes too.

Also, this week we took Audrey to get her first haircut.  Her hair has driven me a bit crazy her whole life.  She pretty much had none her first year except a tiny bit at the back.  And then as it grew it became a mullet.  She still doesn’t really have hair on the sides but the longer hair on top covers it up.  I hesitated to get her hair cut sooner because it would just mean she had a shorter mullet.  It wouldn’t make it look any better.  It has gotten really long and even though it was nice to be able to pull it up it was getting harder to deal with.  So, since the top of her hair finally has grown out enough that she doesn’t look mullety anymore I figured it was time to finally time to trim things up and get her hair in some better order.  The place we’ve taken Josiah to get his hair cut has an airplane chair for the kids to sit in.  They also put on a little movie and give them a balloon most of the time at the end.  Audrey has watched her brother get his done many times but was excited to finally sit in the chair herself.  Her hair is a bit shorter than I had asked but it has finally evened out all the natural layers that were there and makes it look a bit thicker.  Now we just need those bangs to grow out so they’ll be out of her face.  It was a bit spur of the moment so these pictures are take from a phone.

Today I went into a new to me thrift store with the kids and was excited with what I found.  The woman running it was so nice and let the kids play with a toy chest that has a bunch of cheap toys that have been donated.  She said that they would get to take home one for free at the end.  The kids happily and quietly played with them the entire time I looked around.  This was definitely something that was created by a mom.  It was wonderful to not have to tell them to keep their hands off of things the entire time.  The kids clothes were also 50% off so I got 2 shirts for each kid and a really cute vintage sweater for a baby girl.  I figured for a $1.25 it was too cute to leave there.  If we have a girl, she’ll get to wear it, and if not someone else who has a baby girl will benefit from it.  I need to take a picture of it to show you.  Tiny baby clothes are so cute!  The woman also asked if I would want to look at some maternity clothes since she doesn’t have room for them in the front and keeps them in the back.  I ended up getting 2 dresses and some shorts for 2 bucks each.  It is so nice to visit a thrift store that actually has thrift store prices.  I have gotten so tired of the Goodwill here because they seem to think too highly of their junk.  I can get new clothes cheaper at our outlet mall or on sale at Target than at the Goodwill most times.  I have been to other Goodwill stores that aren’t like this though.  Another nice thing about the shop I went to today was that it is for our hospital/hospice care who gives free grief counseling to people who have lost a loved one.  The money I spent helps support that.  So, I will definitely be back.

Ok, gotta get back to work.  I posted two new zebras in the shop.  One is pink and one is blue.  I have been asked to make a neutral one for someone who isn’t finding out the gender so I need to get to making it.  I just wanted to stop in and give an update on things from the week.

Checking In

Wow, how has it already been a month since I last wrote?!  Things continue to go well here.  The pregnancy has been great lately except for tiredness.  I am at 23 weeks now by the way.   I go to the doctor tomorrow and if I get any good pictures I’ll share them.  I get the challenge of taking both kids with me by myself.  Should be fun!  I know Josiah will be fine and I am going to take the stroller to contain Audrey for during the scans.  We tried to make the appointment for a better day but this was the only day it would work.  Oh well, I’m sure I’m not the first to do it.

Part of what causes me to not blog is actually making things.  I haven’t figured out a good balance yet of finding the time and energy to do both.  I have had a few different orders and finally after 5 months put some new animals in the shop as well.  All that is left of the new animals at the moment are some soctopuses.  I am currently working on some zebras and hope to get them in soon.  I have also worked on a few personal projects that have turned out well and once I get some pictures of them I’ll share them with you.

Today I’ll share a custom order I made a while back.  Remember that little peanut I was commissioned to make?  Well, one of my faithful blog readers and new blogging friend asked if I could make her a pickle!  One of her daughters has the nickname Pickle and she thought it’d be fun to give it to her as a birthday present.  We talked about what she was wanting and I thought about how I could make it all happen and this is what we got.  After considering three different ideas I had for making the pickle bumpy, I ended up making the bumps out of stuffed felt so that they’d blend with the names on the back.

Definitely not something you’ll find anywhere else!

So, anyone else got any cute food nicknames for their kids?