Tutorial: How to make Burp Cloths

Burp cloths are a necessity with a 2 month-old. Spit-ups are inevitable...and oh does my baby spit up. I like to have lots of burp cloths on hand (since I don't like doing the laundry every day). Here are some simple burp cloths that you can make during your baby's nap. They also make great baby shower gifts.

Materials needed:
-Tri-fold cloth diapers (I got these on Amazon. I purchased the Regular 4x6x4 size.)
-fabric (cut a little bit bigger than the middle portion of the cloth diaper)
-thread

Steps:
1) Place your fabric on top of the middle portion of the cloth diaper. Fold the edges under so that it makes a neat rectangle covering the middle portion. Iron the edges.

2) Pin the fabric onto the cloth diaper.

3) Clip the corners a little bit so there is no fabric sticking out.

4) Sew using an 1/8" seam allowance (or at close to the edge as you can get it). Don't forget to backstitch at the beginning and end.

That's it! Burp away~! :)

Tutorial: How to make Beco Baby Carrier Strap Covers

Recently when my sister-in-law was in town, she asked me to help her make strap covers for her Beco baby carrier. I see several tutorials out there for making sucking pads/strap covers for the Ergo baby carrier, but haven't seen many for the Beco. The Beco strap covers are not for the thicker part of the straps, but actually the nylon part that clips onto the bigger thicker part (if you have one, you will know what I am talking about). This nylon strap is placed right where most babies' mouths are, and when sucked on, they leave red marks on the side of your baby's mouth. Not good. So if you have a Beco, you will want to make these. :)

Material needed:

-Fabric

-Batting (I use Warm & Natural cotton batting)

-Thread

-Velcro

Steps:

1) Cut four 6" x 6"  pieces out of your fabric. Cut two 6" x 6"  pieces out of your batting.

2) Place two fabric pieces together (right sides facing together) and then a piece of batting below that.

3) Sew layers together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Make sure to leave at least a 2" opening for turning inside out.

4) Clip corners and trim off excess batting. Turn inside out. Poke out corners. 

5) Topstitch using a 1/8" seam allowance all the way around.

6) Sew velcro pieces in place. 

 

Look at it in action~! :)

 

Old Framed Poster turned Calendar

I know what you're thinking... another custom-made-calendar-using-an-old-unwanted-picture-frame? Oh but this is not just any ol' calendar, this custom-made calendar has a menu board on the bottom. AND a shopping list. ;) Yup, I put all three together. I've been seeing a lot of these on Pinterest and I've been wanting to make one...and I finally did it. Of course I did it at night when the kids were sleeping, so I didn't think of taking pics along the way. But here is the finished product.

I grabbed the framed poster from my friend awhile back. She no longer wanted it, and I knew one day it could be a beautiful calendar/menu board/shopping list. I first put two coats of some leftover paint I had. Then I wrapped the cardboard backing with some pretty Martha Stewart wrapping paper. Then my nifty Silhouette Cameo came into play. Did I ever mention I love this Cameo? I'm still learning how to use it, but it has been so much fun. With this project I finally learned how to do the whole print and cut method. This video was very helpful. (Note: Again, like with any of my other Cameo projects, if you have a Cameo and would like any of my templates, please let me know and I will happily email them to you.) Hope this will bring a bit more order to our lives. :)

Update: I wanted to show you the calendar in action. My husband had the brilliant idea of having a "rolling" calendar. What does that mean you ask? Well basically, once the week is finished, I erase it and add another week from the next month. So you can always look several weeks ahead. Still confused? Yes I was too when he explained it to me. Since I'm a visual person, I had to write it out for it to make more sense. I distinguish the two months by using two different colors. Hopefully it makes more sense to look at my calendar. If you have a dry-erase calendar, you should try it. I think it's pretty cool.

By the way, when choosing which dry-erase markers to purchase, I would get the Expo fine-tip low-odor markers. They seem to work the best. I also like these Bistro Chalk Markers (I got mine from Hobby Lobby using 40% off coupon). They have a more vibrant color (though it is a little bit messier when erasing). I tried the regular chisel tip Expo's...not so great. And the Board Dudes markers from Target were a fail too.