Tutorial: How to make a Hooded Towel

I can't believe it's been half a year since I last posted! I know I keep making these empty promises that I will post more...blah blah... I'm just not gonna make promises I can't keep. Sorry! I will post when I can, and I am grateful you are still here to read it. :)

Anyway, here is a tutorial on how to make a hooded towel. My little kiddos have grown out of their baby hooded towels, so I decided to make my own. Here's how you can make one for your kid, as a gift, or even for yourself. ;)

Materials needed:

-bath towel

-hand towel

-fabric

Steps:

1) Get fabric that measures (length of hand towel+3") by 5" (or so...again approximating). Fold the top and bottom of the fabric and iron.

2) Lay the fabric on top of your hand towel an inch or so from the bottom (so that it covers where you folded the hand towel up). Fold the extra fabric under (I like to sandwich it between the fold of the hand towel).

3) Sew all the way around.

4) Fold the hand towel in half lengthwise (fabric facing each other). Sew along the right edge (reference photo below). 

5) Fold the bath towel in half and mark the center with a pin.

6) (Note: I think it is actually better to not cut the bulky stub, but I did so for the one I made here.) Open up the hand towel, so the bottom edge lays flat. Align the centers of the hand towel and bath towel.

7) Sew the hand towel and the bath towel together. I sew at least 3 rows to reinforce.

8) You can applique the initials of your kids so you know which towel belongs to whom.

Birthday Shirts & More Baby Shower Gifts...

Happy New Year! It has been a llloonngg time since I last posted. It is so difficult to find time to sit down and blog. Didn't even get to post photos of our Christmas tree. I guess I will wait until December 2013~ ;)

Now that Noah is 7 months old, I am trying to get back into crafting. It isn't easy...seems like someone is always awake (usually my #2). So I try to just do short little projects. I need to do something other than change diapers and clean up spit-up. It helps keep me sane. I know this is just a season and it shall pass...and I will miss it (?)...but even so, little breaks of crafting is needed.

Here are some birthday shirts I made for a few of my friends' kids. I used the Silhouette to cut out Iron-On Transfer Vinyl. For the numbers I used my fabric cutting blade on the Silhouette, and then sewed around it. The caterpillar took some time, but the result was worth it~

 

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Here is another quick project I did recently. My friend is expecting a baby girl, so for her shower gift I made some burp cloths and these cute letters. I made these at night when the kids were sleeping and didn't think to take photos of the process.

Basically, I drew and cut out a quick stencil of the letters. I then traced the letter onto the fabric (on the wrong side). And then with the two pieces of fabric (right sides) facing each other, I sewed along the traced letter. (Remember to leave an opening) The letter "A" was a bit trickier because once it was flipped right side out, I had to sew the little inner "triangle" by hand. Anyway, then you stuff it and slip stitch close.

 

 

The "S" is for the baby and the "A" is for her big sister. Didn't want to leave the older sibling out. I wish I had sewn a little ribbon loop at the top so they can hang...oh well...next time~

Good to be back...hopefully it won't be forever and a day until I post again. :)

Get Organized with Pretty File Folders

 After having baby #3, I realized I needed a better way of organizing all the paperwork I was accumulating for my kiddos. Originally I was stashing all the doctor visits papers, hospital paperwork, "school" paperwork, etc in one accordion file folder. It was getting way overstuffed. I decided to get them each a folder of their own. I love the Martha Stewart line at Staples, so I decided to get these.

I used my Silhouette Cameo (again) to personalize each one. The letters were cut out of vinyl, so they are easily removable.

Simple. :)

Tutorial: How to Make Decorative Wooden Blocks

Wow, it has been too long!!! I am grateful to all those who have stopped by in the past few months, and I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long. Where do the days go? I feel like from the moment I open my eyes to the last few minutes before I fall asleep, I am completely ON! Having 3 kids under the age of 4 is no easy job. Phew~ Anyway, hope you are all gearing up for the holidays. I actually got my tree up already! (yes, I am one of those people who starts listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving has even passed) ;) I will post pictures of the tree at a later time. Hopefully it won't be months before I do.

I am glad to be putting up a new blog post. Seeing those burp cloths on my front page for so long was driving me nutso. Well, these blocks are dear to my heart. When I was pregnant with my first baby, I started my dreaming and longing for a sweet baby girl. I began to make these blocks to decorate my nursery. And of course instead of making them gender neutral (I made them before I knew gender of my baby), I made them obviously for a girl. And then I had a boy. I held onto them for the next few years, but with each sonogram revealing that beautiful boy part, I knew that using these to decorate our nursery was a dream that wasn't going to come true. So recently when a good friend of mine had a baby shower for her baby girl, I knew I wanted to give them to her. (and if one day I have that girl...I will snatch them back...kidding...).

Materials needed:

-4"x4" cubes of wood
-sandpaper
-scrapbook paper
-Mod Podge
-dark brown paint
-sponge brush
-vinyl (used for letters)

*Since I made these so long ago, I don't have step-by-step photos. But I think it is easy enough without seeing the photos.

Steps:

1)  Have a nice employee at Home Depot cut the wood blocks for me. Use sandpaper to smooth down the edges and corners.

2) Cut the scrapbook paper into 4"x4" squares. (I used 6 different sheets of coordinating scrapbook paper so each face of the cube would have a different design.) Then glue them on with Mod Podge.

3) After it has dried, use a sponge brush to dab dark brown paint on the edges. This gives it a vintage-y look.

4) Cut letters (or whatever designs you'd like) from vinyl (I used my Silhouette Cameo for this part).

5) I didn't do this, but you could mod-podge it after you're done so that it has a more finished look. I kept them as is in case my friend wants to remove them...(translation: "or in case I have that girl and I want to remove them"...kidding....)

The baby girl's last name is Choo. And her first initial "A". Hence "achoo"....bless you~ ;)

Note: These are not for the baby to play with. These are for decorative use only. :)

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.