Repurposing a Crib Skirt

What do you do with a crib skirt once you drop your crib?  Turn it into a valance!  That’s what I did for my friend when her Lil’ Bug needed her crib dropped. She had this gorgeous bedding done for her daughter’s room and it would have been a waste to see it not being used. So she called on me for some sewing help!

Here is the crib skirt before!

What was really great about the whole process was that some of the fabric that she had in her crib bumper I had in my wonderful stash of fabric at home.  Take a look at her bedding, see the pretty paisley print?

Well I took my stash of that paisley print from Premier Prints and added it to the crib skirt.  Look how great it turned out!

I even sewed a pillow to match!

If you can’t find matching window treatments then you can also use crib skirts from coordinating sets.  I did that for these 2 rooms. I didn’t need crib skirts for my 2 cribs and I couldn’t find any valances that I loved or that matched my bedding. So I used the coordinating skirts that matched my bedding sets.

This one is from Lil M’s Room, which I plan on featuring one day.

This one is from my Room Redo at Grandma and Baba’s house.

One day I will do a tutorial on these!

A special thanks to my friend, AC, for the great inspirational project for her Lil’ Bug’s room!

New Adventures: Craft Show

I did it! I put myself out there. I did my first ever craft show. Whew….exhale. I loved it!  But I am so glad it’s over. It’s definitely a lot of work. I made a promise to myself that I would do it as long as I could take my time, work on the items here and there. I kept to that…….well sort of.

Thanks “Honey-Do” and mom!  The last few days were a bit crazy…and without the 2 of them, I would never have made it. It didn’t help that we are in the middle of a renovation and that I still have 2 beautiful babies that need my attention.   They took over mommy duties in the final stretch while I slaved away to finish all some of the things I set out to get done.  It wasn’t perfect but I am proud of what I pulled together.

All summer long my friend “L” and I have been making these cute little felt stitched hair clips and giving them out as gifts.  My plan was to do these for the show but also take it up a notch and add some other fun things. And I did!  I made felt hair clips, felt flower clips, headbands, and tutu sets.  I ran out of time or I probably would had the table filled with many more different things (reusable lunch bags, tooth fairy bags, appliqued onesies, burp cloths)  My inspired list is endless.  I will make sure to add or try to add them to the next one.  And yes, I think I will give this a go again! Maybe sometime in the Spring?  Late, late Spring.  This momma has some other plans until then. Big Girl Combo room and fresh redo of the office/craft room are next on the list.  BUT… in the meantime I am certainly and willing to do anything made to order  So if you see something you like…just ask!

I loved the way the table came out. Not bad for a first time crafty girl right?  That’s my mom in the background, isn’t she cute?  I found most of the display items at Marshalls.  I am feeling a lot of love for Marshalls right about now.

My skinny headbands with stitched felt flowers. Most of the flowers were cut with my sizzix machine and then stitched together. I think these are adorable. Great for adults and kids!

My favorite of all of my tutu sets. Minnie Mouse. Love it. I even made matching Minnie Mouse clips to coordinate.  My goal was to make a birthday banner and cupcake toppers to also go with but that was one of the things that didn’t make the cut.  I dressed both of my girls in tutus for the their first birthdays. It’s such a girlie thing I know, but they are so darn cute in them.

The adorable mannequin was $15 bucks at Marshalls.  Can we say “score”?!?!

I am embarrassed to even show this image because I obviously didn’t check it before I moved on to the next photo. Oh well. I still wanted to feature it because it’s the only one I have that shows all of the newborn and toddler hair clippies.  These were a big hit.

These were my favorite clips. You can attach them in your hair in many ways or even add them to headbands. So cute!  PS–these things are fun to make if you want to give it a try. There are a zillion tutorials out there to use.

I have a brilliant little model coming over to wear these so I can photograph her in them this weekend. She is still young enough to boss around.  I would have used my girls…but they were uncooperative and unwilling.  Honey-Do caught these 2 pix of them. See…..unwilling. But still cute as buttons.

Here are a list of great tutorials that I book marked if you want to  give some of these a try!  Come on, you can do it too!

Appliqued Onesie Tutorials

World’s Easiest Appliqued Onesie Tutorial

Nifty Little Onesies

Tutu Tutorials

The Extremely Detailed Tutu Tutorial

Tutu Tutorial Time

Felt Hair Clips & Headbands

Felt Flower Tutorials

Lovely Summer Headband Tutorial

DIY: Felt Flower Headband Tutorial

I Love Fall!

If it weren’t for the fact that Winter was right around the corner, Fall would officially be my favorite time of year. But everyone who knows me knows that I just don’t like to be cold. But with that said there is something very comforting about Fall. I love to layer with new sweaters and curl up in my mom Aud’s cuddly quilts and put the girls in their warm fuzzy footsy pj’s!  Don’t you just love the color change on a sunny Fall day and colorful mums on doorsteps?  Just beautiful!

Happy Composting!

We finally did it, we finally bought our first compost bin. After much research and back and forth discussion on what would work best, we settled on the (easiest & very affordable) compost tumbler from Costco.  And I LOVE it!

Mainly our discussion was “What will the neighbor’s think?”  Not that we thought it was weird or embarrassing to have a compost bin but rather the close proximity that we are to them. We just didn’t want to take the chance that our novice composting skills would lead to smell and little unwanted critters with an open compost pile. But we also didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for an expensive tumbler.  The other option that I considered was a worm bin. Luckily on one of our many trips to Costco we wandered down the seasonal aisle and saw exactly what we were looking for.  I will keep you posted on how it does and how much black gold it produces for my garden next year!!

Here is a great quote from Mother Earth News on the benefit of Compost Tumblers:

“Although the decomposition time is not increased, compost tumblers do have advantages in addition to ease of turning. By and large, they are clean, neat, unobtrusive, pest-resistant and odor-free. Because of this, tumblers often can be used in urban and suburban areas, where local laws or restrictive covenants may prohibit open compost piles.“

For more reviews on different composting options and bins, check out these sites:

Compost Info Guide

Composters

Clean Air Gardening

Come on, you know you want to have one too!?  It makes the guilt of cleaning out your fridge so much less knowing that you are putting it right into your compost bin and right back into the garden.

Busy, Busy!

We have been busy.  There is never enough time to do all the things I would like to do. That’s okay. I just do what I can when I can and in the meantime enjoy life in the fast lane with 2 toddlers! Blogging is one of the things I haven’t made a priority.  Here’s a quick update!

In a nutshell, we have had tons of visitors and in between tons of yukkies! I am pretty sure we sent a few visitors home with the yukkies!  Whoops!!

First a visit from our good friend Nettie! She is always so much fun!

And then a visit from Auntie Tay Tay, Papa & Nana.

Although we seemed to miss getting some pix of Papa and Nana, but we got plenty from Auntie Tay Tay

The worst feeling, 2 babies feeling blue!

But it didn’t take long for daddy to cheer them up!

Lots going on and lots to share. My to do list is a mile long but includes some fun things….sewing, composting, blogging, crafting, photographing…and some not so fun things….cleaning, organizing, renovating!!!  Hopefully I can keep up on it all!