My Quiet Book Pages 1 & 2

I'm actually making progress on this thing!! YEAY! My pages are bleached muslin. I cut them using a sheet protector as a pattern so they'll fit in a binder when I'm all finished. I plan on punching three holes and reinforcing them with grommets when I'm all finished. Anyway, These may not actually be the first pages in the book when it's all put together, but they're the first pages I've finished. And they'll open up side by side becasue they kind of go together. I'm trying to make all my pages do that.

This page is a stop sign with a pocket holding matching color circles. The color circles velcro onto the sign. This page is a map. The cars are buttons that are attached to ribbons that are sewn to the page inside the pocket. That way they always stay attached to the page. And all together, they look like this.

I like it. I hope my kids like it someday, as well. Hopefully this page will be more than just fun. Hopefully it will teach them to match colors, and how a stoplight works, and how to read a map. We'll see!

Homemade Baby Food

I realize I am not the only mommy out there who has done this, but I just thought I'd share my success story. :) I've always planned on making baby food. I'm the oldest in my family and I remember my mom almost always had a food mill at dinner time, grinding up whatever we were having into a dinner for one of my younger siblings. I totally plan on getting one of those as soon as my baby has been introduced to more foods, but for starters, I just wanted to give him one thing at a time. Cooking veggies is not hard and you hardly need a recipe for it, but I got a gift certificate to Borders for my birthday, so I went to look for something that would help me know what to start out with, and told me exactly how nutritious different veggies are, and the best way to cook them, yadda yadda yadda... So, I went and looked through about ten books and like this one the best. So much good stuff in there! It even has meal plans layed out for you. I really like it. So anyway, the first thing I made was carrots. Steamed them, then blended them with the braun. I love my braun, by the way!

If my freezer didn't have an ice maker, I'd have just used ice trays, but I don't have any, so I registered for these kidco trays and got them. They're cool because each "cube" is 2 oz. large, so that makes feeding pretty easy...I guess. My baby isn't eating that much yet because we just started, but anyway...

Froze them, then popped them out and put them in a ziplock to freeze. They should last about 3 months! Then, when I want to feed him, I'll just take one cube out and pop it in the microwave. Easy!

It was so easy that I've since made sweet potatoes and squash and I plan on doing many more. It will be really fun once I've introduced more things because then I'll be able to do mixtures. That is another reason I got "Superfoods." It has good recipes for what veggies go well with other veggies, etc. I'm loving it!

Great Quiet Book Ideas

{Homemade by Jill} is a blog I recently found with a lot of great ideas on it. Since I am in the process of making a {quiet book} (that will probably take forever!! :), I was most interested in her Quiet Book pages. They're pretty creative! Check them out.

Ruffle Collar Dress

{Katie did} is a GREAT blog I recently found. She does so many cute things. I love these Easter dresses. Aren't they cute?? She has a great {tutorial} for how to make that collar. But she has several other things worth taking a look at. Very cute. Thanks Katie!

Hall Wall Ledge

I'm loving this idea from The Lettered Cottage. What a great thing to do in a really long hallway. She put up a ledge running the length of the hall to decorate. Why not? It's a great use of space. I'm sure it's almost as easy as putting up a chair rail. Great idea.

Cupcake Tower

This is a cute Martha Stewart idea. Those strips of fabric are just bias tape cut in different lengths. They make this cupcake tower look so cute! And that streamer above just does it. Well, along with the carnations, of course - which look really cute for a flower that a lot of people don't like. We all need to take another look at that one...it's so pretty! Great summer party idea. I love the look of all of this outside.

Bare Books

To see the origin of this post, click {here}.

I recently found out about a company called Bare Books. They make many blank products like puzzles, calenders, comic books, game boards, stickers and more. You just order them and start creating! It sounds pretty fun, you could do some pretty cool stuff. What I was most interested in was their {chunky bare books}. These are board books - for little kids. Their prices are pretty good:

11" X 8" - $1.70

8.375" X 6" - $1.45

8" X 8" - $1.55

5" X 5" - $1.20

The only thing is that you have to make a minimum purchase of $25. That's a lot of books! But, shipping is a flat rate of $3 (free to a school). So, if you got a group of people together to make these things, it could be a pretty good deal. Their website says pencils, crayons, watercolor markers, paint, and glued text work on their books. So, I think you could put almost anything you wanted on these things. I just worried that I wouldn't be able to glue pictures to them like I planned, but their website shows examples of what people have done, and it looks like they've been able to do picture books just fine. I probably wont make a word book, like I planned, until my son's starting to talk, but thought this was a good idea to save for future reference.

Alphabet Decor

These little lovlies are from {Bibbity's etsy shop}. I think they're so cute! I also really like how they put it inbetween molding. It would look really cute around the ceiling in a child's room. You could really do almost anything inbetween molding and it would look cute - like animals, flowers, places, clothing, sea shells etc. I really like how Bibbity's are individual little tiles or plaques, though. It makes them look real, and less wall-paper-ish. You could make these things yourself! Decorative molding with an artistic touch inbetween. How cute!

Super Hero Party

Ok, this {super hero party} from Creative Kismet is so stinkin cute! I like that it's very little boyish. So many fun ideas. My favorite was that she made capes and eye masks for them to take home and had they decorated their own logo on the backs of the capes. Here's her tutorial for {super hero capes}. Such a cute party! I also love how she sent out "Super Thankful" thank you's afterward. She made these stamps and used them throughout the whole party. What a great way to get a little boy excited about sending out thank you cards!

KirstenCan also had a {super hero party} and hers turned out really cute, as well.

Cupcake cake - great for little kiddos.She drew this city in need of help for them to pin the super heroes they colored to. Apparently, the kids loved it!

She made capes out of silk, and got masks at the party store, but cut out the noses. These went home with the kids along with party bags filled with this stuff.

I really like these blank notebooks she made. They're so cute!! Great ideas...I may have to use them someday.

Fire Place Face Lift

Man, I love Layla's ideas over at The Lettered Cottage. She did an {$82 fireplace makeover} that turned out stunning. She is really talented. Check it out!

This is how her living room used to look, which by the way, after seeing what she's done to this house makes me less afraid of moving into an older home. You can do some great things!!
So, first she painted the paneling which gave the room a beachy feel. I really like it. Then, she beefed up the mantle by nailing wood to the existing one.

Then, she painted the brick you would see once the project was finished black.

Next, she coverd most of the brick with molding.

Then, she painted the molding white.

That's it!! And then her decorations are so great, of course.

But way easy and cheap and look how good it looks!

Man, I am so inspired!! LOVE this makeover! Her blog goes into more details about how she actually did it all. Such a great idea!

Finished Outdoor Blanket

Well, there it is. I am really happy with how it turned out. I did a rag blanket so I wouldn't have to actually quilt the jeans. They were SO hard to sew with a machine, so I can't imagine quilting through them by hand! I broke all my needles before I was halfway done. Then I went to the store and found out there were needles specifically made to sew denim. shoot. Bought those, used those and broke all but one. So I spent around $5 there, but everything else was free because I'd just been saving these holey jeans since high school. Clipping the edges so they fray like that was hard, too. Just because it's denim. I couldn't do all the layers together. I had to clip every seam 4 times to get all the edges clipped. It made a MESS of my house too because that stuff went everywhere! But, once it was done and I took it to the laundromat - because I didn't want to clog up my own machine - and got it washed and dried, it looked like this! And I love it. I love the way those frayed edges look and they actually make the blanket a lot softer. I just sewed around the edges and frayed them as well so I could add to it in the future, if I ever decide I want to sew denim again which isn't likely right now. But it is kind of small. It will fit all 3 of us on it for the time being and that's all I need for a while. the end.

Tooth Fairy Pillows

I thought it would be fun to make one of these for my kids to use someday, instead of using an envelope like I did. I searched online and found this one from {Covetables}. It's cute and given the right fabric, it looks like it would go well in a child's bedroom. It made me think that I could just attach a pocket like that to any pillow, and voila! Tooth Fairy Pillow! That could be a really easy future project.

Or, you could go all out and follow this {Patchwork tutorial} for making these lovelies:

Aren't they cute? I love the little drawstring baggie that they put the tooth in. Adorable.

American Girl Dollhouse

I have an American Girl doll from when I was little. I figured I'd let my little girl play with her someday. But, I always wanted a dollhouse for all the stuff to go in. {this} one caught my eye.

It's pretty cute, and I really like how they put in closet space to hang up all their clothes and a drawer to keep all that little stuff in.

I pictured it being more like this, though. This is a bookshelf from Potterybarn. I just imagined having a huge dollhouse up against the wall like that. With all the furniture and doll stuff sitting inside of it.

This one looks pretty easy to make, don't you think? I may have to do that someday...and add those closets and drawers somehow.

I just found this one at {Target} for $79.99:

Quite the bargain compared to Potterybarn's. And it got pretty good reviews. It's almost 42" tall. So it's a great size. Cute idea, even if it's not a dollhouse. I like it as a bookshelf, too.

Necklace Rack Continued...

To see the origin of this post, click {here}.

So, I had this idea to use like a tie rack or a hook rack as a necklace rack a long time ago, but I haven't really been able to find any hooks that I like that would look good in my room, because it would just have to hang on the wall in there. I recently saw this idea on Thimble. It's from {So Lovely Creations} and I think it's great! She has a tutorial and everything. I think the ribbons are cute, but I think I'd make it a bit more simple. I already have a wooden plaque like that and I've been wondering what to do with it...well, here's my answer to both questions. Now, all I need are some knobs. Great idea!!

Outdoor Blanket

{Design Sponge} shows us how to make a double sided blanket - great for taking out doors. One side is flannel, one side is vinyl. Great idea!

I've been collecting worn out jeans over the years to make an outdoor blanket out of them. I figure, jeans can go through anything and they're pretty durable. Plus I like the look of jean quilts. I think it would be fun for a picnic...Anyway, I plan on just making a rag blanket out of them...we'll see how it goes.

Finished Fabric Toys

To see the origin of this post, click {here}.

I finally found this fabric at a little store near me called The Cotton Shop. I was so happy to finally find it!! It makes these toys look and feel so cute! It did make sewing them a little harder because it was stretchy, though.

I'm selling them in {my etsy shop}.

Anyway, here's how I did it, in case anyone is interested:

For the ball, I did use the pattern from The Pearl Bee, but I only had three different colors, so I only wanted six pieces instead of eight, so I had to alter the pattern a little bit. I just made the largest sized pieces shorter and a little wider. It worked out great. I zigzagged the edges before sewing them all together and I found that zigzagging with the fuzzy side up made them not stretch during the process, and this helped them keep their shape better. It was really nice to have the instructions for sewing the ball. I think that made it a lot easier to do. Another thing I changed, though, was that I left a side seam open instead of a tip seam. I thought it would be easier to stitch up a side instead of trying to sew by hand so close to so many other seams, and it was. It turned out great, I think.

The cube was a bit more difficult. I cut little squares and sewed them all together the first time around, but when I tried stuffing it, it just looked like a ball with squares covering it because the fabric stretched so it was all rounded. I took it apart, and cut the pieces concave (I only remembered that word because that's what my engineer of a husband called them. :) ) so they were sagging toward the middle a little bit. Don't know if you can really see that shape in this picture:

or this one...

I thought this would allow for the stretching. I probably did it too much, though, because the block ended up looking a little concave no matter how much stuffing I put in it. I actually think it looks really cute, though. So, I'm leaving it as is. I didn't really use the pattern from Moda Bakeshop at all...except their picture: is what gave me the concave idea. The top cube kind of looks like that...

I didn't use the paper to sew it together though, and I think it still worked out just fine. For both shapes I used way more stuffing that I thought I'd need just to make sure they became the shape that was intended...

So, Restoration Hardware's Fabric Toys:

My fabric toys:

They look pretty good, huh?

I couldn't be more pleased! In fact, I'm making a smaller ball with the little bit of fabric I have left over. These are a little large for my little one to play with just yet. They honestly don't take as long to make as I thought they would, especially now that I've done it once.

The end.

Banners

I've seen the store bought "Happy Birthday" and "Congratulations" banners a million times. They're fun, but here's an idea that's pretty cute!

Jaclyn put this idea on her blog, With A Little Extra Time, but {Moda Bake Shop} has the tutorial. I love the little pompom trim and the ric rac and the buttons - geez! They made this one really cute!

I love it!

I also thought this was such a cute idea.

Why not make a banner with the person's name on it. Then, you can just bring it out every time you want to celebrate them. I love it. Wouldn't it make you feel special to have your name up on the wall like that? {Patchwork} has the tutorial.

And since we're on the subject of banners, my cousin, Nicole recently had a baby shower, and this was her banner. I think it's so cute with the clothes pins and the little onsies hanging from it.

I guess you could make a banner for every occasion.