Make it: Cheater Burp Cloths

Although I am in LOVE with my sister-in-law's etsy shop, Coral Tree, and all her baby things, I still couldn't resist making a few of my own burp cloths for the boy. Really, if you haven't already, you need to check her shop out---the cutest stuff, ever. I ran across this easy, peasy, tutorial over on Happy Together for oval burp cloths.

I admit to being an impatient seamstress. I hate pinning things, making sure edges are straight, cause even when I use a straight edge and a rotary cutter, I still somehow manage to go askew. So, when I saw the tutorial for flannel burp cloths on Jessica's blog, it definitely put some float in my boat. She didn't have straight, squared edges or nice sharp corners ( my nemesis is making nice pointy corners), but instead was oval shaped, and didn't need to be turned inside out, pressed or have a topstitch sewed. One stop sewing. I like that!

I made a rectangular template with xerox paper. I then traced a CD to make the corners rounded on my pattern piece. I placed my template on the fold of my flannel, and repeated the process with a complimentary solid for the second layer. I placed the layers of flannel together, wrong sides touching ( right sides out), pinned and serged around the edges.

Voila! Done. 5 minutes from first cut to finished burp cloth. I even made some as a gift for one of my friends from our fitness competition days.

We've gone from gluing each other's butts into tiny rhinestoned bikinis, to preparing to clean the butts of our newborn little boys within weeks of one another. She's a dog lover, so I found this adorable print at Joann's and immediately thought of her. Hope her little guy likes them too!

How to: Salvage powdered makeup

Oh pinterest, how I love thee...

I have a train case full of make-up, mostly thanks to my days of working in an office..and not just any office, but for a Doctor that was triple boarded...One of his boards being a plastic & reconstructive surgeon. It was important to look the part for our cosmetic patients, so when I started working for the Doctor, my make-up repetoire turned from basic mascara (on a good day)to the works. It wasn't mandatory, but I just felt like I fit the part a bit better with a bit more make-up on...and my stash of make-up grew. I am like-so-in-love-with-Sephora now, I could spend an entire paycheck there if I wasn't so cheap.

Anyways, back to my train case full of make-up. A while back, I dropped my entire case. Most of my makeup survived, but a few of my favorite MAC shadows broke into small pieces, and I have been scared to open them for fear of losing all of their glittery goodness on my vanity counter. Sometimes I get brave and try to dab a little bit of the shattered powder onto a brush, but to be honest, more ends up on the floor or counter than on the brush. It's maddening...yet, I won't throw them away or buy replacements...why?? Because again, I'm cheap.

And am I ever thankful I held out and kept those powdered shadows. Pinterest came to my rescue last night, and resurrected my two favorite MAC shadows. Hallelujah!

How'd it happen?

Here's how:

• carefully open broken powder compact ( works for any powder, including foundation, bronzers, shadows, etc)
• drop a couple of drops of rubbing alcohol ( mine was 70%) into your compact
• You'll see the powder start to soak up the alcohol
• Use a clean finger or the back of a spoon to mix the powder/alcohol until it makes a paste
• spread evenly throughout your compact

• leave open to dry out overnight ( the alcohol evaporates quickly). 12 hours later, and mine was dried out and ready for use.

And that's it. It may look ugly, but it works!

Here's the pinterest tutorial link I followed....

Happy salvaging!

Make it: Carseat Carrier Blanket

These blankets have many different names, among the most popular; the boring " car seat carrier cover" or, my favorite, "greeter deterrent" . You know, to keep all the Grabby McGrabberson's from reaching in uninvited and grabbing those little cheeks with their god-knows-where-they've-been-germy-hands. Don't get me wrong, I know that germs are something kids need to be exposed to, but if my baby is sleeping, and we must be out and about, I'd really like to keep him cozy and hidden. Call me crazy, but I doubt I'll be a fan of random people touching my kid.

There are a ton of tutorials out there to make these blankets. I came up with my own, loosely based off the measurements of the Chicco Keyfit Car seat we intend to use.

You'll need:

• 2 yards of coordinating fabric. (1 yard= main print, and 1 yard = underside)
• Scrap fabric to make 2 ties. ( 4"wide x 8" long per tie)
• velcro
• thread, pins, scissors, and a sewing machine

This project is easy, even for non-sewers. Really, it's worth a try.

Making the Blanket:

• Place both fabric right sides facing one another ( not pictured), and iron wrinkles out.
• Even out edges with a straight edge
• Fold in half lengthwise, and again widthwise
• Using a CD or DVD as a template, trace to make uniform rounded corners.
• Cut rounded corners
• Unfold fabric, pin, and sew with a straight stitch or serger, leaving a 4" gap on one side of the blanket to turn the fabric through to make it f
  ace right side out again.
• Turn the fabric right side out
• Press with iron
• Topstitch 1/4" margin around the blanket ( this will secure the 4" gap we left open in a previous step)

Pictured below, the blanket is turned right side out, and pressed.

Once the top stitching on the blanket it done, it's time to address the ties.

Making the ties:

• Fold your tie fabric in half lengthwise, right sides facing each other.
• Sew lengthwise along the edge, creating a "tube"
• Turn rightside out
• press with iron
• Fold ends of tube inwards
• Topstitch around all 4 sides of the "tube", creating a long rectangular tie.
• Repeat for second tie.

Attaching Ties:

• Fold blanket in half lengthwise, and again width wise to find the center of the blanket.
• From the center, measure 4" from the center in both directions to achieve correct tie spacing.
• Ties will be 8 inches apart from one another, and 4" from the center of the blanket
• Pin ties to blanket
• Top stitch into place with a straight stitch.
• Attach velcro ( I used velcro glue to adhere my velcro to fabric) strips to ties.
• **Remember** Place loop side of velcro on one side of the tie, and the grabber side on the other side of the tie, so that when it wraps around the handle, it attaches to itself.

If you used velcro glue, give it time to set up ( usually 12 hours) before using the blanket. My sewing machine really HATES sewing on velcro, so I found the glue at Joann's and it has made my life so much easier!

Here's a picture of it hanging and waiting for it's new car seat.

Make it: Changing pad cover

I initially set out to follow the tutorial over on Dana's blog, MADE, to make a crib sheet for the bambino's future crib. I went to Joann's and purchased some simple dark gray with white polka-dot fabric, since I have decided to do a predominantly gray and white nursery, with splashes of color here and there. I feel like this simplified color palette leaves me lots of options, and since I won't be setting up a permanent nursery until the boy's about 3 months old, it gives me a base to start from without being too committed to a theme. As of right now, I am totally LOVING this nursery, pictured from spearmint baby's website. My favorite thing about it?? The gray sheets & the polka dot changing pad cover. Seriously, I love gray. Oh, and the crib. Even better, the crib is from Walmart, baby!

Anyways, long story short, the pattern for the crib sheet requires 2 yards of fabric. After being pre-washed, the instructions call for a rectangle to be cut out measuring 45" x 67". My problem? After pre-washing, my fabric was only 43" wide. Time for plan B.

Plan B: Changing Pad cover. Tutorial used: Prudent Baby DIY changing pad cover.

Their tutorial states that this cover will fit a standard changing pad (32"L X 16"W X 3-4"H).

So, here's how my intended crib sheet ended up becoming a changing pad cover instead...

1)Cut out a rectangle measuring 48"x 32".

2) Fold fabric in 1/2 length wise, and again width wise, leaving you with a smaller rectangle with all four corners together in the left upper corner.

3) Using a ruler ( I like to use my trusty carpenter's square as pictured below), cut out an 8" square through all 4 layers.

Unfold fabric, and you're left with one large rectangle, with all 4 corners missing.

I then serged the straight edges of the fabric ( leaving out the cut out corners) because I like the finished look it provides, and it keeps the fabric from fraying , plus, I am really not that great at ironing, so the less I have to fold and press, the better my projects turn out.

Match up the cut out corners, and sew together. In my case, I serged them together. This creates the "pocket" to go over the corner of the changing pad.Turn the "pockets" under, and then it's time to create a casing for your elastic.

Get your iron out, and press a 3/4" casing around the entire sheet. Pin to keep in place.

Sew a 1/2" casing around the sheet, leaving an opening to thread your elastic through at one of the corners. I used blue thread to make it easier to see ( that's a lie--I was too lazy to change my thread out, and since it will be the underside of my sheet, who cares?) Thread 36" of 1/4" elastic through your casing. I like to use a safety pin on the end of my elastic to help ease it through. Once it's been threaded all the way around, sew a few stitches to keep the ends secured to one another. Once the elastic is in, you can finish straight stitching the casing closed.

And, there you have it, a fitted changing pad cover. I'd show it to you on our changing pad, but we don't have one yet!

If you want to see the "finished project" check out prudent baby's tutorial. They got fancy with theirs and made it two toned.