Spin Art Valentines

So easy, a 12 month old can do it!

I don't know about other moms out there, but I can not wait for Sal to be old enough to enjoy "projects". I have failed at tried a few age appropriate ideas off pinterest and my little guy either had no interest what-so-ever, or the "mess free" chinese ziploc wanna be  Ziploc baggie full of paint leaked all over the place, looking like a rainbow threw up on my floor/baby/highchair/clothes.

Anyways, I saw an idea for spin art with toddlers. Sal loves to play with our salad spinner while I am in the kitchen, so I knew he had the motor skills and coordination for this one. With Valentines day around the corner, and no Hallmark stores or scrapbooking supplies in sight, I decided we would try and make our own spin art hearts.

I had some left over cardstock that my sister had mailed me ( for Sal's Birthday bunting banner), so I cut out some 3" hearts. The only paints I have are chinese poster paints with a really thick  consistency. I picked out three "boy" colors ( Oh, I know, I'm feeding into societal norms), and diluted the paints with a bit of water so that they could be dropped from an old dropper I had on hand.

I let Sal pick up each heart and instructed him to put it in his spinner. He is really good with one step instructions these days. I then sucked up a little paint into the dropper and gave it to him, showing him how to squeeze paint out onto his heart. I put the lid onto the spinner and just let him go to town spinning the handle round and round.

We continued this method for each heart, and amazingly enough, the kid had a long enough attention span to make eight Valentines.

Not too bad for an almost-13-month-old.

And, best part of it for me?

Mess free.

Dyeing fabric

Dana over at MADE 's recent post on dyeing onesies inspired me to try it myself. I have a bunch of white onesies just waiting to be made unique. If you recall this post, I made iron on appliqués for a few of them.

To dye the onesies, I first washed them to rid them of the packaging starch. Once finished, I left the onesies damp. While the wash cycle was going, I dissolved a package of "Bahama Blue" DYLON dye in 4 cups warm water as directed by the package. I also filled a home depot bucket with a few gallons of warm water from our bathtub.

I'm fairly accident prone so I decided this needed to be an outdoor project. Next to a hose. On the grass. The last thing we need is a turquoise patio.

I added 4TBSP of salt to the bucket of water and then poured the dissolved dye into the bucket and mixed it with some tongs to assure it was mixed well.

In went four onesies and some muslin fabric ( I let half the muslin hang out of the bucket...trying for an ombré swaddle blanket). I stirred constantly for 15 minutes and removed my first onesie. I rinsed it in cold water and threw it in the washing machine to sit while the rest marinated in the dye bath a while longer. I removed the second one at a half hour and also pulled about 6 inches of my submerged muslin end  out of the dye bath to try for the gradient effect.

L: 15 minute dye bath
R: 30 minute dye bath

The remaining two onesies sand muslin stayed in an hour thanks to an 11 week old who refuses to sleep anywhere but on me in the afternoons. With daytime naps being a constant struggle, I often give in just to ensure he gets at least one good stretch of zzzzz's. He's a real cat napper, napping no longer than 45 min at a time. This is why quick projects like this tend to be my cup of tea these days.

My favorite thing about the dye bath is that each onesie came out a unique shade of the same color. Some vibrant ( the ones that basked in the bath an hour) , and others very light ( the one that dipped in for just 15 min).

Ombre effect dyeing technique= success!

 Similar to Aden and Anais swaddle blankets
 for a fraction of the cost

Once all your fabric is dyed, rinse in cold water and then throw it in a warm wash cycle. I like to throw in old towels to absorb any dye that may escape. To be extra careful not to have my next load tinted a special color (er-- turquoise in this case), I run my washer on its cleaning cycle afterwards.

I took it one step further and added some swag that I had printed onto iron-on adhesive paper.

Aviator glasses

The sun never sets on cool

Showin some Big Wheel love

It's an easy one afternoon project, perfect for baby shower gifts or your own little one.

West Coast Nursery

So, now that our move is getting closer ( we don't have an exact date yet--but sometime within the next month and a half), I'm getting antsy to just.get.there.already! Having never been to China myself, I am a bit apeshitcrazy nervous about what it's going to be like. Will I have extreme culture shock, or be pleasantly surprised at how westernized the area we will live in has become? NZ assures me the latter, although he doesn't sugarcoat things at all, and totally admits that we will run into some aspects of dealing with cultural differences that will just.plain.suck.

My goal is to not stick out any more than one white girl can. Neither of us speak Mandarin, but in all of NZ's travels and business dealings over there, MOST people seem eager attempt to speak practice English with Americans. I've made NZ take pictures inside of a Chinese Walmart, just so I know that there is some familiarity and continutiny amongst the big box stores over there--I figure all is well so long as there is a Walmart close by. LOL. And yes, Walmart China is much like Walmart America...except for the Crocodiles on ice, Frogs in the food section, and motorbikes in the entry. I'm sure one day I will totally overlook the crocodiles, and even miss them once we're back on US soil.

Or not.

Knowing that we would be moving shortly after Salvatore's arrival, we put together a make-shift nursery. It's bare bones and everything serves a purpose. Other than the frame I repurposed into a chalkboard to announce his arrival, there isn't anything else that signifies that this-is-Sal's-room.

One thing that I have been looking forward to doing once we arrive in China, is getting Sal's nursery together. Like, a REAL nursery, that says, this is Sal's room. Not knowing exactly what we will find while shopping for his nursery, I started brainstorming ideas on pinterest. I came up with a not-so-babyish idea, which pays homage to his roots of being a California kid.



photos from pinterest

The apartment comes furnished, and since we will be there first inhabitants, we were able to suggest furniture color and style to the landlord, and he will do his best to match it. The furniture selected for the nursery is white. I think we selected a long dresser in white and a bookshelf. We will hopefully make it to IKEA to add a rocking chair, crib and rug to the space. (Yes, China even has IKEA!)



photos from pinterest and IKEA

And these are the fabrics that I plan on making crib sheets and changing pad covers out of.

fabric photos from fabricworm.com & pinterest

We will see how much of this I am able to re-create abroad. Most of the artwork can be purchased or printed and framed, so I think I can get close!

Gathered clutch

One of my sister-in-laws just had a birthday, so I whipped up one of my make-up brush rolls, and a cute little gathered clutch to match it. I followed the tutorial over on Noodlehead for the "gathered clutch", and it was surprisingly easy. I did alter the pattern slightly. Instead of installing a zipper ( I was in a bind, and didn't have the right size/color zipper, or time to go get one), I used velcro to close the pouch, simplifying the project even more.

Both are perfect for throwing into an overnight bag or purse without taking up too much room. I'd say the gathered clutch doesn't just have to carry make-up. It could work for coupons, cash, or to store kids toys in a purse so they don't sink to the bottom.

Afternoon Project: Christmas Tree Skirt

The weather man warned us that we would see triple digits this weekend, but I was skeptical. He was right, I was wrong. Our truck read 101 degrees at noon today. What better reason to stay inside, pull out the sewing machine, turn on some football ( GOOOO Steelers 3 and 0 now!) and do an afternoon project. And, while we're at it, why not make it a Christmas project?



So, that's exactly what I did. I found a super duper cute pattern over at Sew4home.


I love the Heather Bailey prints that she used, however, I am on a budget, and can't afford to fork out $10/yd for those prints. Instead, I used JoAnn's Christmas fabric which was on sale for 30% off today. Although you can go to Sew4Home's website and follow their step-by-step instructions, I made some simplfications to my pattern ( omitted using bias tape-this saving $$$ and time).

You will need:

• 5/8 yd. of 4 coordinating fabrics or 3/4 yd of 8 coordinating fabrics


• 1 1/2 yd. of 46"wide muslin ( I pieced scraps of 1 1/2 yd of 36"wide muslin together)


• scissors


• sewing machine with a straight stitch


• thread


• measuring stick


• 26x26 paper to make a pattern


• pins


• marking pencil


• string

INSTRUCTIONS ( sort of...go to Sew4home for really good directions)

1. Pick out fabric. I used 5/8yd of 4 coordinating fabrics to keep cost down. 2. To make pattern piece. Follow diagram below. Photo credit: Sew4home.

3. Fold 5/8yd fabric in half. Lay pattern piece and pin. Cut. Repeat for remaining 4 fabrics.

4. Arrange your wedges into an appealing pattern.
5. Sew each wedge to the one next to it. Leave the last wedge unsewn. Press seams open.

6. Lay the completed 8 wedges right side down over your 46" square of right side up muslin ( again, I had to piece muslin together to make a square). Smooth out both upper and lower fabric pieces and pin. Cut muslin using the skirt as a guide. Sew around perimeter, remove pins and turn right side out.

7. Press perimeter of skirt and pin so that muslin does not peek out under the print fabric. Sew a strightstitch around perimeter of the skirt. There will be raw edges left open on two of your wedges. Turn them under, pin and press. Sew with a strightstitch.

8. Using a 6" circle ( I used a pot lid), center it over skirt, trace and cut around guide. Turn each raw edge under and pin. Sew with a straightstitch.

9. Remove all remaining pins and press. There you go. A Christmas Tree skirt for under $20.

Do you think September is too early to get a tree? I can't wait to see it wrapped around ours this year!

Framed City Art

I found a new blog to blogstalk called the House of Wood, which is a clever play on the blog writer's last name of Woodhouse. She has some wonderful DIY projects and step by step instructions on making everything from covered headboards to the room layouts to maximize space efficiently.

She caught my eye and got added to my favorites tab because of this project. I have seen these City art prints on ETSY and on ZGallerie, but I'm frugal, and totally unwilling to pay someone else $85+ to frame typed words of a city I could care less about..And sure, some ETSY crafters can probably personalize one for me with a city of my choice for top dollar, but even better...

Why don't I make one myself?

So I did.

And here it is. My hometown in print.

I'm pretty darn proud of myself.

And here is a completed set.

1. Sacramento/Davis area( our Alma Mater)

2. NZ's favorite local surf breaks

3. My hometown of Santa Barbara

Supplies:
Frames: 3 for $14.99 @ Michael's Craft store
Print ( used scrapblogger program to make print): free
visit www.scrapblogger.com to check out their free website


Total cost: $15 for 3 framed prints

Mini-Memory Game

I recently gave new life to our bathroom vanity drawers with the help of pretty wrapping paper from Border's (purchased for $1.99 a sheet with a gift card, yay!). I cut out the paper to fit the drawers, but needed ModPodge to seal it. It only took a few weeks for me to get to Michael's crafts to buy some, but before I did, I wanted to research what type of Mod Podge to use. A quick google search for Mod Podge and I ran across this website, Mod Podge Rocks. What an awesome website with soooo many ideas..I found a link to a minature memory game made by Dandee designs, and decided that it would be the perfect stocking stuffer for a few little ones in our lives. Not to mention, I'd have another reason to buy Mod Podge other than to seal our drawers.

Supplies for the mini-memory game:

ModPodge Gloss Finish

sponge brush

6 colors of solid color scrapbooking paper ( I used scraps)

patterned scrapbook paper ( again, I used scraps)

1.5" diameter wooden discs ( 12 needed per game)

1" circle punch

Post by post

Earlier this year our fence fell down between our house and the neighbors..NZ removed all 100+ feet of it so he could "do it right" and make one that can weather 40MPH winds. The previous owner of our home thought he was a handy-man, but he was sadly mistaken...and he built a fence with no ground to stand on. Literally. Thanks to NZ and our neighbor ( not the one who lives on the other side fo the fence) this was a 3 day project, and even I stepped it up and helped set the metal posts and pour concrete with NZ one day. Which means, I fulfilled my outdoor duties in the dirt for a good year now. If you've been following my blog over the past year and a half, you know, I am not a fan of dirt.



This weekend he's building a gate, which we didn't have before, so then when we pour concrete for the patio out back, we will also pour down the sideyard all the way to the street so we can utilize some extra driveway space and move our trash cans out to the sideyard instead of the garage.


It's really coming along, and becoming our idea of what our home should be...I feel lucky that I married a man that knows how to do "man things" and does them well. He's no stranger to a hammer and nails and can fix just about anything..It doesn't hurt that he's a real good looker to boot.