Free nursery art

Of course... this project was free 'cause I had all the supplies, but it wouldn't be expensive anyway.

 

 

Take small wooden plaques and Mod Podge your paper on. I did a layer of cute brown paper and then a layer of a plain paper because I wanted my letters to stand out. I then Mod Podged over the paper again to make sure it was all sealed up.  I had to paint my chipboard letters white (they were blue) before I could glue them on. To make sure they stayed well I used E-6000 to glue on my letters.

Pick some ribbon.

Cut one end of your ribbon (it will hang down so make it cute!)

Again, I used E-6000, but you could use hot glue. 

I then glued the ribbon straight down the backs of my little plaques. I also took the top bit of ribbon and glued it into a loop for hanging.

Hang on your wall and voila: cute, cheap (or free) nursery wall art. I used the letter Q,R,S because I wanted to do something a little different than your typical A,B,C.

Safari/Explorer Room

SO, I originally planned to do a vintage baseball room for my Buck-a-roo, but after a move and never finding a way to do everything I wanted I settled on a completely different, but equally fun, room. Above are pictures of the pillows I made for his crib/floor pillows. My thinking: one spends so much time on the floor playing with baby, you might as well have a cushion under your bum. PLus, we all know pillows and babies don't mix, but pillows are a fast way to cozy up and personalize a room.

These are 18" pillow forms I bought and the covers are SUPER simple to make.

p.s. not paying 15 to 30 dollars for ONE pillow at the store and every pillow I have hand-stuffed turned out stupid and went flat within weeks.

Start with a square of your chosen fabric slightly larger than one of the sides of your pillow (gotta leave seam allowances, plus your pillows are fluffy not just flat !). Then have two more pieces one that measures about 3/4 the size of your pillow and the other measuring about half.

with the two smaller pieces make a small fold at one end. sew. fold over again. topstitch. You should have two peices of fabric with one nicely folded sew edge and three unfinished edges. lay these wrong-side-up (so your fold is visible) on top of the right side of the square of fabric making sure the two smaller bits overlap (I like the bigger to be on top once it is sewn together and flipped right side out). Pin and then sew all around your pillow going back and forth once or twice where the fold is. flip right side out, pick out your corners, topstich if you want, iron if you want, and then cover your pillow. Voila. If it is too big, you can always sew a little more!

If you have any questions, leave me a comment. Once everything was cut this took me 15 minutes at most per pillow. This was the first time I had ever made pillows that looked good and the first time I ever did it this way. I loved it because I love being able to wash them (by hand in the sink with cold water since I don't know what type of fabric it is or what the care instructions are) and I like being able to take them off and replace them easily!

One other thing I did was to make a smaller one (whatever size you like) to keep the jams in when baby's dressed for the day. I am lucky enough to have a mom with an embroidery machine so I commissioned her to embroider his name on a seperate piece of fabric (muslin) and then sew it on using a decorative stitch. I did it this way because inspiration for the embroidery came after the jam pillow was sewn.

I started making a map for the room by projecting and then tracing... it was taking FOREVER. SO I went to my local craft outlet store and by jove.... exactly the thing I had wanted but figured I ouldn't find without paying an exhorbitant fee.... so I bought it for $3!!!!!!!!!! It ended up being too big for my frame so I cut it down a little, using the cardboard backing of the frame as a stencil. This frame I got for %50 off at my local craft store (Robert's). It was white and since I am renting I can't paint the sterile-white walls so the frame got spray-painted instead! The map was perfect because it tied the explorer theme into the room and also the oranges and yellows in my fabric. The giraffe-print pillow is another pillow I made. The chair I got at IKEA and it came with that teeny little pillow and with the shape of the back of the chair it looked sad. Quick fix PLUS way more comfortable.

The stars are a. a tin blue star I also found at the craft outlet store and b. the orange star I found at the same place and hand-painted (as shown in an earlier blog post).

Still don't know how to feel these, but my landlord  some awful motel-style drapes up and I couldn't deal with it. The tan curtains I got at IKEA for $14 a set. CRAZY!! They come with an unfinished bottom and some no-sew iron on type stuff so you can hem them to whatever length you want. BRILLIANT, by the way. So, my mom and I sewed two flat pannels of some remnants of the striped fabric I picked out for a bed skirt, and sewed a loop for a curtain rod at the top. I got them home and they weren't long enough (naturally) I sewed three pannels of the blue fabric but then after a trial the hubby and I decided the one  e middle looked best. I thought it would look ky and ou may too, but I thought it wasn't too bad. We installed a curtain rod I had above the drapery rod and that covered up all the weird little attachments on the rod. A quick valance-type-thing and all wi left-over fabric.

Here's a picture of the paintings I did with the lamp I re-vamped. Now you can see how it all ties together!

Kind of a funky picture (ever notice how great something looks in a room in real life, but as soon as you take a picture it looks all stark and dis-jointed?), but I got a leaf canopy at IKEA for $14 (I love those netting canopies, but  hubby says it's too girlie). You're supposed to install it directly on the wall but I didn't have the right size screws, but I HAD to have it up immediately (you know how it is) so I covered a bar of the crib with muslin to protect the wood and then used those plastic zip ties (we used probably 12 to make sure it was secure) pulled as tight as possible and then trimmed off the ends. It worked wonderfully and I was able to place it exactly where I wanted to over the crib.

FAB!

All right, let me know if you have any questions!

It paid off

The late night grinding session paid off. My little buddy LOVES the barley cereal the very best. The rest are okay with him but the barley is a definite favorite. Yay!

I am attempting to decide on the next skill I want to learn. I need to post pictures of a recent project as well. I learned to sew pillow covers for 18" pillows. Look at me!!!

LINK

Here is the link for the Baby Shoes that I made.

Trial and error.

Made some oatmeal this morning from the oat flour I made last night. Whoever said that much water was sadly mistaken if one is to add any milk or formula.
Plus, a word to the wise, don't add more cereal after the rest has absorbed most of the water. Your oatmeal will have dry flakes in it.
Here's what I suggest. Less water to make a fairly thick cereal and then add the breast milk or formula to thin it out for baby.
On that note: I cooked more cereal this morning that I thought the measurements would make so I ended up with a bowl for myself which I added butter and sugar to (no boob milk!) and it was pretty good. Saved me from having to make two meals which I usually do.

"We're Barley and Barley...Whooooo"

For a while now I have been feeding my little one the boxed cereal from the store since I bought it before I got into making my own food. It seems fruitless to give him 'un-processed' veggies when the cereal he eats just as often and in the same quantity has all the extras. There is something to be said for convenience but what with warming up frozen milk and all, it may take just as much time.
A note about this author: I have read numerous articles and talked to lots of people. If I am able I will nurse my baby and only give him breast milk until he is one year old. The benefits for my baby far out-weigh any and all inconvenieces or discomforts to myself. I don't expect anyone else to feel the same, but for me, that is what my little one gets every time.
Onward... I set about making baby cereal this evening. I always get excited about a project when I should be sinking into bed. Anyone else do this?! So. 10 o'clock rolls around and I pull out my food processor and hand grinder and set about making cereal.
Here's what I learned:
Oatmeal: easy peesy in the processor. Dump a bunch in, turn it on, forget about it and a minute or so later you have oat flour perfect for baby cereal.
Pearled Barley: ACK! Set it in the food processor (can't live without mine!) and minutes and minutes later it had been chipped down slightly but not much to speak of. Barley does WAY better in the hand grinder (however it takes quite a bit longer that way and is hard work, but imagine my sexy arms after all that grinding!) and after 1/2 an hour about I had two sandwich bags full of barley flour.
Short Grain Brown Rice: In the food processor it will break down but very slowly. It does much better than the barley but after a number of minutes and the grains being only halfway broken down I had compassion on my neighbors and set it in the much quieter hand grinder. 20-ish minutes later I had brown rice cereal.

So. If you want te 'recipe' I got it off a web-site and seeing as I only ground my grains tonight I will have to wait until I;ve actually cooked some to let you know if the recipes should be altered. The basic recipe is as follows:
1/4 cup ground barley, short-grain brown rice, or oats
1 C. water
(The website did suggest using 2 cups water to make a really liquid cereal)
Bring to boil (whisk constantly for smoothness) and then simmer for 10 minutes. Add breast milk or formula (this adds taste and nutrients). Serve to your little one!
You could mix in ashed fruits and seasonings.
I read on babycenter.com today that some people are changing their minds about not letting babies have seasonings (i.e. herbs and other things. Probably best to avoid salt and sugar with your little ones) and that it will help your baby adjust to how you cook. They brought up points (I didn't see a source so it could be all conjecture) about how the U.S. is one of the few countries to give babies bland food and that countries who frequently consume spicy foods give it to their babies and they are just fine. After reading this I thought I'd try putting a dash of cinnamon in the baby cereal with dinner. It was nervously received but after a time I think it was well-liked.
If you try this make sure to post a comment about how it worked for you. I will post more info once I have actually cooked some of my hard labor.
P.S. A MIGHTY thanks to my amazing hubby who worked harder than I did to grind the grains and who sat with me every step of the way!!! What a sport.