Wiggleworm Baby

Do you have a wiggly baby?  Our little man has become more and more difficult to change the older he gets. Today I was changing his diaper and he almost completely flipped over on me when I raised his legs to wipe! I decided that I would quit fighting him and secure his changing pad!  My changing pad came with the security belt....can't say I ever use it...ok-I admit-I cut it off :)  I never walk away from him and if he was just secured to the pad what good does that do? It didn't come with any way to secure the pad to the dresser.   Now we bought him a beautiful new bedroom set and I was really skeptical about making any marks to the top of his brand new dresser.

 I had bought sticky Velcro and of  course it never really sticks to what you want it to.  It came apart within minutes and I knew that wasn't going to work.  So I attached two straps to the backside of the changing pad with my sewing machine.

 I used a leftover scrap of pleather...since I knew that stuff is strong! I then attached the straps to the backside of the dresser with two short screws.  Yes I had to make holes but I didn't mind since they were on the backside no one will see.

 It is SO much more secure now!! He can wiggle away and he won't get anywhere! The cover still fits on it since I put the straps towards the inside of the changing pad leaving plenty of room for the cover to attach to the corners of the pad.   Hope this helps some of my new mom friends out there :)

 Also I stole an idea from my cousin's nursery...I had an extra scrap of fabric, and instead of looking at the stark white mobile I covered it with matching fabric to the curtains! Looks so custom :)

Sheet Curtains

My little baby has become such a better napper!!! When I first had him, I swore that people were lying when they said that babies slept all the time...mine didn't!! I am trying to get him used to taking a long nap in the afternoon.  If you know us and our house, having too much light is not something you will ever hear me complain about.  This is the darkest house I have ever lived in! We have enough windows, I just think that the way the house faces makes for poor natural lighting.  But of course, Ethan's room is the brightest room in the entire house. That makes for not so great naps in there. He has really become accustomed to sleeping in his crib which is wonderful, but I just can't lay him down in there for naps because he doesn't get a full rest like he needs (and mom needs :).  So I have been trying to think of a way to make inexpensive curtains. I wanted to keep the natural light in there for 98% of the day, but when he naps I wanted to have the option to close the curtains. So the closet searching began. We are not big users of the top sheet on our bed.  Whats that for anyway? Its not thick enough to add warmth and its just one more thing that gets rumpled up at the end of the bed by morning. We usually just make the bed without it these days.  So we have 5 unused sheets that are just sitting in the closet. I decided to make them into something useful! I took one queen size sheet, measured to both ways.  It was longer one way than the other. I took the longest dimension and made that my top and bottom hem.  I cut off the top of the sheet so you wouldn't see that.

Then I folded my sheet in half.  I cut along that fold.

  Then I took one of the pieces and folded it in half again. I also cut along that fold and did this again on my other piece of sheet.

This gave me four pieces.  I will admit I would have liked to had more fullness and probably should have quit being stingy and just used one sheet per window...but stingy is how I do it!  I then hemmed up any bare edges.  For the edges that were already hemmed from the sheet, I just left those alone....less work the better! Then I tried to iron out the "sitting in the closet for 5 years" wrinkles....tried is the key term here. In a perfect world, I would have washed them first and then hung them but who has the time!  I remember when I worked at the JCPenney Home Store, I had little old ladies come in and tell me they would wash and iron their sheets every week.  WOW.  I'm glad that is one tradition that hasn't stuck around. Anyway, I was able to finish one window in about 45 minutes and the next window is on tomorrows to do list.

They look really thin in the picture but actually it cuts the light in half when they are closed.  I think this would be a great project if you really like a bedding set but can't afford the way.too.expensive.matching drapes.  You could buy the matching sheets and make a set yourself!  I almost made my curtains from a really cute stripe sheet set we have, but I couldn't bear to cut them up just yet. I know at places like Big Lots you can buy a queen size sheet set for around $20 or less.  My cost for todays project...FARRREEEEEE!!!!  I bet we are the only house on the block that has 350 thread count curtains!! Don't be jealous :)

Candlestick Potential

I saw this candlestick and knew amidst the lovely green paint that this had potential to be cute!!

 I spray painted it black to look more like rod iron and used some simple floral wire to tie on the wreath. I keep intending make things up and sell them but I keep liking them too much!! This is another project I think I'm going to end up hanging onto. I can see this sitting at the end of our piano as it is now, or on a fireplace hearth. Its about 2 ft tall so it adds great height! I love these projects that only take about 10 minutes to see the final result :)

Inexpensive picture wall

Before we had our little bundle of joy, we hired a photographer to capture all of the moments from pregnancy to one year.  We chose Amanda Solak because of her beautiful pictures but then once we met her we knew we made the right choice!

http://solak-photography.com/

She is so good with Ethan and has really captured his personality. Having all of these photos is wonderful but it also causes me some stress every time we have another photo shoot....WHERE DO I PUT THEM ALL!!! I have picture frames all over this house now, and I have been going through and changing out pictures each time we get new ones. I have a battle every time I do it though because the one in the frame is so cute,  but the one in my hand is SO CUTE!!  I wish I could have every one of them hanging up in our house at all times but it might be a touch overwhelming. I have always had a piece of art hanging over the couch in the living room but once we had little man the art became much less important :) I wanted to hang all these wonderful pictures quickly one day so I decided to raid our closet. We had three of the old poster frames with the piece of "plastic glass." I didn't want to go and pay to have mats made for these frames since I wasn't planning on keeping them so I started looking around the house for items. I have so many left over scraps of fabric that I found one that would match the living room decor. I taped it down with masking tape to the cardboard backing.  I then framed out the picture with some left over poster board.  I think for not spending a dime that the arrangement came out decently.

look at that sweet baby holding his head up at 1 week 5 days!

 The shine off  that plastic "glass" was terrible!! You can see how the picture looks distorted because you can see yourself in the "mirror."  I would always stare at those glossy black plastic frames with a small bit of disgust.  I debated spray painting them but didn't even want to spend the money on spray paint for a plastic frame.  My mother in law took off this last week for vacation and we decided to go thrift shopping!! We went to a couple of thrift stores and I was keeping my watchful eye out for cute frames.  I found 5 frames for $17.  You should have seen the beautiful art??? from these puppies ha ha.!

I hurried them home and slapped them down on the garage floor the same day! I have a whole gallon of our trim color paint and started painting them up. I should have primered them since they took three coats and a "that's good enough" attitude from me :) I brought them in and it just happened to be Ethan's nap time!!! He laid down and I RAN!! He usually only sleeps for about 15-30 minutes which just isn't long enough... but today he slept for and hour and a half!! Thank You New Years Party!! I got all of my frames filled and glass cleaned (plus a nice glass cut on my hand) before he woke up. I was trying to hurry since I could tell he was starting to stir, and I broke the glass in one of my frames :( Well that will just have to wait for another day. I was going to splurge and buy matting for these frames but I really liked my fabric so I just kept it.  I first tape up the long ends to the cardboard backing of the picture frame.

Then fold up the ends like a Christmas package and tape them down.

 Then I taped down my poster board with my picture centered on the front. I may eventually splurge and buy a mat for this large picture frame....maybe :)

 So anyway, I laid them all out on the floor and tried to decide on an arrangement. That is always so hard for me! My mother in law had a picture frame just like one I bought and I was trying to work it into the arrangement by substituting that black frame in there. I just couldn't make it work!!

 I am such a symmetrical person. I really tried to have them asymmetrical but I just couldn't do it . This is the arrangement I decided on.

I got them all hung up and now I just have to clean up my mess!!

Before:

After +$17 !!

 Seeing them like this I really do like them both!

Skating through life

My mom had told me one day "if you ever see a pair of skates while your out and about, BUY THEM!" She had seen a skate decorated for the season and really wanted to make one for herself. Well I was at a thrift store one day and saw this brand new pair of skates for $7! I was so excited. I brought them home and decorated one for me and one for mom. I just used branches, pine needles and some berries. Mom had bought some jingle bells on a stick that we had to pry out of little man's hands but once we did they give a great jingle to my boot. Right now I have it hanging on a door knob but it will become a front door decoration once we move. I know its a little late for Christmas decorations but when you don't get around to a project until Christmas day that's what happens :)

I'm Distressing!!

I was driving down the road the other day and saw a pile of junk by the side of the road. There was a free sign by it.  JACKPOT!! I turned that car around so fast it would have made your head spin! :) I found a little wooden shelf in need of some help. But hey, it was FREE!!

I brought it home and began painting. The poor thing had been badly spray painted a goldish metallic horror.  It was quite wobbly.  I didn't imagine that just a coat of paint would fix that so I actually took it all apart, painted it, and put it back together with wood glue and screws.  I painted it the same color as our trim, kinda creamy color. Then I did my first ever distressing job.  That is really fun!! There is nothing like getting something all painted and taking a big ole piece of sandpaper to it!  I couldn't be happier with how it turned out! I was actually planning on selling it until I dressed it up for the picture and fell in love with the idea of having all my cookbooks on it! I have always had them on the counter in a basket but this is so much tidier!

Shiny Helpful Hint

I have really come around to loving a clean home! When I was younger, I remember my mother trying to get me to pick up my room. She would ask "don't you feel better when your room is clean?" I would always answer "no!"  I was never a slob, but I was a typical teenager.  As I have grown older, I have begun to see the mess that before was hidden from my eyes.  It seems that once it is your own house you see the mess. When its someone else's house, you can walk by a mess and never see it. Now, I would never ever claim that I have a tidy house at all times.  I find many days that I have the house completely spotless and one act, like cooking dinner, can completely undo a whole days work. My husband also has so many items that he brings home with him that land on the kitchen table every night like his hat, name tag, and keys.  As you know, once items find a place to land they begin to multiply.  More and more items seem to be drawn to that spot and before you know it the whole house is in shambles again. My new philosophy: have one- three rooms that you can keep up with and forget the rest!

About two years ago we remodeled our bathroom. This is one of my "clean rooms".  Thank goodness (your thinking).

Before:
Yes I know you are loving the olive green counter top and the terrible green paint on the walls....
You may be wondering "why would you ruin such a masterpiece by remodeling???" haha this bathroom made you want to cry every time you walked into it!

 AFTER!!!

 Ahhh can you hear the angels singing? The best news was that we did this whole remodel with about $800....best $800 I have ever spent.

I was always cleaning that room because I wanted it to stay new FOREVER! I love that "new bathroom smell" :)  After only about three weeks, I noticed the brand new faucet was showing water spots.  It is a brushed nickel faucet that we splurged a little on.  I wanted it to look brand new still!! I tried Windex...didn't touch the spots. I tried cleaner....didn't help at all. It would always look great when it was wet and when it dried it would be spotty. I hate spots!! I finally found the spot cure...Baby Oil! You just get a paper towel or rag, douse it in oil, and wipe it down. You would think it would leave the surface oily but it doesn't! 

So for all of you out there with Christmas guests on their way, you don't have to fear any longer! They won't have to see your spotty faucet, and Christmas will be saved :)