Part II, Re-purposing Clothes: Baby Dress to Big Girl Skirt

When we found out our second (and final) child was going to be a boy I spent a lot of time going through all our stored baby girl clothes and dresses. I found so many summer dresses that brought back the sweetest memories of my little girl as a baby I knew I wasn't ready to give them up...but the idea of refashioning them into something she could wear now was very appealing to me...so even though there is no picture tutorial, I will walk you through what I did so you can see your little girl's once again in their sweet baby girl prints. I had a size 18 mo. halter dress. it was not this exact one (because I didn't think to take a picture of the dress before) but a very similar style to the pictured one here:

You can see where I 'm going with this, right? I cut the top portion off of the dress, leaving enough of at the top to fold over and run elastic through as a waistband. I usually deduct 2 inches from my child's waist measurement for the elastic to get a good snug fitting skirt. Fold over and sew a "tunnel" for the elastic leaving a small opening to thread the elastic through. Once the elastic is through I like to sew up bothes sides of the waist to keep it in place. Hem if needed. And Voila your little girls new skirt already full of old memories!

Happy Crafting!

Part, I re-purposing clothes : Jeans to Skirt

We have gotten LOTS of snow this winter and it has given me good excuses to stay indoors and get started on repurposing the kid's clothes for spring and summer.It is so much fun to design re-design children's clothing and much easier than you may think. I'm going to get to work on A.R's clothes and see what I can come up with. Here's a picture of a skirt made from too the tops of a pair of jeans she outgrew and some scrap fabric I had lying around...

Snow Day Craftiness

I've also discovered Mod Podge...that stuff is awesome! I had some pages of pretty scrapbooking paper and chose two coordinating designs to mod podge to the tops of some plain wooden stools we had in the house. I love the way they came out and am planning out something to do with the table that matches the chairs...it was a great way to add some character to some very boring pieces of furniture...unfortunately now, no flat surface is safe in my house.
I also made a plaque out of an old photo of my grandfather and his army buddies during WWII. I love the way it looks with the black and white...I'm sure I'll be doing more photos in the future.


Last of all....what kind of blogger would I be without an impromptu photo shoot with my little girl...

handmade just for them...

I love, love, love making clothes for my children. It makes me feel so good to be able to take clothes that would otherwise have been donated or thrown away and turn them into something useful for my family. I'm going to post pictures of some of the clothes I have made for my children in hopes that people come to realize how easy it truly is and maybe we can reduce some of the waste we generate and save ourselves money in the process...

Home...

Looking around my house it seems crazy to remember what this place looked like when we bought it. I would have NEVER thought the crazy mess of a house that we bought would one day seem so peaceful and cozy. Now we are trying to sell it and I get so sentimental about places I've lived with my family that looking around I'm already getting sad at the prospect of moving. This kitchen was a labor of love and turned out so old-fashioned I could pretend I was standing in an old farmhouse on acres of land while I prepared meals...

The mess I made trying to paint the bathroom vanity...

decorating the nursery for my little girl...and then for my little boy...
the hours spent in the rocking chair rocking little ones to sleep. All of the arranging and re-arranging of furniture trying desperately to make more room in our little living room. Countless hours in the backyard garden discovering I do not have a green thumb...
Then I'm reminded Home truly is where your heart is...and I look forward to turning another house into our heart's dwelling place

Looking forward to Christmas!

Well they have the snow, the presents, the cowboys :) And A.R. can't seem to understand why we can't go to New York to enjoy it already...Oh to be young and ignorant of things like money, jobs, and bills...
She is really excited about christmas this yr. though, and it's been a lot of fun watching the excitement continue to build. It does bring a whole "magical" aspect to christmas to see it through childrens' eyes.
She's been watching a cartoon version of the christmas story and now when her and J.D. play she tells me that he is the King of the Jews (lol) and she is Santa...I guess clarity will come with age...lol. I am not anti-Santa..but i have to admit it's been really hard to bring christmas back around to the true meaning with Santa lurking in her imagination. I realize it's innocent fun, but it's such a special time of remembrance for the christian faith and I don't want to squander all the time on make believe things when the real story is so amazing all on it's own. I hope we all have a chance in the craziness of shopping and preparing to remember the true meaning and to share it with the little ones around us. Merry (almost) Christmas

Craft Fair gone bad...

So I worked really hard getting things ready for a craft fair last Friday. I don't think anyone sold anything. It's a shame too because there were some really cute things there. The pictures are of "crayon rolls" they're so cute and I thought it would be an easy way for kids to carry around their crayons and doodle whenever they got bored. I made 15 and sold none. I do have some orders from relatives for stocking stuffers, so if anyone is interested, let me know. A couple of my other items were sippy cup leashes (they strap onto the cup and the stroller so when the kids drop them they don't get left behind)I made some pacifier clips and Onesies with a tie applique on them...(I put the picture of this at the bottom b/c I thought it was soo cute I wanted to show that too. I made some reusable notepad covers too (it goes cute with the crayon rolls). Well I had fun making this stuff and there are always craft shows to go to (just not before the holidays) but that's ok. I'll plan better next winter.