Baby Burp Cloths

This post has probably done about billion times in a billion different ways...but, hey!, why not another one??

This is probably the easiest, fastest and (could be) cheapest baby projects ever. You can make them all fancy if you really want to with ribbons and trims. But I mean...the kid is puking on them...I think functional is more important since you're going to be washing them every two seconds.

My supplies were a 1/8 yard of two different sale fabrics at walmart (a whopping $0.50 cents worth...) and a package of tri-fold diaper inserts. I'm pretty sure I could have found those cheaper, but at my Walmart selection is limited and they only sold packs of 10. Oh well...10 is a good amount. 

All I did was cut each of my strips of fabric into three pieces (I think it was probably 42 inches wide and 1/8 of a yard wide) for the bottom of each towel. I had to straighten out my prints...they were cut a little crooked. I ironed the edges over and just did a top stitch across the edges to apply them to the diaper inserts. Aaand done! Yay! It took me about 2 hours to make all 10...I was distracted by other things during that time, so it probably wouldn't take that long. 

My diaper bag has a Polka dot theme going on and I had made some little quilted pouches for the inside because the bag itself is lacking in pockets. I took the same fabrics I'd used for the pouches and used them for 3 of the towels that will go into the diaper bag. At least I'll look organized...I didn't want the cloths to come unfolded and go all over the diaper bag so I made a little 'belt' for them to keep them together. 

(The Diaper Bag Pouches)

I may add some 'E's or a little animal silhouette later to my burp cloths, but for now I'm satisfied with the outcome. 

My Coffee Bar

Today I thought I'd write a little post on my coffee bar, one of my most favorite-est projects I've ever done. 

This story begins like many others...

Once upon a time there was a Pin. A pin of a lovely little idea of making a special place for all of your coffee stuff. Up until this point I had just put my coffeemaker on the counter which was so un-special and didn't express Alex and I's coffee love quite like I wanted to. When I saw my first coffee bar pin I knew that this is what our apartment needed. But it took me a long time to come up with how I wanted to do it.

I didn't have room or money for anything fancy. The original pin had a shelf with cup hooks from Hobby Lobby that was well out of my price range. So of course I searched coffee bars on pinterest but still didn't come up with much. I eventually decided that my small bookshelf that wasn't being used for anything in particular would work just fine for my base. I added a little scrapbook paper to the back of the upper shelf a while ago to give it a little color (I didn't do the bottom shelf because I had an aquarium down there at the time). Bookshelf = Check!

But the shelves were a whole different enchilada. 

I thought about buying shelves from Lowes or Walmart, but they just didn't have what I wanted (I searched for months...). So I recruited good ol' Dad. He is pretty handy with wood and since I had such a specific idea in my head of what I wanted it ended up being the easiest and cheapest alternative. We bought some shelf brackets from Lowes for around $5 a set and an 8x10 board. We measured and cut the wood but it was still lacking in something...so Dad pulled out his bevel tool and we beveled the outer edges of both shelves (or more accurately Dad beveled the edges...I just watched...and kept all of my fingers intact). I stained the shelves with a light color oak to match my table other natural wood furniture and stuck the brackets on. Ta-da! Shelves for about $10 a piece and just the way I wanted them. 

Next was the cup hook dilemma. I really wanted cup hooks, but didn't want to spend the money (are you picking up on a theme here...?). So I came up with about 15 different methods for hanging cups from my coffee bar and didn't like a single one. But then...I found another coffee bar pin. One that used a curtain rod for mugs. Brilliant! I went to Walmart and found a $6 curtain rod that was attractive looking and found some shower curtain hooks that were the 'S' shape. I spent about $9 on the shower hooks but I only used four for this project and was able to use the rest in a different project. 

In the end I think my total project cost was about $30 (Not including the decor on the shelves...). Not too shabby!

Baby Clothes

I just love baby clothes. 

They're so cute and tiny, they're basically doll clothes! Since we found out we're expecting I have been obsessed with baby clothes. I regularly visit my favorite sites in search of the cutest baby clothes I can find. My Polyvore account has been flooded with baby clothes, my secret Pinterest boards are full of them. I just can't help myself! My favorite kinds are the little people clothes, like little 3 piece suit sets or old man cardigans for boys and dresses and little ballet flats for girls. We're going to go bankrupt from baby clothes.

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite finds via my Polyvore account (I know...all of you people that actually use Polyvore for it's intended purpose are cringing at my baby obsession...).

Seriously. How cute can you get?!

Nursery Projects #2: Ship Wall Art

Alex and I are regulars at our local Goodwill. He searches for books while a comb each shelf of the random decor items for hidden treasures. We don't find things very often, because let's face it...most people's junk is not our treasure. But a few weeks back we were looking and stumbled upon some metal art that was pretty cool and would definitely fit into our nursery themes. 

The first thing I found was a set of copper wall hooks that were shaped like bows...super cute for a little girl nursery! You can see how I upcycled them here.

Then Alex and I discovered a real treasure - a large metal-worked ship! It was ugly...the color was this icky copper with like burnt edges and it was all dirty and cob-webby, but we saw the potential. Especially for a boy nursery that is going to be storybook/Narnia themed!

So we brought it home and it sat in my corner of the office for a while...a week went by, and then a month and I still didn't know what I was going to do with it to make it look as cool as I knew it could. 

Well, we were painting our changing table (see it here) and it came to me - paint the ship the same color gray! That way if I ever get the chance to have a real live nursery I can hang it above the changing table and it will look all cool and modern and stuff. 

I was afraid the paint wouldn't take to the metal, but it actually worked really well and only needed two coats. 

A Stocking for Flint

Because I have crazy pregnancy hormones that make my maternal instincts go through the roof - I find myself babying our cat more than usual...which really isn't saying much because I babied him a lot before...

I saw a pin on pinterest (where most of my ideas come from...) for these adorable pet Christmas stockings that were shaped like a paw and I loved it so much that I decided to try it. Right then. It was like 10 o'clock at night...

I printed off a paw print silhouette, because I realize that my drawing skills are lacking and I didn't want to attempt drawing a paw. I cut out each shape and used it as my pattern for the little paw applique pieces. I used the cutouts to get a general shape for the stocking as well, AND I used the paper that the cutouts came from as my layout guide. 

I had some burlap and tan fabric leftover from a previous project to use for the main part of the stocking, and dug out some black cotton that I had in my scrap bin. I also grabbed some cute polka dot green fabric scraps that caught my eye for around the top of the stocking and got to work. I added a little red polka dot ribbon that I had on hand for the loop and a little bow (he might not appreciate this feminine touch...but he's a cat and I thought it was cute...so he can deal with it).

Nursery Projects #1: A New (Old) Changing Table

About a year ago some friends of ours were getting rid of a changing table. They asked if we'd like to have it we said "sure!", thinking we'd just put it in the basement and use it as extra storage shelving. So we've had this semi-ugly changing table sitting in our basement being used for everything but it's intended purpose. 

It looked something like a changing table you could get at ikea (it may even be from ikea...I'm not entirely sure...Just basic blonde wood and white shelves (very dirty, almost gray, white shelves...). 

In light of our recent baby news we have been trying to put a nursery together as cheaply as possible, and since we'll be moving a few months after baby is born, we won't have an actual nursery here (sad day...). But I've been researching things to put in a nursery, such as cribs and bassinets and changing tables and suddenly I remembered that I have a changing table! 

But it was ugly...

Alex and I decided to make a weekend project out of it. It took much debate on what color to paint it since our crib is a dark wood color and we weren't sure of gender. Couldn't just paint it pink or blue...We finally decided on gray, since I wanted that to be a main color in either nursery. We went to Walmart (cause we're poor college students...) and got some gray paint from the nice man in the paint section, got some paintbrushes at the Restore and went to work!

Unfortunately we live in Wisconsin where the temperature drops considerably for no reason in October...and it was going to be too cold to paint it outside if we didn't do it that day. So we set up a painting station in our landlords garage (he's really nice...) and got to work. 

After we finished painting both Alex and I decided that the shelves were beyond hope...paint wasn't sticking and the dirty white and particle board just wasn't working for me. I got some shelf liner at the Dollar Tree that was the color of dark wood and stuck it on the shelves. I also picked up some fabric storage baskets from Walmart  for the top shelf and added some little, faux chalkboard labels to the little label pocket just to make it look like I know what I'm doing...I really have no idea what I'm actually going to put in them, but I'm sure I'll find plenty of things when the time comes. 

I think in the end we ended up spending about $25 on the whole project. Not bad! I have one more project for an extra storage basket for the bottom shelf, but I have to wait until the next trip to Walmart for my supplies (you have to learn to be patient when you live half an hour from the nearest Walmart!).

Anyways...Here it is!

Diapers!

Baby Diapers! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. 

We all have conflicted relationships with diapers I'm sure. So handy and useful, yet so smelly and unpleasant. I for one am a fan of disposable diapers. I so admire those of you who can handle the cloth diapers, I really do. But I am incapable of handling the disposable ones, let alone cloth ones. I have this weird OCD idea that the washer doesn't actually clean things...at least not to my standards...so I usually end up throwing away towels or washcloths that have been used to clean up unpleasant messes. 

So wasteful, I know. 

With Alex and I deciding to use disposable diapers for this coming child we also thought it would be a good idea to keep our eyes peeled for deals on diapers. I have a few pins I'm referencing as I stock up on them to give me an idea of how many and how much and all that good stuff (here and here). But I'm no super-couponer. I don't understand couponing...no matter how much I try. It's very sad. Maybe someday I'll have an a-ha moment and it will finally make sense, but until that day that comes I'll have to resort to other measures. 

I found a good deal on Huggies.com for Amazon - a $2 off coupon on their "Little Snugglers" brand. Yeah, $2 doesn't seem like a good deal, especially when the boxes cost anywhere from $18-$48. But I thought I'd give it a whirl. When I followed the link to Amazon it gave me two different coupons, a $2 off coupon and a 13% off coupon. Seemed pretty good. I put the biggest box in my cart along with the coupons and ended up getting size 1 diapers for $0.16 a pop. Not too shabby! Now I just have to figure out where to put this giant box of diapers until April.......

(I had a friend inform me that if you're not super concerned about brand name diapers Walmart has the cheapest regular price diapers out there at $0.12 a diaper)

Baby Registries...The Wows and Woes.

So, obviously since this is my first baby I've never done a baby registry. I've done wedding registries (so much fun!), I've done the wish lists, but baby registries are like a foreign language. 

Babies in general are a foreign language to me, but I'm diligently taking my courses (via Pinterest and a plethora of books). However, when it came down to it those books and pins just didn't tell me what I needed. Sure, there are a ton of great blogs out there that gave me some great tips on what to put on the registry (one even told me how many onesies and socks I would need for each month...) but when it comes to registering it's mostly left up to personal preference. 

I thought initially that it was going to be fairly simple - just find someone's list on Pinterest and copy and paste it into my registry! Once I got started, though, copy and paste had to be thrown out the window. "What brand of swing do I want? What color of swing do I want? What price range is good for a swing? Do I want a swing that's also a bouncer? Do I even want a bouncer? Do I want a bouncer that rocks AND Bounces?..." and on, and on, and on...

My final conclusion? Babies are hard.

I did my research (a.k.a. looking through every category under baby on Target.com). I came to some general idea of what I needed and wanted. I made about five different lists on five separate occasions (I'm one of those people...I make four different grocery lists...). Then I decided I just needed to go to the store. 

As Alex and I waded through the aisles of Target and Walmart with our handy little scanner-gun, we ran into other people that seemed just as lost as we were...not going to lie, this made us feel a little better about ourselves...We scanned and re-scanned, added and subtracted, and probably visited every aisle about 10 times (each...) for about 4 hours of our Saturday. 

We left feeling like we'd just visited Russia for the first time, and not the good, touristy parts of Russia. The scary part of Russia where nice, innocent tourists get lost and can't find their way out of ever again.

Since that Saturday I've probably added and taken away more items from the registry than I can count...but I've come to the conclusion that I'll never be done editing it. Between the multitude of diaper and bottle variations and brands alone I could be editing this for eternity...Unfortunately I don't have that long. 

But the thing that keeps coming to mind is that by God's grace generations upon generations of mothers have been able to raise their children without all of this stuff. They didn't have bouncers or swings or changing pads and they managed perfectly fine. So take heart all you newly discovered mothers! It's not about what brand of swing you get, what diaper brand you choose or how many onesies you have. It's about raising Godly children that live happily and healthily, by His grace alone.

Crockpot Lemon Garlic Chicken (Whole)

Lately I've been experimenting with my crockpot. Especially since I discovered that I can freeze things...I know. Novel idea. 

My latest Pinterest recipe was a hit with the hubby so I thought I would share it. 

Crockpot Lemon Garlic Chicken

There should be a slight disclaimer - if you don't like lemon then you certainly aren't going to like this. In the future I think I'm going to cut down on the lemon and add a little more chicken broth into the mix, just because the flavor was almost overwhelmingly strong to me. Keep in mind, though, that I am pregnant...so it may just be my over-working olfactory senses living up to expectations. 

I got the original recipe from Pinterest - the link is here. 

The recipe calls for a whole chicken, 2 heads of garlic, 4 lemons, fresh Rosemary and some seasoning. 4 lemons may have been a bit overboard...but that's up to you to decide. 

Now, the recipe says to halve your garlic heads...I don't know who came up with this or what level of magic they were practicing at because halving garlic heads is impossible...seriously. Impossible. I tried. And failed quite miserably. In my mind it was a lot easier...in practice the garlic head just exploded all over my kitchen into individual cloves that were unscathed by my knife. I was not the happiest lady on the block...

Once I calmed down and Alex came to the rescue we decided to just chop the garlic cloves in half. Time-consuming, but still a lot faster than exploding garlic clean-up. 

After my garlic fiasco I  followed the recipe as it was written and it worked wonderfully. For my seasoning I used a random steak seasoning that was in my spice cabinet - I would imagine that pretty much anything would work. 

I added a little chicken broth to the bottom of the crock pot before putting the chicken in (because my crockpot has this lovely habit of burning things if they're too dry...) and then i occasionally basted the chicken with more chicken broth. 

All in all I was very satisfied with this recipe and got enough meat off the chicken to make three meals out of it for the two of us. Sweet!

New (Old) Pillows

My latest project has been updating my living room couch pillows. Lately I've gotten on this peacock/teal accent kick...Hopefully it's more than a kick since I painted the front door peacock teal...

I have been slowly adding teal accents around the main floor and I decided it was time for a pillow update. I've looked everywhere for pillows that are cheap reasonably priced, but alas...poor college students cannot afford $20 pillows. 

I made the last set of pillows using some Goodwill pillow forms (a.k.a. matching pillows from Goodwill). I really liked the size of them so I decided just to recover them.

Old Pillows (and old picture...)

I had done a previous project for our canary and had a significant amount of fabric leftover from it that I was quite fond of. I used it for my main cover fabric. Because the print on the original pillows was so bright I had to have a lining fabric. I bought some tan clearance fabric from Walmart that was a thick cotton. I figured for $2.50 a yard I couldn't go wrong. 

I measured and cut and made an envelope cover for both pillows. I think they turned out great (if I do say so myself..). I now have two new (old) pillows to freshen up the living room that only cost me about $2.50 a piece. Not too shabby!

Kitchen Table Re-do

When Alex and I got married we were going to be moving up to Wisconsin into our own apartment (obviously...) so I had to collect some furniture. Our parents were kind enough to donate some of their old furniture, including a kitchen table set.

My mom's kitchen was white and red and all that good stuff, so the table had been painted white originally. I had nothing white in my decor (I'm rather fond of black furniture...). The table worked fine in our first apartment because the kitchen cabinets were white and the trim was white. But in our current apartment it just didn't fit in. surrounded by black and natural wood it stuck out like a sore thumb. 

I decided to do something about it.

I knew that I wanted to keep the natural wood (it seems to be a theme in my decor), but I was nervous to paint the table black. Afraid it would be too dark. But one week before school started and I didn't have to work I got brave and got to work. 

I used a foam brush and some black medium gloss paint that my dad had given me for a wreath post project. It took FOREVER to paint everything...all the little spindles and legs and stuff. But the end result was totally worth it!

Before

After

Big improvement in my eyes!