The Nursery is Done!

Hip, hip, hurray! The nursery is finally finished and ready for it's new little occupant! Want to take the tour?

Remember the super cheap and easy curtains and curtain rod? Read all about them HERE.

The room is really small, so I had to swap out the larger dresser for a smaller one that I was using in my room, put the crib in the corner against the wall, and leave plenty of room for the world's most comfortable nursing chair. It's old and kinda ugly, but it seriously can't be beat for 2 AM feedings. It is so comfortable, it rocks, and f I'm too tired to go back to bed, it reclines! That's why I left so much space around it. Priorities, people. I have also found with my other kids that I don't use a changing table. I prefer to change diapers on the floor, so I just keep a changing pad tucked in the diaper basket. Works for me.

The crib has simple bedding that will not be bulky in the washer---since I know how many times it will need to be washed. It's just two layers of fabric sewn together, no batting or tying or anything. I did add a blue band on one end just to fancy it up a bit, so it would look nice when folded over.

I painted the old crib and LOVE the color. It's Benjamin Moore Waterfall. Just to give you an idea of how much of a makeover this was, here's what the crib looked like before:

Eek! Scary! That bear had to go! And you can't even see the huge spots along the rails where my little rabbit children chewed on the wood. Why do kids do that?! It took quite a bit of sanding to get rid of the teeth marks, but I am so thrilled with the new and improved crib. So bright and cheerful!

And don't forget all the paper flowers on the wall, which I showed you how to make in THIS post.

The bed skirt is the same kind of flat sheet I used on the curtains. I painted white polka dots on it, added a little peek-a-boo slit and a bow, then used my super secret lazy trick and laid it in between the mattress and the crib bottom so that it will be adjustable, like I explained HERE.

The vintage-inspired poster is sitting on the dresser, along with a lamp and an old-fashioned bicycle I got at the thrift store the same day I got the canvas. I told you it was a good day! And the little shoes...well, they are just so precious that I wanted them sitting out where I could see them every day.

The lamp and shade cost me $1.50. I sprayed the base the same Ivy Leaf color I used on my wicker basket, and covered the lampshade in crepe paper flowers.

Aren't they pretty? I'll post a tutorial some time.

I adore this little bicycle. When I saw it at the thrift store, I practically ran over to grab it. It was a buck! Originally it was black, so I just perked it up with some cheery yellow spray paint.

Tucked into a corner is the basket I made over (HERE), all filled with diapers and wipes.

And the last little detail is the bolster pillow that sits on my nursing chair. I followed the tutorial HERE and it came together so quickly. I love how I can take the pillow form out of this easily when I want to wash it, since I imagine it will get milk or spit up on it.

I am pretty happy with what I was able to do on a tight budget in a rental home (meaning I can't paint walls).

Cost Breakdown
Curtain and bed skirt fabric: $6 (two flat sheets, $3 each on clearance)
Curtain Rod: $6
Bedding and bolster pillow fabric: $9 (1 yard floral @$6/yd, 1 yd aqua @$3/yd)
Paper Flowers: $2 worth of scrapbook paper (on sale), the rest came from my stash
Paint/Supplies for Crib: $10- spray primer, aqua paint was free with a flyer I received in the mail!
Art: $1
Lamp: $1.50
Bicycle Decoration: $1
Basket: $1
Spray Paint: $11.25- two cans green, one can yellow

TOTAL: $48.75

Now that the last nursery project is done, I hope the baby knows she is free to come. Any time. Please. The sooner, the better!

Super Easy Knit Nursing Cover

With older kids at home, I'm going to have to be a little bit more discreet nursing the new baby. Plus we've got a summer full of outings and activities where I may not be at home for feedings. I already have the traditional nursing cover, the kind that's basically a square of fabric with a neck strap. But I love the idea of having something that covers me from all angles, so I decided to make a nursing cover that is more like a poncho or circle shirt (kind of like the one I made HERE).

I started with one yard of super soft, lightweight knit fabric I found for $1/yd at WalMart. (You just never know when they are going to get good stuff in their bargain section!) Choose something that will be breathable and preferably non-wrinkley.

My camera is dying a sad death, so I drew up some instructions for you to follow instead of taking pictures:

Step 1. Fold your fabric in half and square up all the sides. Then cut a 2 inch strip from one end of the fabric and save this piece for later.

Step 2. Fold the fabric in half again, so that it's in fourths.

Step 3: Cut a neck hole from the corner of the fabric that would be in the center if you opened the fabric up all the way. My hole measured about 3 1/2 inches from the corner to where I cut on each edge. You want a big enough hole that you can peak in on baby, but small enough that it stays on your shoulders and doesn't gap or hang open.

Step 4: With right sides together (meaning the cover is inside out), sew up the side seams, leaving holes at the top for your arms to go through. I sewed it up about 3/4 of the way, then tried it on and adjusted from there. I left the bottom and side edges raw, but you could easily finish them by folding the edges under or doing a narrow hem on your serger. I just figured that was an extra step that I didn't need to do since knit fabric doesn't fray.

Step 5: Finish off the neckline using the 2 inch strip of fabric you cut in the beginning. Basically, you are going to use the strip of fabric like it's binding tape. Starting in the back center of the neck hole, line up the edge of the neck with one edge of the strip, right sides together. Sew around the entire circle. Then fold the fabric around to the back and sew it down again. Here's a close up of mine:

Then you are all done! I love how the cover looks like a shirt but has plenty of room for baby:

 ...or Heart the Pink Bear if your baby hasn't come yet and you need something to model with:

I am excited to try this new type of cover. I'll let you know how I like it. Three weeks and counting!

Vintage Poster Art and Easy Image Transferring

I scored big at a little thrift shop by my house this week. I had a few minutes before I had to pick up kids, so I ran in to see what they had. I ended up with a whole armful of stuff! It's been a while since I've gotten that lucky at a thrift store, so I was pretty excited. You'll see some of the other finds later, but for today, here's one of the things I came home with:

What? Not impressed?

It's not my style either, that's for sure.

I would guess it's been hanging on the wall at that thrift store for quite a while. But it was BIG (22"x28") and CHEAP (99 cents), and I needed some kind of art to finish off the nursery. So I gave it a little makeover.

First I painted a solid greyish-tan base coat over the whole thing.

Then I came up with what I wanted to put on it. I decided to make a vintage poster-inspired flower shop ad. I made the graphics in Photoshop, then printed them out true-to-size and taped all the sheets of paper together. It looked like this:

Then I used a brilliant little trick for transferring images. I rubbed the back side of the paper with brown pastel chalk, like this:

Then I placed the paper back on the canvas with the pastel part touching the surface and the printed side up. I traced over every line with a pencil and when I removed the paper, it looked like this:

Perfectly detailed outlines! This technique worked out so well. Just make sure you choose a chalk color that you won't mind if some parts of it show... cuz they will. :)

The last step was to use craft paint and fill in all the shapes. I added a little oomph by outlining everything in white pastel chalk, which really made things pop. Check out the finished product:

So much better than the original, don't ya think?!?

Yay! I love how it turned out. I've always had a thing for old posters and it has a little bit of that vibe going on, but still pulls all the nursery colors together. That's the best part of DIY projects...you can make exactly what you want.

By the way, the big nursery reveal should be any day now. Just a few more projects to go and I've got to find the bag of screws to put the crib back together.

Eek! That may be the hardest project of all!

Pinterest Tested: All-Natural Ant Killer

Welcome to Pinterest Tested! Ever wonder if that miracle cleaner is really miraculous? Or what about that homemade facial cleanser or delicious-looking recipe? This is the place to find out! I am testing Pins that catch my eye to see if they really live up to the claims made on Pinterest. It's like the Mythbusters of Domesticity! 

I noticed a little ant colony under some paving stones in our yard. It didn't look like much...just a few little ant hills and a few lonely, wandering ants. So I thought it would be the perfect time to try out THIS pin about homemade ant killer. 

You mix 1 cup of warm water with 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of Borax, dip some cotton balls into it and lay them out next to where the ants are.

See my little poisoned cotton balls next to those little ant holes?

It didn't work. At all. A few days after putting out the cotton balls, I enlisted my husband to lift up the pavers to see if all the ants were dead. The scene below those innocent little pavers was something like this:

Ant Armageddon! Ack! There were thousands of them! And even creepier were the ant eggs. Ew! Ew! Ew! Pin Bomb! Pin Bomb!

Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies the other day and I had forgotten how truly delicious they are. I had to share the recipe! The thing that sets these cookies apart is that you roll them into balls, then roll them in sugar. (My kids loved helping with that part.) They are so soft and chewy with the perfect peanut butter flavor. Yum!

Cream together:
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1 c. butter or margarine
1 c. peanut butter
2 eggs

In separate bowl combine:
2 3/4 c. flour
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

1 package (2 cups) milk chocolate chips
white sugar

Mix dry and wet ingredients together. Add chocolate chips.  Roll into 1 inch balls (don't go too big...they are better small) and roll in granulated sugar. Bake at 350° for 9 to 12 minutes... 9 if you like soft cookies, 12 if you like crispy.

Pour yourself a glass of ice cold milk and enjoy!

Yard Sales and Children's Clothing: The Method To My Madness

Yard sale season is in full swing now that the weather is finally warm around  here. If you've followed my blog at all, you know I'm in to saving money. Yeah, I'm a cheapskate. What can I say?  I get a thrill out of finding a bargain!

Because I'm a stay-at-home mom, I don't directly contribute a paycheck to our family. Instead, my husband earns the money and I try to make it stretch. One of the big ways I do that is that I buy almost all of my kid's clothes at yard sales. In the last year or two, I've only bought one pair of dress shoes, a clearance-priced jacket and a pair of jeans at real stores. Seriously. That's it.

I get a lot of questions from friends about how I do it. So today I'm sharing all my secrets!

Let's start by put the savings into perspective. I'd say that the average price for a child's shirt is $5-10 and pants are $10-20 at a normal retail store. I normally pay between 50 cents and $1 per item, and sometimes more for something really nice (like $2-$3 for jackets, dresses, shoes, etc.). That's a HUGE price difference when you think of how many clothes kids go through in a year. There is a lot of potential to save money here!

So here's the system I've honed over the last five years of shopping almost exclusively at yard sales...

1. Start with a clothing inventory. You have to know what you have and what you need. My inventory lists look like this:

I have a separate list for each child. When I get home from yard sales, I immediately get out my inventories and add every single piece of clothing I bought that day to the list.

Before I go to yard sales, I look at my inventories and write a quick sticky note with the specific items I'm looking for. That way I know what size shoes I need. And I don't end up with 14 pairs of pants in one size with no shirts to go with them. I can't stress how critical this is to being able to do a year's worth of shopping in just the summer yard sale months. You've got to have a plan!

2. Go to a lot of yard sales. I go out every Saturday morning all summer. People often say to me, "How come you always seem to find the good stuff and when I go to yard sales, there's nothing?" Believe me, I've been to hundreds of crappy yard sales. I've even had entire Saturdays where I didn't buy a single thing. But the more yard sales you consistently attend, the better odds you have of scoring cool things...and not just clothes. I spend about two hours every Saturday morning six to eight weeks in a row driving around to yard sales. That's how I find the good deals. Crazy? Maybe...but I look at it as a hobby. It's something I enjoy and it saves my family a ton of money. So there you go. You want an armoire for $5 (True story...picture HERE)? You have to go to a lot of yard sales before something like that comes along!

3. Buy ahead. If my kids need shorts NOW, I am willing to pay more for them than for clothes they will wear next year. But if something is nice and a good price, I'll buy it far in advance. I already have some size 7 and 8 stuff for my four year old! It's tucked away in the storage room and it's on an inventory list so I don't forget about it by the time he gets around to fitting into it.

One concern people have is whether their kids will be dressed cute. You would be shocked at what you can find at yard sales. I've bought fancy dresses, three piece suits, name brand jeans, mint-condition shoes... cute, cute stuff! There is a lot of quality, trendy, good clothing just waiting to come home with you. In fact, I found that my kids are dressed better now that I shop at yard sales because I can get nicer brands than I would be able to afford if I were left to scavenge the clearance racks of WalMart.

So what do you think? Questions? What are your best yard sale scores? Any good tips to share?

Kitchen Utensil Bouquet

I have two weddings this weekend, one on each side of the family. One wedding is close by and the other is about ten hours away. Guess which wedding this very pregnant mama will attend? Yeah...I might die if I had to sit in the car for that long. Not to mention the possibility of birthing a baby on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

Anyway, I came up with a fun, cute, practical gift for both sets of newlyweds... a bouquet of kitchen utensils!

Everybody needs this stuff, and it's so much more fun to receive (and to give) when it's packaged up creatively.

I started with a large 4 cup measuring cup. I rolled up two microfiber kitchen towels really tight and put them inside the measuring cup, then stuck each utensil into the folds of the towels to hold them upright. The microfiber did a great job of holding things tightly, since it has a grippy surface. And I love that the "stuffing" is something the newlyweds can use instead of just a hunk of florist foam or whatever.

Here's a close-up:

Then all I added was ribbon and a little gift tag tucked into the front edge of the cup. I tied little ribbons to each individual utensil and one big ribbon around the measuring cup. Easy!

The total cost for this gift will be between $10-$20, depending on the quality of the utensils you choose, how much your towels cost, and what ribbon you buy. I got everything I needed at Wal-Mart, but I noticed Dollar Tree had some really cute brightly colored kitchenware and Target always carries great stuff too.

This gift would also be adorable for a high school graduate headed off to college or as a centerpiece for a bridal shower.