Easy Burp Rags

I am on a quest to find cheap ways to make all the necessities for a new baby. This weekend it was burp rags. I used the idea from my sister who made me a few similar to this, using flannel and terrycloth. Joann's had a sale on their flannel, 1 yd for $2.49. Their terry cloth on the other hand was $10 a yard! After a quick trip to Ross I had a full size towel in a cute pattern for $5.00. So for a total of $8 I ended up with eight custom burp rags.
Quick Tutorial:
-I grabbed the pattern from the one my sister gave me, but she found it online.
-Once you find a pattern you like, cut out the flannel and terry cloth and sew right sides together. My original plan was to sew the two together and just pink the edges...didn't work. Terry cloth sheds like crazy!
-Leave a little opening to flip the rag right side out. Close the opening and sew a 1/4" seam around the edges to finish. I used colorful thread for the outside stitch to make them more fun. At that point you have a new soft, thick burp rag.
-You can also grab some cute templates to "baby" up the rags with birds, giraffes, bunnies, elephants, etc.

Embellished Onesie...

A few ruffles and buttons and I have the first of many embellished onesies for our little girl. Total cost: $1.80...
Onesie - $1 thrift store purchase
Ruffles - Old t-shirt
Buttons - 80 cents

Even included making a matching flower to clip on a headband.

Christmas Card Wreath

In the December Martha Stewart Living magazine I saw a really cute idea for a Christmas card wreath holder. She made it out of an embroidery hoop and clothespins. While at the dollar store the other day I was looking at the frames and the idea popped into my head to make the holder out of a frame. I grabbed a frame, clothes pins and a snowflake ornament, and for $3 + some ribbon I had laying around, I have a new Christmas card display to hang on my coat closet door.

Thrifty Seasonal Decor: Part 2, Fall

The other day browsing around on my favorites list, I saw this awesome idea at Oops, I Craft My Pants, and immediately swiped the idea! I too made the trip to Home Depot and smuggled out a handful of paint chips in fall colors. The best part about this project is that it was FREE! Well almost, I did have to get a new Sharpie for the tree trunk, but other than that...paint chips-Free, and MDF-Free (sitting in my garage from a headboard).

I drew out the tree trunk and then got to gluing. You'll probably notice I yanked off one of the falling leaves, seemed like a little much so it had to go. It's one of my favorite fall projects yet.



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Halloween/Fall Wreath

I've been a little blog lazy lately, there are about 3 or 4 projects that I have been working on all at once, and I hate it because I feel like nothing is getting done! I need to go back to my "one at a time" strategy. So here is a little something I whipped up last night.

This wreath is a combo of a couple of different creations that have been floating around blog world. The first I spotted was a Halloween cupcake holder topiary at Craft-O-Maniac, and the second was a Halloween ribbon wreath at Tatertots and Jello.

I wanted to make a wreath that was Halloweenish, but could still be used all through the fall as well. I guess an understated Halloween design. I grabbed a wreath form, ribbon, cupcake holders, and my glue gun and got to work.

First I cut the wide ribbon into 14 - 5" strips, and the smaller into 12 - 5" strips. Then glued the ends together to make a loop.

After that I started placing and gluing the cupcake holders. Scrunch them by placing a finger in the inside middle and pulling it down over your finger with the other hand. This gives you a nice flat part on the bottom to load up some glue on.

After gluing on all of the holders place the ribbon how ever you want it.

I'm a little afraid it ended up looking like an old stuffy wreath, but I love how the colors look together, so because of that it will be hanging proudly on the door for the next couple of months.



*You'll be seeing this at these lovely blogs.

Picture Frame Wreath

So wreaths really aren't my thing. I find most of the wreaths out in blogland really cute and would love one of my own, but we it comes to me actually taking the time to make one...pass. Until... I found this blog on wreaths. She made it really simple, a picture frame and ribbon. Now that I can handle. The wheels in my head started spinning. I loved the non-traditional square wreath and decided to finally make a wreath of my own. My front door is looking pretty boring and needed some color anyways.

So I went from this beauty,

Added a little paint, scrapbook paper, ribbon, and fabric and ended up with this.











**I'll be linking up here.

Thrift Store Dress Make-Over

Well I finally got around to re-vamping one of the many dresses I stocked up on from the thrift store. My motivation to get me going came from my new pair of peep toe heels that have ruffles around the back. So CUTE!

Finished product.

Ok, back to the dress. The dress caught my eye because it had some really nice details. I liked the back cutout, pockets, the buttons up the back , 3/4 length sleeves and the fit. On the other hand, the length, shoulder pads, neckline, and bow had to go. It was quite frumpy to say the least.

Before

It also had a hole.

Once removing the bow and shoulder pads I hacked the length by a good 6 or 7 inches. Next came the neckline. An easy slit down the front turned it into a V-neck.

Goodbye shoulder pads and bow.

I pinned back the neck flaps and secured with what my mom and I call "stitch witchery," the iron on no-sew stuff. After I hemmed the bottom it still wasn't the shape I wanted. I grabbed one of the pencil skirts my mom made me and layed of on top of the dress. With this as a pattern I pinned and sewed the skirt to taper toward the bottom.


Finally, with the excess fabric cut from the bottom I made a belt. I'll give details about the belt in a future post, but I will say I was pretty excited about how it turned out. It involved my first button holes ever!

I have to say this is my favorite dress make over yet. I love how the overall shape turned out and how the pleats were accentuated by the tapering of the skirt. When you are just pinning and cutting (and never measuring, because I find it tedious) you never know what you're going to end up with!

Have a great week everyone!





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Table Centerpiece & Bookpage Fruit

My mother-in-law gave me this cake stand to see if I could use it. Well the truth is I hardly ever bake, and if I do it more than likely isn't a cake. For the 2 to 3 times in a year I do happen to make a cake it is unlikely that it will fall around the Christmas holiday. I loved the simple shape of the piece so I had some "magic-working" to do. After taking the dog out at 3 a.m. it hit me, make it into a centerpiece for our dining room table!

I started by spray painted the entire thing with a couple coats of jade spray paint. While that was drying I started on the fruit. I picked up some apples and pears at the dollar store and got to work Mod Podging them with ripped book pages. To add a little color I soaked the pages in food coloring and a little white vinegar. After they dried the red was more pink than red. So with a brilliant idea from my hubby, I added red food coloring into the top coat of Mod Podge. It worked but at this point they were very VERY bright red. We added a drop of blue and little more red and I did one more thin messy coat to give the apples a darker look. I love how they ended up turning out.

A trashy romance novel should do the trick.

Then with the addition of some clearance place mats I had a whole new look for our table.

I couldn't pass up these adorable ruffled place mats, especially when they were on sale!