Swim- tastic!

Christmas Day was Celebrated by taking Violet into the hotel pool for her first swim! She of course loved it.

Easy 15 Min Gifts!

I was on the search for easy gifts for my co-workers, and I was coming up empty. Everything I found that was sufficently cute enough required way too much time or $$ for supplies. I really wanted to make something simple, but also something my co-workers would actually want or use. The day after Christmas, my Aunt took us to an antique mall in Illnois called Vollo (I think), and the first thing I saw when I walked in was a little scrabble tray that spelled out "Booth One". Perfect! How easy! Scrabble Name Plates!

There is not too much too this project, just thrift a scrabble game and hot glue the names into the trays.

Now onto the baby stuff.... My love affair with oil cloth is kindled by it's no-sew qualities. I needed a couple of bibs and something to cover the tray of my vintage wooden high chair, since Violet refuses to eat politely. This project was super easy and would be a great shower present.

1. Trace a bib you like onto the wrong side of your oil cloth.
2. Cut out. I wanted to use pinking shears, but I couldn't find them- cute either way.
3. Use adhesive velcro and attach to each side of the bib.
Done.

The High Chair Bib was done sorta free hand- I laid the oil cloth on the tray and traced it, then cut it out. I then attached the adhesive velcro to both the bib and the sides of the High Chair tray.

Autum! Hooray!

pretty.much.the.cutest.

Homemade Laundry Detergent and Baby food. Only not together.

I used my MEA weekend to further my "prairie mom" skills. Well, I don't think prairie moms had food processors, but whatevs. I pureed a bag of organic pears and froze them in some tiny individual containers I got at the dollar store. Violet loves her pears! So far the only veggie I have made is peas, which I pureed and froze in ice cube trays. Pretty easy!

I also got an idea from my lovely www.craftster.org, and made my own powdered laundry detergent! This turned out awesome, but I have yet to wash the diapers with it so I will post and update about it's poo-fighting ablities...

To make your own cheap and awesome laundry soap you will need:
1. a food processor
2. 1 bar of soap that you like- I choose Kirks Castille because it was cheap, at my CUB, and it's all natural and fragrance and animal product free. I did also buy a Kiss My Face Olive Oil bar, but it was 4x the cost, so I am using that in the shower!!
3. 1/2 cup WASHING soda, not baking soda- I found it at CUB in the laundry area.
4. 1/2 cup Good old Borax- and you thought that was only used for making homemade silly putty!!

All you do is chop up the soap really fine in the FP, then add the powdered stuff and blend, then VIOLA! I use an old coffee scoop- one scoop per load.

Now if only I can figure out how to make my own proactiv solution I'll be set.

First Food, September 6th 2008

Yummy

Halloween Thrift score!

Mike and I went a little over board at the Unique this weekend. We bought Violet enough halloween clothes to last until she's in her terrible two's! I also got a bunch of wooden toys and blocks, and yet another toy guitar! Spoiled baby.

Becoming a Person

I posted this picture on Myspace and my friend Stacy marveled at the fact that Violet suddenly became a little person! It's true, she has moved from the teensy little grimace monster who barely made a peep and had a bad case of "the crazy eyes", to a book loving gigglebee who can screech louder and higher then a dog whistle. Amazing. p.s. I lOVE this crazy thing she is sitting in- it's called a "Bumbo" of all things, and it helps lil sprouts like Vie who want to sit up, but just can't quite yet.

Lyra's Knit hat from the Golden Compass Movie: baby style

I fell in love with the hat Lyra is wearing in the Golden Compass! It looked like a cinch to knit- and I was right- it took about 20 mins to knit up a baby sized one for Violet. Pretty cute!

I got the free pattern from Lion Brand website:http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/patternFinder.fcgi?search=Search&searchText=lyra+hat&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

Nikki Mclure

Yesterday I succumbed to the "Mom" hair cut. That's right, I chopped off my very long locks in favor for a short, non-baby accessible hair-do. Thats not really the point though- as I was under the dryer, I was was flipping through the new Bust and came across this print by artist Nikki Mclure. It made me instantly regret my ponytail-ectomy. Birthday present anyone?

My favorite diaper cover!

Cloth Diapering, or FUN WITH POOP!

Way back when my little one was but a twinkle in my eye, I had visions of what an idyllic mom I'd be: I'd make all the baby cothes, push her in a vintage buggy, and use cloth diapers. Well, know that she's here, the real world has limited my beautiful visions. Like making her baby clothes? Ha! I barely have time to DRESS myself! The lovely vintage pram idea? Uhhhh, have you seen the sidewalks in North Minneapolis? Let alone the space it would take up in the Honda! My word.

One of my baby dreams, however, has proved to be not only possible- but practical! Cloth Diapering, of course. Now at first I was totally freaked out when I started doing research. I trolled page after page of "how to's" and was totally overwhelmed. There is this whole cloth diaper culture out there, with it's lingo and crazy crazy options, and a million different opinions n how to wash them. I almost chickened out when I read about how I was supposed to spray and dunk poopy diapers in the toilet before washing. What???? I mean have you seen my toilet? I'd rather dip them in acid before swishing them around that germ hole. Anyway- after months of repeat visits to Green Mountain Diapers.com, I finally decided to test the waters. Now at this time, my little one was already here, seeing as she came early, and we were using disposables in the tinest preemie size. By the time we got to cloth she was past the pooping after every feeding phase, thank god! So here is what I have found:

Cloth appealed to me because I was expecting it to be cheap. WRONG! You can get very lost in all the different options, some of which are very pricey. An all-in one diaper (like a washable disposable) can be $20 each! The cheapest option is called a prefold- the old fashioned square diapers that you pin, or use a velcro wrap with. This is the route I chose, because you get a dozen for about $17. However, you still need the expensive diaper covers if you ever want to have a dry lap again. This is again where it gets complicated as there are about a thousand different kinds/ sizes/ and price ranges. I have tried the following brands: Bummis Super Whisper, Bummis Original, Pro Wrap, Lite Wrap, and Thirsties. My favorite by far are the Thirsties, even though it took a while for my baby to be big enough to fit the x Small size. These are the covers I will be using from now on. My runner up was the Bummis Original, which had a nice fit and was easy to use. Total pass on the Pro-wraps and the Lite Wrap, and the Bummis Super Whisper just felt too stiff and unyeilding. So, now onto the washing part:

Heres the deal- I hate laundry, so I had to find the most simple and effective wash routine. This is what I do-
1. Wash with soap on COLD for the longest cycle.
2. Wash again with soap on HOT for the longest cycle.
3. Wash again on cold without soap.
4. Dry!

I do not dunk the poops, since I breastfeed I read you can just toss them in- so I do. The end

Baby Legs!

I have seen these "baby legs" for sale on all the hip baby boutique sites, and I really liked the concept since you don't have to take pants on and off when diapering. Violet is also super tiny and all the baby pants, even the newborn size, are waaaaay to big for her.

Anyway, I knew I could make these myself, so I grabbed some of the pink baby yarn from the stash I bought at the Unique Thrift store and went wild! These were knit in the round, CO 22 stitches and voila!

Goth Dollhouse

This haunted dollhouse has been a work in progress for several years. Mike built it for me from a kit a few Christmases ago as a home for my Dame Darcy dolls (www.damedarcy.com), then I painted it in the painted lady style of Victorians that I love so much.
I decopauged some rugs and wallpaper, then I repainted some thrift and dollar store furniture. From sculpey I made some witchy accesories like books and potion bottles and sparkle skulls.
This past christmas Mike made me the beautiful mermaid doll that will live in the bathroom.

Tiny booties for a NICU baby!

My favorite bootie patern (found here http://www.saartjeknits.nl/) is super easy and cute.....however the pair I made in anticipation of my baby where waaaay to big on account of my litle one coming 6 weeks early. She weighed 4 pounds 14 oz and was super tiny.
Little Violet had to be in the "Special Care Nursery" for 11 days, but I was discharged after two so I spent the long hours in the hospital knitting these little booties by Violet's incubator.

The nurses loved them and thought I should sell them to Preemie parents, but if anything I would donate them not sell them, as being a parent in this situation is so stressful!

If you want a colorful account of Violet's delivery go to my husbands blog: http://randommoods.blogspot.com/.

Fancy dance-y bobby pin holder!

This project took 20 mins, max. Take a toilet roll, some fancy paper ( I used an older calendar), some double sick tape a glue stick and a ribbon.
Put double stick tape on each long side of the paper and roll into the tp roll. Tuck in the ends of the paper into the roll and secure with the glue stick. Thread the ribbon through the tp roll and hang it up!

Hot glue gun hair preties.

My husband bought me a lovely bunch of silk flowers from Patina last year for my birthday. I am not the type to have a bunch of "perma" flowers collecting dust in an unused sitting room, so I decided to make some hair accessories over winter break.

I used thin copper wire to wrap he flowers around the bobby pins and then secured them with hot glue. The piece with the 3 flowers is simply hot glued to a hair clip. Super simple! These would make nice party favors, or simple gifts.