"Hunky Pool Boy" Terry Cloth Romper Shorts

I've had this idea for awhile, and I wanted to make Gabe something for the summer to wear on the patio or around the kiddie pool. I made the shorts from two brand new terry cloth towels I found  super cheap at the second hand store. The pockets are leftover from my mens shirt to boys shirt refashion seen over here.  The stenciling is freezer paper stenciling. Heres the short process in pictures:

I cut out my pieces using a pair of his shorts

I made my pockets and stenciled them

I sewed the pockets on first and then assembled the shorts

And done :)

Um, model much?

Now try to keep your hunky pool boy away from the girls this summer!!!

Mama's Got A New Diaper Bag!

I made this bag last night and I really like it!! I'm not the best at making bags, and this one has no pockets, but that's okay... I rarely use pockets. I try to simplify what baby stuff I do take out. And now with Gabe pretty much a toddler, I mainly take diapers,wipes, my wallet and keys, sippy and snacks. So here's my new bag with a matching diaper/wipes case :)

Pleated sides....

                        DON'T forget to enter my headband giveaway Right Here....

Felt Softie Book

At almost14 months old this month, my son is really getting into reading. He'll sit on the floor, and spill out all his little cardboard baby books, turn the pages, and laugh!! Then he'll bring me a book, and sit there patiently while I read the 6 page book as slow and exciting as I can. This makes me happy, and I hope it continues!! After doing my Garden Playmat project, 

I still had quite alot of felt scrap around, so I put them to use in this felt softie "Gabe Is" book. I love my son, and I wanted to put in his own little book what he is to me :

You'll have to pardon my shabby fabric paint/ freehand applique skills!!! Hope this post finds you well on a beautiful Sunday morning, that's it for now!

A New Necklace/ Recycling Idea All In One!

Last night I dissmantled a necklace I bought from Forever 21. For my stature, it was to much... AND ahem, I'm on the busty side, so too much necklace looks bad :) I took half of the chains off and the longest strand of pearls.

It looked much better just like that, but I decided to add some emerald jersey rosettes on the side, and matching earrings from the leftover chain/pearls.

It's nothing to flashy, but a litte more dressed up than I normally wear. I love looking at jewelry, and sometimes I enjoy making it, but wearing it is rare for me. So that's all I did, and If I can get a few comments on this post I will do a rosette necklace tutorial/ giveaway!! Yep, that's right, my first giveaway!!

And to cap this post off, I just got this monster print flannel  from Jo Anns, and I made My son a monogramed toy sack (freezer paper stencil) and a changing pad from it. Notice the inside of the changing pad is a recylced plastic shower curtain, so it's wipeable. When my old one got moldy at the bottom, I salvaged the top 15 inches that was never touched by water, wiped it clean just in case, and used it. Wala!! Another way to repurpose and recycle!!!

Bath Toy Organizer - With Tutorial!

 Raise your hand if your tired of showering with your children's toys covering the bathtub floor?? Raise your hand if your tired of trying to stack them in the shower corners to get them out of your way??? I raised my hand to both, so I decided to come up with my own bath toy organizer. I found this mesh fabric at the local second hand store half price for 50 cents!! I also scored a grab bag of bias tapes, some new, some homemade...2.99 for pretty large lot! Okay, I hope this makes sense. Here we go.

First step is to determine your size. I did mine 14 inches wide, and 24 inches long.

I cut two pocket, 10 inches long by 14 inches wide.

This was an easy project because I used bias tape to attach the pockets, and seal in the sides!! Cut 5 strips of bias tape, and make them 141/2 inches long. I added an extra 1/2 inch for a little hangover on the ends to make sure it all gets sewed in later. Sew it to the top and bottom of your top pocket, the top of your backing material, and to the top of your bottom pocket. Don't add the tape to the bottom of your bottom pocket just yet, set it aside!!

Now to attach pockets, pin the bottom of your top pocket in place. I did it so that the top of the pocket was about 1/4 of an inch down from the top of my backing.

 Sew across, two seams for reassurance. Now attach the bottom of your bottom pocket to the backing by sandwiching the two pieces of material in between the final piece of bias tape you set aside.

It should look like this:

Now to seal in all the sides, grab another pack of bias tape... In any color you want!! I used what I had. Leave 4 inches at the top for your hangers, and begin sewing around...

Go all the way to the bottom tucking in the tape to make it looked finished and do the other side. Sew a loop at the top on both sides to hang it by.

Go grab some cheap suction hooks from the store, hang it up, fill it with toys and admire!!!

Recycled Jersey Hoodie = New Pants For Gabe!!!

Since Gabey was born, I haven't been able to fit in my old clothes... At least no pants, and probably half of my shirt. Just one of those things you dont bank on when you get pregnant is how much weight you'll actually gain, and how easy it'll be to lose it after the fact.  And I haven't been working on losing weight nearly as hard as I need to for MY body. It takes ALOT of discipline and focus and work for me to lose serious lbs. That's no excuse however, and I'm doing something about it now before I get the next set of two pink lines!! ANYWAY, with all that said, most of the old T's and shirts and some pants I had went into my scraps pile to recycle... and most of them have already been made into something else!!! Some refashioned for me, but mostly clothes for Gabe. Today I decided to finally do something with a gray and black striped jersy short sleeved hoodie. And this time I did some more pants for him. Hopefully they can be worn util 24 months, because I made them big on purpose.

What I did was fold a pair of  18 month sized pants in half and placed the "non-crotch" side on the outsde fold of the hoodie, as you can see in the pic. That way you get one less seam to sew!! Do that on both sides so you get two pattern peices out of it. Then just cut around the pants giving yourself an 1/2 in seam allowance. I did more because  I wanted a bigger size for him. For the rest of the pants follow this easy tutorial...

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1DANmGTnx38/SwI8iBJk06I/AAAAAAAABBw/oHYZwnQRivk/s1600/DSC02143.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.slipstitches.com/2009/11/baby-toddler-t-shirt-pants-tutorial.html&usg=__ju6iVFqMsohBFZsCoijQGmyiP8g=&h=1200&w=1600&sz=165&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=U2xwjY6s-chVhM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbaby%2Bpants%2Btutorial%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1R2SKPB_enUS360%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

Wow, long link!

And here's the boy!

Jailbird baby! Sorry for the bad quality pic...

while we have no camera i'm using our camcorder for pictures :(

Man, I miss my real camera!!!