"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!!!

Little Cowboy Gun Holster Tutorial

Every little cowboy needs a holster for his six-shooter!! Over time you might learn that we are country loving people... We dress it, (mostly my hubby and son), we listen to it, we love rodeos, horses, farms, ranches, on and on!! In fact, we both grew up in the country. Especially me being from cattle country, I used to ride horses daily. So naturally we wanted to pass it on to our kids.

First B-day. I made the cowspot cake!!

So anyway, on to the tutorial! I started with some scraps of cow print cotton canvas. As you can see I had to sew two pieces together for it to be big enough... I laid his play gun ON A FOLD and traced the shape I wanted on the WRONG side of the fabric.

I unfolded it, and BEFORE sewing the sides, I hemmed the top and bottom. It's easier that way.

 Next I sewed the sides together and turned it right side out to make sure the gun fit how I wanted.I wanted to make it really cowboy-ish so I added some fringe :)

To make the belt loops, I measred my belt  and cut my strips accordingly so they would be big enought to slip on the belt. Just fold and iron like so, and hand sew the loops on tucking under the raw edges.

AND WALA!! He's ready to cowboy up!!!

I also made the vest, and the cowboy pants.... The tute for that is RIGHT HERE.

"Don't Tell Small It Can't Do Big" Toddler Chair/Stepstool Makeover

My great grandfather built this for my dad, and his siblings back in the 50's or 60's. My dad gave it to me to redo for my son:). It may have been in shabby condition, but it was still super sturdy! Here it was before:

My sweet hubs got to use his new sander, and sanded off the yellowing, thick varnish so I could repaint it.

I chose a pretty turquoise color, not too far off from what is was before.

I did two coats of acrylic paint and let it dry a couple hours. From cardstock, I cut different size orange and yellow circles for polka dots. Using mod podge I randomly places my dots and let them dry for a minute before going back over the whole chair with more mod podge. I ended up doing two coats of satin mod podge for durability.

Then I found this phrase in a magazine and knew right where it would go...

And now my little man can feel big on his new step stool. He needed a hand doing his very important morning and evening activities like brushin' teef!!

 And it has a new permanent home next to his frog potty :)

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!!!