Joy

Friday, July 29, 2011

Improved Car Seat Cooler


I cannot imagine my life without our carseat cooler. Seriously, I don't know how people with toddlers and small children make it through the summer without one. Maybe my child just complains and cries more than most. I don't know.

I've made three different versions for Claire now, but finally found one that works the best and looks the best too.The top side is a piece of felty, wool-like material, sandwiched between two layers of a thicker, home decor fabric for added insulation.The bottom layer is just a thin knit which allows the cold to get to the seat quickly.

These hard block ice packs are the way to go for the seat coolers. The soft bag packs ALWAYS get a hole in them and leak bluish ooze everywhere, plus, the block ones stay cold for a good 6 hours, whereas the soft ones get warm within 3 hours when in a 120 degree car.I just fold it up and throw it in the freezer so it is always ready for a trip in the car. If I'm really on the ball, then I remember to put it in the carseat about 20 minutes before we leave so that the seat is cool when Claire climbs in. (Since we still can't park in our garage.)I have toyed with the idea of trying to sell them. Especially since there really aren't any available anywhere - unless you want to spend $60 online. I have so many cute home decor fabrics to make them with but man, sewing on the bias tape is such a pain! I need to practice before they are sell worthy.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Sewing for Claire

I haven't made a dress for Claire in quite awhile. She has many in her closet that are supposedly her size, we try them on every few weeks but they are still too big and by the time they do fit her, they are too short.

I found this ladies' shirt at Savers for $5 and had a vision for it so I decided it was worth it. I was elated when I went to check out and was told that since I had my Savers Club Card, my entire purchase was 50% off. Woot!

I removed the bottom layer as it was way too long anyway. I used that fabric for the straps and hair bow. Of course I had to take in the sides as well.

Couldn't be easier!
Claire loves to twirl in it.
I love the bow in the back, it's much different from her other dresses I've made.Not bad for $2.50!
I have a few more projects in process that I hope to get done before Peanut comes...We'll see.


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Nesting = Crafting - Bow/Clip Holder

I have been wanting to make Claire one of those hair bow/clip holders for as long as I can remember but for some reason never have. I decided that I needed to make one today since I just spent her whole nap time replenishing her "clippy" supply. (those things get lost so easily!)

I started out with this frame that I got at Goodwill for $2 bucks,
took the glass, mat and cardboard out and covered the cardboard with some quilt batting. I wanted it to be a little cushy rather than than just straight fabric on cardboard.

Then I covered the quilt batted cardboard with some fabric. Next came the ribbon. I taped it in place on the front so I could flip it over to the back to finish gluing easier.

Glued the ribbon in place and done!
This took about 15 minutes.

Why didn't I do it sooner?

Friday, July 15, 2011

A Week Away!


This past week, Josh left again for Zona Youth Camp. So, once again, Claire and I made the trek to Nana's house for the week. It was so nice. We lived in our swim suits.

This little girl is quite proud that she can touch the bottom of Nana's pool.All she does when we go swimming is jump up and down and exclaim "Look at me! I can touch the bottom! I'm a big girl!"

Claire got to play in the irrigation.
My parents bought her this swing at Ikea. It is perfect for her and she loves it. Which is amazing to me because the first time I went to push her on it, I pushed on the wood swing and not her body which knocked the swing right out from under her and she was drug through the mud. (now I know she holds on tight at least!) Even so, she still wants to swing all the time. Standing is her new trick. My favorite quote from her this weeks was while we were swinging after Poppy put it up. She said, "Oh!, this is my special! I love my special swing! Thank you Poppy! Poppy IS nice!"
Yes, it was a fun week at Nana's away from the floor work at our house. Today when we go home, I hope to finish up some projects before Josh gets home - Including starting a new discipline method...


Because believe it or not, this little girl is quite the handful.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Extreme Nesting - Part 2.- Moving right along!

We have made great progress on the floor! So much so, that we were able to start laying a week earlier than originally planned. (and by we I mean Josh and a handful of hardworking youth)
What a mess! To add to the chaos I had to babysit the neighbor's almost 2 year old for the majority of the day so we were stuck upstairs the whole time. - Fun.

4 boys came over on Friday and finished up the demo. The salesman at Big D who helped me choose the floor and had been giving me pointers on it for the past 2 months, also came by and what a huge help he was! He stayed for over 3 hours and helped so much. He is a trained professional in the flooring area so he brought over a ton of tools and helped scrape, remove the toilet and even helped Josh snap the chalk lines so we could be sure they are perfectly straight.

Laying the first tile!It was a momentous occasion.

The flooring we decided on is Earthwerks Vinyl Tile. We have gone back and forth on what to put down for quite a while and were sure we would put down some sort of stone/ceramic tile, but after seeing Claire take a number of falls on the old floor, we decided that a tile floor was not for us - at least not until all of our children are finished learning to walk. I am not a fan of tile anyway, probably because I spent a few too many hours of scrubbing grout with Comet and a toothbrush as a child.
(this is four of them pushed together)

I really liked the vinyl tile, as it is not so hard on little heads, supposedly looks like a solid stone floor, is very easy to install - no tile saw needed, and has no grout lines.

Even though it looks very textured, it only has very shallow texturing which will very easy to keep clean.
Josh layed the whole family room area that day so we were able to put the couches back.
The next day, he did the whole entry way and bathroom so all that is left is the kitchen area. The boys are coming back tomorrow to help so I am optimistic that it will get finished, we'll see!