Joy

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Nursery - Done at Last

Joy's room is finally done!  She is almost 1 year old you know so I figured it was about time to get it finished.

I drooled over beautiful pictures of aqua and yellow nurseries on Pinterest so I decided to go with that.  I wanted this paint job to be the last for this room so it is the permanent "nursery".  If we have another girl down the road then it will stay exactly the same (except the name on the wall of course) and if we have a boy then anything you see that is pink will be swapped out with navy blue and gray.  (I have elaborate plans for the boy version)

The closet - The girls' bedrooms are very small so we removed the closet doors to open up the rooms.
 

 I recovered the rocking chair with some cute yellow fabric I found at the thrift store ages ago and made a removable, ruffle pillow cover for the pillow.
 

 Above the chair is this little cubby shelf that I found at Goodwill a few years ago.  I just dressed it up with some scrapbook paper glued to the back of the cubbies.
 

The book on top is also from a thrift store.  It had some adorable pictures that I ripped out and framed with frames that are also from Goodwill.
 

There's the dresser I repainted a while back.  And yes, everything on the top shelf is from a thrift store too.

Okay, it's safe to say that everything is orginally from a thrift store. (except that rose topiary - that is from my wedding)  I repainted that little $5 dollar table (formally a dismal brown).  And I made that fabric liner for the basket.  I am pretty proud about that one.
 

 I saw this idea on pinterest as well.  It keeps the door very slightly ajar and keeps it from clacking closed when the air conditioner kicks on.

Over Joy's crib hangs her name.  I made it out of regular wood letters covered with scrapbook paper. 
At first it just said "JOY" but that seemed to be missing something so I used my silhouette to add the "bug" at the end.  We call her our little Joybug all the time.

Those breathable bumpers are a great invention but they don't fit my crib well at all so I finally cut it and re-sewed it back together so it is the appropriate length.  Also, I made that crib sheet out of a regular bed sheet!  I know! You are thinking "why?" I don't know, it was cheaper ($1) it was easy, and much prettier than the other crib sheets we have.  (I hope to make many navy blue ones in the future - seeing as it is near impossible to find navy blue crib sheets).

Ah, yes, I feel very happy when I go into Joy's room - for many reasons.



Monday, July 30, 2012

Beach Vacation


We just got back from vacation. One whole week in a a beautiful, ocean view, beach house in Carlsbad.  It was so lovely and a much needed time away as a family.  Last year,  I was nearing the end of my pregnancy with Joy and because of the high risk situations we were not able to join Josh's family on their annual trip.  So, this year,  we were definitely ready for a vacation on the beach.

Joy LOVED the beach.   All she did was play in the sand and smile.

Naps were rare.
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She ALMOST ate a sandcrab.  Almost.


She did have some rough moments. Finger sucking at the beach is not good.

Claire also loved the beach and spent all day running, and jumping in the waves.
 


 She loves playing Grandpa and Grandma.
 
She also enjoyed looking for sand crabs - which is my favorite thing to do at the beach.
A little time was spent drawing and writing in the sand,
a few sand wars were started.




 We had a lot of family time.
 






And Josh and I enjoyed watching the sisters play and love each other.

   
 
 
 

 It was a special and fun filled week. Now, we must re-adjust to reality.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Carseat Cooler Tutorial


I am quite flattered by the response that my carseat cooler received after someone pinned it to Pinterest.
My blog had more views in one day than in its lifetime!  After many kind encouragements in the comment section, I thought. "Maybe I will try and sell them."  I had to make a new one for Claire since it vanished from the church freezer after VBS and Joy needed one as well.  I made Claire's exactly the same as in my previous post, just a plain rectangle. But Joy's carseat was shaped differently at the top so I made her's in a different shape.  After making these two, it became very clear that I will NOT be making these to sell.  What a pain!  A couple here and there is fine but I definitely don't have the time or patience to mass produce them.  I decided to put together a tutorial for anyone who was interested in them.

This my first tutorial so....yeah.  and I'm not a photographer.

First, you will need to look at your carseat, figure out how long and wide it needs to be.  In my experience, the fabric should be 10.5 inches wide and 25.5 inches long.  Once you have the right size and shape to fit our seat, cut 2 pieces of your decorative fabric, 1 piece of the thermal fabric. (I used an old felty blanket for Claire's and a bassinet mattress pad for Joy's.  Any thick fabric that will keep the ice blocks insulted will do.) And 1 piece of knit fabric.



Next, sandwich the the thermal layer between the decorative pieces so the right sides off the decorative print are facing out.

Likes so.

Pin well and baste all 3 layers together around the outside edges.

Then, attach bias tape to one edge of the print cover and one edge of the knit.  This will be the side that open up to slide in the ice blocks.
Then sew the two pieces together around the 3 sides that don't have bias tape to make a pocket


Next, you will need to get a ruler and measure out sections to hold the ice blocks.  If you use the blocks that I recommend then each pocket needs to be exactly 4.25 inches.  Any more and the blocks with slide out too easily, any less and you will never get the blocks in.
Make your line 4.25 inches away from your sewn edge.  From that line measue .25 inch and make a buffer line. 
Then use that line to measure your next 4.25 space. The quarter inch space allows the blocks to fit better and give the seat cooler an overall better appearance.

After you make 2 spaces on the bottom half or foot of the cooler, then , go to the top or head of the cooler to mark your other 3.  The little space it creates is about 2 inches is right about where the cooler will bend to "sit" in the carseat.

You are almost done!  Now just sew along your lines to create the pockets for the ice blocks. 

Lastly, sew the bias tape all along the outside or the cooler to finish it off.
You are done! Insert your ice blocks!

(The plain rectangle version)
Roll it up and stick it in your freezer. 

On days that we have a lot of errands to run, I put the coolers in an isulated igloo bag so they stay cool while we are driving. When we arrive at our destination, I throw them on the seats so the girls will be welcomed back to the car with cold, refreshing seats.  My coolers stay cold for a good 6 hours, and that's in the Arizona heat!



Good luck!