Easy Painted Pillow

I'm gearing up to finish decorating my front room. It's been a work-in-progress since we moved in almost a year ago. The big hold-up has been waiting for warm enough weather to paint some furniture. Fingers crossed that it will finally happen this weekend.

But I do have a little sneak-peak project to share with you today. I painted a pillow!

It was so quick and easy. I just printed out the symbol I wanted, cut it out, and traced it onto a white pillow cover using a pencil. Then I used navy blue acrylic craft paint (the kind that comes in the little bottles from craft stores) and filled in the lines. Like this:

The last step was to heat set the paint so that it won't come off when I wash it. (Because in a house with kids, I guarantee this white pillow will need a washing very soon). To heat set, I just put a clean cloth over the dry paint and ironed it without steam for around 30 seconds, moving the iron the whole time. That's it! The whole project took me less than an hour, didn't cost me a cent, and I love how it adds a graphic punch to room.

Custom Car Seat Cover DIY

This week I tackled a sewing project that truly scared me. A kind friend who is done having kids gave me her new-ish infant car seat. I am so glad I didn't have to buy one, but the old one was a little boyish:

And a little boring. And I just couldn't get the idea of recovering it out of my crazy pregnant brain. I remembered how you carry these car seats everywhere for the first six months or so. I tried to talk myself out of it. I was worried that I would get it all apart and not be able to put it back together, at least without many hormonal tears of frustration. I waffled back and forth for about a week.

But obviously I did it, because I'm posting about it. Ha ha. Here's how it turned out:

*SQUEAL*!! I did it! It worked! And it's so cute and cheerful and girly! Much better than tan plaid. Totally worth doing, and no tears were shed! I won't lie and say it was an easy project. It took many hours (we're talking 15+). My sewing skills were challenged and I learned a ton. I am even thinking about recovering the baby swing now.

If you are thinking about recovering a car seat, I would say go for it... as long as you are a fearless seamstress. This is not a project for beginners, just because there are so many complicated pieces and sewing techniques involved.

Reading Ashley's tutorial at Make It and Love It helped me get the main idea of what I needed to do. But there is no way to make a one-size-fits-all tutorial, because you have to use your old car seat cover as the pattern.

So you start by taking pictures and labeling everything. Can I just say how important this is? You think you will remember how things go back together, but you won't. You will need to look back at your pictures and labels. I wrote with a Sharpie right on the old car seat: 

Be sure to get photos of all the tricky little areas where things come together or there are special sewing difficulties. Take pictures of how the buckles go back on too. Take more pictures than you think you could possibly need, from every angle!

Then you pick the entire thing apart. This part took forever and left me and my whole room covered in threads. I watched TV to help ease the monotony.

Then you use each of the pieces as a pattern to cut out new fabric. I ended up using about three yards total...a little less than two yards for the front and a little more than a yard for the back. Make sure to mark where things line up, where elastic bands are sewn on, which seams are serged, etc.

After you have all your pieces cut out, it's time to sew! I reused the batting from the original car seat. My car seat had tan fabric around the outside and plaid in the center. Originally I thought I would make it easier on myself and just make the whole thing out of the same fabric, skipping the maroon binding and second fabric. Then I learned a lesson that is worth sharing...you can't change things. They sewed it together a certain way because it had to be that way. In my case, that maroon binding around the center section holds a second layer of batting in place. Trust the professionals who put the thing together in the first place and copy everything they do.

That stinkin' center panel was the hardest thing to sew. This is how I had to sew the fabric together:

It seemed so backwards, but I just kept looking at the original and tried to get mine to look the same. And in the end, my pink binding didn't line up perfectly, but at that point I wasn't about to undo seams to fix it.

With two layers of batting plus two or more layers of fabric in some areas, I used my walking foot to help me sew things together. It helped me stuff all that bulk through my machine.

Did it turn out perfectly? No. There are little things that are puckery or crooked or whatever, but nothing too noticeable. And I may have used a teensy bit of hot glue in a couple places where sewing wasn't working out.

 I still think it's pretty dang cute.

And it sure is an improvement! And I have just enough fabric left over to make one of those car seat canopy tent things. But I may not want to use it. It would cover up all my hard work!

Fabric and Felt Book Round Up

I love making fabric and felt books, especially as gifts to my favorite people. They are just so stinkin' fun! Be warned, they are time consuming, but that's part of what makes them such a special gift to give. Here's a round-up of the books I've made in the past. Just click on the captions to see all the pages in each book.

Boyish Felt Name Book

Girly Felt Name Book

Another Felt Name Book

Felt Book of Favorites

Fabric Name Book

Fabric Quiet Book

Dexter's Quiet Book

Crafty Baby Gifts To Make

Today I thought I'd share a round up of some of my favorite things to give as baby shower gifts. I love babies and baby showers and I love making something special and personalized for my friends when they have new babies.

Burp Cloth Bouquet

A burp cloth bouquet is a useful gift as well as a decoration. And a new mom can never have too many burp cloths.

Baby Beanie with Interchangeable Flowers

Want to try your hand at crochet? This pattern whips up pretty quickly and can be done by beginners. And you can make a bunch of different flowers to go with it so they can match different outfits.

Fabric Baby Shoes

Although these fabric shoes are pretty girly, you could easily make sporty boyish ones using the same pattern. Baby shoes are a weakness...there's something irresistible about them!

Baby Headband with Interchangeable Bows

I guess I really do love interchangeable things...all the hair bows were so fun to make.

Blankets are a staple gift at baby showers for me. Below are three different types, arranged in order from quickest to more time-consuming. They are all easy enough for a beginner to make.

Easy Flannel Blanket

Self-Bound Flannel Blanket

Rag Quilt

Last but not least, my all-time favorite thing to make for baby showers is personalized fabric or felt books:

Felt Name Book

Yeah, I am kind of obsessed. In fact, I love making them so much that I think they need their own post. Check out the fabric/felt book round up HERE.

What are your favorite gifts to make for baby showers?

Making A Rag Quilt (A Great Baby Gift)

Is it just me or is this baby season? Maybe because I'm pregnant, I just notice it more, but it seems like so many people are having babies right now! I've had this song from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers running through my mind all morning:

All the hen-folk are hatchin'

While their men-folk are scratchin'
To ensure the survival of each brand new arrival.
Each nest is twitterin',
They're all baby-sitterin',
Spring, Spring, Spring!

Love that show. Anyway, back on topic...

When I was pregnant with my first, my sister-in-law made me a rag quilt. It was one of my favorite blankets to use. It was just the right size and weight to throw in the car seat or diaper bag or stroller. I loved that blanket! So I made one for a friend who is due just a few weeks after me.

Rag quilts are really easy to make. They are a great beginner project because they are very forgiving and there's no batting or binding to worry about. There are several good tutorials out there (like this one), so I don't feel the need to post a detailed one, but here are a couple of things I've learned:

1. Nothing ruins a  rag quilt faster than accidentally snipping past where the seam is. You will end up with a hole in your blanket! Boo! So be very, very careful with those scissors.

2. Wash the blanket after snipping all the edges so that it frays up nicely. But be prepared to clean out your washer and dryer...they will be full of little threads! If you wash it with anything else, your laundry will also be covered in those threads, so make sure to wash it all by itself!

3. Don't underestimate the amount of time it will take to make all those little snips in the edges of the blanket. It takes forever and makes your hand sore! But it's worth making the snips close together. It makes the finished fraying look much cuter. I would suggest breaking this job up over a few episodes of your favorite TV show.

4. After you've washed and dried the blanket, you will have quite a bit of work left to do trimming loose threads and removing all the fuzz balls. I trimmed all the threads with scissors and then had my kids help me pick off the fuzz.

5. You can use any fabric you like, but I prefer flannel. It makes the softest blanket with the fluffiest rag edges. Joann's frequently puts their flannel on sale, so you should be able to get it for a good price.

6. This is true with any quilt, but cutting is where the battle is lost or won. Use a rotary cutter and cutting mat to cut your squares if you want them to be precise and line up nicely.

The back.

Luscious Lemon Bars

To me, there's no flavor that screams spring like lemon. I just love this recipe for lemon bars. The crust is flaky and buttery. The lemon filling is the perfect balance of sweet and tart. They are ooey-gooey and downright delicious!

Luscious Lemon Bars
Crust:
1 cup melted butter
dash salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour

Filling:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
4 beaten eggs
8 tablespoons lemon juice
2 1/4 tablespoons cornstarch

Gently mix the crust ingredients together and press into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Combine filling ingredients, adding cornstarch after all else is mixed. Pour on crust and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until filling is set. Place on a cooling rack and run a sharp knife or metal spatula along edges (they are prone to being very sticky where the filling cooks. If your knife is sticking, spray it with non-stick cooking spray). Let cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Cut into squares and serve.

Pinterest Tested: Brown Sugar Hair Straightener

Welcome to Pinterest Tested! Ever wonder if that miracle cleaner is really miraculous? Or what about that homemade facial cleanser or delicious-looking recipe? This is the place to find out! I am testing Pins that catch my eye to see if they really live up to the claims made on Pinterest. It's like the Mythbusters of Domesticity! 

Have you seen this Pin?

The caption claims that if you mix 2 tablespoons of brown sugar with a cup of water and spray it into damp hair, it will air dry straight. This is one of those Pins that sounded so wacky, I had to give it a try. Straight hair without heat damage? As a curly haired girl, that would be a dream come true!

So I gave it a whirl. Today was a work-around-the-house Saturday, so I knew it would be the perfect day to try it out. I imagined that I would have a frizzy, sticky, sugary mess to deal with, so I wanted to be at home to rewash my hair when things went south.

I washed and towel dried my hair, then sprayed in the brown sugar water. I brushed it, then left it alone to air dry.

I have to say, I am completely surprised by the results:

My hair is NOT straight. At all. But it's not frizzy or sticky either. It's super stiff and crunchy, like I went overboard on gel and hairspray. Weird! Not what I expected. I guess you just never know how something will work until you try it.

At least I didn't have to re-wash my hair. Of course, with all that sugar, I may be a magnet for bees. Or ants. Eek!

But one word of warning...my bathroom vanity and floor were covered in sugar-water overspray and got SO sticky! It sounded like I had suction cups on my sneakers when I walked in. I had to wash every surface down to remove all the stickiness.

Here's just a little comparison, in case you have forgotten how UNLIKE the original Pin my hair turned out...

Obviously this test is a bomb. But if it's ever the Zombie Apocolypse and I run out of hair gel, I guess I found an alternative.

Update the next day: Ew! My hair feels disgusting! Get this brown sugar off me!