DIY Sunday: Piddle Pad

Hello,

If you have a little one in a car seat, chances are you have had this problem. There's a leak in a diaper or an accident, and now you have a dirty wet car seat. You can remove the cover to wash it, but chances are you have to remove buckles and uninstall the car seat. If you're like me, you won't be able to find the manual and will spend a couple of hours Googling how to take off the the cover. 

I found this fantastic idea on Nap Time Crafters. The piddle pad! It's absorbant and you can easily remove it to wash!

Now, I did a couple of changes from the tutorial. I chose to use microfiber on the outside and a cloth diaper on the inside (even more absorbent than terry cloth). It was also super convenient to use a microfiber dish towel. It was the perfect size for the seat. I made my piddle pad a bit bigger to get everything on the sides. The dish towel I picked up was also super cute for a little girl. I used a plain blue vinyl on the back to make it waterproof.

It was an easy project. I didn't turn and top stitch since the micro fiber dish towel was already finished on the sides. So, the project really only took a couple of minutes, and it will save a ton of time!

 

Our super cute cupcake piddle pad!!

  

Our car seat without our piddle pad. 

 

Our car seat with the piddle pad! So easy to remove and use!

DIY Sunday: Barbie Gets Some New Threads

Hello,

This week's project was a super easy, two tv show, Barbie dress. 

On Saturday, I went out thrift shopping with some friends. My daughter got to tag along since my husband had to work. In a thrift store, my daughter found two Barbies. One was apparently "Walk of Shame" Barbie because she was quite disheveled with a broken strap on her dress, missing pants and  crazy sleep hair. The other was an Ariel Barbie, which is right down my daughter's alley since we have watch Little Mermaid none stop on every road trip we've gone on (and that's 5 to 6 hours one way). 

My daughter is only 2 years old, so I didn't know she was to the Barbie stage yet. She wouldn't let them go in the store though, so I figured two thrift store Barbies were a good place to start. I imagine that if this were Toy Story, those two Barbies must be terrified to be in my house, because they have bonked every surface in the house and have been forced into two bathes in less than 24 hours. Oh and "Walk of Shame" Barbie misplaced her clothing, so she was just naked Barbie.

I decided to make a dress for naked Barbie. My own mother made clothes for my Barbies, and I remember how much fun it was to have custom clothes. I decided to hand sew this dress mostly because its something I could do while watching tv with my husband. Of course it makes it a bit messy, but I don't think my daughter will care much. I found this tutorial from Craftiness is Not Optional. It was a great easy pattern. I'll probably make some more out of fabric scraps I have sitting around eventually.

Barbie "Before"

He he...yes I blurred out her lady bits. It just felt wrong not to...

Barbie "After"

New dress!!

Yeah for not being naked anymore!!!!

While I was at it, I gave Ariel my first ever fishtail braid. Get it. She's a mermaid, and I did a fish tail braid. I'm so witty. (Just Kidding....Kinda)

Gone Junkin': Another Visit to Grandma's Garden

Hello,

I knew I had more images from my mother-in-law's garden somewhere! I took the pictures after blooming season, but I still think the stuff looks great. She really knows how to use her junk!!

That's a little bowling ball that's become a bumblebee. It's hard to see in the picture but there's a wire beehive next to it.

A push mower...my mother-in-law calls that her "exercise equipment"

Her new coopalow. 

Cool weathervane!

Great grandpa Al's lunch box.

And an old boot.

Old gate and old chairs with a fun new color.

I love the chair and the dresser!

Headboard and heating register.

My daughter decided to play a bloom like a tuba. :)

Fountain and fun rusty junk.

Love the crock and the scale!

Old register vent gets a new life as a deck table.

Gone Junkin': From One Grandma's Basement to Another's Garden

Hello There!

I just finished up that white desk...I'm hoping to share it soon! I also have paint mixed and ready to go for the old screen door I picked up. This week's post is about finds at two different grandma's houses.

The first set of pictures is from my grandma Joyce. When I went to visit last time, she told me she had a bunch of fabric and patterns from her mother's time (so my great-grandma) to share. I got lots of fun fabric that's now back in style and some amazing patterns. Shopping in grandma's basement is the best!

 

Lots of fun fabric. That mustard color has definitely come back in style!

 

So many fantastic patterns! Love the retro feel. Now, if I could find the motivation to make all these clothes. The patterns themselves are like art. I'm brainstorming ways to display them in my craft room as art.

 

An apron or a retro dress to play crochet in.

 

Cute peacoats too!

My mother-in-law, my daughter's grandmother, has an amazing acreage with great flowers and landscaping. I know my pictures won't do any justice to her flower gardens, and I took pictures after things have gone and bloomed, but she's got some great ideas for using junk in your flower beds.

The corner sign with some fun fireworks for the Fourth of July.

One of the vintage bikes with baskets. 

 

A little old tricycle.

 

Old water pump to water flowers with.

 

Door mounted in the ground with hanging baskets and another vintage bike.

 

Love those baskets!

 

Old wood burning stove is perfect for flowers to fall out of.

 

Bird houses and record flowers.

 

Old scale on a sewing machine/grate table. Last year there were flowers cascading out of the bowl on the scale. This year is succulents. 

 

Old stool and some old milk jugs.

I curse you Wal-Mart Paint!

I hereby solemnly swear off Wal-Mart paint.

And of course I will tell you why.

My previous post had a wonderful desk I had inherited from my in-laws. It had beautiful lines but the wood left much to be desired, and we decided I needed to paint it. 

 

Being pregnant in my first trimester, I didn’t feel good. By “didn’t feel good” I meant I was pretty sure I had picked up a case of the plague in addition to being pregnant. I had morning sickness (no surprise since I had that the first 6 months of my last pregnancy). I could barely stay awake and often fell asleep while doing activities (and usually was quite confused when I woke up and I hadn’t finished folding clothes or my forehead was hitting the “H” key repeatedly). I also had headaches, sinus issues, and only slept a few hours a night. Basically, if you opened “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” I had every single thing they had listed, and usually it was prefaced with “A small number of pregnant woman suffer from _____.” To say the least, DIY projects were put on the back burner and just surviving the first trimester was priority number one. 

Over the past week I’ve slowly started to come out of that first trimester fog, and actually find myself having a bit of energy. Then, I’d walk outside into the 100+ degree weather and that would be all zapped away.

After attempting to paint this desk twice before, but only getting as far as removing the knobs, I decided despite the weather I was going to get it done this week while my daughter was at grandma and grandpas. She is cute but a terrible painter. The paint jobs are terribly uneven. I did a through sanding, and the next day was painting day. 

I have painted a ton of furniture, as you have seen on this blog. Usually I get my paint from Ace Hardware. I feel like you get what you pay for when it comes to paint. I was shopping for other items at Wal-Mart the day before painting the desk and saw they had the new Gidden Paint and Primer in One paint. It was one of Wal-Mart’s pricier paints, so I thought for simple white, it would be just fine. Plus it would save me the trip to the hardware store. 

 I was WRONG. SO WRONG.

(Side note: Wal-Mart used to carry Kitz paint, and I really did love that paint. I had great experiences with it)

On Tuesday, I did one coat. It didn’t cover very well, especially for being a primer too, but I could forgive that. I have found white is a pain for coverage on dark wood…but that’s pretty much common sense.

I let the coat dry all day Wednesday (well…I say that like it was intentional…I decided to spend my 4^th in air conditioning and not painting a desk in 105 degree weather.)

This morning, I wake to the sound of thunder. At first I’m confused because we’re in quite the dry spell and thunder usually meant rain. Then I ran that thought through my head again….thunder means rain…..THE DESK IS OUTSIDE!!!! I jump out of bed, throw on some mildly appropriate clothes for public display and run outside. It hadn’t started raining. So, I quickly move all the desk pieces under the covered deck.

I’m thinking to myself, oh jeez. That was close. I almost had a soaked desk. Then I’d never finish this stupid project. Then I see the paint job on the desk top. It’s kinda bubbled in a few places..I pick at it thinking I would just have to touch up the scuff mark, and the paint starts to peel back. And not peel just a little bit, the ENTIRE top of the desk peels off in one peel. I don’t know if it was the humidity, the paint was just like a latex shell over the desk. It hadn’t adhered to the desk at all! 

The offensive evil paint!

This did not go over well at 6 in the morning. I said a few choice words, I stomped my feet, threw a knob and yelled at the poor dogs who just looked up at me like “I don’t know what those babies do to mom, but she’s certifiably crazy.”

So, now I’ve got half a can of paint that has decided not to do the ONE thing it’s supposed to do…paint a surface. I’ve got a desk that is peeling off white paint like a bad sunburn. And I have to start completely over. And it’s a billion degrees outside and I’m pregnant. Oh and I have to buy more paint.

I hate Wal-Mart paint.