DIY: Small Wetbags

This is an easy peasy craft, and, with coupons, is SUPER cheap compared to buying small wetbags for your diaper bag. You can use them for soiled diapers or clothes. You can even take them to the beach/pool and throw the wet bathing suit in it so you don't get your diaper bag wet (and it is a ton cuter than using grocery bags!). In total, I spent $20 for the material to make three wetbags and I bought myself a new rotary cutter (I already had thread so I didn't need to purchase that, but you can use any color bc no thread shows on the finished product anyways). The wetbags I was looking at were about $10 a piece and the prices can go up to about $20 depending on brands.

My wetbags are about 12x10-10.5in (width by height.. right? lol)

Supplies:
PUL fabric
Regular cotton fabric
Zipper
Thread, pins, scissors, the usual

I was lazy and bought the 3-pack of cute prints of PUL by babyville at Jo-ann's. I am fairly certain you can buy PUL cheaper by the yard or possibly online, but I was lazy and a few cents or dollars was worth the convenience of having pre-cut PUL. It is 21x24in.

Most basic cotton fabric for quilting or whatever comes b/w 42-45in in width so I got 1/2 yd of one fabric and then a fat quarter that is 18x22in so I had enough cotton fabric to make three bags since I had three pieces of PUL.

The babyville packaging says to iron the PUL on the non-shiny side of the PUL on the cotton setting with steam evenly before using.

Step one: Cut the PUL and the cotton to be 21in by the length of the entire zipper fabric (so not the size of the metal zipper part (which mine is a 12in zipper), but from end to end of the whole piece (it adds about an inch and a half to the total width, but I didn't measure. I just marked the end of the zipper piece and cut)

The white fabric in this tutorial is the PUL fabric and the zebra is the cotton

Step two: Place the cotton fabric on top of the PUL so it is touching the non-shiny side of the PUL. You want the right side of the fabric up and the shiny side of the PUL on the opposite side (so when we fold it in half, the shiny side is the inside of the bag and the cotton fabric is showing the pretty side)
Step three: Once you get it lined up pretty well, pin the zipper right side down (take note of the picture so you can see what I mean)

Notice how the top of the zipper is facing the right side of the cotton fabric. This is so the rough edges of the fabric don't show

Step four: Sew this side of the zipper on after pinning

Step five: Next, you are going to pull the cotton and PUL straight and pin down each side (this is so the fabrics don't shift when we fold it over. You don't HAVE to do this step, but it should make your life easier.

Step six: Fold the fabrics up so that the cotton is on the inside and the PUL shiny side is facing out. Pin the zipper the same way you pinned it the first time.

Step seven: Sew what you just pinned. Make sure you are only sewing one side of the zipper, cotton and PUL and not accidentally sewing all 6 layers together.

Unzip the zipper a bit to make things easier when we go to turn the bag right side out.

Step eight: Line up the top fabrics where the zipper is sewn on and pin down the edges. Try to pin VERY close to the edge bc you don't want holes in your bag (we are going to sew on the inside of the pins so that the pin holes won't be in the bag)

Step nine: Sew

Step ten: Trim the excess seams (not too close to the seam bc you don't want to cut the thread or get rips/holes) and turn the bag right-side out. You now have a cute wetbag!

If you get patterned PUL and cheap solid cotton fabric, you can see the pattern through and I think it is pretty cute!

Nursery furniture is all here!

I have done a few crafts (changing pad cover and fitted crib sheet) that I took pictures for, but I'm not feeling like blogging much today. I just wanted to show off Jill's nursery furniture.

This was my original inspiration. I ended up changing my mind on the dresser and crib set and I'm really pleased with the new ones! The sheets I ordered custom on Etsy fell through, so the fabrics are slightly different (and I like them better bc they're more feminine) and I saved a bunch of money doing them myself. I actually spent less on the fabric for two sheets and two changing pad covers than I did on just the two sheets I originally ordered (almost $20!). I still haven't put up any prints and I'm going to re-do the mobile a bit (I will definitely post updated pics).

I am LOVING the sorting hat! These are the two changing pad covers I made (the dresser is not black, but the lighting in the nursery sucks). I think I will put Jill's name letters over the dresser with a framed print on both sides and then a vinyl HP quote over the crib. I plan to make maroon curtains when we move (I don't want to fit curtains to the windows here and them not work out at our new place and plus, I won't know how many windows she'll have).

I'm not crazy about how the pillow turned out. I wish I made the squares bigger and they didn't unravel as much as the quilt did in the wash

My first quilt! It's pretty small 36x36

 Here is Optimus trying out the crib after I put it together!

The rocker recliner is my favorite! It rocks and reclines really easily and it isn't one of the huge over-stuffed ones that would be difficult to get out of with a baby in my arms. Later, we can move it to another room easily (probably Keith's man-cave or our bedroom bc we have dark furniture in there too)

A better picture that shows the crib skirt. I hope it will stand out more once we move to a house without these tacky carpets.

 Also, unrelated to the nursery, here are my last 4 diapers that I have bought/plan to buy (until Jill gets here and we figure out what does and doesn't work for us). I really need some covers to go over the fitteds and, if we like prefolds, I will get some larger sizes in those later. I ordered 20 Charcoal and Microfiber Blend inserts and they are boiling now. I still need to strip my used diapers and I have two new BGs that I must have looked over when doing my huge prep a few weeks back. They just need to go through one wash bc they're new so I will throw them in with any clothes/blankets that Jill may get at my shower next weekend!

Little Fancy Pants fitted, Goodmama fitted, random WAHM pocket, LFP fitted

DIY: Baby Bandana Bib

Okay! This is EASY PEASY and you can get quite a few of these done in a really short amount of time! I plan on making a bunch more (but I don't have big enough scraps of fabric at the moment)

Supplies:
Fabric - you can either use two coordinating colors/patterns so the bib is reversible, or just cut out two pieces of the same fabric. Size depends on how big you want these bibs.
Paper & Pen
Scissors
Sewing Machine
Thread
Velcro or Buttons or Snaps (however you want to attach the ends to secure around baby's neck)

Step one: Draw out a pattern similar in shape to a right angled triangle with one curved side like this pattern (this pattern makes a pretty small bandana so that is why I suggest making one yourself)
Step two: Iron your fabric in half (do yourself a favor and fold the pretty side of the fabric in- so NOT like my picture.. I didn't catch on to that until my second piece)

Step three: Place your pattern with the straight edge to the fold of your fabric and trace. I also traced a little bit out (maybe 1/4-1/2in out) from the pattern so I have a visual of what line I'm going to sew (the inside line that is the size of the pattern) and what line I'm going to cut (the outside line)

Step four: Cut out your fabric. You are going to want two layers of fabric for one bandana
Step five: Iron out that crease (not particularly important, but it makes it nice and pretty)
Step six: Pin two pieces of fabric inside out

Step seven: SEW! Make sure you leave yourself a decent sized hole so you can turn the fabric right side out later

Step eight: Trim the extra fabric around the stitch. Leave some length by the hole so your seams are hidden later on (like in the picture below)

Step nine: Turn right side out and iron flat. Tuck your long fabric where the hole is in side when ironing
Step ten: Sew a straight stitch (or zig zag if you like that look better) fairly close to the edge of the fabric

Step eleven: Attach velcro or buttons to the round corners of the bandana and pin on baby! (Or stuffed animals if you don't have a baby quite yet!)

DIY: Boppy Cover

Alright.. you guys know I am horrible at explaining things.. so if someone stumbles across this and actually uses my tutorial, I get my comments to my email and I can respond and clarify if necessary. This thing gave me such a headache, but I think I could reproduce it in a quarter of the time if I made another :P

Supplies:
Fabric washed, dried, and ironed (ALWAYS!) (you have a few options here.. I didn't measure the pattern out before buying fabric. I figured 1/2 a yard of two different kinds of fabric would work. WRONG! The pattern is roughly 20in tall and 1/2 a yard is 18in (plus, I bought fleece bc it's super soft and it shrinks a good deal). I made it work with 1/2 yard of each - which I will show you in pics - but you need slightly over that)
24in Zipper
Pins
Scissors
Thread
Sewing Machine
Seam Ripper
Patience (if this is your first attempt at a zipper)
Pattern

Step one: You need to print the pattern. You can go ahead and ignore the weird part about top zipper and bottom zipper portions (I didn't so I will have more pieces than you will, but I will explain later on). You only want pieces 1-6 ONCE and you do not need the pieces for 1&2 that have arrows on them.
Step two: Connect all of the pieces so that there is no gray area showing (like the picture below). You do NOT need to bother putting together the small piece and the piece with the flat top for this tutorial. I went about the zipper part a little differently.

Now.. pretend you don't see the gray area on here.. I didn't trim it off bc I got lazy

Step three: Trace the patterns onto your fabric. If you are not making a Boppy cover that is half and half like I did (because of the fabric mishap-picture below), then fold your fabric in half and trace the piece of the pattern so that, when you unfold your cut fabric, you will have one piece of fabric the shape of the Boppy pillow or double the length of the pattern. I had to trace my pattern 4 times (twice on each different fabric) to make it work.

 

Step four: Cut out the pieces! (For pattern of above Boppy- cut about a half inch to an inch further out on the straight edges where the pattern says "cut at the fold")

Step five (skip if you have two large pieces of fabric already cut out - this is only to connect the 4 pieces of fabric to make 2):  Pin your two different fabrics for each side together with the good sides facing in towards each other. You want the actual pattern lines you traced to match up. Sew together on the lines of the actual pattern so when you pull the fabric pieces apart, you have two halves to the Boppy pillow (one front and one back - each with both fabrics) and then you can flatten down the seams with your iron

 

Step six: Measure along the top where the zipper will start and finish and mark. Pin together the two pieces of fabric inside out from start to finish of where you marked and then sew with a loose/long plain old stitch about 1/2in from the edge (JUST THE PIECE OF THE FABRIC WHERE THE ZIPPER WILL GO)

Step seven: Iron the seams back like in the picture below. Since the shape is round, it is easier to do one side at a time and go slowly since it won't iron as flat and pretty as something that is straight

Don't judge.. this is my TV tray since for some reason we do not own an ironing board (I steam my clothes so I don't go wrinkly)

Step eight: Pin the zipper face down to the seams you just ironed so that the middle piece of the zipper lines up with the part where the fabric splits

 

 

Step nine: Sew! I chose to pin one side and then sew the zipper on with a strong stitch and then pin the other side and sew the other side

 

Step ten: Pull your two pieces of fabric apart and use your seam ripper to rip open that loose stitch you sewed earlier that lines up with the middle of the zipper

Step eleven: Put your fabric back together and pin all the way around with the good sides of the fabric facing each other (so inside out again- you just want to make sure you open those seams by the zipper so you can easily turn your fabric right side out again when we're done. I also opened my zipper a little so it'd be easier). Sew with a decently strong stitch with about 1/4 of an inch seam allowance. Trim the excess fabric around the stitch. Then turn the fabric right side out and stuff your pillow into it!

DIY: Burp Cloth Embellishing

Alright, this one was super easy and super frustrating. I would definitely use different materials if I were making these as gifts.

Supplies:
I bought the Gerber cloth diapers 10-pack. Everyone always tells me they're the best for cheap spit up rags
Ribbon
Thread
Scissors
Pins
Sewing Machine


Steps:
Wash and dry the diapers. They will quilt up after the first wash and dry, so I'm assuming it'd distort the ribbon if you waited until after it was sewn together

 

Cut your ribbon to just a tad longer than the diaper long-ways. You want two strips of coordinating ribbon for each diaper

 Pin the ribbon. I chose to try and cover the seams that are in the diaper.

 Sew each edge of the ribbon down.

 Viola!

 Since the diapers quilt up and get all stretchy, it was a headache trying to sew straight lines while attaching the ribbons. If I used a less stretchy fabric (or was maybe a better sewer), they would have turned out a lot prettier. These were cheap and quick though! I'm sure Jill won't mind when I'm cleaning up her throw up and milk mouth with them!

Baby Gear

Okay. Baby gear is overwhelming. Don't let anyone tell you that it isn't. I mean they write books about it (and they aren't short books either..)! If you want to be sane, buy the Baby Bargains book. I thought to myself, "why on earth would I SPEND MONEY on a book to save me money?!" Trust me, just do it. They cover pretty much everything. They tell you what is and isn't okay to buy used. They rate brands for certain items and give you their best picks for each baby gear category. There are one million different car seats/strollers/cribs/bottles/clothes/etc in all price ranges and it is really hard to narrow it all down.

My method for making a registry was to first read the BB book. I then took their recommendations and went online to read reviews (and instead of reading reviews for 30 car seats, I picked out the top rated ones from BB). Then, I slowly added things to it in the beginning of my pregnancy, but kept my registry private and unsearchable (I wasn't ready to let anyone buy things yet and I still had a very rough registry). Sometime between my elective u/s, when we found out Jill had a vagine, and my anatomy scan, I opened up the registry to the public and I dragged Keith to BabysRUs and let him scan things. I wanted to see a lot of the gear in person. Then, I went home and deleted all of the frivolous things Keith insisted on scanning :P (seriously.. a baby doesn't need a $60 jet tub! and, no, I am not kidding.. Keith scanned it and insisted she have one). I looked for the same or similar things on Amazon and added them to that registry. I chose to do two places because I knew some people would want to shop in the store (BRU.. even though BRU sucks and their prices are jacked up) and I knew Amazon had more of a selection and better prices (plus, I don't have to worry about shit being unavailable in the store). Now, I am constantly going on my registries and changing things.

I am in a few pregnancy groups so I hear different opinions on what is "necessary," "really nice to have," "a life-saver," "a waste," etc from experienced moms. That's why I feel like my registry is ever changing. It scares me that one day we'll actually have to make real decisions on what Jillian needs lol.

Something that makes me so happy is saving money. I love to shop, but I hate to pay full-price for things. I have been stalking my local resale facebook groups and craigslist for baby gear lately. I am SO excited about my finds. I scored a swing for $25 (retail for $80-120), a bouncer for $10 (I can't find the same bouncer.. but they range from $25-60), a jogging stroller for $50 (retail for $120-180), an activity mat for $7 (retails for $35), a breast pump for $40 (retails for $130-220), and a few toys (I paid $3.50 for two and I know one of them is a $15 toy).

My second-hand finds (breast pump not pictured.. I'm sure no one wants to see that :P)

 So, my favorite score so far is actually the breast pump. I got the Ameda Purely Yours. It gets rave reviews like the Medela Pump In Style Advance, but is about 50-75 bucks cheaper. The Medela comes in a handy little travel case and is supposedly more portable. I had the Medela on my registry. The problem with the Medela is that some of the milk apparently gets pumped back into the machine part (from what I've read) and it cannot be cleaned out. This pump is NOT shareable. Some people do, but it really skeeves me out even thinking about old milk being mixed in with my milk and then feeding it to Jillian.. especially a stranger's milk. The Ameda is a closed system, which means the milk does not back up into the pump parts. You can boil to sterilize or buy new tubing and flanges and whatever else for it and it is like using your own pump! Hell! I'll pay $40 for a used pump and then $20 for new parts over paying $250 for a brand new one that I can't re-sell any day! I am SO glad I came across this deal. The lady even had the accessory kit for it.

My dad has bought a few things off of the registry for my Christmas present this year! I was SO excited to get some things in for Jill (this was before my finds mentioned above). He got us a new changing pad (I have one that was gifted to me, but it is pretty old and now we can have one for her room and one for the floor downstairs), the pack n play (we went with the basic one because I didn't think the fancy attachments were worth how much more they cost (plus they have low weight limits)), a small diaper pail, a pail liner, a swaddle blanket/sack, a crib sheet, a water-proof mattress pad, and a lovelace freetime! I finally have a lovelace in OS!

I FINALLY got some new fluff mail today.. those Glow Bugs that I ordered, ohhh..., two months ago! I think I ordered them before Oct 5th (I wanna say that's when the order closed). I seriously have some great things to say about doing co-ops! Essentially, co-ops are huge groups on facebook that do group buys from loads of companies for wholesale (or better) prices. Usually, when you order HUGE amounts of items, companies will give you a crazy discount. The co-ops usually charge a fee per order depending on how many items (usually 2-3 bucks) and then you pay the shipping fees. The co-op fee is for the host (the lady that places the order). Everything is shipped from the company to her and then she takes her time to sort and pack and ship everything to the mamas that ordered the goodies! Usually the prices are well worth the co-op and shipping fees.

Glow bugs in kitten, retro, and dahlias

I also picked up that sweet basket (^) today to put a mini stash of Jillian's diapers and wipes for changes downstairs (because her main stash will be in her bedroom and I am NOT climbing the stairs every time she pees her pants)

Here's Jill's closet now. You can't even see all of the clothes shoved in there!

Jill's closet is stuffed as much as I can stuff it! Her baskets up top have pants, towels/washcloths/bath toys, swaddle blankets, hats/headbands (there are 4 total and I got the set WITH the laundry basket at walmart for 25-30 bucks). Then there are two scentsy buddies. On the left is her laundry basket, diaper pail, the old changing pad, a gifted activity mat, the pack n play, and that tub with plain onesies, shirts, shoes, books, sheets, mattress pads, blankets, the crib skirt, and other misc things. The right has her play gym, the pink basket full of newborn diapers, and the huge tub full of OS diapers, prefolds (NB size), and wipes. Next to that is her other changing pad (you can't see it in the picture).

I promise I am ALMOST done boring you! Keith gave me my Christmas present yesterday. I asked him for a sewing kit to put my threads and scissors in. I have been packing away my sewing machine in the box and then putting all of my random things like fabric scraps and needles in plastic grocery bags.. very fancy! So he went and got me the most awesome sewing table EVER! It has cabinet storage and folds up to look like a regular cabinet. I have pictures (DUH!) to show you what I mean!

Yeah, he wins for awesome/thoughtful gift of the year! I am so in love with it! I don't have a TON of sewing stuff yet, so I have room for all of my crafting stuff (yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, scrapbook paper, etc.) I absolutely love it!

I highly doubt he reads my blog, so I'll gush.. I got him sweet Harley-Davidson motorcycle boots! He really needs some riding boots and these are awesome and, from what I've read, comfortable!

Today, I went to my dear friend's house to hang out with her and her mom. I had so much fun and it was so relaxing to get out of the house, but still just hang around on the couch watching tv with someone other than my dog. She has offered to host my baby shower and I couldn't be more excited! It is incredibly sweet of her and I'm SO thankful! It will be January 26th, if I leave anything left on my registry :P

I will leave you with a bump picture, and a promise that hopefully early next week or this weekend I will do at least one DIY post. I am still debating on what.. I'm thinking of heading to Jo Ann's tomorrow (I have a few coupons) and getting fabric for a case for my pregnancy pillow and/or burp cloths. I also plan to make some sweet bandana-shaped bibs (so freaking cute) in the near future!

Me looking a hot mess today at 27w5d. I still feel teeny-tiny.