Snippets from Peanut's room

When Peanut was born, we were living in a much smaller home and so she never had a nursery. We tucked a cradle alongside our bed and she probably slept in it a grand total of 2 times during the year she was in our room. When we moved into our new house last March, I was so excited to be able to decorate her new room. On a limited budget, we were able to create a room that we love! I'll admit that some of the items were a splurge, but mostly everything in her room is either handmade, re-made or was picked up from a discount store. It took us awhile to get there, but I'm so happy with how it turned out!

Wanna take a tour? I got a little snap-happy with my new camera lens...

This corner is my favorite part of her room. It's a perfect reading spot! The bookshelf is a $15 thrift store find with just a couple coats of paint. I crocheted the rag rug using this tutorial. I'd like to add a few more rounds eventually to make it bigger, but for now, it works!

I can't take credit for the cherry blossom tree! My talented sister Kelly painted it for her. I'm hoping it's something that she and the room will be able to grow with.

I ordered her crib set long before we moved into the new house from a sweet lady from Ebay who custom made the set with some material that I fell in love with. I also can not take credit for the curtains - those were courtesy of my mother-in-law, who is a very talented seamstress.

Using some old frames I had around the house and a can of white spray paint, her little photo wall came together. I need to update it already, she grows too fast, and I take too many pictures!

I picked up a dozen or so fat quarters from the fabric shop and glued them into some embroidery hoops. I can't take credit for the idea, I've seen it in dozens of places around the web!

Her name banner is one of the simplest projects I did for her room. Just a little fabric, glue, felt and ribbon and there you go!

If you want to see some truly inspired nurseries and children's rooms, visit Spearmint Baby. Even though Peanut's room is basically finished, I still visit this site just to ooooh and ahhhh over all the pretty things!

Now that she is just a couple weeks away from her 2nd birthday, we're starting to think about the transition from crib to toddler bed. Ideally, I'd like to wait until she old enough that we can just move her into a twin bed. I've decided my next big sewing project will be a quilt for her big girl bed! I've picked out the pattern, now I just need to find the perfect fabric. I've got my eye on this line, but I'm not sure it's perfect fit for her room. Obviously, I'm trying to coordinate with her tree mural. If you're a fabric freak like me, I'd love some suggestions!

Disappearing act

I know, I know! It's ridiculous, really. I've been neglecting my poor little blog during the crazy holiday season. Awhile back, I blogged about my plans for a homemade Christmas. As it turns out, you need to start working on your homemade Christmas in January if you want to be finished in time for Christmas.

Needless to say, I'm offering that up as my excuse for where I've been for the last month.

My little shop ended up with quite a few Christmas orders (hooray!), so I wasn't able to make half of what I was planning, but here are a few things that did make it under the tree in time for Christmas:

In addition to crocheting into the wee hours for much of December, we've been spending lots of quality time with our family and making many memories!

Now that the deadline of the 25th is behind me, you'll be seeing much more of my ramblings on here! I have oodles of pictures and lots of things I want to share!

Hope you and yours had a beautiful Christmas filled with wonderful memories and happy times.

A Homemade Christmas

Is homemade one word or two? I'm too lazy to go look it up.

Anyway, as you can guess from the title of my post, I'm working on a slew of homemade presents for Christmas this year. My "favorites" are overflowing with links to great tutorials for fabulous DIY stuff. Here are a few of my favorite things:

A beaded fabric flower necklace
How gorgeous is that?


Fabric snack bags
These would be adorable in a little set with coordinating fabrics!


Flower purse
I'm thinking of a few little ones on my Christmas list who would love this little bag!

Patchwork kitchen mat


Camera strap cover

There are quite a few tutorials for making these, they are so easy!


Fabric Flower Brooch
This is screaming "Gramma!" to me!



My blue jeans shawl
This one is already in progress. I'm not sure who it's for yet...


Crochet Giraffe
How cute is that? I'm thinking about a little collection of crocheted animals for Peanut's stocking.

And of course, lots of people on my list are getting gifts straight out of my Etsy shop. I just perfected a new mitten pattern and they make such cute sets! This set went out in the mail yesterday:


I'd love to hear your ideas for a DIY Christmas! I have over 30 people on my list, so I'd love some new suggestions and patterns! Please share!

Headbands and horses

Note: I wrote this like two weeks ago and I just now realized I never posted it. *sigh* And you should just see the headbands I've been making lately. Ridiculously huge flowers. Makes this one look tiny. Really.

Oh, and I promise this is not turning into a craft blog. Promise.
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I've been a little obsessed with making little crocheted headbands for the Peanut girl lately. She still doesn't have enough hair to put a clip in, but she's in a phase right now where she loves "pitty" headbands and hats, so I'm taking full advantage.

Last week I she wore one of her new headbands when we went to our church rodeo where Justin volunteers each week. She obliged me by keeping it on her head the entire evening.

Peanut has absolutely delighted her daddy by showing signs of being a horse lover just like him.



*Sigh* I just love to watch my little girl exploring the world.

I am so blessed.

Cloth diapers: All about wool

For the first time ever, I'm participating in a blog carnival. A cloth diaper blog carnival. Yup, I'm talking about diapers again. This carnival is being hosted by Kim from Dirty Diaper Laundry and some of my favorite cloth diapering moms are participating. So you should totally check out their posts - they'll be listed at the end of this post.

17 months ago, when I first started cloth diapering, I had a very basic knowledge of diapers. I knew just enough to get by. It would be impossible for me to try to list everything I've learned in the past year and 5 months, so I'm just going to talk about one particular topic that I'm still learning about.

Most people (including me) have never given a thought to what mothers used to cover their babies diapers before in the invention of plastic covers. Those pioneer woman had to have a way to control wet nappies, right? The solution? Wool.

Wool is extremely absorbent. It can hold a ton (well, not really a ton, but you know) of liquid. Additionally, wool contains a natural lanolin, which makes it fairly waterproof. For use as a diaper cover, wool can be lanolized to be practically bulletproof to leaks.

Because it's a natural fiber, it's extremely breathable which means it's actually cooler for your baby than a plastic cover. To sweeten the deal even more, get this: You don't have to wash a wool cover after each use.

What? Won't it get all stinky and nasty? Isn't that unsanitary?

Actually, the lanolin that natural exists in wool is also anti-bacterial. No bacteria means - no smell. You will need to hand wash your wool occasionally, and obviously if your sweet child gets some not-so-sweet poo on them, but otherwise they only need a few hours to air out between uses.

After learning all this, I decided I wanted to give wool a try. I'm a decent crocheter, so I worked up a pair of shorts for Peanut to wear over her fitted diapers.

I used a pair of the Peanut child's regular shorts as a size model and just kind of made up the pattern as I went. I lanolized them using a leftover bottle of Lansinoh (t's 100% lanolin!) by dissolving a pea sized amount in hot, hot water and then added that and the shorts to a sink full of tepid water. Soaked them for about 10 minutes, rolled out the excess moisture with a towel and then laid them flat to dry.

So. Anyway. I pretty much love them. We tried them out this afternoon for the first time and I was so impressed with the absorbancy. Peanut adores them and threw a fit when I took them off her. I'll definitely be picking up some more wool yarn this week. I can't wait to try a pair of longies for the fall and winter months! I'm sad that I didn't discover wool before Peanut was born. She was a February baby and I'm just imagining all the adorable teeny, tiny, newborn pants I could have made her!

Over the weekend, I was talking to my sister about cloth diapering and explaining to her how wool works. She was understandable skeptical - especially when I mentioned the part about not washing in between wearing. I felt the need to defend myself.

Me: "You know, I'm just mildly obessesed with cloth diapering if you compare me to some other cloth diapering moms. They are just crazy about diapers."

Sister: "You mean, crazier than crocheting a pair of wool shorts in the middle of July?"

Well, folks - she may have a point. I may be a wee bit obsessed with my diapers.