Most of you know that we had to change our home office into the nursery. We have a three bedroom house with no finished basement at this time and it was more inportant to us that the children have their own rooms, than it was for us to have a full on office space. So in making the room, we have taken down our main computer in the house. A few months back, we got rid of Time Warner Cable's cable service. We couldn't justify spending $70+ a month on cable that we hardly watched. All of the main broadcasted channels are free over the airways (and are in HD with an HD antenna). Plus, with television access to Netflix and so many channels airing their shows online (and lets not forget HuLu)... what's the point of having cable?

We have mounted our 32 in flat screen above the fireplace and hidden the cords within the wall. Paul then set us up with Windows Media Center, an interactive database of all the broadcasted AND online shows nicely put together in one program system. The cost to set this program up (a video card for your computer) was about $200. When saving $70 a month on a cable bill - it was paid off in a matter of three months! We can watch the normal main channels (ABC< CBS< FOX etc.) in HD, along with the online shows of HBO and HuLu, listen to the radio, play DVDs and access our Netflix from this program.

Now, since our computer was taken down from the office, Paul went a step further to hook up our PCs out in the living room as well... and we use the 32 inch flat screen tv as our monitor for the computers. We are able to easily switch from his PC to mine with a click of a button. We can also watch the BluRays from the player and allow Jax to use his V-Tech video system from the tv as well. I do prefer to use the laptop (and wirelessly remote to my PC through our network system) to do my blogging/surfing because sitting back on the couch with a wireless keyboard and mouse puts me too far away from the screen to see as clearly as I would like.

Anyways.....

Here are the latest projects I have been working on:

Unfinished wooden stool from JoAnns - 40% off $14.99

Two coats of white spray paint

medium pink acrylic paint

scrapbook paper for the flower

Mod Podge to adhere

Polyurathane/Varnish to finish, protect and add gloss

Three frames that were chipped and on clearance for $1.50 each! Great find from my mother in law. I spray painted them all white then decided to only use 2 of them (will show them finished later).

I had this basket (sans fabric) in the bathroom holding guest towel. I took a large scrap of the left over fabric I used for Jaelyn's window treatments/ bedding to make an elastic lining for the basket. This will go in her room as well. Wait until I show you what I put in the bathroom - it place of the basket!!

Here's my monkey man! Please excuse the complete misuse of White Balance and the horrendous flash effect. Sometimes you just don't have the time to change the settings on the camera when you're literally RUNNING after a toddler to get a photo of his silliness!

Project #6 Baby Booties

I made these booties a couple of nights ago from a pattern in a book I purchased. I was not entirely thrilled with the way they turned out. They are definitely cute, but the shape of the toes are a bit non symmetrical. Kinda looks like two left shoes to me :) Also, because of that... the buttons appear to be on the wrong sides because of the orientation of the shoes. I just am not skilled enough sewing in tight curves with such small pieces. All the projects I have done so far have been made of strictly straight lines, so this was a challenge. I will probably only have the patience to make one more pair. These are 0-3 mos, and the new ones will be 3-9 mos.

I have been making alot of these flowers (like the ones from mobile). I have turned them into hair clips and brooches. You can follow Heather Bailey's tutorial here.

Project #5 - Recycling an old Crib Mobile

I created This Mobile...

From This One!!

That's right - I recycled Jackson's crib mobile!

I took apart Jax's old crib mobile and looked at how the canopy was sewn together. I rolled up my sleeves and designed my own for our baby girl using the hardware from his. Thanks to Paige for tipping me off to Fabric.com. I found some fabric I liked and ordered enough for making curtains, a bed skirt and this mobile. I have some left over too for small projects... all for less than $40! I will be purchasing a couple fitted crib sheets and the breathable bumper from Walmart.com. When all is said and done, I will have spent about $80 on her whole bedding and window treatment set. Compare that to Jackson's store bought $150 set.

HA! Oh how we learn with our second child :)

Here's how I did it! It took some time and patience, but was pretty simple.

First I looked at how the old one was put together.

1 piece of fabric at 11x11

4 folded flap sides at 11x6

4 corner triangle pieces to support the canopy arms

I wanted to add a little flair to the folded flaps on the sides, so I purchased this ruffled ribbon. I cut them to the same length of the side pieces.

Using Crafter's Pick Fabric Glue...

I draw a line down the center of the ribbon and attached it to the unfolded flap piece. I placed it about 2/3 the way down the piece because I will need to fold it before attaching it to my 11x11 square.

I did that to all 4 flaps.

Then, I pinned the 6" sides to give the flap pieces a finished edge and hide the end of the ribbon.

Once the edges were sewn, I then folded the flap leaving more green fabric to one side to allow for a 1/4 seam allowance.

Then I placed it face down on top of the 11x11 square (like sides together).

And pinned on all 4 finished ribbon sewn folded flaps.

Remember that corner piece to support the canopy arms?

Here's how you do it. Cut out 4 squares roughly 3.5"x3.5".

Fold them in half to form a triangle and pin the open sides to the corner of the 11x11 square. This pieces NEEDS to be places on TOP of the flaps.

Here, al the corners are pinned.

SPECIAL NOTE: I forgot this step at this point so I had to improvise later. *Now is also the time you would attach the strings to your dangling mobile pieces. Insert the string between the corner triangles and the 11x11 square.

Here are my dangling flowers. I used Heather Bailey's tutorial to make these adorable fabric ruffled flowers. I made 6 flowers. 5 to dangle (1 being larger for the center) and 1 for the music box.

On the back of the flowers, I used fabric glue to attach a strip of felt. Allow this to dry for a few minutes.

Then I knotted my string through the felt strip.

Then I cut out a circle from the same felt and cut a tiny hole in the center. I wanted to cover the strip of felt with a more pleasing circular patch.

Then I glued this down. See how that looks more like the back of a flower?

Here's my dandling flower. Repeat this for all your flowers (except the 6th one for the music box)

*These are the strings that you will insert between the corner triangles and the square 11x11 piece.

This is your mobile after you have sewn the corners (imagine the dangling pieces are sewn in too)

Turned right side out

The underside:

Now sew in a button hole, or using your zigzag stitch to create the hole for the top of the canopy holder.

I used the zigzag technique, so I had to do was carefully cut the fabric between the sewn lines.

THen I cut a separate long (40 " x 5") piece of fabric to cover the stem of the mobile. I pinned the ends and stitched a finished edge. Then folded the piece like a skinner hotdog and stitched all the way down.

Flipped it right side out and this will ruffle to cover your stem completely.

Covering the music box. I cut out a felt circle the size of my music box face. I hot glued that one to cover the moon completely.

Then I hot glued my last flower to the over the felt circle. That's finished!

Then I attached the all the hardware back together and set up my baby girl's mobile!

Her view.... (alittle dark, sorry!)

Project #4 Bow Holder

No Secret - I am all about the bows for this little girl! I saw a bow holder at Hobby Lobby that was made up of a wooden base in the shape of the bodice from a dress. Tulling was attached to take the shape of the skirt and bold ribbon came over the top where you would clip on your bows. Very cute - wasn't going to spend $30 on it though. SO I made a simpler one and painted it the room colors.

Mod Podge Summer Shoes

Yesterday, I spent naptime creating these fun slip ons...

From this....

An unflattering pair of cheap shoes from Target and a 1/2 yrd of fabric from Hobby Lobby. I followed this tutorial from a blog that I just LOVE!

They are pretty simple to do, a cheap personalized alternative to spending more money on seasonal shoes that may be out of style next year. Plus, you can completely tailor the shoes to a specific outfit!

Down Side?

Unfortunately, there are two. I have to say, it was a bit more tedious than I initially thought it would be. I think they are adorable, but I spent just as much time picking off all the Mod Podge from my fingers than I did on the whole project. Definitely the messiest encounter I have had with the glue yet!

Another thing that isn't the greatest - because the fabric dries hard with a good secure coating of Mod Podge, the inside (where you adhere the flap under the rim) is very rough and will probably hurt my feet within minutes of actually wearing them. So, that means a boat load of bandaids for protecive barrier, or I need to figure out some sort of inner lining I can attach to prevent my feet from rubbed raw on the roughness.

Any thoughts on that?