Are you Pinterested?

Many an hour have been devoured by the Pinterest monster, but I keep going back for more. I now have enough craft, sewing, decor, garden, home remodel, and recipe ideas to keep me busy until I'm about 103....and I've only been poking around for a few weeks. Just think of the dream to do list I can come up with!

If you'd like to follow my boards, click my button. Go ahead, you know you wanna. Ow, ow!

At the moment, I've got boards for general organization, my dream craft room, DIY projects, Charlie's room, favorite baby gear, nom-alicious recipes, dream home, and random fun things. Not all of them have pins yet, but I bet you can guess which ones do!

If you're not on Pinterest yet and would like an invite, please let me know. And I won't even make you follow me to get it. :-P Happy pinning!

Attack of the Teefers!

Its a good thing we don't remember cutting our first set of teeth because from what I can tell, it sucks big time. Charlie, the "if you're going to do it, do it big" kid, is cutting all four of his top teeth at the same time. For real. Right now, the two middle teeth are just white bumps, but the other two are poking out making him look like a little vampire. Of course he won't let me take a picture, but trust me on this. Its adorable.

The problem is the mood swing from beastly screaming banshee to happy giggly cutie pie. You never know what you're gonna get. Teething tablets have been recalled, Baby Orajel now has crazy warnings against using it on babies (yes, I realize the irony), and you should only give Tylenol when things are absolutely unbearable. So at 3am when he's freaking out and only wants to be held? Turn on the coffee pot.

Really though, its not too bad and realistically, it won't last forever. The hardest part of it all is not being able to help. I can hold him, but sometimes he just needs to make it through. Hopefully, these teeth make an appearance soon so we can move on with our lives. Until then? Turn on the coffee pot.

Other times, this is what we get and it melts my heart. :-) Excuse the ridiculous noises I'm making. Whatever floats his boat.

Tutorial Tuesday: No Pattern Tote Bag

What is summer without a cute tote bag to bring to the pool or beach? You can make one yourself to match your favorite beach wear without worrying about reading a pattern. Yes, really. If you can measure, you can make this! Plus, this bag is reversible, so choose cute fabrics for the outside and inside!

For this project, you'll need:

1/2 yard of fabric for outside
1/2 yard of fabric for the lining
Scissors, pins, ruler, needle, and thread

This tutorial is for a bag that ends up being about 11" x 10" x 2", but its very easy to it alter to fit your needs. To start, I cut out two 13" x 12" rectangles from each kind of fabric. But wait, if the bag is 11" x 10", why such big pieces? With the sewing of corners, the bag goes from flat to having a bottom and that takes up space. I'll get to that in a bit.


Next, with the right sides facing, sew around three sides of the outside fabric rectangles leaving the top of the bag open. Do the same with the two inside rectangles except mid way down one side, leave a 4 inch gap along one side for turning inside right later on. Basically, start near the top of the bag, sew a little, leave a gap, then sew around to the other side of the top. You'll fix this later.

Now you have two bags with unfinished tops. Next, you're going to create that fancy bottom I was talking about. Flatten a corner (instead of it laying flat, pinch it together so the seams from the bottom and side are touching) and measure 1 1/2 inches from the corner. Draw a line. Do this for the other three corners.

Just like you can adapt this to increase or decrease the overall bag size by changing the size of the rectangles, you can change the size of the bag's flat bottom by increasing the measurement from the corner tip to the line you draw. At 1 1/2 inches, the line you draw is 2" across, creating a 2" bottom. Get it?

Next, sew across that line on all four corners (left picture), making sure the seams from the side and bottom line up. When you turn the bag inside right, you can marvel at your pretty corner (right picture). 

Now you have two bags with unfinished tops and nice pointy corners. Time to work on the straps. This is another place you can play with the measurements to fit your needs. For this bag, I cut out two 4" x 20" strips from the outside fabric. Fold each strip in half and sew it with a 3/8" seam (left picture) and turn inside right. I use a thick gauge knitting needle to gently push the fabric tube through its self. To finish the straps, iron flat with the seam down the middle and top stitch along both edges.

Now you have two pointy corner bags and two straps. Time to put it all together! Okay, this can get confusing, but hang in there. Turn the outside of the bag so the right side is facing in and the inside of the bag so the right side is facing out. Put the inside part into the outside part. In the end, you want the right sides of the fabric facing each other. The top edges should line up. Insert a strap in between the fabric layers on each side so each strap end sticks up 1/2" past the unfinished edge of the bag. Place them evenly and pin them in place. Also pin the seams so they line up and a few other places to keep everything nice and still. Sew around the top, double backing over each strap end to reinforce it.

Almost done! Pull the inside of the bag out and find the little hold you left on the side seam. Using that hole, turn the bag inside right. Using a blind stitch, close up the hole. If you don't care about the bag being reversible, you could always just machine stitch this closed. You are 95% done!

Now that the bag is turned inside right, push the inside of the bag inside and poke the corners down to fit into the corners of the outside part. Iron around the top to flatten the seam. Using a quick straight stitch, sew around the top to give your bag a more finished look. Ta Da! You have a custom tote bag!

Some variations on this simple project include adding pockets to the inside or outside or adding batting in between and top stitching it to give it a quilted look. Play around with it and make it what you want.

If you have any questions or would like a custom tote bag, please let me know!

Toddle Along Tuesday!

If you're here from Toddle Along Tuesday, welcome! Feel free to poke around and follow along, but if you do, please let me know so I can check out your blog too! :-D

If you're not from TaT, but are a Mommy blogger or interested in reading some fabulous Mommy blogs, follow this button back to Growing Up Geeky and check out this week's list!

This week's featured blog is Loving Moments, be sure to stop there and check out the beautiful new layout and her adorable little ones!

Have a great Tuesday!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Birthday, America!

We took Charlie to his first parade down town. I thought for sure he was going to lose his little mind once the firetrucks started with their sirens, but he did great and loved it all! No fire works for this little guy though, 9:30pm is just asking for a melt down and a screwed up sleep schedule. Maybe next year!

He got a kick out of waving to the cars.

Must...get...in...mouth...

Mmmm....patriotism is yummy.

Cue the Choir of Angels

Another perk to Jeff being home (aside from hanging out with him after a long week apart) is that he can watch the short man and I can get back to sewing!

I will stock my Etsy shop before the end of the summer. I will stock my Etsy shop before the end of the summer. I will stock my Etsy shop before the end of the summer. I will stock my Etsy shop before the end of the summer.

If I keep saying it, it'll magically happen, right?

I've had the darn thing set up for months now, but have been preoccupied with other projects, work, and general laziness and haven't put anything in it. I have all these grand plans to make blankets, bibs, burp cloths, nursing pads and covers, toy tote bags, sun dresses, and bucket hats. What do I have done? Um....yeah. Moving on.

This week, there was a new addition to my little sewing appliance family. I cleaned and organized all of my craft stuff in preparation. Yes, I was nesting for my new machine. Don't judge me. On Wednesday, my new Brother 1034 3/4 Lay-In Thread Serger arrived!! Here is where the choir of angels comes in.

My pretty. ::pets serger:: My other two machines are Singers (my Mom's Fashion Mate 360 and a Quilting Confidence), so this is my first Brother. Why switch brands? To be honest, the reviews for the Singer sergers were appalling. Unless you were dropping like $700, they averaged two stars with complaints of cheap manufacturing. No thank you. This one had great reviews and was said to be very newbie friendly for a reasonable price. Sold. One flick of my Amazon trigger finger and it was here in two days.

I unboxed it, put it on the table, opened the instruction manual....and almost vomited. This thing is so intimidating! There section on threading the machine is like seven pages long. Save me. I haven't attempted playing with it just yet - I'm going to try this new thing where I read the manual first instead of winging it. I'll let you know how that goes.

Before I go lock myself in a room with this novel of a manual, here's a random gem. Why is the person in the illustration wearing a house slipper? What are you trying to say Brother? I bet this manual was made by a man. What if I sew in 4 inch heels, bitches!?

(I don't, but I'm just sayin'.)

Momma & Charlie Hang Out Marathon (Part 2)

The original plan was to blog about our week as it happened, but apparently, I seriously underestimated the needs of a teething, growth spurting, snuggly (slightly clingy) 8 month old. So, here's your recap of MaCHOM 2011.

We had a pretty low key week and though there was a little less sleeping and a little more cleaning than I thought there would be, I'd call it an overall success. Charlie proved to be very helpful with everyday household chores such as...

Cleaning the kitchen, grocery shopping,

Cleaning the bathroom, and doing laundry.

And holy moly was there laundry. All of a sudden, my little precious angel is a super pee machine and decided to show off his new skill at least twice a day. A regular size BumGenius insert used to be perfectly fine for overnight use, but all of a sudden we're using two and its just enough to contain the flood. Looks like hemp inserts are in our near future. I think its probably the formula since its digested differently than breast milk, which leads me to...

Despite my previous declaration, we started weaning this week. I just can't keep up with him, leaving me with the option to either continue to breast feed him while also pumping several times a day or just wean, start formula, and ration out my freezer stash. Well, seen as he absolutely freaks when he sees a bottle, I just went with the latter. He's happy, loves formula, and gaining weight and I can wear my pretty non-nursing bras again. That's a win-win in my book. Plus, my amazing online Momma friends have been sending us unneeded formula samples, formula checks, and coupons for Similac. Its saving us a ton on this unexpected expense. Much love to the Mommas. I PPH you all!! <3

Jeff came home in the wee hours of the morning and after letting me eat and take a shower in peace is recovering (napping) this afternoon. Apparently, twenty-two 16 and 17 year olds are just as exhausting as one 8 month old. Who knew. He enjoyed his experience taking the MegaBus and recommends it to anyone needing to get around mass transit style. Its like Greyhound, but way cheaper and cleaner with better amenities (outlets at each seat and free wifi on the bus). How sweet is that?

I absolutely loved hanging out with the short man and am glad we got to spend time together. That being said, however, I have a entirely new appreciation for single parents and stay at home Moms and am so happy to be able to get a break now that Jeff is home. ::phew!::