Quickie Project of the Week: Baby Stuff!

So this week's quickie project of the week is actually several small projects all to do with baby stuff! I finally got the nesting bug and I want to start making stuff for the baby. Part of the reason I haven't already is we are not finding out if it's a boy or girl until the big day. I finally decided I'm just going to make cute stuff anyway and if it's not for the right gender, I'll either give it away or keep it for future little ones. On to the projects!

First, I wanted to do some decorated onesies. I had bought the most adorable iron-on transfers made by Plaid on clearance for $1 per set of 2 transfers. I couldn't pass that up! I made two last night:

I just ironed the images on following the instructions that came with the transfers. (Set iron to highest cotton setting, no steam press firmly on hard surface for 60-80 seconds, let transfer paper cool, peel off paper)

Didn't they turn out super cute? I love the squirrel one! I was planning on sewing ruffles on the butt of that one using pink and white gingham, but my sewing machine broke last night. *sigh* Hubby is supposed to "fix it" tonight. I think it's beyond repair this time, but we'll see.



Another quick easy project I did last night was a picture for the baby's room. If it's a girl, I'm now leaning toward a grey, white and yellow color scheme for the room. Here's what I came up with:




I took a blank canvas from walmart (I think this one is 8 x 8 inches, but I'm not sure). I painted it a dark grey with acrylic paint (black and white mixed together). After it dried, I took some cutouts I made on my Mom's cricut last weekend. I used ModPodge and spread it over the back of each cutout with a paintbrush. I laid the cutouts where I wanted them and pressed them down fairly hard. I let them dry for a bit (around 10 minutes or so) before coating the whole canvas with another layer of ModPodge. TaDa! In less than 45 minutes or so, I had a super cute picture that will either hang in the baby's room, or get given to someone else!

Next time I make one of these, I'll try to remember to take in progress pics! I have to make at least one more now, in my "boy" color scheme of red, black, and white! ;) If I keep this up, I'm going to have double of everything!

Happy Crafting!

Organizational Rack (formerly known as spice rack)

I've been trying (slowly) to motivate myself to get cracking on one of my resolutions to organize more (or better). I completed a small project the other day that I think will help in that quest. I found this spice rack at the thrift store for $2.

It didn't have the containers in it anymore. Fortunately, I've been storing up prescription bottles from my pre-natal vitamins. They seem to fit in there nicely. The goal is to store all the various craft supply bits and bobs that are small but I don't know where to put them.

I painted the whole rack with turquoise acrylic paint. Then I distressed it with sandpaper. Then I coated the whole thing with burnt sienna acrylic paint and wiped it off while it was still wet. Here's the results:

I like it! My next task was to gather up some crafting supplies and put it in the bottles. I wasn't sure at first how well I could see what was in the bottles. So my next idea was to put a bit of whatever was in the bottle on the front of the cap so I knew what was in there. Here's one side done:

This side has various random embellishments in it. The other side has my glass glitter:

(You can't really tell, but the first bottle is white glitter.) Well, that's all the farther I've gotten. I ran out of bottles for now. But each month, a new one will be added. If I find any other containers that work, I'll be set! What do you think? Have you come up with a clever idea for storage and/or organization? Please share!

Happy Crafting!

Storage and Organizing Tips

To get a start on my (and many others) New Year's Resolutions to organize, today I thought I'd share a few storage and organizing solutions both from the internet and my own home.

The first one comes from Real Simple Magazine. They used an empty tissue box to store plastic bags.

I love this idea! I've always been meaning to make one of those hanging sleeves out of scrap fabric and elastic, but this would take up way less space and recycle twice as much!

How about using a chunk of old ladder as a pot rack as shown on Better Homes and Gardens?

Then there's this great mail sorter I found on Bright and Blithe.

And bonus? She made a tutorial so you can make one too!

Here's one from my own house. I don't have anywhere decent to hang pot holders in my kitchen. So, I used a magnetic curtain rod (for steel doors) and stuck it on my fridge. Then I used curtain hangers with clips on them to clip the pot holders up.

I love the idea of using an old shutter as a message board from Better Homes and Gardens.

I have a couple of smaller shutters that I have plans to do something similar to this with.

My mom has been making old windows into cabinets for years now. Here's the one in my house (currently housing Hubby's sport memorabilia and my hinged box collection).

I hope some of these ideas inspired you to organize. This week, I have a list and one room a night to clean and organize. I'll let you know how that goes! ;) Do you have any great organizational ideas to share?

Happy Crafting!