Newborn ornament keepsake

What you'll need:

•big plastic or glass (I used plastic) ornament. This is not your standard size ornament it's a little bigger. I found these at walmart for .98.

 

•Paint Pen/Sharpie Marker

 

•Newborn hat, bracelet and a picture cut into a small square.

How to:

•on one side of ornament write babies name and birth info. Let dry.

 

•stuff the ornament with the hat first and then add the bracelet and picture to the opposite side from the baby's name and info. 

 

•Arrange the bracelet and photo how you'd like and hang on the tree.

 

I love this because otherwise these items would be hiding away in a box all year. Now, these items are on display once a year and adds a special touch to the tree.

Easy no sew DIY Christmas shirt

This is a cute easy cheap shirt idea I done a few years back. 

What you'll need:

•plain colored shirt. Mine was purchased for around $4 at walmart.

 

•2 brown, 1 black, 1 red, 1 white, & 1 green (or dark brown) felt sheet. These are really cheap and can be found at walmart.

 

•fabric glue/adhesive 

 

•scissors 

 

•piece of cardboard or something thick

How to:

•I used the initial idea so we done the letter B for Braxton and Broox. You may also do a normal reindeer head if you'd like.

 

•Cut out the letter or rein deer head and the ears out of brown. 

 

•Cut the antlers out of green or if you'd like you could do brown.

 

•Cut big circles for the whites of eye and smaller circles in black for the pupils.

 

•Also, with the black you want to cut smaller ears for the Inside of the brown part of ear and smaller mouth piece for the inside of the red lips.

 

•With the red cut out the nose and the mouth/lips.

 

•place cardboard or thicker material inside of shirt to avoid glue seeping and sticking to the back of shirt.

 

•After everything is cut and cardboard is inserted then position felt on shirt how you'd like to get an idea how it will look before you glue.

 

 •Antlers should be on the bottom so apply adhesive and glue those down first. 

 

•Then Glue the ear pieces and the head.

 

•After that glue on the eye whites, pupils, nose, red mouth/lips and the black center of mouth.

•Let dry

Snowflake picture ornaments

What you'll need:

•snowflake ornament (or any other ornament you'd like) I bought a pack of 6 from the dollar tree for $1.

 

•pictures

 

•Foam paper or something thicker to glue the picture on. I bought a pack of glitter foam paper from the dollar tree it was maybe 12 in a pack for $1.

 

•Glitter glue (optional) I wanted to add a little something to the edge of the circle

 

•Spraypaint (optional) if you'd like to change the color of your snow flake.

 

•Mod podge 

How to:

•cut your pictures out in a circle. as you see mine are not perfect.

 

•using your picture as a guide place it on the foam and cut just enough so it shows around the edges. You may cut 2 for each picture if you'd like one on the back to write the year.

 

•use the mod podge and glue the picture to the foam and let dry.

 

•if you want to change the color of your snowflake spray paint both sides and let dry.

 

•once dry use mod podge to glue the foam piece with picture onto the center of the snowflake. If you want to add one on the back glue it on as well and let dry.

 

•once dry apply mod podge to the snow flake and foam/picture. Let dry then do the opposite side. 

 

•Once completely dry tie on the string and hang on the tree.

I got this idea from http://thecraftingchicks.com/2013/12/snowflake-photo-ornaments.html

Power Ranger partial DIY idea

Last week was Charlie Brown, Sally Brown & Snoopy. This week I am bringing you Power Rangers. I don't know about you but I grew up watching this show I think the pink ranger was Kelly at the time and that is who I wanted to be. When my boys started watching Power Rangers I had no idea it was still on Tv but it was. 

 

Two years ago they wanted to be power rangers. I searched our local walmart and the only costumes available were very cheap and had no muscles built in and I did not want to spend my money on something like that. As a last resort I went online. They had the costumes for ALL the different types of rangers. As you can tell in the picture the costumes were a bit different.

 

Once that was taken care of I was left. I looked into just buying a shirt with power rangers on it but not for $20!!! People are crazy. Instead of buying something I decided to make something.

I USED to have a huge art stash but over the years it has been mostly used up, lucky me this was the year I still had it all. The only thing I HAD to purchase was a pink shirt which was only $5.

What you'll need: 

•long sleeve shirt

•acrylic paint 

•paint brushes

•cardboard box

•pen

•colored pants/leggings and boots (optional)

How to:

•cut card board box so the pieces will fit in middle and arms of shirt.

•lay out shirt and put in the card board

•get your paint and brushes ready

•get out image or pull up image on your phone

•use piece of card board box to make a strait line by using the pen. I used it on the arms, belt and the black thing in the middle (optional if you can free hand)

•flip over shirt and continue the line for the belt (optional)

•draw on the circle in the middle of the belt

•once you're done with that you may start painting following your picture or doing it however you'd like. Let front dry before doing back or the white and black outlines.

•after I let it sit for a few hours I done the outlines on the front

•let dry over night

•finish painting the belt on the back 

•after back is dry touch up any part you feel may need it

I then paired this with some things I had around the house so I could save money. I didn't have pink or white leggings but I had black skinny jeans. I wore them with black boots. There you have it!

October baby/toddler photo idea

I LOVE taking pictures, if I had a big nice camera I'd NEVER have professional pictures taken of my kids. When I try hard I even get awesome pictures with my iPhone, so when I have a cute idea OR run across one on Pinterest I try my best to create a little space so I can't have a photo shoot.

 

A couple weeks ago my cousin sent me a picture of her little boy with a pumpkin butt!!! Cutest thing I have ever seen. I just knew I had to do this with Berran. Now the cousin is a toddler so it was a little easier for his mom to snap a shop versus a baby who HATES being on their tummy but I thought I'd give it a shot anyways.

 

I gathered some items to use as props; baby's 1st pumpkin, black basket box, fake fall leaves and used my car seat canopy to lay on the floor. Now I must say I had SEVERAL awful pictures and it took a few tries to get a good shot. I actually meant to save the fails to share but I accidentally deleted them! Luckily I did get 2 very cute pictures. One emphasizes the butt and the other the pumpkin. Thank you instagram for the quick and easy iPhone edits making us all THINK we are professional photographers. If you do this please share with me as I'd love to see your cute pictures as well:)

 

Monster Door

Once again I'm back at the crafting. Last night I came across ways to decorate your door for Halloween. I didn't want to go out and purchase stuff so I used what I could find around the house. 

•tissue paper

•scissors

•tape

•cut strips of tissue paper for the hair

•cut circles out of 2 different colors for the eyes(plastic plates would be great but we didn't have anything sturdy enough to keep them up)

•used the black to cut out the mouth pieces and the eyebrows.

•taped the pieces together and then taped up on the door

This was basically free since I used items I already had bought for other reasons. The kids enjoyed helping me and they really liked the outcome. They liked it so much they wanted to take a picture last night but I told them to wait until morning when they were dressed for school :)

Halloween Crafts

With Halloween right around the corner I thought I would share some of our arts and crafts projects. For the first two I would like to thank a lovely mama I met from the what to expect July 2014 forum and I now follow on instagram. She posted very cute canvas prints and I was all like OMGosh I have to do that!!!

 

 

These projects are good for a rainy October day or something fun to do with your kids any day. Pictured above is Braxton holding his painted pumpkin and the spider canvas we made. Now you can do this however you'd like but this is what we done...

•painted the canvas green and let dry

•painted black paint on hands and pressed on canvas for spiders 

•used the older handprints as the mom and dad 

•baby berrans hand prints were the baby spiders

•painted cobwebs 

•drew on the faces and glued on the eyes 

•on the back I put kids names, age, month and the year

Of course if you'd like you could use yours and husband/significant others handprint as the mom and dad and each kid as the little spider. Personalize it yourself using whatever colors you'd like. 

 

 

Pictured above is Broox with the pumpkin he painted and our Frankenstein footprint canvas painting. Again, you may do this however you'd like but this is what we done...

•painted the canvas orange (I suggest black)

•painted the bottoms of feet green and placed on canvas

•older kids foot prints were used as mom and dad 

•Berrans footprints as the kid Frankensteins

•paint the clouds using white/black to make gray

•lightening bolts out of yellow paint

•paint the faces on the foot prints and glue on eyes 

•on the back I put the kids name, age, month and year

I do suggest black for the background of this one. My friend accidentally painted it orange instead but it still turned out well. Personalize however you'd like :) These make for cute cheap Halloween decorations and are awesome keepsakes. 

This craft I done on my own while bored at work. You can use any characters you want but I went with mom and dad pumpkins and their little pumplings dressed up as Frankenstein, Dracula and a ghost for Halloween. I used styrofoam cups for the pumpkins and then little plastic water cups like the kind you may have near your sink. I flipped them up side down, painted 2 coats of paint and then painted on the faces. This would make for a cute decoration or even a cute item for your child to play with (not good for a child who still puts items in mouth).

Babies first Halloween pumpkin

I seen this awesome idea on Pinterest where you cut out hand and foot prints on a pumpkin. This is good for any young child but I thought it was a great idea for babys first pumpkin. 

To do this you may either free hand the prints because it is hard or you can trace them. I wanted it to be more personal so I decided to trace them. My crafty friend was over that day and it did indeed take two people to get the tracing job done.

After the tracing was done I cut it out as you would any pumpkin design and then I painted 'Babys 1st' on the pumpkin with acrylic paint.

Charlie Brown, Sally Brown & Snoopy costume idea

Now I know this is not completely a DIY/craft project but part of it is and it is an awesome and cute idea for Halloween. One year Braxton was Charlie Brown, Broox was Snoopy and I was Sally Brown. Braxton and Brooxs costumes were purchased online. The Charlie Brown Costume could easily be made with a yellow shirt, black shorts and black paint. Why I did not do that costume myself I have no idea! I absolutely love the snoopy and I couldn't have made that myself anyways but it was well worth the purchase! As for me Sally Brown, that costume was made by me for around $6. Thank you local Salvation Army! 

The best place to start looking for stuff is your local goodwill or Salvation Army but start early because people will be trying to get their own items for their DIY costumes as well. I knew I needed either a pink or blue dress. I ran across a pink one ($3) and no it wasn't my size it was too big but I knew it would do. I really wanted one with polka dots but I would solve that problem later. I then picked out a pair of pink socks (.50), white shoes  ($2) a pair of white slip ons or keds will do and I found a little belt ($1) to put around my mid section so the dress would fit a little better. 

 

To get the Sally Brown look I took a black marker and made polka dots you can't really tell in the picture but they ARE on the dress, any marker will do. I had a pink bow at home that was attached a metal clip. If you don't have one you can find them for $1 at most stores. I teased my bangs and flipped out the bottom of my hair. Just like that I was Sally Brown. As I said before this could even be a CHEAPER idea if you make the Charlie Brown costume. I only dressed as Sally at a Halloween Party and for another event. The other times dad and I wore snoopy shirts purchased at walmart for $7 each. Sorry these aren't the best quality pictures they were taken a few years back!

Placenta Art

I knew before I gave birth that I wanted to keep my placenta and make a piece of art with it so I was sure to include in my birthing plan to not throw it away. Needless to say with a newborn (now an infant) and 2 other kids in school and sports the last thing on my mind was making something. This is gross but it has just been sitting in my fridge since after I gave birth. I didn't have room for it in the freezer with my enormous milk stash so that's where I left it. Finally today I got it out and came up with an idea so I could use it and throw it out. I got out a gift box spray painted it gold. While that was drying I got out the placenta, praying it wasn't molded and was still usable, luckily it was and used an old towel to absorb the blood. I used brown paint to cover the placenta and done a trial round first then put it on the gold. After that I put my sons hand and footprint on it in light blue. This may be gross to some people but I wish I would have done this with my first two and I think it is an awesome and beautiful keepsake.

After I made that I decided I would attempt to make an umbilical keepsake. I got on google and searched umbillical keepsake and I found instructions on how to dehydrate it. I cut it at the bottom, squeezed out all the blood/clots. Again, mine looks different as it has been sitting for quite a while but I laid it in a heart shape and popped into the oven, put oven on the lowest temp setting and cooked for 6 hours.

Afterwards I took it out and came up with a cute picture idea and got a beautiful shot with baby and cord.

Cloth diaper storage

It's usually easy when it comes to storing disposables but with cloth diapers you want something so they can stay organized and in rotation that way one is not getting worn more than the other. Can you do this cheaply? Yes! I was on Pinterest and came across a basket idea but the baskets they were using were expensive and that is not what I had in mind.

One day while I was at the Dollar Tree where EVERYTHING is $1 I came across an isle of baskets. Now they weren't as good or as sturdy as the ones I had seen but they looked like they would do so I purchased 6 of them at $1 a piece. 

These baskets were just plain colored nothing special. I planned on doing my nursery in silver, gold, and black. I had a can of silver spray paint ($3) but no gold so I went out and bought a can which was around $3. I sprayed 3 baskets gold and 3 silver. Let them dry.

Once they were dry I used a drill with a screw bit and screwed one single screw in the top center of the basket to keep it hanging on the wall. 

It took no time to make this and my final cost was only $12! So far they've held up nicely. I even purchased an extra basket and sprayed it, it's used for my cloth wipes.

Another DIY Baby Wrap

After I found the K'tan DIY wrap on Pinterest I got to thinking that there must be other easy wraps as well. On the previous wrap I used 2 shirts and an infinity scarf that I cut. As I was thinking I remembered I also had a pink infinity scarf so I got it out and cut it. I figured what the heck a baby wrap is cooler than a scarf anyway. This is what I came up with.

Put one scarf over you shoulder then tie it to where you think the babe needs to go, as the bum will sit in this one in the middle of my abdomen, if you have a bigger baby you may want it lower.

Take the other scarf and do the exact same on the other shoulder.

Put baby in facing you. Spread out/open up the scarves over the babes bum and back. You can also spread out the top so babes head is supported. Adjust scarves over your shoulders for your comfort.

Or you may do facing out which is what Berran preferred. Just put babe in and spread out/open up scarves for support. Adjust scarves over shoulders for your comfort.

DIY no sew k'tan wrap

I love to baby wear and while I was pregnant I came across 2 different styles at a consignment sale one was an infantino carrier and the other well I don't remember the brand and I don't feel like looking for it right now but it's more of what I can see a dad wearing. I found that both of them somewhat hurt my back. I'd see moms wearing these neat wraps that looked soo comfortable but they are expensive. Now with 3 kids and being mainly a stay at home mom (I work 1-2 nights a week) I'm on a tight budget and try to save as much as possible. Luckily I ran across this cute easy DIY k'tan wrap on Pinterest! It is so easy and I had the materials at home. All you will need is 2 tshirts preferably with no side seam and a wide scarf.

Take 2 shirts and cut the tops of them off sleeve to sleeve. You are going to use the bottom halves which makes a tube.

Then you will put each one on like a sash making sure they cross in both the back and front. If you want you can get some yarn or ribbon to tie at the cross in the back but you do not have to as I did not..

Then you will want to put the baby inside. Spread out the tshirt material on the babys back and bottom so he/she is well supported, and adjust the material over your shoulders to what's comfortable for you. 

Then take the scarf open it up to where it is supporting the baby's bum and back. Adjust it to the middle of your back and tie. It can get a little tricky while tying. I suggest having someone else tie it or prop the baby up on something (I used my dryer) so baby can remain in an upright position and at the height you prefer and then tie.

*the one on Pinterest told me shirts 2 sizes bigger but it was way to big, the one shown is a medium (I wear small) it fit well but I do feel as if the material will stretch so I plan on buying 2 light blue size small tshirts to baby wear with the scarf. Obviously material will stretch over time so I believe going with your original size will be fine. Try an old tshirt first and go from there to see what works for you before you spend money. I plan on making more and will be sure to post a picture on my instagram when I do so.*