Car Seat Strap Holders Tutorial

Last weekend, we were lucky enough to take a trip to SoCal to visit my brother's family. Since they have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, they pretty much had all the baby gear we needed - we didn't have to check any bags, carseats or strollers while flying! Anyways, while using their old carseat, we noticed a stretchy, buttony contraption on each side. After asking Sister-In-Law about them, she explained that they are used to hold the straps... what a great idea!! We had just been trying to place the straps to the side while placing Peanut in the seat, but we would still have to dig for the straps underneath her - this sometimes lead to a disgruntled Peanut. With these contraptions, the straps are held out to the side, making strapping Peanut it much more enjoyable!

See the difference? The contraption holds the strap to the side, instead of letting the strap just sit there in the way of a baby.

So, without further ado, here's a small tutorial so you can make them for yourself or as a great baby shower gift! Please realize that different car seats might need different lengths of cording and different lengths between knots... if you have a car seat, make sure you guess and check a little to make sure it fits!

You will need an elastic cording - I used the "beading cord elastic," but I'm sure the "round cord elastic" would work just as well. I was in a rush in Walmart when I picked these up, so I grabbed both just in case :)

You will also need two buttons. I used to have my collection in a large canning jar, but I sent that home in a craft tub... we're slowly trying to relocate our stuff 14 hours from here in preparation of moving home! Someday, I'll be able to put my collection back in the jar; until then, a baggie will just have to work.

 Pick out two good-sized buttons. Here is the size of mine compared to a $5 bill.

 Cut a 24" length of the elastic cording and fold it in half.

 Place the folded end through through one of the holes in the button - from the back to the front.

 Then, place it back through another hole - from the front to the back - and pull a good length though (this is when guess and check works really well!).

 Knot the end! (Again, guess and check!)

This is when I thought I was done. Then, I had an idea. Buttons and babies don't always go over well - choking hazards and all. So, I created another step...

Place a knot between the button and the folded end. Then, if Baby somehow gets the contraption off the car seat handle, at least there's a knot on both ends and the button can't fall off... it may not be a perfect fix, but it's enough for me. I really don't see it being a problem, but it's an easy step toward being a tad bit more safe :)

Don't forget to follow the same steps to make the second one! You need two of these holders!

 Now for the fun part! Loop the folded end around the handle and pull the button through...

 ... then, loop the knotted end around the strap and hook it on the button.

 Place the second one around the other side of the car seat handle, and you are ready to place Baby down without having to dig under him/her for the straps. Yay!


Linking up with Sew Much Ado at We Did It! Wednesday...

Gifts from Gma Q

I showed you the quilt from Grizz's mom the other day (here)... and this weekend we finally hung up the quilt from my mom, so I can finally share it!

I found this quilt pattern online while searching for baby quilt books. This was the quilt on the cover of Cuddle Me Quick (link), and I loved it right away (must be the teacher in me! I bought the book and had it shipped to Mom, who lovingly obliged to make it for me... errr, for Peanut! :) The yellow goes perfectly with the furniture we painted for Peanut. Now, I just have to attach the label (the top picture) with a few buttons and it will be complete!

Mom's usual gift also includes a baby bag with the name on it. I still have mine from when I was a baby. These bags started out as being completely made of corduroy with faux fur for the name. Over the years, Mom has started to experiment and add denim (often times from a pair of jeans that was worn by a special person in the baby's life... either a parent or a grandparent... in Peanut's case, she gets a pair of my jeans!). Mom still uses the faux fur for the name and the corduroy is still used on the inside of the bag. But, as you can see, she has used the pockets of the jeans, fabric from the quilt she made, old doilies from my wedding and even added some ruffles to the front. I'm sure this will become one of Peanut's favorite things to tote around :)

More Low-Quaility Phone Pics

The Many Faces of Peanut... we have yet to get a picture of her smiling (gassy or otherwise) and I refuse to take pictures of her crying (so far... I'm sure that will change eventually!). This refusal leaves us very few opportunities to take pictures other than of her sleeping, but at least we have a few of her awake and alert. The bottom left picture shows Peanut contemplating about wether or not she likes the swing yet. She has improved  - as long as we put her down when she's content, she'll stay content swinging for about 5 minutes :)

She is still a cuddlebug! I still can/t get over how much she likes to have her head in a crack while sleeping - in my armpit, neck, between my legs, between my arm, body and/or the chair/bed, etc. She'll just wiggle herself around until she finds the perfect placement for her face!

We've been having her practice sleeping in her pack-in-play in front of our porch door during the day. Then we'll wheel it back into the bedroom at night. If there's one thing I've learned about being a mom, it's "you do what you gotta do." She's mostly been sleeping with us - either on my chest or on her side next to me. I have figured out, though, that she'll sleep well on her own on her tummy. I know, I know. But it works. She even slept by herself for two sessions last night and with me for only one session. Improvement!

There's Peanut with her cake at the math teachers' shower. So cute! The bottom picture shows a blanket she received from one of Grizz's coworkers. It's John Deere cotton on one side and minky on the other. It's perfect for this future farm girl :)

Last up for today is the quilt from Grizz's mom. (I'm still waiting to take a picture of the quilt my mom made... I'm hoping to hang it up as soon as we find a dowel long enough to hang it up with). Back to this beauty, tho :) She machine appliqued with verrigated thread and added hand-embroidered details to the cute bugs. She even hand-embroidered Peanut's name and date of birth. Peanut is lucky to have precious quilts from both grandmas! I know I still treasure the quits I have from both of my grandmas! This quilt has a special place on top of our ottoman to brighten up the room and it's perfect for supervised tummy play time!

*Her fussy times are still sticking around. We tried gas drops to see if they would help, but they actually seemed to make her crying/screaming worse, so we stopped those. I'm still concerned about what seems like "silent reflux," but for the most part, I've resisigned myself to having a colic-y baby.
*I think her hair is growing a little bit. Her Alfalfa rooster-tail only shows itself every once in awhile, instead of all the time!
*She's starting to enjoy bath time a little more; well, at least she isn't screaming while in the water! She still dislikes the drying off part and the lotion part.
*Cloth diapering is actually going really well. We have only done it during the day and at home - but because it has gone so well, I may even try it at night or while we're out in public soon!

Ok, Happy Tuesday! I'm a single parent for the 2nd time in my life tonight; Grizz has to stay overnight somewhere up North for a night. This also happened a few weeks ago. Wish me luck - hopefully she has a better evening than usual :)

Finally, a Semi-Crafty Post!

Just a little glimpse of some clothing projects I did while waiting for the Peanut to arrive...

I dyed some onesies (some I bought, some I received at a shower) red and blue. Then I created the designs using both PhotoShop and a word document and printed them out on normal printer paper. After tracing them onto freezer paper (placing the printed page underneath and tracing with a permanent marker), I cut out the freezer paper designs with a regular scissors and an exacto-knife. Then, following a tutorial from Dana, I ironed the freezer paper onto the onesies and painted them white!

You can see the fermata on the red onesie and the math joke on the blue one. I also have a few more - another math joke, plus a mountain climbing on for Grizz, and a Montana one to honor the state she was born in. The "Cutie Pi" was made with only paint, but the others are a combination of painted designs with iron-on letters for the words. When I do this project again, I will do my best to only use paint - the letters look like they're starting to fall off from stretching the onesies so much while getting them over Peanut's head.

The bottom onesie is one that was created at a baby shower. The hostess had a lot of onesies, burp rags and bibs to be decorated with paint and stencils. I made the cow one :) I decided to switch it up and paint the outline instead of just the inside of the cow. It was such a fun project at the shower!

**The "Acute Baby" onesie was worn to the shower thrown by a few math teachers I subbed for often :)

Gifts for Another Friend

Well, while Scooter continues to safely grow inside the bump, I'm enjoying sewing with my stash for Him/Her and for friends :)

 A friend back home had a Valentine's baby! They knew ahead of time that it was going to be a little mister, so I was able to use some more of my boyish flannel for both the burp cloths and bibs.

 I really enjoyed the few days that I was able to set up an assembly line for making several burp cloths and bibs. Thus, Scooter is set with plenty of these, plus I even have a few tucked away for future gifts! (Planning ahead!!)

 For the V-Day baby, we also gave a book titled "Who Pooped In The Park" that we found during our Yellowstone trip. Grizz grew up with V-Day baby's dad (they're actually second cousins), and they spent a lot of time exploring and getting dirty outdoors, so we thought the book was appropriate :)

A last minute addition to the gift package was a crocheted hat using some leftover yarn from this blanket I made last year. Crocheting is such a great activity while substitute teaching - especially if the students are watching a movie or I'm covering a study hall, or even during my prep period. I can whip out these hats pretty quickly! Scooter now has two :) I'll show the pictures another day... but now, I'm going to go do some freezer paper stenciling on some onesies that I dyed two weekends ago!

Instagrams...

... going all the way back to this past November! Yikes!

 Christmas Joy... hand-painted on old barnwood.

 Lefse! A Scandinavian tradition.

 Twilight :) Grizz is always nice enough to come with me.

 A Thanksgiving Prime Rib. The tape is on the oven to remind us "NOT TO OPEN IT."

 Fluff mail. So, yes, the plan as of now is to try out some cloth diapers. I'll let you know how it goes ;)

 Ultrasound flowers. Grizz is great.

 More Christmas projects. Still working on my painted handwriting.

 Some random breakfast.

 Spritz. Spritz. Spritz. Christmas COOKIES! Geez, I'm starting to crave sugary goodness...

 Alma Mater men's basketball team traveled to Big Sky Country. We gladly wore our blue and gold to support them.

 The crib is up!!

 More goodness from the Alma Mater. Family and friends know just exactly what Scooter needs to wear once he/she arrives!

 A snowy day from a third floor math classroom.

 Scooter's quilt top...

 Scooter's quilt top quilted.

 A January walk.

 A Birthday Snow (maybe three or four days after the nice walk in the previous picture).

En Route to Yellowstone.

And finally... today's project while watching Downton Abby on Netflix. Scooter has a new hat! (Removable flower depending on which gender Scooter surprises us with).

Baby Gifts!

A few more collages...

 Right around Thankgiving, I had both a high school friend and a cousin welcome a new member into their families. One had a little boy and the other had a little girl :)

Above, you can see the burp cloths I quickly put together this past weekend. They are just my usual, easy burp cloths... a flannel strip sewn onto a cloth diaper. In the girly box, there is also a book and a little set of cloths - I tried appliqueing a heart onto a onesie, and I am definitely out of practice! Thus, I also sent along just a plain onesie, too. They are rolled up with cute little pink pants :)

In the boy's box, two baby bibs were added. I won some Fox Hollow by Monaluna last Spring. They were perfect for the bibs! The denim was a purchase at a thrift store (it was a 50% off day so I took home at least 5yds of that denim for about $4!)

 Here are the fabrics for the backing. I hope the little boy enjoys his new bibs (and if they're too big for him right away, his older brother can probably still use them!).

The best part of these projects? The only thing I needed to purchase was the onesies and pants! I already had the cloth diapers and alllll the fabric on hand. I'm trying to be good and not purchase any more fabric.... if we're going to be moving within the next 12 months, I'm pretty sure Grizz (and whomever helps us move) will appreciate me trying to use up at least a little of my stash!