DIY Bib for an Older Baby or Toddler

Things have been so hectic around here as we quickly approach Alex starting kindergarten.  I feel like we have been busy with lots of things going on in our lives.  Amelia turned one on July 12 and Alex 5 on July 24.  In the middle of those two parties, my husband's company had their IT department group activity.  We were able to go whitewater rafting and it was so much fun.  I have not been in years and had forgotten how much I really love it.  Tim and I are already talking about going again!


Over all of the activities that we have had, I have found that Amelia has decided that a baby bib is much better as a hat than to be worn as something to protect her clothing.  She can easily get the velcro bibs off and thinks that it is so funny to put them on her head.  She loves to put things on her head!

I went to pick her up from daycare one day and they had a bib on her that only had a hole for the head and no velcro.  I decided that this was something that I could try to make on my own.  I went straight for Alex's closet to get a shirt that he has barely worn and will have outgrown by next summer.  I then went to my scrap fabric and found a piece of minky that I used to make my nephew Lake a blanket when he was born.

All you will need for this project is an old t shirt.  If you do not have one this is something that you can easily get from a thrift store.  You will also need a fabric for the back.  I used a piece of minky because it was soft and it is something that I had on hand. You will also need thread.




Here is how I made the bib.



I laid out the shirt and made sure that the side seams line up.  You are going to cut across the back of the shirt just an inch or two above the bottom of the arm hole.  You are going to cut from side to side.






 Cut up both of the side seams to where you cut across the back.

Here is what you will have after you cut the side seams.  You can see that it already is starting to look like a bib.

You will then need to lay the shirt down on the backing material with the ride sides together. You are using the shirt as a pattern and you will pin together so that you can sew around the edges.

Sew around all of the edges making sure that you leave a hole at the bottom so that you will be able to turn the bib right side out.

I forgot to make a cut between the tags at the next before I sewed it together.  You are going to want to do this so that you are able to turn it right side out.  You can sew it back together once it is turned right side out so that you have attached sides.  I just tucked one side into each other and sewed them together.

I think that Amelia likes her bib.  When I first put it on her she tried to get it off but could not quite figure out how to do it.  Hopefully this will help protect all the pretty little dresses that she got for her birthday.  This is an easy project to customize to what you like and make some pretty cool bibs and upcycle at the same time.

Thrift Store Find - $2 Wooden Frame for Race Day Gear

On March 29th, I ran my first 5K.  It was the ColorMeRad race and it was so awesome!!  I loved every minute of it.  It finally got to race day and it was a very cloudy day.  They were calling for rain that morning but it looked like it might hold off.  Well, it held off for about the first half before the bottom finally fell out of the sky.  I was already pretty colorful at this point and did not want to lose the color.  Well I am here to say that rain does not effect the color.  I was pretty colorful by the end of the race.

Since it was my first race I wanted to save my race clothes.  I mean after this race it was either that or burn them.  I knew going into the race that my clothes would never be the same so I wore something that I bought for a few dollars at the thrift store.

Buying a 16x20 wooden frame in the store can cost a lot.  I am really not one to spend a lot on something like this.  I wanted the frame to be fun since it was going to hold my race day gear.  I went to our local Goodwill on half price day and found the perfect frame.   It was in not the best condition but nothing some sandpaper and paint couldn't handle.  I think that it turned out pretty nice and it lets me display my colorful outfit in a frame just as colorful as it is.

Here is the frame before I started.  It is a pretty bad gold color.  I use 220 sandpaper to make sure I got as much of the paint and dirt off that I could.

 This is the frame once I finished sanding all the gunk off the frame.  It takes a little elbow grease but I think that it is totally worth it since I only spent $2 on the frame. It took about 20 minutes total to complete this process.

Before you paint do not forget to wash your frame off.  I used a dry cloth as I sanded to keep the dust from building up too much and then a damp cloth once I finished sanding to make sure I got all the dust off before painting.

 Here is the finished product. I used a hot pink acrylic paint to really make the colors pop.  I mean I am sure this outfit needed more color!  Have fun redoing those thrift store finds to make them more interesting and to better fit your needs!  Don't be afraid of a little color!  It makes life interesting!

Soft Alphabet Letters for Your Little One

My son loves to play with the magnetic letters we have on the front door.  Amelia loves them too but for a different reason - she likes to eat them.  I decided that I would make her some letters that are soft that she can play with and it does not matter if she eats them.  This is an easy project to do but it will take some time doing all 26 letters.  I just used scrap fabric that I already had on hand and tried to match it to the letter as best I could.  (I mean X, what in the world would I use for that one!)

Here is what you will need:
scrap fabric
outlines of the letters (I am sure you can Google letter outlines or trace die cut letters or I used graph paper and drew my own.)
matching thread
batting for the insides of the letters



You will need to start out by tracing out your letters and cutting them out.  I just used graph paper to draw mine out because I decided that would help me keep them somewhat symmetrical and not crazy as it would be if I drew them out free hand.

Once you have all the letters cut out, you are ready to begin assembling your letters.  You will want to find a piece of scrap fabric that will fit your letter.  I used the sandwich method.  I laid my fabric out and placed the batting inside and then covered it with another piece of fabric.  

I then pinned my letter to the top fabric and cut it out using pinking shears.  I used the pinking shears so that the fabric will not ravel since I am leaving the edges open.

I then sewed around the edges and around the holes since I am showing the letter B.  I used a contrasting thread for each just to add an extra touch to it.

Here are  the finished letters.  I think they turned out great and I know Amelia will love getting these for her birthday!  When I was taking the photo she was grabbing the letters off the chair.  Gotta love the days when you can put their gifts right there in front of them and they have no idea what is going on.  Oh how I miss those days with Alex! Ha!  Be creative and have fun making these letters for your little one!

Painting Fireworks with Marbles

One of Alex's favorite things about the Fourth of July is the fireworks.  He looks forward to them all year long.  Every year they put on a huge show at a local lake and he gets so excited to go.  He is already ready to go this year.  He can not wait!

I thought that it would fun if he and I did a little fireworks painting.  I mean, what could be more fun than combining two of his favorite things.

This is such a simple project to do and it does not takes much to complete.

Here is what we used:

•  red, white, and blue acrylic paints
• marble
• black sheet of construction paper
• box lid like from a box of copy paper

I placed the paper in the box lid and then put spots of paint with the three colors all over the paper.

 I then gave Alex the lid and let him shake it until his hearts content.  He loved it!  

This is such a simple project and great for your preschool child or even one a little older.  It really did kinda look like fireworks when he was finished!