Happy Birthday Bunting Flag Banner

My fun sister-in-law Erin had told me that she wanted a Happy Birthday banner to hang above her fireplace. I decided that for her birthday I would get her one. I looked on Pinterest and Etsy but I just couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. So, I decided to make one myself. I was really happy with how it turned out and I have actually made a few more since then. I posted them for sale on Etsy and I've made a few custom made ones as well. Here is the link to buy them. If you would like a custom one let me know. I would love to do it. Here is a custom one I made for someone. It turned out really cute. Sorry for the dark pictures. I wanted to get a picture before I shipped it but the lighting in our apartment was terrible.

To start, I used this template from Sweetly Scrapped Art. Then, I used a bold, size 300 font with the letters spelling "Happy Birthday."

The letters become the stencils. I first traced the letters onto the fabric I wanted and cut them out.


Then I sewed the letters onto the center of the triangles.

After I sewed the letters on, I cut two strings of jute. The "Happy banner should be on about 104" of jute. I folded each triangle over the jute and sewed underneath the jute. This makes each flag lay perfectly in place but still  movable on the string. The "Birthday" banner will be longer than the "Happy" banner by about  10-15." I forgot to take an exact measurement.  I then Tied a knot in the top of the two strings to hang them by. I leave an extra foot on each end to hang down because I think it looks cute. You could make your strings shorter and leave that part off. It depends on the look you are going for.

This is the one I  made for my sister in law. I figured it would work for my nieces and nephews birthdays.

Anyway, I hope this is pretty simple for you guys. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope this tutorial was simple enough.  I'd love to see the banners you make. 

It started with a Crib Bumper...

 

 

I know this post is pretty late but I haven't been able to find the time to blog lately. Jackson has been needing a lot of attention and when he's asleep I find a ton of other things that need to get done. On a good note though, Jackson is finally sleeping through the night!! He is 8 mo. old now and he's only been sleeping through the night for two weeks. I didn't want to do the cry it out method because it breaks my heart to just hear him cry but for my sanity I had to do it. I did it while Tyrone was on a work trip so that he wouldn't be exhausted at work. The first night I did it, I was pretty much in tears with Jackson. I have become such a baby ever since I became a mother. But seriously, it broke my heart. I just wanted to pick him up and hold him. The next night he did the same thing but I wasn't as emotional. Then, the third night, he just whined for a little bit and then he went back to sleep. Everyone kept telling me it would take three nights and they were right. I totally should have done it sooner. With the next one, I am not going to wait 8 months. That's a long time with no sleep! Oh, and did I tell you that Jackson doesn't really take naps during the day either? That's a whole different story. I won't go into that here. I am just so glad that he is a happy smiling boy.

Anyway, onto the bumpers... About a month and a half ago Jackson started rolling like crazy. He had been rolling for a while but then he started the crazy rolls where he was smacking into the sides of his crib and limbs were getting stuck out of the bars.One day I went in there and he was asleep on his stomach with both of his feet hanging out the bars. Seriously, overnight he got crazy. I started getting worried because we have a metal crib and his rolls weren't quite controlled yet. I didn't want him to get a concussion or something. So, I looked up some crib bumpers online and I didn't really like any of them. They were around $35 on average for simple bumpers and I found them to be kind of ugly. I decided I could just make some. I spent a couple nights finding different tutorials on how to make crib bumpers. I took little bits and pieces from different tutorials and I made my own crib bumpers. I was shocked with how good they turned out. It took me a couple days to make them and three trips to Joann's to get supplies. That's seriously the worst. But, they are done and I love them.


Here is how I made the bumpers:

 

This is the crib foam that I bought from Joann's.

You will need 1 1/4 yd of 2 different coordinating fabrics. Cut 11" strips and sew them together until you have an 11"x 160" strip. You may want to measure your crib to  make sure that your crib is 160" all the way around. 

I then, made the ties for the crib. You can use strips of ribbon but I wanted to make them with the matching fabric. I made my strips 1" wide, folded them over and sewed straight down. They were 1"x 24". I would recommend making them at least 2"x 24". 1" was hard to sew. But, they still turned out great. You will need to make 14 ties. You will want to melt the ends with a lighter so they don't fray.

Start pinning with the right sides facing out. You will pin your first ties just an inch from the edge. Pin ties across from each other every 26" approximately. It helps to pin the ends together in the middle so they don't get sew in somewhere. Start pinning your bias tape onto your two main fabrics. This process takes a long time. I felt like I pinned forever. I actually ran out of pins. I had to go to the store and buy another box of them. I've never used that many before!

Laid out on my floor it went from my front door almost to the  kitchen. There is no way I could have even laid this out in our old one bedroom apartment. It is really long!

I finally finished pinning. I stopped taking pictures after this. I stitched the bias tape on the top and then I stuffed the bumpers with the foam. Finally, I sewed bias tape around the last edge, and ta-da. Crib Bumpers!

You will need 4 packages of double fold bias tape. You need a total of 10 yards. 

Jackson gave me a fist bump to let me know he liked the bumpers.

After I had done the bumpers I decided that if I could make that then of course I could make a crib skirt and sheet to match. So, I made those as well. In all honesty, the crib skirt and sheet were really simple. It only took me a couple of hours to make those.

For the crib sheet I followed the tutorial from Fancy Napkin

The crib skirt was pretty easy you just  need to take measurements of your crib. My crib is 10" off the ground when it's at it's lowest setting. I wanted the crib to almost touch the ground at it's lowest setting. These were the  measurements I used. If your crib is up against a wall, you can just do a single long strip for the front of the crib and leave the back.

Two 53" x 11.5" panels for the long sides

Two 28" x 11.5" panels for the short sides

One 52" x 27" panel for the top- I used white because It's not going to be seen anyway.

 Sew the panels onto the white fabric. Sew with the right side of the fabric facing the white fabric. I then, just tucked each edge underneath and sewed straight lines.

I put the whole crib bedding up for sale on Etsy. If you would like one specially made let me know. I had a lot of fun making it.

My latest project is to make some black out curtains. I have leftover mustache fabric so I  figured why not. When I get it finished I will post pictures.

Crocheted Baby Beanie

I have been branching out a little bit on my crocheting lately and I was so proud of myself for making this beanie. The video I followed said that it was for a 3mo. baby but it fits my little 1.5mo old. He fits into other 3 mo. beanies though so maybe he just has a big head. This beanie was surprisingly quite easy once I got the first 4 or 5 rounds done. As long as you know the basics of crocheting you can follow the same video I did. Good luck. If you make one I'd love to see it.

Supplies:
3 or 4 ply yarn
G-4.25MM crochet hook

Here is the beanie tutorial and ear flap tutorial

Crocheted Hot Pads

A friend of mine gave me crocheted hot pads for Christmas last year and I have absolutely loved them. They are so cute and they are perfect for putting on the kitchen table underneath hot pans or dishes. I have been wanting to learn how to make them for quite some time now but my friend and I just haven't had the time to get together. Finally on Labor day I decided to go to Michael's and at least pick up the supplies. Once I got home, since Tyrone was still out of town I thought, I bet I could just teach myself. So, lo and behold I went to youtube. I have looked at multiple blogs but not knowing much about crocheting I didn't really understand much. I found a video on youtube that was perfect for me and my skill level. In order to be able to follow the video you do have to know how to do a basic crochet stitch. If you know how to do that, it's pretty simple to follow along.

What you will need: 
One ball of this sugar 'n cream yarn ( it will  make one hot pad.) Look for worsted weight, cotton yard if you can't find or don't like this brand. 
a size G crochet hook
1 tapestry needle to finish off the end of the hot pad 

They've got all sorts of fun colors at the store to choose from. It was really hard to pick. My hot pad turned out looking like it was made for Easter. I think I'll do some more neutral colors next time, but I'm pretty proud of it so I'm going to use it anyway.


Here are a few videos to start with if you are new to crocheting all together. Even if you have never done it before, I promise you it's possible. The main video skips some of these basics, so watch these first two videos if you need to and then go onto the hot pad tutorial.


This is a video on how to start your original chain. If you need help making your slip not, watch the final hot pad tutorial video. She goes through some things kind of fast but you can see how she does the knot.



Here is a good video tutorial for the single crochet stitch. You will use this after you finish your original chain.



Lastly, here is the video I watched to learn how to make the complete hot pad.



I hope you are able to follow along. Let me know if you try it and how yours turn out! Good luck!