Homemade Baby Wipes

I had thought about making my own baby wipes a while back but never got around to it, then totally forgot about it. Well, thanks to my own forgetfulness, I ran out of wipes and instead of running to the store I decided to try and make my own. (Sorry the pictures really suck)

 I used paper towels we had on hand and they are working out just fine but I will pick up a higher quality paper towel next time I make a batch. You can also make these with all organic ingredients.

If you want to make your own, all you need are:
♥ A roll of good quality paper towels
♥ Baby body wash
♥ Baby oil or olive oil
♥ Water

 I started out cutting my roll of towels in half with a bread knife. Then, because I wanted to use my regular baby wipe cases, I removed the cardboard center and cut them into three sections to fit back in my boxes. I have also seen it done where you cut your roll in half and place one half in a round plastic container with a lid, then you remove the cardboard center and pull the towels out one at a time from the center of the roll.

Once your paper towels are ready it's time to make up your liquid. Take a large bowl and combine 2 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons baby wash and 1 tablespoon baby oil. Mix it all up and pour evenly over the top of your towels. Let them sit until all the towels have absorbed the liquid, turning your container over if necessary. At this point they are ready to use.

Here are my findings:
♥ The roll of paper towels I used was a little small for this amount of liquid so I just added more towels.
♥ They smell wonderful
♥ I will tweak how I cut them to better fit my containers next time
♥ It was really fast to do (like 10 minutes total) and worth the time

So whether you are looking to save a few bucks, want to control what touches your child's skin, or just find yourself in a bind, it's a great recipe to have on hand.

Linking up to:

Ginger Snaps

Someday Crafts

Night Owl Crafting

Sew Much Ado

Jewelry Making

We recently invited some friends over and had a girly day of jewelry making. With a little help from us mommas, the girls made necklaces and bracelets galore.

 Scarlett was a bit of a pistol that day but we still had a great time stringing beads and hanging out with friends. Stringing beads is also a great way to build hand dexterity as long as you can keep the beads out of little ones mouths. I made sure to vacuum after we finished just to make sure there were no beads on the floor since Taylor would love to eat them.

 It was fun to see the girls so proud of the things they made and Scarlett always enjoys a chance to hang with the older kids.

 Showing off their finished work.

Fruit of the Spirit

When you use to walk in our house you would be greeted by a empty white frame. That frame hung there for almost a year waiting to be filled, I just couldn't decide what I wanted to fill it with.

After a lot of thinking, I finally did a painting for it and now the room feels so happy. When I put the painting in the frame it just didn't look right until James suggested I paint it black, that was exactly what it needed, good eye James!

 Now when you walk into our home this is what you are greeted with. This plus 2 cats, 2 kids and toys all over the place.

Welcome!

Linking up to:
Night Owl Crafting
Someday Crafts
Elements Interiors

Things I'm learning from potty training

This is what I have learned in the process of potty training this sassy girl:

♥ To move quickly when you hear the words potty and poo poo
♥Just because she potties on the toilet doesn't mean she will go poo, at least for now
♥Bribery totally works
♥Don't leave her alone or turn your back on her with the toilet paper or it will all be in a pile on the floor
♥Make sure she is scooted back far enough on her potty seat or potty will go on the floor instead of in the toilet
♥Tell her other people beside mommy and daddy are proud of her and it might actually make her want to go more
♥Most accidents occur when we are outside, it's just too fun out there to take time out and go inside
♥I like potty training on the regular toilet so much better then the little potty seats, it's so gross dumping poop out and getting splashed by it
♥I love the look of pride on her face every time so goes on the toilet
♥I love that whenever she catches me going to the bathroom now she cheers for me and tells me Good Job Mommy!
♥I never thought I would talk about pee and poo so much!

Press on polish

I am not in any way being compensated for talking about this product, I just think its really cool and had to share. My friend told me about this press on polish by Sally Hansen that she swore was the best thing ever. I was sceptical because I am so hard on my hands but I kept it in the back of my mind. My little sister had her promotion coming up and wanted to get decked out so I told her about the polish and she thought it sounded great. We jumped in the car and picked some up and I applied them for her. We used one strip for 2 nails so it will last 2x as long and they were pretty easy to do.

I also did a test nail on myself to see how it would hold up and I'm sold. I have washed multiple sinks full of dishes, planted and did some gardening, bathed the kids and did every other ordinary daily tasks and the nail looks the same as when I applied it. I am convinced this is the only way to go for fingernail polish now.

Fancy Pants

As I was looking for clothes for the kids for the wedding I realized it is really hard to find anything dressy for boys this time of year. I could not find dress pants for the life of me and was running out of time so I decided to make them. I am SO glad that I did! They were easy to make, turned out super cute and cost $6 to make two pair, one for Taylor and one for his cousin Cael.  

I picked up a pair of very large men's dress pants from the Goodwill to use as my fabric, why buy fabric when you can re purpose, and they worked perfectly. I then followed the tutorial on Made for the flat front pants, cut out all my pieces and got to work. As always her tutorial was easy to follow and helped me venture into the uncharted territory of pants making. I am so glad that I have made some pants now because I now see how easy it is and I can't wait to make more, I may even try and make something for myself. The only thing I wish I would have taken the time to do was test my pattern first like she suggests. Because I was crunched for time, I went ahead and cut out Taylor's pants and the first pair was way to small, looks like my soon to be born nephew is getting a pair of dress pants. Now I have my pattern all worked out and should be good to go for future projects. I always learn the hard way that it is faster to NOT skip steps.

The pants went along great with the neckties and were comfortable enough for sitting around and....

getting down on the dance floor.

Linking up with:
fingerprints on the fridge
sassy sites
finding fabulous

Flannel Shirt Baby Blanket

As I was catching up on one of my favorite blogs I came across this baby blanket and instantly fell in love. I have a friend who is due to have her first baby any day now and knew I had to make her a flannel shirt baby blanket. It is so incredibly soft and the flannel is so easy to work with, plus you get to re purpose something and that is always a thumbs up around here.

I went to our local Goodwill and picked up 2 flannel shirts, and used some soft black fleece I picked up at Joann's. I used as much of the shirts as I possibly could, cutting them into square blocks. I also wanted to personalize it so I cut out some blocks of muslin to freezer paper stencil on.

 If you have never heard of freezer paper stenciling, it is the poor mans silk screening and there is a really great tutorial here. I must warn you that it is totally addicting.

I did the blanket in a little cowboy theme and stenciled on some of the basic cowboy necessities. My favorite is definitely the little boy on the stick horse.

I hope little Phillip enjoys his blanket and that it keeps him warm and cozy.

Ring Bearer Neckties

This coming weekend is a big one for our family. James little brother is getting married to his sweet lady and both kids and James are in the wedding. Scarlett will be a flower girl along side her cousin Kaylee and Taylor is a ring bearer along with their cousin Cael. I made ties for the boys for the big day in black, they are going to look sharp.

I wanted to customize them special for the wedding so ironed on a heart to each tie (with heat'n bond) using purple fabric from the brides maids dresses. Then I hand painted 2 J's on each tie for the fabulous bride and groom, Jason and Jessica.

I have a few more things up my sleeve that I plan on doing for the wedding that I will definitely share later this week!

For the locals: Temecula Berry Co.

If you live in the Temecula area or close by and have not been to the Temecula Berry Co. you must go. The kids and I made our first trip over there last week and we had such a great time.

 As you approach the property you come over a little hill and when you get to the top you see rows and rows of blueberry bushes surrounding an adorable red barn. Scarlett was thrilled to spot the farm and couldn't wait to jump out of her seat.

 We walked up to the barn, grabbed ourselves a red bucket and headed out to the field.

 The parking lot was pretty full when we got there but it didn't feel busy at all. We actually had a whole row to ourselves the entire time we were there picking.

 The kids got to work right away, stashing their blueberry finds in our bucket. Scarlett was so careful to only pick the dark blue ones and was too busy to sample any. Taylor on the other hand was not as selective, throwing even the green ones in his mouth, I think only a few of his picks made it in the bucket.

 We had no trouble finding ripe ones and we only checked about 5 bushes. When we went to check out I realized they only took cash and didn't have any with me, so I told them we would run to the bank and be right back. Instead of having me leave our blueberries behind, the ladie working insisted that we take our berries with us, she trusted us to return, she didn't want the kids to be bummed about leaving the berries behind that they had worked so hard to pick. I thought that was so sweet and the kind of thing you don't expect to hear these days.

They are only open for a short window each summer but we plan on returning soon. On Tuesdays they have story time with Nana and Fridays they have movie nights at the farm, all free of charge. The property is super clean, the staff is incredibly friendly and it has such a great vibe. We have just about polished off our bucket of blueberries between snacking on them, having blueberry pancakes, blueberry syrup and smoothies. Looks like we will be heading back soon. I always love any opportunity to support small, local, family owned business and this one fits the bill perfectly.