She's Crafty

(and thrifty) Nathan and Ryan are still in diapers (although both are just starting to use the potty infrequently) and they are getting big. Nathan weighs as much as Leila & Sarah and is wearing the same size clothes as them too. Some of our cloth diapers are getting too small and some are on their last leg. I hate to buy more diapers when it feels like we are just on the verge of potty training and I'm not having another baby at the moment. What to do? I decided to sew a few quick diapers out of some materials I had in my sewing closet.

And then I decided to use up the fleece scraps to make some crude training pants. They didn't turn out half bad, considering I spent no more than 10 minutes making them.

I made some for the little boys and a pair for my bedwetter (at his request.)

I cut the fleece from some scraps I had purchased for just pennies (literally) so I wasn't too worried about messing them up. I used some ratty, old prefolds to cut out a soaker for the center of the training pants.

Then I stitched the pieces together and that was it! I only used the fleece, prefolds, and thread. No elastic necessary. That is one cheap and easy pair of training pants!

Once my sewing machine is out, I like to tackle a bunch of projects all at once. I finally (2 years later) finished the blankets for Nathan and Ryan that I had started before they were born.

I made reversible blankets with coordinating fabric bought through a co-op a couple of years ago. I'm no quilter so I just trimmed the blankets with the fabric, cutting a simple square with a frog on it for each corner, and stitched it together. They turned out nice and match the frog wall decals that Nathan & Ryan got for Christmas.

Then I took their plain, cream-colored crib skirts and added a border of the frog fabric. As an added bonus, the longer length crib skirts perfectly hide the 3 bins of summer clothes that are stored under the crib! And yes, it might seem crazy to make a crib bedding set for 2-year olds, but these kids will be in cribs until they're fifteen. Those crib tents save my sanity. For real.

I could have done something a lot more interesting, but I made a quick, plain valance for the window. I only had this narrow strip of fabric left, so my options were limited. And then, when Matthew saw me sewing for Nathan & Ryan, I had to bust out the fabric I bought (2 years ago) for Matthew's bed. One "Shampoo" comforter completed and one very happy boy. (Matthew is especially fond of Shamu and has an attachment to the stuffed whale he brought home from Sea World 5 years ago. He always called him "Shampoo." He's wanted this blanket for a long time so it felt good to finally finish it.)

Next on my list: a blanket for Joshua and some more training pants. Because these little boys are going to potty train soon, whether they like it or not. (I hope.)

And my last crafty project was an idea I borrowed from Ann Marie, a fellow Army wife. She had the awesome idea of using old wooden hangers to create a jewelry organizer. I just loved hers and had to make my own!

Fortunately, I had an old wooden hanger that worked just perfectly. I pre-drilled tiny holes in the wood and screwed in tiny silver cup hooks.

Sadly for me, I only needed one hanger. I'm just not a big jewelry girl. This is all I had to hang on it! (And three of those pairs of earrings came from Mary Grace, another mom to two sets of twins.) But still, this sure is a pretty way to keep your jewelry organized!

On my extended to-do list: making more furniture. I'm going to have to wait until we get back from our long trip, but I have plans to build a media unit for our TV and a coat rack for our foyer, among other things. I have scrap wood in the garage that is calling my name.

I'm particularly fond of recycling projects and using things that might otherwise be thrown out. And I love sewing. Do you have any crafty projects to share? (Because I totally need more things to do around here, right?)